To Race the Wind - open -

[stormecho]

There was a very specific reason that a large, wolf-like yokai could be found wandering through the mountains. She kept out of the way of humans, choosing to avoid being seen rather than killing those she met, as Eika wasn't there for the slaughter, or the thrill of battle. No - it was for the exertion of running down a mountainside, to feel the wind as an almost tangible thing slamming against her because of the sheer speed... It was an odd hobby, but better than just drifting endlessly all over Japan. She moved lightly, paws grazing the rocks as she bounded down with sheer abandon. She was vulnerable - though she was moving quickly, the wind passed her without letting her catch the scent of someone approaching, and there was no way for her to hear anything - thus, she had to rely on her sight to keep track of where she was and if she was going to land on someone by accident, though it often became dizzying to try and focus on anything, even the distant ground.

At last, the wind spirit neared the ground. Pushing off, she leaped gracefully and finally landed, claws clicking on the rock-strewn path. She could fly through the air as easily as running on ground, but there was something about twisting and leaping down such treacherous ground that called to her. She could fly at any time, but there was a limited number of mountains that she could enjoy, and were secluded enough that not many humans or demons were around. Stretching and walking slowly now, she let herself calm down from the exhilarating run. Now was the time to rest and relax - doing this too often gave her the same feeling as when she gathered too much power from the wind. She didn't want to lose herself simply for fun.

Breathing deeply, she took the time to check her surroundings, though it didn't matter now - if someone snuck up on her now, she could simply leave if she needed to.

[syeira]

` S Y E I R A ; ;

Syeira had often wondered about her two halves; half wind demon, half dog demon. She wondered on her powers and her limitations, and just how far her endurance, speed and strength stretched. At this moment, the little demoness pondered on her wind half; the half she knew the least about. Many a dog youkai had she stumbled across, and much had she learned from each one. But the only wind demon she'd ever known was her mother. Or was it her father? It had been too long for her to remember, especially since they'd died before she was five.

When the scent of a wind demon reached her nose, she sniffed curiously. Yes- her nose most certainly wasn't mistaken. There was the fresh, breezy scent that was hard to mistake for much else. Dropping out of her tree to land on a patch of soft green moss, Syeira leaped into a sprint, glad that she'd picked more suitable attire today; black leather leggings and a sleeveless navy top. She had a strap over her shoulder that kept her katana-sword, Jet, secure on her back. on a belt looped around her hips, she had a quiver of arrows, two daggers and a small pouch containing herbs. A bow was also slung across her back.

Her soft, supple leather boots made no sound on the branches of trees nor the lush growth on the ground, whichever she chose to step on. She was headed toward a mountain, and she could hear the pounding footsteps racing down it, even from her distance. Her form shifted and morphed until it was that of a gold-eyed Friesian mare, hooves landing on the ground as she dropped from the tree branch she'd used as a launching pad.

Mane and tail streaming out behind her, she thrust herself forward, gaining more speed now that she was on four legs. Leaping over a fallen tree, she landed in a mountainside clearing just as another being, the wind demon, stopped to check her surroundings. Syeira slowed and skidded on her hinds as she came to a halt, snorting and holding her head high as she looked at the other silently.

Now for the full-blooded wind demon's reaction.

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[stormecho]

She could hear hoofbeats. That was the first thing, as her ears pricked and Eika's head rose. Then, a mingled scent that took a moment to hit her; dog and wind youkai, mixed together. It was surprising, enough to make her hesitate and then simply stand there. Other than her parents, she had not seen many others that were attuned to the wind - no wind demons frolicked in the mountains with her, no matter where she went. She was only allowed a moment to ponder when the other appeared, hooves skidding on the rocks. Eika studied her, head tilted to one side and still sniffing curiously.

Yes, definitely a mix, not full-blooded, but still, that was far, far better than nothing. For now, she stood her ground, muscles relaxed and blue eyes calm. "Greetings." Her voice didn't betray her curiosity or eagerness to get to know the stranger - thankfully, she had long since mastered the art of masking her emotions until she was certain of danger or not. A paw scuffing at the ground, she shifted her weight, gazing up at the mountain she had just run down before back to the horse. She normally would have left immediately when her peace was intruded, but this was different... This was from another wind demon, if the other was only half, rather than a full one. That counted for something, and she stood and waited, tail moving restlessly.

"I am Eika."

[syeira]

The black mare blinked and lowered her head in a slight bow, before a breeze twirled around the figure and transformed it into that of a teenage girl with long, wavy black hair and amber eyes, bent in a half-bow. She rose, her gaze playful. "I am Syeira." She stood there another moment and smiled tentatively.

"I apologize for the intrusion- it's just that I've never met another wind youkai before. I mean, I know I'm only half, but I know so little about said half..." She rambled, fidgeting. Normally she wasn't so nervous, but she didn't want to scare away this demon, who seemed respectable but also like she didn't like to fight, and rather, fled.

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[stormecho]

Eika's ears twitched, and she acknowledged the other's bow with a dip of her head, being unable to truly bow in her true form. Watching the breeze envelop Syeira as she transformed, she was mildly impressed - for one with only half of the power of a wind demon, she used it well. She wasn't arrogant enough to say that it was a pleasure to meet the other, because who could foretell how they would part? It seemed an absurd custom to her, but then, she did not share the outlook of most. Her attitude on life was quite... odd, by other, more ground-bound beings' reckoning of things.

Eika didn't mind fighting itself, but staying near others meant possibly creating relationships - bonds that could not be broken easily. Such bonds were a mixed blessing. One or two, or maybe even three, could hold her down when her soul wanted to drift away on the wind, and remind her that there were reasons why she didn't want to die yet. But too many, and her soul was weighed down by the burden of it all, and she couldn't use her powers at all. There had to be a balance... And she considered meeting any people at all, youkai or human, enough to keep her from drifting.

"I see. I too have never seen many of my kind. My parents... and now you are the only ones I have seen. Perhaps there are more, but it is difficult to find them if they are part of the wind." She lifted her head to scent the air, but they were the only ones in the area for now. "Is there anything you wish to know? I remember that mastering and understanding my own power was quite difficult." Another breeze swept up, coiling around the wolf-like demon but not doing anything more than ruffling her pale blue fur.

[syeira]

"I want to know about our kind," she said, eyes lighting up in enthusiasm. "Our powers and limitations. I mean, I know I'm more... grounded, than you since I'm only half, but..." She was rambling again, her tongue stumbling over the words clumsily. She absently flopped down on the mossy ground and held her hands out, forming a small orb of tightly compressed wind that turned into various things; a cougar, a wolf, a horse, puppies playing with a small child. "Honestly, all I can really do is manipulate air and travel on it and do a few fancy parlor tricks, but I want to know more. New things and how to make what I can do already better."

She could barely contain herself. Finally, another wind demon! Perhaps she could be mentored a bit. She wanted, needed to get stronger; maybe she'd be able to locate and destroy that prick who killed her parents: Naraku. He'd been evading her grasp for years, and that irked her immensely. If she got stronger and better, she'd be able to kill him, she knew it. Him and his minions both.

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[stormecho]

"I am afraid I might not know as much as you think, and my answers will hardly satisfy." Eika answered. She knew little about her parents - barely remembered them, and didn't care if they were alive or dead. It made no difference if they were or not - death only meant becoming more of the wind than before. "Indeed, you are more grounded, and I don't think it will be easy to explain many things... But things to help in battle, maybe."

She watched the other display her skills carefully, and a matching orb quickly formed before the canine, it too flickering through different shapes before settling into a faintly ominous one - a sword. There was too much of the wind itself for her to shape only one blade, though, and four more fanned out beside it, hovering in the air. "I learned that it is easier to reserve my energy for battle, and I focused a bit more on such things as this." The katanas of air suddenly moved back together, merging into one without getting any larger. "The smaller you force it, the faster it becomes, yes? The wind, if allowed to move, but confined by your will, it will become stronger this way. It is difficult to compress it so much, though, and becomes hard to control. Most of my skills are extensions of this - I move the air around and compress it. If I remember correctly, those of our kind do not have many abilities beyond this and flight. There is one other, but I think it could kill you."

Balance was the key - balance between control and recklessness, between understanding and blind faith. She did not know a great deal of what she did, of the repercussions, of what exactly would happen if she did this rather than this. And she kept it that way, rather than trying to learn everything, because if she learned everything... she would lose her body and 'die', soul trapped in the wind.

((Crappy post. >>))

[syeira]

Syeira nodded in understanding. She knew how to compress air like that, and she most certainly fly. She could even sprout wings if she felt the desire. When the other demoness mentioned that there might be another ability, Sy was all ears. "Please, tell me! I bet I could do it, and even if I couldn't, a need to be stronger, if not with power with knowledge." She knew it was a kind of cheesy thing to say, but she was utterly determined, and she knew, that even if Naraku was more powerful than she was, she could still defeat him if she used her powers correctly and wisely and avoided too many blows herself. Stealth would probably be a good idea, too, if she didn't feel like injuring herself.

"I can also manipulate fire- if I heat up the air enough, it'll spontaneously combust and wah-lah, fire. Water, too, since it has oxygen in it. Earth sometimes, depending on if there's already wind to add to my power. I have weather-kinesis and I can shapeshift a little." She knew it was risky revealing most of her powers to some strange demon she'd only known about ten minutes, but she trusted the she-demon to not give her away. "I can summon the King of Dragons, too, but that'll deplete every last drop of energy I have. If I'm already tired or injured, it could probably kill me."

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[stormecho]

Eika snorted. "It is not an ability as you might be thinking of. I shall try and explain - like calls like. I am already part of the wind, able to use it. If I need more power, I can drag more of the wind through me, or force my body to become air - to avoid an attack that could have killed me otherwise, or to hide. But then my body is left soulless for a day, maybe two - it grows longer each time because the wind carries my own soul farther away, and I struggle more to return to it each time. One day I won't be able to. Do you see? I am not sure if your body, being grounded by your nature, can even attempt such a thing."

The wind demon tilted her head at this list of abilities, impressed in spite of herself. "I see - I have never even thought of doing such things. Perhaps only having half is better than having the whole, or at least, you have a different grasp of your own power." She privately determined to try out fire and water manipulation, seeing as it only required what she had an abundance of: wind.

[Miyuki]

Miyuki waved to her elder brother running off down the snow peaked mountian top. It had been nice seeing him again, but like the rest of their sibblings, they were on a mission: Finding their kiddnapped youngest sibbling.

She turned around and walked over to the tip of the peak and sat down. The snow never bothered her, she was half snow leopard demon after all.

She had removed her black ribbon that hid her demon features and tucked it within her obi which turned her black hair silver, her golden brown human eyes their true vibrant blue cat eyes, her peirced kitty ears and her long kitty tail visible as well as the black open rosettes on her skin ears and tail.

She did this to better hide herself among the snow peaked mountian top. Silver blended better with white then black did after all. She frowned looking at her kimono. It had as much black as it did white. "Ah, well. close enough." she mentally shrugged.

She glanced down to see two demonesses talking a distance below her. That, she shrugged off as well. If they decided to try and fight her, they could come up here and try where Miyuki had an advantage of the snow its self and dead travelers buried deep within the snow. Besides, she was up there simply to decide where to search next for her youngest sibbling.

[stormecho]

((Sorry for the long wait, but I had a fever and after that, I was uncertain if I should continue this with Syeira gone... Let us assume her character had to leave. x3 ))

Eika watched the other leave impassively. She had already learned much from the conversation, including the useful ways of using air to invoke other elements. It was certainly useful information, and she resolved to try it out... Later. The breeze brought down a scent of another, one higher up where the air was cold and had a strong tang of snow. Looking up, she saw the snow-clad peak, higher than the rest here. Some lacked snow, being too low to acquire a covering of white until colder weather arrived, and she tended to run more on those than the taller mountains.

Snow was treacherous. It could hide many things and bewilder the eyes with its pristine white - snowstorms were dangerous, as were avalanches, and she could easily make mistakes when running on snow. What if she leaped to what she thought was a safe portion of the mountain but was really snow and ice covering a chasm? It had happened before, and catching herself mid-leap didn't do anything for her sudden adrenaline and fear.

So the wind demon approached the mountain warily, leaping up and trying to find ledges, places where she could place all four paws. It was slower work going up than down, but she was still swift and agile, and it didn't take long for her to reach the peak - though that was because she had cheated and flown, low enough that it wasn't all that blatant. Up here, the wind was far more fierce, tugging at her and making her fur ripple with its force as she drew it around her; a precaution.

Landing near the other, she stood, tensed and ready to leap away if the stranger decided to attack. "Greetings." she said quietly, watching carefully for any sign that this meeting would go badly.

[Miyuki]

((lol, its okay!^.^))

Miyuki blinked at the wind demoness for a moment. She seemed fine, not posing a threat of any kind. Miyuki smiled brightly. "Hi. I'm Miyuki, friends call me Miyu." she introduced herself. She turned her head back to scan the sorroundings of the mountian again.

Figuring the Demoness knew more about the outside world in general then she did, Miyu turned back to the Demoness and asked "Hey, if someone had kidnapped a tiny hanyou from its home, which was secluded from most of everything in the middle of the mountians, where yould be the best place to put the child?"

Yeah, she figured she was pretty to the point, but honestly, why not? being straight and to the point lead to getting the answer faster as far as Miyu was concerned.

deciding she might as well reveal what had happened, she pulled the picture out of its hiding-spot trapped in her sleve.

the picture was of her youngest sibbling. It was created by one of her mother's friends who had the ability to put memories on paper.

"This is my youngest sibbling, from what I just told you, you can probably guess what happened." Miyu sighed, handing the Demoness the small square of paper with the picture on it.

((sry abt my being so vauge abt the youngest sibbling, i'm trying to keep it like that so someone who isint me will be nice enough to take it))

[stormecho]

Eika tilted her head. "I am Eika." She blinked at the question, but decided to consider it carefully - she liked children, and the thought of one going to harm made her want to hunt down whoever was the cause. "If the kidnapper was a yokai, I would expect it to take him far enough that there would be no one to protect the child, and then kill him." she answered seriously. "Not many are fond of hanyous. If the intention was not to kill... then a cave, maybe a small village in the mountains. Maybe the kidnapper is from one of the wolf or mountain dog tribes that roam here. He or she could take the child to them as well."

The wind demon leaned forward to get a look at the picture, supporting it carefully with a gust of wind. "I have not seen him. Perhaps I could track him, if I had his scent, but it is too easy to hide that." She shook her head, ears flattening against her head. "Do you know why he was taken?" she asked. Usually, someone abducting a child had a use for it, especially if the family was wealthy or powerful.

Unless the family was totally uncaring about the fate of the child, it would be easy to manipulate them to do what the kidnapper wanted. Still, Eika had never personally known of a child being taken, until now, and had never taken a part. Seclusion was better, to stay free before someone tied her soul to the ground.

[Miyuki]

Miyuki considered everything the wind demoness told her. before speaking. "I really have no idea. Me and a few of my friends and sibblings had been some ways off in the middle of a snowball fight when it happened. All I have to go on was what I was told. But even then, the information is very vuage. It's like everyone was so confused when it happened, no one really got a fix on what the kidnapper really looked or smelt like."

Miyuki sighed. She felt like such a failure.

[stormecho]

Eika twitched an ear. "Then, it may well be that he is dead. If I had wished to kill a hanyou who was cherished by his kin, I would have taken him far enough that you would never be able to find him in time, and killed him there. There are many youkai who do not look favourably upon hanyous." She wouldn't have ever done such a thing - she enjoyed the presence of children, be they human, hanyou or full-blooded youkai, and to kill one would have sent her into self-imposed exile.

"I would advise you to not worry, but that would be foolish." she admitted. "I will try to search for him, but without a scent, or knowledge of who took him, you must understand that it will be difficult." She wasn't the type of gladly help others out... but this was a child, hanyou or not, and most likely terrified and hurt. She could bear the weight of the burden, if she could interfere and save his life.