[effugerexmorte-a]

mxdxmeguillotine

There’s a shadow hanging heavy, there’s a cold chill in my bones. It’s a steep road, high and weary. It’s a long, long way from home.

Natasha looked around her classroom, her mouth drawn in a tight frown. This was nothing like her home. The trees were lush and the weather was warm and there was a natural aura of pleasantness here, yes. But that wasn’t what she was accustomed to.

There’s a madness in the valley, there’s a darkness that can blind. It was every man for himself. No one’s getting out alive.

The training she had was unspeakable, the things she had seen and felt and had done at such a young age. Her new school was nothing like the Red Room.

But I will not shut my eyes. No, I will not fall silent.

Taking a seat next to the friendliest looking stranger, the Russian let herself offer him a slight smile.

Oh I will sing. I will sing.

“Hello. My name is Natalie.”

head angles towards his desk, chin resting upon the palm of his hand and hair just brushing the tips of his glasses (he made a mental note to trim it later that day, it would get annoying soon enough). there was still a good fifteen minutes before the lecture started - something about colour composition that he’s sure he’s heard before, but didn’t have the energy to deal with another mark on his attendance - so there were still a few people trickling into the hall. 

skips a few songs on his playlist, bottom lip drawn in between his teeth as he tries to decide what he wanted to listen to - maybe switching to a podcast would make a good change. doesn’t even notice the stranger until she’s pulling the seat out next to him, and he instinctively shuffles away, if just to give her some space. it’s only the fact that one of his earbuds isn’t working that he hears the greeting, head snapping up fast enough to make himself see stars for a few moments - he blames it on his skipping breakfast. 

a smile spreads easily across his face, hands tugging the earphones away - didn’t want to appear rude - and he commits her name to memory. can’t remember seeing her in any of his lectures before, or in any of the workshops, assumes she’s joined the course halfway through the year. rare, but not unheard of. 

“yo.” a lazy salute with two fingers serves as a greeting, re-positioning himself so his torso is facing hers more easily. “yamazaki ryou, you can call me either. english is usually the first name, right? ryou.” he’s easily confident with his english skills, even if his accent sometimes made it a bit difficult for people to understand him. “haven’t seen you before, you new?”

[effugerexmorte-a]

justctraveler

“Supernova looks appealing right about now.” She muttered to herself. “What d’you say, old girl?” She took a careful, deep breath. “..Our time up?” There was a moment’s pause, before the TARDIS began to whirl, and a dialling tone echoed. With a small frown, she backed up. “Whoa. Didn’t know you could do that. Y’callin’ somebody? Are you– are y’serious? I make one harmless joke ‘bout savin’ the universe from m’self and y’reach out to who, exactly?” She groaned, moving around the TARDIS, but no matter how many buttons she pressed, she couldn’t stop it.

“Who are you calling?” She demanded, practically hitting the console with both of her hands. “Stop it. Stop it. I don’t need t’talk t’anyone.” She had gone from sad, to pissed off. Or, well, a mixture of both. She groaned and shoved herself away from the console, closing her eyes as she cupped her forehead, trying to calm herself down for whoever picked up the goddamn phone.

He almost doesn’t hear his phone ringing, what with the music his flatmate was blasting in the next room, and the general shouting that seemed to constantly emanate from the tenants below them. He had taken to wearing earplugs, if just to get some quiet so he could focus on his work. Not that he was doing much work right now, having sat in front of a blank canvas for the better part of three hours, desperately trying to put something on the white expanse. He had considered painting it black, and then red, and then just throwing a tube of paint and seeing what happened. 

It was only when the phone vibrated itself off of the table did Ryou notice the call, and consequently cross his bedroom to grab the device. The first thing that struck him as odd was the fact that someone was actually calling him, and the next being that it was an unknown number. Finger hovers over the eject button, not wanting to deal with what was likely a spam caller, before pausing. A glance back to the still-blank canvas, and the teen decides he could really use any sort of inspiration, and maybe this call would provide it. Slides his finger to answer the call, device quickly wedged between his ear and shoulder. 

“Hello?”

[effugerexmorte-a]

brillicnt

“Who locked you up in ‘ere?”

it takes longer than he would like for his body to move, the energy required to tilt his head up enough to make eye contact with the stranger is just out of reach. vision won’t focus, he can just about identify blonde hair and a blue coat before eyelids slide closed from exhaustion. exhales slowly, face angled towards the ceiling, and the teen laughs. it’s quiet, the sound grates along his throat painfully, but for the moment it seems to be the least of his problems. 

“does it really matter?” 

god, he’s so t i r e d. can’t remember how long it had been since he was locked up, captured, can’t even tell how long since his last reset. another would come soon, hopefully, judging by the clawing feeling in his stomach and the exhaustion that was tearing at his consciousness. surely his body couldn’t starve for much longer. 

“they’re waiting for me to die.” a pause, the time taken to briefly wonder why he thought the explanation was necessary. he had been isolated for so long, and the teen had always been talkative. “have you come to see what happens when i do?” 

[preventive]

via weheartit

[effugerexmorte-a]

le-coureur

Jean nods. “That’s good,” she says.

“Well. Let me know if anything fishy starts happening, I can help keep those people off your back,”

She leans against the counter and grabs one of the cloths to start wiping it down.

“I don’t need your help.” Sounds perhaps a bit too aggressive, words practically growled. “If anything, I’d prefer it if you got your nose out of my life.” 

Can’t help but scoff at the offer - SHIELD were, currently, the only people causing him any distress. The fact that she was offering to help was laughable. 

“You can tell your higher ups that they can either leave me the fuck alone, or they can talk to me. I don’t care for people watching me.” 

[archerxunmade]

Guess who’s back? Back Again~

I’m reviving this blog and looking to get some threads going soon! Hit this post with a like or reblog and I’ll create a starter for you. Open to all~

[effugerexmorte-a]

le-coureur

She shrugs, “Dunno, I’ve been spying on you, might as well get to know you,”

“I didn’t expect you to find me out. I think I’m just stalling for something to say,”

“People don’t usually expect me to be so vigilant.” It helped that he could send his yūrei out to watch anyone he found suspicious. 

“They’re going alright, I guess. I finish soon, so,” A shrug, taking a sip of his coffee, “I’ve started doing illustrations for some money.”

[effugerexmorte-a]

le-coureur

“And yet you came for coffee every day,” Jean shrugs. “You’re not dead and clearly you didn’t say yes to any of the offers”

“That’s my job, to make sure you don’t die or go all evil. I think I did an okay job,” she leans forward. “How’s the art classes going?”

“It’s not like I can even die, or anything.” Mumbles to himself, head leaning on his hand as he watches the froth on his coffee dissolve. “Why would any of that stop me from getting coffee? I’m a student, I prize caffeine above all else.”

Brow quirks at her next question, arm moving to lay flat against the cool marble surface, his face pressing against his forearm. “Why’d you care about how my classes are going?”

[effugerexmorte-a]

le-coureur

Jean smirks and moves back behind the counter and prepares his usual order. She slides it across the counter to him.

“It’s on the house, consider it the ‘sorry you caught me spying on you’ discount,”

She shrugs, “I’m not here to recruit you, or hurt you or take you in, they just told me to keep an eye out, see if anyone else tried to.”

She leans on the counter, looking at Ryou, “so far there’s nothing,”

“Could’ve just asked.” 

Adds 5 sachets of sugar to the already sweet drink - caramel latte with soy milk and an extra shot of coffee - before downing half the beverage in one go (just because he was awake this early didn’t mean he was enjoying it).

“I’ve had five attempts of recruitment - 3 AIM, 1 HYDRA and 1 nameless guy who probably didn’t know what he was doing - and 12 attempts at killing me. You’re not too good at paying attention, are you?” 

[effugerexmorte-a]

idontflirt

“yeah, probably.” jessica agrees lazily, with an air of not caring much. her nose curls up slightly, the only sign that what she is learning is affecting her at all. she know’s what it’s like to beexperimented on, against ones will. she understands how it makes someone feel as though they were never in control of their life at all - that someone had always been pulling strings. she knows how angry that can make a person feel. and alone. at least that’s how she feels on the days that she wishes she had been allowed to die along with her father and brother. jessica usually tries not to give a damn. not about her clients, not about strangers. not about anyone. she tries. it’s just not always possible. in her experience, people she cared about only ever hurt her or ended up hurt. she feels something for this kid though. some kind of connection - an understanding. she finds herself needing to make sure that he isn’t left feeling alone and helpless. she sighs, not wanting to say he next words at all. her eyes fall to the ground for a moment as she takes time to make the decision. she speaks awkwardly, her words stilted, when she looks back up, not sure it’s her place to offer, but certain that not offering would only further prove that she was a piece of shit. “look.” another pause to sigh. “how about i deal with them before they show up?” she asks, eyebrows raised. to her, just waiting for someone to show up, without even trying to get to them first, sounds like one of the dumbest plans she’s ever heard.

“you?” doesn’t mean for the doubt in his voice to be so obvious - it wasn’t as if he didn’t believe that she would be able to deal with them, it was more that he didn’t believe that she would offer. “n-no, i couldn’t let you do that! you don’t even know me, why would you offer that? it’s not like i’m in any real danger, i’ve dealt with this kinda stuff before, happens all the time really. they’ll shoot me, try and drug me, get surprised when i can fight and don’t just rely on the whole not dieing thing, and i have to throw away some clothes.” his first thought is that people die to easily. his life seemed saturated with death - most often his own, his fear of passing long gone (and besides, it was much easier to regenerate than it was to wait for a broken limb to heal). but, he can’t get anyone else involved in the mess he’s made for himself, especially someone who, once dead, would remain that way. “thank you, really, it means a lot, but i couldn’t put someone in that position. i’ll deal with it, don’t worry.” 

[effugerexmorte-a]

le-coureur

“Damn. I told them you weren’t dumb enough to not catch on,” She says with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“I don’t go here, it’s halfway through the term and I just happen to start work at your university’s cafe? no one’s that stupid”

Jean had never been made before, she’d always been fairly good at maintaining a cover, most people didn’t think to look for SHIELD in their every day lives, but this guy was different, she got the impression that he always had to be looking.

She doesn’t know anything about him other than that she was to watch him, to listen for his name among the cafe chatter, to see if he blew his own cover.

Her assignment is to watch, listen, and if need be, extract. So far she’s only had to do the first two.

“Well it’s nice to finally meet you Ryou,” She wiped her hands on her apron and came out from behind the counter. “To be honest I’m getting a little bored of it myself.”

“Well,” A pause, sliding into one of the seats lined against the counter, hands coming to rest on cool marble and fingers twisting together, dried hues of yellow and orange colouring pale skin where the paint had not been washed away. “No one else seems to have questioned you. Then again, no one else was looking.” 

Watches her exit from behind the counter, frown tugging softly at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t react in any way, still remaining relaxed - after all, it wasn’t like she would be able to kill him.

“I wanted a coffee, y’know.” 

[lxsusnxturae-a]

hey just wanna apologise for how shit ive been with replies! ive been put up to four shifts a week at work and college is really coming down hard. ill tru and get some drafts done tomorrow before my shift!

[effugerexmorte-a]

closed with @le-coureur

He can’t help but wonder if they think he’s stupid. That the way they were watching him was so obvious, it was almost laughable. Their unmarked cars so easy to pick out (hadn't even changed the number plates between days), hadn't hidden the too-black windows and the terribly obvious weapons peeking out from underneath the chassis.  

It does, to their benefit, take him a while to figure out exactly who it was that was so interested in him. SHIELD. The teen had heard of them, everyone had, though hadn't bothered to investigate them much further than he did any other large, shady organisation. Which is to say, he knew nearly everything about them. Takes him a few days to spot one of the actual agents, who had apparently positioned herself at the on-campus café that he frequented multiple times a day (caffeine addiction was a habit he couldn't seem to shake). 

Takes him longer still to decide how exactly he would confront her, not wanting to cause a scene, to draw any attention to himself. After all, he had done such a good job hiding so far. 

It's still dark when he walks into the café, hands stuffed deep into his pockets, blonde hair falling into his eyes – unruly from sleep and lack of a shower that morning. The café was, for the most part, deserted (it was much more popular than work late than to wake early) and she was the only one working – he had memorised her timetable as best he could without seeing it. 

Jean, as her nametag stated, was standing behind the register, tapping against the screen, though not seeming to do anything.  He leans against the counter, head leaning against his hands, and allows a certain darkness to crawl over him – some vague sense of threat.  

"Nē," A pause, making eye contact, "How long is it gonna take you guys to contact me? I'm getting bored of being watched." 

[alempe]

Ajin fanart - watercolor, brush pen and colored pencils

[fracturcdsouls-deactivated20211]

“I am someone who did not die when I should have died.”

— Anne Carson, from Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides (via metempsychos)

[effugerexmorte-a]

idontflirt

“oh. that’s a new one.” information that would shock most people, jessica takes calmly. her response is said in a monotone. she doesn’t care that he has powers. jessica had come across many people with powers, although she had never come across anyone immortal until this moment. it doesn’t make her feel any better. it concerns her, as she wonders if she’s getting herself involved in something messy. she feels drawn in though, unable to just let it go. “so, there a reason as to why those guys tried to kill you?”

“probably to test it out,” his pause beckons a frown forwards, bottom lip drawn in under his teeth for a moment. “it’s useful for testing if your subject can’t die.” he seems sad as he explains, a sorrow that can only come from personal experience. frown quickly turns to a smile, knowing that if he dwelled on the more unpleasant parts of his existence then he wouldn’t be able to claw himself out of it very easily. “i’ll deal with them when they show up again, though. no worries there.” a lie, lazily masked with a soft chuckle - people hunting him was the more unfortunate part of his current life, especially when he was forced to get violent. 

[effugerexmorte-a]

divinityoessence

[That response took him aback, almost earning a laugh from it. The guy said it so casually, yet…]

“…Nah, I ain’t. I mean, my hair gives that away, don’t it?”

[He replies with a soft chuckle, a hand running through said hair, sharp nails managing to not nick any strands of hair.]

“…But an Ajin, huh? That’s the first time I’ve heard of that ever…”

“Is dyin’ part of yer thing or what? You seem way too numb t’ that fact.”

“a bit, yeah.”

arms stretch out in front, shoulders clicking as he stretches a little more than was comfortable, feeling the release of pressure spread down his limbs. 

“really? thought most people were up to speed with that now. but, yeah. dying is pretty much my thing - in which i can’t actually die. or, if i can, i haven’t yet.”

he shifts his weight between his feet, taking a while to feel confident enough to step forward.

“and you?”