derailing | sometimes these cuts are so much deeper than they seem

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!arts and lovecrafts

sometimes these cuts are so much deeper than they seem

[It's been a rough day. Sure, Ryuunosuke's been sleeping through most of it, but recovering from a massive shoulder injury takes a lot out of you! Especially when you can't magically heal, goddammit Tsukiyama. Ryuunosuke doesn't regret it at all but he still feels sort of out of it after that conversation yesterday. Overall he feels better (ignoring the pain, of course) but for the majority of the day he's done nothing but sleep and lie in bed.

Ryuunosuke is actually up in the evening, but he's only sitting at the desk and writing. As usual, it's in Chinese and he pauses every so often to twirl the pen between his fingers while he thinks. He's never been the sort to keep notes or anything, but writing down his thoughts has actually helped him tremendously. It's a way to vent his feelings without having to talk to anyone. No wonder people keep diaries! He's got several sheets covered in writing around the time the nighttime announcements should go off, but he's not expecting Tsukiyama for a little while longer. Tsukiyama doesn't have anything to worry about from the other students after all, and Ryuunosuke doubts anyone would kill this early in the evening anyway.

The door is open a crack as usual, so Tsukiyama can let himself in should he want to!]

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[Tsukiyama will be stopping in earlier than he normally does, if for no better reason than there's not much else for him to do tonight; he's feeling restless, not least of which because it's Thursday nights and it seems that this place has settled into a pattern.

Someone will be dead in the morning; he's a bit curious to find out who it's going to be.

His company for the evening also seems to have noticed, and she'd wanted to move downstairs early; that was fine by him, as he has some things to discuss with Ryuunosuke before they sleep.

He knocks on the door as a courtesy before letting himself in; announcing his presence more than anything, and he shuts the door behind him once he's in the room.]

It's good to see you up, Uryuu.

Oh, hey! You're back early.

[Ryuunosuke finishes up his sentence and sets the pen down before turning to Tsukiyama.]

I'm feeling a bit less dead now. --Ah, I probably shouldn't say that tonight, should I?

[He's smirking though. Obviously he won't be a victim since he's staying in the room all night.]

I imagine there's going to be at least one person who can't say that come morning.

[Tsukiyama did you just]

[THIS IS WHY HE LOVES YOU]

Hah! Who do you think it's going to be this time?

...I don't know yet, but you aren't leaving the room until morning.

I have several reasons for saying that, by the way. Things that probably should be discussed with you - I may have become aware of a few problems.

Well yeah, of course I'm not going to--

[Uh oh, that doesn't sound good.]

What happened?

I think there may be others that are like me here. Ghouls. Two of them.

[He sounds...strange when he says it; more interested than threatened, at any rate.]

[Well yeah, of course Tsukiyama wouldn't be threatened. He's the best ghoul!!]

No way, really? Who...?

[He's pretty sure he's seen everyone eat. Admittedly he doesn't pay much attention in the mornings and he just snacks all day, but no one is sticking out immediately.]

Miss Everett and Mochizuki-san.

Everett and Mochizuki... uh...

[HANG ON HE DOESN'T KNOW THEIR LAST NAMES let him find his stupid ID thing and look them up--]

Oh, Merdiana and Ryoji-- really?

[He glances up at Tsukiyama curiously.]

I don't remember seeing them eating or... not eating or anything, but I guess I haven't been keeping a close eye on that. What makes you think they're ghouls?

Silver-kun has told me that Mochizuki-san sleeps very little, and more noticeably he doesn't eat. He'll do it when he's reminded or told to, but otherwise he doesn't seem to need to. Lately he's taken to locking himself in his room for long periods of time - and perhaps more telling, he's been locking Silver-kun out.

Miss Everett, on the other hand...she smells similar to someone I know - someone who's one of us, but his body has been modified. I think she may have experienced the same, she's mentioned doctors and medical procedures...the fact that she seems to be from an earlier time is irrelevant, as ghouls have existed for centuries. It's not unreasonable to think she's one of ours as well. She's another that never eats, and she seems to be falling ill and having complications that she isn't willing to elaborate on.

Bluntly put, I think they're both starving and starting to feel the effects of it. I believe Mochizuki-san has been better off than Miss Everett, but I don't know how much that's saying.

Huh... Ryoji was helping me out yesterday morning and he seemed fine then. Do you think he could be...?

[Well, he shares a room with Silver, so maybe they're also doing the whole "eating your friend" thing. Hopefully with less insanity involved.]

Do you think one of them is going to make a move tonight then?

[He's very curious about what sort of modifications Tsukiyama's talking about, but this is slightly more important.]

...I don't know. Miss Everett didn't seem to want to linger on the upper floors past the announcement - I met with her tonight.

[...]

If I know about them, there's a chance they'll know about me; we're all on a time limit, and I don't know if they're the sort to try to make this into a territory dispute or not when they become starved out enough to become aggressive.

Oh man...

[Ryuunosuke runs a hand through his bangs.]

So... What do you want me to do? Assuming neither of them kill anyone tonight, that's going to make next week really difficult. I can try to stay in here if you think that'll help.

...Just be aware of them for now, and try to avoid being out after the announcements. If they decide to get into some sort of dispute with me, I can handle it.

[...But he likes being out after the nighttime announcement...]

Alright. I won't put myself at risk. I promised.

[He's perfectly fine with not risking his neck. Or any of his other body parts.]

But hey... if you think you're in over your head...

[Tsukiyama's too proud to admit something like that though, right?]

Look just... don't get hurt to the point where you can't heal yourself, alright? I don't mind doing what I can to help, but people are going to start asking questions if I lose a limb or something.

[ryuunosuke]

...You remember the first motive we received, don't you? I showed you what I was given.

I survived that.

[...!!!!!!!]

Wait... wait, that one where your arm and your head were-- You survived that? You're sure?

[He moves to get up, but he's a bit too dizzy to manage that and resettles in the chair instead.]

You haven't said very much about your memories so I didn't realize... But if you can heal from that then there really shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?

[Ryuunosuke actually looks really hopeful at that.]

Yes and no - I imagine you also recall what the building I was in looked like.

[...You know, the thing that used to be the interior of a church.]

That's what happens when ghouls fight; that was the work of maybe two others, along with myself - I think I was fighting both of them at once and was eventually overpowered.

So if we decide to fight here...well, it's going to be obvious. It'll likely be brutal but over reasonably quickly - I have no doubt that I can subdue Miss Everett, but I'm not sure about Mochizuki-san. If what I suspect about him is correct, his kagune is likely one that's strong against mine - if that's the case, it's a matter of whether I outrank him or not in terms of strength, which I obviously won't know until we're already fighting.

Oh... yeah, it looked pretty bad.

[If they fight anywhere in the hotel, it's going to destroy something. That destruction of property rule is worrying, but Tsukiyama's said something that's even more concerning.]

Do you think you'll be okay?

[Ryuunosuke has no idea how this is going to go. Tsukiyama's told him a good amount about ghouls (he thinks, at least) but he has no idea how strong Tsukiyama actually is in comparison to other ghouls. With a weapon like that he certainly looks like he'd be skilled in a fight, but that motive picture is worrying.

Meridiana obviously isn't anyone to worry about, at least not for someone like Tsukiyama. Ryoji is a wildcard and one Ryuunosuke can't even attempt to figure out.]

[Hmm.]

It would be strategically...prudent, for Mochizuki-san and I to handle Miss Everett first, assuming what I suspect about her kagune is correct - ah, here...

[Just...let him get that motive photograph out of his inside pocket, because he...carries that with him as though that's not creepy at all. He'll be bringing it over, pointing out some of those dark shrapnel shards that have torn into the pews once the photo is in Ryuunosuke's line of sight.]

This is something that acquaintance of mine does - her kagune is designed to create projectiles. The kagune itself emerges from just above the shoulder, higher up than mine; they often resemble wings of some sort, but not always. They're efficient and very fast-moving, but they run out of energy quickly - designed to get their job done and then that's the end of it.

It makes the most sense to me that that's the sort of thing Miss Everett can do; I don't think she can sustain anything else. But the projectiles would make her a bit of a nuisance to deal with...

[...Anyway.]

I think she'll be handled with no difficulty. I don't know about Mochizuki-san, however. He...may pose a problem.

[It's not really answering the question any, but at the very least it's providing some sort of vague idea of what this might end up looking like.]

I'd give it maybe fifteen minutes at the longest - again, brutal, but fast.

[Wings, huh? That sounds kind of pretty too. Ryuunosuke takes a moment to try to imagine what the sitting room would look like once Meridiana is done with it. Even if her projectiles look nothing like the ones in Tsukiyama's picture, it's still going to be awful.

But assuming she won't be too much of a threat, there's still Ryoji.]

How much of a problem?

[He's not intentionally hiding his eyes, but his bangs are in the way while he studies the photograph. Ryuunosuke's voice is strangely blank, as is his expression.

Tsukiyama won't die to this. Tsukiyama can't die to this.]

Enough of a problem for me to mention it as possibly being one.

[He's aware that Ryuunosuke is likely getting upset, but at the same time, he did say last night that he wants to know about potential issues.]

Again, it's going to come down to a matter of strength. I'm used to sparring against someone stronger than I am; if Mochizuki-san isn't, there won't be an issue.

[...Well when you put it like that, he really did ask for this... Some part of him is pleased that Tsukiyama is actually talking about it, but...]

Is there anything I can do?

[He knows there isn't. Fighting a ghoul is out of the question, even if he did know how to fight. Getting involved at all is impossible. He'll be killed instantly.]

I... I really hope nothing happens. I don't want... I don't want you to get hurt.

...It's in our best interests to not move at all, much less against each other. We're going to destroy property if we fight, and we're still going to have to stand trial after being outed to everyone else. It won't end well.

But there's also a chance that one of us will decide we won't care, and that may set the others off. It's possible nothing will happen, it's possible we may have a bloodbath on our hands within the next week.

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