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Strixes Interlude: Yayoi
Interlude: YayoiOne of the benefits of agelessness was the experience. Yayoi had been alive longer than most other people on Artemis and in her time serving Damien's court, she picked up a large set of skills.One such skill was the ability to sniff out the underworld. The criminal elements had a certain smell about them and they were easy enough to find when she caught their scent. Not in a literal manner.When they arrived in Neptune, they planned to keep everything in-house. They didn't need to make connections with the underworld. They were firmly hidden and Damien could have the life he wanted. Even if it was only for one lifetime.Yet things changed. They had been discovered. Yayoi still didn't know how, but she would find out.As for right now, she needed to make contact with the criminal underworld and one of her contacts had set up the meeting. Brandon Durden was a made man in the Arel family. He wasn't one of the bosses, but he was high enough that he could go to meetings.
Strixes Evelyn XVI
Evelyn XVIWhat did those visions mean? What message had Alice hidden in them? She wanted to channel me. A battle of the minds? To see if I could uncover the clues she laid out for me before she completed her little game. Did she have no faith that I'd be able to?Or did Alice just not care? Was this just a game to her? A way for some age-old progenitor to relieve her boredom? Either way, innocent likes were at stake. Whatever she was doing, innocent people weren't going to be spared. That wasn't how she operated. Game or not, she'd play hard."I'm leaving this message for you hunter, a challenge if you will. You see, I think people only have true value when acting on their own individual impulses and desires." No fucking shit. "I've asked a lot of people about their suppressed free will and I've come to facilitate them. In return, the ones I've freed are willing to help me. This message comes to you from a young titan girl who was born laboring in the chains of certain criminals. By
Strixes Evelyn XVII
Evelyn XVIIThe scene was something out of a horror movie. Bodies scattered across the floor of the abandoned building like rag dolls. Before anything, I counted the number of victims in my head. Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen. There were thirteen bodies, not a single one absent of wounds.All the wounds were on their necks. Bite marks. I didn't need a lab to tell me what the marks were from. I'd bet every last credit in my account that those wounds matched fang markings.Hawkendale and Norima stared at the scene with the disconnected passion that only experience brings. No, they were raised in a lab. They didn't have the right morals instilled in them. This must affect them. Depending on how vicious the scientists were when they were raised, this kind of scene might not be anything out of the ordinary for these two.Hawkendale whistled. "Wow. What happened here?""A party got out of hand, obviously. Don't be such a fool." Norima flicked her hair over her shoulder.She s
Strixes Evelyn XVIII
Evelyn XVIIIWally's Jewelry turned out to be a jewelry shop. Smackdown in the middle of Toyhara Shopping Center, one of the largest malls in Pluto. It wasn't a chain store, but privately owned. Despite that, it was one of the most successful jewelry stores in the city.Toyhara was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but Wally's Jewelry closed at seven. By the time we arrived, the store had long since closed. Bars covered the windows, with a Linker scan required to enter."As you can see, the store is closed. The last employees left last night at nine, after transferring credits and cleaning up the store," the security guard said. He knocked on the glass, his reflection grime. "I'm sorry, but no one has come in or out since that final employee. All stores are monitored at all times. If anyone tried to get inside, we would have been alerted.""Thank you, officer."The security guard grunted. "What I'm saying, ma'am, is you don't need to be here. None of you do."His eyes f
Strixes Original Draft
Well today was supposed to be a very important chapter regarding Miyuki, Kobayashi, and Evelyn, but since the program I used to write it decided NOT TO SAVE IT, I have no chapter. I'm going to have to rewrite it, after I write the next three Alaric chapters. I have a twelve hour shift today and I'm going to be leaving in twenty minutes, I can't exactly rewrite it. So I'm going to post this from the original draft of Wandering Wolves instead. It's not canon to the current story.When I get home, maybe I'll invest in Microsoft Word or something. Then I'll work on that rewrite.Chapter IV: FightWe spent the next few days working on mana control. This was a process Buer said and it was going to take time to learn the right control. It was more than turning a valve on and off like that first day. On would be a full blast of water, so to speak, while off was nothing.Buer taught us how to adjust the pressure. How to turn on the valve and get a stream of mana, or a river, or even an ocean.
Strixes Interlude: The Watcher
Interlude: The WatcherThe Watcher had served Alice for decades since the Progenitor saved the Watcher's life. The Watcher was a titan with a power that allowed her to record everything she witnessed. Others could view her recordings in the form of dreams.That was why Alice gave her the title of Watcher.The Watcher hid in the ceiling, staring down at the scene unfolding in the jewelry store. Alice's need for needless cruelty had always eluded her, but it was not The Watcher's place to question her master. Alice had given her everything. She saved her life, so what if recording these little cruelties made The Watcher uncomfortable?The Watcher made sure to capture Evelyn as the strix removed his hat. That was the moment Alice wanted to capture. The moment when her actions would destroy someone else.Alice was a progenitor and she had the power to inflict pain and suffering physically, but she went out of her way to avoid torture. She admitted that such torment had its place, but she
Strixes Alaric IX
Alaric XIX"Delaney is an alias she used before," Mireille said, staring out the window at the trees. "She's a progenitor who has used so many names. Right now we've confirmed that she's using the name, Alice. Though we're not sure if she's blending in with the humans or not. She'd have taken a family name if she was."So Delaney or Alice, whatever she called herself, was like me. She was a progenitor with knights and her own court. Damien went through a lot of pain to make sure he was hidden. Or I was hidden. We. To make sure we were hidden.And Delaney or Alice had found us. Not only did she find us, but she also declared open war on my court.Mireille, Kaya, Yayoi, and Nanase were in the room with me. Because Alice declared war on me, each of them was in danger. I had a whole court of strix and the other strains working for me, apparently, and now all of them were in just as much danger.Kaya sighed. "Should we start looking into everyone with the name Alice in Neptune?"Mireille s
Strixes Alarix XX
Alaric XXThe streets of Neptune were bustling with people. From the small, cozy street where little cars drove, to the crowded sidewalks. Neptune was unique when it was planned, in the vein that cars weren't given a huge amount of thought. The rest of Aquroya was far more accommodating, so I've heard. It wasn't like I had seen the rest of the country. Maybe Damien had.The sidewalks were filled with people laughing. They tried to give each other as much space as they could, but in a crowd, that was impossible. It was a little claustrophobic, but I blended in with the crowd well.This was done in a vain attempt to hide from my watchers. It was a Sunday, so I didn't have any school, but Mireille met me before I left. Nanase and Kaya were going to watch me. Mireille and Yayoi had something important to do, so I was stuck with the former.Kaya and Nanase were less serious than Mireille or Yayoi, so it wasn't bad. No, it was bad, but they weren't the ones who made it bad. Mireille was the