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[color=a95353][color=tan][b]“Did you just rob that store?”[/b][/color]

Calvin was immediately on his feet when Valon came out with a bag filled with at least over two thousand dollars in cash. Sweat was gently playing down the side of his still from earlier and the sudden influx of cash was starting to make his head swim all over again. He was almost afraid to go back inside the shop and confirm his fears, he was pretty sure he did not just ask politely for a large sum of money than get it.

[b]“Relax I sold an antique ring one of my associates gave me. He was adamant that I would need some.. money to fit in better around town. Says small towns tend to pass along information quite quickly. So in simple terms, at least in his terminology, I am not allowed to just sleep somewhere outside like I usually would to avoid unnecessary suspicion. Thus the money.”[/b]

Calvin sighed in relief realizing it was made legit and cleanly, so that was the entire point of going to a antiques shop. Knowing this now made him feel slightly bad, he had insulted Valon and even though he had payed for it twice already he felt like if he had just asked in the first place it could have been avoided. He had to remember that Valon was not just some person he had to look after, but he was a Guardian who could do as he pleased when he pleased. Even more so he probably had a plan to follow as well.

[color=tan][b]“Look I apologize for earlier, I was out of line on both accounts. This has not been the most easy of pairings so far but we really gotta make this work. So if I promise not to touch you or call you anything volatile... can you please fill me on your plans and work with me?”[/b][/color]

Valon shook his head, these human sediments were really giving him a headache. He had a point though, within the short time of his arrival he had almost broken Calvins hand and shoulder. As much as he hated to admit it he had an obligation to make this work. Calvin didn't know it but the whole reason they were working together was because of Valon's inability to blend into the woodwork. His low knowledge on current technology, trends, and everything else that advanced while he was locked away didn't exactly make that fact any easier.

[b]“I will try, I am not used to working with others, especially humans and especially even more so ones that were once aligned to a group I despise. My hands... are tied in either case so I am stuck with you and vice versa so I can at least try to make it less hostile. Here...”[/b]

Valon reached into the bag and pulled out a couple hundreds, in the process he dropped the business card to the ground, Calvin bent down and picked it up giving it a read before having the money thrust into his hands.

[b]“I have to go do something important and you can not come along with me, I only ask you trust me on this, I can not reveal the reasons why. Go... buy some food or... woman or whatever you humans use money the most for. I will return shortly.”[/b]

Calvin closed his fist over the money as he rolled his eye's at the woman remark, Valon truly was a demon out of time. Valon turned to leave but Calvin caught him before he left by slipping the card under his nose.

[color=tan][b]“You dropped this, you and that lady in there hit it off or something? I don't really see any other reason for her to slip her card into your bag of money.”[/b][/color]

Valon growled lowly under his breath and took the card as he turned to see Calvin shooting him a rather snide smile as if he had just revealed some dirty little secret. Reaching his hand inside his coat he placed the card within, he than took the money from the bag and did the same with it securing it in an inner pocket. He than took the bag and quickly put it over Calvins head and pushed him away.

[color=tan][b]“I will take that as yes. I will be at Wicked Pizzeria just down the road from here, I will for now trust that your going to come back without blowing up half the town.”[/b][/color]

Calvin removed the bag from his head, crumpled it up and slid it into a trash can before putting his hand up as he turned away doing some weird little curtsy wave with his fingers. That almost seemed too easy, getting rid of Calvin should have at the very least took two threats and a show of physical force. The man would probably try to follow him, at least he could try anyways, Valon turned on his heels and walked down the road. Soon the main part of town seemed to shrink away and Valon was walking towards a very large structure in the distance. From what he had heard the mundane only saw a some rundown state hospital, he had never seen it so he wouldn't know the specifics.

As he walked it grew and grew, in the distance he heard the snarling of what sounded like rather vicious dogs. He proceeded further along the road, he had been informed that there was a gatekeeper who made illusions to ward of mundanes who got too close, so that was probably what he was hearing. Soon he was near the outer boundaries. He had to admit that would be rather unsettling to a mundane to see a pack of vicious rabid dogs.

Calvin was silent as he followed Valon, he was deathly curious as to where he was going and he couldn't help his curiosity. It seemed that Valon was heading directly for the old state hospital, that place creeped Calvin out, he had never been there but he had heard stories of it, mostly of ghosts and haunting s from the locals. He didn't really care for the ghost stories however but they also said a pack of rabid dogs had chased them but he wasn't so sure about that either. He had heard that from more than one source already and rabid dogs did not tend to live indefinitely. Calvin rubbed his forehead for the fifth time since he started trailing Valon at first it was because he was afraid Valon would spot him... but now he was starting feel quite unwell for some reason. 

Calvin breathed hard as he slowed his pace, Valon was getting far ahead of him now but he just seemed to feel more and more unwell. He had to keep going, he had to see what Valon was up to, he kept walking forward was Valon was already out of sight. He was nearing closer to the old hospital now, he didn't see Valon at all... where the hell had he gone? He didn't have much time to think about it, when he heard the several growls of what sounded like large dogs he froze in his spot in the road. It was sudden but a bunch of dogs foaming at the mouth came running to each side of the road. To say he was petrified may have been... well... quite the understatement.

[color=tan][b]“Um... nice puppies... nice puppies.”[/b][/color]

Calvin took a deep breath and slowly exhaled afraid to even breath properly as he slowly took a couple steps back. The dogs growled and took steps towards him. 

[color=tan][b]“Nice puppies, you don't want to attack Uncle Calvin now do you?”[/b][/color]

With a final growl the pack of rabid dogs went for Calvin like a single chicken wing that only one could have. Calvin screamed like a teenage girl who just got a car for her sweet sixteen as he turned and started to run as fast as he could.

[color=tan][b]“I hate you Valon!!!!”[/b][/color]

The words seemed to echo as Calvin ran back towards town, Valon turned as he heard the high pitched squealed, he smiled. He was standing next to Rocko, he truly was good at his job, Valon had a feeling Calvin would try to trail him. He was going to ward him off but it was well worth just letting him get near Gringore so he would meet Rocko's masterful illusions. Valon nodded to Rocko as he walked past the gates, reaching down he removed the ring from his finger as soon as he was under the protective magic of Gringore and slipped it into his pocket. It was nice not being a version of his younger self for a little while. Climbing the large grand stairs Valon entered the academy for the first time. He was meant almost immediately with many various others walking around, talking, laughing. 

Ah it finally felt like he was in a place where sort of fit in, no one was looking at him which was a good sign and he was just another supernatural in a whole little world of them. 

[i][b]“Hey nice costume bro! You a steampunk man or some kind of pirate!?”[/b][/i]

Valon felt a hand hit him right across the back, his eye's went total mental scary as he turned to face a younger man in appearance. Again... again with the damn... stupid... Talk... OF A COSTUME! The young man he turned on didn't seem at all phased by his glare of death, in fact he laughed loudly and slapped his hand onto Valon's shoulder.

[i][b]“Dude those eye's are scary as all hell, you have got to be coming to the party! You would scare so many of the others with that glare! You are dedicated to your part my man!”[/b][/i]

Valon growled deeply in his threat, his face twitched against his will as he raised his hand up to the hand on his shoulder.

[color=lightblue][b]“Breath.. Valon.. Breath. You don't want to do that.”[/b][/color]

Valon heard an all too familiar voice as he turned around and saw one of his former pupils standing behind him with an amused smile on his face. The younger man whom had been talking about Valon removed his hand as he quickly changed his attention to some others in a small group.

[color=lightblue][b]“I know that stare, thats the “your one inch from death for touching me glare”. I would know I did after all make it my mission to give you as many hugs as possible to try and lighten you up.”[/b][/color]

[b]“Heh heh heh”[/b]

Valon gave a low chuckle as he raised out his hand, his former pupil whom simply went by Devon took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

[b]“Its been a long time Devon, I had heard you would be at Gringore waiting for me. You had some information about our missing friend?”[/b]

Devon's look became rather serious as he nodded his head and looked around, there were far too many people to be discussing something like that in the open.

[color=lightblue][b]“Yes please follow me into the Courtyard we should have some more privacy there.”[/b][/color]

Valon nodded as he followed Devon into the courtyard, the courtyard was huge by comparison, and it was far less crowded than inside the academy itself. Valon silently bent down and scooped up a piece of orange paper on the ground and read it.

[b]“Their throwing a party? I am guessing its the party where my glare would scare everyone I take it?”[/b]

Devon sighed shaking his head, it was hard not to feel sorry for the one who had to clean up this mess. He already saw someone picking up the pieces of orange paper and bagging it. They made their way in that direction as he spoke.

[color=lightblue][b]“Not a good time for a party Valon, the mere fact it coincides with the disappearance and the deaths makes me want to try and get all festivities shut down until this is resolved. I am sure you saw the pattern already, whatever is doing this is moving straight for Nowhere at an alarming rate. Broms disappearance just makes it even more disconcerting.”[/b][/color]

Valon and Devon walked past a younger girl picking up orange leaflets as they talked among themselves. They headed for a grove of tree's on the other side of the courtyard.

[b]“There are a lot of issues being risen right now, I must ask though, what measures are being put in place around these festivities? This many all in one place, none the less all dressed up for Halloween is a disaster waiting to happen. It is the perfect place to hide and strike from the shadows, if it was me it would be my perfect strategy. Lucretia can't send anyone else here, after those Hunters disappeared he fears a large amount of Guardians would only bring worse risks.”[/b]

Both Valon and Devon were sitting on some stone benches in the shade of the grove of the tree's now as they talked.

[color=lightblue][b]“To be honest we don't have near enough to watch over these events, even I have had to leave the school to patrol at night outside of town. I have been toying with the idea of using the Gringore Auxiliaries to watch and report anything heavily out of the ordinary but I am hesitant.”[/b][/color]

[b]“Gringore Auxilleries?”[/b]

Valon posed it as a question looking at Devon, he had never heard of which he was referring to so he was curious.

[color=lightblue][b]“Its a group here at Gringore, its an organization of students who are training to become Guardians someday in the future. Its a rather intense program and from what I have seen they work hard everyday and train even harder. But my fears are that if we use them and they try to do something besides watch and report and one of them gets hurt or worse, the implications could be really severe. I have heard the rumors from Rome already on what this might be, none of them are ready for that.”[/b][/color]

Valon sat back on the bench and crossed his arms. He had not even been aware that such a program existed outside of the Guardian facilities. This was most definitely news to him, to have such a group was in a lot of ways a benefit to their current situation. They were short handed as it was and Valon could not survey an entire area full of people by himself or even with Devon. As it was already he had to head out and start tracking the most recent disappearances. 

[b]“We don't have many options right now, the count is raising higher right now and it will only continue to grow as time presses forward. I share your concerns but if they are training to become Guardians and you hold their efforts in high esteem than I think it would be prudent to look at this option. Let me see them with my own eye's and assess their abilities.”[/b]

Devon looked a bit uncomfortable at this suggestion, the truth was Valon was the hardest instructor in Rome, at least in Devon's eyes. He was very direct, precise and often times more than not his students limped away with fractures bones. His training was most effective, Devon did not discount that, it showed them how the real world would worked, but this, this was not the same as in Rome, these were students at Gringore.

[color=lightblue][b]“I don't know Valon, they are students at Gringore, and you can be rather foreboding and serious when it comes to assessing worth. You broke two of my ribs on our first day of training so I can vouch for that statement.”[/b][/color]

[b]“Well students or not I believe they would be allowed to make their own decisions. Besides I have no intention of fighting them or being physical I merely want to see what they are capable of.”[/b]

Devon sighed somewhat in relief and also in exasperation, Valon may say he won't get physical but if one of them challenged him to prove their strength, he doubted the Mezmer would deny them the opportunity to prove themselves. Still Valon never killed any of his students so Devon did not believe he would start now.

[color=lightblue][b]“I will speak to the head of the group and see if they can set up a demonstration. No promises, after all most of them have classes and other responsibilities so they can't drop everything and come running. When I get back we can discuss the particulars of Brom, I am sure your gonna want to hear this. If you would please stick around the courtyard this place is rather big, hard to find people sometimes."[/b][/color]

Valon nodded as Devon got up and walked out of the grove in the opposite direction back toawrds the school.[/color]

[@BlueAjah]