Snow Place Like Home

[Owen Mueller]

It was white outside. Winter had settled in early this year. An overnight bout of snow had brought about a white sheet that blanketed the world outside. The door of the vestibule creaked open, and the dark-haired boy took a step outside. Almost immediately, the cold breeze would nip his fingertips, and small puffs of fog would appear with every breath.

He pulled up the hood of his hoodie, brown eyes anxiously skimming his surroundings, before taking a few steps forwards. Carefully plunging his crutches into the snow with a quiet 'crunch', he was relieved that the ground still seemed stable enough to support him and he continued his small trip. The snow was fresh - at the very least, it hadn't had time to turn to ice and slush, a considerably more dangerous environment.

He did wish he had more in terms of clothing protection - both his hoodie and his shirt was ineffective at acting as barrier between himself and the chilled air. A shivering sigh escaped, but he pressed on.

Finally, he reached a rock that jutted from the ground, its surface sheeted with a thin layer of snow. Quickly swiping off the layer with his hand, he placed himself down, setting his crutches to the side. The Dirt Road loomed nearby, it's long, winding path stretching far out beyond his sight.

He wasn't quite sure what he was doing out here far from the safe interior of the castle, but something told him that he wanted to get away from it all. Clear his head. Chillax. Although, as it was currently standing, it was more of the 'chill' and less of the 'lax'.

Idly, he reached a hand down to roll a small sphere of snow across the ground, allowing it to accumulate size. A snowman? Maybe...

...Man, he was bored.

[Onizo]

Onizo looked outside at the newly fallen snow. It wasn't like any snowfall he had seen in Japan. He went to his dresser and pulled out a large jacket lined with fur. He slipped it on and some gloves that were in the pockets and looked out the window again. "Probably just a walk..." He disappeared from his room and appeared in front of the school facing the dirt road.

It had been a while since Onizo last seen this road, having been more of an inside person that last few months he was there. He strolled down the road, enjoying the calm of the snow-covered scenery. He breathed in the chill air, revelling in the fresh feeling it gave. "I hate this kind of weather."

After a short walk, Onizo noticed a boy sitting on a stone up ahead. 'Oh? Wonder if he's out for the same reason as I am,' he thought. He continued to walk leisurely, taking in account that he was going to approach the boy. Soon he was close enough to see the boy's face without problem. "H...Hello there. Enjoying...the cold weather?" He asked without any ounce of sarcasm.

[Owen Mueller]

The growing snowball continued to roll around in his hands until he was distracted by the sound of footprints nearby. He froze, assuming the worst. What if a professor was coming by to tell him off.. for something? Owen knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but the paranoia remained.

Thankfully, after raising his head and sighting a red-faced student looking down at him, he allowed a small breath of relief to slip. He hardly recognised him - he'd seen him here and there, heck, his appearance was hard to miss, but rarely an interaction.

He blinked - an unimpressed blink - at the strange boy's greeting. "Umm.. not really." A bitter smile was cracked as a hand brushed the snow off a space next to him, as if in invitation to sit. "The cold weather sucks. The heating in the academy sucks. Not sure why I bothered coming out here to be honest."

He gave him a curious glance. "What're you doing here anyway? Didn't think anyone'd be here. Not in this weather anyway."

[Amunet Chi]

Amunet liked the snow it was the perfect opportunity for her to use her special ninja kitten skills and sneak attack all the unsuspecting peoples! She spotted a familiar red oni and tunneled threw the snow after him. When he stooped to talk to Owen, Jami's loooooooooove she hid near by waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

((Flam's Note: Skip until she comes in))

[Onizo]

At first he wasn't sure, but Onizo decided to take the apparent invitation and sat down on the rock where the other boy had cleared the snow. He nodded a little to the comment about the school's heating. "True....It could be...warmer in the castle than it is..." He recalled how he had switched from his usual vest to a long sleeved shirt.

At the boy's question, he laughed quietly. "I...hardly got much snow in Japan, especially as I... travelled further south. It's... nice to have a change in weather occasionally. Besides, it's rather...pretty...All the snow covering the trees." The trees wer actually all he looked at during his walk. He liked the different ways the snow was held up.

[Owen Mueller]

"Yeah, honestly, it's like we're living like cavemen," he mumbled irritably, coiling his arms around his torso far warmth. He was almost glad that his boy accepted his invitation, the company was somewhat welcoming. At least, company that wasn't snarky remarks from a demon or questioning from an overbearing faerie. Although he did notice the boy's hesitance in speech. Owen didn't consider himself to have a daunting presence, actually, it was quite the opposite. It baffled him, but he decided not to question it.

Japan, huh? Oh, how culturally diverse this tight-kit community was! Owen was fairly certain he hadn't come across any actual Scottish people yet. He raised a brow slightly at his description before averting his gaze to the surrounding scenery. It wasn't something he ever really noticed before - he wasn't one to admire the natural world. "...Huh." Finally, he turned back towards the red boy. "...Y'know how much of a pansy you sound like when you say that?" he crudely remarked, intending it to be nothing more than a joking crack. "But whatever. Who're you again? Can't remember your name..." He squinted for a moment. "I'm Owen. If you didn't know."

All the while, he didn't appear to notice the cat's lingering presence in the snow.

[Onizo]

Onizo was somewhat taken aback. What did the boy, now labeled Owen, mean by that? He wasn't sure about whethe it was intent as a joke or was indeed a insult. "When I say what?....That the world looks nice..under a blanket of snow? It's meerly the truth." If Owen thought differently, Onizo wouldn't have been hurt, but his view on him might change in just the sligtest, he didn't have much a view, since he only just met.

Onizo nodded then, "It's...nice to meet you Owen. I'm..Onizo."

____________

Sorry for the shortness.

[Owen Mueller]

Onizo didn't seem to take his observation as jokingly as Owen intended it to be. Dang. And for some strange reason, he didn't think the boy would appreciate the explanation that admiring nature was girly. He merely gave a shrug. "Well, yeah... Just sayin'. Don't throw a fit or anything."

Owen held out a hand for a handshake - that is, the official handshake of meeting people. It was only polite. "Onizo... weird name." He grinned smugly, his eyes skimming over his form. "Y'know... what're you meant to be anyway? Or are you just some guy with a load of sun burns?" he chuckled.

[Onizo]

Onizo shruged. What was there to throw a fit at? He wasn't the kind of guy to get worked up over someone's opinion. He shooked his head, "You...don't have to worry about that."

Onizo looked at Owen's offered hand a moment. Not many people had ever offered their hand to shake to him before. He took the hand and shook it curteously. "Well....my mother was...different." He smiled back, then blinked slowly at Owen's question. "Ano...I'm a Japanese monster....Called the Oni..In English it would...be ogre. All Oni have....red skin."

[Owen Mueller]

"Um, okay."

Owen quietly listened to the boy, assessing him in his head. He was beginning to form two beliefs, either the boy didn't have much of a sense of humour, or Owen's jokes were pretty lame. He wanted to stick with the first, but some self-depreciating innate knowledge within him hinted that it was the latter. Withdrawing the hand, he placed it by his side to lean on.

"Oh, an ogre?" he remarked, squinting. "Oh yeah. That's pretty cool."

His momentarily impressed expression slumped back into a dull, bored one. "And I'm a human," he shrugged. "Kinda boring, I know." Waving offhandedly as if it hadn't mattered ,his gaze returned to the surrounding landscape, peering at the snow.

[Onizo]

"It's not...that cool really..." He sighed some, "You've probably noticed...my hesitant speach right? Normally....Oni speak the opposite of what they mean..." He laughed quietly, "Because...I'm speaking normally, I have to...mix everything up in my head....and the pauses are me making sure I don't say...the wrong thing."

He shook his head, "Being human isn't all...bad...You don't have to worry to much about....trying to hide and be inconspicuous so...you won't be hunted down and killed....or studied....or made into a servant... Plus...you don't speak backwards liek I do...."

[Owen Mueller]

Owen slowly nodded to Onizo, a still plainly confused look written over his face, but he was sort of.. kind of getting it. So the guy spoke the opposite of what they meant, so they had to say the opposite to make it normal? It didn't really make sense at all in his head, but he supposed he didn't have any choice other than to simply take his word for it. Some species were so weird. "That's so messed up."

'Messed up' didn't even scrape the surface of the Oni's following words. Well, he'd never really considered that he'd have to go into hiding and all from pesky humans - he supposed mythical creatures had a secret hideaway of sorts where they'd never be discovered. "Still boring though. I don't have all those... cool superpowers that everyone else has." Excluding that giant lizard he could turn into - he hadn't shifted in so long. "Like... flying, shooting fireballs, all that kinda crap. What can you do anyway?" He peered at him expectantly.

[Onizo]

"I...guess it is...But that's how it is with my species...But most don't care that they speak the opposite of what they mean, the normal for Oni is mischief and I'm a minority." He looked to the ground, "Unlike the rest of them, I have a more mild personality. I don't want to cause mischief, I want to be of help to people."

Hideouts? "Well, Oni live in the mountains, in caves. But there has been instances where humans have found one of us and gets the urge to capture us. It's a hassle." He thought for a moment, going through his mind of his abilities. "Well, I have inhuman .....strength. And this jug," he indicated the small clay container hanging from his belt, "I can..... make into a giant iron club that .....only I and other oni can wield, anything else usually.... can't because it's too heavy....And there's one more ability...I have..with any leaf...I can change my appearance into anything I want."

[Owen Mueller]

"Oh yeah," Owen nodded, starting to understand. Well, he'd seen that sort of thing before on TV - those unique snowflakes that wanted to be different from all the others of their kind. But then a problem came to mind, and he frowned. "So how'm I supposed to know if you're saying the opposite or not?"

He couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly at his later comment. "Yeah. Us humans are always the bad guys huh? Hunting and killing and driving everything to extinction and whatever." He shrugged defeatedly - he'd known for a while the sort of stigma that humans had in this academy.

He did look interested as he explained his abilities. "Really? Anything" he asked, a trace of scepticism in his tone. He paused, before reached down to pluck a frosted leaf from the ground, holding it expectantly towards the oni. "Turn into a dinosaur."

[Onizo]

Onizo laughed a little, "Yeah.....it must be confusing....but...if I were to...speak as a normal oni....there'd be alot more pauses in what I say. See, like before I'm speaking with pauses, this isn't because I'm speaking exactly what I mean." He looked at Owen to see if they other boy even got the slightest hint of what he just said.

Onizo's eyes widened, thinking that he had hurt Owen's feelings. He shook his head, "I didn't.....mean all humans....It's just that the humans ....who found us always ended up being the greedy ones..."

Onizo blinked at Owen's suggestion. "A....dinosaur?" He took the leaf and looked at it. "I ....can do that." He stood up and took a few steps away from Owen. He thought for a moment before slapping the leaf to his forehead and was shrouded in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, in Onizo's place was a three foot tall dinosaur. "I....choose the lesothosaurus....cause it was....rather small....But it's...only an illusion so if I'm touched....it would static...back to norma."

[Owen Mueller]

Owen was listening to Onizo's demonstration with a slow nod-- before something of a headache blasted him. Just hearing Onizo talk like that hurt his head - while he could hear his 'opposite' words just fine, his powers wanted to translate it to normal. In effect, his brain was receiving 'yes' and 'no' at the same time. "Okay," he groaned, raising a hand to rub at his forehead. "Don't do that."

He sighed, shrugging. "I know." He didn't seem particularly convinced by Onizo's efforts.

He did jump slightly at the sudden transformation, but when he was blinking down at a small dinosaur, his lips immediately cracked into a grin. "Whoa! That's so cool! Can't believe I'm lookin' at an actual--" He chuckled to himself in disbelief. "So... you can't turn into nuthin' big, can you? No t-rexes?" He looked mildly disappointed.

[Onizo]

Onizo nodded, knowing getting a headache was most likely what people get. "E....Exactly...why I go through the...trouble of fixing my...speech." He felt somewhat cramped even though it was merely an illusion and made it look like he was stretching his little lizardy arm.

Onizo gave Owen a slightly upset look though it turned out looking more of a feral look which could have been seen as other emotions. "I....can become large creatures..but....it's harder to..keep the illusion. Even the...slightest touch can...mess up the illusion."

[Owen Mueller]

"Kinda dumb if you ask me," Owen remarked with a disbelieving sort of sneer on his face. "What's the point in a backwards speaking race. It's stupid." Really, the oni probably could have explained it a million times to him, but the boy's opinion was unshifting. It was still a dumb race.

His brows raised at the creature's odd expression - but he still couldn't really get around the fact that it was an actual dinosaur standing there. Who cared if it was an illusion, it looked more real than anything he'd seen on television. "So... What happens if I do this?" He reached an arm over, aiming to give the reptile a rough nudge on the shoulder.

[Onizo]

Onizo-dino gave Owen a shrug. "My race...is extremely.......mischeavious. I believe....the first Oni only ...talked backwards to get on....the nerves of other people, and after a....couple generations, it switched from preferred to habit to trait..." He sighed, "To an oni....tricks and jokes are life...they'll do anything for a laugh....even if it hurts someone.."

Out of habit, Onizo stepped back when Owen reached out, but was still in the other boy's reach. At the touch, the shoulder Owen touched staticked showing Onizo's red arm somewhat before the rest of the illusion fuzzed out till Onizo was Onizo again.

[Owen Mueller]

Owen's expression became rather disgruntled at Onizo's explanation of his race. Onizo did seem to be apparently kinder (or he was pretending to be kind) than the rest of his race, but it didn't fail to give him lingering doubts. He nodded hurriedly. "Right. That's reassuring."

A look of surprise crossed his face as the touch made contact, and the awesome illusion disappointingly fuzzed out. He frowned. Admittedly, he had liked the dinosaur version better than his real form. "Well that sucks," he shrugged.

It was around at that point that he began to notice the chill of Winter nipping at him. Well, it tended to happen when you wore nothing but a hoodie and some jeans out in the cold, snow environment. He shivered lightly, looking towards the direction of the castle. "Should we go back. I'm damn freezing here."

[Onizo]

Once back to his normal self, Onizo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's all oni can do, meer illusions, that and be really strong...But strength isn't all to impressive." He laughed quietly, rubbing the back of his neck to rid it of the apparent soreness he got from the cramped feeling he had as a dinosaur smaller than him.

Onizo also felt the cold setting in. He shivered a little and rubbed his arms some to warm up slightly. "Yeah..... we probably..... should head in. Don't want to....get sick or anything."

[Owen Mueller]

Owen gave Onizo an odd sort of stare - a stare that unwillingly revealed more of a scowl than he wanted to. He didn't think this guy was bad intentioned, not at all, but it was that modest sort of attitude that suddenly activated his resentment. He could 'only' have the ability to look like anything he wanted to? He 'just' had super strength? Well, of course the boy would be seething with jealousy right there and then. Even with the speech impendiment, he would've been happy being born as an 'oni' if it meant having those powers. Had he forgotten that he was speaking to a human with little - if any - sort of powers that he could actually use? "You're kidding me," he mumbled sourly, not intending the ogre to hear him.

He reached down for his crutches, casually equipping them once more. Get sick? Ha, a laughable idea. Owen was already sick - sick of life. He looked as if he were about to ask the other boy to help him up, but decided against it, instead heaving himself to his own feet, in some self satisfying way of proving his independence. Barely addressing the red-skinned boy with more than a nod, he began to ungracefully headback towards the castle.

[Onizo]

Onizo stepped back at the stare Owen gave him. He hadn't gotten stares like that since he left Japan. Well, he guessed some people had different opinions from him. His theory was backed by Owen's comment. He gave the other boy a shrug, "In Japan...strength and illusion are very....simple and basic abilities....Sometimes the other 'creatures'....become so competitive in their abilities...They'll fight to the death...over which is the stronger.." He saw Owen planning to get up and was going to offer a hand to help but he saw the look on Owen's face and decided not to. He followed the other boy as he headed to the castle. He just noticed his tail was freezing, and as he walked he grabbed his tail and swiftly rubbed it to warm it up

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