[Courtyard] The Color Dead

[Thomas Cosa]

56th of Winter, 513

The voices whispered, sweetly and gently.

But they always whispered, here, the warning system of the Citadel; the captured souls of the Courtyard. The eternal prisoners of the strange Mistress Wanda, the undead crypt keeper. They were the constant breeze to the always present mists, the never ending stream of threats and warnings, of stories of promising and not-so-promising warlocks and witches and wardens cut unfairly short.

Thomas sighed, his breath and heat catching the cold with each exhale.

"Help..."

"Leave...run...they'll kill you..."

"You'll never leave..."

"They'll stick you here. With us..."

"Yeah, I'd love to see them try," Thomas snorted, pulling his head over his ears. He'd gotten used to the constant warnings, the invisible hands grabbing at him -- the pulser had become far too comfortable with the dead of the Courtyard. He wasn't scared anymore, or even impressed; all he felt now was annoyance. He knew he was safe, as long as he stayed behind the barrier. They couldn't do anything, beside cry and moan. Their power was so drastically reduced that even those who could managed to grab at him, it never felt like anything stronger than a breeze.

"They did it to me..."

"And who were you, huh?" Thomas smirked, sharply turning around to face the incorporeal voice. "Someone important? A wizard?," he paused, his eyes darting around the empty space nervously. He was safe, and he knew, but it was still unnerving speaking to something he couldn't see.

"I was --."

"No one," he interrupted the voice, his voice dripping with disdain. They were always bothering him, pestering him, warning him of dangers he already knew were coming. Thomas was tired of them, the ghost and their constant whining. "You were no one. And now, you are no one," he smiled, hoping the ghost could see him, even if he couldn't see it.

"..."

Thomas smirked at the silence, "Right. No one's here. There shouldn't be a response," he finished coldly, turning around to continue on his way.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Another torturous day in the abominable isle of the walking dead. The ghost girl looked more and more detached, tortured between her extreme desire to enact her revenge upon the traitorous fiend, Anna, and, as much as it was hard to believe, struggling with the mysterious force preventing her from doing so. "Ugh..." The ghost girl clutched her chest with her right hand as she aimlessly wandered through the Courtyard, already consuming some of Mistress Wanda's soulmist, allowing her to pass through unharmed by the wards for about a few bells.

Empty large blue eyes and swaying long black hair, she was materialized in her original Vantha girl appearance, utterly indistinguishable from a normal girl to the naked eye unless one detected her using magical means such as Auristics or Spiritism. Her one-piece white sundress looked clean and well-maintained, greatly contrasting with her torn state of mind. Soundless steps echoed as her bare feet carried her through the ominous Courtyard, paying no heed to the whispers of her fellow ghosts and spirits. Pitiful, trapped, beings, Kouri had no business with them... at least her condition was better than them, she wasn't shackled in this graveyard, her shackles lied elsewhere. Still, their constant brushing of her hair annoyed her greatly, she didn't work hard in growing it this long just to be touched by their dirty ethereal hands.

"SILENCE!!" With an angry hiss, her haunting high-pitched childish voice reverberated through the air. Two thick serrated tendrils, dark as raven feathers, sharp as swords, with their heads in the shape of serpents, lashed out from her back, cutting apart the invading hands that managed to weakly pass the barrier. The ghosts around her went silent, realizing who she truly was, a little girl only in appearance, an ethereal beast lingering just beneath the surface. With a condescending huff and return of her tendrils, she continued her walk. Her steps halted themselves when her blue orbs met with a humanoid shape, corporeal... solid, a tall man with thick, dark hair, very pale skin, and eyes as black as coal. Kouri oddly found herself attracted to the man, perhaps he had hidden charisma.

Perhaps it was his naturally attractive face, bordering on androgyny, combined with how confident he carried himself. He looked far too healthy and... 'living' to be one of those rotting undead corpses. If he was a Nuit then his beauty rivalled Amaryllis herself. The first thought that came to the ghost girl's mind was 'Leader', yes, this tall man must be someone important, to walk within Wanda's realm undisturbed and proud. If he wasn't or was a newcomer to this isle, then surely he was a truly pompous fool. The materialized ghost girl was standing directly in the middle of the man's path, particularly about twenty feet to his front. She didn't stand aside.

Kouri walked forward, approaching him, with her hands leisurely dangling at the sides. She tilted her head upwards, their difference in height made it difficult for her to look him in the eyes, vibrant blue met coal black as Kouri gave him a small smile, her small lips slightly parted as words whispered its way out of her ethereal vocal cords, "Hello~".

[Thomas Cosa]

The incorporeal hands and whispered voices vanished immediately and, in part due to his own confidence, easily believed himself the reason to their sudden silence. Their disgustingly annoying cryptic messages, the pulser and all who walked the courtyard seemingly cursed forever to hear their pathetic warnings repeated again and again.

He smiled, his gaze wavering over the apparent empty barren graveyard. It wasn't despite it's appearance suggesting otherwise, but Thomas knew the lingering souls of the Citadel were there, present as always. And hopefully, they'd learned to keep his distance from him. "I'm important," the animator whispered, fingering the jointed metal golem that he wore like a necklace, "I don't have time for silly, silly gh --."

The girl's announcement caught him off guard, he turned around immediately, almost aggressively, his stance proud. He was surprised, albeit momentarily, to not see anyone meet him in the eye -- but then he looked down.

"Oh. Hello," he smiled, awkwardly and hesitantly, not entirely sure how to greet someone so apparently so very young. Thomas managed to keep his surprise from coloring his voice, but his expression showed it loudly -- at least until he remembered himself, and where he was. Nothing, especially not on the isle, was ever what it seemed.

His magic warmed him, his eyes tingling in his head as the world around him warped and shimmered, the true essence of everything burning and coloring brightly as he summoned his Djed to reveal, and seek, and show. "And you are?" his words echoing around his body, his heightened senses feeling each and every word form and escape on his breath. Thomas focused intently on the girl's aura, his eyes sightly off focus as he ignored her body in favor of her soul's impression.

And the first, and the most powerful impression he divined was cold. Numb touched his finger tips, slightly burning his skin the same way Morwen's own breath would; the phantom press against his chest, the imagined bitting bitter feel of a winter's night.

His eyes narrowed as he searched deeper, his magic probing as he fought to maintain both the balance of his own magic and the ability to maintain at least polite conversation.

[Fubuki Kouri]

The tall man looked startled, the way he abruptly turned around, his eyes searching for her before they found her as he looked down. He didn't notice her presence before, this gave her a few assumptions, one of them being he was most likely not a spiritist, Spiritists were usually able to detect her presence no matter how hard she hid herself, under the ground, inside a tree trunk, it didn't matter.

The notion of the man not having spiritism powers relaxed the girl, she was always edgy in dealing one of them, but if he wasn't a spiritist, what was he doing here? Taking a leisurely walk through the Courtyard seemed odd, but this was Sahova, the Courtyard was one of the most safest place in the undead island with Wanda's presence.

He replied her greeting in kind, his voice came out awkward, he was still recovering from shock apparently, Kouri put her right hand to slightly cover her lips in a childish giggle, like a mischievous child who just succeeded at a harmless prank. Kouri was confident she appeared to him as a normal little girl, not aware of any other powers he might had. She took a few soundless steps forward, closing their distance, her head gradually tilting upwards, by Morwen, the man was a welcome sight, the girl was rather tired and sick of seeing walking corpses who didn't bother with their appearances save for a select few such as Amaryills. Wanda herself looked very scary and intimidating, straight out of a horror story.

The ghost girl's long raven locks swayed in the eerie wind, a small smile on her lips, the man attempted to start a conversation, she found it cute, "I'm Kouri," the Vantha ghost grabbed the hem of her white sundress and bent down in a polite curtsy, "What's your name, Sir?" she asked for his identity in return, "Do you play here often?" for some inexplicable reasons, she wanted to know him more, few humans could appear so calm and composed in Sahova, "I like it here... the hands and voices are annoying though, but if you scare them, they'll be quiet, hehe~"

[Thomas Cosa]

Confidence shimmered hesitantly, deep violet tones painted prettily against the ice colored aura, trickling along the edges, the center drawing in the colors. Thomas considered the change, briefly wondering the reason for the sudden confidence -- they hadn't even introduced themselves yet, so it couldn't have been him.

Perhaps he had said something?

The sudden ripples in her aura denoted her own movement, the rapid covering of her mouth to hide her emotion brought a smile to the pulser; it was a cute attempt, perhaps even polite, to hide what her aura so plainly displayed. Golden yellows bloomed throughout, bubbling against the violet of confidence. Joy or Bliss or..."No," he thought, examining the aura closer. The color was right, even the bubbling was close enough to what Thomas came to know as joy, but the texture was off; it was harder, sharper. Instead of breaking into soft, lopsided bubbles, the yellow burst sharply, pointed shards breaking off before dispersing back into the aura.

"A cruel...joy?," Thomas considered the emotional light show, not entirely sure what he was sensing. How could joy be cruel? Even at the expense of someone else, it was a pure emotion. Perhaps he was sensing the strength of her joy? "No, that's not it," he told himself, still it was something to consider. He would really need to find a tutor soon.

"I'm Thomas," he said, not unfriendly, pausing as he realized her aura was stagnant -- there was no heartbeat. She was dead. Or rather, her body was. The pulser assumed her to be a nuit, because, obviously, ghost couldn't pass through the border. "And play?" Thomas almost laughed, "No. I don't really do that anymore," He replied, his eyes glancing down to her ringless hand, "So, you're new then? You don't have a ring."

[Fubuki Kouri]

Thomas, such was the name of the tall human before her, the ghost girl found it felicitous, appropriate for his appearance and grace. It was also simple to pronounce with her basic Common, unlike a certain Chief Embalmer with the tongue-twister name, Kouri simply called her 'Madame Ama'. She put her hands behind her back as she looked down, idly drawing on the ground with her right toe, she kept it for a few ticks before slowly raising her head, "Nice to meet you, Sir Thomas," she tried to sound polite and elegant, but the high-pitched girlish nature of her voice made her attempt rather adorable instead.

Kouri bent down, crouching with her knees pressed to her chest, continuing her crude random sketch on the ground with her right index finger, "You don't play? Why?" She tilted her head, a truly innocent question, how could someone get tired of playing? Her child-like mind couldn't fathom it, "You should play, you know, its fun, I play all sorts of games, like dolls," speaking of dolls, perhaps the man would be interested in knowing Lily, the animated doll given to her by Coud back in Syliras, "I have a talking doll too, her name is Lily, she's very cute, wanna see her?"

"Hn?" She innocently raised an eyebrow, not grasping what Thomas meant by her being 'new' and 'not having a ring', "New? I'm uh... you can say that, I haven't been here for long," True to Sahovan hospitality, her short experiences so far more gruesome than her years of wandering as a Ghost combined, "And what do you mean by ring?"

[Thomas Cosa]

Thomas shifted awkwardly as the strange girl addressed him, the monocle "sir" falling weirdly on his ears. Her entire manner was off putting, extremely childish, and creepy in an absurdly adorable way. Even her vernacular was beginning to spook the pulser; Vick had been the only other nuit that had used "play" commonly, although Thomas had a strong suspension that, at least for the malediction master, the word "play" could be used interchangeably with "torture".

The pulser mage watched interestedly as the girl asked her question, one apparently sincere; her iridescent aura bubbled quickly, mimicking water boiling, shimmering and stretching awkwardly around her head. Thomas sniffed loudly, the mixed scent of frying oil and sweet bread awkwardly possessing his nostrils as the aura showed the girl's sincere confusion, something the two shared. "I don't know, I....I guess I just stopped one day. I grew up," Thomas answered, uncharacteristically sincere. He tasted lemon cakes, the his magic's mark of nostalgia, his own aura and emotions clouding the reading of the little girl's.

"Talking dolls?" He almost laughed, decidedly endeared to the little whatever-she-was; before he remembered she was dead, and more importantly, they were on Sahova. There was a number of things she could have met by talking doll, animation coming first and foremost to his mind, "And yes! I would love to see, uh, meet Lily," he offered a small smile, taking in to consideration her mentality. Perhaps, since she so readily acted the part of a small child, he should treat her as such -- especially if she was a fellow animator, despite her being a nuit.

Still, Thomas found it odd her aura didn't smell dead, or not the way he interpreted it -- there was no rotten smell, no sticky texture of decay. Perhaps she had changed bodies recently? And there was that coldness to her aura. Almost like it would hurt him to touch her.

The wizard showed her his ring, the simple design making a silver "M", marking him a wizard under Mashaen. "You might get one soon, if you pass the judgment. The rings mark your status, and loyalties to a lesser degree," he shrugged, still watching her aura for any change.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Kouri innocently ignored the human's fidgeting, possibly uneased by her presence, but she saw it as normal, it was Sahova after all, everyone here looked on edge for some reason, must because of all the horrors lurking just behind the shadows.

The ghost girl continued her art, a crude image began forming on the ground, "Oh... you grew up, huh?" The image completed, it looked to be a large tiger tearing apart two stick figures, one man and one woman, the stick figures' limbs were strewn apart here and there, Kouri simply stared at her work as her lips continued moving, "I wonder though, whether I will..." she began drawing again, this time drawing a smaller stick figure with long hair, "...ever grow up," then she added the image of ghastly tendrils spawning from the stick girl's back, "Mommy said I should be a woman soon, but after all this time, I think I'm still a girl," she suddenly looked up, as if Thomas was the source of her answer, "don't you think so?"

Her mood swayed from being the curious girl from before to a quiet child, even the tone of her voice slightly changed, "Yes, not just talk, she can dance too," Kouri slowly stood up, patting her white dress even though there was not a single blemish on it, "Okay, let's go see her now, she's in my room, it's in the Quarters," Kouri had claimed an empty room for her own, storing her belongings there, also the residence of her Nuit maid, Kriemhild, "If Kriem's there, you can meet her too," she would urge Thomas to follow her, if the human obliged, she would head to the Quarters, if he didn't, she would stay there with him.

Whatever the case, the ghost girl would examine his ring with interest, "I can get one? Judgment? Status? Loyalty?" His words confused her, she didn't understand any of it, though she gave the human a frown at the word 'loyalty', Kouri began creating assumptions, perhaps he meant if she had a master, this master would give her a pretty ring if she was loyal and passed a test of some sort, the ghost girl shook her head, contempt shown on her face, anger rising within her, not to Thomas, but to a certain sorceress, "Sir, I don't think she will give me a ring... in fact, I don't think she will give me anything at all, she hates me..."

[Thomas Cosa]

The bitter sweetness of nostalgia treated his nostrils, wafting gently in her dampening aura, deep cerulean blues mixing with the usually accompanied turquoise longing, light and vibrant in stark contrast. Thomas couldn't help but smile at the surprisingly human emotion, and despite his very best efforts, was becoming more and more fond of the apparent nuit-child before him. Her questions were tinged with a slight color; her voice wavering in it's faint light, echoes of the lightest pink he had ever seen. It collected from the air around her, little waves of whatever the emotion was pushing back and forth like pretty ocean waves, reflecting in the morning sun.

Her mother? Thomas supposed he could be seeing fondness, or gentleness, something was causing the new change, and he doubted he had said anything that caused in the aura's disturbance, "I wouldn't know," he shrugged, decidedly more interested in the supple pink waves riding in her aura then the actual conversation, "I think we are what we consider ourselves. If you think you should be a woman, then you are one, if you consider yourself a child, then you are one," he answered, not registering the girl's expression or her drawings; perhaps if he had, the pulser would have tried using a little more tact.

Or would have been less quick to accept the offer to see Lily, or Kreim.

"That sounds fun," he nodded, his magic fading as he began to follow the girl to her room; he decided it would perhaps be too taxing to divine her aura, follow their conversation, and walk alongside her to the quarters. The pulser could only do so much, especially given his lack of ability with personal magic.

Thomas noted that the spirits stayed well away from the pair, though he didn't put too much thought into it, after all, he had shown them who was who. "See the M? And the color?" Thomas asked her, in reference to his ring, "The color shows my rank, a wizard, and the M marks me as a wizard underneath Mashaen, the ArchWizard of the Citadel," he nodded, the pride in his voice obvious. "And what do you mean? WHo hates you...," Thomas paused, only just realizing that he never got the girl's name.

"What was your name again?"

[Fubuki Kouri]

The ghost girl pondered over Thomas' words, genuinely caught in her thoughts, before looking up at the tall human, "Be that as it may," she surprised herself, those words sounded 'wise' for some reason, different from her usual manner of speech, "I think our body still determines who we are to a degree, Sir," her left hand gestured to Thomas' form, "like you, I think everyone will call you an 'adult', no? While as myself," She touched her own chest with the same hand, "No one treated me as a woman, if there was, I can't remember them, but I understand," She gave a long sigh, "I'm still a girl, it's just... I think I can never grow up".

He accepted her offer, to be honest, Kouri didn't expect it, the man looked very careful and guarded earlier, for him to so quickly affirmed it, perhaps he was interested in her moving doll. Of course he would, dolls were usually motionless and dead, but not Lily, "Alright then, let's go," She began walking, her long raven hair swaying rather unnaturally against the eerie wind. No spirits disturbed their walk, they were not foolish enough to disturb her after she put them in their place, "See what I mean, Sir Thomas? Scare those spirits a bit and they'll leave you alone".

Her large sapphire eyes reexamined his ring, more interested in its aesthetics than what they symbolized, "I see, so you're a wizard, just like... her," she paused, a twang of pain suddenly struck her chest, Kouri faltered for a few steps, holding her chest as if she just received a heart attack, before recovering herself, "No... no one hates me, it's nothing, she loves me, it's my mother, I mean... my other mother, Annalisa," After that fateful day, she couldn't disobey the human, what kind of curse did Anna plant on her?

Kouri looked back up to Thomas when he asked her name, she introduced herself earlier, but if he missed it, she could understand, he was not in the best mood for a conversation after all, being startled, "I'm Kouri, Sir Thomas," she said simply. As they walked to the Quarters, Kouri would keep silent unless Thomas asked her something.

After a few moments, the duo was standing before a particular door in the Quarters, heading to Kouri's claimed room, "This is my room," She focused the soulmist on her right palm then pushed the door open, with a creak, a simple square-shaped chamber was revealed, inside, there were little furnitures, aside from a simple bed for Kriemhild, and a cart filled with Kouri's belongings. A young woman with long black hair and dull green eyes, wearing a black robe, could be seen near the cart, using brush to clean a very large dollhouse, the woman then turned to the duo, bowing down respectfully, "Welcome home, Mistress".

"Oh, Kriem, I want you to meet Sir Thomas," She gestured to the human, then back to Kriem, "Sir Thomas, this is Kriemhild, my maid," Ever since that fateful day when she rescued the Nuit from a slave caravan, Kriem was completely loyal to her, she was also the one who told her about her origins in Sahova. The ghost girl entered her room as Kriem obediently made way and sat near a wall, "Kriem, I'm hungry~" Kouri cooed, looking much like the young girl she was. The request was answered with a nod from the Nuit, she picked up a small jar from the cart, filled with glowy ethereal white gel, offering it to Kouri.

"Hehe, thanks!" Kouri grabbed the soulmist-filled jar with her right hand, then promptly opened it, licking her lips before dipping one finger in it then brought the finger to her mouth, smiling sweetly at the ethereal nectar. As she ate her meal, Kouri gestured for Thomas to come closer to the dollhouse, her left hand then pointed to a particular doll with long blond hair and slightly oversized blue eyes, the doll was wearing a maid costume, and suddenly, it moved on its own, bowing herself politely to Kouri, "Welcome home, Mistress!" Her voice sounded rather artificial, especially the tone.

"Hello, Lily, I want you to dance for Sir Thomas, okay?" At her command, the doll immediately danced like a ballerina, her movements were limited, but at least she could keep her balance, "See, Sir Thomas, this is Lily! You can pick her up, but please be careful, okay?"