Watching the Humans (only 1 person reply please)

[Samhain Naga]

Crouched on the roof, sunset beating down on his head, Samhain made sure to remain in the shadows and not move as much as possible. Humans and demons tended to overeact when they thought somebody might be watching them. Such a bother.

Still, even if he looked human, it seemed there was just something about him that scared them. Most of them chose to ignore him; he was fine with that. Besides, most days he was content to just sit back and watch.

For example, today a group of kids was playing with sticks just outside of the village; it seemed they were practicing swordfighting and such. Samhain merely shook his head; such a skill was useless; training in such a thing only led to violence. It was quite an annoying habit of others to be violent, and Samhain wanted no part in it.

A girl came out of the village; a visitor, he presumed, from the way the she moved. She called to the children; it was time for them to go home and eat. The day was, clearly, getting closer to the end again, and Samhain sighed. Just another day gone by; nothing too interesting.

And then the girl turned, heading back into the town herself; unfortunately, she saw him. Samhain guessed she was at least half-human; her scream of an intruder being in the village certaintly had that human ring to it.

[ADMIN]

Re looked at the large man before her, her violet eyes dancing across him with little admiration. Her was much taller than her and his build made her look like a thin red stick. The stubble of his face was the result of at least two days going by without a shave.

She frowned when he finished speaking. Such a job hadn't been asked for often. It wasn't one she took lightly. "What is the payment?"

This money would be brought back to Crescent. She wasn't much for buying random items that caught her eye.

He handed her a bag, and its weight told her it was a generous amount, and not silver. Gold. It would do, of course. "It will be done, and I will send word upon the task's completion."

A scream sounded, sending the demoness into a fighting stance. She pulled up her hood and swiftly quitted the house, walking along to the outskirts of the village. These humans screamed too much, though there was something in that scream that wasn’t all human. Right. Half-breeds.

The sword at her side began to pulse with excitement. Screams seemed only to excite his thirst for bloodshed. Its thirst for setting fire. Not now, though. Re had to be cautious in a human village. Demon mercenaries weren’t looked kindly upon here. Why the human didn’t get one of his own mercenaries to do the job, though, was beyond her understanding. All she knew was that she had a job to do, and she would be d**ned if it was stopped by some demon scaring one of the villagers. She was no protector.

She secured the bag of coins at her side, and he pace quickened.

Lichta stood waiting for her at the edge of the village, his black coat glistening in the light of the setting sun. He seemed antsy, ready to get moving. He had been standing still for too long.

She came up to him and mounted. Taking the reins, she pushed him into a swift walk. She couldn’t seem too conspicuous. Of course, to demons, it was quite obvious what she was. It wasn’t hard to notice her want to get away from the humans.

[Samhain Naga]

Samhain shook his head and stood up as soon as the scream occured; going back over the roof, he quickly scrambled down the side (he fell a couple of feet on his butt and hurt himself) and sighed as the humans came up to him. They started yelling at him, confusing him for some human child, assuming how he was just a travler's kid; they smacked him before they let him go. It assumed it was because he hadn't done much harm, and he could still pass as demon; it had happened before.

He stood up and brushed himself off when they went; he sighed and looked at his shadow. At least some time had passed; maybe twenty minutes. Heading for the forest, he quickly walked off; he also noticed tracks beneath him and decided to start following them. It was probably he hadn't been the only other demon there, and they had probably left in a hurry, like him.

Sighing, he started walking faster, looking down at his feet; he never ran, if he could help it. Soon he could hear somebody walking ahead of him, but didn't really look up; he was focused more on catching up than he was with paying attention to who it was. Besides, if it really was another demon, it'd probably be best not to appear as a demon, and since he only really had the physical abilities of a human, pretty much, then he really shouldn't draw attention to himself.

[ADMIN]

The horse paused in his steps for a few moments, raising its large head and inhaling. He snorted and began to side-step, turning his head as he tried to turn.

Re cursed under her breath. What was it that could be so important as to turn around? She pulled back, forcing the horse to either go backwards or stop, which he eventually did though not without much resistance.

"You're acting like a yearling," she scolded him.

He suddenly leaped forward, nearly causing his rider to lose her seat. In the process of regaining control, her hood had fallen. The winds picked up and pulled strand after strand up into the air.

If she noticed, she didn't show it, only focused on reining in the horse. She succeeded after a few moments of being tossed about by the frenzy, and she sighed tiredly. "You can't stay still for a minute," she mused aloud. She would get off and walk if that actually meant not have to deal with his antics.

But he must have been going crazy over something. . . . She looked around quietly, not really paying much attention. She noticed a single person closer than others out and about, and she eyed him warily. No matter, though. Then again. . . .

She dismounted and patted the horse's neck. After a few softly spoken words, she started leading the horse on. If the other creature mattered, she'd take care of him later.

[Samhain Naga]

If there was one thing Samhain was proud of, it was that he could walk pretty fast, even for human speeds, when he wanted to. He had been distracted and looked up when the horse had started acting up; his first tought had been, "Hm. She's pretty." Then he realized he was looking up and mentally slapped himself as he looked back down at the ground. Stupid. It's impolte to stare at others. True, he'd only taken a quick glance, but some people considered even a flicker of the eyes as staring, and he did not wish to offend. Walking quickly now, he managed to catch up to the horse and female rider.

"Umm... hi... you just left the village, right? Nothing much happened; it was just an idiot atop a roof watching some kids, and it surprised one of the people there. The idiot was hit for it; I, personally, think it was fair. One shouldn't watch others, right?" He kept his face and eyes down toward the ground; he had no desire to offend anybody who might try and fight him. Besides, she had red hair, unmistakeably; that had to mean she was at least part demon, he supposed. Few people born around here who weren't had red hair, unless it was all bloody.

[ADMIN]

Re walked around the horse on the ground to get a better look of the man addressing her. He had little to recommend him, save his bright green eyes, which had almost caught her off guard when she got a glimpse of them. His form was thin, and he looked nearly ill, in her opinion. But he was taller than her, and because of that she had to look up a bit when talking to him.

"Do you always seem to ramble when you talk to strangers?" she asked, eyes searching for his with no luck. She reached out her hand and placed a finger under his chin to raise his head up. "And did you know that when you don't look at the person to whom you are speaking, she begins to grow suspicious?"

She was speaking of herself, of course. There was little doubt in her mind that he had something to do with whatever it was that happened. Otherwise, why would he bring it up and look away so awkwardly? It was unusual for someone to randomly start up a conversation with her with seemingly no purpose.

"What is your name?" she asked. "Or I shall have to resort to calling you 'Boy'."

[Samhain Naga]

As soon as she asked for his name, Samhain looked up, right at her in the eye and smiled; he had always been proud of his name; it was somewhat unique. If there was one thing he took pride in about himself, it was an unusual name. "I'm Samhain Naga. I'm a demon."

Suddenly, he remembered himself as not supposed to offend, as soon as he finished speaking, suddenly looked really nervous, and looked at the ground again. "Umm... sorry; didn't mean to offend. I'm, I'm Samhain. I'm, umm... not so good around other people, I suppose. And I can still see you; I just don't think it's polite to stare at people." He did look up now, but at the horse instead, and at the surrounding area; he didn't like to make eye contact, but he could see really well out of the corners of his eyes, so that he could keep watching her at all times, even though he wasn't technically looking at her.

He was right of course; she was very pretty; at times, Samhain, who had not ever really paid attention to any girl (or claimed not to) definately saw this one as very pretty; more than average, anyway. His right hand reached up and began fidgeting with his snake necklace; he did that whenever he was really nervous.

[ADMIN]

Samhain. . . . The name rolled about in her head for a few moments as she watched him. He had at first talked of himself with pride, and then his shy behavior returned. At least, it seemed to be shyness. She smiled at his seemingly bashful nature.

Manners? Well, where had he grown up? Who had raised this boy?

"I take no offense, Samhain. And though staring may be impolite, I find it more impolite not to look at me in the face when you're talking to me."

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. She certainly didn't care if it was impolite. Besides, she always looked people over, if not just to make sure they weren't hiding anything or could prove dangerous.

The horse was busying itself with eating the grass nearby. If its master was talking to the intruder, it would comply with ignorance and silence.

“You certainly don’t look like a demon, but then, some don’t. Doesn’t matter, really,” she commented, removing her hands from her hips and bringing her right hand to his chin as if in contemplation. “By the way, my name is Redemption. Mercenary.” Her hand returned to her side, and her eyes were averted to her horse. “Are you heading anywhere in particular?”

She noticed him fingering his necklace out of the corner of her eye. It was obvious he was nervous.

[Samhain Naga]

Samhain now directed her eyes directly back into hers. "If you wish it, I will comply. It isn't good to fight with somebody over something small." He paused for a moment. "And I travel upon the wind's breeze, going where I might, observing people and attempting to understand them."

He drew back and broke physical contact again. "Please don't touch me. It's... disturbing." He reached over and fingered his sword pendant bracelet, Odin in its hidden form. He also started gathering his power up again; it was always best to be prepared for any situation. Even if he was prepared, however, that didn't mean he was well-practiced or that it could help him. It was best to just avoid fighting.

At that point a bird in the brush moved, and, without thinking, Samhain twirled on one foot to face it and shot off a bolt of lightning toward it, which, luckily missed. He swore, and then remembering himself again, turned back to Redemption. "I'm... sorry. I was on edge. It's lucky it missed; it wouldn't do to hurt something." He let go of his sword bracelet and began fingering his snake necklace again.

[ADMIN]

"Well, then, you aren't too stable on your feet, are you?" she commented, raising her brow at him. The wind picked up at that moment, as if accenting his reply. It picked up his hair quickly and carried it out to her left. She turned her head in the direction from which the wind was blowing, the scent of a demons wafting through the air. A frown fell upon her lips.

When she felt him step away from her and heard him speak, she turned back to look at him, her brow creasing in a sort of confusion. She had only touched him once, and not even a long touch! She had come to a few conclusions. One: this demon didn't look like a demon. Two: he was a strange boy with little understanding of how things worked in her world. Not that she was going to test him.

"You find a touch disturbing, Samhain? You are truly an odd boy, but of course, I will oblige. As long as you're not at the end of my sword, at least," she said jokingly, a laughing smile returning to her face.

She was slightly taken aback by the sudden burst of energy, but again, she merely gave him an odd look. "You need to calm yourself. It wouldn't do to have you jump at every little sound. You might cause an accident." Such a nervous one!! She hoped his little outburst didn't bring too much attention to them. They were still too close to the village for her liking.

A shrill whistle escaped her parted lips, and the black stallion raised his head from grazing and walked over to them. His back was over Redemption's head, but that didn't matter. It wasn't like she had trouble getting on. She climbed into the saddle with a grace as would be expected of an older female demon, and she reined the horse in quickly to keep him from darting off.

"I have business to attend to. You may join me if you like, until we reach the Hyok Village. It's a day's journey from here."

[Samhain Naga]

Samhain thought for a moment, and then nodded. "It might be beneficial to both of us. I have not yet begun to study the demonic persona, and I do have some small skills that can be useful to you, in the right situation. I have nowhere I need to go and no place where I am needed or wanted; I see no problems with it. I'll walk, though; I do not believe we have right to have animals do our bidding, as we are but animals ourselves."

He turned his head in the direction of the wind. "Also, I think we should go. Demons are never a good sign." Then he turned back to Redemption, and raised up his arm with the sword pendant bracelet on it. "And should it come to fighting between us, I have my own sword with which to fight with. If push comes to shove, I do not intend to go down without a fight."

He let his power slip back into its own free, loose form; if he was not going to use it, he might as well let it do as it pleased. He continued, "My blade is not my own, however. It's very dangerous; I found it lying in the dirt one day and seek to return it to its rightful owner. It does not seem to like me." He grabbed the glove that covered his right hand and pulled it off so that the jagged, random lightning-shaped scars that covered it were fully visible. Some of them were quite fresh and raw, looking like they were about to pop open and start bleeding again. "If you can't tell."