IC INBOX

[spelleton]

Available through calling, texting or network contact.

"Greetings, you've reached Ekkehardt Gehring. If you're listening to this, I'm probably busy. Try again later, or leave a message."

EKKEHARDT GEHRING
UN: HEMLOCK

STATUS: Graduate/TA. School nurse assistant.

ACCOLADES: I graduated from this academy 22 years ago. I've been rather boring otherwise.

BIO: I'm here to help treat whatever injuries you children can't just bounce back from. Try not to get into trouble.

© TESSISAMESS

Comments

[yokeye]

Orihime just called me and said I was in danger and that she was going to 'hold it off'! It's a monster or something and it's probably going to kill her! She hung up right after that and I don't know where she is and she sounded like she was out of breath and maybe running away from whatever it was! Why would she call me!? Why would it be after ME!? WHY WOULD SHE TRY AND FIGHT WHATEVER IT IS!?

[The entire time he's explaining, he's trying to call her back, but it just keeps ringing and going to voicemail.]

[spelleton]

She probably doesn't want to put you in harm's way. And I have to say, with your insistence on giving up immediately in the face of danger, it was probably the wisest course of action.

[ He's about to say something like I really have no idea why anything would be after you, but then...he does remember Peter, a few nights ago. A dead uncle who turned into a monster... ]

I need you to answer this question honestly, Mr Rikugou. It's important.

Do you have any deceased loved ones?

cw: minor gore, PTSD

[yokeye]

[That's exactly what Orihime's doing, trying to protect him, but she's going to get hurt because of it. He's trying her phone again when Ekkehardt asks the question. Yes, he does...

...one dismembered and ripped apart and lying in a pool of blood, reaching out with her severed arm somehow, the creature gnawing at her, sinking its teeth and claws into her, even after she's in pieces, the piercing howls as it devours bits of her flesh, shreds hanging from its fangs...

... he's dropped his phone, and probably hasn't answered Ekkehardt's question before screaming and backing up against the wall in the hallway. He slides down to sit on the floor, still screaming, and unaware of anything but his sister and the werewolf at the shrine.]

[spelleton]

[ Well

That seems like a yes to him.

He'd rather not Toki scream himself unconscious, but trying to shock him into stopping would probably be worse. Coaxing him to do so would probably send him into panicking about something else. So, instead, he steps into his room again and comes out with something.

He picks up the phone, checking it over (no damage, fortunately), and then in a businesslike manner shoves something into Toki's hands for him to hold because please just tune into reality a little bit.

If Toki stops screaming for five seconds he'll find he's holding a stuffed toy cat. What someone like Ekkehardt is doing with a toy cat is a mystery, but it's there now. ]

[yokeye]

[When Ekkehardt approaches, Toki tries to back up further, not seeing him, but something else. There's nowhere to go. He screams louder for a moment before he's given the cat. It's suddenly just there, and soft, and doesn't fit with what he's seeing. It distracts him enough that the hallway's returning. He's stopped screaming, and clutches the cat like if he lets go he'll die. He's crying now and realizing this is the fourth or fifth time he's done this and it's not going to stop. Yuya was right. He needs help. But so does Orihime. He can't look at Ekkehardt, so he focuses on the cat.]

You have to h-elp her, please!

[He doesn't know if Ekkehardt can help at all, but someone should be able to figure out where Orihime is and what's happening, before it's too late.]

[spelleton]

[ It's doing its job, at least, which is about as much as he can ask for.

It's been squeezed, sat on, tossed about, hugged entirely too tightly and otherwise battered around in the manner of a small child's favourite toy, so it's well suited for being held onto and cried on. ]

I will.

Miss Orihime will be safe. I promise.

[ He doesn't say 'stay here' because Toki's in no state to move anyway, and he doubts he'd go chasing after her. So he'll leave him be (and give him his phone back) and move onto the more urgent matter, which is finding out where she went. ]

[yokeye]

[He has no intention of leaving the hallway until Ekkehardt comes back and he knows Orihime's okay. If she gets hurt, or dies trying to protect him from... something, he won't be able to handle it. He can't be responsible for that. For now, he'll continue to cry and hang onto the stuffed cat until his fingers go numb, and try not to scream.]