01 Lost Kid in Hallway Alert!

[bittydragon]

Characters: Yamato and YOU
Setting: Hallways!
Format: You pick and I'll follow
Summary: Bitty Yamato wakes up in a decidedly unfamiliar place - and his first instinct is to wander about aimlessly trying not to panic.
Warnings: None for the moment, except bratty genius child alert

Yamato was barely managing to keep his indifferent expression up as he made his way through this strange place's hallways. His geta clacked loudly against the floor, and he held his hands up to his chest as if preparing to suddenly protect himself against an ambush. Hey, he had obviously been kidnapped, so an ambush was very likely to happen!

He was, to put it simply, very scared. He had never left his house before, never even went outside, and suddenly he is placed in an alien building with the news that his world had been destroyed? How could that be? He was raised to protect Japan so - what would his purpose be now? And where was Alcor? Had he been destroyed too? No...no he was too powerful for that! No doubt he would appear at any moment and take him back home, yes...

He just had to find him!

So if you're wandering the hallway, you may see a young child in a black and gold kimono, looking more than a little frightened and confused. Don't try to startle him, you might get a weak Agi singing your eyebrows off - or do startle him if you're mean enough, just to see could hit the ceiling.

Comments

[alephbet]

That expression wasn't hard for Aleph to decipher. The kid was probably new, and even if he wasn't, stopping to offer some help wouldn't be amiss.

Aleph called out to him as he approached. "Do you need help?"

[bittydragon]

Yamato twitched slightly, stopping in the middle of the hallway to stare at the stranger warily. Were they friend or foe? At least if he met strangers at the Hotsuin Estate, he knew they were safe, but in this unknown place - who knew what weird and horrible people lived here!

"...perhaps," Yamato replied after an uncomfortably long pause, lowering his arms reluctantly. "Who are you?"

[nightmareofdivinity]

A mortal child? ... Yes, but one with some sort of power. Fou-Lu can sense as much, and so he approaches the child cautiously, before calling out to him.

"Child. Art thou newly arrived here? We hast not seen thee before."

Children are not the type of mortals he's used to talking with... but he does feel some vague sense of responsibility towards them, possibly because they align properly with his title as the Dragon of the Future.

[bittydragon]

Yamato felt him before he saw him, a great prickling wash of power that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He stood stock still, his hands held close to his chest as he saw the stranger move towards him. This power...it was almost suffocating!

Yamato keenly felt the absence of Alcor then. He was far too used to the powerful demon being ready to defend him at a moment's notice to know what to do in a situation like this. He wasn't strong enough to fight by himself and win, Hotsuin or not.

"..." Yamato straightened himself up and stared intently at the stranger. Weak or not, he wasn't going to cower! "Yes. Newly arrived."

[nightmareofdivinity]

Fou-Lu nodded, silently wondering how mortals dealt with children. Even after a rule of ten years, he had never encountered many young mortals - they were never on the battlefields, of course, and the only ones he saw in the Empire were peasant children running about or the occasional child brought along with a parent to the court.

"... Hast anyone explained this place to thee?"

Hopefully someone had... he had no idea how to phrase this for such a young mortal.

[bittydragon]

"No," Yamato replied, still rather tense in this creature's presence. It didn't seem hostile - more curious than anything. That was good - Yamato could work with curious. He, of course, had dealt with many demons in his short lifespan, but he usually had Alcor hovering over his shoulder to make sure that he was protected if things went...sour.

"What are you? You're not human," Yamato asked abruptly. Demons - if this creature was a demon - liked bluntness, since waffling or lying usually made them angry or disgusted.

[alephbet]

"My name is Aleph." Aleph nodded his head a little. "I'm another captive of this place. What's your name?"

[bittydragon]

Yamato frowned.

"I am Yamato Hotsuin," he replied reluctantly. His gaze became a bit more intense then, and he straightened up to stare at this stranger - Aleph - imperiously. "Tell me where I am. Who is it that has kidnapped us?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo was wandering the hallways when he saw someone knew, he had noticed not many new people had came for a little while. He had hoped that the bad people had given up bringing people. But it seemed that they hadn't.

"Hello!" Romeo waved at the boy with a big smile, he seemed little and a bit lost and so Romeo wanted to help him. "Did you just get here?"

[bittydragon]

Yamato looked a bit startled at the enthusiastic greeting, stiffening up like a deer caught in the headlights of an upcoming truck before forcing himself to relax. Ah, it was a civilian child, or so it seemed anyway...probably only about four of five years older than him.

"...yes," he replied warily, his expression cold as he stared at the older kid. "I just woke up in a strange room. Who are you?"

[alephbet]

"There are five administrators of this tower - Dax, Jason, Riki, Zo, and Ruana are names that you'll hear often. The tower itself is dangerous, with many floors that can kill us if we're not careful, and filled with monsters at night." Aleph crosses his arms. "There aren't many floors that are safe to stay on for a long time."

[bittydragon]

There was a pause as this sunk in.

Monsters? Death floors? Yamato never felt more fragile than he did then, hyper aware of his very weak, squishy human body. He could cast spells, but his young body could not channel the great spiritual power he possessed without causing himself great damage.

In short, Yamato doubted he would last very long by himself in a monster infested death prison.

"I...I see," he said, his cold expression tensing into one of mild anxiety. "So, this place is a- a survival of the fittest prison, is it?"

[alephbet]

"It's something like that... Death's not permanent here, so you'll survive, but that's not really comforting..." Aleph crouched to get to his level. "It's okay. There are plenty of people here willing to protect you."

[bittydragon]

"I am able to protect myself," Yamato mumbled, but there was very little heat behind it. He was prideful, yes, but - he knew when he needed to fold them, as they say.

"...do you...have you seen a strange man here?" he suddenly asked. If Yamato was here, then perhaps, maybe, Alcor would be...! "He has white hair, and wears bizarre red and black striped clothing."

There was no point giving a name because Alcor liked to change it depending on his moods at times. It was exhausting.

[nightmareofdivinity]

Wonderful. He'd have to be the one to introduce him to this place. He considered lowering himself to the boy's height, but discarded it. He was an emperor, and a god. He lowered himself for no one, least of all a child.

"We art Fou-Lu, God-Emperor and founder of the Fou Empire. We art an Endless - a dragon. In the world we art from we art summoned and revered as gods. ... But we hath never met a mortal of thy size with power, aside from the summoners in Chek."

[alephbet]

That was a distinctive description. "I've seen someone like that around, but I don't think I've spoken to him, and I don't know what room he lives in..." Aleph's frown intensified. "I'm sorry. I wish I could do more."

[myblueskies]

"I'm Romeo!" He skipped closer with another smile. "This is the tower, bad people brought us here and they say the world is ended. But they might be lying." He sounds far too enthusiastic for this news.

"You're in a big tower."

[bittydragon]

Yamato perked up at hearing 'dragon'. Ah! So this was either a Dragon or Snake demon, or perhaps something of the Energy class like the Dragon Stream was. It seemed- Fou-Lu seemed more intelligent than the primitive mindset of the Dragon Stream though...

"I am the wielder of the Dragon Stream. Those of the Hotsuin must have a great well of spiritual power to control it," Yamato replied, his tense posture easing up slightly in light of childish curiosity. He had spoken to and interacted more with demons than with humans, so he was actually more at ease in conversing with them. "I have never heard of the Fou Empire."

[bittydragon]

That was more than enough for Yamato. Alcor was definitely here, so it was only a matter of time before he found him! A great weight was lifted from Yamato's shoulders at that - because if he found Alcor, then he would be safe, and he would have something familiar in this awful, confusing place.

"You have done more than enough. If he is here, it won't be long before I find him."

Ah, wait, there is a social custom for this... "...thank you," Yamato added belatedly, offering up a smile. There. That was right, wasn't it.

[alephbet]

A smile in return, at that. "Think nothing of it. I'll do all I can here, for everyone."

Pause. "Do you want me to look for him with you?"

[bittydragon]

"I-I see..." Yamato tensed up again, staring at 'Romeo' with an expression of mild alarm. He had never interacted with someone so...bizarrely enthusiastic before. He found himself a bit at a loss because- how did one react in these situations?

Yamato thought back on his knowledge on socialising.

"...ahaha," he laughed. Laughing was how people were friendly. "And who are these 'bad people'?"

[bittydragon]

Yamato opened his mouth to refuse - but paused to think. If this place was truly as dangerous as Aleph said, then Yamato would need to have a protector until he found Alcor. At least this person was offering, so he wouldn't need to manipulate him somehow.

"Yes. I am unfamiliar to this place, so it would be quicker if you led the search."

[alephbet]

"All right. He might be in the library, so we'll check down there first. Are you ready?"

He didn't want to leave him behind accidentally. Aleph might not have been older than Yamato, technically, but he definitely had longer legs.

[bittydragon]

"I'm ready."

Aleph would have to make sure not to leave Yamato behind, since he was very weak and fragile when it came to physical aspects. His geta didn't allow him to walk very fast either - he'd get a bit huffy if you point this out to him though.

[nightmareofdivinity]

"We art likely from different worlds. Such an occurrence is common here."

... Dragon Stream, though? He didn't have the kind of sight that some in Chek did, able to see the life stream of people and Endless, but that would account for what he was sensing. Perhaps a mortal family that worked heavily with the Endless? It would make sense, though he couldn't imagine what Endless would work so closely with any particular mortal family.

"What is thy name? Thy clan is 'Hotsuin', correct?"

What kind of species was a Hotsuin even. The child looked like one of the Sea People, except he'd never seen one with that coloring.