#{serenus threads

[arcxnumvitae]

@bclasaeg​

Ren had always considered himself someone who made sure to stay aware of his surroundings. Chalk it up to past experience that left him on constant alert after all, and so the man often found his eyes idly glancing around completely by force of habit whenever he was out and about.

A strong wind rustled his hair, and it was because, or perhaps thanks to this, that Ren’s gaze caught sight of an intricately potted plant perched dangerously on a balcony above be tipped over by the day’s strong wind and pitched over the side, quickening into a free fall down towards an unexpecting young man as he passed just underneath. Ren’s arm lashed out without a second thought, hand grasping the back of the other’s collar to yank him backwards-- just in time for the pot to shatter against the ground right where the other would have been, plant and dirt now strewn about. 

“Talk about bad fucking luck.” Ren muttered under his breath before releasing the other, now directing his words towards him. “Anyways, you, uh, okay?”

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @noctispostmortem​ continued from here

Somehow he could feel that it was ridiculously early. Was it the usual exhaustion that came from a night of fitful sleep? Probably. He didn’t want to get up, but he knew that even if he somehow managed to sleep he’d just sink into a bout of nightmares once he did. So it was with a begrudging air that Ren’s eyes cracked open into the darkness of his bedroom, but soon confusion and concern hit him. Despite the darkness of the early morning he could clearly see it wasn’t his room, something that shouldn’t have been possible. Was he at Shiori’s place? His nose caught whiff of her usual perfume, mixed in with a myriad of other scents, coffee unsurprisingly somehow being a prominent one, and he stared up at the ceiling in confusion. 

So he was in Shiori’s room...apparently...in her...bed. Panic burst across him and he bolted upwards. Why had he allowed himself to fall asleep around her? How had he even ended up in her bed in her place to begin with...? Yet as his head turned to the side, he was shocked to find that Shiori wasn’t there. It wouldn’t have made sense for him to crash in her bed alone, he reasoned, maybe she had already gotten up. But then again it didn’t make sense for him to be in this situation in the first place. His hand moved to rub the back of his neck, but froze when his fingers encountered long strands of hair. Pulling it over his shoulder and in his line of sight, Ren’s confusion worsened at being greeted by long black hair and slim hands. 

What the hell? “The fuck?” Hearing Shiori’s voice come out of nowhere made the man flinch and search around the darkened room as if she had somehow magically appeared without him noticing, only to feel a sense of dread when he realized she hadn’t. “...oh no, oh no no no.” Throwing the covers off and stumbling to the bathroom, Ren flicked the light on and flinched with a sharp hiss of pain as the sudden bright pierced his eyes. After a few seconds, he gingerly opened his still smarting eyes once more and stared in dismay.

“Oh fuck, oh shit.”

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @sanctuary-in-dreams continued from here

He hadn’t thought much when he noticed that what had looked like a necklace had fallen from the woman, but as he held it out in his hand one of the last things Ren had expected were tears. And tears were something that he didn’t know how to handle. When the locket was taken back into her grasp, his hands pulled away and stuffed themselves into his pocket as his shoulders lifted in a shrug. 

Ren glanced away, “I found it on the ground and you were the only person walking away from the spot. I figured the clasp had come undone or something like that. Just get it checked out or something before it gets lost again, it got found the first time but you might not be so lucky if it happens a second.”

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @noctispostmortem time for Emil to meet those wolves, or one specific wolf at least

He thought he’d try out the cafe that Katarina had recommended him but Emil had never expected it to be as crowded as it was. People milled all around and the scent of coffee was thick in the air but that didn’t matter much to him at the moment. It was...too crowded. Far too crowded. He was waiting for his drink order but with the line that had preceded him and the number of people that stood about at the counter waiting for their own beverages, something told him he was going to be waiting for a while. Blue eyes scanned the area for a moment, searching for a comfortable enough gap at least to stand in, some spot that wasn’t already inhabited, but he didn’t even see any standing room...ah. But he did spot an empty chair.

 Moving closer, he found that the chair was at an already occupied table with a woman sitting in her own chair across from the one he had set his sights on. Ah, well...Emil approached, an apologetic smile on his face as his hand settled atop the back of the empty chair. “Sorry, I’d hate to bother such a beautiful woman at the moment, especially when you’re just enjoying your coffee, but could I have this chair for a bit? I ordered my drink already but,” he laughed and jerked his thumb towards the crowd with a smile, “they said it’d be ready somewhere within the next ten years or so, so I’m going to be here for a while. And getting to spend even some of that time waiting with a beautiful woman like yourself would help make it feel like an instant.”

What the...he’d only been gone for a minute, but Ren’s eyes caught sight of a head of blond hair now at the table with Shiori. Had he realized someone might try to swoop in the moment he left his seat, he might have left his damned coffee there at the table instead of taking it with him to grab some napkins for the two of them. And over the din of the crowd he could hear the accented bastard’s words too. Right, Ren rolled his eyes with a small scowl growing, did the charmer think something like that was actually going to work? He’d better head over there anyways before Shiori straight up threw the chair the guy wanted at him, with a crowd like this he didn’t want to think of what a panicked stampede would be like.

[arcxnumvitae]

This fucker’s Ren’s tag dump

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @thewolfisawake continued from here

It didn’t make any sense, but he was sure that, from the mess of memories and snarls that made up his nightmares, he’d caught sight of a familiar mix of ash and black hair multiple times. “I don’t believe in coincidences,” Ren huffed and remembered something that Solomon once told him. “They’re nothing but bullshit. There’s no reason why you should be showing up like that.” Whenever there were people in his nightmares they were always blurry and ill-defined, he could never remember their features when he woke up. And yet he remembered something as specific as the color of Samir’s hair? 

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @thewolfisawake continued from here

Ren’s footsteps carried him as he ran. Samir was after them but he’d have to hurry if he wanted to cut their target off. Just a little more....almost.. and there! Ren arrived and caught sight of the target slowing up for some reason, but it was what was behind them that caught his attention. A girl? “Who--?” Where did she come from?

[arcxnumvitae]

{ @thewolfisawake liked for a starter

Ren took another bite of his burger, calmly regarding the other detective sitting across from him. A fresh bruise decorated his cheek but Ren knew it’d fade within an hour or two thanks to his healing. “So,” he began, speaking conversationally with a raised eyebrow towards the other, “what were you planning to do before I walked by? Those guys looked like they were ready to cave your skull in.”