#revivalbeast

As much as he wanted to rush there immediately — and attempted to, at first — rationally, he wasn't getting in without a plan. He paid his way into a service uniform and a hefty, realistically-marked box, and then he approached the entrance with clear eyes behind sunglasses and a pounding heart.

The building itself was a front, but presented itself as a bar-karaoke members-only establishment. It was technically just past opening time when he approached, and the area was still deserted. Hiyori hoped that meant the place was going to be thin on employed troublemakers.

He shifted the box and knocked at the door. Someone peered out through a window in the door, and after giving him a pointed look, opened it. One point for the Spirale*Mart delivery driver disguise!

"A delivery, now? Who for?" the stranger asked, and Hiyori stepped in, rotating the package to give him a good look at the recipient. By researching them, he'd found out a name of someone higher-ranked that often showed up there and marked it on the box. "Jefferson, huh... guess she won't want to wait on this." An uncertain look back at the door, his assigned post, gave Hiyori the opening he needed.

"It's my job to get the packages to their recipient. Just tell me where I can find her," he said in a level voice, and while the guard looked at him through narrowed eyes, the goon gave in easily. Laziness was so useful in others at times.

"I'm not really supposed to let you do that, but I'm not supposed to leave this spot either. Sure, what the hell. Head toward the back of the place, office three."

"Pleasure doing business with you," Hiyori replied with a nod of his head, walking at a measured pace further into the building. He didn't hear the clack of shoes suddenly turn to chase him, so step one was a resounding success.

Of course, now he was in enemy territory. Other dangers awaited, and his improvisational skills were going to get a workout today.

🎔 Céline stepped forward to help Alecto hook the clasp around her wrist. She definitely didn't blame her, it could be hard to put on a bracelet with only a single hand if you hadn't practiced. But Alecto was shaking. Was that a good thing? Constantine never shook when she gave him gifts, and it had been so long since she'd gifted anyone else anything. "You're welcome! I'm glad you like it!"

It was always too dangerous to get close to others. On some level she distrusted humans. Alecto was different.

"After you, then."

Even if she wasn't trouble, she had the size to make some whenever she wanted. He's a little sick of drama at this point, honestly.

Body change, mind change. Research Resident had warned him.

Body hungry. Hungry. Hungry.

He sees something in front of him. Human?

Kill.

He lunges towards them with a wordless growl, nails ready to rip into them.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

Eat. Eat. Eat.

Andrew had slipped out of their room in the middle of the night, whispering to a sleeping Thomas that he'd be back before sunrise -- that the other boy wouldn't even miss him, before softly kissing the top of his head.

Of course, waiting until the last moment on the final day for the Candle Lighting for the Lost did have its downsides. On the one hand, there were fewer people here, like Andrew had expected, but on the other, it left him and an extremely tall, intimidating woman both staring at the same candle: the only candle left.

Reading the sign next to the candle, Andrew realizes that he must have read the rules wrong before, briefly skimming them over while hiding his phone from Thomas (he knew Thomas's love for him was soft and didn't want the other boy to worry over him). This wasn't a memorial for those who were dead at all, but rather those who had come to this place and were now gone. The rules did permit lighting a candle for loved ones still in the city, but Andrew wonders why he would do that when he would rather tell Thomas to his face how much he adores him -- when Andrew wishes for Thomas's happiness every day.

Disappointed and eager to avoid a confrontation, Andrew pushes the candle towards the woman.

"You can have it. It won't work for me anyway. Not like it's supposed to."

🎔 "Have you ever been to anything like a hot spring before, Alecto?" The two had yet to enter the water, but Céline double checked that her own towel was tight enough before checking Alecto's as well. They were seemingly alone since it was late at night, but better safe than sorry?

🎔 This was an unusual situation to find herself in to say the least. Céline had more or less figured out the gist of it, though. For some reason, Alecto and herself had been pulled into some kind of commercial. One for an island resort. The scenes would change all of a sudden here and there, but probably because they didn't look the part, it had thrown them into a store with a number of swimsuits on display.

Was it not going to progress until they got changed?