maskeddarkness | Trial of Trials : Act 2

Trial of Trials : Act 2

There's something uneasy that can be felt in the city, and seemingly no end to the rumors springing up in the wake of the downtown explosion that leveled BOARD's headquarters. Stories of an odd sickness where the afflicted suddenly winds up anemic, their blood levels dangerously low, despite feeling fine that morning have already taken root, others of strange animals seen roaming at night, and horrible screams and gunshots in one of the parking garages....

The space where the ill-fated headquarters lays silent, an empty patch of dirt and gravel that seemed to attract those drawn to stories and rumors. Police have already had to shoo away opportunists with metal detectors, hoping to find something interesting in the impressively quickly cleared wreckage, and others have reported something that just feels... wrong, when they walk by the site. The ghosts of those who hadn't made it out of the collapse? Or something else? Noone can really put a finger on it to explain.

And meanwhile, under the cover of shadows, things unknown to those who still walk in the light continue to move. Whispers of the rogue mage and a treasure trove of information, of upsets in the vampire hierarchy, and sworn revenge on the mages who had used one of their own for their gain.

And deep in a hidden lab, BOARD's remains and allies continue to work, twisting all they can get their hands on to create the perfect weapon; made of the very things they wish to cleanse from the world. The loss of the incapacitated vampire elder was only a small one, with how much they had already extracted and drawn from it. And if the rumors of their knowledge being in the hands of their enemies were true? They would just have to speed up their projected timeline. Or simply slow down that of the world. After all, they were mages. Reality bended to their will, not that of those who opposed them....

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Adding to the mess comes the uncomfortable feeling of reality being manipulated around him, the Mage with Tachibana's face appearing in front of him, a small, very smug smile on his face.

"Going somewhere?"

That gross distortion of space in front of him makes him stop short, and he manages to crack an eye open - that quickly becomes both widening in shock. Tach-- no, no that damn vampire, no wonder there were so many damn stink bombs, he can't even smell that now--!!

There's too much happening for his human mind to handle; sensory overload bringing on a blinding headache, the shock of those and the vampire's sudden appearance, and he's barely got enough processing power left to respond.

So, the werewolf does; a throaty, vicious growl escapes as their body starts backing up again, still staring in wild panic at the bastard.

"So easy to reduce you to such a base, primal state," the man observed idly, that smug-self pleased smile still on his lips. "The balance between man and beast... it's not much of a balance at all, is it?" he continued, taking a step forward. "For all his talk, you're just the same as the others, aren't you?"

The wolf growls again, louder this time, but it's refusing to break eye contact even as Kinji's shoes scuff through broken glass and that foul stench; so when he has to breathe it's another mouthful of that foul concoction, making his head throb with the intensity, and when he coughs it's almost a bark. He's already lost, he can't think, can't focus, he needs to get out of here...!

"What was it he called you...? Names of lesser beings are so hard to remember," the man half shrugged with a chuckle, taking another step forward, eyes glittering as he lowered his sunglasses to properly meet the werewolf's eyes.

One of the hands over his nose shifts, clutching at his temple instead, all but ripping hair out as he tries to muster the energy to react and think clearly...

"Kinji." The next growl almost sounds like an actual word, even if it's clear that it's an uphill battle. "M'name's... Kinji..."

His eye contact never wavers, meeting the vampire's readily, like he could possibly stare him down from this position. The wolf won't let him look away.

"You still can speak, even like this? Remarkable," the man smiled, taking another step closer. "Well, then, Kinji..." There's an almost echoing tone to the man's voice as his eyes flash. "Let's play a game, shall we? If you can find me and manage to touch me enough to leave a mark, without causing harm to any human lives... I'll acknowledge your right to live."

There was a nasty glimmer in the man's smile as he took a step back, letting his shades fall back down. "You have until sunrise."

Every breath is another throb of his headache, a rail spike stabbing into his self control, and both hands cling to his head as he doubles over almost completely and a hot, violent shudder runs the length of his spine, making him gasp in pain. It would be so, so easy to just let the wolf out now and finish this, tear that damn vampire limb from limb and just end it - but he can't, he won't, he's better than that.

"...m'not...playin'," he snarls, but the words are a lot harder to discern now through his growling.

"Then you choose to forfeit your life," the man returned, tone all too pleasant. "Of course, how you are now... you almost have anyway, haven't you?"

His eyes squeeze shut as he jerks again, but he manages to straighten, through sheer force of will - just enough to glare up at the vampire with cold fury in his glowing, golden eyes.

"Th...th'lot," he manages, swallowing down another bark. "Y'can't...leave..." Otherwise, Kinji would never find him. Not like this.

Edited 2017-09-08 23:45 (UTC)

The man chuckled. "Not much of a playing field, now is it? No, more than just your pen. But to give you a chance... we'll say a ten block radius. Even a beast can count that high."

No, no no no that was too big, too much for him when he could barely see straight, could barely keep the wolf from trying to escape. Especially when it tries to rear again at that beast comment, throwing Kinji to his knees with the force of effort it takes to hold it back.

"...'s'not..." Not possible, not fair, not something he can do like this, he's going to hurt someone. "...please..."

The man raised and eyebrow, looking over his shades in something bordering amusement. "Reduced to pleading? You really are helpless, aren't you?" he chuckled.

He's aware of what he looks like, on some level: reduced to his knees, trembling violently and utterly overwhelmed, each breath a heavy gasp that just send more of that debilitating stench into his system, gripping at his head like it'll do anything to hold the wolf back.

Then the monster talks again, and suddenly, that fragile thread is snapped. The scales have tilted too far. And Kinji's mind is pushed down, hard, as the wolf swells with fury, dropping their body's hands and lifting his head to give Hayami a look of pure, utter loathing, an animalistic rage beyond what this mere human form could handle, and instantly the change hits him. His voice cracks as he screams, his clothing splits and falls off his shifting form as he warps, changes and grows, far too hard and far too fast as the scream turns to a howl, turns to a wild snarl as the wolf doesn't even wait until it's finished changing before it lunges at the vampire.

Hayami watches, expression a mask of curious fascination before there's a sensation of the world wrentching around them and he vanishes, appearing behind the wolf, expression unchanged.

The wolf stumbles short when its target vanishes, but it doesn't stop moving; it feels the world shifting behind it, and turns sharply as it finishes growing; thick, oily fur, the same colour as Kinji's hair, hangs in shaggy waves, and in the light of the fallen torch its claws and teeth glint like metal, as it wrinkles its mouth in an open snarl - and it's moving again, faster than anything that big had any right to move, bringing its hand around to slash at Hayami with another violent growl.

Again, reality warps around them, Hayami appearing a few meters away this time, smirking.

It might not be the greatest thinker right now, with Kinji out of commission, but the wolf is more than aware that it's being toyed with. That doesn't stop it from trying to attack; on the contrary, each miss and every damned smile on the vampire's face just stokes its anger to greater heights, and it keeps trying to land hits, leaping over the fence of the lot in a single bound when Hayami teleports(?) outside it, and the wolf runs at top speed after him.

It's not hard to track the werewolf's path, if one were willing; it's snarling like a demon, roaring with every swipe, sending garbage cans flying and marking deep scores in dumpsters and walls as it fails, again and again and again, to land a hit.

Until the vampire is just-- gone, without a trace, with the wolf still raging and unable to smell a damned thing, and all it can do to let that fury out is to howl, a throat-ripping snarl that echoes through the alleyways surrounding it. It's not in the public eye, not yet, but it's about to be at any moment - someone's gonna go hunting.

If there is a sound that Tachibana had grown able to identify instantly, it was the distinct howl of Kinji's wolf.

...that it was echoing through the city streets, just barely loud enough to be heard from where he was...

Seconds later he's pushing through late evening crowds and running down the alleyways, not even bothering with his bike (the sound of the engine would get in the way of tracking the sounds of the rampaging werewolf. In his focus, he doesn't even notice when one of the people he's pushing past smears something on his jacket, assuming it was just another push back to his parting the crowd.

At least this far away from the stink bombs, the wolf's nose is finally starting to clear out. Its current surroundings were no better though, surrounded by garbage, flashing lights and stinking exhaust as cars drove around, crowds and chatter and screams and laughter; there was no escaping that sensory overload that had reduced its human to nothing, was still hurting the wolf, and there's no small amount of panic and confusion beneath the fury. What the hell was it supposed to do now?

It's about to leave its alleyway, try a different direction, when it hears footsteps - heavy, but human, racing towards them, and it spins around immediately, rising on its hind legs as the human turns a corner--

That bastard was back. The wolf's eyes flash red, all conflicting emotions gone and replaced with rage. Same face, same smell, and a growl builds in its throat as its legs tense, and that's all the warning Tachibana's going to get before the werewolf leaps at him with murder in its eyes.

"Ki--" Tachibana's exclamation of his friend's name was cut short as the werewolf launched at him, and he just barely dodged, rolling into a (thankfully empty) garbage can with a clatter.

He's quickly back on his feet, however. "Kinji!" he yelled again, worry and mild panic evident in his voice. The hell had happened?!

Why dodge now, vampire? Acting like it doesn't even need to teleport to stay ahead of the wolf now, is it?

It's not going to wait and find out - it's leaping again, claws out in another wild swing, aiming foe the man's throat, and now that it's expecting the bastard to dodge it's going to follow through, keep moving to stay as close as possible.

Tachibana again dodges, attempting to jump over the wolf, not wanting to move the same direction twice. If he can somehow get on Kinji's back and just... hold on until he's calmed enough to return to his senses....

It's going to be a long wait, Tachibana - Kinji's mind is well and truly under lockdown, there's just too much rage and overstimulation for the werewolf's human mind to counter, and so when Tachibana hurdles over the beast, there's a hind leg rising hard and fast to meet him before those glinting teeth swing round again.

A grunt and curse escape as the wolf's kick hits and Tachibana goes flying back. An arm goes up to block the bite, injury to his arm far more prefered that to any other, more vital part of him.

"Snap out if it, Kinji! It's me!" he yelled as he tried to regain his footing.

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