@Ezmeralda



Persephone followed Phil back to her room, she stepped in and saw that the place was just like the rest of the Guilds facilities. Blindingly white and gold, Pers thought she would have to buy special sunglasses just to walk the halls. The walls were completely bare, nothing adorning them, she would have to change that when she made friends and hang up some pictures. But first she would have to paint the walls if she was allowed.

She began putting all her clothes away and getting lost in thought over the things Marcus had said to her earlier that evening. Her sister was a monster, she didn't know how bad it was, or what brought her to become that, but she believed it when she looked in his eyes. The man was haunted by his experience with Circe, Persephone sighed as she finished putting away her clothes and stood up. She was to wired to go to bed, and she feared if she turned off the lights it would still be bright in her room. So she decided to explore on her own. It was nice to have Marcus lead her on a tour, but she had to learn the layout on her own eventually.

She walked around the building for a while, exploring nooks and crannies that she found. Pers had learned that the city was heard even in the building. She was sure that would grate her nerves eventually, she reached up and brushed the little vine in her hair, making sure it had not fallen out in the last few hours. It was her last keepsake from home. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped into someone. She looked up to see a young woman who seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Oh my, I am so sorry, I didn't see you there! It is nice to meet you, I am Persephone, the newest recruit here." She said in embarrassment.

Willow stopped in more or less the center of the room to admire a large portrait on the wall as she thought. She involuntary crossed one arm across her chest as she rubbed her chin with the other.

The woman was beautiful, elegant, strong, and confident all in one. She didn't know who it was but she had always admired it. What would you do in this situation, Ma'am? Did you ever even have these kinds of problems? She doubted it. It was possible she wasn't even a real perso-

She was abruptly brought out of her doldrums by someone bumping into her. Willow would help the girl up if she had fallen or something. "Oh no, it's fine. Completely my fault. I chose a terrible spot to think... I suppose we both should pay more attention. Are you alright?" she gave Persephone the best smile she could at the moment, making sure she wasn't hurt, "Welcome to the Guild! It's nice to meet you, my name is Willow. I didn't know we had a recruit coming in! Have you been shown to your room? Let me know if you need anything, okay? I'm happy to help."

@Ezmeralda



The woman Pers bumped into immediately apologized and gave an award winning smile. She reflexively took a step back and gave a weak smile of her own. Rubbing the back of her head and looking down she took a breath, just so much interaction today!

"No truly it is my fault, I should have been paying attention to where I was going. Please I didn't mean to bother you Miss Willow. And thank you for the offer but Phil and I believe Marcus was his named helped me plenty already. I was just meandering trying to learn this place for myself. I am sure you are plenty busy enough as is, looked like you had enough on your mind." Pers froze for a second and kicked herself mentally.

Come on don't try and sound like you are prying that is just plain rude.

"Sorry, that was a slip of the tongue, we don't know each other, I shouldn't have commented on your brooding." She kicked herself again mentally, now she was just being awkward. Persephone turned red and looked down in embarrassment. Waiting for Willow to tell her to piss off.

Willow giggled and shook her head, "...And I should've picked a better place to go into my own head. It was stupid of me. Let me take some of the blame here, girl."

She shook her head again, and smiled at Pers, "Nonsense. Everyone needs help every now and then, so don't be afraid to ask. And I'm not all that busy anyway. My thoughts can wait. I didn't realize it was that clear on my face though. I never was very good at lying or hiding things, I suppose. To be honest I would love to help you. I've always loved helping others and it would take my mind off my problems for a bit until I've decided on what to do about them...." she nodded to her.

Willow offered her a hand, and gave her another smile, "...So, how about we start with something to drink or eat? I'm pretty hungry myself..."

@Ezmeralda



Persephone looked down to Willows hand and nervously took it, turning red again.

"Well I had already eaten with Marcus earlier, but I will go with you and keep you company. And now that I think about it I do have a question for you. Are we allowed to work while in the guild, or do we get paid for being in the guild? I don't know much of what's required of me, I have been away for a long time you see." She asked softly, she had to pull herself together.

Just because the most interaction you have had with other people in the last five years was either poor villages or the logging companies, does not mean you can fall apart every time you have a normal conversation. Now pull yourself together woman, these are the people you will be working with for the next few years. She thought to herself.

Willow tilted her head to the side, as she took her hand, "I would indeed enjoy the company, but only if you want. I'm not trying to force you to do anything you don't want to. You can decline if you're not comfortable."

She listened to Pers' question, "You are paid, and may work on the side of you desire. I....make music, for instance. I couldn't say what is required of you specifically, though. We all have our own talents that are useful for different things. The only thing we really ask is to keep Guild matters quiet in public and follow the rules. Other than that just help where you can."

She rose the hand that held Pers' hand up, holding it loosely and waiting for her to tighten her grip on it, "Now then, are you sure you want to come with me? Coming with me certainly isn't something important and I'm sure there's better uses of your time. I suppose if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them."

@Ezmeralda



Persephone forced a slightly warmer smile on her face as she tightened her grip. She shook her head no for a moment as she tried to collect her thoughts.

"No I don't mind at all, it's just that I really haven't any meaningful human interaction in a while. So coming to New York is a little jarring, I went from maybe seeing fifty a year to living in a city with eight and a half million people. That is pretty cool you work in music, I mostly listened to indiginous people's music when I stopped in their villages. Maybe you can show me with something more than just drums and throat singing?" Pers tried to end with a light joke, but felt it was weak at best.

Willow might think I am just trying to use her to get into the music business or something at worst! I have to stop being so awkward. She thought to herself, trying to clear her mind.

Willow nodded "I understand. So many people can be daunting, but you know you need to start somewhere. If you don't try you won't succeed, right? As for my music, uh... How do I put this? Willow tightened her grip again and started towards the large kitchen they had, "Well, my voice is a big part of it, but I wouldn't call it throat singing. I assume you mean like grunts and guttural sounds? Yeah, no. I use English words and I always have a message in my music. Not that anyone listens to those anymore..." she sighed, "I'm sure you'll hear some at some point." she smiled back at her.

When they reached their destination, Willow grabbed herself a snack. She felt like eating a big meal in front of the girl was a bit rude even if she had agreed to come here, "You sure you don't want anything at all, Persie? Can I call you that, by the way? Not even to drink?" she asked.

Guild Headquarters

After Persephone left the food court to get herself situated, Marcus followed suit and left as well to do… Well, he didn't know what he was going to do. He hadn't run into anyone in the council or Salem herself. And he wasn't going to call Salem if she was in a mood that accompanied discharging lightning into the sky. Hell, if it weren't for Persephone, he would have done some stuff that was important to someone that would help with something going on. At least that's what he would have tried to tell someone.

I guess I can talk to one of the guys about today. And maybe get out to go search for that golem… I do wish we were clear to find and rescue Aliira. I'd feel better doing that instead.

Moments later, Marcus found himself seated on a bench in the Guild's now beautifully lit garden, having a conversation with one of his oldest and well-known friends.

"You really think she blew me off? Well... She did give me the whole 'I don't have a phone' line, but... I don't know. I guess… Maybe you have a point. It's 2019 and everyone has a phone or should have one, right?." Lex said to a 3-foot tall rock golem who gave Marcus its undivided attention. The golem stuck its hand out and rotated it at the wrist to nonverbally show that it didn't possess a phone and was included in Marcus' "everyone" which only made Marcus chuckle. "Well you don't, but who would you even call? Plus you literally hate everyone, Rocky. Even some of the other entities. That's probably why you're hating on a great evening I had with Pers and not you. "

Rocky shrugged in admission to Marcus' claim of hating everyone. Each of his movements created the sound of stones sliding smoothly against each other. His feelings towards others stem from humanity's use of stone. He was not a fan of the chiseling, drilling, crushing, and carving. At the same time, the golem was just a jerk that could hate anyone for anything. Despite his dislike of others, Rocky had somewhat of a bromance with Marcus. They had their ups and downs but behaved like two siblings that never stopped bickering. The small stone man put up his hands in the shape of a heart, making Marcus raise an eyebrow. Rocky bounced the heart up and down in a teasing fashion due to the person of discussion.

"I'll ignore that. You know she's Circe's sister. Remember her? The woman from Dark Shadow that uses darkness. The darkness I used to create a monster that almost killed us." Marcus' words caused Rocky to aggressively punch his fists together. Marcus held a serious look on his face as he thought of the massive dark figure that had loomed over him when he last faced off against Circe. "That thing is still out there hurting people… We'll find it and put it down. I've thought about it a lot and I'll definitely need Jay and Ifrit for the next encounter. The 'Brick Squad' didn't stand a chance last time and don't make any excuses. We got fucked up out there."

Rocky let out a low growl and balled up both his fists up towards Marcus. The words stung, but it was a fact that the three golems didn't stand a chance against an entity made of tangible darkness.

The Brick Squad is what Marcus dubbed the solid earthen elemental golems he created. They lacked in firepower, but they made up for it in teamwork and personality.

"Anyway, Pers seems like a good kid, and not having a phone does sort of add up with the whole living in the jungle thing… You think she'd get along with Mr. Branch or Flora better?" Marcus mentioned two separate plant-based golems to change the subject. Mr. Branch was a golem discovered during Marcus' childhood formed using the wood of trees, logs, stumps, and branches. Flora, on the other hand, is attuned and simply created from plant life.

Rocky gave a shrug, but he did it more so to express that he didn't care and was still a bit pissed at Marcus' comments about the Brick Squad's performance. Giving way to his anger, he fell to the ground as a pile of ordinary rocks. This was Rocky's way of being rebellious. Marcus could have just forced him back into shape but would let the pissy golem be.

Such a diva…. Don't need him to hunt that thing anyway. I just hope I'M not needed anytime tonight. Marcus' next move was to head into the city in search of the entity created from tangible darkness. He had been searching for it since his recovery from his encounter with it but hadn't gotten lucky in his search. There were far too many reports of mysterious deaths in New York City, and it was difficult sifting through all of this information as a means of tracking the darkness entity. All of the killings and sightings could all easily be Circe. Her killings ranged widely in method, location, victims, and timing. Random was her modus operandi. The only thing Marcus had to go on were minor differences that were actually a pretty big deal. There were things Circe just didn't do that fell outside of how she killed. The woman commanded darkness flawlessly, there weren't many if any mistakes. Her enjoyment in her actions was obvious with how creative she was at times. The outlier killings were what Marcus focused on. Those were the sloppy ones and just didn't fit Circe. They were executed quickly with little thought to them and more importantly, there were too many survivors.

Knowing the difference not only helped narrow his search, but it kept him from possibly encountering Circe. The possibility of the two being together crossed his mind from time to time, and he hoped it was only just a thought in his head. Perhaps today would be the day he would face the monster he created.