Glayp'neir

The doctor finds himself in that very long hallway. It's still quite dark, and the area looks just like the rest of the sewer had. Moving a long at a steady pace, he comes to a stop. About halfway down the hall he reaches a little niche with a ladder leading up. It goes a decent way up to an opening up top. Light is coming from above, but it isn't natural light, so perhaps that can't be the way out. Further down the hall he sees yet another door, leading to yet another room. From what he can tell the upcoming room is full of machinery, this one mostly intact as the noise is very audible, the closer he moves towards it. And then adjacent to the ladder is a piece of wall knocked down leading to a dusty and small maintenance crawlspace with plenty of cobwebs and dead bugs. No answer or other signs of Mitsuki are around.




Upon RDs question about the location, Sharpe checks the screen. It doesn't look like he'll be able to see all too far out. All he sees are the various signs shown to the north of the screen. They are likely out of range. When Richard then overwhelms him with questions about the device, Sharpe starts to realize more and more that he himself has no idea how the device works. He's heard of similar things up in global, but never really got to see or use one. He takes a closer look at the device.

Sharpe blinking a few times and put up his hand, if not completely at chest level and shook his head.

"Alright, to start off, yeah I'm not about to go in there again without everyone else. I'll talk about that behind closed doors if you don't mind. As far as getting around to that side, there's that, or maybe a ferry we could take or something of the like.

Moving on to the subject of the scanner, There do seem to be some readings in the direction of central, but I can't say if they're inside central or beyond it. One of these is definitely the Doc though. Crystals were not given to everyone, in fact I think Doc has almost all of them, and someone else, maybe Air but maybe Jack since he was highly interested in the device. One of the crystals is broken, so that's why you see a skull instead of a normal dot. Beyond that, I don't know much about these devices. I know they exist in Global, and I know some of the other specialists in Teyness used them, mostly Essa, but I've never laid my eyes nor hands upon one of these, so I don't even know how to change the parameters. If we find Jack I'll have him toy with it, or play around with it on my own. I have NO idea how the crystals are created, but I'm sure there must be a way to replicate them."

He breaths a heavy sigh, and looks back at RD after having switched between looking at him and off into the distance for focus.

"Let's check the house, ok? I'm getting worrisome."

"Hm. Even if the crystal is broken it still transmits a signal that the scanner can pick up? Strange... and since you say Doc has most, if not all of them then we'd have to assume the blip that has the most dots concentrated in one spot will lead us directly to him... Well that's fine. I guess we could track him later..."

In all honesty Richard was a bit cross about his decision to forgo the Doc for now, but he hoped the man could handle himself. They had shared a few battles when they traveled together, Doc was a pretty good fighter, but a tad too trusting which tended to get him in trouble. Then again he had asked his old friend to stop going it alone, and was completely ignored, so whatever came to pass he felt the Doc had forced himself to handle it alone... Still, RD found himself torn between following Point-man, or tracking down the 'Good' Doctor himself and possibly saving him from whatever mess he had likely fallen into.

Richard sighed heavily, he hated mulling over choices more then anything else. He tended to allow his instincts guide him and take the words of others as more of 'advice'. "Alright then, lets head back to the house, see if they're there, after that though I'd like to locate the Doc. I've needed to chat with him about something for awhile now, but he took off without hittin' me up first even though I asked him not to... Anyway going through central is out. Lets see if we can find a ferry or something, we'd better hurry, the slower we progress the less likely we'll be able to grab one. This way right?" He turns towards where he remembers seeing the docks after passing though the city on their way to the house the first time, beckoning Sharpe to come along.

Doctor Atrium sighs heavily when he sees not sign of Mitsuki. He bends down and notices her footsteps on the dusty ground, He fallows then and sees that it stops at the ladder. He looks up and nods, this would be a good place to go seeing how they are trying to get out of this underground sewer. He grabs the cold steel ladder and starts climbing. He has to push a manhole cover off to be able to get up and out. He covers up the manhole and looks around. He sees a big hallway with more machines and two big pipes at the very end of the hallway, one which seems to have combusted many years ago and the hole is big enough for him to enter. He also sees a door that is broken, he tries to open it but it just wont budge. He then uses his shoulder and slams into the door a few times until it brakes open and he can see inside. On the other side of the door there seems to be a small empty office space of sorts. He looks around but there isn't much there, he grabs some of the old and dirty paperwork that was left on some of the desks and puts them in the bag. Doc then walks out of the office and looks back down the long hallway and he notices something he didn't before...some lit candles at the far end of the room where the pipes are. He walks over to them and sees that they are freshly lit. He grabs one of them and starts walking down the hall slowly. He isn't sure who or what is here but he has his guard up and is ready to strike if need be.

"Standing around here is so boring. What was the point in the doctor taking the cat with him to where ever he was going, at least it would've given me some company."

Jack decided to head out once again to ask about the quarantine with the assumption that his brother's voice would not object as long as Jack did not intervene.

Jack knocked on Jian's door before leaving.

"Jian, I'm going to check the status of the quarantine. Take care of Hitomi while I'm gone."

The doctor makes his way down the pipe (hallway). It's quite dark, but thanks to the candle he can at least see a few meters infront of him. Throughout the pipe there are various lit candles, but they are more burnt out the further he gets. Finally the candles stop, but doc can see some faint light in the far distance so he decides to keep going. The walk takes for seemingly ever, and sometimes Atrium feels like he isn't getting anywhere at all, but the light is definately coming closer, and in the distance some shapes are illuminated by natural light, albeit not much of it. Was he still further underground? Or perhaps it was already late at night. Either way he eventually arrives at a rusted latter leading into the pipe. It was welded there sometime later, probably for access. As the material was different, and not as old as the pipe itself. Up top part of the ladder is broken, but not enough for him to not be able to reach the top so he decides to climb up to the open cover above.

"Uh..." Sharpe starts, a bit confused, but then says and heaves his upper body mass over. He proceeds to walk in the direction RD was motioning towards, but feels he must point something out to him.

"Yeah this way, but I thought we were going to check the house first? Unless what you meant was to see what times the Ferries operate on, if that's the case I'll come. Still, at least Doc can mostly handle himself I feel. Jack I feel like would cause some trouble or something because he'd usually just go and act, Jian's not very beefy at all, nor really meant for combat. He's no soldier. Neither of them really are like us." He says, still looking in the direction RD indicated, a bit doubtful as to his intentions.

Richard glances back at the man and grins before turning back towards the path. "Heh, If we weren't gonna check it, why'd ya mention it in the first place?" He shrugs, then adding "I'm thinking we should get a feel for how it operates before we come back, otherwise, we'd just be wasting time, espicially if it closes down at a certain time or isn't running at the moment... This is, of course, unless the house is closer; if that's the case we'll head straight for it instead. Sorry, this city still has me a bit confused, i figured the dock was only a bit off the path towards the house. Might need to see if i can grab a map of this place somewhere and get a better feel for it sometime."

RD chuckles a bit at his own expense, he was still new to this town and mostly used landmarks to help him get from place to place, he had yet to establish any here though, so he was bound to get a bit lost from time to time. He slows down his pace a bit, finally noticing he had quickened it trying to get to the docks as fast as possible, "You lead than Point-man, i'm still getting a grasp for this city, if the docks are in the opposite direction from your place, never mind it, we'll check the ferry later."

After a pause, thinking about Point-man's overall observations on the combat capabilities of the group, he remembers something he'd been meaning to ask Sharpe for awhile "Hmm, so Jack is impulsive and Jian isn't much of a fighter... Yeah... that sounds about right judging from the way they act.  Reminds' me though, you've been with this group for awhile apparently, what's your take on it? And why exactly are you sticking around? Might as well tell me your angle while we stroll along.~"

Jian wakes up from his slumber, with a sad tune that was in his head during a dream he had. His mind a bit cloudy, his mood also rather low due to said dream. He barely recalls anything, but the fact that it was quite intense and depressing.

He sits up on his bed, taking a look around. He's still in his room, surprisingly so. That reminds him that he has to explain Ms. Chen that he actually does not occupy the apartment he used to live at anymore. It saddens him a bit, as he feels like she doesn't have that much money either. Plus, from what he gathered, she is one of the few, like many others, that came here to flee from what is going on in the east. So he always wishes for the best when it comes to her and more of that kind.

He rubs his face, he even slept with his glasses on. Usually a bad idea to do that. He stretches a bit afterwards, getting up to see if Jack's still there. Leaving the room, Jian goes to check, but Jack's gone, Hitomi is the only one around. Jian sits down next to her, petting her softly, which makes him think. He remembers a similar scenario from somewhere, not being able to pinpoint what it was.

He sighs again, giving up, looking at the little girl, still petting her.

Jack made his way to the check point. He checked his pocket watch.

"I arrived 2 minutes earlier than I expected...that can't be right. Is the clock off...no, impossible...I could've sworn I was walking at my normal pace. Now that I think about it, why do I get this nagging feeling that everything is a nanosecond slower...shite, I need to stop think about it."

Jack gave the thought no more attention as he walked at a brisk pace towards the checkpoint.

"Excuse me officer, I was just curious if you've received any updates on the status of the quarantine."

The man on guard duty that day seemed like a reasonable fellow. Jack could tell just by the look of him. He has that innocent sort of glint in his eyes and a goodie-two-shoes attitude. "Huh- Oh, hello." the man says upon jacks question, looking about real quick. The man must have been lost in thought as he only now checked his surroundings. There were three other men with him, but they were in a small hut next to the closet bridge. "Can't say I know too much, honestly. I was assigned here only recently. Used to be up in the northern district at the academy before I got transferred down south.

Jack recalls hearing about an academy before. If he remembers correctly the academy was for traders and businessmen, mostly, with a few courses on swordsmanship and archery on the side.

The man shrugs. "Sorry, I was just a guard up there until I got assigned to the south. Things down here are certainly crazy compared to up in the northern district. All I know is that they said the quarantine will be lifted soon. Apparently they just recently caught the suspects, but that's about all I know."
The guy frowns a bit, trying to recall some memory or other. "Now that I think of it, I heard there was  a group of people they apprehended. They were part of one of them wicked cults or something. If I remember correctly they will be trialed and executed."
The man shivers at the thought of an execution. They don't happen often.
"I'm just glad that whole situation is resolved. Nobody would say what was going on, but everybody sure seemed concerned."



Hitomi wakes softly, blinking tiredly. She looks up to Jian, recognizing her face she lets out a playful semi-roar and jumps to her feet, immediately prancing and dancing around him. She then jumps off the bed with a giggle and opens the door, running out of the room and down the stairs. Shortly after Jian can hear the clanging of pots as she persumedly knocked a bunch of stuff over in the kitchen.

Sharpe shrugs and walks to RD's side, and a bit as the leading edge.

"As for what I think of this rabble..." Sharpe says as he rubs his stubble, "It's pretty diverse. I don't really think ill of anyone. Maybe some friction, yeah, but not really any problems per se. Doc, yeah he can get ahead of himself but I regard him in good faith; he gets shit done. Jian's ok too, he's just a bit mistrusting, or kind of on the other side of the fence from us. He doesn't take well I think to people of our background. I think I've said that before. We haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye but I didn't really make big fusses about the issues when they occurred. Jack's kind of... odd. There's more to him than what you see. From what I've seen so far, I'm surprised the man is a tinkerer, considering he's basically tried to do our jobs, stuff you and I are specifically trained to do. Then again I have yet to see more situations he could be in, nor have I really seen the full extent of his capabilities. Honestly, Doc wanted me to spar with him, show him some combat, like pressure point flows and locks I think. You know, hand-to-hand stuff. Air is Air, I know what she's capable of. Though, she's the only woman in the group, with the exception of Clarent, but she's been out for most of this." He says in a long wind. He pushes a piece of paper trash out of his way with his boot and continues.

"Clarent... I feel like she's probably seen a lot of shit. I honestly see her in a way as a younger sister. I feel the need to be her protector. You see, after I left Teyness, I was sort of wandering, looking for a reason, something to dedicate myself to in the time until I made my return. My original reason was maybe to find something to bring back, or tide over all the bull. But in that, I just started feeling like I had no purpose. I guess now, I feel I have a reason, at least until I go back. And no, I never left Teyness for good. I may have been sick of the corruption, but home is home."

He pauses, then resumes, looking at RD.

"I think I can trust these folks. What say you?"

Richard glances at the man with an eyebrow raised as he considers what Sharpe has to say, and allows a moment of silence to fall between them as he muses how exactly to respond.

"Sorry Point-man, but i'm not the type to trust people right off the bat. I haven't been around them enough to form that kind of opinion. Ever since we've met up, I've been with either you or the Doc... i spent a little bit of time with Jack as well, but we haven't casually talked or anything like that." He scratches his head with one hand as he places the other on his hip, "I... Don't know these people as well as you. Many of them are a complete enigma to me. I mean they seem like good people, but maybe they were just trying to make a... heh!"

RD chuckles and grins as he thinks back to first arriving at the house, lots of distrustful glances and a crossbow pointed in his direction only moments after he entered the door, then the eavesdropping, avoidance, sudden 'holy' appearances, and even being blatantly ignored by someone he trusted as an old friend... Yeah... scratch what he was about to say, clearly first impressions weren't this group's strong suit. He had to admit though, they are definitely entertaining if nothing else.

Richard shakes his head slowly as he pushes the thoughts back, his grin diminishing to a sobering smile, the light from his eyes taking a crimson hue. Sure, he could definitely blame some of the reactions on his status as a berzerker, the aura may have put them all on edge, but even then they honestly hadn't done much to make him feel very welcome, despite the fact he had pretty much stocked their home with enough food to last them awhile.

After this rather disheartening string of thoughts, naturally he had come to the conclusion that, at the moment at least, his was an unwelcome presence.

"Ah... sorry about trailing off like that, Point-man. I was a bit lost in thought..." He says in a somewhat somber tone, still wearing an artificial smile, "...Anyway lets just say i'm pretty sure they don't trust me yet, so i'm not sure whether or not i should place my faith in them as of yet, maybe that will change if i stick around? Who knows. But first..."

Changing the subject, RD stops for a moment as he begins to get a better grasp on where he is, "I'm starting to think that the house is closer to us than the docks, lets head there first, we'll circle around to the docks after."

Jian follows Hitomi downstairs with her sudden awakening throwing him a bit off. He follows the commotion from the kitchen, then seeing her cause the havoc he suspected from all that noise.

He rushes to her, lifting her up in concern of her maybe getting hurt. Then picking up some items with only one hand, he tries to fix what she has caused. She is quite heavy so he kind of gives up on holding her, but sitting her down in a chair.

"That is not what you should do, it's not nice and the kitchen utensils can be dangerous for you too!", he scolds her, knowing it would likely leave her without any understanding of what he was trying to explain.

"Ah, he was a guard at the academy...maybe I should tell him I'm an alum to get on his good side...no wait, he's probably talking about the rival academy. Honestly, why would a school offer classes and combat training...ok, maybe I should've applied there, but how many scholars are attacked by cults...wait a second...did he say cult?"

"Ah, yes, I'm also glad this is going to finally be over. I don't mean to waste your time with all of my various questions, but do you know anything specific about this cult the perpetrators were a part of?"

The guard shifts his weight a bit and scratches his head before answering. "Well... sadly I don't really have any more details than that. You'd think us guards would be better informed, but I guess you don't need any more knowledge than that to guard a simple bridge over some flood gates."
Shortly before the man finishes, another two guards join him. Jack never noticed them coming from the small booth. "Hey." one of them says and gives Jack an acknowledging nod. "Civilians are prohibited entrance to this zone. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."



Richard and Sharpe make their way towards the house, upon Richards request. The two of them continue their talk for a while and eventually make it to the high-class district, not too far from the house.

"Never said you had to get all cozy right away, man, its been less than a few hours after all. I don't expect you to get buddy-buddy with people in a matter of hours. Trust and respect are things you build up and earn over time. You and I both know that, especially considering our line of work." Sharpe says, treading through the normal quarter of the southern district, and into the high class district, first with middle-class venues to their sides and then first-estate worthy establishments.

Looking up to the sky, he sighs. He does that's lot he realizes, maybe a bit too much for his own good.

"Curious, what have you heard thus far regarding central? Like from your perspective, as well what the rumor mill is circulating. I would appreciate knowing what the general populace thinks of the quarantine of such a large section of the city."

Richard turned his glance towards the ground, and set his hands in his pockets as they trekked through the normal quarter's quaint establishments and into the rather glitzy area fittingly named the high-class district. Still sporting a false smile he mentions almost to himself "Tch, Yeh'... I just wish i didn't hav' ta' work so hard ta' earn it..."

Since being afflicted RD had found that it was MUCH harder to get others to trust him. People watched him as he walked by, suspicious of his intentions and motives, crowds would split as he tread trough them, children avoided him, most animals would get fierce in his presence. It used to be easy, sure he looked a bit rough around the edges, but like Sharpe said, he merely built the trust and respect over time. He earned it with hard work just as his parents had taught him. But the affliction changed all that... No matter what he did many would avoid him or ask him to leave. He'd try to help out, but he'd get answers like 'Your assistance is not necessary' or 'Sorry but your presence is disrupting to the other guests'.

At its worst he'd find himself under attack, blamed for incidents he had nothing to do with or thrust into life-threatening situations... such incidents resulted in new scars, a constant reminder that trust was something nearly impossible for him to obtain. As a result, he did what he had to do to protect himself... This caused a general distrust of others. He became excessively alert, constantly listening for any and all possible dangers to his person. While this did allow him to pick up on rumors and gather info relatively quickly... before he knew it, he found himself alone. No matter where he went there were no allies to be found... Bounties meant for multiple people or parties, he found himself attending to alone. He survived them all regardless, and became all the stronger as a reward but the... The loneliness... It could be described as nothing but excruciating...

Richard glanced to the side, he wasn't much for glitz and glam but the architecture of the buildings in the upper class area definitely deserved some admiration. He sighed rather heavily, hearing Sharpe finish his own sigh soon after. That brightened him up a bit "Heh. All this worryin' gettin' ta' ya Point-man?"

He was so caught up seeking all the negatives of his situation he had forgotten that it wasn't always so bad. The aura only affected some people and even then, some people could see through the fog and catch a visage of the knight who was housed within. Some would find that he wasn't even remotely as 'dark' as the aura led them to believe.

He still had a few friends.

A few people who he could trust without a doubt and he would do everything to protect them, they were all he had left after all. The thought left him thinking about his family... His next letter to them was definitely a bit overdue.

"Hm? I thought i told ya what wuz on my mind before... Eh, whateva, i guess i could go over it once more."

RD takes a moment and folds his arms, stroking his chin in an attempt to remember what exactly bugged him about this city. Recalling what Sharpe told him of the group's previous ventures on the outskirts of the city it all came back to him.

"Right, I was sayin' there's a LOT off 'bout this city. So many had, and are still, missing and yet there's not much of a buzz 'bout them, small hearsay but nothing seems to be getting done in relation to it. Then some of the people ya'll rescued re-emerge as strange vampire-like creatures which seems to be the reason behind the quarantine... I'm starting to think they're not vamps at all though... Recently I've been hearing more about victims covered in patches of animated shadow, attacking others to pass on said infection... It seems either unrelated to your earlier stories of vampires or possibly a strain that starts out as ghouls of a sort instead... In fact i'd been hearin' rumors of some disease turnin' everyday folks inta mindless killin' machines on mah way to this city but that's been happenin' all over Glayp'neir... If that has made it here..." He slowly shakes his head, hoping that's not the case. "Anyway i'm starting to think almost none of the captives you brought here actually made it home, and their families... Well...  Their families may have been eliminated or paid off in order to keep their mouths shut. Which is part of the reason i wanted to make contact with this Ayame, she may need protection..."

He pauses for a moment to allow his comrade to take all of that exposition in, then continues, "As fer the general populace? Lotsa' complaints about the inconvenience the quarantine is causin', as well as concern over it possibly growin'... Dockside routes travelin' along the sides of the quarantined zones are also cut off. People have mentioned seein' strange shadowy creatures from outside the blocked off areas though, and there've been mention of some fools going in there for gods know what and either not coming out or coming out... Different... so whatever is going on in there is definitely still there, nd' not showing any signs of actually bein' pushed back. Hell... may even be spreadin' as some others say. There also seems to be a lotta' people leavin' the city. I'd like to assume that's just cuz the festival here that ended recently, but its possible that some citizens are bailin' as well... In conclusion, worst case scenario, the entire city becomes a 'quarantined zone'... No idea how long that'll take but then again i'm hopin' it doesn't come to that.  He finishes with a rather serious look on his face, as they approached the place Point-man and his ragtag group called 'home'.

"Damn, have to be careful, these don't look as friendly"

Don't worry officer, I am completely aware of that. I was simply asking this fine gentleman about what he knew on the current status of the quarantine. Speaking of which, he just told me that the men responsible for this indecent were caught. Do you know where they're being executed? I know something like this would normally take place in central, but I think we can both deduce that won't be the case. I'm not asking because I want to see their heads roll. I just want to attempt to find out who they were if you wouldn't mind.

As Jack explains himself, the man he was previously talking to tries to speak up. "Oh, um well-" he begins but is then pulled back by one of the other guards who steps forward. "Sorry, but we're not able to give you any information on this. We're going to have to ask you to leave." he says in just as grouchy of a tone as the other had. The more friendly guard shrugged in annoyance and turns turn make his way to the hut himself, clearly unwanted in the discussion. "What is your name, anyway?" the other guard asks Jack abruptly.




Hitomi eventually gets bored and slides off the chair while Jian is still cleaning up the stuff she managed to send into disarray. She awkwardly moves around the table, still investigating this and that and all that. At some point she looks out a small window next to the entrance and spots Sharpe and Richard. She giggles a bit and pushes the door. No results. She pushes the door again a bit harder, clenching her teeth. Still no results. She looks up to the doorknob and tries to reach for it, but seems to have difficulties opening the door. Jian is almost done cleaning when he hears the faintest click. The door swings open inward and Hitomi giggles and runs out into the street towards Sharpe, bearing a mocking angry expression and making odd sounds. She stops eventually and looks at Richard as the two of them appraoch. She stares for a bit, a curious expression on her face. Then moments later she hisses unnaturally and jumps backwards, turning and running into the house, and past Jian who has by now noticed the open door and went to investigate. Jian notices Sharpe and Richard approaching, alongside the little white cat that is casually walking alongside them. The three of them arrive at the house, and the cat lets out a soft meow and lets herself in, jumping onto a ledge infront of a window and laying down to sleep.

"Takes a bit to really get to me man. Sure I can get unsettled but really get to me? Nah. Granted, I do worry a bit simply because of the fact that I don't like seeing things royally screw themselves up."

He stops his gaze at the heavens above and returns it to the fore-front, seeing the house coming up.

"Sorry also, I tend to get enveloped in my thoughts, sometimes I forget I've asked something before." As he keeps walking Hitomi busts out from the door and he notices how she doesn't exactly look comfortable with RD approaching. Must be that "people don't trust me" thing at work. He retains his pace and looks down to see Mitsuki walking alongside them.

"Again with you, you have a compass in your head. Least it's good the cat can always lead us home."

He looks up and sees Jian in the doorway.

"Jian! Where you been, man? We thought you guys were going to stay put at the house?!" He raises his voice to a more audible level, though the loudness beings to fall the closer he inches toward the building.

When he gets into more interpersonal distance with the man, the ronin stops and looks Jian in the eyes.

"Buddy, we need to talk for a bit about something. It's concerning your safety." He says, and proceeds to move past him, and he pets the cat behind her ears. He meanders a bit inside and looks around, peeking up the stairs and looking into the backroom.

"Where's Jack? Is he still out?" It was at that moment that he noticed Jian looking a bit more worn than usual, but he decided against asking of it for now until he could ascertain the status and integrity of the group they left at the house.

"Come to think of it, Where's Doc and Air too? They're not back yet either?"

Richard stared a bit skeptically at Sharpe as he denied the stress of the day getting to him. Their contract fell through as result of a murder, they discovered there were MANY people pursuing Jian along with a bit more of his background, came back to discover everyone had gone missing, then couldn't even get a refund on the down payment for their job since they had no signature, and may have to deal with an investigation in regards to the previously mentioned murder.

On top of all that, a possible plague sweeping through the city and possible loose ends from their previous adventure in castle Vidkur? There was definitely a lot of situations all stacked on the man and his group, if this wasn't BEYOND a 'royally screwed' situation, RD feared what WOULD make the man sweat.

"Heh. Alrigh' man, whateva' you say..." He shrugged, still a bit skeptical, but trusting that Point-man would keep a level head despite it. "...nd' no need ta apologize, we've been thru quite a bit today, Some info was bound ta get lost among all we've experienced in just these few hours... Hell, think i needed a bit of ah refresher mahself."

Still walking a step or two behind Point-man, Richard takes note of Hitomi's reaction to his approach as well as the re-appearance of the cat he saw the 'good' doctor take off after. "Hm the cat is back, i wonder if that fool is back as well- wait... Hitomi... She didn't react like that to my presence before... Oh Hell..." He stopped his approach immediately, turning away from the house and allowing Sharpe to go inside without him. Then promptly snatched his soul-trap from beneath his breastplate, holding it in his palm before him. His eyes widened and pupils dilated, a grave look on his face.

He swallowed hard.

The soul trap... its colored had darkened to nearly black.

This was dangerous. Not only for himself but the people around him. Thinking back his 'other' self hadn't made itself known for awhile... this was why. It didn't NEED to say anything at all. The stress of the day had taken its toll on Richard's psyche, one more push and he probably would've snapped... Who knows what would happen after that...

The gem needed to be purified, after all it merely acted as a kind of 'strainer' for the spirit that shared RD's body, only able to curb a bit of his berserk tendencies as long as Richard kept himself in check. It needed to be 'cleaned' every once in awhile but unfortunately Richard himself didn't have the spiritual power to accomplish it alone... The Doc was much better at it... but without him around, more temporary means would need to be applied.

Richard took a deep inward breath, closing his eyes and allowing nothing but the sound of the wind to enter his senses, blocking out all other ambient noises. He allowed himself to fall into a kind of meditative state, taking slow and steady breaths for at least a minute or two before slowly opening his eyes and glancing back down at the trap in his hand. It had cleared up somewhat, now a dull grey, but it needed either a release or a cleansing soon, and he preferred the latter over the former.

Jian sighs a bit in relief seeing the others come back. Finally a different face he hasn't seen in a while. With a bit of a surprise of Hitomi managing to open the door he follows through, going downstairs to say hello to them aswell. He's being greeted from a bit further out already by Sharpe, but he decides to keep it down up until they come close. They eventually do so and he returns the greeting.

"Hey, it's been a bit, indeed. Could fare better, to be honest, but that aside, how are you two doing? Been here alone mostly, Jack was here for a moment, then leaving once I got back to counciousness. Since then I've been taking care of Hitomi, avoiding her to cause too much chaos in the kitchen..."

Jian is not sure on saying what happened earlier, as he's unsure of how thing will reflect on him based on what Sharpe has to say about some safety matter, as he announced. Jian decides to follow him for now, also wondering about RD not saying anything at all. He seems a bit lost in thought. He also decides to not question that for now, things will sort themselves out in the course of the day.

"dammit, what the hell is this guy's problem. If the quarantine's almost over, what's there to be so anal about. And I'm guessing it's not a public execution he was talking about or else there wouldn't be a problem in asking... oh why the hell did that first guy had to leave. I could've just waited for this guy to leave and go back to talking to the first guy."

Jack put on the most pleasant smile he could muster up.

"My name is Samuel, sir, but you may call me Sam if you wish. It's such a shame your not allowed to tell me about the culprits. I'm very curious on who would do something as horrifying as this whole mess, but I guess I'll just have to wait to read it in tomorrow's news paper."

"Well fingers crossed I don't get arrested this time."

Optimistic that he could leave the conversation with the stern cop, Jack, subtly, began to position his feet, ready to turn around and head home.

The guards gives 'Sam' an acknowledging nod as he takes his leave and turns as well, heading back to the booth with the other guard in tow.



Meanwhile at the house, Hitomi runs around the place exploring, as usual, and playing around. Fortunately she is not creating any more mischief. Mitsuki sits at the window, alternating between snoozing off and watching the people inside. At one point she looks outside the window, staring at RD as he is standing still facing away from the house. She gives off a small curious purr and then lays back down to snooze some more.