Magical Girl RP

[Atraea]

Jade squeezed her eyes tight and bit her lip, trying to keep her laughs in. She grinned at Drei, responding through a fit of giggles. "Yes, it's true! I am most definitely with Andrew's lovechild!" Jade reached out and took Drei's hand, putting it to her stomach. "Feel! Feel it kick!" Jade looked to Viola, Drei's hands still resting awkwardly on her stomach. "Vi! You'll be my bridesmaid, right?" She turned in her seat, smiling widely at Cyrel. "And you'll give me the wedding I've always dreamed of right, Cyrel? With flowers, and lots of food, and a huge church and--"

That is quite enough Jade, we ALL get it.

Jade burst out laughing, falling against Andrew who seemed to jump, his concentration broken. She let go of Drei's hand, and smiled warmly at him and the others. "Okay okay. Sarcasm aside, for those of you who didn't catch it already, Andrew and I are a...a 'thing.'" She made little finger quotes in the air, before pecking him on the cheek and laying her head on his shoulder, falling silent for a bit.

"Well, we're official." She nudged Corik's side with her foot. "Now it's you an' Cyrel's turn, haha!"

[Leingod]

Drei couldn't help but hold a sightly shocked expression. Not because of the news, but because of the entire reaction he's gained out of it. Once it seemed the calmness in the air has returned, he begins to speak again.

"Well..congratulations on your relationships, and I hope for the best. The only reason why I brought it up, is to be mindful of everyone's status..we wouldn't want any of that to enter into the ears of the enemy. Otherwise, they can use it to their advantage." Drei pointed it out, before he also added: "Because thanks to the emotions of a fire-based guy...I could be wrong on this...I'm not the one to assume things. But based on his reactions in that last fight...I think he, and that...that..." Drei was snapping his fingers, while his other hand held two index fingers to his temple. "Ah! That chick with the rock-like attacks. I believe that those two are an item...So we could probably work that against them if we wanted to." A devious smirk crossed Drei's lips. There was no way in hell he was going to keep that bit of information to himself. Especially if it will help them win later on.

[Atraea]

The group collectively nods, making mental note to make use of this information later. Aside from idle chatter, the ride back is mostly quiet. Once they touch down at the warehouse, everyone leaves for their collective houses, while Aimee, Cyrel, and Adrian head back to the clinic to ge their injuries taken care of.

~A month and a half passes...~

After media circus revolving around what has become known as the Hallow's Even Incident, the Vilos and in some cases Misus have been left to deal with the aftermath in their own ways.

Viola resumed training even more than before, the park incident driving her almost to exhaustion on some days. She refused to have something like that happen again, and swore that she would do a better job at trying to stop it the next time. Because of this, she started to slip a bit with her school work, but still maintained a passable grade for the end of the fall semester. For the break, she will be heading back to her house. She sees this as somewhat fortunate, for it will allow her to keep a closer eye on the Misus.

Because of the nature of Andrews own abilities, as well as the design of his costume, his identity was able to remain largely unknown to the general populace. As such he's been able to avoid the hero worship of the masses which beleaguered his other teammates. That's not to say that he isn't bothered if he's ever spotted in costume out and about, which is uncommon, but not unheard of. The fact that he has remained unidentified to the population has in fact made him more interesting to them, even to the extent of a news segment on it. It has become kind of a game that he occasionally exploits in his down time, toying with people, letting them catch a glimpse of him on a return trip when he's out doing reconnaissance before vanishing and leaving the spotter wondering just who he is. Andrew goes out more often seriously now, due to the prolonged lack of activity on the part of the misus. He is curious as to what they're plotting and is constantly on the look out for any sign of a plot.

While Jade initially found it funny, Andrew's "playing Batman" as she calls it, became a point of contention in their relationship, as well as her returning drinking problem. Jade abhorred the amount of attention at first, having gotten used to her relatively quiet school life. But it wasn't long before Sororities came knocking, Professors called to work out a schedule for extra tutoring, strange notes and gifts left on her doorstep. Despite his protests, Jade attends the parties the Sorority girls invite her to, even though she had no intention of joining. After seeing how she could drink, even Fraternities began to invite her out. While Andrew attended some of these with her, they both felt out of place, but Jade was never one to turn down free booze, so while Andrew stopped coming, Jade did not. Andrew worries that Jade may be returning to her old habits, which had been steadily fading when they started dating.

After coming back from the little fight with the tree, Aimee returned home. Since there was not too much business because of all the Halloween activities, her parents had closed the store sooner and were already there when she arrived. Noticing the multiples scratches on her arms, and something that look like a bandage on her tight, they started to ask her questions about what had happened. After a short reflection, Aimee decided it would be better to tell them the truth now, and so she told them everything about the magical stuff, fighting with the bad guys, saving the Earth, etc. Although, she tried not to put too much emphasis on the dangerous side.

A bit in shocked, her parents still appeared to take it well... for that evening at least. After a few general questions, they let her head to bed, since she looked quite tired of the day. She was pretty sure they had some kind of discussion after that, but has not seen any real consequences up to now. Though they often question her, mostly to make sure she is alright and that her magical duties are not having negative effects on her school work, they also allow her more time to go train, making her life slightly easier. This extra time has enable her to come up with a new attack.


After the park fiasco, Cyrel had to actually fully explain to her father what was going on. He accepted it better than she figured he would, and has taken care of a lot of the media around Cyrel as well as the others to give them some sort of private life when they are not fighting monsters and saving the city from the bad guys as it were. If it wasn’t for that, the entire town would be filled with Magical girl tabloids all over the place. Cyrel has kept up with her training and has started to work on a way to heal everyone seeing as her Jade and Aimee always seemed to get beaten up in a fight.

Of course figuring out how to heal just her teammates and not inadvertently heal the Misus at the same time was causing her quite a bit of trouble. She has also improved her aim considerably with her waterbomb actually feeling confident enough to use it in spars as well as battle without fear of hitting someone she didn’t intend of course it was always funny when Jade was too close to where her and whomever she was sparing was and inadvertently would get hit in the face with one. Other than this she keeps up with her normal training at home with her grandfather as well him reminding her not to let the fame of being a magical girl get to her head.

Adrian works himself into the ground practicing on endurance and improving the illusions. His parents didn't really care, so there is no issue there. He allots just enough time to school to maintain his grades and appearances, claiming that he has been busy with family matters for anyone who asks. He took to skipping at least one meal a day, cut back to about five hours of sleep a night, and removed completely his manipulation of individuals outside of school and those absolutely necessary time.

Following the news debut revealing his magical prowess, Corik had become even more popular, seeing as a good handful of his classmates had been made victim of. He had chosen not to implicate Aiden in the whole incident to avoid provoking any reactions from the other boy, lest they get into a confrontation at school and harm the bystanders. Things were fine for maybe a week until Corik's own natural aptitude at track and field came into question. He began to get looks from his teammates, who were jealous of his constant winning, which quickly became a question of 'was he cheating.' This went on until early december, until finally the coaches came to a decision that in the pursuit of "fairness" they could no longer allow Corik to compete, despite his most vehement protests. Without his usual outlet for his own emotions, his grades have began to slump again, and he pursues his training with a single mindedness that borders on an obsession, if only because he has nothing else to focus on.

After hearing rumors and mumblings of Adien’s involvement at the park on Halloween from those that had been in the area, the other boys in school gave him lots of room, rarely bothering him for any reason. And this suited him fine. Unfortunately his time with the Misus couldn’t have been more difficult with his feelings for Bella growing stronger than ever. He even tried to invite her to spend time with her outside of official business, and most of the time she shot him down. He would play it off nonchalantly in front of her and everyone else, but he always walked away a little disappointed. That never stopped him from trying, though.

After what went down in the park Bella began to train even more, working on being able to move fast and manipulate the earth around her, even better than she had been. Several times her training caused her to miss meetings that had been called to discuss plans and such but she always catches up on what’s going on. Her typical excuse for missing out was that she was working on a new move which in a way she was and wasn’t but it usually kept anyone from harping on her over missing things. Every now and again Aiden would ask her to spend time with him outside of the meetings. She would turn him down though despite actually wanting to accept the offer. She typically got flack from Cindi over it but she just shrugged it off and dealt with her own emotions herself. It was another reason for her to keep training longer so she wouldn’t have to deal with the feelings she was having for Aiden.

Other than training and avoiding her feelings Bella also avoided her parents. They had seen the news and when she had been asked about her burns she hadn’t been sure how to answer their questions. They were not too suspicious of their daughter both respecting her highly but they do keep a closer watch on her comings and goings. Of course the good thing was that no meetings had been called at her house when her parents have been home she was lucky in that aspect so far. She also had a suspicion that Ima the cat lady has started watching her more closely a thing she isn’t terribly worried about for now, but keeps in the back of her thoughts.

Her thoughts more rattled than ever, Cindi left that night, her mind full to the brim with thoughts of everything that had happened that weekend. Her violent tendencies reawakened; a chill running down her spine, and the thoughts that echoed in the illusion. All of these thing began to take their toll on Cindi's overall personality and outlook. Little by little, day by day, she changed. First it was the jewelry. Then the low-cut tops. The boots sank to flats, her jeans, normally tight and stylized, hung loose around her waist and looked plain. She even stopped wearing her normal bra, opting for an unpadded one. The most noticeable difference though, is her eerie silence. She rarely speaks now unless spoken to, and when she does, she responds in a voice lacking the enthusiasm characteristic of her. Some days she is flat out mean, snapping at the people around her: once at Bella when she overheard her reject Aiden's attempts to get closer, and another time when Max growled at her, she growled right back. She also reconsiders her relationship with Red, rebuffing him whenever her tries to ask her about why she's working with Aiden in the first place.

Red left the incident, flashes of the scene from the illusion flashing in his mind. He returned to the church to find Father Quinn fixing the door Red had burst through when he left. Just as the Father was about to scold Red for leaving, Red demands to see his parents. When they arrive, Red asks them questions about his memory, and find Moira vehemently unwilling to answer. She is led outside by the other nuns, and Craeg carefully explains what happened between the three of them, and how he is not Red's biological father...Father Quinn is. Burdened with the truth, Red storms out of the church, disappearing for the latter par of November and early December, couch crashing at Cindi's and (begrudgingly) Aiden's. When he finally accepts it, he returns to the church, and Father Quinn accepts him with open arms. The rumors spread throughout the congregation, but without proof, die down fairly quickly.

Max hadn’t been up to much outside of her usual routine. Go to school. Get mediocre to decent grades. Go home, or to the arcade. She’s taken to sneaking out at night to train. She continued to use abandoned buildings, or ones that are currently under construction to practice. Maxine became interested in parkour and tried to incorporate it into her training. She continued to attend the Misus meetings. In all the time she spent with the others, she didn't ever seem to warm up to her teammates.

Mrs. Buckland was concerned by the threat of Misus attack, looming over Kentopolis. Yet, she was thrilled that Max had friends her age again. If only she knew… Reluctantly she allowed her daughter to continue traveling alone to her destinations. Though, she did hint that she would rather the teenager get a ride to and from wherever she wass going.

Her father came to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday and the week following it. For reasons she would not explain, it caused her to be more irritable than usual for period of time. While most of them didn't notice it, Cindi picked up on it rather quickly. Cindi attempted to reach out to her, only to have Max tell her to mind her own business. Hurt, Cindi snapped right back at her, calling her an "asocial, pent up bitch," and told her, "stew in yer misery! see if I care! Fuckin' done tryin' t' be nice t' you!" and walked off.

The late nights of training took their toll on Max. She slept on the roof during her morning classes, when she could get away with it. Otherwise she snoozed during her lessons. For those that chanced to see her face under her hood, there was a strange glint in her eyes, as if she knew something she probably shouldn’t. However, she was just as likely to snarl at people to back off as she was to punch them in the face.

[Atraea]

((This post brought to you by Tsemara! THANK HER.))

~Friday, Christmas Eve, 1:23 am, an abandoned building~

The air grew colder as the Christmas season drew near. Freezing cold rains gave way to snow flurries as the winter season progressed. As the Christmas break rolled around, a small storm front, promising snow, snuck into Kentopolis.

One night, as a light snow fell to the ground, two teenagers planned to meet one another. She said she was going to go watch some movies with her friends. He said he was hitting the arcade with the guys. This isn’t true of course. They had other things on the mind. They meet up at a location in the middle of their houses and drive off to a place they know fairly well. It’s out of the way and generally is devoid of unwanted visitors. The freshly falling snow obscures their footprints, as they enter.

Once inside, they search for a room that is untouched by the frigid weather. As occupied as they are with each other, they are unaware that there are fresh footprints in the settled dust. They practically tumble into the room ahead. Only then do they realize that they are not alone. The figure in the shadows looks almost as startled to see them, as they are to see it. The person hidden in the darkness doesn’t seem alone. Figuring it was a hobo or someone similar taking shelter for the night with their dogs, they decide to find another room. The stranger says something to their pets. Curious, the teenagers look back. What they thought were dogs were something far more sinister. Their screams echo in the dark building.


~Saturday, Christmas Day, 8:34 am~

Worried parents call to report their missing children. None of the friends the teenagers were ‘supposed to meet’ know anything about their disappearance. When a call comes in about a car matching the description of one of the teenagers vehicles, officers go to investigate. They are shocked to find the disemboweled corpses of the victims. The frozen prints besides their bodies are far larger than any dogs, and are more feline in shape.

Another attack is reported on Monday the 27th. This time it’s a homeless person that used to sleep in the park. They also die from a brutal mauling from large felines. However there are no signs of habitation. No one has reported any missing pets, that may or may not have been purchased legally. No zoos or sanctuaries have any missing animals.

Vigils and funerals are held. Facebook groups made. Prayers sent to the families. But the mystery death are never solved.

~Saturday, New Year's Day, 3:12 am~
An attack is heard in an alleyway on the Ironbridge side of Kentopolis. When the police arrive, there are not one or two, but three bodies. Two are the bodies of homeless veterans, drunkenly ambling about the street, screaming at passersby.


The last one, is a cop.

The city calls out to its heroes, to save them from this menace. But when their call goes unheard for one reason or another, rumors begin circulating on the internet. Shaky cellphone footage leaks on the internet of battle that occurred the night of Hallow's Incident. The footage is blurred, and little can be made out, but in their panic and outrage, the citizens begin making assumptions. Wild mass guess. People begin pointing fingers. It isn't long before the Magical Beings are targeted, blamed for their lack of action, and occasionally, being accused of the crimes. People sneer at them on the streets, their homes and equipment at the warehouse are vandalized. The city, who just months ago, sang their praises, now called for their punishments. The Vilos find themselves at a loss for what to do, and realize the best they can do is stick together, and watch out for each other and their loved ones, whilst working to clear their names.
---------------------------------
~Monday, January 3rd, Jade's Apartment, 5:34 pm~

Jade sat on the couch, a blanket huddled around her, drinking scotch from a tumbler. Her blinds and curtains were closed, and her door was locked. While she knew Andrew didn't like her habit, it was all she could do to keep from being terrified. School would start in another week or so, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to go. Her door had been vandalized by the Frats and Sororities on campus, she'd had to call the cops twice, and once the cop got killed New Year's day, even they were reluctant to offer any help. At the last party she went to, the Frat boys tried to pull something on her, and she barely made it out, immediately calling Andrew to come pick her up. They fought the whole way home, him telling her this would happen, that she needed to quit drinking, that she never listened to him. Jade screamed back about how he didn't understand, that his identity was secret and he didn't know what it was like, that toying with people was no better. They argued from the parking lot all the way to their apartments, slamming their doors. Jade spending the night alone and afraid.

Viola had her fair share of vandalism as well, but she had closed herself away since the incident, so she didn't get near as much trouble. Andrew got little to no hassle, until he was spotted going into her apartment, then they targeted him too. Despite the promise the Vilos made to stick together, Jade could not help but feel alone.

...Jade?

"Yeah?" Jade's voice was quiet and broken, as if she spoke any louder the student would be around to harass her and threaten Andrew.

I...I am really sorry this is happening to you.

"Tch, th' fuck y'all care. Y'all just sit around in yer goddamn cloudcastle, whatever th' fuck, talkin' 'bout how an 'abjeck lessn' is preferred.' Fuck you." Jade took another sip of her drink.

...I do not think anything of the sort. Normally, that would be the case, but this...this has gone too far. It has taken a far greater toll than I could ever have imagined. I never knew human could be so fickle.

...That and...it...

"Hm? It what?"

It hurts me. To see you like this. To see you so alone and afraid. If I could, I would contact Len, and have her make Andrew come over and figure this all out, but...

Jade's eyes lowered to her glass, swirling it slowly. After a minute or two, she looked up to the ceiling. "That what yer suggestin'?" When no answer came, Jade sat in silence for nearly 15 minutes, before breathing a deep sigh and picking up her phone, sending a text.

m sorrty. Want t talkm. Pleasee. Thnk you.

Love yoiu.

[Keylaleigh]

"Auntie Vi?"

The voice of a five year old boy could be heard from the door of the room that used to be only Viola's at her parent's house. Since she had left for college, it had been taken and converted into a playroom for her eldest sister Jenna's kid Elliot who came over on the weekdays while his mom worked. She looked up at him and smiled. Watching over him was what made these last few weeks bearable.

"Yeah?" She moved over on the bed, giving him room to sit down next to her. He stepped cautiously over the mountains of toys that he had left there only ten minutes ago and joined her. Usually it would've been cleaned up by now, but Viola wasn't feeling in the mood for any sort of cleaning.

"Are you really a super hero?" He looked up at her with his bright green eyes. "Because mommy says that you're doing a lousy job, letting all of those people get hurt." He looked back down. "Why did you let that happen?"

Viola sighed. she knew that sort of question would come up eventually. Once she gained her powers, her family stopped trusting her. Most of her siblings would only talk to her if it was absolutely nesessary. In fact, the only reason she came home was to try to keep an eye on Aiden across the street. He must've known, though, because there was a startling amount of non-activity over at their house. But at the moment, that was not the problem. Right now, she had to answer her nephew's question.

"I... It's a lot harder than it sounds, Elliot. I can't be everywhere at once, and when those people got hurt, nobody knew until it was too late. It's kind of like having your lunch money stolen but not seeing who did it until you notice a person with two sandwiches instead of one."

"We give our lunch money to the teachers."

Viola chuckled. "Alright... that was a bad example. But do you kind of understand?" The boy nodded slowly, some realization coming to his eyes but on the whole he was still confused. Before she could try to answer his question again, she heard the door closed. Her older brother Roger was home from work at the convenience store. "How about you go downstairs and see if Uncle Roger brought home some snacks from work?"

Elliot's eyes lit up at the mentioning of snacks, and his questions were temporarily forgotten in the dash out the door and downstairs. She sighed, lying down on the bed. "And now he's hearing about everything. How does he know?"

Your sister is rather vocal about her opinions. He most likely overheard her on the phone or talking around here to your siblings.

"Yeah... I guess that's what happening. And I'm really glad that nobody has figured out that I live here yet so that my family won't get targeted. I mean, yeah, I don't like them all that much, but I'd rather keep them out of my messes. The less they're involved in, the better." She lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Hopefully everybody else was taking this better, because while she didn't have the physical vandalism to show, her mind was awhirl with all sorts of nagging doubts.

[KoyiTar]

Already being somewhat in the spotlight being the only heir to the Fujuko Corporation, this though was much different. She hadn’t really been in the spotlight for more than a few minutes her father not wanting his daughter in the spotlight over foolish propaganda that tabloids and the like gathered. Her grandfather had closed the Dojo for the Holiday’s to give Cyrel some privacy but it almost never happened. Someone had thrown rocks in the windows last night for seemingly no reason.

“Great another mess to clean up.” She muttered as she helped her grandfather to board up the widows that had been broken. “First they loved us now they hate us. It’s not like we are psychic and predict when things like what’s been happening will happen.” She muttered as she finished with what she was doing.

She called the security that she had had placed around the warehouse when it had first been vandalized. Getting an all clear from them she decided to find out what everyone else was up to if anything. She didn’t wait for responses before calling Shari to come and get her and take her to warehouse. There had been times in the past few weeks that she had wanted to just throw her bow away but she hadn’t.


I am glad that you decided to keep it Cyrel. I am certain that it is rather hard with how other humans seem to be acting over the most recent events.

"Well I can't just give up the responsibility I took because of a few hardships and bad media." She thought back as she got into the car and Shari drove her to the warehouse so she could do some training to get her mind off of what had been happening lately. There seemed to be nothing else to do with her time than to train or try and explain that there was no way for her to know who or what was causing all the murders whenever newscasters would catch her outside of the dojo of course the bodyguards her father had hired usually kept most of the media attention away. So most of her time was now spent training.

[Nuklearsamurai]

Corik sat in the back room of house, looking out at his backyard. Normally he'd be in the front room, but someone had broken two of his windows with bricks earlier this week. Corik was fortunate enough that he lived in an older neighborhood and most of his neighbors knew that he was a good kid and they didn't believe it was his fault, but that didn't stop other people from driving by or from some dumb kid to try and walk by and then out-run him when Corik chased after him after breaking one of his windows. It was one of the kids in his class, and it hadn't really surprised Corik. The kid was paying for the windows, but what hurt Corik the most was to fear in the other boys eyes, as if Corik would have hurt him.

Now he sat moping, two windows boarded up in the front of his house, and his truck locked in the garage after someone had slashed his tires at school one day. Looking out over his backyard, he contemplated working on this new shield ability he'd come up with, or if he just wanted to run. It was incredibly frustrating ever since he'd been barred from running track. Even the whole premise was absurd. He'd never dream of cheating in that, and then they had simply rejected his claims that he could only use his abilities when he was transformed. It probably didn't help that his main ability was speed, but that was beside the point. All of a sudden most people were treating him like he wasn't a teenager anymore. It was like he was some sort of side-show attraction.

Finally he couldn't stand it at his house anymore. Grabbing his keys and wallet from the coffee table, he went to the garage. Locking the doors and tapping the door opener, he hopped in his truck and backed out of the driveway, closing the garage behind him. At least at the warehouse, he was still sure everyone was his friend.

[Dimitri Luger]

Sitting on the bus that will take him nearest the warehouse, Adrian leaned back against the rest, his head slightly down, his eyes closed so far as to be slitted, looking around the bus, concentrating on each person, all six of them, trying to sense out any magical energies while memorizing their appearance and actions. With a screech of overused metal, the bus pulls to a stop, Adrian standing, walking out into the cool air, shivering slightly and pulling his jacket tighter around him as he starts to move toward the warehouse, wary of every alley and passerby, refreshing his memory on what he knew and memorizing more, nodding to those who pass, his hands in his pockets, shifting though the contents.

"While you know this, I'm sure, this is somewhat dangerous, it was not so long ago that one of your team mates was abducted near here, not to mention that after your practice you will be exhausted and in no way capable of defending yourself, and possibly even of contacting Andrew psychically in case of an emergency." Richter's voice slid into Adrian's mind, the familiar feeling of half frozen ink oozing down his spine, strangely comforting in the cold.

Yes, I know, that is why I have my cell kept in my hand and his number on quick dial. Plus, the Misus are less likely to attack with so much... publicity, going on recently. He paused in his thoughts as he turned down a road towards the warehouse. And... and I don't think they would be genuinely interested in capturing or infiltrating again... they got the information they wanted I'm pretty sure, and their current plans don't seem to be directly focused on our warehouse or us specifically... the last attack felt more random... And the guy at the tree... He shook his head as he neared the warehouse, checking the illusion before entering and approaching the front, walking quickly, anticipating his practice session, moving to the locker room once inside.

One quick transformation later, he moved to his observation point, looking out over the warehouse. A quick warm up, and then a living subject. He closed his eyes, everything he studied coming into his mind, sorted through, still unsure of what to compose, phantom images flickering across the warehouse floor as he allowed his mind to roam, creating freely.

[Tsemara]

The ceiling was as blank as ever. Yet, Max continued to stare at it, lost in thought. The events that had happened over the past few weeks played in her head like short films stuck on repeat. She covered her eyes with her arm with a sigh. In the semi darkness, the memories returned.

Reel 1, Dec 24.
She had returned home after Malygris’s Christmas Eve party. Her mother had welcomed her, as she usually did, as she entered the warm house. After answering a bunch of useless questions, about how things went, who she talked to, and other things, Max retired to her bedroom. She changed into some warm clothes, huddled under her covers, and waited for her mother to go to bed. Holiday or not, she still needed to train. She just wished it wasn’t so incredibly cold when she went out. The snow had made boarding difficult. Biking wasn’t all that much fun either. But it was better than running, or walking.

She had decided to train in one of the abandoned warehouse buildings. It was out of the way, and probably cold enough in most of the rooms to discourage visitors. As she pedaled down the quiet streets, she considered, not for the last time, getting a drivers’ license. That way she wouldn’t be freezing her butt off. She stashed her bike in the back where the empty dumpster slowly collected the falling snow. Like so many others, she entered through a door that the lock had been broken off ages ago. Judging by the amount of dust and frost by the entrance, no one had been inside since the temperature fell below freezing.

Maxine removed most of her warm clothing before transforming. Afterwards she put her hoodie back on. The rest, she figured, she could wear while she rested. It was too cold, even in the warmest rooms, to be without something covering her bare skin.

She had just summoned her lions when the door opened. There were two figures in the shadows outside that seemed just as startled to see her as she was to see them. “Holy shit.” The words escaped her lips as the pair disappeared into the gloom. What were they doing here? What had they seen? Were they going to get the authorities? She needed to leave. But what how much did they know? A myriad of thoughts raced her brain as she tried to come up with and escape plan. No one had ever walked in on her before. She pointed in the direction of the door. They couldn’t have gone very far. “Stop them!” Max ordered her beasts. In retrospect, she sounded far more panicked than she would ever admit to anyone. Without bothering to stick around to find out the results, she bolted for the exit. The screams that echoed in the empty building followed her into the night.

[Tsemara]

Reel 2, Dec 26.
It seemed that the media would go on forever about the “mystery” deaths of the two teenagers. While she wasn’t completely sure what she was going to do with the knowledge that she had indirectly murdered someone, Max got to thinking. It hadn’t been all that hard to kill the Cecilia Blair girl and the Aglaeca Stone Prep guy. What human, besides the Vilos anyway, could stand up to a fully grown lion? To be fair, her summoned animals were only shades. They paled in comparison to the real thing. But they were still dangerous.

None of the details as to the condition of the bodies when they were found were released to the public. There was no way to know if the kills were quick and clean…ish, or if they were ripped apart like one of Basts’ catnip toys. Unfortunately, there would be no way to know unless she actually watched a kill in progress. The thought of watching something like that was less than appealing, even if it was just a human. Sure she watched stuff like that on the nature channel, once in a while. She’d watched Bast catch, kill and eat birds and rodents and things like that. But that was the way of nature. Animals killing humans were freak occurrences. But…why else would she have been given these powers, but to kill humans? That was the whole reason Malygris sought her out. Wasn’t it? Or was she misunderstanding his intention? He hadn’t actually killed anyone on Halloween. He merely collected their energies. With those thoughts echoing in her head, she waited for night to fall.

Max had decided to forgo her usual training that evening. Because of the late hour, and the cold weather, there was a good chance that she would have a difficult time finding a victim. All the same, it needed to be done. She needed to know. If something was not being done right, she needed to fix it. It wouldn’t to have her shades behave in an unlion-like manner. Well, besides attacking people. This wasn’t T’savo. This was Kentopolis.

She nearly despaired of ever finding someone in the light snowfall. Just as she was about to turn her bike around and head home, she thought she had seen someone shuffling around in the park. Max dismounted, leaving the bike leaning up against a street sign. Crouching low to the ground, she crept toward the other human. They were occupied with something she couldn’t see, making it easier for her to sneak up on them. When she was a stone’s throw away, she concentrated on the shadows around her. “Phantom Pride,” her summons disappeared into the cold night as her lions materialized.

She had read somewhere that prides could get as large as thirty members. But the most she had ever been able to generate was six. Trying to make any more than that wiped her out to the point of uselessness. Creating them consumed a lot of energy. She was tired enough just from riding around in the frigid air. She ended up with three beasts, which crouched in the shadows beside the teenager. With a motion of her gloved hand, she sent the specters toward the lonely human.

Max watched in sickening fascination as the lions attacked the civilian. As she has feared, they were making the kill as messy as they possibly could. The man’s’ screaming continued until he no longer had a throat. She shook her head, fighting off the urge to get sick. This wasn’t right. They were supposed to go for the throat first, to strangle their victims. Or break their spines. Not rip them apart. This needed to be fixed. She dismissed her creatures and returned to her bike. She felt queasy long after she had returned home.

[Tsemara]

Reel 3, Dec 31.
There were a number of patrols going around the city after dark. Part of the reason was her nightly forays. The rest was due to the upcoming New Year’s celebration. It was going to be difficult getting anything done that night. Her mother was hosting a party at their house. So, she needed to come up with a reason to be gone. Randomly leaving during the get together would attract unwanted attention, not that she ever participated in any of them anyway. She hadn’t heard anything from the other Misus about a party or an attack or even a general meeting. Without an excuse to leave, she needed to wait until the party was over. Hopefully, there would be someone left awake to have the lions hunt.

It was well past midnight when the last guest left. Max helped her mother clean the house before they both went to their respective rooms. There was still activity in the city, happening out in the city by the time her mother fell asleep. There were sirens too. Police were about quelling parties that had gotten too rowdy. She would need to watch out for them. She would probably be better off walking. Having a bike or even a board with her would only impede a hasty getaway if she needed one.

Out in the city, the sounds of drunken revelry came and went with the various neighborhoods that Max meandered through. She decided to wait before transforming. Last thing she needed was to be seen by some drunk guy, or a cop, in her battle gear. True, she’d be wearing a jacket over part of it. But a faceguard would be a hard thing to explain away. A scarf covering it would have just looked weird. And who would wear studded leather gloves when snow gloves would have been far more sensible? No, she’d transform once she was closer to her destination. Wherever that may be.

Max ducked down an alleyway when she heard the sound of an automobile stopping at the intersection she was walking toward. There were voices further down, in the darkness. They didn’t sound like the partiers she had passed while she traveled. These were more subdued. She wasn’t sure about taking out more than one person, just yet. But she needed to start sometime. She scurried up a fire escape so she could get a better look at her possible victims, without getting too close.

On a somewhat closer inspection, the voiced belonged to a pair of homeless war veterans. One was an older fellow, from a pointless war that happened before she was born. The other was not quite as old as the other. He too had served in a war that seemed to have no purpose besides killing each other off. They would work. If they were important, they wouldn’t be living like this.

Max retreated to a part of the roof, where no one would see her transform. She pulled her jacket back on over her tank top before returning to the edge. The men could be boxed in where they were located, giving the teenager an idea. Like before, she called her beasts from the shadows. The five cats crouched next to her as she gave them their instructions. The phantoms descended the building, their paws making a chorus of thumps as they landed on the ground. Three on one side, two on the other. The lions, camouflaged by the shadows that created them were nearly upon their prey before the humans noticed. With a cry, the men turned to flee, only to find their way blocked by more felines.

The once soldiers might have known how to fight, defend themselves from, and kill other human beings. But nothing in their training had ever prepared them for an assault like this. Using whatever objects they could find, they tried to fend off the jet attackers. Their blows did nothing to deter the shades. The older man was taken down from behind, the beasts jaws crunching through the back of his neck. He died quickly with a choked gurgle. The younger vet was pinned on his back as he raised his arms over his head. He screamed as viselike jaws closed on his arms, shattering the bones within. Struggle as he might, he could not free himself from his captors.

Shots rang out through the alley. Max and her minions looked up to see a police officer at the entrance to the alley. He likely had been patrolling the neighborhood when he heard the terrified cries of the soon to be dead men. It was to be expected that had called for backup before coming to investigate too. “Holy shit,” Max breathed. It was one thing to kill off hobos. No one really cared about them. But she was going to be in deep shit if she was caught killing a cop. “Go away,” she silently commanded the uniformed individual.

The pinned vet bawled for help as the lion resumed mauling him. The officer fired his gun, trying to either frighten off or kill the beasts. The bullets did nothing to deter them from their orders. The shots only gave the shades a new target. Max swore to herself as two of the lions broke off from the group to take out their new adversary. The reports from the handgun echoed in the night, only marginally covering the police officers’ cry. All three men were dead or very close to being dead by the time the Misus dismissed the specters.


Present
The teenager’s thoughts were broken when something suddenly landed on her chest. Max grunted at the abrupt pressure and removed her arm for her face. “Hello Bast,” Max mumbled trough the fibers that were obscuring her vision and getting up her nose. The little feline purred at the greeting, turning to affectionately rub his head against her cheek. With a faint smile, she moved her companion out of her face. He settled down at her side, where she alternated between scratching and petting him.

She needed to rethink her strategy. There were too many things that stood in her way. At best, she could probably take out a handful of people with her shadow lions at one time. But what about the rest of them? There were way too many humans in the world to deal with by herself. And they screamed. A lot. Well, that was to be expected. She probably would too if she had her arm ripped off, or whatever. But still, it wasn’t something she found pleasant. Even the guy that had his throat torn out made an unpleasant sound as he perished.

If anything good had from her expeditions, outside of a handful less humans taking up space, it was that the Vilos were getting all the flak from the attacks. They were in a bind, for now. But later? They had fought the lions before and fared well against them. They had seen her order the lions around. No doubt, after they had a chance to regroup, they come looking for her. It didn’t matter that they didn’t know who she was. There would be a confrontation. She better be ready for it when it happened.

[Nuklearsamurai]

Andrew looked out his window watching a few people walk back and forth. How fondly he thought of a time when he didn't have the weight of the world on his shoulders, or at least when he had less things to worry about. Now he was lost in his thoughts about how to re-mask the warehouse. Someone had finally made it past his illusions, knocking one of the anchors out of place and the outside had been vandalizedl and with illusions like that, once someone made it through, they weren't nearly as effective as they once were. That on top of trying to find a way to deal with the current public opinion put him in a strained state of mind.

BVVVVVVT...BVVVVVVT...

The alarm on his phone snapped him out of his contemplation.

m sorrty. Want t talkm. Pleasee. Thnk you.

Love yoiu.

With a sigh, he replaced the phone on his desk. As it stood, she probably wasn't up for his usual habit for reminding her he didn't need the phone to talk with her. It wouldn't be the best idea, especially if she was as inebriated as her text implied. Thinking for a moment, he grabbed the phone and his keys and wallet, tucking them away in various pants pockets. About to head out the door, he stopped, casting his awareness into the hall. It wouldn't be good for his own image if someone were to see him constantly visiting Jade. Almost as soon as his mind left the confines of his apartment, he became aware of two people outside, who had nothing good on their minds.

"That won't do." he said to himself as he flung his door open, revealing two college kids outside Jades door, a can of spray paint in one's hands, a lighter and a bag in the hands of the other.

"Get lost punks." he growled from his doorway, displeasure dripping from the rumble that his voice was. Suddenly stripped of their anonymity, the two men whirled around, before raking off down the hallway and around the corner, out of Andrews sight.

Sighing again, he knocked on Jades door. after a minute, the door opened revealing Jade, a bit woozy, but not the worst he'd ever seen her. Smiling weakly, he held up his phone.

"Got your text," he said, "can I come in?"

[Atraea]

"Cindi?"

"Mrrrrrrff." Cindi mumbled incoherently for another minute or two, before turning over in her bed in a twist of comforters and sheets.

"Cindi!"

"Grrrrr..." Cindi sat up, her hair a mess, blowing a puff of air into her bangs. "Hrmmmm?"

"Cindi! Come down, it's time for dinner!"

She tried to move from her bed, only to find her legs tangled in the sheets, which resulted in her tumbling to the floor as she tried to get out of bed. Cindi growled into the carpet, moving her face to the side and violently kicking the bedding off of her, accidentally hitting the metal frame of the bed in the process. As the pain in her foot registered, she grabbed a pillow, screaming a string of muffled obscenities.

"FUCKING SHIT CUNT DAMN FUCKING FUCK FUCKER FUCK!"

When she finished she removed the pillow from her face and set it in her lap, staring down into it before looking at her now slightly bruised foot.

"CYNTHIA, SCENDERE LE SCALE E MANGIARE LA CENA, ORA!"

"NON HO FAME! Jesus fuggin' CHRIST..." It was at this point her father burst upstairs, demanding that she come down and eat because she hadn't all day, she'd just spent most of the day sleeping. After a bilingual argument that lasted about 10 minutes, Cindi pulled her hair back and pulled on some jeans and a heavy winter coat and walked out of the house. She stepped out into the cool air, the smoke of her breath in the crisp air puffed out of her nose and mouth.

It had been this way for awhile. She had little to no appetite. She was always angry. Edgy. She had no outlet for her impulses, and irrational rage was a frequent visitor. The nightmares were becoming less common place, but the chill of the Vilos boy still pervaded her nights.

It wasn't just her though. Everyone in the Misus seemed extremely pent up in one way or another. Max and Bella had both become more distant from the group, Red stopped by the house and crashed there for reasons unknown.

Aiden had appeared to be coming out of his shell, but with every rejection Bella begrudgingly handed him, his confidence dwindled. It pained Cindi to see him like that. Every time Aiden approached Bella, there was a slight waver that reverberated inside him, and Cindi by extension. Cindi would watch from across the room, both she and Aiden gripped by the same emotional vice on unrequited affection. The pressure would build up and up, becoming unbearable, painful, until Bella pricked it with one piercing word. This would result in an agonizing burst, and as the feeling subsided their hearts would sink. While Aiden would shut himself off in his room, Cindi would stand there furious, vicariously rejected. She'd gone after Bella, snapped at her, demanding why she wouldn't have him. How they both "needed this." Bella would always respond along the lines of "mind your own business."

But it was merely Cindi's nature, and a result of her honing her Magical Abilities. She could not help but be invested in this, when she felt it as strongly as he. As thoughts in the vein raced through her mind, she happened upon his house, and stopped next to his mailbox. She examined the house, noting the closed blinds at the top window, pale yellow light peeking through the blinds.

He's home...


She shivered in the cold, burying her hands further into the jacket, and approached his door, knocking.

[Keylaleigh]

Lately, Aiden has found a new hobby to keep himself busy. He was teaching himself how to fence. With Max taking care of general chaos in her own brilliant way, he had time to work on his new weapon. He wasn't using it now, for fear of burning the house down, but he had purchased a dull saber off of the internet for practice purposes. He read books, observed matches on the internet, and of course there were his notes. Notes mostly having to do with what he knew of his opponent's fighting styles and how to combat them with his new weapon.

He practiced and worked out new strategies, clearing out some space in his workshop to move around with a sword. While it was hard to practice these things without an opponent, he didn’t know anyone else in the area that was a fencer. So he would have to live with what he had and hope it worked when he was in combat. After practicing for about an hour, he sheathed the sword and placed it back in his closet.

His relationship with his parents had changed over the past few months, with his mother becoming even more suspicious than usual. It turns out the rumors and mutterings from his school moved on to the others in the Ironbridge district. Without any real proof, though, she could not pin the blame on him or anyone else. So as of late, she has been asking more questions as to what he is doing behind those closed doors and when he goes out with his group of female friends. His father, on the other hand, was living in a state of ignorance, trying to avoid the possibility of his boy being so evil. And that ignorant state was working to Aiden’s advantage, of course.

The most questions came around when Red decided to come over for a few days. Aiden almost closed the door on the boy, but his parents invited him in and he stayed over while they went out for a mini-vacation to try and get their thoughts in order. The following days were rather awkward for Aiden, and he was relieved when Red moved on. He wasn’t quite sure what was wrong with Red, but he seemed quite shaken. Whatever it was, it really wasn’t Aiden’s problem. But Red was now part of the team as much as any of the others, so he felt somewhat obligated to try and help the best he could. That didn’t stop the flurry of questions from his parents once they arrived home. He answered them to their liking- something involving a school project or other thing of that like.

But Red wasn’t where the bulk of his problems came around. No, most of his problems were Bella. Whatever was happening inside of him, it was becoming unbearable to keep pent up any longer. So he tried the technique that he had read about in books and seen in the glimpses of the movies that his mother watched- asking her out. Unfortunately, she was a lot more difficult than most of the girls in the movies, and kept rejecting him. He was persistent, but his persistence was starting to wear thin after every rejection that was given to him. He could see that Cindi felt it as well, and as he went to his room she would walk over to Bella. Whatever Cindi said had no effect on Bella though, and he could never get any closer to her.

It was at that moment he heard the knock on the door, followed by his father opening it. Aiden opened his door a crack to try and hear who his father had just let in. It was Cindi. He didn’t remember anything about a meeting today, so she probably came over on her own accord. But what would she want to talk about? He would find that out in a little bit, but for now, he figured that he should go downstairs. He didn’t shower yet, so his body was covered in a thin film of sweat from the saber practice. He would have time afterwards to take care of that, though. Now he had to find out what Cindi wanted.

He nodded as the two of them made eye contact and a second nod upwards to invite her to the workshop. As they made it up, he closed the door and grabbed a folding chair from the closet. He had to get some as the Misus decided to make his house the meeting place. He gave a long sigh. “So… what brings you around? I thought we all agreed that we would move our meetings to Sundays.”

[KoyiTar]

“Return!” Bella said panting and falling to her knees slimy returning to its vile and the person underneath it falling unconscious to the ground. She had pushed herself a bit too hard that time but the results of it was all that matter. Her weapons, well weapon and shield were complete. Of course she would need to work a lot more on her guard with them, seeing as slimy had broken it several times. Of course she had ordered the creature to attack her as if she was the enemy and not herself. It was the third time in a week she had used it to spar and work on her new abilities. It was one of the reasons she had been turning down Aiden’s requests. She had almost said yes to the last time he had asked her, her resolve in not allowing him closer to her than he already was breaking. She had been able to say no but it had been hard and Cindi as usual had pestered her about it.

“Fucking hell.” She muttered to herself spitting out the blood that had collected in her mouth from the last punch she had received from slimy before calling him back. She had lost her focus when she thought she had heard a vehicle go by. The last thing she had wanted was any of the media attention the Vilos where getting by someone getting the wrong impression if they saw her. Of course there had been no car or any other form of transportation pass by. That had been her mistake and was now why her jaw hurt of course it wasn’t the only part of her that hurt. The training she had been putting herself through for the past few weeks had taken a toll. She was covered in bruises; thankfully none that her parents could see at least not till now. As she transformed back she took a mirror out of her bag that was by her bicycle. Only reason she had her bike instead of her car or scooter was because of the snow better safe than sorry. “Well shit how do I explain this?” She muttered seeing the slight bruising to her face.

She called her house just to discover her parents still weren’t home from whatever outing they had gone out to the previous weekend probably opting to stay there until the street were clearer. “Well now what?” She muttered climbing on her bike and riding off despite her bodies protests. The homeless guy she had used slimy to train on would probably be waking up soon. Of course with whatever Max had been doing in the past few days he probably wouldn’t live much longer as it was anyway. The good thing though that the Vilos were receiving the main flack for all of it supposedly not doing their jobs. She laughed a bit at this as she rode her bike well she had fully intended to go home.

Of course she had ended up at Aiden’s instead. It wasn’t the first time it had happened recently her growing feeling for him getting the better of her sometimes. “Well I guess a bit of human interaction couldn’t hurt right?” She asked to gooey companion, she had taken to talking to it again much like she had used to in the past week or so. It seemed to bubble a yes in response and she just nodded at the little vile and put it back into her pocket. Of course it took her a few minutes to actually walk up to the door as she tried to figure out what she would say as to the reason she was there in the first place. Finally deciding to just attempt to wing it for once she knocked on the door and waited for an answer adjusting her glasses as she did so.