Isra (with Diego)

Strands of purple light winked into existence behind the woman, tracing out a shape in the air, a complex septagon of violet energy. The moment the last connection was complete the outline filled with black glass, unfolding from nothingness in triangular panes until it the black mirror hovered a foot above the cobblestones. Then the glass rippled, and as casually as a one might step down from a train car, a figure crossed the threshold into the world and dropped down to the alley floor, a long black coat flapping with the motion.

Isra took in her first view of the human world with a glance through the faceplate of her mask, her glowing purple eyes soon falling on the pair struggling on the ground before her. Eyebrows coming together in a frown, she took two steps forward, planted her gloved hands on the woman's shoulders and heaved, turning on one heel to toss her target down the length of the alleyway with inhuman strength.

"Stay behind me if you don't like dying." The Doll's voice was soft and insistent in the still evening air, slightly muffled and filtered through her mask as she tossed her future master a glance. A spitting hiss filled the air as she deftly drew her axes, the glowing serrated blades leaving trails of light as she spun the hafts around her hands and advanced down the alleyway with measured steps.

Angelina was surprised when Garret swept her off of her feet, squeezing her eyes shut as he jumped to the nearest roof top. She squirmed a little every time he jumped higher and higher, not telling him that she had always been afraid of heights. She bit her lip and held the scream inside of her as he jumped from the tallest roof top to one that was half it's size she clung onto him, her stomach dropping before they reached the other roof top and eventually shimmied its way up back to where it belonged. When he set her down she opened her eyes and let go reluctantly, hearing him say to stay right there which she nodded her head to and kept quiet. She waited for what seemed like hours for Garret to get back, although it only took minutes, and when she saw him she was extremely jealous of the woman in his arms, but kept it behind a kind face.

"Are both of you alright? If she's not alright....... She can stay with you in your room. But if she steals anything, she's a dead girl walking!" Angelina said, sitting down on the roof and scooching down the other side of it. She easily jumped down from the area that was 3 feet above the ground, starting to walk towards home. "I'll meet you at home Garret, that lady doesn't look like she can walk!" She called to him, crossing her arms and starting to walk again towards her home. She got there a half an hour later, having been walking in comfortable high heels. She shut the door, leaving it unlocked just in case Garret wasn't home yet. She climbed up the stairs, went into her room and loudly shut the door. She got undressed then redressed in her lavender night gown that was a little too tight since it was a couple years old, climbing into bed and covering herself with the blankets. "Goodnight Gar-" She said before she remembered Garret wouldn't be sleeping with her tonight, so she turned over on her side and closed her eyes, starting to wish that she hadn't turned away that guy.

Maybe then I wouldn't be alone now...... Maybe my parents were right...... Maybe Garret isn't the right choice....... I guess one date couldn't hurt. Angelina thought to herself, still awake as she lay there with her eyes closed shut.

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Rosalinda was happy to hear him agree to at least eat her food, taking him downstairs and bringing him a plate of breakfast foods that looked like they had been crafted by prefectionist chefs. When he said it was adequate she frowned a bit, but became happy again when he asked her where she wanted to go. "Guess it's at least a little better than adequate!" She teased, bouncing on her toes as she thought about where she wanted to go. "What about that carousel that opened up across town? Can we go there?!" She asked happily, waiting for an answer from him before she got anymore excited than she already was.

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Crystal laid there in his arms, her sobs quieting down to almost nothing as he held her up against him. "I'm so sorry Icarus....... I wish I had known what you meant sooner....... Can you ever forgive me Icarus?" She asked him, her eyes slowly looking into his. She raised her head up, a severe blush on her cheeks as she placed her soft cherry blossom pink lips on his. The kiss lasted a minute before she had to break away, breathing heavily as she smiled a bit. "That was my first kiss...... And I'm glad to have shared it with you." Crystal said happily, kissing his lips quick this time before her smile soon turned into a grin.

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Icarus

Icarus' cheeks were a rosy shade of red "to think...you would give me something so precious. I'm so happy" his eyes began to leak tears. "My beloved master..." he held her tighter to his body, but not enough to be uncomfortable "there is nothing you could do that I could never forgive, I love you too much to hate you. Even if you killed me, I still wouldn't hate you. I don't even think I'm capable of hating you, no matter what you do. Everything that I am...belongs to you. I'm positive that I was put on this world just to be yours, to make you as happy as I possible can. Please don't worry about what you can do for me, or what you can give me. All I want...all I need from you is your love. Asking for anything more would be selfish"

~*~ Amaya ~*~

Another date, another opportunity for father to further expand his influence in this world thought a young girl standing in front of a full length mirror looking at her reflection. She closed her eyes gently as she hated being all dressed up, in all honest truth, she felt like one of those porcelain dolls that are all dressed up and just stand there only to be seen never heard. In her mind, that was what she truly was since it seemed she didn't have a voice of her own and all she could do was listen and do as she was told it was for the sake of her family. At least that was what her mother always told her.

She reached her hands up while opening her eyes, clipping in her signature flower that her first love and best friend had given her as a birthday present before he just one day left without a single trace. "I can do this.."she said before breathing in deeply before exhaling "for my family..."she whispered attempting to give herself some more confidence in hope it will help her seal a deal with tonight's date. She examined herself one more time before hearing a knock on her door "come in."she commented turning towards the door seeing her favorite servant coming in.

"Your new date is here..."said the servant
"You mean father's possible future investment is here...i don't like these dates..some of them don't seem right and give a creepy feeling "admitted Amaya gently moving over to the servant giving her a hug "wish me luck Lydia..."she added. The servant closed her eyes hugging her back "that I always do when you must leave cause someone needs to care in this dark world huh? I will make sure you favorite things are prepared when you make it back...please be careful...i will let Oliver know to silently follow just incase you might need him"commented Lydia as amaya let go while nodding before she adjusted her dress, heading down to meet her date and his driver. They exchanged words and glances as she hugged her mother and father goodbye before she headed out into their ride for the evening.

It didn't take long before they reached their destination. Her date got out first before she did with his help as they walked in and got immediately sitted in a beautiful open garden area as amaya took in the smells enjoying this environment quite a bit. She looked towards her date before sighing...

Time for the night to begin...

~`Keiko`~

Humans, such interesting creatures. They are vastly different but vastly the same...so werid how we need one amongst them to stay in this strange dimension...who shall fate pair me with thought a female standing on top of a telephone wire looking out at the strange city around her. Her strawberry blonde hair flowed in the gentle breeze as her bright blue eyes examined the landscape as she held out a hand palm up as a small ball formed in her hand glowing lightly as she closed her eyes and focused on listening to the wind to lead her.

The corruption and foulness that flows through this city always tries its' best to sully me, drag me down to its' level. But tonight after struggling against it I emerge still unstained and unhalting in my pursuit of evil.[i]

This was what Horatio wished his thought process was as he narrowly avoided trailing his boots and cloak through the puddle of...ick that he almost stepped in after he landed from above and heroically stumbled out of the alleyway, but in reality his actions and thoughts tended more towards "Gross gross gross gross yuck I hate this alley why is it so dirty keep-it-off-keep-it-off-ick!" All of which pretty much wrecked the image of 'stoic and serious hunter' he was going for along with casually destroying any attempts at stealth he was trying to make.

Nevertheless he half-stumbled half-dashed into a wider, more mainstream road while searching for any Dolls, Puppeteers or other interdimensional ne'er-do-wells stalking the night. He was sure there must be some around here somewhere, though he wasn't exactly positive where. So in the interest of at least finding [i]someone out doing things tonight he wandered the streets, searching. There were probably other Doll Hunters active tonight too, though Horatio had yet to meet any others aside from his master for more than one or two odd, brief visits.

While he walked, thinking of meeting evil foes or other Doll Hunters or evil foes who were other Doll Hunters, he supposed the worst thing that could happen would be for tonight to be boring.

Alice

"...Sure, let's go with that," Alice shrugged dismissively, "I hear that I can be pretty mean, anyway."

Yeah... keeping their distance from each other would work out for the best, in the long run. All Alice wanted was to kill the Puppeteers and the Hunters, this girl was just... something she needed to use. Alice didn't exactly like that arrangement, but...

She had to wonder why this girl seemed so excited about it, though. Putting her age aside, the idea of killing monsters that invaded one's body and controlled their every action should not be something to find amusing, was it? Maybe she was just incredibly naive to the danger. Well, with any luck, Alice would make sure she wasn't exposed to any of it.

---

Ada

It was too much, It was too strange. Too impossible. Too surreal. Too... it was not something that was supposed to happen. Ada stared blankly, limp from fear, as the little girl straight-up massacred that mugger. Despite that, she took far more damage than any human could possibly sustain before finally dying. Then again... there was no way she was human. Neither of them could be.

With the woman dead, that left only Ada herself to be the target of the dangerous... thing. The blood on her seemed to dissipate as she approached, completely cheerful despite what had just happened. Was... was she going to die like that as well? The fear kept her paralysed, unable to escape. Ada didn't want to die, she wanted to go home, back where it was safe and-

When Dead Heart Shooter threw herself onto Ada, she shut her eyes tightly, expecting her torso to be torn to shreds by something, but instead... all she got was affection? Confused, Ada glanced at the strange girl hugging and apologising to her. What was even going on any more?
Ada found her fear abating as she stared. This girl... she no longer looked dangerous and frightening. She... she was just cute. And loving. And strangely attached.

Gulping, she worked up the courage to stammer, "W...who are y-you?"

Cynthia

"Well... whatever, as long as you're not mean to me..." began Cynthia, shrugging. However, there were much more important aspects to this entire situation that needed far more focus than that. "It's so amazing, we'll be saving people and getting rid of something so evil!"

Cynthia couldn't really contain herself. It had to be said, in the end. It had to be said that she was excited to be with a Doll who was going to destroy evil and rescue people from the grasp of the terrible Puppeteers. She had no idea how any of this worked at all, aside from knowing that Dolls attached themselves to people in order to be here or something like that. And that meant that she was one of those people, she was a Doll Master! That was the best thing she had even heard in a really really long time! No more boredom for her, there was going to be plenty of fighting monsters and rescuing distressed damsels and all kinds of wonderful things!

"So what will we do first?!"

---

Dead Heart Shooter

For a few moments, the most notable sound was the heavy breathing of the unconscious former Marionette, and the somewhat less heavy breathing from Dead Heart Shooter and her wonderful and lovely beautiful Master. Then, Dead Heart Shooter nestled her head eagerly against her Master's chest, rubbing against her. She was so soft and wonderful she couldn't help it... it was just too... too much... After a few moments, she looked up with a cheerful smile. But she could feel her cheeks somewhat flushed... it was just too exciting being so close! And her Master... was asking for her to reintroduce herself? Well, there was no problem with that at all! Especially since she looked a little scared and worried... surely, this would calm her down!

"Remember, Master? I'm Dead Heart Shooter!" declared the silver-haired girl eagerly, with a wide smile. She loved looking at her Master so much... "I'm your Doll!"

This would explain everything, right? There was no way it would lead to any confusion! And besides, her lovely and wonderful Master was so much more intelligent then her, so surely she would figure everything out immediately with no problem at all!

Diego
Diego didn't know what happened. First he was pinned under an inhumanly strong woman that was trying to kill him. The next moment he sees some purple light behind the woman and out of nowhere another woman appeared. This one threw the one pinning him down away like it was nothing. Diego knew he wasn't one of the strongest men around, but these 2 women were too strong for their physiques. He then heard the one that helped him tell him to stay behind her if he didn't like dying. Normally he would never let himself be protected by a woman, but considering the strength of his opponent he would probably be unable to take her on himself. This didn't mean he wouldn't fight though.

He got up and said: "Thanks for saving me, but I'm not the type of guy to just lay down and be protected by someone else." He took a better look at the one that saved him and saw she was dressed oddly, a gas mask with a black cloak not the regular attire he saw woman wearing. The next thing that happened was too weird for words, out of nowhere a pair of snow axes appeared in the masked girl's hands. This made Diego wonder if the woman before him was even human, that inhuman strength was one thing, but conjuring stuff out of nowhere is something a human shouldn't be able to do. He figured he could ask her about this later as she started to move towards their opponent. He started to slowly move with her. Though he knew his opponent was stronger than him he was prepared for it now and wouldn't let himself get caught again. Just like in his matches he would just dodge and lock them in place. "I'll try to pin her down if I see an opening."

kittenlover said 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.

Nina remained silent as she watched with Eris as a Hunter came down the stairs, her heart beating a mile a minute, wondering if he had caught them. Despite her rapidly beating heart, she was calm, Eris seemed to have that effect whenever her life was in danger. There was no fear in those times, she felt that the Doll would always be around to keep her safe, no matter what it was from. The Hunter grumbled and moved in the direction they were going to take to get out, having now successfully trapped them in the secret passage, their situation becoming bad. Nina had no choice, Eris was going to have to do what she did best, she was going to have to kill the Hunter to keep both their identities from becoming revealed. She waited until the man was out of audible range, "Eris, that Hunter's blocking our way out, the only thing we can do to get out is to kill him. Kill that Hunter, Eris, it's the only way." she spoke softly so her voice wouldn't carry down to the Hunter.

Alice

Alice almost smiled at Cynthia's enthusiasm for killing off the Puppeteers. It was certainly something she could relate to, though she wondered how long that would last before the fear took hold and confined her to the corner of some room.
Responding to the girl's question, Alice began walking, saying, "first, I wanna take a look around this place. Then, I'll send you home."
Because after all, a little girl shouldn't be up so late.

---

Ada

The weird girl's movements and placement was making Ada's face grow red, but she didn't say anything about it. She was still wary of the cute little thing, after all. Though Ada figured she'd need to respond to her sometime. The problem was... it was still far too unbelievable. You don't just throw that kind of scene at someone!
"...Um... well..." how were you supposed to tell someone like this that you had no memory of them, when they had enough firepower to put a country at siege? Maybe she should lie? But how do you keep that up effectively?! Gah, this was too dangerous for someone like her!

Gulping, Ada opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to mind.

"That's a funny name."

Crap crap crap crap crap!

Cynthia

Cynthia frowned. Send her home? No way! She wasn't going home tonight, not after something like this. She knew she'd be yelled at, and punished, for running away again, and she was going to delay that as much as she possibly could. Why did her Doll have to be fixated on making sure she stayed home or whatever, too? Well... she wasn't going to let that get in the way. Even if it was... kind of dark out and all... still. Folding her arms, she put on a confident and serious expression. "We're going to be looking around for pretty long, then."

And with that, she began to march down the alleyway. She knew a little about Dolls according to myths and stuff, and that told her they usually stuck with their Masters. That, and she knew this area of the city, at least, pretty well from how many times she snuck out. Her Doll didn't, and therefore that meant she would have to stick to following her around and relying on her guidance for directions, right? Right! That was the logical assumption, at least, and one that Cynthia was basing her current plan to not go home tonight around.

---

Dead Heart Shooter

Dead Heart Shooter tilted her head. For a moment her infatuation dulled, replaced with perplexed confusion. Her name was funny? How was it funny? She didn't understand. Did her Master know something that she didn't? For a few moments, the small girl tried to puzzle it out in her head. Was it 'Dead'? No, that wasn't funny at all... 'Heart'? That wasn't funny either! If anything it symbolized her love for her Master completely! And... 'Shooter'. She shot things, so didn't that make sense? No, she couldn't think of any way that her name was funny... Her Master had to know something she didn't! Which made sense. Her Master was the most lovely, perfect, and beautiful girl ever to exist, so obviously she might have more knowledge then anyone else.

Still... Dead Heart Shooter really didn't understand, and so she had to ask.

"I don't understand, Master," she began, tilting her heard in the opposite direction as she looked up at her Master, "What's so funny about my name?"

Esperanta Dektri - Not-so-deserted alley

"I, um... Um, I..."

She didn't know what to think right now. She was sure she was about to die, and yet... And yet this girl... From nowhere...

...She couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. Maybe it was just because she'd saved her life, but there seemed to be some kind of radiance from her that... Or maybe it was just the moonlight? It didn't seem to matter why, as she couldn't help but blush as the girl lifted her.

"I, um... It... It's n-nice to meet you, Vivi..." She mumbled, still unsure of what to make of the past few minutes. "I... Needed to, um... But, um, uh... I'm Esperanta, um... It's nice t-to meet you..."

---

Sango of the Burning Blood - A different alley

It happened in an instant. The alley Annabelle had been dragged into seemed to suddenly grow warmer and warmer, and then... And then...

"METEEEEEOOOOOR... IMPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACT!"

Like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, it descended upon the Marionette from out of nowhere. Bursting down from the sky came a hotblooded champion of justice, a guardian of the weak, a mighty warrior for all that is good... With an unstoppable flying kick, she sent the possessed man hurtling down the alley, crashing so hard against the ground that his landing resulted in a crater. And the moment he hit the pavement, the Puppeteer inside him was launched out of his body, flying up into the sky before exploding for some unexplored reason.

"Heh... Justice... Shall always prevail!" the girl loudly proclaimed to... It wasn't quite clear who she was talking to, really; it just seemed like a general statement. Turning to face Annabelle, she flicked a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and offered her a hand, a more gentle warmness seeming to radiate from it. "You okay? You really shouldn't be walking out alone at night... You never know what kind of creeps you'll run into!"

VV

VV looked down at the girl in her arms. Cute, but it was not hard to tell that she was really clumsy or something. All those bandages, seriously? Well, it wasn't as if VV hadn't already intended to keep an eye on her at all times. There was absolutely no doubt in VV's mind, she would never be leaving this girl's side. Not even once. As she stammered and introduced herself, VV frowned and raised an eyebrow. One thing in particular stood out to her, and it wasn't the girl's name. Sure, she remembered it and all. She had to. But there was something else. It was a matter that she had to solve immediately.

"Oii..." VV gently, carefully, set Esperanta down on her feet, facing away from her, "You've got to get my name right."

She wound up with one hand, drawing it back. There was one way to drill the fact into Esperanta. It also made for a good, quick punishment. It was also amusing, so it sported many benefits in VV's opinion. She swiftly brought her hand down, smacking against a somewhat awkward place on the bandaged girl. "It's VV, not Vivi! There's a big difference, see?"

---

Annabelle

For a few moments, Annabelle was simply frozen in shock. The man who had dragged her into the alleyway... he was gone. Well... not completely, he was further down the alley, in... in a crater? And... something had exploded, someone... someone else was there now... It was a girl. She was wearing... strange, unusual clothing that Annabelle did not recognize at all. But that wasn't the main source of her confusion, really. Everything else was. When did it get so warm? Even... even the girl's hand... it was so... so warm, but it was gentle, not like the heat that had radiated through the alley moments ago, or the impact of the kick she had leveled at the man's head. But this kind of thing... it wasn't possible! No sensible person would ever believe something like this had happened...

Even as her grip tightened on the girl's warm hand, she was stumbling over her words, trying to figure out what was even going on... or deny that any of this happened entirely. She didn't really know, the girl felt solid, the man had... definitely been there... but this kind of thing was impossible, right?

"Th-this... th-these things don't h-happen... I-I..." she trailed off for a few moments. "H-how did you... h-how..."

Garret was perplexed to say the least when his master walked off without him. Why would they house this girl? Surely turning her over to the authorities was the wiser course of action. So, the doll shrugged and set off to do just that.

Garret was jumping from roof to roof on his way home, unfortunately the process of leaving the girl with the authorities took FAR longer then it should have as the police kept him and took his statement. Luckily he had an ID that Angelina helped him get when they first became partners, that helped his credibility with the police considerably. The doll was incredibly thankful for his master's foresight, it took a long time, but it could've been MUCH longer.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as he sensed a form of power, a form of power much like his own. A doll? Or a Marionette powerful enough to feel like one? Only one way to find out..... The doll adjusted his course and made his way to the source of the energy. Garret landed on a roof overlooking a small park where he witnessed one of the most one-sided fights he'd seen and not been a part of for a while. Garret cocked his eyebrow as the childlike doll, yes for he was certain that's what she was, pulled a large iron maiden around to face her opponent. He smirked as it unleashed hell on the vulnerable Puppeteer.

Garret didn't see what happened next, he jumped from the building to a shorter, closer one however there were trees obscuring his view. From there he jumped to the ground, casually approaching the doll and what he assumed was her master. "Hahahahaha! Hail comrade, I must say that was a fine fight to watch my friend! A bit one-sided, but that just proves your might!" Garret bellowed, holding his hand up in greeting as he approached the embracing pair.

---

Kazuki's emotionless visage was broken with a slight smile at the woman's tease, though she couldn't see it as his back was turned to her. He took a moment to replace his persona, assuming a stern frown before turning to face her. "The carousel huh?" He took a dramatic pause, enjoying the doubt that he could see forming. It was his own form of teasing, as humor didn't come very easily to the young man. Finally his frown relented as he decided to end the suspense. "Fine. But only for a few hours. I still need to get some sleep for tomorrow." He smiled ever so slightly at the happiness and excitement that was bound to come, sure this girl was a handful, but she isn't all that bad.

Crystal smiled happily as he pulled her closer against his chest, wiping away the tears that fell from his eyes as she kissed him again. "My love, from now on, is all yours Icarus; Every breathe I take, every beat of my heart, every inch of my body is yours Icarus. For now, until the day we both die." She said happily, leaning against him and nuzzling her cheek against his own. Her eyes widened as she heard her stomach growl loudly, a light pink blush appearing in her cheeks as she laughed a bit nervously. "So, uh, shall we go out to eat? Or do you want to cook something? It's all the same to me, I don't mind if you want to go out! My budget is basically unlimited!" Crystal said with a smile, going to her safe and opening it up, pulling out some cash before shutting it and locking it.

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Eris looked at Nina carefully, trying to see if this was a joke; apparently it wasn't. She smiled deviously, for the first time in months, and closed her eyes. The ground beneath the hunter fell out from under him as the ground began to shake, and there's was a loud crack as the man's neck was broken by a falling piece of rock that was the size of a small boulder. The look in Eris's eyes was one of someone who had gone insane, starting a large earthquake that shook the sturdy house to its core. She let out a giggled that sounded like it should be from someone in an insane asylum, her eyes a shade of blood red. "All doll hunters must die! All must die!" She said before giggling again. She had used too much of her dark powers, and now she was turning into something she honestly didn't want to turn into....... And only Nina could stop her.

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Rosalinda frowned as he made a pause, which in turn made her very nervous indeed. But then he smiled ever so slightly as he told her they could for a couple of hours, making her jump up and down happily. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Kazuki!" She said happily, hugging him tightly while her head only came up to his shoulder. "Your the best master ever!" She said happily, stepping back and waiting for him to be ready before dragging him out the door as fast as she could, even though it did take some of her strength. Once they got to the carousel she reached into the top of her dress and pulled out her wallet, some of the men of the town eyeing her, well, actually her curvaceous body instead of her face. But all she could notice was Kazuki, paying for a couple of rides before waiting for him to choose a horse, sitting on the one that was beside him so that they could ride together. "This is going to be so much fun!" She said happily, holding his hand as he smiled, her emerald green eyes twinkling in the light.

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Maya blinked in shock when she saw Lawrence, haven't seeing him in quite some time. "Hello Lawrence, how are you doing?" Maya asked as she let Vander go of the hug, making her way over to Lawrence and placing a kiss on his cheek. "Sorry Lawrence, the doll touched my bottom, I had to do something about it! Couldn't have allowed something like that to go unpunished, since it was a doll!" She told Lawrence, trailing her fingers over his arm that wasn't covered by his exoskeleton thing. "So, how bout we get something to eat? Dinners on me!" She said happily, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

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Artemis just stared blankly for a moment, then opened his mouth. "Artemis Nexus. I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time right now. You are real aren't you? I'm not lying on the floor in a pool of blood having some kind of hallucination? What in the world just happened?" He noticed he was still holding his gun and shoved it back into it's holster. "Alright, let's do this in order." He said, regaining his composure, "First, that wasn't a human, I know that much since I put two round in his chest and he didn't even flinch. I get the feeling you know what he was, so enlighten me. Second, I get the feeling you aren't human either, but since you're not trying to kill me right now I'd say you're different from him in some way, so some detail on that would be appreciated too."

---

Artemis sighed as he realized he wasn't going to get his test after all. "I guess that's understandable, I probably would have killed it myself had I been there. Unfortunately I wasn't." As Maya kissed him and offered dinner, he started unstrapping the device from his arms. "As if I'd allow that, especially since my part design is making me rich. If we're having dinner it'll be on my dime." Grinning at her as he unfastened the last strap, he said "Still want to go?"

Alice

"...Fine by me," Alice replied, her pace rapid. She intended to stick as close to the girl as possible, the better to protect her from whoever was stupid enough to attempt and approach them, "but if you stay up past your bedtime, the boogeyman chases after you."

The doll fell silent after that, her single eye staring straight ahead. She was on full alert for any Puppeteers lurking nearby. She was quite anxious to eliminate them all, preferably in gruesome and painful ways... but she probably should try and steer Cynthia home soon, too. Wandering around in the dark was always a dangerous thing to do.

---

Ada

No matter what I say she's gonna kill me horribly why did I say that someone please help me oh god why-
Shaking her head free of those thoughts, Ada decided to try and dodge the question and ask something slightly more important. "Er, well, uh... s-so! Um... y-you're a doll? You, um... look very... life-like.

Almost unconsciously, Ada raised a hand to feel Shooter's face. The poking was a tad rude and unrefined, but hey, even if she did care for that kind of decorum, the young lady figured that these circumstances were just special enough to warrant a "go on, prod the superhuman creature, it's a good idea!" reaction.
After the realisation that Shooter's skin was as smooth and... fleshy, as her own, came the revelation that she had just prodded a superhuman creature. She blinked dumbly at the doll for a moment, her finger remaining pressed against Shooter's face as she did so.

She's going to rip my body apart and kick my head over a house and why the hell did I poke her she's so mad now whag curse have I unleashed someone help.

Someone approached them at that moment, and Ada turned her confused, pleading gaze towards him, silently begging for assistance and mentally willing that he flee and save himself.

Esperanta Dektri - Not-so-deserted alley, with VV

"Eh? But you said Vi-"

Esperanta's body stiffened as she felt it. Did she... Did the girl who had just saved her... Did she really just smack her... Her...

Letting out a yelp, Esperanta's blush intensified. How could she... Why would she... But there had to be a good reason. It can't have just been because she's some kind of pervert, after all. And... And Esperanta had made a mistake with her name, after all...

"I, um, uh, um... I... I apologise, VV..." Turning her head in a vain attempt to hide her blush, her hands tightened around her grocery basket as she slowly began to shuffle away. "A-anyway, I, um... I n-need to g-get home now so, um... I... I, um..."

---

Sango of the Burning Blood - A different alley, with Annabelle

"Heh... I suppose it's not everyday you get saved by a bonafide superhero," the girl smirked, adjusting her belt for a moment before suddenly leaping into a variety of rather complex poses that she had clearly choreographed beforehand to make sure she wouldn't screw them up.

"Behold, a hero for justice has arrived! Quicker than the wind and as still as the forest! Hotter than flames and more magnificent than a mountain! Mysterious as the shadows and faster than lightning! HEAR MY NAME AND TREMBLE, EVIL..."

Finishing with a backflip and landing perfectly on her feet a few meters away from Annabelle, the girl made one final pose by balling up a fist by her left side as she held her right arm across her body, pointing diagonally to the sky.

"...FOR I AM SANGO! SANGO OF THE BURNING BLOOD!"

...And just as inexplicably as before, an explosion burst out from behind her.

Dead Heart Shooter

For a few moments, Dead Heart Shooter was completely oblivious to the new arrival. Instead, she stared blankly up at her Master for a few moments. Life-like? That didn't make sense, she was alive... but her Master was complimenting her, so sense and logic didn't matter! Instead, the silver-haired Doll simply smiled cheerfully and opened her mouth to speak again... and then felt her Master's finger poke her in the cheek. For a moment she simply shut her mouth, and couldn't help but feel bewildered... then, the excitement returned. Her Master had willingly touched her! ... In a confusing way, but still! There was no way there could be anything bad about that at all!

"Of course, I'm alive! So I would have to be lifelike!" said Dead Heart Shooter, "What's your name, Master? I'm sure it's beautiful and wonderful and perfect and-"

It was at this point that she finally realized that someone else was approaching. Her arms still wrapped tightly around her Master, Dead Heart Shooter looked over her shoulder, perplexed. It was some guy... and from what she could tell, he was a Doll too. Hmph. Talking about her power and everything... she didn't care! She only cared if it was her Master. "Friend? I don't know you."

She frowned, slightly, but after a few moments her smile returned. She did have something good to say! "I was protecting my lovely Master, so of course I had to be strong!"

---

VV

VV stretched her arms. Her punishment had really shaken up her Master... good! That way, she would remember the proper pronunciation of her name for sure. And hey, she was kind of cute getting all embarrassed like that. But whatever. This was definitely the kind of person she'd need to keep a close eye on. As she shuffled away, saying how she needed to get home, VV calmly strolled up to Esperanta and scooped her back into a bridal carry. "No way am I letting you just wonder home by yourself. Look at all these bandages! You'd just fall and break your neck or something if I go leaving you alone."

It was so easy, really, picking her up like this. And why not? Esperanta was hers, so there was no problem with carrying her around like this. It was almost surprising how easy it was to pick a human up. You would think they'd struggle or something. Then again, they just weren't as powerful as Dolls, were they? So maybe they just didn't bother struggling. It wasn't like VV was going to hurt her. Unless she did something stupid. Then it was punishment time.

After getting the directions to the girl's restaurant, VV took the quick rode.

Placing one foot on a nearby wall, she pushed up... and the air rushed around them as she hurtled into the air. It rushed upwards, in the opposite direction, as she neatly landed on the rooftop, still holding her Master tightly. "Don't wiggle. Seriously."

VV broke into a sprint. The air whipped around them. It wasn't too far to Esperanta's restaurant, but this was a lot quicker then taking the streets below... And indeed, it wasn't much longer before they landed out front of the restaurant.

"Oi, do you have any sweets around here?" VV asked, as she barged in without hesitation, "I could really go for a snack after taking out that Puppeteer and running you back here."

---

Annabelle

Annabelle couldn't help but blankly stare at this ridiculous introduction. What... what even was going on. This was not anything sensible or logical. And then... there was a blast of heat and light, and she flinched... but then it was just gone like nothing had happened. What had even exploded?! Slowly, she managed to get to steady herself after all of... this. It was insane, and completely illogical, and none of it made any sense at all! So... so it had to be a dream, right? Annabelle had to be dreaming. she'd wake up back at home, surrounded by maids or something. That was what was going on. It had to be.

... As long as she was dreaming...

"W-well... I'm... I'm Annbelle, and..." she paused, unsure of how to continue her own introduction. Her voice trailed off for a few moments, and finally the sheer ridiculousness of the situation meant she couldn't hold off any longer, "... I'd... thank you for saving me, but this is just a dream. I'll be waking up soon. I... I mean, I guess it's polite to thank you even if you're just part of a dream, but this is all so ridiculous..."

Clifford Blake

Turning the handle of the cool water tap, he held the kettle carefully with his other hand, collecting the water inside of it. Setting it on the hot stove, he turned his attentions to finishing up the preparations of the food. A light, honeyed cake with fluffy cream spread evenly atop it, freshly washed and prepared garden grown fruits, all sliced up neatly in a separate plate. Bread pudding baked neatly in a cup, with a light caramel drizzle. Triangle cut sandwiches with different combinations of light bits of lettuce, cheese, tomato, and roast beef slices…

With the kettle letting out a steady stream of steam, he poured the hot water into the teapot, and then hung the sterling silver tea ball into it. Letting that steep, for the moment, he made some small finishing touch ups before setting each plate and platter onto a trolley…then the tea, teacup sets on their matching plates, a little pot of sugar, and a small plate of neatly cut lemon wedges. Pushing the tea trolley quietly down the hall, taking only a moment to admire the darkening evening sky, he made his way to the guest room. Knocking twice, to let the girl know he was out in front of the door, he opened it and pushing the trolley in. Clifford closed the door behind him.

The guest room was quite roomy, with it’s own separate seating and tea table…moving the trolley over, he began to set the tea goods onto the table, with the plates and platters set down least. “Sorry for the wait, miss Hakuran. This evening’s tea is a sweet, hibiscus tea.” Standing by, in good posture, he waited for her to say something…or else, he’d begin with his own commentary and questions.

---

Vesper Evens-Star

Cocooning and uncocooning himself in the blankets of the bed, Vesper didn’t know what was wrong….why he felt so uncomfortable…

“Daddy…?” No immediate answer. Panic setting in. “Daddyyyyy? Dad…!” Getting up, with blankets draped along his shoulder, he ran around the place…finding no daddy! Running to the front door, and kicking it down, he ran out onto the sidewalks. With the blanket now draped over his head and shoulders, he nervously wandered, occasionally stopping a nice looking lady here or there to ask if they’ve seen his daddy. It was getting dark and frightening…but despite this, Vesper Evens-Star worried about his daddy more.

---

Scaevola (In Possession of Nathan)

Sitting on the ledge of the large window, his back to the open air of the alleyway between these two abandoned buildings. His seat was a second floor window, and leaving the building was as simple as hoping out of it…even for the man he currently possessed, though once possessed, the leg wasn’t in it’s usual bad state. Staying still, he kept his rather cliché hood up…and listened. There was a certain ‘click-clack, click-clack’ of familiar heels, a woman who often took to walking briskly through this particular alley as a short cut home. As easy as it was to lean back, hook, line, and sinker, pull the lady up in through his window…he let these regulars go. They’d reinforce the normality of this area and situations, people have likely seen or heard of them passing through here, killing a regular would raise suspicion. Instead, he stayed still and remained unnoticed due to his motionlessness, and waited. The sounds of the hurried ‘click-clacking’ became distant, before disappearing entirely.

This wasn’t his preferred hunting method, but this night was slow in this particular area, and…he had a bad feeling creeping up his spine. It was a low-profile sort of night. With the alleyway’s form of silent, the occasional cat yowling, and a piece of paper or two fluttering in the wind…the distant tandem of new footsteps was music to his ears. Waiting, still, waiting, waiting…when the footsteps peaked in volume, he leaned back, extended his hands back, and looped the long metal wire around the man’s neck…tightly. The man tried to let out a sound in his pain and shock, but the wire tight around his neck allowed for none of this, especially as he was being pulled up by this wire. Hands, fingers scrambled and tried to get a hold of this wire, and his legs and feet scrambled and kicked against the small bit of solids wall…but to no effect, nobody was passing by, the kicking against the solid brick was nearly nothing. His airway was cut off painfully, this victim just about lost consciousness as Scaevola hauled him through the window ledge.

Taking the wire that had previously been looped tightly around the man’s neck; he returned it to its original form…a long hair from this marionette of his. Letting this fly into the light breeze entering the alleyway, he shut the window behind him…then the blinds, then the curtains. Slow night, he could probably just take his time on this.