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inthedayswhenlandswerefew · 4 years ago

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Eccentricity [Chapter 14: Love Keeps The Monsters From Our Door] [Series Finale]

A/N: Thank you for your encouragement, enthusiasm, laughter, rants, screeches of anguish, and unapologetic thirsting for “sexy undead Italian man” Joseph Francis Mazzello. I hope you love this conclusion more than Baby Swan loves pineapple pizza. 💜

Series Summary: Potentially a better love story than Twilight?

Chapter Title Is A Lyric From: “Til I Die” by Parsonsfield. (The #1 song I associate with this fic!)

Chapter Warnings: Language.

Word Count: 7.7k.

Other Chapters (And All My Writing) Available: HERE

Taglist: @queen-turtle-boiii @bramblesforbreakfast @maggieroseevans @culturefiendtrashqueen @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark @escabell @im-an-adult-ish @queenlover05 @someforeigntragedy @imtheinvisiblequeen @seven-seas-of-ham-on-rhyee @deacyblues @tensecondvacation @brianssixpence @some-major-ishues @haileymorelikestupid @youngpastafanmug @simonedk @rhapsodyrecs

Mercy

We have to stay in the Vladivostok palace until her transformation is complete, and I hate it.

The floors are cold and sterile and every clang of noise ricochets off them like a bullet. The earth outside is stripped bare and hibernal. There is no green to interrupt the bleakness of the sky, the cruel absence of color: no spruces or hemlocks or bigleaf maples, no evergreen forests, no verdant fields, only a grey that bleeds from the sky in sheets of hail and driving rain. This land is a stranger. So many of the faces, too, are strangers, although they try. Honora sits with me—her large dark eyes, like mirrors of mine, polished and wet with aching pity—and braids my hair. Morana invites me to bake homemade bread with her. Austin tries to make me smile. Cato visits me as much as he can, because he feels responsible; or maybe he would do it anyway, maybe lessening suffering is as instinctual to him as bloodshed is to so many of our kind. And when Cato is with me, I do feel a little better, like my story might belong to somebody else, like it’s a name I can’t quite remember, like it’s a transitory moment of déjà vu I can catch glimpses of but never touch. And yet, still, I send him away.

I don’t want to be with Cato. It’s painful for him to be around me, I can see that. It’s painful for Rami, and for Ben, and for Joe, and for Lucy and Scarlett. It’s even painful for the Irish Wolfhounds that Cato found locked up for safekeeping in Larkin’s study; they skulk around the palace vigilantly but leave great swaths of uninterrupted space around me like open water. So I conjure up a mask of brave, hopeful acceptance and wear it everywhere I go.

Joe says very little, never leaves the girl he calls Baby Swan’s side, dabs her scorching skin with washcloths soaked in ice water and murmurs in sympathy when she screams through the unconsciousness, from beneath the ocean of fire we all know so well. He nods off sometimes, snatching minutes of sleep like fireflies in a jar, before jolting awake to make sure her heart is still beating. When Ben isn’t checking on them, he’s with Cato, helping to draw up plans for the future, reminiscing about the past with slick eyes and clinking midnight glasses of whiskey. Scarlett sprawls across the desk in what was once Larkin’s study and spends hours on the phone with Archer as she gazes up at the ceiling, telling him how to care for the farm animals and the garden, reassuring him that we’ll be home soon, whispering things to him that I try not to hear; and I know she wouldn’t want me to anyway. Lucy weeps delicate, ceaseless tears as she perches on the staircase landing and Rami entombs her in his arms, never having to ask what she needs from him. And I wander meaninglessly through the echoing, unfamiliar hallways like a moon without a planet.

I know what they all think about me, perhaps even Rami, for I keep it buried as deep as all skeletons should be: that I’m irrevocably kind, effortlessly forgiving. That I’m as incapable of bitterness as I am of aging. But they’re wrong. It’s a choice, and it always has been, ever since a late-November dusk in 1864 when madness eclipsed mercy. Every day I choose whether to surrender to the beckoning, malignant hatred that lurks in the back of my bedroom closet, in the dusty and ill-lit loft of the barn roped with cobwebs, in the twilight tree line of the western hemlocks crawling with shadows that whisper through fanged teeth. Every day I decide whether to become a monster. And it has never been harder to remember why I don’t.

My future is unimaginable. The nights are endless. I feel black, razored seeds of what I am horrified must be bitterness burrowing beneath my skin and taking root there. I am consumed by infected, fruitless questions that I can’t silence: Why Gwilym? Why Arthur? Why Eliza and Charlotte? Why is it always fire?

The first words that Gwilym ever spoke to me, as I unraveled from unconsciousness under a grove of sycamore trees with smoke still clinging to my unscarred skin, rattle around in my skull like windchimes beneath thunderous skies. His voice was colored with an accent I couldn’t place, and yet it sounded like home: You’re in a dark place right now. But you don’t have to stay there.

That might have been true once. That might have been true in the ruinous autumn of 1864. But now I can’t find my way out.

Seventy-three hours after our arrival in this barren corner of the world, Charlie Swan’s daughter wakes up as a vampire. Her heart is perfectly still, her skin faultless, her senses sharp, her mind as impenetrable as ever; at least, that’s what Lucy says when she finds me. And Lucy tugs at my hand, wearing her first smile in days, insisting that I have to come meet the newest member of our coven, to welcome her. I don’t know how to tell Lucy that I’m afraid I don’t have it in me to love this girl, that I don’t have it in me to love anyone but ghosts. And yet—compliantly, yieldingly, expecting nothing but disappointment in the monster I have become—I follow her.

The door is already open to the Swan girl’s room; chattering, beaming vampires flood in and out like the tides. I step inside. And I see the way that Joe looks at her, the way that Ben does; and all those seeds that I had feared might be bitterness blossom into nothing but open air.

It’s Not A Fucking Wedding (A.K.A. 13.5 Months Later)

The ocean is a universe. Its arms are not ever-expanding, spiraling galaxies of suns and planets and nebulae and black holes, this is true; its belly is not a vacuum of inhospitable oblivion, its bones are not invisible strings of gravity, its language is not a silence older than starlight, older than eternity. But the ocean is a universe nonetheless, its borders tucked neatly around the seven continents, slumbering there until the next hurricane or tsunami or ice age comes conquering; and inevitably equilibrium is restored—like defibrillator paddles to a heart, like naloxone to an addict’s blood—and our two worlds can coexist side by side once again.

The ocean’s arms are sighing waves, bubbling and brisk, grasping and retreating in the same breath. Its belly is swollen with life from immense blue whales down to swarming clouds of single-celled, sun-hungry phytoplankton. Its language is ancient whispers; not parched and blistering and brittle sounds like the desert’s but cool, serene, supple, engulfing. And I can hear them all, if I listen closely enough. I can hear the sentient whistling of orcas, the breaking of waves against rocks, the scrabbling of sand crabs beneath the earth, the gruff distant barks of sea lions, the rustling of evergreen pine needles in the breeze. And I understand now why it was always so easy for vampires to be introspective, to lapse into thoughtful, unhurried silences. I could imagine spending decades just sitting here with my knees tucked to my chest and my hair whipping in the brackish wind, watching the seasons roll by like a wheel.

Joe was coming back from the gravel parking lot. I turned to watch him: red U Chicago hoodie, messy dark auburn-ish hair, a pizza box clasped in his hands. The GrubHub delivery driver was returning to his car with the toothiest of grins.

“Buon appetito!” Joe announced, dramatically presenting me with the pizza box. It had become our post-finals tradition each semester: pizza at La Push beach, half-pepperoni, half-pineapple.

“Grazie, sexy undead Italian man. Your accent is getting so good!”

“I know, right?! I’m on a twelve-day Duolingo streak. I can’t let that little green owl dude down.”

“I’m impressed, I’ll admit it. I gotta brush up on my Welsh. Why’s the GrubHub driver so cheery?”

“I tipped him $500.”

I smiled, opening the box and lifting out a semi-warm slice of pineapple pizza. Elastic strands of mozzarella cheese stretched like rubber bands until they snapped. “Aww, really?”

Joe plopped down onto the cool, damp sand beside me. “No. I lied. We’re actually having a torrid love affair.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “How could you possibly have time for all that?” Between school, business ventures, family activities, and me, Joe was very rarely unoccupied. And he preferred it that way.

“I’m so glad you asked. I’m very speedy, if you recall. And that’s just one of the exclusive services I offer. I am a man of many talents. I make people’s wildest dreams come true. Who am I to deny the GrubHub delivery man the wonderland that is my spindly, annoying body?”

“You are the fastest,” I said, winking.

“Oh shut up! I mean, uh, uhhh, silenzio!” He pointed his slice of pepperoni pizza at me reproachfully. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not the fastest at everything.”

“Whatever you say, mob guy.”

He lunged for me, pinned me down in the crumbling sand, both of us laughing wildly as the crusts of our pizza slices bounded off and were snatched up by diving, screeching seagulls. He growled with mock savagery, braced his hips against mine, kissed his way from the corner of my jaw to my lips. That oh-so-familiar commanding, craving ache for him came roaring to the surface; and now there was no bittersweet edge to it, no inescapable backdrop of lambent numbers ticking down from five or ten or fifteen years to zero. Now there was only the calm, unurgent promise of forever.

“Joe—!”

“You have besmirched my honor, Baby Swan. I am left with no recourse but to refresh your clearly flawed memory and prove you wrong.”

“Public indecency? That’s illegal, sir.”

“Okay, you gotta stop stealing my catchphrases. It’s extremely difficult for me to come up with new ones. I’m almost a hundred years old, you know.”

“Alright, I guess you’re not bad in bed for a basically-centenarian.”

He smiled down at me, his dark eyes alight, the wind tearing through his hair, one palm resting on my forehead, uncharacteristically quiet.

“What?” I asked, worried.

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m just really glad we’re a thing.”

“You better be. You’re kind of stuck with me now. You’ve stolen my virtue, you’ve made me fall in love with your entire demented family, you’ve forced your torturous immortality upon me. I’m not going anywhere. Unless you ever stop funding my pineapple pizza addiction, of course.”

Joe chuckled as he climbed off me and took my hand in his, pulling me upright. “It’s absolutely ridiculous, by the way. Your insistence on being a sort-of vegetarian. It’s embarrassing. You’re the wimpiest vampire ever. You’re a disgrace to the coven.”

“I eat animals!” I objected.

“Yeah, when you have to.” And Joe was right: I steered clear of flesh outside of the two or three times a week when I hunted. For environmental sustainability reasons, I mostly consumed deer or rabbits; although the very occasional shark was my guilty pleasure. Joe gnawed on his second slice of pizza and peered out into the overcast, dusky horizon, wiping crumbs from his stubbled chin with the back of his hand. “We only have one more of these left,” he said at last, a little sadly. “One more finals season at Calawah University. One more celebratory dinner at La Push.”

“We’ll just have to get used to a new view. Pizza by the Chicago River, maybe.”

Joe looked over at me, thoughtful again, smiling. He had received his acceptance letter to the University of Chicago three weeks ago. I got mine eight days later. “It won’t be hard for you to leave Forks?”

“It will be. Once upon a time I didn’t think that was possible, but I will miss Forks. And not just because of Charlie and Archer and Jessica and Angela and all the Lees. But it was hard to leave Phoenix, and I’m sure one day it will be hard to leave Chicago. Just because change is hard doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.”

Joe nodded introspectively. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

“Don’t quote classic rock songs at me, mixtapes boy.”

“You love my mixtapes,” he teased, circling his left arm around my waist, pulling me in closer, touching his lips to my forehead. Mint and pine and starlight sank into my lungs like an anchor through the surf. “And that saying actually goes all the way back to Seneca, my dear.”

“Don’t tell me he’s still philosophizing in some cloudy corner of the world somewhere.”

“Not to my knowledge. Although that’s an intriguing thought. We need more famous vampires. Caligula would have made for very interesting conversation. Lincoln, Napoleon, Cleopatra, Shakespeare, Dante...I guess it’s possible that anyone is still around. Maybe we should turn Meat Loaf. You know, for the good of posterity.”

“Is it not enough that they’re already cursed with student debt and global warming?”

Joe cackled, took my face in his palms, kissed each of my cheeks one after the other, then nudged my nose with his. “You ready to go, Baby Swan? I suspect we’re expected to participate in some holiday festivities tonight.”

“I’m ready,” I agreed. We threw our leftover pizza to the seagulls, disposed of the grease-spotted cardboard box, and walked back to my 1999 Honda Accord with our pulseless hands intertwined.

The evergreen trees along Routh 110 fled by beneath a sky freckling with stars. Sharp winter air poured in through the open windows. And I could feel that it was cold, in the same way that I could feel the warmth on Forks’ rare sweltering days; but there was no discomfort that accompanied that knowledge. Pain only came when the sky was unincumbered by thick clouds churning in off the Pacific, and then it felt something like staring into the sun had as a human. Sunglasses helped, but the surest remedy was avoidance, was surrender. And what an inconsequential price to pay for forever.

“Wait,” I said, spying the mailbox that marked the start of the Lees’ driveway. “They still deliver mail on Christmas Eve, right?”

“Uh, I think so, why...?” And then he remembered. “Oh, yeah, let’s check!”

I pulled up beside the mailbox and Joe leaned out, returning to his seat with a mountain of Christmas cards and business correspondence and advertisements from Costco and Sephora. He sifted through them until he found a single white envelope from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. It was addressed to a Mr. Benjamin August Hardy. Joe held it up to show me as we drove down the driveway, the Lee house coming into view and ornamented with a frankly excessive amount of multicolored string lights and inflatable reindeer.

“Oh my god!” I squealed, drumming the steering wheel.

“You want to be the one to give it to him?”

“Are you serious?! Yeah, can I?”

Joe passed the envelope to me as I parked my geriatric Honda, which Archer had pledged to keep alive as long as physically possible. In return, Ben let him and Scarlett borrow the Aston Martin Vantage no less than once a week. I dashed out of the car, up the steps of the front porch, and into the house that bubbled over with the sounds of metallic kitchen clashes and frenetic voices and Wham!’s Last Christmas.

“Ben?!” I shouted.

“Hi, honey!” Mercy called from the living room, where she and Lucy were putting the final touches on Scarlett’s gown. Scarlett was playing the part of semi-willing victim, wearing gold heels and an impatient smirk and her hair out of the way in a milkmaid braid; her train of vivid red lace billowed across the hardwood floor. From the couch, Archer and Rami were playing Mario Kart on the big-screen tv and nibbling their way through a tray of homemade gingerbread cookies.

“Oh wow,” I said, clutching the envelope to my chest, mesmerized. I kept waiting for Scarlett to start looking like a normal person to me, and it never happened. Tonight, in the glow of the flameless candles and kaleidoscopic Christmas lights and draped in lace the color of pomegranate seeds, she was Persephone: a goddess of resurrection, a face that death himself could not pass by unscathed. “You’ve outdone yourself, Lucy. Seriously.”

“One day I’m going to get you out of those thrift shop sweaters,” Lucy threatened me, placing a pin in the fabric at Scarlett’s waist.

“Yeah, okay. Let me know when that shows up in one of your visions.”

“Bitch,” Lucy flung back, snickering, knowing how improbable that was. I still appeared in her visions extremely infrequently, and then only when I happened to be standing next to whoever the premonition was actually about.

“Language, dear,” Mercy tutted, inspecting the hem of Scarlett’s gown.

Joe arrived beside me, his arms still full of mail. “ScarJo, I almost didn’t recognize you! Why do you have, like, no cleavage or fishnets or thigh slits?”

“Why do you have like no eyelashes?” Scarlett replied. “See, I can ask unnecessary and invasive questions too.”

Joe frowned, wounded. “What’s wrong with my eyelashes?”

“Lucy, darling, I think it’s just a tad uneven on this side,” Mercy said, showing her. “Maybe by half an inch...?”

“No, seriously, what’s wrong with my eyelashes?!”

Mercy replied distractedly: “Nothing, honey, you’re perfect just the way you are.”

“Mom!” Joe groaned.

“It really is gorgeous,” Mercy marveled as Lucy flitted around her to investigate the hem situation. “And so Christmasy. So perfect for the season. Scarlett, dear, you were right after all, and I’m so sorry for doubting you. I’d just never heard of a red wedding dress before.”

“Mom, it’s not a fucking wedding!” Scarlett exclaimed, for probably the thirtieth time since Thanksgiving. “It’s a nonbinding, informal celebration of an egalitarian romantic partnership. Will somebody please inform this woman that it’s not a wedding?!”

“Yes, yes, of course, whatever you want, sweetheart,” Mercy conceded dreamily.

Joe pointed to Archer. “Isn’t he supposed to not see the dress until the day of or something?”

“What a great question!” Archer replied, still deeply invested in Mario Kart. “You see, that would be the case if this was a wedding. However, I’ve been informed in no uncertain terms that it is most definitely not.”

Scarlett grinned triumphantly at Joe. “There you have it.”

She might snap petulantly, and she might complain, but Scarlett wouldn’t be doing this if she didn’t want to; we were all intimately familiar with the futility of trying to force Scarlett into anything. The not-wedding, as improbable as it seemed, had been her idea from the start. And she wasn’t doing it for herself. She wasn’t even doing it for Archer. Scarlett was doing it for her mother.

The first six months had been hell for Mercy. She didn’t resent me, as I had feared she might; Mercy made that clear, and Rami confirmed it. But she was gutted. She wouldn’t speak of Gwil, wouldn’t listen to us talk about him, locked every photograph of him away in dark drawers, wandered around with a remote, uncanny, unseeing smile until she walked straight into walls; and then she would blink inanely up at them, as if they had dropped out of the sky rather than been built by her own hands. She baked hundreds of cakes and almost never slept. She told us she was fine every time we asked, which was more or less constantly. But on the very rare occasions when she was left alone, Mercy would unfailingly end up in the field behind the Lee house, gazing out into the forest of western hemlock trees with tears snaking silently down her cheeks, the muted light of the cloud-covered setting sun flickering red and furious on her face like wildfire.

And then one afternoon, a package had arrived from Arviat, Canada, where Cato and the rest of the surviving Draghi had relocated shortly after the rebellion at Vladivostok. It was five feet tall and another three wide, and what we found after carefully peeling away all those layers of foam padding and packing tape was a portrait of Gwilym so skillfully painted that it could have been mistaken for a photograph. Mercy had stared at it for a long time—ignoring Lucy’s attempts to guide her away, deaf to any of our concerns—until she at last picked up the portrait herself and said, quite evenly: “I think we should hang it in the living room, don’t you?”

Things had been better since then—very, very gradually, and yet unmistakably—and Gwil’s portrait remained mounted above the living room couch like a watchman, his eyes sparkling and blue, his faint smile stoic and fond and omniscient. But even in the wake of Mercy’s continued improvement, none of us kids were about to risk another agonizingly despondent Christmas. So the solution was obvious. We would keep Mercy preoccupied with what thrilled her more than absolutely anything else: the pseudo-weddings of her children. Rami and Lucy had already secretly volunteered to go next year...and after that, who knew? And there was one other thing that was making Mercy’s burden a little lighter these days.

Charlie sauntered into the living room, wearing an apron covered in cartwheeling Santas and wiping white dust like snow—powdered sugar? flour? baking soda?—from his ungainly hands. He was palpably proud. “The sugar cookies are officially in the oven. And I managed to fit them all on one baking sheet, isn’t that great?! Cuts down on dishes!”

“Why, yes, I suppose it does!” Mercy said, alarm dawning in her eyes. Had my beloved father placed the globs of dough too close together? Would we end up with one hideous, giant monster-cookie? Only time would tell. Providentially, Archer and Joe could be counted on to eat just about anything.

Joe sniffed the air, his forehead crinkling. “What’s burning?”

“Nothing should be burning,” Mercy replied, almost defensive, forever protective of Charlie and all of his profound, incurably human imperfections. Sometimes I thought that she preferred him that way, that he was a link to a simpler world in the same way I had once been, that he was a puddle of memory she could drop into, that maybe he wasn’t so unlike her first husband Arthur. “Not yet, anyway. The cookies need at least ten to twelve minutes at 350.”

“Wait, 350?!” Charlie exclaimed, horrorstruck. “I thought you said 450!”

“Oh, this is tragic,” Scarlett said.

“I can fix it!” Mercy trilled buoyantly, breezing off to the kitchen as Charlie followed after her with a fountain of apologies. She shushed them away affectionately, patting his chest with her soft plump hands, chuckling about how luckily they had fire extinguishers stowed away in almost every closet just in case. And there were other reasons for that besides Charlie’s perilous baking attempts, but he didn’t know them. Now the record player was belting out Queen’s Thank God It’s Christmas.

Archer lost another round in Mario Kart and exhaled a great, mournful sigh. “Hey, Baby Swanpire, can you do something about this guy?” He nodded to Rami. “This is criminal. It’s nowhere near a fair fight. He knows every freaking time I’m about to toss a banana peel.”

Rami smirked guiltily up at me from the couch, not bothering to deny it.

“Do you mind?” I asked him.

“Not at all,” Rami replied. “I want to show this loser I can beat him even without the benefit of mega-cool extrasensory superpowers.”

“Rude!” Archer cried.

“So rude,” Scarlett agreed, smiling.

“Okay, here we go.” I sat down beside Rami, still holding Ben’s envelope in my right hand, and laid my left against Rami’s cheek. And I felt a fistful of numbness—like instant peace, like milk-white Novocain—pass from my skin into his, rolling into his skull, deadening whatever telepathic livewires had been ignited there in the August of 1916. The effect would last anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours; and it worked on every vampire I’d met so far.

“Whoa, trippy,” Rami murmured. “It’s still weird, every single time.” He peered drowsily around the room. “It’s...so...quiet?! You guys really live like this? No one is constantly bombarding you with sexual fantasies or romantic pining or depressive inner monologues? How do you function?! Now I’m alone with my own thoughts, that’s actually worse!”

“Hurry up and beat him while he’s all freaked out and vulnerable,” Scarlett told Archer.

Archer laughed, picking up his Nintendo 64 controller, radiant with the promise of vengeance. “Yes ma’am.”

“Any good mail?” Lucy asked Joe.

“Yeah. Coupons and a ton of Christmas cards from random people. The vet sent us one with alpacas on it, so that’s cute. Oh, and here’s one from our favorite Canadians.”

Joe held up the card so we could all see. The picture on the front showed Cato and Honora sitting on a large velvet, forest green couch with a hulking Christmas tree illuminated in the background. The others were arranged around them: Austin, Max, Ksenia, Charity, Araminta, Akari, Morana, Phelan, Aruna, Adair, Zora, Sahel, and a few new faces I couldn’t name yet. They were all wearing matching turtleneck sweaters. And every single one of them was smiling.

Joe cleared his throat theatrically and read the text on the inside of the card:

“Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

(Oh, and Scarlett, congratulations on your not-marriage.)

- Cato Douglass Freeman”

“That bastard,” Scarlett muttered.

Rami offered me his controller. He had just slipped on a banana peel and rocketed off a cliff. “You want a turn?”

“No, thanks though. I have to talk to Ben. Is he around?”

Rami shrugged ruefully. “I would help, but my brain is temporarily broken.”

Scarlett rolled her eyes, taking a gingerbread cookie from the tray and biting into it as Lucy batted crumbs from the red lace dress, exasperated. “I think he’s out in the hot tub.”

“Cool. I shall return.”

Joe took my spot on the couch as I departed, shoveling cookies into his mouth, seizing Rami’s controller and kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

I opened the door to the back porch, and frigid December air rushed in like an uninvited guest. The field was coated with a thin layer of snow, the animals safe and warm in the barn, the garden slumbering. And in the spring and summer, when blossoms of a dozen different varieties came open beneath the drizzling grey skies, Mercy’s calla lilies didn’t bother my allergies at all. Nothing did anymore. Ben was indeed in the hot tub, puffing on his vape pen, wearing only a beanie hat and swim trunks.

“What flavor is that cartridge?” I asked as I approached. “Gummy bear?”

“Close. Strawberry doughnut.”

“Ohhhh, yum!” Ben passed me the vape pen, and I took a drag as I kicked off my boots and sat near him on the rim of the hot tub, slipping my bare feet beneath the steaming, roiling water. Then I handed his vape pen back. “So. Guess what I have for you.”

“Uh.” He glanced at the envelope. “Jury duty.”

“Better.”

“Someone I hate has jury duty.”

I flipped the envelope around so he could see the University of Chicago logo on the front.

“Oh god,” Ben moaned.

“Don’t you want to see what it says?”

“Not really,” he admitted, grimacing.

“Come on, Ben. Open it.”

“Nah.”

“Why not?!”

Ben sighed. “Look, if I open it and it’s bad news, it’s gonna make Christmas weird. Rami will know. They’ll all know. They’ll all feel bad for me and it’ll be pathetic and depressing and awkward. You can look if you want to, just don’t tell anyone else yet.”

“It’s not going to be bad news,” I said, tugging at the floppy top of his beanie hat. He swatted my hand away, but he was smiling grudgingly.

“You have positively no way of knowing that. Unless Lucy’s had a vision I’m unaware of.”

“She hasn’t. You know she never sees anything important.”

“She saw you coming,” Ben countered.

“She saw human-me and Joe in love and gobbling down pretzels at a Cubs game. So I’d say there were at least a few minor details missing.”

“There’s no way I got in,” Ben said, his green eyes slick and fearful and now fixed on the envelope. “We can’t all be geniuses like you.”

“That’s an unfair accusation. I’m far from genius. I’m just obsessed with the ocean.” I’d written my senior thesis on the feeding habits of Pacific angelsharks, and my advisor was still trying to figure out how I, an amateur scuba diver at best, had managed to get so many quality photographs with my underwater camera. The secret, of course, was superhuman agility and not needing to breathe.

“I fucking hate calculus. The MCAT wrecked me. I got a 517.”

“And their median score is a 519, so I’d say you still have a fighting chance. Plus you have like eight million volunteer hours.” Ben had spent the vast majority of the past year either in class or at the hospital. The psychiatrist-in-chief, Dr. Siegel, had been more than happy to take one of Gwil’s foster children under her wing. Every human in Forks except Archer believed that Dr. Gwilym Lee had drowned in a tragic boating accident while he and Mercy were on vacation in Southern California, and that his body had never been recovered. The town had held a wonderful remembrance ceremony and dedicated a free clinic at the hospital in his honor. “Now open it.”

“You do it,” Ben relented finally. “My hands are wet. Go ahead, open it up and tell me what it says. And then kindly euthanize me to end my immortal shame.”

“That wouldn’t work,” I pointed out, tearing open the envelope. I pulled out the tri-folded piece of paper inside, flattened it against my thighs, and read the typed black text.

“...Well?” Ben pressed, vaping frantically.

I looked up and smiled at him.

“No way,” he whispered.

“I hope you like pretzels and bear-themed baseball teams, grandpa.”

And for a second, I thought he might bolt up out of the hot tub, hooting victoriously, splashing water all over the back porch as he danced around bellowing that he’d gotten into one of the best medical schools in the world, that he would be following me and Joe to Chicago. But that wasn’t Ben. Instead, a slow smile rippled across his face: it was small, but perfectly genuine. Pure, even.

“Goddamn,” he said, watching me. Venom doesn’t just resurrect or ruin; it forms a bond that is simultaneously intangible and yet immense. It’s an evolutionary adaptation, a way to facilitate stability and the building of covens in an often violent and ruleless world. And now that he had turned me, Ben had family here in Forks in more ways than one.

“Gwil would be so proud of you, Ben.”

“I hope so. I really do.”

The back door of the house opened, and Joe stepped outside. He studied Ben for a moment, and that was all it took for him to know. “Benny!” he shouted, elated.

“I know, I know. Fortunately, I look amazing in red. Thanks, supermodel genes.”

“This is going to be so fun!” Joe said, sprinting over to wrap Ben—who was characteristically lukewarm on this whole physical displays of affection business—in a hug from just outside the hot tub. “We’re going to go furniture shopping, and eat deep-dish pizza, and find apartments right next to each other, and mail home Chicago-themed care packages, and get you hooked up with some gorgeous Italian woman...or whatever you like, I guess I shouldn’t assume. Women. Men. Gang members. Marine mammals. Jessicas. Whatever. There are options.”

Ben laughed as he playfully shoved Joe away. “Sounds like a plan, pagliaccio.”

“Oh my god, stop learning Italian without me! You realize you have to tell Mom now.”

“I will,” Ben agreed, with some trepidation. “I’ll wait until after Christmas.”

“It’ll be hard for her,” I said. “But she knows it’s what you want. She knows it’s what’s best for you. So she’ll get through it. I think it would be worse for her if you didn’t get in, if she had to see you unhappy.”

Ben nodded, exhaling strawberry-doughnut-flavored vapor, gazing up at the stars, Orion and Auriga and Lynx and Perseus reflected in his thoughtful jade eyes. “She’ll still have Rami and Lucy and Scarlett here with her. And Archer. And Charlie.”

“Especially Charlie,” Joe said, grinning.

Mercy would have to leave Forks eventually, of course. The Lees had already been here for nearly four years; they could stay another ten, perhaps fifteen at the absolute maximum. And there had been a time when ten or fifteen years seemed like quite a while to me, but now it felt like I could doze off one afternoon and wake up on the other side of it, like swimming a lap in the sun-drenched public pool back in Phoenix. We would find a new home somewhere after Joe and I finished our PhDs, after Ben finished medical school, maybe Vancouver or Buffalo or Amsterdam or Edinburgh or Dublin or Reykjavik. Wherever we went, I hoped it wouldn’t be far from the sea. But Mercy couldn’t bear to leave Forks yet. It was the last home she had shared with Gwil, the last house they would ever build together, and leaving it would make his loss all the more irrevocable. She would be ready to leave someday, but not today.

In the meantime, there would still be visits for breaks and holidays. Scarlett and Archer had the shop to keep them busy, a brand new eight-car garage that held a virtual monopoly on both the Forks and Quileute communities. Lucy had opened a bohemian-style clothing boutique downtown, which confounded most of the locals but attracted more adventurous customers from as far away as Seattle. Rami was interning for a local immigration lawyer and entertaining the possibility of applying to U Chicago’s law school in another few years. And Mercy had the farm; and she had Charlie. He had asked her for cooking lessons to try to help rouse her a few months after Gwil’s death, and it had grown from there. If it wasn’t romantic just yet, I believed it would be soon. And there were moments when I thought my father might have figured something out, when his eyes narrowed and lingered on me just a little too long, when his brow knitted into suspicious, searching lines, when the hairs rose on the back of his neck and some innate insight whispered that we weren’t like him and never could be again. But then he would chuckle, shake his head, and say: “You’ve gotten weird, my gorgeous, brilliant progeny. But Forks looks pretty good on you.”

“Can I talk to you upstairs?” Joe asked me suddenly; and did I see restless nerves flicker in his dark eyes? I thought I did.

“Sure,” I replied, climbing down from the hot tub. “Ben, are you coming inside? My dad is trying to bake Christmas cookies and failing miserably. It’s pretty hilarious. Not that you should be the one to critique other people’s kitchen-related accidents.”

“I do enjoy your company a lot more now that I don’t want to murder you and slurp you down like a Chick-fil-A milkshake,” Ben said. “Yeah, give me a few minutes and I’ll be there.” And as Joe and I headed into the house, I saw Ben pick up the acceptance letter that I’d left on the rim of the hot tub and read it for himself with incredulous eyes, grappling with the irrefutable fact that it was his name on the opening line, that he had somewhere along the way become the sort of man who dedicated his immortality to saving lives rather than ending them.

In the living room, Scarlett was back in her yoga pants and absolutely brutalizing Archer in Mario Kart. Rami and Lucy were entwined together on the loveseat, murmuring, giggling, feeding each other pieces of gingerbread cookies. In the kitchen, Charlie was leading Mercy in a clumsy waltz to Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything For Love, and each time he fumbled his steps or mortifyingly trod on her feet she would cry out in a peal of laughter brighter than the sun she had learned to live without. Joe spirited me up the staircase, into his bedroom—which, honestly, was more like our bedroom now, in the same way that my room in Charlie’s house had become Joe’s as well—and closed the door.

“You’re in luck,” he said. “Your dad totally ruined our song. Now I can’t hear it without thinking about some moustached guy in plaid trying to seduce my mom.”

“It’s the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for. Meat Loaf is vanquished. Oh, just so you’re aware, Renee and Paul are getting an Airbnb and coming up for New Years.”

“Cool. Do they still think I have a super embarrassing sunlight allergy and will break into hives and asphyxiate and that’s why we can’t visit them in Florida?”

“Yup.”

“Spectacular. Also, can you please tell me what’s wrong with my eyelashes?”

“They’re just a little sparse, amore. But I still like you.”

“Well, I am only moderately attractive, you know.” Then Joe steeled himself, taking a deep breath. Uh oh. He was definitely nervous. I still couldn’t believe I had the power to make him that way, but here we were. “So I get that we’re doing presents with the whole family tomorrow morning, and you do have some under the tree, so don’t worry about that. But there’s one I wanted to give to you alone. You know. With just us. Without an audience. Or whatever.”

“...Okay...?” A secret gift? A naughty gift? “I hope it’s a new vibrator.”

“Shut up,” Joe begged, laughing. “Here.” He reached into the drawer of his nightstand—our nightstand—and produced a small blue box topped with a turquoise bow. It wasn’t a ring, I was sure of that; I didn’t feel especially attached to the idea of marriage, and neither did Joe to my knowledge. How could rings or papers seal commitment when you already had eternity? I was right: the mysterious present was not a ring. When I removed the lid and emptied the box into my palm, what appeared there was a small plastic airplane.

“What is this?” I asked, amused but puzzled.

“Are you not college educated? It’s a plane.”

“Well, yeah, I can see that. But it’s also like two inches long.” I scrutinized the plane. “Are you magically transforming me into a tiny, tiny, little plastic person? Is that my gift? Because I actually got you something good.” And I really did: there was a collection of vintage Chicago Cubs photographs from the 1910s and 20s downstairs under the Christmas tree, packaged in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer wrapping paper.

“We’re going on a trip,” Joe said, grinning. “The day after Christmas. It’s just a short trip, nothing huge, don’t get too excited, we’re not going to Mt. Everest or Antarctica or anything. I think you’ll still like it. But I don’t want you to know where we’re going until we’re there.”

“How will that work? Considering the tickets and signage and pilot announcements and obnoxiously noisy other passengers and all.”

“ScarJo’s going to fly us.”

“Really?!” We were taking the jet. We almost never used the jet. “What’s in it for Scarlett?”

“She found out that Archer’s never had In-N-Out Burger before and is very much looking forward to initiating him into the cult of deliciousness.”

“Oh nice. I could go for a vanilla milkshake myself, now that Ben mentioned them.”

“Obviously I’m gonna buy you all the milkshakes and animal-style fries you want. Bankrupt me, bitch. But we have to get one other thing taken care of first.”

“So it’s somewhere they have In-N-Out Burger...” I pondered aloud. California? Texas? Las Vegas? I felt a brief but unambiguous pang of homesickness for Phoenix. But there was nothing there for me anymore.

“Stop,” Joe pleaded. “I’m sorry. I’ve already said too much. Please forget that. Get a traumatic brain injury or oxygen deprivation or something.”

“I hate to disappoint you, but I’m rather indestructible at the moment.”

He smiled wistfully. “I wouldn’t want you to be any other way.”

There was laughter downstairs in the living room. I could detect the aroma of a fresh batch of sugar cookies baking in the kitchen, mingling with the cold night air and pine trees and peppermint candy canes. I loved Christmas. The entire world smelled like Joe. The U Chicago décor, classic rock posters, and Italian flag were now interspersed with National Geographic pages and photos of the two of us together. The Official Whatever You Want Pass hung in a small, square picture frame on the wall above Joe’s bed. Our bed.

“How real is it, Joe?” I asked quietly. I climbed onto my tiptoes, linking my hands around the back of his neck with the tiny plane still tucked between my fingers. “Seriously. The wishes thing.”

“The world may never know. Akari never met me as a human, so she wouldn’t be able to say. But if I had to place a bet...” He shrugged, grinning craftily. “Kinda real. Kinda not real. Just like vampires, I guess.”

“I am alarmingly glad that you’re real, mob guy,” I said, abruptly somber. “I never thought I’d meet someone who saw me as remarkable, who could make me see myself that way. And it’s miraculous. And it’s terrifying too, honestly. Being a thing with you. Falling for someone you could have for centuries and lose in a second.”

“It’s the scariest thing there is,” Joe concurred, taking my hand to lead me back downstairs.

Joseph

Scarlett looks like a goddess, and she knows it. But she’s not one of those magnanimous, fragile, harp-plucking, pastel-colored goddesses. She’s ferocity and wildness and crimson like blood, and that’s exactly why Archer loves her. And as they stand in front of the Christmas tree with their hands clasped together—ivory on bronze, snow on sun—with matching sprigs of holly in Scarlett’s hair and pinned to the jacket of Archer’s suit, reciting truths but no promises, I can’t help but watch the other faces in the room: Rami, Lucy, Ben, Charlie, Mom with her beaming smile and shining eyes, the woman I met sixteen months ago and now can’t fathom life without. And it occurs to me for the first time that love, in its cleanest form, isn’t something that changes people as much as it allows them to become who they truly are.

On the evening of December 26th, as soon as the sun dips beneath the western horizon, we board the jet in the Forks Airport hangar. It’s much easier for Scarlett to fly at night; otherwise she has to wear two or three pairs of sunglasses on top of each other, and even then it’s still painful, it still feels like blinding needles burrowing into the jelly of her retinas. That’s not a wrench in my plans or anything. It needs to be night where we’re going, too.

Vampire hyper-acuity notwithstanding, FAA regulations require Scarlett to have a copilot, so Archer joins her in the flight deck with his newly-minted license and spends most of the journey flipping through the latest issue of Motor Trend. As we begin our descent, he peeks back at us and teases: “It’ll be your turn eventually, guys. Scarlett and I did our time. Rami and Lucy can go next year. And after that...unless Ben happens to find someone worthy of a not-wedding...” He wiggles his black eyebrows.

“Bring it on,” I reply casually. “Fake wedding are my jam. It’ll be ocean themed. Or Roaring ‘20s themed. And we’ll all do the Cha-Cha Slide in the living room and shame Ben as a bonding activity.”

“Mercy can set up a mashed potatoes bar,” Baby Swan adds.

“Yeah. With pineapple.”

“No. Not on potatoes.”

“Yes on potatoes.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Too late,” I tell her, touching my lips to the knuckles of her cool, steady hand.

We touch down at a small noncommercial airport just outside the city, and Scarlett and Archer stay back to secure the plane as Baby Swan follows me outside. And she realizes where we are as soon as the wind hits her, as soon as her eyes soak up the sand and cacti and cloudless night sky like rain swallowed up by parched earth.

“Phoenix,” she whispers, smiling like a child.

“But wait, there’s more!” I announce in my best Billy Mays voice. I take the little glass bottle from my pocket, walk across the runway to the naked desert, crouch down when I find a suitable spot, and fill the bottle with dry, sandy earth that crumbles in my palms. Then I seal the bottle with a tiny cork and bring it back to give it to her.

“I know what it’s like to have to leave home,” I say. “You’ve had to say goodbye to Phoenix, and soon you’ll have to say goodbye to Forks, and next will be Chicago, on and on forever. You’ll always be leaving the places you learn to call home. Every five or ten or fifteen years, we start over again. Like a snake shedding its skin, like a hermit crab swapping shells. Like the water that travels from rain to seawater to mist and then back again. But now you can always have a little piece of home with you, and maybe that will make it easier.”

She takes the glass bottle and shakes her head in disbelief, in wonder. Because this is exactly what she wanted, what she needed, even if she didn’t know it yet. “Joe...how did you...?”

“What’d I tell ya? I’m a talented guy. Now you have to dance with me.”

She laughs. “Oh no. Hard pass. I don’t dance.”

“When we’re alone in my bedroom you do. So just pretend we’re alone now. In, like, a really really spacious, sandy bedroom. With probably some lizards.”

“Fine. But only because I’m willing to degrade myself for milkshakes.”

She slides the glass bottle of Arizona earth into her pocket and takes my hands. She’s still a pretty terrible dancer, honestly. She hasn’t lost that. And I love that about her. I love damn near everything about her. And it took me a long time to figure out what exactly her subtle yet peerless cocktail of fragrance is, because it wasn’t somewhere I’d ever been. The scent that drifts from her pores—the scent that now lives in my bedsheets like a shadow or a ghost—is sunlight and heat and clarity and resilience and wisdom older than the pyramids. Her scent is the desert.

Now she’s mischievous, her eyes gleaming with the reflections of the Milky Way and the full moon and the stars that are dead and yet eternal, just like us. “So what, you think you’re Vampire Boyfriend Of The Year material now or what? Some dirt and In-N-Out Burger? That’s the height of your game? Is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of my perpetual existence? I totally should have pursued that polyamorous triad with Scarlett and Archer when I had the chance—”

“Yeah,” I say, very softly, smiling, tilting up her chin to kiss her beneath the universe and all its eccentricities. “I love you too.”

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elliotthezubat · 7 years ago

Text

DEATH CITY DAYS CHAPTER 91

from plays, to hero exams, jailbreak jobs and major storms.

Arthur: *knocks on Tamaki's door*

tamaki: it's open.

Arthur: *enters* "Hello..." *sits next to her on the bed*

tamaki: whats up?

Arthur: "..." *drops his head on her lap* "Please don't leave me for the Sun God."

tamaki: ./////. *holds him* im not.

Arthur: *nods* "Thank you...I just wanted to see." *hug*

tamaki:....*hug* i love you, you know.

Arthur: "I love you, too..." *sniff*

tamaki:....*kiss*

Arthur: "Mmm..." *kiss, pats her hand*

-elsewhere-

lana: thanks for picking me up, guys.

rowena: it's no trouble. ^^

Poe: ^^ "How was your day?"

lana: went pretty well. had to clean vomit today, so _thats_ there. -_-;

rowena: yikes.

Poe: -~- "Awful. Some guests had too much to drink?"

lana: you could say that.

Poe: "Hmph. How irresponsible. Well, we can focus on a good hearty meal."

lana: cheers to that.

Poe: "Maybe a good bowl of soup, or a delicious plate of grilled chicken with lemon, or..."

lenore: sunflower seeds.

rowena: ^^;

Poe: "Oh, they serve those at this restaurant, too! Such a wide selection when catering to so many different customers."

-elsewhere-

Inka: *asleep in her bedroom* "Zzz..."

{Inka: "Okay, you all know what to do?"}

{panda: yeah, we know. *his skin is charred*}

{Sancho: "Just give me a second." *his arm is missing, his left side blown out*}

{Inka: *stares...* "...What the hell..."}

{panda: why'd ya let us die, huh?}

{Inka: "..." *frowns* "You knew how this was. You know what I wanted. Not my fault you couldn't keep up--"}

{???: because you're a selfish coward.}

{Inka: *her eyes shift, forming the shape when activating her Adora* "You think so, huh?" *turns* "Say it to my face..."}

{inka?: *a corpse like inka stares back* selfish, little bitch.}

{Inka: "?!!! ...Who the hell are you?" *she backs up--bumping into Panda and Sancho, feeling their burnt skin* }

{inka?: isnt this what you want? to be so close to death like this?}

{Inka: "..." *smiles, but nervously* "Y-Yeah, it is...It's great!"}

{inka?: *right in her face* then why are you so nervous?}

{-the other inka is rotting at an alarming rate...-}

{Inka: *stares, still smiling, but feeling tears fall* "C-Cool, right?" *she wipes her face* "...?!!" *those aren't tears--it's blood*}

{other inka: *touches the original's face, before unhinging her jaw to swallow her head whole*}

{Inka: *screams, feeling Panda and Sancho holding her, as she is swallowed--*}

sasori: INKA!

Inka: *screams, bolting up-right in bed* *pants, looking at Sasori* "Wh-What..."

sasori: you were shaking....

Inka: "...I-I'm fine...Just a dream..." *wipes her brow, covered in sweat* "Th-That's all...What are you doing here?"

sasori: we have the same room, remember?

Inka: "...Right...I woke you, then?"

sasori: i wasnt even asleep.

Inka: "...Oh...Trouble sleeping?"

sasori:....maybe.

Inka: "..." *hug*

sasori: !!!!! i-inka?

Inka: "...Okay, good, you're not some ghost or something..." >\\\> *pat pat* "Sorry to bother you."

sasori:....7///7; *awkward pat* i-it's fine...just glad you're fine.

Inka: "...Thanks...bodyguard. Um...Could you...um..."

sasori:...*lets go* s-sorry.... 7///////7;;;

-morning-

Kid: *kitten yawn*

stocking: *already getting changed, trying to pick out an outfit* hmmmm

Kid: "Something for teaching? Or a meeting?"

stocking: should i do an office lady style? or should i go with a pantsuit?

Kid: "Maybe pantsuit for a change?"

stocking: sounds good. i'll even wear glasses to go with~ ^^

Kid: "Excellent." ^^

-elsewhere-

erina: zzzzz

Allison: *peeks in*

Jordan: "Zzzz..."

erina: *hugging him*

Allison: "..." -\\\u\\\- *carefully closes the door*

Jordan: *holds her, small murmur*

erina: *yaaawn* morning, jo.

Jordan: ^^ "Mornin'...Sleep okay?"

erina: yeah...thanks for last night. i-i know it wasnt much but, im glad you were there.

Jordan: "Hey, if you need anything, I want to help..." *soft pat of her hand*

erina: *hugs*

Jordan: ^\\\^ *pat pat*

-elsewhere-

Vulcan: *sets down breakfast* "Eat up."

yu: thanks for the meal!

lisa: *nom*

nozomi: thanks, vulcan.

Vulcan: "Any time! There's plenty more if you want it..." *sets down his art pad, doodling some shapes on it*

nozomi: what are you working on?

Vulcan: "You know how firefighters have those oxygen masks? I wanted to shrink the size of those while using lighter but denser materials without obstructing vision--and to, frankly, make them look more badass..." *he has drawings of dragons, demons, birds...*

nozomi: *points to one, a bird* that one looks nice.

Vulcan: "You like it? When I get the prototype ready, maybe you can try it out."

nozomi: i'd like that. ^^

Vulcan: "Cool...I think I'll have my work cut out for me--the Commander has me designing a ton of stuff for this trip..."

nozomi: how about one that's a turtle? OvO

Vulcan: "Aw, yeah!" *starts drawing*

-elsewhere-

Hyde: "Dude, a fight's happening in the hall!"

mahiru: wait seriously?!

Hyde: "Anya flipped a fool! You got to see it!"

mahiru: *looks outside*

Anya: *holding someone down* "WATCH YOUR HANDS NEXT TIME, OR YOU'LL LOSE THEM!"

mahiru: *glances*

Mineta: *pinned to the ground* Q____Q

mahiru: *walks away*

Hyde: *snaps pics*

Mineta: D: "HELP ME!"

ao:....*glances at a dust chute* he should be small enough to fit...

Anya: "Doing it!" *tosses him*

Mineta: "AAAAH--" *crashes into the chute*

-elsewhere-

Magaki: *looking at various contact lenses* "..."

clerk: see anything to your liking? ^^

Magaki: "What would look normal and assist with UV protection?"

clerk: hmm, let's see here.

Magaki: "I'll try the blue ones."

clerk: ah, and the sclerae color?

Magaki: "Normal?"

clerk: would you like white? or a different color?

Magaki: "...White."

clerk: alright then. *showing a few displays* what suits your fancy? ^^

Magaki: "..." *points to one on the left* "Let's try this one."

-elsewhere-

Tanizaki: "Yes...Yes, I understand. We'll call with any information...I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. Goodbye." *hangs up* "..." *sighs*

-knock knock knock-

Tanizaki: "Coming..." *looks through the peephole*

frances: *waves, holding a wagon full of flowers?*

Tanizaki: "???" *opens the door* "Hey!"

frances: hello~ i come bearing gifts~! *hands him a flower in a pot*

Tanizaki: "Neat--thanks! Dropping them off around the building?"

frances: indeed~ ^^ thought i'd bring some cheerful little blossoms to the building and its tenants~ ^^

Tanizaki: "Not a bad plan. You try the restaurant downstairs?"

frances: indeed i have~

atsushi: (she's even left flowers in all the agency apartments...) *sweatdrop*

Tanizaki: ^_^;;;; "Well, thank you."

frances: do take care of them now, and water them regularly. and do talk to them too.

Tanizaki: " 'Talk'? It helps them?"

frances: indeed~ ^^

kirako: i've heard about that.

atsushi: yeah, lucy does that too. ^////^

Tanizaki: "Huh...Um...Hi, little plant?"

-no comment...-

Tanizaki: "..." ^^; "Welcome...to our office?"

-elsewhere-

Steinbeck: *holding up a doll* "Want to play?"

lavinia: *staaaaare*

emily:... ^^; not very talkative, is she?

Steinbeck: "Well, a lot of kids have their own pace." *shakes the doll--and it talks--*

Doll: "I want to play!"

lavinia:....*sticks the doll in her mouth by its head*

Steinbeck: ^^; "See? She likes it!"

emily: ^^;;;;;;

Doll: *muffled* "I love you."

-CHOMP-

emily: ._________________.

lavinia: *chewing on the doll's head*

Steinbeck: TwT;;;

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: "Bandages off!"

mana: amazing how not even being all wrapped up stopped you from doing good deeds. thats determination right there.

Shotaro: "Yep!"

{Shotaro: *stamping paperwork for someone...with the stamp held between his teeth*}

{Shotaro: *walking dogs--while being pulled in a wheelchair* "MUSH! MUSH!"}

{Shotaro: *wrapped in bandages, stuffed into a pharaoh casket*}

nea: i'm both impressed and alarmed.

Shotaro: OwO "...Still not sure why they needed that last one..."

-elsewhere-

leroux: *walking in the hall*

Hirotsu: *adjusting his collar* *nods to Leroux*

leroux: afternoon, sir.

Hirotsu: *nods* "Afternoon. Could I ask you for some information?"

leroux: about what, per say?

Hirotsu: "You're involved in theatre, correct?"

leroux: why indeed. a stagehand in youth, and theatre aficionado, as it were. ^^

Hirotsu: "Ah, good--someone to speak with. I do miss going to shows. The last one was abysmal--the person playing Ophelia couldn't act her way out of a paper bag."

leroux: *LIGHTBULB* why dont we host a production here? *shiny eyes*

Hirotsu: "...Oh, thank God, someone finally recommends it! Yes, please, do! Which plays do you know?"

leroux: which ones DONT i know?! OvO

Hirotsu: "Excellent...but given the quality of, um...potential actors here..."

*Motojiro is talking to a lemon, Kafka is screaming into a pillow, Walter is asleep*

Hirotsu: "Perhaps a simpler play would be the best course of action."

leroux: hmmmm...i'll see what we can come up with!

Hirotsu: *nods* "Thank you."

-elsewhere-

Konro: "Fireworks, huh?"

fang-hua: yes. it's actually how i also discovered my ability, when my brother jin decided to light one in the house. i managed to hold the flame in place.

Konro: "Oh, no...Was anyone hurt?"

fang-hua: thankfully no. mom tells me grandpa had the abilities too.

Konro: "But not your mother, so it skipped a generation?"

fang-hua: most likely.

Konro: "How goes business for your family without you there?"

fang-hua: it goes pretty well. we get to bring in shipments to the harbor cities too.

Konro: "By ship?"

fang-hua: by ship, by wagon.

Tsukiyo: "Attach sparklers to the wagon wheels?"

fang-hua: no. *sweatdrop*

Tsukiyo: -3- "Boo."

Konro: ^^; "How are the language lessons going?"

fang-hua: they seem to be coming along well.

Tsukiyo: "What're you teaching them? Just enough to get around town?"

fang-hua: yeah. im also teaching them cultural customs and history.

Tsukiyo: "...Think you'll find out about the first fire demons?"

fang-hua: it's likely...

Tsukiyo: "Hope so..."

-elsewhere-

Spirit: *packing*

izumi: need help, dad?

Spirit: "Sure! Some of the beach stuff can go in the luggage."

izumi: ok!

*Looks like towels, sunscreen...seems to be something in the pocket of the swim trunks*

izumi:....*packing*

Spirit: "Just be careful with some of it--don't want anything getting lost."

-elsewhere-

tensei: *rolling on in*

Iida: "Brother..."

tensei: hey tenya. *smiles*

Iida: *weak smile*

tensei: pretty cool wheels, huh?

Iida: "Heh...Going to customize them?"

tensei: i think so. what do you think about silver with blue stripes?

Iida: "Th-That'd be great..."

tensei:...it's gonna be ok.

Iida: "..." *hug*

tensei: *hug*

Iida: *sniff, pat pat*

-elsewhere-

Todoroki: *sets out ice tea*

ochako: looks good.

Todoroki: "Thanks..." *looks at his watch* "Should be here soon..."

ochako: *looks around*

Izuku: "Hey!" *waves*

momo: hello.

ochako: hey guys.

tsuyu: *wave*

Todoroki: "Welcome. I ordered tea to start."

momo: thanks.

ochako: ^^

Izuku: *pulls out a chair for Tsuyu*

tsuyu: *sits down*

Izuku: "I've been wanting to try this place--looks peaceful..." *glances at the menu*

ochako: so how was the exams for you?

tsuyu: my stomach still feels weird.

ochako: yikes.

Izuku: "...Maybe some ginger ale?"

tsuyu: good call.

-elsewhere-

Patty: "Pass it to me! Pass it!"

riley: HA! *toss*

Patty: *catches* "Yay!"

*The toy laughs when tossed*

julie: *laughs*

Patty: "Catch, Jules!" *tosses softly*

-nice catch-

julie: i did it!

Lord Death Toy: "You did it--yay!"

-elsewhere-

Jun: "Okay, let's see them."

takuto: *holds up his drawing of his family*

mitsuba: DAWWWW SO CUTE!

Jun: "Great work!"

takuto: ^u^

Jun: *pat pat* "Let's hang it up..."

hyakuya:......

Jun: "Um...Hyakuya, up for getting us some snacks for lunch?"

hyakuya: oh yeah, sure.

Jun: "Thanks. Maybe celery with peanut butter?"

hyakuya: sounds good.

Jun: "And I'll get this posted..." *puts the drawing up on the fridge*

-it's of takuto, jun, yumikage, tsurugi...and shifumi-

Jun: "..." *sad smile*

hyakuya: .....

Jun: *hugs Takuto*

-elsewhere-

kirako:......!!! we need oranges.

Kyoka: "??? What?" *looks*

kirako: also do we have peanut butter?

Kyoka: "...I'll check." *goes to the cupboard* "Yes to peanut butter, not to oranges. I can pick some up."

kirako: thank you.

Kyoka: *nods* "I'll be back shortly." *exits*

-later-

Kyoka: *sets down the oranges and peanut butter* "...Soooooo..."

kirako: Q~Q you're such a good person kyoukaaaaaa *hugs her and sobs*

Kyoka: "...I...know?" *pat pat* "How are you?"

kirako: hungwy Q3Q

Kyoka: "...How about we peel oranges?"

-elsewhere-

Kafka: "...A play. Of all the things we need, right now...a play?"

leroux: yes.

Kafka: "..." *sighs, lowers his head* "Send me a budget projection report, I'll review it...What play?"

leroux: i...havent decided yet. ^^; there's so many to choose from! romeo and juliet, hamlet, the scottish play, sleeping beauty, cinderella, snow white, so many to choose from! >3<

Kafka: -_-; "Why do people insist on calling it 'The Scottish Play'..."

hans: we're back with groceries!

etta: ^^

Kafka: "... ... ..."

{Kafka: *haired swept back, in princely attire with a cape*}

{etta: my prince~<3}

{Kafka: *smiles* "Princess..." *sweeps her off her feet*}

{etta: *leans in*}

{Kafka: *smiles, closes his eyes, leans...*}

leroux: KAFKA? are you paying attention? *waves hand in front of him* HELLO? <friend?> Hellooooo?

Kafka: -3- "Mm...Mm...Mmm..."

leroux:....*sigh* <well damn.> .....girls, your assistance a moment?

etta: oh, hey roro.

hans: whats up?

leroux: i've been more-or-less commissioned for a play showing here! but im having trouble deciding which production to host.

Walter: *walks by* "Oh, neat!" *walks in* "Which plays are you looking at?"

wilhelm: *pokes his head in*

Jakob: "??? A play? It's not some mushy lovey stuff, is it?" *looking through Hans's grocery bag*

leroux: im trying to decide, but im having trouble. AH! MY MUSE! I BEG OF YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THIS DIRE TIME!

Walter: "...We could just put them on a dartboard and let fate decide."

Jakob: *tosses cinnamon rolls to Wilhelm*

wilhelm: awesome!

hans: you can have these later.

wilhelm: =3=#

Kafka: "Mmm~ ..." *opens his eyes* "... !!!!" .\\\\\.

hans: *hands them both apples* you can have these for now.

Jakob: -_- "Fine. It's sweet at least."

leroux: *lightbulb* I GOT IT! THANK YOU CHRISTINE, MY ANGEL! TTwTT

wilhelm: ?? whats up with him?

Walter: "??? What did Christine show you?"

leroux: the apple! i've made my decision! our showing shall be snow white!

Walter: "...Neat!"

wilhelm: =3= is there gonna be smooching?

Jakob: >~<

leroux: of course, it is the most pivitol scene after all.

wilhelm: eww gros-

etta: *shoves the apple into wilhelm's mouth* sounds wonderful, roro!

Kafka: .\\\\\\\.

wilhelm: DX

Jakob: ._.;

leroux: im kind of nervous too, this is the first time i've ever done any directing. _should_ i be directing or should i leave the task to someone more experienced?

hans: breathe in.

leroux: *INHALES*

hans: and out.

leroux: *exhale* merci.

hans: we can host auditions this weekend.

Jakob: "??? What, some goofy outfit and a fake beard?"

-elsewhere-

Giriko: "How's your sister holding up?"

kirika: doing better i think. classes have been helping her too.

Giriko: "Sounds like good news...Any hint she remembers more?"

kirika: not sure, but she's remembering bits and pieces.

Giriko: *nods* "Preacher keeping an eye on her?"

kirika: yeah. 7.7

Giriko: "...Need me to 'talk' to him?" *cracks his knuckles*

kirika: as much as i'd like to, i'm gonna have to decline for oriko's sake. no clue what she sees in him...

Giriko: "..." *opens his mouth to say something, stops...* "...Yeah."

-elsewhere-

Child: *crying* "I-I want to go home..."

guruna: oh child. this _is_ your home now. *smile*

Child: "No, it isn't! I want my daddy! Give him back!"

guruna:....your papa's in a better place now. and he's happy. and he'd want you to be happy here too. all your brothers and sisters are happy.

Child: "They aren't my brothers and sisters!" *collapses, covering their face, sobbing*

guruna:....child....are we going to have to punish you? *sickening smile*

Child: *tossing on the floor* "I want to go home!"

seraphim: *picks them up* i'll handle this one......*takes one of her feathers.....and burns the child's wrist*

Child: "AAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

-SLAP-

Child: *knocked down*

seraphim: stop squirming.

Child: "..." *their eyes look deadened*

seraphim: this is what happens to children who misbehave~

Child: "..." *stays lying on the floor*

seraphim: you can stay there on the ground until you learn your lesson....

sasori:......*walks away*

Child: "..." *curls up into the fetal position*

-elsewhere-

mono: *asleep*

*From outside her room, it smells like someone is cooking...*

mono: ?? *looks outside*

*Looks like Assi is cooking something in a skillet*

mono: ?? whats that?

Assi: "?!!! O-Oh, Mono...I-I was heating up some pizza bagels..."

mono: oh. *sits down*

Assi: *sets out two plates, then the bagels* "Sleep okay?" *smiles*

mono: yeah.

Assi: *sets down the bagel--it's...heart-shaped?*

mono: .... 7///7;

Assi: ^\\\^; "This house has some great cookie cutters..." *sits down*

mono: ........

Assi: "..." *awkward nom* >\\\\>

mono:.....i guess...

Assi: "??? ...So...How is it?"

mono: hmm? i-it's good. thanks.

Assi: ^\\\^ "You're welcome."

mono: hmm...

Assi: "...You, um, have something on your cheek." *hands a napkin*

mono: *wipes* t-thanks. =//=;

Assi: ^^ "I get excited for pizza stuff, too."

-elsewhere-

Benimaru: *sits down, holding his head*

kirei: *hug*

Benimaru: "...Thank you."

-elsewhere-

marie: *putting up posters*

Sid: *hangs another one*

sayaka: looks good!

nygus: thanks. mind helping out, this is so much work, its killing me.

sayaka: not a problem at all!

Sid: "..." Q_Q " 'Killing'?"

nygus: s-sorry, slip of the tongue.

Sid: "Y-Yeah, right--Death Child speak..."

sayaka: ^^ so what do you need help with?

Sid: "Well, you can pass out flyers, ask local businesses to put up the posters."

sayaka: *salutes* you got it, mr barrett!

Sid: *salute* "Thanks...If you run out, come back to pick up more."

sayaka: if all else fails, i can make my own flyers!

-elsewhere-

yana:........*stuffing a dead squirrel* .....

Ivan: "How's it coming along?"

yana:....<ok, i guess.> ......(i wonder.....why did i pick up this hobby to begin with?......its just trying to make something dead seem living, even though there's no life to it......perhaps by occupying myself with something so trivial.....im trying to make _myself_ feel alive.....) *sigh*

Ivan: "..." <It looks lifelike.>

yana:... (doesnt mean it's _alive_.)

Ivan: <You're quite good at it--very creative with the pose...>

yana: hmm....

-elsewhere-

Arthur: *holds up two images against each other--a photo of Qingdao, and a drawing of Avalon*

tamaki: what are you doing?

Arthur: "I think...I know what caused the Great Disaster. It was...King Arthur's Holy Sword!"

shinra: i dont think that's what it was.

tamaki:......*excalibur face* i wouldnt be surprised if it were, though.

Arthur: "See? Tamaki supports my hypothesis. Why can't you be more supportive?"

shinra: *sweatdrop*

Arthur: *points to the images* "See? Similar designs. King Arthur likely ventured forth to this location, did something with the Holy Sword, caused a fire, then we get Flame Humans. All we need is the Lady of the Lake to restore balance."

-elsewhere-

Master: *sets out rice crispy treats shaped like bunnies*

mio: easter stuff already?

ao: it's april.

Meme: "When it's that cute, I'm not complaining!"

mio: oh. my brain was still in february.

Master: *nods* "I wanted some new menu items for the spring."

tsugumi: hmmm. *thinking*

Master: "Tsugumi?"

tsugumi: *idea* how about omurice chicks?

Master: "Huh. Yeah, I can add those."

-elsewhere-

Gin: "So, you're auditioning?"

higuchi: yeah. i auditioned once for the very snow white role in middle school....i ended up being the bottom half of the horse.

Gin: "..." *small laugh* "I-I'm sorry..."

higuchi: this is my chance to make up for past mistakes! *determined*

Gin: "Yes! ...Who do you think will be Charming in this play?"

higuchi: not sure.

Gin: "...Well, I look forward to the play. And I will not be jealous of whoever plays Charming. At all."

Walter: "Hi! I'm here to audition for--"

*SNITK*

Walter: QwQ;;;

higuchi: gin, easy.

Gin: *holding a kunai* "..." *exhale*

-elsewhere-

madoka: *nuzzle* ^///^

Rin: ^\\\^ *puts an arm around her*

madoka: *tail pet* hehe ^^

Rin: .\\\\. "heh..."

madoka: fluffy. ^^

Rin: "Yes, it is...Is it okay?"

madoka: *nod* it's kinda cute, actually.

Rin: .\\\\. "Really~?"

madoka: ^^ *cheek smooch*

Rin: *soft shudder* "Th-Thanks..." *holds her hand*

-elsewhere-

tamaki: *checking her horoscope*

Iris: "Anything interesting?"

tamaki: hmmmm, 'your dreams will take you on a fantastic journey'... huh.

Iris: "Usually they say something a little more, I don't know, tangible?"

tamaki: *looks again*

Iris: "Hmm...The one for Shinra mentions 'Something is coming up.' I wonder what that means."

-elsewhere-

Motojiro: "I got the chemicals for the theater fog and magic explosions!"

hans: thank you, just be careful that the kids dont get into it.

Motojiro: "Right! After all, dry ice requires keeping the hands free from the CO2--" *opens the box* "..." OwO; "...Where did it go?"

ayako: got it right here!

Motojiro: *loud exhale* "Thank goodness..." *puts on gloves* "Hand it here..."

-elsewhere-

Hirotsu: *seated* "Okay, next auditioning for the role of the Queen..."

kouyou: hello~ ^^

Hirotsu: "Ah, Kouyou, welcome. Do you need another copy of the script, or are you ready?"

kouyou: i'm ready. ^^

etta: miss kouyou does have a queenly nature to her, huh?

leo: i'm certain she'd be perfect for the role.

katya: what about the witch?

leo: ._.;

Hirotsu: "Traditionally the Queen also plays the Witch."

kouyou: =3=

pushkin:....*meekly raises his hand* i can handle the witch maybe?

katya: *manly tears* you are such a goddamn trooper.

Hirotsu: "That'll be up for auditions..." *hands him the script*

pushkin: *SALUTES*

Hirotsu: "Um..." *half-hearted salute* "That leaves auditioning for Charming and Snow White..."

tachihara:.... (ok, this could be my chance! even if it is a play! it's something!)

-elsewhere-

Yumi: *making flower crowns with Shiori*

shiori: ^u^

Yumi: "I'm sure your father and siblings will love these..."

shiori: piddy! [translation; pretty!]

Yumi: "Yes, they are pretty!" *adjusts the one for Kid* "Just have to make this one a little more even on the sides..."

-elsewhere-

Stein: *finds a photo on his desk* "???" *picks it up*

-it's a picture of stein, spirit, kami, marie, nygus, sid, and yumi when they were students-

Stein: "Hmm...Haven't seen this in a bit."

valentine: old class photo?

Stein: *nods* "We all looked different..."

-elsewhere-

Relan: *reviewing a medical book*

komori: [learning medical training?]

Relan: *nods* "Just more first aid for now...I felt next to useless in the last attack, that many people injured..."

komori: ....

Relan: "...Sorry. Need to stop my self-pity. It's just...Shinra injured, that person he found still in the hospital..."

komori: [its understandable]

Relan: *nods* "It's going to be more difficult with fewer people here--down one nun, one hero, one...whatever Arthur is."

komori: ^^;

Relan: "At least Victor knows some science--hope he or someone in command knows medicine."

-elsewhere-

Asura: *shivers*

mikan:...the moon looks lovely tonight, doesnt it?

Asura: "..." *looks up* "...I suppose..."

mikan:...*nuzzle* u///u

Asura: =\\\= *wraps his arms--and scarves--gently in embrace*

mikan: hehe ^^

Asura: "...The moonlight reveals so much..."

mikan: *hug*

Asura: *strokes her head*

-elsewhere-

Hirotsu: "Okay, auditions turned out well...What do you think of the candidates?"

leroux: looks to be quite promising.

etta: this is my first time being an acting coach. im so excited~

Hirotsu: "Good...Should also consider any understudies needed. Miss Hoffman, interested?"

etta: ^u^

Hirotsu: "Let's see..." *checks off the list* "And the dwarves are learning their lines?"

leroux: madame leo is helping them now.

Jakob: "Will the real apple be poisoned?"

leroux: no.

wilhelm: =3= well _that's_ lame.

Jakob: "Are there sword fights?"

leroux: well... ^^;

Hirotsu: "There's, um...dancing?" ^^;

Jakob: "...That is awful, old man."

wilhelm: =3=

Hirotsu: *stabbed* Q_Q

hans: *CHOP* behave you two.

wilhelm: Q~Q

Jakob: "WAH!" T~T

leroux: ^^;;;

Walter: "??? Kafka, you okay, buddy?"

Kafka: *curled up in a ball* "I am the lowly pillbug..." T~T

etta: *pap pap* its ok, kiddos, we can play sword fight later, ok?

wilhelm: YAAAY!

Jakob: QwQ

hans: use the foam swords!

Jakob: >_> "Fine..."

leroux: ^^.....kafka?

Kafka: *still curled up* <What?>

leroux: erm... *in german* <is something mattering?>

Kafka: <I-I'm fine! It's just...um...The expenses! Yes, this play is too, um, expensive...> *looks away...spots Etta* >\\\\>

leroux:..... 7v7 suuuure it is.

Kafka: "?!!!" *small roach hiss*

leroux: xwo;;;;;;

Kafka: >\\\\~\\\\< <Don't say a word...>

-elsewhere-

Magaki: "...I can't see a reflection, so I don't know how they look."

tsubaki: they look lovely. ^^

Magaki: "...O-Okay. That should be good enough. Thank you. Maybe people will not stare so much..."

-elsewhere-

Kyoka: "She has been...well, odd."

atsushi: yeah...

Kyoka: "Is this normal? I mean, she seems healthy..."

atsushi: probably pregnancy stuff.

Kyoka: "Hmm...Weird." *shrugs* "Just keep an eye on her."

-elsewhere-

Chuuya: "How are preparations?"

pushkin: lot's of painting. *phew*

katya: *hammering*

Chuuya: "...Well, don't huff it."

katya: hmm hmm.....

-there seem to be faded war scars on her body-

Chuuya: "..." *looking at the scars*

katya:...<what?>

Chuuya: *looks at Pushkin* "...What was..."

-he's already back to work-

Chuuya: "...Hmph." *sets up props*

-elsewhere-

Akitaru: "How's packing going?"

shinra: pretty good. vulcan said he was making some masks for us.

Akitaru: "Oh? Halloween's not for a while..."

tamaki: he means gas masks.

shinra: yeah that.

-elsewhere-

sonia: zzzzzz

-in her dream, she appears to be walking up the stairs of a large crystaline palace-

sonia: ??

-eventually, she finds a door with an odd symbol on it and opens it to a white room-

sonia: hello? *enters*

-when she reaches the center, the floor shatters and she falls-

sonia: AH!

-when she lands, she is in a field of wildflowers, unharmed. she looks up to see a strange girl with white eyes with red crosses in them looking at her-

sonia: *blinks*

girl: hiya!

sonia: huh?

girl: *staaaaaare*

sonia:...what?

girl: ....oh! are you that person's daughter?

sonia: who are you-

-mew-

sonia: *she wakes up* nnhuh?

mito: *nuzzles and purrs*

sonia:... *pet pet* good kitty.... (that girl....who was she?)

*The door opens a crack*

sonia: papa?

Chuuya: *peeks in* "You okay?"

sonia: y-yeah...*yaaawn*

Chuuya: "...It's time to get up. Are you feeling okay?"

sonia: yes, papa. *rubs her eyes*

Chuuya: "...Did you sleep okay?"

sonia: *nod nod*

Chuuya: *nods* "Okay. Wash up--I'm setting out breakfast."

sonia: i will.

-elsewhere-

sero: Q____Q

mina: TTwTT write back to us from the camp, ok?

Izuku: O_O "Well...I mean, nothing is official yet. Maybe you did pass--"

sero: i really hope you jinxed it.

Denki: *grabs Izuku by the shoulders* "THAT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY! WE FLUNKED THE PRACTICAL! AND IT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY WHEN YOU FREAKING PASSED!!!" *violently shaking Izuku*

Izuku: *stammering, vibrating* "I aM SOrrY!!!"

jirou: calm down, kaminari, the teacher's gonna be here soon.

Denki: "DON'T SAY THAT! IT'LL BE ANOTHER JINX--"

Aizawa: *sits up from the back row in a sleeping bag* "Jinx what?"

mina:....how long has he been there?

Aizawa: "Around the part where Kaminari was shaking Midoriya like a snow globe."

Izuku: Q_Q "...Why didn't I see him..."

Aizawa: *yawns*

-everyone takes their seats-

Aizawa: *unzips, hangs the sleeping bag on the coat hook* "Okay. So, some of you failed the exam. Therefore..."

sero: TT_TT damn you mineta.

Mineta: D:<

Aizawa: "You're going on the camping trip."

everyone: WAIT WHAT?!

eijiro: b-but-but the practical exam-

Aizawa: "You all passed the written exam, but Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Sato, and Mineta failed the practical exam."

sero: what about me?!

Aizawa: "You also failed."

sero: TT~TT

mina: *pats his back* im sorry you had to be put through that, sero.

tsuyu: *pap pap*

Mineta: "What about me? I lost, too." Q_Q

tsuyu: *tosses him into the trash bin*

Mineta: *muffled shouts*

Aizawa: "But the practical wasn't pass-fail: it was specifically designed around your strengths and weaknesses, with tasks and teachers best suited to where you need to strategize how to win. After all, against those teachers at full strength, you didn't stand a chance anyway."

ojiro: so then, when you said you were going to crush us-

Aizawa: "A ploy to motivate you. After all, what kind of monster would deny students from going on a _training_ trip?"

sero: ._.;

mina: ._.;

eijiro: ._.;

Aizawa: "Call it a rational deception."

Iida: *making a Ffffffffffffffff-- face*

Aizawa: "Those who 'failed' will have special supplemental lessons. Enjoy."

-elsewhere-

Walter: *looking at the cast list* *whistles*

higuchi: I GOT IT! >u<

Gin: "Congratulations!"

higuchi: ^^

Jakob: "Look, Wilhelm!"

wilhelm: cool!

Jakob: "Even the shorty!"

katya: *grabs them both by the head* you want to say that to my face you little shits?

wilhelm: OxO;

Jakob: Q~Q *crosses his legs*

leo: katyusha, please dont fight with the children.

katya:...*grumble* fine then. i'll let them off.....for now.

wilhelm: QvQ thank you mrs leo!

leo: ^^;

Jakob: Q_Q *runs for the bathroom*

-elsewhere-

Kid: *ties Shiori's shoes*

shiori: thankie.

Kid: *smiles* "You're welcome! Ready to go?"

shiori: *nod nod*

Kid: *picks her up*

shiori: ^u^

Kid: "Let's walk to the door!"

shiori: *waddling along*

Kid: "Great walking."

shiori: *falls on her butt* uh-oh

Kid: "Uh-oh. Ready to get up?" *offers his hands*

shiori: ah.

-elsewhere-

io: *crying because her jumper is stuck on a cupboard knob*

saki: *filming* did you get stuck, sweetie? ^^;

Tool: "Need some help, Io?"

io: Q~Q UUU! UUU!

saki: oh, come here sweetie. *helps her out* there you go.

io: >^<

saki: *forehead kiss* you're ok, sweetie. wave bye to the camera.

io: *tiny wave* bai bai....

Tool: ^^ "D'aw..."

-elsewhere-

Bakugo: "..." *pokes the hamster ball*

sybil: O^O

itsuka: ^^

Bakugo: "Tiny critter..."

itsuka: they are pretty tiny. but chacha here's been putting on the pounds. isnt dat right? *tummy poke*

chacha: *squeek* >3<

itsuka: hehe ^^

Bakugo: "What've you fed them?"

itsuka: the usual hamster food, but chacha needs to share with her siblings.

chacha: >3<

Bakugo: *intense stare at Chacha* "Maybe more exercise..."

itsuka: good call.

-elsewhere-

Vulcan: "Okay, they're all set." *hands a gas-mask helmet to Shinra*

shinra: *puts it on* well? how does it look?

iris: really cool!

maki: super punk rock!

Relan: *nod nod*

Akitaru: "Rock on!"

shinra: ^u^ d'awww, shucks guys.

Vulcan: "Tamaki, Nozomi..." *hands them theirs*

tamaki: so cute!

nozomi: ^^ a very nice theme as always, vulcan.

Vulcan: ^^ "Thanks! Going to put the finishing touches on the last ones before you all head out."

-elsewhere-

hagakure: here we are~!

Ojiro: "Okay, so..." *looking over his list* "Shoes, tent, fishing pole..."

jirou: i'll need to get a new duffle bag too.

Ojiro: "Okay, so..." *looking over his list* "Shoes, tent, fishing pole..."

jirou: i'll need to get a new duffle bag too.

ochako: i finally saved up enough for a new sleeping bag. ^^

Ojiro: "Good work!"

eijiro: so meet back here at 3?

tsuyu: sounds good.

Izuku: "Okay! I'll find a first aid kit..."

-and so-

-someone in a hoodie is walking into the mall-

Izuku: *looking through shop windows* "!!! Oh, wow! The new Crimson Riot action figure! I'll have to tell Eijiro..."

???: hey, you're izuku midoriya, right?

Izuku: "???" *turns* "Y-Yeah?" ("I guess he saw me at the Tournament...losing...")

???: *puts and arm around his shoulders* you're the one who got wrecked at the tournament, right? then that hero killer business in hosu, you're just all over the place!

Izuku: "Uummm..." *nervous smile* "Y-You sure know your stuff, huh?"

???: still...i cant help but wonder.....*he puts his hand around izuku's neck, save for one finger* just how did you get this far?.....is it fate? or something else.....it's been bothering me ever since the USJ incident.....

-tomura grins at him-

tomura: why dont we have a little chat?

Izuku: "!!!!" ("Tomura...Shigaraki?!")

-elsewhere-

mina: *modeling sneakers* pretty slick, eh?

Iida: "But will they wear out too quickly?"

mina: i've had sneakers that have lasted for years, i think they should be fine by the time camp star- *GAAASP* OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THESE! *shiny eyes*

Iida: "...And the price?"

mina: just within my budget~ ^^

-they were a pair of lisa frank sneakers-

Iida: "...A hike on the mountains will rip those apart in a day."

mina: _these_ babies are going into my collection. >3<

Iida: "Fine, but you need something durable..." *holds up plain black hiking boots*

-elsewhere-

ochako: *now with her new sleeping bag* ^^ *looks out over the crowd below* (lots of people. well i got the main goal complete, so, why not play 'lets spot my classmates'?) *looks around*

*Looks like Sero and Eijiro are stepping into a sporting goods shop*

ochako: (they seem to be doing well.....i wonder if tape can be used to catch fish?)

*Momo is pointing to different duffle bags*

ochako: *smiles and glances* ??

*Looks to be someone in a hoodie with...Izuku?*

ochako: (who is that?......deku's face...) ........ (something's wrong here.....) *she starts heading over to where they are*

tomura: y'know, i really hate everything in this world....but the hero killer is really pissing me off the most right now....

Izuku: "??? W-Wasn't he working for you?"

tomura: you'd think, but that's just not how it is. even after a few months, everyone's still talking about him, and ignoring us, ignoring _me_. he can talk big all he damn pleases, but in the end, he's just destroying what he hates, so how does that make us any different?

Izuku: "...U-Understanding?"

tomura: what?

Izuku: "I...don't accept what either of you have done, the Hero Killer or you...But...I can understand the Hero Killer's reasons, not yours..."

tomura: oh do you?

Izuku: "...For him and for me...we follow ideals inspired by All Might...The Hero Killer even saved me, so even if he's destructive, and even if his methods are wrong, I know he's not just doing this for fun: he's trying to live by some ideal."

tomura: *his face is expressionless, but his eyes have a look of pure, utter hatred*

Izuku: "!!!"

tomura: i get it now...hehehe....i see why he pisses me off so much....and why you irritate me so badly....*wide grin* it's aaaaaall be cause of all might....hehehehehehe, it's soooo obvious! the reason these people go about living, smiling without any trouble, is because of all might and that stupid smiling face, acting like there's no one he can't save. *grips izuku's throat tighter*

Izuku: *coughs, struggling to move--*

ochako: hey deku...

tomura: ???

Izuku: "!!!"

ochako: friend of yours?

Izuku: "...Y-Yeah...It's fine..."

tomura: well, i should be going....best not follow me....*gets up and begins walking away*

Izuku: *coughs, inhaling deeply*

ochako: hey, are you alright, deku?

Izuku: "Sh-Shigaraki!"

tomura: ...

ochako: !!!!

Izuku: "Wh-What does All for One want?!"

tomura: ...._that's_ not what you should worry about.....what you _should_ be worried about is when we meet again....because that's when you'll die....*he vanishes into the crowd*

Izuku: *tries to walk forward--but still struggling to breathe*

-ochako ended up contacting mall security and the mall had to be closed down for the time. izuku and ochako also were taken in to be asked questions-

Izuku: "..."

officer: i see, thank you for your time, mr midoriya, you're mother will be here shortly.

Izuku: *nods* "I wish I could've stopped him..."

officer: you did what you could.

Izuku: "..." *nods*

-outside, ochako was sitting on a bench-

ochako: ....

???: "Ochaco!"

ochako: dad! *she hugs him*

Mr. Uraraka: *hug* "I was so worried! Are you okay?"

ochako: y-yeah. i'm alright. (physically at least)...

Mr. Uraraka: "You could've been hurt...Come on, let's get you home..."

ochako: ok, just waiting on my friend first.

-mrs midoriya is sitting across, weeping-

Izuku: *exits from the interrogation room*

inko: my baby!! *she hugs him* oh thank goodness you're ok! you're poor mama's heart can't take it. *she's crying*

ochako: how did it go, deku?

Izuku: "I-I'm okay, Mom...I'm sorry..." *looks at Ochaco* "I don't know...They asked me a lot of questions..."

ochako: well, we're alive, so that's good news.

Izuku: "..." *nods*

ochako: *smile* well, we should probably get home now... see you later? *offers fist bump*

Izuku: *weak smile, bump*

-later-

ochako: *laying in bed*

mrs uraraka: *opens the door a bit* you need anything, sweetie?

ochako: im good.

mrs uraraka: well, let us know if you need something, ok?

ochako: i will.

Mr. Uraraka: "..."

mrs uraraka:....*hug* she's a brave girl...

Mr. Uraraka: *nods, hugs her* "Our hero..."

-morning-

Kurogiri: "..."

banshee: he actually did that? talk about a ballzy move.

himiko: *peeeeks in* OwO~?

Kurogiri: "Reckless, but I think it stirred fear in enough heroes, so, it evens out..."

mr compress: and how is mr shigaraki now?

Kurogiri: "He's focusing on the next step to take."

-in a small bar somewhere in europe-

???: *sips*

bartender: <dont you three have anything else better to do?>

???: <when a job comes by, yes>

bartender: *looks at the two other men seated across from the blonde one*

???: *smiles, waves* <Hello!>

blonde man: *holds the bartender's arm* <if you arent too busy, mr bartender, maybe we could spend time together later~?> <3

???: *sighs* <Please don't flirt with people you don't know.>

blonde man: *pouts* <you're so meeeeean, dumas.>

Dumas: <No, practical.> *tugs the Blonde by his cheek*

blonde man: <ah~!> >///T

-someone enters-

mailman: <telegram for a mr cervantes?>

Cervantes:

mailman: <telegram for you, sir.>

-it seems to have an odd symbol on it, like a golden ribbon?-

bartender: (who sends telegrams anymore?)

Cervantes: "..." *grins* <WORK!>

-it reads; salutations, mr cervantes. i hope this message reaches you without too much trouble. you see, i have a job for you and your companions. you may meet with me at the prince hotel at your earliest convenience and we shall discuss the details further there. cordially, TS.-

blonde man: <oh joy!> ^u^

Dumas: *sighs, pulls out a wallet*

Cervantes: <Happy times!> *puts his foot on the chair* <Onward, to adventure!>

-elsewhere-

Allison: "You're looking happy."

erina: really? i hadnt noticed.

Allison: "Heh--most people don't." *nudge*

erina: ^^;

Allison: "You going to see him after work?"

erina: yeah.

-elsewhere-

Arthur: <--which then led to new trade opportunities, including the export of electronics and food.> *closes his Chinese textbook*

shinra: wow.

fang-hua: very good, arthur. ^^

Arthur: <Thank you.>

Victor: *thumbing through pages, trying to keep up* O~O

tamaki: *whispers* was that mandarin or cantonese?

shinra: *shrug*

Arthur: "Have you finalized the itinerary with the Commanders, teacher?"

fang-hua: yes.

Arthur: *nods* "Very good." *pulls out a sword* "Point me in the direction." *points East*

fang-hua: ^^;

-elsewhere-

Honda: "--big beautiful scenery! Strong people! Fast waters! GO FORTH, AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE GREAT DISASTER! I-- ...Could you lean down a bit--I can't reach your shoulders, Takeru."

takeru: um y-yessir...

Honda: *pats his shoulders* "MAKE US PROUD, MY BOY!" *warrior cry*

takeru: *strained warrior cry*

hito: *sweatdrop*

Honda: "Where was I...Oh, right! Souvenir shopping! Get something for everyone in the Brigade! Don't skimp!" *hands him money*

-elsewhere-

Hirotsu: "Okay, let's see the costumes..."

higuchi: *modeling her dress*

maggie: wow!

Hirotsu: "Excellent. How is it?"

-she wore a wig with a brown, yellow, and red colored patchwork dress-

Hirotsu: "Most certainly our Snow White...Let's see the others..."

-kouyou is in quite the elegant gown, the kids are in cute little costumes as well-

Hirotsu: "That leaves Charming..." *looks around* "Where is he?"

Tachihara: *behind the curtain* "...Um...I feel kind of goofy."

katya: come on out here, y'coward.

Tachihara: *grumbles...* stumbles out slightly in tights and a princely jacket* .\\\. *he doesn't have the nose bandage on*

Gin: "...Who the heck is this guy?"

Tachihara: D:<

higuchi: *snickering*

katya: holy shit....he's seriously average looking.

Tachihara: Q_Q "I'm not _that_ average..."

george: ouch.

Hirotsu: "Costume rehearsal begins in five minutes. Take your places..."

-elsewhere-

-elsewhere

Master: *puts up the posters*

nygus:...those are…

-sayaka made doge posters that read 'very festival' 'much spring' 'wow'-

sayaka: ^^

Master: "...Creative."

nygus: that's a polite way of putting it. *sweatdrop*

Master: "Gives me an idea for other menu items..."

-elsewhere-

Fyodor: *whistling*

-silence-

Fyodor: "Hmm hmm hmm..." *taps his knuckle on the wall*

-...-

Fyodor: "..." *stretches* <Dull.>

-elsewhere-

Cervantes: *humming, walking along a fence*

Dumas: -_-

blonde man: *humming* ~^^

Cervantes: <Dumas, check the GPS~>

Dumas: *looking at a map*

Cervantes:

Dumas: <A printed map is just as reliable...>

blonde man:

Dumas: <They probably have to wear a mask so you don't see their horrible features.>

blonde man: =3= <so gloomy as always.>

Cervantes: <And GPS would be more up to date-->

blonde man: <there it is~!>

Dumas: *turns--and walks into a wall* <...>

Cervantes: <...Please pick up Dumas and bring him in~> *walks on in*

Dumas: "..." X_X *falls back*

-in one area, and individual with long white hair is reading to themselves-

Cervantes: <HELLO! WE ARE HERE TO ANSWER A SUMMONS!>

???: hm? <you are cervantes, are you not?>

Cervantes: <Yes! I received your message!>

???: <please, do have a seat. care for some apple slices?> ^^

blonde man: *shiny eyes* <so lovely...>

???: fufufu, <why thank you~>

Dumas: X_X *collapsed on the couch* <Gather the horses, my knights--we will storm the castle...>

???: ?? <is your friend alright?>

blonde man: <he'll be fine momentarily~>

Cervantes: <Just a minor head injury...> *slaps Dumas's face*

Dumas: Q_Q

Cervantes: <See~?>

???: <well, glad to see he isnt dead. now, onto the job. you see, an associate of mine has been wrongfully imprisoned in death city.> *they hand him a folder*

Cervantes: *opens, reads the file, passes the photo to the Blonde Man*

blonde man: *examines* ovo; <um...this is...erm....>

-the photo is of fyodor-

Dumas: *holding his head* <Ugh...> *looks at the photo* <...Oh, yeah, that's a reassuring smile...> *cringes*

???: <so you'll do it? i'll make sure you are handsomely rewarded for your trouble.>

Cervantes: *looks over maps and reports* "..." *smiles widely* <Yes! We accept!>

blonde man: <it shouldnt be a problem, with my ability, freeing him will be a snap~!>>

Dumas: *sighs* <Escaping a prison? I thought it would be a challenge...>

???: <thank you kindly, gentlemen. i will make sure you do not regret it~>

-elsewhere-

Iida: "And then one approaches a classmate."

tensei: seriously?

Iida: *nods* "No sign where he went. It was the same who attacked USJ."

tensei: ....

Iida: "Let me pull it up..." *his laptop is frozen* *sighs* "So much for dependable tech..."

tensei: let me try something.

Iida: "???" *hands him the laptop*

-after a while, it seemed to be fixed-

Iida: "Oh, thank you! That was impressive."

-elsewhere-

Poe: *curled up under a blanket, reading*

karl: zzzzz

Poe: *pets Karl, stroking his back*

karl: =w=

Poe: ^w^ *returns to reading, jotting some notes*

-elsewhere-

Damon: "Then teacher gave us a quiz for chemistry."

soul: how was that?

becky: i got an 89.

Damon: "84?"

soul: great job you two. ^^ *double head pat*

becky: =,=;

Damon: ^^; "I wanted to do better..."

becky: want me to tutor you?

Damon: *nod* "Yes, please!"

becky: ^^

Damon: *takes out his quiz* "I got Number 5 wrong."

-elsewhere-

Dumas: *checking off items on the list* "We're still short on flash bombs..."

blonde man:

Dumas: <Do it. And we'll also need-->

Cervantes: *snores*

Dumas: "..." *poke poke*

Cervantes: "Zzz..."

Dumas: "..." -_-

-elsewhere-

Lucy: *looks out the window* "...What the heck is he doing?"

atsushi: hmm? *looks*

Dazai: *on all fours, sifting through something in the grass*

atsushi: *watching*

Dazai: "..." *looks surprised, starts pulling on something in the grass*

Lucy: "Did he lose something?"

Dazai: *tugging on what looks like a weed*

atsushi: i better check on him to make sure he isnt hurting himself. *heads outside*

Lucy: "Good thinking..." *follows*

Dazai: *grunting, tugging* "Come on...Get loose!"

atsushi: hey dazai, what're you doing exactly?

Dazai: "Ah, I dropped a quarter while walking back--*GRUNT*--and then I saw this weed--*GROAN*--that won't come loose..." *the 'weed' looks...metallic?*

atsushi: ??? (odasaku, you have any idea what the heck that is?)

odasaku: your guess is as good as mine.

Lucy: "...?!! Wait! I think that's the phone--"

Dazai: *PULLS--and the 'weed' snakes up the grass, to the building--and pulls wires off the wall*

atsushi: ._.;;; um.....

naomi: DAZAI! D8<

Kunikida: "THE INTERNET JUST WENT OUT!"

Tanizaki: "I had an important call!"

Dazai: "..." *points at Lucy, shoves the weed into her hands*

Lucy: "..." -_-#####

naomi: where do you think _you're_ going, mr? ^^# *she has a rope*

Dazai: OwO;; "...See, I already tried rope before, and it's too painful for proper suic--"

Tanizaki: "Grab him!"

Kunikida: "DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"

-one nice boat later-

atsushi: .____.

Tanizaki: *finishes the sign, puts it around Dazai's neck* " 'Do not pull wires you don't recognize.'"

Lucy: *snaps a pic*

Dazai: *tied to a tree by his feet and hands* QwQ

kirako: *covers aya and kenji's eyes*

Lucy: *typing* " 'The majestic jackass, soaring over the crowd...'"

atsushi: ._. (he seems to be enjoying this predicament....) *sweatdrop*

Dazai: QwQ "...See, ropes are not good for suicide, but when it comes to S and--"

yosano: NOT. IN FRONT. OF THE CHILDREN.

kirako:...*awkward cough*

Dazai: QwQ "..." *nod nod* "I've learned my lesson. I'm sorry for interrupting your phone calls and downloads. May I come down now~?"

naomi: wait up there for a while.

-elsewhere-

Benimaru: *sets down tea*

kirei: ^^

kabuki: thanks for inviting us, commander.

Benimaru: *nods* "You're welcome. I thought it best before Kohana departed for her mission."

fang-hua: ^^; you didnt have to go to all the trouble, commander-

Tsukiyo: *gobbling snacks*

Benimaru: "It was no trouble. It was the least we could do." *pours her tea*

fang-hua: well, thank you. ^^

Benimaru: *nods* "I have full confidence in you. Keep an eye on the other brigades and report."

fang-hua: *nods*

kirei: *hands her a charm* this will bring you luck.

fang-hua: thank you!

Tsukiyo: *mouth full* "Wow, so pretty!"

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: *hands Mana mail* "It keeps coming in for you..."

mana: wow.

Shotaro: "Feeling more healed since your fight?"

mana: i think so.

nea: well, arent _you_ miss popular?

Shotaro: ^^ "I mean, she did advance far in the competition." *holds up his phone* "Although this one fan site is kind of rude..."

nea: let me see that!

mana: hah?

*The fan site seems to have rude remarks in the comments section, as well as photos of Mana walking around town*

mana: what the hell?

nea: kepuri, find their IP address.

Kepuri: "On it!" *takes Shotaro's phone, taps a few keys* "...Um...It's about 12 feet from us..." *looks down the hall*

mana: *SLAMS THE DOOR OPEN*

Emine: *on his laptop* "..."

-nice boat-

mana: *brushing off her hands*

Shotaro: "...Wow...That's gonna need a whole bucket of bandages..."

-elsewhere-

Steinbeck: "--and that's the family tree!"

twain: wowzers.

oscar: quite a family, johnny-boy.

ebie: cool!

Steinbeck: "Well, we're extended. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of everyone when you have a big family."

emily: i could imagine.

Steinbeck: "How about you--extended family?"

emily: not that i'm familiar with.

Steinbeck: "Aunts or uncles?"

emily: probably, but i havent spoken with them much.

twain: i just have my aunt polly.

oscar: didnt miss porter have an aunt polly, as well?

Hemingway: "Think so..." *flipping through photos*

oscar: *glances*

*Looks like photos of Cuba, with a younger Hemingway in them*

oscar: where was that, ernie?

Hemingway: "Havana, during a fishing trip."

oscar: oooh.

Hemingway: "Work took me to a lot of places."

ebie: *listening* OwO

Hemingway: "Spain, France, Rwanda, Congo--lots of reports to file." *shows a photo of him--wrestling a lion*

emily: (is this man even real?)

-elsewhere-

Hirotsu: "Hmm...The stage looks sound. How are acoustics?"

naoya: *strumming guitar* *thumbs up*

Hirotsu: "Ah, yes, good. Now, onto seating for the audien--"

Kafka: "OW!" *holding his thumb, dropping a hammer*

naoya: ?? you alright?

Walter: *vacuuming*

Kafka: "THESE BLASTED--" *sound drowned out by vacuuming* "--SEATS WON'T MAKE THEMSELVES, SO I--" *more vacuuming* "--HAVE TO FIX THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE SUCH PIECES OF--" *more vacuuming* "--THAT NO--" *more vacuuming--* "--ING PERSON WOULD EVER BE CAUGHT DEAD IN!"

-elsewhere-

blonde man: <so how much farther to the airport?>

Dumas: <My map says another 17 miles-->

Cervantes: *points at a sign* <The sign says 1 mile the other way.>

Dumas: -_-#

blonde man: <maybe i should try and get us a lift?>

Dumas: <If you insist--we have enough money...>

blonde man: *stripping by the side of the road*

Dumas: <WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING?!>

blonde man: *coy pose*

Cervantes: <No, no--this is all wrong!>

Dumas: <Thank you!>

Cervantes: *imitates a pose* <Like this!>

Dumas: ._. "..." *facepalm*

driver: <what the hell?> *pulls over*

blonde man: <would you pwease give us a ride~?>

Cervantes: *smiles* <See? It worked!>

Dumas: <How do you even know the driver will agree?>

driver: <what the hell is going on here?>

Cervantes: <We request transport to the airport, my friend!>

driver: um...o.....k?

Cervantes: *smug smile at Dumas*

Dumas: >_> <This proves nothing...Just get in the vehicle...AND PUT ON YOUR CLOTHES!>

-elsewhere-

Anya: *putting on a kimono*

tsugumi: trying on outfits for the spring festival?

Anya: *nods* "Not sure about the color."

tsugumi: it looks nice, a different change of pace. ^^

Anya: "Thanks...Which color will wear?"

ao: isnt blue your image color?

Anya: "I guess that would work..."

-elsewhere-

naomi: that's one fancy hat, lucy.

Lucy: ^^; "Thanks...I picked the flowers myself in time for the season..."

sylvia: i-it's really pretty, miss montgomery.

Lucy: "..." *clears her throat* "Well, I could make one...if anyone wanted that kind of thing..."

sylvia: a-are you sure? i dont know if i would make a-a hat like that look good, y-your hair is a lot p-prettier than mine...

Lucy: "Then consider it an opportunity to try something to make your hair look better."

sylvia: ....

naomi: maybe we could braid it?

Lucy: "Oh, that'd be great!"

sylvia: .~.

naomi: we're gonna need to wash it and brush it out really good, first.

sylvia: b-but what about m-my ability?

naomi: i dont think your hair will cause any trouble.

Lucy: "Even if it did, 'Medusa,' some hair salon gloves would keep our hands safe enough."

-25 minutes later-

naomi: ._.; how does she _get_ it this tangled?

sylvia: Q~Q

Lucy: "..." *small grunt, grabs a headband, puts it around her own head, stretches* "Leave it to me: if I could style Howard's hair, then I can style hers!"

naomi: good luck.

sylvia: Q~~~Q

Lucy: "Now, just stand still, and if it hurts, please tell me."

sylvia: o-okaaaay....

-elsewhere-

Kafka: *looking over musical sheets* "...You have to be kidding."

leroux: ??

Kafka: "This score, it's just--BLECH!" *starts scribbling*

leroux: *peeek*

*Looks like Kafka is changing some instructions*

Kafka: "There! You need to be *quiet* in this part, not crescendo!"

leroux: hmm, hmm, i see.

Kafka: "Jeez, who is even handling music in this play?"

-elsewhere-

karl: *stares at mr shephard*

Mr. Shephard: *puts down his book* "Oh...Hello, um, Karl."

karl: o^o

Poe: "Karl? Karl, where are you?"

karl: *chitter*

Poe: *walks in* "There you are--EEP! M-M-Mr. Shephard..."

Mr. Shephard: "Edgar." *nods*

Poe: .______.

karl: *nudge*

Poe: "I AM HERE WITH A QUESTION!"

Mr. Shephard: " 'Kay?"

Poe: "I...want your blessing!"

Mr. Shephard: "...Um...I'm not a priest or anything, but--" *makes the sign of the cross* "Amen?"

karl: *facepaw*

Poe: .___. "...Maybe I need to be clearer..." *opens the box, shows the ring*

Mr. Shephard: "Oh, that's pretty. Is it for Lana?"

Poe: "I-I-I-I want to marry her. W-Will you give us your blessing?"

Mr. Shephard: "... ... ..." *sets down the book*

karl: ovo

Poe: *whimper, but stands his ground*

Mr. Shephard: "...Do you love her?"

Poe: "With all my heart!"

Mr. Shephard: "Will you protect her? Against anyone who would do her harm?"

Poe: "Yes!" *inhales deeply*

Mr. Shephard: "..." *sighs* "Then I leave it to her to decide."

Poe: *loud exhale* *hug*

Mr. Shephard: ._.

Poe: *SQUEE!* "I have to go ask her!" *runs outside--then runs back inside, slamming the door, panting* "...It's so bright."

-elsewhere-

Mephisto: *clears his throat* "How are you?"

stocking: doing well, workwise.

Mephisto: "Good. I had some high compliments from staff and students~"

stocking: oh?

Mephisto: *nods* "On time, prepared for lessons, managing classrooms discussions..." *pulls up a web page* "I had this designed for just such an occasion." *the site is called 'GradeMyTeach.DC'*

stocking: oh cool.

Mephisto: "You're ranking better than Neuhaus--low bar, I know--but your score is going up...Just avoid the hate online."

stocking: i know. is triple A still being a pain in the A?

Mephisto: *Excalibur face* *points to his face* "Does this answer your question?"

stocking: good point.

felisia: *snicker* nice one.

Mephisto: *sighs, resumes his usual face* *pats Felisia's stomach*

felisia: only a month away now...

Mephisto: ^w^ "Glorious~" *nuzzle*

-elsewhere-

atsushi: *helping dazai down from the tree* easy now.

Dazai: TwT "Thank you, kind sir..."

atsushi: i figured you'd been punished enough, today...

Dazai: "I just wanted to see where it was going--and we have enough other spy risks..."

atsushi: .....

Dazai: "I didn't want someone trying to spy on Kirako...And, you know, too much time on the Internet isn't good for anyone."

atsushi:....did you want to get something to eat?

Dazai: "...Sure. Rice sounds good."

atsushi: yeah, i could go for some chazuke right now...

-and so-

Dazai: *claps his hands* "Thank you for this meal!"

atsushi: *nom* =w=~ *tiger chuff*....*ahem* 737;......so...anything else on your mind, dazai?

Dazai: "...The usual. Scared to death of fatherhood. Want to find the rest of the Rats. Have a rash."

atsushi: did you get ointment from yosano?

Dazai: "I tried--but I got...tied up." OwO

atsushi: maybe i could ask?

Dazai: "Thank you..." *looks at him* "...Huh." *looks at him back and forth*

atsushi: ?? whats up?

Dazai: "...What happened to that scrawny kid Kunikida and I picked up at the canal?"

atsushi: *points to himself* ?

Dazai: *nod nod* "You've bulked up a bit."

atsushi: i guess i have gotten some more muscle...and i think i might be a centimeter taller?

Dazai: "See? A better diet and exercise helps!"

-elsewhere-

sonia: *putting a rock into the garden with something written on it*

Chuuya: *watching*

-the rock reads 'mama'-

Chuuya: *rubs his eyes*

sonia: *she looks up at him* did you want to put down a rock, papa?

Chuuya: "Um...Yes..."

katya: what're you two up to?

Chuuya: "Just writing..." *putting something on a stone* *looks like he's writing "Rain"*

katya: this some kind of memorial garden?

Chuuya: "Yes..." *sets down the stone, takes another*

katya: i see....

Chuuya: *writing "Oda"* "..." *sets it down*

sonia: did you want to put one down?

katya: nah, there wouldnt be enough room to write all the names down...

Chuuya: "..." *nods*

-elsewhere-

tamaki: any idea where we're gonna be staying, other than in fang-hua's hometown?

Arthur: "I think visiting Takeru's farm in Qingdao."

tamaki: wonder what that will be like.

shinra: i think a lot different from most farms, i'd think.

Arthur: "Like dragon tooth farms?"

shinra: um....i guess?

Arthur: "Then we shall raise the small warrior babies born from their teeth."

shinra + tamaki: *sweatdrop*

Arthur: "I'll name them Agenor, Guinevere, Phoenix, and Tamaki Jr."

-elsewhere-

Giriko: *wiping something off his shirt* "Poor thing..."

anna: bwah?

Giriko: ^^; "It's fine, little lady." *light nose tap*

anna: =3=

Giriko: *hug*

anna: ^o^

Giriko: "Heh heh..." *wipes her face carefully*

-elsewhere-

Patty: "Sis, Kid's doing that thing again."

liz: oh boy.

Kid: "N-Nothing. What makes you think anything happened?" *there's crayon on the wall*

liz: ^^;

Patty: "Um, most kids crayon the walls--it's part of growing up! You could frame it!"

Kid: "..." Q_Q "Do we have extra frames?"

-elsewhere-

Cervantes: *snores*

blonde man: *reading*

Dumas: *looking out the window* <So dull...>

blonde man: *fidget fidget*

Dumas: <Sit still. Can't you be still?>

blonde man: <too antsy....i wonder if i can join the mile high club>

Dumas: *tugs his ear* <No.>

blonde man: ah! <owieee~>

Dumas: <Contain yourself. Order another drink if you have to...> *looking through his book on poisons*

blonde man: *peeeeek*

Dumas: -_-# <...Yes? I am looking at poisons.>

blonde man: <is it interesting?>

Dumas: <A bit. Did you know there are some poisons you can ingest in small portions to build up resistance?>

blonde man: <oh? i didnt know that.>

Dumas: <Yes...Just takes time...>

blonde man: hmmm....

Dumas: *jots something down* <Yes, just a few more milliters would do it...>

blonde man: *looks around*

Cervantes: *sleep talk* <Curse you, you vile waste of grain grinding...>

blonde man: *fidgeting in his seat*

Cervantes: <BRING ME MY LANCE!> *swings an arm, just missing the Man*

blonde man: ah! >3< <miguel, be careful!>

Cervantes: *yawns, stretches* <Have we landed this giant metal bird yet?>

blonde man: <not yet...> *examines english language guide*

Dumas: <How is language studying coming along?>

blonde man: good.

Dumas: <Oh? Why don't you try asking the flight attendant for something.>

blonde man: ma'am?

Flight Attendant: "Yes? May I help you?"

blonde man: where do i sign for the mile high club~? ^^

Flight Attendant: "...Sir, that is prohibited on flights. And technically it wouldn't be a mile above the ground." -^-

Dumas: *covering his face* <How mortifying...>

blonde man: T3T oh poo.

Flight Attendant: "Now, unless you had anything else to say, I'll take your trash..."

Dumas: "He wouldn't fit in your trash bag."

Flight Attendant: "..." *giggles*

blonde man: <mean> =3=

Dumas: *small smile*

-elsewhere-

Takehisa: *flipping through a military academy yearbook*

maki: looking at old photos?

Takehisa: *nods* *there's a photo of a younger Takehisa with other cadets--he doesn't have his glasses on* "I couldn't see a thing."

maki: hmm.

Takehisa: *points to a photo of Maki*

maki: man, i was a small-fry back then.

Takehisa: "Yes, not as tall as now. Have you spoken with anyone from the division recently?"

maki: not recently.

Takehisa: "Neither have I...And your father?"

maki: what _about_ him?

Takehisa: "..." *nods* "Sorry."

maki:...*sigh* it's fine.

Takehisa: "...Coffee?"

maki: sure.

-elsewhere-

Bakugo: "FEET OFF THE TABLE!"

mina: yessir!

-they're playing games on bakugou's gamecube-

Eijiro: "Ease up, man--Mina had socks on--OH, YOU JERK!" *tapping on the controller* "No, no, no!"

Bakugo: "IT'S ABOUT POLITENESS!" *leaning while moving the controller*

sero: ooooh oh snap!

mina: nyehehehe~

Eijiro: "You won't be so high and mighty when I--"

*Eijiro loses*

Eijiro: Q_Q

Bakugo: "..."

mina: aw yeah! team acid tape wins again!

sero: up top!

-high five-

Eijiro: "Dang it! Well, Team Shrapnel will be victorious next time!"

Bakugo: "...You no longer get to pick names."

sero: i dunno, 'shrapnel' sounds kinda badass.

mina: it does

Eijiro: ^w^ "See? It's the combination of explosions and rocks--"

Bakugo: "No."

Eijiro: "...You're jealous you didn't think of it first, aren't you--"

Bakugo: *his controller blows up in his hand* -n-###

sero:....guess we have to make another trip to the game-in-box, huh?

Bakugo: "EIJIRO IS BUYING IT!"

Eijiro: "Wow, harsh!"

mina: yeah, baku, no need to be so mean. -3-

sero: at least he's using his name, and not some insulting nickname, eh?

Bakugo: "DON'T SASS ME, SCOTCH TAPE!"

-elsewhere-

stocking: i'm home.

Kid: "Welcome back." *smiles*

stocking: *huuuug* *whisper* can we go to bed? i wanted to try some new costumes out~

Kid: .\\\\. "O-Oh? Sure..."

stocking: *smirks and drags him to their room by his collar*

Kid: *follows, blushing* "Oh, wow..."

stocking: i thought we could try a little role-playing. some school year nostalgia~ *whispers* i even got us some uniforms~

Kid: "Oh, Stocking, yes..." *lightly brushes his hand along her wrist*

stocking: hehe~ *closes the door*

Kid: "Shall we change?"

-and so-

stocking: *in a uniform, bent over the bed, shaking her rear a bit*

Kid: *in his own uniform* "Well, well, have you been a bad girl?"

stocking: yes. could you tutor me in sex ed~?

Kid: "I don't know..." *rests a hand on her lower back* "I am a hard tutor."

stocking: i would like that~

Kid: "Would you now~?" *rubs her lower back carefully* "Because I think I have to give you an incentive to learn..." *soft pat on her bottom*

stocking: ah~

Kid: "After all, a little stimulation goes a long way..." *his hand passes down over her skirt to her leg, stroking*

stocking: ahhh~<3 T///=

Kid: *leans, his chin on her shoulder, whispering in her ear* "And I like to get close and personal with my tutoring~" *soft kisses along her ear, as his hand slides slowly up her leg*

stocking: nngh~ kid~

Kid: "I love you...but you need to learn a lesson." *small quick spank*

stocking: ah~!

Kid: "I bet that's something not told in the classroom..." *looks down at her uniform* "Oh, that outfit complements you so well..." *his hand brushes above her breasts*

stocking: *soft moan*

Kid: "So after talking and stimulating your partner, you want to check..." *his lower hand brushes against her underwear*

stocking: ah!

Kid: "Oh, too fast?"

stocking: *shaking her rear a bit at him* f-feels good...

Kid: "Oh~?" *spank spank spank*

stocking: *she moans in time with each smack, her legs quivering*

Kid: "Too much of a work-out? Maybe you need some more exercise..." *positions himself behind her, as he rubs against her and cups her breasts over the uniform*

stocking: ahhh, that feels so good...

Kid: *rubs her breasts, lifting the sweater from her stomach, as his hardness is against her* "Oh, Stocking, this takes me back..." *kisses the back of her neck*

stocking: nnnm~ damn, you're so hard already...

Kid: "Can you blame me, my delicious honor roll..." *he reaches down, his fingers sliding up to her* "You're getting wet..."

stocking: ahh, oh god kid, your fingers feel amazing!

Kid: *smiles* "You've given me plenty of practice..." *rubs along her slit* "Tell me how much you want it."

stocking: i want you so fucking bad, baby. i even wore my striped undies for you~

Kid: *lifts her skirt* "Oh, God, Stocking--I'm going to cum so hard in you." *tugs on her panties*

stocking: *panting and blushing* please, please fuck me.

Kid: *loosens his tie* "Beg for it..." *he rubs himself along her lips before guiding himself into her*

stocking: please baby, i need it in me so hard. please. *shaking her rear*

Kid: *smiles* "Then let's start..." *thrust*

stocking: AHH~<3

Kid: "I want to make you feel so good that you can't even stand..." *spanks her, before continuing*

-later-

Kid: *still wearing the tie, and not much else* "Ahh..."

stocking: *panting, laying next to him, cum still dripping out of her and decorating her chest* ahh....that....was....incredible....

Kid: *smiles* "Yes, you were..." *reaches for the drawer, and pulls something out* *it's a box...* "Pocky?" *puts one between his lips*

stocking: yes please~ *nom* ^///^~<3<3<3

Kid: *smooch* ^\\\3\\\^

stocking: hehehe~<3 so cute~

Kid: *smiles* "So are you...We go together so well..." *rubs a hand over her stomach*

stocking: *smiles* i love you.

Kid: "I love you, too..." *cheek smooch*

stocking: hehehe~

Kid: *hug* "...Forgive the corniness, but I think we gave a new meaning to 'cram school.'"

stocking:....*snerk* *laughing* oh my god, kiddo.

Kid: ^\\\^; "Sorry..." *nuzzle*

-morning-

airport intercom: now arriving at death city airport.

Dumas: *stretches* <Finally.>

Cervantes: *holding up a tiny bottle of liquor* "..."

blonde man: *yaaaawn*

Dumas: <Focus. Once we leave here, we go to the safe house...>

blonde man: *streeeetch* <do we have a plan?>

Dumas: <Yes, but we'll need to observe the patterns at the prison.>

clerk: passports.

blonde man: *shows his; Marquis De Sade*

Dumas: *his passport: Alexandre Dumas*

Cervantes: *his passport: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra*

clerk: carry on, then.

Cervantes: *smiles* "Thank you!"

marquis: ^u^

Dumas: *follows* "Let's find the taxi stand..."

-elsewhere-

frances: *watering flowers* ^u^~♫

Kyoka: *walking down the stairs*

frances: hello miss kyouka, lovely day, isnt it~?

Kyoka: "Yes, I suppose so. How are your plants?"

frances: quite well. ^^ .....*smiles* i think something interesting will happen very soon.

Kyoka: "Oh?"

frances: *humming to herself*

Kyoka: "...Hmm...I'm going to run an errand."

frances: you do that now, dearie~...........................*talking to her flowers again* now, what else do you have to tell me, my pretty little babies?

-elsewhere-

Kid: *smiles, setting out files*

homura: you seem to be in a good mood today, kid.

Kid: "Sometimes there are some small pleasures..." =\\\\=

homura: *sweatdrop* i..see...

Kid: *ahem* "In any case, I was reviewing the next mission assignments."

homura: and?

Kid: "Some activity following incidents in Qingdao, Salt Lake..."

homura: hmm.

Kid: "Any preferences?"

-elsewhere-

Sakuya: "..." *facepalm*

Belkia: *stuck in the crawl space* "..."

otogiri: *pulling him out*

Belkia: "Ow ow ow--" *pops out* "Pfew! Thank you!" *all scrunched up*

-elsewhere-

Gin: "How's line memorization?"

higuchi: pretty good.

Gin: "Will you be ready?" *looking at the set*

higuchi: i hope so...

Gin: "I guess just keep calm and practice...If the others can do it..."

higuchi: y-yeah....

Gin: "..." *pat pat* "Need advice?"

higuchi: just excited, and not exactly looking forward to the kiss. 7-7;

Gin: "That makes two of us...Hmph. It is just pretend, so I guess get through it."

higuchi: and you get to kick tachihara's ass later if you want. ^^

Gin: "Always." *takes her hand*

higuchi: ^^ *smooch*

Gin: =/////=

-elsewhere-

Rin: "Now, tap the egg lightly against the bowl, inside." *demonstrates* "Now you."

momo sakura: *tap tap* like this?

Rin: "A little harder--just until a tiny crack forms on the shell."

momo sakura: what if shell bits get into the bowl?

Rin: "That's why we start with a tiny crack, so we don't have a bit fall in. Plus, after one tiny crack, the shell should mostly stay together. And I always got a handy spoon here to pluck out the shell!"

-elsewhere-

Dumas: "Here's our new temporary residence..."

marquis: oooh, i like it!

Cervantes: *ringing the doorbell* "Such pleasant music!"

marquis: *plomph onto his bed* silk sheets~ =w=

Dumas: *eyeroll, opens the fridge, dropping in some frozen dinners* "Let's review the map--"

Cervantes: *already asleep on the couch*

Dumas: "..."

marquis: *naked and rolling in his sheets* =w=~<3

Dumas: "STOP THAT!"

marquis: =3=

Cervantes: *wakes up* "...We need to plan."

Dumas: "Good--"

Cervantes: "First, a bubble bath and a toy boat!"

Dumas: "..." *goes back to mapping*

-elsewhere-

Rino: *opens the door* "I'm home."

*it's empty inside*

Rino: "..." *sighs, drops her bag, goes to her room* "Hey, Seymour."

seymour: 030

Rino: *opens the fish food container next to a note, drops in flakes*

-working late tonight, be home at 10 ~ mom-

Rino: "Of freaking course..." *taps her phone to put on some music*

-text message-

Rino: -_-; *reads the message*

ryuuko: [you get home safe?]

Rino: "???" [yeah]

ryuuko: [glad to know.]

Rino: "..." [thanks] *walks to the kitchen, opens the fridge, takes out some chicken* [going to make dinner and get to bed]

ryuuko: [you need anything?]

Rino: "..." [nah. i'll be back at the 5th early tomorrow before i head off to school] "..." [could i ask one favor?]

ryuuko: [what is it?]

Rino: "..." [would mikami mind if i played with her pet rabbit?]

ryuuko: [if you're interested. she's having a sleepover this weekend.]

Rino: "... ... ..." *looks at the calendar...Mom's at work [i'll check my schedule, but i should be able to come]

ryuuko: [ok]

-nighttime-

Chuuya: *playing with Mito*

mito: *purr*

Chuuya: *happy sigh* "Enjoying this, kitty?"

mito: *mewl*

Chuuya: "That's good...Sonia, you washing up?"

sonia: yes, papa.

Chuuya: "Okay--it's a few more minutes before bedtime."

sonia: ok....can you read me a story?

Chuuya: "Sure! Any you had in mind?"

sonia: do you know any grandma used to tell you?

Chuuya: "How about...'The Ant and the Grasshopper'?"

sonia: *nods, holding her teddy close*

Chuuya: "Well, one summer, a day like any other, there was a grasshopper, without a care in the world..."

[*The grasshopper looks like Dazai*

Grass!Dazai: *bouncing along* "I haven't a care in the world!" ^w^

Narrator!Chuuya: "This grasshopper was so full of himself--I mean, itself--that it almost knocked over an anthill--"

Ant!Gin: "Watch it!"

Ant!Motojiro: "Hey!"

Ant!Chuuya: "Pay attention, you jerk!"

ant!higuchi: DX>

ant!akutagawa: *monotone* ah.

Grass!Dazai: "Oh, I didn't see you there. On account of how short you all are."

Ant!Chuuya: "..."

Grass!Dazai: "You're real tiny!"

Ant!Chuuya: "..."

Grass!Dazai: "Like, microscopic!"

Ant!Chuuya: "...If this was not a children's story, we would all be swarming you right now and eat you alive--"

Narrator!Chuuya: "*AHEM*"

*Grass!Dazai and Ant!Chuuya look to the left*

Ant!Chuuya + Grass!Dazai: ^\\\\^; "S-Sorry..."

Grass!Dazai: *ahem* "So, why all the hard work? It's summer! We can hop, jump, and play!"

Ant!Chuuya: "Some of us are busy toiling to get enough food before winter--"

Grass!Dazai: "Ah, phooey! That's, like, years away!"

Ant!Motojiro: "4 months, 4 days, 12 minutes, 37 seconds, give or take."

Ant!Gin: "Hmph. Come winter, we'll be warm and well-fed. Best to prepare early than regret it later--"

Grass!Dazai: *rolling up a blade of grass, holding it to the sun until it catches a flame, puffs*

Ant!Gin: "...I thought this was a kids' story."

Narrator!Chuuya: "I think the conceit is broken on that--let's just skip to winter."

*The ants run inside*

Grass!Dazai: "??? Where did everyone--"

Narrator!Chuuya: "The snow came."

*Snow falls all at once, putting out Grass!Dazai's smoking blade*

Grass!Dazai: ._. "..." *shivers* "D-Dang, that was quick...I better get some shelter and food--" *looks* "...Um...Where did all the grain go?"

Narrator!Chuuya: "Meanwhile, the ants were warm and--"

sonia: zzzzzz

Chuuya: "..." *smiles* "Well, better then get to the sad ending..." *forehead kiss*

sonia: =w=

-elsewhere...-

Prison Guard: *closes their locker*

marquis: hello~

Prison Guard: "???" *turns*

marquis: *blows a kiss......there is a soft sweet smell*

Prison Guard: *sniff* "..." *goofy smile, collapses asleep*

marquis: *unbuttons guard's shirt* i'll be taking this now, sweetie~

-one clothing change later-

Dumas: *adjusting sleeves* "Too big..."

Cervantes: "Off to the galley!"

marquis: i'll handle the cameras~

Dumas: "Proceed." *points* "We go left, then right, upstairs three floors, down the hall, around the corner--"

Cervantes: "Why not a direct approach?"

Dumas: "...What, through walls--"

Cervantes: "If you insist~"

Dumas: "NO."

-elsewhere in the prison-

Fyodor: "...Well, this is lonesome."

-some noise can be heard some ways down the hall-

Fyodor: "???"

*The lights go out down the hall, with one light left on in Fyodor's cell*

Fyodor: "???"

-footsteps-

Fyodor: "..."

Guard #2: "Here is it, Princess~"

Cervantes: ^^; "Why, thank you~"

Dumas: *wearing night-vision goggles, dragging an unconscious guard with keys on their belt*

Guard #2: "Don't I get a thank you kiss? I did bring you back to your throne room to reunite with your father~"

Fyodor: "...Well, this is bizarre."

marquis: OvO

Dumas: *looks* *points* "I found the target."

*Dumas is pointing at the wrong cell*

marquis: *turns dumas around*

Dumas: "..." *points* "I found the target."

Cervantes: ^^; "My friend, please give the brave knight their kiss while I speak to the galley-man we must free."

marquis: ok~ *smoooches the guard....with tongue*

Guard #2: *moaning* "Oh, Princess~"

Fyodor: "... ... ...What the hell?"

Cervantes: *waves* "Hello, galley-man! We're here to free you from your unfair imprisonment! Why, look at these surroundings! They didn't even let you have a cellmate--"

Fyodor: "I killed previous cellmates."

Cervantes: OwO;;;;

Dumas: *sighs* "Ignore them, Prisoner. They are weirdos."

Fyodor: "Well, at least I can speak to someone rational--"

Dumas: "Put this on." *he's holding an iron torture device* "It goes around your head."

Fyodor: "... ... ..." *looks around* "Is it too late to call for more guards?"

???: "You're freeing him?"

Cervantes: *spins around, points at ??? in the other cell* "Yes!"

Grimoire: "..." *sets down his book* "He is dangerous."

Cervantes: *raises a finger in the air* "We never turn down a job upon taking it!"

Dumas: "And we can handle someone like him. Right, Marquis--"

marquis: *on the floor, making out with the guard*

Dumas: "...Right, Cervantes?"

Cervantes: "Or die trying!"

Fyodor: "That can be arranged."

Dumas: "..." *shudders* "J-Just...Come on..." *unlocks the door*

Grimoire: "Fools..." *turns back to his book*

Cervantes: "Lead the way, Dumas!"

Dumas: "In a second..." *fire his gun at the last light bulb, completely darkening the entire room* "Follow me."

marquis: *following* ^////^~ hehe

Cervantes: "Sorry!" *puts on night-vision goggles* "Which way, Dumas?"

Fyodor: "How can he even see? Those goggles can't be enough..."

Cervantes: "Dumas is empowered by the dark. Our little night owl..."

Dumas: -\\\\- "Shut up. This way--" *SLAM, CRUNCH* "..."

Cervantes: "...You ran into the wall, didn't--"

Dumas: "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!!"

Fyodor: "...Help? Guards?"

marquis: shhhhh. >3<;;

Dumas: *angry whispering* "You 'shhh'! Go back to humping the wall!"

marquis: T3T meanie.

Cervantes: "Now, now, no need to fight! We are a trio destined for greatness! We have a task to complete! Now let's bring our victim to safety--"

*step step step step*

Dumas: "...He's running away."

marquis: ._.;

Cervantes: QwQ "Well, that's disappointing. Shibusawa will be unhappy with us--"

Fyodor: "...Shibusawa?"

Cervantes: "YES! Shibusawa asked us to--"

Fyodor: *walks ahead of them* "Let's go."

Cervantes: OwO "...But I had a speech ready--"

Dumas: *drags him along*

marquis: *following*

Fyodor: "First, we gather my belongings. Then we leave."

Cervantes: "Splendid! What are we picking up? A keepsake from your beloved?"

Fyodor: "First, we gather my belongings. Then we leave."

Cervantes: "Splendid! What are we picking up? A keepsake from your beloved?"

Dumas: "Riches left by your benefactor, hidden in the walls?"

marquis: some #######

Dumas: .___________________.

Cervantes: "Marquis, no. It's pronounced--"

Fyodor: "There."

-inside the box is a set of clothes, a cloak, a phone, a knife, and an unshanka-

Cervantes: "Ah! Your uniform! It suits you--"

Fyodor: "..." *death glare*

Cervantes: .w.;;;; "...Right. We'll leave you to it. Come along--"

Fyodor: *unbuttons his shirt*

marquis: OvO

Fyodor: "...A little privacy?"

marquis: T3T

Dumas: "Come along..." *drags Marquis* "...Cervantes, this man seems more...axe-crazy than I expected."

Cervantes: "Nonsense! He's friendly! He'll be our new special friend."

marquis: i like him, he's cute.

Dumas: "No, _we're_ special. He's...creepy. Not even creepy cute. Just creepy."

marquis: =3= you're too paranoid, alex

Dumas: "I am not--who told you that? Was it Cervantes?"

Cervantes: *whistles innocently*

Fyodor: *picks up his phone*…*scrolls down, dials a name marked "порождать"*

yana: <yo>

Fyodor: <Change of plans.>

yana: <bossman? whats up?>

Fyodor: <Someone wants me to pay a visit.>

yana: <in jail?>

Fyodor: <Hmmm, not quite. They want to take me out for a bit.>

yana: <and what are we to do then?>

Fyodor: <Await my instructions.>

yana: <ok. do you want to say hi to the others or->

Fyodor: <No. I'll let you know when to tell them.>

yana: <ok>

Fyodor: "..." <Problem?>

yana: <no...>

Fyodor: <Good. More reports will come to you as necessary. Keep the radio on.>

-elsewhere-

Kid: *shifts under blankets*

stocking: zzzz

Kid: *hug*

stocking: mmmm =w=

Kid: *smooch*

-morning-

atsushi: zzzzz

*tap tap*

atsushi: nnhnn...hmm? *yaaaawn* huzzah?

*Something on the window*

atsushi: ?? *goes to check. it's still the early hours of the morning, and the sun is just starting to rise*

*sitting on the tree branch near the window is Lucy*

Lucy: *waves*

atsushi: *rubs eyes* morning-...wait, how did you get up there?

Lucy: "I climbed."

atsushi: i kind of figured. i just wasnt expecting it. ^^;

Lucy: "I used to do this a lot! Now, get over here..." *pats a seat next to her on the branch*

atsushi: um.... oh boy, how do i get over there?

Lucy: "You're the tiger here."

atsushi: um....ok...*steps back...runs forward and jumps* HUP!

-nice grab onto the branch-

atsushi: *legs dangling* ._. little help?

Lucy: -n-; *pulls him up by his arms then lifting him by one of his legs* "UMPH!" *

atsushi: woah!

Lucy: "There..." *pats his bottom* "Now sit."

atsushi: *sitting down* this is nice.....

Lucy: *nods* "I wanted to see the sunrise...and with someone..." *rests her head on his shoulder*

atsushi: ./////////////.

Lucy: *interlocks her fingers with his*

atsushi: *holding her hand and smiles*

Lucy: *soft sigh, smiles* "You know I love you, right?"

atsushi: i-i love you too... *leans in*

Lucy: .\\\. *gulp* >\\\<

-kiss-

Lucy: *smooch* "Mmm~" "..."

atsushi: ./////.

Lucy: *smiles, blushing* "That was really good..." *leans closer*

atsushi: u/////u

ranpo: ooooi, lovebirds! you gonna make a nest or what?

atsushi: ACK! *falls back, bringing lucy with him as they fall into a bush*

Lucy: *groans, struggling to get up*

ranpo: dat got your attention, huh?

atsushi: you ok lucy? *coughs up leaves*

Lucy: *groans* "N-No...I think I bust my bottom..."

atsushi: oh no...

Lucy: *frowns at Atsushi* -n-

atsushi: did i at least break your fall? ^^;

Lucy: "Yeah..." *looks at him* "Are you hurt?"

atsushi: a bit scratched up, but i've had worse...

ranpo: when you get outta there, head to the meeting room, kay?

Lucy: *grumbles* *holds onto Atsushi*

-and so-

atsushi: so what's going on?

kirako:....*looks at fukuzawa*

Fukuzawa: "Dostoyevsky has escaped."

atsushi: ??!!

aya: what?!

yosano: are you serious?!

Kunikida: "...It appears th-that someone infiltrated and pretended to be guards..."

atsushi: the rats?

Kunikida: "One prisoner tried to identify them, and the description doesn't match any Rats we have encountered."

ranpo: then again, we havent met every one of the rats thus far.

Kunikida: "We'll be reviewing the descriptions against known criminals..."

-there is a flower on the windowsill...-

-in frances' office-

frances: *listening to the flower*

*There's a sound coming from the flower*

Flower?: "--and interview the guards, too."

frances: hmmm..... *on the phone* this is quite the curious predicament, ma'am.

agatha: indeed it is. for now, just monitor the situation. don not intervene just yet.

frances: understood. till next time~ *hangs up* ..... hmmm....

*Voice in the flower*: "Two of you will visit the prison to speak with guards. I think it would be best for Kunikida to stay here..."

flower voice 2: understood, sir.

Kunikida: "..."

yosano: ....*pats his back*

Kunikida: *nods* "We'll be researching here..."

-elsewhere-

Fyodor: *blindfolded*

marquis: are we there yet?

Dumas: "A bit further...I told you the Iron Mask would've been better. He's probably following us even blindfolded."

marquis: hmmm...

Fyodor: "I assure you, I see nothing." *looks at Cervantes* "...What are wearing?"

Cervantes: "Cologne!"

Fyodor: "..." *sniffs* "...Awful."

marquis: so why dont you tell us about yourself~?

Fyodor: "What do you want to know?"

marquis: what are your companions like?

Fyodor: "Loyal…..Mostly."

Cervantes: "As leader of this trio, it is not loyalty so much as--" *pose* "FRIENDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDSHIP!"

Dumas: -_-;

marquis: any special someone in your life~?

Fyodor: "...There are people with whom I am intimate."

marquis: do tell~

Fyodor: "What's in it for me, lovely?"

marquis: hehehe~ oh you flirter, you~ ^///^

Dumas: "Stop that." *pulls Marquis away* "We're here."

marquis: =3=

Dumas: "Now, how to let them know we're here--"

Cervantes: "WE'RE HERE!"

marquis: *looks out the window*

-there seems to be a large house in the middle of the desert, surrounded by large hills. it almost looks like a large cabin-

Dumas: "...Yeah, that's conspicuous."

Cervantes: "Ring the doorbell!"

Dumas: "Why would a place out here have--"

Cervantes: *suddenly has a doorbell*

*RIIIIING*

marquis: hellooooo?

-a servant answers-

servant: welcome.

Dumas: "Um, yes, we have completed a mission for your employer..."

Cervantes: *waves* "Hi, Sancho!"

Dumas: -_-; "Not every person you meet is 'Sancho.'"

servant: thank you, sirs. my employer first has some business to take care of in europe before coming here to the states.

Dumas: "Wait--they're not even here? Then how do we do this transaction--"

servant: *hands them a briefcase*

Dumas: "..." *puts an ear to it* "...It's not ticking."

marquis: ^^

Cervantes: "So we have to say goodbye to our new friend?"

Fyodor: "I was not your friend."

marquis: so mean. =3=

Fyodor: *looks at the servant* "So, one prison to another..."

servant: do you wish to invite your subordinates to the establishment?

Fyodor: "...Hmm...Interesting proposal. You'll forgive me if I am suspect."

servant: shall i give you a tour, sir?

Fyodor: "..." *follows*

-there's a living room area with a TV, a kitchen and dining area, a game room, a study, and several bedrooms-

Fyodor: "Large."

servant: you can take any of the bedrooms you'd like.

Fyodor: "I don't have much with me."

servant: *nods and exits*

Fyodor: *sits on the bed, looks at the phone*…..*dials*

Fyodor: "..."

*The phone clicks, connecting*

yana: yo.

Fyodor: "I am at the safehouse."

yana: want me to put you on speaker to talk to everyone?

Fyodor: "Yes."

yana: ok..... OI! everyone get on in here! fedya's on the phone!

zoey: master??

lydia: ???

barkova: owo

Gogol: *sets down his tea*

Ivan: QwQ *inches to the phone*

Fyodor: "I am no longer in the prison."

lydia: so we've heard in the news.

elizaveta: yay!

Fyodor: "I will have updates soon--but you must prepare for a move."

yana: to a new location?

Fyodor: "Yes. Just wait until our host gives me more information."

lydia: your host?

Fyodor: "Yes. I am someone's guest."

Ivan: "..."

lydia: who's?

Fyodor: "I'll tell you more soon, but they'll be an...interesting ally."

yana: hmm...

Ivan: OwO "...WE MISS YOU!"

zoey: i want to see you again, master! i want our baby to see you when it's born!

Fyodor: "...I will see you soon."

zoey: *moan~*

Ivan: >-< "MASTER! WE'LL BE REUNITED!"

Fyodor: "..." *makes a noise* "Whoops--reception--"

lydia: <calm down, vanya, take a breath..> -A-; *sweatdrop*

Ivan: *hyperventilating*

lydia: <inhale, vanya, inhale!>

Ivan: *takes a paper bag, inhales*

lydia: *pats his back*

zoey: pheh....

Fyodor: "I got to go--until then. Yana, may I speak with you..."

yana: sure thing.....do ya'll mind?

Gogol: ^w^ "Let's depart, everyone..." *pushing them out*

yana:...............<what did you want to say?>

Fyodor: <The move will be difficult getting out of the city: keep them in line.>

yana: <noted.>

Fyodor: <Good. Don't disappoint.>

-elsewhere-

erina: *waking up*

Allison: *looking at the news* "..."

erina: *yaaawn* mornin'

Allison: "!!!" *puts down her phone* "...Morning."

erina: *streeeetch* bacon....

Allison: ^^; "Coming up..."

-phone rings-

erina: *answers* m'hello?

???: "Erina."

erina: *her stomach drops, and her eyes widen in horror*

???: "I hope you did not think I forgot you."

Allison: "Erina...Who is it?"

erina: *she's shaking, unable to speak* ah...

???: "I'm sure you heard the news already: I'm free."

erina:....

Fyodor: "I'll see you soon."

erina: *she drops the phone.....and falls to her knees*

Allison: "!!! Erina! Erina!"

Fyodor: "..." *smiles*

erina: ah...ah.......*she screams at the top of her lungs in horror, shaking violently*

Allison: "Erina!" *grabs her, holding her*

erina: *hysterically sobbing*

Allison: "..." *keeps holding onto her, strokes her back*

erina: oh god, he's going to come after me! he's going to hurt me!

Allison: *grabs the phone, hangs it up* "Erina...Look at me."

erina: *her eyes look dead, pupils shrunk*

Allison: "..." *gulps* "W-We're not going to let that happen. I'm not going to let him hurt you."

erina:...i cant leave the apartment...

Allison: "...You have to...This is not your prison, this is your home. And...I don't know, we can call the police..."

erina: how can they help me after i-....*urk* *shaking*

Allison: "...I don't know..." *hugs, cries*

erina:.....i feel sick....

Allison: *nods* "L-Let's get you some water..."

-elsewhere-

Kunikida: *sitting in front of tea* "..."

naomi: ....

Kunikida: *tries to pick up the cup--misses* "..."

naomi: *pat pat*

Kunikida: "...This is not ideal."

naomi: .....

Kunikida: "No one stopped him, again. And he's going to get people killed, again."

yosano: we're going to find him and stop him.

Kunikida: "..." *nods* "Right."

-elsewhere-

Chuuya: *freezes*

katya: *malicious giggling* ohhhh im gonna kill hiiiim.... OOOOHHHHH IM GONNA KIIIILLL HIIIIIIM NYEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

pushkin: 0-0;;;;;;

Gin: "Easy there..."

hirotsu: ._. she's certainly....erm... enthusiastic.

Gin: "Yes...I suggest directing her energies towards something effective." *pulls out a sword* "This would work..."

Akutagawa: "..." T_T ("She's still worried for me...")

leo: katyusha, do you want to use the punching bag?

katya: it'll do.....for now....

Tachihara: "Yo, all--"

Gin: "Speaking of punching bags."

katya: *pulls out a knife* C8<

higuchi: not yet, katya.

Tachihara: O_o "..." *slowly backs away*

katya: move it, <shitbag>.

Tachihara: *takes off running* "WHYYYYYYYYY?!!!" >____<

-elsewhere-

Fitzgerald: "..." *sets down the newspaper*

alcott: oh dear heavens....

Fitzgerald: "Get Eckleburg on this. Track surveillance."

alcott: right away, sir.

Fitzgerald: *looking through files*

-elsewhere-

ango:...DAMN.

Taneda: "I think this calls for additional support."

ango: hmm....

Taneda: "Go through the files, arrange a meeting."

ango: understood.

Taneda: *sighs* "What a mess...Some prison."

ango: *making a call*

*The line is connecting...*

???: "Hello?"

ango: this is ango sakaguchi, with the death city special abilities department. your group has summons to the city ASAP.

???: *sigh* "Very well. I'll make the call."

-elsewhere-

Yumi: *hands Shiori* "We'll be working until around 2."

kirika: kay.

stocking: *nod*

Yumi: "Thank you." *waves to Shiori*

shiori: baba...

Yumi: *weak smile, as she leaves*

kirika:...be safe mom.

Yumi: "..." *nods* "I will. Thank you."

-elsewhere-

Dumas: *counting the dollars*

marquis: so what now?

Dumas: "Onto the next task, including dividing up the money--"

Cervantes: *holding binoculars, looking around* "Hmm...Not a bad setting..."

marquis: *pokes head out*

Dumas: "...No--"

Cervantes: "A lovely new home, with chandeliers!"

Dumas: "I said--"

marquis: we can bring your doggy. ^^

Dumas: "... ... ..." >_> "...Backyard?"

marquis: ^^

Cervantes: ^w^ "Even can build our own cave for you~"

Dumas: "...Hmph. Call a real estate agent."

Cervantes: *victory pose*

-elsewhere-

Yumi: *reviewing maps* "There are multiple exit points." *taps one part of the map* "Here we had reports of lights going out, as well as mass hallucinations."

homura: hmm...

Yumi: "By the time reports came in of the hallucinations, we found border agents at the northwest sector also under the influence. At this time, we cannot confirm whether it was madness, black blood..."

nygus: have we checked the cameras?

Yumi: "Many were disabled in the prison itself. We do have some footage from around the city..."

nygus: lets review that.

Yumi: *taps onto a tablet, pulling up the footage*

homura: ....

*The footage shows three people bringing along what looks like Fyodor*

*One of them starts pointing wildly at skull-shaped decorations on the buildings*

*One of them starts walking off in the wrong direction*

homura: *sweatdrop*

*The one who looks like Fyodor claps his hands, as if trying to get their attention*

nygus: ...

Yumi: "Wait, where did the third one go?"

*the third was out of view of the camera*

*The one looking like Fyodor just stands...tilts his head*

*The one who got lost starts yelling and pointing*

*The other grabs the one off-camera, pulling him along*

homura: hmm....

Yumi: "That's where our footage ends."

nygus: it doesnt help much...

Yumi: "No. Forensics is searching that spot to find any evidence that could identify the trio."

-elsewhere-

*Rain starts falling*

izumi: *walking along with an umbrella* ^^

rowena: hello, miss albarn.

izumi: hey ro. ^^

Magaki: *nods*

alice: hello....

izumi: heading anywhere?

Magaki: "I was going to the bakery--was asked to pick up bread for the, um, house."

izumi: sounds good.

rowena: ^^ edgar asked me to pick some supplies up for him as well.

Magaki: "??? Ink?"

rowena: *she nods*

Magaki: "Ah. Does he enjoy sweets? Maybe pick one up for him."

-elsewhere-

Shotaro: *hangs up a teru teru bozu*

setsuna: ^^

Shotaro: "How's yours coming along, Em--"

Emine: *holds up one looking like it's been hanged*

mana: ._.

mono: _that's_ totally not disturbing at all.

lin-kimpur:... ^^ creative.

Emine: "Thank you." *hangs it up*

Shotaro: "Let's make more!" *draws out a face like Mana's*

-elsewhere-

sonia: *looking out the window*

Motojiro: "--then the light shines through like a prism*

bessy: oooh, neat.

Motojiro: "Then the worms will come out of the ground--"

sonia: ...

Motojiro: "What can you all tell me about the process of how rain is made? Sonia?"

sonia: .........

naoya: *whispers* maaaybe not the best subject to bring up with her.

Motojiro: OwO;;; "...How about we listen to the frogs croaking--MAKING NOISE! Making noise..."

tom: yay!

naoya: you could call it a....ribbeting, experience.

ayako: you did not just say that.

-some of the kids laugh. sonia says nothing-

Motojiro: OwO;;; "..." (*INTERNAL SCREAMING* "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PARENT!!!")

leo: miss sonia? did you want to go for a walk?

sonia:.....ok...

Motojiro: QWQ "..."

-elsewhere-

Arthur: *meditating...under the pounding rain*

shinra: he's gonna get a cold.

Relan: "I mean, have you ever seen him have a cold?"

Vulcan: "Must be mind over matter."

shinra: mind?

Vulcan: "...Touche. I don't know, maybe Arthur is a robot--"

Viktor: OwO *picks up a screwdriver*

shinra: nah, he'd be short-circuiting if that were the case.

karin: that is also true.

Vulcan: "Could always waterproof things...Hmm...Maybe a submersible...but fire-powered...and with torpedoes with shark faces on them..." *mutter mutter mutter*

karin: *sweatdrop*

lisa: ^^;

Arthur: *eyes break open* "I got it!" *jumps up*

nozomi: oh?

Arthur: *lifts a rock* "The key!" *holding up...a key to the front door?*

shinra: what an epiphany.

Arthur: "The key is what is needed to unlock the secrets!"

Vulcan: "..." *shudders* "A-Already been there..."

shinra: ....

-elsewhere-

Rino: *looking around* "So...What's the plan?"

mikami: looking for snacks for the party.

Rino: "What does everyone like?" *grabs some gummy worms*

mikami: from what the others tell me, usual party snacks consist of popcorn and chips, right?

Rino: "True, but can't hurt to have something sweet..." *grabs some soda*

ryuuko: *gets some hi-chews* these are really good.

Rino: *small smile* "Good choice...Any cooking?"

mikami: shrimp?

Rino: "That could be good..." -_-; "Unless Hibana cheaps out."

mikami: isnt shrimp always a party food?

Rino: ._.; "...I mean, if you have the cash."

mikami: sorry, im still trying to get used to how other people do things like this. ^^; i know a bit about it i think...at least i hope so.

Rino: "Jeez, don't tell me you haven't had 'commoners' food' or something." *holds up instant ramen*

mikami: o-o-of course i have! i-i didnt mean anything rude a-at all....

ryuuko: easy mikami, easy.

Rino: ._.; "I hit a nerve?"

mikami: n-no, i-i-it's fine... *wipes her eyes*

Rino: ._.;;;; "...Sorry."

mikami: it's alright. i-im not mad at you.

Rino: "...How about I show you a recipe for a simple cheesecake?"

mikami: o-ok.

-elsewhere-

Shima: ^^; "Maybe I could help. I read about the prison break, and I know a bit about those kinds of thing--"

izumo: *GLARE*

Shima: OwO;;; "...Ah, come on--I'm just trying to help. After all, we're all classmates and teammates again, right?"

izumo: that depends....

Shima: "Depends on what?"

konekomaru: after what you did, it broke a lot of our trust for you. and if you really are being truthful, you're going to have to do a lot of work to earn that trust back.

Shima: "Oh, totally. That's why I'm here! First, help solve this prison break. Second, pay for some meals for you all. Third, take out Izumo--"

izumo: *GLARE*

seiya: *glare*

Shima: ^^;;; "I can skip the last one." *opens a book, showing some arrays*

-elsewhere-

Kid: "We're back."

lord death: hello~!

kirika: yo.

Kid: "Hello, Shiori!"

shiori: kid!

kirika: how was it?

Kid: *picks Shiori up* *sighs* "I haven't heard any progress. I don't think it's good for prison staff..."

-elsewhere-

Ivan: *folding clothes into luggage* ^w^

lydia: <so we're moving base then?>

Ivan: <Because Master asked~>

Gogol: <Likely to keep an eye on us.>

yana: we'll have to take unused underground maintenance tunnels out to avoid public eye...

Gogol: "AKA the sewer."

yana: <pretty much>

Gogol: >_< "That stinks. Literally."

lydia: =_=; grow up.

Gogol: <It's not sanitary...> *grabs soap*

-elsewhere-

Dumas: *looking at furniture*

marquis: hmmm.....i wanna go on a date.

Dumas: "We still want to be low-key, and you haven't met many people here yet."

marquis: but i get wonwy Q3Q

Dumas: *sighs* "Promise you won't out us?"

marquis: i woooont! im not stupid. *pouty face*

Dumas: "And be quiet bringing any date home."

marquis: okaaaay.

Dumas: "Good luck finding someone--even this city seems limited on options."

marquis: you never knooow~

Dumas: *eyeroll, looks at table coasters*

-elsewhere-

Dabi: *flipping through posts on his phone*

fang: *chewing on a washcloth*

Dabi: *grumbles, looks*

fang: da-

Dabi: "???"

fang: da-bi! ^o^

himiko: OuO

Dabi: "..." *groans*

fang: dabi! dabi! ^u^

Dabi: "Ugh...Why are you repeating that?"

himiko: you're his daddy! ^u^

Dabi: =_=; "Super..."

tomura: ....

Dabi: *looks at Tomura* "What up?"

tomura: *slinks back into his room*

Dabi: "...What's with him? Is he hard-up for attention?"

-elsewhere-

Gopher: "Hmph..." *looks up at the clouds* "Was hoping for clearer skies..."

kotone: ....

Gopher: "Could fly or go to the park..." *sad sigh* *looks at Kotone* "...Want to make something to eat with me?"

kotone: ok, brother.

Gopher: *smiles* "Cupcakes? With frosting?"

kotone: yes

Gopher: >w< "Okay!" *puts on an apron*

-elsewhere-

Free: "We're home!" *Milia is in a poncho and rain boots...Free is just in his shirt and pants, soaked*

milia: hi mama!

eruka: welcome back! ^^

???: is this our little granddaughter? she's such a sweetie! ^^

Free: ._.; *turns*

-eruka's parents are there-

sephy: heya, kiddo.

milia: um...hi?

Free: ^^; "Didn't know you were stopping by..."

kerona: we thought we'd come visit due to the lovely weather~ ^^

Free: "Greeeeeeeat..." *shakes the rain off himself*

kerona: we even brought some treats from the witch world along~

milia: *shiny eyes*

Free: "Guess you can have one for now..."

milia: yay!

eruka: it's been a while since i had food from home. *stomach growls*

Free: ^^; "I guess we're all sharing for a bit--" *reaches for one*

Free: *picks up what looks like a cross between an orange and an apple, only it's got green and purple stripes*

eruka: ooh. *picks up another one* *nom* tangy. ^^

Free: "Milia, try this--" *holds up what looks like a dip container--only it's bubbling, neon, and...did it just blink?*

milia: *nom* =w= yum!

Free: "Thank you for trying something new." ^w^

-elsewhere-

Tool: "How's your arm holding up?"

mana: a bit sore, but fine.

Tool: *nods* "That's good...The streets are saying this isn't going to stop for a bit--and may flood the road."

mana: hmm.

Tool: "I think it's best to put some towels down around the door edges--" *opens the curtains, looks outside* o_O;;;

*Shotaro is now a dolphin, swimming outside*

-elsewhere-

kyouko: *helping put up sandbags by the edge of the canal*

Rin: "Got another one..." *picks it up*

nygus: thanks again for helping out here today.

kyouko: not a problem, ma'am.

Sid: "The nearby houses are evacuated. Where did this storm come from?"

homura: it could be an incident by a rogue witch.

Sid: "Maybe...Homura, call up some meisters, see which souls they detect. I'll get some other divisions to check on other sources--demons, quirks, abilities..."

homura: understood.

Sid: *texts* [can you patrol for certain rain-based or water-based quirks in the area? potential source of current downpour]

Aizawa: *asleep next to his phone* "Zzzz..."

yuuji: oi, get up. *nudge*

present mic: i got dis.....HEYYYYYYYYYYYY AIZAWA!!!

yuuji: >~Q ow.

Aizawa: =_______= *grabs Present Mic by the throat*

present mic: GRK-

Aizawa: "What."

present mic: text message for you.

Aizawa: *looks* "..." *sighs* "I'll get my poncho...Come along."

-elsewhere-

Charon: *shivers* "Stupid rain..."

kagu-tsuchi: it should pass soon enough.

Charon: "Not soon enough. I'm freezing." *he's standing with no shirt*

kagu-tsuchi: *sweatdrop* you're the one walking around without a shirt on.

Charon: "??? How could you--"

kagu-tsuchi: your heat signature was different from usual.

Charon: "Hmph. Fine." *puts on a shirt* "It's still unbearable. Rain requires adjusting any techniques in combat."

-elsewhere-

*There's a child jumping around in the rain, giggling*

shop owner: hey kid, you shouldnt be out here alone, it's dangerous.

???: "???" *smiles, slightly creepy* "But it's fun! Whee!" *plops down, rolling in the puddle*

shop owner: where the heck are your parents?

???: -___-; "Shut up! I'm here because I want to be!" *kicks up water*

shop owner: woah!

???: >n< "I don't need any, any more!" *stamps their feet--and more rain pours down, flooding into the shop*

shop owner: h-hey! hey!!

???: "I get to do what I want! Because I can do THIS!" *splashes water at the window, shattering it*

shop owner: !!!!!

Sid: "Hey!"

???: "???" *turns* "..." ._.; "What the heck are you supposed to be?"

homura: *grabs their shoulder* disciplinary committee.

-one spanking later-

???: Q~Q "You mean ugly jerk!" >n<

*The rain stops falling...*

nygus: so they were the source, then....

homura: *looking up an ID for the kid*

*Looks to be a runaway from the Slums, missing since the disaster there*

homura: you're from the slums, right?

???: "I don't have to tell you anything--you're not my mom!"

nygus: what's your name, sweetie?

???: "...Kai."

nygus: now, how are you able to use this ability of yours, kai? is it a quirk?

Kai: "Dunno...It started happening last week after I...ran."

homura: so you recently discovered your ability, then?

Kai: *frowns at Homura* -n- "Yeah."

nygus: where's your family, kai? in the slums still?

Kai: "...I don't know. After the fire, I couldn't find them...No one came for me anyway, so that's fine."

nygus:.....tell you what, you can stay with us for a while until we get this squared away, alright?

Kai: "Why would you do that for me, Miss Mummy?"

nygus: someone has to make sure you're safe, so that your power isnt used to cause harm to others.

Kai: -n- "I didn't harm anyone..."

*The shop is still flooded*

shop owner: does my insurance cover this?

Sid: "I'm going to guess yes, but I'll check with the Academy--they are taking responsibility for this kid."

shop owner: thank you, mr barrett.

Sid: *nods* "Now, let's dump this brat into a warm bath, get them cleaned up--"

Kai: >_< "MY NAME ISN'T 'BRAT'!"

-elsewhere-

Joker: "Huh. Rain stopped."

scarlet: weather's odd like that, i guess.

Joker: "Hmm..." *picks up a cigarette box--it's soggy* "...Oh, damn it."

-elsewhere-

Walter: "Almost ready to put this show on stage, Leroux?"

leroux: just about~ ^u^

Hirotsu: "It's shaping up very well. The costumes in particular."

-elsewhere-

Kid: *smiles, looking at the rainbow outside*

shiori: woooow!

Kid: "It's so big and colorful! We can see red, orange, and--what else, Shiori?"

shiori: bloo?

Kid: "Yes! The rainbow contains the seven main colors, including indigo."

shiori: indigo?

Kid: "A kind of dark blue..." *Excalibur face* "There should be _eight_ rainbow colors..."

shiori: how about brown?

Kid: "Hmm...Well, that could give us an eighth color, but then it wouldn't be a rainbow but a rain-_brown_." *smiles*

shiori: *giggle*

Kid: ^w^ "Ha ha...The rainbow comes after even the worst rain, kind of a sign of hope."

-elsewhere-

Todoroki: *passing a finger along rain droplets on the window*

fuyumi: quite a storm, huh?

Todoroki: "No kidding. It wasn't reported at all, so I'm glad it's done."

-elsewhere-

#death city days

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