Shadow Slayers

Oxy kicked one of the toys out of the way as Ooro looked over them. "I think so," He whispered, answering her question. "I don't know..." He reached out to hand Ooro the light, hesitated, and then drew it back closer to himself, petting it softly. He wasn't really looking for a way out as he wandered around the room, touching various objects and riffling through the wardrobe a bit. He found a few baby outfits tucked away and make a face, shoving them back in. Eventually, he found himself back at the crib. He stared at it for a long moment, eyeing the name engraved on the outside. "Zulle," He frowned. This was the name Tairaga had used when he had been pretending to be someone else. Had it really been intended for him? If his father had taken him, would 'Zulle' roll as easily off his tongue as 'Oxy' did? He crawled quietly up into the crib, pushing the chains out of the way and sitting in the middle. It was a bit small for him now, but he still fit. He tried to imagine living in this cramped room, away from the outside world and locked away. His father probably wouldn't even have visited him. He picked up the chains and let them slip quietly through his fingers, too preoccupied with 'coulds' and 'woulds' to help Ooro search around the rest of the area. He had the rock still clutched selfishly in his hand.

Mimisko smiled.

"That's good you two decide to come along. So, shall we get going?"

Mimisko remember that looking back, when she first joined, she wouldn't have enough confident to interact with them. Now, she does.

While keeping her gentle nature, she is more confident than before.

   Ooro watched as the toddler seemingly forgot about her, and continued to crawl into what apparently had been a crib that the chains inhabited. His tiny hands fiddled with the loops of the chains as he settled in the cramped space. While doing so, he continued to clench the rock tightly in his fingers. The scene was rather forlorn despite that while this confined area had the elements of a children's play space- it was lacking the comfort that young ones needed to grow up in. The toys had tossed about, without a soul to pick them back up and place them back in order. There was no light as to suggest an absence of warmth. After all, if one was left to sit in the dark, it was so that they could not be seen. Out of all the items, the most striking had been the chains. They were meant to keep something in its place, to constrain them from ever daring to step out of it.

  To teach them restraint.

  Anju did not have the most toys out of the village children, nor were they of the highest quality. Sometimes the paint was smudged when Marcus had attempted to draw the wooden animal's face on, but Anju played with them regardless. At the end of the day when she had worn herself out, Ooro often found herself picking up the scattered playthings and arranging them back on her dresser as Anju first found them. When the night grew strong, Lily left a candle lit inside the room so the girl would not imagine the creatures of the dark appearing by her bedside.

  Her eyelids hung heavily over her pupils, and she silently strolled to the crib before taking a seat on the floor beside it. She leaned her back against the bars and peeked through to see the light glow shine against the toddler's face. She hadn't known a thing about Oxy, but she knew how children expressed their grief. They tended to either sob their eyes out until they tired out, or grow deathly silent. Seeing the small, red-haired child sulk to himself had caused her heart to sink. 

  There was nothing immediate she could say, and the words stuck in her throat as she tried to offer some comfort. At first, she quietly hummed a melody she remembered Lily reciting to Anju. However, she ended up stumbling over the song after a few notes, before offering a weak smile "I'm sorry... I don't remember it too well." She hung her head low again, before raising her voice "Oxy, would you like to talk about anything? I'm... sure your mother is looking for you."
   

"If she's still Ma," He muttered under his breath, pushing the chains aside. He looked up at Ooro, not aware the woman knew nothing of his past with Tairaga. To him it wasn't something that needed to be kept a secret; it was apart of him just like his fearen blood. He moved uncomfortably in the crib, pressing his fingers through the bars. "Daddy's are nice, right?" He whispered to her, his face contorting a bit as his voice shook. He didn't know why this was upsetting him so much, the emotions flowed whether he wanted them to or not. There was a tightness in his chest that hurt worse than when Rylan had rejected him after first seeing his fearen form. "Mommy's and Daddy's love each other like they love their babies. Mommy's sing lullabies and Daddy's scare away the monsters..." His hands tightened on the bars so hard an audible 'crack' could be heard from the wood. "Daddy's aren't supposed to be the monsters..." A few tears escaped his eyes and he pulled hard at the wood until he broke the bar clean off. He through it angrily across the room, hitting the rocking chair. It moved slowly back and forth and he buried his face in his knees and started to sob.

   Ooro was caught off guard by the toddler's sudden display of strength was once more, but felt worse as he curled up into a ball while sobbing. The poor child had grown up during a time of hardships, and by the sound of it his family situation only served to make him even more conflicted. While she initially jumped at the sight, she had scooted back into her original position by the crib, but turned to face him this time. "Oxy, I think I get you- even if just a little." Her brows drew together as her face hardened.

   "Mommy's and Daddy's love each other and like they love their babies." The words had stung her deeply as she ran her nail along her forehead.

  "There are times, where even moms and dads are not... right." She swallowed hard, "My... mother and father, were like such. It is something that often cannot be controlled." Alroth's prediction had rung in her ears, the one in which Oxy would be deemed an "outcast", one who supposedly does not share a place among others. The thought that one day, this child could be sitting among the trees by himself...

  "But your mommy loves you. I've seen her fight for you tooth and nail; I remember the time she could barely draw a breath back when I first patched her up. There is no doubt within me, that your mommy does everything with you in her mind first and foremost." The corner of her lips tugged at a grin, "Not everyone has mommies or daddiess- including me. Yet... you find others to love, and others to love you back. Your mommy is still here, and I am your friend," At least I hope so.

   "Please, chin up. It hurts me to see you cry."

   

   Ooro watched as the toddler broke out of his troubled daze and ran to the other side upon hearing Manasa's cry echo through the room.


   Ooro raised an eyebrow, shocked at the shrill scream that had just been heard in the chamber. Is she in trouble!? Wasting no time, she dashed across to Oxy's position and watched as he attempted to push at the wall. She ran her hand along its structure, finding out it was built of wood. There was nothing she saw in the room that would serve as a suffice exit, and even so, just where was Manasa in the castle? "Oxy, stand back!"

   She swung her arm over her head and forward with all of her might- and with that her flesh had mutated into her claw. For a moment, she sat hacking away at the wood endlessly until an ample opening had been made. Ooro had slipped through first, and motioned Oxy to follow after. Her eyes widened upon seeing the vishkanyan's head dripping red, and scurried to the dancer's side. "Manasa! What happened!?" She ripped at her tabard and offered it to the woman to wrap her injury with.

Oxy shielded his face as Ooro clawed away at the wall, woods chips flying through the air. He ducked inside with her a moment later, rushing up to Mana. He looked her over carefully, reaching out and touching her wound with his hand before anyone could stop him. It singed his hand from the poison in her blood but he took no mind of that. The red sparks flew for a moment before he pulled back, suddenly scared for the first time. If he continued to heal so recklessly, would he hurt her just like Mama? He didn't want to be the thing these people were so afraid of. He stared at her quietly for only a moment more, taking a deep breath, "Don't die," he told her firmly, but that was all he managed to get out before Zerah fled from the room.



The actions of the imp reminded him so much of his current mixed emotions that he got up to follow him in a heartbeat with little hesitation, despite the bad interactions he'd had with him previously. He looked back and Manasa and Ooro with concern and panic flickering through his eyes. "I gotta go!" He yelled, before running after the imp.



He'd just managed to catch the last bit of what Zerah said when he'd caught up, breathing heavily from running so fast. He plopped down in front of the door and didn't say anything for a moment, trying to catch his breath. When he finally did, he looked back up at the dor and with no warning unclasped the pendant and allowed the illusion to fall. He gulped in a few more breaths of air. "I...don't mean...to be bad," He managed to say, his voice unstable, "so you don't either...right?" He held the cloak tightly in his arms. He hated being mad at this man. He remembered the first interaction they had, gathering wood in the forest. He reached up and placed his hand against the door, a sad look in his eyes. "You hurt Ma...you hurt Mana...but..." he looked down at his extended claws with obvious disgust. "I hurt them too."