He who aligned the stars

VII

If there was one thing about their weird super secret base that got on Kadoc's nerves sometimes, it was the fact that there were often periods where there was barely anyone around. Long swathes of time where one would often find themselves just walking the halls without another soul in sight and it got even worse when it was dark outside but the lights were still on in the hallways.

Quite frankly, it felt like something out of a horror movie, that wasn't to say that he was in a rush to just throw himself into walking beside whatever person just happened to be strolling down the hallways because he wanted to feel at least somewhat at ease, it was just the fact that this place was a bit creepy. Though as he stared out of the windows at the darkened clouds and the storm, he was torn between wondering which would have been worse, to have the hallways with this large panes of glass built into them or to just have some bleached tube.

…Actually, if the latter had some proper lighting, it would have been infinitely better.

Matter of fact, what purpose did half of these windows even serve?

Most of them were just there for some reason and he didn't even know, they couldn't be for structural integrity because that seemed counterproductive. Closing his eyes, he brought his hand up and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt a wave of exhaustion run over him. Here he was, worrying over glass, while others were hard at work doing something that was actually useful to the end goal.

Hell, most days he wasn't even sure why he agreed to this.

Bringing his hand down, he slowly slipped his hands into his pockets and stared out across the horizon, it wasn't much of a view given that it was just thick with blizzards, it was more like he was looking into a cheap mirror, given that he could just see his own sunken face staring back at him through the glass. His eyes lingered on his features for a moment before he felt another sigh building up in the back of his throat.

No one had actually given him anything to do yet and he wasn't entirely certain what he was supposed to be doing in the first place. His talents as a mage were barely average and his skill in beast magecraft could hardly be said to be anything exemplary…quite frankly, the only thing he was actually certain of was that he might have some sort of advantage if he ever ran into a weakened Yokai that couldn't turn his head into a spilled bottle of salsa sauce.

At least within the first second of a fight.

God, that was a depressing thought.

Turning on his heel, he slouched his posture and continued on his short walk through the hallways. He had no idea what anyone else was doing at the moment and he wasn't sure he would actually understand even if they thought to inform him, again a rather depressing if realistic thought. He supposed the least he could do - in wake of that meeting which all but confirmed they might have to fight a Goddess of the Sun - was to further explore the results of his beast magecraft on Yokai.

It worked against phantasmals of the lower category and wild animals, Yokai had animalistic traits and all that. The vague notion that he was being speciesist passed through his mind before he quickly dismissed it. It wasn't a stereotype or a profiling if they actually did have animals ears and tails. Some of them could turn into animals outright, actually he was confident that most of them could do that. Or most of the examples he had heard of could do that.

The fact this was the best idea he could come up with was seriously telling to him, he could always ask but that seemed rather juvenile and more than a bit pathetic. Just waddle up to someone like Wodime or Cao Cao and go 'Hello, I'm a bit lost right now, can you please tell me what I'm supposed to do?' like he was a child at a school just made his gut do flips in his chest. He was expected to have at least a bit of independence, like even Ophelia would probably be doing something related to the Norse Pantheon and Asgard.

Hell, she was even working with Jedidiah for most of that so that was sure going to be a hit, whatever it was.

Pressing the button on the elevator in front of him, he closed his eyes and aimed his head down towards his feet. Quietly humming to himself as he waited for the lift to arrive at him, he heard the gentle thud and the doors opened up. Though as he brought his head up, he briefly paused as he found himself staring at the other occupant in the lift. Namely, the small black cat that was sitting in the very centre of it, staring up at him.

He sniffed once, then brought his head up and stared at the ceiling of the lift for several seconds. Debating to himself whether or not it was worth it. Glancing back down at the black cat for a short moment, he saw it was still staring at him. His mind made itself up pretty quickly after that, it really wasn't worth it. "...I'll get the next one."

Nodding his head to the cat, he was about to take a step back when it made a noise at him. He would have called it an irritated meow…because that is exactly what it was. Punctuated by the cat standing up and then trotting about a foot to the side and then sitting back down as though to invite him in. The two shared another look at one another before he closed his eyes and took in a breath.

"I'm fine. Seriously. I can catch the next-"

"Meow!"

Clenching his jaw, he opened his eyes and levelled a dull look at them, the cat now had their eyelids slightly lowered as if to squint at him. Which is exactly what they were doing, reading the expressions of a cat were not within his skillset, given that they didn't have much in the way of facial muscles, but he knew enough to see that the cat was starting to get a little irritated at him. Thankfully, they hadn't transformed themselves yet because he really couldn't deal with them if they did. Taking his hand out of his pocket, he brought up the flat of his palm and shook his head. "I'm serious."

"Meow!"

"I can get the next-"

"Forget it." The cat huffed in a feminine voice, a cloud of smoke consumed them as they rushed forwards, Kadoc stepped back and widened his eyes before hand burst through the smoke and clamped down around his upper arm, then he found himself stumbling into the elevator as they yanked him forwards, the world became a blur as he staggered into the wall of the lift, though not too roughly, then heard his escape sealed in the form of the elevator doors closing.

He felt his lips curl down.

"Honestly." The feminine voice sighed, Kadoc turned around to see the dark haired woman with cat ears atop her head standing near him, hands placed firmly on her hips as she pouted at him. "A woman goes through all this effort to make you comfortable and you repay her advances with scorn?" she stepped back, placing a hand on her heart - and the other things on her chest - and giving him literal kitten eyes. "It's saddening."

Kadoc found himself squinting at her as he rolled himself over, leaning against the wall and bringing his right hand up to cradle his left. He levelled a flat look at the woman for a few seconds before he spoke. "Yeah, I'm really feeling the comfort. Feels very tight…almost like a hand trapping me from escaping."

She stared at him in silence for barely a second, then her lips slowly curled into a rather sharp smile, amusement twinkled through her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Do not make that a joke." He knew where she was going with that, he knew the second he spoke the words and he internally cringed through the seconds of silence that had greeted him. Leaning away from the wall, he turned his head from her and stared straight on. "I was hoping that you would have been gone by now. Or at the very least that someone would have distracted you enough to keep you away from me."

"A woman goes out of her way to greet you and you say such cruel things? Just because your outside isn't very attractive doesn't mean your inside should be that way as well."

"...Now who is saying cruel things?" Kadoc shot back with a smirk aimed at her from the corner of his eye before it faded. "And really, you only ever chase me around because you think I'm some sort of mouse. Why can't you get an actual mouse to harass?" he paused for a moment as he realised what she had said before he closed his eyes, he really didn't want to think about it but there was nothing else to explain it. "...Were you detecting my arrival by scent or something?"

"It is my most advanced sense, it is hardly as though I can help it."

"Note to self. Carry a pouch of rosemary."

"Are you some sort of plague doctor now?" Kuroka chortled with a clear look of amusement as she leaned herself forwards, it was by the willful ignorance of gravity that her clothes somehow remained on her, given that she expressed some strange desire to not keep them on her shoulders like a normal person would do. But apparently being lethargic with her appearance was the one thing that didn't translate over from being a cat person. Given they were usually well groomed. "Hey, I can see that you're thinking of something mean again."

Kadoc hummed "Really pulling out all of the stops aren't you, Sherlock?"

"I'm glad you noticed, Watson." He stared at her, she just shrugged her shoulders and levelled him with a cattish smirk. "I do read as well, you know? I've been told by trusted sources that I am actually a very good story teller-nya~" she even went so far as to puff out her chest - he kept his eyes glued onto the wall above her head because of that - and pulled a smug grin onto her lips.

He brought his hand up and covered his face, he couldn't imagine having to speak like that with a straight face. Even standing next to her when she did that filled him with a strong case of second hand embarrassment. And no matter how many times he asked her not to speak like that, she would look him dead in the eyes and go 'speak like what?' and then nothing.

Dragging his hands back down, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye for a short moment before shaking his head. Getting bothered about it now would only cause him to lose brain cells, it was the sort of mindless quirk that was better off being completely ignored. Though that didn't really explain why she was just wandering around here. Did no one else think it might be a bad idea to let a Devil - stray or otherwise - practically stroll up and down the hallways without someone watching her-

His eyes caught a blinking light in the corner of the lift, staring at it for a brief moment and then flattening his features. Were they seriously relying on security cameras? Then again, it's not like they really needed much in the way of security. So long as it wasn't like those types of cameras they got in banks that had all the detail of a lego set, then they would probably be alright. Maybe there was some secret familiar also walking the halls as well or some sort of scrying spell. Kadoc refused to believe they were solely relying on-

"Ouch." Jolting, he stepped to the side and brought his right hand down to just under his ribs, rubbing the new sore patch and then shooting a look towards Kuroka as she withdrew her hand, his look was rewarded with a dull expression from the woman.

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes at him "I didn't poke you that hard-nya."

He squinted at her. "You can break through solid walls with your bare hands, I think 'not that hard' is skewered to you." he rubbed his side a few more times before he removed his hand from it and clicked his tongue. "So what are you even doing poking me now? Is this some new sort of torture or something because I'd rather not."

"You're not usually this vocal against me…" Kuroka trailed off, looking him up and down with a sudden intensity that made him wish he had just kept his mouth shut and ignored her. It would have probably been better for everyone involved - but mostly himself - if he had done that. As for her comment itself, he didn't have much to say on it. He didn't think that his words were any different to how they usually were. "Hmmmm."

"What are you even doing, walking around the halls anyway?" He figured they might as well get to the root of the problem. Because even if she could walk around, that didn't mean she would. Between her and Vali, those two spent the least amount of time here, maybe Bikou but he was just some guy who showed up and raided the fridge every now and again for food. Made worse by the fact that Bikou never contributed to filling it back up after he took something.

…Were they just filled with freeloading bums or something?

At least he gave some money to the supply guys to get him something every now and again and he opted to just take the regular food they served in the cafeteria.

Kuroka shrugged her shoulders, sporting a playful smile as she leaned backwards "I just figured I would go for a little walk around…even I can get a little bored just standing around here…" her eyes twinkled "That and I heard that you all went up for a meeting-"

"Are you really going to try and get info from me?"

"Nope~"

"Then why even ask?"

"Because it's funny to see you react like that."

She was absolutely shameless. He'd thought it before and he would think it again, this woman was a thorough pain in his ass and she knew it. She probably relished in it as well. His time here was troublesome enough as it was without having to put up with these cranks, though at least he didn't have to sit in on meetings with the Old Satan faction, that would probably be even worse. He'd probably vomit from all the tension in the air, beside the fact that the Devils would be looking at him like he was a weirdly shaped germ.

"Buuuuut…." She danced around, twirling on her heels before she came to a stop directly in front of him, he stared down at her and managed to keep his eyes on the top of her head, focusing on the cat ears she was displaying. "There is one little thing that I know that you might not be aware of, rather…I know you won't be aware of it just yet."

Kadoc snorted "Is this a trick question? Because there's a lot you know that I probably don't know and I'm probably interested in keeping it that way."

Kuroka shook her head from side to side "Not about this-nya. Because this relates to something very important that not just you…but everyone else will be interested in as well." she paused for a moment, then took a single step forwards which caused him to take a single step backwards. Just enough to keep her from touching him, though she advanced further once more and he became acutely aware of the lack of space that was actually in this lift. He could feel his heart racing a bit faster, keeping the strain from showing on his face was a bit difficult.

"Alright…suppose it is important." He replied slowly, taking another step backwards to which Kuroka matched with her own advance, confident smirk still on her features. "Why would you tell me about it?"

Kuroka merely smiled at him, though the smile was hardly the sort he would have called comforting or welcoming in any capacity. It was the type of smile he imagined a fisherman would give after waiting hours for a bite and then finally seeing their line go taut. An oddly specific example but that's what he felt like, a slab of fish. Unfortunately, he was a slab of fish in front of a cat person, making it all the worse. "Because…Kadoc…"

He jumped slightly when his back hit something, his head whirled around and found himself staring at the wall, probably looking like the biggest idiot on the planet. Then he realised he'd made the stupid mistake of taking his eyes off Kuroka and whirled back around, only to let out a gasp of surprise to find that she was practically on him, the gap between them was non-existent as she pressed her chest into his.

Was she a Yokai?

Yeah, sure.

She was also an objectively attractive person.

And he was a red blooded male.

Sue him.

It felt as though heat exploded into his face, his eyes snapped down to her cleavage for a split second before flying back to her, seeing that she was looking him dead in the eyes. The feeling of his heart pounding in his chest was like drums, like he was trapped in an echo chamber. His body locked up, pressing himself further into the wall and almost trying to climb up it to get away from her.

"You are the only one…" Kuroka's voice was barely above a whisper as she leaned closer towards him, rising on her tiptoes to approach his face. "Who…makes such funny faces like this-nya~"

And like that, she skipped away from him with a pleased smile on her face, Kadoc remained pressed against the wall like some sort of portrait. Eyes still fixed on her as she brushed herself down and let out a single breath. "Ah, I knew that would make me feel better. I know how pretty I am but sometimes everyone needs that little assurance. Thank you for providing me with that." she offered him another smile and a short bow of the head, then paused before snapping her fingers. "Ah, yes. Vali had a little bit of a jolt earlier, he sent us a message about it that simply said 'he is awake' and there's really only one who he could be talking about."

Kadoc mutely stared at her.

There was a ting behind them, the door opened and Kuroka glanced over her shoulder towards the hallway. Kadoc followed her line of sight instantly, it felt as though the world decided it would once again, shit in his dinner. Considering the fact that Heracles and Jeanne were stood in the door now staring at them with blank expressions.

Kadoc was there with his back against the wall, probably looking on the verge of a heart attack and then there was Kuroka with some stupid satisfied grin on her face. It wasn't the fact this was being seen, it was the fact it was being seen again that really ruined everything about it. He just knew what was coming.

Jeanne's eyes narrowed in suspicion while Heracles looked on at them with dispassionate interest, opting to stare at them for a few seconds before he made a grunting noise and stepped into the lift, moving past Kuroka and taking a place beside him, standings with his hands slotted into his trouser pockets. Jeanne was a bit slower, but when she did step in she never once took her eyes from the direction of the Stray Devil, it was when she stood directly in front of Kadoc and placed herself as some sort of wall between the two of them that he felt like dying inside.

Kuroka, meanwhile, looked barely phased by the arrival of them and took a single step out and into the hallway once more. Turning on them and giving another exaggerated bow before rising back up. "I hope you find what I had to say interesting, Kadoc…it wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to get something out of our sessions-nya~"

The shutting of the lift door might as well have been a gunshot.

He let out an explosive sigh as he staggered away from the wall and brought his head into his hands. Nursing his features while feeling as though he had just aged ten or so years.

"Letting her run around without supervision seems to be a mistake." Heracles' voice rumbled from beside him, Kadoc spared the giant of a man a quick glance and noted that he was still staring at the door. Then the grey haired man spared him a glance out of the corner of his eye, his lip curled downwards into a frown before he shook his head. "Or perhaps you make it much too easy for her to target you."

Asshole.

He'd never say that to his face, at least not when he was within arms reach of him, but he could at least think it at him aggressively. Though he did feel his features twist in annoyance for a brief moment before he straightened himself out, folding his arms over his chest and looking away from the taller man. "Yeah, well…she pretty much outclasses me in everything so I don't think there's much I can do to make it hard for her."

"Aren't you some sort of beast magician?" Heracles countered easily and Kadoc was more than surprised that he actually remembered that about him. Though he could tell where this was going to go.

"Yeah, I focus on beast magecraft but the types of things I deal with don't normally talk to me or have their own brand of magical powers." He dismissed, letting out a sigh to accompany it. "Besides, she's still a Stray Devil so that would probably factor into it as well…also, I've never tested my magecraft on Yokai before so I don't know how it would work. They don't really walk out of Japan that often and I'm not going to wander the streets of kyoto-"

Heracles cut him off with an irritated groan, the large man rubbing his hand over the bridge of his nose, making a clear show of nursing a headache or something. "Excuses fall so easily from you."

Kadoc opened his mouth to reply, but found his words cut off when Jeanne placed a hand on his shoulder, he glanced at her and watched as she silently shook her head from side to side. Allowing his temper to simmer, he knew she was right. Getting worked up about Heracles being an ass would just backfire on him horrifically. She brought the hand away, then offered the best comforting smile she could do, but it felt more like she was babying him now, which was worse than before.

"What was it that she wanted or was she just picking on you again?"

Picking on him? He had to fight to avoid flinching at her choice of words, making it sound like this was a school and she'd just jumped him for his lunch money. Though now that he thought about it, his mind returned to Kuroka's parting words before his expression hardened. Vali had said someone was awake, which meant that there was only one person around and it meant he sensed them. Though how powerful they were was up in the air, but if it was recent…

His mind was wandering again, he glanced at Jeanne for a split second before he spoke. "Seems Vali believes the Red Dragon Emperor woke up."

Jeanne blinked, then glanced towards Heracles - something that had interested him given the way his head turned - and then nodded up and down. "That is…I suppose we should have expected that. It would have been strange, given that Vali has been around for a while…" she trailed off, then furrowed her brows and pinched her chin. "But then how strong would they be…have they only just woken up or have they decided to announce themselves?"

Kadoc shrugged "I don't know but I'm gonna find Wodime. Let him know, either way…probably gonna have to put a pin in that to keep an eye on it. Find out who he's been swept up with." because it was inevitable that someone was going to have taken them into their little fold.

The factions all had their own little systems for finding Sacred Gears and their wielders and it could go to any one of them. They could probably cross off the Grigori because he doubted even Azazel - legendary as he was for being a weirdo - would put the two Dragon Emperors close to one another.

Then again, he doubted anyone would really announce that they had the Red Dragon Emperor in their employment in the same way it wasn't really publicised that Vali existed, at least not in any of the major circles. Sure, most of the upper echelons of the Grigori knew about it but he didn't know if that filtered down the ranks. He wasn't a part of that sort of thing.

"The Red Dragon Emperor…" Heracles whispered to himself, Kadoc spared him a glance as the taller man started to chuckle under his breath, looking as though he was going to throw back his head and laugh like some sort of cartoon villain. Then again, the guy acted like a henchman for the most part so this would be part for the course. "To think that I would be born at just the right time to test myself again the power of them."

Amazing, they didn't even know who had power over the Red Dragon Emperor - that needed to be abbreviated to something because that was a mouthful to even think, let alone speak it every single time - and this guy was already thinking about rushing off and getting into a fight with them. Sacred Gear and soul of Heracles or not, Kadoc doubted that this guy would do very well against the Red Emperor at the later stages. They'd probably win now, especially if they had just awoken, but probably not later. Was he surrounded by battle freaks or something?

"Heracles…" Jeanne was a lot more vocal about her exasperation with the man, the blonde closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side, reaching up and nursing her brows before she lowered her hand, giving the man a look as though he was some sort of child. She was braver than he was to do something like that, especially given that Heracles could actually see her. "We don't even know if they are in any hostile faction yet, it would be better if we could actually get them on our side, you know? Especially considering how helpful they could be for us!"

He had to hand it to her, that was blindingly optimistic. "I wouldn't go quite that far just yet, especially given who else we have roaming the halls as is and keeping them a secret would be a serious hassle." Kadoc dismissed with a shake of his head, he was certain it would be doable for a time but he suspected that it would only take one inevitable slip up before someone cottoned on to it and Vali was one of those meat heads who was weirdly perceptive about the wrong sort of stuff. Or he might have been, Kadoc made it a point to avoid him at every turn.

Heracles just scoffed loudly and shook his head "I fail to see what that has to do with being unable to fight him. A true hero is only enhanced through peril and great mortal danger."

Kadoc thinned his lips, he was in great mortal peril just by leaving his room sometimes, did that make him a true hero yet?

"Besides, I very much doubt that the Red Dragon Emperor has ended up with any faction who could be considered cordial. Even if they were, it would only be a matter of time before we inevitably came to blows." Heracles pointed out with an intense frown on his features "It would be better to become aware of the powers of the Red Dragon Emperor and his skills, watch and study his development and then figure out how to beat him in a fight."

Jeanne sighed "That seems a bit of a sour thing to build a team upon, just watching someone and waiting for the right moment to strike when you disagree with them." she placed her hands on her hips, he almost recoiled when her eyes fell upon him and she spoke again. "What do you think, Zem?"

The fuck did she just call him?

Kadoc elected to ignore the abbreviated version of his last name, privately thankful she wasn't an airhead enough to call him stupid like Wolf or just Pus. He'd rather not have to go through that song and dance ever again. He'd rather not be involved but evidently he wasn't going to get out of it. "It's a sensible idea to watch him. I assume someones been watching Vali and his allies as well. Doubt it will happen but you never know…besides, being lucky enough to find an agreeable Red Dragon Emperor first is like finding five winning lottery tickets in a row. Even if we did, chances are he'd be something like Vali and obsessed over something like fighting or whatever else."

Shrugging his shoulders, he turned his eyes to the door and stared at it as he watched the numbers approach the floor he was aiming for. "Nice as it would be for the Red Emperor to be on our side, I'm not gonna hold out any hope for that sort of thing."

Heracles gave a grunt that might have been approval or it might have been annoyance, either way it sounded like someone starting a boat and sent a small shudder down his spine. "Even he has the sense to see that. You're too hopeful, Jeanne. Vali is only allied with us because of his lust for battle and when he runs out of foes to fight or when we prove ourselves to be his match…his eyes will set themselves upon us." the man's lips split into an almost excitable grin, some sort of boyish giddiness in his eyes. "And when that happens, we shall be ready to face him."

Guy even punctuated his sentence by punching his fist into his waiting palm.

The elevator slowed to a halt at that point and Kadoc was thankful to be out of there before the guy started flexing or something. Moving out from between the pair and waving his hand to them. "See you later then."

Hopefully not too soon.

"Bye Zem! Make sure to let us know if Kuroka is picking on you again."

Kadoc slowed to a halt and closed his eyes, lowering his head so that it was facing the floor, the rumbling laughter of Heracles behind him only made him feel even worse. Sure, she might have meant well but did she really have to phrase it like she was a mother seeing her kid off to school? It got even worse with the fact she was younger than him. This was ridiculous half the time, running around with these crazy people and their weird quirks. He thought that sort of stuff only existed in the fictional world of tv shows. He didn't think he'd actually meet someone like that.

He continued walking once he heard the doors behind him close once more, signalling that Heracles and Jeanne had continued on to another floor or something like that. This was why he didn't like leaving his room, mainly because there was no one he really liked talking to most of the time. Shaking his head, he banished the thoughts from his mind as he continued on his way, sparing another glance to the windows running along the wall and seeing nothing but darkened clouds outside once again, barely an ounce of proper lighting to be seen from the outer world.

Fitting, he supposed.

He heard that Wodime was back, because that guy couldn't so much as go to the toilet without someone treating it as gospel and spreading it around all of the base, which meant that the man would be in one of three places. Either in his room, in the library or in the mess hall having dinner or something. He imagined that the man would probably have returned to his room or the library, given that he had gone out on a mission or something with Ophelia so he was probably going to be doing some research or whatever the case was.

Checking the library first seemed as though it would be the smarter option to do, at least he'd rather do that than have to go to the room.

He encountered a few more on his walk to the library, a couple of people he didn't know and had never seen before in his life, the same could probably be said for them as well, given that he liked to think he had a pretty good memory. If he didn't recognise these people then they wouldn't recognise him either. This base was too damn big and he rarely needed a reason to move between floors, same could be said for most others. You normally ended up taking the elevator straight to your selected floor anyway so you didn't linger.

Coming upon the door to the library, he inhaled and then exhaled, putting on his blankest expression possible before opening the door and stepping inside. His eyes swept around the room for a few moments, taking a few more steps inside before he came to a halt, turning his head around to look for any sign of the blonde. The rows and rows of wooden bookcases and tables served to turn this place into a maze most of the time, and the interior was like an entirely different building compared to everything else.

Right down to the floor being made of wood rather than metal. Weird but not the most offensive thing in the world, nor really something of note beyond going 'lets obviously make this a library' and then calling it a day, as though the books filling the room weren't enough of a hint. He'd been surprised they hadn't gone the extra mile and just hang a chandelier down from the ceiling.

Kadoc didn't immediately spot Wodime, fighting back an exhausted sigh, he hunched his shoulders and picked a direction before he started walking, moving in between the shelves as his eyes looked left and right for any sign of them. He'd give it a few more sweeps before he decided that Wodime wasn't here, then he would go and look at the room. He'd rather find him here, knocking on the door felt way too personal and he was certain that Wodime would give him this weird look of it he did.

Humming to himself, he came to a stop near one of the back corners where they had built the electric fireplace, it was just a corner with a leather recliner and a small victorian style fireplace built into the wall. Some sort of magic kept the flame contained to the inside and the smoke dissipated or something. He didn't understand why they had it and it just felt like showing off to him.

He would have turned away had it not been for the fact that someone spoke up from the direction of the leather seat, Kadoc barely caught sight of a pair of legs crossed over one another and the almost cordial voice. Though it always rubbed him the wrong way when he heard them speak.

"I was wondering when you would arrive."

Kadoc stopped and then twisted his face for a moment before he slumped his shoulders, closing his eyes and turning his head back towards the direction of the chair. Staring at them as best he could, only able to see some of them given that most of their body was still concealed by the chair. "Were you actually wondering or were you just sitting here waiting for me to show up?"

"Hmhmhm." That damn knowing chuckle was his only answer, as though the guy thought his question was somehow funny. If anyone else had said that, he would have just written it off but it didn't really work coming from the mouth of a guy who could actually see the future. It just felt as though he was making fun of him. "I was waiting for you to arrive, if you wish for me to be specific. Though I am sure you would have found it less inviting if I were to say 'I have been expecting you.'"

It would have at least been a little more honest, but it would have also been a bit weird as well. Predetermisim aside and all that, it just sounded like something a bond villain would say. The guy already dressed the part and if he started acting like it, Kadoc might well have just given up on speaking with him entirely.

The man closed the book he had been reading, Kadoc didn't catch the title, and leaned forwards, placing the book on the coffee table in front of him. The guy didn't even use a bookmark with it, just flat out closed the book and stood up. He probably didn't even need one either but it was like a subtle flex or something. After setting the book down, he brought his hands back and placed them against the arms of the chair, pushing himself up straight.

Braided white hair flowed down his back, a contrast to his sun kissed skin, velvet coloured vest layered above a collared white shirt, pitch black trousers and pointed smart shoes. The man turned to face him, a cordial expression on his face as the dulled golden eyes focused on him for a moment, reaching down and adjusting the vest before he slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. "But I shall avoid lying, I was expecting you and found that I arrived too early and felt it best to pass the time through reading."

Well, that was fair enough, he supposed.

"Dare I ask why you were waiting for me in the first place?" Kadoc raised an eyebrow at him, leaning back slightly and bringing his own arms up and folding them over his chest, adjusting his posture ever so slightly. "Because I doubt there is much I can do for you…or if there is, I can't think of it off the top of my head."

The words brought a brief frown to the expression of the man for a split second before the thin smile returned to his face, all but dismissing what he said with a single look. "It is a matter that you are better suited for than others. Besides, you were also on your way to meet with Kirschtaria as well, were you not? I have a similar need to speak with him about a matter of great importance now that he has returned from Hades and is duly informed of certain conditions."

It felt like he was on the receiving end of half a conversation here and probably not something he would have understood even if he did have all the information. It was like those two spoke Latin or something whenever they were around one another. He stepped to the side as the man started to advance, allowing him to move past them. "Come along, Kadoc. Kirschtaria is currently in his room accompanied by Peperoncino and Le Fay Pendragon."

Le Fay, huh?

Not sure what they could all have been talking about but as long as he wasn't arriving alone then it would be fine. It actually felt like he dodged a bullet there, walking in on Pepe and Le Fay speaking with Wodime or something would have been awkward as hell, namely because the former would never have let him leave afterwards and the latter was someone he'd barely traded three words with. Not really Le Fay's fault, but it was mostly just because she was better than him and she was like…fifteen or something. That was a real confidence killer right there.

Also her name was literally 'The Fairy Chief Dragon' and that was more like a title than a name. Whoever was naming these kids was either an idiot or they just thought it sounded cool or something. Of all the names you could have given them and why would you name someone after Morgan Le Fay in the first place if you're gunning for the theme of King Arthur or something? The more he thought about it, the more weird it sounded to him.

Probably best that he didn't put effort into thinking about this sort of thing, but it was really quite difficult when no one else was reacting to it and it got shoved into his face. It made him feel like he was the weirdo or something for even thinking about it in the first place.

Following after the man as he left, Kadoc spared a single glance towards the book that he had been reading, just a passive curiosity, and then found his brows furrow ever so slightly as he read the title of it, then brought his head up and turned to look at the back of the man's head. He hadn't thought that the guy would have read Jurassic Park, least not the novel that the movie was based on. Then again, he didn't seem like the sort of guy who would actually read that sort of thing.

"I was merely curious about the differences between mediums." Kadoc blinked as the tanned man spoke up rather suddenly, taking him a moment to realise why he was speaking in the first place and thinning his lips. They didn't turn to face him as they walked, but it didn't feel as though he was doing that to be rude at least. "The curious change between established characters is something which fascinates me, the interpretation of the movie contrasting the original. Hammond comes across as far more well meaning within the film as he does within the book and yet the novel's version of him is still a unique character with understandable motivation."

"...Never read the book before." Kadoc replied after a moment, it felt awkward to say something like that but he would just take his word for it. He hadn't even known there was a book of Jurassic Park until recently, he'd only ever watched the movies. First was the best and the third was a guilty pleasure. Though maybe he would give the book a try, see what the differences were. "Any good?"

That brought a silence between the two of them, soon followed by a curious hum of the man "Good is a point of view and a matter of taste. I can admire the vision of the author of the novel and the interpretation of the Director. Despite owing to the same foundation, their outlooks and works are rather strikingly different to one another. Yet I would claim neither one is inferior to the other." he stopped walking, Kadoc similarly stopped and stared at him, watching as the white haired man turned to face him. "I shall say that it is a unique experience and I am certain you would find it interesting."

Kadoc felt his lips curl "Is this your future sight or is this just your opinion?"

Thinning his lips, the man regarded him silently for a moment before he turned his head "I shall leave that for you to decide upon. Though I made no claims for whether you would enjoy the novel or not." he pointed out almost in a teasing way, but the fact his tone barely changed didn't really reflect that. "Merely that you would find it interesting. Though, if you wish for me to tell you-"

Bringing his hand up, Kadoc let out a small breath as he rubbed his forehead "Leave me with some sort of surprise, will you?" drawing his hand down, he resumed walking though keeping some distance between himself and the man. They were talking now and at least it didn't feel like something he would be awkward to talk about, then again you could only get so much enjoyment from this when speaking with someone like Jedidiah. "Never took you for a film buff, though."

"Do I strike you as lacking enjoyment for such simple things?" The man mused, almost to himself, before he answered. "I am an appreciator of the arts. In whatever form they take, I can see the value behind them. It is less to do with my enjoyment and more to do with sampling them. Whether they be movies, television programmes, portraits or musics, I shall indulge myself with them all the same."

Fair enough.

…Music?

Kadoc looked him up and down with a fresh understanding, if someone asked Kadoc what sort of music he thought Jedidiah listened to, he would have looked at them like they were stupid for asking him something like that. But if they pressured him, he would have said opera or something. The fact that the man said he indulged in all manner of music implied that he had listened to more than just that. Which begged the question, did Jedidiah have a favourite genre of music…

Meh, probably not worth asking.

Despite that, he really couldn't help himself.

"You…er…got a favourite band or something?" The words came from his mouth rather awkwardly and somewhat jilted. Namely because it felt like a weird thing to ask in the first place, he was bracing himself for a negative answer or some sort of look. If the man said beethoven, he wouldn't so much as bat an eye.

"Hmmm." Jedidiah hummed for a few shorts and agonising seconds before he finally responded. "I have not given much thought for which would be considered my favourite. Yet my most recent artists have been something of an experience. Thus far, I have found myself listening to the songs of Alice Cooper repeatedly, I find them rather preferable."

This felt surreal.

"Fair enough." Kadoc nodded his head up and down, not sure of what else he was supposed to say at this moment. With so few people around here actually having the same sorts of interests as him he didn't think he would have started a conversation about rock music with someone like Jedidiah, it would have been up there with starting the same sort of conversation with literally anyone else. That being said, Alice Cooper was a very good pick, some good music was made by that guy and Kadoc even had an album disk of the guy's work somewhere. That being said, most people only knew either 'Poison' or 'Schools out' which was a bit unfortunate.

"...So what did you need me for?"

Jedidiah didn't so much as miss a beat. "Given that Kirschtaria is bound for an eventual move on Kyoto, I deduced that it would be appropriate for you to better master your anti-beast magecraft and enhance it to be effective against even the likes of yokai."

Kadoc barely resisted the urge to laugh at the back of his head, if only because he knew the guy wasn't trying to tell an awful joke. "Okay…but how would I even do that in the first place? Given that…you know…most of the Yokai reside inside Kyoto in the first place and stepping foot in there just to experiment on their people would probably get me, ironically, hunted down like game."

The man didn't even deny it "Yes, that would likely occur if you were fool enough to make the attempt on Kyoto. Thus, a different environment is required for such tests and a foe that would not arouse suspicion if they were to be dealt with…" he paused for a moment, whether it was for effect or for something else, he wasn't sure. "To that end, it would be best if you were dispatched to the Familiar forest in the underworld."

"...Do you want me dead or something?"

"I do not believe you understand the sheer scale of the familiar forest that the devils manage. That and it is not the only location where familiars reside en masse, merely the most available to be accessed." Jedidiah explained with a wave of his hand "That and it is filled with suitable candidates for you to apply your magecraft to and enhance your ability in dealing with more gradually powerful foes."

Yeah, just stroll into the forest full of familiars to be owned by Devils and just walk back out, made perfect sense to him. Clearly, he was an idiot for thinking otherwise. Worse, walk into the forest and just start throwing around spells at these things on the off chance that he didn't accidentally piss one of them off or something. Well, he could probably conceal his smell or something but that would be the extent of it. Just hope that it will be enough.

"I'm not big on this plan…" He muttered under his breath, at the same time he couldn't actually see a reason to argue beyond getting in and out. Well, there was inherent danger in the plan itself but there was inherent danger in what they were doing in the first place, he had long since accepted that part.

"Your concerns are noted, but this is the most efficient method of improving your abilities within your field of magecraft." Jedidiah commented without slowing his pace. "This method is not without risk, but I shall not send you to your death. I can conceal your presence from the prying eyes of the Devils for a short duration at a time without arousing suspicion, all else would be in your hand. Granting your passage to and from the forest is a simple enough feat."

Sure, just boast about that, why don't you? 'Why yes, I can just let you freely walk in and out of Devil territory without anyone being any the wiser, can't you do that?' Was he going to start throwing around hyper advanced spells next? Maybe he was going to flex on him in some other manner, like getting a good night's sleep or something.

He didn't realise when they had stopped walking, blinking and looking to the side only to realise that they were stood in front of the door of Wodime's room already. Kadoc had to fight back his surprise, he didn't think they had been walking for that long, then again he had been deep in thought for a while but even still. Jedidiah reached out and wrapped the back of his knuckles on the door several times before lowering his hand.

A muffled "Enter." came from behind the steel door, soon followed by the door rising upwards.

Jedidiah was the first to enter, soon followed by Kadoc.

His body locked up seconds later, eyes very nearly bulging from their sockets as he beheld the scene in front of him.

"Ah, Kadoc, Jedidiah. To what do I owe the pleasure of this sudden visit?" Wodime turned to them, smiling cordially and batting his fucking eyelashes, the long eyelashes. Kadoc's eyes remained firmly planted on the foundation now spread across his face that made the guy's skin reflect light, then his eyes darted towards Peperoncino stood next to him with a skin brush and some sort of make up tray, wearing a proud smile on his face.

As if to further drive the point in, Le Fay was sat on the opposite side with her hands in Wodime's hair, in the middle of braiding it into some sort of pony tail. He found himself blinking several times, each time hoping that the scene before him was just some figment of his imagination, produced by some sort of weird chemical someone had spilled in the hallway. Was there a gas leak or something producing hallucinations?

The fact Jedidiah spoke without even so much as a shift in his tone further compounded this. "You have been informed of the situation by Hades and the encroaching of a change in textures in South America."

Yeah, he was definitely seeing things.

Wodime nodded his head once "I have indeed. Judging by your words, I shall imagine you already suspected as much was going on, and I shall assume you are also aware of what I intend to do next?"

"Indeed." Jedidiah replied "I am merely here to inform you of the importance of your task, in ways that I cannot disclose to you at present. It merely requires the final touches to ensure its success as well as the retrieval of the correct materials. Though, should you prove successful in winning the aid of the Mesoamerican Gods, then I shall be along shortly. My plan shall be ready to be enacted at that point in time."

"A ritual, then?" Wodime surmised "I am somewhat eager to see it then, though I shall allow my patience to take command for the time being. Acting suddenly has thus far netted me some…problematic results at the moment." he remarked in a tone that made it sound as though he was alluding to something but didn't give any details.

Kadoc kept his eyes on the blonde for a moment, then drifted back towards Jedidiah and noted that there still wasn't an ounce of emotion on the man's face. He took a big sniff of the air, he wasn't going to smell the gas but he was certain he would have started coughing right now. Was this some sort of weird dream, was he dying and his mind was shutting down while inventing this elaborate scheme?

"Ooooh, how exciting~" Peperoncino sang from his standing spot, turning back towards Wodime and tilting the man's head back to face him. Wodime closed his eyes as the makeup brush went back to dabbing on his skin. "Seems as though everyone is going to be doing something rather interesting lately. I might feel a little left out if you all keep rushing off without me…that being said, this is certainly more than enough excitement than I would have ever expected!"

Leaning back, Peperoncino nodded his head once in approval before he snapped the pot closed and placed the brush down. With the skill of a surgeon, he withdrew the next tool from the bag sat down on the table near the trio. "Now then, I'm going to apply some eye shadow, so I'll need you to stay very still so I don't smudge this."

"You're here."

"Jesus!" Kadoc cursed loudly, jumping and whirling around to face the voice that had come from directly behind himself, bringing his hand up and clenching it over his chest. Daybit stood in the doorway behind him, though for a brief moment, he could see Jedidiah similarly jolt and turn his head in the direction of Daybit, as though he hadn't been expecting him either. But it might have been his imagination.

The man spared him barely a glance as he strode into the room, then stopped and examined the scene as well. "A convincing appearance."

Was that seriously all he had to say on it?

"Further research has yielded a change in venue." Daybit spoke without even blinking as he stared at the side of Wodime's head. "As opposed to travelling to South America, the promising destination is Mexico itself."

Kadoc blinked "...You're going to Mexico?"

Daybit neither confirmed nor denied, he just stood there in silence before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small folded up piece of paper, then reached across and handed it to Le Fay, the girl took the paper and then stared at it for a moment before looking up, Daybit remained silent before he turned around. "I shall await you when you are finished. I will concoct a similar disguise."

Kadoc stepped out of the way for the man, letting him walk past him before he stopped for a moment, then turned to him and remained silent for a few seconds. He once again reached into his coat pocket and produced another piece of folded up paper before extending it to him. He spared the paper barely a glance before slowly taking it from Daybit's hands. With a single nod, the man walked off without saying another word.

"Did you hear that?" Peperoncino's voice came from behind him with a delighted glee. "He said it was a convincing appearance. He might as well have just walked up and pat me on the back for my efforts."

Was that seriously how he interpreted that?

Had he just walked into the Twilight Zone or something?

His attention fell to the piece of paper and gradually unfolded it, squinting and finding that it was a small list of items. All of which related to camping in the woods. His head snapped up and he leaned forwards, peering out of the door and into the hallway, though finding that Daybit had already vanished. Frowning, he leaned back and spared the list another glance before his eyes landed on the final item on the list. Squinting at it before he brought his head up.

"...Why the hell would I pack saltwater?" He muttered to himself as he looked down at the note and then towards the direction Daybit had vanished once more. "...Oh, right…" he turned around and faced Wodime once more. He nearly forgot in all the excitement, which was telling that this was no longer the most pressing piece of information on his mind. "Ran into Kuroka earlier-"

Peperoncino turned away from Wodime instantly and fixed Kadoc with a piercing look for a moment as his eyes roamed him up and down. Kadoc frowned and leaned backwards, feeling rather exposed from the look before the man let out a gentle sigh. "I was just seeing if you had any scratch marks on you."

Real cute.

Kadoc regarded him with a flat look for a few moments before he continued on "Seems that Vali thinks that the Red Dragon Emperor has found a new host and woken up or something like that…or the Sacred Gear has manifested or something."

Wodime opened his eyes, pursuing his lips and nodding his head. Sure, the guy was trying to look serious but it was difficult to take him seriously when he looked as though he was five seconds away from putting lipstick on his face. It was at that moment his eyes spotted peach coloured lipstick on the desk just outside of the bag and he felt like folding like a chair. "This is intriguing information. It would seem as though we should keep our eyes on the other factions more closely for the time being for any indication of the Red Dragon Emperor. While I suspect they will not announce their presence until their strength has risen, I cannot make assumptions…depending on who has found them, they will either display them like a trophy or keep them a closely guarded secret."

Le Fay nodded her head up and down "Both Heaven and the Grigori would not be so quick to announce them. I cannot speak for the Devils due to their shifting personalities depending on whichever peerage could have found them." she shrugged her shoulders "Though I am unsure of what else I might achieve."

"It is fine." Wodime dismissed "For the time being, chasing down the Red Dragon Emperor should not be considered a priority. We have other affairs that require our attention and if they have just awoken, as Vali claims, then we can assume that for the time being, they are not a great threat…" he folded his arms over his chest and hummed. "...That being said, it would not be unwise to divert some attention towards tracking down leeds. Using some of our informants to keep us abreast of possible developments, even if not mentioned directly, I suspect they would still find news of the factions concealing something."

"What if he was discovered by those outside of the Abrahamic faiths?" Peperoncino asked with a frown and a tilt of the head.

"The Red Dragon Emperor is currently in Kuoh, under the care of the Gremory family, having been taken into their peerage following his death at the hands of rogue Grigori elements." The blunt declaration from Jedidiah made Kadoc remember the guy was still in the room, turning his head towards the man and raising his brows at the tight expression on the face of the man. "My own sources tell me that it was difficult to intervene without drawing attention to ourselves prematurely. Even if they had been in a position to act…Unfortunately, the arrival of Asia Argento and the examination of the Grigori's capabilities consumed much of the attention of my subordinate and there is no accounting for stupidity."

Wodime exhaled. "I see. Unfortunate but understandable." he frowned "Rogue Grigori elements killed him and the Devils revived him…I supposed that even with your Clairvoyance, you could not devise a path that would have allowed him to have been saved?"

Jedidiah shook his head. "Even if such a thing was possible without arousing the attention of the Devils - acting within the territory of both the Gremory and Sitri heirs to prevent the death of a Sacred Gear holder - it was such that the personality of the current wielder was not…suited for this goal." The tanned man thinned his lips. "It is more in the range of his mental strength for the path ahead. I had not informed you earlier as I judged it would have been a fool's errand at best to attempt to avoid it."

Kadoc could hand him that. Even for the sake of the Red Dragon Emperor, bringing the combined attention of two of the four Satans onto their head so early wasn't really worth it. They'd end up with a manhunt and that was without the idea of the Old Satan faction finding out, doubtlessly leading to them demanding that something happen with the Red Dragon Emperor to turn him into some sort of weapon or whatever. Hated reincarnated Devils, fine with using plain old humans and mages as assistants, though.

"Kuoh is very quickly turning into a location of interest." Wodime mused aloud "Perhaps for another time. I assume you already have the Gremory and Sitri peerages under observation then?" at Jedidiah's nod, Wodime continued onwards. "Then I shall leave the matter in your hands. I trust that you will act accordingly so as to not disclose us prematurely. In the meantime, if you could keep me abreast of developments, I would appreciate it."

"Naturally. Though Cao Cao will demand similar updates as well." The man was silent for a moment before continuing onwards. "However, he will be placated easily enough with the news of the potential dangers of recruiting the Red Dragon Emperor as well as the stupidity in having both the Red and White Dragons within proximity to one another." another silence before he spoke again. "I shall leave you to your mission, we shall see one another again once it has gone accordingly."

With that show of confidence, Jedidiah turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the four of them in the room. Kadoc felt somewhat awkward, turning and sparing Wodime another glance for a few seconds before he let out a breath and shook his head subtly.

"Ah, Kadoc. Before you leave, might I ask a question?" Kadoc paused for a moment before he turned his head and looked Wodime in the eyes. Though he doubted anything could have prepared him for the question which flowed from his mouth next. "Do I make for an attractive woman?"

This guy was mad...but at the same time, if Kadoc looked at these people and saw insanity, what did they see when they looked at him?