Altered Tundra

Palm Beach Royals

Sav took a moment to further observe Grant. When Reia had described him, she forgot to mention just how much of a looker he was. Of course, he was a couple of years younger than most of her class were. Despite that, Sav couldn’t find a single reason to support that. With the company like Vivi Salvador and the new transfer, Kai Parata, she couldn’t find any justifiable reason to support the claim that Grant was actually a sophomore and not a senior or even a Junior like most of the people that she frequented with. That and Sav could not deny Grant Roselia was easy on the eyes.

“Are you?” Sav was surprised by his surprise that she knew who he was. How could she not? Knowing your enemy and their family was important if Sav was going to take Reia down (as if there was any doubt). “I know a lot of things, sweetheart,” Sav smiled, running her hand across Grant’s.

Kai raised his eyebrow, totally seeing what Sav was doing. And as she was obviously turning up the charm, he started to wonder what exactly it was blondie was trying to achieve. Western mating rituals were quite foreign to him, so he didn’t understand all of this subtle smirking and stroking of the arms. As he sat there, not really doing much of anything, Kai happened to notice Ella just get up and walk out of the classroom without so much as a warning. Or maybe she did say something and Kai was too focused on what was happening at the table he was at instead of what was going on with her. So, Kai looked to the others.

“Did anyone happen to see what happened at Shirley’s table?”

“Shirley?” Sav thought on it for a moment. She turned around and saw there was one less person. “What an interesting development. Ella Mossos, Ms. ‘Always follows the rules’ herself ditching detention. How naughty."

He was going to respond, but the words wouldn’t exactly form. Instead, the young Castillo male would think on it for a minute; and when he did, his mind - as well as his physical body - couldn’t help but look back to Reia. All by her lonesome and still, when their eyes met, there was still as much of an intensity from when she made that very specific threat to him. This caused Marco to turn back and face the front of the class. Why was he so fearful of her now? Oh yes, he knew why. She threatened to shove a pencil down his dick.

And the worst part of it all? Marco still didn’t know what it was that made her hate him so much. He might be on high alert right now (as far as Reia was concerned, that is), he was equally curious about what he did. This prompted him to want to look back again, but he wasn’t that much of a glutton. No, Marco Alejandro Castillo was someone who only took one beating from the same person. Something about fool me once, right?

Right, onto what matters most. Sol. Damn, whatever must’ve happened with her and Sav must not have been a fun experience. For her want to just hit the gym meant that she was either really pent up from throughout the day, or Savanna Hart got under her skin.

“But you’re around me all the time,” Marco joked, though it was pretty damn accurate. Lord knew that Marco acted a certain way that often got under people’s nerves.

As he would then collect himself, laugh it off, and shoot Sol a curious glance, he then continued, “okay but seriously, what happened? It wasn’t Sav and her stroking my arm was it? I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. Though, if she did, I wonder how I would approach someone like that.” Marco let the thought of that sit in his mind for a moment or two, considering the prospect of dating Savanna Hart for a serious moment. “She is incredibly hot. Blonde is the new ginger, but she’s incredibly selfish - or so I hear.” At this point, rather than talking to Sol directly, Marco was thinking out loud while Sol was next to him. “Fayed told me about how needy Stella was when they were casually dating. And he said she wasn’t nearly as bad as Sav or Sabrina Rossi are.” Marco thought about it for just another moment. Weighing out everything was giving him a headache.

Then, suddenly, as if everything was blacked out, Marco heard the door close. Well, saying it just closed was an understatement. The loud vibration it sent through the air was loud enough to stop all mild chatter. It, at the very least, stopped Marco from ranting on and on about someone who, he knew in the back of his mind, Sol didn’t like.

Looking around the room, first Marco’s eyes caught Kai’s and they both looked to the front - well, front for Kai and just to the left for Marco. It was then Marco saw the distinct lack of Sol’s cousin, Ella. “Whoa, where’s that sugarplum fairy cousin of yours disappear to?”

Impatient, Marco stood up, looking Dante's way. "Yo, Mossos! Where'd Ella go?!" Marco shouted clear across the room, sparing no one from his voice.

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

Forces that do not identify themselves often work in mysterious ways;
Only to show themselves at the right moment.

---

Despite everything that Ren had promised or might’ve lightly joked about, the feeling deep in his stomach that originated from his soul was already starting to surface. It seemed the closer he came to the temple - a series of unfortnate events that he himself wasn’t sure what the cause of - had visibly shown signs in both how pale his face was as well as the slow pace he took on. Raiko. It was hard for him because, one he really did want to see the shrine and didn’t want to disappoint Ren, but he knew if he went closer, he’d come to regret it.

Oh well. Raiko did a lot of things that weren’t in his best interest.

When they had reached the temple, Raiko’s nausea aside, it was quite the beautiful sight to behold. Much like the journey to the hilltop where the shrine was located at, the view from this high up was the kind of sight that really made him appreciate the little things that this world had to offer. Even amid the storm, there was a true beauty to the shrine under the light of the gods. Not that Raiko actually believed in all that, but even he couldn’t deny there was actually some truth to what the Priests and Priestesses believe in.

While Ren was talking to the elder about ...something, Rai took a seat, admiring the view. The village, the crop squares, and lastly, the Serpent Mountains overlooking everything looked like something out of an ink painting. All of what he saw in front of him just appeared to be all in place. Nothing was out of sync with each other. The storm coming provided a nice element of chaos to the order of Seiki and the neighboring lands. Whether or not this storm that was coming was going to last for more than the remainder of the day remained to be seen. For now, Raiko would take it all in before he physically couldn’t.

At some point, Ren had joined him, or called him over; truth be told, Rai wasn’t sure which it was. All he knew was that he and Ren were inside the temple on the elder’s advice they spend the night at the temple. He knew it was rude to decline an open invitation to wait out the storm. And as much as he would like to say no, he couldn’t think of any logical reason that would excuse him. In the end, his inward debate between the part of him that wanted to stay for Ren’s sake and the part of him that wanted to jet because it would be the self-serving thing to do, he simply couldn’t side with the latter part of him. Sometimes being the good friend that he was often had its downsides.

Before they’d head inside the shrine, Ren said something to Rai that caught him off-guard, which didn’t happen often. Rai was usually the one to say such things to her, one could imagine how Raiko was genuinely taken by surprise by her words. It garnered such an uncharacteristic response from him that his reply was delayed."Oh, uh - I mean--" And too late to respond as they were rushed inside by Elder Tanaka.

Raiko took a seat next to Ren, which was opposite to Tanaka herself. He felt the feeling from before crawl up his skin from his hips and all the way up his spine, latching onto his skin, causing him to be antsy and, to Tanaka, somewhat paranoid. He kept looking over his shoulder, smacking his back as if he felt ants crawling on him. He was itching his arms and legs and back and neck, unable to sit still no matter what he tried. It was like everything around him - at least to the half-demon - was trying to get him. This didn’t help his case when he was doing it in front of the Elder Tanaka.

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

---

And here Rai was actually looking forward to beating her in some more races around the village. He did have to admit that going to the southern shrine was an appealing venture to him. It was rare that he traveled south. The only time that he did that was when he was forced to go that way to pick up some herbs for when he hurt himself too much, though there was always this part of him that never liked going there. It wasn’t as though he felt like he was unwanted, but there was a certain feeling that he got in the deepest parts of his soul about the shrine that never really did sit well with him. All that aside, Raiko never was one to say no to a challenge. If he got queasy, then he’d just let Ren carry him. She’d be into that, right?

Just as Raiko was going to give her some kind of reaction to her suggestion, there wasn’t any time. Without so much as a warning or a little comment, Ren had taken off, smiling no less, south of the village where Elder Tanaka resided when she was performing her High Priestess duties. Raiko was able to catch up to her, but this was less about actually racing to it but more about enjoying the journey there. The surroundings were different than the forest. South of the village was where the crops were all growing and the beauty the squares of water and green spread throughout was magical to witness. The rising storm in the distance was a downer and the winds were certainly picking up, but that wasn’t enough to stop Rai from enjoying the scenery.

“So, just so you know, my stomach gets tossy-turny whenever I go near the shrine. So, if I pass out, you’re gonna have to carry me!” Rai said with a gleeful smile as he ran past Ren, leaving her in his dust.

Yu Yu Hakusho - The New Agency

---

"Well, so much for that."

Jaakuna was curing himself somewhat silently, watching how his Spirit Stars were easily dealt with by the demon in front of them. This demon, who Jaakuna was sure was above his and the rest of Team Slacker's pay grade posed a difficult situation for the trio. They were the only ones who answered the calling of the odd demonic signature. Jaakuna was the one who attacked and they saw how that ended up. So there was definitely a need for an alternate strategy than just one-at-a-time attacks. Attacking as a team seemed like the best scenario.

As the idea became the dominant thought in Jaakuna's often empty mind, he would notice that Ayame, after she said some pretty amazing words to the demon that got Jaakuna hyped up and officially made him recognize her as the leader of Team Slacker (for now), she then did the exact opposite she said they should do and that was to take care and hot rush into anything.

"Eh, since when were we the careful team?" JAakuna joked as he cocked his head to the side.

Following suit, he charged his spirit energy in his palms, this time knowing that just four wouldn't do. If he really was going to have a real attempt of potentially damaging the Demon, Jaakuna would need to up his game. Consciously making that decision, Jaakuna produced an array of his Celestial SPirit Stars. There was about three times the amount previous. And as he saw a big-eared person come down from the rooftops, Jaakuna would send his attack forth.

"Celestial Spirit Stars: Barrage!" He shouted, commanding the twelve spirit stars to fire at the demon in a barrage-styled energy attack.

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

The early bird gets the worm; the late flower gets the dirt

---

“Yeah but your reaction would’ve been worth it,” Rai teased Ren, giving her a cheeky grin.

Rai stayed hanging upside down, simply watching Ren as she carefully gathered the rest of the cherry blossoms that she was originally doing before he decided to spook her. Even though it would’ve been hilarious to see her fall down, Rai was glad she didn’t, though she wouldn’t have been in any real danger. Rai was quick and nimble and was in the perfect position to catch her if she fell out of the tree. She should’ve known by now that, should she fall down, Rai would be there to always catch her. Around him, though it might seem like it to others, she was in the right hands.

An entertained smirk suddenly replaced his cheeky grin as Ren wanted to race to the village. He allowed her to get a few yards ahead of him before he allowed his legs to free-fall his body down the tree. After that, he swung himself off the branch closest to the ground and glided in the air until he would use his stealth and other means to make his own way to the village. These sorts of races they did were only one of the many reasons why the two of them got along so well. And they also were the only two in their age group in the village who weren’t training to be priestesses and demon hunters. Rai would never follow down that path for as long as he lived.

Rai had jumped across the building in the shadows, taking him clear across the village. He ended up on the roof of the Ito family’s home. He had landed with about half of a minute before he saw Ren arrive, seemingly looking around for him. But one thing that couldn’t be ignored was the storm gathering over the mountains. It had gotten so bad that it no longer was contained to the mountain range. The grassland that separated the Serpent Mountains and Seiki Village were no longer completely visible. About a quarter of it had lost availability from sunshine and was covered by darkness.

“It won’t be long until it reaches Seiki,” Rai noted causally, loud enough for Ren to hear him. “We’ll have to be ready for anything.”

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

I'm thinking Rai's abilities will all be -skin based. (IE Shadow Skin allows invisibility for a limited amount of time).

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

Pranks are best done from the shadows.

---

As he traveled through the village, saying hello to the villagers as he passed them by, they never seemed to judge him despite the fact that he was a half-demon. They found out long before Rai knew it himself. Even if he had feelings, growing up without any memory of where his real parents were, who they were, what kind of demons they were, there had always been something that tugged at Raiko, pushing him into the direction of his demonic heritage. But, he had been too afraid to seek out those answers. In Seiki, nobody looked at him differently. Fear and hatred ruled the land and in it were demonphobes, the kind of people who, without even knowing them, they would treat them unfairly. However, that wasn’t the case in Seiki. Here, Rai felt safe. Despite his pranking nature and how, on occasion, he would mistreat some of the animals and annoy some of the more rigid members of Seiki Village, in the end, his antics didn’t matter. In the end, Rai was loved and respected. The villagers would die for him and he for them.

The wind passed though Rai’s silver hair as he soared through the forest that separated him from the village. He preferred to live close to the forest and the rigid villagers did as well. The thing that he loved most about the amount of trees near Seiki was how easy he found it to hop from one tree branch to the other, effortlessly hopping and gaining traction and speed as his nimble form traveled freely through the open air. Though, he did come to a stop about a few rows of tall trees away from the village. This particular tree he stopped at gave him the perfect view of Ren, who was picking some cherry blossoms.

Time to have some fun.

Rai snickered as he would continue to the village. Right before he entered it, he activated his preferred method of sneaking around: his Shadow Skin, a special demonic ability that allowed him to temporarily blend in with any surroundings by manipulating his demonic energy to appear invisible. He couldn’t maintain it for that long, though he knew that based off of the distance between where he was at the moment of activating it and where the tree was, he knew he could make it in time.

And so he was off. His body blended into the background of the village and he zipped past all villagers. Quickly he scaled the tree. Fortunately for him, any shaking he caused could easily be explained by the wind that had picked up due to the cloud over Serpent Mountains. As soon as he was in the tree, as silently as Rai could, he was just a few feet above Ren. Placing his legs perfectly on the branch, like a bat, he dropped down to where he was upside down to Ren’s upright form. He achieved this at the right moment because his Shadow Skin had faded.

As soon as it did, he was visible and he let his sudden appearance do all of the talking.

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

Okay, so yes, Raiko is for sure aware that he is a half demon but he isn't aware of what kind of who his parents are or what type of demon he is. This, I think, will provide for some nice reveals later down the road. But, I do think on some level he be aware of it. All I know is that, for his demonic abilities, he will kind of just know it. Like, he won't be able to tell you who his father is or if he is a dragon demon or whatever, but there'll be this part of him that will just know.

As for Ren being aware, I'll leave that up to you. If you wish to have her aware or not, that's entirely up to you.

For the villagers, I actually want them to know and to accept him because the meaning of "seiki" is sanctuary. I think this would be one of those villages where they take care of their own. In that, it would mean they don't care if Raiko is a demon or not. He grew up as one of them and despite his demonic nature, he is one of them. For better or worse, he has sanctuary within Seiki.

And yeah, at his current age, Rai is still very early in his power development. So if something were to happen where he would use them, it could potentially result in something bad for those on the opposite end. >:]

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

As they say, let the show begin! @QueenofWands

Shrouds of Hatred | | Tundra ♦ QueenofWands

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

And when light shines upon the darkness, a greater evil than hate is illuminated.

The shrouds of hatred will forever sink into the beings' heart until it is no more.

---

Long ago before there was fear and tensions among the many demon races - and the many tribes - within the land and the humans with whom they share the vast grasslands and mountains and seas with, there was a form of a truce between the two races. Though they didn’t get along to the point they’d be able to live side-by-side to one another, they had an agreement for which they would stay out of each other’s way. The humans wouldn’t knowingly venture into their territory without any just cause and the demons would not feast upon the humans. It was a great practice in theory.

Yes, in theory. Unfortunately, the demons - specifically their rulers - eventually betrayed the treaty and soon wars between Demonkind and humankind had been declared. Over the years, battles were waged, resulting in over 5000 deaths on both sides. Innocent lives were lost because the anger and fear of both races couldn’t be put on the back burner to fortify something much stronger and effective than pure hatred for one another.

And whether or not it was originally intended, the recent attacks from the demon tribes from the north on the humans of Seiki Village - a village that’s just twenty miles of open grass from the home village of one Raiko.

Raiko was one of those guys who often got into some trouble when left unsupervised for a certain amount of time. Growing up in the Seiki Village, he was always a troublemaker, though he did have a good heart. There had been moments for Raiko when he had started to feel out of place in Seiki. What bothered him most was that he started to have dreams just about a year ago. They felt strange to him because they had him older and wiser, only he was among the demons. He had no idea why, but there was something so familiar about it. The worst of it all were that these dreams became more frequent and recurring as the days went by. It was only last night did he have a clear picture of what he was experiencing.

In a word? Death.

Rai stepped out of the hut just outside the village that he lived at and looked south towards the Serpent Mountains. He noticed there was a dark cloud gathering. “So, it’s that time already,” Rai sighed.

Whenever dark clouds gathered, it was the universal sign that demons and humans were fighting. Surprisingly, Rai could smell it. The half-demon might not have been able to catch certain things, but the smell of demons within a few miles was so putrid that he had no problem picking it up. It was the strength of the odor that often led him to vomit. But nevermind that, he had a lot more important things to focus on. The black, omnious cloud aside, today was going to be the day that Rai would get Ren back for that prank she failed to fall for yesterday. That was where his mind was at.