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Maes opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't so he sighed and just followed Zorlo. Maes seemed to be less stable as the air was getting turbulent around him. OH COME ON MAES! TALK! IT'S NOT THAT HARD AND PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND YOU! In the short time he was out there Morgan had gotten Claire to stop doing whatever it was she had been and start paying attention to him. Claire looked up from the cat at their approach and nodded to them. "Are we going somewhere or are you just giving Mr. Amaranthine the tour?" Maes nodded, caused a wave to form in the pool with his frustration at not being able to convey what he wanted to, and finally remembered he could text her. Claire had already had her phone out and so she just glanced at it when she got the text. "Ok, but you're driving." The boy stiffened and shook his head vehemently. "I'm not taking no for an answer this time. You agreed, once a week you would drive somewhere." Maes huffed, grabbed one of his wrists with the other, and twisted it behind his back. "Yeah, well, tough." She said without pity and tossed him the keys. Apparently unconcerned with the fact that she was putting somebody prone to panic attacks behind the wheel of a large vehicle.

Zorlo looked between the two and sighed. "Claire, if you want me to die, you can just shoot me, you know," Zorlo said with a chuckle as he patted Maes on his back. "Let's get going. It seems she's so mad at me that she's willing to put both our lives in danger," Zorlo said jokingly as he smiled at her. "Well, I'll see you later," the green-haired man stated with a smile as he started off towards the car... or so he assumed s'where he was headed.

Maes was actually quite competent behind the wheel. There was only one minor problem, and that was he didn't seem to have any idea as to what a speed limit was and he would thread the needle on turns in that Zorlo was all but certain that they were going so fast that they would roll. There were a couple of moments when it seemed like he was going to crash into something, but an invisible force must have intervened and somehow, Maes got them to Z's apartment in one piece. Maes jumped out of the hummer and tossed the keys away like they were a snake about to bite him. Claire had, of course, caught them deftly. "Ok, Maes, you got lucky there a couple of times. You nearly swapped paint with that ugly powder blue beetle not to mention that '67 Impala. That would have been a true crime. But I think you would probably have avoided getting hit by any rockets so good work. See you later Sexy, make sure he doesn't get hurt." She winked at Zorlo and got into the driver's seat.

Morgan had seemed unperturbed by Maes's driving, probably because he couldn't see all of the near misses. He sniffed the air around the car after hopping to the ground and purred curiously, "Maes, did you create an air bubble around the car?" "That's what I tried to do, yeah?" "Seemed smoother than usual, I think it worked." Maes smiled happily, I think that's the first major magic I've worked, consciously, and I was able to maintain it for the whole drive without stalling the engine.

Zorlo stumbled out of the car and waved at the group. "Yes, I shall indeed. Anyway, good night, my friends... sweet lady Claire," he told her as he headed up into his apartment. Although a lot of it was in ruins, he simply sighed and wandered off towards something to sleep on. "Tired... don't care... will be angry tomorrow morning," Zorlo stated as he fell face-first into a nearby couch and fell asleep.

The day ended and the sun for the next day rose. As Zorlo woke up, he looked around. He took another sigh as he dusted himself off and changed his clothing. "Okay, still not that mad. I'm sure there's a possible explanation for this... anyway..." Zorlo said as he stepped outside of his apartment, he reflected on everyone else and how they were doing. "I wonder how everyone is doing?"

"We're, at least, doing well enough," said Allrainne from the doorway, Arianna standing beside and slightly behind her older sister. The two walked in and Allrainne whistled at the destruction. "The nightly gloom didn't do this place justice. This is actually rather serious..." Allrainne said aloud before a tug on her shirt made her pause and nod.

Arianna stepped forward now, still bandaged from the night prior. "Zorlo... I'm sorry. This...is my fault," she said to him in her quiet, somewhat shy voice. "The Fallen that was after me....did this trying to... I'm sorry..." she finished.

The play had caused Maes to realize something, while he could apparently do a lot defensively, his talent for offensive magic was as of yet unexplored so when he got home he set about trying to do something about that. Claire had always told him that you rarely had any time to actually think during a fight and he also knew that thinking wasn't exactly something he could do well under pressure, so he went for something simple, effective, and straight forward that didn't require much thinking to activate. He and Claire picked up several simple silver rings and after a few failed attempts he managed to enchant two of them the way he wanted.

They would automatically charge up from being in contact with Maes over time and when their built up energy was unleashed they would allow him to effectively fire off cannonballs. He had gone with rings because they were small so he could carry multiple of them, they would always be handy so he didn't have to worry about thinking about drawing them like a gun, and he could wear them and the, as Morgan had dubbed them, Hydro Hands simultaneously. He went with autocharging because he wasn't sure how much magic he could do before he reached his limits which he assumed he had, but if need be he can also pump mana into the rings directly. The silver bands thrummed with blue lightning under Maes's scrutiny, and he wondered if the others could see the energy in them too or if it was just him.

He wanted to go find Cecile, but Claire was having none of that, so he settled for going to see Zorlo. Cecile might show up. He thought to himself wanely as he trod up the stairs. Claire was staying with the car, as usual, although she was packing a bit heavier armament than usual and she had forced him to put on a bullet proof vest under his clothes that morning.

Morgan's purring as he rubbed against Arianna's legs announced the arrival of himself and his faithful valet, Maes.

Cecile looked towards the wall, her eyes still a bit blurry from the past hours of sleep that seemed to be full of bad dreams. She started to sit up, noticing that the boyfriend beside her was still out of it. He must have skipped his run and chose to steal from the gang again. It wasn't abnormal for him. As long as she was trusted, he could do whatever he wanted. Still...

"Maes, we are not going to discuss this. I am well aware of how often I've pressed the need for you to make friends, but I will not allow you to put yourself in greater danger by associating with a drug dealer. I've known several a few were even friends, but eventually things got bloody around them. In the best case, she'll get arrested and you will be dragged into a police station under suspicion of supplying her, do you honestly believe you could handle that?"

She stood up, entering the shower as she looked at the wrist she had received cigarette burns from when she first made a mistake. Her first mistake with Maes had been assuming she could even be close to a person like him. Even though he was similar, she was... She was not rich or able to cover her scars with a simple piece of paper. She couldn't stand getting rid of her name, the one that shamed her and her parents every day she had it. Once she was dressed, she looked at the man on the bed. She sat down and for the first time just felt like it would have been better if she had just died in that incident. It would not have burdened Maes then, or her conscience.

----

Elsa realized she was a mess as she looked at the morning rays. The sedatives had helped her have a dreamless sleep, but she felt like a slug because of it. She dragged herself to the shower and practically put on the freezing water. It woke her up enough to quickly put in the warm and wash. Crazy day or not, she needed to go to work. She grasped another set of work clothes and prepared her lunch quickly. Hopefully this whole situation would go away as fast as it came.

"Morgan...?" Arianna murmured as she kneeled down to pet the blinded cat before picking him up to cradle in her arms, still stroking his fur.

Simultaneously, Allrainne turned to Maes with a wave. "Yo, Maes. What's up?" she said to him casually. Her gaze was pulled to his hands, noting the gloves and rings there. There was something, but hell if she could tell what it was. Arianna could, however. The quiet, azure lightning that danced across the rings made the palms of her hands tingle, specifically the symbols there, she realized soon after. It made the bandaged girl start thinking again about last night. She needed to start figuring out her powers soon, else she might not be so lucky again.

Zorlo stood up and stretched, smiling at Arianna. "Don't worry. Stuff happens. This place was pretty awful to begin with. I'm gonna start looking for a slightly nicer place before long, if you two wish to join me," the green-haired man told the sisters as he smiled and turned towards Maes. "Good day, Maes, how're you today?" he asked the boy before pausing. "Wait... why do I even ask these questions at times... most of the time, I don't get an answer or a substantial one," he stated with a sigh as he patted the boy on the head.

"Anyway, we need to make one last attempt to bring those two women into the fold. That one girl who's name escapes me and the whiny girl that looked to be about your age, Maes," the swordsman stated as he went silent for a moment. "However," Z stated as he looked at Maes, "If we want to see Cecile, we'll need to sneak past Claire, won't we?" he asked, chuckling. "Today is going to be... bothersome, i can tell," the swordsman stated as he crossed his arms and stepped out of the apartment.

"So, should we split up or head out as a group? I'm taking suggestions from you three... er... four, since we're a team of sorts now," the man said, his spirit on fire today. That battle yesterday had really gotten his energy back.

Maes looked past Allrainne at first, frowned at the lack of Cecile, and then looked at Allraine and gave her a shrug in answer. Winds buffeted Zorlo when he touched Maes and the boy shirked back against a wall. He raised a hand and lowered it swiftly, like he was swatting something, and glared at Zorlo.

Maes gave Morgan a pleading look and the cat let out what had to be a sigh of agreement despite the two saying absolutely nothing. Morgan switched with Maes, grabbed Zorlo by the collar, and yanked him back inside. "Maes desires to see Cecile. And Claire's sitting just outside. There's no real way to sneak past her, if she's paying attention, so-" Morgan grabbed the bottom of Zorlo's shirt and yanked it up over his head before he shoving him outside with a swift kick to the butt. "There that should get us a few minutes head start. I'm sure he'll catch up, so let's get going. I would also suggest having Maes drive, but I really don't think any of us could make him do that, so just drive quickly." Morgan returned to his own body and purred to Maes, "And Maes, don't forget to do that jet stream-air shell thing you did yesterday around her car." Maes nodded to the cat saying, "Ok."

Claire noticed Zorlo stumble outside without a shirt and whistled a cat call. "Hello Sexy." She called from her parked car.

The arms of her boyfriend went around Cecile as he woke up. "Where were you last night? You didn't call to skip." He moved so he was sitting behind her. "You know better than to just skip out on a good day of work."

"I know," She answered, turning around to face him. "Though, I'm quite sure you're not telling me this to tease me. Was it the boss?" She remained in his arms, reminded of the first time she had met him. It had been during her time getting used to her status. She had been constantly hiding. He simply took her hand and brought her into a room. She wondered why he hadn't said anything about why he was there or taking her in. He had placed a meal down in front of her and told her simply that she had to eat to live. It had made her cry and it was the first time she had felt safe after all that had happened.

"He let it go unnoticed." He spoke, rubbing her back slowly. "Tomorrow you should make sure to sell to some rich guys just in case so he can give a good excuse to the others." She nodded, her head leaning into his shoulder.

----

Elsa put her purse on and began her travel to work. If everything went well, this whole incident could blow over. Part of her knew that it was probably not going to, though. It had been far too ground in reality. Especially if she was still getting over the slight problem through the side effects of the sedatives.

This solution was the last one Zorlo wanted to use. He stood quietly without his shirt for a moment when Claire whistled. "Son of a..." he muttered as he kinda strode over towards her. "HEllo. I heard you were here and figured it'd be a good chance to get to know each other better... and to apologize for yesterday. So... Sorry, and how are you today?" he asked her, smiling as he crossed his arms and attempted, rather poorly, to look tough in front of Claire.

((Sorry for the sub-par post.))


Chuckling a little at Zorlo's predicament, Allrainne nodded. "Fine... Maes, just try not to stand out too badly," she said to him as she left out with Arianna, still holding Morgan, following behind with Maes. Fortunately, her car was just a few cars behind Claire's comparatively massive vehicle and hidden behind a van. It made it easier to get there and get ready to pull out. Arianna took the front seat with Morgan in her lap, leaving the back to Maes. "You should probably lay down, out of sight," Allrainne said out of the blue as she turned the car on and pulled out passed Claire and Zorlo. Once they were a few blocks away and out of sight, Allrainne pulled over. "Okay, so one of you want to tell me where I'm headed? Or are you coming up here to drive for me, Maes?" she asked casually, waiting for an answer.

Maes pulled his hood up over his head and tried to look smaller, he did it rather well. When asked about driving he shook his head violently and shrunk back and down into his seat. He tried to tell her the address, but nothing came out. He huffed angrily and the air inside the car reflected this by being turbulent. "Maes, relax. If you can't tell her, then you'll have to drive." "Why don't you tell her?" "I'm not the one who wants to go see Cecile." "Yeah, but you can talk to them." "But they don't understand me, and I'm far too busy." Morgan purred as he somehow lounged a bit more in the girl's lap. Maes pulled out his phone to type the address and Morgan took that moment of distraction to get up and snatch it out of his hands. "Hey, give that back. How am I supposed to tell her where to go without it?" "By talking to her like you talk to me." Morgan growled out as he danced out of Maes's reach. "You want to talk so just do it already. You're a human not a cat. So talk." Morgan wished he had just let Maes type it out as soon as the words had rolled off his tongue. "Cats... don't... talk... Just a cat. And cats don't talk." Maes whimpered and started silently crying as the memories came flooding back. "Maes, Maes, come back to me Maes, we're not there anymore, he can't do anything to you. Maes! One of you do something. If I switch now he could fall all the way back. One of you do something!" He roared powerlessly.

"Better now." Claire mused, "You seem to be in good spirits. You want to go for a ride?"

Zorlo took a deep breath and nodded as he approached the car. "Sure, why not. It isn't like I have anything else pressing to do today. Maes is busy speaking with Allraine and Arianna, so I'm sure he'll be fine," he told Claire with a smile as he slipped into the car and smiled at her. "So, what's on your itinerary for today?" he asked, trying to keep eye contact with the woman. Why was HE the one with the dangerous gambits today... well, at least this couldn't be worse than the angel event yesterday... could it?

((Sorry! busy with school training!))


As Arianna looked on at Morgan and Maes silent argument, Allrainne frowned as she opened the windows to reduce the turbulent air inside her car. So, is this his power then...? she thought to herself as she relaxed, waiting for whatever was going on between the pair to end. Then the wind stopped... It was abrupt, too sudden, she felt. "Maes...?" She turned to look at him In time to see him start shaking and crying. "Maes...?! Maes!" she yelled as Morgan yelled--or rather, yowled--in Arianna's lap.

"What's happening..." Arianna asked aloud as Allrainne took a moment to pull the car into a nearby, empty alleyway before unbuckling herself.

"No clue, but stay low," Allrainne replied as she got out and opened the back door. She already had a bad feeling suddenly as she duck in next to him tried to gently touch him. "Hey, Maes! Speak to me here; what's going on in there?"

One of the rings triggered at her touch, it buffeted Allraine, and caved in the door of a sedan behind her. Maes turned wild unfocused eyes towards Allraine's voice but didn't seem to see her. He curled up into a ball as much as he could amd shouted, " I'm sorry. Please don't make it hurt!" His voice became a whisper, "Cats don't talk, and I'm a cat, so I won't talk anymore. Please, I just want to go home. Can I go home if I promise not to talk anymore? Ok, I promise, I won't say another word." He smiled up at her hopefully, and then hope turned to terror and he let out a silent scream and spasmed violently.

For Morgan, this was a mixed victory. On the one hand, Maes had spoken to someone. On the other hand, Maes was reliving one of the nightmares that had been his life. So really it was more of a mixed defeat. Not sure what to do, and fearing his presence might throw Maes deeper into the nightmare, the cat just huddled up next to Arianna and hoped Allraine could do something, she had gotten a reaction out of him at least, based on the sound of the sedan breaking, which meant Maes was in there, somewhere, and fighting to get back, right? The boy had never done anything violent during their captivity afterall so that had to be a sign that they were on the right track, right?

One hand caught hold of the door frame while the other shielded her face from the pounding winds as her 'generally' level armor formed on its own to protect her from serious harm. She muttered a 'thanks' to the Freiturnier as she waited for the winds to stop buffeting her. "You alright, Arianna?" she asked as the winds died away and Maes curled up.

Arianna peeked out from behind the front seat where she was hunkered down with Morgan, careful not to hurt the blind cat as she did so. "I-I'm okay, sis..." she replied as Maes started yelling and then spasmed violently, causing the girl to duck back down out of sight.

This also prompted Allrainne to act. Reaching out, she caught hold of his arms and easily pinned them to his sides with her strength, careful not to hurt him or let him accidentally point those rings of his at anything 'fragile', like her sister, Morgan, or the engine block. Basically, anything that wasn't herself in this case. Judging from the sound of a car door cratoring behind her earlier, she was probably the only thing here that could take a direct hit and not require immediate aid, medical or otherwise. "Dammit Maes, Snap out of it! You're not a Cat, you're not in danger, and you're NOT alone here!!" she yelled at him, resisting the supreme urge to shake the poor, traumatized boy until various important fluids start leaking out of him. She had a feeling that pain wouldn't help right now.

In a hushed voice he spoke, "Alone all alone. Alone allrai-lone." Maes focused on the woman holding him down, his eyes were pleading with her, and the warmth ran out of her body through her hands. The terror returned, but he was still focused on Allraine, though somehow it seemed like he couldn't see her anymore. "Not?" He took a deep gulp and asked, "Who's there?"

Morgan opened his mouth to meow something, but stopped. He remembered this scene, sans the nearly saying Allraine's name, it was back when they first met.

Allrainne winced as she felt her hands and arms going cold from...whatever it was that Maes was doing to her. The arms of the Freiturnier shown blue for a moment as it insulated itself against Maes and a bit of warmth crept back into her, though she could tell it wasn't completely effective if this form. Her finger tips still getting colder. "I'm here!" Allrainne replied to him with some annoyance. The Freiturnier wanted to fully armor her, but she refused it. She need him to see something at least semi-familiar to him. her being completely armored up would probably end up badly for someone here and she wanted to avoid a Bad End. "Arianna's here! Hell, the Cat's here!! So come on; Stop trying to see me and see me!!" she nearly roared at him as she got in his face. "Besides, isn't there someone you wanted to see, Maes!?"