vatheon | I've been believing in something so distant, as if I was human...

Who: Rin, Shing, Kohaku, Vanitas [Open thread here!]
Where: Starting at Shing and Kohaku's apartment
When: Early evening
Style: Prose
Status: CLOSED
WARNING: Character death, blood, violence, all the things that go with having Vanitas involved

Grocery bags on his arms, sword on his back, Rin walked through the city to a familiar apartment complex not that far from his own. After what had happened at the ice cream shop and his visit to them, Kohaku had given Rin a key to their apartment, saying that if he ever needed to go some place that wasn't his own home or Maka's, or if he just wanted to come over and cook without having to be invited, he could go there even when they weren't home. And it really had become like a second home to him. It was familiar, comfortable, and reminded him of when he still lived at the abbey, cooking meals for the priests.

For all the things that had been tripping him up lately, Rin was feeling surprisingly optimistic with his current situation. He had good friends, a great girlfriend, and had managed to hold down a job for longer than a month for the first time in years. Vatheon had it's fair share of annoyances, sure, but it had been a surprisingly good place for Rin. Even if he did miss his brother and other classmates back home.

These were the thoughts that kept him moving, and the thoughts he was going over when he approached the apartment and headed to the floor where Shing, Kohaku and Beryl lived. Something made him stop, though, his hand hovering above the door handle. A strange feeling came over him, like the crawling sensation of being watched.

He wheeled around, but nothing except the empty hallway and the dulled yellowed lights greeted him. One flickered down the way, some three or four doors down, but nothing else moved. There was no noise, no movement, absolutely nothing that should have given him that feeling.

Yet it was still there.

His blue eyes narrowed at the flickering light, but after a few minutes he sighed and shook his head.

"Damnit... get it together..." he mumbled to the air, finally turning the key in the door and heading inside.

It was nothing... right?

((ooc: Alright, this is the log for the plot that was recently discussed on the OOC comm! Obviously it's closed, but there should be room for reactions and other things at a later point! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

At first, there was nothing, save for a very slight twitching of his fingers. But then a low growl sounded from the back of Rin's throat. His hand lashed out yet, claws aiming for the one responsible for wounding him.

Legion was lucky enough to be just out of reach of Rin's claws. Their Revenant wasn't as lucky, though. The rifle went flying out their hands, a high mechanical warbling coming from Legion as they lunged forward to try and grab Rin's arms. They were too close to try their sniper rifle, so they were going to try to use their inhuman strength to overpower Rin and force him to stop.

Rin had just as much strength, if not more in his current state, and he pushed back against Legion's grip with a feral growl. The sword was still in his hand, though, fueling his rage and his flames.

It would have to get knocked away from him some how, in order for there to be any chance of calming him down.

Legion warbled again, this time sounding almost angry. They struggled with Rin, tightening their grip on the arm holding the sword, mostly in an attempt to turn it away to avoid getting injured in the struggle.

"Cease your actions at once!"

There was no answer from Rin. At least, no coherent answer. Just a roar, like that of an enraged tiger fighting back against an enemy. He managed to yank his sword arm away from Legion, only to swing the flaming blade right back at them, intending to strike hard and fast.

Normally, Legion wouldn't have to worry about a sword attack, but Rin has enough strength behind the strike that instead of just ricocheting off his metal carapace, the sword actually embedded into Legion's shoulder.

While they were lucky enough that the strike didn't sever any important fuel lines, their left arm was now practically useless. The flaps around their head flared up and Legion kicked out, trying to kick Rin in the stomach to force him away.

Rin took the hit right in the gut and went tumbling end over end backwards. The sword, however, did not come with him. His clawed hand let go of the hilt, and with the release his flames also died down.

They didn't dissipate completely, a few blue flames still flickering small here and there, but for the most part Rin was down and was not getting up again. He lay on his back, arms sprawled out and wild eyes staring straight up with only a lingering sense of his humanity awareness in them. He panted heavily, practically wheezing with that strange demonic dual-voice making whining, pained noises.

Legion doesn't even flinch when they pulled the sword from their arm, tossing it to the ground not too far away as they approached Rin.

"Are you calm now?"

Not as calm as one might want him to be after all that. In fact he still tried to get up, growling and snarling through clenched fangs.

But he didn't stay up. There was a wobble as he got about halfway, and then promptly collapsed right on to his back again. It was then that the demonic traits finally started to dissipate. Ears and teeth shortened, claws vanished and the last of the flames flickered away and left.

But with that came his humanity, and with that the awareness of what he had done. A very human, very pained and anguished noise escaped from him as he curled in to a ball on the ground.

Legion actually backed up a step, hands coming up defensively at the sound, as the emotion behind it doesn't quite register with them.

But when Rin made no move to attack again, Legion came forward, peering intently at the boy on the ground.

Wait. They recognized that boy.

"Okumura Rin?"

The name made him look up, tears streaming down his soot-and-blood covered face. He recognized Legion, barely, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Another sob was all that escaped, hands coming over his face.

Legion knelt down beside Rin, hesitating for a second before putting a hand on Rin's shoulder. Organics did this to comfort other organics, right?

Rin tensed at that, managing to stifle another sob. He sat up slowly, exhausted, beat to hell, face tear stained and dirt streaked. His blue eyes surveyed the area, the burning park and the ruined trees before they closed again tightly, further tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I... I did this..."

"Why?"

Such a simple question, and yet probably the most complicated one Legion could have asked Rin.

"He... killed my friends..."

That was all Rin could say. Who was obviously unclear, but getting much more out of him was probably going to be difficult.

"You risked the lives of many people because one person killed your friends. Your logic is faulty."

Legion wasn't exactly good at figuring out the boundary between things they could ask and things they really shouldn't ask.

"I didn't... mean to... I just blacked out..."

Rin shook his head, burying his face in his hands again. He hadn't meant to lose it like that, but seeing his friends as they were, dead in front of him with his blade through them... it was more than he'd been able to handle.

"There is no organized law enforcement agency in this city, so you will not be punished. But beware retaliatory actions that may be made by citizens of this town."

Legion, that was definitely not the right thing to say.

"Ju... just leave me... alone...!"

Rin didn't care. If they came after him, fine. He deserved it, after all.

"Then goodbye, Okumura Rin."

Legion wasn't exactly the best being to be giving comfort to anyone.

I've been believing in something so distant, as if I was human...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject