Nightfall

Well, it looked like they were camping for now, something Hasta didn't really like. He really wanted to keep moving so they wouldn't catch up with with him, but he didn't complain or anything. He'll just have to "child-proof" the place when everyone else isn't looking.

Anon re-appeared and the boy caught himself staring at her breasts out of confusion, wondering why she was wearing the thing that he didn't know the name of. And why she was shirtless in the first place. He was pretty sure that shirtless girls were frowned upon in old society. He decided not to say anything about it, since none of the older kids were and floated beside them, pulling his hood up so Anon wouldn't catch him staring.

 

"Lots of cabinets and cubicles. Three stories. I keep everything in a small kitchenette. Nothing really works though except for cabinets. But good that you have first aid kits. I'm low on that stuff, especially now that I've helped with Ampy's wounds. I had to use whiskey on the poor guy. Oh yeah, big boss who used to be there had a nice stash of alcohol." She smiled now, and couldn't help but notice the kid staring. "My eyes are up here, you know. Are you on board for the shadow train? It looks like I have two takers already. Oi! Wolfy! Epsil! You coming too?" she called to them.

 

Cal listened attentively to Epsil, nodding occasionally in understanding, but by the end of the conversation, he didn't feel any better – even though he knew Epsil's words were true.  Cal couldn't help but feel a little inward anger towards himself and his 'allies,' he knew this was a dangerous place, but he couldn't risk the only stable thing he'd been a part of fall into ruin because of mistrust and paranoia.

He noticed the nameless girl teleport from and back to what was to be assumed her office building – which was exactly what Cal had in mind for a good nights stay, but he was still a little on edge about the twins, and what their motives may be. He was also torn about whether or not he should stay with Epsil, or go into the office to spy on the twins. He also knew that he hadn't used the energy from the large greater, considering he wasn't transformed at the time, and could easily use it to power himself up – but he'd wait for a better time.

At last, a final, but seemingly unsure decision was made. Cal stepped away from the nameless girl and shook his head. ”I'm going to hang back with Epsil, or at least be alone for now, I need some time to think.” He turned his back from the girl and began a slow walk, eventually making his way past Epsil, and patting him on the shoulder. ”I'm taking the scenic route.” He said quietly to Epsil, hoping his implication would sink in as he trudged off.

 

"Alrighty then, hold on to your hats and your guts. Squeeze my ass you lose a hand, and by losing it, I'll leave it behind. It's only for a few seconds." She instructed, and they both disappeared into the shadows. A few seconds of rushing and darkness would leave him a little dizzy, but intact, and right in front of Fisher. "Told you he's still alive." she smirked, and disappeared into the shadows again. She reappeared back with the group. "Next!"

 

Hasta's face flushed red as he was caught staring: He was so caught off guard that he stopped floating for a bit, causing him to fall right on his ass. His face became even redder as he pushed himself back up, sheepishly glancing off to the side. "W-walking," he spat out. Teleporting sounded uncomfortable, and he preferred his own methods of travels. Plus, he didn't really like being physically close to people. He turned his back to the group, trying to hide his flustered expression by pulling the strings of his hood.

 

"Alright kiddo, I'll walk you there with Wolfy. Patience." She took Corsa next, letting the male twin hold her arm as they disappeared with the shadows. He reappeared in the office where Epsil and Fisher were, and she left them to their devices while she grabbed Cana and returned with her. "I'll be back in about an hour. I have to walk Wolfy and the kid here. Don't break anything, don't drink all the booze. I'll punch people who do." she snapped at the group before disappearing into the darkness.

An hour past by, and she had walked to the building in silence, not wanting to talk much in general. She had nothing in common with these two, and it was probably the most awkward walk in her life. She led the pair upstairs and let them join the group. "Well, home sweet home. How are you feeling, Ampy?" she asked.

 

Ampheres had endured the swabbing of his back as well as he could, although he did leave some teeth marks in the leather of the belt he was given to bite down on. As Anon left, he decided to do some exploring, and adjust his bandages to his body. The bandages fit his form nearly perfectly; they hardly even hindered his movement range, which was fantastic. After wandering around he found a stash of whiskey in one of the cabinets and brought it back to where Anon had fixed him up. All the whiskey was the same brand which led Ampheres to the conclusion that this had been taken from a wrecked delivery truck or a company liquor store that hadn't been looted. It had been a long time since he had had any good alcohol so he tried a swig of the already opened bottle.

The liquid burned down his throat, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. The first bottle was finished by the time Anon had come back with the rest of the group. The alcohol brought out a slightly drunken lisp as he answered his healer's question. "This ith thome pretty good thstuff you got here. You want to thelebrate a victory with me? Here," he said as he shoved unopened bottle of whiskey in Anon's face, "Let'th have a party!" He finished off his last exclamtaion by opening a new bottle for himself and downing about a fourth of it in one go.

 

Hasta tried walking for once, but it wasn't very long until he deemed walking as too tiring and began to float the whole way to Anon's base, traveling in awkward silence. They eventually rejoined with the others, but something was awfully wrong about Fisher. His nose twitched at the smell of alcohol and he looked at Anon with a confused look on his face. Fisher wasn't talking or acting like he normally did... "Why is Fisher acting all weird...?" he asked innocently. Is it what he was drinking? That seems most likely.

 

Cal didn't speak as he made slow, heavy steps in the dark dirt, making his eventual way to Anon's base. He enjoyed the company he was in, but wasn't willing to let it go to waste over a few strangers. He wanted time to think, he needed time to think. After all, it wasn't every day you see people with strange masks want to join forces and still have something to hide – then again, everyone in this group had something to hide – that would change, it had to.

The black wolf didn't pay much attention as he neared Anon's self proclaimed establishment – nor was he particularly interested in going inside. Instead, he stood outside in the doorway, staring absently out into the horizon on thoughts of himself, and his companions as he did his best to breath in 'fresh-air' even though all of it was riddled with soot and ash, no doubt from dead demons and the like. At the same time, he gave himself a mental-once over to make sure he was full enough not to 'reach-out' to anyone while they slept – not like he needed to, and so he decided it was best and inform someone that he could guard until they awoke, or whenever they desired he should stop.

He headed into the doorway, placing a paw on the rusted doorframe as his muzzle was instantly indicated of a smell he'd not had in years. ”Gods, you have alcohol!” He said as he burst into the room, bearing witness to a humorous display of a drunken Fisher, all wrapped in bandages, as he attempted to get the other party members in on the revelry. Moving to the open cupboard that had stored the many bottles of whiskey Cal set his paws on two of the bottles and pulled them out, setting them on a nearby table, and popping off the caps.

”Ha, ha! Holy shit it's been so long!” Cal exclaimed joyfully as he swigged the contents of the bottle, rubbing his stomach gingerly as the sensation of warmth filled him. Even though his enjoyment of the substance was evident, it seemed that the condition the beverage was known for bore no effect on the anthromorph, as he downed the first bottle without so much as a hiccup. ”Hasta, get your scrawny ass in here and share some booze with me!”

 

"I said don't fucking drink all the booze." She snapped, punching Cal in the face. "Ampy gets pity points for being crazy injured. Those were nasty. But yeah, I use this booze for cleaning wounds and lowering pain after the cleaning. How do you think Ampy is happily on his way to having intact skin on his back without too much risk of infection? I've literally kept that up as long as I have by saving it for important things. Maybe once in a blue moon do I get bored and start drinking. Also, cut the kid a break. At least one person here shouldn't be corrupted by the bullshit." She sighed, and took Cal's other opened bottle, putting the one Ampy had given her away before taking a swig. She'd need it, since it looked like these guys were too excited. "The stuff that's out already can stay. The rest we save." She may have a temper, but it seemed she had a pragmatic side to her. Being pragmatic was a good quality to have in this town; it kept you alive. With an irritated sigh, she took a long swig that left the bottle half empty.

 

Ampheres was a little disappointed when Epsil took away all the whiskey. "What a buzz kill," was all the fisherman had to say in response to losing his bottle, but when Epsil left to wandering off after spitting fire--something that Ampheres was too drunk to notice as his second display of elemental power--he got up and stumbled over to grab the bottle he had been about to drink and uncapped it. He managed to avoid spilling it as he took another long swig before speaking again. "Who needth firth aid when you have water?" he slurred out to the crowd.

The water elemental walked over to Anon and threw his free arm around her neck and began to walk her out of the building. "Tho where'th thith lake thuppothed to be at?" he slurred out to her as he walked through the door with another swig of whiskey. In his drunken state he didn't quite register that Anon still hadn't put a shirt on, but to him it was irrelevant. They approached the lake slowly, talking as well as they could all along the way. Ampheres tripped over a clump off grass and decided that he shouldn't be walking anymore, so he decided to look for a blanket in the trunk of wrecked cars lined up near the lake. There was a battered blanket in the fourth car he searched in so he spread it out near the shore, in a place that it would be hard for people to find and invited Anon to sit there with him.

"You know, I don't like fighting. It'th thomething that hath to be done to protect ourselveth and the people we care for, but I with it hadn't come to this. Humanity fighting for thurvival." He took a small swig of whiskey, which was enough to finish it, before laying the empty bottle beside him and once more throwing an arm around Anon. "It'th good to be with people again after being alone for tho long. Thank you for patching me up too, I'm feeling a lot better with the bandageth." As his little conversation came to a close, Ampheres stared at the shimmering lake and blacked out.

 

She was incredibly confused when Ampy had thrown an arm around her and brought her out to the lake. She could smell the alcohol on him, and it was strong. As they walked out, she grabbed another bottle of her own, the one that had been taken away from her. She'd need it in his current weird state. Was he flirting? She was hardly around men enough to really know anymore.

Reluctantly, she sat beside him and listened to him. "No problem." she said, taking a swig of her own bottle, enough to finish it. Her small body also failed to handle the alcohol as well as, say, Wolfman inside. This bottle proved to be a mistake as she drank more and more. The questions and conversations grew fuzzier and fuzzier, more forgetable as things wore on, and she blacked out as well.

 

Hasta silently slipped away from the party before it could get out of hand. He found his way up to the building's roof and decided to stay there for the night, away from all the commotion from the party. He pulled off his jacket, revealing his once white blood stained tank top and the strange symbols carved into his arms. He hissed and began rubbing his arms: It's been a while since he last took off his jacket. Finding a nice place to lie down, he placed his folded-up jacket under his head and fell asleep, ignoring the ever growing childish laughter from the distance.

 

Hasta's eyes were open the second Corsa stepped off the stairs and onto the roof. "I'm not a heavy sleeper, you know." He pulled himself up so he was sitting and took his bloody shirt off, revealing more symbols and weird circles on his chest and back. He spat on his shirt and wiped the blood off his arms before pulling his jacket on. He didn't want to get any blood on his jacket, really. He stood up and looked over the edge, into the alleyway below. It was blocked from the other roads by rubble and obscured by the shadows of the great buildings. If he looked carefully, he would've seen several human corpses. Not only that, but they were those of children. "The demons aren't our only enemy," Hasta muttered. "Speaking of which, I think Epsil's been busy."

 

Hasta grew silent, closed his eyes, and sighed. "There are people who want to rebuild the world. And there are people, crazy, crazy people, who want to destroy it." He shrugged and stood awfully close to the edge, his feet half on and half off. He leaned forward just a little bit, looking down at the ground below, completely unfazed by the probability that he might fall. But he was an air elemental, so he had nothing to worry. Again, he grew silent, listening. "...Epsil's splashing around in water somewhere. I can hear heartbeats around the same area, too. Two of them. It's probably Anon and Fisher. I think they're sleeping." He straightened his back and glanced over his shoulder at Corsa. "Are we gonna look for them?"