Watching the feeble little leech of a lifeform struggle desperately in her grasp only brought a cold, cruel smile to the doll's lips. She wasn't one to normally indulge in other's suffering, but... honestly, these things deserved it. They were sickening, unwelcome, and loathsome in every way. Just evil little monsters that had to be eliminated.

"It'll be over in a moment," Alice stated, whether to the Puppeteer or to Cynthia was unclear. With an almost casual attitude, Alice raised her arm, then slammed the Puppeteer into the ground with as much force as she could muster, her left foot enveloping itself in a shiny, nigh-indestructible substance as she did so.
Raising said foot, Alice shot the creature one more, loathsome glare, before slamming her diamond-encased limb onto the thing's head.

With the monster eliminated, Alice's foot returned to normal as she turned to look at the girl. She was probably much too young to be getting involved in this kind of thing, but... well, she was involved now.
The Doll took a few steps towards Cynthia, pausing suddenly. It occurred to Alice to drawing too near after such a scene was liable to freak her out even more, and that would just be irritating. Let's see, how to properly explain this in a calm, easy-to-understand manner...

"I'm a Doll, I came here to assist you," Alice spoke in an almost disinterested manner. She made no effort to hide old injury, "that thing wasn't human. If you want to survive future encounters with their kind, you'd best accept my help."

Totally fully explained.

---

A voice broke through Ada's dozing state, leaving her momentarily confused. Blinking her eyes open, she realised that she was still outside... someone was talking to her...

...And they had a knife pressed against her body.

Frozen with shock and fear, Ada's eyes darted towards the woman speaking, She was saying strange things, but... in the end, all she wanted was money, right? Jewelry, too... well, in her current situation, she could hardly refuse and call for help. Shaking her head would only lead to that knife getting far too intimate with her heart. All Ada could do was agree and hope for the best. Silently and shakily, Ada nodded her head, reaching for her purse.

And then someone appeared and threw the mugger away.

Dazed, confused and still quite scared, Ada watched blankly as a strange girl referring to someone (her?) as 'master'... then pulling out a ton of weapons out of nowhere and attacking the dangerous woman... it was quite overwhelming. Nothing made sense any more. Why didn't she go home when she really should have?
After the strange girl smiled at her, Ada crawled towards the discarded knife. Compared to... all the stuff that little girl was carrying, it wasn't going to even register as a threat, but hey, it gave her something to swing around and keep the two at bay. Why did these people have to target her?! What did they want? Why all the fighting?!

Nina simply smiled at Eris' protests, "Don't be silly, Eris, you know I've been planning this since you entered my life. It's just, these Hunters have started to frequent here more than I should like, and to confine me in this very room...we both know how that will end." she replied, carefully sitting her companion on her bed. She stood and looked at her, sighing, "You're not looking that well, Eris, I think you used too much of your power back there. It might be more difficult getting us out of here with you in that condition." she added, looking around the room for something. She turned back to the pile of junk, opening the closet again and digging all the way to the back, feeling something cold touch her fingers. "Oh! What on earth was that?" she cried. She reached out, feeling the coolness once again, though finding that it appeared to be a door handle of some sort. Turning it, dim light poured through the newly opened door, which appeared to lead under the house. If her luck held out, the hidden passageway would lead them outside somewhere, hopefully a fair distance from the house. Shoving her way back through the closet and into her room, Nina carefully lifted Eris again, "Come on, we're getting out of here, this time for real." she said, leading her companion to the closet. Just as they were reaching the door, she heard her room's door open, knowing it had to be someone coming to check on her. Once the pair were past the door, she pulled it shut, hopefully it would give them enough time to find a place to hide down there. "Come on, we have to hide somewhere..." she whispered to Eris. She had no clue where to hide, just that they had to for some reason.

Cynthia

When she saw the blonde girl raise her diamond-encrusted foot up to bring it down on the horrible creature's head, Cynthia looked away, covering her eyes. By the time she looked back, it was already fading into light, as well as... what was left of its head... it all drifted and gathered around the blonde girl, feeding into her. Cynthia stared. Fear trembled inside her, but... there was more then that. There was... fascination. She'd never seen anyone like this before! And... she was injured, but it clearly wasn't from killing that monster... she'd done it so fast! Was she... was she...

When the Doll spoke, she answered Cynthia's questions.

"You're really a Doll!?" she cried, shooting to her feet almost immediately. "That's amazing! I can't believe you're really a Doll! So.. was that monster... was it... what was Mary calling them... a Puppet? Something like that! That monster was a Puppet! I didn't know if the rumors were true, but... but now I know and it's amazing!"

Part of her supposed that it meant there really were evil monsters in the city bent on doing terrible things to people with absolutely no remorse, but on the other hand it meant that Dolls were really real! She'd read about them before... seeing one in real life... it was new and exciting!

"I'm Cynthia! Cynthia Lee! What's your name?"

---

Dead Heart Shooter

"This is for you, Master!"

Dead Heart Shooter pointed at the struggling Marionette. Almost immediately, Rocket War fired. The sound was deafening, a barrage of bullets and explosives unleashed from the various weapons protruding from the iron maiden. Even as the weapons shuddered from the recoil, the sheer power behind every shot, Dead Heart Shooter maintained her position. She was small, and yet the recoil didn't move her at all. And Rocket War simply kept firing, kicking up a vast cloud of dust and debris. After what seemed like forever, Dead Heart Shooter lowered her hand. Instantly, every weapon in Rocket War ceased firing, the last few motions being the slowing spinning of the chaingun. "... Now, Master!"

Dead Heart Shooter turned towards her lovely, wonderful Master. She was so beautiful, every curve of her body, her soft skin, her black hair, her lips, her eyes... Dead Heart Shooter felt herself getting weak in the knees just looking at her exquisite Master. "I'm Dead Heart Shooter, Master! I'm here to please you, to protect your forever and ev-"

Something glinted in the corner of her eye. The small Doll jerked out of the way as a silvery blade sliced the air where she once stood. Turning fully, she saw it. The Marionette! She must have moved when all the dust got kicked up... In place of her right arm, there was a silver blade, from the elbow down. Dead Heart Shooter frowned. "Rude! Rude rude rude! I was talking to my Master!"

"Hmph... so you're a Doll, then?" the Marionette inclined her head to the side, "I wasn't expecting this..."

Carson

He hadn’t had much sleep lately. Was his lack of progress down to that?

No, he was making excuses again. He had no leads, because there were no leads. Puppeteers were behind these killings, he was sure of it now, but he had nothing to go on.

Carson sat upright at his desk and glanced at the time. Half past ten. Good, he had managed a few hours sleep at the expense of slow progression, if any. Looking out of the window, and seeing the rain,he grabbed his coat before heading out for a walk. No chance he would get back to sleep tonight, now.

It had been a strange month, looking back. Thinking about a few weeks ago where he sat for endless hours looking over evidence that didn’t add up, didn’t make any sense, and thought it wasn’t too different now, he had a better idea of what to look for. He chuckled.

I owe that to her, I guess.

A night not unlike this one, sitting in his house, stressing over the job he couldn’t do, the people he couldn’t save, steadily losing faith in himself, and slipping into serious depression. And then, she came.

Melody.

She explained what she was, where she had come from, even why she had come. He didn’t know what to think. For a few moments, he thought he had cracked, lost his mind. When she didn’t leave the next day, he began to believe her. His Doll. Melody explained about the puppeteers, too. This led him to the conclusion that it must be them behind the murders. He began bearing that in mind when he examined crime scenes and found little clues that supported the theory, or at least, that whatever was committing the murders wasn’t human.

She had also shown deep concern over his well being, trying to ensure he was well rested, eating enough and generally taking good care of himself. It had been annoying at first, but he really hadn’t been focusing on himself enough over the past months and she meant well, so Carson would silently acknowledge her nagging.

Walking through the doors of a shop a short walk from his apartment, he bought himself a coffee, and began his journey back. His phone rang from his bag, and he answered on the third ring. Turns out, he wouldn’t get his night off.There had been reports of screams nearby his apartment, and he would arrive long before and other officers. No way would he refuse.

“I’ll be there shortly.” He hung up the phone and placed in back into his pocket.”You there, Melody?”

A subtle reply came, one only he would notice. Although he felt bad about it, Melody was instructed to keep herself invisible unless an absolute emergency arose, or Carson told her otherwise. He was 99% sure she would have followed him out the door anyway, even if he had told her to stay behind.

“Good, let’s get going.”

They began running towards the area which the report came from.

Artemis

Artemis just stared blankly now, convinced he was insane. Perhaps because he was getting hysterical, the first thought that ran through his head was I need to cut down on the caffeine. Almost unintentionally, he spoke. "I guess I don't have much of a choice. I'll take mystery over certain death, so I accept." He suddenly felt a weight settle on his chest, and somehow knew he had made the right decision.

---

Lawrence

A silver haired head popped around the corner of a building and focused on Maya and Vander. "Oh, hey. I heard some yelling, so I came over to check on it. What are you two doing here?" Lawrence stepped out from behind the building wearing some kind of insane contraption that looked like some kind of upper body exoskeleton with a metal box on the back. "I thought I'd finally get to test my best work in combat, but I guess you guys dealt with it already."

---

Melody

Melody looked around the crime scene, trying to find evidence of Puppeteer involvement. Before she could really find anything, though, the slightest of noises made her spin around. There was a flash as a man stepped out of the shadows behind Carson, raising something above his head. "Carson!" she yelled, pushing her way through the veil that kept her hidden. She wasn't going to be fast enough, and as she watched the hammer come down towards Carson's head, everything went black.

She came to a short while later, vaguely aware that somebody was shaking her and yelling something. "..elody! Melody, wake up!" It was Carson, yelling her name. Putting a hand to her head, she groggily shook it trying to dislodge the headache. "What happened?" She asked, only to have the question waved away. "Never mind that," Carson said hurriedly, "You need to vanish, now!" Melody didn't really understand, but she slowly faded from sight anyway. Moments after she was completely gone, two other police officers entered the room. "Holy shit..." One of them said, "Who did this?" Melody followed his gaze and gasped, instantly wishing she hadn't looked. The man who had attacked Carson was lying in a heap, almost unrecognizable after being torn to shreds. "I have no idea," Carson lied expertly, "I assume it was the same person who killed the other two, though why they switched from a blunt object to a blade is beyond me. My best guess is that this kill was special to them." After reporting everything else, Carson handed the crime scene over to those two and excused himself, Melody following behind invisibly. When they were in the safety of his home, Melody phased back into the real world. "I did it again, didn't I?" She asked, her voice sounding hollow.

Xavier felt his body complete it's manifestation, indicating the bonding was complete, and without a moment to spare. Despite his appearance, Xavier was graceful with the twin katanas, each stroke he delivered or parried with sort of like a dance of blades. Eventually, the Puppeteer had retreated, aware he was no match for this Doll and his victim had been the wrong one. However, the fight didn't end, Xavier giving chase. Nobody assaults my Master and lives to tell the tale, not anymore! he thought, pursuing the Puppeteer. Eventually he found the Marionette he had attached himself to, Marionettes are like shells in which to hide, the Puppeteer bonds with them, then uses them for evil deeds. Common knowledge. But the extraction of a Puppeteer is another story, one humans should not be privy to. I am sorry, Master, but this, you cannot see. I am glad our chase ended in this alley, it will make things more simpler. he thought, sheathing his black katana. He moved before the Marionette could react, the white katana blade having already plunged itself into the Marionette's body and struck the Puppeteer. Upon withdrawing the weapon, there was no visible wound on the host, thought the extraction of the Puppeteer was obvious as it was absorbed into the blade. After sheathing the weapon, he waited to speak, "You were ambushed by some unsavory types when I happened upon you, and after disarming two of them, they fled." he told the stunned former host. Xavier returned to where he had left Artemis, "Xavier. No last name, wasn't created with one. You are?" he asked. Xavier rarely ever spoke, but when he did, it was short and to the point. It seemed idle banter would be out of the question in the future.

Carmel

“Wait here a moment, Doll Master,”, she spoke gently, letting a note of affection slip into her voice. “I need to finish tidying up.”

As his lips quivered slightly, Carmel felt her heart catch once again in her chest. Such a young, fragile creature; once there was time, she could attend to his shaken nerves. But now was not such a time. With a spark of fury at the assailant’s actions smouldering in her chest, she turned and strode towards the sinkhole. WIth every step, she could feel her awareness of the pavement’s potential shapes waxing and waning; she could only seize onto a single image while she remained fully rooted to the pavement. Not that she had intended to be giving any ground.

With a light hop, Carmel plunged into the sinkhole, air whistling in her ears as she dropped some six or seven feet into the earth. Beneath her, the Puppeteer rolled frantically, barely dodging her feet as she slammed to the floor; as she regained her balance, he spat a globule of blood to one side. They both glared silently at each other for several moments, scrutinizing each other for the first time since the fight began. The Puppeteer’s whites were tinged crimson, as though from burst blood vessels in each eye, and small nubs of teeth protruded from his jaw with every sneer.

When Carmel finally spoke, ice could have formed around her words. “Let me make this exceptionally clear,” she whispered. “You can choose to perish swiftly and gently, in which case I pull a well-deserved end to your miserable little mockery of a life. Personally, I prefer the thought of that option.” She leaned in closer. “Or you can attempt to resist until I’ve broken every bone in your body, then re-shattered every fragment under earth and stone until you’re finally ready to die. Which would you prefer?”

With a roar, the Puppeteer hurled itself forwards, fanged exposed and jaws slavering. Sliding sideways across the floor rather than surrender her footing, Carmel pivoted, slamming the flat of her palm into his back and ramming him head-first into the sinkhole wall. Within a few moments of fruitless struggling, concrete cuffs had unfolded from the wall and slowly snaked around his joints, locking him firmly into place. There. Given the choice, she would honestly prefer to finish this without unnecessary bloodshed; every drop she spilled from the host would just become a burden on her conscience later on. Snarling under her breath, she thrust her hand deep into the small of his back, slipping through the man’s spine and ribcage like butter. The creature she tore free wore feral, almost wolf-like features that were shortly crushed between a pair of concrete pillars.

A small plume of light erupted from the Puppeteer's form, drifting up through the concrete and into her body through the soles of her feet. For a split second, her vision swam as the world folded again, just at it had when she arrived - countless images superimposed across the world as clearly as the light of day. Then the moment faded, leaving only silence in its wake. Sighing in mingled relief and exhaustion, Carmel reached into her fibres and uncoupled herself from the ‘strain’ of maintaining her image. Almost at once, the ground began to fold back into its original form, releasing the unconscious host from his imprisonment and sluggishly carrying the pair of them back to street level.

Ezio

Okay, by the sound of it she wasn't here to hurt him, that was definitely a step in the right direction. However, she seemed to think he was something called a 'doll master.' clearly they couldn't be thinking of the same kind of dolls, especially since Ezio didn't want to be any kind of master of those kinds of dolls, that just felt wrong. Clearly she was mistaken. He couldn't just pretend to be this...'doll master' she was talking about, since he had no idea what that entailed. Therefor, his only option was to clear up this misunderstanding as soon as possible and hope she didn't get mad. While she didn't seem overly violent (what she did to that crazy guy didn't really count since it was in defense of someone), he had only just met her so it was too soon to tell for sure. "Um...listen. Thank's for saving my life and everything...but I'm not who you think I am. I have no idea what a 'doll master' even is. So...sorry"

Alice

Alice raised an eyebrow, not expecting this kind of reaction at all from the little girl. Shouldn't be more pants-wetting fear, or gibberish screams? She seemed all set to do that just a minute ago.

...Well. whatever.

"...Alice," the doll supplied her name, "well, if you know what I am, then that simplifies things. I want you to help me with the extermination of the Puppeteers. In return, I will act as your shield. No fluff, no contracts, just that."
Asking such a thing from this little girl didn't sit entirely well with Alice, but... if she knew about Dolls, it made things much easier for them both. Plus, Alice had no desire to let any danger befall anyone she would have partnered with. She had plenty of faith in her ability to protect this girl, but...

Alice folded her arms, "Additionally, I would suggest that you don't try and befriend me or whatever. That won't end well for either of us, so use me only as a shield and nothing more, please."

---

Ada

Arms shaking wildly with fear, Ada watched, wide-eyed, as the strange little girl unloaded a volley of explosive shots onto the older woman. That... that couldn't be possible, could it? What kind of gun could shoot like that?! That girl... oh no, she'd turned her attention to Ada now. Yeah, no way the knife would help at all.
The scary girl, calling herself 'Dead Heart Shooter', was approaching and speaking, but Ada could barely comprehend the words. She took a step back, ready to make a dash towards... somewhere that wasn't here. Somewhere that didn't have all this frightening madness.

But the woman that Dead Heart Shooter had blasted... she was still alive? And... and her arm, it was now a giant blade. She... she wan't human, either. Ada fell to her knees, overwhelmed by how... alien this situation was. She had never heard of anything like these people. Unless they were monsters. Yeah, monsters made sense. She was just being attacked by monsters. Of course.

Cynthia

"I've read about you before, I wasn't sure if you were real or not, though. No-one really seemed to know!" Cynthia let her excitement take hold. She truly, truly had... almost hoped Dolls were real. She didn't buy the whole thing about them being too dangerous to exist, since... well, the stories she read didn't make them sound that way! But then she didn't know if the stories were real, either... Until now! This was a real Doll, right in front of her, talking to her! And that was so new, and different... there was no way that Cynthia could be bored now! Puppeteers were bad, evil, there was nothing wrong with hunting them down or anything, and for a few moments Cynthia simply couldn't help but be incredibly excited by the prospect.

However, as she listened to Alice speak, she began to frown. What was wrong with trying to become friends with her? She didn't see anything wrong with that... frowning, Cynthia folded her arms.

"What's the problem with becoming friends?" she asked, "Are you anti-social or something?"

---

Dead Heart Shooter

The Marionette was scaring her Master, too! That was just unacceptable! Unacceptable Unacceptable Unacceptable! Without a moment's pause, Dead Heart Shooter swung Rocket War forward, intending to slam it into the Marionette and knock her over. But she sprang back, and then charged, her silvery blade flashing to come far too close, to slip itself directly into Dead Heart Shooter's chest. She moved, but she felt it slice through her habit, and cut a thin line into her pale skin. For a few seconds, the wound bled, and the sting of pain reverberated through Dead Heart Shooter's chest. It hurt... it hurt... but that didn't matter! Nothing mattered when she was protecting Master! Taking advantage of her position, Dead Heart Shooter swung Rocket Peace down and slammed into into the Marionette. There was an ugly crunch as the woman was sent flying... and for a moment she lay still, blood oozing from her limp body. It was twisted in a way that it was not meant to be.

Dead Heart Shooter approached the limp form. She knew about Puppeteers, and what they did to their Marionettes. She could still see the woman's chest rising and falling with pained breaths... it was so inferior to her Master's chest. "That's what you get for trying to hurt Master! And it will only get worse! I'll rip you apart for trying to touch my Master!"

Just as the thin cut healed, without so much as a scratch, so did the bones in the Marionette's body snap back into place and reassemble themselves. The injuries healed, the blood stopped flowing... She quickly shot to her feet, and with an inhuman snarl lunged for Dead Heart Shooter. But this time, the smaller girl was ready. Her hand snapped forward, and before the Marionette could even have a chance to move... it had gone straight into the woman's body. She jerked, eyes wide in shock, as her blade arm pulsed and twisted... before reverting back to nothing but an ordinary arm. The woman let out a gasp... and then her body went limp as Dead Heart Shooter found it. And like poison from a wound, she drew it out. It was evil... pure evil! Trying to hurt her Master like that... trying to kill her... even if it wasn't a Puppeteer, there was only one thing to do. As she pulled it entirely from the now-unconscious(and still covered in her own blood, even if her wounds had healed) woman, she was the horrible thing in full. It wasn't unlike the woman it had been drawn from... but each limb ended in a silvery blade.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter what it was. It would die. Die. Die. Die. Die die die die die die diediediediediediediediediediedie

Dead Heart Shooter took aim, and at nearly point-black range fired.

It only took a few seconds for there to be nothing left of the Puppeteer but a spray of blood on the cobblestones, and across her own body. She lowered Rocket War, and the air warped and twisted until the weapon vanished entirely. Swiftly, she turned to her Master, ignoring the blood dripping from her even as it dissipated into light and fed into her body. The former Marionette simply lay unconscious a few feet away.

"Master! Master!" the blood vanished entirely as it fed into Dead Heart Shooter. Oh, if she wasn't already feeling wonderful from being with her Master, she'd feel that way from consuming that Puppeteer... "Master! Are you okay?! You're not hurt, are you?! I'd never forgive myself if you were, Master!"

And... she lept forward and threw her arms around her Master, nestling against her. "I don't know what I'd do! I'm so sorry she almost hurt you! It won't happen again, I promise!"

Dead Heart Shooter was nearly overwhelmed. Her Master was so soft, so beautiful, and she smelled so sweet... the smell of her Master alone as nearly overwhelming, and she was so close...

Diego
It had been another perfect day for Diego. He had finished a bodyguard job yesterday which had just consisted of protecting a rich guy in an already well protected meeting with other rich people. He knew he was hired for that mainly as a show off, he had noticed the other rich people also hired the most bulky or strong bodyguards to prove their own superiority. Diego found it ridiculous, but he got paid for it so he kept his mouth. Today he had gone to the fighting ring for a scheduled fight. He had been put up against another high rate winner. It had been a tough match, but in the end Diego had won. Of course as always he had bet on himself. This meant he now had a nice reserve of money, maybe he would send some of it to his parents for if one of them got sick.
At the moment he was walking down some alleys to his apartment. He had heard some rumors going around about killers on the loose at night, but paid no attention to it. He could take whoever came for him. This mindset unfortunately meant that he hadn't been paying any attention to the darker alleys he was passing. When he passed a certain alley a woman carrying a knife jumped out. Diego was surprised and got tackled to the ground, but was able to grab the arm with the knife before he got stabbed. "Bleed, I want to see you bleed." Was all the woman said before she started pushing the knife downward towards his face. Diego tried to push it away, but this woman was unnaturally strong. Diego couldn't believe this, was he really going to die like this, just another corpse in a dark alley. "No I won't die like this." he said with clenched teeth and pushed with all his might. Still the knife slowly came closer inch by inch. He would do anything at this moment to prevent himself from dieing.

Carmel

A bittersweet smile tugged at Carmel’s lips. Breaking such innocence felt like a desecration, but it wasn't as though there was any reasonable alternative. “I'm afraid that, as of five or so minutes ago, you aren’t the person you thought you were,” she said wistfully. Securing her mental grasp, Carmel began to draw a thin pillar of concrete from the ground, ensuring the flow remained slow and steady rather than offering the child any cause for concern. Plain geometric shapes were the easiest to form - the simpler, the better - but her Doll Master needed to understand. Within a few moments, the pillar had sculpted itself into series of interwoven vines, with minuscule flowers continuing to blossom from its length as she spoke.

“A Doll Master isn’t something you choose to become,” Carmel explained, “although whether you choose to remain so depends on how safe you feel in this world.” She gestured broadly towards the unconscious man that lay collapsed on the pavement behind them. “They are individuals who have been singled out by a Doll such as myself for protection, and if you encounter any more creatures like our companion here, you may prove extremely grateful that I have.” Despite herself, she almost pitied him. So many people wore their ignorance like a blanket; insulated from the monsters in the darkness, with a similarly negligible amount of protection from them. And as much as she could shelter others from the cold reality, the one person she could never swaddle from reality was the one who mattered most. Suppressing the twinge of regret, Carmel offered her hand out for the child. “My name is Carmel,” she smiled gently. “How should I address you, young sir?”

It’s an unforgivable cruelty, but how could he survive without me?

Ezio

Taking her hand, he replied "E-Ezio." After he had gotten back to his feet, he then asked Carmel "why me, and just what does being a Doll Master entail? Do I have some kind of job I'm supposed to do now, because my only skill is getting from point A to point B fast, so unless you need a delivery boy, I'm not going to be much help." It was then that something hit him "wait...if i'm your Doll Master, then does that mean that you'll be staying with me?" While he didn't mind the idea of having a girl as pretty as Carmel as a roommate, he was worried that it would get awkward

Crystal looked at Icarus and smiled softly, planting a kiss on his cheek before blushing as he mentioned that her smile was his greatest treasure. "God Icarus, you sound as if you were someone's husband! Just not my own of course! I mean, who would want to be my husband? I am certainly no house wife, I can't work since I don't even know how to do that, and I only have money to offer that special man who only comes around once in a lifetime! I'm honestly not worth much...... You know that. You had to save me from my own cooking today! What man would want to do that every day of his life?" She asked Icarus, looking at the ground before her eyes found their way to Icarus'. She quickly hugged him again, knowing her parents would be very upset if she never married.

\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/

Eris looked deep into Nina's eyes, trying to remember if she actually had planned this forever and a half ago. She almost stood up when she heard Nina ask what the cold thing was, afraid that it could be a puppeteer or a marionette, but she let out a sigh of relief as she saw the hidden door open to show a passage way that might lead outside. Eris slowly stood up when Nina took her hand and pulled her off the bed, climbing into the passage way just as they heard someone come inside Nina's bedroom. Eris looked around for a place to hide, quietly pulling Nina behind a couple of big boxes before turning invisible herself. She hugged Nina to herself, ready to kill anyone or anything that came in to harm her master or herself.

/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\

Anatiel

The wind whispered gently through the trees, filling the evening air with a gentle rustle. The sound that accompanied the rustle was somehow wrong, though. Somehow… artificial.

It wasn’t just leaves.

It was paper.

Anatiel landed softly on the rooftops overlooking the young courier, a flock of origami birds easing her descent as they encircled her body. Travelling exposed like this was far too dangerous for her tastes. She hadn’t found an opportunity to obtain another Marionette for the hunt without drawing attention to herself, so here she stood, true form concealed only by the wings of a dove.

Where had that stooge escaped to with her Marionette?

She spotted her quarry lying sprawled at the feet of a Doll; that much was obvious from the makeshift vines erupting besides her. So the blond-haired shrimp was her Doll Master, was he? Could they possibly conceive of the retribution they had denied to her?

With a vicious hiss, she allowed her composure to settle marginally - thin lacerations covered her body where the wings of her irate flock had cut too deep. The flesh wounds sealed over within moments, leaving only a knot of vindictive fury in her stomach.

“Hey, you! Doll Master!” she called across the roofs. “Your pitbull there just chewed on my game! Depriving me of sport and pleasure, without so much as a by-your-leave!”

“I’ll give you two options - you can either offer yourselves as poor replacement, or you let me reclaim my property and continue with my affairs. I’d prefer the latter, personally. I don’t have enough spare time to bother with clearing up the stains.”

Icarus

Icarus was on cloud nine when Crystal's lips touched his cheek. However, her words brought him back down to earth "stop it!" he sobbed "please, just stop it! Do you have any idea how much it hurts me to hear you say those kinds of things about yourself? It feels like someone stabbing my heart over and over again! You are my entire world Crystal, your safety, happiness, and comfort are my highest priorities, everything else is just an after thought." Then the full implications of something she said finally hit him "wait...I sound like a husband......but I already told you when we first met that you were my eternal partner. I...had assumed that I was clear enough when I said that. I had no idea that you were misunderstanding our relationship this entire time"

Crystal stopped when she heard Icarus speak, tears welling in her eyes as she realized what she had just done. And to make matters worse, all this time she had thought about him in a partnership sort of way, not a romantic type of way. She pulled back, the tears she was holding back now flowing down her cheeks like the Egyptian River Nile during its flooding season. "Icarus...... I...... I had no idea that's what you meant....... I just thought that you meant that we would be together as master and doll for an eternity........ I should go." She said, standing up quickly and rushing into the semi-smoky house. She went up to her bedroom and slammed the door shut, flopping down on her as she cried even harder than before. Her body shook so much that her wooden bed began to rock back and forth quickly, making soft scuffing sounds downstairs. She had always secretly had a small crush on him, but she was so afraid of rejection...... And now she had screwed her chance up to the point of no return.

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Garret waited patiently while his master prepared food for herself, it was not essential for dolls to eat so Garret seldom did so. She was finished about a half hour later, returning to the foyer, the doll himself was wearing nondescript black pants, sleeveless shirt, and brown boots. The only thing interesting was the dark brown waist-cloth that was held in place by a simple leather belt. Garret looked his master over and had to admit, she looked good, not ready to face possibly life threatening situations as the pair very well might, but good. What happened next cause the doll to howl in laughter, "Bwahahahahaha!" Tears forming in the man's eyes. "That poor lad certainly didn't see that coming! I almost feel sorry for him, oh well." He approached Angelina and placed his hand on her shoulder, hopefully giving the girl some amount of comfort. "Don't worry so much, come on we've got patrolling to do!" With that he swept her off her feet, dashing out the door and leaping to the nearest rooftop.

From there he jumped to a higher roof, and kept doing so until he reached the highest in the city. The doll stared down at the cityscape below, piercing blue eyes searching for any form of Puppeteer activity. His attention was drawn to an abandoned warehouse down by the wharf, a Puppeteer or another doll was expending enough energy for him to sense them. "Better hang on tight." He told his master as he jumped from the top of the building all the way down to another that was about half the size of the first.

It only took a few minutes to get to the warehouse "Help me! Please someone help!" The sound of screaming came from inside. Garret set down his master, turning towards the rotting building. "Stay here, I will go deal with whatever is in there, then I'll be back." With that he purposefully strode to the door, slipping in between the small opening. Inside he found a woman, ragged with whatever remained of her clothes in tatters with blood running from a few superficial wounds. She ran across the middle of the floor as a man with a katana slowly walked after her, a tall, thin man with spiked white hair and odd markings on his skin. Of course Garret could easily tell it was a marionette.

The woman tripped and fell allowing the marionette catch up, the monster gave a taunting grin, revealing lines of razor sharp teeth. "What's wrong? Can't run anymore? Well I guess it's all the same to me, I was growing bored of this little game of ours." It's raspy voice sounded as it raised the sword in it's hand. "Please don't hurt me, I don't want to die!" the woman pleaded, cowering with her arms raised above her head. The monster appeared to think about it for a moment, until it regained it's grin suddenly bringing it's sword down on it's victim's head.

CLANG!

The sound of metal hitting metal as the marionette brought down the sword with enough force to cleave a boulder in half. The monster's features contorted to confusion as it looked at what had stopped it from enjoying this woman's death. Garret was standing between it and it's victim, his crossed arms now covered in metal gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles. "You! A doll here?! Damn it!" The marionette tried to flee, turning around and running only to find the doll awaiting him at the entrance, a smirk on his lips as he delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that send the monster flying into the nearest wall, denting it with force of the impact. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, you see you were about to kill that poor girl, and I don't take kindly to that." The marionette sneered as it got up, wiping blood from it's mouth as it charged at the doll blocking it's escape, sword pointed forward. Only to be deflected with an effortless swing of Garret's arm.

The smirk was replaced with a scowl as Garret slowly walked towards the monster in front of him who was backing away at an increasing pace. Finally the marionette hit a wall allowing Garret the opportunity to quickly grab it's throat, pulling it's face close to his. "Fare thee well, puppeteer." With that he started pulling, first an arm, then a shoulder, then a head. Finally the entire miserable being was out and the former marionette was slumped on the ground, unconscious. "Please! Please don't hurt me! I'll do whatever you want I swear!" It's already raspy voice was worse from the doll's hold on it's throat.

"How ironic, didn't that woman say the same to you? Why should I spare your life?" The doll didn't wait for the answer that was on the Puppeteer's lips as he tore it to shreds, absorbing the lights that it's body dissolved into. It was power, a method of getting stronger that the doll was all to familiar with. Garret walked out of the warehouse, woman unconscious in his arms, nevertheless he gave his master a sad smile. "Well that's that." Was all he said, thinking about what to do with the poor woman in his arms.

---

Kazuki slowly sat up, his hair sticking up in at least three different directions. The young man yawned loudly, stretching like a cat. "I may have promised, but that was before I found out I had an exam tomorrow. Anyway, let's go try that food. Maybe it will change my mind." He let Rosalinda lead him to the, rather large dining room, he took a seat at the table and waited patiently as she brought him a plate of whatever it was she made. Kazuki didn't look too closely as he started eating, starting slow but quickly picking up his pace.

He stopped briefly, sparing his doll a glance, observing how she seemed to naturally be bouncing on her feet, as if it where her natural state of being. How can she have so much energy? Even watching her just makes me tired..... He caught the expectant gaze she was giving him, so he slowly and deliberately swallowed what he was chewing. "It's adequate." Kazuki deadpanned as he wiped his mouth off with a napkin, taking the plate to the sink to rinse off. "Thanks for the meal............Where would you like to go?" Did he want to go anywhere? No. But his heart wasn't entirely stone, and besides he could use an hour or two of not studying to help him focus later.

Icarus

Icarus was sent into a small shock when his beloved master just ran away from him. He was broken out of it when he heard her crying through the feather that she had on her. Each sob that he heard felt like someone trampling on his heart, he just couldn't bare to have his precious master in such a state. Quickly teleporting to her, he found her balling her eyes out in her bed "oh master...it kills me to see you like this." Getting on her bed, he pulled her into his lap and held her against him "please stop crying master, seeing you so miserable hurts me so badly"