Description: Miu tracks down the so-called Obsidian Giant, in order to confront him about his role in setting Zaki in motion. The cold young woman and the unreadable stone man have a staring competition, and in the end, Miu realizes that she is not going to make the immovable object that is Mukai budge. So she decides to expend her energies elsewhere. The avalanche has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
So much sadness
Mukai, or The Obsidian Knight, as he had been going by in the Devil Tournament, was still quite visibly shaken by his encounter with the schizophrenic Muay Thai boxer. He has existed for many centuries, he had witnessed the rise and fall of empires, each and everyone being lead by powerful people, each one more eccentric than the last. Mukai thought he had seen it all in ages past, surely none from the present could even hope to compete with the self destructive personalities of the past, how could anyone even begin to get anywhere near the original members of the Cult of Orochi? One thing was to act a way which spelled doom for you and everyone around you, but another was to bring about the coming apocalypse by summing a long dead resentful God that would destroy Gaia and all her children.
Mukai thought that nothing could surprise him here.
Boy, was he wrong.
Even Gods can make mistakes it seems, Mukai had gone into the Devil Tournament with the plan of scouting powerful people and see where they stood in the coming conflict. Form a good plan and draw visible lines on your allies and foes to create a solid strategy. Instead, he had come out shaken and unsure of himself after seeing Adon. How in the world could he ever devise a plan that would take into account such a wild card? He could not predict what a man like that could do, and for someone who was accustomed to planning millennia in advance this unsettled him greatly.
Now, disqualified from the Devil Tournament and denied his chance to continue and meet the enigmatic Akuma. Mukai sits on a hill well away the city, overlooking the bright ligthed citadel of Las Vegas. The mountain of a man rests his elbows on his knees as a pack of coyotes gathers around him to pay their respects to the Avatar of the Earth. "You feel it too, do you not brothers?" The statuesque deity descends a mighty hand to caress the wild dog's head. "The jaguar's sadness reached you even here."
Taking a deep breath, the God of the Void simply sits there and contemplates his next move, the helmet he's been using to disguise himself sitting next to him.
Whilst Adon's self-destructive frenzy has touched the heart of Mukai, there is another conflict raging in the world which has roused other forces. Certainly, the frenzied efforts of Vega to bring all under his boot had shaken loose all manner of things. But the schools of Southtown had remained staunchly cut off from such nonsense. Come rain or shine, there will still be exams to pass and children to be forged into citizens for tomorrow.
It was to Southtown that Miu had returned after the King of Fighter's Tournament. Her own team had not fared well, and she had turned her attention to her studies, for a time. Fighting was always a means to an end; to discover, to learn. She had thought to find the answers she sought in books and the wisdom of her teachers. She had been wrong.
And then Zaki had declared war on a city half the world away, and Miu had finally found herself under threat of being... bothered.
"Caw caw!"
The first sign of her presence is a fluttering crow. Black feathers drift from above, and Miu is suddenly advancing from the far side of the hill. The girl's shadow is long, and seated atop her shoulder is the bird, observing Mukai and his dog with the casual interest that only corvid species can obtain. Perhaps it is hoping that one of them will drop dead so it can eat their eyes. It is that kind of look.
"You are not an easy man to find."
Miu is a tiny girl, especially compared to the giant of a man sitting down. But for all that, she seems perfectly at ease. Dark, gothic clothing a stark contrast to the green grass and bright blue sky. There are very few people who could claim that they know a thing about Miu Kurosaki, but the few who do would attest that she is a very direct personality. Which is why she continues, without wasting any time.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Obsidian Knight. Because you have made my life very, difficult."
The coyotes growl as they sense a presence nearing and form a defensive circle around the giant, almost as if he somehow needed their assistance. He hears brother Crow announce the coming of a girl and smirks softly to himself, the bird was probably just doing it out of respect or for the safety of it's mistress who does not seem to know who Mukai really is like all animals appear to do. Even the most domesticated cat would seemingly stop on their steps and bow their head at the giant.
The movement is slow but deliberate, almost as if he had practiced for this very moment for centuries. Mukai does not turn right away when he first heard the Crow call out to him, not that the needed the announcement really as the very ground itself tingled beneath his body warning him of a presence. He first reaches for his helmet as he gives Miu his broad back and goes to slide the protective gear over his head, he is after all still operating under the guise of the Obsidian Knight after all, it might be best to keep appearances to this curious girl that speaks to him like if she knows him.
"But found me you have." The giant speaks, his deep voice sounding like two rocks grinding together. He is on his feet with one motion, not even pushing off from his hand to help himself up and turns with fluidity that a man his size would not normally be able to achieve, all his bulky muscle not hindering him in the least. There is a sense of dread that he feels from Miu, but he cannot deduce her shape and stone immediately after setting eyes on her.
As his encounter with Adon thought him, even someone as old as he still has quite a few things to learn.
Clearing his throat, the mountain of a man gets on his role of eccentric participant of the Devil Tournament and speaks with a quaint knightly accent. "How may I be of assistance my lady?"
Who is Miu Kurosaki? What type is her stone?
Hers is potential tainted by grief; a heart touched by malice but tempered with an unbreakable calm. She is vengeful, hating the world for hurting her brother and despising the frivilous people who go through life squandering each moment. But in the same breath, she has a boundless compassion for the people who have been hurt; she would ease their pain if she could, take their burdens on her shoulders and forge a brighter future. She is dark, yes, but she is also good. And there is more in her depths than anyone has dreamed of.
Obsidian Knight?
Miu is forged in fire and flame, made smooth through discipline and hard work. She is the dark calm with a razor's edge. The sharpness of focus used to make sacrifices in the name of Mother Gaia; to make the hard choices that must be done for the pain of the world to be eased. Mukai has taken up the guise of the Obsidian Knight.
Miu just is Obsidian, through and through. Part of the natural world, forged in fire and flame, turned against it.
"I do not know what you are." She says, and those dull purple eyes of hers challenge the helmet to hide the truth from her. "I do not know what your purpose is. To be honest, I do not care."
Her arms rest easy at her side, completely at ease despite the protective ring of vicious beasts who may yet threaten to tear her to pieces. Crows love Miu, Ravens love Miu, but the rest of the animal kingdom remains a closed book.
"You have awakened a dragon in my school, Knight. I would ask that you put it to rest."
As those glowing bright orbs that are his eyes narrow deeper from under his helmet, Mukai seemingly manages to analyze Miu enough to deduce her stone. Obsidian, just like him, intriguing. Like obsidian she seems razor sharp, easily seen in the way she steps right into Mukai and glares up at him to see his helmet covered gaze. Many mortals tend to do this against the knight, either because of their defiant nature or they simply do not know who the man is, but few have done it with such a piercing stare as Miu. She certainly is as sharp and smooth in her movements as obsidian.
But like such stone she seems to be brittle if used incorrectly, as if all it took was a slight shove in the wrong direction to drive her over the edge and unleash the fury she seems to hold within.
Mukai peers deeper into her soul still. He has found her stone, but what about her shape? Everyone has a shape.
Raising a hand, the coyote pack around him calm down and stop growling, content that their 'brother' has given them the signal to relax. Now he listens to Miu's demands, how she loudly claims that she cares not what he is or what he does, merely that he does as she tell him.
And the knight shrugs his massive shoulders helplessly.
"Aah, what Knight does not make it his duty to slay a Dragon, correct?" His chuckles echo from under his helmet. "But Aoi Himezaki is no dragon, my lady." He knows perfectly well who is Miu talking about too. "She is more like a trapped fox, I merely freed her from the bear trap she had been stuck so that she may achieve her true potential. That she may have stolen a few chickens to celebrate her freedom may be regrettable, but such is the sly nature of the fox."
"I cannot help you."
Miu's voice isn't... loud, though her words may add weight to them. She's calm, composed. It is difficult to break the cold outer shell. Her shape is smooth, but there is an edge - as there must be with all obsidian. She is a knife, or perhaps... a speartip? No. She is not so crude as that. She is no mere weapon to be directed towards a task. There is more to her than that, but it can be deceiving.
Shaped like the feather of one of the birds she loves so well. Made of obsidian, the edges are sharp, of course, but it might occur that this is also the shape of a quill. The pen, mightier than the sword.
Her eyes are unblinking, as she in turn tries to read the ancient warrior. It is, difficult. As though she is trying to read the very hill that they stand upon. Like trying to win a staring contest with a rock. If there is one person in the world who might be able to do that, it is Miu. But she is finding it very hard going indeed.
"Zaki." Because Miu is not brave enough to use her full name, for fear that it might summon her. "Is on a rampage. You have let her loose, and now she is not going to stop this foolishness until the school is burned down around her ears."
Miu finally breaks her gaze, looking up at the sky. She breathes out slowly, and finally, stops trying to struggle against the implacable mountain that is Mukai. It isn't the first time she has failed to read someone... her old teacher, Rose, could be just as impossible when she wanted to be... but it was not what she expected. It hints at something deeper, though she has no idea what that could be.
"I am asking you politely because I think you could end it with words." She says, laying her cards on the table. "I do not want to hurt Zaki. But I might have to, for her own good, if she will not stop this. And... if I am even capable of it." An admission of weakness; an understanding of her own limitations. "Then what do you think that will do to her pride?"
And so Mukai wins...the staring contest.
Although gazing at his face is much like staring at the side of a mountain, he will admit that he had the strategically advantage by wearing a helmet that concealed all of his face.
Miu turns her gaze up into the skies, yet Mukai simply continues staring, looking at this time perhaps just slightly creepy. His intentions are noble though, for the most part anyway considering his extremist behavior, as he has finally managed to deduce Miu's shape and also realize that there is respect hidden under the aloof, apathetic layers of this young girl.
It amuses him, how Miu seems to be scared enough of Zaki to call her by the nomme de guerre even when not in her presence, yet she addresses the man that defeated her with little more than contempt.
Humans are strange like that, he reckons.
"Pride is a very fickle thing my lady." Explains the wise mountain. "It is like a muscle, when you stretch it breaks and ruptures causing enormous of pain. Yet once it rebuilds itself it comes out stronger, bigger, more durable." The reason why he says this? "Zaki's pride needs to be broken, she has long been dormant, content in being surrounded by her gang of schoolgirls without bothering to expand her potential."
"Besides, Zaki has always been this way, I merely gave her a slight push in the right direction. One way or another she would eventually lash out with her unchecked fury against the society she hates, I only speeded the inevitable."
Crossing his arms, stubbornly refusing to move from his spot, Mukai continues staring even if his voice sounds more amused now than severe. "Have you even attempted confronting her? What makes you think that she will listen to me, who told her to grow stronger to begin with. You seem to care enough about her to travel almost to the other side of the world in order to speak to a man you barely know, if only for her sake. Perhaps it is you who is best suited for this task, listen to your words."
"With enough patience even a Fox can be tamed, my lady."
Surely Miu has read The Little Prince, Mukai seems to be referencing it.
Miu doesn't mind creepy. Being slightly colder than an icecube herself, she is used to accusations of it. Heck, she practically works to maintain her reputation as a creepy individual. It means that people are less likely to bother her. It isn't as though the possibility of talking to Zaki hadn't crossed her mind. She just expects that Zaki will take roughly no notice of what she has to say. She is not a member of that Ladies' Team. She is just a student. One whom Zaki has never shown any signs of liking, and Miu herself has never shown even the slightest interest in her, either.
"I do not talk to people."
It is a simple truth. Miu is offputting when she doesn't want to be, uncomfortable to be around at the best of times for the majority of her Seijyun fellows. When she won the Neo League, Zaki had chided her for being away from the school. But Miu has never shown any interest in the school as an entity. Now that it is being dragged into a conflict, however, she finds herself on the other side of it. She wants to be left alone, and if she confronts Zaki, it will not go well.
She's psychic, she can tell these things.
"Also, I like to travel. There is more in this world than is dreamed of in any one person's philosophy, Obsidian Knight."
There is a sigh, and she turns her back to the Obsidian Knight. Her journey has been fruitless; a waste of time. It is better to use the remaining time in more worthwhile endeavors. If she must confront Zaki, then it will be best that it is done quickly. Though every sense she has tells her that it is a terrible idea... it is not the first time she has been forced by circumstance to embrace a foolish course of action.
"I will not tame the fox. I will simply do what I can to make her see that she is wrong. And when that fails..."
The crow on her shoulder noiselessly takes wing, flying up to the sky above.
"If she dies in this, because of what you said, no matter what you think..."
"There will not be a stone in the world big enough to hide you from my wrath."
What is disconcerting is that Miu maintains the exact same, calm, quiet voice throughout her speech. Even when she threatens a man she must know could crush her easily. It is not a heated shout, or a dark threat with lingering notes of violence... it is a calm, determined promise. Miu does not ever say, what she does not mean.
Miu's coldness washes over Mukai and he does not shudder nor bend to the determined breeze that is the girl. Like the immovable mountain, he feels the snow avalanche fall on top of him and he stays where he is, no power in the world able to make him change his mind, not even little psychic school girls, which are ranked as one of the most powerful creatures in all creation, second only to magical girls.
Mukai could attest to this, he saw what Athena did to Adon.
That poor bastard.
But in the end Miu gives up, a mite too quickly for Mukai's tastes at that, he always strive to make the best out of people, even if it involves setting them on pyromaniac rages as he did with Zaki. So seeing such a stalwart girl collide against his first barriers of defense and then make a quick retreat is a little disheartening. And here he was ready to give all the advice he could even if he was not going to participate, humans are very fickle like that he thinks.
"Maybe you should." Grumbles the Knight when the girl turns to leave, still acting as if it was his fault that Zaki was a chain wielding delinquent, she could blame Mother Gaia for that, or even... "Perhaps if you spoke then Zaki would listen."
"Not everyone can read minds, my lady."
It also seems to Mukai figured out Miu was a psychic, staring into her soul for a long period of time has yielded that insight.
"I wish you luck in your quest, despite your clear ill will towards me." Truth of the matter is that Mukai doesn't really care what Miu thinks, he is all for setting humans against each other in vicious battles to see who is the strongest. If Miu's studies are somehow disturbed this, then..oh well. "Here, you said that you had a hard time finding me, did you not."
There would be a heavy metallic clang on the ground as Miu will surely hear the Obsidian Knight removing his helmet and tossing it to the ground behind the girl to get her attention.
"Know that I go by the name of Mukai, and that should you still blame me for your failures I will gladly await your return. Since you refuse to listen to my words then mayhap you will listen to my fists."
"Zaki certainly did."
Without his helmet, Mukai can be seen smiling now, a challenging smile.
"Didn't she? My Obsidian Feather?"
"I am not Zaki."
Miu does listen. Listening is a powerful tool in her arsenal. By listening to the cultists of Orochi, she had learned of their plans for her (such as they were). By listening to fighters, you can gain powerful insight into what drives them, why they are the way they are, and how you can turn aside their attacks with greater ease. So when Mukai speaks, Miu absorbs this information.
She also notes the attempt to get under her skin.
It doesn't work.
Miu is perfectly secure in the knowledge that if she fails to turn aside Zaki, and she dies, then the blame will not lay with her. It will be with Zaki herself, and the man who chose to unleash her on the world before she is ready. She will speak to her, but she is quite prepared for the fact that her words will fall on deaf ears. She does not have a good record with talking to people, let alone people who know her reputation.
This entire meeting is testament to her inability to convince.
"Good day, Mukai."
Just seven more words. That is all Miu intends to share with the giant of a man. She does not even turn to look him in the eye; doing so would imply some hesitation in her resolve.
There is no such hesitation.
Instead, she intends to walk away. Leave him to his animal companions, and return to her home.
If it gets people out of their comfort zone, then it is not an entire loss. Mukai's gaze never broke away from Miu, having stared at her from the moment he turned around to face her the moment she decided to walk away from him. The man is patient, the game has been set in motion and any direct interference with the pieces may corrupt the end result. He does not know what kind of destruction or birth will the meeting with such different girls will yield, the coldness of Miu will collide with the fire of Zaki with Southown and Sunshine City as their battle ground leaving something in their wake, a certain something that not even Mukai can predict.
All he really knows is that it will be greatly amusing.
Mukai smirks as Miu walks away, set on the road to destruction. The girl may be content with washing her hands on the whole debacle even if she ultimately is naught but a pawn on the grand scheme of Mukai and Great Gaia. She will yet play her part against the battle against Orochi as he can sense, perhaps this is Gaia's ploy to strengthen her for the incoming darkness.
After all, if Miu manages to defuse that situation with mere words then Mukai can certainly claim she has grown stronger.
And in the end, that's all he wants.
As she departs, he is not so frivolous to leave some parting cryptic words. There is no vain self-glorification, Mukai is confident knowing his own shape and stone and as such he can see stray pieces moving ways he did not intend to without growing frustrated about it, most of the time anyway.
The giant places his hands on his hips whilst the coyotes gather around him to see Miu off and smiles still.
"See ya!"
Log created on 11:02:24 05/26/2012 by Miu, and last modified on 14:06:31 05/26/2012.