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Stella put a hand to her chin as Vivian explained to her what the status of her planet was. "I see." Stella must have thought that it was pretty rough to live where Vivian had been from. It wasn't as though Stella disliked the rain, and unless she was hanging out with Kelsey it only served to be background noise for her. That being said, she thought it could get a bit tiresome if it went on for the majority of the year. "Well, it certainly sounds rough where you come from, but we don't have many forests where we're from and the weather's normal enough right?" Stella, immediately upon saying this, had no real frame of reference for what a "normal" world's weather was, having only been to one, but didn't backpedal to correct herself. As the girl walked around grabbing a few folders for each of them, as well as a few other miscellaneous supplies, she began to think aloud. "I wonder what the weather here is like?" After a bit more walking around, Stella continued to grab more and more objects, ranting about their glory and necessity for a successful school career, taking up Kelsey on her offer to carry things and absentmindedly shoving more and more onto her to lift. With a smile on her face, the girl let out a sigh to signify the end of their shopping escapade saying, "well, I think that should about cover- " Stella turned around to see her encumbered friend saying, "uhh...oops."

Anyway

Raijin shot out of his bed as the loud screaming filled the room. "WHAT THE FUCK?" He shouted, falling out of his bed. "Why?" He grumbled, struggling to kick off the sheets on him. Clearly annoyed, he eventually managed to pick himself up, rubbing his eyes as he let out a loud yawn. He made his way towards the bathroom, leaving the sheets on the ground as he got himself ready. He seemed oblivious to anything else in the room at the moment - the only thing in his mind was how pissed he was. He was having a good dream for once too. Eventually, he made his way towards where the rest of the people. Despite having taken a bit of time to get ready, he still looked like he had just gotten out of bed. From what he gathered, he was being sent to Hearthhome with a group while the other group was going to Tubro City. The other three girls of his group started chatting about the mission while Raijin simply sat there, scratching the side of his head. This was a good assemble of teammate to have - two of them had personal investment in Hearthhome, and the other one was Kiyoko. This was going to be an easy ride, where he wouldn't have to do much. Perfect. Right on queue, Kiyoko spoke up to answer Octavia's doubts. Raijin crossed his arms. "Hell, if we're lucky this Dread Knight guy is probably already hunting down our cult." He said, placing his hands behind his head as he slouched down more in his chair. "I mean, if they're causing a ruckus he should be on their case, right?"

Kiyoko had stood by in the morning, as silent and unflinching as always at the news that had come. Both of their companion having had to leave as well as the start of their missions coming up. As it turned out, the group of signers was being split up, with each half of them taking on a different city. Kiyoko did not really have much of a preference in which city it was she was going to. In fact, she didn't even really know anything about the cities to begin with. As such, a small frown crossed her face, hearing that the place she was going to investigate was as crime ridden as it was. Though, she couldn't really think much about that as the doubts of one of her companions was voiced aloud to them. Looking to Octavia Kiyoko, matter of factly, stated, "it's simple. We don't fail. Our task is simple and necessary, and that we are being asked to do this means that there is no one else who could have already. So, we simply have to keep in mind that we cannot fail and we won't." Kiyoko nodded to herself as she made this declaration. "While the Dread Knight might be a problem, if we must cooperate with him and he is unwilling then," Kiyoko gestured to Shannon, echoing her sentiment in saying, "we will simply convince him with both our goal and might. And if he still refuses, then he is merely help, not a necessity."

Shannon woke up early, taking the time to get herself ready. She was glad to have her vanity as she brushed her hair, humming softly. The dark room didn't bother her too much, considering she was used to doing this in that dreary cell she had called home up until the night before. As she dressed herself in a nice suit, she spun back and forth slowly, looking at every angle. Perfect. Always look the part you're playing, after all. A quick glance at the clock told the girl that it was nearly 8 AM, which surprised her. How could someone sleep in like that? Sure, the tests were a bit strenuous at times, but if you're not an early bird, how do you get the worm? Resuming her humming, she left the room peacefully, making sure to close the door as quietly as possible. As she neared the cafeteria, a strange sound, like a man... yelling? Yodelling? Something? sounded out for about 30 seconds, before going quiet again. Curious. Probably Mr. E's weird idea of a joke alarm. Entering the cafeteria, a glance at the clock confirmed that it had just turned 8, so that's likely exactly what it was. Getting a cup of coffee and a bagel, much like the day before, Shannon took her seat and politely greeted Blues, before peacefully enjoying her breakfast, watching as everyone piled in... except Hotaru. She waved to her roommate as she had entered with a smile, motioning for Octavia to sit next to her. She was elated when Octavia did just that, though she only showed a slightly wider smile than normal. Once they were all there, aside from the dreary girl, Blues began. "Today, we're going to be doing the leg work, looking for those blood ritualists," The map itself zoomed into two different cities. "The two cities we're tackling are Turbo City and Hearthome," "We're planning on sending Shannon, Jet, Tora, and Zirco there. The area is normally well guarded, as we have the current duel champ living there, but since his master, Jack Atlas, has disappeared, Kyouji hasn't been keeping an eye on the area. He won't even return our calls, the poor thing, so, we'll have you four check the area out, and if you meet Kyouji, try to talk some sense into him. I'd say duel him but... Well, I don't think that's a duel any of you could win right now," That was well and good, though the choices of companions were... boring, to say the least. Unimpressive, overall. But the more pressing question wa- "... What happened to Hotaru?" He asked, the question leaving the air tense. "... Well, it turned out she wasn't ready, and... we took her away to get treatment. At the rate it was going, she was going to hurt everyone here, and herself," Mr. E admitted. "I'm sure you'll see her again though," He added optimistically. "Any other questions?" "...I see. A pity." Shannon held her smile, but someone near her could notice that she was clinching her fists hard as she spoke, "Well, only those on board should be here, right?" "Y-Yes sir...I-I have one." Jet spoke up, "I-If he doesn't...c-c-cooperate...w-what's the next move?" "Why, we challenge him, of course," Shannon chimed in, "While they may think we won't win... We can at least show our resolve, no? Though, I must say that our dear Mr. E is underestimating us, and losing is not my planned outcome~."

Octavia »»————-　♡　————-«« The loud sound that echoed through the facility was more than enough to wake up Octavia, her hair falling down in front of her face as she mumbled softly and rubbed at her eyes. It wasn't easy for her to really get active right away once she was out of Hearthome, without having to worry from the chaos of the city, she didn't have that drive to get up and get active immediately. But that noise was almost enough to get her to jolt up like in the past. She stumbled to her feet quickly as she started to get dressed, either not caring that Shannon was in the room, or suitably distracted from that fact as she pulled on her clothing for the day. She tied her hair up behind her head as she took a deep breath, scrambling out of the room before even looking back as she ran out, ready to head down for breakfast and possibly explanations. »»————-　♡　————-«« "Good morning, Please, sit down. I'll explain what we're doing today as you all eat," Octavia didn't need to be told twice for that, she was already working on piling up a plate full of various foods and goodies for her to nibble on as busy started up. It wouldn't do any good for her to be caught thinking about serious matters on an empty stomach anyway. "Today, we're going to be doing the leg work, looking for those blood ritualists," The map itself zoomed into two different cities. "The two cities we're tackling are Turbo City and Hearthome," Hearthome. She hadn't expected to hear that name so soon, she figured they wouldn't be dealing with that... Problem until much later. It was going to be hard to restore any sense of normality to a city so downtrodden at this point. But she kept an open mind as she listened to the plan being set forward, well... At least she planned on it, but they started with Turbo City and she wasn't on the team for that particular location. She hummed a little bit to herself as she nibbled on her breakfast, but a growing pit in her stomach was slowing her appetite just a bit. "As for Hearthome, we're sending Kiyoko, Natsumi, Octavia, Raijin." Natsumi was good. Octavia didn't know any of them particularly well, but Natsumi and her had a similar goal in mind. The other two... Raijin was a bit of a wild card and she had no idea what to expect with Kiyoko... And there was also the fact she had no idea if either of them knew what Hearthome was truly like now. She could ease them into it if they did, but... Who knows what had changed since she had started with the program. Her fingers curled a bit tighter around her silverware as she took a deep breath. The man shown in the picture didn't look familiar to her exactly, but someone growing up in Hearthome was hard pressed to not be able to take a guess at who it was. The rumors preceded him really, the Dread Knight... "I'm aware such a thing likely won't be up to date, but can the group going into Hearthome receive a map of the city? Ideally, I'd like one that outlines which territories are under the controls of which gangs." It wasn't a bad idea, having a map, but that was hardly the concern that was on Octavia's mind. She drummed a finger on the table lightly, a little mumble escaping her as she shook her head, before speaking up. "...You really think we can find him, let alone convince him to join us? Gang members speak of him as if he's someone to be afraid of, what are the chances he'll listen to a buncha kids?" Octavia set her silverware down as she leaned forward a tiny bit, propping her head up on her hand, elbow resting on the table as she did. "I've heard the rumors about this guy, he's supposedly dangerous. I've heard from older members of the gang that he was scary and not to be approached. They never told me exactly what he did, they stopped talking when they found me eavesdropping, so it had to be bad. Are we really going to send us after him?" She frowned for a moment as he looked around, "Am I the only one who thinks this might be a little bit of a waste of time? I get scoping out the city and seeing the state of things there, but if we're going in with a task like this, we might be setting ourselves up to fail. Do we have a back up idea if this goes south?"

The next morning for Jet, surprisingly brought him to wake up with a yawn, after being awoken by the sound of what he could only describe as an injured animal getting their leg getting stuck in a door after someone slammed said door shut. For some reason, he actually got a good night's sleep, shocking him in the process. Could it have been due to the new location? Maybe it was the strange encounter with Mr. E he had last night that really just made him want to forget that and get rest? Either way, Jet felt a bit refreshed. With another yawn, Jet made his way out of the room, only to be led with the rest of the group downstairs. Surprisingly, he heard a few murmurs about there being some sort of hauntings the night before, to which Jet only shrugged this off. He actually got sleep last night, so if there was such a thing, it probably would've tortured him to no end...which it didn't. Therefore: they were pulling his leg. "Today, we're going to be doing the leg work, looking for those blood ritualists. The two cities we're tackling are Turbo City and Hearthome," Jet immediately felt himself cringe when he heard the words Turbo City and his hand began to slowly rub along his right arm, grazing his mark. "Let's talk about Turbo first. We're planning on sending Shannon, Jet, Tora, and Zirco there. The area is normally well guarded, as we have the current duel champ living there, but since his master, Jack Atlas, has disappeared, Kyouji hasn't been keeping an eye on the area. He won't even return our calls, the poor thing. So, we'll have you four check the area out, and if you meet Kyouji, try to talk some sense into him. I'd say duel him but...Well, I don't think that's a duel any of you could win right now." Yet again, Jet cringed when Mr. E told him that he would be going to Turbo. It was almost like he couldn't ever escape that place, always finding ways to drag his sorry ass right back in. Still, he'd be with Zirco, who seemed to be the only individual at the moment he considered...was the word friend appropriate? Acquaintance? Associate? Whatever the word, least he had someone to talk to. "Well, that's today's plans! Any questions?" Y-Yeah...h-h-how do I get out of this c-c-chicken shit outfit...? That was the first thought in Jet's mind, as he kept holding his right arm gently. Truthfully, going somewhere else like Hearthome would've been amazing, but alas, the universe wanted to screw him over again. With a sigh, he held up a hand. "Y-Yes sir...I-I have one." he began. "I-If he doesn't...c-c-cooperate...w-what's the next move?"

"As for Hearthome, we're sending Kiyoko, Natsumi, Octavia, Raijin." Natsumi hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Between the encounter with that hell beast, it subsequently exploding - even if it was into something nice - a non-zero amount of poorly-timed visits from her loathsome duel spirit, and bad dreams about what she'd run into, the girl didn't get a proper night's sleep. And the result of that was Natsumi being in a bit of a haze throughout the morning. She'd been groggy leaving the room, sitting at the table, and lazily nibbling away at her food as Blues and Mr. E explained their mission. However, the mention of her home city and her name caused Natsumi to perk up a bit, paying closer attention to what Blues was saying. "Obviously, such a downtrodden and crime ridden city is an easy place to hide things, like blood rituals. The easiest way to get started is to look for a person known as Dread Knight. He's a vigilante that protects the city the best he can, and he'll have the most information of any of our contacts. I would like it if you could convince him to join our cause, but I doubt he will." Indeed... Natsumi hadn't seen Hearthome in its ruined state for very long, but she'd seen it get there, and... Best not to think about that. "Well, that's today's plans! Any questions?" While Zirco was concerned about one of their own - Hotaru, who Mr. E claimed simply wasn't ready for this undertaking - Natsumi wasn't going to stop to think about the ones who weren't cut out for this or the ones who didn't want to be. There wasn't much anyone could do to bring them back into the group really, so it was best to focus on what could be done with the remaining Signers. Natsumi took the cup of coffee she'd left sitting next to her plate of food, and threw her head back, guzzling down the entire mug in one go. The scrunched-up look on Natsumi's face did plenty to speak of how she felt about the taste, but it did wonders to snap her out of this tired groggy haze. "I'm aware such a thing likely won't be up to date, but can the group going into Hearthome receive a map of the city? Ideally, I'd like one that outlines which territories are under the controls of which gangs."