Fandom [CLOSED] Tokyo Ghoul: Dead Enmity

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A small groan passed Jackson's lips as he felt Adrian's hands propping him up again. He vigorously shook his head from side to throw off the dizziness caused by such an unexpected movement, and then glanced upwards at his friend.


"You're... You're alive, thank God." Jackson wheezed, reaching up to touch Adrian's face with the back of his hand and not really taking much notice of the question he had been asked.. He got away. By some sort of miracle, Adrian had survived the bombardment of stabs and swings launched at him by the ghoul. He had fought, and he had fought well. Well enough to make it back here.


Something strong, something halfway between relief and pride, welled up within Jackson. He had been so afraid that Jester would kill his friend on the spot. He had been sure that Adrian wouldn't be shown mercy. Jackson blinked away the water in his eyes, letting it flow into the rain on his face, and simply smiled. If he could, he would have leapt forwards and embraced Adrian in a spontaneous hug.


Jackson pushed at his glasses to rub at his eyes, then used a hand to investigate the scratches caused by the fall. The graze was wide, but nothing worse than the kind of scrape a child would get after falling in the playground. He brushed away the dirt embedded in the broken skin with his wrist before another flicker of movement from behind Adrian caught his attention.


Lea! With all the relief he felt for Adrian making it out of his sticky situation, Jackson had forgotten about Lea and the ghoul, which was also still alive and fighting to kill. The man could see blood on his superior's face, he could smell the blood in the air. "What's happening over there?" he bleated at Adrian, a tone of urgency lacing his voice as he tried to speak above the noise of the rain, which was now torrenting down on the group. "What's Lea doing?"

 

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Adrian giggled and just smiled, why wouldn't he be? Well...actually... He had been held up against a wall by a ghoul, he guessed that that in itself was quite dangerous. Jackson was always worried about him, but maybe he should have been worried about himself in this instance, he had been the one left defenceless after all.


"Mmn. I'm fine." He replied with a nod, smiling brightly, he propped his friend up against a pillar and looked over to the fight. "Lea...is fighting the ghoul." He replied, "She's cut it a lot." He sat down, crossing his legs, although that was probably a very stupid thing to do in such a situation, "I think it's more hurt than her...but it's a ghoul...so..." He shrugged, you never really knew with ghouls...you could do a lot to them and they still might be able to kill you.


There was a loud crash as Jester's kagune smashed against a wall after Lea avoided his attack, the two had were still going at it...but neither were one upping the other at the moment. Lea wouldn't stop until Jester was dead, and Jester...seemed aggravated... But who knew? They were both soaked by rain, covered in blood, their own and their opponents, and slowly getting more and more exhausted. It was getting late... It seemed that they'd noticed that as well.


Jester's attacks weren't as aggressive as they had been not too long ago, he'd slowed down, he was hurt, and there was definitely a risk of him losing if Lea got hits on him, just like there was a risk of Lea losing if Jester got one stab in on her.


Lea jumped back, Jester jumped up onto a wall, and the two waited. Lea's hair was completely soaked, along with her clothing, she was in quite the mess... Definitely needed to clean up after this...but Jester wasn't really too different... There was another moment of silence, the only sound that could be hear was the pitter patter of rain as it landed on the floor, pooling up in dips in the concrete. Jester was holding his hand that Lea had cut into, a steady stream of blood heading down his right arm from the shoulder... It was time to leave. This wasn't worth the fight.


The girl looked up at Jester, waiting for him to strike, but he didn't. Instead he turned and fled down a back alley, but she didn't chase, he was fast, he'd be gone within seconds...and all of that would heal... What a shame... She couldn't kill him this time... If she'd had a little more time...or...been a little quicker...then maybe...

 

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how badly is lea hurt??


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"Is... Is it gone?" Jackson queried. He had shifted the angle of his neck and arms as Adrian changed position, and now the man lay on the ground, his upper back raised in the air and his head facing the same way as hid friend. Despite the constant rumbling of heavy raindrops splashing across the ground, the area had become quiet; no footsteps, no cries, no slamming of a kagune. Maybe Jester had given up. Jackson hoped that it had.


There was a large puddle forming over the ground on which Adrian and Jackson were sat. The water, thick with dissolved dust and dirt, swirled around Jackson's legs and made sodden his thin black trousers. He imagined that Adrian couldn't be comfortable where he was, either; his own clothes must be soaking up the rainwater like a dry sponge. Stand up, Jackson thought, but dared not to say aloud. Who knew how the boy would respond? And after such an ordeal...


It took a while for Jackson to be satisfied that the ghoul had indeed fled the scene, leaving Jackson, Lea and Adrian together under the swirling black clouds that loomed in the night sky. There was a biting chill in the air now, Jackson noticed - it was making him shiver. But he couldn't ask to leave yet. Lea was still there, and it looked like she was hurt.


"Lea," he began, leaning his head backwards to catch an upside-down glimpse of the girl. "Lea! Y-you... Are, uh, are you all right?"

 

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"Maybe next time..." Lea sighed, Jester really was a pain, he just wouldn't die... It was so annoying. Oh well, that fight was fun, at least she'd get to fight with him again sometime... Maybe then she'd get to kill him. "Hm?" The girl turned after hearing her name being called, she blinking bright eyes, smiling and walking over to the two.


After noticing that Jackson wasn't in his wheelchair she looked around, seeing it over against a wall, where she ran to, picked it up, and brought it over, placing it in front of the two boys. Through all of it she still smile.


"Yeah, I'm okay!" She walked like she hadn't just been in a fight, but it was obvious she had, she was scraped in multiple places, and there was blood dripping off of her sleeve...although whether that was Jester's or her own you couldn't really tell. "Just...a little messy..." The girl looked at her clothing and grumbled something, "Now it's all ruined... He could have been a little nicer about that..." She suddenly realised that she hadn't asked whether Jackson and Adrian were actually okay or not. Her head shot up and she looked at the two, eyes darting back and forth, "But...are you two okay? Jester is a handful... I guess you understand why Minnie didn't want you to come." She giggled, placing a hand behind her head.


"I'm fine!" Adrian stood up, trousers dripping with water, he didn't like this clothing...it was uncomfortable... Though the boy was more concerned about getting Jackson back in his chair. He was going to do it on his own when Lea walked over and smiled attempting to help too. It definitely was easier with the both of them lifting the man instead of just Adrian. He smiled at Lea afterwards out of thanks and then put his hands behind his back, not saying anything else.

 

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you want to take them home now or is there something else to do? hmm?


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Jackson mumbled his own answer to Lea as Adrian stood, leaving him lying flat on his back. "Yeah... I - I'm okay, too." Though he had certainly felt better in his life before, Jackson didn't think he was in much of a position to complain at the moment; whilst he was barely injured with his biggest misfortune being soaked from head to toe, Adrian had nearly been strangled and Lea was cut and bleeding. For once, Jackson was actually the best-off out of everyone he was with.


A wave of phantom grief suddenly washed over Jackson like the puddled rainwater lapping at his limp body. Even though everyone was okay, he found himself looking at imaginary scenes of horror. Adrian, eyes bloodshot and face swollen, strangled against the wall and dropped to the ground. Dead. Lea, a hole torn through her gut, falling to the ground as crimson liquid seeped from her wound. Dead.


Jackson shuddered just as he felt himself being lifted up off the ground. He had to get those pictures out of his head, but he couldn't look at Adrian's face without thinking about what a close call he had had. At least he could turn around to face the other way now that he had been sat back in his chair - so he did. He swivelled around, steering himself in the direction of the wall that Jester had disappeared over.


"Are you going to chase after him?" Jackson piped, speaking at Lea even though he looked away from the girl's face. Lea had been hurt as well. It might not be such a good idea for her to pursue such a malevolent creature alone or even with her two juniors. After all, it's not like I was any help back there, the man thought to himself as he chewed on his lower lip.

 

[Yoki]

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"Nah..." Lea looked in the same direction as Jackson, shaking her head, "There's no point. He'll come back eventually... He's hurt right now so he'll just keep running. Plus I don't know where he's gone!" She laughed, looking over at the two. "So yeah, ghouls." She held her hands in front of her, "I kinda lost everyone...we weren't meant to come this far out..." She looked around, "I'm guessing you guys live near here?"


"Yeah." Adrian nodded, smiling a little and fiddling around with his fingers behind his back, "Really close." Just like they had been with that ghoul... That was exciting! He enjoyed the fighting...but...the ghoul had looked sad...and he didn't know why. Was it getting to him? Nah, shouldn't be, it was probably a trick... Ghouls don't feel emotion like them. They kill people for food, that's why they were killed. They killed Leo... Of course they couldn't be sad. Not in the same way humans could.


"Um...well... Just be careful, 'kay? I dunno if he'll come around here again." The girl continued to stare at the wall for a few seconds, before turning one hundred and eight degrees, "So um...I'm supposed to get off... Strange meeting, right?" She giggled, "Well, um, if you're all okay... Have fun? Go home? Goodnight? Don't let the ghouls bite!" With that Lea simply took off in a run, she was straight to the point and obviously she did need to clean up, she didn't want to waste time with her juniors right now, even if she did like the two of them.


Adrian blinked in confusion at the sudden leave that Lea took, she was just gone like that... She did that often, it was just Lea. She wouldn't stick around if she wasn't needed, and it seemed like she was meant to be out on a job right now...so...she probably did need to leave. They'd have to check on her in the morning, but she was perfectly capable of handling herself, more so than Jackson and himself.


"Did you see his eyes?" He couldn't help the question coming from his mouth, but it really was interesting... Two completely black eyes with red irises... It was...fascinating.

 

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SORRY now the action's over it's back to somewhat shorter posts... because... y'know. conversation.


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"Huh? Whose eyes?" Jackson asked. He wasn't used to calling ghouls with human pronouns like 'he' and 'she'; 'it' was more suiting in his opinion. As much as they look like people, ghouls are just horrible predatory animals. They were awful creatures. But... There were no males around other than Adrian and himself except for the ghoul named Jester. Is he sympathising?


"Oh... You mean the ghoul. No, I didn't see them. I, uh, didn't really see much at all, to be completely honest." It wasn't a lie. Jackson's face had been against the ground for most of the fight, and the most he ever saw of Jester in action was the flashes of red from its kagune. But what was up with Adrian? Was there something weird about that thing's eyes? Is it blind? No, that's stupid, it was looking at us as we came in. Unless Jester was one of those incredibly rare one-eyed ghouls, Jackson couldn't find it in himself to imagine anything significant. "Anyway... Why... Why did you ask? Was it scaring you, or something?"

 

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"No." Adrian shook his head, "He wasn't scary..." He needed to stop this. Those eyes he'd seen were not human, they were something else... They were the same thing that had taken the one person he cared about most in this world, ghouls had killed Leo and they didn't deserve any sort of sympathy... He shouldn't feel like this... "They were just...an interesting colour..." If he could convince himself, then he could convince Jackson, that's all they were...an interesting colour. Fighting was fun, thinking about it afterwards was strange...


"We should go home..." The boy turned around, wrapping his arms around himself and walking back towards the bridge. It was getting late, and after this all he really wanted to do was sleep...and get out of these wet clothes... The longer they stayed out...the more soaked they became...but...as he was walking he couldn't help but ask the questions.


"Jackson..." He mumbled, looking over to the other male, "Can ghouls be sad?" Adrian needed to know, he needed to know whether what he saw in Jester's eyes was just his mind distorting everything...or...if he really was upset...he didn't know why he needed to know, but he did. "Do they...cry?"

 

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adrian ur a ghoul sympathiser ya coward


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"Well, they might do," Jackson guessed, raising his shoulders in a shrug. What an odd question, he thought, frowning to himself as he followed on behind Adrian. What on Earth would Adrian want to know about ghouish emotions? He understood that as investigators they were supposed to take an interest in ghouls, but trying to go that deep inside the animals' minds was sudden and unexpected.


"I mean, uh, emotion isn't a human-exclusive phenomenon. Most animals actually have emotions, which isn't that surprising since feelings like sadness or fear are just caused by different impulses and hormones. They help keep themselves and others of their kind alive... Like, like how kittens get happy when they play, and it, uhm, encourages them to keep going and teaching themselves how to hunt and fight. It's the same with ghouls. A survival mechanism." He was beginning to go off on one of his tangents - a spontaneous lecture built on the spot whenever he was questioned about a subject in which he had knowledge or interest. Jackson didn't often begin rambling on like this, and when he did it was only ever to Adrian or someone else he was close to - like Minnie or his parents. He kept talking as they crossed over streets and approached their apartment block again, seeming to forget about his fear and discomfort about being thrown around and soaked.

 

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"Oh." Adrian didn't like Jackson's answer, he didn't want to hear that. He wanted ghouls to be emotionless. That way he didn't have to feel bad about possibly making them upset, he didn't like upsetting people...and ghouls looked awfully like people... Well, when they didn't have their kagune out. After that he stayed silent, walking back towards the apartment building with his head down and wishing for the rain to stop...


Ghouls could feel emotion.


It wasn't that big a deal, if everything could then maybe it was different... He shouldn't worry about it. He'd just upset himself if he did.


The two entered the building, which was definitely warm compared to outside, and Adrian made his way to the elevator, still not speaking. He pressed the button, then waited... Being anywhere but the ground floor was always awkward, but he liked the view they got, so...it wasn't so bad. They were dripping went and so now there was water on the floor from where they'd come in, mud too, but they couldn't help that...and Adrian really wasn't paying attention...


"Jackson." Finally, as they were waiting for the elevator, Adrian spoke again. "You don't think we...upset him, do you?" It was a stupid question, if they were upset over it, he probably was too...or maybe he wasn't...maybe that wasn't how ghouls worked... Okay. He was just confusing himself now... Jackson would give him an answer.

 

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poor baby daru :<


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Jackson's lips set in a neat line as he heard Adrian's query. "I worry about you sometimes, you know," he said rather bluntly, rubbing once more as the nape of his neck.


The elevator arrived at the ground floor and its silvery-grey doors slid open before them. Once Adrian was in, Jackson turned himself backwards and reversed into the tiny cubic room with buttons lined up on two walls and a large mirror towards the back. He didn't bother looking at his own reflected image, not today. He knew that he looked like a mess; soaked and sodden with dirty rainwater, his drenched and ruffled mop of hair dark and curled at the edges. There was a thick layer of condensation on the inner surface of the lenses in front of his eyes and his face was crusted with mud. He didn't want to see that image, nor did he particularly want anybody else to. And Adrian's in the same boat... He's going to get a bruise on his neck, probably.


Instead of gazing at himself, Jackson punched in the number of their floor and used the idle time as an opportunity to carry on speaking. "Logically speaking, ghouls have no reason to get upset about being hunted. It's the same as any predator-prey situation in which the prey retaliates with a defensive gesture. I... I j-just really don't see why you're so hung up on this, mate."

 

[Yoki]

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"Mmn?" Adrian turned his head to the side, Jackson...worried about him? In what way? What was he on about? He didn't understand... It was...it was just a question, he wasn't upset about hurting the ghoul...no, he definitely wasn't, he wasn't... Jackson didn't need to worry...


Hastily, Adrian got into the elevator, avoiding looking in the mirror and instead putting his back to it. He probably looked awful right now...plus his neck hurt...and so did his shoulder from Teddy earlier on that day... It really had been a hectic day for him... At least he'd get to know about Quinx tomorrow. Hopefully.


The boy listened to Jackson as he spoke, saying that ghouls didn't really have a reason to get upset about being hunted...but they seemed pretty upset... He didn't seem happy about it, but...no one would be happen about being killed. At least...that's what he guessed.


"I dunno..." He shrugged, looking to the side, "Just...what if he's upset now?" This was getting ridiculous, the ghoul was probably eating another human by now...and he was worrying about whether it was upset or not? Jester probably didn't care, he probably only cared about regenerating his strength, Adrian shouldn't mention it anymore... He shouldn't have even said that... He should just shut up.

 

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The elevator slowed down as it reached the apartment building's ninth floor. The doors parted again and Jackson, being the last one in, was the first to make his way out. They didn't have more than a few metres to their apartment door now.


Jackson spent a few seconds fumbling through his own pockets for the key before realising that Adrian had it along with the car keys. Old habit made him forget that he wasn't living on his own anymore. At least I'm not getting my parents at the door every morning nowadays.


"Really, Adrian, it doesn't matter. It's a ghoul - if it's upset enough to throw a tantrum, that just makes our job easier," the man said as he approached the apartment's front door and set himself against the wall to clear Adrian's path. A strange notion suddenly entered his head after a moment more of thinking about the question. "Adrian... You aren't sympathising, are you? Investigators can lose their jobs over stuff like that."

 

[Yoki]

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Jackson was right, it was only a ghoul, no big deal... If they were upset then their job was easier... Killing it would be simpler. That's exactly how he should think, it wasn't a big deal. If Jackson didn't care, then he shouldn't care either. So why couldn't he stop thinking about it?


As they approached the door, Adrian went into his pocket for the keys, he pulled them out, slipping them into the lock and turning, unlocking the apartment. Then he swung the door open, stepping inside just as he heard Jackson's question to him. His head snapped up and he quickly looked over at the other.


"N-No. No, I'm...I'm not." He replied, "I don't care. I was just...I was interested..." That was right. He couldn't feel sorry for them...he could lose his job...and he really didn't want to do that. "I um...I'm gonna change..." He'd change really quickly, then he could go to be sooner... That was his thinking at least...but really Adrian just didn't want to think about that ghoul anymore, he wanted to occupy his time with something so he didn't have to think about ghouls in general.

 

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adrian we know what you're thinking~


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"Yeah. Yeah, no, of course. Uh, sorry for asking." Jackson took himself inside after Adrian and pushed the door closed himself, then reached up to the bolt and chain to manually lock it up himself.


He breathed in... Then out. Relax. It's over. Everyone was alive, everyone was safe. He was safe. Adrian was safe. Lea had escaped with no serious injuries. They were at home.


"You go and - and get changed, I'll just stay in the lounge for a bit."


Jackson fidgeted, pushing himself up in his chair by ramming his elbows into the arm rests on either side. He was uncomfortable in his own soaked clothes - the cotton of his shirt was practically plastered to his arms and torso, and his black, water-heavy tie hung loosely from beneath his collar. But as much as he wanted to get into warmer clothes, he just could not be bothered to go through the effort at this time of day. I'm just too tired right now. It's going to have to wait until bed.


Slowly and tiredly, Jackson took himself to the kitchen so that he could rummage in the lower cupboards for something quick he could eat from the packet. Pot noodles, couscous, no, no, I'd need to boil water for those... And I'm not eating pesto sauce from the jar. They would have to stock up on supplies the next day, judging by what Jackson could find in the cupboard.


Eventually he pulled out a half-full box of cereals, pulled out the plastic bag from inside and slid the cardboard casing onto the worktop. His hands weren't particularly clean, so there was little sense in digging his hand through the bag yet. Luckily for him, though, he often kept a bottle of hand sanitiser on the breakfast bar. It tended to make things easier. He reached up and grabbed the bottle from the surface when he got close enough, squirted the gel onto his palm and rubbed it in to his skin. Clean enough.

 

[Yoki]

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"Mhm." Adrian was lucky his room was nearest the door as he'd taken his shoes off in seconds and made straight for his door, quickly opening it and shutting it behind him. He wasn't sympathising with ghouls, he'd never do that... Not after what happened to Leo... It just wouldn't happen... He didn't care for ghouls at all. Anyway, he should just worry about getting his clothes off, they were soaking wet at the moment and sticking to his body... Plus if he kept them on for too much longer his entire floor was going to be soaking wet.


So, quickly, he took most of the wet clothing off and threw it into the wash basket in the corner of his room, then went to the cupboard to collect new clothing. It wasn't easy choosing what he wanted to wear, he was going to sleep soon enough anyway or-... Wait if Jackson was staying up then he should too right? He said he would... Yeah, okay, well...same clothing anyway. He took out a random t-shirt and pyjama bottoms that he kept in a drawer. Once he had them he threw them onto his bed and grabbed a towel, most of the mud had been washed away by water...and so Adrian decided it was probably best just to dry himself off and get a shower in the morning, which was exactly what he did.


Once dry, the boy picked up his clothing from his bed and stuck on the shirt and bottoms, he then grabbed some socks from his cupboard, sticking them on too. Okay. This was fine... At least it had calmed him down a bit. Surprisingly, Adrian hadn't really been too stunned by this whole situation, he was more intrigued by it... That was a ghoul, he wanted to see another one...what was it like to actually fight one? He'd only gotten a taster... What if...he actually full on fought one one day... Wow...


After standing like an idiot for a few seconds Adrian smile and headed to the door of his room, he flung it open, heading out just to run down into the living room to find Jackson.


"Jackson!" He called in his normal lively demeanour, it hadn't taken him long to put that back on. Looking at the couches he didn't see him, so he headed towards the kitchen, calling for the other again. "Jackson! Do we have food in?!"

 

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random ghoul-related news for the hell of it


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Jackson glanced up at Adrian from where he was sat in the kitchen. With a careful hand he placed the bottle of sanitiser back up on the breakfast bar and cradled the little bag of cereal to his stomach. "Not much in the cupboards," he reported, peeling the damp and dirty cotton of his sleeves away from his arms, one wrist at a time. "I don't know about the fridge, you'll have to check."


He took himself over to the space between the sofa and the window, reached towards the coffee table for the TV remote and clicked the power button. The screen lit up with a mid shot of a slender woman staring into the camera and words scrolling across a red bar on the bottom of the screen.


"...And eyewitnesses to the events have requested that the police treat the incident as ghoul-related after a number of locals had reported sightings of ghouls prior to the students' deaths," the newsreader emitted in a monotone voice. Jackson tutted out loud.


"There's been another slaughter in the south," he relayed to Adrian without looking at his friend. "They're hitting close to home for you. Cornwall, of all places... That's supposed to be the most peaceful area in the country."

 

[Yoki]

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"Okay." Adrian smiled at his friend and headed over to look in the fridge whilst the other went into the living room. There wasn't really much in there either, maybe a few fruits, butter, cheese, not much at all. The boy sighed and decided it was best just to grab whatever and go sit down again. So he took the unopened box of grapes that were sitting on the second shelf.


"Huh?" A slaughter in Cornwall? Someone was killed down there? You hardly ever got news from somewhere like Cornwall. Huh... "Oh..." Adrian headed out of the kitchen and into the living room standing just where the two rooms met to stare at the television. So another person killed...he guessed this was why the CCG existed, and why ghouls had to be eradicated.


After a few seconds of watching the television he went and sat down on the couch, bringing his legs up and crossing them before placing the box of grapes on his ankles, opening it, and starting to eat. It wasn't easy for him to empathise with these cases, even after Leo had been killed, he had a problem with empathy in general...but he knew it wasn't good that someone had been killed.


"Do you think they'll catch the ghoul?" He asked, turning his head to the older man, he wanted to make conversation, but he wasn't sure what about now... After that encounter and all...

 

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SORRY I TOOK SO GODDAMN LONG


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"The one on the news?" Jackson blew air out through his nostrils and shoved a hand into the bag of cereal, scooping out a handful of the breakfast food and pouring them into his mouth. He spoke again with his mouth full. "Mmph - they don't even know if it is a ghoul doing all the killing. It could just be some sick human tearing people to bits..."


Tearing people to bits. The thought brought about a chill that travelled down the bones of his neck like the tip of an icy finger. Ghouls tended to dismember their victims in brutal and gruesome ways - he knew from the pictures he'd seen in the archives. It was never a pretty sight, even if the photographs dulled the effect of the gore. Jackson hated it.


Searching for a way to change the subject, Jackson recalled the conversation he and Adrian had had in the CCG car park what seemed like forever ago. "Hey, Adrian. Aren't you tired? It's been... A long day."

 

[Yoki]

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Jackson was right, they didn't know if it really was a ghoul or not, and even if it was...how would they find it? Adrian just nodded and kept eating his grapes, watching the television closely... People died all the time, this was just another death, there were millions of them daily... They couldn't stop them all...


He was sitting for a minute or so before he heard Jackson speak again, bringing up what they'd talked about in the car park when Adrian had asked whether he could go to sleep when they got home.


"Kinda." He replied, stuffing another grape into his mouth, "But...I'm fine. I mean, I can stay up if you want me to. I don't mind." It was then that he noticed that Jackson was still in the clothes that he'd been wearing during the ghoul attack, "And...you should get out of those. You'll get a cold or something..." It wasn't good to keep on wet clothes, that was something that Leo would always complain about him doing as a child...he said he'd get pneumonia or something similar if he did that.

 

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Jackson shook his head at the mention of his damp clothes and grabbed with one hand at the sodden tie wrapped around his neck. "Nah, I, uh, can't be bothered to change at the moment, to be honest. I'll do it whenever I - whenever we go to bed."


On top of being too exhausted to move, Jackson wasn't too worried about catching a cold; it had been at least a month or two since he was last ill, and there was a part of him that wanted to tell Adrian that "Being cold and damp only weakens the immune system and has nothing to do with picking up viruses." But for the sake of ease he kept quiet and shoved another handful of cereal into his mouth. I probably shouldn't be eating this junk, he scolded himself as the bag slowly emptied until its contents simply consisted of a collection of crumbs.


"Let's switch to something a bit more cheerful," Jackson suddenly suggested, grabbing at the remote control again. The news was dismal, the news was glum. All it ever talked about was death, disaster and despair. Can't they do reports about National Dog Day or something? One-by-one he clicked at the button on the pad in his hands, causing the television to change to the next channel along "Ah ha..." Jackson called out as he saw the familiar arrangement of letters flash at the bottom of the screen. The films channel was broadcasting the original The Matrix. "This any good for you?"

 

[Yoki]

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"Mmn...are you...sure?" Adrian turned his head to the side and stopped eating, "Leo told me you could get ill from that." Something the boy sometimes did was refer to his brother as if the male wasn't dead... Maybe sometimes he forgot that he was. He'd never been good at talking solemnly about Leo, nor like it was in the past, he guessed it was a mechanism he used in order to help himself forget the other was dead, if he pretended...then for just that moment that he had to talk about his brother, everything was fine. It stopped him getting upset.


"Then again... He also told me that if I ate too many sweets I was gonna explode into a million sweet pieces." The boy laughed and stuffed more grapes into his mouth, a smile still on his face. It was always after he spoke about Leo that he had to do something, so he rocking back and forth slightly, seemingly perfectly content, and stuffed more and more grapes into his mouth. Adrian had dealt with his brother's death unhealthily, and he often refused to address the issue if anyone brought it up.


As Jackson changed the channel Adrian turned his head to the side, blinking a few times. The Matrix? He'd never seen this one before... "What's this?" He asked, in response to Jackson's question, of course he didn't mind anything that was put on...but...still...he wanted to know what it was about... Well...if Jackson even knew himself.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

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NOTES

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i finished this post 10 minutes ago and just forgot to post it smh


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Jackson chuckled voicelessly along with Adrian. He, too, had fond memories of Leo - after all, the older boy had been his best friend before Adrian ever stepped into his life. Leo was a good guy.


Jackson remembered his life after having just turned thirteen. He and Leo would run through the streets together or dare one another to pull off stunts like climbing up the neighbour's wall. We got in so much trouble for that one, he thought to himself. The memories brought a smile to his face.


"Leo... Leo's a smart guy," Jackson reminded himself out loud, making sure to avoid using the word 'was' directly. He knew about Adrian's aversion to the topic of Leo's death. It was a tragedy that a kid the age of Adrian at the time was far too young to get through on his own. No wonder he's still traumatised. It was bad enough that taking care of Jackson was tearing up the younger boy's life, but to be dealing with such a loss on top of everything else... Jackson didn't want to lose Adrian to the depression that must have been shadowing him for so many years. Time to change the subject.


"What!? You've never seen The Matrix before?" Jackson gasped in a lackluster feign of enthusiasm. All right, it's time to act like the complete geek I am, then. He had to keep Adrian's mind off his brother before he entered darker territory. "All right, okay, I'll... Let me pause it a sec - okay, done. It - it's a, uh, it's a film about this hacker called Neo, and one day he gets a message from - oh, spoilers. Nevermind, then, just - just trust me, err, it's good. You'll like it."

 

[Yoki]

Dead Enmity

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"Mhm! Really smart! I guess he has to be though..." Adrian looked down, realising he was pretty much out of grapes at this point, "Mom and dad aren't the smartest, and I'm kinda stupid so..." Jackson was right to move on with the conversation, things could start off light about Leo, but Adrian always somehow managed to weave it into darker subjects, subjects that he shouldn't really talk about. It wasn't like he meant to, but when the older boy had died Adrian hadn't had anyone...and he still had no family...no blood family at least... His parents were still in jail...Leo was gone... And he missed them all. Was it strange to miss people who didn't love you as much as people who did?


If it wasn't for Jackson changing the subject and talking about The Matrix then Adrian probably would have been thinking about his brother the entire night, but his mind was quickly taken off of it as his friend tried to explain the plot of the movie to him. Whilst it wasn't much of a description just hearing about a hacker in it intrigued Adrian. He liked computers, and he thought hackers were pretty cool, so maybe he really would like it.


"There's a hacker?" He looked up from his hands, which had now gone to wrap around his ankles, and instead focused on the screen in front of him. The movie was only just starting so he couldn't judge it yet...but it seemed okay. "But why is it called The Matrix?" Adrian asked, turning his attention back to Jackson again. He looked happy enough, it seemed like he wasn't thinking about Leo anymore, just the movie that Jackson had turned on.


Adrian rocked back and forwards a little again, turning his head to look to the screen whilst waiting for Jackson's answer. If it was about a hacker...then what did The Matrix have to do with it? He just...he wanted to know more about it was all.

 

[yaint]

tฬเxt

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NOTES

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no notes


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"Well, a matrix is actually a name for a piece of code, and that's kind of fitting since the entire world in the film is just a simulation. It's a code, so they call it a matrix..." Jackson continued to go on and on, beginning to make the extravagant hand gestures he so sparsely did in the view of others. It seemed as though he really were forgetting about their conversation concerning Leo, but he was making an effort to keep the topic away from that path. For Adrian's sake, we can't afford to talk about it.


Eventually, Jackson appeared to run out of things to say - all other thoughts aside, he didn't even know if he could carry on talking at all; he was out of breath. Maybe I'm getting unfit again... I'll have to start working out when I can, the man decided silently. Curling small weights wasn't that difficult. It was something that he could manage.


"Well, I should... Just let you watch it..." He was trailing off now, pausing between words to catch his breath. With the click of a button, the film was rolling again and Jackson fell silent, eyes trained on the screen. He was completely absorbed within seconds.