[center][h3]Filia – Moon Over Bourbon Street[/h3]
[@flamelord][/center]

Perhaps lost in thought over the remains of the Tacodile from earlier, Kyouko opted not to respond yet to either Filia's thanks or her polite offer.  “Huh.”  She sat still as Samson attached a tendril of hair to the ledge before she carefully climbed off, rappelling slowly down.  A few drops of blood fell loose and onto the spinach grass below, but the schoolgirl hadn't planned to eat it anyway.  Now that she thought of it, in fact, she felt fairly hungry.  After a quick think, she guessed that her parasite's Trichobezoar must have emptied both of their stomachs.  Fortune could not have dictated a better world to be in when hungry.

Prior to going to find something suitable to eat, however, Filia felt obliged to go and thank the others that had no doubt kept a great deal of trouble off her back by slaying bugs.  Krieg and the large-chested newcomer -[i]how could a girl that small be so well-endowed!?[/i]- seemed to be doing their own thing at the moment, so Filia meandered over to the twintailed girl who'd joined the fight after the pink-haired kid had fled.  A phrase of gratitude was on the tip of Filia's tongue when Tailred mentioned civilians, causing the schoolgirl to freeze.  “Civ...civilians?”  [i]Uh oh.[/i]  She'd completely forgotten about any bystanders during the invasion, but that in itself made her deeply consider the situation.  The question had been bothering her for some time now, and she hadn't thought to ask it.  Searching in vain for a good way to formulate her thoughts, she finally said, “Um, not that I'm not into helping people in need, but...are these City people even real?  I know I must sound like an awful person.  The Viewer...he, uh...”

Samson took initiative and jumped in for her, metaphorically speaking.  [b]”What she means is the Viewer made this whole place for kicks.  All the people we see, 'cept for a few like that waitress girl maybe, are prolly jus' chaff.  Some kinda illusion.”[/b]  The thought made Filia uncomfortable.  Even if these civilians, despite being devoid of any identifying features, were nothing but holograms conjured by the Viewer to act as backdrop, the idea of leaving them to whatever came their way troubled her.  She crossed her arms and expressed her worry in a frown.  “I really don't know.  I mean, we can't really help people.  You're like, a superhero, and I've got Samson but we're not heroes.  Back in New Meridian, we were just trying to survive.”

[center][h3][b][color=yellow]DIO – Joppa Road[/color][/b][/h3]
[@Gamegurugg][@invisible man][@Luciansmentor][/center]

For a little while the two walked along, weaving past twitching corpses.  DIO made sure, as prissy as it might have seemed to onlookers, to avoid stepping in the puddled blood of any slain humans, for he did not wish to accidentally stain himself with soiled blood.  After navigating around the grotesque cadaver of a bus-sized insect pockmarked with fleshy craters -no doubt from explosive ordinance dumped upon it by the City's charming residents- he listened to his companion's teasing and sniffed.  [color=yellow]“I am a vampire, but unless the situation is dire, I shall not share with you my gift.  Higher wills are best enjoyed undiluted by my essence; there is no joy in commanding spawn minions.  Servants with their own reasons for joining and staying loyal to me, ones with intellects fully intact and no weakness to sunlight, please me far more.”[/color]  He cast a glance skyward, watching the faint orb of light hidden behind cotton candy clouds.  [color=yellow]”If this cloud cover were to let up, I and any of my lesser minions would need to retreat inside.  Most undignified, I know, but such is the price of transcending humanity.”[/color]

His hearing came under assault when a cacophony of shrieks and wails began not too far off.  DIO exposed his fangs in an angry grimace.  Did some stray bug happen upon a very crowded daycare or something?  Nothing excused this caliber of noise.  The vampire stilled himself and calmly waited out the din; when it ceased abruptly, he was on the move.  [color=yellow]”I've a mind to permanently silence whatever mongrel is responsible for that unpleasant racket.  Coming?”[/color]

Following the mental image he'd drawn in his head of the area after the reports of his underlings, DIO made his way to where the riotous screaming had come from.  Past kool-aid fire hydrants, bread masonry, hamburger manhole covers, and pretzel bike racks he strolled with Juri doubtlessly close behind.  Not a minute and a half into this new quest, he became aware of a steady and rhythmic metallic clanking.  Soon after, though not so soon that DIO couldn't make an educated guess about whose feet it belonged to, the Overlord trundled into view and the vampire was proven right.  [color=yellow]”Ah, I forgot to mention him,”[/color] he murmured to Juri, indicating the Overlord as he walked.  [color=yellow]”Another ally of mine, I met him last night.  He strikes me as the boring sort, terrible proud and ambitious and liable to mistake betraying me for a good idea.  Compared to you, Juri Han, he is gutter trash.  Gutter trash with strength, resilience, lightning, and most likely other powers, but garbage all the same.  As you know by now, I treasure loyalty.”[/color]  A few seconds passed after this before DIO and Juri grew close enough to the Overlord for the armored behemoth to be able to notice them.  [color=yellow]”Good day to you, metal man.  Off to find the source of that outrage, are we?  We shall hunt together.”[/color]

The three continued on toward an upcoming intersection, and right away DIO spotted the odd man out.  This new figure was lean, with utterly ridiculous clothing and hair.  He did not seem either threatening or special in the vampire's eyes, but DIO would not take any chances.  His charisma increased its flow, seeping from his body and his words like honey, drawing eyes and minds to him like moths to a beacon of beauty and power.  [color=yellow]”Hello, hello.  What have we here?  A young man at the site of a terrific uproar, with occult imagery nearby.  Am I honored to be in the presence of a great sorcerer...?”[/color]