Guidance (Mae)

"Mhm. We have to stay open, and willing to negotiate... perhaps they could even tell us why the demons are attacking us...?" That would be a start if nothing else. Aside from just, you know, the will to conquer another world, there had to be some reason why this one was chosen out of all the realities that existed. She had been to a number of those already, but... those were bound to the specific islands that the rifts were bound to... so she had no idea whether everything around the island of Alternate Penecia was in the same state of perpetual war and ruin... or whether or not the world surrounding Alternate Standasen was in this humid, almost toxic swamp-like state...

"Well, it's complicated. But essentially, there were these two primordial gods that wanted to end all life on earth running about... Pleasant stuff, I know. And on the other hand, you have the angels, who had a competition of sorts going, where the fate of humanity would be decided... These two factions... the primordials and Angels were in complete opposition, with one trying to save Humanity while the other tried to end it. Me, and my little group of friends led by a man named Jack Rannells, tried to unify the Angels against the primordials... sadly, we weren't successful in that, but we did manage to save the world... at a price." That price being Hyde's life... She could read between the lines. Of course he had been there, and fought with the others against Nesoi... and he lost his life, saving the world in the process. She of course felt bad about it, since she didn't get to know him as well as she would've liked, but she had to move on, and live to honor his memory... his sacrifice, to the best of her ability. She couldn't let the world end here, lest his noble sacrifice to save them all would've been for nothing...

"Indeed I did. I guess I should be proud of that... you know, fighting for the sake of humanity and all that, but really, powers aside, what makes me different from any other human? Not much, hence why I can relate to them... I've always been a fan of helping those that can't help themselves..." Just the thought of the kids at the orphanage was a testament of this. She almost felt like a mother to some of them, and perhaps some of the kids saw her in that light. Mae would know, as her caretaker had been like a parent to Mae as a child.

"Heh, don't mention it." Mae replied with a warm smile, looking at him as he inspected the futon. She blinked a bit at the demons request... that was... certainly odd... "I... Guess that's okay...?" She replied, a little bit unsure of what she thought about Aria's request. "Just beware... I move around alot in my sleep." Yeah... no kidding. She had even snuggled up with Sharaku last time he was here so... yeah. "Well, I can get behind that, I suppose..." Sleep was important, yes. Especially now when things went to all hell, they would need all the energy they could muster for the upcoming trials that the demons had in store for them.

"We met two years ago... so I'd say three years... but sometime before the event ended... something happened between us and... well, we didn't see eachother for two whole years." Which she wasn't paticularly proud of, but she had her priorities... she had even promised him that she would return a better woman next time they met... and even now, she failed to deliver on that promise. With how things went last time... yeah... She felt absolutely miserable about it. Especially due to the fact that despite the rejection, and lack of interest of that kind of relationship on Sharaku's end, her feelings for him just wouldn't go away. It tormented her, knowing that she couldn't have him... He just wasn't interested in her, from what Mae could understand. She didn't blame him over it, and she never would either... In the end, this was something she never planned on telling Sharaku. Not willingly anyway.

"Heh, I guess that's to be expected really. The islands are facing an unprecedented crisis. Of course people are scared... and as a result, the subways are out of commission." Mae replied with a light shrug. Hopefully he was coming here soon... but part of her dreaded his coming here. Aria seemed interested in Sharaku as well, and while Mae knew she didn't have a chance at him anymore, she'd feel bad if those two actually ended up being a couple... an odd one at that...

"Nice to meet you, Aria." Mae Pie...? That was... an oddly cute name coming from the little pixie-thing. Mae didn't know what to think of this little demon. A perplexing fairy...

“Mmm. I think with a bit of work it will be alright,” Hiro would say. While it had been a long while since he had actually spoken with demons for the purposes of becoming allies or negotiating, he knew demons could be worked with and become allies. After all, that was the way he got Aria on his side, so he was certain the same could be done with other demons open to the deal. The only reason he didn’t have more demons as it was was due to the fact that he didn’t need to collect them for war; however, now that board had changed.

“Hmm ask the demons for help? That is a bit risky, but I like your way of thinking. It’s worth a try,” Hiro would say with a nod of agreement though he had to wonder if the little ones would have information or if they’d have to hunt for a larger one. Either way they wouldn’t know until they actually tried such a method and that couldn’t really be decided until the last of their party arrived. So for now he would let the idea sit on the back burner as he focused on what Mae was saying about two years ago.

According to the girl, the last battle had been between the gods and angels fighting for humanity’s fate. That explained the disagreements of the time. Why some wanted to fight and others wanted to run. It also explained Red Ranger who appeared at the rally calling for peace and unity. All to bring an end to the war the gods had started. And when their efforts failed? Neosi appeared to erase them all until the sacrifice had come.

While he didn’t know the boy that one action had shaken what he had believed in for so long. Back then, he could not understand why someone would do such a thing, but now faced with the new world, he could kind of see what they were all fighting for….their future and right to survive. They all should’ve been able to rest after that; however…something else was threatening to take away all that they had fought to keep. That…was infuriating.

Staying quiet, Hiro would continue to stare at the ground for a moment as one hand balled into a fist. That hand would tremble slightly with frustration for a few seconds before it would relax and loosen, the emotion slowly running out of Hiro as he recomposed himself once more. Calm once more, he looked back at the girl as she spoke about being able to relate to humans and fighting for them. As she did, he would watch her only for a moment before doing what he did next.

“Then perhaps you will hate me for what I am about to tell you; however, I feel the need to be honest with you given the circumstances,” Hiro would begin his expression icy. “In the past, I could not relate to humans, so I sought to destroy them all. Unlike you, I wasn’t part of the fight to save the world and everything I did was to make sure the world would end. I was there at the final battle and I met some of the people you mentioned. They were the ones that stopped me and ended Neosi. I thought back then that the destruction of the islands was the only solution to the problems that existed; however…A run in with death and true selflessness has a way of jarring one's perception of things. That boy who sacrificed himself that day…I had hoped to never have to face that memory or my past again, but here I am face-to-face with one of the heroes of that time sitting on the complete opposite end of the game board from where I started. Ironic don’t you think?”

Hiro would say to the girl before falling silent to let her absorb that. It wasn’t that he was trying to be mean or intimidating with the girl, he was simply being honest. Something he felt he owed the girl since they would be living with each other for a bit and even fighting against whatever this new threat was together. If this was going to work, he needed to know if she could handle the truth. As far as Sharaku went, he didn’t think the past would be an issue, but for this girl? He wasn’t as certain thus why he laid the ugly truth on the table. Would her kind nature still be so open with that before it?

He would let the time needed to for that issue to sort itself out pass before he would fully relax once more. In any case, the mood of the room would return to normal after that moment had passed and soon the other issue wouldn’t be about the past, but rather sleeping arrangements since Aria seemingly would not allow herself to sleep on the floor.

When she heard the girl’s response, she took it as a definite yes rather than uncertainty. “Oh, that is fine. I can defend myself well enough, so don’t worry about squishing me,” she would say with a pleased grin and would you look at that? Mae Pie even understood where she was coming from when it came to beauty sleep. Maybe they could get along after all. Maybe... Quite proud of this, she would look back at Hiro with a triumphant smirk; however, Hiro would simply roll his eyes at this.

“…Fine…” he would say looking at the demon a bit moody. Honestly, she was such a brat at times. After a moment, his expression soften as he look back at Mae with a small smile.

“Don’t be afraid to kick her out of bed if she disturbs your slumber, okay?” he would say innocently enough. However, Aria caught the jab easily as she let out an agitated “Hmph! Quite hating bub,” as she folded her arms and tilted her nose in the air with a pout. Apparently, she didn’t see that happening any time soon. Hiro would shake his head at the small demon’s behavior. Some things never changed.

“Mmm. I can understand that. It might be safer considering how many would try to get off the islands with this chaos all around,” Hiro said shifting his position on the ground. He would lean against the rolled futon with one elbow as he laid down sideways to stretch his legs that were beginning to cramp a bit from being folded too long. As he did this he would pause to remove the portable radio in one of his pouches. It was still releasing a the low hum of static it had been since giving out since the last announcement.

With that out of the way, he was able to fully relax in his spot as Aria moved to sit on Mae’s finger. Letting the demon and the girl talk despite certain energies being tossed about, Hiro would rest his head on his hand for now and relax for a moment.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” the demon would say her grin never leaving as she simply took in the competition she was dealing with. She had to admit Mae was cute, but she was nothing compared to herself. Yup. She was definitely going to win this game. All she need to do is wait out her time.

Mae only nodded in response to Hiro's statement. Well, there was no harm in trying right? They wouldn't get any wiser by just sitting on their butts while the demons took over. "Well, we won't learn anything if we just kill them all... Besides, demons or not, if I can negotiate my way out of killing someone, I'll take that path over killing any day of the week." Perhaps that was a sign of weakness, in a way, but that's something she was fine with. The prospect of killing a sentient creature wasn't all that appealing, even if she had done it multiple times in the past with the Fragments of Julian and whatnot... still, it was never really pleasant, knowing that she had just ended a potential life...

"Hm?" Mae raised an eyebrow at him as he started talking... So, that's what he had been doing back then... "The fact that you tried to end the world back then... really doesn't bother me as much as it probably should... not that it matters, really. Your past doesn't dictate everything about you... in fact, you've been changing for the better over these two years, and that's a good thing. I'm glad for your sake, Hiro... I'm glad you got away from that destructive behaviour, siding with me... with us..." It must've taken a lot for his view to shift so drastically... "It is a bit Ironic, in a sense... but I'm just glad you're on our side now..."

Mae chuckled in response to the tiny demon's words. "Hehe, if you say so." With a wide smile on her face. A cocky little demon, eh? Well, Mae sure hoped the little one wasn't just acting tough. If Mae actually squished her... oh dear. That would just be all kinds of bad... or would it?

"Will do. You better behave there." She squinted at Aria. "No funny buissness with me when I'm sleeping. So no touching allowed." Especially no pranks. If the little one wanted to, she could probably tickle Mae really badly, and causing her to just have a bad night all around. She'd have to kick her off the bed if she didn't behave.

"Yeah... I'm just hoping this doesn't mean people have to flood the tunnels trying to escape once shit really hits the fan." Well, how much worse could it get? A lot, probably, knowing Azores' luck with these Supernatural events. Geez, these poor people just couldn't catch a break from all this stuff... It's really quite sad.

Mae gave Aria a thin smile before someone knocked on the door. She would set Aria down on the pillow gently, before she opened the door. And just as she expected, it was Sharaku. Now, the nerves really kicked in. After what had happened last time, and her feelings still being there, she looked off to the side, with a timid look, only giving Sharaku a quick glance. Even he could tell something was off. "H-Hi... Come in..." Her voice was a little bit shaky, but it still carried a certain cheerfulness that Sharaku would be familiar with... She was just happy to see him, that's all... Even still, she couldn't really look him in the eyes after what had happened last time... what did he even think of her?

Hiro would nod to the words he heard not having much else to add on to the conversation when it came to negotiating with demons. They had pretty much hit all the bases and until further discussions were held, they couldn’t do much more than speculate at this point. Something that wouldn’t exactly help in the long run.

When it came to revealing his past to the girl, Hiro would remain quiet and unconsciously tense as he prepared for the worse in this situation; however, he would find himself quietly releasing a held breath as his body relaxed with the girl’s words. So she was similar to Sharaku in the fact that the past did not matter to her. Good. Relieved, he would only give her a light nod when she spoke about him going down a better path over the last two years. If truth be told, he had resigned himself to purgatory during that time and only now, when Fate decided to spew him out into the world again, did he actually start walking the path of redemption. Outside of this moot point, he had no words to say at the moment. He was just happy to that she accepted the negative aspect of him.

While Hiro remained humble enough in the situation, Aria was a different story. While she indeed marked Mae as her target as far as competition went. The little demon had to admit she liked the girl’s attitude. At least she was less infuriating than some she had met, so as long as the girl didn’t do anything too drastic she wouldn’t have to worry about playing dirty in this game. In any case, she was quite content as she nodded at the girl with a grin of her own.

“I do say so,” she said quite confident that she could handle the sleeping arrangements just fine. And look! Mae Pie could even play.

The little demon would giggle.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be on my best behavior,” the demon said giving the girl her most innocent look. It was play for sure, but in all honesty Aria could play nice…if she wanted to and so far outside of one little hic-up when it came to choice in men, the demon saw no need to torment her just yet. So at least for tonight the girl wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

Hiro would watch the play from his laid back position not really adding much until the tunnels were brought up once more. To this he would he would hum lightly in thought.

“Well, they haven’t tried to do so yet, so I doubt they will do so if gets worse, but perhaps by that time the ones in charge will have something in play to keep such chaos from happening,” Hiro would reply calmly before his eyes drifted to the radio. The higher ups better have something in mind. Without communication or direction, the worse would come of the situation. He supposed for now they would simply have to wait it out.

A brief silence would fall between the trio only being broken by the low hum of static from the radio; however, within a few second there was a knock on the door that revived Hiro from his sleepy state.

As Aria was placed down, Hiro would push himself into a sitting position knowing already who was there. Aria who was on the pillow would remain in her spot a mischievous smile on her face; however, one cold glance from Hiro caused the pixie to stop grinning as she pouted and simply nodded, making an unspoken agreement to at least attempt to behave. How long she would keep to that deal was yet to be seen.

In any case, when Sharaku came into the room Hiro would give him a light nod of greeting, his lips easily falling into a relieved smile.

“I am glad you made here in one piece,” he would say to other and for now leave it at that. Aria would remain quiet for now.

Mae would only give Sharaku a quiet glance, but inside, she felt a bit distraught, yet relieved somehow. He chose not to ask her anything, which was good... but at the same time, the way he looked at her confused her a bit... After last time, she had expected an entirely different look, if any at all. She didn't make any attempts to stop him entering. She'd move out of the way as he walked in, letting him go up to Hiro and talk, while she quietly snuck back onto her bed, clutching the small plushie she had gotten from him two years prior quite fiercely, still shooting nervous glances at Sharaku every now and again... She... was a little bit afraid of how things would turn out. Because if Aria liked him... then this could get bad. Especially for her. How much more of this that her heart could take was up in the air... While she didn't blame Sharaku for his choice of dumping her, she couldn't help but still long for him... his gentle touch... his warm, yet rare smile... All things she missed... And there she was, sitting curled up in the corner of the room uptop her bed, clutching the one gift he gave her which she would keep with her forever, or at least try to...

At least, he hadn't met any opposition on his way here, which was good enough. That would explain how quickly he had gotten here considering how long the distance was. "N-Nothing, really..." She answered Sharaku's question quietly, casting one last nervous glance at him before staring down his feet emptily. The spark of life and will that had previously been glowing vibrantly in her eyes was now very, very dim. Almost extinguished completely... Sure, she had the will to fight for what was right, and all that... But this just made the girl feel empty inside, as the the pain inside her heart grew more intense by each passing second. She couldn't take much more of this...

As soon as Sharaku entered the apartment the whole playing field changed as the air became so tense that breathing felt like a danger. While Hiro could understand the issue between Aria and Sharaku, what he did not understand was why Mae who had been so lively before suddenly seem to shut down at the presence of this man. Had the pair fallen out also? And if so….how would that impact the situation?

Sighing inwardly, his attention was drawn from that situation to the man himself as he paused by him when he spoke. Looking up at the other, he would frown slightly in thought.

“No resistance, huh? Hmmm. I suppose that's good then if the demons are staying out of the underground systems,” Hiro would say as he took that bit of information in. He was a bit surprised nothing had tried to go after the man as he traveled, but then again maybe that was for the best considering the demons that typically rested in the dark corners were not the smallest of the bunch….and the last thing they needed was for a behemoth to be destroying the underground. They had enough drama topside to deal with.

In any case, Hiro would hear the question asked glancing at Mae as she crawled back into bed and seem to hug some form of stuff toy with unusual tightness as she gave a meek answer to what had been asked. Hiro would narrow his eyes slightly at her behavior quite confused before shaking his head and looking back at Sharaku who now leaned against the wall.

“All we were able to discuss so far was some ideas on how to tackle the situation and the problem at hand. The demons that are lose might be chaotic, but there has to be some that can be negotiated with and convinced to aid us both in a fight and perhaps with information too. We’ve come the conclusion that it might be worth asking the demons about the situation to see what they know and if all else fails well, we'd have to find a Plan B. Outside of that we were waiting for you to come to continue the discussion,” Hiro would begin, but would pause as the building rumbled slightly and quite unexpectedly the world outside became less noisy.

Blinking Hiro would look down at the radio as it came alive once more and a message from the minister and then another was given. As he heard the words said, he would fold his arms as he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm his agitation. Things were going so fast that his brain couldn't full grasp one thing before another was happening.

Meanwhile Aria pushed off the pillow and flew to the window and after moving the curtain peeked outside.

“Well, the baddies are gone for real, but won’t being in here mess up everything? Also who is this minister anyway? Is she a demon or something?” Aria asked actually saying something useful to the situation rather than trying to stir the pot.

Odd. Did she actually have some mercy on Mae? Or was she currently playing by the unspoken rules of the deal she made with Hiro earlier? In any case, the little demon would balance herself on the window sill as she kept her eyes focused on outside and not on causing trouble for the moment.

“Valid questions and something else to add to our already huge lists of things to sort out,” Hiro would say as he looked first at Sharaku and then at Mae seeing if either one had any suggestions on where to start here.

Mae would cast a glance at Sharaku briefly from her seat on the bed... She was being a bit of a debbie downer perhaps, and not really being honest with how she felt about the current situation. It was perhaps not the wisest choice, but she really couldn't talk about personal stuff with him now. Not with Hiro and Aria around. For the first time, however, her new persona, Tenryū, Spoke up within her mind... The dragon had stayed quiet for a long time, and this sudden urge to speak caught the woman completely off guard, causing her to almost slam the back of her head against the wall.


Mae gave Sharaku a look again, seeing the troubled, almost annoyed expression on his face. Was this bothering him that much...?


// What do you ev-Of course I want to do that, how could you even ask such a thi- // But Tenryū interrupted her before she could finish.


The Dragon's voice was very commanding and harsh, but there was a distinct tone of care to it that did not escape Mae. The two were one and the same after all. // ...Thanks for the peptalk, Tenryū. // Mae closed her eyes, and actually managed a smile, even though she had felt so miserable just a couple of moments prior. Perhaps, that was just the pick-me-up she needed.


The voice vanished from Mae's head slowly after the internal dialogue was over and done with. Tenryū understood exactly what kind of peptalk Mae needed to keep going, and indeed, she was right. Mae couldn't just sit there in the corner moping while the other two got to work. "Dunno. I know she used to be the principal at the highschool during my time there. I didn't talk much with her though." Mae shrugged, as she slipped of the bed, and gently put down the plush on the bed, giving Sharaku a "We need to talk later"-look before she turned her attention to the task at hand. "Oh, yeah. Sharaku..." Speaking of all this reminded her of something. "Could you give us a bit more detail regarding the situation over in Penecia? What was the water like...?" That's where the demon's came from, right?

Aria would continue to look outside, her dark colored eyes scanning the roads that were now clear of the creatures she was familiar with. Now the remaining humans scrambled to get back inside. Hmm. She wondered. Would everyone be safe inside? And why clear the streets if it was supposedly safe? Just what was that woman trying to do? And what of the guy trying to rally people? What of him?

Quietly pondering the state of affairs for the humans, Aria would remain more or less quiet her senses telling her that perhaps now was not the time to play. She wasn’t sure what it was, but ever since Sharaku got here the air became uncomfortable.
Perhaps he and Mae Pie weren’t as buddy buddy as the girl seemed to let on…or maybe she and he had a falling out or something. Whatever the case was, one thing was for certain: the heavy air certainly had a way of dampening the mood. Honestly, she thought this would be more lively. How disappointing.

While Aria stayed in her own thoughts, Hiro would let out a light hum as Sharaku responded back.

“I can understand that clearly enough. I just hope the storm stays away a while longer. Maybe long enough to figure out what to do about this...situation,” he would say to other in calm tones. Hiro was no fool. He understood well that the demons could and probably would come back to the island and even invade the tunnels…and when that happened their investigations would become more complicated if they didn't have a plan in place. Speaking on investigations…

Hiro would come out of his thoughts as his eyes flickered from Mae who was on the bed and then to Sharaku who seemed to be watching her. The air between the pair was seem to intense and become more uncomfortable and quite honestly a bit bothersome. While Hiro understood people didn’t get along, if Mae and Sharaku knew that an encounter would cause this much of an issue, then why had they agreed that everyone should meet in the first place? Yes, Sharaku had some information that they didn’t, but seriously how were they going to do anything when one was being a mute and the other was glaring?

Closing his eyes, Hiro would tilt his head forward and pinch the bridge of his nose as he took in a quiet breath and let it out calmly both to relieve some the weight of the air and to keep his more snappish side from adding fuel to the flame. Thankfully, Sharaku decided speak up again getting Hiro’s attention once more and distracting him for the moment from the negative air.

“Involved or not, I for one would feel a lot safer with a few on our side. Unlike Mae here, I don’t have a persona nor do I have whatever power you have at your disposal," Hiro pause as he looked over at Sharaku with a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of need an army to do anything. Besides, even if they don’t know what is going, perhaps their odd skills can be put to use to aid us,” Hiro would say as he looked over at Sharaku for a moment with a calm gaze before turning his attention to Aria as she spoke up.

“True. There are many powerful beings in the spiritual realm, but tell me how many are like that here?” Aria would say as she turned to face the group. She would fall silent as she moved to the edge of the sill and sat down letting her feet dangle. “I mean isn’t it a bit odd for her to suddenly seal this place off? Not knocking a safe place, but still what about all the other people out there? Are we going to ignore them?” she would ask quite curious what they would do before her eyes turned to Mae as she finally came out of whatever state she was in and actually spoke. When she spoke about the woman that had spoken, Aria would frown. “A school ruler? Now I am more curious about her power,” Aria said before looking up at the ceiling thinking.

Hiro would follow up on the topic.

“I will admit the minister is a question mark in all this and you’re probably right. This is probably only beginning. Probably of something much worse if we can take the male’s comments into consideration,” Hiro would say as he looked at the radio that was quietly carrying the sounds of the rally to them; however, the details would be muffled thanks to the lowness of the sound of the radio.

“In any case, these two are a pair we might want to investigate in time…” he would trail off as Mae moved and spoke asking about the other problem on hand: the water.

“Oh yeah, the water was acting funny, wasn’t it? Did it do something after it started to glow?” Aria would ask the question as she tilted her head at Sharaku this time with a serious expression instead of one to annoy. Hiro on the other hand would remain quiet for now listening.

Mae listened curiously to the radio, and the things that were being said... Well, wasn't this... interesting... These events did sort of remind Mae of the Rally way back... it was on the news and everything... Not that Mae had participated herself, but... yeah. This sort of gave the same vibe to her.

"Well, the storm most certainly is coming... we have to prepare to the best of our abilities..." Not that they could do much of that here. Right now, they should be focusing on trying to solve the issues at hand, and pull as many people with powers as possible under the same flag, as a common workforce... "I... Guess I could try and contact some of my friends with powers like ours... if only to see what they have discovered. We all need to work as a unified force. We are, after all, the island's first and last line of defense... we should be working together on this."

"Having more allies on our side in general would be nice, indeed... Sure, it would be cool to have demons with inside info on our side, but I could honestly settle with any kind of allies, so long as they're reliable." Mae shrugged lightly. "Beggars can't be choosers. We have to take whatever help we can get." Yeah... The more hands on deck in a situation like this, the better. If everyone had assigned jobs, and worked as one cohesive unit instead of being scrambled like they were at present, then they would get a lot more work done.

"That's... a valid point, Aria... Why did she only seal off San Malarus...? What about Penecia and the other islands...? Are they just gonna remain unprotected? That... doesn't sit right with me." That did really stand out as something rather peculiar. Being the Mayor of Azores, you'd think Isla would take all the islands into consideration when she put up her barrier... "Perhaps... she lacks the strength? Speaking of which, how did she even put this barrier up in the first place?" Clearly, there was a lot of things they still didn't understand regarding this whole mess. More questions with no answers... "Well, I'm gonna try to contact some of my other friends, and see what they have found... What about your old group, Sharaku? You still keep in touch?" Mae asked him curiously. It wasn't really like her to take charge, but the words of Tenryū bolstered her resolve to take charge if necessary.

"I'll go take a look on Isla, and the stuff that's going on over there..." Yeah, that felt the most sound. She didn't really want to leave San Malarus, and by extension, the kids at the orphanage behind. She'd give Sharaku a scanning look "What are you planning...?" She'd prefer if they could be a bit more transparent on matters like these.

"Huh... Well, even if there's another world underneath the waters... I think I'll stay behind. I have the kids at the orphanage to keep track of and some other things..." Like Maria Russel's whereabouts... Hopefully she was safely on San Malarus...

Hiro would listen to the chat that had finally picked up, he would keep quiet letting each person speak as he absorbed what was being said. It seemed so far the group was divided. One wanted to face the situation head on while the other wanted to stay behind to investigate on the home turf. On top of that there were other things in the mixer that was making things a bit harder to chose exactly what to do. Hmmm…How to approach this?

Blue eyes that had been closed as Hiro thought would reopen as he nodded inwardly at something.

“You’re both right about the storm knocking at our door, but how long we have to actually to prepare for it I don’t know,” he would begin before looking at Sharaku. “You don’t have to worry about that risk. Leave the demon taming to me. I wasn’t lying when I stated I needed an army to fight back, so I am going to have to go hunting to tame a few. The likely hood that the ones tamed will turn against their master is there if you don’t know how to handle deal with the creatures. However, I am not too concerned with that part of the bargain, even less so when there seems be something much worse than a demon biting me in the back at play,” Hiro would say in serious tones before his eyes would turn to Mae.

“I think you may be onto something as far as friends go. While I can’t say we can unit everyone, I can agree that if we had more people working on the case, then perhaps we can actually break through the mess quicker. It is certainly worth a try.” He would pause for a moment as he reflected on what Sharaku said.

“If something is walking in disguise that would just add onto the headache at hand. While I can’t say anything for this leader or her motives, I think by investigating her further some light would be shed on the problem and at least give some direction as to where to go and confirm if she is indeed a cause for worry. If her power is limited as Mae suggested, then perhaps this was the best she could do…still it would be hard to gauge without actually confronting the woman…” Hiro would look at Mae.

“If you are taking on Isla, then that is one corner taken care of. As for myself, I wouldn’t mind finding out more about this Zachery fellow. On top of that I'll be gathering some allies in the form of demons before dealing with whatever is on the other side of the water portals or bothering with anything of that nature for now. I am going stay on this side for a bit to see what I can dig up. If my digging leads jumping into those portals so be," he would say and then fall silent as he looked over at Sharaku. Mae had pretty much asked the question he had for him, so all he had to do was wait for an answer.

Meanwhile Aria would only nod at what was being said as she currently had nothing else to add to the conversation. Now it was a matter of waiting to see who did what.