Rinne Lucalia's Story

| ??? |

Simple. Efficient. It was exactly as it had been told. A moment of vulnerability, a chance to alter the system. A delicate process, but thankfully, the knowledge that had been bestowed on the individual gave them intimate details of the inner workings of the man-machine hybrid. It was a small window, but all that was needed to make the necessary changes. The files were already prepared beforehand; it was just a matter of slipping them in undetected. When ORIN went through the standard maintenance reboot that was when the window opened. Both the system files, and ORIN’s memories needed to coincide, and the only way for that to happen without her noticing was this precise time. Quickly, flawlessly, the plan was executed, adding in the files as needed before slipping away silently. Now there’d be no further questions on that front. Perfect.

---

---

| Rinne |

Two hands gripped Candice's shoulders from behind as she sat in her chair, a smooth voice whispering right into her ear. "Meow." Candice turning to look behind her would yield no results, although she likely knew that already. A few moments later, a small black cat leaped up onto Candice's desk, looking over at her and stretching before laying down on said desk, eyeing her lazily. "Now, how on earth did you get in here?" Candice asked the small feline with some apprehension before sitting up, moving over to her open office door and slowly pushing it shut. The cat simply turned, meowing at Candice again- there was a smugness to the meow, though. She felt like it was flaunting something, especially since the cat stretched its front legs, still eyeing her with those lazy, smug eyes. "You know this is highly unorthodox. I thought we agreed that you'd keep contact to a minimum." Candice stated, folding her arms as she leaned back onto the door to ensure it remained closed. "Not to mention that 'you-know-who' has eyes everywhere." The cat leaped down behind the desk, and for a moment all was quiet. A few seconds later, though, a woman stood up from behind the desk. A small purr escaped her smirking lips as she leaned down and put her chin in her hands, eyeing Candice lazily. "Oh? And I thought I was a welcome visitor.." She slowly stood up, moving around to the side of the desk closest to Candice, and sitting upon the edge.

She was decked out in her usual combat suit, with a fair amount of gear to match- and her treasured twin revolvers sat, polished, at her hip. "I was sent to the area, and I decided to pop in for a moment to check on you." Her smug smile dropped a little as she looked the teacher over. "You look tired. And stressed. Paperwork always was a bother, so I don't know why you subject yourself to it. I could never handle all the writing."
"Work can do that, but at least this way I can see to it that I'm making a difference." Candice replied, giving a faint smile. "Some things are worth the trouble. I take it you know that more of the children have arrived?" She inquired, remaining against the door frame, obviously still worried about being found out. Rinne nodded, chuckling softly. "I do, but I wasn't dispatched here to harm them or anything." She raised her hand passively. "There's been rumours of some unnatural activity somewhere in the region- the WDL themselves requested we look into it. Figure they'd rather us die and not them if it's something big and nasty." Rin slowly stood up, motioning for Candice to come over to her with her pointer finger. "Besides, there's some business I have to attend to. Involving Kane."

Her expression dropped ever so slightly, and she crossed her arms. "You've been keeping the poor kid in the pits, haven't you?" Candice was being sneaky- she was using her glasses to hide her reaction, but Rinne had known her for a long time, so that trick was lost on her. "Unnatural activity, hmm?" The blonde teacher brought a hand to her chin to think. "Care to elaborate on that?" She added, blatantly trying to get one over on the Kasha soldier. Rinne adjusted her own sunglasses as a subtle 'no' to Candice, moving over to the other woman slowly. "You're being slippery, and I won't let it happen. Why is Kane sweeping up trash when much less qualified Exorcists are getting sent out on duty?" Rin crossed her arms, now close enough that she looked down at Candice as she spoke- her height made this an often occurrence, and Rin always enjoyed petting the shorter lady's head as an affectionate, if not slightly smug, gesture.

"Kane offered to, and it's to be expected. He's not prepared for the field, and if I was to send him out it would likely be seen as some sort of favoritism." Candice explained calmly, apparently not intimidated at all by the taller feline, although Rin was glad this was the case, as she wasn't exactly trying to be intimidating. Looking up to meet Rinne's gaze, Candice raised a hand and waved it dismissively. "He'll have his opportunity once he manages to improve his test scores a bit."
"The test scores you've been incorrectly marking?" Rinne's tone was flat- apparently she herself had been doing some searching- or maybe she just knew Candice all too well to think that her being Kane's teacher was good for the boy actually getting out to the place he wanted to be. "Kane offered to because you asked- you offer to do plenty work I'm sure, but you don't want to, do you? Your goals are much larger, yet you burden yourself with tasks because you think it's the nice thing to do." Rinne paused. "You're stifling him, Candy."
Rin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly behind her glasses as she looked at the woman before her. "And it's not favouritism when everyone else gets to go too." Rinne added.

Candice averted her gaze from the feline, looking down to the doorknob she had her hand on, and Rin noticed. To Rin, it was almost as if she was a nervous soldier looking for an escape route- Rin knew Candice had been messing poor Kane around just from the way she was acting so defensively- like an overbearingly overprotective mother. Rinne paused a moment. That's kind of what she was, in fact. Rinne chuckled inwardly. Finally, Candice looked back up to Rin. "You know what's out there. How dangerous it is. It's different for you and me, I know nothing's going to happen to us, but him..." She trailed off, looking to the side as she sighed. "You know what he means to me. I have a duty. An obligation to see to it that he stays safe. I've been against him joining me here from the start, but you insisted."

She pushed off of the door, moving up to Rinne, and attempting to stand some ground and force her back. "Stifling or not, it's for his own good. I couldn't stand if anything happened to him." Rinne put her finger on the bottom of Candice's chin and forced her to look up and meet her gaze. "You think I don't worry about him? You think I don't get scared that he might get injured, maimed or worse? Candy, please, he's my nephew." She sighed, looking down at the worried lady. "What happens if the barrier falls and Kane gets in a fight he cant run away from, Candy? Give him some experience. A taste. Something to let him decide if it's worth it, or if he doesn't want to risk his life. At least let him train- we both know that classes and combat tests only go so far. They don't prepare you for a succubus trying to get into your pants, nor do they prepare you for a wind demon stealing your breath from your lungs when they get close."

Rinne dropped her hand, moving it to clutch Candice's shoulder softly, smiling sheepishly at her less than PG choice of examples. "I'll be in the area. Take him with you somewhere- that way if he needs to have an eye kept on him, you'll be there. Besides, if anything happens, you know I'll come back you up as soon as possible." She smirked and leaned down to whisper into Candice's ear, her voice sultry, yet barely audible. "But, mind you, a wind demon isn't the only thing that's been able to take my breath away." She took a step back, turning to move back over to the desk. "If you don't take him out, he'll end up depressed, and upset, and he's too nice to say it but he might end up disliking you." She turned, leaning on the desk with one hand. "Candy, take him with you on your next outing, or I'll kidnap him." She stared directly into Candice's eyes as those last words left her mouth- she was dead serious.

Candice stopped, hesitating as she seemed to contemplate her options and think it over. Shaking her head, she sighed again, taking a step back towards the door, gripping the handle. "Though I question the nature of your examples, your point still remains. He's going to need to go on a mission at some point, it's just..." She paused, and looked back over at the Kasha lady she was speaking to. "I'll think about it. I certainly can't take him with me - that would definitely constitute favouritism. How about we leave it until after this boot camp, then I'll see to it that he either gets to go on a mission, or I'll bring him on one?" Candice asked, but once again Rinne knew her too well to fall for her tricks. She was trying to buy time, and Rin wasn't going to have any of it. She grinned slyly as Candice gripped the handle. "I wouldn't open that door if I were you, Candy."

Her face relaxed into a smirk as she beckoned Candice over; she couldn't resist getting a little smug jab at the other girl. "Well, there's plenty of demons who try to seduce me, you know. I'm quite the catch, as I'm sure you'll agree." Her smirk grew a bit smug as she stood properly, but the two ears on her head perked up as she zoned in on two words that left Candice's mouth. "Boot camp? Why not take him to boot camp? That seems super reasonable. And at this point, Candy, I think his cohort will be glad to see he's not stuck with cleaning duty this time." She sighed hard. "Although his cohort seem more like to make fun of him because he doesn't get to show off the skills he has, and instead if their laughing stock due to his clumsiness. Also!" Rinne pouted at Candice, a little irked by something. "Are you saying that my training didn't make him at all competent on the battlefield? I will fight you right here and right now!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Candice replied astutely, remaining at the door with the handle in her grip. "And unlike you, I have rules and regulations I have to follow. Suffice to say though, you've made your point, and I'll work to change things at the earliest convenience." She added, ready to open the door to allow Rin to leave. "Besides, there's no need for us to fight. I know I can never win against you." Rinne grinned. "Because I'm stronger, cooler and faster than you- and also because you know you couldn't hurt this face, am I right?" She quite enjoyed teasing Candice, in fact it was something she absolutely loved to do. She couldn't help herself, the girl was so darn cute! Despite her internal monologue, she sat back down on the desk, turning to look out the window. "You know, now that business is out of the way.. it's a little rude to just want to toss me out, isn't it?" She kept her gaze outside, watching a pair of birds land on the gutter of a nearby building together. "Do you watch Kane in class? Does he seem happy, Candy? How many people does he talk to? He could make some friends on that boot camp, and you'll be there to keep an eye on him. Seems pretty fair to me." Her smirk appeared to have vanished, replaced by a somewhat blank expression, but since her face wasn't in Candice's direction, it was hard to tell.

Candice, outside of Rin's view, paused, releasing her grip on the door handle as she looked over to Rinne pensively. Sighing, she threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "It's for both our sakes. I'd rather not have you with an O at the start getting more wise to us than she already is." Rinne heard footsteps, then felt Candice's back press against her own as the teacher leaned against her. "If you're really that worried about him, I'll see what I can do. I promise." Candice stated genuinely, her stubbornness fading. Like she had said, she knew she could never win against Rin. She was being played like a fiddle, but.. well, she didn't entirely mind it.

A few moments of silence passed before two arms wrapped tightly around Candice, pulling her into a warm embrace. The Kasha was still looking away, her cheeks slightly reddened with embarrassment as she hugged Candice close. She sighed softly, turning to rest her chin on Candice's head. "I'm still mad at you for coming here and making it so damn hard to get to you. Legendary soldier or not, do you know how annoying it is the avoid Exorcists, your surveillance, and try to not give myself away? You couldn't have picked a much worse place to end up, Candy." Rinne closed her eyes, going quiet as she enjoyed being close to the 'stern teacher of the WDL Academy'. "Besides, even if there wasn't any business to attend to, I would've come to visit you anyway. I miss you, Kane too, and you suck for coming here." She smirked slightly.

It'd been at least two months since she'd last seen Candice, so her hug was tight and warm and almost overwhelming. Rin could die any moment of any day in her profession, so she naturally she wanted to see the teacher as often as she could. Her grip on Candice tightened slightly as she closed her eyes, greatly enjoying the press of Candice's body against hers. A long, contented sigh left her lips as he opened her eyes as Candice spoke.

"About as annoying as you were about me bringing Kane on a mission." Candice replied, mildly teasing the feline girl. "You know you could just wait until after work hours at my home? At least then we'd have some privacy... From eavesdroppers." Rinne chuckled softly, poking Candice's nose in a mocking angry gesture complete with a fake pout. "I hate you for adding that onto that sentence, you tease." She pulled away from Candice, her eyes sparkling a little as she stood up. "Maybe I'll pop back around later on so we can have some of that privacy you mentioned." She paused, giving Candice a sly smirk. "From eavesdroppers." She turned away, before suddenly spinning on her heel and leaning down to give Candice a quick smooch on the forehead. "I'm gonna go hunt down Kane and give him the good news-" She clicked her fingers before pointing at Candice, laughing lightly, "-don't disappoint him, now, or I'll spank you!" She made her way over to the window, giving the other woman a grin as she shifted back into her feline form and leaped out of the window in one bound.

Back in the room, Candice remained seated at her desk, dumbfounded a moment. Slowly, she got up, moving back to her seat, flopping into it with a soft sigh. Bringing her hand to her forehead, she gave it a soft wipe, staring at her pair of fingers. "The things I get myself into..." She trailed off aloud, before bringing her two fingers to her lips. "Love you too."

---

---

| Angel |

A small platoon of soldiers had surrounded Yohan, weapons raised. The blonde who lead them sighed heavily, sword at his waist. "Alright, let's escort him to the prison cells." He spoke with a degree of authority, arms crossed as he looked over the boy. He turned on his heel and began to walk, several soldiers moving alongside Yohan. They pushed him, and he followed- no use getting into trouble right here. The Exorcist who lead the team, Angel, sighed in frustration. "It's required that all Exorcists report suspicious persons when they're spotted. I'll make sure that Rianne lady gets a talking to." He uncrossed his arms, letting his hand fall down onto his blade and rest there as he strode through the grounds. He was at the head of the group, idly tapping the hilt of his weapon as his long strides lead him and his group through the academy grounds, towards a very specific location. "Oh, ya sacka shit, how dare ya come in 'ere 'n blah blahblah blah-" Angel cut himself off. Was he making fun of Rianne being uncultured still? He shook his head and groaned- he'd have to apologise at a more prudent moment. Maybe he'd let her off the hook this once; she definitely knew that she'd disobeyed a pretty serious rule already.

Eventually, after a few minutes of walking, the troupe crossed paths with a ragtag group of people standing outside of (or mostly outside of) the Academy doorway- most of them were without armbands. He paused for a second, looking them over, then noticing one Rick Brackwall with the group. He nodded at him, motioning for his men to pause as he did so. "Ah, Rick, I was wondering if you'd be able to, at your earliest convenience, get that.." Angel's lip curled, but his pleasant smile remained, "lovely.. Principal of ours to attend the Council meeting. She seems to be running somewhat late." He gave Rick a curt nod and, bowing to the others, returned to his group of men, motioning for them to walk once more as they began to make their way to the military base portion of the WDL grounds, to put Yohan behind bars for future questioning, or something.

His headache hadn't left him, and neither had the nightmares.

---

---

| ??? |

The lights flickered on in the dark room, a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. It barely illuminated the room the girl was in, and she grunted as she struggled in her chair. She hadn't seen them coming at all, so when the blank slammed into her face, she couldn't dodge it. She groaned, looking up as a person entered the room. "Ah, my apologies. We almost lost you, dear. Now, if you'll just hold still.. we want to help you get better. Much, much better."

| 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.

Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade

It seemed like it was impossible for the group to go more than a few steps before another interruption, Ash impatiently tapping her foot and growing more agitated and hungry after each one. First another girl was added to the group, then they were stopped by a golden haired pretty boy who acted just a little too full of himself for Ash to like him at first glance. Not that she liked many people at first glance. Tuning out most of the conversation, the next stop was the dorm building, a place Ash was already well acquainted with. Briefly, she noticed her bike parked out front and reminded herself she’d have to work out exactly what the deal with it was. If it was alive she’d have to learn to work with it to some extent, and if it was going to disappear anytime she went inside somewhere that was going to get inconvenient fast.

Ignoring her bike for the moment, she joined the others in heading up to their floor, deciding to neglect the tour of what she assumed was rooms very similar to her own, and instead deciding to take the opportunity to have a brief rest in her bedroom until it was time for lunch. Maybe that would help take her mind off her stomach? Stepping into her room, she called down the hall for Rick to grab her when they were going before shutting the door, striding inside. Like the others, it was bare inside. All that remained of her belongings was left neatly in the corner of the room, but it was far less than what she’d originally packed; no doubt a result of the incident before her arrival. Thankfully, there was at least a bed provided as she flopped face down onto it, giving a deep sigh before rolling over and staring up at the ceiling. She told herself she was staying in here to take her mind off her stomach. But that wasn’t really the reason, was it?

**********************************************************

“Hey! Hey, can me and Louise come to the ball too?” The eager young girl looked up to her sisters with bright blue eyes, clutching her doll in front of her in anticipation. She was a small young thing, little more than five or six, and always eager to join in on the games with her elder sisters. “Uh… Sorry Ash, Louise can’t come.” The youngest of the trio, Penny, spoke up; not meeting eyes with Ashley as the other two sisters began snickering with laughter. “What?! Why?!” Ashley asked indignantly, pouting a bit as she looked to them in surprise, her face falling significantly. Why wouldn’t they want to play with her? She just wanted to join in…

“She needs a dress to go to the dance, stupid.” The 2nd eldest, Jasmine was the next to speak, pointing to Ash’s doll, Louise. “She can’t go looking like that.”

“B-but Louise is like me – she doesn’t like wearing dresses…” Mumbling to herself with her head downcast, it was barely audible enough for the other girls to hear, but it was enough for the eldest sister, Cindy, to pounce. “Well maybe she should sit out and play with her toy cars like you! Haha!” A chorus of laughter went out amongst them as Ash began to sniffle to herself, wiping the beginnings of her tears from her eyes. It was true that she normally played with the cars her daddy gave her, but she still wanted to play with her sisters.

“Come on, I just want to join in…!” Ash was sobbing a little now, blubbering as she wasn’t able to hold back her tears. Still her sisters laughed at her. “Aww, poor Sooky Sooty’s upset!” “As if we’d let a cry-baby in to the dance!” “Louise is probably a wuss like you too!” The demoralising laughter continued to echo about the room, and no matter how much the little girl protested, she was not heard. Finally, she could take no more, crying out as loud as she could. “Fine! I don’t care! I didn’t even want to go to your stupid ball!” Tears streaming down her face, Ash ran from her sister’s room and down the hall, escaping to the solitude of her bedroom. Sobbing into her bed, she continued to cry to herself. No matter how many times she said it, she couldn’t convince herself otherwise. She would’ve loved to play with them…

**********************************************************

Ash awoke with a start, sitting up swiftly. Slowly, she released her legs as she uncurled slightly, before falling back down to lie on top of the bed, sighing a bit. Why’d her mind drift back to then? Things were different now. As far as the others were concerned, she was a part of their group. She was invited to this lunch, whether out of friendship or obligation. She didn’t have to act like she didn’t care or anything. She didn’t have to worry about any of that stupid stuff. Frustrated, she grabbed her pillow and tossed it against the wall. It was stupid, and so was she for letting it still bother her. Even if she kept on telling herself to relax, there was always that nagging thought reminding her to keep her guard up. That’s what this was about. Just the perfect memory to remind her that anyone could turn on her. Even family.

By the time it came to the tour, Ash was feeling a bit more sombre. She’d lost a lot of her appetite, but it was steadily coming back to her as she looked over the different facilities, taking note of the ones that interested her. She’d definitely give the gym and sports facilities a work out at some point, not to mention she’d have to head in to the maintenance garage at some point to tune her bike. She was dimly aware that they now had ANOTHER tag along, but she made no effort to be friendly with her. It was hard enough maintaining a semblance of pleasantry this long, and she saw no need to push herself any further, especially in her now, much fouler mood. Finally however, the formalities were done and they got to head to a restaurant. It was a fancy looking place, well ritzier than Ash would have ever considered entering of her own accord. Still, she wasn’t going to be paying, and free food was nothing to scoff at.

Browsing the menu, she eye rolled at the goody-two-shoes offering to pay her own way, as well as JoJo’s obnoxiously bland means of making conversation. Setting the menu down, she decided to interject into the conversation, having already decided what she’d get, and having had enough of the niceties floating around the table. It was time to liven things up a little and stir the pot. “Well if the little miss here is too much of a suck up to accept your hospitality, I’ll take her share.” Ash stated boldly, folding her menu and placing it back into the centre of the table. “Though can we order now? I don’t want to wait another hour listening to JoJo prattle on before the food arrives.”

With a complete lack of tact and patience, Ash, flagged down the nearest waiter, snapping her fingers. “Yo, we’re ready to order, drinks and all. I’ll get uh…” Ash leaned forward and grabbed the menu back again, not wanting to make a fool of herself as she failed to pronounce the name of her order. One by one, she pointed to a Pizza Ai Funghi e Salsicce, Ai Quattro Formagi and a Margherita. “Oh yeah, and a raspberry fanta.” She added before handing the menu to the waiter, leaning back in her seat before glaring at the others and expecting them to get to work ordering immediately.

---

“Hmm, a visitor?” Erica was the first to speak as she stood up from the chopping board, Kane quickly pulling off the pink apron as he tossed it onto the nearby hook and ran around the corner. Twirling the knife in her hand, Erica slammed it into the board, leaving it standing as she went to follow him and investigate. Kane knew there was only one person who used that knock, but what was she doing here? Turning back to face Erica, Kane explained as he grabbed the door handle. “Oh, it’s just my Aunt. She never sticks around long, but I’ll introduce you.” Smiling, Kane turned the handle and threw the door open. “Rinne? Is that you?” He blinked a bit, looking the taller woman over. Was that a WDL uniform? He didn’t know she was a part of the team here, nor had Candice mentioned anything.

Tilting her hat up, Kane’s aunt gave him a big grin. "Heya, kiddo. Been a while, huh? Surprised you still remembered my knock." She crossed her arms, eyes sparkling slightly, before she launched forward a little and wrapped Kane in a big, tight, warm hug. "Jeez, you've gotten big, haven't ya?" Kane gasped a bit in surprise, though he kinda expected Rinne to be a bit more hands on with him. She always was. Squirming about in the hug as he tried to surface, Rinne continued. "Got some news for you, actually." Finally managing to pull his head free, Kane gave a soft gasp as he caught his breath before looking up to Rinne. “Auntie, please, I’ve got company…” Kane whispered between gritted teeth, embarrassed, but genuinely happy to see Rinne. With a tilt of his head, he gestured towards Erica, who pleasantly waved, though her eyes never seemed to leave Rinne. “My name is Erica. It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms..?” She asked, though Kane was quick to step free of Rinne, answering in her stead as he smirked. “Oh, just call her Rinne.” Kane smiled to his classmate, before turning back to his Aunt. “News though? Is it that you’ve decided to join mum in the WDL?”

Rinne chuckled softly, crossing her arms as she looked past Kane, ignoring his question for the moment as she appraised the other female in the area. "You better take good care of Kane, Erica. He's a treasure." There was a slight edge to the remark, though Kane only frowned slightly wondering what Rinne meant by that. Erica didn’t seem to mind at all however, laughing it off as she replied. “Of course.” Kane looked to them quizzically, unsure what exactly he was missing, but he didn’t get long to dwell on it as he felt a hand ruffling his hair as Rinne saw fit to draw focus back to his questions. "And nah, I'm still uh, still working at the other company. Got a temp job here so they gave me this outfit. Not bad though, right? I feel like a schoolgirl or something." The non-human spoke to Kane, but her eyes flickered over to Erica every now and then. Rinne wasn't silly, but she also knew prying right now was a bad idea. Regardless, as long as Erica didn't hurt Kane, Rinne had no qualms. As Kane managed to shrug free of her hand and turn to look at her, he took a moment to fix his hair by messing his hand through it, before looking back up to his Aunt. He did have to admit, for someone in her late thirties, she really did look quite young.

"So," Kane’s thoughts were interrupted as Rinne spoke, meeting his gaze with another wide grin on her face. "Guess who just convinced your mother to let you start going into the field?" Kane’s mouth dropped agape, and he didn’t say anything. Slowly, his voice seemed to catch up to him. “No. Way.” Still frozen in near silence, Kane didn’t know what to say. His bad day had just turned from good to great! A large smile now forming on his face, his aunt continued. "Not even messing with you. I made Candy promise to start letting you go out." She paused after that, giving Kane an opportunity to let out his pent up excitement. “Yes yes yes!” Kane was practically jumping for joy, grabbing hold of Rinne and squeezing her well tighter than she had done to him previously. “You’re the best aunt ever Rinne! This is awesome! What are you doing for the WDL anyway? Am I going to get to go with you too?”

Embracing Rinne tightly, Kane didn’t notice the way Rinne froze up a little, but he did feel her hands lightly wrap around to return the cuddle. Watching from the doorway, Erica was still waiting patiently and unbeknownst to Kane, Rinne made a point of fixing Erica with a glare that indicated she was being monitored. With that done, she gently pushed Kane back, affixing him with another Cheshire grin before flicking him across the nose. "Psh, Kane, of course I'm the best aunt! Who else could be better than me? Oh, and I uh, I'm on a contract." She looked away from Kane, as if thinking on things for a moment. "And Kane, you know you can't come with me. Working here is dangerous enough." She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a moderately serious glare. "I'm not sure you'd be safe with me." Flashing another sly smirk, she winked. "And Candy would totally kill me if she found out I smuggled you out of here, right?"

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right… Oh! But if you’ve got time, you should totally stay for dinner! I’m already making a bunch for Rianne and Yohan, but you can join us! Sister Rianne’s already offered me an apprenticeship, so you definitely have to meet her!” Kane asked, or rather, demanded. This was perfect! An opportunity to get them all together and have a meal! It’ll be like having a whole family together! Eagerly, his eyes shimmered as he met Rinne’s gaze from behind her sunglasses. Cocking her head to the side slightly, Rinne paused in thought, before finally answering. "Hm... I dunno, kiddo, your mother might drag me outta here by the ears." She laughed softly. "I'd love to stay, but I might get called away. I'll have to check in with my boss to see if I can take some time off." She crouched down a little so her face was level with Kane's, and as she did she whispered to him. "But do you really want me here when you've got a cute girl standing behind you?"

“H-hey! Rinne! Stop it!” Kane’s face went beet red, and he took a step back from her, completely unable to keep his voice down. “It’s not like that, I swear!” Behind him, Erica couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the scene, though she quickly hid it behind her hand. Rinne laughed a bit herself, before she leaned over on the doorway. "Alright, Mister 'Not like that', I'll stay for dinner, then. But, uh, I do need to go get some stuff, though…" She looked to the side, a sheepish grin sliding across her face. "I, uh, kinda ditched my gear outside before coming in- wasn't planning on staying for long, so I should probably go get it if I'm gonna stay, right?"

“Oh, okay. We’re still finishing up cooking, but uh, dinner should be around six at Rianne’s dorm. Do you need some directions?” Kane asked, unsure how familiar Rinne was with the WDL. It seemed he’d said something amusing, as his aunt’s smile shifted as she chuckled. "Rinne. Rianne. Gonna be fun. Though If it's at someone else's place, I probably shouldn't tag along, though. That'd be rude." Kane watched Rinne pause in thought, as if concerned about something, his own face falling a little. "Yeah, if that's the case, then I'll have to actually decline the offer. I don't wanna go somewhere I'm not welcome, and if Candy found out I overstayed my welcome-"

"Well I'll give her a call then and see if she wants to have it here at my place!" Kane interrupted her, not going to have his grand plan stopped by something that simple. Pulling his clenched fists into place behind him, his guard was down as Rinne leaned in and flicked his nose once more, breaking his form and forcing him to rub it. "Jeez, you're still such a kid, you know that? Don't ever lose that, okay?” She paused again, giving a bit of a soft sigh as she looked upward. “Mind if I go get my stuff real quick while you take that call, kid?"

"Oh, yeah! Don't let me hold you up! I'll see you at six then!" Grinning as he locked it in, Kane turned back to Erica. "Think you can handle the prep while I do that?" Smiling and nodding, Erica cocked her head once again. "Of course, whatever you need Kane." Heading back inside and giving the two a moment of privacy, Kane watched her go before turning back to Rinne. "Back in a sec, kiddo." With a two-finger salute, Rinne turned and moved over to the elevator, Kane waving behind her before heading back into his apartment. He had a couple of phone calls to make at this point.

Ringing Rianne’s number which he’d sourced through the WDL systems, he was a bit saddened to reach her message bank, but no doubt that meant she was probably kicking butt out there and slaying demons in full glory mode. Grinning to himself as he pictured the awesome battle scenes she must have been in, he almost forgot to leave a message. “Oh, hey, uh, Kane here. Things have got kinda hectic, so uh, mind if we have the dinner at my place instead? When Yohan turns up at your place, you can just head over to my dorm building. If you need directions or anything, gimme a call back, okay? See you at six!” Hanging up, Kane peered out to the kitchen, and was a little stunned to see that Erica was already finished with chopping the vegetables and grinding up the other bits and pieces. All thirteen of them. Wow, she worked fast.

Plumbing in the speed dial, there was just one more person he thought he better invite…

---

Candice Hallows

“Candice speaking.” Picking up her office phone and slotting it between her shoulder and ear, Candice continued signing through the paperwork on her desk before a pleasant voice filled her ear. “Hi mum, it’s me Kane. You uh, you busy tonight?” Candice looked over to the clock on the wall, then back to her stack of papers. “Yeah, I’ve got a long one tonight. Some things have come up, and I have to prepare for a special training session starting tomorrow.” Answering truthfully, Candice felt it was appropriate not to get his hopes up, even if it was a little painful to hear his sigh on the other end.

“Oh… You sure? I mean, you’ll still need to eat, and I’m having this dinner at my place-“ Candice stepped in to interrupt him. “I’m sorry Kane, but this can’t really wait. I’m glad you’re getting a chance to socialise though.” Smiling a little at the prospect of Kane making some friends, Candice stopped herself a moment as she realised she’d almost started writing what she was saying on the phone. “If that’s all, I’ll have to be going. Thank you for the offer though Kane.” She added, vaguely curious why there was such a long pause on the other end. Finally, Kane replied. “Yeah, okay mum. I understand, I’ll say you give Auntie Rinne your regards.” Candice blinked a bit, dropping her pen. Sighing, she pinched the brow of her nose, shutting her eyes as she rubbed it. “She’s going to be there, is she?”

“Yep, she stopped by just a moment ago. But uh, don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of fun-“ Candice hissed a bit in annoyance, a trait of hers that Kane was entirely used to when she was deliberating on something hard for her. Kane waited, letting the silence hang in the air. Twirling the phone cord in her hand, Candice didn’t speak for some time. Finally however, Kane heard the words he knew would be coming. “…What time is dinner?”

Helena was not exactly overjoyed by the situation. She'd followed along, mostly feeling too sick and unsure of the situation to formulate any other plan, and was rather regretting it. As she'd walked the events leading up to her arrival had become more clear to her. The men, the van, the people holding a gun to her father's head..

As the group settled down Miss Kingsley sat hunched up in her seat, casting her eyes round the room and trying to work out some way to escape from this horribly unexpected situation. She considered the possibility of writing instructions to call the police surreptitiously on a napkin and seeing is she could slip it to a waiter without attracting suspicion... but soon came to the realisation that everyone was speaking Italian..a language she had very little grasp of.

Would it get to someone who could read it before anyone noticed what she was up to? Seemed unlikely.

"I don't want anything." she murmured, before good old British social conditioning kicked in to some extent.
"Still don't feel so good, I mean...thanks anyway."

It wasn't as if they seemed like horrible people on the surface. The young man who seemed to be leading things had helped her to her feet, and she was still clasping the vial the silvery-haired girl had given her, unsure if she should try it.

There was at least one person, a dark-haired woman, who was being quite rude, and this prompted a mildly disapproving look from Helena beneath her hair in response to being glared at, but she had far more pressing things on her mind at the time.

They seemed friendly enough.. although from what she could tell many were in a similar situation to her. Yet she appeared to be the only one noticeably panicked by the development. She was happy to admit she'd lived a pretty sheltered life in rural England, but she didn't think that being captured and taken hundreds of miles away was something you ever became indifferent to. Was this some sort of cult?

The appearance of someone who was both outside the immediate group, and appeared to be an English speaker, caused Helena's gaze to snap up rather pleadingly in her direction. Maybe she could slip something to this woman and get her to call the police? Her father must have reported her missing by now...if he was safe.. who could even say. Regardless at least through that she might be able to get away from this madness. She didn't want to 'learn how to defend' herself. She'd never had any need to until someone had decided to kidnap her. Mostly Helena Kingsley just wanted to go home.








By all accounts it had been quite an eventful morning. The first intruder had been swiftly dealt with and escorted down to detainment. You couldn't simply stroll up to the HQ and begin snooping around without expecting retaliation.

The 'special' new trainees appeared to, for the most part, be a bunch of entitled children, so perhaps their title was appropriate. If it was up to her these creatures would be nowhere near the place, but it was made pretty unequivocal in discussions that it was not up to her. Until, at least, they gave her some reason to react.

Leaning back in her chair, ORIN moved her attention to more routine duties, the reboot. In order to properly maintain the system, she needed to update fundamental parts on a regular basis. In order to do that, she needed to restart everything, even her own internal components.

The software update generally happened only once a month and in itself only took a minute or so. For most people it would have been imperceptible. Some of the remote terminal screens could be seen to restart themselves, and network connections appeared out of action momentarily. Within the control room ORIN was sat silently, eyes shut, waiting for the restart. Most people might have been disconcerted as having to shut off large sections of their own mind in order to restart them whilst being completely aware of it, but she had extensive experience of it. Sit still, eyes shut, empty mind..

And it was back up.

She took a few moments to review all the files, make sure things were all in order...

It seemed off.

She was almost certain the file pattern was different. They were all legitimate files though. Metadata indicated they’d all been around a while.

ORIN frowned. Something about it bothered her.


Quickly though, her attention was taken with far more immediate problems, first they appeared to have another unexpected guest. ORIN homed in on Rinne and ran her data through the check. WDL contract, it appeared. Worth keeping an eye on, but nothing that needed immediate attention.

What she discovered next however, did,
as heat sensors in the lower levels indicated something very unwelcome.

Almost instantly ORIN snapped onto the surveillance system for the detainment level in order to catch sight of the demonic manifestation attacking the guards on the monitor. Almost immediately she had flagged the area and opened a communication line with any high level personnel and exorcists in the complex at the time.

“Demon sighted in Detainment. Deploying standard protocol and awaiting permission to terminate.” she announced, switching to the feed inside the cell, as she brought the heavy reinforced barrier hissing down across its front, the airtight seal shutting with a slight puff of air.

It would not, in theory, take too long to douse the whole room in holy water. The loss of the prisoner was a very minor concern as far as ORIN saw it. It was the job of other people to pontificate over matters (and she was aware if the irony there), it was her job to act upon these matters.

A demon had infiltrated the bases in broad daylight and was, it appeared, making an effort to possess the newly imprisoned intruder. This was exactly the sort of situation she was designed to counteract. ORIN's eyes narrowed as she poised over defence activation codes.

People were always so painfully slow to respond.

“Awaiting permission.”

Jojo eagerly listened to everyone's replies, smiling warmly as he looked at them each as they spoke. He noted Vesper breaking her stoic attitude to reply to him immediately, and he grinned extra wide as she did so- he'd missed his little sister after all. Waiting for everyone to respond, he was interrupted by the girl he'd caught in his sight beforehand joining their table. He didn't exactly mind, but he noticed Rick focus on her for a little more than just a regular gaze, and Jojo wondered what was wrong. He looked down for a moment, then shook his head- sure, he'd conveniently locked onto her when he'd looked around earlier, and Rick could've been thinking about anything, so that didn't mean she was automatically suspicious. Jojo smirked to himself slightly, imagining Rick in chibi form obsessing over Italian food. It'd be a funny sight if this were an anime.

Jojo was brought out of his thoughts as Angsty McBroodsalot spoke, and rudely called over the waiter. Jojo sighed under his breath at Ash's comment about him; this was the second time she'd called him out by name in the same day. He wasn't the type to get irked, but it seemed like she had something against him personally- besides, his 'prattling' was nothing but light conversation- she might be happy to sit around in antisocial, angst-ridden silence, but Jojo wasn't going to let this opportunity to chat go to waste. He wouldn't say anything to her about it, however, and he was much more preoccupied now with staring at the menu that was almost a complete mess of gibberish in front of him. He grumbled softly. "Yeah, right, I finally found a reason to have taken those Italian lessons I was offered. Fuck me for saying no, right?" Jojo put his chin in his palm and idly stared over it, before looking around the table again. He looked over at Helena, and decided to speak. "Hey, um, Helena, was it? You feeling better now? I mean, like, not wanting to throw up everywhere?" He gave her a warm grin as he continued. "Don't worry about it- I'm sure if any of us got shoved through that portal we'd get pretty messed up, too." He paused, looking around the table again. "You look super worried about something. Did they toss you in the back of a van, too?" Jojo chuckled softly. "They did that to me, too. Although I'd rather they'd have done that than let me get e-" He stopped himself, memories of the spider lady hitting him and causing him to frown slightly. "Anyway, uh, if there's anything you need, lemme know, alright? We're siblings, apparently, so it's kind of my job to help you out." He grinned again, before noticing the waiter and deflating a little.

He turned to the waiter and gave his order; simple spaghetti and meatballs with- Jojo paused noticeably. Rick had offered to pay, and they were selling alcohol here. His silence went on just a tad too long, and he coughed softly before turning back to the waiter and confidently asking for a glass of apple juice.

"I.. should've learned Italian. I would like something fancy, but all I know is 'spaghetti', really, so.. I'll just cook dinner for Rick some time later on as repayment for not getting something cheaper. And maybe start learning Italian, heh.." He looked around the room, and realised that Dawn, unlike him, was fluent in Italian- and so was Vesper. He tried not to sink into his chair a little deeper.

---

---

The girl sighed and sat in her chair inside the Capelli D'Angelo. Ironic for her to be there, despite her the core of her being. From this angle, she could just barely see the group of Seven chatting and socialising, and she eagerly eyed all of them. With a soft chuckle, she leaned forward and sipped from her glass. Noticing the nervous girl approaching them, her eyes flashed a little, and she subconsciously licked her lips as she stared at Charlotte- a Demon always knows another Demon, and the girl loved Demons. She chuckled softly as she stood up, watching the waiter leave with their orders and having seen all she'd needed to see. Her reconnaissance complete, she stood up and shrugged on her jacket before striding past the Seven as she exited the room. She, in the span of a moment, eyed them all and flashed a small grin that played across her features as she slid on her sunglasses and left the restaurant. Her eyes lingered on those mismatched orbs that belonged to one Rick Brackwall before she put her sunglasses on, however, and she paused a moment. Something flickered within her memory, and her smile became just a tad wider as she gave him a wink and finished sliding on her sunglasses. That action was enough to inspire their interest, although her objectives had changed slightly in the last moment.

In a few seconds, the girl stood on the steps of the restaurant, and giggled to herself softly.
Asmodeus didn't stay long, however, as she had some very important things to do before she was found out.

---

---

| Angel |

Angel stopped in his tracks as the voice of ORIN entered his thoughts. He groaned audibly, listening in to her announcement. Yes, there was a Demon in the facility- and Angel had just locked it up. Honestly, he sometimes wondered if ORIN had turned defunct over the years. With a loud sigh, he spoke quite loudly despite being patched directly into ORIN. "Request denied, ORIN. It's in the cell, and we want answers. Thank you for your assistance in the matter. That Demon is already in the cell, and has been for a while. You're welcome." Angel figured she meant that the boy he'd nabbed was a Demon- he couldn't have possibly known that an actual Demon had appeared and practically taken up residence in his body. Besides, Angel was late enough to the meeting as is, and he knew that a certain vampire would have some choice words for him in the form of insults if he were any later. In fact, she was already planning them in her head right now, and he knew it.

---

---

| Rinne |

Her ear was pressed against her mobile, and her expression was set in stone. She was currently receiving information about an attack on a hospital over in Istanbul. Electricity was cut, and then a few moments later the staff started screaming. Minutes after that, the entire hospital had gone down in flames- hundreds were injured, and even more were killed. Most patients were killed in the attack. Rinne swore under her breath, leaning hard against the wall, her bag of gear clutched tightly in her hand. "We've notified the two of the attack, and we're already here investigating before the WDL arrive to close it down." As Rinne stood there, she saw a helicopter take off and fly away. Seems they'd already began their movements.

Rinne closed her eyes, leaning against the wall and placing down her bag. She had eyes specifically on that hospital for exactly this reason, and they'd been killed before they could relay any information aside from 'something's going on'. Rinne, however, knew exactly the cause. The power had been shut down not on purpose, but because the energy had been drained and the resulting blackout was simply a result of that drainage. She opened her eyes again, grabbing her bag as she hung up the phone and marched back towards his apartment. For now, she'd enjoy her time with Kane. With this next case, she might not come back alive- her opposition wasn't some oblivious mook, after all.

Her opponent was a monster, and a smart one, at that.
And he was probably already heading here to act on his plans.

---

---

He dug his fingers into the wound, gritting his teeth as he pulled the thread through the skin and continued stitching his wound closed. The guard had gotten a good shot off, and as he sewed the gunshot wound shut, he dug in with his other hand and slowly, painfully, pulled the bullet out of the hole and yet did not flinch. Electricity crackled from his fingertips, keeping the bullet magnetised to his finger before he held it up. He flicked it, electricity crackling loudly as the already fired bullet became ammo for a human railgun and vanished into the sky. The man slowly stood up, golden eyes glowing unnaturally in the darkness. He yanked hard on the thread, clenching his wound shut with a messy-sounding wet noise before he bit the thread and cut it with his teeth. He tied a rather large knot at the end of the threat to prevent it from coming undone as he grabbed his shirt and put it back on.

He had one stop before he began his movements. He had twenty years of waiting on his belt, and he sure wasn't going to have that number get any higher. He put his hat on his head, a low chuckle leaving his lips as he touched a nearby shadow, silencing his laughter prematurely as he strode through the alley and left it behind.

The guard who had shot him lay in the middle of said alley, bleeding from the mouth, yet his body seemed perfectly untouched.

Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade

When the new girl approached and made an introduction for herself, Ashley gave an audible groan. With a visible look of disdain, she shrugged in resignation as the party of individuals let shy and stupid join the table. Eh, whatever. What would it matter if ANOTHER dweeb joined their group? She already hated group dynamics, and one more wasn’t gonna make it any more or less tolerable to her. Seeing everyone make a fuss over her and Helena, Ash didn’t see any need to interject. In fact, she didn’t normally function too well in situations like this. Instead, she made snarky looks with her eyes as Rick gave another one of those all too familiar but ever annoying spiels about getting their support at boot camp. Heh, yeah right.

Charlotte finally got her seat, and the group got in their orders soon enough. The table descended into small-talk and chatter as the group started to get to know one another, and Ash shifted mildly uncomfortably. She hadn’t been around this many people in a social setting like this in quite some time. The closest memory she could find was with her family, and they most certainly didn’t count as a good guide to this sort of situation. Thankfully, her drink arrived fairly quickly, and she amused herself with that, remaining clear of whatever idiotic topics they were discussing. She would’ve much preferred somewhere like a pub or the like, at least then there’d be a pool table or darts or something to distract her. There was nothing for her to do but make conversation with these people, and she had more than a few reservations about that.

Seeing as she wasn’t participating in the chatter, she was a bit more aware of their surroundings, and the odd sensation of being watched. Glancing about the room casually, she noticed another girl walking over in their general direction and began mentally preparing her complaint that they were somehow grabbing another tag-along. What was it about their group that seemed to attract so many weirdos? As she briefly stopped in front of them, meeting eyes with each before lingering on Rick, Ash honestly thought she was about to make some flashy introduction. Instead, with little more than a wink in their ‘leader’s’ direction, she made her way out the door and left. Huh. Maybe Dick had an admirer? She didn’t look nearly as much of a wreck as Charlotte, so somehow, Ashley doubted that a floozy like her would have the reservation not to just act on those feelings. Whatever the case, that hassle was already out of their hair, and better still, Ash could see the waiter making a return with several platters.

All grouchiness was forgotten as the intoxicating aroma reached her nose, the full spread of pizzas on display before her. “Now this is what I’m talking about!” She declared with probably the most enthusiasm anyone had heard from her. Without hesitating, she quickly reached to grab a slice, but quickly had to drop it back to the plate as the heat was still a bit too much. Blowing on her fingers a moment, she instead decided to take a different tactic, reaching over to the platter containing the bread. Lifting it, she shifted it over in front of her, taking out a piece to snack on without offering anyone else the appetiser. Food did her soul (and stomach) so much good, and best of all, everyone would hopefully shut up while they ate. Maybe she could have used some cutlery to make a start on her pizza, but she wasn’t that refined. Soon enough however, she began half juggling a slice between her hands before latching down on a large mouthful. Mmm… Okay, maybe she could get used to fancy restaurants like this if the food was this good. Happily munching away, she continued to watch and vaguely listen to the group, though it was clear the majority of her focus was on her meal.

---

Kane was happy to put some sugar into Rianne’s tea, lightening it up a little with some milk before sharing it her way. After Rianne inquired whether she could smoke, Kane realised a little late that any protests he may have had were a little bit overdue as the click of her lighter signified she had already made her decision, taking in a steady draught of smoke. Well, if she was going to be his master, he supposed he’d have to get used to it. Everyone had their vices. Moving to take his own seat, Kane was excited to talk about his apprenticeship under Rianne, what sorts of things she had planned and when they could start. At her mention she had some other things to deal with before really going into it, Kane nodded enthusiastically. That was reasonable, someone as tough as Rianne likely had a lot of important business to attend to.

Then… The conversation shifted. Listening to Rianne do her best to douse his hopes was painful, and Kane wasn’t quite sure how to take it as his eyes shifted downcast. Had he already done something to upset her? Further clarification came in that maybe he’d misinterpreted things, and that made him feel even worse. Here he was pressuring Rianne into these things, and she’d never intended on any of it – at this point, was she just being polite with him? It was a worrying thought, but Kane could sense that she was genuinely trying to look out for his best interests. Throughout her explanation, Kane began to pick up on bits and pieces of things. The way she regarded herself and her teaching ability, along with the barrier that presented. He’d always seen Rianne as a strong and talented individual, one that could compete with the best. Perhaps that wasn’t how she saw it.

Still not sure how to take Rianne’s rejection, Kane idly moved the conversation to Yohan, but that didn’t seem to bring about much of a talk. Still, that small moment allowed him to clear his thoughts some and mull over what Rianne has said. He was certain at this point that her rejection of him was less about Kane’s own capabilities, but Sister Rianne’s lack of faith in her own competence to teach him. The question was, what could he do about that? How could he help her help him? Squeezing his hands together tightly and scrunching his pants a little, he finally decided to speak his mind on it all.

“Sister…” He paused, thinking how best to say it. “I’m sorry but, I can’t accept that. I’ve made up my mind, and your own humility only serves to kindle my desire to be your apprentice. I know you’re busy, and I know you think that I’m making a mistake asking for your guidance, but…” He stopped again, sitting up. “Shouldn’t that be something I decide on? How can you say that you’re a poor teacher if you haven’t even tried? Let me be the one to prove to you that you have the potential to be a great instructor; and if not, well…” He sighed a little, settling back into his seat. “Well, I’ll have to let this go at that point.” Shaking his head, Kane met Rianne’s gaze again. “But I know that it won’t come to that.” He affirmed, smiling before looking to the side in confusion as Erica sat up.

“Well, I’ll let you two work all this out. I think I heard someone.” Erica excused herself, though Kane honestly hadn’t noticed anything. Still, he could hear her make conversation with a certain Aunty just outside the door, though he couldn’t quite hear what it was about. Regardless, his focus was on Rianne now. This had turned into a battle of conviction, she was testing his devotion. He’d prove right here and now he would not falter!

Ding.

Kane politely excused himself to the kitchen in order to turn some of the food over before returning.

Rinne cracked her neck loudly as she stepped out of the elevator, groaning irritably as she took a few steps. She paused, however, her ears flicking around under her cap. She stood there, awaiting the inevitable arrival of the girl whom, honestly, she didn't trust one bit. Now that Kane was inside, and from what Rinne could hear busy giving a passionate speech, she could speak her mind clearly. Kane's new friend could, too, and Rinne was sure that would be an interesting development. Standing in the hall, she wasn't surprised when Erica left the room and stood in front of her. Rinne raised her hand. "Let me get one thing clear. I have nothing against you, I have no reason to be rude, but I want you to tell me honestly if my nephew is in danger." Her crimson eyes locked with those of her conversational partner, barely betraying a small bit of worry and anger behind them. Rinne wasn't going to let anyone harm her nephew, after all. Not even if that meant killing an innocent human.

"If that's your primary concern, then you have nothing to worry about. Though you have no reason to trust my claims, I can state that there's fewer safer places then in my care." Standing where she was opposite Rinne, Erica seemed to have lost all the bubbly, friendly cheer that she'd had inside Kane’s dorm. Like a mirror to Rinne's hardline approach, if the cat was going to play hardball, so would she. "For your security, as well as my own, I suggest we settle this here and now, preferably without any complications. Your secrets are safe, so long as you maintain mine." Adjusting her footing slightly, Erica seemed to have her attention split between a few different things, though what exactly they were, it was hard to tell.

Rinne gave Erica a smile. However, her next words had a cutting edge to them. "If that's a threat, Erica, then I suggest you take it back before you regret it.” She idly cracked her neck again, smiling. "I'm sure that if you make any moves to break the news to Kane, you'll find yourself suddenly suspended from this lovely academy. Wouldn't that be a pain?" Rinne's' words betrayed that she'd been perfectly aware of a certain change within a certain program. "I have eyes everywhere, little girl. Please keep that in mind in the future. I dislike threatening people, but I feel the need to put you back in line when you've stepped out of it. I have no business with you, I have no reason to interact with you aside from Kane- I was going to leave it at that, but you had the guts to threaten to not just hurt me, but several people I care about. You should be much more careful." She crossed her arms. "Here's the deal. I'll let you do whatever as long as my nephew doesn't get hurt, and you'll refrain from involving yourself in my personal life any further." She gave Erica a warm smile, but shifted her grip on her duffel bag. "Or I'll shoot you. Deal?” Rinne certainly seemed somewhat poised to unzip said duffel bag if Erica tried anything.

With a soft sigh, Erica brought a hand to her brow, pinching her nose slightly. Not exactly what she'd planned, but that was what she got for being careless. Mistakes were problematic, but at least she still had enough of a window to work with this unexpected turn of events. Disconcerting as it was that her activities weren't going unnoticed; she was too far in to back out now. Perhaps the ‘legendary soldier’ merited more focus and respect than she'd initially anticipated. It seemed that, for the moment, her real objective was occupied enough, so there would be no issue relaxing a little. "You misunderstand my intentions, but I can see how they could be misconstrued to seem hostile. My mistake. Essentially, I was trying to make the same offer you did to me." Pausing a moment at the end of the sentence, Erica added another line of clarification. "Though without the threat of shooting you, naturally."

Looking back to the closed door to Kane's apartment, before turning back to Rinne, Erica decided to try a different tact. "He's very genuine. Not unlike yourself, though far more naive. He has his heart in the right place though. It was those qualities that drew me here." Idly reaching up to play with her hair, Erica decided to let her guard down, somewhat. No doubt the hostility she received was in part due to her own stern stance. The best way to diffuse the situation would hopefully be to act a little more relaxed and allow that to help calm the feline. "What I was trying to infer before was that I have no intention of harming him. I'll see to it that he's protected. It's the least I can do in exchange." Returning her hand to her side and looking back to Rinne, Erica could see from her expression that it wasn’t going to be that simple to get on her good side.

Rinne gaze Erica a hard glare. "Not unlike myself? Please, I'm well aware of what I am, and that isn't a good, genuine person, Erica." Rinne let out a long, loud sigh. "A demon trying to eat his soul, one of my enemies finally sending someone to kill someone I love, someone completely out of the loop dragged into this situation via a promise of reward for killing someone. Do you know how cautious I have to be of you, Erica?" Rinne didn't once close her eyes nor look away. Erica relaxing only caused her to lower her own defences slightly. Rinne was a cautious, cautious, war-born soldier. She knew perfectly well that Erica could be trying to get her to lower her guard so that she'd need a bit more reaction time- it's not like Rinne hadn't had to deal with that before. It was what gave her the scar under her left eye, after all.

"I'm glad you have no intention of harming Kane, but my statement still stands. I will shoot you if anything happens to him, so I expect your protection to be thorough if you're going to make that claim.” Rinne sighed, then spoke again. "Fine. But I'll be watching you. I don't give a rat's ass about your other business, but…" She stepped over to Erica, whispering directly into her ear, the girl not flinching in the slightest at the proximity. "If Kane is hurt, not even God can save you." Taking a step back, Rinne cracked her neck and grumbled. "Friggin' rocks are the worst pillows, y'know?"

Changing tact as Erica did, Rinne nodded to herself. "Alright, I'll give you a chance. Sorry for my hostility, but my line of work hasn't exactly left me with few enemies, nor is it something you can get through without being cautious- also," she gave Erica a semi-glare, "don't compare me to Kane. Ever. It's insulting to the poor cinnamon roll." After a somewhat uncomfortable pause, Rinne looked to the side. "Like I said, it's nothing personal. I'm sure you're a great person probably, but people can be payed or swayed or deceive others. It's in my nature to be slightly paranoid- if I wasn't like that then I'd definitely be dead by now."

Rinne looked over at Erica and sighing hard, stuck out the hand that wasn't holding the duffel bag for Erica to shake. An uncomfortable smile sat on her face, but she was trying. "Rinne Lucalia, legendary soldier and possibly the coolest aunt you'll ever meet. I don't miss." The faintest trace of a smile crossed Erica's lips, and she extended her own hand to meet the shake. "Possibly?" She asked, knowing very well what the answer would be. Still, this blockhead was more stubborn than she'd given her credit for. It was working out now, but somehow it seemed like no matter what she'd tried, this legendary soldier seemed intent on making it as difficult as possible. She didn't know who she had to thank for getting this chance, but at least now that was one less problem she had to worry about. All going well, she'd do nothing to incur the wrath of Kane's aunt. Perhaps, if things went well, she might even be able to make use of her too...

"Regardless, I appreciate your decision towards some hospitality. I promise, you won't regret it." Making a full, cheerful smile, the facade of Erica Decall quickly returned to her face, pivoting on the spot to open the door for Rinne, before looking back over her shoulder. "Perhaps we'll get to know each other better over dinner. Though Kane has told me so many wonderful things about you I'm positive you'll fulfil all my expectations."

---

For a moment, Kane had been soaring the heavens, proclaiming his intended heroics joyfully. Soon enough however, Rianne had the good sense to pull him back down to Earth, bringing in some much needed realism to Kane’s overzealous spiel. Calming himself down and rubbing the back of his head, Kane apologised a little at the mild scolding; or was it more just mentoring? Regardless, her revelations were grounding, blunt and honest. Kane smiled. This was exactly what he needed from a mentor. She didn’t attempt to dissuade him from his choices, merely advise him how hard the road ahead could be. And to show that, in spite of what she’d claimed thus far, Rianne just might come to support him.

“Thank you, Sister. I’ll see to it that I become something that you’ll want to believe in.” Giving a smile of conviction, it was about then that Erica and Rinne returned to join them, the former deciding to speak first. “Guess who I found waiting around outside.” Gesturing jovially at Rinne, Erica moved to grab a seat for her, allowing Kane’s aunt to take a seat while she moved back to the kitchen to attend to the food briefly. Seeing as Rianne and Rinne hadn’t met, Kane saw it as his duty to introduce them. “Uh, Aunty? This here is Sister Rianne. It took some doing, but she’s agreed to be my mentor.” Gesturing between them, Kane continued. “Rianne, this here is Rinne, my aunty; and I suppose one of my teachers up until this point. She’s uh… Freelance.” Kane replied with the best word he could think of to describe her… Unique circumstances, both within the WDL and outside of them.
Rinne smiled at Rianne, chuckling softly. "Sorry, Sister." She didn't offer any more than that before nodding her head. "Rinne Lucalia. Pleasure to meet you. I hope you, uh, didn't get railroaded into being this brat's mentor." A huge grin sliding across her face, Rinne reached over and ruffled Kane's hair as per usual. "Despite his clumsiness, the kid is fairly talented. Surprising, I know, but it's true." Rinne nodded to Kane. "Freelance is accurate." She turned back to Rianne, smiling warmly. The duffel bag had been dumped beside her when she'd sat down, and Rinne wondered just how much she'd be probed during the dinner. She shifted slightly in her seat, her grin not failing once. "So, Rianne, how's the WDL treating you?"

---

Candice Hallows

No no no. Ugh, why did he have to just spring it on her? Why couldn’t Kane be like any other normal individual and make arrangements for dinner at least a week in advance so she could plot out her schedule? No. Not right at all. Pacing back and forth in her bedroom, Candice ran her hands through her hair in frustration, messing it slightly as she stopped in front of the mirror for what seemed like the hundredth time. She hadn’t asked Kane for details. Formal, or casual? Rinne would be there. Did that mean she was supposed to dress up? Or would that be too much? Having already gone through the panic of procuring a suitable dish to bring (And making a stop in at the local cake store for an Italian Rum Cake), the only thing left was to decide on an outfit, and get herself there on time.

Biting her lip a little, Candice returned to the closet once more, discarding the risqué red ensemble she’d gone with, and rummaging around inside for something a bit less… Extravagant. It was dinner at Kane’s. Not a day out at the races, or a private dinner. She could dress nice, formal, but still light enough to seem casual. Eventually, she pulled out a frilly white halter style blouse, an impressive silver necklace with large droplet shapes, matching bangles and glasses, before topping it all off with some skinny leg jeans and some stylish heeled ankle boots. Taking the time to sit and begin fixing her hair, Candice realised she’d forgotten a watch. Pulling open the drawer of her dresser, she searched for one that would suit her outfit, but immediately froze. All of them were meticulously accurate. Which meant only one thing…

She was late.

Stumbling out the door to the hall and half tripping over herself, Candice began fervently hurrying back towards the dorms, her minor concerns forgotten in the presence of the real problem she had overlooked.

It was a shame that in her rush to leave, the cake she bought remained forgotten in the fridge.

Kane's Dorm

Rianne wasn't sure if what she had said sunk in or not. He didn't offer much acknowledgement besides his usual grin, though ultimately she decided that it was no use overthinking about. Shortly afterward, she was introduced to another guest - Kane was more popular than she thought.

And it took about two or three seconds to register some of that information. Rianne made a shifty, confused glanced between Kane and his supposed aunt, both of whom looked to be around the same age. The older woman had certain features that made her look more mature, but her youth was unmistakable. Surely there was a reasonable explanation for this, but Rianne was having no easy time wrapping her head around this. Aunt. . . maybe he just calls her that? Whatever.

"Railroading is exactly what happened," she admitted bluntly with a small shrug. "But if he insists this much. . . well, I guess it could be good for the both of us." Their names were oddly similar, so she was surprised to hear it at first. In any case, whoever this aunt figure was, she looked like she meant business. A sturdily built woman, a prominent scar, a pair of revolvers on her person - definitely not weapons you'd give to somebody without a lot of experience in this day and age - heck, dual wielding guns was practically an inhuman feat in and of itself. You know some interesting people, kid. . .

"The WDL, huh? Same old. It's an institution alright, it's got its own fair share of self-righteous assholes and goody-two-shoes. Not the worst place to be hanging out, but sometimes I get tired of dealing with their shenanigans." She took a moment to glance at her phone. It was going to be midnight soon, she couldn't stay too much longer. Definitely had to leave at least an hour prior. She put it away and let out a small sigh, feeling a sense of unease wash over her again. Her heart began to beat a little faster as the clock ticked away, but she made sure her anxiety didn't show in front of them.

Candice Hallows

Striding up towards the door of Kane’s apartment, Candice took a moment to correct herself before carefully moving to ring the doorbell. To her immediate surprise, the door opened up just as she moved forward; a young student that she’d never seen before opening it and gesturing her inside. “Miss Hallows I presume? It’s a pleasure to meet you ma’am, I’m looking forward to attending my first lecture with you. Your publication on non-humans was a refreshing insight into alternative viewpoints non-humans can hold regarding mankind.” The cheery, blue eyed student certainly seemed on top of the material, and that pleased Candice. She was happy someone appreciated her work, but she did have to wonder who this girl actually was.

“Yes, that’s correct. I’m glad you found value in my work. I take it you’re one of Kane’s classmates?” She asked, receiving a simple nod in response from the girl as she was lead down the hall. “Yes Miss Hallows, I transferred here today. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Erica. Erica Decall.” With a slight tilt of her head and a small smile, Erica stopped briefly for the introductions, shaking hands with her superior. “Please, we’re not in a formal setting call me Candice.” It was impossible for Candice not to respond in kind with her own smile. It was rare to find a student with this level of confidence and genuine friendliness. Withdrawing her hand, Erica continued to lead Candice down the hall. “Kane has been most helpful in showing me around. You must be proud of him.” The pleasant tone and demeanour from the young girl was certainly helping to ease Candice’s earlier panic, and it was also buttering up her ego. Perhaps a little too much, but she did enjoy receiving flattery, and the girl seemed quite nice. “My son is quite special to me. I think I’d be proud of him almost regardless of his actions, but I am happy to hear that he’s been of assistance to you Erica.”

Rounding the corner, the two stepped into the main lounge area, allowing Candice to take in the scene. Rin looked up as Candice walked in, a wide grin sliding across her features- there was a slight bit of deviousness to her grin, but nothing too bad. Typical. Ignoring the feline for the moment, she turned her gaze to look for Kane, finding him strangely absent, before noticing the final guest of the evening. Though she couldn’t hide the raise of her brow at spotting Sister Rianne here, she was thankful that her sunglasses would likely be doing that job for her. “My, I didn’t realise Kane had invited so much company.” Candice stated after a brief pause, watching Erica move around her and head for the kitchen. Likely, that was where Kane was.

“It’s… Nice to see you Sister. And you too Rinne.” Candice continued, wrinkling her nose slightly as she noted the smoke wafting from her cigarette. Though she was technically far older than Rianne, by appearances she was considered the younger of the two. The manner in which one conducts themselves is a far greater indicator of one’s maturity however; and in this case, Candice’s past experiences and general viewpoint on the sister was that although quite talented, she’d proven herself time and time again to be somewhat ignorant, brash and for the most part, just plain rude. Younger individuals she tended to give a free pass as growing up, experimenting and needing guidance. Rianne however, was well old enough to make her own decisions. Candice just didn’t personally approve of them.

“Tell me, what brings you here?” Candice inquired as she eyed Rianne, briefly throwing Rinne a somewhat quizzical look as she took a seat next to her. Looking back to Rianne again, it was clear that she was somewhat disapprovingly noting her disrespectful posture with her feet up on the furniture. She didn’t mention it however. At least, not yet. Rin shrugged, the small smirk on her face not shrinking or vanishing at all. She had no idea who the woman across from them was, and she didn’t know her relationship to Candice, but she had a sneaking suspicious that her favourite uptight snake lady was probably not on good terms with Rianne. ‘Uncouth’ is the word she’d probably use. Honestly, Rin saw a bit of her untrained self in Rianne, although nowadays putting your feet up was, well, not exactly something she’d do. Despite her playfulness, Rin was in a constant state of alert - it came with the job. However, her usually stiff frame was much more relaxed than usual. She wasn’t being shot at, after all. The bag at her feet was in easy reach, and Rinne’s revolvers could be drawn in a second when she’d last timed it. A soft voice echoed in the back of her head, and Rinne clenched her jaw as she willed it away.

She secretly hoped Kane would hurry up and get back. She idly bumped Candice’s shoulder a few seconds after she’d sat down. It occurred to her that she should probably keep it professional unless Candice stated otherwise - didn’t want anyone knowing her.. more intimate relations, after all. Rin idly reached up and scratched just below her scar, not wanting to interrupt Rianne’s response. The voice of the dead girl in the back of her head was being a bit of a pain to ignore.

"I'm not gonna turn down free dinner," Rianne answered, letting out a stifled yawn. "That, and. . . I'd been meaning to clear up some things, but unlucky for me, that's not quite how things turned out. He wants me to be his personal tutor, basically." She leaned forward a bit and with a miffed expression, waved casually around the space in front of her. "As much as I tried to convince him otherwise. I'd ask you to talk some sense into the little twerp, but at this point I don't know if I should be going back on my word."

“I think that would be for the better.” Candice replied bluntly, masking her own surprise at the revelation with her curt rejection of Rianne. Honestly, could she not even follow through on something as simple as that properly? She’d have to speak with Kane and remove any foolish ideas from his head before he made a grave mistake. Who knew what sort of hooligan antics Rianne would teach him if given the opportunity?

Rin sat there, quite happily gazing away from the two.. lovely ladies present. After Candice’s less than proper reply, she elbowed her in the side, not too hard, but hard enough. “So, the weather is nice today, huh?” Rin spoke a bit loudly, her gaze still out the window. She didn’t exactly want to get involved in their tense little.. Whatever. Candice and Rianne’s relationship was none of her business, but she wasn’t going to let them get into anything with Kane having worked so hard to make this dinner happen.

Rianne almost felt herself wincing at the woman's words. Mm. Well, it didn't come as a surprise, and even she herself had acknowledged the potential problems that could arise from this development, but. . . she wasn't sure why she took offense to that. Candice had every right to be worried, and honestly whatever she decided was none of her concern, so Rianne pushed those thoughts and those feelings to the back of her mind.

"Yeah, probably," she finally said, picking at her teeth with her pinky nail. Not setting the greatest example here, but it wasn't strange behavior for someone who never cared about leaving good impressions. Candice withheld her own follow up comment as another voice rang out.

“Alright guys, dinner is ready!” The call came from the kitchen, Kane poking his head through the doorway to see everyone, briefly raising an arm to wave at Candice. “Hey Mom, glad you could make it.” Smiling, Kane gestured the three to follow him, heading over to the dining table to take a seat, Erica putting the finishing bits of cutlery on display. The aroma was enticing, Kane happily gesturing to the small set of banquet trays with a small variety of meats, vegetables and other bits and pieces; the roast meal on full display with utensils readily available at each ‘station’ for self service. “Help yourself guys, there’s plenty there, so take as much as you want. Of course, you can always have seconds too.” Stepping to the side to let everyone else sample what they needed, Kane would take his meal last.

Rin sighed hard when the others moved to the dining table, being the last to stand up. She somewhat eagerly followed Kane to the table, openly licking her lips and grinning. No rations tonight, heck yeah. “Looks good, you two. I might have to eat everything there~” She teased, quite happily grabbing what she needed and heaping her plate fairly high with a mix of everything. It was all in easy reach on the table, after all. After this meal, she’d probably go for a few days on nothing but rations, so she wasn’t going to be skimpy on her meal. Besides, it looked delicious and there was plenty of it, so she definitely wasn’t going to be holding back. She sat directly beside Kane, giving him a grin as she waited. Did people at the WDL say grace, or..? Rinne silently hoped a certain someone would save her the awkwardness of sitting next to someone she’d never met by taking the seat beside her, and she mentally reminded herself to be on her best table manners. Not very good, being a kitty, but she always tried her best. She adjusted the cap on her head.

“Heh, well, I did put in a little something special just for you, seeing as Kane told me so much about his favourite Aunt.” Erica laughed a bit, taking a seat on the far side of the table as she noted Candice move to take her place by Rinne’s side. “I’m certain you’ll enjoy it, so dig right in.” She affirmed again, surprisingly having not too much on her plate, and not making too much move to eat it. She probably had a big meal or something prior. As for Candice, she carefully reached to take a modest helping of the range. At least, compared to her feline compatriot, though it seemed there was no need for extreme formality as she calmly reached for her cutlery and got to work cutting into the beef. Briefly, she gave Kane a bit of a look, flitting her eyes towards Rianne, but the young boy either didn’t notice or didn’t care, leading his mother to simply give in and decide to make the most of the meal. She could speak with him later about his educational decisions. For now, she simply had him pass the gravy.

“Heh, this is great. I’m really glad you all could make it. In fact, I think this is the first time I think I’ve had anyone over since well… Ever!” Kane spoke happily, making a point not to speak with his mouth full. Some formality would be needed around his mother, at the very least. “Did you get all the paperwork done Mom?” Inquiring slightly, it was met with a simple nod from Candice as she finished her first piece of the meal, daintily taking the napkin to brush her mouth before speaking. “Bailey is handling the preparations for tomorrow. He’s quite reliable at this sort of thing. After all, the training for the new recruits is likely to be quite the affair. No doubt there will be adjustments and improvisations to the schedule.” Of course, Candice wasn’t at liberty to discuss the details, particularly with those who were uninvolved with the children. Thankfully, Kane knew better than to inquire further than he already had.

From there, the group enjoyed the rest of the chatter and dinner until later in the night, Rianne being the first to excuse herself, followed by Candice and Rinne, before finally Erica said her parting words and headed off for the night, leaving Kane to relax at home.