Snickers had settled in but she could feel Battler shift slightly. He wanted to get up, she wasn’t going to move just yet. She started to purr slightly after she closed her eye from glaring at Battler. It was easy being a cat, she was quite comfortable. Her tail twitched as she lay there in her mind dreams of chasing mice. After a few minutes she finally moved and stretched jumping off his lap to go to Heather’s pack. There was some food and water in there for her heather managed not to spill in her wild ride through town. Most of the time the water would be half gone and her food would be everywhere after a ride like that.

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“Ebisu it’s funny seeing you here alone. Where’s Snickers?” She asked calmly as she walked up beside him clamping her arm around his shoulder giving him just a slight shock…like a really bad static shock. “I thought I had mentioned keeping an eye on her.” She let her sentence go in silence for a while the not-so-friendly, friendly smile on her face.

“She made it too the room alright but the thing was there were a few crewmen trying to grab her. She might be good and all that but she’s still a cat.” She let out a long sigh and looked out toward the ocean. Heather knew how much he liked the ocean so she couldn’t be to mad at him. She’d had some time to think it over as she walked from the cabin. “The ocean really has some hold on you.” She said hip checking him before turning her anger to something teasing. “She probably left you didn’t she?”

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“Ebisu it’s funny seeing you here alone." Crap! She was ****. "Where’s Snickers? I thought I had mentioned keeping an eye on her.” Ebisu rubbed his shoulder where he had been shocked. "Well, uh... If you're here, then she already made it back... right?"

“She made it too the room alright, but the thing was there were a few crewmen trying to grab her. She might be good and all that but she’s still a cat.” Oh. Those guys again, the Graecian thought. They better not have hurt her. Right now, the health of that cat is directly proportionate to my own.

At this point, Ebisu was prepared to get smacked around some. He shut his eyes, though it was difficult to tell, and braced himself for impact. Instead, he heard Heather sighing. “The ocean really has some hold on you.” She said hip checking him before turning her anger to something teasing. “She probably left you didn’t she?”

At that point, Ebisu's sense of danger evaporated. He hung his head jokingly like he was seriously upset at being abandoned. "Yup. I was abandoned. I'd already told off one worker who tried to take her, so I thought she'd be alright going back alone. And..." He leaned out against the rail again, "I wasn't ready to go back just yet. The ocean is everything to Graecia. Life there would be impossible without it. I feel safe when I'm looking at it because I know everything I need to survive is right under those waves. That, and, I don't think you all get how dangerous this mission is going to be," Ebisu was being surprisingly serious right now. He only did that when he had a really important thing to say. "Every city and town in Graecia is on the coast, but as we travel inland, you'll see a lot of old ruins. Only the very center of Graecia is frozen ground, the rest is pure ice. It's a growing continent and we have to move every time the sea gets too far away to access. If you want to get to the ocean farther in, you have to dig through the ice, and it only gets thicker. If we run into anything else alive out there, it'll be enormous and it'll probably wants to eat us. There won't be any pit stops, we won't be able to restock our supplies, and there won't be any toilets. When I'm staring at the source of all life that I'm familiar with, it's easier to convince myself that this is possible and think of how to keep you guys safe."

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

Snickers decided to stay on his lap a while longer before hopping down. She was trying to get into Heather's bag, so Battler went over and opened it up. Her food and water was inside. "Oh! You're hungry?" he asked. I don't think Heather would be mad if I set these things out for her, he thought, unpacking the trays.

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Heather frowned and zapped him one more time. “I remember.” She said leaning against the rail with him. “You’re the one who saved my ass that time remember…I was there once before.” She remembered that day. It was cold; really, really cold and she hadn’t listened to her guide. She had stepped on some loose ice and fell barely holding on when Ebisu pulled her back up. It was one of the few times she hadn’t brought Snickers with her.

She turned her head toward him, “I don’t know how much the others realize it but they soon will. I am mostly concerned about Battler. That boy…I don’t want anything to happen to him but some small part of me is worried we might not make it out of this unscathed.” She turned serious to as she stared out at the vast ocean. “There is so much riding on this it’s hard not to feel the weight.” It was nice talking to him. Ebisu was one of the few people she felt close enough to; to really speak her mind about things. She let out a small breath and winced clutching her chest. It had been too long since she had relieved the pressure of her powers.

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Ebisu seemed to relax just a little bit after Heather spoke. "Yeah. I guess you do get it, then." He glanced sideways at the weapon-master. "You're going to have a good advantage with those guns of yours," he commented. "If those church guys were hoping to survive their trip to Graecia, they'd have bundled up. It's hard to fight when you're a walking bundle of cloth. Also, there won't be any trees or anything blocking your shots."

He noticed Heather clutching her chest and looked a little concerned. "Side effects eating at you?" he asked. "You should probably do something about that--other than shocking me. By the way... that kid you've taken a liking to... What was his name?"

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Snickers looked up at Battler and purred loudly as he took out her food and water. She rubbed herself against his leg and meowed a little in thanks to his help. She went straight to her food and began to eat crunching away at her favorite dish. Loaded with protein she loved it. In a way it was almost as good as catching a live mouse.

++++++++++++++++++++

Heather nodded her head letting in slow breaths. “I look forward to the encounter. The sooner we can get this over with the sooner the kid can go home.” She said looking over at her Graecian friend. At the comment about the side effect she smirked. “A little, it’s been longer than I thought since I used my powers. You know how much I hate it.” She said wincing as her heart started to hurt. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it now though. I can’t very well let loose here, not without attracting a lot of attention.”

She gasped and fell to her knees breathing heavily. Her organs were slowly shutting down and she was becoming more electric as she sat there. “If I let it go here the boat might stop and someone might get hurt.” She said feeling like she was going to pass out. There was no way she was going to have a death on her conscious. This would be the second time this had happened in Ebisu’s presence and she hoped he remembered that touching her was not a good idea at this point.

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"Ah, hey!" Ebisu said when Heather collapsed. Then he realized exactly what was happening. "You never change, do you?" He looked around for a moment, trying to think up a good way to help her discharge in a situation like this. He noticed a small metal door on the floor near his feet. Looked like there was an outlet under there. Hmm.. convenient. Ebisu pried open the lid and drew his blade, sticking the tip into the outlet. Carefully, he let go of the sword so it's hilt would land on Heather's lap. The electricity raged toward the metal, eager to escape its confines. After a minute or so, it seemed like Heather was running out of juice. Likewise, there was a low humming noise and something felt different about the ship's movement.

It's going slower, he realized. Guess we blew a fuze? And at last he caught on. "Oh~ Is this what you didn't want to happen?" He looked around as crewmen started running around to see what was wrong and fix it. The speakers blared to life: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there has been a small problem with the engines. Our engineers are looking into the matter right now and will have it fixed as soon as possible. Please do not be alarmed, this is only a minor delay."

"... Well it doesn't sound like anyone died." The damage was probably fixable... right?

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Battler smiled. Snickers was obviously pleased with his efforts. "You're welcome," he said sweetly. Then the announcement blared on. "The engines are broken? Well that's not good. Hope they fix it soon."

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Ijemaru screwed the back back onto his strange device. He'd done all he could with the programming for now; He'd need to run a few tests before he could do any more. Meanwhile, it seemed like their boat had stopped. Engine failure? On a big, modern boat like this? he thought. Uhhg, why do I feel like this isn't a coincidence? I'd better make sure those two didn't mess anything up. He got up from his bed and opened his door. "Don't leave this room," he commanded Battler as he hurried out the door and toward the main deck.

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“Nope.” Heather said with a small smile on her face. She coughed tasting blood in her mouth thankful none of it had come out. Her eyebrows creased as she watched what Ebisu was doing wondering what it was all for when he took out his sword. The blade in the outlet she knew exactly what he was up to. Before she could tell him not to do that she felt the handle touch her and draw out the electricity. She closed her eyes trying to force it back but it was too much.

The ship slowed, she could feel it and she grumbled under her breath when it was all over. She had just enough energy to hold out a hand and give her friend another nasty shock and said, “Yes, that’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Ijemaru’s going to have a field day with this. I’m sure he’s going to give both of us a headache once it is all over.” She said grabbing the sword and slipping it into the long leather jacket she’d brought with her hiding it pretty well as the crewmen ran toward them. “You’re lucky I have a holder in this thing.” She muttered under her breath as she adjusted the sword just a bit to make it more comfortable.

She shut the thing when she slowly stood up and stomped on it once closing it easily. They were always easier to close than they were to open. Her breathing had yet to normalize and she still felt sick but she was at least touchable and standing. “You do the talking, you’re the one with the silver tongue.” A sideways glance she gave him a small smile and a wink. “And thank you despite all the hassle it will cause; I really appreciate what you did.”

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Ebisu could have accepted her thanks in a very subtle and mature way, but he didn't feel like it. Instead, he grinned at her and taunted in a singsong voice, "Saved your life~"

"Sorry to bother you," said the first of two crewmen when they were close enough for conversation. "It looks like the engines received damage from an external source, somewhere around here. Did either of you see anything?"

"From around here? Are you sure?" He paused, and held up a hand to his chin, pretending like he was seriously thinking about it. "No. There wasn't anything abnormal happening here. So how bad is the damage? Nobody got hurt, did they?"

"Er.. no, nobody got hurt. It's gonna take a while to fix, though." He looked like he'd been about to say more, but a look from the second crewman stopped him.

"Just sit tight 'til we get it fixed," the second crewman said, dragging the first away with him.

Ebisu looked dissatisfied by their answer. "I think it's worse than they say. Just a hunch."

Just in time to throw salt on the wound, Ijemaru could be seen approaching them. He took a good look at Heather, who looked sort of drained, then at Ebisu, then at the small metal door not far from Heather's foot. He sighed and rested his forehead on his hand. "I'm gonna take one guess what happened to the ship's engines," he said, glaring at them tiredly. "I'll save the lecture for later. About how bad do you think you fried them?"

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Heather listened to the conversation with the guys without saying a word. She was slowly getting her strength back but she was nowhere close to her original self. When they left she frowned. “I think they might suspect something.” She muttered under her breath when she saw Ijemaru coming. She cursed and turned to face him as he spoke.

“Pretty bad.” She said not sugarcoating it. “It might take them quite some time before we get moving again unless I can do something about it. Only problem with that is I would have to get close enough to the engine and take some of that energy back and rework a few things. I can do that, part of that electricity manipulation I have.” She leaned against the rail. “I’m going to have to find a different way to let it all out again though. Have any bright ideas?”

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Ijemaru thought briefly. "Getting you in, not a problem; dispelling your electricity, not a problem; but frying an engine with that much electricity would have melted the circuits, not muddled them. I can fix that with a little help, though. Follow me. We can't be wasting time sitting in the middle of the ocean." The rather authoritative seventeen-year-old turned on his heels and started walking toward the engine room (He'd noticed a map of the ship on the wall earlier and remembered it). The closer they got, the fewer crewmen were scurrying around. This seemed odd, but it would make sense if only a few people on the ship worked its bowels. The others would be closer to the main deck, keeping the passengers from panicking. At the door to the engine room, a rather large crewman stopped them.

"Employees only," the guard said, and he seemed for all the world like a body guard.

"The engines are in there?" Ijemaru asked, even though he knew they were.

"Yeah. And you're out here, and out here is where you're gonna stay."

They had a short staring contest before Ijemaru broke eye contact. "No, that's wrong," he said, just as the practically invisible threads he'd been slowly extending around the guard pierced a few key nerves in the back of his neck. He made a small choking sound, then his eyes rolled back in his head and collapsed, unconscious. The door to the engine room was unlocked, and the young hunter didn't hesitate to go inside. It looked like the people who were supposed to be fixing the engines had lost consciousness after getting shocked by the energy rolling off the engines.

"Ebisu, make some ice," the boy commanded. "Heather, you take as much electricity as you can control out of that engine, then release it at the ice, a little bit at a time. The energy will go towards sublimating the ice, and the electricity will die off."

Ebisu looked surprised. "It does that?"

"It does that," the elite responded. "Now make ice."

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Heather followed keeping pace with the other two but just barely. When they reached the engine room she rolled her eyes at the guard but said nothing. He was a guard, there was no getting around that and no one was going to be able to tell her any different. When they were in she smirked at how quickly and efficiently that young elite hunter had taken out the guard. She could tell he wasn’t dead, that wouldn’t do them any good if he died.

She listened and nodded her head walking over a few of the unconscious workers. She strode up to the engine and put her hand on it closing her eyes. Already some electricity was sparking off the thing hitting her in multiple places almost as if it were drawn to her. Man did she hate this part. After she heard Ebisu finish making is eyes she said; “I hope your ice is big enough for this.”

She concentrated and sucked in as much as she could. Her other hand went toward where Ebisu had his ice and let the energy go. The raw energy flowing through her made her fall to her knees but she held onto it. When she took as much as she could she let go the engine almost completely drained of the energy she’d emitted before. Falling to her side she took a few deep breaths before sitting up.

She coughed tasting blood again. “That was stupid.” She muttered realizing she’d unintentionally took more than she bargained for. Some of it had come out of the corner of her mouth and she whipped it away. “Sure you can fix it?” She asked the elite as she stood up.

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Ijemaru made a hmph sound at Heather's question. "Well they sure can't," he said, gesturing to the engineers strewn unconscious on the floor. "So I'd better." He went over to the main engine, which was the largest of three. It would be best to fix this first. The metal door that concealed the operating mainframe was welded shut thanks to Heather's earlier meltdown. He formed a few glowing rods in his hand and thrust them into the metal, prying open a hole big enough for his fingers. He grabbed the door then, practically pealing the metal apart to get to the mainframe.

"Come here," he said to Heather, making a waving motion with his hand, which was bleeding, thanks to the sharp metal. "I'll show you which ones to reboot and you zap them, alright?"

((Lol. I know nothing about engines. I'm making stuff up. I don't think they have "mainframes," but that's what I went with ; ))

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Heather chuckled and went over to him after the metal was removed. “Sure.” She said looking over the mainframe. It was astonishing how electronic things have become. She remembered the days when things were run by something other than computers. Now it was all electronic and she hated it because most of the time she made it short circuit or blow up entirely.

“Just like the jukebox back at the bar.” She muttered under her breath as she readied herself. She was much better at shooting things than using her power. Everyone else besides Battler seemed to have a better handle on it. Then again if she wasn’t so stubborn she might actually get somewhere with that.

((I think there might be on some. :) It works.))

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Ijemaru showed Heather which nodes to zap. After the last one, they heard a nice whirring sound as the main engine started running again. They felt the boat start to move again, slowly but surely. Ijemaru bent the steel back (more or less) into place and they went on to fix up the remaining two engines. "That's done," he said, forcing the last panel back into place. He stared at his hand as he spoke, watching tiny threads of energy suture his wounds so they would heal faster. "As much as I'd love to lecture you two and force you to suffer at the headache-inducing sound of my voice, we should leave before these guys wake up, and after that I'm just going to need some time away from things that I might accidentally kill in a fit of rage." He started walking out the door. "I'll be in my room, napping."

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Battler was a bit confused and insulted when Ijemaru just told him not to leave the room. Like he was grounded or something. He hadn't done anything wrong! Snickers seemed to notice he was upset, so she meowed at him and rubbed up against his leg. "Uh! ... Yeah. I wasn't planning on leaving yet anyway," he said, smiling softly. He went and got his book from his room and sat down in the chair he'd claimed earlier to read it. While he was at it, he used the time to practice suppressing his flames... He mostly succeeded. A few stray flares here and there at key plot points.

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Heather rolled her eyes behind Ijemaru’s back before following him. She was glad he wasn’t going to chew them out now but she wasn’t looking forward to it later either. When she reached the door she waited for Ebisu to come through before she followed after. She was moving slowly feeling like crap. “Gonna take a nap myself.” She said when they reached their room. When she saw Battler she gave him a small nod of her head and an apologetic smile. There was some indication the elite hunter must have said something to irritate the boy at some point in the day. Snickers ran up to her but stopped; she knew better than to rub right then. Heather avoided metal as much as she could as she wondered to her room.

There was an adjoining bathroom that was just her own she went to coughing again. She spit into the sink and grumbled when she saw blood. She’d over done it. A nap and she would be fine but until then she was going to hurt.

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Battler looked up from his book when his teammates returned, returning Heather's small smile. He thought the timing was a little odd: how Ijemaru left in such a hurry after the boat stopped, then came back shortly after it had been fixed with a somewhat guilty-looking Heather and Ebisu. They hadn't been the ones to break the engines, had they? Oh well. What did the cause matter if the problem was already fixed.

Heather and Ijemaru went straight to their rooms but Ebisu stopped in the main room. Battler looked up from his book again to see the Graecian staring at him. "Uh... what is it?" he asked awkwardly.

"No one ever told me your name," Ebisu confessed, rubbing the back of his head.

"O-oh," Battler said, surprised that's what it was. (He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting...) "It's Battler.. Uroshima."

"'Battler,' huh?" the Graecian asked, and he laughed a little. "That's a weird name."

"Yeah. I know," the boy laughed. "My aunt picked it... the crazy one."

"Huh. You must have a close family, if your parents let your aunt pick your name."

"They were pretty close," Battler agreed. "Especially for for a family as big as mine was."

Ebisu groaned and took a seat on the couch. "You're talking in past tense. Don't tell me it was--"

"Demons," Battler finished for him. "They didn't all die. Three of my cousins survived, and one of the servants who worked for my grandpa. I wasn't the only one tainted either, but George wanted to finish getting his degree in medicine before becoming a hunter, and Canon stayed behind to protect the island."

"So those two are your cousins?" Ebisu asked.

"Ah! No. George is my cousin, but Canon is the servant I mentioned."

Ebisu waited a moment before continuing. "Isn't 'servant' kind of derogatory?"

Battler wore one of those "it's complicated" looks before answering. "Canon and his sister were both orphans before my grandpa took them in. The politics surrounding our family--inheritance, property, all that stuff--complicated things, so he refused to adopt them... But he said he would make sure they were clothed, fed, and had a place to stay if they became servants to the family. The heads of my family have done that kind of thing for a long time. They have to give up their old lives as a promise to serve ours until they die. Canon isn't even his real name, but I don't know what is."

"That's... I don't know what that is. What do you think about it?"

Battler paused. "To be honest, I don't like it. I get why they get sucked into it in the first place. In Canon's situation, it was either starve on the streets or be a well-cared-for servant to a wealthy family. After pretty much everyone else died I tried to convince him to become his own person, but he refused. He said he was going to protect the island from other demons until one of us was ready to take their place as head of the family."

"Your family sounds kind of important," Ebisu said, leaning forward. "What's the history there?"

"You want to know?" Battler asked. The way he said it made it seem kind of ominous. The Graecian thought a minute before nodding. Battler smiled slightly and set his book down. "It's kind of a strange story, but I'll tell you."

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

Ijemaru collapsed on his bed as soon as he was in his room. He didn't go to sleep just yet, though. Instead covered half his face with his hand and took several deep breaths. Heather and Ebisu had probably thought he was just kidding around a minute ago, but he was serious. He didn't know what kind of powers he was going to get, or if the unnatural strength would be all, but stage two always made killing an easier task. The best way to avoid it would be to avoid people, so after he'd pulled his covers up over him he fell asleep easily.

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Heather didn’t fall asleep right away either. She lay in her bed, on top of the covers, looking up at the ceiling until her eyes got heavy. It wasn’t a long nap just enough to get her strength back. In all honesty it probably only lasted around a half an hour. By then Snickers had pushed her half cracked door open all the way and was lying next to her purring like a motor. She slowly lifted herself onto her elbows and let out a long sigh. There was no denying how much better she felt.

Standing she tried not to disturb Snickers but she got a one eyed glare none the less from her furry friend. Rolling her eyes she walked out to the main room and smiled. “How have you two been getting along?” She asked Battler and Ebisu. Taking a seat on the end of the couch like she had before she sighed and relaxed.

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"I guess is all started about 300 years ago," the fire-starter began. "My great-great-something grandfather fell in love with this lady, but she turned out to be a witch."

"A witch?" the Graecian asked, pretty sure he was just listening to a family fable now, instead of a historical accounting.

Battler smiled. "I don't care if you believe it--and you wouldn't catch me dead saying this a few months ago--but it's true. So, he fell in love with this witch and they got married, and to show her love she used her magic to make him rich. She basically cast spells over other rich people and ended up robbing them blind. He used the money she got him to start his own business and ended up with way more than he started. He felt kind of guilty though, I guess, cause he went and tracked down all the gold this witch stole for him and bought it back. Then he bought an island where he could bury the gold so no one would ever use it again."

"He needed an heir for his business and fortune, but Beatrix--that's the name of the witch--couldn't seem to have children. So he found a human woman and had a child with her. Beatrix was furious. She cursed my Great-great-whatever grandfather so he could never abandon her, even if he loved this human woman more. In secret, every head of my family since then has been Beatrix's lover. Since she's a witch, I guess, she doesn't seem to get any older. My grandpa Kinzo messed things up though. He actually loved Beatrix, and he didn't want to let anyone else have her. He was ready to break the curse just to be sure of that. I'm still not sure exactly what he did to **** her off so bad, but she unleashed a small army of demons on the island."

Ebisu was quiet for a minute. "That sounds... really made up," he said honestly. "Do you really believe that's what happened?"

Battler suddenly looked sort of serious. "I don't have much choice but to believe it," he said. "I mean, demons are real, why not witches? But besides that: George wants to be a doctor, Jessica wants to be a professional athlete and Maria is a witch herself and so is my sister. That only leaves me to be head of the house someday."

"Hold on--I feel like I missed a few things in there. Your sister? And... witches?" The Graecian was quite confused.

"Oh. Yeah, I have a sister. She didn't come to the island with us though. This witch business has actually really messed my family up. I mean, my mom..." He sort of trailed off there, and it looked like he had to put effort into continuing. "I honestly don't know who my mom is. I was told who she was and that she died having me--that's why my aunt named me. My aunt was actually married to my dad and my mom was her sister who he was having an affair with. I have no idea who my sister's mom is, but it's probably the same mystery woman as mine, because I found out that the woman I was told was my mom... couldn't be."

"This is all very complicated," Ebisu said, leaning back on the couch, his head throbbing from all the rapid-fire information.

"Sorry," Battler said. "I probably should have stopped talking a while ago."

They sat in silence then until Battler picked his book back up and Ebisu just sort of daydreamed. When Heather came out of her room a few minutes later they finally broke the silence.

"Alright.." Ebisu said, kind of dazed. "Battler comes from a family of witches... or something like that.."

Battler did a sweat-drop and lowered his book, "Don't just say it out of context like that. It makes me sound pagan."

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

Ijemaru had a rather pleasant dream about his home town.

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Heather couldn’t hold back the laugh when she heard the two of them. She shook her head and leaned forward. It wasn’t really all that funny but after the situation they’d just gone through it was good to know there was something more interesting going on. After about a minute she shook her head and said, “Ok, so he comes from a family of witches? And what do I care if you are pagan as long as you or your family doesn’t put a curse on me I’m good.” She said when she finally calmed down.

“I have enough trouble with the powers I have and dealing with this joker over here.” She said giving Ebisu a sly grin. She didn’t say it in a mean manner just in one that sounded playful and like she was full of it. At this point she was being full of it. “So how did this conversation end up dealing with witches in the first place?” She asked genuinely curious now.

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