Follow the Sound (Yuri Forsin)

[Anders]

Summer 21st, 513AV, 10th Bell

The place wasn't in any real disrepair. There were no cobwebs or uncleaned stains. It was just empty. It was nothing more than an unfilled apartment within the Castle. Nothing about the apartment was visually unsettling. Yet, Anders had been told that neighbors and passerbys occasionally heard singing coming from within. The Knights casually investigated the apartment, expecting to find some destitue squatter. But the Knights quickly left the apartment, completely disregarding the matter once it was clear that no one was living there.

It wasn't a very high profile "haunting." No one had been hurt, no one had seen anything. To be honest no one had even been scared by anything. All the other spiritists in Sylira heard about and subsequently rejected this case. Even Anders wasn't here for any compensation. He was here for academic interest. This was his free time, his shop had closed, for the day, a few bells ago. He was here as a matter of personal investment.

The Ethaefel wasn't anyone special in Syliras but he was a citizen in good standing and there was nothing valuable inside anyway. Proper identification provided, the Knights knew that there would be no consequence of letting a spiritist poke around a boring, empty room.

Now in the night, Anders' skin had a silvery tint that appeared almost have a sheen to it. His wiry black hair was parted by the jade green horns protruding from his forehead.

Anders reached into his pocket and withdrew a very, very thin strand of fiber with seven stones on it. These were his ghostbeads. He reached into another pocket and pulled out a small vial of thick, white gel. It was soulmist and he was rubbing it onto each of the stones. He layed the fiber on the ground surrounding him. Once this was accomplished there was little left to do but to wait. He sat on the ground, legs crossed and sat in silence. It was the most tedious part of the job but it wasn't the worst.

In these situations, Anders could busy himself for hours by romantically musing over the study of the undead and of his previous encounters with them. Being at an alleged haunting spaked a powerful curiosity in him. When in these moods, the ethaefal did not need much to entertain himself and this was a welcome gift in a profession where one occasionally needed to wait for hours and hours.

In Anders' experience, the ghosts wanted to ignore him at first but eventually they tended to grow impatient. Soon enough they would attempt to "urge him" out of their presence. It could take a while, but Anders was hopeful that he would eventually get what he wanted...if there was, in fact, anything here to be seen.

[Yuri Forsin]

OOCIt is Forsin, not Forsinth. Tsk tsk, get your names straight Yuri preferred to spend his time outside of Syliras, peacefully gazing at the open sky and nature rather than a stone ceiling and bustling crowds. But, some days he would stay inside the fortress city, wandering its streets for hours on end whistling a tune or two. True, Yuri may not especially enjoy the stuffy congestion of Syliras' huge population, but this city was still his home. A home of which Yuri had many dear memories of. As usual today, Yuri floated through the busy crowds in a relaxed manner, whistling nonchalantly as the stares of the living looked at the ghost amongst them, some frightened, disgusted, interested, or simply ignoring. A light smile graced the ghost's face today, as in his mind he was embarking on a new area of music: adding words to the melody. "Do you fear your end, do you think death is the closing curtain-call?" Yuri softly sang as he phased through people, stone and walls, clearly not caring where he ended up in. "But I can tell you this, death is not the end..."Yuri paused for a moment, floating in front of the door to an apartment in the deep recesses of the city, deep in thought about his song. Yuri never stayed in anything you could really call a home in Syliras, oddly never going back to see the house he lived in while alive. But he occasionally came to this empty apartment just because it was empty. He could simply idle there for several hours with no one disturbing him. But was this his home? Yuri rejected that notion. "Now now, those words just don't seem to fit perfectly, no they don't..." Yuri whispered to himself as he floated through the still closed door into the apartment... only to see he was not alone. A chilling sensation suddenly gripped the room, and the already quiet silence of the room seemed to get even more silent, due to Yuri's presence. Sitting in the middle of the apartment was a man, but something was unusual about him, Yuri could tell. Aside from the shimmering silver of his skin and the jade green horns branching from his black hair, Yuri could sense something else. Soulmist? Yuri gazed at the small stones surrounding the man and could feel the presence of the same ethereal substance that made the ghost up smeared on him. And this man, there was something about him, something that reminded him of a certain man... was he a spiritist? Yuri narrowed his emerald green eyes at the seated man, gray soulmist beginning to swirl violently around Yuri as his clothes fluttered in an unseen wind. Normally gentle and polite, the ghost coldly whispered at the man with a harsh manner, "Who are you... and what are you doing here?" There was only one thing Yuri hated in this world, and that was spiritists.

[Anders]

Anders recognized the look on the ghost's face and the tone in his voice. Their very meeting had begun with confrontation in the air. It was for this reason that Anders needed to be disarming and unintrusive in his introduction. At the same time, he knew that he couldn't afford to show weakness or hesitance. It was a strange place to be; Anders had to impart, onto the ghost, a very patient, very quiet... strength.

His face a bit harder when he first began to speak. It wasn't angry or intimidating. It was merely resolute. He stared right at the ghost, not afraid by the, now typical, sight of a ghost. "My name is Anders," he began. "I'm a resident of Syliras, just like you. I'm an ethaefal so, also like you, I have a bit of experience in being rather "estranged" from the typical cycle of life and death."

His face softened a bit now. Not fully; Anders wasn't exactly smiling but he had more of a neutral expression on his face than he had had a moment ago. He looked less defensive and more conversational as he went on. "I mean you absolutely no harm. There is no way that my presence could be less consequential. I am simply here to learn from you. Nothing more, nothing less."

Certainly, Anders had made sure to notice the building energy in the ghost's soulmist. Anders hadn't been expecting a spirit with this much emotion. All of the hints and whispers that had led him to this place told of a quiet, melodic presence. Now, he was dealing with a potentially violent entity.

[Yuri Forsin]

Yuri continued glaring at the seated... an Ethaefal he called himself? The man was calmly introducing himself with a firm but nonaggressive voice. Arms crossed, Yuri continued exuding a hostile air as he silently stared at Anders. Yuri was a little curious what he meant by saying he was 'estranged' like Yuri, but that was not at the top of Yuri's mind at the moment. Eyes glowing bright green from a pale visage, Yuri chuckled softly but in a mocking manner after Anders was done introducing himself. "No harm? Simply learn from me? Is that so Anders?" Something was stirring inside Yuri, building up more and more as he floated closer and closer to the seated Ethaefal until he was only just outside the ring of stones, looking down piercingly at him. "Are you, a spiritist?" The last word hissed from Yuri as a the ghost suddenly burst out in a hysterical laugh. Unfortunately for Anders, the last spiritist Yuri had met, was the one that had ended his and his father's lives, and had stolen away his sister. He was deaf to Ander's calm reasoning. The usually gentle and collected Yuri was no longer there, more and more soulmist spiraling violently, as a more sinister and malevolent mindset took hold, the same one that had gripped the ghost in his early days of undeath. Yuri smirked murderously at Anders, "Learn from me? Oh please, that is just a pretense isn't it? You only intend to control me, much like how that man controlled those ghosts to kill me and take what I held most dear in my life!" Yuri smiled sadly at Anders, "Well, why don't I have some fun with you now?" Yuri brought down his hand and a tendril of soulmist towards the man, intent on possessing him. Only to encounter an invisible wall that stopped him. Eyes widening in surprise, Yuri attempted launching his whole form at Anders only to hit the same barrier. Upon hitting it Yuri was pushed back several feet but quickly brushed himself up and stood up, still glaring. It must be those stones, they're like a barrier! Yuri yelled in frustration, green flashing violently from his eyes. In the midst of his rage-filled malevolence, a voice of Yuri's gentler nature suddenly spoke out: Wait, what if the man is being honest? However, this was cruelly swept aside as Yuri wildly looked about for some object to throw at the spiritist with his soulmist: nothing. Sighing angrily, Yuri continued pummeling the barrier around Anders with his soulmist tendrils despite the futile nature of it, a violent grin on his face, running on wild hate rather than kind gentleness.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri "Hm hm hm~♪" A cheerful hum perfect for the shining sun - scratch that - Syna's light could not pierce the proud stone walls and ceilings of the mighty Fortress City. Today was another fun day in the sun-less Fortress City. Kouri was in the mood for exploring the stone corridors and of Syliras, her little sister of course happily trailing beside her; holding the older sibling's left hand with her right. "Sis~ Where are we going today?" Rena's violet eyes shone with excitement as her neck tilted up to look up at her older sister. Her tiny body floating up and down with happy steps. "Hmmm~ I don't know too, Rena. We'l see I guess~" Kouri nonchalantly answered, her curious ethereal eyes darting left and right; searching for any interesting events. The sisters didn't care for the stares they got from the humans around them, they got each other and it was enough to make all other opinions about them meaningless. "You know, Sis, this city is very different from Zeltiva. It's all... cramped up and closed and the people lives in uhm... strange built-in rooms" Rena found the fortress city to be very much different from her hometown, Zeltiva. "Yeah, Rena~ It's very different from Avanthal as well and I believe those 'built-in rooms' are called apartments." "Ah, apartments I see, so why some of them are empty, Sis?" Rena locked her violet eyes to a particular seemingly abandoned apartment. "Hmmm? Dunno, Rena~" Turning her head to look at the same direction as Rena, Kouri's lips suddenly curled themselves into a mischievous grin; a sign she was up to something that was mostly not good in nature. Kouri then gestured her head to the abandoned apartment and whispered to Rena "Wanna go in?". "Uuuuh..." Rena wasn't sure on how to answer, her sister was in her 'naughty' mode again. She admitted that she got this urge to break all the common noms and rules as well, with her ghostly powers; human rules didn't really apply to her anymore. But still, Rena asked for assurance to the elder sister "We won't get into trouble won't we?" "Pshaw~" Kouri merely scoffed, Rena truly was a good girl. "No worries, no worries~ we can just poof away and no one can find us!" Kouri's tone was brimming with confidence and exhumed arrogance. "Uhm... ehehehe..." A rare naughty giggle escaped from Rena's lips as she gave in to her urges "Okay, Sis~". With a simultaneous nod and giggles, the ghostly sisters changed direction and launched themselves to the abandoned apartment; phasing through the walls. "What the?" The scenery inside truly surprised both of the sisters. By some twisted fate, their ethereal eyes met the well-mannered male ghost friend of theirs named Yuri Forsin. The ghost was visibly angry and pounding an... invisible wall? "Sis... what's Sir Yuri doing here and..." Rena's eyes locked themselves into the peculiar man with silver skin, black hair, and... those horns. "W-who's that, Sis?" "Ethaefal, Rena..." Kouri whispered to Rena, she had met Tsukiko; one of those beings called Ethaefal, back in the Svefra camp when Kouri was preparing for a quest to hunt the pirate captain Braten together with the Svefras. Kouri instinctively shielded Rena, both the male ghost and Ethaefal were obviously not in good terms. "This might be dangerous, Rena... please go home..." "No, Sis..." Rena clung herself to her older sister, she was afraid yes; but she also didn't want to leave her older sister alone. I sense soulmist coming from those... beads, this Ethaefal must be a Spiritist... "No, Rena, go home, please..." Kouri grabbed Rena's shoulder tight and whispered to her "That man is a Spiritist, he can truly hurt you, I have fought several before, please Rena...". The pleading look on Kouri's crimson eyes made Rena realized Kouri was really serious and was just truly concerned for her safety. "Okay, Sis, be safe..." With a final hug, Rena released herself from Kouri and immediately launched herself outside; heading home to the Traveler's Row. "Now then..." With her sister away and safe, Kouri turned her attention back to the Ethaefal and Sir Yuri. The spiritist doesn't look like he wants to fight... but he's still dangerous, maybe I should intimidate them both... Kouri decided to use her power to solve this hostile situation. "Hehehe..." With a giggle, She launched four thick tendrils and all of them grabbed hold of Yuri's hands and legs. She narrowed her crimson eyes into slits gave him an intimidating look "Calm down, Sir Yuri..." "And you..." Kouri turned her attention the Ethaefal and eerily smiled at him "don't think you're safe..." Kouri brought her right palm to her chest and balled it to a fist, unleashing her much more powerful soulmist aura than Yuri's. Another two tendrils extended from her back and grabbed the nearest splinter of wood, most likely once belonging to a chair, in the abandoned apartment. She then launched the wood splinter to the ghost beads with great accuracy, scattering the beads and breaking down the wall. When the wall broke down, Kouri used those two tendrils to wrapped around the man's neck. "Don't try anything... I can break your neck like a twig..." She was not kidding, Kouri could squish the man's neck with a force of twenty pounds of weight. Four tendrils were holding Yuri's hands and legs while two tendrils were holding the spiritist's neck, Kouri was sure she got control of the situation. "Now then, gentleman... can we be civilized people? Promise me you won't do anything barbarous and I will release you both, yes?" Kouri forgot the fact that Yuri could simply blink away from her hold, but would he try that?

[Anders]

Anders wasn't prepared for this. Not in the slightest. He had come here as part of an academic endeavor. He had come to this empty apartment to passively watch the habits of a quiet, introverted ghost. He never meant to interfere; even more, it was never has plan to have a need for interference. But here he was, dealing with one enraged ghost and one...extremely powerful one.

A professional spiritist was supposed to be jaded to the horror of hauntings and spirits. A spiritist wasn't supposed to be afraid, he or she was supposed to be most at home among the undead. However, in this moment, Anders was not a spiritist. He was not a professional. The ethaefal was far out of his league. In this empty apartment, he was little more than an unprepared, powerless human. This was the thought that his face and posture expressed. There was no pretense in his appearance.

The good news was that, on this night, Anders was learning an important lesson about preparation. Now he just hoped that he could survive to apply his new revelation.

In this precarious situation, Anders' mind went to his chances. He surveyed the situation. He was stuck between an enraged ghost and a dangerously powerful one. The first ghost was beyond the point of negotiation but the second ghost seemed a bit more conversational. Furthermore, she certainly didn't seem to have any particular fondness for the first ghost's desire for violence. Talking with her was his only way out of this.

There wasn't a whole lot that he could say with the soulmist tendrils wrapped tightly around his throat. There wasn't much to be said; it wasn't as if he had any way to bargain for anything. He certainly wasn't an even match for this ghost. There really was no conversation to be had; his eyes rolled over to her and her. "I seem to be at your mercy, don't I?" he responded. "Though if your will is simply to prevent me from bickering with anyone then you and I are allies in purpose. I mean no harm to any sentient being in this place, living or dead."

[Yuri Forsin]

Gentle, quiet, shy, calm. All words that would have described the ghost perfectly... in any other situation. The Yuri now was on the verge of madness. This Spiritist, before he could play any tricks, had to be taken care of! And the ghostbead barrier was in the way! Yuri continued pounding violently the invisible wall, not even noticing the arrival of some more visitors to the apartment. He only laughed hauntingly as he assualted the wall around Anders. It took him several moments to see from his clouded mind the forms of two girls watching. He could see the smaller of the two depart shortly after when he realized, it was the ghost sisters he had met only days ago. Yuri turned with a look of puzzlement, "Miss... Kouri? What are-" Before he could finish, he felt soulmist tendrils tightly wrap around his arms and legs, immobilizing him. Startled, he saw the piercing red gaze of Kouri glaring at him, snakelike in appearance. This look brought Yuri somewhat out of his rage, as the gray soulmist ceased pounding at Anders, though it still swirled about eerily. Yuri watched in slight amazement as he saw the young girl easily remove the barrier and soon had the Spiritist in her tendrils. He had already accepted the fact that Miss Kouri was superior to him in soulmisting. But, Yuri was not done yet. "Now then, gentleman... can we be civilized people? Promise me you won't do anything barbarous and I will release you both, yes?" Yuri smirked mockingly, for it seemed his rage was not gone just yet. "Miss Kouri, you have seemingly forgotten... I'm a ghost too." Smirking, Yuri blinked out of the grasp of Kouri's tendrils to where the wood splinter had ended up. Focusing a tendril in his right hand, Yuri quickly picked up the splinter and glared sadistically at Anders. "I... will-" kill you?! The words stuck in the ghost's throat, as a semblance of his gentleness returned. Was he really going to kill a man?! The wood splinter fell harmlessly to the floor as the gray soulmist receded back into Yuri's form. Yuri was trembling, his head bent in distress, as having come to his senses he realized what he was about to do. "I... ca-can't... just kill someone like this!" Panting heavily, Yuri fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands. "No... even if he is a Spiritist... I can't..." Yuri didn't know why he had burst out like this. Was it because Anders was a Spiritist? But even so... Anders did not kill Yuri and his father; Anders did not kidnap Aya. It was instead, what Yuri hoped would have never woken up again: insanity. Yuri... was in actuality no better than Kouri, for he too was going crazy, inevitably. He had only been stemming the tide till then.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri The Spiritist's words confirmed her that he meant no harm indeed, so Kouri released her hold on the male Ethaefal and nodded. "I'm sorry if I cause you any inconvenience, Sir" He seemed polite and courteous enough, Kouri already respected him for that. Kouri stared dangerously at Yuri and the previous four tendrils that were holding him figuratively hissed at him like four black vipers, ready to pound him to Dira herself should he tried anything. "No! Don't do it, Sir Yu-" She was about to pound Yuri with her tendrils when the musician ghost suddenly... broke down. His rage gone and trembling doubts replaced it. "........." Kouri should be glad that the situation ended peacefully, but for some reason, she didn't. She felt sick and disgusted, seeing Yuri acted like that. He was weak, spineless, and seemed to not realize the power he held over the living. If one could look at the situation from another perspective, Yuri still didn't accept the insanity that usually came from being a ghost while the little girl... already embraced them. Kouri's eyes didn't return to normal even after Yuri fell to his knees and shaking his head, Yuri reminded her of her past self especially at early Spring ago. Weak, confused, uncertain, and full of hesitation; she would change that. Kouri floated down and now actually 'walked' on the ground, stomping her dainty little high-heeled shoes on the stone floor. "Disgusting!" She then grabbed Yuri's collar with her right hand and lifted him up, though with her short stature, Yuri's lower legs were still touching the ground. She then slapped him twice with her left on each cheeks "You can't kill?! Ahaha... AHAHAHA! Now that's just silly, ain't it? What if you meet a hostile Spiritist bent on actually exterminating you, Sir? Will you cower like this as well and just let him do as he pleases?" Kouri's crimson eyes were still glued to the musician in her hands, it was a strange sight; a little girl holding a grown man by his collar.

[Anders]

There was a brief moment where Anders, with sickening horror, prepared for the enraged spirit to assault him. With his heart pounding into the back of his chest wall, the moment passed as quickly as it came. Much to his relief, he would be safe for another day.

Even in the danger, there was a tiny part of him that was fascinated by the sudden change of heart. He wouldn't allow himself to access these academic thoughts for another two days, when the excitement of almost having died finally began to wear off. Still, he would eventually wonder if Yuri's intense change of heart was a product of the trauma which came with being an undead spirit or from some complex interaction which had taken place during his life and/or death.

Anders appreciated the fact that he was lucky and nothing more. He had come unprepared and he was far outmatched by this second ghost. As much as this revelation had scared him, he knew that he did not have the option of simply running, not even now that he had been freed from her grasp.

He had to live and work in this city; if he ran in fear from a ghost, his reputation would be ruined. Even if it remained a private matter, how would the spiritist ever be able to look at himself again? Besides, there was a far more important consideration now. If he ran from the room it would seem like a firm confirmation of the fact that he was up to no good. Anders had said that he meant Yuri no harm and he meant it. He wasn't going to run off now.

Although Anders knew better then to run off like a nefarious coward, he also knew better then to meaninglessly interfere with the conversation. He was innocent, in his personal motivations, but his actions were not above moral suspect. It wouldn't be smart to further test Yuri's temper. His role, now, was not to interact with Yuri and to learn from him. It was to sit down, shut up and stay out of the way.

Considering the precarious situation in which he found himself, Anders was allowed to experience a rare priviledge. He watched Yuri completely come down from his rage and return to what may or may not have been his normal, operating personality. Anders had seen ghosts violently shift back and forth between elation, rage and depression but their manic behavior was a constant factor. This did not appear to be any mania.

Furthermore, the ghost to ghost interactions that Anders usually witnessed were reoccuring shadows of events between two spirits who knew each other in life. Here seemed to be two unrelated ghosts having a general, dynamic interaction. Near death experience aside, it all was quite fascinating!

[Yuri Forsin]

Humanity and sanity; two things that ghosts so often abandon in favor of madness and moral disregard. Yet,Yuri could not let go of them, he couldn't. The ghost could not simply abandon himself to insanity, for he still had a reason to cling to them. There was still someone, alive, who he had to find. But sanity was slipping away oh so quickly, he did not want to go insane again. Yuri had not even expected anything like this from Kouri as she jerked him up by the collar and... slapped him?! The red serpentine look in the ghost girl's eyes had not disappeared yet; she was still on the edge. Yuri hardly reacted to the slaps, not even a flicker of pain in his face as he remained ostensibly silent and motionless. As Kouri mocked and chastised the older, both in age and time dead, ghost, Yuri only had his eyes downcast, his bowed head's expression emotionless and blank, still stinging from the slaps. What a pitiful sight this must have appeared to be, an utterly shameful moment for Yuri. After several still moments, Yuri began chuckling airily, as he lifted his head up to Kouri with a sad yet unsettling grin. "Miss Kouri...are you upset I didn't go mad and killed that man? Kukuku… You should be thankful I have not fallen that far. But..." Yuri leaned forward, fixing his green gaze on red, "Do not think I am a coward. There is one man... that I will kill. And anyone who gets in my way..." Yuri's eyes glowed dangerously, "Will die." Yuri's mind was split between several desires. One of them was revenge, the ghost's goal of killing his murderer. Insanity weighed in heavily with this side. The other was finding his sister; here a semblance of Yuri's personality while alive dwelled. And among all this was a simple love of music. A mind precariously balanced that could tip to any side almost rapidly. Here, Yuri's expression suddenly softened, a sentimental expression now, "Once I kill him, I will find Aya again... or I could do it the other way round!" Yuri smiled almost peacefully to himself; by now he was talking less to Kouri and more to himself.