Ooohh sounds interesting Hun

yaaaaaaay

Mich Let's hope it is >w<

-goes off to complete first segment-

"Where am I?"

"Everywhere and nowhere, this is a place of ceased being."

"A what?"

"You are everywhere and nowhere at once, the eyes, the ears, the ground and the sky."

"Why?"

"How else are you to propose yourself?"

Nishi narrowed his eyes into the white, watching it disperse slowly and form. He could not even name what they sat in. He and this voice. He felt his form come back, feeling now with a body and not just spirit. He watched as pearly white forms came into view, barely distinguished from the nothingness.

"Where is this place?"

"You tell me, what does it look like to you?"

Pillars. He watched the place flood with blue, felt it soak through his clothing as all at once he was in the blue. He opened his eyes, expecting suffocation and was only met with oxygen and sight. He knew this place now.

"Atlantis?"

"If you say it is, then it is. You control this place, I fear." The voice had lost it's echo. He spun around, feeling that he still had gravity, his feet never left the sand. He saw the home of the voice, a form perched on a cracked pillar, looking down at him with an amused twinkle in it's obsidian eye. Trailing sleeves of lace encased it's arms and a corset snapped over fine silk blouse around it's torso, pinstripe pants wrapped around it's legs. Hair of molten bronze floated around a pale face, a black tattoo on it's bottom lip. Overlong nails tapped against the pillar.

"This is a place I control?"

"Well of coarse, you are the only one allowed control of your mind. Unless of coarse, the soul is hindered and a new puppeteer introduced to the body."

"What?"

"Stop being so human, you know very well what. Now what is it you are requesting?" The voice sounded impatient, though the home looked calm.

"Rebirth." Nishi blurted, his blue eyes fixed on the form. The water was nothingness around them, the fish passed through him as if ghosts. No current swayed the calm of this place. It was haunting in all it's loveliness.

"Rebirth? Aaaah, not immortality?" Again it was amused.

"No, Rebirth. Immortality is not something I desire."

"You'd be the first person I have had the displeasure of meeting to say that. It's either wealth or immortality, power or beauty."

"I just want to keep helping. Something is going to happen and I think I need to be there for it."

"Of coarse you do, fate stalls for no one, not even Lord Death." The voice was waspish now, Nishi felt his face flood in colour, foolishness running through his veins. A current swayed the hair of the home, he himself was left motionless. He stared up still, eyes unable to do much else the boundaries were either near or far, there was no stop to the blue beyond the collection of ruins around them like a crowd.

"Can you do it?" His voice echoed in the silence, he felt his form sifting away again, dropping to the ground like coloured sand. A smile lifted tattooed lips, a long fingernail pressing against a pale cheek.

"Of coarse I can."

"Then--" There was the echo again, two this time. "Do it, please." All he saw as the world whited out was a smirk, the he fell into black and death cradled him.

XD dammit Raven, sneaking in there!

The car boot slammed, though the pale, five year old child didn't flinch. He distantly heard the chickens clucking around the yard but paid no mind. He didn't want to be here, why was he seeing him off anyway? Wellington boots encased his feet, and he wore shorts, his knobbly knees exposed to show recent scrapes. A plain red t-shirt hung around him, a little too baggy. Blue eyes stared sulkily at the older man fitting the last of his boxes into the car.

"I'm going now, Hime."

"Right."

"Be good for your mother."

"Like you'd care anyway." Came the sulky reply and Johji stared at his son, sighing.

"Sometimes it doesn't always work out as we planned, Himeno." He tried gently, another sigh ghosting past his lips at the glower his son sent him. Grubby hands clutched at the front of his t-shirt, suppressing the urge to cling to his father and tell him to stay. He couldn't cry, he was the man of the house now and besides, mum cried enough for both of them.

"and sometimes it does, you need to understand how adults work." He murmured, petting a hand through his child's unruly black hair. He was leaving the farm life for the city, walking out of a relationship of comfort. Madison was happy enough to stay put, whereas Johji needed to move forward and advance in his life.

"Just go away." A pout and a glower accompanied that demand. He simply sighed and got up, looking to the flint-walled cottage and at the woman peeking out of a window at them. He smiled and she smiled a little back, before he climbed into the car and started the engine, leaving the farm behind.

***

"So you just let him go?" Came a surprised cry from the blonde girl sat on a balnket across from him, petting the hair of one of her cloth dolls down. She set the doll down to the side, in front of with a smile, filling the plastic teacup before it with water. Himeno stared gloomily at her, sat across and with his own teacup of now tepid water.

"Yeah, he's stupid anyway." Himeno huffed, dumping the water onto the grass to the side of the blanket when she wasn't looking. He set the cup down, watching the last clinging droplets travel down the sides of the cup to pool at the bottom. Hayne turned to stare at him, pigtails swaying as she refilled his cup with water. "Drink your tea, Hime!" She pouted and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't want to."

"Hime! Stop setting a bad example for our children!" Hayne shouted, gesturing to the dolls set around them. Himeno glared at them like it was their fault. "Don't want to." He sulked and Hayne glared, standing up. He looked at her, frowning.

Hayne was opposite of him, she was the only daughter of a property baron. While he was the only son of a farmer's wife and her city boyfriend. She was dressed in a pretty cotton summer dress, shiny black shoes on her feet and frilly socks as well. He was in a pair of jeans, a slogan teeshirt and a pair of muddy trainers, his shoulder length hair held back in a scruffy ponytail, strands falling around his face.

"How are we supposed to get married if you're going to be like that?!" She argued.

"Maybe I don't want to marry a smelly girl like you!"

"Hime! That's mean!"

"Is not! I'm telling the truth you stinky girl!"

"HIME!"

"Go away!" He snarled, standing up to stalk away from the picnic blanket, chucking the gummy ring from off his finger. Hayne made an angry sound and trotted after him, picking the ring up. "That's not how you divorce!" She yelled, Himeno couldn't help but snicker a little.

Whoa! Great stuff Chai! More!

Thanks Mau, I'm gonna post up a segment from Azure and Ren's turbulent relationship, done in RP with Rensal's creator. It's very choppy and paragraphs are short. It'll be a nice break from racking my poor brain on the next segment. -likes chopping and changing things-

Great stuff...yeah you can use this thread for your ideas and such....doesn't all have to make complete sense either if you don't want it too....

Notes:: An Asrai is a water fairy, though ITL's version differs slightly from the actual mythological version. Asrai in ITL are still afraid of capture, are still very pretty, but they do not die when touched by sunlight and can be touched by other beings if they so wish it. The Asrai in this segment is Juthian, a picture of him is the first WIP I posted in the artwork thread.

The character Himeno first encounters is a Neko called Bailey (his image is in the first post of this thread) who lived with Nishi for a small number of months before becoming a sort of 'ships cat' for a small while.

He'd always naturally been a suspicious child, even more so when unexplained things went on. The farm was located on moors swept by wind, the mountains miles around howling as the wind snaked past their gargantuan forms. Today it was too windy to go to the moors and play, so his mother had forbidden him from leaving the farmyard. Himeno pouted as he ducked into the hay barn, his body chilly from the assault the wind had given him on his way over. His eight-year old mind ticked off the toys he had left in the hayloft under a blanket as he bypassed an old tire swing that his father had put up, ignoring the thin layer of dust that unsettled as he pushed it out of the way. He hadn't used it since.

Himeno stopped as he came to just under the lip of the hayloft, blinking when strands of hay showered down around him. He frowned and quietly crept under the hayloft and towards the old wooden ladder up to it. He silently shuffled himself up the ladder, pausing just at the top to peek at what was disturbing the hay. It was common for birds and foxes to get in here, but he'd never seen a fox up in the hayloft before. He pulled himself up into the hayloft, crawling around a couple of bales of hay to the noise.

"Shoo!" He hissed, thinking it was wildlife until he got a reply.

"But it's comfy."

Himeno stopped and blinked, utter surprise setting in his system at the fact animals could talk. He climbed to his feet and searched with his eyes for the source of the noise, surprise taking over him again.

It was a cat in ways, with two cat ears and a long cat tail, though it spoke with a human mouth, saw with human eyes and moved with a human body. His blue eyes stared at sleepy amber eyes, finding himself still struck dumb. A cat boy? A CAT BOY? What was this? some cartoon?! He firmed himself up, lips thinning into a line.

"You're not allowed here." He repeated to the cat boy, moving around the bales of hay to sit on one, observing the form curled up on his pile of blankets. The cat boy looked unhappy about that. "But it's so cold out and the moors are horrid to navigate during wind storms." He said quietly. Himeno stayed silent, studying the other.

"You live on the moors? Go home."

"No, I live in the mountains and I must say, the previous you was nicer!" The cat boy muttered, voice lilting to a soft hissing sound as he talked, ears pulling back. He was half expecting that they would stay motionless. He guessed he was trying to convince himself that this was just a boy in costume, playing a prank.

"Previous me?"

"Oh of coarse, you wouldn't know. It doesn't matter."

Himeno glowered at the cat boy, not looking impressed about him withholding information about him. He watched the cat boy stretch and yawn. "...Fine." He muttered, not looking happy about it.

"Excuse me?"

"I said fine, cat boy. You can stay." He muttered, climbing to his feet and dusting the back of his shorts down of any clinging hay. The cat boy grinned happily. "Thank you and before you go away, can I ask your name?" Himeno looked mildly surprised at that. "It's Himeno."

The cat boy smiled.

"I'm Bailey." He greeted, watching as Himeno came to sit down and look for a topic of conversation. Maybe this could be a new habit, he'd have to get lost out on the moors more often.






A couple of months after that first strange encounter heralded a second one for Himeno. Reaching his ninth birthday, his mother decided it would be a good idea for them to spend a day out with friends, for a birthday picnic. The food was loaded into the car, blankets folded and neatly placed after it. The children clambered in before the adults and they set off. From their small homes in Turriff towards Loch Leven.

Once there, they found a relatively unrocky bank, nearby a small forest of trees and still able to see a fine view Loch Leven Castle. Himeno was seized with the idea to swim out to the island it lay on in the large body of water and conquer it like kings of old, before he realised that was thoroughly impossible because he could not swim more then 10 metres without near-drowning. He and the other children were told of the rules, of how picking flowers or scaring wildlife wasn't allowed here and they were allowed to play.

Himeno was the only one who sat on the bank as the other children splashed around in the freshwater Loch, looking pouty over it. He would have much preferred going to somewhere else really. He watched the Adults unpack, mildly interested in the food before he got to his feet and stretched, aiming to go paddle his feet in the water, maybe skim a few rocks.

That was, until he heard a painfully beautiful lilting sound. His child's heart ached a little and he stared around, confused as to why no one else was hearing this. He crept away from the shore and into the trees, following the noise for a little ways before coming to a little copse of trees, a small body of water in the centre. He slid a little down the mossy hill to the water and stopped, staring eagerly into it. He knew that the sound was coming from this place!

He stared and stared, focusing on his own reflection until he saw it. A pale face under his reflection, staring at him with wide green eyes, mouth opening and closing as it sang within the water. Golden hair floating around the face serenely, like swaying fabrics in a soft breeze. He drew back and the face surfaced, the song vanishing as it stared at him and he stared back. He reached out and touched a strand of hair away from the cheek, surprised to find the skin quite warm, despite how chilly the water must have been.

"Thank you." The form said softly, smiling. Himeno smiled a little back, feeling shy as he looked over the form of this person. He could not tell if it were male or female, it was just pretty in his opinion.

"How come only I could hear you?"

"Maybe because the other's have given up hope on fantasy, are you with many?"

"A few, it's my birthday."

"Ah, then many happy returns? I think that is how it goes."

"Thank you."

Silence fell over them and Himeno stepped back as the figure pulled themselves out of the water, clothing quite dry but skin and hair glisteningly wet. The skin was near enough iridescent in the sunlight filtering down upon them. "Why do you live in water?" He asked, a childishly curious question that touched a smile to the blonde's lips.

"I am an Asrai."

"What's an Asrai?"

"An Asrai, is a water fairy. The water is my home."

"Cool. Why are you so far out on your own?"

"I find in these times, that friends and brethren are few and far between." Came the almost sad reply, though the smile was still there. Himeno sat back next to the Asrai. "Can you sing again?" He asked it, and it chuckled. "Just this once, because it is your birthday." It said lightly, before singing again. Himeno was once again encased with a painful stretching of the heart that his small mind could not comprehend properly. He had no way of knowing what this feeling was, only that it echoed sadly within him, along with the words the Asrai sang. Though he could not understand it all, he still felt them. He felt his world falling into black as this sorrow shattered his soul a little, taking him into sleep.

It wasn't until a few hours later, when he opened his eyes to a blood red sunset and a soft chill that he realised the Asrai had gone. The body of water was still, devoid of life as the echoes of his companions calling his name filtered through the trees. He pulled himself to his feet, somehow feeling a little older as he clambered up the mossy bank and through the trees, aiming to return home now.

[center]Fast Forward and forget about the Rewinding

Himeno flopped over, staring into the blackness of the room. He huffed and turned his eyes to the alarm clock on the bedside table, reading the glowing green numerals. 3am. Why was he not asleep yet? He turned again, feeling restless. He had known with everything that had happened over the past year that getting settled into a new life was difficult. He had guilt to contend with, loneliness, Confusion and a slight trickle of fear. Homesickness was at the forefront of his mind so far though. He was 17 and already living on his own. If he had had his own way, he would still be in Turriff, settling down with Hayne and their new baby. But her old coot of a father had persuading him to leave, to come to London and start a fresh.

So Hemel Hempstead was some backwater town, too full of stupid youth and rough sorts to be too inviting. It wasn't a good place to start afresh, but London was just as bad at points he supposed. Especially the parts he could afford to live in. Here he felt stagnated, but better then being trampish and fearing horrors of what bad London held. He shifted to lay on his other side, feet restlessly kicking the covers off of him before he gathered them up into his arms, like a sort of ragdoll and wrapped his arms around them. His eyes slid closed and he breathed out a sigh, distantly hearing a siren wailing across the houses.

New life in Hemel? Life that would happen, it felt stagnated and trapped.

His dreams were uneasy, full of flickering images, ones passing too quickly to know about for too long. His eyes flicked around as he was suddenly sat in a chair, arms bound behind him and sweat beading on his brow. His stomach was icy with an unknown fear and the shadows were haunting.

"Well, have you finally decided to tell us were the runt is?" A voice, dripping sweetly like clear honey from a spoon spoke. Though he found himself foully reminded on green poison, some thick, dangerous goo being poured down a throat. His eyes flicked around the room nervously as he tried to pinpoint the voice.

"No, of coarse not." He spoke, though not with his own voice. This voice was older, more of a baritone that held a calm he did not feel. He felt strange, taller and more built out. The voice laughed, though the honey-like consistency of it had vanished. Spikes it was now, Spikes. He swallowed when he heard footsteps behind him, flinching when a hand slid it's way around his neck. Long, sharp nails perforated his skin at points and he flinched, feeling the warmness of his blood running down his throat and the throb of the torn skin. "Stop it." He hissed, still in a strange voice. "Stop it, Mute."

Mute laughed, sickly and stomach-churning.

"Stop it? The poor little human wants me to make it go away?" He asked in a mocking baby tone. Himeno hissed in agitation, shifting his bound hands uneasily. Mute stepped around th stare at him, sky blue eyes piercing and narrow. His stomach gave a lurch, something like betrayal or worry. "Where is Hae?"

"Hae's in a better place, hun." Mute giggled sadistically, pointing skywards in a mocking gesture. His temper flared and he rocked the chair, trying to free his hands. He did not know who Hae was, but this body and mind wanted nothing more but to avenge him, tear the demon stood before him into little pieces and scatter him, never to be found in whole. The demon kept up his laughter, blue eyes flashing in absolute pleasure at the obvious upheaval he had caused. The laughter died suddenly and he stopped shifting, staring at Mute. "Now." the demon purred out, looking testily at him. He was bored, obviously.

"I'm not answering anything for you now." He said stubbornly, staring obstinately at Mute. The pleased smile dropped from the demon's face, eyes narrowing dangerously. Himeno felt a scream of agony bubbling in his throat when he felt electric spiralling around his limbs, penetrating in the cuts to swamp into his body. He screeched loudly, the chair he was tied to tumbling sideways...

He awoke when he thudded to the floor of his bedroom, panting and drenching in sweat as the scream died in his throat. He looked around and sat up, having fallen out of bed with all his thrashing around. He untangled himself from the sheets and let out an agitated sigh, running a hand through his tangled black hair. Damn it. If moving away meant having freaky nightmares that made him bawl like a little girl, he'd quite happily give the bribe money back and go be bad-mouthed and put out of work by Hayne's dad.

It smelt of lavender, the sweet scent travelled luxurious up his nostrils and coiled, sticking themselves there so it was all he could smell. The clouds were shapeless, tinted with a warning grey. The sky was clear blue though, so whatever storm was trying to happen was losing against the sun. Long grass swayed wavelike in the breeze, rippling around the two led in amongst it on a checkered blanket with a half-empty picnic basket at the top. The girl was smiling pleasantly, eyes closed and facade relaxed, while the boy stared hard at the clouds with a thoughtful expression. Lost in his own tangle of words.

Responsibility crushed down on him, until it felt like he was suffocating. Even now, the thought of it made his heart jump to his throat and his breathing quicken. Anxiety beaded along his brow and he once again had to take into practice breathing exercises his girlfriend had been taught in birthing class. Birthing class. He winced. Birthing Class.

Karma had finally bitch-slapped him a good one, his ears were still ringing from the impact.

Hayne gave a content little sigh to the right and his eyes flicked over, studying the girl. She was pretty. No, she was beautiful. Greek blood had tinted her skin a natural olive-tan, wild sandy blonde hair fell around an oval face. Full lips were puckered out in thought with eyes closed. Long lashes brushing down and casting delicate shadows on her cheeks. It was idiotic to love someone so much, he did not deserve it. Not the admiration she had given him as a child, nor the body and soul offered when adulthood had followed. He snorted softly.

Adulthood. Seventeen was hardly adulthood.

No, he wasn't an adult. He was a petulant child, still getting over being scolded once too many times by karma-bitch and too used to getting his own way one way or the other. For once, he was sacrificing though, Hayne wanted this and he was unsure of what he wanted. Did he want those shackles, so easily clasped yet never broken? Did he want to leave her and the shackles behind?

Suddenly, he thought of all the teenage mothers crawling around. Some respectable, others not so. He hated the ones in trackies and blinged out. They needed a good bitch-slap for their gob. He felt sorry for the one's who knew what a burden they had, a wonderful thing yet a crippling burden. Life was not as free, a child was what took attention now. He was not ready for that, he knew that much. He barely knew how to be unselfish and yet here he was, going to pledge to look after another life. A small life that would depend on his protection and guidance. His love and proper teachings. He had to tell it right from wrong, explain things and love it unconditionally.

Pale blue eyes flitted down to Hayne's slightly swelled stomach. He really needed the shit kicked out of him for this. Bad enough that her father was about ready to have him put on a hit list, but people at school were talking. Bad-mouthing her and their child. It was why he was here right now, suspension for fighting in a classroom. Hayne found school difficult enough in her current state, to add on distress and pressure from peers. Up here on the moors was where they escaped the crippling reality and came to this place of stopped time. Time was it's own essence and there was no way to track it save for the sun and moon.

"Himeno?" He directed his glance up at the sleep-filled voice. A smile tugged at his pale lips.

"Hmm?" He answered lazily, stretching and turning on his side. Hayne stared at him with lavender eyes full of thought. She pursed her lips, before they puckered out in thought again. "You were looking awfully introspect just a few moments ago, what were you talking about?" She asked slowly, in a carefully measured tone. He stared at her, face light with surprised boredom. "Nnn..." He murmured, measuring his own words. "Just thinking about the parasite." He said, tone touching affectionate.

"Don't call it that." Another pout. Fucking hormones made her damn cute and all that crap. Glowy. Like a firefly, or a radioactive mouse. He snickered.

"Fine. Monster will do it." He murmured, closing his eyes and turning to lie on his back, arms pillowed behind his head. Hayne's gaze was objecting again. "Hime..." She murmured slowly and he shrugged. "Just how I am." He murmured, not moving when Hayne shifted to lay her head on his chest, curling into his side. It was odd being like this, feeling like a married couple in their late 20s. He was worried of coarse, more for the child and Hayne than anything. He was still unsure on how to handle things. She was a natural, he was a forced everything.

Not to mention how objected Hayne's parents were to the idea of her carrying full term. She had somehow won that argument against her old-fashioned parents and was keeping it, he had no reason to walk her down the aisle before they were ready. A light shudder ran through his spine. Marriage. Ugh, such a horrid ball and chain. Commitment problems, that is what he had. Even Hayne had said so after he had spent four years dodging around the subject of them becoming official boyfriend and girlfriend. It was inherited, an imprint left from his parents and that much he knew. Still, Hayne didn't need to keep playing on it.

He grumbled lightly, stirring her from her sleep. She lifted her head to gaze curiously at him. "What is it?" She asked, he stared down at her. A hand lifted to smooth through her hair, a small smile on his lips. Idiotic, how things were at a standstill all because of him.

"Nothing, just thinking about your incoming hormone barrage." He winced. She frowned and thumped him lightly on the shoulder, before burrowing back against him. "...shut up." She murmured, tone embarrassed and cheeks covered in a blush. He snickered again.