Slithers That Become Known [EVENT PART II/TENMA & KAVEH]

Job Details:

Enemies:

The Heliohaptan morning brought mixed sensations of heat and cool and as the dry air cooperated with the early breeze. The day was young, yet the city had woken by this point. The usual bustle and hustle of the prosperous state resumed its business as it would any other day, however, something was amiss.

The palace of the Pharaoh could be seen from plainly from the window. The bright lights of "Rah" shone in meekly as a cut of sunlight peeked in through the window sheets onto the already made bed by the wall. There was a pleasant aroma rising from the kitchen downstairs and immediately, the young man's senses tingled. Ah, the morning roast, there was nothing like it.

He got dressed quickly. Opting for a summer look, Yushin adorned himself with a simple white, blue, and red tinted Hanbok and topped the outfit off with a traditional Gat from his homeland. The gat would serve nicely to shade himself from the deathly rays of the sun, and if he had assumed correctly, the afternoon would not be so kind to him as was the morning.

The wooden stairs creaked with every step of his way down. They were old, obviously, and a splinter here and there would expose some crookedness with the ascending (or in his case descending) wooden design. Gently, almost like the wind, Yushin descended to the first floor and made way to the kitchen. Upstairs, he had noticed that the room across from his was still closed. What this meant, he did not know.

Not too long ago, Yushin had met up with a friend that he had become acquainted with back in Reim. He was an easterner, much like his own culture, so the two of them got along quite nicely from the get go. Once they had met up, the two took to renting a simple lodge during their stay and thus, they ended up here. It was a nice, humble, abode, nothing too fancy. The entire lodge was two stories, two rooms, a small kitchen which was directly connected to a quaint living room. It was neatly furnished with the simplest necessities, a couch here, a dining table there. The owner of the lease came in time to time or sent a house maid to clean up when the two were away, but other than that, it was quiet.

Stirring a pot of black liquid around from the handle, Yushin peered inside whilst huffing in a nice whiff of the bitter aroma. Ah, yes, fantastic! Pouring himself a cup of the desert brew, Yushin noticed to his side a container of milk and a sealed cup filled with brown sugar. He prompted to ignore them. He drank the coffee black, and the bitter taste of the brew sent warm chills down his spine. Ah...what a great way to start the day.

Making way to the table, Yushin was startled to find a sealed envelope knifed into the table. Oh great, he would have to pay for that. Taking the handle of the knife himself, the young man proceeded to remove it. Using the blade of the knife, he opened the envelope itself so as to look inside its contents. The seal, he had noticed, was waxed on with some symbol of a red and black serpent. How strange...

Tilting his head up towards the stairs, Yushin wondered if Tenma was awake. Who had done this?

"Tenma! He yelled out. He was a tad unsure if his friend was even within the premises of the lodge, but he continued to call out anyways.

"Come here! Did you do this?!"

Suddenly, a knock on the door. Now who might that be?

WC: 618/1500

A grunt escaped the man’s lips as the sun’s ray piercing through the tiny opening that the curtain made, he was a little annoyed because of that and tilted his head to the other side so the ray wouldn’t disturb his attempt to sleep. The man rolled his body one time, then rolled it again so he was on his back, and rolled again until he was on his side. He closed his eyes tighter and began to calm his own body, relaxing himself so he could sleep. But after doing those attempts for entire night, he became tired. With a sigh, he sat up and scratched the back of his head, lifting his arms up and doing some stretching, cracking some of his bones too while he did so.  …usually something will happen if I couldn’t sleep like this… Tenma climbed down from the bed, exhaling air slowly and breathing it out after that while doing some stretching by making his pointy fingers touched his toes while he bend his body.

The window quickly being opened by the swordsman, letting him to inhaled fresh morning air and felt the heat of the morning sun. He was ready to play a calming instrument by lifting up his flute but stopped to do so when he heard a sound of door being closed. He’s up, eh…? The wind was rather nice and made Tenma in the mood to play his flute, so he lifted it and began to blow air inside as if giving a life to the flute so it could play a beautiful instrument. He would play one or two instruments and stopped for a while, licking his upper lip because he felt it was slightly dry and closed his eyes. He felt it, he could possibly sleep with the help of the warm breeze and those instruments. But just when he was one step closer to be able to sleep, he heard his name called by the voice that he knew very well. He gave up, accepting his defeat and accepted that he most likely was not permitted to sleep. After putting on his eye-patch to cover his crimson eye, he took his Katana with him while still wearing an unbuttoned shirt that revealed his well-toned body.

Tenma saw everything as he arrived at the room where Yushin was, spotting a letter on the white haired man’s hands and asked, “What…?” The black haired man stepped a little closer and noticed a symbol of red and black serpent on the seal, he was curious, he had seen that kind of symbol somewhere but he couldn’t bring himself to remember it due to his lack of sleep. And suddenly there was a knock on the door, Tenma raised his eyebrow and slowly stepped forward, opening the door while still holding his Katana tight to make it easier for him to unsheathe it and kill if the person behind the door has ill intention towards both of the swordsmen.

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WC : 499 / 1500

Word Count: 280/1500

The familiar creak of the outdated wooden door led Yushin to spring into the wall beside Tenma on the blind side of the door. He held the sealed letter between two fingers on his right hand whilst his left thumb slightly unsheathed his geom from it's sheath. He made certain as to make no noise as he did so. Using he slit between the door and the hinge, the young man peered through to lay eyes upon a lightly cloaked figure with long hair for what appeared to be a male. An unfamiliar yet surprised voice caught his interest as the cloaked male appeared to recognize Tenma.

Raising an eyebrow, Yushin gave his easterner friend an inquisitive look as he pocketed the sealed envelope and moved quickly to escape out the backdoor through the back patio. Crouching quietly, Yushin made his way carefully to the front of the house. Although the two appeared to know each other, Yushin proceeded to exercise due caution as he himself did not know this man. Friend or foe, he had not come to a conclusion yet, however, he had a tendency as to not let his guard down. Opting to quietly hop over the fence rather than make noise by opening it, Yushin made his way to the side of the lodge and eventually to the front.

He place one hand on the shoulder of the stranger and with caution he he stared into the back of the newcomer. Without shifting his gaze to Tenma, Yushin once again used his thumb to semi unsheath his geom. "Okay Tenma, what's the deal? Friend or foe?"

891/1500

“…” The one eyed man didn’t answer even though the long haired man called his name in surprise, like he was expecting someone else to answer the door and never expected that it would be Tenma. He would still readied his hand, using his thumb to lift up some part of the steel while the other was holding the saya even when he knew that it was Kaveh standing in front of him. He was just not sure about his intention and let the white haired man to sneak behind the magician just to prepare for an attack. The swordsman looked at the magician’s eyes directly, as if wanting to read Kaveh’s intention but he found nothing that showed any ill intention towards both of the swordsman. “A friend…” But Tenma still didn’t move, not letting the long haired man in, his hand were still holding his Katana and with a smile on his face, he asked, “What brings you here, my friend…? You look like you were just seeing a ghost…”

After he got any answer from Kaveh, he would stare at Yushin, nodding at him to give him a signal to let him in. He gave the magician a warm smile and invited him to come in by turned his body and taking several steps to the dining table so he could take a seat. Tenma would then notice a fresh brewed coffee and helped himself to pour it into his mug and to another mug before serving it to the long haired man. “Apparently… someone sneaked into our house and left something before… I suppose you are not the one who did that…” He sipped the coffee while looking at the black bitter liquid and then gazed at the magician with a hint of coldness there, “Right…?”

WC: 793/1500

Word Count: 690/1500

With little to no verbal response to the occurring events, Yushin withdrew his hand and smiled. "Well then," he stepped forward into the lodge and stood by Tenma's side, grabbing the cup of coffee as he proceeded, "That's quite the relief." The young white haired man let out a genuine laugh as he patted his friend on the shoulder. "Loosen up friend! It looks as though we have soured the mood somewhat." Not a single drip of the dark brew escaped from his chin when he sipped gently of his concoction. Ahhhh...it felt wonderful.

He took a brief moment to gather himself, all the while, he effortlessly illuminated the room with his radiant aura. For a brief moment, the rukh swayed heavily, swirling and dancing throughout the room, but of course, Yushin nor Tenma would be able to notice. The Uncrowned Prince layed his cup down onto the simple wooden table and turned his body to face the visitor. "It appears as though I have presented myself rudely to you. I do not blame you for your concern, after all, I did hold heavy caution of my own towards you." Yushin did not stutter a single line. He kept his back straight and his attention focused on the arrival of a new face, and although his words presented themselves as kind, Yushin also meant business. "You may wish to remain outside if you so desire," He smiled brightly at the man before him, "however, I'd wish to avoid the sands of this desert land to dirty my floor, I'd hope you understand." He pulled out a chair from the wooden table as he uttered these words and gave the visitor a welcoming gesture.

"So it appears as though you haven't broken into our humble abode. I will trust you on your words, however, I still have not been illuminated to the reasoning of your visit?" Yushin raised his eyebrow inquisitively towards both Tenma and the guest. "You obviously were surprised at finding Tenma here, and I apologize, but I sensed that you exhibited hostility long before that door fully opened. So," He gently sipped into his coffee once more, "Your story?"

1500+/1500

He only proceeded to sip the coffee inside his cup, feeling the liquid warming his body up and waking him up when the magician refused to enter the house. But Tenma himself was not sure about Kaveh’s intention and believe that they act before was already correct, even though it might be giving the long haired man a bad impression. He would sigh unnoticeably and closed his eyes only for a second to think, ‘It seems like he was not pleased with what happened… well, that’s expected… but… it will be a shame since I’ve taken my interest with him in a friendly way…’ Tenma didn’t say anything as Yushin used his own way to invite Kaveh inside the house, and he knew they might need to discuss about some things now that the magician denied his accusations. It must be linked with the cultist event they dealt with before, he was sure, but he might needed to at least make the magician comfortable enough to enter the house so they could discuss the matters thoroughly.

The black haired swordsman stood up slowly, concealing any murderous intention he had and said, “Well I apologize for my act before, Kaveh. I hope you understand that we all need to be very cautious with all that cultist matter happening…things got pretty dangerous…” He walked to the corner of the room and reached for his Katana, putting it on the floor and slowly leaned it on the wall. He would reach for his Wakizashi too and put it beside his Myou, “There, I assure you I won’t do anything hostile to you… or I could just left the room so you and my radiant friend right there could talk… if that’s necessary.” Tenma was serious; he was not smiling at both of the men and instead was showing his true serious self. His expression was serious, his eyes were not giving this usual sly glint but it was only full of determination. Lack of sleep made the one eyed man annoyed this much, plus, he became more frustrated to find his sister. And now that the letter might become a clue for him to find his sister, he needed to know more and didn’t want to be too late. He slowly stepped back, making him at the distant that didn’t allow him to reach his weapons and continued to walk until he was near the white haired man, waiting for any response. “So…?”

WC: 1203/1500

Word Count: 1100/1500