Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zhi grinned at Senga's arrival, and was about to greet the other horseman when a certain someone decided to speak up. The grin on his face froze...but it did not fade.

...(☉▽☉)

After a moment of silence--and without even turning to look at him--Zhi swung his arm out and attempted to backhand Tseng with his sleeve. Then, as if nothing had happened, he calmly set his hands back on his hips, gaze focusing back on the war horseman who had joined them.

"Hiiiiiii Sengaaaa~"

'Acting strangely' was honestly the nicest euphemism for the horrid way Belladonna had been acting since her encounter in Christmas Town. 'Strangely' hardly covered her ravenous hunger or skittish attitude or even the snappy manner in which she seemed to react to everyone, even her owns pets. It was a suddenly dismal experience that she at once tried to fight and welcomed. On one hand, if she could just grit her teeth and try to put others first it wasn't so bad since another's happiness was more important than her own. But, on the other hand, when had she really gotten to do things just for her?
Since her right hand and arm was the one that bore the mark of her indiscretion, the physical representation of her own wants and desires, the witch had taken to hiding the offending sight of those black shards against her white skin. It did not help matters that she now recoiled from touch on that arm, which was probably why Mort had not held her hand as they headed toward the meeting. Honestly she had been touched that he had invited her, but it had dwindled when he'd shoved his hands in his pockets and lead the way, rather than bring her along as an equal.
As she trailed behind him, eyes focused on the backs of his sneakers, she knew she wasn't marked in the same way he was and therefore was viewed as lesser in the eyes of the Clans. But it didn't really lessen the sting, or that craving within her to become equal. It was only another mark, wasn't it? And why not be further marked, further tattooed? It wasn't that big a deal after all.

Momentarily quiet, the witch hovered close enough to reach out and touch Mort should she choose to, but far enough away to indicate something was off. Aymet's appearance did not elicit the polite greeting it should have. Instead, she took a step closer, curious to hear what he had whispered to the zombie. Her pink eyes watched closely, not even bothering to hide the fact that she wanted to be involved too, that she was not as they were and therefore much like a child around adults, could not invite herself into conversation without the proper segue.

The anticipated look was received with a smile, if a wincing one. "G-Guess so. Always is action 'round, so always have to prep for it." There wasn't nearly the amount of eagerness he would have shown normally whenever he and the dracolich talked about a future event - no experiments here. Something was more off about Aymet than even within Bells, for he almost looked as if . . . Mort shook the dark thought off as Bells nudged in. "You two ready i-if something happens?"

A useless question, but something to fill the conversation. He glanced about as more people filtered in, his heart sinking a little at the sight of Ren. It still bothered him to see the gryphon around when Initiates were called, and for a moment he succumbed to the whispers and doubt: what would he say about Bells's presence here? He knew they were close. Still, Mort at least managed a little smile and a beckoning motion, for surely the more familiar faces around the better.

~ ~ ~

"Eat them?" Shik barked a laugh and greeted Senga with a wing touch of his own. "Intriguing, but several of them look like walking corpses. I wouldn't mind taking an arm to shove down a Hunter's throat should we see them." And by the sounds of it, he wouldn't mind that one bit.

"Frankly, I'm ready for another raid on their headquarters, orb or no orb."

"Uh, yeah? I'm always ready." The dracolich ruffled his bony wings a bit, like an affronted bird, before settling back into place. Conflict seemed easier than resolution, it was too easy to push him away than to bring up what he'd seen. But even so, Mort was being kind of a downer, and Aymet was starting to not even feel that guilty about it. What was his deal lately? Didn't he know what he signed up for? Or was he just being like this because his girlfriend was around and seemed to have him by the pumpkins?

"Nice to see you too," he mumbled at Belladonna's lack of acknowledgement, before turning back to the priestess.

"No," Aymet remarked back to Thackery without turning his head, flatly and equally uninformatively, as a single crystal lit up on his shoulder. He was pleasantly surprised by how many people had chosen to follow him there. He'd been worried for a long while that Amityville was full of weaklings living in an imaginary world, afraid of change, afraid of power. That few souls were brave enough to stand up to the dangers and protect it, to make sacrifices for the good of everyone else. To see so many others... there were far more potential initiates than he'd ever imagined.

And of course, he'd been the one to guide many of them here, directly or indirectly, judging by how many had trailed along at various points behind him. But it was only right of him to do so. This was their chance to finally do something great.

Senga stared at Zhi and Zhi's odd behavior and (decidedly ignoring the part of him that though the Conquest horseman was growing on him) huffed in exasperation. Honestly. The friends Jay made. Because they were definitely not tomodachi. No.

（▼へ▼）..... "Hello, Zhi. You seem quite... exuberant. As usual."

Ruffling his wings in response to Shik, Senga settled for a low rumble of amusement, the corners of his lips quirking into a slow smile. "Yes, I imagine there is not enough meat on the lot of them to satisfy your inevitable hunger." He imagined that Shik would rather gorge himself on mass murder (particularly of the hunter kind), but decided to keep his mouth shut on that sort of comment. Exhaling slowly, Senga peered up at Medea, wondering just what was going to expected of them now. "I'll make sure to point out any worthy arms should we encounter Hunters and your opportunity for mutilation arise." He retorted dryly. "So long as you stay away from ming. They are off limits."

Just then, Jay decided to show up, and Senga perked for a moment before just as quickly deflating, The jabberjay had become somewhat distant over the past few weeks, and he couldn't help but imagine it was in some way his fault. "Hello, Jay." His voice was quiet and somber. Oh well. At least she still seemed happy. Ish.

She would probably look a lot better once she was given something to murder.

It was funny to Jing, seeing Ying standing next to him and not in the front. "This is why you should have walked closer sister." he chided lightly, tapping the horseghoul on one of her horns. "You must be this tall to hear and see everything from here." he continued, raising his arm to his own horns.

But the cursory look around did cause him to frown after the joke. "There are alot of Amity students here however, and not wearing our lovely attire, shame." he moaned, regretfully. The little non horsemen seemed to have flocked, something Medea did must have resonated with them, the willing pawns.

Maybe her sweaters were better than he originally thought. "Maybe we should invest in some Arkpassu fabric."

Tseng took the sleevey backhand, and swatted Zhi right back in turn. He had struck because he knew it to be true! Though he supposed he didn't give his rival enough credit. Most likely he'd die before he really did that though! After all, he would always be greater than Zhi on any day.

And so he just grinned before looking towards the other horsemen in this little circle that had gathered up.

"Hah! Indeed! And perhaps we can wipe them off the face of the earth once and for all!" he said rather cheerfully in response to the comment about raiding the hunter headquarters. Those humans were certainly pests.

---------------

With his hands in his pockets, Shun was keeping to himself while he waited here. He did look around idly, seeing who else had gathered around. The two headed boy he had seen from part time was here... apparently having followed him or perhaps Aymet. One of the two. It didn't matter.

There was another face though that caught his attention, and his eye narrowed as he spotted Herryk lingering just out of the crowd. He normally would have just been unhappy to see the guy given the circumstances of their most recent encounter, but right now he felt something a little more. He had half a mind to shove his daggers down his throat right now. The way he had been beaten down to the point of dissipation..

It was just one reason why he needed power.