The Earth, 2017

Kane's Dorm

This isn't working.

Rianne listened to the kid justify his reasoning, but she only grew more and more irritated as he went on. What was his deal? Why can't he just take 'no' for an answer? His stubbornness was starting to piss her off and it was evident in her expression, but she made no comment of it out loud. At least, not yet anyway.

She maintained direct eye contact with the young exorcist as he continued, taking another puff of her cigarette. She was tempted to tell him to go take a hike with that attitude, but it was hard. He was an earnest kid with a good heart, not to mention the fact that there was a guest - no, two guests here now. Normally she wouldn't give a rat's ass, but she didn't want to spoil the mood for them as much as she already had. With the way things went today, she was suddenly feeling a lot less confident and a lot more vulnerable. She absolutely hated it.

Once she dealt with that kidnapping scum (or not, let's be real here), she was going to be back to her normal self and then she'd put all this bullshit behind her. But for now, she was left feeling like she didn't have a choice. How much could it hurt to humor him anyway? Internally sighing, she gestured vaguely with her smoking hand and finally said, "Alright."

That was it. A short, one word response. She had hardly the energy to throw in any more words into this conversation, but a lot of mixed emotions were conveyed in its delivery. Everything from her fingers drumming against her leg, the hard glare, and the roughness in her voice - a reluctant response, one given in to persistence rather than reason.

She took a moment to put her cigarette out, and looked back to the boy.

"Let me ask you something, then," she said, lifting the cup of tea to her lips and taking a sip. "Why are you so determined to have me as your instructor? The WDL is a big community - there are many people who are kinder, smarter, stronger. . . I hope it's not because you're too lazy to spend a minute to look, because I can tell you all about the problems that come with latching onto the first person you find promising."

Strangely enough, she did not ask this to deter Kane in any way. An honest question, spoken out of curiosity.

The piercing glare softened, but only a little.

With something akin to confidence, Kane gave a relieved smile, relaxing a little as he sat back into his seat. Even though Rianne seemed reluctant to give him this chance, the fact of the matter was that he had finally gotten through to her. She might be hesitant at the moment, but he’d make sure that she didn’t come to regret it. He was certain now, this wasn’t just for him. As much as he needed Rianne as a teacher, he felt like she too needed something from him. With time, maybe he’d be able to show her that.

"Let me ask you something, then," Rianne began, pausing to ensure she had his attention. Kane opened his eyes, looking back to Rianne. The expression on her face was something more serious than he felt he’d seen before. Bracing himself for whatever Sister had prepared for him; Kane steeled himself for the inevitable question. In the end, it was something he had been prepared for from the outset. Something that he’d already thought over just prior. ‘Why?’

Initially, he simply smiled, before laughing a little. That was easy to answer. It was just a matter of putting it into words. “There are many reasons Sister, and maybe I’ll be able to show you all of them someday.” Declaring his words confidently, Kane realised that it might have seemed like he was simply avoiding the question, and decided to provide some clarification. “It doesn’t matter if there are people more qualified or capable...” Kane stated, thinking how best to explain what he intended. “I don’t want to learn from someone who knows it all, nor some perfect role model.” Eying Rianne and her reaction, he wasn’t sure if he should continue in case she took offence, but there was no turning back now.

“What matters to me… Is heart and determination, because I know that’s what fuels me. I’m weak, but if anything is going to make me stronger, it’ll be that resolve. I’ve already seen it Sister, you’ve worked hard to get where you are, and no matter what you’re faced with, you fight it with grit and heart! No matter what your limitations, you won’t let that stop you. Even if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll never stop trying.” Meeting Rianne’s gaze again, Kane locked her with a look of his own dedication. “It’s going to be a struggle… And I want to work with someone who understands that struggle first hand. And just maybe, I can help them the way they help me. To grow and advance, and never stop moving forward!”

Becoming excitable once more, Kane stood from his seat, arms raised upward in a mixture of triumph and celebration. “When darkness falls and shrouds the world, we will be the light striving forth to grasp tomorrow! Even when faced by infinite despair and hopelessness, we will persevere to protect this world! My heart and soul cries out, its voice cannot be silenced, and will be the beacon guiding us all down the path of the future! I, Kane O’Reilly, will never stop moving forward!” His passion ignited, the spark truly became a roaring flame as Kane gave in to his inner monologue’s born from years of studying heroes in comics and the like. Turning to face Rianne, a smug smile crossed his face, one that held no embarrassment or shame from his antics, only a joy and satisfaction with being able to speak his mind freely. This dork had no sense of humiliation in that sense. “Well, how was that? Did I inspire you Sister?”

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."

In most religious text, one would be hard-pressed to find no mention of the “soul” of a being. The name itself differs quite often- spirit, the breath of life, vital force- but the concept remains nearly the same. The incorporeal force that drives our body, makes up our very selves. Still, given the steady research of the brain and its functions, many

Madison paused, fingers hovering above the keyboard, and frowned. “Many”...what? Researchers? That was a bit too specific- there were scientists who had forgone religion in the face of discovery, yes, but so had the modern day populace. People? Too casual. He tapped his lip, took a swig of coffee from the mug off his desk, and thought for a moment.

Members of society. Yes, that was good.

many members of society have become atheistic, or at the very least agnostic. The recent discoveries of the supernatural world, however, flies in the face of what evidence has led us to believe, and has turned several key scientific principles on their heads. Magick defies the laws of physics, certain supernatural species possess the ability to resurrect themselves in a new form (see; the Phoenikoi), and demons and devils, previously thought to be mere figments of the imagination, now walk among humanity. This last bit is particularly fascinating to me, as their appearance proves the existence of another concept by association- the afterlife. While we at the WDL consistently use “holy magicks”, demons, who are, by nature, capable of removing the “souls” of a being, give further credence to there truly being a heaven and hell. The prospect in itself is incredibly exciting, and opens up a brand new world of study for humanity. Of course, with such a new frontier to explore, countless more questions are opened up alongside it. Which religion could be considered the “correct” one, for instance? Are any truly able to be called correct?

The one thing I’m most curious about, however, are “souls”. The shared link. The thing that demons can hold in the palm of their hand, and yet humans have gone years without knowledge of. The purpose and capabilities are all unknown, but confirming its existence is a considerable step towards understanding this aspect of mankind’s being.

A bit choppy in some parts, and the grammar would have to be revised, but that could wait until a later date. For now, it was a matter of getting his thoughts onto paper. Smiling broadly, Madison hit the “save” button, and spun away from the computer to face the door of his office. Shortly after getting his papers in order back at the lounge, he had come here, hoping to work on a few papers until the time came for him to leave. Many of them were still locked far behind the dreadful irons of distraction and preoccupations. The upside in that was that the ideas were left to grow, swell up with tidbits and research and interviews. It would be marvelous to finally have them all down and in the database. Truly wonderful. While there came many struggles in the Warrior work, there was an undeniable upside in that he- along with his cohorts- were able to touch upon fresh territory. Parts of it known, others left a mystery to even the most experienced among them. Plenty of room for theorizing and musing and pondering.

Cracking a particularly stiff spot in his neck, he slid over to the opposite side of his desk, retrieving the folders piled neatly upon the polished oak and bringing them over to his workplace. Souls, God, Nirvana, Styx. Religions and myth mingled together, flooding reality with its incomprehensibility. For now, of course, he amended. There was just as much proof of the corporeal sides of the supernatural, just as there was incorporeal. For now, the easiest way of progress was to record what could be recorded, and work from there.

It was still quite entertaining to consider the possibilities, though.

Making a note to check on the labs when he had the time, Madison flipped open the manilla cover of one folder, eyed the contents, and cheerfully set himself back to typing.

It would be intangible at first, the microscopical change in the air as something warped just the smallest spot in the world. It was no bigger than a pinprick at first, a tiny, tiny change in the air as it began to first heat and then instantly cool itself again, changing temperatures on itself over and over and over as the entropy of heat and cold began to expand ever outwards in tiny waves. It would be utterly undetectable on all but the most highly attuned heat sensors as it begun to grow and grow, first to the size of a ping pong ball and the constant flipping of temperature grew ever faster. Now it would be able to felt at a distant as the rapid rising and dropping of heat began to rip the air around in its turbulent air currant. It would be as though a draft had been open next to a burning building, the heat being blown in with the coldness of the blowing wind.

This growing wind would grow only steadily stronger as the anomaly grew in size to that of a football, the wind being great enough to pull at paper that wasn't weighted down, loose sheets slipping free to be cast adrift on the open air within the office. It would be as though nothing would stop the growth of this unknown force as it continued to expand, now as it grew to the size of a beach ball the wind began to become chaotic as even the temperature of the room was affected by the mass of chaotic change. It was as though it were a spinning globe, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold, over and over and over again, changing ever faster and faster and faster, threatening to rip picture frames off of the wall as they rattled against the storm in the air.

And then suddenly the wind and the changing heat ceased, but that was only for the space in the air had been filled by something entirely unnatural. Where the orb of changing temperature once warped itself into being, light and colour and reason had fallen in on itself. A perfectly round sphere floated under its own power in the middle of the air, colour constantly shifting and warping and falling in on itself in a twisting, shifting vortex of joyous rapture. The sphere seemed to glow and warble as it floated in a perfectly singular place. For anyone to truly look at the entity would be painful enough, focusing on one point of colour as it spun around and inwards in the vortex of light would have made their eyes burn as it tried to process all the different colours at once. And yet this wasn't even the worst bit of this strange force, for its creation wasn't silent. As it ripped the fabric of sense apart there was an extended noise, like mixture of the singing of a choir, singing faintly in the vestries of a great and glorious chapel, and the steady beating of feet upon a war torn battlefield, shells falling from the sky around them as the ground was torn to mush by shot and body falling into the dirt.

The noise slowly faded out as the orb remained in the air, unmoving, not reacting to anything around it, seeming for all the world an oblivious abnormality within nature until suddenly a voice echoed out from somewhere within the orb... Or rather a collection of voices, it sounded as if everyone who had ever lived were whispering all at once, a hiss that echoed a billion times over and each word echoed over and over on itself as each word were drawn out by the nature of the horrific speech.
""

Kane's Dorm

What Rianne was feeling at the end of Kane's excited speech was a lot closer to 'first-hand embarrassment' than 'inspiration.'
During her years at the WDL compound, she'd listened to many exorcists share the same ideals, but never with the same level of gusto and delusion she was witnessing at this very moment. The 'light in the darkness' motif was a common one, but to see someone take it so wholeheartedly. . . maybe he's watched too many fantasy movies.

"First off, that might be the lamest thing I've heard in my entire life," she said half-jokingly, eating another biscuit. "Secondly, that's not an analogy I'd toss around so liberally. We're only humans, after all - some of us less human than others - I'd say we were in the gray at best, let alone the light itself." She leaned back into the couch and folded one leg over the other, letting out a light sigh as she gave a moment of pause. "And lastly, not all of us have aspirations as noble as yours. I don't know who 'we' entails, but it's not me, and it's certainly not the WDL. I didn't join this institution to protect the world, I joined to protect the ones I love."

Once more, her mind drifted to Melody, and to that threatening message. But even then, it was pointless, wasn't it?
I didn't protect her, I only put her in danger. There was only so much she could contribute to safeguarding the Earth,
but she felt that the least she could do was watch over her community.

"The WDL may have good intentions at its core, but it's an organization that follows its path to the point of blindness. The end will always justify the means, and anything that stands in its way is a threat to be eliminated." She laughed, but there was nothing humorous about it. She was loyal to a fault - it would always stretch its bounds and she would always let it slide, but one day she felt like it was going to cross a line that couldn't be reversed. But for now, she'd put her trust in the thing that had saved her life once before.

"If you want to be a hero, that's solely on you. The WDL won't always have your back." Rianne formed a slight grin and then relaxed her posture a bit, drinking the last of her tea. Setting the empty cup down, she said, "But maybe I will if you leave a good impression. I'd advise against betting on that, though."

The initial backdraft into the room had initially gone unnoticed. The AC had been malfunctioning for weeks, so a little sudden warmth was nothing too alarming- Madison simply brought up a wordpad on his computer, made a note to get around to having that fixed, then continued on with his work. Currently he was attempting to decide if “batteries” or “generators” would be a better word to describe souls, and seemed to be growing stuck on the matter. Sighing, he reclined in his chair, staring in mild frustration at the screen. Perhaps he should bring out a dictionary. It would certainly be more helpful than going off memory alone.

It was in the midst of his irritation that he noticed the folders strewn upon his desk had begun to flap open and shut, contents kept barely in place by a set of clips. Bewildered, Madison reached out and gathered the folders in his arms, and moved to put them away in his desk. The AC had certainly never been this strong- especially as it began to send frames rattling, books shuddering in the shelves they were stored in. The room no longer held the pleasant warmth he had set it to, instead rapidly alternating between extremes of cold and hot. This was not just a malfunction.

And then a stack of papers smacked into his face.

When Madison had pried the documents free, he found that the wind and the shifting had come to an abrupt halt. In their place was the most indescribable sound- like a hornet’s buzz, or a child’s giggle. Or a particularly angry cat. It was many things at once, all combining to create some sort of…sound. He cocked his head to the side, trying to pluck a shred of tune or sense to the thing as it played.

As the tune went on, it also appeared that reality itself was falling apart before him in the center of the room. Curious.

It appeared that, for whatever the noise was, it served to announce the presence of the twitching, writhing orb, as it ceased with the rift’s movement. Its voice- voice? Yes, Madison thought that was right- its voice, however, quickly made up for what absence of clamor there might have been.

Calmly, Madison lifted his mug, and took a deep sniff of it, checking to see if it had been drugged during a lapse of attention. It wouldn’t be the first time. Or the third. Or the fifth, for that matter. Upon finding it satisfactory, he lowered it, pressed the switch beneath his desk to communicate that there was a foreign entity on WDL grounds, and stood to gaze into the rift-sphere thing. For all his best effort, however, he quickly found himself looking just left of the being, as he found that trying to look at it was a tad too muddling for him to handle. He could only hope that doing so wouldn’t offend.

“Well. Good afternoon,” Madison said, chipperly. “It’s very nice to meet you, Maniae. I’m quite pleased that you enjoy my work- I’ve been hoping to publish a study on the potential origins of magick, and I would be more than happy to let you read a few pages of it if you’re interested.” He would have added a “Mister” or “Miss” before the being’s name, but the sphere appeared to have no characteristics that pointed to one sex over the other. And given the fact that it was referring to itself as a “we”, Madison could only assume that it had no gender.

From one pocket he produced a notebook, and another a well-worn pencil stub. He tapped the end absently against his bottom lip before jotting down something upon the paper. “I hope you don’t mind,” he smiled. “I’d be more than happy to put these back if you’re uncomfortable- it’s just that prophets are a rather rare breed. Especially one with such a fascinating entrance. You said ‘sky must heat’, correct?” Madison scratched down a few more notes, then suddenly paused.

“If you don’t mind my asking, what brings you here? I’m sure that you didn’t just drop by for no reason.”

Another moment of silence, and then,

“Oh, and feel free to help yourself to any of the mints on that desk there, if you’d like any.”

Manners were everything, after all.

When the meal arrived Vistra could hardly stop herself from digging in. With the severe lack of money due to homelessness, she never had the chance to splurge on a meal like this. It looked great and smelled greater. Vistra glanced up at Rick. 'This place is great Rick! I'll have to bring my Papa here when he can come visit.'

After tucking a napkin around her lap she began to eat. It was prehaps a bit fast, but Vistra couldn't help herself. It was an amazing meal. Warm, but not hot enough to burn her.

She managed to eat about half of it before she remembered her manners. 'So, um. Charlotte. Maybe we can take a look around here together? I'm new her also. I've been here maybe an hour.'

Since they sat so close together Vistra had to be very careful when she cut her food. She shifted again and smiled kindly at Helena. 'Are you feeling any better now? If you're still feeling bad when we get back maybe I can get you come Ginger Tea? My Papa always said it helps.'

If the orb that made up the chaotic form of Manaie was at all aware of it's surroundings as Madison spoke to their unworldly entity it made no clear sign. There was no change in it's place, seeming to be less floating in one place but rather entirely fixed in the air, rooted as though it were a sinkhole in the fabric of time and space itself into which all reason was rapidly draining away. The constantly shifting myriad of colour was still falling over itself, twisting and turning as it was pulled inwards by the entropy of the unknown hole in the centre of the being.

Origin?

Origin?

The voice of ten thousand voices echoed out of the hellish sphere after a moment of silence. There was a strangeness to the question, a lack of emotion yet a hanging question. It seemed as though the cacophony of hushed and whispered tones could not agree with each other over how they should react to the questioning, though certainly it was not the first time the creature had been asked questions and certainly wouldn't be the last.

Origin without end

Origin without end

Darkness without beginning

Darkness without beginning

Masterless form

Masterless form

Will made death

Will made death

Always and never.

Always and never.

Seen, always known, rare harnessed

Seen, always known, rare harnessed

There was a pause in the demonic entities sonorous voice. Though it had been for just a moment the voices started to pick up once more, though this time there was no fixture of reason, no sense of logic. Each of the millions of millions of voices began to each whisper one after the other, all at once in a steadily growing wave of noise that rose into a harsh static of white noise that seemed to constantly compete with itself and grow louder and louder and louder still. Words would drown themselves out, languages would compete against each other, voices unknown and familiar would flash forth only to be consumed by the waves of noise until the orb of chaos suddenly fell silent once more.

Adrift, yet affixed

Adrift, yet affixed

We do not dictate our place, only desire it

We do not dictate our place, only desire it

His brood are here. They face darkness

His brood are here. They face darkness

Such terror awaits them, awaits you all

Such terror awaits them, awaits you all

Study. Learn. Beware. Darkness, light, hate, sin

Study. Learn. Beware. Darkness, light, hate, sin

The serpentine brood grows

The serpentine brood grows

They have separated. The pieces must remain together

They have separated. The pieces must remain together

Lost, we are lost

Lost, we are lost

Knowledge for knowledge's' sake

Knowledge for knowledge's sake

Time without end is stoppered

Time without end is stoppered

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."

For a moment, Madison became concerned that he had offended the spacetime anomaly somehow- it hissed and screamed at itself (themself? Themselves?), as if they were thousands of beings arguing over how best to answer. Perhaps they were. Maniae had appeared just a few minutes ago within his office, after all, and Madison knew little about them aside from the fact that they were a prophet. But then they fell silent, and began to speak in the same cryptic style as before.

It looked as if they wouldn’t be having that mint after all.

Nevertheless, Madison immediately went to writing, scrawling as much as he could onto the small square of paper, and only flipping when all possible space had run out. He jotted notes and erratic bits of thought in the margins, and when that was done, looked hungrily up to the being for more information. Some might have been more questioning of the circumstances. Prepared a spell circle to contain this creature until further notice, perhaps, until they were entirely sure that it was not a threat. Madison was dimly aware that he should have been doing just that, from a logical standpoint. However, for what it was worth, Maniae had done little more than appear and make an attempt at conversation, and there was nothing wrong with that. Besides, passing up such an opportunity for knowledge would be absurd.

The voices picked up again, after a pause. Louder, this time, blending into a deafening wail loud enough to make Madison actively attempt to cover his ears until it subsided. He wondered if anyone else was hearing what he was, or if the sound was restricted to the room- or even his own mind. He hoped that was the case. As much as he was enjoying this conversation, he didn’t want any of his neighbors to end up concerned. Like before, the sound soon cut out, and, as before, Madison lowered his hands and moved lead back to paper as Maniae spoke. However, their words now were a bit more...chilling than before.

It didn’t take much to determine who the “brood” was, and even less to know that an apparent oracle declaring that there was something dreadful in their futures wasn’t at all good news. For a few moments, Madison remained silent, pencil still as he processed the information.

“Oh,” he said. “Oh dear.” He was frowning, brow creased with thought. “That certainly isn’t good.” There was another pause, before Madison suddenly broke free from whatever reverie he had put himself in. Smiling up at Maniae, he returned to his notes, adding in the last prophecy and circling it twice.

“Well, thank you very much for the warning, Maniae. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out from now on.

“Are there any signs that I should watch for in particular, if I may ask?”

"Are there any signs that I should watch for in particular, if I may ask?"

Maniae paused for a moment, the silent creature remaining in it's singular point in the middle of the office. This time it didn't simply break into the chaotic rambling whispers that had all but broken apart it's thin film of sense and reason, nor did it repeat a question over to itself over and over again as though the voices that made up it's own voice were questioning the very meaning of the word itself.

Signs

Signs

Many, many unheeded. Many unspoken

Many, many unheeded. Many unspoken.

Fire and shadow. Flesh and bile.

Fire and shadow. Flesh and bile.

Always. Always. Always.

Always. Always. Always.

The deep grows bright with fallen blood

The deep grows bright with fallen blood

Slowly the warping, wobbling light that was the vortex of chaos, the mesh of colour that swirled into itself, collapsed into owns entropy began to do something that was as impossible as it's being, it began to run out. The beach-ball sized sphere began to diminish in size, the lines and tiny droplets of speckles of maddening colour began to run dry as they slipped one by one into the invisible centre of the creature. As it got smaller and smaller an ever growing noise began to ring out, like that of a train speeding along tracks on a vast open countryside, or the heart of some great beast in a hunt for the ages, their prey slipping past their jaws as their mighty heart pumped their limbs with adrenaline. And then Maniae vanished, falling in itself.

The air fell silent as the demonic entity vanished from existence, time seemed to stretch on in silence in the absence of the being all together. It was as though the constant swirling mass of colour had drained its form from the world itself, taking a part of the worlds colour away with it.

There was a change though, a sense of static that ran down the tongue and made ones ears prick at the edges, almost as if in confusion at the change itself. The reason for this bizarre energy quickly became apparent as Maniae suddenly reappeared, though far differently from the first time. This time there was no wind, no chaotic emergence, nor was it anywhere near as slow. Rather the creature manifested but a foot away from Madisons face, no bigger than a football and still perfectly spherical. Though certainly it even appeared differently, no more were colours shifting and swirling and confusing and consuming themselves as they fell inwards, rather now golden and silver light seemed to stream out of the centre of the creature as it remained fixed in the air. Even the noise of its arrival had changed, where before there had been madness and chaos, now as it tore itself into reality there was a sound of distant thunder followed by a dozen whispers in a dozen different languages all saying the same single message: "Respite"

We do not exist long in this state

We do not exist long in this state

Though despite the obvious change in the entities form and arrival the ever present echoing voice of a million voices and remained.

You ask for signs and there are none to be given to prevent its passing

You ask for signs and there none to be given to prevent its passing

Change and chaos is coming

Change and chaos is coming

Our brethren, the Demon Lords

Our brethren, the Demon Lords

They already move against your kind

They already move against your kind

There are some who cannot be saved

There are some who cannot be saved

We have seen your path, Madison Lovette

We have seen your path, Madison Lovette

There must come a day where you must chose

There must come a day where you must chose

Between your loyalty to your kind

Between your loyalty to your kind

Or your honest heart

Or your honest heart

Know, betrayal is coming. It comes for you all

Know, betrayal is coming. It comes for you all

They will be twisted from their paths. Learn. Guide them.

They will be twisted from their paths. Learn. Guide them.

Or the great end shall

Or the great end shall

Consume

Consume

Ashley “Ash” “Soot” Clade

Lunch went smoothly for Ash. Even when Helena made a rude comment about Ash hogging the bread, the black haired biker didn’t say anything truly antagonistic. “What? Yeah, I know that. You want some, come get it. No one else was making a move for it.” Waving the bread in her hand around and spilling crumbs about the table, Ash simply shrugged off the comment, and made no effort to pass the plate to anyone else. As far as she knew, this was just normal table banter. Growing up with so many siblings, any family meal was usually a messy affair. If you wanted something, you got it yourself and that was just how it was.

As JoJo swiftly snatched up a piece for himself, Ash didn’t even bat an eyelid. He had the right idea; just take what you wanted if it was for everyone. Just as Ash had hoped, conversation died down, she got to enjoy most of her food (The remainder of which she had prepared to take away for dinner that night), and shortly after finishing, it seemed everyone was splitting up to do their own thing. First Rick excused himself, then JoJo, leaving just Ash and all the other girls. Looking over her company, it quickly became apparent how out of place she was in comparison. Neat and fancy dresses. Polite, meek, shy and pleasant individuals. She couldn’t have picked people more different even if she tried. Almost immediately, the four of them were launched into chatter, centering mainly around Helena and Charlotte. It reminded her of… Ashley subconsciously clenched her hands to fists.

With a sudden and somewhat audible slam of the table, she stood up, breaking up whatever nonsense they were talking about. “I’m out. Later losers.” Striding away, it would have looked slightly more cool and intimidating if she didn’t have to briefly take a few steps back and pick up her boxed pizzas. The second time she made her leave, Ash stuck her nose in the air with a bit of a sneer. She’d had enough sitting out and being the odd-girl out with her family. She wasn’t going to have a redux here; she had better things to do than that.

Exiting the restaurant, Ash narrowed her eyes as she looked around for her bike, only to be disappointed. For whatever reason, despite Ash trying to summon it here and now, the vehicle was nowhere in sight. Grumbling to herself, Ashley took the long walk back to the dorm alone, with nothing more than her thoughts for company. She’d probably jumped to conclusions a little early, but the situation had felt uncanny, especially after reliving that memory moments before the lunch. Whatever, she had all of the rest of her stay here to get to know those dweebs. For now, there was a tenseness that she just couldn’t seem to shake.

Ashley didn’t stay at her dorm long. Tossing the pizza in the fridge for later, looking about her room, there was nothing to do, nor anything to occupy her mind with. She needed to do something. Kicking the door open and storming out of the dorm, hair whipping behind her from the pace of her motion, Ashley strode about the complex, trying to clear her head. She’d considered going to Rick or one of the staff to ask her questions, but knew she wasn’t in the mood for that just yet. Instead…

Coming to a stop outside the sports courts, Ash glanced about the area as she headed in, not noticing a single soul around. Heh, maybe she was right. Maybe she really was different to everyone else. Throwing open doors until she found the supply closet, Ash rummaged about until she found a suitable ball, spinning it once in her hand before bouncing it a couple of times. Seemed it was in pretty good nick. This’d do. Striding out onto the basketball court, Ash tugged her collar once, and then changed her mind about removing her jacket. She’d lose it if she warmed up some; for now, it was still kind of cold.

Dribbling the basketball a bit, Ash played with the ball, weaving it from side to side of her body, between her legs, finishing off with a quick jump shot. With a thunk, the ball bounced off the rim, off to the side, which Ashley quickly moved to claim the rebound. Bouncing it once, she spun and made a fade away shot, but again, all she managed was to hit the backboard and send it bounding over to the opposite side of the court. Grumbling as she moved a bit slower to collect it, Ashley stopped to focus this time, bouncing it once in front of her, then twice, before she took a simple standing shot. This time, she was greeted with the refreshing sound of rope sliding along the synthetic material, a clean goal with nothing but net. Whenever her mind was getting mixed up, something simple like this always made her feel better.

The restaurant had excellent service, that was for sure- not long after they had ordered, a waiter came bustling back out again, handing them all their own drinks and plates. Dawn smiled and gave a soft thanks in response, although her attention was elsewhere for the most part. It seemed as if Jojo hadn’t been the only one taken so...suddenly. Kidnapped, really. Even in this situation, it was still kidnapping, and Helena’s story certainly reflected that. If the circumstances were different, Dawn might have tried to call the police on their behalf, but...

Hearing Vistra’s offer of tea, Dawn sat up, then gently pushed her still-untouched cup over to Helena’s place at the table. “Here, you can take this,” she said. “It’s ginger ale, not tea, but, I think it’s still good for upset stomachs. Tastes great either way, though.” Helena’s lack of order indicated that she didn’t have much of an appetite, but her sitting with nothing in front of her stood out like a sore thumb in the face of everyone else. If Dawn needed a drink with her meal for whatever reason, it wouldn’t be too much trouble to just order herself a water or the like.

Pulling her sandwich closer, she smiled, looking up at their benefactor again. “And thank you again for the food, Rick. This was very nice of you to do.” She had just taken a bite when she noticed Ash dragging the bruschetta away from the table, showing no sign of returning it and snapping when this was pointed out. Dawn, swallowing her mouthful, frowned slightly.

“It’s a bit harder to reach now that it’s at the edge of the table,” she said, mildly, before returning to her sandwich. It really was an excellent sandwich, cheese still warm and chicken falling apart at the slightest touch. She’d have to come here at another time. Get something from the breakfast menu, perhaps- she had seen that they offered biscotti while searching for something to order. Perhaps. Dawn took another bite.

Once the plates had been- for the most part- cleared, Rick dismissed himself, off to take care of WDL business, apparently. Dawn smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.” The next to leave was Jojo, who she gave a slight wave to as he moved to leave, then Ash, then Vesper. Dawn made the note to give her and Jojo some space to catch up with one another- she had the impression she was intruding on whatever Vesper had with him, and the last thing she wanted was to cause animosity. With that said, however…

“I think I’ll go ahead and leave, myself,” Dawn announced. “Need to go buy a few things. It’s been nice meeting you all.” Brushing a few crumbs from her clothes, she left the restaurant, heading in a random direction before stopping in front of a salon of some kind. Fishing her phone from her purse, she leaned against the building’s brick, tapped out a few numbers, and waited for a response.

Unsurprisingly, Dawn ended up having to dial three times before she got a response- Rita was notorious for taking her time on things, and phone calls were no exception. Upon hearing the woman’s voice on the other end, she smiled warmly.

“Hello. It’s Dawn again. Just wanted to check and see how Iggy was doing.”

…

“That’s good. Glad he isn’t making too much trouble. How is Minnie, by the way?”

…

“Minnie.”

…

“Minnie. The person living under your roof?”

…

Dawn laughed. “Not surprised. I’d say that you should get her into training for that, but...well, you know.” Her other hand moved to join the first against the phone. “Hey, do you think you could bring Iggy there, by any chance? Looks like I’ll be staying after all.”

…

“Thank you for the support, Rita,” she said pleasantly. After a moment, Dawn shook her head, brushing a bit of hair out of her face before continuing. “You know I can’t, though. Not anymore. I appreciate the thought, though.”

…

“It was nice talking to you, too. See you soon.”

The phone clicked back into silence. Tucking it into her pocket, Dawn stepped away from the wall, then went on her way. Needed to see about where to buy an air mattress.

Rick Brackwall

He left the lunch, walking briskly back to his room. Overall he'd say that lunch was a productive distraction, not an entirely unnecessary one at that. The food helped get their minds off their tensions, got them back to thinking of things in the moment rather than dwelling on the means by which they were found. In time he hoped they would accept this change imposed upon them. After all, denying it was but a fruitless effort, especially at the strength they were at now.

He arrived at his door, procuring the key from his pocket and carefully unlocking it with a surgeon's precision. A majority of doors were locked automatically, a system monitored by ORIN naturally. Rick had his door specifically designed to be off the system, sealed solely by a door lock with him holding the key. Naturally

Once inside he felt a faint essence wash over him, the natural effect of passing through his wards. He liked to know when people were in his room, especially when he wasn't inside. There were also a couple other wards in effect, one to ward off spirits and another to blind scrying magic. There were more powerful magics for securing one's sanctum but he hadn't seen the need to look to such extents. Before today he didn't have reason to believe there'd be prying eyes capable of seeing into the WDL.


His house was quite bare. White wallpaper and virtually nothing but stacks of paper, just paper in stacks all around the house. They were neatly organized so there was a clear path through them. He had virtually no furniture around the house, just a refrigerator in the kitchen. Even still the fridge mostly held bottles of water. He subsisted mainly off of WDL rations for the most part.

In his room there was a bit more furniture. An oak desk and chair along with a single's size bed on the opposite side of the room. This room was not exempt from the presence of paper however this paper seemed to hold more variety. There were all sorts of different types of papers and a majority of his scrolls were kept here. The scrolls didn't necessarily always conform to the stereotype, a good number of them being on different types of paper of different sizes, all experiments to try and better condense the size of his scrolls for ease of carry.

Besides the paper there were also many tools. They looked like the tools of a watchmaker however they seemed to range from mundane assortments such as wrenches and small hammers to stranger things. One such tool resembled a cross between an inking pen from a tattoo parlor and a welding torch.


For now however he only needed to tighten the lens to the frame. All other work had been done on this item already. It was a magnifying glass, made with an elegant silver frame. Etched both in the frame and on the lens itself were arcane runes, the full frame of this item dedicated to hosting these elaborate runes. When he finished joining the two together the enchantment would become complete and allow the item's magic to function.

It was designed with a spell allowing the viewer to perceive the auras of the world around them through it's lens. With so many people blind to the existence of such telling signatures such as these he found that it would prove valuable in catching demons hidden to the naked eye.

He figured he'd take it for a text run, maybe give the prison a quick rundown to see it's effectiveness. As he approached the door however he noticed a letter slid under his door. While most beings coming into his room would have alerted him via his ward soulless inanimate objects don't register unless magically imbued. An ordinary letter such as this would of missed his notice had he not been rather observant of mail sitting on his floor.


By simply touching the letter he already knew it was an invitation to something of an information dealer. A most unusual trade amongst more honest professions. It seemed like someone knew what it was he did for a living and sought him out specifically for this. Most ordinary people didn't need to buy their information less it's in the form of scholarly books. He needed to see if the information he sought would be up for selling and if so at what price.

Diverting his intended destination he left from his room and walked on down. It was getting somewhat later in the day now as he arrived to a strange sort of store. It seemed to supply various odds and ends, ranging from strange alchemical reagents to cases of soda and snacks. From appearances it seemed the place used to serve a bookstore but it had been bought and renovated to sell a more miscellaneous variety of items.

Making his way to the back he saw a door to a room which looked only a little bigger than a storage closet. It was well out of the way however it seemed someone definitely made their living in there as it had a sign written on paper taped to the front which read No Knocks, No Service.


He had no intention of barging into the back room of a store without knocking to begin with. With the invitation in hand he gave the door a short series of knocks, as follows:

Knock knock, knock knock, knock, knock.

With that he stood and awaited the author of his invitation, questions already brewing like a steady storm inside his mind.

Eyes glued to the folder in front of her, Asmodeus grinned widely. Plenty of new information from her eyes around the worlds. She was quite invested in several of the happening events. With a soft sigh, she shut the folder and tossed it over her head. The filing cabinet behind her burst to life, sliding open as it caught the folder and papers. Magical hands appeared from inside it, fixing and sorting the papers back into the folder properly before starting to take the papers apart, putting them in their respective positions. Having a cabinet that could sort itself was definitely something Az was happy about- her new job essentially required it, alongside the fact that the carrying capacity of said magical cabinet seemed to be infinity plus two.

The knocking on the door brought a small smile to her lips and brought her out of her thoughts, however.. Reclining in her chair, she gave a light chuckle. There was only one person that would've acted on her invitation immediately- and also only one person who would've come right here. The instructions on the invitation were just a tad confusing, and Asmodeus cracked her neck as she stood from her chair. She extended her hand, a shadowy tendril snaking out and grasping a cane she had resting against the nearby wall. Her other hand snaked out and she clicked her fingers, the enchantment on the door fading as she, in her irresistible voice, spoke. "The door is unlocked. Do come in."

She leaned on her cane, bent over slightly so her cleavage was visible- most men would've been reduced to quivering wrecks at the sight of the alluring girl before them, but Az's faintly glowing pink eyes met Rick's own mismatched orbs as soon as he entered- her pose was simply something she was used to doing, and she much preferred a person who could control themselves enough to look her in the eyes for more than twenty seconds. With a sly smile, she welcomed the man before her. "Heya there, Brick Rackw- Whoops, sorry, Rick Brackwall. Apologies, it's just that your name is so fun to mess around with." A joking grin broke her features as she stood up, motioning with her hand as the door shut behind him. "Please. Sit. I'm sure you have a lot of questions- and finding me probably added to that list by quite a bit." She sat down just after he did, if he did at all, then put her elbow on the table and her chin on her palm, leaning towards him. "Ask away, little demon boy."

Rick Brackwall

Enchantments on the door gave way, the voice bidding his entry. While this venture had his interest it now began to have his curiosity.

Stepping in the door shut behind him and he was left to see the host to this particular meeting. A rather stunning lady with blond hair coming down to about the shoulder and almost luminous pink eyes stood before him, leaning on her cane. Right off the bat his eyes did a sweep of her, his gaze not stopping to linger on any one particular bit of her. Whilst her form was most assuredly lovely his first concerns were more in regards to regalia and weaponry. What she had and what purpose it served, the two questions that struck his mind first.

With but a moment past she began to speak and his eyes returned to meet hers. It was rather strange really. Her stance and demeanor spoke more of alluring seductress but her manner of speaking was not far off that of a child's, joking about before quickly jumping to the point. A rather curious disconnect.

To her request he obliged, sitting down as she made her way around to sit across from him. It was questions she wanted, in a moment it was a question she would receive.

"This is not a question however I must say not many folks go into the field of exchanging information and even fewer have information pertinent to my line of work."

His legs were crossed over, his fingers laced and his elbows on the edge of her desk. No less were his eyes still met with hers. There was not a time where he'd ever ogle a ladies form longer than deemed necessary and this was business, no other time less appropriate for such a thing.

He saved the obvious remarks, the standard stuff that most would ask. His question was perhaps not the most important question but definitely the most important question to ask first.

"What do you want?"

The smile that split Asmodeus' features was indescribable- mocking? Sinister? Smug? Only the small creasing of her eyes betrayed her true intentions, and in a mere second even that was gone. The girl adjusted her seat, leaning forward towards Rick even more as she traced a circle on the table idly. She stared into his eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time, making no indication of intending on answering his question. Her unknowable grin stayed affixed to her face, and at last she, tapping the table twice awfully loudly with her nails, extended a hand out behind her. From a filing cabinet behind her flew a folder- full of papers, yet not one piece fell. Asmodeus caught the folder, staring at it idly. "Rick Brackwall, would you prefer I cut to the chase or toy with you for a bit? This is a very important question- think carefully before you answer." Some sort of test, maybe? Asmodeus' face was hidden behind the folder, now, preventing Rick from analyzing her expression.

If this were a poker game then neither of the poker faces yielded much in the way of expression. Her's was a grin while his was stone flat but neither truly expressed the minds behind the players. His eyes only flicked over to the file cabinet as a file was virtually spat out, landing comfortably in her hand. Not a trace of his interest showed but he was a tad jealous of her filing system.

A question with hidden potential, a fork in the road persay. With two choices and no way to truly know which way either one leads he spared but a brief silence to consider.

To put it simply, in Poker this is a call or fold moment.

"Cut to the chase. You barter for knowledge and I seek it."

He called.

"Tsk." In a moment, Asmodeus dropped the folder. She had a disappointed pout on her face, but she shrugged and sighed. "Silly boy. You need more fun in your life- a life not enjoyed is not worth having lived." A small smirk crept across her features. "Someone like you probably doesn't understand, but work isn't everything, Ricky. I'd suggest getting out more. Everyone has goals, but having no life aside from working is no fun for anyone." Her eyes had lost their glimmer, and she outright seemed a bit bored with him. "And to think, if you had've given me a good answer, I would've folded and given you some information for free. What a true shame." A soft chuckle left her soft lips as she held up the folder, opening it and tossing a sheet of paper his way. It had names and images of both Rick himself and the rest of the children. "A word of warning, though. The people here might not know that you are who you are, but rumors can spread quite fast. And if people get too suspicious.. you could be in danger in a place full of anti-demon religious maniacs."

Dropping the folder onto the table, Asmodeus shrugged her shoulders. "You can call me Lucia. It's a pleasure to meet you. I work as a broker. I'll trade for a lot of things." A smirk slid across her lips. "I just lied to you. What did I just lie to you about?" She sat back in her chair, grinning a cheshire grin. "If it's not obvious, I enjoy games."

This was definitely not going to be an ordinary conversation. Perhaps he needed to start looking at this challenge less... linearly.

He took a moment, longer than before as he took in the words she spoke. With a sigh he began.

"I wouldn't wish a life like mine on many." He paused, the words drifting off.

"Perhaps I don't have much fun in a life like mine. I've accepted that. If by taking leisure in my job results in the joys of others ripped away then it's I that I hold accountable."

She had presented him a sheet of paper, complete with names and images of him and the other six. He didn't bother to touch it, let alone read it. The information itself was self explanatory.

"I understand the WDL's feelings towards my... Blood. I support them to an extent but I support their cause more. Should I run the risk of being eschewed by this place I'll continue on elsewhere. Work like mine needs to be done, regardless of where or by who."

Another moment he let pass, considering her next game. She just told him three things he didn't already know. One of them was a lie. Now he knew that she worked as an information broker. That one was crossed out. The remaining two facts were that he could call her Lucia and that she'd trade for a lot of things. He had his answer.

"You don't trade for a lot of things." He spoke, confident in his choice.

"Care to hear the deduction?"

"Do you stop wars? Do you prevent murders? Do you get in the way of rape or abuse? I doubt it. You can't save everyone, Rick Brackwall, so resting on your laurels is a good thing, sometimes. It keeps perspective- you're not a magical, legendary hero- you're a regular man like everyone else." Asmodeus smirked. "Please do tell me how you deduced that. I'm curious as to how you came to the conclusion." She crossed her arms, sitting back in her seat with a widening smirk.

"Simple." He answered.

"You are an information broker. You seem pleased to meet me, despite our differences. Most notably I can call you Lucia, even if that's not your real name. Little prevents me from calling you that, hence all that remains is the choice of payment."

With his explanation past he unlaced his fingers, only to lace them again with a different hand forward.

"Do not think I'm not aware of my limitations. I do not disagree, however, that perspective is key."

Asmodeus clapped, her amused smile returning to her face. "Very astute, Rick, however.. I'd like you to think about my second statement again- "I just lied to you. What did I just lie about?" Her eyes sparkled for a moment, before she continued. "What if I lied about lying? After all, 'what did I just lie to you about?' does include my statement of 'I just lied to you', does it not? On top of that, what reason do I really have to be honest with you?" With a small smirk on her face, she tilted her head and placed her cheek in her hand. "Would you like another riddle to recover? You should be more careful than that, Rick. I somehow doubt the people you'll be encountering in the future will play fair, if that's something you're considering complaining about." She tapped her table twice, drumming her fingernail against the wood. "Another, final, riddle, then?"

A slight sigh escaped his lips, the only real sign of his slight vexation. Perhaps the riddle was that she lied about giving him a choice not to be toyed with in the first place?

Regardless, the conversation continued.

"I'd say the main reason you'd have to be honest with me is business. An information broker with a reputation for being dishonest doesn't keep her customer's faith in the information."

At this point his biggest question still stood. What could she possibly gain from this? Nevertheless he let her comment about his caution slide.

"I'll hear your riddle."

Asmodeus grinned widely. "Fun. Good fun. Now.." She closed her eyes, hmming to herself for a moment before she spoke. "What has four legs in the morning, two legs at midday and three legs at dusk?" She paused. "It's a fairly common riddle- I'm going easy on you." She sat back in her chair, cupping her hands in her lap.

"Indeed it is a simple one. I suppose I'll give two answers, one you've probably heard and one you probably haven't."

He held out one finger, his first answer.

"Man. Four legs in infancy, two in mid life, and two with a cane as an elder. That is my first answer."

He held up his second finger indicating his second answer.

"Is also a man. He eats four legs for breakfast, two for lunch and three for dinner."

His face was stone but underneath there was a slight worry that his dry delivery would lack the intended humor.

Asmodeus sat there, her face a blank canvas as Rick delivered his 'joke'. She sat there in absolute silence, her blank, unamused glare drilling into his eyes. And then she grinned. "Just screwin' with ya, jesus. Cannibalism jokes are a part of your repertoire, are they? And you seemed so straight-laced! Ah, what a nice surprise." Despite her prior stoic demeanour, Asmodeus had an amused grin on her face. She sighed, shaking her head and making her hair bounce a little. "My lords, what type of child did the big man on campus make you out to be?" Her tone was absolutely joking, and she didn't mean to offend him. She spoke again, grinning. "One last riddle. If you get this right I'll put all of my cards on the table- 'I go in hard, I come out soft. You blow me hard. What am I?' is your question." Az's smirk was incredibly wide, a stifled giggle being quite audible from the girl as her eyes sparkled as she tried not to laugh at her own lewd joke.

Rick gave an off-hand wave as he responded to her amused response. "Technically I never said they were human legs. If anything, you're the one choosing the cannibalistic approach." His tone was light, evidently also not speaking with a great deal of gravitas behind said words.

Joking aside he set his mind to consider her riddle. All the while as he waited he looked on in her deep pink eyes. She seemed to practically be bursting at the seems with humor as he caught the quite audible giggle. He knew he'd need to consider her frame of mind in solving this matter. He rolled the question about in his mind several times before coming around with what sort of could be considered an answer.

"I wouldn't be technically wrong to state the answer is a notable member of the male anatomy. Would it be one of those types of riddles now hm?"

Asmodeus' grin widened. She reached below the desk, fumbling around for a few moments before making a noise and sitting back up straight. She grinned slyly and tossed something over at Rick.

It was a stick of gum.

"You're more of a pervert than I am, Ricky boy. How amusing. The answer is 'gum'. It's hard when you put it in your mouth, you chew it and it gets soft." She paused to stifle a laugh. "And you blow bubbles with it- you have to blow awfully hard, of course." She knew he'd fallen into her trap, and she was reveling in it. "In any case, I'll stop the riddles for now- they're a hobby of mine as I'm sure you can tell, pervert." She coughed and sat up straight. "Alright, since you've been such a good boy I'll give you some answers- if you ask me first, of course." Her smirk was much more tame now, a sense of professionalism suddenly being visible in her usually joking demeanor. Despite this, however, her eyes still sparkled slightly- it was obvious she was enjoying the company.

Indeed. It was an obvious answer his and perhaps he should of anticipated that she'd of thought of that. Then again he was certainly happy to be on with this, no longer mired in the swamp of brain teasers. Rather than argue that it wasn't very hard to blow bubbles in gum he let the issue go and maintained his focus on more curious matters.

"If I recall I did ask you first. I'm happy to have entertained but I'd still like to know."

Asmodeus' face went blank. With a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes, and then opened them again. Her pink eyes glowed brightly now, almost leaving an aura around them. She was silent for a moment, then spoke. "Souls. I want the souls of the beings you hunt, so that I may devour them and regain my strength." Her usual joking demeanour had vanished, replaced with a somewhat cold visage- she was dead serious. A subtle chill would run down Rick's spine every time his eyes met hers, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. "Before we begin, however, allow me to introduce myself." She slowly stood, the light above them flickering slightly as she seemed to tower over Rick suddenly- she was definitely not this tall last time she'd been standing. However, the reason for her suddenly imposing presence was made clear with the next words out of her mouth.

"Forgive my impertinence. I do enjoy games, however that doesn't excuse my lack of manners." She smirked, yet it seemed forced and almost.. dangerous.

"You may call me Asmodeus, fallen Demon God of Lust."

Rick did not break eye contact with her as she spoke. He stood as she stood. He maintained poise, standing stalwart in the face of her subtle changes. Just as he did with Arthur he was dauntless, not letting the supernatural aura permeating the room bow him, not even slightly. What did change however was that a slight smile pulled at the side of his mouth.

"A pleasure to meet you Asmodeus, fallen Demon God of Lust. Evidently I need make no introduction on my behalf."

It satisfied some curiosity on one hand and yet it brought around more questions. It was definitely interesting to him that a demon god, one of the few surviving it seemed, had chosen to come close up next to the heart of the WDL, a staunch demon hunting organization. She was clearly taking a risk simply coming here. She must of heard about the seven and figured that one of them would be amiable to seizing the souls of fallen demons in exchange for her information services. Ironically despite the display and the reveal that she was a demon he trusted her slightly more now. He knew enough to know if she had plans to kill him in some absurd trap she'd of done so already. This was the time for talking, if any.

"I humbly forgive the runabout. It is not every day one gets to meet the member of a supposedly extinct caste."

Putting forward one hand out from behind his back where they were folded he gestured to a seat.

"Shall we discuss this arrangement?"

Asmodeus' change evaporated as she happily dropped back into her seat, her goofy grin returning. "Sure we can, Ricky. Let's chat. I want the souls of the demons you kill so I can then eat said souls and regain my power- in return, I'll both provide you with information and even other services in exchange for your continued loyalty." She paused. "I don't mean sex, mind you. I mean non-lewd things despite my title. Former Demon God of Lust, after all." She crossed her legs, then her arms, awaiting Rick's negotiation. It was a chance for him to tell her what he expected from the deal, and she wouldn't deny him that.

She noted his smirk, however, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Explain your smirk." It was a hard, blunt question.

As he was sitting down he was about to answer but as her final question came back around he had the suspicion that he'd probably want to answer that one first before continuing any further.

"Simple. You gave me the answer I wanted."

With that said he clapped his hands together, still looking rather pleasantly pleased as opposed to cold serious.

"Now you state that you specifically want demon souls, yes? That I'm definitely happy to provide if the information's good. As an added bonus, how about this: You want loyalty from me correct?"

He asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Should the information you provide me be on the level then I shall be completely, unfailingly honest with you. Should the information you provide me be used to lead me or any of the other six into a trap and..."

He let the question hang so as to allow her mind to fill in the blanks.

"I won't be so pleased."

A moment and he was back to talking normally, not at all wanting to leave this conversation on the mood of threats.

"So how about it? Total honesty, Good information and the souls of those I slay. A fair bargain I'd say."

He left the table open for her reply.

Asmodeus smirked. "You can try to play me, Rick, but it won't work. If I want to lead you into a trap, it'll be one you won't walk away from- I'm no fool." She gave him a wink, definitely flirtatious this time.. or was it? She seemed to ponder his statements, before chuckling out loud. "Rick, why would I give away false information? How many people do you think are okay with feeding a demon souls? Not many- killing off my clientele is a silly thing to expect me to do." She pouted, seeming a little offended. "And if you doubt my information, I'm very upset with you. Your paper skills suck." It was a jest, her growing smirk made that clear. However, she spoke once more. "Please do not think I am incapable of defending myself, Ricky boy. I am quite capable."

At his final offer, she stood up and extended her hand for him to shake. Her eyes glowed softly as she spoke. "Honesty for honesty, souls for information. What better a deal could we make?" She gave him a teasing smirk before leaning over to him as he took her hand and whispering into his ear- softly, almost sensually. "And if you help me.. I can get some information that is very pertinent to your cause, Rick Brackwall. Very, very.." She bit his ear softly. "Very pertinent." she said as she pulled back.

He stood up again as she came over.

"I do not take you for a weakling. I'd hope you do not take me for a fool."

As she came over, however, she might of been playing very friendly but the words were like cold water to him. Nothing bothered him quite like being outside the know and here he was out of the know on something he suspected he really wanted to be in on. While it gnawed at him inside like a hound gnawing upon a bone he had little option but to swallow that sensation and play ball. It was an uncomfortable agreement as giving such a level of honesty to her was a definite vulnerability but any sort of options he felt he might of had seemed to melt away at her mention of knowledge.

With that he shook her hand.

"An agreement then."

He leaned in a bit, not quite as close nor nearly as intimately as Asmodeus had by far.

"And a promise. Help me thwart the devil of wrath and I'll ensure you return to your former strength, however I can."

Asmodeus gripped his hand a bit hard- her touch was awfully warm and made him feel a tiny bit warm and fuzzy inside. Leaning in again, the demon smooched Rick on the lips before pulling back and giving him a triumphant grin. "You can't break our business deal, now, or you'll die. Kiss of Death and all that." A lazily smug grin replaced her triumphant one as she let go of his hand, and sat down in her chair once more. "Now.. I would offer you information, but you seem to be in a shortage of demon souls in your possession.. what a shame." Her grin shifted to a warm smile and she looked at him. "I look forward to our future business together, Rick Brackwall." Somehow Rick would've figured she was confusing on purpose.

She seemed to not have heard his own promise, however her next words shattered that illusion. "If you do help me return to my former self, it's much more than strength that I require. Memories, power, thoughts. All stolen from me.. somehow." She shrugged and her suddenly morose expression lifted back into her jubilant, teasing one. "And if you do destroy the Devil, all the better for me when I get my powers back, no?" She was visibly enraged at the mention of 'Devil of Wrath', yet she seemed fairly determined to not make it obvious. She was doing a terrible job of that. It was quite obviously bothering the girl, but she grinned at Rick. "Now.. is there anything else?"

Rick was a tad thrown off by the sudden kiss. It seemed he was inadvertently dragged into some form of contract that kills if he breaks it. Well that was certainly something. As she sat down himself before giving a brief chuckle.

"Ah, demons. Using magic to make deals instead of trusting one another to honor the spirit of the agreement."

He spoke mainly to himself, hearing out the rest of what Asmodeus had to say. It was quite interesting her requirements. It was if something had damaged her to make her forget. He hypothesized that it could of been a result of the damage done to her during the demon wars when the world fought back the demon god of despair and the devil then turned on his weakened allies and presumably destroyed them to solidify his rule. Of course it seemed the topic made her visibly angry, despite her best efforts. It was best time he wrapped this particular meeting up.

"I suppose I shall go and peruse means of collecting souls to begin honoring my half of the contract."

As he spoke he started up from his chair, beginning on his way out.

"It has been a pleasure dealing with you Asmodeus. I'll show up back at your office when I possess something to trade."

Asmodeus grinned, leaning back in her chair and putting her feet up on her desk. "I'd surely hope so, Ricky boy. Don't get killed out there, mhm? It'd suck for both of us if that were to happen, after all." She gave Rick a sweet, curt wave as he stood up.

He returned the wave, making his way out the door.

"Indeed it would."

He answered as he passed beyond sight of the door, shutting it behind him even though he suspected it would shut itself if he neglected to do so. As he walked away from her office his expression fell and he ran a hand down his seemingly exhausted face.

"Goodness, that could of gone better."

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

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

---

Candice Hallows

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

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

She was late.

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

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

If Madison had been concerned before, then the word wouldn’t even begin to describe it now. Maniae flickered in and out of existence, taking a more mild form than the ball of uttermost chaos they were before, speaking of death and betrayal and the apocalypse itself. Not the most reassuring thing to hear on the day that the Seven was gathered, really, but that certainly didn’t devalue the being’s words.

Taken a step away from his desk (Madison had backed into it in his surprise after Maniae so suddenly appeared in front of him), the researcher nodded somberly, rubbing the side of his neck with one hand. “That’s...that’s quite a bit to take in so suddenly, I’m afraid.” Madison sighed. “I certainly hope that a few things you said can be avoided...but it was very kind of you to warn me like this, either way. I’m incredibly grateful.”

Even in the case that the prophecy was lies or complete nonsense, there was no harm in taking some vigilance in the future. Perhaps it was simple paranoia, but there were far too many instances in the world that had required foresight and received none. Cassandras unheeded, Jeremiahs ridiculed. Disasters that that could have tragically been averted. There was no harm in being particularly careful from now on- if it was a false alarm, it was a false alarm. And if it wasn’t…

Well, they wouldn’t be completely blindsided, at least.

Madison’s reverie was interrupted by the crackle of static from above; it seemed that Hunter had brought another delivery for research. Blinking in surprise, the look of uneasiness on his face quickly melted away into his usual bright expression. “Hello, Hunter,” he said pleasantly. “Just a second- I’ll go ahead and let you in right now.” Smiling apologetically at his guest, Madison circled the desk, snapping one of the buttons beneath before switching back to the communication feed.

“Door should be open now. Is there anything else that you need?”

Shortly after responding to Hunter, the intercom buzzed to life again, with a familiar- and rather frustrated, he noted- voice. “Oh, good afternoon, ORIN!” He chirped. “I was just speaking to Maniae here- they appeared in my office a few minutes ago and began telling me their predictions of the future. Fascinating things, really.” He glanced back at the ball of light for a moment. “I wasn’t quite sure how to go about containing them, as they appear to have torn a hole in reality to get here, but so far they’ve been excellent company.”

The golden, glowing sphere that remained fixed in midair seemed to almost react now to Madison's obvious shock of their predictions. Though the streaming streaks of golden and silver light continued to pour out of its impossible centre there was something akin to a reassuring glint in it's form for but a moment, the light shifting just enough to mark a difference in its form. It did not last long before the golden sphere returned to it's new normality.

The explosion of static was a catalyst uncalled for. As though someone had stuck a needle in a balloon, or set a fire within a tornado, one tiny little string of golden light slowed, halted and then began to fall inwards. And then a second followed shortly after. And then a third. But the fourth, the fourth sundered and split into tiny fractals, these splinters of light fell over themselves, as they did so they began to shift in colour. As if a series of chains and ropes had been given a strong sharp tug one splintered ray of light became two, which became eight, which became twenty. The glorious golden light began to unravel itself as Madison spoke over the intercom to ORIN, gradually more and more of it's form was consumed by the maddening shifting array of colour and nonsense.

The blind watcher

The blind watcher

It matters little now

It matters little now

Events are bound together in chaos

Events are bound together in chaos

Beware

Beware

Danger festers in the holy heart

Danger festers in the holy heart

The serpents must not learn of our knowledge

The serpents must not learn of our knowledge

It comes

It comes

His brood is known and hidden

His brood is known and hidden

The pieces must stand together

The pieces must stand together

Abandon nothing. Fear all

Abandon nothing. Fear all

As the demonic oracle spoke the voices began to clamour more and more, as though they were attempting to shout over each other to be heard, growing louder and more confused as more and more of Maniae's form fell into the chaos of it's own vortex, the golden streams steadily flickering out until finally they had all been consumed by madness. Maniae remained there before uttering once more, in it's voice of a million voices, lacking in emotion or sense.

The breath of life binds all in brotherhood

The breath of life binds all in brotherhood

Cherish its gift

Cherish its gift

With a sound akin to that of a cave falling in on itself and a forest fire burning out Maniae began to rapidly shrink in size, the noise following swiftly after as though it were chasing the vanishing creature. And then as the swirling ball was no larger than a thimble it suddenly popped with a noise not unlike that of toothpaste began rather rapidly forced out of the tube far too swiftly. As it burst though, a thin film of unreality spread across the room like the skin of a bursting bubble and silently and forcelessly smashed against the walls. With that there were no more signs of Maniae nor that they had ever been there aside from the chaos of everything that had been thrown around in their arrival and from where the film had broken against anything it had touched there was now a peculiar smell not unlike that of peppermint.

"I really do not care how good you consider the company to be Lovette. You could be planning to marry the thing and it would not change the fact that that is a high-level security risk." ORIN responded, making very little attempt to disguise her exasperation.

Fortunately, it seemed the thing had dispersed itself without need for her intervention.

Part of ORIN was tempted to lock Lovette in his office regardless, but then if she did then she would have to handle the specimen delivery and she had no intention to do that. The woman leaned back in her chair, taking a swig of coffee from the cup set down next to her. It was going to be a long enough day as it was.

Meanwhile, having been finally admitted inside, Technician Hunter hauled the gurney inside and along the corridors of the research block. It wasn't too long until he found Madison's office, and pulled into the doorway. The room had a rather odd smell about it, but considering the owner of it was an adult man in a skirt and stiletto heels, and he was hauling some hellspawn's corpse around, that peculiarity didn't really seem worth commenting on.

"Lovette. Got a fresh specimen. Some kid of weird green-bleeding demony shit." he indicated the plastic-wrapped shape on the gurney with one hand.
"That's the technical term. Obviously. Where's it going?"

Madison wasn’t quite sure how a ball of delirium could appear consoling, given the lack of face and general identifiable features, but Maniae managed to pull it off rather impressively. Of course, he also wasn’t sure how it communicated without a mouth (a sort of telepathy, perhaps?), but as he had come under the acquaintance of several perfectly vocal, mouthless beings throughout the years, that didn’t raise too many questions in Madison’s mind.
Nevertheless, he was very much touched by the gesture.

Unsurprisingly, Maniae did not appear to have a positive reaction to the sudden voice of the WDL’s guardian over the intercom. They shuddered, torn apart by its own mass. Ribbons of golden light peeled away, drawn into their core to be replaced by the same nonsensical mess of being that they had been upon their entrance. The words, however, while distorted and rather ambiguous, still held meaning- some of which Madison was able to decipher quickly. Danger would come to them. Their enemy- demons? The “holy heart”?- knew that the Children were in the world, but not where they were exactly. Possibly. Bits and pieces of hints and information.

With one last scrap of (what appeared to be) advice, the demon of madness disappeared, going to some other engagement or land or realm, possibly. However, there was also something left behind. Puzzled, Madison gave the air a delicate sniff. Was that...mint? Yes, he decided, it was very much mint. The scent was familiar enough, given the little porcelain dish of the stuff upon his desk. Fascinating. He decided to view it as a nice farewell present of sorts, then turned his attention back to the speakers.

“I suppose that’s true,” Madison admitted. “My apologies for not immediately informing you of the intrusion, ORIN.” Promising to buy her one of the fancier roasts the next time he left the base, he went to greet Hunter, who was standing at the door with a fresh cadaver in tow. A bright, neon yellow-green was visible around its head, even through the plastic film that covered it. Madison stepped over, examining as best as he could without outright removing the sheet.

“Would you mind taking this over to Room 184 in Block C, please? Mr. Clayton should be able to take care of preparations from there.” ‘Room 184 in Block C’ being one of several pocket morgues/containment areas that the WDL’s laboratories offered. Rather grim, but still very much necessary in their line of work.

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

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

"I called it."

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

Magic.

Resurrection magic.

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"To answer your second question..."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rick began to walk, beckoning Jojo to follow him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He felt.. weird.

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Forgive me, Boss."

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"No."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I wonder.."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The woman was out of sight.

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

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

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

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

She seemed mildly pleased with herself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

He was alive, but.. barely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

---

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

"Ow.."

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

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

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

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