destinystrings | [OPEN] Dog Wrestling

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Dog Wrestling

Who: Yamato and YOU
Where: Capricorn Ward - early evening
Format: Begins in prose, but I'll follow
Summary: ~~Playing~~ Training with Cerberus by fighting it with one's bare hands. Who's up for Demon Tangoing?
Warnings: Sharp claws and sharp teeth.

It had been a very long time since Yamato had last done this - probably not since he was in his earlier teens. Life had been too busy, his duties had taken precedence, and the Chief of JP's couldn't really risk being seen playing with his demonic familiar, after all. One had to maintain a certain image, even for the lower subordinates.

Now, however, he had no need to maintain image or even care about it. Yamato had reached rock bottom as far as his 'reputation' was concerned, and there was a bizarre sort of liberating feeling about it. He didn't have to care anymore, and after reuniting with his old time demonic familiar, Cerberus... well, if Yamato wanted to let off steam and relax by partaking in old plays, then he will!

Although, he made sure to do it in a somewhat deserted place - like the park in Hinoto-Ri. The sun was beginning to dip in the horizon, turning the sky into an indigo colour, and Yamato thought he was just out of sight from the main path. Hopefully anyway. His coat and phone was neatly set to the side, Cerberus - who nearly up to his shoulder in height - stretched and-

Well, they played. Playfighting was the best way to learn how to strengthen one's body through use of spiritual energy. The human body was weak, but it could be reinforced if one knew how to use their spiritual power in that way. Resist Physical - it was a natural ability of Yamato's by now. So there was no issue in wrestling his large, demonic familiar to the ground and initiating a round of playfighting. He trusted Cerberus not to use its claws or fangs too much.

Of course, if you're just walking through the park, as an average passerby, it would look like a man was in the middle of fighting for his life with a giant beast...

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"...What?" Daichi hated it when Yamato gave him those long looks you know, because it rarely ever ever meant something good or nice, and it just kind of made him more nervous. Ahahah...ha....ha................

"Oh-- Uh, nah, I'll be fine. It's actually been healing pretty quickly since I went to the hospital. I can't really move it that well, but I'm pretty sure I just have to wait it out at this point."

And after a moment of consideration, a grin. "Heh, thanks for the offer though."

Yamato lifted his shoulders in a shrug when Daichi refused his offer, selecting Prayer for just himself instead. The healing light washed over his wounds and bruises, and the ache in his side was gone. He was still scuffed up, with an odd scrape here and there, but otherwise he was healed.

"Hm?" He snapped his phone shut, half turning towards Daichi with a puzzled expression. "...There is no need to thank me. It was merely courtesy."

He slipped the phone into his trouser pocket, and he strolled back over to Daichi, giving his fingers a little snap (yes, he wasn't wearing gloves, SHOCKER). Immediately, Cerberus jumped to its feet and padded over, its tail wagging from side to side almost like some pet dog.

If Daichi was observant enough he would probably actually notice the lack of gloves. But alas, it's Daich we're talking about. Maybe he'd notice in a few hours.

"Yeah, but I think a few months ago you would've just told me to suck it up and make do with my other hand," He says teasingly, along with a small chuckle to himself afterwards.

A chuckle that was completely gone when Cerberus bounded over, to which he immediately jumped away with a bit of a yell. Not at all like his previous bravado from when he had Wu Kong out, it seemed. "Ge-- Is this thing your demon or something?!"

Yamato looked slightly amused at Daichi's twitchiness, reaching out with a hand to bury his fingers into Cerberus's mane when the beast was close enough. It sat down beside him, its tail thumping against the grassy ground as Yamato scratched it behind the ear, more than happy to be treated as if some kind of pet.

"...yes, he is. I recently managed to summon him to this world, as he wasn't with me when I faced off against Hiro in my world," he answered. "Not to worry, unless you attack me, he won't harm you."

Daichi was watching Cerberus carefully, though, the demon seemed to be pretty chill now... Still, he didn't remember Yamato from his timeline having a Cerberus either...

"What is he, your pet or something?" could you have demons as pets, was that a thing you could do.

Yamato didn't answer immediately. Calling Cerberus a pet sounded a bit...degrading. No, he wasn't a pet. They playfought, certainly, and Yamato did give him the occasional bellyrub, but he was mostly...

"No. He's my familiar - the very first demon I possessed," he finally said, grunting when Cerberus nudged his side with its snout. He shifted his hand to rub between its eyes instead. "Since childhood."

"Since you were a kid?" He's surprised to hear that-- well, no, he's not really surprised that Yamato's been doing it for that long-- except he sort of is? He both expected this and didn't expect this. It was kind of confusing. Either way, the point is, he was looking a bit shocked.

"Dang... I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but somehow it's weirder having it confirmed, and all. They really let you play with this guy when you were just a kid?"

"Well, yes," Yamato said, sounding a bit bemused by Daichi's confusion. Hotsuins learned the art of demon taming as soon as they were able to channel their own spiritual energy. Yamato had to learn how to summon, manage, and negotiate with demons from a young age, and Cerberus was his first. Beast demons were simple, but much more fickle than their more eloquent demons.

"It was encouraged, in fact. Learning how to fight demons barehanded is necessary, and allows the body to become more durable than the average human's, due to how our spiritual energy flows through us as we mature."

Basically, use of spiritual energy to enhance his strength and durability during childhood meant that his body was naturally resistant to physical and almighty damage as he grew older. The human body was miraculously adaptive.

"Really? I thought spiritual energy just had to do with demon summoning and protected you and stuff." Like maybe some kind of...spiritual, bolster, barrier, protective thing or whatever, but he never would've guessed all the rest of that. Seems someone missed the memo!

You know, despite the fact that he could probably punch out Botis now with absolutely no problem. And didn't totally shatter his wrist when he punched a robot.

Yamato's gaze flattened a little.

"...no. Spiritual energy is much more than demon summoning and protections. It is something that resides in everyone, and can grant advantages that those with lesser spiritual energy would not possess."

Like naturally athletic people would find an extra boost to their abilities, or they rarely caught diseases, or they had a unique sort of sixth sense. Really, the talents it bestowed were random and subtle, but it helped outside of the summoning arts.

"That is why when given access to a large amount of spiritual power, you can boost your own abilities. For example; when I channelled the Dragon Stream, I was able to enhance my abilities to allow my magic and speed to reach near superhuman levels. Of course this carries risks, but..."

Of course, that never happened in Daichi's timeline...

Yeah yeah, he's used to your disappointed deadpan, Hotsuin!!

"You can do that?!" Yeah, he definitely had not seen that in his timeline. All he remembered was that Dragon Ring trap thing, and that was pretty bad on its own-- plus the fact that they used it to stop Mizar and yeesh.

"Is there anything you can't do with that thing?"

Oh? Didn't he use it that way when fighting Saiduq and the others? Weird.

"...the Dragon Stream is pure potential, Shijima," Yamato reminded him after a pause. "So long as you have the willpower, and imagination, the Dragon Stream can accomplish many amazing feats."

"So what, you can do anything with it as long as you can imagine it or something?"

He's pretty sure he's played that video game sometime when he was in primary school.

"The Dragon Stream takes the form of whatever its master wishes," Yamato sighed. "So yes, so long as you can imagine it, you can do whatever you want with it. That's how it could do so many things in our world, like forming barriers, becoming a dragon and devouring Mizar, or enhancing one's own strength. It has even been used to carve mountains and rivers in Hotsuin history."

"Whoah...." He's a bit awestruck by the thought. Something limitless like that was a bit big to wrap his head around, even after everything that had happened.

"Can you do that stuff here?"

"No," Yamato said, his eyes narrowing a little. "I cannot. I'm cut off from the Dragon Stream here."

Bred to channel it, it was almost like he was missing something inside of him without the constant presence of the Dragon Stream in the land beneath his feet, or humming above him in form of a shield. It had been disconcerting at first, but now he was simply used to it.

"Aw..." Well he sure sounded oddly disappointed. Not that it was a great thing to equip Yamato with more power (given how bonkers he went when they were trying to beat him back home), but.. well hey, it sure did come in handy against Mizar.

"That sucks. It probably would've come in handy in the future."

"It would-" Yamato paused suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing together in thought. Ah, well, he had successfully summoned Cerberus from their world with very little trouble. Although Amon had taken more effort, and had drained him a great deal, Cerberus had answered his call as if Yamato was standing within his own world - probably because they had known each other for over a decade and were linked quite closely. If the same could be said for the Dragon Stream...

It was tied to the earth, but, perhaps, if Yamato could solicited enough resources and power, and see if Nitta could channel Lugh...

He realised he had been intensely quiet for too long, and shook his head. "Apologies. A thought had occurred that, perhaps it could be doable."

"...Yamato?"

Daichi was sort of used to Hotsuins spacing out and getting lost in thought by now, but that didn't mean he was any closer to being used to it. Though he just kind of looked at Cerberus curiously until Yamato finally came to, perking back to attention when Yamato tuned back in.

"Huh-- Really? You can get access to the Dragon Stream even here?"

"Theoretically, it's possible," Yamato said. "What do you know of contracts between humans and demons - or other entities?"

"You mean besides the usual need for a lawyer?"

Ahaaaaa anyway--

"I mean... not much, really besides all the auction stuff. There wasn't exactly time to read up on a lot of demonology stuff.."

"Hrm, I'll just go into basics then," Yamato said briskly, "You have different types of contracts when it comes to demons. You can have temporary ones to an individual, or a cause - this is the type of contract Kujou made with Shiva. They're usually done for a single act, and require a form of... tribute. These are most common with more powerful demons. The second contract is something you're more familiar with - ones that are made until death of the human. Once you die, the contract is null and void. Well, usually, in any case."

His contract with Cerberus was still in effect despite dying in his world - perhaps his revival remade the contract? This never happened before so... maybe Yamato had unknowingly taken advantage in a loophole.

"And lastly, the third contract is made between a demon, or entity, and a clan. So long as the clan exists, the creature would be bound to serve them until every last drop of that bloodline is extinguished," Yamato smiled wryly, "Not many sign this contract, for obvious reasons, but this is the type of contract the Hotsuin have with the Dragon Stream. By using this contract, I can use it as a type of... how to explain... I can use it to call forth the Dragon Stream into this world. If all goes well, of course. There are many factors that can make this fail, as the Dragon Stream is a special case..."

Give him a minute to process all of that, Yamato, he didn't expect a sudden infodump like that. Though thankfully this one seemed...pretty easy to follow. He hoped.

"So... like an anchor?" That was kinda want it sounded like. Hotsuins existed in this world, so the contract was still valid, right? "What could happen? I mean, I guess it'd be hard since we're not actually from this world? And the way the Dragon Stream acted back home was already pretty crazy..."

"That's the odd thing," Yamato hummed, "When I summoned Cerberus, there was no... strain to it. Although I summoned him from another world, and there should have been some sort of drain on it, there wasn't. I presume it's mostly due to the, ah, crossroad nature of this world. Perhaps so many people from alternative worlds coming here make it easy for creatures and demons to cross into here as well."

He shrugged, "But, right, what could happen. There are numerous ways it can go wrong, so I will have to prepare extensively before attempting it. The Dragon Stream is in contract with the Hotsuin family, but it is a primal force and is prone to moments of mindless aggressiveness. When that occurs you merely have to reassert your dominance over it."

I.e Defeat it in battle.

"Reassert...dominance?"

hang on give him a minute

"Wait-- You mean you have to beat it?!" Suddenly he looked like that was a much less cool idea than he had initially thought it would be. "Can you even beat something like that?! I mean we couldn't even beat Mizar without it...!"

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