[IC] Sand Dunes and Nightmares

Neil Cyclamen

Neil raised an eyebrow at Daemon's response, as well as the mention of this Zyra girl. Was that the girl he was hanging around earlier at the station? If so, Neil didn't really know who to feel bad for. He was the last person who should be judging people on their appearance, but she kinda seemed uppity. And based on that last sentence Daemon said, she didn't really sound all that patient either. But then again, Neil could already feel several nerves struck around the guy...Oh, well. Wait...was Daemon still talking?

By the time he tuned back into the world, another guy already showed up and started talking, and Neil could already feel a small smile spread as he listened. Whelp, he already knew who he liked. He nodded at this advice, ignoring Daemon's response just a little bit. But it was then the boys began to make their way towards one of the sewer holes that he noticed a third guy who was trying to-WHERE DID HE COME FROM?!

And just when he thought the list couldn't get bigger, the Zyra chick appeared and completely decked Daemon in the forehead...which kinda made him feel happy inside. And so, as the senior interacted, Neil could only watch, for the first time, quietly, slowly taking out a lollipop and putting it into his mouth. Let's see...two guys with egos bigger than his future, one guy that he was kinda cool with, and one of those low-tempered girls. Quite the dream team indeed. It was pretty funny seeing EAT students hate each other's guts, tho.

"I'm gonna wait for Konoba." He finally said to them, looking toward the hotel. "This was all her idea, after all."

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Jason A. Daniels
Jason sighed. In the back of his head he was acutely aware that this was going to go so far downhill that he'd be lucky to ever see the light of day when this was all said and done. Nevertheless, he may as well run with it and at least try and ensure everyone didn't proceed to get themselves murdered or get turned into some insomniac slaves of an ancient magical something or other and then leave him to fight through hordes of those very same sl- Okay, he needed to stop this train of thought before he jinxed himself. Still, it would be best to address these cute little students who seemed to think they knew better than him. Silly cute little students, but cute little students nonetheless.

As he kept an ear to the other students while also meandering in his own thoughts, he opened his mouth to speak, and reaffirm Warren's place here. However, he never got that chance what with Warren decided he didn't want to wait and promptly jumping down into the sewers. Fighting back a twitch and rolling his eyes, though he noted that Warren was waiting for them, and Jason decided he could wait a bit longer as he addressed the others.

Turning to Zyra and Daemon, letting an easy smile cross his face while deciding to ignore Daemon's mini tantrum, he spoke in a tone both light and serious at the same time. "Oh ho, how protective. Good on you. Though I make no promises on protecting him, as not only am I not his keeper, that seems to be you, but I'm likely one of the most battle-thirsty and bloodthirsty people you'll find! On that note, you really shouldn't threaten others so casually, it may end up biting you in the future!" Though he stated everything in an manner reminiscent of the smile on his face, his eyes all but glowed with the thirsty he spoke of previously. Yet, just as fast as was present, the gleam vanished as if a switch was flipped and all that remained was the cautious but laidback look that's been there since they arrived in town. Turning to Neil, he merely continued to smile lazily with a small nod of his head. "Take yer time, though if we do go on ahead without ya, be sure ta' keep outta trouble yeah?"

Giving one last lazy grin and wave to the students still topside, he casually dropped down into the sewers next to Warren. Turning to him, the laidback demeanor held previously all but melted into a fierce glare that he fixed on the boy. "The conversation on why exactly you're here isn't over by a long shot. Death will be hearing about this, and rest assured you're at least going to be put through one tirade by the time this is all said and done. I pray that you aren't needed by Lord Death or your oh-so-glorious handler while you're gone, because neither of us want to deal with that fallout I'm sure. And considering there isn't a way to get you back, plus the fact that you seem committed to staying..." Jason sighed and shook his head. "And before you even try bring up the point about us 'needing' you to justify you stowing away, the person with the missing partner is me. But, again, it's me and fighting alone is what I'm most skilled at. It's my shtick after all." In the back of his head Jason did wonder where exactly his mission partner ran off to. He did seem a bit of a coward at heart, and so Jason entertained the idea that he ran off at the first sight of danger, or even something overly unusual. He mentally sighed. This was the problem of bringing fresh NOT students on difficult missions.

Shaking off his thoughts, Jason once again went back to his regular attitude. "Anyhoo! Since I seem ta be findin' myself in the sewers I might as well as enjoy myself and go 'round searchin' for whatever creepies, an' heck, whatever crawlies can be found in here! Though I really do hope those cute little, vaguely murderous, students don't get into too much trouble down here. Considerin' if they do I'm likely to be slapped 'round and them put on the choppin' block... Course, bein' the gracious, intelligent, handsome, and all around amazin' person I am, I'll do my job and keep 'em safe. That includes you, my cute little stowaway of a weapon!" Jason just knew this was gonna come back and ruin his day.

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Daemon Alexanders
and
Zyra Harriot
Zyra scowled at Warren's nonchalant attitude, and gripped the hem of her shirt. She took a moment to fix her composure, and inhaled deeply. Daemon watched his caretaker intently, wondering what she would do. When Zyra met his eyes, she felt herself begin to calm down. She disliked Warren, but Daemon had no problem with him. And...she hated to admit it, but the fellow EAT weapon was right.

She let out her breath in a long sigh, and patted Daemon on the head. "
Sorry about that, Daemon. I guess I lost my cool for a moment there."

The boy smiled and shook his head. "
No worries, Z! I made you upset." He shoved his hands into his pockets and grinned wider. "I just wanted to go and see why I'm feeling so weird." With that, the boy walked over to the sewer opening and looked down. It was seemed a little dark down there, but that never stopped the Meister before. He stood up and, shouting "Cannonball!", leaped over the edge of the opening and landed with a thud on the surface below. However, the landing messed up his balance, and he waved his arms frantically as he tried to realign himself.

To no avail, though, he faceplanted into the ground. Or, to be more specific, the water. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and spat out the water that had made it's way into his mouth. "
Blegh! I didn't think it would be so...gross!" Daemon looked around, wrinkling his nose. "I don't like it." He stood up and looked at his wet shirt. He gripped the front of it in his hands and squeezed, getting as much water as he could out of it.

Zyra stood over the opening, looking down to make sure her partner wasn't injured. When he stood up and proved he was fine, she sighed in relief. She looked over to Neil. "
You're...Neil, correct? Sorry if Daemon annoyed you. I can tell by how you look at him. He means well, he just doesn't handle things the right way. Give him a chance. He's...different, to say int he simplest terms." She bowed her head to him. "I'm Zyra Harriot, by the way. I'm his partner and caretaker. If he troubles you, just let me know, I'll set him straight. I'll head ahead with the rest of them, so you can wait for Konoba." She then swung herself over the side of the opening and dropped down into the water below.

When she splashed down, Daemon smiled. "
This is like that one time we ran away from that witch in Washington, Zyra! We took the sewers to avoid her finding us after we broke her window!" The boy laughed, but Zyra simply shook her head.

"
After you broke her window. I told you not to hang around the witch house, and you just had to take it to the next level and throw rocks? At the house?" Daemon just giggled and began to walk past Warren and Jason. "Come on, Walter! James! Let's go kill stuff!"

Zyra walked up to Warren and Jason, bowing to them. "I'd...like to apologize to you two. I acted inappropriately to you both. I was just worried about Daemon, that's all." She turned to Jason. "I shouldn't have threatened you. I doubt I could kill you if I even tried, since...I don't like the thought of killing other humans. However, I know someone who is far more blood-thirsty, dangerous, and deadly than you could ever be. Nonetheless, I will be wiser in the future when dealing with you." Turning to Warren, she hesitated for a moment before speaking. "As for you? I am thankful you ended up coming along. An extra person will be helpful in the long-haul, and...as much as I don't like admitting it, you're a formidable ally. And Daemon seems to look up to you, so I guess we will have to work together. Just...please try to be a little nice to him?" She bowed quickly again. "I hope you both could forgive my awful behavior before. Let's help these people out, yeah?"

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Konoba Tetsuo
"Mmmm..." And now there was a crowd. "Well, then..." Konoba wasn't opposed to camaraderie, obviously, neither was she against the intervention of her seniors, but she felt disappointed regardless. Some alone time to get to know Neil, some quiet time away from the hum and drum of student life, she'd been attracted to the idea, despite the danger that their expedition might pose.

This would do though, she guessed.

A resigned sigh under her breath, Konoba strapped her smile back onto her face as she sped ahead to regain the ground she'd lost on her partner, lest the pink haired beauty run off on her while she was away. Backs vanishing into the depths of the city streets as she approached, Konoba made no attempt to question it. Age before beauty after all. To her partner, though, she owed an apology. Giving as loud a greeting as she could as she came to a halt beside Neil, Konoba dropped into an immediate smile-clad bow.

"Sorry, sorry! Took a moment to think back there, as hard as it might be to believe!" Back to standing up straight. He probably wanted to get chasing after the rest of the group, she assumed. "Well, uh, I say that, but it wasn't really anything important. Just kinda spacing out!" Her eyes scanned across him. Lollipop in mouth, he looked like he was ready to wait. A while. Drat. Did she really seem that unreliable? Or did he just really like candy? She really liked candy. She was jealous.

"Hey uh, before we get started, got another one of those? I'll trade you a drink when we get baaackkk~" Jealous enough to get her fickle mind back into the swing of things, even.

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Warren “Evening Star” Langston
On Neil’s comment of waiting for Konoba, Warren was inclined to take a “suit yourself” kind of attitude. After all, the fewer people that came, the more there would be for him to fight himself and the more he fought, the more he could show off his own greatness. That was simply how logic in Warren’s mind worked and there was very little chance that that would ever change.

Instead of worrying too much about it, he just waited for those who were going to come along to get their butts into the murky water right along with him. Although it seemed to take a moment or two, Jason was the first to join him and he listened to what the meister had to say. The first thing that caught his attention was the way he mentioned an “oh-so-glorious” handler, and Warren didn’t like Jason’s choice of words. Warren didn’t like them because they made it seem like there was someone more glorious than him and that was practically an insult in Warren’s book.

“Listen… I can take you talking to Death and I can understand you don’t want me around because my awesomeness is too much to handle, but the minute you say someone else is more glorious than me, I have to draw the line. I don’t have an ‘oh-so-glorious’ handler and I’m more than glorious enough on my own, thank you very much!” Attitude seeped into Warren’s speech and he glared right back at the meister as he said it, clearly not intending to back down. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m glorious enough to want to help the people. Let’s get moving.” Now all of a sudden, Warren meant business, but then he did something interesting. With a wave of his hand, he gestured for Jason to take the lead.

It was simply smart and it wasn’t the same as Warren backing down. He just was smart enough to know Jason would probably see things he couldn’t.

And Jason could likely see some things down in the darkness of the sewers. There was a golden soul light that seemed to weave its way in and out of the water and it came from one direction only. It was a strange magic - not witchcraft, but definitely investigatable. Daemon would see it too if he took a moment to actually look for anything.

“It’s Warren!” Warren snapped at Daemon when the other boy got his name wrong again. “I’m kind of a big deal so knowing my name might get you places someday. I mean… keep getting it wrong if you want, but no one will know who you’re talking about and then you won’t get any of the awesome perks of knowing me when I’m a death scythe.” He was smiling again by that point and they had slowly started moving along… hopefully.

Zyra caught up to him as he walked and Warren simply nodded along. “Glad to have you on my side. You’ll go far someday… maybe you’ll even get as far as me someday!” It was Warren’s form of a compliment if such a thing was possible.

The more they moved, the more Warren expected to hear the other two running after them, but he was disappointed in that regard. So far, he hadn’t heard either Neil or Konoba hit the water.

The magic in the air kept moving too. The threads grew brighter as they got closer and two threads in particular seemed to react to the group of students. One seemed to reach beyond them and it tendriled up and out of the sewer, wrapping around Neil in an invisible manner. He wouldn’t feel it or see it, but it was there. The other wrapped around Daemon. Now that one… both one star meisters had a chance of seeing that one although it was also intangible. He wouldn’t feel it against his skin at all.

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Daemon Alexanders
and
Zyra Harriot
Daemon stared blankly at Warren, his face devoid of any form of emotion. His mouth was left agape, and it seemed like not a single thought went through his head. Then, suddenly, his mouth twisted into a delighted grin. "W...Warren. Got it. Warren...Warren, Warren, Warren." Daemon rubbed the sides of his head vigorously with his hands, and when he was finished, his hair stuck up all over the place in a tangled mess. He looked back to Warren, with the same goofy smile. "Got it. I have your name memorized. I'm excited to see you kill things, Winston!" Not even acknowledgin ghe got it wrong again, Daemon turned and looked down the long stretch of sewer, and saw could see a faint golden glow coiling around the sewer like a vine. He tilted his head as he gazed at it, and frowned. "Pretty...but scary? Not bloody. Blood isn't gold. And vines are green...maybe magic?" Daemon spoke in a hushed whisper.

Zyra was shaking her head at Daemon, meanwhile. "
Daemon, his name is Warren. W-A-R-R-E-N. Not Winston. Not Wally. Not William. None of those. I don't understand how you remember all the members of my family, but not a single teacher or student." Zyra walked up to Warren and was about to put her hand on his shoulder when she paused, hesitating slightly. However, she caved and lightly placed hier fingertips on her classmates shoulder. "It takes him some time to memorize names. Give him some time. He's...different, okay? Just go along with it and be gentle with him. As for being in the spotlight..." Zyra looked down to the murky water below them. "...honestly, you can have it all. I'm trying to avoid being known as much as possible. I won't get in your way. I promise. However, I thank you for the compliment." She pulled her hand away and looked back to where Daemon had been standing, only to see he was wandering down the sewer. The bit of color to her pale face quickly drained and she started to jog to catch up to her Meister. "Daemon! Daemon, hold up!"

Daemon wasn't listening, though. He was gazing at the golden tendrils, and looked down at his body in surprise as one of them wrapped around himself. His look of wonder changed into a look of disgust, and he tried to shake his body to get it off of him. He waved his arms around more frantically, and he let out a roar of frustration. He looked back to the group of students with wild eyes. "
I hate this. Let's go rip whatever is doing this to pieces. I'm gonna make it's blood run this sewer in red!" Zyra tilted her head as she caught up to him. "Daemon, what are you talking about? Do you see something?"

Daemon nodded frantically and gestured to his entire body. "
All this gold! I see it, but I can't touch it! I want it off of me, Z!" Daemon swiped at the tendrils again, but howled in frustration when his hand slipped right through it.

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Jason A. Daniels
Jason couldn't help but snort and shake his head as he listened to Warren's rebuke. As he still decided to take the lead. "Only you would take a sarcastic insult to your regular partner as comparison of your 'awesomeness'..." Still though, Jason decided to leave it at that and continue the trek through the sewer in silence on his part, mainly too focused on the golden light shining throughout the area. Keeping one ear to the conversation happening behind him, and finding himself vaguely amused at their interactions to say the least, though he was a bit worried about the rest of the team that still hadn't joined them.

That worry was only amplified when the golden threads that he'd been following kept gradually getting brighter, and at Daemon's exclamation. Turning, and seeing the thread wrapped around him, caused Jason some pause. Shaking his head, and noting that even though it was wrapped around Daemon it didn't seem or feel like anything harmful at the moment, he decided now would be a good time to speak up. "Daemon, calm down. This thread isn't harmful, nor helpful at the moment, as far as I can tell anyway. Just take a few deep breaths and keep on, take a few minutes if you need to, you're no good if you're hysterical or frustrated. Zyra, if you can help calm him down quickly, that'd be great. I'm going to speed up now that it seems this phenomenon is going to affect us. Warren, keep up and be reach to smash." Uncharacteristic stint of leadership aside, Jason did indeed speed up his pace through the sewer, now more determined to find the source of these glowing threads, especially now that at least one of his mission teammates was clearly being influenced in a way even beyond that of the normal townspeople as far as he could tell.
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Neil Cyclamen
Neil simply gave Jason's response a two fingered-salute before watching the guy make his way inside the sewer hole. He was beginning to like that guy more and mor-What the hell? Neil blinked when he watched Daemon literally cannonball into the sewer hole, hearing a loud splash and an exclamation from the boy a few seconds later, causing him to grin, teeth biting the stick to keep it down. Okay, he wasn't going to lie, that was pretty funny. Hearing someone address him, he turned to see Daemon's partner speaking to him about...Daemon. His eyes shifted to the side a bit when she had revealed his feelings about the guy, and he couldn't help but slouch stubbornly when she asked him to give the 'Superior' another chance, moving the lollipop around in his mouth with thought. Well...it wasn't like he hadn't ever goofed up before...fine. He nodded at her introduction and watched her head down the sewer as well. Huh. Maybe she wasn't all that stuffy after all.

After a minute or two of silently listening to the commotion they were making, which caused him to snicker, he perked up when he heard that Oh-So familiar voice and turned around with a big grin. He waved dismissively at her apology. "Bah, it's okay! Not like we can't catch up, right?!" He replied. He raised an eyebrow at her question and mockingly cupped his chin, humming loudly and narrowing his eyes. At her counter offer, his eyes widened and he immediately stuffed a hand in his pocket, taking out another lollipop and tossing it to her. "Konoba, my dear, you sure know how to bargain! Don't think I won't bother you about it, though." He laughed. He was going to share it, drink or not, but she didn't have to know. With that out of the way, he nodded and turned to the sewer. "Whelp, time's a-wastin', my blue-haired partner in crime!" He said as he made his way to the sewer, only to stop and stand for a second. Something felt...off. He looked around for a second, but otherwise scratched his arm and shrugged. He was probably just being a chicken.

Jumping down into the depths of the sewers, he looked up at the opening and motioned for Konoba to climb down as well before heading for where he heard the group of EAT students.When he and, he hoped, Konoba finally caught up to them, he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at Daemon's frantic movements. Golden...thread? He squinted his eyes and turned to Konoba before shrugging, watching Jason attempt to take control of the situation.
"Man, Daemon." Neil began as he up to the guy. He knew just to the way to try and find a way to befriend the guy. "Looks like your patience is really...hanging on by a thread, eh?" He joked, laughing loudly and slapping his back. Maybe a joke'd calm Daemon down? Jokes always calm him down.

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Warren Langston
“Magic?” Warren froze and spun in a full circle one whole time when Daemon mentioned magic because he didn’t see anything himself at all. He stood, completely disbelieving, and watched as Daemon seemed to have some sort of mental breakdown that he couldn’t describe. He watched too as Zyra tried to figure out what was happening to absolutely no avail at all.

“Now hold on just a minute!” he finally objected. “If there was something here that could bleed, I would definitely see it. And I ain’t see nothin’!” He was fiercely confident in his words because anything else was undeserving of the spotlight. At least, he thought it was a statement he could be confident about. The fact that Jason seemed to see it too made him hesitant about that because he had thought, at least, that that was one meister who had a decent pair of eyes in his sockets. Daemon… well, he didn’t count because he was special. That much of what Zyra had said was processed in Evening Star’s mind.

He was grateful when they started moving again, though, and Warren quickened his own pace in order to match Jason’s footsteps equally. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw that Neil was there and he yelled back, “Where’d your meister go? I don’t think this is a safe place for single weapons. Even I’ve got meister,” and he waved his arm towards Jason as he said it. There was a carefulness in his choice of words. Warren wasn’t about to make the mistake of calling Jason his meister because that wasn’t a statement he would ever want to be true.

His head wasn’t turned for long and he decided he could let Neil do what he chose while Warren continued walking with Jason. “So what’s this thread we’re following?” he asked.

And it would seem that Warren’s timing was oddly set because at that moment, they reached the end of the thread and the last pieces of them were tied to the fingertips of a floating, sleeping man. That man was someone Warren could see and he stopped in complete and utter confusion. “Huh?” He looked around, half expecting to be dreaming or something silly like that. Jason was still there, though and everything else about the situation still felt real. Without really thinking about the consequences, Warren reached forward and tapped the man on the chest before yelling, “Wake up Mister!”

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Jason A. Daniels
Jason, as per his usual tactic when dealing with pretty much anything that popped up, continued to absently ignore and simultaneously keep an ear on the interactions of his fellow students while continuing his pace through the sewers. Honestly, it was times like these that he kinda regretted not ever finding "the one" for him. At least then he'd most likely have a like minded individual whom would also be pseudo-tuning out the world, occasionally chiming in with snarky one-liners that everyone would appreciate, whether they wanted to admit it or not. But alas, till this day he still hadn't found that one special person, though he could have sworn he had gotten close at one point in time, but nonetheless here he was. Not with his original mission partner, the cowardly student who knows where, and now trudging through some sewers in search of whatever is hiding in here, surrounded by glory hounds and simple minded, but (Probably? Maybe? Coin-flip? Eh...) well meaning, students. Oh well, at least some of them weren't complete lost causes, maybe there was hope for the future yet.

Snapping out of his reverie once more as Warren addressed him again, him having ignored the boy's grandiose and opinionated statements before, this time with an actually reasonable question. Before he could respond it had seemed that Fate decided to respond for him and lo and behold there was a man simply floating there. Not only was he floating there, but he seemed to be the source of the golden threads, and on top of that he was asleep. That couldn't mean anything good, Jason was sure of that. And yet, before he could exercise any minute amount of caution towards this unknown figure, Warren had to just go on ahead and poke the man, as if waking him would lead to anything good.

"Now I know that I really shouldn't be talkin', what with my gung ho attitude and whatnot, but really? Tappin' a sleepin' man in the middle of a sewer when you already know that we're lookin' for somethin' suspicious lurkin' 'round here? Really? Anythin' that goes wrong after this is on yer head. Now put up yer dukes, who knows what's 'bout to happen."

Following that very statement, Jason did exactly what he suggested for Warren to do, bringing up his fists in what could be called a loose boxing stance, Soul Force crackling across his fists occasionally as he kept a wary eye on the stranger. Nevertheless, being the fight junkie that he was, Jason was secretly excited, and mildly hopeful, for a good brawl. Not that he would say that out loud of course, he had to be at least slightly respectable for the cute little students following him on this mission.

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Warren Langston and The Sandman
Oddly enough, throughout the duration of Jason’s scolding at Warren, nothing seemed to happen that would indicate anything bad about their situation at all. In fact, the sewer water beneath their feet seemed to become even more calm than it had been before, if such a thing was possible. Warren, too, stood deadly still as the implications of what Jason was telling him sunk into his small and self-indulgent mind. Once the words had been spoken out loud, he understood them. He was simply quick to act before thinking and that would always be the Evening Star’s downfall.

“Sorry,” he mumbled - quietly this time - and he turned around to examine the man more closely without intending on poking him this time.

Unfortunately, in the process of turning, Warren’s shoulder bumped the man and actually knocked the floating body backwards quite hard. It almost seemed as though gravity and the laws of physics didn’t apply here because he wasn’t falling from his floating status and neither was he slowing down. The body of the man barrelled forward until his head quite literally smashed into one of the walls of the tunnel they were in. Warren cringed at the sound and a mumbled, “Ooops,” escaped him as he lowered his head and scrunched his shoulders, preparing for yet another scolding. He knew he’d messed up this time around, and he hadn’t even been trying to.

“Wha - what!?” The man who had been floating exclaimed as his hand reached up to rub his head. His body shifted so that he was upright now, but his feet weren’t actually touching the ground; instead he was hovering just above it. “Time to wake, I suppose.” He didn’t seem entirely bothered by the situation. Then again, he didn’t seem to notice the DWMA students at all at first either.

A dusty golden-colored aura started to materialize around him, but it stopped short and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?” he repeated. “I haven’t absorbed enough sleep yet.” He made a face that seemed to question whether he was actually truly awake or not and then his eyes found the students.

Afterwards came the laughter. “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! You… you little children are immune to my spell, eh? Well,” as he spoke, the golden aura started to grow around him once more. “I suppose I can use you to help me figure out how much more sleep I need, right?” He seemed thoroughly amused by the idea he was suggesting.

“Hold on a minute!” Warren interrupted. “Who are you supposed to be? Are you the one who’s keeping everyone awake!?”

“Why yes I am, little twerp,” he hummed pleasantly. “Now, won’t you be a dear and help me out here?”

“I AM NOT A TWERP!!!” Without listening to any more, Warren charged and leapt into the air, transforming as he did. His weapon form started spinning towards the target but it went right through the man. His body turned to sand and then reformed again. The morningstar hit the wall and transformed back into Warren, who was out cold. An hourglass appeared above the boy’s head.

“Not much time left for you, I’m afraid.”

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Daemon Alexanders
and
Zyra Harriot
Daemon wasn't listening to anybody. He continued swatting at the golden threads, his anger growing and growing. As one of them began to coil up around his leg, Daemon let out a howl and lifted his hand up above his head, balling it into a fist. Zyra, who had been approaching her partner, paused for a moment before stepping back, knowing that getting close to Daemon in this moment was a bad idea.

With a roar, Daemon brought his fist down onto the floor of the sewer where the thread was. When his fist collided with the floor, the water seemed to part away from his fist and float upwards for a couple seconds, before falling back down around his hand. When Daemon pulled his hand back up, he saw that the tendril was still there, and he shook his hand quickly to get rid of some of the pain. He scowled, and raised his fist again to try for another blow, but Zyra ran up and grabbed Daemon from behind.

"Daemon, stop! Calm down!" The girl held her arms firmly around Daemon's chest, lifting him up off the ground slightly, where he began to kick his feet. He let out another yell and began to wave his fist around as well. "Put me down, put me down! Let me kill it, kill it!" Zyra fell back with the boy into the sewer water, and she let go of his torso, quickly moving her hands to his eyes, covering them. "Just think that they aren't there! If you can't see them, they don't exist, right? Right, Daemon?" As Zyra spoke, Daemon began to flail less and less. "See? It's relaxing now. You just need to calm down..." Zyra's voice got softer and gentler as she calmed down her partner. She began to rock from side to side, and proceeded to start singing a Russian lullaby.



When she was finished, Daemon seemed to have finally calmed down, and Zyra removed her hands from in front of his eyes. As the two stood up, Daemon looked around, with a seemingly confused look on his face. He turned to Zyra, who was looking at her soaked pants with disgust, pulling them slightly away from her skin. Daemon's somber look suddenly changed into a large grin, and he looked down at the golden tendrils circling him. "
We follow these, right? Then we can find what the problem is!" He looked to the rest of the group and began to follow them. Zyra just hung back for a moment and let out a deep sigh before following.

When they found the man, Daemon moved to get closer, but Zyra gripped his arm firmly so he couldn't get any closer. Daemon looked back at Zyra, opening his mouth to protest, but the stern look of his caretaker made him shut up, as he remembered that he had caused all of them a hard time. So he just stood next to Zyra, watching the events unfold.

When Warren was seemingly knocked out by the mysterious man, Daemon couldn't stand back. "Come on, Z!" As he spoke, Zyra pulled off her red cloak and tossed it up in the air. As she did, her body began to shine like metal, and her body glowed brightly before transforming into her chainsword form. Her blade stuck into the ground, and Daemon grabbed the hilt of the blade and pulled her out, catching her cloak with his other hand and throwing it over his own shoulders, and draped the hood over his head. Then, lifting Zyra's weapon form up in front of him, he gripped the hilt tighter, and the blade began to rev slowly. With another squeeze of the hilt, the chain part of the sword sprung to life, the spinning sound echoing in the small space. Inside his head, Daemon could hear Zyra's voice clearly. "Daemon, let's work on getting Warren out of there first. We need to figure out what's wrong with him."

Daemon shook his head, holding Zyra level with the mysterious man. "
That's walking into a trap, Z. If he can use magic, we may have to beat him and kill him in order to reverse any effect he put on William." Daemon turned to the rest of the group. "Whatcha guys think? I just wanna chop his head off and let his blood run through the sewers so we can be done with this. Because I really don't like him."

 
Jason A. Daniels
Well, he had done did it. He had gone and gotten himself knocked out in one fell swoop, and on top of it he seemed to be affected by the Sandman's powers too. Simply wonderful really, this whole situation simply reeks of complete and utter whooping if played out incorrectly, and lo and behold, Jason had the distinct feeling that it would turn sour fairly quickly. It's how things like this usually went, yeah? Jason liked to think he was at least slightly genre savvy, which meant that they'd likely not be able to take care of this nuisance immediately, and that it would eventually build to a climactic battle days from now, and honestly he really didn't want that. Glancing behind him quickly and taking note of the two arrivals, he looked back at the floating figure. "Usually I'm all for ya goin' in and takin' heads, but I'ma have ta deny ya this opportunity ta get yer tails handed ta ya. Considerin' that Warren flew right through the fella, I'm doubtin' that Zyra here can be doin' anythin' ta him either. Which kinda leaves lil' ol' me to be doin' some heavy liftin'." What he didn't say is that even if their attacks weren't completely ineffective, they'd still likely get in his way, what with the way he fought and Daemon's general attitude.

Plus, the man in front of him did seem to have fairly unique powers. He obviously used some form of magic, but it wasn't anything like what witches seemed to use. And neither has he ever heard of anything regarding sleep based magic and sand, though he did fit the stereotype of a sandman from the combination. Still, he wasn't even sure if Soul Force would affect him, though Soul Force affected pretty much everything so who was he kidding, but on the off chance that it didn't he honestly wasn't sure what requirements needed to be fulfilled to even damage the guy. Maybe getting him into the water would do something, but he really didn't want to bet on an off chance that he interacted with water like normal sand would. Which really only left him with his usual option of hit fast and hard and hope that it did something.

Realizing that he got lost in analyzing their newfound opponent and that the two behind him still needed to do something so while rolling his shoulders and staring down the figure with eyes narrowed, stance deepened, and muscles tensed, he called over to them. "Though, if y'all can grab the dunderhead over yonder and get him outta the way, I'd much appreciate that. Try wakin' him up too if ya think ya can manage. I'll keep y'all outta harms way, ya dig?" His piece said, he doubled down on his stance and let his Soul Force actively spark around him, ready to leap at any hint of the man in front of him trying to stop the two behind him from getting Warren out of the pickle he found himself in. Jason nearly groaned at the terrible talking to he would get from Death, but that was neither here nor there.
Lady Warlock Lady Warlock Refaulted Refaulted
 
Neil CyclamenNeil blinked and pouted a bit when Daemon didn't acknowledge his joke. Sure, bad puns were bad, which was they were only funny when people told you they were bad! It was a known fact! It was what brings people together! He thought this with crossed arms as he watched the boy try and swat the thread off him, which was honestly starting to become funnier than the joke. Hearing Warren's voice, Neil looked from the struggling maniac to his fellow weapon, who was starting to walk away. "Huh?" Oh, yeah. Konoba. He looked behind him and shrugged before turning back. "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure she'll come barreling down here any second now." He answered before he pointed to Zyra and Daemon. "Besides, I got these guys! So I think I should be safe for no-"

He blinked when he heard a loud splash from beside him and looked to see Zyra holding Daemon like an angry mom would do to her kid. Daemon was even flailing his legs and whining like one...if they were homicidal, though. "...Any second now." Neil muttered as he looked behind himself, ignoring the loud splash and his pants feeling suddenly wet.

Finally, after more sounds of flailing and some words from Zyra (as well as a weird Russian lullaby), everything quieted down again. Neil took this opportunity to look back at the two, their clothes both wet, but the situation having been solved. With a sweatdrop at the sudden mood shift, he watched a now excited Daemon take off in the direction the mysterious thread was leading to, Zyra following along shortly after. Neil looked back one more time and began to follow them. Seriously, where did this thread come from? It was glowing yellow and it couldn't be from your average spool, otherwise, it'd have been laying on the ground instead of tangling people up. When they arrived, he stopped short at the sight of some dude falling to the ground.
"Jeez, don't kill em'." Neil snickered. However, it did seem to wake the man up...the yellow glowing ma-oh. He looked down at the threads. Oh! He looked back at the man, who was beginning to talk loudly to himself. OH! He was the guy doing all this!

Neil narrowed his eyes as the guy began to cackle. Was he a Kishin or a Witch? Or...Warlock. Neil didn't know. For now, he was just the cause of this whole mess. He looked at Jason and Warren. Hopefully, these guys were as skilled as they said they-and there goes Warren. Neil struggled not to laugh at the sight of a knocked out Warren. Sensing the rising tension between them and the man, Neil looked at Daemon and Zyra.
"I'll drag him outta the way and try to wake him up. You guys help out Jason...just try and make it less bloody." He said before turning away and quickly ran to Warren, looking at the hourglass above his head. What the-? He looked up at the Sandman and huffed before beginning to drag Warren. "Cri-Cripes, he's heavy."

Lady Warlock Lady Warlock Exanis Exanis Refaulted Refaulted The One Eyed Bandit The One Eyed Bandit (If you're still in)
 
The Sandman
The Sandman tilted his head in consideration of the other DWMA students in front of him because he wasn’t sure if they really interested him or not at that point. However, then he caught sight of his own golden tendrils around Daemon and he smirked a bit. “Walking into a trap… hmm,” he mumbled thoughtfully. “It looks like you’ve already done that, friend, although I wonder if you realize how severe.” His voice was soft the whole time, but it almost seemed like he was laughing as well. It was altogether a rather unpleasant sound.

The golden tendrils around Daemon wrapped tightly around him, to the point where he could actually feel them, and then the tendril lifted him up and off the ground. “What is your worst nightmare, kid?” The Sandman asked, sounding legitimately curious as he held Daemon off of his feet. A smirk curled into his lips and Daemon would get a flash in front of his eyes, the briefest glimpse of whatever it was that he feared the most, before the vision would snap away and Daemon would quite literally be dropped back onto his own two feet.

A jolt of Jason’s wavelength snapped The Sandman out of focus. His entire body rippled into sand for a moment before it focused back into a more human form and then his eyes focused on Jason. He was beginning to realize that this was the one he had to focus on, although the others certainly seemed like they would be more fun to mess with. The Sandman didn’t even spare a second glance at Neil as he pulled Warren out of the fray. The redhead was still out like a light.

“Your friend is right about one thing. He won’t wake up unless you manage to get through me and as long as he’s alseep, I’m feeding on that sleep. Doesn’t make things very easy for you, does it?” It was something to think about, but even The Sandman wasn’t about to let him think about it for too long. Out of his arms stretched long waves of sand and he sent them surging forward, straight at Jason. The Sandman himself leapt backwards, though. He was content to watch his prey for a while before he had enough power to send them all into their own nightmarish slumbers.

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Daemon Alexanders
and
Zyra Harriot
Daemon held Zyra up defensively, frowning. Whenever he was holding Zyra in her weapon form, he felt calmer, and he could think straight. His head wasn't a jumbled mess. But he wasn't sure if just his physical abilities would be enough this time. They usually were on most of his missions, but this guy seemed to dangerous to approach head on. If he could easily stop Warren without laying an actual hand on him, then what was keeping him from doing it to them? There had to be a reason.

Zyra, meanwhile, was thinking the same thing as her Meister. She was trying to analyze exactly what he had done to Warren to make him get knocked out so quickly. Their opponent had amazing defensive capabilities, with being able to turn into sand, and put whoever he is fighting to sleep with a simple spell. Daemon's greatest asset was his physical capabilities, that rivaled that of most adults in terms of muscle strength and flexibility. Zyra's head appeared in the blade of her weapon form, and she looked to Daemon. "Daemon, our greatest chance is to use our more cautious attacks, or somehow use our environment to beat him. Getting close to him is dangerous until we can tell exactly what he can do."

Daemon nodded in agreement, his eyes scanning their surroundings, but not straying too far from the Sandman. He spoke in a light whisper, so no one but Zyra could hear him. "You're right. If things hit the fan, we can always try our more powerful techniques if whatever Jared has planned doesn't work. So let's prepa-" He was interrupted as the Sandman addressed him, talking about how Daemon was already in a trap. Confused, Daemon was about to jump back, but was stopped when the golden tendrils wrapped around him and lifted him into the air, Zyra falling out of his hands. And before Daemon could make a move to escape, he felt a cold tingle move throughout his entire body.

Daemon wanted to shout to Zyra, but his words caught in his throat. In front of his eyes, a scene he thought he would never relive appeared once more. The room they were in was covered in blood, dripping from the ceiling and the walls into the stained water below. But that wasn't something Daemon found disturbing. No, something far worse was in front of his eyes.

Standing where the Sandman normally was, a different man stood. He was tall and lanky, though his arms were rather toned compared to the rest of his body. He had lightly tanned skin, and he wore a black tank top and cargo shorts, with sandals on his feet. In one hand, he held a metal pipe, it dripping with blood. But what really caught his attention was everything above the thin shoulders, where just a single second felt like a lifetime. The man's face sat on his shoulders, a dulled black eye staring at Daemon. His jaw hung loose, his mouth left agape, but his lips pulled into a wicked grin, where you could see his rotting yellow teeth, and his stained black tongue. While the top half of his face on the left looked fine, the right side of his face was caved in, flesh missing and bone shattered against the inside of his skull. Less of a human being, and more of a living corpse of Daemon's darkest day from years ago.

Daemon wanted to scream, run, hide away. But he could only stare at the man who he had always so happily tried to impress, only to receive harsh blows to his body, either with his feet or hands, or he would use his bloody pipe in extreme fits of rage. He would hide away in his room, where he could sit and talk to himself, the only person who seemed to be at least a little nice to him. Until one day, just one terrible day, Daemon changed, and had fought back for once. Since that day, he had never thought once of the monster in front of him.

The grin on the man's face intensified as he lifted the pipe above his head. "Come to daddy, Daemon!" Daemon just stared in horror as the pipe flew downwards, straight for Daemon's face.

Before it could connect, the scene disappeared. He was back in the eerie sewer, surrounded by the golden tendrils, his schoolmates, and the stranger. As he dropped to the ground, he could only stare off at nothing, sweat pouring down his body. He stood for just a second, before he fell down to his knees, and he looked down at his hands, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "
I...I...I didn't want to, dad...you were scaring me...I was so scared..." Daemon's head fell into his hands, and he forgot about the battle he was ready to fight before. "It was every day...I was in so much pain. You never asked me if I was okay. You never told me I was good enough. I tried so hard...but you would hit me...I was always covered in bruises and cuts...and you would break my hands or ribs...but they came and saved me...They told me that I would be okay with them, and we could make you understand...I loved you so much, dad...but they told me to do it! It wasn't me! It was them! They wanted you all gone! I don't want you to leave me, dad! I want you to love me!" Daemon's yelling suddenly stopped, and he began to mutter words of apology under his breath.

Zyra, after having been dropped, quickly changed back into her human form. Once she was back to normal, she only saw Daemon get dropped back to the floor and devolve into his helpless state. Without even thinking, she rushed over, kneeling down next to him and wrapping her arms around him. This was similar to what he was like when he had first been found by her family, in a state of utter panic. She held him against her as he sobbed and apologized, trying to coax him back to normal. "
Shhhh, Daemon, shhhh...Let's settle down, okay? You just saw a hallucination, it wasn't real. Your father wasn't there. It was all an illusion. Try to listen to my voice, okay?" The girl spoke in a gentle whisper, running her fingers through her partner's head. She then turned her gaze up to the Sandman, glaring at him. "You..." Lifting up her hand, it glowed slightly as her forearm turned into the blade of her chainblade form, and she shifted herself and Daemon into a position where she was between her Meister and her enemy. "I will make you suffer for what you've done to Daemon."
 
Jason Daniels
And just as suddenly Jason’s attention was split between dodging the incoming waves of sand and being concerned over the now panicking Daemon and the raging Zyra. Honestly, why couldn’t these cute little students make his life easy. He supposed this is what he got for going on a team mission. His first partner disappears, like the coward he was, then Warren comes in out of nowhere and promptly gets knocked out, and to top it all off Daemon is reduced to a blithering mess. Truly, this is why he doesn’t like working with others. Snapping out of his reverie at another wave of sand eagerly trying to greet his body, he stepped out the way once again and called out to the others lurking around the tunnel with him, ”I’m going to have to deny you the opportunity to try and get revenge. It’s clear that both of you are quite literally useless to me at the moment. Chop, chop, run away, etcetera etcetera.” Of course what he didn’t say was that he was sure that he was also pretty much useless against a man made of sand. Maybe he could splash the man with sewer water and hope that logic applied to him. Eh, he may as well try, not like he really had any other plan of action to dealing with him, other than a tactical retreat.

The sandman’s head turned and tilted as he watched Jason dodge his sand attacks and the more he watched, the more he smiled because it was mildly amusing. “You’re just going to run away? You know… you can’t run away from nightmares. They come back everytime you go to sleep.” His voice seemed to have a melodious ring to it, almost as though he was singing rather than actually speaking. “And you can’t avoid sleep forever. Your bodies don’t work like that.”

His hands extended and then he made two more sand waves. There was a difference in these ones, though. They didn’t move to strike at Jason. Instead, they rose up into the air and shifted into tendrils of a golden aura that was identical to those that had wrapped around Daemon and Neil - still unbeknownst to Neil. He wondered if they thought they could run from that.

Jason shrugged at the sandman lazily. ”Well yeah, I think runnin’ away is the right plan. ‘Sides I’m a bit of an insomniac, I’m pretty sure I can stay up long enough to deal with ya.” While speaking he made sure to keep an eye on the two new tendrils that just floated there, doing nothing but being the menacing things that they were. Shifting slightly, Jason reared his leg back and kicked a large amount of water at the floating man and watched what happened.

Only a small sprinkling of water actually managed to reach the sandman after Jason’s kick and it still managed to have some effect. Sand became heavier, stuck together more, and that only made his body more tangible. “You really think you can manage to last with something that simple?” sneered the sandman. His body sunk down a bit, although he still wasn’t touching the water beneath him, and the tendrils snapped to action, diving towards Jason at surprising speeds.

Jason blinked. Then he let Soul Force spark across his body as he half backpedalled, half sidestepped in an attempt to get out of the way of the tendrils, of which he was sure was the cause of the lack of sleep and nightmares and whatnot. He really didn’t feel like finding out what it was like to be on the receiving end of the sandman’s powers. Absently, he realized that he would have actually been pretty happy about meeting someone that could maybe put him to sleep if he wasn’t, y’know, the enemy and wanting to steal the sleep of literally everyone and then likely proceed to murder an equal if not greater amount of people for reasons that only made sense to megalomaniacs. Or grunts. He never really differentiated between the two.

“You’re starting to bore me… all of you, actually.”

Since he was already awake, there didn’t seem to be a point in sticking around. He could still draw some power from it, though. All at once, tendrils erupted around him and wrapped everyone in the sewer, dragging them down and knocking them out cold. Everyone was asleep.

When they woke, they would find their sandman companion gone and they would also find that all of their energy had been nearly completely drained. Apparently that was how the sandman’s magic worked.

And the only sound was Warren groaning at the killer lump on the back of his head.

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Epilogue
The mission was ended.

The sandman had managed to escape - true. However, the minute he left, everyone in the little town he'd been haunting managed to find their sleep again. In fact, as the students made their way up out of the sewers, they would find several people who had been out and about. They now collapsed from exhaustion and sleep overcame them.

Not wanting to completely abandon everything, they had stuck around for about a day to make sure people actually woke up and to make sure they weren't needed for anything else. Dunsmuir citizens slowly began to get back to the lives they had always led.

And that was when the students returned to the DWMA.

For now, the mystery of who the Sandman was and what he would find himself up to next remains...
 

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