[ Open ]

[enucleation]

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...?

Comments

[enucleation]

[ who knows? before Kaneki found so many things utterly disgusting, including his diet. Nowadays, he'll still say it's understandably disgusting to most people, he had to be honest and practical: it no longer grosses him out. He has done so many gross things that it's hard to call them so anymore. Like the body parts he has inside his fridge; before he was scared to open it, and now Kaneki makes use of the fridge almost daily. So what he thinks it's gross and isn't, is no longer normal and hew is never sure when he has to stop.

If talking about how ghouls taste their victims doesn't bother Will, if Kaneki started to talk about how Tsukiyama "The Gourmet" Shuu thought the was super high class and made dishes out of his victims, that would probably hit close to home (even if Kaneki doesn't know). So yeah, it's better for everyone ever not to mention it right now.

Kaneki looks at the man for a moment. Curiosity is a good answer, and honestly, ken would not blame him for it. While Will said he had met cannibals before, Kaneki doesn't know to what extent and context, so he can only imagine it's still far too weird in many ways. And curiosity is a normal ting, for humans and ghouls alike. ]

I don't think i'd want the smell of cooked human flesh all over my apartment. [ or would he? Kaneki isn't sure, he never wanted to do anything like that. Raw flesh is, actually, something his taste buds are quiet happy with - he isn't going to cook it. Unnecessary. ] I don't even know if I'm able to digest cooked food. [ seriously, it never really crossed his mind. ]

- not that I will try it. [ he figures he should probably add it so he wouldn't freak Will out or something? He mostly said it out loud! ]

[infomodder]

[Will should, probably, find the idea of the scent of cooked human flesh permeating an apartment (any of them, not just Ken's) disgusting. But if Ken is expecting that to cause a wrinkled nose or worse frown than usual, he'll come up empty-handed. There is no noticeable revulsion, not for any of it. Ken continues on and, what, adds some reassurance that he won't be lighting up his stove to partake of cooked human meats? Is eating human flesh considered that much better in ghoul culture? Do they simply eat it as it comes to them and not care for preparation? Puts a whole new twist on salads being human. Can't be worse than the smell of fish, he thinks, biting back the words of someone who is terribly freaked out right now (only not). Arms crossed over his chest for lack of anywhere else to go, no defensiveness, Will is quite at ease. With Ken. With the conversation. No worries here. Will sluggishly lifts his elbows outward just enough to be spotted in place of a shrug and pulls a face. If that's how Ken wants to go about his diet, no skin off Will's back.

Hopefully...]

You know about the file leak that happened by now, don't you? While you were...unavailable. [It's the best way to word it that Will can think of, better than going with something like "disposed of." Not all cannibals are the same, after all. Ken probably doesn't appreciate that sort of humor the same way as someone who does it on purpose and cracks jokes at the dinner table no one else understands until it's horrifyingly too late.] It was on the Network, is why I ask. Everyone in the community could. [Sorry, buddy.] See it.

[Part of Will's job is making sure Ken reintegrates with the community at large properly, knowing how Ken intends to go from here is something for his notes.]

[enucleation]

[ Food is food. certain organs have different flavors, but they don't add to the pleasure of eating unless you are a pretentious asshole like Tsukiyama. To a ghoul, human flesh is possibly the greatest pleasure (that kaneki never felt as a human before) and the pleasure is the same no matter how picky certain ghouls wish to think they have the right to be.

It's strange how he can be talking to someone like this. It's not normal, even if they are talking as if it is. If will doesn't mind it, Kaneki won't mind either. ]

Yes, I do know. I have seen it and read it and I'm sure many others have, as well. I do plan on addressing this matter soon. [ leave a network post for everyone to see, being called a monster by Sylar, things like that ] My situation is no longer a secret, so I'll just have to see what comes out of it.

[infomodder]

[When one is hungry, almost anything can be food. When one is a cannibal, every fight is a food fight.

Abnormal conversations are par for the course when it comes to Will Graham, hopefully Ken can pick up on how far that goes. When it comes to what others might consider morbid and not to be discussed, if Ken needs someone to converse with, Will's going to keep an open door policy. Regardless of how much it might remind him of the taste of human flesh.]

I'm glad to hear that. [And he is, too. He's glad that Ken has already come to his own decision about this. Not that Will wouldn't be of some help if he hadn't, but Ken displaying that he can think things through on his own, that he has a mind and uses it? That's valuable.] If something comes up when you do and you feel like someone's taken too much of an interest...I'd like to know.

[So he can bark at them. Fuck you, Sylar. But Will knows people can have conversations where they aren't easy to see, and that's more what he's referring. He won't demand Ken hand over his device, won't invade his privacy, but if he does get something that's a bit much, well. He's not in the corner by himself, as long as Will's around.]

[enucleation]

[ what a beautiful and deep thought.

ken has been thinking about so many things and though - let's face it - a lot of what he has through through comes up as a total mess, he still is trying to figure everything out, plan everything out. Make sense of things, decide others. Even if they are difficult.

Those last words make Kaneki pause ]

... like Suzuya? [ oh yeah, his killer. The elephant in the room. One of them, at least. ]

[infomodder]

[supah profound

Ah, well. There is one thing that is undeniably strange to Will: people who were killed coming back. Not people who were thought dead, or had the possibility of being dead attached to their cases. People who were dead, coming back from that? That was unheard of, in the world Will knew. The human body could go through quite a lot, more than most wanted to ever know about, before it finally stopped. But where Will's from, when that final heartbeat thumps and that last breath is taken or let out, there is no return. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

He's talking to someone formerly dead. That, to Will, is one of the most horrifying and difficult things he's had to face here.]

Like that, yes. [Staying calm and approachable in the face of the truly bizarre, however, wasn't beyond him. Even if he was doing so propped up against a stool in casual clothing, not dressed up and gracing the halls of the FBI.] Is there anyone else like that for you here, now, Ken?

[He doesn't expect full honesty. He'd like it, of course he would. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't, at least, ask. Ken's clearly been through his own world of horror, this is not a subtle challenge for him to lie, for that to work against him, and for Will to appear a better support or more trustworthy companion in a few month's time. This isn't a design to drive a scalpel into his mind later.

This is just a question.]

[enucleation]

[ it's unheard of, in most worlds. In Kaneki's too; dead people don't come back, even if you hallucinate them while you are being tortured beyond the mental limits of your mind. Kaneki certainly hallucinates dead people, and he even had a whole mental breakthrough thanks to one of those illusions, but they didn't come back from the dead. After it happened to Kaneki, though, he realized how it wasn't as traumatic as one would think it to be - perhaps because kaneki because so used to pain that dying isn't the worst thing that can happen to him.

The question will be answered truthfully ]

Suzuya-san is still around. I'm always a target to be put down, I'm sure of it. [ just because Suzya killed him once and he came back to life, it doesn't mean the other won't try it again. While he is certain he won't come out of the shadows to kill Kaneki again and again, he is certain the other is ready to attempt killing kaneki if he misbehaves. Or if he finds someone to build him a quinque out of Kaneki's kagune. ]

I don't know about anyone else. [ he doesn't think anyone else wants him dead besides Suzuya. However, he can think of a couple of people ready to... stab him if required, but it's not because of Kaneki's nature, but rather Kaneki's friends. Like Armin. But Kaneki won't mention any of that, not because he is a liar, but because he doesn't think it matters.

it's alright. ]

How would you like for this to go? Meeting you week, or-? [ he doesn't know how these things go. ]

[infomodder]

[Will doesn't know much about Ken that isn't in the file and isn't from several months ago. That is going to change, immediately, as soon as this is all over. Will's taken a shine to looking through the Network, skimming what is dull as dirt, paying close attention to what it isn't. It won't be too much of a problem for him to go back with an eye looking out for the kid, specifically. He wonders if he'll find anything else, left out in public. Something (or someone) Ken might not consider as too interested but reads (or sounds) differently to Will. But he won't mention of that, not because he finds it shameful or the overly used "stalking," but because he doesn't think it matters.

He has a duty to fulfill, what sort of good would he be if he didn't do an ounce of research?]

Well. [Leaving that topic behind isn't an issue at all. Will pushes off the stool and pulls out a bit of paper from the receipt machine, clicking a pen to fill it up with various numbers and addresses.] I think, to start, twice a week would be...good. If that's agreeable to you, of course. [Like he's talking to a work acquaintance, not some filthy criminal.] But if you ever need me for anything, this is all my contact information.

[The shop's address. His home address. The shop's phone number. Will's cell phone, used mostly to keep in contact with marinas, boaters, frequent customers he's grown a bit friendly with. They're all labeled appropriately, and Will slides it over before pulling out another sheet of paper and putting that in front of Ken, too, with the pen.]

Return the favor?

[A question that isn't rhetorical. Ken has every right to not return the favor if he doesn't want to, and Will wouldn't press him on it. Choice, that's important.]

[enucleation]

[ there is so much about Kaneki, but sadly., the Kaneki Will will find on the network no longer exists. He was pure back then, gentle and soft, kind, the sort of person who'd rather be hurt instead of hurting others. The sort of person who'd smile even when he wanted to cry, the sort of person who would rather take the blame instead of pointing out it was someone else's mistake. Kaneki is no longer that person and he is now some sort of monster who will pluck out whoever gets in the way, whoever threatens his world, whoever dares to try and take his place away.

He is no longer the sort of person to give cupcakes during New Year's.

And back then, no one knew what Ken was, either.Only a handful of people knew, and they were close friends. The ones that learned during that... memory share situation, didn't have the time to do anything about it because Kaneki was killed few days after.

Kaneki reaches for the paper, reading the numbers. Even his home address is there, even his private number. How weird, to trust Kaneki this much, with so much.

he reaches for the paper and pen after, writing down his new home address over De Chima, but he also provides Will with the location of the laboratory where he takes his food from. The government makes sure to keep a track on how much Kaneki takes to make sure he won't go on hunger rampage, but why not provide it to Will as well, if he feels like checking it out. And eventually he gives his cellphone too, though he will rarely use it for imPorts. ]

I'm rarely over my place, but if you want to drop by, feel free. [ to see it? To make sure Kaneki isn't keeping anyone kidnapped there. ]

[infomodder]

[He doesn't much mind people who have the ability to be very dangerous knowing where he lays his head at night. After walking into his home to find Mason Verger feeding his face to Will's dog at the clear behest of Hannibal Lecter, it would take a lot to actually shock him. April has her interest in the baddies, and her horde of furry little men ready to do anything she requires of them, it'll be just fine.

He pulls the slip back, eying the address for the laboratory with muted confusion. Is he supposed to go by and make sure Ken's come around for his meals, isn't skipping out and getting his cannibalism groove on some other way? Good information to have, sure, but he hasn't a clue what he's expected to do with it.]

I used to live in De Chima. [And he was not rarely at his place, except on the weekends when he was April's live-in boyfriend-not-boyfriend-shaggy-man-leech. Despite having left Virginia behind, he still speaks fondly of it. Will obviously liked the place, even if he's no longer a resident.] I'll send you a message if I'm ever back up that way again. Wouldn't wanna interrupt anything or waste our time.

[A more human smile than usual makes its way across his face at that, directed solely towards Ken as he folds the paper up and moves to stuff it in his wallet. No fear, no hesitation, no viewing Ken as some terrible cannibalistic criminal who must be treated with gentle hands, or cowered to, in order to prevent any terrible violent outbursts. If Will's openness all along hasn't made that very apparent, well. He can add onto that with:]

Want me to tell April you said hi?

[Like talking to an old friend more than anything else, go figure.]

[enucleation]

[ Will can do with the address whatever he wants, including nothing. If he wants records of how many times a month Ken drops by the lab, if he just wants to check the place out, Kaneki doesn't care at all - Will decides what he wants to do with that information. ]

He nods with a small smile ] I'm sure I won't be doing anything super important.

[ and that will be the first big lie Kaneki will tell at Will's face. Because he is planning so much and every second of his time is actually precious. He has no plans on stopping still, he has no plans on sitting back. And the things he plans on doing are certainly against the government's ideals.

But he doesn't lie out of malice. He does it because there are things inside Kaneki and about Kaneki he can't ignore and that won't allow him to stop. Everything he does is because he wants to keep his friends and loved ones, safe. And he is very willing to dirty his hands for it, but he isn't going to bring anyone else into it. He can deal and handle everything, and sure he won't be doing it alone, but people like Will should never be involved in such.

So lying to him isn't only because he is paranoid and doesn't trust Will. But it's also to keep will safe from the things Ken might do.

When Will mentions April, kaneki pauses, but he eventually smiles. ] Hm. It's good to know she is still around.

[ if she doesn't mind a "hello" from a cannibal. ]

Thank you, Will. [ mostly for treating him so naturally ]

[infomodder]

[Will doesn't pick up on the lie at all, has no reason to, has no extreme knowledge of Ken just yet to tell, by the little things, what is lie and what is truth. And even if he did, he'd have no clue what he was lying about. But it's perfectly fine as it is, because Will's not always honest himself. He's surrounded by people who are just the same (and worse)—lying isn't the most deplorable sin out there. He might prefer sins of omission to outright lies, but some would argue they're the same thing.

So the smile stays on.]

No problem. [Being polite isn't a problem at all. He's yet to see anything from Ken that gives him a real reason to be rude, anyway. He might not find him a threat, here and now, but if there's one thing he knows about cannibals who eat, and eat, and eat, continually consuming flesh? It's that being polite is sometimes far more valuable than flattery or empty words. It costs him literally nothing and the benefits later on can be worth their weight in every precious jewel and stone the collective universes have to offer.] I'll see you soon. Have a good one, and don't hesitate to get in touch if something comes up, okay?

[April doesn't mind getting a "hello" from a cannibal, Will would argue, considering the two of them engage in much more than just greeting each other. But Will still can't bring himself to bust out the fact of the matter that he has experience consuming his own species, too. He'd already mentioned people who had too much interest in Ken; he can't, so soon, put out the idea that he's one of them.]

[enucleation]

[ Kaneki stands up, nodding as he hears the other's offer ] I won't. Thank you for the trust, Will.

[ Kaneki has nothing else to add and he assumes Will doesn't have anything else to ask, either. Maybe more questions will arise as they go, but Ken is ready for them, even if he may not give him a truthful answer.

And with that, Kaneki will leave, with one last glance at the dog, one last nod at Will, and with that he leaves. Sorry, Will, he isn't exactly good at goodbyes ]