thirst(open)

[zapy]

Tal stepped back in shock
he had lost control of his thirst and fed on someone
"no...no...no no no no no"
tal back up to a wall...his face and neck were covered in blood
"no not again"
he slid down the wall till he was sitting down stairing at the body
tal shook his head in disbelieve

[recon5]

Mokuko had just arrived at the human village, looking as always for something fun to do. There was always entertainment to be had at the human village, usually in the form of an attack by a stray fairy, Youkai or beast. Mokuko himself sometimes liked to cause a bit of trouble by making stuff move with his Astral Strings as any number of interesting things could happen in the resulting chaos, especially when the local Youkai exterminators came out.

They never caught him, though. He was too smart for that. Watching them try to 'exterminate' an item he'd just meddled with was quite entertaining as well.

The dismayed voice coming from nearby caught Mokuko's attention. Being careful to keep himself hidden, he got as close as he could to its source. The blood-drenched appearance of the white-haired man scared him just a little, as did the sight of the body next to him, but all fear vanished as the puppet noticed a large water jar nearby. It had a wooden lid and a scoop on top of it and it gave him an idea for a prank.

He quietly attached some of his Astral Strings to the jar and its accessories and he made them hop towards the white-haired man. Struggling to keep himself from giggling and losing control, he stopped the jar a few paces from the man and made its lid flap like a mouth.

"Good evening, sir," he said through the jar, "You look like you could use a wash."

[zapy]

a wash...yes...he needed to get rid of the blood
tal looked at the lar for a moment and then activated his anti-magic aura
after looking around for a bit he picked up the jar and washed himself off
he was too freaked out to freak out again
after getting rid off the blood he looked at the body
"i've got to get rid of that thing"

[recon5]

This was new. The white haired man had used some sort of power to break Mokuko's Astral Strings. Whatever the power was it also seemed to be affecting the puppet's body as it became harder for him to move, almost as though he was losing his grip on his own limbs.

Was the man a Youkai exterminator of some sort? Youkai exterminators didn't usually kill humans. Maybe he was a Youkai himself. If so, why hadn't the exterminators noticed him? It was a mystery and mysteries were interesting. First, though, Mokuko would have to get the man to release him from the strange power.

"Hey there... uh, sir... uh, would you mind letting me go now?"

It was hard for Mokuko to speak through his stiffness but without his Astral Strings he had no other mouth to use than his own. He just had to hope that no villager heard him.

[zapy]

tal looked at the puppet for a moment
"dont tell anyone what you've seen promise"
he stood up and walked over to the puppet
"then i'll drop the anti-magic"

[recon5]

The mysterious power seemed to become stronger as the man got closer, to the point where Mokuko was unable even to turn his head and he found himself looking straight forward at the man's chest. For a moment he considered escaping without his body but he didn't know if he would be able to obtain a new one if the man decided to destroy it. He didn't have any other choice but to accept the man's offer and by sheer effort he managed a strained "Yes..."

[zapy]

tal released his aura and anti-magic field went away
"can you help me youkai?....before anyone around here wakes up"
this puppet thing had seen what he had done and tried to help him...or so tal thought
tal looked at the body
"i need to put that somewhere where it won't be found...at least until after sunrise"

[recon5]

Mokuko regained control of his body quite quickly as the strange power went away. He flexed his arms and legs, then wiggled his fingers and toes for good measure. Yes, everything was back to normal.

As he checked himself, the white-haired man asked for his help with hiding the body. It was a sensible thing to think of at the time and finding a nice place would be interesting enough, so Mokuko decided to help. He picked up the corpse with his Astral Strings, making it stand upright as though it were alive. A few more Strings to its hands and feet and he was able to make it gesture quite naturally, although he didn't quite have enough free Strings to move the mouth.

He made his new toy turn to face Tal with its hands on its hips. "If we put this near a beast den it should be gone in no time. Even if it isn't I don't think anyone will look. You coming?"

[zapy]

tal bowed
"thank you"
he walked with the puppet
"im sorry i killed her...i couldn't control myself"
tal hated being a vampire the thought of sucking blood sent shivers down his spine...that and before he became a vampire he was a vegetarian
"my name is tal"

[recon5]

Mokuko smiled. The night was clear and the air was fresh, perfect for a walk. As he walked, the corpse walked too, and just for fun he decided to give it a little spring in its step. He snickered when he realized that the three of them probably looked like a young family going for a nighttime stroll towards the woods. Of course, the vision would turn into a nightmare for anyone who got close enough...

Tal sounded apologetic about what he'd done. Well, Mokuko believed that every being, human or Youkai, did something they regretted at least once in their life and he couldn't see how this was different. He himself had certainly done dumb things before. Lots of them. What the man said about losing control was familiar as well. As a puppet Mokuko knew what it was like to be controlled, better perhaps than Tal could ever know.

"Well, Tal, what's done is done, and I always say that we shouldn't worry about the past." He considered putting the corpse's hand on Tal's shoulder as his own hands were occupied but realized in time that it would be a bad idea. He decided to just keep walking.

"So you killed a human. That happens a lot in Gensokyo and if everyone who did it worried about it all the time then this would be a very sad world indeed. Even humans do it sometimes to other humans who cause trouble, and they don't seem to worry about it at all."

[zapy]

"that doesn't make it okay"
tal stopped and pointed to his fangs
"damn vampires turned me it a f***ing killer"
the started to rise and tal hid from it behind a tree
he couldn't use his anti-magic aura to become human because it paralyzed this youkai but at the same time the sun would kill him
"just drop the body in the sunlight"

[recon5]

A vampire! Well, that certainly explained a lot about Tal. Mokuko hadn't met any vampires personally before but he'd heard quite a bit about the two living in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. He guessed that they would have to find shelter soon and as luck would have it the first rays of sunlight revealed a number of creatures stalking through the woods ahead. They seemed to be wolves and Mokuko guessed that they had smelt the corpse he had on his Strings and were looking for it.

Well, they were in luck. It took little more than a flick of his wrists for Mokuko to make the body leap into the woods as if on its own. As it left the ground he cut off his Strings so that he wouldn't be pulled along with it. The woods exploded with noise and flying fur as the body landed out of sight, telling Mokuko that the wolves had found it.

He turned to look at Tal and found the vampire trying to shade himself. The trees didn't seem to be giving him as much cover as he needed. "There are some caves a bit further down that you can use if you're strong enough to get rid of the animals."

[zapy]

tal loked looked at the puppet
"if i use my aura i dont have to worry about sunlight...but it'll make it harder for you to move"
tal sighed
"im sure you'll forgive me"
tal activated his anti-magic and then picked the puppet up
"this is just until we reach the cave"
he ran off to the cave leaving the wolves to their meal

[recon5]

That power again. Mokuko decided that he would just enjoy the ride and he allowed his entire body to go limp even as the stiffness began to set in.

The cave they came to was home to some of the beasts that troubled the human village from time to time. Youkai exterminators, adventurous villagers and even Youkai and fairies would come here to fight whatever was living in it. Some did it for fun, some did it to test or improve their skills and others did it to protect themselves or the village. As with all old dens it was never unoccupied for long and new creatures would take over when the old ones were killed.

Most of the time the beasts that lived here were far less dangerous than those in places like the Forest of Magic or the woods around the Scarlet Devil Lake. They were still quite a handful for the people who normally fought them, though, and Mokuko wondered if Tal would be able to defend himself if anything was living there at the moment.

((OOC: Zappy, it's up to you to decide if there's anything to fight and how you want to fight it.))

[zapy]

when they reached the cave and tall was out of the sunlight he set the puppet down and let his aura fade away
"thank you again"
he smiled and sat down
"thats two i owe you"