KillamriX08

Royal Rumble!

Is still forbidden love picture.

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

"EEEK!" Vala was swung to the ground, the air rushing out of her lungs. It had all gone according to plan until... it hadn't. However, this just got the adrenaline flowing. This was an opponent who could take a hit now.

She kicked out, knocking away one hand, and then swung it back down like an axe to free her ankle of the other. She then braced herself and shot out both feet at Michelle's head to stun her and push herself into a backwards somersault to get clear. As for how stunned it would actually leave Michelle... who knew. This armor was a new and exciting variable.

"Hm..." Vala smirked. "You wanted to know how I beat Cassius, right?" She suddenly had a flask in her hand. No one had seen her pull it out. She pondered it for a second. "I'll go easy on you for now!" She twisted it once and threw her head back, drinking from it. "Careful how riled up you get me though..." She grinned and tossed it aside. A faint glow suddenly adorned her body and she stumbled while standing in place. She staggered sideways before her foot shot out to steady herself once more.

She looked up at Michelle, still grinning but it had become sloppy and lopsided, "Heheh... I'mma ring ya like a bell!" She broke into a run, but it was... unsteady and slow... and she seemed to be veering off in the wrong direction.

Or she was until she suddenly dug her heel in and made a sudden change in velocity. She barreled right toward Michelle and rammed shoulder first into her shield like a laden truck, aiming to pin the shield against Michelle's body. She then would grab the rim of the shield and flip herself into a handstand before dropping down to sit on her shoulders and wrap her legs around Michelle's neck from behind.

"Knock-knock!" Finally she began to rain down blows, not seeming to care that she was bare-fisted pummeling solid metal. Finally she pulled back both fists two aim a double hammer punch to the side of their head. "BONG!"

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

Vala dipped and dodged around the spear anytime it was thrust her way. No matter how close the spear seemed the get, Vala never looked concerned. Soon Belinda would have heard something. Humming. Vala was smiling and humming to herself in time with her dodges.

She seemed to be having fun.

Well, it was only sparring, right?

However, it seemed it would only amuse her for so long. The next jab that came in, Vala leaned backwards, letting it pass over her. She then turned it into a backflip, kicking the spear as she did to knock it away while she also gained some distance.

"I can do that too!" She cocked back her arm and a spear of golden light formed in it before she chucked it like a missile straight at her opponent.

Vala had two simple plans for the outcome of this.

If the shield came back out to block it, her opponent would suddenly feel a weight hit it as Vala darted forward to use it as a foothold to vault herself up and over them and aim a mid-air spin-kick to the side of their head.

If they just dodged, well, she'd just throw another... and then another... until she either baited out the shield or something else happened.

And, well, she supposed the spear could always just hit Belinda.

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

The "Chosen One" stood there ready, unflinching even as the weapon was launched at her.

She then proceeded to be easily fooled and struck by Belinda and Michelle's plan.

"WAH!" She cried out as she was thrown off her feet. However, there was just one thing. Her hands hadn't shot out to break her fall like a normal person would have. No, instead her hands were by her hips. In fact, she'd never quite hit the ground, instead suspending herself by two fingers and a thumb each.

Her body immediately coiled up and then lashed out with a kick aimed right for Michelle's jaw before she then twisted launched herself away with a handspring. Whether or not she had landed her kick, she eyed her opponent warily for a moment from where she now stood.

"WHOA! YOU CAN TELEPORT!" Vala's face lit up with excitement once she was back on her feet at a safe distance. Then again, she was now realizing that apparently there might be no such thing as a safe distance here. "Err, I'm gonna have to be more careful..."

She quickly shifted into a much more dynamic fighting stance this time, "OK, you got the first hit, keep it up!"

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

Vala found herself clapping as Michelle and Belinda traded control of the body back and forth. It was quite entertaining. She wasn't sure if it was an act or if they were telling the truth, but she'd play along until she was sure. No need to embarrass the girl. Or herself if this was real -- it certainly wasn't the weirdest thing.

"Well don't worry about that, you're in good hands now!" Vala said. "Back home they called me the Chosen One! I'm not sure what I was chosen for, but apparently fighting is important!" She dropped that line with none of the pomp and circumstance one would expect to go with such a title. "It's why I'm gonna fix the mess those bad guys made as soon as I can find them! Ohhh, maybe that's what I was chosen for!"

After they reached the offices Vala ran around sliding her make-up work under far too many doors. Some Chosen One she was...

"OK! To the sports field!" That one was outside, and thus not hidden in a labyrinth of hallways. She knew where that one was. If Belinda was serous about learning about Vala's power, it likely wouldn't have taken much dragging to get here there, but Vala seemed just as excited so some dragging was still involved.

Once on the empty ball field, Vala tossed her bag aside and bowed after getting a short distance away from Belinda.

"OK, come on and show me what you've got!" she urged the other girl. Err, girls? Either way...

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

"Wh-" Vala tilted her head, hearing Michelle say something, but seemingly not to her so she let it go. "Oh, well..." She realized that if this was a first year, she might not know her way through the whole school. Surely there were floors she just never needed to go to. "I mean, I keep getting lost because I'm new, so I'm late to my classes a lot." A lot... as in almost every time, every class, every day. "The teachers are getting impatient and starting to give me a lot of extra after class work to do... but I don't know where the offices are to hand it in..." She rubbed the back of her head nervously. It was as good a start as any.

However, practically before they even would set off, Vala couldn't help herself.

"So... have you ever been in a tournament before? Can first years enter tournaments? If not are you going to soon? What are they like here?" Then she stopped. "Oh no, do you think they'll hold off after what happened last time? Aww, I wanted to be in one... Errr, n-not that that's the most important thing of course. I-I'll stop talking..." Or so she said. "Ah, I forgot to even ask your name! Err, s-so?"

Royal Rumble!

@Scarifar

---

It had been a few days now, but Vala still was not used to this place. It was huge. So prestigious was the school that despite only being a "highschool," it had dorms for the inevitable foreign students in attracted.

Like her.

She'd tried following Cassius around, but she'd been careless and lost track of him. Perhaps she'd relied on him too much because when he wasn't around she tended to get lost. She was currently wandering the building after classes trying to get used to the place a little better. It... wasn't helping much.

Well, in this case, there was only one thing to do. Since she'd lost Cassius, she'd find someone else!

"Eenie... meenie... miney... HI!" Vala suddenly popped up next to her unsuspecting prey and soon to be tour guide (hopefully), who in this case happened to be Michelle. Or was it Belinda? Well, the distinction didn't much matter to Vala who was unaware of the girls' condition. "My name is Vala." She paused for a moment. "I'm lost." However, Vala wasn't entirely oblivious, the girl's uniform told her that this was a first year student she'd randomly elected. "Umm, oh, you like tournaments in Rhea, right? Help me out and I'll teach you how to fight better!"

Royal Rumble!

Meredith & Woof

Meredith frowned deeply. Not because finding a dress for her was rather hard, but because of the call she had just received. It had been one of the people she disliked the most right now. But one she also had some kind of twisted loyalty towards her. Indeed, even if she were a demon, her mother was her mother. She had effortlessly twisted the knife with her honeyed words, telling her to keep a certain "knight" not wandering around, as he was a bit of a crass individual lately. And to stop avoiding people. It was best to lie and manipulate, avoidance was a sign of weakness.

Meredith scoffed at the notion of having to talk to Wolf so soon. There was turmoil in her heart which she had not gotten to solve that, and It was a cage of worms that was best left unopened. But like putting up with her siblings, it had to be done. So she, for once waited. She waited until school was over, and squatted on top of one of the many lamposts of the streets, like a buxom bird of prey. She knew that after her mother's goading, Wolf would come her way.

Wolf was preoccupied. He was nervous. He'd stepped a solid mile out of his comfort zone and done something incredibly risky, if not outright stupid. All he could do was tell himself over and over again that he'd done we he had to, what no one else had been willing to do. The issue was that he wasn't convinced he was able to follow through if it came down it...

So preoccupied was he that he almost missed Meredith. Ironic what with her being the catalyst for all this. Sitting atop the lamppost as she was like the worlds most voluptuous gargoyle, she should have been easy to see for anyone who was actually paying attention. He actually had to take a few steps back so he could look up without having to snap his neck backwards.

". . . something tells me this isn't a coincidence," he said, just loud enough for her to hear.

Meredith stood still, for a second, not moving an ounce from the delicate balance she had set her striking figure in beyond a slight tilt of the head, like a huge, curvaceous owl.

She let a smile. But this was not her usual smile. It was more akin to that kind of compromising smile one could commit to do while restraining oneself.

"Are you a fucking retard?"

Wolf frowned deeply. Not exactly the warm greeting he'd kind of hoped for deep down.

"Nice to see you too... Meredith..." Wolf sighed. "I take it you spoke to your mother then?" He couldn't imagine why else she would accost him like this.

"Oh yes, we had a merry time together clawing each other's eyes out in a kind of perverted masochist rave." The demon-bird-schoolgirl attested. "Zack told me. He said you were really cool. He forgot to realize the stupidity of it all." Meredith added, as she finally jumped down to ground level. She stared at him, boring a hole through his skull with the sheer intensity of the gaze alone. "You don't have to live with being the offspring of that woman for who knows how long. And she can hold grudges and twist things like few others."

"I'm only sorry I didn't realize it sooner," he said. "I should have. My mother never trusted her, but I ignored it because I thought our fathers had it under control. I always imagined if she did anything it would be something big and dramatic..." He'd been two parts naive and one part just caught up in all his own issues. "But if in the end even if all she did was just nudge you in the wrong direction, then that tells me she's everything my mother always thought she was. Thing is, she didn't even deny it, and more and more I'm realizing that to say she just nudged you would be an understatement."

He looked down at the ground.

"I can't just do nothing anymore..."

Meredith sighed, as her stance relaxed. "Well, that was a nice effort i guess. But Wolfie, you really are out of your depth here. Don't fight an opponent if you don't even know yourself." Meredith added. "It took me a while to realize you know, still does. I am not as cuddly as i hoped i would be. " She walked towards the Vigilante. "Part of growing up is dealing with loss and stupid decisions. I tried to sacrifice two barely related people for my whims. I nearly died. You broke off with me by sending me home with that woman."

Wolf shrunk back at that. She'd brought it up, the moment of regret that had started this.

"I-I didn't-" But he had. He couldn't have known, but shouldn't he have? How much of this was because of his neglect? Thing was, the moment didn't exist in isolation. He'd been driven to that point. It wasn't hard to get there -- Meredith had brought it up herself. The way she'd said it irked him. No, the way she said it freed him suddenly. The guilt evaporated, becoming fuel instead.

His jaw clenched.

"Yeah... yeah I told you to go home. Personally, I'd call it mercy after what you did." His pupils had shrunk to pinpoints. He could still feel vestiges of the anger that had boiled up in him that day. "So if you wanna pity yourself and twist it so somehow you're the victim, go ahead, but I'm not buying it." But perhaps it was all short-lived. He hadn't thought himself "breaking things off" with her at the moment, he hadn't thought much of anything. He'd just wanted her to leave because he couldn't deal with her in the moment. So then... now that he was thinking about it... what did he really want? What if this ended up being the moment he regretted instead?

He'd told her that despite his better judgement he still wanted to trust her... but he did have that better judgement. He couldn't.

"The way I see it, there's a short list of people who know your mother's true colors and what you're dealing with. It includes me and a psycopath who slit your throat not long ago. So if you can't bear to look at me anymore and need an excuse, go ahead and read into what I said if you want. Otherwise get over it and, when you do, maybe we can talk."

Between all the conflicting emotions, that was about what he could come up with. He couldn't trust her... so he really couldn't have her running around where he couldn't see her.

Meredith stopped for a second, her stance and face neutral. "I guess I could, yes." The girl put a hand on her hip, her tail swishing slowly, as she began to walk towards Wolf, a smile appearing in her face, but without saying a word any further. "Talking is good, no?" She added, beaming a brilliant smile... not unlike her mother.

This... wasn't what he'd expected. No anger, no shock, or even sadness. He'd expected Meredith to react poorly in some regard to his outburst.

Somehow this was even more worrying. There was a time when this would have been a happy outcome, where'd he'd have naively accepted it. Now he just didn't understand Meredith anymore. Maybe... maybe he never really had.

"If you're actually willing to... yes." If she wasn't going to take this seriously then no amount of talking would make a difference. Would he even be able to tell if she was or not?

"Well, how about a make up kiss?" Meredith said, leaning towards Wolf.

"No." Thankfully, Wolf didn't have to think about this one. Whatever the implications of the request were, Wolf didn't bother considering them. Mostly he just assumed she was pulling some sort of trick thanks to her demonic heritage or was otherwise trying to mess with him. Regardless, if Vera found out... he shuddered to think. "In fact, keep your hands to yourself for now. Maybe we should talk later if you're going to act like this."

Or maybe not at all. He didn't want to consider it, but he had to. What if Meredith was too far gone? He didn't think so. It wasn't that long ago she'd been his best friend. He didn't want to believe she could fall that far so quickly. No, of course not, but then what the hell was she doing?

"Huh, so you're at least a bit wary about it." Meredith said, immediately backing off. "My mother is much better at pulling these stunts." She added, turning her back, before immediately messing her own hair up. "Bweee, how can be you so dense at times and then having a saving grace? I can't teach you anything this way!

"I mean, um. We will talk lat... NO! What is the point of acting cool now, Mer. I mean, I should have given him time to heal and reconsider. He needs a life on his own, and no manipulative women. Then again it's Wolfie and somebody will suck the marrow out of him, and he was nice to me and he went to face mother the goddamn fool!"

". . . you know I can hear you, right?" Wolf pursed his lips. Well, it was refreshing to see at least a hint of the Meredith he remembered.

"I DONT CARE! YOU ARE A POOPYHEAD, WOOFIE!" Meredith snapped back, almost on reflex.

"Ye..NO!" Meredith said, grimacing. "How could I be okay! I have the thirst to drink people now and I see how laughably easy is to mess with emotions! It's a good thing I like chocolate even more! " She paused for a bit and took a deep breath. "Okay. Let me think for a second." Meredith said, squatting in the ground, a brief throwback to her energetic self. "I burnt the bridge for your own safety, but this could work. " She said, standing up. "I suppose, that um, given that we spent a lot of time as kids... I will come to your aid if you need. Even if you hate me. I suppose I can respect your absolutely nasty taste in women."
"I guess, that's the bottom line of it." Meredith said. "But don't go rousing mother anymore, kay?"

"Nothing's burnt, Meredith. I don't hate you." Wolf sighed. "Definitely singed, but not down to ashes, and just treating you like some sort of tool to pull out in an emergency isn't going to help anything."

He crossed his arms.

"And I'll back off of your mother, but if she starts causing problems again I expect you to tell me..." He didn't need a repeat of last time.

"So you don't hate me?" Meredith said, as she turned back to Wolf, smiling and leaning on him.

"You're lucky no one died, so no, I don't." Well he supposed he'd have been fine if Galbrek or the masked throat slicer had died... However, he quickly edged away from her. "And what did I say about touching?" Her hugs were nice, a little too nice sometimes, but she was gonna have to earn that kind of trust back. It didn't help that she'd just mentioned drinking people...

"I'm hungry Wolf. So hungry." Meredith said. "Can you buy me pancakes, pretty please?"

Wolf's eyes went wide? Hungry? For souls- Oh, no, that was fine then.

He let out a sigh of relief. "Sure... we can do that." It was a happier ending than he could have hoped for. He was still on edge. Something could always go wrong.

Especially when Vera found out... He swallowed hard at that thought.

No, no, he could have that panic attack later... For now: pancakes.

Royal Rumble!

@Crowvette

---

To say Vernon was mad would have been a dangerous understatement. There were already a few gangbangers missing teeth and suffering from near terminal frostbite to prove this. Some of them were members of his own family mob. He wasn't being particularly discriminate in who he took his frustrations out on.

He'd already been riled up by William's injuries, but now some prick from another country had moved in to take over? No, THREE of them had. His family had soon enough been able to sniff out the other two as well. Ward, Vala, and Jasper.

It was all putting him in a perpetually foul mood. Finally, though, he'd come up with an actionable plan. Something that might make him feel better and also solve one of his problems. If all went well he'd never have to see that dimwitted girl Andras ever again. Whose bright idea had it been to grant near limitless power to her of all people?

The gods really did have a sense of humor.

He found himself in a poorer neighborhood. He knocked on one door in particular, a grin sprouting on his face as the door opened.

"Hello... Cyan." It was not a happy grin.

"Oh... uh..." Cyan swallowed hard and took a startled step back. Without being invited, Vernon stepped past the threshold into the house.

"Anyone else home?" Vernon asked, glancing about.

"Y-yes-"

"Don't lie," Vernon admonished the boy. "We need to have a little... chat."

"Um... um..." POP! And just like the Cyan turned invisible.

"Oh for the love of..." Vernon groaned and then let out a quite literally chilling screech. Ice and frost soon coated the floor except for two very conspicuously foot-shaped spots. Vernon reached out and grabbed at seemingly thin air, but it certainly felt like Cyan's throat. "Cut the invisibility bullshit before I freeze your neck and snap it off your shoulders," Vernon warned him. "I'm not going to count, so before I lose my patience..."

"Wh-what... do you want?" Cyan shivered as he faded back into sight.

"Why does anyone want anything to do with you? I need to use your fancy little ability."

"It doesn't work that way! It's fifty-fifty that something bad will happen instead!" Cyan whined, feeling his ankles going numb.

"To me?"

"D-depends on the wish..."

"Then I'm not too concerned." Vernon jerked the boy forward, popping him out of the ice and dragging him to a nearby chair and shoving him into it.

"B-but what about me?" He was the far more likely victim.

"Again. Not concerned."

"I am!"

"Be more worried about what I 100% will do to you right now if you keep complaining!" Vernon snapped.

". . . what do you want me to do?" Cyan whimpered helplessly.

"Let me ask you this. If you wished for world peace, what would happen? Or... to end world hunger?"

"Well... I guess either it'd work or the world would go into a never ending war. Or... maybe I'd never stop feeling hungry. Or everyone would... or all the food would rot or something... I dunno. It's just... the bigger the wish, the worse the possible consequence. Normally the backlash would only hit me, but... something that big could affect everyone. I don't see how there could be an equal negative effect that would only hit me." Cyan shrugged weakly. "I've never tried though."

"So, say I wanted you to mess with someone else... could you?"

"I... don't see why not. As far as I know, the only limit is how much risk I'm willing to take." Cyan swallowed hard. Was he about to be forced to buy a ticket to hell?

"Good. I want to remove the random chance from someone else's power. Well, a little anyway. Ironic, isn't it?" Vernon chuckled. "Did William ever tell you about his foolish little plan?"

"To... end the feud between schools?" Cyan wished he'd just get this over with.

"Oh no. Something far more obnoxious. He wants to 'fix' Vittorio Twinveil and Galbrek Ravenovich. Most especially the former," Vernon's face clearly displayed his disgust. "He wants to resurrect their lost loved ones. Thinks if they're alive they'll calm those two down. Apparently they were murdered and that's just oh so sad-"

"I-I can't do that! If I get unlucky it'll probably just kill me!" Cyan jumped out of his chair but Vernon slammed him back into it.

"So will I if you try to run again. And relax, I already figured that much out. I'm going to try something a little less drastic. You're a valuable tool. Can't risk breaking you on a coin-flip now can I?" Vernon smirked.

"Th-then you won't kill me yourself-" He went silent and his pupils shrunk to pinpoints as Vernon held a frosted over finger a centimeter from his eye.

"Clever. But I have other things I can do to you that could be worse. Ever wonder what it would feel like to get frostbite on your eyes?"

"No..."

"Well start wondering. I figure it'll motivate you to behave." Vernon chuckled. Cyan imagined it. He decided Vernon was probably right.

"Fine! What the hell am I doing then!?"

"Andras." Vernon stepped away. "She can draw these cards that let her do just about anything. However, even with William's help, she can't seem to pull the right cards to bring back the dead. It's random you see. But you can do anything too, can't you? Make her draw the right cards."

"Oh..." Cyan blinked. That... didn't sound too bad actually. The backlash would probably be annoying, but not remotely world ending. Probably. He'd have to see what the coin would accept.

"Well there you have it. Chop chop."

Cyan sighed and summoned his coin, "Ok..." He closed his eyes and thought about what he could wager. Well, if he was trying to remove chance from Andras's cards... why not do the same to his coin? "Umm... Heads Andras draws the cards she needs to undo the past... Tails my next coin-flip is an automatic tails." No, that didn't feel right. He let out a miserable groan. "N-next two coin-flips then." And so... he flipped it.

Heads.

Wait, really?

Both he and Vernon stared at it in shock, contemplating the actual gravity of what they'd just done.

And then Cyan screamed and yanked his hand back as if the coin was on fire... because it was. The metal had turned bright, almost molten red. It tumbled through the air but then suddenly stopped mid-flight -- perfectly horizontal. It then SLAMMED to the floor with such force that the floorboards cracked, leaving a sizzling indentation in it.

On the bright side it was still heads.

"What... the fuck was that?" Vernon blinked.

"I-I... don't know. It's never happened before." Cyan clutched at his burnt hand. "I... I guess it's possible something tried to stop my wish?"

"Hmph. Perhaps fate refuses to be denied." Vernon smirked. How poetic. "Though... your wording leaves me somewhat concerned. I said bring back the dead, not undo the fucking past! Fuck it, close enough I suppose. Well done, Cyan. Don't leave town, OK? Knowing this idiot she'll STILL find some way to fuck this up." He rolled his eyes. He then scoffed. "Oh quit being a baby and give me that!" He grabbed Cyan's hand. Vernon's icy skin quickly soothed the circular burn on the back of Cyan's hand. "There. We're even." And then he promptly left.

"Th-that's... even?" Cyan was left sitting there in bewilderment. What the hell had just happened?

Royal Rumble!

Mephisto's Student Council Room

Ward was confused. They thought he still had Clara's phone? He had discarded that about as quickly as he'd found it. In this very room, for that matter.

"I am new, yes," Ward told Bak. "I've spent a majority of my time trying to understand how this school works to be honest. In the end I decided that the quickest course of action would be to attempt to address the council all at once at one of your meetings..." He shrugged. "As for the phone you speak of, I left it in this room. If you haven't seen it... well..." He'd have said someone else must have taken it, but as much as he'd have liked to be petty and blame Diana, he knew she had left right after him, so that was far too unlikely.

However, there was another explanation.

"I believe I left the phone... here." He pointed to the table, a few feet to Bak's right. "Now, if none of you have it, then it is likely still in this room." He stepped around the table, glanced back at the doorway, and then looked to a bookshelf that sat behind the table, across from the door. He bent down and reached under it and when he pulled his hand back, he held the phone. "Ah, almost as if it was sent flying somehow..." Like something had exploded nearby, perhaps.

Diana meanwhile frowned, knowing exactly what he was insinuating.

"Here you are." Ward placed the phone next to Bak. "So, I'll cut to the chase. I've come to this city with a few goals in mind, goals that would be much more easily accomplished if I was a part of your council and not stuck on the sidelines. My conundrum is that I've transferred in my final year of schooling. I hardly have the time to work my way up, now do I?"

"Wow, yeah... sounds like a you problem to be honest," Vernon scoffed. "Thanks detective, but you can go now."

"Well, I see Diana here. I must confess, Diana. I wasn't aware you had decided to enroll after all." Ward wasn't going to give up quite that easily.

"I had people to advocate for me. I don't suppose you do as well?" Diana crossed her arms.

"Yeah, so since you don't, uhhh, bye." Vernon leaned forward for emphasis.

"Well, I'm sure I could find someone. But I see I've overstayed my welcome," Ward capitulated. "Though I do think I will take you up on your offer later, Bak."

"Aww, come on guys, we're being rude to the new guy," Rurik suddenly spoke.

"No, no, shut the fuck up!" Vernon shot back to his feet. "You're just doing this to spite me!"

"Would I do that?" Rurik asked.

"Yes!" Vernon snapped. "You have no good reason to speak up otherwise!"

"OK fine then, in the spirit of spiting you..." Rurik slowly stood up as if the act of straightening his legs was more effort than he really wanted to give. "I heard he kicked Gabriel's ass. So he's strong enough. Not to mention, you know, he's here and Gabriel's not so he's got the guy beat on attendance too."

"Yeah, trespassing, great." Vernon glowered.

"Well, that and he hasn't yelled at me yet..." Rurik shrugged.

"I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up."

Cel sat back all the while, watching the drama unfold. Judging by how Diana had started bristling the second Ward showed up, he wasn't sure he wanted Ward around. Not for the overflowing affection he may or may not at all have had for Diana, but because he had the sneaking suspicion that if Ward stayed Diana might not. However, keeping Ward around might also piss off Vernon which was tempting.

Unfortunately he had been busy lately and knew next to nothing about Ward, so a decision was hard for him to reach just yet. Well...

"So, Ward is it? What are these goals of yours exactly?" he broke his silence to ask.

"Well, Rhea is an influential city, the influential city, but as of late it's in a precarious position. The cultists that attacked will return, and with every attack they launch they will erode the foundations of this city," Ward told them. "My family has run across them before. Ironically, they find us to be an abomination. Pot calling the kettle black as it were. I have my personal motives, I want to spread my family's influence to this city. It being under siege is both an opportunity and a motive for me to act. After all, if the cultists have their way I can't have mine. I simply need a platform from which I can take action. So long as the cultists lose, I hope that the rest of us can all win."

"Oh, so that's how it is. Why didn't you say so? Yeah I don't care." Vernon was at his wits end. If anything, he liked Ward even less if that were possible. He didn't need some asshole muscling in and carving out a piece of the Rhea pie for himself. This was his city, not Wards.

"Vernon." Cel slowly turned his head, shooting a look straight through the gangster wannabe. "Shut. Up."

"Wh-..." Vernon's voice got caught in his throat. He bared his teeth in an angry sneer, but he broke long before Cel ever would have, looking away and sitting back down. The memory of Cel's blade flying toward his throat was still a little too fresh in his mind.

"Look, I don't personally have authority to add you to the council. I'm not sure any of us do..." Cel admitted to Ward. "But I do have one question. I don't care about the details necessarily, but I'm detecting some hostility between you and Diana. So, Diana, what's your stance on all this?"

"Say what you really mean, Lightbringer. You mean will I keep my end of the deal if he's allowed to join, don't you?" Diana narrowed her eyes. Of course she wasn't thrilled by the idea, but how much was her grudge really worth to her? "Maybe. But there will be a lot more conditions."

"Of course there will be..." Cel sighed. Greedy little witch. Well, it was one of her endearing qualities he supposed. "Well, we can work around that if it comes to it." He took a deep breath. "We have other things to worry about today, Ward. You told Bak you'd speak to her later, so do that. The rest of us will keep what you've said in mind, I'm sure." A smile split his face, but his eyes still held the same soul penetrating look he'd given Vernon. Oh, he'd keep Ward in mind. Such grand designs required one to fly high -- and great heights left the door open for great falls. It would be a shame if someone stuck their foot out at an inopportune moment.

"So wait, we're asking the new girl what she thinks but I have to shut up?!" Vernon was incredulous. Was Diana even really a council member yet?!

"Yes. Yes we are. As much as I loathe to agree with the wet noodle-"

"You mean me, don't you?" Rurik frowned.

"-you've been very... loud today. But that's about it. Something going on in your personal life, Vernon? Care to talk about it?" Cel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh fuck off..." Vernon just huddled down in his chair.

"I... see..." Ward cleared his throat. "Very well, thank you for hearing me out. I'll see you later, Ms. Bak." Ward nodded politely and took his leave. Well, it hadn't been a total loss. In fact, it may have been a very important first step. Time would tell.