Venom floated through the air flying towards the location of the phantom lord guild. The odd creature was on a mission! It had been given the task directly from its master, Yumi. The demon called his master had asked him to hunt down the girl Alice and hand her a letter. The letter had written in it a request of Yumi asking Alice to meet her at set coordinates, a bar in town where they would meet up with a client to take a quest. Normally Yumi would not ask for someone to accompany her but she had grown fond of the girl, and would enjoy the company. So that's why Venom was flying around with a letter attached to the forehead of his skull mask by sticky tape.

The creature sailed through the air, one meter off the ground happy as a bird as he dodged the incoming traffic, the oak citizens. In his mouth he was happily sucking on a caramel lolly that had been given to him so he would deliver the letter. He flew through the streets at five meters per second, dodging, weaving, rising and ducking the incoming people before sailing up the hill to Phantom Lord where he would begin looking around for the girl Alice. It would not take long for him to find her, as her red hair and figure made her stand out, that and he had become custom to the girl. If the creature could speak freely, as in talk the tongue of man he would admit he liked the girl, but nowhere near as much as he liked his master who was once really old but now really once.

Once he found Alice he would race to her shouting, "DUSK!" as loud as he could to catch her attention before stopping right in front of her to show her the letter on his forehead.

WC: 316

Alice was stirring her coffee with a book in her left hand. Pouting as she was careful reading the book but she had her ears open for anything else. There weren't many people, but there were always some. Unless it was dark and the light goes out and you needed someone to switch it back on. Of course than you were alone with one guy who fell over a hidden broom and well she obviously didn't want to think about that again.

The coffee was already turning cold as she was absorbed by the book, which was weird considering she was half listening in to the people that were sitting at the table next to her. But she could multitask. Even though reading was going really slow right now. She heard someone yelp or scream, whatever you liked to describe it. She looked up and stopped listening to the conversation. She couldn't immediately see what was going on but some people dashed aside and so on. She shut her book and looked up with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her face as Venom appeared at her table, "Hello Venom, it's good to see you." Which it was, even though considering the last time she saw him it was under horrible circumstances if she would say so herself. The White Claudia stuff was over and done with though.

She took the letter from Venom and started to read it. It explained the task that was awaiting her if she would want to join with Yu, which she definitely wanted. Besides it was something different than going and visiting doctor Stephan Mabuz. She took a sip of her coffee and pulled a face. Cold. She followed by putting the book in her bag and stood up, "Let's go Venom." she said with a smile and she followed the companion to the bar where she was meeting Yu. She would find Yu there with the guy called Frankie Marino who would probably explain more about the job. She had seen him before, had intimidated a shopkeep that didn't want to pay. It was probably something like that again.

Wordcount: 369/1000

Yumi sat at the bar, Frankie Marino beside her, having long sent her familiar Venom off to find Alice to accompany her on this quest. Yumi while waiting had ordered a bottle of scotch and took a sip from her glass enjoying the taste. She had even poured a glass for Frankie drinking alongside her client to help develop friendly bonds for future quests. It never hurt to try and become friendly with a client you never know how it might turn out. Yumi raised the glass and down the scotch in one ago drinking all off it swiftly surprising those around her. Yumi repoured from the bottle she demanded be left behind filling it to the brim. She took a sip of the glass before she began drinking it as if it was water. Yumi slammed the glass down just in time as Alice and Venom appeared in the bar, it seemed Alice had accepted to join Yumi on this quest.

Yumi began repouring her glass as she did she made her greeting, "Salutations, I am pleased Venom was able to find you and that you agreed to accompany me today on this mundane task." Spoke Yumi softly as she raised her glass of scotch to her lips and downed it in one go slamming the glass down on the table, she had drunken over half the bottle already. Yumi looked to Frankie and asked him to explain the details of the quest to them. "Thanks doll. Now see here there's this shopkeep who refuses to pay by boss for the generous protection service he provides. So I've been asked to seek out a few individuals looking to lend a hand and earn the bosses favour." Frankie took a sip of his scotch before he continued, "So if you two would be so kind as to head down to the keeps store and rough him up for us we would appreciate it. Be sure he knows not to mess with the Tessio's and we'd like a hand written note from the guy saying he will pay." Frankie finished by downing the last of his scotch and sat the glass down gently. During this time Yumi had finished off the rest of the bottle.

WC: 378
TWC: 694 | 1000

As Alice reached the bar with Venom, she entered and immediately saw the girl, woman, whatever she was, sitting at the bar. She was hard to miss. She also recognized Frankie Marino and headed that way after a short stop to let her eyes see. She walked to where they were sitting and leaned next to Yu against the bar with her back. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled at Yu, "It actually sounded like more fun than last time. So who am I to not go?" Her brown hazel eyes turned from Yu to Marino who started to thank Yu before explaining. It was exactly the same situation as she had been last time. They should really update their rules on paying because damn, the second store keep in a month or so.

She already could see the plan reveale in front of her eyes. Yu would attack, she would fix the note and they would be done with it, "Sounds like a job." was all she said. She looked at the bottle, wanted to laugh about the empty bottle. Yu didn't even look like she drank anything. She was probably either used to it or it didn't hit her because of different reasons that Alice still couldn't put a finger on. She took a deep breath and waited if there was more to say, if there wasn't she would suggest to go, "Shall we go? Any suggestions on how to take action or do we act like we normally do?" She was sure that Yu had seen the pattern as well, especially because she seemed more intelligent because of either experience or just because she was super smart. It didn't matter, Alice knew she knew.

She left the bar to go to the shop keep and she would see what happened. It would be nice if she didn't need her spear at this moment. She didn't touch it after the White Claudia event, she would have to deal with the nightmares first.

Wordcount: 724/1000

Once Frankie had finished speaking Yumi slapped a few jewels down on the counter to pay for the bottle before leaping onto her feet. Her hair bounced as did her skirt dress. Yumi rolled her neck getting rid of any stiffness. When Alice spoke up again Yumi looked in her direction and spoke softly, "Why don't you handle it this time, it would be good for you. Experience wise." Commented the gothic lolita as she brushed out her skirt, "I've done hundreds of shakedowns in my time, so I can pass this onto you." Added Yumi before she took a step forward and beckoned Venom to follow after her.

Yumi walked out of the bar making sure Alice was following as she walked through the streets in the direction of the shopkeepers store. She walked with a bounce in her step and arms behind her back, hands folded together. With each step her head bobbed up and down cutely, hair flowing in the winters breeze. Yumi appeared like an ordinary teenage girl.

"There will probably be another quest I'd like to do after this with you, so I will have Venom contact you." Spoke up Yumi breaking the silence of their walk, alerting Alice to the fact she desired to pair up with her once more.

Yumi's bouncing walk came to a halt as she stopped outside the store, inside was the shopkeep, "I'll stay outside and keep watch. You go deal with him." Spoke the gothic lolita as she remembered an orange lollipop from her pocket. She removed the covering and placed it in her mouth sucking on it.

WC: 275
TWC: 969

Alice waited for Yu to be ready to leave. She asked if they would take the usual pattern for their actions as they always did. Which is logical if it is a usual pattern. She was surprised when Yu said she would want to turn it around, give Alice the experience she needed. For some reason, she was nervous because of that. As if it was some sort of test. She had felt Yu her power, seen her fight a couple of times, not even full out, it was like trying to get approved. Which was actually totally nonsense because the last time she had done this job, she had managed to do it perfectly well. She just didn't want Yu to think she couldn't do it.

As she was thinking about that Yu spoke again, this time about something entirely else. That there might be more missions and she would send Venom to fetch her, "Oh that's fine. I don't mind, I actually like working together." though she wouldn't mind to avoid Mabuz. It didn't take them long to arrive at the shop that Marino told them about. Yu stayed outside and Alice entered. There wasn't any one at this hour, which was a good thing. No one would enter with Yu in front of the door. She walked to the counter and simply hit it with a flat hand. She didn't need to play tough, but it would probably work better, "You know why I'm here." Last time she had used her spear but she had thought about that before, she would first try to get the keep to pay by using her tongue.

She even gave him the hint it wouldn't need to be paid at this moment, but the man refused to talk to her and even turned his back to her. Alright, she was done. She lifted herself over the counter and pushed the man in his back, letting him hit the wall behind, "As I said, this is not a nice asking and waiting process. You write that letter now or things will get much worse." She had wanted to add that she wasn't alone but she didn't. She let her mana rise, it wasn't as much as Yu but the keep wasn't a mage, so every bit could feel scary. Before she summoned her spear again, he said he would do it and quickly scribbled it down. She turned around on the counter and jumped off on the side of the store and headed outside to show Yu to note and go to Marino.

She would hand him the note and wait to be paid, after which she counted the jewels, "I look forward to our next job." she said to Yu and after that said goodbye to her and Venom. Another job done.

Wordcount: 1221/1000

Yumi waited patiently outside, sucking on her candy treat not paying attention to what was happening inside, she was confident Alice could handle it. The shopkeep was just an ordinary civilian, someone Alice could easily handle. She was able to defeat one of those creatures they fought of Doctor Mabuz so Alice could handle this. Yumi was pulled from her thoughts when Alice walked back out moments later carrying a note in hand, showing to the lolita. Yumi then walked off, following Alice back to the bar where they met up with Marine once more. Alice showed him the note and he gladly paid the money. Yumi took her jewels and smiled at Alice, "I am looking forward to it as well." Said the lolita watching the girl walk off. Yumi turned and walked off herself heading back to the inn she was staying at, Venom following behind.

WC: 148
TWC: 1117