Backdated to the night of the 12th/ morning of the13th

[notagiraffe]

Characters: Taiki and open
Setting: Floor thirty five, lakeside
Format: Starting in prose, will switch if you want
Summary: After a particularly bad nightmare Taiki breaks out the water colours from his trunk and begins to paint.
Warnings: Nightmares, description of killing/death, sad Kirin

Taiki plunged a knife into a young boy's throat, there couldn't be that many people left in Tai. Tears streamed down his face as he moved to the next person. He didn't want to, he screamed and cried but his feet moved by themselves, his hand moved the knife without his permission, with him screaming at himself to stop.

The next citizen went down, and the next. Wide eyed children, angry women shielding babies all fell by his hand. Blood, blood was everywhere, the smell of it choaked him and yet unconciousness wouldn't come.

People fell around him until finally he stood in front of Gyousou. "Nononononononononono." Whatever force that making him move, making him kill had him walk up to Gyousou. It didn't care that he was the King.

His knife plunged into his King's heart blood mingling with tears. Taiki woke with a scream.

He called Sanshi but she didn't come, he couldn't feel her at all. Jumping out of bed he tried to change into beast form but he remained human. As if he were not a Kirin at all.

He told himself it was those that had brought them here, that they had stolen his powers and given him the dream. But it had felt so real, like he had been there. He still thought he could smell the blood.

But it was the tower, there was always blood. He went to his trunk and pulled out Gyousou's cloak, wrapping himself tightly in it. Reaching further into his trunk he pulled out the paints. He had never used them, he had always liked painting at school but never had done it before.

He wanted to now though, he ran from the room and made his way down the tower. He stopped at the lakeside. It was outside the tower even if he wasn't truly free of it. Sitting at the edge of the lake tears still streaming down his face Taiki began to paint. His first efforts were clumsy and childish but he kept at it for hours. The same image, he wanted it to be perfect. He wanted to remember. A silver haired man. So many nightmares about killing him, about failing him. About failing Tai, about Gyousou being dead.

It couldn't be true, none of it could be true. He painted like it could make things right.

Comments

[notagiraffe]

"I do," Taiki gave another tiny smile, "I am a kirin, we serve kings, and queens as well but my ruler is a king." There were a lot of questions and he tried to answer them all, "Tai isn't a rich kingdom, the last king used up all the money... but Gyousou is fixing things..." Is, because he was still alive and the world was still there, Tai was still there.

"Insects? I think so... Sorry... I'm not sure, I don't know why he wouldn't like them..."

[wrigurun]

She gave a coy smirk and lent back on her hands.
"Of course would like insects! Why wouldn't he?" Wriggle replied with a small laugh. This sounded like her kind of king.

"So what's a kirin? Are they like knights? Oh! Oh! Do you have knights too? With armor and everything?"

Already in her head she was painting a fantasy picture of the kind of kingdom it was. Somewhere in the middle of it all she'd already cast herself as the chief leader over insects, but that was normally true for wherever she went.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki smiled, he guessed she liked insects a lot. He shook his head, "No... Kirin aren't knights... sorry they are... they are created by the gods to find and serve the king, and keep him on the path to kindness. I... I'd show you but they," he waved his hand to indicate the tower, "Have taken away my powers..." He could paint though, he took a new piece of paper and began.

"We have soldiers..." He wished they didn't, but Gyousou assured him that all the kingdoms needed an army, even if they strove for peace. "They wear armor yes..."

He continued painting a creature, it was clumsy and childish but it got the idea across. "This is a kirin."

[wrigurun]

"Woah, you're one of those?" Wriggle exclaimed, suddenly snatching the paper from him as soon as he was finished. Even if it was only a crudely painted example she still regarded it in the same way she would a professional's.

"So, you're like a deer yokai?" she asked, still clutching onto the piece of paper.

[notagiraffe]

"Sorry... I don't know what a deer yokai is... but yes I am one of those..." He smiled again, "When I get my powers back I can show you for real..."

[wrigurun]

"Oh, well they're..." She paused, all of a sudden realizing she'd never had to explain it to anyone before. They were so common place in her world. "I guess they're just things that aren't human..." was the best she could come out with. Maybe it would be better to explain through example.

"Like, fairies and tengu, they're youkai. And me too! I'm a firefly youkai!" Wriggle smiled as she puffed out her chest, somewhat proud of her insect status.

[notagiraffe]

"A firefly?" He smiled at her, "Can you turn into one? That's really amazing! I guess... I must be a yokai then if that's your word for things that aren't human."

[wrigurun]

She looked at him, a little dumbfounded.

"I don't turn into one, I am one..." she said flatly as if it were supposed to be completely obvious. For a little extra emphasis she points to the curled antenna on her head.

[notagiraffe]

"Really?" He looked at the antenna and smiled, "Oh... sorry... erm...where I come from firefly's are tiny!" All worlds were different though, so he guessed where she came from they were bigger. "Can you fly?"

[wrigurun]

"Of course I can!" Wriggle beamed, jumping up from the floor and setting off into a quick sprint. She tried a few times, jumping up and struggling to get airborne. In her defense, she did make some impressive leaps but they all came back down eventually.

In one last ditch effort she gained a sudden burst of speed and launched herself into the air, arms stretched out above her head. It ended the same as all the others and she dropped, belly first back into the grass.

When she found herself a little less stunned she picked herself up again, her front still aching, and wandered back to Taiki with a clear look of disappointment on her face.
"Well, I could..."

[notagiraffe]

"Wait..." She was already too far so Taiki waited awkwardly watching her jump about, too nervous to speak up, until she came back. "You... sorry... you can't fly on this floor, because it is outside. If we go back inside... then you can show me..."

[wrigurun]

"That's so dumb" she huffed, dropping back down besides him.

"This place is weird, I don't like it..." she murmured. With her chin in her hands she looked back around the room. It was so strange, it looked like outside but it didn't feel like outside. Nothing seemed to be constant here. Eventually her gaze fell back on Taiki, or more specifically the paints and paper he'd been using.
"Hey, can I paint too?" She asked, seemingly forgetting about his offer to go outside to display her flying prowess.

[notagiraffe]

"I don't either, it's a horrible place." He looked down again but nodded, smiling again. "Of course you can," he pushed the paints over, finding a brush for her and some paper. "Do... do you like painting?"

[wrigurun]

Graciously, she took the brush into her hand and rested the paper against her knees.
"Don't know, I've never painted with things like these before," she confessed, staring at the blank page and wondering what to draw. After chewing the end of the brush for a few moments she started to paint with a blue hue.

"Sometimes I drew things with slug trails but they take a long time to move. I get bored..." Wriggle went on to explain, suddenly engrossed in her work.

[notagiraffe]

Taiki smiled and watched her paint, going back to his own piece. His tears had dried up, it was nice to be doing something fun for once. "Slug trails? Aren't the slugs big in your world too?"

[wrigurun]

"Dunno. How big are the slugs in your world?" She didn't look up at him, still focused on what she was putting on to paper. After a while she got up and sat opposite him, every so often glancing up to try and imprint his face on her ever so short memory.

"I guess they're about..." Wriggle makes a gap a few centimetres long with her thumb and index finger "Maybe this big? You know, slug sized."

[notagiraffe]

Taiki continued painting as well, smiling at her nervously as she stared at him. "Yes... sorry that's how big they are where I come from... but fireflies are..." He made a smaller gap with his thumb and index, "this big... so I thought slugs might be big as well where you come from..."

[wrigurun]

She gave him a rather puzzled look.

"But regular fireflies are that big where I come from too. I'm just bigger because I'm a firefly youkai," Wriggle explained, putting emphasis on the last part before focusing on her work again.

[notagiraffe]

"Oh... sorry..." So it was different, a Youkai was a creature that was big and looked a bit like a human.

He continued painting, "What... sorry... what are you painting?"

[wrigurun]

Wriggle only glanced up at his question, chose to ignore it and continued to work diligently at what she was painting. It was only a minute or two before she applied the last, sweeping strokes, trying to colour in all the blank space.

"Finished," she proclaimed with a smile and a final dab of the brush.

"Ta-da!" Holding the paper up she flipped it over so Taiki could see her work. "It's us. You didn't look very happy though so I made you smiling instead."

[notagiraffe]

Taiki glanced down when she ignored him and continued to paint in silence. He looked up though when she declared herself finished and his face did break out into a smile as he looked at the drawing. "That is really pretty Wriggle!"

[wrigurun]

She smiled back at him, happy to have made him a little more at ease.
"Heh, well it's not as good as yours. But you looked like you could use some cheering up," Wriggle explained, handing the piece over to him.

"Here, you can keep it if you want. Just if you ever start feeling sad again."

[notagiraffe]

Taiki's eyes filled with tears again, but this time happy tears. She had drawn it for him? "Than... Thank you Wriggle, it is very beautiful." He stared at it, his smile growing.

[wrigurun]

"It's not that great, I'm just glad you like it," she mumbled, a small blush creeping across her cheeks. She wasn't used to being complimented that much and it made her flustered.

"I would have given you a firefly light show but it's already light out and I haven't found any adult fireflies yet. The ones I found with me are still larvae."

[notagiraffe]

"It is wonderful," he meant it, it really was. No one had ever drawn anything for him before, it meant a lot. He smiled and imagined a firefly light show, he bet one would be beautiful.

"It's okay, I can imagine one, I bet they are really pretty."