Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ]

| Xiao (Prince Cassian) |

Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ] 79384212

older

Spoiler:

Jia - The Spearwoman

She stretched, her muscles still ached from the previous day. Her sister insisted that she help clean and wash every aspect of her and her husband's home a mere hours before their parents arrived for a visit. Meiling wasted no time, as soon as Jia arrived, she immediately put her to work. "Ai-ya! Meiling, Roku! Don't you have maids or any one to help you with this, but me? I just came home!"

"Don't give me lip, Jia. You're not four, anymore! Everyone in this home works. The staff, the children, everyone! Especially on a day like this."

"And you're not that sixteen year old that used to stuff her bodice with fabric and tissues just so you could sneak out easily, at night..."

What was that?"

"Nothing!"

The visit from mom and dad only exacerbated how horrible that day was. When are you going to stop fooling around? Jumping all over the nations and kingdoms like some sort of crazy woman! And where are my grandchildren?! If it were up to me, you would've been remarried and pregnant, by now! Where are you going? Where are you going? Huiling, that girl's going to be the death of me, I swear!

Yes, dear...

She spent that entire night in the guest room, claiming that she had a headache and was tired from the long journey home. Her mother protested, of course, but she decided to 'drop it', until tomorrow. Jia, however, had other plans. What she wanted to do was to check on the home that she and Tokki shared only a year ago. Tokki's mother, Anyu, currently stayed there to keep an eye on things. Particularly, Jia's prized tea garden.

It was all she had of Tokki, besides her weapon which carried his name. She couldn't bare to see it wither and die, and his mother, who had always been kind to her, needed a new home.

Now, where was she? Ah, yes. She had just woken up. Her hair was in a mess of curls and split ends, while she also decided that she needed some makeup to seem somewhat presentable to her ex-mother-in-law. But first, she needed to bathe.

---

After a bath and some preening Jia was ready to begin her trek through the city and finally in the village on the outskirts of the metropolis. Usually, the small farming village was quiet and peaceful, and she actually looked forward to its tranquility. However, as the day went on, she would soon find out that it would not be as quiet as she hoped it would be.

Before she entered the small village, two male farmers warned her that a demon had befallen them. "An evil spirit, sister! I heard that the Tang's baby was stolen by it."

"I heard it was an old mountain hag, like Yukibaba!" the other man shook his head, "Nah, brother, it had to be an orge, come to bring a human baby to his wife, like in the stories!"

"Are you sure it's not a kumiho, a fox spirit?" Jia quipped, which set the men into a flurry, "No, it couldn't be! It must've been a water maiden! No, no, you idiot! It was the moon princess! You remember that old legend about the romance between one of Avatar Aang's disciples and a princess who became the moon? Preposterous!"

It was comical, to say the least. Shaking her head slowly, she walked past the two farmers. Demons? Moon princesses? More superstitious crap. While she was somewhat religious, she respected all spirits, she found it a bit gullible to think that a demon would waste its time on an infant. It was too ridiculous. As she walked along the scenery, she noticed two young men, twins, even. It took her a second for her to recognize them. "The young nobles from the North..." she thought.

A part of herself wanted to walk past them, they seemed busy, after all, but her mother's training of being a good 'lady' growing up, meant that she was obligated to give a simple hello to her acquaintances.

Jia smiled, "Fine day we're having, boys. And it's great to see you two, again."

She found it interested that they dressed as any civilian would in the Earth kingdom, none of their noble garments could be found. If anything, they simply looked like a pair of foreigners from the Water tribes, nothing more, nothing less. She too was far more casual on this day, even with her spear on her back.

Last edited by LadyKura on Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

| Kuda "Prince Castiel" |

Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ] Kanda_12

"She claims it's a demon, but I bet it's just a spirit," Cassian was saying, striding ahead of the other boy. He'd somehow managed to saddle himself wish each and every device of his exorcising equipment, despite Castiel fervently claiming he'd be quite all right helping him carry it. His brother's protective streak truly knew no bounds, which was conflicting in its own right. Cassian often claimed the older twin was too weak and sometimes the other boy was downright cruel about it, but he protected Castiel every chance he got. Confusion doesn't even begin to explain how Castiel felt thinking about it.

They'd eaten breakfast at a diner and was walking around, trying to get clues on the spirit and where the attacks seemed to have been happening most.

"Xiao, I reprove you; I do not see how it is anything but our highest priority to go after the spirit and the child right away," said Castiel, remembering to use his alias this time. "The woman told us where it went, but the first action you take is to take us to a restaurant. You consult the villagers, but the villagers' stories are never consistent. We have been hearing the same claims for about a month, now. One minute it's a demon, and the next it's an ogre. I swear I heard something about a moon spirit somewhere here or there. All I'm saying is: please clarify your stratagem."

It seemed as if the entire village was aware of the woman's - Tang was it? - major predicament. Rumors shot here and there, and farmers and merchants alike approached Cassian, inquiring if he was going to banish the evil demon and 'free them all', per say. Castiel, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how the hell everyone found out his brother was an exorcist. It was somewhat fortunate; few people knew of prince Cassian's secondary hobby or how much he excelled at it. Outside the Northern Water Tribe, he was Xiao the Demon-Killer or Spirit-Sealer or whatnot.

"First, stop talking like that. We're trying to keep a low profile, and you sound so much like a pompous, educated noble it's disgusting. Secondly, it's never a good idea to go into an exorcism on an empty stomach. Then again, you don't want to be full, either, if this one is malevolent. Exposure to an evil spirit will make you sick. Thirdly, I'm searching for a path into the forest. The spirit may have taken the child and went directly through the undergrowth, but spirits phantom, you idiot. Blundering around in the untamed wilderness isn't going to get us anywhere anytime soon. We find a path and go from there."

"Oh."

Silence.

"... Xiao?"

"What?"

"Are you able to sense the spirits?"

"I'm not a Spiritbender, so how should I?" Cassian was outright glaring at him now. Okay, now he'd made him mad. Best tread with caution.

Careful to keep his vocabulary at a minimum, Castiel murmured, "I just do not see how we're supposed to find a spirit in the middle of the day, that's all."

Oh God, that made it worse. Cassian's censuring glare intensified. For a brief moment, Castiel thought he might try to hit him. "Stop being contradicting and just go along with it," the younger boy spat out. "God, you're like a woman."

Offended, Castiel squared his shoulders and went on following his brother.

A good fifteen minutes later, as the twins convened in the square (at this point Castiel was sure Cassian was dallying for one reason or another), a familiar voice called over to them.

"Fine day we're having, boys. And it's great to see you two, again."

Castiel's face, which was glum the moments preceding, brightened enormously. "Jia!" he cried breathlessly. "How pleasant it is to see you here."

Cassian looked at him, as if thoroughly disgusted, but it appeared that he'd been caught off guard by the woman's appearance as well. He gave her a cursory nod, the corners of his mouth twitching up slightly. Neither twin could forget the massive aid Jia was at the Northern Water Tribe, helping subdue a sea monster and save the occupants of the vessel it'd attacked.

"What brings you here?" Castiel was saying, eyes shining.

Spoiler:

Jia - The Spearwoman

It was good to see more familiar faces. The boys' presence, particularly that of Castiel, put her back into the good mood she usually was in. And while Cassian did make it clear that he didn't like her, she was happy to see him, as well. He was young, but full of a lot of potential. In her mind, Jia felt he still had a lot of growing to do, his brother did as well, but Cassian definitely needed to grow up. Even if he did have potential.

"I come here to visit family. My sister, Meiling...she thinks I'm crazy for wanting to wander alone like this.", she said, rather bluntly, "So, to ease her fears, I come back here after a few months to eat and sleep and relax for a few days." If you call spending time with a nut like her sister, 'relaxation', that is.

"I've also come here to see my old home and and an old friend. She and her family are tending to my tea garden for me. They're good people." While it did seem she was gushing about the old Watertribe woman, it was really was true about the older woman's nature. She was hardworking, even in her age, and never cut Jia out of her life even after the death of her son and Jia's husband.

If anything, it seemed that Anyu was more of a mother than her actual mother, Sayuki, was. She loved them both, but her mother was always a bit testy.

"Enough about me. What brings you boys here? I heard there was a demon afoot but I'm not exactly sure. I was told it had stolen a baby? It's possibly a fox spirit or another animal spirit playing a trick."

| Xiao (Prince Cassian) |

Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ] 79384212

anything

Xiao

did

Jia the Spearwoman

"An enchanted scroll? My mother tried to make me request one-"

Her eyes widened, of course! They would need aliases in the state the world was in, now. It wouldn't be safe for either of them to wander under their actual names. Jia shook her head, she should've known that, seeing as she's dealt with conflict before. If it wasn't safe for the daughter of a diplomat, it definitely wasn't safe for future kings, either. "Well, then, ahem, Kuda. I'll try not to make the same mistake again."

The possibility of there being spies or assassins near by was not unlikely.

She hoped she did not do anything to put the twins' lives in jeopardy. Sometimes she could be so careless. But never to the point of marking someone for death. It was one of those rare moments where Jia felt she should've bowed, but decided against it.

It would make them look even more suspicious.

"Xiao. Kuda. While I would really like to see my friend again. I do think it would in your best interest for me to watch you as you search for this spirit. Usually, I charge for my work, but for you two, I'll do it for free."

| Kuda "Prince Castiel" |

Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ] Kanda_12

"It's all right," Castiel told her pleasantly. "And you haven't made a mistake at all." As far as he could remember, Jia never once uttered their true names aloud. It was quite amusing to see her try to get used to the changes, however. Castiel had little difficulty remembering his own; it was his middle name, after all, but with Cassian's new name, Xiao, there was some confusion afoot regarding it. He'd referred to Cassian as, well, 'Cassian', his entire life. Even Jia, who'd only met them once but knew them very well as the revered Northern Water Tribe princes, could find the task difficult.

Jia seemed to realize how imperative it was that their identities remained a secret. "Xiao. Kuda. While I would really like to see my friend again. I do think it would in your best interest for me to watch you as you search for this spirit. Usually, I charge for my work, but for you two, I'll do it for free."

Castiel smiled, then. It was a gentle, placating one. "We do very much appreciate the assistance, ma'am. However, this is an exorcism. One that my brother will be very kindly paid for, and I doubt he'll allow you to walk away without your fair share. I think it's up to him to decide. Xiao?"

He had expected his brother to decline. Vehemently, even. With a comment or two about how she invited herself on the excursion and thus needed to learn a thing or two about sacrifices. However, when the other boy did nothing but shrug, Castiel's eyes widened a great margin. "So it's settled then! Xiao would like for you to come. He promises to pay you, whether you want it or not, provided you don't 'get in his way'."

Of course, being both the taciturn boy's brother and twin, Castiel could interpret Cassian's vague shrugs, stares and grunts with relative ease. The other boy's posture was relaxed, so he'd held no qualms with his twin's translation, and he certainly felt at ease around Jia. It was odd; Cassian typically disliked anyone that interfered with his affairs even if they were trying to be helpful. But then again, Jia was a very likable and powerful woman.

"Well, if that's all settled," Cassian spoke up, suddenly. "We're leaving. Let's go."

With the afternoon sun pressing down upon them, Cassian led the trio out into the forest. Under the canopy, the air was somewhat cooler, but Castiel made a point to tie his hair into a high bun to air out the back of his neck. Cassian's hair still lied thickly over his shoulders, however. Possibly a symbol of the other boy's resilience.

Castiel spared a glance at Jia. She was muscular. Buxom. Her adeptness with the spear was no secret. She wielded the weapon so gracefully, he often wondered if he wielded Suishou, his sword, with a similar quality ..

Cassian stopped suddenly. They'd come to a glade, with an obvious break in the canopy that enshrouded them with sunlight. He slung the huge backpack he'd been carrying off his slender frame and sat in the center of the glade. He then reached inside and began extracting several herbs, sticks of chalk and darker tones, a large scroll, and finally, a large stack of paper, which he set to the side.

Castiel watched raptly beside Jia, waiting for a command.

"Jia, Castiel, come here," Cassian finally said. He'd managed to make a neat mess of his supplies. The sticks were spread around him, but only three - the soft, black tones were directly in front of him. He held up the scroll and pointed to a large circle with twenty symbols listed neatly inside. "Jia, you will copy the first ten symbols as best as you could on one sheet of paper each. Castiel, you will do the same with the next ten."

Castiel nodded. It sounded simple enough. He reached for a sheet of paper and took one of the sticks. It was so soft, it rubbed off thickly on his palm. "Um, Xiao?"

"What?"

"How come we're not using ink?"

"Too expensive."

"Oh."

He got to work, carefully etching out the complicated symbols. He was used to such work, so his hand worked through the sharp corners with decent effectiveness. He soon realized why Cassian made him do the last ten; the symbols got more complicated as he went along. He felt a certain magic thrumming from them, and so he used the signature to determine whether he'd done the symbol right or not. It was slow, tedious work. He was thankful, however, that they still had the sunlight.

While she did feel that she didn't deserve a fee for her services, she only nodded and listened to the orders of one of the twins. Now, Jia was a bit unfamiliar with exorcisms or anything that dealt with the spirit world, but she decided against explaining her incompetence. Eventually, she might meet a wayward spirit in the future, and when she did, she would be ready.

Taking the piece of paper, she slowly, but diligently, scribbled each symbol on to the paper. Taking her time to make sure that each and every symbol was etched correctly.

Once she was done, her hands and clothes were smudged, but Jia didn't mind.

"Now that we have the symbols done...what should we do now?"

[[Finally, back on! Sorry about my absence, Lady.]]

| Kuda "Prince Castiel" |

Earth Kingdom :: Random Village - Exorcisms and Bunnies! [ OPEN TO ALL ] Kanda_12

"Leave that up to me." Cassian's reply to Jia was tacit but uncold. He brandished a stack of papers Castiel hadn't noticed he'd been working on, and dully realized all Cassian did was draw extremely thick, curvy lines on each of them. The 'lines' almost consumed the entire papers, an expanse of blackness on the otherwise pristine white surfaces, curving in certain corners inwards or outwards. Some were nearly straight.

However, he forced himself to watch patiently as Cassian arranged the papers, first placing each symbol neatly on the flattened grass in uniformed rows. Once he'd finished that task, he set about strewing the numerous, mostly blackened papers about. After a long moment, Castiel realized his brother wasn't 'strewing' anything. The thick, curvy lines that almost consumed the entire sheets actually made up the circle, and there were a lot. Cassian must've been quite adept at this, for Castiel was unsure how he remembered the exact curvature and proportion of each line compared to the paper. When he was done, there was a perfect circle surrounding their symbols. Exactly 360 degrees.

"Amazing, Cass!" Castiel breathed. For once, Cassian didn't glare at him for the slip-up. They were in the middle of nowhere, after all, and that was only a portion of his name. Moreover, there was a low chance anyone that mattered would hear them.

"The spirit must've been pretty strong to be able to touch a human," Cassian began, using that no-nonsense kind of tone that made it seem like he was speaking to children. Castiel wasn't put-off the slightest. He used with everyone. "So we have to be careful."

Cassian got to his feet and walked over to his pile of supplies. He lifted somewhat of an armful of herbs and placed them into a bowl. "A mixture of mint and thyme," he explained. "You guys are going to burn them to extricate their scent to the spirit."

Castiel's brow furrowed. "What about sage?" He knew sage was a natural and powerful herb for fighting spirits, and most exorcists used them.

Cassian passed him a long-suffering look. "We're luring the spirit, not banishing it. At least not yet."

The elder twin huffed. "Fine, fine." He turned the bowl to face Jia and pitched up a matchbook. Cassian looked disapprovingly at it, but said nothing. He always preferred for his twin to use more natural methods when doing, well, anything. Being too dependent on faster, albeit more artificial methods made way for a person that was going to get easily killed by Mother Nature her damn self.

"Once you two do that," Cassian breathed. "We wait."

Waiting? Well, Jia did volunteer. Maybe it was the impatient little girl in her, but she hated waiting. Especially when it came to matters of the supernatural. Who knows what that spirit was up to, now? Or, even if the baby was still alive? She's heard the legends. Of demons catching babies or small children for dinner. Old mountain hags that lure families into their cooking pots and pregnant women being flayed and replaced with fox spirit brides.

It was too grotesque for her to think about. She had some leaves to burn, after all.

Carefully, she lit a match, using her other hand to protect the small flame from the breeze. With one flick she dropped her match in and waited for Castiel to do the same.

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