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Flinching as she thought that Joker was beginning to turn insane again, Kit relaxed slowly, her eyes showing pain as she nodded, “I know… but he used to be good, Joker, really he was. I don’t know what changed and I wish that I did but I just don’t.” Sighing some, her eyes looked even more pained before she wrapped her arms around him, bringing the man closer to her, kissing his cheek again. “Sorry… I know that Eri’s the one that started all of this and it doesn’t surprise me, but it still hurts to see him change so much. We need to go check on the others, though, Joker… I don’t want them to be hurt as well.” Hopefully everything was okay, or if it’s not then it could be fixed.

When Monty came over, Dusk didn’t do anything stupid because she really wasn’t gunning for anyone’s head. Was she bad that Monty wasn’t wanting to fix what had happened with Kalore? Yeah, she was, but at the same time she didn’t know for a fact what it was that Monty wanted to do. When she did know, then she could judge, but in the past one and a half years that she and Kyoshi had been near one another, the woman had calmed down an incredible amount.

Stilling as she listened, her eyes widening as she looked over at Rave, “You didn’t tell me that, Rave…” her voice was softer. Rave had only told them about the fire and Kalore, but nothing about his own problems. “Who…?” The man didn’t speak, silent and still enough that she thought for sure he’d vanish if she blinked. The silence only told her who it had been.

Shaking her head again, she soon was watching Monty, a small twitch under her eye, “I’m not planning on being ‘foolish’, Monty, but what’s happened to Kalore can only be undone by you. That’s what’s pissing me off… but at the moment…” The puppet thing was what was scaring her more. To be able to attack Rave? That was something that was still monstrous to her, seeing as he had been her mentor for so long. “I don’t know anyone, but what about the guy from before? The one that helped Lech?” She didn’t know anything about him, but hadn’t they said that he was after Gambler and making their lives hell? “I mean… who all’s been attacked? Doesn’t that guy want to hurt you all?”

“excuse me?!” Twitching some, Dusk’s anger was back as she took a step forward, “I disgust you? What the hell, Monty?!” Rave gently took her arm but that wasn’t going to be enough. She was mad anyway and the demon was looking like a really good target at the moment, “One, I’ve done nothing to make myself be ‘disgusting’ to you. I’ve done pretty damn good at behaving so you’ve got no reason to go all bitchy on me. Two, Kalore isn’t ‘my’ elf. You’re the one who’s he’s terrified of because the memories that have been messed up aren’t the ones that involve me, but involve you. So back the f*ck off, Monty.” She continued to glare and probably would have snapped more if Kyoshi wouldn’t have kissed her.

Calming down slightly from the kiss, her eyes were beginning to turn lighter again, focusing on the man that she loved instead of the demon who at the moment she knew could be touched by shadows. Kyin did show her something useful. “If this guy is hurting everyone then he needs to be stopped. I’ll help and if you need the extra hands then Talon and Ziggy are back in town and the group’s back together. We’ve got people in all corners and in some of the other Areas as well. There’s someone that might be of some pretty good use here as well…” Rave watched her, “Is this person like the others…?” Dusk chuckled, “Raul and his group are separate, just mercenaries who apparently have an interest in Eldin… but no, for this I think some of my guys would do well.”

Rave nodded as he was walking to touch one of the books beside him, sighing softly. “Sin hates Gambler… we need to check on her for if it is him then being without either me, Monty, or anyone else… and in the state she’s in, she’s vulnerable.” Dusk nodded, beginning to calm down again. “So yeah, Kyo, you’ve got our help if you’ll take it.” Kissing him softly again, she wondered how he’d take to some of her group that he hadn’t seen… She knew he didn’t like her job, her old one that she was definitely going back to, but some of the others did the more… dirty jobs. They were her favorite.

Sighing softly, Kit knew that the man was right. “Well… okay. He…” She said no more. Joker was right and she had to accept that. Kalore was her friend, practically her brother, and there wasn’t anything that the two wouldn’t do for one another. Did she like Monty? Not really. He had hurt her friend so many times without Eri’s hand in it that she just didn’t want to think of things like that, or if he had something to do with it then she believed that Monty should have been able to ignore Eri. But that was neither here nor now, so she took out her phone, calling Rave. “I think that it’s been a while since I’ve called him…”

She smiled just a bit, listening to the rings before Rave answered. The man was blinking, surprised to hear from her but soon he was straightening. “What?!” Dusk looked over at the man, confused. Rave didn’t shout… not normally, at least.

Running a hand through his hair, he cursed in elvish as he nodded. “Stay on, let me tell them.” Placing the phone against his shoulder, he watched the other three. “Joker was attacked in his office, poisoned. Kit got to him in time, somehow, and now they’re still in the hospital. Do you want them here or where are we going to start this, Kyoshi?” Someone would have to stay with Kalore, and if Kit was already involved then it would probably end up being her…not that she would mind. She could take care of herself, but if it came to an all out fight… Kit wasn’t up to par with the rest of them.

Rave agreed that Kit should come here but soon froze. His eyes narrowed but he knew that Monty was being… honestly, he was throwing his own form of a temper tantrum. With all of the stress already on her, however, Dusk didn’t take too kindly to the words from Monty. Growling, she soon was in front of the man, slapping his across the face as her hands were soon on her hips. “Listen up, demon, I don’t know what the hell has gotten up your a** but you need to stop it now.” She wasn’t yelling anymore but was dead serious, her eyes calm and body calm, but she was just as easy to piss off as Monty and just as dangerous; just in different ways.

“Our kind have done nothing. Sin is the one causing all of this and the only reason why you’re again ‘our kind’ is because of this mess with Kalore. Get it out of your mind because we don’t need some toddler throwing a temper tantrum, Monty. You’re damn powerful and we all know it, you’ve seemed to like showing that part off, but we need a warrior; someone smart and willing to do what needs to be done in order to get us all out of this alive.” Turning away from him, she glanced over at Rave, “Kit needs to be here because someone needs to be with Kalore. We can see if we can get him back to normal on our own. We don’t need this guy if he’s going to act like this.”

She didn’t glare at him, but her voice remained like ice. This was the Dusk that even Kyoshi hadn’t seen; the one that was strong, deadly, mature, and intelligent. She knew what had to be done and it would be done even if Monty wasn’t part of it. He would make it a hell of a lot easier, however, but his temper tantrum was going to hold them back if they didn’t stop it soon. “You know Sin, you understand him better than we do, better than ‘our kind’ does. Do you really think that being this pissed off guy is going to help, Monty?” She continued to frown, listening to Rave spoke and had Kit come over. She wouldn’t leave Joker alone, however, and it ended up being both of them.

He sighed, “They’re both on their way…” He didn’t interfere in what Dusk was doing, but he had to admit that he was worried. Monty was dangerous at this point, but Dusk… she had been around long enough and dealt through enough that she could handle herself. Plus, this close to Kalore, divine interference would come up, if only to make sure they behaved near the Goddess’ favorite. “Dusk… Are we getting involved or not?” Dusk nodded, “We are.” And if Joker and Kyoshi said no, then they wouldn’t, but the respect that she had for Monty was fading fast and she didn’t think that she’d be listening to him anytime soon.

“We were asked, by Kyoshi, on if we were going to help or not, Monty. I don’t know how Gambler ran things, but one of the things that most militaries do is simple; if the next commanding person isn’t available because they’re mentally not capable of making the choice that’s going to benefit the whole. When Joker comes here then we’ll get a second opinion, but at the moment this isn’t for the best of Area 6, but the fact that my friend is now hurt, his and my mutual friend is going into a panic because of another person getting hurt… You’re really going to just sit back and play macho while all of this is happening?” her eyes were as cold as Monty’s, but it was the door opening and Kalore leaning against the frame that had Rave and Dusk looking away.

Looking from one person to another, the blonde was blinking slowly but ignoring the presence of Monty. The man had burns on his arms and near his face from the fire that Sin had created, his hair singed and cut about five inches to get rid of the ruined parts, but other than that he looked the same; just without his normal clothes for he was wearing a pair of Dusk’s pajama pants and a tank top. Watching them, he sighed softly, shaking his head. “You’re loud… all of you.” He pushed off of the frame, making something nearing an arc to keep away from Monty. In the back of his mind, something was keeping him from believing that Monty had done all of this, but then… memories. They were there. Those couldn’t be wrong, right?

Rave spoke softly, watching Dusk, “We’ll wait for Joker and then see his own opinion. Sin is not our enemy, I will agree with Monty on that, but three people against the man that has screwed all of our heads… it’s not something that might be the wisest decision.” He soon was watching Kalore instead; curious on how he was reacting. The man seemed normal, but there was something that was off about their blonde friend; his steps were lighter, his body tense but not pained… but his scars were covered again and he had the look in his eye that Rave hadn’t seen in a while; vulnerability. It wasn’t a good look at all, faint, but… he thought he’d never see it there again.

Dusk glared at him but soon scoffed, “Whatever.” She was done with this. Dusk was someone that didn’t need to get the last word in as long as a point had been made, and her point had been made; Monty was throwing a temper tantrum. She frowned as she watched Kalore arc around the man, but she was a bit impressed that he could take looking in his general direction. It was something that told her that there was doubt still in his mind. How long would that last, though? Was he going to be able to keep that up? She didn’t think so, actually, not with how Monty had been acting. No, he definitely wasn’t going to be able to hold onto that doubt if the demon didn’t do something.

Looking over at Joker, she blinked slowly as Kit nearly raced to Kalore, checking him over and hugging him gently. “You’re okay…” Kalore looked confused before he looked at her, “You’re alright? I thought… I thought he hurt you, though…” Green hues in two sets looked over at Monty before Kit found a twitch forming under her eye, “Eri tell you that?” He continued to look confused, blinking slowly as he simply leaned against the counter. What exactly was going on? Rave stopped anything else from being said as another brief, incredibly brief, assessment of the situation was told. Just what was needed; Rave had been attacked and Gambler left him due to a puppet, the house burning down and the replaced Kalore, someone could control puppets, and they were sure that it was Sin.

Joker wasn’t in any shape to lead, but Rave at the moment didn’t care about all this. Frankly the idea of exile was looking pretty nice… but he loved Gambler and that one emotion was keeping him from doing anything other than want to get her back. Did he say anything about that? Of course not. With how Monty had been acting and with how much the demon already hated him… Why do that? “Monty… did you kill him, by the way, or simply leave him?” Him being Eri, but the word not said for risk of influencing Kalore even more. The brief statement had already confused the elf. “Wait… puppet? Of me? What?” He frowned and Kit was moving to sit on the counter, stroking his hair as a bit of a distraction. Kalore would still be good in a battle, but if Monty got his way then the elves would just be staying in the castle. Not likely that they’d listen but…

Taking in a breath, Rave was silent as Joker continued, not speaking until he was done. Even then he said nothing but instead watched Dusk, curious on how she would react. Thankfully her temper had cooled and she was standing straight in the deep red gown, her arms crossed and a look of calmed ease on her features. She didn’t say anything for a moment, but then spoke about the things that Joker had pointed to and asked about.

“The things that Rave didn’t bring up are things that at this very moment don’t matter. If you need to address them then I request that it’s later on once all of this is settled. As for Kalore… his memories have been tainted. Eri controls time and memories along with whatever else it is that he can do that we don’t know about. From what we’ve seen so far, the only memories that are tainted are the ones that involve Monty. We can’t do anything to change it because unless Monty fixes it by replacing those memories with truth, then they’ll be there. It doesn’t matter what we say, it’s not the one he remembers now.” She sighed softly, shaking her head. “But even then, that can’t be what’s focused on.”

Of course Eri was brought up, and she raised a brow at the mention of him doing something to Kit. Now wasn’t the time, however, so she didn’t ask about what he had done, but she did speak about what Joker had said, “Most of us didn’t do anything with Eri because he did more good than harm for each individual but a set few. Things have been getting worse and he had been addressed, Joker, but now he needs to be taken out. I assume that Monty didn’t kill him if that’s what Rave had asked, so that means that if he really was working with Sin, which I believe that he was but you all can decide as well, then he’s probably going to recover quickly and help him yet again.” Which was going to make all of this just that much harder.

Sighing softly, she continued, “Rave should be able to track down Eri if he’s moved. If he’s not with Sin then I’m not sure that that’s a good thing or not, but he can be taken out by whoever finds him. Scouring the city seems to be the only shot that we’ve got with this in order to find them, but going in pairs would probably be the best but that can only be done if there’s more people. Ziggy and Talon could help and would help for this; they’ve agreed to help your group whenever it’s needed because of the help that you’ve given us. For someone stronger, however, there’s three people that are in my group as well that are in the higher areas at the moment doing business. I can call them in and they’ll work just fine with whoever gets paired up with them.”

Dusk shrugged, leaning back against the wall and looking amused at Kalore’s confused expression and Kyoshi’s annoyed one. Overall, they were in better shape than what they should have been in, but the emotions needed to calm down soon, else things just wouldn’t ever get better and they would be mind blind; not a good thing at all to deal with.

“But… I’ve been told that ‘my kind’ isn’t supposed to be interfering in this anymore, so honestly it’s up to the three of you.” Rave rolled his eyes. He knew she hadn’t let that go completely.

Rave had behaved, really, he had, but sometimes even the best snapped. He didn’t do what Dusk had done, though he had thought about it, but taking in a soft breath he spoke carefully, “We have no control over what select few of our people do, Monty. I’m sure that a demon is a very upstanding citizen, no?” Eyes on Monty, he continued to frown but then glanced over at Kalore, “Kalore… Are you scared of Monty?” Kalore didn’t answer. “Frightened possibly, but scared to the point that you couldn’t work with him to get this done?” The elf thought about it, sighing some as he leaned into Kit’s touch.

“I’m not scared, no, but worried and cautious, yes. Eri… can he really manipulate memories?” Kalore frowned and Rave continued, “And that’s another problem with ‘our kind’, Monty. We don’t know what all of our people can do, much like no one knows what all you can do. It makes dealing with them harder and some things make sense, some things done. As for the death warrant…” He shrugged. “It happens in every culture, not just our own.” Dusk had to agree with that, as did Kit and Kalore, but it was Kalore that spoke. “Dusk, who are you asking to join in this?”

The woman shrugged, “Harley and the Cheshires. I don’t know anyone better for this, though I’m debating on whether or not to allow the Cheshires anywhere near these guys.” Kalore nodded some, “Just Harley then…?” “Probably.” Looking at Monty, Dusk smiled and it wasn’t pleasant, “And no worries, Monty. I don’t waste my time slitting someone’s throat that is doing a well enough job killing himself.” Rave sighed softly, shaking his head and glancing at Joker and Monty, “What do you mean the Goddess? She doesn’t typically get involved in things like this.” But Calina did, though Kalore was the only one that had any ties with the cat, and even then it wasn’t enjoyed…

Dusk raised a brow but said nothing more about it, “I’ll get changed and get a hold of Harley. You guys decide how we’re going to do this and how we’re going to split. Kalore… rest, okay?” Kalore made a face, “I’m fine.” “Kalore… you’re burned on half your body, shaky, and panicked… Please rest?” The elf sighed and was nearly pouting, the look still impossible to resist without him even trying. “Fine…” Kit chuckled, touching his hair, “I’ll get him back to health. I can fight… but you guys are way out of my league in that range…”