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Jay had been sound asleep when Medea summoned them. Her eyes slowly opened halfway as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes before stumbling around to tug at Senga’s pelt. “Senga, come on,” she mumbled, her eyes gradually growing wider as the drowsiness left her body.

She stared curiously at the students, her gaze occasionally flickering to the chalice passed around the group. Once the chalice reached her, she held the cup carefully to take a tiny sip before passing it to the next person. Her nose crinkled at the sudden realization they were all sharing one cup. All of them. Pouting, the tiny horsewoman wormed her way through the crowd until she contently planted herself next to Zhi. “ZhiZhi~” she whispered, tugging one of his sleeves.

Jay looks like this OvO

The horsemen offered no further words to her, but instead guided others through the fire, Junko passed beside her, Amyet, others she would have gladly stood beside moved across the fire. Warnings of the horsemens plans flickered in the back of her mind.

'We will always grant aid to those who need it.'

Was it a false promise? Was it worth whatever she had to do? Somewhere in the back of her head a voice whispered yes.

She stepped forward behind friends who had gone first, flames wrapping around her. It didn't burn, but something else did. Her flesh turned black a mark appearing just below her neck on her left side. The burning rune was now engraved in her flesh warm and secure. So this was the first step towards something more.

Around them events unfolded the water shifted waves crashing and for a while she wasn't sure what would happen. Before she knew it horsemen where there. Lining up among the students all in respect to the head priestess. When the cup finally reached her she took a quick drink before passing it on, purple burning eyes roaming something was pulsing, around them each of them. FEAR so thick she could feel it in the air, strongest from the Priestess, then the horsemen, followed last by them selves.

Was this what power felt like? Would this save her friends already gone?

The call was one she had waited for, wings folded tight around her where she had been kneeling the horsemen of Death rose only to the highest of calls. Her wings flaring outward as twin axes appeared in her grip.

"So it begins..."

Sammy
Nirva

The hunt for keys had become nothing short of a burning need for Thackery, leading him into the depths of the room beneath the office once more. There had been no more sightings of suspicious documents related to Arel's thievery, but that didn't mean that they weren't here. Somewhere. Potentially scattered all around the world, for all he knew - which is why he had to come with them. The group seemed more than capable of rescuing everyone on their own, especially with Medea and the horsemen by their sides. He just had to find the truth about the keys...and ensure safety for a hunter. A hunter he owed his word to.

He stepped easily through the flames, brave, proud, determined. He eagerly waited his turn for the chalice, ready to receive whatever gift Medea wanted to bestow upon them this time. They'd all served him well so far.

But in his chest, somewhere wrapped around his core, there was a distinctly Bad Feeling forming. It coiled its way through his ribs, up to his throat, knotting around his stomach. And he couldn't. He couldn't leave.

Something was wrong with Ash.

It could have been something as simple as a bad day, as small as a growing frustration with a difficult homework assignment. Everything seemed much more intense since the Insanity took hold, sending whatever sense of danger he had spiraling far into the depths of 'going haywire'.

Or he could be dying. With no guarantee that whatever brought Riley back would work for him.

His hand curled around the fabric of his shirt just over his stomach, clenching it up into a fist, his worry almost palpable. He began to back away from the group that had gathered near the portal to pass the chalice from one to the next, shaking his head.

"I can't," he murmured, hurriedly turning to find his way out.

(( MAHIR IS HERE WWWWOOOOOOooooooooo i will get back to you all on this

he is just....... staring and grinning

and possibly trying to pluck peoples' individual feathers or fur or whatnot off discreetly

FOR SCIENCE ))

Shaheen had been summoned. She might not have known exactly why, or what was happening, but the excitement of what might be to come thrilled through her regardless. The horsewoman was wide awake, battle ready in an instant. It did not take her long to seek out some familiar clansmembers as she strode towards Jay and Zhi, the feathers of her wings rustling quietly behind her. She paused long enough in her movements to grab ahold of the chalice that was being passed around, tipping it up to her lips and sipping, a symbol of the clans suddenly blazing to life on her left shoulder before she passed the chalice on.

Finding herself beside Jay, she bent her knees to crouch low to the ground, offering the other woman an almost feral flash of teeth before nodding at Zhi as well. So there were students about. Big deal! As long as they stayed out of her way and didn't screw things up, she could be content with their presence.

"Do you think it is finally time, Jay? Will we now get to have our revenge?" Her voice was eager, and her eyes glittered with the prospect of bloodshed.

"Ah, Jayjay!"

A bit of the seriousness faded from Zhiqiang's expression at his friend's arrival (which made the fact that he called her "Jayjay" slightly less hilarious), the corners of his mouth quirking upwards in a faint smile. He let her tug at his sleeve for a bit before lifting his hand and setting it on top of her head, conveniently oblivious to the fact that his excessively long sleeve was now flopping over the war horsewoman's face. "Did you just wake up? You look sleepy!"

Despite the renewed lightness in his voice and the small smile, the look in his eyes didn't change. He was eager for this to begin, but at the same time, he had become a little nervous as well. Jay's arrival had reminded him that though the Hunters had taken a lot from him already, there was still more that he could lose if things were to go wrong.

He idly pat Jay's head as he scanned the crowd for other familiar faces. Where were Lan? And Shahee-- "ARG!"

Zhiqiang instinctively recoiled when the other horsewoman appeared. Why? Because despite the fact it had only happened once before, he was in perpetual fear that Shaheen would end up flashing him again.

The tatzel nodded to the reaper boil. Gotcha. Adrenaline ran through Levi and she rolled her shoulders in anticipation of what was to come.

To Hel, Levi gave a gentle jab in the shoulder. Give'em heck. The valk had lost her wings, but not her fight. She and Shun were examples of loss. Even with what they'd experienced, they moved further down into the depths of things. This was the sort of state Levi needed to return to if she was going to go on forward. She hoped her rage would bring her there.

There was no way for her to detour the baku or the hellhound, it looked like. Perhaps it wasn't right to wish they'd stay back. They had as much to fight for as she did and their odds were better with the more of them. It was as simple as not wanting to replay history despite her knowing it was likely to occur.

There was a warmth and overwhelming feels of various sorts when the Head Priestess began. The tatzel just took it as the ceremony of some sort beginning. Also there was fire involved- it was bound to warm her skin a bit?

Medea led them down the way where they were joined by the horsemen. What that didn't seem much like water flooded the floor up above her ankle. When the feeling of something creeping up on her began, Levi remembered Noland's lessons and just kept still. Okay, so that was all she could really do right now anyway, but when things began to feel at you, you didn't go flailing about. Stealth. They backed off eventually with a hiss; was that really all from one entity?

It would occur to her that something was up when West squeezed her hand suddenly, causing Levi to wince in pain. She swung both their hands up at their sides so she could get a closer look. On her wrist something was etched into her skin and it burned like charcoals imbedded in her skin. Frantic eyes looked up at West. The ghoul knew what demonic marking was... but attempting to open her mouth to accuse him of imprisoning her at a time like this, her nose just wrinkled in distaste. Why would you-?!

But she drank and passed it on.

Now if only fire did that more often - the whole "totally not gonna hurt you" act. Seriously, what did he ever do to fire? And then the hands, yeesh . . . They reminded him of wall masters and floor masters, but without the fun factor since he wasn't in cahoots with them. Not necessarily.

Well, until he felt a strange itching sensation over his right hand, revealed to be the work of some new tattoo he didn't ask for. Now apparently they were. Mort did not like being this indebted to the priestess, however congenial Medea had been with them thus far. He still remembered that look of rage and horror that had marred the horseman's face and would not soon forget it. What would happen if she asked for a great deal more after this? Worse yet, what if they refused . . .? He was convinced that some part of this kindness was a mask still.

This was a questionable time enough to be receiving a text from Belladonna (which had come just before he stepped through the ring of fire), let alone one with a picture from her family trip to the beach - followed quickly by a frantic all caps message of concern. What could he say? The mission hadn't started yet, and there was no turning back now; the newly etched mark saw to that. But it didn't matter what he wanted to say at this point - not like this void had cell service. He'd have to trust that his silence wouldn't further worry her, though . . . Well s**t. Last time he didn't answer was during the attack on the Isles, and look how great that turned out.

The zomboil rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to ward off a headache, pocketed his phone again, and took the chalice without a word. He wiped the lip of it clean with his shirt, though, because it was just common courtesy. Also yech. The sensation wasn't pleasant, but nothing about this entire situation was. Rather than mull over it, he joined Aymet's little group with a grim look, recognizing Shine but not the other boil (ghoul?) so much. "You guys ready?" he asked, if only because he needed some form of normalcy to fall back on while they waited for the next phase.

(( Mort looks like so, but with some facial hair and a metal left arm from the elbow down ))