Wesley was not used to traveling with others, not after these years of going it alone, but it had been pleasant to have someone alongside him, regardless of who it was. Though he didn't say much of it, he was grateful to be back among the living, and once the cabin had come into site, he did feel a small happy inkling at the presence of others inside it. Others who could kick his ass, fair enough, but even if it all went sour or went beautifully, it was the presentation of a real challenge.

Stepping inside and dusting himself off as best he could, though he had managed to change into some fresh clothing, he quickly tied his hair back into a bun and followed Nemo and the smell of food. Wes was used to going days without eating - he'd come to discover how far water alone could get a man - but it didn't mean that he liked it. He wasn't sure what to do with his stuff, so he simply dropped it outside the doorway to avoid smacking everyone in the face with his gun and bag and stepped inside with a smile.

"Pleasure," he said to the man he assumed to be Felix, shaking his hand. "I'm sure this will be...quite the experience." His eyes raked over the other colourful figures at the table, both who seemed to be quite lost in their meals, but he stepped forwards to retrieve his own. If he was going to be staying here, best blend in as the Romans do.

Sitting down with a nod towards Nemo as thanks, he carefully used his cutlery to slice off a tiny portion of sausage, allowing himself to savour it for several moments before swallowing. It was better to take this slow, avoid taking too much in...being a little hungry did keep the edge, after all, and around people with powers like these, he could not afford to be even anywhere below his best for his first impression.

"Wesley Lan," he stated simply, chewing again slowly as he continued to glance between them. "Sorry to interrupt, but might I know who either of you are?"

Raiya looked up at the new figure and narrowed her eyes a bit, examining him. She then smiled snidely and said, "Oh! Greetings newcomer! My name is Raiya Mamushi, I sell drugs and kill people for a living! I certainly hope we do get along!" her tone extremely sarcastic and possible even condescending. She then returned to eating her food.

Zuri wakes up from her deep slumber, stretching her arms before sliding off the bed and onto her feet. She heads into the bathroom and swiftly brushes her teeth, washes her face with some cold water, and does her hair. Zuri gets into her usual casual attire which consists of a plain solid color t-shirt and some shorts, white with a few splashes of color and dark grey respectively.

She opens the door and closes it behind her, noticing the smell of breakfast from not that far away. She follows the scent all the way to the table where all the food was at. While all of that food did look appetizing, she decides to only eat a single slice of toast and a glass of apple juice to wash it all down when she was done. Without any jam, she consumes the entire piece of toast in under one minute and downs all of the juice within seconds.

Finally stirring from what felt like a long silent unprovoked slumber, Travis turned within his birth and slowly opened his lazy eyes. His eye lids eventually flickered all the way open until he gazed up at the redwood ceiling. For once after the past few days, his conscious was tamed and devoid of any thoughts. Whatever that was in Zoey's concoction was, it proved helpful in clearing his head. That and heading straight to bed late last night had helped too. He would definitely need to thank her once he had the chance

Now he felt rejuvenated for a change as he breathed in easily through his nostrils only after giving a single satisfying yawn. While in his previous state of fatigue, it would have taken him minutes to notice an unknown aroma until he was looking right at it. Almost immediately could Travis pick up the soothing smell from downstairs. To him, it smelled like a fine meal.

Eager to live the new day, with fresh enthusiasm and the pressing will to dine, the Untalent arose from bed, turning over the sheets and blankets atop him and sought to clean and dress himself properly after a few weeks grind of studying.



Upon stepping down stairs, the smell of breakfast was much stronger than it was before. Travis couldn't wait to dig in after a longer peaceful rest. Turning the corner, and past the living room and to the dining table, Travis came across the majority of his colleagues ate the table already, including another new face. The man appeared only slightly smaller and younger than Travis was however bore strange resemblance to that of Nemo and Raiya. Not by physical appearance but perhaps a fierce demeanor in a way.

He tried not to think much about it but what seemed evident was that Felix had yet another vision and name to collect into their group. Travis wondered if this was seriously how Felix would continue to recruit new members. He didn't mind per se but the method was becoming more and more ominous. The notion of bringing into Felix into somewhat of a therapy session regarding the manner was compelling with the intent of unmasking this presence that could somehow know the names and location of everyone here. Unfortunately, Travis already imagined Felix wouldn't know anymore than the what the Untalent understood. Perhaps in time maybe; if he could live till then.

Travis eventually claimed his own seat at the table and his own plate with an assortment items and confections. Before he could even dig in though, Raiya decided to introduce herself in the more sarcastic manner possible just as the newcomer-- now self identified as Wesley --asked for their names. Maybe it was sound to say that her behavior was predictable by now since they had been in the same establishment for quite sometime. Of course given her choice of words used to paint herself, Travis humored himself into believing the plausibility of that thought. As she returned to her own meal, Travis decided to present himself too.

"Name's Travis," kindly replied, "pleasure to meet you, Wesley."

Finished with his food, Nemo got up from the table. "Don't mind her, she probably wont bite." Nemo said as he started walking towards Felix's study room. "Morning Travis" He commented as he passed by him.

Nemo walked inside the room and picked a comfy chair to sit down in. "Good morning Felix." He said to him once he walked in.

Having completed a significant portion of her plate, Zoey sat back and nodded at Wesley, putting up her illusion as a courtesy. She also waved at Travis, who smelled much better today. From the table, she waved at the newcomer, Wesley, and immediately felt uneasy. He smells like a Witch-hunter. What a fantastic plot we've stumbled into. The church, the academy, and now the hunters. I suppose I should be thankful my allies are, for the most part, known threats. Still, Nemo is anomalous. About the only thing to smell around him is blood, gunpowder, and death. Then there's the Yakusa priestess over there, and shadowling sitting near by. What a lovely band of absolute chaos. She clears her throat, "Zoey, sir. I wish it were a pleasure but, to put it mildly, you make me uneasy." She gets up and takes her plate, "You smell like trouble. Less trouble than Nemo. But trouble none the less."

As she left to go to the down stairs game room, it struck her that Travis was probably the person who knew her the best of everyone there. Why that thought struck her was beyond her, actually. She shrugged and silently hoped the booky didn't notice quite how tense the former Salemite had made her. Definately former. Anyone from the 'hunters known to be here for anything other than slitting our throats is disowned and marked for death, probably. They don't screw around. She picked up the now-familiar gun controller of the zombie game and began running it, thoughts elsewhere.

Felix stepped into his office and saw Nemo sitting comfortably in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Felix took the seat behind the desk and folded his hands on the table, his blue flannel wrinkling a bit at the bend of his arm.

"I see recruitment was a success... I assume your other mission was successful?" Felix added an inflection at the end of the sentence to indicate that it was a question not a statement.

"Yes... yes yes, very." Nemo rambled off in response. "I'm not gonna let you open your presents too early Felix, you have to wait like everybody else." Nemo said with a chuckle. "But what I can tell you is that I do have a lead, nobody is left to alert anybody, and we leave later today." He explained.

Nemo paused for a few moments, pondering something. "You know, there is something I've been wondering. I already know why you picked me for your group, but what I don't know is why you invited me inside your home. I could still do any task you want of me and accompany your missions without ever having to be here. So why do you permit me to stay?" Nemo asked. "You've put me in a situation where I'm terribly out of place, bringing me in here with all these nice people. I'm an animal to them, not much has changed over the years, now I'm just a very well trained beast who wears peoples clothes."

"Animals belong outside Felix, that or locked in a cage. So why have you brought me inside, are you trying to make a lap dog out of me?"

Felix raised his folded hands up underneath his chin to prop up his head as he took a moment to ponder the answer to the question.

"I'm not quite an old man yet, Nemo. But is it very strange to feel ancient without having spent many years on this earth? My life has felt slow recently, as compared to how fast it felt when I was younger. Things are no longer easy for me, at least not as easy as they once were." Felix paused and adjusted his glasses, then placed his hand back under his chin.

"I'm not talking about magicks... No, magic seems like the only simple thing in my life. I am talking about thought processes and decision making... I find myself over analyzing my actions before I take them. And when I am not doing anything, I find myself pouring over my previous actions. More and more as I look back, I find myself second guessing my previous actions. I have realized over all else, that the way I handled most things in life was wrong. The people I've discarded for the selfish pursuit of success... The people that I never gave a chance because I thought I knew that I was right and they were wrong..." Felix closed his eyes for a moment before continuing.

"The church duped most of us. And I have seen all sorts of lies and deceptions from them. And while most of their doctrine is wrong, they do still have a few kernels of truth dispersed here and there. One of those kernels of truth is that love is absolutely necessary. First Corinthians chapter thirteen verse two talks about that. Too many times I have approached situations without love." Felix placed his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

"I think back to all our exchanges we have had together. Do I see flaws? Sure. Darkness and evil intentions? Maybe. But I have looked inside myself and found darkness and evil, so to hold you in contempt for that seems a bit hypocritical... I don't know..." Felix sighed and then dropped back down to level with his chair. "I do know this. When I look back at our previous exchanges, I no longer see an evil villain that was an affront to God Himself. I see a person who was disenfranchised, and lived according to all he knew. A person in need of, sure love that's the ultimate goal, but there's even a first step that was missed. Hmm... yes! I see a person in need of acceptance in need of comradery. I figure that letting you rot in a jail cell, no matter how long you were incarcerated would never change your mind. The only way to change your mind was to make you a friend and show by example that humanity isn't a lost cause." Felix finished.

By the time Felix was done speaking, a small grin appeared on Nemo's face. He let out a laugh and leaned back into his chair. "Now, now, that was an unexpected answer." He replied.

"I'm an old fashioned guy Felix, I fancy poetry, stories, some may even call me a romantic. I have seen Romeo and Juliet many times, and do you know what I think about the notion of showing love to anything that has a beating heart? It cheapens it... It's an insult to real love. Love should be rare, given to only those deserving, the ones you can't live without. The less it's given to, the more special it becomes with the ones you do." Nemo explained, his tone becoming more serious now. "The way I see it, the only people deserving of love is your family. That's one of the reason's it's so hard to live without one. Because then who do you have to love?"

"I've gone so long without one that I've turned into something that is no longer deserving of a family or love. When you give someone something they don't deserve, the only thing they really receive is shame. Things that usually feel warm or pleasant often hurt to them instead." Nemo crossed his right leg over in the chair.

"But you've got me all wrong Felix, I don't think that humanity is a lost cause. As long as I still see beauty in this world that sentiment will not change anytime soon either." Nemo finished.

Felix considered Nemo's response and then looked down and shook his head.

"Your response only proves to me how disenfranchised and mistreated you have been. I didn't see what love was until right around the time right before I left the Arcanocracy. Having read almost every arcane book in the vatican library worth reading, I decided to turn to a source I only read in rituals, the Bible. I was pouring over the Bible, reading different versions, different interpretations, even turning to our earliest sources in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. And do you know what one truth I learned?" Felix asked rhetorically, "I learned that God is love. And the over abundance of His love was poured out through Jesus Christ. Sure, us humans do a good job of messing up the image of God by being so evil ourselves that we can't even see simple the goodness of God, but that speaks more about us than it does about God and-" Felix stopped he realized that what he was saying probably didn't make much sense so he tried a different approach.

"The world has far too much darkness in it for me to be another abysmal pit of hatred. I have decided that in everything I do, I will try love first. That is why I have opened my house to you. I want to treat not just you, but all of the members of this group as human beings first and foremost. That means providing shelter, food, entertainment, comradery, and a healthy place to coexist. This doesn't mean I am pacifist, it just means that I will consider more options than I had considered before, before making a decision." Felix finished.

"Mm." Wesley couldn't help but force his eyebrows to remain level as he attempted to keep his face serious at Raiya's introduction. Though the condescension ran deep, it felt more like a childlike display of force, a flex to keep him off her back. He took another bite slowly, eyeing her for a few more seconds and allowing the corners of his mouth to turn up ever so slightly, not entirely worried about any consequence. "Charmed," he concluded, letting his gaze wander over the others before him.

The rest of the reactions to him seemed rather lukewarm, but that was to be expected, if he admitted it fairly. Despire it, though he understood Zoey's professed unease, it did not stop him from a resentful pang at still being associated to the world he had left behind years ago. The other girl had flat up just left as well, whether it was because of his presence or not. The skills he had retained from his training were useful, but at the cost of making those he attempted to ally wary. It made finding a partner tiresome, or really, considering he still hadn't found one, impossible. Wes couldn't deny that he was lonely, and so far, it didn't seem that it was going to be any sort of change with attitudes of those around him. Already he began to resign himself to hoping to find pleasure in his work as opposed to his company.

Thankfully, though, at least one person seated had given him a kind word, and so he latched to it gratefully and shifted slightly to face Travis. It struck him suddenly that this man was also an Untalent, but Wes only felt glad for that. He greatly admired those who could turn what was seen as a disability into their strength, and the value of hard work was lost on those who already had the talent (or the Talent). He dabbed his lips slightly with a napkin to ensure there wasn't any residue, pointing his fork in Travis' direction cheerfully.

"Travis. Right back at you." He had quickly lapsed back into less formal speech now that he felt even a mote more comfortable, and he rested his chin on his free hand. "So, seeing as I'm the fresh meat...do you cluing me in on anything I need to know before this debriefing? Or just telling me where the bathroom is."

"When you say love, it sounds a lot more like 'being nice' to me. It's not very hard to be kind. It's also a very corruptible and breakable notion." Nemo replied, as Felix continued his explanation Nemo let out a sigh and pressed his palms into his face, comically squashing his features. "You're beginning to make me confused." He stated, his voice slightly distorted by his hands. He slowly began to slide off the chair. "I'm a much more simple man when it comes to thinking about things like that." He got out before fully sliding off and flopping onto the floor.

Nemo rolled over to Felix's desk like a log putting him out of sight. "To me love is... how about a demonstration?" He proposed. Nemo's hands slowly raising up over the lip of the table and into view. Both of his hands now had silk dress socks on them in a puppet fashion. One was plain white, the other black with white polkadots. The socks he had were his spares, meaning that the ones he had on were also mismatched.

Both had been dressed up with googly eyes and fake hair. The white one seemed to imitate Nemo, while the other had a more feminine visage... for a sock.

"There's... there's something I've been meaning to tell you, Sockette." Nemo made the white puppet mouth the words.

"What is it Socko?" He made the other puppet respond with a somewhat impressive impression of a girl's voice.

"You are the light of my life, whenever I see you, my heart beats fast. I love you, Sockette." Nemo voiced with an overly dramatic tone.

"Oh Socko, I feel the same way. let's be together forever!" The whole time Nemo made the two puppets speak he had slowly been inching them closer together. The two sock lovers suddenly broke out into a passionate make out session, which Nemo accompanied with exaggerated sound effects.

Felix smiled and rolled his eyes a bit while chuckling.

"You're thinking too much in modern English notions of what the word, 'love' means. In the bible, particularly the new testament, there are three types of love. Three words that we translate as love in our English translation. Agape, Philia, and Eros. Agape is the type of love a parent has for his child or a husband for his spouse. It's an all encompassing accepting love. Philia is a love of brotherly comradery and friendship. Eros is the type of erotic sensual lustful love, most commonly used for desire and sex. You are only mainly thinking of love in terms of Eros and a bit Agape, but completely neglecting the Philia brotherly love. Agape and Philia are what I am talking about when I say that I wish to extend love to you and all the members of this group." Felix replied.

"Mornin' Nemo, and to you Zoey," Travis replied in kind just before the two Talent eventually left the room and finally returning his attention to Wesley once more, "Perhaps for starters, there is a restroom down the rightmost corridor from the main stairs. Should be easy to spot assuming you came through the front door."

He took a quick bite from his food before continuing, "Though like all of us, you'll have you're own room and bathroom too. I think you'll find the quality to be very luxurious. Of course you should be able to arrange it to your liking."

Travis then leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a moment as he reached out to anything he would figure okay for him to disclose, "Don't think we have any officially established ground rules and most of the facilities are free to be used by anyone just as long it is maintained properly after use...don't remember anyone screaming their heads off about someone not flushing the downstairs toilet."

"If anything, be courteous and respectful and you'll be okay," he ended before finishing his last bite, "honestly though, I think Felix, the leader of our group, would be the better spokesman in filling you in a lot better than I can."

For a moment of silence, Travis carried his crumb-ridden plate to the kitchen where he would cleaned and placed it at the nearby staking for drying before returning to the table, "Speaking of which, we'll be having a meeting shortly so if you want, I can lead you there."

After finishing her meal, Raiya wasn't sure if the meeting was going to be at the table or in some other part of the manor. So she decided to look for Felix and Nemo on her own.

She walked her way to the office and opened the door just in time to see Nemo putting on a dramatic passionate display with sock puppets. And while it wasn't the oddest thing she had seen Nemo do, it still certainly took her by surprise. Her face flushed up a bit and she rolled her eyes before briskly walking away from the situation.

Felix watched her leave and couldn't help chuckle all the more.

"You know, this room is a bit too small for all the people in this team to be debriefed in. How about we round everyone up in the living room near the fireplace and have our debriefing there?" Felix suggested.

Nemo raised from the floor, using light magic to hover the chair closer to him. Nemo discarded the puppets and crawled back onto the chair. He depressingly rested his head on the table. "Call it what you want it, I can only wish I could have what Socko and Sockette have." Nemo stated with a mock saddened tone.

Nemo leaned back up, scanning the room. "Indeed it is, sounds lovely to me." Nemo replied as he stood up from the chair. "I'll find Raiya and start to prepare." Nemo added as he made his way out the door.

Nemo found Raiya not far from Felix's study. "Seems the venue to reveal the next mission will be by the fireplace in the living room." Nemo explained as he walked. "We probably have some time until everybody arrives, so how about some more questions? I'll do an easy one this time for mine. What are your favorite kind of movies?" Nemo asked.

Felix was glad that he had had a PA system installed in the manor for a time such as this. Reaching in his desk he found a small flat rectangular grey box with a few buttons and a big circular black disc that was the microphone. He pushed the first button and his voice could suddenly be heard throughout the manor.

---

"I know this may come as a shock to you, but I haven't actually every had any time to watch any movies. I'm even sure Felix would tell you the same thing if you were to ask him." Raiya replied.

In the interest of keeping the game going Raiya took a few seconds to decided on the question she would ask Nemo back.

"What is your favorite place in the world? Or I guess, if you could be anywhere right now, where would you like to be?"

"I guess I'll have to improvise for movie night." Nemo replied. "They don't teach much art at the Vatican do they? Shame, they have a lot of great pieces in their possession too." Nemo commented. "That's one of the things I've always disliked about the Arcanocracy, among other organizations. When they take in young talents they don't raise them like a mother would a child, they're trying to raise them into weapons. No room for socializing, no time for recreation. But it's to be expected, it's not about charity, in the end it's just an arms race." Nemo explained as he continued to stroll along. "In a way what they're trying to do is artificially create a person like me by isolating their subjects from everything that doesn't involve the two key ingredients to an soldier; obedience and strength. They've achieved a modicum of success, some of my most memorable duels have been with Catholic Talents. But it's still a wash, I best their members all the while watching cheesy monster movies anyways. Passion for battle cannot just be produced."

Nemo seemed intrigued by Raiya's question, it was the first to him that couldn't be easily linked to gathering information against him. "There's no other place I'd rather be than right here." Nemo replied pointing with both hands once towards the floor, his grin indicating that he knew just how corny it was. "But there certainly are places I like to be. It's hard for me pinpoint just one, I'm a bit of a wanderer."

"There's my home, that's an easy one. It's where I keep all my knick-knacks I've collected. I have gardens and vineyards as well. It's a place where I can relax by myself. Same with nature, I suppose you could call me a pretty seasoned outdoors-man by now... One of my favorite things to do is to take a boat and just get lost out at sea. Not a speck of land in sight. I've done some of my best thinking out there at night with just the moonlight shining down on the water."

"But all that isolation isn't good forever, I spend a lot of time visiting restaurants. Fancy ones are always nice, but I've always enjoyed more humble establishments. There was one in particular I liked before it closed down. It had great tea and a superb overlook of the nearly docks." Nemo finished just as they had reached the living room.

Nemo procured a small manacrystal sitting atop a silver stand and placed it down near the fireplace. He pulled up his manadial and inputted a few commands, ending with the earlier manacrystal lighting up for a brief moment, signalling they had synced. "You said your goal was to get revenge on the person who slew your parents, but what do you plan to do afterwards? Revenge can consume a person, sometimes they become so invested in it that once it's done they have nothing left to do. They might have destroyed the person who they thought wronged them, but in turn they also destroyed themselves to achieve it. Revenge was all they had as person, it's what gave them purpose. The things they during their warpath and the eventual loss of that purpose is sometimes even worse than the original wrong itself." Nemo explained. "I worry that might happen to you. So... I hope you've got something to keep you going once your task is done." Nemo seemed to have a slight sense of genuine concern and sincerity in his voice as he spoke.

"My revenge isn't so much a consuming task of vengeance as it is an act of justice. I just want to bring justice and retribution to the sick individual who killed my innocent parents. I'll figure out my next steps afterwards." Raiya replied as she sat down on the leather couch directly in front of the fireplace.

Raiya pointed at the manacrystal in the silver stand. "What's that all about?", she asked.