♚|| 1x1 with Phire Fenix ||♚

[Darkanra]

♦ 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀
Kanra Ayazi | Male | Leader | Black Coats | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

"Aw, I failed." Jason grimaced before tossing the gun over to Dark. Kanra caught it, but didn't move, a calculating expression on his face.
"What information do you want from me, anyway?"
"That is for me to know, and you to find out~" Jason smiled and spread his arms, inviting Dark to shoot him. The Black Coat leader hesitated, before raising his arm and aiming. He squeezed the trigger.

♦ 𝘼𝙠𝙪𝙢𝙖
Aslak Halseth | Male | Second | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-In the streets-

♦ zєиιи
Kirai Hellsin | Male | Info broker| Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Zenin's eyes widened, as the point of the blade was leveled at him. It had been foolish and naive to hope that outside help would have resolved their predicament, but he hadn't have been able to help it. Unused to being weak and helpless, Zenin had allowed a 'I can't do anything' mindset to make him complacent, but clearly, that had not worked. So it was time he got a move on and actually helped himself. To rely on others too much was a deficiency, one he hated. It was no one's fault but his own that they were in this mess, so he'd have to fix it. But how? Time seemed to slow as Zenin's eyes darted around the room, taking everything in. Aephon stood over him, a stalwart presence that threatened his ability to react. However, Alex's life was in far more danger than his own, so that would be his top priority. To save Alex.

Zenin smirked, thanking any deity that was listening that Aephon had forgotten to tie his legs up too. It must've been the time pressure, he wasn't usually so careless, but it had worked in Zen's advantage this time. He kicked upwards, making the most of his flexibility as the ball of his foot made contact with Aephon's wrist, the knife flying past Kirai's face to clatter on the floor behind him. "Hey, Aeph! Don't forget about me will you?"

♦ ᏗᏋᎮᏂᎧᏁ
Aephon Telantes | Male | Leader | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Aephon cursed as his blade flew away, instinctively making a lunge towards it before he realised his mistake and swung its twin back in Alex's direction. If he couldn't gain the info he wanted, he would at least take something important away from the broker. However, the small distraction Zenin had provided meant that the movement was too slow, and Aephon flew backwards as Anika smashed into his chest. Back hitting the wall, Aephon's face twisted as he grappled with Anika and tried to regain some ground. Being pressed against the wall was a disadvantage, and he struggled to get her off him. "Stella, the hostages...!"

[nnightmare]

♠ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴇᴇ ♠
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Male | Black Coat | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Zenin, Aephon, Stella, Anika

Anika's courage survived Alex, but it was a short amount of time before chaos erupted again. Somebody got to them and started freeing Zenin. A great relief swept over Alex. Zenin would be safe. Thank goodness. He observed the fight, watching Stella and Aephon carefully. They were quite good. He was almost glad that he and Zenin hadn't fought them, because he wouldn't have wanted either of them getting injured, or in Kirai's case, more injured. "Dark. Is he okay?" He asked the person who was cutting through Zenin's bonds. He still worried about the leader of the Black Coats, even though he knew that Dark was extremely capable. Alex had heard of Jason's Emporium, but had never actually been there, as Dark usually didn't take others there. It was probably very important if Dark couldn't come for them himself, so Alex just wanted to make sure Dark was relatively safe. It was a bit of a habit, for him to worry about others he cared about, but especially Dark, who was like an older brother to him.

✿ᴀɴɪᴋᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✿
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Outsider | Location: Streets | Tags: Aephon, Stella, Zenin, Alex

After making contact with Aephon, Anika celebrated a little in her success, then tried to keep him down, but also tried to get out her knife. She saw Isabel join her and they defended against Aephon. Anika could definitely see the difference in power. Aephon was more skilled and just seemed more experienced. Definitely close to if not better than Dark. She worked on trying to keep him away from the hostage, looking out of the corner of her eye to see Jackson working on freeing Zenin, cutting through zip ties with his knife. He did have a small knife wound, but he would be okay. After noticing that, she had to return all of her focus back to Aephon. She was glad that Isabel was backing her up, because the girl was great with knives, and Anika was quite proud of her. Since she was one of the older members of Scarlet Rose, she had gotten to help train and watch some of the younger members grow. Most of her team was those people she had helped raise.

✦sᴛᴇʟʟᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✦
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Jishin | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Aephon, Zenin, Alex, Anika

Stella was confident that Aephon could deal with Anika, but still worried about him. But she turned back to the hostages, about to press her gun to Zenin's head, but as she was making her way over, a knife sliced through the air, and she just barely dodged it. Two of Anika's allies engaged with her, trying to get her away from the hostages, so she increased her viciousness, but she got messier, and earned a few small cuts. However, that didn't stop her, and she tried to increase her focus. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Anika and one of her friends attacking Aephon. She threw out a knife, aiming for the person who was trying to get Zenin, and successfully grazed their abdomen, and she could see that blood started seeping out of the wound. It wasn't as good as a full hit, but she was occupied with two people. She concentrated on her attackers again, feeling a bit more triumphant and motivated now, and started a new wave of attacks against them, slowly trying to make her way back to Zenin.

[Darkanra]

♦ 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀
Kanra Ayazi | Male | Leader | Black Coats | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Jason shrugged as the sound echoed through the Emporium. He hel fd out his hand for the gun, but Dark didn't move a muscle. He had a feeling something was off. As far as he knew, Jason hated to lose, so if he was going to win what he wanted, he would have to cheat. But how? In a game of luck and chance, was there a certain way of victory? Jason, growing bored, started over, hands on his hips and a frown knitting his brows. Dark stared, mind whirring. What was Jason hiding?

♦ 𝘼𝙠𝙪𝙢𝙖
Aslak Halseth | Male | Second | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-In the streets-

♦ zєиιи
Kirai Hellsin | Male | Info broker| Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Zenin sighed as his right wrist was freed, nodding his thanks to his rescuer. After he'd been completely liberated, he waved away their help with Alex, grabbing an abandoned knife off the floor and using it to cut the rope binding the other man. He grinned, and said, "I told you everything would be alright, didn't I?" Wincing, he rolled his bad shoulder, clenching his teeth as his body assured him he was still injured. It wouldn't be easy to get out of this one, even if Stella and Aephon were outnumbered. Clearly, the Jishin leader had trained his protégé well. He looked at himself, making a mental summary of whether or not he was too wounded to be of help, and would just hinder their new allies. Aside from the bullet hole, the only thing stopping him was some sore ribs and a couple of bruises. Zenin smiled, and lifted the nearest sofa cushion, revealing a pair of slender hunting knives. The broker admired the glint down each blade before raising them and raising a cheeky eyebrow at Alex. "Right. I have some payback to dish out that's long overdue." However, as he looked from Stella to Aephon, he realised that of both their opponents, the Scarlet Roses were struggling more against the Jishin leader's female counterpart. Sighing, Zenin spun the blades in his hand before glancing apologetically at Alex. "I'll be right back. Don't get hurt, okay?" Then with a small wave, he jumped across the coffee table and into the fight between Stella and the two Roses. Before he engaged, he called, "capture them if you can, but don't take risks! If it's your life or theirs, you know the obvious choice!" Bringing his knife up, his weapon clashed against Stella's as he stopped her from skewering one of her adversaries. Locking hilts with her, his mouth turned up in a mocking grin. "I think you should leave now. You've outstayed your welcome by quite some degree~"

♦ ᏗᏋᎮᏂᎧᏁ
Aephon Telantes | Male | Leader | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Gritting his teeth, Aephon fended off attacks from both Anika and her subordinate with only one blade, since his other knife was just out of reach where Zenin had kicked it. It was challenging, and despite their slight lack of experience, Aephon found himself having to use his free hand occasionally to desperately block strikes, opening up both the leather of his glove and the skin of his hand in the process. However, the break he was looking for came as Isabel gasped as Stella's knife slid across her stomach, distracted for a key second. Bringing up his leg, he kicked her backwards, no fancy technique, but pure power. Once she was out of his face, he was free to focus purely on Anika, and worked on pushing her back, trying to get his back off the wall. Zenin and Alex were free, and the tables were starting to turn against their favour. It would be time to make their exit very soon. Although they hadn't managed to gain all the information he had wanted, he at least knew where Kanra was.

[nnightmare]

♠ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴇᴇ ♠
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Male | Black Coat | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Zenin, Aephon, Stella, Anika

"Dark's fine. So are the other Black Coats," the man who freed him told Alex. Now that he knew that Dark was safe, Alex was free to explode. Frustration and anger engulfed him. He was so mad at himself, but he was also mad at Kirai for running off to fight, even when he was so wounded. As much as Alex loved Kirai, he couldn't help but feel frustrated. However, he was feeling the most anger against Aephon, for hurting Kirai and also for harming the Black Coats. He felt white hot rage course through his veins, and picked up a few knives, growling as he launched himself at Aephon, attacking the man ferociously. However, he was still careful enough to avoid the larger attacks, but did earn himself a few cuts. But all he could feel was rage, and he continued to help Anika attack Aephon, fighting perhaps the hardest he had in a long time.

✿ᴀɴɪᴋᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✿
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Outsider | Location: Streets | Tags: Aephon, Stella, Zenin, Alex

Anika scowled when Isabel was thrown back, praying that the girl was okay, but she had to turn her attention back to Aephon and defend impeccably in order to continue to subdue him. She gathered that Zenin and Alex were free, and hoped that Jackson would be nursing his wound and not jumping into any combat. Now that they had freed the hostages, they had no more reason to get injured. Aephon was starting to push her back, and she had to strain her burning muscles even more to defend against Aephon's constant attacks. Now that she was by herself, she had to work twice as hard. She was surprised when there was suddenly somebody next to her, helping her block Aephon's blades. It was Alex. He was attacking Aephon with a ferocity that Anika would not have expected out of somebody who seemed so calm and gentle all the time, but it was nice to have somebody as skilled as him helping her.

✦sᴛᴇʟʟᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✦
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Jishin | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Aephon, Zenin, Alex, Anika

Stella cursed when she saw Zenin successfully escape and join her attackers. He was the most annoying out of all of the people there in terms of both personality and skill. She could no longer completely escape all of the attacks and began to sustain small cuts. "Aephon!" She called out to the man, asking what they should do. She would be overpowered if this went on for much longer. She held eye contact with Zenin, glaring at him. Her pure hatred for him gave her a power boost, and she managed to push him away for a second before she was bombarded with blades again.

She was bleeding from the small cuts, and while they didn't hurt all that much, they were still annoying and still burned. Plus, with Zenin against her, she was bound to get even more hurt. Just ask she had thought that, she just barely avoided having one of Zenin's knives buried into her shoulder. She bit down on her tongue, trying to keep herself from crying out in pain; she didn't want to worry Aephon, but it hurt so much. Her white blouse was stained even redder as blood flowed out of the wound. However, she had to keep up a tight defense, otherwise she would be injured even worse.

[Darkanra]

♦ 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀
Kanra Ayazi | Male | Leader | Black Coats | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-Can't be bothered to write rn. Imma do a smol timeskip-

♦ 𝘼𝙠𝙪𝙢𝙖
Aslak Halseth | Male | Second | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-In the streets-

♦ zєиιи
Kirai Hellsin | Male | Info broker| Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Zenin smiled like a demon as he attacked, blades flashing through the air. He fought with abandon, all his scrapes and aches forgotten. It was payback time for all the stress he'd gotten from being held as a hostage with Alex, and he pushed each fury-filled thought into an action as his knives brung up sparks as they clashed with Stella's. "Looks like your time is running out," he taunted her as they dodged and launched blow after blow at each other. "Don't you think it's time to answer some of my questions?" He swept his weapons upwards, trying to drive her into the nearest corner, diverting her from any means of escape. On either side of him, the two Roses fanned out, and together they worked to trap her.

♦ ᏗᏋᎮᏂᎧᏁ
Aephon Telantes | Male | Leader | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Aephon's eyes widened marginally as Alex launched himself towards him, arm jarring as he brought up his single blade to block his attack. Against two skilled fighters, he knew he would soon be overwhelmed. Face twisting in frustration, his head snapped up at Stella's cry before locking onto her from across the room. They were both being beaten, slowly but oh so surely. He wasn't even sure if they'd make it out of there. Although he was the leader of the Jishin, he could stand to lose Stella if she was captured, free to speak with Dark and Anika, her real family. He made his decision, abandoning his defence, eyes fiery with power and cold fury as he leapt towards Anika. One hand wrapping around her throat, he ignored the bite of her knife sliding across his rips, and pushed her hard towards Alex as his foot swept out, aiming to knock her over. His only priority was to retrieve Stella now, and get her safely out of Zenin's apartment. Without checking if his risky move had paid off, he carried on past the pair, retrieving an abandoned blade as he sprinted towards Stella. Hand flashing out, he threw the knife towards the back of one of the Roses, his other hand coming down in a chop towards Zenin's neck. The broker turned at the last minute, blocking the hit but being sent off balance, stumbling backwards into Stella.

[nnightmare]

♠ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴇᴇ ♠
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Male | Black Coat | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Zenin, Aephon, Stella, Anika

Alex fell backwards along with Anika, but he scrambled back up, turning quickly to see what Aephon was doing. He felt relieved when he saw that Aephon was no longer trying to kill them and was just trying to get to Stella. He did a quick once-over of Zenin, making sure he wasn't too injured, and made his way over to Kirai, unsure of whether to try to keep Aephon from escaping. To be honest, he was too worn out to put up much of a fight by now, and he was sure that everybody else was tired too. All of them had amassed a few injuries, and they should get back to Dark soon. "You okay?" He asked Zenin.

✿ᴀɴɪᴋᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✿
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Outsider | Location: Streets | Tags: Aephon, Stella, Zenin, Alex

Anika stumbled backwards, tumbling into Alex and knocking both of them down. She quickly recovered though, leaping back up and holding her knives up defensively. However, Aephon didn't attack her, instead choosing to go after Stella. She didn't bother going after them; she was more worried about getting Zenin and Alex safely to Dark. She couldn't help but somewhat admire Stella's and Aephon's relationship. They really did care about each other. When she saw a knife flying through the air, aimed at one of her Roses, she yelled for him to duck, just barely saving him. The actions made her put her admiration for Aephon away, and brought out her dislike for him. Anika made her way to her subordinates, now unsure of whether she should let Aephon and Stella go or try to kill them.

When she thought about it, she knew that eliminating them now would mean that they wouldn't become a bigger threat, but something shiny around Stella's neck caught her attention. It was the chain of a gold necklace. It wasn't anything special abnormal, but at the same time, it was. She still fuzzily remembered a gold necklace being important to her. Yes, there was a necklace that originally belonged to her mother, but was given to her, but then... Where was it now? She gave it away. To her little sister. But why was that related to Stella? Wait a second, Stella was also her little sister's name. Was it possible that... no way. But she just had to make sure. The necklace would have a star charm, if she could just see it, then her suspicions would be confirmed. But she didn't get the chance, because the necklace slipped back under Stella's shirt, and Anika snapped out of her thoughts, but she was too late. Stella was already sprinting away.

✦sᴛᴇʟʟᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✦
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Jishin | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Aephon, Zenin, Alex, Anika

When her assailants were distracted by Aephon, Stella prepared to dash away, but Zenin knocked into her, and she winced as her wound was agitated. But she summoned up the last of her strength and launched herself over Zenin and to Aephon, running out of the apartment as quickly as she could, before resting a bit outside, gripping her shoulder tightly and trying to make the bleeding stop. The pain became intensified as her adrenaline started slipping away, and she squeezed her eyes shut, groaning. Sure, she was used to pain, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"I'm sorry. If only I were stronger." She apologized to Aephon, a bit ashamed. She had prided herself in being strong enough to be Aephon's right hand man, but couldn't manage in there.

[Darkanra]

[quote="God of Mischief"]♦ 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀
Kanra Ayazi | Male | Leader | Black Coats | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-Can't be bothered to write rn. Imma do a smol timeskip-

♦ 𝘼𝙠𝙪𝙢𝙖
Aslak Halseth | Male | Second | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-In the streets-

♦ zєиιи
Kirai Hellsin | Male | Info broker| Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Zenin looked as Alex made his way over, face bright with adrenaline before lapsing into a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I'm fine. Might go into hypovolemic shock soon if I don't rest for a while though." He laughed then, but it wasn't certain whether or not he was serious. "You good?" He asked Alex distractedly, searching his pockets for his phone. When he'd stumbled into Anika, he'd placed a tiny microtracer on her shirt, too small to see unless you were looking for it. Finding it on the floor under the coffee table, he made a small noise of triumph and tapped in his password. "well, that seems to be working just fine," then looking around the room, he waved the device like a small child who'd just found a penny, "we ought to get this to Dark. Take a five minute breather and then let's go."

♦ ᏗᏋᎮᏂᎧᏁ
Aephon Telantes | Male | Leader | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Aephon spun on his heel after Stella, coat flapping as he followed her out. Once he'd caught her, he immediately shrugged out of his coat, taking his hoodie and ripping it up into strips. He ignored the bloody hand prints he left on the material, Stella's shoulder his priority. He couldn't help but wince slightly as the torn flesh sent spasms of pain up his arm. "You're alright. It was my fault for not reading the situation correctly. Here," he pulled her into a secluded alleyway and held the bundle of rags out to her, "do you want to wrap it or shall I?"

[nnightmare]

♠ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴇᴇ ♠
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Male | Black Coat | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Zenin, Anika

Alex groaned, resting his forehead on Zenin's shoulder before looking up at the man. "Not funny. You know, if you weren't so hurt, I would slap you. Why is it that you always provoke people and get hurt from it??" He scolded him. But he was unable to suppress a wave of relief when Zenin had replied to his previous question so chirpily. It meant he was still okay. Alex pulled Kirai in for a hug, careful to not touch his injured arm. When he let go, he stepped back and took in Zenin's new injuries, sighing. "We should have a first aid kit around here," he told Anika. "We need to rewrap this," he told Zenin, pointing at his shoulder's bandages.

✿ᴀɴɪᴋᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✿
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Outsider | Location: Streets | Tags: Zenin, Alex

Anika watched the couple banter with weary eyes. She sat down on the couch, relaxing completely and letting out a deep sigh. "Do you have any medical supplies? We need to get several people bandaged up if we can." She surveyed her people, taking in the injuries. No major ones, but they did need to bandage a few cuts. She motioned for her crew to join her on the couch. "You guys did good," she told them, but continued, saying, "But we still have to get better. But for now, just relax a bit and try to get some energy back. We still have to get back to Dark," she told them.

✦sᴛᴇʟʟᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✦
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Female | Jishin | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Aephon

Stella leaned back against the cold brick wall, starting to feel too warm. Her wound stung, but she would be fine. She had to keep on telling herself that so she could stay confident and calm. "You can do it," she told him after taking in a few deep breaths. "We have to go back soon though, you're hurt too," she noticed, her eyes scanning his body for any other wounds. She held her arm out to him so he could wrap it up, and then looked back up at Aephon. "So. What next? We know that Dark is with Jason. Are we gonna do anything with that?" She asked him. Even though she was worn out, she was still eager to take orders.

[Darkanra]

♦ 𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀
Kanra Ayazi | Male | Leader | Black Coats | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-Can't be bothered to write rn. Imma do a smol timeskip-

♦ 𝘼𝙠𝙪𝙢𝙖
Aslak Halseth | Male | Second | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

-In the streets-

♦ zєиιи
Kirai Hellsin | Male | Info broker| Form: xXx
__________________________________________

The broker smirked, "I Don't do it on purpose, people just always seem to want to hit me whenever I open my mouth." At Alex's last statement, Zenin shook his head. "Do it later, it's fine. We need to hurry, I don't know what's going on between Dark and Jason right now so I'm kind of concerned. Jace is... unpredictable." Although it probably wasn't a good idea for Zenin to personally go and see the Emporium owner, it had gotten to the point where he was more concerned about Kanra than any inconvenience caused by Jason. Aephon already had a head start on them, and if he and Stella got there before, despite being injured.. even Zenin couldn't predict the outcome; that's how dire the situation had become. When Anika spoke, Zenin snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, moving across the totalled room to get to the cupboards. He pulled out the med kit and passed it to one of the Roses on the couch, before crossing his arms thoughtfully. It was funny. Alex's question kept spinning through his mind. Why is it that you always provoke people and get hurt from it? Zenin tilted his head back against the wall he was leaning on. He hadn't told Alex, but Zenin had an unusually high tolerance for pain, to the point he would let himself get injured in order to gain what he wanted. This tolerance manifested itself in an incredible numbness that often affected his emotional state as well, making him insensitive and socially inept. He'd learned to hide it well, however, and taught himself how to disguise his lack of social deficiency through learning to read others' body language like open books. Blinking, he refocused on Alex from across the room and said, "are you hurt anywhere?"

♦ ᏗᏋᎮᏂᎧᏁ
Aephon Telantes | Male | Leader | Jishin | Form: xXx
__________________________________________

Aephon gently began wrapping Stella's wound, fingers working quickly and deftly before tying off the final knot. Taking the spare strip of material left, he wound it loosely around his palm, mostly to soak up some of the crimson dripping everywhere. The Jishin leader seemed to weigh his words carefully as his dark eye tracked Stella's weary gaze. Slowly, he replied, "I think it would be foolish to enter the Emporium with just the two of us. Especially if Zenin and his group are planning to come this way. Stella, you won't like it, but I need you to return to base and grab twenty or thirty Jishin members. Expendable ones. Jason is tricky, and I wouldn't be surprised if all of us get more than what we bargained for. I will head to the Emporium, and we'll rendezvous there."

[nnightmare]

♠ ᴀʟᴇxᴀɴᴅᴇʀ ʟᴇᴇ ♠
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Male | Black Coat | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Zenin, Anika

Alex didn't like having to put off reapplying Zenin's bandages, but he would have to wait, as what Zenin said was right. Yearning to hug Kirai again, Alex followed the man and replied to his question. "I'm fine. Might have a minor concussion and I have some small cuts, but that's about it." He reach up to his head, rubbing the side of his head with his fingers. He frowned when he felt dried blood. It made him feel all dirty and he suddenly really wanted to shower. It was selfish, but part of him just wanted to run away from all his problems and be able to spend time with Kirai. But the other part of him wanted to jump into action and get to Dark as possible. He absentmindedly rubbed at the chafed skin on his wrist, not flinching away from the pain. He felt like it was something like a punishment for being too weak. He had to be stronger. Otherwise, he would just be an inconvenience for Kirai. The thought made him hesitate, then pause. He stopped himself from reaching for Zenin's hand. What if he wasn't worthy of Zenin? It hurt, but it was the truth. "Yeah. Let's go," he said, turning away from Zenin and walking over to Anika, readying his weapons.

✿ᴀɴɪᴋᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✿
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Female | Outsider | Location: Streets | Tags: Zenin, Alex

Anika opened the kit, pulling out a few supplies to clean her wounds, then passing the kit on. She also helped Jackson wrap up his arm, wincing when she saw how the blood had soaked part of his shirt. "You guys alright?" She asked them. They nodded, giving her tired but upbeat smiles. Now that things had calmed down a bit, she was left to stew, thinking about Stella. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that Stella was her sister. It all seemed so impossible yet possible at the same time. But even if Stella was her sister, they were enemies now. She sighed, not wanting to mix her feelings up before possibly having to face the girls again. "Okay, let's get up and on our way," she said, standing up and facing her comrades.

✦sᴛᴇʟʟᴀ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍs✦
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Female | Jishin | Location: Zenin's Office | Tags: Aephon

Stella eyed Aephon's wounds, not wanting him to strain himself. "I'm serious, so give me an honest answer. Will you be okay?" She asked him. She knew that Aephon would sometimes lie to her just to reassure her. She whipped out her cellphone, asking for reinforcements, and stating that she would pick them up in a few minutes. She usually extremely disliked having to get people that she knew were likely to die or get injured, but there were currently more pressing matters. "I can be back within 10 minutes. Please don't hurt yourself too much," she told him. She stepped closer to him, hugging him for a moment. She usually didn't like skinship that much, but Aephon was important to her, and this was a tough situation. She didn't know if either of them would die any time soon. "Be careful. And... I love you," she told him, before turning away and hurriedly walking out of the alley.

She was scared. Terrified of losing Aephon. He was her only family now. He was her support; everything that kept her alive and happy. She made her way around buildings, staying out of sight of people. She entered an abandoned building, passing the various security that they had set up, and looked around for the people she had asked for. Sure enough, there was a crowd of people gathered who approached her when she entered. "Alright. Everybody follow me, but be discreet and fast," she told them. That was the only instruction she gave before exiting, heading to Jason's Emporium.