#shadowests

Mystified. That was an emotion Bianca found herself never able to avoid, no matter what happened to her. And were it not for those strangers in white coats, she would have assumed she’d somehow wandered into another sector of the Underworld. This wasn’t like anything she’d seen there--her father preferred classic architecture--but the smell wasn’t too far off. 

There was also the persisting feeling that nothing was at peace here. This place was an anomaly, both fraught with and yet absent of death. She understood what she’d been told, that it would somehow put her plans on hold and keep her present as long as seen fit. She was considerably weaker, somehow weaker than while dead. It wasn’t something she could fight, they said, but that didn’t mean her mind wasn’t reeling with ways to contradict that. 

Five hours in, and Bianca is weary of keeping her fingers poised ready on the spine of her bow. The weird looks she got, the snickering comments were...embarrassing, to say the least, and none of the monsters here seemed interested in her.  In fact, things almost seemed calm. This was suspicious enough in itself, but she didn’t have the decades of practice as a Hunter to keep the discipline of guard an entire day. Truth be told, the toy replacing her weapon was a bit disheartening too. She was alone and lost here, virtually defenseless save for what her mind could conjure. She would have to make do, without Artemis or her friends. 

When hunger struck her, she almost couldn’t believe it. The Underworld had a tendency to play tricks on you, making one believe they were experiencing sensations present in life. In Bianca’s case her sentience remained and these sensations would disappear the moment she consciously recognized them, rather than drive her deeper into oblivion. Perks of being a daughter of the lord of death, she guessed. 

It wasn’t a place she recognized, but she saw people (or what she hoped were people) inside with ice cream and coffee. It was enough to lure her inside, settle in a booth with a good window’s view while her fingers thawed around a cup of cheap black coffee. Well...she might have snuck one sugar packet or two into the mix. Bianca plucks a fry and chews with little interest.      

Right just...get your thoughts together. No need to overthink it. Leaning toward the window to watch the streets, her gaze dims into space. No answers she gleamed from those already here were very helpful, so she’s not quite sure what is to be done. The “normal” life they seemed to imply was dubious. Not to mention, Bianca had trouble picturing how anyone was supposed to live a life like that after finding out that they weren’t normal at all. That train left station a while ago, bub. She wasn’t buying it.          

          Reaching forward, a firm grips comes down onto his shoulder, which makes him stop and stiffen. He must be alarmed at the sudden physical contact, though he should calm down once he sees who it is. She's not really a face that someone could forget even if they wanted to. As he starts to turn, her hand is taken off of his shoulder and goes back to her side, ❝ You remember me, don't you? ❞ As best as she tries to look unassuming and friendly, she can't help it that there's just that little bit of 'You had better remember me.' in her tone.

          ❝ I never did catch your name that night. ❞ Maybe because she'd like to forget it.

Opens up a blank text.

To: Nico Di Angelo From: Ayato Kirishima

i grab u and punch u in the face then i throw u into the air and i jump after you and kick u in the tummy then i put you in a special hold and slam u against a tree and then i charge up a rasengan and hit u with it in the face where is my brother sasuke

    With his bone structure being as it was, Kurt often had to stretch and take poses an average human would find impossible just to stay comfortable. In fact, he felt most comfortable when he was performing these ‘incredible’ feats, as they reminded him of his days in the circus, and made people think he was simply in costume. So it was that he found a nice spot on the side of the street to begin stretching, out of the way, but only partially out of sight. He didn’t mind if people watched, so long as they didn’t feel afraid. 

          ❝ What. A. Surprise. That you're still here and alive, that is. ❞

The trip to the district known as Olympia was not one that could be made on foot. The land, housed in the sky, was only accessible by those with certain ranks under normal circumstance, but special arrangements had been made in this case. It was in the sky, so the only method of reaching it was by aircraft or, if one was lucky enough to possess them, their own wings.

While her wings were not her own, Wendy Marvell did possess a flying companion named Carla. Usually she’d fly with Carla as her wings, but in this case she had to board the plane with the others or else they wouldn’t be able to gain access to the district. Which should have been fine...

Except transportation made her sick in the worst way.

It wasn’t a lack of resolve or anything like that, but rather a condition caused by the type of magic she wielded. Dragon Slayers just couldn’t tolerate transportation, to the point where they were extremely sick riding it. All in all, probably not a great first impression for the others, whom were likely already doubting her leadership ability considering she was only fourteen.

It was a long hour.

Eventually, however, the plane landed. The squad disembarked, and her condition cleared up practically immediately. They’d landed in an unpopulated area of the floating isle, and yet technology was spread before them. In a way, it looked more like a city after being hit by an apocalypse. It was as if, at some point, everyone had just dropped everything they were doing and left. But as a Sky mage, she was sensitive to the clean air at this altitude. It was clean, yet... something seemed off about it.

But that’s what made it worthy to explore, even if the threat of monsters and bandits still lurked.

Twirling, the girl suddenly faced the group with her talking, flying cat, Carla, in her arms.

“Okay! I know we talked a little on the plane...” Well, she tried. “But maybe we should do introductions again? I’m Wendy Marvell, mage of Fairy Tail and leader of this group! As you all know, we’ll be searching for clues about the true nature of the city, as well as artifacts and resources for the city to use.”

“And I’m Carla. Though I’ll be spending most of the trip scouting ahead.”

        As much as she'd have liked to dismiss the rumors concerning the creature, when Rin had first heard of the presence of the Wendigo in District Auburn, it had immediately piqued her interest. Such a creature was only talked of in legends and to think that people living in the district had seen a such a thing was rather...horrific. And so without much thought, she'd decided on going to see it for herself just to see whether it was true or not. After all, anything is fake unless seen with your own two eyes. 

         It hadn't been that long of a journey to her destination, but with exchanging her usual light attire with a costume it made it just a little harder to move around. The frilly skirt coupled with the cape and wand...plus the cat ears and tail was a bit much, she'd admit. But it was all about getting into the Halloween spirit. 

         The sun began to set behind the trees as she finally made her way to the District, a local stood at the entrance to the deep wooded area and next to them stood someone who was probably like her, looking for the creature as well. His costume was nothing special, grim reapers were common...but it was a good choice for Halloween attire. She approaches the both of them. ❝ I guess I'm not the only one looking for this...creature. ❞ Hands move to either side of her hips now as she gave a sigh. She should’ve expected as much.