#thread 001

SNAP

it's the sound the flimsy wooden sword she found herself in possession of made the moment it broke over her knee. she's not happy that much was clear, her teeth ground as she took in her surroundings. she was weakened, no weapon, but the fire that raged inside her heart was still lit (even if she couldn't summon it).

this doesn't seem like a singularity or a lostbelt and my powers are all gone

calm and rational behavior was never her strong-suit. she'd rather fight her way our than anything else. she finally lets out a large sigh, the rage building up to the point where she finally throws her hands up in the air and almost screams at the top of her lungs in frustration.

Raine watched the apartment they had lived in for the past one and a half year with less appreciation than when they had first moved in. It seemed almost haunted now, cursed in a sense. They sighed, threw the final box into the back of the moving car - which was just the biggest truck they could buy with their money that fitted most of their collective things - and knocked on the window to the front. “Do ye want to drive? Because maybe it’s a good idea if I take the first few hours till we get outta the UK and back on the right side of the road,” they joked. It was going to be an adjustment, or so for Raine than for Benji. The road thing at least, the moving to Norway thing was going to be an adjustment for the both of them. 

“That’s enough for today, guys,” he said, almost cutting off one of his executives as the man desperately tried to suggest the same reboot of a nineties sitcom Syl had rejected five times already. “Go do whatever it is I pay you to do. Valleria, would you mind staying behind?”

he knew only too well that the subject of his observation was aware of being watched. although it was never made apparent, he knew. he knew that they knew, that they knew he knew, as well. a twister of truths but ultimately rather simple. nothing less than the greatest detective in the world, so to speak. he was bound to be so aware. they had already discovered, they both so acutely aware of everything that we can only ever say the knowledge gained was in fact mutual, that they both lived in the same ward. close, in fact. neighbours, if you could believe it. a rat beside a cat. 

but how much was the detective banking on the effortless slide of his rival into the seat before him, at the small dessert shop on the corner of one of archimedes’s streets? likely rather high. had he even expected the visit? perhaps he’d anticipated it sooner or later, that fyodor truly would simply take that booth with him and lean across the table with a wide grin, bitten fingertips pressed to his chin as he simply smiled. the fluorescent light cast their reflections into the dark window at their side, mimicking ranpo’s frame, his food, as well as fyodor and his thinner and more ghoulish stature. for a moment there was simply silence besides that of silverware against glass. until 

which was how he found himself in an unfamiliar neighborhood, walking half a block behind a very familiar head engaged in an interesting conversation with a slightly less familiar head.

the familiar belonged to jude castellano, the daughter of some acquaintances of his. the other, he was fairly certain, was her cousin. and their topic of conversation had caught his attention, sending his mind spiraling down impossible trains of thought.

after a moment of eavesdropping, he began to feel a little like a creep — something he definitely didn’t appreciate. “jude,” he called out, putting on a burst of speed to catch up to the young woman. “i don’t know if you remember me — nico. aguilar. i don’t think i’ve seen you since your parents’ christmas party in ... must have been 2018. good to see you again.”