[Losing Chimera]
Kaori sat with her back against a wall in her inn room. Her knees were brought up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her knees. The spark in her eyes, the desire to continue living, had started to fade leaving behind an empty shell of a person. The sound of 'boop' could be heard from Kaori's lips as she looked around to figure out what she was seeing. It's been 5 days since she lost her eyesight, a sense that any person with the Hyuuga lineage would lean upon, and the shock of losing her ability to see with her eyes thrust her into this saddened state.
With each 'boop' sound that she made, she saw a wire-frame image of the terrain of the room that she resided in. While it wasn't a perfect representation of what she'd see with her eyes, she was forced to make sounds or hear sounds in order to get a good representation of the world around her. She could make out shapes and sizes, but making out any particulars had proven to be quite difficult. This was something her brain quickly adapted to upon going blind.
The diagnosis for her going blind was because of the souls she took into her, completely changing her genetic-makeup and DNA structure. Due to the rapid change, it started to see her Byakkugan as a foreign entity that needed to be removed. It saw the Byakkugan as a virus that needed to be eradicated and the body eroded at the main optic nerve until no more information was able to be sent to the brain. This was just enough to satisfy the body's need to purge a 'contaminant' from itself; all at the cost of Kaori's ability to see.
Kaori was in a state of depression, feeling no motivation to go outside or speak to anyone, even shutting the most important person in her life out. She needed some time to think before making any irrational decisions; with suicide even being a viable option. The destruction of her horns and now her eyes made her question what it means to be her. Everything that she had lost was what she defined to be herself. The horns were a great oppressive force against her as they were used as a tool to torment her from her peers and even adults alike, but they also held sentimental value. A wise and beautiful woman once made her feel special for having those horns. Like all things, she too, had left her in this journey called life to deal with things on her own.
Now that her last defining feature was gone, she didn't know what to do with herself. She rocked back and forth, constantly making the 'boop' sound to refresh the primitive image of her surroundings before she felt a strong burning sensation creep all the way up her spine. The feeling was absolute pain to her, forcing her to stand up and run to where she remembered the mirror was, felt around for the on-switch, and flicked the light on. She made a booping noise into the mirror, hoping to see her reflection but only saw a flat wall in front of her. A feeling of 'can't hear that, stupid' came into her head before the burning became unbearable.
There was a bright red aura surrounding Kaori now taking the shape of ethereal flames. This cause Kaori to turn her back to the mirror and fall to her knees. She grit her teeth in agony, trying not to scream out before the pain suddenly stopped. Several deep breaths came out of the Shrine Maiden, trying to recover from that terrible pain. As the pain receded, so did the orange flame around her.
“Hey, Miss Valkyrie,” she heard coming out from in front of her. She looked around with her eyes closed, said 'boop' once but didn't see anything around her. She looked around a bit more before the voice called out again. “Open your eyes, Miss Valkyrie,” the voice of the small child rang-out. This was a familiar voice. She had problems with what the voice said to her due to her current blindness.
“But I can't see!” she cried out to this disembodied voice.
“You don't need working eyes in order to see me, Miss Valkyrie. So just open your eyes,” the voice said before Kaori closed her eyes tightly shut for a brief moment only to slowly open her eyes. The face of a smiling child could be seen as tears started to fall down her cheek. What she saw was the boy from Muraki; the town she couldn't save from demons. This child had given her a portion of his soul in order to gain their power, but it wasn't enough to save the child nor the people of Muraki.
“Don't cry, Miss Valkyrie. You did what you could and I thank you for it. I mean, you did spare my misguided sister. You could've always killed her,” the child said before raising a hand up to his lips and snickering. This caused Kaori to wipe her tears from her eyes and cheeks and sniffle a bit. She nodded her head to what the boy said and forced out a smile.
“That's what I want to see! We're going to be going away soon, but you'll be rewarded for all of the good things you've done. I promise,” the child said before quickly vanishing from her view.
It was at this time that she saw other souls that she took into her reveal themselves and have similar sentiments. All of them faded away to rest in peace, all but the most important soul that she absorbed, the soul of her best friend Mina. After the last soul had vanished, she waited and waited for Mina's soul to appear. Several hours went by only for her to not see any signs of Mina's soul taking shape. Giving up, she laid down upon her bed, turning to her side and closed her eyes.
Just as she closed her eyes, she felt a poking on her mid-back. This prompted her to turn around, say 'boop' and not detecting anything. She let out a little huff before feeling a poke upon her forehead, prompting her to open her eyes and seeing the face of a girl around her age. If Mina was able to grow up, that's what she'd look like. After taking a few moments to let the image sink-in, she sat up and looked at the person that was on the bed with her.
A big smile came across Kaori's face as she dove towards the image before her only to fall off of the bed, landing face-first into the ground. “I'm not physical, Kaori,” the voice said with a bit of laughter afterward. Kaori picked herself up and sat back on the bed in order looked over the girl before her. Her mouth was agape as she looked her up and down.
“Wow, Mina! You're looking good! You would've grown up to be a beautiful woman! But I do have you beat, after all,” she said with a big, victorious grin. She placed her hand upon her chest for a moment before her ego started to deflate with the words to come out of Mina's mouth. “Don't forget who influenced your development, Kaori. Not only once, but twice I helped you with that!” she stated with a cold smirk across her face. Kaori puffed out her cheek and removed her hands from her chest. She turned her head and stated, “Yeah, whatever.”
“Wait!” she said before turning to look back towards the manifestation of Mina's soul. “Does that mean I get my eyesight back? Is that the reward that boy from Muraki said I'd get?” she asked. A clearly annoyed look was seen upon Mina's face.
“Well, I guess you have 2 options:
A) I can grant you your sight back, but I'll ACTUALLY disappear permanently
or B,” she said as she held the palm of her left hand up with a green orb floating in her hand. Kaori's eyes drifted to this orb and knew exactly what it was. The very thought that the souls of those that she absorbed gave themselves to Mina to help repair hers was saddening. They didn't rest in peace to go to the afterlife, they erased themselves from existence to completely fill out Mina's soul. This caused Kaori to place both of her hands upon the bed, looking down at the sheets.
Tears fell from her face down to the sheets, soaking it drop-by-drop. “Thank you, everyone. ” she said before turning her eyes back up to the orb for a moment and then to Mina. The look of sadness changed to a sly grin. “You know exactly what I'll take,” she stated. She was firm in her answer as she reached out towards the sphere. Mina, however, pulled the sphere back as if she had something else to say.
“You know, by touching this, you'll NEVER get your eye-sight back,” Mina said in a warning. Without hesitation, Kaori reached and wrapped her hand around the green orb. A big smile came across Mina's face and she gave Kaori a nod. The green orb vanished along with Mina. There was a feeling of relief and a huge weight off of her shoulder. Standing up on the bed, Kaori stretched her arms up above her head and the words “Welcome home,” were all she said to Mina, returning her fully repaired soul back into her body.
“It's good to be home, Kaori.”
WC: 1596
[Using this to drop Chimera -- Next post will be Grandeur Phantom application]
[If it was difficult to tell where she lost Chimera, it was all the souls manifesting and then vanishing -- each being either a bloodline/core ability or one of her Genetic Implant skills. Mina was the last one as Tsuchimikado leaving Kaori with only Hyuuga remaining -- which will be changed eventually]
Kaori sat with her back against a wall in her inn room. Her knees were brought up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her knees. The spark in her eyes, the desire to continue living, had started to fade leaving behind an empty shell of a person. The sound of 'boop' could be heard from Kaori's lips as she looked around to figure out what she was seeing. It's been 5 days since she lost her eyesight, a sense that any person with the Hyuuga lineage would lean upon, and the shock of losing her ability to see with her eyes thrust her into this saddened state.
With each 'boop' sound that she made, she saw a wire-frame image of the terrain of the room that she resided in. While it wasn't a perfect representation of what she'd see with her eyes, she was forced to make sounds or hear sounds in order to get a good representation of the world around her. She could make out shapes and sizes, but making out any particulars had proven to be quite difficult. This was something her brain quickly adapted to upon going blind. The diagnosis for her going blind was because of the souls she took into her, completely changing her genetic-makeup and DNA structure. Due to the rapid change, it started to see her Byakkugan as a foreign entity that needed to be removed. It saw the Byakkugan as a virus that needed to be eradicated and the body eroded at the main optic nerve until no more information was able to be sent to the brain. This was just enough to satisfy the body's need to purge a 'contaminant' from itself; all at the cost of Kaori's ability to see.
Kaori was in a state of depression, feeling no motivation to go outside or speak to anyone, even shutting the most important person in her life out. She needed some time to think before making any irrational decisions; with suicide even being a viable option. The destruction of her horns and now her eyes made her question what it means to be her. Everything that she had lost was what she defined to be herself. The horns were a great oppressive force against her as they were used as a tool to torment her from her peers and even adults alike, but they also held sentimental value. A wise and beautiful woman once made her feel special for having those horns. Like all things, she too, had left her in this journey called life to deal with things on her own.
Now that her last defining feature was gone, she didn't know what to do with herself. She rocked back and forth, constantly making the 'boop' sound to refresh the primitive image of her surroundings before she felt a strong burning sensation creep all the way up her spine. The feeling was absolute pain to her, forcing her to stand up and run to where she remembered the mirror was, felt around for the on-switch, and flicked the light on. She made a booping noise into the mirror, hoping to see her reflection but only saw a flat wall in front of her. A feeling of 'can't hear that, stupid' came into her head before the burning became unbearable.
There was a bright red aura surrounding Kaori now taking the shape of ethereal flames. This cause Kaori to turn her back to the mirror and fall to her knees. She grit her teeth in agony, trying not to scream out before the pain suddenly stopped. Several deep breaths came out of the Shrine Maiden, trying to recover from that terrible pain. As the pain receded, so did the orange flame around her.
“Hey, Miss Valkyrie,” she heard coming out from in front of her. She looked around with her eyes closed, said 'boop' once but didn't see anything around her. She looked around a bit more before the voice called out again. “Open your eyes, Miss Valkyrie,” the voice of the small child rang-out. This was a familiar voice. She had problems with what the voice said to her due to her current blindness.
“But I can't see!” she cried out to this disembodied voice.
“You don't need working eyes in order to see me, Miss Valkyrie. So just open your eyes,” the voice said before Kaori closed her eyes tightly shut for a brief moment only to slowly open her eyes. The face of a smiling child could be seen as tears started to fall down her cheek. What she saw was the boy from Muraki; the town she couldn't save from demons. This child had given her a portion of his soul in order to gain their power, but it wasn't enough to save the child nor the people of Muraki.
“Don't cry, Miss Valkyrie. You did what you could and I thank you for it. I mean, you did spare my misguided sister. You could've always killed her,” the child said before raising a hand up to his lips and snickering. This caused Kaori to wipe her tears from her eyes and cheeks and sniffle a bit. She nodded her head to what the boy said and forced out a smile.
“That's what I want to see! We're going to be going away soon, but you'll be rewarded for all of the good things you've done. I promise,” the child said before quickly vanishing from her view.
It was at this time that she saw other souls that she took into her reveal themselves and have similar sentiments. All of them faded away to rest in peace, all but the most important soul that she absorbed, the soul of her best friend Mina. After the last soul had vanished, she waited and waited for Mina's soul to appear. Several hours went by only for her to not see any signs of Mina's soul taking shape. Giving up, she laid down upon her bed, turning to her side and closed her eyes.
Just as she closed her eyes, she felt a poking on her mid-back. This prompted her to turn around, say 'boop' and not detecting anything. She let out a little huff before feeling a poke upon her forehead, prompting her to open her eyes and seeing the face of a girl around her age. If Mina was able to grow up, that's what she'd look like. After taking a few moments to let the image sink-in, she sat up and looked at the person that was on the bed with her.
A big smile came across Kaori's face as she dove towards the image before her only to fall off of the bed, landing face-first into the ground. “I'm not physical, Kaori,” the voice said with a bit of laughter afterward. Kaori picked herself up and sat back on the bed in order looked over the girl before her. Her mouth was agape as she looked her up and down.
“Wow, Mina! You're looking good! You would've grown up to be a beautiful woman! But I do have you beat, after all,” she said with a big, victorious grin. She placed her hand upon her chest for a moment before her ego started to deflate with the words to come out of Mina's mouth. “Don't forget who influenced your development, Kaori. Not only once, but twice I helped you with that!” she stated with a cold smirk across her face. Kaori puffed out her cheek and removed her hands from her chest. She turned her head and stated, “Yeah, whatever.”
“Wait!” she said before turning to look back towards the manifestation of Mina's soul. “Does that mean I get my eyesight back? Is that the reward that boy from Muraki said I'd get?” she asked. A clearly annoyed look was seen upon Mina's face.
“Well, I guess you have 2 options:
A) I can grant you your sight back, but I'll ACTUALLY disappear permanently
or B,” she said as she held the palm of her left hand up with a green orb floating in her hand. Kaori's eyes drifted to this orb and knew exactly what it was. The very thought that the souls of those that she absorbed gave themselves to Mina to help repair hers was saddening. They didn't rest in peace to go to the afterlife, they erased themselves from existence to completely fill out Mina's soul. This caused Kaori to place both of her hands upon the bed, looking down at the sheets.
Tears fell from her face down to the sheets, soaking it drop-by-drop. “Thank you, everyone. ” she said before turning her eyes back up to the orb for a moment and then to Mina. The look of sadness changed to a sly grin. “You know exactly what I'll take,” she stated. She was firm in her answer as she reached out towards the sphere. Mina, however, pulled the sphere back as if she had something else to say.
“You know, by touching this, you'll NEVER get your eye-sight back,” Mina said in a warning. Without hesitation, Kaori reached and wrapped her hand around the green orb. A big smile came across Mina's face and she gave Kaori a nod. The green orb vanished along with Mina. There was a feeling of relief and a huge weight off of her shoulder. Standing up on the bed, Kaori stretched her arms up above her head and the words “Welcome home,” were all she said to Mina, returning her fully repaired soul back into her body.
“It's good to be home, Kaori.”
WC: 1596
[Using this to drop Chimera -- Next post will be Grandeur Phantom application]
[If it was difficult to tell where she lost Chimera, it was all the souls manifesting and then vanishing -- each being either a bloodline/core ability or one of her Genetic Implant skills. Mina was the last one as Tsuchimikado leaving Kaori with only Hyuuga remaining -- which will be changed eventually]