TRIGGER WARNING: Reference to cults.

Jesse stared at PAMA with big eyes, too stunned to speak.

(Well, also, the concussion played a role into that, but whatever.)

The doll stared back, unblinking.

"Ow..." Jesse slumped onto the floor, pressing their cheek to the sleek stone. It was cool against their face, at least, which was nice against their pounding brain.

PAMA watched them for a bit- thankfully quietly, or Jesse's brain might've tried to spontaneously combust- before they spoke.

"Do you not plan to fight back?"

"Wha' good would that do?" Jesse mumbled, face half-squished against the stone. "'d just get caught 'gain."

"But your fighting skill is excellent, and your strategy is well-thought-out," PAMA said, green eyes unblinking as they stared at Jesse. "Surely you could get somewhere with that?"

"I think I have a concussion, so no, pro'bly not." Jesse rolled onto their back a little.

Had their head not hurt so much, they probably would've blushed at the compliment- they really thought their strategy was well-thought-out? Of course they knew their 'fighting' skill was not bad, but strategy as well? Maybe PAMA had mistaken their actions in the Death Bowl as strategy and not desperately grasping at literally everything they had to end up not being blown into smithereens-

Ouch. That was definitely a throb. Jesse grunted quietly and rolled some more, until they were flat on their back, staring up into what felt like nothing but darkness.

It did help the pounding of their head a little, at least, to look upwards into what felt like an endless void- even if it was more than a little unsettling to actually end up thinking about.

PAMA was quiet for a bit longer before speaking again. "You are conversing with me."

"Sorta, yeah." It was kinda hard to consider it 'conversing' when Jesse was mostly focused on the fact that they had a pounding in their brain.

PAMA blinked at Jesse. Green light flickered briefly. "I am a doll."

"Well, yes, I gathered, PAMA."

"Why?"

Jesse looked over. The doll was still staring at Jesse, face almost emotionless, green gleaming through the dimness and fixating on Jesse.

"Why what?" they finally asked, when the silence stretched for a moment too long.

"Why are you speaking to me? Dolls are meant as tools and servants," PAMA said, simply. Bluntly, really, if a computer could be considered blunt.

Jesse took a second to wonder if PAMA was upset about being considered a tool or a servant. But PAMA's voice was so monotone it could've been asking anything, from what the weather was to if Jesse would like to purchase a corpse from a shady dealer.

Jesse shrugged a little, rolling onto their front so they could press their forehead to the smooth stone floor again. "I dunno. You feel alive enough to me."

PAMA went quiet at that.

And for a little while, there was nothing but silence.

Hadrian blew out a long breath, perhaps noticing all of the eyes now fixated on him.

If he was anxious at all, he didn't show it.

"Karen mentioned... the Storm. A few times," he said slowly, testing the water with his words.

Lukas nodded to confirm. "She did."

Hadrian gave a thankful jerk of the head to acknowledge the remark before continuing, choosing his words carefully.

"The Storm is... not quite a gang, but a large group. Perhaps over a hundred people are part of the group, though many of them are young demons. Demons who made the wrong conclusions by being around the wrong people whilst in earlier stages of development."

He didn't say cult, but everyone in the room could tell he was thinking of it.

The October Children (pale and drawn and perhaps looking vaguely sickly) exchanged looks.

If there were that many people...

"A few are more like zealots than anything else. Most are just... rebellious," Hadrian said quietly, picking at his gloves with all eyes in the room on him. "Thinking that the lord system is... biased and corrupted."

Ivor repressed a sigh at this.

He understood the mentality, of course; having a single lord who could 'hear' the world and choose the next leader seemed like a breeding ground for corruption- but barons and local governments, who were locally elected, had a say in the selection of the next lord- for example, they could vote on if they thought the lord was appropriate for the district, or how they wanted to incorporate the next lord, or even just if they thought the selected lord shouldn't actually be the lord.

Of course, this would always result in a long process of trying to show the next lord's strengths and show that they could handle the work, and going around to cities to get approval, and sometimes even a decision to 'co-lord' with someone the barons selected, but it almost always ended with some sort of compromise that ended up satisfying everyone.

But not many demons actually saw the entire behind-the-scenes scramble to get things figured out, especially with how long demons could live. Some younger demons had probably been born a hundred years ago, and Ivor had been a lord then.

He knew a lot of demons- mostly the ones who were younger, or some of the jaded older ones- had incredibly negative outlooks on the selection process.

But... over a hundred?

Hadrian scratched at his elbow awkwardly. He'd migrated up his sleeve.

It was a wonder he hadn't somehow unravelled his entire sleeve while doing this.

"It's not, of course, working here's evident enough to prove that-" he added, still in the middle of somehow not picking his entire suit sleeve to pieces.

"So how do you know all of this?" Mevia snapped, scraping her fingernail along the handle of her axe, as if itching to run out of the room with it and hack whoever took Jesse to pieces.

Or maybe hack Hadrian to pieces. It was hard to tell.

His red eyes flashed as he glared at her, but then the glare turned to a tired look and his eyes flickered out the window at the dark gray clouds drifting in the distant red sky.

He was silent.

"Because I used to be one of the leaders."

A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter, but I wanted to end on that note haha

How are y'all doing? It's been a bit haha

Responses to reviews! Not many this time around, but that's ok

TheAmberShadow: :3 / Radar's doing his best, haha. / Heeeee / Not too far off! More explanations next chapter, haha.

Happygoluckymegami: Glad it was worth the wait, haha. / :3 / I try not to, but it's pretty hard not to haha

jessicanightmarewolf: Thank you! / He's expendable in the long run (all lords are), but in the short run, everyone's used to him by now- plus, due to how Hizelk works, Mevia, Isa and Harper can all take over a different district temporarily- the only reason they can't for Jupin is because it's so central to everything. / Thank you!

That's all for now, guys. See ya, so long, and g'bye :D