Three Seals [Noise Prince + Florence_Ashmore]

[Noise Prince]

 

 

 

Name

Tsubaki

 

Age

21

 

Height

5'8

 

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(please excuse the bad slapped on coloring!)

 

-Name-

Zaas

 

-Age-

23

 

-Height-

5'10

 

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Tsubaki glanced at his watch and sighed in annoyance, they had already been here for four hours, and still, no sign of the shadow. Reaching down, he pulled open the file that he had sat on a nearby desk and flipped it open to review it again. "13 people have gone missing in the large hotel that is a converted manor, in the last 6 weeks. Reports that were filed had interviews claiming that individuals had seen a strange shadow moving around at night. One women reported hearing someone running down the hall, but when she looked into the hall, no one was anywhere to be seen." He mumbled softly to himself, eyes scanning the papers for any clues that might let him know how to attract the damn thing. It was late and he just wanted to be done with this by now. He and Zaas had already split up an hour ago so that they could try and corner what ever it was, but it was to no avail. He had no idea where his deamon was, he just knew that he was in the house still, searching for the evil being. Though, even if Zaas ran into it, there was no much he could do unless the priest released the first seal on him and let him do his thing. There contract consisted of three seals. The first, when released, allowed Zaas free range of his abilities, but could be resealed almost immeidately if need be. The second seal, allowed Zaas free range of his abilities, plus the deamon could tap into the priests essance and absorb it, then mold it into his own power. This seal was only used in emergencies, because it shorted the priests life span. The third and final seal, was called the breaker seal, in which the entire contract itself was broken, and the deamon would be released from the contract. However, the one way this seal could come to pass, would be if the priest died, or if he himself canceled the contract, which would in turn result in his death.

 

Tilting his head back slightly, he let out a long yawn and mumbled something incoherently, but it was along the lines of cursing out the fowl creature that was taking so long to show itself. However, a sudden rustling noise was heard to his right. Straightening up suddenly, he looked over towards the source of the noise. But all was silent. Taking another step towards the source of the sound he stopped, eyes finally catching what it was, and a shiver ran through his spin. There was a long, tall shadow, it remained unmoving which is why he had a hard time spotting it at first. How long it had been there and watching him, he wasn't very sure. A long smile broke the image before him, and he watched as the shadow shifted slightly, and it seemingly went from 2D to 3D, as it began to crawl out of the floor that it was implanted in just moments ago.

 

"Right, well, how about this. I am going to run away now, and find my deamon. If you could just wait right there until I get back, that would be great." He smiled at it, taking a step back. Though evidently it did not much like his offer, because within seconds it was running towards him, bounding over the floor with it's long legs. Turning on his heels, he took off across the hall, passing doors and large picture frames. Taking a sharp turn, he called out as loud as he could, "Zaas! Hey Zaas, I found it! You can make your dramatic appearance now!" From behind him, he heard a dark, sinister voice hiss out "I smell a priest!"

 

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Zaas was growing more and more restless, pacing back and forth, scouring for this damned beastie they were supposed to slay. The worst part was that the ones that hid were almost no fun to fight. If they were, they usually showed up to display their prowess and Zaas could enjoy slicing them down. But the ones that evaded for hours, when they finally reared the heads out, they tended to be annoying. So all these hours weren't really going to be worth it. At least not to Zaas, the owners of this hotel were likely to be thankful for it. But their thanks would likely be directed towards Tsubaki, anyway. Not that he minded, it wasn't as if he'd be doing it if it weren't for the priest summoning him and directing his power.

 

Still, he wondered if it would be so weak if he'd even need Tsubaki's help at all. 'Help' was a diminutive word for what Tsubaki did. Without Tsubaki releasing a seal, Zaas was effectively useless. He was still a physical marvel by most human standards, strong and agile, but the fact of the matter was that he was nothing compared to his power when the priest released the first seal. He hadn't met a monster or demon yet that he could confidently confront in this depowered state. Tsubaki didn't 'help' him… he made him.

 

He started to entertain himself by seeing how many steps he could take walking on his hands down the hall, almost giving up on finding the damn menace in this night, until he heard feet pounding, echoing in the dark, empty house. Didn't one person say they heard the apparition make such a noise? He started heading that way, unknowing that the sound was actually Tsubaki's feet as he ran from the specter, until he cried out for him. Zaas was already almost there. Instead of running up the stairs, in which Tsubaki could be eaten in the time it took, his dramatic entrance took the form of him jumping from the banister onto the upper floor, between Tsubaki and his chaser. He held an arm out, pointing a finger at the looming black form.

 

"Sorry, I smelled him first," He politely informed his soon-to-be victim.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki's eyes scanned the area around him, all he could hear was the pounding of his feet against the expensive wooden flooring and rythmatic beat of his fast paced heart in his ear. "Where is he." He cursed softly, taking another sharp turn and nearly slipping over his own feet, which could have easily ended the thing behind him ripping his head off quick and clean. He and Zaas had been partners for two years at this point, and they were very far from a match made in heaven. They got along fine, more than fine even. However, when it came down to jobs like this there was a definet lack of synergy there. His deamon tended to get distracted easily, his biggest fault, and Tsubaki tended to be an absolute clutz. They were two imperfect peas in a pod, which is probably why it was Zaas who answered his summoning that day.

 

He was pulled out of his dazed thought when everything around him seemed to slow down, everything happened within a few seconds, which made his human eyes strain to follow it. He bounded just past the banister of the staircase, just as a large, slender blur shot up past him and landed to the ground with a deafening thud. Tsubaki tried to turn on his heels but ungracefully managed to slid straight tot he floor, fallin on his hip and immediately jumping back up, clearly annoyed. His lack of grace was evident, let alone standing next to his deamon who was known for being graceful and elegant. "Well, if it isn't evident, I found it." Tsubaki mused lightly, now feeling much better with Zaas standing in the path between himself and the demon.

 

The large form shifted and a long, thin smile cracked from the demons face. "My my, what is it the humans say now adays? Two, for the price of one?" It cackled out, it's forum shifted and bubbled, almost as if it were laughing. "Zass, come here." He murmured, reaching his hand out for his deamon, he needed to release the seal before things got nasty or they would both be fucked. "Now now, let's enjoy this and not be hasty." The thing crackled once more, and before Tsubaki could do anything to stop, the darkm looking creature sprang forward, straight for Zaas. Tsubaki, startled tried to yank Zaas back, but it only resulted in the force from the creatures lunge, knocking both the younf priest and Zaas backwards, strumbling back Tsubaki lost his foot and toppled back over the banister, pulling Zaas over the railing with him as they both plummeted downwards. Yet again, a fine example as to why they were far from a perfect team.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas often played at being reluctant when it came to being Tsubaki's deamon, as a means to mess with the priest. But despite that, they got along quite well. And if you compared them to some other duos, there was almost a sense of animosity between them, they were downright perfect for each other. Of course they had some serious clashes when it came actually fighting monsters sometimes, and that was the important thing. But if Zaas had to choose between being great in battle and hating each other, or the dynamic he had now, the choice would be pretty easy from his position.

 

So he didn't hesitate to jump in and block the demon's access to the mortal priest, even without his seal broken. It'd be nothing but advantageous for Zaas if Tsubaki was killed and eaten, but that was something Zaas couldn't stand for. Tsubaki was important to him, they'd spent two years fighting side by side. But he still had to feel exasperated when Tsubaki's trademark move of falling and killing Zaas' cool entrance reared up. But Tsubaki was quick to recover from his fall, since he had enough practice.

 

"Yeah, I noticed that," Zaas replied with a half smile, glancing over his shoulder. "Good work," The deamon took a defensive stance, looking back at the demon ahead, a hungry, hollow look in its eyes. Its formed gurgled, laughing at its own joke. How tacky. Tsubaki called him back, and the deamon, more than eager to have his full power restored, immediately turned and ran towards him so the priest could break the seal, but he definitely under estimated how fast the demon was. Zaas figured the seal could be broken, and he'd turn and force the demon back down the hall, to give Tsubaki enough time and space to find somewhere he could watch the fight safely. But instead, the demon lunged at him, pushing him into the priest. Zaas regained his balance easily enough, and tried to reach for Tsubaki, but the priest did not find his footing, and grabbed onto his deamon, toppling the both of them over the banister and into the floor waiting below.

 

Zaas muttered something under his breath, pulling the white-haired man close to his body, one hand on the back of his head, the other around his waist, and twisted so that his back was aimed at the floor just before they hit. Zaas' eyes widened and he gasped, the wind had been knocked out of him. It was so easy to forget how much… less than sturdy, to put it lightly, he was when he was in this sealed state. But he was over all okay. Nothing a little seal-breakage wouldn't fix.

 

"The seal!" He wheezed, sitting up once the priest got himself off of his emergency landing cushion.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki's eyes went wide as he felt the pit of his stomach bottom out when they took the initial drop. He might have even lost his barings and struggled a bit, but he was a clutz, and this happened much more often than it should. Almost automatically he felt himself pulled firmly against his deamon and he made sure to pull in his arms so that they would be tucked safely between his chest and the other. Last time he let his limbs do what they wanted, Zaas had ended up with a broken leg trying to protect his charge. He closed his eyes tightly and held his breath as he felt the dull thud vibrate through the Deamons body below him. It took him a moment but he quickly and injurey free, struggled backwards off of Zaas. "Crap, crap. Crap, no injuries right? Let me release it." Tsubaki spoke quickly, before pulling the other towards himself and pressing his lips against the Deamons.

 

Most people would see a kiss between two men as inappropriate, but this was nothing more than what was needed to break the seal. The air around them seemed to heat up instantly, it grew heavy and almost dark. Tsubaki leaned away and pushed himself up as he prepared for his deamon to do what needed to be done. The hulking mass that had previously been above them, was already plummeting down after them, thin twigs that could resemble arms reached downward with what looked like long, clawed fingers of far to large hands."I'll disembowl you both, and feed your inards to your closest ones!" It hissed out, voice jagged and full of hunger as it came down right on Zaas. The impact causing Tsubaki to stumble, and he knew that this was far to dangerous for him to be close to so quickly tried to dash to a safe distance. Trusting Zass to do what needed to be done.

[Noise Prince]

Tsubaki was awful clumsy but at least he learned from past mistakes, and Zaas was quite relieved when he felt the priest pull his limbs in, so he wouldn't have to break his own trying to protect him. He could recover from a broken leg much easier than Tsubaki could, though. This fall went as smoothly as could possibly be expected. Zaas would have to be impressed with Tsubaki's growth as a faller when he could breath.

 

Once Tsubaki gathered his senses, he leaned back over the deamon, and he pressed his warm lips to his. Unlike what some people might think seeing such a brazen display, it was a purely professional gesture, and the magic that surged through Zaas wasn't the same that flowed through others when kissing. Tsubaki's kiss held power to break the first seal he had upon the deamon, and his original power surged back into his body, and the air around them grew heavy in hot. This feeling was home at this point. When Tsubaki pulled away from him, it revealed the dark mass coming down towards him. Now admits the hunger was an anger, a determinedness to end this in blood. Zaas was all to willing to appease it. It's claws came forward stretching out towards them. He glanced over to make sure Tsubaki was getting himself out of the way, before he could really devote his attention to the demon they were here to slay.

 

It hissed colorful vitriol at him, and Zaas sat up, ready to pounce up and meet it mid-air, he planned to connect his fists into its palms and force it to the side. His goal was to move the fight outside, knowing that Tsubaki would most likely be blamed for not keeping the damage control to a minimum. Which was fair, after all, as Zaas would claim, he's just a deamon unleashed by the priest. But Zaas wasn't fast enough, and while his fists did hit the center of those twig-like hands, he had barely sat up when they did connect, and the beast easily pinned him back down. His claws were so long they scratched the floor, even when Zaas' elbows were pressed down to keep the shadowy creature at least that far. He had no leverage with his arms now, but he could kick. He brought up his lower body, planted the flats of his feet into the beast's form and shoved it off as hard as he could.

 

"If you want to feed my insides to my family, you're going to have to meet them first- in hell!" Zaas spat as he quickly got up, his eyes lightly glowing, one of his hands growing a bit larger, with long dark claws. He had a sword, a damn fine one, but sometimes tearing into a demon with your own hands was much more satisfying. A sword took skill, claws took a carnal desire.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki had managed to scramble away before anything to danferous broke out, this was a normal call. The only time where things could get really bad is if the person who summoned the demon was still around, but it seemed pretty clear this one had been deserted at least two weeks ago. Baki reached around and slipped a small note book out of his pocket and flipped through to the last page that had any scribbled writing on it. "Let's see." He murmured softly, his gaze on the page only breaking for a moment so he could look up and take in the ongoing fight brewing between the two non humans in front of him. The large black figure had gotten back on it'se feet and it was stalking around his deamon, completely ignoring Tsubaki at this point. It clearly had chosen Zaas as it's main target.

 

Looking back to the notebook, he reread the small briefing that they had collected already.

 

Type: Familiar

Body Count-Confirmed: 8

Came To Be: Summoned, confirmed. Summoner: Unknown.

 

"Alright, so it's just a familiar. Which means it was summoned by, who?" He murmured, glancing around. "If someone brought you here, why would they just leave you after all that effort?" He murmured, as the familiar lunged out from it's steady, circular stalking, and went straight for Zaas again, this time aiming for his chest. As it lunged forward, the lights around them began to flicker out. Leaving the three in pitch black darkness, all Tsubaki could do was pray that Zaas could handle this one on his own. He knew that his deamon would be fine, he'd released the first seal, and even if he hadn't he had enough faith in his partner at this point that he knew the other could figure this out.

 

 

A small, brown haired boy scurried along the hallway quickly. He had brown hair and green eyes, however the same minitature features as Tsubaki. This was it, he'd made it through training and past all the tests. Today was going to be the day, he would summon his first deamon. A taller man stood beside him, covered in robes so much so that you could not even see there face. The man stopped suddenly and as did Baki. He turned and reached out towards a large wooden doorway, and stepped back, motioning to the dark room he spoke, "Go, child. This will be your first deamon. Summon and control it well, you will die if you are incorrect in any of your words. Good luck." With that, Tsubaki didn't even wait, carefully, slowly, he moved forward.

 

Her name was Inori, and she was his first friend. She was also, his first deamon.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas growled, his body haunched over as he stared down the shadowy demon ahead. It was actually pretty sturdy, but Zaas didn't think that it'd be too much of a challenge. This would be over quickly. The two circled each other, anticipating who would move first, though the anticipation didn't last long, as Zaas flung himself at the dark creature, though he didn't swipe at it, knowing it would dodge, but the direction was important. Damn, it moved towards the wall, away from the door like Zaas had hoped. Then he remembered the large window behind them.

 

He lunged for the demon again, now pinned against the wall, swiping at his eyes. The eyes were not a physical part of his body, but he could just make out the claw marks in his dark face. The other's claws reached for him, and Zaas quickly battered them away, until he could grab its arms and push them back. There was only one way for it to get free, and that's what Zaas was counting on. He braced himself as the creature reared up it's legs, and forcefully kicked the priest's deamon away, and Zaas' body went sailing through the window. He left shattered glass in his wake, before his body hit the ground. And again, and a third time before he started to roll in the grass, frigid in the night air. He had barely gotten back up on his feet when the shadowy demon was upon him again.

 

Zaas definitely lost the advantage for a short while, as the demon him pinned to the ground yet again. But he was out of the building. Only a banister and a window broken, Tsubaki should be pleased with him for managing that little. He reached up with one hand and pushed its face to the side, attempting to roll it off of him. His efforts were rewarded, now that he left himself open, with those long claws sinking into his side, between his ribs. The taste of blood filled his mouth, and his rage grew stronger. This sort of injury while in this state was nothing more than a thorn's prick. He rolled the beast off of him, and managed to finally get up. He went to stab the creature, who reacted quickly enough to slash him, leaving deep gashes in his arm, and he entirely missed his target.

 

"Oh you son of a bitch…" He growled, and attempted again, this time, oddly enough, the dark beast wasn't able to parry him, and Zaas' claws buried into his neck. The demon gave a loud, gurgling hiss in protest, his arms thrashing, tearing shallowly into his hip. Zaas had just picked a vulnerable seeming spot, but it seemed the neck was incredibly vital on the demon, based on the reaction. He dug in deeper, until his claws felt dirt, and the demon scratched at his face. He gripped something in his throat, and pulled it back with all his might, a large crack of something snapping echoed into the quiet night. That was all it took, it seemed. The body sank into the dirt, motionless, not resisting. And Zaas fell back into the dirt when it was done, staring at the gross innards in his hand, dripping between his fingers to return to the soil as well.

 

The victor winced, and touched his side a little, that was really careless of him to let that happen, Tsubaki wouldn't be too happy to see him with such an injury, he was sure. He wondered if Tsubaki had been watching from the house, and looked back at the hotel, and waved towards it, so if Tsubaki was watching, he'd know that the fight was over.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki was focused in his notebook, trying to figure out what exactly the situation was. However because he could get to engrossed, a loud shattering sound ripped his attention out of it. Bright green eyes widened as he quickly turned towards the source of the noise and took off towards it. Rounded a corner so quickly he almost stumbled, he saw the large empty hole where the window used to be. Shards of glass still clung to there spots around the edges and there was a bit on the floor underneath the window. "That doesn't make sense, where's all the glass?" He murmured before connecting the dots and dashing towards the window. Reaching out he took a hold of the window and leaned out of it so look at the ground below that was at least a two story drop. "Zaas!"He screamed though it was of little use as it was drowned out by the constant crashing of the two deamons as they fought. As much as he hated to admit it, at this point there was little he could do from this distance other than stand back and watch to make sure he didn't get in the way. Zaas was his deamon and he trusted him to win, he needed him too. He'd only had one deamon before the other, and with the way that one ended it made him worry about his bright eyed deamon even more so.

 

He let out a big breath that he didn't even realize he was holding when he saw the other turn and wave. However his relief was short lived when he saw the blood slowly soaking the others shirt. "Zaas, wait right there! Don't move!" Pushing himself away from the window he took off down the small stair case to the decending floor below that was the floor loby area and quickly rushed out the door. Grunting slightly from exersion as he pushed open the heavy wooden doors from the large establishment he made his way down the front steps, not without uncerimoniously tripping along the way mind you, his pace only slowing when he got closer to the other. "Zaas, crap i'm sorry. That was my fault wasn't it?" He spoke, reffering to there plumet off the banister as he carefully knelt down so that his head was at the others waist level so he could inspect the wound. Pushing up his sleeves he put his hands around the not to plesant looking gashes in the mans hip. Only after careful inspection did he sigh in relif and stand up. "It's pretty deep but it should heal okay. I'm sorry, I really am."

 

As he spoke his tone went dead and he froze before turning around and seeing the glass all over the ground and the large hole where the prestine window was just half an hour before. "Oh no..Oh crap. I'm never going to hear the end of this mess." He groaned, bringing a hand to his temple and rubbing it slightly at the slight head ache he was starting to get. His vision was starting to blur a bit as well which was just one of the crappy side effects of opening the seal. Though literally giving away your soul in exchange for the deamons power was certainly bound to be a bit 'heavy' on the human body. Silently he turned around and pressed his first two fingers to Zaas's lips and murmured softly "Release." The words seem to bring a slight shiver to the air, as he watched his deamon shift back to his human state, though he looked non to please about it. With a tired smile he spoke again, "How about we head back, i'll make you some coffee or coco or something and dress the wounds on your hip?" As he spoke, soft light flurries began to fall from the sky rather quickly and slowly began to blanket the ground around them in a white powdery layer.

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[Noise Prince]

Zaas could see now that Tsubaki had been watching. He waited for him to join him outside. He really wouldn't have minded going back to the house to meet him, but the pale-haired priest told him to stay, and was already on his way out. So Zaas leaned back into the grass, and sighed lightly. His injuries smarted a little, but it really was nothing, despite how grim it seemed. He had already stopped bleeding. He wondered what Tsubaki found in that notebook of his. He wasn't too educated on the kinds of things he had there, so any revelation Tsubaki came from looking over his notes tended to be of great and surprising news to the daemon. It would help if he paid better attention to Tsuabki's briefings. Of course, any reveal about that shadowy creature was more or less moot. It didn't exist anymore. Tsubaki managed to not completely trip and land on his face on his way to the daemon's side, and Zaas sat up.

 

"No, no, Tsubaki, it's… well, it is a little." Zaas laughed a little. He didn't realize he was apologizing for the banister, and was just poking fun at the idea that the whole ordeal was somehow the summoner's fault. He seemed such a fragile creature, even for a human. There was something about Tsubaki that seemed delicate. It was strange that Tsubaki, a fragile, soft human, was a summoner with incredible power over a daemon like Zaas. It would almost be embarrassing, but no summoner could be underestimated. He winced a little as Tsubaki looked over his injuries, but he shrugged it off.

 

"I'm sturdier than most human fare." He reminded him. Tsubaki was an empathetic person, and even though his injuries were little more than an inconviencance, he knew Tsubaki would be upset by their presence anyway. He should have been more careful during that fight. It was just that he had gotten so bored, he didn't want to play it at a distance, play it smart. He wanted his claws in flesh, to be close. The rush of being released made him much more antsy and carnal, it was hard to center himself, he didn't give much thought to consequence or injury.

 

"It's my fault, if any." Zaas told him. "I knew I'd likely be hurt if I didn't think through my actions enough. It has nothing to do with you."

 

"Oh… yeah… well, just blame the deamon! They knew I might wreck things," He suggested to Tsubaki's concerns. He knew Tsubaki would still be held responsible, though. He was the summoner, in charge of Zaas, but it didn't hurt to try to scape goat him anyway. But just as he finished, the summoner put his fingers to his lips, and his body melted back to the first sealed form. His body felt weakened, and worn. It was strange to lose his horn, he got used to having it so quick.

 

"Hnn… coco sounds pretty nice," He admitted, though frowning at being turned back so soon. He knew it took a toll on Tsubaki, but this body didn't feel like home like the other one did.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki could clearly tell by the others demeanor that he wasn't to keen on being pushed back into his suffocated form, but all he could really offer him was a smile that seemed to fall somewhere between the perimeters of sympathetic and apologetic at the same time. Reaching up he lightly traced a finger over the others head where the horns had been just a few moments before and murmured a slight "Sorry about that, coco is it then." He concluded before turning in the direction of the parked car and starting the slick treck to it through the cascading snow. A small smile played over his lips as he returned the comment about the broken banister, "I'm going to get hell for it, but we both know that I don't need to blame you. The elders are going to have no problem doing that." He mused softly, his voice was just about always soft except when it came to any talk of the Elders.

 

The organization that they were a part of was comprised of one man who was the leader and ran the entire thing, Father Richards. Below him were the select few of about 25 members known at the Elders, which were dedicated followers of the church that he had brought over with him when he moved from Rome to take over the organization when the previous Father had been killed by a sudden deamon attack on the organization head quarters almost 30 years previously. Hell, that was before Tsubaki was even born for that matter. The Elders that had been brought over were supposed to be unbiased towards the deamons that were summoned to help the priests but it was clear that that was not the case. In there opinion, the priests should go back to the old days where they would try and exorcise every deamon. Even though it was proven that there are many deamons just far to much for a human, priest or not, to stand against.

 

In Baki's mind, they should be thankful for how easy Zaas was to work with but there was little to do about it. At least Father Richards mind seem to be more open and grateful than those of his followers. Once he made it to the large black hummer that was parked in the street he reached into his pocket and after a moment of shuffling and a slight jingle retrieved the keys which unlocked the car with a loud click. Pulling the door open he slide into the drivers side and stuck the keys into the ignition which caused the engine to roar to life. The heat automatically puffed out into his face and he reached into the back to grab his favorite white scarf that he usually wore when it was chill outside. Flipping on the head lights he waited until the other was inside as well before taking off towards head quarters which was where there housing was.

 

If anything made Tsubaki who he was it was that he was a huge clutz, and an absolutely terrible driver. After about 25 minutes of many near crashes and an innocent mail box had been knocked over they finally pulled up to the large black spiked gates that surrounded the huge facility, rolling down his window he leaned out a bit and pressed the code into the gates so that they would swing open with a dull creak. He headed down into the lot beside the building and parked the car, not without banging the front two tires on the yellow curb stopper that was meant to keep cars from getting to close to the walls of the lot. Hoping out of car he made his way around it and nearly slide on a patch of ice but caught himself against a parked car. Sighing in annoyance he continued until he finally made it to the doors of the apartment that the two stayed in.

 

All priest deamon pairs stayed in a line of apartments buildings beside the main faculty building. Jingling the keys into the lock he shoved open the door and was relieved by the welcoming burst of warm air that hit his icy cheeks. He stepped inside, leaving the door open for the other to enter and shrugged off his coat and scarf before heading down the short hall into there kitchen. On the way he also removed his priest robes to reveal a long sleave black shirt and simple black jeans underneath. He was a priest but certainly enjoyed his comfort when off duty. Reaching open into the cabnet he pulled down two mugs, one with an angel on it and one with a deamon, he'd see them at the store and thought the irony would be funny. "Can you grab the medical kit and some fresh clothes so that I can go ahead and dress your wounds please?" He called out to Zaas before continuing with making the coco.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas chuckled a little when Tsubaki touched his forehead, his face seemed almost sorrowful when he stroked the smooth skin. He wondered if he thought it was strange to have a horn, or if he liked it there and also felt bad about having to seal it away? He shrugged again.

 

"Isn't that what would make blaming me so easy?" He teased him. While the Elders seemed to largely hate deamons and detested the dependence on priests summoning them, Zaas felt that he didn't receive as much a blow as priests like Tsubaki did. He interacted with them much less than Baki, so he took most of the brunt of their dislike and distrust of daemons, largely pertaining, in Baki's case, to him needing to be less lax and less trusting of Zaas. It seemed ludicrous to Zaas considering that for one, Tsubaki didn't have much in the way of sternness, and secondly that Zaas was very relaxed when it came to demons. Sure, he could get carried away after the first seal, but he rarely became overzealous when 'cooped up' like some. Of course, quite a few of Tsubaki's peers weren't shy about taking the Elders' advice, so why should the Elders' question it themselves? But Zaas wasn't one to fret over things like that. Unless Tsubaki had a sudden change of heart, he didn't find it relevant.

 

What he could fret over, though, was Baki's driving. Who allowed him to have a vehicle? One of these days, Zaas knew he was going to be in a real wreck. Multiple times, he thought it would be tonight. But eventually, they arrived home. Both in one piece.

 

"First aid. Clothes. Got it." Zaas was feeling pretty weary now, but he got the fresh, clean clothes, and he got out the first aid kit- one that had served them well many times over the years they've spent together- and put them on the coffee table, before laying on the couch, closing his eyes to let them rest while he waited for the coco.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki opened the fridge and pulled out the milk, pouring it into a pot on the stove and turning it on he then reached into the freezer and pulled out a bar of the chocolate he froze for such occasions. Tsubaki couldn't drive well, was a clutz, and was very far from any kind of good cook, but the one thing he knew he was good at was his hot chocolete. He assumed it was simply because he put so much thought into it, and Zaas seemed to find it as comforting and wholesome as he did so he enjoyed making it for them after a job on a cold night like tonight. He leaned against the counter with his back to it and cross his arms while closing his eyes. Letting out a long breath, he let the night rush through his mind while he waited for the coco to be finished.

 

The familar was pretty straight forward and despite the mess, they had handled it well. But something was still bugging at him. Familiars have to be summoned and are usually very close with the humans that brought them into the world. If they are left alone for to long they will run out of essence and vanish. Plus, when a familiar dies, it feels like shards are stabbing at the person who brought them hears soul. In short it hurts like a bitch. Despite that, the one who summoned it was no where to be seen, and didn't even show himself after the death of his beloved familiar. Something about the whole situation just rubbed him the wrong way. Still, not much could be done about it now. The sound of the flame flickering and sparking slightly under the pot brought his attention back to reality.

 

Turning around he slipped the chocolete into the now extremely hot milk and allowed it to simmer for a few moments before removing it from the flame. Reaching over he pulled the bag of marshmellows out and poured a few into both mugs. He didn't particularly love marshmellows but something about watching a deamon sip coco with fluffy sweet marshmellows in it tickled him somehow. The white haired male reached to grab the cups but a curt knock at the door caught his attention. "Zaas, i'll be right in just give me a second. Try not to move to much or you might make the bleeding worse." He called to his deamon before heading back towards the front door. He opened it and was not exactly shocked at who was standing outside. The Father, who was accompanied by two elders standing beside him, which was procedure for his saftey.

 

He wrapped his arms around himself as the cold air once again bit at his cheeks. "Father, what a nice visit. Feel free to come in, it's freezing out there." He spoke before stepping aside and pulling the door farther open so the others could enter. However Father Richard just gave him a warm smile and shook his head lightly. "Actually, Baki, would you mind speaking with us out here for a moment?" The elder to his right smiled too but his smile was clearly false as he also spoke, "We would like to speak to you without the prying ears of deamons." Great. He thought silently, before nodding, "Oh course, " Taking a step outside he pulled the door shut behind him and turned to face the other three. The light from a nearby street lamp lit them eerily.

 

Father Richard was pale, his skin was slightly saggy and wrinkly that came from both well earned knowledge and age. He was a very tall man, being 55 did nothing to shrink his height clearly. He always had a warm smile on his face, and his eyes were a dark grey that somehow seemed to comfort and calm anyone who looked into them. "What can I do for you?" Tsubaki spoke, looking only at Father Richard and flat out ignoring the existence of the other two entirely.

 

"Actually, I know you just got back from a job but i'm afraid that in the morning I need you to do another," As he spoke, he pulled out a folder from inside his jacket and held it out to the young priest who took it but then addressed Father Richard in a rather wary tone. "Sir, I mean no disrespect. But Zaas was injured earlier, he is fine but he really needs at least a day or two off or he could rip the stitches I need to give him." He spoke, not breaking eye contact in an attempt to get across how much he really didn't think the two should rush out the next morning. However one of the elders spoke up first, "Yeah, we heard about that already. He probably hurt himself ripping that banister to shreds or shattering that window. Do you know how much that's going to us The Father to get fixed for them? That will be coming from your pay." This time, he didn't even bother to smile as he spoke in a tone that was just about dripping with Malice.

 

"Now now, please, Hush. You two are here to watch over me, not handle my affairs." Richard spoke before giving the white haired male an apologetic look. "I know my child, and I will make sure to add in a prayer for your deamons quick and painless recovery. However due to the recent influx of loose monstrocities in the area, all of our teams are having to work over time. I'm sorry about this." Baki parted his lips and was about to argue but The Father raised a hand and continued before giving him the chance to. "I bless you my child and pray you sleep well." With that, he curtly turned on his feet and the elders did the same to follow him, giving the priest no room to refuse.

 

With a loud sigh, the green eyes male turned back to the door and shoved it open with a deafening shiver running up his spine from the cold. He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him and tossed the folder onto the table beside the door. Making his way back into the kitchen he grabbed the coco and headed into the living room where he set the mugs on the table lightly before looking up at Zaas. Despite how annoyed he now was, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the site before him. Zaas's eyes were closed and his face seemed to be calm.His hair seemed to frame his face in and elegant way, but someone so naturally that it was clear that it just laid that way. How anyone could ever look at Zaas and see a blood thirsty monster he would never comprehend. To be honest, he trusted his deamon more than any human he'd ever met.

 

Pushing the coco a bit closer towards the others head, he grabbed the medical box and sat on the floor next to the other before finally speaking. "That was the Father," He began, while begining his well practice work of dressing Zaas's wound. "I know you are worn out and i'm sorry, but we have to do another one in the morning." He glanced at the others face and added hastily, "Don't worry, it will be quickly and I promise to take you out to lunch after wards, ok?" As he spoke, he finished dressing it, and began to apply ointment over all the tiny cuts and scraps on the other as well. No matter how small the injury was on his deamon, this was his deamon and he always made sure to take care of him.

[Noise Prince]

The scent of warm milk filled the room, and Zaas sank into the cushions of the couch, relaxing. There was something so incredibly comforting about the smell. Maybe it was that he was getting some coco. For a klutz who could barely be trusted with a butter knife in the kitchen, Tsubaki could make some wonderful coco. On cold nights like this, after a job well done, it just felt right to have Baki's hot chocolate boiling on the stove. And it was still snowing. It felt perfect.

 

"Mmmm… smells so good," He happily hummed when Tsubaki brought him a mug. There were so many marshmallows he could barely see that it was coco. He took a tentative sip. The marshmallows were already getting a bit foamy at the base. It was delicious.

 

Zaas had been looking forward to a nice night in like this. But of course, someone knocked on the door. Zaas thought it was weird, since the neighbors didn't usually visit them, and Tsubaki didn't hit anyone's car today. He sighed when he heard those familiar voices. He wasn't all too interested in the politics of the priests, which was probably a character flaw of considerable proportion, but when they explicitly kept him from knowing something, he became vastly more invested in what was going on. He almost wanted to put his ear to the door, but it wasn't really worth it to hear those old men bad-talk him. Not when he had a piping hot cup of freshly made coco in his mitts.

 

He took another sip, before deciding he needed to let it cool for a bit, and set it down, and laid down again. He wondered fi they found out about the property damage yet. Poor Tsubaki. It really wasn't fair that he got so much of the brunt. If the elders disliked him so much, they should be able to bad-mouth him to his face. Maybe he should be more careful, but it was difficult to keep that mindset when the first seal was released. Property damage wasn't a concern, merely a tactic.

 

Tsubaki returned after a few minutes outside in the frigid air, but Zaas stayed in place. He wasn't exactly happy about the next assignment, and Baki could tell.

 

"Alright, if it's really necessary, I'll probably be good to go in the morning. Anything for a free lunch, right?" Zaas grinned a freeloader's grin. He jolted a little when he first touched the ointment to a cut too small for any aide more serious. It was a bit cold.

 

"You really don't have to get those. They'll be gone by morning," He reminded Tsubaki, but the pale-headed priest was nothing if not thoroughly attentive.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki could tell that the other didn't seem to happy about the upcoming work but that was certainly to be expected. To be honest, he felt like sometimes they gave the pair such a work load purely because of there dislike for Zaas. Not that they were to keen of Tsubaki either. They hated the deamon, and they seemed to think he was just as bad because he chose to to hide his companionship with his deamon from them. They either disliked him or figured he was to young and naive to know the true intentions of deamons. Though if anyone knew how evil a deamon could be it was Baki. A chill ran up his spine when he remembered what had happened to him in that shed all those years ago. He shook his head lightly to dispell any lingering thoughts before returning to his job diligently.

 

"The ointment will help them heal better and this way they won't hurt when you try to sleep. Besides, if I didn't do this we both know you would just shrug it off and leave even wounds like the one on your hip to fester. I like doing it, it helps me relax anyway." He spoke, voice soft as ever but his tone held a hint of sterness. He remembered two months ago when he'd slipped and accidently got thrown into a wall, all he had was a slight concusion but Zaas had made him stay in bed for a week. The memory made his lips turn up into a slight smile, it was memories like that that reminded just how important his deamon was to him. He'd really hit the jackpot by being lucky enough to get Zaas as his deamon, and he knew it. The pair were both pretty lucky, since both seemed to have no hatred towards the other whats so ever which was generally rare for a priest and deamon duo.

 

Once he finished up the last of the injuries, he carefully put all the supplies back into the box before setting it on the table and using his knees to push himself into a standing position so he could admire the bandages and dressings. "You know, you are lucky i'm so good at this." He joked lightly before reaching over the other and lifting his legs up a bit so that he could sit next to Zaas before lowering the deamons legs back onto his lap outstretched. "Ahhh, "He sighed contently as he sank back into the couch and let his head fall back against it while he closed his eyes. "Oh I think I forgot to mention it, but good work today. I've got to say that your epic enterance would have been appriciated a few minutes earlier though." The white haired male teased before giving the other a knowing look and adding, "Got bored and practiced walking hand stands again huh?"

 

His tone was light but exghausted, and almost as if right on time, he felt his head drooping a bit as he began to nod off, forgetting about his coco entirely. Before the other even had a chance to respond, Baki's lips parted slightly as he was instantly out cold. Soft breathing escaped through his parted lips. Sometimes even the priest forgot that he was the human in the pair, and opening the seal certainly had a way to exghaust a person.

 

 

"I can am telling you, they are coming for us tomorrow. I warned you what would happen if you killed more than 10 people in a certain location." A dark mass hissed in the darkness, addressing it's deamon friend who just responded with a cackle of laughter before speaking in a voice that was dripping with excitement. "And that is exactly what I want.They have been hunting us for to long and you seem to forget that we are the monsters and they are nothing more than prey. I have a plan, you fucking idiot. We just have to get to them before the priest can release the seal. The deamon will be useless. But be careful, i'll handle the deamon and you handle the priest. Just don't kill him first, if you do the deamon will rage out. You knock him out, I don't care how, then let me rip that trairtor deamon to shreds." They both let out another cackle as they became excited for what they were hoping would be a feast of priest and deamon flesh very soon.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas sighed in response to Tsubaki's insistance to put the ointment on. This may be very human in form, but he was still very durable. But still, he actually really liked how Tsubaki went to such lengths when he was hurt, even for such minor cuts. It wasn't a bad thing at all to be fussed over and having someone care enough to let you drink coco while they dressed your wounds.

 

"So… does that mean you're stressed? What did the Smellders say? I mean, other than the job tomorrow?" He asked, trying not to seem as curious about it as he was. But he really hated being purposely kept from knowing something. And he was a little concerned that Tsubaki was already in trouble for Zaas' actions. He really liked Tsubaki, more than the average deamon liked their priest, he hated that he frequently got in trouble because of him. He felt that the elders could just take it out on him personally, since they knew it was really he who was responsible.

 

Zaas laughed and nodded, lightly patting the clean, tightly bandaged hip, admiring it himself.

 

"Yeah, but I've given you the opportunity to practice," He added with a smile. He sat up and took his coffee mug in his hand. It had cooled down significantly. He took a large sip. So good. Zaas looked at Tsubaki at the praise, and smiled wide.

 

"Thanks. You too." He replied. The demon chuckled, and shrugged. "I won't get better if I don't practice, right?" He joked, but he was actually a little embarrassed that Tsubaki could guess what he was doing when they were waiting for that creature to emerge. Tsubaki was starting to nod off, he might not have even heard it. Zaas was about to tell him to go to bed, but he noticed that he was no longer conscious. Zaas chuckled a little, and wondered if he should carry him to bed. He did tell him to relax and heal… though it really wouldn't be a bother. Instead, Zaas chose to just move him to be sitting next to him on the couch. He'd lie him down to sleep once he finished his coco. Even if Baki was sleeping, he just liked his company. He was a heavy sleeper, though.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Wide green eyes peered about the desolate hallow, flittering about in an anxious fashion. A pale reached up and raked his dark brown hair from his face before his hand dropped back down and resumed fiddling with his jacket sleeve nervously. Which was understandably to be expected, today was the day that he'd been expecting. The 14 year old continued to pace back and fourth, waiting for one of the elders to round the corner and escort him to the summoning room. He'd been brought to the Organization four years ago, after the incident happened he'd had no where to go and The Father was the one that decided to take him in. He'd spent his time here learning and training for this day and it had finally come. Today, he would practice summoning his first deamon. He was to young to properly control one yet of course so as was procedure, he was going to be placed in a safe environment that was already sealed properly for his own protection.

 

Though it was as safe as could be expected, only one person was allowed in the room, the summoner. Which was of course him, so he knew fully well that today was going to be make it or break it. Literally, if he messed up the deamon could and likely would literally break the boy in two. Finally, dull footsteps caught his attention and he turned to the direction they were coming from. He stood as still as a statue as he heard them slowly get louder as they got closer, this was it. Finally the familiar man known as The Father rounded the corner, with one Elder on either side of him. As soon as his gaze locked with Tsubaki's he gave him a warm, reassuring smile before stopping in front of the boy. "You look pale as a ghost child, don't fret. You will be proud, we have all been waiting for this and will be cheering for you from just outside the door and you know to call out for me if anything goes aray."

 

Somehow knowing that the father was going to be just outside the door managed to settle him a bit, and he nodded silently. The three tall men turned and led the short child down the hall a bit before topping in front of a large set of doors that were adorned with a large cross just above them. The Father reached over and put a hand on Tsubki's shoulder, giving him one final nod before gently nudging him towards the room. He closed his eyes once more and let out a low, unsteady breath before reaching out and pushing the doors open. The room seemed like it was vaccum sealed because as soon as the air from the enclosed space touched that of the hallway and unsettling chill and burst of air grushed out, ruffling Tsubaki's hair in the process.

 

Tsubaki's eyes snapped open as he shot up into a straight backed sitting position, waking of from the dream of that distant memory abruptly, it took him a moment to collect himself and take in his surroundings. I am okay, I am awake. It was just a dream. He told himself silently, before letting out a steady breath and turning his attention to his deamon sitting next to him. Letting out a long yawn he gave Zaas a reassuring smile of his own before reaching up to rub the back of his head , "Ah, sorry Zaas. Didn't think I was that tired." His voice was soft and collected, reaching forward he took a hold of his now luke warm mug of coco and taking a soothing sip.

[Noise Prince]

"It's no problem. I was actually hoping you'd stay asleep and I could take your hot coco," He laughed and leaned back when the summoner leaned forward from his sudden wakening. The night felt too quiet without Tsubaki awake, even for a bit. And now that Zaas had some coco in him, he was in a strange state of both sleepy and lulled by the warmth, and satisfied and reenergized by the chocolate. He wouldn't be going to sleep for at least an hour or so. He should probably try before then, though. Big day ahead of them, apparently.

 

"So that thing tonight… are we still on the look out for the summoner? Or is that being treated as a separate assignment, and another duo is going to take it?" Zaas hoped it was the latter. Summoners weren't as fun, and he felt pretty complete just taking down the monster. He liked to move on after incidents like that, going for the summoner would feel like it was dragging out. Of course, he wasn't exactly passionate about this sort of thing. He was involved because of Tsubaki, and he liked when he praised him for doing well, he wanted to do a good job for him, so he would follow where he went. But it was hard to feel like this was just as much his fight when the Elders didn't see him as much different from what he was fighting. He was so fortunate that Tsubaki was his priest. He smirked a little, remembering how patient he was at the beginning. Zaas hated him initially, and he was a little embarrassed by his behavior now, but if it weren't for Baki's understanding and gentle nature, they might have been like one of many partners who didn't get along. There wouldn't be coco, he would probably be tending to his own wounds, or as Tsubaki would put it- let his wounds fester. If Tsubaki was mean-spirited, he might keep him in a closet like he'd heard some summoners do with their disliked demons. It might be just rumors… but part of him doubted it.

 

He looked at the near-empty mug, a lonely soggy marshmallow sat in a shallow pool, and sighed.

 

"When will you learn to make enough coco to satisfy my ever growing need?" He half-heartedly commented, his eyes getting a bit droopy.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki gave the other a playfully stern look at the idea of having his coco stolen by the deamon, before bringing his cup back to his lips and taking what turned out to be an extremely satisfying sip. He felt some of the foam from the melted marshmellows on his lower lip and wiped it away with his sleeve before setting the cup down once more defiantly, this time a bit closer to himself so he could keep an eye on it. He leaned back again as Zaas asked him about the missing summoner, to which he was silent at first while he thought over the situation. Finally he shifted a bit on the couch so he could better face his deamon before finally addressing his question, "Well, that's probably going to be pretty touch and go to be honest. Finding a deamon when you are looking for is easy, look for a body count. But finding the one who got it here isn't exactly that easy, he are just humans like myself. If you weren't a deamon and saw me walking down the street you wouldn't look at me and think 'hey look a priest', would you?"

 

His tone remained soft, and he paused for a moment because now that he thought about it this seemed like a very odd situation. "We were the ones sent on the job to get rid of that deamon, meaning it was our job to get the summoner too. So sadly, it has to be us that takes him or her down. That being said, i'm a bit stuck. I really don't know how to find them, which means we are probably going to have to wait until they show themselves to us. I have a creeping suspicion that maybe that's why we have all been so busy lately. Maybe the summoner is bringing up a bunch of deamons, not just familiars. Or worse, maybe there is more than one of them. Even if that is the case, it's still manageable, I just don't really know why or how it's being done."

 

He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before adding, "Either way, we need to be on our guard for now. This is just not sitting right with me." The white haired male brought his attention back to Zaas, and couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight. Zaas himself looked pretty worn out himself, he had fought pretty hard after all. He had certainly earned some rest. Tsubaki stood up, before reaching his arms upwards to stretch out and letting out a long yawn. "Well it's not like we can do much about it tonight. The only thing we can do is get to bed so we can make sure we aren't falling asleep tomorrow morning." The male joked teasingly, refereing to a time recently when Tsubaki had literally fallen asleep leaning against a wall once while looking for a grimlin deamon.

 

"Here, "He added, pushing his half full cup towards his deamon. "You can have the rest of mine, I think I need to get to sleep. I think you should do the same ok?" Giving Zaas one last tired smile, he added, "Oh and I forgot to say thanks for catching my fall earlier, you certainly were a soft cushion." With his final tease of the night, he turned and headed out of the room and down the hall to his room which was across from Zaas's. Pushing his door open, he stepped inside and shut it behind himself. Bothering to neither flip on the lights or change into his sleep wear he promptly flopped himself face first onto the bed and within moments his breathing had evened out signallying that the priest was finally asleep for the night.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas gave him a cheeky grin, and licked his own lips, to make sure hie didn't have any embarrassing traces of marshmallow or chocolate stuck on his upper lip. He wondered if bringing up something about the summoner was a good idea now, when they were both tired. Zaas had a habit of forgetting these kinds of things in general. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at the hypothetical. Honestly, he had no idea how humans could do anything when they lacked the senses demons did. Humans had the traditional five, taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing, then the additional two of movement and balance. All of which were quite serviceable. But the fact that they couldn't tell who priests were with just them… it was weird to think about for the demon. Of course, sometimes his own were negated, like how a human might not be paying attention to a sound, he frequently ended up ignoring his own 'extra' senses. But Tsubaki.

 

"I think you still look every bit a priest, Tsubaki," Zaas said with a grin. "Even if you took the precautions to mask it, it's written all over your face."

 

But Zaas wasn't too pleased to hear that this summoner was uncertainly their responsibility. He sighed a little. It was a little frustrating, when it came to tracking down summoners and confronting them, Zaas felt pretty useless. He was good for a fight, but most of the time, summoners, caught without any summoned familiars, were to be dealt with peacefully. Zaas wasn't the most diplomatic deamon around.

 

"Right… well we don't have to worry about it now, then. We'll put it on hold until after lunch tomorrow." Zaas told him with a smile. "If it's more than one, though, are we allowed to skip the 'attempting non-violent resolution' part?" He asked softly. He knew it sounded bad, but Tsubaki would understand what he meant. If Zaas said anything like that in front of the Elders, they would be horrified that he admitted so openly to bloodthirst for humanity. But his own priest knew he wasn't a monster, he didn't relish in harming humans, not especially. He just found diplomacy far more nerve wracking, especially if there were multiple people. You couldn't talk sense to a fathering, Zaas believed.

 

Zaas sometimes wished he had something akin to Tsubaki's temperament. It probably was difficult to have a deamon who seemed so wishy washy when Tsubaki's job was to take these sorts of things so seriously. But Zaas' demeanor probably came from a reliance on Tsubaki, because Zaas really did care, he just didn't have the same means as Tsubaki to do something about it until it came time to be kissed. It was hard not to feel like a tool sometimes, literally and colloquially.

 

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Zaas chuckled, reminiscing. "Thanks," He took the mug from him and took a hearty swig of the luke-warm chocolate. "Yeah, I'll be going to sleep sooner or later."

 

"Yeah, yeah, any time. Just make sure your bony little knees aren't bent and pointing towards landing on my legs." Zaas remarked back playfully. After the priest went to bed, Zaas took a long, slow sip. He really loved it here. He didn't go to sleep for another hour, but he fell just as hard, and just as quickly.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki took a step into the room that he'd been fearing for so long, his lips were pursed and his breath caught in his throat. Today, he would be summoning his first deamon that he would have a contract with. This first go at it they were meant to just summon them, hold them to prove that they could, and then relesae them back to where they come from. He was ready for this, he could do this. Looking over his shoulder though, his confidence slipped when he saw the smiling face of the father standing in the door way that was slowly being shut behind him. "Good luck, my child. Make us proud." He spoke simply, as though he were wishing luck upon someone getting ready to compete in a sports game or the like, not exactly fitting for a child about to sumon something with the strength that a deamon had. One of two things were going to happen here, and he was young but certainly not ignorant of that fact. He was either going to succeed, or he was going to die at the hands of whatever came through the summoning circle.

 

Turning around to face the room, he took in everything before him. There was hundreds of candles filling the large room, all in small clear glass cases so that they were protected from any wind and in case they fell over they would simply go out instead of setting the whole room ablaze. Back before advancements were made, many young exorcist like himself had perished in this ritual from fire when a deamon had simply stomped to hard or yelled to loud and caused the vibrations that knocked the flames about. There was a large circle in the middle of the room, and a smaller one across from it. The entire room was bare except for the candled and circles that were both surrounded by ancient writings and symbols. Some for protection, some for the actual summoning ritual, but every single one of them important.

 

He clenched his small, shaking fists closed as he tried to compose himself. Silently, he made his way over to his own small circle and stepped inside of it, careful not to disturb any of the writings outside of it. Closing his eyes, he took in a long, deep breath before all was silent. Finally, after a good 5 minutes of silence, the brown haired male opened his eyes, where there was once fear it was now replaced with resolve. Reaching up, he put his hand over his chest where his heart lay beating steadily underneath and with his gaze set squarely on the other circle, he began to speak.

 

Attenrobendum eos,

ad consiendrum,

ad ligandum eos,

potiter et solvendum,

et ad,

congregontum eos,

coram me.

 

The moment the chant was finished, everything was silent, for a moment Tsubaki thought he messed up. He raised his foot up a bit to take a step forward, but the moment he did, a burst of air gushed out from every line of the circle that the deamon was begining to appear in, causing Tsubaki to trip backwards and fall flat on his back. Which would have been fine, but the wind blew him back a bit to hard and he landed with his head outside of the circle. His hair smeared the protection charm and broke the line of his circle and his eyes went wide when he realized that he had no protection from what ever was slowly forming inside the room with him. "Father!" He cried out, pushing himself up he dashed away from both circles towards the door but stumbled again and knocked over a few candles. One of which, to the young boys extreme dismay, had the top part of the glass case shatter as it fell, and instantly fire began to rise, spreading across the room and the door way. GReen eyes were wide with fear, as he found himself staring at the flame riddled doorway, knowing that he was now literally blocked in, with no protection and a deamon that could and likely would literally tear him to peices. All because of one mistake.

 

Beep

Beep

Beep Beep

 

Tsubaki groaned softly as the sound of the alarm clock continued to drone inside of his ears, rudely waking him from his restless sleep. Cursing softly and sighing in resignation, he reached over and clicked the snooze button before opening his eyes. Glancing outside of his window, he pushing himself up. It looked like it had gotten colder, the snow had now moved on to icy rain that was pounding against his window. "Well, that's going to be fun to drive in." He murmured softly to himself, slowly sliding off of the bed and reaching up to untangle his bed head with his fingers as he made his way out into the hall. Carefully pushing Zaas's door open, he creeped across the room and squinted his eyes to see the mount of covers and his deamon that lay underneath. Once he was closer, he saw that his deamons lips were parted slightly and he was breathing steadily. Even for a deamon, the other had such a calm and serene expression on his face when he was sleeping. One of the main reasons he really disliked having to wake the other up. A small smile traced over his face at the warm, familiar sight, gingerly he saw on the edge of the bed next to the other and reached over. Gently shaking the deamons arm as he spoke, soft but firm, "Zaas? Zaas, come on, you need to get up. We need to get going, " He spoke, ending it with a long yawn of his own as he waited for his deamon to respond.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas slept deeply, he usually did. Tsubaki could throw a metal pan or a vase at the wall and there is no guarantee that he would wake up. But a little shake was usually enough to do the trick. Zaas didn't usually have vivid dreams, it was usually just flashes of images he could recall in the morning. But he had some fairly perplexing images in his minds eye tonight. Two cups of coco with their weird day, and conversation the night before was feeding into a dark, weird part of his brain.

 

He opened his eyes, seeing Tsubaki sitting over him, shaking his arm to wake him.

 

"Do you have time for breakfast, or do we have to eat on the go?" He grumbled to him softly, his eyes half closed. The air felt pretty chilly, so he was reluctant to leave his blanket and bed. The weather wasn't that nice, he predicted. Maybe Tsubaki shouldn't drive them…

 

"Even just some oatmeal, maybe," He suggested.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki couldn't help but laugh at the deamons half asleep state, he remembered one morning they spent a good two hours one morning chasing each other around the small place because Tsubaki had bought a cat water bottle squirter and had sprayed Zaas right in the face in an attempt to rise the other from his slumber. Raising his wrist he checked the steadily clicking watch on it and sighed in annoyance. One glance at his sleepy deamon however caused him to change his mind. "Sure, it's not like the thing is going anywhere, right?" Standing up, he turned to head towards the kitchen to make them some breakfast but not before sneakily reaching down and snatching up the others covers. "I'll take these with me to make sure you wake up though, ok?" He laughed before taking off into the kitchen and depositing the covers in Zaas's chair. Pulling down some pancake mix, he began to gather the ingredients for it.

 

Pancakes, another very simple thing he could make, luckily the two didn't have to starve because of his lack of cooking skills. He put on a pot of coffee for them as well, and began to mix the ingridents together before carefully pouring it into the pan. Not entirely successful you might add, because about half the batter ended up dripping onto the counter in the process.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas was struggling to keep his eyes open, and Tsubaki could obviously tell. But Zaas was pleased to hear that they'd be eating breakfast at home. He thought maybe he could sneak in a few more minutes of shut eye while Tsubaki slaved over the stove making breakfast, and he'd only have to get out of bed when the food was ready. Alas, the priest had other plans.

 

"Baki!" Zaas exclaimed in shock and betrayal, the morning chill dominating his tender exposed skin. He shot up straight, and held his arms, and shivered dramatically for affect. Tsubaki was needlessly cruel, sometimes. But it had the desired affect, and the deamon pulled himself from the refuge of the bed and got up. He groaned as he stood, and walked in after his summoner. He would worry about getting dressed in something other than his thinned boxers later- stomach came first. He was sure most humans would disapprove of the old worn pair that Zaas frequently referred to his favorite. He didn't see the need to toss them out until he couldn't put them on anymore.

 

He laughed when he saw the mess Tsubaki had made while making his pancakes, and took a wet rag and started wiping it up. He felt like this was a good representation of half their interactions together: Tsubaki doing most of the grunt work while Zaas followed and cleaned up the messes.

[Florence_Ashmore]

Tsubaki cursed slightly as a bit of the pancake batter spilled onto the floor, and yes, he actualy cursed. Hey, even priests can get annoyed sometimes too, right? He didn't even notice the other had arrived in the kitchen until he saw a bear, tanned arm reach over and wipe up some of the spills that he'd already managed to make. He was far from a perfectly functioning adult, but for Zaas he tried his best. Glancing over at the other he was about to ask him to grab some plates but quickly found himself muted at the familiar sight before him. "Zaas! Come on, we go through this every morning! It doesn't take to long to just throw on a simple t shirt and some pants."

 

His gaze lowered slightly, despite his best efforts and he found himself looking at the same boxers that the other seemed to hold onto like a child would hold onto it's favorite blanket until it's parents somehow 'lost' it in the wash. Perhaps that is what the white haired priest needed to do. He found his cheeks tinting a bit pink despite himself and quickly averted his gaze with a defeated sigh. Truth be told he was probably never going to get them away from the other. Reaching up, he pulled two plates from the cabnet and set them on the counter before carefully setting a few pancakes on them. Setting them on the table he retrieved the butter and syrup from the fridge as well. Once the table was properly set up, he sat down as and motioned for the other to sit in the chair that he put the covers in so that Zaas could wrap them around himself while he ate.

 

"As for the job today, I'm still a bit hung up on yesterday so we need to play it safe alright?" He spoke, getting back to buisness once there morning routine was off to a good start.

[Noise Prince]

Zaas chuckled and wiped the floor of batter as well. When the priest protested his choice of attire, he could only laugh.

 

"It doesn't take long to put on pants and a shirt, but it takes longer than not doing that." He retorted with a smile, and shook his butt at the summoner, revealing that the waistband and the back of his boxers weren't completely connected. He found his mild outburst pretty hilarious, and kind of cute. He always tried to be on his best behavior with other humans around, or else people would become worried that Tsubaki hadn't 'tamed' him enough, so it was nice that when they were alone together he could get cheeky.

 

Zaas watched as the master pancake maker did his job, he had a hungry twinkle in his eye. he couldn't cook at all and he never ate anyone else's cooking outside of restaurants. So Tsubaki was the best chef he knew! He watched like a wolf as he prepared the plates, and wrapped himself in his covers before sitting down in front of his plate. He was more interested in pancakes than work right now, but he paid attention to what the priest had to say.

 

"Right, then… what is our mission today, again?"