JoJo watched somewhat blankly as Illusion gave her speech, having ignored Caius' remark beforehand. He had something a bit more important to focus on than Caius being rude. Demon kids again, huh? Well, JoJo somehow doubted that. After all, his father was a bit busy with his new family now, and- JoJo winced, reaching up to rub the side of his head before shaking it, looking back up at Illusion. He raised an eyebrow; before his headache hit, Illusion was on stage alone, but now she standing right before himself and the others, looking them all over, although still speaking. He looked over to Vesper who'd moved to his side, before looking back to the vampire principal as she continued on. Illusion shrugged.
"Unless any of you still don't believe that supernatural beings exist? I'd happily show you otherwise.""What the everloving fuckles is going on here.." was the only thing JoJo had come out of his mouth. He knew that obviously something was going on- first there was that crazy spider woman, and then a lolita vampire had slammed him into a wall. He looked over at Illusion, eyes narrowing ever so slightly. She couldn't have been that bad, though, she gave him food when he was starving, after all. Remembering her previous reminder of her 'retaliation', JoJo had enough sense to keep his trap shut. Sure, he'd never expected to see anything aside from humans on this planet, but he had a fairly open mind- and no normal little girl could float or toss him around a room.
However, there was someone who didn't quite share his ability to not speak. His good old friend Caius, in fact. With a simple
"I'm going." the man turned and began to leave the room. However, he stopped in his tracks right after. Jonathan turned towards the stage, only to spot possibly the most intimidating person he'd ever seen briskly walking across it. Even the vampire in front of him seemed nervous, and she turned around slowly to the man as he stood at the edge of the stage, glaring daggers at her.
"Ahh, I forgot you were there. Haha, hi Arthur." With that, Illusion vanished into a.. thing. JoJo totally had to learn that move one day. His attention returned to the man, who gave them a painfully obvious ultimatum- and also marked Rick as their superior. Jonathan didn't really mind, since Rick seemed like an alright guy, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
As Arthur began to showcase his power, and Jonathan wondered how much it would hurt to be smacked by that sword Arthur wielded. JoJo tensed up just like he did when the spider woman attacked him, and he grit his teeth. Sure, Arthur was absolutely terrifying, but JoJo wouldn't be stupid enough to fight him- Jonathan would rather use his head than his fists, even during a fight. And Arthur didn't exactly look like a guy he could get away with using anything else on.
"
.. Kill us? The hell have we done..? Is being born that bad?" He muttered to himself once Arthur had left, and he briefly looked over at Vistra, worried slightly at her sudden outburst of giggles and making sure she was okay. He turned back and let out a heavy sigh, visibly relaxing only slightly. He needed to find a phone and, well, do something- but then again, if he called Dawn, she might try to come get him or something. He couldn't exactly have the shorty come here and get whooped by Arthur or Illusion or whoever else was here- or imprisoned or whatever they did to people that tried to trespass here. Jonathan imagined it wasn't nice, whatever it was. He was zoned out to the point that he didn't even notice Illusion reappearing. His previous idea was the find a phone, but that idea was gone. Firstly because he'd seen Vesper again and leaving her wasn't exactly a huge priority for him- but mostly now he was just worried that he'd drag his poor housemate into something over her head. Both of their heads, honestly.
"Fucking.. fuck. The hell am I supposed to do?" Jonathan turned around, before groaning audibly as he heard Caius once again speak. He looked over at Vesper, checking on her, before he looked over at Caius. Illusion had apparently given them a chance for questions, and Caius was the first to respond.
"Questions, then tell me. Where is the fuckin' exit?" JoJo groaned.
"Really, dude?" Continuing his rant, he began to get ready for a fight from what JoJo saw. At this moment, he also noticed Caius' hands being bloody. Was he that intimidated by Arthur that he had to squeeze his fists that hard? Someone like Caius was scared of Arthur?
"Well, fuck me, right? I thought that guy was fearless." In fact, thinking back on it, JoJo realised that the people who seemed the toughest of the group had reacted the most- Rick and Vesper barely even flinched, or didn't flinch at all.
He let out a sigh, about to call out to Caius before he jumped a little as the intercom on the wall crackled to life. Apparently there was a sentient being in control of the facility's surveillance system, and she didn't sound very, if at all, happy. Her name was ORIN, which probably stood for.. uh.. something. Probably. However, with her threat on the table, JoJo was quite honestly expecting things to start looking up.
He was so wrong.
āYou hear that dumbass? Youāre stuck here - like me - like it or not. If you can look past your own stupid, selfish needs for one second, maybe you could see that this isnāt some dumb joke.ā The black-haired girl had practically waltzed up to Caius, immediately getting in his face and mouthing off at him.
āBelieve me, if I had a choice Iād go back to my normal life without all you losers in a heartbeat, but Iām stuck with all of you, and youāre stuck with me. We donāt have to get along, but it looks like weāre gonna have a job to do, so we may as well shut up and play along for now.ā Jonathan almost went and slammed his face into the nearest wall. He was nice, but he had his limits. They were literally just threatened with imprisonment if they caused anything, and here we had this girl immediately going and causing something. JoJo watched somewhat intently, though, as she'd walked right into Caius' range- and from what he remembered, that was not a good place to be. However, he was immediately a bit more relieved when she stepped away from him, turning to the rest of the group with a hair flip. How angsty.
āIām Ash, by the way. May as well get these introductions out of the way.āJoJo began to wonder if being cut off was going to be a thing around here when, as when he went to introduce himself, the girl at the side of the room cut in. He was cut off. Again. It was definitely a thing. All pretense of niceties was lost within five seconds of her opening her mouth. She pointed directly at Ash after catching everyone's attention with two claps, kind of like a teacher getting their students attention. He'd expected something from her, but was just a little irked when it seemed that she, too, was intent on starting something. He glanced over at Rick, their designated leader, and wondered how he'd manage a group like this. JoJo actually felt sorry for him.
"Hey, loser." What an opening line- she was obviously trying to be the most friendly person in the room. Wall-girl stared directly at the black-haired girl, whom Jonathan now knew was named Ash.
"You sure as hell don't have to get along with me, but you're gonna want to get along with everyone else, so you can start by dropping that attitude before I beat the snot out of you. Don't waste my time, don't waste Rick's time, and don't waste the WDL's time." JoJo raised an eyebrow. So she was also a member of the WDL? But aside from appearing out of basically nowhere, she seemed completely different to the two other staff members he'd met. Maybe she was some sort of instructor? Or, considering there was plenty people carrying around weapons that probably also had tongues as sharp as said weapons, she was just a regular mook that was dragged into attending with the girl from before? Whoever she was, she'd taken the mood in the room from slightly not bad back to oh god territory- he figured that Ash would have some very choice words for her right after.
Rianne put out her lit cigarette, and JoJo wondered if it was usual for someone to smoke for five seconds before stopping. Maybe there was a no smoking rule? "
Name's Rianne, by the way. There's my introduction." He nodded slightly. Well, that's.. 7 new names he'd learned today. All up, he knew Vesper, Caius, Rick, Ash, Rianne, Arthur and.. Illusion? Couldn't be her actual name, right? Nah, JoJo decided, surely not.
JoJo was snapped out of his thoughts as the girl that giggled a bit too hard introduced herself.
'Hello. I'm Vistra. It's nice to meet you all, even with all this going on.' When she smiled at him, her smiled back- no need to be rude, especially in such absolutely ridiculous circumstances- I mean, a guy had just blown the lights by waving around a sword. That was absolutely insane.
'And I suppose this would make us half-siblings? I've always wanted an older brother and sister.' JoJo chuckled softly,
"I s'pose it would." He spoke up, loud enough for everyone to head.
"Name's Jonathan, JoJo for short. Pleasure to meet you all." 8 names he knew, now. He was going to offer his hand for her to shake before Rick, sensing the hostility between a certain trio in the room, took action.
He looked over as Rick spoke, listening to him. Apparently, Rick had been here for a while, so it was probably best for him to be listening to his senior.
"At this point however we are united not only by blood but also by circumstance. I understand the situations that you all arrived under were less than ideal but with your cooperation that will change." JoJo nodded in agreement- even though he wanted to, he couldn't just walk out of here. He'd resigned himself to being stuck here for the time being. Honestly, he really just wanted to tell Dawn he wasn't dead- Rick would definitely know where there was a phone. He probably had one, even, and Jonathan knew Dawn's number by heart.
Tuning back into Rick's speech from his thoughts, he grimaced slightly.
"As they say, A rocky start is simply the beginning of a thrilling hike." A thrilling hike doesn't usually start with getting your feet messed up, that's for sure. There's only a certain amount of rockiness that you can go through. Also, JoJo thought to himself, who even says that?
"Come now everyone. Whilst Illusion and our esteemed leader Arthur have given you all some explanation regarding our role in the WDL I suspect you are all full of questions still yet to be answered. It is my express pleasure to satisfy any curiosity and I'll be seeing to it that you are optimally comfortable and informed." JoJo looked up as soon as Rick mentioned a tour- he could finally find a damn phone! But something else caught him, and that was Rick's offer to answer their questions on Illusion's behalf. Rick at this point seemed a tad cardboard, like he was forcing his pleasant demeanour. 'Express pleasure'? 'Optimally comfortable'? Something seemed ever so off about it, although JoJo pinned that down to his nerves and his circumstances. He perked up a little, however, as Rick continued.
"Follow me to the projector room and afterwords I'll help guide you all to your respective dormitory rooms. If anyone's interested after that I'll still be available to give a tour of this establishment."He crossed his arms, surveying everyone else in the room, before he stepped forward. He looked over at Rick, then gave him a nod as he began to follow him. He watched, and couldn't help but smirk as Rick threw open the doors so fancily-
"Man, this seems like a slow-motion intro moments at the beginning of an anime, I swear.." He muttered under his breath. He looked back as he walked, wanting to make sure Vesper was following.
Illusion sat in her chair, a sly smirk sliding across her features as Caius questioned her. Not particularly invested in the events before her, she tuned out once the female doggo got in Caius' face, and then tuned back in when Rianne jumped in as well. She sighed, looking up at the nearest security camera and giving it a 'what the hell are we doing here' type of shrug. Her eyes flickered over to Rick, and she narrowed them slightly.
"Shouldn't ya be doin' somethin', leader?" she thought, and was pleasantly surprised when Rick did, in fact, do his duty. As Rick did do something- albeit while apparently ignoring the three hostile satanspawns right in front of him, and Illusion sighed. Arthur had put them all on edge, and the two lovely firecrackers they'd gotten didn't seem to make anything easier. However, she had a much darker goal in her mind. She'd offered to prove anyone who didn't believe that those of supernatural origin existed wrong, and her eyes smoothly settled on Caius.
Waiting until everyone else had left the room or was leaving, Illusion cleared her throat.
"Oi, Caius, my friendo. There's somethin' I wanna speak with ya about. Privately." She glanced over at Rick, a look that made it obvious that she meant for the others to move along and leave her alone with Caius. Waiting patiently, the young vampire smiled, before idly starting to read what seemed to be a newspaper. When they were alone, she looked up at Caius;
"So, ya read the news lately?"
A pair of binoculars scoured the WDL grounds. The barrier barely did its job of preventing sight into the compound, and a sigh left the lips of the observer.
"Lax defences.." They then groaned, cracking their neck before resuming their searching. For a moment, their binoculars caught sight of Rick shoving the Auditorium doors open all cool-like. A slightly chuckle left their lips.
"Wait a.. Oh, so that's them, then." A pause, before the binoculars moved around the facility. The observer's sight landed on an open window in one of the buildings on the grounds of the WDL's Exorcist Academy. Zooming in a little, the observer caught a glimpse of a rather pretty woman adjusting their blouse near an open window. They zoomed in a bit more, a sly snicker leaving their lips.
"Ho ho hoh, this is a great view.." The girl in the window finished doing up their blouse, and moved away. A sad sigh left the observer's lips as they moved their binoculars around again, this time finding their last target. A young man was suddenly accosted by another- attacked with a full rubbish bin, in fact. The observer snickered, watching the young Exorcist seemingly apologise to the man he'd just covered with trash.
Putting away their binoculars, they slowly stood up. Their gear weighed a bit heavy on their back, but they were here for business, after all.
The girl stretched as she exited the cab, smiling as it pulled away and she gave it a cheerful wave. Smiling and humming to herself happily, she began the short trek towards the guardpost that prevented her from entering the WDL's facilities. Well, it would have if she wasn't registered as a student. Her lips curled into a sly smile, and she half-walked half-skipped up to the guardpost, pass in hand if they had any questions.
Of course, like all men, the only question they had for her was 'Will you love me?', and her answer was always the same.