It was an instant reaction like when you touch a hot stove, the golem flexed its arms in front of itself and its back sprouted hundreds of spikes jabbing towards the vampire. The spikes shattered seconds later.

“That’s it. I’m done stalling for the investigations team. Everything dies when you replace the majority with lead.” Jaklo growled.

He could feel his heart racing, adrenaline filling his body, and his rage building. Jaklo left the ward with a firebombs in each hand. The hunter charged with a bestial roar. He threw the concoctions to clear a path to the golem. The tiny constructs were disintegrated in the intense flames. Jaklo sprinted right through them letting visage absorb the energy. By the time he reached the golem the shield would be depleted again. Now within arm’s reach he drew legacy in it’s full falchion form and glowing near white. The golem was still leaned down from sending out it’s spikes, so Jaklo made a huge downward swing embedding legacy deep in the golem’s main body. The blade was able to go about a foot or so before the magic barrier around the core was too strong. Only another few inches and he’d have made it to the mage. Furious, Jaklo pulled out Arcane Justice,

“Draw!” He shouted with a manic laugh.

There was a bloodcurdling hiss of ice on ice as a spike erupted from the golem slicing into Jaklo’s left side just under the ribs.

“Nice...shot…” Jaklo stammered, “My turn…”

Jaklo pulled all the triggers of Arcane Justice making fire erupt towards the center of the golem. The blast pushed Jaklo back off his feet as he began to bleed into the muddy snow. The blast had done it’s job though. The core was exposed. A young man in layer upon layer of winter coats with pale blue skin barely breathing barely alive.

Cassandra watched as Jaklo charged forward, a beast of a man, even compared to the literal beasts that seemed to be working alongside them. His magical weapons had done their job, exposing the mage long enough for someone else to take him out and dismember the golem, but Cassandra wouldn’t be the one to take the glory. She knew that if Jaklo was left to himself while she or anyone else charged the golem, he’d bleed out, and what better way to gain the trust of her future teammates than being his witch in shining armor?

With a sharp motion, the Pit inched forward. The flaming ward followed suit, burning away the grass and snow as it moved. Within a few moments, the pit stood close enough to Jaklo to place him within its protective shell, and Cassandra was quick to follow, appearing at Jaklo’s side before the golem or its children could do any further damage. She removed a small talisman from her coat: a rough crystal wrapped in dried herbs, animals skins, and held together by silver cords.

“Sit still,” she cautioned him, placing the talisman just above the gash on his left side. ”Byddwch bob amser mewn iechyd da.” she incanted, allowing the talisman to twist and spin above the wound. Small pieces began to fall from around the center stone, the arid shards sparking as they touched Jaklo’s blood, the crystal itself spinning and flashing with faint light. Soon, the veins and muscle began to reform, but slowly.

“This charm should ease the pain. It’ll quicken the healing process and mend the torn arteries and muscle, but it can’t fully heal the gash. Once we get back to W&R you’ll want to see a more skilled healer, but until then I’d say you’re down for the count.” Cassandra stayed next to him, knowing he might need some help getting up and steadying himself. She pocketed the talisman and looked at the tightly packed mage inside the golem. Some kid really did all of this?

As our new recruit took care of Jaklo, I rushed forward to the collapsing golem and the man inside, removing him from the leftover structures of frozen water with brute force as I began to shout at him. "Oi what the fuck are you doing? Whats the meaning of this?!" I question the bundled stranger, still in my monstrous form gripping him with one huge hand, and a monstrous face shouting at the stranger. The flames around my arm had died down as to not burn the stranger, we stopped the golem so I had no reason to kill the man inside, at least as of yet as I wasn't ordered to. There could have been some misunderstanding or accident behind the man's golem, or perhaps he was simply swallowed by the construct. Either way, whether he had ill intentions or not, I was ready to crush and burn him at a moment's notice. After speaking, I looked back to my teammates on advice as to what to do with him.

Baron watched as the vampire rather elegantly evaded the giants punch. Apparently no help had been necessary. Surprising agility from someone who had, previously, shown nothing of the sort, though. Then again, one doesn't live through over seven centuries without something up their sleeves. Baron smiled approvingly as Mithias again resorted to peace, attempting to get the boy to surrender. Obviously the attempt wouldn't work, as shown by the previous ploys of parley. When the golem flexed and bristled with hundreds of icy spikes that gleamed like a bad lens flare, Baron cringed for Mithias' sake, in a manner similar to that of a sports fan when their favorite team misses a shot horribly.

Baron paced around, staying well within Cassandra's protective ward as he watched Jaklo mount another assault on the golem. After a long hard fight, it appeared that the icy monolith had been worn down enough to fall to this final onslaught. Jaklo's blood spilling across the ground marked that the golem's fall was not a minute too soon. Continuing the fight with a wounded comrade would've ended in almost certain death for the poor hunter.

With slow, calculated movements, Baron strolled forward alongside Cassandra and The Pit as they moved closer to the fallen hunter. As the witch knelt to pull some form of healing-voodoo-somethingorother on Jaklo, Baron glanced around with a casual expression on his face, but a stern glare in his eyes. His pet weasel and fox, having sacrificed themselves to the golem's fist, were gone -nothing but a static cloud of energy left from the explosion. The wolf, however, survived. It limped through the air as though injured, and arcane energy was pouring out from empty wounds like steam from a broken pipe. Baron gave it a whistle, before vaguely gesturing to the now inactive golem. The wolf whined, but plodded over nonetheless.

When Drake chose to manhandle the boy from his suit of armor, Baron intervened. The wolf's spectral fur bristled as it growled up at Drake, teeth bared. "Put him down, Drake. Mon dieu, what are you thinking?" Though Baron strutted closer to Drake as he commanded the massive lizard-man, he never strayed far from the Pit. He raised his good arm, and chanted a short incantation as he pointed to the unmoving mage. Runes of blue energy encircled the near-corpse of a boy as Baron's warming charm was transferred to his body.

"Look at him, for Gods sake. He's done. We don't need to kill him, you brutish bastard." Baron said, body racked with shivering. He hugged his right arm tight to his body as he felt the cold sting of the air penetrate his clothes. He looked down on Drake as best he could, considering the size difference, hoping that his tone of voice would be enough to impose his will on the dragon-like creature.

I looked back at my ally, hearing his orders I dropped the stranger who could be assumed to be responsible for this from my reptilian grip. I wasn't so much as intimidated by the wolf-man rather I was more so obedient and trusting of his judgement. If Baron could say there was no further danger then I could settle with that. I'd retreat more to the warmth radiating from the pit, but not to far as to escape the range of the stranger should I ever need to charge at or strike at him in case he tries to pull any suprises. "If you say so, what should we do with him now?" I responded and asked calmly. "is Jacklo conscience?" I asked another question, turning back to Cassandra and Jacklo, my axe resting at my side. I was unsure of what to do now, as I had no idea what to make of the stranger that emerged from the golem.

“Oh you pitiable mortals. Not even the demon that dragged me here could trick me. Immortality has its costs but eternal knowledge is priceless. That child on the other hand… well you needn’t worry about him any longer.” The shade had a rasping manic laugh echoing behind his voice even though he spoke clearly.

The shade mocked taking a deep breath.

“Oh yes, yet more tinder for hell’s fire. His soul is likely in the depths of tartarus by now. A shame he had such potential and was so eager to learn. If only he asked better questions. He didn’t even let me get to golem seals.” The shade feigned sympathy and sorrow, but it was clear he was delighted by the events, “Did you think a child could design such things? All of you mourn while I reap. Such simple minds can never stay ahead of a demon, much less my own.”

The demonic entity laughed and cackled before vanishing into the pits of hell once again.

===========================================

Jaklo muttered something along the lines of "gottem' coach" in response to the general reactions around him.

"That went about as I expected," Max muttered to himself. Truth be told, he felt a little shaky. He never got used to dealing with shades, and even that brief encounter had drained him somewhat.

Still, he had a job to do. Max pulled out his phone once again and dialed Mithias. "Hey, so, I might've, uh, gotten the attention of the demon that was backing that kid. But on the plus side, they've removed their sponsorship so the spell should be collapsing. How are things going over on your end?"

Mithias had dashed to the right as the back of the golem spewed up sharp spikes of ice. Keeping a hold with one hand on the hilt of his right sword, he swung to the side. The left sword came tumbling down to the ground in a burst of ice shards, lost to his reach for the time being. Mithias held onto the remaining sword that was still deeply lodged into the ice golem, finding footholds on the giant's shoulder as the final attack was made. There was a big explosion, and the orb compartment was breached, exposing the body of the mage inside. As the defeated construct came tumbling forward, Mithias touched down to the safety of the ground. The scent of blood did not escape him, of course, and he knew Jaklo had been hurt. To what degree, he did not know, but Cassandra had rushed instinctively to his side. Mithias stood observing curiously for a moment, then turned to recover his blades.

Mithias caught Baron's eye as he entered Cassandra's circle while wiping off his blades with a dry cloth. Baron had just convinced Drake to drop the shivering mage. The vampire's eyes had a touch of a red glow in them, famed by dark brows and snowy skin. "It's alright. I've fed." He holstered the sword, taking note of the seemingly injured wolf creature. He looked back to Baron. "I'm sorry about your fox and weasel."

Drake asked about Jaklo, a question everyone was thinking, so rather than repeat the question, Mithias simply awaited a response to it. Meanwhile, he could address the issue of the wannabe Evangelion. "One must always remember to ask questions, THEN kill, not kill, then try to ask questions." he said this mostly for his own amusement. "The young man is no longer a threat. We should take him back to the office. Speaking of which, does anyone have a portal out of this cold, damp place?"

The man’s eyes dilated as though he had just seen something shocking. He gasped and his eyes glazed over. The golem disintegrated entirely now and all the snowing ceased. There was a shrill caw as Kelvin landed near the combat team. Markiel’s familiar raised its wings and a portal opened before it. Instead of the warlock, Seph arrived through it moments later. He took in the area and moved silently to the dead mage.

“Markiel sent Kelvin as soon as he got word. Seems even then it’s too late. The investigations team has a name. I’ll handle things here. You should all get inside or you’ll get frostbite. Kelvin go rendezvous with the investigations team I’ll get home the old fashion way.” Seph didn’t seem to waver in emotion not proud of the victory or depressed by the death he’d seen far too much to be swayed by so little.

=======================================================

After about twenty minutes Kelvin arrived at the investigations team. The hellbeak had to awkwardly shuffle along inside to reach the group in the basement. He scowled unamused at the circumstances when he reached them. Here he was a terrifying demon raptor reduced to waddling because the staircase was too narrow.

Once again he raised his wings to allow a portal to be opened. This time Markiel was the one to travel through.

“Alright we’ve gotten the all clear from the combat team. I’ve already put the kettle on so let’s get back you deserve a break and a hot drink. Just need to pick up what's left around here.” The warlock said before going over to the workbench and collecting some tomes and mystical materials, “We can save the debriefing for after everyone has taken a breath.”

The whole ordeal was underwhelming for Coal. No dramatic battle, or tedious task. The shade happily spilled the beans about, well, everything so cooly. Coal suspected the shade had a lot of pent up spite towards the inexperienced summoner, or was it just bored? To Coal it didn’t matter what the shade felt, it’s how easily it handed over the information that bugged him. Making him feel very foolish, knife out and tense when all that was needed was to ask nicely.

No need for fights, even if the shade may have condemned a child’s soul to hell, it wasn’t their fault that happened, but the pity still hit him with a sharp pang. Even feeling relieved when it finally disappeared back to its own realm. Slipping the sharp ritual knife away, he cupped his hands together and exhaled sharply, “Well then, that was easier than I expected. What now?” He could only feel slightly annoyance when no one paid any attention to him, he was left playing the bystander again. Not that that was an inherently bad thing, it left him with more chances to just flee when needed.

As Max made his call, and others lingered about, Coal and Cerberus curiously toying and inspecting the various tomes and books, actively avoiding going near any manga as they read up on spellbooks and magic galore. All too advanced for him, and absolutely useless to him, could help R&W though.

His attention was immediately torn from the books as he heard low squawks emitting from the stairs as Hellbeak awkwardly stumbled down them, Cerberus snickering at the spectacle behind Coal. Their pick up had arrived and had not disappointed him. A complex portal, Hellbeak stumbling down stairs, and an invitation for a nice hot drink. An easy mission with a rewarding end, he couldn’t wait to hear the battle team’s side of the story.

Not many thoughts crossed Azai’s head about the kid mage who is probably suffering in hell, it was an expected end for one who delves too deep and too ignorant in demonology, although he wished that he could’ve saved him. But his mind was now filled with questions about this demon, no exorcism took place which would mean that this demon is still on the loose somewhere. But nothing could be done now, and yet another incident that strengthened his opinion about his choice of career and his thoughts about the dangers of magic…

The situation was clear now and everyone seemed to be dabbling around the place, Azai was examining the cold aura of this ice magic, it reminded him of his monochrome aura, yet it didn’t have that deathly chill. He looked around in some of the tomes that Coal was leaving behind, his collecting habit had kicked in, in the sight of many tomes. He grabbed one in particular about the application and combining of ice arcanology, he had an experiment in mind he wanted to try with this element to try and create yet another deathly spell…

Hellbeak arrived opening a portal arriving through it was Markiel, telling the team to head back to HQ and resting and leaving the debrief for later, it wasn’t a bad idea he needed to get out of this cold because it was building up and soon he had to use magic to withstand it. But he walked towards Coal and patted him on the shoulder ”Good job Coal, you did relatively well for your first mission, just be more careful next time.” he smiled as he walked away.

Max looked around the basement library. Some of the books called to him, he wanted so badly to add to his collection. But it didn't seem right to take anything, any more than it would be to take a dead man's wallet. Someone had worked hard to obtain these books, probably very hard indeed given that it was a teenager in a rural area. Max had no right to them. No money had exchanged hands, no agreements had been made.

Max was suddenly struck with the uncomfortable thought that he was at least partially responsible for demon's claiming the kid's soul. Just a kid on a stupid power trip. Sure, said kid had endangered thousands of innocents simply for kicks. But still. A kid.

He straightened his necktie, bowed his head. "Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam, dayan ha-emet." The words brushed past his lips, soft and almost unheard in the basement room, tinged with regret. And with that, he stepped through the portal back to the office.

Max forced a smile onto his face as he walked into the office. "Good work, team," he said with maybe too cheerful of a tone. "Really. I don't know about you guys but I could definitely use a little warmth in my belly." Making a show of flexing his fingers over the radiator, Max reached into his desk drawer and groped about until he found what he was after. A handful of small glasses, and, of course, a bottle of slivovitz- Eastern European plum brandy. Vile stuff, but a sip of that would have them all feeling their toes again. He poured out a few glasses, offered them to anyone who was interested, before offering a toast. "Well, here's to the first of what I hope will be many successes. I feel honored to call you coworkers." His smile was maybe too wide, too bright, but at least partly genuine.

@Polyphemus@jasonwolf@R31GN@fdeviant

Mithias suddenly turned and walked away a few steps, pulling his phone out of his coat. "A demon? I see. Yes the spell has indeed collapsed, and the kid is dead. What's more than that, Jacklo is seriously injured, but stable. All we have left to recover is a body. I trust everyone on your end is alright?" Mithias looked over his shoulder at the others with the phone to his ear. "It sounds like this is something Markiel would be interested in... Ah, speaking of which Kelvin has just arrived here. I'll see you back at the office, Max."

Mithias came back and stuffed the phone. Leaning down, he carefully picked up Jacklo, his weight nothing to the vampire. The sight of the dead mage incited only stoic response as Mithias passed Seph and traversed the portal.

Atlas sighed. The others had done all the fun stuff. From what he could tell, based off what he had seen of the golem, some jackass kid bit off more than he could chew and tried building a robot. It's a shame. He probably could've joined the team. He'd certainly have more skill than that teenager. He stepped through the portal leading back to the office. That was rather quick. As he went upstairs to retrieve his coat before the sunlight returned, he was stopped by Markiel.

"Someone called asking for you"

This confused Atlas, as nobody knew he was here. This was concerning. Markiel continued, "I've put them on hold". Atlas grimaced. "I'll take the call", he said, taking the phone and tapping one of the buttons. "Hello?"

--------------------

This wasn't good. How did the kid track him down? Why now? Coworker bonding would have to wait. Atlas donned his coat and hat, grabbing alchemy supplies, food, and some minor essentials. He had nearly forgotten to return what he borrowed from the armory. Entering the lobby, Atlas turned to Markiel. "I'm going to have to take some time off. Family emergency.", he said, turning to walk out the door and into the uncertain future.

As everyone, including Coal, shuffled into the portal, Coal suffered the sudden stomach-drop as they appeared back at Wells and Rick in one piece and unscathed. Coal’s first mission had come to a close, and it was a success. He also could’ve sworn Cerberus congratulated him as they teleported back. Even Azai’s remark, which he deemed slightly rude, did bring him a bit of positivity too. Mission completed as far as Coal was concerned, and now to embark on their next journey to kill the another murderous beast/run-away child. But first a drink!

A drink?

Coal leaned on a near-by surface, his curious gaze following the bottle of something Max held, wincing slightly as the shot-glasses clinked in-between Max’s knuckles. Definitely alcohol. “Where are my juice and crackers?” he chuckled, if his age was going to be a touchy subject, why not make a bit of fun of it? He hoped to garner some laughs as he eyed Atlas walking out of the room, or rather felt him shuffle out of the building with his billowy jacket. He didn’t want to intrude in his thoughts again to find out why. It’s not fair to probe people like that, he let Atlas go without any telepathic-questions. Another reason was also he was pretty sure Atlas would find out and knock Coal out of his mind, but it’s about time Coal learned how to gain info. the old fashioned way.

“Pretty fun mission, right?”

Baron smiled, happiness a symptom of their success in the battle. Defeating the golem and securing the mage behind it -no better result could be expected. Of course, he doubted the golem had been of the young mages own design -something like that was far out of the league of a mere child. Though he had his suspicions, better to leave the exact details to the investigation team who had hopefully found something worthwhile of their own in their search. Though the mood was grim, Baron smirked slightly as he heard Jaklo speaking from his highly injured state "Gottem, coach..." Baron turned to Drake, who had inquired about the hunters consciousness.

"On a hunch, I'm going to say yes." He said, voice edged with scorn. In a more serious tone, he continued. "Though I suppose the more pressing matter would be if he's going to survive." He said, gesturing to the ever growing pool of blood beneath him. Losing more blood in fifteen minutes than most do in a year couldn't be good for the man. Before he could suggest any action be taken to save Jaklo's life, Mithias made his way back. Though his status as a vampire hadn't concerned Baron in the least, the reassurance that he wasn't going to eat Jaklo didn't hurt either.

"I'm sorry about your fox and weasel." The vampire said, a cookie cutter statement of grief.

"Don't be. They'll survive." Baron responded with a wave of the hand. "They'll lick their wounds and pout for awhile, but they'll survive." He said derisively. With that, he seemed to remember the presence of his wolf, and waved a hand to it. The arcane beast howled, before disappearing in a wave of blue light and smoke. Baron cocked his head as Mithias continued.

"The young man is no longer a threat. We should take him back to the office. Speaking of which, does anyone have a portal out of this cold, damp place?"

Baron considered for a moment, trying to come up with a suitable transport back, before he was interrupted by the calm falling over the area. As the snowfall ceased, he turned to the young mage, and spat out a string of curses, some in English, some in his native language. He threw his cane to the ground, before straightening up to acknowledge the arrival of Kelvin and Seph. Seph's words were as lackluster as Baron had come to expect of the man -no words of encouragement, no pat on the back. Just mundane words. Baron looked back to the rest of the team, eying Jaklo especially. Though he cringed when Mithias picked up the hunter bodily -for the possible internal damage from such antics could be catastrophic, he didn't say anything, for it was likely the fastest way to move him through the portal to somewhere he could get treatment.

Baron bent down to pick up his cane, feeling a deep ache in his bones as he straightened up. He sighed, limping through the portal back to the offices. "Good work, team, really. I don't know about you guys but I could definitely use a little warmth in my belly." Said Max upon his arrival back into the offices, offering glasses of some foul smelling drink. Foul smelling, but Baron gladly accepted -he needed a drink after that ordeal. He raised his glass to the almost fake sounding toast from the ever-cheesy Max, agreeing with the sincere sentiment behind the movement nonetheless.

As Baron threw the plum brandy down his throat, he took note of Atlas' hasty retreat from the office. He almost reached out to the vampire with an inquiry, but thought better of it. Very likely that he had something far more important to be doing than answering endless questions. So he turned back to the odious drink clutched precariously in his clumsy metallic arm.

When Coal spoke up, Baron turned, surprised -he had almost forgot their next-to-newest recruit.

“Where are my juice and crackers?”

The comment was amusing enough, and almost made Baron smile. But, the witch-kid's next comment dashed any hope of a smirk from Baron's visage. "Pretty fun mission, right?"

"Jaklo being critically injured, a powerful demon escaping before we can get any real information, and an innocent mage being killed. Remind me again which part of that was 'pretty fun'?" Baron asked, voice straining to hide any emotion. His good hand gripped the table on which he leaned with white knuckles.

Kenya greatfully accepted a glass from Max. The liquor itself smelled like rocket fuel and reminded her of the horror stories her aunts had told about the Balkan wars.

She took Max by the hand and squeezed briefly, hopefully comforting the older man.

"My sole contribution was to make a basement slightly warmer and smell slightly better," she declared wryly. Ritual magic was rarely particularly useful on the fly.

She tilted back her head and drank down the shot, its illusiary heat filling her body.

"We probably should check into the library when the cryomancy fades. I'd be interested to know where he got a copy of some..." She trailed off with a sigh as Baron took offense to Coal's comment.

"Must we?" She asked wearily. She couldn't claim she liked Coal or even disagreed with Barons comments but the constant rancor was wearing on her.

"Boys," she whispered dispairingly.

With the arrival of the boss-man, Seph, and the death of the young mage, Cassandra extinguished her protective ward. One man down wasn’t bad for the group’s first mission, and Cassandra had played her part well. Counter magic, in her not so humble opinion, was a witch’s greatest weapon, and she had utilized her skills to the benefit of the team, even managing to save one of her coworkers from bleeding out. For a moment, she was overcome with emotion, a strange internal mix of excitement, joy, and belonging.

”What are you doing?” she gave herself a mental kick, returning to her normal, flirty, sarcastic self. She nodded at Mithias as he relieved her of Jaklo and entered the portal back to W&R. She stood up, brushing off the snow from her bare knees. With all passing from this place to the next, Cassandra quickly followed suit, the Pit of Creation in tow. It’s wide mouth threatened to strand it within the frozen wastes of their previous location, but after a moment, it had successfully passed through the portal, which closed in response.

Cassandra took a moment to examine the new collection of teammates who had arrived via a separate portal. They were as interesting a lot as her own team had been, and just as diverse in terms of age and ability. One of them brought out a nice brandy.

"Well, here's to the first of what I hope will be many successes. I feel honored to call you co workers."

Cassandra stepped forward, taking up one of the glasses he had poured.

“Falling into a drunken stupor after a successful mission? Cheers to that,” she exclaimed in her usual sultry tone, downing the dark liquor, wincing only slightly at its bitterness. As she moved, so did the Pit, bumping into desks and boxes in its path, taking up a lofty amount of space in their immediate area.

“Whoops, almost forgot about you,” she turned back to the Pit and tapped on its side. “Blessed vessel of pitch and tar, if far be near, if near be far.”

The Pit seemed to dissolve into nothing, its fine brass exterior absorbed briefly in mystical flames. When they subsided, the Pit went with them, back to wherever it deigned to reside between uses.

Warmth, was the first thing he was grateful about going through the portal, then he heard something about a teammate being gravely injured, it was Jacklo from what he understood, but luckily he survived. Max’s bottle was a good way to cheer up the mood, the mission was a success even if the kid died. Azai saw a new member that was with the combat team, Cassandra was her name but he could feel a dark vibe from her, like the manipulative vibe, he always tried to keep his distance from such women for many reasons…

Azai raised his glass with others, finished his drink quickly and went to his desk for his real delight, ignoring any kind of socializing. It was something that no one knew about him, he was interested in magic induced herbs, he had a dealer that he knew for a long time who provided him with these herbs. His real reason for taking such things was lost a long time ago, and it was now purely for the high of it. In his desk there was one herb that he hid in a secret compartment in his drawer, he grabbed the leaf and rolled it to fit in his mouth and swallowed it. Its effect was immediate, it didn’t have the normal symptoms that made one unable to interact with his surroundings, but it gave him a rush in his brain uplifting his mood and his brain energy, taking off his mind of any type of negative emotions that he went through and just focusing on his job or anything else…

He sat on his chair, gazing through his window thinking and waiting to for the debriefing or to hear something about Jacklo’s condition he wanted to make sure he was okay, he really cared about him..

His smile was instantly washed off his face, instead being replaced by a downcast look of surprise, his eyes darting to the sides and really focusing on a piece of furniture. Anything to not meet their eyes as Baron listed off the damage report, and Kenya’s loud mutterings even made him wince slightly. He then learned to remain quiet, hanging by the outskirts of the small group. What else to do but to either remain quiet, or sulk away?

But why though? If he was going to be a part of this team, he didn’t need to treat them all like strangers. He messed up, it was normal, he could apologise now and lessen the impact, or remain quiet and build up a reputation as an outcast.

He stood straight up, fueled by his sudden bravado as he continued, “I’m sorry for my poor choice of words, what I meant to say was that we had a successful mission,” no glares of contempt yet, doing good so far, he thought before continuing, “There were some complications along the way, but I’m glad we managed to work through them and stick together. So, why not celebrate a little?”

He held his breath for a moment, he didn’t exactly have a way with words, but he hoped he didn’t fumble up too badly this time.