Don't Got A Title

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Over the years she had spent as nothing but a homeless nomadic runaway, it was impossible for her to have escaped hearing stories from across many lands. One of the stories she had heard all those years ago, long before she settled with Black Rose, was the reason she was out today. In Fiore, there was a castle where people just vanished if they entered its grounds, rumored to be haunted among other things. Across her young years as a frightened runaway, she had avoided this area in order to remain safe from whatever spooky thing was whisking people off in that shady land. She had possessed incredibly trigger happy survival instincts at one time, she had always been wild but at that time she had been so with the intention of simply surviving until she could kill the only person she had any interest in.

So much time had passed and even if she often refused to admit it the changes that came with time, no one could deny it had made her more powerful and bold. While she had never needed strength for confidence? She had also never been dim enough to run into somewhere like that weak as she once had been. After all, her death wish was a relatively new feature. Due to certain events that had recently taken place, the wind witch was willing to do almost anything regardless of how dangerous that activity may be. Obviously, the canine didn't go out of her way to pursue things with that level of danger, but if the opportunity presented itself she could no longer turn it down anymore.

Opportunity had come knocking several nights before when she found people in need of an escort through the woodland surrounding the castle. Over the last few days? She had guided an exceptionally large group through the thick woods nearby, completing her mission successfully. Once her mission had been completed? Jiyu decided she would finally approach the grounds of that castle on her own so she could attempt to explore the confines of it. What did she have to lose anyway? She didn't even know who she really was anymore. This would be an exceptionally fun exploration!

For what reason normal people and mages alike came to a place known as the "Haunted Castle" varied with each individual and group. Some were curious, some wanted the thrill of spook hunts, and others may have had a more serious and logical reason. An investigation. A hunt. A job. Most of these leading to the disappearances of many and therefore creating the tales of the infamous castle. Tales that a certain summoner was aware of but paid no mind to them. Not so much that she had developed a cocky attitude and thought such things were none to worry about, but rather in comparison to her normal routine investigating a haunted castle was considered as a simpliar task in general.

So comes the reason an ace of the guild Lamia Scale was in the area. A fantastic job to kill time. Sort of. The client of her current mission had plans to turn the castle into a fancy get away spot for tourists. The only issue being the obvious hauntings and disappearances the place was known for. Not the best description detail to have on the advertising pamphlet, and so naturally a simple solution had been thought of and put into action: let a mage handle it. So simple that some had to wonder why that was never thought of in the first place. A sarcastic thought that ran through her mind at the time, and even more so as she made her way to the location of the castle.

So why had she taken the job? Simple. It wasn't necessarily by choice. It had been a request. Somehow some people thought those within a monster hunting guild should have been able to handle ghosts as well, the current client included. A strange assumption for the Ace who rarely had any encounters with "hauntings". Even stranger was that instead of the client going to a mage more capable of handling ghosts and the great beyond they had requested her instead. The name and status being an obvious reason she could assume, but there had to be another reason than something so trivial as that. Her best guess was no research had been done and they had thought that her magic consisted of controlling supernatural spirits instead of celestial ones, assuming the client even knew the difference. Did they assume the keys were traps to be thrown at a wild spirit for capture? Then thrown again to release them for battle? What a silly thought. Nonetheless, Samira had decided to humor them and investigate the so called haunted castle, and find out if the rumors were true. Perhaps even clear it of any and all hauntings. Not likely, but she would at least take a look around. If she didn't disappear off the face of the world then there was a chance she could walk out with something interesting. Or at the very least something interesting to write down in her journal.

By the time the canine girl had approached the grounds for her own adventure and exploration of the castle, Samira was already at the ludicrously tall gates that stood in front of the castle. Chained shut by magically altered chains to keep all those pesky adventurers away and from adding more names onto the list of missing persons. That wasn't an issue at all really. One could simply pass over the stone wall that was next to the gate and worked itself around the grounds, or be like her and use a simple portal. She pretty much had permission to enter, right? Although what stood out the most aside from some woman that looked more ready to visit a mall than to go on a stroll through a haunted castle was the fact that she appeared to be talking to herself, or her best invisible friend. The communication was actually with her un-summoned spirits, but not many were able to pick up on that and automatically assumed she was a little strange.

"No, it is not trespassing. I was given permission to be here." Samira said, seemingly to herself as she grabbed onto the magic chains to confirm that they were indeed still locked up and could not just be undone.

"Well... I actually did not confirm if the client bought the property or not actually. I would assume so... even then it is logical to assume that there is no true owner." A short moment of silence followed as she listened to the response that was told inside her mind. She sighed. "I think you are mistaken with that theory. Just because you are a celestial spirit does not mean you will be able to lure out the supernatural ones and become friends. That is if there even is a haunting to begin with." There were doubts on whatever was happening with the castle being a legit haunting, but she supposed she would find out soon enough. Thus far, she was completely oblivious to the fact another mage was nearby.

(Word Count: 833)

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Most people who had achieved great heights in the magic world would indeed view something like 'haunted houses' as something that was beneath the difficulty of the tasks they normally encountered or such. Often when someone had the strength to face down monsters of all sorts and come through victorious with little to no effort? They forgot that not everything was the same and the experience to punch some dragon out of the sky may not translate at all to punching some banshee. Jiyu was always aware of things like that, the fact no matter how strong she grew that it would never be enough, somewhere she would always have weak spots that could tear into her. Being afraid of the dark and things like fire? Entering somewhere like a haunted house was just asking for trouble. As pointed out earlier, she had somewhat of a death wish.

The wind mage had heard rumors that someone was planning to attempt turning the castle into some getaway for tourists to fiore, but she hadn't paid much heed to those rumors. After centuries of hauntings? Jiyu doubted anyone would be able to break the 'curse' covering the building. Honestly, the appeal for her in this was surviving! Jiyu had no wish for greatness, no wish to save anyone, nothing like that, she just wanted to get in, get spirited away and stay for a while before getting out. It wouldn't be the first time she realm traveled and as an Inugami she was vastly safer than most others in this sort of situation. After all, she belonged in a haunted house considering she was born from the desire for revenge.

The female looked forward, her mismatched optics unable to see Samira but her ears and nose could detect the other mage. At the moment? She chose not to reveal herself, taking to the trees in order to conceal herself. Until she knew why that other mage was here, it was best to stay out of the way since she wasn't supposed to be here on an official level but she was also not explicitly barred either. Large blue furry ears perked forward listening carefully to every little heartbeat as her brain tried to process why the other female could be standing there. Without much wait, it was easy to deduce that the other mage was entering the castle for her own reasons. Ending up alone in this exploration? Had been her original goal but now that she actually thought it over, Jiyu much more liked the idea of potentially having someone else alongside her. If there was no source of light within the castle or such? She would be in trouble on her own.

"Mind company on your exploration of the grounds?" the female leaped down from the tree's, floating down to stand beside the other, turning her gaze after she landed. Seeing the other mage clearly, it was now fairly easy to guess who she was, considering she had some friends within the ranking of saints the mage now bothered knowing who they were. Of course, Jiyu couldn't remember which saint this other mage was exactly, just who she wasn't. Oh well, it wasn't important to remember who someone was anyways unless she could use them. "Cause I'm going in either way." often times it would be easy for people to think Jiyu was on some sort of power trip or overconfident due to how reckless she was. However, in this situation that was clearly not the case! The other present mage was more powerful than she was if they fought it was possible she would take the short straw, but even than she wouldn't be stopped, she couldn't power her way in this just use the insane persistence that had kept her hunting for one man for over a decade. "I could be actually quite beneficial if your here to accomplish some specific task." she didn't believe this place could be cleansed, but the Inugami knew she could navigate the social spectrum of ghosts and ghouls long enough to aid another mage in finding an item or something. "Though I can tell you if your working for that rich idiot who wants to turn this into a hotel or something, you're on a fool's errand." which was the only reason she could see someone sane coming to this place! Why else would someone want to explore somewhere so dangerous unless they were insane as she was turning? "I doubt it's even still the original castle but instead a pocket dimension like trap visible or merged to our realm constructed by the trapped spirits in order to lure and trap other's to exact their revenge or malice." which was why she was sure she could escape, she could realm hop to a realm that belonged to her. Most of the poor souls who had ended up trapped in that place? Surely did not have the benefit of being in control of an entire realm where they could retreat to, being a master of negative, malicious and vengeful energy to avoid getting consumed by the energy in that place. "Heck if I was you, I'd consider if someone wanted me dead if someone sent me here. Of course, if it was me said person would be foolish for thinking they could trap and destroy me within such a place." heck entering this place would likely only make her stronger!

With the confirmation that the gate was indeed locked and chained tightly Samira had concluded that she would just get through it magically. Already she had been reaching down to the golden key ring attached to her hip with the intention of claiming the key that belonged to her portal spirit. No simple gate or stone wall was going to stop her! Maybe. Possibly. She wouldn't really know for a few moments longer. The voice of a woman had called out suddenly, and the slight rustling of the leaves of a tree followed. It served as a little more than a distraction from the current task of breaking in entering the castle's grounds. Others of her station might have always been aware and at the ready for a counter strike should any surprises come along. For Samira, it was more of a mini heart attack. So focused was she that the presence of another had gone unnoticed entirely, magic aura and all, and it was then that she realized she had let her guard down. A peculiar trait for someone in a monster hunting guild, but then, she had not expected to run into anything remotely dangerous in the first place, let alone another person in an abandoned castle.

Samira had made a small cry of alarm as she quickly turned to face the direction of the voice. Upon seeing someone that looked relatively normal instead of some monstrous thing that she would have to eliminate the green-haired woman placed a hand over her chest where her heart was and sighed in relief to calm herself down. The one that had suddenly appeared was not the first girl she had seen with some animal-like traits. Not at all. So, nothing new or strange in that department so it was quickly overlooked by her. What was very noticeable was the rather large tattoo on the other's stomach, one that marked the guild of Black Rose. The summoner frowned a bit, possibly because of the stranger's choice of attire that she wouldn't dare wear herself, but mainly because thus far her experiences with mages of Black Rose were odd. Her eyebrows twitched slightly as she recalled the living doll Sakura and their visit to the strange doll shop. Then there was that other strange girl by the name of Charlotte and whatever strange world it was she had been taken to. Actually, now that she recalled those two events both of those mages had been met during times she was breaking into a building, much like currently with the castle. Were black Rose mages secretly always aware of break ins and so had a goal to make things as awkward and strange as possible as punishment to trespassers? Her experiences were beginning to tell Samira this was the case even if it was absolutely ridiculous to think it.

"Nearly giving others a heart attack is generally not the best opening to a conversation, or to inquire about tagging along." Strange it was that the other woman had not even gone into why she was there or even introducing herself before offering herself to be a companion. Introductions were important, and she didn't even know who... oh... that's right. For a moment Samira had forgotten that people may know who she was just by looking at her by that point. Not even her guild mark was needed to be shown as evidence to her legal mage status with the Saint title hovering around her constantly. The label was still not one she was accustomed to, and one she didn't expect to ever get fully comfortable with. "Weeelll..." The green eyes on her face looked towards the side. The girl that had yet to fully introduce herself had stated she could be beneficial. Maybe she knew the castle's layout or something, which indeed would be helpful. Then she was smacked with the second opinion that her client's goal was possibly a bit foolish and that she was wasting her time completely. Samira let out another sigh, this time of hopelessness. "I had expected as much, but yes, that is why I am here. At the very least I was going to investigate and then report back my findings. Hauntings are not something I am experienced in dealing with, although I had assumed it to be greatly exaggerated. Past "hauntings" that I have run into ended up being that case." The theory of the castle being more of a pocket dimension instead of the castle it used to be did make some sense based on some stories she knew and read, but whether that was factual she did not know. It was not her area of expertise, but perhaps it was hers. Had that been why she was willing to just waltz into the castle for seemingly no reason that Samira was yet aware of? Or was she just very over-confident?

"I do not believe that I have made such enemies that would take the time to lure me here." A statement she believed even if she had been personally requested to investigate. It was just the result of having a foolish client. As far as Samira knew, she had no actual enemies that would target her specifically. "But I will take your words about it under advisement for the future. For now, I assume that what you meant by you being beneficial is because of you being able to handle whatever is inside, correct? If there are any spirits and a haunting I mean."

Following that Samira thought it best to actually get full introductions out of the way if they were to be going into the castle together. She would not turn down the offer of the company or aid. Just a moment before the girl had claimed she was going to go in anyway, and it wasn't her job to force someone to leave on account of it possibly being too dangerous. Not that it would really be considered as dangerous if the girl's confidence in her abilities was accurate and not all smoke. "Since we are both going in either way we may as well stick together since you did offer. I am Samira Nassar of Lamia Scale." The titles of Ace and Saint were neglected and not mentioned, her considering them to be redundant at that moment. It was likely obvious who she was, but what she wanted to know was who the young woman that was standing beside her was. There had been a memory of a Rising Star with such a tattoo placement with the same size and coloring, but everything else did not seem to match what she recalled of that one. Perhaps they knew eachother and had taken on identical tattoos. Well, maybe she would find out in another moment or so. With a small smile, Samira extended her hand for a formal handshake, as was common in greetings and introductions. Although, most may have considered such a thing as too formal. Was this also one that preferred hugs? She never could tell. It'd be weird to ask, right? What a dilemma. "And you are?"

(Word Count: 1189
Total So Far: 2022)

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For someone of such high social status, this chick was very much an airhead, but Jiyu could barely speak she was also very far from what she appeared to be in the public eye. If you asked anyone in the public, in some village she'd worked in or such? They would easily call her reliable, honest, heroic even. However, anyone who got to know her long enough knew she was anything but, she was a creature made of the desire for revenge, masquerading as valiant for reasons even she didn't understand. What people took as reliable work, was no more than her sating some whim that had passed her fancy, entirely selfish in nature. Even when she seemed to help someone for no reason? It always had some benefit for her, even if that plus side was simply entertainment or something trivial like that. Not to mention things like the gambling habit she kept well under wraps. Heck, she fed on the very things she went around stopping as a legal mage.

Black rose mages were not always secretly aware of break-ins, but some of them like Jiyu did do things less savory than the public believed. Thus showing up when someone was trying to break in somewhere? Was not odd for the wind user, it was a side effect of being part of the mafia sometimes. Making things awkward and strange was just another way to keep the other party from asking what she was doing there in the first place. "Do I Look Like I Care?" she spoke expressively, with her fangs showing slightly in a grin, an eyebrow cocked up in question, her voice carrying laughter as her tail swayed back and forth lightly. Even if she didn't have a rough idea of who she was dealing with from the fact the other was a wizard saint? Jiyu would have behaved the exact same way, she didn't care about who someone was, and secretly she sometimes believed it was better people didn't know who she was. Considering she was coming here for her own joy ride or death wish? Why would she want the other knowing more than absolutely necessary about her?

Someone was definitely trying to kill this girl, sending her to deal with some haunting when she had no clue the first thing about hauntings. How could the other chick not see that this was an attempt on her life? "As I said, you're in luck, one could call me a living haunting of sorts." she certainly wasn't undead, she had a beating heart and everything else in spite of her prior death that she barely remembered. "So I know a good deal about this sort of thing." considering she could be counted as something like this herself if she bred negativity instead of just feeding off the odd negative feelings she found in the world. "This place is no exaggeration, I can taste its nature from here." making the comment she lifted her hand, stabbing the claws of it into the air causing a black mist dense enough to appear solid to form around them and quickly consume her entire hand. "Negative energy, it essentially comes from any damaging or damaged emotion." and if she could gather this much of it from simply grabbing the air out here, Jiyu couldn't imagine the amount inside of the castle. Yes she could! This was going to be one of the best meals she ever had, and a damn good story, more fun for her trouble than she anticipated.

"Either the man is incredibly foolish or you need to reevaluate if you've made enemies." the wind user shrugged, leaning back as she levitated there. "Someone trying to send you in here with next to no knowledge of hauntings and underestimating this place, is someone sending you into a death trap." it was harsh to say, but the rueful smile on her face was proof enough that she didn't like the idea and was simply stating the words she stated as a matter of fact sort thing. In Jiyu's mind, someone sending someone here like that man had sent Samira here? Was a purposeful murder attempt or idiocy. "But, yeah, I can handle anything in there, most of them will be infants in terms of hassle for me." after-all on the scale of hauntings, a mere ghost was nothing compared to a diety of revenge, no matter how old or ticked off those ghosts happened to be.

Why Did People Always Have To Ask Who She Was! At the moment she was not sure if she was Jiyu or Mikka and it was so hard to introduce herself to others due to that. "Jiyu Kazehime, Black Rose Ace." considering everything this was no time to 'change' her name even if Mikka Ambrose was her birth name. "Handshakes are so dull!" the statement came as she lurched forward slightly, hands falling right onto Samira's shoulder blades, ears tilted back softly. "Just remember, no touching of the tail." it was a slightly awkward half hug, but considering her insistence on no one touching her tail it made sense she wouldn't do a full force hug with someone she didn't know that well. "I'll let you have the honor of opening things up, just hold my hand at entry to make sure we end up in the same place inside the castle, certain ghosts are capable of spacial manipulation." which meant if they let go of each other, a powerful enough spirit could separate them within a split second if given the chance.

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Sometime later, someway? Samira had gotten them inside of the castle, bare feet levitating inches above the royal red carpeting leading down the entryway they were standing in. Entry was perfect, this was going to be easier than she thought. 'Wow, you're dim, did you really think you'd be able to walk here?' a wave of nausea hit her, any contact she had with Samira being broken as the inugami fell to her knee's, a wretching sound coming from her throat, whole body heaving as if she was going to throw up but nothing came out. What was going on? Jiyu didn't understand immediately until she thought about Assertives taunt for a second, realizing, at last, the implications of entering into a place where the balance of energy was so skewed in the direction of negativity. "Samira." it was a pained gasp as she struggled to hold her power over the body, she couldn't give up control yet, she would be putting the other girl in danger if she did!

After the first shout? The next jolt of pain rendered her onto her side, gripping her chest as she spluttered another cough, this time a small amount of the energy she had shown Samira outside being upheaved, instantly adhering to her own flesh, defining her black markings. If she could no longer hide the markings? She only had minutes, maybe moments until she lost control. "We have to make a contract!" it was the last thing she truly wanted to do, her contacts never ended too well anytime she could remember making one. However, the only way to bind herself against harming Samira within these walls was to make a contract against it. Before she could get another word out? The wind user started convulsing as if she was going to seize or something along those lines. 'Don't you even mysterious! Just give me control, it's my right here!' She couldn't do that, she couldn't let someone think she had tricked them into this place or anything like that.

"I can't hold her back forever!" Indeed no matter how hard she fought, Assertive would take their body here, she couldn't walk here. "Quick, before I end up hurting you!" as she hacked again the black energy misted weaving itself into her long hair dying it back to the natural jet black she was born with, bleeding onto her ears and tail. "If you can make me promise, she'll keep it." It was nearly impossible to speak with this gagging, but she had no choice when she stopped gagging it wouldn't be her anymore. Another scream ripped from her throat as one blue eye changed to green in a flash. "I can't start." with another wretch the black mist hanging in the hair enveloped one arm suddenly changing it into canine anatomy from the elbow down. Jiyu had to pray Samira collected the fact that her species was the sort of creature that had to be asked for something, they didn't just offer contracts the other party had to seek them out.

It was in the other girl's ballfield, she could do nothing but fight off the switch and hope she could do so long enough for Samira to give her the chance to say 'I promise' or 'I swear' or anything binding of the sort. How could she have been so dim as to not realize Assertive had to be the one to wall these halls?

Oh, dear. Judging by the lack of care in approaching others properly it would seem Samira would be dealing with quite the mischievous character. Possibly even a delinquent that enjoyed getting into a little trouble here and there, but could she really judge when her track record with Black Rose members always resulted in a sort of break in? Possibly not. She would have to admit the current one was a bit more lively than the white haired girl, and a lot less angry than the living doll. An improvement in her view. The grin and light laughter of the spontaneously appearing dog-like girl were also other visible traits that convinced the summoner that she was not some heartless goon that had the goal of giving people early deaths by way of heart attacks. The other girl was just... playful and had no care in the world. There were some similarities to others she had met with those traits, but it would be the first to see them in such a combination while discussing whatever haunted horrors were waiting inside the castle. Waiting for whatever creatures were foolish enough to wander in. Oh, right, that'd be them.

Once again Samira had been reminded that it was essentially a death trap to just walk in with next to no knowledge. Well, that was how she usually handled things. Just dive in and see what happened and clean up whatever mess came of it along the way. That or use some other tactics she had been taught by reckless mages of the past which was blow everything up as much as possible. It often worked due to those obstacles just no longer remaining. Would that last resort, or sometimes first resort, even work on that place? Most likely not from the theories and information she had been given by the other woman. Even then Samira herself didn't exactly carry around that sort of equipment, and the haunting expert didn't look like she specialized in magic that blew things up. No, with her knowledge exploring haunted castles was either a really weird hobby or her magic revolved around that in some way. Being labeled as a "living haunting" further added to that conclusion, however strange it was. Did that mean she was possessing that body? Creepy, but fascinating. Samira actually wanted to reach out and poke the girl to see if she was really solid and not some magical ghost. The temptation to do so was real and strong, but so was Samira's control over herself. She held it back. Such a thing could be tested by the more appropriate and not so weird and out of place handshake! Or, so she thought.

Jiyu Kazehime. That had been the name Samira had been given as an introduction. Her theory on the woman being the former rising star by the same name seemed to be correct. Almost. The appearance still looked very off aside from the guild mark placement and size. Magically altered perhaps. No one would be silly enough to impersonate the real Jiyu and get most of the physical characteristics wrong. Not if they were smart anyway. Samira had opened her mouth in an attempt to say that it was nice to meet her but was instantly caught off by Jiyu being displeased and bored with the handshake method. Any smile she had evaporated and she almost felt embarrassed by the reaction. "They are-" An attempt to deny the boringness of proper handshake greetings had been made but ceased to be when she was caught up in a sort of half hug. Samira sighed hopelessly. "You too are a hugger, I see." Why did she get the feeling that she was going to get it wrong every time? No doubt the first time she goes and tries to hug someone as a greeting instead that person would have expected a handshake. What an awkward scenario that would be. She couldn't even use the excuse that it was only animal-like beings that enjoyed the hugs. Normal humans did too! Where was the mysterious invisible line of proper etiquette drawn?! For herself, right up to the point of touching fluffy tails. Everything told her to do it. Jiyu had even told her not to. But... fluffy. The curiosity of what it was like to have one, or even several, was always there. They were all so lucky to have poofy extensions of ultimate softness. Samira would never deny the fact she was a tad bit vain to a degree. Her own green locks of hair were especially important. "Very well. No touching of the tail from me." She had to resist. For now. One should also note that statement was for her and her alone. If one of her more playful spirits made a habit of touching that tail... well she supposed Jiyu would just send them packing back to the celestial realm a second later. She was certain the other female mage was capable of it due to her statuses, past and present.

"If you insist." Getting into the castle would be a trivial matter in theory, with a normal castle at least. Samira's plan had been to use a spirit to open a portal that led directly into it from her spot near the gate. A very easy entrance strategy that worked time and time again. This time though she hesitated slightly. There had been confidence before, but Samira was not one to turn down free advice and knowledge, and Jiyu mentioning that the castle may be a pocket dimension replayed a few times in her head. She had never opened a portal between dimensions aside from the obvious summoning. There could be many things that go wrong... Her verdant gaze turned again to the castle, and then a mere second later she shrugged her shoulders. Oh well. As usual things will be dealt with as they happened. If they somehow ended up a few dimensions away from the actual one they were going for then that was just how it was going to be. She could cry and have another heart attack at her screw up later.

"Janus," she said, giving no context whatsoever beforehand of what that meant or of her plan to get inside the castle. The other mage would be able to put the vague little clues together though when a shimmering blue celestial portal opened up to allow one of Samira's many to come through. No longer was she a summoner that had to use those silly key dancing tactics to bring a spirit out. Just a thought or call alone sufficed, provided she herself still had the energy to open those portals.

"Heeelllooooo there, Samira." The spirit said with a kind smile as soon as his portal disappeared in a puff of particles. He appeared to be made up of strange metal components, quite unusual but not exactly too rare of a thing when it came to summons and spirits. However, his appearance and low magical presence also gave away the fact that he was not a fighting spirit by any means. He had one job, and one job only: open portals. Yep. A tool to be used for easy breezy traveling. Whenever he wasn't napping anyway. The poor thing was an old spirit, after all! Or so he always said. The glowing blue eyes left the summoner and turned towards the unknown dog-girl that was also standing there. "And heeellllooooo there, Princess Prissypop!"

"Right, can you- wait a minute." Samira's eyebrows started twitching. Did he seriously just call a respected member of the mage community Princess Prissypop? Oh, how embarrassing! "What did you call her?"

"Princess Prissypop! It is what I have named her! She is the new pet, isn't she? One that can turn into a human-like form? Like your guild master's! Oh, I was wondering when this day for a family pet would come!" The spirit then looked around, taking in the scenery before scowling. "Not really the best place to find a new pet I dare say! Are we sure she doesn't have-"

Samira had been in the middle of a facepalm when he started to suggest maybe Jiyu had some sort of stray animal disease such as rabies. Then she cringed inwardly. If he hadn't already been offensive then finishing that sentence would probably reach there. "Stop!" A deep breath had been taken to calm the inner emotions that were going haywire for fear that she'd have to do a massive amount of apologizing and possibly not have a haunting expert on her side at all. "Janus, this is Jiyu Kazehime. An Ace of Black Rose and a former Rising Star." Surely he would get the hint now that she was no pet, never would be one, and deserved more respect than he had given.

"Ooooooh!" A look of total and complete shock was on the spirit's face as he looked at the other woman once more. How blasphemous of him! He had been doing his napping before being summoned and so had missed all the introductions and details that the others had seen. "I am terribly sorry, Ms. Jiyu Kazehime! But do you mind if I call you Jiji instead?"

"Janus!"

"Oh, all right. You wanted a portal that goes inside that castle over there, yes? Once again running face first into danger, I see." Janus very much disapproved of the adventure. That castle looked spooky. But well, whoever listened to an old spirit's words and opinions anyway? "Leave it to me, girls! If there is one thing I can do it is make portals. Or napping. I guess that's two things! Haha!" With a moment taken to do a bit of bippity boppity boo magic a portal just large enough for the two women to enter was created on the stonewall that connected to the castle's gate. During the spirit's task, Samira gave Jiyu an apologetic look and shook her head. "I am sorry if he came off as offensive. He is a little bit... unique. They all are actually, but they mean well. Most of them anyway." She didn't really feel it necessary to explain that she was talking about even more spirits. Surely Jiyu could conclude that her magic involved summoning, for the most part anyway. Samira had been sincere and not being overly paranoid about them though. Most were nice if not annoying, but others were a bit more on the other side of the spectrum. One in particular even gave her trouble most of the time. Hopefully he would remain quiet and not start up trouble. In a short amount of time they would have their hands full just dealing with the unforeseen circumstances Jiyu brought along.

With the portal created Janus said his farewells and poofed into magic particles, assuming he wasn't sent there prematurely for being rude earlier. Either way he was gone, but their method of travel was up and running! "Well let us proceed. The portal should be safe enough, and if not it can be tallied up as a learning experience." Her way of making a joke, but her tone and expression made it sound and look as if she was completely serious and less than humorous. Ah, well, that's just how she was with strangers. A bit of an "airhead" when caught off guard or embarrassed, but otherwise did her best to remain stoic and calm. Only certain individuals and other Lamia Scale members saw much else. "You mentioned holding hands when we enter the castle. I imagine that rule still applies even when taking a portal." Samira held out her own hand for the other to take, and also made the suggestion of going through the portal at the same time to prevent any disconnects and separations from the supernatural magic of the castle and its haunting. Miraculously and without any horrible incident the two made it inside the castle. There would be no going back just yet though. The portal disappeared as soon as they left it. One of the flaws with the portal spirit's ability; they were never permanent or lasted long. No matter. He could always be summoned again later on.

Samira looked down the long entryway, the halls and corridors of the castle surprisingly not being as condemned on the inside as she had thought. There was even some lighting from the many candlesticks and chandeliers. Most likely an illusion to hide the castle's true appearance. Trivial trickery, but it did line up with Jiyu's earlier words. Looking down the entryway was about as much as Samira was able to do before her hand hold on Jiyu broke and the other mage fell to her knees, appearing as if she were sick. "I am sure some suffer from magic travel, portals in particular, and get sick much like sea sickness, but I did not think it would be that severe. You really should have said something. Are you going to be all right?" Obviously she had no clue as to how serious the situation really was. The poor clueless Saint thought the dog-girl just suffered from a case of everyday magic nausea from traveling through a portal! Maybe she should summon her healing spirit, assuming that would even work. It had never been tried before to deal with sickness, just injuries.

The "sickness" just seemed to get worse, however. In fact, it started to become clear it wasn't a sickness at all. She stepped back as the energy was seen and narrowed her eyes, making sure to also keep them fixated on the convulsing girl. Had this been a trap of sorts? It was a strange way to go about it. What was the meaning of having to form a contract with her? It was very vague, and considering how random it all was the summoner did not appreciate it. Her throwing caution to the wind demeanor evaporated now that things took an obvious turn and required her to be a bit more alert and suspicious. Would she soon have to fight someone she had thought to be an ally, however temporary? Her own magic remained as it was and stayed that way. There was no point in powering up or using a spell until she knew for sure what was going on. Her normal defenses were enough should they be necessary, or at least by her own logic and theory.

At the mention of making a contract a few of Samira's spirits decided to check in and materialize to see in person what was up. They did not intend on fighting, just spectate, and so they remained at Samira's side and behind her.

Spirit one raised his hat and stared down at the dog-girl mage that was having some sort of seizure on the ground. "Aw hell, another Black Rose member? Can we just add them to the blacklist already? Nothing good comes from adventuring with them. Can't even walk into the front door without things going wrong!"

Spirit two was normally a large feathered serpent, but her true form and power was restricted until summoned normally. Plus, a castle didn't really make for a good space for a large flying snake. "A contract, huh? Well this cute little thing is no spirit, so what is she anyway?"

Spirit 3 glared at the creature that dared demand making a contract. Well, more like a suggestion to stop things from really getting bad, but as if that spirit was going to care or even take notice of that detail. "We should finish this creature off! She is clearly an enemy!"

"Whoa, keep those four arms to yourself, blueberry. It's rude to attack someone that looks like they're about to cough up their lungs. How about we do it the old fashioned way? Put her to sleep, paralyze,-"

"Eat her." The others looked at the serpent spirit to which she just blinked passively. "What? I'm hungry and she looks like an adorable snack. Like those cupcakes or cookies with all of those little faces and decorations that people of this realm eat."

"You're not really supposed to eat people though... we've kind of been through this before."

"You all really are not helping with this. Aside from the stalling movesets that were suggested at least." If need be Samira could use spells of that sort so the two would not have to fight and hurt each other. Whether that would work or not was uncertain. She knew of Jiyu's Rising Star status but that was all. Magical abilities and even species were unknown to her. With a wave of her hand she dismissed those spirits entirely. While listening to them she had also been listening to Jiyu's words. Apparently the Black Rose Ace was trying to hold something that was in her back. Something that was dangerous. Samira could understand that and knew well that things such as that existed and were very real. One of her more powerful spirits operated the same way in the past. She had also noticed the markings and the jet black hair taking over the previous bright color. A slight reminder of a missing girl on some posters back in a village she had lived in before joining Lamia Scale. There was doubt that it was the same girl, after all, it had been many years.

"So I am to make sure you promise something so "she" will keep it." A statement of clarity more than a question. How lucky it was that Samira was not one to take full advantage of it. The way it sounded she could potentially set it up for anything. No. Just getting through the castle and then parting ways safely was enough. Whatever happened after that was none of her concern. Well unless "she" took over afterwards and started causing trouble for others, but she was hardly a babysitter. Her own guild should be keeping watch over her instead in that regard. If Lamia Scale was on the case, well, then that would only be labeling the poor woman as a monster. Time was indeed ticking and running out quickly, as was evident by the transformation that seemed to be occurring.

"Promise me that you will help me get through this castle and investigate it, and that you will remain as you were when I first met you until you are back within your guild hall." It seemed logical enough to her. They could finish their little castle exploration and the other mage would not be a danger to others on the way back to her guild. From there, the guild of Black Rose could help in her plight. They had to have known about it given how dangerous it seemed, so surely they had ways of dealing with it. She was really just winging it though, and could only hope that it was done correctly. Hell, she wasn't even certain if she could have multiple conditions or not in this contract. This adventure of haunted castle exploration was already getting strange and unpredictable. If things got any worse then she really would have to take her spirit's suggestion and add Black Rose to the infamous blacklist of avoid at all costs for her own sanity and safety.

(Word Count: 3215
Total So Far: 5237)

4,698/

---

"Most of the time." Assertive was far from being a hugger, but she herself was so long as something did not have some extra peices of hardware beneath the belt. Toothy grin across her mouth she kept her gaze trained up on the other, holding her tail low as she could in order to be sure it remained safe encase her warning/request was not heeded. While Samira assumed she was capable of getting someone else off her tail if they grabbed it? The truth of the matter was that any grab to that part of her body was pretty much an instant win for whoever she was against, she couldn't move it just felt too, ugh, she just couldn't it was far too much and all that would come to mind was getting her hands on whoever had her tail. "I insist~" the canine laughed, swaying back a few steps and wagging her long tail a few brief times as she brought her hands together in front of her happily.

Ears flicked and expression turned quizzical not at the presence of Samira's summon, she could figure out why he was here, but she was trying to decide if his speech was directed at her. Eventually the ace decided he was indeed talking about and to her. "Well princess actually isn't entirely inaccurate, my last name, it means wind princess, so it's not really offensive since it's half accurate." she shrugged, she was irked a little bit assertive quickly soaked it up for her, so she didn't even show that it had happened momentairly. "And I am capable of taking an animal form, though you have it backwards clckwork, about which one is my original state, I was born hum- half human." it was so hard recalling most of the time that she had always been at least half demon due to her mother, because she had not known it growing up, it had been much later when she found out the truth. "I promise, I'm vacinated." illegally vacinated since there was record wise no Jiyu Kazehime before joining Black Rose, but she was still vax'ed.

"Oh come on you ruined his fun." she scowled playfully at samira, offering a smile to let the other know she had indeed liked the aid in getting the clock work man to see she was not the new pet for them. "Ms is far too formal, call me anything you like so long as you don't call me Rabid~" she easily dropped the playful hint that she knew what the other was going to say, what else did most people assume wild animals could have expect rabies.

He seemed to be a worry wort sort over the mage."Don't worry clock work, Samira will be fine, I may not be the most capable of jumping into the realm but I can certainly bring us both out whenver I want." As an Inugami, she figured all she would have to do was grab the other girls hand and jump generating a portal to her own realm beneath them and just fall into the safety of Solace, easy as pie. Now she wanted pie. "Can we get pie after this?" maybe she could convince Samira to pay for it, so she didn't have to find a way to get ahold of jewel she had not carried on her. "Aren't we all?." she snickered at the comment about Clockwork being unique, covering her mouth with this giggle. "I mean I really could have ended up someone's pet, I am a dog after-all, I have to buy flea pills every month, I have a vet instead of a doctor." otherwise she quickly did get flea's because of how often she was out exploring, it did not take long for the annoying bugs to find her. "Rule still apllies indeed." she quickly took the other girls hand, grin spreading across her smile once more, this was going to be a very fun day.

Inside she felt as if each second that ticked by was tearing her into tiny shreds, ripping out small pieces of her and throwing them to the wind never to be retrieved, their open wounds to bleed out and scream in agony forever. Jiyu for some reason felt as if she had not eaten in decades, almost as if her ribs were piercing through her flesh even though she knew this to be false, her skin feeling so hot it also felt cold at the same time across most of her body, a heavy weighted feeling consuming her wrists, ankles, at the same time her vision kept blacking out almost as if someone was trying to keep a blindfold on her in spite of her trembling and trashing. In terms of how she looked to anyone observing her? The woman did not look much better, cold sweat having already broken out all over her body, mouth hanging open looking almost as if she was rabid. Jiyu was clearly in an extreme amount of discomfort if not outright pain, and there seemed to be no clear physical reason for this, as the problem was more internal then that.

"Not" she could barely get a word out among the negative energy leaking from her mouth, it was climbing up her throat with tiny daggers and overflowing from her mouth. "Sick." as much as she wished this was just some sickness she could pass off or such? Jiyu knew well enough this was as much of her as the behavior she had been displaying earlier, she couldn't run from this just deny it until it tore her apart and won out. Samira needed to get away, the lamia scale ace was not going to be safe around her, not with Assertive clawing closer and closer to the surface of their conscious outward behavior, even now her claws flexed on reflex and she flinched because of it. 'You kept me down too long Mysterious, you can't win this fight for any more than brief moments.' the truth was harsh but that's what it was. All these past months? She had been feeding her other half but denying her the chance to exercise any relief, every bit of regret, anger or anything of the like from her recent struggle, all served to make the other half of her stronger than she could cope with. Jiyu wished she could have provided more help, but it took everything she had within just to keep her other half from emerging right now and taking out all their negativity on Samira in misplaced vengeance.

'She Is A Threat To Us!' she heard the shout from her other half as she groggily looked up in a weak manner to see first the man with a blocked sword and straw hat. What was he doing here? For a split second her control slipped as the wing woman came into view. "YOU'RE THE ENEMY!" there was a flash of dim red light on her black markings as she lunged forward, but a black flash of dim light seemed to freeze her in place. "Whatever You're Going To Do" she hacked again, red leaking further into her markings. "Do it now! I won't be able to stop her again!" as she kept speaking the woman seemed to grow weaker, once more slipping down to her knee's almost completely envloped in the black smoke that had leaked from her. Surrounded she was having an incredibly hard time fighting her other half off, especially as she felt an increasing level of threat coming from the other mages spirits and knew that Assertive would be capable of keeping themself safe where she was not. 'Come On She's Going To Kill Us, Let Me Fight!' it didn't seem like a bad idea.

Hearing the next words from Samira brought back a pinch of the fight she had in her, weak smile on her face, they may just make it. The lamia scale ace had opened the door for a contract and the second they sealed it, Assertive would be powerless to harm her unless she wanted to die. Crap, that was a problem! Samira wanted to deny Assertive her time out even though this was an area where the more peaceful half of an inugami would suffocate out over time anyways. 'Don't You Dare!' past the screaming in her head she was able to push herself to kneel in a crouched animalistic position looking up at Samira with optics constantly seeming to switch from desperate to blood thrist. "To help you through the castle, investigate it-" she choked again and it was clear whatever was trying to get out so to speak, had become incredibly irriated at her words. "and listen to you until I am as you first met me!" she had to word it somehow to give Samira control but also let Assertive takeover the body, she didn't need another fight with herself. "I Promise To Uphold This Swear." she hacked again and this time when she went down it was clear from the desperation in her eyes she wasn't getting up. Now that they had started the process of a contract? She could let go, Assertive could not break the oath she had given unless Samira denied the terms she had given, and Jiyu doubted the ace was stupid enough.

Jiyu lay there still as the energy seeped around to solidify the animilistic changes to her, marks being consumed by red coloration. Mismatched gaze flickered over to Samira once more, but the look in her eyes was different, the carefree nature was gone she just seemed bitter. "I can't believe that bitch actually made another contract, the last one went so badly." the last contract was why they even knew one another existed, they had been forced to meet in their realm after they broke that contract. "Of course." sitting on the floor she cut her gaze to the gathered crowd again "We had no idea about our power of contracts when we made the last one, no idea what we'd agreed to with the words 'I promise' so this one should be fine, I know what not to do, still can't believe M decided this was the best way to go about containing us." she seemed as if she was pouting, sitting here crossed leg with her paws between her legs, tail wrapped around most of her body.

Looking at the person who had emerged from herself? This Jiyu was much more sullen than the other, she also looked unhealthy, skin deathly pale, so skinny she should be dead, red dripping down around her neck in what appeared to be an active marking. "So..." idly she twirled her paw around, black energy from the air around them seeping out and collecting on her ebony paw. "You're not one of those people who is going to ask me who I am right or demand I give them a name to call me, are you?" The fact the few people who knew about her, liked to consider her seperately from Jiyu in the past? Was hurtful just like everything in her life was, she was still Jiyu even if she only happened to be the negativity held. At the moment, since she was sulking about being under contract again, the wind mage just sat there, looking up at the wizard saint with a pout etched into her features and mistrust clear in her eyes.

Outside:

What relief it was to see Jiyu acting playfully towards Janus' comments instead of getting offended. She really was one for good impressions and appearances and at times could be a little paranoid about it. The last thing she needed was for word to get out to Black Rose that she had accused the dog-girl of having rabies! Last she checked the guild master was also some form of animal girl, therefore she too could take something from the insult. How many other animal people were also in that guild? A lot? There could have been a war over one implied insult! An animal-human hybrid army would be marching throughout Fiore, all the ways to the docks of Hargeon to take out the Lamia Scale base there before they made their way to Pandora to attack the main base. Monster hunters would be on the defensive, attempting to repel the disastrous army of rabified fluff with weapons and magic containing the necessary vaccines. There would be losses. There would be heartbreaks. There would be unimaginable horror! There would also be defeat as the insulted army of fluff teamed up with all the monsters of Pandora and took down the guild that hunter them. All because one spirit implied one Ace may have had rabies. The scene played in Samira's mind of what would have been only seconds in the normal world. Her complexion paled with worry as she got lost in her zone out experience, but she had snapped out of it right after Jiyu had assured the clock-like spirit that they would be able to get out of the realm fine. Right before she asked about pie. Samira blinked and stared. That was... so random. "Pie? I guess we can..." The human woman was very much unsure on why that was even brought up, and it showed in her slow reply and spacing of her words. No harm was there in the suggestion, however. Who didn't like pie? She didn't exactly say she would pay for it, but then again she didn't say she wouldn't either. The dog-girl could be in luck once the investigation was over!

While Janus was still doing what he did best, Jiyu had taken the apology well enough and had even giggled as a reaction. It must have been really hard to offend her, something Samira was grateful for currently but still found strange. She would have been offended at least a little. Then there was a mention of flea pills every month and even having a vet, like a real dog! "Are you serious?" She couldn't tell if it was an actual joke or not. One could not deny that she was a tad bit on the gullible side at times, and many jokes did tend to fly right over her head so she really needed to ask. As much as being only human could be classified as a disadvantage, at least she could have the benefit of not needing to take flea pills every month. Now to wonder in the back of her mind just how many traits the other woman shared with the animal she represented.

Inside:

Things were looking to get even more violent the longer Samira had stalled. Her spirits showing up to make their comments had only made things worse. Jiyu had shouted about them being the enemy and lunged forward, but before much could be done control had been regained. The summoner had still been un-phased and remained where she had been. There was concern for the other girl, but not fear or even a survival instinct alarm going off to tell her to run away before things got tough. Samira had said her contract conditions, and with those words she listened to Jiyu continue her fight against the oppressive force and repeat what had been said, altered slightly but much of it still the same. Then she saw the eyes of Jiyu as she let go and remained lying there, allowing the other to take control. The energy and transformation continued as Samira stood there and watched quietly, or at least that was what it appeared. In reality she was conversing with her spirits, preparing herself in case the contract didn't work and she needed to fight.

'So, it would seem I was unable to stop it from happening at all.'
'You're surprised? Oh, naive summoner. That would be quite silly if whatever that was could be stopped so easily. Funny and entertaining, but still unrealistically silly.'
'Should we do anything? I am not familiar with contracts of this sort at all. Ours are not the same.'

The altered version of the dog-girl now awoke and sat up, speaking of another contract that went badly and other things. Even with the spirits in her head talking Samira could still hear what was going on on the outside, so long as she paid attention. A skill that had been practiced for over a decade now. 'So far it is working. I have not been attacked.'

'Yeah, lets wait until AFTER we're stabbed in the back to do anything. Brilliant defensive strategy. Bravo.'
'I see little reason to do harm against this one. She remains still and harmless for now. More importantly-'
'We need her to get out.'
'Damn Black Rose mages. This wasn't what you signed up for. The client better pay extra.'

Well that little bit of extra money would go a long way for their pie outing! Assuming they even got there now with the new developments. She'd trust the altered version of Jiyu for now. More caution would be in place than previously naturally, but she'd at least assume the other girl wouldn't lead her astray and into some sort of ghost trap. They'd be working together and hopefully do it well enough for no more further trouble. Then came the question regarding what the dog-woman would be called. Looking at her now it was hard to call her by the same name she had been given earlier. In a sense it was the same girl, but at the same time there were a lot of differences for it to make sense that it was someone else entirely. Samira scoffed as she put a hand on her hip and leaned into it. "I can always call you Princess Prissypop, I suppose." She could see where that was going. That the one standing in front of her had no other name. It was Jiyu, just another version. "Being serious, however, I would rather not have to call you by the same name as the other one. Do you have another that you prefer?"

Technically Samira had already been through similar circumstances, not because of her experiences with a spirit that enjoyed taking control of her, but by witnessing another side of a person switch and take dominance over the normal one. Several times. Those were never good experiences, and now those memories were being brought to the forefront of her mind again. She didn't like it, and was why she had mentioned not calling the altered version the same name as the original. Her spirits mentioned that even though they were similar that they were not exact, and that she really should get over those memories already. A hard thing to do when even in a haunted castle they still managed to find a way to pop up. Funny. She didn't need a haunted structure to be haunted in some way.

The woman shook her head to clear her thoughts and the voices of her spirits. "I never did ask since I figured you to be similar to the others I have met before." The others being people with animal-like traits. While they had their own uniqueness to them they didn't exactly transform just by walking into an abandoned castle of mysterious supernatural forces. Nor had they ever formed a contract. Her green eyes remained focused on the current Jiyu, narrowed and filled with suspicion, but not hostile at all. "What are you? Aside from being a part of Jiyu, I mean." A simple question that she expected a simple answer to. It was normal to know what type of creature she had formed a contract with, right? Perhaps she should have asked for more details when she was told that "a living haunting" could describe her, but well... Samira had not predicted things to go this way at all! Oops.

(Word Count: 1407
Total So Far: 6644

6,263 words so far.

---

There hadn't really been time to tell Samira that she was dead serious about needing things like flea and heartworm prevention. Shortly after the question about if she was serious had been posed, they had needed to go through the portal and well the rest of the story was self-evident, she went haywire at a mere whiff of the negative energy in the place. Adjusting to changing faces? Was still rough sometimes, with mysterious in control so much, Assertive really was not even entirely sure how to control their body at first again, kinda stuck for a moment in how things were supposed to go. For certain she had not forgotten anything, there was still no difference, but they were both sentient and it was jarring to suddenly come to the surface, especially since one of them had not been completely willing for the switch to happen. When they did the swap purposefully and completely willing? It was different, things were great, but when that didn't happen, both of them ended up left feeling a little, out of place.

The changes that had taken place were extremely evident, rage glowing in her eyes the second 'princess prissypup' was mentioned, a growl coming from her throat. "That stupid clockworks nickname is insulting, I'm a bitch not a pup, far from prissy, and if I ever had a crown I lost it long ago." the comment was sneered through bore fangs, enraged gaze not letting down as her fists clenched. Assertive's reaction? Was much more along the lines of what Samira had initially expected Jiyu to behave in response to the insults thrown by the summon in jest. Only now it was the mage who had made the misstep not realizing the key reason they didn't always just share the body! "And if I did have rabies, I would be sure to infect him! But M just had to get us vaccinated so we couldn't hurt anyone, I could care less about everyone else in the world unless they're feeding me somehow!" the comment actually kinda made sense, this version of Jiyu didn't look as if she had ever eaten, every rib and other bone easily able to be counted even at a distance. So being motivated by some kind of abstract food source? Didn't seem all the odd, considering this one seemed to starving.

With a scoff she punched the wall next to her, knowing punching Samira would have serious repercussions and not wanting to throw away what breaking a contract meant throwing away. "Other One! You Don't Get It At All!" there was something laying somewhere nearby, whatever it was, the girl grabbed it and chucked it at the nearest wall, shattering it into dozens of tiny pieces. Apparently? This version of Jiyu had serious anger issues even though the other one seemed to lack anger entirely. "We're The Same Person!" she was seething, and the lights flickered in response to it, something in the distance sounding as if it had fallen, the mansion shaking slightly. "We only call each other mysterious and assertive because we can hear each other even when no one else can hear the sleeping portion." And considering this one had called the other half of Jiyu as 'M' that meant this one by logic had to be Assertive, since it wouldn't make sense another way.

"It was rhetorical anyway, someone short of divine or those who have meddled with such before, have little chance of understanding anyway." now she seemed to settle for pouting on the floor again with her back to Samira, refusing to look at her. People were awful creatures, insisting on putting distance between her and mysterious, it was ridiculous, there was no distance, if you stabbed one of them the other still felt it, even in their realm where they could look at each other should they chose to! "I doubt you've met one of my kind before, even I haven't encountered another yet and even if you had, it wouldn't have been in its proper state it would have been altered by being contracted to someone extremely powerful. I'm the only one I've heard of able to roam freely with no contract." even though her kind were notorious for killing their contracted person in the end if the other half of that agreement proved to be weak? It was shockingly rare for someone that weak to even be able to summon her kind, much less enslave them for long enough any mages would take notice of it, most of the time some sort of exorcism of the person holding the contract was all that was required. Of course, most of the time the Inugami would than kill everyone there in it's fit of rage. Jiyu had to wonder, why was she different? For what reason could she go without contract, and what did her kind really act like. In spite of everything, she truly had no idea what other Inugami were like, since she had never met one before.

Though Assertive assumed she could take this one, no one had really bothered asking 'what' before most just asked 'who' and if someone had asked what before it was in the sense of her being some sort of possession, not another part. Even if Samira was still off the mark? She could live with this horribleness until they escaped. "I'm an Inugami, though what I can tell you about my kind or even myself is limited." she had to be honest since lying would by technicality break the contract. "Three stories exist about how one gets an Inugami, but they all involve killing a dog, two of them by starving it and then severing the head, in one case you bury the head at a crossroads for use in a curse, the other you deify it for its aid, the last involves pitting many dogs against each other, feeding the survivor a fish, cutting its head off and eating the remainder of that fish." All of the stories were bloody, sad and not ones that people liked thinking about. Though? it did explain the reason she looked so starved, and the reason she had a weeping red line around her neck. "The common thread is the dog has a reason to seek revenge against the world, Inugami sustain on negativity." which also may explain why she had to come out in this mansion, the walls were thick with anguish, her domain.  "Though I'm unique compared to the stories, I'm not dead, none of that happened to me, I only know what I am because I possess all the powers of a deified inugami." and sometimes those powers had been very troublesome, but she supposed they were not too bad. "And in terms of what you view as two different people, we share everything, there isn't a difference. The only line that can be drawn is this-" she took a breath, unsure if the other girl would get it.

How did she explain the fact they were just two of the same, yet both aware of the other? "You never feel just one way about things said to you, right?" that was likely the best place to start, explaining the only difference was how they felt about things, but that they accepted each other's views as one in the same. "I'm sure you noticed, M doesn't get upset even in the face of something that should upset her." it was pretty hard to miss, the other half was a good-natured idiot, for the most part, she felt but didn't express. "That's partly a lie, she does know she got upset for a split second, but negativity is my world, I drain it away before she can act on it. We can blur sometimes, but it's rare." and she just kept it, held it, lived off it, nothing could change that, they needed it. "Thus why we're sentient of each other in spite of there being no difference." The other girl likely wouldn't get it, but hey that would just give her more anger and rage to live off. "It's the same way you know something made you happy and sad at the same time, like when you eat the last piece of a pie and it was really good, but it was the last piece, only in this case happy and sad can talk to each other and refuse to show at the same time." that had to make perfect sense, and if it didn't than Samira was an idiot, plain and simple.

"I came to control because this place is too dark for her to exist, so I protect M deep inside until the effects fade sometime after we leave." she shrugged, getting up off the floor and walking so she stood next to Samira, glaring still. "Get it?" with that she extended her boney painfully thin hand, still intending to run the same rules that M had since they made sense. "I can still eat right, you won't take offense to it, cause that's what I actually came here for, even if M came following impulse I agreed to let us come because this place is a giant meal." Jiyu had known both sides of the coin the entire time, it was just that M had not thought A would be able to get out.

A tantrum was the response she would be given. Something that under normal circumstances would have caused Samira to sigh hopelessly and reconsider the maturity levels of her current mission partner. She resisted the urge and let the version of Jiyu that needed some serious anger management sessions vent. Silence and a blank stare was all that was given until it had come to an end. As for the spirits that were watching within their space within the summoners mind, most were very amused. It was an entertaining episode of the life of Samira Nassar that day, and the introduction of this new cast member was a fun one to watch. Their telepathic comments would go ignored, as they served no purpose other than to poke fun at the already angered dog girl. The priorities of the more silly spirits that had no care in the world really were a bit questionable at times. They had apparently ignored the conversation they just had about needing the Black Rose Ace to get through the haunted house more safely and to also have a guaranteed exit.

"There is really no need for that sort of reaction. Just saying that you are angry and feel insulted would have sufficed." Words that were calmly spoken when in the back of her mind she wondered if she should have been worried. She had been paranoid at offending the original version she had met only moments ago, but dealing with the more negative version wasn't really having the same effect. Her past experiences must have dulled her from taking people with that nature too seriously in that regard maybe. In her mind the other one was the real one and the current one was just a part. She knew better than to assume one side was more important than the other since they were actually both of the same whole, but it was an unfortunate thing that Samira was biased and allowed herself to be blind to that fact. A blindfold she had purposely put on herself a long time ago and had never removed. There was no reason to, and if there was one that opportunity left a long time ago.

Despite the tantrum the part of Jiyu that was known as Assertive had calmed herself down enough to go back to her more pouting state and had even refused to look at her. That suited Samira fine for she was more interested in getting an answer to her question. Just what was she dealing with? The who was already there, but it was obvious Jiyu was not something the summoner had encountered before. An Inugami was the answer. A type of being she didn't know much about. No doubt there was probably plenty of mentions of it within the Lamia Scale library, but Samira had yet to get that far into the depths of knowledge of creatures and beings that the guild possessed within its records. The limited information Jiyu had to give was actually plenty to someone that knew nothing. Very dark and morbid, but informative nonetheless. If the dog-girl's rank and status was not enough to convince Samira and her spirits to not underestimate her, then now knowing the type of creature she was and its potential power would do it. A mistake had been made by not inquiring all of this information earlier. What a hassle.

Samira would prove to be a good listener. She did not interrupt as the assertive Jiyu moved on from the Inugami tales and onto going into more detail about herself and the other side that was classified as Mysterious. All the way until it was asked if she could still eat. Had eating the energy within the place been mentioned before? That detail couldn't be remembered. Oh well. It made complete sense with what she now knew of the other mage.

Samira took hold of the extended hand that looked more sick and frail than it really was. "I can tolerate you eating well enough. I am not so cruel that I would let you starve when that is the purpose for you being here in the first place." Granted, the summoner honestly had no idea how that worked. Was it even something disturbing to witness? Maybe she shouldn't have assumed that she could really stand there and play tag along while the Inugami made the castle her buffet table. Too late now though. She had given the okay and she was not the type to take it back just because of that minor detail. Plus, it was a terrible thing to take notice of the way too thin appearance and ignore it by claiming there would be offense if she fed. They were currently allies and regardless of certain aspects Jiyu was still considered as a legal standing mage and not some monster.

"Also, I knew someone once that was similar to you, or really both of you. Different parts with different views but the same person as a whole. That person would have understood you more than I do." Not really words of complete understanding that the Inugami may have preferred to hear, but they were words that Samira at least acknowledged what she was saying since it was not her first time dealing with something like that. Maybe that version of Jiyu would be content in knowing that there were others out there that could understand her fully even if she met several people along the way that could not comprehend her existence. It no longer mattered to her. Samira was not at the point of feeling as if she needed to apologize, well not for that anyway. Maybe bringing up the joke nickname again was over-doing it a little. At that point she was just going to have to call the negative side Jiyu and the more upbeat one Jiji or some other nickname. Calling both parts the same thing was just going to get confusing. Even with her past friend she referred to the sides as something different just for the sake of less confusion.

With that aside, it was time to move on and get going, but to where? The castle was a large place normally and now it was some supernatural dimension that could probably change at anytime. Still, Samira would try to apply some normal world logic. The woman was lost without it. Her eyes changed slightly, the coloration of them turning purple and glowing to a point that Iris and pupil details could not be seen. A simple part of her magic that allowed her to take a certain part of some spirits, in this case the eyes. Her head then turned to look around the entrance area and further down on all sides. The space was distorted and the walls twisted and blurred. It was actually a bit painful to use that visual magic effect to try and see, and a pained grimace spread over her face. Clearly such a thing was not meant to be used in a dimension that was controlled by the supernatural powers of the castle. It was worth the effort though since she had managed to see something off in the temperatures further ahead with the enhanced sight that spell gave her. She supposed that was a good start. Could she just have asked Jiyu which way caused a disturbance in the force? Of course, but she was there only to provide assistance and eat. Technically figuring things out with the castle was the job of the summoner.

"There is something further down that corridor." Samira stated as she pointed in the direction with her free hand. "We should head that way first." She then took a step forward with the intention of going that way without asking for an opinion or suggestion and dragging Jiyu along with her. Walk right into danger with no caution until something slaps her in the face. That was the way to do things! Her past friends and acquaintances could be blamed for turning the once overly cautious saint into one that just walks up and says hello to mysterious forces of mysteriousness. Where did this particular corridor lead to? A huge dining room, of course.

(Word Count: 1373
Total So Far: 8017)

8,000 total wc so far.

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If Samira thought the things that Assertive had just done were a temper tantrum? The other mage would be in for a rude awakening if forced to spend extensive time with the girl because what she had just done was nowhere near what she would do if she felt the urge to throw a fit. Someone could send the Assertive portion of the canine to anger management if they really wanted to almost lose their head. Going through such a thing would do nothing for a creature who had nothing within her besides for anger, rage, sorrow, vengeance, and general negative feelings or malice. Nothing could change what this part of her was, because she didn't exist without this part of herself. Trying to alter or rip Assertive and Mysterious apart, alter either or separate them in any way, through any means? Would be much like trying to yank someone's beating heart out and expecting them to survive the encounter. If it was ever managed that the negativity could be removed, Jiyu wouldn't survive it.

"I'll decide what there is need of me to do." just to make her point? She threw something else into the wall, shattering the object and glaring at the other girl defiantly. Assertive had to obey commands, she had to listen to Samira but that did not mean she had to be a doormat. "I should clarify, the oath she made, in terms of listening to you? Only qualifies when it's actually a command." she seemed proud of that in a sick sort of way, face contorted into some sort of pained smile as she sauntered several steps to stand right in front of Samira. "If you really don't want me doing something, remember that." who knew what sort of things could happen in this place, she didn't want misunderstandings. "I wouldn't want you perceiving the contract as broken just because M was dim enough to make it loosely. I have no desire to spend time trapped face to face with myself in my realm again since again I did not specify what breaking this one would cost me." she really had to get on the same page with herself and make sure any contracts clearly stated what they would suffer if they broke them! The lack of fine print was astounding. "Also I'm always angry and insulted, it's kinda my thing I already told you this." she rolled her eyes, seemingly tired of this again, leaning her back against the wall and tearing part of a tapestry with her left hands claws, since she was trying to get Samira to take the other one.

Starvation, that was a funny concept, with how they actually looked Assertive was sure they should have starved to death long ago. Yet, nothing ever happened, she was always hungry and kept that feeling from Mysterious, but it didn't change the fact without shapeshifting they both looked like this. Why did that happen? Assertive had never bothered questioning it, but briefly, she wondered if she shouldn't have bothered before, it may actually be useful information. "Good." Jiyu huffed the world out, the clawed hand that had been tearing pieces of wood from the wall, lifting into the air. Black mist flowed from the air surrounding her paw, sticking to her from claws wrapping around her paw like cotton candy. Once she had enough gathered on her paw? Assertive set to quick work licking, sucking and biting at the energy, eating it rather messily, but there was so much here that she did not have to worry about eating it neatly, and any she dropped would not be wasted. "I've never tasted so many different kinds in one place." This place was truly twisted, to cause enough suffering that all the tastes of it blended together to the point she could not currently get one kind without another.

Once more the summoner was insistent she could understand somehow from past experience with others. When was this girl going to get that there was no difference in the first place? Not that it mattered, Assertive had no intentions of further interaction after this if she could avoid it, letting Mysterious be on the surface was just fine most of the time, it meant she didn't have to put up with everyone's stupidity. At least she was going to get a good large meal out of this annoyance, it was the only postive thing, how much suffering existed in this building. Jiyu had been eating for a little while already when she felt a vibe of pain from Samira, vision shooting up and around to make sure no spirits had slipped by her. Whatever caused that brief flicker? Was not supernatural, thus not her problem, so she returned to chowing down, knawing on the mist around her hand like it was some delicious bone.

Suddenly her meal was interrupted briefly by Samira deciding they needed to get moving all of a sudden, which she actually didn't mind all that much. Assertive already knew something the other girl didn't! Anywhere they could go in here, they would find something she could eat, and chances were the tastes would only get better as the misery got worse. She followed in a mild seemingly annoyed state, occasionally swiping her hand into the air to get more of the energy when she ran low, tearing it directly from the fabric of this places existence. Maybe she should have mentioned to Samira that letting her eat would let any spirit here know that she was here? Just as she could feel all of this, so could the other ghosts and such who preyed upon people here. Oh well, no need to mention the side effect of devouring negative energy now, plus she was far from the only creature capable of eating it here, so it would be a little bit before they realized it wasn't one of them eating it, possibly.

The first notable thing was dependant on who someone was talking about because what each girl realized about the dining room would likely be very different. Anyone normal like Samira? Would first notice a small child dressed in tattered clothing crouched seemingly frightened in one corner of the room. Jiyu didn't even sense the child, the scents and tastes hitting her when she walked into the room right behind Samira. The dining room was a sign of what they were in for the deeper they went, as it showed signs of skeletons and corpses at various states of decompising with various clear causes of death, most of them torturous. "Its exactly as suspected, this place is no longer the castle it once was inside." she motioned to one of the chairs, which had clearly bent itself to wrap around its victim. Sure, it was possible a ghost had done it, but then why had it stayed that way when the ghost was done instead of being reset. "Before you get grand ideas of rescuing anyone who may be trapped, I doubt we can reach everyone this place has captive." it's what her other side would impulsively do, endanger them by trying to save everyone even though the odds were essentially zero. "We need to find something on our persons to tie us together." with that comment, she haphazardly worked on her tie, removing the object from around her neck and then lifting the hand she was holding, laying the fabric across their wrists. "Help me tie this, we can't take the risk, this place is more dangerous than initially assumed." she would not explain yet, first she had to make sure she got tied to Samira so there was no chance they could be separated.

Jiyu looked up at Samira once they were tied together with the tie, sitting down to remove her belt as well, looping that around their wrists and securing it. "Add what you can to it, then we'll enchant this with our magic and the magic of any spirit you deem suitable to strengthen the material, we can't lose contact again." this was her job, making sure that she could get Samira out of here alive and thus complete the contract. Once that was done? Would be when Samira finally got the reasoning as to why Assertive was suddenly so cautious when it had seemed as if she could care less before.

"Ignore the body and look at this." she ran her finger over the wood wrapped around the leg of the rotting body, tracing and showing it was part of the chair, and also fused to the floor, entirely unnatural. "Everything about this room screams that their goal is to make as much negativity as they can." she gestured to a few of the bodies, ones that clearly had not gone swiftly and then to several of the skeletons that proved bones were also broken before death. "Then why leave this room like this? It would cause people to give up if they were overexposed, that's not negativity its just emptiness." she could not consume emptiness and it stood to reason neither could anything here, even the castle itself. "The only reason they would not reset this is if they didn't need to, they can make new space, new material, whenever and however they want. This is their playdough playground." with that comment she than leaned forward over the body, biting off some black mist that had formed in a coating over it.

"If this even frays a little, your adventure is over and we leave." she seemed to be debating something, a scowl of clear displeasure crossing her face as she opened one palm and a silver object began to form within it. Clearly, she had spawned some sort of key, slipping it into Samira's hand with a scoff. "On the chance, we do get separated, use this right away don't even wait for a second, just turn it like you'd do to unlock a door, go through the portal it opens, shatter the key when you're through, run, follow the dust to my cabin, go in, lock the door and don't leave it until I get back there." she didn't trust these ghosts to be able to play some serious mind games, or even slip through the portal behind them, but so long as Samira could make it to that cabin, the summoner would be kept safe!

Leave it to Samira to get stuck with someone that was a smart ass. An angry and always insulted smart ass. Maybe one day she will run into the perfect job partner that wasn't fight happy, that did not blow things up as the number one solution, was mentally stable, not sarcastic, lacked a smart tongue, did not scold her when she did something wrong, wasn't untrustworthy, was not strange, the list went on and on. Huh, she was a magnet for people that gave her trouble apparently. One day a normal person would tag along with her. One day. For now she just had to make do with what she had; the negative side of the dog-girl that was starting to get slightly annoying. There would be no clicking with those two as it proved to be that they only annoyed each other to some degree, although Samira was better at keeping that hidden and was less reactive to it for now. It took a lot more than the already spoken words and attitude to get her really flustered and agitated. She was also glad that the meal Jiyu intended to make of this place wasn't as horrific as some fictional tale could have made it out to be in similar circumstances. Unless having a messy eating pattern was the supreme nightmare of someone. Not her though. It was odd and cringeworthy to watch her companion chew down on the black energy as if it were a bone, but Samira supposed she should have guessed that would be the preferred way of eating for the other girl. The dog-like traits even affected eating habits. One day there will be a normal job partner. One day. A thought that played in her head as she forced herself to look away and get to her own reason for being there. The wondering of what that energy even tasted like was also ignored. Getting another smart alleck or sarcastic answer was not something she wanted.

Samira was not aware of any other spirits or negative energy following the spotlight that Jiyu's dining was generating. Not that it would have mattered even if she was told about it. Assertive had been told she could eat and so eat she shall. That and nothing was going to stop the summoner from finding more about the place, at least enough to give to her client as evidence. Thus far, the only thing she noticed was the odd sensation of constantly being watched. Hardly anything to be afraid of, even if the overwhelming silence could add for a creepier vibe. If not for the sounds of Jiyu gathering more energy to chow down on or the footsteps echoing throughout the seemingly empty long corridor then it might have been even more disturbing. Samira took note that the farther they went the darker it became as well as the torches that had lit the entrance area and slightly beyond became more scarce. The air too became thicker, but seeing as it was only the first room it was not too strong and not as noticeable as it would be further into the castle. For a normal human like Samira, at least. Then again the disturbance of the air could just be explained by what would be found in that dining room. Before they even reached the room the overpowered stench was noticeable, and Samira had to stop and cover her nose as a result. Not that it helped any. "Ugh, that is horrible!" The gag reflex had to be fought for a bit before she could continue on. Corpses in general was nothing new for Samira, but the ones she had seen were of those that had not been dead for very long and therefore had not ever reached the more extreme levels of decomposition. That or they were already long dead skeletons. The scent was new, and not one she enjoyed experiencing.

Upon reaching and entering the dining room it became clear to Samira what had produced that horrible smell for her own eyes to see. A revolting sight but not enough to make her spill her breakfast all over the place. She was a bit stronger than that. Even then something caught her attention soon after entering. A slight movement over in a dark corner and from there soft sounds of someone whimpering and crying softly out of fear. "Ama." The nickname of a spirit had been called and from that name bright yellow particles formed and materialized yet another one of the saint's spirits. The flashy lights of her normal summoning method were contained and did not activate. Blinding Jiyu and whoever was at that corner was not the goal. Samira just needed a moving flash light and since she lacked an actual flash light the spirit was an excellent alternative. The spirit radiated a glow that shed light all the way to the corner. A child was there, dressed in tattered clothing and crouched down while holding their knees. An odd sight given where they were, but before Samira or the spirit could get one word in Jiyu had spoken about her earlier theory of the castle. The child jumped and looked up and over towards the small group of women and then took off through another door that led to an even darker corridor to who knew where. "Wait! Come back!" Her grip on Jiyu's hand loosened with the full intention of going after the child, but the spirit that had been called Ama blocked her summoner's path.

"The flashlight does not agree with that course of action." The spirit that was normally used for fighting was rather amused by her current role of just standing there like some lamppost, but upon seeing Samira drop her grip on Jiyu's hand and thereby breaking the connection Amaterasu's disposition changed. Her priority was the summoner, not some random child. A random child she was not even sure was safe to be around or was even a human child at all. The castle and the energy within it was not making Ama at all comfortable, and she didn't want to be there. At all. It was not in the best interest of Samira or herself to be there. They were ill equipped to handle that type of supernatural energy, even if she was a spirit of light she wasn't exactly an exorcist. Lacking that sort of trait on a mage that had a mini army should probably be corrected at some point. For now all that could be done was to stick with the one that actually knew how to handle such things. That meant not taking off at the sight of some seemingly hopeless child. A child that was still alive in a haunted castle that was filled with many other corpses. That just made no sense.

Jiyu had also made a comment regarding others that may be trapped within the castle. Assuming there were any others left alive. For all they knew they were the first to enter the castle for quite a while. Still, the comment from Jiyu as well as her spirit's interference brought a scowl to her face. "Everyone, no. But we should still at least try to do what we can if we are to run into anyone else. That child is a start."

"I'll help!" A voice sounded as dark purple colored particles appeared and swirled over towards the door the child had run through. The scorpion tail belonging to the spirit scratched the doorway as she passed through, and was likely the only thing that was seen before she disappeared into the darkness. Ama blinked and let the other spirit go, surprised yet amused. She herself stayed as the guarding lamppost while Jiyu and Samira worked to tie themselves together to prevent separation.

"If that is what you think is best." Samira would not argue about her wrist being tied to the dog-girl's. There were downsides to it that she could see, but it was a major precaution. Although it did kind of put her in a slight state of helplessness. It had been a while since she had felt that way. A state that she had often been in before having a saint title. Once again someone else was having to act and have a way to keep her safe because of her own inadequacies. Having raw power and a fancy title didn't mean someone was prepared for everything. Samira was someone that generally was never prepared despite her often cool head and calm demeanor, and once again she was in a situation where someone had to protect her. It was annoying. No matter how far up she went in power and status that always happened.

Samira helped with tying the tie, and said nothing when the belt was added to it, although she arched a questioning eyebrow. Just how strong did it have to be? Were chains appropriate? Just as she thought about it a pile of chains appeared in the air and fell to the floor, helpfully provided by her chaos spirit that was listening in and deciding to have some fun. He didn't have the handcuffs or he would have happily supplied that as well. "I can only deal with one major problem at a time. Disturb my day tomorrow." A sigh escaped her as she shook her head at the sight of the chains and acknowledging which spirit it was from. She didn't explain a thing to Jiyu even though no other spirit had appeared to claim and boast about being helpful. Samira figured she was smart enough to figure out that she was talking to an un-summoned spirit, and not to mention the negative side of the dog-girl probably didn't care anyway. Her gaze went down to look for something she may have been wearing to add onto the tied connection, but found nothing suitable. She liked all of her accessories! There was no way she was parting with any of them and downgrading them to such a role. There was a chance they'd break or... or something! "Actually do you have a smaller chain?" One black chain small enough to go over their wrists and not be overly bulky or uncomfortable appeared and hovered in the air with a purple glow over it.

"I will help with the magic enchantment," Amaterasu spoke as she stepped closer to the girls and grabbed the chain. "It is one thing to be in this place, but to accept his help as well... I do not have any positive thoughts left for this mission." She tied the chain over their wrists and also added a red sash to it that had her own magic infused into it. "There is little point in complaining at this time. I for one remain positive that the mission will be a success. How it gets to that point does not matter." Was that a philosophy for all missions? Not usually, but for a haunted house exploration most certainly. From what she could theorize anyway. Samira also enchanted the bindings with her own magic power as well. It was going to take some serious ghostly spook to get them separated. Even if they wanted to separate themselves it wasn't going to be with a simple pull.

After that was over and done with, Assertive Jiyu started to explain why she suddenly thought the place was more dangerous than was originally thought. Samira's gaze was back to the body, but more importantly the chair the body was in as her eyes were redirected there. It was indeed unnatural in how the wood was connected to the floor and how it had wrapped around the deceased. She gazed at it, taking in all the details, and had even summoned up her ilac from the storage space her spirits allowed her to use. Why? To take pictures as evidence of course! The client wasn't going to believe her without proof! She was a saint, but the newest one, and even then not everyone believed what they were told, especially some rich knuckle-head that thought he could turn the place into some sort of fancy hotel. For the safety of anyone that may be involved in the future, she had to make sure that man changed his desired location and find another abandoned building... or build a new one like normal people instead of looking for haunted ones. Whether the pictures would remain on the lacrima device at the end of the day she wasn't sure. Supernatural business was a tricky thing from what little she knew. "Is this place really so powerful that not even a mage specialized in cleansing or holy magic could rid it of the negative energy? Not even a team of them?" She ignored Jiyu eating the black mist that had coated over the corpse and had even looked away to capture more quick pictures of the room from where she stood. Eating the energy from the air and curtains was one thing, but off a decomposing corpse was a little disgusting. Not that she would cause trouble and say that though! Not now.

"Acknowledged." She could understand her contracted tour guide having limits. Samira had them as well. Somewhere. At some point. She was a keep going kind of girl normally so it had not really been put to the test. Thus far though the mission was pretty much successful. Haunted presence and some images of corpses littering the dining room floor. If that didn't say not safe then she didn't know what did. Perhaps the next area would provide that!

Assertive had gone silent though and a curious side gaze was made to look over. "Something wrong?" The facial expression was a little concerning on normal people, but it was hard to tell if it was normal or not with that side of the dog-girl. She was either pouting or angry. More so it was the small moment of silence that got Samira's attention. That should have been filled with the sounds of devouring the energy. It was then that a key had been formed and slipped into her hand. An unusual thing that she had not been expecting. Before she could even ask what it was for Jiyu had already begun to answer. A portal to a cabin that was to be used if they did get separated. That was surprising! The contract was really making Assertive go all out with protecting her. Then there was that sting again at having to have yet another precaution. Goodness did she really look to be that helpless? "Understood." Then after a short paused Samira added. "You are under the contract that was made earlier, but thank you nonetheless." Assertive probably wasn't one for thanks, but Samira was going to show some gratitude regardless. The key was attached to the keyring that held all of her other keys, and even if it was mixed in with a bunch of others it was unique in its own right. It would not get lost among the rest.

It was time to get moving to a new location, and even finding that kid. Samira could only hope the child didn't get lost in some space they could not follow. She turned towards the door the scorpion-tailed spirit and the child had run through, and now saw Amaterasu leaning in to get a peek. "Ama, do you see Serqet? My link with her is cut off."

An inhuman roar sound then echoed through that corridor, and from it a gust of unnatural wind also blew through the doorway and into the dining room. Amaterasu grabbed hold of the door and closed it. Calmly she turned around to face the pair of mages and gave a nod while saying the obvious. "We should not go that way." Her head then tilted, as if listening to something. "I have word from the others. Serqet has entered another part of the castle. This 'playdough playground'. It has weakened the link with us since we are in a different part of it, but the connection still remains in our home realm."

"She is fine then?"

"Naturally. She can and will return to the spirit realm when she chooses to or is forced. She is a spirit, after all. Currently from what I have been told she is asking the supernatural spirits of this place to give her a sign that they exist. I fear she has read too many ghost hunter stories. As for the child she was following, there is no word on that. She has probably forgotten about that entirely and just wanted to interact and find proof of supernatural activity." Obviously with Ama's explanation, Serqet was not the brightest of spirits. Her existence was far from being even close to the supposed goddess that she was copied from.

"Honestly..." Samira sighed in exasperation. "We will leave Serqet with her activity for now. She may still run into that child. For now it would be unwise to follow their trail. We will just continue elsewhere, and perhaps those that control this place will be humored enough to allow us to find those two. Is that okay with you?" She looked over at Assertive Jiyu, waiting and even expected an opinion.

However, whether her companion agreed or disagreed, soft classical music began to play. Then the voices and laughter of several people mixed into it. Not a sinister sort or even a creepy one. It was as if those making the chatter and laughter were enjoying themselves at some sort of formal party. A corridor different from the one the child went through became more noticeable as it lit up and brightened. Samira moved closer to it, or tried anyway given she was currently connected to Jiyu so if the dog-girl didn't want to go that way then it would be difficult. But if allowed the summoner would be able to stare down the long hallway, seeing every detail due to it magically being lit up. Stepping into that corridor was entering yet another space that had been created by the entities within the castle, and it could be felt even by Samira. A subtle change and feeling that she could understand or explain. Ama followed them as well, and even if Samira saw a lit up hallway that was actually neat and clean as if it had not been abandoned for years, Amaterasu herself saw cracks in the illusion. Not all was what it seemed and she knew it even if she could not see clearly what the hallway was really like.

The open doors on the sides led to what appeared to be normal rooms that had been kept up, but were most likely an illusion to hide the real thing and lure them even further. There were even visions of people. All with happy smiles and dressed in fancy clothing that matched the style of music playing in the background. They all ignored the girls and spirit aside from moving out of the way as they walked. They were all aware of their presence, so to Samira it wasn't completely a vision of some past moment or a complete false illusion. That didn't mean it was a good thing though. "I cannot tell if this uneasy feeling is better than a room full of decomposing corpses or not." Hell, maybe that's what they'd end up finding anyway at the end. Or that was what she thought originally. When they reached the end of the corridor opening they could see a ballroom full of dancing people and others that stood around chatting. Fancy and decorated with pricey furnishings it was easy to forget that they were in a haunted castle and what was there was far from reality. The child from before was also there, but not crouched in some corner. The child instead could be seen running up the wide staircase that was in the middle of the room. Even as Samira shouted for the child to come back she was ignored and the child kept running. The shout had disrupted the party, however. But then that was probably planned to begin with.

The music came to a screeching halt as the stringed orchestra stopped. The lights from the candles and chandelier flickered, and behind the girls from where they came each and every open door began to slam shut. Samira had turned to look at the slamming doors and took notice of the people on that side staring at Jiyu, Ama, and herself. Feeling unnerved, she turned back around and saw that everyone in the ballroom was also staring at them. All of them freeze framed in whatever they were doing be it dancing, chatting, or playing an instrument. They did nothing but stare. "Up until now I never had a problem with people staring, but I think I have reached my limit." It was an uncomfortable feeling, and add that something else was bound to happen it made it even worse. "I guess we could just walk around them all and head upstairs." A suggestion Samira had made hesitantly since she doubted it would be as easy as that.

(Word Count: 3540
Total So Far: 11,557)

10,277

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The career path of mage work did not often attract 'normal' people to climb its ranks, and that actually made a ton of sense. Working with magic and monsters every day? Carried an inherited amount of bodily harm or even risk of death, it was not some glamorous life even if most mages could make it look easy. Anyone who had some stable family they always wanted to go home to or had an average life short of people who went stir crazy with one? Would never just seek out the life of magic the two of them walked on. Samira would be waiting a long time to find some job partner that was not in some way damaged because mostly every mage was damaged in some way, rather they started out that way or something happened to them after they started, well it all ended in the same broken story. Hence why Jiyu never really asked many personal questions to her mission partners, no one wanted to talk about how they ended up only feeling good when they were in direct physical danger, it wasn't normal and neither were they.

Most people would quickly assume souls or bodies would be the food source for something that lived on revenge. Luckily as Samira had already realized? Jiyu chose only a narrow part of what her body was capable of digesting. Sure she could eat someone's corpse and maybe with practice she could catch and devour some soul. However, the twisted canine had no interest, they were strenuous food sources and she pitied anyone who had to rely on them. All she had to do in order to keep herself fed? Was exist in life, walk through the world and find negativity which also meant work for her, thus eating negative emotions suited her very well. Jiyu could both keep her true body fed, even if it was always starving, and find work to complete because she was drawn to be where the work was in order to eat. Of course, what she wouldn't have given for a normal life where the events that made her a mage never took place, but since the two people she was closest to were mages, she would have ended up involved in this world somehow.

Shockingly, asking what the energy tasted like? Wouldn't have gotten a smart ass response, most of what Assertive said was in some way rough, sarcastic or otherwise demeaning, but she was still Jiyu and since the question wouldn't have made her feel strongly either way, it would have been a normal response. Hopefully eventually Samira would ask her about the creepy chilling feeling that seemed to be constant, as a specter herself the Inugami knew the ghosts were watching them but it was not essential at this exact moment, so she didn't bring it up. Assertive had no desire to have extensive interaction with others if she was not using them to make food because then she would grow attached to them. Attachment? Was both positive and negative most of the time, so she could easily grow connected to people she spent a lot of time with, that being the reason most of her longtime acquaintances and friends were safe from her. Unless she was conflicted on how she felt towards them. Jiyu was conflicted over everything.

She was observing things when Samira took notice of the small child who Jiyu had already passed over, considering she didn't want to get too involved in this place. With Mysterious sleeping? She had no conscious in her head, thus no reason to go out of her way. Of course, the no reason line ended when Samira took an interest in the small child, bringing risk to her personally. "Neither does the inugami." she chimed in after the summoners spirit spoke about not agreeing with chasing right after that young child, tightening her hand best she could. If Samira ran off and got herself killed? Jiyu didn't know if she would be able to leave due to the contract, she wasn't willing to take that chance. If she became trapped here, she would become like the spirits who had done these things, and while it was appeasing to assertive, to never have to not be in control again, she knew that she'd feel empty without Mysterious awake.

"We can't even be sure that child is still a child." the canine spoke up the comment the living lamp post had not brought up to the summoner. "Let me demonstrate something." she sighed slightly, extending her hand and grabbing the wrist of one of the corpses, a fresh one that had been mutilated a good deal but did not appear to have been dead long, pulling the body up. "Looking at her, you'd think she died today, but look at the blood under her." the blood beneath there? Had clearly been there a long time, it didn't match up with the corpse now leaned against Jiyu momentarily before the canine laid the deceased girl back down. "When she died, the negative energy within her and the room changed something so primal and basic that it changed what she is." speaking the female ripped down a tapestry from the wall and tucked the corpse in. "She thinks she's still dead so she lays there, but she's just sleeping deeply." it was clear no one could have survived the injuries this girl had sustained, half her face was missing, she was gutted, among other tortures, yet Jiyu claimed she was in some capacity only sleeping. "Once she realizes she's not just trapped inside her body? She'll wake, and do things like what you see here, driven by what she felt in her final moments as a human, feelings she'll never be able to change." she didn't know enough about the girl to put her down or anything like that, just to know what would happen eventually. "But someone doesn't have to die for this place to change them like that." what protection did a mere child have against this place? Jiyu had little doubt if that kid had been here any more than a few days she was likely beyond saving already.

"You want to film her waking for more proof? I can't promise I can put her back down once she's up, but if I hit her with a jolt of negative energy, she should wake." considering the other mage was taking pictures? Jiyu assumed she was collecting evidence, as the summoner did not seem to be the kind to simply like keeping gruesome things. Watching something that was clearly dead rise and attempt to attack would certainly be proof of just how dangerous this place was. "I have little doubt anyone who tried to purify this place would be consumed by it, eventually." there just was too much here to battle, trying to get rid of it would only bring every spirit in the place down on whoever tried. "There is a distant chance an extremely empathic human related to whoever was first to die here could, but even then it's no sure shot, even if they purified the original spirit the realm itself may just pick another ruler." she spoke the comment, leaning against the large table with a sigh, a corpse in a chair on either side of her. At least she had plenty of food right now.

"Though if you wanted to protect others from this place for roughly a century...." she trailed off, covering her mouth as she seemed to be thinking, lowering her hand when she was done. "A relative of the current ruler of the dimension who is capable of spiritual magic possibly may be able to consume the dimension, thus freezing it entirely for their lifespan." However this was not without its own risk, and it was far from promised to work, any number of things could go wrong, including the fact it had to be consumed from inside. "But if they died instead of transferring it to direct offspring, it would consume wherever they happened to be when they died upon emerging." which could create more problems, because at least this place was mostly left alone, if this dimension sat against a new place in their dimension, more victims would pour in making this place even stronger all over again.

She didn't have much room to disagree with things unless it was a threat to Samira directly in that moment, considering the contract, she could verbally battle but at the moment she was settled for following to keep things easy. "We have to keep moving anyway." she shrugged, following the other female when she moved towards the classical music. If it ended up being a death trap, she could grab Samira and teleport into Solace, hopefully. Jiyu didn't doubt this place likely had a few instances that could simply be death traps of some sort. The light from the lamp post was unrequired in the moment, but keeping the summon out would be a good thing, the light they currently had could vanish at any moment. People dressed in formal wear weaved around them or otherwise busily got out of their way, and it was just something that was happening to her.

"Oh, this is certainly a trap, just enjoy the lack of corpses while you can." she chuckled the comment as Samira talked about the uneasy feeling, shrugging softly as she looked between the doors and other features, trying to figure out what was illusion and what wasn't so she could react better to protect the other girl. As they entered the ballroom, Jiyu entertained the thought of getting Samira to dance in order to see the illusion play out further. If this was being shown? The canine suspected it may be in some way related to something tragic that had happened here, maybe the event that led to what had happened to set this building on the path to becoming its own playdough dimension for trapping and torturing poor souls. However, before she could make any request, Samira shouted out for the child she had seen before. What was it with that child, showing up again so soon. Jiyu was seriously beginning to doubt that thing was human anymore.

Everyone was staring at them, but within a few seconds she noticed it was mostly ama and samira the patrons were staring at, it was almost as if she didn't exist. Or just maybe? They did notice her, and that was why they had not sprung yet. Jiyu took a big chance, twining her finger's through the hand of Samira's that was tied to her, moving around to the front of her and putting her free hand on her shadow. "Shh, just trust me, dance." as she spoke the canine suddenly shapeshifted to dispose of the grotesque appearance she had, an illusion of her own, which was odd considering she had not seemed to care until now. Moving a step into Samira showing the other girl that she should lead the steps, waiting for the other girl to take that lead. Once they started dancing? The music started back up shortly afterward and Jiyu tried hard to pay attention and make sure there was nothing dangerous hidden by the illusions.

A few minutes into dancing? The inugami leaned forward to place her mouth beside the summoners ear. "I don't think they can decide if I'm one of them or not." the inugami spoke up, it was the only reason she could think that they had not pounced when Samira ruined the illusional setting. If there was some sense of hierarchy respect based on a specters power here? She would rank fairly high if she were among them, thus if they were lower spirits, they wouldn't pounce on something they thought she was hunting. "I think they believe I'm hunting you." it perfectly explained why they had gone back to dancing when she did, why none of them suddenly turned into the gruesome appearances they had to truly possess. "Slowly dance towards the staircase." surrounded by hundreds of specters, she didn't want to face those odds, especially if she could just lead Samira out and follow the kid the summoner was so persistent in trying to find.

Once they danced that far? Jiyu led the way up the staircase and through one of the doors at the top of it, closing the door behind her carefully to avoid any of the others taking notice. Sighing in relief once they were 'in the clear' the inugami glanced over at Samira, her eyebrow rising as she looked in that direction. "Oh now that's completely creative, the dining room was more aesthetic." she scoffed the comment out, noting a corpse hung on a coat hook like it was some coat right beside them, and another shoved in an umbrella holder. "Be ready to fight soon, I don't know how much longer we'll be able to sell their misconception, eventually they're going to realize I didn't die here." it would take a little while, but it would happen one of these encounters. "Come on, let's check the rooms, see if we can find anything, they may be able to move and create but I do think in some sense there may be hints of the original left meaning we could find out what happened here with enough digging." and that would give them a leg up on recognizing some of the specters if they masqueraded as victims still in their right minds. "I'd like to look into that." hopefully it would make keeping samira alive easier.

There really was no disagreeing with the explanation Jiyu had given. It was an alien concept to her and so she had to take each word for what it was. If there had not been an actual body lying there for the demonstration it would have been harder to understand and believe, but since there happened to be a mutilated one right there, along many others, it made a bit of sense. The clues and contradictions made it even easier. Learning things on the job at its finest. By the end of it all she may even be able to classify herself as a pretend expert on haunted places. Not that she really wanted that label or more jobs that involved them. It was much more tricky than the usual obvious monster hunts, and dealing with more could very well have her end up as one of those corpses lying around. Samira would rather pass on that sort of fate. Unfortunately, accepting the facts of the demonstrated corpse also meant accepting the fact that the child was also not all what it seemed. Still Samira would be adamant on finding the kid until she knew for sure, even if it became more and more unlikely that they'd run into any other living beings within the castle.

As for the offer of waking the corpse itself that was denied, although with some hesitance. The evidence of it would have been excellent assuming the clients didn't think it was some rigged joke or lie, but already they were doing their fair share of poking the supernatural forces in the castle. Giving it a slap seemed a little unwise and could just bring more trouble than it was worth or that they could handle. Well, more than she could handle given her lack of exorcist and purification abilities. It was probably best they save that for when they actually made it out of the first room. Maybe when they were already on their way out. Besides, they may naturally come across something that would have the same effect as far as substantial evidence goes.

The answer to her question about having a team of powerful mages that could purify the place also left her unsatisfied. The alternatives also sounded as if they had very slim chances of working or even getting started. There really was no winning against that place. No wonder it had remained as it was for so long. It would even still be there most likely even after their little adventure through its halls. The most Samira could recommend was putting something a bit more powerful than chained up gates to keep people out. Those were very ineffective and she couldn't understand what was going through the mind of the one that put them there. At least put up some ominous and creepy warning sign!

The ballroom and the corridor before it most certainly had the makings of being a trap just as Assertive Jiyu had implied. Sort of. Whatever was supposed to happen had been paused, almost as if the specters were confused by something. No matter. Surely Samira's walk around tactic would work! Or perhaps it would have if they had tried it. Instead another idea had crossed her companion's mind, and before she could put much thought into arguing against it Samira and Jiyu were dancing their way across the ballroom floor. For some reason unknown to her, Assertive had even changed her appearance. Strange but Samira did not bring it up. Her focus went to the others on the dance floor, who had begun dancing once more as soon as the music started. "Not exactly the preferred method but it is working. For some odd reason." Samira could be satisfied with that even if she wasn't exactly one that enjoyed dancing. Not that it was a waste of time or unfun, but she wasn't particularly experienced in it or the most graceful. Then again, not like she was there to be impressive. If dancing in a haunted castle was on her bucket list of things to do before she died it could now be checked off.

Why it was working and why the specters seemed to be hesitant to do much of anything was then explained a few minutes into the dance. Or, at least the theory of it. They thought she had already been claimed as a target to be hunted. The one doing the hunting being Jiyu. It was actually a bit funny how easily confused they were, but Samira supposed they had some sort of integrity system when it came to prey or maybe even a hierarchy system that needed to be followed. Would there be something that was on a higher scale than Jiyu and could see through it all though? Most likely. "This would probably be an inopportune moment to correct them, I imagine." Once again it was best not to make huge waves of disturbance, especially given the number of specters in the room. Doing so would make great evidence, but only if that evidence actually made it back to the outside world. Still, Samira was amused by the mistake all the same. If they got lucky the same misconception could be used to their advantage again. For that moment, Samira agreed and danced towards the staircase as suggested. After that she quietly followed Jiyu up the staircase and into one of the rooms. As for the summoned spirit that got left behind she returned back to her realm once the two had danced their way to the staircase. She didn't want to interfere by just walking across the dance floor and she had no interest in taking a part of the dance solo or with some random specter. It wasn't as if she and them were the same and it would probably make things worse if she had tried.

"Hmmm," Samira looked over at the 'coat' and the oddly shaped umbrella just after Jiyu had mentioned the creativity, or rather the lack there of. Other people might have been grossed out or become afraid, but it was nothing worse than what had been seen in the dining room. Therefore, Samira just stared at it with no particular expression before she shrugged her shoulders and waved her free hand carelessly to push the matter aside. "I cannot really comment on the best use of corpses for aesthetic purposes." However, even if she took that light heartedly the one that mentioned gearing up for a fight was taken more seriously. Her eyes narrowed as she became a bit disappointed and annoyed at the same time. "I had been hoping to use that tactic for a while longer and get out before we ran into anything that could see past it." So much for that. If they were going to keep that unintended benefit then they had less time to work with if the lesser supernatural beings in the castle could eventually see that Jiyu did not die there and therefore was not on the hunt for silly summoners that entered the premises.

"You are actually interested in finding out what happened here?" Samira asked, her eyes blinking in mild surprise. She had assumed that version of Jiyu didn't particularly care about that, or the place in general. Her reason for being there had been to consume the negative energy to feed with the alteration of now having to protect a summoner from being stupid while adventuring through the haunted castle. The investigation part of it was Samira's reason. Well, she supposed she couldn't question it too much. It just made things easier and less tense if she was also interested in the castle investigation. "I am not even sure what we are meant to look for. Traces of the original are probably not going to be easy to find and there are rooms all over this place. We do not have time to check them all. We cannot even split up to cover more ground." Technically Samira supposed she could have her spirits help, but that was good only on paper. Having them all running around would turn the place into a circus and make more disturbances. "Then again, the child has not shown back up." Her green eyes looked at the 'coat' again and she grimaced before letting out a sigh. "Maybe there is something here after all besides dead bodies being used as decorations."

And so the best place to start was the new section of the castle they had entered. A section that contained many bedrooms and even the solar. There were no strange forces to be easily seen at the start of the search, at least not for a pair of normal human eyes like Samira's, but it was eerily quiet and the air cold. If the pair turned around now it would be noticed that the door they had come through originally had vanished. There would be no going back to the ballroom or the dining room that way.

(World Count: 1503
Total So Far: 13,060)

10,990

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Even someone like Jiyu was far from an expert on haunted things. Most of what the canine knew? Was from her checkered past, and the fact she herself was supernatural, belonged to a species that was normally spiritual. The canine had learned tons looking for information and learning about what she had become, which paid off in situations like this. Most likely that child would not be any sort of human, but Jiyu really didn't mind hunting down the 'kid' as secretly there was still the chance that creature could be something she could chow down on. However, she was starting to suspect that even if it turned out to be some horribly warped monster, Samira wouldn't let her consume all of its negative energy thus effectively ending its life if it was sustained on only that, which most of the things in here were. Once everything else in here realized just what she was? They would very likely start making moves to eliminate her, considering the threat she could become to their lives. Right now, she ate from corpses and the air, but if she could get her fangs on the negative energy of those spooks, she would.

Assertive knew inevitably they would run into something that would know she had no hierarchy here, she was powerful but she didn't belong. Whatever spirit ran this place and those directly connected to it, certainly would know, there was somewhere in here a tier that would know she wasn't hunting Samira and thus attack them both. Eventually, the child they followed would be among those specters, as over time it would easily realize that she never made a negative move towards the summoner. "It may work, but just be ready when it fails, because it eventually will." and when the accidental ruse failed, every specter nearby would come down onto them, attempting to take their lives anyway possible.

Hearing the shock in the others voice, Assertive looked over at Samira, chewing on the negative energy around her own hand again. "I don't persay care, my obligation is to eat the energy and protect you." her motives were far different from legit caring about this place, it was nothing but some meal for her. "But those here the longest may be able to challenge my supernatural strength, I'd like to know when we're dealing with them. Plus if I can get to an unguarded epicenter, that energy would be unbelievable." she was not the caring sort, that was the gig of mysterious, she was more possessive than anything. Encountering anything too old without knowing what was being dealt with, could potentially be very dangerous considering that she was rather young in terms of this. "I may be stronger than most of them due to being a higher classification, but I'm young for my kind, the older ghosts here may even be threat to me." if she was an Inugami for longer and could perfectly control her abilities, maybe things would be perfectly within this location in terms of her power, but since she was so young not all of her abilities were yet known. "Older spooks are easiest to deal with when you know what made them." if someone knew her origin they could easily make her vulnerable for a few minutes by picking on the fears made from that event. Something in here had to give them something similar on the ghosts here.

Samira brought a good point up, with the expansions this wouldn't be easy. "Most of these doors are clones." she ran her nails over one lightly, scraping some energy off the surface, consuming it promptly. "If it's part of the original they'd want it to blend in, but they may not be able to alter it." after-all it would hold great significance to the specter associated meaning that ghost would not want it messed with. "Maybe one of these doors is older compared to the others, missing, or otherwise made inaccessible compared to the others." she suggested the idea, the energy of the door she was touching becoming completely solid, leaning forward to tear some off. Until Samira had any further ideas or started searching? She was just going to eat the energy from the door she was nomming on.

"Cloned doors, hm?" Well that was something. Checking every single one even if they were all real would have been very tiresome. The addition of clones just made it that much more worse. The suggestion was a good one though, and Samira nodded in agreement. "Perhaps. It is more than I have to go on so judging the doors with that criteria will have to do." Well that criteria with one addition which was basic human instinct that should tell her to get the hell away. Surely something would set off alarms if it was dangerously weird, odd, or otherwise very bad juju. But this was Samira so it was doubtful any bells would go off. That's what happens when one gets taught to throw caution to the wind and then make a habit of using that advice.

The search started and door by door Samira looked at to see if it stood out among the others or seemed off. It was slightly difficult though. Her normal eyes saw nothing thus far that could tell apart one door from another, and it wasn't as if the normal supernatural gave off any magical aura that she could sense. That would have been too easy. The one summon that could have helped somewhat with a haunted house was currently unavailable. Something about taking off to replenish the cookie jar. Honestly the less used ones were rarely around when she actually needed them. "I really am starting to feel out of my element. I have not been this uncertain about a job in a long while. It must be a common thing. More experienced mages often forgetting what it is like to not know how to handle every challenge or obstacle I mean." Samira commented after testing one of the doors. It seemed normal but when she went to touch the doorknob to attempt opening it the door itself vanished into the wall.

She moved on to the next, skipping a few as she went along for no other reason other than they didn't "feel" right. As far as conversation she kept it minimal so that Jiyu could continue consuming the energy that was around. Not that there were any interesting comments to be made on her side of things. One after another the doors locked themselves away into the walls of the castle. The ones that had been allowed to be opened seemed to hold nothing of real significance. Just more bodies in odd positions and locations to add to the collection they had already seen. Samira remained unaffected by them all. It was just more of the same. For a while. "We may need to go to a different part of the castle. No clues seem to be here and this is wasting the time we may have left." That time being pretty much zero, but it was not something Samira could guess. Things seemed fine with the specters of the castle still believing that Jiyu was hunting her and therefore was off limits as a target, but that was about to broken.

The child phantom was at it again. Just as Samira suggested they leave the section of bedrooms a child's laugh could be heard from behind the girls. Upon turning, part of the child could be seen at one of the doors that had been passed over just before disappearing inside. The door then slammed shut. Of course Samira's first instinct was to disregard any warnings and basic survival skills so that she could sate her curiosity and check it out. Jiyu may had already suspected something was very off about that child, but to the literally attached Samira it was just coincidence. As she went for the door the Inugami would end up having to follow due to the binding that held them together. Samira would stop if there was any resistance or something said but not for long. She was determined to see what was through that door. "It may look suspicious but there could be a clue beyond there. We will not know until we check it out."

Assuming the two girls could agree on getting near the door, Samira took the lead and peered inside the room. It was dark but there was enough light in there that illuminated something that made Samira close the door slowly and turn away from it. Her face was pale as if she had seen something far worse than any unexpected ghost fright. "I changed my mind. We are not going in there." If Assertive Jiyu had asked why or what was in there Samira would stare at her but her eyes looked as if she were completely zoned out and horrified. "Only soulless beings that come from the deepest and darkest outskirts of hell are in there." She snapped back to reality right after, her mind having realized what she just said and her cheeks turning a shade of red from embarrassment. Samira coughed and cleared her throat. "I mean, there is nothing of significance in there at all. Let's proceed." What was in that room that made Samira tense up? Dolls. White, creepy, porcelain dolls. Many others were content or even enjoyed being around, collecting, and playing with those monstrosities. Not her. Those things gave her the creeps and would probably plague her with nightmares if she was capable of having them. They could all go back to the fiery pits of hell and burn.

There was some time for Assertive to peak into the room if she wished and to make a comment, but after that things would take a turn from peaceful walk through the castle to the specters now knowing something was up. That small window of fear from Samira, however short it was, was all that they needed to understand that she was not being haunted or preyed upon by the one with her. That fear had not been created by the Inugami, and the human had calmed much too quickly.

The floor beneath Samira broke under her and she fell into the large hole that went much further down that it probably should have. She let out a short scream as she fell, but her fall was a short one. The floor beneath Jiyu had not suddenly vanished and so she was safe where she stood, aside from maybe the summoner's weight pulling her down thanks to the binding around their wrists. That binding being strong in its own right but wouldn't likely hold forever since it wasn't exactly made for that type of scenario in mind.

Down in the hole only pitch blackness could be seen aside from perhaps a pair of grotesque hands that gripped Samira's legs and began to pull down. Unfortunately that was not the only thing. The surrounding doors all slammed open and the specters within began to leave those rooms and head straight for that nice new hole in the ground. Or to be more specific, the girls in and around it. Samira could feel something gripping her but did not bother looking down as she tried kicking at whatever it was. As for above she could not see anything but she could clearly hear those ghostly wails and cries. Well this sucked. "This is still better than going into the room. Just my opinion."

(Word Count: 1219
Total So Far: 14,279)

12,231

---

Most of these rooms if she was correct, would be carbon copy traps for whoever walked into them, one way tickets. Considering how confined space a room way? It would be the perfect place for a spirit to do its work, it was unlikely anyone ever exited the copy rooms once they entered, each door only ever having opened for someone to go in, not out; All expect for the real room, the original one of the house. Somewhere within this hall had to be some sort of hint as to which room had been left after someone entered it. Even though ghosts and such were capable of sprouting anywhere and such within here? If it was one of the original spirits, it likely originated in whatever rooms it had originally occupied in life, and exited them properly instead of teleporting in the way spirits could. Most people over looked this, but spirits had their methods, being one of them Jiyu unconsciously knew some of those urges, made sense of things easier because alongside her research she felt it.

Canines had their natural sense about the supernatural, and even if she was unknowingly an undead dog, this sense remained, after-all she had come here chasing a death wish. Dark mismatched optics turned to Samira when she mentioned feeling uncertain, but that wasn't something that Jiyu wished to talk about. Considering mysterious had trouble talking about their identity crisis? Assertive certainly didn't want to touch on it whatsoever, she wanted to beat that insecurity, uncertainty and suffocating feeling until her body just failed. All that came from her in terms of that line of conversation? Was this small growl and shaking of her head as she wandered after Samira continuing to eat what she could from this place, some sort of enraged warm feeling beginning to spread through her body for some reason. This was the longest she had ever been in control outside of their own realm, and it was starting to affect her in a way she didn't understand, notably her body, markings no longer weeping expect for the line around her neck.

Due to the lack of specters? Jiyu was certain that Samira's observation was wrong, there had to be something around here. "If there's nothing, why aren't they here?" If this location in the building didn't hold some sort of importance, there should have been spirits attacking or passing by at this point. Yet, this section seemed painfully void of activity. Considering the avoidance? It meant that fewer people had been killed in an exact real spot here. Why would they avoid excessive murder here when they seemed fine with it everywhere else in the castle, something was different here, the canine knew it she just didn't know what exactly she knew. "Why haven't we seen any bodies in the hallway since the start, why do most of the knobs vanish, why are the rooms not as carnage strong as the rest of this place." for some reason, this was only used by certain ghosts, this area was no free for all, which meant in her mind that something was here.

Once more the child showed up and she was forced to follow after Samira as the summoner recklessly chased after the girl. Assertive was alright with it this time, she was beginning to suspect that girl had rather been here a long time and somehow survived, or was one of the originals herself. Regardless of the way? That kid held an important bit of information somewhere in this castle, it was time to figure out what secret the little brat was holding onto. The wind mage was certain something within that room was important, that they had to get into there somehow. Jiyu peered in even as Samira attempted an escape, feeling her wrist break from the opposing forces but doing her best to ignore the pain, something was in there. Mismatched optics glazed over, as her body lost its strength gaze locking onto just one of the dolls which had frightened her mission partner so, awareness leaving her body entirely.

When the other girl got the opportunity to look? She would find that the only thing which was keeping her from falling was her suddenly slumbering mission partner, blood leaking from her wrist where they were connected, body swiftly slipping towards the hole. For some reason, she had passed out when her eyes met with the only none porcelain doll within the room filled to the brim with them. On the bed which Samira had likely not gotten due to the haunting dolls, there had laid one much different from the others, sewn together an old fashion one that looked strange, just odd with those button eyes. Any way's, the specters closed in swiftly, Jiyu entirely unaware as they dragged closer some in varying stages of decay or simply ghosts. Instead of being aware, a realization was coursing deep through her body, waking up from the center of her heart and spiraling through her veins attempting to consume her best as it could.

Mismatched optics flew back open, body right on the edge of the hole, spirits surrounding them, but she looked almost blind. Thanks to her magic, she had been able to see something about the room that Samira had not, since she was the victim of cursed magic even if she had survived her own curse, she would never forget that feeling. "You'll have to tell me what happened later!" seeing they would be surrounded up there, Jiyu simply let herself fall into the hole, but for some reason it closed up above them, actually severing the hand of one of the living corpses, which showed the ghosts may have not meant to do that. Or maybe they didn't close it at all, maybe something else did, the idea didn't even hit her. "Hands Off!" she exclaimed the comment, pointing her finger as if it was a gun and firing several shots into the arms ahold of Samira, forcing them to let go a feather flying from her necklace and expanding to catch the two.

Of course, they had enough luck to land in a pile of blood about a foot deep, the feather vanishing into it before returning soaked to the necklace. "We need to find the library, a castle like this has to have one, we need to find the library." she couldn't exactly remember everything she had realized, but part of her just kept thinking of the book her mother had left to her, and the cursed magic within, and a doll. Since she had lost awareness sometime there? Everything was muddled together, Assertive simply knew that the library needed to have something, possess something that they could take from this place to learn what they needed to, or something. Jiyu's head pounded as she pushed herself to stand in the blood, drops of her own joining the puddle from her injured wrist. Skeletons were rising around them, yet "Come On." she kept trying to leave, glazed over optics trying to not forget the very last thing she had noticed in that room, the very reason she knew where they had to get to. "The Library, every bookshelf, it has to be somewhere" and deep within the place, somewhere, something shrieked in rage, apparently not happy about the wind mages desire to find whatever it was she wanted to find.