There was a slight chill to the wind this evening as the golden ball of light which was the sun began to sink beneath the horizon. A plethora of colors cascaded against the heavens looking as colorful and vibrant as a painter's tray. The swirls of colors that intermingled with one another provided a sea of hues ranging from oranges to reds to light shades of violet. This would be the last visage of beauty until the sun rose once more bringing with it dawn and all its renewed glory. Interestingly Aegir had not shunned the light of dusk. Something ingrained in the stolen memories he had obtained found the display quite calming. With the fading light being dim enough where as his pupil less eyes were unharmed the creature had even paused to draw in the sight though try as he might he could not fathom why humans found such things utterly fascinating. To think that even after devouring as many minds as he had that there were still qualities to this species that had eluded him.

Another such quality had been the innate fear possessed by many. The approaching darkness seemed to reach into the primordial mind drawing upon the most horrid images when little more than flickering shadows or a misshaped object had been at hand. Terror mounted from the unseen as the imagination ran wild ... yet Aegir knew that not all such terrors had been unfounded. He existed and with him there were other beings just as monstrous that called the night their home. Sometimes there truly were demons lurking beyond the veil of darkness.

Tonight would be a special occassion, a special hunt. Aegir had lurked upon the perimeter long enough watching from affar. His mind reaching out as if like the sinewy tentacles of his legs, reaching, stretching, grasping, until they took perchance upon a tender mind. From there he exerted a little force, not much, but enough to press past the subconscious barriers that all beings possessed. Psionically endowed beings would have felt the push. Some would even have mental defenses to shield their mind but this one particular mind was as ripe as an orange. It was just as easy to peel back such subconscious defenses as it were in peeling the skin of such luscious fruit.

Stripping away each layer as he had delved further and further into her mind. It was a process that he had endured for days now as he crept closer and closer to the school grounds. Each time he came away with a little more information drawing into the past of his subject, determining if whether or not she was infact a worthy canidate. What he found impressed him. Strength, stamina, she was a fighter for certain. Weakness was to be exspunged if he were to manifest a future army though he supposed he was getting too ahead of himself for such matters.

Watching from afar Aegir had send one of his nodes closer to the school grounds to gather more information. Its small size allowed it to creep through the grasses with a great deal of stealth, far more than Aegir himself could have ever harnessed. It was through this extension of himself that Aegir could see further into the school grounds. Gazing outward through the node he made a mental map of the grounds themselves as well as using the extensions to track particularly interesting students. Today Aegir would continue his follow up upon Karen Hinase.

Karen had become a special interest to Aegir these last few days. He had learned that her natural qualities were impressive in comparison to most of her fellow students. She possessed inherient skills that caused her to shine above the rest. Martially trained meant that there would be less work required of him later assuming of course he could spirit her away upon her graduation. From his understanding those ADD agents could be a thorn in his side but this was neither here nor there. He would determine a means of slipping past their blockade at a future date though now he sought to focus in upon Karen. Sweet, sweet Karen with her code of bushido. Aegir would have chuckled to himself had he had the capability in doing so though a burbling sound much akin to the sound of an individual exhaling while submerged underwater passed from his mouth. The tentacles that rung his mouth writhed like seaweed caught up in a shifting current.

Honestly he was looking forward to her resistance. While he desired to sample that delicatable body of hers he nonetheless wished to sample her struggles. But she would not make this easy on him chosing to seclude herself away given past attacks. Still, Aegir was determined and thus he bid his time waiting for the return of his nodes. The wait was long considering their tiny size forced them to move even slower than Aegir though he was unconcerned with this for by the time they had come back to him an inky mass of darkness had settled over the island allowing him to make his way forward without the concern of being spied upon. Even so his mauve flesh shifted color transforming itself into a deep brown since he lacked the ability to take on a shade of black the darker coloration would have to do in cloaking itself.

For quite awhile Aegir poked around the premises. Doors he fathomed would be locked though Aegir would need only the smallest of cracks in which to squeeze through. Finding an entrance in the form of a window that had not been sealed Aegir crept up the side of the building. His mauve body slide against the wall drawing upon his four suction cupped legs while the other four limbs that lacked such attachments simple slithered up the side of the wall leaving with it a faint residue from his skin. He had not worried about the slick moisture he left behind like the tell tale passing of a snail for in less than an hour the residue would be gone leaving no trace of his passing.

Extenting his fingers he latched hold of the window sill using those digits to reel himself up the side of the building. As his elongated fingers drew themselves in his body was hoisted up the wall higher and higher. Suction cupped tentacles continuously secured his place along his climb until at last he was before the opened window roughly a story or so up. Casting a glance into the space beyond Aegir was delighted to find that his assumptions had been correct. The gymnasium was before him and it would serve his purposes remarkably well.

Reaching out with his mind Aegir ensured that there was no one present before pressing his head into the gap afforded by the opened window. His boneless body compressed itself easily enough though his progress may have seemed painfully slow as head then limb after limb was suffused through that opening. Down the wall he slithered until he found himself upon the polished wooden floor of a basketball court. The lights hadn't been dimmed which caused Aegir to wonder whether or not there was an evening game planned or perhaps a nightly practice session. Neither of that really mattered much to Aegir as he made his way over towards the bleechers.

Taking up residence beneath the seats in what had to have been a favorite make out spot amongst students of co-ed schools back upon earth Aegir smoothered himself in the darkness afforded to him. The shadows would afford him great concealment and unless someone moved to the edges of the bleechers themselves to have a look beneath he need not overly worry about discovery. Even in that case Aegir doubted that many would discern his darker shape amongst the comforting shadows that tucked around his flesh like a second skin.

Now he waited. He waited for an hour. He waited another finding that a janitor had arrived to click off the lights. He assumed the gym would have been locked up as the hour grew later and with it being his first time within the grounds of the school itself Aegir elected to take no chances. A simple suggestion projected into the janitors mind had convinced him that there would be no harm in keeping the facility unlocked.

Confident now that there would be no disturbances to his plans Aegir took this moment to reach out. A gentle nudge telepathically, then another. Every few minutes he would relay the same suggestion to Karen. Playing on her interests he prompted her to a late night visit to the basket ball court. There's no harm in getting some practice in ... wouldn't it be great to alleviate some stress ... it couldn't hurt to practice my three pointers ... I could use some work on my free throws ... the aim was to plant these suggestions in a manner that allowed her to think that they were her own thoughts. Drawing her forth to a portion of the campus where he could isolate her then when the time was right feast upon her.

Such thoughts were remarkably enticing causing him to eagerly anticipate this meeting. He sought to see if she were in fact made of the stern mettle that she had projected. His wants grew while he felt the smallest tastes of impatience as his cravings grew. Again he beckoned her forth silently summoning her yet all the while his mind struggled to retain its focus trying not to get too far ahead of himself, trying to cast off the erotic thoughts that cascaded into the fore of his mind. Soon his patience would be rewarded he had told himself. Soon, so very, very soon ...

Karen was blissfully unaware of the creature lying in wait, having taken a piping hot bath to settle her nerves that night. The attacks... all of them, lingered in the back of her mind, a numbing reality and creeping realization. She was in great danger on this campus... normally, an exciting prospect for her somehow. But she had been... enjoyed. And had enjoyed. And a feeling of shame and despair had clung to her, so much so that she had been neglecting some of her regular routines.

Still, she was one not to be easily crushed by this unease. She had been brooding over what she could do, and whether she could find a way to transfer off this place... or better yet, find a way to organize the girls to fight back against these things! With adrenaline starting to run through her veins that night as she brooded over the things she could try, she wasn't tired in the slightest. Sleep wasn't going to come easy to her...

And so when an idea floated across her mind, about taking some time to actually exercise a bit. She latched onto the idea easily; it'd make up for lost training time, and maybe she'd tire herself out enough to sleep. She bounced lightly to her feet, going for the door and slipping out into the hall. Right now all the students were expected to be asleep, but she snuck out to the gymnasium. It was time for some b-ball!

She tried the front door first, blinking as she found it unlocked. "Weird..." She said to no one in particular, walking in and shrugging. She automatically fumbled for a light... as of late, she had begun to grow nervous at the dark...

A drawn out squeak ... the sound seemed so ominous given the absence of all others though it signified that the time was swiftly approaching. Without moving his head Aegir drew his eyes towards the sound witnessing the rectangular stream of light from the hall outside. What grabbed his attention immediately had been the dark silohette standing at its center. Of course his prey halted there, he could not blame her for that given the darkness that the gymnasium had been cast in. Her memories bubbling up to the surface of her thoughts only confirmed the reason why she was reluctant in taking the first steps into the void of menacing darkness that stood before her. Caution ... past experiences played within the mind of this little samurai. A learned behavoir from past experiences kept her at the threshold for awhile longer until she found the light switch by the side of the door.

There was a moment where Aegir didn't know if she would commit herself to action. Would she reach into the darkness of the room before her? Would she suspect that something was there waiting to latch onto her and reel her straight into the darkness? He had not had the need to wait for long though seeing her hand fumbling for the light switch. A moment later the lights above flickered slowly coming to life.

Now he could fully see her though there was no need for him to make a move. Concealed by the bleechers and his own natural camoflauge Aegir had no need to be hasty. Already he had developed a few plans always preferring to have at least one back up in the event that his initial strike hadn't gone according to plan. There were two simple options that quickly presented themselves. Both would draw upon his telekinetic abilities rather than his mind inducing powers. Both were quite simple as well and thus in their simplicity they were as flexible as his appendages. Subtle, maleable to change, Aegir preferred to keep his options opened. He had not lived as long as he had because he was foolish or careless and while hunting here at Shokushu was by and large safer than his past hunts on earth primarily due to the suppression fields in place Aegir had not allowed himself to become complacent in the belief that his quarry could not effectively fight back.

His first plan, the one that he chose to invoke, was simply to wait. Let Karen get into the heart of her practice, let her spend a deal of time working up a sweet rushing to and fro. Then upon sensing her approaching fatigue he would use his telekinesis to have one of her shots rebound off the rim of the hoop and take a few bounces until the ball came to rest just at the side of the bleechers, where, upon her attempting to retrieve the ball Aegir would lash out with his tentacles seizing ahold of her only to reel her into the awaiting darkness.

Should she grow spooked or alerted to his presence in some fashion or should she choose not to retrieve the ball for whatever reason Aegir would employ his second plan. It was cruder but just as efficient he supposed though it would require the expenditure of more energy on his part should he fail to grab her in a weary state. She'd have more energy to resist him, more of an ability to struggle and while he did not mind that aspect in and of itself Aegir was out of his element here. He did not wish to worry about drawing others to them if her struggles proved to be too protracted.

The second option was simply to employ his telekinesis to hold the door to the gym shut firmly pulling against it with his mind so she could not open it. Despite his lethargic movements Aegir could slither out from his hiding place and follow her about the gym. Like a boxer he would simply cut the room off from her giving her less and less room to draw away from him. The elasticity of his limbs would allow him greater reach so should she try to circumvent him he could snare her.

There were other options at his command too should these prove ineffectual. Another suggestion or simply commanding her thoughts to lure her closer could suffice though neither would be as entertaining.

With the knowledge that the situation was well in hand, or in his case, tentacle, Aegir need only to draw upon the plethora of patience at his command. For the moment he simply observed his prey while focusing on his simple objectives and how best to execute them.