#eto 01

     thinking back, she was never truly against the idea of living in a place where the ccg had little to no control over it, and if things were to remain under the same light the ghoul surely wouldn’t find it in herself to complain.

     green. she blinks, surprise evident in her features as she trails after the one and only: takatsuki sen.

          “sensei!” she utters, hand gently tapping on the other’s shoulder. her bright, and genuine smile fading as she took in what could only be described as the personification of depression. whatever happened to her beaming self...? a frown made its presence as she slowly pulled her hand away. it’s been so long ever since she last felt concerned, it was definitely an alien sensation at this point.

          “are you... alright?”

By now he’d pretty much figured everyone he’d known before from within the city was gone. And those he knew from outside of the city that were here weren’t much of a party to begin with---so what I’m saying is he really needed to find friends. And fast. He’d already fallen into ‘sleep for a really long time because you can and have no responsibilities’.

Not that that really seemed to stop him when he did have shit to tend to.

Either way, he forced himself out of the house and to walk around the all too familiar city. He’d just have to learn to meet new people. Not like he didn’t know that before, but it was rusty. He sure as hell wanted to repeat of the disaster his older self created of being friendless and on the moon. Well the latter was unavoidable but the former had to have some wiggle room.

As he was busy thinking, he felt himself bump into someone on the street. Turning to apologize to them, he had to look pretty far down, and wound up staring for a good two or three minutes.

“Thank you for the coffee, Takatsuki-sensei. I’ll repay you in someway in the future, maybe find a job and all. I can only offer my time and ears to you, I hope that would do for now.”

The city seemed to be dirty enough for rats of all kind to gather around, he was still recovering from the initial shock of running into the CCG in a place like this... no. He was recovering from the shock of running into his son, but that was a small detail he wanted to ignore, a detail he wanted to forget and vanish from his memory. 

But speaking of these rodents... where they lived there were also natural enemies, bird of prey. Donato had heard the hushed whispers on the street, even though this city was still unfamiliar to him he didn’t lose track of what was really important. And that was, no matter in which time or place, information. 

Even back in Tokyo she was nothing but a mystery to him, an enigma. There was only so much she let the people know about her, which made her either a thread or an ally he could use now more than ever before, but he wasn’t in the position to play with fire. No. Not now. Donato still wasn’t sure what happened to him, but he was most certainly weaker and worn out. 

Still, the temptation just to approach her and test his limits was too stronger than the fear he felt. How delightful, fear... it had been ages since he last felt something like this. 

Considering the state of the island, Watanuki counted himself as incredibly lucky thus far; scraping by each ward and their disasters without suffering physically. His mind was a completely different state; anxieties and worries plaguing his thoughts, wanting to control each move he made, but he persevered regardless. Pushing himself through by helping those who couldn’t find shelter, pointing allies in the direction of the wires that still needed to be cut-- it was work that needed to be done, that he was glad to participate in if it meant the majority of people here would remain safe.

And then, finally, his luck had run out.

It had spotted him descending into one of the many open holes littered through Spirale, making his way to assist someone else in taking down NULL’s control of the city-- but it seemed he would no longer have the chance to do so. As Watanuki shouted at the other person to make their escape, the monster instantly locked its sights onto the shopkeeper; charging at him as an ungodly howl escaped its open jaws. 

With his heart racing, both hands raised in front of himself to form a barrier; stopping the creature from striking Watanuki with its claws. Determination settled on his features-- the light from his magic illuminating the area they were in together. However, the creature was persistent; slamming itself on the invisible shield, time and time again before it completely shattered.

He hardly had enough time to form another one, barely missing the creatures claws from cutting through his frame.

The notebook lay open before him, pen scrawling rapidly across the length and breadth of its pages in a series of bullet points. Information listed out, half-organized thoughts, to be processed together and analyzed. The pen paused in its progress, hesitated a moment as he seemed to contemplate the next words, and then continued with vigor in smooth cursive.

It was hardly his preferred method of analysis; Norman would sooner have discussed the information, sharp minds growing ever sharper in the course of their debate. But his constant companions, his best friends... It was for the better as far as he was concerned, but they hadn’t yet been taken here, so far as he could tell. For the better, he insisted to himself, even as his stomach turned at the thought.

This substitute would have to serve. He needed to organize his thoughts, needed to assess all of what little information he had gathered, and then he needed to learn more.

This task would, however, be significantly easier if the pen he had.......acquired didn’t seem to keep running out of ink. The boy leaned back in his seat, looking down at the offending utensil with a mild frown. It had been faint and choppy at best, and regularly seemed to stop up entirely. It had served, if barely, for the better part of an hour, but grew increasingly bothersome. He glanced about, wondering where he could find a substitute.

...A woman with a notebook on her table. Hmm.

“Excuse me, Miss. Do you happen to have a spare pen or pencil?” He held up his own demonstratively. “Mine doesn’t seem to be up to the task.”