“Shh… I’m not going to hurt you.” DoctorDaniel spoke gently, crouching down next to Lily so he stood eye-level with her. He could tell how nervous and afraid she was – why wouldn’t she be? The character controlling her probably knew even less about the situation than he and the other cosplayers did. At the same time, Daniel’s own heart was racing; he could hardly believe he’d chosen to do what he was about to do, hoping and praying that he didn’t make any mistakes. Hopefully though, if his fear showed at all, it would at least convey to Popoi that he had no evil intent. 

“I’ll be real gentle, alright?” he told her, slowly extending his arms as he tried to place his first two fingers of each hand on the temples of her head as carefully as possible. [i]I just want you to sleep for a bit, Popoi.[/i] he thought, hoping she’d cooperate, hoping he could make Popoi dormant and let Lily regain control. [i]Just sleep…[/i]

---

“Why… why would anyone do this?!” A scream rang out through the hallways of BA as fists pounded on the now defiled walls. A young woman in a black-and-white, skull-adorned outfit had fallen to her knees, practically on the verge of tears as her hands slid down the wall on both sides of the phrase ‘BAD WOLF’. The layout of the hallway was so perfect; the entrance she’d come in from, another door at the end of the hall directly across from the entrance, and eight more doors on each side. Eight! The most beautiful number known to mankind! The hallway was so brilliantly designed that even the dust on the floor seemed to fall in perfect symmetry, all of it [i]never ending[/i] as each hall beyond was truly exactly the same as the first – and yet it was all [i]ruined[/i] by the graffiti of some mindless Doctor Who fanatic!! “And it’s not even in pencil, or some other removable substance…” she whimpered. “They [i]scratched the paint off[/i]… so the only solution would be to paint over it, but without re-painting the entire hall, that would just make the paint job look uneven!!” she screamed in anguish. She almost reached for Liz and Patty out of sheer rage, but a series of bullet holes would be far more difficult to fix. 

Slowly though, her breathing calmed as she pulled herself back to reality, starting to regain her sense of calm. “Get a grip, Kate.” She whispered to herself, pulling strands of black hair out of her eyes. “It’s just graffiti…” Virtually any Soul Eater fan would agree that Death the Kid’s most amusing characteristic would be his horrible case of OCD, and while Kate had particularly chosen to cosplay Kid because of her own tendency to stress over anything out-of-place, actually seeing the world through Kid’s turned out to be a complete nightmare. “How long have I been in here, anyway?” she asked aloud before reaching for the cell phone in her pocket, her hand brushing over Liz in her holster. [i]God, I sure hope those two don’t turn real, as well…[/i] she thought grimly, stress levels beginning to rise again. Of course, she knew that in-canon, Death the Kid technically didn’t have any holsters for his guns, but that was only because the two weapons were intelligent living things that generally assumed human form when not in use…

[i]I need to get out of here.[/i] Kate told herself as she climbed to her feet. The only thing worse than a distracting, perfect hallway lined with 8’s was a [i]slightly[/i] imperfect hallway lined with 8’s. [i]I have to stay sane…[/i] Her heart raced as the possibilities of ‘or else’ ran through her mind. As she reached the top of the stairs leading outside, she stopped at the sight of another individual standing just outside the building entrance, and what appeared to be a few more cosplayers not far beyond. [i]But wait… so that means…[/i] A sliver of hope finally appearing, Kate raced towards Simon and spun him around, asking the only question currently going through her brain. “So I’m not the only one?!”