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Post by beastly on Feb 6, 2023 22:29:11 GMT -6
Vincent held the dagger, feeling the weight, the same hard appraising look in his eyes. The silver was good, he ran his thumb gingerly over the blade. Church silver. Vincent imagined his chosen enemies wouldn't especially handle that well either. He liked the other dagger more, he liked that it was warded, but this was very solid.
His brow furrowed slightly as Ryu spoke again. He hadn't told Ryu about his job. He hadn't mentioned a job at all. Ryu had gone from 'self defense' to 'job'. He didn't know what the man was. He seemed nice, nice enough that Vincent didn't immediately jump to thinking Ryu was trying something, but he was wary. His necklace was not alerting him to any magic that was reading his mind, so he wasn't sure what was happening here. Maybe Ryu was just guessing.
The hunter was quiet, and as he offered the dagger back, he felt the places where he'd been torn open and healed shut. Nothing that especially hurt, but it was a discomfort.
"...It is."
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Post by jarahamee on Feb 10, 2023 2:40:47 GMT -6
Ryu accepted the dagger back carefully, before offering the first again. It seemed like his eyes lingered on it more than anything else here. He wanted it, and it was what he was looking for. He imagined that this fellow was someone who hunted supers, from the rangy look of the man, to his suspicious scars.
He didn’t need to read his mind (and couldn’t), he just knew based on how he looked.
“So, this item isn’t really on sale for money, but… you can have it if you take this bracelet with you. It stores souls. When it’s full with five souls, you have to come back here and return it. Those are the terms of the deal, and you’ll have to sign a contract.”
The devil sighed, looking Vincent over. He didn’t really want him to kill five people. He wasn’t even sure if someone in his condition could kill five people. Sometimes people have guns and knives and could kill you first. And he was a mortal man…
“Hey I just… I’m not going to get you into trouble or anything, but I gotta ask…Why do you hunt?”
His expression was somber.
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Post by beastly on Feb 11, 2023 20:43:43 GMT -6
Vincent's eyebrows raised as Ryu explained the cost of the knife. Was he dealing with some manner of demon? It... definitely was looking that way. It was also kind of a problem. Five souls. Vincent's prey, vampires, they had no souls. He'd need to seek out other monsters to kill.
He wasn't sure how he felt about. Werewolves had souls, and it pained him to put them down, but it was a necessity. Demons... he didn't think had souls. He'd killed the odd maneater here and there, but he wasn't sure he could find enough non-vampire threats to kill.
He blinked back into the conversation and realized what he'd been asked. Why did he hunt? Oh, there was no ambiguity anymore. But... he felt like he should answer? This was a devil thing, and oddly he found himself answering. The hunter's expression grew distant.
"Vampires... hurt my family. I hate them. Im. Good at it," or was, his gaze was concentrated on the dagger, "I'm- I make it safer for people."
It came out a bit more jumbled than he'd intended, and he glowered hard at the dagger.
"I'm... uncertain about the bracelet. I mostly hunt vampires, and they're... soulless things."
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Post by jarahamee on Feb 12, 2023 2:12:44 GMT -6
As Vincent spoke, Ryu’s eyes became steadily sadder as he understood the trajectory of this man’s life. He was not a mind reader, nor could he see people’s desires, but he didn’t need any of those powers to see this man’s pain and tragedy.
“I’m… sorry that happened to you. Honestly. Truly. You didn’t deserve any of that. I…bet you were young. ”
He looked downwards at his feet. Should he tell him the truth? That not all vampires were like that? It was true. Some of them just wanted to live peaceful lives, like August, who was here now and then. Were they evil too?
He felt the strong desire to give this stranger a hug, but knew that would probably end up with him getting the Buffy-the-vampire treatment. Admittedly, for a creature like him, that would be more annoying than lethal.
Ryu’s sadness slowly became a concerned frowned as the questions continued. How was he going to break it to this guy that they definitely did have souls (otherwise where would the devil-part of them go?). How would they use magic without one?
“.. They… actually do have souls. We… collect their souls too, when applicable. You…you know. So… you don’t have to change your hunt, if you don’t want to… ”
His voice was gentle, as if he was breaking bad news to someone. For Vincent, it likely was going to be bad news. Poor guy. Would this make him feel bad?
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Post by beastly on Feb 12, 2023 9:55:30 GMT -6
The hunter stared at Ryu, visibly processing what he was being told. Any comfort or awkwardness from the man's sympathy was dulled by slowly creeping horror.
Vincent met Ryu's eyes, his first instinct was to call him a liar, a spark of anger in his previously tired eyes.
"No," but even as he spoke, he could see it in Ryu's face- whatever type of creature he was, he wasn't a liar, not about this. He must just be mistaken, he must just be wrong.
" They can't..."
But this was a demon man, a devil thing. Something that dealt in souls. How could he be wrong? It would be detrimental to his business if he accepted souls that didn't exist from vampires. No. He was right, Vincent knew it. The dread that had been stalking him finally pounced.
The hunter's face drained of blood. He'd killed many vampires during his career as a hunter. Many of them the group had been alerted to because they were blatantly killing humans. His tactics now mostly relied on vampires attacking him first. But not all his kills went that way. He'd stalked and staked vampires that were not going around killing messily. He couldn't help but think back to the two wrong vampires in the woods. He dropped the dagger onto the counter with a clatter.
His brothers. He felt he was going to throw up the coffee Ryu had given him. He braced himself on the counter, arm shaking as he tried to compose himself.
"I-I. No."
The hunter, Vincent, turned for the door. No. No. No.
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Post by jarahamee on Feb 12, 2023 20:42:58 GMT -6
As it turned out, it would make him feel very, very bad, and there was likely nothing that Ryu could do to fix it. He supposed that while many sinners came to his shop in search of riches, or to sate themselves of their own desires, this man had come for… revenge, and a sense of righteousness.
"H..hey, um..."
He regretted the blood he had split. At least, some of it.
Ryu didn’t spend a long time wondering if it was innocent blood, nor did he try to stop Vincent from leaving. No words he said were going to fix this issue. Vincent would just have to…decide what to do.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard Mr. Sano’s voice calling him the ‘worst salesman’ and shook it off. It was only fair to be honest.
“… S…sir… come…back…anytime, ok?”
Part of him, somewhere in the back of his mind, wondered if a hit of a blunt would make him feel better, but decided that was unlikely. He was probably off to do some soul-searching.
With a sigh, he moved to go pick up the fallen dagger, watching Vincent’s form retreating.
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