The Long Road Up

Maybe she was talking about a squirrel? Or something else? That was ok she was out in the wild, though chances were she ate them raw. He wouldn't lie and say that didn't sounded strange to him. At the same time, he had to remember she grew up different and it was all she knew.

"Hopefully you like it then." Hiroshi opted to head to a small shop and order them both ice cream cones, Deila's case vanilla. "Don't eat it all at once, use your tongue it so can savor the taste longer. See?" He'd demonstrate so she could get a idea.

Delia was holding her ice cream as best she could with claws like her's and when Hiroshi mentioned licking the ice cream she perks up "Oh! Like... cun-ugly-ness..?" she asks, clearly trying to say 'Cunnilingus', another word she learned from those 'manga' she found in the mountains "Girls like that..." she says with her version of a smile.

It took a moment for Hiroshi to understand what she was saying, she didn't always pronounce all the words properly so you had to fill in the blanks. "Something like that. Have to say though, keep in mind the books you read are more for entertainment. A lot of the things from there you shouldn't take too seriously. You have read non hentai stuff though right?"

Delia looks at Hiroshi, a little confused "So... girl Not like...cun-ugly-ness..?" she asks "Lia-chan always think... girl look happy... Lia-chan want feel good too..." she mumbles.

At Hiroshi's question, Delia looked even more confused "Onii-chan... what 'Hen-tai..?" she asks "Lia-chan only find... sexy book by still people..."

Hiroshi shook his head a bit. "Hentai is basically what you read, its just manga but based on sexual stuff. Like I said, shouldn't take it too seriously. I need to introduce you to some non hentai manga, we can do it after this. Maybe something action oriented."

Delia makes a face and shakes her head "Lia-chan not like act-ton... Lia-chan like hen-tai and... normal read..." that was her way of basically saying she likes slice of life stuff.

She stops at one of the many TVs around and stares at a young model. Delia's clawed hand, slowly, unconsciously moves to her long, straight, jet black hair as she intently watches the young model, who has her hair in a pony tail.

She looks back over to Hiroshi, one hand was still holding her long hair and her other hand was pointing at the TV "Roshi..? Lia-chan look good... with hair up..?" she asks.

As long as she knew there was more then hentai, but otherwise her preferences were her own like everyone else. So even if it Was just hentai that was her choice, long as she didn't mix the fantasy aspects with real life.

"You look fine as you are, though not the best person to ask about with fashion. Maybe some of the other females of the group." He admitted honestly. Kind of. He wasn't sure she'd like the goth style which their newest member was into, maybe more Seka's speed.

"Speaking of, I know first impressions may not be everything with the newest two but you should always keep in mind they aren't everything. Our newest two don't seem like bad people just have their quirks. They aren't Umi or me but I would like to at least try to get to know them when chance arrives. Don't force it, but don't be against trying either since its a mutual thing."

Delia knew about not judging things too quickly and that everyone could change. After all, when they first met, Delia believed Hiroshi to be a beta male to Abraxus's alpha and now, she sees Hiroshi as the alpha of their group.

Delia looks at her reflection in the glass. She touches her toothy mouth and her scaled and clawed hands "Sometime... Lia-chan wish... be regular girl... not ugly Deathclaw... then maybe... Lia-chan know what like to love..." she mumbles.

Those words made her frown. "That came out of nowhere. What brought this on?" Maybe if he knew exactly where it was coming from and how long he'd know what to say.

Delia points to the Beautiful Model on the television screen "Lia-chan want lips to kiss..." she says as she taps her teeth with a claw "Not sharp tooth... Lia-chan want flinger... not claw..." she mumbles "Lia-chan want look cute... not scary...".

As she was talking a group of cosplayers walk by "Nice Godzilla Girl costume!" one of the guys says to her.

An obvious Mountain Oni goes walking past the group of cosplayers and slows a bit to look at the beautiful Oni model on the TV before continuing on his way.

Hiroshi had seen them a few times since Umi had pointed the model out, they were very pretty but he still didn't know their name. Either way it wasn't important, what Deila said was. It seemed she wasn't happy with her looks and wanted to look more cute.

He briefly saw the other Mountain Oni and for some reason he had a..odd feeling. There shouldn't be but it was just a strange gut feeling even if logically..then something clicked.

Wait. Mountain Oni, has a thing mask on his face that looks like a face on their stomach. It can't be the one Deila saw can it?

He didn't know but since the gut feeling wouldn't leave him alone he had to ask. "I have a idea for that, but no promises as I have to look into it. Sorry for the quick aside but its important; that Oni over there, are they the same one from the forest with Umi?" It finally put that feeling to bed he was thinking too hard.

Delia looks away from the monitor and over to the mountain Oni, squints her eyes and nods "Yes... he the one Lia-chan see..." she says "He... fade way..? When Lia-chan see..." she points out.

Finally some good luck, but they needed to play this carefully. He pulled out his phone while acting like hadn't really noticed them took a picture. Just in case they got away again, it would help the the Hunters a lot if they had a face now.

"Good job. Do you have their scent? They're important." While he said this, he walked slowly but kept some distance before typing something quickly on the phone to Abraxus. 'The Oni Deila saw earlier with Umi and the succide forest showed up. Trail or stay put? Have a picture of them to.' It was good to be cautious especially in times like these where they could apparently teleported if they got tipped off.

Delia drops to all fours and sniffs the ground where the Oni had stepped and her nose trails up, letting her to look at the mountain Oni. She stands up and nods "Lia-chan get..." she says.

Hiroshi's phone chimes. It was Abraxus "Quick! Use the tricorder function of your phone and take a bio-scan of him!" it says.

His phone chimes again "Send the photo and you location then go dark. This man is considered very dangerous. We'll take it from here. it reads.

Hiroshi did as asked, but also sent one other thing. 'Got it. Me and Deila will back off then. They were looking at some Oni model, don't know their name but worth being careful if they're a target and he works with a group. I'll send you the picture.'

After that was done, he turned his focus on Deila. "We're gonna head back to HQ for now. If that scent gets close let me know."

Delia blinks in confusion "We leave..?" she asks as she falls in line, right behind him "Why leave now..?" she asks "Lia-chan do bad thing..?" she thinks she was the reason they're heading back.

"Oh, no you didn't do anything wrong." Hiroshi assured, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings. "Just Abraxus wants us to head back for now, you're fine."

As the two were heading back, Delia suddenly Stops! She looks around the area, then drops to all four, sniffing a certain section of the ground. After a minuet, she stands up, sniffs the air "Oomi... Lia-chan get..!" she says as she looks in a certain direction.

This made Hiroshi pause, and a bit irritated. Not at Lia-chan but at the Hunters that were suppose to be looking after Umi and her family. What the hell were they doing? Deila had a good news, but he doubted it was so good they could smell across the other side of the country. So that meant she was around somewhere here where they for their safety should out the country or at least in another part of this one.

Hopefully they knew what they were doing. Hiroshi didn't claim to be a expert but it made no sense to have Umi still in the same place while her attacker was still at large.

More importantly, he had to think of how to tell Deila. He couldn't just outright lie to them because they kept picking up their scent, which may continue to be a issue if they continued to think it was a good idea to have Umi around the area while the killer was loose. He needed to give them something so they would keep quite about it and not agitate the situation.

Back at present, he sighed a bit. "I'm sorry Lia-chan. I know you want to see them I do to, but you we can't right now. I can't go into it because its suppose to be a secret. Just know they're fine and will come when they're ready. Only me, Abraxus and you know. Unless me or Abraxus say so, keep this to yourself ok? It's important."

Delia stands and looks at Hiroshi, her black and gold eyes not betraying a single thought she was having. However, her tail was. Like a cat's tail when it's annoyed, her tail was swishing casually back and forth.

She walks close to him, looking up into his eyes "Lia-chan keep Roshi secret... Roshi help Lia-chan be cute..." she says.

Hiroshi didn't expect this but it did mean she wasn't always going to blindly go with whatever he said which is what he was worried about. His plan to spend time with Taki was gonna have to wait, but that was also if she wasn't still trying to avoid spending time alone with him. Was it just because of hormones or something else? It was obvious there was still tension between them there.

"You have a deal. It's not exactly around the corner so we'll have to get a move on early." Deila should be more then strong enough to make the climb, but he'd probably have to get some climbing stuff going. A person's wish was there's to do whatever with and eh wasn't one of those self righteous people were you had to make some big positive changes with them. It just him personally he'd feel werid for something just for himself. If he had another wish he'd probably wish Sarah's family back, assuming they'd both want to and weren't emotional wrecks. Something like that would scar about anyone never mind little kids.

Delia looked a Little disappointed, but she just nods "Lia-chan wait this long... Lia-chan wait little longer...". Though, one would assume she was talking about being cute, but she was Really talking about finding Umi, like she said she would.

"Tomorrow is our day off, so we'll leave first thing in the morning. Make sure you get some sleep early." It wasn't super late when they got back to HQ and still had some day time. There was some time to kill but he wasn't sure what to do with it, save maybe go to the library or watch something.

Delia wanders off towards the library. She didn't know how to read too well, but she was going to do some research into how to change one's appearance.

Savol was training, as usual, and Emma was nowhere to be found.

Emma was nowhere to be found, though Hiroshi didn't think too much of it; he'd only worry if it was near closing time. Then again tomorrow was their day off, so maybe they spent the night where ever. He'd get to know them later.

He was thinking IF he got a another wish somehow, what the most responsible thing to do with it was. While he would have liked to give Sarah's family a second chance if they wanted, like with Ra, right now there were people that needed help. Umi and her family were still potentially in danger, as well as other Oni which for some reason they were going after.

So, maybe he could wish for that guy power to be sealed and very weak delivered directly to jail. Word it in a way if there were others working with him, they all be dealt with. It would keep Umi and her family safe, along with any other Oni. The only downside would be he couldn't also use it to help Umi's sister who was in a coma, but at least it give them breathing room.

When he came into room, it was just Urata there sitting. "Thought you be out and about. Where everyone else go?"

In response, the Celestial Knight shrugged. "Savol is training, Enma is doing their own thing and Seka went to the library. To see if she could find stuff related to alchemy, blacksmithing and magic. Said something about needing to go with her strengths. Me? I took a break after meditating for a few hours to help with this wall I had."

Hiroshi wasn't a fan of it, but he respected it. "Never had the patience for sitting still like that, but props to you. What wall? If you don't mind me asking."

"It's.." Urata paused how to explain it. "It's basically part of how my power works. I sometimes get memories of the previous 'host' and meditating makes it a bit easier. You see, the power seems almost sentient if isn't already hell if I or anyone else knows though. I was hoping I learn how to progress, but got nothing which isn't a surprise since seldom and random at the best of times. Even with my mentor, I've been stuck the same for years now. I know Celestial Knights can get really strong, so no idea what I'm doing wrong."

Ah. That made sense. "Maybe its different for each person what the trigger is? Would explain the struggle with it."

"That seems to be the working theory, yeah." Urata laced his fingers together before laying down with his hands behind his head. "It's not the end of the world or anything though. Anyway I'm gonna try to sleep, have a good night."

"Night. Hope it works out for you." Hiroshi thought of getting a meal then heading to bed early, he promised to help Deila and that's what he fully intended to do.