maskormenacelogs | [ Open ]

Entry tags:

[ Open ]

WHO: Kaneki + Open
WHERE: Heropa, Nonah, Maurtia falls, De chima
WHEN: March 1st to March 15th
WHAT: Find Kaneki on the street because he won't tell you he is here otherwise
WARNINGS: Canon spoilers, mentions of violence, gore and cannibalism

[ His arrival back in this world was smoother than he expected. The government told him he was not going to prison for what he did, but due to his violent acts --even if he wasn't in his right mind and was being "controlled" by Hornets-- he had to be put on probation. He was requested to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet for a month and he will have to report to a Registered imPort who will act as his parole officer; the tattoo in his arm now says "criminal" and will remain so for a month. And during all of this, not once Kaneki argued or complained. He nodded and accepted every decision the government made about this situation, and at the end all he did was ask if he still had access to De Chima labs --they said 'yes' because it was necessary-- and requested to now live in De Chima --request accepted-- and that was it.

That's how he returned to this world.

He left an entry over the network, and went to his new place. he is not sure how to address others just yet, but he knows he has to apologize, though you can't really apologize for something like that, not so lightly. He will focus on what he can while he decides the best course of action: the Hornets, the Porter, he will focus on keeping his place in this world, that has been threatened so many times already, and he will protect everyone. He will find what is the better way to do that, since experience told him he can't just do everything blindly. He needs to think.

He will figure it out. ]

HEROPA : Bookstore

[ Even though Kaneki is no longer living in Heropa, he still walks around the city quite often. It's a way to make sure everything and everyone are safe and in case something happens, he will be there to help and protect the people he cares about. He is now working at De Chima bookstore, but he decides to drop by his old workplace; here, only few days passed after he was sent back to his world, but back home it was over 6 months.

He smiles politely at his ex-boss as he comments on the white hair, and he smiles kindly at the man. He also apologizes for leaving and apologizes for no longer working there. With a small bow, he buys three new books and an extra fourth is given to him for free. When he finally leaves the bookstore, he looks around for a second and decides to take off his eyepatch; white hair and black clothes made him pretty weird already, but he figured it was better to avoid looking THAT weird with an eyepatch too. ]

NONAH : Coffee shop

[ He never actually been to Nonah before. It's funny because he was 6 months in this world before, and he never found an excuse to go to Nonah and visit the city. Right now he is only doing so because he wants to know the city, the layout, to see the people, the natives, the imPorts and their locations. He is scouting, that's the only reason he is there. Annie and Reiner live there, so it's important for him to know the place and in case something happens, he can navigate through it.

After a whole morning of walking around, he eventually comes to a coffee shop - a petite and quiet one - and asks for their "best coffee, no sugar, no cream, just coffee". And he eventually sits by the window, looking outside. Doing this sort of things... drinking coffee at a coffee shop, taking a moment to look around without searching for an enemy... it has been a while. ]

MAURTIA FALLS : Streets

[ This was the second city Kaneki was set on getting to know. Like Nonah, he has never been there, but like Nonah, he needs to get to know it in case anything happens. Scouting, learning the layout, learning what you may need to face. If anything happens and he needs to go to this small city again, he will know the place easily. He is also interested in the rumored underground scene going on; these are usually good for information, but given Kaneki is currently a "Criminal" and under Government's observation he knows he can't approach it just yet.

He is carrying his eyepatch today, plus the black clothing and the white hair help a lot for people in this town not to be so suspicious of him. The ankle monitor also brought enough attention, too, but Kaneki politely asks them to go away -with a smile and everything!- as he grabs his cup of coffee and sits down at a public bench to drink it.

This is a really interesting place, actually. Ghouls would probably find it "homy" ]

HEROPA/DE CHIMA : Moving from a city to another

[ Now that he lives in De Chima, he will have to move there. It means going to his old apartment in Heropa and get his things and move them to a different city. At least Kaneki doesn't have much house utensils and necessities, but he has a lot of books and carrying those can be a feat. At least he has super strength and he isn't going to hide that anymore; in his hands, he carries bags full of books, some clothes, some other accessories like coffee.

He can be found carrying his items from Heropa Individual Housing back to De Chima Individual Housing, since it's where he will live from then on. ]

CLOSED : Will Graham

[ Kaneki was assigned Will Graham as his parole officer; he is to report to him and the man already has files on what Kaneki is, thus he doesn't expect having to explain it to him. Hopefully. Though he has a feeling questions and conversations will be had. In any case, Kaneki decides to visit him the second he can.

At least he doesn't bring cupcakes this time.

Kaneki is wearing black, and if Will remembers a gentle black haired kid who smiled and looked too naive for this world, he will now meet a white haired Kaneki who still wears an eyepatch and looks far too tired (and sad). He is still smiling, though. Once he arrives to Will's shop, "Hook, line, & tinker", the first thing he notices is the dog, but after he looks around ] Excuse me...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ so very Annie.

So very everyone, honestly. He wasn't expecting them to say "oh no, you are right, we are going to forgive him"; he doesn't want them anywhere close to Suzuya. But Ken also doesn't want them to go out of their way to beat Suzuya up - he can face ghouls, and that scythe of his can cut through anything (like a kagune). While Kaneki doubts he'd kill humans, after fighting Suzuya, he is pretty sure he is not as right in the head as some might imagine him to be and the Dove would be very okay with using "self-defense" as an argument.

But Kaneki doesn't blame him. He is far too young to have decided the career on his own, and Kaneki is almost certain he is one of the orphans caused by ghouls. The Anti Ghoul Committee is known to adopt that sort of children and ask them to fight the beings that murdered their families. Kaneki doesn't know for certain Suzuya's situation (if he did he would pretty much tell everyone "NO Suzuya IS right") but he accepts that there is a lot to him and a justification, too.

regardless, Kaneki tilts his head slightly, before he looks down at his own hand holding the cup ]

I will deal with him myself. If he interferes, I'll pluck him out. [ that last part came a lot darker than he intended, and he squeezes the coffee cup. He comes back to his senses half second later but yes, that just happened and Kaneki just threatened Suzuya. He never said he'd kill him, but Kaneki can't promise that - there are times when it's eat or be eaten.

Of course it'd come to that only if the people he cares for were in danger.

His voice returns to its soft tone ] I have spoken to him and we have accepted to be civil. Not to mention, his prey is Rize-san, so he isn't truly interested in me. What happened was solely because I went on rampage -- and he wanted my kagune to make a quinque. [ Suzuya's mindset is hard to understand. Any Dove wouldn't ignore ghouls and only focus on their assigned case. But The other isn't... well. So normal. ]

[ (If anyone really know Suzuya's situation, he'd be in therapy, but hey, details of chaotic lives!) ]

If he interferes with anything I'm protecting, then I'll deal with him. It doesn't seem likely, but that isn't your call.

[ She doesn't care if Ken wants to stake a claim. She's just pointing out, clearly, what she means about her own kind of protection - and this from someone who has never confessed to enjoying killing. She's not expecting anything will come to any sort of head with the man in question - as Ken says, he has no interest in specifics outside of Rize or the weaponization of a dead ghoul, but that's neither here nor there. She doesn't have to expect trouble to acknowledge it.

She does what she needs to. She doesn't aim to know Suzuya. In ways, that will always make it easier.

But past that, it's seeing these moments in Ken, the cut of his voice, the way he searches for something to reflect back in his coffee... she shakes her head. ]

Good to know you're come to an agreement, either way.

[ (being a character from a shounen manga is pain news at eleven)

He doubts Suzuya would interfere with Annie directly, or anything she is protecting. But then again, kaneki is not in control of Suzuya; if the Dove wishes to mess with Annie, ken is certain the other could handle him and Suzuya would also have to handle Kaneki at the same time.

( But if Suzuya messes with Ken, kaneki is the one who will deal with this and would rather not involve others. Because it's a different sort of thing, he supposes. He is still trying to figure out the whole "ask for help from your friends" deal. )

He hums softly, finally taking a sip of the coffee he constantly stares at. ]

Annie-

I'm sorry, but I will have to call off our dance lessons. [ he knows it won't surprise her ] And the training- well... [ he looks at her with a smile ] I reached the control I wanted. Being a a ghoul, my kagune, i have all of it in the palm of my hand now. [ he is no longer training to avoid using it. He is training to use it. To be better at it, more and more. ]

[ it's probably the closest to a line of true neutrality that she's walked so far today, that expression she regards him with for a moment. she lets that line waver, lips curling up into the ghost of a smile that never was.

it's not a surprise. not weeks out, and knowing it's another future that had nowhere to go. she can place it as part of her past, though she's not so unaware to know she won't miss it.

and she won't say a damn thing. ]

Of course. Congratulations, Ken.

[ there's no congratulations here. getting to where people think they want to be is not the wonderful journey that naive minds might envision. life tries to break people.

holding anything in the palm of a hand is to wonder if you won't crush it or let it bite into you over time. ]

[ he would tell her they can still dance together from time to time, but he can't promise her it'll happen. He doesn't know what is waiting for him, and there is so much he wants to do (even if he can't, right now). he is not trying to cut off ties with her but- ]

... I'm not in a place I can pretend I am who I was. The pure me... [ he doesn't finish. No. She doesn't know, she doesn't know what he became and she doesn't know he has been missing and pushing everyone away for six month, that he pushed the human side inside his mind so deep, tried to drown it, and pretend it wasn't there.

He is no longer doing that. So she doesn't need to know.

the things Ken did and the things Ken became ] I can't go back, but I can try to continue where I left of. Not being what I was, but trying to follow that path again, at least. [ because the path he chose before was wrong. ]

But there is still change, too much of it. And I still need to figure it out. Up until few days ago, I was pushing everyone away and telling myself I couldn't bring anyone into the world I belonged. And Touka kicked my ass because of that.

[ there is still a lot in his mind, it's all too fresh. And Kaneki can't pretend from time to time he feels like shoving his fingers inside his brain and pull something out, or that he doesn't hear Rize and Yamori or that he still has so many questions about everything.

Kaneki is nowhere near where he wants to be. But where he wants to be right now, is exactly the opposite of Annie, who wants to stay quiet; he wants to keep moving, gain strength, become stronger and better. ]

[ he has that capacity that she only gains in cementing herself first. her strength is in having her own resolve - and she has it - but she doesn't pull people up to stand beside her. she falls in step with them.

or she falls behind. ]

Good luck.

[ she never thought of him as pure in the first place... but her words, she can't imagine they're ones of comfort. and he's not asking for her thoughts right now.

so annie will hold her silence, because her own council is the one thing she can always keep. ]

[ even if Kaneki doesn't ask for her thoughts, Annie could say whatever she wanted and whatever she is thinking. Ken would never hold it against her and though it's hard to see, he does take what people tell him in account (sooner or later. ~~Even if only after he gets his brain pierced with spears fun times~~).

but it's with that "Good luck" that he finally gets bored of holding that horrible coffee - that has gone cold by now - and places it inside a trash-bin when they pass by one. The distraction for his eyes and thoughts are gone, but he doesn't feel like he needs it anymore.

it's silent, inside his head. At least for now. ]

[ leaving them both in silence. it's nothing annie's uncomfortable with. she's companion to her own thoughts, quiet as they are too in turn. she's just walking, moving because movement is such a necessary part of living. moving even when holding absolutely still.

she glances skyward, breathing out as she examined the interplay of blue and gray. it's a nice day. she's still breathing, and she doesn't exist in pain.

it's a nice day. she hopes it's a nice day for ken, too. ]

[ kaneki doesn't mind silence. before, he'd try to make an excuse to speak, to talk, awkwardly trying not to be a bother or a bore, even if he became used to Annie's silences and even came to enjoy them. Now, Kaneki's mind is always racing and when it's not he feels like he is being eaten alive; there are very rare moments when he is in complete silence.

Today is a good day because he doesn't hear a thing anymore.

And they are sill walking, so that's good too. Kaneki still needs to see the rest of the city and memorize what coffee shops are there. The ones to avoid, too. Good coffee, he wonders if that even exists here.

The silence is only broken after he looks down at his own hand and remembers Hinami-chan asking him to hold hands. At that time, he thought how nice it was, the touch of another person, of someone you care for, after so long of only using your hands to hurt and eat. And that's why he will spread out his callous and always cold hand and offer it to Annie ]

Can we hold hands?

[ it won't mean a thing to her, but it means to Kaneki. Even if she refuses for whatever reason, he won't mind, but he still wants to ask. ]

[ it's a request that takes her by surprise. it's not anything she's been asked before; it's not much of a demand. she didn't come from a family of handholding - not even friends where it's common.

but she doesn't knee jerk respond. doesn't ask why, either, though she thinks about it. instead she holds out her hand, awkward, but trying. she's been trying so hard for so long to be anything more than the person she'd thought she needed to be.

if it meant holding someone's hand when they asked (you can count on me, he'd said, that night as the train roared by in the distance), she can offer that much. especially when she's still glad he's back; glad and so many more complicated things. ]

Mm.

[ it's not as if they haven't held hands before - they dance together after all. He knows it's different though. Annie doesn't have to do anything she doesn't have to do, and Kaneki will let her pull away whenever she feels like it, whenever she grows bored of it, or gets too uncomfortable.

And when their hands touch, kaneki goes silent again and that is enough for him.

Holding hands is not a science. he does it because it's kind. It's one of the few kind things left in his life; Hinami reminded him of that by asking him the same. Now that he thinks about it, he was very glad to hold her hand that afternoon. Hands are means of contact, and to him, the comfortable silence becomes comfortable warmth - even if his hands are cold. ]

[ it's a science for her. his hand is cold, and cold enough that the chill of her own hands feels it, too. she blinks, tugging his hand up and closer so that she tucks it up and under her arm. in her armpit... she's holding hands with him and clearly trying to warm his hand up, along with hers, to an extent.

no comment, just doing what she can in her own way. ]

[ who is being awkward now, annie?

Kaneki blinks but he just smiles amused, attempting not to actually chuckle. He says nothing, of course, letting her do as she pleases. His hand will always be a bit colder than usual, but he appreciates the thought, Annie. ]

[ look shut up this is her kindness, it's just also awkward to anyone who hasn't had to do this for comrades during winter months.

regardless, she just continues on like that, matching stride so that they... look like they're walking much more intimately than they are. there's no actual undertone to any of it - she's comfortable in physical proximity, they've been dance partners (and she's worked with him with sparring and control issues). he's not hungry, she's not worried about his kagune, and he's part ice now. good work. ]

Your hands never used to be so cold.

[ he doesn't mind the proximity nor that they look much more intimate. If anyone notices or not, who cares? Ken certainly doesn't.

But when she mentions his hands, he just nods ] I know. I poor circulation, now. [ it's not a lie. After his fingers we cut and regrew again and again, it's natural they are a bit messed up.

the black nails, hard and thick that probably feel like an insect's carapace, are a bit harder to explain though. He honestly can't explain them. ]

[ It's not the time where she'd ask why. She makes a noise of assent, accepting what he says. Poor circulation now. After whatever happened. Her mind shies away from examining that too closely right now.

It won't, later. But later is later.

Now is now. ]

Where will you be living?

[ even later, he still won't have an answer. Not because there isn't one, but because he doesn't want to say it.

Kaneki hums softly ]

De Chima. It's closer. [ to the "food", he means. This way, not only he has good amount inside his fridge, but "grocery" will be just around the corner ]

Right now, I'm only just visiting. [ scouting Nonah, he means. ]

[ She can pick up on the undertones. He gets a speculative glance from her, a cant of her head and her eyes sliding his way. ]

Planning on visiting Maurtia Falls, too?

[ kaneki, in return, smiles innocently. A small "No way I'm doing what you think I'm doing" ]

Aha- perhaps. I never did visit the place. I hear it's lively.

Mm. It can be rowdy.

[ which is lively, for one understanding of the word. ]

Let me know how you like it.

Well, now I sure have to visit it. [ lalalalala~ not really scouting. Just looking around.

~TOURISM~ ]

You may come along, if you'd like. [ see? He is even inviting Annie.

But then again, Kaneki can easily multitask, like he is currently doing. ]

Been there, done that. It's not a place I feel a need to know.

[ Tempering her words, but there's an emphasis on feel and need. She doesn't buy tourism bs even from people actually doing tourism bs Ken you are SOL ]

[ he will stop. Kaneki's amused expression relaxes a bit, but he is still smiling. he knows Annie is not blind. ]

It's good to know the important points in the map. [ Maurtia Falls is a place where imPorts live, of course he should learn the place's layout just in case ]

Scouting new territory is something every new recruit learns to do. At some point, it becomes second nature.

[ They should all know the cities, and it's why Annie has cursory knowledge of them all, but the most in Nonah and De Chima. Maurtia Falls invites a different sort of attention that's more difficult for someone who looks her age to navigate without inviting other troubles to mitigate at the same time.

Not that she hasn't handled those. It's just a hassle. ]

[ he nods softly ]

I never did that before. Though, I admit I'm a lot more relaxed about it here. [ back in his world, he wouldn't go walking around with a cup of coffee in his hand. In his world, he'd be crazy obsessive with way too many details currently passing by him. ]

It keeps me occupied, though. [ and THAT is a very good thing ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

juu......................... /fluffs his hair

he missed her ok!!!!

he just got back what's to MISS

six months is a lot even if he didn't remember her )8

yeah he does have a slew of things to remember now good work ken

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject