"Every true, eternal problem is an equally true, eternal fault; every answer an atonement, every realization an improvement," – Otto Weininger

Warning: Spoilers for Seven Nights at Clarabella's and Inner Craving.

Peace, a core value of their world; friendship between angels and demons advocated as the conflict between the two sides ended on a harmonious note. With the bitter war between them both no longer a problem holding them back, they could move on and accept each other and what made them all different. It was their differences that contributed to their equality because it meant all of them were individuals. Demons and angels came together and forgave each other for misgivings a dark past like their shared past contained, recognizing both sides were at fault for the fighting and making the conscience effort to strive for a world of peace. That was how the Gray Garden became known as a paradise, a place where angels and demons could befriend one another without conflict.

"Damn you, Ater!"

At least for ninety-nine point nine percent of the time. Those odds included everyone, both angels and demons alike maintaining a strong friendship between one another. Even intermarriage was allowed between the two, a union which gave birth to the Nephilim, children of demonic and angelic parents who possessed physical and biological aspects from sides of their parental kinship. Twins were sort of an exception to this in a way since one would be an angel and another a demon, though a triplet would still maintain the angelic-demonic elements in his or her makeup. That was one reason why bonds of families and friends remained strong, and everybody stood strong for the cultural way of life they established together. Although the bloody past in which they were nothing more than enemies was still a part of their history and themselves as well, they accepted it because the disunity was a way of reminding them about horrors of warfare which could engulf them again.

"N-no, p-please leave us alone! W-what d-did I-I do this time?!"

"T-this time what did s-she do?! L-leave us alone, p-please, no!"

And yet one particular horror which had become accepted by this point as well was already taking place throughout the corridors of Blancblack Castle. It was also the point one percent which didn't fit in with the rest and opposed it even as the angel involved in it somehow squeezed herself into the other ninety-nine point nine percent while excluding a certain individual from everything, setting her sights on her and always prepared to murder that individual by any means necessary. It was kind of understandable as the Gray Garden's biggest flaw because of this one angel, though a certain degree of punishment was always in order whenever she tried to slaughter her target in cold blood. But even that wouldn't stop her even now as she sped through the halls after her along with another who just happened to be the victim's twin sister. Their footfalls echoed everywhere, within the halls, stairwells, every floor, and pretty much anywhere else imaginable. Everybody got out of their way, many of them choosing to defend the victims from her—some whom deadpanned when they realized what was going on, while others merely reported it to Kcalb while trying to stop her. Yet their reaction lacked surprise since they knew it was just another part of the daily routine, one in which Grora always chased after Ater—and Arbus too—to slaughter her over an accident.

"Just you wait, Ater! I'm going to pulverize you this time, you hear me?!" she shouted, her boots storming across the floors as she pursued the two cat demons ahead of her in rage.

"S-stop it, p-please!" Ater cried out, sprinting as fast as she could while she and Arbus sped past other employees. The two of them were careful not to jostle any of them unlike their pursuer, the one-eyed angel with an eyepatch over her left eye—a reminder of when she lost that eye mainly because of a freak accident involving Ater. They fled every which way, trying to lose her.

"Please, s-stop it!" her twin sister, Arbus, repeated in their cute mannerism of speaking that had been one of their most adorable features aside from other facets like their playfulness and cute sweetness. Unfortunately, despite their pleading with her, the angel would not leave them alone as she continued to chase her poor targets all over the place, never letting them out of her sight.

"No way in hell! Like hell I'd ever forgive you for what you've done to me, Ater! You are dead meat, Ater, count on it!" Alela Grora, the furious angel threatened her actual target, thinking about whether she really should've been chasing Arbus too. It wasn't like the black haired demon of the two kitties was any threat to her. Although, Arbus was Ater's twin and she would stay with her sister forever and do whatever it took to be united with her forever, so that pretty much meant Grora could split the pain between them both as punishment for what happened to her eye. "You've turned me into a one-eyed freak, Ater, and now I'll return the favor big time, you little shit!"

"B-but I-I wasn't involved with that! I-I didn't do it, I-I s-swear!" Arbus protested, unaware of why she had to be harmed by Grora as well for something her twin sister did in the past.

"Fine, then just get the hell out of my way so I can pound Ater into dust!"

"D-don't leave me, Arbus!" Ater wailed in fright, terrified of being abandoned by her own twin sister to be forgotten by her while being remembered as the innocent cat demon slain by what was known as a misguided usage of karma. According to karma, what she did would've amounted to punishment in this life or another; however, she apologized profusely for what happened many times over, showing she truly did repent for the offence she committed unto Grora by accident—that was what it always was, and she claimed full responsibility for it. That didn't mean Grora had to accept it and forgive her; she didn't have to like Ater, though she certainly couldn't maim and murder the poor girl over an accident, regardless of how dire it had been back then. "I-I don't want t-to d-die! P-please don't abandon me! I-I'll do anything, p-please stay with me!"

"I-I'll never leave you, Ater! W-we're always together!" Arbus cried, tears emerging from within their eyes to pour down their faces while they wept timidly. "Sisters together forever! Cross our hearts and hope to die!" They really would stay by each other's side, even in death—the death Grora would give them once she caught up to these girls and flayed them to death. That did appeal to the angel as she thought of ways to make them—particularly Ater—bleed as part of the critically harsh sentence she would deliver unto them as judgment for the one cat demon's sin against her a long time ago. Then again, there were other methods viable for the task, but it didn't matter to her.

Dashing through one of the hallways, Grora seized a potted plant from a nearby table while flying in the air, zooming fast to catch up. Once she managed to close in quite a short distance, she threw the flowerpot as hard as she could. While she did want to aim at Ater, the angel overshot the attack on purpose because she knew simply aiming directly for her head where it was would miss because the cat demons were running. Therefore, she lobbed it over them for good measure.

Her pitch was successful, having smashed onto the floor in front of Ater as the cat demons were turning into another stairwell. Caught off guard, Ater and Arbus stumbled over it and tripped over their own feet, crying out as they fell forward. Their legs tangled together while they tumbled down a flight of stairs, crashing into the wall at the bottom and mewling in pain after hitting it with enough force to knock a painting hanging from it onto them. Sniffing as they wept aloud, the poor kitties tried to stagger to their feet as Grora descended the stairs. Her footsteps echoed heavily and stomped down each individual one step which made her prey recoil in fear and hug each other out of loving compassion for one another. The twins had sprained an ankle each in the fall, realizing a much more painful end would finish them off right here as their whole lives flashed before them.

"Finally caught up to you little shits…" Grora panted heavily, cracking her knuckles since she wanted to give Ater—and Arbus just for the sake of it because the other cat demon was present, and Grora did want to relieve more of her stress by taking it out on both of them—a severe beating. "Next time just accept your fate instead of always running from it. Do you two have any idea just how difficult it is catching up to you? You're lucky I'm not carrying my bow at the moment; still, that doesn't mean you'll be escaping anytime soon." One of the angel's knuckle cracks sounded a bit scary, as if it was the equivalent of bones shattering in her grasp as if she was strong enough to actually accomplish that. Her main strengths were her skill with the bow, duel wielding scimitars, and tactical strikes; though she wasn't on that level regarding physical strength, Grora was also an adept at martial arts and helped teach classes on such abilities like karate and taekwondo.

"D-don't hurt us…" the cat demons begged helplessly, shivering uncontrollably while they cried, tears flowing down their cheeks. "P-please, w-we're s-sorry…"

"Sorry's not good enough, you little shits!" the angel retorted bitterly and seized them both by the collar, wanting to throttle these two for being unreliable, lying demons who always made a few good lives miserable by refusing to listen to anyone except for a few others like Etihw. While Kcalb was their owner—or fatherly figure to them, according to what she heard—they barely even listened to him whenever he requested something from them or asked them to do something. Ater and Arbus were pretty much useless since they hardly got anything done around here—like Etihw since the Goddess was also pretty lazy; at least she tried to be whenever she escaped the camera—so there was no real reason to even keep them around any longer. "You don't even do anything at all! What the hell were you girls doing when Ivlis invaded our world, huh?! When Germain wanted to destroy all we worked so hard to preserve?! When Soa murdered good people who gave their lives protecting the peace our respective people deserve after such a meaningless war?!"

Ater and Arbus sniffed, wondering why she was bullying them around. They figured Grora for being more of a dog person, but answered her coldhearted inquiry. "W-we helped…" Ater whimpered nervously. "W-we arrived to stop him after getting lost in his underworld." It was the answer to the first question concerning Ivlis, which Arbus finished answering.

"Y-yes, we showed up when Lord K-Kcalb needed us. T-then you came with Mr. Wodahs before Lady Etihw arrived. P-please d-don't be angry with us, Miss Grora," she said and pleaded.

"Uh-huh, and what about Germain and Soa?! Did you not help stop them?!" Grora started shaking them both, demanding what they did about those other two and why they weren't involved in the defense against them. As far as she knew, they weren't even around when it happened.

"W-we did help…" Arbus went on, swallowing heavily. "We helped Lady Etihw write that apology she made to our world for what happened in the past with that conspiracy."

"And we helped Mr. Siegfried protect Gray Village from the ghoulish doppelganger," Ater also continued their brief, truthful explanation even though Grora didn't believe them. "Y-you've been ordered into different squads protecting this place, manning them in one spot while we were at another." She also swallowed while sniffing. "P-please don't hurt us, Miss Grora, w-we promise t-to be good." If she thought pleading with this furious angel would get them out of trouble, she'd literally get on her hands and knees to beg for her life. Arbus would follow her example.

"I don't think so! You two have always been nothing but trouble for everyone! You always let everybody else down because you act like children instead of mature young ladies! You're both decades old and haven't even passed adolescence yet! Grow up and welcome the real world, so let me show you how painful and cruel it is!" Knocking their heads together to make them slightly dizzy from the blow, Grora dropped Arbus to the floor to start with Ater. She made a fist with her right hand while holding the cat demon's collar in her left and drew the arm back to thrust the fist right into her prey's face. In her mind, she hoped the punch went through Ater's skull and out the backside of her head. Once she was down, Arbus was up next for a severe beating following her.

However, the moment she reached behind her before shoving her fist forward into the cat's jaw, someone seized her limb quickly to immediately whirl her around towards a wall and pin her to it. Grunting in pain, having forcibly released her target to the floor so the twins could huddle in each other's arms, the angel glanced behind her to find Siegfried and Valens standing there with a few other employees who had come with them when they heard the usual commotion from a floor nearby. "That'll be enough of that for now, Grora," the investigator instructed her to cease her mad assault, holding her arms tightly so she wouldn't struggle. "Let them go, they didn't do anything."

"Damn right they didn't do anything!" Grora unexpectedly agreed with that statement, but the others were already aware of the cat demons' laziness which was why they were not surprised. "Those two don't do jackshit around this joint! Why the hell are you guys defending them?!"

"Mainly because you're always going off on them for whatever you can think off," Valens replied, kneeling down beside the kitties to apply a healing spell to mend their bruises and sprained ankles. "Usually it's your missing eye," he added, pointing to his left eye to emphasize the concept. "It's been decades since that accident; this should be water under the bridge by now considering a significant amount of time has passed since then. They were too young to understand consequences of their actions. Learn to forgive Ater and Arbus at some point, Grora. You're only getting—"

"Myself in trouble," she finished for him. "I already know that, thank you very much." Her tone suggested she was quite displeased with them interrupting her assault on the kitties. Siegfried released her momentarily and she stepped over to the stairs, sitting down to rub her arms since the slight force he applied hurt somewhat. "I would've already taught them a lesson had you guys not interrupted me. These girls are such a nuisance, getting away with anything they can think of." Its validity as a true statement was undeniable sometimes, but Ater and Arbus still meant well.

"Oh, cut it out," the other angel commented, sticking a strand of wheat in between his teeth. It was a habit of his, and he clearly liked the taste of pure wheat. "They're not that bad, Grora."

"Yes, they are," Grora retorted bitterly, pointing at Ater and Arbus. "They're useless sacks of nothing that don't do anything and make others miserable—mostly me, for instance."

"I should think solely you," one of the other angels with them spoke up, garnering a harsh glare from the angry angel which failed to shut him up. "You clearly make trouble for them while expecting others to come to your aid. Don't you see how hard it is supporting your claims when a bunch of witnesses already familiar with your dislike for Ater see you wielding anything that could be used as a weapon against her and Arbus over nothing?" His question, though valid enough, was hitting a sour note in her and she started lashing out at him and the others as well for it.

"You think the shit they pull is nothing?! Just look at them and consider what they do! The two of them are so terrible they let others do all the work while they just play around doing nothing! How can you guys not understand how much I truly despise them?! Ater took my eye! She should be punished for it because she obviously wasn't back then!" she yelled, growling at the two kitties.

"Because they were too young to fully grasp the consequences of their actions!" one of the other employees, a demon, supported the claim Valens made. "How hard is it to understand that?"

"Yeah," the third employee, an angel, commented. "You're the one who usually says even children can comprehend that much at young ages—around the same age as they were back then—so do you see how ironic that is, Grora? You're practically saying they're both stupid and need to be charged for simply not knowing the difference between right and wrong among other things."

"Because there are plenty of things they're guilty of—Ater, specifically, chiefly for taking my eye!" Grora retorted coldly and glared the cat demons. "Yeah, that's right, you bitches haven't done one good thing around here to my knowledge, and that's all that matters to me, got it?!" The petty insult merely made a few of the others sigh in exasperation, but Ater and Arbus both looked down at the floor in shame because they believed the furious angel was correct in her assumption. Thankfully, Siegfried set them both at ease by gently ruffling their hair and smiling warmly at the two of them, having turned to kneel in front of them so he could address the cat demons.

"Look don't fret over her low opinions of you, girls," he spoke kindly and helped them up. "They mean nothing and aren't based on anything. If this mean lady ever bothers you again, don't be afraid to call for help. Just go to anyone and they'll be sure to let Kcalb know what's happening." Saying so, he raised his hands up to their faces and wiped away their tears. "Now don't cry, you're two of the best combatants in our forces; together, you can stand up to her and defend yourselves."

"We don't want to, that would be mean," Ater murmured softly, frowning sadly.

"Mean that would be," Arbus spoke up in their adorable mannerism.

It was such a cute sight that it relieved some tension, but not Grora's rage as she glared.

Siegfried turned back to Grora and smiled at her too, though she felt the gesture was in fact a demeaning smile. "See, they're sweet girls, Grora. They're not as bad as you make them out." In the angelic woman's mind, that came across as condescending when the words passed through her ears. She would've spoken up to refute that statement, but the investigator addressed Valens next. "Hey, Valens, why don't you take these girls down to the medical center to give them a couple of lollipops to snack on for a bit? The treats should help soothe their nerves after what Grora's done."

"Certainly, Siegfried, a great idea!" Valens concurred with a smile of his own and chuckled while leading the girls down another flight of stairs. "Come on, girls, let the good doctor help make everything better for you. I'll even acquire a knight in shining armor as your escort back to Kcalb."

The cat demons cheered happily, their spirits raised while they left with him. "Yay! Thank you very much, Dr. Valens!" they squealed in delight as the other employees with them also went their separate ways too. Grora would've gone after them again, but a glare from Siegfried kept her back. All she could do was pout bitterly as he watched her victims regain their composure and the cheerful happiness they were known for. They headed through a door into the medical department and he turned back to her, crossing his arms and looking very displeased with his coworker.

"Well, are you happy now, Grora?" he asked her, irked by her utter lack of compassion she displayed to Ater and Arbus. "Must you always scare them? What have they ever done to deserve such treatment from you?" Although she was going to answer him by saying Ater gouged her eye out regardless of the fact it was an accident, he interjected as he already anticipated that remark. "And don't tell me it's because Ater gouged the eye you used to have on purpose. Everyone already knows that and are aware they didn't mean it. I don't deny they hardly get anything done around here, but they try their best to make everybody happy, Grora. Must you be the only one to dampen their spirits just because of an accident decades old? Bear in mind that Ater and Arbus are repentant for that and apologized as they mean well and understand the consequences of their actions better than you. You don't have to beat them up; surely they deserve that much even if you dislike them."

"Like hell they do," Grora spat out bitterly and sighed, resting her chin in a palm of one of her hands with the elbow on her knee. "When have they ever taken responsibility for their actions?"

"Whenever they realize they've done something wrong and seek to make up for it," replied the other angel. "Those two are good girls, but you make them out as criminals—both of them, in fact, merely for something only one of them did. Let me ask you this question, Grora: do you ever take responsibility for your actions?" She responded to him by silently nodding before he posed a variant of that same question by applying specific individuals to it. "Do you ever take responsibility for your actions whenever you harm Ater and Arbus over anything you can think of?"

"Why should I?" she retorted and stood up, glaring at Siegfried with her arms crossed while leaning up against the wall. "Those rotten girls deserve every bit of pain I have to inflict on them."

"I'd ask why that is, but I have a strong feeling you'd loop back into the same old excuse."

"Because it's the truth! Why is it that nobody around this joint believes me when I say they are nothing but trouble, huh? We all bust our asses working every day, and what do they do? They just play around doing nothing but cause trouble for others with their stupid grins and petty cheer, more so in Ater's case because she's a conniving, little shit who'll take others' eyes too. Trust me, Siegfried, an eye for an eye is the only way that little bitch can ever be taught a proper lesson."

"No, it makes the whole world go blind, even if you happen to go for the realistic concept; that the blind one won't be able to see the other guy, hence why he can't take the other's eye. Your logic is flawed on either level that it's essentially pointless, just like your hatred of Ater and Arbus. Seriously, Grora, when are you ever going to give up on despising them? I'm not saying you could associate with them, but at least consider how they feel when a bully like you runs up to smash the poor girls into the ground. In their eyes, you're like a monster that just won't release its prey."

"What about my eye, huh?!"

"Which one: the one gouged out, or the one you have left?"

"Which one do you think I'm referring to?!"

Siegfried sighed, shutting his eyes. Talking some sense into this lady was aggravating when she refused to listen to reason and logic. "Usually the one you lost considering how you always go on about it as if the loss of one eye makes you into some kind of cyclops at the end of the world."

Grora sighed too, wondering how he couldn't get such an obvious reference to the eye she still had. "I meant the remaining one, genius," she said, tired with his constant rationalization of a point she blatantly refused to accept—and with good reason since she was aware of it. "You always talk about considering how others feel; everyone does, yet nobody thinks about how I feel because of Ater. That damned wretch is the reason why I lost my left eye, but nobody does anything about it. That's why I'm always so upset with her—a point I know we've already established already the same way we've established it hundreds of times by now. I wouldn't even be angry with her if she hadn't gouged it out, and I don't care whether it was an accident or not; she still deserves it!"

"Believe me, we do consider your feelings and thoughts about the incident in question and how it made an impact on you," the investigator consented, concurring with her argument. "But in any case, you've proven just now and many times over you're not willing to forgive Ater. You've even gone so far as to completely disregard others telling you otherwise while acknowledging that you show no concern, patience, and tolerance for her and would gladly kill her over an accident. I am not the only one who's told you this countless time by now, Grora; others said the same. You've even included Arbus as a victim of your aggressive rage against her fraternal twin, yet you do not hate her as much as Ater and don't have any motivation for wanting to hurt her too."

"To be fair, Arbus is always together with Ater," Grora pointed out, crossing her arms. "It stands to reason that the two of them should be united in hell as in life. How is that not simple?"

"Nobody said it wasn't," Siegfried agreed with that final part of her statement, "but it does not mean the reason is justified in any way." Grora opened her mouth to argue with him further, a spark of hatred refusing to quell itself for the time being until he cut her off. He didn't want to hear her debate this any longer since it was obvious she still wouldn't listen to reason. That was why it was time for him to lay down some strict discipline to make her silent. "Absolutely not, Grora, I'll not stand by and let you berate those girls and harm them anymore when I'm around, and I'll speak to Kcalb about this too. Everyone else has tried to stop you so far, even Etihw and Kcalb. The way I see it, you're going to be in big trouble with them for trying to kill Ater and Arbus again."

"But—"

"No buts, lady, now go to the closet upstairs and collect some cleaning supplies," Siegfried ordered her, pointing up at the floor above them by directing his finger to the door there. "You are to clean up the mess you made by throwing that flowerpot, and the other damage you have caused through the entire castle. Kcalb and Etihw might want a word with you before you finish, but I can speak to them about waiting for you to finish. Even if much of it has already been fixed already, I want you to still go around and apologize for your actions prior to seeing them for an evaluation."

"An evaluation on what?" Grora asked irritably. "My behavior, as usual?"

Siegfried nodded affirmatively. "Exactly, now move."

The angelic woman sighed. "Yes, sir," she commented exasperatedly in a sarcastic tone of voice while turning to head upstairs and follow his instructions straight to the letter. Leaving him, she was careful enough not to trip or slip on the broken flowerpot and soil that spilled out of it and headed through the threshold. A nearby storage closet for cleaning supplies was located just a short distance away, and she made a pissed off beeline for the room to gather a broom, a mop with some water in a bucket which she filled in the bathroom nearby, and a tray to sweep the pieces on top of with two wet-floor signs to indicate where the floor was slippery. Grora sighed, running a hand in her hair distractedly upon arriving back at the spot where he waited for her to let others who came by know she was going to be cleaning the area. "It always has to be my behavior, does it?"

"Who else's would it be?" Siegfried inquired rhetorically. "You're usually called in due to something you've said or done against Ater and Arbus." He wanted to say it should've been quite obvious, but the investigator chose not to. The comment could only infuriate her more. "Seeing as how you've already begun, I might as well get right to Kcalb and report your misconduct. See you around, Grora, and behave yourself next time." With a quick wave at her, he headed off towards a nearby elevator to head up. She watched him go and childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, good luck staying out of others' business, jerk," Grora muttered under her breath.

"…and that's how I got another scolding from Lady Etihw and Sir Devil earlier," she said, finishing up her account of why she was late to the garden as her coworkers there listened intently to the story. Grora sighed, watering some of the mayapples and birdsfoot violets with the remaining bit of water that was in the can before grabbing the hose to refill it. "It sucks, but I'll manage."

"Not to be rude by saying something to upset you, but you did deserve it, Grora," Mitchell spoke up while waiting for the hose so he could fill up his watering can after having seeded soil in the fruit garden with watermelon seeds. Attired in a casual plaid t-shirt and green jeans with a pair of leather boots for working in the garden, he definitely fit an image of a professional gardener for Blancblack Castle—not that his clothes had anything to do with it since the outfit didn't matter so long as they maintained the garden by taking care of it. Two horns jutted out of his white hair, his monkey tail swaying in the breeze. Being a monkey demon was a good advantage because he could climb trees well and pick the fruit off them whenever something ripe was available to harvest.

"Yeah, I mean you did chase Ater and Arbus throughout much of the castle," Rorin agreed while planting some arrowheads and common evening primroses by wild bergamot flowers along with a collection of bluebells and red columbines. The angel gently flapped his wings to brush off some soil from the leaves on a nearby rosebush, his red work vest contrasting his blue jeans.

"How much damage did you cause, anyway?" Othros inquired, wondering how much came out of the paycheck Grora received. Clad in light brown khaki shorts and a dark brown shirt along with boots of a matching color, the demon dug holes for cardinal flowers where he was sitting. "It sounded like the whole place was going nuts over the commotion. I heard you were like a tornado going wild in there, chasing after those girls towards no particular destination. A buddy of mine in the chemistry lab claimed he saw you personally get chewed out by Siegfried when he showed up to help. He even told me you were being very difficult with them." Saying so, the bat demon began seeding the soil as Grora walked over to give him some more packets of what he needed. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she remarked with a small smile that turned into a frown as she sighed. Pondering how much else they needed, Grora stretched her arms in the air and looked around at a bit of the work they managed to accomplish. So far they had already started two patches and began the third when she arrived, but they got five more finished together. "Man, I'd do anything to slay that bitch cat demon for giving me a wound that will never heal," the angelic woman commented, taking a deep breath of fresh air while wiping beads of sweat from her brow. "Granted, I shall not accept a new one or let it heal until I am victorious over her bloody corpse, but that's not the point."

"Sounds like it already is, Grora, the way you keep harping about it so often," Rorin stated as Mitchell came over to water the plants he put into the ground. "You're the only one here who's bitching about it all the time instead of actually doing something to control your anger. Find some anger management class or something." His suggestion was noted, but countered by Mitchell.

"Technically we don't have such courses in this world, considering how everything is quite peaceful and we all get along—well, except for Grora and Ater, of course. Oh, and that old angel, what was his name again? The guy who was charged for owning those dangerous animatronics?"

"Averniche, the previous curator of Clarabella's Museum of Arts and Crafts," Othros gave him the answer. "He too would benefit from those classes. Then again, he was grouchy for an old man and all. I heard the night guard who helped solve the case was one of the four heroines of our world from the invasion last year. It was one of the two angels from that group, but not Froze."

"Macarona, one of her friends," Grora clarified for him, getting a bag of fertilizer from the wheelbarrow and opening it to spread some of the stuff around on the grass. "I heard she's writing a book about that. Hell, even I was involved in that to some extent, what with being assigned to be a guard captain of the southern portion of Gray Village when that one animatronic tried to assault us. I also provided her information on one of the angels those things were based on." She sighed happily, reminiscing on her reunion with the spirit of an old friend from her past.

She would never forget Robin and the sacrifices she made for others.

"I'll be sure to think about giving it a read sometime," Mitchell stated and watched as their drinks for the hard work they did arrived when somebody from a local lemonade stand established by a couple high school students from the school brought over some of the fresh lemonade they've been selling. "Ah, that would be another pitcher of refreshing drinks for us. I should think we have earned ourselves another short break from work, right friends?" he asked as they agreed.

"Yep," Grora murmured, wiping more sweat from her temple with the sleeve of her dress. "I could totally go for another glass of lemonade. I should at least pay them for offering it to us."

"It's cool, I got it," Othros remarked while removing his wallet and pulling out quite a big roll of gold coins he had saved up as part of his personal stash. "I figured you might've gotten your pay docked due to your hunt after the kitties, hence why I always keep spare change on me for the people who bring out the drinks for us." Although she opened her mouth to say she was still alright even though her pay really had been reduced, he held up a hand to silence her and smiled because he was definitely good-natured about it. "Say no more, I don't even need a reimbursement for this. I already have plenty of money in my bank account, thank you very much, Grora."

"I bet that thing's still climbing higher already," Mitchell joked and put his arm around the demon after Othros had paid for the lemonade, sitting down beside him in the gazebo they claimed seats in to have a pleasant chat over the break. "You're always so conservative with funds, dude."

"What do you even spend that money on, anyway?" Rorin asked out of curiosity as he went to pour lemonade for everyone. "You don't appear to spend much of it on yourself because it goes towards other things from what I've heard along the grapevine in the library and cafeteria."

"Indeed," Othros jutted an index finger in the air and smiled to provide an answer to Rorin's inquiry. "In addition to being a gardener and a technician, I am also a supplier of donations to help charities and fundraisers out whenever they require financial aid. However, I also keep just enough for myself and a side business of mine as an informant and private eye of sorts, if you will. Contacts of mine are in other worlds, and although I greatly dislike the idea of having to pay bribes for some information that could help our world in some way, I realize it is crucial whenever I must provide some number of funds in order to acquire said information. You could say it's a waste of money, and while you are right, I think it's a sacrifice worth making to help preserve peace. It's something I learned in the old days when we used to fight, and a lot of my associates in other worlds are still around today. They don't approve of the peace our world has established, and several of them have dropped off the radar. I'm glad we don't fight anymore, but they aren't; even so, I've got a number of contacts I can speak with in case anything dangerous like the invasion last year comes up. Come to think of it, you're also veterans of war, right, Rorin, Grora?" he asked them both as they nodded to confirm the inquiry as true before each of them delved into the annals of their war memories.

"Yep, you guys know I served as a scout and was promoted to the rank of Captain," Grora murmured, taking a sip of her ice tea. "I may not have been the best due to a bit of clumsiness and hotheaded behavior on my part," saying this, she raised a hand up and held it flat for a second. She then waved it diagonally a few times to emphasize her point. "Though I somehow managed to get this far despite having never been promoted again, but what do I care? Status means nothing to me because I could care less about it. What good is it if there's no equal footing between soldiers and civilians? We all know the latter can certainly become the former and then go right back to living their normal lives once honorably discharged from military service. I never retired, though."

"You really should give it some thought, Grora," Rorin remarked to continue the discussion about their military service. "I may be an old veteran from my division of gallant warriors, but the blood we split certainly wasn't which is why I chose to get out of there." He stared into the drink, recollecting his memories of having slaughtered his foes on the battlefield. "I get it was for a cause, however, but what was it? Why did we even bother fighting in the first place? Was it due to some instinctive nature, the rule of law citing the hatred angels and demons have against each other? It's all just an unclear path, one I couldn't walk. I was a warrior, yes, but not an honorable one."

"We all have our inner demons from the past to torment us in our darkest darkness," came the profound remark from Mitchell, the only one among them not involved with the military. "I've made my career as a former mercenary traveling the worlds for work by offering my services, but for what exactly? The sellswords guild I used to be a part of did have its honor for a bunch of fierce demons who reveled in warfare, but it just wasn't for me because I couldn't stand the rough nature of things. They were good guys and all, accepting anyone—even aquatic guys from two places our world trades with—and though I was friends with some of them, I couldn't take the bloodshed. Its customs about fighting—i.e. simply going nuts and killing whatever moved or looked at you funny in some way—didn't sit well with me, whereas they stood by one another like brothers."

"Very true, Mitchell," Grora agreed, raising her glass up for a toast. "We all may have been through darkness in our lives, but at least we have our brotherhoods and sisterhoods of friends and families by our sides. Even in the most troublesome times after having gone down separate paths, we find ourselves meeting new people who share our ideals and decide to settle down because the time has come for peace and harmony to replace warfare and conflict by putting an end to both. It is a better alternative even though we can't forget the dark deeds we committed, but that is why it serves as an anchor for us—to show us how foul bloodshed and hatred can be, a reason why all of us must never travel down that dark path ever again regardless of how much it's a part of us." Her friends all raised their own glasses for the toast, their shared feelings emphasized in the gesture.

"Amen," they all said in unison.

Grora smiled. "Amen," she repeated before launching into a funny quip. "Besides, why do I even need to see a shrink when I've got great friends like you guys?" The four of them all laughed.

And so begins another lengthy Gray Garden story, this time one about Grora coming to terms with her own past and how Ater and Arbus intertwine with it like I said in author's notes of In Need of Sleep. This story will also feature Hastur as an antagonist as I also said.

The quote above was found on BrainyQuote and Grora's friends were inspired by the guys Bryan Mills (played by Liam Neeson) is friends with in the Taken trilogy while the part about the blind eye concept was inspired by a scene from Seven Psychopaths. I also read the New Jersey Trees and Wildflowers pocket naturalist guide by both Kavanagh and Leung of the Waterford Press when including several varieties of wildflowers in this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gray Garden; it's owned by Mogeko. I don't own Taken; it is owned by Pierre Morel who directed the first movie and Olivier Megaton who directed the other two movies. I do not own Seven Psychopaths; it is owned by Martin McDonagh. I do not own the guide I mentioned; it's owned by Kavanagh, Leung, and the Waterford Press.

Edit: Earlier in the chapter I mentioned Grora used two katanas. Later on I had used two scimitars for her instead, so I decided to edit the scimitars in this chapter for consistency.