@Crowvette

---

To say Vernon was mad would have been a dangerous understatement. There were already a few gangbangers missing teeth and suffering from near terminal frostbite to prove this. Some of them were members of his own family mob. He wasn't being particularly discriminate in who he took his frustrations out on.

He'd already been riled up by William's injuries, but now some prick from another country had moved in to take over? No, THREE of them had. His family had soon enough been able to sniff out the other two as well. Ward, Vala, and Jasper.

It was all putting him in a perpetually foul mood. Finally, though, he'd come up with an actionable plan. Something that might make him feel better and also solve one of his problems. If all went well he'd never have to see that dimwitted girl Andras ever again. Whose bright idea had it been to grant near limitless power to her of all people?

The gods really did have a sense of humor.

He found himself in a poorer neighborhood. He knocked on one door in particular, a grin sprouting on his face as the door opened.

"Hello... Cyan." It was not a happy grin.

"Oh... uh..." Cyan swallowed hard and took a startled step back. Without being invited, Vernon stepped past the threshold into the house.

"Anyone else home?" Vernon asked, glancing about.

"Y-yes-"

"Don't lie," Vernon admonished the boy. "We need to have a little... chat."

"Um... um..." POP! And just like the Cyan turned invisible.

"Oh for the love of..." Vernon groaned and then let out a quite literally chilling screech. Ice and frost soon coated the floor except for two very conspicuously foot-shaped spots. Vernon reached out and grabbed at seemingly thin air, but it certainly felt like Cyan's throat. "Cut the invisibility bullshit before I freeze your neck and snap it off your shoulders," Vernon warned him. "I'm not going to count, so before I lose my patience..."

"Wh-what... do you want?" Cyan shivered as he faded back into sight.

"Why does anyone want anything to do with you? I need to use your fancy little ability."

"It doesn't work that way! It's fifty-fifty that something bad will happen instead!" Cyan whined, feeling his ankles going numb.

"To me?"

"D-depends on the wish..."

"Then I'm not too concerned." Vernon jerked the boy forward, popping him out of the ice and dragging him to a nearby chair and shoving him into it.

"B-but what about me?" He was the far more likely victim.

"Again. Not concerned."

"I am!"

"Be more worried about what I 100% will do to you right now if you keep complaining!" Vernon snapped.

". . . what do you want me to do?" Cyan whimpered helplessly.

"Let me ask you this. If you wished for world peace, what would happen? Or... to end world hunger?"

"Well... I guess either it'd work or the world would go into a never ending war. Or... maybe I'd never stop feeling hungry. Or everyone would... or all the food would rot or something... I dunno. It's just... the bigger the wish, the worse the possible consequence. Normally the backlash would only hit me, but... something that big could affect everyone. I don't see how there could be an equal negative effect that would only hit me." Cyan shrugged weakly. "I've never tried though."

"So, say I wanted you to mess with someone else... could you?"

"I... don't see why not. As far as I know, the only limit is how much risk I'm willing to take." Cyan swallowed hard. Was he about to be forced to buy a ticket to hell?

"Good. I want to remove the random chance from someone else's power. Well, a little anyway. Ironic, isn't it?" Vernon chuckled. "Did William ever tell you about his foolish little plan?"

"To... end the feud between schools?" Cyan wished he'd just get this over with.

"Oh no. Something far more obnoxious. He wants to 'fix' Vittorio Twinveil and Galbrek Ravenovich. Most especially the former," Vernon's face clearly displayed his disgust. "He wants to resurrect their lost loved ones. Thinks if they're alive they'll calm those two down. Apparently they were murdered and that's just oh so sad-"

"I-I can't do that! If I get unlucky it'll probably just kill me!" Cyan jumped out of his chair but Vernon slammed him back into it.

"So will I if you try to run again. And relax, I already figured that much out. I'm going to try something a little less drastic. You're a valuable tool. Can't risk breaking you on a coin-flip now can I?" Vernon smirked.

"Th-then you won't kill me yourself-" He went silent and his pupils shrunk to pinpoints as Vernon held a frosted over finger a centimeter from his eye.

"Clever. But I have other things I can do to you that could be worse. Ever wonder what it would feel like to get frostbite on your eyes?"

"No..."

"Well start wondering. I figure it'll motivate you to behave." Vernon chuckled. Cyan imagined it. He decided Vernon was probably right.

"Fine! What the hell am I doing then!?"

"Andras." Vernon stepped away. "She can draw these cards that let her do just about anything. However, even with William's help, she can't seem to pull the right cards to bring back the dead. It's random you see. But you can do anything too, can't you? Make her draw the right cards."

"Oh..." Cyan blinked. That... didn't sound too bad actually. The backlash would probably be annoying, but not remotely world ending. Probably. He'd have to see what the coin would accept.

"Well there you have it. Chop chop."

Cyan sighed and summoned his coin, "Ok..." He closed his eyes and thought about what he could wager. Well, if he was trying to remove chance from Andras's cards... why not do the same to his coin? "Umm... Heads Andras draws the cards she needs to undo the past... Tails my next coin-flip is an automatic tails." No, that didn't feel right. He let out a miserable groan. "N-next two coin-flips then." And so... he flipped it.

Heads.

Wait, really?

Both he and Vernon stared at it in shock, contemplating the actual gravity of what they'd just done.

And then Cyan screamed and yanked his hand back as if the coin was on fire... because it was. The metal had turned bright, almost molten red. It tumbled through the air but then suddenly stopped mid-flight -- perfectly horizontal. It then SLAMMED to the floor with such force that the floorboards cracked, leaving a sizzling indentation in it.

On the bright side it was still heads.

"What... the fuck was that?" Vernon blinked.

"I-I... don't know. It's never happened before." Cyan clutched at his burnt hand. "I... I guess it's possible something tried to stop my wish?"

"Hmph. Perhaps fate refuses to be denied." Vernon smirked. How poetic. "Though... your wording leaves me somewhat concerned. I said bring back the dead, not undo the fucking past! Fuck it, close enough I suppose. Well done, Cyan. Don't leave town, OK? Knowing this idiot she'll STILL find some way to fuck this up." He rolled his eyes. He then scoffed. "Oh quit being a baby and give me that!" He grabbed Cyan's hand. Vernon's icy skin quickly soothed the circular burn on the back of Cyan's hand. "There. We're even." And then he promptly left.

"Th-that's... even?" Cyan was left sitting there in bewilderment. What the hell had just happened?

Andras turned to face Nas, somewhat surprised that someone else was approaching her. She actually had a slight hope that it was about her vision, but... of course he asked about the party. Not that Andras wasn't happy that he approached her for this to begin with, but she would have preferred if people took her story more seriously, THEN asked her about going to a party together.

Andras confidently put a hand on her hips. "Of course I am!" Andras caught herself immediately, and clarified: "Um! I mean I am okay with you coming with me! Sorry, my mind didn't register the way you worded your que-"

---

'Huh?' Something was off. Everything froze for a split second. Her vision was flipped, and she was falling into the sky-

---

"-stion...?!" Andras grabbed onto Nas to prevent from falling over, the sudden wave of vertigo almost overcoming her. She took a deep breath, chills running up her spine. It was for a single moment, in the middle of her speaking, but something just happened.

'First the encounter in the Root, and now this...? This is... Kind of perfect, isn't it?! I kind of feel like I'm gonna throw up, but all of these strange magical encounters are happening around me! Just like my stories!!' Andras felt a slight giddiness, which mixed oddly with her fading dizziness.

She looked up to Nas, which she had somewhat thrown herself on to stop herself from falling. "I'm... guessing I'm the only one that felt that...?" She hesitantly asked.

@supertinyking

In the end, the flamboyant display drowned any further dissent and discord. The ravens Diana had deployed picked up some leaflets, before depositing them before Diana with a caw sound. "Well, I think some information gathering about this event is due." She half-mentioned. Clara was still missing though, and there was the eerie feeling that they were watched through a thin crack of weakened reality. Maybe that was Yuuto. In any case, Diana was never to say no to some networking, even if this kind of farce had gone out of fad centuries ago.

But several points still stood. Where was Clara? Upon noticing the phone once again, the hitchhiker in her mind chimed that she had felt the mark of a fellow Death god, her superior. So Clara's God had summoned her? Well, I guess that did complicate things quite a bit. The other part was dealing with what was obviously an attempt of unknown factions to settle the power in Rhea.

She eyed Lightbringer. He was about to provide suitable compensation. She was about to milk him dry. So he drove her towards home once again to discuss business. Not before leaving a few kind words towards Luigi Vile about talking issues later. That little devil knew how to make the poison of his words numbingly sweet.

It was then when they were in the midst of re-negotiations when Celestine excused himself. That was odd. He had no reason to delay negotiations, nor it struck it as one of his mind games.

Diana's eyes widened in barely restrained alarm when she saw Lightbringer collapse, his hands clutching his head in strain, buzzing noises inside his head making him unresponsive.

"No. That's not. Help me. Pain. Pleasure. Yes indeed. Why did the chicken cross the road?" He said in barely coherent whispers, before crumpling to the ground, mere steps ahead of Diana. "Why...why...WHYWHYHWHY WHY WHY!"

"Celestine. Are you alright?" Diana said, completely breaking her cool demeanour as she saw the usually restrained Lightbringer smashing his head against the ground so hard he drew blood. Back off, Diana! said the Moira, as Diana narrowly avoided a hand that could have very easily rip her throat.

"Ngh." Lightbringer stood, twitching. One of his eyes was entirely bloodshot, his movements and coordination were all over the place.

He's being controlled. The goddess added, as Diana wisely decided to begin to put some distance. But how! This is Lightbringer we're talking about. His power doesn't allow him to be...no, that should not be right.

Some of our bosses and colleagues are sticklers for rules. My boss is a notorious example...and the other is who gave this sod his abilities. I'm hearing someone is tampering with Fate as of recently. And "He" is not happy. Lightbringer can be controlled because of his power. And he is going to punish rule-breakers... Like us.. The goddess said, as Diana wisely began to fly rather than run the scene, leaving the unstable shell of a man behind.

Celestine's ears were thrumming. He could not think, only obey the pain. He could not sense, only feel the bliss.

THUS IT HATH BEEN SAID.

THUS IT SHALL BE DONE.

FATE IS COMPROMISED

REND THE FATEBREAKERS.

And he began to cackle madly. There was so much planning to do.

---

@Scarifar
In the end, they managed to reach class without much fuss. But without avail... as the class was soon interrupted by the rain of fliers courtesy of a fellow first year. Meredith looked at Michelle, her eyebrow raised. "I guess I could borrow a night dress and a mask for this. There's no way I am not going to help. Alto will be proud." She said to herself. But she deeply thought if there were any kind of dresses that could suit her demonic attributes easily.

---

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Crowvette@rawkhawk64
The tall, expressionless girl of the Vigilantes looked at the rain of leaflets, before assuming that an umbrella would protect her from the sheets as it did with raindrops. She quickly retrieved one from her inner space, before grabbing one of her leaflets, and with a puzzled expression, addressed the other vigilantes who had gathered at the meeting point.

"Brutus, Andras, Ria, Not-Bird Nas, Does a masquerade supply enough fluids and vitamins as much as a lemonade?"

---

@Crowvette
Dmitry navigated the school rather easily, now the uniform confusion easily fixed. He wondered if it'd take too long to find whoever was to swear allegiance to, but he was not disappointed. Such display of power was only befitting a royal blood, no matter how much a certain Duchess third year noble seemed to scoff at the "excessive disparaged display of wealth." That other girl might be Liselotte's inferior, Mitya surmised.

It was then when he presented himself in Lady Liselotte's chambers, and made his way in. He already seemed to blend as a servant easily, and Mitya found it automathic to reach for items to bring to Liselotte, alongside the introduction letter of his dear father. He knelt before her, letter in tow.

"Milady." He said, not even bothering to leave sight of the ground even once. It was then when a buzz hit his senses and ears like a hundred thousand of grindwheels. But he did not falter even once. Whatever the message was about it could wait.

Rend the fatebreakers? Blessings were surely cryptic...

@AtomicNut
A wreath of steam from her shower followed Lise as she stepped from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. For a brief moment, her haughtiness, pride, and royal status seemed gone, lost in a serene yet simple moment.

Of course, then she saw someone she didn't know in her room, and it all was evaporated in a flash of indignation so intense that it could have only been spawned from someone of immense pride. She pointed at Mitya, glaring. "W-W-W-What are you doing in my room?!" She caught her towel just as it started to unwrap from her body. "Get OUT!"

One shadow servant rose between her and Mitya, and another appeared at the window, opening it. She could recognize the intention of throwing the intruder directly out of the window in a single motion.

At the same time, Lise wasn't sure why they had such good coordination for this maneuver. It seems like they'd thrown someone out of a window before, but Lise would never have done such a thing until recently, when she had moved to Rhea and had to deal with so many ruffians. Unless, way back when she was a child...

'Is that why Cousin won't talk to me anymore?' Lise had a small realization unfold as her true servants sprung into action towards Mitya.

@Hammerman

---

Katherine couldn't help but smile at his enthusiastic Christine was for this party. It was an infections sort of excitement, one that dug into her and helped banish whatever resistance was left. Honestly, if both of them were in agreement it must be the right move. "I couldn't agree more."

She picked up the invitation and brought it up to cover her eyes. "As for what we should wear, I guess that all depend on what sort of mask you're comfortable with." She was sure that whatever it was Christine decided to wear it would turn heads. Katherine was having trouble with that issue herself. Something eye catching, yeah, but...more modest. Then again, considering the Mephistos were invited maybe she should have something she could fight in without destroying.

"In that case I suggest deferring to your sisters fashion sense."

Thinking about that made her cheeks flush. Yeah, no.

"You want to do a swap?" She asked. "You be some tropical volcano goddess, I'll be Jill Frost?"

Hmmm, why had her mind immediately gone to a certain song? This wasn't even the right season.

---

"Then we have a compact!" Nas said as the girl agree to his proposal before falling into his arms. He helped to hold her steady as gently as he possibly could before turning to Ria. "Ha!"

"Bullshit." Ria said, incredulous that the girl had just agreed like that. She'd convinced Nas to try this for a laugh, she'd hadn't expected it to actually work. Ria walked over and placed her hand on Andrea's forehead, just to make sure she wasn't running a fever or anything as she started asking if anyone else had felt the earth move. "Nah, I think gravity felt the same for the rest of us right now. You feeling all right? You said something about seeing the Root? What's up with that?"

There were three things this could be: A act out, a delusion, or that thing in her eye was actually talking to her. Ria didn't like any of those things. Andras, for all he weird nerd faults, was potentially one of the best resources King had at his disposal. Her health was basically paramount. Anything happening to her was un-ac-fucking-ceptable.

It was then Melanie decided to appear, inquiring about the party. At the mention of her pet name for him Has visibly flinched. "A festival of this calibre will have many refreshments. As much as you can carry. I remember that the elders would squeeze the necter from the peaches that grew on top of the mountain, and all the adults would sup as one on it for many days."

At least, that's what he had heard. He'd been banned from those festivities due to an unfortunate incident and had been entrusted with the care of his brother on those nights forever more.

@AtomicNut@Crowvette@rawkhawk64@Scarifar

"Hmm, what sort of mask should I wear, huh?" Christine tilted her head, pressing her index finger to her chin. "That's a good point, Sis. I should match my dress with my mask."

Thankfully for her, Kath quickly came out with an idea of her own. They would do a little switcheroo. She would masquerade as Jill Frost, while Christine would take the role of a volcano goddess. Hot and cold switched around.

"Ah, that could work!" Christine brightened up, clapping her hands together as she agreed with her suggestion. "A volcano goddess, huh? Maybe something red... Dark red..." Her forehead wrinkled as she remained deep in thought.

For the rest of the day she would remain that way, wandering around in her room, looking around inside her wardrobe for ideas on what her costume should be like. She even did some quick internet searches with the computer in her room; anything related to fashion and volcano goddesses.

In the end, she decided on a simple shoulderless dark red dress. The dress resembled a wedding dress, only that the flared skirt ended on her upper thighs, and that she didn't wear a veil with it. And with how her breasts threatened to spill out from its top, it was definitely more of the "sexy wedding dress" kind. Her mask would be crimson red, brighter than the dress.

Her idea was actually combining the myth of volcano gods that asked for virginal brides to be sacrificed to them. She imagined that all the sacrificed brides throughout the ages eventually became one volcano goddess that overthrew the original god.

(Imagine the dress to be dark red on the pic up there)

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Meredith frowned deeply. Not because finding a dress for her was rather hard, but because of the call she had just received. It had been one of the people she disliked the most right now. But one she also had some kind of twisted loyalty towards her. Indeed, even if she were a demon, her mother was her mother. She had effortlessly twisted the knife with her honeyed words, telling her to keep a certain "knight" not wandering around, as he was a bit of a crass individual lately. And to stop avoiding people. It was best to lie and manipulate, avoidance was a sign of weakness.

Meredith scoffed at the notion of having to talk to Wolf so soon. There was turmoil in her heart which she had not gotten to solve that, and It was a cage of worms that was best left unopened. But like putting up with her siblings, it had to be done. So she, for once waited. She waited until school was over, and squatted on top of one of the many lamposts of the streets, like a buxom bird of prey. She knew that after her mother's goading, Wolf would come her way.

Wolf was preoccupied. He was nervous. He'd stepped a solid mile out of his comfort zone and done something incredibly risky, if not outright stupid. All he could do was tell himself over and over again that he'd done we he had to, what no one else had been willing to do. The issue was that he wasn't convinced he was able to follow through if it came down it...

So preoccupied was he that he almost missed Meredith. Ironic what with her being the catalyst for all this. Sitting atop the lamppost as she was like the worlds most voluptuous gargoyle, she should have been easy to see for anyone who was actually paying attention. He actually had to take a few steps back so he could look up without having to snap his neck backwards.

". . . something tells me this isn't a coincidence," he said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Meredith stood still, for a second, not moving an ounce from the delicate balance she had set her striking figure in beyond a slight tilt of the head, like a huge, curvaceous owl.

She let a smile. But this was not her usual smile. It was more akin to that kind of compromising smile one could commit to do while restraining oneself.

"Are you a fucking retard?"

Wolf frowned deeply. Not exactly the warm greeting he'd kind of hoped for deep down.

"Nice to see you too... Meredith..." Wolf sighed. "I take it you spoke to your mother then?" He couldn't imagine why else she would accost him like this.

"Oh yes, we had a merry time together clawing each other's eyes out in a kind of perverted masochist rave." The demon-bird-schoolgirl attested. "Zack told me. He said you were really cool. He forgot to realize the stupidity of it all." Meredith added, as she finally jumped down to ground level. She stared at him, boring a hole through his skull with the sheer intensity of the gaze alone. "You don't have to live with being the offspring of that woman for who knows how long. And she can hold grudges and twist things like few others."

"I'm only sorry I didn't realize it sooner," he said. "I should have. My mother never trusted her, but I ignored it because I thought our fathers had it under control. I always imagined if she did anything it would be something big and dramatic..." He'd been two parts naive and one part just caught up in all his own issues. "But if in the end even if all she did was just nudge you in the wrong direction, then that tells me she's everything my mother always thought she was. Thing is, she didn't even deny it, and more and more I'm realizing that to say she just nudged you would be an understatement."

He looked down at the ground.

"I can't just do nothing anymore..."

Meredith sighed, as her stance relaxed. "Well, that was a nice effort i guess. But Wolfie, you really are out of your depth here. Don't fight an opponent if you don't even know yourself." Meredith added. "It took me a while to realize you know, still does. I am not as cuddly as i hoped i would be. " She walked towards the Vigilante. "Part of growing up is dealing with loss and stupid decisions. I tried to sacrifice two barely related people for my whims. I nearly died. You broke off with me by sending me home with that woman."

Wolf shrunk back at that. She'd brought it up, the moment of regret that had started this.

"I-I didn't-" But he had. He couldn't have known, but shouldn't he have? How much of this was because of his neglect? Thing was, the moment didn't exist in isolation. He'd been driven to that point. It wasn't hard to get there -- Meredith had brought it up herself. The way she'd said it irked him. No, the way she said it freed him suddenly. The guilt evaporated, becoming fuel instead.

His jaw clenched.

"Yeah... yeah I told you to go home. Personally, I'd call it mercy after what you did." His pupils had shrunk to pinpoints. He could still feel vestiges of the anger that had boiled up in him that day. "So if you wanna pity yourself and twist it so somehow you're the victim, go ahead, but I'm not buying it." But perhaps it was all short-lived. He hadn't thought himself "breaking things off" with her at the moment, he hadn't thought much of anything. He'd just wanted her to leave because he couldn't deal with her in the moment. So then... now that he was thinking about it... what did he really want? What if this ended up being the moment he regretted instead?

He'd told her that despite his better judgement he still wanted to trust her... but he did have that better judgement. He couldn't.

"The way I see it, there's a short list of people who know your mother's true colors and what you're dealing with. It includes me and a psycopath who slit your throat not long ago. So if you can't bear to look at me anymore and need an excuse, go ahead and read into what I said if you want. Otherwise get over it and, when you do, maybe we can talk."

Between all the conflicting emotions, that was about what he could come up with. He couldn't trust her... so he really couldn't have her running around where he couldn't see her.

Meredith stopped for a second, her stance and face neutral. "I guess I could, yes." The girl put a hand on her hip, her tail swishing slowly, as she began to walk towards Wolf, a smile appearing in her face, but without saying a word any further. "Talking is good, no?" She added, beaming a brilliant smile... not unlike her mother.

This... wasn't what he'd expected. No anger, no shock, or even sadness. He'd expected Meredith to react poorly in some regard to his outburst.

Somehow this was even more worrying. There was a time when this would have been a happy outcome, where'd he'd have naively accepted it. Now he just didn't understand Meredith anymore. Maybe... maybe he never really had.

"If you're actually willing to... yes." If she wasn't going to take this seriously then no amount of talking would make a difference. Would he even be able to tell if she was or not?

"Well, how about a make up kiss?" Meredith said, leaning towards Wolf.

"No." Thankfully, Wolf didn't have to think about this one. Whatever the implications of the request were, Wolf didn't bother considering them. Mostly he just assumed she was pulling some sort of trick thanks to her demonic heritage or was otherwise trying to mess with him. Regardless, if Vera found out... he shuddered to think. "In fact, keep your hands to yourself for now. Maybe we should talk later if you're going to act like this."

Or maybe not at all. He didn't want to consider it, but he had to. What if Meredith was too far gone? He didn't think so. It wasn't that long ago she'd been his best friend. He didn't want to believe she could fall that far so quickly. No, of course not, but then what the hell was she doing?

"Huh, so you're at least a bit wary about it." Meredith said, immediately backing off. "My mother is much better at pulling these stunts." She added, turning her back, before immediately messing her own hair up. "Bweee, how can be you so dense at times and then having a saving grace? I can't teach you anything this way!

"I mean, um. We will talk lat... NO! What is the point of acting cool now, Mer. I mean, I should have given him time to heal and reconsider. He needs a life on his own, and no manipulative women. Then again it's Wolfie and somebody will suck the marrow out of him, and he was nice to me and he went to face mother the goddamn fool!"

". . . you know I can hear you, right?" Wolf pursed his lips. Well, it was refreshing to see at least a hint of the Meredith he remembered.

"I DONT CARE! YOU ARE A POOPYHEAD, WOOFIE!" Meredith snapped back, almost on reflex.

"Ye..NO!" Meredith said, grimacing. "How could I be okay! I have the thirst to drink people now and I see how laughably easy is to mess with emotions! It's a good thing I like chocolate even more! " She paused for a bit and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let me think for a second." Meredith said, squatting in the ground, a brief throwback to her energetic self. "I burnt the bridge for your own safety, but this could work. " She said, standing up. "I suppose, that um, given that we spent a lot of time as kids... I will come to your aid if you need. Even if you hate me. I suppose I can respect your absolutely nasty taste in women."
"I guess, that's the bottom line of it." Meredith said. "But don't go rousing mother anymore, kay?"

"Nothing's burnt, Meredith. I don't hate you." Wolf sighed. "Definitely singed, but not down to ashes, and just treating you like some sort of tool to pull out in an emergency isn't going to help anything."

He crossed his arms.

"And I'll back off of your mother, but if she starts causing problems again I expect you to tell me..." He didn't need a repeat of last time.

"So you don't hate me?" Meredith said, as she turned back to Wolf, smiling and leaning on him.

"You're lucky no one died, so no, I don't." Well he supposed he'd have been fine if Galbrek or the masked throat slicer had died... However, he quickly edged away from her. "And what did I say about touching?" Her hugs were nice, a little too nice sometimes, but she was gonna have to earn that kind of trust back. It didn't help that she'd just mentioned drinking people...

"I'm hungry Wolf. So hungry." Meredith said. "Can you buy me pancakes, pretty please?"

Wolf's eyes went wide? Hungry? For souls- Oh, no, that was fine then.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Sure... we can do that." It was a happier ending than he could have hoped for. He was still on edge. Something could always go wrong.

Especially when Vera found out... He swallowed hard at that thought.

No, no, he could have that panic attack later... For now: pancakes.

@Scarifar

---

It had been a few days now, but Vala still was not used to this place. It was huge. So prestigious was the school that despite only being a "highschool," it had dorms for the inevitable foreign students in attracted.

Like her.

She'd tried following Cassius around, but she'd been careless and lost track of him. Perhaps she'd relied on him too much because when he wasn't around she tended to get lost. She was currently wandering the building after classes trying to get used to the place a little better. It... wasn't helping much.

Well, in this case, there was only one thing to do. Since she'd lost Cassius, she'd find someone else!

"Eenie... meenie... miney... HI!" Vala suddenly popped up next to her unsuspecting prey and soon to be tour guide (hopefully), who in this case happened to be Michelle. Or was it Belinda? Well, the distinction didn't much matter to Vala who was unaware of the girls' condition. "My name is Vala." She paused for a moment. "I'm lost." However, Vala wasn't entirely oblivious, the girl's uniform told her that this was a first year student she'd randomly elected. "Umm, oh, you like tournaments in Rhea, right? Help me out and I'll teach you how to fight better!"

Well as fun as that way, even I don't wanna go through that again, Belinda asked Michelle. "Never thought I'd see the day we'd be dragging Meredith to the school nurse."

"I know, right?" Michelle sighed. "I'm just glad she made a full recovery."

Isn't she, like, a demon or whatever? She's obviously a lot tougher than we are. Of course she'd be fine, Belinda remarked. Taking on a bitter tone of voice, Belinda added, And she's even got bigger breasts than we do. It's like she's got everything.

Michelle was about to put her hands to them, but quickly realized what she was doing and placed them behind her back instead. Clearing her throat to try to cover her embarrassment, she said, "Maybe not everything. Someone had to inflict those wounds on her in the first place. I guess having too much would make people hate you."

We should find the people that did that to Mer and make 'em pay! Belinda said. Michelle shook her head, rejecting the idea. "We should leave that to the proper authorities. The last thing we need is more trouble on our hands."

That was when Vala decided to make her grand appearance next to her. Michelle, startled, jumped back as she turned to face this newcomer. Speaking of trouble... Belinda said, interested in this sudden new development. "Shut up, Belinda," Michelle muttered. Turning her attention back to Vala, Michelle said, "Sure. Um, where do you need to go?"

@Scarifar

---

"Wh-" Vala tilted her head, hearing Michelle say something, but seemingly not to her so she let it go. "Oh, well..." She realized that if this was a first year, she might not know her way through the whole school. Surely there were floors she just never needed to go to. "I mean, I keep getting lost because I'm new, so I'm late to my classes a lot." A lot... as in almost every time, every class, every day. "The teachers are getting impatient and starting to give me a lot of extra after class work to do... but I don't know where the offices are to hand it in..." She rubbed the back of her head nervously. It was as good a start as any.

However, practically before they even would set off, Vala couldn't help herself.

"So... have you ever been in a tournament before? Can first years enter tournaments? If not are you going to soon? What are they like here?" Then she stopped. "Oh no, do you think they'll hold off after what happened last time? Aww, I wanted to be in one... Errr, n-not that that's the most important thing of course. I-I'll stop talking..." Or so she said. "Ah, I forgot to even ask your name! Err, s-so?"

Michelle had never been the talkative type, but she had no problems listening to people rambling. She nodded and smiled as Vala went on, and it was actually kinda fun to listen. "My name is Michelle Lien. Good to make your acquaintance," Michelle introduced herself. Her gentle smile then transformed into a cocky one as she took on a more tomboyish attitude. Pointing to herself with her thumb, Belinda hijacked their body and added, "And I'm Belinda, Michelle's... sister, I guess you could say. We're two people in the same body. Nice ta meet ya!"

Belinda then returned control to Michelle, who returned to her prim and proper posture. Blushing, Michelle whispered, "Belinda, what are you doing? You shouldn't be-" Belinda, however, was having none of that and resumed control a second time. "I don't know why you're always so uptight about this, anyway, Michelle. There's no need to keep this a secret anyway. We already got cool powers and living beings that aren't human in this world, so why should we feel ashamed about who we are, right?"

W-well, sure, but- Michelle began to say before Belinda cut her off. "But nothin'! I dunno about you, Michelle, but I wanna make a good first impression on our new friend here," Belinda said before turning her attention to Vala. "Anyway, we wanted to join that tournament before, but the school was looking for 'the best of the best', and we just didn't make the cut. It's a real shame."

Belinda waved the statement dismissively before changing the subject, "But enough about me. Let's talk about you! You're that girl... Vala, right? You beat the heck outta Cassius, and I wanna know how you did that." Belinda was eager to learn some new moves, hopefully propelling them forward to a new level.

Andreim Volkazar

Place: To rescue Lise
Theme: youtube.com/watch?v=ZQp3fNzMWTA&t=149s

He had found himself standing outside of the girls dorm again, what was keeping Lise so long? Was it the hair or the dress? The other things? The green and brown clad young man leaned against the wall patiently. All had been prepared for the coming weeks, where recruitment would begin. How things had moved forwards quickly, it felt like it was almost a year ago they had set their feet into the apartment complex. The trouble had begun there, but also all the good. He was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the familiar voice of Lise... screaming?! Lise was in trouble!

"Lise?" His eyes snapped fully open, his body tensed and his teeth gritted.

Andreim straightened up in an instant and in an almost tearing manner opened the door to the corridor separating all the dorm rooms in the girls only section. He knew fully well which room was Lise's however, as he had taken her there after their withdrawal from the apartment complex incident where she lost her skirt. That damn Rurik, it was his fault and those Mephisto crooks, then Alto had swooped in to catch her. Which was both a relief but also an annoyance. The young man found himself running through the corridor and found himself outside Lise's door, he felt the door handle, forcefully twisting it and when that didn't open it. He quickly created an orb of water in his hand to grasp around the handle, then attuning to ice to freeze it solid, then doing a complete reversal of the temperature using heat in order to break it.

As the door handle shattered into pieces, he kicked open the door and darted inside. Once inside he spotted an individual he had never seen before, alongside the beauty that was lady Liselotte, aswell as one of her shadow servants. This intruder. This... male? Female? It didn't even matter!

The person was kneeling before her, and the window to the room was open. A burglar? A courting burglar? No this was way worse. This person was going to pay for intruding on her domain so casually when she was not even dressed.

"I'm here Lise!" He said as he came into the scene, setting his eyes on the beauty for a moment and then to the intruder. His eyes narrowed and twitched slightly.

"Why you little scumbag! How dare you lay your eyes on her! Get the hell out of here!" Andreim yelled loud enough for it to echo down the corridors, tightening his right hand into a fist and channeled his watery power around it, attempting to shoot the intruder away with a jet of water, hopefully out the window the wicked thing came from. If not then he was prepared to reduce the entire dormitory to a battleground.

@Crowvette@Dezuel

Dmitry stood still for a moment, before the heated reply to himself came. Apparently, this Lady Lise had a strange reaction to see him. She had been bathing. Dmitry did not understand. Did not the servants tend to the lords and ladies in their daily duties even when cleansing themselves? Certainly his siblings never minded him scrubbing their backs or helping them in the daily dressing and chores a person of Kalinin blood had to do.

"But...message." he pieced together answering her demand to get out. Well, he would comply. Most alarmingly, some dark shadows appeared to escort him out... through a window. Not the usual exit, but Dmitry was acquainted with window exits. The Lady of Kalinin was fond of pushing him down them. It was faster, she said. Something else happened that made him rethink things, though.

The door to her room was broken by a loud individual that was out for blood. He also shot water spouts at Dmitry. No doubt his yelling was part of his burglar strategy, but he would not trick Dmitry! He was acquainted with beating burglars in the name of Kalinin, oh he was. Normally he kept his more taxing powers to a minimum use, but the situation was forcing him to act.

What if Lady Lise got wet again? That'd not be a proper thing for a servant to allow!

"Apokalipsis" He muttered under his breath, as he began to move. The world decomposed in a flow of possibilities and what ifs, and a path was set. He deftly dodged the shadow, staggering it so it was hit by the water attack instead, and ran towards Lise, his arms extended to grab her in a bridal carry.

"We go now, Mistress. First Safety. Then, water miscreant punishment." He said, as he tried to grab Lise on his arms, forsaking the build difference and carry her through the window towards a more suitable space to fight. He wasn't sure Lady Lise could break the fall from this height, but it was alright. He could afford a couple of broken bones by using himself as cushion.

@Scarifar

---

Vala found herself clapping as Michelle and Belinda traded control of the body back and forth. It was quite entertaining. She wasn't sure if it was an act or if they were telling the truth, but she'd play along until she was sure. No need to embarrass the girl. Or herself if this was real -- it certainly wasn't the weirdest thing.

"Well don't worry about that, you're in good hands now!" Vala said. "Back home they called me the Chosen One! I'm not sure what I was chosen for, but apparently fighting is important!" She dropped that line with none of the pomp and circumstance one would expect to go with such a title. "It's why I'm gonna fix the mess those bad guys made as soon as I can find them! Ohhh, maybe that's what I was chosen for!"

After they reached the offices Vala ran around sliding her make-up work under far too many doors. Some Chosen One she was...

"OK! To the sports field!" That one was outside, and thus not hidden in a labyrinth of hallways. She knew where that one was. If Belinda was serous about learning about Vala's power, it likely wouldn't have taken much dragging to get here there, but Vala seemed just as excited so some dragging was still involved.

Once on the empty ball field, Vala tossed her bag aside and bowed after getting a short distance away from Belinda.

"OK, come on and show me what you've got!" she urged the other girl. Err, girls? Either way...

"Some Chosen One she is, am I right, Michelle?" Belinda muttered jokingly to Michelle, who fumed silently as they followed Vala. Belinda realized just how angry she was this time; it was rare for her to not say anything in response. "Come on, Michelle, you know I hate it when you give me the silent treatment," Belinda added in a tearful tone. "Say something, at least."

...We're going to have a long talk after this, Michelle finally answered.

Belinda perked right back up. It seemed Michelle didn't hate her that much, after all. "I love you too, Michelle. And you know I'm right," she said playfully.

It was a while before they made it to the sports field. As Vala readied up for the upcoming spar, Belinda got into a fighting stance, already imagining the possible ways to make the first move. Michelle, however, already decided on what to do. Let's go with the Blink-Stun.

Belinda silent agreed, materializing her spear into her hands. Belinda began to charge, running leftwards before curving back towards Vera. Then she suddenly planted her foot firmly into the ground, stopping her charge as she pulled her arm back and proceeded to throw her spear like a javelin. Before the spear would hit Vala, however, the spear would dematerialize. At the same time, Belinda teleported behind Vala, transferring control over to Michelle, where she would materialize her shield and slam it into Vala. Should the attack connect, Michelle would proceed into a chokehold from behind as she pinned Vala down.

@Scarifar

---

The "Chosen One" stood there ready, unflinching even as the weapon was launched at her.

She then proceeded to be easily fooled and struck by Belinda and Michelle's plan.

"WAH!" She cried out as she was thrown off her feet. However, there was just one thing. Her hands hadn't shot out to break her fall like a normal person would have. No, instead her hands were by her hips. In fact, she'd never quite hit the ground, instead suspending herself by two fingers and a thumb each.

Her body immediately coiled up and then lashed out with a kick aimed right for Michelle's jaw before she then twisted launched herself away with a handspring. Whether or not she had landed her kick, she eyed her opponent warily for a moment from where she now stood.

"WHOA! YOU CAN TELEPORT!" Vala's face lit up with excitement once she was back on her feet at a safe distance. Then again, she was now realizing that apparently there might be no such thing as a safe distance here. "Err, I'm gonna have to be more careful..."

She quickly shifted into a much more dynamic fighting stance this time, "OK, you got the first hit, keep it up!"

Elise had come to St. Lareuls intending to repair the damaged reputation of the nobility, or at least improve the view of her family. A very lofty goal by most people's standards, but Elise was confident. She had many assets going into her first year. She was an honor student with high marks, her family name was from a high ranking family, and though it was a little prideful to think so, she was quite the cute girl. Some early development went a long way to improving her confidence. However, much like life, school life would not be the breeze she had hoped it would. Slowly Elise came to realize that all her assets did little to help her fit in.

It turns out being small and young meant most people didn't take you seriously. Neither her status as a noble or an honor student would seem to sway this opinion. Still, she was not without hope. Her cousin, despite her many flaws, was well respected and adored by the student body. To Elise's infinite frustration, her cousin demonstrated all the traits she sought to correct, but maybe that was the wrong way to think of it. Perhaps classic tropes are what the people want. That instead of convincing nobility to behave better, not that she still wouldn't try, but convincing the populous that the old tropes they associate with them are cool instead. As a result of this line of thinking, Elise spent the next several months perpetuating Lise's popularity, by helping people to continue to misconstrue her intent and mannerisms.

It was especially successful during the tournament when Lise was putting on every aristocrat trope in the book. Her already growing popularity with a little manipulation in the background had the crowd screaming her praises. It was a shame that the tournament was canceled due to a demon outbreak, followed by a cultist invasion. If Lise had won the finals, she could have propelled the family's name. Still, fighting Cultists in the street won Lise some credit.

It was all going great, then her cousin, did something she hadn't seen coming. She decided to throw a masquerade ball, and she advertised it everywhere and invited everyone. The questions came fast, and she had no answers to give, luckily, someone said, "costume party?" and she faked it from there. As they say, the best lies are the ones people tell themselves. Still, this was unacceptable how could she have not known about this. One angry phone call to her family later and she had her answer. "It was a surprise." is what her Dad had said. She ghosted him for three days after that. Still, this was a wake-up call. She had never been %100 aware of what her cousin was up too. She didn't rant her plans a loud like a supervillain, and she couldn't have Sho watching her all the time as they were busy with their own tasks.

So it was with much trepidation that she finally decided that it was time to reconnect with her cousin. She had avoided this for many reasons. The main one being, she didn't like Lise. Her cousin with an arrogant, obnoxious, and oblivious girl who threw her out a window. Those kinds of memories didn't fade fast, nor did the broken leg. The other was she didn't want her to be aware of what she was doing. To a degree, she did feel bad using her cousin as a figurehead for achieving her goal. Still, she had spent all day thinking about it in class, and she guessed it was time to try and mend bridges.

As Elise approached the girl's dorm, her mind rehearsed the many possible ways conversations could go. Her musing, however, was cut short by the sound of a girl screaming, followed by a window slamming open. The PTSD like flashback this sequence of events gave her caused her yelp and jump in place. It took her a moment to regain her senses, but she looked up in time to see something she hadn't expected. Rather than a random girl getting throw out a window, it was her cousin Lise along with some girl, Miya, carrying her bridal style. She had no time to contemplate the situation instead choosing to act first, then ask questions later. She thrust out her arm, pointing at the falling pair, then shouted, "Shadows catch them!" The effect was faster than the eye could see as her command sent a wave of power through the long shadows cast by the building. The area around Elise would suddenly become almost blindingly dark, the air dropping several degrees. Then from the darkness, a half dozen giant black human like arms would emerge grasping at the falling pair.

As long as neither Mitya or Lise resist the grasp of the shadow hands, then they would catch and slow their fall towards the ground. Unfortunately, due to the trajectory, it would be right on top of Elise. They would both hear a yelp as they enter a dark space and land on something small and soft. After this, the darkness would clear, and the arms vanish to reveal Elise smothered by her near-naked cousin with her lips pressed against hers. Elise's brain at that moment chose to implode as all the logic and reason left in favor of panic and confusion. She would try to shove her cousin off her, but her arms were weak, and she would only succeed in grabbing Lise's towel and weakening its precious connection with her body. Someone would need to act fast to contain this deteriorating situation.

@Hammerman

---

"And what in the world are we searching for up here?"

Katherine coughed at the dust kicked up from moving another old box out of the way. The attic was cramped, dusty, and lit by only a swinging bulb that hung from the ceiling. It was only cramped from all the stuff. Al around her she could see things her parents had collected and left up here, some individually through the lines of boxes. She glimpsed a full length mirror, a line of of arcade cabinets, a chest containing all the old toys she was too old for now. But what she was looking for was...there!

She pushed her way forward, hopping over a foosball table before reaching a big, white, plastic conifer tree taller than she was laying on its side like a logger had just come through here and felled it. Around it were boxes she knew contained spools of lights and delicate old glass orbs. Near the base of the tree was a big wardrobe that she threw open, dust flying off in a cloud.

"I'm not sure its safe for someone who so recently almost lost her lungs to be up here."

"Stop acting like you're my mom." Kath said, pawing through a bunch of see-through plastic bags containing neatly folded festival outfits hanging within. "I'm looking for something they got Chrissy a while back. It was this gown, big floofy dress, cute snowflake leggings, the whole shebang. Totally not her style. Here!"

She pulled the thing off its hook, pressing the bag to her skin and judging the size. She couldn't have gotten that much bigger since they'd last dressed up for the holidays. Nodding in satisfaction she took it and started back toward the mirror, pulling off her shirt in the process.

---

"Ho ho ho ho ho ho!" Katherine laughed as she came down from the attic, the tail of her new dress trailing down the steps as she descended. It was a little tighter than she'd anticipated, but a loosening of that corset had put that problem to bed. She twirled the little scepter she'd found in the toy chest, pressing the button that was supposed to make it glow and getting nothing because the batteries had died ages ago. On her face she wore a wide mask, the crown of which was an actual tiara topped with a star that sparkled in the hallway light. "Fear me mortals, for I am the snow queen. Summer days will never come again." She raised a hand to the side of her mouth. "Ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

"You're not doing it right."

"Eh?" Kath asked.

"Tilt your chin up. Higher. Higher. Now begin with the oooo sound."

"Oh, ho ho ho ho ho?"

"We'll practice."

So far so good. The feint went off without a hitch and Vala went down easily. Now all they needed to do was pin her down. Michelle dematerialized her shield, hoping to get a little more speed and complete their pin before Vala could recover. As Michelle began to go in for the move, however, Belinda couldn't help but feel that something was off. Their plan of attack was going just a bit too well. They went for an arm to lock behind Vala, and that's when Belinda saw it. Belinda's instincts were telling her Vala was already ready for a counterattack, and immediately warned Michelle, SHIELD!

Michelle reacted to Belinda's warning and quickly brought her arms up in time to receive Vala's kick, which forced her to stagger backwards. There was no time to rematerialze her shield in that moment, leaving her left arm stinging with pain. She soon recovered her footing, but by then Vala was also back on her feet and ready for another exchange. Switch, Michelle thought, and Belinda was given back control. "I'll do much more than that," Belinda responded, a grin appearing on her face. Summoning her spear once again, Belinda wanted to go all out, but Michelle was having none of it. Let's be a bit more cautious this time. Feel her out, Michelle directed. Belinda definitely didn't want to, but trusted Michelle's judgement on the matter. She went up to Vala and proceeded to take quick, infrequent jabs with her spear in an attempt to determine her defenses and behaviors.

@Scarifar

---

Vala dipped and dodged around the spear anytime it was thrust her way. No matter how close the spear seemed the get, Vala never looked concerned. Soon Belinda would have heard something. Humming. Vala was smiling and humming to herself in time with her dodges.

She seemed to be having fun.

Well, it was only sparring, right?

However, it seemed it would only amuse her for so long. The next jab that came in, Vala leaned backwards, letting it pass over her. She then turned it into a backflip, kicking the spear as she did to knock it away while she also gained some distance.

"I can do that too!" She cocked back her arm and a spear of golden light formed in it before she chucked it like a missile straight at her opponent.

Vala had two simple plans for the outcome of this.

If the shield came back out to block it, her opponent would suddenly feel a weight hit it as Vala darted forward to use it as a foothold to vault herself up and over them and aim a mid-air spin-kick to the side of their head.

If they just dodged, well, she'd just throw another... and then another... until she either baited out the shield or something else happened.

And, well, she supposed the spear could always just hit Belinda.