Suiting up (p)

Finally reaching the first signs of sunlight he'd see with his own eyes in eleven years, the warm rays dancing across his skin felt like nothing he had ever experienced before. It was strange, to walk around like this without Solmar tugging at him, trying to put him back into his cage like some kind of animal. Though he was free for all intents and purposes, he felt perhaps that he was a bit too free right now. With his manhood dangling in front of him, the fact that his body had only recently been born as it were now made it quite logical that he found himself in a position where he was running around in the mountains stark naked. Still figuring out for himself how he felt about that as he personally did not mind it all that much, the fact that this fleshy body of him had no claws or fangs to defend himself with might become a problem for him. After all, he had no idea exactly how much of his powers were still there, if there were even any of them left at all.

Standing at the opening of the cavern, he looked down to see that there was a small village not far from his position. Since he had seen everything Solmar had seen due to the fact that Vetis never slept, he knew that this was the Mountain village, and that he currently found himself in the Phoenix mountain region, close to Sakuramori where Solmar would likely have gone after completing his elemental node. Truth be told, a large portion of him wanted to march straight down there to kill Solmar for all the years of suffering he had been forced to undergo while stuck in his body. On the other hand, he realized that as things were now, there were too many unknown variables stacked against him. After all, if he was really going to try and kill Solmar, there was no telling what might actually happen to him, and that was if he even managed to get that far to begin with.

Solmar had a weapon, as well as a kind of magic that was specifically designed to be used against demons, which would put him at a rather great disadvantage considering how he had neither at this point, at least not that he was aware of. Staring down at his feet as he looked over his body, part of him wondered as to exactly how much of him was actually demonic in nature still, or if maybe that part had been removed entirely due to the elemental node interfering with Vetis taking over Solmar's body. Whatever it had done to him, he could not say that he was unhappy about having a body of his own now, though knowing this little about it was quite a nuisance if he were to survive among ordinary humans. Feeling that there was really no way around it, he started hiking down towards the village, all the while trying his damndest not to be seen by anyone as he descended from the mountain.

At this point, he was very well aware of how humans had a thing against walking around naked, or rather seeing other people walking around naked. This meant that he needed to get himself something to wear, even if it was just to cover up the lower regions of his body. Reaching the first house mostly unseen from what he could tell, he listened closely while standing near the back door. As he focused on his hearing, he closed his eyes. Hearing footsteps on the other side of the house, the street in front of it and being able to hear what it was that they were saying, he made certain that the house was empty before placing his hand on the handle. Trying to crank it open, it seemed that the door had been locked, probably to keep people like him from breaking in against the will of the owner so none of their stuff would get stolen. Not planning on being stopped by something so simple, he wrenched it as hard as he could, causing the whole thing to break apart in his hands.

Now able to just gently shove the door open, he placed the broken handle on the counter on the other side of the door as he slowly made his way into the building. Wandering through the building, he used his hearing to warn him to anything that might be moving in or around it. Sensing that he was in the clear, he wandered from the hallway into the kitchen, which was where his nose picked up on something. Sniffing it as he followed his nose towards in over, he opened it up to release a nearly overwhelming scent. Due to the nature of his body, the fact that it was only a few hours old and because of how he had always been treated as a parasite locked away within somebody else, things like these were entirely foreign to him. Overcome with a sense of curiosity, he reached into the oven and burned his fingers trying to take out the thing that seemed to be where the scent originated from. Putting his fingers to his mouth, the burning sensation quickly faded away, and not a moment too soon.

Looking for something in the room that might be of use, he picked up a towel and wrapped it around his hand. Reaching in again, he took out what he could only describe as "food". Though it still seemed quite hot, he dug his fingers into it and pulled out a chunk before bringing it to his mouth. While it was incredibly hot, the fact that he had never truly eating a thing in his life made this into a very strange mixture of pleasure and pain. Chewing with open mouth so as to let the heat escape, he was having trouble identifying exactly what this was. That said, the fact that it tasted great made him more than willing to forget about how he had no idea what it was. Continuing to dig into the food, it was a good thing that it was slowly cooling down as the man who was for all intents and purposes a newborn had a lot of trouble when it came to stopping. Once over half of the stuff had disappeared into his stomach did he realize that there was something he had come here for, and it wasn't to eat.


(1091)

Leaving it on the counter, he started looking around for something he might be able to use in case it came down to having to defend himself. Opening up a few drawers, he found a lot of stuff that seemed like it would only serve one when on the table, though one large dagger drew his attention. Not feeling like this was the kind of thing he could really use, or really wanted to use, it was the only item that could pass for a plausible weapon around here. With that much settled, the naked man holding a knife continued wandering through the building until he found a staircase. Deciding to go up there in case anyone came back home and found him there like that, if he were upstairs, he could at least make an attempt at escaping unseen. At the top of the stairs, he looked around him for a while, noticing multiple open doors that had a bed behind them, as well as some large closets that seemed like they might be used to store up what he was looking for, clothing.

Strolling into the first room, all he could really find were dresses that were way too small for him. Not that he'd be willing to wear it, but still. It was clear that this room belonged to a child, so there was really no more use in looking around any further. Heading back out, he suddenly stopped moving as he thought he heard something creaking up the stairs. Bending through his knees and keeping his dagger low enough for a potential strike, it turned out that it was only a cat, and one that knew the way around the house too. Sighing a bit, he rose back up on his feet and walked around it, the cat meowing but once before heading into the room of the child Vetis had just been in and laying down on the bed. Raising his shoulders for a second, he did not really think a whole lot of it, at least not until it started causing a ruckus. If it did, he'd just toss it out of the window or something, though he wasn't entirely sure yet as it did not really matter right now.

Heading into the next room, it seemed that this one had a larger bed and two closets, leading him to believe that this was likely the best place for him to look. Leaving the cat for what it was, he headed towards one of the closets there and opened it up, finding several things that might fit him, as well as a lot of clothing that seemed like it was made for someone a whole lot heavier than he was. However, now was not the time to be picky, as there was no telling when someone might be getting home. And since walking around butt naked was not much of an option, he started going through the stuff that seemed like it just might fit him. Starting out by trying on a few boxer shorts, he continued towards finding a pair of socks. Since these things all had some elasticity to it, they fit him rather well. From there on, he found a baggy grey shirt, which was unfortunately the only piece he could find that did not fall down all the way to his knees.

While frustrating, it was better than having nothing. Finally, he went on to try on some pants, though as he had already imagined, were all way too wide for his waist. Now wearing a shirt, socks and boxer shorts, he wandered out of the room while still holding the dagger. To say that this was quite the strange sight was somewhat of an understatement, though that was not something he could concern himself with right now. As it were, the goal was to not be seen by anyone until he had what he needed. So as he walked back out of the room, he went into the last one he had yet to inspect, and already felt like he was on the right track. This room was littered with clothing, tossed around after having been worn once or twice by someone who clearly had no interest in keeping a tidy room. Not really feeling like going through those clothes, there were a few piles left and right that seemed like they were clean, but had not yet been put into a closet.

Digging through them to find a pair of black slacks and a sleeveless tank top of the same color, he took off the grey shirt and switched into these new clothes. Checking to see if these clothes fit, it was as if they had been made for him, thus keeping them on as he planned to leave. Going through the closet just to be safe, he took out a belt and a hoody, making sure his pants would stay where they were and using the hoody to hide most of his features. Tucking the knife into the large pocket of the hoody, he looked around the room and went towards the nearest window. Opening it up, he crawled onto the roof and started looking and listening closely to make sure nobody had seen him. Making sure no one had, he moved down the rain pipe and set foot on solid ground, and not a moment too soon. Shortly after stepping back on the street, he heard the front door opening and two pairs of footsteps entering the building.

Continuing to listen for a little while, he heard a woman yelling throughout the house that someone had taken out and ate most of her apple pie. At that point, he realized that the name of what he had eaten was "Apple pie", which was not a bad thing to keep in mind for later. With that, he felt like he had heard enough and started walking away from the building, blending in with the people on the street and making his way towards the outskirts of the village. As there was nothing for him in the mountains and Solmar was more than likely headed towards Sakuramori, Vetis figured that the wise thing right now was to not go where Solmar went in case they ran into one another. As much as he wanted to bury the knife he had just found into his neck, he knew all too well that doing so as he was now would just result in him getting his ass handed to him. With his mind fuzzy, his body adjusting to just about everything that needed adjusting to, there were more important things.


(1110 // 2201)