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'Illusion'

"Am I here? Am I there? Do I even exist at all?"

0 · 2,673 views · located in The Earth, 2017

a character in “A Tale of Seven Children//Rebirth”, as played by zody

Description

Image


"Illusion-chan is here to save the day~!"






~ Physical Profile ~


- Name -
    "Ha."
    + Unknown. Going by the name 'Illusion.'
- Physical Age -
    "Are you blind?"
    + That's.. a difficult question. After all, she can change her physical age to, well, whatever.
- True Age -
    "Asking a lady her age is rude."
    + Easily thousands of years old.
- Gender -
    "Rude!"
    + Female.
- Race -
    + Demon.
- Subspecies -
    + Vampire, type B.
- Description -
    "Are you alright, staring at me like that?"
    + Illusion, in her lolita form, stands approximately 3 feet and 6 inches tall. Her crimson eyes are wide and sparkle, and her small, petite figure is barely above most people's waists. Her pale skin is completely unmarked, and glows slightly in the sunlight. Her lips are small and defined, although she has a bad habit of letting her right fang slip out of her mouth when she's concentrating, which usually cuts her a little.

    + Illusion's angelic blonde hair frames her face, usually done up in a side ponytail that fits under whatever hat she's wearing at the time. On her person at all times is a parasol, designed by the WDL for combat. And for her, specifically. Her ears are tipped on the top, giving them a slightly demonic appearance, which suits her fine since, well, she is a demon. She also has sharp nails due to this, always painted red. She goes without makeup since she doesn't need it, and also because lolis never wear makeup. She wears 'cute lolita clothing' when she's like this, although her armband is present regardless of her outfit, as is her clothing.

    + Adult Illusion, however, dresses much more freely. Modern outfits, casual tanktop and pants, anything goes as long as it's comfortable. She also tends to have her hair out more often in adult form, and her entire body changes as a result of the transformation. Her face is a bit narrower, more defined cheekbones and fuller red lips adorn her face. Her scarlet eyes still sparkle, but there's a bit of mischief in them. Her body is much more curvaceous, her chest and rear are much bigger (especially since loli-Illusion is flat as a board in both regards) and more defined. Her fingers are long and slender, ending in manicured nails that are sharp as knives, and her fangs are actually longer in this form as well. Illusion now stands 5'8" in height, a bit on the taller side for girls, apparently.

- Any differences from your provided image/s -
    + She doesn't usually wear the hat, although sometimes people have seen her with some fancy wings on her back.






Image


"Do I look good like this, you think?"

~ Psychological Profile ~

- Personality -
    "What's the fun in telling you that?"
    + Illusion is a goofball. In her moe form, she acts much like one would expect a little girl would- adventurous, silly, adorable- Illusion can be considered all of those and more. She makes a concerted effort to be as cute and adorable as possible, and spends her time wearing cute clothing and doing cute things. She enjoys the freedom her smaller form gives her, and can't help but act like an adorable little sister moe kawaii vampire chan desu. She's a teensy bit cheeky in her loli form, playing pranks and adorably tugging on people's clothes to get their attention. She plays her role as the adorable principal of the WDL Academy near perfectly, with only the slightest hint of her darker side being visible, and even then only on very rare occasions.

    + The Adult Illusion is a charming, charismatic and refined lady who enjoys the finer things in life, and can't help but act politely and courteously. However, when she's not working or required to be moderately uptight, she lets herself go a little- prone to splurging on clothes and always enjoying a nice chat, the loli suddenly becomes quite knowledgeable about a lot of subjects, and the fact that she's quite a few centuries old becomes quite apparent. She still enjoys the odd tease, and is much more comfortable showing off her body in her adult form- in fact, she quite enjoys flaunting what she has whenever she's given the chance. Her playful, cheeky nature still persists, however her moeness is replaced with allure and charm.

- Likes -
    "I like not telling you what I like."
    + Raspberries, Strawberries and Cranberries.
    + Blood.
    + Wine, mostly red wine, but she also enjoys white.
    + Tea- her favourite is chamomile.
    + A nice, simple chicken parmigiana.
    + The colour red- particularly scarlet.
    + Her violin, and instrumental music.
    + Cute things.
    + Being respected is something she quite enjoys.
    + When people allow her to bite them.
    + Swans.
    + Her adoptive son, Madison Lovette. She loves him very, very much and always will.
    + Chess.
- Dislikes -
    "I dislike people who ask what I dislike."
    + Extreme temperatures.
    + Excess garlic.
    + People who insult her loli form, or people who disrespect her.
    + Angel.
    + Idiots and idiocy, alongside ignorance.
    + Rap music.
    + Bad violin players- although she'll offer tutelage, of course.
    + Zealots.
    + Losing it when she hasn't had enough blood.
- Strengths -
    "Anything and everything."
    + Photographic memory, or eidetic memory, to the point she can recite conversations from that point in time.
    + Skilled violinist.
    + Capable of holding multiple conversations at once.
    + Surprisingly skilled in combat- she's had plenty of time to learn, after all.
    + She can memorize song lyrics easily.
    + Fluent in English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Greek, [REDACTED], [REDACTED], Sanskrit and Russian.
    + Her intuition is nothing to write off- she can smell something suspicious a mile away.
    + Apparently literally everything.
- Fears -
    "Your ugly mug, truth be told."
    + Not much, actually. In fact, she has nothing she's particularly scared of aside from herself.
- Hobbies -
    "My favourite hobby is lying to people about my favourite hobby."
    + Reading- she's a fan of many works of literature.
    + Writing.
    + Drinking small amounts of blood.
    + Playing violin.
    + Clothes shopping and spending time with her beloved son, Maddie-Paddy-Cakes.
    + Sleeping.
    + She actually takes great joy in her job as Principal of the WDL Academy.
    + Chatting.
- Secrets? -
    + Is really [REDACTED]
    + Part of the [REDACTED]
    + Her real [REDACTED] is [REDACTED]
    + Formerly known as [REDACTED] of [REDACTED]
- Outlook on Life -
    "One big cute game!"
    + Illusion doesn't take much seriously- she's been around for so long that everything is essentially a little thing to her, and so why should she let that ruin her fun? She does reign herself in every now and then, however, as her duties require her to take at least that seriously.

- Affiliation -
    + "Obviously the Warriors of Divine Light. Psh, what do you take me for? A villainess?"

- Moral Alignment -
    "Lawful Good. Lusy promises! Despite me being a Demon, the WDL is my home."
    + Neutral Good.






    ~ Combat Profile ~


    Image


    "Hm, you want to fight? Well, then, I won't hold back."

    - Major Abilities -
      "Falsities."
      + Illusory Arts: [FOUR] of a [KIND] - Illusion's mainstay ability, this is actually just a fancy name for Illusion's illusions. However, there seems to be something quite odd about her main use of them- she can be in up to four places at once, and is fully capable of interacting in those situations without flaw, as if that's the only place she's actually in. This is why she calls it 'Four of a Kind'; because her usual use of this ability is to materialise in multiple locations at the same time, like she's actually there. When using this, she's capable of interacting with objects and people, so maybe it's less illusions and actually cloning herself? Nobody can say for sure, and Illusion's lips are sealed. "A good magician never reveals their secrets." is what she'd say before giving a playful wink. Four seems to be her maximum, but nobody's ever seen more than four, so it's unknown how many she can project. It also becomes impossible to tell the real from the fake, not because of powerful illusions, but because of both that fact and the fact that these illusions are as real as Illusion is.

      + Illusion can also use this ability to create actual illusions of varying intricacies, ranging from subtle manipulations to creating an entire fake pocket-dimension for both herself and the person or people she's creating the illusion on. Being the Lord of Illusion, her visions aren't exactly cakewalks to see through, and even those with sufficient or even immense experience in the workings of illusions fall to her wiles, as she uses them in a completely different way than most people would think or be prepared for.
      "Please don't underestimate me. Your mind is my plaything. Nothing can save you."
      + Mirror Monster - Illusion is pretty creepy honestly. Active usage of this ability renders her with the properties of a reflection- mainly 'you can see but you can't touch'. Completely intangible and untouchable via any means possible, Illusion becomes a literal specter despite her lack of invisibility. Illusion, in this state, is essentially acting outside of both time and space. A bit of a double-edged sword, Illusion cannot be harmed by any means, but on the same note she's unable to interact with our dimension while in said intangible state- however, she's perfectly visible and audible.

      + Mirror Monster also gives her access to her own personal pocket dimension. She uses this to step through space and cross any distances within seconds. She jokingly calls this ability the 'Void Leap'. This ability is actually the original version of Madison Lovette's 'Void Hop' ability, which she somehow managed to teach her adoptive son. Essentially, she can use this two ways; firstly, she can open up a portal to her dimension directly and enter there before exiting through another 'crack' in reality, or she can simply open up two cracks, align them, and move through them in an instant. Illusion is also able to drag people into her pocket dimension or through the 'cracks' with physical contact, but releasing them from said contact will eject them rather roughly into the nearest crack to them- regardless of location.
      "You can't hurt me, but I can definitely hurt you."
      + Aura Manipulation - Illusion can naturally see auras, however her true strength lies in the manipulation of her own. She can solidify, shape, control and bend her aura to her will- a usually invisible thing suddenly becoming quite visible, and quite dangerous. She's essentially able to create anything she deems necessary out of her aura, although she mainly limits this to weaponry. With a smile, she'll happily summon a gigantic spear of reddish mist that can quickly turn solid- and dangerous.

      + She can use it for both offensive and defensive capabilities, using her makeshift weapons made from her solidified aura in combat. On the other hand, she can solidify her aura around herself, creating a barrier to protect herself from attacks both physical and non-physical. There was a report somewhere in the WDL archives of Illusion being charged at, and her attackers falling to pieces before even reaching her. Nobody truly knows the extend of her abilities, although some figure that this ability is quite dangerous even if used defensively.
      "You can try to hurt me, but you might lose an arm. Or both."

    - Minor Abilities -
      "Secrets."
      + Psychic Link - Illusion can link herself with other people, much like Rick's own mark ability. Upon doing so, she essentially becomes a living voodoo doll. Any harm she endures will be inflicted upon her opponent in full force. However, this only applies to damage. If Illusion is healed or heals herself, the opponent will not be given any healing. On top of this, her emotions and feelings are shared with said person- this way she can attack them both physically and mentally. Most times the target doesn't even realise they're marked, as there's no physical evidence of them actually being marked until they're in close proximity to Illusion- a faint red trail of aura will link them if they're close by, giving the vampire away. Keep in mind, Illusion is quite resistant to pain, however this resistance doesn't carry over to her marked targets.

      "If I kick a wall with a toothpick under my toe, you'll feel it just like I will- more, actually."
      + [HEART] Reading - Illusion's mind-reading skills are immense, and not many if any can match her. Protecting yourself from her mental probing is nigh impossible, and feelings of unease and violation usually accompany her usage of her Heart Reading ability. Illusion is capable of using this ability just by looking at a person and focusing, however direct eye contact gives her a way to bypass any and all shields, wards or mental defences her prey has put up and an easy ticket into your heart and mind. This ability differs greatly from simple mind-reading, as it allows Illusion to bypass one's thoughts and view their deepest, darkest desires, even if the prey doesn't know them. Using the information she gathers here is what makes her so dangerous with her taunting and blackmailing. This ability may be a minor, but don't underestimate its power one bit- it can destroy entire empires, and has.

      + Illusion cannot interfere with or manipulate memories or a person's mind with this technique- all it does is allow her to see into the deepest reaches of someone's mind and soul. This ability requires the use of Illusion's Third Eye, and if she closes said Third Eye, a completely new ability would replace this one.

      "The eyes are the window to the soul, after all."
      + [BLOOD] Manipulation - Illusion is able to, along with her illusory powers, manipulate blood. However, this ability is quite limited, and thus is a minor. Illusion can manipulate the blood she has in her body, and any blood that her blood mixes with. If she bites someone and drinks their blood, she can then essentially force them into becoming her puppet until they die from the strain or she kills them outright.

      + Illusion can harden the blood in her veins, increasing her natural defenses and poise, and can also do the opposite; speeding up the rate that the blood is pumped through her body to allow her to move even faster than normally possible. However, her usual use of this ability is to force the hardened blood out of her body to form makeshift armour or weaponry, and she particularly enjoys letting herself be grabbed before ejecting a blood spike, which then impales her opponent and mixes with their blood, rendering them under her complete control.

      "The more you bleed, the more I get stronger."

    - Special Ability -
      "Ha, ha, ha. You don't want to know."
      + [ACCESS DENIED. ARCHKNIGHT RANK REQUIRED.] -

    - Equipment -
      "What? You want to look up my skirt to find out? What type of sicko are you?"
      + Illusion always carries on her person what she's dubbed the 'Battle Umbrella'. It looks almost identical to a regular umbrella, and is actually almost as long as Illusion is tall. The tip can extend into a sharp spike, and when the umbrella itself is opened up, the structural spines end in long tips as well, the interconnecting fabric ending in a thin layer of sharp metal, turning it into a type of sharp, spiky mace. The middle structure of the umbrella can actually spin, turning the blades into somewhat of a saw Illusion can use to slice through most materials and some metals. In this mode, the smaller spines retract to prevent it getting caught. On top of this, pressing a button can cause the umbrella sans handle to shoot off with a chain attached, being able to be used as a grappling hook and, when left in its extended state, a flail.
      + Her clothes, that's really it. Illusion doesn't have weapons, nor does she need them. The Battle Umbrella is more of an accessory, despite its nature and being custom-made for her.

    - Minor Skills -
      "Being pretty cool."
      + She can't be lied to.
      + She's very, very good at not eating people. Most of the time.
      + She's a master manipulator, and her skills only make her better at it.
      + Some people call her the 'Crimson Ghost', although it's not an official title or nickname, due to her ability to sneak past anyone due to her abilities.
      + She's a master provocateur, and enjoys taunting people. Once again, her abilities make this child's play.
      + Being a vampire, she can do everything that a type B Vampire can do, including the enhanced strength, speed and stamina- alongside an incredibly potent healing factor boosted by blood, shapeshifting abilities, and advanced reflexes.
      + Illusion can keep a secret. Many secrets, even.
      + She has two dominant eyes.
      + She's also trained herself to be relatively ambidextrous- she's very old, after all.
      + Her Battle Umbrella is not a weapon to be taken lightly, nor is her ability in using it.
      + Vampire claws can cut through thin armour and clothing, but human flesh is literally torn apart.
      + She can drain an adult human-sized being in less than 30 seconds. Nobody alive knows this, however.






    ~ Faction Profile ~


    Image


    "Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I hope your time has been pleasant!"

    - Faction -
      + The Warriors of Divine Light.
    - Rank -
      "Principal. Duh. Cuz I'm the Principal?"
      + WDL Academy Principal/SS Demon.
    - Class -
      "Nope~"
      + N/A.
    - Title/s -
      + Lord of Illusions.
      + Lord of [REDACTED]
      + Principal of the WDL Academy.
      + Loli-Principal.
      + [REDACTED] of the [REDACTED]
      + [REDACTED] of [REDACTED]
      + The [REDACTED]
      + The [REDACTED] of the [REDACTED]
      + The [REDACTED]
    - Loyalty Level -
      "I am loyal to the end. I swearsies."
      + 10/10.






    ~ Miscellaneous ~


    Image


    "Such a delicious meal, mmm, I regret draining you dry."

    - Biography/History -
      + "Tsk, asking a cutie like me such a personal question is so rude!"
    - Other -
      + Illusion almost forgot her real name.
      + She actually enjoys being called Lusy, and getting her head patted.
      + Illusion speaks with Hex Code #FF0000.

- Character Themes -
+ "Your blood.. Mmm.. It's so delicious..~" - Your Blood Makes Me Smile, by What Comes to Life.
+ "Her universe is an ocean of blood." - Vampire, by Xandria.
+ "Don't ask me about my family." - Room of Angel, from Silent Hill 4.

"I'm not just another cute little girl, you know."

Image







~ Bonus Gallery ~


- Loli Illusion -
"Even if I'm a loli, underestimating me is bad for your health."
"I.. can't keep myself in control any longer.. Ahaha... hahaHA~!"
"Your blood, let me taste it.. I just want to play, I promise!"
"Do you know the meaning of solitude?"
"If you think I'll let you go, you're dead wrong."
"Hi, um, have you seen my hat anywhere?"
"Just because I'm small doesn't mean you should underestimate my power. I could tear you in half with one hand."
"Keep quiet, I'll protect you."
"It's such a beautiful night, wouldn't you agree?"
"Melting away one more time.."
"Oh, you like bloomers, do you? Jeez, how crude for you to stare like that!"

Full-size Avatar.

- Adult Illusion -
"What a lovely night."
"Such delicious insanity."
"The burden of sins is heavy."
"Oh? I'm needed? Please, excuse my tardiness."
"Shattering like glass in a broken mirror."
"Sometimes.. I just can't help myself~! Help me..
"Nobody ever taught you to knock first?"
"Something's going on here. I feel it."

So begins...

'Illusion''s Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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ImageImageImage
The entire interactions passed through Vesper like the wind. It is heard, but there were no notable reactions from her. She saw no purpose in it. Though, there was that moment that JoJo jokingly said that he can hold her hand. Of course, she had seen how inviting his hand was at that moment even with his carefree noting. Still, she did not do anything about it. That was because she has her manners and moreover, "Don't touch me!" Those words repeated inside her head and she need not to be told again. That was both a curse and a gift.

Nevertheless, she allowed those slithering thoughts be converged into a ball and left in the corner of her mind. It was not the time for them to fill her to the brim. Instead, she took her seat and watched Rick's presentation even if she had already known the things that were being discussed. This included the early appearance of the brown-tall man. She is rather used to Illusion's machinations. In any case, the questions that had been thrown by JoJo or the disinterested ones by Ashley and the brown-tall man have been heard by her. She did not see anything odd about it or the request of the one with the scarf called, Vistra and even JoJo about using the phone. It is only fair as all of them have someone that must be worrying after them. Indeed, someone.

"You'll be in their care now. Be grateful to them, Hime."

Her eyes of purple momentarily lost all of its glow, but it was just for a second as she focused her attention on the schedule sheet Rick had handed each of them present in the room. "Thank you, Rick." Her polite mannerisms were indeed a reflection of her upbringing with a graceful bow of the head to mirror her cultural heritage. It was done flawlessly, and yet it had a mechanical timbre to it. Afterwards of her expression of gratitude, she read the content which was familiar to her and there seemed to be no changes to it. That should be natural as she had been staying here longer than the rest who had just recently arrived. Anyway, she took hold of the paper and stood from her seat as everyone prepared to leave the room.

But before them, Illusion was standing in the doorway. She was as fleeting as her name is, truly symbolic. At any rate, she shared a few words about someone named Dawn Memoli and pet food. It made her wonder if it was an animal that they would care for like those pet projects that her teacher had invoked during her middle school days. The whole class would take care of the classroom pet, a pair of rabbits. As such a question entered her mind. Was it a rabbit? There was flicker of interest behind her eyes as she waited for this Dawn to be presented fully. However, she was not sure it was a rabbit anymore as JoJo seemed familiar with this Dawn who finally showed herself after Illusion left.

This was.... what was the word for this feeling blooming a bit inside. She could not pinpoint it yet. At that time, Dawn had introduced herself to Rick who was nearest and then Vistra introduced herself. She simply watched the interactions, until it finally clicked inside of her. Ah.. yes, "Disappointing." Her word came out even though, she believed that this all happened internally. Still, her expression remained pristine as a treasured painting in a museum. Her disappointment however, did not stemmed from the knowledge that Dawn and JoJo knew each other and apparently, he was the one that JoJo had contacted earlier. She was disappointed because, "You're not a rabbit." That wasn't meant to be heard.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by Tanman
Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade
Image

Rick’s reply was as cordial as she expected, agreeing and not even batting an eye to the nickname she had given him. Either way, her request seemed to be deemed enough to move the focus away from her and on to little Vistra, who, like JoJo and herself, was concerned about her family. No hesitation or second thoughts. Just immediate genuine concern. In some ways, it made Ash feel worse that she hadn’t just spoken up and asked her own questions immediately, though it was mildly comforting to get some of her answers indirectly thanks to the kid. Well, it was too late to regret it now. She’d sort it out later, without all these dweebs eavesdropping. Sighing a little, she listened listlessly to the conversation, only briefly sitting up as Rick somehow tossed a piece of paper over to her, a cute trick he must have practiced a lot.

Catching it, she looked the sheet over; finding it to be some sort of schedule, detailing classes and the like, and it even had a few useful bits and pieces on it, including a map of the local area and some phone numbers. Where was this earlier when she’d first been trying to find this place? Waving it above her head, she briefly asked why she was only getting it now, Rick politely reminding her that she had been handed one when she first arrived. Not entirely surprising that she’d already lost it, and she was happy the attention didn’t remain on that point for long at all, as Rick swiftly continued on to allow that other boy a chance to ask some questions. Caius was his name, Ash giving him a bit of a sideways look. Seemed he’d pulled his head in a little at this point.

After a delay, it seemed he finally settled on a question, raising his hand into the air with a pointed finger. "I need a drink. Where's the bar?" He asked, though unlike Ash’s half-joke with the catering, this one was dead serious. Honestly? She could do with a stiff drink herself, so she couldn’t exactly blame him. It was a lot to take in at this point. Rick was surprisingly prepared to answer the request, having already added the address to the bottom of his sheet, causing Ash to raise an eyebrow. The boy probably had a past history of alcohol addiction, so assumedly, this was another showcase of the amount of research Detective Dick had done into each of them.

Rick, satisfied that he’d helped with the basic requests of the group, moved over to open the back doors, Ash eagerly climbing from her seat and ready to start moving again. She’d had enough of sitting still at this point. It seemed that Rick was offering another tour of the facilities, something Ash pertinently decided she’d do well to attend and pay a bit more attention this time. Not to mention the fact Rick offered to pay for their lunch, she was starving by this point. “That’s the most important thing you’ve said all day. I’m in.” Ash stated, confirming her attendance to the tour. It might give her a chance to speak with Rick too, depending on the others.

Filing out as a group, it seemed that Illusion was back once more, with what was probably another one of the half-demons. Folding her arms, Ash watched her be introduced as Dawn, simply scrutinising her appearance before JoJo pushed forward, a clear tone of recognition in her voice as he spoke her name. Honestly, who hadn’t this boy met at this point? Well, whatever. Didn’t really matter to her at all. Nodding only briefly as Dawn politely introduced herself, Ash cocked her head slightly as the conversation was slightly derailed overhearing Vistra’s phonecall. Turning back to Dawn, the chick from earlier that’d so rudely knocked her over seemed to go full ditz mode as she commented something about her not being a rabbit. Ash eye rolled, before coughing politely.

“With that ‘genius’ insight from Vesper, I’d like to keep moving, and eat sooner rather than later - before we end up meeting the clown JoJo had for his third birthday party.” Striding forward, Ash pivoted a bit, her hair whipping around. It wasn’t the best sarcastic joke, but at least it wasn’t directly insulting anyone that much. Leading the way, since Ash knew where her dorm was at this point, she glanced back towards the group, but was actually looking past them. She frowned a bit, but turned back to face the front, trying not to make it obvious that something was bothering her. Where exactly had her bike gone?

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by Zalgo
Rick Brackwall

It was almost as if Illusion knew his test of leadership was going too well and decided to throw another obstacle in his path to a smooth execution. After basically insulting the girl she had brought forth she disappeared, leaving him to pick up the pieces.

“Oh. Um. Hello. Sorry, I didn’t, um. I was Jojo's roomate, back home. I'm Dawn Memoli, but Principal Illusion already told you all that.”

At this point he was not surprised by the going trend that everyone JoJo ever met would show up here. The man certainly dragged a lot to this place when he arrived. Nonetheless Rick seemed no less pleased to meet her as he did the others.


"A pleasure to meet you Ms. Memoli. My name is Rick Brackwall. I see you've met our esteemed principle Ms. Illusion. I must say, what she lacks in tact she makes up for in spacial transit."

He shook her hand, his grip steady yet gentle. He was nothing if not polite to the new arrivals of the WDL, a standard policy for him. There was never a reason to be rude to someone. If he had grievances to settle he'd settle them properly.

"Thank you so much. It's been a year since I talked to my Papa and it's a big relief to know he'll be safe."


"I'm glad to hear that. Anytime you wish I'll lend my phone so you may contact him."

At least until they were given the clearance to own phones of their own and talk to their family freely. They'd need to start grasping their responsibilities first though. That much he was fairly certain.

"You're not a rabbit."


Rick questioned the response but had nothing to say once Ash chimed in.

“With that ‘genius’ insight from Vesper, I’d like to keep moving, and eat sooner rather than later - before we end up meeting the clown JoJo had for his third birthday party.”

Not much love for diplomacy this day it seemed.


"All joking aside though Ash does have a point. We should continue onward."

He turned and motioned for Dawn to follow as he started walking on his way to lead the rest to their rooms.

"Come, Dawn. I'll offer explanations on the way. I'm just showing everyone to the dormitories at this present moment."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Helena Kingsley Character Portrait: Leviathan
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Leviathan put on a pretty good performance of looking shocked as he was seized upon, striking eye contact briefly with the form of his adoptive daughter just as the doors of the van swung closed and she was driven off elsewhere.

The look of worry evaporated from the man's features once the young woman was out of sight.

When the men relinquished their hold upon him the demon took a moment to adjust his jacket and gave a magnanimous smile in response to their apologies.

" No need to apologise. I quite understand. Pleasure working with you gentlemen."

Once they had departed he paused in order to scoop up Helena's phone and bag from the ground by the bench. The head of the rabbit toy protruded from the bag.

Hm. He'd best make sure that Helena received this back. And he had just the person to make sure she got it.

----

Helena was feeling about as good as someone could after being drugged and flung into the back of a van by a bunch of strangers. Her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, and she had lost all feeling in the arm she'd been lying on top of since... when exactly had she ended up in there? Helena could more or less remember sitting in a park messing round with her phone and waiting for something and then...

They were in a garage, several armed men beside her. The man, noticing she was waking up, spoke. "Move your legs. We need you to cooperate with us, okay?" There was concern in his voice, however he hurried Helena forwards.

She felt herself being hauled onto her feet and caught a glimpse of men and guns, a thing that regardless of what she remembered was a cause for alarm.
A guy was telling her to co-operate. Helena wasn't sure she had a choice. The young woman was pushing her limits even trying to keep up as she was half-dragged along and not throw up, so fighting anyone off seemed pretty much out of the question.


It was at least in part due to this that it took her a few moments to look up when another spoke up.

A voice broke out into the room and into Helena's thoughts. " I'll take her from here, gentlemen.."

The girl lifted her head, peeing groggily between wavy frond of ginger hair in an effort to try and work out what on earth was happening.

Illusion smiled down at the girl, gently taking her hand. Despite only holding Hel's hand, the girl felt herself being kept upright by the lolita she was now being escorted by. " I must apologise.. Our time is short, and we needed to get you here as soon as possible. Rest assured, your father will be informed of your safety- I'll make sure of that personally.." She smiled warmly at Helena, a comforting smile, much like that of a mother.

With the introduction of the newest individual, who, at the very least was not pointing weapons at her, Helena followed along, not sure what else to do, as she began to recall more of the situation.
"Wait.." she mumbled, pushing some of her hair from her face.
"Did...did I just get kidnapped?."

Illusion smiled at the petite girl beside her, smirking. " Yes. Technically. But don't worry, you're actually safer here than you were with your.. Father.." She lead Helena to a stairway, and took her up it.. " I'll be frank with you, little Helena, you're not human. In fact, you're far from it."
The small girl shrugged, looking back over to Helena to make sure she wasn't staggering too much.
"It'll wear off eventually, don't worry.."

"I don't FEEL a lot safer.." the girl responded as she tried to work out where to put her feet on the steps.
That was pretty true. Life with her father had been, if a little weird at times, never quite as bad as this.

" Well, now that you're here, we're going to teach you how to defend yourself well enough that you'll be safe anywhere. There's six other people in very similar positions to you, so try to get along with them." Illusion smiled.
""I'm Illusion, by the way. Sorry for the kidnapping, but there were some other people after you, so we had to get there first."

"Other people?" Helena asked.
"Um..I can't help but wonder if you um... got the wrong person or something? I mean... I'm not..very.. important. "

" Helena Kingsley, raised by one Mister Green. 18 years old." Illusion grinned. "We have exactly the right person.
"
Eventually, the pair reached the top of the stairwell, stepping out into the sunlight. Illusion smirked.
" However, I don't have enough time to spend with you, so if you'll forgive my rudeness, I'll be doing this." Illusion clicked her fingers, a portal opening wide like reality was cracking like a broken mirror, She gently pushed Hel through the portal, stepping through after the girl herself. A small smirk on her face as the two arrived just as JoJo began to walk out of his room.


Helena had just been pushed through a portal. Even without considering the fact that she had literally just crossed through space into another location, if she'd not been feeling sick enough before defying the laws of physics, she definitely was now.

The girl stumbled forwards and clasped a hand over her mouth, strong feeling of nausea at least temporarily overriding some of the very important questions she was contending with. Like what she was doing there, why these people even knew she existed, let alone wanted to kidnap her and teach her something, and what on earth was meant by 'not human'.

As it stood her primary concern was not throwing up onto the shoes of the young man who had just strolled out of his room in front of where she'd materialized.

Achievable goals.

Illusion held a bucket under Hel's head as she gagged, looking up at the obviously startled JoJo.
"Don't mind us, she's your sister. Walking through space isn't something she's very used to."

JoJo, taking a step back to avoid any excess vomit, chuckled softly.
"Just.. how many of us are there?" He looked at Illusion, obviously confused. "Seven. Rick, JoJo, Caius, Ash, Vistra, Vesper and Helena."

JoJo nodded.
"So.. we're all here now?"

The vampire girl, still holding the bucket, nodded.
" About time.. I'll be late for my meeting."

JoJo bit his lip, his thoughts taking him elsewhere as Illusion bent down a little and asked Helena.
"Are you feeling better?"

"Not really..." Helena mumbled, clutching hold of the bucket in both hands, stomach acid burning the back of her throat. She had been kidnapped, drugged, catapulted through the fabric of reality... admittedly social humiliation seemed like a pretty minor addition to her problems at the time, but publicly throwing up was still far from a wonderful way to introduce herself.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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Within the isolated kingdom of her own making, Vesper mechanically followed the others with the lead of Rick. It was the same path she had taken in the past months. That is why it wasn't necessary for her to continue with the tour, but she had found that warm connection that had been lost to her for a long time. She didn't want to separate from that so quickly, even if there was a dull prick carving deep inside her consciousness from the casual conversation between JoJo and that of Dawn who was not of course a rabbit.

As natural, she erased that stain inside her blank canvass of emotions as unneeded. Their conversation, their talk, their apparent closeness, those were all things to be expected from friends and roommates. Dawn was a person in JoJo's life that she does not know about. Someone important whom he considered leaving for if it wasn't for her appearance in this place. He would have gone. She gathered all of that from the shared dialogues between the two. She was selfish isn't she? Her words that she had told him before, "If you go take me with you..."

She was holding him back and even knowing that, her hand could not help but want to reach for him. Her mouth does not want to speak words to take back her previous declaration of wanting to come with him. Instinctively, she was trailing behind JoJo and Dawn who were talking to each other. Her hand slowly raised itself as it seek to grasp him, but at the very last minute, she pulled away as JoJo and Dawn entered his room. Her hand instead settled itself onto Rick's sleeve. Her fingers clung to the fabric of his uniform. The tension slowly ebbing away from her. "Rick." Her deep violet eyes gazed at him. Its emptiness having a mysterious charm. "May I hold on to you like this for a while?"

Her voice despite its calm and distant tone related a sense of urgency only notable to those who have been observing her for a long time. She was not touching Rick's skin, but was simply gripping onto his sleeve like a lifeline. It is a fact that Vesper was perfectly stoic and the embrace she had towards JoJo was indeed surprising. But, Rick in a way also registered in her closed-off world, a familiar figure she could hold onto for now. That's because she has no confidence that she would be able to restrain such selfishness towards JoJo if she allowed herself and he did not deserve that as well as his friend, Dawn.

The answer was not heard as a new person had literally came out of nowhere courtesy of Illusion. This red-haired girl was vomiting towards the bucket that Illusion had given. The girl was probably not used to the sudden change and the feeling of swirling which Vesper assumed. She had likened it to motion sickness. At the same time, it would also appear that JoJo and Dawn exited the room. She looked at them and at JoJo, before averting her gaze and releasing Rick's sleeve in the process. Then, she approached the still vomiting girl. "Excuse me." She announced herself first and lowered herself to be at the same level with the red-haired girl. "This would ease what ails you." There on her hand was a small vial containing a golden brown liquid. "It is powdered cinnamon with honey." She then stood once the vial was taken. As to why she had it with her, she had suffered nausea when Illusion had used such a mode of transportation to her before. Though, she didn't vomit. After that, she returned not to JoJo's side but to Rick's and gripped onto his sleeve once more. As to what she felt or not, it cannot be seen outwardly as she reflected only a pristine doll.

ImageImageImageDeep inside, there was a whirl of unknown attacking her. However, she had chosen to erase it, considered it inconsequential. That is how it was and always had been her way to cope as a statement once more floated inside of her strongly.

"Is she really a..monster?"

The question was answered on the other side of the world at the same time, "Of course, she is." Even with a calm tone, it carried such a heavy weight as eyes of deep blue that at times considered purple held intense emotions of anger. "Don't use that tone on me, Lucius." This was said with a strong tone which held such authority. Lucius as he was called shook his head in the hilarity of the situation and with dismay. "Just admit it. Father." He spat that title as if it was disgusting to even have conceded to it. "You think you can protect her? That harlot? Did you even think of her as a daughter?" A sardonic smile flashed across his lips and the occasional slip of a chuckle. "I did you a favor. You wanted to get rid of her don't you? If anyone finds out about her, the reputation you protected so much for the ambition of becoming Prime Minister will crumble like the tower of babylon."

This statement earned him a punch filled with rage as it hit his right jaw. The force made him fall on his back and the formation of blood inside his mouth could be tasted and felt. "You stepped out of line. Don't think because you are my son, that you won't be put into your place. She's your sister!" Cold brown eyes holding seething rage looked down at Lucius. He should feel fear, right? But, there was none of that. Instead, he felt disgust and humor. Well, this entire situation was fuckin' funny. He spat out the blood inside of his mouth upon the lavish carpet without hesitation and began to massage his jaw. before speaking. "I guess we're father and son, after all. Because, I learned how to step out of line from you." He met the eyes of his father without any sign of being intimidated. That remark of his should earn him another punch, but what followed was the sudden opening of the doors to his father's office and,

"Lucius!" Arms embraced him and the scent of chamomile surrounded him. This was the scent of his mother. "What do you think you're doing Hiro!?" The panic and the clear despair echoed in her mother's voice as his father stepped back. "Cecile?" Hiro was clearly surprised at the sight of his wife who was supposed to be out of town. "I was right coming back here! How could you hurt our son!? Is this about that monster!?" Hiro calmed himself as he clenched his fists that were clearly shaking. "She's not a monster. She's Vesper. She's---" He wasn't able to continue as Cecile slapped him strongly. "Don't speak that name to me! Don't even try! That thing which is the symbol of your infidelity to me!" Cecile's beautiful face was twisted in agony and hatred as tears overflowed from those emerald eyes. She then helped Lucius up on his feet. "Let's go."

Hiro could not do anything to retort. That's because his wife had completely forgotten that Vesper was her own child not his from another woman. As for Lucius, he followed his mother out but not before, delivering a few words for his father's ears only as he passed by him. "You can't keep her safe and who's fault is that, Father?" Hiro turned to face his son, but only the closing of the doors met him and all he could say is, "Chikushō!"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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Image Vistrawasn't sure of what to say about her new room. On one hand, Yay an actual bed to sleep in. She finally had a roof over her had again after a year of sleeping under a bridge. Plus, this place was so much bigger than her old room. Since she lived at the church she shared a room with her dad. It was rather cramped, but very cozy.

The thing that bother Vistra about this room was how dull it was. It had everything one needed to survive, but it looked like no living person had ever stepped in her before. She pursed her lips and shrugged her backpack off. Luckily nothing had broken in her fight and hurried flight. The blood vials were fine, as was everything else. With the two hundred dollars she had and whatever she got paid here she could spruce up the room. The one she shared with her dad was filled with book and movies posters, as well as piled high with books. She knew her dad thought the vampire movies were stupid, but he let her decorate the room with their posters anyway.

Maybe she'd get him to mail her them.

Vistra sighed, and pocketed one of the blood vials and her knife. Her bible she put on her bed, and everything else stayed in the backpack for now. She'd fully move in later.

Making her was back to the group Vistra noticed that they had a new arrival. She smiled, and waggled her fingers at the girl. 'Hello! Nice to meet you. Do you work here, or are you new like me?'

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by Zalgo
Rick Brackwall

What would a day full of unexpected surprises be without another unexpected surprise?

Illusion dropped into the hallway they were in, bringing with her yet another young lady. The ginger girl was mostly occupied with a feeling of nausea whilst Illusion stood by with a bucket.

"I hope the uneasiness is not too great. Everyone's first time translocating via spacial repositioning is certainly an experience." He assured the girl, for what his words were worth.


Of course his attention was brought back over to Vesper who had previously been holding onto his sleeve. He'd of answered but it was rather concurrent with the arrival of Helena. Naturally he'd accept, understanding that she has an important reason for doing so. Well, important to her, which is what mattered. If it comforted her he would be remiss to tell her otherwise.

When Vesper offered her own tincture of motion sickness remedy to Helena Rick's smile grew just a subtle shade warmer. It was nice to see the others offering genuine care for each other. It was the kind of nature he welcomed to any group environment. Of course it was rarer in martial institutions such as the WDL where loss can create emotional detachment and callousing. While care bred unity it also invited greater repercussions from such losses.


Of course Vesper returned to grasp his sleeve and Vistra had returned from seeing to her room to also greet the new sibling. It was all going well enough so far. Of course before she could disappear he figured he'd mention Angel's message to Illusion even though she was quite aware of the meeting already.

"Ah yes, Angel had mentioned the meeting earlier when he was detaining an individual earlier. I doubt he'd wait on attending the meeting to interrogate the intruder but it certainly is a curious happenstance."

Might as well mention that matter since talking solely about the meeting would be redundant he figured. It definitely was a curious matter, not a common occurrence. The fact that it happened on this day in particular was even less common. As a matter of fact it seemed the way that all these seemingly disconnected occurrences weren't a matter of coincidence. After all, it was years before another one of his blood showed and all of a sudden all seven of them were gathered in one place. Surely this couldn't simply be the result of random luck. It seemed much too far from random.


Naturally he bent over to assist Helena up from the floor once she regained her bearing. Afterwords he proceeded to introduce the remainder of the rooms until they were all acquainted with their living spaces. Giving time to let them settle in first he let them know where to find him when they were ready for the tour.

After they were done most of them arrived to join the tour. Caius was notably absent but Rick knew with a fair degree of certainty where to find Caius if he was needed. On the other end of the spectrum Vesper had not left him for the duration of the wait, still clinging onto his sleeve. He wasn't going to question the matter, not right now at the very least. It was rare to see her quite so invested in the going ons around them so he was quite wary of asking too much and spoiling this progress.

With the rest it was a varied arrival. Some were more keen to linger than others but luckily his promise of free lunch at the end had sparked the interest of all who weren't previously inclined. Food was an excellent motivator it seemed.


And with that, they were off. They saw the grounds as Rick discussed the various buildings and their respective functions. By the end those who were attentive enough would be certain to confidently navigate the WDL base, sans restricted areas of course. After all was said and done Rick, true to his word, took them out to eat.

They approached the entrance to a rather lovely upper end restaurant he knew in the area. Given how they were in Rome it was easy to find a good Italian restaurant. It was called The Capelli D'angelo, alternatively known as The Angel's Hair. Rick ate here on the rare occasions he decided to eat out. Usually he reserved such occasions for when he wanted to better relations with another member using expensive Italian food and relaxing atmosphere to produce a fruitful conversation.

Coming up to the door he stepped in, welcomed by a greeter as he entered.


"Hello there good sir. Table for... ?"

"Seven."

Rick answered the greeter. The man went off to find them seating. Luckily there was relatively few customers right at this hour so the wait was fairly short. After a brief period the man returned to show them to their table.

It was a nice seat, a large booth right by a window with a rather lovely view of the main church, the WDL headquarters. With pleasant lighting and decor they were now free to order from the menu's distributed to them.

"Here you go. Order whatever you like, it's on me."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by zody
| Jonathan |


Jojo snapped out of his daze, his thoughts having really been about whether he should decline lunch and go and hunt down some place to get dinner. He looked back over as a few people crowded around the newcomer. Noticing Illusion's name listing, he figured she must've been the one called Helena. He noticed Vistra, Dawn, Rick and Vesper all chime in with assistance or introductions, and he leaned against his doorframe as he closed the door, smiling warmly. If they were gonna be family, then they might as well enjoy being family, right? He looked down as Rick helped Helena up, and nodded. "These guys seem pretty alright. I think I'll be staying for quite a while, actually. Seems like a pretty chill place, as long as I get my hands on a sword or two as well.." Jojo's inner monologue was cut short as he looked up, Rick showing the others to their respective rooms. He heard the slam of a door and noticed Caius was missing, and he shook his head. He hadn't changed at all- although he wasn't in the middle of getting his face beaten in, so that was an improvement. Jojo chuckled to himself softly, pushing off the doorway to begin moving after the others.

His eyebrow raised softly as he noticed Vesper cling to Rick's arm. A small smile crossed his face. "Well, I'm glad she's found someone to be close with. I was a bit worried after.." Jojo sighed a little hard, he'd had enough of the depressing thoughts, so he hopped in place once and grinned. Fake it 'til ya make it was his motto in times like these, and if anyone had noticed his mood dampen slightly before his little bunny hop, they'd also notice it had evaporated as soon as his feet had touched the ground. "Okay, alright. Let's have a good day, and a good lunch, I'm starving!" His dialogue was mostly to himself, but anyone near him would've heard it. He eagerly followed the others, his face set in a kind of permanent half-smirk.

"I'm gonna treat my new family like the best darn people in the world."






| Illusion |


Illusion smiled as the others took over for her, stepping back, but leaving the bucket on the floor. A small smirk lit her features as she crossed gazes with Dawn, her grin widening slightly as she turned away. Everyone was finally, finally in one place. Her job was done, and she could never see them again if she wanted. Honestly, she really just wanted to go and have some nice, warm blo- Rick broke through her thoughts, reminding her of both her meeting and Angel. A small groan escaped her lips, and she put her hands on her hips. "Psh, Angel is a meanie anyways! But I gotsta go." A long, over-exaggerated sigh followed the sentence, and the lolita crossed her arms. "Party pooper, Rick. Party poopah~" Her lips formed a pout before she took a step backwards, saluted cutely, and tumbled into one of her broken-mirror portal things.

As she fell through the shattered space, she crossed her arms, hovering midair in the empty darkness. A sigh left her lips as she closed the portal behind her, floating upside down in the shadow-filled abyss. She closed her eyes, opening them only when one of her portals opened and another voice filtered into her private darkness.

"So, they're all there?"

"Yup, Lusy promised and Lusy provided~"

"And?"

"And what, ya old fart? I did what you asked, and somehow that Helena girl turned up outta nowhere, so that's that. Can I go home now?"

"Do you mean your region in Hell, or your quarters in the Warriors of Divine Light?"


Illusion chuckled, rotating midair to look down at the reddish-golden swirl that floated below her.

"Tsk. No answer? Boring. I'll be off now. I'll have a little request for you later on."

"Of course you will," her eyes flashed, a smirk playing across the corners of her mouth. "You know I'm the only one you can trust. Not even your wife could be trusted with something like this, am I right?"
A long, hard sigh came from the swirling light, before it slowly began to recede into the crack it had come from. "You're expected back here for a meeting, too." With that, it was forced out of her dimension, and Illusion was alone once more, She raised her hands, a small piece of glass moving just before her outstretched palms. It contained Arthur, waiting in a chair in a board room, several members striding inside- noticeably missing was one Angel D'Brightaine. Illusion shook her head, pushing the fragment away and turning around.

There were thousands- millions, even- of fragments. She giggled softly, before pulling the fragment from before open and sliding through it to plop down onto a chair right beside Arthur. She giggled again, looking around the room. "Heya, guys~!"






| Angel |


A soft knocking on Rianne's door would've gotten her attention- unless she was too busy crying more. After a few moments, another few knocks hit the doorframe- a bit louder and more forceful this time.

"Door's open."
The door slowly opened, and in stepped one Angel D'Brightaine. He looked around the room, eyebrow raised, before his eyes fell onto Rianne. Compared to his sneer from before, his face actually fell a little. "I, uh, seem to have caught you at a bad time. I won't be here long." Rianne didn't look up, but acknowledged his presence with a small grunt. She shrugged. "What happened to your big boy attitude? Go on, it's not like I can cry anymore."

Angel strode over to her, a sigh escaping his lips. "I actually came to apologise, Ms Rianne. And, well, it seems like my apology couldn't have come sooner." Once he was nearby her, he knelt down, and pulled a key from his pocket. He slid it into the tracker around her ankle, causing it to pop off and fall to the floor. "Consider your house arrest lifted- your items.." He stood up, and left the room briefly before returning and dropping a duffel bag on her bed. ".. Are also back in your possession. Consider this my apology for being so crude earlier." He bowed at the waist slightly, expression somewhat stoic.

Her eyes followed his movements - although she appeared to be totally exhausted, she was attentive enough to catch the fact that he had just snapped open the lock on her ankle bracelet. The words that came afterwards could not have been more heart-lifting, though that wasn't to say that Rianne was going to immediately be on friendly terms with Angel. But someone like him... well, certainly he must have expected as much. "Apology not accepted," she said, kicking the stupid tracker away, causing it to fly toward the back of the room until it hit a wall. She zipped open the bag and procured her things, giving another side glance to the blonde haired man with a scowl. "Not yet, anyway. I'll give it some more thought and see if I'm still mad tomorrow morning."

Angel chuckled. "As expected, but you should take the tracker and give it back to Isaiah yourself- I'm sure you'd love giving him the finger to his face." He gave Rianne, a nod. "By the way, contrary to what I said earlier, you're quite the proficient exorcist. That Kane boy chose a good person to follow- despite her smoking habit." A wry smirk spread across his features as he left the room. "Take care, Sister." And the door shut behind him.






| Rinne |


Rinne watched from a distance as Kane and the new girl entered the dorm together. A sly smirk crept across her face as she observed them. "Wow, Candy, you're doing such a good job at keeping an eye on him. Really good. He's being seduced by a cute girl as I speak." With a sigh, Rinne went to go over to the dormitory, but she paused. "Ah, this is gonna be super suspicious. Which is precisely why.."

Rinne quickly ditched her gear on the top of the roof she was on, pulling open a duffel bag and changing into its contents. Within a few seconds, she'd effectively changed into a copy of the WDL's uniform- ironically, it was given to her for the very mission they'd asked her to undergo on their behalf, for the explicit reason of infiltrating their own compound to gather data- they'd not exactly wanted to have their affiliation with her organisation known if things went sour, so the sly cat had offered an excuse. Admittedly, it would've been much funner to meet Candy using the uniform and cornering her in an alleyway and-

Rinne coughed, narrowing her eyes as she adjusted the cap on her head. It'd been a while since she'd seen the boy.. would he recognise her? Did she look older? Did she get some weird wrinkles on her face? "Ha, seriously, c'mon." Rinne chuckled softly to herself, leaving the duffel bag on the roof. She shifted into her feline form, leaping down to the ground floor and sneaking in as a pair of students went through the door. They barely noticed her, and she moved over to the stairwell and began to move up it. Her intuition lead her to Kane's floor, alongside the fact that he wore the exact same deodorant he'd always worn, and Rinne would be damned if she couldn't recognise the scent.

A few moments later, Rinne in her human form with her uniform tucked in all proper and her hat covering her cat ears, happily knocked on Kane's door. She briefly paused, then knocked on the door loudly. If Kane remembered, it was a fairly specific three-knock pattern. Hopefully that girl wasn't there- and if she was, if she answered the door, that'd be a problem.

Rinne prepared her cutest smile just in case.






| Jonathan |


Jojo entered the room behind the others, idly following them as Rick lead the to a table for the group of them. Jonathan paused slightly, looking around the room. He'd gotten this odd chill down his spine a few moments ago, and he looked around the room for the cause. His eyes landed on a fellow academy student for a brief moment, before her looked away. Eventually, he shrugged, and followed the others to the table. He sat down at it, quite eagerly grabbing a menu. As Rick offered to pay for anything, Jojo chuckled. Part of him wanted to abuse Rick's offer, but he knew that'd just be plain rude. He eyed the menu, choosing a good old combo of spaghetti and meatballs- can't go wrong with that, right? He nodded to himself as he chose his meal, putting his menu down with a warm smile.

Once the others had settled down, he spoke. "So, uh, how's everyone doing so far? What a day, am I right?" He grinned warmly, leaning back into his seat. On the bottom of the menu was an advertisement for a stage play- Jojo didn't bother reading much more than the name, actually. He had much bigger priorities right now. Though, the name of the play stuck with him for some reason..

A Tale of Seven Children was quite the odd title for a play, after all.






The machine beeped softly in the background. A white room, with the blinds drawn. It was almost completely black inside, the sunlight barely reaching inside.
In the hospital bed lay a pale-skinned man, not moving an inch, nor very visibly breathing, but his heart rate was fine.
A few moments later, a nurse came into the room, carrying flowers. She placed them into the vase, looking over at the man, before checking the machinery beside him.
Everything seemed to be fine, and the man stayed sleeping peacefully. The nurse, nodding to herself in satisfaction, left the room.

She didn't notice his finger twitching.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Dawn Memoli
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#, as written by zody
| Jonathan |


Jojo gave Helena a smile as she responded, and would've replied if his meal hadn't been place down in front of him. He gave the spaghetti and meatballs a look-over, and happily licked his lips. Sure, he was plenty capable of cooking, but sometimes it was nice to be able to get away with not cooking (especially since a certain someone pestered him about cooking almost nightly). He looked up and nodded at Rick, giving him a quick thank you before his gaze moved over to Vesper. Itadakimasu.. it'd been way too long since he'd heard that. A soft chuckle left Jojo's mouth before he bowed his head in respect for a moment and then began to dig into his food. However, eyeing Ash steal the entire plate of bruschetta and Hel's subsequent call-out, Jojo couldn't help but smirk. He simply reached over and grabbed some of said bruschetta before eating it, all while ignoring Ash completely. If she was going to be rude, how would too, but he wasn't going to ruin the entirety of dinner over something this petty.

Hopefully Ash wouldn't do that, either.
As soon as the bruschetta had vanished into his mouth, his attention shifted back to his food. He ate it fairly quickly, obviously enjoying the food greatly. Conversation around the table continued, but once everyone had their food it became glaringly obvious that their attention had shifted. The table quietened down eventually, and Jojo was happy he wouldn't have to speak with his mouth full. After his food had been devoured, and everyone else had finished eating, conversation started up again. Eventually, however, the lunch had reached its definite end- Rick called over the waiter and stood, leaving with them and vanishing for a few moments before returning, receipt in hand. Jojo looked up at their leader, eyebrow raised slightly. His plate was awfully clean.

"In any case I'm glad to have welcomed you all to the WDL. For now I should return to my work and I'm sure you're all eager to set yourselves up for the days ahead. Do be aware we have a trip tomorrow so be prepared. I'll leave you all to your business, by this point I hope you're all quite well and able to navigate the streets here at the WDL. Good day and remember: If you have any concerns at anytime I or many of the staff here will be happy to answer them."

His message was directed at everyone, and Jojo nodded as he spoke. Having been here for quite a while, Jojo assumed, Rick probably did have some fairly important things to do. The trip tomorrow seemed.. interesting, to say the least. Jojo had no idea what was in store, but he nodded again nonetheless. He raised his hand, giving Rick a two-fingered salute and a grin. "Cheers, mate, thanks for chaperoning us!" He meant that honestly, although he was a little worried that his words would get misinterpreted- nothing on Rick's part, but just a little quirk Jojo had.

As the older man left, Jojo returned to finishing his food, eyeing everyone else before shuffling in his seat slightly. Actually, he'd probably be heading off as well- he wanted to make sure all of his stuff was in his room and hadn't been messed with. Jojo eventually finished his food- looking around the table once more. With a small smirk, he looked over at Vesper. "Hey, Sis, let's catch up later, yeah? I've missed you, so it'll be good to chat." He gave her a warm, wide smile before he pushed back his chair and stretched his arms above his head, groaning softly. "Ah, jeez, I need to sleep in a non-infirmary bed tonight.. That'll be great."

Stepping away from the table, he gave everyone present a grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you all, and I hope we can all get along. I'll probably roam around for a bit, but you all know where my room is, so.." He looked over at Hel again, smiling. "Also, I'm Jojo, I forgot to introduce myself earlier- pleasure to meet ya." He patted Dawn on the shoulder- a little habit he'd picked up as a silent way of saying goodbye. Offering everyone a wave as he walked away, he grinned once he was out of earshot. "Whoo.. so far so good- no super embarrassing moments.."

(for Rick input, Zalgo is thank)






| Angel |


With a hard sigh, Angel paused in his tracks. "ORIN, keep an eye on it- we have a meeting scheduled right now and I'd much prefer not to be late. If it causes any activity, activate the alarms and we'll come in full-force to destroy it. You'll also be cleared to use any means you see fit to pacify the threat, as per usual." He began to resume his march, idly reaching down to tap his blade. "I'll return personally and kill it myself." His march was quite brisk, and he began to almost speed out of the facility.

He paused a few moments later, however. "ORIN, alert all guards to keep away from the cell- seal off the area completely, but don't activate the sprinklers just yet. Act on anything you've seen appropriately, but do not touch the demon or the body it's possessing." He nodded to himself. If anything happened, ORIN would be able to let him and anyone else nearby know. When he was outside, he began to jog- he'd report the situation to Arthur after the meeting, and he'd be damned if he'd let that vampire appear before he did, regardless of a demon. As far as he was concerned, the threat was already contained.

Eventually, Angel half-burst into the meeting room. His eyes fell on the vampire sitting beside Arthur, and she grinned. "For someone who was so worried about me being late, you're awfully slow yourself." Angel screamed on the inside- the entire meeting would be filled with those little jabs and he knew it. Illusion's smile broadened.






"Sooooo.. Are you, like, ready to do this or like nah?"
"..."
"If you wait too long, you're gonna have issues, you know?"
"..."
"Ooookay, you're just being rude now. Stop it."
"I'll wait until later on."
"You, uh, sure? I mean you could literall-"
"I. Will. Wait."

A long pause.
"No need to be a shithead, yeah? Take your time, whatever, Jesus. Fuckhead."
"I'll wait until they leave- Then I'll introduce myself."
"What? To all of them? Like, seriously, dude?"
"No, just the one."
"That's creepy. Super creepy. You're a fuckin' creep, lmao."
"..."
"Jeez, fine! You're no fun! I just wanted your dumb ass to run in there and fuck around with shit but-"
"And add more to the stewing pot?"


There was silence as a reply.
"Aha, uh, fuck yeah? What else did you expect?" A pause. "Aaanyways, I got other shit to do, yo, so I'll leave you to it. Don't get caught or you'll be killed, yup. Ciao, shitface. Might wanna be fast."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Dawn Memoli Character Portrait: Eine Minerva
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#, as written by zody
-| ? |-
-| Jonathan Black |-Image


Jojo stepped out of the building, humming to himself softly. The staff had been nice enough, taking his confusion in stride as he'd helped the poor, confused Jojo out. His wallet was fairly full now, and he'd been lucky enough to find an atm that let him withdraw dollars in the exchange. Taking a few steps, he paused for a moment a little down the street. He spun around, coming face-to-air with Illusion. He looked down, raising an eyebrow. She held out a letter, grinning widely. "Lusy forgot to mention this, but we issue standard cards to our staff that acts as a credit card- all funds given per month and per hunt are automatically put onto this card, so be careful with it. You lose it, you're broke~" A playful smirk sat on her porcelain face, and Jojo reached over to grab the envelope. Illusion pulled it back, smirking, and giving Jojo a wink. "Buy Lusy dinner, first~" Jojo's eyebrow went up, and the vampire floated up in front of him and flicked his nose. "Lusy's just messing around, onii-chan." Her grin was sly, and Jojo took the envelope from her and she floated a bit around him. "Y'know, for someone who got in a brawl with a Tsuchigumo, you got out pretty good. You're alive, for one. Lusy thinks it'd be bad for you to get any more spider scares, though." Jojo narrowed his eyes, starting to walk. His assumption was right- she hovered beside him as he walked. "Anyway, now that you've got your cash settled, you're going shopping, right? Dinner preparations?" She grinned. Jojo had a bad feeling about what she was leading up to.

"So you're sharing your apartment with Dawn."

"I called it."


Illusion shrugged. "She came outta nowhere, y'know? So for now she'll be sharing your apartment. I'd suggest taking your little sister elsewhere. Or not. Up to you, but.." She grinned awfully wide. "Nevermind, your choice. Anyways, Lusy'll leave you alone now. Although.." She pushed her hand into a portal and withdrew it, pulling out a small yet thick, leatherbound book. It was locked with an odd contraption, a mix of key lock, combination lock and some other lock with a sharp pin in the middle of it. She offered it to Jojo, who took it. "You went through my stuff?"

Illusion laughed, sitting cross-legged midair and rolling her eyes. "Um, nooooo~ Lusy swears she didn't. Lusy doesn't swear she didn't catch the book when someone else dropped it while lookin' through your stuff- that person most definitely was not Lusy, mind chu!." Giving the floating vampire a somewhat stern look, only to be met with her trademark cheshire grin in return, Jojo sighed and smiled. "Thank you. Is everything else in my room, though? No more.. missing objects?" Illusion shook her head, spinning midair to sit upside down- defying gravity seemed to be her forte at this point. "Nuh uh. Everything's in your room. We have.. friends.. who move the.. thingies."

She waved her hand dismissively, her grin changing into the slightest of smiles. "Remember, it's my job to take care of you guys, so if you need anything," she pointed her hands at him, giving him fingerguns and an upside-down wink, "let Mama Lusy know, mhm mhm?" Jojo put his hand on his hip, nodding. "Thank you, Illusion. I'll keep that in mind. Oh, and, uh, thank you for the food earlier." Illusion shook her head. "Nono no no. Lusy. Call me Lusy!" She pouted, rotating midair so she was sitting the right way up again. "L-u-s-y. I'm too cute not to have a nickname, you baka, onii-chan. O-n-i-i-c-h-a-n~ Vesper is so cute when she speaks Japanese, right? Lusy was surprised that she even had emotions!"

Jojo laughed. "She's really got that kuudere reputation going on, huh? It's nice to see her again. It's been years, after all. I learned a bit of Japanese from her way back when, but it's been a long while, so I'm super rusty with it." Illusion put her hand in her palm, giving him a look. "Dun'chya think it's weird that you know two of these peoples, though?" Jojo nodded. "Definitely. But it's a good excuse to see them again, anyway. And the others seem like pretty alright people. I think I'll enjoy my time here, honestly. Although, if Dawn is staying, will Iggy be coming along too, I wonder?" Illusion raised an eyebrow. "Another harem member, huh?" Jojo blinked and gave her a look. "Huh?" The loli vampire just giggled and waved her hand again. "It's a joke, Jojojo, but pets are allowed. Might wanna inform your roommate of that."

Jojo nodded, before pausing. "Wait, aren't you in a meeting right now?" Illusion grinned and clicked her fingers, another copy of her popping into existence out of literal thin air. Jojo blinked, shaking his head and pouting. "Holy shitballs.. How do you even do that? More importantly, can I do that?" Illusion just shrugged. "Lusy's an amazing multitasker and no~" Jojo gave a disappointed click of the tongue, before coughing softly. "Well, it's been nice chatting, but I should probably go hunt down a supermarket before it gets dark. Gotta get some dinner, then I gotta hunt down Vesper.. Plus I also need to set up some stuff before I decide to sleep." Illusion shrugged, doing a flip midair before grinning. "I'm getting a few weird looks because I'm spacing out just a little in the meeting. So, so boring, y'know? No? Good. Don't do meetings, kid. Anyways, Lusy says take care, so take care~!" With that, her copy vanished before she herself floated downwards, dropping into the ground and vanishing into the cement path before vanishing completely. Jojo stood there for a moment, confused about what he'd just seen. Did she.. really just sink into the ground? Jesus Christ that's weird and cool at once.






Jojo lay on his bed, eyes closed. He hadn't specified anything about the meeting with Vesper- and later meant, well, any time. At least where he came from. A pang of hurt hit him in the chest- 'catch up later' was something.. He shook his head, exhaling hard. He'd originally intended on having Vesper over for dinner, but he hadn't been able to find her. Admittedly, he hadn't looked very hard. The more time he spent alone, the more he felt the need to just sit back and.. think things over. He'd already text Dawn to let her know that she was apparently sharing his room, so he could sit back and relaxed, think about everything, and then probably sleep.

"Okay.. let's order this.. First thing's first, I got attacked by a creepy spider lady who thought I was basically the Devil incarnate- and she was right, apparently. I could've died there, but instead I almost killed her?" He paused his inner monologue, biting his lip slightly. He hoped she'd gotten away safely- sure, she tried to kill him, but it was just a misunderstanding. Not to mention that she'd eventually given up and let him survive. He had no doubts in his mind that she could've killed him when she had the chance, but for some reason she chose to escape.

It might've been wishful thinking, but he hoped she actually held back on killing him for more of a reason than just 'kill him and die versus let him live and kill him later'. Illusion had brought up a valid point about there possibly being more, or another visit from the last spider lady he'd met.

Secondly, he'd met both Vesper and Caius again in the same day- in the span of less than ten minutes, no less, and they were all tied together by this 'Devil's Blood' deal. What did that even mean? What did that entail? He knew that he wasn't human- he'd proven that when he somehow managed to fight off the spider lady. On top of that, he was now across the entire country in a place where the supernatural was commonplace and apparently magic was an everyday thing-

Magic.

Resurrection magic.

Jojo's eyes opened and he shot up from his laying down position, immediately rocketing off of his bed and blasting out of his room. It'd been so long, far too long, but if he looked, it was possible, surely. The door to his apartment slammed loudly as he practically sprinted down the hall. The elevators were in use, so he took the stairs instead, leaping down them at the risk of tripping and hurting himself. It was a few hours since lunch was over, now, the sun starting to vanish below the horizon. An expression of determination was etched onto Jojo's face, the thought of his younger self and the bogus ritual spurring him on. If he ran into any of the other Seven or Dawn, he'd slow down only a little and give them an acknowledging nod before rushing off again.






Jojo'd been jogging for about 10 minutes when he found the library. It was still open, apparently being open 24/7. He leaped up the steps, taking three at a time before slowing down as he walked into the library. He looked around it, biting his lip. The library was divided into two sections- 'human' and 'supernatural'. Jojo browsed the human section for a few moments before realising that was the 'regular' portion of the library. Almost jogging, his hurried pace was probably quite noticeable. He made his way over to the 'supernatural' section, looking at the aisles for anything related to 'necromancy' or 'resurrection'- anything to do with spirits would do, actually.

He'd been in there for easily 10 minutes, frantically browsing every shelf he saw for something, anything, related to what he sought. His eyes darted from book to book, and he bit his lip. Sure, what happened happened a long, long time ago, but he wanted to see. Wanted to make sure..
His activities had undoubtedly not gone unnoticed by other residents in the library, and Jojo was far too absorbed in his search to really notice anyone calling to him. His attention completely absorbed by his anxious searching, he scanned bookshelf after bookshelf.

Rick had been sitting at a table, one hand on a book regarding the topic of necromancy, particularly the binding of souls. Having learned of several methods he might go about trapping the souls of the freshly departed he had stood and was on his way out when he noticed JoJo slip into an isle of bookshelves. It piqued his curiosity since it was an isle he had procured some of his reading material from, not to mention JoJo did not seem calm in his mannerisms.

Following up behind him he could see the man pouring over the spines of various books. Sidling almost silent he approached JoJo from behind, casting a glance over the titles he was going over.

"I'd say given your vivacious searching you are looking for a title on a particular subject, no?"

Jojo jumped. The sound of a voice signalled that someone had found him at least a little suspicious, and while he didn't particularly mind conversation, he didn't really want to waste any time when he had books to find. He whirled around, an excuse on his tongue before he realised it was Rick, in fact, who had spoken. A sheepish grin sliding across his face, Jojo reached up and scratched the back of his head. "Ah.. Yeah. A thought just hit me so I kinda, uh, ran over here to see if there was anything on the.. subject.. here." As he spoke to Rick, he looked to the side, reading the names on the spines of the books on the other shelf- he could chat, but he really needed to see if there was anything relevant to his search. Inwardly, he wondered. Sure, Rick seemed like a hardworking, studious person, but how silly was it that they'd met out of chance? For a moment, Jojo wondered if every one of the Seven had some sort of psychic link that drew them together- it'd explain how he'd met both Caius and Vesper, and how he seemed to keep running into people.

He grinned a little wider, turning to Rick. "What're you doing here, anyways? Working, I assume?" His sheepish grin shrank a little, turning into a small, warm smile. Rick was his sibling after all, so being warm and courteous was a given. However, Jojo did have one bone to pick with him, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it.

"Your paper. I still want an explanation." His smile was still sincere, but his eyes were narrowed slightly. He wanted answers.

Rick listened with care as JoJo spoke, moving through questions at a steady pace.

"Firstly I'm here reading up on spectral restraint and confinement." He answered frankly, making a fine effort of making a dubious topic sound unnecessarily arcane.

"To answer your second question..."

With a gesture of his hand several of the books JoJo had been looking over lifted from the shelf, suspended before Rick as he looked over the titles. Necromantic spells and rituals, forms of spirit conjuration. The mystery to Jojo's visit was starting to lift, albeit not with haste.

"The power I wield is the very same which you used to slay the Tsuchigumo."

Moving one finger forward after another Rick set each of the five books he removed back upon the shelf they once rested upon.

"What binds us together is also what makes us different. My affinity is paper. You will discover yours tomorrow."

With that he calmly folded his hands behind his back, his face cool but with the slight hints of a pleasant smile.

"I can see you are looking to deal with the dead. Might I ask who?"

He could only refrain so much from keeping his question from sounding accusatory, even with his intent being entirely benign.

Jojo stared in wonder at the magical floating books. He blinked, narrowing his eyes as they casually floated in front of his eyes. "Whoa.. Paper, huh?" He would've commented further, but by the time he'd actually spoken the books were already back in place. He shook his head, fixing Rick with a look. "I didn't slay anything. She decided to run away, although.." his worried look wasn't at all subtle, giving away his emotions freely. "I did hurt her pretty bad, so.. I guess she might have died later on. But it's not like I meant to kill her, y'know? Self defence and.. sudden superstrength?" He hadn't exactly figured out what had happened that night himself, and he let out a hard sigh.

Rick's next question caught his breath in his throat. Being asked about communing with the dead so openly wasn't exactly on his agenda, and Jojo swallowed before replying. He hadn't considered how Necromancy was viewed here at all, so perhaps openly searching wasnt' the greatest idea he'd had. Too late now, in any case. "I, uh.." Still, Rick's question had hit a mark he'd much rather have been left alone.

He half considered ignoring the question altogether, but.. Rick seemed alright enough, and they were family now, after all. Taking a breath to steady himself, he reached over to grab one of the books Rick had levitated and put back. "When I was younger a good friend of mine, uh, passed away. I got really into magic- well, fake magic- and tried to find something to bring him back. It was so unfair, y'know? He was, like.. still a kid and he.." Jojo paused, idly opening the book and scanning through it. His warm smile had disappeared, replaced with a surprisingly melancholy look for someone who, until that moment, seemed like a rather happy and bubbly person.

"Cancer took him way too early, so my younger self tried to bring him back." There was a slight hollowness to his words, a result of his realisation- he could've done it if he'd had the right spell or tools. "But.. I don't want to bring him back, no, just.. I wanted to know if it was possible. He's been gone for years. I wouldn't bring him back just out of my own selfishness, and I doubt he'd recognise me, regardless." His curiosity sated, Jojo placed the book back on the shelf. He turned back to Rick, the smile reappearing on his face, alhough his eyes betrayed his hidden sadness.

"Anyways, souls? That's a pretty interesting topic to be researching. Can I ask why?" His polite, happy tone had returned, and he faced Rick fully. It seemed his momentary sadness has outright vanished.

Rick was not deaf to his concerns. Ultimately he was happy that Jojo was taking the topic with good consideration since pulling up the souls of the dead was not to be taken lightly. As he finished talking Jojo changed the topic back towards him, something becoming an apparent defense mechanism of his.

"Not a topic far off from your own interests to be sure. I'm researching the means of confining spectral entities so as to prevent them from escaping and continuing to harm the living."

As of yet he had not lied but the whole truth was not a toothless subject to approach quite yet.

"For demons death is not so much an end as it is an inconvenience. Their forms can be destroyed and they simply return as their soul need not inhabit the physical form they control in this plane of existence. We have means of drawing the soul out but without a method of keeping them from returning to hell they simply replenish their forces whilst cutting away at the fine men and women you see about here along with any number of bystanders. With their safety at mind containing our spectral foes is a necessity in the long term."

Jojo nodded. "Makes sense. It's a stupidly uphill battle if your enemies just keep returning time after time. Hopefully the whole soul-catching thing becomes prevalent so we can go without many losses. Although.. I figured the WDL must've had some way to outright kill demons. They wouldn't be very worried of Exorcists if that wasn't the case.. Illusion seemed awfully scared of Arthur, but if it just means she gets sent back to Hell, I don't see why she would be." He shrugged, chuckling softly. Probably just reading into things too much, but you'd assume the WDL being the, well, only Exorcist organisation as far as I know of would've developed some sort of anti-Demon weapons."

Giving Rick a look, Jojo nodded. "Well, let me know if you figure out anything cool. I figure it'd be useful knowledge for our, um, assignments? Attacks? Missions? Not sure what they're called, but I assume that we're gonna be dragged into 'em, since.. y'know." Speaking openly about their blood was probably not the best idea in a library- who knows who could hear them?

"Well, now that I've gotten the knowledge I was looking for, I should probably head back to my apartment. And I promised Sis that I'd catch up with her, too, so I should hunt her down." He gave Rick a grin, before pausing. "So, uh, Boot Camp- what're we expecting, exactly? You've gone before, I assume, so do they change it every time, or..?" The sadness from before had vanished completely, and Jojo had settled back into his usual friendly, cheerful, informal demeanour.

As opposed to Jojo's informal demeanor Rick wasn't entirely able to drop his air of formality. Still, his pleasant smile helped to keep his occasionaly military posture and measured motions from coming across as too awkward.

"One thing I'd suggest in preparation is to acquire some holy water, though take care not to get any on yourself... It'd be wasteful"

Much like Jojo he took care not to speak directly of the subject that is their demonic heritage. He infused his last word with a certain emphasis which implied a rather negative result.

"As for Boot Camp it is changed each time so students cannot learn the trials that await them. There are certain factors that remain as a constant such as the matter that it is going to be primarily outdoors. I'd invest in some decent boots before then if I were you."

Rick began to walk, beckoning Jojo to follow him.

"I was on my way back to the dormatories myself. Let's talk for the while since our destinations are coterminous."

Jojo nodded. "Holy water seems like a good idea for sure." He took Rick's warning and made a mental note- if Holy water hurt Demons, it probably hurt them too, so he'd have to be extra careful with it. For one, it'd burn the shit outta him, and secondly he somehow doubted his skin burning away would go unnoticed by anyone nearby. He nodded to himself, affirming his thoughts, before looking back at Rick. "I.. see. So basically a glorified camping trip slash survival test or something? I'll go around tomorrow and see if there's any place I can grab a pair- although I noticed my wardrobe had some uniforms in there already. Are those mandatory for the trip or..?" As Rick moved, Jojo followed. He walked alongside Rick, listening as he spoke. "You use a fair few big words, y'know? It gives your studious nature away a bit. I enjoy reading, myself, but not enough to call myself a scholar or anything." His tone was joking and light, and he kept an even stride with Rick.

"So how long have you been here, if that's not too much to ask? You seem super knowledgeable about, well, everything, so I'd say a fair amount of time." He looked up at the now black sky, the street they walked down lit by rather bright street lamps. "Did you get dragged here after something decided to attack-" He paused for a moment. "Let me know if I'm pushing too far, yeah? I don't wanna cross a line. He gave Rick a courteous smile and changed the subject. If Rick wanted to answer his question, he would, but Jojo wouldn't foce him to. "I really just remember getting chased by this crazy spider lady, then getting tossed in the back of a jeep and waking up in the infirmary this morning. I'm honestly still a little out of it, haha." He chuckled to himself, reaching down with his left hand into his gloved right hand and scratching under it. If Rick looked closely, he'd noticed a bit of black under the glove.

"I just wanna know my new family, y'know? Seems nice to get to know everyone since we'll be here for, uh, forever?"

They made good time in returning from the library, speaking as they walked. "That is fair. I've been quite curious about my recently discovered siblings myself."

Passing under street lights Rick could gleam the hint of something under the glove, possibly a tattoo.

"All I can really say is that few join the WDL without learning of demons first hand. Given the requisites for our sibling's detection there's not one among us who hasn't come here in pleasant circumstances."

Rick sounded more serious as opposed to his earlier manner. It was evident that it was a topic without levity for him.

"I've been here for eleven years. Trained and taught under Arthur, with Candice filling in the gaps. Before long you should get to know them. They are good people, as are many who put their lives on the line in this order."

Rather than let the seriousness of the topic weigh the conversation down he decided to lean it towards more positive aspects, let Jojo appreciate what good the WDL offered.

"Our tasks aren't solely centered around combat either. Any means of helping to prevent demons from hurting the populations of humanity is a valuable, be it through combat, research, healing the wounded or even through diplomacy with the non-demonic entities we share this world with."

He took in a deep breath of the crisp fresh air, a cool breeze flowing past.

"Generally uniforms are required for most formal WDL business. You should have some measure of leeway since you are new recruits so bringing along some non-standard gear won't be too harshly measured, though they will go through your pack prior to leaving. Mainly it's a precaution, keeping recruits from bringing unprescribed weapons and phones. As they say, one bad apple ruins the bunch."

As they walked on they were soon approaching the front door to their dormatories.

Jojo nodded to himself. "So Rick's been here for eleven whole years.. No wonder he's so knowledgeable. And Arthur giving him the leader position makes sense, now. Although.. I wonder what it's like to be trained by the guy? I know he mentioned training us, but his training regime is pretty strict, I imagine. Hopefully it gives me enough time to slack off.. Hah, as if."

Jojo listened in as Rick continued. He briefly wondered who Candice was, but didn't bring it up. Nodding in response to Rick's explaination, he paused. "Non-Demonic Entities..?" Jojo figured everything not human was a Demon, but apparently he was wrong. Although, when he thought about it, why would that spider lady have attacked him for being the Devil if she was a part of his own forces? Inwardly, Jojo nodded to himself. It made sense, now. The world was full of supernatural things, and Jojo had be, erm, 'lucky' enough to get dragged into it. Briefly he wondered if that had anything to do with the mark on his hand, or his mother's sudden..-

Jojo paused, gasping in pain as he reached up and grasped his head, doubling over a little and clenching the fist that wasn't holding his head tightly. He needed to stop.
Stop thinking.
Stop. Thinking.

A few moments later, Jojo let out a long, heavy sigh and straightened up. He looked over at Rick, a small smile on his face, before he spoke. "Migraines. Someone totally put a seal on my memories." It was meant as a joke, but his delivery was off, so it came out only half-joking. He'd heard what Rick had said before his head exploded, and replied, albeit a bit late. "Makes sense that they'd be pretty strict. I imagine the supervision out there isn't exactly the best, so they'd need to be careful.. Although if we have magical powers, weapons, uh, don't seem too useful, y'know? I guess they just don't want any newbies waving around sharp objects around, heh."

Only shortly after Rick spoke he heard Jojo suddenly in the throes of pain. As he keeled forward in pain, clutching his head, Rick's first instinct was to reach for his phone to call for medical assistance. Before his hand could reach his phone however a thought reoccured to him. The mark on his hand. With the possibility of Jojo's pain being magical in origin Rick instead pulled out his new magnifying glass. It was finally time to take this enchanted item for a field test.

However there was nothing. He could see Jojo however there was no aura present around him. Rick pulled away from the glass tool a moment, a confused look on his face. "Hm? I could of sworn this thing was operating earlier." He turned and lifted the magnifying glass in front of the building to see if he could pick up anything. He spotted numerous human aura's, gentle in their emotional color spectrums. In one particular area there were a number of auras closely lumped together, some of them not human in origin.

"It does work... Then what? Could it be-" Before he could continue he heard Jojo speak up behind him. As it was made apparent after Rick turned on his heels to face him Jojo was now fine, having recovered from his sudden pain. Rick reassumed his mask of general friendly professionalism however a hint of confusion still remained.

"... Yes. We do recieve live weapons for training out in Boot Camp but I can suspect they don't want their recruits injuring each other outside of supervision."

Still keeping a bit of an eye on Jojo he opened the front door, stepping through and holding it open for Jojo since he was right behind him.

Jojo raised an eyebrow at Rick, yet said nothing until he was inside. He swore under his breath, reaching up to touch his nose and pulling his finger away. His fingertip was coated in blood, and he swore again. "Jesus Christ, I must be super stressed." He turned to Rick, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Never had a nosebleed before. Uh, anyways, I should probably get this cleaned up.. We'll catch up tomorrow, yeah? I figure we're all supposed to meet here to go to Boot Camp or something." He shrugged, before a bit of blood dripped onto his shirt. "Shit, I got no tissues. I'll catch you later, yeah? Have a good night!" He turned on his heel and jogged over to the elevator, hammering the button a few times.

It was starting to be rather concerning, Jojo's state. Rick could extrapolate that the bleeding might be in connection to some form of magic plighting Jojo but with his aura mysteriously hidden there was little way to identify it. He strolled over beside Jojo as the elevator started to descend. He wanted to inquire about his incident but given his increasingly erratic behaviour Rick deemed a lighter handed approach to be better suiting this situation. He simply produced a blank sheet of paper, one of the few he had remaining in his clip board out of the many notes and pictures he had saved of both Asmodeus and now Jojo, and offered it to him.

"Here. It's not ideal but it's a fair deal more disposable than your shirt."

Jojo gave Rick a thankful smile, taking the paper and immediately turning away and wiping his nose with it. After a few moments he turned back and gave Rick a smile. "Thanks, and sorry. It's a bit embarrassing just casually starting to bleed everywhere, ha." The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but Jojo narrowed his eyes. A migraine, then nosebleed, both occurring when he tried to think-

He mentally stopped himself. He'd already bled enough for that one night. For every night in his life, actually. When the elevator doors openeed, Jojo let Rick move inside first, then followed. He pressed the for the 7th floor and the doors shut. With a groan he cracked his neck, closing his eyes. "What a day, though. Waking up in the infirmary because of last night's spider lady special, then spendng my entire day meeting a family I never even knew I had. Reuniting with two people I haven't seen in years and then suddenly getting a nosebleed. Great time. I'll be leaving a 1 star on Yelp for sure." He grinned, silently hoping Rick got his joke. If there was a time for Rick to ask questions, it'd be now for sure.

Rick ushered a light chuckle at Jojo's summation. "Yes..." He responded in turn. Despite the humour to it there was a fair amount to his summation which was a fair amount of Rick's concern.

"It has been a noteworthy day. I do not prescribe to the frame of thought that coincidences happen simply by happenstance however. In this world of magic and mystery I find most unlikely events are the result of synchronous actions occuring unseen before the naked eye."


Rick looked directly over to Jojo, a mild show of concern as he continued.

"If something is happening and you do not understand it it is highly likely that there is someone that can. Never be afraid to ask people when you lack answers. It could save your life some day."

Sound advice for anyone really. Given the scenario however he hoped Jojo would not see harm in his warning as opposed to taking it as pressure from him to open up more. Just as he finished they reached the floor, the doors sliding open to reveal the hallway beyond.

Jojo nodded, stepping through the elevator doors and giving Rick a small smile. "No point dying when information is right there to be given, right? I'll ask if I ever need anything. No reason to really seclude myself, honestly." He bowed to Rick at the waist a little. "Thanks for chatting with me. It was good. I should probably be going now, though. Got a lot to do before the night is over, haha." He reached over and gave Rick a firm pat on the shoulder and a warm grin. "Have a good night, Rick. Don't stay up too late, yeah?"

With that, he moved to his room and opened the door, giving Rick a nod as he vanished inside and the door locked.

"I shall not. Same to you of course, and good night." He bid Jojo farewell before he disappeared behind his door. Rick himself continued on to his room. His night was not over but he knew not to leave himself exhausted for tomorrow.






Jojo had spent at least 10 minutes cleaning himself up. He glared at himself in the mirror, wiping at the bloody stain below his nose with the wet tissue. With a loud sigh, he tossed the paper into the bin across the room, fist pumping when he got it in. Giving himself one more look in the mirror, Jojo's eyes narrowed.

In one day, he'd met Vesper again, recovered from being attacked by a spider lady, found the weird book that he'd been keeping in his junk box his entire life, and suddenly started getting nosebleeds out of nowhere. Leaving the bathroom, Jojo reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. He felt a little faint, but he figured that was just a side effect of suddenly having your nose shoot out blood. He looked down, noticing the bloodstain on his shirt, and grumbling. Of course he had to get some on his shirt now of all times..

Five minutes later Jojo had changed into a different shirt. A long sleeved, button-up shirt. It was much fancier than what he was wearing before, and it still managed to go with his jeans and shoes. He figured he'd wear white, but he didn't want to stain another shirt, so he chose a dark grey- not quite black, but still fairly dark.

He closed the door to his apartment behind him, pausing for a moment to make sure he locked the door this time. The sky was completely black by now, the sun having set a while ago, maybe half an hour or so? It was going down when he entered the library, and was already down almost fully when he'd left. Moving down the hall, he looked at the names on the walls. He hoped everyone was doing okay. He wasn't the only fish out of water here, so he was a little concerned. Actually, he hadn't seen anyone since lunch aside from Rick.

He knocked on Vesper's door gently, waiting for her to answer it. Admittedly, he should've probably told her he was coming, but.. well, he couldn't really find her when he looked, and he needed to go buy food for dinner. A short walk and maybe a snack while they caught up couldn't hurt, so he figured he'd save dinner for a little later.

Looking up from the book she was reading, Vesper pondered for a moment whether to answer it or to ignore it. She was actually at a good part within the world of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Her face had a notable crease in her deliberation, but her manners won in the end as she placed a rather odd-looking stick of silver as a bookmark and closed it. She then stood from her chair after putting the book at the nearby table.

Her eyes momentarily glance at the wall clock as if asserting that it was rather uncommon for her to have a visitor at this time. Well, actually she was already done with her evening preparations and was now donned in a rather elegant nightdress. Her hair was lightly bound as she positioned its trail over her shoulder and with that appearance, she answered the knock not minding how she would be viewed in her current attire. In the first place, she had been the kind to never bother about such trivial matters.Thus, it was nothing to her as the door to her room opened.

And as if lightning struck, she stood there with her eyes blinking a few times. "...JoJo?" Her head tilted a bit to the side, before she caught herself once more. "Ah, Good evening." Straightening herself, she delivered a graceful half-bow.

Jojo's eyes widened as the door opened and Vesper appeared, dressing in nothing but a nightgown. His cheeks reddened slightly and he turned away, coughing a bit. "Oh, um, heya.." He paused for a moment, turning back to her and throwing caution to the winds. He stepped forward, wrapping Vesper in a tight hug for a few moments before stepping back, and giving her a grin. "I was, uh, gonna see if you wanted to go for a walk and get something to snack on, but you look like you're ready for bed." He chuckled softly, hooking his thumbs into his pockets and looking to the side a little.

The last he remembered Vesper, she was this absolutely adorable little girl- the type whose cheeks you just really wanted to pinch. And now, looking at her, he felt.. strange. She'd grown up for sure, and Jojo caught his grin widening just a little before he coughed again. "Sorry, sorry, it's just surprising to see you in a nightdress." He paused, trying to navigate the waters without making it awkward. He thought about it for a while, and then just mentally gave up and spoke. "You grew up into a beautiful woman, Sis. I figured that'd be the case, but actually seeing you.. well, it's good to see you again." Despite complimenting her in that sentence, the warm smile on his face let Vesper know that he really was happy to see her again, and not just peppering her with sweet words.

"Um, so.. I know I mentioned later and all but.. is this a bad time? I probably should've asked first, but.. I might not have made it obvious, but I've been super keen to catch up with you. Um.. I don't really know where to go from here, though, since you're already ready for bed." His smile turned into a somewhat goofy grin as he stood in front of her. He'd wanted a chance to chat with her, but it seemed like he might've missed that chance..

It was in all a haze for Vesper from the moment Jonathan embraced her. The warmth that she held on in a past time pulled her into a dream. Then somehow, she felt something inside of her resisting to what exactly? She cannot say or even affirm to know it, but the words being uttered by him were like bubbles. He said she was beautiful. There was a prick of a poisonous needle present deep in her consciousness, but none of that showed. Then, he said that he was glad to see her. The needle-like pain dissipated and she could feel that her lips wanted to move.

What was happening with her? It seemed she was in a twisted loop and there was no end in sight. These emotions as they are called play with her as he spoke out of consideration for her desire to sleep due to her current choice of clothes. That goofy smile of his made her feel really fuzzy and without much control, her hand reached out him. This time, it did not stop as it landed on his chest which was followed by another. Then soon enough, she closed the gap between their bodies and her face buried on his chest. "Don't go. Please. Don't go."

Jojo's eyes widened as Vesper touched his chest, and they widened further as she pressed her face into his chest as well. He stood there for a few moments before, with his goofy grin returning, he wrapped her in another tight hug. He sighed softly, putting his chin on top of her head gently as he held her. His voice dropped down to a whisper as he spoke. "I won't, Vesper. I promise that I won't leave you again, okay?" His grip on her tightened a little and he inhaled hard as he clutched her close. Even after all this time, he still felt terrible about leaving. If he could go back in time and stop what had happened-

He stopped himself. He almost thought about that thing again, and by now he knew that that was why he'd gotten his sudden nosebleed earlier. He might've made a joke to Rick about a seal on his memories earlier, but as far as he knew he was actually right. But why now? Why now when he'd thought about it for years? Had her final words to him before she.. left.. recorded on his phone, yet he hadn't gotten nosebleeds then. He couldn't remember his mother at all, yet somehow she still haunted him even this far down the track.

Banishing the thoughts in his head lest he risk bleeding all over his sister, Jojo pulled away slightly. Not far, but enough so that he could look down at Vesper. He smiled lightly, idly stroking her back as she hugged him. "Hey.. Did you wanna go grab a bite to eat..? I know it's late, but.. I'd like to buy you some dinner and chat." His smile grew slightly, not into his usual grin, but a wider, warmer smile.

Promise... That word indeed have a lot of varying meanings for Vesper, but she locked it away. The warmth was more important to her right now. It made her wonder if she was that cold to seek this heat when before, she was never concerned about it. Nevermind, she just wanted to stay this way even for a bit and when he asked her to accompany him, she looked up at him. Those amethyst-colored eyes glittered and her lips freely displayed that innocent smile. "Yes. It would be my pleasure."

Reluctant as it is, she pulled away. It seemed her current attire was not fit for a dinner this night. But, she did not want to waste time. The solution, she reached for a trench coat that was hanging at the rack by her door and then wore a simple lace sandals. There should be no issue if her dress is not seen. She once more presented herself to Jonathan, once more catching herself from her rather unbecoming self. "My apologies for my actions. Should we go?" With that said, the door behind her was closed and locked until she returned.

Jojo raised an eyebrow as she simply shrugged on a trenchcoat and sandals. "You're gonna be alright in that?" He was a little worried about something happening, but he wouldn't say anything more. It was obvious Vesper was intent on leaving immediately, something that brought a grin to his face. He'd missed her so, so much, and it was nice to know that she'd missed him too.

When the question about her choice of clothes was asked in worry, she looked at them again. She wore a black full-length trench coat which reached up to her feet, making it look like a gown that hugged her form perfectly while her white lace sandals add a hint of curiosity underneath the coat when she walks. Generally speaking, she definitely looked like a noble lady of London which was not really a surprise to begin with. After all, her clothes had always been catered to fashion and to the exquisite taste of the rich. Well, it was a gift from her father, all of her clothes were.

"It is fine." She answered simply as she followed him and was glad to be with him. But, it was not easily translated as she remained quiet.

Walking beside her to the elevators, Jojo tapped his pockets. Phone, some tissues, wallet in his back pocket, he was set. The elevator doors opened, and he stepped to the side slightly, letting Vesper go in first before moving in after her and pressing the ground floor button. He turned to her, looking her up and down with a smile. She'd gotten almost as tall as he had, which was weird for him. He remembered her being quite a bit shorter than he was, although she was a few years his junior.

He reached out and paused for a moment; he automatically went to ruffle her hair, but that meant he had to raise his arm. Plus he didn't exactly want to mess up her hair when it looked so good, especially just before they went out. Instead, he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly. It wasn't anything big, but there was affection in that touch, and after a moment he dropped his arm back to his side. "When I was running around earlier I spotted a nice ramen shop. I haven't had ramen for years.. wanna go there? I'll pay, of course." Jojo had every intention of using the funds on his card- although he'd totally by saving up to order stuff later on.

She was kept inside of her once more and was only brought back to the world with his touch and words of ramen. "Ramen?" The said food brought the hymns of a history that weaved between the two of them as she nodded in agreement. "Yes, I would like that." She stood beside him and observed him for a while. "You look good."

Jojo raised an eyebrow at her comment. "I do? Ah, I don't really notice much. I actually put this shirt on because I got blood on my last one. Got a nosebleed a little while ago." He smiled at her, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you, Vesper, you look good too." As the elevator doors opened, he once again let her go first and followed. He wasn't a fancy nor upper-class person by any means, but he knew basic manners were essential to, well, everything.

"So, how've you been? I've noticed you've gotten awfully quiet since we last met." Gazing at her, there was a bit of pain in his eyes, and he reached over and hooked his arm through hers. "Um, actually.. While I'm on this topic.." They'd almost reached the exit from the dormitory building before he stopped, unhooking his arm from her and turning to face her. There was an expression on his face- one Vesper had probably only seen once before when he left her- and he looked down. "I'm sorry." The words were barely audible, and Jojo's entire frame seemed to go stiff. "I.. should've stayed. I should've not let my uncle break my phone or stop me from contacting people. I.. should've done a lot of things that I couldn't.."

He paused for a while, then looked up at her and grabbed her hands tightly with his own. His eyes was a little wet, and he gave her a sad smile. "But now I won't be dragged away again. Now I won't leave you unless.. I won't leave you unless I die." There was a seriousness to his words, a promise not only to Vesper but also to himself. His eyes, although wet, were set in determination. He'd never forgiven himself for having to leave her when she needed him, and he never would, but at least now he could try and make things right.

She looked at their hands, as he held onto hers. His feelings were filtering through it. He had gone through a lot whether she was there or she was not. That was something she knew without a doubt. There was a moment of silence before, she lifted her eyes and met his. "There is nothing to apologize for." She raised her hands which made his as well and half-way, her lips touched his knuckles like a fluttering drop of rain. "We have our own trials. We must get through on our own." She then raised her head while tiptoeing in order to at least level her head with his.

Her face had indeed lost its capacity to express her emotions so freely. It was indeed a definition of a pristine expression carved in porcelain. But, her eyes held that emptiness. Then again, there was a sparkle filled with sincerity. "It is impossible to come out of it unchanged. But, I never once blamed you for not being there." She then closed the gap by pressing her forehead against his, but instead of that, she was only able to make their noses to touch by their tips. There was still a relative difference of height after all. "This time, let us not let go of each other, Onii-chan." Her voice delivered that sweet serenity and that endearing tone as a smile once again was present on her lips.

Then, she pulled back regaining her proper stand. Her smile becoming a dream. "That is why do not die, because I will do too." Somehow, there was something eerie in those words, but whether she meant something about it or a simple deliveration of her honest desire. That was left up to the wind.

His smile widening, Jojo hooked his arm in hers once more and began leading her out of the building. He had so much to ask her, to talk about.. He wouldn't let this chance go to waste. Going silent for a little while, he looked over at her, before speaking again. "Say, Vesper, what's your relationship with Rick? Sorry if I'm being awfully blunt, but I'm curious." There as nothing in his voice but curiosity, and was seemed to be happiness? If Vesper had indeed found love, he was happy for her.

He ignored the voice in the back of his head reminding him that he was a failure.

"Rick?" She looked at Jonathan as her head was in a state of wonder. The facts were being pieced together before she answered. "He is my senior and much like you and the others. He welcomed me when I came here." Her arm linked with his was a nice gesture as she pushed a bit closer to him, for the warmth she wanted was with him. "He was tolerant of me. I feel safe with him."

Jojo nodded, smiling. "I noticed you holding his arm earlier. I, uh, kind of assumed you two were, erm.. intimate." A sly grin formed on his face as he lead her to the Ramen bar, his arm hooked around hers the entire way. Every now and then he looked over at her, his smile growing for a few moments before he looked back. He didn't at all mind how close she was, and after so long of not being able to cuddle with anyone, he wasn't in a position to deny her.

She blinked her eyes as she heard the word intimate. The definition of the word echoed inside her head and she stopped on her tracks as she assessed the proper meaning being relayed to her. There was a slight crease on her forehead, but only for a moment. It then made her lower her head as to hide her face from his eyes. Her free hand reached for the collar of her coat and gripped on it. "We are not like that." Her voice did not reflect a strong vindication, though it held a deep tone of resistance. "He... He is Rick." There was not much of a difference from her seemingly known indifference, but if one looks at her ears. They were like blooming madly in crimson.

"I only did that, because I did not want to intervene between you and Dawn." She was still not lifting her head, but the crimson color was reaching her neck now which was peeking through the collar and her hair. "She is important to you. I know my place." Her voice returned to its placid tone as she began to cut off the colors brandishing itselves inside of her. "Is it fine for me to have you right now?" Still, she was not looking at him, but the red is receding to a pink hue.

Jojo paused for a moment- he'd stopped when she had, and he reached out and touched her shoulders. He gripped them firmly, looking at her. "Oi. Listen here, Vesper." His tone was awfully serious, and he gave her a stern look. "You're important to me too, you know. Dawn and I are just friends. I owe her because she got me off of the streets- that's all. Don't talk about 'knowing your place' when you've got it wrong, okay? Jeez.." He paused, letting out a sigh. "And yes, you're allowed to have me right now. Dawn doesn't own me, y'know? You're free to spend time with me whenever you want unless I already have plans, okay?" A small smirk spread across his face. "Also, your ears turn red when you blush, just an fyi, Sis."

The carnation bloom of her skin darkened once more. This time, she raised her head and without a word, her hands moved to cover his face. "Do not look! It is shameful!" There was the tint of panic in her voice as she scrambled to make sure he would not see her face that was now the epitome of a blooming spider lily. "You are not allowed to see me like this." She then quickly turned to only have him see her back with a synchronize gesture of removing her hands from his face. Now, this time it was over hers.

Jojo grinned widely. A laugh left his lips, and he took a few moments to let it out. Considering he'd almost been murdered last night, laughing was good. He stopped eventually, though, wiping his eyes and reaching over to put a hand on Vesper's shoulder. He squeezed tighlty, then pulled her into a tight hug. There was a huge, happy grin on his face. "It's good to see your adorable self again, Sis, I've missed you so much." He let go of her a few moments later, eyes shining a little. Seeing her lose her composure was possibly the greatest thing ever- although he was worried she'd decide to tackle him again. Hooking his arm in hers again, he dragged her along a little, humming softly as he looked away- he'd give her enough time to lose her blush before he interacted with her again, he wasn't mean.

His embrace managed to settle down her emotions that were throwing her to the depths of confusion. His words were also effective to make her focus solely on that and it did not take too long for the red tint to subside, revealing once more her skin white as the snow. When she had regained control of herself, she removed her hands from her face as he took her arm once more. Straightening herself, she returned to her placid outlook. Then, she glanced at him and saw he was looking away. Much have indeed changed, but much have stayed the same. His words. His laughter. They still give that resonating warmth, so comfortable. "We can be together as much as you want." She squeezed his arm in a gentle manner. "So, we can make up for the lost time." For now, she can only think of this, right? Let herself immerse in this, until, the next chapter begins.

Jojo smiled, turning to face Vesper. "Not on fire anymore?" He joked, pulling her a tiny bit closer with a grin. "It's been.. four years, now? Too long, in any case." He gave her a goofy grin and kept moving, slowly making his way down the streets with her until they arrived at the street he remembered the Ramen bar being on.

"Oh, Sis, how's Hiro? I only met him a few times, but he seemed pretty nice. He doing okay?" He'd only met Vesper's father.. twice? Back then, Jojo thought of him as this super fancy, super cool figure who seemed to have everything set up- ironically how Jojo figured his dad should've been. He respected the man, considering he was a.. a.. It took Jojo a few moments to remember that he'd completely forgotten what Vesper's father was in regards to employment. He slapped himself mentally, and chuckled softly.

"Father is well." It was her simple answer to the query. The memory that flashed within her head composed the last time they have seen each other. Her Father's eyes were filled with that horror while her form was reflected in it. "He sends me things like my clothes." She touched her coat and then looked back at him. "He still tries to be there as well." Her fingers then reached for his cheek, gently tapping it. "You two are similar."

Jojo never met the other members of her family, and he got this.. weird feeling about them. He never pried, and he figured if Vesper wanted to mention them, she would. Shaking his head slightly, he turned his head a little and awaited her reply. He stopped eventually, however, outside the Ramen bar.

"This place is safe. That is what Father said when they took me." Vesper's words held that monochromatic tone and her calm appearance were rather unnerving and both enviable as she looked at the Ramen bar briefly before looking back at Jonathan. "It is warm now as well. Shall we eat?"

Jojo nodded in response, smiling. "I missed dinner last night, so I'm extra hungry tonight." He pushed the door open, smiling as he let Vesper move inside first. Briefly he wondered what Hiro had meant by safe. He probably meant from Demons, and Jojo hmph'd to himself in affirmation.

It was a somewhat small establishment, the room beyond, with one corner being devoted to a kitchen and both walls lined with chairs and tables. Touching Vesper's arm again, Jojo made his way over to a table for two in the corner, a little out of sight of everyone else, but not terribly hidden. He had a few reasons for doing but- the most prevalent being his newfound need for secrecy. In a place full of religious fanatics who spend their days killing demons, he sure as hell wasn't going to let himself be found out, especially with Vesper with him.
The lighting was warm, and on the table was a bunch of menus. Smiling, he grabbed two, taking one for himself and sliding the other one over to Vesper. "Don't worry about the prices, yeah? I got my card earlier, so apparently that has a fair amount of funds on it. Illusion gave me a quick brief about it." He smiled over at her, before looking down to his menu,

It had been a while since she entered an establishment like this one. Accurately, it has been a while since she even ate ramen. She had always been mechanically fed as indicated in a menu suited for the palate of the upper echelons. But, she only wanted simple meals shared with simple people. Somehow, wishes of the simplest origins are the hardest to obtain. In any case, she followed after Jonathan not minding the gazes set on them from the other present patrons. Well, she had been used to it and as per reaction of some, there were whisperings about the 'White Doll' as what those who have unsavory feelings for her would call her. Such were the nature of humans as well, they will without doubt seek the black to prove their worth.

Alas, she was getting off-hand here and only returned to the present situation when a menu was given to her. She took it and then looked at Jonathan who would be paying for the food. That is right, she only need to fill her senses of her companion's presence. "Thank you. It is good to hear Ms. Illusion had explained it.If you require anything or information about this place, I can offer what little I know." It was only proper for her to say that. After all, she had been here longer than the others except for Rick. She opened the menu and began to see what she would have for dinner. Although, she had a light meal earlier. It was not a terrible for her to eat again. "I would like to have a Tottemo Yasai Ramen and water." Then, she closed her menu and placed it down on the table.

Jojo hmmm'd to himself as he looked over the menu, reading through it and nodding to himself. Eventually, he looked up as a waitress moved over to them. Giving her a polite smile, he spoke. "Evening. I'd like to get just the regular beef ramen with.. udon noodles, please. Can I also grab a pot of tea?" The girl nodded, asking what type of tea he'd like. Pausing for a moment, Jojo considered it. "Green tea, thank you. Could I also grab the Tottemo Yasai Ramen and a water, please?" He looked over at Vesper, smiling still, and, taking their order, the waitress moved away. Putting his menu to the side, Jojo leaned his elbows on the table, putting his chin in his hands. He was silent, staring at Vesper for a while with the warm smile on his face. He wasn't lost in though, as his eyes didn't glaze over, and he stared at her. His smile grew just a tiny bit.

Vesper met his eyes and was not bothered by his stare. Though, she was curious as to why he was not speaking. Is it because, there was nothing else to talk about? She contemplated on that and remembered that in the past, it had always been Jonathan who took the lead into anything. She followed after him, though she remembered causing a bit of woes due to her recklessness. There was nothing to fret about it in her opinion, but it was unsightly for her to act like that as she had been told countless of times. She must be prim and proper, perhaps that is why she stopped moving. Speaking of which, maybe there was something wrong, "Excuse me, but is there something on my face?" She asked towards him.

Jojo cracked an even bigger grin, chuckle to himself. "About time..~ I was almost worried you weren't going to fall for my trick." The edges of his mouth turned up a bit more than they were, and he continued. "And yes, you do have something on your face, Vespy." He reached over and gentle tapped the tip of her nose, grinning. "It's called a nose~". Leaning back in his chair, it was obvious he was enjoying his time with her. A soft chuckle left his mouth, and he exhaled. "By the way.. you don't need to be super formal with me, y'know? I told you this back in school, but you totally forgot, huh?" He looked her in the eyes, smiling. "Hey, you can let your guard down around me, just like old times." His words were kind, and there was a genuine feeling to them. He clasped his hands together, looking around the restaurant slowly. "Not much traffic here, but it seems like a nice place to come every now and then- hopefully the food is good." He paused. "I want to apologise in advance for my horrible table manners." He gave Vesper a sheepish grin.

Instinctively, she touched her nose after he tapped it and looked back at him after recalling those lost days. "Yes, that you did." Then, she looked around the establishment for a bit to concur with his description of it. "I believe they prefer the Capelli D'angelo or at this time the bar establishments for liquor." In regards to the food, she recalled that an fellow trainee once brought her a ramen from here as a gift. She was not sure why that was. But, she did gain insight about something. "It tastes like home." She then looked back at him and shook her head lightly. "I am used to it. So, there is no need for apologies. But, truly, I am glad to see you are doing well."

"Well, I have this really bad itch in my side that I've been trying to ignore this entire trip, actually, but other than that I'm doing well, yep~" He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at his side. "Right where that spider lady hit me, actually. Probably just a graze or something." He chuckled softly, looking back up at Vesper. "I remember the first time you convinced me to eat Ramen, and I ended up spilling it everywhere, even on myself.." A warm laugh left Jojo's lungs, and he leaned on his elbow a bit more heavily. "So how long have you been here, Vespy? People seem to know you, so it must be a bit of a while, yeah?"

"An itch? You should consult the doctor if it continues." She was concerned, however, she also knew that he was aware of his own limitations. That is why a reminder would be enough. "Jorōgumo is a dangerous creature. So, be wary." Then, the conversation lightened as memories were put forward." "Yes, but I believe it is an honor to eat it messily and you earned the praise of the chef for a wonderful slurping." Her face remained stoic, but her eyes held a small light akin to her own form of gentle remembrance. "It would be my sixth month here.next week. Though if longest, it would be Rick."

Jojo nodded. "Yeah, I was chatting to Rick earlier. He's.. been here for a while." He paused. "Jorogumo? Is that what the spider people are called? I swear Rick called it a Tsuchigumo, though, but.. eh, spiders are spiders." He shuddered visibly. "Six months next week, huh..?" Jojo tried to remember where he was six weeks ago, but something made him pause. Rick mentioned earlier that he doubted that any of the Seven had arrived without some sort of interaction with Demons..

He was concerned. Vesper seemed fine now, but six months ago.. Jojo's hands subconsciously balled into fists, and he let out a hard sigh. "Sorry, Vespy." he muttered under his breath, looking down a little. A few moments later, though, food arrived- both his ramen and Vesper's own were piping hot, and Jojo happily licked his lips. Eagerly grabbing the chopsticks given alongside the meal, he snapped them and picked them up, going to grab some of the noodles.

He dropped the chopsticks. He'd spent so long not using them that he'd completely forgotten how. Picking them up again, Jojo, now a little red faced, leaning down so his embarrassment was a little more difficult to see. It took him a few tries to grab anything, and he eagerly stuffed everything into his mouth before chowing down and swallowing. He looked over at Vesper, he cheeks reddening further, and he gave her a sheepish smile and look away awkwardly.

"Yes, indeed. There are variations of the spider kin. Jorōgumo are known for the ability to turn into beautiful women to attract prey while Tsuchigumo mostly appear much like giants with the faces of an Oni or other beasts. But..." Vesper stopped there as she noticed the discomfort that Jonathan had about the topic. It would better to not continue about it. Then, he apologized once more. It made her wonder what for exactly, but she could assume it had a connection about her being here almost for six months. Did he feel responsible? "Do not apologize too much. It is no one's fault."

Then, the food arrived and flawlessly as she had always been. She picked her chopsticks with her inherent grace. "Itadakimasu." She spoke as she prayed before eating her portion. Although, there was a bit of clutter coming from Jonathan. He seemed to have forgotten how to use it, but that was fine. Somehow, there was a fitting word for this display of his. "You look adorable." That was the word is it not? After saying that, she continued her meal as such.

Jojo almost choked on his ramen as Vesper called him adorable. He wasn't expecting it at all, and instead of replying, he stuffed his mouth full of ramen as fast as possible. His red cheeks stayed red, getting redder, even.






A while later, Jojo put down his cup of tea and smile, letting out a contented 'ah~' and sitting back in his seat, closing his eyes. Opening them a little while later, he looked over at Vesper. "Was it good? I completely forgot how to use chopsticks, so it took me a little while to get back into things." He paused for a moment, looking away as he blushed again. "Buuut.. you totally noticed that, so I don't need to tell you again." He chuckled softly, his usual warm, somewhat goofy smile being directed at Vesper. "Shall we go? I'll pay, then come back okay?" After waiting for her reply, he left the table for a moment and, eventually, came back with a receipt. "Ready?" He held out his hand for Vesper to take.

The meal was good. No, it was quite nice. It had been a very long time since she felt that heartful peace. After putting down her chopsticks properly, she closed her hands together in a prayer. "Gochisousama deshita." Once that was done, she looked at Jonathan and gave a nod of satisfaction. "Yes.Thank you for the dinner." She tilted her head to the side much like a curious child. It was not known to her as to why he would blush about something that was adorable. Well, she didn't linger on that and gave a nod as he stated that he would pay now.

When it was done, he returned and held out his hand to her. She looked at it for a good while before taking it. "Yes. Let us." She stood from her seat and followed him.

The walk back to the dormitories was nice, and Jojo smiled as he hooked his arm with Vesper's again. Pulling her close, he chuckled. "Dinner was nice. It was nice to spend time with you again, Vespy." He chuckled softly. "And getting to see you turn into a blushing mess was an added bonus~" He poked her cheek slyly, grinning. "Still, though, it's really good to see you again.. But I think you know how I feel in that regard."

"Please forget my blushing episode." She held her cheek with her free hand. It was certainly a shameful sight to have. Then, she settled herself once more as Jonathan stated again that he was glad to see her. "It is the same for me. I am very glad to meet you again." Her words were relayed flawlessly, but underlying it, if one would be very mindful, there was a tinge of melancholy. Though, nothing else would represent that on her outwardly.

Continuing to walk, Jojo retreated into comfortable silence. It was probably.. 8ish by now? He'd gone over to Vesper's just after sundown- he briefly wondered if she spent a lot of time in her room and that's why she was already going to bed. He hummed to himself softly, a tune that Vesper would recognise as a tune he'd hummed to her before- the 'Calm Song' he called it, taught to him by his mother, with the obvious pitch differences that came from their opposite genders. Jojo's mind was elsewhere, however, purposefully avoiding that subject out of fear of bleeding everywhere.

She closed her eyes for a moment as the tune enveloped her in a haze of once was. This was the melody of a song that he told her was taught by his mother. It was soothing which was perfect for its name, the Calm Song. "That is a nice tune as always." She noted as she raised her head to look at the sky which lacked the glittering dust of stars. The moon was only the source of light this evening. "It is a starless night."

Jojo looked up as well, staring at the empty sky. He hummed a little louder, reaching the end of the song and stopping before replying. "Yeah.. All we have to rely on is the moon. The moon is so pretty, though, so that's fine with me." He chuckled softly. "I prefer the moon to the sun, actually. You can look at the moon and see its beauty, for one." He paused, turning back into the street that the dormitory building was on. "But the sun gives us life, and even though it's so bright, it's also beautiful- just.. a beauty you can't really appreciate, which is sad." He sighed softly, lifting up his right hand. The glove at a little loosely, showing off a bit of something black underneath. He quickly stuffed his hand into his pocket, mumbling something to himself.

She listened to every word coming from him. It was the words she had heard many times among various scenarios. This make it ache a bit, yes, just a little bit. But of course, it did not show on her face at all. "People tend to appreciate beauty when it fades." She also noticed his slight apprehension about his gloved hand, but she did not say anything about it. After all, if he did not see the meaning to tell her, then, it is fine for her not to speak about it. "Nights like this are omens whether good or bad. It depends on the outcome." She instead continued the conversation at that point and also ended it.

"I'm glad I learned the Calm Song off by heart. It always makes me feel good, and helps me relax." He purposefully avoided mention of his mother, as per usual, and smiled slightly. It hadn't taken them long at all to get back. It always seemed to be the case with trips- the way there was always double the way back. Jojo thought about that for a moment, trying to get some obscure, sagacious meaning out of it. In the end he just gave up and figured it was literal, and it was. In no time at all, they stood in the foyer, in front of the elevators.

He turned to Vesper, smiling. "Thanks for having dinner with me, Vespy. I know it wasn't something super fancy but.. I've never really been a fancy pants, have I?" He smiled his warm smile at her yet again, the grin having not once fell from his face or vanished into less than a small smile during their entire outing.

Vesper looked at him with that beautiful smile. She gave a small nod, before speaking forth. "It is the same with me. I truly had a wonderful time." There was a brief silence from her part before she placed her hands upon his cheeks, effectively cupping them. "This time. Make it count. Onii-chan." She tiptoed and gave him a fleeting forehead kiss, before gracefully pulling away. "Good night. I pray for good dreams for you to have tonight." She delivered a half-bow with that straight and elegant posture. "I would see you tomorrow. Until then, please excuse me." Then, she turned her back on him and walked away. Her destination however was not elevators, but somewhere else. While the meaning behind her words were something only for her to know.

Jojo watched Vesper leave, eyebrow raised. "This time..?" He figured she meant this time they'd run into each other again, but he got this.. strange feeling. He brushed it off, watching her vanish, before stepping into the elevator. As the doors closed, he narrowed his eyes.

He felt.. weird.






-| LORD OF ILLUSIONS |-
-| 'Illusion' |-Image


By the time the meeting had ended, the sun had long since vanished under the horizon. Groaning softly, Illusion stretched in her chair. The others had already left, and she closed her eyes for a moment. Only Arthur remained in the meeting room, the door shutting behind the last person to leave. Illusion stayed dead still, her eyes shut. "It's too late to cook now, Arty." A long, hard sigh left the man as Illusion spoke. A dry chuckle followed. "Yes. Of course your mind is on food." Illusion giggled to herself, smiling. "Eye closed." Arthur kept his eye shut- he'd be killed if he didn't. Or, well, that was the threat, anyway.

"How are they?"
A soft sigh left Illusion's lips. "Well. They're getting along well. Jonathan and Vesper are out at dinner as we speak." Arthur made a noise, nodding to himself in satisfaction. "And Boot Camp preparations?" Illusion chuckled to herself softly, crossing her legs in her seat. "Some poor fool got stuck doing Hallows' work for her, I'd say. With our.. special guest.. in town she couldn't help but ditch her duties." Arthur nodded once again, chuckling softly. "Not much gets by you, does it?"

The fact that Illusion's voice and way of speaking changed did not escape Arthur. It meant only one thing, and one thing only.

Standing up from her chair, Illusion towered over it. Her curvaceous, lithe figure stood, and she idly checked her crimson nails before smiling. "Of course not. Asmodeus, nor Miss Lucalia, are not the only beings present skilled in information gathering." Taking a few steps, she rolled her eyes- just because her body changed didn't mean her clothing did. "So tight.." And it was true- her body caused her clothing to strain considerably around her.. assets. Clothing meant for a flat, thin child was near impossible to wear as an adult for her. "And the.. tag-along?" Arthur's tone was harsh, and Illusion answered with a soft, sensuous voice, yet the venomous edge in her tone was unmistakable. "She has been.. dealt with accordingly."

Arthur sighed. "It couldn't have been avoided?" Illusion crossed her arms, watching her top practically burst and smirking. "No. She had to be taken care of. Too much of a.. risk." Arthur couldn't help but feel like Illusion could've avoided it, and she'd simply chosen not to. Sighing, he stood up. Something sharp was at his throat in less than a second. "Uh, uh, uh. Naughty little boy. Sit." Arthur sat back in his chair, sighing hard. "There's more?"

Illusion smiled, looking up at the camera in the corner of the room. "Two demons. One has left the facility, the other is imprisoned just as Angela said." Arthur narrowed his brow.
"Angel."
"Angela D'Brightass, yes."
'"Do you have no respect for the man?"
He felt Illusion lean down, her lips brushing against his earlobe.
"None."

"I want you to leave Brenhin alone."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "So you're the reason he was able to enter the compound, then? Why he somehow managed to evade ORIN's sight until he was already here?" Illusion nodded, making an affirmative sound.
"He'll be useful to us, I believe. I have reason to believe he has something planned for our new arrivals- how convenient that he arrives the same day they all do, no? Besides, it'll be fun to drop some holy water on him every now and then, as I'm sure you'll agree."
"Wanton torture is not my style, and I doubt Madison would approve."
"Well.. what Maddie doesn't know won't hurt him. We've given him enough kindnesses letting him.. avoid detection."
"Having his parents as the two most senior authorities in the organisation must be very handy indeed."

A soft chuckle.

Two claps broke through the silence, and Arthur opened his eye. Illusion's smaller, lolita form stood before him, a sly smirk on her face. "Why do you always keep that form hidden?" Illusion rolled her eyes. "Well, for one I prefer this form, and secondly.. Actually, no reason, really. I can push myself to any age, after all." With a soft smirk, Illusion spun in place. "Taa daa~ Look, Arty, Lusy can spins!" Arthur slowly stood from his chair, letting out a sigh. "Shall I call Madison for dinner?" Illusion hovered off of the floor slightly, smirking. "Iunno, do ya wanna call 'im up or nahs? Actually.. Don't."

"I don't want to reveal anything too prematurely, Arty farty, so I expect silence from you, mhm mhm~" She nodded to herself, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. She smirked softly, carelessly raising her hand to block the blade to swung at her neck. The sword, effortlessly caught, was then quite easily yanked from Arthur's hand and sent flying across the room. Illusion showed no effort in doing her little disarming trick. Opening her eyes, she noticed Arthur nodding. "Still as difficult as ever." Illusion rolled her eyes, giggling. "You might've killed me, Arthur." Arthur chuckled. "Not likely." Sighing and letting her shoulders slump, Illusion turned to him as he strode across the room and retrieved his blade.

"I have no doubts in my mind that you'll be able to fend off anyone who tries to use this sword against you." Illusion rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Please, Arthur, you don't need to test my reflexes. If you have worries, act on them." Arthur shook his head. "I have faith. And I refuse to take up arms against one of my own." Illusion scoffed, and Arthur sheathed Excalibur. "I'm going to go grab some dinner, Arthur. I'll be accompanying the Seven to boot camp tomorrow morning, so I need to wake them early." Arthur, nodding, moved over to the room behind the council's meeting room, pushing the door open slightly.

"Arthur."
"I know."
"Don't be surprised."


Before stepping into the room, Arthur turned to Illusion and went to speak.
She was already gone.






-| FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER |-
-| Frank N. Stein |-Image


Sitting at the desk, Frankenstein looked over the photo in his hand, a dark expression on his face. His memories of that day were some of the darkest he had.

They'd carted him in on a stretcher in the middle of the night, eyes closed and body drenched in sweat and blood. He could barely see or hear what was going on despite the people screaming around him, his senses taken away almost to the point of being nonexistent. Taken by that thing. Upon analyzing him, they'd found out something absolutely terrifying- something even a monster like Frank couldn't exactly handle.

Frank grit his teeth, slamming his fist down on the table. Despite generally being an aloof person, those memories drew out a rage inside of him unlike any other. Yet he couldn't stop his thoughts as much as he tried.

He'd figured it would happen, but the other one had left in a hurry, saying nothing to no one. Usually they were capable of keeping their cool, but that night their enemy had crossed a line- so long after the conflict had ended, they'd crossed a line.

The infirmary was filled with another body only a few hours later, after he'd rescued the would-be avenger from their own death- the thing they'd fought was.. a monster, no, not even that. It destroyed the two of them with absolutely no remorse or control. It was a miracle they'd survived, but even so.. Frank had to wonder if it had let them survive.

Frankie put the photo down, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. 20 years was finally up. It would all be fixed, now. It would all be done. All he had to do..

Frank rocketed out of his chair, giving the picture one last look. He never let it show, but those four were a family to him. Comrades, companions, even, Frank thought, friends.. except maybe that one. Electricity crackled around him as his anger flared, arcing out around the room as he bowed his head and grit his teeth. Flexed fingers almost becoming claws, Frank took a deep breath and calmed himself. The electricity abated, and he sighed softly. Anger wouldn't do him any good, now, and he needed to do good.

20 years and something even more important were on his shoulders. He nodded, restoring his resolution as he repeated it just as he had many times before.

"Forgive me, Boss."

Frankenstein grabbed the photo and put it into his pocket, leaving the room.
The body of the owner lay in their bed, faint static electricity arcing between their gaping, screaming lips.






-| ? |-
-| Jonathan Black |-Image


Jojo collaped onto the couch, groaning loudly. He layed down and closed his eyes, putting his hands on his chest as he let out a long sigh. What a day.. First of all he'd met-

He paused. "This is, like, the tenth time I started listing all of the shit that's gone down today.." He chuckled to himself softly, before opening his eyes again as a thought hit him. "Yo, Dawn, you wanna go grab a snack?" He called from the lounge, then went silent. Briefly he wondered where Vesper had wandered off to after they'd come back. Her words echoed through his head, and he couldn't help but get a bad feeling in his gut. This time. Make it count. Onii-chan.

Whatever she meant by that, it escaped him. In fact, looking back at a lot of the things he'd written off as just little quirky things she said, his bad feeling got even more intense. After just a few moments of thinking, he was actually seriously worried about her. He figured it was just his nerves and his guilt mixing, but something just.. didn't sit right with him. His brow furrowed in frustration as he tried to figure out what and couldn't. Finally, with a loud, frustrated sigh, he tossed his hands up in anger and gave up. "It doesn't matter.. I'll protect her no matter what. I promised her I'd never leave, and I sure as hell won't let anyone hurt her. I won't forgive myself again if I do that.."

Jojo slowly sat up, pulling the glove off of his right hand. It felt good to free it, but he was ashamed of the dark mark that ruined his skin. Pitch black and almost burnt looking, the mark sat as an ugly reminder of.. something. Whenever he'd looked at it, it made him feel uneasy. Worried. Sometimes outright sick.

Rick's reaction to his earlier headache worried him- Rick must've seen something in the magnifying glass. Jojo pausing, reconsidering his words. "If it worked, then.. A magnifying glass lets you see things, so maybe there's something he.. didn't see with me?" Jojo was more than a little worried about everything going on. The bad feeling in his gut didn't abate, and he felt himself getting a little nauseous.

He decided to put his mind on something else, grabbing the leatherbound book Illusion had handed to him earlier and eyeing it. Of all the things for the creepy lolita vampire to personally hand to him, it had to be the silly book. The three locks all looked at him, taunting him, and he'd only a little while ago realised why his attempts to open the book with force were unsuccessful- it was sealed with some sort of magic. And, from what he could tell, it was strong. Holding the book in his hand, her turned it over.

Something caught his eye, however, and he raised his right hand. He pushed his fingers together, watching the black marks combine into one mass of darkness, and a drop of sweat fell down his face.

He'd somehow never noticed that the mark on his hand was the same as the marking on the back of the book. It was like a haze was lifting from his memories, somehow, and he briefly wondered why he'd never noticed it before. Something felt.. off.

As it turned out, by the time that Dawn had arrived, practically all dorms had been taken, with the only remaining set being closed off for renovations. It wasn't much of a surprise- after all, her appearance at the WDL had been a bit...unexpected, to say the least. It also wasn't too much of a surprise that she ended up being assigned to live at Jojo's apartment until another room opened up. They had been roommates before this, after all.

She had situated herself in the apartment's office, and was pleased to find that some of her own belongings had been transferred over as well. Her computer, her bed, a few knick-knacks that she had collected over the years- all there. There were a few things that would have to be replaced, but they were nothing that Dawn was overly concerned about. Especially following her recent expedition to the WDL's gate to pick up a very important package.

Said package was now lying on the floor of her room, gnawing on a duck-flavored dog bone that Dawn had picked up an hour ago. Iggy had been somewhat tense upon his arrival, having traveled halfway across the world and brought into a brand new environment in nearly the same day. He had spent a few minutes sniffing about the place, poking his nose into as many cupboards and crannies and corners as possible, whimpering with his tail tucked between his legs. After a few tummy-rubs and treats, however, Iggy had calmed down- although he would still jump a bit at any sound that was too loud or sudden.

Dawn was currently sitting on the floor beside Iggy, scratching at a spot just behind his ear and reading something on her phone before Jojo called over. Closing whatever window she had been in, she stood, giving Iggy a fond pat on the head on her way up. "That's fine," she called back. "I can go pick something up from McDonalds right now. Would you want anything?" She had taken her purse from whatever chair she had tossed it on, and was rifling through it when she heard a loud, almost angry sigh from the other room, and some mumbling that she couldn't quite pick out. Frowning, Dawn entered the living room, walking over and sitting down in a seat opposite Jojo's. Iggy, seeing that all the activity was elsewhere, followed on her heels. A thin trail of drool puddled behind him.

"Are you okay, Jojo?" Dawn asked. She gave Iggy an absentminded scratch beneath the chin as he settled beside her, but her focus was largely on her roommate. "You seem stressed. Did something happen while you were out?" Her eyes found the marking upon Jojo's hand for a few seconds before looking away, refocusing back onto his face. Given how often he kept it hidden, it was clear that he didn't enjoy having it seen.

As soon as Dawn looked at the mark, Jojo stuffed his hand into his pocket. He cursed himself for being so damn careless, and looked away. "Just.. got a bad feeling is all, Got a nosebleed for the first time ever, so I'm, uh, a little on edge." He turned to her and gave her a smile, then slowly pulled his hand out of his pocket. He reached over to Dawn, offering his hand for her to touch. "Touch it. Trust me."

As soon as her fingers touched it, they became as cold as ice, and even turned a little pale. As soon as he noticed it, Jojo yanked his hand away, nodding. "And that's why I keep my glove on. No clue what it is or what it does, but.. it's.. not normal. I've kept it hidden until now but, uh, well.. we're not in normal land anymore so I don't see a reason to keep it hidden.. Heh." He watched her face closely as she touched it, and afterwards, settling into a little silence.

"A nosebleed?" From what she could see, there was no sign of a bruise or the like- it must have been spontaneous, then. "You, um, want any vaseline? I read somewhere that putting some inside your nose can keep it from getting irritated, so it might help." The air wasn't particularly dry here, but that was the only thing that Dawn could think of that could have caused something so sudden. The nosebleed issue was soon pushed to the side, however, as Jojo pulled his hand into the open and offered it to her. Offered the mark, really.

Without much though, Dawn reached forward, laying a few fingers upon the skin there. She blinked in surprise, and after a few seconds of contact Jojo jerked back. Another blink, glancing down at her now-reddened fingers, before she looked up again and smiled. "Well. Out of everything that's happened today, I, um, think this is one of the least weirdest, honestly." She rubbed her fingertips, coaxing some warmth back into them. "How long have you had it? If you, um, don't mind me asking, of course."

Jojo shrugged to himself. "As long as I can remember, actually.. I figure it must've happened during my childhood. If I can find my mum I can-" He paused in his tracks, eyes widening as he waited for something to happen. "Huh.. I guess I must've been wrong.." He waited a few moments, leaning back and closing his eyes before he sat up and sighed. "I'll come with you to McDonald's if you want. I've got my card now so I can pay, but also I need some fresh air- I.. feel a bit sick, honestly."

Dawn's brow rose, quirking in silent question. She offered no comment, however, instead standing and adjusting her purse. The strap had begun to dig uncomfortably into her shoulder. "I think the closest one is a few blocks away, if you're alright with walking that much right now. I can pay." It felt a big wrong to make Jojo pay when he seemed so...drained. It was worrying. "Would you want a coffee or anything when we're there?"

Jojo shook his head. "No, no, I'm paying. I got a ton of cash on my card so it's fine." He slowly stood up, cracking his neck and groaning. There were slight bags under his eyes. Sitting at home and thinking about things had caused the reality of his situation to hit him like a truck- everything he'd ever known was getting tossed upside down and from now on he was.. being trained in combat? Magic? What the hell, even? Jojo really just wanted to sit down and, well, live his normal life.

Except he was the damn Child of fucking Satan. He'd been fine with everything until now, but, like, really, what the fuck? A perfectly normal life, with perfectly normal people- Jojo paused. Didn't that sound.. weird? Sure, he had that mark on his hand and that book, but.. How did he know that half his friends weren't secretly fucking fairies? He had nothing against fairies, but, like..

He was tired. He'd barely gotten any sleep last night due to travel time and on top of that he'd been doing stuff all day- he was tired. And that begged the question.. What about Dawn? She must've been tired too, although he figured she'd probably slept on the plane here. Shaking his head and dismissing the questions, he groaned and stretched his arms. "I think I'll have about.. ten coffees? Twenty, maybe." He gave Dawn a tired grin, moving over and petting her head. He moved away quickly, moving to the door to the apartment. "We should go now, though. It's, like, almost 9 o'clock and we probably have to get up early tomorrow."

"Alright," Dawn said, although there was an obvious amount of hesitance in doing so. "I'll pay next time, though. So you don't have to spend that much too often." Evidently, she seemed to be forgetting that a McDonalds wasn't the most lavish place to eat at, or at the very least seemed to be disregarding it. She sighed, running a hand through her hair and smiling. It was a bit weary, but still genuine in its intent.

"I, uh, I think I'll be having that, too. Coffee for dinner, and maybe more for breakfast- I have the feeling that we'll end up needing it." Dawn gave a faint chuckle, then did her best to look affronted as Jojo reached over to pat her on the head- an effort that was rendered somewhat ineffective by the half-smile that managed to crack through as she followed him to the door. On her way, however, she stooped, placing both hands on Iggy's neck and ruffling the fur lining it. Couldn't go anywhere without saying anything to her baby, after all.

"Are you going to be a good boy for us while we're gone?" She asked, staring the collie right in the eyes. "Are you gonna be a good Iggy Wiggy? Are you?" Dawn scratched more vigorously, craning her face away from Iggy's as he started trying to lap his tongue across her cheek. "Who's the bestest boy in the whole world? It's you! It's the Biggle Iggle Wiggle boy!" She devolved into nonsensical baby talk for a minute or so before standing, brushing some of the fur from her coat, and casually turning on her feel to face Jojo. "Okay, let's go." With that, she stepped out into the hall, waiting for Jojo to join her before going on.

Jojo stood there, a small smile on his face. He had a habit of zoning out whenever Dawn started babytalking Iggy. A blank yet pleasant smile adorned his face until Dawn eventually turned to him. "Yes. Let's." The blank smile didn't fade as he shuffled sideways- he was going to be like this for a while, a little.. thing he did. Overplaying stuff was something he enjoyed, honestly.

"I wish that they weren't sending us out right away," Dawn said, walking in stride with her roommate. "I mean. Magic was supposed to be Disneyland and Tolkien, and, um, all that. Not...you know. Life." She shook her head. "Would've liked a few days to kind of...get settled, I guess? I don't know." Dawn wiped at her lips, glancing up at a particularly interesting shape that the dried paint formed above them.

"And Rowling." Jojo nodded, moving to the elevators and pressing the button. "Yeah. It'd be nice to, um.. y'know.. settle in intead of suddenly getting weapons shoved into our hands." He paused. "Hat?" It was dark outside, so Jojo was wondering why the hat was still affixed to Dawn's head. Before he could say anything else, though, the elevator door opened and, letting Dawn go first, he stepped inside. "Heh. It's almost like we're finishing up the introduction and jumping right in to chapter one, right?" He chuckled to himself, crossing his arms. "Second anime reference I've made today.. I must be the protagonist for sure." There was a joking tone to his words despite his tired appearance, and he grinned at Dawn. "You're definitely a minor background character. Yup. 100%" His joking tone was still there, of course, just a little jab at his housemate.

Dawn shrugged. "Well," she began. "Maybe it'll be like...camping? Just with, um. More guns." She wasn't being serious, of course- with a name like "Boot Camp", it seemed as if they were going to be thrown into military training right away. To what extent, however, she wasn't quite sure. As they stepped into the elevator, Dawn's fingers moved to the brim of her hat, pulling it down to its usual angle.

"Oh. I, um. Forgot it was there, actually." She laughed, rubbing sheepishly at her shoulder. "I'll take it off once we get back. It's not as bad as wearing sunglasses out right now, at least." Dawn had known someone like that while at her university- her old university, now. She had been somewhat impressed by how well he was able to navigate at night, with only half of the lamps working. Less so when she was partnered with the man and discovered the reason he wore sunglasses was because, as it turned out, he was high as a kite in nearly all of his classes.

The elevator pinged quietly, descending smoothly down the building. It seemed as if most recruits were asleep or elsewhere, as the travel hadn't faced interruption so far. "It seems like it," Dawn admitted. "I mean, there's been a few twists already. With...well. Everything, really. And you definitely have the whole 'protagonist hair' thing." She briefly considered trying to pat Jojo's own hair as retribution, but decided against it, seeing as she would have to reach a bit to actually get there herself. Dawn gave a somewhat unamused look at the "background character" comment, before sighing and shaking her head.

"You might be right there, Jojo," she said, gravely. "Black hair, and no special eye color or anything- I was doomed to be a side character from the start." Then Dawn lightened, giving Jojo a playful nudge. "At least I know how to shoot. Should spare me for a few chapters until I, um, 'pass my wisdom down'. Or something." While not as well acquainted with anime as Jonathan was, she had been sat down in front of enough shows by this point that she had some grasp of a few reoccurring tropes.

Jojo grinned. "Protagonist hair? Jeez, next you'll be saying that I'll be surrounded by fifty attractive girls who all want to date me." Jojo paused, his grin turning into a sly smirk as he chuckled softly. "Dawn Memoli, one episode of appearance before her untimely demise. One of those tearjerker scenes where I'm holding your cold, lifeless body and going 'oh nooooooo!'" He poked her shoulder with a grin. "You've got more skills then me, so maybe you're, like, the mentor or something." Jojo paused, looking at her. "Dawn, you have that hair oh my God. Dawn, the tropes- the memes-" He grabbed her shoulders, a mock look of terror spreading across his face. "The memes, Dawn! The memes are real!"

Dawn was definitely used to his.. goofiness.. by now. He let go of her, smirking as he pet her head again. "Lucky for us we're not in an anime. I don't have to deal with protagonist angst and an army of waifus-to-be, and you don't die because of a hairstyle despite being completely capable of surviving longer." Jojo turned to the mirror behind them, glaring slightly. "Protagonist.. fuck, I really do. Damnit." With a smirk, he turned back around and struck a pose with his hands on his hips. "I, Jonathan Black, will not rest until the forces of evil perish!" As the last words left his mouth, he cocked his hips and flung a hand into the air, pointing to the skies. "I will survive, hey, hey!" Jojo's choked on his own breath and burst into laughter. "Jesus fucking Christ I almost sang in the elevator." He paused.

He was humming the song under his breath and slightly tapping his foot, still in his pose.

"I guess that just makes me sad backstory fuel, then," Dawn mused. "Hopefully my death will end up a little interesting, at least. Maybe I'll get to fight off a wave of sea monsters by myself so I can give everyone time to escape. Give a, uh, witty one-liner before I'm taken out." She smiled apologetically over in the other's direction, rolling her sleeves into neat cuffs at the wrist. "Sorry, Jojo. Guess I won't be teaching you that special gun technique anytime soon. I, um, kind of like being alive." At Jojo's sudden grabbing, surprise flashed across her face- replaced with a steady realization as Dawn lifted her plait for inspection.

"Oh. I have the, um. What was it called? The 'Doomed Mom Hairstyle'?" She laughed, letting the braid fall back against her chest. "Well. As long as I don't have a kid anytime soon, I'll be fine, I think. Unless everyone with this hair ends up, uh, dead." An air of exaggerated shock fell upon her, and she grinned over at Jojo. "I would've thought that an army of, uh...waifus? I would've thought that you'd like the idea of an army of those." Dawn's eyes were light with mischief, at Jonathan's dramatic, she let out a rather unseemly snort and pressed her face into her palm. "Okay, settle down there, Jojo," she smiled. "You haven't even found any weapons of friendship and strength yet. And that's usually the first step to taking down the evil emperor-king, isn't it?"

Jojo seemed much happier than he had been in the apartment. That was good. Even if it also involved spontaneous bursts into song during elevator rides, it was still a good thing.

"Dawn, I have some bad news.. That hairstyle is for everyone. I recommend a haircut, but as long as you avoid all of the flags you should be fine.. I think." The elevator door opened and he quickly returned to his normal stance, cheeks reddening slightly as he rushed past the girl standing there. As soon as he was behind her, he turned to Dawn and mouthed 'OH MY GOD' before turning away and laughing. Waiting for her to also leave the elevator, he grinned. "But Dawn, the harem protagonist is really in a bad situation, y'know? So many girls and by society's standards he can only choose one- so I personally like to imagine that-" He paused. "Okay so like, there's this one anime, right, and the protag is legitimately a rock- but like there's just teensy little hints, and I like to think in my headcanon that he's actually a super genius and is just avoiding everything because he knows how silly it is and he doesn't want to upset anyone. Makes sense, right?"

"Fun theory. Probably not true, though, sadly. Rocks get more attention than me, awww yisss." He paused, looking around the room for a moment, searching for something. He quickly went back to his usual demeanour, though, resuming his march to McNotDonald's. "Evil Emperor-King, psh. We're totally gonna be fighting God like in, um, Knifearella. Also, your totally snorted before. Not gonna get away with that, Dawn. You can't fool me." The smile on Jojo's face was warm as ever, however, as he walked beside Dawn.

In response to Jojo's warning, Dawn sighed loudly, lifting her plait again and giving it a wistful stare. "It took me a year to grow all this out. Would I be spared if I just put it up in a ponytail for the rest of my life, or would the curse stick?" At the sound of the doors sliding open, she dropped her hair, folding her hands against her skirt and giving the woman a polite nod as she strode out to follow Jojo. The "professional" expression didn't last long, however, and Dawn had to clasp her hand against her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

"Well," she said, once she had composed herself, "I can't blame him. Some of the girls in those shows are very...determined, honestly. Especially in the ones where they start trying to kill everyone after they're turned down. For a bunch of skinny teenagers, they tend to end up being really skilled in tossing chainsaws around." Of course, as far as anime character strength went, it wasn't uncommon to the odd nine-going-on-ten year old casually taking down a giant with a sword as twice as large as they were, so Dawn supposed it wasn't too overly large of a sin if the teenage girls managed to put pro-lifters to shame on a regular basis. She cracked her knuckles, letting the sound echo nicely around them.

"I think it's sort of the reverse of trophy wives. They find someone attractive and not all too bright, so they try to have them as a sort of 'low-maintenance' boyfriend while they take over the world or become class president or, you know. Although, since there's usually, um, five other girls going after the same person, that doesn't make much sense, either." She paused.

"Which God?" Dawn asked. "The ones that have five pairs of wings and look like supermodels? And I don't know what you're talking about, Jojo." At that, her face went perfectly stoic- except for the corners of her mouth, which were twitching slightly. "You're probably just hearing things."

Another quirk. She wasn't making too much of an effort to hide it.

"No, no, there was a snort. Like a really loud one- super loud, shook the entire elevator, actually." He grinned at her widely. "And, well, I hope we don't have to fight a supermodel God- I'd be distracted the whole fight. Although maybe my protagonist powers would help us save the day anyway~" He listened to Dawn crack her knuckles loudly, narrowing his eyes. "Was that, like, a secret superhero signal or something? Are you secretly BatDawn?"

Jojo gave a shrug. "And I've got no real idea how harems work, legit. And, well, you were right earlier, it'd be sweet as having a group of girls all vying for my affections and all, but, like, the stress of not breaking any hearts would probably kill me." He smirked. "Dawn Memoli, harem girl?" He waggled his eyebrows, then cracked up. "I'm worried about all the Yaoi shippers, honestly.."

"If I could snort loud enough to shake an elevator, I would've tried going for a world record by now," Dawn replied. "It would be my claim to fame. Put it on my resume, maybe." She laughed. "If we're going by anime rules, you'll end up redeeming God by making her...him? You'll redeem them by making them fall helplessly in love with you and helping them see the good in the world again. Something like that." At Jojo's question, she smiled, raising her hands palm-up.

"You caught me. 'BatDawn, fighter of unnaturally strong teenagers, defender of justice. Catcher of arthritis.' That's what they called me in my heyday." She rubbed her knuckles, letting them fall to her sides.

"I guess it's like you said. It's a good thing that we're not living in an anime. I would love to have the weapons from a couple of those, but I don't think that all the, ah, talking animals and giant robots are worth it." She smiled, and, still smiling, gave her reply to Jojo's next comment.

"No."

Then her face straightened out to its usual expression, and she plucked at a string that had come loose from her sweater cuff.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, Jojo. But if you breathed in the direction of any other man in the past twenty four hours, then you'd probably already be paired with them. Sorry."

"BatDawn, jesus christ. Do you stand on the tops of buildings being super broody and talking about your parental issues when I'm asleep, by any chance? Also! How the hell are giant robots ever a bad thing?!" He paused. "Except, um, in that one anime.. Neon... That one. Copyright. Whew, almost screwed us up, there." He chuckled softly, before turning to Dawn with an expression of mock insult, his eyes wide and watering.

If this were an anime, he'd totally have those big circles of water near his eyes. His lip trembled and he brought his hands up to his chin, clasping them together as he spoke, his voice shaking in an over the top way. "B-B-B-But D-Dawn-c-chan... Aishiteru yo..!" He sniffed super loudly, then cringed. "Ow, fuck, that actually hurt, jesus christ, nose, why, no, ow, fuck." Lifting up his hand to rub his nose, he chuckled. "I think I share an infirmary with Caius for a while, too, so the fangirls.. damnit."

Dawn chuckled. "Why do you think I spend so much time awake at night?" She asked mischeviously. "And, um. Considering that giant robots usually end up levelling cities, I think that they, um. Cause a bit more harm than good." The 'copyright' remark had her raising a brow, but then Jojo was putting on his best 'kicked puppy' look. And "shy anime girl" impression, apparently. Dawn gave another snort, although his wincing prompted her to start pawing through her purse and toss something over at him. A tiny bottle of nasal spray.

"I'd rather you didn't end up popping a blood vessel there," she said. "We've, um, referenced enough anime cliches already." Dawn turned to look over at Jojo again, curious. "Caius? Was he the one who didn't go on the tour?"

Jojo caught the bottle and immediately sprayed right up his nose.
He sneezed.
"Fuck."
Giving Dawn a grin, he handed the bottle back to her and spoke. "I have no idea how to use that but it said nasal spray so I think I did the thing." He looked up, opening the door to the McDonald's they were conveniently at, and let Dawn go first before he did. "Giant robots would be so fun, though! Like legit! Just firing giant lasers and stuff would be awesome." He gave Dawn a sly smirk. "Snorty McUm~"

Jojo moved over to the counter with ungodly speed- nothing kept a hungry Jonathan Black from food. Nothing. "And yeah, that's him." He figured mentioning names was not a good idea now that they were in a public place.. with a surprisingly large amount of people, too. Standing in line, the girl in front of them turned around and grinned. Her black hair had several colourful streaks in it, and she was wearing a tank top with a hoodie tied around her waist. Cargo pants and some sneakers, along with what seemed to be some goggles around her neck and two leather yet fingerless gloves were her only accessories. She briefly looked them up and down, then turned away again.

Jojo raised an eyebrow, then shrugged and turned to Dawn. "What're you getting, anyways?"

"That you did," Dawn replied. She took the spray back with one hand, and with the other, fished out a small alcohol wipe and deftly cleaned the top before putting it back. The wipe disappeared inside the maw of a nearby wastebin as she stepped inside, basking in the aroma of salt and grease. Given that they were in the Vatican itself, perhaps it would have been more fitting to go find somewhere new to eat. Try something more local. However, they would have plenty of time while there to do just that, and Dawn was in the mood for something quick and generally unhealthy.

She followed Jojo over to the counter, taking her time so she didn't accidentally bump into anything, and talking on the way. "I'm guessing that you'd also want to punch Godzilla, too?" Dawn responded to Jojo's smirk with a frown, although there wasn't much offense taken. "It's a tic," she said. She didn't prod further on the topic of Caius and the tour, aware that the middle of a fast food restaurant wasn't quite the place to be discussing the day's events. The McDonalds was fairly empty, given the time, but not isolated. One of their fellow patrons, the girl standing in line, glanced at them for a bit. Smiling before turning back around.
They were certainly not unobserved, either.

Dawn eyed the woman's back for a moment before casting her gaze up to the overhead menu. "I, um, think I'll get a quarter pounder. With cheese. What about you?"

Jojo grinned. "I'd totally K.O Godzilla with an uppercut to the face and you know it." His grin didn't drop one bit as she frowned at him. "Um, a tic, um, it's kinda, um, cute, um, though, um um~" He gave her an over the top wink on top of his grin. Jojo didn't mention the girl, but he noticed that she'd gone up to order while they stood behind her. "I think I'll get an, uh.. Hmm.. Uh, Dawn, decide for me. I have no clue and I'm lazy and I trust your judgement." His grin settled down into a small smile, but Dawn knew he was thinking of something.

"I wonder.."

"Well, if I, um, ever get the keys to a giant robot, remind me to let you take it out for a spin." Dawn gave a little roll of her eyes at Jojo's teasing, lightly smacking his arm as she continued to examine the list of burgers and ice creams and other junk foods. She was smiling, though.
"You could try what I'm getting," she suggested. "The quarter pounder. As long as you don't dislike onions, then...is everything okay? You look like you're thinking hard about something." Dawn had turned completely away from the menu after the first or second scroll-through, attention almost entirely back on Jojo- the remainder was on the cashier and the woman, so that she would know when it was their turn instead of standing around, chatting obliviously.

Jojo grinned. "Just recalling something I spoke to someone earlier about, is all." She'd outright turned around to them and given them a grin.. what the hell was that about? He shook his head and gave Dawn a wide grin. "Ow, Dawn, you broke my arm. How could you?" He let his arm go limp, grinning widely. "Oooh, if this were an anime, this would totally be some super subtle foreshadowing. Well, until I mentioned it, anyway. Shit... aki mushrooms." He shook his arm a little, then crossed them. "Quarter Pounder.. wait, shouldn't we be avoiding the brand names? Like.. Half-Half Pounder? McDolan's? Big Mook? McRooster? Fillet o' Salmon?" He smirked, turning to the counter. "Wait, we're ordering separately, ha, you almost got me, Dawn. You sneaky, sneaky sneaker snooker snake, you."

"I was thinking about, um, the, um, um, okay, I'll, um, stop." His smirk widened. "I was thinking about the, uh, stuff I learned earlier today. Y'know." He gestured with his crossed arms, and paused for a moment. The girl had grabbed her food and walked past him, a small smirk on her face as she touched his shoulder ever so slightly. Jojo felt.. something odd. He had no clue what it was, but it felt..

Dawn took a moment to scan Jojo's face, before giving a wry grin. "Well, I did shake the elevator, apparently. Maybe I ate a, um, meteor shard at the restaurant and got superpowers. Don't know my strength anymore." She stretched her arms above her head, working out some of the stiffness before lowering them again. A genuinely confused look came across her face at Jojo's insistence on avoiding 'brand names', and she was about to comment before Jojo spoke again. Dawn shrugged, smiled. "It was worth a shot."

Unsurprisingly, he brought up her "um"ing one last time before giving a proper explanation as to what was on his mind. "It's been...a lot, hasn't it?" Dawn remarked. From where she was standing, she noted that the woman had wrapped up her order by this point, and was heading out the door with her meal. Nothing conspicuous, really- if it wasn't for the fact that, after brushing her way past Jojo, he seemed to...lock up, staring off into nothing. Dawn frowned, facing him, watching as the woman left from the corner of her eye. "Jojo?" She asked. "Are you okay, Jojo?"

Dawn took a step forward- towards Jojo? The woman?- when the distinctly bored tone of the cashier called out. "Ma'am? Would you like to order now?" She paused, then turned on her heel. The dead, soulless eyes of the teenager at the counter stared back at her. Dawn laughed sheepishly, running a hand through her hair. "Oh, sorry about that, sir." She gave out both hers and Jojo's orders, drawing the appropriate amount of money from her wallet and handing it over without much thought. Her attention was elsewhere.

Once that was through, Dawn turned, placing a hand on Jojo's shoulder and giving it a gentle shake. "Hey, are you alright?"

The woman was out of sight.

Jojo narrowed his eyes, not phased out anymore but instead deep in thought. He didn't respond immediately, instead nodding to himself. When he did answer, he looked up and turned around, looking for the girl. "That was.. a weird feeling. I'm not sure what it was at all. I might have to go for another walk sometime and hunt her down." He decided to keep what he'd heard secret for now, instead looking over at Dawn and giving her a small smile. "I'm just a little tired still, y'know?"

Dawn's brows furrowed in concern. "Okay," she said, although she seemed to be taking the explanation with a grain of salt. Her eyes cast back towards the entrance, then back to Jojo. "Hey, um, do you know who that girl was? She seemed like she knew you."

Given the lack of activity in the food joint, the meals came surprisingly fast- within the span of a few minutes, the teenager with the "someone please put me out of my misery" face had returned to the counter, placing a neatly rolled paper bag and pair of coffees down and pushing them over. "Order is ready, ma'am," he droned. "Have a good night." Perking up, Dawn smiled politely at the boy, thanking him and grabbing their meals. The bag was tucked into the crook of her arm, allowing her to hold both coffees without much trouble as she turned to Jojo.

"Oh, and I, um, ordered dinner while you were spacing out. Hope you don't mind."

She seemed mildly pleased with herself.

Jojo nodded. "It was weird, that's for sure.. And no, I've never met her before. It's just.. weird." He grinned, then gave Dawn a blank stare. "Dawn, I will cut you." Despite that, he gave her a grin. "But what if I secretly wanted you to buy it for me while I was distracted so I can spend no money guilt-free?" He gave her an over the top anime villain chuckle, before reaching over and taking his coffee from her. "I might've let you get away with paying, but I won't let you carry my stuff. Gimme foods."

"We gonna eat here or back at the apartment?"

"Hm." While the odds had been slim as it was, given Jojo's bewilderment at the woman's knowing grin, that confirmed it. Neither of them knew who she was. However, the stranger seemed to know them well enough. Pursing her lips for a second, Dawn smiled, taking a sip from her coffee. "Well. Maybe she was checking you out." An attempt to lighten the mood somewhat. Jojo's suggestion had her raising a brow, amused by the thought. "Then I'm, uh, sorry to tell you that all of your, um, devious plotting was a bit...unnecessary. Would've paid anyway, after all." She handed the untouched coffee over to Jojo willingly, taking another hearty swig from her own.

"I think we should eat here. So we both have some caffeine in us before heading back."

Jojo nodded, grinning. "Sure thing." Leading Dawn over to a table in the restaurant, Jojo sat down and took a swig of coffee. "I am pretty attractive. Must be my protagonist charms shining through, eh?" He chuckled to himself softly, leaning his elbows on the table and taking another sip of his coffee. "I, uh, burnt my tongue. Ow."

"I'm a super evil genius, Dawn, all my devious, devilish, evil, dark, mischievous, villainous, another villainous adjective here plotting will never be stopped." He put his coffee down, leaning back and cracking his back, letting out a groan before sitting back normally. "Half-Half Pounders, huh?" Reaching over to the bag, Jojo quickly stole one of the burgers and opened up the packaging, sinking his teeth into it greedily. "Ish good fud, McDolansh. Tashty." Jojo was comfortable enough around Dawn to eat with his mouthful, and the girl seated across from him was, by now, a master of deciphering his muffled words for sure.

"Very suave," Dawn said. She drew a burger and packet of fries from the bag and took a seat at the table, unwrapping her meal as she went. Instead of immediately digging in, however, she flipped the bun over, and methodically piled the fries atop the cheese inside. By the time she had finished, the burger had grown several inches taller, looking lopsided even after she pressed the top back down and took a bite. It was, as Jojo had put it, quite "tashty". Dawn took her time in chewing, nodding her assent before washing it down with more coffee.

"Sorry, Jojo. If you're a 'super evil genius', then I don't think I can lend you any giant fighting robots in good conscience." Another bite, another swig. It was good that they had chosen to go here instead of elsewhere; Dawn doubted that they would be eating many meals like this at Boot Camp, after all. It was a pleasant send-off of sorts.

Jojo simply chuckled. "Oh no, I've given my evil plans away! Whatever shall I dooo?" Smiling widely, Jojo got into his burger, practically devouring it before moving on to his fries.






Nothing particularly special happened during their meal, aside from Jojo looking just a little.. sick. He didn't say anything to Dawn, but it was obvious that something ailing him.

Around halfway there, Jojo collapsed. His face was red, and his body was cold. His breathing came in short breaths, and he bit his lip as he sunk down to one knee. He was struggling to stay conscious, and that was obvious, but the situation worsened when he hit the floor with a thud, some blood trickling from his nose.

He was alive, but.. barely.

While the rest of their dinner passed without much event, it didn't take long for Dawn to notice that there was something wrong with Jojo. Of course, with him being...well, himself, he didn't mention it, but she had known him long enough to have some indications of when he was under the weather.

Even then, however, she wasn't expecting for him to collapse on their walk back to base.

Seeing him fall from the corner of her eye, Dawn immediately darted forward to catch him, although he had already made contact with the cement beneath him by the time she reached him. A thin stream of blood had begun to slip down his upper lip. Eyes wide, Dawn pulled him into a sitting position, fingers brushing the side of his neck for a pulse. "Jojo?"

There was one, yes, but considerably faint. "Jojo, can you hear me?" It was an unnecessary question; even with a brief look-over, she could see that he was completely out of it. She hissed under her breath, then glanced over her shoulder- there was no one around. Turning back, Dawn wrapped her arm around Jojo, hefting him up with little effort. The other reached for his hand, pulling it around her shoulders and holding it there. To the standpoint of an observer, it would appear that he had merely been leaning on her for some time, while also allowing her to support Jojo's weight with her own. Grim, Dawn began a quickened walk back to the base and the infirmary within.

Upon arrival, she would appear properly winded by the effort.

A lady sat at the desk in the entrance of the infirmary, humming to herself softly as she looked through a book. Adjusting her glasses, she looked up and blinked. Her eyes, landing on Dawn, then on Jojo, widened as she rocketed out of her chair. Rushing over to the pair with immense speed, the look of worry on her face was immense. Wordlessly, she carted the collapsed Jojo into the next room, immediately laying him down on a bed and leaning down.

Within a few seconds her hand was on his head, and she narrowed her eyes. "Not a fever, his temperature isn't high.." She reached down, tracing down Jojo's shirt's side, causing it to rip open at her touch. Tracing down his side again, she reached a mark on his body.

Huge. Swollen. Bruised. It looked like someone had stabbed him and twisted the knife, then wrenched it out. The lady nodded to herself, steadying her gloved hands and quickly swiping across the injury, and causing it to open up. "Yes, it's as I thought.." The skin around her finger moved outwards as she reached into the hole in Jojo's side and plucked something from it.

A long, yet incredibly thin hair was in her fingers. Turning to Dawn, she smiled. "A hair from a Tsuchigumo, carries a very potent venom that's injected into the bloodstream. It doesn't take action immediately, but.. it can kill a man in a few days. It's a slow one." The hair exploded in her fingers, turning into literally nothingness before she turned back to Jojo. She moved her hands again, his wound closing up before she placed her entire palm over the wound.

Pulling back a few moments later, all that was left was a small mark on his side. "Unfortunately, it killed some of the cells in his skin. I can't heal those.. But he'll be fine. In fact, giving him.." She reached into her jacket and pulled out a small flask, pulling Jojo's mouth open a little unceremoniously and dropping a few, well, drops of the liquid into his mouth.

"He'll be fine enough to get back to his apartment in a little while. You can stay, or you can leave, it's your choice." She turned to Dawn, and held her hands behind her back, bowing respectfully.

A hint of surprise flitted through Dawn's eyes as she stepped into the infirmary, although it did not last long- replaced by a steady focus as she passed Jojo over to the woman, and followed her into neighboring room. She stood close by as the nurse examined her newest patient, giving her diagnosis, and watched. Even as the skin split and the woman drew a hair from the wound, it was at the thread that Dawn frowned, and not the ease in which the nurse pried flesh apart. She was there for a reason, after all, and Dawn had little intention of interrupting her work.

"It's good that it's out now, then," she said. "A scar is better than any permanent damage, I think." Dawn smiled, face softening now that there was no imminent danger. "I hope you don't mind if I stay for a while longer? I wouldn't want to get in the way of anything while I'm here." She gave a short bow in response to the nurse's, and briefly reached for her hat before lowering her hands and folding them politely against her skirt.

Eine nodded and smiled at Dawn, motioning to the door to the room. "It's not at all a problem if you stay. I'm sure he'd much rather you be here when he wakes up in any case. If you'd like, I could go get some nice chamomile tea for us, und we can have a chat while we wait?" Eine looked Dawn up and down, nodding to herself, and awaiting the girl's reply. Before that, however, she leaned in close to Dawn's ear with a smirk. "I know."

Taking a step back, Eine nodded. "I know how scary it can be to see someone you care about in pain."

Dawn's own smile grew. "That would be nice. Thank you." She gave little outward response to Eine's whisper, eyes flashing with...something, but still retaining the gentleness in her expression. "I'm just glad to hear that he'll be alright."

Eine nodded, grabbing Dawn's hand and leading her from the room with a smile.






A concerned look shot over Eine's face, and she stood from her chair at the table. Marching into the room, she noticed Jojo stirring slightly. Narrowing her eyes, she moved over to him, placing her hand on his head. "Interesting.." Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out a tissue and wiped the blood from his nose. "Hm.. It seems that the Tsuchigumo's poison has almost worn off completely, however.. His nosebleeds aren't a typical sign of the poisoning- in fact-" She paused, her eyes narrowing. "... I see."

She turned around to Dawn, giving her an odd look. "Somebody has used some sort of mental block on him. I can't remove it myself, but.. it seems to be causing his nosebleeds. I hypothesize that it's linked to certain memories he's started trying to access."

Seeing Eine rising and making her way to the other room, Dawn moved to follow, swiping her hat from its place on the table and bringing it home. Despite the barb's removal, the bleeding had returned- something which Eine was quick to explain. A mental block. Dawn pressed her lips together, frowning as she looked over at Jojo. "That's...well. Is there anything that we could do to lessen the symptoms, at least? Until he can, um, get past it." While the faint seemed to have resulted from the venom flowing through his veins, there was still the matter of Jojo losing blood every time he tried to break past the wall in his mind.

Eine shook her head. "I'm not sure. We could theoretically.. no, in his current state, that could hurt him." Eine sighed, turning to Dawn and causing the bloody tissue in her hand to explode into nothingness. "Besides, he'd have to be asleep for us to do anything, and he's waking up. Plus I doubt he'd let a random lady he's never met get another person to mess around with his head." Eine chuckled.

"I'd suggest helping him walk home. If he collapses again, give me a call. Here." She handed Dawn a small business card, smiling. 'Eine Minerva, Chief Nurse' was printed on the card along with her mobile and her WDL email.

Jojo groaned, opening his eyes slowly. "What.." Eine rushed over to him, grabbing his hand and smiling. "]Shhh, shhh, it's okay. You're fine. I removed the barb and the poison from your system." Jojo blinked, looking around the room before grumbling. "... This is where I woke up this morning.." Despite his state, he already had a small grin on his face. "Did the McDolan's give me diabetes or something? I feel like I've been run over.. twice.." He slowly sat up, cringing slightly, and letting out a groan. "Ah, shit, Boot Camp tomorrow, too.." He looked up, then looked over to Dawn. "Heya, Dawn.. sorry for the scare. I guess I got messed up more than I expected to." He grinned.

Eine gave him a nod. "Ja, ze- there was a poison barb from a Tsuchigumo embedded in your side. It spread the poison through your body, which eventually caused you to collapse." Eine's smile was warm and kind, and she held Jojo's hand in both of hers. Jojo blinked, finding himself just a little flustered. "Ah, um, thank you, Miss..?" Eine let go of his hand, taking a step back and bowing. "Eine. Ich bin Frau Eine Minerva." Jojo nodded.. "Miss.. Eine Minerva. Got it." He gave her a smile. "Thanks for the help, Miss. I might've died if you hadn't gotten the barb out." Eine chuckled softly. "Please, please, don't thank me. I'm simply doing my job. You, however, need to go back home- erm, to your apartment, zhat- that is- and get some rest."

In a few minutes, Jojo was back on his feet. He was a little unsteady, and Eine constantly fawned and worried over him. "Boot Kampf zhis und Boot Kampf zhat, mein Gott, it's just so rude of zhem- them- to be making a small Junge like yourself go after such an experience!" Obviously Eine was not happy with Boot Camp happening so fast. She paused for a moment, cheeks flushing red. "I, erm, tend to revert back into German sometimes. Apologies."

"That's probably true," Dawn admitted. She took the card, scanned it for a moment, then tucked it safely into her pocket. "Thank you, Eine. I really do appreciate what you've done for us." She paused, as if she wanted to say more, but then Jojo was stirring, returning to conciousness. Hearing his grumbling, Dawn approached his cot, a relieved smile spreading across her face. "Hey, Jojo. It's, um. Nice to see you back with the living again." Her brow rose. "You don't have to apologize." She said. "I mean, you didn't pass out on your own back there. It's not your fault."

Eine had done an excellent job of healing her patient. Within the span of minutes, Jojo was walking, as healthy as he had been earlier that day. Well. Almost, Dawn amended. He was still stumbling, but that was to be expected. She stationed herself close by in case he fell over, but her assistance proved unnecessary so far. "It seems like they're, um, very eager to get us out already," Dawn noted. "Considering that they're sending us off the day after we here." She smiled, shrugging as Eine excused herself. "It's fine. Not a big deal or anything. My dad used to do the same thing."






Eine had seen them off, giving Jojo a card with her number and email and making him promise to take breaks often, especially if he began to feel ill. "The poison is not completely gone, so be careful, ja?" Jojo had promised to be careful, and within about ten minutes her was stepping into his apartment, collapsing on the couch and groaning loudly.

"Ow.."

Minutes within them stepping into the apartment, a certain border collie had burst out of Dawn's room, claws scratching against the hardwood floor in an effort to stop himself as he skidded into the opposite wall and crashed against it. Iggy, however, was not fazed, and after taking a moment to shake himself off, immediately launched himself into the living room, hopping about and barking his head off. He stood on his hind quarters, front paws pressed against Dawn's stomach until she gave him the customary head pats and "good boys" (for that he was. Iggy had resisted all temptations to drink from the magic water bowl and pull a new soft thing under the bed for proper inspection), then padded over to Jojo and began to sniff his hand expectantly, nudging it a bit. Iggy's owner, on the other hand, settled herself on a nearby armchair, removing her hat and placing it on her knees for the time being.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked. "Well. I mean. Are you feeling better?" Given that Jojo had just recovered from an emergency poison removal, she highly doubted that he was completely peachy at the moment.

Jojo was silent as he reached over and scratched Iggy's head. He didn't reply for a while, eyes closed on the lounge. However, eventually he spoke up.

"... I could go for some McDolan's."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Dawn Memoli Character Portrait: Notable NPCs
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#, as written by Zalgo
Rick Brackwall

It was a long night. After finally managing to draw a spell upon a playing card he rested for the remainder of the night. He wanted to continue but without enough rest he would be exhausted for the trip tomorrow. Not that he was going to get much rest trying to sleep however. What few nights that went by without that same nightmare were a blessing. This was nothing new to him though. He was complacent in knowing that there was little reprieve from the nightmares. What he felt was not so much a sense of fear but a reluctance to live it all over again. Alas, he retired to his bed all the same.


Seven o'clock. The clock rang right on the minute, waking him by the same hour he had been awoken almost every night for many years now. Silencing the loud beeping box he arose, tired but for the most part rested. It was not the first time that night he had woken, the nightmare doing well in keeping him from sound sleep.

Out from his bed Rick went through the usual morning routines. Down in the cafeteria he had a bare bones breakfast, an assortment designed to give him an optimal amount of nutrients and proteins for the day. Back at his room he reviewed the notes he took the day before. It didn't fail to bother him, the arrangement he had made with Asmodeus. He did not fail to consider the fact that he couldn't trust that the death pact she placed upon him might work differently than she described. With the idea that someone else could pull the plug on him at any moment it certainly gave him a number of things to dwell upon.


He was checking over his inventory of spells when his phone gave a light beep. A text on his phone from the principle issuing the time their expected to show for preparations before they set off. Since he was for the most part prepared he was able to get ready at a comfortable pace. He donned his outdoor attire, a WDL uniform tailored for extensive travel and managing less than optimal weather. For scrolls he had twenty two various sheets of paper adhering to his body. They ranged from pamphlet sized to a regular scroll sheet size and they all simply clinged to him beneath his shirt and pants. A fair majority of them were attack spells since he figured there'd be little rush in the casting of utility spells in most foreseeable situations.

With his pack on his back, his pens in his pocket, his sword at his hip, his clip board with paper on his belt and his special magnifying glass in his other pocket he set out through the front door and on his way to the auditorium.


Rick arrived at the auditorium exactly on time, even taking the effort to wait outside a bit before entering when the clock hit twelve. He entered to see both Illusion and Chief Medical Officer Eine awaiting them.

"Good morning Ms. Illusion. Guten nachmittag Eine."

Rick bid good morning to each of them respectively.

Illusion, a wide smile on her face, gave Rick a cute bow and a wink. "Mornin', Ricky!". Standing beside her in her pristine white suit, Eine bowed at the waist, a small smile on her face. "Guten tag, Herr Rick. Wie geht's?" Straightening up, she spoke again. "I'll be accompanying you and the other to ze- to the Boot Camp." She went silent again, however, and awaited his response. Ever since that day, Eine had been much more relaxed around him. He defied her self loathing, after all.

"Mir geht es gut. Wie geht es dir?" He answered back to her question, a friendly greeting all the same.

"I'm honored to have you along for their initiation. I must say I'd hope none of them require any sort of medical attention before the end but with civilians taken in times of uncertainty the possibility of a mishap can't be underestimated."

Walking along further into the room Rick acknowledged Illusion's greeting with a slight nod as he'd already greeted her. As he stopped he looked around momentarily to see if any of the others were arriving yet before looking back to Eine.

"Ja, mir gehts gut. Danke schön." She smiled politely at Rick. "I do hope nobody is hurt too badly, however.." She paused, giving a worried look over to Illusion, who was busy conveniently looking the over in the other direction. Eine muttered something under her breath. It was obvious there had been some sort of conversation before Rick had arrived, and probably not a good one.

"In the case of an accidental injury, however, I'll be around to patch up anyone who's been hurt. Of course, I've been selected to come along, and viewed all of the files." She narrowed her eyes as Jojo and Dawn entered, whenever they did, a look of concern crossing her features. "However, I've been.. assured that there will be no bear traps this time around. We have other staff accompanying us, however they have not been briefed on your.. special circumstances, something we wish to cover before we head off. As always, keeping your secret is paramount- you're regular, albeit new, recruit Exorcists."

Illusion chimed in at this, her smile warm and kind. "Ah, but Lusy brought along a friend! Zadkiel will be there, too, to take the suspicion off of the newbies! Lusy did a smart thing, so nobody will know much!" She turned back, swaying side to side and humming quite loudly. Eine clenched her fists, very subtly, but she still clenched them.

She was withholding information.

Rick could tell something was on Eine's mind as she was normally less tense in general conversation, especially just between them. Of course he was wiser than to simply pry when there were ears nearby to overhear, specifically the ones of Jojo and Dawn in this case.

"That is quite good, as is bringing Zadkiel. As I'm attending as both a senior exorcist to them and as their leader I should be able to keep the other six along and sequestered to the best of my abilities."

He then turned to greet the other two who had arrived, along with anyone else who showed. "Ah, welcome. We'll be briefed on today's event when everyone is present."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Helena Kingsley Character Portrait: Dawn Memoli Character Portrait: Eine Minerva
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By the time of the meeting, Helena turned up a little worse for wear. She'd spent a sleepless night watching for the return of the monster, and was feeling more than a little sore from her tumble out of the tree. It'd taken a while to try and get the grass stains and dust off of her dinosaur sweater, which was by then bearing a few darker patches from her dabbing it with water from the sink, and several loose fibres from catching twigs on the descent.

She'd turned up however. Mostly because after a night contemplating it she couldn't see any other way out of the situation other than to do as there people said, lest she provoke the wrath of the creature. It was still horribly surreal, but the grim reality that no-one was going to save her from this had set it in earnest, and Helena concluded she was going to have to put her nervous breakdown on hold and do what they said if she wanted to see next week.

So she arrived at the auditorium looking scruffy, tired, and a bit unhappy. Also with a now stitched-up stuffed rabbit protruding from her sweater pocket. She wasn't really sure she wanted to leave him lying around and give more ammunition to the thing. It wasn't like the situation could get a lot weirder.

There were a number of people she recognised, and at least one she didn't, though the previous events hadn't really left her much in the mood for catching up, so she simply came and stood, fidgeting with a loose thread on her sweater. Fulfil the minimum criteria. That was all she needed to do.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Helena Kingsley Character Portrait: Dawn Memoli
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Come morning, Vesper was already awake and doing her morning chore such as being inside the greenhouse where the flora appeared to have a vibrancy around her presence. Though, it was at a deeper level than normal. That would probably be in connection with her evening interaction to a person from her rose-colored history. She was even humming a melody that carried a tinge of bittersweet gentleness. It added a precious element of admiration and an ethereal imagery as her ash white locks were pulled into perfectly boho-styled side braiding, giving her hair a voluminous mess yet meticulous in design. It also matched her rather unique and fashionable dress once more accentuating her beauty and upbringing.

She appeared perfect among the blooming flowers and lush greenery, though her current attire would not be fitting for the manual labor she was doing at present, but it was not a concern. This activity pleased her and that was the only thing that mattered in her horizon. Well, there were also the replay of the warm scenario that was blanketed by the starless sky. Jonathan apologized for his absence, but that was inevitable and worked on both ends. She was not by his side as well. Should she apologize as well? That is right... she had almost set it aside... almost. Her hand that was hovering above a red snapdragon flower where a butterfly began to linger around it trembled.

"I know my place." She pulled back her hand and those abyss-like mauve eyes glistened with hollow ire as she turned her back from the said flower and the butterfly that seemingly unable to flutter away from the lure of red. In any case, she refocused her attention to the other plants, tending to them in an almost automated gesture. Once done, she went towards the nearby porcelain garden bench and eased herself there as she took in her hand the book she brought earlier. She opened where the bookmark was placed last night and continued her reading of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, not allowing her thoughts to wander listlessly when she must be an anchor above all.

Just like that, she passed her time in a blank peace. The only moment it was shattered was when a sound emanating from her pocket. She looked at her pocket, before closing once more her book but not without marking where she stopped with a bookmark. Setting it aside, she took out the object from her pocket which was her phone. There was a message stating simply to be in the auditorium at noon. If it was before, she would have not move from her position and continued her reading. However, it was not like that anymore for her. She returned the phone inside her pocket and in her hand the unfinished book she carried. Standing from her seat, she was about to walk when a cold sensation wrapped around her arm like a shackle. "Ziry jāhor dōrī mōris. Tepagon bē." She looked, but there was none.

She touched her arm held perhaps in a hallucination. "I cannot." She then went to the auditorium. Arriving just a bit after noon, there she saw Rick, Helena, Illusion, Eine, Jonathan, and Dawn. She entered without anything misplaced about her. Stoic, yet silently soft in her presence as she delivered her polite courtesy. "Good afternoon. Ms. Illusion. Dr. Minerva." She delivered a bow with the usual eloquent poise. "Good afternoon. Rick. Helena. Jonathan. Dawn." For this, she casually gave a nod, a friendly gesture she had been told, before standing again on her own in silence like a doll, without showing the whirlpool inside.


Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Helena Kingsley
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#, as written by Tanman
Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade
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Ash usually wasn’t the kind to be early to anything. Today was no exception. It was a real shame, since she’d really tried to make sure she was at least on time. Somehow it seemed that time just got away from her, what with going into town on her motorbike, only to find it mysteriously missing when she returned. Damn thing needed to learn to stay put. Regardless, she got her business in town completed, ordering a variety of items to improve the functionality of her room back at the WDL. Now however, she needed to deal with the arguably more important issue of attending boot camp. Right after she caught her breath.

Panting slightly from exertion, and already more than a little sweaty from her half-run turned jog turned walk, Ashley made her way over to the auditorium to join the others. Doing her best to compose herself just outside the door, once she managed to look like she hadn’t completely exhausted herself, she pushed open the doors, stepping through. She was only a little late. Hopefully a tardy display on the first day wouldn’t get her into too much trouble. Besides, she was here at least. And by the looks of things, wasn’t last. In her book, that meant she was early, since they couldn’t exactly start without the entire group.

“Afternoon.” She stated by way of greeting, looking to Rick, JoJo, Dawn, Helena, and Vesper, then over to what looked to be the nurse she vaguely remembered from her arrival, along with Illusion. She didn’t see any reason to apologise for her lateness, and certainly wouldn’t bring it up if they didn’t. Instead, she simply moved to take a seat and await the arrival of the other two members of their group. Well, after a moment, she decided at the very least she'd make a token gesture of sociability as she looked to the supplies and other materials off to the side. "Were we supposed to bring stuff?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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"The world works in a way
it doesn't give a damn on
how you feel, all it cares about
that it moves and so, I learned
to keep it inside even if I do explode
it's just me moving on eventually."
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Caius had always believed that these kind of waking ups would be far behind him now, the deer-caught in the headlights type of moment. But, life dealt him another a-hole card. This would be the second time where the first one was in the infirmary with the midget reincarnation of Looney tunes (Illusion). He was still wrapping his head around that and about what happened in that orphanage the other day. It was still fresh and poking at it just made it rawer than ever. He highly doubted that he would ever get over it as he covered his face with his hand, trying not to make his brains blow up from all the complicated shit going on his life.

Anyways, he should try to grasp his situation right now instead of what had already happened. He removed his hand from his face and had this confused expression. How did he return to his room, exactly...? Was he that drunk not to remember? If so, he should have a major drill-hammer orchestra raging inside his head now. But, there was just silence, he could almost hear the cuckoo birds chirping as if saying nothing was inside his head to begin with, as if he doesn't know that already. Well, the absence of that meant he was not drowning in alcohol. He was sober. Did someone take him back? That won't be out of place really, knowing his promiscuous side.

He looked to his side if a body was beside him. Well, there was only him, so that's good. A one-night stand is a good way of releasing frustrations, but he really doesn't like a complicated start-up so early in the game and knowing the people staying here, it's more of a hassle. He then looked around at the rather empty-looking space which would now be his living quarters for how long? No idea, anyways, he sat up from his bed. It seemed he was alone, he held his head with one hand while sweeping his hair back a bit as he tried to recall what happened at his alcoholic venture.

He's sure that he stayed in that bar until closing time. There were flashes of him being asked by the barkeep to leave and come back again since they're off now. Then, the noisy background of the bar which had been livened up as the evening deepens. He also remembered a lot of wine bottles and various shot glasses on his table. Then, he was talking...? That was the end of his memory lane from the patches he could remember. It was odd because it was like, his memory had been cut-off. Wait... Cut-off...?

He quickly checked his body and was relieved to know that all of his body parts and organs appeared to be all accounted for. His wallet, thinner than before, was also still with him and nothing seems to be missing. He was also still in his clothes from last night. Still, he was unsettled. There was a big chunk of his memory that was completely a blank. He scratched the back of his head because nothing was really coming up. It's like his memory had been tampered with and segments were deleted. "As if that was possible..." He muttered under his breath and even with the unbelievable things that can't be simplified by the common man's logic which had been presented to him. He was still able to deny it as a whole.

"It'll come back to me eventually if it's important." That's the conclusion he made and it was his nature not to think deeply of things. For now, he sniffed himself and without doubt, he smelled of cigarettes and booze combined. He's used to it, but having a shower won't be bad to start his day. Is it still morning? Ah, he doesn't care about it anymore. He stood up and stretched his muscles for good measure. Then, he began to undress himself piece by piece. One would think he was doing a strip show, but that's just how he is and he was also alone. He felt sweaty and sticky, a cold shower would be good for him.

Taking a towel, he entered the bathroom and enjoyed the icy touch of the water tracing down every part of his skin. It was a sensation that he welcomed and certainly roused him from his sleepy daze. When, he was done, he exited the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist. His physique was impressive and his tan skin was still glistening from the water droplets and his dragon tattoo can be clearly seen. His brown with reddish tips of hair was damped, but ultimately, he was quite easy on the eyes, giving out that sexy and exotic sight. That was also something he's aware of it and he uses it to his advantage especially during the hay days. After all, one should use every arsenal that is available to survive and he did just that. But right now, it was different, probably, he has no idea. He really didn't like thinking too much.

For now, he should change into some clothes and so, he started rummaging through that one box that held everything of his earthly possessions. He took out his jersey jacket, a shirt, pants, and a rubber shoes to be worn by him, after a while, he was done and was now casually lounging around. The schedule given to him yesterday was forgotten and was set aside on a nearby table top, out of his interest. Instead, he was picking through his things, wondering what he should keep inside and bring out. Oh... His eyes brightened a bit. He totally forgot about it, his phone. He took it out and apparently, it has a dead battery now. "Totally forgotten about that." He took out his charger and plugged it in. After that, he continued looking through his things, not entirely concerned about whatever else besides him has plans for. He found his brass knuckles and believed it should be useful in bashing some faces he is sick of.

His attention was taken when his phone turned back on and made consistent notification sounds. He took hold of his phone and found he had a lot of messages and mixed calls. They were useless ones from useless people in his book. Though, there was an unknown number present with a very short message. "Auditorium. 12:00." But, he was not that dense to not know it came from this place's management or even from that abnormality of a dwarf. "I should just skip it." He mentioned to himself, but then he recalled all the shit that happened yesterday. "This is such a hassle. Tsk." He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he scratched his head once more as a show of frustrating annoyance. He lazily complied with the message by not answering.

It was probably early to go and he was a bit hungry and should eat something as he opened some of his canned foods. Some sardines to fill his stomach. Just like that, he took his sweet time of eating and relaxing with some instant coffee on hand. Then, he proceeded to have his dessert with some of his smokes. He went towards the nearest window and opened it as he puffed one letting the smell sooth him. It was in that zen when he remembered that he has no idea what time is it really. All he had were estimations and all that. He took out his phone and had another shit moment. It was 12:15 PM... He finished his smoke and quickly left his room. Well, whatever it was about, if he was needed or something, that midget would have done something about it. So, it was not something important, probably. If he was left behind, that was good. He wasn't in the mood for anything and just wanted some time alone, to adjust to everything. He is still picking up the pieces even if he didn't appear to be doing that. Though, showing at the auditorium would be good enough for him to say that he did try, albeit late. He eventually reached the auditorium and peeked inside first to see if anyone was still there. If none, he could just go back to his room. He was actually hoping, they left him behind, but when did things ever happen in the way he liked it to be?

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall Character Portrait: Helena Kingsley
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Shortly after getting back to the infirmary, Dawn had retired to her room, door left cracked open so Iggy could come and go as he pleased. For all the surprises and...hurdles that had come so suddenly, it hadn’t taken long for the little dorm to feel rather cozy. She had her dog, a few posters and pictures hung up on the walls, and her (well, Jojo’s, technically) games. Given more time, perhaps it would feel more like home than not. Until they got back from Boot Camp, there was no way to tell for sure.

Her morning was fairly uneventful, in the face of all that had happened yesterday. Shower. Have a quick ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast, then take Iggy out for a walk outside the main base’s building. Dawn had a lot to think about, and the peace of the early day allowed her to do just that.

Well, “peaceful” in the sense that Iggy would constantly stop to sniff at a patch of flowers or tree or building, but the spaces between allowed for a fair bit of reflection.

By the time that the text was sent out, Dawn had arrived back at the apartment, idly going through an assortment of documents and files on her computer. Mostly tax items, really. A handful of notes from university, alongside a few reports and assignments that would never be turned in. She was wondering what had happened to Dawn Memoli in the outside world- was she still enrolled at her college? Had she been erased from the public eye entirely?- when her phone purred against the rich mahogany of the desk. Clicking her way back to her desktop, Dawn grabbed her phone and went through it. A summons.

She entered the auditorium a minute or two after twelve, hair neatly plaited, hat cocked at such an angle to prevent imaginary sunlight from hitting her eyes. Upon seeing that she wasn’t alone, Dawn smiled, giving a short half-wave to those gathered. “Hello, everyone. And, um, good afternoon to you all, too.” The look of worry on Eine’s face did not escape her, and Dawn tipped her head at her in a quiet, separate greeting before moving over to Helena.

“Hey, are you doing alright?” She asked, softly. Given that Helena had apparently been drugged and kidnapped the day before, it was safe to assume that she was, in fact, not alright, but the girl looked ragged. Ash’s question had Dawn frowning a little as she caught sight of the luggage- were they? There had been nothing regarding it in the text. “I don’t think so,” she said. There was an edge of uncertainty in her voice that was hard to miss, however.

After a few more minutes had passed, the sound of the auditorium door opening again caught her attention. Curious, Dawn glanced over, and caught sight of a man peering in from around it. She faintly recalled him from the day before- Caius- and turned away after giving an acknowledging nod in his direction.

It seemed as if only a few Children were pleased to be at the WDL.

Not overly surprising, given the circumstances.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by zody
-| ? |-
-| Jonathan Black |-Image


Jojo hit the wall hard, his vision already failing him. He'd barely escaped, the monsters behind him continuing to wreak havoc and destroy the entire town. He looked down at his blood-soaked hands and clothes, panting hard. He heard the voice in his ear begging for him to run- to the place he'd be safe- to the.. extraction point? He couldn't hear them. They were so.. quiet?

He slowly dragged himself to his feet. He couldn't sleep here, nor could he stop. He had to keep moving no matter what, until he found the place he had to be. Up ahead was an abandoned factory, unused for at least ten years, so that's where he'd decided to go. He took a few more steps before falling to his knees, coughing hard. A thick, black, bitter substance splattered to the ground before him.
That wasn't blood, at least.

Standing up, his ears were ringing, and he felt himself swaying no matter how hard he tried to right himself. His vision blurred and cleared, swimming and not swimming. He felt sick- like he was poisoned.
Poisoned..
The voice in his ear was silent, now, replaced by a painful metallic screaming, and even that he could barely hear. The last thing he'd heard from them was.. something about communications being something.. being jammed..? Gritting his teeth and looking up, he saw it. The factory was cold and rusted before him. He wouldn't infect anyone here. He staggered through the gate, breath catching in his throat as he slammed into the door and fell through it.

His vision was.. gone. Not quite, but he could barely keep his eyes open, and even if he did, the world was spinning and swirling around him. His entire body was drenched with sweat, and he could feel more black liquid dripping from his mouth. He groaned, reaching out to drag himself into the factory. The hot sunlight was replaced with cool shade, and he breathed out hard.
The alarms behind him were still going loud, as were the sounds of destruction and chaos- explosion and, Jojo swore, the sound of a building collapsing to the ground.

Slowly dragging himself forward, he staggered onto his knees and almost fell, hacking up another glob of the black stuff and recoiling from it, shuddering hard at the disgusting taste. He shuffled over to something near him. A wall? Or a big metal box.. something.. and he leaned against it. He propped himself up against the cool metal, shutting his eyes and feeling the steel against his back. He could feel himself breathing, but the sound was far away. Something didn't sit right with him.. He wasn't affected despite being hit by the.. whatever it was.. bomb? It exploded and destroyed an entire block, coating it in black mist that eventually dissipated, leaving only corpses, debris and.. things.. behind. He was only infected a little while after the bomb hit instead of instantly, like it was.. delayed for him somehow.

He clenched his hand, seeming to float away from his body. He couldn't let himself turn into one of them. He couldn't let anyone else get infected.. from him, at least. He held out his hand, panting softly as he raised his blade. He opened his eye, barely able to see as he steadied it and aimed for his heart. He swallowed, wincing a little. His mouth was completely dry.
He took a deep breath and shut his eyes for the last time. He needed to do it. He couldn't hesitate. He couldn't become a monster.
He rammed the sword towards his chest.

The sword flew across the room, slamming through the wall across from him. Jojo looked up, opening his eyes. He could vaguely make out a figure standing before him, extending a hand. He couldn't see anything, and he could barely hear them.

"I can save you, but I won't save your friends. All you have to do is take my hand."

Jojo couldn't see anything anymore, his body beginning to slump forward as he lost consciousness.
The last thing he did before he blacked out was grab the hand.
The last thing he heard was a laugh.






Jojo awoke with a start. His entire body was covered in a cold sweat, and he swallowed hard, eyes wide. His throat was dry, and he felt a little dizzy. He sat up slowly, reaching up to rub his head. "What.. the fuck. More crazy dreams, huh?" Jojo had been having extra weird dreams lately, although he figured it was the whole 'Child of the Devil' thing, maybe. He wasn't too sure, but he figured that his body had done.. something. After all, he'd batted a spider lady across the face hard enough to..

Jojo closed his eyes and threw himself back down, reaching up to put his hands over his face. He'd been in a perpetual state of shock yesterday. Everything that happened.. what the hell was going on? Sure, he could put on a smile and nod, but.. When he really put his mind to it, something was seriously wrong. He couldn't deny it since he'd been attacked by some sort of.. spider demon girl.. No, Non-Human was the correct term, apparently. Jojo made a noise, moving his hands from his face and opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. He felt something tug at his chest, and he sighed hard. When he was younger, his mother would always pop up and talk him through his nightmares, tell him what they really were- your brain processing data from the previous day and converting it into an abstract dream. A pang of pain hit him as he lay there.

He missed his mother.

Slowly he sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and sitting there for a little while. He figured a shower would do him good, so that's what he did. Standing up and stretching, his muscles rippled slightly as he let out a grunt. There was a lot of stress in his shoulders, so maybe a quick morning run would do the trick instead. He moved over to his box of stuff, and listened to the sound of the shower running. He hadn't noticed it before, but he nodded to himself. Dawn usually showered first, and Jojo decided to take a short jog around the residential district. Spraying on some deodorant and tossing on a shirt and shorts, Jojo left the apartment in a bit of a hurry. A jog, a shower, then a breakfast were all on his mind as he left.

Also on his mind was everything that was going on.

He'd left the apartment fairly quietly, and his jog took him around the majority of the residential district, and he gave a nod to a cute blonde girl with the nicest pink eyes he'd ever seen on his way around as she opened up what seemed to be a store. He'd have to pop up there later and check it out.
In the meantime, he was focused more on keeping in shape and in his routine.
He didn't want to be dragged into something like this and be sloppy or get lazy, especially if his life was on the line.






Eventually he'd gone back to the apartment, Dawn having apparently vanished somewhere after her shower. With that confirmed by knocks on both her office-turned-room and the bathroom, Jojo decided to shower.
The warm water cascaded down and around him, drenching him in the cleansing warmth a nice, hot shower had always afforded him. Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, letting the water hit his face directly. The pain in his side had vanished pretty quickly after his 'surgery', and even the little scar that was left was barely noticeable anymore. He felt infinitely better, dropping his head and letting the water drench his hair. Protagonist hair, apparently. He figured he'd better start acting the part then, maybe a particularly genre savvy and meta protagonist like Nep- He paused his thoughts, opening his eyes and turning the hot water up before turning around, letting his back get some of the warmth of the shower water. He let out a soft sigh, closing his eyes again.
The steam was filling the room up pretty quickly and making it hard to see, and the water was hot now- enough to make his skin red and sting just a little, but he got used to it fairly quickly. He loved having stupidly hot showers. Always made him feel.. renewed, somehow.
The shower he'd had yesterday had cleaned him a little, but he still felt.. dirty.
Because he hadn't cleaned the blood of that spider girl off properly until now.

A little while later, Jojo had gotten out of the shower and gotten dried, ready and dressed. His stomach rumbled as he pulled on his glove, covering up the stupid black mark on the back of his hand with a disapproving look. He'd given it a looking over during his shower, and had no clue what it meant. He'd have to stop by the library later on and check it out.

"... After this Boot Camp thing, then."

Breakfast was a plate of bacon and eggs, with a coffee on the side. Quick, simple, easy. Delicious, too. Jojo had gone and brought a fair bit of groceries the day before, so he was prepared for making something for himself. He almost made two servings, but Dawn was still out, it seemed. After that was video games. Jojo set to work with a surprising amount of gusto, setting up his [BRAND] console and diving into the game he'd been playing through before he'd been, uh, assaulted and kidnapped. He wasted his time away, anxiously awaiting the call for Boot Camp or whatever was going to happen.

It was 11 am when he got the text. 'Auditorium. 12:00.'

Time passed quickly, the clock hitting 11:45, and Jojo switched his console off. Making sure he was ready, Jojo left the apartment, locking the door and pocketing the keys. A little while later, he reached the Auditorium, just behind Rick. Everyone there was someone he knew, and he replied to any greetings tossed his way with a warm smile and a wave of the hand. He felt anxious.
Very anxious.
Boot Camp wasn't exactly the most inviting name, after all.
He didn't intend on asking questions. Not yet.
He'd wait and listen for now.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by zody
-| LORD OF ILLUSIONS |-
-| 'Illusion' |-Image


Illusion waited for everyone to arrive, bar the obvious exception. As Ash asked her question, Lusy shook her head. "No, no, all supplies and the like for Boot Camp are provided by the WDL and the present staff." She paused, then went quiet fully again. Closing her eyes, she furrowed her brows. ".. There." In the back of her mind, Illusion knew that some of the group would grow agitated by being forced to wait. Hopefully, that anger would also be directed towards Caius- a small lesson he'd need to learn unless he wanted to die. Illusion sighed heavily, crossing her arms and leaning back, sitting on a rip in reality she happily opened. Behind her, the dark mirror dimension was visible.

Waiting in silence until Caius finally peeked into the auditorium, Illusion reached behind her into the portal and grabbed Caius from behind, having opened a second behind him as he stood there. She stood up, dragging him through it and quite roughly tossing him to the ground in the middle of group. Closing the portal after she'd finished using it, she opened her eyes and looked down at Caius, raw anger easily visible in her blazing crimson orbs. "Do not waste our time again or there will be consequences. You're a part of the Seven, now, whether you like it or not. If you refuse to cooperate, Arthur has already given you your warning."

Sighing and brushing down her dress, Lusy turned to the others. "Alrighty! Now that we're all present and the other staff might find out your dirty little secret and kill you all because they might overhear our conversation," she looked at Caius, "because someone was late," she turned back to the others, "we'll have to make this quick. This auditorium is booked for a lecture in about 5 minutes."

Floating midair and now ignoring Caius entirely, she smiled sweetly. "Boot Camp has several uses. For your special cases, it'll give you an insight into your powers- some of you already know some of them. Several of you having already used your abilities- Rick is the greatest example of this among you all, his powers almost fully developed. Almost. However, while you have some skills, your true abilities are still dormant. That's what Boot Camp is for- to unlock and then refine them. We'll also be teaching you how to use your abilities, alongside practical combat training for you to use alongside said abilities. The last portion of Boot Camp is a week-long survival exercise in a forest where you'll be graded on teamwork, survival skills, and generally be tested to your limits." She turned to Rick. "Don't think your prior experience means anything. This Boot Camp is special, something you haven't seen before, Rick. I suggest you all be on guard."

Nodding to herself, she smiled again. "The other staff will be giving you a much more in-depth introduction, but I'd like to remind you all that you're regular recruits at this Boot Camp despite the circumstances, and you'll be treated as such." She smiled at Caius far too sweetly. "They'll be quite mean to you if you provoke them, so please don't be too rude." Cracking her neck and wincing, the small girl motioned to the woman beside her. "Head Nurse Eine Minerva will also be accompanying you for medical assistance if need be." Eine nodded as Illusion spoke, bowing in greeting to everyone present.

"Now, if you would kindly follow me so you can learn how to become superpowered cool people, we should leave quickly. We'll be heading to the nearby garage to procure a nice vehicle for everyone to share." She quickly strode past everyone to the doorway of the auditorium, humming to herself as she tossed open the doors. A man stood there, shocked, and she smiled warmly at him. "Good afternoon and congratulations on your child, Mister Friedman." He stood stock still, swallowing. "How did you..? Thank you, Miss Illusion." Lusy was already past him, humming to herself as she strode down the road. She expected the others to follow. There would be more information for them upon arrival to the camp.

She made sure to go the long way. She had expectations, after all, and a certain Demon Lord had best not disappoint.
Jojo quietly followed her, his interest having been piqued when she'd mentioned powers. Thoughts about that night filled his head, and he nodded once to himself before following her- just after Eine. The Nurse followed almost immediately after Illusion, turning to Jojo with a worried look on her face. He gave her a grin, and she nodded before focusing on not losing the small vampire before her. The bags of supplies fell into portals as Illusion left.






Around halfway into the walk, Lusy paused, watching as Angel and several other men transported a prisoner to the garage. She remembered that Arthur and Angel had met up earlier on in the morning to discuss moving the prisoner to a more secure location for interrogation. He was cuffed with the usual anti-magick transportation gear, of course, which was enough of a precaution for the idiot Angel to consider it safe to transport him.

Illusion narrowed her eyes, watching as the exorcist looked at her, giving her a hateful glare, before turning back to his men and motioning to continue on. Illusion paused, holding out her hand for those near her to stop behind her. Eine paused, a look of confusion on her face. Jojo slowed to a halt beside them, looking over and recognising Angel from the day before. The hair on the back of his neck pricked up.

Illusion's hand was on the umbrella at her side- not at all a good sign of things to come.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by claw
Warning: The follow contains gore that some may find unsettling, read onwards at your own discretion.


And now, sit. The boy twisted around, eyes darting to every corner of the room as he tried to locate the voice that had echoed around the place. It took him a moment to realise that his scanning for its source was fruitless, for it hadn't come booming through his ear, it had reverberated through his very being, crashing against his mind and soul as though it were a winter storm trying to breach the fortress of his mind.
"No." A noise similar to amusement seemed to bounce through his mind, a cruel and mocking sound that seemed to belittle him in just in making of the noise itself.
"Brave little creature, you fail to realise the depth of your position now." The boy twisted around, trying to escape the voice dripping with malice in his mind.

He froze suddenly, staring at the far wall. Where before there had been empty air there now sat two burning points of fire and light, hate and domination. He tried to turn aside to avoid looking at the horrific image only for the flaming orbs to follow him, no matter where he looked, Brenhins eyes were fixed behind his eyes and before them. "You see, little one, I own you now. You cannot defy me, not forever. Now, sit." There was a pull at the edges of his mind, a compulsion that screamed at him for fighting it. The edges of his vision turned a sickly orange even as the orbs of burning fire melted away from his vision. He gritted his teeth, fighting against the desire of his legs to crumble out from under him, all he had to do was focus, focus and resist and the voice couldn't command him, the drive couldn't force him to do what he did not wish.

This silent battle continued timelessly, with the boy standing fixed in one spot, teeth gritted and eyes tensed at having to focus so very hard against the Demon in his mind. And yet he could feel that Brenhin was almost mocking him, not even trying to force him to obey, as though he were trying to give him a sense of false hope that he could actually win. The boy pushed those thoughts aside as he tried to focus on very much not sitting down, even though the mocking presence continued to push against him.

The battle of wills was broken all of a sudden by the sound of the door being unlocked and the tramping of thick boots as men poured into the room, armed with far too many weapons than was necessary to contain a simple boy. They pushed the startled boy up against the wall and forcefully turned him around, pinning his arms behind his back before the cold touch of metal locked around his wrists, weighing them down with what must only be handcuffs. "Comply with their wishes, my messenger, do not resist and this shall all be over swiftly. Things are moving apace and you shall soon be free to go about your business."

He was certainly in no position to argue against the wishes of the Demon Lord this time, though true he could perhaps try to run, or kick out against the guards as they pulled him backwards and forced him out of the small cell that had housed him, what good would it do? He was surrounded on all sides by men armed with automatic weapons that would tear him apart in an instant. If he ran they could kill him without even moving, if he fought then one of them would shoot him in the back, his only thought of solace being that his death could mean the destruction of the Demon sitting inside him. But even then, he couldn't be sure that would be the way of things, for all he knew the Demon would escape unnoticed and nobody would suspect a thing. As much as it boiled in his gut to have to so much as carry this Demon even a single step let allow carry out its wishes he knew that his being free to hunt the Demon after this little message of his was sent.

As they crossed into the open courtyard, blinking against the morning sun, his eyes darted across the floor, his mind coming up with all the possible ways he was going to have to escape. They didn't looking good, too much open ground for him to try to cross and to be shot down on. And then his eyes landed on a small group of people, no more than nine of them, watching him. And he could feel a sense of elation coming from Brenhin inside of him. There was a joy and a hate in there both, and it scared him more than he cared to admit.

"Halt, it is time." Those dark eyes glowered once more from behind the boys vision, the searing pain returned to compel him to obey the Demon Lords command.
"I can't just stop, they'll kill me" He winced internally, his foot catching on the floor, causing him to stumble. One foot crashed into the other as he tried to stop himself falling flat on his face with his hands bound behind his back. But it was this lapse in concentration that finally cast down the walls of his will power that had up until now kept Brenhin at bay.

Now, so suddenly having his mind twisted away from putting up the mental walls needed to protect himself from the Demons corrupting influence he could feel the icy claws of dominion latch onto the confines of his mind and against his own violation his whole body stiffened. It felt as though he were constantly falling, there was a sense of disconnect from his body as though everything was rising and falling all at once. His gut squirmed painfully as it warped in all directions. His throat clenched tightly and drily as it burned in his neck. He felt as though he were about to be sick and shit himself both at the same time. All this pain and discomfort combined together and he was sure that it was Brenhins doing to make him feel this in all it's terribleness.

"What are you doing?"
"Why, conveying my message of course. I must commend you on being both courier and parchment." That disconnect grew suddenly so much worse. He could feel the wind against his face, feel the chill in the air, feel the pain in his gut as it burned at him, could feel his eyes start to scream at him as they dried but could not blink. He couldn't even twitch, his whole body rejected him, though he could still feel it. It was as though he were a passenger within a puppet, there was no sense of control any more. He could feel his body though could not command it and horribly it dawned on him that this was entirely what Brenhin wanted him to feel.

A laugh began to grow within the boys chest, a lazy smile twisted across his lips as his eyes stared blindly forwards. The guards around him looked at him, obvious concern spreading across their features as they tightened their grips on their personal weapons. The chuckle grew as it spilled from his lips, pouring out across the courtyard in it's growing madness. And then he could feel as much as hear a voice that was somewhere between his own and the Demons own bassy tones echo from his throat.
"Pathetic, weak, frail things. Strange how Humanity has grown so tall and yet remained so weak. So easily twisted by your betters. Hmmm, yes, twisted... Allow me to demonstrate how twisted we can make you."

He could feel the Demons puppeteer fingers grasp hold of his body, shaking the looseness out of his limbs suddenly. He shoulders tensed and there was the feeling of his arms straightening behind his back and lifting, raising towards the sky. Inevitably they met the resistance of his bodies natural limitations... And kept going. Discomfort instantly gave way to horrible pain as Brenhin twisted his arms higher than they shoulder ever go, his shoulder blades began to squeal as they grated against each other. And he could feel it all, every single iota of agony as his bones pushed together, felt his skin and muscle tear, feel the warm blood dripping down his armpits as his flesh pull itself apart.

There was a sudden and harsh crack and pop then ended the screeching of bone against bone and projected his arms forwards. His shoulders were now entirely twisted around the wrong way, the bone jutting out of the bleeding cavities at his joints. As the bone popped and tore itself apart as his joints were spun around in a way that no Human could ever endure the pain allowed him some sense of control of his body once more. He pitched forwards, crashing down onto his knees as a blood curdling scream tore from his lips. The tears of pain that had been welling in his eyes falling from his face to splatter through the crimson blood that pattered on the floor. He was only given the briefest of respites, as though the Demon that had so totally consumed control of his body was savouring his agony like some fine wine. It was to be taken in small, carefully controlled mouthfuls, not chugged down like cheap booze.

Apparently deciding it was time for another sensual sip of this delicate wine of human suffering, the boy could feel the Demon lifting his arms which should be entirely unable to even twitch in their ruination. The pain only grew as his bound hands stretched out and began to revolve inwards towards his chest, then arced upwards, bringing his elbows crashing together. He silently pleaded within his iron cage of pain locked away within the confines of his mind, that Brenhin would stop here. He had conveyed his message, he didn't need to go any further. But the Demon wasn't even listening, other than to enjoy his screams of agony as they bled forth from his lips.

Against the flex of the boys joints the arms twisted once more. The pain he had felt ripping his shoulders around felt only more concentrated now as his elbows loudly popped, the cartilage being the first thing to break as it visibly snapped through his tendons. Then with a sloppy crack his elbows shattered in a sputter of bone and blood and marrow as they tore open to allow his ruined arms to continue to twist around. There was hardly enough blood in his arms now for them to bleed as heavily as they had before, the scarlet puddle around his knees spreading as blood pooled around him in growing rivets and flows. And yet despite the damage done the arms continued to twist, hands hanging limply and loosely from within their locked containers. Something had to give, the already damaged shoulders that continued to rip and tear noisily as the brutally torn flesh constricted against itself or the steal cuffs that bound the boys wrists.

It was hardly surprisingly then that the boys right shoulder was the first to go, ripping free with a sickening noise that sprayed droplets of blood across the ground as the meaty appendage slammed into the ground. The boy continued to scream in the blinding pain, not being allowed even a single respite from it as his left arm continued to rotate until it too tore itself from his body. Blood poured down his sides, his shirt already taken more than the fabric could ever hope to drink up. The pain certainly didn't subside now that his limbs had been torn from their sockets, rather now he had simply less to focus on. Rather than two burning brands of white hot iron he simple had two discs of indescribable agony.

If he had thought such things brought his pain to an end though he was sadly mistaken. Blood suddenly stopped flowing from his empty shoulders and instead a thin black mist began to pour from his veins instead. But rather than drift off into the open sky as mist should it began to coalesce into two thin tendrils that twisted around, lacing through his shirt and tearing the blood soaked cloth off him. His chest was made bare as the tendrils slithered down his back, the Mark glowing brightly for all to see. As the tendrils made contact with his skin of his back from the third rib down the flesh began to peel as though it were a carrot under a knife blade. Blood seeped down his back as the skin rolled along under the touch of the gruesome black tendrils. They halted just above the boys hips and like some feeding squid they raised and then stabbed into the boys back.

They dug deep into his body, he could feel it against even the pain in his shoulders and the agony of his back as the flesh had been parted, pouring blood into the open air. He could feel the muscle of his hips being pushed apart from the inside, feel the tendrils drilling into the bone itself. There was a sound not unlike that of an ancient oak falling to the ground and the pain stretched across his hips, down his legs and back up again over and over and over until with a horrible wrench both legs were torn from their housing, spraying blood in every direction as the limbs were cast into the air, flying far apart. The boy would have pitched forward on his screaming face had the tendrils not planted themselves into the ground, forcing the bleeding, ruined torso to remain rooted to the spot.

Were the boy able to house any form of coherent thought he would no doubt beg for it to end, crying out in desperation for any kind of mercy that the cruel Demon Lord would give him. And in response all he would get back would be the mocking laughter of one so drunk on his own power over someone he could never let it go. Instead though the boy was caught writing in the prison of his own mind as he screamed and bellowed and mentally tore at himself to try and find some form of escape in the content of his own mind. There was none to be found now, not from Brenhin, not for him.

His bare chest began to hiss and bubble as though it were being subjected to an intense heat. The fleshy bubbles grew not just in size but in number as they spread across his bare torso, as they burst small pockets of the thick black smoke drifted out of them and raised upwards, slicing the skin of his jaw and cheek as they passed and halted around his skull before becoming small needles and plunging themselves into the boys flesh, protruding out as they twisted in different directions. From inside his own chest a mass of shadows pushed the now exposed ribs outwards slightly, the bones cracking and splintering against the sudden force. As more of his flesh bubbled and melted away more of his bloody ribs were exposed and the force pushed out again, this time though there was nothing to restrain the damaged bone and like a bomb exploding they shattered outwards, sending shards scattering across the stone floor. His ribs didn't explode outwards alone however as his now only partially covered gut was torn open too spitting his intestines out across from him in a gruesome rope of blood and gore and ruined human that splattered loudly as bile seeped from the perforated organs, now long past use.

In the gaping space where once organs sat so tightly and neatly now there was only blood and sinew and pain. The boys stomach had been split open by a shard of bone and acid hissed away at his exposed flesh. His lungs were perforated like a sponge and black smoke poured out of them as they hissed in the open air. His heart still beat an irregular pattern though it had turned a corrupted sickly black, the flesh of the bloody organ cracking like a charred ham as it beat it's unsteady rhythm. The boy the inexpiable agony in steady waves as his screams fell silent, his throat bloody where his vocal cords had finally ripped, the force of his tortured screams silencing them forever. He realised then, though he should have died a dozen times over that the Demon was keeping him alive, sustaining him to endure every iota of pain. Every drop of blood was another syllable in his horrible twisted messages. He was the message, not as a human, but as a torn and twisted pile of meat that had ultimately reduced itself to nothing more than a mess of flesh that could not even hope to sustain itself. And there was nothing anyone could do to stop it, Brenhin was too great, too powerful, too much for anyone to hope to crush. His ruined body was testament to that horrific message, nobody could ever defeat the Demon that could be lurking within any of them. Humanity was doomed, they were all doomed, everything was going to end in smoke and ash and the Demon would preside over the blasted remains until time ran dry.

His thoughts of the apocalypse were drowned out by some fresh hell as a gagging, clogging feeling began to run it's way up his ruined throat as though a horde of frogs were attempting to crawl up his gullet. Those that were brave enough or horrified enough to still be able to look at the ruined creature would see the bulges of some unknown entity as it pushed itself upwards. Then as it reached the boys adams apple it emerged. Rocketing from between his lips was a vast pillar of shadow, so sudden was the force of it's emergence as the five foot long appendage burst from the confines of his throat that the already agape jaw was thrown open so sharply that it all but ripped from his face. The boys cheeks tore apart like tender pork and there was as sharp popping sound as his jaw followed suit, hanging limply and loosely from under where the head had been snapped backwards. The boys eyes were locked in abject terror as fingers spread from the arm like the sprouting of some grim flower in the spring. An elbow joint snapped into existence on the black pillar and like a striking scorpion to moved at speed belying its size, the hand grasping tightly onto the upper portions of his remaining skull.

There was a twisted sound of bone cracking inwards under the strength of the black fingers under suddenly, as though it were a vaulting platform the unseen creature used the small, broken head to pull itself up and in a single gory flash what remained of the boys broken form exploded in a mess of ruined flesh and shattered bone and stringy sinew that splattered itself all around. The boys head was obliterated, finally ending the unimaginable torture once and for all as the Demon Lord emerged once more. The Demon, who's body was made of nothing but thick smoke so dense it seemed as strong as blackened steel rose tall into the air, billowing up to a great height that towered over the buildings. His arms stretched out and twisted as he almost flexed, seemingly proud of his horrific execution. His head twisted down to look at the Seven on the ground below him, well aware the stench that accompanied his form would be choking them, the smell of burning tar and rotting flesh was bad enough alone, let alone without the entrance he had caused.

Though no other fire coursed through his shadowy form, his eyes lit up in a deep orange blaze for just a moment as he beheld the gathered Seven. A twisted grin split across his dark face as he raised higher, long, thin, batlike wings stretched out from his back and pulled him even higher into the air.
"So easily broken. So easily manipulated. So easily terrified. You creatures are hardly worth the effort to control. But allow this most humble of demonstrations tell you of one simple thing. No matter where you run, no matter where you hide, no matter how deep the hole you creatures dig yourselves into, nor how many soldiers separate you and I, I shall find you. You shall never know my coming, little creatures, for who can you truly trust in this world? Who even in this organisation who have so kindly taken you in against your will can you truly trust? Who can you know is free from...." The gigantic Demon Lord twisted forwards, his horrific face of shadow and darkness coming close to the ground and only intensifying the stench. "Deceit?" A deep, grating laugh echoed throughout the colossal form of the shadowy Demon Lord before his form suddenly lost all consistency and the smoke exploded outwards, spilling into the street before drifting into the sky and dissipating into the air. Were it not for the lingering stench and the ruined mess of the boy on the stones it would appear Brenhin had never even been there.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Jonathan Black Character Portrait: Ashley 'Ash/Soot' Clade Character Portrait: 'Illusion' Character Portrait: Vesper Himemiya Character Portrait: Caius Grady Character Portrait: Rick Brackwall
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#, as written by Zalgo
Rick Brackwall

He waited as the remainder of the others arrived, most arriving only shortly after him. Caius of course was laggard and it visibly irritated Illusion given how she dropped him in on his back through a portal. Afterwords she segued nicely into the meat of the explanation, giving them a short briefing on the tasks they'll be set with.

"Don't think your prior experience means anything. This Boot Camp is special, something you haven't seen before, Rick. I suggest you all be on guard."

"I await the subversion in expectation with anticipation." He answered simply, giving a short nod before she continued on.


After that she wrapped up her explanation and they proceeded on forward, Illusion bidding the man coming in congratulations. She always did have a means of knowing things about people. Rick was not naive enough to not believe she had a means of prying into someone's business, albeit discreetly as it had yet to run against his mental barrier. All he knew was that lying to her was not an option. Luckily he was always a rather honest man, never truly lying in an outright sense. Just because he almost never lied though didn't mean he was obliged to share information unnecessarily.

As they went outside he spotted Angel along with four other guards escorting a prisoner down the street. He was about to bid Angel a friendly hello when suddenly the scene took a turn for the grisly.

Before long the prisoner's limbs were twisting about, typical results from a demonic possession. The event continued, the displays of self mutilation growing ever greater in gratuity until eventually there was little left of the prisoner save the upper torso and head. Meanwhile the guards who were supposedly keeping watch of the patient had backed from the scene, not acting upon it evidently. Angel himself had been standing aside, his hand clutching Loria the sword he kept at his side at all times. Illusion herself seemed rather unimpressed by the whole event. For the seven he couldn't confirm quite yet.


Rick himself remained composed throughout the event. He was tempted to identify the demon using his new magnifying glass however he was reluctant to show his hand and the fact there was a demon there was not the question he needed answered. What he needed to know here was why the demon chose to do this and what purpose the demonstration showed.

As it started attempting to crawl forth from the tortured victim's lips Rick swiftly gestured an arcane spell.

"Wind barrier." He quietly uttered towards the end of his motions. On queue the winds started to pick up, suddenly quite animated as they begun to swirl about the seven, Illusion and Eine. In addition clean air was being created at Rick's own position, creating a gentle draft against those around him as the clean air diffused into the forming dome of winds cycling around them. Rick's focus of study was more oriented towards offensive magics but most all casters had at least a rudimentary understanding of protection magics.


Thanks to the barrier the demon's stench was repelled, leaving the nine of them watching in relative comfort as the entity spoke. Hoisting himself up in an attempt at intimidation the demon spoke to them, no doubt trying to sow dissent among them before dissipating into smoke. All the while Rick held a fairly good poker face however slight hints showed through that he wasn't all too impressed. As the demon made his monologue he recorded the sigil imprinted on the dead guy's flesh into his clipboard as well as some bullet points regarding the entity himself.

After the demon had left Rick waited a couple seconds to see if the strange smoke had left. Once it could be confirmed to have dissipated he lowered the barrier, turning to Illusion.

"I figure this wasn't part of the Boot Camp experience you had planned. You said this would be something I haven't
seen before..." Rick walked over to the meaty remains of the prisoner, looking down at the discarded skull resting before
his boots.

"... This is all fairly standard for a demon."