Glayp'neir (Arc 1)

Jian arrives with the rest of the group and stretches a moment. He raises a hand to greet the Doc and Air. He sighs once and then hears the news about Ayame being here. His heart skips a beat quite and he's a tad bit nervous. Air then opens the door for him and he steps inside, lightly blushing.

"So you were here... I am so glad to see you're safe"

Disregarding her clothing or anything of the such, he gives Ayame a tight hug, closing his eyes a little.

"I went... to see your dad, because I wanted to visit you. He said you weren't there and I was so concerned and went out to look for you, until we eventually ended up here. All thanks to a mysterious girl that I saw at the docks. I... I don't even know what to say, I'm just so glad"

He rests his head on her shoulder for a moment, sighing deeply. He rarely felt so relieved recently as he felt now.

Dr. Atrium sighs as he drops the dead guard. He cant help but wounder who that man was and how he could of gotten away. He looks back at everyone and smiles. He is glad that no one got hurt during this. Though he is sure that he has damaged how Jian thinks of him. Doc walks to the window to see if he can see anything. He starts wondering other things like, Who the girl was, What were the guard so afraid of and lastly Can they fix anything that is going on around here? He doesn't say anything, he just looks out at the city wondering what is next to come.

Jack looks out the window. The mysterious assailant had completely vanished.

"hhhmm curious... hard to know what he wanted. I'm suspecting it wasn't related to the quarantine, or at least, what ever is responsible for the quarantine is still at large."

His back facing everyone, he takes out his flask. He was going to take swig to deal with the frustration of the work ahead while he was so tired, but instead, he tossed the flask out the window, partly because of his shame and partly because it was empty. He put on a stiff smile, reminding himself that they finally accomplished the task of finding this girl. He looks at Jian.

"Well someone ought to take the lady home. The rest of us should continue to investigate the quarantine."

Oh, don't they just make the most adorable couple."

Ayame returns Jians hug, as much as she can anyway. Smiling from ear to ear. "Jian! I knew you would come." she closes her eyes and sighs in relief knowing she will be okay once more. "Father must be worried sick." She finally says after a seemingly endless moment of hugging and pulls off of him as Clarent finally rounds the corner, a bit slow in her caution and joins the group, holding her hand up in a casual 'hey' gesture. She slides her hands into her hoodie pockets and goes to join the doc at the window. She doesn't say anything, simply looks. First at him. Then outside the window. Then back at him. "I can't help but notice everything has quieted down upstairs. Either the guards have all died by now or are on their way back down. Quite frankly I would not want to be here if they do. Or worse, that thing from that room decides to come back after us.

Right on cue, the doctor, Jack and her see some movement in the shadows. Various creatures, shrouded by the dark night with gleaming red eyes, staring hatefully at them in the window as they shift back and forth. The one thing being seemingly pushed aside as two more push past it, and the lot of them retreat into the back-alley with snarls and the rustling of trash. A shiver runs down Clarents spine as she suddenly jumps at the tingle of a small bell. She holds on to doc, more to not fall over, but also out of comfort, as Mitsuki comes around the corner, giving a soft meow as her paws tip tap along the ground.

Sharpe turns about, looking at the rest of the group, then at Jack.

"I honestly don't know about pursuing what caused this, as much as the guards seem to be inept, they might be able to use their numbers to their advantage. I think we should just get Ayame out of here while we can, since she's who we came for." He says, just in general for the group rather than directed entirely at Jack. He slides his sword back into it's sheath, and proceeds to walk towards the stairwell.

She watches Jian embracing Ayame, and can't help but feel extremely happy for them. At least he found someone. She wishes she had someone, but then again she has thus far been fine on her own. She walks up to the window the Doc and Clarent are at and looks out, keeping her crossbow handy.

"Whatever you saw, I really hope it's not too bad. If it turns out to be small, white, and cute, not like the cat over there, you RUN." She says, with a tinge of humor.

They both stop hugging and he keeps smiling a little. Then turning to Jack.

"Are you sure about me just heading off, bringing her home? I mean... there's still a lot of commotion going on.", he then says with quite a serious expression thereafter.

He wipes his shoulders a little, this servant attire really got rugged up during this. He also still is quite covered in dirt, some dried up blood and scratches. He could go and try leave, but with what's around it wouldn't be the best of ideas. He completely disregards the fact that his arm is in deep pain the whole time due to him just bandaging it up back when he cut it open.

"But it is up to you. I could help in some way, or I could focus on bringing her home fast. Point is, it might not be too safe to just go strolling around, finding my way out.", he says looking at the whole group.

Dr. Atrium watches the creatures down below look up at him. He wonders what they could be but they run into the shadows before he can really identfy them. He looks at Clarent and nods at what she says. He then smiles warmly as she holds him when Mitsuki scares her. He turns to the group.

"I agree with both Jack and Sharpe. I think what is going on around here needs to be looked into...but not now or tonight. We just got back from that other realm. We need a day to rest and get our strengths up and we also need a plan. As Clairent has pointed out. The guards have gone silent. I don't to be here if they are alive or dead for both can get us into a lot of trouble. We are leaving. We don't have the time to talk about this. We are in place we aren't to be and freeing a prisoner."

Doc looks at Ayame.

"A falsely accused prisoner, but still a prisoner. We need to get going before we are caught. Sharp and Jack, you two take point. Jian, Ayame and Clarent will be in the middle and Airgetlam and I will cover the back. Mitsuki, you will fallow me. If we don't have any questions, then lets go."

Jack sighed. He showed everyone his sword

"Do you see this blade? I picked this off a dead guard. probably had a family, wife and kids. I never caught a glimpse of the creature who mauled him, who's probably responsible for this quarantine. All I or poor Ayame could sense was it's ominous growl and the carnage it left behind. I'll go home and rest if you say I should, but do you two think that the authorities can actually contain this. Keep in mind, if the answer is no, the bloods on your hands."

Clarent lets go of the doctor, and nods. "I think that would be for the best. And while we're back in the southern district we can investigate what exactly is happening. Though we should probably refrain from asking the wrong kind of people. And to be frank... I'm kind of getting sleepy again... It is late, isn't it? I don't know that staying here is a good idea." She says and walks up to Sharpe. This is the first time she's really taken a look at the guy. He looks a bit rough, but not in any kind of bad way. Though just like the others, he seems to need a little relaxation, likely after the events of whatever happened with the people who abducted her. She looks at his swords sheathe, the likes of which remind her of her old master. She hopes he is well, wherever he has gone off to. But no mind to that. She has more important things to deal with now, like getting out of this place. She gestures ahead, suggesting to Sharpe that she is ready and simply waits for them to get going.

Ayame meanwhile sticks close to Jian, with a relieved but tired smile on her face.

Sharpe nods and Doc and begins a stride toward the staircase.

"Form up." he says, and begins walking down the stairway, leaning around each corner to make sure nothing is on the prowl, be it guardsman or creature. The building, despite having some lighting from the guard's garrison, is still quite dark, and the threat of an ambush is a very real possibility. He gestures for Jack to follow him closely, and to keep the group tight.

Sharpe descends to the previous floor of the building and he looks in both hallways he had covered alongside Jian and Clarent.

Airgetlam shoots Jack a skeptical look as she walks to take her place. She pauses in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"Their blood would be on our hands? No, I don't think so. Thus far, we have not done anything with lethal intent against the city guard. It would not be 'On our hands' because we avoided direct confrontation, instead using distractions, and we never had any intent to kill them. When the guards were killed, where were we? We were being cautious and trying to get in without alerting anyone, be it guard or hostile."

"Personally, I think the guard can contain this. The guards are of variable quality, and we don't know if the ones posted here were deliberately picked for their ability or because they just were assigned to it. Yes, that guy probably punched the clock today, hoping to bring home money for his family, and he didn't expect to die, but he was part of the city watch, which means you have to accept that bad things may happen."

She draws in a breath and sighs, then pulls her crossbow up, exchanging the bolts in it for normal iron, since the enemies they will likely encounter are more of those shadowy beasts, or spectres or whatever they are. She retains the stern expression and outlook for a bit, especially since Jack has been the one causing them issues lately. First his outburst and now this.

"So... the plan will be us heading back home first? Or will we go and investigate the situation now? If I am fully honest, I am quite beat, my head hurts a little and we already got really far for one day. If we're going to investigate this case, then let's do it after we're well rested."

Jian's arm is killing him. Not literally, but it certainly is in incredible deep pain since he fell. He hasn't gone to say anything quite yet, and will simply hope for it to settle down during the nap. The bandage itself already looks quite used and barely holds itself in place, before he proceeds to pull it tighter while following Sharpe.

He smiles back at Ayame thereafter, putting his arm around her, pulling her closer gently as they keep on walking.

"I will bring you home first though, I am sure that your dad will be happy to see you again...", he then tells her with a rather soft tone.

Dr. Atrium glares at Jack.

"What part of 'I agree with you' did you not understand?! I said we are going to see IF we help but we need to get Ayame out of here. That was why we came here in the first place. We also need our strength and we get that by sleeping and resting, now move!"

Doc gives Jack a slight push so he can go next to Sharpe. Once the group gets moving, Doc sighs. He hopes nothing will go wrong from here on out.

Jack normally would get mad at being pushed around, but he was just relieved that it wasn't another shadow claw

Jack gives Jian his weapons, firmly holding the sword.

"Jian, take my gun and my knife. The two of you will need something just in case you run into anyone hostile, and this lady has already voiced her complaints with having to wield weaponry."

Jack pats Jian on the back before turning to everyone else with a smile as if he was the last pure thing in the world. Jack's voice was abnormally calm.

"What I mean by blood on your hands is that standing by and letting evil happen isn't as evil, but it still is evil, nevertheless. I understand that we must get Ayame out of here, that goes for everyone else we might find in this hell hole, but all of you must be delirious if you think that these guards can handle this situation. Did none of you see them bathing in their own blood; did none of you hear the shrieks of horror that were the final sounds they made? They didn't deserve to go out like this, and that monster, demon, or whatever it may be is won't stop killing just because we stop looking for it. Are all of you are just going to turn your backs on all them, make excuses to pretend that they'll be ok as it rips them limb from limb. Heaven knows what that assassin is doing in the meantime. hehe....hehehe... my brother told me that you were heroes, and for a while, it sounded like one of the few things that made sense. Now, it just falls into the same grey area of confusion as everything else. Oh why did things have to stop making sense...I'm staying back"

Jack looks one more time at the sword

"In the heat of the moment, I never found out the name of the owner of this sword. If I don't return, tell my sister I love her"

"...even if I only know that she exists."

Jack's wing grows out of his back and his semi circle halo lights the room. He leaves, moving too fast for anyone to respond. He dashes towards where he last saw the piercing red eyes staring right at him.

Clarent, too tired to even notice Jacks sudden take-off, simply follows Sharpe down the stairs and through the various halls. When she awoke she felt a sudden surge of energy, but whatever kept her going was quickly drained. All she can think about is sleep. Lying down on a bed with a pillow and closing her eyes. At that point she realizes she has no where to rest so she figures she will just keep to the group until she figures out where to go next. Her own lead bringing her to Recudor ran cold and so she has to start all over.

Ayame nervously stares back and forth between part of the group dissapearing down the stairs and Jack jumping out the window and into the nearest backalley. She leans out the window, trying to squint into the darkness, but then turns to jian and simply nods, figuring the man will be fine. She jogs after the group and eventually heads down the stairs aswell.



Jack dashes into the backalley only to hear the rustling sound of garbage being thrown over. He hastily makes his way over to the noise only to be stopped by what he sees down the alley. An old and drained looking man hanging by a pair of kunai on the wall. Shortly after some fast blurry figures fall from the roof. Three total, and round the corner away from Jack in total disregard- only to be sent flying back into the alley. One of the creatures gets up, staring around with its glowing red eyes, and Jack recognizes this to be a woman that looks strikingly familiar. The woman looks lost or confused for a moment, until a man steps infront of her, his hand on a Katana on his back. Jack recognizes the man to be the assassin from earlier, and with a swift motion the assassin seperates the womans torso from the rest of her body. With a gurgling squeel she falls into bits and collapses, dead. The assassin slowly sheaths his sword on his back and turns towards Jack. His voice low and growling as he speaks. "Have the girl, There are others. But don't stand in my way." and with that the man jumps inhumanly high into the sky and dissapears behind the roof of a building.




A short while later the group arrives at the main entrance. The crushed guard from the roof laying on the steps of the building. It seems clear, and there are no signs of either monsters or shadows or assassins or guards. "Looks like its clear..." Clarent says tiredly and leans against the doorframe with both arms. "I need to... mnnh-" Clarent suddenly stumbles backwards into the building and against the wall, sagging to the ground, fainted for a moment. She then opens her eyes and shakes her head, getting up from the ground and moving back up to the door. "I need to get back to bed..." she says, with a mild sweat built on her face.

Sharpe slaps his face with the palm of his hand and sighs.

"First he lectures us on his world view of morality and then he goes ape shit and flops out the window? Man must have been weaned on fairy tales and stories of super-heroism." He says, grumbling, "The world's a very grey place, he just needs to get it through his thick, supposedly eldritch and intelligent skull."

As the group makes their way to the entrance, he notices a slacking, of a mass and cloth rubbing against a wall and turns around to find Clarent practically clocking out right there. He walks over to her and puts a hand on her should, if lightly and says in a low, but calm voice.

"You don't look so hot, you're not gonna last another hour up and about like this. I'm sorry we brought you along in such a hurry, it begs the question why Doc didn't leave you in the house. In any case, would it be fine if I carried you a bit and you could doze off maybe? Least you wouldn't be greeting the floor and assuming the fox position." He says to her. It seems a bit uncharacteristic of him, but not many people get to see him have a heart, and brief, fleeting moments at that.

Airgetlam's skeptical face turns into an outright sneer. She feels like she needs to punch a wall to release tension.

And so she does, punching a rather deep impact into the wall with her silver arm, and yanking it out, flexing her fingers.

"The nerve of that man, I swear I grow more weary of him by the second. First he tries to shoot my friend, then he doubts out reasoning. Now he just goes and tells us how the world is, blissful in his fucking cloud of sanguine sugary romanticism. I like romance, I'm fine with it, but he lives in a fantasy world, sure as sure. And then of course, he decides to go and try to make that fantasy real and leaves us, even though we expressly outline for him to assist up from." She looks back at the group, and then to Doc and then hides her face, blushing at her outburst.

"Sorry, he's just starting to piss me off." She says, and keeps moving. When she gets down to the main floor she walks out, and aims left, then pans her cone of vision across the rooftop, noting the windows, all the way to the right.

Jian, now wielding the weapons of Jack is not sure what to say. He simply looks at what he was given, sighing once. "And then people wonder why I question the sanity sometimes.", he simply says to himself, just loud enough for Ayame to hear it, due to being right next to him.

Everybody seems rather annoyed by this happening, but he can't seem to feel any different than he felt already. For some reason he feels like Jack will manage anyway, but that's just him being totally mashed up anyway from it all being chaotic recently.

"Seems like we're all extremely tired", he then says out loud, due to Clarent having kind of a assault of sleep strucking her down. "We really should head out and get proper rest. Once we're completely in the safe-zone, I'd say I'll bring Ayame back home and then come to get proper rest too.", he adds afterwards, then looking back at Jack's weapons, trying to find a place to put them away in.

Dr. Atrium Is heated about Jacks behavior but say nothing. He fallows the group until they are close to leaving the quarantine zone. He sees Clarent falls back and is quickly at her side to help her back up. He hears Sharpe question his motives and sighs.

"She wanted to come along so she could see if she could trust us. Plus we were in a hurry to help save Ayame."

He gently picks her up and hands her to Sharp.

"I am going back to help Jack. The man may of bitten off more then he can chew and I would rather not get blamed for his death because I did nothing to help him. Sharpe, take care of everything here. When you get home...Be careful. I told Hitomi to attack anyone she didn't know but I tried to say it in her tongue and I might of gotten it wrong..."

He picks Mitsiki up and walks over to Airgetlam and gives the cat to her.

"Take care of her please. There is something odd about her and I want to keep her safe until I figure out what it is."

He then turns back into the quarantine zone and starts running. He hopes he can find Jack before he does anything stupid.

"Bloody wanker, running around, can't stop for a few seconds to say what the bloody hell is goin on."

He retracted his wing to avoid losing too much blood. He looks at the gore mess the assassin left behind. He remains entirely cautious with sword drawn out of paranoia that the corpse would spring back to life.

"She looks familiar, hard to see with it so dark right now...SAM?!...no wait...oh thank the heavens it's not her...oh oh oh uh, this was that waitress at that one cafe. Beth? no that's not it. That was someone else....wait Susan. Yeah, the one person who bothered to remember how I take my coffee. Quite a shame that this was your fate. Rest in peace, Susan."

Jack looks worried

"Well this confirms its not a monster outbreak. They're infected civilians. Damn, if only the doctor was here."

With the rather ironic timing of a Clockmaker Jack finishes his thoughts to Dr. Atrium bounding the corner of the back alley and moving up to him. Other than the bloody mess the assassin left no trail to follow, but the doctor feels an almost overwhelming sense of death in the immediate area. He takes a look at the people, all of which look familiar too him and realizes something; some of the Survivors of Castle Vikuur. From the looks of it, he can tell they have slight deformities and their eyes show a wild hungry emotion struck on their faces. Upon closer inspection he notices their fangs and newly found magic canals in their body and the discolouration of their blood, suggesting they had been vampires.



Clarent blushes and squirms to get out of Sharpe's grip. "No, its fine. I'll be fine by the time we get home." she says and gets down to stand on her own two feet. She feels uneasy and uses the sleeve of her hoodie to whipe off some of the sweat that has built on her face. For a moment she merely stands and focuses on not falling over immediately, but then continues walking towards the bridge they initially came from. Looking over across the city, it seems a lot less busy than just a few hours ago. It's become so late at night that a lot of the vendors have packed up for the day and left the markets. There are also a lot less people in general, and for every four or five civilians there was at least one guard roaming the southern district on patrol. To Clarents surprise, there are no guards at the checkpoint, except for the officer from earlier who is standing in a small booth looking at some paperwork. He looks over as they get to the gate of the barricade and hastily looks around before moving up to the gate and opening it, paying mind not to look at any of the people he is letting out. "It's good you're out. You don't know any of what im about to tell you but they were to send in three strike teams at morning to clean up whatever mess was happening in there. You should probably leave and forget about this situation, I already have." He waits till everyone is through and then closes the gate and simply returns to his booth without saying a word. Obviously trying to avoid as much contact as possible.

---

• Jack has left the group.
  
• Dr.Atrium has left the group.
  
• Jack and Dr.Atrium have grouped.
  
• Jian, Sharpe, Airgetlam, Clarent and Mitsuki have left the Central District.
  
• The Group has arrived in the Southern Slums.
  

Sharpe lets her down, but can't help feeling like he still has to keep her bundled up, she's still so tired that she'll plummet to the ground at any moment. Regardless, he keeps his eye on her, waiting for the moment she loses consciousness, though he hopes that won't be the case.

"If you say so..." he says as his one remark on the subject.

after they arrive back in Southern Recudor, Sharpe looks about. It's welcoming to see more people about, instead of the abandoned, derelict environs of Central. He looks in the direction of the house, and then to the direction of the Docks. He looks to Jian.

"So you can take her on your own, or do you feel you need an escort? If you don't, We'll just head back to the house."

She takes the cat in her arms, and hugs her close, then rubs behind the cat's ears.

"Well um, ok then, but we're kind of... don't worry about it actually." she says, a bit disappointed. When they reach Southern Recudor, she looks back at the checkpoint and considers the information. They sent in a strike team, which probably would eliminate them as well, thinking them as part of the problem. She's heard of times when there were survivors found after quarantines and they would simply eradicate them, which makes her hope Jack and Doc get out without being found.

She looks at the other four, and finds a bench to sit on, still grooming Mitsuki's ears.

"We're finally outside of that creepy area... That was quite something..."

Clarent is quite weak, so Jian can't help but feel concerned. He simply can hope for her to be alright, with her stating that she is. But he also knows that everybody is keeping an eye on her, so it's been put to ease a little.

"Now that we're out... How will we proceed? You guys bring Clarent back and I bring Ayame home? Or do we all bring Ayame home together and then march back?"

Of course Jian would like to catch up with Ayame, which he... probably wouldn't be too comfortable with when everyone's tagging along, still he won't cut them off from doing so, as that would be rude to do. Moreso, he's relieved with the fact that she know will arrive at home, not somewhere else. And her dad, well, he hopefully will be just as happy, considering what kind of a man he is.

Jian's tired, very tired, so he won't have too much time to do anything regardless...