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Click.

The bright lights flickered on in the Mist lounge, blinding Candace for a moment. Were there motion sensors? No, they would have flickered on when she stepped through the wall. But why was there a hole in the wall in the first place? As soon as Candace blinked the spots out of her eyes the answer would have become apparent.

The monitors on the wall where Lance usually sat were in disarray, most shattered and collected in a heap on the floor. There were several dark stains on the carpet, scattered about as if something had happened. One section of the wall looked as if something was thrown against it, complete with dark markings. Perhaps someone had thrown some sort of liquid against it? There were even sweeping lines on it, as if someone had somehow tried to make a snow angel four or six feet off of the ground. It was hard to estimate an exact distance, given the odd angle it was at.

By the light switches, Aria blinked and frowned, squinting into the room. "...Candace?" The hunter shifted something long and white off of her shoulder as she padded across the floor, her bare feet making no noise as she approached the trainee. The only sound she made was a series of faint clinks and clicks coming from the bracelets she wore over her fingerless gloves, visible as the division leader was coatless. "What are you doing here?"

Aria slowed her steps, stopping before the trainee. Her grip tightened on the object she had slung over her shoulder. It was white and bore a bit of a curve to it, one end rather small while the other was... Was... Was she holding a bone?! Her blue eyes narrowed as she scanned the trainee up and down, her words becoming clipped. "That depends," she began, "Entirely as to who you ask. Why don't you go back to Dr. H and ask him? Or would you rather talk to Caelius? To Julie?"

The bone was swung off of her shoulder, used to poke Candace in the chest with the larger end. "I want you to take a real good look around. Tell me what happened. Now."

"Why? You seemed apt to go to Dr. H readily enough concerning the transfer of the newest Mist member," Aria pointed out sharply. "You also seemed to have approached someone else concerning a promotion. Did you think that the Mist division works the same as the others? Here's a hint: it doesn't. Why do you think there aren't that many members? Do you think that it's that easy to become an intermediate Mist trainee? There is a lot you don't know."

Aria continued to speak as Candace examined the monitors, the stains. "Let me enlighten you. Something happened to break through the wall to the mist lounge. Something was thrown against the monitors to break most of them, leave some hanging and others in a mess that I had to sweep into a pile. You ask if it's blood? Use your head."

The division leader stalked over to the wall, using the bone to jab at an indentation in the wall. It was difficult to judge the size of the hole, given the angle it seemed to pierce the wall. "Do you know what this cost? Thirty-seven stitches. Four fractured ribs. One broken bone. One mangled wheel chair. Did it even occur to you, to any of you that when the island was invaded that they were targeting specific areas? That the mist hub would have been a prime target? Do you have any idea," Aria seethed, "How difficult it is to pin down not only a stubborn former Sun hunter, but to have to knock him out in order to perform on the spot first aid because like hell you would risk moving him?"

Aria took a step forward, her barefoot resting in the red stain. "I don't know what happened. All I know is that some Mists went to investigate an anomaly in the Mist tower. Some Mists chose instead to investigate something else. Some Mists chose to provide support for other divisions."

She made as if to continue speaking before spinning on one heel, stalking across the room. The bone was thrown onto a couch before the division leader turned, yanking open the fridge door and laying claim to a container of ice cream. The drawer containing spoons was similarly yanked open, spoon grabbed before the leader slammed it shut and stomped back to the couch. "********!" She shouted, aiming a kick at the couch and cursing again before sitting down on the cushion. She crossed her legs, spoon her mouth as she peeled open the container. "********. Just. ********. It. All. Candace, do me a favor and hurry the ******** up with getting promoted. Or one of you, I don't care. This leadership s**t is getting too ridiculous."

Nothing was said as Candace said her piece. At most the only reaction Aria showed was a tightening of her jaw, the slight shifting of her stance and tightening of her grip on the bone as Candace mentioned things that provoked the slight reaction from. Aria listened to her report, filing the information away for later. She remained silent even after the trainee joined her on the couch, quietly concentrating on devouring spoonful after spoonful of sweet vanilla swiss almond bliss.

After three minutes of silence, the division leader shifted in her seat. She reached into her sweatpants and pulled forth a small container, giving it a small shake before popping it open with her thumb. The colorful pills were swallowed dry, Aria shaking her head afterward before chasing the small things down with another spoonful of ice cream.

"I wasn't supposed to be here," Aria began quietly, her eyes distant as she stared across the room. "By the time I joined the Hunters, there was no time to train me. They put me into the Mists. At the time, there were... two miniature divisions within the Mists: the outer and inner circles." Aria leaned back against the couch, tapping the spoon against her lower lip. "The only difference? The inner circle had only each other. You, Cass, Before, Lance -- all of you would be Outers, just because you have relationships with people outside the division. Your training would be specialized -- will be. Only the inners trained and trained enough to be functional for any sort of situation. They were the ones who would go on solo missions. You know why?" She glanced at the trainee, continuing, "It was because they wouldn't be missed. We had nothing to distract ourselves. It was us and our mission. Something big was going to go down then, and they didn't have time to sort me according to my strengths. As new as I was, I didn't know anyone. I was expendable. But hell were they going to get use out of me while they could."

"So you claim you ******** up? By an Outer, you did what you were supposed to do. By an Inner? That depends on the mission. Were you tasked with protecting Deus Ex? Then you did what you were supposed to do. Were you tasked with protecting our weapons master? Then you failed." She looked over to the trainee, watching her. "Lance is resting. If I had not come back, then it is very likely he would have bled out on the couch, still smoking a goddamn cigarette."

Aria's eyes drifted over to the couch in question. It was black -- the spot where Lance had sat could only be seen with an ultraviolet light. But even then that was something Aria didn't want to risk. She knew of the... activities some of the hunters did in their free time. She didn't want to think of what the couches looked like, even if she had the couches in question cleaned several times and reupholstered before putting them to use.

"As to where he is..." Aria used her spoon and pointed towards the back, towards the rooms that she had not yet shown to any trainee. "He is resting in his rooms. Before you try it, the door's locked and I've tied him to the bed. The last thing he needs to be doing is getting up and walking around. It took me two hours after getting him fixed up to pull Afïr from where she pinned her prey to the wall."

Absently and rather shamelessly, Aria reached into her sweatpants and carefully withdrew a knife. As soon as it was free it shifted into a flamethrower: unsurprising, it was her weapon. The rune on it seemed to glow softly as Aria shifted it until it was resting comfortably across her lap. She stroked it once before positioning her container of ice cream on top of it, giving her weapon a thankful smile before spooning another bit of ice cream. "The Mist division isn't like the other divisions," she repeated quietly. "We're not as numerous. We're a little bit of everything, but not. Some trainees start off their careers as Hunters in this division before specializing and going into another division. If anyone gets transferred in... It's either because they don't know what division to go into, or it's the only one that's left."

"Take Lance for instance. He is a Sun through and through. He's dedicated his life to mastering weapons. Being stuck in a wheel chair here probably kills him. Deus Ex has no place for someone like him. If he was still a Sun, then Afïr would probably be forced to separate from him while he retired. Most likely permanently." She added the last bit as an after thought, shaking her head. "Once you become a hunter, you die a hunter. When I was a trainee, there were stories of hunters who tried to go back. They couldn't. They saw too much, usually ended up killing themselves or they were shipped off to a mental ward. Or they were slowly drugged to death. With Lance... Either the Suns would have finished him off, or Halloween would have. He is still useful. To us, that is. His experience with weapons is invaluable. While he isn't a master of all weapons, he knows more than I ever will. His knowledge makes him important."

But it didn't end there. It wasn't that simple. There was more to the story than what was given. "If I was never put into the Mist division," Aria continued after eating more ice cream, calmer now than she was earlier. "I would have been put into Life. Or Moon. Most likely Life, though. I have had experience with medical supplies."

"What about you, Candace? If there was no Mist... where do you think you would belong?"

"The Mist lounge is intended to be open to all Mist trainees, just as how the other divisions have their own lounges." Aria replied quietly. "This is a place I've built for all of us as a place to come to and regroup. The only reason other divisions aren't welcomed here is because, first off, they have their own." Aria paused, considering. "I'm not sure if they're open though. The death lounge's bar was open only to the advanced Death hunters when I last checked it out for instance. I'm not sure if the other places are even operational, or if they still exist. It's not cheap to run a place like this."

Aria grimaced as she looked around the lounge again. The monitors, the stains, and hell, even the Haagen Dazs. Right when it finally felt like things were getting along, wham. Setback. It wasn't just with costs, either. With Lance out of commission, there went a valuable resource as far as she was concerned. How was she supposed to train her trainees now? She wasn't familiar with them, nor with their weapons. She didn't have any idea where to start. Not only that, as soon as Lance reached a stable condition she had to figure out how to transport him into the Life labs to get him hooked up to the equipment there to speed his recovery, his pride be damned...

Candace's question about the bone made the leader glance to it and shrug. "It is for a project I'm working on. It is also too clean to be recent. There's no muscle, no residue, no --" she broke off, chuckling. "Never mind. I don't want to put you off of your ice cream."

Aria nodded sympathetically to Candace as the trainee vented, saying nothing. There was so much about her trainees that she didn't know or had an opportunity to know. Hell, Candace and Cass were the last two trainees she had even spoken to. How many were in the Mist division? She couldn't remember. Aria didn't even know how to go about addressing them. She wasn't like Ruka. She wasn't cut out to be a leader.

The rune beneath the ice cream container flickered.

Aria couldn't help but grin and stroke her weapon affectionately, wordlessly thanking her weapon as she focused her attention again on Candace. She reached up, ruffling the trainee's hair as she leaned against her shoulder. "We all make mistakes," she said quietly. "And in our line of work, some of those mistakes can be... disastrous." Her words seemed to stumble as Aria bit her tongue, glancing away. "We can't go back and change the decisions we make, no matter how badly we want to. The only thing we can do is keep moving forward and accept what comes with our choices. It doesn't matter if it is a consequence or something that benefits us. The choices we make define who we are, and who we become."

The Mist huntress took a deep breath and held it, waiting before releasing it. "This does not change the fact that I am displeased with the decisions all of you made while myself and the others were gone. There are only five advance Mists. One of them is working closely with another division, using her talents as a hacker to gain access to information that we are in need of. Two are out supplementing other teams on the field, and the last two are out on field themselves as solo operators. That leaves myself and Lance here as acting Mists, and Lance is currently too injured to serve. I cannot do everything. I cannot offer you or any other Mist personalized training -- my expertise lies in my weapon, explosives, and a few other weapons. Therefore..."

Aria watched Candace carefully. "Therefore, you perform not one, but two external missions. One mission you will lead, the other you will act as a support. In addition, you must go through and complete both the Life and Death division training courses. For the Death course, you may only use three golems. For the Life course, you may only fail once. You have a month to complete these tasks. Have I made myself clear?"

Aria glanced at the hole in the wall as Candace mentioned it, wincing yet again. "That point of entry will be... probably the only entry for now. It will need to be sealed eventually, and while it pains me to allow it to stay there it would make my project easier. There's no guarantee that it would work, however..." She shrugged. "Who can say? It is worth a shot. If it works out it will benefit us for the long run."

And speaking of the long run... Aria nodded to Candace's words before she used her spoon, pointing towards the monitors. "Then salvage what you can. Bring in other trainees that are knowledgeable -- I don't care at this point what division they are. If we can repair them, then we will continue to use them. What can't be repaired... Salvage for spare parts." Aria shrugged. "Mechanical devices are not my strong point. There may be some Moons or Lifes who are familiar, possibly Deaths as well. The Mist who would probably help out with this is, as I mentioned earlier, busy with her own mission at the moment."

Aria focused on scraping out the last remnants of the ice cream before leaning forward over her weapon, placing the container on the table. She shifted her weapon on her lap, cradling it as if it were a favorite pet. "Three golems, period for Death. You have three chances to pass it. With Life, you keep going until you reach the points needed, or you continue until you fail. Do you have any more questions?"

As Candace's arms went around her, Aria stiffened. She wasn't expecting that. Touched? Okay. Leaned on? Fine. A hug? It was all Aria could do to take a slow deep breath and ease the tension out of her shoulders as if to act like nothing happened at all. "That would be best," She answered evenly, masking the discomfort in her voice.

Symphony pointed out unhelpfully.

Not now. Aria focused her attention once again on Candace, considering. "If you are considering doing the Mist Tower as well, then perhaps you should also consider doing the other ones as well: Sun and Moon," Aria suggested. "But as far as the Mist Tower goes... Do not fail. Not even once."