The Arrival

Eve:<Doesn't look like there's anything that suspicious about him.>

<He doesn't scare me. And you sure don't.>

S"Don't have to."

*He grabs the scissors from Sab's hand & jabs them in the guy's shoulder, yanking them out & across.*

<Ahhh! Jesus, man, what's wrong with you?!>

*Senthose raises the scissors again. The guy raises his hands in a defensive gesture.*

<Alright! Look, I don't really know, I didn't get his name. Come to think of it, I didn't really get a good look at him either. This guy showed up at our party & we got to talking about all of these queers. He said we should do something about 'em, & gave us their dorm numbers, schedules, pictures, the works.>

*Senthose drops him. Now it's his turn to look shocked & disbelieving. The guy rubs his shoulder, then looks grossed out by the blood on his hand.*

S"You mean to say that--someone--is stalking people--& trying to harm them?"

<That's what I just said, yeah. Can I go now?>
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*So far, everything seems to still be innocent in the gym.*
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T"Points of interest. I've got the church, the site of the old orphanage, & a few others."

N"I don't agree, I think it all adds up. So you go see this guy, then a few days later, the Shadow comes back. Sounds to me like it lost us, so it paid a visit to its servant or whatever here in Pforzheim to help track us down again."

T"That's still possible. There are parallels in old stories about witchcraft, regarding shadowy figures that act as protectors or assailants for those who practice the dark arts. Of course, we also saw first hand that you can't just wave a magic wand & destroy your enemies. Where these...things are concerned, I'm finding it difficult to separate fact from fiction."

"It seems pretty cliche," Hector said. "The scary old priest secretly being some kind of wizard. If it turns out that he is involved somehow, what exactly can we do about him?"

Grimm glanced around, then went back out.

Eve:<It could just be a coincidence. Anyway, the shadow doesn't seem to need human servants. At least anymore.>

Tirea:<Whoever's stalking us is definitely connected to the shadow though, I found that out the hard way.>

Taiyo: "What do you mean?"

Sab was a bit squicked out by the violence, but what the man had said horrified her even more. She looked from Senthose to Aroma, "Oh my god, Noct, Mortal and Gabe might be in danger."

--

But we know things are not! Oh the dramatic irony!!!

Irony aside, the girls scrubbed up in the showers, and are now in the process of getting dressed again.

T"Yes, I'd be interested in hearing that, as well."
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S"Fine, shoo."

*He waves the guy off, who runs out of the room, before turning to Sab. Aroma is calling Noctis.*

S"Do you know where they would be right now?"
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<Knock-knock.>

*The drunk dudes are now inside the showers. There are 6 of them, most of whom wear ski masks to disguise their identities.*

*Tirea looks down*

Tirea:<Right before we got transported to a night version of where we were, I texted back the number who had been stalking us and basically told whoever it was to go fuck themselves.>

Cameron:<Then something controlled me to beat her up.>

Taiyo: "Oh..."

"It controlled you..." Hector folded his arms. "But we don't know to what extent it is capable of doing so."
Astarte looked at Cameron, then down at the floor. Hector gave him a sidelong look.

"I don't know, the gym maybe. That is where they usually go when they don't have class. Oh, I'm just going to call Mortal," Sab said, pulling her phone off of the nightstand where it was charging. She swiped through until she found 'Mortal' and dialed.

--

Mortal's phone started to ring, blaring the sound of 'Crimson and Clover' by Joan Jett. Noct looked over at Mortal and smirked, "Jesus, you really wave your dyke flag high, don't you?" Mortal was about to respond when suddenly assholes barged in.

Noct, the only one fully dressed, looked at the men filing in and reached into her bag and pulled out her knife. She opened it and said, "If you don't leave I'm going to castrate at least two of you. You might be able to beat me down eventually, a situation I'm willing to live with, but is it really worth the risk of losing your dick?"

Mortal just stood there wearing pants, boots, and a bra with a big grin on her face. She folded her arms, and said, "Please say you want to take that risk."

Gabe backed up a bit seeing as how she only had on socks, a bra, and panties. Regardless, she balled up her fists all the same, "Leave us alone. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

Cameron:<It didn't control my mind. I knew what I was doing but I just couldn't stop myself.>

Tirea:<I think it was mad at me, honestly. Cameron and I tripped when running away, so he was closer to me than Monu.>

*Cameron glances at Astarte, embarrassed*

Tirea:<Oh yeah, it stopped chasing us after it controlled Cameron.>

"Regardless of whether you were aware or not, it is still terribly disconcerting," Hector said. "Any of us could turn and strike each other without warning if it is capable of doing that."

*Aroma hangs up her phone, looking worried.*

A"They're not answering."

S"Then go to the gym. I'll go get the person I was coming up here to see, & we'll meet you there."

*Senthose strides out of the room without another word of explanation.*
===========================
*Thiera answers her phone.*

T"What? Lilith, you're not making any sense. Okay, okay, I understand. No, I'll do it, if it's that important. Okay, bye."

*She hangs up & puts her phone in her pocket. Then she begins gathering her materials & putting them back in her backpack.*

T"That was my sister, she wants us to...meet her at the gym. She sounded urgent, & said that it was really important. And that we should get there as fast as possible."
===========================
*They laugh.*

<Well, we didn't think you'd put up a fight, but it's not like you're the only one who carries a knife.>

*That guy snaps his fingers. 2 of his cohorts pull out knives of their own from their pockets, with a 3rd producing a hunting knife from his backpack that puts Noct's dinky little blade to shame.*

The whole body snatching topic causes Taiyo to glance nervously at Euryale.

Taiyo: "Um, okay."

Eve:<I suppose we better head over there then.>

*Eve stares heading over there, follow by Tirea and Monu. Cameron waits for Astarte before heading out*

Noct shrugs, "Like I said. I'm willing to live with whatever comes my way, but I will definitely be going for the nuts." With that, Noct and Mortal set into very similar stances, though Noct's is slightly lower, and with her knife held in front of her. Gabe also sets herself into a defensive position, but hers is simply squaring up her body, setting her feet shoulder width apart, keeping her fists protecting her face and hunching forward slightly. At seeing the new blades Mortal and Gabe wrap their shirts around their strong arms. It wouldn't block a direct stabbing, but they would be able to deflect the blades without worrying about nicks, or unnecessarily grievous wounds.

--

"Wait!" Sab said, "But what if there are bad guys there?" Despite her misgivings, Sab was quickly throwing on a pair of jeans and boots so she could get out of there.

*Aroma quickly puts on a pair of jean shorts & a lime green t-shirt & follows Sab out. Eventually, they catch up with Senthose, who is now accompanied by Lilith.*

L"So are you saying my sister's gay?"

S"I don't know, that's why the others were attacked."
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*Meanwhile, Thiera finishes packing & RENT heads out, going down a different sidewalk.*
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*Not intending to fight fair, the 3 with knives approach Noctis at once, while the others stand back & block the exist. They don't just dive right in, because Noctis made that point about castration, instead they creep forward, trying to surround her, & occasionally making out like they're going to stab.*

*Eve and crew follow, Eve taking out her cellphone*

Tirea:<I hope no one's hurt....>

And so Taiyo follows.

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

Finished their meal, the two begin to head back to the dorms.

Astarte hesitantly joined the others heading over there, but Cameron would find that Hector was now clearly blocking him off from her. Eduj also followed.

Mortal moves over to where Noctis is, not intending to let her fight three knife wielding assholes alone. Since this was a locker room, Noct puts her back towards the lockers, and Mortal covers the side, all in an attempt to keep themselves from being entirely surrounded. The two simply wait there for someone to make an actual attack.

Gabe, for her part, tries not to get too close to the people with knives, because knife wounds really are not something she wants to live with, but does get close enough so that she can get in range in a couple quick steps should they distract themselves by attacking one of her friends.

--

Sab recognized Lilith's presence with a small wave, but was too distracted to fully introduce herself. She looked panicked and tried Mortal's phone again. "Should we call campus safety or something," She asked Senthose.

S"Not yet. We'll get there before they do anyway, it doesn't make sense to call when we don't know the full situation."

*Sure enough, they were coming up on the gym building.*
==========================
*Someone does grab Noct's shoulder & try to stab her side. The other guy repeats this motion with the other side, while Hunting Knife grabs his weapon in 2 hands & lunges for Mortal's stomach.*
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E"So how much does your sister know?"

T"Not much, though thanks to you guys going public about 'monsters,' she probably thinks I'm crazy."
==========================
*In their dorm, they find that a photograph of Stefan's parents, whom they recognize from reports about their "delusion," has been slid under their door. There is a person-shaped circle with a question mark inside drawn with red marker in the space between them.*

Taiyo: "We didn't all start talking about monsters."

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

Azuma picks the photograph up.

Azuma: "Bet I can guess who this represents."

Closing the door, Mimiru turns her phone which is charging on a bedside table on.

Mimiru: "Well, shit, missed a call from Thiera."

She resolves to give Thiera a call.

Mortal grabbed the blade arm of one of Noct's attackers, forcing it down and away from Noct. While she has the arm she uses her open palm to strike at the elbow. With the leverage afforded by her grip on the guy's wrist, this should effectively break the man's arm by making it bend the wrong way.

Noct smiled a bit. Since the man had put an arm on her shoulder she only had to worry about one hand for her counter attack. She used her free arm to block the blade by using her forearm to push the stab off course, she then stabbed the man right in his junk with her blade, and twisted once she felt herself break flesh.

Gabe bolted as if she heard the gunshot to start a race when she saw the guy put two hands on his knife. She dashed up, got low, and tackled him into the lockers.

--

Sab nodded, though she was still panicked, "Okay, I just hope they're okay."