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"Kill-?" Writ laughed, and shoved his Snoopy pop in front of Vale's face, "Why so serious? I don't look like a killer, do I? I was just wondering if you knew the guy..." He took a lick of his ice cream, leaning against the nearest building, "So you are part of The Game then."

With the bloodlust to match. Perhaps trying to recruit this kid into his plan wasn't a good idea. Though the little girl that he was carrying around said otherwise. Was she his little sister or something? There wasn't anything in The Game's rules saying gods couldn't play with siblings.

"Name's Writ, what's yours?"

She knew something was wrong-- He didn’t need to put her back down unless something was wrong.

What? Killing a girl!? Talking about killing was one thing-- but actually killing someone?!

The tremors erupting all over her body grew worse with ever second-- B-Both of them-- they were both crazy! Varu talking about killing Quinn-- This guy killed a girl!

Her hands clasped together at her chest-- she could feel her heart pounding even through the layers of her dress. Varu-- he.. He---

There was tangible darkness wrapped around him.

She was scared-- really scared! Her eyes kept darting, keeping track of each lapping movement of the darkness as if it might lash out at her at any moment.

She had to get away.

He frowned, pausing, ears flicking back dubiously.

"How do I know you are not lying?"

His frown turned to an outright scowl - "Ciro told me about you."

Told him a lot.

His glare said it all.

His ears flicked again - there was a strange noise he could hear. A thudding, what was it?

Oh. Oh.

Abruptly, he released the shadows curling about his arms, letting them fade and disappear while simultaneously putting more space between him and Writ.

He hadn't realized. She hadn't - she didn't know - had no clue what a monster he really was, to make shadows bend to his will. He couldn't look her in the eye - and not just because he wouldn't take his eyes off Writ.

"Tepin," he started, voice dying out before adding more defeatedly, "Please v'ait. I v'ill...take you back home, ee'f you v'ish ee't. I just do not v'ant you running off ee'nto Downers - ee't ee's not safe."

Safe. How ironic must that sound to her? There was no way she'd stay with him now.

It didn't - didn't matter, not right now. He had more dangerous things to worry about right now. He turned his attention back to Writ.

"Speak fast."

"Well, if you kill me, you'll never know." Writ shrugged, "Besides, what would I get from lying to a complete stranger?

He pushed himself against the building's wall and bounced into motion, waving to Vale and Tepin to follow him, "First, we move, you're making a scene, and that's the last thing we need right now."

There was that, but it wouldn't do the city good if there was one less ice cream stand to go to. He went around the block- his back was turned to them, but he was confident that cat-boy wouldn't try anything funny.

Writ dropped his duffel bag on the ground, he knelt down and unzipped the bag. After a little searching he produced a box of sparklers. The kind people waved around during the Fourth of July.

"Your sister like fireworks?" He asked, handed the package to Vale and threw him a lighter, "She looks like she could use some distracting."

A peace offering.

She followed, though not with the usual passion that she might have. She was scared-- too scared to risk running… If she ran, she was sure she would be caught-- and god knows what might happen to her then.

Hands wrapped around her upper arms, she stood by. What was going to happen, anyway? Why did they seem to know of each other, anyway?! And didn’t that guy kill a girl?

It was too much. Way too much.

"The Blacksuits?" His ears pricked up at that. He'd heard a bit, knew a bit - remembered the rescue attempt long, long ago.

Remembered how badly it had failed.

Like it or not, Vale was intrigued. Writ did have a point. Ciro --

Ciro tended to hate a lot of things. And wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the crayon box. And he had expressed some doubt in whether or not it had been Writ, for sure.

It didn't mean he was letting his guard down, though. He tucked the sparklers into his pocket, finally caving to his big brother instincts and lifting Tepin up into his arms again, hugging her snugly and keeping her turned away, one hand rubbing at her back to help calm her.

"V'hat do you mean? V'e haven't heard from the Blacksuits ee'n a long, long v'hile. V'hat could they possibly be up to, and v'hy now, of all times?"

"Even if you close your eyes and cover your ears, the monsters don't go away." Writ said flatly, "They've always been doing things, they just got better at covering their tracks." It seemed like Writ would be in the clear with this guy. He certainly didn't look like he was going to skewer him. Which was a plus. He felt hesitant when he thought about trying to recruit him into his plan. The whole "First to kill Quinn" thing unsettled him.

Still, there was one thing about this kid that confused him.

"Who is she?" Writ pointed at Tepin, "I mean, if she isn't your sister, why are you carrying her around like that?"

When that old word came back, she wanted to relax. She wanted to pretend that she hadn’t seen Varu on the verge of killing, and she hadn’t heard him announce that he was going to kill his most important friend.

But all this talk… All these names she didn’t know… The phrases she didn’t understand… It felt like she had fallen through the looking glass and was staring at a world turned upside down. A world where Varu was something other than a perfect prince.

She turned her head, daring a long look at the man opposite Varu. He didn’t look nearly as scary, appearance wise… But something, maybe a warning from her god… Something told her that he was very dangerous, and not to be messed with.

Was that really how the game worked? Were players really so overpowered?


…. Did she even stand a chance?