Dante Abrax's Story

Darkness... Never ending darkness... Eternal damnation. The fate of all demons. Up until recently, Dante had his self convinced about that. That there was nothing he could do to save his self. He has done unspeakable things on Earth. How could anyone ever trust him enough to give him the chance he needs to redeem his self? He had been distant from everyone, everything, even all the demons. His brethren.

That was until he heard of the great archangel Azaroth. The one who offered an audience with all races, even demons, the one who offers salvation for those who help him cleanse the world, and the one who offered him his one and only chance at redemption. After having the audience with him, he offered him his chance. To join 'The Tri Guild' and help him with the cleansing. He was warned that there would be hardships, that he would be looked down upon, but Dante didn't care how hard it would be. He jumped at the chance, and has now started working for The Guild.

Dante walked upon the premises of The Guild, half-eager and half-nervous. The shunning has gone on for a couple days now, and Dante hasn't even been on a single mission yet. He looked around at all the eyes that were staring at him, the whispers that was going on all around him. He let out a small, careless sigh and began walking to the bar to speak with Arielle. Sure, she was a bit of a scary one, but she had good intentions.

"Hey, is there any missions that I can take on yet?" Dante asked Arielle with no emotion in his voice, expecting a big, fat no.

Arielle was almost finished cleaning the mugs, each glass was sparkling- oh how she loved everything being clean...
"Hey, is there any missions that I can take on yet?"
She looked up and smiled, instantly her eyes lit up and she looked over to Qugan, then to the bulletin board.
"Yes- there is currently one mission out, freshly posted. That human over there I've noticed is trying ot gather a team for it I hear." Arielle smiled warmly to Dante- happy to hear yet another interest in the mission.
For a little while there, she was afraid that no one would take it..

She also noticed only a short while ago a girl had also shown interest in the mission- in-fact Arielle thought she heard her volunteer for it.

Dante glanced over at the boy and girl who was standing by the bulletin board. It looks as though Arielle was right, there was indeed a new mission and someone was gathering a group for it. For a split-second, Dante cracked a rare, faint smile. He got up from the bar and looked back over at Arielle.

"Thanks." He said, with a small trace of enthusiasm in his voice. He walked over to the small group that was being formed for the mission. A walked past them and read the mission details. Dante thought that it didn't seem too hard, so why would they need a group to do it? Nonetheless, Dante turned around at the two, and asked, "You guys gathering a group for this mission?" He pointed his thumb behind him indicating the new mission.

Qugan was approached by a small woman that was his size! Someone my size he thought and even chuckled a little. She was wierd. She was different, Qugan has seen many Angles and Demons but this one looked and felt different. He was pretty sure she was an angel but she had this demonic aura that through him off. While he was thinking about it deeply his thought was interrupted with "I wish to take this mission, or accompany whoever is going."

Qugan was excited and was about to respond when he was again interrupted "You guys gathering a group for this mission?" This time it was a tall creepy looking Demon. He didn't want to trust the thing, but his greedy side took over.

Qugan's excitement grew, he could just envision the money in his hand. He responded to them both "Great us three, My name is Qugan." he put a fake smile on his face. "We could take on the demon, We should leave soon its about a half a days trip." He then waited for a response.

The doors to the Guild building were pushed open, letting in the darkness of the night for a brief moment before the closed again as Taupy stepped inside. She stood there for a moment with her hands tucked into the pockets of her black jacket, looking around the room, noting that the amount of people hadn't changed much since her arrival that morning and her visit the afternoon before. Once again it still seemed like the amount of demons that were there were overpowered by the number of angels and humans. This didn't really bother her, nor did the obvious whispering that came from a couple of the nearby tables after her entry. She ignored it, and instead let her silver eyes move across the room and settle on a small group that was gathered near the mission board. One was clearly a demon, with the other two being a human and, if Taupy was a human herself she probably wouldn't be able to tell whether or not the one in the middle was an angel or a demon.

With the pale blue case hanging at her hip, concealing her scythe blade, she casually walked to the other side of the room, her black, ankle-high, buckle-up boots tapping on the wooden floor. She stopped as she got closer to hear the last bits of the groups conversation. It seemed they were planning to team up to take care of one of the missions on the board, though there weren't really a lot to choose from. She continued her approach, walking passed the group and standing in front of them so she could read the mission. She had a somewhat clueless expression on her face, but she was far from being clueless as she read the paper before turning her head to look back at the group. "Uh, do you mind letting me go at this alone?", she asked raising her left hand a little to point at the board. Her baggy jean shorts and the loose, plain red T-shirt that she wore under her unzipped jacket probably gave her an unorganized appearance.

"You see, if a group goes it lowers my chances of gaining a rank.".

Although she didn't say this in a rude way and her raspy tone was as casual as anything, but she didn't expect an agreement from these three.

Selfishness. Selfishness was something all species alike seemed to share. Aurora had yet to come across a selfless person, who was not acting solely for others. In reality, the creatures of the world were all selfish. When she heard the words of the girl wanting to increase her rank, she was infuriated. Innocent souls were dying, and she was worried about merely increasing her rank? This was something that was unimportant to Aurora, she took one last glance at the others whom seemed to gather around to form a team for the mission. One of them had just approached the group, a demon, clearly. The first thing that came out of his mouth were questions of a mission, and while she didn't feel fond of this person, she didn't dislike him either. Aurora held no hatred towards demons, even as an angel, though her outlook on everyone which inhabited the world was quite unpleasant in the first place. One among the group was tiny, like her, yet male. This person fascinated her, but she was not about to waste her time socializing.

"You see, if a group goes it lowers my chances of gaining a rank.". She heard. If the girl wasn't selfish enough, she wanted to take the mission away from the rest of them. "I mind." she said to the girl in a threatening almost demonic voice. Her eyes glowed a brighter red as she turned to stare the girl in the eye, holding herself back from jumping on her. Aurora, had the temperament of some demons. She had the tendency to lose control and attack people, she was also sadistic in nature, such things were random assurances that she could not control. "Your lack of sympathy and worry for what's left of these people in this town isn't a surprise though." she added, rather calmly. Aurora turned around and started walking away from the group, "We should leave now." She said echoing the boy from before. "It burns as we speak." The dead seemed to follow her as she spoke, wanting to make their way to their loved ones, who still would never see them again. Aurora, had also been someone who communicates to the living, for the dead. It was one of the things she was deeply sought after for - by the humans. Her feelings about those in the guild were still negative. They were likely to remain that way, the world was a horrible place, this would never change.

As the girl walked out of the doors of the guild, she did not take a map or directions from those inside. Instead, she followed the directions of those who had passed. Those who had actually lived there themselves. Such people were always willing to help her get to her destination, help her help them. "Calm down, hush please, only one at a time." She said, to the air so it seemed, as the spirits all shouted directions at her in different points of view. As she walked, she focused on several of the spirits, seeing how they died so tragically. For some of them, she just saw the fire engulf her, but for others it was different. She saw the creature, disfigured and grotesquely thin. Protruding bones, it truely looked like a monster. She watched it breathe fire, and the mission letter was correct, it seemed to have limitations. She also noticed a repetitiveness with the areas in which it would cover. She wondered in the back of her mind if it was looking for something, or someone. Time would tell.

"Come now," Arielle smiled, she was listening to this group the whole time- she hoped in the end things would turn out, but it seemed tense...
"Why don't you all go? As a team it would be a good start to being a part of the guild... This miss over here, though, is correct-" Arielle stepped from behind her counter to face the mix of races her kind eyes going serious, matchin a severe tone.
"As we speak- this village, the people, everything is being lost. As you will quickly learn- all missions have a certain time of urgency. A limit to how long it can't wait. So please- settle this now, figure out who's going and who is not. There will always be more missions."

This was also a part of Arielle's job.

Sometimes this place, filled with such a diverse group became unruly quickly- it was better to stop the argue before it escalated too far. Both sides had a certain point of understanding- it was plainly obvious to see it, but it was, as it always had been- a world of different opinions.

"Now. Tell me- who is it that will step up and be brave enough to take on this mission."
The other job- Arielle was keep track of who went on what mission. Of course, it wasn't necessary at the current time- there was only one mission, after all.

"I mind."

It was the smaller girl who refused her first and, as expected, the others didn't look all to pleased with her question either, nor did the small angel sound happy. On the contrary, her tone was clearly one of anger. "Oh?", Taupy replied simply, looking down at her with a curious expression.

"Your lack of sympathy and worry for what's left of these people in this town isn't a surprise though."

Taupy narrowed her eyes a little at this, knowing full well what the small girl meant, though she decided not to say anything about it. It would be pointless to argue.

"Come now, why don't you all go? As a team it would be a good start to being a part of the guild... This miss over here, though, is correct- As we speak- this village, the people, everything is being lost. As you will quickly learn- all missions have a certain time of urgency. A limit to how long it can't wait. So please- settle this now, figure out who's going and who is not. There will always be more missions."

Taupy looked over as Arielle stepped out from behind the counter and spoke to them. What she said made enough sense, and Taupy figured the group who'd already picked the mission wouldn't want to just hand it over to her. Guess he would just have to go along with them then.

"We should leave now. It burns as we speak."

With that, the smaller girl quickly left with the human boy following her only a few moments later. Taupy remained silent for a minute before letting out a small, defeated sigh and glancing over at the other demon who was standing with them. "Guess I'll just have ta' join you guys then?" She said with a slight smile and a shrug, returning her hands to her jacket pockets. "You commin' dude?" She said, walking passed him and heading towards the door. The small girl and the human left pretty fast, but it wouldn't be that hard catching up to them. Besides, they were short, how wide of steps could they possibly take? Though Taupy was probably only a few inches taller, so she didn't have a lot of room to talk.

I should probably ask for their names...oh yeah, that's right!

She stopped at the door and looked back at the demon who had been standing with the group. "Oi, what's your name? You can call me Taupy."

Everything happened so quickly, so Dante decided to hang back and not comment and make the situation worse. A new girl with purple hair and silver eyes had joined the conversation. If Dante was human, he wouldn't be able to tell that the girl was a demon. She commented on how she didn't want to join the group at first because it decreased her chances of gaining a rank. Dante, in all honesty, agreed with her. More ranks equals more missions, and more missions mean the more people you can help. Sure, they probably didn't see it like that, but that's how Dante saw it and maybe that was how the new girl saw it too.

The conversation escalated more when the short girl got angry at the new girl. Perhaps they didn't see it the way Dante did. Moments later, Arielle came by to calm the situation down. Dante wasn't sure how good that went because the small girl stormed out with the human boy, whose name is Qugan, following quickly behind her. Dante sighed to himself and thought,

'Emotions are so useless...

He pondered to his self for a while, and zoned out. He thought about the mission and how hard it would be. He even thought about the money and the possibility of gaining a rank from it. A hundred thoughts went through his head at the same time, but all the thoughts stopped at once when the new girl turned around and introduced herself.

"Oi, what's your name? You can call me Taupy."

"Hm? Oh, the name is Dante, newbie demon of the Guild." Dante said with little emotion, but a hint of surprise in his voice. He continued to say, "Should we go after them, or should we just go as our own team? They didn't seem too happy with what you said, and quite frankly, I can't work with over-passionate teammates. It makes everything so much... Awkward." Dante was being completely honest with what he said. Over-emotional teammates annoys Dante, and makes it to where he cannot focus properly. He stood there cross-armed, awaiting the girls response.

"Dante the Demon?"

Taupy let out a small giggle as she turned a little to face him. "It's got a nice ring to it!", she said with a brighter smile. The other demon answered her with quite the emotionless tone, though she caught something else in there too, which was a relief. At least he wasn't completely blank. Though, if he was then it would be much easier to work with him. Still, he didn't seem so bad considering what she'd asked for earlier. He hadn't refused and didn't even look upset about it. It's possible he even agreed with her.

"Should we go after them, or should we just go as our own team? They didn't seem too happy with what you said, and quite frankly, I can't work with over-passionate teammates. It makes everything so much... Awkward."

"Ehh..yea guess not huh.." She said with a small frown as she furrowed her eye brows. "It's not like I was trying to be rude..", she mumbled before a mischievous light glinted in her eyes and her smile returned. "What a perfect idea!", she then turned completely to face him and an excited smirk played over her lips. "Heh, heh..a little healthy competition is just what we need.." She said in a sinister tone, though it was a bit ruined when her voice cracked a couple times as she tried to lower her tone to make it sound darker. "Team Demon and the H-n-A Duo, in a duel to the death!" She meant to say this with a serious tone, but had quite a lot of trouble keeping a straight face as she did so. She then turned back around and glanced over at Dante.

"Let's just go in two separate teams. It'll be less confusing and since this is my first mission maybe it'll be better just to stick with my own kind for this one. Plus, we might get more credit if they don't include all four of us as one single group. We can take on harder missions if we rank up, so hopefully that'll be the case. By the way, mind me asking what your element is?"


(OOC: After a few more posts from everyone should we have a time skip to where Dante, Aurora, Taupy, and Qugan show up at the village near the same time? It'll make things quicker and easier.)

Dante stood there cross-armed looking at, or so it seemed through, Taupy.

"Dante the Demon? It's got a nice ring to it!" She stated aloud, turning quickly to face Dante giving him a bright smile. Dante gave a small laugh and replied,

"Ah, so it does." Dante never thought about his name that much, or for that matter if it 'had a nice ring to it'. This girl was a little weird, but Dante could handle her better than than the other two he originally was gonna group up with. Before Dante knew it, Taupy was yelling of some sort, being silly and talking about Team Demon vs the H-n-A Duo. Demon? She was a demon? Of course Dante sensed the demonic force, but never would he believe that she was actually a demon. She looked nothing like one, much less acted like. Dante let out a small, exasperated sigh as he looked around at all the eyes staring at them. He obviously didn't care, but it was a little unsettling to have this many eyes stare at you in such a manner. Her voice cracked a lot, and she was trying to sound more serious than she actually was. Dante gave a faint smile at the silliness of the girl, as she then began to actually speak normally.

"Let's just go in two separate teams. It'll be less confusing and since this is my first mission maybe it'll be better just to stick with my own kind for this one. Plus, we might get more credit if they don't include all four of us as one single group. We can take on harder missions if we rank up, so hopefully that'll be the case."

"Agreed." Dante replied, plain and simple. He wanted to keep things as simple as they can be.

"By the way, mind me asking what your element is?"

"My element?" Dante replied in the form of a question. He went on, "My element is Darkness, just like a lot of other demons, so I'm no rare or special demon so to speak." It was true, the only thing that made Dante 'special' was that he turned his back on the other demons to save his own skin, or at least, that's how Dante saw it. "Come on, we should probably leave now." He stated as he started to walk out, and while he passed her, he asked, "What about yourself, what element do you have?" If Dante was gonna work with her, he needed to at least know a little bit about her capabilities. He gave the attempt to know more about her.

"What about yourself, what element do you have?"

Dante walked passed her and she took a couple quick steps till they'd left the building and she was walking beside him. "Dante the Demon of Darkness. Even catchier than the first one." She said, though she didn't look over at him. "Mine's ice, nothing particularly special. When I was little I always wanted to use electricity though." She let out a small sigh, bringing up her right hand and scratching the back of her head. "Of course, that never worked out." She then stuck her hand back into her pocket and glanced over at him. "As for you, everyone's special and rare in their own way. You should really think higher of yourself." She turned her head and looked forward, a somewhat clueless expression on her face. To think higher of oneself wasn't an easy task for most, and Taupy never actually put any thought into what she though about herself. She might have told him that he was special in his own way, but everyone just seemed the same to her. Personalities and looks didn't mean much to her and she never separated anyone into categories. In the end everyone of them dropped into the same penny bank along with countless others.

"It's almost a whole days trip, but I bet we can shorten in if we take some kind of transportation. I've never ridden a train before, so maybe we can do that. On the way we can fill each other in on our skills so we'll know how to cooperate. By the way," She glanced over at him again as they walked, "This thing we're going to kill is a demon too. Are you going to feel any remorse for destroying it?" She asked this with little curiosity in her tone as if she didn't really care for his answer, but she really was curious.

(Just because I do not want any easy take-downs, I'm roleplaying as the criminal demon, just a reminder)

With leathery red skin, and visible hunched vertebrae and ribs protuding out- from the beginning people feared the monster. It's eyes were large and bright green with a black cat-like slit as its pupil. It fingers were long, with curved talons with were dirty with coal and a red substance. The grostesque creature, with long legs and an odd proportions body stalked the village Morathe.
Senseless, drawn to attack by pure instinct. The demon looked around, listening to the screams, indulging itself in the sights... The sounds.
It lived for fear and hatred- fed off of it like a drug and was addicted to it as well. Fire, there must be more.
Standing at a large height of 9 feet and with an arm-span of 7, the demon known as the "Shax't" glared down at the people below. Their screams brought him here, from the very beginning. After they realized their inability to fight through his boney structure with their weapons they began to flee.
Chasing them was the best part.
After a while, however, they began shutting themselves behind their doors for protection. Again, a simple solution. Burning down the houses proved to be it's best idea. Listening to their fear erupt from the embers of a house engulfed in flames.. It was an act the which the Shax't could not get enough of..

The Shax't was at full strength, ready and waiting for who ever decided to challenge it.

"It's almost a whole days trip, but I bet we can shorten in if we take some kind of transportation. I've never ridden a train before, so maybe we can do that. On the way we can fill each other in on our skills so we'll know how to cooperate."

"Sure, the train should be here soon anyways." Dante said as they made their way to the train station. Dante rarely used the train his self, but it can't really be helped right now.

"By the way," Taupy glanced over at him again as they walked, "This thing we're going to kill is a demon too. Are you going to feel any remorse for destroying it?"

Dante looked over at her. "They are fools for not following the path I have chosen. They only seek destruction, death, and decay. They feed off the misery of others. I have absolutely no remorse for what I am doing, however," He paused for a second before going on, "My actions could be mistaken as 'good' and I do not see it as such. I am only looking out for myself in the long run. I am not sure why you follow the path I have chosen as well, but I commend you, for few demons do so." Dante tried to make everything simple enough for her to understand what he said. They made it to the train station just as the train arrived.

"Ah were here. Now... About our skills..."

He would go on to tell her all of his capabilities with darkness and his other combat abilities while on the train.

Taupy listened and took in every word that Dante spoke, though she also maintained her usual clueless expression as she did so. It wasn't as if she was trying to look like she wasn't really listening, but such an expression was simply natural for her. She liked the answer he had given her, and couldn't agree more, but then again, even she had been a monster once. Though she hadn't lived for very long, and had only started thinking about leaving the demon realm barely two years ago, she'd still done some horrible things when she was just a child. But could one blame her? After all, destruction was all she knew then, and she never once felt guilt for the innocent blood she'd spilled when she was so much younger. Still, even though she understood mostly why this demon was terrorizing the village so meaninglessly, she wouldn't feel any remorse for it either.

"Ah were here. Now... About our skills..."

"Oh, well I..Well, like I said, this is my first mission..so I've never actually--" He words cut off and her eyes widened slightly as she watched the long. solver machine screech to a stop in front of them and the doors slid open. Her mouth gaped open a little for a few seconds before an enthusiastic smile crossed her face. "It's a train!" She said excitedly as she hurried to get on. She looked up at the roof of the rain, then turned in a slow circle as her eyes moved over the empty seats. It would only make sense that no one would want to be on the train that would drop them off at a village that was being burned down, but the purple-haired demon wasn't really focused on that right now. "It's so awesome! How do you think these big things run?"

She grabbed the pole next to her and swung around, stopping herself at the seat closet to the door and planting her knees on the cushion and watching through the window as the train slowly began to pull away. She watched in awe for a moment until the window left the stations view and she turned around to sit normally. "Oh, yeah, about my skills.", she said, suddenly remembering. "I guess you could say I'm a good strategist, maybe?" She brought up her right finger and scratched her cheek as she answered awkwardly. It was her idea about them sharing their skills, but to be honest Taupy wasn't entirely sure how to do that. Explaining things wasn't her specialty, doing things was.

"I've never actually fought another demon seriously before...but I would always spar with my sister when we were kids. and my uncle kinda made a big deal of teaching me how to use a weapon. I suppose you could include that in there." She said, pulling the strap of the case on her back over her head and setting the long scroll tube next to her on the seat before letting another strap slide off her shoulder and setting the larger case at her feet. "What about you?" She said, looking at him with a curious smile.

Dante began to listen to her as she started, but then got completely lost when she saw the train. Taupy flipped out. Well, it was her first time riding a train, although she could act a little more like her age. Dante slowly followed behind her, onto the train, and sat comfortably in the seat. He waited for her to calm down before talking to her about their capabilities. She finally settled in to a seat next to Dante.

"Oh, yeah, about my skills. I guess you could say I'm a good strategist, maybe?" She brought up her right finger and scratched her cheek as she answered awkwardly. "I've never actually fought another demon seriously before...but I would always spar with my sister when we were kids. and my uncle kinda made a big deal of teaching me how to use a weapon. I suppose you could include that in there." She said, pulling the strap of the case on her back over her head and setting the long scroll tube next to her on the seat before letting another strap slide off her shoulder and setting the larger case at her feet. "What about you?"

"Hmmm..." Dante thought for a second before starting with, "I move through the darkness, I see all that can be seen at night." He brought his fist up in front of his self, clenching it. "I sneak up on my victims and-" He flung his arm forward slightly as he opened his hand, revealing a dagger in it's place. He always kept his dagger in his sleeve in case some problem arises. "Dead..." He finishes. His explanation might be vague, but Dante liked to express his abilities as such. Dante is a guy full of mysteries. He gave a sideways glance at Taupy and a smirk appeared on his face.

'Man, this place is making me soft....' He thought to his self as he awaited Taupy's response.

The purple-haired girl couldn't help but laugh at Dante's response. She didn't mean it in a rude way, it was simply that she had expected his answer to be so vague and slightly dramatic. It was interesting to watch. Maybe she was just relieved that his answer was less helpful than hers was. "S-sorry.", she managed to say in between giggles. "You give a whole new meaning to 'having a trick up your sleeve', huh?" She laughed for a few seconds before stopping herself and regaining her somewhat clueless expression. "I don't think either of our answers is going to help up cooperate better."

She pulled herself up and stood on the seat, leaving the scroll tube to fall where she had been sitting. "We can figure that out when we get there." Her last two words were strained a little as she took a graceful leap to the seat across from them, catching herself on the luggage holder above her head. "Planning ahead too much takes the fun out of our screwed up lives, don't you think? By the way, what you said earlier-" She leaped back over to the other side, planting her feet just in front of the scroll tube so she wouldn't step on it and slip backwards. "My actions could be mistaken as 'good' and I do not see it as such. I am only looking out for myself in the long run." She quoted his words from before, though did not look at him as she turned back around and took another leap. "Hm, on second thought," She hopped down from the seat landing on the floor and sticking her hands into her jacket pockets. "We can save that conversation for another day." She gave him a small smirk before dropping onto her knees on the seat cushion beside him and staring out the window, noting that there was smoke n the far distance ahead of them.

"How long is this train going to take? I might just start running through the cars with nothing but my jacket on just for the hell of it." She said to herself as she turned back around and sat down again, moving the scroll tube to the front and setting it on her lap.

A dingy warehouse, Devon thought to himself. How does an all powerful angel have to host a guild in a place like this? He looked up at the building and sighed, if this was going to be his new home, he may as well embrace it. He pushed open the door and was met by quite a surprise, an interior fit for a mansion. It had lavish furnishings, nice hardwood floors and a chandelier hanging in the center. Most of all, he was surprised by the amout of people and beings milling around the guild house.

He was quickly approached bu someone, the housekeeper named Arielle explained what was going at the moment. As soon as she left, he headed straight for the mission board. It held two missions, a C-rank missions concerning a fire demon, and a B-rank mission concerning an unknown demon in the west. The B-rank mission held the most promise as four had already taken the C-rank one. Crossman raised his voice over the din, "Is anybody intrested in helping with a B-rank assignment?" At this, everyone went silent and even the drunks seemed to sober up for a second. "Aw come on?! Does ANYBODY wanna help?!"

Just as Qugan predicted, the demon turned, snarled and larshed out at him. Another victim perhaps? More prey for the the slaughter which the Shax't took pleasure in? In recoiled and tensed up its musculed before trying to strike Qugan. By now it was standing over the human, readying itself to blast the man with flames.
All the while it's senses could feel the presence of two others. By instinct, the creature was already on guard, waiting to see if they would in on it as well.

---

At the guild Arielle was happy to see even more interest in missions- she could tell the brave from those who only came for drinking and fame. Up until now the Thanksgiving mission had been untouched. The brave ones who left on the first mission had been gone for a day and yet she already felt like a part of her "family" was missing. Another hole in her heart? But she had faith in them, she trusted that they would come back unscathed- or at least alive and well.

A powerless feeling seemed to overcome her, why did she often feel that this was all she could do for them? Post missions, and maintain to fort. Even then none of that seemed to be much of a task to her. What if others thought that she was useless too?

That thought was unsettling.