wintercrazed | I'm only a man with a candle to guide me

[It wasn't uncommon for Nagi to feel alone. He generally wanted to be. The silence and the darkness was preferred over having to interact with others any day. It was healthier to be in the darkness, now. Light was a weakness now, one that he had to pay close attention to. Because of this, the other monsters rarely ever saw the relatively new stranger in their midst. He didn't know many of them...except for one he ran into very early on who seemed to be used to the changes, and even more used to the killing that went on all around.

For Nagi, killing wasn't unusual. He killed for a living, essentially, but...never was it anything like this. He had been in the strange town for a few months now and already he had felt some changes. His nails had elongated into claws, and keeping his mouth closed was difficult due to how his teeth had grown sharp and pointed. His eyes glowed stark white constantly, regardless of what state he was in. But the one thing that was natural in this strange new form was his tendency to live in the shadows...and so he continued to do.

But he couldn't go without eating forever. His appetite appeared very suddenly one day, along with the shadowy tendrils that suddenly burst from his back without warning, beyond his control as he crouched on his knees near the back of a collapsing building, digging his claws into the grass. He struggled to keep his voice muffled as grunts of pain escaped him, his eyes flashing and his body seeming to flicker in and out of existence into the shadow of the building. He couldn't remember how or when he ran across that poor individual who had happened to be outside at the wrong place and time.

His body, rugged and shadowy with long claws reaching and white eyes still flashing crouched over the person, leaning in so close he could see their breath fogging into the air before him. Faster than a snake's strike his body moved on its own accord, reaching out and into the person's chest, heedless to their frantic thrashing. When he pulled free they went unnaturally still, limbs rigid as he drew the energy to himself while still hunched over the body, partially still doubled over with the agony of the tendrils ripping from his back.

Somehow, he had never felt more alone.]

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[Nobody would know that Nagi was used to this. To killing. He wasn't exactly interested in making that part of his life known to strangers. He had seen peoples' bodies twisted beyond repair due to his own anger going out of his control. This person wasn't even dead, not really. This was tame in comparison, if he was being honest with himself.

Another moment passes before the shadowy figure begins to shift, actually disappearing entirely for a moment before Nagi's body starts to reappear as it once was. So much smaller and fragile looking as he kneels in the grass, his eyes still stark white as he watches the husk of the body, expression blank other than the signs of pain from his transformation affecting him. The shadowy tendrils remain, twisting from the ripped shreds of what remains of his shirt.]

...they're still alive.

...Nagi?

[He suspected, but couldn't tell for sure before- after all, no features and no scent. Now that he knows who it is though, his nerves calm a bit, and he makes his way over, sitting near by]

Yeah, I guess they are. Sorta.

[The quiet that follows is stifling, but Nagi doesn't seem bothered. If anything it helps keep his own nerves level as he eyes the body lying in the grass.]

You can have them.

[He finally murmurs, bringing his legs close to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He doesn't look Neku's way in favor of staring without seeing, his eyes still blank both figuratively and literally, glowing lightly in the darkness.]

[HIs ears perk up and he makes his way over to the body and sniffs, opening his mouth-

-then notices Nagi still sitting so quietly. He had to remember his human feelings, not his monstrous hunger.]

...sorry.