((collab between Dezuel and Gentlemanvaultboy, pre tournament matter.))
Vittorio stood outside the room Bak was currently within, not wanting to speak to her in the company of anyone else as it could put them both on the glare list. "Bak." He said as he peeked his head through the wall as he had done earlier in the day, but without saying anything it was at least an improvement.
It had been maybe an hour long since the practice match and, though it couldn't be seen in the basement room where she made her home, the sun was likely already going down. Miss Suzume had already knocked off as much of the ice and frozen splatters of poison outside with a vigorous shaking and brought her back down to her room at the girls request. By all rights she should have gone to the showers and washed herself off thoroughly with warm water, but she had already had one uninvited guest in the wee hours of the morning and she wasn't about to risk it with so many people who would also be wanting showers right about now.
She had gone though the laborious trouble of changing out of her uniform, which even now was starting to soak through as they it strewn on the ground as the frost melted into it, and into her nightgown. She lay in her little sleeping corner wrapped up in a big heated blanket that she used to keep the chill from seeping from her metal into her core on the colder nights. She'd wondered before if having this hadn't softened her ability to resist the cold that constantly threatened to creep in back home and what it would feel like if she ever returned. That thought was pushed away when Vittorio poked his head through the wall. "Be more careful." She said playfully. "I would not be being so forgiving of second accident."
Vittorio looked to the left and right before slipping through the wall fully. "I am careful. That's why you only see my head first. You shower in this room too?" He said very directly, gazing around the room to make sure none else would be around. "I have questions for you. Why are you with this school, Bak? What is there to be had for you here?"
"Right to it then, hm." she said. She looked down, deep in thought. Bak wasn't an introspective person. She knew what she wanted to do, but she never really sat down and pondered on the why of it. For someone else she might have just said that that she was here because this is where she wanted to be, but for him that didn't seem right. She had promised, she she was going to do her best. She thought back, her face screwing up as she remembered the day she'd met the man that had come looking for a monster and how she'd felt when he'd found her. "I think..." she started slowly, haltingly, trying to find the correct words,"...that what I have here is...more. I did not have...there was nothing where I was. It was just....," She tugged the blanket, pulling it a little tighter around herself before lifting up her head and looking him in the eye. "It was cold." She said, miserable yet resolute. "It was too cold. So when a man appeared and said to me, 'Bak, please come to this city. Please come to be here,' I did not even think of whether it would be any better. I just knew I could not spend one more day in the place I was."
He wasn't ready for her answer as much as he would have thought he would be. She was replying in a manner which left him pondering further. During his two years here, all that he had been thinking of was his own situation and getting back to avenge the fallen. He wanted nothing more than be gone from the world, but not daring to see his friends and dear ones in the eye on the other side before he had done something. He was the only one remaining, the only one who could still do something. Now Bak was here, sharing her own past with him. Slowly but gradually at least. "It was cold... it is a valid answer..." He hummed softly as he floated abit closer. "Was this man Mephisto? The one who told you to come here. There has been places for me also where I have been unable to stay. I could not lie at a hospital and be kept alive in some machine, unable to leave or do anything. I left. And was led to this place... a haven where I could gather all my love for the fallen and make it into a weapon." He paused. "I too am cold. I died two years ago with the rest of my friends and family. My form as you see still bears that look, my wish to live is simply attached to my wish to do something for the fallen. After that is done and overwith. I will fade away into the other world, to the long rest beside my close ones. I do not fear it, I long for it. My stay in this world is what I fear. Being in this world for a very long time and unable to see them."
"It's a melody, I hear in my memory... the final requiem at my dying day, no longer a reason to stay. Until the evil 's been slain, to return to their side without... would be dying in vain." He hymned on a soft melody and it's text.
"Charlotte was one of them who died because of Alto. She enjoyed singing and living, yet her life was ended amongst others. Leaving me behind... like this." He pointed his tentacle wings to himself.
Bak just looked at him for a little bit. Bak had trouble dealing sorting through her own feelings, so when someone was conveying a lot of their own she had to be take a while to think about what they had just said. Things weren't urgent, and she was comfortable right now, and so she had that time to think. She did. She thought hard. Then, slowly, clumsily, she slipped the heated blanket from around herself and flung it over Vittorio's shoulders. She half expected it to just fall through him futilely fall through him and end up on the floor in a crumpled mess, but the surprise she felt when in alighted around him vanished quickly as she gently took one hand and clasped the corners together around his neck, making sure it was nice and snug like it had been on her.
"I think Mr. Mephisto has people all over the world looking for people like us." She said. "I am grateful too. I've manged to find so much warmth here. There are people that will talk with me. People who look at me without putting me from their mind. Rurik, Christine, Miss Celestine, Gilliam, Clara..." Bak paused for a moment, then her eyes went wide and she couldn't hep but let out a surprising girlish giggle "I do not know his name. Mr. Ninja. And you." She finished solemnly. "Vittorio, I think the place you plan to go after your revenge is very cold. Wouldn't your dear ones wish for you to seek warmth, like I do?"
Vittorio stood still and watched as Bak began to move, she flung the blanket at him. What was she doing? He found the blanket now attached to his astral form. He had never worn or bothered carrying anything over a longer period of time using his astral form, apart from his own body or flinging enemies or objects at foes. "What are you doing? It won't do anything to me..." He said looking to the sides at the cloak he was now wearing. "Won't you be cold without it? The metal must be cold." He looked to Bak before continuing. "Mephisto's friends found me and led me here. The hospitality has been appreciated. Many of us are looked upon as monsters by the rest of the world aswell..." His thoughts fell on his dear ones. "They wanted me to seek warmth like you do... ?" He allowed a faint chuckle to escape his form, an uncommon thing indeed to see or even hear. Vittorio was never amused about anything. "With a blanket? You are no monster Bak that much I can see. I would in fact say that you are indeed truly beautiful. You don't let those metal parts of you hinder you but turn them into a strength... like you did in the practice. That makes you truly beautiful and someone to be admired." He said as he floated over to Bak, this time going through her, letting the blanket fall over Bak's form. "Think that blanket is more useful in your hands than mine. If you want to meet in person you know where I stay. "
Bak shuttered at the chill of Vittorio floating through her and leaned back as far as she was able before the blanket dropped over her and bathed her in warmth. She poked her head out from under it, shaking to get the shroud off, and it was unclear whether the red of her face was from the heat or embarrassment. She shifted her weight, and something buried deep in her bed pile let out short electronic "baaaaaaa." Well, that red was definitely from embarrassment. Still, she was smiling. "I promise to come visit." she said.
"Very well.... hm?" Vittorio looked as he heard the sound. 'Baaaaaa' What an odd sound. Was there something spying on them. A device made for recording or some animal. That Gabriel person was surely up to no good after losing the practice thing, perhaps it was something he had planted. Vittorio set his gaze at the bed pile then to Bak and back. "You are feeling ill? You appear to be abit red." He said before he floated closer to the bed pile. "Something is there... stand back.. I shall check what it is." He readied his tentacle like wings, ready to lift up all things in that pile of things to find the source of the sound.(edited)
Bak barely got out a "wa-" before cushions and sheep went flying. The strangest thing was there wasn't a single individual sheep in that pile that was a duplicate. Each one was different. Some white, some brown, some a rainbow of garish colors. Someone were filled with stuffing, some beans, a few with sand, and one big pillowey one stuffed with feathers. Most were stylized, some were anthropomorphic, and one was scarily realistic with beady black eyes that stared right into you soul and begged the question, "Whyyyyyyyy?"
There was one neglected goat buried deep in the pile.
Finally though Vittorio's tentacle wrapped around a small, nearly completely oval white sheep doll. It's legs were just nubby flat piece of clothes, it's eyes were black plastic beards. It looked cheap, more like a dog toy than anything meant to be played with by a human, and when his tentacle pressed down upon it there was a short click and the doll let out an electronic "Baaaaaaa."
Bak, beet red, just meekly said, "I like sheep."
"It may be something bad... " Vittorio was silent for a long time after his initial sentence, staring at the final plushed animal at the bottom. His expression indifferent or perhaps it was different, he appeared to raise an astral eyebrow to his find. And hearing Bak's defense that she like sheep. He only knew how to reply to it. "I think this may be a goat..." He turned his head to look at her red face. "You are more red than before..." He dropped the toy among the rest and reached out a tentacle to her forehead and then let out a echoing grunt. He couldn't feel her temperature like this. "You might have a fever. I cannot tell in this form. You will have to go to my true form for me to check. Also why do you like sheep? ...Oh...." He finally said as he realized what they were. "A gift from your family?"
"No, no, no, do not worry, I do not have fever. It is very hard to get me sick. It's..." She looked around at all the sheep now spread out around her. She hadn't actually realized how many she'd bought in the short time she'd been here. That scraping money from when she'd replace her guns went a long way when you got all your meals from the school cafeteria and didn't have to pay any taxes. "On my families farm I would watch our sheep." She said, and as she spoke a new look came onto her face. While before where she was talking about the cold of home it was pensive and sad, here the wispy look of nostalgia crept onto her face and into her voice. "That was my chore. I was very good at it! We had such a big herd! And there were many predators in forest. Bear. Dire Wolf. Nightingale. Not small bird you get here, huge! Big as car. And it would scream, and what it screamed at? Died! Stone dead. And there were witches, I never saw them but I heard them sneaking around in treeline, and when I did? BOOM! No more witches bothering Bak's sheep! They all left sheep alone because I was most terrifying thing in forest!"(edited)
Bak slowed down, letting the buildup of excitement flow out of her with a contented sigh, and continued. "They loved me for that. They did not at first. Then walked in big circles to avoid me, scattered at every explosion. I lost some because of that. But eventually, they were warmer to me than fath-" Bak stopped, and sniffed. "In a way you are right, they were gift from family. I still miss them. "
"Hard to get sick? I guess there is not a lack of iron at least..." He said in a low voice. "A shepherd? I am certain you were good at it. I never saw any of those animals, I never left the city. All I ever wanted were in here. Or that's how it used to be... at least." He sighed softly. "Nightingale... big as a car...it could scream and those it sceamed at... died..." Vittorio's face grew still as he just stood there, reminded of the shrouded monster which had killed his dear ones. The mysterious form which had no face, just that voice accompanying it, was it male or female? His many nightmares had contorted the voice in time, by now he didn't know how the voice sounded. Who or what it belonged to. "This.. nightingale creature sounds dreadful. And witches? Why would they bother sheep?" He couldn't make the connection as he tried to think of a reason, but why would Bak make something up. "How did you know they loved you? Did they have a very distinct...." He grimaces with his face as it bothered him to say it so he said it in a low tone. "Baaaaa....?" He collected himself from that moment if sillyness. "You lost some.. I see..." He was suddenly reminded of Bak's ability to react very instrictively to trouble with her weapons. "Your father... what happened to him?" He patiently waited for Bak's reply
Bak couldn't help but giggle again at his impression. "Witches are strange." She said, rolling her head from side to side as of to say 'who even knows?' Luckily she had picked up a few stories. "They want the blood on the oldest males so to to cast spells on entire family line, or the bones of a young that they can throw and read the future in how they come out. You lose even one sheep to a witch and your entire family could suffer for it. Sheep stay around me because they know I can keep them safe from things like that, and they do not even jump when I shoot at something, and they all cluster up to keep me warm. I was like one of them."
"As for father," She said, her voice growing somber again. "He is fine. Bak Tsar is a very strong man. He guarded sheep before I did. So is my mother. She is schoolmaster. They are both...very strong. I would never be able to shoulder the burden they did."
"I wish someone could have read my future years ago. Then perhaps I could have done more to stop things." He sighed softly but kept listening to Bak's story, not wanting to interupt her. Whilst he didn't reply to everything she said, he made strong notes of it. "Why aren't you with your family now, Bak? Is your burden not also a great one?" It is good you have been able to protect those sheep, I couldn't even protect my friends or parents. "That's why I want to be strong. That's why I think power matters. Without it... I would be nothing at all. Not even worth killing for the monster who did them in." He came to ponder on something and on the words Bak has spoken of which made him think of something he wanted to get for her. Though it would have to wait until her story was over.
They waited. They waited a while. An entire awkward silence passed before either of them realized the story was over. Bak broke it first. "I do not think that is true at all. You have something besides power. I know you do, what is it? " It was a dodge. It was a blatant, clumsy, obvious dodge that even the greenest of rookies would be able to punish and she knew it. It was obvious as soon as she'd said it that she knew it, and she had to look away. "I am sorry. I promised, but..." She took three big, deep breaths and steadied herself. "It was cold in that house. I could not stay one more day in that place. It is better that I left and took the burden with me. I am sorry. Please, do not ask what the burden is. I will tell you, but I do not wish to say it."
The ghostly young man stood eerily silent for awhile. "A box." He said without any finesse or hesitation, his facial expression serious but honest. "What is your burden?" He asked as if he had not heard her last words at all, before giving his own question an answer. "Too much heat consumption in shower?" It was direct, it was uttered bluntly but no doubt was it close to the truth or so he'd imagined. "If you tell me I will give you something. It will not be sheep."
A look of shocked hurt flashed across Bak's face when he asked anyway, immediately followed by the sort of relief show by men rescued from the gallows. She shook her head, still sadly. "No, that is not it. It is...I am..." she growled, the kind of growl someone lets out when they're pulling a heavy weight, trying to force herself to form the words. Not because she wanted whatever gift he had, but because this was a promise to a friend. "I am....I....am......sorry." She had to take a moment, let the beating of her heart settle. "I am not strong enough. Maybe someday I will be able to look it in the face, but I can not now."
"I see... some other time then." It appeared like Bak was not going to tell Vittorio more about her past, but that was fine. He decided already to give her something. As it only pained him to have it, she would surely find more joy in it than him. "I wish to give you the box anyways. Go to my room, I will wait there. And thank you for the story." Vittorio nodded to Bak and for once has a slightly eased expression on his face where his mouth was not a reversed U, but more like a line. It wasn't a smile, but it was at least something. "Whatever it is... telling others about it will easen the burden for you. Take it from someone who has very little left."
Vittorio attempted to fly through Bak's room and towards where his own room was, gliding through a couple of other rooms in the process.
Bak waited for a bit, feeling bad for bringing down the mood at the end. But even as open as all that had been the wound that Vittorio had started scraping up against was so tender that just getting he to talk about how she didn't want to talk about it had been a small miracle. Finally, through, curiosity got the best of her and she winched herself up, made sure her gown was securely fashioned and the blanket was switched off, and picked her way carefully across the floor to make sure she didn't step on any of the scattered cushions with her giant clawed chicken feet. She stopped at the door and peeked out to make sure no one was in the room, then snuck across the way and knocked on Vittorio's door.
"You may... enter..." A voice answered from inside. It was Vittorio's voice, but without the echoing to it and it sounded raspier, if abit dry. He was lying down on his bed, covered by a think blanket and the hospital gown attire he worn. He had a few of them, thinking them to be the easiest to remove when cleaning and so forth. His medical contraptions would hang around the bed, the walls decorated by scratchmarks and the occasional burnt part, as if Vittorio had several times lunged out with those wings of his at the walls themselves. From nightmares or from a combination of rage and sorrow. The room was not lit by much, apart from a lamp on a shelf. There were also smaller lights connected to his medical equipment flashing every now and then. "Hello... Bak..." Vittorio said, half-sitting up in his bed with his hair long down below his upper chest in length. He did seem older than how his astral form made him appear, he also seemed taller, thinner and with dark rings under his eyes. He was however not as bad as he used to be, or could had been due to all the medical assistance. "Come closer..."
Bak, looking around the room for the first time, felt a pang of pity before forcing that from her mind. No way, she knew what it felt like to have people think your were pitiful. He'd gotten enough of that already, surely. So she decided to come in brightly as she stomped her way across the dark room to his bedside. Vittorio seemed like the sort of person that would enjoy candles. She made a note of that.
He looked over Bak from top to toe as he took something out from under his pillow, his legs sliding to the side of the bed, he stood up. Despite having been made healthier, his musculature was still lacking alot. His stance abit unsteady. "Aren't you abit.. short to be Bak? Seeing you with my own eyes is different..." He coughed into his left arm as he finished the sentence, befoe stretching out his right hand holding a small box which could be opened. The box seems to have been well used but not in a reckless manner, upon opening it. The box would begin to play a melody, with a mirror in the lid making the person opening see their own reflection. Then in the middle of the box sat a ring with a ruby red gem in it. "I... I'd like you to have it. It is no sheep... but It would be of more happiness to you than me." He paused briefly. "I was originally... meant to give it to a girl but she was killed before I had the chance to do it. I would hate throwing something like it away, but keeping it will just remind me of my moment of failure. Please take it as a gift from one outcast to another..."
"No, I have always been this small." She said, smiling before he started coughing. She started to reach out only to realize that she'd left her gloves laying in a wet pie on the ground and pulled back. There was no telling what kind of rot her touch would put in the heart of so sickly a boy, so she could do nothing but sit anxiously and wait for it to subside. Then he brought at the box, and as he opened it up her eyes went as wide as saucer plates and and a cacophony of thoughts racing through her head joined with the sad melody that coiled out of the thing. She stared down at that ring and actually started to tremble as she waited for his next words.
The feeling of relief that washed over her when he explained the history of it was enough to fill up the entire room as she let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she'd started holding. She reached out and gingerly took the box, cradling it as though it were the worlds most valuable egg. "Oh it is beautiful." she said, the awe of the thing not the least bit diminished by her relief. "Thank you. I will be sure to keep this safe. And if you ever think you need it again, it will be right across the hall."(edited)
"Like a little sister almost..." Vittorio offered a slight nod, now somewhat more at ease, he said the words as an obvious attempt at jesting. Some strands of hair falling over his eyes. "I'm sure you will keep it safe Bak. You look after it for me when I'm gone?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer, he continued talking. "If you need help to wash your back sometime, I have plenty of extra appendages to lend. Must be really hard to reach with all the metal. But without all the metal you wouldn't be Bak.. would you?" He asked, not even taking into consideration for a moment how his words possibly could Bak-fire.
"Nononono no no," Bak said quickly, forcing down the red that was creeping up on her ears again. She actually took a step back, and the jerk of her hand caused the lid on the box to snap shut."Is not necessary. I am actually very proud of how I learned to do it on my own. It is...freeing to do so. To be able to do such things myself feels wonderful. But thank you." She stood there, metaphorically twiddling her thumbs, before deciding on what she wanted to say. "And even after all that happened, you are still sweet boy."(edited)
He stood there, his hair slightly obscuring his eyes from Bak's view. "Hah..." He said in a unbelieving manner to Bak's words, as if she had told him something he didn't believe in. He had a flashback appear before him of Charlotte. "Thanks for waiting for me, Vittorio. It was very sweet of you." Whereof Charlotte would have smiled, tilted her head to the side with closed eyes. Vittorio quickly snapped back to look at Bak."Give me a break..." A small upturn at the corner of his mouth, revealing his teeth. Just visible slightly in the dimmed light, his hair still hanging over his eyes, but he lifted his gaze abit causing some of the strands to fall back, revealing his eyes to Bak again. "You should be proud for each step you make... the stronger you become, the easier can you shape the world around you. To prevent those dear to you from dying..." A lone tear slid down his left eye. "The past is a cruel teacher... but a powerful one." He began to move over closer to Bak, he walked forwards on bare feel, his gown reaching down to around his kneecaps. One hand against the wall, using it to lean on. Before he reached over with his free hand to try lift up and look at Bak's hand, seeking to place his hand against hers , palm against palm. "My heart beats similar to yours. Even if our pasts be far apart. Let's see what the tomorrow will bring ,a final requiem for our struggle...."
Sadly, the only thing his hand finds as he reaches out is hard plaster. The entirety of Bak's free arm, the one that wasn't cradling the precious box, was all done up in white gauze. Courtesy of Celestine, a cocoon to protect the gun that was even now gestating underneath.
Then Bak's other hand closed over the top of his and gave a gentle squeeze.
She regretted it immediately. She'd promised herself she wouldn't let something like this happen.What was she supposed to do, though? What could she do when faced with this sort of sheer exhaustive effort? Not acknowledging that was unthinkable. Soon enough he could feel it. Dry, slightly cold, and crackly at fist. Then something deeper. Something wrong coming to the surface. It felt like he felt. As though everything that was sick and broken about him was now curling around his hand like a thick, meaty slug. She held on for only so long. Long enough for a heartbeat to pass between them. Long enough to say "Let us see. Tomorrow may be better, and that is all that matters." Then she let go, not bothering to look for any signs of what he'd felt. Another thing that she wasn't strong enough to talk about. She reached out to support him, stepping forward to help steady him so he wouldn't have to lean so heavily on the wall. "There. If you were to get hurt right now, Miss Celestine and Tovarish I do not think would ever forgive me."
"I live.. for the tomorrow..." He said and was about to return to his bed, when he had some aid from Bak catching him by surprise. "You.. don't have to..." He bit his teeth together, it was little use to argue now and it wasn't long to the bed. "Watch yourself... Celestine is not who you think to be..." He arranged himself at the bed upon reaching it, nodding thankingly to Bak. "She may very well not be a she at all. Always wearing masks, physical or otherwise... to cover up a weakness of the past. Hiding all that hate for others... I hate only three things in this world." He took a deep breath. "The monster who killed those dear to me. Alto whom led the creature to them. And myself for being unable to save even a friend..." His head sunk down into the pillow. "Celestine... is playing roles because the one he began with got him hurt... be careful around him, what he does is in his own interest and that of Mephisto. I am just another subject just like he is. Knowingly or not..." He sighed softly, trying to beckon Bak closer. "After the tournament... Bak..." Vittorio said in a tired voice now. "Take Rurik... Gilliam... Christine...and join with St.Laurels. A shadow will someday come.. and you'll be needed to fight as one. Alto won't be there...." Now he was breathing heavily as if in some pain. "Promise me that you leave this place behind... go to the light smiling as I will...." Vittorio pointed towards the doorway before letting his hand fall back down. "It is ill to betray others... but even worse to betray yourself..." He shut his eyes and was about to pass out.
Bak couldn't answer. Not right away. Like always, it took her a little time to process. So she stood there watching, waiting for his breathing to fall into the steady rhythm of deep sleep, and thinking. She took his bedding and tucked him in nice a snug, then leaned down as close to his ear as she was comfortable and whispered, hoping he was already sleeping, "If I go I am taking all of you." Then, as quietly as her form was able, Bak left the room. She lingered in the hallway, to unsure to even find her way back to her room. Idly she fished out the small box she had stored in one of her gowns pockets and opened it up. She stared at the pretty little stone. "Silly girl," She said with a sad little smile. "What is it you were thinking, eh?" She'd keep that ring safe and, eventually, Vittorio would come calling for it when he found the girl he wanted to give it to.
It was common knowledge among people that raised sheep, the difference between a good herder and a great one. The good sheep herder was one that had hundreds of sheep. But the great sheep herder? They were the ones willing to fight tooth and nail for a single one.(edited)
It had been maybe an hour long since the practice match and, though it couldn't be seen in the basement room where she made her home, the sun was likely already going down. Miss Suzume had already knocked off as much of the ice and frozen splatters of poison outside with a vigorous shaking and brought her back down to her room at the girls request. By all rights she should have gone to the showers and washed herself off thoroughly with warm water, but she had already had one uninvited guest in the wee hours of the morning and she wasn't about to risk it with so many people who would also be wanting showers right about now.
She had gone though the laborious trouble of changing out of her uniform, which even now was starting to soak through as they it strewn on the ground as the frost melted into it, and into her nightgown. She lay in her little sleeping corner wrapped up in a big heated blanket that she used to keep the chill from seeping from her metal into her core on the colder nights. She'd wondered before if having this hadn't softened her ability to resist the cold that constantly threatened to creep in back home and what it would feel like if she ever returned. That thought was pushed away when Vittorio poked his head through the wall. "Be more careful." She said playfully. "I would not be being so forgiving of second accident."
Vittorio looked to the left and right before slipping through the wall fully. "I am careful. That's why you only see my head first. You shower in this room too?" He said very directly, gazing around the room to make sure none else would be around. "I have questions for you. Why are you with this school, Bak? What is there to be had for you here?"
"Right to it then, hm." she said. She looked down, deep in thought. Bak wasn't an introspective person. She knew what she wanted to do, but she never really sat down and pondered on the why of it. For someone else she might have just said that that she was here because this is where she wanted to be, but for him that didn't seem right. She had promised, she she was going to do her best. She thought back, her face screwing up as she remembered the day she'd met the man that had come looking for a monster and how she'd felt when he'd found her. "I think..." she started slowly, haltingly, trying to find the correct words,"...that what I have here is...more. I did not have...there was nothing where I was. It was just....," She tugged the blanket, pulling it a little tighter around herself before lifting up her head and looking him in the eye. "It was cold." She said, miserable yet resolute. "It was too cold. So when a man appeared and said to me, 'Bak, please come to this city. Please come to be here,' I did not even think of whether it would be any better. I just knew I could not spend one more day in the place I was."
He wasn't ready for her answer as much as he would have thought he would be. She was replying in a manner which left him pondering further. During his two years here, all that he had been thinking of was his own situation and getting back to avenge the fallen. He wanted nothing more than be gone from the world, but not daring to see his friends and dear ones in the eye on the other side before he had done something. He was the only one remaining, the only one who could still do something. Now Bak was here, sharing her own past with him. Slowly but gradually at least. "It was cold... it is a valid answer..." He hummed softly as he floated abit closer. "Was this man Mephisto? The one who told you to come here. There has been places for me also where I have been unable to stay. I could not lie at a hospital and be kept alive in some machine, unable to leave or do anything. I left. And was led to this place... a haven where I could gather all my love for the fallen and make it into a weapon." He paused. "I too am cold. I died two years ago with the rest of my friends and family. My form as you see still bears that look, my wish to live is simply attached to my wish to do something for the fallen. After that is done and overwith. I will fade away into the other world, to the long rest beside my close ones. I do not fear it, I long for it. My stay in this world is what I fear. Being in this world for a very long time and unable to see them."
"It's a melody, I hear in my memory... the final requiem at my dying day, no longer a reason to stay. Until the evil 's been slain, to return to their side without... would be dying in vain." He hymned on a soft melody and it's text.
"Charlotte was one of them who died because of Alto. She enjoyed singing and living, yet her life was ended amongst others. Leaving me behind... like this." He pointed his tentacle wings to himself.
Bak just looked at him for a little bit. Bak had trouble dealing sorting through her own feelings, so when someone was conveying a lot of their own she had to be take a while to think about what they had just said. Things weren't urgent, and she was comfortable right now, and so she had that time to think. She did. She thought hard. Then, slowly, clumsily, she slipped the heated blanket from around herself and flung it over Vittorio's shoulders. She half expected it to just fall through him futilely fall through him and end up on the floor in a crumpled mess, but the surprise she felt when in alighted around him vanished quickly as she gently took one hand and clasped the corners together around his neck, making sure it was nice and snug like it had been on her.
"I think Mr. Mephisto has people all over the world looking for people like us." She said. "I am grateful too. I've manged to find so much warmth here. There are people that will talk with me. People who look at me without putting me from their mind. Rurik, Christine, Miss Celestine, Gilliam, Clara..." Bak paused for a moment, then her eyes went wide and she couldn't hep but let out a surprising girlish giggle "I do not know his name. Mr. Ninja. And you." She finished solemnly. "Vittorio, I think the place you plan to go after your revenge is very cold. Wouldn't your dear ones wish for you to seek warmth, like I do?"
Vittorio stood still and watched as Bak began to move, she flung the blanket at him. What was she doing? He found the blanket now attached to his astral form. He had never worn or bothered carrying anything over a longer period of time using his astral form, apart from his own body or flinging enemies or objects at foes. "What are you doing? It won't do anything to me..." He said looking to the sides at the cloak he was now wearing. "Won't you be cold without it? The metal must be cold." He looked to Bak before continuing. "Mephisto's friends found me and led me here. The hospitality has been appreciated. Many of us are looked upon as monsters by the rest of the world aswell..." His thoughts fell on his dear ones. "They wanted me to seek warmth like you do... ?" He allowed a faint chuckle to escape his form, an uncommon thing indeed to see or even hear. Vittorio was never amused about anything. "With a blanket? You are no monster Bak that much I can see. I would in fact say that you are indeed truly beautiful. You don't let those metal parts of you hinder you but turn them into a strength... like you did in the practice. That makes you truly beautiful and someone to be admired." He said as he floated over to Bak, this time going through her, letting the blanket fall over Bak's form. "Think that blanket is more useful in your hands than mine. If you want to meet in person you know where I stay. "
Bak shuttered at the chill of Vittorio floating through her and leaned back as far as she was able before the blanket dropped over her and bathed her in warmth. She poked her head out from under it, shaking to get the shroud off, and it was unclear whether the red of her face was from the heat or embarrassment. She shifted her weight, and something buried deep in her bed pile let out short electronic "baaaaaaa." Well, that red was definitely from embarrassment. Still, she was smiling. "I promise to come visit." she said.
"Very well.... hm?" Vittorio looked as he heard the sound. 'Baaaaaa' What an odd sound. Was there something spying on them. A device made for recording or some animal. That Gabriel person was surely up to no good after losing the practice thing, perhaps it was something he had planted. Vittorio set his gaze at the bed pile then to Bak and back. "You are feeling ill? You appear to be abit red." He said before he floated closer to the bed pile. "Something is there... stand back.. I shall check what it is." He readied his tentacle like wings, ready to lift up all things in that pile of things to find the source of the sound.(edited)
Bak barely got out a "wa-" before cushions and sheep went flying. The strangest thing was there wasn't a single individual sheep in that pile that was a duplicate. Each one was different. Some white, some brown, some a rainbow of garish colors. Someone were filled with stuffing, some beans, a few with sand, and one big pillowey one stuffed with feathers. Most were stylized, some were anthropomorphic, and one was scarily realistic with beady black eyes that stared right into you soul and begged the question, "Whyyyyyyyy?"
There was one neglected goat buried deep in the pile.
Finally though Vittorio's tentacle wrapped around a small, nearly completely oval white sheep doll. It's legs were just nubby flat piece of clothes, it's eyes were black plastic beards. It looked cheap, more like a dog toy than anything meant to be played with by a human, and when his tentacle pressed down upon it there was a short click and the doll let out an electronic "Baaaaaaa."
Bak, beet red, just meekly said, "I like sheep."
"It may be something bad... " Vittorio was silent for a long time after his initial sentence, staring at the final plushed animal at the bottom. His expression indifferent or perhaps it was different, he appeared to raise an astral eyebrow to his find. And hearing Bak's defense that she like sheep. He only knew how to reply to it. "I think this may be a goat..." He turned his head to look at her red face. "You are more red than before..." He dropped the toy among the rest and reached out a tentacle to her forehead and then let out a echoing grunt. He couldn't feel her temperature like this. "You might have a fever. I cannot tell in this form. You will have to go to my true form for me to check. Also why do you like sheep? ...Oh...." He finally said as he realized what they were. "A gift from your family?"
"No, no, no, do not worry, I do not have fever. It is very hard to get me sick. It's..." She looked around at all the sheep now spread out around her. She hadn't actually realized how many she'd bought in the short time she'd been here. That scraping money from when she'd replace her guns went a long way when you got all your meals from the school cafeteria and didn't have to pay any taxes. "On my families farm I would watch our sheep." She said, and as she spoke a new look came onto her face. While before where she was talking about the cold of home it was pensive and sad, here the wispy look of nostalgia crept onto her face and into her voice. "That was my chore. I was very good at it! We had such a big herd! And there were many predators in forest. Bear. Dire Wolf. Nightingale. Not small bird you get here, huge! Big as car. And it would scream, and what it screamed at? Died! Stone dead. And there were witches, I never saw them but I heard them sneaking around in treeline, and when I did? BOOM! No more witches bothering Bak's sheep! They all left sheep alone because I was most terrifying thing in forest!"(edited)
Bak slowed down, letting the buildup of excitement flow out of her with a contented sigh, and continued. "They loved me for that. They did not at first. Then walked in big circles to avoid me, scattered at every explosion. I lost some because of that. But eventually, they were warmer to me than fath-" Bak stopped, and sniffed. "In a way you are right, they were gift from family. I still miss them. "
"Hard to get sick? I guess there is not a lack of iron at least..." He said in a low voice. "A shepherd? I am certain you were good at it. I never saw any of those animals, I never left the city. All I ever wanted were in here. Or that's how it used to be... at least." He sighed softly. "Nightingale... big as a car...it could scream and those it sceamed at... died..." Vittorio's face grew still as he just stood there, reminded of the shrouded monster which had killed his dear ones. The mysterious form which had no face, just that voice accompanying it, was it male or female? His many nightmares had contorted the voice in time, by now he didn't know how the voice sounded. Who or what it belonged to. "This.. nightingale creature sounds dreadful. And witches? Why would they bother sheep?" He couldn't make the connection as he tried to think of a reason, but why would Bak make something up. "How did you know they loved you? Did they have a very distinct...." He grimaces with his face as it bothered him to say it so he said it in a low tone. "Baaaaa....?" He collected himself from that moment if sillyness. "You lost some.. I see..." He was suddenly reminded of Bak's ability to react very instrictively to trouble with her weapons. "Your father... what happened to him?" He patiently waited for Bak's reply
Bak couldn't help but giggle again at his impression. "Witches are strange." She said, rolling her head from side to side as of to say 'who even knows?' Luckily she had picked up a few stories. "They want the blood on the oldest males so to to cast spells on entire family line, or the bones of a young that they can throw and read the future in how they come out. You lose even one sheep to a witch and your entire family could suffer for it. Sheep stay around me because they know I can keep them safe from things like that, and they do not even jump when I shoot at something, and they all cluster up to keep me warm. I was like one of them."
"As for father," She said, her voice growing somber again. "He is fine. Bak Tsar is a very strong man. He guarded sheep before I did. So is my mother. She is schoolmaster. They are both...very strong. I would never be able to shoulder the burden they did."
"I wish someone could have read my future years ago. Then perhaps I could have done more to stop things." He sighed softly but kept listening to Bak's story, not wanting to interupt her. Whilst he didn't reply to everything she said, he made strong notes of it. "Why aren't you with your family now, Bak? Is your burden not also a great one?" It is good you have been able to protect those sheep, I couldn't even protect my friends or parents. "That's why I want to be strong. That's why I think power matters. Without it... I would be nothing at all. Not even worth killing for the monster who did them in." He came to ponder on something and on the words Bak has spoken of which made him think of something he wanted to get for her. Though it would have to wait until her story was over.
They waited. They waited a while. An entire awkward silence passed before either of them realized the story was over. Bak broke it first. "I do not think that is true at all. You have something besides power. I know you do, what is it? " It was a dodge. It was a blatant, clumsy, obvious dodge that even the greenest of rookies would be able to punish and she knew it. It was obvious as soon as she'd said it that she knew it, and she had to look away. "I am sorry. I promised, but..." She took three big, deep breaths and steadied herself. "It was cold in that house. I could not stay one more day in that place. It is better that I left and took the burden with me. I am sorry. Please, do not ask what the burden is. I will tell you, but I do not wish to say it."
The ghostly young man stood eerily silent for awhile. "A box." He said without any finesse or hesitation, his facial expression serious but honest. "What is your burden?" He asked as if he had not heard her last words at all, before giving his own question an answer. "Too much heat consumption in shower?" It was direct, it was uttered bluntly but no doubt was it close to the truth or so he'd imagined. "If you tell me I will give you something. It will not be sheep."
A look of shocked hurt flashed across Bak's face when he asked anyway, immediately followed by the sort of relief show by men rescued from the gallows. She shook her head, still sadly. "No, that is not it. It is...I am..." she growled, the kind of growl someone lets out when they're pulling a heavy weight, trying to force herself to form the words. Not because she wanted whatever gift he had, but because this was a promise to a friend. "I am....I....am......sorry." She had to take a moment, let the beating of her heart settle. "I am not strong enough. Maybe someday I will be able to look it in the face, but I can not now."
"I see... some other time then." It appeared like Bak was not going to tell Vittorio more about her past, but that was fine. He decided already to give her something. As it only pained him to have it, she would surely find more joy in it than him. "I wish to give you the box anyways. Go to my room, I will wait there. And thank you for the story." Vittorio nodded to Bak and for once has a slightly eased expression on his face where his mouth was not a reversed U, but more like a line. It wasn't a smile, but it was at least something. "Whatever it is... telling others about it will easen the burden for you. Take it from someone who has very little left."
Vittorio attempted to fly through Bak's room and towards where his own room was, gliding through a couple of other rooms in the process.
Bak waited for a bit, feeling bad for bringing down the mood at the end. But even as open as all that had been the wound that Vittorio had started scraping up against was so tender that just getting he to talk about how she didn't want to talk about it had been a small miracle. Finally, through, curiosity got the best of her and she winched herself up, made sure her gown was securely fashioned and the blanket was switched off, and picked her way carefully across the floor to make sure she didn't step on any of the scattered cushions with her giant clawed chicken feet. She stopped at the door and peeked out to make sure no one was in the room, then snuck across the way and knocked on Vittorio's door.
"You may... enter..." A voice answered from inside. It was Vittorio's voice, but without the echoing to it and it sounded raspier, if abit dry. He was lying down on his bed, covered by a think blanket and the hospital gown attire he worn. He had a few of them, thinking them to be the easiest to remove when cleaning and so forth. His medical contraptions would hang around the bed, the walls decorated by scratchmarks and the occasional burnt part, as if Vittorio had several times lunged out with those wings of his at the walls themselves. From nightmares or from a combination of rage and sorrow. The room was not lit by much, apart from a lamp on a shelf. There were also smaller lights connected to his medical equipment flashing every now and then. "Hello... Bak..." Vittorio said, half-sitting up in his bed with his hair long down below his upper chest in length. He did seem older than how his astral form made him appear, he also seemed taller, thinner and with dark rings under his eyes. He was however not as bad as he used to be, or could had been due to all the medical assistance. "Come closer..."
Bak, looking around the room for the first time, felt a pang of pity before forcing that from her mind. No way, she knew what it felt like to have people think your were pitiful. He'd gotten enough of that already, surely. So she decided to come in brightly as she stomped her way across the dark room to his bedside. Vittorio seemed like the sort of person that would enjoy candles. She made a note of that.
He looked over Bak from top to toe as he took something out from under his pillow, his legs sliding to the side of the bed, he stood up. Despite having been made healthier, his musculature was still lacking alot. His stance abit unsteady. "Aren't you abit.. short to be Bak? Seeing you with my own eyes is different..." He coughed into his left arm as he finished the sentence, befoe stretching out his right hand holding a small box which could be opened. The box seems to have been well used but not in a reckless manner, upon opening it. The box would begin to play a melody, with a mirror in the lid making the person opening see their own reflection. Then in the middle of the box sat a ring with a ruby red gem in it. "I... I'd like you to have it. It is no sheep... but It would be of more happiness to you than me." He paused briefly. "I was originally... meant to give it to a girl but she was killed before I had the chance to do it. I would hate throwing something like it away, but keeping it will just remind me of my moment of failure. Please take it as a gift from one outcast to another..."
"No, I have always been this small." She said, smiling before he started coughing. She started to reach out only to realize that she'd left her gloves laying in a wet pie on the ground and pulled back. There was no telling what kind of rot her touch would put in the heart of so sickly a boy, so she could do nothing but sit anxiously and wait for it to subside. Then he brought at the box, and as he opened it up her eyes went as wide as saucer plates and and a cacophony of thoughts racing through her head joined with the sad melody that coiled out of the thing. She stared down at that ring and actually started to tremble as she waited for his next words.
The feeling of relief that washed over her when he explained the history of it was enough to fill up the entire room as she let out a breath that she hadn't even realized she'd started holding. She reached out and gingerly took the box, cradling it as though it were the worlds most valuable egg. "Oh it is beautiful." she said, the awe of the thing not the least bit diminished by her relief. "Thank you. I will be sure to keep this safe. And if you ever think you need it again, it will be right across the hall."(edited)
"Like a little sister almost..." Vittorio offered a slight nod, now somewhat more at ease, he said the words as an obvious attempt at jesting. Some strands of hair falling over his eyes. "I'm sure you will keep it safe Bak. You look after it for me when I'm gone?" He asked but didn't wait for an answer, he continued talking. "If you need help to wash your back sometime, I have plenty of extra appendages to lend. Must be really hard to reach with all the metal. But without all the metal you wouldn't be Bak.. would you?" He asked, not even taking into consideration for a moment how his words possibly could Bak-fire.
"Nononono no no," Bak said quickly, forcing down the red that was creeping up on her ears again. She actually took a step back, and the jerk of her hand caused the lid on the box to snap shut."Is not necessary. I am actually very proud of how I learned to do it on my own. It is...freeing to do so. To be able to do such things myself feels wonderful. But thank you." She stood there, metaphorically twiddling her thumbs, before deciding on what she wanted to say. "And even after all that happened, you are still sweet boy."(edited)
He stood there, his hair slightly obscuring his eyes from Bak's view. "Hah..." He said in a unbelieving manner to Bak's words, as if she had told him something he didn't believe in. He had a flashback appear before him of Charlotte. "Thanks for waiting for me, Vittorio. It was very sweet of you." Whereof Charlotte would have smiled, tilted her head to the side with closed eyes. Vittorio quickly snapped back to look at Bak."Give me a break..." A small upturn at the corner of his mouth, revealing his teeth. Just visible slightly in the dimmed light, his hair still hanging over his eyes, but he lifted his gaze abit causing some of the strands to fall back, revealing his eyes to Bak again. "You should be proud for each step you make... the stronger you become, the easier can you shape the world around you. To prevent those dear to you from dying..." A lone tear slid down his left eye. "The past is a cruel teacher... but a powerful one." He began to move over closer to Bak, he walked forwards on bare feel, his gown reaching down to around his kneecaps. One hand against the wall, using it to lean on. Before he reached over with his free hand to try lift up and look at Bak's hand, seeking to place his hand against hers , palm against palm. "My heart beats similar to yours. Even if our pasts be far apart. Let's see what the tomorrow will bring ,a final requiem for our struggle...."
Sadly, the only thing his hand finds as he reaches out is hard plaster. The entirety of Bak's free arm, the one that wasn't cradling the precious box, was all done up in white gauze. Courtesy of Celestine, a cocoon to protect the gun that was even now gestating underneath.
Then Bak's other hand closed over the top of his and gave a gentle squeeze.
She regretted it immediately. She'd promised herself she wouldn't let something like this happen.What was she supposed to do, though? What could she do when faced with this sort of sheer exhaustive effort? Not acknowledging that was unthinkable. Soon enough he could feel it. Dry, slightly cold, and crackly at fist. Then something deeper. Something wrong coming to the surface. It felt like he felt. As though everything that was sick and broken about him was now curling around his hand like a thick, meaty slug. She held on for only so long. Long enough for a heartbeat to pass between them. Long enough to say "Let us see. Tomorrow may be better, and that is all that matters." Then she let go, not bothering to look for any signs of what he'd felt. Another thing that she wasn't strong enough to talk about. She reached out to support him, stepping forward to help steady him so he wouldn't have to lean so heavily on the wall. "There. If you were to get hurt right now, Miss Celestine and Tovarish I do not think would ever forgive me."
"I live.. for the tomorrow..." He said and was about to return to his bed, when he had some aid from Bak catching him by surprise. "You.. don't have to..." He bit his teeth together, it was little use to argue now and it wasn't long to the bed. "Watch yourself... Celestine is not who you think to be..." He arranged himself at the bed upon reaching it, nodding thankingly to Bak. "She may very well not be a she at all. Always wearing masks, physical or otherwise... to cover up a weakness of the past. Hiding all that hate for others... I hate only three things in this world." He took a deep breath. "The monster who killed those dear to me. Alto whom led the creature to them. And myself for being unable to save even a friend..." His head sunk down into the pillow. "Celestine... is playing roles because the one he began with got him hurt... be careful around him, what he does is in his own interest and that of Mephisto. I am just another subject just like he is. Knowingly or not..." He sighed softly, trying to beckon Bak closer. "After the tournament... Bak..." Vittorio said in a tired voice now. "Take Rurik... Gilliam... Christine...and join with St.Laurels. A shadow will someday come.. and you'll be needed to fight as one. Alto won't be there...." Now he was breathing heavily as if in some pain. "Promise me that you leave this place behind... go to the light smiling as I will...." Vittorio pointed towards the doorway before letting his hand fall back down. "It is ill to betray others... but even worse to betray yourself..." He shut his eyes and was about to pass out.
Bak couldn't answer. Not right away. Like always, it took her a little time to process. So she stood there watching, waiting for his breathing to fall into the steady rhythm of deep sleep, and thinking. She took his bedding and tucked him in nice a snug, then leaned down as close to his ear as she was comfortable and whispered, hoping he was already sleeping, "If I go I am taking all of you." Then, as quietly as her form was able, Bak left the room. She lingered in the hallway, to unsure to even find her way back to her room. Idly she fished out the small box she had stored in one of her gowns pockets and opened it up. She stared at the pretty little stone. "Silly girl," She said with a sad little smile. "What is it you were thinking, eh?" She'd keep that ring safe and, eventually, Vittorio would come calling for it when he found the girl he wanted to give it to.
It was common knowledge among people that raised sheep, the difference between a good herder and a great one. The good sheep herder was one that had hundreds of sheep. But the great sheep herder? They were the ones willing to fight tooth and nail for a single one.(edited)
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