[align=center][fancypost borderwidth=0;width:450px;text-align:justify;text-transform:lowercase;][size=8][font=verdana]/ slight tw for body horror i suppose? nothing too major :> this is just a small piece of backstory t b h.
1222 words
ic replies are alright if wanted!!
The child can presently be seen seated outside, gazing at the snow as it falls in dispersed flakes and occasionally reaching out a paw to try to catch one on it before it melts into his fur. He is evidently distracted, though, as he isn't paying much attention to his surroundings and looks vague somehow. It's true - his mind is wandering off. He has found himself awash in thoughts of how things used to be. This is rare; his past, or at least his childhood, isn't something he tends to think about, and truth be told, he doesn't remember it very clearly. His memories of his life before the clans are...segmented, and sparse. While some things jut out vividly in his mind, others are hazy and there are gaps, too. He's in Tokyo. Ah, yes, he remembers Tokyo very clearly. The bustle of the residents going about their daily life, the sight of the city lights being reflected and blurred on the streets. He recalls that the amount of humans there had been staggering; he had weaved through legs and had mostly tried to keep out of their way. But there had also been a large amount of...other creatures. Creatures with souls, creatures like his current clanmates who had been able to communicate with him. The city had been buzzing with activity from all living things residing within it, and had been so densely populated.
Yes, he's in Tokyo. He's walking in stride with his boyfriend, having momentarily staggered in order to continue on walking perfectly in sync with him. He and Ruki had met by chance but had quickly formed a pact to stick together. They are both runaways, after all. Euphemia from his birthplace of the Exiles, the other from his gang roots. They had crossed paths...yes, when Euphemia had found himself lost in the endless streets of the city. The dark feline's gaze had narrowed; the alabaster's had widened in surprised. They had commenced their friendship there and then, one using biting sarcasm and the other mostly nodding or shaking his head, painfully shy. They had then evolved to something else. Who had confessed to who first is a blur in his mind. He is smiling up at Ruki as the other continues to walk with his gaze fixed straight ahead and his confidence plastered on his face. He admires him precisely for the fact that so unflinching and bold, yet seemingly innately caring. Neither one of them knows where they are going, they are just...going. This is a ritual for the duo. They find shelter for perhaps a day or two, and then they hit the road again. It almost seems that their true goal is to see all there is to see in the beautiful city.
"Hey, 'Mia, you see that?" Ruki's gaze finally turns to meet Euphemia's and the kitten forces his expression to sober, trying to wipe the look of awe off of his face. His gaze follows the direction his partner's foreleg is pointing in to see a tall construction in the distance - dark orange and towering above all of the other buildings. His mouth parts into a small 'o' shape of wonder and he quickly signs a response. [i]Will we go there? he gestures. Sign language; Ruki had been the one to teach him how to communicate without saying a single word. He has never spoken to his boyfriend before, only signed. "Yeah. I've been there before, but I gotta take you there. That's the Tokyo Tower; an important tourist attraction," the other explains with a brief smile as punctuation. He then straightens and glances both ways. "Follow me and stay close, alright?" Without waiting for a response, he starts making his way around any people standing on the streets, Euphemia following his every step. The journey past this is not engraved in his memory, but he does remember what happens shortly afterwards.
"What's this?" Somewhere along the way, Ruki becomes distracted and starts changing direction to walk towards an unknown attraction, through an abandoned allyway. Euphemia is confused for a long moment, merely standing still as people walk past him, but despite being bemused he follows after his companion to halt in front of a large wooden doll, just lying in the ally - completely abandoned. The obsidian male seems transfixed by it, not so much as looking up as he joins him. For a long moment, the pair just stand there staring down at it; Ruki seeming to be lost in thought and Euphemia is silently wishing that they would move on, uncomprehending of the interest in the toy. Finally, the former tears his gaze away from it and looks over at Euphie, some reluctance in his voice as he speaks up. "You want it?" In response, the ghoul shakes his head - this seems to be a relief for Ruki, who hastily picks up the doll, holding it near his face to inspect it further. The feline waits patiently for his boyfriend to be ready to continue on their way to the tower, but it quickly becomes obvious that something is wrong.
He sees the other suddenly stiffen, dropping the figure back to the ground with wide eyes. Everything from there happens quickly; so much so that he can't remember all the details. Ruki gags and viscous blood escapes his mouth, spat out onto the streets. "It's cursed," he hears him choke, his voice thick from the blood. Euphemia watches in horror as he kicks the doll away from both of them before he keels over and continues vomiting blood, more than the child has ever seen. But it's not just from his mouth - from his eyes, everywhere, so much of it. His memory may be exaggerating the horror and abnormality of the scene, but to the meek eyes of the child it's boundlessly disturbing. Ruki's paws turn black and start crumbling, resulting in him crashing to the ground, unable to support himself, and it's now that the Xerses starts to cry both out of horror and fear. He's unsure what to do - no, he's unable to do anything - as the other disintegrates into blood and dust. He just stands there and watches, screaming and weeping through his panic. Somewhere in the distance, the Tokyo Tower lights up.[/i]
Euphemia shakes his head to clear his thoughts, blinking at his surroundings as though awakening from a trance. He...ah, he had accidentally let his thoughts complete capture him, hadn't he? All of that...it's one of the few memories he can recall in such detail. Traumatic? Certainly. He never had made it to Tokyo Tower; he hadn't wanted to go without Ruki, although these days he wishes he could have seen it. Ultimately, this event had been enough to spur him to return to the clans. Losing his companion...there hadn't been much left for him in that city. If he had been more willful, perhaps he would have instead tried to search for whoever had set down the cursed doll - that's what he'd do these days. The feline hums noncommittally and sticks out his tongue to let a snowflake melt on it, a feeble attempt to cheer himself up after thinking back to something that had proved to be so horrific for him. He looks a little anxious, though, as he plays in the snow.[/fancypost]
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