𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 & 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒚

Zenitsu is crouching on the ground, shivering like a leaf. Just moments before, he heard the flapping of wings, and then something bumped against the back of his head. He screamed, because it startled him so much. And now he’s afraid to actually reach up and find out what it is. It is still there!

“EEEEEEEK!! GET IT OUT, GET IT OOOOOUUUUUT!!”

It’s actually just a tiny bat. But the sound it makes and the sensation of it being tangled in his choppy hair is just too much for him in the dark of the night.

Immediate danger turns out to be just a mishap of a sort—a turned around bat and a boy unable to do much about it. Understandable, bats can be frightening when one isn’t used to their presence. Allen is, however, given that the Black Order, no matter which headquarters he found himself in, had enough darkened nooks and crannies that bats tended to set up roost there. Golems too are designed enough after the creatures that the former exorcist is particularly unphased.

Yggdrasil hears his troubled musing. 

The young man was practically swimming in his beat-up coat, so much so that it almost completely obscured his hands. He stuck out like a sore thumb among the passersby on the street. Well. Between Yggdrasil’s headsprout and flowing rags and his oddly marked face and shabby coat, they’d be quite the dissonant sight together!

She floats over his shoulder, slightly bowed at the waist so that she can peek at the map from behind, headsprout casting an odd shadow over him. Canting her head, she chimes a barely detectable sound in thought as she scans the diagram. Extending her arm over the young man’s shoulder, to point, she chirrs, We are here!

She taps a neighboring street on the map and points down one side of the pass, then gestures to the opposite side and taps the corresponding mark on the map.

Well, she chimes, smiling brightly at his ear. Where to then?

Allen visibly perks up at the help, unexpected, but wholly appreciated even if the gesture is a simple one. There’s something strange about maps that makes it difficult for him to read when he’s by himself—probably his wavering grasp on reading in general, or maybe because he has a problem making sense of all the twisted lines and buildings and color codes even if it’s supposed to make things easier for him.

“ Oh, they do have a lot of new things here now. ” He hums, interested too. He’d like to see them if only to pass the time and reacquaint himself. Looking at a map won’t do him any good though, considering how bad he is at directions in general. At least he’s found himself in a ward that usually has a shop or such on any street he goes down—if he goes down the right one that is.

“Have you considered on fire knives?” Now that sounded like something Leo himself could pick up. Flaming knife juggling. But the clown had a point. There wouldn’t really be a way to advertise it so people wouldn’t be completely surprised.

“I mean, I dunno about other people, but I would love to watch a clown juggle on fire knives.” Then again he liked to see a lot of things on fire.

“So how long you been doin the clown business? You’re pretty good.” He pulled out his phone and opened the wallet app.

“ Well, you’re probably not the only one with that interest then, so maybe I will consider it one day .” It wouldn’t hurt to possibly add more skills to his arsenal. Knives and fire seem like just the next step up from what he already has down pact. The time he has here is a long and stretched out thing, anyway—trying wouldn’t waste time. 

        A WANDERESS BY NATURE ! such are pitiful creatures without a home. they seek comfort in the unknown / kindness found in the shadow of the wood. in the depths of nature there is a serenity that stills the heart; expelling its worries. A MOMENTARY PEACE; she will relish in the tranquility even if it is finite and fickle. by the pond she dithers, keen gaze observing the koi just beneath surface their golden scales pale in the morning light. fingertips dance atop the water sending ripples outward across the reflective pool       her image wavering out of view replaced by a kaleidoscope of refracted colors. 

         fox ears perk up; rustling leaves, pebbles underfoot       all signs of an impending visitor. alarm remains absent across the halfling’s features noting the subdued nature of each approaching step ( an attack would be far more swift / tactile ) a particular weight to the stride of the stranger in question, he who is no stranger in the slightest. rising from her crouch she regards him for the first time in months       yet it was if time had ceased to run its course between them. the days gone past were indiscernible in the youthful lines of his face. ❛ you found me. ❜ there is an almost playful cadence to her tone, the gloom of abandonment unable to descend upon her voice; she wills the notion away.  ❛ it isn’t so hard to navigate once you find something familiar to remember and help guide your way. ❜ here approach is a languid flutter, a butterfly in her final days in the wake of late summer. ❛ i didn’t think you were here anymore…❜ 

How strange their friendship must seem; a thought Allen has briefly had among the first budding blooms of their newly formed acquaintances. A former Exorcist and a demon of a sort, half or otherwise, should not get along. But Allen has too much care in his heart, formed attachments and a stubborn kindness will be his undoing one day, he knows. But he has never been one to fall in line with things either. So, of course, he goes looking because a friend is a friend, and Zakuro, in particular, has always been better to him than he finds himself deserving of. Checking up on her is the least he can do now that he’s found himself back again.

Street performing doesn’t net him in money in Spirale, this Allen learned rather quickly. Still though, as inconvenient as it is, it’s a trade he finds himself unable to part with and a good enough way to pass a few hours of time when he needs the day to go by faster. He often wonders if he ought to make something professional out of it while he’s stuck here, but always backs out of the decision before his mind can be made up. It’s a sort of back and forth that keeps him performing on street corners and nothing monetary to show for it, though sometimes someone will throw in a sweet or two or other odds and ends—usually older people or excitable children.

Nightly wanderings are commonplace for him as sleeping completely through the night has always been a far off friend. He might as well refamiliarize himself with the wards even if the city has an effect of looking differently once night falls; still, it is better than sitting and doing nothing. At least he does not garner any strange stares despite the hour—there’s enough of an active nightlife to keep everyone going well after the sun has set. The streets are practically just as loud as they would be during the day. Given that, it’s a miracle that Allen hears a shout when he does or maybe it’s due to the fact that his ears are practically trained for any sounds of distress. Sudden alertness wakes him up fully, and he skillfully pinpoints the sound of it, momentum of his stop nearly making him run past the location.

As prior months here have helped Allen familiarize himself with the layout and function of the city that still does not properly mend his overall lacking sense of direction. Archimedes, not as frequented in the past, but ought to be now given that he now possesses housing in the area, has always given him the most trouble. Even now, he squints at a map of the area trying again to make sense of winding roads and the more interesting places to frequent. If he garners the attention of a curious passerby, then, that is common enough. Allen is, after all, is dressed akin to someone who definitely seems like he needs help—dusty and oversized coat and a frown on his face.  

Never has Allen traversed the deeper parts of Cotes without reason. A boy of the city that he is, used to cobblestone streets and winding alleys and bustling of foot traffic. There is a quietude that belongs to things purely of nature that has yet to settle right with him—leaves him too alone with his thoughts, his feelings, a confrontation in the near easiest sense. He tries not to think of it now as he searches, partially lost, partially looking for someone familiar. His eye itches though cursed sealed tight behind whatever locks the city has on its power, normally annoying as it is, it proves useful now. He follows until it reaches a burning peak in hopes that the trail is right, at the very least he hopes it is no stranger—it will settle in time, as it did in the past.

To find himself back here is not what Allen expected, not what he hoped for. For all the decent memories this place has it is still ultimately cage, gilded and freeing, but a cage, nonetheless. It holds him back in a way he can never refer to it as home, never feel rightly comfortable no matter long how he spends here. At least he finds he isn’t alone, for better or worse, he spots who his neighbor happens to be this time and wonders if it’s a joke of some sort. Still, Allen realizes that hiding is probably useless at this point—avoiding he’s a master at, but only if there’s a good enough measure of distance to begin with.

ALLEN WALKER // d. gray man

ah shit here we go again

this boy can fit so many emotions inside his body and never properly process a single one 

sometimes you love the creatures you have to kill so much that you get excommunicated from the church ( an oversimplification, probably, but at the core exactly what happened )

so technically he’s not an exorcist anymore but will say he’s one because he is at heart. he is a destroyer that saves.  

for someone that Feels A Lot, absolutely will not talk about his own problems for lots of reasons unless you literally back him into a corner

the mark on his face is Not a tattoo; that’s a cursed scar from when he turned his dad into an akuma/demon and it allows him to see trapped souls. it’s very strange

allen vc: i have just met you but i am prepared to die for you

a lot of love in this big ol heart but he can be a brat when he wants to be

do not play him in poker. he will cheat and he will win

do not let him near your food either

a clown both literally and figuratively, tbh