World Tree MUSH

    Several nights ago, an invitation was slipped under the door of Devil May Cry. Serrah, of course, immediately sent the word out to her friends.

    Now, it's shortly before the appointed time, and Serrah looks around. "So, question," she says. "Can anyone think of a good explanation for this, or a good reason why I should show up personally?" She sets down the invitation, which is written on the stationery of the Imperial Army of the Hartford Empire.

        TOP SECRET - For the eyes of (not) the Head of the House D'Ambrosio ONLY

        Mr. Dante and Miss Delany: I would like to meet at Grue's Cellar on Friday, October 16th, at 9 PM. Bring whoever you like, however you'd like. Sincerely, Major Harold Jensen, Imperial Army of the Hartford Empire.

    "I mean, credit where it's due," Serrah adds. "He's not calling me a Countess, which is a big point in his favor in my book, but." She shakes her head. "Vincent attacked this city literally last week. This whole thing kind of stinks."

Holly's been staying at Devil May Cry, when she didn't have classes at least. She's still been trying to figure out a way to free Serrah, when she wasn't busy with her coursework. She wants to help her friend, but she can't get behind in school either. The name of the meeting place had got the witch's attention. " Grue's Cellar? "I hope this place isn't full of people eating monsters. 

 She's accompanied by Servis and Lavaux this time, the ghosts want to make sure she doesn't manage to stumble into more trouble.

    "Oh yeah," Dante says, in between bites of Meat Lover's pizza. "It's totally a trap." He agrees. "Which is why we go in, but we keep our heads on a swivel." He hasn't minded at all having guests over, long as they don't mind having pizza every other day.

    Luke certainly was not minding Pizza himself, nor his pokemon, even if the boy was vaguely worrying that the trained critters might get too 'used' to this kind of treats. Even then, he cared more about Serrah's well being than the risk of Dynamo or bewear growing a bit chubbier than normal. "I honestly don't know either, but I have a feeling that, if we don't take this offer, they might find another way to get your and Dante's attention." the boy says, waving a thick slice of said pizza, while Dynamo stares intently at it, ready to pounce on any crumbs that might fall down.

    "I'm not sure I like this." Alty says from her perch on Dante's shoulder. "Vincent is with the empire... This guy is from the Imperial Army. I just don't like it." The shinki says, motioning for Dante as soon as he says 'it's a trap'. She says, taking a swig from the pizza-flavored jelly can in her hand.

Chrollo has been out more than he's been in at DMC. When he /does/ show up it's with that annoying tendency to just be there in the shadows with his fur-lined coat that reeks of whatever the high fashion version of Hot Topic is. 

Oh, and he's also been slowly working through your booze Dante. On the plus side, for every bottle that mysteriously dissappears, there's some weird off-world variant that replaces it. 

Consider yourself an ally for now, Dante. Or by proxy, Serrah Delany. 

Currently working his way through pizza and some stolen Martian wine, Chrollo eyes that cardstock. 

"Can you even call something so obvious, a trap? This seems closer to a taunt." 

A light tap of his chin. "What do we know about the Empire's politics? Perhaps this Major wants to use Miss Delany for some advancement up the ranks?"

    Serrah finds herself leaning away from the pizza. There's probably a bunch of garlic in there. Fortunately, the smell is masked by the rest of the pizza; she isn't partaking, though. She blinks at Holly. "Uh, the monsters in this world are usually a lot less circumspect." She lances back to Dante. "Right?"

    She nods between Dante and Alty. "Pretty much what I was thinking, both of you," she says. "The silver lining is that if it was Vincent's business, he'd be a lot more obvious about it, he's really not the kind of guy who's okay with not having his own name front and center. And if things go way south, I can just time-stop away. As far as I can sense, he's been in Hartford since the fight."

    She considers Chrollo's question. "Basically ... the Empire's powers-that-be are bloodthirsty vampires. Advancemant and succession is usually economic, somehow. The reason Vincent's been trying to play the conqueror is because everybody hates him for being a loudmouthed idiot, so he's trying to get himself some glory to make up for it." She glances down at the note. "I'm wondering if this 'for not the House D'Ambrosio' business is because all of his attempts have been failures. Other than that ..." She shrugs. "I can never figure it out, really, I'm no hundred-years-dead vampire. Just a one-year-dead one," she quips.

    ... She's a bit too lighthearted about that fact.

"Well, grues generally aren't sapient. They generally just eat people and don't ask questions." Holly's quick to point out there. There was also food that she had summoned if you didn't mind odd tastes such as mash potato and gravy ice cream and pepperment turkey. "If everyone on your world hates Vincent why is he still around?" She can't help but to wonder.

 "They may be keeping him around as a scapegoat, after all ruling over people tendds to be easier if you have someone to pin your failures on," Servis explains to her.

 "Can't have a royal court without a jester." Lavaux is quick to add.

    Dante really doesn't care if Chrollo goes through his booze, just so long as the kids don't. Underage drinking is a little too much for him to deal with. Holly's comment leaves him unable to resist snickering. "I used to play that game. Back when dad had a computer bigger than this room." He grins.

    He takes another bite of pizza, mulling things over. "Maybe us taking Vincent out would do these guys a favor, huh? At least in the long run."

    After a moment of thought, Alty purses her lips.
    "He doesn't seem very..." the shinki trails off as though not wanting to say something too unkind, before she settles on the word she wants to use.
    "Competent."
    Propping her chin in an upturned palm the Altines scrunches her nose before looking to Dante, motioning to the hunter again when he says what's on her mind.
    "And it wouldn't surprise me if that's earned him some enemies."

    Luke tilts his head as Holly and Dante speak, "Game?" he begins, before blinking, "Wait, how long ago was that?" he asks that. Luke certainly has no true indication of how... long lived Dante was, so that catches his attention. It also causes him to lose soem of his pizza toppings, which get devoured by a hungry pokemon. "I wonder if someone is actually using Vincent, telling him he should conquer stuff, and controlling from behind, like you said, I mean, he does sound like a very good decoy for blame."

Think like a political vampire, Chrollo! Absorbing the new information, he chomps more pizza. The most delicious garlic'y part in fact. He looks Serrah right in the eyes as he does it. This is the essence of delicious italian that the dead cannot appreciate! 

Siiiiip. "Then he has no shortage of enemies, no shortage of those that would like to replace him. Even if the Major is being sincere, we don't want to become pawns." Part of the reason he's a thief is to avoid a life like that! 

"Let's not take anything he says at face value." 

Dante gets a quiet 'mmm' of agreement. "If we can use the Major to deal with Vincent or his toy without ties or debts, then we'll be in business. So let's all pay attention." He tries to sound focused. The mere /thought/ of an ability to control someone so willful as Serrah makes the thief tremble inside.

    Serrah shrugs at Holly's question and Servis and Lavaux's ghosts. "It's more that he hasn't actually done anything wrong," she says. "He's a Duke. He's high enough on the ladder that you can't just off him or whatever."

    Though Dante and Alty's comments do catch her attention. "That ... might be it," she says. "I mean. On the other hand, Luke, that's another possibility." She grimaces. "I hope you aren't, but I wouldn't put it past anyone who's jealous of his position to try to manipulate him into doing this. Or someone who just wants to see him fail, whichever."

    She sighs, and gets up, moving a bit further away from Chrollo. "Definitely good advice there, Crow," she says. She glances over at the nearest clock. "Guess it's just about time to get ready, anyway," she says. "I'm ... gonna admit that I'm still on the fence about showing my face, even if Jensen's note did mention me by name. I'm the one Vincent's after ... ehh."

    She shrugs uncomfortably. "I also have one more thing to come clean about," she says quietly. "There's ... a part of me that ... oh." She glances at Alty. "Basically ... I'm dead, but vampires have a nonzero essence of humanity that can be used to resurrect us, and it drains with stuff like feeding and healing. It usually takes a lot less than a year to run out, but I've only drank human blood once ..." She hesitates, and looks away. "... but ... I'm low enough that a part of me doesn't care about running out anymore. I'm trying to hold onto ... onto who I really am, but ..." She shrugs, and shakes her head.

    "Mmmmmm..." Alty isn't sure she likes either implication. Whether someone is using Vincent behind the scenes or the empire wants to use the group to get rid of Vincent for them. Either sounds like it would just lead to further problems in the future, be it by revealing some nastier threat, or by virtue of being played like pawns for who knows how long.
    "Ah?"
    It's Serrah's admission though that makes the Altines blink. And then frown. And then hop off Dante's shoulder.
    And then Serrah has tiny arms hugging to her ankle.
    "You giving up is not allowed." The normally cowardly shinki says with what might be a surprising firmness.

    "If you do, I'm not gonna be responsible for what happens next." Dante concurs with Alty, holding up his hand in a mockery of a salute "Scout's Honor, I'm not gonna let that happen!" He says. "Plan A; We go and see what this is about. Plan B is if things go to shit, we'll kick ass." He snatches another slice of pizza, and a knife. "Look, kid. I'm not gonna act like being a vampire's easy. Trust me, being half-demon's its own kettle of fish. But we've got your back...besides, if you need that blood," He slices his thumb open just like that, a trail of blood trickling into his hand, "Then you got me as a bloodbag. I've got bloodcells for days...just not sure what drinking it'll do. Call it a last resort, I guess."

    Almost too casually, Dante grabs an empty water bottle and starts squeezing his bloody hand into it, like it's a juicebox for later.

"Computer game? I'm talking about a book I read." Holly barely knows anything about computers despite being from a future world. "Yeah, you don't want to be a vampire so we're not going to let you become one!" She agrees with the others. "If only I know the magic to undo it, things would be so be much easier." The normally cheerful witch sighs a bit with that.

Chrollo is quiet mostly during the shows of support. He puts down his wine glass. Standing slowly, he crosses his arms, and just /really/ looks Serrah up and down curiously. He burns the current her into his mind. 

He feels so much darkness from her Ability. What kind of darkness would she create if she fell to true vampirism. Would she be an enemy or an ally? 

Would a Fallen version of Serrah be worthy of becoming one of the Spider's legs? With that line of thinking in mind, he finally lets a smile that is every pantomime of warm that he can come up. 

"No matter what you might become, or don't become, as long as you make that choice of your own will...then you will be yourself, Serrah Delany." 

Dante gets a look too though. Demon? So the man /isn't/ a Nen user? He files that away too. 

    Serrah blinks in surprise. She suddenly has an Altines wrapped around her leg. "Heh ... yeah, I know. We, uh." She shrugs. "All we have to do is perma-kill Vincent in, I wanna say, the next month or two. Then I can ... try to finagle my resurrection at a clinic or something."

    She grimaces at Dante's ... offer. "Uh, thankssss, but I'm getting by just fine on animals and like black puddings and stuff. You, uh, really don't need to do that," she mutters.

    She looks back at Chrollo. "Yeah," she says. "I've already made up my mind, though. A better version of this is who I am."

    She looks around. "So ... shall we go, then?" she says, taking a step towards the door.

"Well, technically all we need to get the scepter right? Then again that might be difficult without killing Vincent..." Holly frowns a bit at that. "Oh your world has blood slime monsters too? I really need to spend more time there! It sounds like there's many interesting creatures!" She's quick to forget the fact that it's ruled by vampires.

 "It might be best to stay focused for the time being Holly, sorry she can be easily distracted sometimes." Servis does his best to keep the witch's attention from wondering too much as the trio approaches the door along with Serrah.

    It's another few beats before Alty detaches from Serrah.
    "So we get the staff from Vincent and be done with it." She says, tone casual and setting her hands on her hips.
    "I'm ready to go whenever."

    "Same here." Dante says, capping the bottle of blood and stuffing it in his coat pocket just to be sure.

Chrollo smiles a bit as Serrah says she's made up her mind. That finally seals the deal. He /needs/ to see what might come of this young woman should she lose that coveted humanity of hers. 

Running a hand through his hair, he gives a simple nod before walking out the door. "I'll make sure we aren't followed." And thus the Spider sets off to play anti-spy for the group on the way to the Grue's Cellar!

    As they make their way through the city, Alty might detect several vampires by their low body temperature. Most of them are in uniform, but some in "plainclothes."

    Grue's Cellar is a relatively new-looking dive bar, but it seems to have achieved a seedy look in very short order. There's a couple of human mercenaries, and a living black man sitting at the bar, but most of the patrons are vampires. Most of them are in uniform, too.

    At the center of it all is a vampire in the same style of uniform as Maledicta, a man with short brown hair which is disheveled, but in a way that looks calculated; he's reclining with his feet up on the table in front of him, taking a swig from a beer bottle. He has the air of someone who has never, ever in his unlife suffered any sort of hardship or had anything not go exactly the way he wanted it to.

    He nods in greeting to the group. "Welcome, my dudes and dudettes!" he says. "Major Harold Jensen, at your service. Or ... not at your service." He shakes his head. "You know what I mean. Emperor Hartford just wants us to have a nice friendly chat about a certain ... Duke of House D'Ambrosio. The fact that you've come in a group makes this easier."

    Dante's got his traditional coat on, with a black compression top and red waistcoat underneath. Within his guitar case is in his arsenal, Dante's not stupid enough to do this unarmed.

    Dante orders up a bottle of scotch and a shotglass before he wanders toward the Major, cocking a silver brow. "That's the last kind of greeting I thought I'd get out of one of you." He says, pouring a shot and downing it as he sits. "Get to the point, we're not exactly here for small talk."

    "Heads up, vampires." Alty whispers as soon as she gets low body heat signatures pop up on her scanners as the group makes their way to the dive bar and inside. And then...
    Then Major Harold Jensen happens.
    "... D... Dudes and dudettes...?"
    Ahem... Ahem. The shinki alights on the table and...
    Silently activates her voice recorder. Every moment of this conversation is going to be recorded.
    "So start chatting, you have our attention."

Chrollo finds a seat, crossing his legs as he takes stock of the surroundings. He makes a note of where the exits are, and most importantly, where the exits are in relation to Serrah. He can't have his time-gifting proto-Troupe member go missing or dead just yet! 

The thief is quick to point out issues in all of thise. "Good evening, Major. Friendly chats require trust, and we don't have that yet. Can you prove you are here on the Emperor's behalf? I doubt Vincent would be capable of such treachery. But perhaps he has smarter subordinates that would like to replace him."

Even Holly finds this kind of odd, why would there be so many soliders if they just wanted to talk? The ghosts stay close to the witch in-case trouble does break out. Sure, she's quite durable in physical combat, but she's not invincible. "So what did you invite Serrah here for?" She's not really the best person for political discussions but she was here to support her friend.

    Major Jensen raises his eyebrows at Dante, but he grins. "Well, I did take back the 'at your service'," he says. He brightens at the sight of Alty. "Ah, a Shinki! The Angel of Death herself, here to record our conversation of all things." He snaps his fingers; one of the other vampires approaches and places a crystal ball on the center of the table. The sounds around the table become muffled, and the rest of the sounds ... disappear. Seems like it's generating a silencing spell, covering everyone involved in the conversation. It doesn't seem to be interfering with Alty's recording, however.

    Major Jensen gives Chrollo a fangy grin. "I believe you've hit the nail on the head," he says. "You can't trust me. This meeting is itself ... 'unofficial'. But I can show you this much."

    He reaches into the pocket of his uniform, and pulls out a note on Imperial stationery: "Security Clearance Level: public at-request. Major Harold Jensen is ordered to visit the drinking establishment 'Grue's Tavern' in the Blossom identified as the homeworld of Dante, son of Sparda. Authorized equipment: one Orb of Selective Silence spell-artifact, minimum required soldiers and armaments" with a squiggly signature that looks kind of like the initials are J.H.

    Serrah peers at it. "... That's the Emperor's signature, at least," she says. "Forging an order from the Emperor ... you'd get your ass handed to you six ways from Sunday by your entire chain of command."

    "Just so!" The Major lowers his feet and leans forward. "Now ... to get to the point, as requested by Mr. Dante and Miss Winn." He looks at each of the people present. "Vincent D'Ambrosio is a Vincent D'Ambarrassment," he says firmly. "He is also considered a Vincent D'Amidiot by pretty much everyone. And on top of that, his quixotic quests of conquering have done nothing but cost the Empire money, resources, and the unlives of vampire officers."

    Serrah smacks her forehead. "Aaaand here we go."

    Major Jensen pauses. "Damn, I should have said 'quonquering'," he says. "To, y'know, keep the alliteration going, make it a pun, that kind of thing."

    Dante peers at the note too, "Hnnnn..." He gently lets go of the gun he'd been grasping at under his coat and sits back.

    "That much we figured. He's been causing trouble here recently. So what, you want us to get rid of him?" He asks, blunt and to the point.

    Alty flusters when she's called out on both her dark epithet and the fact that she's recording the conversation.
    Not that it stops her from recording, even as the Orb of Selective Silence is set down to add to the group's privacy.
    Ahem...
    So it looks like the guy is legit, apparently.
    And she can't help but make a face at the alliteration.
    "Is quonquering anything like kombat?" She asks before regaining her focus.
    "But what you're saying is that he's a problem for you too, right?"

"Wait, will that orb shut down Vincent's magic? He has guards too though right?" Holly figures it wouldn't be that easy or someone would have already done it.

 "Are you sure it'll only affect Vincent?" Servis knows an anti-magic weapon can be used to hurt Holly but he's not going to say that out loud.

The silence-orb is a very curious object, and one that Chrollo has half a mind to try to kill most of the people in the room for. But no, there's more important things here. Like Serrah('s Ability's), Dante('s Abilities), and a general buffet of potential things to thieve. Information and opportunity are the life's blood of a bandit. Never taking his eyes off of the Major, Chrollo's gaze grows sharper. 

Chrollo also looks like he's trying to not be violently ill from the level of horrific alliteration going on. 

"Please...stop ruining language for all of time." Chrollo really, /really/ wants to pull an Uvogin and cave this vampire's skull into his chest cavity. 

Better sense prevails. "He is a liability. And you need deniable assets that are competent, motivated, and able to move in places the undead cannot while unlikely to disturb the political order of the Empire." 

Pause. "What of Miss Delany? What would your Emperor have of her, if Vincent was truly dead?"

    Major Jensen raises his eyebrows at Dante's bluntness, but he's momentarily distracted by Alty. "... I sure hope not," he says dryly. He looks sideways at Holly. "What? No, the purpose of the Selective Silence Orb is to keep our conversation private. The walls have ears, y'know?"

    He chuckles at Chrollo's complaints, and his grin widens at the exact moment Chrollo is considering rearranging his face. But he says, "To answer your query about wanting to kill His Grace ... 'oh, but of course not'." His tone is cold, despite his smile. "I could not possibly admit to a desire for the death of a Duke of the Hartford Empire. I would certainly not admit to the opinion that if his forays into the World Tree led to an unrecoverable mistake, it would save the Empire the money and effort of causing something nasty to befall him ourselves. Nor would I admit to knowing that several of the upper echelons of the Empire feel this way -- least of all the Emperor himself. And the cause of such a death would get no support from the Empire. This conversation ... didn't happen."

    Then he glances at Serrah. "But to answer your other question, Mr. Crow -- the term is 'permanently dead', by the way -- I am reasonably certain that, since the Duke of D'Ambrosio has not submitted any sort of will and transference of title and power, she would return to her prior status as a civilian commoner, and nothing will stand in the way of her resurrection."

    "Okay, that's kind of the best possible result," Serrah says flatly.

    Major Jensen chuckles, and glances around the table. "Just, y'know, after all's said and done, stay out of the Hartford Blossom for a while?"

    Dante can't say he wasn't expecting this. "Okay...say we don't do this, what would we not get out of it beyond a jackass duke out of our hair?" He asks, sipping his scotch. "'cause it's not gonna be easy pulling this off, and I gotta pay for repairs to my building."

"Oh, that makes sense. So how do you plan on dealing with Vincent's ability to control vampires then?" Holly wonders how they were going to handle that if that wasn't what the orb for. 

"Well, he's pretty rich if he's a Duke right and he doesn't have a will..." Lavaux can't but to note.

Chrollo lets out a hint of a breath of exhaustion. He hates this vampire. Really, /really/ does. He snaps his fingers. 

"Bartender. Give me blood wine, please." 'On the Emperor's tab' goes unsaid. 

Half way through his glass, he turns back to this jerkpire with a blank look on his face. He lets those dead eyes do their work, allowing some of his mostly hollow soul peak out right towards the other being. 

"If you want Vincent dead, then we will require compensation, information, and opportunity to move Empire troops out of our way in order to stage an effective ambush. A time and place of our choosing. We'll be flexible, so as to not upset your political order. If you don't give us that, we will endeavor to make Vincent's death as politically disadvantageous as we can." 

Ahem! "I'm sorry. His 'not'-final-death as 'entirely' politically helpful as possible."

    Serrah furrows her brow at Holly's Logic. "... He doesn't have the innate power to control vampires," she says. "He uses the Blackheart Scepter to control, like, anyone he zaps with it. He has the remote-control on me and Wilhelmina, because of the Blackheart Mark." She brushes aside the front of her hair to reveal the black heart-shaped mark.

    Major Jensen shrugs at Dante and Chrollo. "Oh, I'm sure Miss Delany will think of something," he says. "His finances will return to the Empire on his death, Mr. Lavaux, but some amount of money might mysteriously end up in Miss Delany's bank account in the confusion. She will be required to pay income tax, but ..." He smiles thinly. "It might be, oh, about what his investment portfolio makes in a week?"

    "... Just above five hundred thousand Hartford dollars before taxes," says Serrah. "Not exactly a Prince's ransom, but wow." She smirks faintly. "Ambushing him probably won't be a problem," she tells Chrollo. "He thinks he can catch me without help, especially now that he thinks he can just timestop-grab me --"

    "Shhhhh," says Major Jensen, winking. "Don't be too hasty in revealing too many details about your plans. Just know that if the Empire hypothetically wanted a Duke to die by someone else's hand, that someone-might simply find things working out quite easily, with Imperial forces mysteriously not getting in their way."

    Dante raises an eyebrow, glancing to Serrah for a second before he regards Jensen. "Great, we're doing black ops, then. Y'know, I used to turn down these kinds of gigs because I got so many offers in a place like this." He leans forward in his seat, swishing the liquid in his glass. "You're lucky Vincent's enough of a stooge this would be piss easy even if I did it alone."

"Well, there's also the stuff inside his house. If it doesn't get blood all over it." Lavaux doesn't know what kind of his assets that Vincent owns.

 "Yes, I'm sure it would be quite tempting for someone to sell us out." Servis doesn't trust the other vampires listening to the conversation.

 "There's also the risk he might do something to Serrah if things go wrong..." Holly can't help but to be worried about that.

Chrollo's gaze turns to Serrah. He very simply nods to her. 

And then he turns right back to the Major. "Consider us persuaded in hypothetical ventures that we certainly don't have mutual interests in. I'm certain there will not be a dead-drop set up for our non-mutual exchange of intelligence. Or files mysteriously emailed to anonymous accounts that give us details about Vincent's strongholds or methods of entry and exit." 

Listening to this man /hurts/. He stands, looking quite ready to leave. 

"I am certain we will not be meeting again. Correct?" He looks to the others to agreement.

    Major Jensen nods, and casually gives Dante a thumbs-up. Though he notices Servis's gaze. "Please," he says. "Thanks to the Selective Silence spell, they can't hear us. Even if they could, they're all my subordinates. And Miss Winn?" He looks directly at Holly. "This is already going to be dangerous for her no matter what."

    "Yeah," says Serrah. "I kind of don't have anything to lose at this point."

    Major Jensen continues to be amused by Chrollo's discomfiture. "See? You're already getting the lingo down," he says. "And as for meeting again? God, I hope not."

    He picks up the orb; the sound returns to normal. "Well, it was nice having this conversation with you," he says, handing the orb off to the vampire who'd put it there in the first place. The vampires in the bar all get ready to leave. "Good luck in solving that little problem of yours, and in all your other endeavors," he says, gliding backward towards the door an inch above the ground, "and remember: excellence is a choice!"

    Serrah sighs and turns resolutely away from him. "I need a drink," she mutters. "Jesus. Good thing I'm already in a bar."

    Dante stands, leaning in. "Let's just make this clear; If I ever see your empire around here, even so much as a lost t-shirt, I will _thoroughly_ fuck you all up. And then I'll make s'mores from the resulting fires. Do not piss me off, chompy." He hisses, in that low sort of "I'm so unDante right now, and you're gonna pay if you give me reason."

    Then he lets go of Jensen, watching the vampires just casually float off. His glare is piercing, thanks to his grayish blue eyes. After that, he joins Serrah and offers her his scotch. "Here, you'll need this." He says, and sighs. "Well, that was fun."

Chrollo, when the vampires are gone, is rubbing his temple as if his entire sense of literature or artistry has been tortured by the Major's mere presence. It's like a perversion of every book of old poetry he's stolen. 

"I wish to feel as dead as my companion." He notes to the bartender. 

Pause. "Well. That certainly /won't/ lead to betrayal at all." 

Yeah, he's doing that on purpose, offering Serrah and Dante in particular a small smile.

"I know, but I don't want to lose one of my friends..." Even Holly has her limits to how upbeat she can be, she has to get this right no matter what. The witch doesn't drink with the others though, she has classes tomorrow after all. Her attention turns towards Dante a bit surprised look in her purple eyes, she can't remember seeing him like this before.

 Servis floats next to the woman and put his tail on her shoulder, he doesn't have hands after all.

"Don't worry Holly, a good magician always has a trick up their sleeves."

"But you don't have any sleeves Servis and my top is sleeveless..."

"But you have the sleeves in your stockings..."