>`Ice`<

[Anonymous]

Drejan looked up at the sudden shriek. He watched the woman march up to Kiho, and would have intervened, only Aoko got to it first. The grin on his face quickly dropped as Aoko then insulted the woman, and adding insult to injury, turned and pretty much dismissed her by walking off.
Uh, wait...
That could come back to bite them in the ass later...

Sighing, Drejan just shook his head and returned to the task of writing the runes on his new clothes. He was pretty close to being done, too.
He laughed as he caught poor Kiho with her tail caught in her new clothing, but at this distance and angle, couldn't yet see Aoko's bleeding wrist.

It was then that fate did indeed come back to bite them in the ass.

The haughty woman returned with two large bodyguard-types. Obviously she was someone of importance (or she just felt important...and rich). In any case, she was still royally ticked off, and was intent on making Kiho, and now Aoko, pay.
"Those two little wenches, there." She pointed a ring-encrusted hand at Aoko and Kiho, and the men started forward.
Drejan sighed.
Good grief...

(lol, I commandeered your npc...hope you don't mind!)

[Anonymous]

(don't mind at all. =D)

Aoko looked at them, vaguely as the shackle-like bangle began to vibrate viciously on her wrist, blood trickling down her arm in rivulets as the claws on her right hand, the arm that wasn't shackled, started to grow. Aoko's body spasmed, hurling her forward as her jaw ached.

"D-don't... don't come near me!" Aoko growled, Kiho backing away.

The bodyguards ignored Aoko, thinking it was some twisted act, but as soon as they touched Aoko she bit one on the shoulder, her teeth penetrating as she fought, clawing at the one, her eyes vibrant and tinted red. The veins along her face and neck bulged as she writhed, soon ontop of the one bodyguard, her mouth on his neck, fangs she hadn't to the beginning of everything were pressed hardly against his neck.

"Step back!" Kiho wailed, "If you don't she'll wind up killing him! Just do it!" Kiho told them pleadingly.

Aoko yelped and scrambled back spastically, holding her left wrist aloft as blood trickled down her hand and off her fingers. Aoko's bloodied right hand clutched at her face, as she returned to normal but the woman and bodyguards left - probably to bring back more.

"We have to get out of here," Kiho said, kneeling beside Aoko.

"The suppressers ... don't work... right here..." Aoko gasped, knelt on the floor.

[Anonymous]

Drejan jumped up at the sudden violence that sprouted out of Aoko with little warning. She was on one of the men in an instant, ripping at his neck in a way that could only say she wanted to kill him, to spill his blood without heed.
Oh.crap.

He was at their side in an instant, knowing full well that one holy pile of hell waited them outside. He remembered that woman from the gambling incident. She had been a big bet-er, and she had plenty more guards where those two came from.
Without much explination, he put his new tunic over Aoko's upper body in a rush, and then stripped his old one and placed it on Kiho. This left him in his old tunic pants, and the wrappings, his chest again bare and causing the air to chill.
He picked Aoko up with little effort, careful of her bare flesh, his tunic protecting her from his own skin, the pair of new tunic pants thrown over her arms so that they wouldn't freeze against his stomach.
"This is going to get ugly..." He grimaced, dashing for the door. "Come on little one!"

He burst outside, and hissed through his teeth at what lay ahead of him. The lady was there in force. Her other guards had been outside the entire time. Craaaap.
"You...you! You demon! Beast! You killed him! You killed him!!" She screamed in a high pitch voice, pointing one long-nailed finger at Aoko.
Drejan ignored this and grinned at the woman, waving. "Heya, remember me?" He then set Aoko down, his left arm still around her, and took the edge of the wrappings of his right hand in his mouth, unwrapping his hand with a yank.
"I would highly suggest you all backoff."

The woman, flush-faced, was gritting her teeth. "Just get them!!"
The men rushed forward, but that was quickly put to a stop as Drejan slammed his hand against the earth, causing large sheets of ice to suddenly sprout up a few feet ahead of them, creating a large shield in front of them.
He flinched however, the cut on his side reoppening just enough to start bleeding once again.
He needed more water...
Ugh, what crappy luck he was having.
"You see? I'm not kidding. I'll turn you into an iceberg if you don't back off."
Now there was some food for thought for them to chew over, eh?

[Anonymous]

They, she, didn't have much time to comprehend the situation. Drejan alreayd had tehm, and her wrist felt like it was going to be severed, the shackle constricting and grinding into her, chewing at her sensitive skin. Maybe... they'd have been better off in Gaieartet. Then... then this would have never happened, right? And they wouldn't be causing so much trouble for Drejan... or anyone else...

Aoko cradled her arm to her, barely aware of what was going on, her body spasming every so often. When she touched the ground, her muscles convulsed, and she locked up before shaking and trembling and her muscles released. She was panting hard. It hurt... it hurt...

Kiho held onto Nan, petting and tearing up, eyes welled up. She whimpered and looked at Drejan pleadingly. "We have to go!" Kiho looked at Aoko, and then touched her own shackle around her ankle. They had to leave... They had too!

Kiho began to wonder if they would have stayed back in Gaieartet. None of this would have happened. None of it. They... How did this ever happen? Weren't the shackles supposed to prevent this? Weren't they supposed to be extremely powerful? Because of this world was it eroding the shackles very powerful? Or was it only dulled?

[Anonymous]

Drejan nodded at Kiho. "Yeah, I know, I know." Easier said than done. He didn't really want to get chased around all day.
The ice melted after his hand had been away from the earth for awhile. The group of tough men were staring wide-eyed and nervous at Drejan, wondering whether or not this was such a hot idea.
Drejan gave them a glare with his icy eyes, hopeing the lady would have the brains to call her thugs off and just let it be.

The lady opened and closed her mouth a few times, before finally drawing up the rest of her dignity and speaking. "Leave them boys, those girls most certainly aren't worth it. Let's go." With a huffy turn, she stiffly marched off, her thugs following after with a few glances back.
Drejan rolled his eyes, sighing. "What a pain...idiots..." He mumbled after them, then, picking Aoko back up, turned and dashed for the inn, ignoring his now bleeding side.
Once inside, he rushed up the stairs to their room.
"Alright, hurry and open the door Kiho."

[Anonymous]

Kiho immediately opened the door and when he set Aoko on the bed she sat at the edge.

"Aoko! Aoko!" Kiho cried, touching Aoko's tail and then pulling at Aoko's ears, trying to hold her down whenever Aoko's body twisted.

Kiho stroked Aoko's tail, hugging Aoko all the while. Anything to remind Aoko that she could calm down, anything. But it was hard - it was always hard getting through. Her body was still rigid, and she still had vague traces of claws. Kiho whimpered, holding her still until Aoko returned to normal - err - calmed down, physically.

"Aoko, can you hear me? Aoko? Aoko!" Kiho said to her sister, who was staring off at the ceiling, barely a response, not even a twitch of her ear.

Kiho grabbed Aoko's wrist, before running off to grab the towel from their bath, and wiping the blood off. Kiho looked at the shackle - it was beginning to loosen it's teeth on her wrist. Kiho sighed and wiped as much blood from it as she could. She touched Aoko's tail again, her eyes returning to normal as they eyed Kiho.

"I-I..." Aoko stuttered.

"Don't talk!" Kiho stroked Aoko's tail some more. "It'll be fine, you can talk and apologize all you want later. The suppresser hasn't loosened yet," Kiho murmured.

"She's asleep..." Kiho sighed heavily and looked at Drejan. "I'm sorry...."

[Anonymous]

Drejan's bare torso was making the air colder, but with the two of them wearing his tunic tops, it wasn't as noticable. His unwrapped right hand was holding the reopened cut on his side, trying to stem the bloodflow.
He watched as Kiho brought Aoko around, a worried frown on his face.
There was obviously something here he was missing. There was more to these two than met the eye, apparently.

"It's alright. Look after her. But I expect an explination later." He wobbled a bit. "But for now, I'm going...to go take a bath." He stumbled a bit on his way to the bathroom door, finding himself far weaker than he had thought he was.
The door shut behind him, and shortly thereafter the sound of running water filled the silence. Drejan filled up the old tub before turning the tap off and shedding his wrappings and pants.
As soon as he sunk into the tub, the water froze solid around him, and he sighed.
Much, muuuch better.

[Anonymous]

Kiho glanced back at Drejan. She sighed. Kiho rubbed off the blood, and when Aoko fell asleep, she pulled at the shackle, opening it. It revealed her torn wrist. The teeth on the inside of the shackle, meant to dig into her skin as it constricted, made thousands of pinpricks, blood blooming, small gashes all along Aoko's wrist.

Kiho patted off the blood, and went downstairs quick to talk to the man behind the counter. He awarded her with some bandages and she came back up, wrapping Aoko's abused wrist.

When Aoko finally started coming around, it was about an hour later. Kiho, by then, had even washed the shackle, freeing it of blood and pieces of skin that had been torn off. Kiho had cried quite a few times, her sister's blood not boding well. Aoko sat up and looked at the shackle, holding it in her right hand lightly.

"I'm very sorry, Kiho... We should have left right after that incident. It had already started then... I'm very sorry," Aoko said, head bowed, mumbling.

"We have to find someone who can renew the spell. Or make a new one. It's... just.." Aoko sighed, wiping her eyes.

How stupid. It had been her own fault and she was going to cry because of it. She had to be the one who didn't cry - if only for Kiho's sake. She glanced around the room, her shoulders slouched forward. Very gingerly, Aoko snapped the shackle back around her wrist, wincing sharply.

[Anonymous]

Drejan was quite happily sitting in the self-made block of ice. The tub was frosty on the outside, and the room itself was chilling considerably. The mirror had frosted over, the entire room gone misty with a sort of icey fog.
This mist began to come out from under the door as well, alerting Aoko and Kiho that something strange was going on in the bathroom.

It didn't used to be like this...he used to be able to touch people, things. It hadn't started when he became an ice sprite. No, it happened well after the fact. He hadn't known about his restrictions and abilities when he had been reborn, and had learned them the hard way.
He had neglected to use his ice powers for an extended period of time, until the pressure of it all literally forced it from his body, scarring him forever. After that, he could not touch anything without freezing it. Luckily, he seemed to have some strange knowledge of magick runes to help. Must have come with the whole being reborn thing...or something.
In any case, he had suffered with it for awhile now, and it didn't hinder him as much as it once had.
Though he knew he was going to have to get out soon before he foze the room solid...

[Anonymous]

Aoko pointed to the bathroom door, and Kiho turned blinking as she saw the mist. She padded towards it - it was chilly. She knocked on the door timidly and swatted at the mist playfully. She giggled and wagged her tail through it, giggling.

"Whatcha doin'?" Kiho asked through the door, although more preoccupied with the mist.

Aoko blinked - what was going on? Today was just a crazy, crazy, crazy day. Aoko laid down and rested her right arm over her eyes. Really, she wished this was all a dream. Everything. But where would wishing get her? No where. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. She felt... sleepy...

Through her mind's own fog, she wondered what the mist was, and why was Kiho giggling? She was so happy... It was so distant... Her mind was already in a dream, or a memory, locked away.

Kiho sat outside the door, blowing at the mistiness, shivering when she got a chill. She hoped Drejan was okay. But it was so fun... But it'd be bad if he wasn't okay. Maybe he was fine now. She bet he was, with his whole ice thing and all... But what could the mist actually be from?

[Anonymous]

Drejan grinned to himself as he heard Kiho giggling outside the door. He turned, the ice easily cracking and flowing around his body, as though it were nothing more than slush. He could see her shadow by the crack in the door.
"Apparently providing something for your amusement." Was his response. Feeling empowered, Drejan placed his fingers on the floor and let a line of ice shoot off for the door.
As it appeared beneath the crack in the door, it rose up, beginning to take form. First it was a lovely, delicate rose, which turned slowly into a butterfly, flapping its wings. From that, it turned into a fairy with a smiling face and little butterfly wings of her own. All this made of ice, still attatched to that original trail on the bathroom floor.

[Anonymous]

Kiho was giddy with laughter, watching the mist. And then her laughter turned into silence as she stared in awe at the ice. Her lower jaw dropped as she waved it. Her tail wagged slowly, her ears perked as she stared at it in amusement.

"...Wow... Amazing..." She mumbled. "Oooh! Nan! Lookit this!" She said as she picked up her squirrel, showing it the final product of the fairy.

Kiho giggled as she watched the fairy, pulling up her knees to her chest. She glanced to look at Aoko. She was already a sleep. That's a shame... She wanted to show her sister the fairy. Ah well. Maybe later she could get Drejan to do something similiar or something.

"I'v enever seen something so amazing..." Kiho mumbled again, still in a state of awe.

Her tail wagged happily behind her as she rested her chin on her knees, just looking at it. Wow! And he did all that with ice... It looked like some proffesional sculpture rather than just ice... And he didn't even have to chip away at it. He had it in -control-. It was his ability!

[Anonymous]

Closing his eyes, Drejan rested against the back of the tub, his fingers still on the floor, and let himself focus fully on the ice at the end of the trail. He could sense what was happening on the other side of the door through the ice, almost as if he could see through the fairy's eyes.

The fairy flitted its wings and appeared to take off, the ice trail following her, barely attatched to her feet as she flew around. Finally, she made her way to the bed, the ice trail falling away from her feet as she came over the bed, looking down at Aoko. She perched on Aoko's arm, the one currently slung over her eyes. Her cold little ice feet melted against the warmth of Aoko's skin, no longer held so firmly with Drejan's power.

[Anonymous]

Kiho had spun on her place on the floor to see what was going on. She grinned as she saw the fairy land Aoko's arm.

Aoko, at first, didn't feel it, until the coldness finally got through to her, and she felt the melted droplets slid down and hit her on the forehead. She moaned slightly, peeking from under her arm to see an.... what the HELL? An.. ice fairy? She stared at it, dumbfounded, then heard Kiho's giggling. She couldn't help it, and she burst into giggles.

"Drejan made it!" Kiho said through her giggles. "Isn't it pretty?"

She moved her arm slightly, laughing as she stared at it. Aoko's ears laid flat, her tail stiffening out beside her as she giggled fitfully. Kiho pounced on Aoko, and she 'umphed'. Kiho giggled and grinned. "Drejan's amazing," Kiho nodded her head vigorously, ears flapping up and down limply.

[Anonymous]

The ice fairy slowly melted away, and as it did so, the door to the bathroom opened. Drejan stepped out, again dressed in his old pants and the wrappings. "Amazing, eh?" He chuckled, arms crossed over his bare chest as the fairy completely melted.
He walked over to the side of the bed and grinned down at the two.
"Feeling better Aoko? Oh, and I'd like my clothes back please." He said, motioning to the tunic tops they both wore, and the pants trapped somewhere underneath Aoko.

He seemed in pretty high spirits, the cut no longer on his side. Overall he looked rejuvinated. "So, anyone care to explain what happened back there...?"
Of course, he also got the feeling that it might be a bit of a secret or something, so he wouldn't feel bad if he didn't get an answer.
He had his own secrets, after all.

[Anonymous]

"Clothes...?" Aoko blinked, then looked at Kiho and then herself. She blushed slightly and twisted slightly so Kiho wound up sliding off. She pulled off the tunic and caught a glimpse of Drejan's pants and tugged them from under herself.

Kiho handed his tunic back to him, laughing.

"I hope I didn't get any blood on any of it... I'm very sorry for causing so much trouble," Aoko said, bowing her head slightly.

Kiho sat, curling her tail around her as she sat beside Aoko and took a quick stroke along Aoko's tail, if only to cheer her sister up. When Aoko wasn't in such a troubled state, it was funny watching her ears perk, her face a mask of delight as her face flushed. Kiho threw herself backwards onto the bed, giggling.

"Hey! Cut that out! Don't touch my tail," Aoko said, pushing away her sister who rolled off the bed and landed on her feet, giggling.

When Aoko regained composure she rubbed the back of her head with her right hand. She mumbled something before sighing softly.

"These," she said, pointing at her shackle on her left wrist, "Suppress our berserker blood. In my species, there are some born from a certain line..." Aoko started before shaking her head.

"Ah. The previous emperor reinforced his Imperial Army, making them berserkers, pushing them to their limits, and making the best of their docters to make all sorts of things, so it'd change things about them.. It's said from thereon, any child that was from the Imperial Army had 'berserker' blood. The new emperor made everyone from those lines where these shackles to suppress it. I guess coming here made them less effective," Aoko sighed, touching the shackle lightly.

"But I'm really sorry... I didn't get blood on it at all, did I?" Aoko asked, looking at him worriedly.

[Anonymous]

He laughed and took the clothing back, putting the old tunic top on, since he had the old pants on anyway. The other two he tucked under his arm calmly, brushing some of his silver-white hair from his face.
"Nah, there's no blood on it. You're fine Aoko, it was no problem. Just livened up my day a bit is all." He assured her, smirking mildly. If anything, he blamed all this on some royal bad luck.
Really, really, really bad luck.

Drejan's light brow arched as he watched Kiho's little trick. His grin grew a bit more sly. "So that's what happens when you touch her tail. I'll have to remember that..." He laughed a bit, knowing that would probably get an interesting response, before listening to her explination.
Once all was said and done, he simply nodded.
"It's quite possible that their magick has been dulled. But it is also possible that this atmosphere could begin to dull your berserker blood too."
He rolled his shoulders, and then grinned a bit more normally at Aoko. "Don't worry about it, my clothes are fine. I'm glad you're alright though. Next time something like that happens, try to let me handle it. I don't mean to sound rude but, that seemed to hurt you alot, so..."
Sometimes he had trouble puting his caring into words.

[Anonymous]

He'd have to remember that? Of all things to remember! Aoko's ears had stood up and her tail had went rigid. "You don't have to remember a thing," she told him.

"Maybe. I hope so..." Aoko responded. Who knows? But she really didn't want to wait and see what'd happen if she tried to experiment. What a wonderful that'd be. Oh! Let's see how crazy I get, in this world, huh?!

"I know.. I just got a little stressed and... I know I didn't handle it very well, it's just..." Aoko sighed and laughed. "Forget it. It wont happen again," Aoko said, glancing at her wrist. "It could've been worse," Aoko said optimistically.

"ROAR," Kiho said, pouncing on Aoko, biting her sister's ear. "MMPH, GOTCHA," Kiho mumbled through a mouthful of ear, tail wagging spastically.

"Ack! My ear!" Aoko said, pushing at Kiho. "It wont come off!" Aoko said playfully, trying to pry Kiho's jaws off her ear.

[Anonymous]

Drejan laughed at her threatening words, knowing full well he wasn't going to forget about her tail just because she told him to. Besides, it might come in handy some time.
He sighed a bit, nodding at her next words. True, it could have been worse. And well, he couldn't deny that it hadn't been handled all that well. Didn't mean he had to agree though...
So he stayed silent.

The ice sprite couldn't help but laugh as Kiho pounced upon her sister, taking her ear firmly in her mouth. Drejan held up his free hand. "I'm not getting involved in this. I don't deal with crazy children." He joked, taking a step back from the bed.
Well, he supposed he could take this as a sign that Aoko was feeling better now at least.

(Lol, aaand I can't think of anything else ^_^;; )

[Anonymous]

Kiho giggled crazily, clinging to her sister like a leech. She was growling and her tail wagging, even pulling lightly at Aoko's hair. To them - this was play. Not with dolls or cute things like that, but biting and pushing and tugging and growling and acting like real puppies with eachother. Kiho tried to make a grab from Aoko's wagging tail but missed.

Aoko grabbed Kiho's sides and tickled her. Kiho tossed back her head with a shriek as she writhed but was thrown back onto the bed, her tail wagging. Kiho was laughing spastically, her face flushed red from being tickled so much.

"Haha! Nanana," Aoko said, sticking her tongue out at her sister and letting her go.

"Crazy, hm?" Aoko asked Drejan, laughing. She did seem alot better - she seemed more relaxed.

Kiho grinned and tumbled off the bed and crawled around the side to look at Drejan. And then she started barking at him. Aoko clapped her hands over her mouth, laughing. Who couldn't love her cute little sister, hm?