You didn't see anything! [closed JT/William]

[William O, Creed]

Yeah those sorts were never the type that William got along with so he could understand how Raphael felt about his brother in that aspect. All the same though he hadn’t been expecting Raphael to tell him something as prominent as his brother joining the Vandenreich. William’s pupils dilated slightly as the information was presented to him. That wasn’t the sort of thing that should be told to a stranger especially if you cared about the individual.

“Keep that quiet. You put yourself and your brother at risk should the wrong individual find out. Ethics is something that shackles everyone.” William didn’t have any reason to go against Raphael especially since he just met him. The world didn’t need the Vandenreich in William’s eyes, but blaming Raphael for the actions of his brother was crossing a line. The aura of the conversation though shifted when William noticed a change in Raphael’s physical disposition.

When Raphael asked William if he felt that, William didn’t respond. His head moving up down left right and then behind surveying everything around him as swiftly as possible to locate whatever was causing Raphael to react like that. Nothing was in sight, but he wasted no time moving right back to the construction sight past the fence.

What he saw standing by the steel beams that Raphael had been practicing with looked like a man in his late forties. Shoulder length dark brown hair, straight yet unkempt and dirty. His clothing was much the same and from it William could surmise that he was homeless or at the very least attempting to make himself look as such. His skin was pale grey yet due to the distance William couldn’t gather much else except he wasn’t giving off the aura of a friendly individual as he turned staring at Raphael and William with pearls as hungry as a Hollow.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael nodded, eyes slowly drooping a bit, as if in annoyance. Ironically it wasn’t at William but at himself, because he knew that he shouldn’t have said anything about his brother joining those damn nazis, but it had slipped out. He frowned a bit and stood there, watching William. There was something That was bothering Raphael from the way that they’d just come that was overwriting the guilt that he was feeling from coming from behind them.

William, not wanting to waste a second, turned his head around the area and then headed back down to the area. What he saw there, however, froze his blood. The man looked disheveled and dirty, as though he should’ve been on the side of the street begging and he appeared to be in his late forties. Yet, despite his haggard appearance, the man had a hunger in him that would’ve frightened the hardiest wolf or hunting dog that Raphael had ever seen. Still, however, he stood there beside William, hands in his pockets.

“Do you know who this guy is? Or have you ever seen him before?” Raph whispered to William, not taking his eyes off of the man.

[William O, Creed]

This wasn’t something that William wanted to deal with yet knew was his responsibility. Although he was a police officer of Tokyo it was more than that, as far as he knew he was the only officer spiritually aware in Tokyo or even further which meant that no one else would feel any obligation to save someone. He knew there were others like his father and sister that did so, but those that swore to save others were far and few between. That’s why when he saw the visage of the man now standing in the construction site William knew he was in for a very dangerous evening. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park like dealing with a shoplifter.

“No I’ve never seen him before, but that’s because he’s probably been hiding. That’s not the sort of look one normally sees. He looks deranged, starved almost like at any moment his body could just give out on him. Almost like a Hollow in human form.” William was tense and stopped for a moment as he attempted to relax his nerves yet knew that would be a futile effort on his part. “He’s most likely a Bount. Someone that hasn’t fed in a long while or was severely wounded and needs the life force of someone else to cling onto his life. My guess is that he sensed you when you were practicing.”

The man began to slowly walk in a sluggish, uneven manner towards them. When he got within ten feet of them both each would begin to hear the sound of the man murmuring. What he was saying though wouldn’t be clear to either of them. William already knew what he felt needed to be done yet wasn’t going to act on his own right now. “What do you think, Raphael? Believe he can be saved or is he a danger to everyone around? Do you think you can save him?” Although not the nicest thing to do especially in this situation it was exactly what William had pointed out could happen only a couple minutes earlier and now Raphael would have the chance to make a choice on the result of his actions.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raph nodded, as William explained that he’d never seen the man before. What surprised him was the name Bount as that was something that Raphael had never encountered before. He’d never even heard the name and had no kind of powers to associate them with. That would present a problem. The way that William had said the “in hiding” part made it feel like them seeing one like this was something of a rarity. Still, he had to agree with the man’s assessment. This thing in front of them looked more like a starved animal than a human, as though he was indeed a hollow masquerading as a human. Giving William a bit of a dirty look, Raph sighed. “Yeah, I get it. Beating your point to death won’t make it anymore valid than it already is.”

The man approached them in an uncomfortably staggering drunken way and Raph fought the urge to take a step back. The murmuring was the most annoying thing, though. Not understanding wasn’t so much the bad part as it was that the guy just kept doing so. Could be some kind of incantation for a spell? He didn’t know. The lack of information on the powers of these bounts made it so that knowing such a thing would be difficult. Not that he particularly minded the difficulty, but it would be difficult to fight this man if it came down to that.

“Are you trying to be sarcastic or sanctimonious?” Raphael asked, glancing at William. “I would prefer it if we could save him, but if he proves more dangerous than I’m hoping then we might have to just kill him. I’m not so stupid that I think I can talk down a dangerous creature. Yes, I talk a lot, but that doesn’t mean I can work miracles in things like this, so please don’t be holier-than-thou.” Raphael kept his stance open and remained on guard, yet looked prepared to try and talk out the problem. What William or the man did next was up to them.

[William O, Creed]

Watching this Bount and the way that it moved definitely wasn’t a pleasing sight. William could tell that he was definitely starved. He was just putting on a show so that the seemingly weaker Fullbringers would let take him seriously. It was the way that he moved sluggishly along with the lack of consistency in how he was moving. He was definitely starved of should just become an actor, he’d have better luck feasting on fans William believed.

Although the way that Raphael reacted and spoke wasn’t the greatest in the situation. He still gave William the answer that he was waiting to hear. That question has been a test from William in order to see just how ready Raphael would be to make a hard decision in just this sort of situation. Would he choose to always save the unsalable and put others at risk of making the hard choice and put down the danger for the sake of everyone.

William was going to remark about Raphael’s answer, but the Bount began to rush them moving far faster than before. He took off like a sprinter on a track, his dead look now one of savage hunger. William would rush in response meeting the man head on. Delivering a knee to the gut of the man while holding his arms to his sides.

What William hadn’t been prepared for was just how powerful the Bount had been before he had been starved. Nor how long this Bount had been in this condition which actually seemed to aid him right now. His long unkempt fingernails edged around William’s biceps and then squeezed. Puncturing William’s skin and digging into the flesh of his arms. His shirt darkened with blood as he held in a scream of pain. William was holding the Bount by his biceps as well but now it seemed he was the one held down.

[Raphael Laurent]

The man swayed back and forth, almost as if he was so drunk or so high that he could pass out or OD any second, but there were certain tells. The main one was the man’s eyes, that remained fixated on both Raphael and William. It was almost creepy, the level of eye contact that this man, this bount, was displaying, and it unnerved Raphael on an almost unconscious level. While he didn’t move, the gaze did make him want to take a step or two back. Doing that, however, could have provoked an attack or immediate movement much sooner than he was expecting, and so he stood his ground.

William almost looked like he wanted to say something, but suddenly the bount charged and William did along with it. The two met, with William delivering a powerful knee to his gut while trying to grapple the man’s arms to keep them at his sides. This man, thing, this bount, however, seemed to be as strong, if not a little stronger than William himself, and while they did seem to lock arms with one another, the bount suddenly dug his fingernails into Williams arms, puncturing the skin. While William was holding him in place, the bount seemed to be winning their test of strength.

Raphael, not wanting William to be overpowered, rushed forward after the initial shock of the exchange wore off, and delivered a punch to the side of the man’s head, as he side-stepped around William, hoping to either dislodge the two, or dislodge the man’s jaw.

[William O, Creed]

William could feel the nails of this Bount dig right into the flesh of his arms, doing everything he could to keep any sort of noise from escaping. He wasn’t going to give this asshole the pleasure of knowing that he was causing William quite a bit of pain. Although he managed to keep the noise at bay within himself though that didn’t mean he wasn’t making an expression across his face that would let anyone and everyone that could see it, the knowledge that this was quite painful indeed. “Damn how does he still have this much strength?” William kept the question to himself while he essentially struggled to overpower this aggressive skeleton of a human figure.

Thankfully though Raphael stepped up to the plate and delivered a fairly well placed punch to the left side of this Bount’s jaw. Its head turning to the right from the force of Raphael’s punch yet it would be evident that it hadn’t done much to this guy. Almost like a child had just punched a full grown adult. Raphael may have just caused it a bit of pain, but that blow wasn’t nearly as effective as he had hoped. Now though William could feel the grip of this Bount tighten even more as he was lifted off the ground and thrown at Raphael.

Having no way to actually keep himself on the ground nor to stop himself once his feet were forced up off the ground William just hoped that Raphael would be fast enough to get out of the way. Whether or not Raphael did get out of the way though William was going to hit the ground of the construction site and slide a few inches against it. Toughing it out though it wouldn’t take more than a moment for the officer to get back on his feet although now a small amount of blood was flowing down both his arms from the puncture wounds.

William had to think of what could be done against this Bount that would take him down. Sure killing him was obvious at this point. If he couldn’t be reasoned with and was strong enough to actually toss William with low difficulty that meant he couldn’t be allowed even near the general public. Issue though was that neither Raphael nor William had the ability to manifest their Fullbring. William cursed his own carelessness at allowing his abilities to diminish. If only he had some sort of weapon even an average knife would do wonders in this situation.

He wouldn’t have enough time to ponder anything beyond that though as now the Bount raised his hands to his mouth and began to frantically lick the blood from his fingers. William retorted in a disgusted expression at what he was seeing. “Well I wasn't expecting that.” William knew this Bount must be starving, but he’d figured he’d needed reiatsu not actual flesh. This was far more dangerous and rare of an occurrence especially for a Bount. Perhaps he really was dealing with a Hollow at this point.

Looking like a crack junkie on the streets that had just gotten the first hit in weeks this Bount gazed up now starring even more intently on William. After a moment the sight line shifted and it was obvious that it was looking right at the blood that now creeped down his arms. This thing had every intention of drinking William dry and the Fullbringer knew it. Charging him again, the Bount screamed in an animalistic manner only for William to stay put. Side stepping the Bount and delivering a quick punch to the jaw just like Raphael.

Perhaps attacking the same spot would give better results which was usually the case when dealing things in a physical manner. However, William could feel from the blow that this wasn’t going to do much as the Bount hardly moved to the side and began to turn towards him. Pulling his arm back and then kicking at the back of the Bount’s knees to get him down William prepared to kick this thing in the left side of its head. He was successful up to the point that the Bount grabbed his leg as it made contact and then bit into his shin causing blood to spurt out and William to fall backwards as he was pulled off his feet.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael shook his hand a bit after hitting the Bount in the face and muttered under his breath. The bount didn’t seem like it had even been effected by the punch and Raphael’s thoughts immediately started turning and he started going through what he’d learned while battling Luca during their training session together. Yet, the first thing that came to mind when the bount lifted up William, was the air platform technique that popped up underneath of his right foot at a sixty five degree angle, as he jumped up and out of the way, trying to escape from William’s flying body.

Just barely escaping, having his leg clipped by William, Raphael landed on his ground and rolled a bit, trying to stretch out his leg as he landed. He hadn’t expected this, but at the same time, it hadn’t exactly been unexpected. Raphael knew that this guy was dangerous, but the way that he’d gone from stupid to rage filled and letting his hunger run wild made Raphael know that this man was far more dangerous than he’d fully been thinking, too starved to allow to go was a good way to describe him.

When the man licked his fingers, Raphael’s could feel his stomach churn. He hated the way that this man was looking at William, more than even a usual spiritual predator… This was like a normal predator of the world, he was out for not just spiritu power, but also blood. He watched, almost wanting to cheer, as William side-stepped the bount’s charge and punched him in the jaw, right where Raph had. He seemed to have the same thought as Raph did, that with enough damage they might be able to take him down.

When William hit the bount, though, it simply took the blow and turned back to Wililam. Once more, though William kicked out its knees and was about to kick its head this time, but then the bount grabbed hold of William’s leg and bit into his shin. William’s shin started spouting blood and William fell back as he was pull off of his feeet. The unfairness of the world, that’s what had originally pulled Raphael’s rage to the fore.

Both palms opened wide, Raphael approached the bount, looking as though he was going to grab it by the neck and strangle the damn thing. But, right as he reached it, a dark purple light sat in his hand and warped into a spinning disk in his hand. If William could feel energy, he would be able to feel a strong hollow power emanating from the disk spinning in Raphael’s hand. As he reached the bount he would suddenly thrust it into the side of the bount’s head and push it into the creature as much as he could to drill into it and hopefully kill it.

1900/2000

[William O, Creed]

The pain of feeling the human shaped teeth munch down on his flesh was something that William hadn’t really encountered for a long time. While he had been in the states facing off against the spiritual community there, he hadn’t really suffered such injuries. He’d always been able to rely and plan alongside his father. He’d suffered injuries from various attacks and abilities that much was certain, but being bitten. That hadn’t happened since he was a teenager and it had been from a Hollow. Thankfully this mouth was far smaller than what he had suffered almost a decade ago, but nevertheless this wasn’t something he had expected and now cursed himself for overlooking when dealing with something like this Bount.

He could feel the front teeth of this Bount tearing into his flesh, biting down on his bone as it yanked its head backwards like an animal digging into prey. Blood poured from his shin soaking his pants which obviously now has quite a big hole in them as well. This wasn’t going to be easily explained. William pulling his left leg back kicked the Bount in the head attempting to get him to back off. It wasn’t very effective though as it didn’t even seem like the Bount registered that it had been hit.

Now this deranged monster of a human form was smiling like a heroin addict had just been given a couple of syringes. His face contorted into a Cheshire grin with William’s blood dripping from his chin. Thankfully though it seemed Raphael wasn’t going to give in and displayed a technique that William wouldn’t have expected from him. The Hollow Seed. A technique that William knew of from several different texts. One thing he wasn’t certain about, but didn’t have any reason to question right now was how powerful this technique actually happened to be as the texts didn’t agree on that point. Now though he could witness it himself and that’s exactly what happened.

The Bount was sent toppling off of William by the reiatsu disc that Raphael shoved against its skull. Over the course of the next few moments William got back up and onto his feet standing now beside Raphael. “Couldn’t manage that earlier?” William wasn’t being snarking or at least not meaning to be as he knew there was a real chance that was just the case. If that was the case it also meant that Raphael might really be the first ally he could trust in Japan. Regardless though the two wouldn’t have long to speak to one another as the Bount managed to get up from the dirt ground holding its face.

Turning towards the both of them the Bount lowered its hands and revealed that the majority of its face had been mutilated. The flesh looked mangled as a good portion of it was both crushed and cut to pieces, literally falling off from the rest onto the ground. This Bount if it didn’t fit the theme of a horror icon before it certainly did now. “Oh great now you’ve gone and made him look even worse. You get bit by him now otherwise I might get some weird HIV thing.” William knew this was definitely a serious situation, but could also tell by the way that the Bount was leaning over, it didn’t have much left in it to fight.

They’d be able to handle it now even with the damage he had suffered on his right leg. That if unless something unexpected managed to happen which was always an option that he hated to admit. Still though trying to boost Raphael up was something he couldn’t ignore. He was fresh to a lot of this it seemed and teasing him on a good job was something that William thought would keep him from succumbing to the fear that his attack hadn’t managed to kill the Bount outright.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael’s hand ached quite a bit, with the unleashing of such an attack, but after shaking it out, he found that it hadn’t been nearly as much as the last time. Instead of the powerful burning sensation he only felt a throbbing, as if he’d smacked something made of metal with a stick really hard. Still, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and he did his best to shake his hand out a bit more. He was still surprised. He knew what would happen were he to throw it at someone, but now to HIT someone with it, well that was something entirely different. The feeling was that it was far more biting than using it as a tiny explosive. He’d have to keep that in mind moving forwards.



“Hard to pull out on command.” Raphael replied, still shaking the arm. “Plus I haven’t done it nearly enough to make it not hurt. Didn’t wanna fuck up my arm with such a powerful attack and be a little less defensive or capable moving forward, ya know?” But upon realizing that his hesitance to act had allowed the bount to injure William, Raphael could feel his blood boil. He took in a deep breath, his hands balling into a fist and approached the bount calmly, despite the anger that he felt boiling in his blood. “I’m sorry that you got hurt, that was my fault. I should’ve just not held back from the beginning. I’m going to correct that mistake.”



He approached the bount calmly, hands in his pockets, ready for anything that it might try, but the way that it stood now, slowly and half of its face broken, bleeding and falling off, he couldn’t help but feel some pity. Despite this pity that he was feeling, however, he would show no mercy. This thing was blood starved, and who knew what else, and it had tried to eat someone that he’d been working with. The raving dog that this man had become, was obviously a bit more surprised that there was a human that could do this kind of thing to him, but Raphael wasn’t done. When he’d come within five feet of the man, he held out his right hand, energy, and quite a bit of it gathered into his right hand, and the beam that erupted from his hand, was powered with double the energy of normal, the attack he’d originally used to strike at Luca. It was only barely less powerful than the disc that had been jammed into his face a second earlier and, at that, only barely. Instead of exploding, however, Raphael’s beam was a simple concentration of heat, hot enough, he hoped, to completely incinerate this damn thing. as he gazed at the enveloped form dispassionately.

[William O, Creed]

William sighed yet kept his eyes locked on the Bount that now was definitely fitting the theme of a horror icon. Looking like a professional had done some serious makeup art on him for Halloween at this point William wasn’t sure if anyone would even take it seriously if they saw someone kill this guy. They’d probably just do some mental gymnastics to justify what they saw as actors practicing for a scene of some sort. Still that didn't seem like it would be a possible issue now that everything was about to be under control.

William could feel a tingling feeling around his right foot and knew without glancing down that he was losing quite a bit of blood. His leg was becoming compromised. It wouldn't be long before moving it became harder and then feeling would give out completely if he didn’t do something about the wound. That wasn’t an option at the moment though so he’d just have to deal with it and hope that he could justify this at the station. He was still new to his station though so walking in bleeding only to claim that some drugged out citizen had bitten him and taken off . . .yeah his rep was definitely secure.

“Well this is the practice that you need it seems. Don’t worry about the wound.” William grinned, tipping his right hand towards his mouth as if he were holding a glass. “You cover and we’ll be even.” William again didn’t want to have Raphael break down nor feel guilty over something like this when he was still fresh and William already knew the dangers. So doing his best to just keep spirits high William approached with Raphael to finish this Bount.

He could see Raphael channeling his reiatsu and the image of the same technique that he had used prior. Hollow Seed it seemed was a technique that Raphael either favored or perhaps it was the only one he knew. Either way though William wasn’t going to step in. He could see in the man’s eyes that this was something he needed to do in order to progress further. This would be a stepping stone for him to reach the next stage of being a Fullbringer and taking on threats in the spiritual community. “Don’t hold back, don’t fear the pain of your own power. Embrace it and remember that this is to save others not to harm him.”

[Raphael Laurent]

The bright burn of the lavender beam actually hurt Raphael’s eyes somewhat, but he didn’t turn away as he poured energy onto the bount, not stopping until he was quite certain that the bount was dead. Even as he stared at the charred corpse, as it broke down into dust and began to scatter in the wind, there was no smile or sneer of victory on his face, just a mostly neutral, albeit sad, expression. He remember when his brother talked about hunting bounts and hollows, creatures that hunted humanity, with glee. The sheer amount of happiness that his brother had always had in such acts… What he’d just done made it seem like barbarism.

But, even as he took in a deep breath and steadied himself, he knew that what he’d done had protected someone, in this case directly as the man had been attacking William. Sometimes things like this were unavoidable. Hollows were human souls that had been trapped within their twisted and demented form. It wasn’t their fault that their mental capacities, for the most part, were about the same as that of an animal, nor was it their fault that they were doomed to try to consume the souls of the living and dead. That was just another reason to put them down like the rabid dogs that they were, at least when they were attacking humans.

“Practice?” Raph asked, staring at the body, now half disintegrated. “Look, I know that this is, kind of, good in it own perverse way, but…that didn’t feel like practice. That felt like putting down a dog. That felt like euthanasia…” He did his best to fight down the gloom of what he’d just done and how it made him feel as he turned back to William. “Still, I will agree that you were right and that it was something that I needed to do in order to prepare myself for…everything else. Fighting a hollow down is one thing, but that was quite a bit different…”

Still, he looked down at his own hand, trying to be mindful of what had just gone down. The blood dripping from William’s leg didn’t make it much easier. He knew that th eman had been pretty badly hurt during this whole ordeal and all because Raph hadn’t wanted to use anything like the hollow seed, or that beam. He couldn’t help but be curious about how much farther he could push such powers like this… Then how far he SHOULD push the abilities, how far would he go before he would stop feeling human, and more like a monster, like the hollows or the bount. But quickly shoved those thoughts aside as well. He’d cross sucha bridge when he got there. “Well, despite this being MUCH more than I’d been expecting when I was training here, it has been…educational.” He turned to William and stuck his hand out as if to shake William’s. “It’s been a pleasure to meet ya. If you ever wanna work on this stuff then don’t hesitate to call on me.”

[William O, Creed]

William sighed as Raphael began to remark about how what the both of them had just gone against hadn’t felt like practice, how it had felt like he was killing an animal. “Step back and look at the whole picture. If you think this was more akin to a euthanasiam fine. He was practically an animal at that point and because of that he couldn’t be saved. That doesn’t mean forget him or think less of him. Use what you’ve seen to remind yourself that there are consequences when spiritual individuals don’t take care of themselves. Normal people get fat, lose their teeth, hair, good looks. For some of us it means we can lose ourselves and put others at risk.”

William knew that he wasn’t being completely fair to Raphael, but at the same time he believed that this was something he needed to hear and could help him down the road. He wasn’t sure if Raphael was going to like how blunt he was being yet all the same William wasn’t looking for a friend, but instead was just doing what he could to help someone else be a good defense against all the bad.

Looking down at his leg William could feel his sock drenched in blood by now and knew he’d have to start moving back to the police station. Once he was there he’d be able to make up some sort of story about how a homeless man bit him and then managed to get away. It wouldn’t look the best on his status logs, but all the same. The spiritual world took priority while his career just kept food on his table and managed to let him protect even the normal people as well.

William returned Raphael’s gesture shaking hands with the other Fullbringer. Once done he’d reach in his uniform pocket located on the right side of his chest and pull out a small notepad with a pencil. A quick moment to write it down and tear the page out then holding it out for Raphael. “If something bad happens and you need help, you come across something you don’t know about. Give me a call.” William, not being much for hanging out, hoped he hadn’t just given that indication while he turned and made his way out of the construction site.

[Col Arana]

100 paragraphs! Nice job! That's a nice even 500 TP to both participants.