Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

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damn strat got sass


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@Yoki

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Matthew seemed to be at a loss for words as he stood victim to Kathrine's merciless taunts and teasing; over and over he opened his mouth and drew in a breath as though he were about to retort, but over and over he was interrupted by another insult. That final threat seemed to really hit close to home, because when he looked up at Kathrine again, his eyes were full of the same raging inferno that Adrian had seen only once before.


"Fuck you," the man whispered as he was shaken again by Strat's voice and forced to come quietly for the time being. He subtly raised his middle finger at Kathrine as he lined up alongside Irene, facing their squad mentor but not bothering to look at her face.


"Ouch," Irene mumbled as she watched the short exchange between Strat and Ryan. Knowing that man, he was most likely doing something academic - research, or the like. But clearly Alyssa Strat was not going to tolerate anything akin to that. It was better to just stand and wait, unlike Teddy, who was standing behind the forming line of agents and glancing desparately from side to side, attempting to choose which end of the line he should join.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Katherine's grin didn't falter, Matthew was a child to her, but not in the same way Adrian was, at least that kid didn't argue like a four year old. Or at least from what she'd seen. She'd lined up in mere moments, and Ryan had come to stand next to her, sighing, he was obviously annoyed at being pulled away from his work. The girl nudged him and smiled.


"She really got you." After that she placed her hands behind her back, looking over at Strat.


"I just wish she'd correctly identify what I am doing instead of jumping to conclusions." Ryan replied, back straight and standing in line, looking forwards.


"Mhm, alright, goggles."


Adrian had hesitantly joined the line on the other side of Irene, looking around at the others to see what they were doing so that he could copy. He knew Strat, she'd been in his squad leader before this, but he didn't always know how to act around her, he mostly just copied others, or acted like a complete child.


"Theodore." Strat looked towards Teddy, almost rolling her eyes, "Will you hurry up and join a side instead of moving that head of yours back and forth? It's not that hard, honestly. Matthew, head up. Adrian, what the hell are you doing? Stop rocking." After addressing the three males, she looked at the other three Quinx squad members and nodded, "Okay. Now that I can see we're all ready. I guess I'll begin." There was a pause before she continued. "You all know who I am, so there's no need for introductions. I'll get straight into it. As the newly made Quinx squad you will have to go through various training activities, these will tests your mental as well as physical capabilities, not to mention how well you work as a team. I expect full cooperation, from every single one of you. No exception! There is no need for me to ask whether this instruction is clear or not, I'm pretty sure you all know what you're doing. So. I'm assuming you are yet to try your kagune? How about we do that first." She stepped backwards, motioning to target dummies at the end of the room against the wall, "Take one, you will know better than I do how to release your kagune. It shouldn't be too difficult. Please, try it."

 

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IT'S GHOUL TIME BITCH


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@Yoki

MAIN

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Teddy puffed out his chest after hearing his full name being called. Always formal with Strat, and a little uncomfortable in the taller boy's opinion. Nevertheless, when the squad was given the order, Teddy fled the line as quickly as he had joined it and began running towards the nearest dummy.


Step, step, step. He didn't know how it worked, or what would happen, but as he leapt into the air to pounce at his target, a tendril of green broke from the area behind his tailbone and thickened into an enormous pink-and-green tentacle.


"Oww, shit!" the boy shouted in a strangely gruff voice as he abandoned the attack on the dummy and fell to the ground, rolling onto his side and sprawling across the polished wooden floor. "My bum! That's bloody sore!" One hand positioned over his backside, he got back up on his knees and rubbed at the area where his kagune had been released. There was blood dripping from the edge of the pulsing sacs; the huge mass of RC cells embedded in Teddy's flesh had broken through his skin, opening up a wound below his back but leaving the clothing outside intact. At least he and the others would be thankful for that fact.


"Pussy," Matthew hissed in Teddy's direction. Naturally the heavy-muscled man wished not to be outshone by his juniors, especially fools like Teddy who seemed not to care for his own privacy or the interest of others. So with a great leap forwards, he too flexed a strange new muscle in his upper back and felt the skin break around a thick and heavy spike protruding behind him. The spike grew and curled around the sides of his neck, and then two more tendrils sharpened in front of him like purple, scythe-ended limbs.


Irene raised an eyebrow at Matthew as she stood back and watched the man flinch. He was bleeding, too, where the kagune had burst out. It looked... Painful. Hesitant to try out her own new weapon, Irene turned back to face Kathrine, Ryan and Adrian, waiting to see their next actions beforehand.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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"Get your ass up off the ground and stop complaining!" Strat fired as she saw Teddy rolling on the ground, "What are you? A man or a mouse?! If you plan on staying there I'd start squeaking." She really wasn't giving them a break today, she had a team to get ready, and that's exactly what she was going to do. They were going to be prepared as quickly as they possibly could, which meant she didn't have time for messing around.


Kathrine laughed, Ryan rolled his eyes, but neither of them moved at first. Ryan was watching what everyone else did, and Kathrine, well...she didn't look nervous, she just seemed to find the whole thing amusing. Though, after a few seconds she started to walk forwards towards a dummy as well, maybe she'd do better than they would.


Adrian giggled when he saw Teddy roll onto the ground. Was it really that painful? It couldn't hurt all that much right? Yeah. He'd be fine. He had a high pain threshold anyway...


Quickly, the boy bounded past Kathrine, and then Teddy's body, before getting to a dummy. He stared at it for a few seconds, unsure of what he should do. It was just like the eye, he needed to do exactly what he'd done when it came to his eye, only...with his back this time. He could do it. It couldn't be all that hard, Strat said so.


It only took thinking about it to make it happen...


Although, what happened to him didn't happen to everyone else...


Adrian felt a stabbing sensation as something pierced through the skin in between his shoulder blades, though it hurt a lot more than he'd expected. It burned and seared at his skin, almost like someone was holding a hot iron on him and stabbing him at the same time, and it wasn't just one breakthrough, it felt like three or four stabs through his back. Was something trying to rip his back completely open? Because that's exactly how it felt. The pain made the boy's body tense and he whined, squeezing his eyes shut, he was trying not to scream...he refused to scream. Instead Adrian bit down on his cheek, trying to focus on something other than the kagune breaking through his skin.


He didn't like that, it wasn't pleasant, it was still hurting...he didn't like it at all. There was blood dripping down his back, seeping into his clothing, he could feel it, and it didn't feel like just a small amount either, the wound felt rather large. Every little movement bothered him somewhat.


What Adrian hadn't realised was how silent the room had gone. Unlike before, there was no noise, no one was moving. He hadn't been able to pay attention, especially not with the pain that he was going through, but everything was completely silent. Everyone was looking at only him, and realising that there was something quite wrong.


They were all in shock.


"What...the fuck?"

 

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OHHH THERE IT IS, IT'S HAPPENED, IT'S H A P P E N E D


TAGS


@Yoki

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Right there, right then, everything had stopped. It was as though time had slowed, almost to the point of halting entirely. Teddy froze on the spot, the enormous green tentacle protruding from below his back lying limp against the ground. His mouth was open, his eyes were wide.


Something weird's going down, the boy realised as he stared at Adrian writhing in the pain that he could only imagine. Something weird, something bad. It didn't look good. It looked ugly, it looked, painful, it looked just plain wrong. He could see some kind of kagune - or at least a part of one - hanging from some kind of trench in Adrian's upper back. But how could he see Adrian's skin? Oh, Jesus. There was a hole in his clothes, torn out by a long, thin shard of bloodied steel.


Irene and Matthew looked just as shocked as each other - Matthew, wrapped up in his own kagune, gaped at the sight in front of him. Even his intelligence couldn't explain what he saw in front of him. Not even Irene had anything to comment; all she could do was, her head and eyes locked in place, speak quietly with a tremor in her voice. "Matt," she quavered, reaching out to touch the man's shoulder as she daren't look away from Adrian, "Give me that bandage."


Despite the irrational hatred he seemed to have for Adrian, Matthew did as he was told. Slowly, he tightened his fingers around the safety pin on his left hand and released its hold. The long strip of linen slipped away from his palm and into Irene's hands.


Step by step, the girl approached Adrian from behind, having to force each step like she was rooted to her original place. When she was close enough, she scanned the wound with her all-seeing eyes and made a note of everything she found. Kagune sacs, incompletely formed. A huge wound... Pieces of metal. There were even bulges beneath the boy's unbroken skin where there was no doubt more steel being pressed outwards. What the fuck... It was starting to make Irene feel queasy, and there was little concealing it - but nobody could blame her. Matthew had, by now, averted his gaze and Teddy looked somewhat green.


"Adrian?" said Irene, resting a hand on the boy's right shoulder. What the hell do I tell him? Irene thought furiously. She knew deep down that she could work out what had happened - the research, the conversations with doctors... Everything to do with those metal frames around the kakuhou, she knew it. But in the midst of the confusion, Irene could not recall a single fact. What is this!?


"Okay, just... Just keep still, something's happened. Adrian," Irene instructed as she remembered the bandages that Matthew had provided. Carefully, with precise hand movements, she reached around to Adrian's front, pushing his arms out of the way, and wrapped the bandage over the worst of the wound. It was soaked a deep red within seconds. "Strat. Permission... Permission to take Adrian to a doctor?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Katherine had been the original person to speak, but now she didn't want to say a word... She didn't know what had happened to Adrian, but she could tell that it was anything but good. Something had gone wrong. What happened when something went wrong in these kind of things? What was going to happen to Adrian?


She didn't really want to think about it, but if was all she could think about as she stared at the large piece of metal protruding from the boy's back. Why was it broken? Why had metal broken Adrian's skin?


It was horrific to look at, and she couldn't imagine how much pain he was in. Everyone in the room seemed to have a similar reaction to the situation, including Strat, the woman seemed completely stunned that something like this had happened. Even if some of them knew nothing about the issue, they all knew something wasn't right, and they all knew it needed fixing. The only thing was, everyone seemed to shocked and horrified to react. Luckily, Irene took the initiative, taking Matthew's bandage and going over to Adrian to help him out... He needed a doctor, he needed a doctor fast.


Adrian was battling too much pain to focus on anything else, it wasn't unbearable, but it was getting close...and probably would have been for most others. He stood there, eyes open now and cast down to the ground, waiting for his body to properly react to what had happened to him. This was...this was unexpected, this wasn't good, what was happening?


The next thing he knew he felt a hand on his shoulder. Irene. The boy jumped slightly, wincing at the pain it caused, but he didn't look up at the woman, unable to move himself too much. He felt her put something around him, but everything seemed to turn into one big sensory mess for him.


Should he stay here? Something had happened... Was it safe for him to stay? Was it? He didn't know... Did he want to risk it? Who knew...


"Right now, Irene." Strat's voice could be heard immediately after Irene had spoken, "Go." She didn't seem to understand why this has happened, but it was obvious that she was thinking he should be taken to a doctor quite urgently.


Doctor...


Was it that bad...?


Did he really need one...


If only he could see it...


Adrian felt slightly sick himself, but not too much...


Should he drink something?

 

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NOTES

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and then he runs!11


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@Yoki

MAIN

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Having received the cue from Strat, Irene nodded. She put one arm around the younger boy's shoulders, but unlike Teddy she was gentle and cautious, touching Adrian's back only lightly and pushing him forwards with her own quick and urgent steps. Almost without thinking, she flung the door open and guided Adrian around a corner where there were several large, plump blue chairs lined up against the wall.


"Sit down, kid," Irene said quietly as she took one of the seats and tugged at Adrian's arm to bring him down with her. "Let me get a look at that... whatever that is." Though the sight set her teeth on edge, she grabbed at the edge of the blood-soaked bandage with the very tips of her fingers and peeled it away to reveal the wound.


It wasn't so much as a cut or a gash as an eruption. There was a pulsing mass of liquid muscle protruding from the depths of Adrian's flesh, breaking out into whatever kagune had managed to form outside of the wound. And around that mass... Jesus... There were strips of stretched and broken metal bulging around it.


"Adrian," the girl gulped, not taking her eyes off the wound, "There's metal. Coming out of your back. I think it needs to come out."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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For once Adrian was actually scared, the pain in his back frightened him. He didn't know what was going to happen, nor what was actually happening behind him, he couldn't see it after all. All he could do was go off of feeling, and if feeling was anything to go off of...then he knew he was in a pretty bad state. There was something wrong with him, there was something very wrong.


He hadn't even reacted as Irene guided him out, instead simply letting her guide him. It was hard to focus when you were internally freaking out about what was happening. He knew that wasn't meant to happen, everyone else knew it wasn't meant to happen, but no one knew what was happening. That was the scariest thing of all.


Irene sat him down, and Adrian stared at his legs, trying not to move too much. He heard her voice, it was shaky, that indicated something bad... He knew that. Was it really that bad?


Just as he'd though about it, Irene spoke again, telling him there was metal coming out of his back, and that it needed to come out. Oh. That didn't sound good. The boy looked up, turning his head to the side, but refused to reply. He didn't really want to have anything ripped out of his back...he didn't really want anyone touching him. Suddenly he started to panic again, his head went down, eyes wide. What if they did something to him? What if they were going to hurt him... He could do it himself, he didn't need anyone to take it out for him. Adrian was thinking way too much into it all, something was seriously wrong, and he might get into trouble for it... Should he... Should he run?


It took quite awhile before he decided to stand, it hurt, but he was completely fuelled by fear. Adrian looked down the corridor, turning his head to the side. He could die... Was it going to kill him? Would...would they? It was an irrational fear, sure, but he'd rather deal with this alone. Without even looking back at Irene, the boy made a break for it, he wasn't focusing on the pain that seared through his flesh as he moved, he just...he wanted to get away.

 

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if there's a time skip can it be a passive one? like where someone's running for about 10 minutes but within those 10 minutes it changes from morning to evening or some shit


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

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"What the-" Irene mimicked Adrian and rose to her feet as he did. "Adrian, sit down!" What's he doing!? Hadn't he heard her? There was metal stuck in his back, pieces of broken and sharp steel that would be embedded in his thorax if something wasn't done to remove them. Didn't he know that?


The girl clenched her teeth, staring at Adrian as his fear appeared to completely consume him. All of the signs of panic were apparent - the shaking, the sweating, she saw it all. Oh no, he's not going to...


He is.


"Adrian!" Irene yelled as the boy moved out of reach of her outstretched arm. "Adrian, where are you going!?" But he was gone. Around a corner, out of sight before Irene could even process what had just happened, and there was no chance of ever catching up now; Irene was fast, but she still knew that Adrian was faster.


...Now what..? She had been supposed to take Adrian to a doctor, to do something to help. But now he was gone, gone somewhere she probably couldn't even think of, gone somewhere nobody could help him, gone somewhere he could even die.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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He wasn't listening, he just wasn't listening. There was nothing Irene could say that would make him turn around, make him change his mind. He had to leave. There was no way he could stick around... It wasn't rational, sure, but Adrian was done with being rational. He'd never been very good at it.


This place was easier to navigate when he had a desire to leave immediately, he didn't stop to watch anyone, in fact he didn't even think about whether anyone else had seen him or not. At this point who cared? There were other things to worry about, there were too many things going on around him, he couldn't do this...he couldn't!


Flinging the doors of the CCG's main building open, Adrian ran out into the streets, he wanted to find somewhere to sit, he just wanted to sit and try to pull this out, he wanted the pain to stop! It hurt so much...


The boy didn't know how long he ran for, but it must have been awhile since his body finally gave up, forcing him to stop. He fell into a back alley, stumbling and dropping to his knees, his hands were shaking, his breath was ragged...he didn't know what to do.


Adrian swallowed, falling back into a sitting position and wincing, there was still blood going down his back...what did he do? What could he possibly do? For a few moments he just sat, breathing heavily, staring at the opposite wall in the rather dark alleyway. Then he raised his arms, moving around to feel his back. Irene was right, there was something there. His hands loosely wrapped around the piece and he attempted to pull, but all that accomplished was a scream of pain and the immediate retraction of his now bloody hands. So...So that wasn't going to work. Oh god. The boy wrapped his hands around his ankles, staring down, eyes wide, he was rocking slightly as he sat, scared of what would happen to him.


Why did he come out here?


What was he going to do?

 

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screw it they're around a corner, have control of taylor early


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

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Empty. That was the only word that could accurately describe what the alley was; though the enclosed back half was laden with rotting pallets of wood and piles of untouched and forgotten black rubbish bags, the air was still and the sounds of the busier open London seemed distant and muffled. It was a strange kind of enclosed silence, and it seemed to distance Adrian by miles from the streets which were barely metres away from his position.


The silence did not last long, for it was disturbed by a sudden, repetitive skittering noise that seemed to grow louder and closer by the second. As the source of the noise seemed to near Adrian, the skittering sounds morphed into the smacking of bare skin against concrete followed each time by a gravelly scraping noise. Foorsteps, uneven and rushed. There was somebody approaching the alley.


Suddenly, the footsteps faded to nothing and somebody began to speak. It was a man's voice, and it was close by - so clear that it was almost as though the voice's owner were standing right next to Adrian.


"Claire. You took your time," the invisible man tutted, a sigh rolling out from beneath his words.


"Sorry," mumbled the responding voice. This person, with her high and lilted voice, was a woman. She spoke in a light Irish accent. "I got lost."


"What about Taylor?"


A few seconds passed before the woman finally spoke her delayed response, "He's on his way. We ran into a couple o' doves, but I see him now, he's on his own."


"Not being followed?"


"No, I said he's on his own."


"Fine, good," the man said as another round of footsteps came echoing into Adrian's alley, "You just can't be too careful nowadays. This entire city's infested."


The footsteps grew louder, louder again like the woman's had until they too came scraping to an abrupt halt and plunged the area into another silence - which was, of course, then broken by more words.


"Taylor!" the female speaker rejoiced, her voice nearly breaking with apparent excitement. The man hissed out a sharp shush, but the girl did not quiet down. "You shook the doves, huh? Where'd you leave them?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Footsteps and voices were what made Adrian freeze, someone was here. They were close, yet, even when he looked up he couldn't see them. He couldn't leave the alley, he'd just have to be silent and make sure they didn't know he was there. He knew from what the rather deep voiced male and the Irish sounding female were talking about that they weren't just your average people either. They were talking about doves. Were they...ghouls? Was he going to end up being face to face with ghouls when he was already injured and unable to release his kagune due to the sharp of metal that was sticking out of his back. Who knew how many pieces needed pulling out, that was the only one he knew of, but there could be more.


The boy covered his mouth with his hand as the woman raised her voice in excitement, he'd jumped slightly at the noise. It had been so unexpected in the silence.


If they found him he was in some deep shit, but Adrian was finding it hard to even focus on how much shit he was in and think of a way out. He was panicking about everything, his heart was going at one hundred miles and minutes, and he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't move. His body wouldn't move.


"Hey." There was the voice of another male, probably Taylor, however this man's voice wasn't as deep as the other's, "Don't get to excited now."


There was a laugh, which set Adrian even more on edge.


His second hand went over his mouth.


The shuffling of feet made it clear that this male was moving his position, was he still walking towards the group?


"Shook 'em about a block back. They're on a right wild goose chase now." His accent was more northern than the others, it didn't sound like he was originally from London, "No way they'll ever find us. Useless brats."


After that there was silence again.


"I wouldn't recommend stayin' out in the open much though. There's always a chance one of the unlucky beggars could stray and find us."

 

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enter the three stooges


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@Yoki

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"Hehe! Cool, okay, that's fine!" the girl piped. There was more shuffling; she was dancing, twirling around Taylor to his other side. "Lee said he has some kind of plan. We're not gonna ever get caught, not even if they chase that goose right up our shirts."


"I said it was an idea, not a plan," corrected the man who must have been called Lee.


"Same thing."


"Whatever. Claire, weren't you supposed to bring us a gun?"


There was more shuffling and another clap of skin on concrete. "Was I supposed to?"


"Yes! Are you telling me you forgot? Again!?"


"Oh. Maybe, yeah." Claire sounded somewhat crestfallen, her words losing their electric energy as she seemingly realised her mistake. "Sorry. But it's okay, right? Lee, we've still got your plan."


"No. Forget the bleeding plan," came the gruff response. Suddenly there were more footsteps, and somehow they were managing to become louder, louder, louder than before with each sound.


Claire shouted out again, "Where ya going?"


"Shh! You're so goddamn loud." The footsteps weren't stopping; still they came closer, and Lee's voice was following them. "Did you even listen to what Taylor was saying? There are doves less than a block away. We need to go somewhere more-"


There he was.


Frozen in shock, surprise, confusion - something like that - stood Lee, the speaking man. His skin was fair. His eyes were brown. There was no hair on his head. In one arm was held a scrunched-up waterproof jacket, nearly identical to the torn article of clothing that covered his torso.


Though in every way he looked like a human, like an ordinary, completely normal man, three words fell out of his mouth as he stared at Adrian, who was curled up on the ground in front of him: "It's a dove."


This man, the human-like figure with the eyes of a frightened rabbit, was undoubtably a ghoul.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Adrian had pretty much drowned out the voices by that point, he didn't have the energy to focus on listening to so random people's conversations. If they were ghouls, then all he could hope was that they decided to avoid the back alley and left him alone whilst he worked out how to fix what had happened to him. Sometimes he really could be stupid, and he was starting to realise that stupidity was going to cost him dearly.


His hands hand gone over his head, messing blood in with his hair as he continued to panic. Calm down. He needed to calm down. Once he was calm he could then get that goddamn steel out of his back. Bleeding was never a good thing, and he was doing a hell of a lot of it right now.


"Hey! Lee! Come on back will ya?" The second man's voice could be heard calling the other as footsteps seemed to come closer and closer to Adrian, there seemed to be a little bit of jogging at the other two caught up. They were all getting louder, which broke the boy out of his panicked state and back into reality. Were they coming towards him? If they were...he had to be ready to defend himself, no matter what state he was in.


Again he heard the footsteps stop and everything went silent, that couldn't mean anything good. The next three words were the words he didn't want to hear.


They'd seen him.


"Lee, wha-..." A male with short black hair and rather defined features stared down at Adrian with dark eyes, he seemed slightly shocked, unsure of how to react to the male in front of him, but he was obviously just as distressed as the other. "A...dove? But I...lost 'em."


Adrian looked up for a moment, wide eyes meeting with the bald man at the front of the group. The way he stood there, as if Adrian was going to jump up and kill him, convinced the boy he was definitely a ghoul. There were three of them, and they'd all see him. He was defenceless, he had no way of protecting himself... The panic started setting in again. What did he do?


Then the black haired male started to speak once more.


"What's a dove doing out 'ere on their own anyway, you hardly ever see those guys without some kinda partner." He took a step forwards, staring at Adrian a little more clearly, although he didn't get too close. It wasn't hard to tell that the other was either in shock, injured, or afraid, possibly all three, and the man seemed to be planning on telling his friend that. "Oi, Lee, look." He pointed at Adrian's back, "What's that? And he's all bloodied. Whaddaya think happened?"

 

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they're not fighting yet but i've got an idea of how it's gonna start, oh yes i do


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

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"What's going on?" chirped Claire as she tip-toed around the corner to join her companions, finally revealing her own appearance as she came into Adrian's field of view. Like Lee, she was barefoot, appearing only to wear a tattered knee-length dress fasioned from what looked like patchy denim. Her hair was long, blonde, straggly and unkempt, falling over the upper half of her face.


Claire's question was ignored; Lee simply crossed his arms over and glared at Adrian from afar, lifting his chin up and flaring his nostrils as he sniffed around. "I don't know," he admitted to Taylor, then took a quick step in the investigator's direction. "Maybe he had a run-in with Aegis or something. But it looks... Oh, no way. That's never a kagune."


"But it looks like one," Claire pointed out. She seemed to forget her caution as she leapt forwards to crouch in front of Adrian. Without granting the boy time to recoil from her touch, Claire ran a finger across Adrian's face and then hopped behind him to poke a finger at the wound in his back. Several seconds were spent digging around in the exposed flesh before she finally retracted her hand and flicked away some of the blood.


"Well?" Lee prompted impatiently.


"Well," Claire began, "He smells."


"Of the CCG?"


"Yep. Dovestink all over 'em, and there's a load of metal stuff in his back. But that's definitely a kagune. Hey!" As she stood again, Claire's hair fell away from her face and revealed an ecstatic, mad grin that reached all the way up to a pair of large, near-white eyes. Now she was speaking directly to Adrian. "You're a ghoul, right? Where ya from? Part of Aegis?"


"Claire, don't-" Lee interjected to no avail.


"And how'd you find us? C'mon, answer me! Taylor, help out."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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Adrian had still been trying to ignore them, he didn't want them to get close to him, they were creepy, and he was hurt. His eyes held quite a bit of hostility in them as he stared at the ghouls standing only meters away from him, he looked like an injured animal, trying to fend off anyone who might possibly come close to him. This was exactly that type of situation, if these people were to attack him he'd have a pretty hard time fighting one versus three in the state he was in. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't try. He wouldn't let them kill him.


The girl that had bounded around the corner didn't seem to stay in one position for very long, in fact she seemed as energetic as Adrian was. Apart from the fact that she had no regard for boundaries, or safety at all by the looks of things, not that he had all that much when he wasn't injured.


She'd moved to crouch in front of him, which would have made him immediately recoil, had a finger not been run across his face first. Adrian's head shot up, eyes wide. Why was she touching him? Before he could even think about moving the girl had moved around the back of him and placed her hand on the rather large wound caused by quinque metal. The boy yelped and pushed his entire body backwards the minute she retracted her hand. His eyes were filled with both fear and hostility, it was almost like a warning, telling them to stay far away from him.


That didn't seen to stop this strange female though, as she started quizzing Adrian immediately. He wasn't a ghoul, but obviously they didn't realise that right now. His eyes locked onto the girl closest to him, but he didn't speak a word to her, keeping one foot on the ground and a hand behind himself so that he could jump up at any moment...although he'd rather avoid it, as that was going to sting.


"Huh?" The male that had been addressed as Taylor seemed to raise an eyebrow and cross his arms, "A ghoul that smells like a dove. That's kinda strange, don'tcha think?" He took a step forwards, nudging Lee as he moved as if motioning for the other to come along. Quickly, he made his way up behind the shorter girl and stared down at Adrian, grinning.


"No way he can be a Dove, Lee. Looks too young." He blinked, taking another step forwards, "Plus they don't have kagune right? That's just us." The male looked back to his other companion, before down at Claire, then over to Adrian again. "C'mon, answer her, you a part of Aegis or somethin'? Or you just some loner who got left out on the streets? What's that metal in your back eh?" His head turned to the side as he stared, "He's stayin' awfully quiet..."

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

she seems so innocent *sigh* what a waste of a little girl


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

"It's 'cause he's hurt an' scared, Tay," Claire chimed as she bounced backwards, retaking her original position at the corner of the alley. There was warm light pooling in from above now - it must have been approaching midday. "Yo, Lee!"


Lee grunted. "What do you want now?"


"You're gonna help 'em, right? He's like us, after all."


Perhaps, had Lee not been set on edge by the unexpected appearance of a ghoul resembling a ghoul investigator, he would have laughed at Claire's ridiculous audacity. He would have found it funny. But he didn't; instead, he kept his crossed arms close to his body and simply spat on the ground with disgust. "Hell no," he said gruffly, still glaring at Adrian and Taylor from afar. He didn't react when the boy stood and leered at Claire, but the girl herself frowned at Adrian's response.


"Why not?" Claire asked.


"God, 'cause I said so. Isn't that enough?"


"Yeah, but why?" the small Irish girl insisted, tugging at Lee's jacket with her thin, twig-like fingers.


There was a moment of hesitation. Lee tensed and scratched at the back of his bald head, screwing up his forehead in thought before he finally decided to answer. "If he's not a dove... That means he's been skirmishing with 'em-"


"And?"


"-And that means they're all going to come in our direction if they ever catch sight of the kid again."


There was a small gasp from Claire. She cupped her hands over her mouth and stared wide-eyed up at Lee. In response to her shock, he first looked down at her and then, without moving his head, traced his gaze down the concrete ground and up to where Adrian was stood. Clearly, it was some kind of cue because Claire nodded and skipped back over to face Adrian again.


"Umm..." Though she was transfixed on Adrian's eyes, Claire seemed to be at something of a loss with her words. At least this time she appeared to be directly speaking to the boy, rather than discussing him as though he were deaf. "Um, 'scuse me, kid?" Lee raised an eyebrow at his companion's use of the word 'kid' - Claire looked as though she were even younger than Adrian was. "Please don't you think badly of us or nothin', will you, but I think Tay an' I've gotta go on and kill you now. You don't mind, do you?"

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

If only he could run, this was such a dangerous situation, but he couldn't. They were blocking his only exit. Sure, he could attempt to climb, but that would be difficult, that could kill him instantly. Falling would be deadly, especially with this metal in his back. He needed to pull it out, but he was too afraid to. Why was pain affecting him this badly? Why was he so scared? He'd hadn't felt like this in...a long time.


They were speaking to each other again, the girl asking if they were going to help him, the bald man saying he wasn't going to, and the other guy just standing there, staring. Then baldy at the back seemed to give some kind of cue, some cue that Adrian didn't understand. His eyes darted back and forth between the three, trying to keep them all in his sights, it wasn't like he was untrained in combat. He could fight, it just became a lot more difficult when your wounds were prior to engagement in a fight and very inhibiting.


He'd just have to forget it. It had to be pushed through. Otherwise he was in deep shit.


The girl, Claire, had bounded back over, locking eyes with Adrian for a moment again. Then she spoke to him.


Why did they have to kill him? That was just what ghoul did, wasn't it? They just killed.


Adrian seemed to immediately shift his position, raising himself slightly off of his heels and putting his weight into the balls of his feet. He shifted one leg backwards and stared at the two in front of him. Again he didn't say anything. They were going to fight him. They were going to fight to kill him. So he was going to fight to kill them too.


If he hadn't been in such a state, the boy probably would have been very zealous about the whole situation, he probably would have told the girl that he wouldn't think badly of her...as long as she didn't think badly of him. If he'd been confident he could fight without being hindered, he would have been exactly like that, but he was in too much pain, he was too panicked. Calm down. He had to fight them. He couldn't panic whilst fighting. And...And if that metal needed to come out of his back in order for him to win, he'd have to pull it... It was better than losing his life, right?


"Kill 'im?" Taylor looked back to Lee, "Mmn...'kay. I guess if I 'ave to." He sighed, motioning to Claire, but looking at Adrian. "Like she said. It's nothin' personal kid." The male bent his fingers backwards, sighing, "Sheesh. This ain't even gonna be fun. He's already beaten up. Guy's gonna die in two seconds." His eyes were close and he waved a hand.


"Let's just get it over with already."

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

tay's a sadist confirmed


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

"Fun? Tay, you're awful, y'know," Claire sighed as she too shifted to a battle stance, turning her body to the side and holding out her arms in front of her. At closer inspection, her fingernails appeared long, chipped and crusted with weeks of dirt and mud. It appeared that Claire hadn't found the time or place to bathe in quite a while.


"Claire, get your kagune out, ya maniac!" Lee shouted from the other end of the alley. Oddly, the man was leaning passively against the wall, his arms still crossed and he showed no sign of intention to move. Lee would not be participating in this fight - here his only purpose was to block Adrian's escape route.


Claire didn't shift her gaze from the decided target. "Why?" she asked loudly. Lee grabbed at his own face and appeared to drag his fingers downwards in despair. "It's two on one, I don't need it, Lee."


"Fine. But it's your fault if you die."


"Okay!" She sang her agreement with that last word and bounced on the spot. Taylor wasn't going to make the first move. As the fastest of the two, that was Claire's job.


The movement wasn't so quick as to be invisible to Adrian's human eyes, but Claire still leapt forwards at an alarming velocity. She landed mere inches from Adrian's position, then without pausing, raised her leg again and kicked out into his stomach, sending him toppling backwards but not quite all the way to the back wall.


"How was that, Lee?" Claire called, twisting around to look at the man at the other end of the alleyway. Lee said nothing, but made the 'okay' sign with a hand.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

So she wasn't getting her kagune out? Mmn... Mistake. Did she think he was defenceless? He'd dealt with pain before, and if it saved his life, then he could deal with it now. He backed up a little bit again, keeping his eyes locked on Claire. The other male wasn't going to move, he was standing to casually, obviously not worried about whether or not it Adrian would be a problem. In Taylor's eyes, he wouldn't at all. After all, how could he even function with such a wound?


"Aw man, calm down Claire. It's much more fun when they can at least squirm, I'll be surprised if this one can move." Taylor grinned as he watched the small girl dart forwards, ramming into Adrian and sending him flying backwards. "Well then, someone's been practicin' haven't they?"


The kick earned a yelp from the boy as he toppled over backwards and tumbled over himself a few times, skidding alone the floor to a halt. The minute he stopped he'd looked up, she was turned around. His back burned, every movement was agony, but if he wanted to win, then he had to be ready to get up the minute he was forced down. Come on. He could do it. Just for a little while.


In seconds Adrian was on his feet, bolting towards the girl who had knocked him onto the ground. When he got close enough, he released a kick. Unfortunately, he was too slow.


"Hey Claire! Watch it." Taylor yelled, running towards the girl and catching Adrian's leg before it could make contact. Their eyes met. Taylor grinned. Adrian's gaze freaked him out enough for that grin to slowly fade as he realised that the smaller male wasn't attempting to pull his leg again. His balance...


Realising something was off, Taylor went to push on the boy's leg, but it was too late. Adrian jumped, using the wall to his left to propel himself off of. In the blink of an eye, the side of his leg flew into the side of Taylor's head, sure, the kick wasn't too strong, but that wasn't the point of it. His leg wrapped around the other's neck, he held his ankle with one hand, and yanked Taylor's head upwards, bashing his calf against the other's chin, forcing them both backwards.


There was an attempt from Taylor to pull Adrian off of him, but he'd already lost his balance. He was forced backwards whilst Adrian expertly spun around him, forcing the other down into the ground, both hands on Taylor's head. There was a slam as the male's skull his the ground, he let out a loud screech in response, but obviously that had done some damage. Plus, Adrian had landed on his chest, damaging that as he landed as well. He didn't waste his time sitting there however, instead he rolled off and jumped up, making sure to stand on Taylor's hand as he did so.


Oh god that hurt. His back. It...it needed to come out.


"Oh fuck!" Taylor whined on the ground, "What the fuck man?! What the hell?! Aah!" He obviously hadn't been expecting something so brutal...but Adrian wanted to get out alive, he'd be brutal if it would help him escape.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

CLAIRE PULL.


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

Lee had been watching the fight idly, picking at his teeth as though the events happening before him were an everyday sight. Upon seeing Taylor's hed get ground into the concrete below him, the man jutted out his chin to watch.


"Hey!" Lee yelled at Taylor. "Watch your language."


"I've heard it all before, Lee! It's fine!" Claire insisted, brushing her hair out of the way as she leapt out of Taylor and Adrian's trajectory. "Besides, I think he deserved that f-word. That looks like it hurts."


"Well, stop rambling on and on and get over there to help."


"Okay, okay!" Claire paused for a moment to release a sigh before she finally picked herself up again and set her sights on Adrian. There was a moment of silence and stillness as she ran her eyes over the sight in front of her; Taylor on the ground, Adrian standing, stepping on his opponent's hand, shards of steel protruding from his exposed back... Yeah, she could work with that.


With that same quickness that she had displayed before, Claire darted forwards towards Adrian once more. This time, though, she wasn't aiming a kick at him - she simply took her opportunity and grabbed at the length of quinque steel protruding from his back. Then she pulled.


Claire wasn't comparitively strong - quite near the opposite, in fact - but when acting against someone like Adrian, whose muscles were very much human, her ghoulish nature came at an advantage. She kept pulling, back, back, taking the boy away from Taylor to allow her friend back up.


Pull, pull...


"Oh!" Suddenly, Claire fell backwards and landed on her own back. "Ow! What was that?"


Lee was the person to answer. "You fell over. Get up."


"Oh... It came out." Claire had leaned backwards too hard and pulled the metal right out of Adrian's back, leaving her flat and helpless on her back.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

"Yeah! It did hurt!" Taylor yelled, holding his head and trying to move his hand, just to realise that Adrian was stood on it, "Ach! Get off kid!" His head was still pounding, it had been an impressive move, he could give the guy that, but he really was a little menace. "Kill the little bitch!"


Adrian had been staring at Claire, breathing heavily, he was still trying to recover, to stop moving to allow the pain to dampen. She didn't want to give him that time, he saw it in her eyes, she was going to do something...


He had no time to react, she had superior speed to him, she was a ghoul after all. His eyes went wide as she ran into him, grabbing the metal in his back. Oh no, no no no no.


A ear piercing scream came from Adrian as the piece of metal stuck in his back was pulled and tugged at, he started to panic again, struggling against her, which only made the pain worse. He felt every single movement the metal made, he couldn't stop himself continuously screaming as the sharp pain splintered throughout his body. It spread like wildfire, and whilst she pulled he didn't want to move, the long it went on, the worse it got. His screaming was unbelievably loud, filled with agony and desperation, it felt like she was ripping open his back! It was worse than when that thing had split through his skin in the first place.


"STOP IT! STOP!" They were the first words Adrian had spoken to this group of people, and they were yelled at the top of his voice, in a desperate, almost pleading way. It hurt so much, he wanted to cry, why wouldn't she let go?


He was only making it worse for himself, for the move he pushed against her, the more he was moving that metal in his back. It felt like that struggle went on for a life time, before... It stopped. The pain stopped and Adrian was left with a dull searing feeling between his shoulder blades.


By this point he'd dropped to the ground, his wide eyes looking down, hands on the floor to stop him from falling completely over. His breathing was heavy, but he was silent, not moving, not blinking, just...staring.


To everyone around Adrian there had been an obvious change. The second that piece of metal had been pulled out of his back his kagune had finally took its chance to form. The white of his right eye turned a jet black, the iris turning crimson red, match the colour of the blood trickling down his arms. Large, deep purple wing-like structures sprouted from the boy's back and into the space around him. At the top of both was a thin, bone-like structure, shaped like the top of a wing. Below that there was what looked almost like cracked land. His kagune was interesting in its own right, the wings looks as if someone had taken a knife and very skillfully cut lines where they thought it might fit. They looked like jigsaw puzzles that were missing a few pieces, glass where a few shards had come out. There were one hundred and one ways to describe what you saw, but the kagune itself was definitely impressive, and it fit the boy rather well.


For a second, there was silence.


"Well would ya look a' that..." Taylor blinked, resting on his elbows, about to stand up, "I think you helped the little buggar, Claire."

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

cue everyone beginning to cry


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

The fragment of steel frame made a great clattering sound as it dropped to the ground, Claire's hands having opened and loosened their grip on the metal bars.


"The hell are you doing?" shouted Lee from afar, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently. "Claire, get up and keep fighting."


"Sorry!" Claire squeaked back in Lee's direction. Quickly, she rolled onto her front and bent her knees, raising her abdomen from the ground and picking herself back up. Within a split second, she was on her feet again. Just in time to witness Adrian's transformation.


It happened so quickly, within the space of a second, but in Claire's eyes everything happened in slow motion. His eye darkened to a thick black and a ring of scarlet thickened over his formerly grey iris. One-eyed. Only one of his eyes had changed. He's a one-eyed ghoul. His right eye was still normal-coloured. A half-breed.


"Claire, move!" Lee roared. Claire ignored him, transfixed on the image of the developing kagune before her. It sprouted and grew from its former limp state against Adrian's back, morphed into a familiar shape, a form she remembered.


Claire gasped. her own white-grey eyes widened, the pupils dilating to large round circles of black. "No," she whispered voicelessly as her knees buckled beneath her, causing her to sink back down to the ground. "No, no, no way, no way, no, oh no..."


"Huh?" Even Lee, who had been so passively leaning against the wall and spectating, was looking at Adrian now. He cared not for the fact that only one of his eyes had turned red, not for the fact that Claire had strengthened him by removing the steel. All that he saw was Claire, falling to her knees. Then the purple wings sprouting from above Adrian's shoulders.


"No, no way, no, no, no," Claire continued to chant, almost whimpering now. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight that seemed to transfixing to her.


For a second Lee stiffened, but then his own eyes lost their warm glow as they turned black and red. "What the hell!?" the older ghoul seethed. In a flash he had abandoned his station at the end of the alley and was quickly advancing on Adrian with short, powerful steps, eyes flickering with a mixture of shock, sadness and unearthly rage.

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

​

"Claire?" Taylor repeated, he'd seen the girl's eyes widen as she fell to her knees, after just getting up as well. What was wrong with her? "Hey, Claire!" He yelled towards her, but the girl was whimpering, almost afraid. Why was she so afraid? What was making her so upset? What did that psycho do to her?!


He looked back to the boy on the ground, who was still looking down, although, he didn't look as terrified as he had done before. She'd given him strength, they should have left the bloody steel in his back. At least that way he wouldn't be able to fight back. As he stared he noticed something else, one eyed... Was that what she was so worried about? Was she scared of a one eye ghoul? Surely not.


Taylor heard a voice from behind them, turning to see Lee rushing towards the male on the ground. What? Even see was pissed off? What was going on?! This couldn't just be because the kid was a one eyed ghoul...could it?


No way.


There was just no way it was...


He scrambled to his feet, rushing over to Claire as Lee ran towards Adrian. Taylor dropped to his knees in front of the girl and put his hands on her shoulder, "Claire? Claire! What's goin' on? C'mon, tell me! What's wrong?" He seemed genuinely confused and worried about her, although he wasn't paying much attention to the person behind them.


Adrian could hear the sudden whimpering from the young girl in front of him, he didn't understand what it was about. What...scared her? The boy looked up, mismatched eyes locking onto Claire as he cocked his head to the side. The pain wasn't bad anymore, he was okay. Should he thank her for that? Maybe. But he didn't really have time right now. Some other time maybe.


It was then that he heard a deeper male voice yell out. His head snapped up, noticing the bald male rushing towards him, the guy's eyes were a deep black, red in the middle, he looked angry. He could fight now. Seeing the other advancing, Adrian waited. He got to his feet, shifted his legs into position, and then balanced on the balls of his feet, staring up at the enraged man moving towards him. If the other was planning on attacking, Adrian was planning on jumping last second, if he didn't attack, well, the boy would just stand there and pick his time. This...was strange to say the least. He had a kagune...


He could hear whimpering, what was it about? Why was she crying? He should be the one crying...

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

​

NOTES

​

poor adrian and poor claire


TAGS


@Yoki

MAIN

​

It was almost as though Claire couldn't even see Taylor, or even feel his hands on her cold, bare shoulders. Instead, she stared right through him, her eyes never moving away from the pair of chipped purple wings in the air before her. She was no longer making any noise, just simply mouthing the word 'no' over and over as Lee continued to advance on Adrian, black and red eyes wide and blazing with fury.


"Who the hell do you think you are?" Lee spat as he slowed to a halt in front of Adrian. "Wait, forget it. I don't care." There was no pause after his words this time. As soon as his mouth had closed, a plume of blue erupted from his upper back and curled around his right arm. A koukaku kagune - Lee was a slow-moving ghoul specialising in endurance and short-range attack. If he was closing in on Adrian, that could only mean one thing: "I'm gonna kill you my goddamn self, you little bastard!"


There was a sudden eruption of noise from Claire. "No! Lee, stop!"


"What? Why? This prick's got your grandma's kagune!"


Once more, the girl's voice faded to a whimper and her gaze finally dropped to the ground. "Please don't do it... Don't hurt Granny any more."


Lee frowned, his lips set in a grim line as he listened to Claire's strange plea. If he was going to apologise, the words never found their way out, because Lee seemed to ignore the request. As far as he was concerned, the little girl's grandmother was no longer alive. Killing the guy who had her kagune caused the lady no harm.


The kagune-wielding arm was risen up by its joint at the shoulder, and then slammed downwards. Though he had been aiming for Adrian's head, Lee's lopsided weight threw him off balance and the blade of his weapon ended up digging down into the boy's shoulder instead, lodging itself in the flesh below his shirt.