Post by Izaya Orihara on Jan 30, 2012 13:53:16 GMT -5
He paced back and forth across the room, spacious enough to be comfortable in either form, small enough to be cozy for both. He’d altered it to suit him, of course, with illusion as well as reality, and he felt comfortable enough here that he could even go out on a limb and call it home.
Many of his kind and beyond, the greater race of which he and those like him were only a small part, would scoff at such sentiments. That an old one like him, and, oh, how old, might find comfort in a human place, human things. That someone such as he might possibly desire to be here – they could not understand it. Then again, he hadn’t known many who had understood him even when living among familiar things, things that they approved of. That he had taken the radical step and taken up a human life was unsurprising to them, though it shocked their sensibilities – he had always been the odd one out.
Why would he leave a promising life? He could have been powerful, perhaps even as powerful as they had once said the Jack was, amongst the highest nobility of that world from whence he came. He could have everything he seemed to want, but left the perfec world, for one of his kind, to spend his life amongst lesser beings. Not even to corrupt, or destroy, or erode – for reasons known only to himself, but that included non of those things. Why? Why would anyone do such a thing?
There was but one simple answer; he stopped his pacing and smiled.
He was bored.
Bored, bored, bored. Bored by court politics, bored by demonic intrigue, it had all gotten predictable, easy… boring. It only took a few hundred years to master the game played by the upper echelons of his home plane, to see everything there was to see, the game played in exactly the same way in endless reiterations of standard variations for the rest of eternity. It didn’t thrill him anymore.
But these tiny, weak, imperfect beings…
He picked up a gamepiece from his table, turned it in elegant hands. They were endlessly changing, tirelessly evolving, never staying the same. Their world may have been stable, unchanging, but their minds were the exact opposite. Predictable, yes, once one learned their psychology, but there were infinite, incredible variations. He found them fascinating, found living among them endlessly thrilling. Found it amazing how someone at the very bottom level of their society could come into control of the entire top level, through tricks and favors and games and debts. He’d actually had to work to gain the level of control he had, actually had to try in order to master the intricacies of computers and networks. He’d built up his database through hard work and strategic application of his wit, and he was forever updating, changing, and renewing it. He never knew who was going to walk through his door next, or when, or why, and it was exciting.
He was a creature of whims, and the neverending excitement of his new life satisfied all of those whims.
He rarely used his true form anymore, save to intimidate and intrigue; still, it had its uses, and he could never escape the hallmarks that all his kind had to carry. Yet, the more powerful he’d grown, so also had he grown craftier. The tails he’d stored in his shadow twitched as he laughed in delight and replaced the gamepiece in a new position. Ruby eyes glinted in the low light he’d left on in the room, just before he melted into the shadows, temporarily losing all form as he exited into the night.
The night; it was his realm, his turf. Here, he ruled supreme. It was time for him to collect on an old debt, he thought with a grin. Now, when all the pieces were in place, now, when the King stood in check and there were only a few moves left in the game, he would add to his power and his bargaining position, make the move that would decisively crush all hopes of his opponent’s rebellion. There couldn’t be a better time to finish this deal, and no matter how the dice rolled or the cards flipped, there was still only one possible endgame.
He stopped in front of a house and rang the doorbell, feeling the darkness shift and move around him. No human eyes would ever see anything more than a black-haired young man in a fur-trimmed coat, but the eyes that would answer the doorbell weren’t entirely human, and they would see exactly what he wished them to.
Tonight, his victory was certain.
The door opened, and Izaya smiled…
Many of his kind and beyond, the greater race of which he and those like him were only a small part, would scoff at such sentiments. That an old one like him, and, oh, how old, might find comfort in a human place, human things. That someone such as he might possibly desire to be here – they could not understand it. Then again, he hadn’t known many who had understood him even when living among familiar things, things that they approved of. That he had taken the radical step and taken up a human life was unsurprising to them, though it shocked their sensibilities – he had always been the odd one out.
Why would he leave a promising life? He could have been powerful, perhaps even as powerful as they had once said the Jack was, amongst the highest nobility of that world from whence he came. He could have everything he seemed to want, but left the perfec world, for one of his kind, to spend his life amongst lesser beings. Not even to corrupt, or destroy, or erode – for reasons known only to himself, but that included non of those things. Why? Why would anyone do such a thing?
There was but one simple answer; he stopped his pacing and smiled.
He was bored.
Bored, bored, bored. Bored by court politics, bored by demonic intrigue, it had all gotten predictable, easy… boring. It only took a few hundred years to master the game played by the upper echelons of his home plane, to see everything there was to see, the game played in exactly the same way in endless reiterations of standard variations for the rest of eternity. It didn’t thrill him anymore.
But these tiny, weak, imperfect beings…
He picked up a gamepiece from his table, turned it in elegant hands. They were endlessly changing, tirelessly evolving, never staying the same. Their world may have been stable, unchanging, but their minds were the exact opposite. Predictable, yes, once one learned their psychology, but there were infinite, incredible variations. He found them fascinating, found living among them endlessly thrilling. Found it amazing how someone at the very bottom level of their society could come into control of the entire top level, through tricks and favors and games and debts. He’d actually had to work to gain the level of control he had, actually had to try in order to master the intricacies of computers and networks. He’d built up his database through hard work and strategic application of his wit, and he was forever updating, changing, and renewing it. He never knew who was going to walk through his door next, or when, or why, and it was exciting.
He was a creature of whims, and the neverending excitement of his new life satisfied all of those whims.
He rarely used his true form anymore, save to intimidate and intrigue; still, it had its uses, and he could never escape the hallmarks that all his kind had to carry. Yet, the more powerful he’d grown, so also had he grown craftier. The tails he’d stored in his shadow twitched as he laughed in delight and replaced the gamepiece in a new position. Ruby eyes glinted in the low light he’d left on in the room, just before he melted into the shadows, temporarily losing all form as he exited into the night.
The night; it was his realm, his turf. Here, he ruled supreme. It was time for him to collect on an old debt, he thought with a grin. Now, when all the pieces were in place, now, when the King stood in check and there were only a few moves left in the game, he would add to his power and his bargaining position, make the move that would decisively crush all hopes of his opponent’s rebellion. There couldn’t be a better time to finish this deal, and no matter how the dice rolled or the cards flipped, there was still only one possible endgame.
He stopped in front of a house and rang the doorbell, feeling the darkness shift and move around him. No human eyes would ever see anything more than a black-haired young man in a fur-trimmed coat, but the eyes that would answer the doorbell weren’t entirely human, and they would see exactly what he wished them to.
Tonight, his victory was certain.
The door opened, and Izaya smiled…