Hell All Over Again?! [Houjin, or Invite][NR]

Oh god.

It was happening again.

She was trapped in some place with almost no hope to escape. She knew she shouldn't have left the safety of her grandmother's house. But she had... and now she was in hell.

Yes, that's what this place with its stark white walls had to be.

Hell.

No where on earth was this white. This 'pure'. This fucking tainted in her opinion. She had to get out of here. She had to escape before the place sucked her in, trapped her here. Or was she already trapped? Was this already her new prison? With its massive amounts of rules and conformity... No, not again. Never. Again.

She would die first. Yes, that was right. They were going to have to kill her. She wouldn't conform.

Thoughts raced through her mind as she took off down the street, moving so fast that she kicked up a gust of wind which caused several people to be knocked over. She was heading down one of the main streets, golden brown eyes filled with fear; the sort of look best described as those that prey get when confronted with a predator of mass proportions. She had to escape, it was all she could think of.

She didn't even know how she had got here; she had fallen asleep while drifting lazily on the clouds... and before she had known it she had ended up drifting down into this city. This Hell. As she ran she half expected to be stopped, to be chased down and captured... but no one yet dared even reach for her; the citizens of this hellish white walled place were too shocked to do much. Good, maybe that would give her the chance she needed. The chance to escape.

If only she could find someone she knew. Find someone who could explain all of this to her. Who could get her out of here before she lost her mind even further.

'Too late, you've lost it. Avery, you need to calm down.'

'No, Mar. We have to keep running. We have to escape.'

'This isn't the same thing!'

'Yes it is, it has to be... Right?'

Well, that was new. New for here, anyway. All had been quiet for a while now; ever since his little meeting with that strange tourist child had fallen apart. Or rather, he'd quietly slipped away while the talkative one had been distracted. Overly familiar humans made him uncomfortable; there where too many chances to hurt someone without meaning to when humans got to close.

Now however, his interest was peaked. Gusts of wind, disturbances not caused by his dark appearance... He should go have a look.

A slight raising of the ambient temperature; natural for his kind; that was enough to part the crowds as they instinctively adjusted to give themselves more space to remain cool. He could dart between the masses and never so much as brush against a being using that trick; and it really did make moving towards the source of the disturbance far easier.

"....."

Well... that was unexpected. It wasn't hard to recognize the woman causing the disturbance; she tended to stick out fairly easily; doubly so in this oppressive place. Seems his life was likely going to get very... hectic, for a while; with Avery around.

A simple enough trick; releasing smoke from his mouth in clouds that would billow and form massive, pitch black walls around them. A corral of sorts; purely visible, anyone that interacted with this smoke would be left with little more then a smell of char in their nose and a light dusting of ash on their clothes. She would likely remember the smoke walls; he'd used them before around her; and if anything she would either move to avoid them (which would bring her to where she could see him), or punch right through them (which would serve roughly the same purpose, as she would know someone that could do what she could was around and that tended to calm her down. Usually).

Typhokinetic Combat:

'Okay, maybe you were right, Avery... look at the walls.'

Yes, look at the walls made of smoke. But it wasn't a bad thing like the Marquetta side of her brain thought. Not at all. She recognized them, and moved to avoid them, quickly, while she continued to move forward. However, her movements were nowhere near as frantic as they had been. She knew who was behind that, who had to be behind that: Houjin.

'No no.. I recognize this... this is something Houjin's done before.'

'Are you sure it's not a trap?'

'... Who's the paranoid one now?'

She darted through the people who had gathered, coming to a dead stop about three from from Houjin. Her golden brown eyes darted around, taking in the people around who were for the most part keeping their distance. Which was good, because had any of them touched her, or attempted to? She was likely going to see it as an attack and 'defend' herself.

"Houjin? What... what is this place? It's like... Hell, all over again..." Even the air felt wrong to her here. It too felt confined. Trapped. But, maybe that was just her being paranoid, her reliving a nightmare she sometimes found herself trapped in. She still wanted to run, to get out of this confined place, or even at least get up somewhere high. But no, she would wait, wait and see what sort of explanation Houjin offered her.

Ah good, good; she was at least somewhat sane still. That would make things easier on them both. The smoke generation was stopped now; he had to speak for her to understand him since she couldn't read smoke signals or flame signs like he could. With the smoke generation stopped; the walls of black would dissipate quickly enough; giving the light breeze a more... natural scent; like wood and fire and normality. Hopefully it would calm her down some; anything more normal then the default state of this city should help some.

"It's alright, really. This place is not under their control, I can vouch for that. My family's lands are not that far away; no one can disturb this place without risking their wrath. This city is merely... strange. Form what I have discerned; the rules of this city value some human notion of absolute purity and virtue. Or something. Humans are strange creatures when they aren't extremists. I believe the excessive focus on the color white is part of their insanity."

He shifted closer, raising the heat further to give them more space. She wouldn't even really notice, unless she was looking just right and saw the heat shimmers in the air. No human would approach them with the heat turned up as high as he was taking it; the air would singe the hair from their skin and be exceedingly uncomfortable; as well as dangerous after a few moments. Safe for them, comforting for him, and a chance for Avery to calm down as much as she ever did. "How did you end up here, Avery? This is rather far from where I last knew you to be."

Between the change of the scent in the air to a more natural smell, and his words, along with the distance that the citizens of the city were keeping her form relaxed slightly. Shoulders lost their tension, and her eyes stopped darting around like she was expecting to be attacked at a moments notice. She became almost normal looking - other than her outfit, and the near constant movement of her clothing due to the ever present small wind that was natural and normal for her.

She folded her arms across her chest; taking note of the shimmer in the air, but not bothered by the rising heat. "It's a long story... really. Marquetta died... there was an accident that took her life. For a while I just... shut down. I don't even know how long it's been. But after a while I started hearing this voice in my head. I thought I was going crazy... I thought I was imagining things, that my mind was making things up to compensate for her loss. Then I realized that Mar's spirit, apparently due to something my grandmother had done to her, merged with mine... so she's in my head..."

Avery shook her head, hoping her explanation wasn't too confusing. The spirit world and all of its wonder was something she didn't like to talk about out in the open; at least not in great detail. Too many ears, even if this place could be considered safe despite its strangeness. "I still couldn't stay... the memories were killing me, draining me of everything - I couldn't even use any of my abilities, it was like it was all gone. So, I left. Last thing I remember I was floating along on a cloud when I fell asleep... and then, well then I woke up here, and it was like my nightmares come to life."

Well, that answered one unasked question; he'd been glancing around a bit trying to spot the other female. Sad, he'd kind of liked her, in his own way; she was fun to have around and a powerful ally when things went sour. If he was something more... mammalian in nature; he would be able to feel even worse for Avery having lost someone she loved so dearly; but he was far from anything that could understand those kind of attachments. Nepotism, partnership in any kind of relationship manner, general family dynamics; those where beyond him. His kind just didn't have it; the closest thing to care they gave their young was turning the eggs once every so often, raking the coals and adding more if needed. Friendship was known, they had strong friendships; but the way they worked was different. They where still amphibians in heart and soul, even if they where millions of generations removed from the water they had emerged from eons ago.

His knowledge of other races told him to express regret that the female was dead; but given what Avery had said, that Marquetta's spirit was basically living inside of her; it made him think it would be more awkward then appreciated. "I believe I understand what you are trying to say. You must have caught the trade winds and where blown all the way out here; the mountains beyond the city are a near perfect wind block, you would have been forced to the ground near here no matter what."

Avery took a moment to get a good decent look at what she could see of the city; since she wasn't fleeing in terror of something that wasn't happening. There was a lot of white; an awful lot. And the language she could hear being spoken wasn't unknown to her, but it wasn't common. Which, led her to realize how far indeed she had gone from where her grandmother lived - hidden deep in untouched forests, high up on a mountain where the air was always crisp and clean - to here... this mockingly pure city.

Pure wasn't white. Pure was nature. Pure was natural. This... she didn't have words currently to describe what this was to her; not yet. They'd come soon enough, or Marquetta would end up chiming in in her brain and offering up a few choice and rather vulgar terms to use.

"I see.... Well, I suppose this place will have to do then. I can't go back from where I came, and at least it's... safe." She was absolutely itching at this point to let loose her nature manipulation and to flood the place with color and life... but, that would likely end badly, and bring the wrong sort of attention: so for the moment she kept her abilities to herself. "Ugh, it's so hard to resist my natural urge to rid this place of all this blankness and false purity... Who runs this city anyway?"

"No idea. Apparently the old ruler just up and disappeared one day; left without a word and never came back. From what I've seen, these people are so conditioned that nothing changed. They seem to barely even notice. So long as there is still food and the local law enforcement is working, they don't care about who rules or not. It's... disturbing."

And then the idea of warping the city into something more... normal took hold of his brain and he nearly started lighting things on fire to get them started. This place was so wrong and he just wanted to watch it burn; he really did. Create fire pits, open up some lava pools, get the smoke and ash flowing. It would be normal. It was be natural. Fire was purifying, wasn't it No one could complain.

Pyromania didn't even apply. He was fire; his very blood was lava. He wasn't a pyromaniac, his picture was in the dictionary next to fire.

"I would... not be against this idea. It would be... fun, to show these poor brainwashed humans what life really is."

Oh, how tempting the idea was. How lovely it would make this place look. How much nicer it would be to live here; and she had decided to live here after all. The forests and mountain she had called home, that she had tracked and ventured through every day, they were nice... she wanted this place to be nice, too. A grin swept across her face, bringing a twinkle to her golden brown colored gaze.

"That's all the encouragement I need... pre-warning, I've done some serious practicing since the last time I saw you.", she said with a mischievous chuckle and grin. Had she ever; she was a lot more powerful than she had been, and could use her abilities to whole new levels now. Some of that had come from practicing with her grandmother after she had returned home, while some of it had come with how much time she had spent living in nature. To survive in nature you had to know it, had to become one with it. And, since that point that she had done so... well, her abilities had reached a major peak.

She turned her concentration on the city; figuring there would be no one to have to answer to later on for what she was about to do, so there would be no hesitation. At first nothing happened, as she gathered more and more of her concentration; the only visible sign that she was preparing to do anything at all would be the pick up of wind around herself; gusting and swirling around her form, causing her coat to billow around. But, soon enough a little tiny plant sprouted at her feet, working up through a crack in the road... that was, until the ground started to tremble slightly, indicating something much larger working its way up.

Sure enough vines began to come forth from the stone walls, covering them, and sprouting all sorts of flowers; including those that were once thought extinct, that reacted to certain elements and bloomed around certain conditions. Flowers would likewise sprout up as would green grass. Trees would shoot up, full in bloom, all sorts, including fruit bearing trees. The air itself would begin to react, becoming far more normal and pure than the trapped air the city had offered.

This however was only the beginning, as a grin swept across her face....

Elemental Manipulation:

Well, that wasn't surprising. Not even the time taken to think about the consequences; just head on into the warping of the local area and destroying the bubble the locals lived in.

Just like old times. Glorious.

"While you're warping things, mind giving me access to the local bedrock for a bit? I wanna check and see if the local volcano runs beneath the city..."

All he needed was a shaft of solid rock connected to the bedrock and his hammer; a quick rap on the stone would tell him what he needed to know. The vibrations would echo a certain way through his hammer and tell him if he needed to switch forms to bring the heat along. He might not be able to utilize multiple elements, or tweak the very essence of nature around them; but he could bring the heat and the fire and the needed balance to keep the new ecosystem running smoothly. The volcanic ash and soils of the mountains where fertile beyond belief; all he needed was to know if they where close enough to bring to this place to feed the plant life. That... and he wouldn't mind making himself a little cave of his own with a nice pool of lava to sleep in...

Access to the bedrock? One destroyed street coming right up! "Haha, I think I can do that... let's see, Marquetta did it a little something like this...." The plants kept blooming and blossoming around them, spreading out further across the city while her stance changed; becoming like ones would who was about to lift something very heavy up. And in a way, she was. With her concentration on the ground at her feet she slowly made a pulling gesture, a bit of strain showing in her face: this wasn't her area of expertise, it was Marquetta's and so for a moment her eyes changed to a sudden olive green color; indicating that Marquetta was on control.

The strain vanished, and the ground began to tremble and shake more-so than it had been before. The man made road began to crack and break, first in little lines, but then into larger segments. Following this it began to fall away, the ground lifting up, revealing its true self hidden beneath the falseness. It was a large area, as most of the road had been broken away; revealing the true earth beneath it. "That work?", she asked, though the voice was not her own, and instead of Marquetta's slightly deeper feminine tone compared to Avery's light tone.

She even grinned like Marquetta as she looked over to Houjin; waiting to hear if she had to pull more up or not.

Elemental Manipulation:

"...." That was a little creepy; he was almost sure he could see a change come over the female; changes that screamed Marquetta and not Avery at all. Eeeish, that was going to take some getting used to. No point worrying about it now though, too much to do. "Should work fine. Thank you." He reached for his hammer, retrieving it from his sash-belt without fanfare; simply holding it and focusing some. He was activating the hammer's innate ability to change it's shape, giving it an appearance more akin to a sledgehammer then a blacksmith's tool. Dropping to a knee, he smacked the rock once and listened closely to the sound; a smile appearing on his face as he did.

A second wack of the rock confirmed what he heard; the bedrock was solid enough, but the channels of magma ran just beneath it. Good, good, a nice cave could be made for him and he could have his pool. It also meant that the soil itself would have the volcanic ash in it; or should. Something told him the rulers of the city had 'purged' the dark ash in order to make the place more 'pure'.

"Perfect, I can access the magma flows under the city. That makes things easier." His hammer was returned to it's resting place as he rose; taking a step away from his friend so that he didn't end up interrupting her while she worked. "I'm going to replace the ash in the soil. It'll help the plants grow. If you don't want to inhale a lung full of smoke and ash, you might want to wrap yourself in some clean air."

He even gave her several second to do this; although that was as much for him as for her. He needed to focus, to draw on his innate abilities on a way that wouldn't force his body to shift forms and causing unneeded destruction. This city was so tightly packed that his natural form would take out an entire district and likely lead to the deaths of a third of the population just from the heat and toxic smoke release. Not something he wanted. For a moment his eyes closed as he focused, tuning out the world even as the temperature around him shot up hundreds of degrees in only a few seconds.

Eye reopened and where completely different; inhuman in the extreme, eyes almost reptilian but not, to round and holding far to much intelligence. The eyes of a salamander. His true eyes. Along his spine a line of red began to grow, the skin that to an outsider would seem charred and destroyed looking like it was cracking; revealing embers of red and fire beneath it. Again, a hinting to his natural form; the area along his spine was very similar to ember and coals, hissing smoke and flame at random. Finally, the air itself began to shimmer and move; the heat becoming to much and lighting even that on fire.

His body was awash with flame now, reaching nearly a dozen feet in the area and encompassing an area around him of nearly 6 feet. He was a standing bonfire; but he did not burn. If anything, he began to smile happily; the fire felt good. The fire was home. The fire was him. One step, then two, finally a third; it brought him into the channel that Avery had created; a perfect containment just in case he got a little carried away. The fire surrounding him seemed to warp and mold; turning from nothing more then a cloak of fire into something else, something more. It was a shadow of his true form now; wrapped around him and giving the impression of what he actually was. Salamander. Beast. Different.

Natural; in a place that was quickly reverting from a human's mad dream and back to a place of nature and normality.

And then something new, from the sides of the fire beast's neck; flames shaped like the fluffy, frilled gills of a water salamander; one of the traits his people had kept over the eons; from this new construct billowed clouds of ash and smoke so thick that they would block the sun once they began to cover the city. The ash itself wasn't toxic per say; it lacked the volcanic glass particles that normally made it deadly. This wasn't an attack; it was a gift. He would refresh the soils of this place and give the plants the chance they needed to thrive. And then some. It would make this place more... homely, at least for him.

Amphibian Physiology:

Fire Manipulation:

With the conformation that it was enough Avery took control once more; goosebumps rising over her flesh from the exchange. She didn't let Marquetta in control like that very often, mostly because it made coming back to her body feel almost foreign; and the momentary chills were not as pleasant as they might have otherwise been, but they would disappear soon enough due to the heat Houjin was letting off. Her eyes returned to their natural golden brown color, indicating the change outwardly.

Now it was back to her task at hand; but first, one bubble of air coming right up. The gusts that normally surrounded her form spread outwards somewhat, leaving about a six inch gap all over her body, from head to toe, front to back, the air began to move quickly, forming a mostly human shaped bubble around herself; the only indication being the now constant movement of her clothing and hair all over her body, that, and for those who knew her, the rejuvinated look about her: like someone super high on oxygen, the sparkle in her eyes.

With that taken care of it was back to work. She made sure to keep her distance, not wanting to interfere in what Houjin was about to do, and therefore she concentrated on her own task. The nature continued to spread: grass sprouting up between cracks in the roads and sidewalks; all over the city, spreading out like some sort of green cloud of sorts from her center point and working its way outwards. More flowers sprouted up, some that reacted to heat, others that reacted when it rained or the air was particularly moist, others that reacted when the wind blew, or even those that reacted during storms, or at night... It would be like plants out of an old ancient book coming to life; covering every inch of available ground.

Tree roots dug deep into the earth as trees sprouted, causing natural disturbances in the ground, walkways, and some of the roads; but those roads would likely get fixed or changed anyway soon enough. The stone walls around the city would continue to be covered in ivy, but even they would loose some of their whiteness in favor of the natural earth tones as she manipulated the rock to its natural state and color.

For the bits of nature already present in the city, such as private gardens or parks, the plants would grow rapidly, naturally, but sped up far faster than what they otherwise would; producing at least three times as many fruits and vegetables than they otherwise would have; which would likely increase when Houjin was finished with what he was doing.

As her manipulation reached the seas it halted; for now. She had yet to get a good look at the plants and marine life; that could wait for later. For now, she was curious as to what Houjin was going to pull off.


"I've reached the ocean with it...", she said softly, not wanting to disturb Houjin's concentration. As she waited for a response she thought about them just taking over the city: she wasn't power hungry, or in a hurry to take up a high ranked position... but they could likely take better care of the city and the people in it, especially because no plague or disease would ever wipe out the crops while she was around; and they'd obviously never have to worry about freezing to death with Houjin around.

Elemental Manipulation:

He seemed lost in the fire; his gaze seemed far away, a million mile stare of sorts. This was less a sign that he wasn't paying attention as just the completely different nature of his being. He was right there, mentally; focusing on everything around and on himself all at once. Avery was safe enough from his skills; but better safe the sorry. He was fire incarnate, she wasn't. He could withstand fires that could possibly overwhelm her; he could even produce them without too much trouble. Her words sounded wrong in his ears; the sounds of the fire and such warped the voice to something very different. However, he could see her lips move, match the words enough to know it was her. Even without transforming, he could see everything like this; the fire itself acting like a giant eye; 360° vision something his people where well known for when using their fire or in their native forms.

He turned to her, almost alien eyes focused entirely on her for a moment before he smiled; the only real acknowledgement she would get; if he was to open his mouth right then and there nothing would come out by fire and smoke.

And then the rock under his feet began to crack. The magma below was responding to his power; this was what he had been worried about. His people called to the lava flows instinctively; it was being called to him even without him asking for it; wanting to enhance his abilities and bathe his body; that would definitely force a form shift if he allowed it. However, the channel formed from the destroyed street would hold it and allow him to finish before anything happened.

More ash and clouds of smoke billowed from the flaming gills; he was nearly done. He just needed to get enough ash in the air and it would fall on it's own; filter into the fresh soil and fill in the cracks being created to give the plants something more to use. Never again would this place be a sterile enclave against the world. Not so long as they lived there.

Avery watched him turn and smile at her after she had spoken; figuring that was about as much of a response as she was going to get at the moment, which was completely fine with her. Since she was for the most part finished with manipulation everything and anything she could get her hands on nature wise - at least for the moment - she concentrated on something else that she had seemed to have lost in her journey here: her glide staff.

While she really truly didn't need it to fly, having mastered the ability of manipulating the air as she sees fit, she did like to use it when she fought: it was like an extensive of a limb so to speak, and she felt almost naked without it nearby. It wouldn't be hard to make: especially if she did the entire thing with plant materials - even altered ones.

So, while Houjin was still working on the ash she wandered, or floated rather, a bit away to some grass. She held her hand over it and watched a single long beam of wood shot up out of the air, her hand reaching forward and grasping it as the earth released its hold on it. The wood began to shift and change from there; areas splitting to form the glide wings; almost leaf like material but thicker taking residence up between the sections. The whole thing moveable due to small corks in the wood formed and shaped in such a way to where they wouldn't break and wouldn't come loose.

When she was finished all she had to do was give the smallest flick of her wrist and the thing opened; she cackled happily, and then turned her gaze back on to Houjin as she returned it to its usual staff form.

Elemental Manipulation:

Well, his boots where destroyed now, but he could live with that. He only wore them to fit in, nothing more; his feet were tough as stone and he could easy harden the soles of his feet to be like bone if he had to. The ash and soot cloud was beginning to rise now, a sign that there was enough of the material in it to blanket the area with a rejuvenating ash fall.

Moments after the clouds began rising, the fire cloak seemed to fall apart; the temperature was dropping and with it the need for the flames to be maintained. It was like watching something melt; the form of the salamander dissolved into a blob of fire and then extinguished entirely; leaving the male standing in a shallow pool of lava that reached nearly the mid-point of his calves; yet he was as comfortable as a human standing in warm bath water. the only thing not changing where his eyes; they would take some time to return to 'normal'; there was too much of his natural fire alight in his blood for that specific change to occur just yet.

"It will take a few hours; but once the cloud is done releasing the ash over the city; the plants will have access to centuries of nutrients. They will never have to worry about babying anything here."

Easy steps, nothing to fast or to excessive; the lava was highly liquid and would splash out of the trench without much effort in his part; and destroying the newly grown plants was not on his to-do list for the day. He merely walked out of the pool like it was made of water and moved to rejoin his friend. "You've created a new staff? What happened to the old one?"

She watched the cloud rise, smiling, before turning her attention back to Houjin. She gave a nod to his words. "Good, some of the gardens I felt while manipulating everything else left a lot to be desired. So, at least now they won't have to worry."

She looked to her new glider staff, her mind flashing back to the day she had lost her old one... "Uh, well... no idea really. I fell asleep with it while I was drifting on that cloud and when I came to it was gone. It was in need of some serious repair anyway... sustained a lot of damage when Mar and I were sparring and training. Plus the thing was just old." Her smile turned into a grin. "Besides, this one, unlike my last, is fire proof, mostly. As well as bullet proof, and...well, it's not as easily breakable."

She turned her golden brown gaze to the people who were peeking out of their buildings, slowly coming out of whatever mental state they had all seemed to live in. Children were slowly edging out of houses to experience the joys of the colors that now filled their streets, walls, and walkways. Parents were investigating as well: looking at their gardens and everything else around as well.

Avery chuckled. "They really look like they have no idea what to do with themselves now..." She turned her gaze to the giant tower that she could easily guess once housed whoever had run the city. "Hnn... these people are going to need guidance... "

"Hnnn..." He was inclined to agree; even the local law enforcers; at least he figured they where, with what little hew knew of humanity, they had special uniforms and the like, it was a decent enough guess; even they seemed completely lost. Maybe they had never seen the world outside the walls. The brainwashing of the populace had become painfully obvious; it was going to take a lot of work to get these people functioning properly again. A burst of smoke was released from his nose as he turned his head; gaze panning over the people that where only just now starting to notice them at all. Funny... before they where invisible. Now? Well, not hard to figure out who just flipped the world upside down.

"How do we want to do this, Avery. You understand humans better then I do; should we disappear and give them time or attempt to explain what's happened to their city now...?"

Avery thought about the question as she continued to look around at the masses and watch them. She had no way to describe it other than they looked like children exploring a new place: children who had been deprived of something, or otherwise had never known it existed to begin with. These people were going to need a gentle hand, like that of a parent, to lead them along, and they would need it soon, before they ended up destroying the gift they had been given.

"I think it would be best they get an explanation now... I'm assuming for a lot of them this is something they've never seen or experienced before... and human nature is so destructive... I fear if we leave they'll like wipe it all out, or as much as they can.", she said softly to Houjin.

She flicked her gaze in the direction of the huge towering structure in the city, every urge to send the thing crumpling to the ground racing through her veins, but she kept herself under control. Sudden bits of violence and rage weren't going to solve any issues, or make things easier right now. Taking a deep breath she addressed the gathered people, "Spread the word as far as you can, you've been given a gift today. A gift of real purity, of nature. No longer will you have to worry about a ruler who has vanished. No longer will you have to worry about going without, of having to scrap by. Your very city itself will provide all of the nourishment and natural safety you could ever need."

She left the sort speech there, giving it time to soak in. Giving them time to realize that they were 'free' so to speak. Even the cities natural defenses to such intrusions and violations to laws were gone, as she could feel the oppressive force no longer. "You have anything you want to add?", she asked Houjin.

"Given I most likely look like a monster out of their nightmares right now... not really. That should be good enough; so long as they receive consistent guidance. It would likely be a good idea for me to disappear for a little while; at least until I can change my eyes again. The very last thing these poor people need is something scaring them further. I can smell the fear in some of the adults... the children are happy enough at least. They will enjoy this new world. Once the sun returns I would bet they will be far more calm."

The urge to dive into the lava pool was calling to him, he could easily 'melt' into it; mostly by burrowing through the cracks in the rock and hiding away in the lava channels below ground for a while. It was very, very tempting to just hide away and relax for a bit.

Actually...that was likely for the best.

"In fact... I think I will. Just to be safe. Find a place to hide if you must; you know how to find me if you need help. I will return when it is safe for me too."

He placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment, a gentle squeeze the closest to a sign of affection he ever gave to anyone; he wasn't about to abandon her to the masses like someone else might. Merely recover his ability to hide his true nature, nothing more.

And then he was moving to the lava pool; walking in like one would walk into a swimming pool. The lava was less then a foot deep, but that didn't matter. One of the cracks the lava had risen from ran parallel to the walls; he was literally sinking into that and almost becoming one with the lava. In those few moments before he disappeared; his skin could be seen changing colors, his form almost distorting and the marks on his neck bulging as his body began to transition to it's natural form. In a flash he was gone; swallowed by the molten rock and deep underground; swimming deep into the chamber below the city for a short nap.

-Exit-