[IC] Doll Master: A Partners RP

[Scarifar]

Alexander

Alexander brushed his clothes off of any dust and smoothed out any wrinkles he had. He smiled, glad that he had Matthe on his side.... sort of. Time to defuse this situation here if I want that dessert, Alexander thought.

Putting his best innocent face on, he said, "Come on, Matthew, don't threaten me with that. You know I love your desserts." Bending down to collect the money the goons had failed to collect, Alexander continued, "Besides, if you really were watching, you would have seen those goons threatening me and pulling out weapons. They were trying to rob me." After straightening out the bills and placing them back into a fold of his clothing, Alexander asked while raising his hands in an "I don't know" gesture, "What was I supposed to do, let them take my hard-earned money?"

"It was entirely self-defense," Alexander reassured his faithful Doll. "Besides, I'm a priest. I have no reason nor intention to initiate meaningless brawls with people I don't know."

Megumi
Megumi pulled herself up into the window, performing a flip through it and landing silently so as to not alert Annalee's parents. Megumi looked at Annalee and nodded, then leaned against a wall and sat down crosslegged, placing her hands on her knees. She didn't like to waste words when they weren't necessary. Still, she sighed. The Puppeteer was stronger than she had expected, and it took quite a bit of effort to defeat it. However, the deed was done, and that was one less threat against her and Annalee. Now was the time to rest while she could. She would need her energy if she was to perform her duties as best she could.

[Psyga315]

CLACK!

The plastic ball rolled its way through one wicket, smashing into the blue ball, and entering another wicket.

"Good show!" A series of claps followed as Shane watched the game of croquet play out. He looked at his watch. It had been a few weeks since he became a Hunter, and yet outside of the training, he hasn't gotten a true hunting opportunity. He sighed.

"Something the matter, son?" His father asked him.

"Eh, Not much. I'll get a big break soon." Shane got up from his seat and left. "Tell me who wins, okay?"

"Where are you going?" His father asked.

"Well, I'm not just gonna wait for the prey to show up, right?" Shane said. He walked out of the small gathering. He only knew a bit of details over what he's looking for. He took out his Doll Hunters Guide and began to read about things like tell-tale signs and how to effectively fight a Doll.

[VitaVitaAR]

Cynthia Lee

She was really a Doll! Cynthia couldn't get over her excitement. As horrifying as the man was-and still was, rising to the ground in such an awkward, jerking fashion-the little girl was entranced by this new being... A Doll. A real Doll! She knew Dolls were real! Did that mean that guy was a... a... what were they called again? A puppet? Something like that... Whatever the case was, Cynthia sat there, trembling in her Doll's arms in fear and excitement, eyes fixed on the beings she had summoned and on the man who was breathing mist. The moment that the beings thrust their halberds at him, he attempted to dodge.

But as one missed, the other hit home, slicing deeply into his shoulder. Along with blood, more fog poured from the wound, a testament to the possession the Marionette was undergoing. He howled in agony and stumbled back. Even as he did, however, the flesh was already gruesomely knitting itself back together. Filling ill, Cynthia covered her eyes and tried to look away.

The few moments the Marionette spent healing left it wide open, however, and Transient Princess's fist struck him right in the stomach. Not to be delayed, his hand suddenly grew grotesquely deformed, fingers stretching and nails forming into blades as he lashed out.

"I'll kill both of you! I'LL EAT THE LITTLE ONE ALIVE!"

[PlantEater]

Maxwell Smithson

"And a good eve to you Mr Luther!" said Max warmly as he left the shop, new parts in hand. Tonight his automation would be fully realized. But first, home.

Maxwell strode down the cobbled streets briskly, pausing every second or third step to glance up at the sky. Night was fast approaching, and something in the air told Maxwell he didn't want to be out late tonight. As Maxwell quickened his step he looked at the buildings passing on his left and right; faded, old things, monuments to a time long forgotten. Strange that I should call this place home, given the nature of my work. He shrugged to nobody in particular in response to his musings, and smiled softly. Gate would get a laugh from that later. As her name entered his mind, an image of the doll smiling widely flashed before his eyes. She had been his companion for more years than he could count, and a surprisingly invaluable assistant in his workshop. The doll had a knack for mechanics, even if she did tend to blow a few things up here and there. He shook his bag of parts with a grin, the clanking sound echoing down the deserted street; she certainly would have fun with these. He could almost picture her face now, bright and cheery and...

A low, dangerous growl cut through the silence, snapping Maxwell from his thoughts. He paused, frowning. Silence. Perhaps it had been his imagination...The sound came again, closer now, more aggressive. Maxwell turned, slowly, ever so slowly to his right. What greeted him was a sight that was all too common these days. A feral dog was poised over the corpse of some poor soul unlucky enough to be caught up in the recent wave of violence that had swept the city. Maxwell took a cautious step back, his clothes brushing softly against his skin at the force of a cool breeze. Another step, and another. The dog turned, content that Maxwell was no threat. He didn't need to be told twice, and dashed down the cobbled street, not daring to stop until he reached the low, faded door that marked the entrance to his workshop.

As he pushed open the creaking door, he peered at the chaotic mess that littered every inch of his workspace. Parts had been strewn around the room with abandon, and Maxwell couldn't help but smile. Home sweet home. Closing the door firmly, he peered into the clutter, searching for his companion.

"Gate?! Where are you?! I have the parts! We can finish my automation at last!"

Cracker

Cracker opened his eyes with a yawn, looking around him bleary-eyed. Last night had simply been a whirlwind of fun; fire, anger, and running, lots and lots of running. He gave a hearty chuckle, and rose uncertainly to his feet, peering into the gloom to discern his surroundings.

The sight that greeted Cracker was certainly one he was used to. A dirty alley, coated with grime and filth, had played host to Cracker last night after he had passed out in a gutter. Cracker glanced over his body, running his hands over his torso. Everything was still there. Arms, good. Feet, very good. He frowned. Everything seemed to be there, all the important parts anyway, but he couldn't help feel like he was missing something. Food? No. His toys? Nope. Something else, something vital. Wait, not something, someone! The damned kid! Cracker cursed loudly and stumbled down the alley, kicking over a few boxes in his anger. If she wasn't sleeping nearby, that usually meant trouble, and not the kind of trouble that Cracker liked either. He broke into a run, his eyes narrowing; she was a damned nuisance, but he supposed he had to keep her alive if he wanted to stay anchored to the world.

As he scaled the side of the building, Cracker cursed loudly. There had been no sign of the kid all day, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was getting worried. As he reached the summit of the grey rectangle that marked a building, he threw himself onto the roof with a groan. He wasn't built for this much climbing. Staring up at the blue-black sky, he raised a hand in front of his face. Instantly the oppressive darkness of the approaching night vanished, replaced by a dancing flame. He stared at the spark for several moments, admiring the beauty of it's simplicity. Fire was dependable, and reliable, which was more than could be said for the girl he was hunting. If he had known how much effort it would take to look after her, he never would have anchored to her; his powers were much too fun to waste on saving her sleepy ass every five minutes. He sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day, and rose to his feet. Just as he moved to scale back down the building and continue his search, a scream pierced the air. Cracker allowed himself the first real grin of the day; he'd know the scream anywhere.

In just a few brief moments, Cracker had sprinted to the source of the scream and was watching curiously from the shadows as two men tried to shove pills at Ein. He struggled to suppress a laugh, knowing that their plan was doomed to failure. After all, he had tried similar tactics numerous times, all to no avail. As the men raised their weapons, Cracker decided that he had better step in at last. He shot a quick jet of flame from his hands, aiming it towards the men's hands. As the men collapsed on the ground, screaming in pain and their weapons rendered useless, Cracker turned to Ein and shook his head slowly.

"What'd you do this time, kid?"

[Raineh Daze]

Regina Victoria

A contract? That couldn't be right; a contract legally required that both parties have knowledge of what was entailed. Accepting a request to go attack something could hardly be considered to be 'accepting a contract'. Though... maybe that was something that you couldn't expect these monsters to agree to. She'd just have to find some way to void it to discharge her responsibilities.

The legal pondering was immediately driven out of her by the satisfying crack as the Marionette took a fist to the face--the doll, then, could obviously see through whatever trickery had broken Regina's aim. The first monster was the one to topple over the edge, followed by the Doll, followed by a nun that dropped with more grace than either of those two had actually bothered with for her own safety.

It was mystifying why the redhead had gained scissors, and Regina really didn't want to think about it too much. Definitely a setback for her plan of 'kill the monster if I get a chance and it's moral', since they had range over her nails. Their being drawn marked the end of the fight, with the Puppeteer's dodging tricks proving no use for being stabbed once your presence was already well known.

"You should get going, I owe you for this but I have to report you to the church."

---

Gateway to the Genesis of Technology

"Aww, you didn't notice that I was with you the whole way there and back? You looked up so much and all that I was certain you must have been trying to spot me," the white-haired doll said, bounding through the promptly-reopened door before closing it again, "I was making sure that you were safe, since things are so dangerous now and it's not like a normal person could hurt you whilst I'm around. Most abnormal things probably couldn't, too."

The obviously-not-an-actual-human doll seemed to amble through the clutter towards the workshop proper without even paying attention, but her feet followed well-trod paths and avoided crunching any delicate metal, or the numerous inexplicable clockwork parts that she'd constructed for some reason or another and left to lie between Maxwell's creations, "I saw one of those new auto-mobiles on another street, though one of those stupid internal combustion engines rather than a proper steam car. I really wish you'd let me show people how fast and more practical we could make one of those..."

Whether the restraint was the truly enormous amount of raw materials that would need and access to proper furnaces, or just the fact that such an advanced vehicle would call too much attention... well, either way, there was little chance that the tall doll--over a head taller than most of the population--would ever get to show off her actual design, "So, what do you need done to finish it?"

[VitaVitaAR]

VV

The redheaded Doll cocked her head to the side at the nun's response.

"Wha? Oh, please," VV waved her hand dismissively. So was she a Doll Hunter or something? It seemed like it, judging by that response. The girl in the frilled coat approached her new Doll Master with a grin, arms folded firmly across her chest. It looked like her new property might need some talking to... "You're mine now. We sealed the deal, you accepted my help, and that forged the contract between us. You're my anchor in this world, I can't just go running off and doing... whatever."

Her red eyes fixed on the nun's eyes as she approached, leaning forward, towards the other girl slightly. "I've gotta keep you safe, you know? Even if you're the kind of person who... let me guess, you're hoping you could kill me right now or something? Too bad."

The Doll's grin widened.

"You're my property now."

[Vesuvius00]

Annalee Diaz

Annalee watch as Megumi entered the room and, as usual, said nothing as she basically collapsed on the floor by the wall. Sighing slightly, Annalee took a blanket and covered Megumi with it. "I wish you would say something sometimes. Would you like me to draw you a bath or get you something to eat before I go put Lucas to bed?"

Annalee's room was kind of small, but cozy. She had her own bathroom connected to her room, so it would be fine for Megumi to bathe in there if she wanted to, and no one in her family was really so nosy as to why Annalee would ever bring food up to her room. They all just think I get hungry at night a lot.

"If not, please don't just sleep on the floor. You know my bed's big enough to share, or I could go sleep in Kato's room if that bugs you."

---

MiRRor (Ashling)

Ashling heard his master's words, and began to materialize from the mirrors where he had been hiding. The familiar sensation, as if he were swimming through the broken fragments of light around him, and then he was standing in front of Ryan in his room. "Well, what are you up to today?"

[Shiinen]

The Transient Princess

---

One soldier hit, sending him right into her strike as she snapped her fingers underneath the trembling girl and behind the peasant, another Spaded Glyph was born of the Queen's will. He finally began to show his true colors, hmm? A click of the tongue and The White Queen was quick to grin as the grand raise of a Knight -- geared in heavy diamond and marble plate, armed with sword and shield that made him the foreboding Sentinel twice as large as the being before her, took a step out from the Glyph and raised his sword up.

"We cannot allow you to harm Alice. She is ours, and ours alone."

Those words came with the Doll tossing her scepter up to wrap her arms around Alice as both she herself and the Knight seemed to break and shatter -- a rapid movement that would leave the girl blinking and seeing the back of the assaulter now as he clawed right into the shield of the Knight. But how could she be there if they were right in front of the enraged creature?

A switch. A switch that left the heavy blade of the Knight to come down through the Marionette's mid-section, the Pawns to stab at his arms to keep him still, and for The Transient Princess to catch her scepter as it returned to its pinned form and slide it through her hair before reaching into the sliced skin to dig out the Puppeteer hiding within, regardless of the nice little home it had found. If he healed so fast, she'd make it so had no choice as she dug through that body to find the source of that mist and properly execute it. And with a vicious YANKING, she grabbed onto what felt like the damned thing to force it out of the controlled body to make it face its punishment.

Ein Ferah

---

The resounding noise of bullets never made it to Ein's body as flames burst forth from above to rid the traffickers of their weapons and promptly lead fear into the display of something unnatural. There was only one person that came to help her when she needed him, and he was the only one that she knew that did that job with fire. Turning her head to the side where Cracker had run from, she didn't even bother to answer him for a moment as she sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his waist. With her face burying into his stomach, she just shook her head as she spoke up with an incredibly upset voice.

"They tried to feed me pills and mistook me for a prostitute...You can use as many explosions or firepower as you want. Just make them disappear, please..."

Obviously, Ein wasn't happy in the slightest as she slowly let go of him and stood up to adjust her backpack. With eyes that held a mixture of womanly anger and the drowning of a phobia-inducing rabidness, she didn't mind indulging in her Doll's nature of what was "fun" for him to let him make fireworks out of the four of five men laying on the ground. The fifth one, however?

"Who the hell are you, taking away my merchandise?! Fuck your little magic trick, I'll kill you and her too!"

Oh look. Human bravado.

And a revolver pulled out from the man's jacket to point at Cracker and Ein. Was he serious?

Perhaps he was! ...If it meant anything to say that he'd pulled the trigger twice to try and plant two bullets in their head while they were standing there. How rude, he was interrupting their conversation on top of everything else as well.

[Adorabadass]

Eren Deville

Eren sighed.

"Are you really cutting me out of seeing this?" He asked.

"Whatever, I'll just try on the dress."

A few minutes later, he answered the door.

He took a lot of details in at a glance. He looked at the man's odd outfit and appearance. He glanced at the man's weapons, and noted anti-doll weaponry.

"Hello sir! If you're looking for my boss, they're out of the house right now," Eren said, "I'm Cathy, the housekeeper."

Eren hoped her Doll was keeping an eye on this. She didn't have her gun or knife, and if the dollhunter aggressed on her she'd have to hope her fists would serve to deter the man.

Mathew

"Money you got through gambling, Alexander!" Mathew said, "It's not theft, but it's still dishonest and dangerous. What if I were busy, Alex? I worry about you."

He paused, "And I've seen you do some unpriestly things. Especially when the fairer sex is involved. Bah, but enough of that. Just remember to behave, or I will stay as far away from that oven as possible."

By now, Mathew had shifted into his humanoid zombie looking shape, with rotted looking skin. He was actually perfectly clean and sanitary, though he didn't look it.

[RoflsMazoy]

The boy

The smell of roast beef wafted into his nostrils as he listened to the sounds of a happy family. "Happy birthday son!" He heard them say, quickly followed by some furious tearing and a happy exclamation. "Thanks Dad!" A boy said, "This is what I always wanted!"

He couldn't help but feel pangs of jealousy. "Let's eat before it gets too cold!" A mother said, and the sounds of clinking plates and cutlery soon followed. He turned away from the window and walked elsewhere, there was no way he could listen for much longer without breaking down. The cat in his arms made a confused mewl? as they walked. The boy sat with his back to a wall when they had travelled far from the happy family.

He buried his face in his white cat's fur, as always it was a comforting presence. He stayed like that for a few seconds, before sighing and throwing his head back. He silently reached into his weathered coat, and pulled an old photograph from a pocket. The picture wasn't exactly old, but it looked to be a little worse for wear. The edges were slightly blackened and it looked to have been folded a few times, but he would never let go of it.

In the picture, he saw himself holding his cat in some kind of garden, while a woman he didn't recognize stood behind him, hand on his shoulders. He could only assume she was his mother, or someone close to him, that was all he knew for certain. He had been travelling for a while now, looking for clues, asking people if they recognized anything in the photo. Alas, no luck.

All he had was his clothes, his cat and the Doll. Without money or anything of value, he relied on the doll to find food, shelter, and help him survive. The boy knew nothing of the world, he would have died many times over without her.

His cat snuggled deeper into his arms, and he in turn hugged the cat closer to his body.

"Masami, please come back soon." He whispered to himself.

[Scarifar]

Alexander

Alexander smiled. He couldn't help it when it came to Mathew. He was right, gambling could be dangerous, but there was something about the thrill of taking money away from the fools that he just couldn't resist. He also didn't deny the statement about the fairer sex. Especially that lovely Regina he saw every once in a while... ahh, bliss. Even if she was a Doll Hunter, she still had some charm to her.

But that was enough time lost in thought now. "Yeah, yeah, I know," Alexander responded. "Besides, it's not like I use this money for selfish purposes all the time. Think of it as additional earnings for the church."

He then began walking past Mathew, saying, "Well, enough chit-chat. Let's go home." Alexander turned his head back and glanced at Mathew, giving Mathew a half-serious half-amused face, then asked, "Also, shouldn't you be worried about your appearance right now?" He pointed at Mathew and continued, "It's not like a moving and rotting corpse is inconspicuous."

Megumi
Megumi opened her eyes to stare at Annalee. Maybe Megumi was being a bit of a burden on Annalee. Annalee was always concerned for her, and Megumi sometimes acted too cold to express her thanks. Megumi was going to open her mouth to say something, but then a growling sound emerged from Megumi's stomach. Her face flushed, Megumi looked away from Annalee, then went into the bathroom to take Annalee up on the bath, closing the door behind her. On the way, Megumi had also folded the blanklet into a neat square, placing it onto a nearby chair.

[Vesuvius00]

Annalee Diaz

"Well, I suppose that means she's hungry AND wants a bath." Annalee spoke to herself after the bathroom door had closed behind Megumi. Half sighing, and half laughing, Annalee went to get some food ready for her. She made a simple sandwich, as she still didn't really know what type of foods that Megumi liked, and she also made a serving of oatmeal that she put some butter and sugar in before bringing it all upstairs.

She placed the food on her nightstand and went to knock on the bathroom door. "Hey, I got some food for you. It's on the nightstand, although I don't know how much longer the oatmeal will stay hot just sitting there." She called through the door and added, "I'm going to put Lucas to bed now, so don't worry if i'm not in the room when you get out."

With that done, Annalee walked down the hall, past her older brother's room, and knocked on the door to Lucas's room. Be fore she had even begun to speak, the door swung open, and there stood her adorable little brother, with his pajamas on backwards. "Good night sister!" He said with a big grin on his face.

"Oh, dear. One, you don't say good night as a greeting, you say good evening. Two, you do realize that your pajamas are backwards, don't you?"

Annalee couldn't keep herself from laughing as Lucas said in a perfect mimic of their mother, "Of course I know, Dear! I always know best." He laughed with her for a second and then pulled on her hand, bringing her into hi room with him as the door shut behind them. Speaking normally now, he said, "I don't like the buttons, they make me itchy."

Annalee knelt on the floor by her brother. "Well then, shall we find out why?" She moved her hand in a motion to mean 'turn around' and unbuttoned the jacket of the pajamas, taking it off of him. "Alright, turn back now." When he did, she stood and went to his dresser. Pulling out a soft undershirt, she said, "Let's try wearing this under the jacket. The extra layer will keep you from itching, and you'l be warmer as well!"

He took the undershirt from her and put it on quickly, while she waited to help him put the jacket back on too. Once he was properly dressed, he hugged her and thanked her. "There's no itching now sister! None at all!" A big grin on his face. Annalee patted him on the head and steered him to his bed.

"Alright, you know that's just my job. Now it's time for you to go to sleep, Lucas." She pulled the blanket up to his nose and kissed his forehead lightly. "Good night. Sleep tight, and don't bite the bedbugs." She smiled as she turned off the lights and closed the door, with her brother's laughter echoing in her mind as she went back to her room.

[Ariamis]

The woman who answered the door seemed very strange, Gehrman noted. However, in his line of work that was not so unnatural, seeing as he often had to contend with people either brainwashed into servitude by Dolls, or struggling with their situation. Noting how Deville seemed to be out of the house, he still had to check the household for any clues to his whereabouts.

"Your master has become possessed by a demon, and this house could hold traces of its corruptive influence. Stand aside lady, and let me investigate the house."

[Urbanliner]

Masami

Masami sat on her ring, as she just "acquired" some food, from somewhere to serve her Doll Master, which is suffering from amnesia and doesn't have anywhere to sleep, so she needs to cater to him in order to stay alive.

As Masami hovers through Saulbine on her ring, while hiding herself from existence. finds a lonely boy, snuggling his white-furred cat sitting with his back on a wall. She stops hiding herself, putting her large ring on back of her before approaching the boy with the food. She put the food in front of the boy, then gently tapped him.
"I'm back, with some food. I'm not gonna tell you where I got it, but I'm mostly sure this is enough to keep you and your cat alive."

Ryan Macfield

"The bullies didn't stop, and I don't know how could I stop them..." Ryan spoke to his Doll, which just materialized from one of the many mirrors. Ryan was almost crying, with a sign of anger on his face. "They must be punished, no matter how." he thought.

[Adorabadass]

Mathew

Mathew sighed.

"I suppose it's at least going to a somewhat good cause. But will you at least try to avoid fights in the future?"

Mathew gestured at the one man he'd knocked out.

"That man is going to have a splitting head ache when he wakes up. And honestly the guilt of that may or may not have ruined my whole day. But yes, homeward bound I suppose. I'll just stop existing for a bit and follow you. Remember that I AM watching though, Alex!"

Alex waggled his finger as if he was scolding a child, before melding into the earth.

This was mostly just a visual effect. In truth, he had melded partially outside of reality, as all dolls could. He wished he could just walk the streets, but sadly, his appearance was horrifying to most humans.

Oh well. Once they got back he could probably feed some of the stray cats that hung out in a nearby alley way. That would boost his mood.

Eren Deville

"Ah, I'm sorry sir, but I can't let you inside without proper identification. Why, the other day, silly me, I let this one man claiming to be a cop into the house. He made off with a small amount of cash. The boss never noticed, luckily, or, why, I might have gotten sacked!"

Eren was making up Cathy's characterization in his head as he went. He always was good at acting and lying on the fly. So far, he figured Cathy would be a ditzy type, but pleasant. Cathy would also be quite expressive, so Eren added slightly excessive body language to his speech.

He figured that if this man insisted on trying to come in, then he'd slam the door and grab his pistol from the kitchen table. He didn't like the idea of contending with a dollhunter when he'd already taken a beating from Viper, but he was ready to fight, in a dress if need be.

[Ariamis]

Gehrman was starting to become annoyed by the woman's refusal to grant him passage, and thought of checking through the house later. He had better ways to waste his time with than to stand there and argue. For all he knew, his target could be right now somewhere in the city causing havoc using Deville.

"Fine, just tell me where he went."

[VitaVitaAR]

Cynthia Lee

Cynthia didn't really understand what had happened. One moment, she had been in front of the horrible man threatening to eat her(which was at once scary and kind of a weird threat. She thought that sort of thing was a joke, not anything real adults said... maybe it was because he was a Puppet?) and the next moment she was behind him, as he clawed into a shield. The man let out a cry of rage and pain as the strange figures cut into him, and then the Doll's hand suddenly drove inside his body. There was a spray of mist, even as the rest of his wounds knitted themselves back together, and light shimmering around the Doll's wrist. The man struggled, but as her grip found the Puppeteer he went still.

The mist drew back inside the man's body as he lost consciousness, and from him was drawn a strange creature. It appeared to be made of crystal, with vapors pouring from its body and log, clawed hands, full of sharp angles.

"Grr... D-Doll..." the spire that was the Puppeteer's head swung open to reveal rows of crystal teeth.

[Vesuvius00]

MiRRor (Ashling)

"So, revenge then?" Ashling saw the emotions on his master's face, and recognized the tone in his voice. "Don't you start crying. Anger is better for revenge, then the sadness may come later." Ashling himself never pondered over the irony that was him speaking about emotions, but not having any of his own. Except anger, that is.

"I don't like it when you cry either though. I suppose if I have to stick around you all the time I'd prefer if you were in a good mood." Ashling attempted a casual smile, something he'd been practicing lately, but decided to quit after a second. "Any ideas for a plan yet?"

[RoflsMazoy]

The Boy

He looked up to see the doll. Masami had returned!

"Ah..." He said. He rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Thank you."

He took the bread and cheese that she had put in front of him and put them in his lap, before reaching out for the tin of sardines. He reached into his coat pocket and took out a simple tin opener and proceeded to open the can. He placed it next to him on the ground and his cat jumped from his lap and started eating with gusto.

He watched for a couple of seconds, before starting on his bread and cheese. It wasn't exactly roast, but he couldn't complain. He had very little as it was, he needed all he could get. Although there was nothing stopping him from staying in one place and getting some money, he didn't want to. He'd felt that he was getting closer to finding out about himself the farther they had travelled, but now he felt it might be okay.

He felt like the answer was somewhere in Saulbine.

"Do you think we'll find anything here, Masami?" He asked the doll, "I feel like we will."

---

Nuul

"The Pursuers are the souls of the dead." She whispered in his ear, "They will not stop until there are none who live."

Perhaps it would have been hard to hear a whisper over your own screams, but she doubted he wouldn't hear her whispers. She floated behind him, a shadowy spectre in the maelstrom of his nightmare.

"Submit to me, and you may live." She said.

"YOU, CRAZY BITCH!" His arm whipped back and he tried to stab her with his knife, hard as it was with his body being torn apart by the fangs of the Pursuers. The knife plunged into empty air, the shadow flowed around him, apppearing in front of him.

"The Pursuers have caught the scent of your blood, they will never stop while you remain alive." At those words, the Pursuers finally caught the rest of her unfortunate victim's flailing limbs. The knife dropped out of his hand and fell away into the abyss. "This is your final chance, if you do not submit, you will be torn apart."

"GO. TO. HELL!" He spat.

"How unfortunate." She said with a disinterested tone, "Hm, perhaps I'll see you there."

At that, the pursuer's were free to tear him apart. As she watched, the worms tugged at his limbs, slowly but surely starting to separate them from his body.

"AAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!" He screamed as his limbs were torn from his body.

But of course, Nuul never let it get that far. She had banished the Pursuers before they had even started doing any serious damage. The thug was on the floor, eyes rolled back into his head, screaming at nothing at all.

"A perfect success." She said, her mouth curling into an evil smirk.
((If you're wondering, Gerhman should be able to hear the scream))

[Urbanliner]

Masami

"I think we will. Even if the worst happens, don't give up and we'll find them one day." Masami calmly said to her Master, hoping she could live a life which doesn't involve "crimes" as they say, or making people angry at her. Although Masami couldn't exactly feel what his Master felt, she thought that she was getting closer to the answer to his Master's problem.

Ryan Macfield

"Hmm...."Ryan started thinking, shortly before replying. "How about... you teaching them a lesson? Like, beating them up. I don't know where to do that, but some of mirrors here are small enough to carry around. Also, I guess being happy is good not only for me, but for others too. I'll try being happy from now, so you and maybe others could be happy too." He attempted a fake smile for his Doll, but it soon disappeared.