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Log: Kana's exaltation, The healing of Half-death

Page history last edited by Tsangun 15 years, 6 months ago

This is the other half of the log posted here: Prince meets the Blind Monk

 

 

Kana's forehead is cool to the touch, though it may be hard to tell if it's because she's sick, or some other reason. "..." The calloused fingers change Kana's view of Hanako. "...No, not prince.. is that you.. Nakama?" She says softly up towards the woman. 

 

Hanako raises an eyebrow at the curious sensation of chill beneath her hand, then moves it to fish about in her little bag for a moment, finally withdrawing a small dried leaf of some sort...which she places on, and slightly inbetween, Kana's lips, leaning in to speak quietly but firmly. "Chew." Fortunate that she doesn't recall the elephant's name. Then she re-gathers her possessions, re-slings them, adjusting them slightly, and...moves to tug the ghostly girl up and about, off the ground, and onto her own back, between her bow and her roll, shrugging her shoulders to shift Kana's arms to hang over them, and finally moving to stand, slowly...her own arms held down and back, to support the older girl's weight atop herself. Then starts trudging forward up the road, toward the temple, looking vaguely disconcerted, as she goes. 

 

         "Sharp ears," the Prince of Revels comments, impressed by the monk's senses. "A little over three times is closer to his true size. To be fair, first I claimed I was a concerned visitor, which remains true. The healer part came later, and that remains true as well." He turns on a heel, musingly gazing outside, towards his familiar, who is currently shaking the earth by lifting one foot and then the other, dealing with the heat by letting the large, thin skin on his soles cool. "I want to help you, but I can't if you're not willing. I'll come back again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, until you get used to me and let me help, alright? Take care of yourself, and if you change your mind, I'll be..." He pauses, thinks. "Well, I'll camp somewhere nearby, Nakama can't sleep in a village." 

 

          Kana mmphs a bit as the leaf is pressed to her lips, and opens her mouth to chew gently on the leaf in her mouth, mumbling something to herself, as Boo carefully moves to rub against Hanako's legs the entire time to show his thanks, and probably be a nuisance, but that's what cats are for! But once Kana is lifted onto Hanako's back, Boo gets the heck out of the way, tripping someone holding something like that is /bad/. 

 

Hanako does, fortunately, have a good sense of balance. And while she isn't nearly strong enough to carry Kana like she was nothing, along with her other meagre possessions, she is heartier than an average fully-civilized girl her size, after all. Thus, she continues to walk forward, steps slow but steady, as she steps into the clearing where Nakama is, ah, parked, and, after a brief pause to bite her lip in hesitation, approaches the noble beast, heart beating a touch faster within her chest. Hoping that the Silver-haired Man stays within the temple a bit longer... 

 

         Bidding the monk farewell, the Prince of Revels moves out, hands in his pockets. He -could- have just Charmed the man, but this wasn't the time, not with his eyes. If it came down to it Prince is confident he could break the man's mind and make him his, but he doesn't mind the environment, and this way, while slower, is more relaxing and easier on his Essence. Besides, brainwashing, however small, carried the risk of having to deal with a jade hammer. He walks into the light, gazing towards Nakama.

 

         It's purely bad luck on Hanako's part that Prince doesn't stay in the temple a bit longer.

  

          More mumbling comes from Kana as she's carried along by Hanako, blinking a bit as she looks up towards the sky, and when they approach Nakama, the giant beast himself! ... Thankfully, Nakama is a /good/ beast, and not a bad one. Speaking of beasts, Bookitty moves quite quickly to attempt to rub against one of Nakama's less moving legs with a slight purr. 

 

Ah, fate. It tends to subconciously detest those not part of it, even if it can't harm them directly. Naturally, Prince steps out of the temple, some fifty yards away, just as Hanako is carrying Kana up toward Nakama, to leave her there for him to find. She pauses in her tracks, meeting his eyes, as he likely pauses in some surprise at the sight before him as well, the two exchanging glances while time seems to take a breath...then resumes, and she moves to drop to one knee, then quickly, but gently, lowers Kana to the ground, hopping back up to her feet, and pointing down at her with one hand, finger extended, looking back to the Solar once again. "Sick. Goodbye." ...then turns on her heel, and makes a break for the treeline.

  

         There's a flash of recognition in Prince's eyes as he spies the unearthly beauty in the distance, and his mind doesn't even try to calculate the odds of this meeting. Reflexively, wings of white and gold slide from the man's shoulderblades, and he moves faster than a human should be able to move, reaching Kana in two blinks of the eye. It may be strange, given his reputation for lechery, but he does not pursue the girl known as Hanako, despite knowing full well that this might be his last chance to meet her, and to thank her for that night so long ago. After all, Kana's sick, and helping someone far outweighs satisfying his own personal urges. He kneels, spares the fleeing Hanako a last look, and then peers down at Kana. "Hey, Kana." A simple greeting.

 

  

          Kana is relatively easily set down! She isn't in any state to fight it as she looks blankly up at Nakama with a slightly out of it smile on her face, she pauses, though, when she hears people talk. She tries to look towards Hanako as she books it, and gives her a puzzled look. "Where's Nakama running off to..?" She asks, before looking up towards Prince, too tired to really move her arms much or anything, she says, "...Prince? ... Did I finally find you..? Or is it just Nakama again..?"

 

Hanako beats feet into the woods, pausing for just a moment at the treeline to check for pursuit...or, as it turns out, that the strange pale girl is taken care of. Then turns again, and runs for a distance, before shifting her focus to disappearing, and preventing pursuit...even as she keeps moving away. Life is rarely without trouble...

  

         If Prince is disappointed that he's missed yet another chance to meet Hanako, he doesn't show it, focusing his attention on Kana. "Nakama is an elephant," he reminds her gently, lowering his head to her own, pressing their brows together to check her temperature. "I'm a person, and you were brought here by a girl." He smiles, but he seems mildly confused, as well. What were they doing here? "Just relax, Kana. I'm going to make it all better, alright?" And then he looks her over from top to bottom, but this is a look Prince doesn't often display - one utterly devoid of sexual connotations, professional, clinical.

  

          Kana is extremely exhausted, maybe a couple days of travel with only a slight bit of rest under her belt. "...Prince.." She murmurs softly. Besides the exhaustion, well, there's the other semi-problem. That being the fact that she's half-dead. Bloody ghost's blood.

 

          Boo, on the other hand, is as awake as ever, as he sits by Kana, looking up at Prince. In one hundred percent full health!

  

         "Idiot," the man fondly mutters, shaking his head. Not even his acute Essence-enhanced medical skills can find anything wrong with her other than simple exhaustion. "Naka, keep an eye on her." He puts his hand on Kana's head, smoothing back her hair, and then pats her gently. He rises from his kneeling position, beats his wings once, and gazes down at her. "You, stay there. I'll be back shortly, don't move." And then he's off towards the forest, petting Boo briefly before he goes. He's hunting for recognizable plants and herbs, really, not stalking Hanako! That's a bad idea that tends to result in arrows to the face.

 

Hanako keeps on going without turning back, expression softening into a somewhat reflective look, even as she loses herself in the Hundred Kingdoms again...exiting people's lives is always so much harder than entering them. She should know that by now. 

 

          Kana blinks a bit at Prince when he calls her an idiot. "...?" She tilts her head a bit, only sort of understanding, before looking over towards Naka. "...Nakama.." She murmurs, starting to wake up a little from her half-KO'd state. Boo quietly walks over to her, and licks at her cheek. She murmurs, "Okay, Prince.." Only sort of having thought at the moment, she doesn't exactly have much in the way of resistance.

  

         It's a few minutes, but Prince has more than cursory knowledge of the wild and how to operate in it, and his medicinal knowledge helps him acquire a few useful items. When he finally returns to Kana, it's with an odd-colored strip of bark, some colorful plants, a root, a flat rock, and a heavy rock. A queer assortment of items, but their purpose becomes clear soon enough. "Stick your tongue out," he commands, after having smushed a handful of the plants and roots into a strange, malodorous orange paste, and wrapped the strip of bark around it. "Hold this on your tongue, chew it, and swallow. It's no substitute for a good night's sleep, but it'll keep your temperature normal, and give you a boost."

  

          Kana mumbles something, and sticks her tongue out when commanded, letting Prince do his thing. She trusts him! This just might be a better apology then simply telling him that, that she still trusts him enough to eat something that he gives to her without question. She chews slowly, and swallows as ordered, and starts mumbling again, though it's not quite in any language.

  

         The Prince of Revels musses Kana's hair as she chews and swallows, smiling. He still doesn't know why she's here, but it saves him the trouble of seeking her out, and he's been meaning to talk to her. "I'm sorry, Kana," is what he opens up with, tossing the rocks he'd used as a mortar to the side, where they softly clang together and bounce away. "For being so silly and jealous. You did nothing wrong, so I hope you haven't been worrying." He claps his hands together, clearing the dirt and sap from the tree off - well, as much as he can of the latter with a clap, anyway.

  

          Kana blinks a bit, her mind starting to clear. She looks towards Prince, "I... I'm sorry too.. I only wanted to be able to visit Grandmother Spider! She's like my mother.." She says softly, "I.. accept your apology, if you accept mine." She says softly, starting to slowly sit up, but it's slow and somewhat sluggish.

  

         "No need to apologize," Prince says with a smile, extending a hand to Kana to help her rise. His eyes idly glance back towards the temple - Kana needs to rest, and being outside isn't going to help with that, especially when there's a temple right there. He'll speak to the monk again in a little while. Now, time for the questions. "So what're you doing here?"

  

          Kana nods slowly towards Prince, reaching to take his hand and hold it carefully. "U-uhmm.. I was... looking for you." She says softly, looking at the ground. "I felt horrible when I left.." She says softly, scratching the back of her head a bit.

  

         "Well, you found me," the Prince of Revels declares, lifting her up. "And all's well in the world again. So smile, before that unhappy look freezes on your face. You wouldn't be half so pretty." He slips his hands into his pockets, cants his head back, regards the sky. "Looks like it's going to rain," he says, but he can't be sure; it's just a hunch, and he knows a few of the signs to look for. "I've been wondering something as I traveled, Kana. Have you ever wondered what it'd be like to be completely alive?"

  

          Kana blinks a bit up at the Prince, and smiles a bit, "Right! Uhmm.. I'm glad all's well, then.. do you forgive Grandmother Spider, too? She was worried and had me ask.." She says, biting her lip a bit, and then.. he asks her that question. "I've.. actually wondered that, yes. I wonder what it's like not to have my body half-dead. I wonder what it's like not to know that I'm doomed to become a ghost when I die.." She shakes her head a bit.

  

         Prince nods, musingly. "I've spent a lot of time thinking about it," he says, scratching the back of his head. "I've been studying medicine a lot, for various reasons, and I've gotten pretty good at it. Really, I wanted a way to apologize to you." He pauses, crouches down, picks up a stick and traces a crude human figure in the sand, before writing out some Creation-centric medical jargon, related mostly to chakra points, the flow of Essence through the body, and the nature of Underworld essence. "I've never heard of it being done before. So far as I know, it hasn't been. I'm going to make you fully alive, Kana."

  

          Kana blink blinks a bit at Prince. "Really..?" She pauses, thinking a bit, watching him trace the crude human figure. "What.. you can do that?!" She asks, giving Prince a wide-eyed look. "A-alright! Just let me know if there's anything I need to do!" She says, fidgeting a little.

 

Prince purses his lips, before turning his head to Kana, features traced by the sun and a radiant, confident smile on his face. "You'll be the first," he explains. "I can't guarantee anything. I've studied this and thought about it as much as I could in the time I have. If you trust me, we'll give it a shot." He pauses, tries to think of how to best phrase this, and then goes for the blunt route. "It'll hurt. Part of the ritual involves synchronizing my anima with your essence flows for a time, and . . . well, I'm expecting a lot of blood to be lost. It'll take at least a day."

  

          Kana bites her lip, as she looks towards Prince, and then says softly, "I.. trust you. At the very worst, I die.. which.. well, I'll just turn into a ghost. Maybe I'll go to the lethe soon afterwards." She nods quickly. "Pain.. isn't a big price.." She says, moving towards Prince.

  

         "You won't end up a ghost," the Prince of Revels insists firmly, and there's no doubt in his voice or eyes. "The monk in the temple's blind and doesn't seem to want to tangle with Nakama, so right here should be fine." Prince wanders over towards the elephant, and he lowers a bag that'd been resting atop him with his trunk. When you have a mount you can comfortably lay down on as he moves, it's easy to do things that'd be harder on a horse - read, for instance, and read Prince has been doing, the satchel filled with various journals and diaries as well as the materials necessary for the ritual (he's been practicing, after all). Reaching in, he removes a small jar filled with purified salt mingled with black ink, creating a grainy, dark, funky-looking substance. And then he has the grace to blush. "You need to be naked. Sorry, forgot to mention that."

  

          Kana blinks twice at Prince. "I won't..? Okay, I won't, I guess!" She then pauses, and blinks even more at Prince. "... You just happened to forget to mention that, huh? Why do I get the feeling that you're pulling my leg a little on that one?" She asks curiously, before saying, "So, uhm, where do you want me to stand or lay down or what?"

  

Hanako, noting no pursuit after some time, takes a seat to rest next to a burbling spring, head tilted back, leaning against a mossy tree trunk...she glances back, idly, in the direction she'd just come from, noting a strange glow brighter than usual in the distance, but at this point, she isn't going back to investigate. She's done enough of that for one day. 

 

         "I'm not pulling your leg," Prince says, unscrewing the top of the jar and setting it down on the ground. "This is purified salt I managed to acquire from a seaside Water manse, blessed myself, and then mixed with a special ink. It will help my anima attune to the flow of essence in your body and make things far easier. I need to trace your chakra points, and they just so happen to be on your body, which just so happens to mean you need to take it all off. Don't worry, it's been out in the sun, it's not cold." He crouches, dips two fingers into the ink and salt. 

 

          Kana nods slightly towards Prince, and then carefully takes off her kimono and underlayers to the kimono, standing there naked. They were somewhat in the forest, right? She doesn't have to worry about random people on the road coming up and seeing her!

 

Alias removed.

  

         Strangely, Prince seems neither bothered by being forced to touch Kana's naked body nor particularly aroused; while some might take that as an insult, Prince (unbeknownst to Kana) happens to be monogamous now - not that that keeps him from appreciating the female form, but it certainly helps when you consider he's also now in a clinical mindset. Playing doctor can be fun, but this is no game. It takes him a few minutes, for he has to painstakingly go over every inch of her, making the salt lines perfect, no room for error. Still, Kana is likely bothered one way or the other when he finishes. "I could get naked, if that'd calm you down," he jokingly says, before moving back to the satchel and withdrawing a knife of solid gold from it, polished to a sheen so fine it almost resembles orichalcum. Almost lazily and without ceremony, he cuts deep into his hand, and on the ground around Kana begins to wet the earth with his blood, creating a large circle inlaid with various occult symbols. "Sit in the center." 

 

          Kana /is/ a little bothered as the lines are created, but mostly due to the fact that holding still for that long is /very/ hard, and the salt itches a little.. the not-being-aroused state of Prince isn't something she notices, considering the fact he's wearing clothing, "N-no need for that.." She says softly, and then gives a small gasp when he cuts his hand. "Ack! T-that..." She bites her lip, and sits in the center of the circle, folding her legs beneath her so that her butt isn't on the ground. 

 

         "After having made you strip in front of me and put yourself on display," the bleeding Prince says, sitting down before Kana. Wearing pants, he doesn't mind having his butt on the ground. "I'm going to cut you. My day isn't complete unless I'm shaming a woman and freeing her blood from her flush, after all." He's joking, of course, but it's pretty obvious that he's less than thrilled that he not only has to embarrass Kana, but also hurt her. "Give me your hands." 

 

          Kana bites her lip a bit as she looks towards Prince, and nods slightly, "R-right.. it's all a part of the ritual, right..?" She holds her hands out towards Prince, still trusting him, though a little more wary about it. "Here's my hands."

  

         "I'm sorry," he says softly, bringing the golden blade to her hands and giving one deep cut to the palm of both, letting the blood flow freely. He looks extraordinarily apologetic the entire time, as though it breaks his heart to have to do this, and then he finishes it by cutting his other hand. "No more playing with the knife," he says gently, and he moves to take her hands in his, pressing the cuts together, their blood mingling and falling to the arcane symbols drawn beneath them. "You can close your eyes now or look at me, whichever helps you keep calm. I know it'll hurt, but -do not leave that spot-." He smiles, and then a golden circle manifests on his brow, a white-hot light rising around him. For those in the know, it's simply the first real stage of a solar anima banner. 

 

          Kana bites her lip relatively hard when the blade cuts her flesh, oooh, that hurts /so/ much. "R-right.. stay in this spot.." She says softly, a bit out of it again from the pain, but thankfully not in shock or something that'd have her pass out, as she lets her hands rest against Prince's. She quietly looks into his eyes, and just does her best to focus on Prince's face, rather then the pain and fear.

  

Hanako can't help but turn her head back again as that glow in the distance burns brighter yet, frowning to herself, considering...then, with a shake of her head, moves to push herself up to her feet, unslinging her powerbow from her harness and doubling back on her path yet again, moving back toward the girl she'd left with That Man.

  

         The area grows quiet, and then Prince's voice begins to echo hypnotically through it like a siren's song. Rehearsed prayers in Old Realm (which he does not normally speak) to the Unconquered Sun dominate this chant, as well as various sutras and mantras. The circle on his brow flares with a brilliant light, and his anima shifts to a furious, burning white-gold, a bonfire of Solar essence that encircles the pair and rises higher and higher, filling the sky with holy light. A shape manifests within it as he goes totemic, a many-feathered bird that resembles a dove with wings outstretched rising to the air. All the while, his eyes rest on Kana's, a gentle look to him, and the salt-ink lines on her body begin to turn gold. At this point, it's nothing more than a dull, mildly uncomfortable heat on her body she can feel. 

 

          Kana quietly does her best to keep her eyes on Prince, sitting carefully in the circle, and making every effort she can to move as little as possible. Her eyes trail up a bit towards the flying bird, as the mild head on her body is felt.. it's enough to make her feel very odd, as she's used to her slightly cold flesh granted her by the grip of death on her body.

 

Hanako continues through the forest, moving between trees, over low obstacles and under higher hanging ones without slowing her pace, silken dress strong as steel brushing things aside at times, but never ripping or snagging...even as birds and small woodland creatures flee past her in the opposite direction, base animal instincts unable to comprehend the nearby power as anything but a deadly threat, as they would a wildfire, or a tornado. Even predators, able to sense a greater strength than their own, run alongside their usual prey...and, in the midst of it all, the girl continues forward, ignoring the warnings blaring in her own mind as she goes.

  

         Prince's brow furrows as he continues to repeat the prayers in this ancient, sorcerous language, his winged totem visible for miles around as it fills the air. The look on his face is one of utmost concentration, and finally the lines in Kana's body shift fully to gold, the blessed salt and ink serving as perfect markers of the essence and life transfer that's going on. Conveniently beneath his clothes, black lines tracing over his own chakra points manifest, and other than the heat from the blood joining their hands his body seems cold. Fortunately, this is not permanent, but Kana may not know that; it's all part of the ritual, as the Prince of Revels calibrates his Solar essence with the guidance of the Unconquered Sun to flow from him and through her, slowly, painfully replacing the natural death essence in her. The heat continues to grow, and only now does it become painful, and the light around him is blinding. 

 

          Kana gains a worried look as she feels Prince's hands grow cold, but then, the pain grows, and takes her mind off of it, making her groan in pain, but she resists the urge to scream, as she closes her eyes, allowing the light to bathe her. Prince said not to move. She won't move. No matter what happens.

 

Hanako manages to reach the perimeter of the forest, just as the ritual begins to approach its zenith, raising a hand to shield her eyes at the light pouring between the trees, and ducking to the side to take cover behind one, the light forming almost tangible walls where it flows past trees, leaving only tiny pockets of shadow directly behind them. Then peers out, just a bit, from its edge, to watch, silently...

  

         The hours pass, and Prince's anima never fades, even when the sun sets and he's brighter than any star or the moon, filling the land with white-hot light. Eventually the pain Kana feels intensifies, and eventually it subsides and turns to a most exquisite feeling of pleasure as the essence of death itself is torn from her body and purged by Solar flames, replaced with the healthy vitality of pure life and blood, their essences mingling. The arcane symbols on the ground glow and shift, and the ritual continues..

         When it finally ends, the next day, Prince is -exhausted-. The heat is only now beginning to return to his body, and he seems unhealthily pale, although that will fade. The area is caked with dry blood from their hands, and all around looks bleached, as though it'd been left in the sun too long. He falls to his back, chest rising and falling rapidly, in a great deal of pain and devoid of energy.

         But Kana is no ghost. She's not even partially one.

 

When the ritual finally ends, Kana falls forward, but in the transition between kneeling, and hitting the ground, a change overcomes Kana, a green glow, followed by her hair gaining a slightly green tinge, and her hair being a super-dark shade of green, and thus, Kana leaves the realm of the half-ghosts, and enters the realm of a Lost Egg of the Terrestrial Exalts, with new information flooding her mind from the exaltation. ... And with that, she passes out from the house of pain. She's probably lucky to have stayed up long enough for the ritual.

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