Cho, dismayed at the apparent rejection of the newcomer quickly recovered with the sound of a familiar voice. She looked over, noticing the fellow demon she had known so well. "Infernus! Ive missed you, darling. Its been a while." she walked over to Sly, running circles with her fingers in the mist surrounding him that was the embodiment of Infernus. Cho could recognize him, but Amaya frankly dismissed it as a 'demon thing' and tried to not think to hard about it. Only when addressed herself, did she truly draw attention to the owner of the talking mist.

"Do I...know you?" he had asked her.

Amaya starred at him, caught off guard and tilted her head slightly, causing her brown hair to fall back down upon her face. She blinked a few times, trying to soak in the essence, composing any familiarity she might have of him, and then quickly regained her composure. Brushing the hair back behind her ears, Amaya looked around nervously, not quite understanding the question. Obviously, Cho knew him, or at least knew his creature. Was this a baited question? Some implied meaning? As in 'Who are you that our creatures are so entangled?' or some variation of that. She didn't know. She was thinking too much about it, probably. In a way, he looked familiar, but she was sure they had not spoken in a time she could recollect. It was probably just the demon interaction that sparked it. Nothing more.
"No." she answered, deciding on the safest answer, eying Cho as she continued to do her vulture like circling on Sly as she did so many times before to Amaya.
Familiar....
Cho ran her fingernails on the shoulders of Sly as she circled him, as was her usual intrusive manner. She seemed so comfortable with him and his creature, there wasn't usually this much touching with strangers. Not to say she wouldn't, but that she usually didn't.
"Its been a long time with you, too, hasn't it?" Cho then addressed Sly, finally sitting down at his feet between him and Amaya, blowing air into the mist and giggling.

Red crossed her arms legs and staying sitting down in the middle of the room. She let out a heavy sigh, "See demon, i'm being ignored, so it doesn't really matter either way, can we go back to the room now." She said, Daemon sighed, "No not yet, lets wait a while longer." He started to scratch furiously at his skin as it seemed to crawl. Red rolled her eye and crawled over to him, "All right, turn into your true form and i'll get rid of those maggots." Red said as she watched him scratch harder. After letting out a loud exhale, his body transformed into decaying flesh, his head became a grinning animals skull of some sort and legs turned into that of a hooved animals. His black and shabby wings draped over her as a long bow like bone burst from his back covered in green and black carvings. He grew immensely taller, about 5 feet added on his human forms 6'3'. Red was lifted into the air and placed onto Daemon massive lap, Red looked him over and stared at to revolting maggots that weaved their way in and out of his flesh. She sighed heavily before going to work on pulling every last one of them out of him.

Daemon sat quietly with his arms resting on his knees, creating a protective barrier around Red as he looked over the others who hadn't even looked them. He snorted in annoyance before returning his gaze to the working Red.
-------------------------------------------------
Daemon true form
He is a Leuko Daemon

"Sorry," Gwyn said, watching Red pull out the maggots with slight disgusted interest. "You said your name was Amanda right?"

Beside him, Arian smirked to herself at his accidental use of a name that Red obviously disliked. She delicately trotted away so she could view the reaction from a relatively safe distance. Ah her Contractor were so much fun...! Idiot. Arian inspected Daemon interestedly. He was definitely larger than her own un-wolflike large size of a small pony. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell of decay but ignored it in favor of continuing her close evaluation of the surrounding people and demons.

Bored of waiting, Arian trotted through a random door nearby. "Gwyn, maybe this could be your room."

Gwyn glanced at Red who was steadily pulling out maggots. Maybe she didn't hear- Teeth grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. Suddenly, the door slammed shut. Gwyn tried the door. It was locked and didn't even rattle as he shook it. "What the-?"

And thus, Gwyn and Arian got stuck in a room. They would not be seen for a while.

Red's eye twitched after hearing someone call her by her first name, "That's quite alright, and please, don't...call me that" She said before shaking her head to clear her mind. She was going to blow a gasket if on more person called her by her first name. Daemon looked down at her and let out a small laugh, "Calm down now girly, don't want make any enemy's now do we." Red rolled her eye, "Just.. shh Daemon and let me do this." She said before looking over at Gwyn, "And your Gwyn, right? please call me Red, And This is Daemon." She said as calmly as she could muster. When she was done she picked up the pile of maggots and dumped them into a bag and tied it up, not being able to find a trash can she placed the bag next her and Daemon and then patted his dirty skull. "Sorry for earlier, the whole hiding and then falling, and then throwing a fit. i'm just not a very confident person." She said as Daemon slowly turned back into his human form. Red still on his lap.

Sly seemed to ignore the female Demon, more interested in the answer of the woman than the taunting nails of the Hellion. He was dissapointed, though, by the answer he received:

"No."

Sly's face barely fell, but internally, he felt his heart drop a foot. Familiarity--a face that knew him before Hell, before his death, who knew his past life--was a treasure worth seeking. "Oh." It seemed this treasure was not as full as it seemed. "My apologies."

Then the demon spoke, in regards to him.

"Its been a long time with you, too, hasn't it?"

Sly's face scrunched in the slightest of a growl. "Indeed." That was all he said, folding his arms as he did so. It did not seem like he was going to go anywhere anytime soon. He simply shut his eyes, conteplating. His situation. His contract. This woman. He did not ask for a name, nor now seemed interested in one. Yet he could not shake the feeling that he knew her, somehow, at some point in time. Odd.

Infernous gave a 'laugh' as his Sister commented on how long it had been, and then again on Sly's reaction. Sly's concentration was interrupted for a few moments as the mist arising from him solidified into a ghostly shape of sharp shards of night, hellfire adorning it like veins. Indeed, indeed, Sister. Sly here has missed your thousand lashes . Infernous 'laughed' yet agian, like a howling moonlit night with the screams of a thousand Terrors, as Sly's face fell more into a scowl.

The Prince Puppeteer strolls gracefully through the main hall and into the formal ball room. With a wave of his hand, A round table appears with chairs surrounding and lands on the ground with a thud. With another wave the table is full of delicious smelling food, and a little creature that looks like a toy mouse with a chefs hat begin using a large spoon to dish out a rich and delicious smelling dish into each bowl, using his tail to slice bread.
The puppeteer calls forth Kibuki and she sings a sweet melody, one that does not have her true power behind it, to call the group to the room. The voice travels almost silently, but each one of them hears it in their minds, "Dinner is Served..."
The keeper walks in levitating a tray of tea and distributing the tea cups to each place, and takes her place in a Velvet lined chair and sips her own cup, as she waits for the group to arrive.

[food tastes like whatever you like, creatures can eat it too]

Right before Gwyn entered the room with Arian, he heard Red and stopped. "No, sorry." He said sheepishly. "It was my fault." He grinned at her. "Nice to meet you Red."

Teeth tugged. The door slammed shut. Gwyn and Arian were gone.

[This'll be the last you see of me for some time. Sorry! I'll be back! :D]

"Nice to meet you... *SLAM* ..too." Red said as the door slamed shut, making Gwyn and Arian disappear.

"Does anyone else smell that?" Daemon said before a voice that sounded like it was only being spoken to him said that dinner was served. Daemon looked down at Red as she looked up him and shrugged his shoulder before standing up and grabbing Red's hand, dragging her up the stairs.

"Stop..walking so fast." Red said as she tried to keep up with Daemon as he pulled her up the stairs, causing her to trip a couple times. When they reached to the top, Red stood in aw at the vast table of delicious looking food before walking over sitting aways back for the keeper and Daemon sat across from her. Red let out a small giggle as a mouse dressed up as a serving man placed a pot pie on her plate. "A...pot pie?" she said to herself as she took a bite of it. "Wait.. This taste like......." Red's eyes glazed over as images flashed through her head, a car racing towards her, a white hospital room, people screaming....Red was brought back out of her trance when Daemon reached across the table and snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Hey girly, please come to reality." Red shook her head violently and looked up Daemon, "Sorry, i just had those visions again." Daemon slowly sat back in his chair. "Again? well who cares, just eat before you starve yourself." Red nodded slowly and looked back down at her food before taking another bite.

The Keeper looked over at Amanda and Daemon. They were very promising contractors, and Amanda was already showing signs of her memories. The Keeper sipped her tea and said, "Are you getting little flashes of memory back? It is due to your contract with me," she sets her tea down and looks the two over, "Ill explain later, but offerings the the Door will bring them back more vividly. She gets up and walks around the table. She sits next to Amanda and smiles at her, The Keeper looks very young up close, her clothes an mature attitude hide the fact that she is only 12 years old in the body. "When you send other creatures to the Abyss, you get a vivid memory back. The Door will thrust you right there, and you will watch it like movie. With each kill you will get another memory, another piece of yourself back." She paused for a moment and added, "But don't get too hasty with finding your memories, the Keeper of the Clocks took them from you for a reason. If you anger her too much she just might change the hands on your clock."

Red looked up at the keeper and nodded to her. She had had them when she reached the top of the stairs and just now. Red watched the keeper walk over to and sit next to her, flashing her a smile. Red naturally smiled back but it soon faded, "So, i have to kill to get my memories but if i learn to much then i might be killed myself." She said softly, looking over at Daemon who just shrugged his shoulders and continued stuffing his face. She sighed, no matter what out come she would still by dying, by the hand of Daemon or This called the Keeper of the Clocks. "You die either way." She said, looking back at the keeper.

"That's why it is called the Abyss, it is void of hope." she shrugs her shoulders, "but you will find out what doomed you soon enough. The question is, are you ready to know what kind of person you were in the past? You were thrown into the Abyss for a reason..."

"Yes, i believe i am. i would like to know why i was out there." She said, running a hand through her hair. Daemon sat up and wiped off his mouth, "I'd like to know as well, because so far, i don't how she could have ended up in there." Red shrugged her shoulders. "everyone has their dark past, and apparently i have my own to discover." she said, throwing a fork a Daemon and watching him catch it.

Not just you... she chuckled to herself, eying Daemon as he caught the fork.

Ignoring everything after "Dinner is served," So-So sat down and started eating not really paying any attention to taste. His crown glowed black and changed back into the large creature that made a contract with him. Dodado, towering behind So-So, just stood there stairing at everyone eating, eyes glowing blue.
"Anyway," So-So said looking over at the supposed keeper, "I hate to seem a bit impatient...actually, no that's a lie...I just want to know one thing. When can I get out of here and start having some fun?" He asked, a cruel smile creeping across his ash-pale face.

The Keeper smiled back at him, "The Prince bound you to this mansion for now, but I have your first assignment right here."
She slides a black folder with a white seal across the table and rest her head on her hands.
"Her name is Marline Wernicke, her father died a year ago in a hospital not far from here. If you successfully return her to the Abyss... you should get a memory back. Once the others have joined us I will explain the details to you. For now, just enjoy the food and saki." She snaps her fingers and one of the mice pours all of them a cup, another mouse brings the creature a bowl, slowly and hesitantly, trembling as it approaches the beast.

"Fine, I suppose I can wait, however I don't really care about my lost memory," he says taking a drink, "From the bit's I do remember, seems a little dreary. All I really care about, is who I get to kill. I have a bit of pent up aggression from that festering pit I'd like to take out......" He paused looking behind him at Dodado.
"Is stairing at people a hobby of yours or something?" Not really, it responded, "Then can you knock it off you eight-foot creeper? It's bad enough that you stair at me while I sleep, at least then I'm not awake to see it....wait...that doesn't really make me feel any better." He sighed taking another drink.

The Keeper pointed to the file and said, "Remember you kill the creature, not the girl. It is not our place to judge the contractors. That is The Keeper of the Clocks privilege, and we don;t want to step on her toes. Trust me." she opened the folder to show him the creature, "This is Doldum, the puppeteer. He has invisible strings, that one touch you allow him to control your mind and body. Be careful."
She took a sip of her saki and cotinued, "I know this may seem foolish to you, but Please make it a quick and painless death." She paused, knowing what they were thinking. Why show this Demon mercy? She pointed to the little girl, age 11.
"She is his contractor, she has no idea what is going to happen to her when Doldum is defeated. She will feel every single thing you do to him, because unlie you who has a talisman which feeds your creature power only when you allow it to, Doldum is her parasite. Doldum told her he could bring her father back from the dead, that he could change the past for her, and she foolishly didn't explore the consequences." She knew he wasn't going to appeal to his emotions, "Plus It's so much more fun watching them being dragged down alive and conscious."

Screaming rather loudly; and a bit too dramatically, he tumbled through the doors falling flat on his back. He experienced the pain, the speaking of the girl, the sinking through the hole, and the bunny eared man walking away, and in confusion, he muttered. "Artifact? So Al is a human artifact? If that, like, makes sense or something.." The boy scratched the back of his head with his dangling sleeve and glanced at his creature; whom was currently in human form, and looking at him in slight confusion as if saying with his eyes "damn".

The youth gawked at the sight of the grand mansion; it was quite breathtaking in honesty. "Dude, l have absolutely no idea where we are, but man, it looks awesome!" He squeaked, raising a fist in the air and "fist pumping", and simply following along, the creature followed his contractor's actions.

"Come on, dude. Let's, like, go look for where we live in or something!" Angel flipped his bangs out of his eyes and grinned with such stupidity, putting an arm around the creature's shoulder, whom in all honesty, was quite quiet. The "human" copy-cat Angel's actions, and wrapped an arm around the blonde boy's shoulder.

Pushing up his glasses and back onto the bridge of his nose, he marched down the hall with his "friend", so to speak, and finally, he spoke in a hyper tone; just like Angel's personality. "Right, so, like, which hall? I don't think I've ever, like, been up here on your land, so I have no flipping idea, but if we were in, like, where I come from, I'd know, probably. I think that bunny guy and that lady are gone, anyways, man."

Angel gazed at his creature for a second before grinning. "With my senses, I'll bet you we'll get there!" "Right..."

The pink-obsessed boy sensed his "friend's" doubt, and shrugged, simply turning sharply and marching down the hall. "Perhaps this way. Maybe we'll run into, like, someone or something."

Suddenly, an eerie voice rang in his ear. "Dude, I smell food somewhere," and with that word, he finally realized just how famished he felt. "Perhaps.." he contemplated outloud, and took his creature's human hand and walked with him; just a friendly hand hold. Well, actually, Angel was kind of dragging him, as his creature was a bit tranced out at the word "food".

"Man, I'm as starved as you. What's a synonym for starved, by the way? Hungered? Famished, right? I'm not sure, I don't know much about your land."

Angel nodded. "Right, so, like, let's go!" Al, nodding eagerly, got in walking pace with Angel as they sped walked down the hall and towards where the sound came from. Poking both of their heads from outside the door, they peered inside, and saw a female sitting in a rather fancy chair, speaking to others with a cup of liquid in her hand.

Well, this is exactly when his shy attitude kicks in; since he's not always hyper. Have I forgotten to mention he's slightly bipolar? Anyways, his cheeks flushed bright pink, as pink as the color of his sweatshirt, and his eyes softened since there was a pretty, though crazy girl, a cool looking male with a cool looking chain standing behind him, and another pretty girl. Well, I didn't use that many descriptive words, but, oh well.

Angel prodded at his chain, and Al, the name Angel gave him, gazed at him, raising a brow. "What? D'awww, dude, are you shy?"

Teasingly, and a bit annoying, the chain poked at Angel's two flushed cheeks, and his eyes went crossed as he tried to look at his chain's fingers. "Hey! Knock it off," he whispered. "That tickles, dude.."

Slapping his hand away, Angel giggled slightly and his chain looked at the people in the room. In curiosity, Angel slipped into the room and pressed himself against the wall, staying near the shadows to keep from anyone looking at him; in rather futile attempts. "Al, come here. Hide with me, please."

Al nodded and copied his contractor's actions, looking at the people. "You know what, stop being a wimp. You're coming with me," he growled, shaking his head and grabbing Angel's arm, literally dragging him out of the darkness and into the light.

Al sat down at a chair, nodding a greeting towards the crazy, yet pretty Keeper, and coerced Angel into a seat, Angel writhing at Al's strength, but finally submitting lamely and sitting down, hiding his eyes with his long sleeves.

The chain seemed to glare at him, yet at the same time try to hold back a laugh, and he forced down Angel's hands and pinned them to the table so he couldn't cover his eyes.

"Damn you," the blonde boy sighed.

"That is cruel and twisted...I like it, but if it's no physical harm then I should be ok for this. As much Dodado is already creepy, his power to create illusion for a time make him just plane disterbing...In short, I'll try not to harm them bodily but I can't guarantee any mental damage."
He reads through the discription of the girl and creature a few times to himself then smirks, "So, my last question: is this solo? You see I have the kind of personality that makes it hard for me to play nice with others, that's why people call me So-So. It's kind of like my real name Sosano, but it also reflects my tolerance to humanity and my grasp on sanity. So-So, clever no?" He said laughing quietly to himself.

Red finished her food and began to take tiny sips of her saki, "You know, that sounds almost like an Akuma, not the one from regular folklore though. The Earl of Millennium, the creator of Akuma, finds people how are stricken with extreme grief over a passed love one. He promises to bring to lost loved one and all the person has to to do is call out that loved ones name and they will come back to them. The loved ones soul is put into a constructed skeleton, but what the one stricken with grief doesn't now is that once this happen The Earl of Millennium orders the loved one to murder the one who called their name and wear their skin as their own. The loved one has no choice, it must do everything the Earl says for it now has no control. Doing this make them an Akuma, a slave and puppet of the Earl of Millennium." Red looked over at Daemon who was giving her a strange look, Her eyes widened, "H-how did i know that?" she said to herself, she couldn't quite put her finger on but she felt like she had known this for her whole life. She placed the cup of saki on the table and rested her head in her hands.

[For Clarification KuruLesperance has seen teh show, and the Demons are called "Chains", if you would prefer you ca use either or. I will understand.]
[LoveHate I LOVE that anime too!!!]

The Keeper watched as Angel sat at the table with his chain. They looked like they had already bonded, and she wondered if Angel completely understood the role of his chain in the end.
She speaks as Angel sits, though she is looking at So-so, "Welcome Angel help yourself," the little mice start dishing out food for him and the chain. She continues, "So-so Since you three are the ones that are here right now, you will get the contract. I don't care how Doldum is destroyed, just as long as he and Marline are in the Abyss before you return."
She looks to Amanda, "You are correct Red, there are many tales of Demons and Chains in folklore. The Keeper of the Clocks is actually pretty new. There have been may before her that go by many names. It seems to me that you wandered for quite sometime before you made your contract if you know about that."
She motions for the mice to pour another round of saki.