Vikki took each response to her briefing in turn, first taking a mental note of what Prometheus had said and nodded to him as he walked out.

Turning back to the rest of the group, she took the first question.

"I have one! Do we know which swords the main group will be picking up, or is the element of the swords unknown until we retrieve them?" the Gortanian-appearing male asked.

"Only two of the six swords are known. Lux, the sword of light, is in the hands of Miss Brightendale. Nox, the sword of darkness, is the one here," she replied, pointing at one of the spots on the map. "The other four are unknown, but it's probably a safe bet that they correspond to the classical elements," she said.

The vampire continued with a second question. "...wouldn't it be easier to decide who gets it before hand? This will help mitigate conflict before it even happens, Correct?"

Before Vikki could reply, a feminine voice interjected. "Why decide that now? No point fighting over something you do not possess" The owner of the voice, a beautiful blue haired woman, presently joined the group. "At least not yet," she added.

Vikki looked between the two, forming a small, patient grin as she leaned forward and placed her hands on the table. "Believe me, you'll have plenty of time to argue over them on the way," she said. "That's not something I'm here to help with."

The blue haired woman, clearly confident, asked another question. Vikki was inwardly pleased that some people there at least paid enough attention to have questions in the first place. Although she didn't care about any of them (yet), it was her job to keep them safe. "If you'll excuse the intrusion, I have a question as well. What is the plan should we come across Marcus's forces and when do we leave?" the woman asked.

"We fight them," Vikki responded simply. She glanced around the room. "Our first plan of action is not being seen, but if that fails, I happen to know that you lot have powerful abilities that would come in handy in a combat situation."

"Well, prepare for some combat situations."

"As for when we leave," Vikki continued, "As soon as we establish which two of you are going to Europe with Prometheus, we're leaving. We don't have time to waste."

"So, before I pick two people at random, who wants to go to Europe?"

Axel J. Black

Axel listened as Vikki explained the known elemental swords. He slowly slipped his hands into his pockets and began thinking. He didn't like all the unknown information. The locations were great, but he wanted more. Marcus was a terrifying enemy to face against, and Axel felt that the more information that the group has, the better chance they would have for success. Any information was better than no information, and Axel was just going to have to live with it.

Axel's train of thought was broken when a blue haired maiden injected herself into their conversation. She opposed the idea of settling who gets what sword now and rather would do it down the line. Axel didn't like that, but he didn't respond right away. He waited for Vikki to finish explaining everything and finish speaking. "So, before I pick two people at random, who wants to go to Europe?" She asked the group.

Axel turned away and said, " I don't like Europe very much, and I would rather stay and offer my abilities to the main group." He then began towards the blue haired maiden and stopped directly on the right side of her, "I do want to announce something first. If we are not going to decide who gets which swords first, I will make it easier on me then. I will most likely take an interest in the dark, fire, and/or earth swords. If there are any that wish to wield one of these swords, feel free to challenge me directly for the rights to the sword at any time," He let his declaration sit for a moment before continuing, " I don't care for the other swords, and you can decide how to handle that yourselves. Aside from that, I hope that we all can get along."

He smiled towards the group and then turned towards the maiden, "I see your very strong willed. That's good. You don't find a lot a people like that nowadays, and it's quite refreshing." He then continued back to his seat and took a long swig of his Bloody Mary.

"Rather greedy of you, Vampire, to be claiming 3 of the weapons just like that." Grimm interjected himself into the conversation with a tone of slight irritation. "While the blades hold only a passing interest for me, I feel the need to challenge you on the issue purely out of principle if nothing else." Grim put his sketchbook away as he rose, walking over to the map to look over the other sword locations.

"Vikki, was it? Do we know the full extent of the powers of these weapons. A sword of flame is only so useful when you can only create a tiny flame along the edge. Also, besides Marcus' forces, is there any chance of others trying to claim these weapons and if so, shoukd we stop them, since tge only reason we want them as a whole is to keep Marcus from claiming them." As he spoke, he looked over Vikki's soul intensely, head tilted as he tried to see if there was anything more to this woman, cause sge seemed like just another boring human to him. Why out a human with no abilities in charge of this mission, she's more likely to slow us down than anything else. That's not even touching on the fact that her soul looks rather dull, especially when compared to the shining brilliance of the Skylark's.

Grimm gave a light sigh, continuing to examine her soul, but refusing to dive beneath tge surface, convince it was just like the rest of the boring human souls he'd seen. To anyone observing him, however, it woukd appear as if he was unabashedly staring at the woman's chest, as that was where her soul core was located.

@HeartlessNobody

@Driving Park

Rain wasn't entirely sure how to react to Vikki's movement, she stood her ground as the other woman leant forward firmly planting her hands on the table. She raised an eyebrow at Vicki's comment, she personally did not see the point in arguing over the swords now or during the trip, the tension it could cause wouldn't be healthy in a tight situation. She tilted her head to the side at the mention of 'Europe' in all honesty she hadn't a clue what the place was neither did she really know what to expect. Hearing the red haired gentleman pipe up she turned her head to glance at him as he came to stand beside her.

She couldn't help but sigh as he declared which of the swords he was interested in before openly inviting people to challenge him. Well perhaps they need to get it out of their systems before this starts...the impatience of it all noticing Axel turn towards her she turned her head slightly to look at him, feeling her eyebrows raise ever so slightly in surprise as he complimented her. It was unexpected though she felt her lips lift into a small smile "Thank you, though I'm sure after a while it'll lose its appeal" She responded, amusement alighting her features before she turned back to study the map and listen to Vicki. Keeping a group of this size from being seen should be interesting... she thought to herself, unsure about the tactics but smart enough not to question it Rain simply nodded her head at the woman in front of her, clearly content with what had been said. "I'd rather stay with the main group, I wouldn't know the first thing about 'museum security'" Rain admitted, unashamed by the truth, she figured her lack of knowledge when it came to technology as something that needed to be known for the sake of the mission.

With that settled she turned to look at yet another male as he responded to the vampire's challenge. "And challenging him 'purely out of principle' gets us where exactly?" Rain interjected. "And you, at the end of it all you can only wield one of the blades. What is the point of accepting challenges for all three?" The blue haired female looked at Axel as she spoke before glancing at Grimm for a moment and eventually dropping her eyes to Vicki, usually her words would have brought the quarrelling to an end but she was well aware she held no weight with these people. "Have you thought over the repercussions if you fight over them now? Injuries and bad blood are terrible companions to take with you on a mission" She felt the need to add, though that was as involved as she was prepared to be on the subject.

She listened to what Grimm said to Vicki, she hadn't really thought about the weapons very much at all considering she had no interest at all in wielding any of them. Though his second question did catch her interest, she had been debating whether to ask something similar herself, it was crucial in her mind to know what other forces were at work. Her expression adopted a some what confused edge however as she noticed where Grimm's gaze was fixed, despite her approval of his choice, he wasn't portraying any visible signs or scents that indicated attraction...was rather confusing... This is going to be a long trip...

"I wasn't challenging him for all three, that'd make me a hypocrite." Grimm stated as his gaze shifted from the soul of their boring leader to the more interesting soul of the werewolf girl. Her soul was interesting at first glance as well, a shining moon above a calm lake at it's most basic interpretation. He sensed a form of confusion in the girl, which in turn confused him as he saw nothing for her to be confused about. He was similarly confused by a fleeting sense of attraction, as he doubted it was directed at him or the vampire. "I simply felt that it was obvious which one I'd challenge him for, considering my position as a Reaper. Nox would probably suit me better than it does him. No offense intended, Vampire, just a matter of facts is all." Grimm's monotone explanation did little to make his comments sound less inflammatory, though he honestly meant nothing by it.

"Also, it's better if we fight over them now then while we're on the move. That way, we have more time to make up any grievances between us that may form, and heal from any injuries. Handling this later will only lead to trouble and tension with less chance of resolution, especially sense we've little knowledge on how our enemies will react once they realize what we are doing. In other words, doing it your way is more an overall detriment to the mission than our way is, plus you haven't truly considered the personalities of those involved, have you?" Grimm's bored tone indicated a certainty that he believed she had not. "Considering that the vampire was so willing to offer a challenge, than he must be open to the idea of losing the right to a weapon, and thus shouldn't hold any significant grudge if he does. If I lose, then I lose, and that's the end of that. Like I said before, the blade holds no particular interest in me, and this is more out of principle than anything else, though if I win, I'll be certain to put the weapon to use as best I can."

After stating what he said, Grimm advanced upon Rain and began to circle her, his ice blue eyes running up and down her frame in deep contemplation.

_{"Nice figure . . . good balance between her bust and hip . . . beautiful hair and such a rich shade of blue . . . and her soul does require further investigation . . ."} Grimm began his muttering again as he scanned her over, before he finally stopped in front of her. The icy blue of his eyes piercing into her own with an incredible amount of artistic passion. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to ask you to model for me from time to time. You bear a very appealing figure, and it does inspire me a create deal for possible drawings and paintings. Some of these ideas due involve nude or partially nude works, but those would be up to you to accept or deny, and you'd have m word that no one else will ever see them if you truly wish."
@FaithsRose
@HeartlessNobody
@Driving Park

Axel J. Black

Axel gave a large, toothy grin when the Reaper walked up challenging him. He hadn't really expected a challenge until at least they all left for their adventure, but he was glad that at least one person had the nerve to do it. Axel could feel his pulse beginning to quicken. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he could feel the fires of competition spark within him. Putting his drink back onto the table, Axel, turned around to face the challenger. He began to open his mouth in order to accept the challenge, but the same blue-haired maiden decided to intervene. She didn't see the reasoning behind the Reaper challenging him. Axel silently waited for her to finish her say in the matter, and then continued to stay silent when the Reaper decided to reply to her concerns.

By the time the Reaper finished speaking, Axel was slightly irritated. Granted he was in agreement with most of what the Reaper said, he just didn't like the assumption that the Reaper made about himself being more suited with Nox. He knew that the Reaper meant no particular ill will in his comment, and that he may even be right about the sword, but Axel felt that his pride as a pureblood had taken a hit. He moved over to a table that was closer to the two. He sat down as he watched the Reaper circling the maiden, mumbling to himself. "He is right, you know," He said as he looked at the two of them, "If I lose a challenge for the rights of a sword, I will hold no ill will towards that person. Truthfully, the challenges are a way for me to find out who I can trust with the swords and my life." He lifted his glass to finish the last few drops of his drink and then continued, " I learned, from a young age, that you can see a persons true colors when he or she is fighting to his or her fullest. That is when you meet the person behind the mask, or at least that was how it was explained to me," He gave a small chuckle as he reminisced about all of his sparring partners and mentors he had in the past, " If I am going to be entrusting my life to somebody and watch them take claim to one of the swords, I would rather have it be done after a heated battle where both competitors have laid their heart and souls onto the battlefield for all to see."

Axel stood up and walked towards the two. He stopped roughly outside of arms length and smiled. "Since the air has now been settled, I accept your challenge Mr. Reaper," he then turned towards the blue-haired maiden and said, " Maybe after your done modeling for this guy," he pointed at Grimm and gave a playful wink, " you can challenge me too? I would love to see how a strong willed woman like yourself handles herself on the battlefield." He stuck out his hand towards Grimm in order for a handshake to be made.

Rain's oceanic blue eyes focused on Grimm as he spoke, she raised an eyebrow at him as he explained himself to her. She wasn't aware of his ability to see souls however, so she was curious as to why his gaze was so intent. What the reaper saw within her was a sight indeed, it symbolised her perfectly in her current state considering her soul still lacked the blinding spark of an alpha as of yet. The werewolf seemed intrigued by the Reapers explanation, she hadn't made the connections he had pointed out, though neither had he made a specific challenge...still she was beginning to realise she may have jumped the gun when she decided to intervene. 'Perhaps if I looked at it from a different angle' She thought turning her head to look at the vampire, noting how he calmly waited as the white haired male spoke.

She turned her gaze back to Grimm, listening to what he had to say and noting suitable response as she did. Overall she found herself agreeing with him, she had not thought about their personalities and in fairness she could understand them wanting to get it out of the way. She was quick to admit to herself that what she hadn't truly understood was their want to clash over an inanimate object, to decide which of them was entitled to it.

Rain was pulled from her thoughts as Grimm suddenly advanced on her, beginning to circle around her as his eyes travelled the length of her body. She didn't adjust her stance or question him as he scoped her out, simply watched him out of the corner of her eye raising a curious eyebrow at him as he muttered under his breath, her enhanced hearing meant she caught every word crystal clear 'Investigate my soul? That doesn't sound overly appealing...'. The only time her composure changed was when the Reaper came to stand in front of her and starde into her eyes, it was a silent challenge among her kind, one that was near on impossible to ignore. After a few moments of prolonged eye contact, a deep royal purple swept out from her pupil engulfing her iris, causing her eyes to glow in the dim light of the inn. Before she could warn the Reaper to avert his gaze, Axel finally added his voice to the conversation.

The werewolf was aware that she may have appeared rude as she did not allow her eyes to leave Grimm's, at that moment she physically couldn't bring herself to be the first to look away. "Then would you both forgive me for misreading the situation...your customs and mannerisms are different from my own" Rain admitted as Axel came towards her and Grimm, as she spoke it became obvious her canines had elongated. "I can understand the want to settle disputes before embarking on a hunt...though I'm not entirely sure I completely understand your reasoning, still I'm in no place to judge" She decided on saying, though notably mixed her words up by hunt she had meant mission. If Grimm had yet to break the forced eye contact, Rain's jaw muscles tensed she watched Axel move closer to them out of her peripheral vision without moving her eyes. "It would not bother me...though I fail to see how modelling for you helps our cause" She finally answered the Reaper's question before Axel came to a halt beside them, she wasn't entirely convinced Grimm's wish would do morale any good yet again she was beginning to realise these outsiders worked in ways she had yet to fully understand.

"As for the matter of clothing, unlike my kinsman I am quite fond of wearing them but they're not a necessity..." She added raising her eyebrow at Grimm yet again. The werewolf wasn't shy about things such as nudity though she had been under the impression most people were, she found it slightly...odd that the man in front of her was being so open about it. If Grimm had looked away her eyes returned to their normal coloring and the tension left her muscles as she glanced at Axel, if he hadn't she concluded that he had no idea of the aggression behind his actions so she uncharacteristically broke the eye contact first to glance at Axel, raising an eyebrow at his wink. "Perhaps, though I hold no interest in obtaining any of the swords...if it would earn me your trust I would be inclined to challenge you at some point" She worded carefully, looking between Grimm and Axel as the vampire held his hand out for the Reaper to shake. "Lets see how your first challenge pans out" She added with a small smile as the purple drained out of her eyes, she wasn't sure what to expect from the two all challenges in her society ended bloodily...

Grimm didn't lower his gaze for a second, and if anything, his stare only grew in intensity as he gazed into their violet depths. He lost himself in the beautiful shade of them, barely picking up on how it was affecting his model hopeful, and he wouldn't have stopped even if he was conscious of the effect it. He merely gave a low bow of gratitude at her acceptance, before turning to the vampire with a look of intense focus. His scythe would form in his hand in an instant, and his eyes would glow with a cold intensity as the skull mask would form over his face again. Before he struck, however, a golden light would spill out from the depths of his hood.

As the light shown outward, the occupants in the room would see that around the reaper's neck would be a choker that seemed to have several gem stones embedded into it. The one that was glowing was a brilliant amber in color, with a single black sphere at it's center to give it the look of a bestial eye. From this golden light came a sudden horde of spectral hounds that would fly around Grimm in a disorienting whirlwind, hiding him from sight. As this happened, rain would catch subtle wisps of fear and nervousness coming from him, followed soon by a single pain-filled bellow that caused the whirlwind to convulse wildly. This bellow would drag out as it slowly changed into a roar, before the light suddenly ceased. Where Grin stood before, a slightly different figure stood,breathing in short gasps as if he had seen his worst nightmares given life.

The most notable difference was his cloak, as the pure black fabric had been replaced with wolf fur of the same color. The hood now had the attachment of a large wolf's skull to the top part of it, a similar adornment anointing the head of his scythe as well, the metal of the blade having been replaced with jagged ivory. His eyes would gleam an amber gold, holding the same feral ferocity as that of the gem. His hair was a lot more wild looking as well, taking on a color much closer to gray than the silverry white they had been before.

The reaper would look between Rain, then axel, before giving both a wide grin, show casing that he his canines on both his upper and low jaw ad elongated into fangs. Rain would notice the change before anyone else, as he would smell more like a werewolf than what he had smelled like before, but it wouldn't be exactly right either.

"Time to get started, no?" He would chuckled, cracking a wide smile, before shooting forward to launch a kick into Axel's gut, aiming to send him flying out of the inn. Whether it hit or not matter not, because that it where Grimm would go after wards, climbing up a building with an animalistic agility before he reached the top, giving a short howl to the sky, before turning his attention back to Axel. Holding his scythe at the ready, he'd make a taunting 'come on' gesture with his fingers . . . or one finger in particular, to be specific. It seems that what ever Grimm had done, it had drastically changed both his mind and body.
@FaithsRose
@HeartlessNobody

((For the sake of moving us along, Rose gave me permission to assume that the attack landed and sent Axel out of the inn. Sorry, Heartless.))

"Enough!"

Vikki put herself in front of Grimm just as Axel flew out the door, with a look of severe disappointment on her face.

"No, it's not time to 'get started'. It's time to grow up," she spat, standing inches before the reaper as she looked down on him with a combination of her one-inch height advantage and five-inch heels. "Look around you," she continued, stepping around him and looking at the others scattered around the room. "These aren't just your acquaintances. These are your fellow soldiers. And the very first thing you do is attack one of your own." She was now pacing back and forth in front of him and the others. "And for what? For nothing. Actually, worse than nothing. For hubris. For a weapon you know nothing about. This is war, not playtime, and your 'model' here seems to be the only one that gets that," she said, looking at Rain. "Do none of you realize what is at stake for you here?!"

Vikki stopped walking and planted herself in front of Grimm yet again. "We're in a race against time, and we're losing thanks to you," she spoke coldly, in a quieter voice than before. "You apparently have no concept of honor, nor of being a soldier. Once you get those, you may rejoin the race."

She didn't have much better words for the vampire, but he was...outside.

Vikki turned to everyone in the room, still speaking in her cold, quiet voice but less furious than before. "We're leaving. We have a boat to catch." She took a very quick look around the room, and arbitrarily picked Crash and Mizuki. "You two," she said, looking at them. "You're going with Prometheus to Europe. The rest of you are with me," she finished, and walked backwards to the door, waiting for everyone to follow.

Her eyes shot open as something flew past, landing just inches away from her. She was just about to reach for the door as well. She blinked, looking over to the fellow on the ground and a small smile grew on her face.

Looks like they're getting along alright.

She chuckled and sent a small spell over to the boy as an attempt to heal him. Any attempts on Maria's part at trying to help him would probably just end in a lose of pride for him so she'd let him lick his own wounds for the most part and come back in when he decided to. Through the now broken door, Maria stuck her head in just in time to hear a loud and commanding voice speak up, shouting. Again, a smile crept onto Maria's face. Her eyes were blood shot from tears but a few spells had quickly fixed that so it appeared as though she was perfectly okay. She'd already let Criston see, which was a big mistake on her part.

"Well, well, Ms. Miller. I could not have said it better myself. Whatever it was you were commenting on." Maria spoke, chuckling. She shifted her position just slightly so that Vikki would not walk into her as she walked backwards. She looked in and waved at those she recognized and when she realized everyone wasn't there, she turned to Vikki. "It seems we'll need to locate the last of our group." She told her, grinning as she walked back outside.

She whispered a few words with her eyes closed and stayed still for a few moments before turning back to the group slowly forming behind her. "There are a few still hanging around in town. I'll go quickly round them up. The rest of you, head for the boat with Ms. Miller. Do as she says. Mostly because I don't know what she'll do if you don't. So... Don't piss her off, kids. She's into some kinky stuff." Maria finished with a wink.

She turned and began walking towards her first grab, which was Zivon.

[[Will edit later when I figure out where the hell everyone else is. Or make a new post for Maria if needed.]]

_{"If someone sets free a man from his chains, people generally think of it as an act of goodness.
Then you figure he's poised to end the world. No action has a single moral leaning pinned to it. He probably even ought to have a good reason why he will end the world-- whatever one can think of."
Artavi'e Mosceredanu, circa. 132 CE}

The fire on the wick did little to bathe the dark room in its radiance. What was once congested with modern and sophisticated furnishings, Artav had redecorated into a roomier and more ornate, albeit simpler, space. A large circular mahogany table with a collection of religious paraphernalia seated atop, which included a bronze holy cross, a hokora, a dharma wheel, a big collection of other pagan items and others, sat where the dinner table used to be. Elaborate, gold-linen banners of blue and turquoise hung on top of the walls. A mat, which both served as the recluse's meditation space and consultation area, took a sizable space of the living room's floor. Concentric circles radiated from its center, and zigzags, dots and more circles filled the spaces in between, and brilliant colors of gold, red and white dominated the fabric. At the very center was Artavi'e herself, wrapping up her routine meditation as she grabbed the candle at her front with her two hands, slowly raised the fire near her lips, and blew the flame away, leaving only tiny slivers of light from the curtained windows to brighten the room.

Another day in the fight between idiots. Artav muttered, groaning as she flipped the switch to the warm lights. She was always an ill-tempered, wise woman, and many had come to describe her in simple words as a "young old woman that knows everything and claims to know everything", and "too mature for her age". Whatever they say, Artav never cared for other's opinions unless it was a consultation, favoring instead on working with her pen and brush and write either what philosophical thought popped in her mind or what spell would she be working on.

Artav grabbed her paintbrush from across the room, sitting down again on the floor afterwards to write. Carefully she dipped the tip in ink, and made graceful, delicate calligraphic strokes, marking the paper with intricate curves and loops. Shortly after finishing, Artav picked up another piece of paper from a shelf, made the uncommon occasion of stepping outside, sticking the unnecessarily ornate sign to the facade:



And taped the other sign to her door:



With that finished, Artavi'e returned inside, beginning to continue her work on her next tome.

Axel, still stunned by Grimm's sudden change of appearence, was hit dead center of his abdomen and was propelled straight out of the inn. He flew out and hit the hard ground. It took him a second to regain his breath and gather his thoughts. He rolled onto his back and just laid there. He wasn't really expecting to start the fight in the inn, but he should have expected it. He let his guard down, and he was silently condemning himself because of it. He quickly snapped out of it when he suddenly felt a wave of magic flow over him. It wasn't strong, but he could feel it seeping into his wounds taking a little edge off of what little pain there actually was. Axel looked up and saw the figure of a women walking into the bar. He didn't get to see who she actually was, but he assumed it was her who had cast the healing magic on him.

Axel laid there for a few more seconds and jumped up onto his feet. He needed to stop being mad at himself, and be more careful next time. He decided to do a small stretch in order to loosen the tightening muscles in his abdomen. The hit was clean and it was going to be sore for a little bit, but that was nothing new to Axel. He had suffered much worse injuries before and this wasn't going to slow him down any. After his stretch was done, he decided to walk back into the inn. He walked in right at the end of Vikki's little lecture. He had known that it was a race against the clock, and he didn't want to start a fight in the inn originally. He was going to wait until the group had left town and had some time to kill, but that must not have been overly well communicated. He didn't like Vikki's comment on not having honor and not being a soldier, but it wasn't the time to comment on that.

He then looked over and saw another woman begin to speak. It was Maria Cross, one of the heads of this operation. He never really talked to her, but he knew of her. He smiled at her last comment, but didn't say anything. He then watched as Vikki slowly walked back towards to the door Axel was now standing in front of. He watched her closely as she walked towards him. He knew she wasn't happy and what she thought of him and Grimm, but he just stepped to the side and gave a cheeky smile towards her. "Going to be a fun trip."

Grimm listened to the human's lecture, meeting her angered gaze with one of cool dismissal. He had released his hold on the Soul Gem he was channeling, so his appearance had changed back to normal, including his piercing blue eyes. He was obviously displeased, but he seemed polite enough(or sane enough) to let the angry woman say her piece. When he was sure she was finished, Grimm began to follow, never taking his eyes away from hers, the icy spheres seeming to stare right through her, like she wasn't even there.

"I see none of my own here, no family or friends, just strangers who'd hardly shed a tear if I died, and whose deaths would not affect me in the slightest. I don't know or care for them beyond the fact that they can assist the group in the task at hand. In fact, the one you say I attacked is considered by some of my kind to be an abhorrent abomination, a perversion of the sanctity of life, so I say accepting his challenge to a simple duel was rather tame of me." As Grimm uttered his response, everyone could hear the blatantly dismissive tone in his voice as he addressed Vikki, as of she was an obnoxious child that he was only listening to to cease their pestering.

"While I admit that I may have been in the wrong with my hastiness, it's not like you told us that we had a need to move with any sense of urgency whatsoever. In fact, your relaxed manner suggested quite the opposite, so would that not make you to blame for us not understanding "what's at stake", as you so dramatically put it. If the person whose supposed to lead us in this endeavor seems so nonchalant about it at what constitutes as a meeting of war strategy, then why should we be up in arms about. Good leaders lead by example and actions . . . something you seem to be lacking to me, but we've only just met. Maybe you have hidden depths to show us all in the future, but as of now, I can't say I have much faith in you, though I'll listen to your orders when it seems most logical. Make smart commands, and we should have no issues, yes?"

As he finished his own lecture, Grimm would be right in front if Vikki and casually walking past her to the door, where another woman currently was exiting. As he did so, he'd begin to speak, his voice taking a quiet,,yet wrathful tone, only growing in ferocity and spite with every word that left his lips. If Maria turned around to look at him, she'd see his eyes were glowing an intense, golden yellow, if o ly for a few moments. Even if she didn't see it, she'd still feel an potent magical energy coming off the boy as his anger arose, his eyes glazed over as he saw a distant memory play out.

"And one more thing, Ms. Miller, don't expect me to adhere to such a idiotic ideal as honor. If the enemy is as bad as you want us to believe, it's a shackle we can't afford to have. There is no honor in war, Ms.Miller, for it accomplishes nothing and gets in the way of victory. I will do whatever it takes to make sure this Marcus doesn't get his way, cause no matter what anhbody says, the ends always justifies the means."

With his final words spoken, Grimm would exit the inn with a only a quiet whisper to give people a glimpse into his mind.

_{"Any sense of honor I ever had died with Nathaniel Cross."}

@Driving Park

@HylianRose

Vikki simmered quietly as the reaper made his rebuttal. After shooting a glare in the direction of the vampire, she turned her attention to Grimm.

"I do this for a living, reaper," she replied coolly.

"'Relaxed manner?' It's called being a professional. I've done this more times than you can fathom, so you can forgive me for not being suitably dramatic for your mind that apparently requires it. For you, your future hangs in the balance. For me, it's a Tuesday."

She began pacing again.

"And if you're so experienced at war as your attempt at lecturing me about it hints, I shouldn't have to hold your hand and draw you a picture for you to understand what's at stake. I guess I overestimated your ability to reason, though that much is clearly obvious by your antiquated ideals which have no place in or out of a war," she continued, referring to the reaper's succinct explanation on what he thought of the vampire. "Bigotry can cost lives, and although you might not care for anyone in this room now, you will when we're outnumbered 10 to 1 and everyone's survival means the difference between victory and defeat."

"If you think this is a campaign that you can win on your own, you're dead wrong. You will need every single person in this room to take down Marcus, and even then victory is not certain - no matter how badly you want it. Wars are won with actions, not faith."

Vikki turned to the door to leave, motioning for the others to follow. "So let's take the first step and get moving."

By the time everything came to a head, Crash had dosed off at the bar...yes, the hyperactive shapeshifter had managed to fall asleep on the bar. It was almost unheard of considering he rarely sat still for more than 2 minutes, the fact he was now sound asleep in a busy bustling inn was...odd. In his defence he hadn't slept very well the night before and constantly changing his shape had taken it out of him, his stamina wasn't what it used to be because of the length of time he'd been unable to use his powers.

As Vicki's voice thundered around the room, Crash suddenly came to, jolting upright in a fit of surprise he spun round on his chair at a rate of knots. So fast in fact as she pointed him out for the trip to Europe he ended up slipping off the side of his chair, briefly dropping down between said chair and the one next to him before he managed a miraculous recovery and clumsily pushed himself back up and onto his feet.

Satisfied that only the barkeep had seen him, he awkwardly brushed himself down before watching the exchange between Grimm and Vicki. He was a pretty easy going guy, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he eavesdropped on what Grimm was saying...to be fair it was pretty hard to miss...he narrowed his eye at the reaper, clearly disliking what he was saying. Crash was as loyal as they came, whether that made him weak or not was irrelevant, he felt that if Grimm had willingly signed himself up for this he should have been prepared to show the resistance leaders more respect then he currently was. The reapers outburst did not install any sense of companionship within Crash and made him yearn even more for his fellow Athalians.

"Almost makes me glad I'm going to Europe...almost" He muttered to himself, unable to hide the fact he was deflated by Vicki's decision to send him back into the mortal realm. It weighed heavily on him that he'd finally made it back into Lavanya and now he was being thrown out of it again. "Europe a pretty big place, I hope Promethe-saurus knows exactly where we're going, the sooner I get back here the better" Crash decided, trying to make himself feel more positive about going to Europe. He wasn't entirely sure why the swords were important but he'd seen what Marcus had done to Athalia...and he was rather of the opinion they were going to need as much help as they could get. Seeing Maria he made a beeline towards her, hanging back as she spoke to Vicki before addressing everyone else.

Once the white haired woman started to move away from the main group in search of other people, he hastily trotted after her, not wanting to stop her or draw too much attention away from her current path he carried on walking beside her and quickly asked. "Maria, if its not too much trouble could you point me in the direction...that will lead me to Prometheus, please?" He asked trying not to flush a brilliant red in embarrassment because of the informal delivery of his question. He'd not really seen much of Maria at Athalia but knowing she used to be the headmistress made him feel like he should have been addressing her in a more formal way...still he didn't want to interrupt her but he had no clue who Prometheus was let alone where he would be.

---

'What kind of trickery is this...is he deliberately mocking me?' Rain had to wonder why the man in front of her had chosen to masquerade as a werewolf, considering what she was. As he shot forward Rain stepped back to avoid getting caught in the middle of the two. They were not a part of her pack and it had been made perfectly clear that they were not under her leadership therefore despite knowing that this wasn't the time nor the place to actually start the duel she didn't feel the need to interfere any further. As Vicki's voice resounded around the room Rain displayed a sense of discomfort as her sharp tone pierced her sensitive ears, she noted how the other woman put herself in front of Grimm before he could follow the vampire out of the door...she also noted the severe edge to Vicki's expression and body language.

Rain felt the corner of her mouth twitch up as a sense of approval passed through her, her claws retracted and she released the tension from her muscles. She didn't need to take her eyes off of Vicki to know what anyone else was thinking she could detect it through the smog of aggression hanging in the air. She raised her eyebrow as the other woman looked at her and referred to her as the reapers 'model', labels weren't something she particularly cared about but she was bothered by the hopefully unintentional suggestion that she belonged to Grimm. 'Please don't let that follow me here' Rain lifted a hand to her face, tracing her lower lip with her index finger as she thought over what was being said.

Grimm's response to the fiery woman left much to be desired however, Rain felt her eyes narrow as she watched him follow Vicki. 'Impulsive response, lacking in discipline, sharp wit, intuitive, distrusting...terribly childish. Endangers the mission by allowing his personal feelings to swim to the surface' Rain thought as Grimm spoke, she admitted she agreed with some of his words though she found his deliverance lacking. From her perspective, he wore his anger on his sleeve for the world to see and his words and actions painted a picture of the boy behind the man. 'Hopefully everyone will be this easy to read...though father wasn't kidding when he said outsiders talk a lot' She dropped her arm and shook her head at what the reaper said last however, not that she completely disagreed with him but she was of the opinion he should have left on the long winded speech from before.

Her ears pricked as Maria's voice reached her, she turned towards the sound knowing instantly who the woman was by two factors, the sharp edge to her scent that suggested there was electrical energy within her and the way the people around her reacted to Maria's presence. 'Perhaps this won't be so bad...definitely some interesting individuals here' With a small smile on her face Rain left the inn shortly after Maria and Vicki did, listening to them speak her eyes sought out the shape of the Axel to see if he had recovered or not, more out of curiosity than concern. Hearing Maria address the crowd she turned to glance at the other woman, briefly remembering she had yet to introduce herself or swear her fealty to the leader of the resistance...still she figured it could wait until after the current mission...that way she could determine whether this was really the best move for her people. The last part of Maria's sentence made a small chuckle escape her lips as her eyebrows rose in surprise "Interesting indeed" she commented to herself in a low voice, catching sight of Axel she moved towards the vampire raising an inquisitive eyebrow as he gave Vicki a cheeky smile. "I'm not sure 'fun' is the right word..." She commented to Axel moving to stand near him as she waited for Vicki to lead the way to the boat...already feeling rather confident about taking her orders, so far Vicki had impressed her and that was enough for her to completely commit to the mission at hand.

- Andromeda -

she'd been sitting watching everyone for a very long time, but she wasn't really aware of what was going on. people seemed to be spreading out and going places. she figured now would be a good time to figure out exactly what everyone was doing so she stood, sliding all her things into her bag before pulling it up on to her shoulder.
she wasn't sure where would be a good place to find out so she headed off in the first direction she choose. it just so happened that in a few moments she saw Zivon's house and thought he would be a good place to start. as she stopped in front of the door she saw the Maria was also heading for the house.
Andro knocked politely and waited to see if Zivon was home.

Zivon had a very interesting morning really, something that he really not expect to do....he touched his bandaged on his head and right eye, it was recent and looked very fresh. He sighed out, he really didn't want to do that but he been really...depressed even after yesterday meeting someone familiar he was still depressed. As he heard knocking out side his door. Slowly he approached the door and opened it to see a familiar figure outside. Snakes...Andromeda..., he looked up at her a bit confused, no one really ever visits him at all and seeing her brought back...uneasy emotions. Though he gave out a small friendly smile, he was trying to be okay in front of her, he didn't want her to see his sadness at all. There was silt a lot of pain in his heart that he wasn't able to get over with yet not much people know...he tried to be strong in front of them so they won't know. Ziv stared back at her, it must be kinda shocking to see him ;like this. Wheelchair, bandages at his head and neck...he down a lot... "O-Oh...h...hi..."

- Andromeda -

"Hi Zivon" her voice was quiet, she didn't talk much anymore so she wasn't very loud anymore. she almost cleared her throat but thought better of it and smiled "it's nice to see you" she noticed all the bandages but felt like she shouldn't mention it. her snakes perked a little at the sight of someone familiar.

she wanted to make a joke, she almost said it then stopped herself, instead she figured she should get to the point, "um, i wish i could say this was a social visit, but something seems to be happening and i've been left completely out of the loop, i figured since you're my friend" she suddenly blushed a little "at least i hope you're my friend, but don't feel obligated to be my friend, cause you don't have to..." she realized she was babbling and sighed "sorry, um ..." she cleared her throat and raised her voice a little "i was wondering if you could tell me what's going on?"

Her first response went to Vikki and the child, Grimm. She turned her head once again with a smile and looked over at Grimm. "You can leave if you'd like. No one is stopping you. Actually, I'd quite like to see you take on Marcus' army all by your lonesome. It would prove to be most entertaining." She told him with a wicked grin on her face and a dark expression in her eyes. She then turned to the rest of the group.

"I had honestly thought that a group such as yourself would have had more tact than to fight for weapons that they haven't even seen yet. Let me get one thing straight before I run off to find the others. This isn't a game. These weapons aren't yours to collect just to show off later on. This is a war. The weapons will go to the one most deserving of them. My say will be final. If you have a problem with that, you're more than welcome to take it up with me." She added, a certain bite to her last few words. She spun quickly and walked on, to be interrupted by Crash who wanted to know where Prometheus was.

A warm smile crept onto her face as she lifted a hand to ruffle Crash's red hair and nodded. "Certainly, dear." She spoke. With one hand, she made a large motion as a purple haze began to collect in the circle she created. Soon, an image appeared in the haze of the path to where Prometheus lived. "That'll show you the way. But it'll only stay up for a few moments, so... look at it while you can." She told him, moving her hand away slowly as to not interrupt the haze.

"Well, then, ta-ta!" She called out to Crash as she moved on, sending the 'boy-turned-man' a wink. Her first stop, after all was Zivon who had refused to stay in the apartment complex with Lily and had even refused to stay in her own home which she had to admit, she was a little bitter about. What was so great about a run down shack anyway?

Regardless, she made her way over there, quickening her steps with magic and made it there within minutes. "My dearest Zivoooon~" She called out in a sing-song voice. She stopped however, when she noticed Andromeda as well. "Well, well. Too for the price of one, how lovely!" She exclaimed happily. "Come, come, both of you. The boat will be leaving soon. Make way for the docks. I'll set up a portal for you. Vikki can explain more when you get there. Hurry!" She explained rather hastily, pushing the two towards the wall where she would create the portal. However, as she did so, Zivon seemed to poof. Literally... just... disappeared. Maria blinked and looked around.

"W-What?" She stuttered, looking around at the room wide eyed. "You...You saw that too, right An?" Maria asked the woman, turning to look at her. Maria let out a long sigh. This was going to mean a lot of jumping around from one place to the next today...

"Go ahead, An. I'll look for him. It'll be faster if I do it anyway. The rest of the group is headed to Xuihcoatl to help and gain the help of the Dragon nation in our fight against Marcus. We've done enough hiding in the shadows. Vikki and the others can explain it more when you get there. Go." Maria explained. She lifted both arms and made wide circle motions to create a purple haze that sparked with electricity. An image began to form, much like with her trick with Crash. However, this one was different. Maria pushed her arm through the portal to show An it was okay and then pulled it out again and made a motion for An to go through.

Her next stop was Ryuu's place. Well, the place he worked anyway. With magic, yet again, she made it to the shop in record time. Though, she was still rather sweaty at this point and very tired considering her mana pool was large but not unlimited. She could probably only spare one more portal and trip. Artav would just have to walk with her.

"Ryuu..." She called out, her voice shallow because of her fatigue. She blinked when she saw him, standing in front of a poster, staring at it. She coughed and called out again. "Ahem... Ryuu." Her voice was sharper this time. Shaking her head, she walked up to him. Beside him, she created the portal and pushed him through. She didn't exactly have time for this. With that done, she swung her arm through her portal to cancel the magic and made way for Artav's home which was much, much farther away and in a dangerous spot.

Maria's eyes hardened. There was a very real possibility that someone from Marcus' side was already there... Still, she made her way there regardless. They needed all the help they could get.



"Don't be useless to be, brother. We all know what happens to the useless."

Jonathan rolled his eyes as he walked to the house of the one called Artav... It was a interesting name to be sure. One he would probably never forget. Regardless, he was slowly meandering his way to her house. He was prepared for this. He knew what failure now meant. At this point, he knew exactly what Marcus meant by his words and he was fully ready to accept them.

But... then... why was he still headed for this girl's house? Maybe that meant that somewhere deep down, he didn't accept it at all... He let out a frustrated sigh and lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head. This was all getting much too complicated. All he wanted to do was run away but he knew that his brother would never let him go. Maybe he could join Maria. But then... She'd probably just use him to.

"OH, thanks Jon! You'll be so much help to us!" Jonathan mocked his sister, sighing again afterwords. Yep. He was screwed.

He arrived much quicker than he'd honestly expected and as he walked up to the door, he checked himself, making sure everything was in place. His hair was good, his watch was still there and best of all his clothes were still on.

...

Yep. He was good. He lifted a hand to knock on the door, a somber expression on his warm and kind face. He really wasn't cut out for this. Not at all...

NOPE. He wasn't good. He wasn't good at all. He began to turn, ready to bolt back and just run for it. But he stopped... Mid motion, his body half turned to run.

"GAAAAAAAH! I'm not cut out for this Mom!" He shouted towards the heavens, a pained expression on his face.

Ryuu was having the time of his life.

He just found a Hatsune M-ku cardboard cutout.

So f--king beautiful, he thought to himself.

But then all of a sudden, some random person pushed him into a freaky -ss portal.

"...?! Whoa, WHOA WHAT THE FU-"

The otaku proceeded to helplessly scream his way into the portal. There were times when people actually caught his attention before doing something drastic. Apparently, those times have long disappeared, as people now found shoving him into portals to be a much better alternative. Of course, Ryuu was admittedly stubborn when a stranger made kind prepositions to some freakshow-worthy activities, but he never asked to get shoved into portals when he absentmindedly stared at Vocaloid cardboard cutouts.

Regardless of what he wanted, however, he got shrekt and landed on his face. Pulling his face off of the ground, the otaku looked up.

"...Oh, of course," he grumbled under his breath. "This always happens whenever I get into shady businesses..."

The otaku stood up, dusting his blue jacket and jeans. He sort of expected this since he unintentionally accepted a deal with this... frightening but pretty woman. Yes... He made a deal with the prettiest devil around. She looked less pretty whenever she did these kinds of things to him, though, so at least that kept his sanity intact.

"...Where am I?" Ryuu half-heartedly asked no one in particular- that is, if half-heartedly meant mumble incoherently. He was at some sort of... docking bay or something. The sound of rushing water didn't help soothe his mind; it just made him more confused.