cityofhex | [Closed] [Nov. 2] world was moving on with you a step behind;

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[Closed] [Nov. 2] world was moving on with you a step behind;

Tobias sat on the picnic table, waiting for the guy he'd met to show up. His Beast is somewhat hungry, prowling in his soul, and he hopes that this will pay off. He seems like a hard guy to spook... he'd been excited by the idea of something creepy.

... Well, this would either pay off with a decent amount of fear, give him a new ally, or he'd be dead. The last of the options wasn't the best one, but he'd accepted long ago that he was going to end up dead sooner or later.

He'd just expected that he'd be one of the first. Whatever. He'd moved stashes from that building, and now that it was starting to get dark, it would be a good setting for a creepy atmosphere. Now it was just a matter of waiting and seeing what the outcome would be.

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"... She..." He takes a deep breath, pulling his arms in. "We were fighting something called a Strix. It had taken control of a vampire... and we'd thought she had the one near her handled, but it grew sharp claws and slashed through her. It got under her ribs and into her heart. I tried to drag her back, to pull her away so she could heal, but she... she was gone before I could do anything..."

Tobias' shoulders shake, and he tries to hold the tears back, but they fall anyway. He scrubs at his face. This isn't going to help... but... "That was... a month ago. Two? Three? I've lost track of the time..."

Ryoji, naturally, has no idea what a Strix is but figures now is probably not the time to ask. Whatever it is is decidedly not good, so he will ask later, but he understands the topic on had and the sensitivity of enough to respect Tobias's feelings.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly, "I... haven't come across a ghost like her, I don't think. But if I do, I'll tell you. And if you find her I'll do what I can to help." It might not be much- let them have a final exchange before helping her rest, but the offer is there.

"... Okay. I thought... I'd ask." It was worth a try. He never... got to say goodby, after all. It still hurts. And he's still tracking those things down. "Sorry. I didn't mean to add something else to your plate."

He wipes his face again, trying to get himself together. "I don't know if Beasts leave ghosts, anyway. No way I'd be able to tell, at least. I don't really know what ghosts are made of, and if they're souls... since ours are kind of gone, it might not be something we can do."

Ryoji shakes his head, smiling. "No, don't be sorry. I don't mind at all." He likes to help people and ghosts find peace. It's what he does. If this is something that's hurting Tobias... maybe he can't help him find his friend, but there might be something else he can think of to help him out.

"Unfortunately, I can't really help with that. We don't even entirely know how ghosts work, and while we've got theories... there are a bunch of different ones." And all their rituals seem to work, which is weird.

"... To be honest, I don't think even Beasts know how Horrors work, so I can't fault you for not knowing how ghosts work." It's not like he had much hope on being able to talk to her... but he had to try.

He glances to the door and tries to kind of... pull it back so it's not bulging as much. "... I don't usually lash out like that..."

Ryoji chuckles, voice a little weak. "Yeah... I sort of wonder if anyone has all the answers we want, anywhere." He doubts it, especially with how many people seem to not understand how their own powers work, just that they do. Mages might know. ...He doesn't really want to ask mages, is the problem.

"You're upset. I think that's when it makes the most sense to lash out. I'm just glad you aimed for the door!" Trying to inject a little humor back into it, which... might fall a bit flat. "Don't worry about it. Do you need help fixing it?"

"I doubt it, but it kind of makes life interesting, I guess." He's not sure about mages anyway. He hasn't ever really talked to them. ... Mostly he hasn't talked to people other than other Beasts and a Demon. ... And occasionally vampires, but normally not.

He shrugs a bit at the question. "I don't know if it can be? Unless you've got super strength. ... I don't want to pull too hard, though..."

"That's true!" Life is a very exciting and interesting thing. Ryoji kind of wishes more people understood that... maybe that way, people would have less regrets. Maybe less anchors. (Maybe more anchors, if they really didn't want to leave...)

"Not really. Sorry." Thanatos's form might be able to do something, but. "Is this where you live?"

"It's... kind of frustrating when you need to know how to take out an enemy, though." All of these years, and they still haven't killed off all of the Strix in the area. He's pretty sure they've pumped Ax for as much information as he has on them, though.

"Huh? Here? No. I kind of live all over... usually on roofs when the weather's nice." People don't look up, after all, so it's easy to escape notice.

"Yeah, there is that..." Even laying a ghost to rest is a different task each time. It would be kind of nice if it was more straightforward, like things seemed to be in movies and stuff. Sigh.

"Oh, really? That's pretty cool." It's... pretty clear Tobias doesn't live with his family anymore, which is understandable. Ryoji got away with it, and his mother is still trying to be a little overprotective even though he's not living at home, but that's just not possible for a lot of people in their... unique situations.

"It's nice... I don't mind it. I've been doing it for a while, even when I was with my group. We all sort of had our own situations... sometimes I crashed on someone's couch when the weather was bad." He's got a tent that he can use, but it's not the same. And even buildings that have decent insulation might be hard to find soon, if the temperature dips.

Still... no need to bother him with that. "Do you spend most of your free time working with ghosts and stuff?" He's... always been kind of curious how 'normal' teenagers spend their time.

Hmm. Well, Ryoji's not sure if Tobias trusts him enough yet, but-- "If you need, I've got a couch in my apartment. You might have to deal with my roommates some, but they wouldn't mind and they don't ask a lot of questions." That's what Ryoji likes best about them.

"A lot of it," he says, nodding, "But... if dying taught me anything, it was to enjoy my life while I had it. So I try to have a lot of fun and try new things too."

"... Thanks." He's not sure if he'll ever take it up, but it's good to know. This guy seems to not be super dangerous... on the surface. He might want to keep an eye on him, though.

Enjoy life... huh. "I'm not - I don't usually have much time to do that kind of thing. I guess I have more time now, but... I've been fighting things for a long time. I'm sort of on a break right now, but that... kind of thing won't stay quiet forever, whether I'm with the others or not."

Far enough. It's not like Ryoji's going to give away all his secrets in one go either.

Ryoji hums, considering it. "What kind of things do you like?" he asks, smiling, "I know you talked about drawing... living life doesn't have be going out and meeting everyone in the world or things like that. Little things are alright too. And even if your world is full of fighting, I think it's still important to have those things that are just for you."

What sort of things he likes... he hasn't done a ton that's not just survival stuff in a while. "Reading... I used to like hanging out at the mall or watching birds, but not as much anymore. I like parkour, though. It's as close to true flying as I can usually get." And it helps that he can jump really high, too.

"Why don't you do them anymore?" Maybe that's kind of an obvious question, but Ryoji doesn't think the life he's leading now should force him to be unhappy. Which... he suspects Tobias is.

"... I don't really have time. I spend most of my time looking for things to sell for food money and other stuff." He doesn't really want to make Ryoji feel bad for him or anything, but that's just... the truth.

Ryoji nods. He gets it, but it is kind of sad. "...I don't know if this would be something you'd be interested in..." he says, thinking over how to kill two birds with one stone (metaphorically speaking), "But have you ever tried selling your art? Some people might really like it, and then you'd still be able to do that too. I mean, I'm not going to tell you to do it, but it's an idea if it would make you happier."

"I..." He hesitates, biting his lip, worry in his eyes. "It's not all that good, it's not like anyone would want to buy it... I... I mean... I'm not..." His voice cracks slightly and he backs up. He shouldn't be afraid of this, still. That man is out of his life now. And yet...

('Do you get prize money?' 'No?' 'No? So then what's it worth? It won't pay the bills, so what good is it?')

Tobias shakes his head, trying to dislodge the haunted look he knows is in his expression. "... I don't know if anyone would want it."

Ryoji senses he hit on a sensitive topic and he backs off immediately. "That's alright," he says quietly, "If it's something you want to do, then you should still try to do it, but I understand being able to feed yourself is probably a bigger priority right now. I don't have a lot myself, but if you need anything you can always ask me." He's a helpful person by nature.

He takes a deep breath. Was it that obvious? "... Yeah. Kind of... just still trying to get a grip on things after... that whole disaster." He could always go back, but he's... not sure he can stay calm with them. Not now.

Ryoji nods. "Traumatic situations do that," he says, "It can take some time. But... I'm sure you'll be alright. It might take some time, but you'll get there." He doesn't know that for sure, nothing about his powers promise that, but he's an optimistic person. And it's not like Tobias is going to die tomorrow, at least.

"... Yeah. She'd want me to keep going, anyway." Because that was what she always did - perservered, despite the odds and despite the opinions of anyone who might think she was wrong.

Ryoji smiles. Whoever the girl was in life, she clearly had a lot of influence on him. That's not a bad thing. It's nice to leave something behind, though he imagines she wouldn't want him to be hurting either. Most good ghosts don't want their loved ones to. ...There are, of course, exceptions. "Well, like I said, I'll keep an eye out for anything. And let me know if I can help at all."

"Yeah, I'll... let you know." He's not sure what he could do to help... it really seems like they have their separate things to take care of. He needs to get back to looking for Strix... but he should start preparing supplies for when it gets colder. "And... sorry again for tricking you."

[Closed] [Nov. 2] world was moving on with you a step behind;

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