Ghost Hunter Extraordinaire [Open]

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

A strange groan echoed through the halls of the Minogashi bachelor pad as rain battered the rooftop, and thunder shook its very foundation. The night was anything but calm, and something was certainly amiss... Riyobi lie awake, not being able to help but stare at a figure in the corner of his room; a head, disembodied and still dripping with blood, floats there. Staring eerily back at him, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Gotosleepgotosleepgotosleepgotosleep" It whispered, it's voice piercing the ears of any that could hear it. The child's face slowly shifted from bewildered to a look of absolute... Anger.

"Shut the hell up!" He shouted, springing from his bed and using every ounce of power he could to punt that stupid head out of his room; but alas, he only managed to stub all five toes into the corner and let out a howl far more terrifying than even that ghost could produce. It shrieked in terror, despite not feeling an ounce of pain, having a foot faze through your eyes wasn't exactly something anybody could get used to, even in death. It seemingly popped out of existence, and the whispering silenced. Riyobi now clutched his foot, rubbing every toe he could to try and stop the pain. Yoidesu, the faux-father, could still be heard snoring - his body somehow producing sounds louder than what the sky could even manage. "Even if I was being brutally murdered, that man wouldn't know what the hell was going on until he tried to wake me up the next morning..." The delinquent mumbled.

The ghost of corner's past was gone, at least, but something had to be done. Riyobi was experiencing these sorts of sleepless nights more and more often ever since he'd met Yoidesu, and it was beginning to piss him off more than he'd ever been before. "There's only one way I can fix this shit..." He groaned. Compared to other nights, it's not liked he'd be missing out on a whole lot of sleep, but the thought of doing this in the middle of a thunder storm, wasn't exactly the best one. There'd been rumors passed around among the children at the academy; a haunted dojo hidden somewhere out in the ancient forest. It was said that the master had gone crazy, slaughtered all of his disciples, then took his own life as well. Some say a demon possessed him, attempting to use all of their souls as puppets to attract and consume anyone who might try to enter. Other's that he had always been a serial killer, and his mind finally snapped, causing him to go on a rampage before being struck with grief and offing himself. But no matter what the story was, the fact remained. This place was a hotspot for ghosts, and if Riyoji was to get the answers he wanted, it would take a visit to this place.

So he threw on his raincoat and some boots, and ran out the door. It was better to get it done now than to wait, then maybe he could prevent anymore child molester ghosts from bothering him in the middle of the night. The journey through the ancient forest took a good hour or two - including the time it took the even find an uninhabited dojo in that maze of a forest. "Why the hell does everything in this village have to be a maze?" He mumbled to himself as he approached the derelict dojo. Vines grew through every crack in its structure, windows were busted, and there were clear signs of either break ins, or struggle from its former inhabitants. Whatever the case may be, Riyobi was confident that he'd found what he was looking for. Just... He needed a second to catch his breath before going in is all. Something like this wouldn't scare him. No way.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

It may seem a little silly coming from someone who lived in the forest, but there was something about old abandoned houses that didn't quite sit as well as it potentially could with Tetsu. The fact that this old house happened to be a dojo, or appeared to be one, didn't exactly make the situation much better. Something about adding walls to what was otherwise a forest through and through (even the foundations was starting to give away to the slow, but forceful, weeds and foliage) something about it made it suddenly feel like the boy wouldn't be able to run if he needed to.

'No, that wasn't quite it either' He said to himself as he crept through the creaking halls. He had a surreal urge that he should feel bad about not removing his shoes as he crossed the threshold too. Was this how far his irrational fear went though? That he would actually even consider removing his shoes at the entrance of a school? That's right, he had been lying to himself all this time, the truth was that he was thinking about ghosts and witches. How lame. Well, even if he didn't like it, he sure as hell wasn't going to run off just because he had some irrational fears in the middle of the night, like some bratty child. Actually, it was just too cold to sleep outside with a place like this available. To calm himself, he took inventory of all the broken down furniture and the general layout of the school, considering that he might actually be able to fix the place up slowly over time and have himself a place to stay. With a bit of work, the building could even be a little cozy. The tactic was working a little, but as he looked down a corridor that eventually disappeared into blackness, that empty feeling started creeping up his chest again.

The boy looked outside again for a few seconds, longingly. It was definitely too cold to go back out.

The place wasn't all that big, actually. Most of the actual space inside seemed to be being taken up by a large open room. Maybe he had just gone down the wrong hallway, but it seemed like the only thing it led to, outside of some sort of office, was a pull down stairway that led to an attic. Tetsu breathed in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. He didn't want to go up there, that much was certain, but the appearance of the attic was kind of like the appearance of a spider. You don't want to have to kill it, but, then again, you don't exactly want to leave it either. Or, that's what he'd think if he was still afraid of spiders. The downstairs area had a kind of uncomfortably open layout too. Not exactly a fortress. 'Well. Up the hatch.' The boy thought to himself as he pulled down the foldable staircase and crept his way up to the attic.

And... It was surprisingly nice and cozy, even if it was a little run down. Coming up to the dojo seemed to be a decent choice after all, and Tetsu quickly made his way near to a corner, cozied up into a ball, and prepared for sleep's gentle embrace.

 

[Midori Futotta]

Skipping along his way, the rogue got some Intel that there was an abandon dojo located somewhere in the Ancient Forest, the Master Of The Hunt would like his best paranormal investigator to go head there. Okay, so Maru was still a low ranking monster hunter but he was one of the best! The masked rogue looking from left to right, his cape flowing behind him along with his extremely long hair. He looked more like he was dressed for a fancy costume party than a monster hunter. Behind him trailed his Kensei Spirit, the blonde floating a few inches above the ground accompanied by a few golden fireballs alongside her which is pretty common for yurei's to have. Letting people know that they were dealing with the dead. As Maru skipped his way through the woodland, he could feel a slight spiritual chakra around that wasn't excatly his Kensei Spirits and he could feel that there was a demon afoot. Knowing the difference between them wasn't hard if you are exposed to the supernatural happenings a lot. He was highly attuned on how these energies felt, if the aura felt hot and dark it was a yokai, if it was cold and with some kind of emotion it's a ghost.

The rogue stopped, according to the records this place was possible haunted by a Onryo of the enraged spirit the master that slaughtered his own disciples before taking his own life. It is quite possible that the man was a serial killer or possessed by some demon, regardless this place was a supposed hotbed for supernatural activity and Maru was going to find at least some proof so the monster hunting guide can find a way to deal with the building. Maru looked at the dojo, then gazed at his Kensei spirit who was surprisingly unnerved at the sight at the dojo. “Wait what are you scared for you're a ghost.” His Kensei spirit looked at her weilder, a bit ashamed to say but she just came right out and said it. ’...Ghost make me uneasy...’ Now from her point of view she was talking about the more undead looking bastards, missing limbs, tattered clothing, floating heads, children with emptying eye sockets. Those kinds of spirits, not ones like her who were whole and looked more like transparent humans with fireballs floating around them. But the irony of the whole thing made the rogue laugh, a ghost who is scared of ghost partnered with a half demon who fights other demons. Pure gold!

The rogues laughing fit was cut short when the spirit actually slugged him over the head and he actually felt it! He held his head, then gave the spirit a mean look before he decided to go to the dojo, turning on his handy eye mask flashlight built within his mask so he could see where he was going.



One thing he noticed was the rather heavy atmosphere of the place, not to mention the place was covered in spider webs. His Kensei spirits dull golden glow lit the her way like a nightlight, the spirit staying close to Maru because she didn't want to be some demons meal. They were hearing footsteps, something walking around in here which made the half demon and the ghost uneasy. “Uhhhhhh… Yo is anything here!” the rogue said, Kensei spirit looking from left to right trying to make sure nothing snuck up on them. No response, probably because he wasn't listening… They walked around the old place, his light scanning the area to make sure there weren't any bodies around. That's when Maru's light caught a glimpse of something… it was big.. furry.. black eyes… and with a pink tail. A Rat! A decent size Rat! The thing looked at Maru then, started to scurry it's way to him! Making those hedious sounding squeaking sounds. That was when Maru and his Kensei spirit completely lost their shit.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!”

Twofeminine screams coming from the half demon and the spirit echoed through the dojo, Maru pointed at the thing and screamed then the rat confused and scared itself ducked into the shadows never to be seen again.

 

[Uragaeshi Riyoji]

"Ghosts are just a bunch of wusses, they're no match for me..." Riyobi's voice trembled as he continued to stare down the dojo that he'd spontaneously decided to go to in the middle of the damn night. He wasn't afraid of a bunch of transparent weaklings, most of them just run away when they realize he can see them, how could anyone be afraid of that?

Lightning lit the sky, forming several silhouettes in the windows of the dojo, and he could've sworn he saw some sort of killer teacher in there. Bald head and all... How does he know what what a killer teacher looks like, one might wonder? Well, fuck you, that's how. Riyobi didn't have time to explain to those he may be wondering. "Okay, aaaaand," Just as the boy was about to take his first steps toward the dojo, a crash sounded from one end, and a scream from another. So it is haunted! This was a discovery that was exciting, and equally terrifying! Now it was time to figure some shit out.

Fighting against his trembling legs, Riyobi soldiered forth, every step holding a sense of purpose stronger than he'd ever had. These ghosts really pissed him off a lot to get him to put in this much effort... The interior was dark, and the boy had no way to light his way, but it'd be pretty easy to tell if he found what he's looking for if there's an ominous blue glow. Kinda hard to miss. And so he continued forward, in yet another attempt to appear tough, despite the lack of an audience to witness his courage. Riyobi stomped through the dojo, any ghosts present would be sure to know that he was there, even more so when he stubbed his toe directly into a corner as he tried to turn..

"SHIT!" He exclaimed, tumbling to the floor and clutching his foot. How the hell did he keep managing this tonight... Dead people were bad luck, just another reason they had to be taken care of. As he laid on the floor, staring into the complete darkness of the dojo, the boy noticed a strange yellow light coming from another side of the building. This was it! This had to be what he was looking for. The delinquent sprung to his feet, and sprinted down the hall, already forgetting that he'd practically busted his toe the last time he threw caution to the wind. Luck was on his side, for once, and he managed to find his was to the strange light. "What the hell kind of spirit are you?!" He shouted, blinded by its spectacular glow. Once the fiend was within range, Riyobi threw the punch of a lifetime in an attempt to punch the ghost's lights out.

Time slowed for him, his heart raced, and the only thing going through his mind? "I'm becoming too much like that damn shinobi already..." Dad jokes are fucking contagious.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Slowly, through the brief flashes of lightning that lit up the attic room, Tetsu could see a warm orange light hovering across the dilapidated ceiling. Something was approaching the Dojo. He wanted to get up and look out of the small window, but there was a nagging part of him urging him to just forget about everything, to not even bother coming up with explanations, and simply nod off. If there were ghosts haunting the place, they could have it, he didn't care, but he was going to spend the night there. If they were really powerful enough to do something about his resolve, well, he told himself, they probably wouldn't have died in the first place.

Next, there were the screams. The boy felt like he should be extremely spooked by this moment, but the emotion that bubbled to the surface, instead, was something a little closer to annoyance. He didn't want to, you know, tell ghosts how to do their job or anything, but there was something to be said about subtlety. In fact, no, he'd take it further than that. The whole reason that ghosts were scary at all was because they had that element of mystery to them. If you just moved into an old house and there was some percentage chance of just regularly seeing this transparent girl in a nightdress hanging out in your living room, you wouldn't be terrified, you would feel ripped off by the realtor who failed to mention it, and who was probably sweating in apprehensive hopefulness that the pest hadn't shown up before any sort of agreement was signed. Because that's what ghosts were, in the end, they were unwanted inhabitants in your house, creeping in from nature. The boy stood up, now certain that sleep was off the table (at least until he was completely exhausted).

Here was his line of reasoning.

It was impossible to force yourself not to think a certain thought. If you wanted to give up drinking, say, (not that he had any experience with that), you wouldn't think to yourself "Don't think about gin, don't think about gin...", because before you knew it, you'd be resting your back against a log, staring at the distorted sky through the imperfections of the glass bottle. To try to force yourself to be unafraid was similarly pointless, because each time you reaffirmed that you weren't afraid of ghosts, as you walked through the creaky, dark, hallways, that asshole part of your brain would inevitably call back to you saying, "Yes you are, you filthy liar, are you really trying to trick your own brain? The same brain that actually came up with the idea of repeating some courageous mantra to convince yourself of an obvious deception? Are you actually brain dead, or are you just so cowardly that you'll cling to the most desperately impossible hope, because it's the only one you have?" So, since you can't do that, obviously, what option do you have?

The boy lowered the attic staircase with a long creaking sound, down into the darkness. Well. Tetsu's line of thinking was that you ultimately had to embrace the fear, to let it pass through you and find some way to almost enjoy the thrill of it, to want to be more of a coward, because then the house had nothing to hold over you as leverage. One way to embrace this fear, he decided, was to become that which terrified him the most, to truly immerse himself in the monstrous nature of the house by becoming, himself, a demon set to haunt it. Weaving a quick string of handseals together, he'd transform himself into a tall, gaunt figure, paler than a dead body, with deep black holes where his eyes should be. Let's see how the ghosts here like it. Would they even attempt to scare such a creature, or simply run off themselves knowing that a more alpha monster had just appeared on the scene.

In the other room, he heard a curse word being shouted out. How crass. It seemed like even ghosts these days were now becoming more modern, probably adopting the more lax usage of language that you'd find on modern television. Even the ancient and mystical world just wasn't what it used to be. He followed the sound, wondering what he was going to do when he met the ghost, but decided he had already come this far on a resolution of being the more dominant spiritual predator. He wrapped his long fingers slowly around the doorframe of the room he heard the voice from and slowly peaked inside. "Mommy, are you there?" He asked in a deep and guttural voice. Was that scary enough? In all honesty, the holes for eyes didn't really effect his sight, since he was blind anyway, but he had a bit of a tendency to kind of block out his hearing when he didn't want to see something; some artifact still left over from childhood, it seemed like.

OOC: [Topic left due to inactivity]