~~ INTERLUDE START ~~ <> « hmm, I would think before.. but it may be after if Tori was quick checking in. Chrys? :) » «ooc: It'll be after, but we're going to take a while before you come into it » «ooc: Unless you want to come in here » <> The sun slowly sets over the beleaguered Northtown, as work continues on stabilizing the area after the recent turmoil. People dart to and fro, republic and Vandole, not paying Chrys much mind as he walks a familiar street. At the end of this lane, thankfully spared from the worst of the damage, stands an old estate. The central building has obviously been uninhabited for awhile, some parts in disrepair, but it still carries quite a bit of the noble grace Northtown is known for. * Chrys closes his eyes and lets out a deep sigh as he walks along the street, stopping in front of the house and stepping forward, placing his hand on the aged wood of the door.. "Goddess... has it been ten years..? No, almost eleven, now.." Damn.. I was such an idiot, back then... I remember how I used to think.. "I'm sick of being such a spoiled rich kid.. the one who's left out because he can get anything.. Maybe if nobody was richer than anyone else, we'd all be happy.." * Chrys shakes his head, fingers playing over the doorknob.. It doesn't matter how much money I have.. I could be the richest guy in the world or a homeless pauper, wandering the streets for bread and shelter.. no.. I'd still have been trampled on. It's just how people work... You've got to use the poor and abuse the rich in order to get power... Only the people who fade into the crowd can really be happy.. * Chrys sighs again, trying the doorknob, and blinking in amusement as he finds the door unlocked... "Speaking of.. I wonder if someone managed to ransack this place..? I bet the thieves were all over it when they learned that the Souryuu family had completely vanished from its family estate.." * Chrys opens the door and walks into the darkened house, looking around to see if things have changed since he remembers.. * Chrys blinks and fumbles around for a light switch, finding an old oil lamp instead and lighting it more to see if it works than to illuminate things.. As you open the door up, you see a good deal of the foyer is a mess from the days when servants kept it in tip top shape. But it could indeed be worse, and most things are indeed as you left them... You also begin to be aware of some voices drifting in from the rear of the house. * Chrys raises an eyebrow... Voices? Here..? Maybe he's caught more 'treasure hunters' doing their job.. * Chrys ignores the nostalgia for now and slowly creeps his way towards the back of the house... through the kitchen (note to self: get rid of rats if you move back in here)... and into the dining room at the rear.. As you hit the kitchen and dining room, you find things lit, and nearly give three young boys a heart attack. o_O * Chrys stands straight and appraises the three boys.. "What are you doing here..?" The three boys almost run, the back door ajar and obviously indicating how they got in. A blond one gets the courage to respond. "Well.. uh... this place was all deserted.. and we lost our home to the monsters, so..." * Chrys smirks and shakes his head. "Fine.. don't bother running, I'm not gonna tell on you." [Another Boy] Do you live here? ...Lived. Long story. Needless to say, this place should be deserted.. And since nobody's torn it down in ten years, I doubt many people look at the house. Good place to hide, in other words. But are you sure you kids'll be okay in here..? It HAS been empty since I was seven.. It might not be safe any more. [Third Kid] It is kinda creepy... but kinda cool too. Cool? You sure..? You see the door open wider and a woman peer in, head wrapped in a kerchief. "Boys, is this where you were hiding?" [First Boy] Mom! :o ...You're these boys' mother..? [Woman] Yes, I was looking all over town for you three! ...Ma'am.. your son says you lost your home in the attacks recently.. is this true? The woman considers Chrys, and nods. "Yes, it was unfortunate... I was going to pick them up to go to one of the shelters." Don't bother. They're all going to be full by now.. Refugees from Larece, Southtown, here... even the Gold City... the Mana Knights couldn't stop all the destruction around.. [Woman] Well, what else can i do? I need a roof over my head at least until things quiet down... I've lost most of my money too, and I can't even find my husband... :/ ...I'll make you a deal, ma'am... *** DooM_GazE (~doomgaze@h24-68-227-75.cg.shawcable.net) Quit (Quit: ...No Comment...) [Woman] A deal? I used to live here. If robbers haven't come around and taken everything not nailed down, there should still be the family fortune down in the basement... I was planning on looking to see if it was still there, and maybe building a new life for myself with it.. but I think you're in more need than I am right now. So if it's still down there, and if you promise to make this house as beautiful as it was ten years ago... * Chrys smiles.. "You can live here and keep what I don't take with me today." The omwan looks very taken aback. "My word, .. th-that's quite an offer..." « er woman ^^ » «ooc: omwan? My word, th-that's quite a typo... » [Third Boy] Yeah, let's live in the cool house! So... do you want to take me up on it..? [Woman] I don't know what to say... but if you're serious, I really can't say no! Just what is your name, kind sir? Chrystan James Souryuu, madam... the last living heir of the Souryuu estate. My own future is uncertain, so I'd be happy if you made a name for your family in this town.. in order to take the place of my own.. [Woman] Souryuu... that name sounds familiar. In any case, I'm Abigail Corelli... and I will keep my word. I will make this place into an estate even greater than the one I have lost. The kids cheer! * Chrys smiles and offers the woman his hand. "You probably just heard of my parents when you were younger, is all.. I'm not talked about much. Anyways, shall we go and see if the old family inheritance is still hidden after all this time..?" [Boy] You bet! «ooc: Meredy got a sex change. » * Chrys leads anyone who wants to follow back through the kitchen and into a side door, and stairs down.. * Chrys stops at a door and tests it... "Good.. still locked..." * Chrys pulls out one of his daggers out and jams it between two bricks, knowing just which one to pry loose.. grabbing the key behind it and unlocking the door... *** Mia_Ausa (~nancypera@pool-141-154-197-102.bos.east.verizon.net) has joined #Pureland * Chrys replaces the key and brick, opening the door and walking into an emptied cellar... "Well.. it seems like thieves found a way in here anyway. Maybe they were just considerate enough to lock the door.. Now... where did we keep the important stuff..?" * Chrys thinks... closing his eyes and trying to remember.. "It was a safe.. in the floor.. right about..." * Chrys talks to himself and walks forward as he talks. "Five paces north....two more to the east... one to the south, one to the east..." * Chrys kneels down and chuckles to himself, tapping along the wood floor to see if it's hollowed out beneath.. "Never should have let grandma work out the hiding places.." * Chrys nods to himself and pulls up a loose plank, reaching in and fiddling with the combination lock inside.. "Okay... my birthday... Left Fifth month... Right... Luna's day, so that's... three, I believe... left three, for three years after grandma 'saved the day'.. eheh..." * Chrys hears an audible click and pulls open the safe.. Chrys opens the secret safe to find quite a big stash of gold! It's in solid bars, probably totalling quite a few thousand Luc at least... The boys look in awe at the find. :o * Chrys smiles and takes two bars for himself, leaving the rest - a good twenty or thirty more bars - for the family. "It's all here, it seems like. Both of us should feel lucky... Me, because thieves never figured out where the money was kept; you, because you're getting it.." *** Jalanda is now known as Storen [Woman] This is amazing... I don't know what to say! This could easily restore the whole place and then some. ...Well, I don't need it, so you're welcome to it... Just keep good on your word, is all.. [Abigail] *takes a bar carefully* I promise... you're truly a lifesaver, mr. Souryuu, I won't forget this. Think nothing of it, Miss Corelli.. Anyways.. I've just got a few more things to do here, and then I'll be on my way.. * Chrys bows to the woman and heads back upstairs, ruffling one of the boys' hair on the way up.. * Chrys heads out to the foyer, looking around with another wistful sigh.. "The more things change, the more they stay the same.." * Chrys heads upstairs, opening up the door he remembers his room being in, smiling warmly as it looks mostly untouched... not disturbing a single item in the room except a small picture on a chest of drawers... "Mom... dad... I think you'd be proud of me if you saw me today..." * Chrys places the picture in his pack, talking to himself.. "I wish I could see you.. but it's too early for me to go to where you are..." * Chrys sighs and slowly walks out of the house... * Chrys closes the door behind him, sitting on the side of it and watching the sun set... "I always dreamed I'd be great when I grew up... I never knew it'd be this hard... especially as a Mana Knight..." « need to afk, i think you have this well in hand ^^ » «ooc: Yeah, just waiting for Tori, if he wants to go now » * Tori is leaning against the wall and pushes away as Chrys exits the house. You had ghosts of your own to tend to, I see... Yeah, I did... * Chrys chuckles quietly.. "Would you believe I used to live here? Me, the most wanted ruffian in all of Pandora a few months ago..?" * Tori shrugs "I think we all have unlikely origins." I don't know.. you seem pretty normal, yourself. Granted, you were also the most unstable of the group for a while.. * Chrys realizes what he's saying and shuts up. ... Who says I'm still not? Our outsides...what everyone sees and thinks they know us by...it doesn't always mean that were that same way on the inside. You know that. Session Close: Sun Jun 16 00:00:00 2002 You hide it better. Or at least, the past has finished coming back and haunting you for now. *** Mia_Ausa (~nancypera@pool-141-154-197-102.bos.east.verizon.net) Quit (Ping timeout) I guess....yeah. That's a good way to put it. It's there. It's inside...or, most of it is, anyway. But it's part of me now. It doesn't define me. It's not something that stands apart from me and dictates who I have to be or what I have to do. ...You think that's how it is with some of us? I think that's how it is with everyone. Everyone wants to follow their past. Everyone wants a path, a sure thing determined by the actions of yesterday. Rather it's sad or not, it's safe. and that's no way to live. I'm tired of fate. I'm tired of destiny. History goes in cycles, but somewhere it had to start and that means it can end. I believe we can make our own path. Everyone can start a new history. I know I didn't always believe that....but I do now. Yeah.. but you realize that history isn't a kind mistress so much as a frigid bitch.. You can start a new history... if the past doesn't kill you. You and I are lucky... we've already proven to whatever's out there that we can take it.. but... * Chrys starts walking.. "What about Cody or Rahne..? Are they gonna be able to make their own paths? Do they even know they can?" It's not an easy way...but they have to look at what's come before and ask themselves if it can really get any worse. Is it better to keep going down a path you know ends in tears, or try for something new? * Tori shoves his hands in his pockets and follows along. I wish I could make that point clear to her.. * Chrys shakes his head. "No. No thinking about Rahne. Rahne's part of the reason that moving on hurts so much. She's as stubborn as I am." I don't know that you should just throw those feelings away...but, you're right not to worry about that part of it. She has to see it for herself...otherwise, it's just going to be the same old road she was down before. Yeah.. and in a way, it's worse to walk down the same path, deluding yourself into thinking it's a different one.. * Tori nods. That's the worst part of it. For some people, it's impossible to escape, because they only see different branches...but it all ends up at the same place. Yeah, but you can't really be taught to see.. it's something you've gotta learn on your own. ....and you have to want to see it. Yeah... Say, Tori... I know this may be touchy, but you looked like you were thinking about something this morning.. what was it? Hmm? Oh...just the last sentence I read in a book... technically the last sentence, anyway...all the pages after it were ripped out. Hm...? Then it's not really the last sentence... I've seen the other pages. Trust me, for him, it was. For him..? * Chrys looks over at his shoulder at Tori, concerned. "You mean, you remember..?" Some of it. Life's not so cut and dried...I'll probably never remember everything... but I know a lot of it, now. I think you would've found things to be easier if you didn't.. * Tori thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. That was my way to see. I had to know what my path was before I could change it. "No one here gets out alive." It wasn't a good destination. It wasn't. I think my path was heading the same way until I realized exactly what I wanted.. and what's that? « need to go, send me the log :) » Acceptance. To be a normal person. Not just a rich kid, not just street rabble. I wanted to be Chrys Souryuu. Not a Mana Knight or a lowly thief with nothing better in life. The problem is finding out who I am, exactly. <> «ooc: Done and done » * Tori nods. It's a shame more people can't see that they need to find out the same thing. * Chrys looks down at the ground as he walks, kicking a stone along the ground.. "Finding out about yourself requires some sort of power over your life... And in order to get power, you have to hurt people... whether or not you realize it." *** Storen (paladinrpg@staff.lunarnet.org) Quit (Quit: ) That's the catch. Figure yourself out, but hurt anyone else who hasn't started to question their own road yet. I'd rather hurt them by living than hurt them by dying, if you ask me. Once you see, that's really all you can do. You can't go back to being blind. It'd be nice to, sometimes, though, wouldn't it? * Tori thinks back, through the gaps, and the blood and a rain of who knows how many bullet casings. ...no. * Chrys opens his mouth to say something and then thinks back to similar.. specific events for him instead of images... Nakano's death, the night in the Northtown prison, Rahne trying to stay behind at the River Lethe.. ...I see your point. I guess I didn't really think about it. ... We're a long way from that road outside Pandora, aren't we? Which one? The one where I tried to sneak off with Cody's pendant in the middle of the night, or the one where you tried to kill me..? Both, I guess. Farther than either of us can begin to see, I'd figure. * Tori nods and chuckles a bit. So, I guess we need to go do something about this end of the world thing I keep hearing so much about. Otherwise, there's not much point in debating about old roads or new roads. Yeah, but first we need the rest of the group. I don't think we'd be able to start the world back up again on our own. There's seven of us for a reason. Yeah, naturally. Seven seeds for a new history... * Chrys nods.. "If even one falls out of place, then history repeats..." Heh...tough odds. Yeah. But I've always been lucky in gambles like this.. I don't think this time'll be any different. Especially because I know what's stacked up against us. ...Say, Tori. We've probably got some time to kill before the others come back, and it's no good to be so serious that we practically dig our own graves before any of this happens.. you want somethin' to eat? I'll pay. Sounds good...seeing as how I'm still broke. * Tori smirks a little at the memory. «ooc: End there? » <> «ooc: Like I said, it's not good to be so serious that we're bordering angst. » >> And so the two head on down the street, knowing it's only a matter of time before the moment of truth.. >> Lude End <<