ғɪᴠᴇ. [ action; Dead District, Sunday evening ]

[secondcomingof]

WHO: Pretty much all of you! Except Kallie. She sucks.
WHAT: Werewolf Hunting the Movie, starring yours truly.
WHERE: All around the Dead District.
WHEN: Forward dated to Sunday evening.

[ The hour is late. The sky is dark and the stars are out, the only guidance they'll have for this mission—and this was a mission, in Casval Mass' mind. One he intended on carrying out and returning successfully from, despite the difficulties involved.

He sends out the mass text to everyone when the hour draws near with the full details of their rallying point, sitting on the same trunk from his previous post on the network. He's dressed the same as always; in full captain's regalia, boots polished to an almost severe shine, coattails flickering in the gentle evening's breeze. The only sign of nervousness lingers in the occasional twitch of his knuckles. Otherwise, he's primed and ready for the challenges ahead, keeping a lookout for his "forces" as they arrive.

He's got no delusions about what's going down here. The borderline murderous intent is clear in his eyes. Let them come, his sharp gaze reads.

Let them come so I can kill them all. ]

(( And here we go! Operation: Werewolf is now go! Tag at will! Team assignments can be checked here while you are waiting. Please make sure to mark this post with your appropriate character tag as well.

EDIT: The mingling threads will proceed for awhile to give people time to tag in. Keep an eye out for special threads to go up. Until then, you're wolf free... for now. Please do not NPC running into the wolves, or the wolves themselves. At this time of estimation, they'll likely start appearing tomorrow evening at the earliest, but watch this space for updates. ))

Comments

OH LOOK I GOT TO USE THIS ICON ALREADY.

[redelivers]

[ Even though Casval gave Toshi some brief training on how to load, aim, and fire a pistol, Toshi didn't want to risk fucking it up on the field and getting the people counting on him in trouble. For that reason he also grabbed up a tire iron out of the back of his van, just in case. Since there's not exactly a good place to holster that sort of thing, he has it in his hand right now.

Which turns out to be a good thing, as the next thing he's aware of there's the sound of metal grinding against metal, a spray of sparks--

He jumps back from Hajime just in time to feel a searing pain in his arm. ]

Shit--

[ What the hell was that? There's too much to process and all Toshi can do for the moment is stare at the aftermath.

Hajime's over there, sword drawn. Blood on the blade. The tire iron he was holding-- He doesn't even see it. Faintly, he remembers it getting wrenched out of his hand. And his arm--

Oh. He's bleeding. ]

DAMMIT SIR

[iaijutsu]

[Hajime, for his part, seems equally surprised, his gaze flicking between the sword in his hand, to Toshi's arm, back to the sword -

- he did that. Had anything gone differently - if Toshi didn't have the tire iron, if he'd been standing a bit closer, if he had moved a little slower - Hajime could've taken his arm off. Or worse.

And for a moment, all he can think about is those strange memories from before. Of accepting a mission knowing he might kill or be killed, of feeling the bullets go through him and thinking that he could at least take a few more of them (whoever "they" even were) with him before he was gone...

He's not sure who he was or what he was doing, in those pieces of memory.

But if this is what he was capable of, then he doesn't want this to be him.]

I...

[The sword slips from his hand, clattering to the ground, and he brings that hand up to cover his mouth.]

I didn't - are you okay?

Re: DAMMIT SIR

[redelivers]

I'm fine.

[ The response is automatic. His arm is throbbing and the torn fabric of his sleeve is feeling increasingly wet, but somehow he's sure he's fine. Because he's always fine, because he has to be fine, because he's the only one who can--

Toshi feels exhausted suddenly. Beyond all words and all expression. He sways a little on his feet, shutting his eyes briefly as he tries to force that feeling away.

Right, he should be putting pressure on the wound. ]

Hajime, you attached to that jacket?

[ Because he'd take his own off but he's not sure about moving his arm too much. ]

[iaijutsu]

[He swallows hard, freezing for only a moment longer before snapping into action, hastily pulling his jacket off and stepping closer to Toshi.]

No. I -

- I'm so sorry.

[redelivers]

[ Toshi doesn't reply right away in favor of sitting down on a nearby discarded crate, messily folding Hajime's jacket into something resembling a square before pressing it down on his arm. He lets out a sharp his through his clenched teeth, sweat beading on his brow. God that hurts like a bitch--

He takes a few deep breaths to force down the pain before he addresses Hajime again. ]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you didn't mean to almost take my arm off, so you can stop saying you're sorry any time now.

Unless of course you did, in which case I guess you owe me an explanation and a fruit basket.

[iaijutsu]

[Hajime takes a small step backwards, ducking his head in shame.]

I didn't. I just -

[- reacted.

- didn't think I was capable of that.

- don't want to be capable of that.]

[redelivers]

Got startled. It's fine. What the fuck else were you supposed to do? It's dark, we're somewhere in the goddamned asscrack of this city, and we're hunting werewolves.

I should've known better.

[ Toshi just shrugs at that, hoping at least some of his words will reach Hajime but not all that optimistic that they will. Hajime's just a good kid like that. Takes things hard. Somehow knows the definition of responsibility at his age. Not like some people. ]

...how'd you learn to use a sword like that anyway? Take a class or something?

[iaijutsu]

...I didn't know. Not until I picked it up.

[And as disorienting as the memories have been, he's not sure if this isn't perhaps even more so. He could almost write the memories off as some kind of feverish product of an overactive imagination, if he were inclined to try hard enough to convince himself. If not for everything else going on around them.

But actions aren't dismissed so easily, and as he finally stoops down to pick up the sword from where it fell, he knows as soon as he feels the hilt in his hand that he could do it again. Easily, even. The balance of the blade isn't quite right, but -

- stop thinking about that.]

[redelivers]

[ Toshi's eyes widen slightly at that.

Although, now that he thinks about it, he doesn't even remember responding. Just that his body knew where to move and how, that he'd been at a disadvantage but still tried to minimize the damage he received.

He's not sure if the bleeding is slowing, but he doesn't exactly want to lift the jacket to check. ]

So like... it's one of those things? Like my...

...

The fuck is even going on anymore? And here I thought I didn't know where my life was headed before--

[iaijutsu]

[He nods silently in response to that, even if the question is all but rhetorical.

And although he shares in some degree of Toshi's confusion, at the same time, he can't help but think that whatever the fuck is going on, it's at least...adding up, somehow. The reflexes, the swordsmanship - it matches the memories, however little he has to go on.

There's a bigger picture, and he's not sure what it adds up to, but -

- despite how much he doesn't like what he's seen, at the same time...he can't just stop going after it. Not now.

He needs to know.]

[deathcough]

[Well, this was a weird thing to have witnessed. Luckily, it's Souji to the rescue--sort of--with Keisuke close behind. He'd run out to grab the professor as soon as he could, dragging him along with a "Toshi might have just almost died, I dunno there's a lot of blood."

He might have been exaggerating, but he bursts onto the scene, breathing hard and waves his hands] Have no fear, I've arrived. With the cavalry in tow.

[scarlet_ink]

Toshi, Hajime-- I told you all you shouldn't get mixed up in this kind of--...

*Keisuke breaks off as he hurries to Toshi's side, having run a little too far and too fast to have much breath left for lecturing. It's a good thing he went out and bought a new first aid kit after the other day -- he dumps his things a bit shakily on another crate next to Toshi and starts to unpack; he's hoping that mister med student over there will be okay enough to help, because this sort of thing isn't exactly his field.*

What happened?

[redelivers]

[ Toshi decides to cut in before Hajime gets the chance to say anything. ]

--I got lost. Must've... snagged my arm on something when I jumped the fence to get over here. Fuck. I didn't even notice I was bleeding until I got over here, but it hurts like a bitch now.

But it's fine. I do worse to myself on the job.

[ Even as he speaks, he casts a sharp glare in Souji's direction, trying to silently convey to him to keep his fucking mouth shut just in case he saw anything before running off to get Keisuke. Hajime's looking distraught enough without dragging his damned professors into the circle of people who know he just reflexively nearly amputated his friend. ]

[iaijutsu]

[Hajime's mouth is already open to say something when Toshi cuts in.

And then it snaps shut again.

It feels wrong. He should be taking responsibility - this was his fault, he's the one who screwed this up -

- but somewhere under that, there's the feeling that he should just keep his mouth shut and let Toshi handle it as he chooses. Because deferring to Toshi feels right somehow in a way that outweighs the impulse to tell the truth and own up to what he's done.]