[ Closed ]

[ghoulking]

WHO: Kaneki + Heropa #15 roomies
WHERE: Heropa imPort apartments
WHEN: 1st August
WHAT: Kaneki needs to make sure Jaime and Yusuke are alive
WARNINGS: tba

FOR JAIME

[ these past couple of days have been hell, at best. Kaneki went down faster than he thought it could ever happen and all the progress he thought he had made about controlling himself and controlling his mental problems, just went down the drain because the whole event showed him that NO, he has no control at all. Kaneki has been holed up in his room, he barely leaves or talks to others, but he knows he has to move after. He can't stay there like that, there is still so much left to do.

There is also doubt. Sure Kaneki can think back logically and he KNOWS he ate Jaime's clone - he isn't sure about Yusuke, he doesn't know the boy that well, but he certainly suspects it was also his clone - but he still asks himself what if he ate the real thing? the real people? What if he ate actual Jaime? The thought leaves some pain behind his eye (the one the clone shot) and a feeling of dread.

But he has to go and make sure, right? He has to face his monstrous side, regardless of how much it scares Kaneki. So few days after the clones were gone, Kaneki decides to head to Jaime's place and to see him. Say hello. See his reaction? Something.

So that's where he is, right now, gently knocking at the door and secretly hoping no one is home ]


FOR EVERYONE ELSE

[ Jaime told Kaneki he'd be "right back", that he just needed to grab some coffee - the only thing Kaneki can drink, besides blood. Of course Jaime doesn't want to give Kaneki blood, so coffee will do - even though the ghoul tried to tell him he didn't have to. But since the other insisted and Kaneki can't say no, he ends up nodding and staying still inside the kitchen, while waiting for Jaime.

Of course he still looks really shitty - Kaneki hasn't slept much these past few days after the clone attack -, but at least he is a bit more at peace now.

Enough to get up and go check what Jaime has on his fridge. Maybe he could cooking him and his roomates something? That sounds like a good plan rather than staying there, waiting, doing nothing. So whoever walks into the kitchen will find Kaneki checking what they have inside the fridge while he mumbles a bit ]

Ah... maybe melonpan.

Comments

[lempereur]

[ Yusuke's project in Nonah was going a lot smoother since the last time Kaneki saw him. The real him, anyway. When he comes home through the front door, his hands are full of bags from the Van Don't Gough art supply store, having spent...more than his materials stipend.

He is much more concerned with new brushes than he is with his next meal.

The bags get dropped on the kitchen table, so he can sort out what stays here and what he's taking to Nonah, enough of a task that Yusuke takes a few moments before he looks up to see who's digging around in the fridge, and whoever it is does not...live here. ]

Kaneki?

[ghoulking]

[ Kaneki is a bit too focused on trying to find the ingredients for the melonpan, so he doesn't hear Yusuke until he places his bags down. Kaneki's head rises and he looks back at the boy, eyes going wide.

That's Yusuke.

The guy whose clone he ate.

Because Yusuke didn't react horrified, terrified and afraid of Kaneki, he can only assume who he ate was indeed the clone and not the real thing. It couldn't be, right? Unless Yusuke is secretly a villain who can easily pretend he is okay with the guy who ripped out this throat and ate him, Yusuke couldn't possible have been the one Kaneki ate. It was his clone.

But of course Kaneki can't help to hide his surprise and feel that dread and almost panic taking over him. He isn't sure what to say at first, but eventually he mouths something ]

H-hi. Sorry. I'm waiting for Jaime. He went- hm, to pick up something. Coffee. I think.

[lempereur]

[ Yusuke can pretend he's okay with a lot of things. He can keep a straight face, play the long game, as long as he needs to. But he has no idea who or what ate his clone, only that it happened, so his smile for Kaneki is genuine. He's been nice company in the past, but he seems off today. Worried about something. ]

Are you alright? I can keep you company until Jaime gets back.

[ghoulking]

Oh. Yes,I'm fine.

[ no, he's not. But to be fair, kaneki is never fine. Today he's just worse ]

I was thinking of making something for Jaime, to thank him. [ and somehow... you know, make up for eating him? Ooops. Kaneki thought about melonpan at first, but that actually takes a bit. Maybe something simpler ]

[lempereur]

Thank him for what?

[ Yusuke likes Jaime. He's sure the answer could be any number of things, his housemate has always been helpful and generous towards him, and hasn't given any of his past and probably future brainwash-vigilantism secrets away...so yes. Jaime deserves everything. ]

[ghoulking]

For putting up with me, sort of. [ even when kaneki shows up randomly at his place and doesn't explain WHY he is there and what prompted the visit ] Also for getting me coffee, he didn't have to. [ not really. Kaneki doesn't mind waiting but he really didn't want to be a bother to Jaime ]

... I was thinking of making melonpan but because it has to rest it would take a while. Do you have any idea of what I could cook? [ since, yes - Yusuke will be eating it too ]

[lempereur]

[ For putting up with him? Funny, Yusuke could say the same thing...but he, unfortunately, is not a cook. ]

I don't know. Very little of what's in this kitchen is mine to offer you.

[ghoulking]

Hm- I could make for all of you. [ kaneki thinks for a moment ] How many live here?

[lempereur]

There are four of us, but Diablo keeps to himself.

[ghoulking]

Hm- four then. [ yeah, Kaneki knows a bit about diablo, but not enough since, yes, he does keep to himself. He doesn't look like the kind of guy to want to get involved in most things, either but Kaneki can appreciate that.

But well, since it's a full house, Kaneki can make something for all four of them. A dessert is the best when you don't know every one. So, brownies, maybe? ]

[lempereur]

Can I help?

[ghoulking]

It's alright, you don't have to worry about that. [ kaneki knows how to cook, fast too, and he is doing it for others so he doesn't want to bother others.

He will quietly take the ingredients he needs without making too much of a mess or noise ]

[lempereur]

[ Fine then. Yusuke will just watch him, from behind a frame made with his fingers. There's nothing weird about it and nothing weird about rifling through his shopping bag for a fresh sketchbook to draw Kaneki into. ]

[khajidont]

[ Unfortunately for Kaneki, Jaime is home. He hasn't been doing much more than studying for entrance exams, and any interruption to his studies is more than welcome. He swings open the door, dressed in little more than loose shorts and an oversized t-shirt, then eyes Kaneki with a bit of surprised - though he does look at least a little pleased to see him. He likes the guy, don't get him wrong! But he normally doesn't come knocking. ]

Ken, hey! What's up? You wanna come in?

[ Whatever the reason he's here for, there's no reason they can't do it from the comfort of his home. ]

[ghoulking]

[ when kaneki sees jaime, he isn't sure what to do or what to say. He knew the other wasn't really dead and he didn't really eat him, and yet he was expecting screaming and kicking - and was a lot more prepared for that than a smile and a "what's up". It's weird. Kaneki is weird, he knows, but somehow screaming and hatred comes easier than... well, than standing awkwardly in front of Jaime's door without knowing what to tell him or unable to give him a decent excuse as to why he is there. ]

Hi- sorry. I just. came check up on you? After the whole clone thing. [ nailed it.

Except not really. It's probably the first time kaneki comes check up on Jaime after an attack, since Kaneki knows Jaime has people that take care of him here ]

[khajidont]

Um. Okay. Well, as you can see, I'm doing okay!

[ Jaime steps aside, ushering Kaneki inside now. If he was the sort of person to check on him regularly, he might shrug it off wiithout comment, but now he feels like maybe Kaneki just... needs to talk? Maybe? He doesn't know if the guy has anyone to talk to, so maybe checking up is, like, his subconscious telling him to talk about all this clone crap with someone.

It's as good an explanation as Jaime can think of. He guides Kaneki over to the kitchen table. You're trapped here now, Kaneki! ]

Not to be rude or anything, but we've been through, like, a hundred crisises... crises? Either way, you've never come to check up on me before. Everything okay?

[ghoulking]

[ kaneki walks in, feeling even more awkward than before. Before he stepped inside he could just say "ok that's all bye" but now he is inside Jaime's house and doing that would be even weirder. More than it already is. ]

Yeah, I know- it's weird, I'm sorry. [ yeah very weird, Ken. Make something up, fast! ] It's just- it has been a lot and as usual there are new people trying to murder us all. [ kaneki shakes his head ]

There aren't many people left who have seen how that goes.

[khajidont]

Sure, sure, [ Jaime says, nodding. He can get behind some camaraderie between old friends, but this is still weird as heck, and he's going to get to the bottom of it. Maybe. Probably! He folds his hands loosely on the table, jiggling his leg beneath it as he thinks. ]

I mean, Heropa was pretty peaceful. We got flooded, but that's about it, y'know? Cities like Maurtia Falls got hit way harder. What, um... what were you up to during that whole thing? If it got you this shaken, it couldn't have just been the floods. [ He offers Kaneki a small, tentative smile. ] That'd be small potatoes for a guy like you.

[ghoulking]

[ kaneki ends up sitting down, looking back at Jaime. He really is alive, and... that's a relief. That's all Kaneki wanted to know, too, to make sure he didn't eat the Real Thing (tm) ]

I was around. I saved a couple of kittens and a Labrador from the flood - and no, I didn't keep any. [ he knows better than that ] And it's a lot harder to deal with two angry kittens and one really excited dog, you know? [ he smiles a little ] Try getting your face licked and scratched at the same time. [ not that the kittens could do any damage.

and he sure is avoiding the whole comment of "It couldn't have just been the floods" ]

[khajidont]

Oh, I can imagine. But that, um... doesn't sound that traumatizing? I mean, I'm glad if it wasn't, but still! If it wasn't all of that chaos, then what's going on? You can talk to me, you know.

[ He offers Kaneki a little grin, hesitant in his knowledge that Kaneki probably won't open up, but concerned nonetheless. ]

I mean, us old guys gotta stick together, right?

[ghoulking]

Hm... [ Talk to him? kaneki can't tell Jaime what happened, because he knows how that will go; of course he'd freak the hell out and the offer of "talking to him" will fly out of the table in less than a second. ]

... I had to fight a clone. [ he can say that much - and will not get into detail, kaneki supposes ] It was messy. [ Kaneki doesn't continue, because he isn't sure if he should. he is certain jaime knows why, too; "messy" usually means bloody when Kaneki is involved. And besides the true problem related to this whole subject (aka "eating a clone of a friend"), there is also the question if killing clones is even considered a big crime. ]

[khajidont]

Oh...

[ That's enough for Jaime, at least. He cants his head at Kaneki, his expression of confusion changing to one of (false) understanding and sympathy. While Jaime maintains his no-killing stance, he can understand those that eschew it, particularly in the case of how much destruction these clones had created. So many people had died or gotten grievously injured, lost friends and family, lost their homes and businesses, lost everything that they had held dear. ]

That explains it. Was it a friend?

[ghoulking]

[ kaneki nods very softly. Nobody wants to hear Kaneki just ate some guy, ken knows that very well; people prefer to pretend he doesn't do anything like that because else they'd never be able to look at him. Kaneki is very aware of those things.

So he is certain jaime really doesn't want to hear about it - which is good! Kaneki couldn't beginning to explain one of the clones he ate was his ]

It was rough for everyone, so- I mean, they had our faces so- [ it's really freaky ]

[khajidont]

Not all of us had to fight against them.

[ And that's God's honest truth - Jaime's lucky enough to not have been involved in that at all. Sure, he fought some zombies and some robots, but he didn't really run into a single clone, not in that way. He scoots his chair over, just a little. ]

I mean - dude, that sucks. No wonder you're shaken up. I remember when some of us got infected by, like... brainwashing, or something? That was bad enough.

[ghoulking]

That's good to know. [ it's good that jaime didn't have to go through something terrible.

he hums softly ]

How many times was it, by now? We were brainwashed by... the Hornets, the Russians...? Am I missing someone? [ yeah, they have pretty eventful lives, don't they? ]