Madison had become quite well-acquainted with paperwork in the past few months. He had already handled his fair share even before the promotion, going over and editing and contributing, but it was only until afterward that that he found himself with stacks almost as tall as his head sitting before him. However, he was determined. He rolled up his sleeves, set to work, then performed his own studies once the more tedious side of his work was out of the way.

He was currently finishing up one of his own papers- an analysis of runes and runic powers, and his own hypothesis on the subject. It seemed a fitting topic, Madison thought, given today was the first day all those marked would be meeting. He had gone out of his way to speak to as many as he could, interviewing them about their powers and their days, and had gathered a lofty amount of data to work with. Why just nine, and not all of the Norse runes? Why those specifically? These were the questions Madison sought to answer.

It was in the middle of his closing statements that his earpiece began to buzz. Humming, Madison gave it a swift ‘tap’, then leaned back in his chair. “Lovette speaking,” he chirped. “What is it?” He listened intently, free hand tapping an irregular rhythm on his desk, before pausing. “Oh. Oh, dear. I’ll be there in a minute- do you think it would be possible to close the gates for the time being? Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Grant.”

There was a brief burst of static as the feed cut out, followed by silence. Before Silvarae could make it fully off the manor grounds, she would find that the guards would have begun to close the gates- effectively blocking off her means of escape. Rubbing his jaw, Madison quickly saved his work and shut off the computer, then jogged out of the office- moving as fast as one could reasonably expect someone in heels to.

By the time he had reached Silvarae, the Head Researcher was left somewhat breathless, but determined. Madison gripped the woman by the shoulder- gently, but firm enough to not be shaken off so easily- and smiled warmly.

“Excuse me, Miss Kaizen,” he said, “but I’m afraid that you can’t leave just yet. Miss Kovalenko should be going some important information around this time, and…” Madison trailed off, taking in the almost panicked look in Silvarae’s eyes, then frowned.

“Is something the matter? You look rather troubled.”

@Daemanis

@VitoftheVoid@Kuroakuma

"You should think about the words that slither from your tongue." Volkir shot back at Oren quickly. "For one al of us know there is no snake rune, but that doesn't change the fact that she could be a snake, meaning multiple things, and on top of that you shouldn't push your anger upon someone else, whom didn't cause it in the first place, might get you killed." Again with no emotion he continues to crouch in his seat, nibbling on a marshmallow. "But no I have no questions..."

He then catches Kana's grin and hiss towards him. You're very interesting snake....An interest I intend to seek out. He simply gave a smirk back to her. I could actually fall for you.

Maeve shook her head in a mix of confusion and exasperation as the woman took off yet again.

"Oi, Zero! Hey!"

Maeve started after her at soft trot, following as far as the front of the manor as she tried to wave her down. "Blondie, I'm just trying to ask if you're- Oh." From where Maeve stood, she could see that someone had cut Silvare off at the gate. One of them. Benevolent Big Brother Benefactors.

Shit.

And, honestly, fuck these people. Whoever they are.

Maeve headed down the steps, hands raised like a felon under arrest. "Sorry, sorry!" she called, her best farce of sincere apology gracing her very rarely apologetic features. "You, uh- You got us, ma'am. Sorry. It was all my idea, none of hers. She said, 'No, Byrne! That's an awful idea.' But I pushed her into it. So, uh really... All my fault. Horrid prank. She's innocent, though. Well, except for listening to me. But you know how it is, with peers and fighting and...

"It's been a long few days. Don't come down on her, would you? It's more me than anyone."

---

Mitch grimaced at the wet, slimy sensation of a tongue being pulled across her features, as well as the general slurping sounds that accompanied such an action, but she did not falter in her steps.

"I liked you better before the twenty-first century happened." She pushed the things's arm away as she spoke, and shot Clifton a thumbs up over one shoulder. She ignored most everything that the creature had said, opting treat it like the babbling of a child. It seemed to work on most creatures.

Or some.

Either way, it was not worth the time or energy to grace with a response. Her tone was not threatening as she continued, but matter-of-fact; like someone who knew where she stood and had neither threats to issue nor danger to fear. "If you ever plan to eat the world, I imagine you could handle the planet's supply of drugs with very few problems. But if it makes you feel better, we have iced tea and pop in a can."

She turned a corner back toward her office, but did not open it. No need to let it into the room with all of her own things, which Mitch generally enjoyed not having licked by strangers. Instead, she opened a door directly beside it, leading to a small conference room with a round table, a few seats, and a mini fridge. Mitch entered first, moving to sit facing toward the back wall, but not particularly facing the door. She pulled out her tablet, set up the click-on keyboard in the case, and started tapping away. "Please, have a seat. Grab yourself a drink- I can't read the cans.

"And then we can discuss why, exactly, you currently fit in this room, Madam Jörmungandr"

"I hated me before the 21st century, really. Too much snake and not enough cute. Being stuck in the bottom of the ocean sure is a bore, Mitchy-witchy." When Mitch removed her arm, Kana simply replaced it. "Like really it's so boring down there! There's no tv, no internet, hot HOT ANIME GUYS TO FAWN OVER UGHHHH~" Kana let her tongue flop out of her mouth, the tip falling into the pocket of her bag and coming back out with a piece of beef jerky wrapped in it. Slurping her tongue back up loudly, she chewed the meat happily.
"Drugs, eh? Whoa, you tryina make a druggo outta me?! You can feed drugs to snakes! You'll get kicked outta the zoo, silly willy billy dilly filly! Heh, filly. Like a horse? Neeiiiighhhh. Get it? Likie neigh as is 'no' like nay? Naynay? Whips? D'ya like whips? I don't. They're too hurty for me. I prefer coconuts. Co-co-nu-tu-suuuuuuu~ Y'know there's this one anime- Sorry, I'm rambling again but also the ceiling here is really nice and-Oh, you're ignoring me. That's fine. I can say silly thing then like 'Wow Mitch you got a damn nice bootay if you catch my ocean current drift HAHA I'M FUNNY YEAH IGNORE ME IF YOU AGREE! YES I'M FUNNY THANKS MITCH LOVE YA!"

Kana didn't know what pop in a can was, and she was a little worried about opening it. Gunfire brought her flashbacks of Vietnam back when she ate a lot of people and collected lots of bullets with her cute face. Kana stuffed that thought back into one of about 75.3 mental vaults and-
"OH AN INTERROGATION ROOM NICE I LIKE THESE ARE YOU GONNA GRILL ME UP REAL GOOD UGH PLEASE DO MMMM~!"
Kana flopped into the room, rolling across the floor towards the fridge and giggling to herself before flipping upright like she was some sort of Dracula and ripping the fridge open. She grabbed approximately 6 cans of different drink and then booted the fridge shut with her rump, bouncing like a kangaroo over to Mitch and taking her seat.
Usually, it would make sense for someone to sit across from the person interrogating or whatevering them.
So Kana sat directly beside Mitch and put her head on the tasty woman's shoulder instead. Cracking open a can of drink, she poked Mitch in the side and made a raspberry.
"Uguuu~ Call me 'Adorable Kana-chan the Magnificent Chaos'! instead! I don't go by Jormununununungrgrrrrbllh anymore, so Kananananana will doosies~!" Without her need to maintain relative normalcy, Kana's usual bubbly self came out.
Not literally bubbly. That'd be disturbing.

"Conference room B is not an interro-" Mitch started to say, but the disproportionate world-eater was still talking.

So Mitch watched her tablet, still tapping away with her face so close to the screen, and her magnifying aid so large, that it as doubtful that anyone could out any share of what was doing.

She missed a keystroke at the raspberry, and backspaced.

"Let me know when you're done."

As she raced to towards the front gates she noticed they were closing and a guard had stepped forward to stop her, escape cut off she would come to a halt not far from the guard and would stare at him passively her eyes still wide in that deer-in-headlights look though it was more like no one was home at this point. She would be breathing slightly heavier thanks to her wild flight and would be shaking all over.
When Madison grabbed her shoulder she would turn to look at the person she knew to be a man thanks to dossiers on all her commanders her eyes blank, somewhere in her brain the information was processed that she would have to obey and this brought her body to attention if not her eyes back to their focus. Inside her head there was a vicious battle raging somewhere along the lines of she had completely failed and needed to be punished. Her being seen to be afraid or even less than the perfect soldier had never been acceptable and now one of the runes, Maeve had seen her.

“Excuse me, Miss Kaizen,”
“but I’m afraid that you can’t leave just yet. Miss Kovalenko should be going some important information around this time, and…”
“Is something the matter? You look rather troubled.”
Listening to him she would nod in acknowledgement to the first parts out of simple response, a requirement that she show she is processing an implied instruction. However when he asked if she were ok she would freeze up again.
‘get your head out of the clouds stupid! He’s going to report you to father, they won’t want such a pathetic soldier on their team.’ The vicious mockery within her head would state, if she had not been trained as well as is, she might have simply collapsed at this point such was her total failure. ‘you’re going to get it now you stupid little girl, you’re absolutely pathetic!’ this time her fathers’ voice in her head as she remembered the beatings she received as a little child, she used all of her training to simply stand, thus her body would begin to tremble again under his hand.
"Sorry, sorry!"
"You, uh- You got us, ma'am. Sorry. It was all my idea, none of hers. She said, 'No, Byrne! That's an awful idea.' But I pushed her into it. So, uh really... All my fault. Horrid prank. She's innocent, though. Well, except for listening to me. But you know how it is, with peers and fighting and...

"It's been a long few days. Don't come down on her, would you? It's more me than anyone."

Hearing the voice again of Maeve even the voice in her head went silent, her body would go limp under Maddisons’ hand thought she would remain upright, her demeanour would shift from that of a deer-in-headlights to that of someone frozen in time almost, neutral and impassive. Should someone look at her eyes they would find them not tracking anything simply looking straight forward, her breathing would immediately settle into a sleep like pattern regular and deep.

Dossier File

Subject: Silvarae Kaizen (A.K.A Zero)
Age: 25
Combat Assessment:

Extremely dangerous in close quarters and long range combats, lacks middle range ability.
Prefers hand to hand combat styles, Mixed Martial arts style verified.
Special Note: Shield rune verified, unable to determine maximum potential at this time.

Psychological Assessment:

Subject Silvarae has been observed to be mentally unstable suffering from what would appear to be a crippling Inferiority complex along with pre-programmed requirements that must be met.
Subject demonstrates common characteristics to someone suffering mental programming along with a very strong fear of her father
Special Note: It has not been confirmed if this can be used to our advantage
Should these requirements fail to be met she enters into a catatonic like state where-by she is unable to process outside stimulation other than the ability to follow direct orders and danger assessments.
She has been noted to be 100% battle effective in this state however will not respond to anything other than the above-mentioned conditions.
It is observed that the subject will recover from the catatonic-like state within 30 minutes if kept actie or 5 minutes of complete downtime.
Special Note: Her rune partners (aett runes) may be able to bring her out of this state sooner - Unconfirmed
It is highly inadvisable to talk to the subject about the triggering event, this has resulted in one of two outcomes. A repeat of the catatonic like state or extreme violence in a panic driven like state.
CAUTION: it is inadvisable to try and return her from her catatonic state other than to let her return solo. Subject becomes extremely volatile if other methods are used.

“I have to agree with you, there, Amity. Here’s hoping things will be a bit less...well, hectic in the future.” Dawn tipped her coffee back, then gave a contented sigh. All the caffeine had begun to kick in, the pleasant buzz of energy running through her veins.

“And, ah, that would depend on how large your sword is, I would say.” A sword was an interesting choice- in a world where wolves the size of bears dominated the outskirts of cities, it seemed preferable to keep a hefty distance between their maws and yourself. However, seeing that Amity’s rune allowed her to send a door flying by complete accident, it was likely that she would fare far better than the average person. A bit bizarre to think about, but the whole situation had always been rather surreal to begin with.

In spite of the disappearance of two runes, Isa wasted no time in going over the teams in their absence. Three groups, three people in each. Dawn glanced over at Amity once the senior rune had finished, offering a little smile. “It looks like we’ll be working together, then.”

The last teammate of theirs, she recalled, was the man who had introduced himself as “Makorai”. And “All-Daddy”, but Makorai was the more preferable of the two names. Finishing up her coffee, Dawn tossed the empty cup into a trash bin and turned back towards Isa. She had no real questions- aside from how close the team members would have to be in order to trigger the “boost”, which could easily be worked out during training- so she did nothing for the moment but listen, and wait.

@VitoftheVoid@Kuroakuma

---

Miss Silvarae was almost completely unresponsive- she gave a brief nod after being asked to go back, but the blank, “deer-in-the-headlights” look remained. Madison’s face dropped, and a soft “oh dear” escaped him before he released his grip on her shoulder. Her file had mentioned something like this; a temporary shut down of her very self. It was...worrying, to say the least. Really, Madison thought that a therapist should have been assigned to her before she was actually sent into well and proper combat, but he still wasn’t high enough in authority to do such a thing. Lips pursed, Madison stepped around to face her, and was about to lead her back to the meeting room when faint shouting caught his attention.

Maeve Byrne. Bearer of the Sowlio rune, if memory served. Madison gave her a warm, albeit somewhat faint smile, seeing as how the woman was acting like she expected for him to start screaming like some kind of drill sergeant. “Don’t worry, Miss Byrne, neither of you are in trouble for this. Since you’re still getting used to...well, everything, I see no problem in letting you go with just a warning for now. Just keep in mind that the others will likely be less lenient.” After a moment of thought, he gently added, “And it’s ‘sir’, not ‘ma’am’, by the way.”

With a little sigh, Madison turned back to Silvarae, taking in the dull expression on her face. “It’ll take a few minutes, but she should be alright soon. Can I trust you to keep an eye on you until then, Miss Byrne?”

He paused. His brow creased, and he glanced over at Maeve. “Actually,” he said, “this might sound a bit...well, odd, but would you mind putting your hand on her shoulder for just a moment? I believe that physical contact from another rune on her team might be able to bring her out of it, but it’s just a theory. You don’t have to do it, of course, but I would greatly appreciate it.”

It really was a strange hypothesis, but Madison saw no harm in giving it a go.

@ScoundrelQueen@Daemanis

"You said she was a rune Tiwaz. You propagated the aforementioned bullshit. Any backtracking now defeats the object of learning better judgement in the future." Oren responded, with a wave of her gloved hand and not a small hint of condescension.

"Though do consider you suggestion read. Unfortunately as you come to know me better you will discover that I'm just as rude even when the rest of my team aren't making a mockery of the whole operation. So anyone who wants to knife me is welcome to do so now, whilst they have the advantage. At least that gets it out of the way.

Failing that, and unless anyone else has a question, you're all scheduled downstairs at the training hall to begin exercises working in your Aett. Turn right upon leaving the room, down two fights of steps and at the end of the hall. If you lack appropriate clothing you'll certainly find it down there. I would highly suggest taking advantage of the opportunity to its fullest extent. Something I am going to be denied apparently. But such is life."

Oren shrugged her shoulders before moving to leave, having said her piece and having remarkably little inclination to remain around the room for reasons of socialising. If anything the faster she could leave that dumpster fire behind the better. The whole thing was a disaster and her own team hadn't even remained around long enough to see out the first meeting, so she already found herself discounting the use of the Aett power in her mind.

At least if you came at something with no expectations, you could not be disappointed.
Well, in theory. She'd come to the meeting with no expectations.
And yet somehow still felt let down.
Weird.

Oren made her way into the site's training facility. As what she had had planned was not really working out, she turned her attention to some more general tasks, and pulled a laptop from her locker and placed herself onto one of the side benches in order to tap on the keys. In the run-up to the meeting she'd been working on a presentation on the main world eater species. Their physiology, behaviour, abilities, weaknesses. It was a reasonably comprehensive guide. The sort of thing that should be invaluable. Hopefully, the woman mused, it was not going to be lost on the....current group.

"Oh. Uh. Thank you, Ma- Sir. Sorry. Sir," Maeve said, knowing full and well that she ought to be more concerned with Silavrae's apparent absence seizure than this individual's penis.

Which she was, she reminded herself as she snuck side-eyed glance toward Madison's crotch. She blinked. Back to the issue at hand.

"Um, I don't know if she, uh- I'm not really good with medical stuff and all that kind of, you know-"

Maeve tilted her head to one side at the man's request, and then took a small step back from Silvarae, still facing the woman. The ginger's eyes followed the length of her fellow Rune's body, and she shook her head. The girl was stock still, evidently frozen like the shitty cash register at work. That old piece of junk always seemed to work once someone smacked the side of it, but Maeve quickly pushed the solution from her head.

Why a touch from another Rune could fix the problem, Maeve could not guess.

But then again, she had started shooting fire out of her hands a few months ago, and had been essentially kidnapped by a group of rich weirdos. Literally nothing about any of this made sense.

"I can try?" she offered, the last word bending upwards in pitch with hesitance. Even when nothing made sense, Maeve liked to have a vague idea of where she stood. And this was way off from that.

She extended a calloused hand toward the womans's shoulder, a vague concern that Silvarae may shatter upon contact floating in the back of her mind. "Um, Blondie- Er. Zero?"

Silvarae didn’t hear when Maeve spoke to her such was the numbness that was within her mind, she would be staring straight ahead still yet seeing nothing, as if the world around her had taken on an air of total unimportance. She would show no reaction to the words spoken to her, however when Maeves’ hand graced her shoulder even with the slightest of touches there would be an immediate reaction. The rune on her hand, Algiz, would flash for only the briefest of moments. If someone had been watching her intently when this happened they would be able to note that the rune seemed to flash with the color of flames, but so fast was it gone that it could be forgiven if it had been imagined.
Silvarae would shake her head looking at once back to the cool, calm, and collected woman that she had portrayed before her panic attack, of sorts. She would turn to look at the hand resting on her shoulder before following the arm up to take further notice of the sowlio user Maeve.
‘what?’ she would think to herself as her mind began to function properly again though omitting certain parts of the past that would cause her to destabilize again.
”What are we doing out here?” she would ask her tone of arrogance returning though being tempered with a tone of curiosity. It is at this point that she would recall that Madison was present and would snap to attention with a salute. ”Sir.” She would say looking to Madison and awaiting any orders or to be dismissed.

@VitoftheVoid

"Well.... I can't argue with a valid point." Volkir says quietly, poking a marshmallow he had sat on the table. " But harshness will never win in your favor.... I was once in the state you are in now. Pushing others away, and being rude. Led me to where I am now. No friends, no feelings, just here, empty.... I do not wish to bicker back and fourth with a fellow rune, for it serves no purpose." With that he eats the marshmallow. That's another interesting one, a cold shell, probably due to her past... He sighs and puts his marshmallows away for now.

“It’s quite alright. I can understand the confusion.” Madison’s smile widened further- partly in a “no harm, no foul” gesture, and partly thanks to the spike of amusement that passed through him at Maeve’s complete bewilderment. The look was brief, however, and he pursed his lips as he watched Silvarae continue to stare into a world only she knew. “And thank you very much, Miss Byrne.”

It happened fast- fast enough that if Madison had blinked at just the wrong moment, he would have missed it entirely. Upon Maeve’s touch, Silvarae’s rune, the mark of Algiz, glowed red for a split-second before fading out as soon as it came. His eyes widened, and a look of awe came upon his face as the blond stirred to life.

“Incredible,” he breathed, then, clearing his throat, brought his voice back to its normal level. “Well, Miss Kaizen, I believe that you decided to come out here to get a bit of fresh air during the meeting. You won’t be punished, but you should probably go back before one of the other staff members find you.” With that, Madison folded his hands neatly atop his skirt, giving a somewhat conspiratorial smile.

@Daemanis@ScoundrelQueen

Maeve did not exactly mean to jump when Silvarae's rune lit up, but she did, nonetheless. Because, honestly, she had not gotten over the constant fear of accidentally setting someone on fire.

Well, the constant fear of setting anything on fire. There was a recurrent nightmare of accidentally burning off all of her clothing, except for (whatever reason,) her ugliest pair of "that time of month" underwear, and being caught in the ring while wearing them. And then some frost giants wandered in and wanted to-

Not the problem at hand.

"Uh, yeah," she said, rolling the tension out of her shoulders from the shock. "But Bossman's right. They're probably all pissed as hell that we've bailed on training for our destiny or whatever. Like if it was destiny, we would have to train. Plothole there, mate."

She clapped a hand around Silvarae's back, now concerned that any loss of contact would send her into a coma.

Not very concerned, of course, but concerned enough that she would probably be concerned until they were around enough other people that it could be someone else's concern should the concern crop up again. She started back toward the mansion, casting one last check for Madison's package before heading up the steps.

"Wonder if they left us any muffins?"

As Oren dismissed them, Amity nodded briefly to herself. Going to the training hall was a given, but if actual training was involved..
Giving Dawn a quick nod as she hurriedly left the room, Amity jogged out the front of the mansion to where her gigantic sword was. Working with Dawn and Makorai, who she hadn't met yet but guessed was the guy who tossed Kana the muffin, seemed pretty fine. At least the members of her team hadn't abandoned her. Noting the trio of Sil, Maeve and Madison a little way away, she gave them a quick wave before crouching down beside the door to the mansion and hefting the massive sword up and onto her shoulder. She felt the blade cutting into the armour on her shoulder, and she worried that it might give out at possibly the worst time ever.
Looking up into the building and wiping her forehead, she wondered exactly where that pale-ass little monster girl had gone.

---

"Hand me that wrench, Reddy."
"Reddy?"
"Red? Like the colour? Yer hair?"
Only a few months after she'd stepped foot on the Blessed's mansion grounds for the first time, Amity stood in Kana's workshop, watching the girl work on.. something. It was shocking, honestly, that someone so.. unorthodox.. was able to pick apart and improve on technology that even Amity thought was stupidly complex. Reaching up to wipe some grease off her face, Kana held out her hand. Amity rummaged around in a toolbox for a bit, grabbing a random wrench and tossing it over to Kana. It sailed over the girl's head, but her tongue shot out and grabbed it, dragging it down into her waiting grip before she immediately rammed it into the mess of pieces she was working on. Amity had absolutely no idea what it was, other than the thing being some sort of levitation technology in the making. For the redhead, it was just a couple pieces of metal stuck together and apparently Kana had gotten grease on her face without ever touching any grease or greasy things. Amity actually wondered where the hell it had come from, now that she noticed it.
"By the way, Red, there's a surprise for you out the back. It's not much, but I figured it's time I gave your toothpick back to you."
Amity glared hard at the girl.
"It's not a toothpick, it's a-"
"Yeah, yeah, your most beloved possession gifted to you by your fiance on the day you were supposed to get all snuggly and then wham Jotun attack and Wargs and boom suddenly a Rune and then survival and a snake girl and whoa who are these rich fancy people and why are they taking me somewhere? Right?"
Her shoulders falling a little before she shrugged, Amity looked over towards the door to the back of the shop. She pushed herself off of the wall, wordlessly heading over to the smaller room and pushing her way inside. The doorknob broke under her grip, so she shoved it open like a brute.
That's what she was, after all.
Kana watched her leave, frowning a bit before turning back to the thing she was working on. She wiped the blood off of her cheek, glad it had dried and darkened enough. The low lighting made dark red look black, which was even better.

Amity flicked on the light in the storage room- barely larger than a walk-in closet, and her jaw dropped.
Sitting against the wall before her was a massive sword, bigger than her. The blade was dyed a shining silver hue, almost gleaming in the weak light. Covering the length of the blade was something Amity would describe as 'fancy designs', flowing blue carvings inlaid in the blade and coating the middle of the sword from guard to tip. The two sides were blank, bright silver, but they were quite fancy. One side was sharpened to a keen edge, and Amity was honestly worried about even touching it. The opposite side was sharp halfway down the blade, the rest of the side going down to the grip was host to a bunch of gritty looking serrated edges. Examining the guard itself, the noticed a difference- the middle of the guard and hilt was still that of her beloved dagger, set with sparkling gems. It'd taken a lot of his savings to buy something so fancy- it wasn't a weapon designed for combat, but a sign that she deserved something beautiful even if the use of said something was violent and brutal.
Biting her lip hard, she reached up to grab it.
One side of the guard curved around into the pommel at the base of the hilt, and Amity noticed grooves and a grip making it up. Being on the side opposite the serrated edge, it made sense that this was to help her saw through things.
She hoped she'd never have to actually saw through a Jotun's head, really, but times were grim.
The hilt itself was nearly perfectly crafted. Taking it in her hand, Amity pulled it off of the floor. It felt so.. easy. Light. It was easily the length of a van, but it was almost as light as a feather in her hand. The handle itself was doubled, allowing her to grip it in both hands with ease- like a zweihander that had been taken to the absolute extremes in terms of length. It was thick, too, at least as thick as.. what? A surfboard? How long had it been since she'd seen one of those?
It was an elegant and beautiful weapon, but the sheer size of it kept Amity well reminded that it was still a hunk of metal designed to murder, even if it was meant to do so and look good doing it.
"Kana.. did you make this for me?"
The girl paused in the other room, her features lighting up with a wide, happy grin.
"Duh! Who else but the one and only Kana Banana extraordinaire? I might not swordsmith much, but it wasn't that hard, you know! 'Sides, you wanna go and beat up those meanie weenie Jotun, don't ya? Gotta have a cool hero weapon to be a hero, Ami!"
Amity's eyes widened. It was actually hers?
Surely Kana was joking. It must've been for a well-paying client, at least. It.. must've.
"I'm not joking, mind you. Dead serious. Well not dead serious because I'm not dead buuut!" Kana smacked something hard with a hammer.
"I'm serious none da lesstest! Also there's a thingy on the bench too!" Another smack.

Casting her gaze over to the bench, a pristine piece of armour greeted her. Placing the sword down for a second, Amity reached over. She recognised it. It was a pauldron, massive, really, with several straps and belts attached to it. It reminded her of armour like the kind old European knights used to wear. Moving over, Amity lifted it up.
She lost her balance.
"It's heavy!" came Kana's cheery voice from outside.
"Oh, you don't say!"
Grumbling angrily, Amity recomposed herself and slid it on. It pushed her shoulder down a little, but whatever the hell it was made of, it seemed damn durable. Quickly clasping the belts and straps together around herself, the weight became a little easier to bear. It still messed with her balance, obviously, but she'd eventually get used to it. Righting herself, Amity moved her arm. It was surprisingly flexible, but still limited her movement just a little. It sat perfectly on her shoulder, and she could even lift her arm above her head. It wasn't a gigantic circle of metal or anything, just a plate, but it was enough. It clasped around her bicep with a belt, and also around her torso with several other straps. It sat well in place, and Amity grabbed her sword and lifted it up, placing it on her shoulder. She lost her balance again, barely able to hold both the sword and armour in place at once. It was tiring.
Considering her strength growth, though, by the next week it would be as easy as putting a twig on her shoulder.

Exiting the room with her new items, Amity glanced over at Kana, who was frowning at the thing she was working on. Placing the sword down, Amity walked over and grabbed the short thing and wrapped her in a hug. Kana let out a half-squeak-half-choke and flailed a little in Amity's grip.
"Crushing! Ow! Hurt! Pain!"
"You don't feel pain."
"That doesn't mean you can snap my spine so casually!"
"You don't have a spine, either."
"Stop taking my excuses to escape yer damn murder hug!"
Amity laughed and dropped the girl, who stared up at her with an unimpressed grimace. Slowly getting to her feet, Kana wiggled her arms as they slowly reformed from the little bit of crushing they'd suffered at Amity's hands.
"Thanks, Kana. I love it."
Kana scoffed, turning away and crossing her arms.
"You're scary!"
"I know."
"Say, you're gonna stay friends with me for the rest of eternity, right?"
".. Until I die, yeah."
"If you die I'll hunt you down and make you be my friend again."
"Ah, jeez, I was hoping for some peace and quiet when I die, Kana."
"Please. You're hoping for it now."
"Got me there."
Amity had already stepped back over and grabbed her sword, grinning at the girl again.
"I'll make sure not to die, then. This got a name?"
"Ha, no, only weirdos name their weapons."
"That's why I asked."
Kana gave the crimson-eyed Rune a look of utter betrayal before waving her hand it her aggressively. "I am so offended! Shoo, shoo, don't insult me or my anime memes, you pleb!" Amity chuckled and tossing the girl a wave and leaving. She had to prepare dinner, after all.
She had to get back before the Blessed even knew she was gone. A lie about the sword was already on her tongue. The only person who might've been outright curious enough to question her was Oren, and even then, she'd get the same answer as everyone else.

---

Coming back to the present, Amity shrugged the sword a little, exhaling and starting to make her way to the training room. She'd probably been having that exposition flashback for quite a bit, her grip on Bloodripper tightening hard. The metal was no longer gleaming silver, but stained red and black, some tiny cracks on the edges of the blade. The guard was chipped, and the two grips were worn from use.
Amity had had to use the saw, after all.
She doubted the sword was the sword of a hero any longer. With that in mind, she made her way somewhat hurriedly to the training room just like Oren instructed. She'd been there around almost a year now, so she knew the mansion fairly well. She paused, however, and spun around. Lifting a hand to beckon Maeve and Sil over, she shouted. "Hey, we're going to training now! Come with me if you want to live!" She laughed to herself at her reference.
Kana was rubbing off on her.
That was bad.
Her sword had gotten lodged into the wall behind her without her noticing as she waved, and as she dropped it off of her shoulder, it yanked a chunk of the wall with it. Amity grumbled and booted the debris off her sword before grinning sheepishly at the others. "You're, uh, in Oren's.. Ate? Art? Aett. It's pronounced Aett, Amity, c'mon." Keeping her grin wide at the others, she gave a respectful half-bow to Madison. He was a pretty chill pretty boy who was a pretty pretty cool dude.
Amity mentally slapped herself.

---

"If you can't handle me at my bratwurst, you don't deserve me at my Best Buy! It's a Marilyn Manson quote! I'm super edgy and cool and mysterious! Gimme cake!" Kana paused, cracking open her third can of soda now. She hadn't stopped rambling for at least five minutes, but finally gave Mitch a gap to speak as she guzzled a can of some orange liquid she'd never bothered to have before.

Silvarae listened to Madison as he spoke nodding carefully as she listened.
”yeah that sounds about right.” she would comment not exactly disliking the feel of Maeves hand on her shoulder though not really understanding why it was there to begin with. While the hand contacted her it surprisingly muted the voice in her mind as if it had never been there in the first place. She recalled a sense of panic before the hand touching her shoulder then calm. She would seem to relax a little, even if only marginally.
"Uh, yeah,"
"But Bossman's right. They're probably all pissed as hell that we've bailed on training for our destiny or whatever. Like if it was destiny, we would have to train. Plothole there, mate."
Silvarae would catch herself smiling at this, surprising herself with this fact, she would look down before clearing her voice straightening up as she felt Maeves’ hand clasped around her back.
‘awfully familiar’ she would think at this however unable to bring herself to remove the other girls hand. An awkward sensation filling her as if driven by some other force, a power she could yet not express nor understand but she found herself actually enjoying the touch.
[b] "Wonder if they left us any muffins?"[b]
A good question, she was sure, but one that had very little weight in her own mind, being such that it is, she was preoccupied with the wonderment of the feeling flowing through her. She would have to think on that later, as Madison had pointed out they had work to do, and her having decided to take a breather at the least opportune time had already put them behind.
"Hey, we're going to training now! Come with me if you want to live!"
"You're, uh, in Oren's.. Ate? Art? Aett. It's pronounced Aett, Amity, c'mon."
‘Well, I guess the meeting is done then.’ She thought to herself though she did like the idea of training some more.
”Wait.. who’s in the birds Aett… wait what even is an Aett?”
Her voice showing a form of curiosity muddled with confusion. Not to mention that there were two of them here along with Madison, though she was pretty certain that the girl whom she recognized as Uruz, the brute force type. However it did bring home the fact that they could not stand around all day talking when there was work that was more pressing.
”While I cannot say that I dislike the feel of you holding me, I would say we have work to do.” she would say to Maeve before saluting Madison ”Permission to be dismissed.” her formality slowly returning to her voice as she turned to walk towards Uruz, the step bringing her out of contact of Maeve would see her step falter for half a second before continuing.
‘what was that.’ She would wonder to herself as she felt the warmth that had been flowing through her dissipate. She had no way to know that her rune had reacted to one of her rune partners nor that the power of it had brought her out of a catatonic state.

@EchoicChamber@ScoundrelQueen@Kuroakuma

A moment earlier, Clifton had reluctantly left Mitch to her own devices when he received a short message in his earpiece. Silvarae had gone into one of the fugue states he'd noticed in her file.

He could tell keeping track of this group was going to be like herding cats. Not just cats. Cats and disobedient dogs who were chasing the cats.

Fortunately he knew how to handle the situation.
With a brisk stride, he headed outside to the gates.

"Miss Silvarae," he said as he approached, his voice taking on a more authoritative tone than any of the Rune bearers would have heard before. He felt he needed to infuse the proper amount of authority to make it clear this was an order: "Return to the meeting room, have a seat, take some refreshments, and -- oh. Interesting."

His voice dropped its firmness and he resumed his usual good natured smiling. The look in the young woman's eye was not one of a girl in a trance. Maeve had just released a hand on her shoulder. Furthermore they had started to walk back toward the building. Then the theory seemed to work in action.

His advice still stood, so he simply picked up where he left off, but with his usual cordial address, "And if they've already gone in to train, you're welcome to join them. I can catch you up on anything you might have missed."

Clifton turned to give a meaningful look at Madison. He would very much like to discuss the details of what had just transpored--but not in front of Silvarae and Maeve. "Mr. Lovette," he greeted simply instead. "I trust you'll be joining us to introduce yourself to the others?"

"Eht, Aett, I don't see much difference," Maeve said, and through her thick Irish accent, there really wasn't one.

She followed the strong woman nonetheless, though, offering a lax, two-fingered solute to the two Blessed before turning her back on them all to follow. Silvarae's comment about enjoying having Maeve's hands on her was brushed off with q quick wink. "If you say so, Blondie. But I guess we're Aett mates, whatever that is. So plenty of time, if Isa doesn't decide to freeze us to the ground. Or kill us. You know," she said with the shadow of a chuckle, before pushing the door at the end of the hall open.

Which, to be fair, she did not know if everyone was behind. But the group had walked that way, and so it could be assumed that the only door left was the correct one.

"Oi, Isa!" she hollered in, noting the dark-haired woman tapping away at her computer. "Sorry about the hangup. But not that sorry. I handled it. So don't worry about that, I guess."

The Isa rune had been typing away on her presentation for a few minutes when Algiz and Sowilo made their appearance, and the red-headed woman announced their presence to her.

Her words and the look on her face seemed to suggest that this was a positive resolution to the situation.

Oren did not agree.

"How nice of you to two to deign to turn up finally. I thought I was being relatively modest in my goals by at least expecting the people I'm trying to instruct to be physically present in the same location and stay there, but apparently I was setting the bar too high. I'll be certain to lower my expectations in the future."

She vehemently hit the 'return' key. Her expression was relatively impassive, though the look in her eye was pretty venomous.

"In that light of that, are you both planning to stick around for an extended amount of time? Or should I carry on with this so I'm getting something done?"

She tilted her head slightly to the left, gloved hand still hovering over the keyboard.

"Seeing as the session is supposed to be about Aett auras, and not one but both the other members of my Aett had unceremoniously run off, I've been preparing for my presentation on the world eaters.

Though if you're both ready to do something useful I'd be prepared to oblige."

She wasn't making her feelings about the incident very ambiguous.

---

Like usual, Morgan had zoned out. He'd been thinking about what he'd learned of each Rune and their capabilities and such that by the time he had zoned back in, most of his fellow Runes were gone. He looked around the room blinking, remembering hearing something about training in some sort of training room. That was funny. He was Laguz. The healer of the bunch. He probably wouldn't be much help when fighting. But he had to agree that he'd probably need some training so that he wasn't completely defenseless. Which he wasn't. Just not against most pointy weapons.

He decided to go ahead and head on down there, and he was suddenly glad that he had decided not to wear heels this day. Although, he would've been able to go back to his room and change. He began to walk there when he realized that he didn't know where there was.
"Ah," he spoke to himself, looking around. He had been walking for a bit and had zoned out yet again. And now, he was lost.

That Madison girl was cute. Too cute. There was something too put together about that one. Probably meant she was a warg, and spirits knew he wasn't going down that road a second time in his short life.

Someone had said something about drinking? He thought? No, he confirmed mentally. It wasn't drinking, that was just his thoughts getting away from him. Someone had said something about training, and,

Makorai stopped. Mr Lovette, That's what Clifton had said. Mr. Lovette. That was a man.

....

The quarter and a half full cup of scotch hopped coffee shot down his throat, and the scalding heat proved to be the least painful thing to happen to him in the last ten minutes.

"Nope. I'm not dealing with that." The young man stood without warning, and promptly walked toward the exist of the hallway. "Not this early in the morning. Fuck it."

Passing the assembled persons in the hallway without acknowledgement, he made a right, and followed a long hallway down to where his storage locker was located. "I left it in here...I'm sure I did." Some slight rummaging later, he found what he had been looking for. It was a 1.8 liter bottle of sake, cheap stuff that he could get for next to nothing in the local market. Some kind of local brew. His favourite.

Stashing the bottle, and a cup, under his arm, he made his way to where he thought he heard other voices.

Rounding the corner, he came face to face with someone he didn't immediately recognize. He could tell Morgan was a dude, but he was a pretty one. This made Makorai more comfortable. He didn't confuse his libido like Maddison had when he first walked in.

"You lost too?" Makorai bit the top off of his bottle, and poured himself a cup.

"I don't know where the hell I'm going either."