Rina woke up with a start, the dusty blankets having fallen to the side of an old bed. She'd spent the last two hours just wondering around, bored the fuck out of her mind, when she'd come upon this old bedroom. It was quite barren except for a oaken bed, chair, and desk. Despite her efforts to clear the place out in a jiffy, it was still fairly dirty and quite an assault on her poor nose. 

Sitting up, she swung her feet over the side, unable to touch the ground as her feet dangled. Sighing, she could not believe how hot and stuffy it was in here. In the darkness, she eyed her clothes on the floor board and then fished her white blouse and putting it on. She was dismayed to see a large cut was over its stomach. [i]When did that...happen?[/i] Groaning, she rose to her feet and groggily approached a window. No luck. It was boarded. 

Her shoulders slumped, but then her stomach growled. Groaning again, she raked her hand over her hair, pushing it aside as she left the bedroom to return to the back entrance foyer. Upon arriving, she adjusted her pink panties and found a nice dry spot next to a supply crate. Cracking it open, she squinted in the darkness, fishing around for something to eat. [i]Wonder where Uncle is... and Solus... he hasn't contacted me again since earlier...'[/i]

Leaning against the wall, the young girl crunched the peanut butter crackers slowly, methodically. Not even sure what she was going to do next, but it didn't matter in the moment. She had food and she was eating it.

---

Solus could barely hold the steering wheel with his bloody left hand as he drove the car up the mountain trail. "God damn." He winced as he grasped a wound on his left side. That Puritan almost tore him to pieces, and worst part of it all is he never did find out what it was that was calling for him, or figured out what is happening. All this, a wasted effort. "Shouldn't have gotten out of that Bath..."

The house was finally in his sights, and Solus had never been so glad to see it, or maybe he has. He couldn't remember. He drove the car around to the back door, it was the closest entrance to the Life Pool and it was open anyway, broken by a certain somebody that has been staying in his house for the past several hours.

He stopped the car, and stepped out, not even closing the door behind him as he walked towards the broken door, hobbling on his shreaded right leg. He tore the ballistic mask off his face and tossed the assault rifle hanging on his shoulder on to the dry mountain dirt. Then walking in and stepping into the old sauna, where the Life Pool was, only to stop and see Rina sitting there, eating. In her underwear. Despite his wounds, his attitude still remained the same. "For the love of god, put some clothes on!"

Rina's eyes went wide as she heard a vehicle pull to a stop, her ears perking as footsteps indicated someone was coming in. Given that the door hadn't been fixed yet, it could have been anyone. And here she was, almost in her birthday suit, defenceless. Her mouth still half full, she couldn't even swallow as a shadow slipped through the door way. [i]Solus![/i]

Before she could even smile, let alone stand up, he had already derided her for being 'comfortable.' Standing up with a crunching growl, then a swallow, her glare earned no reaction, of course. She threw what peanut butter crackers that she had left at him as she stomped out of the room to obey him. The wasted food impacted his face, breaking into little bits that littered the floor at his feet.

"Asshole," she mumbled in the hallway, walking faster.

Solus cleaned off the remaining crumbs off his face. He didn't really deserve that. He let her stay in this the house, the least she can do was wear clothes instead of putting her groin on display. And then he realized, this was probably worse than what was going on in Loom. He sighed and started to strip, where just then the little brat returned fully clothed. She simply stood to the side, watching him quietly. Solus turned to her after just removing his weapons and trench coat. "You gonna give a man a little privacy or are gonna watch me get naked?"

She blanched, her cheeks burning to the bone. "I-I-I, I'm sorry. Just ... you, your wound," she stammered, half-turning and putting her head against the door.

"And sorry for, for throwing things at you. I just miss you and then get yelled at," she explained, sighing, "... but it's okay."

"You didn't answer my question..." Solus reminded her as he took his shirt off and tossed it aside, revealing his scarred torso.

She sighed. Lifting her forehead off the door, she exited the room, closing it behind her. Her footsteps sounded off into the distance, indicating she had headed to the bedroom again. Then another door slammed.

Now with some privacy, Solus removed the rest of his clothing, and with a lot of pain, climbed into the pool. The red water bubbled and steamed up for a few moments before settling down and beginning its healing process. "You can come in now." the Necromaster called out.

The door cracked open, the girl having returned. But she remained outside the room, just sitting there with her face barely visible. 

"So what happened in Loom?" she asked quietly.

"I did say you could come in..." Solus said. "Are you always this difficult?" He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what happened... I never got to find out."

She crawled in on all fours, closing the door before sitting legs crossed with her hands down in her lap. "No," she said simply, sticking her chin out.

"Hmm," she mused, blinking, "Well, who attacked you, I mean?

"People you wouldn't know. So names don't matter." He said quietly as he relaxed and slid deeper into the pool. "Loom's gone to shit..."

Rina rolled her eyes, leaning forward to put her mouth in her palm and hold her up. Sighing lightly through her nose, her mouth opened slightly so her teeth could scrape her skin a little. Then he mentioned Loom. Immediately her mind thought of her uncle and his whereabouts. 

"... how?" she asked, her voice muffled as she narrowed her eyebrows.

"The commercial district has been flattened. And Angel HQ is literally floating somewhere in the sewers." Solus closed his eyes. Extinguishing their green flames. "Central has been quarantined, with enough military around to make a demon think twice. And there's a lot of bodies lying around." He opened his eyes again and stared at the ceiling. "Ever heard of The Lord of Chaos?"

Putting her hands down, Rina rolled back her shoulders as she leaned against the wall again and listened. She had no idea what to make of all of that, except that it sounded just awful. And perhaps somewhere in middle of all that was her uncle. She pulled out her smartphone and typed 'Lord of Chaos' in a search engine. Several million results showed up.

"Can't say I have," she replied, "Oh... he has a website. Hum... pimple-faced douche..."

She looked up at Solus, bemused.

Solus chuckled at her vain attempt. But really, it was a dumb question to ask, of course she wouldn't know. "The Lord of Chaos is a Demon Lord of Hell, in a continent to the West. He's a type of demon called a Nightwalker. Powerful enough to flatten this city ten times over, in five minutes." Solus breathed out as the healing liquid numbed the pain. "He decided to come out of hell and take a stroll around town, killing hundreds of people... I didn't see it all. But I sensed his presence, and saw the aftermath later."

Tongue in cheek, Rina cocked an eyebrow as the Lord of Chaos's latest activities were described by Solus. Again, she didn't know what to think. Sure, she'd heard of hell and demon rulers and such. Never thought they'd come to the Surface so whimsically, though. She blinked, looking away for a moment as she checked her inbox. Nothing. Then her gaze returned to Solus.

"I see," she replied dryly, "well, just thinking we need to go and kill him sometime, huh?"

Damn that girl was ignorant, but Solus couldn't really judge her, he didn't know her life. "Oh and I almost forgot... Hi."

She couldn't help but smirk. That was... odd, wasn't it? Butterflies gathered up in her stomach. "Um, hey there," she greeted him, feeling silly. 

Getting to her feet, she walked confidently closer and got down on the floor, stomach first, with her elbows propping her up. She stared at the life pool, not that she could see anything of Solus swimming around down there. She pursed her lips, thinking of something she wanted to say, but then lost it and remained quiet, pondering.

Her face was heavily concentrated, her eyes darting left and right, blinking. Thinking.

"By the way..." Solus continued while glaring into empty space. "You remember that demon woman with the collar? Back in Thorpe?"

She looked at him, trying to remember. "Um... same one who gave me this?" she asked, pulling something out of her backpocket.

It was that strange heart amulet, which was still beating. Clearly, Rina had long come to terms with the damn creepy thing...

Solus sat up so that he could see the amulet. He inspected it for a few moments with his eyes before coming to a conclusion. "Yes, the very same..." He searched for words and trying to form sentences, thinking of how he was going to tell her about the message that was passed down to him. "I saw her during this whole mess. She came and told me that Peskay was one of 'them' now, and that he had a message for you... It's in my trench, left inner pocket. The message is a set of coordinates."

"O-O-One of th-them..?" Rina asked incredulously, blinking rapidly. 

Even as she had asked that, she moved over to his trench coat and retrieved the paper that Garnette had given to Solus. Resting on his jacket, she squinted in the darkness at the coordinates as she crossed her bent legs.

"All I know is this is on a different continent..." Rina stated, sighing, "But no idea why Uncle would have coords to ... that. So weird."

Turning her head toward him, "What did she mean, though, Solus? One of them?" she asked, a growing fear in her tone.

"Maybe has one of those collars around his neck, joined their side... I don't know... Wish I had the answer, kid." He replied.

She hummed, stuffing the paper in her blouse front pocket. Rina then lowered her legs, stretching them out along with her arms and twisting her body. A subtle moan escaped her throat as she collapsed lightly, her limbs sprawled out lazily and her hair covering her face. Sighing, she puffed a bit of air, causing her hair to flop up, but it still came down to cover her face.

"How's it feeling?" she asked him.

"Better." Solus replied. His eyes closed as he pondered on the meaning of those coordinates. [i]Another continent, huh?[/i] He doubt he would even bother traveling that far. If the girl wanted to follow them, she would be on her own.

"Good," she said, sighing again. 

"You want me to do anything?" she asked him.

"You're not my slave. You don't have to do anything..." He commented. "Just give me some room to get dressed."

"Sure..." she replied, sitting up as her back cracked a little.

Rubbing it, Rina shuffled to her feet, but then asked, "But... what if I [i]want[/i] to be your slave?"

She adverted her gaze as she asked that, but continued toward the door to give Solus some privacy.

The Chimera raised his eyebrows at her last comment. [i]What's that supposed to mean?[/i] He climbed of the bath, and got geared up again in mere moments. He then walked towards the door that lead to the hallway beyond, and opened it, finding Rina standing there.

Her sobs quieted as soon as she heard the door open behind her, but there would be no way to hide the wet mess dripping down her face. Her arms hugging her sides as she leaned against the wall, she let them fall down as she regained her balance and stared down the hallway. She wouldn't dare to glance back at him now. Not if she wanted to keep up her 'tough fascade', though really she was one more negative emotion from breaking down entirely. The chink in her armor had been broken apart now that she knew her uncle was gone, so to speak. She was just getting used to having a normal relationship with him and working out problems in Thorpe... and now this... change. This 'he's one of us now' horseshit.

Feeling she was in Solus's way, she started lifting her foot to move, but felt exasperated by how heavy it was. So impossibly heavy...

The man just stood there, watching her. He never truly felt loss before, having never had anyone close to him. Being born homeless forced him to only ever care about himself at a young age. And when there were people that he cared about on some level, they died. And that only reinforced the solid steel wall that surrounded his emotions and rarely let them out.

Solus took a step towards the girl and asked. "What's wrong?"

She felt that coming. The inevitable question. She clenched her teeth, her eyes low as she turned her head toward Solus. Her hands trembled, so she put them in her pockets.

"Just... well, just when my uncle and I could get back to a normal relationship... and work together for Tho, Thorpe's recovery and shit," she started, her breathing irregular.

"He just goes ... abandons me. Like my father," she finished, shaking her head.

"I'm tempted to go hunt him down... rescue him from those weird fucks," Rina continued, but then sighed.

"I don't know, I'm just tired of being used and dumped, dumped like, like trash when most convenient," she said, bitterness in every syllable.

"Dumped and used..." Solus repeated the words, tasting them. Those were words he hadn't thought about in a long time, two whole decades in fact. "Humph, turns out I have a PhD in 'Dumped and Used'. But that's a story for another time..." He turned his head towards Rina.

"And how are you going to rescue your uncle?"

She nodded, but then looked up as she turned to him, finding his green flamed eyes upon her. She stared into them without a hint of joke or doubt.

"Gather information," she answered coolly. 

"Information..." Solus repeated, his doubt was clear, she had no idea what she was really going to do. "You have no clue, do you?"

She blinked. Solus was clearly losing his touch. "Didn't I just admit that, dumbass? Wouldn't be needing to gather information if I knew what needed be done."

She rolled her eyes then, letting out a slight hiss as she crossed her arms and looked away.

"Information is useless if you don't have any skills to be able to apply that knowledge..." Solus said shaking his head. "Ok... Count off your fingers the skills that you are moderate at. And then I'll tell you if you succeed."

She sighed, shaking her head lightly. Turning her gaze to him, her glare clearly indicated her growing ire. "Look, not gunna play your lil' game. I know I'm 'unskilled', mmk?" she stated, quoting the air.

"Big fat elephant in the room, you wanting to train me, which I'd love? So why don't we get down to it?" she asked, before smirking. "Wait.. wait, is that what this is all about? You need a little motivation, master?"

Assuming that was the case, Rina dropped to her knees, her mouth perfectly lined up for the task. She then began tugging at Solus's pants and actually unzipping things.

Solus drew his gun and placed the barrel on the top of her crainium. "Get the fuck up." His voice was calm, calm enough to prove that if she didn't, he'd pull the trigger and throw her body out for his guards to feast on. As she did get back to her feet he holstered his weapon and continued. "I don't train anyone, ever. I was just asking about this grand plan of yours, since you have clearly thought it through all the way up to the point where you get your ass killed." He kept his hand on his gun jist in case she tried that shit again. "Get your head in gear, kid. What you're planning is suicide..."

She sighed again, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall behind her and listened to him. He was putting words in her mouth, but God forbid she even try to correct him about that. Swallowing her pride, she nodded, playing along. Her heart shelled up a little, which was the least she could do without penetrated by a bullet.

"Okay," she droned emotionlessly, feeling she will just go through the motions. Like with anything else that she'd done or put up with.

After a moment of silence, she decided not to. "C'mon Solus... what's it gunna take t'get through your damn skull that I'm here, for you. Dedicating my life, [i]to you[/i]..."

She threw up her hands, continuing, "I mean, I'm not perfect. What you expect me to do? Every time I try to please you or something, it's always wrong. Every time I try to understand you, you change gears on me."

She put her hands down, balling into little fists. Her face was even scrunched up, her eyes welling as well.

"We met merely two days ago, and you are willing to dedicated your 'life' to a random stranger? What kind of fucked up life have you been living to become so desperate?" Solus wasn't really sure what to think of this girl. The more she opened her mouth the more delusional she sounded. Maybe she was in shock. Everything was falling apart around her after all. He sighed. Thinking for a moment.

"Solus Grim. Slayer of Demon Lords. Training random kids off the damn street..." He mumbled as he started to pace back and forth. "Alright." He said. "You want to be trained? Fine. But on two conditions..."

She blinked, the wells breaking and tears now flowing down her cheeks. Immediately wiping it, she squinted up at him, her heart in her throat. She was starting to feel hot, dizzy even. This house definitely needed to be aired out and cleaned.

"What," she prompted him.

"Number one." He began. "You will follow my orders during training sessions without hesitation. And two. You will not cry and you will not complain. If you break any of those two conditions, you're done. Out on your own. I want to see 100% dedication. You do that, and we'll be good. Alright?"

"Sounds good to me," she replied, not realizing that there was blood dripping out of her nose a little.

"I have one condition of my own though, if I may," she said, waiting for him to reply.

"You may..."

"I- ... I want your love... whatever I'm allowed of it, whatever's left of it, but I do want it, and all of it," she stated slowly, her voice nearly fudging the words.

It was a crystal clear moment of clarity in Rina's mind about what she wanted from him, and she just felt she needed to explain how she felt, for once, without being demonically perverted, or losing the courage to ever speak of it again.

"Oh shit," she gasped, wiping her nose's blood.

Solus wasn't sure what to say. Unsure of what to think or even how to respond. He just stood there with his mouth open, speechless. "Um... I-... I'll try and- um..." He stuttered out. "There are paper towels in the kitchen. Just go down the hallway and head left at the end..." Did he just really change the subject? Even he knew that that wasn't him at all. 

"Ah... o-okay," she stammered, her voice extremely nasally as her fingers held her nose close. 

She darted off, suddenly losing her footing and nearly slammed down face first. Fortunately she caught herself with her free hand and recovered fast. And then she took a [i]right[/i] at the end, and entered the wrong room. A mild curse could be heard as she zipped back out and stomped out to the right way.

"OH MY GAWD THERE FUCKING RATS IN HERE!" she screamed from the kitchen a moment later.