jigokulogs | semi-closed 🔪 the extent of my affections are destroying me

That might be a more fair question, had I not formulated my plans hours ago. But the answer is less tawdry than you'd think. There are several youkai I've made the acquaintance of who prefer to conduct business later simply by being nocturnal.

[the implications, she accepts, and then lets go as one does a feather. they have to be.]

If I was getting into anything worse, I'd surely go alone.

[though, she does check both ways before crossing the street. people are far too happy to fight each other recently, and she's been toying with the idea of wearing the pin for affiliation more frequently.]

"Nocturnal." [ Nishitani he doesn't particularly like the idea of Emily going out and about when it's so dangerous, especially alone, to go visit some "Nocturnal" yokai. Chances are it's a sting, chances are its a set up, chances are bad that things will actually go the way Emily wants. ]

[ Nishitani doesn't say that, though. He's here to play body guard in Majima's place. Simple, clean, done and done. ]

If I meet one trustworthy guy who's also nocturnal, I'll cut my own dick off.

Fortunately, you'll have a physician nearby to stem the bleeding.

[still, something doesn't seem right. doesn't sound right. there are generally sounds of a scuffle on the street often, and she has to grit her teeth through it - but what catches her ear sounds like a little more than a basic fight, and she pauses, posture tight.]

...We might need to take a different route.

Trouble? [ Nishitani has his knife out immediately, sticking close to Emily but poking his nose down some of the dark alley's around them, where something unwelcome just might pop out from. He doesn't see anything, not particularly, just some scuffles he doesn't want to get involved with either. Whatever has her on her toes, he can't find it. ]

Let's get off the main road, Emikko. No use fighting fucking shadows.

[she might just be paranoid, and makes herself take a breath, before gesturing in the direction they can go. this way will take more time, but they're avoiding the conflict, and she'll be able to calm down.]

Sorry...with the haniwa around, I never quite feel at ease.

[it's probably another haunting. that energy sets her teeth on edge, too familiar, just enough to be wrong, cold metal felt through gloves. it unnerved too many people for things to be predictable, normal, safe. but this route is quiet, and Emily continues on, mentally going over the list of what she needs to order from the youkai they're going to meet.]

Those little clay fuckers? They've done nothing wrong. [ Nishitani has not felt the cool reach of power the little clay idols have, nary a nightmare or hallucination. In fact, Nishitani's become rather fond of them popping up in the most random places, and carries around a couple coins on him to drop off at their base whenever he runs into one looking particularly lonely. It also wouldn't be a stretch to say he'd given multiple haniwa lit cigarettes while fucking trashed-- but they'd been his drinking buddies. Liquor is always better with cigarettes, too. ]

[ Turning down the new pathway, Nishitani steps ahead for a few seconds, just to clear the pathway before letting Emily walk down it-- only-- ]

[ "Get her," comes from behind them, "Take the bitch as a hostage--" ]

[ A swarm of foxes, foxes who think they know who Emily is to various high ranked Shuten. They don't understand much-- because this particular ranked Shuten is on them in seconds, flashing past Emily with his knife out and finding flesh quickly. Still, with the distance, while he takes down two of the three-- the third finds the back of his head-- and finds it with a fucking rock of all things. ]

[ Unfortunately, rocks are effective. Light flashes across his vision, and next thing he knows is he's kneeling down on the road and throwing up. That's not good-- throwing up after a head wound is really not good. Life flashes, again, and the rock hits him one more time. ]

Edited 2022-05-26 09:40 (UTC)

[it all happens fast, but here's the thing the foxes don't know - her senses have never gotten a chance to dull, never been at peace long enough to reduce her reflexes. Nishitani moves quickly, and so does she, pulling away from the group on instinct. survival, and she would have kept fleeing, only-

one of them has a rock, is on him, and it's like back then, claws on her soul. stabbing them in the shoulder with a scalpel won't kill them, but it'll make raising up their arm to try to hit him one more time hurt a hell of a lot, and they howl with the pain. it's a pause - enough of a gap to shrug them off and for him to move. if he can move with her, they can run, and she can fix this.]

[ The howl brings him back-- the noise of someone else in pain-- and damn, he loves it, he loves it, he loves it. ]

[ Before he even realizes what he's doing, his fingers are around that fox's neck. His squeezing without telling his hands to do it, and he's choking the kid to death while bleeding profusely and with vomit stuck to the side of his mouth. ] You.

You fucking moron. [ His voice sounds deranged, he feels possessed. Nishitani thinks he's laughing. ]

[ Nothing makes sense except the blood and the sounds of a men dying. ]

Edited 2022-05-26 10:07 (UTC)

[except he's not taking the moment to run, he's still fighting. hands around their neck, even as Emily tries to grab Nishitani's arm, trying to end what she sees happening before her eyes.]

Enough - that's enough! You're killing them!

[but nonviolence is not going to win the day here. not with the bloodthirst that seems to have possessed him. she's not even close to his strength.]

[ That's the point. ]

That's the point.

[ The point-- ]

[ He's killing, he's killing because the bitch tried to kill him first. Violence for violence, and once the fox stops kicking, Nishitani lists off of the body, falling on his side heavily and close to throwing up again as his vision, his brain, his mind, goes for a swim with the movement. ]

[god. she can feel herself tense, and a quick check of the fox's pulse confirms that yes, they are dead. it's just a dead body, and beyond her saving - a hysterical sort of laugh almost breaks free, but Nishitani is there. his head is bleeding, she'd heard the sounds, seen him throw up.

his eyes. she needs to check his eyes, to see if the pupils match. if they don't-]

Nishitani, can you hear me? You need to stay awake right now.

[steady, her voice has to be steady. more of a command than anything else.]

[ Was he falling asleep? Nishitani forces his eyes open but winces when neon overwhelms him. He tries to raise a hand to block it out, but instead opts to close his eyes again instead. ] I hear--

[ Emily's voice is so far away, like through a tin can, but he can hear her. He coughs, clears his throat of the glass that was inside, spitting bile out away from him, from them. ] I hear you.

[his eyes look wrong, and she should be more concerned about the corpses around her, but what she hears in the back of her mind is something he said. I'd die for you, Emikko.

just as firmly, a cry up from her own soul: not today.

and in the distance, a sigh from someone else, who can only shake their head but lets their energy join with hers, because they can feel her resolve. she couldn't stop three people from dying, but she can stop a fourth.

her hands glow with a soft light as she cradles Nishitani's head, and a breeze picks up around them, blowing fresher air into this alley. a deep breath from her, and his body will feel full of warmth, a gentle sensation, passing over him and mending - blood vessels, nerves, things realigning themselves. and the pain in his head will ease, as she focuses hard on repairing the damage. what has gone wrong, realigned. things returned where they need to be, bone and flesh fitting back together, the brain soothed and calmed. magic, a borrowed power flowing through her and into him, to do what it must.

when she can tell that there's no more injuries, that he's restored, then she lets it fade out. her hands lose their light, and the breeze dies down, until it's just them there. no reinforcements yet, but that doesn't mean they won't come. still holding his head, she looks around, trying to keep an eye out while he reorients himself.]

Easy now...

[they can't stay here. but healing or not, she won't rush a head trauma patient.]

semi-closed 🔪 the extent of my affections are destroying me

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