Post by Koi Sakana on Apr 16, 2020 16:47:03 GMT
Quest Link: Teach Our Children
Warnings: Violence, Blood(?)
Summary: Koi was tasked with watching over a merboy named Pike. Upon his request, she brought him to the Bazaar. However, while there, Koi was assaulted by undercover "demons" who identified her as a shikigami. Koi was mortally wounded with a knife, but given some kind of mysterious spider that will keep her alive for 30 days.
Tags: Merfolk, School, Bazaar, Pike, Demon/Youkai, Exorcist, Shikigami, "Spider", Sorcerer
Warnings: Violence, Blood(?)
After irresponsibly(?) washing her hands of that strange patriotic human (again), Koi turned her attention to other activities that she could potentially contribute her services to. Evidently, Koi was extremely bad at distinguishing food that the Merfolk liked to eat. In the evening, an angry fishmonger had stormed her way to the Adventurer’s Guild Shack — to personally inform her that the bucket of seaweed and barnacles was very much not appreciated. In fact, the mermaid lady had even filed a customer service complaint with the receptionist on duty.
Koi decided at that point that perhaps she should take a break from attempting food quests.
In either case, it was a brand new morning, and Koi wasn’t about to be discouraged by any unforeseen setbacks. Tenacity was one of her strengths. She picked up another flyer from the Quest Board.
Shortly thereafter, Koi was back in the village and holding the hand of a child. The fish spirit had stopped by the local school, but the class was going on a field trip today.
There was one child, however, who did not get a permission slip from his parents to go to the Reef. Consequently, he was forced to stay behind, and Koi arrived just in time to be able to offer to watch over him. After a quick background check (the teacher asked to see Koi’s file at the guild), Koi was given responsibility for the little merboy.
Together, Koi and the little boy waved as the rest of the class departed, leaving the school building empty. The fish spirit sat down at the teacher's desk silently and stared out of the window. The boy, on the other hand, was left at his desk fidgeting with worksheets to complete.
It was extremely dull, and time passed excruciatingly slow.
“I want to go to the Bazaar!” The boy suddenly said when the sun reached mid-morning.
“The Bazaar?” Koi asked, curious.
“Yes! The Bazaar! Every month, a bunch of traders from all over the world stop at Myrtle Island for a few days. It’s really cool! You can find all sorts of stuff at the Bazaar!”
Koi pondered for a moment about whether she was allowed to take the child to the Bazaar. The teacher had instructed Koi to watch over the boy and give him his lunch, but she had not explicitly said that it was not okay to go to the Bazaar.
Besides, it was stuffy inside this classroom. Koi didn’t understand how merfolk and humans could “learn” inside such an oppressive setting. In her own personal experience, Koi felt that people learned best by “doing”. For instance, the best way to teach someone to swim was to toss them into a pond. Mother birds kicked their fledglings out of the nest when they felt like it was time for them to fly.
In either case, Koi thought there would be a diversity of things that could be experienced at the Bazaar. Myrtle Island was a small little place, and it would be beneficial for any child to see a little more of the world.
It was totally an educational experience.
Koi nodded slowly and turned to face the boy.
“Sure, let’s go to the Bazaar.”
The boy’s name was Pike.
He seemed especially drawn to the food stalls with a variety of different exotic snacks that Koi herself didn’t even recognize. She held tightly onto the boy’s hand, and he pulled her from one stall to another. For the most part, she let him and his curiosity take the lead.
“What’s this?” Pike would occasionally ask a shopkeeper, pointing.
“That’s an elephant tusk.” The foreigner smiled at the little merchild.
“What’s it used for?”
“When it’s polished and carved, it makes a beautiful kind of jewelry. I think it would look fabulous on the Big Sister with you. Might I interest you in some ivory necklaces? Come! Try these on! I’m sure you will like it.”
Koi cleared her throat uncomfortably before shaking her head. Salespersons were scary. She vaguely remembered dealing with these kinds of people in her old world.
“Can I eat it?” Pike asked, pressing forward nonetheless.
“Eat an elephant tusk? ...No, you can’t.” The shopkeeper sounded defensive.
“Has anyone tried to eat it?”
“Well… no, not that I know of… but…”
“Then how do you know that it’s not edible?”
“It’s as hard as rock!”
“Don’t worry. I have a very tough stomach. Could you give me a sample to chew on so I can test if it is edible?”
“Absolutely not!”
Koi had a somewhat flustered expression on her face as this exchange unfoiled in front of her. She hastily grabbed Pike’s hand and started pulling the boy away from this merchant’s stall. Giving her thanks to the shopkeeper, she turned around and knelt down so she was eye-level with the boy.
“Do you really eat everything?” She whispered incredulously.
“I’m proud of it!” Pike puffed out his chest.
“Even barnacles?”
“Yup! Barnacles are—”
Out of nowhere, someone grabbed a fistful of Koi’s hair and yanked her backwards.
There was a clatter around the neighboring stalls as boxes tumbled to the ground, spilling all sorts of different wares. Several screams penetrated throughout the market as swords were unsheathed. Vaguely, Koi heard panicked and muffled shouts from Pike, but stars filled Koi’s vision as she was roughly forced to the ground. Chaos erupted around her.
“Now what do we have here?” A sinister voice murmured into Koi’s ear.
The fish spirit felt a knife pressed against her throat.
“I never imagined that I’d find a shikigami all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Koi struggled to crane her neck around, and out of her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of a tan-skinned individual who initially appeared human. However, she squinted slightly more, and the air seemed to waver around him. It was an illusion.
The illusion was almost flawless. However, something about the quality of mirage seemed nostalgically familiar to her.
“...You’re a contracted demon. Yōkai.” She whispered.
The assaulter had a vice-like grip on Koi’s hair. He had her arms pinned down and immobilized on the dirt. Apparently, there were also other companions of his who had cleared the crowd.
He pressed the knife harder against Koi’s artificial flesh.
“Where’s your Exorcist?” The man spat through terse lips.
Koi was silent.
The demon was impatient and raised his voice.
“”Speak! Now! Or else I’ll slaughter that child you were with.”
The edge of the blade broke Koi’s skin, drawing a trickle of colorless magical blood.
There was silence, aside from the muffled sobs of Pike in the background.
The demon paused for a moment.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, and he lowered his knife a millimeter.
“You’re powerless, aren’t you?”
He brought a hand to his forehead.
“Oh damn, I can’t believe it.”
There was a subtle chuckle of laughter in his voice. He sniffed the air nearby as if to confirm something, and then broke out chortling as if this was the funniest thing that he had seen in ages.
“You don’t have an Exorcist!” He exclaimed. “You’re uncontracted and bleeding out your remaining magic. How long do you have left, exactly?”
He laughed.
“And you’re walking around normally and living like a human? I can’t believe it! Is this the way that you want to die? How you want to spend the last of your days?”
He spat at the ground with snigger and then stood up.
The man sent a cue to his subordinates, who promptly lowered their swords.
“False alarm,” he said to his companions. “Let’s disperse the crowd. No need to cause a scene. Remember our cover, we are ‘peaceful’ merchants just passing by.”
Released from the demon’s grip, Koi rubbed her sore neck and finally got a better look at the men who had attacked her. The leader was tall with flaming red hair. He was dressed in fashionable human attire and his jaw bone was angular. By conventional measures, he was very attractive, but Koi knew not to be deluded. It was an illusion, and the demon’s true form was horrific and ghastly.
The man turned back slightly with an eerie grin on his face.
“Tell me, Shikigami. I want to know. How did your Exorcist die?”
There was a sadistic glint in his ruby eyes.
“Describe his death in detail. I want to know which one of us got him. We have a little competition, you see? Which one of us can score the most.”
Koi was expressionless.
“He died of old age,” she responded, her voice perfectly level.
The man instantly frowned. Moments later, a flash of anger appeared in his pupils.
There was a whirl of air, and before anyone could react, Koi found herself shoved up against the wall of one of the wooden buildings. The collision was forceful, and the fragile columns of wood splintered with the demon’s strength. Sawdust and wood chips flew into the air.
“You annoy me,” the demon growled.
There was silence.
“It appears so,” Koi replied after a long delay.
“I could kill you right now,” he threatened. “Don’t piss me off.”
The man plunged the enchanted knife into Koi’s torso, and colorless fluid poured out from her chest. Nearly instantly, the fish felt lightheaded and weak to her knees. Her magic — and her life force — gushed out. Her eyes rolled backwards.
“Um Victor,” one of the demon’s companions interrupted. “I thought we weren’t going to make a scene.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” a feminine voice remarked sarcastically.
“This shikigami appears to be a doll-type. Emotionless. Highly obedient.” Someone else commented. “The Sorcerer could use something like that. They’re easy to convert. Anyways, Victor, it’s useless to get a reaction out of that thing. I know you’re a sadist, but you’re playing with a wooden log.”
The demon yanked the knife out of Koi’s chest with frustration.
The fish spirit collapsed to her knees.
“Fuck.” The man said. “This is stupid.”
“There are many types of shikigami. It’s easy to mistake them,” one of the companions offered sympathetically. “This one is harmless without a contractor to give her orders, anyways.”
“We should leave, before the locals get here with more company.”
“Are we taking the doll with us?”
“Nay. Just give her a spider. It’ll keep her alive for thirty days, and she’ll come looking for the Sorcerer herself. If she doesn’t come back to join us, she’ll be dead anyways.”
One of the individuals cloaked in heavy robes knelt down by Koi’s crumpled body. She was still steadily bleeding, and a puddle of liquid magic had formed on the ground around her.
The mysterious figure reached into their robes and pulled out a small insect. They tilted Koi’s mouth upwards and guided the arachnid into the girl’s throat. The black spider disappeared down the girl’s trachea, and Koi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Almostly immediately, Koi’s wounds began to seal shut. However, the fish spirit was completely unconscious, unaware of the manipulation that had been made to her.
The cloaked figure stood up, nodded to their band of companions, and the aggressors melted into a black fog. They vanished without a trace.
The terrified village boy named Pike witnessed all of this transpire.
Koi decided at that point that perhaps she should take a break from attempting food quests.
In either case, it was a brand new morning, and Koi wasn’t about to be discouraged by any unforeseen setbacks. Tenacity was one of her strengths. She picked up another flyer from the Quest Board.
+ + +
Shortly thereafter, Koi was back in the village and holding the hand of a child. The fish spirit had stopped by the local school, but the class was going on a field trip today.
There was one child, however, who did not get a permission slip from his parents to go to the Reef. Consequently, he was forced to stay behind, and Koi arrived just in time to be able to offer to watch over him. After a quick background check (the teacher asked to see Koi’s file at the guild), Koi was given responsibility for the little merboy.
Together, Koi and the little boy waved as the rest of the class departed, leaving the school building empty. The fish spirit sat down at the teacher's desk silently and stared out of the window. The boy, on the other hand, was left at his desk fidgeting with worksheets to complete.
It was extremely dull, and time passed excruciatingly slow.
“I want to go to the Bazaar!” The boy suddenly said when the sun reached mid-morning.
“The Bazaar?” Koi asked, curious.
“Yes! The Bazaar! Every month, a bunch of traders from all over the world stop at Myrtle Island for a few days. It’s really cool! You can find all sorts of stuff at the Bazaar!”
Koi pondered for a moment about whether she was allowed to take the child to the Bazaar. The teacher had instructed Koi to watch over the boy and give him his lunch, but she had not explicitly said that it was not okay to go to the Bazaar.
Besides, it was stuffy inside this classroom. Koi didn’t understand how merfolk and humans could “learn” inside such an oppressive setting. In her own personal experience, Koi felt that people learned best by “doing”. For instance, the best way to teach someone to swim was to toss them into a pond. Mother birds kicked their fledglings out of the nest when they felt like it was time for them to fly.
In either case, Koi thought there would be a diversity of things that could be experienced at the Bazaar. Myrtle Island was a small little place, and it would be beneficial for any child to see a little more of the world.
It was totally an educational experience.
Koi nodded slowly and turned to face the boy.
“Sure, let’s go to the Bazaar.”
+ + +
The boy’s name was Pike.
He seemed especially drawn to the food stalls with a variety of different exotic snacks that Koi herself didn’t even recognize. She held tightly onto the boy’s hand, and he pulled her from one stall to another. For the most part, she let him and his curiosity take the lead.
“What’s this?” Pike would occasionally ask a shopkeeper, pointing.
“That’s an elephant tusk.” The foreigner smiled at the little merchild.
“What’s it used for?”
“When it’s polished and carved, it makes a beautiful kind of jewelry. I think it would look fabulous on the Big Sister with you. Might I interest you in some ivory necklaces? Come! Try these on! I’m sure you will like it.”
Koi cleared her throat uncomfortably before shaking her head. Salespersons were scary. She vaguely remembered dealing with these kinds of people in her old world.
“Can I eat it?” Pike asked, pressing forward nonetheless.
“Eat an elephant tusk? ...No, you can’t.” The shopkeeper sounded defensive.
“Has anyone tried to eat it?”
“Well… no, not that I know of… but…”
“Then how do you know that it’s not edible?”
“It’s as hard as rock!”
“Don’t worry. I have a very tough stomach. Could you give me a sample to chew on so I can test if it is edible?”
“Absolutely not!”
Koi had a somewhat flustered expression on her face as this exchange unfoiled in front of her. She hastily grabbed Pike’s hand and started pulling the boy away from this merchant’s stall. Giving her thanks to the shopkeeper, she turned around and knelt down so she was eye-level with the boy.
“Do you really eat everything?” She whispered incredulously.
“I’m proud of it!” Pike puffed out his chest.
“Even barnacles?”
“Yup! Barnacles are—”
Out of nowhere, someone grabbed a fistful of Koi’s hair and yanked her backwards.
There was a clatter around the neighboring stalls as boxes tumbled to the ground, spilling all sorts of different wares. Several screams penetrated throughout the market as swords were unsheathed. Vaguely, Koi heard panicked and muffled shouts from Pike, but stars filled Koi’s vision as she was roughly forced to the ground. Chaos erupted around her.
“Now what do we have here?” A sinister voice murmured into Koi’s ear.
The fish spirit felt a knife pressed against her throat.
“I never imagined that I’d find a shikigami all the way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Koi struggled to crane her neck around, and out of her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of a tan-skinned individual who initially appeared human. However, she squinted slightly more, and the air seemed to waver around him. It was an illusion.
The illusion was almost flawless. However, something about the quality of mirage seemed nostalgically familiar to her.
“...You’re a contracted demon. Yōkai.” She whispered.
The assaulter had a vice-like grip on Koi’s hair. He had her arms pinned down and immobilized on the dirt. Apparently, there were also other companions of his who had cleared the crowd.
He pressed the knife harder against Koi’s artificial flesh.
“Where’s your Exorcist?” The man spat through terse lips.
Koi was silent.
The demon was impatient and raised his voice.
“”Speak! Now! Or else I’ll slaughter that child you were with.”
The edge of the blade broke Koi’s skin, drawing a trickle of colorless magical blood.
There was silence, aside from the muffled sobs of Pike in the background.
The demon paused for a moment.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize something, and he lowered his knife a millimeter.
“You’re powerless, aren’t you?”
He brought a hand to his forehead.
“Oh damn, I can’t believe it.”
There was a subtle chuckle of laughter in his voice. He sniffed the air nearby as if to confirm something, and then broke out chortling as if this was the funniest thing that he had seen in ages.
“You don’t have an Exorcist!” He exclaimed. “You’re uncontracted and bleeding out your remaining magic. How long do you have left, exactly?”
He laughed.
“And you’re walking around normally and living like a human? I can’t believe it! Is this the way that you want to die? How you want to spend the last of your days?”
He spat at the ground with snigger and then stood up.
The man sent a cue to his subordinates, who promptly lowered their swords.
“False alarm,” he said to his companions. “Let’s disperse the crowd. No need to cause a scene. Remember our cover, we are ‘peaceful’ merchants just passing by.”
Released from the demon’s grip, Koi rubbed her sore neck and finally got a better look at the men who had attacked her. The leader was tall with flaming red hair. He was dressed in fashionable human attire and his jaw bone was angular. By conventional measures, he was very attractive, but Koi knew not to be deluded. It was an illusion, and the demon’s true form was horrific and ghastly.
The man turned back slightly with an eerie grin on his face.
“Tell me, Shikigami. I want to know. How did your Exorcist die?”
There was a sadistic glint in his ruby eyes.
“Describe his death in detail. I want to know which one of us got him. We have a little competition, you see? Which one of us can score the most.”
Koi was expressionless.
“He died of old age,” she responded, her voice perfectly level.
The man instantly frowned. Moments later, a flash of anger appeared in his pupils.
There was a whirl of air, and before anyone could react, Koi found herself shoved up against the wall of one of the wooden buildings. The collision was forceful, and the fragile columns of wood splintered with the demon’s strength. Sawdust and wood chips flew into the air.
“You annoy me,” the demon growled.
There was silence.
“It appears so,” Koi replied after a long delay.
“I could kill you right now,” he threatened. “Don’t piss me off.”
The man plunged the enchanted knife into Koi’s torso, and colorless fluid poured out from her chest. Nearly instantly, the fish felt lightheaded and weak to her knees. Her magic — and her life force — gushed out. Her eyes rolled backwards.
“Um Victor,” one of the demon’s companions interrupted. “I thought we weren’t going to make a scene.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” a feminine voice remarked sarcastically.
“This shikigami appears to be a doll-type. Emotionless. Highly obedient.” Someone else commented. “The Sorcerer could use something like that. They’re easy to convert. Anyways, Victor, it’s useless to get a reaction out of that thing. I know you’re a sadist, but you’re playing with a wooden log.”
The demon yanked the knife out of Koi’s chest with frustration.
The fish spirit collapsed to her knees.
“Fuck.” The man said. “This is stupid.”
“There are many types of shikigami. It’s easy to mistake them,” one of the companions offered sympathetically. “This one is harmless without a contractor to give her orders, anyways.”
“We should leave, before the locals get here with more company.”
“Are we taking the doll with us?”
“Nay. Just give her a spider. It’ll keep her alive for thirty days, and she’ll come looking for the Sorcerer herself. If she doesn’t come back to join us, she’ll be dead anyways.”
One of the individuals cloaked in heavy robes knelt down by Koi’s crumpled body. She was still steadily bleeding, and a puddle of liquid magic had formed on the ground around her.
The mysterious figure reached into their robes and pulled out a small insect. They tilted Koi’s mouth upwards and guided the arachnid into the girl’s throat. The black spider disappeared down the girl’s trachea, and Koi’s eyelashes fluttered slightly.
Almostly immediately, Koi’s wounds began to seal shut. However, the fish spirit was completely unconscious, unaware of the manipulation that had been made to her.
The cloaked figure stood up, nodded to their band of companions, and the aggressors melted into a black fog. They vanished without a trace.
The terrified village boy named Pike witnessed all of this transpire.
Summary: Koi was tasked with watching over a merboy named Pike. Upon his request, she brought him to the Bazaar. However, while there, Koi was assaulted by undercover "demons" who identified her as a shikigami. Koi was mortally wounded with a knife, but given some kind of mysterious spider that will keep her alive for 30 days.
Tags: Merfolk, School, Bazaar, Pike, Demon/Youkai, Exorcist, Shikigami, "Spider", Sorcerer
