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Inu-yasha and Noriko - backdated to yesterday
Street kids unite, some more? Better, Japanese street kids unite.
Inu-yasha was skulking outside near the trees, in a pretty foul mood. What the hell kinda place was this? It was a huge property, like he'd never seen before, with horses and a lake and a pool, and all these mutant kids...
He still hadn't taken off his black bandana. It was freakin' uncomfortable, but it hid the dog ears that had recently appeared on his head. He'd been pinning them down like this for a couple weeks, because they were a dead giveaway of what he was. The old white dudes had said he didn't need to hide here, but the fuck did they know about it?
With a huff, he sat down at the base of a tree, arms crossing petulantly over his chest. He'd agreed to come here figuring that if this place wasn't what it said it was, he'd get out and disappear in the city - but he hadn't expected to be so freaked out by it for being exactly as advertised. Hell, he had his own room (well, half of one anyways); he'd been expecting a large room full of bunk beds like some kind of group home. He hadn't had his own room since coming to this country - back in LA, that old hag Kaede lived in the same little shack that her family had moved into after the war, and she slept on the bed and he slept on a mat on the floor. When he slept there at all. The old lady didn't even have a TV, just a radio, but here everyone seemed to have their own computers and all kinds of crap.
Keh. What did it matter?
A breeze blew by, bringing a new scent to his attention: a girl, nearby, and the sharp smell of metal. It didn't take him long to spot her, heading in his direction. Unmoving, he watched her approach, waiting to see what she wanted.
Noriko had briefly considered just running up to the new kid, but it was probably best not to freak him out, whoever he was. His power could be a dangerous one, and she didn't fancy finding that out the hard, painful way. So she headed over at a very normal speed, metal gauntlets - with that splash of blue matching her hair color - obvious on her hands.
"Hey," she greeted him once she was within earshot. He looked like he might be Japanese, but it wasn't as if she was dying to speak her mother tongue, on the contrary, and it was no sure thing. He could be any number of nationalities even if he did have Japanese blood. "I'm Surge."
Inu-yasha was making a similar assessment; the girl was definitely Japanese, but he didn't hear any accent. Blue hair, metal gloves - he didn't know what it meant, but he instinctively got that she was more like him. Not that that meant much, he wasn't looking for friends. "The hell kinda name is Surge?"
Noriko let a beat go by before she answered, in her usual wry tone, "It's called a nickname. You might've heard about those." Sure, it doubled as a codename, but it had been a nickname, first. She wasn't sure why she'd given him that one rather than the other one. "But hey, if it offends your idea of what a name should be, you can always call me Noriko."
Inu-yasha frowned up at her, then switched to Japanese to test his theory. "What's with the gloves?"
Fine. Noriko took a few steps closer, so he could have a better look at the gauntlets as she raised her hands. "They help me control my mutation. I absorb electricity all the time - with them on, I can release it safely." She let a few tendrils of blue electricity out to play around her fingers for him to see.
Shit - this girl didn't look like much, but that was dangerous. He smirked at her, covering with arrogance. "Heh. Surge, got it."
"Come on," Noriko nodded at him, a hint of a smile playing on her lips at his reaction. "I showed you mine. What's yours?" And maybe she'd even get his name out of him, at some point.
Heh. This might be fun after all. He broadened his smirk, baring his teeth on one side so she could see the pointed fang there, and raised a hand to show off his claws. With the silver hair and amber eyes, he knew the effect was pretty self explanatory. "Call it demon blood."
"And what's demon blood do?" Noriko asked curiously, wondering if it was something like Bigby, or something completely different. Bigby did keep some of the wolf around even when he wasn't shifted, in terms of his senses, if nothing else.
"Makes me strong," he replied disdainfully. Strong enough that no one messed with him or got in his way, and that was what mattered.
"Well, that and the makeover," Noriko wryly replied. Unless he was like Kurt, and had been born this way? That would have to have been tough, and would explain the attitude. But a lot of things could explain the attitude. "How long since you manifested?"
"Keh. I was always strong; the claws came in a few years ago, hair and eyes changed after that, and now the ears too..." He'd been listing things, still disdainfully, and hadn't really meant to bring up the change to his ears. He looked up at her suspiciously to see if she'd noticed.
"The ears?" Noriko echoed with raised eyebrows. That would explain the bandana, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Noriko wished she hadn't spoken them. If he was hiding them, then he probably wouldn't like talking about them either. She should know better.
Well fine. He reached up and roughly tugged off the bandana (doing his best to ignore how good it felt to do so), and two white, fuzzy, triangular ears popped up, flicking slightly in their new freedom. "Yeah, the ears," he replied, not realizing he'd switched back to English. "Now anyone can tell I'm a mutant."
"Well, you can put a hat on, I can take the gauntlets off for short periods of time," Noriko pointed out, really not minding the switch back. "We got it easy. Talk to Kurt some day." She frowned a little, glancing back towards the mansion. "Did the headmasters tell you about the image inducers?"
Inu-yasha frowned but nodded. They'd certainly said something about them, but he hadn't really followed.
"Don't you want one?" Noriko asked. "I'm sure you qualify." She could take her gauntlets off for long enough that she didn't really need one, but between his ears, eyes and claws, Noriko couldn't see the headmasters turning the kid down, if he wanted an inducer.
"They said it would hide me," he ventured, trying to hide his poor understanding with arrogance, "for a few hours."
"Yeah, it projects a hologram, so it isn't perfect," Noriko confirmed. "But it works well enough for kids with more obvious physical tells than yours."
"What, like the lizard kid?" Inu-yasha had picked up on that particular scent right away.
"Or the toad kid," Noriko went on. "Or the blue-furred, yellow-eyed kid." They really didn't have it that bad, compared to them.
"'A few hours' isn't long enough to leave," he said, looking away in what he had no idea was a sulky manner. That was what he really resented about the whole situation; he'd been on his own for ages, but this mutation made him stand out in new ways, ways that made him vulnerable.
"Yeah, no," Noriko confirmed, and glanced back towards the mansion before looking back at the kid. "I didn't trust it either at first. The place grows on you."
"Hmph. Guess I don't mind freeloading off the old man for a while." An ear flicked in irritation.
"That's the spirit," Noriko agreed with a smirk, trying not to let it show how amused she was by the ear thing. Seriously, a Japanese kid could not get a more clichéd mutation - unless they grew tentacles, probably, but this one was at least a lot less skeevy. "So what's your name?" she asked, wondering if it was too early for that question - but she might as well give it a go.
No point in hiding that, he'd introduced himself online last night. "Inu-yasha." There was an air of pride as he said it - she wouldn't know it, but that name had quite a reputation back home. Also, it's meaning (roughly dog demon) wouldn't be lost on her.
"Huh," was the sum of Noriko's reaction to the meaning in question. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Inu-yasha. You got any questions about this place, you let me know."
Inu-yasha looked her over critically for a moment. "Yeah, I got a question." It was a rude one (not that he cared) that might tell him a lot. "What's your story?"
Noriko's instinct was to tell him that if she told him hers, she expected his back in exchange. But no. She'd gone a long way since that would have been a thing. Now she could afford to tell him hers, and hope that one day, he'd be able to tell him his. So after a beat, she told him, "I almost killed my mother when I manifested. My father more or less kicked me out. I came here and lived on the streets for a couple of years, before the headmasters tracked me down." Sure, there was more to it on several levels, but he could ask questions. At least he had the gist of it now.
He'd turned to stare off into the distance while she spoke, but the attentive rotation of one ear showed he was still listening. So she knew the streets too. Without turning to look at her, he asked, "And it's better here?"
"Yeah," Noriko confirmed, a little tightness in her voice from thinking of everybody that didn't have better, that was still out there. But there was no doubt as to the answer to his question. "Roof over our heads, food - safety." She took a leaf out of his book and wasn't looking at him as she asked, "You been on the streets, too?" She was pretty sure the answer was yes, but getting him to say it mattered, too.
"Most of my life," he replied with a smirk, like it was a great accomplishment. He wasn't some weakling that had struggled there, not really - by the end, he'd had it pretty good, able to hold his own. He didn't need anyone else.
"Yeah, this is an adjustment," Noriko confirmed evenly, looking back at him now. "But it's a good one."
Inu-yasha wasn't sure he liked the way she was looking at him now, like she thought she knew him. Bah, he hadn't said that much. What could she possibly know about it? He looked away again, like he was bored with this conversation. "Hmph. We'll see."
"Yeah, you will," Noriko confirmed with a small smile. "If you give it a chance. I'll catch you around, Inu-Yasha."
Inu-yasha just huffed as she turned to go. He was all set to just ignore her as she walked away, but she didn't walk at all - with a sudden blast of electricity, she took off in a blur of speed that left him gaping after her.
As he regained his composure, he smirked again. This place might be interesting after all.
Inu-yasha was skulking outside near the trees, in a pretty foul mood. What the hell kinda place was this? It was a huge property, like he'd never seen before, with horses and a lake and a pool, and all these mutant kids...
He still hadn't taken off his black bandana. It was freakin' uncomfortable, but it hid the dog ears that had recently appeared on his head. He'd been pinning them down like this for a couple weeks, because they were a dead giveaway of what he was. The old white dudes had said he didn't need to hide here, but the fuck did they know about it?
With a huff, he sat down at the base of a tree, arms crossing petulantly over his chest. He'd agreed to come here figuring that if this place wasn't what it said it was, he'd get out and disappear in the city - but he hadn't expected to be so freaked out by it for being exactly as advertised. Hell, he had his own room (well, half of one anyways); he'd been expecting a large room full of bunk beds like some kind of group home. He hadn't had his own room since coming to this country - back in LA, that old hag Kaede lived in the same little shack that her family had moved into after the war, and she slept on the bed and he slept on a mat on the floor. When he slept there at all. The old lady didn't even have a TV, just a radio, but here everyone seemed to have their own computers and all kinds of crap.
Keh. What did it matter?
A breeze blew by, bringing a new scent to his attention: a girl, nearby, and the sharp smell of metal. It didn't take him long to spot her, heading in his direction. Unmoving, he watched her approach, waiting to see what she wanted.
Noriko had briefly considered just running up to the new kid, but it was probably best not to freak him out, whoever he was. His power could be a dangerous one, and she didn't fancy finding that out the hard, painful way. So she headed over at a very normal speed, metal gauntlets - with that splash of blue matching her hair color - obvious on her hands.
"Hey," she greeted him once she was within earshot. He looked like he might be Japanese, but it wasn't as if she was dying to speak her mother tongue, on the contrary, and it was no sure thing. He could be any number of nationalities even if he did have Japanese blood. "I'm Surge."
Inu-yasha was making a similar assessment; the girl was definitely Japanese, but he didn't hear any accent. Blue hair, metal gloves - he didn't know what it meant, but he instinctively got that she was more like him. Not that that meant much, he wasn't looking for friends. "The hell kinda name is Surge?"
Noriko let a beat go by before she answered, in her usual wry tone, "It's called a nickname. You might've heard about those." Sure, it doubled as a codename, but it had been a nickname, first. She wasn't sure why she'd given him that one rather than the other one. "But hey, if it offends your idea of what a name should be, you can always call me Noriko."
Inu-yasha frowned up at her, then switched to Japanese to test his theory. "What's with the gloves?"
Fine. Noriko took a few steps closer, so he could have a better look at the gauntlets as she raised her hands. "They help me control my mutation. I absorb electricity all the time - with them on, I can release it safely." She let a few tendrils of blue electricity out to play around her fingers for him to see.
Shit - this girl didn't look like much, but that was dangerous. He smirked at her, covering with arrogance. "Heh. Surge, got it."
"Come on," Noriko nodded at him, a hint of a smile playing on her lips at his reaction. "I showed you mine. What's yours?" And maybe she'd even get his name out of him, at some point.
Heh. This might be fun after all. He broadened his smirk, baring his teeth on one side so she could see the pointed fang there, and raised a hand to show off his claws. With the silver hair and amber eyes, he knew the effect was pretty self explanatory. "Call it demon blood."
"And what's demon blood do?" Noriko asked curiously, wondering if it was something like Bigby, or something completely different. Bigby did keep some of the wolf around even when he wasn't shifted, in terms of his senses, if nothing else.
"Makes me strong," he replied disdainfully. Strong enough that no one messed with him or got in his way, and that was what mattered.
"Well, that and the makeover," Noriko wryly replied. Unless he was like Kurt, and had been born this way? That would have to have been tough, and would explain the attitude. But a lot of things could explain the attitude. "How long since you manifested?"
"Keh. I was always strong; the claws came in a few years ago, hair and eyes changed after that, and now the ears too..." He'd been listing things, still disdainfully, and hadn't really meant to bring up the change to his ears. He looked up at her suspiciously to see if she'd noticed.
"The ears?" Noriko echoed with raised eyebrows. That would explain the bandana, and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Noriko wished she hadn't spoken them. If he was hiding them, then he probably wouldn't like talking about them either. She should know better.
Well fine. He reached up and roughly tugged off the bandana (doing his best to ignore how good it felt to do so), and two white, fuzzy, triangular ears popped up, flicking slightly in their new freedom. "Yeah, the ears," he replied, not realizing he'd switched back to English. "Now anyone can tell I'm a mutant."
"Well, you can put a hat on, I can take the gauntlets off for short periods of time," Noriko pointed out, really not minding the switch back. "We got it easy. Talk to Kurt some day." She frowned a little, glancing back towards the mansion. "Did the headmasters tell you about the image inducers?"
Inu-yasha frowned but nodded. They'd certainly said something about them, but he hadn't really followed.
"Don't you want one?" Noriko asked. "I'm sure you qualify." She could take her gauntlets off for long enough that she didn't really need one, but between his ears, eyes and claws, Noriko couldn't see the headmasters turning the kid down, if he wanted an inducer.
"They said it would hide me," he ventured, trying to hide his poor understanding with arrogance, "for a few hours."
"Yeah, it projects a hologram, so it isn't perfect," Noriko confirmed. "But it works well enough for kids with more obvious physical tells than yours."
"What, like the lizard kid?" Inu-yasha had picked up on that particular scent right away.
"Or the toad kid," Noriko went on. "Or the blue-furred, yellow-eyed kid." They really didn't have it that bad, compared to them.
"'A few hours' isn't long enough to leave," he said, looking away in what he had no idea was a sulky manner. That was what he really resented about the whole situation; he'd been on his own for ages, but this mutation made him stand out in new ways, ways that made him vulnerable.
"Yeah, no," Noriko confirmed, and glanced back towards the mansion before looking back at the kid. "I didn't trust it either at first. The place grows on you."
"Hmph. Guess I don't mind freeloading off the old man for a while." An ear flicked in irritation.
"That's the spirit," Noriko agreed with a smirk, trying not to let it show how amused she was by the ear thing. Seriously, a Japanese kid could not get a more clichéd mutation - unless they grew tentacles, probably, but this one was at least a lot less skeevy. "So what's your name?" she asked, wondering if it was too early for that question - but she might as well give it a go.
No point in hiding that, he'd introduced himself online last night. "Inu-yasha." There was an air of pride as he said it - she wouldn't know it, but that name had quite a reputation back home. Also, it's meaning (roughly dog demon) wouldn't be lost on her.
"Huh," was the sum of Noriko's reaction to the meaning in question. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Inu-yasha. You got any questions about this place, you let me know."
Inu-yasha looked her over critically for a moment. "Yeah, I got a question." It was a rude one (not that he cared) that might tell him a lot. "What's your story?"
Noriko's instinct was to tell him that if she told him hers, she expected his back in exchange. But no. She'd gone a long way since that would have been a thing. Now she could afford to tell him hers, and hope that one day, he'd be able to tell him his. So after a beat, she told him, "I almost killed my mother when I manifested. My father more or less kicked me out. I came here and lived on the streets for a couple of years, before the headmasters tracked me down." Sure, there was more to it on several levels, but he could ask questions. At least he had the gist of it now.
He'd turned to stare off into the distance while she spoke, but the attentive rotation of one ear showed he was still listening. So she knew the streets too. Without turning to look at her, he asked, "And it's better here?"
"Yeah," Noriko confirmed, a little tightness in her voice from thinking of everybody that didn't have better, that was still out there. But there was no doubt as to the answer to his question. "Roof over our heads, food - safety." She took a leaf out of his book and wasn't looking at him as she asked, "You been on the streets, too?" She was pretty sure the answer was yes, but getting him to say it mattered, too.
"Most of my life," he replied with a smirk, like it was a great accomplishment. He wasn't some weakling that had struggled there, not really - by the end, he'd had it pretty good, able to hold his own. He didn't need anyone else.
"Yeah, this is an adjustment," Noriko confirmed evenly, looking back at him now. "But it's a good one."
Inu-yasha wasn't sure he liked the way she was looking at him now, like she thought she knew him. Bah, he hadn't said that much. What could she possibly know about it? He looked away again, like he was bored with this conversation. "Hmph. We'll see."
"Yeah, you will," Noriko confirmed with a small smile. "If you give it a chance. I'll catch you around, Inu-Yasha."
Inu-yasha just huffed as she turned to go. He was all set to just ignore her as she walked away, but she didn't walk at all - with a sudden blast of electricity, she took off in a blur of speed that left him gaping after her.
As he regained his composure, he smirked again. This place might be interesting after all.