EonMythos
12-17-2007, 09:05 PM
Spirited Away
Aiming for Spiritomb
(Complex)
Required Characters: 30-40k
(Keep in mind that surnames are written first, and I have used a few Japanese words, to keep with the theme that they are a Japanese family. ^_^ Hope you enjoy!)
Chapter One
Outside the windows buildings passed, street lamps flickering out as the early morning rays of light began spilling from the sky. There was no one on the street this early, being only five forty, but even if there was it wouldn’t have been much of a distraction from the reason the little car was out there.
Yamato Mikari, seated in the back of the cramped car and squished between two boxes and the door, couldn’t help but glare at the brightening sky in contempt, her vibrant scarlet eyes narrowed until they were almost completed covered with her lashes. After all, her parents had decided it would be a good thing to pack everything up and move, not cross town, but all the freaking way to Canalave. From Sunyshore! Thus, she was not happy, most of all because it meant she’d never get a visit from her best friend Kimiko, who couldn’t handle cold weather in the least bit. And Canalave, being so close to the ocean, would certainly get cold in the winter…
Being shoved between boxes and the window, while her brother went ahead wasn’t making it any better, either.
“Mikari-chan!” her mother spoke up excitedly, pointing through the dashboard window with a large smile that showed a few wrinkles around her mouth and eyes. “There’s the house right up there! Doesn’t it look interesting?”
Sighing, but looking around the headrest of her father’s seat, Mikari gaped at the sight of her new home. It wasn’t nearly as mundane and uninteresting as she had expected it to be. From the dark brick and stone that made up the whole building, to the tower like fifth floor that overlooked the ocean, and the detailing of the slight railing that lined the edge of the roof. The windows were outlined with a slightly lighter trim, and she could just make out star shapes over the top of the ones on this side. It wasn’t really that big, probably slightly smaller than your average one-floor, three bedroom house for the first three floors, then with a half fourth floor, and the fifth floor, which looked more like a bell tower than anything else.
Where in the world had her parents found this?
“Haha! I think she likes it, Hina!” her father laughed, slowly bring the car to a stop in front of the porch. The house didn’t seem to have a driveway, but considering when Mikari figured it was built, she doubted they had cars then to use one. Fumbling with the lock on her door, she stumbled out quickly; squeaking slightly when one of the boxes attempted to follow her and pushing it back. The quick movements dislodged her ponytail, sending several strands of her thick silver-gray hair into her pale face, which were swept back behind her right ear with one movement of her hand.
“Mikari-chan, go ahead and explore the house, okay?” her mother spoke up, stepping out of the car as well and gazing upon the house with proud hazel eyes. “Your father and I will get the boxes in, and then we can sort out the rooms. It should have five bedrooms in total, if I remember correctly.”
Mikari nodded her head, rushing off towards the house excitedly. She hopped up onto the front porch, as the stairs were somewhat moldy and falling apart, before stumbling towards the door slightly, catching her shoe in a crack in the wood. Grumbling slightly, she laid a hand on the rusted doorknob, turning it slowly and pulling. Nothing happened. Tilting her head, she jerked harder, feeling the door give slightly but not completely. Another hard yank sent her stumbling backwards, landing on her bottom and blinking in surprise. The doorknob rested innocently in her hand.
“Okaa-san!!” she yelled out, pushing herself back up and turning towards the car where her parents stood, “The doorknob fell out!”
Her mother’s eyes widened in surprise, and she spun completely around so fast her silver-gray hair fanned out around her shoulders. Mikari held up the rusted piece of metal sheepishly, and her father laughed loudly, his own deep scarlet eyes shimmering brightly.
“There should be a crowbar next to the door,” he called back, grinning brightly and hefting the box he was holding up more. “Your brother said he put it there when he got here yesterday. Make sure you put the handle somewhere we can find it inside!”
Mikari nodded, turning back to the door and spotting the crowbar. How she hadn’t seen the bright red thing before hand, she didn’t know, but it was quickly pushed to the back of her thoughts. After prying at the door for a few minutes, she finally managed to get it open, nearly falling backwards again when the door swung outwards. Cheering, she sat the crowbar back down, and made her way into the dark entrance hall.
The morning sunlight was just beginning to light her way, illuminating the dust that floated about in the air and glinting off the glass of several portraits that lined the musty old walls. Curious, as she had been since first laying her eyes upon the building, Mikari continued in cautiously, dropping the doorknob into a basket by the door in the process. The building had to have been ancient! All of the pictures were in black and white, some of them even paintings rather than photos. The glass covering them was layered in a thick coating of dust, some of them indistinguishable at the moment because of it.
But, what had to be the most shocking was the one painting she could make out. In the back of the entranceway, in-between the two doors that lead to the rest of the house, was a very large portrait of a young girl, not much older than Mikari was herself. Even more shocking than that was the fact that the girl looked exactly like she did. The same, slightly curly silver-gray hair, which fell to her elbows gently, the same bright scarlet eyes, which seemed to shimmer with an inner fire even though it wasn’t a real picture of the person. The painter was a magnificent one, she had to say, in order to capture everything that had been captured.
The girl looked out at some unseen point, a beautiful smile lighting up her pale face. She was sitting on a high-backed wooden chair, with her hands folded in her lap daintily. The picture of a little princess, if you asked Mikari. But there was something about the picture that unnerved the new resident of the house, and it wasn’t just how much of a resemblance there was. There was something…about her eyes…
“Boo.”
Screeching in surprised, Mikari spun around, nearly toppling over in the process. Eyes wide, she came face to face with the bright hazels eyes of her brother. He was laughing his head off, clutching his sides and barely standing up. Mikari huffed, looking away and pouting slightly, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes. He looked a lot like their mother, with the glimmering hazel eyes and the silver-gray hair color (which was completely natural). But oooh, was he annoying when he wanted to be! And he was suppose to be three years her senior!
“Sora!” Mikari whined, stomping her foot slightly and trying to glare at him. Sadly, it didn’t work, and he only continued laughing. “That wasn’t very nice!”
Sora shook his head slightly, ruffling his unruly locks of hair about, and stated quite simply, “You weren’t paying attention, even when I tripped over that hole on the front porch.” Mikari huffed slightly, but found herself unable to keep mad for long. Grinning brightly, she proceeded to jump up and glomp him, laughing happily when he caught her. She was rather small in comparison to him, and he was easily able to hold her up.
“Soraaa! I missed you while you were away. Why did you have to leave me behind to ride with the boxes?”
Sora laughed again, gently patting her on the head and setting her back down on the floor.
“Well, since Okaa-san and Otou-san were busy with the packing, I figured it’d be better if I went ahead to set up all the school things for you,” he stated, shrugging slightly and glancing at the painting behind her, “I see you noticed it as well. Strange, ne? Apparently, she was the daughter of the person who built the house, but that’s all I could find out.”
Mikari let out a soft ‘huh’, turning back around to look at the picture again. Truthfully, it was a little bit creepy to find a picture of her likeness from several decades ago, in a house she had never seen before now. But at the same time, it was exciting, and something she could focus on…something to get her mind from the friends she had left behind.
“Oh! Sora-kun! I was wondering when you’d show up,” their mother chirped out, setting a box down next to the door and looking about the house with an interested gaze. “We’ll have to do some fixing up, but it’s a lovely house, isn’t it? Such a rustic charm and everything…”
It was true; there were several problems that Mikari could find just from glancing around. It must have been left alone for a long time, for it to get to such disrepair. But that lead to the question of why it was left in the first place. It was a perfectly livable house, of a decent size, and had a lovely view of the ocean. It was situated on the edge of the city, and thus had more room than some of the other houses, so there was nothing she could see wrong with it.
Maybe it wasn’t something…physical that was wrong with it.
“Mikari!”
Snapping her head up, Mikari turned towards her brother, blinking in confusion. “Hai?”
“Spacey today, aren’t you,” Sora stated, eyeing her as if she were sick, “I called your name five times.”
“Oh. Sorry. Just thinking.”
“About what?” Sora asked, tilting his head slightly and looking at her curiously. Mikari giggled at him, turning and nearly bouncing over towards the staircase she could see in a separate hallway.
“Why the house was abandoned, for one,” she explained, turning to see if he was following and then grinning bright when he wasn’t, “And hoping I can get the better bedroom.” He blinked, before lurching forward, nearly tripping over his own feet and sending Mikari into a fit of laughter as she ran up the stairs. Being the faster of the two, she of course made it to the top before he even got back up, and laughed heartily as she made her way down the hall.
This one was just as bad as the previous floor, with a few holes in the wood here and there, and a general layer of dust covering everything. But, this floor had more windows, and the sunlight pouring in through them was more than enough to see by.
Once again, there were paintings and pictures that hung on the walls, and once again Mikari managed to find several of them had the same girl from the portrait on the first floor. Many of them were just black and white photos though, of her in various places around the house or outside, posing or just caught while looking at something. The girl must have been important to her father; he practically plastered the house with her image. But the more Mikari saw the pictures, and the more she noticed similarities between them and herself, the more uncomfortable she became.
Shaking her head, feeling ridiculous at the thought, she continued down the hallway, looking into various rooms until one caught her interest. It wasn’t really the biggest, but it certainly had a nice feel to it. And it was the only room she had found that didn’t have one of the pictures in it. It didn’t have as much deterioration as some of the house, and she blinked slightly at that. It looked almost as if someone had recently tried to remodel this room in particular…odd…
“Mikaarrriiiii!!!”
Flinching at the sudden call, Mikari spun around quickly, placing her weight wrong on her heel and falling painfully onto her back. Her head hit the floor slightly, causing her to see stars and let out a low moan of pain.
“Gah. Sora! Don’t startle me like that!” she whined, pushing herself into a sitting position and gentle fingering the bump on the back of her head. She winced as pain shot through her head, making the room spin wildly around her for a second, and sighed deeply, closing her eyes in an attempt to focus on ignoring the pounding in her skull.
“Eh?” Sora asked, poking his head into the room to look at her, “Oh…OH! I’m sorry! Are you alright?” He rushed over towards her, kneeling down next to her to inspect her injury, wincing when she hissed in pain and swatted his hands away.
“Don’t…I’ll be fine in a bit,” she sighed, blinking up at him when she remembered what had distracted her in the first place, “Any reason why this room is in better shape than the rest?”
Sora blinked as well, looking over the room a making a noise in the back of his throat. “Huh. I didn’t notice that before. Maybe it was the most used?”
Mikari shook her head, carefully standing up and looking down at him, “Maybe…anyway. I call dibs on this room, Sora-nii, so nyah!” She stuck her tongue out at the end, grinning brightly. Sora laughed heartily at her childishness, standing back up as well.
“Hai hai, Mikari-chan,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair lightly and pulling more of it from it’s ponytail, “Let’s go back down to help Okaa-san and Otou-san with the boxes, kay? We should finish moving everything in first.”
Mikari nodded, shoving the random strands of hair back and following her brother back out of the room, smiling brightly. There was a mystery afoot, it seemed, and she was going to try her best to find out the history of her new home.
Aiming for Spiritomb
(Complex)
Required Characters: 30-40k
(Keep in mind that surnames are written first, and I have used a few Japanese words, to keep with the theme that they are a Japanese family. ^_^ Hope you enjoy!)
Chapter One
Outside the windows buildings passed, street lamps flickering out as the early morning rays of light began spilling from the sky. There was no one on the street this early, being only five forty, but even if there was it wouldn’t have been much of a distraction from the reason the little car was out there.
Yamato Mikari, seated in the back of the cramped car and squished between two boxes and the door, couldn’t help but glare at the brightening sky in contempt, her vibrant scarlet eyes narrowed until they were almost completed covered with her lashes. After all, her parents had decided it would be a good thing to pack everything up and move, not cross town, but all the freaking way to Canalave. From Sunyshore! Thus, she was not happy, most of all because it meant she’d never get a visit from her best friend Kimiko, who couldn’t handle cold weather in the least bit. And Canalave, being so close to the ocean, would certainly get cold in the winter…
Being shoved between boxes and the window, while her brother went ahead wasn’t making it any better, either.
“Mikari-chan!” her mother spoke up excitedly, pointing through the dashboard window with a large smile that showed a few wrinkles around her mouth and eyes. “There’s the house right up there! Doesn’t it look interesting?”
Sighing, but looking around the headrest of her father’s seat, Mikari gaped at the sight of her new home. It wasn’t nearly as mundane and uninteresting as she had expected it to be. From the dark brick and stone that made up the whole building, to the tower like fifth floor that overlooked the ocean, and the detailing of the slight railing that lined the edge of the roof. The windows were outlined with a slightly lighter trim, and she could just make out star shapes over the top of the ones on this side. It wasn’t really that big, probably slightly smaller than your average one-floor, three bedroom house for the first three floors, then with a half fourth floor, and the fifth floor, which looked more like a bell tower than anything else.
Where in the world had her parents found this?
“Haha! I think she likes it, Hina!” her father laughed, slowly bring the car to a stop in front of the porch. The house didn’t seem to have a driveway, but considering when Mikari figured it was built, she doubted they had cars then to use one. Fumbling with the lock on her door, she stumbled out quickly; squeaking slightly when one of the boxes attempted to follow her and pushing it back. The quick movements dislodged her ponytail, sending several strands of her thick silver-gray hair into her pale face, which were swept back behind her right ear with one movement of her hand.
“Mikari-chan, go ahead and explore the house, okay?” her mother spoke up, stepping out of the car as well and gazing upon the house with proud hazel eyes. “Your father and I will get the boxes in, and then we can sort out the rooms. It should have five bedrooms in total, if I remember correctly.”
Mikari nodded her head, rushing off towards the house excitedly. She hopped up onto the front porch, as the stairs were somewhat moldy and falling apart, before stumbling towards the door slightly, catching her shoe in a crack in the wood. Grumbling slightly, she laid a hand on the rusted doorknob, turning it slowly and pulling. Nothing happened. Tilting her head, she jerked harder, feeling the door give slightly but not completely. Another hard yank sent her stumbling backwards, landing on her bottom and blinking in surprise. The doorknob rested innocently in her hand.
“Okaa-san!!” she yelled out, pushing herself back up and turning towards the car where her parents stood, “The doorknob fell out!”
Her mother’s eyes widened in surprise, and she spun completely around so fast her silver-gray hair fanned out around her shoulders. Mikari held up the rusted piece of metal sheepishly, and her father laughed loudly, his own deep scarlet eyes shimmering brightly.
“There should be a crowbar next to the door,” he called back, grinning brightly and hefting the box he was holding up more. “Your brother said he put it there when he got here yesterday. Make sure you put the handle somewhere we can find it inside!”
Mikari nodded, turning back to the door and spotting the crowbar. How she hadn’t seen the bright red thing before hand, she didn’t know, but it was quickly pushed to the back of her thoughts. After prying at the door for a few minutes, she finally managed to get it open, nearly falling backwards again when the door swung outwards. Cheering, she sat the crowbar back down, and made her way into the dark entrance hall.
The morning sunlight was just beginning to light her way, illuminating the dust that floated about in the air and glinting off the glass of several portraits that lined the musty old walls. Curious, as she had been since first laying her eyes upon the building, Mikari continued in cautiously, dropping the doorknob into a basket by the door in the process. The building had to have been ancient! All of the pictures were in black and white, some of them even paintings rather than photos. The glass covering them was layered in a thick coating of dust, some of them indistinguishable at the moment because of it.
But, what had to be the most shocking was the one painting she could make out. In the back of the entranceway, in-between the two doors that lead to the rest of the house, was a very large portrait of a young girl, not much older than Mikari was herself. Even more shocking than that was the fact that the girl looked exactly like she did. The same, slightly curly silver-gray hair, which fell to her elbows gently, the same bright scarlet eyes, which seemed to shimmer with an inner fire even though it wasn’t a real picture of the person. The painter was a magnificent one, she had to say, in order to capture everything that had been captured.
The girl looked out at some unseen point, a beautiful smile lighting up her pale face. She was sitting on a high-backed wooden chair, with her hands folded in her lap daintily. The picture of a little princess, if you asked Mikari. But there was something about the picture that unnerved the new resident of the house, and it wasn’t just how much of a resemblance there was. There was something…about her eyes…
“Boo.”
Screeching in surprised, Mikari spun around, nearly toppling over in the process. Eyes wide, she came face to face with the bright hazels eyes of her brother. He was laughing his head off, clutching his sides and barely standing up. Mikari huffed, looking away and pouting slightly, glancing at him through the corner of her eyes. He looked a lot like their mother, with the glimmering hazel eyes and the silver-gray hair color (which was completely natural). But oooh, was he annoying when he wanted to be! And he was suppose to be three years her senior!
“Sora!” Mikari whined, stomping her foot slightly and trying to glare at him. Sadly, it didn’t work, and he only continued laughing. “That wasn’t very nice!”
Sora shook his head slightly, ruffling his unruly locks of hair about, and stated quite simply, “You weren’t paying attention, even when I tripped over that hole on the front porch.” Mikari huffed slightly, but found herself unable to keep mad for long. Grinning brightly, she proceeded to jump up and glomp him, laughing happily when he caught her. She was rather small in comparison to him, and he was easily able to hold her up.
“Soraaa! I missed you while you were away. Why did you have to leave me behind to ride with the boxes?”
Sora laughed again, gently patting her on the head and setting her back down on the floor.
“Well, since Okaa-san and Otou-san were busy with the packing, I figured it’d be better if I went ahead to set up all the school things for you,” he stated, shrugging slightly and glancing at the painting behind her, “I see you noticed it as well. Strange, ne? Apparently, she was the daughter of the person who built the house, but that’s all I could find out.”
Mikari let out a soft ‘huh’, turning back around to look at the picture again. Truthfully, it was a little bit creepy to find a picture of her likeness from several decades ago, in a house she had never seen before now. But at the same time, it was exciting, and something she could focus on…something to get her mind from the friends she had left behind.
“Oh! Sora-kun! I was wondering when you’d show up,” their mother chirped out, setting a box down next to the door and looking about the house with an interested gaze. “We’ll have to do some fixing up, but it’s a lovely house, isn’t it? Such a rustic charm and everything…”
It was true; there were several problems that Mikari could find just from glancing around. It must have been left alone for a long time, for it to get to such disrepair. But that lead to the question of why it was left in the first place. It was a perfectly livable house, of a decent size, and had a lovely view of the ocean. It was situated on the edge of the city, and thus had more room than some of the other houses, so there was nothing she could see wrong with it.
Maybe it wasn’t something…physical that was wrong with it.
“Mikari!”
Snapping her head up, Mikari turned towards her brother, blinking in confusion. “Hai?”
“Spacey today, aren’t you,” Sora stated, eyeing her as if she were sick, “I called your name five times.”
“Oh. Sorry. Just thinking.”
“About what?” Sora asked, tilting his head slightly and looking at her curiously. Mikari giggled at him, turning and nearly bouncing over towards the staircase she could see in a separate hallway.
“Why the house was abandoned, for one,” she explained, turning to see if he was following and then grinning bright when he wasn’t, “And hoping I can get the better bedroom.” He blinked, before lurching forward, nearly tripping over his own feet and sending Mikari into a fit of laughter as she ran up the stairs. Being the faster of the two, she of course made it to the top before he even got back up, and laughed heartily as she made her way down the hall.
This one was just as bad as the previous floor, with a few holes in the wood here and there, and a general layer of dust covering everything. But, this floor had more windows, and the sunlight pouring in through them was more than enough to see by.
Once again, there were paintings and pictures that hung on the walls, and once again Mikari managed to find several of them had the same girl from the portrait on the first floor. Many of them were just black and white photos though, of her in various places around the house or outside, posing or just caught while looking at something. The girl must have been important to her father; he practically plastered the house with her image. But the more Mikari saw the pictures, and the more she noticed similarities between them and herself, the more uncomfortable she became.
Shaking her head, feeling ridiculous at the thought, she continued down the hallway, looking into various rooms until one caught her interest. It wasn’t really the biggest, but it certainly had a nice feel to it. And it was the only room she had found that didn’t have one of the pictures in it. It didn’t have as much deterioration as some of the house, and she blinked slightly at that. It looked almost as if someone had recently tried to remodel this room in particular…odd…
“Mikaarrriiiii!!!”
Flinching at the sudden call, Mikari spun around quickly, placing her weight wrong on her heel and falling painfully onto her back. Her head hit the floor slightly, causing her to see stars and let out a low moan of pain.
“Gah. Sora! Don’t startle me like that!” she whined, pushing herself into a sitting position and gentle fingering the bump on the back of her head. She winced as pain shot through her head, making the room spin wildly around her for a second, and sighed deeply, closing her eyes in an attempt to focus on ignoring the pounding in her skull.
“Eh?” Sora asked, poking his head into the room to look at her, “Oh…OH! I’m sorry! Are you alright?” He rushed over towards her, kneeling down next to her to inspect her injury, wincing when she hissed in pain and swatted his hands away.
“Don’t…I’ll be fine in a bit,” she sighed, blinking up at him when she remembered what had distracted her in the first place, “Any reason why this room is in better shape than the rest?”
Sora blinked as well, looking over the room a making a noise in the back of his throat. “Huh. I didn’t notice that before. Maybe it was the most used?”
Mikari shook her head, carefully standing up and looking down at him, “Maybe…anyway. I call dibs on this room, Sora-nii, so nyah!” She stuck her tongue out at the end, grinning brightly. Sora laughed heartily at her childishness, standing back up as well.
“Hai hai, Mikari-chan,” he chuckled, ruffling her hair lightly and pulling more of it from it’s ponytail, “Let’s go back down to help Okaa-san and Otou-san with the boxes, kay? We should finish moving everything in first.”
Mikari nodded, shoving the random strands of hair back and following her brother back out of the room, smiling brightly. There was a mystery afoot, it seemed, and she was going to try her best to find out the history of her new home.