Welcome to Gaia! ::

... Ow. The pain shivered its way through the whole lenght of Unsane's body. He had expected telekinesis, but the girl was stronger than she looked. No time for regrets over a sore ankle, though.

"Then are you saying you'll simply dive in and fetch it?"

The demon leaned forward, grinning still, his face only a foot away from the girl. His foot was still pressed against the manhole, both to see if she could hold it steady for long, and to slowly send a lil' chill in the heavy metal ...

The lid shifted. As to not fall over, Unsane jumped aside right away, landing softly on the pavement. Hands in his pockets, he was eyeing the girl, the corner of a fang showing through his grin.

"You'd really go down in the s**t-water to fetch a trinket for someone you don't know and who attacked you because of it?"

He couldn't help but be thankful he had jumped off as the manhole flew off. The thing would've done more damage than he wanted to get if it had caught his leg.

"How noble." A small cracking sound was heard. Down from the dark depths of the manhole flew up a lil' chunk of ice, with something darker in its core. "There's no way you would've been able to find it by now if it had fallen in the water, y'know." The elemental snatched the piece in mid-air and shoved it in his pocket. It hadn't even touched the murky grime of the sewer. Smiling, he turned on his heels and walked past her.

"If you really don't want to fight, I can't hold you back, can I? See ya!"

((And the bad man comes out to play...))

"My, my, aren't you good at keeping out of trouble," He man had come up right behind Alexiel, leaning forward to speak over her shoulder before he finished, "Lady Alexiel?"

That voice would be clear evidence of to who it was.

"No, keep walking," he interrupted her reaction if she was going to stop in the middle of the road in surprise or turn to face him, "You wouldn't want to make another scene now, do you?"

Decruda was not in Latent to hunt her down or anything, even though she had seemed to disappear from the face of the earth, seemingly ducking and dodging him just as she had just done with the conflict between the man earlier.

No, he was here for another reason; Tzenidaar. He'd place one hand on the woman's shoulder lightly and urge her to keep going as if nothing unusual was happening.

However, he never thought she would be here, and so conveniently being the center of attention as a small scuffle and arguement broke out in the middle of the street at the moment he had passed by. And apparently, like the other man, she was shopping, for the holidays no doubt.

"Got anything for me? I've been good this year." he asked the question, unable to restrain from making a mocking joke at the same time, even when his question was not one which refered to a holiday gift, rather, and unfinished task which she had promised to complete sometime around three months or so ago.

It didn't turn upside down, more...sideways. And then it did a 180 degree rotation in the opposite direction. Repeat, but at less severe angles each time, like a tottertoy just trying to stabilize.

At least that's what it felt like.

Owle put a hand to her forehead, and swayed but didn't fall. She wasn't planning on trying to walk anytime soon.

"It's not...it's not anything Vahn doesn't know about."

A pause, while the world went willy nilly about her. She tried to find a focal point, anything nearby enough that it was staying still, but the only things there were Knights' eyes and she didn't much like the accusation in them.

"He didn't tell me," she said suddenly. "He didn't tell me anything at all. Not about Sunstrike. I thought..."

And she stopped talking then, closing her eyes and shaking her head, which was a mistake. "Does this go away?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"... Whut?" Shouyin would utter with surprise as the clone's head met with his in a rather painful manner. He'd do his best to release the grasped hand and shuffle back out of range, bringing his hands back up in guard while he blinked the water out of his eyes.

Something really wasn't right with these things.

Frowning, the half-golem would start running to his right, attempting to escape the platform in the space between whatever nearest pair of guarding clones there were, or, if he had to run into one, just throwing a swift right knee for the thing's head as he barrelled on through 'em.

Shouyin would cough out painfully with the impact, breathing heavily as he tried to bring his hands up to guard his body. Which was assumedly around the time everything would get all slow, shadowy and trippy. Green eyes would shine brightly with a strange fear at Nocturne's offer, the yellow specks in his irises moving about furiously. Something didn't feel right, with the darkness and the Shadows, but the lord had taken him this far, and he wasn't going to back down now.

"Alright, let's do this."

Owle was relieved, but also guilty. Whether this was because Knights was carrying her, or because she hadn't fully confessed yet, she wasn't sure. The floodgates had been opened, and she felt like she could just spill out everything right now...

But she was scared, and more than a little ashamed.

With the world teeter-tottering around her, the only thing that seemed stable were the arms holding her. Even the face above her seemed to sway out of focus now and again.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Owle replied, holding onto him more for the comfort of holding onto something than because she feared she would fall. "Not unless you count a clearing in Barton Forest, that's not too far from the stadium. But the only building I ever called home is in Gambino, and that's a long walk."

Lucind was Vahn's friend, not hers, and she'd left the key to Vahn's room in the stadium inside said room. She had no connections around here except a wildcat by the name of Yellow, and he wasn't particularly helpful in finding human lodgings...if he was even still around.

Owle closed her eyes.

"Thank you."

She listened to his footsteps on the sand, trying to ignore the throbbing in her head, real or imagined. Her eyes soon opened again...she felt safer knowing what was around her, even if she trusted Knights to protect her. He had tried to keep her safe when she was nothing to him, probably worse than nothing if he suspected what had happened between her and Vahn. Now that she was so important to the portal, she didn't think he was going to let any harm befall her. "Hey, can I..."

Slowly, she lifted up her right arm, careful not to make him drop her. "Can I shift with this on?" she asked, indicating the armlet. "I could make myself easier to carry." Soft brown eyes beseeched him; although Owle's current discomfort was his fault, she didn't feel right being a burden to him.