A World of Grey { accepting }

[SULDhasno]

"Sure." Hayato looked down at his arm again. The wound he had sustained and the small grazes he had got from the Ukaku were slowly closing up. Slowly. He looked at the four new dead bodies and realised that he had killed three of them. For some strange reason, despite his injury, he didn't want to eat. The sweet smell of the blood coming from the five corpses cloyed with the putrid smell of the sewer. Hayato realised what the number was.

 

278.

 

He had killed 278 people. That seemed to reinforce the fact that he didn't want to eat as he looked on at the five corpses, of which he had killed sixty percent, with a sad expression behind his masked face.

[Coryn02]

(Man, I am getting a kick out of writing for this RP. I'm glad I joined.)

 

Katsuro stood among the other ghouls. They did not move against him. He immediately began assessing who they were.

 

Three were female, this much he could tell from scent alone. One of them was wearing a mask with four kakugan and ears. What a unique design, he thought to himself.

 

The other seemed about the same age, and her half-mask... Was that a party mask? A ball mask, Katsuro was fairly sure. Sometimes late at night the humans would wear these in large groups at festivities. Usually too drunk or distracted to look out for themselves, easy pickings.

 

The third had a black mask of vaguely human shape. She bore a human corpse. Food.

 

Katsuro was still hungry. Ravenously hungry. Wasn't this why he came here? To find food? He was sure the other ghouls were as hungry as he were, so tried to keep himself calm as his mind rioted over whether or not he should kill every ghoul in this sewer and eat the human himself. It did not matter that he could not fight them all, the instant he got a bite from that human he would be unstoppable. It had been so many times his kills were stolen lately; go out hunting every other night and get driven off by the Doves or by other ghouls.

 

The second ghoul spoke something in another language. He was fairly certain it was a greeting of some kind, so he nodded from under his mask.

 

The male was a little strange. He was clad in black. His hair was white, and his mask had an eyepatch. His other eye was uncovered. There wasn't much to explain the hair, but Katsuro had a bad feeling about this one.

 

The first female activated her tail, a snow-white bikaku with red stripes. Kagune came in many colors, but this was one he'd never seen before. Katsuro watched as she climbed up to the way they came down and used it to grab several humans and toss them down. She was intending to get food for them all.

 

Katsuro cast off his self-restraint and tore his mask from his face, catching one of the humans as it fell. The most beautiful scent in the world, the smell of human blood, flooded his mind. He spared no effort in picking this human clean. Claw away the skin, bite out the flesh, rip out the organs, break the bones. He did all of these breathing hoarsely from the wounds he'd sustained. He knelt over the corpse, greedily stuffing himself with the delicious death that fueled him.

 

His hands were red again. But he didn't care. His chest stopped bleeding, and he felt a prickling at the base of his spine where his tail lived. It was healing, too. He would live.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Coryn02

[senyi]

(Everyone's in the sewers now.)

An smiled; she succeeded in her diversion.

Everyone would be okay, right?

"I'll do my best," An murmured, touching her mask. An had arrived in this ward for a recon assignment from the executives of the Vermillion, but soon became a team with some rag tag ghouls from the area.

 

It was strange how fate threaded its way through the hearts of ghouls and humans.

 

She glanced back at the fading outline of the quinx with pink hair.

 

(He's running away.)

 

An winced. Were the CCG that desperate for quinx recruits? According to an informant, there was a test and surgery involved, but how could an investigator like him have enough compatibility to become closer to her?

 

How unfortunate.

 

'Why? Why did he even want to become an investigator? It's such a...dirty job. I should go now. If I leave, then the doves would probably leave, right?'

 

(Jump.)

 

An grabbed the drain cover and jumped into the hole. With a twist, she sealed the hole. An landed onto the concrete and winced at the smell.

'I never knew that waste and blood would smell so foul,' An thought, pressing her mask closer to her face.

 

(Disgusting.)

 

Ah, and it seemed like their merry band of four had increased. In front of her, there was a bedraggled ghoul dining on a corpse. An wrinkled her nose.

 

(Poor kid.) Judging by the ghoul's size, he was around the same age as An. His mask was crudely made and An wondered who the hell crafted that mask.

 

'It's original, I suppose.'

 

The scent of a fresh kill reawakened An's senses. While An was working on creating a diversion, one of the ghouls dragged four investigators into the sewer. An licked her lips. She had eaten part of a dove's arm before she escaped, but an entire corpse looked like heaven.

 

An lifted her mask up and smiled.

 

"Thank you."

 

An's kakugan reactivated, and she ripped an arm off of a corpse.

 

(Delicious.)

 

[Lady_Lunevis]

The smell was disgusting. It ruined the prospect of a good meal--though the bodies Halla had so kindly dropped down were hardly so.

Admittedly, it was a good meal--but human.

Amaris snarled, a small noise as her kakugan glowed bright red in the darkened sewers. Her rinkaku floated about, albeit only two tentacles showed--you could never be too careful, right?--as she stared down at the body before her.

A disappointment. The dead investigator stared back at her with lifeless eyes, and Amaris felt nothing.

Why? Should I feel anything?

The others have began to eat. She could smell the blood from all around, followed by the sickening, animalistic sounds of ghouls feeding. The female ghoul couldn't resist a smile--of course; when a ghoul was feeding, they were at their most vulnerable. Their final desperate act, the very thing that convicted them to a life of misery and tragedy. When a ghoul was feeding, they were . . .

Well, investigators would describe it as being an animal, a monster. Amaris isn't sure if that's the best term--she prefers . . . well, a ghoul.

There were no words to describe them other than the original label they had been stuck with, after all. A ghoul; a creature of madness, the horrors of nightmares, the very creatures humanity has despised for centuries.

The female can't quite help it when she rips off an arm with more force than necessary--she's furious, and rightfully so.

This is a waste of time.

Why is she eating human when she could be working towards kakuja?

But . . . no. There are too many ghouls here, and she's sure that some kind of feeling resembling human 'friendship' ties them all too closely together for genocide in the sewers. Plus, it was really . . . too disgusting.

She wants to finish her meal as soon as possible--the more she's in this disgusting, horrid place, the more frustrated she got.

She stabs the body before her with two slim tentacles of kagune--the human was dead, wasn't he? If investigators could dissect live ghouls and harvest their kagunes to make those inhuman weapons, even put them in normal humans and call it justified--the Quinx disgusts her, and she wants to kill every last one--then she could hardly spare a thought for respecting an investigator's body.

After finishing up her dinner gracefully--well, as elegantly as one could in such situations--she wiped her mouth and looked around. "So," she began, "where do we go from here?"

The question hung in the air as she stared at the newcomers. Could they trust them?

 

[XiraCaster]

"I'm here, because I was sent out to assist the squad and officers before reinforcements arrived. Though seeing that the ghouls were escaping I was more focused on helping the wounded and the helpless. Ghouls can be tracked down later after all." Seeing that his kakugan was active made Kira give a faint sigh, he really was in a bad state after all, she knew him well enough to know just by his actions and expressions. It was difficult for the black haired female to look after the boy, especially when the officers would separate them for different tasks or missions. It really was challenging.

When Kazuya began to speak up more she raised a single brow at him, clearly he didn't sound all too certain himself. "You say you're fine, yet you don't sound all too convincing you know." Her words were more concerned than they were critical. Though when he looked her dead in the eye with such desperation in his question she froze in mid-step. 'What exactly are they?' Kira thought the question over herself and yet, she couldn't come up with a way to answer it. "I don't know Kazuya.....I don't know..." Was all she could say...

Upon being thanked by the shaken up male Kira gave him a reassuring hug, something she did when he needed it the most. "You're welcome just...don't head out there again unless you have enough people or myself to handle the situation, okay? It'll be alright though, I promise." With that, she released Kazuya and rubbed his pink haired head before continuing down the road with him.

[senyi]

As the dust from Lion's diversion cleared, Kou realized the ugly truth: the ghouls had escaped. But to where? Where did they retreat to?

 

Kou supposed that the ghouls that were fighting weren't allies of any sort; there wasn't anything significant about their disposition. Perhaps it was only by chance that the investigators found those ghouls in the alley?

 

He shook his head. No, there had to be a connection, a reason why the ghouls had gathered.

 

"I suppose we're falling back now," Kou muttered. "It felt as if I were to play a chromatic scale with a ritardando within the final notes; tonight was a disappointment."

Edited May 20, 2015 by XiaoChibi

[Lady_Lunevis]

Kazuya relaxed into the hug, letting out a long, shaky breath. His eyes returned to normal, the pink-haired male burying his face in the other's shoulder momentarily to try and calm his fractured nerves. He made a small noise as the other rubbed him on the head--he wasn't a child! Still, he decided that today was not the day to argue such things. Sometimes . . . it was nice to have someone like Kira, who was more a sister to her than his own siblings--though he loved his family dearly, all of them were intense; it was either go big or go home, as his father would say. Kill ghouls or be killed. Black or white. Nothing in between, nothing at all.

He shuffled down on the road beside Kira, and just as they were out of earshot from the rest of the investigators he touched the female on the elbow and looked at her with concerned eyes and a ceased brow.

"Kira . . ." he began, unsure how to phrase this. "Out there . . . I thought . . ." The pink-haired male took a shaky breath as he remembered the events of earlier, when he had been so terrified he completely forgot his kagune. "I thought she was going to . . . kill me. But . . . she didn't. She told me to . . . live. To live and grow." Conflicted eyes fixed themselves on the other. "Why would a ghoul do such a thing?" he whispered, unsure if he wanted a response from what everyone considered their natural enemy.

"I want to train," he added. "To be stronger. So I can fight, next time."

[SULDhasno]

"So continuing on with the Hayato thing, he legit does seem to have the same hairstyle as the whatever-he's-called ghoul. And Hayato's better than the rest of the team put together. Also he doesn't speak a lot. So if he was a S level ghoul I'm pretty sure he would be kinda withdrawn on- well, social stuff. I dunno. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it. Anyways, even if Hayato was a S level ghoul I'm pretty sure that reporting his identity would probably get me killed, right Takaki?" Miteki had his hmm face on.

 

"Um..." Takaki was getting more and more confused. Miteki wasn't actually overthinking it. Why was he suddenly thinking about that? "Yeah. That would probably get you killed."

 

"Yeah, I thought so. Oh yeah, apparently I'm going to get paired up with this guy, he plays piano. For the CCG thing."

 

"Better than you?"

 

"How am I supposed to know? Well, he is born in a family of musicians, so probably."

 

((Miteki *cough* *cough* hint hint *cough* *cough*

 

My crap post though))

Edited May 20, 2015 by SULDhasno

[Gildraug]

"So, where do we go from here?" Amaris asked as she finished her meal. Halla had been sitting on the iron ladders, carefully keeping her balance as she swung her legs back and forth.

She had withdrawn her bikaku and her eyes were green once again.

 

"Forwards," Halla said and pointed into the general direction of the sewer drain, opposite to the direction where the water was flowing; they didn't want to go downstream, since that'd lead out from the town.

"Or to be more specific, away from the investigators. They aren't stupid, they'll bring the dogs and find out where we went. Hopefully the sewer stench will cover our smells by then and... Well, this too," she said, pointing at the bloody mess of meat, bones, and ripped clothes.

Halla herself had eaten the right hand of one of the investigators, making sure her strength wouldn't fail.

She wasn't hungry, of course, just merely wished to stay alive.

And she had used quite a bit of RC cells and had to replenish them quickly.

 

Halla jumped down and dusted off her jeans before lifting her eyes and looking at the others.

"Um, I don't know the sewers that well, but I have an idea where this leads..." she said while scratching her arm a little, feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry. But we'd best get going," she added as she glanced upwards towards the sewer cover, listening.

The chaos was still audible, so the investigators were there.

They could make out of this mess.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Gildraug

[Coryn02]

Katsuro had eaten most of his food already by the time one of the other ghouls spoke again; he had picked the body and one of the arms clean and was trying to snap open a femur to eat the marrow. He had seen another ghoul do this before, and the meat inside the bones was surprisingly tasty. For some reason he had a hard time making this bone give under stress, so he struck it hard against the side of the sewer passage. It broke with a satisfying snap and he started to crush the splintered end with his teeth to get to the meat deep inside, holding the other arm in his left hand.

 

He was in the middle of this when the female ghoul with the ball mask wondered aloud what they should do next.

 

Katsuro thought about this for a moment. The Doves probably wouldn't want to let them escape alive, so naturally they would try to find them in the sewers. This was especially true now that so many Doves had been killed. The first thing they should do is try to find another way up, since fighting Doves head-on down here would be suicidal. On the other hand, it was just as likely that the Doves would be waiting for them, but they'd die down here if they didn't find some way to the surface soon.

 

The female with the four-kakugan mask suggested a general direction without any justification. I suppose any direction is better than none. They'll just smoke us out if we stay here.

 

Katsuro ripped off the remaining leg and set it down briefly on his thighs with the rest of the limbs he held. He dropped the body from his knees and put his mask back on. His everlasting kakugan remained beneath his mask. Katsuro briefly thought about the idea of leaving the meat behind; he wasn't that hungry anymore despite starving for about three weeks. But he figured that he might need to eat in a pinch if his kagune was damaged, so he decided to take the rest along.

 

Won't stay good for long, though... Better make it count.

 

With that final thought, Katsuro stood up and started to make his way to the sewer indicated by the four-kakugan ghoul. Blood stained his hands and his clothing; he almost reeked of the kill he'd just eaten. But nothing smelled more than the sewage in these underground channels. And if that didn't help them stay concealed, Katsuro was ready to fight once more. But he had no sense of camaraderie here among these strangers. The first moment he got, Katsuro was leaving to go about his own way again. He couldn't afford to trust others in a world where you could die tomorrow. Mostly because those were the people that did the killing.

[Lady_Lunevis]

Amaris acknowledged Halla's plan with a dip of the head, raising a hand to push her hair from her face but stopping in disgust when she realised said hand was covered in blood and sewer waste. Ugh, this place . . .

Sharp red eyes took a glance around, the ghoul drinking in their surroundings. Halla was correct; they couldn't stay here, lest they be found and killed, but where would they go?

There's no place in this world for a ghoul, Amaris muses. And once they escaped, what then?

She had never imagined such an event would happen upon coming to Tokyo--she had come here to achieve kakuja, not make friends, but life had an interesting way of twisting things around. She stabbed her rinkaku through a severed arm, threw it into the air, and caught it again. With a sickening crunch, she bit into the meat and destroyed the bone, hurrying to finish up a little bit of desert. The sooner they got out of here, the better . . . the brunette ghoul wondered briefly if her overcoat was beyond saving at this point. A night in the sewers, how simply disgusting . . .

"I do have a question, though," she said, voice dripping with false honey, ringing high as it echoed off the enclosed area of the sewer. Her rinkaku tentacles pointed to the two newcomers, and the ghoul narrowed her eyes by a slight fraction.

"How can we trust them?"

Edited May 21, 2015 by Lady_Lunevis

[Esko]

Flesh

She needed it badly

She ate shamelessly, feeling the strength slowly come back and her wounds slowly heal. She listened to the conversation as she ate. When they talked about leaving, she slowly crept closer while she chewed. Getting out of here would be awesome, especially since it smells like death in here. Not like, human corpse death, but a different death. She flashed a small grin. Oh, I can be trusted. Especially when full.

 

----

 

He had to run

He did not care, he had to run and not look back.

Esko turned and bolted, clutching his wounds and running for help. Where was his fellow quinx?

[Gildraug]

"I do have a question, though. How can we trust them?" Amaris asked, her voice so sweet Halla was sure her teeth would rot off if she could eat words. A weird metaphor, but accurate nevertheless.

In response, the brown-haired younger ghoul, whose name Halla didn't know, lifted her head up from her meal.

"Getting out of here would be awesome, especially since it smells like death in here. Not like, human corpse death, but a different death. Oh, I can be trusted. Especially when full," she said with a flash of smile.

Halla lifted an eyebrow but then remembered the girl couldn't see her facial expressions. Instead, she turned her attention back to Amaris.

"Do any of us truly trust each other here?" Halla asked, her rhetorical question hanging in the air like a looming mountain. The danger was there. Should distrust spread, the group would fall into carnage and fighting and death. Halla had had enough death today. She was tired and wanted to go home. Oh wait, she couldn't go home as she might endanger her parents.

"Excuse me, I must make a phone call," Halla said quickly as she dashed forwards and pulled her phone out as she did so. Walking briskly, she called her father.

 

*dooot* *dooot* *doo-* *click*

"HALLA! VAR ÄR DU? [Halla! Where are you?]" a distressed male's voice erupted from the phone.

"Ursäkter, pappa, jag hade en konflikt med duvor, [Apologies, father, I had a clash with the doves,]" she replied. "Jag kommer inte hem för en stund. [i am not coming home for a while.]"

"Är du skadad? [Are you hurt?]"

"Nej. [No.]"

"Okej, det är allt som betyder något. Kom hem när du känner för det är säkert. [Okay, that's all that matters. Come home when you feel like it's safe.]

"Ja, jag vill. Ses snart, [Yes, I will. See you soon,]" Halla said, relieved that her father did not continue inquiring, feeling the sense of hurry his daughter had.

"Ses snart. Var försiktig, [see you soon. Be safe,]" her father replied.

*click*

 

Putting the phone back into her bag, Halla sighed. What a day.

"The doves will be quite bustled from these events, so I'd highly recommend none of you are going home. If you have one," she added.

"I myself am going to follow the sewers for a few kilometers and then climb up. Where then, I do not know. But at least I wish to stay away from the doves."

Halla actually had an idea. Maybe. Possibly. She could always live on the streets and hide in the sewers, but living like a rat for a week or two didn't sound very appealing. And she wasn't even sure if the doves would be interested enough to look for her, a C-ranked ghoul... Oh wait, she was a B these days. Buggers. Anyways, the doves would be more interested with the SS-ranked and the others.

"Bottom line is that we need to move," Halla said briskly and started heading after Katsuro, who had already started walking.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Gildraug

[senyi]

An listened to the conversation while she ate, and gave a slight nod.

 

"Do any of us truly trust each other here?" Halla asked. The question hung in the air.

 

(Do you trust them?)

 

Halla, the ghoul that had little desire to fight, the one that brought food for the others to eat (how generous). From a first impression, An felt like she could trust the ghoul (isn't it easier to trust those who are kind?). It was a delight to see ghouls that wanted peace in this cruel world.

 

"I can trust you," An said, removing her mask (was this a half-lie?). "That is, if we make it out of here without any additional dove encounters."

 

'I suppose I'll keep following them,' An thought as she moved to catch up with Halla and the smaller ghoul.

[Lady_Lunevis]

"Do any of us trust each other here?"

So, she wasn't an utter fool. Amaris dipped her head in acknowledgement--Halla had a point. In such a world, trust was scarce. The ghoul retracted her rinkaku--the thing was taking up too much space in their limited surroundings, but . . .

What if they attacked? She didn't know much about the skillset of the newcomers, but the female ghoul had a right to be wary. A battle down in the sewers . . .

Amaris was just contemplating the possibility of escape when--oh?

"Oh, I can be trusted. Especially when full."

"I can trust you."

Why are you throwing these words around?

She watched as An removed her mask, revealing a young girl with shapely features, hair fringing her face in a bob.

If she had passed her on the street . . . Amaris would've been none the wiser. She gazed around, at the others who still had their masks equipped, and--

"I suppose there's no way to think otherwise," she declared, sighing and shaking her head, albeit with lips tilted upwards in a charmed smirk. "We're all stuck down here, after all. Going back would be . . . unwise."

Slender fingers reached up and unclasped the mask, the small garment falling into her bloodstained hands. The brunette ghoul winced--it would be hell cleaning all of this up later.

But first, to escape. Would it be wise to return to her apartment? Possibly not--Amaris didn't know how she would even get to her front door, soaked in blood and grime with doves prowling the streets.

So . . . where to go?

She's no stranger to being on the run--she traveled around for months in France, and still managed to keep up somewhat presentable features, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. Constantly watching over her shoulder for the CCG . . . that meant a lifestyle geared more towards running than hunting, and Amaris would never become the rabbit for the wolf to chase.

She'll follow them, the ghoul decides. For now.

With a expression of clear disgust, she trudges through the grime to make her way towards the front of their small group, brown eyes scanning ahead for any signs of trouble. Amaris cast a wayward glance at An and Hayato, suddenly remember something from earlier. Did the two ghouls . . . how was it they seemed to know each other?

"So," she spoke up quite suddenly. "Are any of you native to Tokyo?"

As long as she was here, she might as well find something useful. If she could only get wind of small-time ghoul gangs . . . it would be almost too easy to slaughter and consume for that dream of kakuja.

[Gildraug]

"So. Are any of you native to Tokyo?" Amaris spoke out as the ghoul group traveled through the sewers.

"Well, I have lived here for a few years, but I cannot say I'm a native..." Halla said, dodging the question. "I guess your inquiry could be rephrased into: do any of us have any idea where we could stay instead of the sewers."

Halla wanted to get out from the sewers, too. They had been walking for a good while, the stink numbing her mind and making her feel groggy. So awful. Speaking of awful, her parents had mentioned one day that this one ugly house down by the street was going to be pulled down as it hadn't had anyone live there for years and the house had started falling apart.

"That's it!" Halla exclaimed as she hit her forehead - if her mask wouldn't have been in the way; resulting into an immediate 'ouch'. Unhindered from this little drawback, Halla swirled around and clapped her hands together very quickly.

"A house! An abandoned house! I know, I know! We can stay there until the dust settles in and you guys can contact your friends in safety!" she announced.

 

~~~

 

What a wonderful feeling flying was, indeed. Or floating, to be exact. Floating in pure whiteness, where nothing was contaminated. She didn't have to think, just be. How wonder-

 

"Mister Ueno!"

Mister?

"Sir, it is time for you to wake up."

Sir?

"Ah, good, he's regaining consciousness!"

He?

 

Chiaki opened her eyes in a flash, snarling at the bright light which greeted her cheerily.

"Lovely to find you awake, sir! You had lost quite a bit of blood and fractured some ribs, but all's well now. You have been sleeping for a couple of hours after the fight, if you remember that at all anymore, dreadful things those ghouls, ugh. But worry not, please do go to sleep now, sir, it's only around midnight and you need some-"

"Stop calling me 'sir'," Chiaki said with a low voice, interrupting the cheery nurse who didn't seem to know how to shut her mouth. Chiaki couldn't breathe deeply, for her sides were aching horrendously.

"Oh, my apologies! My, you mustn't make your girlfriend worried like this, haha!" the nurse continued, oblivious to the face Chiaki was making.

"I do not have a girlfriend."

"Aww, poor guy. Surely a guy as handsome as-"

"I am not a guy!" Chiaki finally said, sternly. The nurse opened her mouth a couple of times, then blushed so badly she turned cherry red. Muttering her apologies she left the room and Chiaki slumped down. At least the nurse hadn't laughed straight up.

 

 

[Coryn02]

((Short posts are bad. This is also the first time Katsuro has said anything, give him a hand everyone!))

 

The ghouls walked through the putrid sewers, talking as they went. One of them made a phone call, and another questioned his trustworthiness.

 

The truth was that Katsuro could not be trusted at all; he didn't have a moral code, or any set of rules to follow. The only thing he obeyed was survival. If you can stay alive, everything else is optional. Trust was not apart of it.

 

What is trust, anyways? Trust is how long you can rely on something before it falls through. Like an old wooden bridge.

 

The ball masker asked in general if anyone here was native to Tokyo. That question was rather irrelevant, because anyone who was in Tokyo would be there for an extended time and would have some sort of arrangement for staying. That is, if you were a human. Katsuro didn't fraternize with his prey. He much preferred the rooftops where he could watch them in total safety.

 

Yet another, the female with the four kakugan on her mask, proposed that they stay inside an abandoned house for the night.

 

Refuge like that wasn't really Katsuro's style; he preferred to have a view of his area. It was also a bit more difficult to get somewhere that remote, so while it would take longer they could probably be guaranteed safety. Unless she already knew exactly where to go, which was very unlikely, he didn't think they could find a good place before nightfall. And the sewers were no place to sleep, no matter how desperate Katsuro had been in his life.

 

For the first time since he'd jumped into the fray earlier, Katsuro spoke in his surprisingly dulcet voice, one that few heard.

 

« I think we should find a way out of here first. »

Edited May 28, 2015 by Coryn02

[Lady_Lunevis]

An . . . abandoned house?

Amaris immediately perked up at Halla's suggestion--oh? That they take shelter, together, in an seemingly empty place?

How can I trust her?

The truth is . . . well, she can't. Amaris brushed a stray hair from her face while contemplating her response--true, it would be good to have a place to lay low, but this would be setting both her plans and her life in danger. To have so many ghouls gathered in one place . . . if someone was to betray them . . .

We'll have to kill them first.

The CCG was beyond dangerous, she knew that, and Amaris had no such interest in getting caught and captured. If anyone was to give their location away . . .

Briefly, the brunette considers that she is actually agreeing to this ludicrous idea. Well, it wasn't as if she had another plan--she would not be found sleeping on the street, no thank you, and with how uptight the CCG would be right about now thanks to their earlier battle Amaris was certain finding a way out of Tokyo would not be easy. For now . . .

"An abandoned place sounds fine," she replied, making sure she was heard in order to leave room for both agreements and disagreements.

Do any of us have 'friends' to contact? She thought back to how Halla had called someone, speaking in a language that was foreign to Amaris' ears, and the female ghoul wondered who that had been. And why . . . What exactly had Halla said?

Suspicion rose deep in her, but before she could thing too deeply on the matter one of the newcomers--the boy, who looks desperately in need of care--spoke.

"I think we should find a way out of here first."

Well, true. She nodded agreement, trudging onwards, and looked pointedly at Halla.

"Where is the place?"

 

~

 

Kazuya stretched back on the sofa, his eyes staring above into the ceiling. On the outside, he looked perfectly content--bored, even, but inside the pink-haired male was trying to make something out of his frantic thoughts. He gulped, words once again running through his head . . .

It had been a while since the ghouls had attacked, and it was only thanks to Kira's quick thinking that he had been excused from having to roam the streets in search of the offenders. He closed his eyes briefly, thinking, but was interrupted when--

"Meow!"

A black kitty jumped onto the couch, and with delight Kazuya sat up and exclaimed.

"Shiba!" he said, greeting his beloved pet, before gathering the feline up in his arms and running his fingers through soft fur. "How are you doing?"

[SULDhasno]

((Wow, I seriously need to get back into this

 

Did anyone interact with Hayato?))

 

Hayato took no part of the conversation and just watched the newcomers in silence. The party then decided to walk upstream of the sewer. Still, he stayed silent, only trudging along with them, taking little notice of the sewer water. He took a glance at the new arrivals every once in a while.

[Gildraug]

Halla watched with mild amusement at the flurry of expressions shifting about the ghouls' faces, or at least those who has their faces uncovered, noting the general look of distrust. It was to be expected. Realizing she still had her own mask covering her face, Halla removed her mask and put it back into her backpack, smiling brightly at the others with her revealed face. Amaris voiced out her question on the whereabouts of the abandoned house.

 

"Well, I think it'd be best to walk a few sewer drains forwards. The house isn't too far away if my memory recalls it right," she thought out loud as she spotted a new sewer drain cover.

"Just a second," she said cheerfully as she climbed up the ladder lithely and opened the cover every so slightly, not sure where exactly they were.

 

An empty street with a few pedestrians walking their heads down, minding their own business. It was getting already so dark Halla had troubles of making out the appearances of the houses around the street, but soon left out a sigh of disappointment. Closing the cover and climbing down to the sewers, trying to jump to a dry spot and avoiding most of the disgusting fluid, she stood up again and ruffled her hair.

 

"Almost there. We still need to walk forwards a bit and then we're there. When we do get there it'd be best we go out in pairs or singularly, keeping a minute or two of a pause between them - better not attract too much attention," Halla said. The air was full of tension and it made her neck prickle. It was like before a storm, the air was still and suffocating and the slightest change would bring the storm full-on. She was dancing with the storm right now, side-stepping and dodging the spark which would ignite the flame.

 

Continuing walking to the next sewer drain, Halla kept mostly silent, listening to the steady footsteps of all the ghouls and the flowing waters of the sewer. As the next cover appeared, Halla made a little jump and turned around, smiling.

"I'll go check again, just to make sure it is the right place!" With that, the blonde scurried up the rusty ladders and lifted the cover. A few seconds passed and then a joyful call came down.

 

"Haha, yes! This is the right place! Come, come, one at the time. It is that old wooden house right across the street!" Halla said, motioning the ghouls to come as she climbed out herself. Looking up and down the street, Halla sighed with relief as the street was completely empty and all the windows were dark. It was funny, how if you left the very center of Tokyo, you found many streets silent at night. In the background there was the sound of a bustling night-city, the skyscrapers beaming their neon lights and watching over the streets. Somewhere far away an ambulance blared.

 

Halla motioned with her hand for the others to come - no use in having some goddamn time intervals, better to get everyone out and into somewhere safe.

"The lock is still there but the back door can be kicked down," she whispered to the ghouls as they ran to the back of the house, where Halla drew out her bikaku and made a sharp stab at the lock, which cracked off and allowed the door to swing open. Stepping inside the dark house, where the wood beneath the ghouls' feet creaked at every move, she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The street lights illuminated the insides of the abandoned house, which had two storeys, a huge living room with old couches from the 70's, a kitchen with cracked walls and a bedroom with a broken bed. Most of the windows were cracked or shattered.

 

"Nobody has lived here in years and the city is going to run this house down in a few months," Halla informed the others as she made her way to the living room and slumped down on one of the armchairs of which there were many. On the walls the tapestries were scraping off. The whole house smelled of dust and old wood - and sewers and blood.

"Make yourself at home. Just don't put on any lights or make too much noise," she added, with an exhausted tone to her voice.

 

{Eep, I hope this is okay? ; v ;}

[senyi]

(We're here.)

 

Halla had managed to lead the ghouls out of the sewers and into an abandoned house. An assumed that the group was still in Tokyo–– they didn't venture in the sewers for that long, did they?

 

The house smelled old with the scent of wood, blood, sewer, and dust mixing into the familiar smell that reminded An of her distant home. In China, An's family lived in a complex that housed some of the Che She Lian members and humans living together (was it even in harmony?).

 

'Mother said that they never realized that they were living with ghouls,' An thought, touching her cheek. 'Well, that was until the organization started to gather more members and their name had become something that humans were familiar with.'

 

"Ah, thank you for leading us here, Halla," An said, digging into her pockets (where did her phone go?). "But I should leave now; I have something to study for." An continued rummaging through her pockets, searching for her phone in order to direct herself home.

 

(You left it at home, didn't you?)

 

An cursed under her breath. Before she left her house, An left her phone in her room to charge (how could you do this to yourself?).

 

"Well never mind that," An added. "I left my phone at home, so I guess I'll be staying with everyone until the morning."

[Lady_Lunevis]

Amaris watched a siren flared in the distance. Sharp ears picked up the distance wailing of the truck rushing through the streets, and despite it being the middle of the night, Tokyo was . . . aflame.

Cars rushed through the streets, people running across the roads. Through the city, a wave of lights flashed to life as more and more citizens became aware of the recent ghoul attack.

They would have to hide for a while, it seems. Amaris is almost amused--what would the humans make of us?

"Thank you, Halla," she said, her voice surprisingly loud in the silent emptiness of the room. Well . . . the ghoul had saved their lives, after all.

She needs a shower. Amaris watches as An excuses herself, only to fiddle for a few panicked seconds before announcing she'd spend the night.

Do any of us trust each other enough to sleep in the same house?

They've only met a couple of hours ago.

"Does this house have running water and a restroom?" she inquires, wondering if Halla would know the answer. Hopefully, the CCG would be too busy manhunting around Tokyo to notice their small haven on the outskirts of town. And Amaris really needed to clean up--at the very least, her inner clothes had been saved from wreckage thanks to her large outer coat, but the sooner she got all this blood and grime off of her, the better.

Her arm is healing, too, but not quite fast enough. She pays it no mind--one learns to ignore injuries if they know it'll heal, after all. Right now, she is only focused on moving onwards with her life. With an assessment, she can tell that the ghouls of Tokyo were not as weak as she originally thought.

And she's tired, too, though Amaris would never admit to such. The battle and healing had sapped her strength, but thanks to the meal Halla had delivered them earlier she didn't feel nearly as bad as she would.

With a curious glance, Amaris regards the aforementioned ghoul. Their escape, recovery, and now shelter had been thanks to this strange ghoul, who seemingly had empathy matching that of a human's--or perhaps, even more--and was willing to think of them as a group instead of individuals.

Well, another thing to ponder for another night. Amaris looks at the others--what now?

"Perhaps we should clean up first," she suggests. "I don't think any of you want to sleep in sewer water or blood."

[Gildraug]

Halla waved her hand cheerily at the gratitude she received from Amaris and An, but got serious when she was asked whether there was any running water and if there would be a restroom in the house.

"I sure hope there is some," she muttered and walked into the kitchen, sneezing once as the dust made her nose itchy. Opening the tap, it gurgled and coughed for a good while before it started sputtering out rusty water.

 

"It seems there's still water flowing in these pipes, although rusty so it cannot be drunk. Lemme see if there's anything upstairs," Halla announced as she climbed up the creaking stairs two at a time. There, she looked around the abandoned rooms and found a shower and a restroom. The walls and the floor had started cracking up and there was some mold growing in the corners, but when Halla opened the shower's tab and allowed it to stay open for a moment, it also started spitting rusty water. Good. She quickly washed her hands thoroughly, hoping for soap as she had a hard time rubbing the blood off from her dining. Ah well, it was better than nothing. She couldn't do anything for the blood and sewer water on her clothes save for rubbing them with the rusty water, hoping it'd clean at least some of the mess and cover the smell. Finally, she washed her face, spitting at the foul taste when she accidentally tasted the water and shook her head like a dog in the absence of a towel.

 

Freshened, Halla called out softly that the shower was free to use and there was a restroom upstairs. Rummaging through the house's cupboards, she managed to find some old pillows with their insides gushing out at points, a blanket or two, and one tattered towel. It was a miracle to find that much in a house like this. The teenagers around this neighborhood probably had come here to hang out, judging from the occasional spray painting signature on the wall.

 

Bringing her findings to the others, Halla slumped down on her armchair and curled up a bit, feeling exhaustion nearing her. Her head already nodding, a thought came into her mind: what if the ghouls attacked her while sleeping?

Shaking such thoughts away, Halla cursed internally. Of course she could trust them! After all they had been through, she was sure they wouldn't kill her. And if they did... Well, she'd try to escape before that. It was a grim thought and she didn't like to think of it. Damn the ghoul society, where one could never trust the other!

 

Knowing that the night would be restless and light with sleep, Halla sighed and closed her eyes, but couldn't force herself to fall asleep. Instead, she decided to keep awake and listen to the soft conversation the others were having, too tired to join it herself. There was still tension in the air and she could read it on the faces of the ghouls who had removed their masks. The balance was teetering, but maybe, just maybe, they would survive through the night. Halla knew she could trust at least An, maybe even Amaris. She wanted to trust the others, too, and found herself to not be afraid of them, in the end. Just worried. Not for herself, but for the others.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Gildraug

[senyi]

"Ah, so we can't drink the water," An remarked. "At least it's somewhat useable then."

 

(What's water if you can't drink it?)

 

The realization that the house had running water made An realize how filthy she was. Blood was caked between her fingernails from tearing meat and she had dust from the encounter with the Doves in her hair. She frowned; her clothes had drying blood stains and the smell of the sewer lingered on her clothing (how disgusting, can you even wash this?).

 

(Imagine what Mother would have to say about this. She'd be disappointed in you–how did you even get into this situation anyways? All you had to do today was a simple recon assignment, and you failed. How–)

 

'Just stop. She's gone and she'll never come back.'

 

An glanced at Amaris. She was the one that expressed a desire to take a shower first. Would she mind if An went first instead? The urge to clean herself was unbearable now. Halla had also announced that the shower was open, so why not?

 

(I'd imagine that she'd kill you in your sleep for requesting that.)

 

"Amaris, I'm sorry for being rude, but I'd like to wash myself first," An said "The smell of the sewer is really starting to get to me," and jogged up the stairs to the restroom (I'm so sorry Amaris). Like the rest of the house, the restroom was in a similar condition, with moldy corners and cracked walls (so how old is this house?).

 

An switched the handle on, and orange-brown water sputtered from the shower head (rust?). She hastily stripped her clothes and stepped into the shower.

 

(Coldcoldcoldcoldwhy how is this even sanitary? Calm down and cleancleanclean I need to be clean.)

 

After showering, An noted the lack of a towel in the room (the curtain perhaps?), and changed back into her clothes (there's little that I can do about them, and using rusty water to wash them sounds disgusting.).

 

"The shower's available now," An called from the bathroom.

 

(Let's rest now.)

 

[Lady_Lunevis]

Amaris was just about to step forward and say that she'll be taking a long shower, please and thank you, when An suddenly interrupted and expressed her wish to wash first. Carefully, the dark brunette raised an eyebrow.

Oh?

She's . . . sorry?

Sorry?

For what? Asking to take a shower first? Amaris unclasped one button from her large overcoat, noticing with a soft, thankful sigh that her inner clothes were mostly undamaged. She worked slowly, watching An from the corners of her eyes as she did so.

Why was she sorry? Why ask for Amaris' consent instead of just running up the stairs and jumping into the thing?

The female tilted her head, equal parts amused and annoyed. "Go," she replied, unsure what to else to say. "I don't own this house; there's no reason as to why you should have to ask me first." Wouldn't it make more sense to ask Halla, considering the other lead them here? These ghouls . . . they were strange.

She watched as An ran up the stairs leading to the restroom, black hair bobbing. She certainly hoped the other would hurry--she agreed with An that the foul stench beginning to fill the room was unpleasant, to say the least.

And now what?

She turned her attention to Halla, who had seemingly fallen asleep on one of the armchairs nearby. How? Amaris wanted to scoff at her stupidity--leaving herself so vulnerable and exposed in the company of ghouls . . . was she truly so sheltered?

Ah, maybe not. The faint flicker of an eye tells the brunette that Halla is still very much awake, simply seemingly asleep to the outside world.

So she wasn't completely a lost cause, Amaris would give her that.

Halla's been more resourceful than the rest of you. She pushes away the thought that tells her without the fox-ghoul, it would've gone horribly otherwise, and instead focuses on planning her strategy for the night. Truth be told, she didn't trust any of the ghouls currently occupying this house--they were all highly-rated killers, and in such a kill-or-be-killed world Amaris has learnt never to expect anything but the worst. Sliding her overcoat off her shoulders, the female ghoul elegantly draped it over a couch before sliding down into the thing to think.

She would have to sleep, that was a given--she needed rest to supply energy for both healing and to keep herself in top shape. But what was to say one or a few of the ghouls didn't attack her in her sleep? Amaris has fought plenty of battles, but she was unsure if she would be able to hold her own against such a wide variety of skillsets and kakugans. Anxious, she tapped a slim finger on the couch's armrest, eyes staring into nothing.

So how would she go about doing this?

She could attack first. But . . . would that end well? Amaris couldn't read minds, lest the minds of ghouls that seemed to act so unseemingly from what was considered normal ghoul behaviour, and the last thing she wanted to do was make more enemies.

So . . . perhaps she would sleep late. A couple hours of rest was better than none, and falling into a light slumber would mean she would wake easily to any suspicious noise. One would have to be a fool to try anything in such a closed area with doves roaming the streets, but Amaris will expect the worst. If it came to be, she'd sleep last and rise first.

Her thoughts are interrupted by An calling softly from the restroom, and Amaris rises. Finally! To wash the dirt and filth from herself--my god, was that dirt under her nails?--was truly a blessing, and the brunette ghoul immediately started up the stairs to the restroom. Along the way, she nodded to An--such a seemingly sweet, quiet girl, but Amaris wouldn't put it past anyone to attack a sleeping ghoul. Upon reaching the shower, she grimaced at the shape of the ancient showerhead. Not what she was expecting, but . . .

The water is cold. It's almost refreshing against her wounds--each stinging stab reminds her that she is still alive, and she can almost feel her injuries healing. After thoroughly washing her hands and attempting to comb through her hair to the best of her extent with her fingers, Amaris stepped from the showers. Fingers reached for the battered towel Halla had brought in earlier, and she had the good sense to bring with her to the restroom. Looking around, Amaris wondered what An had done--my goodness, was the other ghoul still dripping onto the floors? There was no other towel in sight, and after fluffing the thing through her hair Amaris folded the towel and draped it over one arm, slowly descending down the stairs.

Before her, the ghouls were still gathered in the room, looking lost.

"Instead of us all sitting here and looking sad," she said, passing the towel to An without a second look, "how about we discuss how this going to work? If any two of us get into a fight, they'll condemn the rest of us."

Sharp eyes regarded everyone before her. I will have to wait for kakuja.