Awkward Arrival - Prologue [Closed/Solo]

In one of the big cities near Karakura--fairly suburban and actually a small metropolis in its own right if you didn't consider the monumental economic powerhouses like Karakura Central, New London, or New York, amongst other notable cities--in one of the larger parks of the city. A boy ran through that same park, bypassing any fences or blockades short enough to hop over and ignoring all obstacles as he made his way across the grass. The sun was still hiding away, only the orange tinge of the sky to the East telling that it was dawn. The morning dew made his trekking hazardous, but he seemed fairly determined to get around as quick as possible even if he fell once or twice.

Passing through, he made his way into an alleyway. While a young boy going through an alleyway was fairly odd, if not outright suspicious and worrisome, the alleys around the park were known to be considered a part of it to the children running around, really making one think of the saying, "the whole city's our backyard". So, for any night-dwellers, they would know that as public knowledge dictated these alleys to be where kids played, it was also one of the places monitored not just by bypassers and random citizens, but by the local government and superhuman entities who found Karakura too bustling, but the rural towns too quiet, thus a nearby city being their home. So, to the young boy and essentially anyone in the city, him running through the alleys wasn't any issue.

Going through the alleyway all the way, a decently sized empty space was shown, some place that looked like where the nearby buildings might put some storage, maybe even their respective dumpsters. A general empty area, but the only thing there was a modest sized building, a modernised hut more than anything. Like an storage room for gym supplies near the track-field of a school. Without hesitation, the boy enters. Revealed to him after opening the unlocked door was what looked like a college dorm-room. A loft and multiple mattresses turned into some makeshift bunk-beds. An overall cluttered mess that, despite the unorganised look, felt harmonious. That, if one were to clean up after all, it just wouldn't feel or look right.

Likely the most noticeable feature of the room was the young lady sitting atop a chair, her hands dancing with the held brush and palette. Her face wore a calm smile, entirely comfortable in her environment and whole-heartedly focused on her painting. While she was using no powers, someone with a properly discerning eye could see the natural latent energies in the room flow like controlled tides, swaying with every one of her brushstrokes.

"Morning! I've got the oil paints you wanted."

As if it were his own home, after removing his shoes the boy strolls further into the room, making way through the mess until he reaches the coffee table near the girl, about to set down the paints. The girl first beckons the boy to come closer to her with a left hand gesture after setting down the palette. Her other hand continued to drag across the canvas. After taking the bag and setting it down on her lap, the girl pats his head merrily, proceeding to give him some money in return. In return, the boy offered a frown.

"Nee-chan, you know I don't do it for the money."

In response to his pouting face, the painter reprimanded him with a soft tap on the nose. Out her mouth resonated a soft and eloquent voice, soothingly clear.

"It's the cost for the paint, silly. I won't be letting you squeeze money out of your mother just to buy me paint; I can afford it on my own."

The boy giggled and offered a sharp retort, "I wouldn't have guessed it," while purposely sweeping his gaze all across the single-room house, as if yen signs appeared in his eyes upon analysing the literal back-alleyway contents of her home. "You rascal," the painter replied admiringly, "you've a razor to your words for a boy so young." The boy shined an adoring smile back, before directing his attention to the canvas, asking the painter what it was. "It's the family of a person I know."

The boy forms an interested face, pressing onward, "A person you know? Why are the people dressed in 21st century clothing, then?" "because that was when I knew them," the girl replied with a slight hint of melancholy. "Nee-san, are you one of those super people?" The painter showed an amused face, turning it from the child back to the easel in reminiscence. "what if Nee-san told you she was one of those demons or hollows, and that I know this family because i gobbled them up?" The boy laughed in ridicule, "c'mon, Nee-san; this is Japan, not even too many kilometres off from the big city, where a bunch of the super peoples are. You won't trick me."

The girl responded in laughter, picking her palette back up and resuming her painting. For a few minutes, the boy simply leaned over the armrest of her chair and watched her work in silence. She broke the silence suddenly, "You know, you're actually the first person I ever met in Japan." The boy looked to her turned face in surprise. "I thought you said you've been to Japan before?"

Her lips forced dimples onto her cheeks, "I have, more or less. Not in person, not as this person--but a part of me has." The boy's forehead creased in confusion. "Both you and Mamma says I'm smart for my age, but you always say things I can't understand. I don't believe that's an adult thing, though." The painter shook, holding in laughter, enough for her to put down her brush and palette for a moment. "No, it isn't an adult thing, I think. But for someone like me, this sort of thing did come along with age."

"I still don't get it, but anyways, Nee-san, I have to go now. I'll bring back some more paint--maybe a book--tomorrow, okay?" With that, the boy rose to a full stand and scurried off, careful to close the door properly after exiting. Upon his departure, the painter breathed out a long sigh. "I warn you over and over again, Kuana. You had your two years to paint and make merry. For your own good, now is the time to venture out and temper yourself." the painter's look of ease quickly morphed to a fiendish frown. "Just, shut up already. I know... I know that. But don't try to lever those two years over me. You know that if there was any kind of painting to be done, it would be with blood. It was anything but merry." The painter turned to look at their canvas, in it the faces of a few children. "Also, it's Kuanastha, now. No surname." With that last correction, Kuanastha rose from her seat and put the painting of the young Asthavon sisters away, opening an indigo portal into the Nether to stow it.

Looking across the room, Kuanastha brought up to question, "Nether... what're these currents you keep going on about; you're always so roundabout when it comes to these things, and frankly, it's irritating." The Nether's response came with a slight delay, as if it were pondering the correct words to say. Whether it was in efforts to hide something, or keep the girl pacified was something one wouldn't dare tell nor guess. "You've heard about the moon, I presume?" In contrast, Kuanastha quickly offered her knowledge to the vast number of voices that constituted the Nether. It even sounded like there were more voices superimposing the original count since Inami gave Kuanastha those countless thousands of souls to consume.

"Yeah... I've seen a bit of the Shadowfall propaganda, and," her words abruptly turning sarcastic, "I'm certain them being the only ones to report about it with such speed is cleaarly indicative of how knowledgeable they are on the situation. Something about the Vanguard Leader blowing it up or something... exaggerated, like that? I didn't pay attention in full--you know I don't put effort into knowing the politics of the World. In my last lives, current, and likely future."

The Nether questioned its host, this time with haste as if having prepared its next set of words. "Did you also know about what your sister did?" The mere mention of her sisters made Kuanastha's body feel cold, as well as the atmosphere in the entire quadrant of this city, a slight spiritual energy flux emitting, to an extent enough to be felt by the resident superhumans or otherwise, though not enough to alarm them. At most, they may have taken it as someone practicing and going overboard. Expanding one's power was always about trial and error, after all.

"What about my sister? Which one?" Kuanastha's previous soft and delicate voice soon turned sharp and aggressive. As if entirely unfased by that aggression, the Nether answered, "Mana." Just hearing her name honestly brought a slight bit of ease to the girl, and the cold air somewhat alleviated. "Stop asking me these damn questions and just tell me already."

"Do you not feel the presence of a new realm? A part of you had been able to feel such energies across dimensions, if I recall." The energy emissions were deactivated by now, but Kuanastha's stern look and cold voice retained itself. "What did I say about asking me these open-ended questions? Either way, that part of me has by now been diluted, so excuse me for not retaining all my talents. Also, what new realm? Is it just that?"

"Of course it's not just that, child. It's that, combined with all the other bits of chaos in the world. Feel through your Asthavon blood, Kuanastha; not just a few important figures have fallen from the random and large organisations across the realms in this past month, let alone year. Even your niece." A tinge of surprise and pain was visible on Kuanastha's face as the thought of Neoveta arose in her mind. There weren't many other nieces she was immediately aware of, and given the Nether's mention of Mana from earlier, she could connect the dots.

Not wanting to even ask about what the Nether meant by her niece falling, the girl dressed herself in the usual red robes and defensive boots, before reverting to her natural appearance. Kuanastha closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them with an incandescent scarlet glow. After tracing the threads around her and to her target, she exited the building and spend forward without turning back. Behind her, a massive indigo portal opened to consume her 'house' whole, Nether Energy rippling through her body. As that same Nether Energy spreads out to establish her domain, the newly forming Karma Threads in each powered individual in the city as a result of feeling Kuanastha's energy, is pinched through the use of the girl's very own karma threads. For the time being, they were entirely unaware of her energy's existence.

After a while, Kuanastha finally came across her target. The girl approached the young boy, scurrying back to his home with a euphoric expression. "Nee-chan says sorry, okay?... Sorry... I'm so sorry.." All at once, the energy currents in the city return to normal as the superpowered individuals within recall an astounding energy pervading through. Meanwhile, the young boy continues to run back home, confused as to why he left early out to begin with.

Far off from the city on an empty plain of flatland, a figure stood in midair, nearly as high as the clouds. Its attention turned towards another city, distant and seen only by the fact of its sheer magnitude in energy and physical stature. Recalling the "big city where the super people are" that the boy once mentioned, Kuanastha asked to herself aloud, "Karakura... Why do my threads cross through there?"