[hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/Ghn4HjHH/150150.png[/img]     [img]https://i.postimg.cc/3JJpycx6/c1f9aa79b4a342d06f8ac66f3ff341c9.png[/img] [/center]
[right]Interactions: My Demon Friend, The Scooby-Doo Gang
[code]Casa de Mars[/code][/right][hr]

It stared at Daniel Mars. Daniel moved his head, so it moved its head. Daniel raised his eyebrows, so it raised its eyebrows. What Daniel disliked most, he realised, was the uncompromising reality, even when reality itself had become so fluid lately.

His reflection looked at him with the same expectant expression, the darkness under his eyes having receded since his chat with Tuyen but not erased completely. There was a harshness to Daniel that hadn’t existed before, paler skin, lips deflated into a neutral frown. Thanks to chores and extracurricular activities Daniel had always been in good shape, however a small amount of muscle had raised up his shoulders and arms thanks to a new training regiment. Push-ups on his knuckles, sit-ups, pull-ups and any other exercise he could do quietly at home, all at the insistence of an unwelcome passenger who demanded the best vessel possible.

[colour=SteelBlue]“[b]MEETING. WHO WILL BE THERE?[/b]”[/colour] A voice in his head asked, or more accurately, demanded.

[colour=SkyBlue]“I don’t know.”[/colour] Daniel replied, sharply. He’d stopped jumping at the intrusive thoughts but their arrival still made him tense and shut his eyes for a moment.

All the superfluous exercise was, in part, a way to try and silence the demon within. The hope Daniel had was that if it was placated to some extent it would be less likely to invoke its presence, after all it didn’t seem terribly interested in anything about his life save his potential capacity for justice. Even still a thought gnawed at the boy, if this being, which mocked the very concept by proclaiming itself “Valor”, was able to physically change Daniel, could it be doing so mentally? Suggesting, threatening, anything so that Daniel Mars just so happens to be on the desired path, little by little becoming Valor.

His reflection disappeared as Daniel shut his eyes and tried to ignore that possibility. He opened his eyes to find his face scrunched into a seldom-seen frown, hopefully Tuyen was having more luck with her problem. It was the main reason he agreed to the meeting when Kari had texted him, they weren’t very close but the pool of people who survived that night - much less obtained magical powers - wasn’t very deep, Daniel didn’t even need to see the breaks in reality to know things in Cornell were only going to get worse. With a dusting of water and a thin layer of cream on his face, Daniel began shaving the stubble that had accrued on his chin ever since this nightmare began.

[colour=SteelBlue]“[b]NO ONE WILL BE THERE.[/b]”[/colour] The voice again boomed in Daniel’s mind. [colour=SteelBlue]“[b]THEY ARE WEAK. DIVIDED. ONLY WE HAVE THE POWER TO CLEANSE THIS EVIL. ONLY WE-[/b]”[/colour]

[colour=SkyBlue]“Darn it!”[/colour] Daniel hissed through gritted teeth, blood began dripping down his jaw and for once the rest of Valor’s proclamations fell on deaf ears as his sudden reappearance caused Daniel to accidentally nick himself with the shaving razor. 

[hr][right][code]Cornell High[/code][/right][hr]

It probably wasn’t a good sign for Daniel, as he hoisted up the bag on his shoulder while looking around the deserted building, that the school had seemed so deserted and yet so easy to enter. It wasn’t a good sign when he glimpsed his own reflection in a window and saw the freshly-applied bandage pressed over the cut on his jaw. It certainly wasn’t a good sign that the first sounds Daniel [i]did[/i] hear were screams of profanity.

[quote=A Nice Cheerleader][center][h1][color=32cd32]“FUCKERS!”[/color][/h1][/center][/quote]

Daniel couldn’t help but wince. His pace quickened, thinking that someone might be in trouble (prior to this, his hesitancy about breaking into a school had made him lag slower than normal). It was only after the tirade continued did Daniel recognise the shrill tones, he heard them enough times at summer camp whenever Vicky would get… passionate, about a ruling during group games. Truthfully, it set Daniel at ease somewhat, provided a lingering sense of familiarity and normalcy, certainly it proved he hadn’t disobeyed his father and snuck out again for nothing.

Compared to the previous entrant, Daniel’s arrival in the cafeteria was more subdued, calmly opening the door and holding onto it as it closed so that it wouldn’t slam shut - as if the noise would possibly make a difference at this point. Valor, initially having been silenced by the fact that its predictions were wrong and people [i]had[/i] shown up, began to filter in its unimpressed displeasure at the turn out. Daniel could tell whenever a feeling or emotion wasn’t his now, but, ever the optimist, was struggling to objectively disagree with the apparition’s appraisal.

Vicky Prescott, snapping back from divine fury and offense to saccharine and agreeable then to haughty indifference, sat atop one of the tables. Daniel was never exactly sure whether he found her ability to dart between emotional extremes impressive or creepy. The target of her rotating emotions, Tommy Bracken, seemed to be the most calm about the situation, he always seemed so calm around issues, hopefully he maintained that, rationality seemed in short supply. The other three, Zakira Watson, Lupe Sanchez and Kari Wilson, chattered amongst themselves. Daniel didn’t know any of them all that well beyond thinking they seemed nice. Other than Kari, who occasionally made polite but impersonal conversation with him whenever they were both in the library. She seemed to be the only one trying to direct the proceedings.

[colour=SkyBlue]“Hello everyone.”[/colour] Daniel said, fully entering the meeting. His voice loud enough to be heard but not enough to shout over anyone, though compared to the last entrant he might as well have announced himself in a whisper.

Walking towards the nearest table, Daniel rested his bag atop the surface and opened it up. He pulled out a clear plastic container filled with a fluffy, ordered row of chocolate cupcakes, followed by two six packs of store bought soda.

[colour=SkyBlue]“I thought people at this meeting might like refreshments. I wasn’t sure what everyone liked… yeah.”[/colour] Daniel trailed off, his face locked in a tired neutral expression since he arrived. He didn't stutter over his words as much anymore, at least.

Walking away from the treats and drinks to give it its own space for anyone who wanted to indulge, Daniel walked to the opposite table and took a seat at the chair, resting his hands in front of him, not really sure what to say next. Within him, something [i]did[/i] know what to say, a feeling he resisted as it urged him to wrestle control of this meeting and begin directing these maladjusted, hormonal simpletons to action.