[center][h1]Allison and Viola[/h1][/center]

[hr]

Allison had spent much of the ride playing on a handheld, or talking to the others, but she was acutely aware of Arlette gazing at her hungrily. She had a vessel, why did this issue constantly come up with Weapons? Just because her soul was more exposed than normal didn’t mean she was a cooked turkey, ready to eat!

But with Viola around, she felt secure. Safe. There was no way in hell the sniper-girl would let someone try to eat her without breaking their legs. And that probably included Arlette.

As usual, Ms. Opal was basically having a mini-heart attack every five seconds. With how stressed she was all the time, why was she working for the DWMA? This job was the [i]king[/i] of stress.

Of course, as Allison turned her vessel’s plastic head to look at the island itself, she saw it was for good reason this time, between the fact that the “ruined” tower had been rebuilt without anyone knowing, and a [i]goddamn jungle[/i] had formed overnight.

“Well...at least we get an impromptu investigation mission?” she said with a weak smile, trying to stay positive.

Viola simply looked at her partner with a deadpan, every muscle on her face stiffened to a standstill. Her eyes panned back to the island and upon fully absorbing the situation they were about to actuality throw themselves into, she released a loud and exaggerated sigh before looking back to Allison.

“We could probably have picked something a little less extravagant, stupid DWMA-peh!” Viola spat dryly, though she nodded to Allison after her short-lived tantrum. 

“But I suppose we won’t get anywhere with our feet kicked up, even if it means getting some sand in between our toes.” Viola briefly broke her stone face and cracked a very small smirk to Allison before returning her violet sights back to the island.

“Yeah, you’re right,” the talking mannequin said. “And imagine how it’ll look if we resolve a crisis over summer vacation. That’ll probably be worth something back home.”

Then, she sighed. Or rather, made a sighing [i]noise[/i] since she couldn’t actually breathe. “Though to be honest, I’m just fishing for positives at this point. I’m not gonna lie, fixing whatever happened here is probably going to be incredibly dangerous. But at least we have 17 people. There’s strength in numbers.”

It was soon after that Ms. Opal began to call the duos up, requesting single file lines to keep things orderly with the amount of people onboard. Viola popped up to her feet and kicked the toes of her boots against the ship’s floor before stepping into the weapon line, her sights calmly aimed to the ground.

[@CelesteEste]
Allison, on the other hand, creaked her way over to the Meister line, looking straight at Arlette just in case she tried anything, and to let her know that her “meal” was onto her. As the line began to move forward, she turned away, looking ahead, chin up. She was going to fix this. No matter what.

Then the line arrived in the island town proper.

As Viola’s feet touched the land she briefly experienced an overwhelming sense of dread. Her eyes scanned those around her, squinting as her vision fixated on each person. 

“Allison, keep on guard.” Viola stated plainly, the volume of her outburst being loud enough for others to hear. Though, Viola was always this way so it could just be her nature.

“Right,” the ghost said as she made landfall a little bit after Viola. She made the sound of taking a deep breath as the teacher showed the guards her DWMA papers so they could pass. As the group made it deeper into the harbor, Allison could only say, “What the [i]fuuuuuuuck…?[/i]”

Cave paintings on the walls. Warped images from the TVs that stuck out of buildings here and there. A guy in a plague doctor outfit. Plants encroaching on the buildings.

“Okay...things are even worse than I thought. What the hell [i]happened[/i] on this island?!”

She was sure some of citizens around her must have heard her. But, looking around, they looked at her with only passing interest at best, and completely ignored her at worst.

And then Ms. Opal drank from a fountain labelled with a DWMA insignia and numerous warnings to keep away. She turned into a sheep.

Allison had never been more relieved in her entire unlife that she had no physical needs.

“So...that...happened. I...uh…” she scratched the back of her head, “...guess we have to start with the local DWMA chapter. It’s Lord Death’s face there, after all. You don’t think something [i]happened[/i] to them, do you?” She looked towards Viola with the last sentence, and it was clear what the implication behind her statement was. [i]Madness at the DWMA.[/i] The worst-case scenario, one that she didn’t even want to consider, but it was necessary.

“It would be safe to assume the worst, should we do some reconnaissance in the area?” Viola raised an eyebrow and canted her head to the right, further expressing the question to her partner.

“Do you want me to go ghost form? If the DWMA is the source of this, that could end badly, but a bird’s-eye-view would be really helpful right now.”

“Go ahead, I’ll watch your vessel.” Viola wrapped her arms around Allison’s shell, lightly holding the artificial body in preparation for her Meister leaving it to float from the earth’s surface.

“Alright, gimme a second.” Allison deliberately loosened and then released her soul’s hold on the plastic puppet/doll/mannequin in a practiced maneuver not unlike opening a fist that had been closed for some time.

She felt the weight of her vessel cease as her ghostly form left her empty shell, and when she fully appeared, it would have been a shock to those who hadn’t seen her before.

Red, angry stab wounds all across the body. A shorter body and a younger face. Disheveled hair, similar to bedhead. And most striking of all was the pair of ghostly pajamas she was stuck wearing until the end of time. They had, in fact, fused with her body, becoming ectoplasm with the rest of her when she died.

Good thing everyone present was either used to things like this or just ignored her for unknown reasons.

And with that, she floated up, up, up, up into the air--taking an opportunity to crack a smile and wave at the mere mortals below who lacked the power of flight--until she was above the rooftops of the highest skyscrapers. It would be a simple task to scout the city. The DWMA was usually based in an urban area, even foreign chapters, so she could just look for the building with all the big-ass skulls and she’d be reasonably certain she’d found it.

She took the opportunity to gain altitude more than a few times. She wanted to stay relatively hidden, and it was hard as hell to spot a transparent object that was high in the air. Remembering she could turn invisible, she activated them as well, just for good measure. Nothing would protect her from Soul Perception, but it was unlikely she’d run into a Weapon who could both hit her from up here [i]and[/i] tell where she was, and [i]that[/i] was assuming the DWMA was even hostile in the first place!

Eventually, she floated high enough to see most if not all of the island too, just to get a rough idea of the lay of the land and approximate [i]how[/i] fucked their situation was.