Road To Humanity [Rita/Kenichi/Vanyel]

Rain cleansed the earth of toxic impurities. So it was befitting that on this day, it was downpouring. And it is on this scene outside of a large wooden cabin on the outskirts of Karakura Central where the story begins.

Rita Grace had been tasked with helping an individual close to Kenichi's friend group. Hearing the story of Vanyel and how he had wanted to discard his demonic blood to find his humanity once more, she knew that her power was the key to his redemption and was more than willing to help another human who had come across a fate of misfortune.

Ergo, she instructed them all to meet her at these coordinates. While Kenichi had arrived, Rita was standing outside the home with her teal eyes, watching like a hawk for Vanyel to arrive. She wasn't sure what to expect from this encounter, so there was a sense of uncertainty in her gut. Yet, despite that, she did feel excited on some level, as perhaps a challenge like this was what she needed to get her mind off some sentimental crap regarding love.

The woman wanted to reflect on the messy encounter with Kegare, but her thoughts were scattered as she felt something approaching, and this might be the person she was after. So, she looked alive, had a brief flare of teal energy ignite, and called out:

"Yo is that you, Vanyel? Let's get this show on the road if it is."

Vanyel felt goosebumps as he exited the city limits of Karakura. Partly, it was a feeling of excitement from seeming to finally get somewhere when it came to regaining his humanity. Part of it was nervousness, pessimism starting to creep into his mind. What if, in the end, it turned out she wouldn't be able to do it? But, he tried his best to keep the thought out of his mind. Even if it didn't, she might know someone else who would. He knew that this wouldn't be an easy or short road when he resolved himself to start this road trip.

So, with his hands in his pockets, he finally had made his way to where Rita had told them to meet. He could sense the both of them as he approached, and it seemed like she had realized that he was close as well, as he could sense the sudden spike of energy flare up as he closed in, and a voice call out to him. As they came into view, Vanyel lifted a hand to wave. Huh, she looked better in person than in the hologram.

"Yo, Rita. Guessin' Kenichi filled you in on...most of the details before I got here."

Kenichi had already been in the nearby area when Rita set out the coordinates to reach her home. He chose the quickest route possible, riding a motorcycle with a heavily inspired dragon motif, racing toward the cabin at breakneck speed. Naturally, he was a showman by heart, and a grand entrance was typically a habit of his on any occasion, even one as serious as this. When he arrived, he stood on the steps of the Cabin, waiting for his partner to arrive, the man he'd vowed to fight alongside as a partner, to help regain the humanity he had cast away in a noble attempt to protect a woman he shared a deep passion for. His plight was an exceptional one. Kenichi was an adventurer by heart, and what greater adventure could be had than to help someone attain what they lost? It was the principal theme in quite a few tales of the past, after all. A tale as old as time, in fact.

Kenichi would walk between the two of them, patting Rita and Vanyel on the shoulder, shooting a cursory glance toward Vanyel.

"Eyup. That's our girl. The one who said she'd entertain the thought of helping you regain your humanity. She knows the gist of things. I'm gonna head back into the house and ask around for a bite to eat. I'm not much of a negotiator. Adventure first, business later, you know? Anyway, I'll the particulars of this deal to you two. Treat her nice, alright? I really don't want to come out here and fight' my partner in crime because he's annoying my boss," he quipped, offering Vanyel a bright grin as he patted him on both of his shoulders before walking past the two of them and into Rita's cabin.

When the man of the hour came, she knew that things would get serious when the two of them were left to their own devices. Though, for now, they'd settle for pleasantries. If nothing else, given all that she knew about the male before this, he sure looked a lot better for wear than the stories she had heard. Rita had been expecting a gloomier bastard than this with what he had been through.

"Oh, Kenichi most certainly told me about you. We can get to the heart of that matter once we are out of the rain."

Sounding like a mixture between play and matter-of-fact speaking, Rita snorted before Kenichi arrived, almost as if he was on cue. With a nod, she agreed more or less with everything he said. However, there was something she wanted to add. After her teal eye locked back on Kenichi, she spoke:

"If things get dicey, don't be afraid to come in after us. I'm not sure to what extent I will be exhausted or how badly it may affect Vanyel. So I may need a third person to make sure we aren't fucked over big time. I'm trusting ya, my loyal worker."

Almost tongue and cheek in her tone, Rita laughed at him before patting his shoulder in return. Of course, when dealing with the supernatural, you have no earthly idea what the outcome of it may be. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If you were too scared of your own shadow and death to explore the potential of yourself, then this life was a complete waste. Risk needed to be taken to say you've lived in the mind of Rita.

Bearing that fact in mind, she motioned with her hand for Vanyel to follow her into a ceiling on the back end of the house. If he were to follow her, they would go down a deep dark abyss until they came to a large chamber with bright lights that almost made it seem like a giant white tile room. Reinforced by her energy, this place wasn't going to shatter easily as it was enhanced and augmented with different spiritual energies and provided a good place for her to conduct deals.

After taking her seat, she would wait for Vanyel to follow before speaking.

"Are you ready for this? Are you sure you want to risk it all for a chance of your humanity returning?"

He was glad that Kenichi had at least partially filled her in on the details, but, he couldn't stop that nagging, tingling excitement. The prospect of him being able to turn back to a human, to get rid of this foreign, alien blood and body. As Kenichi spoke to him, then Rita to Kenichi, Vanyel couldn't help but chuckle. Of course the guy was gonna find something to eat.

As Rita started to circle around the house, Vanyel didn't waste time saying anything else to Kenichi, only offering a half-smile, lightly punching his shoulder as he walked past him. He followed Rita as she descended into a cellar in the back of the house. A white tile room, and he could sense the energy around them reinforcing it. It didn't take much to let him know what was more than likely to happen. Taking off his hat and jacket and shaking them to get them to dry up a little bit, he turned to face her, with only one thing to say:

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. I'm gonna become a human again, no matter what."

With a grin, she liked that he was resolved on this. Nothing is worse than dealing with half-hearted people who don't know what they are getting into. So, without wasting much more time, the woman decided to sit in the lotus position on the floor near the center of this enormous white room. From there, a wild teal fire ignited around the facility as a dense unleashing of the woman's aura groaned out into existence. As a reaction to this release of power, the room around them started to rumble to life as the well of reality-bending potential of Rita's Asset Aura awakened.

"Come, sit in the center with me."

Patting the floor ahead of him, Rita motioned for Vanyel to follow her before speaking further.

"This is a supernatural world that works on laws, principles, and structure. So, if you are resolved to this, I will need you to share everything about you, your body, your goal, and what you want from here. Then, announce it to the universe, and I will do everything possible to make your wildest ambitions true."

Upon saying that, a dozen or so flaming tendrils exited out of the back of Rita before they twitched, turned to Vanyel, and awaited to see what they would answer.

"Once you are are ready, I'll connect you to it's power and we'll begin the painful journey of getting your humanity back..."

Right as he was tossing his jacket to the side, Vanyel's head turned, feeling the room flare to life with energy, the flowing power of Rita's power encompassing the entire room and beyond. Stretching lightly as he took a few steps forward, Vanyel sat down. His style was far more crude and punk-ish than Rita, left arm resting on the correspondently angled leg, his right curled inward about halfway.

Tossing his jacket aside left him in just a black tank-top and gloves, revealing the irezumi tattoo along his biceps, pectorals, and leading into his back, as well as the various scars along his forearms. Put simply, it was the body of a man who had been through a tumultuous life. His eyes showed determination, yet also sadness and tiredness.

The last few years had taken their toll on him, yet there still was still life and energy behind those azure blue eyes, so much so that he didn't show the slightest bit of shock or surprise as he watched flaming tendrils slide from Rita's back before turning on him. Then again, when you're around Asthavons, various use of tendrils were pretty commonplace, weren't they?

"Let me know where to start, and I'll answer as best I can. I'm ready. I don't care how painful it is. I am going to become a human again."

That was a fantastic look that the male had on his face. While there was a great deal of sorrow in his heart, a more significant part of him was ready to embark on the journey to perhaps a better future. So, to give him some words of encouragement, one of Rita's tendrils patted his head, and she spoke without hesitancy.

"You are gonna do great. You look like you've been through hell; what's one more day of hell if tomorrow you'll be out of it, eh?"

Well, maybe not tomorrow. Oh, there would be soooooooooooo much pain tomorrow. But, despite that, he would either be a human again or dead. Of course, considering his present state of being, a new life may be a better alternative. However, Rita wasn't in the business of letting her clients die. After all, this ability would be useless if it did that.

At any rate, she needed to get down to the nitty-gritty and have him explain the details of his body. So, with that fact in mind, the woman's tendrils gradually gathered around the male. They wanted to sync into his skin in a painless matter, connecting at the wrist, behind his skull, heart, spine, and ankles. Then, when finished, he would be connected mentally with Rita so that she could feel everything he did at that moment.

"Ya should be synced up to my mind. So, let's cut the chatter and get to it: how in the hell does your body work? Lay out the details verbally or mentally, and then I can begin to understand how to do this safely. Let me know if there is anything I should be aware that might cause you or me problems if I snip or remove anything."

Vanyel couldn't help but laugh a little bit as the tendril patted him on the head. Seemed that was something that would never change. First it was Mana, then Algos, Mana again, and now Rita. Nevertheless, he shrugged. Another day of Hell was nothing he was really concerned about. As the woman's tendrils began to connect to him, like connecting cords to someone in one of those futuristic medical tanks in a sci-fi movie, he felt himself being synced up with her mind.

First question: how did his body work? Well, that wasn't too difficult to explain. Even though he had some level of instinct when it came to Possessive Shifting, he hadn't bothered training it, or any of the other abilities that he would have learned as a demon. So, closing his eyes, Vanyel created a visualization in his mind of his body, ink, scars, and all.

"Well, for the most part, my body acts like a regular human one. You can see the ink and scars on me, too. Only other weird things I got on me are a mark on my neck that lets me go between worlds whenever I choose, and a seal on the center of my chest. Kinda looks like a key."

Great! There wasn't anything too problematic with the male's body that would cause some weird complication. Those seals looked pesky, but their nature could still exist even as a human. All that mattered at the end day WAS getting his humanity back; he didn't say anything about those seals.

So, with the mental connection forged between them, Rita's power was getting a better grasp of things. And as such, the glow around them started to grow brighter as the floor shook even more. There was a teal fire in the eyes of the woman as she could feel her body begin to ignite a flame within. It kept growing the more it comprehended what the male desired.

"You can feel it, right? The power is flowing within you! So state to the universe what you desire; speak it in your blood, and I will begin!"

And at that moment, Rita slapped her hand down, and an explosive teal aura began to envelop the body of Vanyel. In its grace (heh), it would produce a sensation of a waterfall crashing on him, cleansing his body of the toxins within and getting him bonded with the human ahead of him to find his way back to his humanity.

"This is the beginning of your new life!"