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He didn't make a move to help her bandage herself up, but Gale didn't make a move to attack, either. He felt tired, drained of the energy he had had previously - and besides that, he did not feel any particular desire to fight Mei.

Not anymore.

What's wrong with me?

<< Nothing. Just breathe. Breathe, Gale. >>

He tried, for the most part, but stood there, Jinhai still summoned, the weight of the rifle familiar and comforting in his hand. Mei was pacing in front of him, but said nothing - and neither did Gale. Instead, he waited for her to speak first.

Except when she did, it was not exactly what he had expected.

"...you want to know...what the horsemen have done to us?" he asked, startled by the question - and by the fact that it seemed as though she were having doubts. Mei, have doubts? The one who had been kidnapped by Caelius, who had been so adamant about her beliefs that they had fought many times over it?

Mei, who had gotten under his skin, in spite of all of that? Gale lifted a gloved hand, rubbing tiredly at his head.

"They..." he started to say, and then trailed off, trying to collect his thoughts.

"...they're monsters," he said finally, but while there was anger in his words, there seemed to lack energy. He was too tired to be completely worked up over them, even with his animosity towards those beasts. "They've destroyed many of our kind, as you say. They seem to think of little else but themselves, and their own agendas. They killed - "

Gale stopped abruptly, his expression muted. They killed Ben and they killed Julie, he had been going to say, but somehow that felt private, too personal to share just yet.

"Let's just say if it came down to it, I'd rather kill one of them than one of you."

Leaning a little on the gun, Gale exhaled slowly, rubbing a tired hand over his face. He couldn't deny that he had felt uncomfortable for a long time regarding the horsemen - more than uncomfortable, angry - but learning that Halloween felt the same way was not what he had expected at all. Weren't they supposed to be on the same side as the horsemen?

He was starting to get a headache - and at Mei's next words, his head snapped up abruptly.

"...what...are you saying, exactly?" he asked, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "That the horsemen are not to be trusted? We knew that already, though. They're selfish and cowardly. They only want what they can get for themselves - at least, that's what I've seen. They are a merciless brand of creature."

His voice softened a little. "You Halloween creatures, at least...you may be volatile and angry and sometimes you don't know when to just back off, but...you're not heartless."

Jinhai made a small, soft sound in his head, something like a gentle purr, and Gale gave a small snort, shaking his head.

"Most of you, at least."

((disclaimer: iPad post so there might be typos! Plus I have some Vicodin hanging out in the system :3a))



Context in this world of Halloween and humans was an important thing. For Bul, so little context was available when Mei called upon him after receiving a harrowing tagging by the hunters one of which would set Bul on a feral edge. Though he was too a monster the boil would only ever truly act defensively. After all he never wanted to be a part of this mess anyway.

And yet here he found himself venturing along the parameters of the Haunted House, a place which proved ever still unbiased. Neither hunter nor Halloween (nor horseman really) seemed to be master and commander of the sentient vessel. Feeling the old and prickled wood beneath his toes, the scaley half beast sniffed vigorously. A fresh fight- the tingle of raised FEAR led him to believe he was not the only one near. However wandering the mansion was never as much of a wild shuffle as it would lend itself in lore- for as Bul proceeded into one of the rooms, it lead his straight to a conflict of interest.

One where he was staring down the gold and white coat of a familiar small human and the flash of red magenta from his ghoul friend.

Naturally, the monster boil bristled forth, teeth snarling and looking as though he'd caught his own mother cheating.

"MEI-" he practically hissed, though his eyes caught sight of the hunters improved Jinhai. Natural reflexes kicked in, and the one day to be trick or Treater halted. His tail whipped furiously behind him and his nostrils flared nervously. Clearly the two had been there long enough already. Unfortunately for Bul, he had no idea on what terms they currently stood upon. He also didn't receive a distress text from his ghoul friend, leaving the half beast suspicious of an ambush.

"what's going on..." he growled softly, as if it could intimidate.

"Caelius..? That was..the hunter that spoke with us, yes?" He was quite intimidating, she thought. Someone she definitely didn't want to tangle with. Not if she could help it. "Yes, Madea is the priestess you speak of." To be honest, as charming and kind as she appeared, Madea scared the hell out of Mei. There was something dark about her..

"MEI-"

Startled, Mei spun around, wide eyed to see her boilfriend stepping into the room. It was obvious that she was shocked to see him here, especially since finding this place was not always by choice. Recovering from her shock, she looked from Bul to Gale as he desummoned his weapon and then back to Bul. "W-we're just talking, about some of the things concerning the horsemen I told you about as well."

Rubbing that back of her neck, she returned her gaze to Gale, growing silent for a moment. "I'm..not sure. I've definitely been considering it. But.." She glanced back at Bul for a moment. "I.."

"Caelius, my boss," said Gale, with just the slightest trace of a grimace. "He's very capable and very powerful, as you've already seen. He just needs to work on his people skills a little more."

Mei even considering to be on their side was mind-blowing, Gale's thoughts thrown into complete and utter confusion. He wasn't entirely certain how to take this - obviously it wasn't a lie, she was telling the truth (there was no reason for her not to tell the truth, after all), and Mei had already proven herself to be level-headed and intelligent.

As for Bul...well, Gale couldn't deny that he understood the protective instincts within the creature. Just as he would protect Eva to the death, he knew this one would protect Mei. He was strong and he was cautious - and right now he was suspicious, though Gale couldn't really blame him.

"You're not dead weight," he said quietly. "Not to me. I know we've had clashes in the past, and I know we've been fighting against you for a long time. I've chosen my side, after all. "

Frustrated, he lifted a hand, pushing gloved fingers through his pale hair. Jinhai made a soft thrumming sound in his mind, quietly reassuring, and Gale dropped his hands again, his gaze flickering towards the pair in front of him.

"I can't promise you that things won't get bloody," he said. "Because I know they will. I know you can't fully trust me, being what I am and being what you are, and I wouldn't expect you to. But if you do this - if the horsemen come, and you choose us - " He glanced towards Bul. "I can at least promise you one thing."

Gale took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

<< Or everything. >>

"And that is that I will defend you. If the horsemen come, and you are working with us - I will do my best to make sure that you are protected."

He lifted both of his hands, a gesture of humility, light from the room glinting off of the silver and gold banded ring on his finger. "I swear."

As if Gale could protect himself from the horsemen. Bul thought to himself sternly but decided it best not to act snide towards the hunter. This is one that he'd fought himself, encountered in battle more than once, and generally recognized. He'd be lying to himself to consider Gale a weak opponent. Regardless of his rank though, Bul knew what horsemen were capable. One single Invictus could tear the three of them apart in this very room at this very hour. It was a suicide pact to go up against a horseman.

Like swallowing a bitter pill, Bul let Mei explain the scenario of Tybalt and the trance. Not having experienced it for himself, Bul continued to frown suspiciously. Eventually though his kind began to wander.

"That time when we caught that hunter..." Bul began when he had the floor once more. "He seemed he would rather die than ever cooperate with the likes of us." the monster now turned to Gale again. "I didn't agree that he needed to be ended, I felt we could get some use out of him that didn't involve destroying him out of revenge. But you two are talking about a concept that contradicts everything that has happened between us since the beginning.." there was a quiver in the creatures voice. "And even if the horsemen pose a threat, you have the majority of Amityville ready to end themselves-" buls voice cracked, "before they would ever consider a hunter their ally." The boil threw a hand out, balancing an imaginary weight and shoving it between Gale and Mei. "The odds here look like s**t! Now unless there's some grand hunter scheme that doesn't involve striking My classmates down and turning them into tools of war where we can all just live happily ever after then you will continue to have my skepticism."

A pause from the boil revealed he was really shaken to the point of tears. he reached up with his thick scaly fingers to rub each eye with his thumb and took a deep breath. "Mei I understand what this means to you. It scares me, it truly scares me. But knowing that things are just ready to get worse makes it hard for me to want that great victory we've always had coming. I just don't want a damn war."




((Jesus that wasn't even that sad and I'm having the teary feels ;; ))

Mei was surprised to discover that Bul was there when that hunter had been captured by the students. At first, she wasn't sure if it was true or not when Caelius had brought it up, but this apparently confirmed that he was truthful after all. Thankfully, Bul was not one of the students who wished for their death.

"I know that..I know how everyone feels about the hunters. I wouldn't expect them to help, that's like asking the impossible at the moment. But if we just wait around to see how this all plays out, then we might be a little too late to do anything about it all. Right now, my instincts are telling me that the horsemen are bad news."

The matter of the hunters weaponizing on the other hand, was something she was still trying to work around. There was no way she would assist with that. "If..if I did end up helping you hunters--and that's a big if--It would be strictly dealing with the four clans. I won't harm any of my classmates, not unless they have thrown their lot in with the horsemen. The whole weaponize project you have; its something I will never approve of."

Shaking her head, she knew the odds were bad for them. There was nothing they could do about that right now. But what Gale said..she agreed with it. She would rather fight for a small chance then not fight at all. "I know, Bul..it scares me too. But we're already caught up in it, and its only going to get worse from here, no matter who we're with."

Rubbing her forehead, she loosed a small sigh. "We don't even have to decide anything right this moment. There's nothing saying that the rest of the hunters would even agree to this idea anyways."