"Well, now that everyone is here, we can begin." A girl said, placing her hands onto the long table in front of her.

Clara Deimos Erdrigan. Leader of the Student Committee, daughter of Mephisto. A past shrouded in mystery, a ferocity hidden behind calm. A terror to her enemies and her allies. The table at which she sat held 10 more seats. Each figure covered in shadow, with only a dim light in the center of the room providing illumination. Today, Clara seemed a little gloomier than usual.

This room, under the seemingly unordinary St. Lucifer's, contains the table of Mephisto's Student Committee. Mephisto could be called the reason for all of St. Lucifer's suffering. Perhaps if his gaze hadn't happened to fall on the school, they would have continued their simple, average existence, and maybe even risen to something greater. But of course, this was all just conjecture. There was no evidence of Mephisto's involvement, anyway.

Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined however, is real. They would call their displays in the tournaments a mild taste of their true nature. Their reputation in the city of Rhea is already rock bottom, but according to Mephisto himself, the true extent of their wickedness is yet to be seen.

Speaking of which…

"Hey, where is Mephisto, anyway? Shouldn't he be here?" One of the members said. Mephisto didn't normally come for meetings, but he said he would because it was one month before the first tournament of the year. It wasn't exactly the most important tournament and the Student Committee had proven themselves quite capable, but if circumstances didn't dictate otherwise, Mephisto always came.

"Did he have a business deal? Or-," "He's in jail." Clara cut in. "For embezzlement."

"Oh…" Was the response.

That'd probably explain Clara's sour mood. Hmm? But Clara is legally Mephisto's daughter, wouldn't that cast suspicion on-

"I was the one that provided the information leading to his arrest, so don't worry about that." She said dismissively. "However, he did take most of our plans with him in that mind of his. In the meantime, we'll need to think of something else."

Mephisto's Student Committee does a lot of planning, goes hand in hand with being evil, really. To pull off the normal amount of shenanigans they did during a tournament took a lot of time to pool resources and prepare for. And that wasn't even including interfering with key players from other schools before the tournament, although most of that was done already.

However, there were still two more obstacles in their path to victory, ones that always stood in their way regardless of any tricks they used, and any technicalities they abused. Alto and King, they were her challenges. But they were not a burden she had to bear alone.

"St. Laurel's and the Vigilantes," Clara said. "How shall we crush them?"

@Gentlemanvaultboy @KillamriX88 @Taytay @Hammerman @HeroicSociopath

The small chapel the Vigilantes happen to be based out of is known as the Church of Candles. It stays open throughout the night, candles lit all the time. It gained a reputation of being a warm, and welcoming place for whoever needed it, although the amount of candles really was bizarre. Still, it was quiet place and the Vigilantes try and keep it that way. They were mostly online nowadays anyway, but Vigilantes often swung by to pick up requests.

Fulfilling requests did raise their ranking. There was a bit of extra admin work on King's end, but it seemed to work out most of the time.

Requests were usually finished at a leisurely pace. It usually takes a while to find cats, it might take all day for any normal Vigilante, but as you might expect in that area King, is, well, King. He seems to do quite a number of requests, mostly because he has the time, it seems, but sometimes he goes about things with a bit more purpose.

Today was one of those days.

King cleared his voice as he stepped up to address the Vigilantes present. A few hand-picked individuals, notified by text-message, or in Rio Köhler's case, picked up from St. Laurel's at the gate. This wasn't a common occurrence, so this was probably something important.

"We are officially broke!" Were the words that came out of his mouth. Silence followed.

"I may have spent too much on candles, but that's the least we could do for the priest who's letting us use this place." He continued, nodding at the old man in question, who was sitting off in the corner with a warm smile. "We're probably set for candles for about three months, but anyway."

To enter the upcoming tournament they'd have to pay a fair amount of money. The larger your organization, the more you'd have to pay, and since the Vigilantes were small, they didn't have to pay that much. Still, missing cats don't give much income, and sometimes they didn't give income at all. The bulk of their actual money came from exorcisms. Speaking of which…

"This is our ticket to the tournament;" King said, holding up a sheet of paper in front of him. A printed e-mail request, it would seem. "Big haunted apartment, ghosts everywhere. They pay itself won't be quite enough, but I've also got a stack of missing cat posters."

King's words didn't tend to inspire confidence. He was certainly carefree, but the first things many Vigilantes noticed after joining is that King was never really wrong about things.

Anyway, a haunting usually occurred when low-level demons who couldn't open portals were stranded on Humanity's side, bunched up together and gathered a bunch of ghosts to try and attract the attention of a greater demon to whisk them away. If the greater demon hadn't come yet, then this would probably be fine if they could hit ghosts. But the ones here couldn't really hit ghosts.

"It's gonna be great fun," King assured. "Just don't die. Any questions?"

@rawkhawk64 @Burger @Zardoric @Scarifar @jynmi88

In investigating anything to do with Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined, of course, there was always one name you would run into. Mephisto Erdrigan. Besides being the Principal of Mephisto's School for the Wickedly Inclined, he was a business man. A particularly cunning business man, he's been suspected in any number of crimes but there has never been enough evidence to convict him. Until now. And yet, he is only behind bars for a single crime out of many, and there's no telling how long he'll stay.

Yet for all that he is, for William Ascot he should not be someone of concern. The task of the Ascot family is to record and watch over history, and occasionally, steer humanity towards a happy ending if required. Mephisto Erdrigan, for all his evil, is only a businessman. But what if there was reason to believe he was more?



In front of William was an old journal. It was recently excavated from a mass grave, the skeleton it belonged to held it under its body, in the remains of its tattered clothes as if to hide it from the world.



It was secretly handed over to the Ascot Family as it lay in their area of expertise. It was summarily handed to William.



@Letter Bee

"Tea, anyone?" Gilliam said, the tall young man entering the room. Strikingly handsome, Gilliam was expertly balancing a tray containing a teaset and some freshly baked scones. Gourmand that he was, Gilliam was an excellent chef. With a small clack, he set the tray down, then took a seat next to their leader.

"I believe I've made my thoughts clear on the matter." Gill said, using a set of tongs to plunk sugar cubes into his tea. One after another. "We should win the tournament legitimately." After putting around 10 sugar cubes into his tea, he took a long sip, pinky extended.

"I'm confident that if we train we can win legitimately. Cheating would just leave us weak." He was smiling a little now. "That said, I wouldn't mind going after Alto or King. But that's more a personal vendetta on my part." He took another sip, this one much longer, before he put the cup down, gazing at Clara.

"Do you think Mephisto will escape on his own? Or is a rescue mission perhaps in order?" He asked.

THUD!

A heavy sound echoed through the ominously lit room. The table vibrated with the force that had struck it. It was if a gavel had struck it, or perhaps someone had slammed their hand down to punctuate that they had come up with a grand idea.

This was not the case. It was merely Rurik's head careening forehead first into the wooden construct, a fine, dark mahogany, as his chin slipped off his palm.

"BWUH! I'm awake!" He was... now. Not before. His head shot up with an unusual quickness, brought about only from the sudden collision. "Did I miss anything important?"

One of the other council members let out an aggravated groan.

"Hey, in my defense, if we didn't keep the room so dark it would be easier for me to stay awake." He crossed his arms defensively, averting his eyes.

"Whatever." Another member sighed. "We're trying to come up with a plan to crush the Vigilante's and St. Laurel's if you'd care to grace us with your wisdom." Laden with sarcasm, of course.

"Ah, I see." Rurik nodded. Of course that was it. "Well, if it's crushing them, then obviously we'll need... something... very heavy."

"That's not-"

"Like a piano."

". . ."

"Or an anvil."

"You watched cartoons earlier, didn't you?"

Rurik folded his hands before his face, a serious, pensive look coming across him. As if he was plotting. ". . .yes." But there was nothing to it. If he hadn't been on the council, he'd hardly have cared about crushing the opposition. Actually? He... still didn't. "I love that rabbit."

The council member pinched the bridge of their nose, trying to remain calm. But alas, "WHY. IS. HE. HERE!?" they failed.

"Because-" WHAM! Rurik had leaned back in his chair, only to accidentally tip it over backwards. However, he simply kicked his heels up to rest them on the table. "Don't worry, I think this is actually more comfortable."

Brutus sat in one of the pews of the Church of Candles, watching as King prepared himself to speak to them. It seemed he hadn't called very many Vigilantes to this meeting. Brutus himself was a bit surprised, as King usually left him to his own devices. Then again, it seemed that everyone here had been hand-picked. Watching King enter with Ria had been a big tip-off that something was up. Brutus stopped playing with some electricity sparking in his hand as King cleared his throat.

While Brutus was a bit annoyed that the Viglantes found themselves completely broke, he couldn't exactly blame their leader. The priest could easily have turned them down, but didn't. What really caught Brutus' attention was the statement that followed. An exorcism. Brutus hadn't been on one in a couple of weeks. They were usually the most interesting of the jobs. However, one problem struck Brutus.

'Haunting? Doesn't that mean ghosts?' Demons were one thing. In fact, Brutus himself had few issues with the lower-level ones. However, ghosts were another thing. There was no substance. No substance means no means to tag them, which meant he was as useless as a cat in water. Brutus quickly glanced over to Melanie. She was one of his favorites to work with on missions. They had an interesting team dynamic, when they bothered to put their rivalry aside. He quirked an eyebrow at her, almost saying 'Ghosts? How do we deal with those?' However, the boy said nothing himself, content with trying to rapidly devise some sort of plan.

@jynmi88

@KillamriX88 @HeroicSociopath "He has a... useful ability." Clara says with clear disdain. "And he's here to keep me on my toes."

Members for the Student Committee were chosen by Mephisto, of course. Why Rurik was chosen wasn't a reason that escaped Clara, she just didn't appreciate his presence awfully much. To be led by committee meant no one person could make a decision. On such a committee, it was important to have a diverse range of people, and people who with contradicting views.

"Nevertheless, winning legitimately is not a strategy I can place 100% faith in." She continued. "There are people stronger than us, and there could be variables we can't forsee. If we want to win, our task is to make sure these variables never become an issue."

On the subject of Mephisto, most of the Committee who would've ever thought about it would think Mephisto had pretty good chances of making it out unscathed.

"The Principal told me to take it as a challenge." Clara said, referring to Gilliam's question about Mephisto. "But in this school, we rule by committee. If the committee decrees it, then we will free Mephisto. If they do not, then we will not."

---

Every time they had a meeting, Christine couldn't help to wonder, why must they sit in the dark like this? It just made it harder to see the faces of everyone, she thought.

Oh well, if that's what Clara wanted, then she would just have to go along with it.

A loud thud was suddenly heard in the dimly lit room. As usual, it was just Rurik being his usual self. She couldn't help but giggle a little at his antics, especially after he fell down his chair.

"Hmm, rescuing Mephisto, huh?" Christine said to the group. "I'm totally fine with it, if it means I can play around with my ability. Lately, I've been getting kinda bored, you know..."

"As for how to beat St. Laurel and the Vigilantes, I have no good idea other than just beating them in the tournament."

"Oh, and Gilliam, I would love to have some of your tea and scones," she said with a smile to the boy.

@Gentlemanvaultboy @KillamriX88 @Taytay @Hammerman @HeroicSociopath

To many parents in the city of Rhea, St. Laurel's was an ideal. A shining example which set the bar for other schools in the city of Rhea. And to some extent, it really was, but as to all things, St. Laurel's has a darker side. Not a dark side mind you, the light's just somewhat dim.

It was something Alto was reminded about every so often.

Now as he read the latest in the large line of duties he was assigned, he wondered.

How the f*** is this in my pay grade?

You may think this is uncharacteristic of Alto, and you'd be right, but there was a pretty good reason for it. St. Laurel's was almost allergic to bad reputation. They tend to cover up incidents a lot, not even just bad ones, almost everything. Someone got expelled? They did everything they could do. Promising student under-performs? Certainly not the pressure. It usually fell to the Student Council to take care of it, although it seems like they really dropped the ball on this one.

8 students went missing at an abandoned apartment building. Similar people. Perhaps they were targeted, perhaps they were just kindred spirits. Whatever the case, they were traced to the same apartment building, and then the preliminary report came back to say it was haunted.

At that point, the task had been slid over to Alto.

It was… An interesting situation to say the least, but as Student Council President it was his duty to take care of it. Some would say it was high time St. Laurel's management had a talking to, but doing that wasn't going to get those missing students back. He would've liked a bit more time as well, but any longer and their disappearance would be noticed and that was not a situation St. Laurel's wanted yet.

He could only choose certain students. Ones that were smart enough to run, but ones who would do the job. Alto would follow, but he had to complete his duties first. This haunting shouldn’t be too major of an issue, but Alto could only hope he wasn't the students into the maw of hell itself.

Unbeknownst to all, a small flying black creature peeled off of the Student Council room's window and flew away into the sky.

@6slyboy6 @Bartimaeus @Crowvette @Inertia @Ebil Bunny @Dezuel

---

---

Whilst on a casual walk to take a break up the monotony of training, a familiar looking bird cawed above him. With his bandaged hand he covered the bright sun, squinting at the creature; it was the messenger bird that St. Laurel's used for 'official' business. Glancing around he looked for another student from St. Laurel's, and after a few moments realized it was just him. The bird dropped off an official looking scroll right into his hands before whisking itself away into a sea of clouds.

He cut the seal open, and read the contents. After a few minutes of shifting eyes, Cassius drew a confused look. He had heard rumors of the disappearances, but he never thought he would be called as one to be called to essentially 'deal' with it. He would think there are many more suitable than he, "Well, it's not like I can refuse now, can I?"

---

Cassius had gotten a bit lost honestly, but thankfully he began his trek at around 3:45pm, and arrived there at around 4:25pm. "All the trees and buildings look pretty samey." he moaned in his lonesome, a small frown on his face. He had arrived to the supposedly haunted building. It oozed bad energy, so much so that Cassius himself felt it, not even being directly in the house. "Well, I guess I can wait for the others, probably the smart thing to do." he muttered to himself. With a groan, he planted his back behind a decrepit wall and began whistling a damned song that had drilled itself into his mind.

Samoth pushed open the door of the local public library, stepping into the warmth of the afternoon sun. He did quite enjoy the library. It was quiet, and had much opportunity for improving himself. And since there was a library on campus at St. Laurels, he rarely ran into anyone he knew here.

He stepped away from the doors, and made his descent down the several stone steps that led up to the impressive building. He admired the historic beings depicted in the large bronze statues at either side of the ascending stone stairs. He had seen them dozens upon dozens of times, yet he still admired them. When he looked at them, they exercised his memory on the subjects they depicted.

He looked away from the figures, and began a slow stroll down the sidewalk, towards the campus of his school. That was when a young boy ran up to him, sticking his arm up to him, grasping what could only be thought of as a letter addressed to him. As he drew close, Samoth looked down to the boy, "What is this? he asked.

"It's a letter, Mister!" he said, maybe a bit too excitedly. He was small, and looked to be very young. Couldn't be more than 10.

"..Yes. But who gave it to you? What did they look like?"

"Umm..I don't know him Mister, but he gave me a dollar!" he exclaimed, holding up a crumpled bill in his clenched fist. "Oh! But his shoes were black." he said, as if it were a deciding factor of this person's identity.

"...Ok. " Samoth breathed heavily. "You can go home now." he ordered, as he looked down at the letter, now in his hand. He was being summoned. And to a haunting, at that. He took note of the address, and crumpled the paper, tossing it in a nearby trashcan, as he changed his course to his new destination.

Samoth came within view of his destination. He took step onto the grounds of the large building. He felt a slight digging pain pierce the surface of his mind. He gritted his teeth in discomfort.
He could feel many wandering consciousnesses here. This would be...interesting..

He spotted Cassius, resting against a derelict wall, seemingly waiting for someone. It appeared as if he was chatting to Katherine, who was standing near him. Seems like he wasn't the only one summoned here.

Samoth took his own resting position against a nearby tree, plucking a leaf of a hanging branch, softly twisting and folding it between his fingers, expecting more students to come. Maybe some consensus on how they'd go about this would be made.

---

Sitting on a bench outside the school, numming on a sandwich which she just unpacked from the foil, she noticed Cassius taking a casual stroll. Just the right guy to talk to on a boring afternoon when you have nothing better to do, Kath stood up and tucked the remainder of the sandwhich in her mouth, most of it still on the outside. She was ready to move out whem she spotted a bird, dropping a scroll in front of Cassius. She stopped and quickly jumped behind a nearby tree to observe the events unfolding, carefully chowing on the remains of her sandwhich. Technically, there was no reason to hide from anyone, but the excitement took over Kath's mind. She tried to make out something that was written on the damned letter, but it was too far away to be a fruitful endevaor. The only thing she noticed was that Cassius started to walk away, seemingly with a destination in mind.

Naturally, she decided to follow him. Of course, she could've just walked up to him and ask what he was doing, but where was the fun in that? Plus if her firebuddy/tournameent mate has any dirty secrets, she's obliged to know!

---

What initially begun as a stalking, quickly turned into a bothersome and uneventful talk. After nearly an hour of following Cassius down the city, Kath finally arrived to an abandoned house. The house seemed at least a hundred yearls old and in a rundown state - it gave her the creeps. She looked over at Cassius and saw her leaning to the wall. Was he waiting for someone? She decided it was time to take matters into her own hands and approach Cassius to put an end to the boring hide and seek.

"Hey firebuddy!" Kath walked up to Cass and punched his shoulder. "Betcha didn't excpet me, did you?" She looked around now that she was closer to the building and confirmed that it was indeed 10 times as creepy as it was from far away. "What are you doing here anyways, in front of this creepy building. I thought you for someone who'd train in his free time, not go around hunting ghosts."

Andreim watched as Cassius first made his way past him as he was enjoying the scenery. That guy was almost always the first one to arrive to things of interest. What was it this time? Then a bird landed Before him with a scroll.

"Oh?" He tilted his head slightly to the side and then took one of his hands out of his pockets and picked up the scroll as the bird flew away. He undid the seal before reading what was written.

So that's what is going on. I suppose Lise will be there too. I cannot leave her with the others. I guess I am off aswell.

He decided to give chase after Katherine. Throwing glances over his own shoulder to see if he was being followed . But Katherine had gained some distance thus he had to use his water powers to not lose track of her, creating a vortex of spinning water under his feet which in turn he stood upon as it made it's way forwards at a higher speed than he could run at.

Upon arriving at the destination he surveyed the surroundings and those present. Cassius, Katherine and Samoth.

He was the fourth to arrive on the scene unless... Andreim activated his thermal vision and looked about for any other heatsources nearby to make sure no one was spying on them.

Before he loosened control of his water manipulation, letting his shoes touch the ground again, then he slowly made his way forwards on soft steps until he was behind Katherine.

Andreim began to attune to cold temperature and tried to blow some cold air at Katherine's neck just to creep her out even further.

"You gave chase after Cassius the quick, like a hunter chasing a prey. Yet take caution for you may be hunted yourself at times... Katherine the blaze." Andreim crossed his arms and gave her a soft smile look before turning to Cassius and Samoth, looking them both over and then nodding towards the building.

"Remember to be polite when we get indoors. We may be unwanted guests."

@6slyboy6@Bartimaeus@Inertia

---

TAGS: @Inertia @Bartimaeus @6slyboy6 @Dezuel

---

Despite the geography class being over, Cyan was still seated at his desk in the front, going back over the portion of the textbook that had been discussed. He was pretty sure he understood everything, but it was always a good idea to check. Besides, the classroom was always a tad difficult to maneuver through immediately after the bell rang as everyone tried to leave, and he didn't have anywhere particular he needed to go.

Unbeknownst to Cyan, Lise was stalking through the classroom, as stealthily as she could. Before her, today's quarry was sitting, completely defenseless. The after-school hours were perfect for fox hunting, and anyone as regal as Liselotte Castellan de Valois-Saint-Remy wouldn't call a day complete without doing something regal.

Which is why it was unfortunate that a corner of her skirt managed to catch on a chair and knock it over completely, causing a loud crash several desks behind Cyan. He glanced around in reaction to the sound, he hadn't realized anyone else was still here. And of course it was Liselotte. He tried to make no change in expression as to not give her the satisfaction of a successful tease, but his tail instinctually curled up under his chair.

"Um, class is over. Did you forget something?" he asked, pretending he wasn't pretty much exactly sure what she was doing here. As he watched her, he closed the textbook and began putting it into his backpack.

Lise folded her arms, smiling to try and cover up her true intentions. "It's not important, what I'm here for. You can just go back to reading." Her eyes wandered to the tail that was currently cowering under the chair. It immediately changed position, as if attempting to dodge her gaze. It was at that point that the deep tone of the geography teacher's voice came in over the loud speaker.
'One would never have guessed he was such a small person if they just heard his voice,' Cyan thought.

"WOULD MS. VALOIS-SAINT-REMY AND MR. BRIDGET PLEASE REPORT TO MY OFFICE."

Lise scoffed at the speaker. "Does this man not know how to address me? It's not "Miss," It's Lady Valois-Saint-Remy!" Grabbing her bag, she began storming out of the classroom before turning to Cyan. "Come on, we've got to teach him some etiquette!"

Cyan grabbed his pack and followed her, though he wasn't exactly worried about teaching any etiquette. He was more paranoid about what reason Mr. Greyfelt had for requesting them. He couldn't think of any specific action he had taken that would've gotten him in trouble. Probably. Perhaps it was about the tournament in a month? Unlikely, that wasn't exactly in the geography side of things. As he walked, his tail flicked back and forth irregularly, reflecting his thoughts.

Upon arriving at the office, Lise did not hesitate to throw the door open. "Now, from what I understand, someone is not aware of how to address a lady in this room?!" She folded her arms once again, looking indignant. The small man payed her outburst little mind, but did turn in his chair to face her as she came in.

"Ganze told me to hand you two these messages," he said mildly, handing a piece of paper out towards Lise. He didn't seem too phased by the young girls declaration. He then handed a second towards Cyan as he entered behind her. Cyan was watching Lise warily as he took the piece of paper, a bit distracted and as such missed who the message was from.

Lise narrowed her eyes, weighing the choices - ignoring the messages would most likely involve Alto, and she didn't like dealing with him. As much as she would have enjoyed to leave until the man showed her due respect, she would have to accept. "Don't think you're off the hook yet." She grumbled, snatching the paper.

They read the letters detailing the situtation with the eight missing students and the lead pointing to a haunted apartment building. Cyan's heart lept when he realized that it was from Alto, the student council president. He was famous, always doing spectacularly in the tournaments, and apparently he was giving Cyan a mission. This, however, confused him somewhat. Why him? There were probably others better at such an objective. Oh well, if Alto was putting his trust in him, then Cyan wouldn't let him down. This was exactly the sort of stuff he was hoping he'd be able to do when coming to Saint Laurel's. He turned his head towards Lise.

"Did you get the same letter I did?" he asked, forgetting that even if she did, it's not like she'd know that.

"Well, mine has my name on it, so I don't think so." Lise held out the letter in front of her, quickly skimming it. "Though, it seems I've finally been called to-" She stopped momentarily, her expression souring. "Clean an apartment? What kind of assignment is this?! This isn't what you assign royalty!!" Lise pouted slightly. "What does yours say?"

"It says some students went missing in a haunted apartment building, and I'm supposed to help find them. And it has the address, though I have to look it up. I don't really know where this street is," Cyan replied, looking down again at the piece of paper. Saying it out loud made the little adventure sound a bit more dangerous, though. Cyan of course knew about ghosts, but he hadn't really come across any. Luckily, it didn't look like they'd actually have to fight the ghosts, just find the students and get out. He then looked back over at Lise, a bit confused. "Does yours actually say to clean an apartment?"

Lise looked back at her letter. "Well, that's the summation of it..." She looked over it again, this time slower. "I suppose I misread it slightly. It seems that we both have the same assignment, Cyan."

"You can use my computer to find directions if you'd like," Mr. Greyfelt mentioned, wheeling his chair to the side of his desk with all the papers he was going through, allowing them access to the desktop computer, "Just don't look where your eyes don't belong."

Lise faltered at the mention of computers. One of the things the Valois-Saint-Remy manor didn't have was anything that advanced. "Y-Yes, Cyan should do it." She nudged him towards the computer.

"Sure..." he said, glancing at the girl with uncertainty, not quite understanding her motive. However, he walked behind the desk and kneeled a little to put himself at the same level as if he were sitting down, and pulled up a GPS website. "Mind if I borrow a pen to write this down?" he asked the teacher, who nodded and pointed towards a cup of pens with his pinky finger. There wasn't much room on the half of the desk with the computer, so Cyan had to use his leg to scribble the information down on the back of the letter. It wasn't the neatest of handwriting, but it would do. Putting the pen back where he found it, he started heading back to Lise and the door, handing her the paper of directions.
"I guess we should go together? It would probably be safer if we work together," Cyan offered. She was a bit of a pain, but it was nice to have at least someone he knew working with him. His tail, however, pulled away in disagreement.

"Consider yourself lucky, Cyan, to have none other than Liselotte Castellan de Valois-Saint-Remy to accompany you on this mission!" Lise puffed out her chest, striking a pose befitting royalty.

---

Lise stepped out of the limousine, taking the hand of a shadow butler. Lise wasn't the most familiar with the city, but she did know that an important part of travelling in a city is to use a limousine at all times. It definitely was better than walking. She turned after setting foot on the concrete, gesturing for Cyan to follow her.

The boy was a bit taken back by the limousine ride. It made sense that Liselotte hadn't planned on travelling by bicycle like Cyan would've, but limousine's were famously used only by rich people. He, of course, not part of such class. Stepping out of the vehicle, he took a deep breath to calm himself of such an experience outside his comfort zone, and looked at where they arrived. Yeah, no, it was pretty obvious they were where they needed to be. When a place collects enough ghosts, it just has a certain aura about it the sends chills down spines. This abandoned building was one of these places. Also up ahead, he saw some other people assembling at the wall near the front door. He recognized Samoth and his friend Cassius right away, and then there was also Katherine and Andreim. Four in total so far. While he wasn't too familiar with either Katherine or Andreim, or their abilities, Cyan knew this would probably be a piece of cake with Samoth and Cassius here.

He waved at the bunch, jogging ahead of Liselotte to meet them. "Hey! Did you guys get letters from Alto as well?" he called cheerily.

---

Andreim

Andreim turned around to look at the approaching Cyan. "Yes, that we did." His eyes Went off Cyan quickly though and to the person behind him. Lady Liselotte. The lady who had so gravely wounded him, she who had made his heart vault and abandon all logic. His eyes flared up on seeing her and he straightened his back, he wanted to do more courtesy but then the others would find out about his weakness.

Then he realized to his horror that Cyan had arrived with her. -He- was with her? The very thought made him furrow his eyebrows.

He grasped at his shirt abit as if he had gotten food down the wrong way in the throat. Before he offered Lise a polite bow worthy of a butler accompanied by a genuine smile. "Lady Valois-Saint-Remy. A pleasure to see you have graced us with your presence." He wanted to use her first name but he wasn't sure how she would react to it and he wouldn't take such a risk in front of these guys of all people.

After having politely greeted Lise he turned his attention back to Cyan. "And you aswell Cyan." He smiled, with his eyes closed as one of his eyebrows twitched slightly, as he tried to place one of his hands on Cyan's shoulder.

@Ebil Bunny

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---

His whistle was interrupted when he felt a presence sneak up to him. It was a fist that cut swiftly bled through the wind, aiming for his extremities- it hit his shoulder rather anti-climatically. A familiar presence entered his field of view, ”Ah.” he said, ”Hello Katherine. Well I decided to take a break from it, and I received a summoning.” He handed her the now folded letter. A rather airheaded, yet somewhat conscientious person had entered the field, atleast she’s relatively reliable.

His peripherals had caught another figure, Samoth, one of the more reliable members of St. Laurel’s. He nodded slightly, acknowledging the others presence. As soon as he had done that another person spoke up behind Katherine, Andreim, another one of the school’s mysteries. A gathering of notable individuals had begun taking place, making Cassius feel even more out of place.

“You gave chase after Cassius the quick…”

”Katherine… does that mean you just followed me instead of getting a summoning?” he continued after Andreim’s words, chuckling lightly ”Haha. Ah well, whatever, probably better off this way.”

”Remember to be polite when we get indoors. We may be unwanted guests.”

”You’re not wrong Andreim. But you could make it a bit less ominous, right?”

---

Soon after he heard the soft revving of a car, and a long ornate limousine came into view. Soon after a Liselotte and Cyan trod out of the fancy vehicle. ”Sure do know how to make an entrance, don’t ya?” he whispered to no one in particular, eyeing the duo that had made their presence now. He chose to willfully ignore the ‘youthful’ exchange between Adreim, Liselotte, and Cyan.

”Hey! Did you guys get letters from Alto as well”

”Yup.” he replied, ”Well I assume most of you have a rough idea of what we’re to do?”

He eyes back the menacing building, whom stature had seem to grow than when he last looked, ”Do you guys want to tackle this in a three groups of two? It’s best to make sure every room in each floor is clear. We can take out floors more efficiently if we move in groups of two, and meet up at each staircase when we had cleared out our sections.”

Cassius almost babbled on but caught himself, slightly emberassed ”Apologies I let myself babble on, feel free to interject your own opinions. One last thing, shall we decide the groups by lots?”

As Samoth stood, separated from the others of his school, he witnessed a black limousine pull up, just outside the grounds of the building. Out stepped Liselotte, accompanied by a familiar face, Cyan.

As they approached the other group of three, pleasantries began to be exchanged, and Samoth himself approached the others, as a proposition of splitting up was made.

”Do you guys want to tackle this in a three groups of two? It’s best to make sure every room in each floor is clear. We can take out floors more efficiently if we move in groups of two, and meet up at each staircase when we had cleared out our sections.”, Cassius proposed.

"That seems like an appropriate course of action." Samoth confirmed. "It doesn't put us too far apart, and allows us to get this over with in reasonable time." he nodded. He looked around for any signs of objection, as well as possible teams, and a partner for himself.
It shouldn't be too hard, so he thought Cyan might make a good choice. He trusted himself to protect the small boy more than anyone else here. Liselotte or Katherine could be sufficient, however.

"Who's with who? I personally don't mind." he said, in a bland tone.

Lise was surprised that someone actually greeted her correctly. Though she hadn't been at Laurels for very long, she had definitely noticed that very few people knew how to address a lady in this day and age. She glanced at... Andreim, wasn't it? She has seen him a lot around the school. 'I'll have to keep an eye on him,' Lise thought to herself.

---

Upon mention of teams, Lise runs a hand through her long blonde hair, letting it flow freely before falling back behind her. "Now please, don't all swarm me at once for partnership propositions!" She laughs, matter-of-factly standing with crossed arms and a haughty smile.

She stands still, waiting for the inevitable swarm of adoring subjects to ask for her hand in this assignment.

"Yes, two in pair would be good..." He said not thinking of his choice of words for a moment.

She noticed me? She knows I exist! She actually looked at me! But why do I feel this way? Take a deep breath. Keep composure. Focus. You need to take this cool. A hotheaded decision is made for disaster.

He took a deep breath in as he pondered on the best approach when he heard her angelic voice.

Swarm me? Partnership? He blinked and then gasped to himself in both rejoice and horror. He had to be the one to go with her, but he had to do it without drawing attention. He couldn't let that foxboy go with her and put her in harms way. Besides the house was considered scary appearantly. And when girls were scared they were hugging unto people.
There was no way that sly fox would get away with that. What to do... There is no way I can let any of the others go with her either.

"I'll be your partner, Lady Valois-Saint-Remy!" He spoke out as he raised his fist upwards in a rebellious way like he was signing up to duel to the death for a princess, or a man proclaiming said land to belong to his home country as he placed it's banner in the dirt.

What did I say? Idiot! Why did I say it like that?! I can still scavenge the situation.

"Ahem.. our abilities compliment oneanother. It is an obvious team up." He said with a glimmering light in one of his eyes as he offered a smile. That was close... safe for now. I need to collect myself. I need to be focused in order to guard her. But damn her. She is distractive and attractive. Why is that? What is it she has that pulls me closer?

@Crowvette@Bartimaeus@Inertia@Ebil Bunny@6slyboy6

Samoth watched as Andreim raised his arm suddenly and shouted out his wishes to be Liselotte's partner. He saw it as a wise choice, though he didn't think it was wisdom that brought the other male to the conclusion. He seemed to have an odd fixation with her..

"Yes, good thinking, Andreim. Lady Liselotte can protect you from getting yourself hurt in there. Wise choice. he said. He chuckled, on the inside. He looked to his right, down to Cyan. He didn't ever really prove himself as much of a fighter, but Samoth didn't blame him for that. He couldn't help it.
"You can come with my Cyan, if you like." his words were sharp, sentences ending abruptly. Ending as suddenly as they started.

He looked to his left, eyeing the two that arrived first. "And I suppose our "Fire Team" won't have any objections to teaming up together.." he left a pause, for any interjection. Seemingly there was none, so Samoth turned towards the building, and began to walk towards the door at a leisurely pace, leaving time for the rest of the group to follow suit.