Angel Lucius D'Brightaine'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.

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| 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."

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| 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.

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| ??? |

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."

Rick Brackwall

Upon first stepping outside Rick was treated to a sight. Angel, a man he knew quite well, was leading a group of men through the area he was passing through with a prisoner in tow.

"Ah, Rick, I was wondering if you'd be able to, at your earliest convenience, get that.. lovely.. Principal of ours to attend the Council meeting. She seems to be running somewhat late."

At this point there were a few details Rick picked up on whilst listening to his request. He noted the slight curling of his lip betrayed a less than pleased feeling of his, likely to do with the subject matter as it changed around his pause. That wasn't all however.


Angel's face seemed pleasant but told of a possible irritation or maybe even pain. It was nothing to go on by any substantial means but it hadn't failed to pique Rick's curiosity to some extent. He'd perhaps speak with him later, if he wasn't too busy given the duties Angel's position required of him.

Ever since he arrived Angel had been working his way to where he was. He was impressed by his dedication and talent for battlefield tactics however his zeal was somewhat untempered. Pride was also a fault that tended to impair his judgement in certain cases, pushing himself with a fervency that only slightly surpassed Rick's own sense of drive. That was mainly because his own goals and Angel's were different to an extent. He couldn't dedicate his every waking moment to serving the WDL quite like that and pursue his own demons at the same time.


"I'll remind her the next time she manifests within my general vicinity." He looked over, taking a good look at the man they had in custody. "I should come over by the detention center after I'm finished acquainting the newcomers to the grounds. It's not every day the gate men let someone in who didn't belong."

Rick was more than discrete enough not to glance over at Dawn but his gaze did divert down momentarily.
"Though today's been a rather unusual day." He admitted, curtailing his thoughts as he was fairly certain Angel had somewhere to be and didn't want to be stalled for a chat. They both had places to be, roles to fulfill.

"Come, let's get you all acquainted with your living spaces now shall we?" He turned, addressing the six others in tow before setting onward to get them to their new homes.


He proceeded onward to the dormitory building they had selected for them. It was a very nice building, almost like a rather high end hotel. While there was no garish decor or such the main lobby certainly was open and well furnished. It had a smooth, clean modern decorum to it. All metal surfaces were well polished and everything just was fairly straight and clean. The kind of housing that while not absurd was definitely more expensive than any one of them might of been able to afford on a regular basis.

There was a hallway to the left and right which held two elevators each and a staircase for both halls. In the middle of the lobby was a desk. On the desk rested a bowl which held a fair quantity of wrapped mints.

"Now to show you to your rooms." He informed them, leading them into the elevator. It was a fairly roomy elevator, enough to hold ten people comfortably and fifteen people if they packed in close. It had a similar smooth metallic aesthetic that the lobby had. He hit the number for the seventh floor, the floor they'd be living on for the days to come.


The first room to be visited would of course be... JoJo's.

| Jonathan Black & Dawn Memoli |

Dawn returned Rick’s grip with her own- firm and formal, as if she were speaking to an interviewer of some prestigious company- and gave it a single pump before releasing. From what she could tell, the man was serving as the de-facto leader of whatever she had walked in on. Showing respect at a time like this was the least she could do. Her professionalism wavered a bit at one of the group’s more...curious reactions, and faltered even further at another's rather surly response. Taking a step back, Dawn rubbed at a spot somewhere on her face, in an attempt to hide her sudden grin. Her hand dropped after a few seconds of this, although a hint of a smile remained on her lips.

“I, um, don’t think I am, no,” Dawn said, grim. “Sorry.” She wiped again at her face, and the smile disappeared entirely. Now you see it, now you don’t. Modern day street magic. Stoic once more, her attention wandered to the other two, who had been preoccupied thus far- the golden-eyed man with his own thoughts, and the girl with a call. It seemed as if she had been taken into this life without much notice, as well. Dawn greeted the girl- Vistra, she amended- with a wave of her own, the smile on her face now one of pleasantries, not of surprised amusement. Dawn had just lowered her hand when JoJo walked up to her, just as... JoJo as she had remembered.

JoJo stared blankly at Dawn as she shook Rick's hand and looked over the group. He was shocked, after all. Last he’d spoken to her was a text in the middle of running for his life from a crazy spider lady monster thing. Now, somehow, she was standing right in front of him.
Once he’d recovered, JoJo shook his head a little and took a step over to Dawn, a smile stretching over his face. “Well, I sure as hell wasn’t expecting you to pop up here. Especially with that loli vampire on your heels- what was with her, anyway? Did you piss her off on the way here, or..?” JoJo crossed his arms, fake pouting at the girl as he spoke. “You’re such a meanie, Dawn.”

“I guess you could say that,” Dawn replied, lightly. There was a brief flash of something in her eyes, but it faded as quickly as it had come. “It’s a, uh, long story, though. But I think just me showing up here would have done that anyway.” At JoJo’s “meanie” comment, her grin widened. “You know it,” she said.

JoJo waited until all the pleasantries were done with, and watched as Rick began to lead the group around. Giving Angel a quick look-over as he walked away, along with his men and the prisoner, JoJo turned back to Dawn. “Sorry.” He grinned. “I’m just glad the creepy spider lady didn’t eat your face, too.” He raised his hands defensively. “Now I know what I’m saying is super weird and not at all normal but, erm, just.. I’ll explain later on, okay?” He dropped his hands, motioning with his head for Dawn to follow as he began to walk behind Rick. JoJo waited a little for the rest of the group to move ahead, staying at the back of the group. Dawn gave a dismissive wave, shaking her head slightly. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “They told me everything before the Principal brought me here. It was, um, a bit much to take in.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the century? She gave a soft, quiet laugh, before going on. “It’s all still kind of hard to believe, but, um. It was better than the alternative, I think.” She scratched at a spot on her shoulder, walking in-step with Jojo as the tour progressed. “And it still makes more sense than the pope deciding to kidnap my roommate out of nowhere, at least.”

Dawn's attention drifted, briefly, at the circle of soldiers pushing by, carting some intruder away to the bowels of the WDL. The head of the small squad paused, however, speaking with Rick before going on his way. The comment of the gatekeepers did not go unnoticed. A reasonable comment, in truth.

JoJo paused, giving a small chuckle at Dawn's last comment. He suddenly perked up, exclaiming. “So, um, my phone is kinda missing. And I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Part of me wants to leave, but.. I mean, I just met Vesper- you remember her, right? The girl I used to spend time with that was a few years under us?” He turned to Dawn, grinning happily. “Didn’t expect to see her again, especially in.. here.” He paused, turning around for a moment as he caught Illusion standing a little while away, umbrella in hand. She smiled at him and waved before quickly popping into one of her portal things. JoJo grumbled, turning back to focus on following the others. “I was gonna leave and come find you, but.. You’re here now, so..” He stopped, turning to Dawn. “Waitwait, where’s Iggy..?!”

“I think I remember you telling me about her,” Dawn replied. “Didn’t think there’d be anyone we knew here- small world, I guess. Glad you’re getting the chance to catch up with her again.” The words were genuine- she was well aware of the closeness of JoJo and his friend. It was a secondhand knowledge, of course, but the two seemed to have treated each other well. “Wonder how she ended up here?” A brow rose at JoJo’s grumbling as he turned back, in silent inquiry. His own question prompted another gentle laugh from Dawn, the woman stopping so as to not leave him behind. “Don’t worry, Iggy’s fine,” she said. “I, um, didn’t think that we’d be staying here, so I asked a friend of mine to look after him until I could come and pick him back up. She loves animals, so I don’t think there should be much of a problem.

I just hope they don’t have a strict ‘no-animal’ policy here or anything.”

“The Pope totally just kidnapped me out of nowhere, though. Weird to think that the Devil’s my dad, ha.” JoJo grinned, looking over at Dawn once more. “Well, nobody really elaborated on that, but it’d be weird if there was a no animal policy in place where there’s, um, vampire lolis and Demon children, right? So hopefully we can get Iggy here too.” He chuckled softly, pausing again to look around. He had the awful feeling he was being watched, and that worried him. He slapped himself in the face. “ORIN. It’s ORIN.” He chuckled softly, turning back- and happy he didn’t catch a certain vampire staring at him like a creep again- as he continued following Rick. “They mentioned the whole ‘demon blood’ thing,” Dawn said. “They didn’t really, um, tell me much about that, though. I think they were just in a rush to get everything out, but- this whole day has just been really, really strange. It’s like we got sucked into a T.V. show or something.” She shook her head slightly, sending the plait bobbing with the movement. “I think I’ll ask about pets once this whole tour’s over. Rita’s very nice, but I don’t want to make her take care of Iggy for however long we’re here. She has enough on her plate right now already…” She frowned for a moment.


“Not gonna stay here long? I figure I might stay here for a long while at least. Learn to, uh, not get attacked by spider people. Seems like a good idea to me.” He put his hands in his pockets, grinning. “I wonder if she’s still alive? I.. kinda…” JoJo stopped, staring down at the ground. “I, uh, fucked her up pretty badly. D’ya think spider people regenerate? I mean.. I know it was self-defence, but I wish I could’ve done something aside from hurting her..” JoJo narrowing his eyes, staring down at the ground hard.

He felt pretty guilty about the entire thing. Sure, she’d tried to kill his face for some reason he didn’t know, but surely her reason was valid, right? Maybe she thought of him as a monster because she could smell his Devil blood or something? JoJo slumped slightly, idly kicking a pebble. It lifted off of the ground and flew down the street, almost hitting poor Caius’ foot before it eventually stopped against the wall of a nearby building. “Right. Because I’m Satanspawn, as Illusion put it..” He shook his head, a barely noticeable gesture, before he gave his companion a sheepish grin and jogged slightly to keep up with the rest of the group again.

“ORIN’s the head of the database, right?” Dawn asked, adjusting her hat so she could see better. “I think they mentioned her, too...but, um. I don’t really know how long I’m going to stay. I’ll probably have to move out of the old apartment if I do end up leaving- place was a mess when I left, and I, um, don’t think that the landlords will be very happy with me when they find out about it.” She chuckled. “But it might be a good idea to learn a few things while I’m here, I guess- I mean, if there’s actual vampires and demons running around, it’ll be good to be prepared in case I ever run into one.” The somber tone Jojo had picked up didn’t go unnoticed, and, brows knitted, Dawn walked up to Jojo and clasped his shoulder for a moment before he took off to catch up with the others.

“Well, considering that she, um, apparently just attacked you out of nowhere, I don’t really think you had any choice. I don’t know much about...spider ladies, but, um, supernaturals are usually supposed to be a lot more tough than humans are, right? I’m sure that she’ll be fine after a while.” As JoJo suddenly launched a pebble right into the side of an opposing building, Dawn’s brows rose considerably, but aside from that gesture, she kept a remarkably straight face. “At least if this place doesn’t work out, you can become a pro soccer player,” she joked. It wasn’t too funny, admittedly, but JoJo looked bothered. As he ran ahead to catch up with the group, her lips pursed again for a moment before she followed, moving quite swiftly for someone in flats.

When Dawn was beside him once more, he looked over to her. “Say, did any of the stuff get wrecked aside from the doors and couch? That spider better not have erased my Dark Souls save files- I literally will kill her if that happened.” He chuckled softly, but Dawn, knowing him, would see that his change of topic had a much deeper purpose. JoJo wasn’t one to dwell on things that made him sad, after all.“I think she broke some of the wall,” Dawn said upon catching up. “And the fridge. And. Um. A shelf or two.”

Eventually, the group reached a tall building, Rick moving them inside and into the elevator. JoJo pushed inside, getting into one of the back corners of the elevator. “Last time I rode one of these, a crazy spider lady was trying to rip my face off. Hope that doesn’t happen again..” His joking tone made light of the situation, but he did seem a tiny bit stiff. The doors opened on the seventh floor, and JoJo stepped out along with the others. “But I think that the games were all spared.”The topic change went unquestioned by Dawn, as did the joke about elevators and giant, aggressive arachnid women. JoJo fist pumped. If he'd lost any of his games, he'd be killing himself over it.

He looked up, curiously looking over the first doorway, only to see his name on it. ‘Jonathan Black’, he pouted a little. “That wasn’t long at all.” He moved over to the door, turning the doorknob and stepping inside. Looking down the short hallway, he took a few steps down it before entering the main room. It was fairly large, a medium-sized kitchen to his right as he hit the end of the hallway. Next to, or, well, in the kitchen was a benchtop that seemed to double as a dining table. Further down was what seemed to be the living room area, and JoJo turned around to the others and grinned. “Fuck yeah, this is sweet.” He chuckled softly, moving back down the hallway and opening the door. It was an empty room, so he just closed the door again. On the wall next to said door was a piece of paper, which he grabbed. It included a floor plan, which he passed around the group if they were interested. “Furniture not included” was in big red letters at the bottom of the sheet, though. “I hope they have at least a bed..”

It took little time for the tour group to come across JoJo’s room, and even less for him to let himself in. Dawn stayed in the doorway, not wanting to just waltz into a place that wasn’t hers, but she did give an approving look around the loft from where she stood. “Nice place,” she commented. “Very open.”

---

| Angel |

The prisoner was tossed roughly into the cell, Angel standing with crossed arms as the magical cuffs were placed around his wrists. Preventing any and all magic usage, his was effectively disarmed as his weaponry was stripped from him and taken to be kept in the holding room. Angel grimaced as the door to the cold cell shut on Yohan, only his eyes visible through a small slate in the door- which was promptly covered by a sliding plate. Once the door was secured; three deadbolts a few inches thick each, on top of a much larger lock akin to that of a bank safe (complete with giant spinning handle thing), Angel strode away. He sighed, tapping the blade at his hip as he strode from the room. "24/7 surveillance. I want eyes on him constantly. He might be a demon sent to infiltrate us, so I also want to be notified if anything happens."

Angel quite briskly exited the area. He was late for his meeting, after all. He sighed hard, starting to jog towards the building in the middle of the WDL's regions once more. "Cursed fools, I'll be late. Hopefully that vampire didn't decide to be early for once."

| 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?”

Rianne's Dorm

Bastard, showing up to my place like that trying to be all friendly, Rianne thought to herself as she put the rest of her things away. Her hand hovered her phone, one of the things that had been confiscated from her - her gaze drifted back to the tracker she had kicked away and she felt her expression souring again. Twice on the same day. She cried twice on the same day and she couldn't feel more humiliated. She could hardly even remember the last time she genuinely bawled her eyes out, what was it about today? Those children all showing up at once. . . it was like a bad omen. Even Melody got caught up in this mess somehow, but she couldn't quite gather why.

Rianne shook her head and picked up her phone, flipping it open to see if anything new came up. It seemed like there was - some unknown number left a message on her cell. More spam? Man, I'm getting real tired of deleting all this crap- Her finger froze over the button. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't ignore it. Could be Melody calling from somewhere else, or that motherfucker that arranged our midnight date.

To her surprise, it was not Melody, nor was it the motherfucker. Instead, it was Kane's voice that greeted her on the other end. What the? How did he even get this number? she thought to herself for a moment. Whatever, I'll pester him about it later. Change of plans, huh? Well, Yohan definitely wasn't going to show up and she didn't feel like moping around in her room for the rest of the day so she grabbed her bag and left. I'll deal with Isaiah later, I don't feel like looking at his stupid mug today.
She sent Kane a quick text on her way over.

[Rianne: johanns busy im coming over early]

-

When she arrived at his doorstep some untold minutes later, there was no knock. Rather, she threw the door wide open and let herself in. There was no sense in locking a door if you were expecting guests, but she didn't expect another guest to already be here. Not that she minded, anyway. In fact, she looked to be one of the newer recruits, Erica.

"'Sup." Rianne grinned. "Didn't know your girlfriend was gonna be over."

Capelli D'angelo

With a few blinks, the girl sipping coffee seemed to suddenly become aware of her surroundings, like she had just woken up from a long daydream. Her mouth opened as if to speak, but it closed for a second before she was able to formulate any words. "Hey! Um. . . is there some kind of orientation I missed?" Charlotte called from her table, her eyes lighting up as she mustered the courage to speak up to the group of seven. "Y-You're all new recruits here, aren't you?" she asked sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. "I'm pretty new here myself so I'm not too familiar with how everything works. . ."

Nervously, the girl stood up and tried to look somewhat presentable, flattening out the folds in her clothes as her eyes shifted from the group to the floor a couple of times.

"Sorry if I'm being a bother to you guys, I guess I just wanted to say that I haven't made any friends here yet. . . and I was wondering. . . if I could at least sit with you all and have lunch together. . ."

Charlotte's hands trembled a little and she maintained an anxious smile throughout - it was hard to call it acting, because her body naturally reacted this way when speaking to more than a few people, no thanks to some of the unsavory quirks she picked up from the miserable people she'd devoured. All the better to sell her performance with.

That should suffice, with any luck. If not, I suppose I'll find something else to check off my list.

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.

An industrial estate, somewhere in the North of England.


Robert Parker sat at his desk, scrolling through emails and yet consequentially reading absolutely nothing. Most of a cold cup of coffee and a half-finished pack of aspirin sat on the desk next to him.

Off in the gloom of his desk unlit by the glare from the monitor, the phone squealed.

Robert massaged his temples for a moment before picking up the receiver, to hear the voice of his receptionist, Sophie, on the other end.

“A er… Mr Green to see you Doctor Parker.”

Robert’s mouth dried up the moment he heard the word. His hands closed reflexively around the cheap plastic enough that he felt it near give way in his grip.

Of course there were many Mr Greens out in the country, in the world. It was not the most unusual name. It could be any number of people. Any number of men who were perfectly sincere in their wish to visit and discuss business from a small medical supply company.

But in that moment he was certain that it was none of those people.

It was him.

“...Doctor Parker? Shall I send him in?”

Sophie sounded a little confused. Robert realized he’d been silent for far longer than he’d intended. Trying to clear the awful dryness in his throat, he spoke up hoarsely.

“No, no, I’ll come to meet him.”



It was a few minutes later that Robert Parker was able to navigate the dark and narrow corridors of Parker Laboratory Solutions and make it out into the reception area. It was a small, shabby looking place with some scratchy covered-chairs and a picture of a meadow on the wall that was faded to the point of appearing like some ghostly hellscape.

Sophie, a short, slightly chubby young lady with a colourful cardigan and a grating laugh, was currently engaged in lively chatter and occasional hyena-like bursts of mirth opposite a tall, silver-haired figure dressed in a shirt and suit-jacket.

Upon hearing the sound of the door both turned, and Robert regarded the man, trying to hold back the distinct feeling of sickness rising in his gut.

“Good morning Doctor. It’s very nice to see you again. Sophie here has just been telling me all about her dogs. West highland terriers apparently. There’s been a nightmare with groomers this month. Complete travesty apparently. ”

His contact lenses looked pretty impressive. You could almost think, looking on his face, that we were something remotely human.

Robert narrowed his eyes.
“Follow me.” he stated tersely.

“Can I get you anything?” Sophie asked, in an well-intentioned attempt to make up for her boss’s brusque response.
“Tea? Coffee? I think there’s some h-”
“No, we’ll be fine.”

Robert had cut her off.

Sophie shot the man a look but returned to the desk and continued playing minesweeper on the desktop.

The man in the suit just gavw a good-natured smile.
“Lead on Doctor Parker, I’m sure you know the way better than I do.”

Robert would have been perfectly happy for the walk downstairs to have gone by in awkward silence, but his associate was in a rather talkative mood, voice resonating through the gloom and the footsteps on the half-rusted metal. Even if the conversation was rather-one sided.

“Sophie seems to be a nice young lady. I’m very glad you were able to find a new receptionist so quickly. Lives with her grandmother apparently, rent prices in the area are quite crippling, terrible shame.”

“Leave her alone.”

“Oh Robert you know I have nothing but noble intentions. Anyway, how are the family?”

The doctor's gut wrenched as he knew the question was coming.

“How is your daughter?”

“Much better.” he muttered out through gritted teeth.
“From what I’ve heard.”

They stepped out onto the bare concrete of the basement level. The ‘Cold Storage’ sign had begun to peel away, letters loose at their top and bottom. Down here Robert’s breath misted up in the chilled air.

No such mist surrounded the man who accompanied him.

“Terribly sorry to hear about the ruling Robert. I’m sure the appeal will work more favourably for you. I’m sure you are a very capable father. “

Robert swallowed back bile and remained silent.

The two stepped into a narrow, utilitarian corridor alongside a row of old industrial freezer units. Stains were evident on the doors around the seals. If one were looking a little harder at the old, ugly appliances had been very meticulously altered from their original function. In addition someone might see the symbols carefully painted on the surface in an almost-matching shade of off-white.

Dr Parker approached one at the end. He could just about feel his heart in his mouth as he reached up to the controls and turned the dial down to the ‘Off’ position. There was a hiss of escaping gas into the ventilation.

Then silence.

This was broken when ‘Mr Green’ gave voice once more.
“I’m very sorry to pull you away from your work at such short notice Robert. I’m sure you have an awful lot to contend with at the moment. Unfortunately I didn’t have the luxury of prior knowledge about the situation. My daughter, you see, is apparently about to begin her education at a rather prestigious place.” he explained, as if the Doctor were paying any attention to his rather than to the aging freezer.

“Now, I think I’m rather old-fashioned. I’m quite protective of her. Perhaps a little too much, I’m sure she can take care of herself, but I always like to have a back-up in place. YOu of all people would understand the importance of doing whatever you can to protect your children..”

Doctor Parker sucked in a sharp intake of breath and turned back toward the smiling figure, rage quietly burning in his eyes.

“You know nothing abou-”

BANG.

A sharp metallic impact against the door.

The man took a couple of steps back, forgetting everything he was about to say.

BANG.

The whole unit shook from the second impact. The thick metal of the door bent outwards than the airtight seal broke with a momentary sound of sucking air.

Robert reached round in a panic, searching for anything that he might be able to use to arm himself.

BANG!

The whole door tore off its hinges. Gas pipes ripped loose from their moorings, and the man’s vision filled with swirling mists of freon and water vapour. He struggled back for the far wall and as he did some hideous shape burst from the fog, barrelling into him at top speed. Robert Parker felt the air forced from his lungs as he was smashed against the wall, held several feet above the ground by his throat. Some grotesque, misshapen set of claws held him aloft, and in his swimming, misty vision he could make out some horrific parody of a face. Elongated, chitinous, too many eyes and far too many teeth. It snarled and hissed, the nightmarish visage closing until it took up all of his vision. It stretched its jaws wide, too wide, so that all Robert could see were the moss green depths of the maw about to crunch down on his face.

“Rei. Please put Doctor Parker down.”

A voice from somewhere in the fog.

The thing stopped, too many eyes wide.

Robert felt the grip on his neck suddenly release, and he dropped to the floor, gasping.

The mist was beginning to clear away. Over the sound of his own laboured coughing, the doctor caught a few noises from somewhere out in the obscurity. Snapping, organic sounds, like someone tearing up meat.

When the room was fully clear, he could make out his visitor, and another person now stood somewhere in front of the industrial freezer.

A young individual, probably female, though it was a little hard to tell. She (he?) was skinny and rather sickly-looking, skin pale and sallow-looking. Long hair hung down to her waist, and she was wearing a very old, very badly damaged medical gown.

The silver-haired man gave a short nod.
“Thank you Rei.”
He turned his gaze back to Doctor Parker.

“Sincerely sorry about that Robert, misplaced enthusiasm, I’m certain it won’t happen again...will it?”

The new figure vigorously shook her head in response to the question.
“No. Nope. It won’t. Not again.”
With that she edged over to the man and helped him to his feet. Or rather, grabbed his arm and pulled him upright in a display of strength that far exceeded her build or size.


“Good. Now Rei, it’s good to see you again. I’m aware that there has been a bit of unpleasantness. Regarding you, and your quite hurtful and immature behaviour. However, I’m optimistic that you have used this interim time to...reflect on your actions. I do hope that now we can start afresh and work together for something positive.”

More vigourous nodding from the sickly creature.
Dr Parker stayed silent, propping himself against the wall, still overcome with shock from his near-death experience.

The visitor reached into his jacket, withdrawing a gun that had sat effortlessly disguised in an inside pocket.
“Excellent. In which case I have a small job for you. First of all I’d like you to be ever so kind as to shoot yourself in the side of the head.”

---

ORIN resisted her immediate impulse, to scream down the comm line that Angel was a cretin, and instead took a deep breath and attempted to relay the information again.

"I'm not referring to the detainee placed in the cell Knight-Commander D'Brightaine. I am referring to the entity recorded breaking into the level, entering the cell and appearing to inhabit the detainee. If you are sufficiently concerned that I, as the base's security system whose construction involved many years and considerable funding, are not doing my job sufficiently that you can trust my conclusion then I would suggest that you do your job and go see for yourself."

She had, of course, already captured the footage of the whole thing in order to send it out, she didn't truly trust anyone to listen without hard proof. However she was less worried about vindicating herself at that very moment, and more concerned about not leaving that thing to its own devices whilst she argued with that pompous idiot D'Brightaine.

And if it set his head on fire when he went to check, that was just a bonus.

----

[/left]

Helena restd her folded arms on the table and her chin on top of them, gazing round the table as the young an who appeared to be leading this whole show spoke to her, implored somewhat by a rather soft-spoken girl across the table.

"I'm concerned about the whole thing..." she mumbled.
"I'm still not really sure why these uh...people are so interested in me...why I got...kidnapped..that kind of thing."

Her gaze flickered round to the other young man present, who had taken it on himself to strike up a bit of conversation with her...something she felt rather pathetically grateful for. Least it appeared she wasn't the only one who'd gotten flung in the back of a van recently.

"Uh...yeah that did..sort of happen. I was just sitting in a park and they grabbed my dad and kinda...well it wasn't exactly great." she explained. Helena hazarded a bit of a smile despite the fact that she was not exactly feeling her best. Maybe this did happen out in the real world more frequently than she'd imagined. Who could tell. Whatever was going on and whyever they'd all been brought here under this 'sibling' assumption, if they'd wanted her to die or be harmed or something she probably have seen it by then.

"Th-thanks...appreciate it. And yes, I'm Helena. Kingsley. Friends call me Hel."

Or rather she would if she had friends that knew her by anything but an internet username.

She returned her chin to resting on her arms. Her stomach was hurting, though she could most likely attribute that to it being completely empty, her having violently expelled its contents not all that long ago.

She didn't exactly feel in the mood to relax and eat lunch but at the same time she wasn't sure she wanted to be tasting bile and stomach acid for the rest of the day.

Having been watching what was going on round the table an spotted the rather rude individual seeking to horde the plate pf bruschetta, she suspected that dealing with that was going to be more of a problem than it was worth. Evenso, she was pretty sure someone was going to have to say something, and it might as well have been her.

She straightened up a little before addressing Ash.
"Um...I think those are supposed to be for everybody."

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

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

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

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

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

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

(for Rick input, Zalgo is thank)

---

---

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

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

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

---

---

"Sooooo.. Are you, like, ready to do this or like nah?"
"..."
"If you wait too long, you're gonna have issues, you know?"
"..."
"Ooookay, you're just being rude now. Stop it."
"I'll wait until later on."
"You, uh, sure? I mean you could literall-"
"I. Will. Wait."
A long pause.
"No need to be a shithead, yeah? Take your time, whatever, Jesus. Fuckhead."
"I'll wait until they leave- Then I'll introduce myself."
"What? To all of them? Like, seriously, dude?"
"No, just the one."
"That's creepy. Super creepy. You're a fuckin' creep, lmao."
"..."
"Jeez, fine! You're no fun! I just wanted your dumb ass to run in there and fuck around with shit but-"
"And add more to the stewing pot?"

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

If you wanted a thankless job, specimen technician for the WDL was probably a pretty good one. Art Hunter found himself in the role of carting bits of demon all over Europe in order to return things for study in Vatican City.

Surprisingly enough, a job that centred around demon corpses was surprisingly uninteresting work. Mostly because demons ceased to be especially dynamic when they had no head or only half a body.

Most of the time at least.

At the outside of the WDL compound, a van pulled up into place at the barrier level with the exorcist on duty. Some squeaky electronic music pulsed out of the window as a dark-haired man in his twenties sat in the driving seat, numerous fast food coffee cups scattered round the other seat and a look of profound disinterest on his features.

“Hey Hunter. Want me to report you in?”

The technician looked round with a shrug of his narrow shoulders.

“It’s fine. Got to cart all this crap in anyway.” he replied.

What he was bringing wasn’t really something you wanted to leave lying around somewhere. You didn’t really get along too far by trusting WDL cadets to exercise common sense.

A couple of minutes later Hunte ended up pulled up outside the block used for research. He hopped out of the seat, disturbing his collection of coffee cups and cereal bar wrappers, unhooked a white coat from the side to throw over the jeans and T-shirt he’d been wearing, and opened the back. Inside there was a gurney, and strapped down on top of that a translucent rectangle of plastic. Any close inspection would be able to work out the misty shape inside was looking suspiciously humanoid in shape..but the puddle of green around the shape’s head, like some sickly chartreuse halo, was not something you’d ever really associate with a human body.

Pushing dead stuff around was not exactly difficult, but it did kind of limit your options. It wasn’t especially heavy, but he wasn’t going to fling something like that over one shoulder and carry it up some steps. All that green goop could be poisonous..or..acidic...or how it reproduced. All kinds of horrible options. And the young man didn’t feel sufficient levels of zealous commitment to the WDL to risk his own life to get them a research specimen.

He pushed the gurney up to the usual door, approached the intercom sat beside it, and pressed the button.

“ORIN, technician A Hunter, signing in. One deceased specimen. Unknown species. Something gross. Here to report to Lovette for where to assign this thing.”

No answer.

“ORIN?”

Still no answer.
“This is about last week? Very mature. I’m not going to pretend the chimunk voice was not funny ORIN. You can’t ask this of me. I’m only one man.”

At continued lack of response, the young man sighed deeply, and snapped the channel on the intercom.
“Lovette let me in. ORIN is sulking and I’m not abandoning a cadaver in the car park.”

---

ORIN, for what it was worth, was not ignoring Technician Hunter’s requests out of spite, (even if she might’ve been tempted she wasn’t quite that petty) but was more down to her having far more important things to contend with before she let anyone in.

She wanted to scream at Angel for being a negligent prick and not dealing with the potential massive security risk that had presented itself, but she was also pretty certain that between his contempt for her and how far his head was lodged up his own ass, any amount of lecturing from her was not going to sway him to do any more than he already was.

Instead she set about instructing all the staff in the detainment level of evacuate the area and reconvene on all exits, while she pulled down all the blast doors and sealed off the area, including ventilation and water. Nothing was going to get out of that place. If no-one else in the organization was going to be on this, she most certainly was.

ORIN threaded her gloved fingers together, elbows leant on the table as she scrutinized the cameras. Lovette could handle whatever that idiot technician wanted, she wasn’t there too-

ORIN stopped.

ANOTHER manifestation?

“Lovette what in the hell are you doing and why is there some fracture in reality in your office?” she called down the intercom, before snapping over to the higher staff channel once again.

“Seeing as it appears we’re simply no longer bothering with actually stopping demons anymore, I’m going to assume none of you esteemed people are interested in the fact that yet another entity has managed to infiltrate the complex. But considering that, despite the apparent apathy towards the safety of the base, it is still my purpose to detect security risks, I felt it necessary to send you a courtesy call.”

---

Helena bristled a bit at the response from the individual she’d spoken to about the food.
It hadn’t really been a big request in her eyes, but it had been met with pretty undisguised hostility.

With renewed despondency and interest in eating anything once again gone, the young woman rested her chin on her arm again and took instead to idly rolling the vial back and forth between her hands and trying to work out how she was going to escape as soon as she got the chance. Maybe if she stuck around until everyone else had wandered off she could sneak out..


As such it took her a moment to realize she was being addressed, ending up regarding Vistra a little bit like a rabbit in headlights whne met by the apparent concern.
“Oh. Yeah. Not so bad I guess. I just hadn’t done...whatever that was before. Disappearing some place and reappearing. That was pretty new. It’s probably just because of that. And whatever people knocked me out with and stuff. I’m doing my best to be calm and collected and all but...not super okay with all this.” she explained, twisting her fingers in the sleeves of her dinosaur sweater.

This was really not a good day.

Upon Dawn's offer Helena came to grasping the ginger ale in her hands, not really too inclined to start drinking it but also not wanting to imply that she didn't appreciate the gesture. After some of her previous interactions Helena concluded it was easier and better to just play along.
"Oh yeah, thanks." she responded.
"I'll try that."

Wait until these people leave her alone, and then make a break for it. Couldn't be too hard...right?

Rick Brackwall

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

================================



================================

"I'll tell you a secret,
it's something that grants life
and grants death, whatever side
you choose, there shall always be one
truth which you must abide at all cost,
if not then, you are a no one."

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██It seemed that everyone was still present. Disappointing. "Tsk." If it was remorse or shame, they were nonexistent because, he really wanted to be left behind. But, he was chained to the word known as attachment. That was the only viable thing that was keeping him collected as much as possible and his strong response of rejection. All of it, a means of self-defense ingrained inside his consciousness. He was still overlapping it with the reality that he was used to, like a child harshly clinging to a broken piece of glass even if he bleeds to death, but apparently, he would die of shock first instead of blood loss.

That's because the very moment he felt the goosebumps, someone grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him into that fleeting black hole that would churn one's stomach, making him rather dizzy before he met his seemingly constant companion, the floor. This kind of scenario was a repeat that he really didn't need to guess who was responsible. It was his sheer annoyance that he managed to ignore the haziness of his head and meet those crimson eyes glaring at him. There was a voice inside his head, to step back, but, his irritation of how he was handled, was far superior. "You should have left then. Tsk." He met that glare with his own of gold. Then, scoffed as he stood and crossed his arm in front of his chest.

The tirade of the midget about him being late was old news to Caius. He had never been early or on time with anything in his life. So, why should he be mindful of it now? His time had always been on his own, that's why as if as an act of rebellion, he turned deaf to whatever that man-child was spouting about. So, in the end, he missed everything that was said, because instead he drowned the sounds by repeating a chant inside his head. "Booze. Cigarettes. Booze. Cigarettes." It was highly effective as he was left in the black. The only time, he was taken to this reality is when he noticed the others leaving the auditorium. It seemed they were done, if that was so, he would like to have another drink.

With those thoughts, he hanged at the back and was about to take the turn towards the dormitories, but wondered why the others were going in a different direction. Weren't they dismissed? Are they supposed to go somewhere? They were not looking and he could easily slip away. The temptation was great and he wanted to do it, but the midget would make such a fuss again. And clearly, he doesn't want to be touched by that filthy man-child again. It was disgusting and so with a heavy sigh, he changed his direction and followed grudgingly the others who were quite a distance with him.

It wasn't something noteworthy as he soon caught up with them, but he wondered why they were stopping in the middle of the path. And because he was someone who clearly was not able to read the mood, or more like didn't made an effort to do so, he called their attention with, "Oi!" As he walked towards the group almost closing the gap between them and him, He could also see someone in front of the group. A man? Then, as if on cue, splat... He felt something soft and wet touching his face, moreover, it felt to be a lot. This made him stop as he reached to touch his cheek as some viscous liquid was also there. He had a hunch, because of the coppery scent, he had been familiar with in volumes, but to see, is to believe.

His finger touched it as he took a look and saw it... "Blood...?" There were even some fragments attached to it. He felt everything inside of him froze as his eyes widened and as if to confirm looked at the man he had seen earlier become a perfect example of a class-B horror movie. There was also some creature he could compare to those dungeon bosses in games. He had always thought them to look cool, but that was naive isn't it? Because, without the protection of glass, he felt his body trembled and steadily shook like a tree in face of storm of black smoke.

The scene before him imbricate with a bloody moonlit night and the corpses of detached red cloaked limbs accompanied by the relentless plea for help. Then those eyes of burning orange vanished into those hungry gaze of that beast. That made him lurched as he covered his mouth and nose as the stench enveloped his senses. He barely managed to keep himself standing as the voices grew louder in his head and the something incessant was clawing inside of his throat.

"C-ai... he...lp..."

"Why? Why? Didn't you help?"

The demons in his head were having a field day as they assaulted him. He fell to his knees this time as he held his head and continuously shook it. "Just stop... I... I did all.. I can. I'm--" His words were like a broken symphony as his eyes of gold gazed upon the ground as if it can provide a sanctuary for him, an answer. "It's not... not..." He continued to speak in a broken language and the tough ego that he was earlier crumbled into a puddle of blood.

"You abandoned us, Cai."

"No, I didn't!" He shouted in resistance and the grip he has on his head tightened. Then, the scent of brimstone enveloped him in a paranoia of the unknown and a voice that brought sweet promises. "Do you want power?" This voice was a stranger, but it carried a definitive weight in his psyche. The tremors of his body seemed to subside a bit. "I ask, do you want power?" He raised his head a bit as if to look, allowing those gold orbs to peek from his bangs. "Do you hear me?" There was a hand in front of him, it was not a girl's as it was large and strong-looking. But, it was covered in blood.

His eyes widened in horror as searing heat suddenly surrounded him. It was like he was in the middle of an infernal blaze. He felt that his skin was being scorched apart. "Grab it or die." He didn't want to die. He doesn't want to as he hold on to it and the scene shown to him change. The hand was not there anymore but, in turn, it was his that were bathed in blood. He shouldn't be affected by it. He had lived through a life of decadence, his hands were never clean anyway, but why did it struck him so, because of the voices that surrounded him in intensity.

"Are you powerful?"

"But, you couldn't save us."

"You're nothing."

"Why did you kill us?"

That wasn't true... Not at all. He shook his head in denial. The voice became entities, like ghosts that slowly closed onto him as, if choking him of his lifeline. "I didn't kill you! It wasn't my fault!" He then in retaliation swung around his arm as if removing the presence around him in a wild dance. "Are you really sure?" He raised his head in defiance, but what meet him were the same gold eyes just like his, the same face, just a lot younger. His rage dwindled in confusion and surprise. "Who are you...?" The child that is him gazed with such disappointment. "Don't be stupid." The child closed the gap between them as those small hands held his face. "You ate them up, even that dragon. You are a…"

The next word was whispered like a ghostly wind and like a bullet to the brain, images of seething fire, gasping breaths, delirious pleas, and a bloodied dragon on flesh, flooded his mind and the plunge, wracked him with heavy trembles and the clawing grew stronger. "Just stop it!" In the mixture of confusion and delusions, his hand raised into a fist as it collided with the ground, making it shake like he did as stones and dirt flew around him. Displaying, his strength of inhumane capacity once more, and once it settled.

What was left, was a considerable sized crater, and his golden eyes still in a haze and his face with bloody small hand prints on both cheeks, fitted for a child. "It's a lie..." He muttered under his breath.

---

Jojo had known something was up, the mood in the area being ominous and tinged with.. something. He paused behind the two in front of him, watching as the man staggered toward them. His eyes narrowed, and he saw the expression on the man's face. He took a preemptive step back.
"Oh no."
Splat.
Jojo spun in place, grabbing the two people closest to him- Ash and Helena- and forcibly turning them around to look away from the sight. He probably hadn't reacted fast enough to stop them seeing at least a little, but at least they'd be able to look away from the main course. "Don't." He turned back to Illusion, worry in his voice. "Miss Illusion, can-" He was cut off as he took in the sight before him. Jojo's hand flew to his mouth and covered it as the man began to twist and contort, Jojo's eyes beginning to widen as he took an unsteady step backwards and looked behind him for a moment before turning back. He felt something splattering against his face and chest, but he didn't put two and two together yet. All he knew was that as he'd turned back to look, something had smacked him in the face. He couldn't look away as the man was literally ripped apart, torn to pieces in front of the group. Whatever had hit him was in the back of his mind when there was something like that in front of him. He looked at Illusion and Eine, wishing they would help, but Illusion looked back at him and shook her head. Jojo looked over at Eine, who simply stood there with a stiff form, darkness in her eyes. He took yet another step backwards, his head starting to feel light.
He knew he was going to start heaving.

Blood, flesh, bone and organs splattered across the ground. The man was literally ripped apart. Jojo gagged visibly, doubling over slightly and keeping his grip on his mouth even tighter than before. His body shook as he tried to fight back the urge to empty the contents of his stomach. He looked up again, and took another step back.
Blood splattered across his face and arm, and he immediately spun around and began heaving hard. Dropping to his knees, he covered his mouth once again as he started retching. It took him a little while, but he eventually stopped himself. Breathing hard, he'd barely managed to avoid actually coating the ground with his breakfast.
"Guess.. that's why we need to fight demons.. heh.."

It was in this position that he was able to clearly notice Caius' own freak out. He couldn't hear the man very well because of the fairly loud wind, but Jojo knew a tortured tone when he heard it. Whatever was going on with Caius, it wasn't good. He swallowed hard, keeping his eyes on Caius before slowly standing up again. Waiting until he was sure everything had ended, Jojo slowly moved over to him. His head was still light, and he felt nauseous, but his concern for Caius overrode that feeling. Stepping down over to the taller man, Jojo spoke. "You.. You okay, dude? Lemme know if you need anything, yeah?" Jojo's voice trembled and he felt a bit weak, but obviously Caius was dealing with a lot more than just a random person he'd never met exploding. He looked tortured, tormented.
Jojo couldn't have that.

He reached out, placing a hand on Caius' shoulder as he crouched in front of him, slightly to his right. He didn't offer any more words, but he figured Caius knew that he was there if he needed him. He turned back around, looking over everyone else. " Is everyone okay?! Anyone need any water? I can run to grab some if you need it!" There was worry in his voice, and he tried to speak loud enough for everyone to hear. He'd almost thrown up at the scene, so he somehow doubted he was the only one that had that urge. "What the hell was that..? If that's regular for a demon like Rick said.." A look of resolution came over Jojo's face as he slowly stood up. "Miss Illusion, actually, can you grab some bottles of water from your portals for us, please? It might not be necessary, but.. it'll be something at least." He didn't mention how Rick and Vesper both seemed unaffected. It was.. he paused for a moment. Just what had those two seen to make them so.. stoic about this? A little bit of anger coursed through him, but he stifled it quickly. He'd talk to Illusion about exactly what they'd made Vesper suffer through later on. Right now he needed to make sure everyone was okay, and make getting angry wouldn't help with that.

He let out a long breath. Half of his face was coated in blood, and there was a huge patch of the stuff on his shirt. He paused for a moment, blinking before reaching up and wiping his face. He'd assumed it was sweat from having to fight so hard against his vomiting, but..

Jojo went pale as he noticed his hand coated in the blood he'd just wiped off his face. Looking down, he saw that his shirt was coated in the stuff. Thick, crimson blood stained his white shirt. He swallowed audibly, he seemed to go even paler. He went to speak, but couldn't. He hadn't noticed until just now exactly what it was that had hit him. He'd been too busy trying not to throw up, and then his concern for Caius had put the thoughts in the back of his mind. He was probably hit just before Rick tossed up the air barrier, which made perfect sense to him. He'd turned Ash and Helena around just in time, it seemed.

Jojo silently turned around to face away from the group, swallowing a third time. He crouched down, quickly yanking off his shirt and using it to wipe the blood from his face. He then quite happily tossed it onto the floor, standing up once again. He exhaled hard, shuddering as he turned to the others. "Uh.. permission to go grab another shirt?" He seemed to be fairly fine, but his pupils were a bit dilated and he was shivering a little. Not too much, but enough.

Inside his mind, he was piecing together everything that had happened. A demon had literally just burst from a man in front of them, torturing them to death and enjoying it. Jojo looked over everyone in the group, and he clenched his bloody fist. "That.. can't be allowed to happen."

"Oh...yeah...fine." Helena mumbled, a few moments after she realised that Dawn was asking her a question. It wasn't exactly convincing. She wasn't certain why she'd even said it. She certainly didn't feel okay. However any attempt to try and explain why she was upset...either kind of went without saying, or was something that she had to keep to herself at all costs. So she offered up the most socially acceptable response and went with it.
"Just k-kinda tired."

She hadn't totally hidden the shake in her voice.

Helena followed along with the group as they started walking, her eyes downcast and generally making little effort to pay attention to what was going on. That was until the group of people crossed their path. The young woman hadn't been paying sufficient attention to the halt, an nearly walked right into the back of Jojo who's been a little way ahead.

Something was...off...wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

While on some level, Helena was pretty sure that there was something not right, the moment one of the men's arms began twisting themselves out of their sockets was something she couldn't expect-

Helena was stood in a dark expanse. She could see nothing at all within it, and yet she was somehow certain the darkness spread in front of her a great distance.

She began to walk forwards, compelled by some unseen force. In her peripheral vision, Helena could pick up the fuzzed edges of buildings and walls in the gloom, all devoid of light and life.

It seemed she was walking for hours when she began to become aware of colour, somewhere in the distance. A red light far on the horizon. A last, something other than this oppressive darkness!

And then, without warning, Helena was elsewhere. Looking through a small gap out into some...indistinct room... as if she were somehow trapped in the space between walls. Through the small crack she could make out..a man in a well-pressed suit, adjusting his tie.

Somewhere else again. A dark room. And a blade..a scythe in greenish gold, the feeble light reflecting a strange hue off its edge.

Back in the dark street. Helena found herself stood below the red object, that towered over her and bathed the patch of ground in crimson light. A cross? From here it seemed to be a cross. As she watched however, the light that issued from it was dimming. Dark mist was crawling around the cross's base and snaking its way up to the top, consuming whatever light it did once give out. Helena, unsettled, began to back away from the corrupted thing, preferring to some degree the passive darkness of the lifeless city over whatever was devouring this object.

She turned away and jogged back into the shadow. It was..less oppressive than before. Less threatening. Now that she was used to it.

Crack!

An arc of electricity burst across the air over her head, spreading out and disappearing, searing white against the fuzzy black.

Crack!

Another blinding fork of light.

Then...a splatter. A repulsive feeling of warmth across one side of her body and around her feet. In the illumination cast from the bolts of energy, she could see the blood pooling around her feet, sliding down her face-


Sunlight.

She was outside the WDL base.

Why wouldn't she be?

In the few moments it took Helena to get here bearings one again, she gradually realised that she was facing the opposite way to where she had been before. When had that happened? Why had that happened?

Her concerns about that were diminished however when the girl became aware of something else. The warm, liquid sensation of something sliding down her face...had not gone away. Reaching up gingerly she felt for it, something thicker than water and warmer than anything had the right to be...and pulled away to find blood spattering her cheek and hair.

"Oh god!" Helena yelped in horror and alarm, swinging round to be met with the carnage of the courtyard where the man had been stood seemingly moments before. The memories came flooding back of the man snapping his own shoulders out.
"OH GOD!"

If she'd actually eaten anything in the past thirty-six hours, she might've joined Jojo in throwing up.


She hadn't much idea what had happened, but Helena was already pretty certain that it was considerably more than she could handle. The fact that Rick, whom she took to be the leader of this group, was utterly unconcerned with this carnage, and citing it as 'fairly standard' pretty much made Helena's stomach drop through the floor. More than a few people there seemed...totally unfazed by this. And..if anything that was more acutely disturbing than the pieces of corpse littering the area.

"This is...insane!" she exclaimed, as she swung round for something to try and get the spattering of blood out of her hair.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I wasn't even good at being a NORMAL PERSON! You can't just expect us to handle this! It's not fair! "

Tears stung at the corner of her vision but the sheer horrifying absurdity of it all expressed itself in anger over despair.

"Someone just died! Doesn't that even bother people!? I don't want you to turn me into someone who isn't horrified by that! I don't ever want to be like that!"

----

Meanwhile, the intercom over the yard crackled suddenly into life and the rather familiar noise of the defence system gave voice.

"Would you like me to say 'I told you so' now, Angel? Or would you like that communicated to you through official channels?" ORIN asked.

Down in her control room ORIN sat sideways across the chair, legs hooked over one arm and cup of coffee sat between her hands.

She was pretty certain she should be worried about some demon killing a prisoner in the middle of the compound, regardless of what Illusion thought on the matter..

But Angel being humiliated made it hard not to take some satisfaction out of it.

Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade

With a simple nod acknowledging that Ash had done what she needed simply by reaching the auditorium, she proceed to fold her arms behind her head to wait. The following spectacle with Caius was mildly amusing, as well as a good reminder to her that prudence was the wiser choice when it came to this place. As much as she hated authority, she could stomach it where the alternative would result in worse humiliation like that boy had received. Unlike him, she wasn’t stupid.

Next came the briefest of lectures into what boot camp was going to entail, though it was still somewhat vague what that consisted of specifically. Maybe if they’d had more time she could’ve asked questions and found out a bit more, but she’d have to simply settle on the fact that she’d be learning her special abilities (Whatever they were), how to fight, and apparently participating in some reality show-esque survival game. All in all, she actually couldn’t complain too much. It was better than traditional schooling by a long shot, and she’d been in enough scraps to know the joy of punching some smug fellow in the face. If combat training required sparring, there was more than a few of her fellow demon-kin that she’d gladly take the opportunity to introduce to the floor. Camping wasn’t an issue for her either. In fact, she liked it a little rough.

"Now, if you would kindly follow me so you can learn how to become superpowered cool people, we should leave quickly. We'll be heading to the nearby garage to procure a nice vehicle for everyone to share." Illusion gestured for them to follow her, and Ash resisted the urge to raise her hand to interject. Following slightly behind the group, she figured she’d raise the fact that she’d make her own way using her bike at the garage, particularly given the arrival of Mister Friedman. She did however, turn back to the supply bags. ”Shouldn’t we carry these-?” Ash stopped herself as the bags seemingly dropped through the floor, the portals taking them closing as quickly as they arrived. ”…Never mind.” She mumbled, jogging a little to catch the rest of the group and follow after them.

The walk to the garage was going relatively peacefully, that Ash almost felt inclined to make conversation. In fact, she was about to when they suddenly came to a stop. Illusion first, then by herd mentality, the rest of the group. Leaning slightly to the side and moving up from the rear of the group, Ashley looked to see what appeared to be a bunch of the WDL goons, including that big wig from the other day, escorting some prisoner. He looked normal enough, but looks could be deceiving. She briefly wondered what sort of thing he’d done for such treatment, but didn’t care enough to find out. As far as sideshows went, this wasn’t very amusing.

”Uh, hello? Can we get moving again?” Ash asked, but her question was cut off by an ear-splitting crack, and the sudden feeling of movement as she was forced by another to turn away. So visceral was the feeling that filled her being that it made her visibly flinch. She knew that whatever going on behind her was bad. She could see it in the expressions of the people she’d turned to face. The sounds. Smells. Everything. All the warning signs were there that she should take her good fortune and not look behind her. But she wasn’t a wimp. She was tough. She could handle whatever it was. ”The hell JoJo! Get off me you do-” Ash hesitated as she slightly pushed him away, freezing in place as the blood caked across him registered through the slimy sensation on her hand. She wasn’t nearly as soiled as the boy, nor had she really felt it through her thick waterproof clothes, but it was still there. Slowly, her eyes traced the mess back to its source. She’d seen messed up things before, but never this close. Never this real. It was horrifying, and seemingly never ending. Transfixed on it like a train wreck or a car crash, her mind and body started to get through the shock and start shrieking alarm bells in her head. She took a step back, then inched further away. Barely, she managed to contain her own reflux as she covered her mouth and swallowed it back down. The taste left a knew sensation of disgust through her senses.

It was some sick joke. Some twisted prank by Illusion to throw them out of whack. It had to be. And yet, the blood on her hand from touching JoJo confirmed otherwise. She felt a little weak in the legs as they refused to work, the display of their insignificance and reminder of their mortality a world-shaking experience. As the winds gathered around them from what Ashley recognised to be one of Rick’s spells, it gave the black haired biker a chance to pay attention to the declarations of the demon that rose from the carnage in front of them. As the smoke billowed and the soldiers that had been escorting the prisoner scrambled to safety, Ashley was suddenly very happy to have a nerd like Rick helping them, but she didn’t get to dwell on that feeling long.

The message from the demon was clear. That were to fear him, and what he had planned for them. Ash didn’t really need it stated to her so plainly, as her body already felt that dread all over. The only solace she could take was that for whatever power this monster had; it clearly was not unstoppable. If it was, why didn’t it just murder them where they stood? No, this was just a vow on their heads. It didn’t actually mean anything, other than reinforcing the idea that there were many out there who wanted them dead. All the more reason for them to hurry up with this boot camp and learn some magic mumbo-jumbo to protect themselves from such dangers. Rational as those thoughts were, Ashley couldn’t keep her focus on them. Not with the corpse in front of them. Not with the memories that kept flashing through her mind to remind her of what happened, desperately trying to make sense of it and help her process it.

Around her, the reactions of the group varied. Breakdowns, indifference, mischievous smiles and even JoJo’s ever present practicality. Ash barely registered her own shock as her mouth remained agape, taking it all in. Slowly however, feeling returned to her numbed senses. Her brain began to catch up to the present. Vesper and Rick responded with casual indifference, like this was expected or normal. Ash 100% agreed with Helena’s reaction to that, though she didn’t voice it. That was insane. The fact they could just… Ignore that! Were they so desensitized to that gore and violence that they didn’t react at all? Even with training, Ashley didn’t believe she’d ever be able to handle something like that. She hoped she would never need to again.

Nearby, Caius was having his own personal freakout, though JoJo seemed to be on top of that one. His issues sounded a lot different to what her and Helena were feeling, so Ash instead focused on supporting the only other person who seemed to have a similar reaction to her. ”I’m with... Uh…” The pressure of the situation and the intensity of it all seemed to freeze up her brain, Ash unable to recall Helena’s name at the moment. ”…With the squirt. This is nuts! If you expect us to just accept this sorta thing, you’re even crazier than I thought!” Ash tried to sound tough and forceful, but she couldn’t stop the shaking in her legs. Her body was quivering in a flight or fight state still, and the adrenalin refused to stop. It was definitely putting her on edge in dealing with all of them, her words particularly directed to Rick, Vesper, Illusion and Eine.

”I was maybe okay with this bullshit before all this but this is… It’s just…” Still trembling, JoJo was the first to speak, probably not hearing this side of the conversation as he inappropriately began spouting some nonsense about water bottles. Probably his way of coping, but Ashley wasn’t putting up with any of that crap right now. Too many emotions were running high at this point, and she had to lash out. ”Oh shut the hell up JoJo! Stop acting like some bigshot prick! I’m sick and tired of your freakin’ mediating bullcrap! Just have a goddamn honest reaction for once and shit your pants like the runt and I!” Storming up towards him, Ash had to stop herself from giving him a rough shove, once again noting the blood soaked across him. ”Tch…” Rapidly spinning back around to Rick and the other, she remembered her beef with them, voicing it aloud. "What the hell is wrong with everyone here?!" With a frustrated yell, Ash finally stopped long enough to regain a little composure, catching her breath. She wanted to just get away from this situation more than anything else, but there was no running away at this point. She had to deal, at least to some extent. ”Screw this shit…” She swore under her breath, kicking some debris across the ground. “Why’d this crap have to happen to me…?”

Dawn returned Hel’s response with a sympathetic smile. “It’s, um. It’s been a lot, huh?” “A lot” was an incredible understatement, really. Especially given what she had told them of how, exactly, she came to enter the WDL. There was little that Dawn could say to the near-stranger in support, however, aside from an earnest “Hang in there,” as the meeting progressed.

Caius’ arrival didn’t seem to go unnoticed by their Principal, either- moments after he had glanced into the auditorium, he was whisked into one of Illusion’s portals and thrown onto the ground before them. Illusion took a moment to chew the man out before addressing the rest of the Seven, giving a brief rundown of what, exactly, Boot Camp would entail. Survival. Cooperation. Caution, most of all. Evidently, the WDL weren’t overly welcoming when it came to anything that wasn’t fully human- with the exception of Illusion, it seemed. Their fellow trainees were, in a way, could be considered as much as a threat to the Seven as whatever “Boot Camp” had in store for them.

Recruits in a supernatural hunting organization. All of them- even her, as strange as the thought was. The little procession began a journey to the garage, Illusion congratulating a man on a child that he seemingly hadn’t even mentioned before on the way. In the back of her head, Dawn began to worry that they were heading right this instant. She still needed to ask if there would be someone available to take care of Iggy for her- the last thing that she wanted was for her poor boy to be left by himself for a whole week. Dawn was preparing to ask one of the higher in staff when they came to an abrupt halt. Surprised, she looked over the shoulders of the others to see a batch of WDL officers, apparently transporting a prisoner, and then-

Snap.

The prisoner’s arm was twisting, popping and cracking under the weight of some invisible force. Bone was not meant to bend like that. Limbs were not supposed to yank themselves free from a body, thrown carelessly on the floor like trash. Dawn’s eyes widened in horror, hand clasping tight against her mouth and nose. The man was being torn apart by the seam, but she didn’t look away- staring at the scene, the mutilation, as if it were impossible for her to avert her gaze. She took a few steps back as the rest of his limbs were twisted loose, free hand gripping tight into the side of her skirt.

Slick warmth pattered gently against the front of her shirt. There were shouts around her, retching...pounding? But her focus was on the massive towering shape that bloomed from the...bits left of the prisoner. Dawn pressed her palm tighter against her face. The demon’s message was clear- he could reach them all easily if he so desired. And yet, after delivering it, he simply disappeared, leaving them to process just what, exactly, had happened.

He wanted to intimidate them. That was his purpose, and it seemed to have succeeded...for the most part. The staff didn’t seem all too bothered, except Eine, whose face had darkened as soon as the whole thing had begun. Oddly enough, the veterans among the Seven were almost completely unfazed. Apparently, demonic torture happened often in this line of work. The aloof nature of their company was quickly picked up by some of Dawn’s fellow newcomers- Helena screaming at the WDL members, Ash joining in quickly after, shoving Jojo for his attempt at stabilizing the whole mess. Understandable, in all the chaos of the moment, but it prompted Dawn to say something in defense of her friend. “He was just trying to help.” Her face was pale and drawn, and she spoke somewhat weakly, trying to look everywhere but where the prisoner...was. The last of the newcomers, Caius, was still lying on the floor, looking completely haunted.

Dawn, finally managing to tear herself fully away from the remains of the prisoner,had begun to hastily wipe at herself in an attempt to clear the blood away. It came from her skin easily enough with a few swipes (although there were a few patches that had already begun to dry, and now refused to do anything but smear), but there was nothing to do about the worst of the spill, which had landed on the front of her clothes. Unlike Jojo, there was no way for her to remove it without completely throwing modesty out the window, so on it stayed, Dawn’s hands left hovering above it in a helpless sort of gesture.

“Water,” she swallowed, craning her head away from the coppery scent. “Water would be...really great. I think.” Dawn didn’t comment further on their circumstances, or the fact that the veterans were unsettlingly at ease with the carnage. Perhaps it was a matter of distraction, perhaps something else. She stared down at her bloodied hands, looking ill.

Illusion idly pulled her phone from her pocket as she typed out a message. Brenhin's threats washed over her body and mind- he was essentially powerless against her, and she knew it. As the smoke demon finished up his speech, Lusy slid her phone back into her pocket and waited. Giving him a cute smile and wave as he vanished, Lusy turned around to see the carnage before her. Blood soaked the front of her shirt, staining her nearly completely. She'd gotten quite drenched, although she simply reached up and wiped her face clean with a cloth. She licked her lips, making a disgusted face as she turned away quickly and spat into the handkerchief she'd used to wipe her face, before spinning back around. "Gross blood.. tastes disgusting.." Letting out a soft sigh, Lusy dropped away into a portal, reappearing from it moments later blood-free. Idly cracking her neck as everyone nearby had their tantrums, she sighed loudly. Tensions were high, emotions were flaring.. She felt something deep inside of her frame stirring before she immediately snuffed it out, burying and then destroying it.

At ORIN's interruption, Lusy had to hold back a snicker. "Ah, yes, truly a shame that our most prodigious of Exorcists under Arthur himself has been oh so badly humiliated. Truly such a shame." She saw Angel stiffen. Angel himself was bursting with rage- his target had been able to escape before he drew his blade.
Hatred flew through his veins as Illusion taunted him, her voice echoing throughout the area. His blade rocketed from the sheath and crackled with violent electricity as he shot across the clearing so fast it seemed that he'd teleported. His face was contorted with pure hatred as he sliced at the vampire in front of him. A small smile slid across Lusy's lips as she caught the blade in her hand, her grip covering Angel's own. She stepped in to him, speaking softly. "Not in front of the new recruits, Angel. You might make them dislike us even more if you keep acting so.. uncouth." Angel glared daggers at the vampire before stepping back and looking everyone present over. Sheathing his blade, he returned his gaze to Illusion, fists clenched. His entire body was tensed. "Just because you're a part of the WDL doesn't mean I won't kill you one day, demon. Consider that a promise I intend to keep- for yourself and the rest of your damned hellspawns." He hurriedly rushed off, almost sprinting after his cowardly men. Lusy's grin dropped as she noticed Eine staring at her, and she turned to the others.

"Everyone, calm down, please." Angel certainly didn't help the situation..
She extended her hand, focusing for a moment before reaching into a portal and yanking out a large bag of water bottles. She tossed one to Jojo, who immediately began dousing himself in it, letting the blood wash off a bit instead of letting it dry. He took a few gulps, washing the taste of bile from his mouth. Finishing, he sighed hard, looking over at Ash. "Water to wash down the taste of me almost throwing up, and also to wash the blood off my clothes.. kinda.. Figured you guys might like to get some too." He ignored her remark about 'shitting his pants'. He was too focused right now, and he knew if he started to actually think about what he'd just seen, he'd probably spend the next week being unable to eat or sleep- he already figured he'd stay away from meat for a long while. He was still shaking a little with dilated pupils, a sign that despite his practicality, he was fighting hard to stop himself losing it. He had to take a deep breath to keep himself calm. Losing himself now would be bad. Someone had to keep their cool- someone who still had emotions, that is.
Don't look at the body.

Illusion sighed loudly, raising her hand and clicking to get the attention of everyone present. "I am a vampire. I've been alive for thousands of years- I've seen innumerable atrocities, endless violence.. Something like this is regular to me. I'm a demon from Hell, so if I were to be disgusted by violence would make my entire existence difficult. It's not nice, but.. it's true." She motioned over to Eine, who stood stock still. Her white suit was untouched, and somehow still pristine. "Eine here is a veteran of a secret war where billions of people were slaughtered, including her own friends and family. She took an oath to never allow that to happen again. Both of us did." Eine nodded, turning to Illusion. "I made a promise that zhe bloodiest conflict in history shall never be repeated, ja, as did many people, Principal Illusion included." Illusion moved to point over at Rick, then to Vesper. "And these two have had enough trauma in their lives to see this and become unflinching." She dropped her hands, sighing hard. "We're not going to turn you into unfeeling soldiers. These people have merely been through so much that they don't fear this any more."

Levitating off the ground slightly, Illusion crossed her arms. "We're not asking you to become heartless. We're asking you to help stop this kind of thing from ever happening. To protect innocent people from being hurt by.. that. Imagine someone you love and cherish being hurt by that demon. Is that what you want? We're here to give you the power to create miracles and save the world. You may all be what you are, but we're here to get you to use that potential for good. We're here to make the best of a terrible situation. We, I, know none of you asked for this. You were all content with your lives, but.. I'm here to help you become strong, powerful- able to protect those you care about and more. That's the purpose of the Warriors of Divine Light- to protect humanity from things they can't defend themselves from. That's what I want you to take from this experience. Not that you're stuck here in a world full of monsters, but that with our help, my help, you'll be able to protect the world- your families and friends and loved ones- from monsters like that smoke demon." Her tone was hopeful, even a little pleading. It was obvious she had high hopes for the Seven, and wanted them to succeed and prosper- and be able to save themselves from whatever lay around the corner for themselves and their loved ones.

Dropping to the ground, Illusion brushed her dress off. "You're in a position where you have the strength to save the world. I'm simply asking you to help us do that. You're all so much stronger than you could ever imagine, so please, so everyone's sake, please let us make you strong enough to save the world- emotions and all intact."

She paused, then spoke again. "Please help us save the world. We need you." She bowed at the waist, staying like that for a few moments before standing up again. She let her gaze pass over everyone present before turning away and raising a clean handkerchief to her face. Her own losses still plagued her, despite her ability to hide them.
Her body suddenly changed, and Lusy was standing, smiling, before them.
Her face shimmered a little as she spoke. "Sorry for the shameful display, but I have to put this illusion up for a couple moments. Some scars run quite deep, I hope you understand." Eine's own face had darkened even further, and her eye was closed. Her gaze was far away, and she reached up and idly touched the bandage covering her face with a clenched jaw.

So many scars for so many people still hurt.

The illusion vanished after a little while, and Illusion turned back to those present, a pained smile on her face. "Well, what an event.. Hopefully we all understand why we're here, now, and.. I want to remind you all that I'm here to help you in any way I can. No matter the hour, or the place, I'm here to help and guide you." She spun on her heel, floating off the ground slightly as she began to move away the way they'd come. "We'll be taking the long way back past the dormitories so you can grab a change of clothes." She left almost right away, pausing momentarily to pat Caius' head softly before floating on. Eine was quick to follow, head bowed slightly. Her memories plagued her- a storm-filled night mixed with lightning and chaos.

And black flames that scorched the very earth on which they stood, burning, twisting, devouring everything in their path.
Eine shuddered as her dark thoughts consumed her.

Jojo stood there for a little bit, crouching down to pick up his shirt. He stayed crouched for a while, reaching up to put his face in his hands and mutter under his breath. "Fuck me.."
He stood a few moments after, tossing his wet shirt over his shoulder as he followed Illusion back to the dorms. He hoped that he could have a bit of time in his room to have his own personal freak out.
He hoped Dawn wouldn't ask if he was okay.

The vampire floated slightly ahead of the others.
Brenhin had fallen into her trap perfectly, and Angel had been made a fool of as an added bonus.
The day was going very, very well.

However..
She wished those tears had been fake.