@RedArmyShogun
“Oh, no,” Marionette shook her head, “If Caelan can’t do it and make it back, I doubt anyone here would be able to. Naturally, your impatience and restlessness is understandable, but ultimately…what can we do but wait?”

“The silver blooded individual, isn’t the rabbit, so even if Heidemarie fell in combat against them, it’ll be nothing but revenge motivating us, right?”
The white-haired lady nodded to herself, as if all that mattered was her own opinion when regarding such matters. “No one here has the ability to deal with a bullet right now, and human shields can only go so far. You said it yourself, right?”

Bitter laughter sounded from Marionette, but was it truly that bitter? “Controlling a body doesn’t mean I control bullets. In a quick draw scenario, I can’t win nearly as flawlessly as Onyx or Caelan. And Assassinate isn’t going to help enough either. And as for your own power…well…”

She trailed off from there. “Well, if you are feeling relatively restless, how about we spend some time confirming Yohan’s fate instead? Mayhaps he was sealed, not killed? Mayhaps his companion is lost, not a murderer?”

“I’d like to think the Silver Blooded one will pay us a visit once our hunting party has come back, so hey, let’s see what scraps of power we can gather up.”

@Random @Jageroux
Madelon’s eyes widened, snapping in the direction of the strange girl that knew too much, that continued to speak of such things with enough confidence that she couldn’t help but want to trust her. In the hellscape that continued to rain cosmic fury, continued to turn wonder into ash, against an insurmountable foe that even her strongest friend couldn’t destroy, that radiance was a beacon, perhaps. A foundation to cling to, while everything else was a quagmire of violence. The trust that was placed in her, and the trust that she placed in return.

Desecrate. The tainted gift that was the only key. The witch had warned her against this, had said that it would jeopardize her soul, that losing part of her essence was better than the effects of embracing the gift, but what did she know?!

Was she the one facing down a monster of enormous proportions? The one whose every breath grew more and more ragged as oxygen was burnt to fuel supernatural flames? The one that never, ever, EVER wanted to find herself alone in that abyss again, even if that same incomprehensible fear would be chased away by the comfort of a mother she never knew?

No.

Madelon welcomed the moistness that gathered in her eyes. Welcomed the frustration that she hadn’t felt in such a long time. Hiding behind his back, unable to do a thing herself. Watching others theorize, never being able to find her own voice. Remaining nothing but a girl trying to eke out an academic life within the Dropout Districts, burning away her precious time work 16 hours every day of the weekend just to make ends meet!

“I’ll do it,” she spat venomously, hating hating HATING, “Just…show me the way.”

Hating that even still, she couldn’t do it herself.



@Jakers
Zachariah Earnest was a gentle man, one more than happy to help out his fellow clubmates. Accommodating the single-minded selfishness of the Carnival Club’s President, here he was, slaving away at crates of god-knows-what instead of taking the one course on his schedule that actually interested him. It was fine though. His professor was already aware of last night’s performance, and showed surprising leniency in terms of his absence from class, leaving the third year free to do the manual labor his parents had wanted him to escape from, and the manual labor that part of him really wished he could escape from.

Wiping the sweat off his brow, the thickly built man was reorganizing the crates within a large, mud-green gurney when an unfamiliar voice, attached to an unfamiliar face, sounded behind him. A fan? No…a fledging. Applications of club memberships were to start in two days, but it looked like the blonde Morceban, tired as his eyes indicated, couldn’t help but be particularly earnest. Well, that wasn’t a bad trait, and Zachariah was a gentle man. Shaking his head, he said, in a thick, Kiev Rus accent, “No, no need for that, friend. Tis a bit early for this, but if you’re interested in joining the Carnival Club, well, Student District, Block 23-E. Someone will be there. For better or worse, someone will always be there.”

“Those looney magic enthusiasts,” he said after a short pause, chortling. “I’m sure they’ll welcome eager young blood, especially one with a good trick!”
 
If, not when, Alice thought to herself, but did not bother to add aloud, overall Marionette had valid points, thought there was the small issue of Alice not having a power, or knowing of it at any rate. While unlikely did this other girl know something she did not? Arcing her one physical eyebrow at mention of the scraps of power.. Marionette did not hurt to speak to, but that didn't mean she should just throw all caution to the wind...

Considering her set of options, Alice nods. "Yes, I'm curious of that, plus the fate of his partner.. Though I don't believe it shall be so simple.. We know roughly which way they went, but with as long as it's been there is no guaranty they are still there.. But it's better than nothing else at all.." Staring at the girl with a bit of a frown on her own face Alice was in a bit of a bind if Marionette decided to suddenly betray her or to use Xi Feng as her personal puppet... While her power seemed to have limits there was no point in testing them so suddenly. "Xi Feng, while it seems you have little to any say in this matter, I would be thankful if you would take the lead.. I guess I can take the middle, I rather doubt you would trust me at the rear." She says staring at Marionette then tilting her head to the side while shrugging it off.

Proceeding off on the agreed upon plan Alice was more than a little disappointed with having to walk this wasteland yet again, keeping her eyes peeled to the best of her ability the Mechanical Girl really did not trust the crows, curious if they would find either of the two, or if they were actually dead..
 
Little smiles came as a visual response to the muscular man's words as he spoke, and although it was clear he was listening, the blonde man's gaze seemed to be a focused - yet tired - sort of distant.

"That's great to hear. ...I'm hoping they'll like it," Yohan replied, a distant smile accompanying his features as he tilted his head downwards in thanks. "Thank you very much."

A slight wave of goodbye to the man, and there he was again. Alone on the road to his next destination. Checking the numbers that lay upon the flaky, concrete buildings that seemed to all look so different ever since the first time he saw Ringrange completely empty. Even now, in a way, it still felt empty. The countless people - from those who 'socially wandered', to those who were hard at work - all of a sudden felt so distant. Only those with the flicker of [glow=gold]gold[/glow] in their eye made Yohan feel like he wasn't... alone.

...Ah, 23-E.

From the outside, the building seemed dreary, but with deliberation. Windows had clearly been cracked and then boarded up on purpose; rough scrapes and edges added for 'effect'. Whilst it wasn't rare for a building in Ringrange to have a somewhat rugged look about it, this one did it in a way that stood out, promoting a mysterious air about the place.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Yohan placed a pale hand on the knockerless door. Just the gentle motion of touching it seemed to creak the door open slightly, as if the interior was beckoning him in. Further creaks followed as the young student stepped inside, greeted by an interior that was almost a complete opposite to that which was outside.

The shining dark oak floor, polished and carefully cleaned, felt inviting and homely. The staircases and support beams were made of rich, earthly mahogany, suggesting whoever designed the interior of this place had a lot of money on their hands. A large amount of lighting had to be provided for the room, even in broad daylight, due to most of the windows either being boarded up, or having heavy curtains draped around them. It was a mixture of inviting and sinister, especially with nobody around to greet him. Was he really 'supposed to be here'?

Stepping a little further into the main lobby of the room, ignoring the strange decor such as the dolls scattered about, Yohan's eyes widened slightly when he saw another girl who appeared to be hard at work mixing some sorts of... strangely coloured liquids and powders? Was it a form of chemistry? Preparation for one of the tricks, perhaps? Though he felt like he was intruding, he had little other choice.

She looked familiar, though Yohan couldn't fully grasp at the connection. When he looked at her, he could recall some form of white vision - beautiful and elegant - and though he assumed she'd been in the carnival, he couldn't fully make the connection. Her appearance was earnest, her eyes bright and expressive, and her shoulder-length hair the colour of gleaming hazel. He took a few more cautious steps, stopping only when she looked up from her chemistry, presumably to see who was causing the source of the footsteps.

"Oh. Sorry... for interrupting, I..."

Stumbling over his words slightly, Yohan cleared his throat. ...Was it because he usually didn't do things like this, that he felt so oddly anxious to talk to her? Correcting his posture, the young man wore that slight, tired smile.

"I'm looking for your 'boss', if that's alright. I'm..." for some reason, Yohan was still struggling to talk, and cleared his throat. "...looking to show them one of my 'tricks'. If there's nobody here, though, I can come another day."

Well, that wasn't technically true. Maybe there wouldn't be another day to come to, but even in such times, politeness was politeness.

Suddenly, a spare quick glance at the girl allowed Yohan to finally remember that the girl he was looking at had been the ballerina, adorned in the form of a swan, who'd practically taken the stage with her elegance. At this recollection, Yohan added, somewhat quietly,

"I... really liked your act at the carnival, by the way."