Step Up 'Cause You're the Next One That I'm Gonna Kill

[leekspins]

WHO: Acid Wire (NPC), OPEN
WHAT: Acid Wire's jealousy and possessiveness ramp up to maximum potency, and he lashes out against anyone close to Orihime or who foiled his previous attempts to kill her.
WHEN: February 17th-21st
WHERE: Anywhere outside of Daybreak Academy
NOTES: If your character has a positive relationship with Orihime, you can opt to have Acid Wire attack them. He won't launch an assault on anyone who's on campus, so your character will have to leave school grounds for him to make a move. Note that he can't be killed or captured during this time, so only go for this if you're fine with having your character getting injured and/or escaping (making it back to the Academy ensures he can't follow them due to the school security measures). Replies might be a little slow just because it's tougher to write a raging monster NPC as a central character!


He hated them.

It was a hate so strong that it overrode even the endless gnawing hunger that devoured him from the inside out, a hunger that was never truly sated. He'd found a couple of lingering spirits chained to this world, and eating them had been easy. They didn't put up much of a fight...how could they? But that ache remained, cold and lonely and so deep there didn't seem to be any way to escape. He knew what he needed, but she remained elusive. If he could just find her alone and speak to her, she'd understand. Hadn't he been the one who cared for her when no one else was there? She owed it to him to be with him, and they could be together again. She wouldn't be so selfish to refuse him after all he'd sacrificed, would she?

...would she...?

Even so, she always left the school in the company of another. He heard her talking and laughing with them, her life flitting by day after day while he wasted away in this monstrous form. Didn't she care about him? How could she possibly find a reason to smile when he was like this? He hated her as much as he needed her, and sometimes he tore at his greasy mop of black hair in sheer agony as he wrestled between the urge to rip her apart or clutch her tightly against him to never again let her go.

And there were the others, the ones who had forced their way into her heart and stamped him down, driving him from her memory. They were the ones who made sure she no longer prayed for him, and no longer shed her tears for his sake. He could smell her on them when they walked by, like an exquisite perfume spritzed over garbage.

He hated them.

He hated them so much.

If he destroyed them, ate them, even turned them into creatures like he had become, then one by one her heart would be emptied of those sycophants until she only had room for her beloved brother once more.

So he waited, hiding in the dimension between this world and the world of the dead. He could see them dimly, feel them, smell them. And as soon as they left the security of that academy, he would have them at long last.

Comments

19th

[hippocarnival]

Once Yuya's midterms are done for the day, he makes the first trip in a few weeks to Soleil. He's bad at saving money, but he's still got a little left from fighting the dullahan. It's a supermoon, so he wants to get Gongenzaka something to make up for having another extreme full moon. And during midterms, which Yuya's sure he's taking far more seriously.

He checks his phone while he powers down the sidewalk. It's not long before sunset, so he figures he should be quick if he doesn't want to wait too long to get on the bus back to campus.

[leekspins]

There was absolutely nothing that would have tipped him off that something was wrong. People drank coffee and talked about the weather, shop owners took advantage of the down time to shovel snow off the sidewalk and onto the street, cars drove slowly past with a dusting of white on the roof and hood.

It happened very suddenly. A slit peeled open to Yuya's side, parting the veil between the world of the living and that of the dead, as a giant red hand suddenly swiped at him with claw-tipped fingers. No one else even reacted; only those with some sort of supernatural ability or lineage would catch a glimpse of the large masked face that followed through the open portal.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya glqnce aside when he sees red out the corner of his vision--and then sees what it is, coming after him.

Yuya yells and throws himself down to the ground, just barely dodging the hand. He doesn't wait to scramble to put more distance between them, tripping on his knees as he tries to upright himself. "Wh-what?!"

He twists on his feet at stares, going cold at the sight of the mask. It's another one. A different one.

[leekspins]

There's no explanation for the attack whatsoever. Even as he dodges, the rest of that serpentine body is spilling out of the hole, and the tail lashes out with enough strength to send a bolted-down post box flying.

Now people are starting to look, but not at the masked snake man who rises easily to ten feet and looms above them all. They're looking at the mailbox, and some are looking at Yuya.

"Hey, kid, you okay?" One of them is starting to walk toward him, obliviously putting themselves between Yuya and the monster who's rearing back for another attack.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya looks wide eyed at the other people, and then the hollow. Is it targetting him? The other hollows were pointed at specific targets, but that doesn't mean there can't be collateral damage...

"Uh--" no, no time to figure himself out, he needs to make a decision and hope it's right. He pushes the approaching person. "No, run away!"

He doesn't wait for a response before he runs toward the hollow, waving to catch its attention as he tries to quickly run around it and down the alley.

18th

[schwanenritter]

Fakir leafed through the flyer as he left the theater in Soliel, checking through the programs to see what he wanted to see later, or try to audition for if they have open spots.

The young man glances up reflexively, scanning for birds - but at this time of day, there were none, and his shoulders sag, sighing in relief. He's been slowly getting better, but a shine of black feathers always caused him to tense.

[leekspins]

The day seemed fairly ordinary. People went about their lives, carrying groceries, arguing about the price of butter, guiding their cars carefully down the street to avoid the pedestrians who got their kicks out of jaywalking.

So when the attack happened, it came seemingly out of nowhere.

A scaly monster surged straight out of the side of the cafe, a bone-chilling roar ripping through the air. And yet no one seemed to react to it; they didn't have the ability to see the undead, or hear them. He lunged at Fakir with a fierce rake of razor sharp clawed fingers.

[schwanenritter]

The hair on the back of Fakir's neck stood up as he instinctively performed a grand jeté, leaping like a gazelle as the claws swooshed, feeling the end of his ponytail getting swiped as an inch of it was sheared off. As he lands, the young man pivots to see what it was that attack him, his heart pounding in his ears.

Does... does nobody see it? He asked silently, seeing all the eyes are on him, and not the clawed beast he barely dodged. He delicately took a step back, and then another, wishing he had brought his sword. He'll have to improvise - and get this monster away from people. Then with a spin, he leaps forward into a back street, in an attempt to both lure it away and find an improvised weapon.