A mysterious dark-haired and red-eyed girl, wearing a dark tunic and scarf, over a white miniskirt and thigh-high leather strap sandals*, walks the streets as the sun sets under the distant skyline of Sonomachi's Downtown. Soon enough she arrives at her mark, the quirky store known as Dangeki Pawn & Parlor Café and pushes the antique door open, and is greeted by a chiming bell, before walking to bar and taking a seat at one of the stools.

"May I help you, miss?" The rather curious barista that worked on the night shift, a rather petite (though not as much as the shop's owner), pink-haired/eyed half-succubus/vampire hybrid named Ellie (wore had a thing for wearing a magician's assistant outfit, inline with the Dangeki's parlor trick side business), asked the girl, as she poured boiling water on some freshly cleaned cups to further sterilize then, before drying them with a pristine white cloth.

"I came here on behalf of Miss Chikage, from the Youkai Junction, there's a message, she wished to pass to the Association. I'd like a café au lait as well."

To that particular announcement, Ellie raised an eyebrow, before replying in a matter of fact way "Oh, so she has? Would you like to talk with the Boss, I'm sure she's busy with her beloved paperwork, but sparing sometime for Miss Akane's envoy shouldn't be hard. Your drink will be ready in an instant, anything more you'd like?"

"Well, perhaps a cheesecake, with lemon zest and whipped cream topping, please. Also, indeed I'd like to talk to Miss Aria, even if she's busy I'm certain that she would like to know about the 'Cataloger of Sacred Relics'." With that said, the young woman rested her chin on her cupped hands to wait while Ellie called Aria, humming a random tune in the mean time.

The Head Magister herself was deep in the throes of her paper work, just as Ellie had predicted. The head of both the Association and the Chasers as a whole could easily note the new presence in her shop and made no effort to slow her scribbling.

"Yes, Yes, I've heard you two already. Just bring her in the back Ellie. Or does she want this announcement to go public? In which case, I'll make arrangements to contact the others immediately. Also, get me a chocolate doughnut while you're running about," she said telepathetically.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, Miss Aria." the dark-haired girl said as she got into Aria's office after having finished her treats, "I came to say that the Junction has received a challenge letter from the Cataloger, declaring that Sonomachi is his next target. The letter was meant to be delivered to the Association as well, so here it's." The girl gave the letter to Aria and certainly, the flamboyant script on it could belong to none but the Cataloger of Sacred Relics.

Looking up, Aria raised an eye to see that it wasn't Ellie with her requested doughnut. Holding back a sigh, she took the letter and carefully began to scan over it. Eyes reading over the words, she blinked once, twice, before looking back at the girl before her.

"I see. Well it was only a matter of time since that walking gold statue would try to pull off something like this. Very well then messenger; you may return to your snacks. And make sure to tell Ellie to make haste in my doughnuts."

With that said, Aria promptly went back to work but not before focusing her mind and channeling herself. It wasn't hard for her to make contact with every Chaser in the vicinity and she made short work of requesting their presence immediately. After all, a challenge issued by the Cataloger warranted only the strongest of her Chasers to complete the task.

"Hey, Boss, here are your treats! Be sure to not spill any on the paperwork~" Ellie said as she placed a plate of freshly baked doughnuts before Aria, alongside the sweets there was also a file containing a few papers. "Tonight's reports, it seems the Jackets are up to trouble again... you'd think they would have learned after last time, but no, they never do. Also, there has been reports of Youkai activity at a few spots through the city, most noticeable the Amagumi Park, the Setsuna Temple and the Gomon Riverbank."

With that said, Ellie took a step to the side and quietly gazed upon her mistress, with a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat's look like a frown, while humming a tune from an old anime about a temperamental goddess and her unlucky minnions*.

@KoL
Kazuki had been weaving in and out of traffic on his bicycle all day. He never wore head phones like the other messengers. He enjoyed taking in the sounds of the city. No matter where he went, the city had a pleasant tune for him. From the boistrous noise from traffic and chatter in the commercial district, to the quiet and serene nature around the temple. All of it pleased him. It also helped him stay more alert to everything going on around him. It was easy for him to get lost in thought, and that could easily mean disaster when flying through the city.

He was finishing up on his last delivery for the day. The last package was a manilla envelope that was to be delivered to some businessman. Faxing and E-mail was obviously quicker, but those could be traced and duplicated. A messenger never looked at their deliveries and never sold them either. At least Kazuki held to that standard. Another messenger sold a package once and got caught. He was only fired from the messenger business, but the recipient of the package wasn't to happy. The messenger was nearly put into a coma after that. It really made Kazuki wonder what they could be carrying half the time. As Kazuki took the man's signature and handed him the package, something seemed to be wrong with his head. It started as a slight headache, but then quickly cleared out as he realized that this was actually a call. So Miss Aria needs me now. Well this should mean for some fun. What a better way to end a busy day than with more work. Although Miss Aria does always have intriguing jobs. He unlocked his bike and headed down to the Dangeki Pawn and Parlor.

The sun had just set and a orange hue turned pink as it extended into the sky. The colors protruded through the outlines of skyscrapers, as he whizzed through the city. Traffic had died down since the end of day rush home, and he let himself relax a bit and get zone out on the scenes around him. He evidently did that a little to well, because before he knew it he was at the Cafe. He entered the familiar establishment and gave Ellie a warm smile "Hey Ellie, can I have a Chai, like normal. I'm going to need it after today." He went up and sat down at the bar for a moment, talkig to Ellie as she made his Chai Latte. He needed a break before Aria gave him more work. He could refuse it, but her work was good pay, and he didn't like to disappoint her. "I had quite a few deliveries today. One was even to the temple. It's nice going out that way, but it is a long ride. So is it looking like it's going to be a long night?" He was hoping to get a little insight to what Aria might be asking of them tonight.

“In your, position, set!”

In the artificial rain set up by the stage people working hard in the background, forty-eight young girls danced, crisp and sharp movements in harmony with the pop music. Each step was emphasized with an electronic beat, a wave of orange and purple glowsticks waved with the same vicious, badass beat. It was a song about beginnings, of change, of never giving up, and despite how saccharine that idol group’s recent songs have been, Rui-Ling still couldn’t help getting swept up in the mood. Alongside a bevy of other fanatics, he shamelessly swung around six glowsticks, stamping his feet in motion with the girls. He mouthed the words, tasted the misting rain, and marvelled at just how amazing they all were.

They twirled, posed, popping, locking, and freezing, always dramatic and larger than life, sharing their enthusiasm and energy as the crowd shared their own. While this was an outdoors performance, with no seats provided for the attenders, the platinum-haired immortal was fine with it. Standing up was better for the legs, and, as the middle of the song was reached, a powerful ‘stand up together’ resounding through the stage, Rui-Ling practically shaked with excitement.

Then, of course, Aria’s voice had to boom in his head, commanding the immortal fanboy to get his ass to the Dangeki Pawn and Parlour Café.

It was just a single, overpowering phrase, but it was enough to destroy the ride that the song had brought him on, and with that joy spoiled, Rui-Ling decided that he might as well get it over with and head to the café. Pushing his way through fellow enthusiasts, and sighing wistfully at the goddesses still dancing in artificial rain, the young-at-heart man saluted them with his silvered arm, before running out to catch a cab, tossing an address and a handful of bills towards the taxi driver.

By the time the cab pulled over in front of the demure building, Rui-Ling was fairly confident the driver had pegged down as a filthy idol otaku weeaboo from Europe or something, seeing how he softly sang the song over and over again during the entirety of the fifteen minute drive. Stepping out and watching the yellow vehicle screech away, the young man smiled, still moving in coordination with a song that was stuck in his head, his electronic glowsticks tracing figure-eights in the night. He pushed open the wooden door, smiled at Ellie, who appeared to be occupied by someone with weird eyebrows at the moment, before picking out a seat for himself.

As he waited for the succubus-vampire (or was she just a cosplayer?) to come take his order, Rui-Ling found himself tapping that earworm of a beat into the table once more.

It really was a nice song, huh? That group should do more songs about ‘doing your best’, instead of their typical fare of ‘puppy love’.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Katherine said, biting down on the cigarette between her lips. Ugh, goddamn it some days she hated this job. At least she didn't have many people to deal with on a regular basis. Just some shady types selling some equally shady merchandise. Or, her, selling equally shading merchandise. Not like she particularly cared that much, wasn't any of her business what people were buying and selling. As far as she knew, she couldn't get arrested anyways. Plausible deniability was always a thing. Not like anyone was gonna come looking in here at all though. She was fairly certain the shop owned by some gang boss or something.

Meh, whatever.

"Here's the money." She said, handing the man a few large bills. She honestly couldn't see the value in this stuff herself, but well, she was just the person who handled the money, and threw out any troublesome customers. Any business for selling stuff, was done with her boss. Selling prices were fixed, and non-negotiable. Her ability to intimidate people tended to help with that. The man she was doing business with gave her a pleasant smile, however, and graciously accepted the money.

"Pleasure doing business with you. And tell your boss our debt is settled, hmm?" With that, he left the store. She had no idea what he meant by that, and she didn't want to know. She wasn't in the business of asking questions anyways. Just making sure there was no trouble from anyone. At least her shift was over and she'd finally be able to spend most of the night doing abso-fucking-lutely nothing.

Well, that was her plan anyways until a slight buzzing in her head made itself known. As she grabbed her jacket from behind the counter, she sighed. Oh great, what did those jackasses in the Association want now? Better be goddamn important - she had a whole lot of nothing to do. Tsk...well, not like she could complain a whole lot. She did rather enjoy the work at least.

Well, she supposed she should get over there then. After making sure her boss new she left, She exited the rather shady establishment, and hailed a cab, giving the driver the money and directions to the place.

It took roughly ten minutes to reach the place in a cab. Probably filled with other people - and other chasers. Not planning on being sociable, she found a quiet corner of the place and sat, lighting another cigarette and caring little if she was going to be bothering anyone with it. Whatever this was, it'd have to be important.

Feng shui...
The idea never occurred to the albino, the suggestion echoing as he closed the door behind the japanese tutor who'd been helping him acclimate to the change of scenery. Looking back, Luciel figured their accommodations were a bit...unrefined. A metal folding chair where a pillow sat upon turned slightly away from their desk where a cactus sat next to his laptop. Given his affinity, it was strange that the only life he'd come to surround himself with was the tsundere of the plant kingdom. To liven things up, he'd strung a small beaded necklace around the main section which was supported by two tiny branches. It was what you did with plants like this or something.
The rest of his flat was nondescript, a futon rolled up and pinned to the wall by a coffee table which sat on its side to give the small room as much of an open feel as possible; however, the means he went about scooting most of his possessions against the walls gave an unsettlingly vacant vibe. Luciel didn't even know what he would do with the majority of the space, though having everything crowding around made him feel a little claustrophobic.

Collapsing back in the folding chair, he eyed his 'friend' on the desk before lifting a finger to absent-mindedly scratch at the thick hide of the plant with a long sigh. In the process, his attire washed with a fluttering amber hue from its previous black sweater and jeans to something resembling a robe which curled at the edges. The gentle waves of autumn colors came to a halt, cracking as the sting of the call came to end Luciel's day off. Canceling his flex, the material tightly bound to his figure before a section washed over his face up to his nose to resemble a scarf tucked into a long coat. He kicked a shoebox out from under the desk, knocking the top off to reveal two flat plates of steel which he rested his toes on before settling his heels on the accompanying blocks of metal. With a popping groan, the snug material around his legs washed over the metal and drew upwards, sectioning off around his calves to resemble laced boots which he lifted out.

In the process of making his way to the door, every step rippled cool colors of teal before settling on simple black for the boots and pants and a plainolive drab for the coat which the black and white plaid scarf tucked into. Lastly, and with a glance to the mirror beside the door, he donned their messenger bag with one hand while running their fingers through the snow white hair which fluttered and feathered as it gained a brunette hue down to the bound section of length many would call a ponytail which hung to the side.

"Vee shall...~" Luciel mused with a light chirp to his tone before exiting his abode, certain his appearance wouldn't draw attention. What? A man...woman? They left an apartment?
Those he knew figured him for a brunette with a taste for big coats, though strangers often shot quizzical glances as if trying to figure him out. Humanity made the hunter grossly uncomfortable, especially being in crowds of them. Thankfully, the herd thinned as he reached the outskirts of their territory. Whether it was due to the flux of spiritual energy or some mix of negative disposition towards the eerie silence, Luciel was never certain. However, he felt oddly at home in the quiet, abandoned streets.

The door to the cafe closed softly behind the bundled figure who stepped into the room with light clicks of metal soles on the floor. With a brush back of their arms to push the coat out of the way while they sat at the bar, the edges of the coat seemed to flex and curl. Drab olive thinned from a mint green to snow white.
Luciel glanced over to Kazuki as they spoke to Ellie, lifting a finger to get the attention of another barista. "Vahtever iz on tap...ohn zeh rocks" he cooly requested with an emotionless wink of formality, making the waitress roll her eyes before fetching a glass. While she filled it with water from the sink. It was a small joke that began on his first day and ended up sticking; the glass of water being met with what looked like a crumpled piece of beige paper tossed by Luciel, which quickly sank to the bottom.
Small tendrils rapidly expanded from the paper to lace with the marbles as a stem bolted from the water and swiftly bloomed into a crimson rose whose edge's of the petals faded to an inky black.

She then placed a second glass with a packet of instant iced tea on the counter, exchanging it with Luciel's payment. It was an effort to liven up the place, and he really didn't have the money to blow on fancier drinks.

Today had been like any other day.

Jun went to school in his scooter and spent a really boring day in lectures and whatnot. He was about to fall asleep more than once, and even got hit directly in the forehead by the assassin chalk of one of his teachers.

Being a fellow gamer like Jun, the teacher couldn't help but to shout 'HEADSHOT' once the chalk hit Jun between his eyebrows.

Afterwards, the man took off for his house and spend some of his down time playing video games and watch the animes currently airing. He couldn't forgive missing Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi. It was way too interesting, and the anime had been adaptated pretty well from the manga.

When he was done with that, the cryokinetic gunslinger lazily stood up from the puff he had been resting it and stretched out. Sadly for the midnight animes, Jun had to go work on something as a Chaser and luckily, they were decent enough until his anime was finished.

He took both holsters and outfitted them by the sides of his chest. Afterwards, he went to his closet and took a small silver briefcase, where he kept both of his weapons. He introduced some kind of code and opened it, before taking both revolvers and storing them inside their holsters.

He then put his coat and was ready to go out. He didn't mind being cold at all, but not wearing anything as he went out would've made more than one person turn to him with questioning eyes, wondering why he was not cold at all.

He then climbed up on his scooter and headed for the cafe. This better be some good target practice, or Jun would definitely regret cancelling some plans he had with a friend to go to the shooting range.

After arriving to the cafe, Jun left his scooter parked some blocks away and went into the place.

He went directly to the bar counter and sat down, before Ellie arrived to take his order. He was tempted to ask for a beer, but he was unsure of whether they had any in there.

In the end, he ended up just asking for an iced latte.

"Ah, something tells me this is gonna take a while. I should've set up the recorder to see the midnight anime tomorrow. Maybe I should ask the landlord to go and do it for me? Nah, she's just an old lady. Mom? Nah, it's the same thing. Ugh... I'll have to look for the episodes in the internet later then."

Jun sighed, regretting his lack of foresight and then took a sip from his glass, which was definitely being frozen by Jun's powers. He liked his cold drinks extremely cold.

"And who's over here today? Some other Chasers should be here as well, right?"

Jun started scanning the room for other Chasers. There were one or two faces that he could recognize, but nothing big, really.

Jun took yet another sip out of his iced latte, this time leaving a small moustache made out of foam in his upper lip.

The day started out as it usually would. Lucille woke up at six, in the afternoon, with the blaring of her alarm clock. Her "morning" routine was very similar to that of normal people who would wake up twelve hours prior, except she didn't pour herself any bowls of cereal. She didn't really need to eat, after all. At least not food like that. The Renfield family home back in Britain was an extravagant mansion that properly reflected their status in the world economy, but the hotel suite that Lucille had purchased in Sonomachi was bounds from that decadence. Granted it was rather high-class and largely unaffordable for the working class it was still a much more humbling place to live than she had spent the past twenty years. There was only two bedrooms and one bathroom, for example, and the kitchen was separated from the dining room only by a bar-like counter. The modern furnishings helped ease some of these drawbacks, but considering she lived alone and rarely had guests it didn't matter much.

Lucille spent her "morning" rather lazily, watching the news on the TV and solving Sudoku puzzles. She had to wait for the sun to set before she could step outside after all. This time was perfect for practicing her Japanese. At least understanding it, anyways. She had only been living in this city for less than a year and was still largely unaccustomed to the Japanese way of life. Likewise she was having difficulty with the language, largely in terms of reading it since kanji were so unlike the alphabet. Lucille could speak Japanese to a certain degree thanks to her immersion, but her European accent doesn't make it sound fluent in the least. It was much easier for her to learn English, all those decades ago, but she enjoyed the challenge anyways. Learning a new language is fun to her. Or perhaps not fun but it gives her something to do.

The light outside had begun to dim down significantly when the silver-haired woman heard a familiar voice in her head. "Ah, that was Aria," she mentioned aloud. She had managed to finish two of the puzzles in her Sudoku book today so there would be no regrets in putting the book away for now. After clicking off the TV and fetching her umbrella and sunglasses, Lucille was ready to leave. It wasn't exactly dark outside just yet, but the sun had set low enough to allow her to safely go outside. After putting on her rectangular shades and a scarf she stopped at the door to grab her purse from the nearby table and to press a button for some kind of intercom. "I'm heading out," she spoke into the microphone and then let off the button. Now it was time to leave. The elevator ride to the lobby was uneventful and nobody else called for it.

Her heels clacked along the tile floor of the lobby towards the glass wall that served as the entrance and exit. She could already see her black luxury sedan pulling up to the car bay, courtesy of the hotel's valet. A young man, couldn't have been older than a teenager, stepped out of her vehicle and held the keys out for Lucille when she approached. "Arigato," Lucille thanked him, attempting to mask her Czech accent but failing miserably. The teen valet smiled innocently before responding. "You're welcome, Miss Renfield." Well now she had embarrassed herself because the boy knew English just fine. Most people might feel awkward about the exchange but instead Lucille stopped and started laughing. She even playfully gave the boy a pat on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, child. Thank you." She was still laughing to herself as she threw her closed umbrella into the passenger seat and set her purse next to it. It wasn't until she got in the car and closed the door did she calm down. That was embarrassing. He was a good sport about it.

The drive to the Dangeki was uneventful. Lucille had forgotten her gun in the glovebox the other day and she moved it to her purse, but otherwise it was a boring ride with only the J-Pop playing on the radio to add atmosphere. The cafe that the local Chasers used as a base of operations was one that Lucille had to take some time to get used to. She was never too big on the "hip" fads like cosplaying that the Dangeki was eager to cater to, but she was a big fan of alcoholic drinks so she has since grown to be accepting of the strange people that frequent the place. After parking her car in front of the cafe she made sure to lock it and bring her purse inside with her. Lucille already knew that she wouldn't be the only one responding to Aria's message, but she was surprised that she was one of the first few to arrive. There weren't any normal patrons but there were a few Chasers that had already arrived. As well there was an unfamiliar girl with red eyes. But Lucille didn't focus on her too much.

"Ah, Luciel," the woman was quick to greet the other European sitting at the bar, placing both her hands on his shoulders from behind. Due to their accents it was quickly discovered that they pronounced their names almost identically, which Lucille found amusing and thus took a liking to the young boy. "That is iced tea, no? That is a drink for noon, not the evening." She gave him a smile, inadvertently revealing her fang-like canines in the process, before releasing her grip on the young man and turning her attention to the lady behind the counter. "House chardonnay, please." She took a seat at the counter next to Luciel and took a look around the Dangeki. Lucille had always been good at remembering people so she was curious who had arrived so far. There was Jun, a schoolboy who liked cartoons (or "anime" as he refers to it, but Lucille can't tell the difference), who was sitting at the counter as well. Then there was the Chinese boy, Rui-Ling, who was actually almost three times Lucille's own age, as well as the girl who had tattoos and wore a military vest, Katherine, but she was being anti-social and sitting by herself. The only other person she recognized here was the red-head messenger boy, Kazuki. "Ah, I do not recognize this young lady," Lucille spoke up, leaning back so she could look behind the backs of the others to look at the dark-haired girl with red eyes. "Would you mind telling me your name? I am Lucille Renfield, but you may call me Lucy if you wish."

It was a long walk, but the save in money was worth it. Not that the young girl was in dire need of it; she still had plenty of money from when she left her home all those years ago. She doesn't miss her time spent with her sisters, but she doesn't have any ill thoughts about them either. Seven years on the road and she only thought about her family twice: once while visiting Paris and seeing all the family tourists, and the other when passing through Kuwait and was stopped by U.S. military personnel.

She picked up a lot of stories from her travels, most just rubbish and repeats of the things she'd already heard, but some were at the least, entertaining. Her favorite's being about ghosts, demons, vampires, and spirits, which pleasantly seemed to be popular through many of regions of the world. She would spend the greater part of each year in a new area learning the language to a passable level as she picked up more and more 'ghost' stories. Never spending more than necessary, but always finding reason to try the local desserts, and moving on by the time the local oddities quieted down.

Odelia spat out the paper stick hanging from her mouth onto the ground before proceeding to take another strawberry lollipop from her satchel. Quickly, she popped it into her mouth while clinging tight to her stuffed bear, Bosco, so he wouldn't fall. She finally arrived in Sonomachi and, as though to welcome her, was quickly pervaded by thoughts not her own. She let out a small "... eeh?" under her breath, unsure what to make of that, but given a second, knew exactly what was going on. Though that didn't mean she knew exactly where she was. She wasn't even sure what the town's name was or how big it was. She figured she should hurry to answer the intrusive voice, if nothing else than to find more local oddities, but judging by the sky she still had some time left.

A few blocks over and Odelia found and hired a vacant cab. "D-Dankenki Pawn & Parlor Café... please." Her words came out soft spoken and still a bit awkward and unnatural, but she sorta shrugged it off as the driver gave a nod and off they went. The drive was a bit slow, not much going outside the windows, but the city's road layout was simple enough she could follow along. It took about 20 mins, but she eventually arrived at what looked like the right place. She handed over her fare and thanked the driver before exiting and walking up to the cafe door.

A quick, soft knock and she entered the building, setting off a musical chime announcing her presence. She quickly glanced at all the customers, noticing the staff in their cute outfits before finding a vacant seat in the middle of the room. A waitress came by, but she quickly waved her off before realizing the oppertunity she just missed to order something sweet. She sat there holding on to Bosco, defeated over her failure as she waited for something to happen. Or, if things turned out to be a blow-out, she'd at least would've found a place to rest for the night before exploring the city.

~Aria~

---

“I apologize for the inconvenience of tonight. I’m sure I’ve taken you away from more notable things. I’m afraid I can’t really change that…so please, take this.”

Aria herself sat beside the latest Chaser to walk in, her expression completely stoic. It was only natural that the others didn’t notice her presence. As the Head Magister, it was almost expected of her from her abilities; or it could have just been the sheer height difference between her and most others. But regardless, she sat beside Odelia with a look of sympathy.

Raising a hand, she clenched her palm shut before opening it up again and revealing one of the doughnuts Ellie had offered to her. The succubus-vampire hybrid had better hoped she hadn’t spiked Aria’s doughnuts because the Head Magister would pin the blame on her if something happened to her Chasers. But back to the present, Aria held the doughnut and waited calmly, not moving until Odelia would take it.

Nodding, the Head Magister soon crossed over to each and every Chaser, offering doughnuts and not taking a denial for an answer. It was quite strange to see her actually sharing her sweets for once…though this image of kindness was soon off-put by the fact that she had her own box waiting for her at the front of the shop. Once everyone had been accounted for, Aria took a few seconds to reach up and sit at the edge of the bar. Given her short stature, it took some time but she finally managed and pulled out a strawberry coated doughnut from her box.

Aria at once clapped her hands and stared down the assembled Chasers gathered before her, drawing all of their attention to her. She took one bite of her doughnut and chewed, chewed, chewed some more, before finally swallowing. Then a small smile graced her lips.

“Good evening everyone. As you may all know, we are gathered here for a particular Chaser mission given by our primary ally and benefactor, Miss Chikage. Ordinarily, a job such as this would only require the presence of one or two of our number. However, Miss Chikage has informed me that this specific job may call the need for more of our group. Specifically because it involves an individual known as the Cataloger.”

The Head Magister let this sink in while she took a few more munches from her doughnut. She doubted anyone except the senior Chasers would know of who she spoke of so she took the time to swallow before continuing with her explanation.

“Of course there are other missions that needed to be brought to attention. But for now our primary concern is the Cataloger. He’s a rather…loudmouthed man who goes around challenging others to duels. The loser of said duels must relinquish any and all treasure they currently possess. In short, the Cataloger has challenged the Association for a bid of all the treasure currently in Sonomachi. In other words, he’s picking a fight with everyone in this room.”

---

It looked like some more Chasers would arrive at the Dangeki right about the time when Aria was concluding her explanations. However, before that, Ellie was occupied taking orders and preparing drinks. Way too occupied to notice when her master gave the doughnuts she baked earlier as gifts, thankfully (to Ellie), just this time they didn’t contained any dubious filling, except if one would take chocolate liquor as suspicious.

“Right away,” Ellie said to Kazuki after one of the waitresses took his order. “We’ve received a note from the Junction earlier… Miss Chikage’s apologies for disturbing your peace, so everything is on the Junction’s tab tonight, please enjoy.”

Seeing Ling hunching in the corner, Ellie sent a waitress to take his order as well, while she worked on the drinks and desserts, using finely tuned telekinesis to assist on the tasks. “Ling-Ling, this is a special service, just for you.” Ellie smooched Ling’s cup, leaving a lipstick print on its side, “For being one of our best patrons.”

“Oh no, no, no, Miss Brooding Brows, this is a no smoking area. Certainly we don’t want everyone’s drinks tasting like tobacco, do we?” Ellie went all the way to Katherine and scooped the cigarette out of her lips, before offering her a pack of minty chocolate substitutes. “You can have this one, it’s on the house.”

Ellie observed Luciel interact with one of the waitresses, but gave it no special mind, only making a mental note about teasing him a bit more in the future, though she provided a lemon slice to go with his tea.

“Well, beer we do have, but it’s only Schwarz, after all it’s meant to be used in the desserts. I can get you some, though.” Ellie said to Jun, shortly after dragging a wooden keg from legit Bavarian beer, and serving some to him, “Though, it’s just tonight, because it’s a special event, we aren’t a pub, after all~” The little devil blew a kiss to Jun, before leaving.

“Sure, ma’am, I hope you like this poor servant’s skill~” Ellie then said as she handed Lucille’s order, taking the opportunity to measure the young vampire ‘s teasing threshold, as a reference for future interactions, since she was one of the newest Chasers to arrive in Sonomachi.

“Oh, a newcomer? Would you like something miss…? By the way, as you can see we are about to discuss the state of affairs for tonight, please feel free to ask anything if you so do need.” Ellie said to Odelia, waiting besides her table to see if she would place any orders. After all, what was the point of ordering nothing when everything was being paid by someone else?

Ellie also took the chance to smirk suggestively at Aria, as soon as her master began to nibble at the sweets on her special box. Really, didn’t she thought that Aria wouldn’t mix at least one ‘special treat’ in the most unsuspecting of places?



While Ellie dashed around and tried to make sure that everyone was being correctly served, the dark-haired girl that had been there observing everything from the very beginning, turned to meet Lucille and she was beckoned into talking, by the vampire Chaser.

“Oh, my… hmm, erm…” She broke into a kind of an embarrassed stutter, perhaps not sure how to address Lucile, or maybe just nervous, since she looked like she was a bit skittish around this many Chasers. Considering that she should be a fairly young Youkai, it was to be expected. Anyway, soon enough she seemed to find the words she was looking for and replied in a shaky voice “Oh, well, I think I’m, well… Kaede, yes, that’s who I’m… Kaede. Is there something I can do?”

Indeed, it was an earnest answer, but somehow it looked like ‘Kaede’ was trying to convince herself more than Lucille when she said that. Even so, she kept staring eagerly at the young vampire, wanting to know why someone had bothered themselves to talk to her. Maybe, it was for something interesting?



“Well, that concludes it for the Golden Boy business, remember, he might… is a goof and rarely ever kill someone, but if you take him lightly you’ll regret it.” After Aria finished her announcement, Ellie stepped in, clearing her throat loudly to call for the Chasers attention to a bulletin board that ‘somehow’ materialized besides her (courtesy of working at a magic tricks shop), and began to explain the other cases currently happening around Sonomachi.

“Anyway, there are a few other issues around the city, that might need your hands:

- At the Amagumi Park: Mysterious sightings have been reported, we need people to investigate that and see what’s happening.

- At the Setsuna Temple: A rebellious kitsune teenager has gathered a gang of raijuu and is caving havoc because people are not donating enough to the temple. Miss Chikage said that she’d like these ones to not be killed, since they are just teens doing what teens are supposed to do, and aren’t harming any humans. You can kick their ass all you want, though.

- At the Gomon Riverside: It seems that two clans of kappa are fighting for the turf, someone must go there and make them stop before it escalates into something dangerous to the nearby residential area.

Oh, and last, but not least the Yellow Jackets are back again. I just thought someone would like to know that, not that anyone cares for those losers, really. Hehehe.”

After her announcements, Ellie resumed her normal work, though she was ready to answer questions, if there were to be any.

---

*: Since the full post would be much longer than this, I'm posting the first part here. I'll do the last one later.

“Well,” Rui-Ling turned, smiling back at Ellie, “After five decades of going here, I’d have to be a hell of a pennypincher not to be one, eh?” He never really knew what was up with the half-succubus’s intentions in the end, but a couple of butterflies still fluttered in his stomach whenever Ellie did stuff like that. Probably because his body was one that was quite literally frozen in puberty. Even if his mind had matured, his body was still that of a horny immature teen. Ordering coffee when one of the waitresses came over, the youth settled back and relaxed, watching others come in.

There was the gunner trio, Katherine, Jun, and Lucille, all who carried and concealed firearms in a place like Japan, even though almost all the Youkai the immortal had encountered during his century-and-half of living scoff at those iron-throwing contraptions. Of course, Jun made ice bullets which helped somewhat, and perhaps Katherine and Lucille just like to be pointlessly stylish…but eh, if it wasn’t for the fact that he’d be calling the kettle black, Rui-Ling would have suggested that they stopped carrying guns with them everywhere.

After all, it’s a hell of a headache if one of those policemen who went around on bicycles caught them with it.

Luciel and Kazuki were better, in that regard, even if Kazuki’s crazy eyebrows and Luciel’s accent were both things that amused him greatly. At least the two of them had the right idea of relying on their powers instead of nigh-obsolete firearms. He’d have to try out Claimoh Solais on the flower knight’s plants some time. See if they qualify as magic or living beings.

In the end, however, outside of the exception that was a purple-haired girl with a teddy bear, all the Chasers present could be considered above-average, people that Rui-Ling wouldn’t mind being paired up with. Might imply something about how strong Chasers typically were these days, where merely two or three years of experience meant that one became an elite, but, alas, perhaps it was just his years getting to him, making him a crotchety old man who constantly found fault in youngsters.

Laughing to himself, Rui-Ling accepted a doughnut from the Grand Magister, perhaps the only person in the room who was older than him. “Woulda thought you’d kept all your doughnuts and gave us sugar water, really. But don’t worry about the inconvenience. Not like it was their last concert or whatever.”

A few large bites caused the doughnut to vanish, leaving Rui-Ling to lick his sugar-covered fingers as the lavender-haired girl circuited the parlour café, before eating one for herself. The blond wasn’t a fan of sweets himself, preferring steaks over cakes, but sometimes, he had to wonder whether there was a special way of eating doughnuts, seeing how an all-powerful being like the Magister of the World appeared to be so innocently blissful from it.

Might be something he should investigate in the future. Maybe spend a couple of months on getting down the proper form and method.

As Aria cut to the heart of the matter, however, Rui-Ling narrowed his eyes, leaning forward on his table. One hundred and forty-two years of being soul-bound to Airgetlam had meant at least a couple of encounters with the Cataloguer, the collector of Treasures and a nuisance who was much too talented in the art of escaping. Bastard didn’t even challenge Rui-Ling to duels before, apparently because even the Cataloguer of Sacred Relics had no method of removing the silver arm of Nuada from its current host. A pain in the ass, but…

“Gotta ask, Aria, but did the Cataloguer recently pick up a particularly dangerous treasure? Must confess that his previous impressions on me didn’t imply something so dangerous that six Chasers would be required in his detainment.”

Before the Grand Magister could reply, however, Ellie stepped in onto the stage, and Rui-Ling became more puzzled. It sounded like the Youkai Junction wanted several of the Chasers here to go after the Cataloguer, but now, it appeared that it had been more of a warning of his presence in Sonomachi? Weird.

His coffee came as new missions were announced. None of them sounded particularly interesting, outside of the rebellious kitsune teenager, but Rui-Ling didn’t want to get involved with it either way. After all, while Airgetlam is usually a non-lethal weapon, against incorporeal beings like Raijuu, it was definitely fatal.

Then, the Yellow Jackets were mentioned, and Rui-Ling chugged down the scalding hot coffee in one gulp, ignoring the burn on his tongue and down his throat.

“Know the whereabouts of those goddamn weeds, Ellie?”

But would you look at that. They actually had some beer!

Jun took the beer with a small grin in his face, despite it being Schwarz, and took a sip out of it before turning to Ellie with a smile.

"Then I shall partake. You got to let me know when you've events like these. The mood here is better than any other run-down bar." Jun said with a happy look in his face.

After the devil blew a kiss over to Jun, though, a deep, deep blush appeared in his face.

She left for the next costumer and Jun sinked his lips into the dark of the beer.

"R-Relax, me. It is just normal flirty behavior for any one costumer of the night. Urgh." The boy's lips siunk deeper into the dark liquid.

To get his head off of that, he started seeing his fellow Chasers that were in the cafe as well.

There were Katherine and Lucille, both of them older than himself but Katherine being way nearer his age. Lucille definitely creeped her out some. Vampire or not, the fact that she did not age definitely gave him the creeps. Then again, with Youkai and whatnot running rampant, a vampire should be the least of his worries.

Speaking of never aging freaks, there was also Rui-Ling. No comment about him, really. Mainly because he thought it a bad idea to mess with a 100 something guy.

Luciel seemed smarter than your run-of-the-mill guy, but Jun had never gotten into detail to talk with him. He also found his French accent kind of funny.

As for Kazuki, well, he seemed a brute, more or less. Jun actively avoided the guy.

There was also a girl with purple hair carrying a teddy bear.... Jun decided to make some small talk with her later. She seemed somewhat dumb. Someone he could brag about his (not) vastly superior intellect. Perhaps also help her around some, since she seemed kind of lost. Not that he would mention that.

---

Afterwards, Aria arrived and told all of them about their mission. Or well, the main mission.

Jun was not entirely interested in that, to be honest. While the Cataloger was indeed picking a fight with the Chasers, Jun certainly felt that it was with every other Chaser but himself. Why you ask? Because he did not have a particular treasure he could lose.

Jun would go to the Cataloguer if his presence was required, but if not, then he'd await for another mission. There should be others, if they gathered this many Chasers.

He was also fairly certain that his presence would not be required. There were countless other people more skilled than himself in duels, and Jun himself relied more on plans and traps rather than a straight on fight against the youkais, or the Cataloguer in this case.

Ellie then stepped up and started explaining every other mission that needed the Chasers' attention. The first one definitely caught Jun's attention.

He stood up and walked over to where Ellie was, alongside Rui, whom he acknowledged with a slight movement of his head.

"Well, if no one will drag me somewhere else, I'll take the detective work. You said Amagumi Park, right?"

Jun said, trying to seem as indifferent as he could.

With a hand, Luciel turned the glass with the shifting flower towards the waiter who'd offered them the glass as if trying to gain their attention before quickly giving up. It was clear that a simple plant sprouting from nothing wasn't nearly interesting enough to draw them away from their job; who was to say what else they'd seen that night, alone.
Sighing, the hunter mixed the iced tea mix with the iceless water from the tap, using his pinky to stir. Whomever had the displeasure of owning the facility obviously had more important things to do than manage quality towards paying customers.
The flavor was supposed to be similar to raspberry, though it came off like cheap lemonade. It smelled dissuading, but the knight had consumed arguably less palatable and cheaply unhealthy things in his borderline poverty since moving to Sonomachi. Struggle stemmed from sacrifice, and he'd never known the taste of a silver spoon.

Lifting the glass, he went to take a sip before jumping as hands rested on his shoulders. The motion almost spilled the cheap beverage, small ripples of reds and violets rippling like water from where the woman's hands touched while she spoke. "Yes vell...zeh night iz young" he mused as to excuse what he perceived as criticism before taking a sip. It was weirdly sweet, probably being mostly sugar by how the cafe seemed to be run in such a manner. "Ehn I am not picky vith beverage formalities" Luciel continued, folding one leg over the other and leaning back as the doughnut was set in front of him before softly musing, "A packet ouf powder does not concern eitzelf vith zeh time ouf day~" with a sigh and a chuckle while they stared the culinary confection down.

Sweets...pastries and sugary snacks never appealed much to the albino. A tiny weakness in his teeth made them painfully sensitive to the acid. It was debatably a blessing in disguise since his image was easily maintained without the temptation of such things as what the intoxicating aroma of the freshly baked pastry promised to offer. It wasn't to say he didn't appreciate the offer or that he hated sweets, it just hurt to eat them.
It reminded him that he should probably stop by the store after he hopefully got paid from tonight's job. Luciel was admittedly quite hungry after running out of food almost a day ago. A bottle of sriracha and other spices were a poor supplement for sustenance since he valued his tastebuds' natural quality of not being melted.

News about the man known as the 'Cataloger' meant little to the gentleman hunter. There were no artifacts for him to lose, and no reason to be of interest to some weirdo who creeped on those that did. However, the missions were particularly interesting. Beating up teens seemed like an easy way to put hours in, though maybe a little undignified. The spirits and customs of Japan were strange and he was a little worried about overdoing it or not bowing at the right time or other craziness. It was a good option to fall back on, though the activity in the park was more of his forte. Whatever mysterious there is would have a rough time trying to overtake Luciel in his natural environment.
Diplomacy concerning the riverside was none of Luciel's business. He wasn't the best when it came to talking to people he didn't know, and he didn't live by the riverside and had nothing to lose from a failed mission. That in mind, it was easier not to affiliate himself with appealing to the faith in others with high tension. In his personal opinion, it'd be as open and shut of a case as beating up the teen at the temple.
He'd be certain to head to the park. The wildcard of the unknown occurrences would be interesting, but there wasn't much he wouldn't be prepared for...he could go for a walk in the park, anyway.

Kazuki let his chai sit when he first received it. Ellie explained that Miss Chikage from the Junction had summoned them all here. He looked around and took note as the others made their appearances. The Chasers were quite some interesting people, from young to old and lone wolves to the much too friendly. As everyone gathered Aria began handing out doughnuts to everyone. Kazuki gratefully accepted his and began eating it. He skipped supper that night and a doughnut and chai would make for a fine substitute.

Soon Aria got everyone's attention and began to inform everyone of the request given from Miss Chikage. Something about some Cataloger that wanted all of the treasures in the area. His mind instantly darted to Rui-Ling. Haha, good luck getting that guy's treasure. He's not even just immortal, he respawns if he's killed. Even if I faced this guy and lost, I wonder how he would get Rui's treasure. I think I'll just leave it to him anyways. It should be easy for him. That guy puts us all to shame. I guess I'd help him if he needs it, since it's a challenge to us all. Kazuki finished his doughnut as Aria finished talking about the Cataloger. He began to sip at his drink as it was getting luke-warm now. He didn't like very hot drinks. They burn would agitate his tongue for hours afterwards.

Ellie began to speak again on the verious other missions that would be needed done that night, or possibly the next even, if they weren't completed tonight. He was rather neutral in his opinion of the missions. If he was going alone, he normally just took whichever was paying the best, but he wasn't hurting for cash and he could work with others as well. Another Chaser had taken interest in the park job, and investigating was always entertaining. He wasn't really in the mood to beat up a gang tonight, like Ellie said, they were losers. "I'll help out with park job if that's ok? If we don't need that many, I can do something else too. I'm not really picky tonight."

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long for things to get moving. She hated waiting, it was almost as annoying as going all day without a cigarette. Though, maybe a hangover was worse than that. She had yet to decide which one was. Maybe they were the same...eh, whatever. Thoughts for later since she didn't have a hangover, or had gone all day without a cigarette. So she listened to the girl speaking. She had a way with words, at least and was mostly straight and to the point. That was good, she hated needlessly long explanations.

She placed her elbows on the table as their oh so glorious leader spoke, resting her cheek on one of her palms as she mulled over what she said, a small grin forming on her lips. The 'Cataloger', eh? Well, if someone wanted to pick a fight with 'em, she'd be more than goddamn happy to give 'em what they wanted. Not to mention, if this cataloger guy had some pretty neat toys - treasures, as they were called, she could beat him to a pulp and take one for herself. Now that, would be quite a prize. She'd definitely have to make sure she was around to kick his ass whenever he crawled out of whatever hole he was living in, so she made a mental note to be ready when that happened.

For now, though, she focused on the other missions, going through all of them in her head. Taking care of some brats? Yeah, no. She wasn't in the job of baby sitting. She'd certainly teach those brats that you mess with people, you could very well get fucked up pretty bad, but since that was apparently against the rules...yeah, not touching that one.

Next, something about some Kappas or something fighting. Well, if by 'making them stop' meant ending any and all future conflicts permanently in a not so friendly way, then yeah she'd be all over that. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure offing all of them herself would be a hassle, if not dangerous and difficult. Not to mention she doubted the others would find that very...appealing. Not that she really cared, but she had enough shit to deal with.

So that left the first one.

And while she was by no means a detective...it was the one that sounded the most appealing to her. So, snubbing out the cigarette on the table and leaving it there (Someone would clean it up), she walked up to Ellie and the others.

"Might as well go to the park too." She said, walking up next to Jun and the other kid, not really caring if they minded her helping or not.

Ellie's response to Lucille's request was met with lighthearted laughter. "Ah, sweetie, you need not be so humble with me," she remarked, reaching her hand in her purse to withdraw money. She wasn't familiar with Yen pricing just yet but had a fairly good grasp. It didn't matter either way as she took the glass of chardonnay and slipped a tight wad of ten thousand yen into Ellie's hand in the same motion. Before she could enjoy her drink, however, Aria had come joined the other Chasers and presented each of them a doughnut, including Lucille. With her free hand she briefly inspected it before taking a single bite without complaint. She didn't really need to eat it, just like how Aria didn't, but it at least tasted like a sweet treat. After finishing the pastry she was about to enjoy her drink when the dark-haired girl responded shyly.

"Kaede, yeah? Don't be so nervous, child. I'm not going to eat you or anything," Lucille assured her, before taking a sip of her fancy alcohol. She had always had a taste for fine dining but was a lightweight for most her life. Until she became a vampire, that is. Now she could drink all the wine she wanted without ever getting drunk or hungover. After enjoying her sip, she answered Kaede's question. "I hadn't seen you around before and I have a bad habit of wanting to know about people. I do apologize for being so obtuse about it." She flashed the girl a toothy grin, once again revealing her fangs, before going back to drinking her glass of chardonnay. She kept silent as Aria and Ellie explained the situation at hand. This Cataloger fellow seemed like he wouldn't be much of a problem. Lucille wasn't familiar with him, as she has only been a vampire for a year and been familiar with the Chasers for even less, but apparently he would require multiple Chasers to handle.

But he wasn't the only problem at hand in Sonomachi tonight. One particular issue caught Lucille's interest more-so than the rest. "Children forming gangs?" she mentioned to herself quietly between two sips of her drink. "That isn't acceptable." With one final sip she had emptied the glass and set it back on the counter. When Ellie would return to get the glass she would speak up. "I will go to the Setsuna Temple," Lucille announced, standing up from her seat. "I've only ever had to spank my children three times, so I'm sure I can take care of the kids without hurting them. They simply need a little help." The vampire slung her purse over her shoulder and adjusted it to a comfortable position. Before she would head out the door, however, she would stop and give Aria a smile and wave. Despite actually appearing younger than Lucille, Aria was a much more experienced vampire. She had initially helped Lucille get accustomed to her new abilities and even taught her the fundamentals to using magic. She had respect for Aria, and considering she looked like an adolescent she also thought Aria was quite cute. "If the Cataloger shows up just give me a call, but I'll settle the teenagers down at that temple first."

“There you go Sir, I have just finished the engravings on your locks. Now even if they have the key, unless the rest their thumb just here” demonstrating for his customer, the wooden knot under Carver’s thumb lit up briefly “the lock will not turn and thanks to the reinforcement symbols it would be easier to try and dig through the floor than try through the door or windows. Now as mentioned in the quote, these symbols are the lasting kind, not the single use so you will need to recharge their magical qualities at least once a fortnight”

Seeing the slight frown on his client’s face Carver put on his best salesman smile “Don’t worry, consider this as something like hiring a cleaner or a lawnmower, simply another service for you to maintain peace of mind. Now, although I did warn you, as a reputable businessman how could I leave you in the lurch my friend? Take these three cards. They are all of local mages that I have made arrangements with. Give them the referral number written on the back and they will be sure to give you a discount!” pearly white teeth and sapphire blue eyes seemed to gleam in the dim light as the customer’s concerns were obviously lessened and handed over the cash for Carver’s job.

“Here’s my number, if anything else happens, or if you need any more engravings, or if you know someone who could use my assistance I’ll happily oblige~!” with a wave Carver looked at his watch and picked up his tennis bag that held all his tools. Carter saw no need to hurry and casually walked off. If he was already late, what did it matter if he was a minute or ten? Late is late after all. Taking out a sharpie marker and holding it between his teeth Carver searched his pockets and took out five ice-cream sticks. Sketching out a few symbols near the centre, Carver pressed his thumb down and branded the mark into the flimsy wood. Finishing, Carver took out a cigarette case and put the sticks in, joining the other four stacks of similar sticks with different symbols.

Arriving at Dangeki Carver walked in announcing himself “Knock, knock? Hello? Yes it’s me, the great peddler of your heart’s unknown desires~!” seeing a group of people already well situated, some moving off Carver scratched his head “Ah well, I was late anyway” seeing the board and the list of jobs he turned to the vampire behind the counter “Aria, love. Apple of my eye, did you bring me here to meet some lovely customers~?” spinning on his heel Carver puts his arm around Rui-Ling’s shoulders

“Now, sir, have you ever been in the situation where you thought ‘If only I was a wind mage I wouldn’t be so overwhelmed’? Or ever thought to yourself ‘I need some extra defence to my arsenal? Well do I have the deal for you~!” whipping out his cigarette case and takes out a ice-cream stick with a green sharpie mark branded into it “No I know what you are thinking ‘Why on earth is this handsome and eloquent gentleman taking out grafittied trash?’ I say to you sir do not be deceived! Before your very eyes is a custom made wind talisman! What does it do? Simple, break the stick towards your foe and a tornado worthy of a grand wind mage will burst forth to smite them!” dangles this stick in front of Rui-Ling’s eyes

“Now sir, I can tell that you are dubious and frankly I can not blame you. Despite my trustworthy face, my claims obviously sound like ramblings of a mad-man! However I say to you fine sir that for a one time offer I am willing to give you a single free sample of whatever element you choose! Do you like fireballs, but lack the mojo? Easy. Wish for the cover of a watery fog? That can be done. Put the fear of God in the car hoons that honk and holler while you try to sleep? Simplicity itself! Use this Earthen talisman and watch as a fissure appears swallowing their car down to Dante’s Inferno!” stepping to stand in front of Rui-Ling and smiles wickedly “So, which free sample would you like to try? I guarantee you won’t be disappointed~”

@Ashifili

Odelia perked right up again as soon as the Head Magister took her seat next to her. She didn't really know what to do about this adorable little girl, or why shy had that look on her face, but before she could say anything the girl raised a hand, stopping Odelia's thoughts from progressing any further out of curiosity. Odelia watched as Aria closed and reopened her hand, revealing the doughnut; undoubtedly the most tastiest and cutest the she's ever seen. Odleia quickly dropped Bosco, who inaudibly fell to the floor after bumping off her leg, and let out a creepy half-smile upon realization that the doughnut was indeed for her as she took it from Aria's hand. Mouthing the words "thank you" before she got up to visit the others.

Before she could start in on her doughnut though, another waitress or maybe the barista (Odelia didn't know), revisited her table, though this time being a bit more personal. "Odelia Adams; I'm good now." She intervened, noting to the magic pastry given to her by Aria before letting Ellie continue. She just slowly nodded her head, her half-smile turning more into a smirk, but relatively just as creepy, as Ellie finished advertising the cafe's hospitality. A moment passed for Ellie to move on, before she removed the left-over paper stick of her lollipop from her mouth and taking a small bite of the doughnut, again and again until it disappeared just as fully as it entered.

A small clap from Aria grabbed her attention and gave it to the magical girl who then began talking about a challenge from a guy she didn't know. She didn't really care as she defiantly didn't have any treasure, though the thought of getting one off of said challenge did intrigue her a bit. She watched as Ellie explained the different jobs to do around these parts, none of them striking her fancy to do for work. Although, she would probably head up to the temple, even if just to see the spirits. She watched as the others, who she assumed were all chasers at this point, conversed among themselves as the door bell announced another patron entering the room, giving her attention to this quite energetic fellow. He was rather loud, but she could help admit that he was rather entertaining to watch.

~Aria~

---

Aria grinned, pleased that everyone was getting along for the most part. She finished her pink-frosted doughnut in silence while Ellie began to explain the other missions, hand reaching in the box to pull out a freshly glazed one now. Munching on that, she heard the conversations around her, noting that for the most part, the interest in the missions seemed to be evenly divided, at least for the park and temple shrine.

Finishing her chewing, Aria answered Rui-Ling with, “From our recent reports, it’s very likely. The Cataloger is always challenging powerful individuals and I doubt he would make such a bold claim towards us if he didn’t have a new trump card to abuse.”

Other than that, no one seemed to have any further questions. With the missions being distributed by Ellie, Aria hung back to her position on the counter, swinging her legs idly as she ate away at her sweet treats. The Chasers would be free to go about their missions now at their own pace or shop amongst the many luxuries of Dangeki Pawn & Parlor Café.

“If that’s all then you may proceed with your missions accordingly. You are dismissed to your duties,” Aria announced, smiling in encouragement. She caught Lucille’s gaze and nodded to her fellow vampire, assuring her that she would indeed call if the Cataloger decided to show up earlier than expected. As Lucille left, Carver finally decided to show up. Aria had to contain a roll of her eyes, the smooth-talking salesman having made up some new excuse to why he was late. Well, it didn’t matter too much. Rui-Ling could catch him up to speed.

“Ellie when you’re done serving, help me down from here,” Aria said to her familiar with a stoic expression, licking the doughnut glaze off of her fingers. “You know I’m not good with heights.”

---

Hands going up to take the initiative in voicing the intention to investigate the park offset Luciel's previous enthusiasm. It would have been nice to go for a walk with maybe one or two people tagging along, though the idea of exposure to Katherine's abrasiveness seemed...well, others were more inclined to go. As imperceptive to personalities as he'd like to think he was, he had his limits. The park was more suited for the day, anyway, since some awfully weird things went on at night. The mystery of the mystery was potentially lacking in mysteriousness, and as Lucille spoke up about going to the temple/shrine, whatever they called it here, he figured it'd be better to work off of as much information as he could get.
The way he saw it, though the motherly vampire had experience with kids, the situation could quickly turn ugly if the spirits were volatile enough. Spirits only being a stone's throw away from demons, he was loathe to consider letting the woman deal with ill mannered children by herself.

Luciel finished his drink, standing with the lemon wedge which he chomped on as he made to follow, spitting the seed into a napkin which he pocketed for later. With trembling eyes and a cringe from the sourness, he turned away from the rest of the group to play it off cool while wrestling with his composure.
The tavern had started to get weird anyway, what with individuals showing up and trying to sell the snake oil version of potentially magical trinkets. Even if he had the money, Luciel silently despaired at the idea of anyone buying such things when they would likely need them in a pinch. It'd be a mess if even a single item in the character's wares turned out to be junk when a chaser needed it.

"Ehem, madam Lucille...?" the albino called after Lucille, making to follow her out. "If I may accompany you? Eit vould be best to haf allies, even vith matters zeht...ehrm..." he began, lifting a hand from his pocket to scratch at the bridge of his nose that was visible from how the scarf came up to his eyes as he looked away. "...Zeht vould ohzervize be your expertise?" Luciel tried to word in the continuation of his offer, his accent coming off thick in his discomfort with being the one to speak up. Exposed to the dim ambiance of distant neon lights, the snow white tinge of the coat faded to a deep charcoal grey.
The awkwardness of Luciel's drawn out offer dawned on him and he cleared his throat to try again. "My I assist you vith zeh temple?" he simply asked, looking back to Lucille with more composure to his tone.
It was usually strange when Luciel was the one to speak up, though picking missions didn't favor those with passive demeanors and he found it appropriate enough of an occasion to swallow his tendencies in order to potentially protect one of the few hunters he cared for. However, knowing so much about Luciel would hint to his offer being a suggestion of a 'plan b' if her approach didn't pan out, since the albino wasn't noted to be the best with diplomacy; a weakness which he figured Lucille could easily make up for.
Luciel simply wanted the night to go easily since the hope of payment made his stomach quietly growl, sufficiently muffled behind the fabric of the coat which began to curl in small tendrils at the edges.