A Sunken Gummi Ship and a New World (Open)

[snowrokosho3]

There was a reason for not letting Lucelia near the controls of the gummi ship. For one, she was not as experienced in driving the thing as Luca was and the other fact was that she simply wanted to push all the buttons she saw rather than drive thing. It was this child like nature of her personality that made Luca keep her far away from the gummi ship’s controls and caused him stay as close as possible to control panel to ensure that their journey would not end in a crash. For years, Luca had been the pilot and guard of the gummi ship. While Lucelia didn’t like this fact at first, finding it unfair that she didn’t get to drive, she eventually settled into her position as passenger instead of pilot. Sure, she tried a few times to get the controls away from her brother, but she couldn’t win. So she simply sat in her chair and watched the variety of shapes float by in space as they traveled. For many years, this had been the peaceful traveling way of the siblings; however, time has a way of changing.

The pair had just left Radiant Garden and had finally gotten back to tracking the Heartless that stole their information. As they were traveling, they had caught a glimps of an odd Heartless that seemed to be holding onto some type of luggage as if it was a life line of some sort. Suspicious of the luggage and Heartless, Luca had placed the controls on auto tracking and let the ship pretty much follow the Heartless by itself. He had tired of standing still, so he left the control panel and started to head into the back of the ship to do something else; however, there was a tug in his gut that told him to stay where he could watch Lucelia to ensure she did not do anything to the controls. As he stood where he was, he glanced back at his sister and saw that she was sleeping…or maybe pretending to be. She could very well be waiting for him to leave the area to pull something crazy, but then again she hadn’t really done anything to the ship in over 5 years, so maybe she had grown bored of trying to tamper with the controls. In any case, what he was going to check on would take him less two minutes to do and return. If she really was sleep, she’d still be there when he got back and if she was faking well surely he could stop her from doing anything catastrophic. Seriously, how much trouble could be done in a minute or so? The logic was sound and strong, outweighing the feeling that told him to stay, so he ignored the feeling and left to check on some gauges near the back of the ship.

Bingo! was Lucelia’s triumphant thought as she heard Luca leave the room leaving her with the controls. She knew if she played innocent long enough, her brother would eventually get comfortable with her attitude and drop his guard. She had waiting for years for this to happen, but her brother was stubborn and patient. She thought the guy would never break and had almost given up hope of ever getting a chance at the controls ever again, but she listened to her gut feeling that told her to hold out a bit longer and what do you know? Her patience had won! Counting to three in her head to make sure Luca was truly gone, Lucelia opened one reddish brown eye and looked around the area quickly to make sure her brother didn’t happen to be standing somewhere nearby. When she didn’t see him anywhere, she smiled as she quietly slid out of her seat and headed towards the controls. Hesitating and looking back like a child knowing she was about to get in trouble, Lucelia though for a moment of how angry her brother would be if she did make them crash. They had just found their first clue to finding their stolen information in a long time. Surely, he'd flip if she caused them to lose the Heartless. The information was just that important. While the information was important and Lucelia wanted it back just as badly as her brother did, her want to drive the gummi ship was even stronger. Pushing away the thought of her brother’s anger, Lucelia did exactly what she was not supposed to do—push the pretty glowing buttons. At first nothing happened, so Lucelia kept pushing buttons until the ships controls came off auto pilot…and began to do something odd to the ship.

Instead of giving her manual control, the ship turned sharply off course almost knocking her over when it did before it began to nose dive into space. Panicking, she pushed buttons until the ship righted itself again. Sighing in relief, she went to grab the control stick, but found the ship turning once more. She looked out the window to see that the ship was heading towards a strange planet…a sign that they were going to a world and from the looks of it an unfamiliar one at that. This would’ve been exciting for the female vampire; however, once again the ship began to nose dive as it got caught in the world's gravity field. Lucelia tried once more pushing buttons, but this time around, the ship simply turned off.

“Uh-oh,” was all Lucelia said before the ship was tumbling downard. She could hear her brother trying to get back into the area, but with the power down, the door wasn’t going to budge. Too bad they had built the ship to withstand even their strength in some cases. Not being able to really do anything more, Lucelia made a leap for the her chair as the ship began to spin faster and faster and faster towards the world and then BAM! Something hit her and her world went black.

**

Luca wasn’t sure how long he was out after the chaotic fall, all he knew was that when he woke up he was buried under storage crates heavy enough to crush a human, but thankfully only powerful enough to cause minor damage to a vampire. Still it didn’t stop them from hurting a great deal. Grumbling slightly about his error of leaving, he pushed the crates off of him and tried to get his bearings once more. Were they upside down, right side up? What? It was hard to tell in the darkness, even though he could see well enough in it. He tried to stand, but found that gravity was pulling another way... Almost at a downward slope. Perhaps they were stuck at angle instead. Finding his center of balance, Luca found the door again and pried it opened to see how much damage had been done, but more importantly where his sister was. He found her lying against the control panel, seemingly thrown over it when the ship crashed. Corcerned, he headed over to her and found her stirring in her slumber. A slight bruise was on her pale complexion from where something had struck her head…maybe one of the loose canister had done the damage, but that did not matter now. What mattered to him was if his sister was okay.

Lucelia’s eyes snapped opened to see her brother watching her with a rare show of concern written across his face.

“I’m okay,” she said and he nodded and seemed to be relieved; however, that relief was quickly replaced by annoyance. She could already hear the lecture coming, but fortunately….or rather unfortunately, a sound caught both of their attention. At the same time, they looked towards the large front window and saw it cracking under some sort of pressure. Lucelia raised an eyebrow at this, but quickly became panicky as the window cracked even further and water began to seep in.

“We’re underwater?!” she asked, her voice filled with panic. Instead of answering her, Luca began pulling her away from the cracking glass and back towards the storage room. They had managed to get through the door before the sound of glass breaking and rushing water filling the ship came in. A few moments later both were underwater. Lucelia was in panic mode, but thankfully her brother was able to calm her and direct her towards a side hatch. Together, they managed to get thing open and swim out of the sinking ship.

They swam towards the surface which felt like a long distance away before coming up to cool air. Coughing and spluttering, Lucelia looked around trying to stay afloat against strong currents. Her brother managed to grab hold of her and help her to more shallow water which was surprisingly not that far off. Once on shore, the pair took a moment to catch their breath and figure out just where they were. From the looks of things they were on a beach of some sort further inland, Lucelia could see lights from a town shinning; however, pushing the thought of where out of her mind, she looked over at Luca to see that his clothing had changed to something similar to pirate wear, but more neat and well kept. Her own clothing had changed as well becoming a dress that she suppose would help her blend in with this new world they were in. While all this was exciting, Lucelia couldn’t help, but feel guilty for what had happened. The way her brother was looking at the sea where the ship had sunk didn’t help matters. His silence was even scarier.

“You’re not going to yell at me?” she asked timidly.

“No, Lucelia. I am not going to yell at you,” her brother said with a slight sigh. Well that was a relief, but there was still more hidden under that short statment. She would have to poke further to get the answer.

“What are you going to do then?” she asked cautiously. Luca got to his feet and dusted himself off before focusing his icy blue eyes on hers.

“We are going to do research on this place and figure out how to get our ship from under the water,” Luca replied calmly as he watched her coldly for a moment and then his features softened slightly as he held his hand out to her.

“Come on. Maybe the crash might not be a complete waste. Besides we’re okay, so the ship really isn’t a big deal now is it?” he asked with a slight smile that didn’t quite fit well on her serious brother. Still it was a rare attempt on Luca’s part to cheer her up, so she accepted it willingly and let him help her up.

Once on her feet, the pair headed towards the lights that would hopefully be a town where they could learn something new. It certainly was a beautiful night for learning despite the sting of Darkness’s scent that lingered in the area.

[Yukimura]

Somewhere, in this world of sea and tropical islands, a swordsman laid, his back against a tree and his sword standing with the tip in the sand. He was breathing softly, letting himself relax after such a long while.

"Wake up..."

The swordsman shifted in his sleep ever so slightly, ignoring the elderly voice in his head. However...

"WAKE UP!" The voice barked loudly, waking him up. He turned his head to look at the sword. He was a bit groggy, but he didn't care.

"Yeah...? What is it," the swordsman asked, "Do we have some company or something, Fang?"

That's what the swordsman called his sword, but not it's full name. The full name was Dragon's Fang, out of the material it was made from. A fang from a black dragon, to be more precise, with a mixture of his deceased master's darkness. The blade, in a way, was still his master, but because Yukimura used it often to channel his own darkness to cast one particular spell, it's also him, so to speak.

Fang's elderly voice stated, "No. It is so you may get to training. After what happened at that world-"

"Point taken," Yukimura stated, cutting off the sword's voice. He rose to his feet and stretched his limbs, his bones cracking and loosening up. He took off his jacket and tossed it over to the sword as he made his way out to further onto the sandy bank. The weather was peaceful this time around at this world, which was what allowed Yukimura to get some rest. It was that and the fact that he managed to find a quiet place where there weren't any pick pockets or drunks wandering about on the streets.

Yukimura stopped his stretching and looked around, to make sure no one was watching. After determining that no one was lingering around, he brought his hands in front of his chest, his left level with his collar bone and curving downward and the right level with the lower rib cage and curving upwards. He began to focus his magic and bringing in the moisture about him. Since he was at a beach right next to the ocean, gathering moisture was easy, but difficult to solidify.

"Graaahhh," Yukimura growled, as he tried to solidify the water faster than he usually did. However, all that accomplished was the energy dismissing the water particles back to their respective places. It also left Yukimura worn out in the process.

The subtle snickering of Fang's voice entered Yukimura's mind, as Yukimura cursed the sword off. He sighed in annoyance and looked at the sand for a bit. He knelt down and scooped up a bit and let it slide out. He brushed the hand to dust the remaining bits off and looked at the starry sky, to see an enormous, flaming object plummet into the ocean in the distance. The splash was large enough to send the water up the beach much more than before, but not to the point where it could be surfed.

Yukimura's interest was peaked at the fiery spectacle that was there. He couldn't help but notice the shape of the fireball looking, somewhat, like a ship of some sort. It definitely wasn't one of these wooden husks that the soldiers and people seemed to use to get from island to island. The swordsman walked back to his sword and jacket, slipping the jacket on first, then strapping his sword to his back. He then made his way back to the beach and waited for anything to happen.

For about an twenty minutes, Yukimura waited, walking along the beach for anything to happen. However, it appeared nothing did, so he made he way over to a tree that had coconuts and knocked one down. He picked up the coconut and tossed up a countless number of times with one hand, to keep himself preoccupied as he waited.

"Are you going to continue waiting for something, boy," Fang asked in a boring manner.

"Of course. If nothing happens in, say about a half hour, then I'll continue my training exercise," Yukimura responded, his anticipation ringing in his voice. He was grinning widely, having a good feeling that someone or something would come up. Sure enough, someone did. To be precise, two people, dressed in attire similar to the people on this island. Yukimura stopped tossing the coconut and held it firmly in his hand. He whistled, then waved at the two, figuring they'd notice him.

[snowrokosho3]

The twins didn’t get far before a sound reached their ears. It was a whistling sound, hard to hear over the waves, but to their keen ears the sound was clear as a bell ringing from a tower. The thing that made the sound had no need to wave, for as the twins paused in their walking they turned to face the exact direction that the sound had come from. Being at a distance, the twins could see the figure of what appeared to be a man dressed in black wielding a sword. What made matters even odder was the fact that he did not blend in with the world like they did. No, this man stuck out like a sore thumb and was now calling to them….

Luca’s cold blue eyes narrowed as he watched the man carefully deciding if it was worth going over there or not. Luca had already caught the scent of what the man was; however siding was another matter altogether. He did not try to guess this information about the man. Instead, he waited for his sister to give her report.

“Human and of Darkness, thus why he blends in with the stench. He doesn’t appear to want to harm us, so shall we see what he wants then?” Lucelia asked looking over at her brother with a light smile. Luca looked from the man to his sister, watching her silently for a moment as she gave him those puppy dog eyes that begged him to come with her to see exactly what this human was all about. The idea was not pleasing in Luca’s book. Humans were…oh why sugar coat it? Let’s just be honest. Humans were dull subjects for the vampire now. Sure, he had as much respect for their lives as he did when he was a child, but as far as gaining more insight to them after over one hundred years of study? Nothing. Most humans were predictable no matter what side they fought for. Still they were a somewhat reliable source of information provided he played nice and tolerated them long enough to get said information....

Meanwhile, Lucelia watched her brother intently as his even gaze met hers. He was considering her words, but whether or not this would be an argument was yet to be seen. While her brother was as curious about the worlds as she was, he could ignore humans with ease; however, for Lucelia humans were still a source of good entertainment and a fascinating thing to study. Unlike her brother who saw humans as static, she found them always changing. She enjoyed being around them, learning more about them daily. While it was easy to drag her brother through a crowd of them in a town, being out on an open beach with only one human present…well she wasn’t so sure how far she could push her brother’s tolerance. After all, she did crash the ship and while he had tried to cheer her up about the situation, she was sure he wasn’t going to let the error go easily. She wouldn’t be surprise if he said no and told her to keep moving, so she prepared for the disappointment.

There was a moment of silence where the pair simply watched each other, battling mentally over the decision and then as if giving up her brother look away from her and back towards the human. He was silent for a moment longer and then shrugging he gestured for her to lead the way. Happy she had won, Lucelia grin before turning towards the human and waving back.

“Hi!” she called out not caring if anyone else was around to hear her. Then still smiling, she headed over to the human with her brother trailing behind her. Once she was in talking distance, Lucelia began her usual chatter.

“Hey there. My name is Lucelia and this is my brother Luca. What is your name and how are you?” she asked in friendly tones. While she was friendly, she remained cautious of the human. He was of Darkness after all and his reason for calling them over could be malicious.

Luca, on the other hand, lingered a few paces away from his sister watching the situation with an emotionless expression.
________________________________________________________________________________
~Cooldown~

Clairvoyance: A power not really used to do harm, but simply to gather information. When you approach or come with in the area, Lucelia automatic notices you whether or not you can hide well or not. This ability allows her to sense Light, Dark, Neutral and also if something is Human, Creature, Heartless, Human or other. It is an automatic ability that activates as soon as someone gets within range of the pair. It has a 1 post cooldown and cannot be used in battle.

[Yukimura]

(Sorry this post wasn't much. My original post didn't save in Word, so I had to improvise. >_<')

As Yukimura waited for a reply from the two, a bell rang from island town. Yukimura looked in the direction of the town, seeing that lights were gathering not far from their location. He tossed the coconut at the boy the girl called Luca rather quickly and hustled over to Lucelia. He put his arm over her shoulder and stated, "Follow my lead. We don't need to be getting ourselves into some unnecessary trouble, now do we?"

Yukimura began to walk forward, attempting to force the girl to walk at the same pace. As he made his way next to Luca, he wrapped his arm around his neck and let his body fall limp on purpose, whispering in their ears, "You're gonna pretend to drag me to a place where we can rest. I'm someone you found near by on the beach after taking a swim. Feel free to make up whatever story you need, but we can not talk here in silence here. The only people that had thought they'd 'seen' me were drunk... Also, don't let any of them get near us."

Yukimura let his head fall forward, limp, his hair covering part of his face. He didn't want to have these people coming up to them and getting in the middle of his business. The swordsman noticed the girl had abnormally long canine teeth when she came up to speak to him.

"Brother and sister, hmm... What are they, or at least, what is the girl, to be precise?"

[snowrokosho3]

(No worries. It is understandable. ^^)

Humans were unpredictable in Lucelia’s book. As if to prove her point, the bells from town began to ring. Simultaneously, the twins looked in the direction of the town with the man. It seemed that lights were beginning to gather further inland from their position. An attack on the town? Lucelia wondered and then had no more time to wonder as the human moved, drawing her attention to him once. She watched as the man threw the coconut at her brother. The speed was fast enough to have a human fumbling to keep the hard fruit in their hands, but for her brother the coconut was easy to catch. She took note how he kept what they were hidden by catching the coconut with both hands instead of one. Still instincts were hard to hide. That catch…it was too perfect for it to be a human catch. Hopefully, the man would not notice it.

Lucelia’s mind turned from the trivial matter of the coconut to a more immeadiate matter at hand. The man had moved over to her and had placed his arm over her shoulder. As he did, he spoke telling them to follow his lead. While Lucelia did not mind people invading her space, what the man was doing now was quite odd. She began to wonder if the man had something to do with the chaos further inland. In any case, she put the thought behind her as the man began to walk. While she could’ve easily resisted the man’s pull, she let herself be slightly dragged along with his movement. She held onto his arm as if she were using him to keep herself from falling as he moved to her brother’s side and repeated the action…the reaction wasn’t as kind.

Luca tensed up as the guy entered his space and had the nerve to throw his arm around him without permission. It wasn’t so much the rudeness or suddenness of the action that caused the narrowing of the eyes or the slight baring of the teeth. No, it was a matter of being touched. Luca was in no way cuddly and if he did touch anyone it was to help them up from a fallen position. Hugs were a rarity and usually given by his sisters. For strangers, he kept his distance as much as possible, so having someone they just met suddenly hanging about him was very uncomfortable. It took everything in the male vampire’s power not to shrug the man off.

Reminding himself to play nice for his sister’s sake at least. Luca released some of that tension and his face went from agitated to calm once more. As the man applied his full weight upon the pair, they did not buckle under him. He was a nice size man that might’ve been a struggle for humans to handle, but for two vampires, he weighed nothing. To keep the man from slipping, Luca mimicked his sister, grabbing the arm in a firm grasp that would not hurt the human. As they listened to the man speak. Luca shot a cold glare at him. Not only was he giving orders, but he didn’t want to go near the other humans? Just what was this man of Darkness up too?

In any case, the pair didn’t seem to have any choice in the matter as the man let his head droop as if he was unconscious. Still annoyed with the human, Luca looked over to his sister. She gave him an innocent smile and shrug.

“Oh let’s just play along. It might be worth it.” The words she said were mental directed at Luca alone. She watched him for a moment with a held breath. When minor agitation broke through that icy stare and Luca nodded back at her, she let out the held breath and then shifting the man’s weight slightly, she began to walk in step with her brother pretending to struggle with the weight.

They moved on, passing the group of folks that had come along the beach. It was easy to get around them since they were distracted by something else and didn’t bother looking towards them. They dragged the man all the way to town, where people ran here and there in panic as the bell continued to ringing loudly.

The twins continued to drag the man until they found an abandoned house. Making sure no one was watching them, they slid in the house with the man. Releasing the man as Luca moved further in the small house, Lucelia closed and locked the door. Luca held onto the man a moment longer as he and his sister used their sharp senses to insure they were alone. When it was confirmed it was only the three of them. Luca let the man go and let him fall to the ground if he didn’t catch himself. While Lucelia disapproved of the action, Luca paid her no mind as he moved a fair distance away glad to be free of the human. As he leaned against a table in the room, he watched the man coldly waiting for him to get up and explain himself. Lucelia, on the other hand, was offering to help the man up.

“Don’t mind him. He isn’t such a bad guy,” she told the man as she leaned forward slightly and offered the man her hand. “Now that we are safe, let’s talk, hmm?” Lucelia remained friendly despite how odd the human was behaving. As usual she remained non-hostile until the man proved himself to be a threat. She knew her brother would remain the same way and that the annoyance was more because he saw this as a waste of time that could've been spent finding out information about the place and getting their gummi from under the ocean's waves. She was sure that the human's action had added fuel to that already burning fire, but as long as the guy didn't provoke her brother any further, she supposed she had nothing to worry about.

Hoping that the male would be worth their time, she simply waited for him to respond to what had happened.

[Yukimura]

Yukimura listened quietly to the civilians as they walked towards the town. They seemed to have been panicking about the fireball that fell into the ocean, thinking pirates were coming in. Some who seemed wary stated that if it were a pirate attack, it had to be an enormous ship of some kind that could hurl fireballs the size of carriages. Others seemed to have noticed the three briefly coming along, but shrugged it off.

As they entered the town, it was becoming increasingly clearer that they were afraid of the fireball. Similar conversations to the ones at the beach reached Yukimura's ears. He decided to shrug off the noisy chatter, as it had been redundant. It took a bit for the group to find a place in town, but they eventually reached an abandoned house. They entered the house, upon which Yukimura quickly stood. He cracked his neck and brought himself over to a sack in a corner. He drew his sword and rested it against the windowless wall to his right before sitting. A grin formed on his face, even after the rudeness the boy showed.

Lucelelia stated that it was safe to talk, upon which Yukimura agreed. He responded, "Yes, I do believe so as well. Now, you guys, assuming that was your ship up there that crashed in the salty sea, created a bit of ruckus among the townspeople. Before you go telling me anything else, the way you look, despite the attire you guys are sharing, Lucelia's got a bit of larger set of canine teeth."

Yukimura paused a bit and pointed at Lucelia's mouth. He then stated, shifting his gaze over to Luca, "I could probably say the same about you, kiddo. At any rate, let me first introduce myself. My name's Yukimura. Just Yukimura. Pleasure to meet you two. Let me apologize about the rudeness from before. We just can't be having ears listening to a conversation they wouldn't understand."


Yukimura paused once more and took a relaxing breath in. He asked, "May I be given the knowledge on what you two are or do you not wish to tell me right now? It's your choice, but I think I'll be able to find out later on."

[snowrokosho3]

The man stood and headed over to a corner resting his sword against the wall in the windowless room before sitting down on the sack there with a grin on his face. He wasn’t being threatening, so that was a plus in the twin’s books. Still, threatening or not, Luca remained annoyed as he listened to the man speak. His words brought on two reactions at once. The first was a deadly narrowing of eyes from Luca who did not seem to be too pleased with the man’s perceptiveness. Whether it was towards the ship comment or the teeth comment that he reacted to was anyone guess; however, Luca did not say anything in response to the comments. Lucelia, on the other hand, winced a bit at the comment about the ship.

“Yeah…that was ours. We had a little accident and well…here we are,” she said with a nervous chuckle. It seemed that she was not worried at all about telling the guy any information. Her brother did not try to stop her either. They both seemed oddly open despite the attitude from Luca at the moment. When he mentioned Lucelia’s teeth being of a different size than normal, the young lady smiled innocently as she clasped her hands behind her back as he pointed towards her mouth. Oh very good. He caught the details pretty well. Interesting; however, she did not say anything to the man as he turned his gaze to her brother.

When he spoke again, Luca simply watched him coldly for a moment and then looked away from him clearly refusing to be kind to him. It had seemed the man had struck a nerve with his actions and words within the male and he was not about to forgive easily. When he introduced himself, Luca simply nodded as Lucelia made a little bow to the guy.

“All is forgiven and it is nice to meet you too, Yukimura,” she said and then tilted her head at his next set of words. The innocent smile remained.

“What do you think we are?” Lucelia asked playfully and then there was a brief moment of silence as the pair gave the man a chance to answer. After a few moments went by, Luca finally spoke. His words calm, yet cold enough to crush the friendly atmosphere his sister had built up.

“What is it that you want with us, human?” he asked as locked his eyes once more on the strange man, studying him and determining what to make of the man and also confirming that whatever they were, they were not the same as him...human.

[Yukimura]

"And so it comes out! Rest assured, your suspicions are alright to be had. I mean, I'm a man who just put his arms around the both of you and acted like an unconscious drunk who was at the beach!"

He looked at each and placed an elbow on the sack and rested his head on his hand. His grin did not cease at all, but an alert and judging gaze became focused. The swordsman stated, "I believe that, whatever race of creature you both are, you don't appear to be on the warm side of life. In fact, you felt like carcasses that had the life drained from them, but life still lingers on... lingering on in your cold husks for bodies."

The swordsman paused, he grin falling into a judging form, just like his eyes.

"I will be honest," he continued on, "I do not know what you truly are, but from where I'm from, you would be called striga, if I my thought on what your fangs are for is correct."

Yukimura stopped speaking for a moment, to listen to Luca's question. This brought his smile back. He responded, "What do I want from you, you ask? What I seek is power, just like every individual entity, small or large. But what I wish is true power! That which comes with being immortal first! You see..."

Yukimura paused for a moment, as he rose to his feet from the comfy sack of hay. He looked at his sword, as he put his hands in the pockets of his coat, as he continued to speak.

"Beings, such as yourselves, don't come around that often. Those who have nearly achieved that which I seek, but at a cost to their lives. What I seek is knowledge towards the right direction, be it through verbal conversion, or by any other means necessary..."

[snowrokosho3]

Lucelia and Luca listened to the man as he spoke. To his first set of words, Lucelia simply chuckled amused while Luca gave a light snort of agreement. The man had been a bit rash and daring in Luca’s book. How did he know they’d play along? Maybe he didn’t. Perhaps the guy simply liked to take chances in the world. A foolish thing if it were not for testing something these chances were being taken. In any case, the twins remain silent as they listened to the man’s answer and watched as his face went from grinning to studious and judging as he made himself comfortable on the sack he was sitting on.

Lucelia’s smile only deepened as she became even more amused by the man’s perceptiveness. Luca’s earlier coldness melted slightly as he tilted his head as the man described their condition quite accurately. It was rare for humans to associate the coldness of their skin with the coldness of death...nor did humans every connect them with things that weren’t completely alive. This man’s observation and perceptiveness was strong. A slight hint of interest crossed Luca’s face as he continued to listen to the man speak of his world and the creature called a Striga.

“Striga? What do they do?” Lucelia asked curious to learn about a new creature and potentially a new world. Luca was curious too and in turn became slight more tolerant of the human for the moment as he listened to what he had to say. After a moment, the man paused in his speaking as he heard Luca’s question. In response, the smile came back again as he answered.

Power? Heh. That was not surprising to the twins. Whether you were Dark that freely claimed you wanted power or you were Light hiding this simple lust with pretty words, most human like creature sought a power of some sort. The power for control. For immortality. For protection. The list went on and on; however, what this man wanted was “true power” that came from being around forever. Again, the claim was not surprising or impressive to the twins. As the man paused and stood up, he glanced over at his sword before continuing. When he was finished, there was a moment of silence and then Luca’s voice broke the silence.

“You can live forever and still gain nothing. It is a simple fact when you view the world through a narrow tunnel. You want power?” Luca asked as he sat on the table before looking over at Yukimura with a serious stare. “Then you must first kill that which holds you back from said power.”

“Mhmm. You got get rid of Darkness. Only then will you be left open to see the right path and also gain the power you seek,” Lucelia finished for her brother as she watched the man carefully to see what his reaction would be to what people considered a ridiculous idea.

[Yukimura]

Lucelia seemed to have become curious to what 'striga' meant. Yukimura grinned and happily responded, "It refers to those who rely on drinking the blood of living beings, more specifically what they once were before being changed into, some cases, 'beasts'. The striga are a cursed race of people that must remain out the rays of light, and remain away from places that are 'blessed'."

The elderly swordsman listened to their responses and observed their expressions. They seemed to have been becoming more and more interested in him. They even provided a response to how he could 'attain' such power. It was a perspective Yukimura had observed before and found it to be... useless. He took a look at Luca first, who said that he had to kill that which holds him back to obtain said power. Lucelia agreed with the statement Luca had.

"Hmm... How strange. How very strange," Yukimura muttered. He brought his hand to his chin in a thoughtful matter.

"You say this, and in some way... It's believable to hear. However, it is hypocritical, if you ask me, on both our parts. I seek the darkness and, if my guess is right about what you are, you can't live without it, correct?"

He paused for a moment, to take note of something. He didn't say that he belonged with darkness. Lucelia stated that he had to get rid of Darkness, possibly believing that this was what held him back.

"This is quite interesting... Is this girl able to read a person's heart," he thought to himself, as he looked the girl over. She seemed just as scrawny as her brother, but they both might hold a significant amount of power. The brother seemed to not really acknowledge Yukimura, so that possibly meant that he just didn't care about the swordsman or he considered him an inferior being. His sister seemed to not mind talking to him, but based upon the way she acted and how she spoke, she seemed to hold the same bit of pride.

"You say that I have to get rid of what holds me back from my goal, Luca, and then you, Lucelia, state that Darkness is what holds me back from achieving my goals. This may be so, but allow me to inquire one thing. What comes with experience comes knowledge, and what comes from knowledge comes power. I am not being held back by darkness, as you may think. Rather, I am using darkness as a means to further myself in seeking the power of immortality. I choose to serve the darkness to understand and strengthen myself."

Yukimura grabbed his sword by the hilt and held it out, the handle pointing out towards Lucelia, offering her to hold it. He asked Lucelia, "Tell me, girl... What do you believe of this sword? What do think it believes? Where it sides itself? Is it possible for a blade to choose it a side in this cycle of Light and Darkness? Is it capable of living, even if there is no master to wield it for its reaping duty?"

The ancient voice of the dark sword entered Yukimura's mind with a booming laughter, as it made its curious retort.

"My! Oh my! What are you thinking, little Yuki?"

[snowrokosho3]

Luca remained quiet as he listened to Yukimura’s answer regarding the Striga. The creature he spoke of was definitely similar to themselves, but unlike the Striga the same rules did not apply to them. While some would consider them “cursed”, they could walk in the sun and even entered places that were considered blessed. The only issue being a time limit while they stayed in the sun, but otherwise they were free to go wherever they wished and when they pleased. Not much held them back. In any case, Luca made a note of this strange creature as Lucelia nodded at the reply.

“That is a very close description, but we are not the same as a striga. We aren’t that restricted,” she said with a smile not fearing the man. Luca was not bothered about this information being shared, so he did not say anything to add onto or stop his sister chattering. In any case, there was a brief silence as the man considered their words to his earlier question. As the pair watched the man, they could see he was not convinced with their answer. As he spoke, the words only confirmed what the pair had already guessed. The man was a firm believer in the Darkness. Swaying him to neutrality would not be an easy task or maybe one that could not be accomplished at all. In any case, the man’s words would not sway the twins from their view on the world.

To his words, Lucelia nodded.

“That is right. We cannot exist without Darkness nor can we exist without Light. No one can simply choose one path. It’s a balance, see? Light and Dark exist side by side. We do not seek to erase either side. We want them to mesh and become one. A pure balance. That’s what we mean by killing the Darkness in you. You have to balance it off with Light for Darkness alone will not make you strong,” Lucelia said.

“It’ll swallow you whole as it does everything that it 'befriends',” Luca said as his sister fell silent. “The Light or the Dark...they hold out pretty offers of strength and power to whoever pays attention to them. It is only when it is too late that people realize the mistake they have made by choosing only one side. The Dark and Light…they were never meant to exist alone. Alone, they seek to devour the other that it fears and in turn destroys the worlds. A foolish thing to do if you ask me, but convincing Light or Dark that they are wrong is a hard thing to do. I believe the same is true for you, so our option is like everything else presented to those that have side with Light or Dark….a choice that can be taken or not; however, know that while Darkness may give you some answers, it will not satisfy your hunger for knowledge. It is only one side of the coin after all.”

There was a moment of silence to let the words sink into the man. While he had already stated that Darkness was the path he chose, both twins knew how that path ended. It was half a much larger story that could never be completed as long as one stayed on one side. While they could go on all day about why the man should not stick with Darkness alone, they would not force someone to do what he or she did not wish to do. Instead, they would simply mark the person and push them out of the way should they become a problem in the future. Still, they perferred not to have to do this if conflict could be avoided before hand. Talking could sometimes aid in this, but whether it would work here, the twins would simply have to see.

There was another silence and then the man moved, holding his sword out towards Lucelia as he asked her a question. She was silent for a moment as she considered the question and then focusing on the sword, she fell into a slight daze.

“A sword is a weapon bound to no side,” she began as she reached out towards the sword, her hand did not touch it as she felt the aura from it. Her hand hovered an inch away from the hilt as she studied it for a moment longer.

“However,” she continued “There are whispers of weapons that are possessed by the will of the dead. Without an owner to wield it, the weapon carries out its master’s last wish. Still, the weapon is not bound to a side unless you forge it with Light or Dark itself. Your sword reeks of the same Darkness that this place and yourself does. A weapon forced to side by a human or some other creature with power.”

Lucelia fell silent before blinking and coming out of the slight daze she was in.

“Of course, this is all based on what has been said and what I feel. In the end, weapons, Light, and Dark or both….they are just as bad or good as those who wield them. It depends on your perspective,” Lucelia said completing her analysis of the sword.

Her brother simply remained quiet listening to the conversation. He did not seem to back up or disapprove this analysis, making it really hard to tell just what the boy was thinking at the moment.
_________________________________________________
~Cooldown~[/u]

Clairvoyance: 1 post cooldown and cannot be used in battle.

[Yukimura]

The girl did not touch the weapon, but she held out a hand. This reaction supported the thought that she read a being's heart. He withdrew the weapon, smiling softly as Luca spoke. These 'striga' seemed to have a dose of what it was like, to stand in the darkness's side at one point of their lives. The youthful appearance that they had might be only a guise to the elderly caliber of their real selves, which meant that there was a possibility that they were of the same age as he or much older than he could think. This was a truly wonderful experience to behold for the swordsman!

The ancient voice of the sword groaned in disappointment, before returning to silence. Yukimura strapped his sword on to his back, without removing his gaze from Lucelia and Luca. A laugh snuck out in happiness, as the swordsman stated, "You are quite amazing creatures, the two of you! Especially you, Lucelia! You seemed to have detected that there is a remaining piece of my master's dark soul in this blade! What you said about weapons is correct, for it is only the master's intent on the weapon!"

Yukimura stuck the weapon into the wooden floor between him and Lucelia, in case she became more curious. He sat back onto the comfortable hay sack and pointed at the blade, as he explained, "Back when I was a adolescent boy, my master made me this blade from the fang of a black dragon. How he did this was a mystery to me, until later on, when he had passed on and I had begun to search his library and research notes. It's how I came to know about Darkness and Light. You see, in order to meld the blade into the fang into the shape you see, my master decided to use a very large quantity of his soul in order to shape it and have it evolve as I grow stronger. Granted, the evolution is a very slow process, but as you felt, from the way you held your hand away from the hilt, the evolution has been going through. But, let us move back to the point of this conversation."

The ancient voice of the sword groaned in annoyance and disappointment before becoming silent once more.

"Now that comment about balancing the two makes more sense, rather than killing one off for the sake of the other," Yukimura stated, referring back to one of Lucelia's earlier statements, "But why take in something that shuns you and takes in only select individuals? In my eyes, those of the Light are truly hypocritical, vouching heroism and justice by attacking people such as my master and I."

The swordsman paused for a moment, letting loose an angry breath. He looked up at the ceiling, his smile having faded from his face once again, as he began to speak to himself a loud whisper.

"Why take in the Light? Is it needed to grab the full potential of Darkness? Perhaps, perhaps not..."

He continued to ramble on to himself, the speech becoming incapable of being understood to the listening ears in the room. He shifted his hands up, as if to weigh his options. He stopped for a moment and looked back towards the two, asking them, "You say that balance is necessary between BOTH Light and Darkness, correct? That they would gain immense power from the two? If so, being that you are more of the Darkness than of the Light, what have you gained from trying to balance out what permits you to live onward? Surely, there have been moments where your lives were nearly taken away because of your need for balance?"

[snowrokosho3]

It seemed that Lucelia’s skills in sensing auras had impressed the human and her answer was equally pleasing. While this had Lucleia beaming with joy, Luca did not seemed move by the praise as he simply observed the human emotionlessly. Yukimura was pleased and even a bit open with sharing what he knew also. As he stuck the sword in the ground between Lucelia and himself, Lucelia kneeled down examining the sword with a smile.

“See, I know you are in there strange spirit,” she told the sword with a light chuckle and then turned her attention from the blade to Yukimura as he settled on the hay sack again and spoke once more. While Lucelia enjoyed the story of the creation of the sword, Luca tolerated it more or less, but was really beginning to become impatient with the chatter. Thankfully, Yukimura was quick to directing the conversation back to what they were talking about before hand.

“I can agree with your statement. Light does speak pretty words to cover up their true nature, but Dark does the same. The only thing different is that those of Dark do not hide their destructive intent and yet…both are needed,” Luca responded back and then paused as the man spoke again and then became angry with the idea of accepting Light. As the man ramabled on, Lucelia frown understanding how hard it was to accept the balance. Luca, on the other hand, became even colder as his mind slid back into the past.

“The Darkness we thrive in is not the same Darkness that you and Light lash out at each other for,” Luca began his tones icy. “Natural day and night are the patterns we use to survive, but the energies which clash are the ones we seek to combine. Light brings about a short peace. Everyone gets wrapped up in the warmth and let’s their guard down, but Darkness does not like attention or respect Light has gained. It becomes jealous and seeks to take that love for Light for itself. Its warriors attack and tries to crush the Light, but Light is selfish. It fights back. Over and over again. Light then Dark…Light then Dark. The war goes on forever, digging deeper scars and leaving behind more and more graves than one can count.

"The battle becomes exhausting because neither side can win as long as they are trying to destroy each other. If you have too much Light, it burns and blinds with its warmth and brightness. If you have too much Darkness, it poisons and sickens worlds. Everything dies from coldness and negative energy. There is no balance and the warriors of either side cannot rest because they are constantly in fear of the other side. The solution is balance. With both Light and Dark at your side, you have no reason to fear anything anymore. You can go about life with ease and peace and if anything should rise against you, you can fight it easily because you know how restricting ties to either side can be. You become free and return to your natural state with no conflict within. No reason to question what you do or bend to rules set by Light or Dark. Absolute freedom is what you gain when you become balanced," Luca paused for a moment as a rare smile crossed his face.

"Now, imagine that same freedom being applied to a world. No worries, true peace. There’s no need for war anymore and those that threaten the balance are met with a resistance that you cannot find on either the Light or Dark side. Nothing holds us down, so we can grow without boundaries blocking us and death…death does not bother us. Like everything else, it is one half of a balance. People have tried to destroy us, stop our plan, but we have survived and become stronger each time. Each battle lost or won, only confirms what we already know. The worlds need to be rebalanced to stop this foolish war. As we have observed, any other path is futile and only gains false peace. Balance is the only way.” Luca fell silent as he finished. He seemed to sink back into emotionless state once more.

Lucelia watched her brother cautiously for a moment and then seeing no threat coming their way, she nodded in agreement.

“It seems impossible, but we’ve seen all sides of the war with our world and balance is what saved it in the end,” she said as she looked over at Yukimura with a serious expression.

[Yukimura]

Yukimura leaned forward as he listened to Luca's words with intrigue. The 'boy' truly seemed to have a grasp on the powers of both Light and Darkness. What he also seemed to have a grasp of was this calmness with death. Luca had a smile on his face as he spoke, but then faded back into his emotionless expression once he finished speaking. The swordsman looked at the floor, whispering to himself, "Balance between the two allows an easiness about death... To not be blocked by whatever rules Light and Darkness seem to have..."

Yukimura did not look up when Lucelia put in her piece. He remained quiet for a moment, contemplating the ideals these two seemed to have. It disturbed him, for it made sense and, oddly, excited. A smile formed on his face, as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath through his nose. He splayed his fingers and cracked the bones, to let his blood flow easily through his veins. He then stood up once more and looked at the two with seriousness once more.

"Yukimura... What are you thinking," the voice of the sword echoed in Yukimura's mind.

"This balance you two have brought up..."

"Yukimura...!"

Yukimura ignored the voice. He continued to speak, asking, "How does one, such as myself, attain it? If this power you say you've obtained came from your success in struggles with those who oppose you..."

He walked up to his sword and pulled it out of the ground. He rose it up over his head in a manner that appeared that he would bring the blade downward. However, he slid it back into the sheath on his back once more. He walked passed Lucelia and opened the door. He remained in the door way for a bit, speaking once more.

"In the future, we will fight with one another. When that time comes, I will have made myself stronger in my own way. When we fight, I will be evaluating whether or not this 'balance' between Light and Darkness is worth the trouble. For now, I am not impressed."

"I see... You wish to test these two at some point in the future," the sword muttered. Yukimura turned back towards them, the smile stretched wider.

"Don't disappoint me when that time comes, young'uns."

A black shell rose from the ground immediately, consuming Yukimura in its darkness. The corridor then rapidly faded away, Yukimura having faded with it as he made his way to another world.

(Exit Yukimura. Lets do this some time in the future, shall we? )

[snowrokosho3]

While Yukimura whispered to himself, Luca could see he was considering what he had said, but won over the vampire knew he was not. Luca remained silent watching Yukimura from the corner of his eye as Lucelia looked between the two not exactly sure what had just happened. She watched Yukimura for a moment longer and then saw him smile before he decided to stretch and then stand up. As the smile faded and a serious look crossed the man’s face, the twins listened to the words the man said.

Feeling relieved at the first question Lucelia smiled and answered.

“That’s simple enough. You have to train yourself to accept both sides and reject all paths that would persuade you otherwise. There is always opposition when you do this,” she said and then her smile faded as the man walked up to his sword and pulled from the floor. She saw the way he held the sword before sheathing it and did not like what the action implied. His next set of words only made her face turn into a frown of shock.

Why fight? Why not stay and talk some more? Why did their truth have to be tested with violence? Was there no other way? Lucelia looked to her brother and felt her slow beating heart stop for a moment. It was not possible. Was that small gleam in his eyes an acceptance of the challenge or was that the gleam of the darker personality within edging to get at the human? It was hard to tell.

In any case, Yukimura was at least able to walk out of the room without anything happening. Once he was gone Lucelia looked at her brother cautiously trying to read him, but finding she could not. She saw a thoughtful smirk pass across his face as he bowed his head slightly in thought.

“What are you thinking?” she asked him wanting to know if her brother was plotting something or not; however, Luca was not being cooperative. He remained quiet for a while and then sliding off the table headed towards the door.

“Luca?” Lucelia called not sure what state of mind the conversation had thrown her brother in. He paused before the door and turned to her with an ice like stare.

“I am bored with this place now that I have found something much more interesting to focus on. Let’s get our gummi ship and leave, yes?” he said in toneless tones that only furthered Lucelia’s worry for her brother’s stability. Staying cautious of this rare case of unpredictable behavior her brother was displaying at the moment, she nodded in agreement with him.

The pair left the house and began to search for ways to get their gummi back. It took hours to get what they needed to get the ship out of the water without causing a scene and even more time to fix the ship up. About time the pair were done with all the work, the sun was beginning to rise.
A bit tired, the pair boarded the ship and then after prepping the ship was able to leave the world without drawing attention to themselves. Once the ship was back in space, Luca gave the control to Lucelia before he sat down in one of the chairs and watched the dark scenery go by. He remained quiet and unreadable as Lucelia took driving the ship seriously for once.

Something had snapped her brother in that conversation with Yukimura. Whether it had been going back to the past that had sent her brother back into dark place within his mind or the challenge itself, she could not tell. All she knew was that Luca was a danger even to her in this state. The occurance was rare, but when he did snap, Lucelia learned that the best thing to do was to place his mind on other things instead, anything to break that strange focus his darker side had.

Keeping an eye on her brother, Lucelia began to make a course for the ship. She needed to find one of those data theives again or something even more interesting than Yukimura, if she wanted to pull her brother out of the darkness that wanted to claim him now.

(I'd be happy to do so =). Lucelia and Luca has exited the thread causing it to come to an End.[/u])