Anthony sipped his water at the bar. Enjoying the solitude before he'd have to sneak back in and ignoring the temptation to just call Sebastian and walk out that door. He snapped his fingers at the barman and pointed at his side plate, requesting his third bread roll, the effort of conversation eluding him for now. He only came to these things to keep up the social facade but...these days, it just didn't seem worth it. He was so tired of clawing his way up like this, without any guarantee for success, and even if he did get to the top, he could get hit by a bus outside a damn McDonalds the very next day. It just didn't seem worth the effort anymore. He grimaced at his darkening mood, they'd been coming more and more lately, and when around people he found it harder not to snap or snark at them. Music wasn't as enjoyable anymore, making the numbers dance through hoops and create money out of nowhere refused to thrill him and even his care for his appearance was slipping. For god's sake, there were crumbs all over his suit. He glared with disgust at the few specks of bread maiming the dark night-blue of his suit. Lord, he'd gotten so desperate for a feeling of anything, born from a change from this monotonous rut he was in, he'd asked for a creation of this foulness, and even wore it. Giopetto hadn't been able to hide his distaste at Anthony's irregular request, the fact that Giopetto had tried to hide it had shamed Anthony even more than the fact he'd made Giopetto squander his time on a puerile experiment. He sighed and simply let his head fall on his arm and closed his eyes for a moment, resting on the table.

_________________
“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

As the plays ended, Henry stood up and stretched, his limbs tired from having sat for such an extended period. He looked around at the others present and motioned out of the nearest door, "Let's head awun back." He announced, "Grab as much food as you cee-an and be quick to get out. Don't wanna get cwaught up by Shakesman on te way home."

Henry quickly walked out ahead of the Family members and pocketed as much food as his coats would allow, he eagerly awaited the breakfasts that would be coming. He had recently taken to not eating in the mornings as it allowed him to save more money. However, on occasion that he managed to nick food from these sorts of functions, he became very happy for being allowed to eat breakfast for the day. As he finished pocketing, he quickly moved into the snowy night air, making his way across the empty, cracked street, illuminated in the dim orange of the nearby streetlights. Once across the road, he waited for the other Family members to arrive before heading home en masse. He knew that the path home was primarily safe, and was not waiting on them for fear of his safety, but out of an anxiety that were they left to their own devices they would betray the Family to the police. He did not fear this as much with the younger members, as he found that they could more easily be written off as liars, but members like Chester or Eddie, who perhaps he had less reason to fear, he found himself all the more anxious around.

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These are a few of my favorite things

Chester shuffled into the lobby, briefly picking over the leftovers as Henry had suggested. He looked out into the night, shivering preemptively. Taking one last roll and a moment to steel himself, the card shark wrapped himself tightly in his coat and stepped out into the Winter weather, walking rather briskly for a man his age. He moved to the front of the group, reaching Henry first.

"C'mon, no need to hold things up. My fingers are about to freeze off." Chester grumbled, stuffing his hands deeper into his pockets. Despite how long he had lived in the district, he had never gotten used to its weather generator, and had never understood why anyone had thought it would be a good idea in the first place.

Annoyed at Chester's petulant nature, Henry muttered a soft "Hold up, Chester. We're waiting on 'ose other schmucks f'r now.." before wrapping himself more firmly in his jacket and shivering. There had been many nights colder and more harsh than this one, and at later points in the night the harbor breeze would begin to roll in and blanket a portion of Winter District in particularly cold climes, however, Henry felt a chill particularly early on this night. He felt odd, as though he had never hardened himself to the elements of Winter District and was freshly arrived onto the island. As he stood in this miserable state, Henry wished more and more to return to the Family's makeshift "home"

-----------

After a good walk, both Jess and Riem arrived at the improvised headquarters of the Beltane Family. The large brick building which stood before the two had once been a telephone manufacturing factory. However, significant amounts of civil unrest in the late 1950's had caused the factory to go under and eventually become abandoned. Such was the fate of many of the buildings in Winter District that had once served as places of employment.

Rather inauspicious in appearance from the outside, the factory was composed primarily of standard red bricks. Or at least it had been, over the years the sheen of the bricks had begun to fade and there existed dead plants over a good portion of the building, most of which were killed off with the arrival of the Weather Generator. In several corners of the factory, and in several places inside, bricks had fallen and left holes in the building, though these were not of any particular note and so no one had really gone out of their way to discover and fix all of them.

The building only began to show difference when one stepped inside into the lobby, which still had working electricity. Though dim, a single light bulb illuminated the small room that once served as a reception desk for visitors to the factory. Henry only kept this light on when people were coming into the building, so as to avoid any unwanted attention. In the corner of this reception room was a small staircase which led upwards into the main floors of the building; long hallways with large windows facing the concrete jungle to the East. Rooms lined this upper floor and it was these rooms which had been renovated the most, as these domiciles which formerly contained the machinations for telephone production had now been turned into a (barely) hospitable living environment for those of the group who had nowhere else to turn.

The rooms were once separated, though it did not take long for Henry to begin a project to disassemble the walls which kept them apart, converting the separate workspaces into a large open-room for the Family to convene in. The room was effectively a super-giant flat, with multiple rooms leading off from the main one to form bedrooms and bathrooms for the Family to use. Despite their abundance of space, however, the Family only had one refrigerator and one television, both of which were currently off due to an unpaid electrical bill. The room was kept illuminated by streetlights, giving it a heavily orange tint at all times of the night. The old, wooden floors creaked underneath passing feet and the building as a whole made loud noises settling; in lieu of a refrigerator, Henry had taken to hanging foods needing cold storage out of the rooms large windows, and throughout the whole building, there was only one shower, which could only produce cold water for the time being, due to an unpaid heating bill, as such, the pipes had frozen over and no showers were available to the inhabitants of the building.

However, despite all of its faults, despite its oldness, its destitute nature, and the fact that to anyone with a set of standards, the place would be seen as inhospitable, Henry felt a certain fondness for the place. It was the closest thing he had to a home in Samhain and he hoped at times that the others felt the same way about it that he did.

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These are a few of my favorite things

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"Are you going to finish that?"

Like those before him, Louie too stuffed some food into his coat pockets. It was free after all. Why let it go to waste? He shuffled slowly out into the night and approached Chester and Henry. "Yeah we're coming," Louie responded to Henry. He looked back over his shoulder to make sure the others on their way and added, "I think." He turned back to Henry, scratching his beard and casually asked, "So this guy, Justin. Where'd you find him?"

The glaciated streets of winter took its toll on Jess. As he and Seki made their way into the sepulchral structure, they could feel the layer of frost on their flesh slowly evanesce. It wasn’t long before the pair parted in order to venture ritualistically back to their usual routine.

Seki ran between Jess’ legs and headed off to greet Lymerihck, while Jess nonchalantly began undressing in front of the entrance. It was his custom to remove his business attire whenever possible, as to not damage it. No sooner did he remove his pants, when Riem re-entered the room. Jess was not fazed by this sudden appearance, due to his lackadaisical Nature.

Jess’ responded to Riems phrase by merely saying “about what?”

_________________
"Are you going to finish that?"

Rodger wondered around the lobby as the rest of his constituents. After grabbing whatever the freshest snacks he could find, he checked his pocket watch. Realizing he is overstaying his welcome, he pocketed his spoils and made his way to the rest of the family outside. After rejoining the others, he brandished a hand puppet. "SoRry tO kEep yA! BoSs iS WaY tOo pIcKy wHeN iT cOmEs tA fOoD!" he spouted under the guise of the raspy female doll. "Please excuse Dhalia," smirked the old man. "She doesn't know how her voice carries."

{Harold Millions}

"I'm glad you get he's a good kid, Henry." Harold said as he pop out from behind the group. " Though, I don't know exactly what I just watched." He commented while he rubbed his chin thinking. He had a hard time getting the play and only a few of its messages he figured out. Suddenly Harold shook his head, he was getting off his point . " Anyways, getting back on track. The boy views us too much in a positive light ." He mentioned and then added " And he has a good future ahead of him. I just want to remind you, let's not alter his course or add to the roster. "

Harold snapped his fingers as he just remembered something else he wanted to say. " Oh yeah, right, I spotted that Letcher guy. " Something about that guy was off and no matter how charming he can appeared to be when he wants to, Harold always thought he reeked of sleazy or something far worst. " I'm really hoping he was there for a show, but I doubt it

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Anthony snapped awake, going from the empty and peaceful blankness of sleep to Fuck. in an instant, immediately sitting straight up and looking around frantically, ignoring the minor heart-attack he'd given to elderly lady sitting beside him. He dropped a twenty on the empty side plate and left. Hoping he hadn't made a fool of himself and ended up burning some bridges with that sloppiness. For God's sake, he was surprised he hadn't had a "kick me" sign put on his back or pornographic images drawn on him, falling asleep in public like that. What he'd been thinking before he fell asleep, while a little too self-absorbed, had been essentially right. He needed a new drive, the goal would still be the same, but maybe he should travel down a different path, take a few detours, but what other way was available to him? His past was for too sordid for entry into politics, and if he couldn't rule in name, than the only other option he could take was to rule through the shadow kingdom of shady backroom deals and business. Balancing industry in one hand and the ordinary lives of thousands in the other, offering to keep stability in order to stop the whole game from falling apart and the blood of civilisation from rising up and frothing out of society's body in a gruesome depiction of frenzied maggots tearing apart a helpless host's body and then all perishing alone against the harshness of the outside world.

He straightened his tie, pulled down his sleeves and buttoned up his blazer. One hand flicked his black scarf around his neck whilst the other pulled out a set of black gloves which were quickly slid over a set of of long and delicate fingers. Perfect. though Anthony as he finished a few seconds worth of checking his hair a window's reflection. He then strode towards the light, pushed the button, and waited patiently for the lights to turn green as he looked ahead at the little group across the road. If Anthony's life were to be compared to a galaxy, he, of course, would be the sun, although he would prefer to be a white dwarf if possible, so much more elegant. Those who featured heavily in his life would be the planets. Jessica would be the Venus-like planet, all gas and heat and energy, so very alive. Clerica would be Saturn, surrounded by hundreds of little asteroids, each of them orbiting around her as she affected each and every one of them, although perhaps she would be better compared to Uranus due to the complexity of her affections and manipulations. He supposed Edgar could be Pluto while Mister Millions would have to be Neptune. Far away from Anthony but a large and important figure nonetheless. Neptune of course was also the name of the god of the sea, ruler over a vast, powerful and chaotic empire of wind and water, fitting perhaps for a winter district, after all, snow was simply cold water so Neptune should have control over it too. He wondered for a moment if when the land was covered with snow, which of the three gods ruled the land. Jupiter, Neptune, or even Hades in that time of stillness, stasis and a silent simplicity.

That led him to thinking about the Romans as the lights flicked green and he began to cross, not bothering to look left and right. There weren't any cars at this time anyway. Such a great empire they'd had, but in the end spread too thin. Even with their culture and acquired wisdom from across the globe, they had still fallen like the titular Icarus as his ambitions took him too close to the sun and he'd fallen back to the land of mortals and mere men. Even if he'd survived, it would have felt like dying, to be that close to heaven and then to fall back to earth. Anthony would not make those mistakes. He would not let ambition or greed or pride come before his fall because he would not. He would build a tower out of business and cold, hard, cash. The greatest building block of the modern, civilised metropolis that was the 21st century.

Black shoes snapped against the curb, ignoring and brushing through the thin film of pure white snow, smashing and grinding it into the pavement, just like the steps of giants through a world of men like ants. Anyway, it seemed that, in a callback to an earlier metaphor, Henry had picked up a few asteroids that were now circling around him, Anthony wondered how many of them would be sent tumbling our of his galaxy into the unknown regions of space, and who would become new moons around the titular Neptune that would have to be studied and remembered and, if necessary, directed just a little off course. As he got closer he discovered that some of them seemed to already possess their own, hopefully unique, atmosphere. He resisted the urge to cover his mouth with a hankerchief, instead smiling calmly at them and making sure not to get too close to them as he steeped towards Henry. Mr Millions, a pleasant night indeed, is it not?. He asked. Well rounded vowels and clean crisp consonants clipping off his silver tongue, years of elocution lessons, listening to plays and speeches and the world of subtle stabs and honeyed homages had turned his, originally, course and rough voice into a tool that with the precision and beauty as a scalpel cutting through air. A beautiful final touch to an enjoyable, if a tad unoriginal, evening. He added clearly and soundly. Alas, I missed young Mr Hanover's saga of the subsistence of the subjects on the streets. A tiredness swept over me when I closed my eyes for a moment and when I awoke, I found I'd been stolen away from the waking realm. Did I miss a tale I may have one day spoke of to my children?

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“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

"The play was enjoyable enough, Mr. Letcher," Chester interjected, "but I'm sure you've seen better, a cultured man such as yourself. Come to think of it, all the fancy parties must've been cancelled tonight, for you to come down the Institute. What's the occasion?" Had he had his way, Chester wouldn't have been having this conversation out in the cold, and probably would have been sleeping in a comparatively warm bed. However, he didn't want to offend a person who had done so much for the Foundation, so he tried to play along.

"The play was crap, I'm hea for the food." Henry shrugged at Anthony's question. Henry had let Anthony donate directly to the Family, as the Foundation needed to maintain its self-sufficiency illusion to the rest of Samhain. He was not particularly fond of Anthony, thinking him pompous and overly effeminate, but money was money, no matter the source. Henry looked about and made sure all were present before departing through the streets toward the Family's home.

Henry walked mostly in silence, save the occasional cough or grumble. He wanted to sleep and get on with the next day, meeting a new recruit had never been a fun process in his experience, so he wanted to just be done with it. His mind flashed back to Lucille, Rena, and Rabi; the musketeers who Henry held great fondness for, three former Family members who had gone on to move into normal society, and who Henry missed from a utilitarian perspective. The Hook-Line-and-Sinker was their collective nickname and they were Henry's proteges at con-artistry. As a group, they easily surpassed Henry, and as the Family patriarch looked back on his current company, he sighed at realizing none of them were quite up to the same level.

Henry's curmudgeonly thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash some streets over. Henry paused and looked around. It did not sound like a car crash, and he heard a groan. Henry decided to take a turn and follow the noise into an alleyway, dark and cramped, he saw a person sitting in a pile of trash-bags against a wall, facing away from Henry's current position to an unseen person. The person, a young woman, was bloodied and looked to be in pain. The woman seemed to be alert enough to be frantically looking for something, though not with her bearings enough to notice Henry. Though her features were obscured, Henry could tell she was young, about Jess's age. Henry beckoned the others over to come observe and possibly step in in case this was a rape or some other crime. Though Henry was driven by greed, he felt secure enough when flanked by his Family to try to stop crime when he could in Winter District.

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These are a few of my favorite things

{Harold Millions}

_Where the Action is_ An Alleyway_


" The night hasn't ended so it being pleasant is still up to debate." Harold remarked to Anthony's statement. He then reached into his blue jacket for the inner pocket to pull out another flash drive. " By the way, since I'm in a great mood. I have a gift, a gift of information." He mentioned as he offered the memory stick to Anthony. " Its on three businesses in the areas. Some customer reviews on their products, a production-possibility frontier, some graphs based on yearly profits, and etc. Stuff you can use if you find any of it useful." Harold said, telling Anthony a general idea of what he may find on the device. " Its yours if you want it and no, there is no catch." Harold said and made sure to mention to the man as he knows what kind of person Anthony was. " And the play was alright, not crap." He sharply replied after Henry's comment.

After strolling with the others back to their base of operations and Harold like Henry heard the loud crash from a nearby alleyway. Henry was the first to investigate, but Harold was right behind him. Since the police hardly come by, it been up to the family to keeping the order around this district. One of the few reasons, he sticks with the family with such loyalty. " Hey, is everything alright?!" Harold called out as he rushed to the scene.

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Edmond had little to say (for once) in regards to the play. In truth he had paid less attention to it and more attention to writing a quick short story on a dinner napkin he'd pocketed. The story was about a man who wrote short stories on dinner napkins. That aside, Edmond thought it quite strange for his friend to simply go wandering down an alley. Sure they'd scavenged in their fair share of slums but with all the food they'd pocketed at the theater what could he possibly be looking for now?

What Edmond found astonished him. A girl? Here? At this hour? It was strange to say the least. "Do you suppose she fell?" he queried, looking up for any signs of open windows or broken rails. "I would think we'd have seen someone leaving if there were some kind of incident." He glanced around to ensure that any potential attackers were not still in the area. "Regardless, we should move her somewhere. A hospital perhaps? Or would you prefer to nurse her back to health at home?"

"Y-yeah..." Henry began, unsure of himself, "we should probably-" Just then, the girl began moving and jolted awake, her eyes not focused on the Family who now surrounded her, but on the sky.

"Hey... are you okay?" Henry started to ask the woman, who immediately rose from the trash, not even bothering to brush herself off or acknowledge the Family in any way. Henry began to think that she was cold, that they should just leave the strange woman be, plenty of crazies in the streets as it was. He got a better look at the woman, however, and saw that tears were streaming down her face.

"Don't hurt them..." She muttered to herself, "Don't hurt them..." she began to walk, but suddenly collapsed on her own feet, an audible snap emitting from her legs. The woman cried in pain and Henry was too horrified to react. She was still looking at the ground when she began muttering to herself again, this time "You leave her be... leave her be... leave her-" Henry began to listen to her more now and noticed she was a southerner, her accent noticeable in the night. Suddenly, a strange scar appeared on her face, a scar which had not been present a moment ago. "Aries!" She cried out in an anger that made Henry back away, wondering what on earth she was screaming about, suddenly though, as if in response to her cry, a loud series of thuds could be heard approaching the group. Henry finally looked away from the girl to see the empty alleyway, on the rooftop though, was a large figure, a small person, perhaps only sixteen or seventeen, a well-built young man wearing a 'Scream' mask on his face.

"You ready to give up now, bitch?" His voice was snotty and pompous from beneath the mask, though despite his petulant tone, Henry could tell that this woman was intimidated by the boy she referred to as Aries. "Shit you're a whore, Looks like you got yourself some new boyfriends.. you think they're gonna save you now?" Henry was getting very annoyed at the way this brat was speaking of their presence, as if they were barely worth noting in whatever perverted game these two were playing.

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These are a few of my favorite things

Chester watched Henry leave, slighting the Foundation's benefactor, and grimaced. He turned back to Anthony. "You'll have to excuse him. Henry's been rather busy lately, probably running on fumes right now. I'm sure he'll be more alert the next time you see him. Sorry to cut things short, have a nice night." He smiled meekly, backing up a few paces before turning and following the rest of the group.

Catching up, Chester tightened his coat again and glowered. "Damn it, Henry, what's wrong with you? Given the number of jobs that man has provided the Foundation with, I'd have thought you could manage to be a little less..." He stopped, finally noticing the scene unfolding before him. "... Oh my. What happened? Hey, you! What's the meaning of this?!" He shouted at the boy, moving forward to protect the girl.

Though originally lost in the families conversations, Rodger soon felt his attention focus on Henry's sudden charge into the alleyway. He quickly took notice of the scene before him. A young girl, disheveled and crying in pain. A young man, masked, and obviously the cause of current troubles. "A little young to be my little girl, but I can't let this continue." thought the man, casting off his sweater and loosening his tie. He ran to Chester's side. "Ditto what he says, stranger." Rodger bellowed towards the man in the mask.

"Don't get involved, it's none of your business, bums." The boy called Aries responds to the questions, he looks over to the girl and begins speaking, his silhouette illuminated against a backdrop of a cloudy sky, orange snow, and a large moon. "I can make a call to Cancer and have this done easily if you don't want to give in now." Aries holds an iphone in his hand, evidently ready to phone this person named Cancer.

"You bastard!" The girl screamed, "You said this would be-"

"A fight with any allies we wanted.. not my fault none of the other senses wanted to help a slut like you.." He now twirled the iphone in his hand, a gesture which very nearly sent Henry over the edge. This boy was so flagrantly disregarding an item that was such a luxury, Henry spoke up.

"Come down hea and stop actin' so high and mighty ya little brat!" The man shouted at the young boy.

"Stay out of this, ya fucking hobo." Aries mused, not paying full attention to Henry's threat. "This is a fight between Sight and me.." He pointed to the young woman, referring to her as sight. "It's our fight, and you're outside of your world right now. Just wait around until she's bloodied, then you can do whatever the fuck you want with her, I don't give a shit. She'd do it whether she was awake or asleep.." The boy's disdain was apparent as he climbed down a fire-escape from the roof and landed on the ground in the alleyway.

"If you wanna die, come at me.." He motioned toward his own body in a 'bring-it-on' sort of gesture.

As Henry was about to charge on the brat, a rock flew by his ear and headed toward the boy. Sight had thrown it and begun her own offense, though this was the last thing Henry was sure about. Almost immediately following Henry's consciousness of the rock, he heard a loud crack and felt a huge shockwave literally upend him, Chester, Harold, Edmond, Louie and Rodger, flinging them and the bags of trash around the alleyway and knocking them on their backs.

Henry couldn't hear, a loud ringing permeated the entire scene.. He looked aroudn and noticed that dust was filling the alley way, Aries was the only person still standing. Henry looked over to where Sight had once been and saw her body, lying dead, prostrated and thrown through a solid brick wall by whatever had just exploded in the alley. Henry struggled to his feet, but lost his balance as the world spun around him. He was lastly aware of Aries moving toward the body of the young woman and removing something from her person before running off.

----------------

While they went about their business in the house, Jess, Riem, Jake, and whatever other inhabitants heard a crash.. followed summarily by the sound of an explosion, the same explosion which had now incapacitated a good number of the Family, and had ended the life of Sight.

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These are a few of my favorite things

Cancelled? No, merely dreadfully dull. Anthony said to Chester before ignoring him and his question. He didn't really feel like bothering with this man right now. As for Mr Million's response...well, he never really knew how to deal with him. He was like a man off the street for one thing, and while Anthony had had experience with them in his earlier years...Henry was definitely...well, more reserved to put it nicely, which was saying something. So, he just nodded and let himself be distracted by Harold instead but he only had time to catch the memory stick for later purposes before the girl showed up. He decided it would be best to just step back and watch what happened, he didn't know the correct way to act in unusual situations and could end up giving parts of his personality away.

After the...whatever it was, ended, Anthony stood up, wobbled a little and then locked his legs, a second of concentration later and he was ready to stand, another second and he was walking, a little unsteadily perhaps but by the time he reached the girl he was fine. Two fingers went to her neck, then her wrist and then over her mouth. Well...if she's still alive, I don't think we should want her to be. he said matter of factly, standing up straight and brushing the dust off his suit. The suit was worthless anyway but, it didn't deserve this, none of Giopetto's creations did, he would have the suit sent back to Giopetto's as soon as possible. He thought for a moment and then grabbed her chin, turning her dead eyes to his. Why were you called sight? he wondered, before dropping her chin and rifling through her clothes for a wallet of something. Oh...By the way, just in case any of you are thinking of calling the police, you may want to come up with a better story than that we saw deceased, bloody and wounded, probably raped, girl shoved through a wall by an invisible force by a guy on a roof wearing a ghoul mask. he called out, not bothering to look behind him as he focused on his task. It would be best if we just leaved this all really. Well, actually if they all did and left this business to me. I want to know how that boy did that. but kept silent on that suggestion as he knew that would be frowned upon and draw attention to the complete lack of care he was showing to the deceased girl, right now it could just be brushed off as him being efficient.

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“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

Louie had remained quiet for the duration of the encounter, watching in bewilderment as the events unfolded. 'Aries? Cancer? Sight?' These names were strange and the first two were astrological signs. Did that mean there was more? Taurus, Aquarius, and so on? The woman seemed to be on the losing side of the fight, Louie prepared to go defend her but in a sudden surreal moment a powerful force ripped through the alley, tossing everybody around. Louie groaned as he got up, his arm and knees were skinned and blood dripped from a cut on his cheek. "What just happened- did that..." He was incredulous, struggling to find the logic of the situation. His eyes followed Aries as he watched the boy take something from the corpse of Sight...WHO HAD BEEN BLASTED THROUGH A BRICK WALL! "What the-" Louie turned white as a shiver ran down his spine. 'What's going on?' Aries apparently satisfied with whatever he took from Sight, started to run off. Louie took out his sketchbook to write down details about Aries but unfortunately he couldn't recall anything specific. That blast must have messed him up more than he realized though not nearly as bad as the girl. While he couldn't remember specific traits of Aries he noticed a hole in the woman's head, a trail of blood led to a bloody rock lying close to her head. Louie realized it was the rock she had thrown at Aries, it had been turned into a bullet against her. He didn't need to write it down though, it would be hard to forget something like that.

He walked over to check on the others. "Is anyone hurt?" His eyes drifted back to Sight's body. "She's dead...Henry, what do you want to do?" He turned to their leader, knowing he would have the best way of handling the situation. He then drew their attention to the hole in her head and the rock which had caused it.

Chester slowly rolled off the pile of torn trash bags, landing with his hands and knees in the snow. He covered his mouth with his coat, trying not to cough in all the dust. His glasses had been blown off by the explosion, so he crawled about for a while trying to find them. By the time he had them back on his face, his hands were feeling numb with cold, and he jammed them back into his pockets. He hadn't heard anyone else, but he saw the girl and the blood, and he gulped reflexively. "What... How..." No more words came to Chester, so he glanced around a few more times before getting creakily to his feet.

"Winded... but okay..." Henry coughed in response to Louie's question of whether anyone was hurt. He reclined himself against a wall of the alleyway as a loud ringing permeated his ears.

Henry was not all there as he processed what all had just occurred. He heard Anthony's suggestion and essentially agreed, and was only fully snapped back to reality when Louie asked what they were to do next. Henry leaned over and nodded calmly before slowly raising himself onto his feet, answering Louie's question as he did.

"We give an anonymous coll... say we heard a loud noise.. odds are the police are already sending someone to at least take a look.. best we clear out. Once we know more we can bring in what we saw." Henry teetered off out of the alleyway, "Leave her be for now..." Henry remarked in a dry manner, "She's just another victim of the city. We'll let the cops deal wid 'er, for now we're heading 'ome.."

And head home they did, arriving roughly twenty minutes later, the Family made their way into the factory and went about their business.

"Louie, earlier you asked 'bout Justin.." Henry quietly remarked as he made his way to the couch which he slept on each night. "Met him by chance in a bah in Spring District. He got us a good gig: The New World Orchard Buildin' in Spring District. We're apparently doing som'n for someone 'ere.."

The New World Orchard Building was one of several buildings that showed a particular trend in Spring District. Simply because the residents did not live in Autumn or Summer District did not mean they were not rich, but in opposition to the highly old-fashioned buildings in Autumn or the tacky expenditures perpetuated by the residents of Summer, these buildings were inhabited by wealthy people who cultivated a more cosmopolitan air about them. These wealthy individuals lived in modern apartments and were often at the height of wealth within Spring District, many working either in the financial areas or in upscale positions for major companies. Though many of the Family had passed these buildings, getting into them was by no means an easy feat, and the fact that Justin had done so had impressed Henry upon meeting him, easily warranting a trial-run.

"So get yourselves cleaned up for tomahrrow... we can't screw dis up." Henry wished to simply go to sleep and forget about what he had seen not over an hour ago.

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These are a few of my favorite things

What the hell? It seemed someone had set off a bomb nearby, a large one at that. The tremors had been felt by everyone in the house, and Jake looked at Jess in confusion. What had happened? After excusing himself, half-hurried up to see if Riem was alright. He was sitting up in bed, dazed from having just awoken. "Are you okay?" Riem nodded. Of course the bomb wasn't powerful enough to hurt them in this strong old building. "You have that worried look on your face again." Remarked Riem. "The rest are still outside right? What if that blast caught them?

Riem sighed. "They'll be fine, such a tough bunch. And why're you worrying about people older than you? Honestly." Riem smiled at him. "Well, just wait a while to see if they come home first. No need to rally the rescue party." He rolled over and went back to sleep. "Okay, goodnight." Sure enough, the family came home fifteen minutes later. Henry went straight to the sofa. Jack went up to Chester, the next person to come his way. "Hello. Do you know what that blast was just now?"

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"Are you going to finish that?"

Chester gave Jack a nod as he saw the young man looking at him, but paused at his question. "Oh... You heard that from here? To be perfectly honest, we were all right there when it happened, but I still have no idea what it was. There was..." Again, the old man paused, this time considering the credibility of his story, and the possible consequences of it spreading. "Actually, Jack, it's probably better that you don't know anything more about it. The Family had nothing to do with it to start with, and we should keep it like that." He squinted to make sure that it was in fact Jack that he was talking to, then lifted an arm up to grasp the man's shoulder. "Trust me."