Was she hungry, yes.
She was always hungry. These months without food should have left her emaciated, skeletal in fact. It would have been a cruel way to die but she should have only lasted a matter of days without water. Unlikely a consideration for the Sennin. However, like a Ancient, it would seem she required neither. Albeit drained and unhappy, she was still very much alive and vital. Defiant when necessary. It was amazing she was not thrown into the pit a long time ago where whatever matter of monster of fiend that survived longer than the rest could rip her apart. But no, she remained here all this time. She often wondered if this was the day of her execution, but she doubted anyone sought a swift death for her. It was one of the advantages the Soverign offered oddly enough, a protracted and oft delayed demise. She was useful and she knew it, even if they spent their days ignoring her and hoping she would soon wither.
"Aargh!" A hand would strike her across the face, the knuckles abrading her cheek as her head was turned violently to the side and her mouth was filled with a metallic taste. The sound of her cry would be brief, perhaps underwhelming as it echoed through the halls but it was likely Mikaboshi was simply getting started. Her cheek stung and throbbed as she turned her face back towards her captor, she did not want to miss a thing. She was not a masochist like some of her Soverign brethren but she did not fear pain either. Pain and paucity were common among her people, it was what made what she was such a blessing. She did not realize he was so close, her head was in a fog otherwise she would have realized that he was too far but somehow had reached her.
"I must say that I am amazed you have the energy for impudence given your situation."
She let out a laugh,
"what worse can be done to me. Exile to the pit?" Let her live with the vestiges of
real terrors or wander aimlessly through the catacombs alone.
"Perhaps I am hungry and have simply grown tired of waiting for Sunagakure to be through with you."
He threatened, giving off an aura of malicious intent that she lacked the stamina to plagiarize.
"It would seem some ANBU have become rather attached to me," there was a gleam in her eyes as she said that as well as the hint of a smirk. If she was intimidated, she was not willing to betray her dignity in admitting such. She assumed the other ANBU, her keeper, as it were had some sort of clout in the ANBU branch considering how he greedily kept her to himself. One would think him the jealous type.
"Perhaps he would get lonely without his bastille mascot." She wondered if he knew that he was the first to visit her besides the metal-masked ANBU, if he did not she would not keep it a secret. The truth in this case would only deepen any paranoia or sense of disrespect the 'Warden' might feel if such things came to light, but she also wondered why. There was never an interrogation, in fact she assumed Tenken wanted nothing from her but a slow demise that he would watch at intervals. His voyeuristic tenancies were charming, but tedious, there was much to do still and hardly enough time for it all. Perhaps the 'Warden' or whomever he might actually be would pick up the pace of motivation.
"Are you supposed to be here?" She shook her head side to side,
"or have you come ahead on your--"
"No... in truth I am curious about how they made you so I have come to inspect you. You are not a hybrid but also not entirely human which makes you something new."
He did not seem riled by her attempts to get under his skin, to force him to make a mistake
yet. He did seem to have his reasons, perhaps he was even sent if she could glean something from the words he used. She was disappointed but curious and would raise an arched brow at his inquiry.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," she lied. She was about to dig her metaphorical nails back into him when the air became stale about her and with an exhale as his hand raised she would feel the tight grip of darkness wrap around her. She would instinctively move against the binding tendrils of gloom, however they nor her fetters would give way, but the shadows would appear unusual where they touched her, almost like vapor rather than tangible darkness. Avaron's own shadow would shift slightly of its own accord but do nothing more as she let out a surprised shout. It was a Deep Court Ancient most likely, she had realized and her heart began to race.
"Don't touch me troglodyte!" A term that Mikaboshi would know, its literal meaning "one who creeps into holes" which became a derogatory term for Ancient survivors after Godsfall. The term pointed out the fact that many of the Ancients who fled, sought refuge in caves or in the tunnels beneath Wind Country and humans lauded their victory with the term but over the years it fell into disuse in Wind Country as there were no more Ancients remaining. The term is still used on rare occasion to refer to a human, unkempt and perhaps uncivilized as well but in the modern day that would be the only use for the term.
She would ineffectively attempt to avoid his shadows as she felt them slither over her. What little energy she had reserved thus far was being used in her struggle against the shade despite her ultimate gains from their proximity. Yes, even Mikaboshi would feel it. Not the draw from the Obsidian itself, although that too was persistent but the draw from Avaron which was similar but not the same, although much weaker. She had nothing to do with the Wild Hunt, that was not why. The manacles would abrade her wrists before one would finally *snap* but the shadows would slam her arm back against the wall with additional force. In their search, the shadows would discover several things. First, she was sealed, but the seal was nothing like Fuu's. After all, she was a voluntary participant and a collector of sorts it would appear. The seals were not obvious, dark inky blotches on her flesh, rather more like seared brands that left ridges that could be only barely felt. The symbols were old and in Runic, one of the earlier renditions in fact. He would recognize the seals, but in style only. They were similar, but not the
same as the ones that Nao placed on Fuu. Perhaps there was a bit of pride placing them on a less than willing target in the Oracle's case as they were used as a means of control and manipulation on her. The question here was, of course --
what were the purposes of these? They were numerous, much more so than they were on Fuu. Effort was taken to hide these, most of which on her back so it was unlikely that they were self-scribed but he found them in other places as well.
He would also notice one symbol that he did know -- in recent years Sunagakure had taken a renewed interest in the Orders and with that came a reminder of these nearly forgotten symbols. She donned the symbol of Ranger, the mark used no ink and was more like a welt over her left breast near her sternum, above where her heart might rest. She shrieked the way some did when they would find a spider - a mixture of revulsion and fear but it was not that she
feared Ancients. No, she knew how to deal with that which could not be killed, after all that is why she was here. Ancients were brutes, monsters that copulated with humans and created abominations that they called 'hybrids' which sounded much nicer than what they truly were. Ancients were the slave-drivers and the sadists, the monsters that went 'bump' in the night. Her utter and true humanity was the one thing she truly prided herself on, something many Sunans could not claim. That thread of Ancient lineage, recessive now in most because the relation far too remote was all Ancients needed to pull hard enough to resurrect their courts and they knew it. Yes, she intended to finish the task her venerable ancestors failed and destroy what they left behind, starting with
The Wild Hunt.