#.ᐟ [ 𝚟. ] main.

[kezoire]

@saburaito // the really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is—without question—the right thing to do, and that is what makes them dangerous.

the scent of blood — copper notes had long overstayed its welcome in kezo's presence, though he garnered it would take more than two showers to truly get it off his skin. it stained him like a second shell, splattered across his chin, dripping down his neck onto a shirt he'd toss as soon as he got home. he'd never gotten used to it, even as it felt less like the remnants of whatever target he'd had the pleasure of shredding from the inside out in place of an exorcism. “ this about you or me ? ” head shook out the small bits of hair that'd been blocking his view, now clinging to the side of his skull. “ i mean — ” laughter escaped from the hallows of covered larynx, though it was filled with mirth and more air than sound. “ is it the blood and the body ? hope he didn't mean anything to you, business is business. you know. ”

he could say precisely what the average person would think — the carcass by his foot was just a target that would do more damage to others if he didn't die. that was what kezo used to tell himself in the beginning when he carried out his jobs. now it was just an added benefit for the tale, but it didn't matter to him anymore. he reached into his back pocket to pull out some napkins he'd taken from a diner earlier, starting to wipe at the mess on his hands, all without breaking his attention from sabu.

[kezoire]

“ nope. ” the pop sound was emphasized rather childishly, “ i'm done now. ” he'd said enough, though he could feel a slight burn in his throat as he felt the urge to say more. but he knew if he did he would just start spiraling with every waking thought he's had about her, and new ones he wasn't sure he could control. digits skillfully grasp his blade once more before playing with it absentmindedly as he followed her movements, a few side - steps before leaning against the wall adjacent to her. with just enough distance. “ i like it. thinking about getting a buzz cut, gets annoying having to brush the bangs out of my eyes every time. ” he wasn't serious. he'd never get a buzz cut, not since the fiasco of 2016 where he thought he could pull it enough and resorted to wearing a beanie for months. almost wore a toupee out of desperation. and then his eyes squinted as he looked off into the distance of the empty streets. they were lucky to be so early before the general public started walking about. but she was right, the cleaners were pushing it. “ no, they're not. i can't imagine we got many other cases overlapping at this level. it's not our problemn if someone does see this mess, though. we did our part. ” and still, he was getting restless, despite his stoicism — and he started shoving the corpse closer to their side so they could at least pretend to hide it.

ah — her mouth said silently in mock understanding. the well - being of the public, of course. her smile was easier to give, effortless in his presence and genuine, amused. the differences in kezo's nature bore little weight to the small things that she could still recognise in him, a little selfishly thinking — just for me, that smile, laugh, it's just for me. his smile brought forth a breath of laughter, a hum caught in her throat. “ are you just, like, gonna keep going? i'm loving this. when you get all ... ” a vague gesture in his direction, “ you. you can just say, yeah, i guess or you can keep going. i'm all for a compliment when it's from you, that's how i know you mean it. ” she leaned back against the wall, finally tearing her gaze away from kezo in an offer of respite, her face half - bathed in the sunlight streaming through the buildings. “ i have. ” she peeks at him briefly out of the corner of her eye, “ had my hair done, i mean. thanks for noticing. ” it was the final jab before she decided to grab a shovel and dig him out some. “ are they normally this behind? i feel like we've been waiting a while, i don't want someone to stumble across us. ”

[kezoire]

@stllinski // " it’s a sacrifice, of sorts. "

kezo stared at him. simply stared, as if the words that'd fallen out of his mouth were the most stupidest things a person could say. as if it weren't obvious enough. “ no shit. ” he coughed out, countenance agonizingly lackluster in every aspect of a reaction to seeing what was happening before them. well, further down into the woods they'd tracked out to and were now pretending some skinny tree trunks were wide enough to camouflage them both. “ the chanting and the masks ... that didn't do it for me. thought it was a school play. ” it did resemble a school play, something so embarrassingly amateurish in his eyes that he had the thought of turning around and leaving the crowd to their own devices, whatever demonic entity that may come out of it or whatever their goal was. they weren't given enough information about the case to start with, other than the slew of mutilated corpses littered along the various acres of land in a poor attempt of shallow graves. and here, he could see now that they were planning to carve someone up for their god. whatever god they thought they were making offerings for. “ the freak holding a scythe — not human. he's likely the one leading all of this. ”

[kezoire]

@allthatwas // so what are you? a two-bit con artist?

“ that's your first guess ? ” brow arched, bemusement staining his features. he would laugh if not for this pesky little predicament. and that was that he wasn't sure just how much he needed to maneuver, if she was someone unimportant or irrelevant enough to piss off or ignore, or if he needed plan an escape route. would she chase after him ? he'd learned to stop underestimating his unplanned encounters — simply because he had pulled the exact move on his own targets. though it was getting harder and harder to be unsuspecting when he presented himself the way he did, canvas permanently marked with the fights of his past. arms folded over his chest, lips pursing in thought as he scanned her up and down as subtly as possible. “ wanna try again ? because that was kind of mean. i might just go somewhere else. ” he was stalling at this point, avoiding looking to his right knowing that he was simply waiting on a target that was likely losing its mind a few doors down. he could still feel the weight of his dagger on the back of his waist. just needed to figure her out enough to decide his next move.

[kezoire]

@savorre // if you piss me off, i’ll be gone.

kezo hardly spared van a glance as he continued wiping down his own weaponry — numerous sets of blades, daggers, the likes. the overhead lights were buzzing, some flickering in the distance and it only made him question why their business had to take place in such ... well, unappealing locations. not that he was particularly picky. “ you should start walking away now because that's a guarantee. can't handle being pissed off around me, ” he shrugged, tossing the small towel over his shoulder as he playfully twisted the switchblade effortlessly between his fingers. “ probably shouldn't work with me. ” tongue clicked over the roof of his mouth, ink - black strands falling over his eyes as he tilted his head sideways just the slightest, eyes squinting at him in skepticism. it would be mocking if it weren't kezo. though, perhaps van did not know that yet. “ i get the feeling you don't really want to be gone, do ya ? or maybe you do. i'm bad at reading people. ”

[kezoire]

everything moved too quickly. one minute he was going after a group of suspicious folks clad in clothing beyond their pay grade, reluctantly partnered in the name of a successful job. and the next ? trying to shield for two after the oncoming storm of gunfire. only she'd beaten him to it, and the wind was knocked out of him, quick reflexes working overtime to shift their bodies so that they were rolling away without further impact, allowing for more time to hide. he just nearly made it behind safe cover, bullet missing the toe of his shoe by a split second. jesus. luckily, it seemed that they weren't firing excessively — likely not with an arsenal, this caught them by surprise. “ i think so. ” he called out, mentally cursing the fact that he quite literally brought a knife to a gunfight. he was typically more prepared and strategic about getting up close and personal, but he was still adjusting to her presence. “ the second we move, they'll shoot again. ” a pause as he inspected the ground they'd previously scattered from. “ were you hit ? ”

jyn doesn't think -- she just acts. even in a situation where her ally is temporary –– and ally is a strong word for someone she's not entirely certain won't stab her in the back when it's done –– it's still second nature. when she sees the shot fired in his direction, she lunges forward to shove him out of the way without a second thought. as she tackles to him to the ground, the bullet scrapes against her shoulder and back, tearing through her clothing and burying itself in the wall behind them. " fuck, " she hisses under her breath, quickly pushing herself off the ground and ducking behind cover. once in relatively safety, she moves her shoulder gingerly ; the wound, though not severe, stings as she tests it. not ideal, considering she'd just bought this jacket ( bought, not stolen ). keeping her gaze on the few remaining attackers, she calls off to the side, " you still alive ? "

@kezoire : [ sacrifice ] for your muse to get hurt protecting mine

[kezoire]

" i'm going now. it'll be better if i go. "

kezo made a point of never revealing his place of residency. there were various stop - points he could reference when clients insisted they meet him, perhaps in an attempt to sus him out as a person, inspect just the type of lifestyle he might have had, but to them — he was not simply a person. he was a tool, a means to an end, and all he could do was remind them of that fact. still, try as he might, some were more persistent than others. he expected it would happen, but never in this manner — black hair, wet and still dripping from the shower, curled slightly from the air and clinging to his skin, towel wrapped over his hips. he would have shouted had he not heard the window slide open seconds prior. and so they talked, they discussed payment, then kezo was pushing her out his bedroom door without giving her a reason to lash out. and then there she was, already standing in his living room. he was wordless as he finally got the client to leave, and when she finally spoke, he felt his heart sink. “ yo. ” he cringed. idiot. “ ayame, stop. ” arms fold over his chest as if he meant to cover up. “ i want you to stay. you have the key for reason. what's wrong ? ”

[kezoire]

@adamanteine // all your questions can be answered, if that is what you want.

his head was buzzing, both with overwhelming sensation and strung - out words that he'd yet to make sense of. he looked at her and he saw four, blurry and distorted, yet he was still fully confident he could pick out the real her. “ you present the option as if it comes with strings. does it ? ” he didn't say it, didn't have to. his questions came loaded with another statement entirely : we come from two different places, your history ties you with the same home that seeks to destroy me. or so he felt that way, it didn't matter if it as true or not. “ i don't think i can deal with this right now. ” and it was absolutely shit timing, because he did want to ask her everything that'd been burning him from the inside out. but he was more focused on putting up an act that he wasn't going to completely collapse before her.

[kezoire]

@phanritza // “   under   the   circumstances ,   i’ve   been   shockingly   nice  .   ”

“ i said i was sorry. ” he panted, hauling up massive dead weight from their current case. normally he, like most venkari, didn't have an issue with strength but — this ? this was fucking ridiculous. whatever entity this was had practically turned into an anchor, and his partner was of no help. they only had so much time before people started walking out from the bars and witnessing such an atrocity. “ i'll make it up to you, you know i'm good on that. ” with a final push, he managed to shove the exorcised vessel against the building closest to him, hand outstretched to keep it planted there while he took a breather. “ vera, my back is this close to snapping in half and then you'll have to carry this oaf back to headquarters on your own. it's a lose - lose situation either way. i'll get you whatever you want once we're done. ”

[kezoire]

@guttersniper // it’s easy, there’s a trick to it, you do it or you die.

jesus. nose wrinkled as he looked down at the kid, unsure if he should give him his cup of frozen yogurt or not. “ you got this down faster than i ever did. still think i could not do and not die. ” it was more stubbornness than anything. it was what he thought when the organization recruited him, when they held information from him and hung over it his head in the name of some greater duty. follow the orders and keep his mouth shut, play the role of a perfect soldier. or puppet. survival looked different on everyone. for kezo, it was sleeping with a dagger under his pillow, traps set up from the entrance of his place to his bedroom ; it was avoiding the usual layout of the organization's eyes and ears, living as a shadow as much as he could. “ where're you staying at right now ? i got a spare room. ”

[kezoire]

@phanritza // “   you’re   not   even   going   the   right   way  .   ”

“ fuck you, i am going the right way. ” quick to retort, but it was only a few more paces since those words left his mouth that he was immediately having them thrown back in his face. but he refused to show embarrassment over it, or acknowledge that he was wrong. or acknowledge that she was right and he wasn't. and instead, he pointed down the hall of the abandoned factory before wordlessly turning around to walk back in her direction. “ heard a weird noise the other way. we should probably explore that instead, the first way would have been fine but we shouldn't waste our time anymore. ” shit - eating grin stretched over his lips as he closed the distance between them, edge of his shoulder purposely shoving against her side as he walked past her. “ c'mon, don't got all day. there's a new froyo shop opening near that outdated club we used to go to. grand openings always got discounts. ”

[kezoire]

@piruzei // “ have i ever lied to you ? … i mean , in this room . ”

“ you're not making a good case for yourself. ” he deadpanned, visage seemingly unexpressive save for the grimace stained in the shadows of his lips, the slight wrinkle by his nose, and the minuscule curve of his left brow. seeing her was quite the paradox itself — the weight on his shoulders had lifted the slightest, knowing she was still alive and well despite ... everything, and yet, his chest felt tighter. it was better they kept their distance, wasn't that what was unanimously decided ? without words ? or just a poor observation on his own fault ? not that this was even the first time he was seeing her since everything went down, but it never got easier. “ you're either really excited about something and holding out on a piece of important detail that's going to chew my ass into chunks or you're teasing. both of which, i really don't have the patience or time for anymore. ” now who was lying ?

[kezoire]

“ nah, you should have your schedule cleared indefinitely. i can't have someone ill - fitted responsible for it. ” he met her smile with a deadpanned expression, but this was nothing new — she'd seen him enough times after leaving to know that it just simply did not come to him as often as it used to, which was already scarce to start with. the noises emitting from the location was more suspicious than anything, not that he hadn't heard his fair share of fucked up sounds while on the hunt, but something about this particular instance gave him the creeps. “ sure. a simple demon, that you couldn't have asked laritza ? or y — ” he cut himself off before uttering his name. he'd never slipped up before, wasn't sure why it nearly happened then. “ any of the others ? are you sacrificing me to some fucked up deity ? very uncool. ”

nose wrinkled as he felt the light impact, gaze squinting at her. she'd always been odd in his eyes. but this was different, he couldn't quite put his finger on it. he could just leave, have her finish the job herself. but in the event that she was being dishonest or overestimating the situation, he knew he couldn't live with himself if he was the one who left her to her demise. “ i will not succumb to peer pressure. ” and then he was already taking the lead in, brushing past her. “ catch me up on the details of this demon. you do have information, right ? ”

@kezoire: in the unlikely event of my death, you will hold my vigil.

``     if i can fit it into my schedule, then, sure.     ``  she feels herself give him one of her well - practiced smiles. it's one he might have been able to recognize were they still working together. she remembers it clearly, actually. once before everything fell apart, she could say that kezo was one of the people that were able to read through her lies. her head tilts at the thought. she's a performer now— a trickster of some sorts. her job was to fool everyone around her, even herself. and sometimes, she did. ``      it's a simple demon that we need to exorcise. nothing too difficult.     ``  at least that's the reason he knows of. there has been some sort of hissing presence that came from this place in certain hours (one that she knows is not from any demon) and she ought to find out more about it, more about what it can offer her. nothing is a coincidence is what she always says.

lasya turns, then, as she quickly moves to gently tap his nose before he can even react. there’s a beat and then she’s already moving, as she starts straightening her jacket. she's grinning, then, like it's so normal for the two of them to be in the same place at once. ``      don't tell me you're nervous. have you gotten even worse than before, kezo dear?     `` 

[kezoire]

she didn't play fair, and neither did he. but what happened then, was solely on him. he'd hesitated for the first time, giving her an open to completely unleash all power on him. slashed and stabbed and thrown around, movements too fast for him to predict and ward off. adrenaline too high for him to fully comprehend the gravity of the injuries he'd sustained, and then he saw black. for a moment, the world blurred around him as he thought he'd met his end, falling slack against the ground, labored breathing as his lungs filled with blood.

but it was not his time. her voice, her laughter, echoing in his mind.

before he knew it, he'd found stability over the ground, legs already moving towards her at a steady pace — the quiet of the night disturbed with the continuous cracking of his bones snapping back into place, squelching of flesh rebuilding itself layer by layer. kezo didn't look human but something monstrous, perhaps — just as monstrous as she. blood across his forehead, throat, corner of his lips.

@punchlien : “   someday ,   we’ll   remember   this   and   laugh  .   and   laugh  .   and   laugh  .   ”

it was not often that an entity could manage to get underneath kezo's skin, but this particular pest had burrowed deep within him, past the fleshy layers and muscles and had begun to rot in the marrow. she wore a body and yet he could see the darkness radiating off of her, the bloodstains of victims past still remaining on her, permanent and unrelenting — bare to the naked eye, but visible to him. it was always too close, their encounters full of unfinished jobs and almosts. it frustrated him immensely, what had been a simple job now evolved into something more personal, fiendish.

“ i'm laughing right now. ” three monotonous ha - ha - ha's followed, head erratically twisting once as his body forced the final fix. blade in hand, bloodied, though not raised as a threat but rather a toy. “ i'm really amused right now. you couldn't even make sure i was actually dead ? ” tongue clicked over his roof of his mouth, hiss leaving his lips as if he was lecturing her. “ tsk. ” without any warning, he lunged towards her, leg sweeping under hers in an attempt to catch her off balance, free hand simultaneously gripping her throat to throw her to the ground.

[kezoire]

keep safe. i would not like to hear that you were gone for good.

“ no worries, if i were gone for good, you wouldn't ever hear about it. ” likely not the best joke to make, given the circumstances. it baffled him, really, how even though he'd left the venkari that his people found him bit by bit. slowly, over time, whether on purpose or by utter coincidence, they'd reunited. he wasn't happy about it, not because he didn't want to see any of them but because of the risks it posed. what would the venkari think, seeing their own agents defy the rules and associate with him ? not that he was particularly outlawed, or on their wanted list, but he was most definitely not a friendly contact. but he'd garnered they had secrets, and it was driving away even their best agents. he playfully spun the blade in his hand for show, as a means of reassurance. from a distance, a screech reverberated through the stone walls of the park, causing kezo to cringe. “ c'mon. demon's not gonna exorcise itself. ” if they could just finish this before the venkari showed up.

[kezoire]

@piruzei // either you’ve been forgotten, or you’re scared you’re going to be rendered obsolete.

“ aren't we all technically obsolete at this point ? ” they could pretend, they could all pretend, that their lives were still their own — but fact of the matter is, they housed ticking time bombs that would either consume them wholly or drag them down into the deepest pits of whatever darkness waited for them. “ it doesn't scare me. being forgotten. being obsolete. being nothing. ” he was lying. the words burned through his lungs as he spoke and left a bitter taste on his tongue. obsidians stared at her, like he dared her to say more, to pick at her mind and the paths that had brought her here. “ and we risk it every time we step out the door. or when we actually sleep for once. doesn't it scare you ? ”