Waylaid by Pumpkin Problems

Event Info:

Yona entered the spooky forest with some measure of caution, given what the place was known for naturally. Oykai had asked given her the time and date for their very secretive first date, and the fact that he had chosen a place like the Spooky Forest had made Yona glad. It was sort of proof that he didn't need to coddle or protect her the same way some beaus felt the need to be an alpha male and some women enjoyed playing the damsel. She slapped her cheeks twice in the chilly air focusing her thoughts on the forest around her. This place was dangerous enough without her getting distracted over such silly sentiments.

Yona had never been on a date before, she had never had the time her desire to either. Her whole life was surrounded by tragedy and adventure, the pursuit of those responsible for the death of her family. Ever since she was reunited with Sato however, her priorities had adapted, her heart swayed to spending her time rejoicing with her brother rather than dwelling and drowning on the history of her sorrows. A date with Oykai nevertheless surprised her: she could have probably found some nice mage in a sturdy legal guild or a non magical boy who was a masterful artist or something. Why pick the male who goaded and teased her for nearly all the time she had known him... well. There was just something about his honesty that she hated to admit that she liked, even when it pointed out things she didn't plan to show publicly or when he noted her behaviors ill befitting someone in her position. She still couldn't stand his rudeness or the cruel things he said, taunts just to get under her skin, but lately his jests were simply playful jokes and the honesty wasn't quite as mean as it used to be. Yona slapped her cheeks again, having found herself lost in thought on the subject only minutes after she had tried to redirect herself already.

Ketsueki was thankfully silent, Yona didn't need to threaten him as he already knew that she was meeting with Oykai and he had no appetite for meeting with the deathless again himself. When Yona thought of him, she pictured the way he looked as he held his book, holding her hands and insisting that he was not her personal killer, rather only her personal escort to the afterlife when it came down to it. When Ketsueki pictured Oykai, he envisioned the male who had had a grip on his life essence and no qualms about stripping him of his power and his life; the intense eyes that had bored into his until he had recoiled from the seat of command in Yona's mind. An even chillier wind blew on past and pulled the green haired mage's scarf away. She exclaimed, "Hey wait! No, come back! Don't!" but her orange scarf was already fluttering on the breeze between some skeletal trees.

Yona's brown heeled ankle boots crushed and crackled the dead leaves on the forest floor as she went chasing after her scarf. The sky seemed to get darker and she felt the fabric between her fingertips just in time to notice just how dark it was in this part of the forest. The mage could turn around and still see the main path she had been taking bathed in warm afternoon sunlight, but the area she stood in was darkened with clouds up above. The woman wrapped her long orange scarf back around her neck, twice this time, letting the ends dangle by her waist. She wore tight black leggings, a short brown skirt, and a loose-knit dark green sweater. Yona hadn't yet tugged on her little orange gloves, keeping them stuffed haphazardly into the two pockets near the bottom of her green sweater. She gave her burnt orange scarf a hearty tug, making a satisfied snort, "Got you. Damn thing."

The plant mage peered around seeing a patch of pumpkins not far from where she stood. She knew she had to be getting close to the spot where she was to meet Oykai, but Yona recalled an event in Fiore going on. All able hands were requested to pick pumpkins for a pumpkin based party. She had offered to grow pumpkins herself and was turned down, for tradition or some dumb reason she had already put out of her mind. Sourly, Yona had decided to stubbornly not pick pumpkins if she couldn't grow her own. Then again, her love of plants was strong and with Oykai's date being a mystery, perhaps this was where he had intended for them to go after all. She glanced back at the path and then chose to head into the patch. It hadn't been too far away and besides, the pumpkins looked great even from a distance. She just had to get a closer look at those vines and whenever Oykai arrived, he probably wouldn't even be mad for her spoiling their surprise date by going into the patch ahead of him.

Yona rubbed her cold hands together and blew into them as she moved into the patch. The pumpkins were growing at random; instead of orderly and efficient lines as experienced farmers would have done, the gourds were sprouting about like a splatter painting. Clusters of small pumpkins here, one very large pumpkin there, some varieties of white and spotted pumpkins mixed betwixt the others, and her favorite so far was a large orange pumpkin with a wiry vine curled around its stem . Her favorite had grown on its side and so was perfectly rounded on all but that one very flat side. The silliness and imperfection of the vegetable was what made her so happy. Yona was no ordinary farmer. She bent down to brush some of the dirt from the pumpkin's skin and jumped out of her skin, shrieking as a loud squawk came out from behind her.

Angrily, the mage whirled around and swatted her hands, kicking the air near to the black bird perched behind her on a small rock. "Get out of here! Nothing scares me! Jerk-faced crow... with your stupid little eyes and your... stupid little brain... and your dumb... feet." Her insults were lacking in her surprise and she slowly stopped embarrassed that she was just naming the parts of the bird. In reply, the bird squawked again and took off into the air, unimpressed, and she couldn't blame him. Yona watched him take flight and join with a hearty crew of black-feathered friends in the sky above her. A cold wind moved past and she ducked her head, shivering, "Curse this wind. I should have brought my coat." When she looked back up, the birds' beady eyes were narrowed on her and their flight appeared to be directed on her position.

"Oh no... Oh no!" Yona said waving her arms. The birds let out a series of haws, caws, and screeches as they fell upon her from the sky. They pecked at her arms and legs, scratching with their claws at her sweater and face. She was lucky she wore the scarf as one of the claws tore a slice through the fabric of her sweater and cut into the flesh of her chest. A few inches up might have been much more dangerous! "Blasted birds!" Yona screamed, trying to dodge and run from them. Normally, Yona didn't fight animals, being that they belonged in the wild, but these birds were relentless. Crows were intelligent, but they never acted like this: a murder working in unison to bring her down? This was beyond normal behavior. "Just remember that you made me do this!" Yona raced away from the birds as they circled back into the sky, giving her a short reprieve. She slipped on one of them small pumpkins and slammed into the ground, cursing it out. This was supposed to be a date. Now look at her! Her green hair was tangled with a handful of leaves and her sweater was pecked and torn into looking like something she might have worn on the streets years ago.

Yona began emitting chemical signals, odorless to people but not to her insect allies. Despite the cool weather, their were still some about ready to come to her aid. From the trees, hundreds of hidden spiders threw out webs and leapt into the breeze, using the fall weather to help them reach the birds with relative ease. The arachnids landed upon the crows, biting them and injecting  disorienting venom. It wasn't enough to kill the birds, but between the webbing upon their feathers, screwing up their flight plans, and the bites of the spiders, the birds couldn't make a unified attack as they had planned. Several crows fell, too disoriented to fly or fight any more. Next, Yona tilted her head back and blew the remainder of the murder a kiss.

The green magical energy floated from her lips through the air and surrounded the avian monsters. Within the next few moments, all of the black birds were asleep and crashing to the patch below without dignity. A kerfuffle of feathers in the pumpkin patch later and the plant mage got to her feet. She checked out the tear in her sweater and the light bleeding from the skin beneath it. "Maybe I shouldn't have spoiled Oykai's surprise after all." It was possible the birds were some strange deathless-only birds, as it was well known that ravens and death had some sort of omen like relationship. She hoped Oykai wouldn't be too upset if that was the case and she had just knocked the entire race of bird-reapers unconscious.

WC: 1648
WC reached will continue as a job

@Oykai

It had been a little time since the troubled member of the spiritual calling cast had reached out to one of the very few people he trusted at least on some level had met, he had told her what had happened to the company chief executive officer. The reason it had happened and the guilt he felt given whom had done it. He had given some information how twins in his race were killed and why; he had notified her that he was one of the only sets of twins alive and how he had survived. It wasn't like him to offer such information but given the situation he thought that it was kind of needed since he had went to her for help, the guilt was keeping him from using the item that he personally used to guide spirits to the next part of their journeys, willingly or otherwise. Due to to the sensitive nature he had set the time to be later in the day, the location was the Wakusei Portals as it didn't have a lot of foot traffic so he could speak openly. He honestly hated cloak and dagger tactics and preferred speaking openly if he needed to speak on a subject, due to this he would prefer to meet where he had requested instead of whispering in a corner or behind a closed door. Experience over the many thousand years and life times he had been alive had taught him that speculation and rumours started that way, then again the same could be said for what he was doing but people would have to know that there was a meeting happening in the first place and he was careful on how he requested the meeting so no one would know or turn up to bother them; this was just the best way to do things given the topic he was sure they could both agree.

The meeting had segwayed quite a bit from the original reason of the meeting and he revieled a secret he had hoped never to tell anyone, more so her given it was about her and her family. He had been the one to take the last breath of her little brother and father but when it came to her, he just couldn't claim her, he refused the order and let her live. He confessed to her that even now he had no idea why he had broke the rules of his cast and spared her as much as he wished he had. He explained that the gem dangling from his waist contained the order to claim her and that it would be where her soul would one day be held until she was to continue her journey. He continued to tell her that while he held the gem that no other could claim her so she was safe to do as she wished, he made it very clear that her will and actions were her own and he wouldn't do anything to interfear with that, it that it wasn't his job to do such things. The memories she relived due to this information he himself relived, it was the downside of his cast, they seen the last moments of a persons lift and sometimes it wasn't all that kind or peaceful, it was also his cast that got the hatred for doing their jobs. It was part of the job he hated, they didn't ask to be of the cast they were but someone had to do it or the realms would be over populated or be a wasteland because nothing or no one would be dying. He didn't even want to think about eating still living things, the thought kinda creeped him out in all honesty.

Amongst the issues and segways he then found out a secret that Ruvel himself didn't know about the green haired woman, she was infested by a vampiric blood tree demon. This was something that she should really tell Ruvel in his opinion but it wasn't his job to force her, it was clear she wasn't sure exactly how to approach the subject with the strict teen but the worst he could do was be upset she didn't trust him or tell her sooner. As it stood right now she was a ticking time bomb as from what he had observed personally she had no control over the demonic parasite that decided to latch onto her and to the blue haired male that just wouldn't do. He had found out that she bartered and pleaded with the demon he now knew as Ketsueki, he flexed his power upon Oykai but soon found out that he was little more than prey to the Deathless and that his life could and would become forfeit if he pushed his luck with him. He allowed the demon to believe he had the upperhand before soon showing him just how weak he was as he grabbed the demons heart without doing any damage what so ever to Yona. After making his point he let go allowing the demon to leave and lick his wounds and with his departure Yona was freed from her smokey cage that she had been trapped within. It was then that Yona realised that Oykai had been right because she then called him teacher, that was a new one for the Deathless male as he had never once taught anyone anything outside being one of the spiritual calling. He thought back at that point on how he reassured her that when it did come to her time ending that he would be the one taking her last breath, that she would then have the choice to continue onto her next journey to which he would guide her to or if she so desired to become the same race as him. Whatever she decided when the time came he would support fully and wouldn't try and change her mind, one would hurt more than the other but it wasn't his choice to make.

This time he had sent a message to Yona via her little brother Sato telling her to meet him in the Spooky Forest on the day of all hallows eve, he sent a map with a black x marking the spot and a time that she had to be there. He told Sato to tell her he had their first date planned and hoped she would like what he had planned, he made sure that when he told Sato that he promised not to tell or he'd be in big trouble. Sato had agreed and passed on the message and gave the map with the information, he went so far as to tease her about the whole situation but really hoped that she would have a good time. He knew of Oykai's issues due to the bond with Ruvel but he also knew that his fellow summon was a good person really even if he did give his big sister a hard time. He noted his sisters surprise and even the blush that had ended up on his sisters cheeks when the information had been given and how she wanted the perfect outfit. Girl stuff that he wanted no part of, so Oykai could do this with his sister Sato had offered to be Ruvel's eyes for the day and was given the go ahead, the last thing he said to his sister before she went towards her date was that she should have a good time and to bring him back something nice before running off to do his own task with Ruvel at the castle.

Oykai had been a little behind schedual thanks to people not being considerate on when they decided to die, still he got there a little after Yona had and watched as she ran off "I honestly didn't think I was that late." he said scratching his cheek, he was wearing a pair of casual but smart white trousers, a smart white shirt with a black waistcoat and black shoes, at his waist was the green gem pendant that he refused to remove no matter what. Moving at a brisk pace he followed her and soon found a pumpkin patch they had both stumbled into, by the time he had arrived Yona had already been attacked by a murder of crows ruining her outfit before she managed to take them down. "Congratulations, you managed to find trouble yet again Yona." he said with a light chuckle as he made his way towards her stepping over pumpkins carefully "No need to worry either Yona, this wasn't the surprise, in fact I'm surprised to see this here." he said finally stopping by her side watching the sleeping crows for a moment "This patch isn't normal so I'd suggest keeping on guard until we get out of the patch and to where I actually want to take you." he said warmly a smile on his face, well that was short lived as he watched the crows fuse together and give out a ghoulish shriek making Oykai put a finger in his left ear as he heard ringing "I know we aren't inside but inside voice." he demanded of the mutated undead crow thing, quickly and carefully pushing Yona aside so she didn't fall his book appeared in front of him and opened, six pages came forward from it but not in time for the monstrosity took a swing at him and tore his clothing and cut into his albino skin. This made him more than a little upset as his white clothing was now being dyed purple due to his blood. "That's it little boy, gloves off... no mercy..." it was clear that his calm demenor had shifted into that of the other side of Oykai the pages moved forward and cut into the beast and even clung onto it, he listened to the unholy shrieks it gave out but he cared little and allowed the thing to slash into him without moving an inch. There was method in his madness as soon his book soon released more pages, the strike that landed seemingly doing something to the page as purple text showed. It was after this Oykai released an unreleanting flurry of blows and didn't stop until the thing in front of him was down, of course this also meant that he had taken several blows himself and each time one landed the pages filled with more purple text.

When the thing was finally down the book floated over to him and he walked towards Yona "If animals are attacking you kill them or we end up with whatever the hell that was." he said pointing to the pile of feathers behind him. "Anyway, do you have anything for healing because that thing hurt like a frait train." he said now looking at the state of both of them, he knew they couldn't go to where he had planned looking like this but he would deal with that issue when they got out of this pumpkin patch because he had a gut feeling that they would just get ruined all over again and he'd rather avoid changing constantly if he could help it.

Word count: 1,874
~~wc complete will continue as a job~~
@Yona

Enemy List:
Crows
Lord of Crows
Mr. Scarecrow
Pumpkin Patch King

The plant mage stood still looking around at the birds, having just finished putting them to sleep before hearing the sound of Oykai's approach. She stuck out her lower lip and tugged on her burnt orange gloves, accessories to her scarf. "I didn't find trouble. It found me." She reflected on the idea for a moment and chuckled, "Or maybe they were attracted to Ketsueki. He isn't the most affable sort and probably has plenty of enemies. Did you hear about that pumpkin patch collecting mission thing?" She shrugged with her gloves fully on now. "I saw the pumpkins and got curious and that's when the birds came down. I've never seen crows so territorial before. Could use a scarecrow out here, I think." Her green eyes scanned the area and a rumpled scarecrow, half folded upon its stick rested at the edge of the patch. "Useless," She murmured.

When Oykai confessed that this patch wasn't the marked location for their date, she let out a relieved sigh. She wasn't sure this strange patch was ideal for getting to know each other under the given circumstances. "Stay alert, you got it, I will--" Yona's bubbling chatter was overwhelmed by the loud shriek of a monster. Yona covered her ears reflexively and winced. She felt Oykai gently pushing her to the side and let him, as a book appeared before him. Yona stared wide eyed at the monstrous crow abomination and tilted her head, "You were right about your feeling in this place," She muttered. The creature swung and landed a hit on Oykai. Yona yelped in surprise, a part of her truly shocked as she had mostly deduced that nothing could harm him. Something about him had always seemed so invincible after all.

His book seemed to be an impressive magical weapon, the pages tearing and ripping into the abomination until it fell. Yona had planned to join but saw no reason to intervene in Oykai's work. She was sure his pride and his power gave her no room to intercede where he was fully capable, even if she didn't like the look of the wound on him. When he commented on how she had handled the crows however, Yona stiffened defensively. "I just did my best. I didn't see a reason to kill a bunch of birds." She saw Oykai's injury and softened without a trace of defensiveness. Injury to her companion was more serious than what he thought of her crow situation by a long shot. "Sure, I can take care of it. I can grow some of my special drupes."

To cast this spell, Yona bent to the ground, her scarf draping against a nearby small white pumpkin. She balanced a knee on another pumpkin and pressed her left hand to the ground. With her other hand, the female brought the flat of her palm to the back of her other hand. A small green glow and then from the soil a woody stem sprouted upwards with two large hanging fruit. It was bright red, with an internal texture akin to a tropical mango or papaya. The fleshy inside tasted of tantalizing citrus and had a powerful aroma, both the taste and smell could affect the eater. Yona plucked the two drupes and passed one to Oykai, "Go ahead and eat that." She lifted the fruit up to her own lips and heard the sound of splitting wood. "Hmm..." Yona uttered, her eyes lifting up.

The useless and ragged scarecrow had somehow transformed in the time it took for her to grow the healing fruits. It jerked to life, swaying side to side, half stiff and robotic and half puppet like and loose. "What is with this place?! You just eat, I can handle this thing easy. Stupid useless scarecrow... got to put it down..." She shook her green haired head and stepped away grumbling, "Whomever's patch this is going to have to answer some serious questions if I ever lay my hands on them!" A maniacal cackling erupted from the scarecrow monster and interrupted Yona's annoyed banter. She whipped the ends of her scarf over her shoulders so Yona could focus better. A scythe swung brutally at her from above, but it was easy to predict and to dodge. It started for Oykai next so the plant mage lunged herself at the scarecrow and into its side. It wasn't elegant, but it was going to work: her body slammed into the ragged stick held creature and he himself teetered to the side.

He didn't fall but his aim was even worse than before, his scythe crashing into a fat orange pumpkin and spewing seeds and goop everywhere. Yona felt some of the pumpkin's goop sticking to her face and hair and whined softly. This was not how her first date ever was supposed to go. Didn't normal girls, hell even normal mages, just go out to dinner or something? Why was she battling monsters in this godforsaken pumpkin patch!? Yona touched the ground with both hands and drew out a pair of long daggers, formed from the plants around her and as sharp as rows of thorns. Yona jumped to her feet and started slashing at the creature while it was hunched over. She sliced back and forth until she was almost out of breath, slices of clothing unstitching from the scarecrow's shoddy coat.

She jumped back to catch her breath and the scarecrow didn't move. Yona breathed out slowly, "Well, then. I showed him." She laughed a little looking over at Oykai. The scarecrow twitched and then in a burst of crazed motion leapt backwards, flailing its scythe around like a wild man. Yona yelped, leaning back just in time to avoid the blade by mere inches. She lifted up her own green blades to block the second hit, and then a third. "How did you get so damn fast!?" From inside her mind, the demon finally chimed in, "Maybe it's not fast and you're just slow. Give me a shot, hmm...?" Yona growled and replied in her own head, "Don't think so, no." Yona struggled a bit, between stepping backwards, trying not to slip or twist an ankle on one of the pumpkins while dodging or parrying each swing of the scythe. The scarecrow cackled again, an earsplitting laughter of something insane. Something like that would probably unnerve any other mage, but Yona lived with Ketsueki and it didn't scare her.

She stepped backwards and then took a breath. Yona focused and then narrowed her eyes. She had a plan that was going to be more effective. She was surrounded by plants, this was her zone, this was her specific strength! One step back again and the woman vanished as if into thin air. The scythe didn't need to be dodged or blocked as it swung through the air and the plant mage reappeared behind the scarecrow. She used the pumpkins to teleport from one plant to another. Both of her blades thrusted upwards, from where the base of the scarecrow's waist would have been, aimed to plunge upwards below the non-existent ribs and into its potentially existing monster heart. Yona didn't know if there was a heart in there, but her blades hit something and the scarecrow made a lurching movement forward. Yona drew out her blades and waited until she was sure it was lifeless.

Yona dropped the blades and they returned to the greenery from which they came. She rejoined Oykai, plucking the pumpkin goop from her face, not realizing there was also some in her hair. "So... uh.. how is that fruit for you?" She was trying to reclaim some sort of energy to instill that she was prepared for their date. She looked around by Oykai's feet and her own until she spotted the red drupe that she had made for herself. She found it on the ground and dusted it off, "Good as new," She said cheerfully. The joy sounded strange even to her own self, but it was worth it if she had any hope of renewing their meeting. Erm... date. Yona took a bite and felt the healing effects taking place. She spoke softly to Oykai in a half joke assessment, "Tell me is this going well so far?"

WC: 1648+1413= 3061

@Oykai

Oykai looked to her with soul filled blood ruby eyes and quirked an eyebrow for a moment as the other spoke to him about not making trouble but it finding her. He was quite doubtful about this for a moment as from the way she joined the guild up until when she fought toddler Ruvel and seemed to put her in her place, however, how she had reacted to the gift that Ruvel gave her was a bit of an issue for the Deathless male but he understood as to why she would react in such a way. "Well, if you had stayed where we were meant to meet up you wouldn't be in the predicerment you are in at the moment." he said calmly a gentle smile on his face, this was suppose to be a good day out for the pair but that had been disrupted "You found it by chasing your scarf and then walking into a foggy pumpkin patch." he said with a chuckle, he wasn't mad at the situation at that point but that had changed after his clothing got shreaded. When she mentioned about the demonic vampiric tree that had latched onto her soul having plenty of enemies and these things perhaps being some of them. He could actually see it "Perhaps we should infest him with demonic termites or set an angelic woodpecker on him." he said with a tone were it would be hard to know if he was joking or not about what he had just said, in honesty he wasn't, he wanted that leech out of her for her sake but that wasn't his call as much as he might wish it was. He gave his word he wouldn't get involved with her decision making or what she done day to day, he, unfortunatly was covered by that blanket unless she asked Oykai for his help to get rid of him. He would oblige the request happily on that day and would make sure that he didn't survive to torment another person ever.

"Crows aren't often territorial to the point of attacking people, that being said this is a cursed land so the normal laws and rules don't apply." he said with a thoughtful tone trying to fill in the blanks to the one he was going on a date with, he had no idea what the hell a date was as he had never been on one before and Sato had said that this was a date. He had just agreed with it not knowing the implications that went with it, if he had then he might have tried to correct the situation but it was to little to late. He looked at her before the fight with the undead crow thing "Well, yeah..." he said his sight turning back to what was his enemy at the time "Like I said this is a cursed land, caution and alertness are always good things to have here." he had admited after he had taken care of what would have made a very nice set of fallen angel wings if they had collected all the feathers, he was pretty sure however that they both had better things to do. "Also do you need to shriek like that when I get hit?" he asked her looking at his torn shirt and grumbling something in his native tongue as he walked to her "My race, especially my cast are a lot toughter than we look. We need to be to surive in the realm we do and do the tasks we do in other planes of existence." he let her know so she wouldn't need to worry as much as she had, there was more to it in his case but that was something he would rather not have to deal with in all honesty. When she had mentioned why she hadn't killed the birds he shook his head "Remember that cursed land Tolgalen has, would you show the crows there the same indifference?" he asked her sternly, it wasn't becasue he was trying to be cruel but he wanted to make a point that issues would arise if she held back "If you hold back then that parasite will always find a weakness within you, those birds needed to be put down because the next bunch of people that came through here might not have been mages or if they were they may not have been of your strength." he reminded her, he hated that he needed to act like this but sometimes it was needed to get a point across.

He watched her as she bent down and grew something, to his surprised is smelt sweet as he examined it after it was given to him. When he was told to eat it he did instantly starting to hear the healing effects that it had. "Thank you Yona." his warm tone present once more "I don't think this pumpkin patch has an owne-" he was cut off as it seemed as when Yona had went off to deal with the scarecrow something else seemed to be moving closeby. He moved towards it and seen something odd with the pumpkin, it had holes in it like a jack-o-lantern he moved back a bit as he was unsure what to expect, more so as he seen the fog thicken and an orange glow from a lantern that wasn't there moments ago. From the pumpkin he could hear an insane chuckle which made him just want to burn this patch to the ground. "Great, this is all I need." he said looking back to where Yona had just defeated her own opponent, he was use that Ketsueki had tried to get out but was glad to see that Yona had kept in control, it really had seemed as if her personal training had come a long way in such a short time. Turning his back to the looming pumpkin spirit thing that they seemingly had disturbed walking into this patch and grabbed the scarecrow's scythe "I don't think he'll mind if I borrow this." he said to Yona before he sent six of his pages towards the still emerging pumpkin. The Pumpkin thing managed to dodge hald the papers but the other half had settled onto him, but then he was a big enough target so would be more concerned if they had all missed. He dashed forward once again the healing fruit he had been given held in his mouth as he used the scythe with immense precision, it didn't stop him from being hit twice but he managed to dodge or reflect most of them while dealing damage with the scythe. Finally the purple text that had been slowly building on the six pages released striking any enemies within its range and destroying all the pumpkins around them. "Whoops... I don't think that was meant to happen." he said rubbing the back of his head watching as the pumpkin patch king seemed to fade the pumpkin that was used as his head landing at his feet. "Nope, I didn't and given everything that has just happened we have only one pumpkin to use for it." he said picking up the pumpkin by his feet, walking to Yona he offered it to her. "It has a happy face now, I think whatever was trapped within it is now free of some curse." he said with a shrug taking her gloved hand "Lets get going to where we are meant to be going, we can get new clothing closer to it." he said leading her out of the pumpkin patch and back to the path they were meant to meet each other.

Word count: 1,288
@Yona
All enemies defeated

As ever, it seemed, Yona considered herself and Oykai's partnership. Were they to ever be at odds? Half of her comments and half of his weren't taken with graceful intention or spoken without some degree of judgement. Perhaps, Oykai was as water, and the plant mage was oil; they weren't made to mix. Then again, her soul and her life was his. He was trustworthy and would break the governing rules of his race for her, without a clear understanding as to why. Did they need to blend together perfectly? Maybe their rough edges only sharpened one another. She let out a short exhale and fixed her scarf. "You're right. I should have stayed more focused and followed your directions more closely." When he mentioned her strength over Ketsueki and holding back with the crows, Yona pursed her lips and did not reply. Whatever she had to say was unpleasant, and the truth was he was still guiding and teaching her how to gain control over the demon and her own self. Her lack of discipline and her abundance of pride would lead her towards an argument if she let her lips lead.

She would defer to his knowledge and wisdom for the most part and just nod. "I didn't shriek, I uh.. yelped. I was worried, I've never seen you injured before!" Yona reflected with a tilt of her head. "You can't fault me for caring, can you?" She smiled and it was as if all of her beauty and allure shone through her eyes at that moment. Yona spoke to him the way a distraught newlywed might, with care and concern despite his capability. "I know you're powerful and strong, but just let me care all right? Can't stop me anyway." Yona watched as the healing took place and relaxed back into her normal self. Her reactions and feelings were as usual out of control, but in a way she was certainly not familiar with. She needed Oykai's discipline more than ever.

Yona battled the scarecrow and felt all of those emotions suddenly under her control again. Having something to focus on helped a lot. When Oykai finished off the final monster and handed her a pumpkin head, he too seemed more relaxed. She took the smiling pumpkin and cringed, "Kind of creepy still given what just happened. I'll take it anyway." She shifted it under her arm and blushed as Oykai took her gloved hand in his. As he led her away from the patch, she grinned, "Let's do get back on track. I have been looking forward to this." His hand and her's together brought back that image of oil and water again. They were different, but still complementing each other. Only time would tell, Yona determined squeezing his hand and taking his lead."Are demonic termites a real thing?" She suddenly asked curiously. She hadn't figured out if he was joking or not, and Oykai had never really shown a sense of humor beyond his sarcasm or teasing remarks.

TWC: 518+3061= 3579

• Event:1500
  
• Post Event: 2079

@Oykai

Oykai didn't know if the two would ever blend perfectly given his race and culture was all about structure and order while she seemed to uphold the very essence of nature. Nature if left alone would run riot, overgrowing and strangling everything along the way, he had no issue with nature for being how it was, that being said if not trimmed and tended to with a loving care or it could end up harming itself. Would they blend perfectly due to this? No, of course they wouldn't. Did they have to live without friction to care for one another? No, of course not. They could be who they were and still move forward in whatever relationship they seemed to be cultivating together, though at this point the blue haired Deathless was unsure if either of them knew exactly what was going on between them. He knew the green haired botanist liked how he looked and him? Well, he wasn't too sure still about the whole situation but was willing to see where it would end up, that was all he could do after all. It would do nothing good if either of them tried to force anything. He knew that the plant mage seen him with some reverence because she knew he could take her life at any time, in truth that actually freaked him the hell out. He had told her nothing was going to change for her so he would prefer if she just acted normally but he guessed he could understand why she done as she done. Now he thought about it, he had to wonder if her feelings towards him was just because of what she had recently found out about the gem he carried, to him it would explain some things but would rather not waste his time on something so useless. After all if it was going to happen it would so no need to put too much thought into the why it was happening at current.

The blue haired spiritual calling leader was beginning to believe that they were almost like a pair of scissors. Each of them made one of the blades required, they were now bound together together due to what he done on that fateful night and would likely manage to complete their tasks by being close to each other and scraping against one another. Wasn't this how a good married couple reacted in the mortal realm? They were teamed for eternity as far as Oykai was concerned, wither this was indeed the truth of things only time would tell when she finally passed, but for now he was content and by the looks of it so was the plant mage so that's all that really mattered. "Yona, I am not trying to berate or belittle you. It's..." he sighed trying to figure out how to word this so she wouldn't take to much offense while understanding what he was trying to say. "I come from a race where everything is structured to the extreme. To this world we would be beyond archaic and that is because other than my cast and my cousins due to their contract with Ruvel we don't leave our realm. What we go through works for us." he explained to her calmly hoping she would understand what he was trying to explain to her "I am a member of the race were servants are a huge thing, were the man owns his family and your family status means absolutely everything as does your placement within your cast. I can't complain really because I am from the royal family, I lead my primary cast and in my secondary cast I rank very high as well. I have no wife or children so don't have to worry about that issue but I to have servants, who as you have seen are very well taken care of. Your family including Sato were amongst them." he continued so she fully understood "I want you safe as can be and that is why I chose the spot I did as I had placed safety there for you." he continued his voice showing the concern that was written over his handsome face.

"You might not like how my race works, hell, I know plenty of mortals and even those classed as 'false cast' that don't agree with how our structure is. It isn't going to change because everyone is happy and it is orderly." he finished knowing that the whole thing about servants, bound servants and owning your family likely wouldn't sit well with the other. He had told her about her family being bound servants and what it normally meant when they originally met like this; near the portals when he wanted to inform her about Ruvel and because he was in distress. She knew normally if one of his cast put spirits they collected into bound servitude, then they were little more than slaves but her parents and every other bound servant he had in his service were given the same rights and treatment as one that was living. He even told her they had given them the right to end their servitude at any point, something none of his living servants could do without punishment. He had never had anyone ever want to leave his service and the bindings on her parents arms showed that they were indeed happy, healthy and willing to be doing what they were. He did feel sorry for that little girl and had ordered her into his care. "Oh, that young girl from the other of my cast I showed you. I demanded she be handed over to me as a tithing gift, your mother and father are tending to her, she is getting better but has forgotten her name so they've named her Lily. Lily is doing far better now and asked me to "thank the nice lady who had me save her from a horrible master and gave her a new happy life" so this is me telling you" he went on now remembering that this was kind of important

"Before you ask, what we class as 'fake cast' are those who have been given the chance to change but fight against it thus keeping their feet in both worlds. Those who are classed are this have no rights and can't even join a cast, there are many who do this because they don't want to forget but that is part of the side effects of changing. Even Sol in time will forget all about his life before he changed to being Deathless." he informed her as this was something that was kind of important because he did say that upon her death he would offer her to become like him "You on the other hand will be different if you accept my offer, I have a way for you to remember things from your life before the life you would gain." he let her know, he had to guess the thought of losing all your memories would seem less than appealing, he knew for a fact he hated it when he went through each of his life cycles but it eventually would come back. He would use this same process on her if she so wanted to be like him so she wouldn't be a fake cast yet still have all her memories as if she was in the middle. It was something that only he and his twin sister Demiari seemed to have, but he put that down to who their parent was. He had put enough time into studying how it happened but not enough to where it could be taken off him or irritated the one who gifted it to him, of course he wanted to know more but he knew better than to look behind curtains he wasn't meant to. He looked at her eventually and seen that she was pursing her lips but he was unsure how to feel on the fact that she was holding her tongue.

"Don't hold back your words Yona, doing so will only empower the rot infested tree you have inside you. The best way to voice your words without causing discord or causing offence is finding a way to say what you want politely." he said to the other starting to teach her a few things to take the power away, she knew if she got angry then the vampiric tree would take full advantage of the lack or restraint. "There's no need to worry about me Yona, my cast is actually one of the most resistant to damage due to what we do as a job." he said with a warm smile though he looked at his torn his clothing and sighed "I need to get new clothing however, that is going to be fun." he grumbled a little knowing given where they were currently this wasn't going to happen but there might be some places that sold clothing for them both when they got to where he was leading them both. He looked to her and shook his head "Indeed I cannot, it is the first time I have been hurt in front of you and it is in your races nature to get upset over such trivial wounds." he said knowing if this was any other race they'd likely be on the floor bleeding to death but to him it was just another Friday. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck knowing there was no way he was going to win this argument "Fine, if it makes you feel better to fuss then fuss." he said unsure about how he felt about having such a thing happening to him by her though he was use to it by those in his service when he was injured as it was beyond rare, so he guessed he should view it the same way but at the same time he just couldn't and wished he knew why, it was so bothersome now not to know why he was doing such things or couldn't do others. There was something about her and he really wished now he could end the mystery so he could move on.

Oykai nodded after the last annoyance had been dealt with and walked back to the path with her "I agree, back to what I had planned for us." he said his tone warm once more as he led them deeper into the woods, his handsome smile present again. "I have been looking forward to this also, it is the least I can do for you helping me. It will be nice to bond a bit more right?" he said to her, he still had no idea that this had actually turned into a date like Sato had been trying to tease him about but then again at this point he doubted he would care about that. "Yes, demonic termites and angelic termites are a thing. Now I think about it, I should maybe release angelic ones on him.. they'd hurt more." he said in a calm yet semi cold tone as if it was aimed at the demon himself, though no sooner than his tone turn cold than it returned to the warm tone that it had been for her. Within a thirty minute walk they ended up at what seemed like the entrance to a fair that was already in full swing "I thought this might be something more your speed, especially surrounded by nature." he explained to her, of course there was more than met the eye in this place as Yona would eventually find out but for now he wanted her to enjoy herself before he would have to go about his job.

Word Count: 1,965
Total Word Count: 3,253
@Yona