A Quiet Rest Following a Stressful Time

[Johnathan]

In a dark corner of one of the school's many science labs, a lone figure sat with his back against the wall, attempting to get some much needed sleep. Erebus had his head resting against the perpendicular wall, and his arms draped limply over the katana he kept between his legs. His limbs were once again covered with his trademark chains. In the quiet darkness, a slight hum made itself known as the chains seemed to dance to life, tinkling against one another. There was a surge of dark energy through them, which causeed Erebus to wake and tense against the pain. There were several more surges of energy which he endured in silence, gripping the sheath of his katana to keep himself still. When the attack stopped, Erebus sighed in relief and collapsed back against the wall.

Opening his eyes, he gazed out at the empty room while his thoughts wandered elsewhere. His sister was looking for him, he knew that much. Veronica had stopped by earlier to check on his condition. He wasn't necessarily trying to avoid her, but both he and Veronica agreed that she would worry needlessly if she became aware of his current state.

"Erebus! Erebus where are you? I know you're nearby so please answer me!" Erebus sighed in exacerbation. There was the second person looking for him; Chrystaline. Eleazar must have told her something for there was no other way she could have learned about his condition following the recent frequent uses of his power. His body was stressed in much the same way glass would be when it's repeatedly heated and frozen. It had happened before and Erebus knew exactly how to deal with it. He needed time to rest and nothing more. Therefore Chrystaline's incessant need to 'help' while certainly done with good intentions, was becoming increasingly annoying.

There was a knock on the locked door of the lab. Erebus made his presence undetectable as he sensed her magic creeping in to the room in an attempt to find him. "Erebus are you in there? Please let me at least take a look at you! Even if I can't help it will give me some peace of mind."

I just want to rest. Erebus mentally groaned. I hope you give up soon for both of our health.

[Stein]

Stein was walking down the hallway towards her lab to check on some petri samples when she saw and heard Chrystaline trying to get into her lab to find Erebus “Hello Mrs. Chrystaline, do you need something from my lab? I’m very busy right now; you are welcome to come back later though if you wish. I just have some petri samples that are on a time table for treatment, and I’d hate for them to get infected…. I’ll let you know if I find Erebus” As Chrystaline left Stein unlocked the door quickly and entered her lab, locking the door again behind her. The moment she entered the lab she knew Erebus was in there, he reeked of hormones (his hormone balance) and exhaustion. She unlocked one of the closets and pulled out a cot, which she set in the next darkest corner near Erebus. Going over to a cabinet labeled ‘food’ she pulled out a tea thermos and a bag of trailmix, which she set on the table nearest to Erebus. Addressing Erebus she said “You are welcome to stay here as long as you wish, just please do not touch any of my samples or experiments.

She moved across the room, changed lab coats and put on gloves, then moved to the incubator and pulled out several bone samples in dishes. She applied a little bit of some gel substance to half the bones and replaced them in the incubator. Before disposing of the gloves and putting the lab coat in a sealed can in the corner labeled “used”. Stein then moved to a different set of cabinets and pulled out small bottle of pills from it, and a small box. She opened the box and took the pills swallowing them 2 at a time. Replacing the box she brought two small bottles and set them beside the thermos. “The blue cap is sleeping pills, and the red cap has pain killers. You are welcome to them if you wish, they’ll help you sleep, or simply relax so that you can heal.” Stein then moved over to her microscope and picked up where she’d left off before the attacks, these microorganisms weren’t going to categorize themselves.

[Johnathan]

Erebus inclined his head in polite gratitude. "I thank you. When the time comes I will repay the favor and more." Erebus hadn't intended to impose on anyone, however he would not turn away hospitality that was selflessly provided to him. His family's customs taught him to repay such favors with excess. "I know better than to meddle with the work of others. Science is not my strongest field, therefore I will leave work to you." Erebus watched Stein set about her experiments, finding her methodical work soothing. As much as he enjoyed solitude, peaceful company after a stressful time was enjoyable as well.

As Stein finished her first task, Erebus took note of the medicine she provided for him. "I thank you for your concern, however my body does not tolerate foreign substances. When I was younger I decided it would be invaluable to teach my system to automatically respond to and destroy poisons. Unfortunately, it has also come to reject medicines, nano machines, and excess chemicals, burning them off immediately as well. It was very troublesome for my parents, as only treatment with magic was effective. Perhaps that is why Chrystaline feels the need to worry over my well being so strongly."

As Stein set back to work, Erebus regarded the bag of food. He still did not feel like eating, but reasoned that he should try to keep something in his stomach regardless. Pressing his palm to the floor beside him, the bag of trailmix sunk into the shadows beneath it. A moment later, Erebus pulled it forth from the shadows next to him. With shaky hands, he opened it carefully. As he reached into to take a small handful, his chains surged with energy once again. His hands clenched unintentionally from the pain, and as the powerful energy coursed through his limbs, the bag of food crackled loudly and with a final hissed evaporated into nothingness. Clutching onto his sword once again to steady his hands, Erebus waited for the attack to pass, collapsing back against the wall once again when it did. He panted slightly, addressing Stein with his eyes closed when he felt well enough to speak.

"I'm concerned that- that my radiant energy may disturb your- your samples after all. Perhaps it- would be best for me to leave."

[Horo]

”I couldn’t disagree with you more, Master Erebus.” Luca closed the door to the lab behind him as he entered and after relocking it, looked around the room. “I remember when this was a storage center. My, my, Eris, you have done a wonderful job refurbishing this room.” Luca took a few steps towards Erebus before stopping and looking at Stein. “I would suggest you check how clean it is. A few hours ago there was an ammonia spill outside the room that wasn’t adequately cleaned. I’m no expert on your experiments but in the event that even a trace amount would mess them up, I thought it would be polite to inform you.”

Luca squatted down in front of Erebus and sighed. “The Princess is dying to see you, but I don’t think she would guess to look here. This is a laboratory, but she wouldn't expect you to place yourself in an area of her interest.” Luca sat down on the floor and looked over at Stein. “Eris, do you have anything to eat? I'm famished.”

[Rikka]

Voices from the lab up ahead caused a girl with black hair to tilt her head slightly. Erebus, Stein and...another. Had she heard this voice before? No. Nothing in her memory served up an image of the new voice. Stopping the girl in jeans, a green plaid shirt, and blue worn tennies. Looking at the door with her black eyes ringed in red she thought about coming back later but Alex and Bridgit hadn't slept for a couple days now. They were battling something but refused to tell her what. When they did sleep they ended up waking up almost screaming. It was scaring Briar. So to help them she had finally convinced them to take some sleeping pills to help them.

Now here she was debating on coming back. Taking a breath the ten year old knocked on the door and pulled out her note book from her shoulder bag. Flipping to a new page she waited for Stein to open the door. Today she would ask Stein about non-habit forming sleeping pills. Ones that bypassed the dreaming phase.

[Stein]

Stein swiveled in her rollie chair to see Luca walking in. “This may have been a place for storage, but it’s always been a science lab. But thank you for noticing the modifications” Stein finished as she rolled over to open the door and greet Briar “Hello Briar, how can I help you?” She then quickly turned back around fixing her gaze on Luca as she wheeled back towards the center of the room. “How did you open the door, it’s DNA-coded….wait, I recognize you, You’re Luca Aldebaran”

She reached up with her left hand and clicked the screw several times “18 year old, male, 6’1”, 150 lbs. Iitan species. Blood type: IO-….You grew up with 11 siblings: Clair, Ryan, Seth, Noah, Nina, Pinta, Maria, Sebastian, Saiph, Fiona, Lura, and you. With affinities for mathematics, language, earth, animals, water, wind, wood, music, carbon, gravity, location, and memory respectively. You pioneered the idea of storing memory in DNA. you have clairsentience, adaptive muscle, and virtual graphic memory. You do crime solving around campus….and I beat your Rubrics cube solving record the other day by 1.563359 seconds.” Stein clicked her screw a final time and tilted her head looking at Luca “…I wonder what kind of test subject you’d be…” Stein blinked several times and shook her head “Sorry, I was lost in my train of thought….I used your research to help create the screw in my head, thank you for your contributions to science, your entire families contributions.”

Stein quickly pulled a large box of blackberries out of the ‘food’ fridge and set them between Luca and Erebus. Then directed at Erebus she said “You’re energy levels will not affect my samples; their incubator could survive a nuclear fallout.” Stein then wheeled back to her desk to take note of the ammonia spill, it could affect the experiment she had planned for next week. “Luca, I would have expected with your reputation that you’d knock before entering a ladies closet (Hamlet reference). Is the reason for your intrusion simply to visit Erebus? If it is please be quick, Erebus needs to rest.”

[Johnathan]

Erebus was thankful for the ambient conversation, as it meant he would not need to respond immediately. Closing his eyes as he listened to Stein speak with Luca, he attempted to follow her words. Finally, conceding to the pain and the finer points of the science they were discussing, he resigned himself to simply rest until she was done and nodded when she refuted his concern.

"Very well, I thank you for the use of your facilities." Pausing for a moment, he attempted to gather his will to look sternly towards Luca. "I believe your body is in far more danger then her work though, should you remain close to me. I-" Silenced by another surge of energy, Erebus turned slightly away into the wall as his hands clenched tightly around the sheath of his blade once again. When it passed he took a moment to compose himself before continuing, deciding to change topic as opposed to starting a potential argument.

"While I'm sure that she desires to see me, in my current state it would be exceedingly unhealthy for her to do so. The energy that I wield is the same that dictates her mind, and in excess such as this it would without a doubt manifest a response in her. What more-" With another surge of energy, Erebus's train of thought was broken as his body tensed against the pain once again. The force with which he clenched his sword caused it to press into the floor beneath him, strongly enough to crack it. When it had passed he took a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "Seeing me in this state would direct her subconscious mind to focus on the worst case scenario. Her mind would be filled with images of Oblivion consuming me, regardless of how unlikely that may be."

Finished with speaking for the moment, Erebus leaned his head back into the corner of the wall as he focused on his breathing, steeling himself for further attacks. While the chances of him loosing control over the energies of Oblivion were infinitesimal, the chance still existed. In such a circumstance it would attempt to consume the existence around him first, before consuming himself. While his threat to Luca was far overstated in an attempt to convince him to leave, it was by no means untrue.

[Horo]

“I reek of Veronica’s perfumes. I wouldn’t want me to stay around myself for long either, Erebus.” Luca jested, making light of Erebus’ warning. Luca deduced that if the danger was too great that the master of illusions would go somewhere else and remove the risk from everyone. Pinching a black berry between his fingers, Luca twisted towards Stein. “You are very welcome Eris, although I don’t plan on being anyone’s test subject. It wouldn’t be worth either person’s time.” Luca tossed the berry into his mouth and turned towards Briar. “Hello Briar, I don’t think we have formally met before. My name is Luca and I am a detective. If you ever need assistance, feel free to come by my office.” Luca pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Briar.

Turning to face Erebus again Luca smiled, “But I’m not so daft to not catch your hint Erebus. Remember that my services are always available to you, if you ever needed my assistance again.” Luca took another handful of blackberries and walked over to Stein and her rolly chair. “So what are you working on Eris? And Where is your cute little Chimera?” Luca placed his hand on the back of her chair and leaned in to see what she was working on.

“This looks intriguing, what are you doing exactly?” Luca’s long red hair fell forward and tapped against the back of Stein’s head (memory transfer comes through contact with Luca’s skin) as he leaned past her to see what was around.

[Rikka]

Briar waved slightly at Stein before glancing at the screw in her head. It was probably a good thing the girl had that in her head or she probably would have been dead. Before she had a chance to ask Stein about sleeping pills, Stein ended up preoccupied with the red haired boy names Luca. Walking in she quietly shut the door behind her and blinked as Luca approached her. Taking the card she was very careful not to let her skin brush his. She had heard of him around campus and may have peaked at the files on Alex computer out of curiosity. Briar smiled politely and kept quiet as he was soon distracted by Stein.

Deciding that she didn't want Luca to know why she was here she would wait until he left. Moving to a chair near Erebus she sat down and pulled out a bag of carrots from her bag. Offering some to Erebus as she popped one in her mouth and looked toward Luca and Stein. Slightly curious about the red headed boy she stayed quiet afraid that her curiosity would cause him to stay longer. She seriously needed to have a talk with Stein. Letting her mind drift she tried to work out what was wrong with Bridgit and Alex.

[Stein]

Stein assumed that Briar wished to discuss something with her that Briar didn’t want to discuss in present company so Stein quietly disregarded her for the moment. “Luca, could you please just call me Stein, or Dr. Stein.” Stein wasn’t doing anything particularly exciting when Luca asked what she was working on, but the fact that he brought up Damu was interesting. “This is just data sheets from my last experiments, I’m working on my next article to submit to the board, but I’m waiting on some answers from the board. Apparently there’s now an age limit for publishing, and I’m considered ‘too young’ to be contributing to the journal.” Stein closed that data sheet and opened up a different spreadsheet. “I’m currently working on a cure for bone cancer, and the samples are responding…adequately to the treatments, but I could do better, I need more Furosemidenium to continue the experiment, but there’s a ban on it because it’s used as a masking agent for other potentially harmful drugs.” This research wasn’t well known, but Stein figured that Luca might take an interest in it, maybe he even had recommendation for substitutes, even if she hadn’t found any yet. “How do you know Damu?” She asked as she wrote in chicken scratch on her notebook. “I could see if he’s awake. The anesthesia should be wearing off.” She said as she pushed back from the desk and rolled to an adjacent wall where there was a ‘hidden’ door, it had long since been found and used but it had a new lock, which was set only 3-feet off the ground. She opened it and, getting off the chair walked inside, some soft murmuring could be heard back and forth before Stein emerged again carrying Damu. Damu was bone-white and covered in stitches; he looked like he was about 6-months old. He had a bandage-wrap around his mid-section and another around the back of his head and neck; He still looked a little tired, but still excited to meet people in a way only a puppy could.

“Damu, you recognize Erebus and Briar, but this is Luca.” She said indicating Luca “Do you have any qu-.” “Can I say ‘hi’?!?!” Damu asked excitedly “I promise I’ll be careful.” He replied wiggling in her arms as she sat down on her chair again and rolled back over to her desk. Stein carefully handed Damu to Luca, as per Damu’s request and said “be careful, his neck is still healing and he might pop the stitches if he’s not careful.” Stein was interested to see what Luca would get from Damu, given that the information in his brain was organized differently and scrambled slightly.
Damu’s memories/sense: normal puppy thoughts mostly; training, etc. Damu’s grown up with Eris since they were both 1 year old; they were constant companions and did everything together. (Eris was known to talk to him in a goofy voice) He even started going to school with her when she started. They both developed an interest in science when they were 4 years old and started reading everything they could into it. About the time he was 10 years old Stein took DNA samples and claimed that she wanted to learn how to clone things with them still retaining their previous memories and experiences, a process which was totally un-researched. Damu helped Stein develop and insert the screw they were both 10 years old, but was killed soon after; all he remembers was leaving in the morning to pick-up Eris’s most recent mail orders and a burning, stabbing sensation before he died, it was war time. Then waking up to see Eris’s face streaked in tears overjoyed that he was alive. He tried to stand up, but fell over on wobbly legs. “I tried to ‘resurrect you, but the DNA mutated…..you have Bardus Cresco Disorder…I’m sorry, I tried and failed. I managed to rescue most of your brain, but your body rejected most of the implants, I was only to save your memories.” Damu’s now spent the last 4 years relearning basic thing’s he’s forgotten, and he remembers thinking distinctly that Bridgit smelt of blood, Giovanni was cool and made him fly, Jena has a cool monkey tail, but that she’s hiding it, and that Luca’s hair smells like cherries, and that he seems nice and friendly. (Eris has always had a huge soft spot for Damu, she used to be kinder when she was younger, but the war hardened her to everything. He also knows that her morals aren’t all there…they’re corrupted)

[Johnathan]

Erebus gave Briar a small smile when she offered him the carrot. Nodding, he reached out shakily to take it before catching himself. Pulling back his hand, he turned it over palm up. Suddenly the carrot was sucked back into the shadows where Briar's fingers connected with it. It appeared in his hand and he popped it quickly into his mouth before his energy could destroy it. Noting her emotional state in regards to Luca, he smiled slightly again before leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

In Briars mind, Luca's shadow began to undulate, until it rose from the floor in a three dimensional silhouette of Luca himself. It leaned itself onto Luca's shoulder before turning to Briar. When it spoke, it used Erebus's voice in a teasing tone. "If he bothers you that much, I could easily be rid of him." The shadowy apparition turned to grab Luca's shirt, and blow it's nose, before the illusion was dispelled. Erebus opened his eyes to give Briar a sly smile before turning to rest once again.

With a slight tinkling sound, Erebus's chains danced to life as his body surged with energy once again. When it had passed, he regarded the exchange between Luca and Stein with curiosity. Imperceptibly, his will closed around Luca's mind, observing the depth of his powers first hand. I've just discovered a new method to collect information. Erebus chuckled once audibly at the thought, before his expression became solemn.

The others may have noticed the room take on a very slight chill as Erebus's corner grew a shade darker. If they looked directly into his eyes, they would feel a sensation comparable to the unease you feel when waking from a nightmare. Erebus turned his otherworldly eyes on Damu and the small chimera's chain of fate came into focus.

The small creature's chain was not whole. It appeared as segments from at least two chains, bound together at varying intervals. It was unstable, unnatural, and what more, it was within his prerogative and duty, to destroy.

Time stopped as Erebus's spirit rose from his body; the massive skeletal reaper appearing behind him holding it's scythe and tome. Erebus approached, and gingerly took hold of the tattered chain in his hands. In it, he felt the small chimera's life, emotions, and bonds. Turning to Stein, Erebus thought on what he had seen of her life from Luca, before turning to study his own form, resting in the corner of the room.

Raising his left hand, the skeletal reaper leaned forward, giving Erebus the massive tome. Holding it before himself, he opened his hand and the ancient book rose an inch before opening, as its pages turned wildly on their own, eventually coming to a sudden stop. Erebus ran his finger over the names listed, stopping on the elegant scrawl of Damu. Raising his right hand, an ornate skeletal quill appeared. Turning to Stein, he pressed the tip of the quill against her forearm, drawing a singular drop of blood. Turning back to the book, he pressed the quill to the start of Damu's name and began slowly tracing. As he wrote, the links of the small Chimera's chain merged together. Slowly, the entire chain became whole; a singular unit instead of a stitched together body of parts. It became something natural, something complete, something that the Reaper wasn't obligated to destroy.

"So it is written. So it shall be."

The tome slammed shut, and the room returned to normal. Blinking once, Erebus had returned to his body, the painful sting bearing testament to that. Glancing at Stein and Damu once more before closing his eyes, Erebus settled back into his corner once again.

To Erebus, it was repaying a debt. The world to him was still devoid of color; black and white with unerring finality. He was not yet ready for a coexistence with those he cared for; for whom he would go the extra mile with nothing more than a favor. Still, perhaps with this action he has made the slightest of progress.

[Horo]

Luca thought for a moment, placing his finger on his forehead. He hadn’t dealt with chemicals in a very long time. ”Nothing is coming to mind right now, but if you’d like I can gather some wind for your research. My father I’m sure wouldn’t mind having his name on a cancer treatment. I have some friends in the publishing business as well, but I’d like to check over your research first.”

Luca smiled and tapped his foot on the floor. ”I’m surprised, Stein. I thought you knew of me?” Luca reached around Stein and touched her desk. ”Everything that has ever happened in the presence of an object is told to me through touch. It is a wonderful curse, it removes secrets from my life, save for Mr Gloom over there. So Stein. I have never met Damu, but by you even walking down the halls with him in your arms, I know he exist.” Luca looked over to Briar and smiled. ”There are only two ways to keep secrets from me. You’re like Erebus and Eleazar, or you think. I’m sadly not a mind reader.”

Luca took Damu into his hands as Stein offered him. Luca felt out Damu’s past as a surprised look grew on his face. Luca began feeling all around Damu’s body, masking his true purpose with pets and scratches. ”Well, Damu, it is amazing that you are sti~” Erebus began his whole stop time thing. When it finished Luca gasped, nearly dropping Damu in shock. ”How.. how is this happening... This is interesting... Very very Interesting.”[/color] Luca looked over at Erebus, then back to Damu, then at Stein. ”I can... read... your thoughts... Damu.” Luca dropped down into a seated position behind Stein’s chair and began looked all around Damu. ”Just a moment ago, I was reading your entire history and the history of all your different body parts. But now that I have analysed your entire history I’m going into a new area.”

Luca looked up at Stein and smiled. ”I think we need some brain scans done. I’m rather sure that I’m generating memories based off of things he has only thought. He didn’t say my hair smells like cherries, this I know. Stein, when can we schedule testing?”

((Luca will not get a read from the Erebus thing unless Damu is able to overcome the time stop.))

[Rikka]

Briar watched him and tilted her head silently analyzing why he chose to use his shadows rather than take it from her personally. Noting that he had been shaking she decided he must has used to much of his affinities while the corrupted were around. Suddenly she was put under an illusion. She was sure it was an illusion because neither Stein nor Luca seemed to see anything wrong. Her eyes danced with merriment as she giggled silently. Seeing his sly smile she grinned until she noted the chains on his arms dance to life. Curiously she watched them and was reaffirmed with her suspicion. His powers were trying to control him instead of the other way around.

Hopping off her chair she reached into her bag and placed a couple of baggies of dried fruits and meats next to Erebus. Close enough that he could grab pieces but far enough that his powers wouldn't do anything to them. Of course she didn't know what his powers would do to them she was just guessing since he had opted to use his powers rather then risk touching her. Pulling out a water bottle she set it next to the foods. There was everything he would need for a full recover. Plus he needed some rest so it was all good. Blinking she felt a chill in the room as she glanced up and Erebus as the corner got darker. Looking at his eyes she felt an uneasiness rise up within her but ended up angry at her self and shoving it away from her mind.

Erebus was not dangerous and she would not treat him any differently. Noting his focus on Damu she tilted her head curious as to what he saw. Blinking she felt time ripple and freeze. Looking around she spotted Stein, Luca, and (possibly) Damu frozen. Noting motion from Erebus she noted him move out of his body followed by a grim reaper of sorts which ended with her sitting on the ground a look of surprise on her face. Eyes wide she watched in awe of this boy who was fixing Damu's chain. Her mind argued with her that she should be in her right mind scared of this boy who probably controlled life itself, but she also dealt with Bridgit who had a bad fascination with watching people die in horrible ways and pretending they were dolls. Calming her mind for a moment she decided that this was just another part of the Erebus she had met on the first day of school. Watching him her mind clarified in that moment she could be no more afraid of him than she was of Bridgit. Erebus just happened to carry a very heavy burden on his shoulders.

When he returned to his body time started again and Luca finished his conversation with Stein. Looking at him as a few of the puzzle pieces about Erebus fell into place she knew that the only reason people were afraid of Erebus was because they didn't know how nice he actually was. Well at least Briar thought he was nice. Writing in her book she held it up for Erebus to see. Would you like a blanket or anything other then the food here?

[Stein]

“I’d be happy to share my research, and having your family’s name associated with mine, even for one project will increase my prominence in the scientific community” Stein said as she sat down at her desk and pulled up an assignment for one of her classes that wasn’t due for a month and continued working on it. I figured you knew about him” Stein said smiling a little “I wanted to see how you explained your ability, how someone explains their affinities can give an insight to how they feel about, and use their affinities.” As Luca touched Stein’s desk he got the ‘memories’ of Stein brought the desk from her house, Stein had built it a few years ago to accommodate her research, there have been multiple research papers and much of her college work on it. It’s also been disassembled and reassembled several times with different storage compartments each time. There’s currently a secret compartment under the center drawer. Stein watched out of the corner of her eye as Luca started feeling around Damu’s body to find all his scars and surgeries. If you want to know what surgeries Damu’s had you could just ask, I don’t hide what he’s under gone. I know you can feel it with your affinity, but you don’t have to try to hide it.” (note: his from right leg bone is metal)

Stein heard Erebus chuckle and since he’d been nearly silent the entire time she turned to look at him, and noticed his corner of the room darken, locking eyes with him and watched as time around her froze and Erebus left his body and reappeared as a ‘reaper’ She had been caught outside of the effect because she had locked eyes with his just as the effect occurred, so that she was locked out of the loop, and into Erebus’s actions. why am I not affected? I’ll sit quietly and observe Stein told her body to freeze in place and decrease biological functions, such as breathing, and digesting. She almost burst out when Erebus was holding Damu’s chain in his hand and looked ready to crush it. She watched in fascination as he pulled out the large tome and the pages flipped to somewhere in the first quadrant of the book. She held stock-still as the quill appeared and Erebus pricked her arm to draw a drop of blood and traced over something in the book. As time resumed she resumed at the same speed and turning to respond to Luca asked “What’s interesting Luca?” Upon hearing his responds Damu became excited and interjected with “oooh, you can read my thought?! What am I thinking now.” and he concentrated very hard on thinking about how scary Erebus looked, and wishing that he could have some of the fruit that Briar had “You can read Damu’s thoughts…interesting. His brain does process information and memory differently than the normal human, or Chimera brain….oh, and since you’re such good friends with Madame Veronica can you please tell her that adding some patchouli to her perfume would better compliment her natural chemistry; not a lot, just a couple drops to each bottle.”

Stein was intrigued that Luca wanted to do the brain scans as much as she did. “When do you want to do these scans, or how recent too they need to be? I have scans of Damu’s brain from 2 weeks ago before his most recent surgery. I also have scans of Shiro, and Rue’s brains from about the same time…..I could use a scan of your brain as well for comparison, the more recent the better.” She said, her voice was still controlled, but it was fairly obvious that she was excited and intrigued by this idea. “Briar, if you need anything you can check that closet in the corner, there should be anything you need.” Stein said indicating a storage cupboard near the door.

[Johnathan]

Erebus smiled gently to Briar as he shook his head. "I thank you for your concern and generosity, but I will make do with what I have at present." Erebus looked down at the bags again, spotting something that looked like beef jerky. Using the shadows to take a piece, he popped it into his mouth and chewed contemplatively.

As Stein and Luca carried on with their conversation, there was a sudden thunk on the door. Erebus turned his head to sense who was there, and smiled as there was a second thunk, followed by a scratching sound made by small claws. Placing his hand to the floor next to him, the shadows pooled together and opened. Shortly after, a slender red dragon flitted from the portal, zipping around the room excitedly.

Yuuki's first stop, was to curl loosely around Stein, stopping with her head at the small girl's eye level. Looking up and spotting the screw, the blood dragon, rose a bit higher to get a better look at it. Cocking her head to the side, Yuuki reached out tentatively to inspect the item, until she was surprised by a stern voice calling out to her.

"Yuuki!" Erebus's voice was cautionary, and his sudden loud tone caused the dragon to tense. She backed away curling around Stein again so that her head just barely peaked over the girl's shoulder. "Do not touch things you don't understand, and don't play with other's belongings without their permission." Yuuki shrunk her way behind Stein's head to her other shoulder, wining softly. She clasped her small talons together and looked up at Stein apologetically.