Rigel looked over himself, searching for any signs of injury. He stood, looking at the door. They had fur… No, that was probably just a hallucination, maybe a nice guy had just decided to help him… He wandered out into the hall, not quite remembering how to get out of the castle.
Kohaku was seemingly curious enough to get out of her bed to pace around and still be hung over about him. Who knows what he wants from us? May…. can I possibly die from him?
She got out of her room.
I mean… Mamoru didn’t even say anything— She froze when she encountered Rigel in the hallway, heart skipping multitudes of beats.
It’s him!!!!
Rigel’s eyes widened, and he took a wary step back, “What the-?” There is no way I’m still hallucinating… “Where am I?” His powers flexed, but there wasn’t much metal to use to defend himself.
She gasped, ears tingling and twitching. She couldn’t cough up the courage to say a mere sound, let along anything at all. Her bushy tail pressed against her shivering legs in a cowering stance.
She brought her trembling hands to her chest and shrank back. “Who….. wh…. who are…. you…..?” Why am I sticking around???
Rigel squinted at her for a second, nothing her nervousness, and finally eased up. I can figure this all out later… “My name is, um, Rigel.” He held out both his palms to her, as if to show he meant no harm. He lowered his voice into something more calm and soft, “Do you know where I am?”
Kohaku eased, but just enough to get her to speak. “You’re in….. K….. Katsumi Castle,” She swallowed hard, still on edge. “I…. why are you here…? And….” Her shining black nose wrinkled in disgust. “I…. what do you want from us?”
Her tail flicked anxiously, but was still very close to her body. At least he seems like he means no harm…. But the idea of decieving was too prevalent in her mind to agree.
(I heckin love the word prevalent… Word of the week ⭐️🌟⭐️🌟)
Katsumi castle…? Where is that? “I’m only here because I got wasted last night and that one guy… Mamoru, I think his name was. He brought me here. I don’t want anything from you, I just needed a place to stay without any metal.” Rigel explained, looking over his shoulder a little bit. What’s going on? Is this some kind of prank? There couldn’t possibly be people with magic in their blood like me… Rigel needed to make sure that his powers wouldn’t be exposed, gosh, if that happened…
(Thank you :3 I’m flattered!)
Kohaku barely believed that a human could be so calm towards her. She rubbed at her hands, still being quite frightened. “Well…. I don’t really think…. you’ll find any here……” Metal….? Is he… allergic or something….? She was confused, but pushed it away. “I guess you could stay here for a little bit, but that’s not my decision to make.”
She had no idea what else to do.
“I- I really need to go,” Rigel massaged his temples and looked at the floor, “I think I’m- I think I’m probably still under the haze.” Rigel bit his lip, looking at the stranger’s animalistic features of the stranger again. There’s no way those hallucinogens lasted this long…
“Where is there to go….?” Kohaku frowned, turning away. “Everywhere I look, all I see are the faces of greed…..” She wandered away and back into her room where she could be at peace. I really have no business in talking to him if he has to leave so soon.
She rested herself on her bed and sat there, tail still flinching every minute or so. I know he’s not going to stay very long, and the influence that humans made for themselves is so strong, why would I even try to get along with him?
“Wait,” Rigel said, but it was quieter than what he wanted it to be. He sighed, then walked down the hall aimlessly, finally calling, “Mamoru? Are you here?” He ran a nervous hand through his hair, chewing his lip slightly.
Kohaku heard him call out for Mamoru, and she rose up from the bed to return to her room’s doorway.
He looked extremely nervous, pacing down the hall like he did.
“A—are you looking for Mamoru….?” She said loudly, yet just as nervously. What am I doing, trying to help him?…
(Aughgh I’m confused what time of day is it? [You said Rigel woke up later but how much later]??????)
(Morning, sorry, I wasn’t sure what time you want so I left it kinda vague oops)
Rigel froze, “Yes, I really need to make sure- I really need to talk to him.” I really need to make sure he won’t say anything about the metal thing… He looked from the stranger to the floor, his brain undecided between denial and confusion.
She came a little further out of her room. “Umm…. He should be in his room. Or down in the dining hall— it might be that time already….”
Someone came up the right staircase, and Kohaku swiveled to see Mamoru come into view.
“Good morning Kohaku…. and to you too, Rigel,” He gave them both an acknowledging nod. “Daichi is fixing breakfast downstairs in the dining hall. I’ll see you both down there, however, I heard my name being called?”
Kohaku ran along, giving a backwards glance at the human as she passed Mamoru. Rigel?
Rigel looked exasperated at Mamoru, “I’m going crazy, that’s it. People have fur now and I’m just- Gosh, this is insane.” Rigel leaned against the wall, massaging his temples. This is messed up so bad, maybe I damaged my brain for good…
His ears folded back and his eyes narrowed in offense. “We are more than just humans with fur,” Mamoru tried not to get carried away. Perhaps the generation has come where humans hardly recognize us anymore… “But it may be that you were confused by my shapeshifting.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Rigel’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “I was high as heaven last night, I guess I’m still high because you are a dang animal.” Rigel crossed his arms over his chest, studying Mamoru. “And what are you talking about? Shapeshifting?”
Mamoru realized whatever Rigel ended up doing to himself the other night opened up a separate personality. He immediately folded his ears back and snarled, “Nothing’s keeping you from leaving this place and returning to the metal-ridden hell I managed to bring you out of.”
His eyes narrowed. “And I hope you know that I helped you out of the goodness of my heart…” He didn’t even bother to shapeshift— he knew where that issue would go. “It’s fine if you’re just going to neglect it like that…”
He swiveled around and continued to go back down the staircase. Have we become so remote that no one knows we exist anymore?
Rigel innerly cursed himself. I managed to get the one guy I really count on to get angry… “Wait, I’m- I’m sorry, I had a rough night,” Rigel followed after Mamoru, “Thank you for helping me, if you hadn’t been there…” My powers would’ve been exposed. “I need to get back though, probably, it’s just…” How did he interpret last night…? Did he know it was me controlling the metal…?
He stopped, feeling the tiniest drop of sympathy in his heart. “I appreciate your recovery and apology, and I’m glad you’re feeling better, if that’s what you’re implying.” He needs to get back…. that doesn’t make much sense…
“And if you really need to get going, I’m not stopping you.” He folded his hands together.
“But- What do you remember from last night?” Rigel questioned, watching carefully to see Mamoru’s reaction. He must know… I nearly hurt him when my powers went out of whack…
He cocked his head, unsure where exactly the conversation was going. “I remember nearly everything….” Strange…. “I helped you after you collapsed from exhaustion and got you out of the city where lampposts were falling down and curling in on themselves…” He suddenly shivered. Which reminds me— what did cause that?
“Uh, yeah —er— What do you think caused that?” Rigel tried to be as unassuming as possible, looking at the ground. Please, please, please, don’t suspect magic… I can’t have anyone find out. He started chewing his lip without realizing.
Mamoru couldn’t be so sure. “It’s hard to say because it’s so unnatural….” He glared at him and saw him chewing his lip for what seemed to be no reason, avoiding his gaze. “Is it something you happen to know about?” It’s hard to tell, but the answer will make the thinking so much easier.
“Uh— No, I thought I was just hallucinating again. Strange night…” Rigel forced an uneasy laugh, still unable to look at Mamoru in fear of being found out. If he doesn’t know it’s me, I’ll be safe… I can go back to my normal life, I can pretend this never happened.
“Well, then I have absolutely no idea what it was exactly….” He was getting an odd vibe from his demeanor. “But it was obviously something paranormal— maybe a poltergeist or something…” Yet those tend to be more vocal and catalystic.. “I won’t worry about it too much. However, there is a reason you need to be away from metal, right?”
He’s on to me… Shoot… “I, um, don’t know what you’re talking about…” He muttered, paling slightly. He attempted at changing the subject, “What do you mean by poltergeist?”
He squinted at him. “You said last night that you needed to be somewhere, perferrably a place without metal. And here you are.” Mamoru’s ears twitched irritably. Did he lose his memory or something??
He developed a strange sense of doubt in his mind that couldn’t be shooed away, and he creased his brow with mere annoyance. “Do you think something else caused it?” That’s what it sounds like he’s implying.
“No, no, of course not, it’s just that poltergeists don’t exist,” Rigel finished the sentence almost inaudibly, shrugging a little, “But that’s probably the best explanation for what happened,” He insisted, wringing his hands slightly.
(Lol sorry I’m late.)
Mamoru gave him a harsh look of suspicion but thought nothing of it. “Well, that’s alright— but just to save both us and yourself, you should… probably get going.”
He turned away. “To keep you here for too long—“ May get us killed— “Can cause slight trouble for us…”