#v; protector (default)

[mayoinomori]

✢!

Send ✢ to discover that my muse has been hiding an injury. [accepting]

"Airin!!" Voice clipped, breathless, as the girl rushes forth.

Immediately, her mind is full of self hatred, anxiety spinning cold thread into the depths of her stomach. It took everything she had to not fall into tears, to tremble like a child.

Robin knew this had been a mistake. Letting Airin tag along on her usual nightly patrols, her focus on the creatures and getting him out of harms' way had basically backfired.

Of course it did. Of course she had failed, even if Airin was alive, he had gotten injured and tried to hide it from her. All she could smell was his blood, the thick coppery aroma making her tremble and salivate uncontrollably from lupine instincts threatening to consume her.

"You're bleeding... Come on, sit down--"

@airxn

[wolfvirago-m]

@memcria - from this

She wasn't sure how a creature like this one could even exist beyond the forest. But maybe it was because similar creatures to the yokai existed everywhere... Clinging to spiritual energy and feeding upon fear.

Robin didn't know if her blade could harm this strange beast. Which was why she had taken the nearby girl and run, fleeing so they could regroup.

"It will hurt someone if we let it keep thrashing around. Which is why we have to stay put and think over our battle plan." The shifter began, before her thick brows furrowed together.

"No. Not our plan. Mine. You stay here, alright?" She came to a stop, urging Moana to hide amongst the brush. "I mean it. This is not kid stuff."

Unsheathing the holy blade at her hip, the shifter grunted and tried to calm down, to feel the energy of what was behind and ahead of them.

[mayoinomori]

@wylkstone - from this

The forest plays tricks on your mind. Can you really say whether or not you saw a wolf in front of your face? That it was staring you down?

For now, there's a woman. She has the same eyes as that wolf, but her expression is kind. Sympathetic. Maybe even pitying.

"I'm real. See?" She placed her hand gently on the boy's knee, eyes crinkling at the edges like a girl closer to his age. Warmth like little solar flares, a soft, fair face.

"You're in great danger here." That smile faded, leaving a serious expression upon the guardian's features. She remained knelt down before Nata, her opposite hand resting at the ready on a katana's hilt.

"The Lost Woods are full of illusions and malevolent spirits. We need to get you out of here before the witching hour. Can you walk?"

[wolfvirago-m]

@starsweepers - from this

"I'm fine." Robin answered with a shake of the hand, waving away any concerns the younger might have. She was entirely too used to fighting these creatures... Purifying the essence in smouldering ash upon the ground, left for the spirit to hopefully seek retribution beyond the pale.

"I'm sorry I wasn't quick enough. Onryo are good at scaring the life out of you." She saw the ghost trying to get Marinette to freeze, to suck away her life essence or make use of her as a vessel. If Robin hadn't come, there'd be an exorcism needed...

Her own hand lifts, finding the prayer slips her mother had created years ago, before she was ill. They were used only in dire circumstances to weaken yokai before coming in for the kill with the holy blade... She only had so many left.

"I'm going to assume you got lost." The shifter continues, eyes wandering the glade for any other malice. "Let me guess. Fell down a rabbit hole?"

[mayoinomori]

@monmuses - robin and father john - from here

She was uncertain if the crucifix could properly defend against the yokai, being as their existence stemmed from another faith entirely. But she wouldn't mention it, instead focused on ensuring the human knew he had to flee... Not fight.

"They are haunted by creatures called yokai. They are spirits, strange occurrences within the wood. Some eat man, some consume spiritual energy, some none of the above." Robin stopped herself, knowing that John had not asked for a lesson on crypto-zoology.

"We'll have to find a opening in the forest's edge. Follow." The shifter gestured with her head, but paused only a moment to remember... Manners. Right.

A soft tilt of the head, a small bow.

"My name is Robin. I'm the guardian of this place. As long as we stick together, you'll be fine. Promise." A much more human, girlish smile warmed her face.

[wolfvirago-m]

A big, heavy paw comes to rest upon your lap. She pants quietly, looking up at you with big, needy eyes.

Attention, please.

open starter

[mayoinomori]

@rathalascendant - from this

She was forgiven, and that was enough. But why did her stomach still churn with cold, burning spike piercing through her and making her heart flutter? Anxiety lingered, even as her mind spat at itself for feeling such a way.

"Once again?" The wolf found herself asking. Had Red gotten himself injured before in defending Mari from some monsters? There seemed to be another story here.

Carefully holding her mug so it wouldn't spill, Robin eased herself down to the floor, legs crossed as she settled. Now at eye level with the rider, she was more attentive. A little more relaxed.

"I haven't had much chance to see the creatures of your world beyond the ones at your village." Were they at all like the yokai of the Woods? Perhaps reflections, distorted by the spiritual energy...

[wolfvirago-m]

@bllcphr - from this

"No, I suppose you're not a yokai then." Robin mused aloud. Though, she wasn't sure he was kami... Or spirit... Either. All she knew was that the scent of the supernatural was thick here, making her nose burn and her mouth go dry.

Licking her lips, she swallowed nervously, before adjusting. There was an odd power at work here... The world seemed to slowly lose its color just from being touched by this deity. Whatever spirit he is, Bill is not to be trusted.

Nearby, a murder of crows alarms, rushing from the brush with a flurry of screams and wing feathers. Robin feels her body tense.

"Then who are you? What are you?"

[mayoinomori]

@slumbrlcnd - robin and raggedy ann - from this

The outburst had mostly been sarcastic, exclaimed when mentioning her own dragons to fight... A story of a woman clad in wolfskin able to slay any beast. That had been the story she wanted to tell, but...

Childhood had been stolen from her. Even now, trying to tell tales as brightly as she once had felt... Wrong.

And the little doll's glove on her finger feels like someone squeezing her heart, tears burning behind her eyes.

"How do you know that for sure?" The shifter hated how her voice cracked when she spoke then, body trembling on her bed. She hunched over, as if trying to make herself small again.

"How do you know things will be alright? I'm alone!"

[wolfvirago-m]

@memcria - from this

"I meant you look like trouble. Good trouble. Like you dance around everyone's hearts and let them fester for you, before vanishing like a flame." Robin mused aloud, but her smile and glittering blues revealed she wasn't saying this in a malicious sense. If anything, she wished she had the same abilities. She wanted to be coy, mysterious. A woman taken by the wind.

Perhaps in a sense, she already was. A mysterious wolf-witch who protected man from the monsters of the wood.

Here, in this strange catacomb, she could witness the humanity that was not frightened by their circumstances within the trees. Just humanity trying to survive.

"I can tell you're resilient. Not many people are anymore."

[mayoinomori]

@slumbrlcnd - willie + robin - from here

Cartoon logic. It was undeniable that this was something out of a cartoon, but she couldn't explain it away.

It wasn't unusual for the Lost Woods to toss strange creatures at her feet, things that did not belong in the waking world whatsoever. Usually they were visions, or tricks played upon victims by tanuki or kitsune.

But this thing? It was a giant mouse. Or rat. Was it a Kyūso? It was not as ugly as those large, ancient rats usually were. And it seemed to be joyful, rather than angry.

"A-are you hurt?" The question came out baffled more than concerned.

[mayoinomori]

"What places wouldn't have you pay attention to your surroundings...?" Robin questioned softly. Because honestly, she had never felt quite comfortable enough in the woods to not be on edge 50% of the time. She had to keep an eye out for danger. Even if she had the chance to lie down in the sun, she kept one eye open.

Even her sleep was light. And somehow, she was able to sense that Shadow could relate.

"I'd imagine the snow will get lighter. I have some scarves and things you could borrow, and we'll head to the exit." Whatever exit opened, hopefully it would be easier to sense with the snow coating the usual smells that made pinpointing rifts harder.

"As for your scepter..." Her blue eyes flickered over to the ofuda on the wall, brow furrowing. "Do you have any connections at home with someone who might be able to exorcise it?"

After all, she was unsure if it was wise to unpin the purifying magic slip. Would it weaken her own protections?

@fortruechaos

Ah. Fair point. Shadow lowers his hand and nods once, green light dissipating from his hands. "You're right. Sorry--I'm not usually in places I need to...pay attention to my surroundings. Tch." He casts a somewhat derogatory look at the scepter where it now lay on the other side of the room, then back at the window and beyond--at the outside at the seemingly never-ending flurries.

Shadow is notoriously bad at 'taking it easy.' Especially if he has a task at hand. He doesn't like the idea of just letting something potentially dangerous lie around the house. But of course Robin didn't want him to just blow up her cabin. "So...what do you suggest then? You know these woods better than I."

[wolfvirago-m]

"LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S GONE TOO FAR."

unprompted asks [always accepting]

There’s that whispering again. She can hear it, crawling like bugs through her ears. They only become incomprehensible when he arrives. 

Robin can feel her mind splitting open like a rotten grapefruit, and she prays, begging for some sort of salvation again. Come back. Come back.

In this state, she’s murmuring, broken threads of the language her mother spoke. Over and over, the same phrase. Asking if the gods can understand...

「私の苦しみお前にわかるか…?  」

But then that sound. For a long time, it was painful. That awful, terrible ringing. The creaking and snapping of the trees, burdened by the very weight of the presence of a god!

The wolf child felt her eyes snap open. His voice is the wind, blowing the crawling maggots from her decaying mind, her blood!

「開けて？　開けて？」

Acquired in exchange for her lost body…  Her soul- Black, and half-dream, half-waking. She listens to the whispering and shudders, gazing upon the bloodied mess on the floor.

Her hands tremble. She cannot move. All she knows is that the strange deity is right. She had gone too far.

So she howls.

It is not enough.

@deciphver

[mayoinomori]

@heartbinders - sora + robin - from this

The forest was no stranger to spitting out things it had eaten and shouldn't have. Robin had seen it plenty of times, but it had been some time since a human had wound up here. It seemed these days, she was bound to run into cursed lost souls or yokai rather than a friendly face.

The eyes on the boy... Felt a lot like her own. A glimpse of something intense and celestial, deep within a soul that had known light and darkness in equal measure.

"I can help you find your way out, but... Are you sure you want to go out there now?" After all, it had started to snow outside. Spring was due to come soon, but it seemed that March had brought the last whispers of a wintery storm to the Woods before it would retreat.

"You'd better hang back a bit. What's your name?"

[wolfvirago-m]

" evil may have created it , may have left its mark on it , but evil does not rule it . "

van helsing starters [accepting] [x]

She stares upon the beast, the man who had swallowed her soul for only a moment. She could remember how dark it had felt there... How her entire mind, heart and body had screamed in fright and tried like an animal to back out.

They say once you find the core of beasts touched by gods... You may find godhood yourself. Though she didn't like the idea of becoming a kami, nor the notion of Kagemori becoming one too.

Airin had sat beside her at some point as she gazed upon the comatose-like state of the bulgae, the creature she cared for despite his sudden revelation as being a vessel for the Dark One. The dark and ugly truth laid before her.

"He is evil. He is a dark creature, a yokai, and I had let him in. I was foolish, and yet..." Her voice cracked.

" Evil may have created it , may have left its mark on it , but evil does not rule it . " Airin had replied after heavy silence.

Conflicted feelings burn in her holy chest, her hands clenching tight fists upon her lap. Those blue eyes never leave the other's body, his sleeping face.

A soft laugh. Robin couldn't help it. "Gods. He looks like just a boy in this light, when he sleeps. Not the demon who's meant to swallow my soul."

@airxn

[mayoinomori]

@a0iakuma - from this

While she was no stranger to strange creatures in the forest, a blue, talking hedgehog was certainly a new one. Especially since he was so large.

Was this a new yokai she had yet to discover? Perhaps if she took some notes, she could figure out a proper legend behind this guy...

But for now, she has to dissuade the panic. Trying to think rapidly on what to do, she decided then to shapeshift back to her human form, which had to look uncomfortable if not for how quickly she shed all the fur and sharp teeth.

"Hey, little guy," Speaking in a soft tone, the woman tilts her head down at the creature. "I don't really eat sentient creatures anyways. What's your deal, huh?"