Match of the Millennium

Description: Shunned by humans, Walter fights with his primal side, trying to resist his draconic nature. Unfortunately for him, the siren's song grows insistenbly harder to resist as Kiyomi lures him to embrace his basic instinct and give in to them.

[WALTER]
Sometimes it's small things that sets off people with deep running problems. Walter Bardsley, priest, Darkstalker, white knight and repressed dork, has just had a lesson in this. One late night bar trip, a little too much alcohol and a woman getting a little too handsy upon wings ended in a kiss and screams. Then angry would-be monster hunters going after the man. He could have fought them off easily, but his draconic blood told him to do more. To hunt. To kill these /weak/ humans.

And so he fled, out of town and into the European country side. Into a dense forest, where he finally let go. It's been two days, and there's already rumors of a monster.

His first hunt has been mostly small game, such as the rabbit he's caught, swooped on, and killed with his bare hands. Enough of his humanity is still on display that he cooks the thing, but in the process he's shed his shirt due to all the blood. Scales shine, draconic features all the sharper as he feasts on crispy meat and bone. Sharp teeth crunch away. He shivers, in pleasure, in despair.

Hunt, eat, /claim/. Domination. All things that come to a dragon rage in his mind and blood. It's frightening.

"/AWAY/ you damn monster!" He yells at himself in a rare moment of self control. Dropping what remains of the picked clean carcass, Walter curls up into a ball. Alone, he lets himself cry and roar in fits. He's a jumbled mess of both halves at odds. They've always been. It's a struggle for the man.

[KIYOMI]
Wandering around the world, Kiyomi had always been alert for any signs of oppression ~ seeking out her own kin who could not defend themselves, to lend them a hand and burn to ashes those who would dare to hunt them down, using her ressources and those who follows her both as the shield and sword of the ones who could not defend themselves. Thanks to her abilities, the Kitsune was able to blend in the mass of humans and her charms easily allow her to find the most obscure rumors. Was it fate that made their path cross each other once more? Hard to say, but Kiyomi came to this village a day after Walter's troubles, able to hear the stories of the event with the Draconic Darkstalker.

"Hush now..." Comes a soft whispered voice to his ears, slender arms slowly wrapping themselves up from behind to give him comfort, to embrace him in a soothing warmth. How long had she been around? Who knows... How didn't he see her before or hear her approach? The Kitsune's illusions must have been the cause her sneaky approach to the dragon, but now her presence was undeniable.

No other words needed to be said for now. Or at least the Kitsune didn't judge it necessary to say anything else. Her touch would be all he would need to find some salvation, to soothe the turmoil that was boiling inside of him. "Do not be ashamed of what you are... Do not fight who you are... Why torment yourself so much?" She says. There was no anger in her voice, only gentleness and care, yet with a much sharper and harsher thing than anger : disappointment.

[WALTER]
The warmth of her arms, the sound of her voice are all balms to his troubled mind and heart. Leaning into those slender appendages, his tear-stained eyes open. Stiffening for a moment, recognition comes. The disappointment in her voice cuts like a knife.

He's so vulnerable right now. And so he opens himself up to his mentor and enemy.

"I...don't want to hurt anyone. I thought...I thought I had control. That people...humans and us...why do they hate us? What have we ever done? All of this hunger and need!" Laments the dragon.

A shudder, and he leans his cheek on the kitsune's shoulder. "It hurts. I hate it!" He wants to love himself and everyone, darkstalkers and humans alike. That self-hatred is obvious with how open he is right now, away from civilization.

[KIYOMI]
The woman rests behind him, offering him someone to lean against as she lets her touch soothe him, her own pulse to steady his own and calm his worried soul. One of her hand moves up to caress his head gently with her fingers, "Nobody wants to hurt another," She reassures, "... But it is in their nature to fear what they do not understand, to fear what they cannot control," The woman whispers.

The Kitsune shakes her head at his lamentation, "Oh, Walter..." She whispers, "It saddens me to see you like this ~ why did you have to go back to your old ways?" She asks, more or less rhethorically. "To control this hunger, this need, you must first understand and accept it. The more you try to repress it, the more it will control you.." The Kitsune spoke slowly, softly, as if she was trying to explain something complex to a child.

"Canalyze your hunder and need, use it to defend those who cannot : to kill those who would oppress us and force us to live in the shadow," Kiyomi says. Her hands slowly rise up toward the Dragon's head, her fingers gingerly reaching out for the side of his head as her own head rests atop of his. The Kitsune uses her powers to make Walter's vision blurry ~ forcing him to see images of another time and place, an illusionary landscape that forms around of them. Beastly creature attempting to flee from humans, holding torches, swords and forks, the excitment of the crowd as they hunt down the monsters and chants their hatred hymn 'kill the demons'.

One of the beast attempts to defend the others, but he is quickly overwhelmed by the humans around him, squeals and howls of agony coming from the injuried beast while the other cowers and tries to hide in vain, cornered by the crowd.

[WALTER]
The touch of someone who cares is just so /nice/. He should be wary, suspicious of Kiyomi, but despite their differences his mentor truly has always been wanting to help. That it's for her own reasons completely escapes the dragon. It's in his nature to think the best in others, and it's such a blind spot for the knight.

Perfect for a tricky kitsune to use.

"I...Lord, I know, Kiyomi. They never understand. Even my friends, the good ones, the reason I fight to protect them...they try. But they don't understand. They can't, Lord bless their souls! I wish I didn't." Shiver. A hand finds a tail. So warm and soft. The urge to take them all, to own them spikes, only for the dragon to forcefully beat it down.

Eyes close as she touches, her power entering his mind. It becomes so vivid, their hatred, the horror of those being chased. Of a brave defender being cut down. For once both halves are in concert. The dragon and priest both are incensed. It shows in how he snarls, how proud wings unravel and he presses against Kiyomi. From vulnerable to fierce and protective.

In his mind, the beast being cut down is Kiyomi. A roar shakes his form. "How /dare/ they judge us! Cutting innocent people down because of their fear! Ignorant, unholy..." He descends from ranting hellfire to whip-like motions of his tail.

"I won't let people do this. Darkstalker or human! I don't...want to see you like that." He admits, finally. A small smirk amidst the rage. "I have let myself go, haven't I? Your student is pathetic."

[KIYOMI]
The exact vision Walter sees is his very own ~ the Kitsune's powers inducing him this hallucination, yet his mind shapes the finer details even though the Kitsune was able to affect the grand scheme of things like a puppeter manipulating its dolls. The fact that she was part of his vision, the one to be protected, seems to amuse Kiyomi who smiles gently back at him. Her hand slowly stroke his head as if attempting to soothe that fiery anger and indignation that was burning inside of him.

"Will you really, Walter?" The woman asks, arching a brow as she glances down at him. Her lips curl into a smile when he belittles himself and she shakes her head softly, "Do you have the strength to save the ones you love? How can you claim to be able to save those who are in need when you can't even save yourself from yourself?" Kiyomi asks. Her fluffy tails slowly wags and sways back and forth, elusively moving in and out of his reach, never really ever able to get claimed by his touch as if they were too fluffy and slippery to be caught.

Kiyomi's hands slowly let go of him and the illusion dissolves slowly all around him, "Many Darkstalkers suffer at the hands of humans. Cowering in fear, and like you, fearing their own self, taught to hate and fear what they are..." Kiyomi rises up slowly and she turns on her heels, circling around to offer Walter a hand for him to rise, "Roar, mighty Dragon, let that inner rage burst forth and rise! Break free of the cage you've set upon yourself!"

[WALTER]
The mystical vixen is as cruel as she is effective, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. A blow to Walter's self esteem, certainly. he visibly winces as he gets torn down savagely by his teacher. Maybe, just maybe, he needs it for the lesson to sink in.

No tails for him! "...First fix one's own fence, hmm? Hah. I've grown weak, out of practice, undisciplined." Piles on the dragon. It's so easy to manipulate someone when their self esteem is in the gutter like Walter's is. It's so /easy/ to drink in Kiyomi's words of fear and rage. And so he does. He falls silent when that hand is offered. A temptation there. Hasn't Kiyomi always cared, always tried to help? Out here, alone in the wild, he feels more connected to that dark side of him.

Walter takes that dainty hand. A small squeeze, just to make his heart know she's there and not a figment of his imagination.

"...Yes."

The roar shakes the forest itself, Walter's chi glowing as he lets out all of that rage, self hatred, and sorrow. A beast awoken. The priest sleeps. The Dragon hungers.

[KIYOMI]
His loud roar causes a faint malicious smirk to spread upon Kiyomi's lips for an evanescent moment. A slight gesture that betrays the pleasure she took in feeling the Darkstalker embraces his nature more, taking a step closer to his true calling. The Kitsune's expression shifts back to the usual serene and calm one though even as Walter's mighty roar causes the forest to shake, animals and birds fleeing from the source of the predator's growl.

Kiyomi takes a step closer to him, the fingers of her free hand moving over to caress his shoulder as she walks behind him, "Good ~" She whispers softly, "Countless I have seen who tried to be disciplined and show restraint in their lives, much as you have... But it backfired when the humans took advantage of their mercy. Many could have stopped slaughters before it had even started had they been more decisive..." Kiyomi moistens her lips, her tails mesmerizing swaying back and forth, caressing his side and dulling his senses almost in a blissful yet numbing way, "This is the wisdom I offer to you : be decisive."

Letting her words sink in for a moment, Kiyomi then adds, "Spread your wings and fly! Bring justice to those who have wronged us, punish those who oppress us and hunt them down!" As if to show the harshness of her words, her soft caresses grow more fierce, rougher as she squeezes his shoulder.

Log created on 13:14:00 10/25/2018 by Kiyomi, and last modified on 08:52:55 12/06/2018.