songerein | i'm a new soul; [open]

Entry tags:

i'm a new soul; [open]

Who: Ryu and open!
Which: Depends on prompt!
Where: In Reverein and in dreams!
What: Ryu's shopping and reading! He's also dreaming!
Warnings: Childlike idiocy? Also mention of (child) death, destruction, and general violence in the dream portion.

attention shoppers

Ryu has gone shopping before, but mostly for supplies. Now that he has his own place (at the insistance of a few other people) he has to shop... for the house. This is a kind of shopping he's never had to do before, so when he steps into several stores he feels a bit overwhelmed. You might find him peering curiously at a coffee table as he wonders why people need a whole table for one beverage, or perhaps you might find him staring at a broom, trying to figure out how to hold it... not like a sword. He's never had to clean up after himself in that kind of way, so he has no idea how to use it.

It's not his fault - he's mostly slept either outside or in inns his entire existence. He knows he has to be responsible, but he's just not sure how

learn me a book

Or perhaps you'll find him at the Tree of Stories, sitting and trying to read out a book. He's reading out loud, so it's not hard to find him - though the book he's reading appears to be made for children. ... He's still having trouble with it nonetheless, but he's forging on regardless. His brow is furrowed in concentration as he tries to get through some of the harder words. Should someone approach him he'll look up and smile a little bashfully.

"S - sorry. Was I being too loud?"

He was trying not to - he doesn't want to be inconsiderate! But he's been told that reading things out loud is one of the best ways to work out a word. ... And there's a lot of words he doesn't know.

that empty feeling

But not all of Ryu's time is spent awake. Some of it is spent asleep, and his dreams aren't exactly peaceful. No, this one in fact is quite awful - an empty feeling pervading the whole scene. And what a scene it is.

It's bodies, scattered across the ground in front of him. Close to a dozen of them, with one of them on the ground in front of Ryu. The area around him is foggy, though the remnants of a village seem to be beyond the fog. It's hard to make out anything though, and to those sensitive to nightmare or negative energy, the whole place smells (metaphorically) fishy.

Ryu, for his part, is kicking the corpse in front of him, growling at it. There's an answering growl from within the fog, but he doesn't seem to notice or care.

"Why? Why them?! Why this? Is this what you wanted when you wanted to capture me? Is this - is this what you wanted to get out of it?!" His voice is strained, as if he's been yelling at the dead man for a while. He doesn't seem to notice anyone initially - he's clearly more focused on whatever happened here.

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His bullet fragments had a necrotic effect to them, eating into flesh if it was there. They didn’t work on creatures made of magic or illusions, of course.

He was aware of the fire that was suddenly breathed at him, and before it could incinerate that area that he had previously been standing, he teleported in a swirl of black smoke to the other side of the dragon and discharged his shotguns as soon as he reappeared again.

Yet, he was already moving, not willing to immediately risk a sweep of that tail as he did what he could to annoy the dragon. It was clear that there wasn’t any advanced strategy for the beast at the moment, but he knew for a fact that one strike was all it would likely take to cause catastrophic damage.

The flesh was definitely there, and the necrotic damage would become a problem later - but not now. Not while it was still angry. It wasn't going to let this prey get away, even if it could move too fast for it to hit properly. Fine, then. It'd have to cover a larger area.

It reared back and lifted its mouth, opening it to cast a shower of blue lasers over the area. It would be difficult to keep out of it - at least as long as Reaper was in a corporeal form. Even still, the damage might hurt.

It didn't care what else might get obliterated in the area - corpses, the village, anything else... what mattered was attacking until it couldn't anymore.

Reaper could tell that the dragon was fully intending to kill him, and that was exciting. It had been a long time since he had felt the thrill of someone or something willing to actually put in the effort to kill him.

As the laser rained down, he dissolved into smoke and moved around the area, even going so far as to slip under the shadow of the dragon itself in case he had to reform early if the attack went a longer time than he could risk being in this form. If he stayed like this, the higher the risk of losing himself.

Suddenly, he pulled himself back together, noting the damage to the area. It was beautiful. "Are you going to let this mindless beast control you, boy? Put your heart into it."

"... heart..." The word rang in Ryu's mind, the monstrous dragon pausing for a moment before shaking its head in a huff. No. Hold onto the anger. That was all he - it? - it could do. It rushed towards the man, clearly enraged by his attempts to control the beast that was rampaging, going for just slamming its entire body weight down on the man.

Maybe he was fast enough. The beast was betting against him.

Reaper noted the reaction of the dragon, even pausing in discharging his weapons to see if the kid would actually take control back. That was the point of this exercise after all. However, it was a short-lived moment and the dragon came at him.

He moved to dodge from being crushed, but he took partial slamming before he disintegrated to smoke. He reformed a few meters later, shaking off the instant bruising and crush damage. It's fine. He'd had worse.

"Are you even trying, boy? Your dragon has you good and smothered it seems."

He was indeed trying, not that it was visible from the outside. Part of him struggled against the rage, but ultimately his lack of experience with intense emotions was holding him back. He tried to push through, but... nothing. No give in his emotion, and in a place like this he could likely hold out for a while.

It swiped at Reaper as he was trying to shake off the impact, growling and roaring as it kept trying to stab into him. Its jaws snapped as it lunged, eager to get the creature harrying it into a position where it would be unable to retaliate.

Reaper didn't mind that he couldn't see any efforts. He assumed the kid was either being subdued or was putting in some effort. Experience came with time, and he had no issue being a dream punching bag at this point. He just happened to be willing to be sassy about it as his way of encouragement.

He moved to dodge the sweep of claws, pushed backwards to avoid the snap of jaws. He was driven backwards, firing his shotguns at the dragon's face as he was forced to put his back to a half broken stone wall. Oh no, what would he do now that he was partially cornered? For now, he'd wait.

"Come on, boy."

Seeing the opportunity, the beast rushed at Reaper, flames sparking again in its mouth. It slammed down a claw, trying to pin the man down before releasing the fire it was holding in its mouth. Ryu screamed in frustration, leading the dragon itself to roar back - in anger, in pain, in sheer defiance.

He was trying. He was trying to fight it, but the anger... it was like a flood that washed away everything else.

The claw struck true, slamming him against the wall and pinning him there. His head tipped to stare at the open maw because he knew the flames were coming, and he had to time everything right or else he would become ashes. He needed to give the kid time to fight though, and the roar seemed indication that a fight was occurring.

Good. Even if there was no success this time, the fact that the boy fought was enough. In time, it would come along. More opportunities, more fights, more deaths for him but that was half the fun these days.

Reaper dissolved to smoke under that claw as the flames struck, feeling the heat through his clothing as his incorporeal form as he moved under the dragon's shadow. He reformed, but he was actually smoking, feeling the sting of burnt flesh. It was time to take a stand.

"You need more practice. Both of you do."

That was probably true, and Ryu would have to remember it later... but in the present he was still struggling to hold on. He could feel it, like a flame being smothered by a river. There was still a spark, but he couldn't, he couldn't -

It sniffed the air, trying to locate Reaper - there. It could feel something burning in its flesh, but instead of a pained response it tilted its head low. It rushed at the man, trampling over corpses like they were nothing - because to it they were. It wasn't sure what to do with an opponent like this - he just wouldn't stay still!

Moving was the only way to stay alive at this point, and he backed off as the dragon charged at him. He had to dive over the bulk of that serpentine body to avoid those jaws. He tossed his nearly empty shotgun aside to free up his hand.

"So big, so slow. Come on, dragon-boy, let's have a merry chase, shall we?"

Why would he discard his weapon? The beast was confused for a moment before rushing after Reaper again, trying to get to him - if it could just be a moment faster, a second swifter! It growled, teeth gnashing as it tried to follow along with the gunman. At the pace they were going they'd reach one of the ruined village's houses soon, and it didn't want to give its prey a chance to hide.

He had to jump and roll to the side to avoid those teeth, feeling the wind as he flowed back up to his feet. This beast was determined to kill him, which was good. He leaned closer so he could look the dragon momentarily in one eye.

"I know you have more than that." Whether he was talking to the dragon or the boy trapped inside he didn't care who took it that way.

The dragon roared in protest at him, but it was stumbling. The bullets were eating away at it more effectively than it would care to admit, if it could care about anything. The roar was weaker than before as it swiped out with its good limb.

The pain was starting to creep in, and for a moment it paused as Ryu attempted to rush back into control - only to be swept away again. How dare he? How dare this insect challenge a god? The dragon started slamming its claws into the ground, raining dirt and stone and rubble around it.

Well, well, was that... something? He noted that the dragon was seeming to have less strength and while his purpose wasn't to kill, he had to wonder if he was wearing the beast down enough that the kid could put up another fight. It was hard to tell, but he liked to think someone so used to losing control and killing everything would be fighting.

So he continued his onslaught even as he backed away to head to the ruins of the village. He could take cover there and then he would have the complete advantage. After all, he was an assassin for a reason and slipping in and out of the shadows was where his element was.

The ruins were mostly stone and a little wood, clearly left to rot after some sort of catastrophe. There were marks of recent activity - footprints that looked too fresh to be from when the village fell. Small footprints, to be precise.

But in any case the dragon rushed forward, stumbling on its bad limb. It continued to roar and smash into buildings, trying to find where the assassin had gone. It was made all the more difficult by the pain, but it didn't seem to be any less angry. If anything, it was now infuriated by the pain.

Oh this was going to be excellent. Reaper was positively jovial when he made it to the ruins because urban warfare was one of his strengths. At this point, the more frustrated he could make the dragon, the better it was. Clearly, the boy needed more practice, and he'd be more than happy to let that happen, so now he was all about antagonizing the dragon.

Stone and wood shattered as he moved through the ruins, slipping in and out of shadows and actually laughing mockingly. "Come on, big boy, you couldn't kill me on open ground, so you definitely can't kill me in an urban setting. Give up and go home."

It stumbled further, trying to catch where the man was by scent. But the village was confusing, his scent being masked by a growing stench of death and decay - and the Kaiser was not the most intelligent of beasts. Its cries started turning from anger towards ones of frustration and sadness.

Inside, Ryu was still fighting, trying to gain control. His will wasn’t exactly weakening, but he was growing tired - and the smell of what was left of the villagers was distressing him further. He had to gain control, had to get a handle on this… but the pain was starting to get to be too much for the form to hold.

The dragon slammed into another building, looking for the shadowy man… and then flickered for a moment. It groaned, letting out a pained cry before finally falling over and lying on its good side. It flickered once, twice, three times… before leaving Ryu lying there in the rubble, his face stained with tears. The young man curled up and closed his eyes, shaking a little bit.

There was definitely a difference being in the ruins of the city, and Reaper was in his element as he skipped around buildings and teleported around at will as the dragon raged about. It wasn't even worth shooting at this point, letting that frustration grow.

And when the beast became diminished, Reaper emerged from a half collapsed building to approach the body of the boy. Finally. He tapped a shotgun against his thigh as he watched the boy. "So you've returned. We'll practice again, boy. It looks like you need it."

He looked up, blearily trying to take in what happened. He remembered most ofo if it, but not... everything. He remembered pain, so much pain... but at least he was brought out of it.

"I do." Sitting up, he brushed some of the dirt off of himself. "There's something... unstable about it. Like it should be able to be controlled, but it... can't."

He nodded his head, accepting that the kid was probably going to need to ponder all of this. After all, he hadn't died in this little outing. It was almost disappointing, but he knew for the best as he didn't want to upset his significant other.

"You may have to employ different means to control it over time. I expect you'll have a better sense once you let the dragon out of the bag a few more times in a controlled setting like this."

"Mm." He stood slowly, trying to keep himself steady. "I might. I just... want to make sure I don't actually hurt anyone. I... would hate it if I did. I've already hurt enough people."

Physically, yes. But also emotionally. He doesn't want to hurt people anymore, so... maybe in dreams is the way to go.

"Um. Thank you, by the way."

Reaper made no effort to help the boy up; to be fair, he wasn't certain that the kid would get up before fading from this dreamscape to simply sleep. He expected there had to be some kind of mental toll for this exercise, and he intended for them to have many more in the future to see where the limits of this dragon was.

"Hurting people is a fact of life, boy. It's about minimizing the damage that you cause and knowing when you're in the wrong. If you learn to master this, you'll hurt fewer." It was ironic coming from him, a man who never apologized even when it was his fault, even when he knew it was.

"Oh, this was nothing. I didn't even die," he remarked. "We'll be in touch, boy. For now, you can have a break." He tossed his shotguns on the ground carelessly, knowing they would fade to black smoke and come back to him eventually.

The area around them grew a bit foggier, the clouds closing in on the pair. "I'm trying, but... it's like a storm. A force of nature. I don't know how I'm supposed to ride out that sort of thing, let alone control it."

He looked over the man and nodded. Distinctive. He was sure he'd see the other again. The shotguns tossed on the ground intrigued him, but his mind grew foggier by the second. "Try not to die. It's not exactly a good thing."

"If that's the case, you need to learn to ride along with the storm and not let it overwhelm you. You crest with each wave, you move with each blow of wind, you endure. Then you'll find some success." Yes, this kid was interesting enough and that dragon was dangerous enough that he definitely wanted to engage again.

The shotguns sat unmoving for a time before dissolving into black smoke that curled and wisped to come back to his legs, seemingly absorbed. "Boy, that's been the last four decades of my life. You learn to love the adrenaline that comes from near death experiences."

He turned away from Ryu and waved a dismissive hand as he walked away. "I'll come visit again. Learn to endure the storm."

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