Raccoon/KeiStory
A Story of Beginnings
They always called me a genius. A child prodigy. I really think they let it go to their heads. A young girl with dark pink hair sits on a bucket, outside of a tavern, idly tossing an oddly shaped throwing knife into the air, then catching it by the handle on the way down. She does this without paying any attention to it, her eyes on the door. Too caught up in their dreams of what greatness I'd bring to them, never caring what I might want. I always wonder what they're thinking now that I've left them. I guess it doesn't matter. I'm living my life as I choose now.
At the soft thud of the tavern door, the girl leaps to her feet, the knife having vanished in an instant, and steps into the sunlight. With the sun now on her face, her features are visible: a cute button nose, big bright red eyes, tiny ears and a simply adorable face, with skin that is seemingly unblemished and lightly tanned. Her dark pink hair is cut short and spikey, and somewhat wild as if she may have just been playing. Even for a child, her height is dwarfed; this makes it very difficult to determine her age, as she looks properly proportioned yet doesn't seem to be older than eight or so. Her outfit is rather simple, like a peasant's: an almost too small, or simply snug, shirt and pants with worn boots. Two things might stand out on this child to the highly perceptive, though most don't see past the adorableness: a hip pouch that fastens around the inside of her thigh and a belt pouch. For what would a child need with such things?
Flicking her eyes upwards for a moment, she spots a very large man and his small, skinny female companion, just stepping out. With a small smirk, she runs full tilt into the man's leg with a very real 'Oof!'.
Looking down at the small form that just ran into his leg, the large man in quite expensive clothing gives her a somewhat startled look, before reaching down to pat her head. "Whoa, little one. Watch where you're going now..." He gives a small shake of his head at a man that started to step forward.
The little girl's eye flicks toward the apparent bodyguard, then puts on her cute face and looks up to the large rich man. "Sorry mister! I was jus' chasin' my kitty!" Her one arm wraps around the man's leg while the other slips under his coat. For a second, she silently uses words that a child her age shouldn't know pertaining to her height, and slightly raises up onto her toes.
Both the man and the woman look to her with looks of adoration on their face at the undeniably cute little girl. "Aren't you just the most adorable thing!" the woman exclaims, reaching out to ruffle the girl's hair. The man agrees with her, then pales as the woman gives him that look, a look summed up by her next words. "I'm sure our daughter will be that beautiful, or more so." She presses close to the man, her body language saying all that she must be thinking.
The girl takes that moment to roll her eyes as she brings her hand back out from under the man's coat, a small handful of coins gripped in her calloused fingers. Before she can deposit the coins in her own pouch, a hand comes out of nowhere to grasp her wrist painfully.
"My Lord," comes the voice of the masked bodyguard, his hand already on his sword despite his potential opponent being only a child. As the man turns to look at him, somewhat angry at his mishandling of a child, the bodyguard turns the child's wrist to show the coins.
Out of nowhere, with a speed that is surprising from such a large man, a fist comes out to strike the young girl across the cheek. Despite her twisting at the last second, she still catches most of the blow and tumbles out into the street. Through determination and probably a bit of hunger that the coins will abate, she still holds fast to them. As she rises unsteadily to her feet, she pockets the coins, turning her red eyes towards the trio. "Now, now Mister," she growls, sounding viciously cute despite her obvious anger, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth. "You're gonna have to treat girls better than that if you're gonna have a daughter."
One hand goes to the belt pouch while another hesitates at the hip pouch, glaring at the bodyguard as he steps forward to shield his master. "Teach her a lesson, Myama," the large man says with a sneer to his bodyguard, wrapping a comforting arm around his companion. "Filthy peasant." All cuteness forgotten, she is just a peasant now.
As the bodyguard charges forward, a small smile forms on the girl's lips, somewhat cruel, somewhat excited. As the thin blade of the man's sword sweeps in, she demonstrates that her gracefulness extends not just to her fingers, but her entire body. This child, this prodigy, is not simply one of the mind, but of the body as well. Her dodges and feats of athleticism are like an intricate dance, almost instinctive, as if she can see the path of the blade in her mind's eye.
Dodging, however, will not end this fight. As soon as she somersaults out of range of the blade, her hand reaches into her belt pouch. With a graceful spin on her toes, leg out for balance, she uses her momentum to send a wave of a spinning blades at her opponent. As these blades -- these shuriken -- whistle through the air, the young girl digs in her heels and runs for a nearby alleyway.
In the distance she can hear the master yelling, "After her you fool!", but it is already too late.
With an exhalation of breath, the young girl slips down the stairs into an abandoned cellar, the manor that used to stand above it having burnt down some time ago, as the door to the cellar had been grown over. Vines grow down through the cracks in the ceiling, some of the wooden support pillars looking like they might fall with a solid kick. Water damage is evident through the place, and it stinks of mold. But at least it's free. It's home.
Plopping down on the steps, she pulls out the coins, turning them over in her hand. Not a bad haul, she remarks, before reaching up to rub her cheek, just now allowing tears to form in the corners of her eyes. For just a moment, she regrets leaving home, not aware of just how much hardship she would face, but it fades quickly once she remembers just what home was.
"You are destined for greatness," comes a voice out of nowhere, and yet, right against her ear at the same time.
Leaping to her feet, her fingers going to the hip pouch and partially drawing the strangely shaped throwing knife, she turns to face the deeper part of the cellar... only to find a person, a man possibly, bathed in gold. Swallowing once, she answers with a simple, "I know." But she says nothing further as a voice fills her head, telling her of the Unconquered Sun and Anathema, things she already knows but with an air of her needing to understand.
A hand on her shoulder breaks her out of her trance, and she rolls off the steps, twisting and coming up with a knife out and facing the stairs. An old man, complete with long scraggly beard, puts his hand up, a caste mark blazing furiously on his forehead. She nearly drops the knife at this revelation, as she utters a single word, "Anathema!"
The old man gives her a look that oddly enough makes her feel ridiculous. "Come now, you of all people shouldn't be calling me that." At her bewildered look, he taps his forehead. "Have you not noticed it?"
The girl, Kei, spins to face a broken piece of mirror fixed onto a support pillar and boggles at what she sees. There, on her forehead is a caste mark, a simple hollow circle of gold. "But... that's...," she begins, before stopping and rolling her eyes. "Well, that makes sense..."
Shrugging off his load with a grunt of effort, the old man sets a backpack nearly as large as him on the floor, then gives her a small smile. "Don't bother asking who I am or what I'm doing here. I will explain. My name is Grondius, I am a crafter of special items. I also have a gift, courtesy of the Unconquered Sun, which is the ability of... prophetic dreaming."
The young girl nods slowly. "You dream about the future?"
The man nods slowly. "Yes. And so, I have already seen this future. I have dreamt, several times, about this encounter." He gives a somewhat exhausted sigh, the sigh of a man who has lived his life so very busily. "Every time I enter one of these scenes, I feel more like I'm acting out a role that has been presented to me." His hands work at the straps of his backpack, before reaching in and pulling out a wrapped package. He then turns to the young girl, offering it to her. "In my dream, I presented this to you. I made it years ago, based on measurements I took in my dreams. So, will you allow me to play my part?"
Kei slowly nods, holding out her arms for the package, her mind reeling at what she is hearing and seeing. Her simple life of a runaway and thief has suddenly become so much more.
Placing the package in front of her, he pulls out a measuring tape, going through the motions of measuring her wrists and hands. He smiles to her, a somewhat sad, exhausted smile. "I have wanted to not play my part many times, but... I feel as if my life is in the control of the Unconquered Sun. I am guided, sometimes with a bit of force, a force I do not particularly want to go against. So, I take these measurements as I did in my dream, and I say these words that I mean, yet have heard so many times before." He shrugs helplessly, then motions to the package.
Dropping to her knees, she tears the paper wrapping then unfurls it to reveal a pair of gauntlets, yet gauntlets of the like she has never seen. As she picks them up, and at a nod from the old man, begins to put them on, the old man kneels in front of her. "These are artifacts," he tells her, before reaching out to help her adjust the straps. "You will learn in time to utilize essence, and when you do, you will learn everything these are capable of. They will not operate unless both are worn, remember that."
Rising to his feet, he pulls on the large backpack once more, and turns to leave without a word. Before he can even make the first step, a small hand is wrapped around his wrist. "Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do?" she asks him, desperately, once again the little girl on the streets for the first time with no inkling as to what to do next.
For a moment, the man looks deep in thought, before reaching out to ruffle her hair gently. "I don't know. I have not dreamed beyond taking this first step out, which makes me think the Unconquered Sun is through with me. You may be guided, or you may be able to live your life as you choose. You will just have to wait and see. Just remember. Even if the Sun has a purpose for you, you will still be able to do what you want, between now and then. And perhaps after."
Pulling his wrist gently from her grip, he gives her a small, sad smile before ascending the stairs...
Sighing, Kei sinks down to her rump with a pout, which is cute in its own right. "Stupid old man. You're not supposed to leave me to figure it out on my own."
With another sigh, she holds her gloves up, splaying her fingers and turning them to look from every possible direction. "Not really sure what they're supposed to do," she mutters softly, then closes her eyes. Essence? Learn to use... essence?
Without even realizing what she is doing, she reaches out with her senses, feels the motions of essence around her and grasps for it. It takes several tries, but she isn't called a prodigy for nothing. She finally grasps the process, taking it into her, only as much as she can at the moment. Her caste mark blazes with a soft ghostly light, before she then propels that essence into her gauntlets.
The trio of blades in each gauntlet erupt outwards with a distinct snkt, with her own startled, "Eek!". This changes almost immediately into childish wonder as she turns her wrists to admire the gauntlets, grinning from ear to ear. She hops up and goes to stand in front of the broken mirror, holding her arms up in an X-shape in front of her chest. "This is so great! I can stab people in the kneecaps so much easier now!"
With a subconscious thought, each set of blades launch from the gauntlets to embed themselves in the opposite pillar, with another startled cry from the young girl. A very fine cable extends from the gauntlets all the way to the claws. She struggles for a moment, both arms crossed over her chest, before she tries to think them into retracting. Unfortunately, she does this without telling the claws to relax their bite into the wood.
With another cry, her body flips around as the gauntlets pull the cables taut, ending with her upside down with her legs almost over her head due to the inescapable force of gravity. "This is... really... stupid!" she grunts out, before making the claws release, which almost dumps her on her head.
After a moment of pulling herself together, she raises the gauntlets and shakes her head. "Gonna have to practice with these..."
