Old Man? Hah!

✞  –  By God, you'd think it had been a lifetime since the last time he had set foot in this city. His lifetime, in fact- since his last visit had taken him from the moment of his death, somehow repairing the damage he and Satan both had done to his body. But now, here he stood again in this crazy place. Post death, of course. It was amazing that they could even accomplish that.

          Again he checked himself over, noting that aha, nothing unspeakable had been done to his body after returning from the ethereal slumber! That was a relief. Though with the return of a corporeal body, came everything else. Soreness in the joints, blurry eyesight, et cetera, et cetera...

          Rolling his shoulders as he strode down the street. Stretching his neck and cracking all those said joints, he couldn't help but think that a long time had passed in the city itself since he'd last been there.

          Though he was a little disoriented, he still had his priorities straight. He was alive again, so he needed something lively to prove it.

          Tapping a stranger on the shoulder, he put on a mischievous smile.

As an Exorcist, Shiro had always believed death would transcend everything everyone thought it would be- the things people who hadn’t actually taken the ‘Endless Path’, the ‘Plunge’, the ‘Stairway to Heaven’, or any other names given to the act of dying, the loss of life and the silence of the heart. You don’t die and come back to tell the tale, obviously, so what everyone imagined was false until they died too. Hell, there was even a retort belief where ‘death is only what you believe’. Kind of twisted process, eh?

But honestly he hadn’t expected this. So he was dead now, and in some featureless room and a blank screened TV. Fucking fantastic- That’s what he’d think if he actually believed he was dead, at least.

By the time that obviously pre-recorded message had dissipated and left this little greeting party with a grand total of its only guest of honor, he’d come to the conclusion that whatever he was experiencing right now, wasn’t fake, nor did it give off the idea that it was the so-called afterlife.

Of course he had checked himself over, finding his body no worse for wear despite what seemed only like seconds ago he was being torn apart from the inside by the scorching blue flames of Satan’s presence, which had only been accompanied by his necklace piercing his chest. A wound like that wouldn’t kill him instantly, but considering the circumstances it had been enough to expel the god of Gehenna and he had promptly expected to die and hopefully giving his son the chance to escape.

Well, there was one thing he was sure of, and that was the fact that the former wasn’t true. Talk about lucky, eh? He didn’t know what kind of advanced technology they had to repair his body the way they did, but it had saved his life- but considering what he was working with he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure it wouldn’t be revoked the moment he got back, but if all that sci-fi stuff teens were into these days had a smidgeon of truth, there was that whole interfering with timelines thing to think about. God Almighty, this was one screwed up situation, even for him.

But for now, he knew there were two dilemmas he was facing: He was in some new world without a scrap of power to his name, and he had no idea if Rin was okay- or even alive, and that worried him the most. There were things said… things left without explanation and a whole, terrifyingly new world opened to his son; and he couldn’t be there to explain it to him, to apologize, or even to keep him safe. Sure he had fail-safes in place in case something like this had happened –Not exactly this per se-, but as long as he himself knew he was alive, there had to be something he could do, right?

He just needed a plan of action.

So without further ado, he tucked the pretty much useless BB gun into his belt and strode out into the streets of Hive City, and headed straight for the nearest bar he could find. Dear God, he needed a whiskey before he could get anything done. The last few minutes of his life had been literal Hell.

Pausing on the street a moment, he realized that while he had a good sense of direction, he’d probably need a map at some point. Picking a random stranger from the crowd, the gruff Exorcist called them out with a tap to the shoulder.

Shiro's taste in music does not exactly reflect on his lifestyle as a priest. While yes he's a fan of classical and traditional music from both the Eastern and Western regions, he has a particular fondness for Mariachi, Disco, and Swing. 

As for his literature, well...

He's a dirty old pervert for the most part.

☂ - sadness

(( AND TWO YOU SHALL HAVE — Read more’d because hella long ))

"Wow, you’re stupider than I thought you were. But I guess that’s not saying much, huh?"

Amber hues shifted up and down, examining the figure before him, a mocking twist to his smirk and a vicious gleam in his eyes. Nearly catlike in his movements, he stalked forward, forcing the one he spoke to into a faint retreat, their feet shuffling against the ground in a stark contrast to his dominant strides. 

"You actually managed to make my old training dummies seem like worthy opponents! If that isn’t a feat, I don’t know what is. I mean, damn, is your weapon made of cotton or what? Pretty pathetic.”

A laugh escaped his mouth and he stepped away, arrogantly turning his back to the one that he had been fighting only moments before, arms locking across his chest. Of course there wasn’t anyone who could match up to him- no one but his other half could even dream of defeating him in battle, and even then Vanitas was a hundred percent sure of his chances of being able to complete his goal, so that wasn’t even a factor, let alone a risk.

"Maybe if I hold one hand behind my back and close my eyes, you’ll be an actual threat." 

He scoffed, flicking his gaze back towards the other, staring at them with his subtly amused eyes through ebony locks. 

Jade - Something they’d do to attract the one they love

"Hmmm... Well the first thing I'd do is probably offer her a drink!"

Sapphire - Recall a recent dream

"A dream, eh? Well I guess there was one that I can remember, haha.

I was alone in an empty room, sitting at a little coffee table that had a half-burned candle as the only source of light. I remember that I felt like I should be drinking tea, but there was none to be found, as shameful as that sounds.

No tea? Pfft, some dumbass didn't think that visit through, if you ask me. And after what seemed like hours of me wondering why there were no refreshments in an empty and featureless room, I woke up! Pretty interestin', don't y'think?"