Year Two

He traverses the rooftops, running along the brick and mortar of the city's less than reputable parts. Buildings that were once acceptable to live in so many years ago before the drugs came in and now they're only home to the disinfranchised and drug manufactures.

???: What is it that sucks at my soul so acutely? What emptiness drives out into the night, time and again to fight forces I cannot hope to defeat?

A few paces behind him, a young woman follows in silence. Contrasting the clomping of his shoes, she makes no noise. They jump in unison to another rooftop, he rolls, she lands gracefully still without a sound.

Down on the streets below, a woman screams, his companion takes the lead, descending the fire escapes. A man screams, his voice becoming wet and gargled as her blade slices through him without resistance. The woman flees, the purse her attacker sought after still in her grasp.

From the rooftop, he watches his face showing no emotion or anything. His mask a blank slate. She takes off into the alleys while he continues on the rooftops, searching for the answers to his inquiries.

*Eve's sound asleep in her bed*
---
*Cameron's trying to settle down into a comfortable position after returning from the bathroom*

*Luna hears a scream & heads towards it.*

Dalia was just switching off her laptop and settling down to sleep now.

Jin lay sprawled out on her bed, covered only by a sheet and with one leg hanging off of the edge.

At the scene, she finds a disembowled male. Not knowing knowing any context, it looks like a gruesome murder.

Lights in the surrounding buildings begin turning on, sleeping residents having been disturbed by the screaming.

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???: Philips and Novak seek to destroy the Mutant race. Their campaign based on fear. We fear what we don't understand. Something Wilkinson didn't understand when he remained neutral on the Mutant issue that his weakness would cost him the election.

He stops at the edge of a roof, overlooking Manderlay Central. A Mutant Buster van pulling into the underground garage. A light on the floor remains on while other windows on the same floor and second are dark.

???: A storm is coming. It may not happen today, this month, or even this year, but it is coming. And it will shake Manderlay to its very core. The blood will continue to flow through these extended gutters called streets until it scabs over and all the vermin drown.

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Azuma sits on the roof of the apartment building, listening to the sound of sirens passing by down below. Another set follow. An ambulance. Someone died. Most likely murdered.

Azuma: So much has happened in a short time. I sat by and watched it happen. I have the power to change things. But I'm also afraid of the repercussions. I could start small. This neighborhood and work my way out. I can traverse city blocks in seconds. I can make sure no one has to lose their family again. I can save this city. But does it want to be saved?

Fast forward several hours later to the morning.

*Eve makes herself breakfast while listening to the morning news*
---
*Cameron wakes up and drags himself out of bed*

Dalia woke up and stepped out of bed. She changed from her pajamas to a casual, airy, blue and white dress, and then made her way to the kitchen where she quickly assembled a light breakfast of a low fat blueberry muffin and a mug of coffee.

Jin pulled herself out of bed and stumbled out into the hall, then into the bathroom.

*Luna had observed all of the clues she could before slinking back into the shadows. She was now at home, sleeping--she works second shift.*
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*Aroma & Thiera are getting ready for class.*
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*Venezuela presumably heads into work.*

Radio: "Brutal murder early this morning on the lower west side of the city. Thirty-four year old Gaberial Chance was found disembowled at three thirty this morning. Police suspect it to be the work of the same vigilante who killed three members of the Tyranno Boys gang last summer."

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Kentaro: "Hey, wake up. You got a guest."

Azuma stirs, groaning.

Azuma: "Bugger off."

Kentaro: "Well, I tried. Your turn, Jet Girl."

Mimiru: "Stop calling me that."

Mimiru pulls Azuma out of bed with a loud thud.

Azuma: "Goddamn, I'm awake. Not that I have to be in the morning."

Mimiru: "Well, you are. It'd be strange not to go through with this routine."

=================================================

Taiyo and Kitters wake up, yawning and stretching in unison.

Taiyo: "Morning, kitty. Ready to start...the day?"

Kitters had went back to sleep.

Taiyo: "Lazy."

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Hitomi shuffles out of her room, the house empty except for her as it had been for two hours. Lonliness had stopped being a thing years ago, but her only reminder of what her parents look like is the photographs on the living room wall. They're gone when she wakes up for school and she's asleep when they return only occasionally hearing their entrance.

She heads into the bathroom to get ready for the day. At least the afternoon at work was something to look forward too.

<Another day, another murder.>

*This kind of thing probably isn't abnormal to Eve. to this stuff by now. She sits, continuing to listen, while waiting for her mother to drive her to school*
---
*Cameron heads down to the kitchen to find himself some breakfast*

<At least I don't have to get started super early anymore.>

Dalia took a seat on the couch with her muffin and coffee and switched on the television, immediately finding herself watching the morning news.

Jin exited the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen where she began scrambling some eggs.

The news mainly just repeats what the radio already stated until the weather segment.

Reporter: "A massive heatwave has hit Manderlay with no end in sight. Possibly Mother Nature's waying of making up for last summer's beautiful weather."

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The two exit their building, a hot breeze blowing through the streets.

Azuma: "Christ. Yesterday was nothing like this...That's better."

Mimiru: "I hope you get hypothermia."

Azuma: "I got it under control. Feel."

Mimiru gasps as he touches an icy cold hand to her face.

Mimiru: "That can't be good."

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Taiyo leaves her house, the breeze being more unbearable in a residental area with few tall buildings to shield from most of it. She looks to the empty driveway, her parents having been called to work early.

Taiyo: "Ick."

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Hitomi leaves her home, crossing the driveway that's been empty for three hours now to the sidewalk.

"How annoying," Dalia said, not having felt the day's heat yet in her perfectly conditioned home.

Jin quickly ate her eggs and downed some milk before getting in the shower.

*Eve packs her backpack, still waiting*

<MOM! Hurry!>
---
*Cameron gives Kylie a quick good-bye hug before heading back up his room and getting dressed*

Azuma: "Why'd I come all this way in this disgusting heat? Especially back to this place."

Mimiru: "Because you're a loser with no other friends."

Azuma: "And you're not."

Taiyo comes running across the street towards the two.

Mimiru: "Nope."

Taiyo: "Hi, Mimi. Hi, Mutt."

Azuma: "Mutt?"

Mimiru laughs.

Taiyo: "Anytime Mimi talks about you which is often she usually says Mutt, dog, stupid, idiot, and Azuma. Mostly Mutt."

Azuma: "So you opted to call me Mutt rather than Azuma?"

Taiyo: "Is that wrong?"

Azuma: A little. It certainly does lose a lot of its meaning.

Azuma: "No?"

*Eve finishes packing, and her mother finally descends to the kitchen. The pair then head out to the car, and start driving to school*
---
*Cameron exits his room, dressed, and heads down to the dining room table to find a pile of Government homework to do. After groaning, he starts on this*

Dalia finished her muffin and coffee, took the empty mug to the kitchen, and then went to have a shower.

Jin stepped out of the shower, quickly dried herself and dressed, said goodbye to her mother and then began the jog to school.

Fast forward to school/work hours.

With nothing to do for some several hours, Azuma opts to go to the park. Outside the entrance he had taken sat a van with the Manderlay Humane Society logo on the side. In the park itself, is a dog that had the same idea as Azuma and was chasing ducks.

Dalia, having no classes, had gone for a walk to the beach. She had no intention of swimming, but just wanted to walk by the seaside.

Jin was sitting in class and revising some old theory work for her Physical Education class.

*From the van, Venezuela looks over the dog for evidence of a collar.*
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*Luna wakes up to start her work shift.*

*Eve sits in AP Chemistry, taking notes*
---
*Cameron works on Pre-Calculus problems*

Ven can see no collar. In the park, the dog is chasing ducks, making a rukus.

"All right, go time."

*Ven hides a leash behind her back & gets out of the van, calling the dog.*

"Here boy! Here, doggy-doggy-doggy! C'mere!"

*Eve continues taking notes, sometimes staring at the clock*
---
*Cameron finishes his problems and closes his textbook, then heads over to the couch to watch T.V*

Dalia continued her walk, occasionally stopping in the shade.

Jin was now rocking back on her chair and trying to balance a pen on her nose, having bored herself with revision.

Father Grimm took a long drink from his cheap plastic bottle and rested for a moment. He had chosen to spend the day working on refurbishing the church's garden, hoping that on Sunday some of his congregation would find it a more attractive place. Though the heat wouldn't have bothered him, he chose to leave his cassock indoors and was instead wearing a well worn blue shirt, faded jeans and a pair of black boots.