Since the moment they arrived in Orchidia Town, Joan and Leyaria had been inseparable. The main reason they were here was because of the Flower Festival which was an ongoing event. Joan felt like she hadn’t really explored every aspect of it, and even though she was here to enjoy the festival with Leyaria, she wanted to go a bit beyond. Leaving a note for Ley saying that she had some business to take care of, the vampyress snuck out of the hotel room they shared with ease, since she was a vampyre.

The day before, when she was at the festival with Leyaria, the blood sorceress caught onto what it was some guy had written on a sign that he was waving around. Of course she didn’t share what she had found with her companion because it wasn’t really something that she should be sharing with anyone, really. Till this day, Joan had never shared her goods with anyone. She would have to find a place to enjoy them without getting in trouble, but being someone who used to be from a dark guild, she had her ways and connections.

Joan was at the festival once again in search for what she yearned. She went back to the same spot where she saw the man waving the sign. It was in the far back, if you navigated from the entrance gate. The number of people at the festival was still the same, maybe subtly increasing, but never decreasing. As she arrived at the spot where she remembered seeing the guy, she noticed that he wasn’t there.

Setting up a business was a difficult task for anyone to accomplish in a busy festival town, where everyone was busy going to and from different activities with no time to stop and talk. Being a Lich, as Odin was, made that task all the more challenging. For one, people were much less likely to stop and talk to him, most opting politely decline as they thought he was trying to sell them something. Luckily, no one actually knew he was a Lich today, as he had managed to hide it under a new look. There had been many masks for sale due to the festival, which included full outfits. Opting for one with gloves, and a full face mask, Odin had managed to hide everything that would suggest his skeletal appearance. His hollow voice was still apparent, but he could at least approach people without them screaming in his face.

He had walked from one end of the festival to the other, trying to locate the best area to set up an outdoor Swineherd Pub stall to make some money while he was here, but to no avail, and no one was giving any indication of wanting to talk to him. The place was busy, and everyone was hurrying from one place to another, prompting the Lich to, in an uncharacteristic act of brashness, call out, "Does anyone here know who to talk to about securing an area here? I'm looking to sell things and don't know who to talk to."

Joan clicked her tongue, folding her arms over her chest as she looked around. The guy from the day before was nowhere to be found but the vampyress wasn’t going to give up so easily. She continued to lurk around the area, watching everyone and waiting for an opportunity to ask about what she was here for. Thanks to the way she was dressed, Joan caught the least amount of attention, unlike someone who just entered the scene.

A mysterious figure entered the scene, with every part of their body covered under clothing – even their face was concealed from sight by a mask. Just like everyone else in the area, Joan’s attention drifted towards this figure, wondering if he was the same guy from the day before. After what he said next, the vampyress unfolded her arms, staring at him for some time. He was slightly shorter than herself, and there was not a slip of skin to catch between all the garments he had thrown over himself. Joan walked slowly towards him, pretending as if she was just a passerby.

The vampyress waited until he was given less attention after what he yelled out. She was pretty convinced that he was the same person holding up the neon sign. Once she was standing next to him, she spoke in hushed whispers. “I saw you yesterday. How much do you have in possession?” she asked.

Alas, despite his announcement, no one came up to help Odin, and the crowds just looked at him funny before going about their businesses. Bet this wouldn't happen if I was normal looking, was all he thought as he waited for someone to approach, still hoping that someone would get back to him with the information he required. It wasn't even that difficult a request: they just had to point him in the direction of whoever was in charge. He was doing it for their bloody sake as well: trying to set up a stall to sell drinks for the damn people that were now ignoring every word he would say. There was no point in asking again, as he would just the exact same reaction, but he'd soon not need to.

A woman, appearing as if from out of nowhere, whispered to Odin as she stood next to him. As if that wasn't already odd, her words made no sense to Odin. While it was entirely possible she had seen him yesterday wandering around the festival, what the hell was she wanting? Odin had no idea what she meant by 'what he had', until he stopped and thought about it for a second. Chuckling slightly, Odin replied in whispers too, thinking that he'd cracked it, "I'm sorry, but if you're planning on mugging me for my money, I recommend you try someone else, this won't go well for you." It made sense: she was poor and hoping to get money off him. She'd certainly gone about it a strange way, approaching a man in the street was a bit odd. The sun was setting though, so at least she'd gotten her timing at least somewhat accurate.

As she waited for a response from the masked figure, the vampyress couldn’t help but be curious about why he had every part of his body hidden. She searched his body subtly for any parts where his skin might be showing without him knowing, although of course she had no clue that he was a lich. No one seemed to want to help him with what he was requesting. Joan wondered why he wanted to set up a stall for his kind of business anyway. Her determination had blinded her from the obvious fact that he was not the guy from the day before. The response she gave her made her frown deeply. Why in the world would she be mugging him for his money? She wasn’t poor, nor was she desperate enough to do something so lowly. Unless…this was some kind of test.

“Look, I don’t have time for games, man. I want to buy everything you have,” she hissed, fishing out some of the many jewels she brought from her pocket and showing them to him. “See? I’m not trying to rob you,” she said, shoving the money back into her pocket and waiting for a response from the man. If he didn’t understand what she was talking about by this time, she would realize that she had come to the wrong person. That also meant that she could very well be in danger of being exposed, which was something that she couldn’t let happen. After all, Joan was pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

“Also, are you allergic to the sun or something?”

Now, this was an interesting development: the woman wasn't trying to rob Odin. In fact, it was rather the opposite, she was trying to buy something from him. Whatever it was that she thought Odin had, she seemed clearly quite desperate for it, which gave Odin an idea. He put the pieces together in his mind, using all the information he had gained about the woman in the brief time he had known her. There was much, but he knew three things for definite. She had approached him thinking he was someone else; had whispered when asking for what he had; and had made it known that she had the money and was willing to pay a hefty sum for whatever it was. There was no way for Odin to know what she wanted, but he had to assume it wasn't strictly speaking 'over the counter'.

From behind the mask, his eyes lit up as he spoke to the woman, answering the question she had asked, "Why didn't you say so? Follow me, it's round the corner." Odin would then begin walking, with the assumption that she would follow him for her desires. Whether or not she followed, Odin would only get a few steps before he heard her second point, which he turned around to answer, also checking if she was indeed following him, "You're exactly right, I'm a vampire and I try to stay out of sunlight. Now come on." Odin couldn't resist his statement. He was already playing a role and playing with the woman, so why not make it even more ridiculous. He had spent much time with a vampire already, so he figured he could play one relatively well.

It seemed like the masked man finally figured out what Joan was here for. She rolled her eyes as a sigh of relief escaped her lips. ‘Thank goodness,’ she thought as she followed him, looking around to see if anyone was paying them any attention or if they were being followed. Apparently no one was interested in the business that was going on between the two of them, which meant that they were both safe. While they were walking, the stranger mentioned that he was a vampyre, and that was the reason he had every part of his body concealed – to avoid the sun. Hearing this brought a frown upon the vampyress’ face immediately. What kind of nonsense was he spouting?

Being a vampyre herself, Joan of all people knew that it wasn’t necessary to stay out of sunlight to survive, but it could very well have been a personal preference. Then again, he mentioned that being a vampyre was the reason for the way he dressed. “I see…” she said, obviously not convinced, but the tone in which she spoke made it sound like she just learnt something new. After all, she wasn’t interested in the man’s race. She was interested in what he was selling. He was definitely a suspicious looking figure, but so was every seller she had bought from in the past. Joan followed him cautiously, observing her surroundings and making sure she wasn’t in danger at the same time.

The woman followed, but answered Odin's statement about being a vampire with a strange response. She wasn't scared, it almost seemed like mild confusion, but nothing that would suggest anything to the Lich beyond the woman may have seen more of what Fiore had to offer than most. A normal civilian would likely be terrified at the prospect of a vampire leading them into an alleyway, but a normal civilian would also likely not approach and whisper when trying to buy something, so it was a two way street. Odin didn't really care either way, as the woman was coming with him down the nearby side street, where he knew no one would be. This would be interesting.

As the two entered the side street, and walk on for a few moments to be out of the view of anyone that wasn't directly looking at them, the Lich would turn and speak once more to the woman, "Wait here once moment while I fetch it." Odin had to choose his words more carefully than he had imagined. Whether it was an it or a them: this thing that he was supposedly selling to this woman. Regardless, he would begin to move deeper into the alleyway, which would cause a 7 foot tall humanoid figure to step out of the shadows, standing in front of Odin facing the woman, holding in his hand an apple that Odin had purchased for him earlier. Ryuk stayed with Odin for most of the time, he just stuck to the shadows and alleyways. While Odin could cover up relatively easily and hide in plain sight, it wasn't as simple for the Shinigami, for that's what he was. And he brought with him a power up for Odin that the Lich instantly used, raising his hands as he turned back to face his 'buyer'. Due to raising his hands, two skeleton reavers would appear, both standing behind the woman, blocking her escape: their two metre longswords in their hands placed on the ground. There wasn't much space in the alleyway, but they could use their fists if it came to it. With the woman's means of escape now cut off from her, Odin removed his mask, placing it down on the ground and revealing his skeletal head. He then started chuckling to himself, "God I hate having to wear that thing. Anyway, I regret to inform you that I'm not the guy you were looking for. I'm not selling anything and, quite frankly, I've no idea what the fuck you're on about, but I'm curious. What exactly was it you thought I was trying to sell you? Slaves? Drugs? Imported illegal alcohols? Oh, and I wouldn't recommend trying to escape, those guys don't really play around."

1860/2100 (Mana Reduction from INT and Lich: 40%):

While Joan had been pretending to be someone she wasn’t, so had the mysterious masked figure. The vampyress kept her guard up especially at times like this when she was alone and in someone else’s territory. Given her experience in this area, Joan of all people knew of how this kind of business went, full of danger and excitement. She never trusted her dealers nor did she expect all of her dealings to go smoothly. The fact that they were walking too far into an alleyway was starting to bother her. This was one of the very few times she was being led more than a few feet into an alleyway to deal drugs. The vampyress kept her mind on full alert, although she appeared completely calm and collected. The further they walked into the alleyway, the clearer it became to Joan that they were walking towards a dead end. She was a few inches taller than the man, and so her line of vision was unobstructed to see what was up ahead. At this point her anxiety had started taking over and she began overanalyzing the situation.

In most circumstances, she wouldn’t have cared if her dealer was a living banana or a speaking sponge as long as she got what she wanted. However in this case, Joan felt like something wasn’t adding up, something major. First of all, she had no idea what he was, since he was covered from head to toe, so even if he was a living banana, she wouldn’t have a clue. Next, he claimed to be a vampyre not knowing that Joan was one herself. She couldn’t help but be skeptical about this as well. With the amount of time she was given to think, the vampyress came to the conclusion that this was far from being the truth. Any vampyre dealing drugs in the country of Fiore would know very well who Joan was. Between the vampyre families, word spread like wildfire and Joan was no small figure within this community given her level of infamy. Since he claimed to be a vampyre himself, there was all the more reason for him to have been aware of whom he was dealing with. Now that she had connected the dots, it became irrefutably evident to her that this man had ill intentions towards her.

They had reached quite deep into the alleyway, mossy walls of abandoned buildings surrounding them. Joan had been walking behind him the whole time, keeping a safe distance of one foot between herself and the man. She kept her hands on her sides, eyes focused on the back of his head. The masked man turned to tell Joan to wait here while he went to fetch ‘it’. Whatever it was that he was going to fetch, the vampyress no longer desired it. She stopped for just the moment he turned back to talk to her, and as he averted his gaze away from her, the vampyress formed a tight fist with her left hand and launched a full force punch to the back of his neck before he could continue walking. There was no way for the man to anticipate her attack given how she was a vampyre and every movement she made was silent. In the case that the blow connected, it would lead to serious spinal cord injury and given her great strength would knock him out. Of course if her target managed to dodge this attack, she was prepared to continue her assault.

A friend, or well someone that Odin had once hospitalised during the attack on Crocus that he had never met before or since, once said that hate crimes were prevalent in Fiore. He had thought this, and Odin had never actually heard the man speak at all, let alone anything of the nature. Regardless, his agreed with the hospitalised man's sentiments, and he had just been proved that this was the case. Sure he may have been lying to the woman out of boredom and curiosity, but that didn't give her any right to attack him point blank out of nowhere. Hell, Odin hadn't even so much as taken a step before he felt a force strike the back of his neck, causing him to instantly lose consciousness and fall down, face first on the ground, not even being able to utter a single word in his defence.

This didn't stop Ryuk from stepping out of the shadows, his form towering over that of the woman. He was, arguably even more so than Odin, a monster: one who had dominion over the lives of the human world. A Shinigami, a god of death, and a man with a strange love of apples, he spoke to the woman, taking a bite of his apple as he did so, "Heh, you humans are so interesting. Why did you go and do that?"

Regardless of her answer, Ryuk would move towards the unconscious form of Odin, who's mask had not yet fallen off, having been placed on extremely tight to avoid accidentally revealing his form as he moved, reach down and slap Odin across his masked face, to try and wake him from his unconscious state, to no avail. Looking back up, the death god would speak to the woman once more "I don't know what you're problem with him is, but if you want to come back in maybe one hour, he'll be conscious then." A menacing, blood curdling laugh escaped the monster's lips as he took another bite of the apple, squatting down to look at the unconscious body that was that of his master.

Joan retracted her hand and stood back in position, watching her target drop to the ground. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed something rise from the ground, a shadow at first. As it reached its full height, which was about a feet above her, the creature began to speak to her. The vampyress was prepared to fight, if that was his intention as well, but after a while it seemed that wasn’t it. She watched him carefully as he advanced towards the fallen entity, giving him a good slap in an attempt to probably wake him up. That didn’t seem to work. After the shadow being spoke to her once again, she raised her head to meet his glowing eyes.

“I’m no human,” she said, baring her fangs at him. “Maybe if he knew to show some respect, I wouldn’t have done that.” Looking back at the motionless body between herself and the shinigami, she tightened her jaw. A few ideas sprouted in her mind, as she leaned closer to the shorter male, with caution of course since she still wasn’t sure of the shadow man’s intentions. A frightening laugh escaped his mouth as Joan turned away to exit the alleyway. “I’ll be back,” she said, keeping her eyes and ears on alert in case the shadow creature tried anything funny.

Since Joan came here to look for a certain something, she wasn’t going to be satisfied until she found it. The accident that she just walked away from wasn’t going to stop her. She looked around the festival, asking some shady looking people and trying not to run into another problem like before. After about roughly an hour, she was able to find it. She was able to buy about a gram for just ten thousand jewels. The vampyress made sure that it was bona fide and then looked for the first aid booth where she asked for a cotton swab soaked with ammonia solution before returning to the alleyway.

The time passed rather quickly for Odin and Ryuk, with the latter spending most of it trying to wake the former, as well as briefing him on what had happened, and what the woman had said. She had not been happy at the lack of respect Odin had showed her, which caused the Lich to laugh out loud in the alley, causing a few glances towards him but none could see that far into the darkness thankfully, otherwise the sight of Ryuk might've terrified them, "I guess trying to pretend that I am a vampire to a vampire was maybe not the best idea. I couldn't resist." Ryuk was not one to scold Odin, instead just making statements every so often about him being an oddity even among Liches, and definitely among people, as well as occasionally asking for more apples.

Eventually, on the roughly appointed time, the woman began to walk back into the alleyway, to see Odin sitting with his back against the wall, the woman being on his right hand side as he waited. Ryuk hovered just to his left, ominously saying nothing and staring, more curious than anything to see how this interaction would go. Seeing the woman, Odin would get up from his position, and face her before addressing her, "It seems I should apologise for pretending to be a vampire. It was the first thing I could come up with as to why I avoided sunlight, your kind aren't fond of it after all." Chuckling to himself, as he still found the entire situation amusing, Odin would then continue, "But really, that was unnecessary", he gestured towards the ground, as well as putting a hand on the back of his neck, "I was just trying to figure out what you were wanting. You had an hour from now, so I'm guessing you managed to get whatever it was. So what was it? Oh, I'm Lucifer by the way, I'd say it's a pleasure, but, honestly, it hasn't been one so far."

The vampyress proceeded into the alleyway with caution, being extra careful since she couldn’t tell if the man she had attacked wanted revenge or if the shadow creature had been planning on setting her up. Joan herself had decided to make peace with the man as long as he realised his mistake. Once the man saw her, he got up to talk to her which caused her eyes to bulge. He shouldn’t have been able to do that so easily, especially after what she had done to him. This got her rather worried for some reason and she would hurry towards him to place a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him down to sit and pushing him back towards the wall so that he could lean on it for support. “You’re forgiven. You are correct to think that we aren’t fond of the sunlight, but it isn’t necessary for us to avoid it,” she told him, eyeing the shadow creature as she fished inside her pocket for what she had just purchased.

“I did,” she said with a crooked smile. She brought the tiny vial out of her pocket as well as the cotton swab that she kept in a ziplock bag. Sitting down next to the man, she shook the contents of the vial as she turned to face him. “Lucifer. Like the devil?” she laughed. “Will you get mad if I call you Lucy? Because it’s easier, you know.” While she spoke to him, she popped open the vial, folding her legs over each other and shifting her bottom until she felt comfortable. “You can call me Joan or Bianca. Most prefer Bianca, but it’s up to you really,” she told him with a slight shrug. Flicking the bottom of the vial gently so that she didn’t spill what was inside, the vampyress slowly tapped out a tiny amount onto the back of her palm. “Alright, so this is what I was looking for. Have you tried it before?” she asked before quickly inhaled what was on the back of her palm through her nose, throwing her head back for a moment to prevent nose bleeding.

“It’s called Tokyo,” she said after sniffing a bit. She tapped a bit more onto the back of her palm and held it outwards for Lucifer to join her. “Your turn.”

Something about what Odin was doing seemed to really get to the woman, because as he started to stand up she ran up to him and almost forced him to sit down with his back to the alleyway wall. Either she was worried about him, likely due to the force of her punch, or she didn't want him standing up to avoid him getting any kind of advantage against her. Honestly, if Odin wanted to, he could use any of his spells right now from a seated position, but given the look on the woman's face, it seemed like she was actually slightly concerned for him. How cute of her. Having no real reason to protest, Odin sat, his legs crossed and his back to the wall. Amusingly enough, she did forgive him, even going so far as to helping him perfect his guise if he ever wished to pretend to be a vampire again. They didn't have to avoid direct sunlight, the just weren't fond of it. Having spent much time with Nastasya, Odin of course knew this, but it was nice nonetheless for her to tell him.

Her attempts at being funny surprised Odin, as she asked to call him Lucy instead of Lucifer, introducing herself as Bianca or Joan. Apparently most preferred Bianca, but that was far to easy, "Sure, you can call my Lucy, but I'm calling you Brian if that's the case." Then their conversation changed to a much more fun topic. Something called Tokyo, obviously an illegal drug given how Brian treated it, and also probably expensive, as she had only gotten a small vial in the last hour. She put a small amount on the back of her hand, before snorting it up, throwing her head back to allow it all to go through. Odin didn't know much about drugs, although he did assume there would be one large flaw with her plan.

Removing the mask on his head, Odin would reveal his skeleton head before addressing the concern, "I'm not sure how this will work, might not hit me at all, but why not?" Not having nostrils made this slightly more challenging, but Odin managed to snort it nonetheless, despite not actually having lungs because magic. He threw his head back, to make sure none was missed, and looked at Brian. His eyes, the ethereal green flames, would flare wildly as it took effect.

As Lucy told her that he would call her Brian, she frowned deeply, wondering why he chose such a name for her when there was a vast array of prettier names. Rolling her eyes, the vampyress shook her head lightly, an action that could be interpreted as saying, ‘Whatever.’ She barely teased people, so this was definitely not her normal behavior. It was especially strange since she was acting this way towards someone she had just served a rabbit punch to. It was pretty funny how the universe worked. While she was wondering how this man could forgive her so easily, he removed his mask, revealing his bare skull that was concealed this whole time. She gazed into the hollowness where his eyes would have been, slightly confused, but understanding fully that he was a lich, an undead being just like herself.

Though she was unsure of how one became a lich, she was quite certain that death was an inevitable part of the process, so they were alike in that aspect. “You should probably put that back on,” she laughed, then added, “Just kidding,” in case she hurt his feelings. She couldn’t hide the cheeky grin after saying that, so hopefully Lucy wasn’t offended by that. After he snorted the powder, she brushed her nostrils over the back of her palm, inhaling at the same time, just in case there was any of the substance left clinging to her skin. She wasn’t going to let any amount of it go to waste since she paid for it. Afterwards she turned towards her new friend, amused at how the flames in his eyes flared up. Curious to know if the drug was going to work at all since he was a lich, the vampyress watched him, occasionally shooting the shadow creature a look, although she forgot about its existence most of the time.

As the drug started to take effect, Joan felt like it wasn’t enough. Of course, this was nothing new, but she wasn’t going to just leave Lucy here while she went hunting for more. She gave the shadow creature one more look before saying, “Hey Lucy. You got any plans later?” She paused to see if he was going to act any different after taking the drug. “Cause if you don’t,” she continued. “You—” she poked his chest with her finger, “—and I,” pointing to herself, “should go have some more fun!” Giggling in an excited manner, she waited for his response with an almost disturbing smile. What she said could have been interpreted differently, but the vampyress wasn’t aware of that in this state. First, she had to make sure that he was in a condition to follow her, if he wanted to, that is.

Her reaction to seeing Odin's face was a lot calmer than most people's, but that made sense given the situation. She had already overpowered Odin once before, and she herself was an undead being, she was just of a lower tier, and thus could still at least appear to be human. And yet, jokingly, Brian told Odin to put the mask back on to hide his face. Rolling his eyes, with the flames making an arc around his hollow eye sockets, Odin looked to Ryuk for some kind of back up as this woman bullied him, but the Shinigami simply shrugged his shoulders, more interested in the powder that the woman was producing. Ryuk was not interested in taking anything that was being passed around, but he was ever the curious individual, and so he would watch and see what effects it would have on the two.

Odin, too, was interested in what effect the drug would have on him. Natural drugs had little to no effect on the Lich, as he often lacked the required organs for the powders, syringes or edibles to hit him. But perhaps this time, this 'Tokyo' would somehow be laced with magic. Odin didn't know much about drugs, but he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't try it, it wasn't really going to diminish his health more than being a skeleton.

For a brief moment, there was nothing, causing Odin to think it hadn't worked, but then he had a surge of motivation. He felt... well he felt amazing. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt like a king, and a king could do whatever he wanted. As such, once Brian had successfully managed to get out everything she had said, Odin's reply was almost instant, "Yes, yes, yes, let's go cause some mayhem." Brian's smile was replicated on Odin's face, as his constant grin changed and formed into something far more sinister.

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as she heard Lucy’s response. Shooting up like a rocket and quickly dusting off her behind, she helped her companion get up. As of now, the vampyress felt as if she could do literally anything she willed to do. It looked like the lich wasn’t immune to the effects of Tokyo as well, judging from his expressions. Beaming ecstatically, she pranced her way out of the alley, looking around to recall the way to where she was about to take Lucy. “Follow me,” she turned to tell the lich before continuing. Halting in front of a sign that said, ‘You’ll float, too,’ she headed into the narrow alleyway right next to it. It would appear super sketchy to anyone who wasn’t aware of what went on within the shadows that Joan brought Lucy into.

Of course, she was blocked from entering further by a very sickly looking female who wore close to nothing, exposing most of her bony figure. Joan’s lips curled into a barely noticeable smirk as she turned to Lucy. “Hey look, who knew we’d find your sister here,” she joked. The skinny girl glared at both of them, even the shadow figure who was lurking behind them. Afterwards, Joan leaned closer to her, whispering into her ears. With a quick nod, and something slipped into Joan’s hands they were allowed in. “Alright, let’s go!” she exclaimed, exploding into a fit of giggles. As soon as they entered, they were bathed in a sinister red light. It was a huge dark room with two doors. One through which they walked in and another at the other end of the room. There were others cuddled up in bean bags in different corners of the room. The vampyress searched for a vacant corner, and as soon as she spotted one, she dragged Lucy towards it, diving onto the bean bag that was squished into the corner and gesturing for him to sit next to her.

Joan unfolded her fingers and opened the tiny zip lock bag that she had been holding. “To be honest, I’m not sure how this is going to work,” she spoke as she popped a tab into her mouth, swallowing it immediately. Then she brought the remaining tab and faced the lich, wondering how exactly this drug was going to work for a living skeleton. Since having contact with it for a certain amount of time could work, she wondered if she could stick it to his bones or something? “Alright, fuck it,” she laughed, doing the first thing that came to her head. She stuck the tab to his forehead, but the damn thing wouldn’t stick, so it slipped into his eye where the greenish flame would catch onto it. “OOPS!” she squeaked, and that was about the exact moment the drug kicked in for her.

Time was progressing at a much quicker pace than Odin was used to, as he and Brian left their alleyway, before entering another. A scantily clad woman, likely malnourished and definitely looking for something Odin was not able to provide, blocked their path, but then she moved out of the way thanks to some intervention by Brian. Odin couldn't stay still, no matter how hard he tried. His body refused to stop moving, even if he was standing still he would bob up and down, prompting an inquisitive look from Ryuk, a figure that no one seemed to be bothered by, despite his huge body and, frankly, terrifying appearance. He was a messenger of death, and yet no one inside the establishment both Odin and Brian entered seemed to care. Their eyes flicked up briefly, for a few of them at least -some seemed currently incapable of movement entirely- but no one gave Ryuk a second look. Odin couldn't quite understand why, but he was about to it seemed.

He and Brian sat down on some bean bags, while Ryuk floated just next to the Lich. The vampire took out what looked like small squares of paper, almost like postage stamps. She said she didn't know how 'it' was going to work, before placing one of the stamps into her mouth. It seemed that, whatever drug this was, Odin had both never heard of it, nor did he have any easy way to actually take it. Brian placed it on Odin's forehead, hoping contact with the bone would allow something to happen, but it wasn't a stick surface, and the tab slipped into his eye, burning in the ethereal flame that formed his eyes. Quickly shaking off the awful feeling of having something go inside his 'eyeball', Odin waited for a few moments for something to happen.

Something definitely happened.

Of course Joan was worried that something might go wrong. She had no idea how acid was supposed to work on a freaking lich since they had no flesh. The moment the tab slipped into his eye, Joan’s eyes widened in shock, though she controlled herself from worrying too much. She didn’t want it to turn into a bad trip. Seeing no strong reactions from Lucy after the mini accident, Joan assumed that it wasn’t a big deal, and suddenly had a feeling that it might work this way. She was simply trying to keep her mind in a calm state so that she could have a good trip. Everyone else was doing their own thing, paying no attention to Joan or Lucy, or even to the shadow creature that followed Lucy around, even though he had a terrifying look. Joan figured they probably thought they were hallucinating.

“How do you feel?” she asked Lucy, starting to feel slightly mellow after a few minutes from swallowing her tab. Nothing was going to happen yet, but she wanted to make sure that he was feeling alright. A few others arrived and took their own spots. They were probably regulars because they didn’t even look for a spot and instead walked directly to one corner because they used it every time they were here, Joan figured. She didn’t want to bother Lucy too much while the drug was starting to take effect, because he might get annoyed by her.

After about twenty minutes, the decorations in the room started to move in a lazy way. Lucy was probably starting to feel it, too. Joan turned to face him and a thought made her laugh. “I can’t see yours because you don’t have eyeballs, but if you look into my eyes, you’ll see that my pupils take over my entire iris,” she told him.

The flames of Odin's eyes flared to life, signalling the acid was taking effect. At around the same time as Brian, things started to change. Odin's vision became, not blurry, but distorted. He could still see things, but everything seemed out of focus, and everything was moving. Like the universe was drunk and stumbling around the room, trying to be subtle and failing miserably. Looking at Ryuk, who stood next to the booth in which they sat, Odin began to understand why no one seemed scared of the Shinigami, or the Lich, in the room with them. It's not that Ryuk looked any different under the effects on the drug, or at least not yet, but the world was starting to show things that looked just as strange as Ryuk. He blended in with the hazy surroundings, and was right now only one of the creatures that were appearing in the world.

Looking around, and then at Brian, Odin saw many strange things. The world wasn't spinning as such, but moving his head to fast would seriously mess with Odin's perception. He laughed as he looked at his new friend, speaking with a lot more difficulty than he thought he'd have. It's not that he was slurring, but he was just using the wrong words, "H-how is the stuff attacking you? This feels... fuck me." Odin couldn't really speak all that well currently, so he decided just to leave it, and see what Brian said to him.

It didn’t look like Lucy was understanding her correctly. Joan couldn’t help but laugh out loud at his response. “Attacking me!? What are you talking about?” she exclaimed, the sharp movements causing her vision to shift a bit, but after a while she began to feel thirsty. Normally she would have big water bottles near her, but this time she simply forgot. The thought struck her like lightning. She wanted water and she wanted it now. All she had was a pack of cigarettes with her, but that wasn’t going to quench her thirst. Lucy didn’t look like he was in a state to stand up and go looking for water with her, so she blinked really hard before getting up from the bean bag. “One sec,” she told Lucy while doing so.

There was a small circle of methheads in the opposite corner and Joan spotted a half full bottle of water between two of them. Why would she go out to buy a new bottle if she could just take it from them. She wasn’t walking straight, but making her way to the group somehow, the vampyress picked up the bottle and said, “Thanks!” Only a moment later, she realised that what she was doing was probably going to make them angry and ran back to where Lucy was sitting. “I don’t think they want us here anymore,” she said, tugging at his sleeve with her free hand. “We should go,” she continued. “We can go to a park nearby, there’s usually no one there.” She kept talking, hoping that one thing or another would convince Lucy to get out of here in case he didn’t want to.

"Attacking? No, not that... shit what's the word." Odin paused for a moment, trying to think of what it was he meant, before he burst out, "HITTING! How's it hitting you? This is fucking weird." All the while Ryuk stood looking quizzically at the two, likely just curious as to what they were experiencing. He didn't speak, opting for silence so as to seem like an apparition in the background and not an actual demon standing in the room.

Without any more than a 'one sec', Brian got up from her bean bag and moved across the room. Odin tried to follow, but his legs were like jelly, and he fell back into the seat, much to the amusement of the Shinigami. She shortly returned, however, seemingly a bit anxious as she said that it was time for them to leave and suggesting they go to a park that was usually empty.

Struggling to his feet, Odin noted the men on the other side of the room coming towards them, clearly angry and wishing them harm. Without a second thought, more out of habit than anything else, Odin waved his hand to summon forth ten skeleton warriors: relatively weak creatures but fear-inducing and they carried swords. Most people here were high, so no paid the skeletons any attention except those who were facing them. No one was going to die, just be occupied for some time to allow their escape.

Exiting the building with Brian, Odin managed to get his speech out properly this time, "That was fun, park?"

-Exit-