The coming storm, the jaguar's eye... The boy who became beast, through unorthodox means. Erebus was changing fast, his whole pursuit of revenge diminishing in exchange for strength. Was he even the same person anymore? It was unlikely. This much had been witnessed in the last few months. First soaking in the violence like a sponge, growing to feel no remorse upon inflicting it against others, and then... Losing his mind in the heat of a tournament.

Bloodlust and destruction were the epitome of his energy drink. He was liberated by the death of innocents, it rose him to a pedestal not found in the average person. "I'm a sociopath. That's got to be it." The boy said, throwing a cigarette box over a bridge as he crossed it. His need for such thing had evaporated from his being. His new release was chaos, the one thing he did inherit from him old self though. Was his sexual desires, his taste for woman, and for his taste of alcohol. He was a dirty dog... Er, cat now...

The neko's glossy golden pupils sifted from the water down below to the buildings lining the walls. With his excellent agility, the nimble cat jumped onto the railings. A fall from these heights would kill him. However he showed no such fear in the moment, having grown accustom to his new reflexes and nimbleness during the last week. Twenty meters away his eyes stopped on a blue-haired beauty in a shop. Peering through, the boy smirked. It was her, he recounted how rude and outraged he was. But during Kaidou's training, he had an epiphany. This girl was.. Not like the others.

"Irony."

He mumbled, before flinging himself into a front flip, aimed back towards the sidewalk and then tucking both hands into his warm pockets. He walked  through the cold across the street. Pushing the door in lightly. A bell rang, signalling his entrance. The cat took small steps but seemed to absorb the entire shops sights. His growing infamy, and his face in the world martial arts tournament had made him a local celebrity. He was beginning to be feared. Especially once word rang out that he was the new disciple of the Southern Nova...

The male smiled at them. Motioning his hand to tell them to go back to what they were doing. On the outside, it would appear Erebus was more relaxed-- ideal in personality. Bored with existence compared to resenting it like he had just about a week ago. Much had occurred in such short time, one could change their very being; as had he, in those melting minutes. Those useless days could make a man into a monster, or vice versa, if put to the test. But in reality... And despite what vibes others would get, he was far more hateful and evil than ever before under the flesh. He'd taken great steps to assure he'd achieve renown, even going so far as to abandon weaponry for the physical arts.

Murder with bare hands-- Death Cutter.

However, such trivial facts like that were minuscule in relevancy. The boy sat in front of the girl now, allowing her a chance to show surprise. As he did so, he reached forward, pulling her drink forward to sip it lightly, and then sliding it back her way. "... I shouldn't have reacted like that. You caught me in a bad moment, and I apologize." The cat said, raising his facial expression for her, his gleaming eyes would stare into her soft soul. Searching for whatever reason she had to approach him that day to begin with.

The cat nodded to her explanation when the moments called for it. In a weird way, he understood her now that he was calmed down, their hearts seeming to lock as they spoke like this. Or maybe it was just Erebus's own speculation. She was sincere, yet he was psycho. It seemed weird but a rising interest in the woman welled up within his being. He found his hand moving to her cheek as he leaned in, where upon doing so he felt an odd feeling. For as long as he'd lived women had simply been objects. Irony didn't give him that feeling though.

Maybe the cat-boy was soft for this one. The thought bit at his brain; something like a hand scratching at a bug bite. It was a feeling that just wasn't shaken off easily. "I know that. I thought it about it in a dream actually. It took me a few days to cool off, I'll be honest. But I can see how my anger blinds me to other's emotions I suppose. It's just so abnormal to find you here with us I guess, so compassionate while we all don't care about what we do. It makes me wonder if you could be..."

The boy stopped, feeling a rather reverberating idea in the air. Could she be a spy? The idea wasn't appalling, but if she were one, her acting was god awful, and in addition, it was a death wish to screw around with criminals like these. Irony might've been fairly slow at times, but from what Strategist had gathered, she wasn't stupid. He wanted to know more about her being here though-- since it was a topic of curiosity. So the boy decided he'd offered something of his own to her. In exchange for uncovering a little about her life too.

"My uh, my name was Erebus Cassiel before I came into this organization. I'm from Era. Since we aren't on the job or anything, it'll be our secret okay?" The neko said, looking to the right, a little flushed but mostly maintaining his tsundere atmosphere. He moved is hand from her warm face to the table. Showing he was usually more adept at being dominate than intimate. But... At least he was trying here.

"And don't worry, sometimes I forget what it feels like to have someone worry about me. I don't come from the sweetest background I guess."

When her hand touched his, he felt an urge to reach in and plant his lips against her. But held himself back, thinking to respect this one. Unlike the others. He even managed a turn of the face and smiled a little, while mostly still looking from her to the window. "Adorable..." He found himself whispering, though it was under his breath and she rambled. He managed a bigger smile as she tunneled her way into conversation.

"Vagarosa huh? I like it. It's very 'you'."

The boy sheepishly used the hand he'd removed from her face earlier to pull her coffee in again. As his lips touched the rim, he looked at her, hopefully she didn't mind his taking her things. However, it'd become customary for his cat side to be that way with others. He didn't have a sense of discomfort around guild mates, especially this one. The special one.

"So you're looking for your mom? Mine threw me out to suck dick. True story."

The boy half jested, but part of that was entirely factual. Which sold his story well. He offered her coffee back, sliding it across the table. Would this be a game of back and forth, he wondered?

Concerning his own mother he chuckled, looking at the coffee cup then back to her. Their eyes twinkling together, the same look in them. They both longed for each other, something in the inside just clicked perfectly. Concerning her mother, the cat just answered with an honest expression. "If she was anything like you are now, then it's a shame she isn't around anymore." Had he been given the chance the boy would have kept talking, but his racing heart, and he assumed her too. Tipped them to stay quiet a few seconds.

When the girl whispered to him, the boy's breathing became unsteady, and he leaned in too a small smile across his lips, eyes closing as she advanced to take action. He locked lips with her and his palms wrapped around the side of her hair, holding her head slightly. The kiss broke only for a short breath here and there. Before Erebus made it more passionate by adding the nimble of her bottom lip and the tongue to slip through slightly. Not so much to go down her throat and put her off to the moment, but to seal the intimacy with the connection a kiss created.

Was this love? It must be.

As the table tilted and the girl began to fall, the neko moved her into a hug. A red tint was coloring his cheeks, and he felt like a young boy again. Being a womanizer most of his life, such a feeling had never enveloped within him before. It was like his first kiss too. But she was something else compared to any other woman. He held her there, not only in his arms, but within his heart too. Whispering to her softly, not too eager, but not too bland either. He judged her ability accordingly, staying keen to his more relaxed air to her.

"You're a good kisser."

He said, the coffee spilling to the side of them, but not getting either of them wet or burned. It was romantic, and all the wondering eyes in the shop made Erebus feel even more flustered with the bluenette in his hands who had fallen somewhat across the glass table. Erebus managed himself up from his seat to help her down from the table. Clasping hands with her, he offered her on a date. "Want to get out of here? Go on a walk or something, I know it's chilly out right now..."

He purred when she ran her hands through his hair, his cat ear twitching to the touch of their mouths. Upon hearing her voice again he smiled, "I wanted to kiss you too, for a first timer you did really well. You must be a natural, I'm really surprised." The boy said, pulling her hand lightly. Outside the two would begin walking, having only realized they skipped out on paying for that coffee. Oh well, what's done is done.

"Want to visit the park? It's pretty nice?" Erebus was new to this, in the past he simply had to allure their inner fantasies but, with her, he wanted to do this the more romantic way. He wanted her to be his. No one elses... The hand which held hers tightened, and his ears lowered as he blushed. "Irony, tell me about your childhood. I want to know why you concerned yourself with us." The cat smiled at her, then he pulled her curvy hips in close to him and placed his arm around her shoulder.

Erebus kissed her head lightly, it was obvious z growing attachment was forming for the girl..

Erebus listened, a thing boys his age normally didn't do. He remained quiet as she explained, his heart aching for her. Unlike him, she never found the streets a peaceful antagonist to raise her. All she had was the empty desert, no alcohol, people, or materialistic things to drown her depression in. The story made him upset to a point in which he moved in to hug her, allowing her tears to dampen his clothing. His inhuman eyes stared to the side as this occurred, feeling the first bit of pity for another being in ages.

"Well... I'll love you then. So you'll have someone here caring about you. At least until you meet your father again, he's out there somewhere for sure."

It might have been forward, to say outloud. But he felt he needed to bring his thoughts into reality, this didn't feel like lust. It felt like heartache for someone he cared about. She'd be his to take care of, here out. The neko rubbed her back and he moved away to use his thumb to point, his eyes eyes watering at her troubled childhood. Or maybe it was because he'd finally found a reason to cry, he needed to cry. He hadn't done it in years after all. "The park is nearby, maybe there I'll tell you a little about my raising. If you'd like, Celeste?.."

After kissing his cheek the feline held her chin in place and planted his lips against hers once again. Smiling, he supposed this meant she was his girlfriend. If that were the case, he should probably stop being couch a harlot to all these maidens around here. This change of pace would be a new lifestyle, he wondered if her innocent body could handle all the lust the jaguar had within his being. When the two sat at a bench the male pulled her legs over his lap and sat mostly legs apart in her direction. His neck leaning back to watch the cloudy sky. "This is a long story, are you sure you want to hear about it?" It looked like it might rain, but the stillness of the environment wasn't gloomy rather, refreshing.

Assuming she did want to hear, he began talking, letting his inner demons take root in reality once again.

"I never knew my father, but I think his name was something-or-'nother Sokolov? My mom use to tell me about how he knocked her up and that I ruined her life. But the first five years of my kid-hood she did care, it was only after I began chipping in, trying to help her out that she got lazy and neglected my little sisters. The responsibility to provide for the family was my job alone after that." He stopped allowing her a chance to soak in the small bit. reliving his pathetic life showed on his face, as he bit his lower lip and appeared upset in himself for something.

He was taken by the seductress, lips pressing atop his once more. He smiled into the kiss and continued for her. This time speaking just as slowly as he stroked her blue hair, the girl made his heart race. This must be what they called butterflies.

"I guess, no one ever acknowledged me for it 'til now. It just felt like if I didn't help out, then what was it that I had to be thankful for?" The jaguar rested his other palm on her upper thigh, stimulating it to raise and lower. His kiss planted on her forehead before starting his story again.

"Me and mom were never close, instead I confided my problems in my grandfather. With every mistake I made, he was there waiting to make me feel better... He died of terminal cancer, and I was left alone after that... He was a smart old man, he'd acutally saved every ounce of his money in a bank and allowed it to build interest for years, decades even. When he died it had a lot of jewels left over for us. We finally could get out-- me and the girls. That was, until this other bastard came along. Victor. Started fucking with us bad, or rather my mother in the sleazier way. She was a real harlot, that old hag... I still get angry thinking about it, but they got married. The guy was in debt to this mob back home so they took all of my Grand-dad's savings paying it off."

He paused.

"My mom got the same cancer my grandpa did soon after the marriage too, and Victor managed to feed her lies about me since we'd always fought prior to her sickness and all. She threw me out at seventeen, I had nothing but a suitcase. I tried again and again to fight him off and talk to my sisters, but he had magic. He was a bounty hunter who worked under that same mob for awhile, everytime I tried to get close I failed. I sought out Grimoire Heart for strength, someting o help me kill the guy. The atrocity that this guild is though, it's like a sickness, it changes us I guess you could say. Pretty soon you'll get what I mean Irony-- Celeste I mean."

When the boy finished he closed his eyes, exhaling softly. He then opened them, awaiting anything from the girl. His eyes were trained forward on the water fountain. He didn't pity himself, but somewhere in his monologue a choke could be heard. What if he hadn't turned to a dark guild? Would he be a light mage by now? A rune knight? The what-ifs sure were strange, but those were where his curiosity rested for the moment. All in all, he didn't regret anything though. The dark guild was his home, the darkness had adopted him. It just felt weird, considering his options so late.

Unknownst to the girl, that just by her own words alone, she'd changed. She was now in leagure with a serial murderer who worked under the guise of a dark guild. Then again, she had killed an innocent even before the two felt this connection. This time he slipped his hand under her skirt, kissing her passionately. The sun was setting, so too, was their distaste for one another. Erebus assumed this meant they were officially together. However, he wouldn't take her virginity away tonight, he'd save it away and make her really want what it was the feline offered. She was now his, and his alone. His hand removed itself from where it was between her legs. Then he held her close, pulling her into him... The two were sealed as a couple.

-END-