We Didn't Start the Fire [Heather/Yeara/Cinder]

There was something about restaurant rendezvous that Gisèle ate up... besides the food, that is. Needless to say, she had loved her time at Dell's and had relished every second of the meet-up. The second that she stepped outside and the thick, overpowering aroma of searing alien squid vanished from the air, a longing arose in her heart that demanded she rush back in through the doors she had slammed to the side to get at least one last whiff. But though these animalistic yearnings of hers were potent, they came as quick as they went without even the faintest trace left in wake of their absence. "After all," Gisele mused as she submerged herself into the sea of mindless consumers flowing through the Commerical Ward, "the reunion's just getting started, right?" A certain someone had been waiting ages now for them to finish up their chit-chat and come visit. As childishly amusing as teasing the prying eyes was, even a glutton like Gisèle knew that they'd eventually need to get to the business at hand. She had no intention of humoring any further diversions; this was the opening she had been crying out for and there was no way in hell she was going to frivolously let it escape her.

Nagami and Bellum had since swum their way through the crowd to who knows where, but Heather and Yeara? Gisèle had her sight affixed on the two and was sticking to them like glue. She didn't so much as utter a whisper but then again she likely didn't need to. Her thousand mile smirk was, after all, easily discernible thanks to the barrage of flashes of variegated, luminescent light that rained down on them from the billboards and neon signs scattered out above. Figuring that it was hint enough, she'd casually motion for them to follow as she turned a corner and wandered away from the herd down a dimly lit alleyway. Glowing flickers from a far-off vending machine guided her through the labyrinth until she finally reached the end and found herself a cozy, secluded space ideal for the situation at hand. As she leaned against the battered bricks behind her and stared out into the far-off shadows, Gisèle traced her hand idly across the messy smears of graffiti to her right and cocked her head to the side while emitting a falsely indolent sigh.

Downing the last of her coffee, Yeara would stand from their table and stretch out her arms, pff, sitting down like that was not for her. She hated staying still for too long, plus unlike the specially designed chairs she had back home, most seats backrests were horrible to use when you have a giant wing protruding from your back. Whatever, it had been a pretty nice time all things considered and the food had surpassed her expectations that's for sure. Whether she'd make it a habit to visit this place every so often or not was still in question though, was still a huge effort to come all the way here just for some grub when you can hunt the stuff yourself. Yeara would nod to Bellum and Nagami as they took off their separate ways before following along with Heather and Giséle. She was aware of what they were planning after their meet up, though whether it would work or not was still quite in doubt in the avians mind.

Either way, she'd follow with a look of mild discomfort still on her face from her headache still hadn't fully left from earlier as they took a turn down quite a dark and murky alleyway. Seriously, what was their plan again? Just go somewhere secluded in the middle of nowhere in a city as giant as Junction and just hope that magically that creature from before was here or was following us and then just magically appeared? Either option was either close to impossible or creepy beyond all levels. Her trail of thought was stolen by a sudden hissing then scampering off of a strange three eyed cat. Deciding to take the time to lean up against one of the flickering vending machines, she decided to speak up finally. "We actually got a plan for if our random calling out to them doesn't work? Or we just gonna stand around in this dank ally? I mean, I'm perfectly happy with the choice of location, though my nose is telling me otherwise."

Heather had enjoyed the trip to Dell's about as much as she enjoyed anything that didn't have to do with destruction or murder. That was to say, not at all. Putting on fake smiles and pretending it was 'Super duper great to see you all again <3!' was honestly a pain...for two members of the group. While it was somewhat true for Gisele, and Heather HAD wanted to see Yeara again, the other two's mere presence disgusted her...more than a certain 'cat' that had stolen bloodshed from her Bestest Blue Buddy .

Heather had leaned against a vending machine, taking a long drag from her cigarette. "Weeeeelll, friendo, if Plulax doesn't show, I guess we gotta go lookin'! Or maybe say we have Fancy Feast or somethin'. I 'unno, never owned a cat before! Too much fur." Heather sighed. "R-E-L-A-X for now, and let's see what happens, 'kay? After all...I've felt the thing's eyes on me, now and then. So I think it's preeeeeetty safe to say Plulax is close-by!"

With a heavy yawn, Cinder would of thrown herself down to dangle half of herself off of the roof of a nearby building, her tail swishing in the breeze back and forth as it hung over the edge. This game of there's was getting boring at this point, it had been a full week before that group of misfits decided they'd try to meet up again which was quite frankly much longer than the being would of liked to had waited, but whatever. They were together now apparently eating out at Dells. Tsk, this was the last chance they were getting to try and pull her attention or she'd simply give up entirely. They weren't worth that amount of time and effort in the end, she'd already received the travelers promise to get what she was after from helping on the day of the Failed Jump. Anything past that now was merely for her own gain and amusement and there was no point chasing after a burnt out flame.

About ready to give up, tired of blowing out smoke rings from her tail and then aiming a smaller smoke circle to fly through it, Cinder's eyes would light up as something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Ah, so they were finally done. Good, what was even better was that the pathetic one who'd got himself knocked down before seemed to be leaving as well. The other one who left did seem rather serious at the time and could of been somewhat of a help, though it didn't bother them too much they were going. The other three were good enough pickings. Silently tailing along their path, jumping from roof top to roof top with little effort needed, the being would smirk smugly as she finally saw them stop in some tucked away ally and even call out to her.

"I have no idea what kinds of cats you've seen scaly, but I can assure you I'm not one." The familiar twin voice would seem to fill the ally from nowhere before the being leapt down from the rooftops to land on top of one of the vending machines, her light weight causing practically no noise to come from her jumping from such a great height. The being would sit there smugly for a moment before licking her paw and rubbing her ear. "That I did. So here I am." One half of the creatures voice would say this in a much deeper tone than normal before chuckling. "Though you didn't think this information would be free, did you? I have no obligation to assist any of you now, my time of serving others is over so I could just wander off to never see you again or beat you all down right here myself if I so wished. Though, I feel like other arrangements could be much more... Entertaining. The information I hold is still there for the taking. That is, if you agree to do a few favours for me."

Gisèle meekly shrugged at Yeara's line of questioning. Heather had already answered it well enough, though truth be told she wasn't in a compromising enough position to go hunting the entity down. If Cinder didn't show then she was perfectly content with finding another way to retrieve some answers -- and if they did stumble across it after she left its promise unfulfilled then what the Azure Knight would be doing to her was plainly written across her frustrated face. Thankfully though, it seemed the being hadn't just been some "goodie-goodie" pulling stuff out of its ass to save a worthless life; it would have been a shame if this was all just some kind of joke, especially considering how the presence had ensnared her interest.


But as Cinder went on and began her bargaining, the mood would noticeably take a dive as a lingering malice crept in. Ostensibly there was nothing wrong with this sort of a deal... the thing was though, Gisèle already HAD paid her price. The fox-like creature had been tasked with keeping the Seekers alive and, to her knowledge anyway, the Traveler hadn't gotten wind of any lovestruck baboons keeling over on the night of the Failed Jump. Now that it was making more demands of her, she was starting to feel a bit "nostalgic" as evidenced by the murderous intent she had begun to exude. Cinder was doing a good job of reminding her of her past and that wasn't ideal in the slightest... truth be told, if it weren't for the disparity of power between them she might have started painting her across the wall the second that entity tried to milk favors from her. "I hope this isn't a trick. Not exactly fond of doing grunt work and errands only to get nothing in return, y'know? And I've gotta release all that stress that'd accumulate somehow, so..."

"Tsk, sure. Whatever." Yeara wouldn't bother to reply much further than that towards Heathers response of her concerns. If it happened it happened, if it didn't it didn't. At this point she couldn't care less. On one hand it would give her something to do to take her mind off this infernal headache, the other hand let her go home to rest and deal with the stupid pain. It was no quill of her wing.

The one winged Talarian would hardly budge as the beings voice echoed around them before the creature itself hoped down onto the vending machine she was leaning against. Tilting her head to look up at Cinder, Yeara would blow a strand of hair that fell over her eyes out the way, listening to what they had to say and becoming more and more agitated by it. There was always a stupid fucking catch with these types wasn't there, nothing could ever just be laid out true and simple for you. Tsk, she wasn't about to so willingly decide to be some flaming animals bitch. "I work for myself, flower tail. This better be something actually worth my time or you can count me out."

"Oh, hi there Plulax!" Heather greeted with a waive. "Damn, you sure like to keep a gal waiting! I was worried that you would neeeeeeever show up! Well, like, I wasn't because I have a life outside all this Seeker B.S., but like, I was worried I wouldn't get a chance to get all my totes' important questions answered, you know? And that would majorly suck!" Heather rambled before stopping herself. "OMG, of COURSE I knew the info wasn't gonna be free, silly! Anyone with knowledge like you have would have to be a major 'tard to just hand it out for free, jeez. And besides, your ole' pal Heather's okay with getting her scaly hands dirty, Plulax!" Heather gave a thumbs-up, though then took on a bit of a more serious tone. "So now that the formals are over with, what'cha got for us? Assassination, Drug Smuggling, refilling your Space Litterbox?" Heather asked. "Or maybe you just want me to Dox some losers or something! I don't know anything about that, but I got tons of followers! Someone's got to know somethin'!" Heather rambled on.

"Offfff course, I share my friend's feelings here too! If you're tricking us...well, I doubt that we could actually KILL you, but you'd lose precious errand girls! I doubt there are too many Seekers who are willin' to work their tails off outside of the dumb missions the city is putting up!"

"Tss." Cinder would half listen and half ignore both the welcomes and the retaliations she was expecting to receive when she mentioned there being a price for the information she held. Hmph, she liked the scaly ones attitude, but was still unsure about the other two. Especially the blue haired one, it was only left to be hoped they wouldn't cause an issue later down the line. "None of the above, Scaly. Though undoubtedly some killing will be involved." The being would reply, her duel voices almost in perfect sync for once instead of being slightly out from one another. "And I assure all of you that this is no trick. Aside from the extra battle experience this will give you, I can provide all of you with power and information as long as you retrieve something for me."

For a brief moment, Cinder would pause, flick her tail and smirk. Finally there was a chance she could actually get her claws on these things. "I know you are all familiar with the Journals of the Traveller, yes? One was read aloud to you all in the fungeon back when this whole mess started. Well there are many more like it, but there are also those of opposite nature. This is what I want you to retrieve for me, I have the location of one of these pin pointed. You can tell the difference between these books and the Journals the Traveler wrote by the purple tape covering the binding and the purple lettering inside. I warn you now however, these books are cursed with His corruption. Attempting to read one would only weaken your body and mind and cause you to lose yourself to the control of the corruption this city is plagued with. Really, it is best not to touch them at all, I'd highly advice against such an act."

"Your task is simply. Bring this book back safely and let me dispose of it properly. Then great rewards will await you. And if you do so well, you could even help me find the rest of them later down the line. I always have more secrets to share." Cinder would chuckle under her breath before adding one last thing. "Feel free to ask me to tag along, if you wish. I know this new challenge might seem too much for novices. That or if you just want me there to prove I'm not lying to you."

Gisèle's standoffish demeanor didn't immediately disappear, but the fury in her voice waned and faded at the frankness of the request. To an extent, it was an intriguing one; there was certainly a part of her that wondered why Cinder had any interest in disposing of these "cursed books" when previously the creature made it seem as if she was purely motivated by self-interest. Perhaps that was what this was? It was definitely possible that this was just some purposeless bid for self-preservation or that the claim of destroying them was a shameless farce. Yet either way, the truth behind Cinder's motivations didn't matter to Gisèle, not at the moment anyway. Devils weren't like humans and becoming one meant she no longer needed to worry about the trivial things that people looked to and defined for themselves as "meaning". She had a simple singular purpose -- there was no need to concern herself with what the fox did so long as it didn't directly subvert her goals. The Traveler, Him, the journals... They all meant nothing on their own; they all were nothing on their own. The blue-haired Seeker's only incentive to seek was as a means to an end and that was that.

Even with it in mind though, she couldn't deny she was a little curious.


Her amusement at being called a novice was apparent, but she wouldn't elaborate on it. Instead, she'd turn her head to Heather and Yeara with as calm a smile as someone like her could muster. "How about you two? You in?" She asked the question free of any evident malice. While she wouldn't hold it against them if they wanted to back out per se (assuming they knew better than to go snitching) it'd nevertheless be a major disappointment if neither of them was up to the task. Hopefully at least the Tearinjaw would be willing to comply.

Leaning back against the vending machine, Yeara would rub her forehead with one hand still trying to seduce the blasted headache she was dealing with. Honestly, she hated the sound of this. She hated working for others and following orders, she was her own boss and didn't like others having the chance to take advantage of her. Though she was interested in all this nonsense still, after all the power it had given her was something she wished to know more about and... Well she hadn't had a chance to use it again since this started, so fuck it.

"Hnn..." What if Cinder really could provide something of use to them? What if these books she's after they could use for themselves somehow? Urgh. If there was going to be fights, she couldn't let the other two take all the fun. "Fine. I'll tag along. Though really I care more about getting to kill some more shitty mutants than finding this cursed book or whatever." Yeara would shrug weakly before turning towards Heather, interested in her response as well.

"Oooh, I see!" Heather nodded, with a slight grin. "Ohhh, don't even doubt for a second, girl!
I'm in. A girl could do with a lil' bit of excitement in this place! It's been like, so totally boring ever since the Fungeon!" Heather really wasn't exaggerating. With her new-found powers, she'd found herself hard-pressed to find a time to actually USE them. Which was annoying, but something she'd have to deal with. She couldn't go on a mass-murder spree, that'd be stupid...but it sounded like this job involved killing, AND she'd actually get something out of it. In her mind, that made any potential risks worth it to her. She needed experience, and cash. Jobs for the city seemed like a decent way to get both, but she wasn't going to get her dress dirty down in Junction's shittier shithole, and she wasn't going to go have a picnic on whatever backwater town they were on, at the moment. "We kill whatever's in the way, grab the book, bring it back to you, and you destroy it, that about the size of it Plulax?
Don't worry, I don't think we'll need you. Three tough gals like us can handle a simple heist no problem!"

Heist sounded about right to Heather. In her mind, that's all it was. A simple robbery, with extra supernatural powers. Robbers didn't usually have ghosts who lived in their head, nor did they tend to be demons, back on Heather's homeworld. But it seemed like both of those were being tossed out the window for this one. "Just give us the location, and we'll get the job done totes fast."

"Precisely." The being would seem to grin and swish its tail to one side, nodding towards Heather whilst clearly pleased that the entire party had agreed to go on this mission. Exactly what they'd find there even she didn't know, though that was of little concern to her. If they got her the book, she'd be one step closer to purifying this cursed city. However if they died, she could always find other seekers to help out. Of course though, good help will get the rewards they seek. No point wasting able bodies if they prove themselves useful.

"Hmm..." Now what would be the best way to explain this so they didn't get lost if they didn't want her company. Hopping down from the vending machine she'd been resting on, the being would lift up one paw and allow a rather long and extremely sharp claw to suddenly spike out of it before etching a sort of map into the ground. From a rough perspective it would seem to be a sort of road map for a section of central mid-ward. There were some well known corner shops and café's marked off to one side, the most notable being the Late'De'Ray which after finishing the map, Cinder would stick her claw into.


"You should know this place. It's popular in mid-ward. If you don't just ask around, basically anyone could tell you how to get there." From that, the being would then etch a line following paths and alleyways until stopping at a seemingly random ally. The path consisted on taking a right from the café, the second ally on the left, first exit on the right of the ally and finally the third ally on the right.
"This location will seem near no different from any you pass to get there, but, there are secrets hidden in the walls of this city. You just gotta be sure to push the right brick." With that, Cinder would turn and leap back up onto the vending machine she was once on.
"This isn't a game though. Be smart, think outside the box or you'll get trapped in there forever." With an ominous chuckle, Cinder would proceed to pounce her way back to the rooftops and disappear out of sight before any further questioning could take place. What the seekers did now was entirely up to them.

To an ordinary civilian Cinder's methods of mapping might've seemed a tad bit offputting. But while the sharp clang that signaled the claw's protrusion was somewhat grating on the ears and arguably showy, Gisèle had no particular gripe with the blunt approach to giving directions or the casual lethality that accompanied the fox's instrument of choice. In its own way it was oddly... refreshing. While the demon had adapted well to using the technology that defined Junction, so-called "primitive" approaches such as these occupied a small space in her heart even if pragmatism always prevailed over sentimentality at the end of the day. Yet there was one annoying issue concerning the fox's little cartography fetish and it was one that was likely clear to Yeara and Heather too: following this shit based off memory alone was probably gonna be a pain in the ass. Still, with the sketch already made and the directions already given, there wasn't much of a point in complaining over something like that. It wasn't rocket science; they could find their way there.


With a dismissive laugh at the warning and an idle response to a recipient who already scampered away, Gisèle waved her hand and turned to face her team with a light toothy grin, albeit one which would melt away into neutrality as she examined the makeshift map carved in the concrete. After a few seconds of reviewing it, she'd look back up at them, relax her arms behind her head, and approach the alleyway's exit with her new companions presumably following in tow. Unless the others wanted to discuss the issue further then no words needed to be said and, at least in the case of the Azure Knight, none would. Any chit-chat could be saved for the walk there: there wasn't any need to delay this further.

"Tss. Doesn't surprise me in the least there's places hidden in this stupid city. Place is a fucking catacomb of mazes upon mazes." Yeara would mostly mutter to herself as she watched Cinder out of the corner of her eye leave the scene before taking one last scan of the rather crude map that they'd etched into the ground. "Was it really smart to just leave a map to this place right here in the ground if its this important? Any bum could stumble upon this now." The woman would sigh and brush some of her hair out of her eyes, her headache seemingly starting to diminish as the thought of being able to actually get onto the fun part was steadily approaching. "Whatever." She'd add as she kicked some dust from the floor over the map and turned to follow Giséle. Party time people.

Heather took a slow drag of her cigarette, before dropping it and and stomping on it. There'd be time later, after all. "No prob. I'm good at thinking outside boxes. I mean, I ACTUALLY followed up with you instead of just leaving it alone. Thaaaat's totally outside the litter box already." There was a gleam of SOMETHING in her eyes, though it wasn't easy to determine if that something was malice, excitement, or some other third thing. With Heather, there was no way of really knowing, after all. "Don't worry! We'll find your fanfiction and bring it back, totes fast. Just make sure you can pay the shipping and handling." In the flicker of the Neon Sign Heather had been standing under, she would be be gone, at least to the naked eye.

In this boring city...it was finally time for some good old fashioned fun.

[Exit]