[RP] Enter the Cursed City

[Shion]

The woman trudged through the crowded street, the hood of her jacket pulled up, and sunglasses concealing her features. Her body seemed to hum of its own accord, vibrating with a hidden energy, and people edged away from her slightly as if detecting it. Not that they could actually hear it, she mused. No, only she could, and only because she felt the vibrations in her very bones, nerve endings carrying the shock impulses throughout her frame. Hazel eyes, now a shade of golden brown, gleamed with a sardonic light as she walked with no real direction, lost in thought.

The portal opened and she stepped through, her disappearance completely unnoticed by passers-by, herself barely noticing the transition. She’d stepped into this parallel dimension where only the Cursed –others who had been “blessed” by the devil – could walk. She knew there were others here, as she had seen several before. This was the place where their souls gathered, though she knew not why. Perhaps this was their hell. It was a fair replica of the “real” city, she thought. Or perhaps the city was a replica of this one. Mirrored worlds were so bothersome that way. She pulled her left hand from her pocket, skin sparkling with what at first appeared to be body glitter as she angled her arm to check her watch.

Turning her hand over, she studied the large reddish crystal that filled the center of her palm, scraping a fingernail against the stuff. Despite the dense solidity, the crystal remained flexible, to a degree, as it was still part of her flesh. New crystal structures formed at the tips of her fingers, which she pressed together to create a single mass. Gazing flatly at the growing crystal, she watched as the slightly irregular orb disconnected from her body and fell into her other outstretched palm. She tucked the gem into her pocket with a sigh. At least she had a new piece to sell when she got back to the real world.

[tigershark13]

Stefan had been relaxing against a wall, enjoying a quiet cigarette while the world almost swam around him, the hordes of people going about their daily business barely noticing him. He took another deep drag from his cigarette when he suddenly felt the lurch as he got sucked into the devil's city and he resisted the slight urge to throw up that he always got when the portal unexpectedly appeared. Unfortunately for Stefan he had also been halfway through drawing in a drag from his cigarette, so the surprise caused him to burst into a coughing fit and throw his cigarette to the floor while he swore loudly before looking up at the "sky" and shouting in a general manner "Can't you give me some damnable warning?!" in the vague hopes that the devil might actually listen.

Stefan sighed and brushed his suit off as he looked around the street he was in before humming to himself and walking towards where he THOUGHT he could remember a bar being, if he was stuck in hell he may as well make a night of it. As Stefan walked his mind began to wander. He had always been curious as to whether his devil was THE devil or whether he was subservient to THE devil or perhaps the devil was subservient to him... Their politics all seemed so very feudal with demons swearing fealty to each-other, it was rather hard to keep track of. Stefan's thoughts continued in this vein for some time as he continued his slightly aimed attempt at wandering to a bar.

[Krozam]

((This came out much longer than intended. -.-' Shion should probably look over it, in case something is wrong, since I go to quite a bit of detail and make a lot of assumptions.))

Xu Bai was used to getting a lot of attention. A well-dressed man of his looks was bound attract attention, no matter where he went. That's why it always amazed him how no one noticed when he simply vanished into thin air. Or turned invisible. Or switched dimension. Whatever.

It had been a sunny afternoon, a really nice day for a walk. A good day to die, too, Bai hoped, for the sake of whoever was dying right now in the third floor of the building before him. A moment ago he'd been walking in the street like any other man going about his business, but then he'd felt it. Death. It called to him, an irresistible promise of a soul to harvest - and an even more irresistible duty to do it. While walking, his form became ethereal and he shifted partially to another dimension, disappearing from the sight of other people. No one seemed to notice, not even those who'd had their eyes on him. That's how it always worked, it was as if his exitence was removed from reality every time he changed, and no one remembered he'd even been there.

Then came the pain. You never get used to feeling your own body high-speed rot all the way to a skeleton, no matter how many times it happens. Of course, after a while you no longer feel anything, your nerves are dead, but the beginning is... indescribable. Then came the equipment. Bai had long since stopped wondering about his clothes blurring and changing into ragged black robes, and a huge scythe materialising out of nowhere when he outreached his hand and gave the weapon a brief thought.

It was done, then. Xu Bai had changed into the very image of death, so terrifying that had the transformation not taken most of his feelings away, a glance in a mirror might make him tremble in terror. His existence had shifted partially to another dimension, a much darker one, where the sun seemed as weak as a lightbulb. He could still see everything that happened in the real world, although everything seemed... different. Slightly blurred maybe. Or maybe it was just the darkness. He wasn't sure if it was all in his eyes, which were now just a couple of ghostly lights burning in the darkness of his empty eyesockets, or if the distortion and abnormal darkness were caused by his existence between two dimensions.

Matter was now somewhat... subjective to him. He walked on the ground like everyone else, yet he had no need for doors. He walked through walls like they didn't exist. Maybe they didn't, not in the other dimension. Yet the stairs, oddly enough, did exist. Common sense was useless in this dark realm, its natural laws were different - yet logic and reason were all Bai had left, since his emotions had been taken from him.

He entered the room where the "stench" - if it could be called that - of death was strongest. He walked right through the wooden door, to find an old man lying on his bed. His soul - an ethereal, almost transparent twin of the physical body - was floating over the unmoving body. It was almost completely separated, there was only a thin silver cord tying them together. The old man had died peacefully in his sleep, his heart stopped, and the silver cord would snap any time now.

Normal humans couldn't see him, but a separated soul could. It noticed him, its eyes widend and its mouth opened to scream. It was right to be afraid - after all, a reaper has come to take it away. Before the soul could make a sound, the reaper's scythe swung, severing the silver cord. For a moment, there was a shocked expression, then the soul lost its form and became a floating ball of light.

It was pure and strong, full of energy. Bai suppressed his hunger and reached his skeletal hand towards the soul. An hourglass materialised on his palm, golden and ornate, with blood-red sand inside. The soul let out an inhuman screech as it got sucked into the hourglass. One more poor soul to be taken to the devil. It was the third one: the next one would be Bai's.

Xu Bai turned to leave the room. There were two reasons to leave quickly: one, pure souls like this attracted others besides reapers. Bai had no desire to meet an angel after taking a soul from right under its nose. Two, now that the presence of death was weakening, he'd soon change back to human, and it was always a good idea to get away from the dead body before that. The guilt could hit really hard otherwise, and there was always a chance of witnesses.

The process of returning to life was pretty much the same as the process of changing to a reaper, only in the opposite direction. His scythe and hourglass vanished, his clothes returned in place of the robes, and flesh was born out of nothing, knit over his bones and finally kickstarting his vital functions back to operation.

Bai gasped for air. It felt wonderful. As did the heart pumping in his chest. Feeling anything at all felt wonderful. Even the pebble in his shoe. Then he opened his eyes, expecting them to be assaulted by strong sunlight, forced to squint.

"...Oh. Damn." He wasn't back to the human world. He was in the city of his employer, the devil. "What do you want now?" he asked aloud, unsure if he'd be heard. Usually he was dragged here when the devil wanted him to turn over his collected souls, but this time it'd only been a few weeks since the last time, he hadn't had time to gather many souls yet. The devil was usually more patient than this.

Sighing he started walking in a random direction. It didn't matter where he went, the devil would find him when it wanted to.

[InfinityStream]

"15..."

Eight sets of legs to the right and seven sets of legs to his left.

"1..."

The rush of wind above him and the unfurling of a parachute.

"2..."

The sound of feet against the iron cargo boxes.

"I've been set up for an ambush..."

In a flash, two knives were flying towards the two on the iron cargo boxes. They hit there mark in no time and both fell dead. Another knife above and the man was separated from his parachute. That man fell to his death.

"Spl~at!" Mr. Hanes yelled. "Your friend makes a very nice spl~at!"

The 15 men on the ground were very mad. He couldn't, nor did he want to, make out their curses against the sky. From the sound alone, he could tell they were armed with cheap swords, cheap guns, and cheap combat knives. He could almost smell the old, army surplus armor the men were wearing around their chests. And they were very loud.

"Assassination missions are meant to be silent," he pointed out to the men. "You guys are just-"

"Get him!" one yelled.

Mr. Hanes sighed. This was starting to get old really fast. He mumbled to himself before finally opening his eyes. He turned straight to the man and looked him dead in the eye. "You really want to die tonight..."

With a grin on his face and a glint from his eye, he was speeding towards his opening, knives twirling in his hand. He ducked under the first ones punch; his hand moved up and sliced the mans heart in half. A kick from the left and he's in the air, kicking two men with a sickening crunch. He lands on yet another one and stomps on the mans face, crushing his skull. He hears a bang and quickly ducks and spins in place, dodging the bullet. He throws a knife at the man; the satisfying sound of a thunk tells him the man is dead.

"Come on! 5 of you haven't even given me a warm up!"

They all rush in at once, in a very well spaced, well practiced circle. He clicks his heels together and knives pop out of the tip of his feet; he does a handstand and spins, effectively cutting all their throats.

"And done!" he says with a flourish. He clicks his heels and puts all his knives away; he tips his hat down and smiles. "Hows that for a devil?"

[Ember232]

Blur. A bright, waving blur. Sens eyes opened slowly, light striking out at her eyes. " Guh.. " She groaned out, lifting her aching arms up to cover her face form the offending light, rolling onto her side and pressing her elbows into the dirt. Grass. She was outside. What had happened? the last thing she remembered was running into the woods.. So far away, so.. foggy. Like it had been years ago. Sen pushed herself up, stumbling a little and leaning against a nearby tree for stability until her balance and vision properly returned to her. She looked up, craning her neck in discomfort, groaning a bit. She was so stiff.. how long had she been asleep? She blinked the stars and spots out of her eyes and rubbed them roughly, shaking her head and looking around to get her bearings. Something was off.. it took her a moment to notice.

It was dark. How could it be dark? was the blinding light her imagination? no.. the ground around her was lit up. She narrowed her eyes and looked up slowly, seeing a seamless stone pillar of sorts, tall, narrow.. and at the top, light shone down through a tree. She blinked a few times, touching the stone with her fingers nervously, feeling the rough, but very stable surface. " What is this..? " She whispered aloud in ancient Fury, stepping back away from the pillar and stumbling backward, feet landing on a hard surface beneath her feet.. more of that stone material, in a pathway leading off in two directions. " A.. path? Road? " she asked aloud again, looking around slowly. This forest.. it was spread out. lots of grass, and quite a few trees.. the occasional bush, but nothing else. If there were any animals, she couldn't see or hear or smell of them, and everything seemed so.. intentional. it was unsettling. She looked down at herself, checking for injuries, checking her head for blood.. was she dreaming? dead? she dearly hoped not. if this was the spirit world her mother spoke so highly of, she might prefer going to the pentacle.

She sighed loudly, calling out with her hands cupped up over her mount. " Hellooo~? " Her voice loud and echoing. Nothing. Unsettligly so. Usually when you yell, birds awaken and flutter off.. or at least it does not sound so.. reverberated. like ti was bouncing off of stone. She pursed her lips and fixed her shirt and trousers, the material looking the same as it had been. her hair was a mess, but not unmanageable. She pulled a band off of her wrist, and tied it around her hair into a ponytail, the length reaching her lower back. She had not had the chance to put her shoes on before running into the woods, and she had no pack, no supplies.. how would she survive here? Best to get moving in any case. The paths stones felt uncomfortable against the young Furys feet, so she stepped off the path, comforted by the feel of the grass, even if it was strangely even, and began walking, not sure what she would find.

[Shion]

Mina wandered through the Cursed City, as she thought of it. The red tinge to the grey sky no longer unnerved her as much as it used to, though it certainly set her instinctive sense of "Wrongness" on edge. The buildings themselves were in surprisingly good condition, though the city's few inhabitants were faceless, colorless beings of humanoid form. She wondered if they were demons, lost souls, or simply artificial constructs meant to add to the illusion of reflecting the real city. Either way, they were creepy, yet seemingly unaware of those outside their kind. They did finally react to the distant screeches and howls of approaching Shield Heads, retreating indoors. Safe as one might think going inside was, the last time she had tried it, the faceless horde had set upon her, forcing her to fight her way out, and then deal with the Shield Heads. It was safer to stay out and either outrun the creatures, or climb.

She picked up her pace to a jog, hoping to get out of range without notice. After a couple blocks, that hope was dashed as the screeches grew louder. The Shield Heads seemed to track like hounds in the real world; Ironic since most were about that size. She turned, hurling the crystal sphere she formed earlier and striking home. The clanging impact seemed to stun the smallish creature as it slowed, shaking its head.  Taking the opportunity to run down an alley, Mina leapt for the fire escape, hauling herself up. "So much for having a sale piece," she grumbled as she continued to climb to the building's roof, ignoring the squabbling as the Shield Heads began to fight among themselves. Lucky for any prey that managed to outrun them at the start, the creatures had a very short attention span, and a tendency to cannibalize themselves.

[Ember232]

" Following me again, Xuzy? " A unmistakably feminine voice cooed out from an alleyway that the Reaper passed. Should he stop to look, he would see his old.. friend was not the word, or perhaps it was? Pale and prefect as ever, the raven haired woman leaned on a wall a good ten feet into the alley, even with the cracks just visible on her lower left cheek-a result of a rather square hit to her jaw from a few years ago during Xu Bai and her owns initial meeting, and the resulting Triad fight- she looked magnificent, which was not terribly impressive considering her body had been made by a master doll maker of China. She wore a black corset that hugged her chest and perked out her breasts in a lovely, but tasteful way, with a long trench coat similar to one might see a German soldier wearing in World War one film footage, the thick leather and wool apparently quite old -but will cared for, and still in quite good condition- had a few shaded areas on the material where something had been removed.. A badge or rank perhaps? She had hip high boots and a miniskirt on beneath that ended just above the boots, making her look like someone from a Matrix movie.

She had always been one to get herself into trouble, intentionally or not. Though in this case, and with every other time she has cone across Xu bai, she was not looking for a fight or confrontation-she had no idea where she was, and he seemed to have his bearings quite well, and they had gotten along well enough in the past when it mattered.. or they felt like it.

She had been sitting in the park a few hours earlier, enjoying the sound of birds and water and such, but more importantly awaiting a meeting with someone she had looked up online. No, not a date, someone who might be able to point her towards a proper porcelain craftsman. Someone of the old style, with skills to help her.. maybe. Sadly this man was in China, and also very hard to get ahold of, much less meet in person. he worked out of a workshop alone in the mountains. His only interaction was with shipment workers who brought him supplies and took away his work for sale. The man was rich, but only wanted to craft his works of art, so the money usually went to charity or directly back into his craft.

This man had offered to book her passage to China, and get her a meeting. It was expensive, but Money had little real meaning to Ember, it rarely does when you live as long as she does. You sort of become one of those idealistic, philanthropic asshats from early 1900s america when you live that long, spending what you need and giving away the rest periodically, always earning more one way or another.

Regrettably, he never showed. Either he got held up, forgot, or something happened to him-information brokers don't always live safe lives after all- so she decided to attempt direct contact again. She was in the middle of writing her email out on a PDA, when she noticed the birds had stopped chirping, and looked up to find everything.. grayer. She looked up at the sky and sighed, not particularly surprised by the blanket of clouds or the red tint of the sky-or the black-ish buildings for that matter. She had seen many strange things in her long life, you stop reacting after a while. She turned off her PDA, since it received no signal here anyway, and had just.. started walking.

She had heard the familiar voice of Xu Bai yelling nearby, noticing him before he noticed her, and had decided to set up a little ambush greeting in the alleyway around the corner.. and here they were.

[Krozam]

The streets cleared around Xu Bai. They always did. The faceless beings that populated this city seemed to fear him, though they didn't trigger his transformation. They hid inside whenever he walked by. Bai ignored them, as he always did, walking past them without looking around much, hands in his pockets. He knew not his destination, though he suspected he'd know it once he reached it.

There were occasionally wandering souls here that did trigger his transformation. He felt one close by right now. However, transformation always left him feeling rather drained for a while, and he avoided doing it twice on the same day if possible. That's why he suppressed the transformation and ignored the feeling, intending to simply walk past that alleyway without even looking.

"Following me again, Xuzy?" he heard a familiar voice calling out. Xu Bai stopped on his tracks. How had he not recognized that soul? Did something in this place alter the feeling? In the human world he'd have recognized the soul immediately. He did his best to hide his surprise and keep his face expressionless, as he turned his head, cocking it slightly back, and replied:

"Hello there, Dolly." Ember was as beautiful as always, especially when the shadows hid the cracks that her clothing didn't. Xu Bai had always been one to appreciate a beautiful woman, despite the fact that he'd spent much of his life surrounded by them, in one of Hong Kong's red light districts. Knowing the fact that Ember was not of flesh and blood did little to abate his appreciation for her beauty. After all, he was no less a freak himself.

After taking a good, evaluating look - she didn't seem intent on fighting - Bai finally turned his whole body. He didn't enter the alley, though, else she might misjudge his intentions. "To answer your question: no, not this time. I'm not in the mood for a chase today. Besides, this place is too dangerous to be running around carelessly. There are demons about."

As if to confirm his words, there was a distant howl from somewhere in the direction towards where he'd been walking. Xu Bai looked to his left for a moment, then returned his attention to the woman. "First time here?" That was unlikely, considering she'd lived for centuries, but he asked anyway.

[Ember232]

She pushed herself slowly off of the wall and straightened out, standing at her full five foot six inches as Xu bai turned around to face her. " Glad your not intent on eating me this time.. figure we could run this one out together, hm? " She asked, smiling and walking forwards a little, giving him the same respect distance he did her. Her boots clicked softly on the pavement, but didn't seem to be difficult to walk in. lots of practice most likely. Now that Ember had approached him, he could see the hilt of the womans ever present katana peeking out around her left side, slung around her back waist. It had been inside her coat earlier of course, but when she had arrived here, she had made it more easy to draw.

She flinched just enough to be noticed at the howl, looking up and in the general direction the sound came from. " Sounds nasty.. nastier than you though? " she asks, smiling teasingly. " First time? eh.. probably not. Its hard to clearly remember much past a hundred years ago. " She snickered. " maybe someday you'll have the same memory problems, hm? "

[Krozam]

Xu Bai raised an eyebrow. "Scared to go alone?" he asked mockingly, but his smile was good-natured, almost friendly. Then his expression turned serious, he squinted and looked down for a moment, deep in thought.

Finally he raised his gaze and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I guess. Why not?" He wasn't entirely sure this was the safer option, considering they had no reason to trust each other. Then again, Bai found himself curious: maybe the devil had 'invited' Ember as well this time, for a particular reason. And he did have his... limitations, so having a partner in a dangerous place was usually a good thing. Especially one who enabled him to transform at any time.

"But keep your distance," he added, eyeing the hilt of her katana. The weapon was pretty much harmless against his reaper form, but his human form was just as vulnerable as any normal human. He had a gun on his back tucked under his belt, but in close combat Ember would have a very clear advantage. The fact that Bai was actually quite a good martial artist changed nothing, considering her superior experience, dexterity and weapon, and they both knew it. Better keep a medium distance so that neither her sword nor his gun would gain an unfair advantage.

He was somewhat amused by Ember's reaction to the howl. She hid it well, but he was certain it unnerved her. He replied her question, conjuring up his most unpleasant smile: "Few things here are nastier than me, my dear." That was technically true, most low-level demons avoided reapers, unless they came in large numbers. But mostly it was just his childish attempt to unnerve her even further.

The only answer he granted the memory remark was an indifferent shrug. "Shall we go, then?" he asked, turning away. It seemed obvious that he had no intention of altering his course just because of the howls. They were still distant, there was no need to be particularly alarmed. In this city, danger lurked in every direction, it was pretty much impossible to avoid it by a wide margin.

[Ember232]

Suppose one never does get used to a sharp bladed weapon on their semi-nemesis, especially in such a tense situation.. But in all the times Xu Bai has chased the Doll down, she had never drawn the blade. Perhaps she never had the chance, perhaps she didn't think it would help, or perhaps she had some other reason. Who knows?

She nodded curtly, smiling her unsettlingly perfect smile, Xu Bais atempts to unsettle her have no real effect that he could see. " Not much is tougher than you, Xuzy. I?ve seen you get hit in the face by a dumpster and some back swinging.. Sorry for that again, by the way. That grabadge trucks hydrualics were way more powerful than I expected. " She giggled and awaited him to travel his minimum distance, before moving to follow, her bootas clicking softly on the pavement. " So, what have you been up to? " She asked casually, just trying to make conversation.

[Hollow nyan-chan]

Eric walked down the alley and got a weird feeling about something is gonna happen soon, either that or his shadowy "friend" had surfaced in his mind again. He walked towards the bar and somehow missed that someone blocking him. Eric bumped into the man and as he was rising his head to take a look at who and what he had bumped into he said: "Excuse me, didn't look in front of me". The man he bumped into was a doorman, and a bitter one at that. The doorman looked at Eric and just ignored him.
Eric was thankful for that and just walked into the bar. Inside the bar was some nice furniture, not too many people since it's still early. Eric ordered a whiskey, as he was about to drink it, the portal to hell opened right under him. The people in the bar and the bar keeper didn't notice his sudden disappearance, that's a positive thing with hell portals.

It felt like someone dragged Eric into the portal when it opened inside the bar. Eric was thrown to the ground by the force of the portal and lost his breath for a short moment, also, he had spilled his glass of whiskey over himself thanks to the sudden portal. He stood up and just sighed and then started talking out into the air: "Isn't a god damn warning possible?".
Eric sighed again and lit a cigarette carefully as he was drenched in alcohol and walked down the road he had landed on to see if he could find a bar of some sort down here.

As Eric walked down the roads and alleys and he could hear some faint echos of howls and other grunting sounds that did not sound too good. He could hear the howls growing louder each step he took, so he turned to one of the alleys and went down it to see if he could get to another road that would lead somewhere safer. The howls stopped for a while so Eric thought he was safe for the moment. But as he turned to the left after the alley he saw the shield headed bastards just stand there searching for something, not him at the moment.
"Ah, crap, this is not good" Eric thought and backed away slowly into the alley he got there from. Just after a few steps he heard some howls behind his back, and he stopped backing. When he turned his head to see what was behind him he saw another pack of shield heads that was looking at him. "Damn this place, i'm not in the mood for a fight right now" He whispered as he sighed.
The shield heads went for a rush on him, but Eric was quick witted so he jumped trough the shadows to outrun them quickly.
A couple of jumps later Eric landed close to what looked like a main road. He couldn't sense the shield heads anymore, but he could hear the howls echoing from the valleys.

[Ember232]

Sen stumbled forward, her boot catching on the edge of the stone flooring. " gah.. this material is so.. odd. Hard to walk alongside, much less on. " She huffed, glancing around and stepping towards what appeared to be a low wall, clearly not for hindrance or protection, she could lead it easily-perhaps for animals? but she had not seen any. Beyond the wall was a huge, flat expanse of darker stone, and more of those weird light sources.. and.. It took her a moment to notice, but.. huge stone structures. like houses, but.. tall. so tall she could barely see the top as she looked up, mouth agape.. she slowly stepped backwards, and felt a strange tugging at her back.. and fell, right into a gaping hole! She yelled, but her voice was muffled in moments as the portal closed.

Eric would hear a girl scream above him, and should he look up in time, see Sen plummeting from the sky down upon him. Were his reflexes capable enough, he might have time to dodge her away from or catch her, depnding on his prefference. If not, she would land atop his head and knock him down.

[Krozam]

Xu Bai walked on, his hands still in the pockets, and spoke to the woman over his shoulder. It was a bit annoying, but better than letting her too close.

"Yeah, I'm sure sure you're really sorry," he said drily. After all, she'd only been defending herself.

He shrugged in answer to her question. "The usual. Avoiding my old triad, trying to make a living - illegally, of course - and gathering souls. Still haven't found another one as tasty-looking as yours. You sure you don't wanna give it up? I promise I won't give it up to the devil. One would think you got tired of living after nine centuries, especially in a borrowed, artificial body."

A sudden gust of wind blew dust in Bai's eyes, forcing him to close them and making him instinctively turn his head. When he opened his eyes, he saw a well-dressed man emerge from a side street barely twenty meters ahead. He halted in alarm.

((Care to join us, tiger?))

[Ember232]

The doll smiles at Xu Bais dry response. She finds his human form so much more pleasant than his soul-harvesting skeletal one.

" Ooh, you're sweet.. but I think I'll have to pass. I'm just not ready for that sort of commitment. " She teased, chuckling softly. The wind that blew into Xu Bais eyes ran harmlessly over Embers glass ones. She slid her hand back to grip the hilt of her Katana as the suited figure appeared, seeing him manifest, she was easily put on edge. " Friend of yours, Xuzy..? " She asked, hand sliding down to grip the end of the Saya, her thumb tip pressing against the blades guard, ready to draw it.