The last few weeks had been absolute chaos as far as the Bakedanuki was concerned. Astrid had attacked their guildhall, the lovely Silver Moon Inn of Rose Garden, under the assumption that Izayuki and some members of Black Rose had attacked Peace Village. There indeed was an attack, and the grandfather of the former guild master of Golden Phoenix had been killed during the assault. However, the blood was not on the hands of the members of Black Rose.
Still, they were left with a destroyed guildhall, save for the underground library parts. Most members had rented rooms in local inns on Silver Moon Boulevard and surrounding Rose Garden neighborhoods. However, the library was open for those who could not afford such a thing. Meals, however, were another issue. The guild was using a lot of its savings to reconstruct their fabulous inn and cafe, but for the members out of work, there were essentials to provide to them.
Despite the destruction of the guildhall, Izayuki had at least managed to wrangle in a few new members, either by direct offer or their interest in the guild. Still, the ups were not enough to take the guild master’s mind off of what the realities were. On top of the new construction, she had another, more grimmer, fact to face. The death of Elyx.
Izayuki unhappily remembered tracing his steps to find him again. All that there was to meet him, however, was a mutilated and destroyed body devoid of a living soul or spirit. A passing wanderer had informed the Bakedanuki that his essence had been whisked away by none other than a chaos deity. A god of darkness and misfortune… and the yokai was certain she knew which one it was. She had encountered the goddess, Shima, only once before, catching her in the act of aiding Elyx during a duel, while unseen to most eyes.
Gods always brought bad news. Every time a deity of sorts was met, they heralded misfortunate to whoever they encountered. It held true for Yukionna, the goddess of ice and winter, who had trained Izayuki in her Glacier God Slayer magic. And later it held true for the exchanging of her soul with Alice, a daemonic deity of sorts, in turn for power. It was a bargain she had not wanted, but there was no escape from such a despairing deal. Shima was just like the others, and only this time, had stolen her husband away from her by ending his life.
The following days passed slowly, with Izayuki doing whatever she could to stifle the bitter facts that hung in her mind. She tried to lie to herself, to say that he would somehow come back, like he always had. However, at the end of the day, she was forced to face reality, and acknowledge that he was not coming back. To top that off, she had met weeks before with Kemuira, the Enenra yokai, and a powerful demigod. While Izayuki had bitterly received help from the woman, Kemuira had also pointed out that the Bakedanuki was pregnant, carrying Elyx’s children. Not one, but two.
Until Astrid attacked the guildhall, that is. In defending her guild, she had taken a might attack from the guild master of Golden Phoenix. The punch had been strong enough to greatly pierce her gut, and take the life of one of the children inside her. Without the presence of the other soul from within, Izayuki was continuously troubled and reminded of her failures-- to that twin, to the guild which had temporary lost its home, and to her now deceased lover.
Currently, Izayuki was heading towards the construction site to check up on their library, managed mostly by Sova, the intimidating library owl. A few Black Rose members were staying there, after all, so she did what she could to personally see to their needs. It was a good distraction from everything else. While she walked in public, the skillful Bakedanuki used lazy perception manipulation to avoid being seen or felt as pregnant. However, a keen sense of smell or hearing would likely still detect the pregnancy. Not that she minded too much-- if she were attacked, hopefully the assailant would have something of a heart, and do a double take.
As she arrived, however, Izayuki recognized the voice and the scent of a familiar presence. The frantic voice was shouting for Maka, a fox that Jiyu had rescued long ago, who was taking refuge in the underground library of Black Rose for the present. The guild master recalled the letter Jiyu had left her, explaining that she was taking a temporary leave from being present within the guild. It was no surprise, really. The Inugami had gone absent before, and had even left the guild once. At the end of the day, however, she seemed to know what and where her home was.
“Jiyu?” Izayuki asked, walking towards the blue-haired girling yelling near the construction site. She chose to address the frantic cries of the Inugami first and foremost. The two-tailed fox was Jiyu’s adoptive child in a way, after all. It made sense for the ace to be worried.
“Maka’s downstairs. No need to worry. Also, welcome back~”
Location;; Silver Moon Boulevard
Muse;; 10/10
Word Count;; 875
OOC;;
