Oblitus Magia: Verse 1 - Fateful Encounter in the City of Fools

[grampagen]

Late morning stretched to midday, and further east from the scene of the crime, they roved. Deeper into the East Side, the old buildings were taller, yet somehow thinner. Less brick than before and a lot more of that hollow steel that snaked from streetside to rooftop.

There were a dozen of them when they started near Ange's safehouse. The further out they went, their numbers grew. First there was a dozen, then twice that number in short order as they stopped off place by place. Now the close alleys held no letters, only their Capricorn standard spread openly wall to tall. A declaration to the world, this was all their turf.

The man with the shaded eyes and the Tophat was joined shortly by increasingly colourful standouts among the ragtags they ran with, each gaudier than the last, until the company reached a deeply framed building with large double-doors and smashed signposts. Here he was met by a tall one with long waxy hair spilling over his ill-fitting white trenchcoat. He took one look at the bloodied up hostage they dragged behind them. Reaching out a gloved hand he ran his hand over the swollen jawline. He struck him hard with an open palm, and red pooled beneath him.

"Not yet. Make an example out of this one."

Around the corner, a stall-market bazaar took over a long stretch of unused road - after all, what use is a street anyway if nobody has an automobile? White and blue tarps spread a roof over many kinds of wares, frayed and worn from use . What the merchants could spare, they put up for sale.

To Kinu it was a little strange. With dedicated resources coming from specific districts, the supply that was given to the outer ring would always be limited to scraps from what came above. Where did they get their provisions? And just how big was their cut?

Peanuts for today, limp on 'til tomorrow. On and on it goes. What a pity! Perhaps all of it was fodder for enterprising 11ers that wanted to secure their position between the walls. With no other way to go but down, I'd probably take what I could get from the Admins too.

The bustle from the market silenced to the pitter-patter of footfalls almost immediately, and the crowds thinned as soon as the Capricorn gang wandered in. A school of minnows parting before bigger fish.

It was collection time. They made sure they all knew it by waving around the limp body of that kid around.

The vendor who had been swatting away fast-fingered urchins all morning lowered his head and lost his tongue when the thugs dipped their hands into the stall wares. The artisan hocked the fruits of his trade, barking at the crowd with claims of quality, and on the sly he handed them a gilded pot, filled with that funny-coloured paper they put far too much stock in. Hard sellers and cutthroat bargain-busters surrendered to these vultures whatever their two hands could carry; she even saw one of them wheel away with two fistfuls of raw meat.

The trenchcoat with the waxy hair nodded as he took a mental tally of the amount pilfered, Top Hat fingering the blue and green bills into a collected share.

"Everyone else paid up. You see how easy it is?" His white arm grasped the lumped-over face of the young man, Could he actually see him this close? "Mom and dad gonna cooperate. I can't guarantee their protection much longer. It's either us or the Witches, and our help is far more...accessible, wouldn't you agree?"

The kid made a low moan, more of a gurgling, and a sharp, hissing exhale spattered blood all over the white coat.

"Drop him."

One by one, people began to stream back into the market, the sounds of barter rising and the shuffle of exchanged goods resumed. An old woman parted with an heirloom in exchange for a triage of down jackets. A couple of working men pinched their coins, arguing over the value of the tripes and offal the wet-market butcher was reluctant to part with.

Running his hands through his hair, the trenchcoat extortionist stood among his underlings in a circle surrounding them. All eyes open to their own business, entirely blind to the young man as he futilely crawled over the pooling blood that spilled into the gutters. Where it smeared on the trenchcoat, it stained it pink.

"Freshen up the tags. I want them all to remember who owns this town."

Half of the assembly followed their leaders down the road into a building. The only one with columns and stone facing at the far side of the marketplace, headless statues adorning the overhang and the corners. The rest took their marching orders, and wound around the eastside alleys.

_____

The clattering of a marble sounded down one alley as one of the Capricorn gang, spraycan in hand, wandered to the side of a building to find their last marking. The alleyway was dark, for the rooftops of these tall narrow buildings left a yard-wide slit between them where they hazy grey fell. A destitute old man, shrouded under his patchwork of old newspapers, groaned, causing the gangster to start.

"What are you trying to pull, huh?!" He kicked the homeless man violently and he crumpled, then leaned in to strike him a second time, when a metallic clatter sounded from overhead. A flock of birds hanging in the rafters took off through the narrow space, and the gangster could only hear the sound of his own breathing.

A whispering hiss rattled ahead in the shaded vista, and he took a few slow steps forward.

...hhhkkkrrkhhh...

"Someone else down here?" He called out, clicking out a switchblade. "Jay? Two-P? Don't mess with me, man!"

Closer now. Nothing but the faint hiss as he got closer. And the throaty, choking continued.

...hhhkkkrrkhhh...

The hiss continued sharply, then the fallen clatter of something steely. It rolled toward him out of the shadow, and then he saw them.

Two of his comrades. One leaned up against the wall, eyes conscious, yet staring from miles away as he sat unable to move. the other lay splayed on his back, foaming at the mouth. Through his shirt he could see where the ribs jut out as if his spine had been kinked like a wire.

Overhead the image of Capricorn placed here was superimposed with the image of a mask, bleeding white in trails that hit the ground in fresh pools upon the concrete.

That was the last thing he saw before two hands dragged him into the darkness.

[grampagen]

The marketplace stirred with a terrified commotion that afternoon. Trench and Top Hat corralled together an impromptu meeting on the steps of their commandeered town hall and were none too pleased to discuss the matter.

"All I want to know is who did this?"

The man in the bloodstained coat lift his hand up and gestured to the Capricorn gangster above him. On the second story corner overlooking the eastside slum he hung, racked in torment, bent limply over the knee of a headless gargoyle.

"I try my best, I really do. When I first came to this neighborhood, it was lawless. Nobody knew where they were coming or going, so long as it was to grab up a little piece of grub, or a space of their own."

"The Administration doesn't give a wit about you, but I did! I am not without mercy. But I don't give anything away for free. You are all my investment. So explain this to me!"

Capricorn gang members shout and clattered, and low murmurs spread around the crowd, but no answers were forthcoming.

"Well, then if it wasn't one of you, it must've been something else then! And what if this thing comes back for you? I can't guarantee your protection! And you wouldn't want that, would you?!"

In response, a voice sounded up from above...and behind them.

"If you can't guarantee their protection, what are they paying you for, then?"

Standing on the roof of the Capricorn hideout, Kinu's white mask peered over the crowd, a carrion bird raising burning wings as the long trail of her coat and sleeves caught the stale wind. The crowd was at once incensed and stupefied, a wave of fascination and terror sweeping through those gathered.

"Look at you, big man of the streets! Too proud to take handouts, but he'll still reach into the collection plate!"

"I take what I want because it's what I'm owed!" Came Trench's retort, "Who the hell are you anyways, lipping off like that?"

Top Hat put his fingers in his lips and a sharp whistle pierced the air, and the rest of the Capricorn gang flood in. Fifty men strong streamed around the base of the building, weilding all sorts of scrap. Boards, bats, chains, and some awfully big knives.

"I was born on these streets and now I own them," Trenchcoat spat, "You're in my town now."

"'My Town', fuh fuh fuh..." Kinu repeated.

Then she jumped off the roof and landed right before the leaders. Even though she stood about a head shorter than either, the image of that mocking porcelain face was fresh in their minds. Standing at the door before their stronghold she spread her arms wide.

"It sounds like whoever wants it the most can take it, yeah?"

"Ice this bitch!"

The men came in waves, prepared for a street scrap. Little did they know that despite all appearances, they'd stepped into the Squared Circle; and as Kinu sprung back, she leapt off the wall behind her throwing full force into an explosive missile dropkick. Hitting a thug clear into a row of his fellow extortionists. A group wielding knives sprang on her. Kinu threw a sharp low kick into his leg with such force he buckled under his own step and the rest of the gang hesitated.

"Come on," she sneered, drawing her fingers in sadistically as she prowled around. She'd seen in far too often, but in behaviour more suited for the wild beasts roving outside the walls. Slavering jaws and fangs were everywhere, ready to sink claw or tendril upon what was dead and free for the taking. They were only so ready to take on something stronger than they were.

Perhaps she lingered too long in one place, because she shortly felt a bottle shatter on the back of her head and she went down and fell on her back.

The crowd gasped.

Top Hat, the stem of a bottleneck in his hand, grit his teeth and breathed hard. He turned to face the bazaar, stall owners and citizenry alike.

"You see this? Don't mess with Capricorn!," he shouted, the fury burning through his shaded eyes as he jabbed the pointed glass at the small crowd.

"I don't know who got the bright idea to try to take us on, but this is what you get!" Commotion rose, faces went pale under the sound of sharp wails.

Silently, Kinu stood upright.

"Boss!"

He turned, but it was already too late as she cut down his stance with a flying scissors takedown, slamming him back on the concrete. Dumbfounded at such a maneuver, at the audacity, Top Hat hadn't the time to collect his thoughts as the Pinfall kicked in.

It's no fun for anybody if it's over to quickly, and if I want to get them over...

"Hey! He's getting away!"

The brains of the operation started running into the bazaar crowd, the bloody white coat flickering as her ran and started shoving people behind him in an effort to get away. Bounding off the ground, Kinu gave chase over the top of the stalls and sprung on him. She caught Trenchcoat from behind, folding his arms behind his back, restraining him helpless for everybody to see.

"What the hell are you?" he said, the toes of his fancy shoes just barely scraping the ground. "Are you a Witch?"

"The Administration doesn't give a damn, remember? But looks like they can't rely on you for anything either," she said, tightening her grip as she laced their arms together,

"No. Please! I'll pay up!"

"Oh, no no no no. You've been skimming off the top for so long," she lift his feet off the ground "You've forgotten what it means to really bust your ass!"

Then she drove him downward smashing his coccyx into the pavement with a Double Chickenwing Bomb!

And in the aftermath, Trenchcoat had nothing to say, simply stuck, hunched over limply where he sat as a dry whimper escaped him.

"What did she do to him?"

"...she broke him."

_____

Hours later Kinu returned to the hideout with a large bindle tied over her shoulders, and another in her hand. It was strangely strong, this homespun textile, was filled with well-preserved provisions.

But first thing was first, she took a seat by the remains of last night's firepit, and made the spread. Stacks of freshly steamed buns, greasy paper wrapping meat, and bright, leathery skinned fruit. Stripping off the rind with her nails and peeling off a segment, she savoured the tart sweetness.

Ah. Civilization.

[grampagen]

"Probably not, no. Unfortunately for those in my line of work, the people that really run this world got no time for shadow killers..." Omg passed another napkin to himself and wiped his face clean. " Not when they can get away with it in broad daylight..."

"And what about you...? The struttin' and the kabuki mask. Pretty flashy, but it can easily attract the wrong kind attention. ...unless that's what you want," He inquired after a bit.

Idly holding the mask in her hand as she sat and studied the way Omu ate, she waved it around idly as she leaned back in laughter.

"Oh, is it? The wrong kind of attention, I mean," Kinu said giddily, a certain puckish excitement surfacing in her. "Whatever gets their attention, they'll try to take it for themselves. Figure out some clever twist or spin to make it go down easy."

"But...remember the real number of survivors from A-9, the ones they've funnel around town tonight. They'd like for everyone to forget about them, but really, that's something that's out of the Administration's control. And something that can't be ignored."

"Sure as the sun will rise upon another day, you may try to call it something else, but it is what it is," she said, taking a long gulp of beer, exhaling with relish. "something as sure as that..."

Plucking at the mask once more, she let it fall through her fingers, and it fell by the tether around her neck.

"But nobody is ready for what I, the Great Kinu want. Not yet."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

"Are you looking for leftovers?" Lucifer asked as he tested the two foil pouches before him for potential leaks. "There wasn't all that much left when I got here, and certainly even less now, but what there is should at least be good for a meal or two." Satisfied with the seals on both packets, he carefully placed both in the oven, and only then turned towards Jacob. "Of course, you're more than welcome to some of what I'm having if you're willing to wait half an hour for it- though I must warn you that my palette has been... charitably described as both adventurous and bizarre."

" Yeah, I'm looking for some leftovers. I could use some warm milk to help me sleep. I have been having nightmares. Every time I go to sleep, I 'm faced with a white hair red-eye man in a uniform," Jacob said.

" In the nightmare, the man kills my wife every time and, I tried to stop him. The nightmare always ends with me holding my dead wife in my arms with me seeing a dog suddenly appear," Jacob said.

" The man always tells me the same thing in the nightmare. That I'm a beastman, just like him and expect he wasn't pretending to be human, that he knew me since childhood, and that he murdered my wife, because she was a human," Jacob said. Jacob opens up his locket and looks at a picture of him with his wife and kids.

[Noldere]

Morning Branch

Selma groaned as she wandered into the safehouse their 'associates' were allowing them to hide out in. Her head was pounding, whatever that strange creature did to her back had left it throbbing, and she wanted nothing more than to just lay down, because she was already done with today.

"Hey, anyone willing to do a quick favor for me?" Selma asked.

"I might be able to help," Lucifer said, making a mental note of both Selma's current state and the new tattoo but saying anything about either (the latter for obvious reasons). "What's going on?"

[MrSandman]

Morgen tensed up immediately. Her fingers clung to her thighs and dug into the skin like claws, her eyes widening in horror as she saw herself appear. She was in so much deeper **** than she ever could've realized. Each line of mockery shoved the nail deeper into her heart, and all sense of naive hopefulness drained from her. There was so much she wanted to say to her, she was desperate to defend herself no matter how feeble it was. This isn't fair... this isnt' fair! I didn't do anything wrong!

Quivering, she felt her eyes well up again, and she closed them shut. Save your tears. There's no pity here.
Without thinking, she felt herself sinking to the ground, bringing her face closer to Alice's extended foot. It was easy. Just one kiss. That's all she had to do, and she was in the clear. Pride be damned. Pride be damned. She felt the shadow's hand on her shoulder, and a hushed voice in her ear.

"Pathetic. Disgusting. You're really going to spend your whole life licking boots? Acting like a dog, just to save your own skin... the only thing you're proving to her right now is that you have no fucking backbone. Stand up. Stand up, you useless fucking rag, and be a GODAMN human being for once in your miserable life!"

Morgen inhaled a sharp breath, and rose to her feet.

"...No. I won't."

Steeling herself, she looked up at Alice and locked eyes with the smug nephilim before her. "Keep the footage, I don't care." She was surprised by her own words, and even she couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not right now. "A promise held on such a fragile balance is going to crumble sooner or later -- I doubt you even need it. If you want my hand in the investigation, then you have it. I stand by what I said -- I truly wish to help restore order to this city. But I am NOT a lapdog." Morgen's chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, never breaking eye contact. She may very well have just made an incredible life ending mistake... but in this moment, her father's words resonated deeply within her.

As much of a bastard as he is, he was right about one thing. This was no way for a human being live. She was either going to forge her own path, or die.

She was really hoping she wouldn't die, though. That bravado is going to fade quickly.

For a moment, Alice just looked at her.

Then slowly, her smile crept its way back onto her face.

"Oh? You misunderstand me....I wasn't planning to strong arm you into being an informant. I have something sooo much better in mind for you....." Alice mused, circling her finger around the image of Morgan. "....that's assuming you can be of use. So....I would carefully, and truthfully, answer the following question......as if your families reputation and lives depended on it."

Alice leaned forward, amused smirk playing her face. "If you pointed our forces in the wrong direction.....if you became the traitor this picture says you are........do you suppose that instead of a small fish like Mulvric, they'd trust you enough to bring you to the biggest fish........." Her eyes flashed. "Enterprise." A sadistic gleam lit up her eyes. "Yes......Oh I haven't tortured that one in agggggggesssss......and you'd make just the right tool for the job. Oh...I'm sorry....your not a lapdog right?" Alice chuckled.

"So....Could you do it? Could you gain their trust? Worm your way into their hearts? Bring them what they deserve? If you can.....I can do more then make these images vanish, I can make sure you come back a hero. The spy who risked life and limb to fight the enemies of the Administratum, even Gretel will have no choice but to acknowledge you.....you might even get a spot on her A-team.....I hear one of them recently fucked up and got a bite taken out of her." Alice covered her mouth and gave a sideways chuckle. "Doesn't that sound lovely...I hope it does, because the alternative is your a traitor to us.......and you know what happens to traitors here, and their families."

The Nephilim locked her eyes with Morgan, an unnatural feeling sinking over her.

"And don't think you can just fly away with EN......You either come back the hero.....or your family suffers in your place. So....what do you say.....be my Trojan Horse?"

[Noldere]

Night Branch

" Yeah, I'm looking for some leftovers. I could use some warm milk to help me sleep. I have been having nightmares. Every time I go to sleep, I 'm faced with a white hair red-eye man in a uniform," Jacob said.

" In the nightmare, the man kills my wife every time and, I tried to stop him. The nightmare always ends with me holding my dead wife in my arms with me seeing a dog suddenly appear," Jacob said.

" The man always tells me the same thing in the nightmare. That I'm a beastman, just like him and expect he wasn't pretending to be human, that he knew me since childhood, and that he murdered my wife, because she was a human," Jacob said. Jacob opens up his locket and looks at a picture of him with his wife and kids.

~That's...~

As Lucifer helped the troubled man go through the now twice leftovers to get the beginnings of a meal and the milk to help him sleep, he tried to process what he had just heard and saw.

~Beastmen... a red-eyed man in white... a wife murdered for being human... and a dog that only appears after- wait...

For an instant, Lucifer thought he had remembered seeing- or rather more accurately, feeling- something that may have been vaguely dog shaped near the man when they were still at the terminal. His state of mind as it was then- as it still mostly is now- led to him dismissing the feeling, especially since nothing else that should have been present if an actual dog was there was, but perhaps...

~No...~

Lucifer shook his head as he cleared his mind; the dog probably represented something meaningful, but unless he caught the feeling again, he wasn't exactly well-equipped to do anything about it.

Not that he was equipped - well or otherwise- to help any of Jacob's problems, but at least he was here to do... something.

"Are the three of them doing well?" Lucifer asked, hoping that the man's nightmares were visions of potentialities rather than that of events already past.

OOC: Is Rhea around at the moment, or somewhere else?

[The Dog]

Morning Branch



"I might be able to help," Lucifer said, making a mental note of both Selma's current state and the new tattoo but saying anything about either (the latter for obvious reasons). "What's going on?"

"Made a 'deal' with a mass of darkness within the Realm of Shadows' that has no true shape with too damn many eyes and mouths. Did something to my back, and I want you to look and make sure it's not a pulsating mass of darkness and eyes or anything like that before I go lay down for a long damn time. Mind doing that for me?" Selma explained wearily.

She knew she should have made a cover story or something, but her headache was making it impossible to think of one, and at the moment she didn't care. She'd decide if it was a good or bad idea to tell it all later.

[Yun Lao]

"Made a 'deal' with a mass of darkness within the Realm of Shadows' that has no true shape with too damn many eyes and mouths. Did something to my back, and I want you to look and make sure it's not a pulsating mass of darkness and eyes or anything like that before I go lay down for a long damn time. Mind doing that for me?" Selma explained wearily.

She knew she should have made a cover story or something, but her headache was making it impossible to think of one, and at the moment she didn't care. She'd decide if it was a good or bad idea to tell it all later.

"You did what?!"

Standing at the doorway was Sigourney, knuckles white from gripping her new diary tightly. The flight back from the bazaar had been a quick one, but not quick enough to avoid hearing Selma's rather public confession.

"We just escaped the Ruin and you invited somethin-- no." Halfway through her words, the girl chose to shut it down. She would have no more involvement in this, instead she went into the kitchen and smuggled a small portion, but not all of Ange's chocolate. Stepping back out, she gave her declaration, "Good luck with that. I'm going to hide in preparation for when the Administratum and/or now a shadowy daemon comes after us."

[The Dog]

"You did what?!"

Standing at the doorway was Sigourney, knuckles white from gripping her new diary tightly. The flight back from the bazaar had been a quick one, but not quick enough to avoid hearing Selma's rather public confession.

"We just escaped the Ruin and you invited somethin-- no." Halfway through her words, the girl chose to shut it down. She would have no more involvement in this, instead she went into the kitchen and smuggled a small portion, but not all of Ange's chocolate. Stepping back out, she gave her declaration, "Good luck with that. I'm going to hide in preparation for when the Administratum and/or now a shadowy daemon comes after us."

"Don't worry, Leviathan can't leave the Realm of Shadows... I think. Otherwise it'd have come to me instead of me having to go to it. And it wouldn't have bothered with our 'deal' if it could come and go as it pleases. So I'm reasonably sure everyone but me is safe from it." Selma explained.

"Unless, of course, everything it said was a lie and it was just fucking with me, but I'm almost certain that it wasn't."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Night Branch



~That's...~

As Lucifer helped the troubled man go through the now twice leftovers to get the beginnings of a meal and the milk to help him sleep, he tried to process what he had just heard and saw.

~Beastmen... a red-eyed man in white... a wife murdered for being human... and a dog that only appears after- wait...

For an instant, Lucifer thought he had remembered seeing- or rather more accurately, feeling- something that may have been vaguely dog shaped near the man when they were still at the terminal. His state of mind as it was then- as it still mostly is now- led to him dismissing the feeling, especially since nothing else that should have been present if an actual dog was there was, but perhaps...

~No...~

Lucifer shook his head as he cleared his mind; the dog probably represented something meaningful, but unless he caught the feeling again, he wasn't exactly well-equipped to do anything about it.

Not that he was equipped - well or otherwise- to help any of Jacob's problems, but at least he was here to do... something.

"Are the three of them doing well?" Lucifer asked, hoping that the man's nightmares were visions of potentialities rather than that of events already past.

OOC: Is Rhea around at the moment, or somewhere else?

OOC: Rhea is still around.

Jacob drinks the milk. "No, that nightmare I had was an event that happen in my past. My wife is dead and, my children were taken from me by someone I don't know. My wife trying to tell me when she was dying in my arms but couldn't get the words to tell me out properly,"

" My daughters are probably dead." That nightmare is a reminder of how I failed to protect my wife and kids," Jacob said.

Rhea walks into the kitchen and stands near Jacob. Jacob, you had that nightmare again. You know that was nothing you could have done back then," Rhea said.

Rhea gets the idea of using leftovers to make a message to communicate to Lucifer. The message reads. Hello, my name is Rhea. I'm this beastman's spirit animal.

[Melon God]

She knew it would come to this. She knew, and now she was hesitating. Like plucking an arrow from her flesh, it was painful, and she had no other choice but to get it over with -- to be used liked a tool. Morgen's eyes narrowed with a harsh gleam.

But a pawn was a piece on the board, too. And pawns can kill kings.

"They'll never know what hit them."

[Noldere]

Morning Branch

"Made a 'deal' with a mass of darkness within the Realm of Shadows' that has no true shape with too damn many eyes and mouths. Did something to my back, and I want you to look and make sure it's not a pulsating mass of darkness and eyes or anything like that before I go lay down for a long damn time. Mind doing that for me?" Selma explained wearily.

She knew she should have made a cover story or something, but her headache was making it impossible to think of one, and at the moment she didn't care. She'd decide if it was a good or bad idea to tell it all later.

"You did what?!"

Standing at the doorway was Sigourney, knuckles white from gripping her new diary tightly. The flight back from the bazaar had been a quick one, but not quick enough to avoid hearing Selma's rather public confession.

"We just escaped the Ruin and you invited somethin-- no." Halfway through her words, the girl chose to shut it down. She would have no more involvement in this, instead she went into the kitchen and smuggled a small portion, but not all of Ange's chocolate. Stepping back out, she gave her declaration, "Good luck with that. I'm going to hide in preparation for when the Administratum and/or now a shadowy daemon comes after us."

"Don't worry, Leviathan can't leave the Realm of Shadows... I think. Otherwise it'd have come to me instead of me having to go to it. And it wouldn't have bothered with our 'deal' if it could come and go as it pleases. So I'm reasonably sure everyone but me is safe from it." Selma explained.

"Unless, of course, everything it said was a lie and it was just fucking with me, but I'm almost certain that it wasn't."

"If this... Leviathan doesn't want to become wall art, it'll behave," Lucifer said, unsure of what exactly it was he was even threatening but confident that large enough quantities of directed energy would be sufficient to deal with it - or anything else. "But let's hope that that's something that becomes necessary never, shall we? Anyway, I don't mind taking a closer look at the thing on your back for you. I mean, as far as I can tell from here, it looks like a rather extensive and intricate pattern with a single eye at its center but nothing that appears to be pulsating, but a more direct view may reveal something that can't be seen otherwise. Are we doing it here, or do you have somewhere else in mind?"

[MrSandman]

She knew it would come to this. She knew, and now she was hesitating. Like plucking an arrow from her flesh, it was painful, and she had no other choice but to get it over with -- to be used liked a tool. Morgen's eyes narrowed with a harsh gleam.

But a pawn was a piece on the board, too. And pawns can kill kings.

"They'll never know what hit them."

"Then I look forward to working together..." Alice snapped her finger and the picture vanished. From Morgans left a small device extended from a hidden compartment. "Heres a little something from me.....hold onto it, don't let anyone know you have it. When the time comes....you'll find out what its for."

Leaning back, Alice seemed to consider things for a moment. "......oh....goes without saying....but this conversation never happened......and I'll send your sis an autograph, on the house. Aren't I generous?" The door to the vechile opened abruptly, and Morgan realized they had already landed at some point.

"Oh....right.....almost forgot." Alice leaned forward and waved a map of the slums into being. "Point out where your friends base is....so I can point our friends somewhere else.....and then be on your way."

[The Dog]

Morning Branch



"If this... Leviathan doesn't want to become wall art, it'll behave," Lucifer said, unsure of what exactly it was he was even threatening but confident that large enough quantities of directed energy would be sufficient to deal with it - or anything else. "But let's hope that that's something that becomes necessary never, shall we? Anyway, I don't mind taking a closer look at the thing on your back for you. I mean, as far as I can tell from here, it looks like a rather extensive and intricate pattern with a single eye at its center but nothing that appears to be pulsating, but a more direct view may reveal something that can't be seen otherwise. Are we doing it here, or do you have somewhere else in mind?"

Selma raised an eyebrow at his boast in regards to a thing that may be as old as the Ruin, if not even older. She seriously doubted he could do so, but if it made him feel better to believe he could defeat something like that, then she'd let him continue doing so.

Shaking her head, Selma turned herself so her back was facing him and pulled the back of her shirt up enough to reveal her back to him. She gave a weary sigh as she said "Let's do this as quickly as possible so I can lay down and see if it'll make my head and back stop hurting. Let me tell you, I am beyond done with today."

OT: It looks like this with an eye in the center