Courting Death [Persephone]

[Vyn]

The night was young, the bloody moon barely risen in the evening sky, and Zokumenoji was on the prowl. He was hunting, but his prey was not what one would expect. Not the humans who where his prey, nor the dames his father bed so carelessly...no, he sought a child. Like a spiteful ghost that young Death haunted his memories. Not only with the lingering image of her lovely but simple features but her voice. Oh, it was that voice more than anything.

The voice of fate itself.

Zoku had known and recognized it the moment it had brushed his ears and he was determined to find the speaker of that voice again. She was little more than a Puppeteer but she had challenged him openly with little more than words and that joyless laughter. All those long nights ago, he had decided that he would either silence her prophetic voice forever...or he would make her his. Or rather, a humble correction that he would offer no other but the little death herself, he would ask her to stand at his side.

Click, clink, click...

The massive patchwork Puppet Master flicked his tail from side to side as he strode into the churchyard, his head held high with arrogant pride glistening in hollow but cunning orbs. He had inherited his father's good looks...and the family pride that ran with it. The child Zoku was no longer there, no...in his place stood a bold and magnificent beast worthy of his father's cruel lineage. It was an image that Zoku bore proudly as he move deeper and deeper into the cemetery.

What better place to court the Daughter of Death but in her own abode?

[FlyingPanther]

Little Death sat atop a headstone, one of medium size that truely didn't stick out like some of the others. Her's was simple, like herself, with a rounded top made of some sort of old eroding grey stone. It was classic. Her cadavorous gaze found itself wandering amongst the other tombstones as she sat. The ritual of humans was so foriegn to her, in a way. She understood that humans dreamed of a place called Heaven and dreaded a place called Hell, but she didn't understand how they had come up with such nonsence. Imagination got them through the day she supposed. She knew full well there were no such places, that in the end there was only just that. The end. Couldn't humans just be happy with that? Counldn't they see that death and life just weren't all that bad?

And yet they adorened the places of their dead with magnificent tombstones, some more elaboret then others, with angels and crosses, and even visited them. Another ritual she didn't understand. The dead didn't care what magnificent tombstone they had. The dead didn't mind if you didn't visit them last sunday when you said you would. They were dead. So consumed with living, humans don't even see how much death is around them, how subconciously they envelope their lives in it. Simply living in this city was living in the company of death.

The sun was sinking faster and the moon was becoming more visible. The graveyard was silent, and she had not moved even a hair from her spot. For all anyone knew, she was a wierd ornament upon a headstone. She watched as the moon slowly unhid itself from behind the massive church.

In the distance she could hear footsteps, somehow familiar, like something from a forgotten dream, and a promise. She craned her head to look towards the sound. A familiar face in the distance, yes she remembered clearly now. She had promised to be by that boy's side long ago, neither as property or ally, but as companion. He had changed quite drastically, but she suppose age did that to them all. She herself began to see the changes in herself, though far slighter then the changes that had made her companion an adult. She had a much older build now, though she was still young. It wouldn't be long before she could be considered an adult, and actually have the exact body to match the title. But it was still a little ways away.

He was heading off in another direction, probably not having seen her yet, she couldn't blame him. "Closer to death then you were before, Persephone sees." echoed her dead voice in greeting. He was far, and she had not yelled, he might hear it only as barely a whisper. The whispering of fate.

Persephone Arkaeib: 15
Persephone Can Now Grow

[Vyn]

The Puppet Master halted in mid step, not the sudden or startled movement which one might expect in such a situation but a smooth stop that melted into a proud and thoughtful stance as his long ears perked upward. Hallow orbs swung onto the distance figure, nothing more than a child as she sat perched upon that distant tombstone. Perfect. Time had changed her in the way it changed all life, but she remained the same. Zoku could hear it in her voice.

A low grin graced his muzzle as Zokumenoji began moving once more, but now he was moving toward Persephone instead of away from her. Each step was accented by the trio of bones brushing each other; a skeleton wind chime suiting for this 'sacred' place. Even with her tombstone throne to assist her height Zoku still managed to loomed above the younger female when at last he came to rest before her. That pleased grin was still fixed in place and his hollow orbs scanned over the little Death canine with an approving gleam.

Zoku spoke with smooth charm, as all of Jiaro's offspring did, but unique to him was the natural sly cunning that hinted at the wicked male's inner thoughts. He loved to tease and torment the minds of others, to tear them down with his words and claws alike...but Persephone was different. As Zoku had promised, she was a companion and an equal, not a lesser being (as much as it killed him to humble himself in such a way).

"That was my intention. I've come seeking death, or perhaps an embodiment of it." The Puppet Master smirked. "Do you remember our agreement, Little Death?"

[FlyingPanther]

Persephone did not move, as was her usual way. The only movement made was a very small and almost unseen rise and fall of her chest, not enough to even make her look like she was breathing, but again, this was her way. She would always look as if dead, not even her eyes would betray her. Blank and soulless they stared back at the smirking male in front of her. He was very tall indeed, she found this very amusing, though no laugh escaped her lips and no smile tugged at her lips. Her amusement lay in her mind only. She admitted to herself, with a sort of cruel mental smirk, that she really didn't enjoy looking up at people, though she supposed that she wouldn't have to suffer through this for much longer. Age would make her grow, and even if she wouldn't be as tall as Zoku, she would be able to look at him wihout inclining her head, her posture had always been perfect. Even now she sat as if her spine was struck with rigermortus, and her head slowly inclinded to meet his gleaming face.

"It is funny that you should come seeking death when she has never left your side. Persephone has never forgotten her agreement to you. But it has been long since the carrier has beheld you."

No she certainly hadn't changed one bit. Not her motions, nor the way she spoke with that aura that crept into peoples bodies and seemed to slowly steal pieces of their lives. She was the same, yet her body grew. It was a symbol, in a way. Proof that she was in fact death, trapped inside the body of a lowly puppeteer, so strange a carrier to pick. So humble. The body itself wasn't even all that grandure. Black, white, and canine. Yet somehow in this horribly plain body lived an emence soul.

[Vyn]

Ever unchanging. Zoku had imagined that time may weaken the little canine's belief that she were Death cloaked in living flesh, but he was happily being proven wrong. Everything from her stance to her monotone reply made it obvious that he was still keeping company with a power greater than that of the simple Puppeteer sitting before him. That, of course, was exactly what he wanted in his cast.

Not a simple harem, filled to the brim with mindless dolls and thoughtless fighters. He wanted those of a more cunning and subtle sort, power of a more refined level.

Persephone was perfect for his plan and for his cast. More so than any other Euclides he had scouted thus far. If only she were a Puppet Master as well, she was surely deserving of the proud title. Then again, perhaps Death in the confines of a Puppet Master's body would be a far less refined than the young Grim he courted now. Death's silent sway over all did not couple well with the overwhelming arrogance that most Puppet Master's boasted.

"Very good." Flicking his head ever so slightly in order to cast away errant strands of his long mane, Zokumenoji retreated from his thoughts and deepened his grin. "Then it is time to fulfill our agreement. Creation of my Cast is underway and you, Persephone Arkaeib, will be the first to join its ranks." She was young still, but age was a fleeting thing. It wouldn't be long before she was old enough to stand beside him and so he saw no reason in waiting to extend his offer.

As the Patchwork Puppet Master awaited proper agreement to his invitation, not that he had left room for a decline, he smoothly shifted forms from Euclides to human. He had something for her, and the presentation of such a gift would simply not do in his usual form. Shamelessly lacking clothing aside from the top hat perched atop his head, Zoku lifted a parcel which had previously been hanging upon his tail with his skeletal chimes. His smirk from mere moments previous had grown into a full grin, one of cold and wicked pride.

He had encountered this gift by accident, though from the moment he saw it to the moment he made it his own, he knew it would be perfect for his little death doll. It's owner would perhaps miss it, but this mattered little to Zoku...it hadn't stopped him before. In one smooth flourish, Zoku bowed and offered forth the gift, yanking back the black silken veil which had previously concealed it from view and sat in eager silence for her response.

Settled upon the demon's outstretched hand was a mask of fine white bone, a little large for a pup but she would swiftly grow into it's proportions. Caring hands had smoothed the once-canid skull into a fine white mask, perfectly pure white and sporting three grand treasures that had delighted Zoku's senses upon sighting them: three slender droplets of flawless blood-hued gems were embedded deep within the mask, one at the corner of each eye and the grandest of all rested on the mask's forehead.

A blessed ruby. A rare sight to say the least, but Zoku had been sure to receive proof of its power from the Amuni who had once boasted it before brutally claiming the gem, and the canine's head, as his own. This was apparently becoming a habit of his, but it was for a good cause this time...or something like that.

"What do you think, m'lady Death?"


(Massive post >.> but I wanted to get everything out in one breath so that Persephone could grow~ I've been holding her up long enough, me thinks. Nevertheless, I do plan to write up a little drabble concerning how Zoku acquired the mask itself [.-. once I get off my lazy arse and write ones for Kaejalin and Kaethulabi .-.] and the blessed ruby was purchased with my egg hunt points<3)