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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Tachibana pauses at the reaction, blinking once before he shrugs off his jacket and flings it aside, getting to his feet. That person who had run their hand over his jacket... could it have been...?

"Was that what was making you mad? Something on the jacket?" he asked, posture defensive, ready to block or dodge any renewed attack.

The wolf shakes its head violently, the movement running down his spine and ending with a hard whip of his tail. Stop talking, damnit, shut up and let him kill you--

It rushes in again, lifting a paw to make a wild underarm swipe, trying to rip up Tachibana's torso.

Tachibana swore under his breath, quickly dodging to the side before attempting to tackle the rampaging wolf. If he could just grab hold and keep his hold.....

The tackle's certainly not going to take the werewolf down, but it is surprised. Why the hell was this bastard trying to attack it? It's on a bad angle now, but it might just be able to reach around with its far arm and sink its claws into the man's leg, to try and drag him back down.

The mage grimaces as the wolf's claws rip at him, but his grip is tight and stubborn. He's gotten a grip now, and he is not going to let go. "Damnit, Kinji! Come back to your senses! Both parts of you are better than this!" He yelled, locking his knees in to cling even tighter.

They rip through clothes and flesh with the same ease, but the grip is too awkward for the wolf to maintain, and being mounted and ridden is just another insult to the many injuries it's taken. It rears, turning as it does, and tries to slam Tachibana into the nearest wall, hard enough that it smacks its own head with a sick crunch against the bricks.

Another curse escapes, Tachibana bracing best he can to keep his head from being injured. This was going to get ugly fast if he didn't do something...!

Taking a deep breath, he concentrates, reality ripping around them as an invisible shield forms. No hard surfaces to smash into and nowhere to run. To the outside world, they've vanished from view.

"I'm not going to let go! I won't let you hurt yourself or anyone else!"

The wolf drops onto all fours, ready to rush at the other wall and try to smash the bastard off again--

--except, suddenly, everything's gone quiet. Sound and smell alike are both suddenly muffled, and the shock of that is enough to make it stop dead, frozen but for its heaving breathes. The only thing it can smell now is...

It seems to hesitate, just for a moment, before it looks over its shoulder at the man - at Tachibana. At the man who didn't smell, whatsoever, of vampire.

Tachibana doesn't let up his grip, breath heavy from the exertion and his injuries. He looks up, a small, deeply worried note of hope in his expression. Had he finally broken through...?

It can feel Kinji's mind starting to stir now, slowly recovering as they wind down from the assaults on their senses, but right now all the wolf can focus on is the horror of having hurt its master. Its ears flick flat against its head, its tail half-tucks between its legs, and it lowers itself gently to the ground; but its eyes never leave Tachibana's as it does.

At the guilty deference, most of the tension in Tachibana's frame leaves him, and his death grip on the wolf eases. With a small wince, he rolls off the wolf's back, shakily getting to his feet, leaving one hand on his friend's back, both to stabilize himself and in hopes to keep Kinji and his wolf clear headed.

It looks down as Tachibana climbs off it, but that just means it ends up staring at the bloody gashes it's left in the mage's leg, and a quiet, guilty whine rumbles in its chest, ears trying to press even flatter.

Tachibana hesitates before putting a gentle hand on the wolf's head. "It's allright," he assured. "What matters is that you're back to your senses."

No, it wasn't alright, not at all, but the wolf didn't have the capacity to explain any of it. It pulls its head back from Tachibana, and forces the change.

It was hard this way, so much harder for the beast to put itself away than to force its way out - especially when it involves dragging its human half out and shoving him back into the driver's seat, but after an agonizing minute it's Kinji again, curled up on his knees and shivering violently.

Tachibana drops to his knees, hands on Kinji's shoulders. There's a brief moment of hesitation before he's pulling off his shirt, holding it out to his friend. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Kinji's skin is feverishly hot, and he flinches at the touch, but he doesn't lift his gaze to meet the mage's eyes until a shirt imposes unexpectedly in his line of sight and makes him start. Wild panic flashes across his eyes in the instant he looks up, and it takes a few moments for recognition to click back into place. Then, he just looks tired.

"...thanks." His voice sounds painfully hoarse, but he still takes the shirt. It hangs off him like a scarecrow when he puts it on, and just makes him look more harrowed. Wearing it, all he can smell is Tachibana - his sweat and his blood, far more potent, reaching easily through the headache and making him shudder. But he still tries to stand up; he has to, even with every limb shaking as he does. "...what time 's'it?"

"Around 10:30, I think," Tachibana answered, doing his best to support the exhausted werewolf. "What happened?" As soon as he was sure Kinji could stand it, he was going to have to drop the barrier to call Sayoko to get them both somewhere safe...

"Shit..." He pushes away from Tachibana slightly, trying to find his balance and instead just swaying dangerously. "I gotta... get back t'the lot..."

Tachibana hovers closely, not about to let Kinji fall. "I can have Hirose go lock it up for you, if that's the worry, you're in no condition right now to do anything."

He shakes his head, trying to push Tachibana away again. "That ain't..." His grip abruptly tightens on Tachibana's arm, and his free hand goes to his head. "Nngh... g-goddamn vampire..."

...of course. Tachibana's lips pressed together a long moment in frustrated, impotent anger. "What did he do?"

"Blew my senses out. Some kinda... scent bombs, I think. Riled up the wolf," he grunts. He lets go again, and this time manages to stay on his feet successfully, but he's not looking at Tachibana again. "Said if... if I can't find him 'fore sunrise... he's gonna kill me."

And the look on Kinji's face as he says it suggests full well that he thinks the vampire is entirely capable of it - after all, look how easily he'd been reduced to this. "'less I can get him first."

"...were those his exact words?" Tachibana asked, voice heavy with worry, mind racing. Just knowing how Isaka and how BOARD worked...

It takes a moment of thought, running both hands down his face; he'd been so far gone by that point, everything had started to blur. "Touch him, uh..." He sighs into his hands. "Touch him 'nough t'leave a mark. Without hurtin' a human."

And his hands drop again, and he's staring pointedly at Tachibana's leg. Something in his eyes is so defeated - whether or not he did manage to tag the vampire now, he'd already hurt Tachibana, he was surprised the wolf hadn't somehow severed the mage's Achilles.

"...and then he set you up so that neither part of you could function and would lash out unreasonably, and marked my jacket with his scent so you would attack me instead," Tachibana finished. He was doing his best to ignore the pointed look (acknowledging the injury would make it start to hurt more and he was riding the fading rush of adrenaline to keep standing.)

"He wasn't going to kill you. He was setting you up so that I would." There was a dark anger that flashed in Tachibana's eyes with that realization.

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