Shadows || themoonlightthief / camiechan

camiechan:

themoonlightthief:

He swallowed, whatever faint flash of relief flickering through him at getting that shadow, that thing, away from the detective disappearing in an instant as dark mist settled around them. Arms wrapping tightly around the blonde and hands curling almost painfully into the back of his shirt, protectively, blue eyes gazed around the room, searching for any sign of the shadow and any hint on how it planned to attack next.

“I-I’m sorry,” Kaito whispered, voice momentarily catching in his throat. No amount of apologies would be enough though. Hakuba could’ve died. If he hadn’t—

“I didn’t think it would— I thought I’d lost it.”

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, forcing the panic and fear away as best he could in place of a determined and serious expression, a quiet, shaky breath leaving his throat. “…Fire. From what I’ve been able to figure out, it’s weak against fire. Do you have anything we can use as a torch? Or a room without cracks, perhaps, that it can’t get into…?”

The shadow watched them for a long moment, seething and gritting it’s would be teeth. It then quietly slipped back outside through the crack under the door.

The moonlight was bright, illuminating the darkened streets despite the loss of lights caused by the shadows darkness.The closer to All Hallows Eve it grew the bigger the shadows reach seems to get. It slithered up the side of the house, shadows slowly extending, engulfing, overtaking.

Soon The structure had completely been engulfed by writhing bubbling shadow, blocking out even the light from the moon and trapping the two inside. The mist filling the house growing with it; going from a minor itch to a painful irritation of the throat and lungs.

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“There’s no room that would be adequate in terms of that sort of security, I’m afraid,” Hakuba muttered in response, refusing to let go of Kaito for the moment. The skin on his neck ached with that burning, but staying close seemed more important. And Kaito was offering details. Concrete facts that he could focus on, work with. He caught a little more of his breath, then turned his head toward the east wing, eyes narrowing in thought. 

“However… the kitchen will have fire. The stove is gas. The are matches. Flambe torches. Flammable cooking sprays. Candle lighters. Charcoal. Lighter fluid. It might not be enough, but…" 

His voice trailed off as the light in the reception area of the mansion faded. Glancing at the glass panes, thin curtains more a bane then than ever, he sucked in a breath and swallowed hard.  Which hurt, both inside and out. Then he pushed, struggling to get to a stand while attempting to drag Kaito with him. 

”…we’ll set the estate on fire if we have to.“ 

Headaches and Alcohol || osakansax

osakansax:

“Yes. To both. Not to worry. At most, police won’t start looking until the morning.

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He’d forgive the sluggish state of his half-british assistant (was that the proper word for someone who was helping you make sure the files on the crimes you committed were somewhat erroneous instead of pristinely so?) though, admittedly, his gaze wandered elsewhere in some odd paranoia that he was being watched throughout this assignment—a common feeling, a constant reminder of the presence his so-called benefactors had, but harrying nonetheless. "Let’s get a move-on… after a check-up, I suppose drink may better dull the throb in your head compared to a re-assurance from a nurse…”

“Oh God, yes," Hakuba said with a sigh of relief. "I could really use a stiff drink. Honestly, I’m probably fine… just a bit of a…” the detective swallowed as the world around him wobbled some, but it cleared when he forced an even breath. 

“Hospital. Drink. Forget all about the fact that you’ve just… well, committed a very serious crime nearby. Perfect. Are you buying, at least?" 

….fortunately for all involved, the foreign detective was much quieter on the walk to the hospital. The pain kept him somewhat sedated, with all of his concentration focused on keeping his feet moving and ignoring the nausea of his stomach turning. These were relieved shortly after their arrival, however; head wounds and others that were actively bleeding had the favor of skipping ahead in the queue, And although it was strongly recommended that Hakuba stay in the hospital for observation, he insisted that he would be fine under Hattori Heiji’s care – after all, they were "on a case,” and they both had been trained in watching this sort of thing. 

Reluctantly, the hospital staff had no choice but to let them leave only an hour and a half later. They couldn’t force him to stay in a bed, and they’d already heard just how stubborn the pair of them were individually, and didn’t want to put up with them as a team. 

With head bandaged and painkillers administered, Hakuba left the hospital walking with a much clearer head. He glanced toward Janus, careful not to move his head too quickly, and smirked.

“How far away from the hospital do we need to be before I can remove these, do you think?” he asked, gesturing to the white bandages. 

A Tale of Rifles and Silver Bullets

okiya-subaru:

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A knock at the door woke him from his half-sleep. He got up and opened it to find Hakuba at the door. Grabbing the tub, he walked in and gestured for Hakuba to follow. Now to determine this matter for the moment at hand… He set it down in the kitchen and headed back to Hakuba.

“Open your mouth.” He was being gruff, but he wasn’t the most pleasant person when he just woke up. It took a bit for the niceties and politeness to work their way into his act.

“Pardon?” Hakuba asked, surprised at the blunt question, particularly after going through all of that effort on his errand. He frowned, wondering why in the world Subaru-san would even want- “Oh, to check my teeth?" 

The detective did as was requested, revealing nothing more than a normal – but very clean, healthy, and well maintained! – set of human teeth. Although he still considered this rude, at least it didn’t seem to be anything underhanded.

"By all accounts,” he said nervously after a moment, “I feel fairly normal. Just tired. Which, really, is likewise normal. We should get the blood packs in the freezer, however. I would be ashamed if any spoiled from simple negligence.”  

[[Club Affair || Closed RP with whiteknighthakuba]]

host-kyoya:

His eyes flitted over the face of the note anew, allowing the inked words to stain his memory much like they had the pristine parchment. 

Kyoya,

       I’m afraid the incessantly tired look you have been sporting as of late is most unfitting when compared to your typical demeanor. For that reason, I request your company this evening for a considerably needed (and desired) recess. Do not mind transportation — simply dress yourself in casual attire and await my car. I will arrive at 8:00 sharp.

                                              Sincerely,

                                                         Saguru Hakuba’  

The addressee finally folded the paper, slipping it onto the coffee table for good keeping. The sentiment behind the letter, though charming, had him wondering what exactly that cunning detective had in mind. Perhaps a spa? A film? A glance toward his watch announced the time — 7:15 PM — plenty enough for his preparation. With a soft grunt, Kyoya heaved himself from the couch and tromped up the staircase. Quick shower passed and he stood perplexed before his closet, towel shielding his lower region. Casual…casual…hm. Swiping hanger after hanger down along on the metal rack supporting his clothing, a t-shirt with a simple graphic design caught his eye. He paired the item with jeans and black boots, then examined his appearance. Suitable. The teen passed a comb through dark locks quickly and adjusted the part. Right as he moved to observe the time once more, a faint knock sounded from downstairs. 

After an ultimate glimpse of his appearance, Kyoya descended the stairs. The door stood opened, servant mounted off to the side while the guest of honor settled inside the door frame. Though his expression usually remained a cool barrier in regard to his true emotion, a genuine grin etched its way onto his face. “Hakuba-san,” He called from the bottom step, continuing to speak as he moved across the floor, “I do hope your plans are of interest. For you to be dragging me from my home on a Saturday night when the both of us could be working…tsk tsk,” He reprimanded halfheartedly. 

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“Ah, I know; a most unusual request, particularly coming from me. Rest assured, it should be an interesting evening if nothing else, and perhaps enjoyable if things go according to plan.”

The detective nodded to the servant, but stayed outside, unwilling to delay their departure. This was something that he wasn’t entirely used to, himself- at least as far as instigating went -but at least he had good company for it. Good an mostly willing, no less. The grin on Hakuba’s face faintly lopsided, but genuine, and broke into a chuckle.

“Really, there’s no need to worry.” He tilted his head just so, calming, expression fond. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Ootori-san. Are you ready to leave?”

He gestured toward the car that he’d parked out front- a cherry-red convertible- and allowed himself a moment to look his companion over. Kyoya had followed his request in casual dress, and that pleased him deeply. The brunet had been well within his rights to deny the request, and Hakuba wouldn’t have objected, not really. But it was a good thing that he had, for the detective had likewise chosen casual clothing for their outing: dark rinse jeans; sandals; charcoal t-shirt bearing a foreign band’s logo; and an opened, short-sleeve canvas jacket. It felt decidedly wrong to not be wearing a suit, but at least the layers helped.

Hakuba offered an approving nod, but said nothing for the moment. Compliments for Ootori-san had to be given when the moment was appropriate, and when they’d had enough time to develop concrete backing. 

A Tale of Rifles and Silver Bullets

okiya-subaru:

“Bye.” After Hakuba left, Shuichi flapped his wings and, albeit clumsily, made it from the table to the ground. Once there, he forced himself to concentrate. Once back to his human form, he got back into his clothing, wig, and glasses. He sat down at his spot, frowning.

Now was a waiting game and he was worried about if Hakuba would transform or not. That wasn’t his expectation, as that would mean that vampires would have to artificially keep their numbers low in spite of needing a meal by either killing their victims or killing each other off. Otherwise, they’d soon outpace the amount of humans in an area and start starving to death and killing off what few humans would then be left. Even then, he could be wrong. Pre-Dracula lore had the vampires kill their victims instead of spare them.

Regardless, Hakuba would be his responsibility, vampire or not, with the information Hakuba now knew.

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Two hours, forty three minutes, twelve seconds, and several phone calls later, Hakuba returned to the Kudou estate with a large cooler. Once he was parked, he jogged to the trunk and gazed down at it with a certain sense of longing. If only these were wine coolers, he thought to himself, taking the handles on either side, and I were on my way to the beach…

With effort, he hefted the heavy tub from the car and balanced it awkwardly between his knee and the back bumper, shifting the weight to close the car afterward. Then it was a matter of getting it to the door – which he did – and getting it inside. He knocked on the side door, and waited. 

Illusionist Pizza || themoonlightthief

themoonlightthief:

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“Assist—? Oh, uh, well…” Honestly, it hadn’t even struck him to ask the detective for help, and he glanced around the kitchen, trying to figure out what else they might need that Hakuba could assist with. “I guess you could…go get a fork and knife, if you want any?”

He set the plates down on the table, shortly followed by the glasses. 

“I don’t think there’s much else to do though, except pretty much carry it all into the living room,” Kaito said simply and shot the blonde a grin as he swiftly opened the cartons, grabbed a few pizza slices and set them on his own plate. 

“Fork and knife…”  Hakuba frowned at this, tilting his head. “I can eat pizza with my hands. I’m not that particular.” Or was he? He surveyed the slices that Kaito took for himself, eyes narrowing as he considered. But it didn’t look too particularly greasy, and he’d only resorted to knife and fork when it had been more of a deep-dish, lasagna style pizza. Was he expected to eat with a knife and fork? Was that normal? 

Really, interaction with anyone was difficult. Why had he thought that barging in, post-heist, was a good idea? Yes he wanted to make the rotten thief’s life more miserable, but at the same time he really, really didn’t. 

And there was rootbeer.

In the end, Hakuba followed Kaito’s cue and took a plate, two slices of the appropriate size, and then eyed the soda with a suspicious glance.

“Do you like it? Rootbeer, I mean.”

Information Soaked in Blood

detectivephiliac:

osakansax:

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Admittedly, Sazerac was expecting to be vehemently brushed off. “Living” with one, he observed that detectives were tigers—predators stalking their prefectural territories living off what they could from the criminal prey unfortunate to be snagged by fang and claw; scouting the perimeter whenever another was near or encroaching their set boundaries and went to retaliate if hostile enough or left them alone if otherwise; rare occurrences of shared “kills” should things turn desperate… The agent met with the young lady only once or thrice, but the characteristics were still there barring one or two very small points.

Still, replying with the address was something a bit odd. A rushed prompt, a clock reaching twelve against its gears spinning it  0.002 seconds so, urging him upon their mechanical steed in haste to the destination. It was late nonetheless, and there was no telling if he’d be summoned for another assignment, or meeting with his handler for one of his “special” tasks.

Thinking upon the matter as he turned onto a street, what was there really to discuss? He’d been no closer to figuring out whatever those white-coated -ists did to him since his initial realization of it some weeks ago. Admittedly, the weariness of being (somewhat) permanently activated was filling his bones, replacing marrow too well to make him wonder if Their ultimate plan was to eradicate the original. Make him the supposed doppelgänger They’d coerced out from the dark and primal thoughts of a caged child. 

Half an hour later he parked his bike aways from his destination out of the usual crawling paranoia skittering in his blood. Made his way up to the appropriate floor in silence, clearing the cobwebs of concern with a pull of their cap’s rim forward. A knock upon the door once he was before it, finally, not wanting to keep his hostess waiting for his arrival. 

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Oh no. The moment of fear felt like an eternity. Had she been tracked down? (Well, it wouldn’t have taken much – home was the most obvious place to go anyways, and the culprit would know she had nowhere else—)

Kyouko didn’t move, even when she saw her phone out of the corner of eye. That’s right – she invited two people over. Two. Both with seemingly important and perhaps private issues – why did she do that? And she was aware these two didn’t entirely get along— wow Kyouko, you screwed up.

It wouldn’t be good to keep either of them waiting, but it also wouldn’t be good to throw them into a panic. But there was no time, so the detective quickly fastened the somewhat sloppy bandages around her torso with a safety pin (nearly pricking herself – oh the irony), pulled her shirt down and carefully made her way out of the bathroom; thinking of some complicated excuse all the while.

A glance at her computer and she knew who the visitor was (she had never been so thankful for the hidden cameras Alter Ego helped her set up). A subconscious tug at her gloves and a deep breath before unlocking the door as nonchalantly as she could. She opened the door with the chain lock still on, so she could hide everything but her head behind the door.

“Ah…” A pause; she hid a wince of pain by looking the Osakan over. “Janus-san. Hello, welcome… um, my apologies, I’m going to have to ask you… to mind the mess, and the general state of things, and to… not panic, when I open the door.” She looked away in an attempt to seem sheepish, and took a few breaths to keep herself standing. “There’s an explanation for it – not at all what it seems.”

Kyouko was feeling dizzy and it felt like she was speaking much too quickly to seem truthful at all. (Maybe a part of her hoped he caught the lie and offered some kind of protection, whether intentionally or not, since the culprit seemingly haven’t targeted anyone besides her—)

Eager as Hakuba was to discuss the matter with Kirigiri-san, it took him several moments longer than he wished to get everything assembled and into his rental car. It wasn’t nearly as convenient as having his own, ready and waiting to take him wherever he needed to go. And then Baaya, dear thing as she was, offered to take him and he had to spend a great deal of effort to dissuade her while not making her feel useless. 

“Official business, Baaya… please, don’t fret,” ended up being the reasoning that released him from her protective clutches. Honestly, ever since the accident, she was always quick to offer to drive, which was frustrating for so many reasons…

Regardless, he arrived only a couple of minutes after the Osakan had. Unlike the quasi detective/assassin, Hakuba parked right out front,  and hopped from the car with an expression of disgust. Commuter car. Pitiful! The current bane of his existence! He reached in for his briefcase, nearly hit his head on the doorframe, and gave the car a very stern glare before heading for his colleague’s home. But only after slamming the car door shut. Hmf! 

He’d knock upon arrival, and attempt to clear the frustration from his expression before anyone answered. 

kitameguire:

Kita clenched her fist at the mention of Kid’s name. “Well, that thief tried to flirt his way out of escape with me, but that don’t work on me. If he tries to kiss me, he will get a tae kwon do kick to the head!

Kita sighed to calm herself down. "When I woke up, he left a note in my pocket with a rose attached to it. I have the note to remind me of my mistake and the rose is in a vase at my home.” Then she blushed a bit.

“It’s not that I like him, I can’t let a good flower go to waste. Do you know any martial arts, Hakuba-kun?” Kita asked after the blush disappeared from her face and she quickly changed the subject.

The detective blinked once or twice at the novice girl’s enthusiasm, faint smile twitching at the corner of his mouth. Just how many detectives did Kaitou KID have wrapped around his finger, anyway? Hakuba shook his head, turning the page with the new topic.

“Alas, I do not. I’ve considered taking some kind of class to remedy that, but have not yet had the time.” Hakuba glanced over at her after that, lifting a brow. “I do hope that if you don’t really intend to enact violence on that phantom thief, Yamashita-chan… Not only are his crimes not the type to merit such punishment, but that sort of behavior is rather unbecoming of a young lady like yourself.”

Lockdown Shuu and Stew || okiya-subaru

okiya-subaru:

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“I see. He and you are close, then, it seems. That is not a matter that has relevance to the matter, but it is useful to know who is connected to who and to what degree. Just be mindful the police don’t hear, as KID is your quarry, correct?

"As for the matter of the crows, I wish to ask you just what you know. They are, alas, hard to pin down and they have been involved in the United States as well. I heard the FBI was about, investigating them, though there are a few who are merely here on vacation.” He needed to cover some of his bases. Still, he would need to give a bit of information to receive it, even if it meant giving another puzzle piece to Hakuba.

Hakuba had found out that information about Kudou because of what? Subaru would have to be a bit careful with this. “So you heard about the matter of his… condition? From whom, dare I ask? I understand he’s being sloppy as of late, but he’s still maintaining appearances for the most part.”

“My interactions with Edogawa-kun have been, rather unfortunately, seldom and brief. I recognized that he was different, certainly, but assumed that he was a brilliant child in need of someone to take him seriously… so I didn’t bother with interrogations which I deemed might seem patronizing." 

Hakuba set his spoon down, instead turning to his drink. Being under lock down was awful; it left him inactive and waiting. And while he was typically a patient sort of person,  there was so much that he needed to do outside of the Hakuba estate’s walls that it was particularly frustrating. But at least he had did have company.

"No, what filled me in was KID himself. Quarry though he may be, he was kind enough to provide me with a few pieces of information in order to protect myself as, I’m assuming, you would understand well.”