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Fandom Soul Eater: F.A.T.E

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Third Wheeling It | Death City
Old Collab Post Post

July 5th, Tuesday

The fourth of July party had been a pretty big event. A majority of their smaller friend group had gathered together for the massive fireworks display that Death City put on. The DWMA also had incredibly tight security, which did somewhat dampen the mood, but given the recent events in April, it was understandable. Still, it had been no surprise to anyone that Dani had drunkenly tugged Adrian back to his place just a touch earlier than the party actually ended.

She was impatient when she wanted something, and it had been a while since she felt even remotely normal after gaining her new power.

The alarm went off. The second one. The alarm at 5AM was silenced quickly. Neither one of them was getting up then. Adrian had abstained from drinking, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t exhausted nonetheless. No, this second second alarm went off at 9:45 as a reminder that he was supposed to meet Zosar… across town… in the entertainment district.

It wasn’t intended to wake them up. It was meant to be a reminder.

Adrian realized this and could only let out a sigh. Honestly, hitting the snooze button on Zosar didn’t seem so bad. Under normal circumstances, he might have felt bad, but it was hard to when that pink haired angel beside him with her sleepy face had his full attention.

”Death-damnit… I was supposed to show Zosar Games from the Grave…” Adrian grumbled, rolling over onto his stomach after silencing the alarm. His tone made it clear he wasn’t exactly enthused by this prospect. ”I probably should–even if I’m late–but…” he said, trailing off before planting a light peck on the forehead of Dani.

The alert caused Dani to stir, though rather than deal with the source as Adrian had she opted to simply grumble and nudge closer to the other source of warmth in the bed. She didn’t quite have a hangover, but she did intake enough alcohol to make getting up an unattractive project. She dug herself further into the embrace of Adrian, snuggling her face against his shoulder. At the kiss on her forehead, she couldn’t help but allow a groggy smile with a soft huff.

Dani found herself enjoying their alone time. Some nights were better than others, but there was something about having him next to her that gave her comfort and allowed her to fall into a deeper and more peaceful slumber.

“...Was that to tell me to wake up…?” She murmured groggily, though from her soft sigh afterwards and the fact her body and eyes didn’t otherwise shift at all showed that she wasn’t all that keen.

”I don’t know…” Adrian replied. Simple. True. He had a loyalty to his friends, which Zosar was among them. He wasn’t quite as close as Zari was or even Midori, but they got along well enough and were former teammates. Still, the counter argument was the beautiful, bubblegum-haired girl beside him–and even his strict values wavered there.

Given he was on his stomach, there wasn’t a whole lot he could do to add to that embrace, not that he didn’t want to. Seeing her bright blue eyes open in the morning had become an incredible site for him. It wasn’t something he had ever considered in the past, but this wonderful girl beside him had opened a lot of doors for his future he had never considered.

Still, the desire was there.

Adrian grumbled lowly, mulling over the options.

”I could text him I’ll be late… tell him we’re nursing a hangover from the fourth…” Adrian said slyly. He put the option in her hands, though part of him just wanted her to make it for him. He was a softie. He would’ve genuinely felt bad had he been the one to make the call.

”Not sure if he’d believe I drank anything… but, y’know…” he trailed off, trying to think of any convincing way he could sell this to Dani. ”...stay in bed, nab some breakfast, pick up where we left off last night, shower…” he went on, guiltily listing the perceived advantages.

At first Dani didn’t so much respond save for a mumble which was so subtle it was debatably not even a response. It almost seemed as if she had fallen back to sleep, though she was mulling it over. The endeavor of getting up was a steep hill to climb. Yet still, she knew he wanted to and at the same time didn’t.

Adrian was sweet and Dani knew he had difficulty saying no to her at times. She also knew that she took advantage of that as did he, such in this case by trying to have her make the decision.

Propping her upper body up with her forearms, Dani leaned forward and took a morning kiss from it. It was groggy, albeit nonetheless loving. “Aight… now you can get up…” She said with a soft sigh. “You’d probably be a cute drunk, but I don’t think he’d buy that,” She added, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

”Well… we’re gonna be late regardless…” Adrian replied, letting out a soft yawn after. ”I don’t know of anyone that can get all the way from here to the Entertainment District in fifteen–now fourteen minutes,” he said, slightly defeated in how little time there really was.

Mmm…” Adrian let out, though he didn’t say anything just yet. Instead, he just watched as Dani cleared her eyes, only appreciating them more in the clear light. ”Well, I know for certain you’re a cute drunk…” he told her, derailing the discussion for a compliment. He had gotten better about those, especially after their boundaries had been set, and Dani made it clear she wasn’t going to chew his head off. Or let Nadia lop it off.

”But you happen to make a cute anything, so…” he told her. He then rolled over on his side so he could lean in and give her a deeper kiss, his own personal taste being for something a little more carnal than that sweet morning peck they had exchanged.

It was a brief minute of locked lips.

”Have to sneak those in while Nadia’s not around, y’know…” he commented jokingly, knowing full well her partner–while moderately supported–wasn’t fond of the PDA.

Dani let out a lethargic chuckle. “There’s late and there’s late,” She said, knowing the plan the devil on his shoulder was opting for wouldn’t just be a delay of five or ten minutes. “Mm…”

Sighing into the kiss, a grin crept across her visage as she leaned in. Typically she found herself being the aggressor, more so earlier on, though as they grew more comfortable Dani noticed Adrian being less reserved, which she certainly wasn’t going to complain about.

“I think you’re good at this point,” Dani assured him. She wasn’t sure she could say Nadia was necessarily ‘happy’, but she didn’t want to kill him. It seemed like after the Leshy mission she even had some more respect for him, though that could just be in Dani’s head. “You’re a sweetheart, she won’t do anything except look a bit grumpy at times… Now then, shower?”

And, shower it was. Adrian sent Zosar a message about their potentially late arrival, a little vague in nature, but it worked. It netted them another hour, which a good portion of was wasted in that shower. Nonetheless, the two did in fact make it to Games from the Grave just a hair before 11AM–proving their punctuality to be on point, even if delayed once.
Games from the Grave wasn’t a huge store, but given it didn’t have the arcades or live gaming of a place like Gamescadia, it was impressive in size. It was an actual storefront. It sold old emulator copies converted into whatever format one could want, new emulation hardware, even old, retro gaming consoles decades past their prime. The floorspace was much more open due to its nature as an actual store instead of a game cafe style area one would go to play. Despite that, it was littered with gamer memorabilia that would make any vintage gamer gush. Ranging from Nintendo merch verging on a century old to the various posters for releases of various games displayed on a rotating stand, it was without a doubt a niche store to behold.

And, outside of another few hours with Dani that morning, a living dream for Adrian.

He had taken her there before if only because he wanted his two favorite things to intersect, but this wasn’t the type of place one could truly appreciate all in one go–especially if one was as dedicated as Adrian was. Gaming had over a hundred years worth of history, and this place had parts and pieces of every generation of it.

”If there’s a heaven, I hope it looks like this…” Adrian said once he followed Dani through the large glass door, itself covered in a variety of posters, some about running sales, manager picks, so on and so forth. They didn’t have a release schedule for new games, but they did have a timeline for their repair services as that brought in quite a bit of business.

More notably, the very front rack of the store. The discount rack. Where everything from repaired peripherals to pre-loaded rom cartridges that hadn’t sold in ages sat at heavily marked down prices. Of course it was on display here in the front, but it perhaps was the only thing in the world that made his eyes light up even remotely close to the way they did when Dani decided she wanted a kiss, damned be the situation.

There they are!” Zosar appeared, moments after Adrian said this very line as they entered the store, he’d been off some other part of the store coming in from the right behind a display of games within the RPG section, it was impeccable timing really, to show up shortly after their arrival.

My two favorite lovebirds,” his grin widening as he neared, cap backwards, sunglasses on for some odd reason despite being in the building, and arms spread open. “Let me in on a hug you two, c’mon!” His tone jovial.

As they entered the store, Dani simply smirked with a subtle chuckle as she stepped to the side to allow Adrian to hone in the discount rack. She liked games though wasn’t nearly as invested into the vintage as he. She just found it fun, and more entertaining was the sparkle in Adrian’s eyes when venturing into such businesses. It was like a kid in a candy store or toy store. Even if she didn’t care at all about the games, she’d be content to just come in and watch him.

Her stare was interrupted by the introduction of Zosar, causing Dani to look back. Toward his comment, she let out an amused scoff. “You’re such a dork,” She said, though her tone was light-hearted and she accepted the request, giving him a casual one-armed hug. “Sorry we pushed it back a bit.”

He waved his hand as if it didn’t matter. “No apologies needed” he reassured.

”What kinda hug is that?” Adrian responded before letting loose a devilish grin. Once the one-armed hug from Dani loosed, Adrian dived in for a manly bear hug around Zosar, lifting the man up with relative ease and giving him a playful but admittedly tight squeeze. Adrian, despite being so lithe, was surprisingly strong. No abilities needed to lift Zosar off the ground.

It honestly gave the meister a joyful laugh as he returned the favor.

After about a second of hangtime, Adrian put Zosar right back down on his feet. He didn’t want to impose on the shop.

Letting out an amused scoff, Dani watched with folded arms as Adrian practically squeezed the life out of Zosar. “Careful, before you make me jealous,” She jokingly warned.

”In our defense, Zose did ghost for a few months…” Adrian spewed out, light-hearted still as he knew there was no real need to defend their actions. Perhaps a touch of latent guilt, though he was well aware he would have done it again in a heartbeat.

”Actually, now that I think about’t… Zosar probably came back real confused,” Adrian commented with the sudden realization of all that had happened since the last time he saw Zosar. ”Zari and Jarvis went to hunt the Yakuza… Midori went from mentor to partner. Aaaand, we’re dating now,” he said, looking over to Dani with that wide, innocent smirk he was known for. ”Which, by the way, is my favorite news,” he added.

Information he already knew, yet it was the comment of him ghosting that truly hit and she'd a bit of light on what they knew. His smile only dimmed at the mention of Zari and Jarvis, not because it made him sad, he chose that specific moment to reveal a fraction of his emotions so as to use the line as a cover.

Zari and Jarvis' departure as a whole was disappointing but he understood. They had their own things they needed to do, and being shackled to DWMA while doing it was no easy task.

She was happy Zosar was back though. He was always one of the good people and it also helped that he was friends with Adrian. She remembered how he was after Zari and Jarvis vanished, so it was good that someone from the old posse per say was back.

“True. Good news is you came back after people stopped hating us–somewhat.” There was still a lot of skepticism, but there was a lot more positivity as well. It was a hell of a difference, though Dani was admittedly less concerned with the opinions of the majority than the opinions of the few around her. Smirking a bit in response to Adrian’s comment, she let out a chuckle. “I’d fuckin’ hope when the bar is ninja boy changing jobs and gangster hunting,” She teased him before standing on the tip of her toes and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “But, it’s mine too.”

"Ah," he said with his warm smile returning in full from the display of affection, patting Adrian on the back, "then I returned just in time."
There was a time and a place to ask, and now wasn't the time nor the place. Not in a public store, and certainly not to impose on the sort of atmosphere he knew he missed.

"Well then," he gestured towards the shelves around them, "can I interest you both to fly away with me on this exploration?" his brows up and his grin at large. "Never did get the chance to play that many games growing up, I mean I still did, but at some point after I turned 12, other things took a larger focus" he said with a glance of wonder that his voice did better to express than his unseeable eyes did. "What were your favs, or are now?"

”I’m not a fan of the new VR stuff,” Adrian chimed in, the excitement in his voice telling despite how much he tried to restrain it. ”I think there’s a certain… dynamic to using a controller for a game on a screen that VR can’t quite capture. Sure, it’s more immersive, and sure, most games support gamepad modes, but it’s just not the same,” he explained, though his explanation didn’t actually give any specifics.

Granted, in truth, this was all about the feel. The tactile response. Things slightly too eloquent for Adrian to put into words.

”Games and controllers got to the point where their rumble controls and reactions made this specific feel that got you immersed in a game in its own way. Mouse and keyboard are what some people prefer, but I think that’s just because of old PC tradition and how utilitarian some people are. In the early 40’s, there came a point when graphics cards became outdated. One company took over all of the high end market, the other countered by upgrading their APU line to support all the features of their main GPU line, they started using a dual die method for a single processing unit, then bam… suddenly you would pay three or four times the price for separate units that only had a twenty or twenty-five percent increase in quality. When that happened, the console wars were over. Everything bled together and only a few years later, the first modular handhelds came out that were just as powerful as dedicated systems. They took such a huge market share and were compatible with almost every gaming service. VR surged not long after, but that era right there in the 40’s was the sweet spot. It was when all the tech–aside from Nintendo–was basically on the same platform, gaming IP’s couldn’t be exclusive if they tried, and optimization was pretty much perfected because hardware became streamlined,” Adrian went over, giving both of them a fairly in depth review of the history of gaming. Adrian didn’t necessarily come across as the most intelligent guy in a room, but put him on his favorite subject, and he shined like a diamond.

”I’m a fan of first person shooters and RPG’s, but I’ll play about anything,” he said, shifting to a more personal answer. ”If you want the best game in my opinion, the Batman: Arkham series had some of the best installments during that time. A more traditional experience might be Elder Scrolls IX. That was the last one before it went purely VR. If you want something more action-y or with gunplay, there are plenty of good first person shooters. Black Ops Retribution or Titanfall: Impact are great. And, if you’re a masochist that wants a real challenge, Dark Souls: Cinders is is about as intense as it gets…” he went on, listing some of the highlights of the era.

”Or, y’know, if you’re all about party games, there’s Mario Kart and Smash Bros games on the Nintendo line-ups,” he said, though he wasn’t as excited for those. Not necessarily because he disliked them, but because Nintendo remained a hold out with their own proprietary equipment–and were notorious for holding onto their IP’s when every other company went to a shared platform. If not for them, the entire gaming market would be interchangeable by now.

“Pretty much what he said,” Dani said, riding the coattails of Adrian’s in depth explanation. She wasn’t going to interrupt him when he became so engrossed. Dani wasn’t as invested in the whole of the industry, however the games she played help her cope and get her mind off her other very real issues. Then there was her brother who would make her play all the ones he knew would piss her off. “I mostly play RPGs, but I’ll play anything really. Mass Effect’s stuff is really good story and character wise, just ignore the fourth one. Arkham’s really good too… I don’t play Nintendo’s stuff much anymore…” She said for obvious reasons given that they were somehow more rage-inducing than the ‘masochist’ games from Fromsoft.

There was a thoughtful hum as he weighed in all that had been said by both. Adrian’s knowledge of the gaming industry to say the least, was quite impressive. He’d never considered him an avid gamer until this point at least, his knowledge said a lot for itself.

Smash Bros was one of the games I played a lot, mained Meta Knight and Bayonetta the most.”, he added at the end of Dani’s line as they talked. “I played the Persona series when it came to RPGs, though a lot of what I focused more on was the horror branch side of things, Dead Space, Resident Evil, hack-and-slash games like Devil May Cry, Bloodborne, those were games I’m a bit more familiar with, hell even FNAF. Those darker elements had something of a rush to them when playing and the lore bits they had were especially fun or at least when it came to the characters in some of them. Honestly though” he trailed off as he entered the RPG assortment to browse, “I'm open to anything. Since you both seem to favor RPGs, you got any experience with” he picked up one of the games and held it up, the title: Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Adrian allowed his mind to race. What options were there? Party games could be fun, but that’s what everyone did when they started to play in a group. RPG’s seemed to be a common trend amongst them. So were first first person shooters, but he expected any skill-based game to likely be dominated in order of himself, Dani, then Zosar. Of course, they could all play a first person shooter on the same squad, battle royale style. For a moment, that actually was the plan he was going to suggest; mostly as he didn’t want to just default to party games. That’s what they did with Maria.

Something about a battle royale style game didn’t sit well with him either… it was still competitive, still quite structured, and would likely result in the three reverting back to how they behaved on missions–barking orders and falling in line. He didn’t want that.

He had to expand his thinking.

There were a few games that were quite revolutionary in VR. Some that even he couldn’t deny made the transition quite well. In no small part, more than likely, because they were originally turn-based and on the PC platform. When converted into a VR system, publishers and designers were able to take the turn-based combat and immersive reality of VR and turn them into fantastic roleplaying experiences–even more so because they were intended to be played in a group.

Given that they were one of the most popular genres out there in the current market, too, and received periodic updates thus antiquating older versions quickly, it would be fairly cheap to get used versions. The trick would be making sure all three were the same kind. He knew Markus even fancied a few despite his equally passionate love of retro-gaming, so Games from the Grave likely had something in stock.

”I’m going to pitch an idea here, and might cost a bit of cash, but… it would be really fuckin’ cool,” Adrian finally chimed in. He was sure he could convince Dani. It was Zosar he was more curious about. However, given Zosar was holding an ancient copy of Fire Emblem, a turn-based combat fantasy game might be right up his alley.

”Larion Studios paired up with Microsoft to make a chain of VR games that are maaad popular. You need a headset, gloves, and these special controllers called Uni-Cons, but I bet Markus can scrounge that up,” Adrian started explaining, trying to restrain himself–and quite obviously too–as he detailed out the requirements.

”The whole franchise is set in the Baldur’s Gate universe. It’s called Eyes of Mystra and it’s a whole VR experience set to the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. You have to pick your class, roleplay out your skills, and most NPC’s have special AI that make them pretty realistic–and a bit buggy. Point is, it stays true to the DnD system for the most part, and you have to execute your spells or attacks with either the gloves, chanting, or Uni-cons–so for example, you would swing the uni-con for a sword swing. But, since it’s all turn based, you select your actions first–don’t worry, it’s pretty intuitive,” he continued on, trying to flesh out how the game worked despite neither having set foot in it. Or, at least, he didn’t think Dani had tried it.

”The real cool part is that Larion basically mastered making DnD video games like forty or fifty years ago, so what they focused on is the roleplaying. They took a page from Bethesda’s book and let you interact with nearly every item and NPC in unique ways. Every book has text, some books have imperfections, mirrors work properly with your gear–things you do in the story affect the AI,” Adrian continued on, ”and it supports up to a five-player party.”

Then Adrian decided to back off a minute and slightly bob his head back, almost as if to withhold a wince. ”Downside… is that it’s all pretty much integrated, so you buy the stuff and it only works for that game–or the games in the franchise. That, and like… the main campaign is literally a few hundred hours,” he told them both.

He was rubbing his chin thoughtfully and the sunglasses made the eyebrows seem like they were more angry than exceptionally curious. He was silent for three straight seconds before he clapped both hands and said, "Let's do it. I'm in. Been years since I could even bother to grind a game, this franchise you're talking about sounds like the perfect chance."

“Few hundred-fuckin’ death,” Dani mused. Plus, that was just the main campaign. There was always side stuff and things were elongated depending on playstyle and players, so it was likely way more. There was also the expenses, but she had a bit more cash flow recently from the DWMA and she didn’t spend much. It was as good of an expense as any. “Sure, I’m game. Never tried the pen ‘n paper based stuff before.”

With that, the group had decided on what to do. Adrian was quick to run up to Markus and explain their idea. It wasn’t precisely easy, but Markus could do it. He would have to flash a newer model headset to an older version of the game to give the trio three paired sets, but aside from that, he could get them everything they needed; headsets, uni-cons, and the gloves. He even offered them a discount for the bulk buy, tossed on Adrian’s personal discount as a loyal customer, and then offered them another twenty percent off anything they wanted to buy in their downtime waiting.

It was still a steeper purchase than expected, but the discounts cut it down to a price even Dani couldn’t be too upset with. The fact they could snag up some other games during the wait at another twenty off helped. Zosar could get himself that copy of Fire Emblem while Dani could find anything that stood out. By the end of their session scouring the store for its goods, the lot ended up with a handful of extra games at an excellent price to add to their purchase. Not that Agents of the DWMA had a ton of time to play them, but the prices at Games from the Grave were generally good enough–especially with an added discount–that it was hard to argue with the splurging.

After that, the group made their way back to Adrian’s apartment. He lived in what one would call an intermediate apartment. Not overly large or fancy, but leaps and bounds better than what the other younger Agents had. The housing vouchers from the program and the money he amassed in escort missions afforded him a comfortable situation. More so, it had plenty of room in his relatively bare living room for three people to use VR. In reality, that was the deciding factor here.

”Alright, so first thing’s first…” Adrian said, pulling his headset out of the paper bags the group had received. He plugged it into a large charging station he had situated by his television, and it sprang to life after the touch of a button. He lifted up a flap on the back of the helmet to reveal a curved six-inch screen hidden under it.

”Before we get directly into the VR, we have to design our character profiles,” Adrian told them, scrolling through the options on the back panel. ”We’re hard locked at level one, but aside from that, we make our name, pick our race, class, feats, so on and so forth from this screen,” he explained, showing them the fairly straight forward character creation panel. It even had a rendered preview of their characters, of which their models were also customizable to an extreme degree.

”Now before you hog-wild here, we’re probably gonna be a party of three going in, unless we pick up an NPC or two to round us out. The game will balance some combat instances for a smaller party, but not all, so we should probably get a good idea of our party composition going in…” Adrian asserted, using his background knowledge of the game.

”So in general, you typically want one front line fighter that can take a few hits, a ranged fighter ideally with magic, and a utility character with some healing. I was thinking of going Paladin, maybe a half-elf.. The entire point of these games is to play something you aren’t, so that seemed fitting. Though, a cleric or druid really aren’t off the table, either…” Adrian continued on, explaining his approach to pre-game prep.

”So, uh… whatcha got in mind? Any questions?” Adrian asked, now trying to get feedback from Zosar and Dani.

"Was thinking barbarian, maybe even a Tiefling? Or Ranger Half-Orc? I'm leaning a bit more towards the ranged with magic." he quipped as he dug his own helmet out.

As Dani watched the electronics pile and pile, her facial expression grew more deadpanned, as if thinking the whole industry made it this way on purpose. Which, they probably did. Regardless, they had the stuff. Now she just needed to figure out how to use it. Dani looked at the equipment like alien technology while Adrian went through game strategy.

“Would it be better if I go a fighter then? Or is Paladin more of a fighter and I should go healer?” She asked, not really knowing what to pick out of all the options. “I was thinking tiefling.”

”With this game, it’s not, uh… like, set in stone or straight-forward like that,” Adrian answered them both, trying to explain the mechanics of the game and realizing very quickly he wasn’t prepared to provide this much constructive information at once.

”Let’s, uhm… look at the history a bit,” he continued.

”So… these Baldur’s Gate games are a video game version of Dungeons and Dragons, yeah?” he began. ”At its root, Dungeons and Dragons is a roleplaying game. When we say RPG now-a-days, it covers a lot of genres. DnD is all about getting into your role. Most of the time, you create that role. Some people like pre-designed characters and stories where you play what’s given to you. That’s actually how a lot of video games do it. DnD, uh… gives you the whole kit and kaboodle.”

Adrian rubbed his hand over his chin slightly, letting his fingertips feel the soft stubble he had grown. His was thin and sparse, easily shaved, but he didn’t have time today as he and Dani rushed out. This tactile feeling on his fingertips oddly helped him focus in the moment.

”So races in this game have sub-races and even some different cultures… they all have different stat modifiers to reflect generalities in the game world and some got some uh, unique abilities or traits. More importantly is the shift in roleplaying. Every NPC will react with you differently. You might get locked out of some quests, have to work harder to like… get people to trust you. Tieflings have a pretty negative reputation ‘cause they’re like, considered descendants of evil beings from other planes,” Adrian explained to them, trying to emphasize how their decisions now would have a big impact.

”So if that’s something you want to do for a whole game, then sure. But, if you’re just selecting the race because it looks cool on the selection screen, I, uh, might take a moment to rethink that,” he warned them.

”There’s a lot of reasons to game. This game isn’t gonna be about raw skill or high scores. It’s about the role. Most of the time, it’s all about escapism. You won’t get that power trip fantasy until way late into the game. So, like… if the goal of a roleplaying game is a touch of escapism, maybe, uh… try not being something a lot like what we are now?” Adrian suggested, trying to bring up this point, but struggling. It was hard to describe without completely addressing the elephant in the room: that they were all Fate Agents.

He was just going to have to.

”If you play a Tiefling or something like that, in most human populated places, you’re gonna be signing yourself up to be treated just like a Fate Agent in the DWMA. I don’t personally want my escape from the shit we go through to be a world where I gotta deal with the same shit, y’know?” he told them, just clearing the air on that topic.

”There’s a lot of history and politics in the game, really, so it’s not like you’re gonna make some universally beloved character either, but you can at least start off on a good foot,” he told them.

”And, as for classes, this game has a lot of variety and spells. Some even overlap. Like, uh, most casters get pretty similar spell pools; what really matters is how they achieve those spells. Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Priest, uh… whatever the fuck else there is; it’s all different means to the same end, but you gotta look at the roleplaying perspective of it. A wizard is all about learning their spells, warlocks make a pact with a demon or some shit like that, Sorcerers have some weird blood connection to their power, priests worship a God. It’s all different in how it feels and plays,” he explained to them, trying to really ingrain the impact of their choices here.

”Now this game does change quite a few old pen and paper things to make it work as a VR game, but the core system is pretty damn similar. It struck gold on that line between feeling like the old system people loved but being fluid in a VR world. It was in development like, ten fuckin’ years ‘cause of that. Anyway, the point is that the core system is all about your role and how it fits into the world,” Adrian told them, rounding out his lengthy explanation. It lacked a little of the informative mastery a veteran DM might have had, but he wasn’t exactly a DnD veteran.

”Like… maybe I should explain what I was thinking. I wanted to be a Half-Elf Paladin. The Paladin class is mostly melee, has some spellcasting, and its core features work off your charisma stat. Half-Elves have a bonus to charisma. In some parts of the world, Half-Elves are kinda seen as muts. Places where racial differences are still pushed. But, in other places, the race is seen as a bit of a diplomat because it walks the line between human and elf, he told them, giving them some more insight as to what he wanted to be.

”You do have to pick your subrace and background which I haven’t figured out just yet; I’ll have to read the in-game prompts… but uh, the point is, I was gonna pick an Oath and play to that Oath while trying to be diplomatic,” he admitted, then released a guilty chuckle.

”An’, you both know me, so uh… you know that’s, uh, not normally me,” he explained, ”so I wanted to be that in a game.”

Dani hummed at that, chuckling a bit sheepishly. “...I was kinda just goin off the wings…” She admitted, though it seemed there was a lot more depth to consider. Looking through the various classes, she considered what would be best given the options. She typically used these games to escape as well, so a medieval FATE agent probably wasn’t the best choice. If she wanted to go for something she wasn’t–Well, the most obvious was probably a thief of some kind. “Rogue Wood-elf then? Subtle isn’t usually my style, so it’ll probably be… interesting one way or the other,” She mused. “So you can try to talk to’em, and if that doesn’t work…” She led on.

He made some valid points that was for certain. A Half-Elf Paladin was an interesting choice, Dani’s fit in a bit more to her style. He rubbed his chin, thinking on what to pick.

Between a Bard Githayanki and a Barbarian Dragonkin.” Was his announcement. He wasn't sure what would be better, but being a bard would grant him some utility compared to being a Barbarian.

Chin rubbing commenced, he was squinting intensely behind his shades. “... I'll go with…Bard..” He decided.

Adrian thought over the new suggestions Dani and Zosar came up with, finding each of them much more suitable for their last set. It was definitely intriguing to consider Dani trying to be stealthy. Though, it wasn’t like a rogue purely had to be stealthy. It also wasn’t as if they couldn’t multi-class. His mind raced through a ton of options, but all of that was getting ahead of himself. They would have to get the hang of the UI and the unique take Larian had made on a VR turn-based system.

”I’d prolly go with the, uh… Dragonborn Bard,” Adrian suggested, mostly because Dragonborns made excellent bards - and Githyanki did not.

”If you got your class and race picked, you’ll design how they look and their name, then we’ll have to log in for the rest, like setting your background and your first set of spells,” Adrian told them, confirming how they had essentially gotten over the initial hurdle.

With a Rogue and Bard, there was in fact plenty of utility to go around. Chances are, if a Paladin couldn’t win a persuasion check, a Bard could. Not a lot of magic between them, but that was fine. If Zosar went Bard with Healing Word, between the two of them, they should have decent healing. All in all, not a bad comp, although it was a small one.

Adrian swiped through his options, already having in mind what he wanted. Gender, height, skin color, so on and so forth as one would expect from a character creator. Even if he didn’t like it once it was in VR, he would have a chance to change it. This first step was mostly to save time and immersion once the game had started. Given that he was mostly done, it was now really up to Dani and Zosar to finish up and then they could take the plunge.




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Nadia Semyonov - Page Private Academy, Southern LA
As Nadia started to process all that happened, Nadia was only left to shake her head in disappointing frustration. She was not mad at Adrian in the least, and she grabbed Dani by the left shoulder, knowing full well if she didn't the other would likely run or force the situation. And then gave a reassuring squeeze. She had wanted to turn this or the Gym into a fortress, akin to Pavlov's House. She would have bleed them try and let the others be the reinforcements to encircle and crush this threat.

That all unfortunately went out the windows. Though, Adrian's response shown something that Nadia in some aspect was just a little hurt by. He had learned nothing about her, and still understood little and less as he went off on his fool's charge. Did he really expect, after everything till now, with what she spent her free time in Moscow doing, what happened at the mall and what happened before with the hostages, that she would really just wait those three hours to fifteen minutes to let the enemy do as they please? That she would sacrifice the Civilians for some pyre of victory? There were necessary loses for the sake of a mission, or in a greater battle, and then there was cowardice to avoid the enemy.

Her soul of the Conqueror and the reverberations of her people that ran through her very blood, both Jotunn and Russian demanded that she take action. This was a battle of glory, for heroes and song. There was no shame in dying here if that came to pass, but the true purpose of the DWMA was to safeguard the human race from threats that lingered in the dark. This new information forced her hand. Then that fool, Raphael ran off on his own. Sighing to herself, she kept her hand there on Dani just in case as she opened a channel to all communicators in her team and to the DWMA communications officer that monitored them over relay.

"To all members of my team, insubordination aside, I Raspopova Nadia Semyonovna, Nadia Semyonov, issue the following commands. Advance towards Paramount Pictures, do not engage till I have caught up. I am also requesting support from a local mercenary unit,..." A Pause, as she was not sure how much people on the DWMA knew about her current choices in regard to her improvised allies, so she worded it to be taken as a chance encounter, "....to assist us in engaging the enemy. Hold nothing back, we shall slaughter them in detail, with the primary objective of identifying and eliminating enemy commanders. Should the actual leader be here, leave him to Dani and I. I order this action to preserve Civilian life. In addition, I hereby consign the fate of one Cameron Diaz to death, being a corrupted soul, madness inflicted and a prisoner we cannot safely keep under watch and other crimes against humanity aside, his guilt and nature is undeniable and unchangeable. His execution shall be carried out immediately.

I will catch up with you in short order. That is all."


With that said, Nadia went immediately for the passed out and subdued form of Cameron, pulling one of her knives she ran it through his chest, between a gap in the ribs and into his heart, or where his heart should be as she snapped her fingers. It was so easily done, not a bit of hesitancy as the wound pooled blood and his form was left to lie where it was. Officialities and recovery could wait, and she would not humor a countermand to what she had done, she also took full responsibility. Enough time had been wasted here, had those two fools did not run off it would have made this all a great deal easier.

"Dani. Take his infernal soul, as soon as we are done, we will help your boyfriend. So that you are aware, I shall hit him for this when all is said and done. You will not stop me. Provided we live. Kris I ask you and Jives over there to deal with the enemy commanders alongside me, I'll likely entrust the bulk of the enemy regulars to those two fools, but we'll see when we arrive." Holding her hand open for her partner, Nadia would waste little time in getting on the move once the others had processed things. She would waste no time talking till they were on the move.

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Wren
Vale of Ffestiniog; Gwynned, Wales

They were both sat on the ground now.

She, cross-legged, eyes shut. Him…well, he’d tried. He’d jumped around, he’d turned up the volume of the music, had the marble guests stand up and do their stiff dance, even poked her multiple times— she just wouldn’t budge. As the massacre raged on in the outside world, in the depths of her mind, the jester had just realized their inner battle was just as one-sided.

At some point Beelzebub had stopped trying altogether, just staring at her, hoping that his hollow stare would be enough to startle her out of focus.

He looked smaller, thin-boned where he sat, by her side, like a fickle, dark wisp of shadow clinging onto a white mask. Yet, he was still smiling, cackling

”So that is your answer…”

There was no reaction from Wren. Only the distorted, rippling, jazzy strings from the gramophone whispering through the halls. A resounding, quiet, final,

No.

She’d rationalized it, found the root of it.

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t leave because she wasn’t strong enough to make him, rather, he couldn’t leave at all. He was a part of her, of this place, of her own psyche. a glaring, starving ugliness. Her desire to have everything she could never have, her hunger for things she knew she didn't deserve. Money, power, status; something vain. By birthright, maybe, she was a worm in the muck. Looking on at the birds tearing the clouds, wanting to have wings of her own.

Maybe, it was something birthed of the times she would wake up clutching at a wet cardboard box, glancing languidly at passerby’s, wishing she could just close her eyes and have everything they had when she opened them again. Just praying to whatever god would listen, not hoping, but envying.

An eye slowly blinked open, she brought her hand to him, that small pathetic jester he was now, flicked him on the forehead. Black nails tapped on his plastic mask; his head bobbled from side to side while the rest of him stood there. She could barely hear a thing he said now.

This was the god she’d prayed for back then, or her mind’s rendition of it. Hollow promises and not a twinge of power. Not over her, not now. Just a wild animal running on thrills, hunger.

She remembered what Kisei had told her before, even if it’d only been a stranger’s attempt at giving their homilies to another, a complete pity party. She wanted to ask him, after the smoke had cleared and the mission was done for, what did he want to prove to himself here? What did any of them for that matter.

At the moment, there was nothing to prove to herself, only to everyone else. That she was still a functional tool, still a weapon. Now, Wren just wanted to see if she wasn’t some blood-starved animal like that jester; pretending to be something she wasn't.

‘Real or not,’ — She stood up, brushed off the tail of her dress just for the sake of doing the motion. Wren brought herself back to her seat, throwing her heels on the table— ‘That’s still a pretty lame curse. I hate kids. Was never planning on having one anyways.’

For the first time in their entire trip through Wales, Wren started sounding more and more like herself, albeit a bit off. Her tone was too…plain. Something about the seals, she figured — ‘Were you?’ — She teased through their link, breaking into a coughing fit as the foul stench finally hit her.

She slumped on her seat, eyes set on the Gwyllgi and the ongoing tension rising in the air. Eyes darting around inside her soul space, Wren cracked a faint smile. It was amusing, how enticing their scent as a collective was right now, but there was more of a focused admiration in that thought rather than a need to sink teeth into her teammates.

Before, she felt she would’ve been overcome with adrenaline and instinct just at the sight of the towering threat the overgrown hounds presented, along with that rotten stench, but right now she felt…still. Not a thing bothered her.

‘Assuming we take the smaller one while the two lovebirds rush down the big one.’— Magic crackled in the air, Wren’s blades stirred, whirring across the chain slowly. There was no telling in her mind if they could resonate at full yet, not without throwing off madness like before, but she didn’t have time to pause at that uncertainty.

They had to strike fast, hard, the moment Maria got them an opening. That is if the dogs weren’t blown to bits by then — ‘I’ll leave that up to you.’



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Daniella Ethalyn - Los Angeles, California
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"...Fuckin freaks," Dani grumbled as the reports came in. Her grip on her biceps tightened slightly, the whole thing giving her bad vibes and stirring memories of back during the spread. However, more concerning was Adrian. Her eyes jumped to him and, as she expected, he wasn't going to sit still. Her brows furrowed in frustration as she stepped forward.

"Adrian, that's the fuckin'--" And he was gone. Dani growled as her fists clenched. What in Death did he thing he would accomplish if he was knocked out? That was the damn issue, madness aside.

Kris and Raph seemed to be of the same sentiment, or were just resigned to following with Adrian's blitz. "As if I'm going to let him!" He retorted sharply to Raph before feeling Nadia's hand on her shoulder. She glanced up to the taller woman as transmitted her orders and plans. Turning her eyes to the bishop, it was probably for the best. They couldn't deal with him right now. Besides, there was at least a bishop or higher with the mob. They didn't really need him.

After the life drained from him and his mortal shell gave way to his corrupted soul, Dani kneeled down picked it up by its tail that mimicked a smoke stack. Shoving the orb into her mouth, she was quick to scarf in down before standing next to Nadia. Her form shifted into light, then shrunk down and shot into her hand.

It was wrong to say that Dani didn't care. If she could prevent another situation like the outbreak, she would. However, she also wouldn't trade Adrian, Nadia, or anyone else to do so. Especially if there was a situation where they could be rendered completely ineffectual or a liability, like if the bishops relied on madness spikes again. The least he could do is not run off alone.

'Not if I fuckin' smack him first...'

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Zosar | Gweynedd, Wales





The spiritual presence of the Barghest's big brother, was like a unexpected dirty slap to the face. In essence, Wren felt for the first time a startled jolt in her Meister.

His mood changed almost immediately.

He was reminded of Kenny, even if the comparison wasn't the same the feeling was enough to bring back memory of the giant. It may not have been like Royal Pain's presence but the fact it seemed to eclipse the Barghest, and still held weight with all three of them in presence by comparison wasn't something to laugh at.

Too bad according to Maria he couldn't strike a chit chat. Honestly hearing her input just revived the voice of his dead mother in his head on the same topic. Warning about hexes, jinxes, curses and how difficult they were to get rid of as much as they were to create.

So much crap over one Mirror. Where caution spiked in most, all Zosar did was keep a wary eye on the massive beast lumbering out to come and give them that warm greeting he could see the Barghest's brother was so eager to give.

And what was a welcome, without a welcoming party?

His stance shifted and the second he noticed the bodies restitching, his lip curled into a look of distate-- slashing the knitting body as a test of the oke closest to him- just to confirm that the top dog up there was actually pulling the fallen from the dead.

He had hoped to end things here on a good note, too bad life never really followed plans.

Jaw shifted, teeth grinding, "Fantastic." Came in a dry low utterance. The grip tightened in his single hand. He was getting ready to slash forward and move on the Barghest.

It was ceased as he noticed something weird going on with Kisei and Elly.

Whatever goop the thing breathed out soon got vacuumed in.

That was actually cool but it did nothing to improve the Meister's current mood.

When we go at them, we're not going to kill either.’ His tone was wary even in their link.

Wren could tell that the calm yet alert caution Zosar had portrayed before, had shifted subtly to a underwhelming sense of sparked annoyance for the first time at all in this trip.

As impressive as what Kisei was doing right now was, and as horrid as the odor this place had attained may be, the truth was Zosar didn't believe what Elly had said about the curse being bullshit. Even with Kisei's experience, this wasn't really the same thing. Magical creatures like this, directly under the Fae, a branch of Fae possibly even themselves, were not about to be entities he underestimated based off what he had seen so far on this whole mission alone. As far as he knew there could be things Kisei just didn't really know about the creatures as much as Maria herself kept spitting details that might be accurate until otherwise.

So hearing Elly say it was a bluff didn't really mean anything to him. It was factored in, but it wasn't taken in full value out of precaution.

' Don't care if it is a bluff, don't even care about the curse itself, my priority is none of us finding out for fucking around. Period.'

Was it safe to use Resonance? Wren felt stable but if he fed her and they pushed to using a serious attack would that be alright? Using her wavelength in this was still something he wasn't sure they should do so soon. She could feel the question in his head leaking out to her as if a precaution on what she thought might be possible. He wasn't there in her space with her anymore. He had only materialized in the bridge to tap on her forehead. His target was clear to her though. He was going after the Barghest's senior.

"I'll target the big one for now." Was spoken with a click to the comms before they went silent, before he even moved. It was said quite literally at the near end of Maria's explosive retort.

The second the dust had cleared, not even that it had settled because he wasn't going to rush in without making sure Maria or the others could see him, he threw what Wren reported she was fine with.

The increased security in their stability and the kick of her Tuned Wavelength really made the difference, not only did he immediately pick up a faster pace in their speed, aside from the slight weight to Wren subsiding entirely, he noted the link was also much stronger than it had been before the fight.

The warning from Elly and Kisei however wasn't forgotten, they would stick to using his wavelength in this attack as he moved towards the lumbering approaching beast.

He wasn't even aware of it, but on a low level, that spiritual presence from the Gwilygi was drawing him in to pick it over the Barghest. Something instinctual, something he couldn't quite ignore that pushed him to go after it specifically.

So he drew Wren up, readying for a response from the creature as he poured physical and spiritual speed in unison to make his attack.

If killing them brought any curse of any kind, he only planned on carving them up to a point fighting would be off the table.


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Paramount Pictures Gate, Los Angeles, CA​

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Cameron Mateo Diaz

It was not common for the Corrupted Souls of humans to pass on memories to the Demon Weapons that consumed them. Generally, that was an experience specific to Witch Souls, extremely powerful Monster Souls, or Infernal Souls. The majority of souls that dropped off cultists were factually Corrupted Souls, eligible to be eaten without question of ethics or morals. In such cases, none thus far had passed anything on to the one consuming them. Of course, Cameron was the first Bishop to go down.

While not as intense as consuming the soul of a Witch, Dani would in fact get to see the entire life of this Cameron pass before her eyes. He truly was quite a bit older than them. He grew up as a young man before the MIBVI outbreak. He saw the Second Coming of Salem come to an end and the first treatise made between the DWMA and Witch Kind. It was news that lit the world afire. He was in high school around that time. Even then, amongst the civilians, there was dissent and disbelief that the two forever foes could become allies. Yet still, that was not what made Cameron who he was. No, while the world was in chaos, Cameron was a fairly normal kid. Getting dates, getting laid, getting high, and worried about what he would do after school.

Then he no longer had a choice. Apparently, his whole world changed all at once. He never intended on going to college. He was smart, but he lost rights to a lot scholarships in school due to some of his delinquent activity. College was too cost prohibitive. He had considered joining the military, then getting into a trade school. It was what his older brother did. Alas, he ultimately didn't even get to do that. Before he could sign his papers, his ex-girlfriend at the time busted him with the fact she was pregnant, claimed it was his, and he should be a man and support them.

Dani could not make sense of the thousands of frustrating arguments that took place after that. Cheating, yelling, screaming, thrown pots and pans, court hearings, a paternity test; it was chaos.

Then MIBVI hit. Cameron had learned the daughter he thought was his all that time was not. Not that it mattered, he had a son with the same woman in the mean time as they tried to get along. He was bound to her either way. Or, so he thought. As it turned out, the DWMA was taking recruits--even civilians--to help with the MIBVI crisis. They offered to pay well enough. Easily pay what Cameron would need to support the kids. He joined the volunteers and climbed the ranks right up to a burn unit.

Oh, now that, Dani could see. Time and time again, hundreds of half-mad zombie-like people being burnt alive. Small towns and villages being reduced to ash. At times, innocents were caught. It was just a fact of the scorched earth policy it took to eliminate MIBVI. This left intense scars on Cameron. Though, nothing was probably worse than learning his ex and her two children--one being his--had apparently been lost to a MIBVI outbreak after they fled all the way to Florida. He didn't know why, he didn't know, he only learned of it because several of his checks weren't cashed by her, and upon trying to figure out why, he was told her body was amongst many found in a recent skirmish, all set to be burned to avoid any potential spread.

Cameron started drinking. He tried to delve into his job, but doing that would only maim his humanity that much more. He escaped with the help of drugs. Cocaine at first, but coke was expensive. Meth, however, was cheap.

That's how Cameron got through being a civilian in the burn unit. He was later offered that trade skill training, his service in the burn unit affording him first dibs on becoming a Mana Crystal technician. With the advent of Magitech, this would become an incredibly lucrative job. And, it was. Cameron was still doing it even as a Bishop.

It didn't matter, though. He tried repeatedly to get off drugs, but between the PTSD of his time in the burn unit and the guilt he had over his son--and honestly his ex and her daughter--he just couldn't. It made him a prime target for the man that would yet again change his life forever, and be its end...

But by that point, his soul was changing. Mutating, almost. A vile, putrid change inside his already dark and depressing soul. The moment Dani came to this vision, this part of the slide show infected by whatever disease these cultists had, it was physically disgusting. As if she tried down a gallon of sour milk and her stomach told her brain 'absolutely not'; her body itself wanted to reject this soul, but couldn't. It was already down. Instead, she was given reprieve by the black flame that burnt inside her. She did not get to see the rest of his life because that much was burned away by her own black flame. In a way, it meant the end of Cameron Mateo Diaz truly came as a depressed technician working at a Cell Swap technician, either methed out of his mind or drinking to forget. In another, it meant whatever this evil force was could change someone so much they were literally unrecognizable as human.




Adrian was the first to arrive to the horde at the street in front of the gate. The estimation of a hundred was either off or they had grown since then. The size of the crowd was closer to triple the original number, minus the several dozen that the Autonomous Weapon had taken out. It was certainly a unique site to see Adrian in action. Unlike Nadia or a normal duo, he lacked their raw power or explosive resonance abilities. His peak was much lower, but he could maintain for far longer. Seeing him fight alone in a crowd, throwing his leftover grenades and spawning spikes from all angles as if he was dancing to the beat of a death tune was a reminder that though he may be young and lack the raw power of his peers, he was a finely tuned fighting machine nonetheless.

That and he had already commit to the idea that no one in the crowd could be redeemed, thus killing them wasn't an issue. Bodies laid strewn around him, their vile blood spilling onto the ground with the trademark puncture wounds from his spikes. Corrupted Souls floated around him mid-air with him too busy to consume any, but it seemed he wasn't focused on reaping those rewards. He was tearing through the horde at a breakneck pace. It might have even been a chilling reminder of his maddened assault on the dolls during the Fool's Festival.

There was madness present, but nowhere near what Cameron used. Not yet, at least. With Soul Perception, one could see that in his battle trance, Adrian had no real Madness in him or affecting him. The brooch and collar did their job and his focus on slaughter did the rest.

Kris, Nadia, and Dani would be the first to arrive and see this. Kris crossed his arms and gave an incredulous stare to the boy, watching him decimate the crowd of lower-level cultists.

"Did you fuckers know he can do that?" Kris said, as if in disbelief. Because he was. To Kris, the group seemed concerned about the boy as if he was helpless. As if him running to the horde was a death sentence. As it stood, it looked like it was little more than a warm-up.

Mister Prey and Raph arrived soon after, both following their respective leaders but inherently not as fast as either.

There would prove to be little time to discuss the capabilities of Adrian or anyone else, for that fact. With the arrival of Dani, the entire nature of the horde would change. More accurately, their attention would shift. Even with Adrian tearing into them, they primarily were piling into Paramount Pictures as if the park might have held Cameron. It wasn't clear if it was Dani also being touched by the black flames of Adolla or the fact she just consumed his soul, but she immediately became the focus. The whole horde, not just the part Adrian was fighting, simultaneously turned back down the street to face the motley crew of Fate Agents and Bloodsuckers.

To his credit, the new focus on them meant the pace of the fight and number of opponents Adrian had in his immediate vicinity increase.. and he dealt with it accordingly. It was just as the mentors and critics alike said about him: the value of an omnidirectional attack cannot be understated. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to continue indefinitely. Fighting the cultist peons in number was one thing, but once the priests and other Bishops turned their focus onto him, Adrian was not so successful. The blood that had poured out from his felled foes now pooled around him, attaching itself to his feet and legs as if to hold him in place. It was only through a quick transformation to his Iron Door arm did he avoid any significant damage.

Again, to his credit, he paid attention to what the devices they were given did. One fibrin grenade coagulated the blood, turning it into crimson crystals and a brown, crusty substance almost immediately. From that, he was able to break free and retreat. Headstrong though he may be, he saw no reason to fight alone if all his allies were there. Not to mention, he only had a few of those grenades left. It was doubtful he could escape each bloody trap the group had on his own.

What came next, though, was something that even the most veteran of agents would shudder at. Something that would illicit hatred in Starwulf. Something that would put Fredrick Stein on edge. Something that might unnerve Anya. It was a feeling beyond that of just a Corrupted Soul. It wasn't just a Madness Wavelength, either. And, to those more familiar with the feeling, it wasn't even just the black flames of Adolla. This was something far more sinister. Far more twisted. And, unfortunately, much more human.




From the mass of cultists emerged a few figures. Mostly women, dressed as one might expect from a hedonistic cult. Eight figures in total emerged at the moment, five those women, three men, seven of which had a presence at least comparable to Cameron. That eighth one, though, a man, if you could call him that... he was much more.

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His hair floated, not unlike that of some Witches, and in fact his entire physical demeanor might have been considered some wicked cross between ethereal and demonic. His skin pallid, but entirely pale; it did have a sun-kissed glow to it at one point. Dark features under his radiant red eyes, black lips either cracked or half-sewn together, and a lanky frame in a simple button-down shirt and black jeans. A simple look to him, but not one so easily forgotten once seen.

Worse was the wavelength that poured off him. It was Madness, true. Madness was its own living entity in a way, always seeking out others. Creeping into them most of the time in the most insidious way, rarely was weapon of immediate force, but instead of lengthy coercion. Here, the Madness was unlike anything that anyone in the group had ever encountered. Even the Madness itself felt off, felt corrupted, felt different. It was vile and disgusting, so much so that it did not at least thus far trigger the seeds of Madness that laid dormant in everyone, but instead their feelings of disgust and nausea. For Dani, it was the same vile, emetic feeling that occurred when consuming the soul of Cameron, albeit far more intense.

What the group was encountering was true evil. An evil that corrupted even Madness itself. This type of feeling was something only comparable to Kishin Asura at his worst during the war, but even this, his Madness wavelength was so overwhelming that it instilled fear in the others. What this man had was not fear. It wasn't even Desire, as it was with Eros. It was hedonism. It was a Madness of pleasure and freedom. No shackles or restraints. It was a Madness that in its natural form would drive those to act without inhibition, whatever that may be. In its current form, it was so repulsive to the sane that only a select few could tolerate it.

That, or those which he had converted.

"You're the ones that killed my Apostle..." he said, just barely audible as he walked through his silent crowd of cultists. He tilted his head, his long, flowing hair now radiating higher on the side he tilted.

"I suppose I cannot blame you. I have always said seraial killers do on a small scale what governments do on a large one... and you are but dogs of a government," he added, nonchalantly dismissing the death of Cameron. In truth, it was a minor setback he didn't really care about. In fact, his tone might have came across as congratulatory. What he said after, though, that was the real purpose of him even bothering to open his mouth at all. He wanted them to know they were just mongrels to him. Lesser life forms doing the same thing, but less valuable as they answered to man. But him? Hah. He answered to the Devil himself.


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Moelwyn Bach Mountain Pass, Vale of Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales

Zosar might have underestimated the power of Maria, though in fairness, she typically did not have such volume of mana to be using her spells at such a high potency. Regardless, her wind explosions were nothing to scoff at. The sorceress likely later have to begrudgingly come to terms with how much assistance the Death Scythe gave her, but that was not for now. For the moment, she would get to watch from above as she saw the synergistic effect her wind magic had when used in conjunction, in this case, that being in conjunction with itself as she layered multiple spells with her increased mana.

It was a combination of a bomb and hurricane. She could not alter her spells as a Witch could, but the same spell could have vastly different effects depending on when and where it was used. This was something Rand advocated to all his students, but their shared affinity for wind gave him more to pass down to Maria. In any case, trees were ripped from the ground, debris was turned into shrapnel, the ear pressure shifting would be so great that ears of every agent would pop--even Maria in her airborne state would feel this effect. For a moment, even their joints would feel slightly off as gas bubbles in their cartilage reacted to the sudden shift in pressure.

Whatever Maria thought she would do with that spell, it was far more intense. An outcome that far exceeded her normal spellcasting.

Zosar would learn very, very quickly that he was no match for the pressure of that wind explosion. All of his gutsy willpower wouldn't allow him to immediately overcome the blast, but luckily, said blast only lasted but a few moments. The Gwyllgi came out of it in the worst shape. Penetrated in multiple places by wooden debris and stone, he was a testament that it was not the force of the wind but what it carried that was deadly. After all of that havoc, Zosar was given a brief window to attack it. One he and his partner seemed intent on taking.

What was foreshadowed earlier proved true. The Gwyllgi was also capable of phasing. Not only did it phase while wounded, it did so in a way the other hounds did not. When it exited its phase, it did so with momentum in an attack. A swipe of its paw sent Zosar and Wren through the air into a tree with no small amount of force. With his own wavelength reinforcing him, it wouldn't be enough to crack his ribs. Or, wound him much at all, really. Aside from his pride.

Meanwhile, the Barghest was mildly distracted. It did not take damage like its brother, though that was because this creature found itself cowardly. It phased just like the hounds, but akin to its brother, it had a unique trait to its phasing: vastly increased distance. This hound phased behind the others so that they may take the incoming damage instead of it, making them effectively meat shields for its defense.

Following the conclusion of the penultimate spell, the vast majority of the weaker Hellhounds began to flee. The stench that had covered the area had been blown away. Aside from Zosar, the vast majority of the group had came out ahead. The Barghest shouted at the others, barking at them about how they would be punished by their mistress for fleeing. It didn't matter. Their primal instincts took over and Maria put the fear of God into them. If she could do that, she was just as dangerous to them as their mistress. The pathetic creatures knew no better. It also confirmed that these Magical Beasts were not totally enthralled by the Fae.

The reality behind this situation might not have been clear, but it was incredibly simple. These hounds were bred like livestock by the Fae. Or, perhaps purebreds where a Barghest and Gwyllgi could compete. Either way, the truth was that these creatures were merely bred and abused by their Fae captors. And, at times, used as weapons to do what Oberon would not allow. With research later, this information in fact might be uncovered... if only because Witches were guilty of the same thing at one time.

During the explosion, there was little more that Kisei could do other than be shifted back into his sickle form so that Elly could deflect and dodge the debris Maria had inadvertently sent her way. Zosar was spared this due to his proximity to the Gwyllgi, Elly not so much. Now that the dust and debris had settled and their opponents ha dwindled down to two, Kisei presented a new idea to Elly.

'Maria just sent hundreds of those hounds running back to the mountains... we could probably make a run for it,' Kisei suggested, 'toss Maria the mirror and have her fly it out, then we just run back to the train station. I doubt that big beast could keep up with us.'

From inside their shared soul space, Kisei shifted his attention over to Zosar. It was an odd, incorporeal gesture, as if nodding over to him. 'Unless you an' him really want these dogs dead,' he added.



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Eloise Keegan - Vale of Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maria had gone from wanting to retreat to holding renewed interest in beating the creatures, carpet bombing the area with explosions of gust that peppered them with debris, as well as sent some towards her. Zosar and Wren had somewhat stabilized to, engaging the Gwyllgi who fought back, even injured. However, Elly could tell that it did little to actually harm them. All the while, the majority of the mutts fled in terror as the talkative one futily attempted to rally them. She could see it through her perception, the panicked spiking of their souls paired with the fluttering of frustration of the Barghest's.

In the face of this scene, however, Elly didn't frown, nor did she comment on Kisei's ridiculous comment of how she held his staff. No, instead, she smiled genuinely for the first time that day. However, it was less one joy or relief and more of one of arrogance, in part brought on by the high of the influx of energy from the staff's vacuum function.

"Hahaha~ What was that, knowing when one had been bested?" She jeered at Barghest. "Perhaps you should remind your mistress that there is a reason that Fae and other magi such as her are often felled by mere mortals. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance... and beyond that is prideful stupidity. How embarrassing, truly. How many years has she and Carys persisted only to be capable of being nuisances to a group of not even middle-aged by Human standards?"

Elly was enjoying herself for the first time for the last couple days, simply for the fact of knowing that the damnable creatures that had earned her ire would be absolutely irritated. She may even have opted to fight the Fae were they present. However, even riding the high of the influx of souls, she wasn't so irrational to insist on a fight when there was no need. She would have plenty satisfaction knowing that the Fae were pissed off.

"Oh, I suppose that would be the best course of action. Maria~" Elly chimed, taking the mirror and tossing it up toward the sorceress. "Be a dear and carry that, would you? Let's get going. Oh, and if you could, Mr. Barghest, tell Malty and The Unmarried goodbye for us, we would very much appreciate it~" She remarked a haughty tone, remarking to Carys's insistence on her bidding farewell. Then, she looke over to Zosar and Wren. "Unless you two would rather stay."

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Maria Mayer - Vale of Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales

With the aftermath of her spell now becoming clear, Maria was somewhat disappointed, she had not sought to run them off, nor to just damage them. She had sought to destroy them. Still now that they were left with two enemies, this made things simple. In a manner. The two left were the most dangerous, as Maria watched in fascination the destruction cause by her blasts, even now fragments were raining down from the landscape. Had she known the rules of their teleportation or her own destructive power, she would have corrected the placement. Such was unfortunate. Truly.

Glancing at Kisei, or rather the weapon and Meister, she knew this was thanks to whatever the Death Scythe had done. She was not so foolish or choking on her own power to not see as much. It demanded a kindness in turn, even if all of this was his fault. As a result, Maria decided to simply not report his actions on this mission. That should make them even enough, though an apology for when she lost her nerve was due to them all.

But now was the time to run. Which seemed to be what Elly had in mind as she threw the mirror right at her. "Wha-" Having to lower her right hand to catch it while diving to the lower height had led to Maria being slightly unsettled as she caught it with an exasperated sigh, her eyes still glowing red from the Mana overload she was still experiencing. It wouldn't last for long, couldn't last for long, though there was one thing she didn't like about this at all, she simply did not have the time to get all of her dolls back. At least not on her own... Not without some risk. While the retort of a conversation happened, she flew in closer, just close enough to connect her strands to Alicia, putting in a command for the doll to pick up at least the two smaller dolls which weren't damaged from the previous conflicts, she would then attach her wire spools to the two that were more damaged and towed them directly towards the Meist pairs, one per each, these were her small ones at least, and not Alicia who she was now literally towing through the trees as the strands disconnected for the dropping pair The weapons all four had were left in the ruins of her magical attack, weapons were easy to replace, her handcrafted creations, not so much.

Over the communication earpieces she speaks. "Please! Bring them back to me or.... or destroy them, don't leave them to become tools for the Fae to use against others!" It was all she could do, carrying herself, Alicia and the mirror was cumbersome, she would have to look into additional modernization or automation of her creations. But that didn't matter in the here and now, she had to get to the train station with what mana and speed she could master. Fortunately, there weren't likely to be in flying fae to counter her, or so she hoped. More training would be required.

Interactions: EmperorsChosen EmperorsChosen (Elly) Sir Les Paul Sir Les Paul (Kisei) The Regal Rper The Regal Rper (Zosar) Haze- Haze- (Wren)
 

Nadia and Dani - Los Angeles, California

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Dani cringed in every manner she could after ingesting the soul, likely being felt even by Nadia. The cringe, from the weird texture, to seeing his life, and to the revolting aftertaste that made her want to vomit. By the time they had reached Adrian, she had mostly reined it in, but there was still a lingering distaste.

‘I was never worried about these motherfuckers you dumbass,’ Dani remarked as if the bloodsucker could hear her. She didn’t think the randoms would pose a threat to Adrian, she was worried about the Bishops hiding behind a madness spike that made him lose it or forced the broach to knock him out.

However, it wasn’t long after that the distaste returned and threatened to make Dani figure out a way to lose her lunch in weapon form. She lurched internally, the vibes radiating from the man sending her on high alert. However, like with much else, what feelings of weakness that poured into Dani quickly converted into aggression like cornering a wolf. She shivered, as if cold, but at the same time rageful heat radiated off of the surface of the blade. ‘...I dunno what the fuck that is, but it needs to fucking die. Now,’ She hissed. ‘That’s definitely the fucking head. Everything about him reeks ten times more than the soul I just ate.’

Noting the reaction Dani had to the soul, she was not so sure what should be done with them in the aftermath, too much of this was just strange, too much outside of the norm, but the mission remained unchanged. Reaching Adrian and his trail of destruction, Nadia was a bit crossed, letting out a heavy sigh, both at him and at Dani internally. And shortly thereafter, externally to Kris. “Da, these riffraff and the shocking number of people who hire masses of minions to try and kill us… Let’s just say Adrian there is skilled with those spikes of his, first meeting with him he carved a football out of wood.”

Feeling much the same as Dani, Nadia also felt he was dangerous, but as always she stood her ground, because of what was there. To a degree it made her afraid, unfortunately, or fortunately, Nadia’s fight or flight response was always to fight. His Sin, his manner of being, it was all so very American, so very hollywood, as far as Nadia seen it, the man who stunk in a way no one could actually smell, was the influence lust, excess, hedonism, more and more Nadia became one of the seven deadly sins in kind. Wrath.

’Da. He speaks… I hate his voice, his hair he reminds me of some bloodsucker noble…’ Nadia knew if even she and Dani were being backed into a corner, just to survive, that they would turn to their must primal thoughts and urges, to destroy him and everything else here, then surely some of her number would be afraid. Even though it made bile rise up in her throat to even speak to this thing, she did so, mostly to try rallying her allies into an offensive.

“Da. I killed him, I’ve killed a lot of you yesterday too. And now I’m going to kill you. You are not the one to end me, you are not the only one with flame. You also would know a thing about Serial killers, and you shall learn what it is to fight that which can fight back.”

’Dani, we need to go all out here I think, while trying to last the 15 minutes, no punches pulled, not like Madness isn’t tugging at us both, we simply have no choice. We might as well bring out the flame and try to hit him with your ranged features, decapitate, an energy blast and the scorpion tail, hopefully it prompts the others to act.’


‘I’ve never tried to use the tail shit while using my wavelength, but… fuck it. He needs to die,’ Dani stated, not quite feeling that confident with herself after that madness spike that hit her earlier. Nonetheless, there wasn’t must option. ‘He can’t be tougher than that fucking abomination in France… Let’s rip’im apart…!’ She growled as the black flames poured out from the blade.

With those words said Nadia gave a nod followed with a loud external “URAA! Glory in battle! Let the blood flow!” Nadia steps off immediately aiming to cut down the source of all this, or at least who was in the way of doing so. Others would have to do as they seen fit, provided they could shake those feelings off, or at least act through them.

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Zosar | Gweynedd, Wales





Landing on his feet after that failure was the natural thing to do after biting tree bark. He grunted at worst and kicked off the body of the tree to land with some distance. In mid air on the approach to the ground he saw the flicker of the object sent sailing Maria's way and it was as he landed that she caught it.

Elly’s question had one answer.

He charged- towards the exit of this arena and replied in turn, “Not interested, let's get out of here.

It wasn't out of fear it was just pretty clear what the better option here was. There was no point fighting an enemy that you didn't need to fight in the first place when you had your objective complete and could escape without needing to eliminate the threat. Rule one, waste not the energy that could be better used for something of greater importance. And he didn't want to waste his energy getting scuffed up killing Barghest and his big bro unless he was forced to. Fighting them had only been needed when they were in the way.

Wren could see his thinking here clearly because he was providing it to her. Maria had just left with the mirror and in the grand scheme of things, there was no point in staying here and fighting even if the fight would be relatively easy. He had no interest giving the Mad roommate she had, a chance at round two when he understood little of her situation and not the skill to properly help her fight it.

The fight had at least been worth one thing. It had let him understand what she had been hiding. And at the same time revealed Kisei had another secret he wasn't sharing.

Zosar's priority now was to leave. The bridge he had wanted to form with these Fae was burned, if fortune happened maybe he could try again with the next ones. Never hurt, even if they were manipulating jacks, he was used to that kind anyway. As he saw it their objective was complete, Elly's stroke of confidence in the moment was nice but he attributed that to the flare in spiritual energy he noted when Kisei had gobbled down those double digits souls.

Even if, and likely was, easy to kill Barghest and co it was time to move on.




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Wren
Vale of Ffestiniog; Gwynned, Wales

Wren winced, narrowing her eyes like she could feel those harsh winds slamming against her face. Maria had her flashing back to Royal’s hurricane for a moment there. The moment Zosar got tossed around was when the focus slipped her, for one fraction of a moment.

”Are you going to let them walk over you…?”

There was a light smile at the whispering, looming presence she could feel breathing down her shoulder. The only acknowledgement given to the smiling shadow haunting the dining hall was a raised hand, with fingers tensed into a crab-claw — “Mimimimimi.” — The were-weapon mocked, clamming that pincher-shape over and over like she were moving an invisible hand-puppet, waving it around.

The last thing she heard was a sigh before his voice fell mute again. Her face dropped, relaxed, quietly watching Zosar stand back up after that forceful attempt to merge with a tree. Almost on cue after he’d started rushing back down for the train station, Wren replied in the comms — “Nah, they’re not worth the headache. Don’t forget to pick up Maria’s children on y’ way out.” — There was a quiet, static-y pause before she remembered to punch in a quick — “Over.”

Wren threw herself back on her chair further, her entire face scrunching up ugly as she took a long stretch, arms and feet thrown out, feign-yawning — 'You good, Z? No bruises?' — There was nothing holding her, or Zosar for that matter, to stay and cut open these dogs. Not a thing of ego, not anything spiteful to prove herself better than them— she’d gotten enough out of this already.

After that restless night at the Western European Branch, just tossing and turning, horrified with herself, there was something here that took the weight off her eyelids. She hadn’t grown past the fear of that Jester, but she’d learned how to make it lesser. She understood now that she could be in control.

Growing pains. All part of the job, she figured.

She would’ve even given Ao her thanks if there ever was a next time, be it not for the fact that would be akin to thanking someone for lobbing off her leg. Sure, she’d learned how to hop better on one leg now, but none of it should’ve happened in the first place. Then again, maybe she was bound to meet the little voice inside her head at some point. Endure the trial by fire. Come out of the flames as…well, pretending she was a better version of herself now was a bit of a stretch.

She’d come out awake, knew what to do with herself now. And that was enough for her.

Something, maybe a sharp sixth sense of hers flaring or the link itself, told her that he was still thinking about what she'd just revealed to him. About the jester— 'I told you not to worry about it.' — She was almost glad that she could say those words confidently now.



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Ashford Hospital | London, England​

As it turned out, escaping the remaining two Hellhounds proved pretty damn easy for the four on foot and nigh-effortless for Maria in the air. Not that the hounds were slow; had the group been less experienced One-Stars, outrunning them wouldn't have been an option. Especially the Barghest as it proved capable of concerningly long-distance shifts. No, it was just that the two Meisters were in fact suitable for escape. Elly had Kisei supporting her and Zosar had spent a good majority of his life running, so he was suitable for it. Not only that, once the Meisters exited the mountainous hills and returned closer to the Vale they had originated from, even the two larger hounds halted their chase.

It seemed, and was later confirmed, that the Gwyll and hounds, did not dare cross certain boundaries. Elly could have scoped for miles from within the Vale and saw very little of interest, certainly not a pissed off Carys or threats like the hounds. The group from there had to decide whether or not to remain until morning or leave within the night knowing full well the rails were the only easy method of transporting both the dolls of Maria and obnoxious mirror. After some research, the Elly found herself convinced that the Fae would not attack and actual town of humans in fear of both their king, Oberon, and the wrath of the DWMA.

That proved true. Maria was able to retrieve her dolls via a spell that had them slowly make their way back and by mid-day, the group was out of the Vale with the mirror. Then came a flight, but more discussion was to be had. First, of course, they did in fact want to get out of Wales. Before returning to the DWMA HQ in Canterbury, the group stopped at London. Not that it mattered given their DWMA Identification got them free flights. Down to it, there was some discussion to be had and HQ didn't yet know they had the mirror.

After exiting the plane and leaving the mirror in secure storage, guarded by some of Maria's dolls, the group first made their way to the Ashford Hospital near the Heathrow Airport, if only to keep up appearances. That said, this hospital was equipped with various Magitech equipment, including a unit intended for patients exhibiting Madness. Zosar and Wren could go there receive treatment that would, for the moment, purge Zosar of the residual Madness within him and suppress that annoying voice inside of Wren. Otherwise, Zosar, Elly, and Maria could receive treatments for any minor injuries they incurred.

The true purpose of this stop was soon revealed to Maria, Zosar, and Wren once they had all regrouped in a corner of the cafeteria within the Ashford Hospital. The food wasn't bad, at the very least. Somewhat bland, but relatively fresh produce and cooked meats. Burgers, some grilled chicken, salads, simple stuff. Not a lot of seasoning or sides, but it was a hospital. Nonetheless, Elly and Kisei had elected to discuss how to proceed.

Would they tell the truth to the Western European Branch? Return the mirror to Adam? If not, what would be their story? On their flight back, there had been some clear dissent and differing opinions. Of course, they could be good little soldiers, doing exactly as told. There also existed the fact that Kisei wasn't a Fate Agent, but technically more mentor-adjacent. Even beyond the potential for deception, though, this was a rare chance for them to talk and iron out a story before they reached HQ. If they wanted to clean up their act even a little, ranging from the outbursts of Kisei and Maria to the Madness of Wren, this was their opportunity.

The only two prior to the group getting together that had discussed anything were Kisei and Elly, given they both technically had the most pull in the group. Kisei had made it clear that had this been the central branch or even East Asia, he would never consider deception as an option, but he wasn't keen on this particular branch or Adam in general. Elly had her ways of confirming his feelings and opinions, so she could at the very least rest assured this wasn't some test. Be it her Super Soul Perception, their general partnership, or her feminine wiles, Kisei wasn't terribly opaque to her. What was made clear, though, is that all five of them would need to be on the page. Maria now had a touch of bad blood with the group and Wren was still new and untested. Kisei had some faith that Zosar would be loyal, but regardless, it was a risk.

A risk worth discussing. Said discussion would be put into the lap of Elly, though. Kisei was busy gnawing into the grilled chicken he had ordered, still ravenous despite having several meals since their return. None of them good or entirely substantial, but it wasn't a true calorific deficit. Either way, he had food to eat. Their cheesy broccoli, one of the few sides, wasn't terribly bad. Elly would thus have to spearhead the topic, if she dared to, with the rest of the group, most of whom were already sitting with their well-earned food.

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Eloise Keegan - Ashford Hospital, London, England
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Elly had opted for a cup of coffee, sandwich, and some pudding which she was eating at a far slower pace than Kisei was. Even if she was hungry from running around all day and night, she seemed content to suffer briefly to avoid scarfing the food down. Since transferring to London and the hospital, she had come down from the momentary high of the intake of souls. She would have to remember that for the future, the ability as well as its effects. Elly avoided drugs and alcohol as she generally disliked anything that affected her decision-making or thought process, and that ability, while it didn't reduce her to a drunkard, did alter her somewhat.

She also, occasionally, glanced around at passers by. It was one thing wandering around in the forest, or rural Wales, or DWMA HQ, however Elly wasn't very content waltzing around England. Even if her family were Irish and the organization neutered compared to what it was before, she wasn't naive enough to believe it was entirely gone and she knew for a face there were still roots across the mainland. Why in Death they thought sending the girl who needed to be removed from the UK for her own protection on a mission back to it was another of the many stupid decisions related to this journey. Elly would add that to the list.

"Now that we have a moment to breathe, we should consolidate our thoughts for when we meet with the branch. This trip has been what my da' would have called a cluster-fuck, nonetheless, we are practically home free, in no small part to everyone present. So, despite any misgivings any of us my have, we should still make sure we are on the same page," Elly proposed calmly.
"Firstly, giving the relic back to headquarters here or taking it with us back home... Given that it has been lost by this branch in the first place and we now know it can do far more aggrieving things than simply show a weapon's potential, my vote is for it to be taken to Death City and stowed in the vault. That's also been broken into, but I have a tad more faith in it nonetheless."

There was also a hint of pettiness in not wanting to simply give it to the branch that sent them on the wild goose chase in the first place, though Elly left her arguments to that of logic as bit into the sandwich, taking the time to chew, swallow, and wipe her mouth before continuing.

"Secondly, we need to decide what we tell them. We can tell them the truth... However, if we don't, we should get our story straight. I would suggest that we omit some things..." She suggested with a slight sigh. "However... we should probably tell them that the Fae are ticked off in case any agents in the area in the future are ever targeted for it... As well as log what we now know of the Fae, how they act, and what they can do... since apparently no one else in the bloody branch thought to do that during the centuries-old dealmakings they supposedly had with them..." Elly murmured, seemingly still bitter. "Given that our actions have Kidd's approval somehow... we ultimately don't have to worry too much about what the current branch feels. But if there are any thoughts, then by all means."

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Raphael ValeriasChara3.jpg
Date: September 20, 2067
Location: Paramount Pictures Gate, Los Angeles, California
Interactions: Nadia, Dani, Adrian, Kris, Mister Prey
Mentions: N/A
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Raphael heard over the comms Nadia’s little speech made to her team. It was a little odd how transparent she was, but he figured it was going to cover her ass later as the DWMA was likely listening in on her comms.

At least he wasn’t going to be there to watch her kill Cameron. Not because he detested acts of violence against unarmed people, but because he didn’t want to cement how dangerous Nadia was in his mind anymore than was already set.

Raphael had stopped short of the area, watching as the horde was a larger number than was previously stated. And yet, Adrian was slicing through them like butter, getting a proud grin to curl his lips as he heard Kris behind him asking if they knew he could do that.

“Yuppers. I’m more concerned about the Madness they got though.”[/color He mentioned.

That was when some man appeared before them, surrounded by female and male bishops. This man sent a chill down Raphael’s spine, his stomach churned and twisted into knots, he felt bile rise to his throat. He choked, slapping a hand over his mouth to try and contain the substance. At least he didn’t really eat much besides ice cream, but he was starting to taste the aftertaste.

He heard him, and it sounded just as vile as the bile he forced down. His ears felt violated, and he gritted his teeth at the mere sound uttered by this … monster.

Hearing Nadia speak and then let out a resounding rally cry, Raphael did his best to push down the need to vomit as he got his magic ready. He noted that his madness itself wasn’t stirred by this alien wavelength, he just felt sick all over. Like this very wavelength’s existence was a violation upon the natural order.

He charged forward, focusing to clear or stunt one side from advancing without having to go around by slamming down a few anchor runes, where he then grew more chains, entrapping the horde. He set the chains to start burning, enough to cause blood to form so he may throw a fibrin grenade to crystallize the blood, really getting them stuck the chains and essentially turning them into some living, chained, crystalline blood wall.


 

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Maria's Basement Apartment Room, Death City
May 4, 2067
Collab with RedArmyShogun RedArmyShogun


Gift, Favors, Lessons
Raphael, after finally getting a chance to leave home and not focus so much on work, made his way to the apartments. He knew Maria lived here, and the last time he tried to visit her, he was rudely set upon by Dani and Nadia. Now that the time was behind them, he wanted to see how their favorite dollmaker was doing.

He wasn’t going to lie though, living down at the basement of the complex was really creepy and especially Maria’s style. Which didn’t surprise him in the slightest. In fact, he was surprised it wasn’t kept up a bit more, but oh well.

He passed by a vending machine, humming to himself if he wanted any snacks, but decided against it. He didn’t want to accidentally touch something of Maria’s with grubby crumbed fingers. When he finally approached the door, he looked at the rather-… ominous decals before knocking, shifting his shoulder bag. “Hellooo~, Mariaaa~. Tiz me, your favorite chain sorcerer~.” A bold claim if he weren’t basically the only one in existence.

He also made something for Maria, but he was unsure of how she’d like it. It was something he made from cloth when he was at home, but he was unsure if Maria would like it. It was in her color scheme at least.

From beyond the door the loud sound of a saw running could be heard as well as the pounding of metal and other such activities, that all suddenly ceased upon the knocking at the door. Though it wasn’t likely Maria heard the voice, she seemingly had the knock. Suddenly a few bits of metal connected to the sealed door in the form of gears or simple metal strips akin to those on a ship’s bulkhead whirled and the door unsealed and swung outwards, just enough for a yellow eye glowed and narrowed to look at him. Then finally the rest of the way swung open.

“Raphael… Hmm… Point of fact, you are the only chain sorcerer I know… But ah, come in, is there anything I could do for you?”

Raphael jumped back a bit upon seeing Maria’s face through the crack of the door, and he chuckled sheepishly. “Ah, I just wanted to hang out with you. See what you were up to- oh, and I made this for you.” He held out a small, flat box. It had the logo of his father’s workplace - Valerias’ Vanities - on the box itself on a red velvet, glossy lid and white matte box. The gift inside was a dress in her colors to make her blonde hair and yellow eyes pop, of which Raphael had made from eyeballing her measurements, adding some ruffles and bows while also adding a stitched pattern of her dolls’ silhouettes running around dotted lines and doing various actions like fighting or holding pieces of her dress up or in place. The dress’s fabric was also quite sturdy and strong, so it wouldn’t rip easy while still being comfortable.

Taking the box in hand and examining it, she smiled, moving away to let Raph inside her workshop and living quarters, which was a beehive of activity, even the blue spider and her Alicia were at work moving things or pinching together armored plates as magically infused wood and composite ironwood was even now being layered together in a laminated form rather than being purely carved by hand.

“I may move from here sooner than later. I need an actual workshop, the rate of attrition to my darlings saddens me, but I am trying to change.” Setting the box down upon one of her worktables Maria seemed a bit tired, having worked on her creations and the rebuilding of Death City where needed, mostly the former by this point, thankfully. Opening it she smiled a bit and studied the designs of it, this had been a good year. Still, she would have to consider Raph mostly forgiven, he could be a friend now and have a doll made of himself, a small plushie to add to her collection and another to be given to him. Though in the case of him, Chant, Ark and Rand, there wasn’t much need in it, short of death in any of their cases they would live as long as she did, maybe more so, there was no reason to forget them… But still… ”I’m afraid this dress is much too cute to just wear, on missions at least, I may wear it when I’m not about any duties, after all you put so much work into it. As you can see I’m rebuilding the creations I lost and implementing one idea into two of them, would you like some tea?”

All around were all manner of doll parts, cloth, weapons, armor, she seemed to be doing exactly what she said and in excess of what she actually needed, there was also what seemed to be a wooden desk being carved and constructed, likely a side project near a set of steps at the far end.

Raphael walked inside, giving the place a cursory glance so he can feel some comfort in the stifling claustrophobic sensation of her room. He found someplace to sit, so he chose to sit there, smiling warmly with his pride satiated that she liked it so much she wouldn’t use it in missions. He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “Well, it is a non-mission type of clothes. So I appreciate you not going on missions with it on. Hopefully, it fits well. I had to eyeball your measurements. If it ever is too small or large in some spots, I literally live at a tailor’s shop.” He looked around at her creation building, smiling warmly at the little spider and even offering it a wave of his hand in greeting, unsure if it’ll take a moment to wave back since it looked so engrossed in its work. “Sure, I’ll have some tea. What idea is it that you’re implementing them?” He asked, looking over at the currently constructed doll parts to see how they were made.

“Oh, you’ll see, I'd rather not tell you and it doesn’t work, than wait till it works so you can see, though I will say it has to do with Rand’s instructions. And hmm I see, worry not if it doesn’t fit, I can bring it back to you or adjust it myself.” Standing long enough to get a cup and saucer to pour a cup of black tea for Raph, the Doll Maker turned on her heels, offering the cup before sitting down, though she considered it rude to work on her crafts while another was around, it seemed to be why he was here. For its part the blue spider did wave back, but immediately busied itself as its master took and started etching some pathways into the wood with her own mana and magic, using it as a medium much akin to a demon tool, with her grimoire providing needed power. “Was there really nothing else you needed of me? Though I should stop this, if only to talk to you.”

Raphael clicked his tongue and sighed in mock exasperation, then chuckled. “Fine, keep your secrets.” He hummed in glee, clearly not caring too much that she had to keep it a secret from him. He took the tea, saw it was black tea, and hummed as he sipped it, trying not to cringe at the rather bitter taste. It did have a nice aftertaste though. As she asked, he hummed in thought. “Well, besides bearing gifts and seeing your progress, I did have a question. Now, I don’t think I can make dolls, but I want to incorporate mana channels into clothes in some way, and I want to make a demon tool but as chainmail. I asked Mirai about this, but she couldn’t help me too much aside from giving me advice, as it’s an endeavor I need to go through myself. That I understand, but I need better understanding before I go through with making another Demon Tool. I am also wondering how your grimoire turns into a weapon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.” He sighed, looking over the arms of her dolls again, as if trying to study the mana channels just by looking at them, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere with that.

“Hmm it is partially in how I made it, which instructor Rand would likely have not approved and as I modify it with Alchemy, like I do my rings into wires, it is not something just anyone can do, in my case it is still my grimoire, but if you have noticed, I cannot cast with it, but I still have use of my demon tool wires upon my free left hand. Though I am pondering if I cannot use spells with it, or if I can lock a few select ones in. I think it will take several months to learn that. If it is possible or not. I consider it something unique to me, as your chains are to you. We may not be limited to a thematic like Witches, but we do have predisposed tendencies or areas in which our magics are stronger.” She said of his question on the Demon Tool, not elaborating too much on the hows of the book being created, so much as the means of it acting as it did. “Mind you the blade contains my magics and operates in the role of allowing me use of my mana, but I would not really recommend it for you. It’s often a weapon of last resort, or because of my magics I often find myself in close to mid range with the enemy. You on the other hand do better keeping your enemies away. As to your other question…”

She paused, pointing to the equipment she had piled up in one corner of her workshop home. ”She told you the truth. It is in essence making a demon tool, it operates off of the mana given to it, in connection with it. You must first learn to make chainmail, then you must make it as you would a demon tool, it will take a number of attempts. I myself do not enchant the weapons and armor of my creations to that regard, though I should brush up on my demon tool skills, make another grimoire maybe… But ah, it's like any other crafting skills, it took a bit of time, trial and error to make my rings. And with my dolls, who are technically demon tools by all rights, I had to learn the pathways of mana in the human body, so that the dolls I have can mimic my commands and motions. The human body is not the ideal form, it is not too stable, it has a limited number of arms, its top heavy, but when creating magic like this and forcing it through the woods I use, if I used any other form I could not subconsciously understand then it becomes all the more difficult. Mind you, I could just make golems with a set of commands and programming, but they are more limited in what they can do and the commands they can store, than if I puppet them. Though I admit I am having to embark on a path of doing such a thing, implementing Magitech features… But ah… To your question… It is rather simple, just picture it akin to making your chains and joining them together. As to what purpose such a thing can serve, I assume armor, or maybe you can place coils on the outside, or sigils for spells upon it and use it for auxiliary casting, or casting off of yourself. There are lots of possibilities, but our magic, though they say not limited and valuable in teaching young witches, is shaped by perspective, off of what we can visualize, and what our own styles and purposes suit. Rand may be the Witch of a Thousand Spells, but so far most of them are utilitarian, or in the realm of wind and sound. But ah, I get carried on, did any of that help you?”

Raph listened quietly, his eyes staring off into space as she - admittedly - rambled. However, it was all useful information. She didn’t explain fully as to why her grimoire can transform, but it wouldn’t help him if his own could do that. So, he didn’t press on it. No, the second set of information she gave was extremely useful. His eyes alight with ideas, then focused in on some imaginative thing in front of him. A huge smile broke his introspective stoic expression and he sprung up on his feet, having finished his tea earlier. “Perfect…” His voice was quiet, as if in awe. It grew a tad louder and he giggled with glee.

“Just perfect, thank you, thank you, thank you, you’ve helped more than you know!” While it was just the fundamentals of Sorcerer magic and Demon Tool creation that Maria had said, something he should’ve been familiar with, hearing it in this manner helped a lot more than just hearing it from his own mind.

“To be honest, I’ve been rather stuck-mm…” He grunted and rubbed his chest, trying to ignore the irate stir of his pride. “Trying to uh, figure out how to make a Demon Tool. Like, I want to do something similar to how I make clothes, but this helps tremendously. So I’m not doing it wrong, I just need to approach it differently. Oh.” His attention was brought back to the present, and he looked at her with a new fire in his eyes. “You did say earlier you were thinking about moving your workshop. When that happens, let me know. I’d love to help. But the idea you gave me,” he wagged his finger with an excited look in his eyes.

“Incorporating sigils and things within my chains, I could do that with engraving. Conditions to help protect me without me having to manually do it myself. Absolutely genius…! I didn’t even think of that.” He chuckled, then grunted as he rubbed his chest, clearing his throat. “Uhm, anyway, uh, is there anything you’d like help with? Material gathering and whatnot.” He set down the teacup he was still holding, trying to regain his composure after getting so excited.

One half disappointed, the other half pleased. “Hmm… Chainmail is something I don’t typically use as it has weaknesses of its own. Though, for the purposes you seem to wish for, it will do well enough, I assume. Just don’t count on it’s protection too heavily, it was mostly worn under or in conjunction with other armor types.”

Raph just smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I can mend broken chains and I’m working on strengthening them through an enhancement spell that I-... gotta… figure out how to do…” He quickly added the last bit with decreasing volume every time he spoke, as he realized he hadn’t even finished the spell for it. The enhancement wouldn’t just increase the durability of the chains, but also increase the effectiveness of his other spells. He felt his chest stir in annoyance and he rubbed it with a wince. “A-and anyway, it’s going to have sigils on it, enchanting it to protect me from threats. Though I have to be careful what kind of threats…” He hummed, thoughtful. “I… If I do make this, I don’t know who I can spar with to make sure these things work properly.” He looked at Maria. “It’s probably not a good idea to put your dolls through that, hm? But I don’t want to hurt you or Ark.” Again, another stir in his chest, but he ignored it for now. “Would it be possible to make a more simple dummy just for the purpose of testing out enchanted armor? Doesn’t have to be now or soon, I know you’re busy with everything else you have. Just when you have time.”

“The Key to magic in many ways is the familiarity one has with the craft and the depth of their imagination. Or so I find, in principle it is how I am able to alchemically modify my book. People seem to find that interesting or question how it is, but not the fact I wear four rings on each hand that become multiple feet of wire… But ah, I don’t mind if you train against mine, but as you said I could make something more simple to test the chainmail. However it's a good idea to just put it on a pair of boards made akin to a cross, then fire projectiles or whatever else at it. Though, your mana would play a large role in the defenses of this working or not.” Maria added in quick order.

Raphael smiled, nodding quickly. The tidbit about her book was also interesting. So it’s not that the book transforms into a blade, but it alchemically becomes a weapon. It’s still a book, it was just given a new form. Or, that was at least how he viewed it. “Thank you, Maria. Yeah, I think putting it on a dummy is a good idea. I’m not even sure if the defensive counter will hurt me, too.” He chuckled sheepishly. “Er…” He felt like he was missing something, finding it awkward that there really is nothing he could help with, or that she didn’t feel the need to say if there was anything to help with. Still, he asked again. “So, there’s nothing else for me to help out around here? Lighten the load for you to do while you’re working on your dolls?”

Turning her head in thought of what he had asked, or seemed confused about, the doll maker and in general craftswoman paused for a bit, then pointing to her piles of weapons and armor, she decided to address concerns with testing the chainmail, or this in general.
”Crafting is trial and error. Many prototypes, learning as you go. It's not like the first chainmail shirt you make will be the one you wear. Even I still make pieces I consider subpar. Typically with said chainmail, you’ll want to wear padded clothing under it and over it, well, normal clothing over it depending. The problem with armor is rarely in defense it provides, minus against spike axes, but in the concussive force that is transferred. Afterall a blow against the plate will still transfer into you. So the process of testing it comes in multiple phases, then you take what you learn from that and make a general use, unless of course the one in tests hold up. That being said, there are weapons and items purely made to penetrate armor.”

Pointing to a grouping of long thin wires, she motions towards it with her right hand. ”If you like I can show you the basic steps to making chainmail, though do you wish for it to be fitted in the European or the Japanese fashion? As to things I could use help with, hmm… let me ponder that, while you learn this.”

Oh, he wasn’t expecting to be taught today. He perked up, taking in the information and looking over to the chains. He was familiar with both styles, and each style has their own variations. If it’s too crowded and thick - like the 8-in-1 European maille or 12-in-1 Japanese maille - he’ll have to expend more energy to affect his chains, but it’ll be the best defense. However, it also won’t work as well if he can’t expend the appropriate energy and mana to mend them. But if it’s too thin and spaced out - like 4-in1 European maille or 6-in-1 Japanese maille - he might as well just not be wearing armor, even if it was the best on his stamina. So, the middle it’ll have to be.

“Well, I am more partial to the European 6-in-1 weave. It looks like I can separate them into ribbons better and the weave’s thickness isn’t too thick to drain me too fast and it’s not too thin to render its protection moot, especially when I have to protect myself against those much stronger than the average human wielding weapons that can’t break.” He mused almost amusingly about meisters and their demon weapons. While the armor itself - he knew - wasn’t going to help against anything of that strength calibur, it would at least save him from having huge lacerations. The padding - like a gambeson - would help soften the blow to prevent his bones from breaking and from getting severe contusions.

He had to keep reminding himself he needed to learn how to do this from someone who knew how to weave or create, something his pride did not like due to how young she was (not caring for her skill), but he kept it down fairly well to keep an open mind and learn.

”Very well, that’s the hardest part out of the way. Get me one of those pole strands. Honestly, chainmail isn’t hard from a technical standpoint to make, it’s just tedious and you should fix up a doll or, hmm, a bust with your rough measurements so you have something to shape it in accordance with. Also get me a stick from the pile, one with 3/8ths diameter. Have you decided what metal you wanted your own chainmail made out of?”

Raph nodded, going over to grab a pole strand and a stick, eyeballing the length. He, thankfully, knew measurements and such thanks to his work at his dad’s tailoring business. He brought them back for her, humming as he thought about what kind of metal to use. “Well, I was hoping to also learn how you change the metal of your wires. Maybe I could do something similar, changing it between silver - arguably the best, common metal that aids in magic flow - and whatever metal is the best at insulating against magic. I’ve done some research, but haven’t been able to find a good one.” He hummed, gaze turning thoughtful.

”Mythril or Silver would be the best picks for you, but they can be costly, composite materials may also be useful, though as I said, I don’t use chainmail for various reasons.” Once the materials were brought over, Maria made a small hole in the pole and started to mend one end of the wire into it and turned it around into a coil, a tightly packed spring, there was little difference. Till she took out a pair of tin snips and snipped the wire every so often leaving behind the curved loops, meshing a few together and closing the strands with clamps it did not take more than a few minutes for her to have a handful of chainmail ready to go.

”As you can see, it's rather simple, the main challenge comes from shaping the body holes, er, you know, making it into a shirt.”

Huh, it was really that easy? Raph watched with awe as she adeptly began making a chain shirt, or at least the starting metal strand of one. “Huh, that’s cool…” He mused, more so to himself. Smiling, he glanced at Maria. “Thank you, by the way. This might take me a few months to make, but hopefully, making small chains like this in a pattern with my magic could speed up the process. Unless it’s recommended I go about it manually first.” He hummed. He then paused. “Wait, Mythril exists?” He looked at her quizzically, unsure if she was mistaken or if it was some Witch secret he wasn’t aware of.

”Oh it shouldn’t be more than a couple of weeks. It's not that tedious the problem is infusing the materials. Enchanting, or engraving runes upon something so small is difficult.” It was his question on Mythril that amused her however.

”The Dall Oak and its version of Ironwood was a magical construct, given form in the human realm. Why is the concept of metals given form in the Witch Realm so strange? It’s very expensive, but it is possible to gain, and even shows up at some Leylines in our world. I however don’t use it, Silver and Ironwood with steel I find is good enough. Though you may have more wealth than I.

The way she was talking about, having to engrave each and every chain was going to be a bitch. He was going to need thicker rings.

Huh, that did make a lot of sense. He chuckled sheepishly, shrugging. “H-hey, I was never told Mythril existed until now. I think I’ll just stick with silver, it sounds like a pain in the ass to get my hands on. And just because I look the part doesn’t mean I’m actually wealthy. I’m barely above middle-class.” As much as he was being humble about it - something that his madness detested - he really didn’t have as much money as Maria expected. He just had a finer taste for the more expensive looks. “But I think this is the best starting point for me. Thank you. I can take it from here. May I take this pole with me then? Or should I leave it here?” It was no trouble if he took the pole with him or not, he had plenty of dressforms and the like back home. He just wasn’t so sure what he could take from Maria and he was trying to be polite.

”Hmm, that so?” Maria said in response for the first bit, the second she looked a little amused, a little kindness to him couldn’t hurt. ”You may take it and that length of steel, learn to practice with it before spending so much on silver. Though on that note, have you considered just making a carbon fiber, or even just a really thick and reinforced leather jacket or the like? It doesn’t have to be metal to be enchanted, it just may be the easiest one, but you should make sure it's something you are comfortable with to see as an extension of the self.”

Raph was more than glad that Maria didn’t really push on the question beside some brief curiosity. He smiled and thanked her for letting him take the stuff, but upon hearing about using other materials, he furrowed his brow. “I have. It’s a lot harder for me, actually. Yeah, I can ‘chain’ things together like that stuff I learned how to weave on Dall Island, which subsequently allowed me to handle fibers much easier. However, it’s not as easy to handle as it is with chains. Plus, I can’t do some of the stuff I would do with chains with just fiber, which I need to do to protect myself. Thanks for the consideration though. The idea might be better suited for something else.”

Snorting dismissively Maria motions towards what little chain he made. “Why I can inlay things as I do, is given the perception and familiarity of my work. I know my own form best, so my dolls have always been girls. I follow form and function. But take your chain links. Is braids and knitting so much different, binding, bending, connected fiber end over end? You might even take some strange materials into a chain composite. But hmm, the chainmail mab be best for now. Though, what was this on wanting to do something for me, hmm?

Raph smirked at her attempt at trying to get him to do new things. He scratched the back of his head, humming in thought. “Maybe it’ll work. But my entire magic theme is chains-...” He paused, a chuckle escaping him. “Hm… I get what you’re putting down.” It was when Maria reminded him did Raph’s eyes widen and he whirled around to face her entirely. “OH! Right. I was asking if you needed any help before I left. Take some weight off your shoulders from having to do all this by yourself. Of course, the more intricate stuff is your own to deal with, I don’t wanna mess that up.” He chuckled, seemingly sounding a lot more confident when he wasn’t constantly questioning himself or bringing up his inferiorities.

”Hmmm… I have two things you can do for me, not so demanding, but one I find inefficient and the other is sorting out a pile of weapons.”

Oh, these weren’t so bad. Raph smiled.“Oh. I can definitely do those. But uh… What’s the inefficient thing?” He asked, tilting his head in wonder. It couldn’t be that bad, right? Maybe tedious, but that’s fine.

”Actually it's simple, any time I have to make something to eat, or typically when I grab something, I must stop my work or depend on vitamins and what food comes out of the vending machine. I ask that either you make something, or order or pick up some real food as Nadia and Dani chide me for not having. It doesn’t need to be anything expensive, but it will save me time in the massive list of things I need to get done before our next mission.”

Hearing she needed food, Raph perked up. “W-wait, you've been subsisting off of chips and granola bars from that old thing?” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the general direction of the vending machine. “Yeah, I'm getting you real food. What food are you into? Anything specific or do you just not care?”

”Hmm, I have no real preferences. Just surprise me I guess, though most of what I eat is Western in origin.” she said off handedly.

And that was what Raphael was going to get for Maria, western-style food. The easiest thing he thought of was a burger and fries. Probably not the healthiest and maybe not “actually” real food, but he knew a place that sold the best burgers in the city.

 

Noah & GavSmug Noah.png1710899651731.png

Gav's Pad, Death City
May 6, 2067
Part 1 Collab with The Regal Rper The Regal Rper


Prepping the Gremlin
“Ayo, I got an idea!”

Noah had a sudden surge of inspiration, and he was going to take Gav on a ride with him. Of course, it meant having to get ready and not look like himself, and he was sure Gav would have to do the same, but he wanted Gav to see the level of degeneracy he was up to and why thousands of people watched him. But he had to make sure Gav was listening.

He wasn't, actually. Instead, he was in the corner doing a handstand; he didn't even respond immediately. There was a wordless noise he made from his throat that basically sounded like, ‘what’ but it was hard to truly tell.

Noah looked over from his phone and deadpanned. He had to press his lips together to prevent himself from saying a rather naughty joke before walking over to him and tapping his leg. “Hey, show off. Wanna see some degeneracy?” That would surely do it.


It did. His eyes turned up to look at him. “Sure? What’d you have in mind?

Noah grinned mischievously. “Weelll, I wanted to show ya what I get up to on my irl streams. The ones where I crossdress and be a menace in public.” He chuckled, walking over to the bathroom. “Ugh, I hate puttin’ on makeup though. After the livestreamin’ though, I wanna take ya on a date.”

What kind of date were you thinking of?” he rose.

“Oh, a date.” He grinned, chuckling as he checked his face to see if he needed to shave it in the mirror before going to get an even closer shave to get rid of any pesky hairs, which grew in patchy and only in certain spots thanks to his ethnicity. “Though, hopefully we won’t get inta trouble. I found a cool place to look at Death City, but it’s gonna take some athleticism to get up there, ‘n’ it might be off limits to the public due ta construction.” After fixing his face, he went to pull out a makeup bag. “But before we do that, I wanna show ya my irl prank streams in real time, ‘n’ yer gonna help me. But ya also have to look quite different as I don’t want peeps recognizin’ ya on the streets later. Cuz then it’ll tie back to me, ‘n’ I’ve been doin’ a damn good job in keepin’ my identity a secret.”

Really this just made him wonder what on earth Noah did.

Do you have anything I could change into? If being unrecognizable is the goal here you must have something I could use to disguise my hair too.


What's the prank anyway, what were you planning on doing?

Noah giggled, an uncharacteristic sound as he put on foundation. “Oh, I have things f’r ya. You’ll probably need a wig though. Somethin’ to frame yer face differently so people don’t recognize ya. I got somethin’ f’r that, just look in there. ‘N’ I have clothes f’r ya ta wear, too. Yer gonna choose if ya wanna look like a bouncer ‘r a stoner.” He pointed to a backpack he had brought over, well… One of his backpacks. “As f’r this prank, hehe…”

He chuckled, his voice rising in pitch and becoming soft and airy, sounding like a female. His cadence and speech patterns also changed, so he didn’t speak with a lazy drawl but more like a valley girl. “Ohhh… I crossdress as a female. Walk around being a gremlin for the fans on my stream. And if I get some interest from the peeps walking around me thinking I’m a girl, I play into it then I spook them with a manly voice.” His voice dropped immediately to more of his normal yet exaggerated man voice, and he cackled evilly. “Ohhhh, it’s so funny…”

It did sound funny, he thought as he moved from where he stood behind the bathroom entrance to move to where Noah had indicated he had clothes ready for him.

Shifting through and grabbing what looked like shabby, almost a faded looking green flannel and red striped flannel, he took tattered jeans out with them, a series of shirts on hangers sat in the closet and he shifted through them. Pausing to take a look at Noah’s wardrobe.

Wow, there were a lot of skirts in here. He actually hadn't noticed it when he opened but there was an assortment of clothing he knew were female. Granted there was also plenty of Noah's standard clothes there too, wigs sat stop faceless stands and he really had to wonder just how long Noah had been doing these streams to afford and warrant so many different ones with so many different colors.


I'll be honest, I didn't think you could ever pull a genuine sounding female voice and lose the lingo at the same time…oddly hot, shut up,” he immediately added to silence any smart assery, “are you sure this is a good idea though? You've never gotten in trouble for this before?” Oddly feeling protective, especially at the idea this could go south. He had always taken those events as staged. Scripted.

Noah seemed to be going out of his way to find trouble here, and he didn't mind that, but if it got him in actual confrontation, well, he would have to floor anyone that tried to get payback and then run off with the deviant. As much as he relished the days of starting something or someone (often likely) starting something with him, he wasn't about to just let Noah go looking for it so easily.

Noah grinned, hearing Gav’s protectiveness in his tone and absolutely loving it. Relishing in it, really. He chuckled at his preemptive shushing, staying silent as he got ready. He began putting on dark lines to blend into his foundation so his cheekbones looked sharper and made him look more feminine, then began putting on eyeliner, mascara, and bright blue eyeshadow that glittered. Then, bright orange lipstick, popping his lips as he gave Gav his answer.

“I’ve been doin’ this for months. And if they look at me ‘n’ seem ta wanna do somethin’, that’s when I engage. I don’t engage with people who don’t wanna. Nah, that’s how ya get stabbed. I should know cuz I used to be ‘em. ‘N’ I never really got inta trouble, but I did get a lot of pissed off men who thought I was a girl. They leave after throwin’ insults. At least they didn’t take me home~.” He laughed. “Maaan, that would be one rude surprise. Of course, I have ways to make sure they dunno I’m a man if they even go that far. Which… I’ve only allowed a couple times. Those poor men still have no idea I’m a man.” He giggled, shaking his head.


It brought up more questions than answers hearing that last part. Just like the old popular talk on old forum threads discussing whether Chrona was a guy or girl, and the weird sections where it deviated into how it mattered when they weren't even human anymore.

Was there magic related gear he was using to hide stuff that well or was Noah just that good of a crossdresser?

He decided to silently change clothes instead of dwelling on the question.

Noah chuckled as he patted Gav on the side and went into his wardrobe, grabbing out a bright orange wig with blue highlights, the hair was in a pixie bob. Running his hands through his hair, he ducked his head down and slipped the wig on, making sure it fit. He looked like a completely different person, his head looking like it was transplanted from a barbie doll and onto a man’s body. “Alrighty, almost done. Now to put on my lady leggings.”


Indeed, they were lady leggings. They had padding that helped make his thighs look more feminine and widen out his hips. He grabbed his lady leggings, a tank top with a built-in fake bust, and winked up at Gav before disappearing into the bathroom to begin his transformation.

After a few moments, he came out wearing the dark grey leggings, a sparkly pastel blue skirt, a black tank top with a soft sunset orange blouse, and put on his signature accessory people knew him for.

A pair of cat ears on a headband. They didn’t look realistic, though, they were hard plastic blue cat ears with some sparkles on them. He giggled, even his giggle had transformed to a more feminine, airy sound. “How do I look?” It was probably whiplash for the poor man, but his reaction was something Noah was waiting for.


And he was just…staring. Silently staring. Piercing sapphire blue eyes went up then down then to Noah’s face and Gav paused what he was doing, about to put on the shirt having decided he didn't entirely want to look like a stoner and electing for something more out of trend, something he would never wear: 70s peace sign symbol on the shirt he was holding. Back facing Noah, the red orange markings on his back depicting some type of bird-- bare chested, he brought his arms down as he turned full body to look at Noah, and then finally, smirked just a little.

You look pretty damn good, Noah”, smirk turning almost boyish. “I never thought I'd be a fan of orange but…guess that's changed” he snickered, and then turned to put the shirt on.


Noah grinned, but felt the heat rise to his cheeks and was immediately glad for the foundation covering the blush. He looked over his back, seeing the phoenix tattoo, and he couldn’t help but clear his throat as he tried to appear normal. No, he definitely wasn’t simping. He giggled, waving a hand over his face. “Ohh, you’re too much~. Go put a shirt on before I lose my composure.” He pats his shoulder to playfully nudge him - his touch oddly gentle - before grabbing his selfie stick and grabbing a blue purse and sticking his phone inside, as well as adding a few things of makeup for added feminism blending. And mace, just in case.

“Alright, you ready?” He asked as he stood by the door, putting on sunset orange high top platformers, a couple inches on the bottoms of the shoes to give him some height.

Yup. Let's go. Try not to cause a riot though.

Noah smirked. “Awww, but that’s where the fun lies~.” He teased, pulling Gav with him out the door.

 
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Streets of Death City
May 12, 2067
Part 1 Collab with Peckinou Peckinou


Werewolf Spotted
As Noah was going around the city and letting an Arkayis shadow him - even giving him a smoothie - he came across a familiar werewolf girl with pointed ears. Now, Arkayis did meet Sara for the first time during the celebration after April Fools, but their reaction was very small and essentially held no meaning.

It wasn’t like Noah to be getting out like this, but he had been getting out more often to see Gav, and also hoping to meet Sara so he can get her to take Arkayis from him and give him new friends. It wasn’t normal for someone to be this attached to him, and while he wouldn’t mind it, it was starting to affect his day-to-day life. Arkayis was essentially requiring too many hours to be near him, which was making it difficult for his livestreams and dates with Gav.

So when he found Sara, his heart practically lurched out of his chest in surprise. Sipping his minty strawberry smoothie, he looked over at Arkayis with a smile. “Oh, I’d like ya to meet a friend. I know ya’ve met her before, but it was at a function ‘n’ she was depressed then, ‘n’ ya weren’t able to see the real her.”


Sara was busy looking over a menu at a food vendor, humming to herself as her tail swished about happily, trying to figure out what she wanted: corndogs or hot dogs.

Arkayis was drinking the Strawberry Smoothie Noah had gotten him when he spoke about a certain person. When he looked over he was able to spot a familiar tailed wolf girl, while Arkayis had seen her around before they weren’t totally introduced yet. He never really had any reason to talk to her but now with Noah pushing for them to meet one another it seemed a meeting with them was going to be inevitable. Still Arkayis didn’t say a word, only continued sipping on the straw to his smoothie as he watched the girl. While Arkayis was a bit reluctant to approach her despite the cheery atmosphere that seemed to surround her, he was more than willing to follow Noah wherever and if he wanted to do a meeting with Sara he was going to follow.

Seeing that Arkayis had no intentions of leaving him or initiating the meet, Noah sighed and walked up to Sara. “Ayo.” He did a simple wave.


Sara’s ears perked up and her head spun to meet Noah’s. Her tail wagged so fast and she laughed so happily, charging Noah and hugging him around the neck, nuzzling his chest with a series of giggles. “Awwww, you’re back to see meeeeee, I’m soooo haaappyyyyyy! Oh.” Pausing for a moment and letting go of the surprised and now awkward Noah, she turned to Arkayis with a grin. “Hey, Arkayis. Noah’s been talking about you. How are you? You want something on the menu over here? They got yummy hot dogs and corndogs, but I don’t know what I want.” She pouted, her bottom lip jutting out. Though, she didn’t seem to be actually upset because her tail was still wagging.

Noah sighed, having forgotten how enthusiastic she was.

Arkayis was taken a bit by surprise when Sara charged and hugged Noah, not having expected that sort of reaction from her. It caused Arkayis to tense up a bit before soon going back into a relaxed state. He didn’t know how close Noah and Sara’s relationship was but he figured that Sara must have been on really good terms with Noah if that was how she was greeting him. When her attention went from Noah to him, Arkayis did his best to show no reaction, though he honestly didn’t know what to make of the fact Noah had talked to her about him, still though Arkayis had tried to hide his reaction as he went on to answer her. ”Fine and uhm, I’m good, I’m not really hungry at the moment.” He didn’t know what to make of Sara’s indecisiveness when it came to ordering but he could honestly understand that situation since he was typically prone to being indecisive himself.


Noah sighed as it seemed Arkayis was trying to gauge Sara as a person. He wondered what was going on in that head of his.

Either way, Sara didn’t seem to either notice or mind that Arkayis was seemingly distant. She finally chose her answer with a squeaky “oh!” and went to the vendor, who smirked amusingly at her enthusiasm. “I’d like a corndog with fry sauce on the side pleeaaase.”


The man gave her a corndog with fry sauce on the side, and then she asked for something else. “Oh oh, and a hot dog with mayo on the bun and ketchup.” She smiled. Noah deadpanned.

“Sara, I don’t need-”

“You’re getting one. Have you eaten today?” Sara asked, and she smiled more as Noah gave an exasperated sigh. “I’ll take that as a ‘not much’.” Once she received the hot dog, she put the small paper boat in his hands and turned to Arkayis, apparently having memorized his common food choices. She was hoping to do the same for Arkayis. “So, what kind of food do you like? I make amazing Japanese cuisine, I could probably make you, Noah, and Gauss a care package of my infamous cooking skills~.” She grinned wildly, hoping Arkayis would humor her for a second.

Arkayis watched the scenes unfold with mild amusement, figuring that Sara liked to take care of Noah in her own way. Though his eyes soon borrowed a bit as memories began to unfold in his mind, ones that he immediately pushed out. But he knew they would resurface again, but thankfully Sara was able to come and provide a distraction by asking him a question on his food preference and whether she can make Japanese food, something that he really didn’t expect from her.

Arkayis narrowed his eyes and tilted his head a bit and looked at Sara in wonder before he asked, ”You can make Japanese food?” Arkayis did like certain types of Japanese food, especially some types of Sushi, though he wasn’t sure if Sara knew how to make that as he figured that she meant basic Japanese food. But still he figured that he should ask. ”What kind of Japanese cuisines can you make?”


Sara just about was ready to go on some soap box with the amount she knew. She hopped back and wrapped an arm around Noah’s shoulders, hooking him down a little as he stared at her with some mild amusement with a mock annoyed expression. “Ohhh, you should be thanking this guy for teaching me the recipes! I can make just about anything, except for stuff that requires a license or whatever. Did you know you have to have a license after twenty or forty years to make this super delicious but potentially poisonous dish if you do it wrong? Japanese pufferfish are wild!”
Realizing how far she went, she chuckled and let go of Noah, who was able to return to eating his food with a neutral expression. “Er, hahah, sorry. Anyway, I can make many different kinds of rice, noodles, baked goods, and if I get the stuff for it, I can make sushi. It’s a little difficult to get a hold of, but they’re very simple to make once you have the ingredients.” She smiled wide. “I always have a lot of sticky rice on hand and some seaweed, so I can probably make you some if you’d like.” She grinned. “Ohhh, and I make the best tonkotsu and fried rice, too! Mmm, now I’m hungry for my own cooking.” Sara chuckled, feeling a bit self-centered which made her rather awkward.

Arkayis looked at her curiously as she mused about, figured that Noah was right as she was definitely way more livelier since the last time they met. Though he already knew information about Sushi licenses and the laws on serving puffer fish, Arkayis didn’t interrupt her tryst. He never tried puffer fish before and that wasn’t exactly on his mind till she actually brought it up, which had now made him a bit curious on how it tastes. But that would have to be sated for another time since he doubted that this girl could properly serve it or was even licensed to, and he wasn’t going to trust her to serve it to him either. It wasn’t until she mentioned some of the things she could serve that his eyes began to light up a bit. He tilted his head before as if he was pondering on the question before saying, ”Uhm, well I’m fine with eating Shrimp Fried Rice, Onigiri or certain kinds of Sushi.”

Sara was just about hopping on her toes as she got excited, completely forgetting the corndog in her hand. “Ooooo, shrimp fried rice is my favorite to make. Here, here, how about we go back to my place after we get enough Vitamin D out here and I’ll treat you to some shrimp fried rice and sushi, okay? I got a couple people to meet anyway, but I would absolutely love it if you and Noah came along. Pretty pleeaaase?” She just about begged as she looked at Arkayis with puppy dog eyes, the young man being five inches taller than her so she was staring up at him. It also seemed she was expectant on Arkayis’s answer, not Noah’s.

Arkayis didn’t know what to say or do as he looked at Sara, he wasn’t really that tall but he was taller than her at least and slightly taller than Noah. Yet still he had grown a bit nervous about the whole situation, and didn’t know what to think of it. So he instead glanced towards Noah as if waiting for him to answer Sara’s questions for him or at least gain his approval or disapproval. He wasn’t used to making decisions like this and was more so used to being dragged along for things.

Sara seemed to notice this inability to decide, pausing in her excitatory state as she looked between Noah and Arkayis. She hummed in thought, then smiled as she looked up at Arkayis. “Well, you’re either used to having others decide for you. Don’t worry, it’s just accompanying me on a few errands.” She went to grab Arkayis’s hand after grabbing Noah’s shirt from his shoulder and tugged lightly on the two. “C’mon, let’s go.” She giggled, Noah sighing.


“This again…?” He groaned, sounding rather defeated but there was a hint of an amused smirk on his face, as if he’s missed this.

Arkayis didn’t pull away from Sara as he was clearly use to being in this type of scenario and allowed himself to be dragged off by her without resistance. He glanced at Noah as he was dragged along by Sara looking for any affirmation as to what was going on. Seeing the amused smirk on his face seemed to give him the impression that he was fine with it. So going along with this he opted to just ask a simple question about what was going on ”Errands?”

 

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Cafe, Death City
May 13, 2067
Collab with EmperorsChosen EmperorsChosen


Vetting
After texting Noah, Sara had received a raving rant from her former weapon partner about a certain Irish girl. Of course, she had no idea if what he was saying was true. He was talking about Love is War, an anime, and then making parallels to her behavior, and while this would be a nice deduction, it all sounded too insane. Maybe their favorite resident Irishwoman just scared the hell out of Noah and there was no reason for it.

Either way, hanging out with people was her specialty and after the April Fools’ event, she was way more willing to hang out with more people because she needed to bring back the feeling of a sense of community she had lost.

Wearing a white jacket over a black t-shirt, white shorts over black leggings, and black and white sneakers, she made her way through Death City attempting to find this woman. She had traveled to the cafe Noah had met her previously, wondering if it was a frequent haunt of hers.

Lo and behold, the woman was there with curly brown hair that descended to red as it reached the tips. She was sat at a table with a cup of coffee and a book. She wore a light blouse with skirt, dark stockings and short-heeled shoes. Her eyes trailed up briefly from the book in her hands to glance around, catching a hint of Sara’s Werewolf soul as she grew closer, though her gaze didn’t linger.

Sara hummed as she caught sight of someone who looked like the description, but… slightly altered?

Must’ve been her, as when she entered the cafe, her nose alerted her to a very muddled scent. Not like Noah had told her about that, but he deduced her soul was likely going to smell weird. Maybe he was hoping she’d be able to smell out deceit, but he was way overestimating her abilities. In all honesty, she had never seen Noah get so spooked by anyone before.

Looking over at Elly, she happily approached the dyed brunette and greeted her, her hands behind her back holding her phone. “Hiya! I’m Sara. You must be Elly, right?”

At her approach, Elly turned her head upwards, giving Sara a friendly smile as she laid her book down. “That is me, though I didn’t think I was that famous,” She replied simply. “I believe I’ve seen you before… Would you like to sit?”

“Sure~.” Sara plopped on the seat across from her, looking like she’s about to burst from her body from how hyper she was. “Yes, I was at the Fools’ Festival with my lantern flail partner.” Her tone immediately hit a melancholic tone, but she moved on quickly, not letting it damper her mood. “I remember you, and I don’t think I recall giving you a care package full of tasty Asian food or anything, so I wanted to see you.” She smiled, clearly a very happy soul, who was looking out for others.

Elly smiled at that. “Aww, what a sweetheart~ Well, in your defense, I did transfer in not very long ago,” She rationalized, peering at her soul as they spoke. Bubbly and excited, evidently. “Yes, I recall that. Are you two carrying on okay?” She inquired softly.

Sara beamed upon getting a compliment, her tail essentially a blur behind her. When she asked if they were doing well, Sara chuckled a bit sheepishly as she played with the earring on her wolf ear, the pink and black ribbons being made into a bow with a skull with mugs in a crossbones fashion as a stud earring. “Yeah, I think so. I wish you didn’t have to see Death City in that way. That must’ve not been fun, coming in from wherever you come from and seeing a terrorist attack on a highly anticipated event.” She ignored what she was feeling, preferring not to delve too deep into her thoughts. But, Elly seemed nice. She had no idea what Noah went through with her.

“Yes… It was disappointing. Unfortunate I didn’t pick anything up on anything with regard to those necklaces,” Elly said with a small pout. Their effects were hidden even from her perception. “Nonetheless, barring any other such events, I think I’ll be fine.” Musing that, she leaned her chin on her hand with her elbow propped on the table. “Even not knowing many, I can keep myself busy. Have you always been local here?”

The fact that Elly was upset she didn’t pick up the problem with the necklaces had Sara wondering just how well she can see things. She stopped playing with her ear and leaned on her hand as she propped her head up on a table similar to Elly, smiling a bit more now that Elly asked something that led away from the event. “Yeah, sorta. I actually live in a biome for the Vena Clan near Death City, a bit into the desert. But I’ve been a student of DWMA when I was about twelve or younger, so this place is pretty much an extension of my home.” She chuckled, nodding her head towards the window vaguely. “There’s this old apartment complex that’s pretty much as old as my grandma that I’m staying in. A lot of our old DWMA agents that became Fate agents are living there now, including me. It’s rather cheap living.” She chuckled. “We even got our own resident furniture maker in a sorceress. She lives in the basement, I swear it sounds like a sweatshop down there.” She giggled.

“Ah, one of the local clans,” Elly mused with a hum before she raised a brow at what Sara said next. “...You have a sorceress locked in your basement?” She repeated, straightening her posture. “I suppose that makes sense. People didn’t start taking us seriously until the Fool’s Festival, right? I’m afraid I came here after most of you did the heavy lifting to raise the reputation. In Ireland, things like Paean or Fate aren’t even conversations, or weren’t when I was an agent.”

Sara snickered and nodded. “I wouldn’t say we have her locked, she locks herself down there. She’s a part of Fate.” Of course, when Elly spoke of the Fool’s Festival again, but the Fate program being taken seriously, Sara gave a terse nod. When she spoke about her home, she raised an eyebrow. “Really? I heard there was… some sort of DWMA thing there, but I was a bit unsure as to its legitimacy. So, if there was no Fate, what did you guys do?” Aware that this part of the conversation was rather uncomfortable, she did her best to sound as sympathetic as possible.

“Ah, I see. Not the strangest thing I’ve heard, I suppose,” Elly hummed before shaking her head softly. “Not there. There’s supplemental trainings and the like, as there is in every DWMA branch, but something like Paean or Fate, no. It’s only recently I believe that they’ve started talking about expanding. Prior, anyone who wanted the chance to get back in would have to travel here,” She explained neutrally. “The heat is quite an adjustment.”

Sara nodded, understanding only partially. She had no idea what that must’ve been like, but not having help for some mental needs sure sounded rather depressing. Or maybe she misunderstood her. The comment about the heat did make her chuckle though. “Yeah, it’s pretty unbearable here sometimes. Our biome has a slightly cooler climate, but they have to raise the heat to help us get acclimated and then reacclimated once summer hits.” She then looked at Elly, and she gave her an apologetic grin. “I know this sounds weird, but what Fate rank are you? I’m D. I could be extremely dangerous if I ever transform and I have some mental health issues I’m getting over, but due to being Madness Sensitive, my issues get exacerbated when dealing with anything that has madness. Anxiety is one hell of a bitch.” She sighed with a dry grin, not exactly liking it, but not really caring either. At least she didn’t have to be on medication anymore, but she still had some just in case she had to take it.

“Really? I’ve never been in one of those biomes. It’s always intrigued me what it’d be like to go into one,” Elly commented at that information, tapping her chin a bit in thought. However, at Sara’s question, her eyes glanced toward her before she picked up her cup of coffee again. “Dear me, you’re forward, aren’t you? Haven’t even offered to take me to dinner,” Elly said in jest with a few clicks of her tongue. After taking a sip of her coffee, she sat the cup down and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her intersected fingers. “Indeed it is… let’s play a game, then. What do you think I am, Sara?” She inquired with a sly smile.

Sara giggled at the joke, already finding her very funny and not unlike whatever Noah thought she was. She bounced on her seat at the prospect of a game, and she hummed in thought. “Wellllll… You don’t smell like you have madness, and you don’t seem to have anything bad behaviorally… So, A and C are off the table, and so is D because that requires a combination of the first three. And you don’t seem that dangerous where you need an incapacitator collar like me… So, not B either. Plus, I don’t think the muddling of your soul scent is anything to find extremely dangerous that you can’t even control it. In fact, you sound like you have a really good grasp of your abilities to a heightened degree, so it can’t be that. But…” She tilted her head in confusion.

“Either you’re A and are really good at hiding it, or you’re E. I know of only four people who are Rank E and they were either a different species, did things, or come from a place or a group of people that made the DWMA extremely wary, whether it be for political or criminal reasons.” She mused, tapping the counter. “I mean, a pretty rose always has its hidden thorns.” She giggled, sounding light-hearted despite what she was insinuating. “You seem really well behaved, so I don’t think you’re A. You must be E, but you don’t give off like you are E, either. Then again, being E means there are things you have gone through that make your situation different and it’s something that can be easily hidden behind another type because it’s just stuff from your past that affects how DWMA sees you and not your abilities or behavior to a debilitating degree, even if those are affected by your past. So, E is my final answer.” She smiled, feeling like she just sleuthed well.

“Smell? What does madness smell like?” Elly inquired, briefly interested in such a statement. She slid her coffee cup closer to herself, stirring it idly as she listened to Sara’s logic. It was relatively sound, though odd. It made it more obvious that Sara had sought her out specifically, especially given that the werewolf immediately sought to question about Fate Type. Elly eventually smiled at Sara’s insinuation, giggling softly. “Ah yes, the Bloodsucker was one… Jarvis?” She pondered momentarily. “What does a Type E give off?” She questioned with a smirk, picking at some links in her logic. “Regardless, what thorns do you think I hide, hm?”

Sara scrunched her nose up at the reminder of the madness smell, making a disgusted noise. “Eugh, like rotten eggs…” She took a sip from her smoothie to get rid of the reminder, only to look up with big amber eyes at Elly at her next questions. “Mhm, yup. Er… A Type E…” She began thinking for a moment, humming. “Well, Jarvis was a Bloodsucker, so he was just automatically a Type E. You seem human, and I think you smell human, so I don’t think it’s that. A friend of mine is Type E because he worked for a group that the DWMA considered a liability and a problem, even if they were technically on the same side. The only reason they were considered a liability was because they were moles within the EAT program, and he was supposed to feed them information but ended up getting caught because he sacrificed himself and the mission to help his friends from the DWMA. He felt like he hid something. Someone who’s been through shit, hides it behind a facade to hide just how thoroughly fucked he feels.” Memories of Lot C and listening to everyone’s stories shot at her, and she couldn’t help but feel melancholic for Zosar as she recounted what he had to say because of Midori’s pushing. She looked up at Elly then. “You feel like you’re hiding something, even if it seems like it’s in plain sight. The thorns you hide are like those of a stinging nettle. You can’t really see them unless you look, and even then you can’t determine if it’s fuzz or stingers, until you get too close and brush against them.”

In a sudden bout of whiplash-inducing emotional change, she smiled wide. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to get so into it. You made me think really hard.” She giggled.

Elly pondered what the wolf said with a hum, her expression unshifting. Eventually, she smiled and let out an amused huff. “A very measured observation. Not quite as fun as being presumed a serial killer,” Elly replied, bringing the cup up to her lips to sip. “But, I'll confirm that I do not have madness and I am in fact Human. What fun would it be if I gave out the answer though?”

Sara chuckled, shrugging. “Eh, my brain hurts now. Wait, a serial killer?” She looked amused, an eyebrow raising. “Man… That’s kinda funny. You got the “femme fatale” kind of vibe, but I wouldn’t think of you as a serial killer.” Smiling, she took a sip from her smoothie, and looked out the window. She figured Noah must’ve called her that and that was why she was here, to assuage his worries. “Anyway, if I were to give you that yummy Asian food, where should I drop it off?” She asked, head tilting. She didn’t really ask for an address, as the confusing scent of her soul had Sara wondering if she took her privacy seriously. Insomuch that she wouldn’t want her address to be known, but a drop off point instead.

Elly chuckled a bit at that. “I'll take that as a compliment since they're usually fairly attractive,” She hummed. “A few blocks down, actually. I have a flat,” She answered fairly straightforwardly. The logic was Sara could probably find her if she really wanted to, so there was no need to act weird about it. “I promise I won't kill you when you come. Oh, just send me a text to let me know you're coming if that isn't too much trouble.”

Elly was correct, Sara would just use her nose to find her house. Sara nodded happily, her tail wagging as she was already feeling a friendship start between them. Noah must be wrong or said some weird shit to set her off, there couldn't be anything wrong with Elly. “Okay~. Not like you'll be able to catch me anyway.” She giggled, throwing in some playful banter as she took a sip. “I’ll let you know. Normally, I just drop stuff off at the door and ding-dong ditch ya, but I'll let ya know when I come around so I don't startle ya.” She smiled, wanting to be considerate.

It was when she realized she was a little late. “Oh,” she went to stand up, taking her smoothie with her. “Someone's expecting me in a couple minutes. I gotta parkour there before they get worried. Nice meeting you, Elly. Oh, and uh, you got any allergies I should be aware of?” She asked as she was getting out of the booth, already bouncing on her feet to get ready to go.

”Ha, ha~ A little cheeky, aren’t you?” Elly hummed at Sara’s remarks, though they were true. She wasn’t going to have a race with a werewolf anytime soon. She gave a polite smile at that, seemingly grateful for the courtesy. ”I’d appreciate that very much,” She said before her expression turned more neutral as Sara hopped to her feet. Nonetheless, the smile was quick to return. “Of course. We can talk more another time. And none that I’m aware of, so no need to worry.”

Sara’s wolf ears perked up, her tail nearly hitting a patron behind her. “Sooweet! Alrighty, get ready to have some yummy Japanese cuisine for dinner~.” With that, she was off, having left the cafe in a blur and jogging across the road (apparently werewolves don’t care for crosswalks) as she made it to her errand.

Elly brought a hand to her mouth briefly as Sara’s tail smacked a patron, subverting a snicker. “I’ll be looking forward to it~,” Elly chimed back, removing her hand from her face to give a brief wave before returning to her coffee and book. After a short passage of time, she’d decide to depart from the cafe as well.

After a few hours, there came the bell of her flat going off. Right in front of her door was the care package, shrimp fried rice, orange chicken, several sushi rolls, and other kinds of homemade Japanese food wafting its deliciousness into the air. There was also a note on top, a little cartoony wolf bashfully scratching the back of their head with pretty handwriting:

Haha, sorry, forgot to get you my number so I could tell you in advance. Hope the sudden arrival didn’t spook you and my warning back at the cafe was enough. Here’s my phone number, so I can tell you in advance from now on. Don’t forget to text, and hope you enjoy the food~.

Below the message was Sara’s phone number, her name written in cursive underneath the phone number.

Elly came to the door, peeking through the eyehole briefly before opening it to see the food. She kneeled down to pick up the food and note with a short chuckle as she glanced at each side of the hallway. “...Like a housewife on demand,” She mused, backing into the flat and shutting the door. A short while after, she sent a text to Sara with a content emoji and a message that said ’Thank you for the food, wifey. It was delicious. ~Elly’

An immediate message was sent. ‘Thank *you*, wifey, lmao. And you’re very welcome~. -Sara’.

 

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Death City Apartments
May 25, 2067
Collab with Shotgunpenguin Shotgunpenguin


Easing the Elusive Wes
Sara had left some delicious Asian food (specifically fried rice and grilled teriyaki chicken) in a care package to a new Fate agent’s door earlier that week, and she was trying to meet him. Of course, every time she managed to see him, it was his tail end retreating back into his apartment or going off with Annika. He also had the smell of someone who was a recluse, so that made her want to meet him even more, even if it was just a few minutes. She just wanted to see him and how he was like, maybe drag him somewhere for some treats for putting up with her.

Finally though, she spotted him. Helping some stray cats.

Sorry, kitties, time to commandeer your human for a second~.

Though, she didn’t want to scare the kittens, so she stayed off to the side to admire them and check what this new Fate agent was doing with them before coming up.

It started out as a coincidence; the garbage had been piling up in his room for quite some time which meant it was time for Wes to trudge his way to the dumpsters out back to dispose of it. As soon as he opened the dumpster however, he was met with a high pitch mewl that nearly had him jumping out of his own skin. Looking inside, he found a scraggly black cat sat upon the trash, mewling and hissing defensively. It was obviously a stray, its fur was matted with filth and its ribs were clearly visible.

Wes figured that the poor guy must have jumped in looking for something to eat, only to be trapped inside when someone closed the lid on it. A few scratches on his hands later and the little guy was free, only for it to immediately try and jump back into the dumpster. A quick trip to a nearby convenience store and he returned with a small can of kibble for the cat. It was still hissing at him even as he opened the can and left it on the ground, so he decided to just leave it alone and go back to his room.

He thought that would have been the end of it, only to find that same cat right back in the dumpster the very next day. Thankfully, it wasn’t feeling as scratchy as it was the day before, but it was just as eager to jump back into the trash to root for its next meal. Another trip to the store yielded another can of kibble, which it cautiously ate while keeping him in clear view. After it finished, the cat stared at Wes for a few seconds before gingerly walking over to him and rubbing its head against his pants leg.

It soon became a routine for Wes to make his way out to the alley and find the stray cat once again meowing at the dumpster. And every time he’d give the guy some food, it would slowly warm up to him more and more until one day it stopped meowing at the dumpster, instead patiently waiting for Wes to show up before demanding food.

Eventually, the little guy ended up bringing along a friend, and then another, until now he had five cats practically screaming at him for food every time he came out. One of them even wasn’t even a stray, if the small heart-shaped collar around its neck wasn’t an immediate giveaway, the fact that it would only eat wet food was. Of course, once the others realized that it was getting wet food, suddenly that’s all they would eat as well.

“Come on.” Wes was crouched before the assortment of strays before him, grabbing one of them by the scruff of its neck as it tried to climb into the plastic bag that hung on his arm. “At least let me open the can before you try and eat it.”

The orange cat didn’t seem to understand his words, or why he was keeping it from the food that was so clearly for it, letting out another mewl that was quickly echoed by the other strays around him. Sighing, he gently pushed the cat back before reaching into the plastic bag, pulling out a small container of wet cat food which only made the assembled group even louder.

Five small paper plates were quickly filled with portions of the food before he set them on the ground, the cats immediately falling upon them and digging in. “You guys are a real pain, you know that right?”

Despite his words, Wes couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face as he watched them eat. He’d never had one of his own, on account of both of his parents being allergic to cat hair, but Wes was always drawn towards them.

Their tiny mewls of pleasure were a welcome addition compared to the usual noise he had to put up with. His persistent perception was an annoyance most of the time, but he was glad he had it sometimes. Case in point, when an annoyingly familiar sound crossed his ears, causing him to groan into his hand.

He had received some sort of welcome package a few days ago out of nowhere, some admittedly delicious tasting food from someone named Sara. While slightly weirded out, he thought that it was just a case of someone being nice enough to welcome a new neighbor. What he didn’t expect was for that person to go out of their way to try and meet up with him.

Sure, it made sense. If someone had moved into the same complex that he lived in, he would be curious about who they were too. Unfortunately for whoever this person was, Wes wasn’t exactly the most outgoing of people, preferring to spend his free time between training and his sessions in the comfort of his own room.

He would have thought that after the third time he retreated into his room without saying anything would have been enough for her to give up, decide that it was too much trouble and leave him alone. But whoever she was, she was apparently the persistent type, enough so to find him in a position where he couldn’t just bolt back to his room.

Maybe he could just ignore her? The thought was tempting to the purple-haired weapon. She was keeping her distance for the time being, if he just didn’t acknowledge that she was there and kept focusing on the strays, maybe she’d leave.

Sara, of course, had the habit of meeting people like Wes: people who despised company and preferred to be alone, just so she can be their friend or someone they can depend on later when they needed it. It was hard being alone, well to her at least.

Seemingly, she had some kind of ignorance or not enough awareness to know she was annoying people, but she knew all too well that she was annoying the living shit out of them. She didn’t care. If it means bothering them for a few days to get their attention and learn about them and at least start a friendship or gain an ally she could help, she was going to do it regardless of what they thought.

Maybe that was a bit overbearing, but she also gave them space when she found the line she shouldn’t cross.

Like these cats. His care for them was so endearing that she couldn’t get closer, nor could she leave because she wanted to meet the guy. The idea he had been avoiding her wasn’t something that crossed her mind, but she wouldn’t blame him for trying. That was normal for her.

Hearing his words about the cats, she can hear him smiling in his tone. So, he was one of those types, hiding happiness behind barbs. Well, she was going to ignore every barb she could. Even if it hurts.

Waiting for the cats to eat their fill, she calmly and slowly approached the group, keeping to the side and crouching a little so as to not look like an enemy or a predator. A couple of these cats she recognized and had fed before as well, but because of her more canine-like smell, they got tired of her and didn’t come back to their usual feeding spot. She couldn’t blame them for that either.

Still though, she got as close as she could get that would still give everyone space, then crouched, hugging her knees as she watched the cute kittens, her tail wagging. When she spoke, her voice was soft, quiet. Not because she knew Wes had sensitive hearing - because she didn’t - but because of the cats. “You’ve been taking good care of them. Name’s Sara, by the way. I heard you’re a new Fate agent.” She looked up at Wes, smiling now.

”Dammit. Was really hoping that’d work.” Sighing, Wes turned to face the new arrival, taking her in and pausing at the two furry ears perched atop her head. During his lessons at the academy he’d learned about different races, although he vaguely remembered falling asleep during most of them. Still, he remembered enough to narrow her down to being either a werewolf or a monster cat. He tore his eyes away from the ears, turning his attention back to the strays before him. Sara’s arrival seemed to register to them, although not enough to tear their attention away from the food in front of them.

“Yeah, I figured.” It wasn’t hard to figure out that the soul that he was constantly avoiding belonged to the person who had dropped the welcome basket. Outside of Annika, he could count on one hand the number of people who’d want to try and hang around him. So, when a soul signature that he hadn’t heard of before kept popping up on his radar day after day, the list of possibilities was very small.

“Wes.” He introduced himself to the girl, reaching into the plastic bag and pulling out a small carton of milk as well as a small metal tin. Goats milk, since that stuff was better for cats, or at least that’s what he was told when he looked it up. ”I’m Annika’s new partner.”

Pouring the milk into the tin, he slid it over to the assembled group of cats, some of them breaking off from their meals to lick at the provided drink.

Sara grinned, finally getting a name, her tail wagging becoming more like a glorified broom now. She had heard the sigh and expected he was trying to ignore her so she would go away.

Well, that definitely was not happening.

“Nice to finally meet you, Wes. I’m the apartment’s resident werewol- Wait…” She paused, his words clicking in her head, then she giggled, trying to keep her volume down by hiding her mouth behind her hand, sounding more like a chortling guinea pig. “So, you figured I was the one who sent you the care package. So you were avoiding me.” She giggled again, finding that hilarious. “Well, I wouldn’t blame you. What I do is kind of weird, but I wanted to make sure you’re alright and doing well in the program. As well as get to know you, so I know what to avoid and further personalize your care package for you. I give everyone in the apartment care packages because I make way too much food, but if I make less food it tastes bad. So might as well share with everyone.” She grinned, resting her chin on her knees.

Wes wasn’t prepared for Sara to start giggling, especially after he as good as confirmed that he was intentionally avoiding her. He expected for her to be angry, maybe even offended, but somehow the confirmation only seemed to make her even more interested.

By this point the stray cats had all but finished their meals, and were now focused on the plastic bag that Wes had brought. It was empty of course, but that didn’t stop them from trying to climb into it in search of more food and milk.

“Look, thanks for the food and all, but you really don’t have to do any of that.” A small part of him cried out from the corner of his mind, yelling at him for turning down more of the delicious food that had been in the gift package. And it was delicious, he’d hardly taken a bite before he found himself scarfing it down like it was his last meal on earth. A diet of instant noodles, energy bars and the occasional pizza when he just didn’t feel like leaving his apartment meant that real home cooked food was a rarity.

“Just leave. Why do you have to play nice with her?” The thought quickly squashed the small part of him that had protested, bringing with it a slow and heavy feeling of lethargy. The soft and pleasant mewls of the cats seemed to dull, the smile on his face fell slightly, his eyes growing just that much more lidded as he shoved a hand into his sweatshirt pocket.

“I’m not a social person. Thought that’d be obvious.”

Sara’s ears perked to one side as she tilted her head at him. He smelled… Depressed. He also looked really tired. Slowly standing up, using the wall as support so as to not scare off the cats, she looked at him. “I’m not gonna stop the care packages. It’s obvious you need it. And I know you aren’t a social person, if avoiding me and rarely ever leaving your pad is obvious. I tend to drag unsocial people around and get them to experience what the city has to offer before they regret it. But I won’t do that with you. At least, not today.” She giggled softly. “I have a bit more tact than that. We’re still strangers. But just so ya know, you’re not alone cuz I got your back. If you need anything, you can send me a little note on my door. I live on the third floor, room number 303.” Unlike actual assholes mad at the world, Wes was an avoidant young man, seemingly not wanting to bother with anyone or anything except for the little things that brought him joy or a soft smile to his face. Or even just whatever he wants to do.

“Oh, and thank you for taking care of the kittens. Being what I am, they don’t trust whatever food I give them. I’ve been trying for the past several weeks, but I’m glad someone is taking care of them.” She then had an idea and she smiled at him. “Oh, do you like smoothies?”

“…Do what you want.” He responded, removing his hand from his sweatshirt and sweeping it across his hair, pushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes. She seemed set on continuing with those care packages, and Wes felt that no amount of dismissal was going to stop her. Even if he straight up refused to take them, he got the impression that Sara would only take it as a challenge, continuing to drop them off until she finally made a dish that was too tasty to ignore.

At least she was backing off for the time being, albeit with the information that she was the type to try and drag people like him out of their caves. He’d have to keep an ear out for her, maybe change up his schedule for feeding the strays. Breathing in a sigh, he shook his head slightly at her question.

“Not really.” His only experience he had with smoothies wasn’t exactly a good one. One night when Rebecca had dragged him along to hang out at one of her friend’s houses, the topic of smoothies came up. Wanting to try making them, her and her friends excused themselves to the kitchen, leaving Wes to his own devices.

When they returned, it was with their hand-crafted ‘smoothie’. Of course, he’d hardly classify the result as a smoothie, maybe more of a sludge if he was being extremely charitable. Not only did it taste like Lord Death himself was going to come for him, his breath reeked for days afterwards no matter how much he brushed them.

Still, as horrible as it was, he could admit that his reactions were pretty funny after the fact.

“And don’t mention it about the cats.” He gave a brief shrug before feeling a slight tug at his pants leg. Turning away from Sara to look down, he found the black cat digging a clawed paw into the cuff of his pants. It let out a protesting mewl before its other claw found its way into the fabric. Kneeling down, he gently grabbed the cat underneath its arms and pulled it away from his pants, placing it back by the others.

The slight smile returned to his face as the other cats crowded around the black cat, the orange one closing in before batting a paw against its head, an action that was immediately returned by the black cat. Soon a slapfight of adorable proportions was unfolding in the alley, with the remaining cats giving the two their space to fight it out. His voice came out slightly above a mutter, carrying a small hint of melancholy. “Glad to know someone else would look after them.”

Sara hummed, unsure why he wouldn’t like smoothies. She just chuckled, shaking her head at his attempts at trying to be distant. He was one of those “tough nut to crack” kind of guys, and while she was wanting to be friends with him, she knew that he likely wouldn’t appreciate it from a random stranger. Maybe when they saw each other in passing more often.

Smiling, she turned to leave. “You might still need to look after them. This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to them without them yowling at me.” She chuckled. “I can see that they’re making you smile though. That’s good.” It was a passing comment, but she knew - like Noah - the only reason these guys were distant was because of something traumatic that happened in their past. It wouldn’t do her any good to insert herself in his life as a friend if he didn’t open up to the idea first. “I hope you have a better day today.”

With an ever-present smile, she walked back into the apartment, leaving Wes there to stare at the adorably fighting kittens. Though, given what she was, if Wes said anything after she left, she would hear him.

“...Thanks.”

Wes had no way of knowing if Sara would have heard him, but he felt like he had to say something. Being cornered by her in an alleyway wasn’t how he expected or wanted his day to go, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. At the very least, he now knew that someone else would take care of them if he went into one of his funks.

“Try and be nice to her, okay?” He spoke to the assorted cats, their attention snapping to him in the hopes that he had yet more treats for them. “She might end up looking after you guys.” He had no idea whether they actually understood what he was saying, but he hoped there was some recognition going on in their brains. Well, except for the orange one, he knew that there was nothing going on in that one's head. He was aware of the meme about orange cats having a single brain cell, and he had to say they were one hundred percent accurate.

Sighing, he shooed the cats away from his legs before walking down the alleyway in the opposite direction Sara had gone. He figured that since he was already out, he might as well stock up on the essentials.

When Wes came back to his room from his errands, he would find another care package beside his door, with a drawn cartoony wolf giving the viewer a corny wink and a thumbs-up, saying “you’re welcome”. The smell of yummy Japanese food wafted from the basket.

Arriving back to his apartment with an arm carrying plastic bags stocked to the brim with meal bars, instant noodles, and instant coffee. He was slightly confused at the container sitting next to his door, until the smell of cooked food hit his nose. The little doodle all but confirmed that it was left by Sara, despite his insistence that she didn’t need to cook for him. Letting out a groan, he stepped over the gift-basket, the door to his apartment opening and closing behind him, leaving the deliciously smelling bag untouched.

….until a few seconds later, when the door slowly opened and his arm snaked its way out of it, grabbing hold of the bag and dragging it inside.

It’d be a shame to waste the food after all.

 

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Dani's Apartment Room, Death City
May 28, 2067
Collab with EmperorsChosen EmperorsChosen


Is Elly Really A Serial Killer?
Wanting to find time and hang out with Dani again was somewhat of a rare occurrence for Noah, as she was either hanging out with Adrian or he was hanging out with Gav, or training with their respective partners. Nothing against Adrian, but he didn’t want to feel like a third wheel when he just wanted to hang out with a friend.

Still, Noah wanted to play some video games, hang out, chat about their missions… Well, she would probably find the Romania trip hilarious, if not downright stupid and chastise him for it.

Going up to her apartment door, he knocked a few times, looking a bit tired. “Ayo, it’s Noah. Can we play some games for a bit?”

“Door’s unlocked!” Dani called out from the kitchen, washing her hands off as Noah entered. She looked over at him and raised a brow inquisitively. “Dude, you look like death. Did you sleep?” She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Noah just about entered when Dani asked that and he raised an eyebrow. “Do I look that bad…?” He looked at himself, then shaking his head. “Ah, I’ve been sleepin’ well. Just things that weren’t an issue became an issue when I sleep sometimes, ‘n’ they sometimes won’t let me go.” He yawned before sitting down on her couch, stretching his legs out but also not putting them on her table. He didn’t want her to throw anything at him. “So, been a bit, but how’s that mission y’all went on? I tried talkin’ to Sara ‘bout it, but I couldn’t understand a lick of anythin’ she texted to me, cuz she rants like a 3-year-old who found the wonders of a keyboard.” He groaned, rolling his eyes.

Dani wiped her hands off before she made her way to the living room. Though at his question, she deflated a bit. “Ah… sounds about right,” She commented, thinking in this case Sara’s explanation was probably apt. “I… guess it’d probably be easier to show you, but I don’t wanna set the fire alarm off. Basically a forest guardian got corrupted and started murking shit that got too close, and I got a… fiery… scorpion tail? I guess?” She stated, voice growing lower towards the end of the sentence as it felt ridiculous to say.

Noah peered over at her from over the couch, eyes giving her some concern. “What? A scorpion tail?” He looked up at the fire alarm and grinned. “I could always… turn that off.” He had an interested tone, really wanting to see what this scorpion tail was about. “But if ya don’t wanna show off the tail, then that’s fine too, I guess. It sounds kinda personal, so I’m not gonna begin ta ask where ya got it from.” He shrugged, scratching the back of his head. “Wish we had somethin’ like that happen on our mission, but all we got was a near-death experience, an incompetent spy who’s so blatantly obvious I’m surprised the vampires didn’t eat her, ‘n’ the vampire we were tryin’ ta hunt ended up escapin’. I heard the DWMA Euro branch got pissed at Romania for bein’ assholes towards us, too, so there’s that I guess.” He groaned, also deflating.

Dani didn’t really want to talk about it to be honest, still impacted emotionally by the effects of it all. However, Adolla itself was a problem and she did worry about the prospect of anyone else finding their way there. “No-You don’t,” She replied pointedly, but softened afterward. “Yeah, we almost got murked too, but… Fuck it.” With a sigh, the woman spent the time grabbing a chair to take out and disable the fire alarms in the apartment. With that done she stood in front of him. “Don’t… flip out or something,” She prefaced with a sigh. A hiss followed before a fiery tail erupted from the base of her spine, curling up and over her shoulder with a point.

Noah stared at Dani with some concern as she recalled nearly getting murked. Then, watched with intrigue as she began turning off the fire alarms. He sat up a bit more now, clearly getting his attention. When she released her tail, his eyes widened and he stood up abruptly. Instead of being startled, he looked on in awe, looking to the sides to watch the scorpion tail. “Whoaa…” A grin creeped up. “That’s coooool. Must’ve been hell gettin’ it though.” He said, his excitement calming down as he regarded her with some concern. “How do ya feel about it?” He asked, unsure if it was something to celebrate or not.

Dani watched with a deadpan as he seemed to get excited, which she probably should’ve expected rather than him freaking out. “It’s fine, killed the fuckin’ tree. Getting it sucked,” She stated with folded arms as the tail lowered slightly, Dani still concentrating on keeping it from touching anything. “If you see black fire and hear a voice, fucking bail. It’s not worth it,” She warned. “I’m serious. Shit’s more likely to kill you. I just… got lucky.”

Noah’s near smile immediately faded to a more serious expression, and he sighed. He probably should heed the warning, but he was extremely interested in seeing something like this black fire thing she was talking about. “Well, glad ya have it to help ya, right? ‘N’ uh… I got too much goin’ on in my life, not sure if I wanna mess with somethin’ else beyond what’s normal, so thanks f’r the warnin’.” He gave her an apologetic smile before looking at her console. “So, a game?”

He sat back down, and his thoughts drifted elsewhere. “Oh, and uh… D’you know who Elly is? Irishgirl?”

“I mean it… No matter what the voice offers or says, ignore it and fuck off,” Dani remarked, not wanting to get into the whole explanation but still wanting to emphasize that it was a bad idea. The tail dissipated back into her spine and she let out a sigh as she plopped down on the couch and turned the system on. “...Sure, you pick, I guess,” She mused, scrolling through the digital library. “Oh, did you want water or soda or something?” She asked before raising a brow at his question.

“Irish girl? …Yeah? I think? Why?” Dani inquired, wondering why he would ask about the girl specifically.

The young man simply nodded to her further warnings, already getting the point and not needing her to nag him on it any further. Looking through the library, he spoke as she asked her questions, his eyes glued to the screen. “Uh, soda. ‘N’ the Irishgirl’s kinda creepy. I w’s meetin’ her about a month ago on accident, ‘n’ she made herself sound like some serial killer with how she spoke. Every time she spoke, I felt like she was omittin’ details’r lying in ways that made it hard to perceive she was, ‘n’ I got spooked, not gonna lie.” He had a visual shiver run down his spine and he picked a game. Smash Bros.

Dani went into the kitchen and dug in the fridge for a couple sodas before shutting the door. As she came back, she looked at him with a perplexed expression. Setting the sodas down on the table, she sat back into the couch. “Uh… brown hair, really pretty? She seemed alright… Why does that make her a serial killer?” Dani asked. “Were ya’ talkin’ about some shit that was sensitive or… what?” She added, picking up a controller.

Noah took a can and cracked it open, sighing as she asked. “Well, duh, if she were a shit serial killer, it’d be too obvious. There’s a reason why she looks like she can seduce ya if yer not careful, ‘n’ it sounded like she was tryin’ ta seduce me. But I was speakin’ ta her, ‘n’ she spoke about drugs cuz Gauss ‘n’ I used some durin’ that. Yeah, it’s stupid, but it worked. That’s not the point though, she sounded as if she had personal experience with it. Then she asked me ‘bout bein’ here since the beginnin’, ‘n’ it sounded like she just wanted information with what’s goin’ on. She’d be a fool not to, so I didn’t mind that it felt like a friendly interrogation. She wanted more info on Midori cuz she was gonna be paired with him.” He sipped his drink, sighing.

“Then she asked ‘bout the coliseum, ‘n’ I assumed she was Type E cuz she asked what her type earlier ‘n’ no ordinary person could just resonate with Midori unless ya were mad or didn’t mind killin’ folk in cold blood, no matter who they were. At least, that’s what Sara said in her ramblin’s in how ta resonate with him. She also didn’t seem to be sufferin’ from Madness, didn’t seem to have any behavior issues, ‘n’ didn’t seem to have anythin’ that made her exceptionally dangerous. Then, I know now, but she teased me ‘n’ said she was a serial killer ‘n’ I didn’t believe ‘er. But as I got to talkin’ with her more ‘n’ asked a question, I realized she w’s omittin’ stuff ‘n’ didn’t answer my question with an honest answer, but with a deflection and another question, her behavior felt almost fake ‘n’ too good, but it also felt like she w’s tellin’ the truth. She’s too charismatic to truly tell, yet she was like a walkin’ red flag. I even swore I was makin’ her uncomfortable by hittin’ a bit too close ta home with how well I w’s deconstructin’ her ways of skirtin’ the truth without lyin’ cuz she would never speak on how I deconstructed or got to that conclusion. If she were good at what she did, she’d keep her mouth shut about it, which she did, so now I just got a gut feelin’. I uh… Probably lost her when I said I got my knowledge from… media.” He didn’t specifically say what, but Dani could probably figure it out as he choked out the word.

Dani deadpanned at Noah as he went through his logic. There was a lot to unpack, but she would start with his first points and go down the list. “Ya’ sure you just weren’t getting hit on?” Dani asked with a raised eyebrow as she cracked open her own soda. “Not everyone’s as upfront as Sara or I… or I assume Sara would be pretty up front…” She added, pondering that for a moment before moving on. “And is she as familiar with the drugs as your fuckboy partner that snorted them with you?” She questioned next, making the point that he wasn’t in the best of company to be suspicious of someone for knowing about narcotics.

Listening as he went on, he conceded it seemed that the woman’s interest in information was reasonable, which Dani couldn’t raise a point against either. It made sense. Her eyes widened a bit at his explanation of Midori, recalling he was the asshole that tried to stab Cyrus on the first day. “Right… Well, I guess it makes sense for the fuckin’ ninja clan…” She mused. “I mean… she sounds like a fuckin’ red flag, but maybe that’s just it. Maybe she is just a red flag and that’s why she’s here. Everyone else here aside, I don’t think they’d try to rehabilitate a serial killer or something… You got it from what?” Dani asked, going from calmly explaining her thoughts to processing his last statement. “...Don’t tell me you told her you thought she was a psycho because of a video game or some shit…”

Noah shrugged at her first question. Of course, she probably was, but there was likely an ulterior motive for it. But he didn’t say that. He did nod to her second question. She must have been to speak about it the way she did. But then… Then she asked him incredulously about where he got the source from and he visibly hunched his shoulders and chuckled sheepishly, tensing his body. “Uh, from… Love is War…” He cleared his throat, his voice quiet as he expected the worst. Which was probably just her throwing something at him or punching his shoulder for being an idiot.

But hey, even Dani agreed with him that she was a red flag, but then again… They were all red flags, being here to be rehabilitated. He just scratched the back of his head, clearing his throat again to speak. “I had Sara go and speak with her, but she hasn’t really gotten back to me yet. Been a week. She’s still alive, thankfully, I just dunno what the hold up is. I think she’s busy and forgot.” He sighed.

Dani paused at that and, as expected, grabbed a pillow and smacked him in the back with it. “Course she wouldn’t. Go tell Starwulf you wanna spar using the techniques you learned from Street Fighter ‘n see how seriously he takes that,” She remarked as if it were obvious. However, what he said next caused her to scoff in amusement. “She’s still alive? Dude, she’s a werewolf with madness. How badly did the chick scar you?” She asked, beginning to snicker.

Noah flinched and chuckled briefly, the pillow hitting him with a resounding thump as he gave her a sheepish grin. “H-hey now, I’m not that stupid. Starwulf’d throw me out.” He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “I mean… I dunno, I’m starting to think that she was just saying shit just to scare me. I’m not surprised about it at all actually. In fact…” His expression fell flat as the epiphany hit him, and he sighed in exasperation, his head hung. “Ah, she did that on purpose to get me all freaked out so I’d act this way… Ugh, I think I’ve been duped.”

“No shit,” Dani remarked with a smirk. “She's fucking with you, moron. Even if you were onto something, the moment you said it was from an anime she probably stopped being worried. How'd you get involved with her anyway?”

Noah sighed, relenting because Dani made too much sense. “I dunno, she came onto me. I went into a cafe she w’s sittin’ at, I got my drink, I w’s takin’ stock of who’s there, ‘n’ apparently starin’ at her for longer than two seconds cuz she seemed familiar had her comin’ up to me ‘n’ touch my shoulder ‘n’ whisper in my ear to freak me out ‘n’ shit.” His expression became flat and he sighed. “Ah, whatevs. Sara’s supposed to vet ‘er. She wanted me to come by for dinner but she's got errands. Tiz why I’m here. Playin’ a game might help…” He mused to himself, pondering if he should really play the umpteenth iteration of Smash Bros with Dani, or go and wait in Sara’s apartment.

Dani leaned back into the couch as she listened. “I dunno, if she's as conniving as you think she is, you think she won't befriend Sara?” She pondered before shrugging. “Who knows. Maybe she's into you,” She said with a slight smirk before turning the game on.

Noah groaned. “Eewwww…” He scrunched up his face and shook his head. “I'm not into women with that weird mommy vibe like she has.” He shuddered, grabbing a controller and trying not to think about it. “And honestly, I’m not surprised if she did…”

It was then that Noah received a text message and looked at his phone. He just about jumped when he saw it was from Sara, only to deflate back into the couch with a groan. He threw the phone to the side, the screen still on for Dani to peek at. It read: “Forgot to tell you last week, but I talked with her. Very nice, I think she's just trying to hide from her past. She's not as bad as you claim, even if she does lie.”

“Great… either I'm wrong ‘r Sara's compromised…”

Dani chuckled at Noah’s expression. ”No mommy vibes,” She repeated in amusement. However, as he fell back into the couch, Dani glanced at the screen and let out a suffocated snicker. ”Well, looks like mommy vibe wins,” Dani mused aloud. “To be fair, Sara may not have been the best choice if you wanted to find out if she was full of it or not. Should’ve sent Nadia or somethin’,” She suggested, knowing Sara’s propensity for forming friendships.

Noah groaned. “Yeah, yeah… She’d make friends with some Witch of high standing if she could. ‘N’ if they’re willin’.” Sighing, he shook his head. “Alright, get prepared to get beat down.” He smirked, shifting towards their game with confidence.

”If you pick that pink blob again, I swear to fuck-”


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Paramount Pictures Gate, Los Angeles, CA​

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"You MAGGOTS will not interfere with my vengeance," the floating figure shouted. His voice carried an undue weight to it. As if each word were coated in cement, except they didn't sink to the bottom of a river; they sank into the minds of all those around, unfortunate enough to hear his twisted, vile voice. Worst, really, his tone shifted from that soft, almost charismatic sing-song melody to a drastic, harsh shout in the same way that of any narcissist would when they were caught in their own lie.

"I am the NIGHT STALKER! I am Richard fucking Ramirez," he shouted. As he continued on, shouting obscenities, is voice became deeper, more throaty, almost raspy--but it never broke. No, when he released his name out into the world, he wanted to be heard. He wouldn't allow his voice to break any more than he would allow these punks to break him. His face twisted, his nose curling, eyebrows furling with lines forming across his forehead. He would only add one more thing before demonstrating his grotesque abilities. "Lucifer has given me this second chance and I sure as Hell won't waste it!"

Absolutely nothing about the man had became any less disgusting about the entire situation as it continued. If anything, it only became worse. Something truly was heinous about this individual. His soul was just... blackness. Yes, black like the black flames of Adolla, but it was more. It did not dance like the flames nor was ink in the water. It was almost... like a void. A black hole. His very soul was an abyss, and staring at it was impossibly confounding. It was as if seeing the absence of something; it was impossibility made real. Once they saw his soul, they could see how little bits of it had infected every single cultist. It was similar to those black flames, but it was not the same.

The entire group would soon find that a full frontal approach was going to prove infinitely more difficult than initially anticipated. Not because they underestimated the numbers, but because they simply didn't know what this man was capable of.

The Nightstalker did not fight conventionally. Not that he had any opposing feelings towards the use of his own two hands or a weapon. In fact, he preferred it. No, no, it was that the Nightstalker learned a long time ago, in his first life, that people can be weapons. And, like all good tools of the trade, a little sharpening of the blade was always worth it. While his forces mobilized, Richard extended out his arms with palms facing up at first, only to twist them once extended. In doing so, as if with cheap prestidigitation, blood poured from the pentagrams on his hands onto the ground. Once it hit the ground, it rapidly shot both in front of and behind him, almost covering the road in an impossible amount of blood that was wildly disproportionate to what had came from his hands.

Regardless, what formed was a fifty-yard symbol that quickly took shape as the leviathan cross:

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Within the bounds of this cross, every single cultist became wildly more dangerous. Worse, it wasn't only for one reason. The blood that had pooled onto the ground from the few dozen cultists Adrian had impaled began to swirl to life, taking form as massive tendrils of blood that snapped and cracked at the agents like whips. While the dead cultists remained so, killing them became infinitely more difficult. Those Adrian impaled after he ran into the fray with Nadia and Dani could simply rise back up, holes and all, as if nothing happened. Similarly, those that Nadia cleaved through and bisected so thoroughly could crawl back into the fight, never ceasing until their ragged bodies truly could not. Even Kris could turn them into swiss cheese and ultimately they would still come until their bodies literally could not move in their broken states.

The only exceptions to that were any being Raphael's binding chains wrapped around before they were slain and the infernal venom from Dani's tail. Her flaming blade alone was not enough to dispel this reanimation, but that venom could not be stopped. Similarly, it did not matter if Raphael's chains blistered and burned these foes; it was his binding magic that had any affect.

Mister Prey watched from afar, seeing all of this unfold. He tried to piece together what was going on, but this was a complex situation. Unlike the others, even Kris, he had seen true evil before. He had felt it. He was alive when Asura was alive, but he had also ran into black, evil souls like this one in the past. In his experience, they weren't born that way. Then again, with the war that followed Spirit being assassinated and MIBVI, one would think that evil like this should be more common if it were just environmental. A worrying thought, but not one he had time to review. Whatever made a man as evil as this Nightstalker, it also made them incredibly unique.

They were cousins to Kishin. Beings ahead of their time. Souls warped so far from humanity that they might as well have been a different species and luckily hadn't the sheer intensity of a Madness Wavelength to force it upon others. That was a danger exclusive to the true Kishin. Still, it meant that the being in front of them, though he was weaker than any Infernal Soul, was essentially a weaker, immature Kishin. If left to his own devices, he would undoubtedly mature into a being as dangerous as Asura himself. He was already some type of Corrupted Soul as it was.

What Mister Prey could not do was figure out how this ability worked. It couldn't be Magic or Madness Magic; he couldn't see any mana within it. It seemed purely spiritual, but the sheer volume of energy needed to do this would be absurd. The closest he had ever seen were the Clowns, beings literally formed by the Madness of Asura. Perhaps that was the case here, these cultists were akin to diluted clowns that used his infected blood to both propagate and fuse with a host. If that were the case, it brought up the question of if there was a limit to how far he could spread. Clowns were notoriously infinite... could he have done that?

There was no time for this line of thinking. Once the Bishops joined in, they began releasing an array of their own weird abilities. Some had slit their own wrists to let their blood pour, but within this symbol, that blood gained new power. It began to creep over the cultists, covering them in crimson armor and forming more durable weapons. Some still had their guns and sidearms, but luckily, nothing large enough to cause problems in such a small area. Most of the bishops were focused on several points of the cross behind Richard. Each one of them, much like Cameron, used their abilities to generate a barrier. There was more of them, but it was a much larger barrier. Even in the presence of their leader, the sheer size made it, at best, as strong as the smaller one Cameron made on his own, if that.

The strategy was clear. Richard was empowering his cultists and inside this awkward trap. Inside this Leviathan blood pool, he intended on drowning these agents in overwhelming force by sheer, unrelenting number. These petty servants had nowhere near the power to be a threat, but a foe that never dies is always dangerous.

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Maria Mayer - Ashford Hospital, London, England

With the events over and something of a guard set over the mirror, Maria somewhat reluctantly joined the rest, she was tired in her own way, but watching Kisei with his meal was slightly off putting, though she made no mention of the speed eating demon and the amount of food he had gotten. Elly had also gotten herself some food, but it was much more in a sensible amount and pace. She was partly curious to see the eating habits of the rest, for her own part Maria surprisingly grabbed a salad, a hamburger steak plate that had the meat, gravy and mushrooms, some tea, and an assorted fruit cup. She did ponder a dessert but that could way for later, first there was the matter of the subjects Elly had brought up. Hopefully it was safe to talk here from any would be eavesdroppers. A few of these points made her jaw twitch.

"Given what the mirror actually is and who wanted it, we should at the least consult with our mentors, if not Cyrus and inform him of what we found and how. Well... Some of the how. Though I still do not approve, I am not so ungrateful that I will inform on anything more than we agree to here, his assistance towards my Mana proved to be what saved us from any harm. There however will be questions on the destruction and with regards to the likely anger of the fae. We cannot leave our allies in ignorance, more so when said ignorance led to this situation. Either way, doctrine demands we consult. Other than that, I will go with whatever the majority decide upon, I've made my opinion clear."

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Wren
Ashford Hospital; London, England

It was a sight Zosar should’ve been used to by now, even if it was only a two-week long partnership for them, from their very first meeting at Gluttony’s Paramour. It was a familiar scenario from then. For the others, however, this would be their first time experiencing it. A horrifying thing to gaze at, surely.

One whole section of the entire table was reserved for her and a gang of already half-empty, ravaged plates, fork and knife scratching and clacking at them. Neatly lined up to her, the entrails and innards of food strewn about like a bloodied battlefield, the soldiers; plain sandwiches, salad bars, chocolate puddings and half-decent steaks; on a losing battle against a starving titan.

She’d damn near gone through the entire cycle menu, ordered enough food to satiate all of them in one go. It made Kisei look like a reasonable eater in comparison. She was eating like an inmate, as if any of the others on the table would reach in and try to snatch some from her, only pausing to wipe her mouth with a napkin every now and then, pretending that she was still eating like a proper lady.

She knew she was probably attracting bug-eyed stares through the cafeteria— but fuck if she cared. Wren was starving. Needless to say, she was in a much chirpier mood from before she took the flight back from Wales.

As to how she kept herself in shape . . . Well, that was a family secret. It was either a mix of an abnormally fast metabolism working with perfect genes or excessive amounts of cardio, no one really knew the answer. She wouldn’t spit out the answer either.

There was a short pause in her feast where she shared glances between the talking bunch, sighing, knowing how much she hated making choices. But now that Maria had drifted into the majority vote, she knew it’d only end up being uneven with just Zosar, Elly and Kisei if they didn’t pick the same side. She had to chime in.

Wren chewed, washed something down with a swing of her soda before wiping her mouth with a sleeve — “The Fae were deceitful and ill-intentioned, wouldn’t cooperate, attacked us first, so we retreated with the mirror when we saw the chance.” — A clawed hand moved to swirl the ice inside the plastic cup, she took another sip — “Sound convincing enough, no?”

“We tell them what we know about— Carys’ illusions and tricks, that it’s unmarred not unmarried, that it’s Gwyll not Hag, that they should shoot down that fucking monkey cat on sight— yada, yada, yada…”
— She popped whatever remained of a fallen soldier (a cheeseburger) into her mouth, leaning back on her seat with a lazy look in her eye — “I’m not so sure about giving them back the mirror, though. They’re likely to lose it again, with how unprepared they’ve proven themselves to be and all...”

“As for what happened with Carys…”
— There was a thoughtful pause there, picking at the right words — "No one meant what they said and did, 'far as I’m concerned. I don’t think any of that should be mentioned.”

“’Cept for that ‘Sexy Italian Werewolf’ comment of yours,”
— Mid-eating, the gnawed remains of a mayo lathered piece of lettuce dangling from her mouth, she pointed an accusatory fork at Kisei — “That’s going straight to H.R. Y’ losing yer’ job AND position, buddy.”

“And for the record, I do trust you,”
— She blurted out at Kisei, trying to play it off while she focused on her food, even if her eyes looked anything but focused. There were a few senseless mutterings under her breath before she finally spat out the rest — “I wasn’t thinking straight.”



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Zosar | Ashford Hospital, London





Unlike his partner, Zosar didn't eat much, in fact compared to the others he ate the least. Partly because he wasn't that hungry.

Partly because he hadn't entirely forgotten the memory itself of Wren's bottomless hunger.

Purged of madness though he had been, the memory itself remained, and it spiked as trays of food came at their request.

What he had was some juice, and a decently sized fruit salad, all of which he had consumed as quickly as Wren had scarfed down- what he called- her ‘warm up’ plates, of which not only would he have to add to his skillset, he realized, as not just her partner but her chef, the girl inhaled three before she truly worked into the surface layer of what barely quantified the word ‘appetite’.

Seeing her this way did bring a subtle small smile to his face. If only because her eating meant she was at least in slightly better spirits.

She didn't see it because he didn't let it show for more than a mere second, but it seemed this trip had done some minor repairs that the first had only brought damage. Even if Maria was less pleased with Kisei's table manners, of which he doubted the latter cared.

This at least, was a fair exchange. Lady Luck wasn't always a complete bitch after all.

His empty glass touched the table with a silent tink as Elly opened the subject of discussion. And in that odd moment of asking for the opinions of the others, Zosar in return felt…off..

All Elly had asked was their shared thoughts on the matter of what to do. In the mission before this, they had all had a decision to make that decided how the team moved forward but in that moment, it had been different. It had been what he felt a crucial moment for Kisei, then Midori, and ultimately the sort of decision he felt he couldn't have allowed him to make alone.

This was different however. If he disagreed, it could change their approach to what they did.

He had thought they would just go and report things or Elly and Kisei would decide and they would move forward.

It had been a while since he had been in a team where his actual opinion held any weight in a team discussion after a mission.

This moment, right now, was something he realized he had missed.

Eustice had been an irritating sore reminder that, for multiple reasons, frustrated him both during their shared inmate status and their journey to his final departure.

In this moment, Zosar felt an odd sense of ambivalent comfort in the fact that his opinion was being asked here. This wasn't like when he had been incarcerated, briefly interrogated or wasn't like the big choice of picking where he ended up between DWMA or the mercenary crew. He wasn't choosing to let a teammate go off on their own or follow them to what was an incredibly intense situation. This was a simple communication between teammates.

And it was…almost like being in EAT again. And that brief feeling of normalcy, as fleeting as it was, as oddly timed as the feeling came, made him feel a mixture of good, and off.

He pushed the thought out of his mind and listened instead to each speak. Elly had her say first as the conversation started, Maria followed, he expected Kisei to go next but Wren spoke instead.

He weighed, considered, savored this comforting sensation that his days of being absolutely ignored or needing someone else to speak in his place like had been the way years ago, were over.

Though he didn't agree in the slightest with Wren on how things had ended with Carys, he wasn't going to voice it. Not when it was pretty damn clear there were somethings Kisei just couldn't tell them for one reason or another.

Overall that specifically was fine. He wasn't about to complain or ask Kisei about what exactly he had done to be able to get the mirror from Carys. There were some things he would never know. This wouldn't even make the top three on his list of Need To Know.

He didn't follow up on Wren's mutterings or her witty quips.

Let’s just send it to LD. We talk to Cyrus first, that would be the better option. And Wren basically said everything I wanted to say about Carys. Clear up the things they don't know but nothing more needs to be said.”

At least not anymore. Had they basically come back empty handed after all that, he wouldn’t have been saying that at all.

The bigger issue is explaining the mirror. I doubt they're going to believe we just swooped in and stole the mirror from the Carys. If we state that she was slightly offended and took an opportunity, we can just make up a line about capitalizing on that.I expect it'll be a tough pill to swallow on their end either way.



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