(no subject)

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine was getting used to seeing them.

Well, used to might not be the right word. She was certainly better and more sure about seeing them, and a lot of that had both to do with not keeping it a secret any longer as well as her time with Yukio. He had offered to train her, and since she had taken him up on it - with Andrea's permission - she was starting to get an introduction on how to handle things. In a way, she found herself reminded of the memories of the things Lee taught her about survival.

At least here she didn't have to worry all the time about what was happening. Life could almost be normal. Almost.

It was another training day. She left Bailey at home as much as the dog had wanted to come, and went to where she'd been told to meet Yukio. Even though she left early to the edge of the town, he was already there waiting for her when she got there.

"Good morning, Mister Yukio," she said, politely, as she approached. He really came off as a teacher to her, and she always treated him as such.

Comments

[contrition]

The idea of having a student again calmed Yukio in ways he couldn't quite express. In a world where everything was still murky and unclear, right down to the relationship that he had with Rin, it was comforting to be able to impart his knowledge onto someone with an open and willing mind. He would never know for certain how helpful his instructions would be in a given moment.

But he could still share on the off-chance that it would help in a pinch.

He was in the process of reading about vampires at the edge of the city when he heard Clementine's approach. Getting to his feet, he offered her a small smile, and bowed his head respectfully.

"Miss Clementine, it's good to see you. I'm glad that we have the opportunity to work together like this. The actual training ground is a bit further out in the forest, so shall we walk together?" he asked, closing his book and tucking it away in the messenger bag he had slung over his shoulder.

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine had been ready for anything, honestly, so when he mentioned the forest, she nodded her head immediately. She knew he knew what he was doing, so she wasn't scared.

"Thank you for helping me," she replied. She knew he didn't have to, and she would always be thankful he was willing to anyway. "I don't mind walking."

[contrition]

She was polite, eager to listen, in ways that Yukio had never had the luxury of enjoying in his brother. Even when Rin was the most eager to improve, he still came across that same vein of frustration when it came to the tactics his brother employed.

His gaze briefly dropped, wondering if he was supposed to feel at all guilty for being relieved to have someone else to coach in the city.

"No, thank you for agreeing to learn. My job in my world was to teach students such as yourself about the spirits and demons that inhabit our world," he admitted, lips still curved in a faint smile as they started to walk. "Before we began, I wanted to explain the different disciplines that Exorcists in my world align to. Do you have certain subjects in school or hobbies that you particularly enjoy, Clementine?"

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine listened quietly as he spoke, following along on the path they were taking.

"I like art," she said, when prompted. She didn't know if that was a very useful thing for what they were doing. "Um, and I'm pretty good with writing, too."

[contrition]

Although the expression was muted, Yukio offered a small smile at the hobbies that Clementine outlined. None of them were exactly what he was looking for in her answer — these were the skills frequently taught in civilian schools, commendable but not catered towards combat. But it set a good idea about the level of detail that Yukio had to introduce her to, and with what speed.

"Writing could be a useful skill," he said, doing his best to extend even the faintest of connections. "There are five of the aforementioned disciplines in my world. They are called tamers, knights, dragoons, arias, and doctors. Tamers are able to summon and control demons in a fight. Not all demons are malicious or intend harm; there are even some who enter contracts with individuals or families, making the taming connection stronger. Knights are those who use swords to fight — Rin is training to be qualified as a Knight. Dragoons are those who fight using guns; I have a high qualification in that discipline. Arias are those who memorize passages from holy scripts that can be used to exorcise demons. And finally, Doctors are probably the most straightforward; they are trained to heal injuries inflicted by demons. I also have a qualification in being a Doctor."

He paused, watching her expression closely. "Do any of these sound like an area you might be passionate about?"

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine wasn't sure how to answer. There was a whole lot of choices on her plate, and she wondered what would happen if she made the wrong choice. She didn't want to waste lots of his time.

"Um, I like helping people, so doctor sounds nice. And - and before I came here, someone taught me how to use a gun. So - so maybe one of those two?" she said, biting her lip. Her voice was unsure, but she seemed at least settled between those two options. It was a start, right?

Still. The idea of holding a gun was scary even as she admitted to it - she remembered the time with Lee on the train because of the strange things this place could do, but hadn't experienced it - but she had a feeling she could do it if she was taught right. She couldn't imagine herself taming scary things or hitting things with a sword, at least, though imagining Rin with a sword wasn't too hard. She bet he was good at it already.

[contrition]

Yukio nodded thoughtfully. Of all the different options, Dragoon and Doctor were his favorites — even paired together, they became exponentially more powerful, offering Clementine both offense and defense to work with. It was one of the reasons why he had picked them out for himself, particularly when it soon became clear that his physical power and force was ultimately fairly limited.

"I like the sound of that, to be honest. We can start with the foundational knowledge that all Exorcists need to know, although as a Doctor, it will become imperative that you listen more closely and absorb what I tell you. Some of the other disciplines allow you to focus on force alone. An Aria only has to memorize. But the Doctor's role is very precise," he shared, offering her a gentle look. "If I'm honest, it's my favorite of the five. Other Exorcists tear things down. A Doctor helps to rebuild."

He led the pair of them out to a clearing in the woods, five small circles drawn in a row with tiny little demons trapped inside. Rin wouldn't have enjoyed the sight. Fortunately, he wasn't invited to the lesson.

At this size, the demons looked like no more than small animals, rustling and tapping against the sides of their cages. Small coal tars hopped around the left circle, labeled as decay; a menacing-looking moth flapped about in the column marked as air; a smiling golem waved happily as earth; a leaper croaked forlornly in the circle marked as water; finally, a small burning salamander curled up in its circle to represent fire.

"Can you see all of the five specimens I've brought today?" Yukio asked, watching Clementine for her reaction.

[itwillbeokay]

He seemed okay with her indecision, which took a weight off her for the moment. She was really good at learning things, so the idea it was really hard to become a Doctor didn't particularly scare her off on the idea. "Okay, I understand."

As they reached the area she assumed was their destination, Clementine's attention had practically been immediately drawn to the strange creatures in front of them. She had never seen anything like them - though one looked like a giant bug, which, admittedly, made her a little apprehensive. Looking at them, then up at Yukio, she replied, "Uh-huh. All five. Um - are they demons?"

She still had a hard time believing things as cute as the little waving one was a demon.

[contrition]

The small golem trapped in the circle began to wave more enthusiastically once it felt Clementine's gaze upon it, both arms flailing in her direction. It wore a happy smile, dancing around the circle of its confinement. Still having access to sun and water alike, it didn't seem overly concerned with its confinement, unlike most of the other demons.

To the golem's side, the leaper gave another croak, and its tail twitched.

"All five of these creatures are demons, yes. You'll find, in this line of work, that demons come in many different forms. Not all of them appear human. Not all of them are necessarily malicious. Many demons long to live peacefully, just like any other animal would. I brought these five here to illustrate some of the most basic rules of demonology," Yukio explained, stepping around the circles so that he was on the opposite side of them as Clementine, and able to face her fully. "The definition of a demon stems to what world it originates from. There are two main planes of existence to take into consideration. One is the world that we live in, the living and material world, which we call Assiah. The other is the world that demons are born and live in, Gehenna. Gehenna is a realm ruled by Satan, the god of demons. Coming here made me realize that there are more than two planes of existence — but the one thing that remains constant between the demons I can help you exorcise is that they require a host in the living world. They need to possess something, either living or nonliving, to enter Assiah. From left to right, each one of these demons has taken control of something in order to remain grounded here. The coal tars have possessed coal dust. The moth, an insect. The golem, plant life. The leaper, a frog. And the salamander, a lizard."

The salamander gave a snooty huff of fire, glowering.

[itwillbeokay]

"Um, so why do they come to where we are? Especially the ones that don't want to hurt anyone," she wondered. She had heard of Satan through the religion she was brought up with, but he wasn't the kind of person she thought was supposed to rule over things like the ones she was seeing. Maybe the scary bug, or the angry looking lizard -

It wasn't the end to her questions, though, as she continue to look at them curiously. "And what happens when something is taken over? Do they always stay like that, or does um, does exorcising the things in them make them normal again? Does it hurt the lizard that something has it possessed? That wouldn't be good."

[contrition]

"Some may prefer Assiah to Gehenna. From what I've heard, the two worlds are very different in construct and feel," shared Yukio, careful to offer all of his knowledge with a grain of salt. He'd never been to Gehenna, had never had even the amount of insight that Rin experienced during the unraveling of his powers. "Our world is a relatively peaceful one, and plentiful."

The golem continued to walk around the perimeter of its circle, swinging its arms heavily with a happy rustling of leaves.

"Exorcising the possessed body will certainly expel the demon, often dealing a fatal injury as well. It depends on the approach. What happens to the possessed body depends. If the demon is stronger than the vessel allows, then the vessel may very likely perish. In the cases of the demons I've gathered here, there shouldn't be a problem. The coal tars, in particular," he explained, gesturing to the cat-like balls of soot, "have inhabited a non-living material, which will be unaltered if and when we exorcise it."

His jaw hardened briefly. It was impossible not to think of what had happened to Father Fujimoto when talking about possession.

[itwillbeokay]

"Oh, that's sad," she frowned, watching the little golem. At least it didn't attach to anything that would be very hurt if it had to be exorcised. "Are we supposed to exorcise all of them because they shouldn't be here? Or is okay to leave the nice ones alone?"

She couldn't imagine the golem doing anything mean, but maybe the ones people don't - what did he call it? Tame? - had to go back to where they came from.

[contrition]

Seeing the distance that Clementine kept from the demons, Yukio decided to lead by example, dropping down and sitting himself a couple of feet away from the specimens he'd lined up. If she wanted to more closely examine them, that was fine. If she was observant, it would probably even help. She would note the differences in the way that the demons moved, so that if she came across any that were an active problem, she might better evade them.

He hooked his arms over his knees, relaxed and easy.

"You don't have to exorcise all demons. In fact, where I'm from, there are many demons who live peacefully in Assiah. Who are contributing members to society. The headmaster at the school I teach, for instance, is a powerful demon himself. Like any other sentient being, we assess the danger that is posed to us and react accordingly. There are those who would automatically target demons. You'll find I'm not one of them."

He tilted his head. "I have, after all, a brother who exhibits the physiology of a demon."

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine did follow in his wake, moving closer. She wasn't sure about getting close to the big moth, but she did crouch down near the coal ones.

They looked a little like black cats. It was really strange. She paused at the mention of Rin, feeling bad about her question the second he was brought up. It really was hard to imagine him as anything but who she knew him as. She would have to adjust her view on what demons looked like, she knew that. Moving on to peer at the little waving golem helped. She debated whether she should apologize because she hadn't even considered Rin, but she decided to drop it.

"That's good, 'cause I can't see some of these being mean just 'cause they're not from here," she replied, looking thoughtful. "I don't think I'd want to hurt one only 'cause they're demons either."

[contrition]

In Clementine, Yukio could see the reasons to teach children about demons early. At this age, they were open-minded, able to pull away from the misconceptions that society liked to pass around — and perhaps that was why Father Fujimoto had started early with Yukio. Having had the sight, it made more sense to teach him what he needed to stay safe, while also providing the wisdom to know when he had to.

Still, he wondered if he was being coercive. Perhaps at some point, he needed to speak with Clementine's guardian.

"There are some demons that don't mind being trapped. But all could potentially work up to the point of being dangerous. Like anything else, it depends on need and personality," said Yukio. "This Greeman golem may be one of the most naturally peaceful demons I've yet to encounter, but I've also seen one grow to twice my size and rampage through a forest."

[itwillbeokay]

It was hard to imagine something so happy doing something like that. She wondered if that happened when they got mad? It felt like there had to be a cause.

"That sounds scary. Did something happen that made it do that?" she asked, looking away from the little demon and up at Yukio again.

[contrition]

"When faced with a threat, or when a threat is raised against something it cares for. To be honest, the reasons for a demonic rampage vary as much as they might in any other type of living creature. The more complex the creature's thought process, the more potential roads to violence. Golems are not the most advanced thinkers, so their aggression tends to be triggered more simply," Yukio shared, meeting Clementine's gaze fully before he raised a hand over the coal tars.

"One thing that I would like for you to notice is the order that I have placed these demons in. There are five different elemental categories that demons fall under, and each has strength against a type, and a weakness against another." Yukio gestured towards each demon as he went through the categories. "In order — decay and rot are strong against air, air is strong against earth, earth is strong against water, water is strong against fire, and fire is strong against decay."

[itwillbeokay]

Clementine could understand that. If she were in that position she'd probably get big too if she could. She still hoped she didn't have to ever see that, it sounded scary. Her focus went right on Yukio when he started to teach, though, and she listened quietly as he explained the significance of the demons in front of them.

"Does knowing what's strong against what help a lot?" she wondered. She assumed the answer was yes already, because he never did seem to teach her anything she didn't have to know.