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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

"Don't egg her on, I already feel like shit. If you make her do something stupid I'll throw up on you or... Or something else you'll hate." Her brain was currently too foggy to come up with any other creative threats, and Danica was strangely silent inside her head. Likely sulking at being stopped from what she'd been trying to do. The woman had killed two demons though, and with Adelaide's body! Her clothing and face still had blood on them, she was going to need to shower and scrub everything off just to feel somewhat clean again!

"I'm not even going to make an argument against it, I know you're strong enough to carry me, and I'm tired and covered in blood. I just want a shower." Adelaide reached out her arms to Isen with a faint smile, allowing him to move her around and then wrap her arms around his neck to settle against his back.

"Any other time and I'd probably complain about how I could walk on my own, but that was a lot to do in two days. I can't wait to get Danica out of that ring."
 
Isen hoisted her up onto his back. As he did, he began to notice two things; the blood line had fallen, and the people who were still watching them didn't really know how to react to what they had just witnessed. Isen and Adelaide had practically been heroes after the drone attack and coming to the rescue of the city once more today, but things were quickly beginning to change. Isen feared that they may have given the DSTF exactly what they needed to run their propaganda, but his main concern was bringing Adelaide back to the shop for now. He could have ran, but he didn't want to make her anymore sick, especially knowing Danica's healing wouldn't work as well as Ignas' did on him.

"Hey, Ignas?" Isen asked, as they were walking back.

"What is it?"

"...thank you."

"Shut up."

Isen laughed. That was good enough for him.

They hadn't gotten too far into the city when Isen felt the wind shift around them. As it ended, a man was thrown to the ground, rolling across the side walk. Rykard was in front of them, having dropped off somebody who clearly looked like they didn't belong in any sort of altercation with a demon. He had big, round glasses that were cracked, he was wearing a nice shirt and he generally just looked like somebody who would have been considered by their society as a 'nerd'. Rykard's wound had healed enough on his leg for him to run at speed again, but Isen was confused as to what was even going on. Was he here for another fight? It didn't seem like it. And why did this guy look so familiar?

"Peter Haligrew. He's the security specialist for the DSTF, one of their big wigs. He's the one who put us up to attacking the city, and he's the one who let us in. I don't understand you, Isen Hiyori, but you have my respect. Do with him what you will."

Rykard didn't wait for a response, or to share any parting glance or interaction. He sped off again, leaving Peter on the ground in front of Isen, with Adelaide on his back.
 
"Yes, yes, thank you Ignas." Adelaide mumbled the words from Isen's back, her face half pressed against him as she closed her eyes and tried to calm her unsettled stomach. Even walking was making her nauseated, but there was nothing she could do about that unless she wanted to risk teleporting, and that was not an option right now. "I'll be nice to you for the day, I hate Danica much more than you right now." Not that she had much fight in her to even talk back to Ignas at the moment. What she needed was a very, very hot shower to scrub all the blood off, a nap, and then a mass amount of caffeine to get herself going again.

"What was that?" She raised her head a few minutes later at the sound of something hitting the ground nearby, blinking and trying to clear her vision before realizing it was a person that had been dumped in front of them, followed by the demon that had escaped. She cursed, ready to drop off of Isen's back and put up whatever fight was left in her, but it seemed that Rykard wasn't there to fight them, he was there to deliver Isen a gift in the form of a DSTF member.

"Uh... What just happened?"
 
"...hello?" Isen asked, awkwardly, glancing down at the terrified man. Peter rolled over onto his back, staring up at them. He raised his hands up as if to show he was no threat, waving them back and forth.

"W-wait. D-don't hurt me!" He stammered, quickly, trying to get ahead of the situation before it broke down.

"You're the one who hired those demons...?" Isen asked, confused by what they had learned.

"Yo-you don't understand. I have a family! I had, I lost my, they...."

Isen glanced over his shoulder, at Adelaide, letting her know he was going to set her down for now so they could deal with this man who clearly didn't appear to be much of a physical threat to them at this moment, or at any moment, really.

"You had demons attack the city for...your family?" Was this guy crazy?

Peter backed up, pulling himself across the concrete to try and put more distance between them once he saw Isen let Adelaide down off of her back.

"Please! You don't understand! You don't..." He kept repeating it.

"Isen, I think he's calling us stupid." Ignas misread. Isen shook his head.

"No, he's scared and he thinks we're going to hurt him."

"If he's behind the attack on the city, shouldn't we hurt him?"
 
"Yeah, go ahead and set me down, I'm not going to wither away from some snow." She was definitely going to want picked back up after they dealt with this interruption, but first things first. Once she was settled back on the ground, albeit a bit unsteadily, Adelaide observed this stranger suspiciously as he stuttered over his words and tried to explain the reasoning for the demon attacks. From what she was able to gather amidst all of his stuttered rambling, his family had possibly been threatened and he'd fallen victim to the DSTF's orders? Her head was still too fuzzy to understand it fully.

"I'm confused. What the hell happened to his family?" Clearly the demons hadn't threatened him, since they had said something about a deal with the DSTF, so that seemed unlikely. The question was, who in the DSTF had collaborated and forced this terrified man into aiding the demons? It was all so confusing!

"Leaning towards agreeing with Ignas." Still, it wasn't quite like her to attack and slaughter a trembling, defenseless man, but Danica's influence was still fresh enough in her system that it was sounding very, very appealing.
 
"Ignas? Is that the demon inside of him?" He asked, panicked. "Look, I'll explain everything. Just...just calm down, okay?"

"We...are calm. You're the one freaking out." Isen pointed out, raising a brow. The man sighed and began to stand up, slowly, finding his balance.

"...I made the deal with those demons. And I let them into the city. But you've got to understand, I had no choice!" Isen started walking towards him, if only to get him talking more, knowing that this Peter would be terrified if he approached like that. "Waitwaitwaitwait! Okay! I was going to lose my job! And you don't just walk away from the DSTF, you know that...especially when you know as much as I do. I had to, I...I needed to prove that they still needed me."

"So, you let demons into the city to show that you were useful?"

"To show that I was smart! Valuable! It was my plan. Look, the city's losing it's faith in the DSTF after what you did. Sorrysorry, I meant, what happened. After what happened..." This guy was a wreck. Isen groaned. "So, I arranged checkpoints and I let the demons in. They cause some trouble then they lose on purpose to the men that get sent to clean them up. Cresthaven forgets about what happened and accepts them as heroes and then, I tell Maximilian it was my plan and..."

"And then you live with the guilt of knowing all of those people died just so you could save your own ass?"

"Not...not just mine! My family, man...demon, whatever you are. I'm head of security! I know everything there is to know about their systems, their tech, the way they operate...they weren't just going to send me to the unemployment line and call it a day. You know that..."
 
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How much did this man know? Or rather, how much did he not know? They had the man making deals with demons but hadn't given him information on the other demons he was going to be dealing with?

"Wait, are you saying you did this without direct pressure from the DSTF?" Adelaide narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, making no move to follow Isen but staring at Peter nonetheless. "And that was the way you decided to prove your use? Disgusting." There had to have been better ways to prove that if he was so set on the train of thought that he couldn't escape the DSTF, but instead he sought out and made deals with demons to try and show how useful he was to his boss.

"You think Maximilian wouldn't turn around and kill you anyway?" Adelaide shook her head in disbelief. "Then he'll just take all the credit for it and no one will know better. You've doomed your family no matter what you do now."
 
"Don't...don't say that. I did what I did to protect them."

"You're a fool if you think that. You haven't been protecting anyone, that isn't what the DSTF does. You're just a coward."

"...I..."

Isen sighed, turning back towards Adelaide. "He's dead already, he doesn't need our help for that. What do you want to do?"

"I can help you! Please, just...protect me. And my family. Don't let them come for us! I'll make it worth it! You want secrets? I've got secrets! Information, plans, security codes..."
 
"Just leave him." Adelaide sighed tiredly and shook her head. "I don't have the energy to kill him myself, and we're not taking him with. Best he can do is try to get his family out of here, and even that I doubt will work. He's doomed them and himself, and I don't trust his secrets. Maximilian will change everything as soon as he realizes what this idiot has done." She paused and sighed again.

"Just leave him. I'm ready to go back, it's been a long, long couple of days."
 
Isen felt a little bit of a remorse leaving him there, but he knew Adelaide was right, and he had basically steered her into the direction of leaving Peter behind anyways. People had died, today. Adelaide had given in to Danica just to give them a fighting chance to stop the demons that Peter had snuck into the city. Was everyone in the DSTF so deranged and hell bent on their idea of protection that they would go through such extents just to exert their control? They were all the same, as far as Isen was concerned; power hungry, greedy children with more money and power than they deserved, looking for recognition and adoration from people who never needed them in the first place.

Isen knelt back down, in front of Adelaide, waiting for her to climb onto his back once more.

"Wait! You're leaving? No, yo-you can't. Please. They're going to kill me! They're going to kill my son! My wife! You can't do this. You're supposed to be heroes!"

Isen sighed, lifting her up as Peter tried to get closer to them. He reached out, to latch onto Isen, but Isen simply pushed him back with very little effort, sending him back down into the dirt. Was this the right thing to do? They were supposed to be better than this and yet, showing compassion to somebody who had done something so terrible also seemed like the wrong thing to do. They were damned if they did, damned if they didn't, but the less direct involvement they had with the DSTF, the better, right now. They already had Lorelei back at the shop, and Roland was becoming involved now too.

Peter's voice continued behind them as he carried Adelaide away. Soon, however, Isen wasn't walking anymore. He had to run. He had to put more distance between them so that he wouldn't change his mind. The curse that was his enhanced hearing caused him to continue to hear Peter's screams for help long after they had left the street he was on. God, that sounded awful. And it only incited more guilt.

That was when Ignas turned off his magic, dulling Isen's senses. It was subtle, at first, until suddenly, things weren't as loud anymore.

Peter's voice had faded, entirely.

"Hm...? Ignas? Did you just...?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't hear him screaming anymore. Did you do that?"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe hearing Danica's voice deafened you."

Isen knew Ignas had done it, but he didn't push it. He simply nodded, smirking to himself, offering a thank you within his head that was met without response or acknowledgement from the silencing demon.
 
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"We can't save everyone, Isen." Adelaide settled on his back again with a weary sigh, wrapping her arms around his neck and closing her eyes as Peter continued to protest. Did she feel sympathy for the family he claimed he had, the family he claimed would be killed for the DSTF? Yes, but not enough to steer Isen back or to drag the whining man along with them. As much as she wished they could save all the innocents from the evil Maximilian and his henchmen brought, there wasn't enough magic in the world to keep everyone alive and safe, and they had more important things to deal with.

"Are we almost there?" Adelaide's voice came faintly from where she was pressed against Isen's back, her arms wrapped tightly around him as she tried to shut out the feeling of nausea from the bouncing his run had created. Danica was still eerily silent, either pouting or choosing to give the mage a break from her rampage out of some misplaced sense of guilt or pride.

The day was still somewhat early and she could already tell it was going to be a long one. Despite the fact it would probably be close to lunch time when they returned, Adelaide had no appetite for food. What she wanted was a long, hot shower to strip all the blood from her skin and hair, and then to sleep for an indefinite amount of time until her body recovered from having Danica controlling it. They had a lot of work to do.
 
"Yeah, I think so." He said, feeling a little disoriented. He was so used to hearing everything, to using the noise as a guide, plus he had broken into a run with the simple goal of getting away from Peter, so he hadn't been putting much thought into direction, only towards the escape. He found his way on the main street, turning off into the alley that concealed Samara's shop. He was going to let her down there, but decided just to carry her inside. At this point, it wasn't like they had anything to hide from anybody inside anyways.

Passing through the illusory wall, he walked her past the counter and through the door at the back, into the place that had basically become their base of operations by now. He could feel everyone's eyes on them as they entered, not because he was carrying her, but because of the commotion that had been caused outside and what had happened when they ran off to try and play hero again.
 
Adelaide was glad that Isen took her all the way inside the shop rather than set her down outside of it. Even walking through the shop seemed like a massive effort, and she opened her eyes just long enough to see that Nikolai, Lorelei, Roland and Isabella were all sitting in the kitchen, along with what she assumed were some of Isabella's vampire friends. She made a halfhearted attempt at a wave on the way by, slipping carefully down from Isen's back once they got to the bedroom and she was able to steady herself.

"I'm going to take a shower, okay? I'm absolutely filthy." Not only was she physically filthy from the blood when Danica had slaughtered the demons, but she felt filthy on the inside. Being used as a puppet was a feeling she had never experienced before, and even though she now had control over all of her limbs again, she still felt off. "Fill the others in on what happened, please?" She was already shrugging off her coat and struggling out of her boots before she paused and looked back at Isen.

"Thank you, for back there, Ignas. I know you didn't have to do anything when Danica pulled that shit, so thanks." As if she hadn't just awkwardly thanked the demon she was normally at odds with, she gathered up fresh clothes for a shower and disappeared into the bathroom with a quiet click of the door.
 
"Don't make the same mistake twice." Ignas told her, simply, though he seemed to appreciate the sentiment she gave, regardless.

Isen was left to explain what had happened to everybody while Adelaide went to get cleaned up. It was beginning to become a trend, a routine. They'd go on a mission, then she'd return and spend the next hour trying to clean herself up and decompress. Isen was only recently trying to get into the routine of taking better care of himself, inspired by her, but it was still an interesting difference between the two.

After having recapped everything, Isen sighed. "I don't know if we made the right choice, but it wasn't like we had any other real options." Isen looked towards Roland in particular, he was the only one among them still affiliated with the DSTF. At least Lorelei had been cut off, Roland was still very much in deep. Would he find himself in a similar situation one day if the DSTF knew he was working with them? Isen didn't particularly like the guy, but he had helped them and he didn't want to see anybody else get unnecessarily hurt by Maximilian and Malakai. "Can you maybe do some digging around? Find out what's happening on the inside? This must have caused some sort of reaction from the DSTF, right?"
 
"If you had tried to bring him back with you, they would have just come for you faster." Lorelei agreed with their choice wholeheartedly, having more than enough experience with how the DSTF worked. "They'll kill him so he cannot give information to anyone who would use it against them, and then they'll change their security and their tactics anyway, so it would be all of that trouble for nothing." Nikolai nodded in agreement.

"I do have to agree with her there, she knows firsthand how ruthless they can be. That man and his family are as good as dead no matter what we do. We can't face Maximilian or his demon head on now, so let's just focus on getting to where we need to be, before we worry about any poor souls that decided they wanted to try and be bigger than they were." Despite the fact that he held no love for the woman, Nikolai knew she was right and he chose to be reasonable when conversing with her. Despite all the wrongs she had done, despite the fact that she had gotten his brother and sister-in-law killed and a million other wrongs, she appeared to be cooperating with them to take down the organization she had been brainwashed into.

"I can try. I have no idea if I'll have access to anything; or what they've done since Takami there almost broke my damn ribs." Roland grimaced at the memory of the hit he'd taken before everything had gone to shit, but agreed to the request nonetheless. It was really the least he could do, he was feeling useless past providing information on how the DSTF had functioned. He had no idea what still held true and what had changed since the attacks.
 
Isen felt a little bit better, hearing their explanations, but not enough to completely silence the voice in his head telling him that this was wrong. He almost felt like he should be blaming Rykard. If he hadn't brought Peter to them, they wouldn't have even known. They could have remained blissfully unaware of the ramifications. Isen didn't even really understand what Rykard wanted. He tried to kill him, then through a car at Adelaide, only to come back and say he earned his respect, offering Peter like a peace offering. He didn't get the feeling that this would be the last they'd see of each other either.

Having a demon on their side who wasn't Danica wasn't the worst prospect, and he had been able to get Takami on their side despite him having been hell-bent at one point on ending Isen's life. Even having Lorelei here was a miracle in and of itself.

"Just be careful. I'm sure everything is going to be stirred up after what just happened." Isen warned, an odd reprieve in the way he typically treated Roland to express that concern.

"And what of the demons who attacked the city?" Takami questioned. "I wish I could have joined you in your fight, but I was forbidden from leaving." He grumbled, casting a glare towards Isabella, the culprit for his grounding.

"One of them escaped, but the other two are dead. I'm not sure if the survivor is still a threat or not, but despite working with the DSTF, they were only doing it to get into the city. Unless there's something here we're missing, I don't believe he has any loyalty to them."
 
Roland nodded his acknowledgment as Isabella turned and shrugged at Takami, although her other vampire friends were looking between themselves before giving Takami a knowing look. She really had it bad for the human, it seemed, and while they were protective of her after all she had done for them, they had chosen not to directly intervene yet.

"You can fight when you're better." Isabella chose to leave it simply, giving him an overly sweet tone as she shrugged and settled back in her chair. "I'm not going to argue about the problem with keeping secrets." The vampire was clearly still upset about the information she'd gotten about the deal between Takami and Isen, but Nikolai and Lorelei had to hand it to her, she mostly had kept her emotions controlled other than some minor outbursts that weren't even directed straight at Takami every time. Now, what she'd done to that poor defenseless vase...

"Rykard can hardly keep loyal to his own people, much less a bunch of humans. He would sooner swear loyalty to Malakai than a human." Danica's voice came from the doorway where Adelaide stood rubbing her damp hair with a towel. She'd changed into sweatpants and a plain shirt once she'd gotten out of the shower, her skin pink where she had scrubbed a little too hard to get all the blood off.

"Shut it, Danica, or I'll shut you up for the rest of the day. You're on thin ice." Adelaide sighed, leaning against the wall just inside the door and giving everyone a tired expression.

"I'll... Get to seeing what I can find out." Roland could see how tense the situation might get if things continued and quickly excused himself, followed by Isabella's friends who escorted him out of the building before returning to stand behind Isabella waiting for instructions.

"We'll see what we can find out too, what kind of rumors or news are floating around between Dissonants. I think at this point everyone is really confused, and really scared, so we'll try to get the facts straight so at least we're on your side."
 
With the others on it, they could at least take another small break to try and regroup after their unexpected fight with the demons. Isen still felt thrown for a loop by Rykard's actions, but at least they had something to go on, and he didn't appear to be a threat to them anymore, at least not right now.

"Thank you. We appreciate it." Isen told her, nodding. His eyes cast towards Takami, looking to see if he would be leaving to join Isabella as she left. There was definitely a tension between them and he felt partially at fault for having revealed the terms of their deal to her. She needed, and deserved, to know the truth, but perhaps he had done more damage than good by being the one to give it to her.

As the rest of their little group dispersed, Isen presumed Adelaide would leave him for a while to get cleaned up and decompress, so instead, he decided to talk directly to Takami himself and check in on how he was feeling.

"Hiyori."

"Are you doing okay?"

"As well as can be, all things considered." Takami replied, shortly. "I am being caged." Isen chuckled.

"Yeah, she kept me in my room for two days after I got hurt, and I had magic healing my wounds." Isen realized that probably wasn't something he should have said, given the situation, so he quickly tried to backpedal. "I mean..."

"It's fine, Isen. You meant no harm. I am just on edge."

"Because of how you're feeling?"

"And the vampire."

"She cares about you."

"She did not need to know." Ah, there it was. He was mad at him.

"Maybe not now, but she would have found out eventually anyways. Is it really such a bad thing to have somebody care enough about you to want to protect you?"

"I am a warrior. Protecting is in my nature, being protected is not. I did not train and learn to fight to become somebody else's burden, not yours, nor hers or anybody else."

"That's the last thing I wanted either, but I'm learning to trust people again. Whether you live another couple of days, or you live on forever, if you spend that time alone, you're going to be miserable. I know that more than most."

"What would you have me do? Go against the grain? Change something so integral to who I am?"

"No. And I don't think Isabella would want you to change, either. But she sees you as somebody worth protecting, just as you are, right now. Do you view her the same?"

There was a pause before a response was given. "...I do."

Isen felt a smirk tug at the corners of his lips. "Then you need to live on so that you can keep her safe. That can't happen if you die on us because you aren't able to fight, or because you're too stubborn to realize you need help. You can't protect anybody from your grave, Takami."
 
Apparently everyone except for Isen and Takami were leaving, and Adelaide decided that she would give them some time with each other, as it clearly looked like words needed to be exchanged. Whatever serious talk was going to happen between the two of them, she wanted no part of it unless it was a matter of life or death other than Takami's impending death. She was already well aware of that and there was nothing she could do there, so resting up seemed like the better option of all the other ones.

Nikolai was off doing... Whatever, all the witches were gone, and now Isabella had left with all of her vampire friends and Roland. What else could she possibly do that was of use before she had recovered? It was a drastic change in attitude considering just weeks ago she would have pushed herself to the point of death before taking a breather. She almost had this time thanks to the demon dwelling in her ring, and she was still angry with Danica for what she'd done. It felt gross.

How long was Isen going to take to join her, though, or was he simply intending to leave her be to decompress alone? He was the only one of them that truly understood how it felt to have a demon controlling them from the inside, to be a stranger in your own body despite how much you screamed or fought for it to stop. He wasn't going to just leave her in there by herself all afternoon, was he? Hell, what time was it, anyway? Lunch time, roughly, but she had no appetite whatsoever for anything other than the bed and some reassurance she wasn't going to go insane.

"Isen, are you coming in here when you're done?" Her hair was about as dry as she cared to get it for the moment, a little bit of heat applied courtesy of her magic, and she was seated on the bed rubbing her eyes tiredly.
 
"What if it doesn't matter? I have failed twice, now. Perhaps a grave is what I deserve." Takami told Isen, shaking his head, a solemn look in his eyes that caused his head, and his heart, to hang heavy.

"What do you mean?"

"I was unable to protect my people...and I was unable to aid you proper in your fight. I was too we-."

"You're dying. You're not weak. There's a difference." Isen reasoned.

"...regardless of the reason, there is no excuse for my failure as a warrior. I will only bring the vampire pain and sadness if I allow her to continue to be close to me."

Isen could tell by the way that Takami called Isabella 'the vampire' was forced, like he didn't want to speak her name directly because then it made what he felt all the more real. The guilt, the regret, it was weighing him down the way it once, and sometimes still, did to Isen. He sighed, understanding what Takami was feeling more than anyone else ever could but not having the words to say to transfer those feelings from thoughts to advice.

"Isen, are you coming in here when you're done?"

Takami heard Adelaide's voice, calling for him, and simply gave him a nod and a half-smile as forced as the way he avoided Isabella's proper name. "Go. Our talk has given me something to reflect upon."

Isen nodded in return. He gave one last, concerned look, towards the man he now considered not just an ally, but a friend, and moved towards the direction of the room Adelaide was in. "I'm on my way. Did you need anything?"
 
"Will you come sit with me for a few minutes until I can fall asleep? I just need a small nap, but I don't feel right." She waited until he was actually in her line of sight to say anything more, running a hand through her hair and looking more than a bit out of sorts. Danica had really done a number on her, and now that everyone seemed to have dispersed to attend to their own tasks, she felt less ashamed to ask Isen to keep her company even for a short bit.

"Does it always feel like that when they take over?" She fidgeted with her pant leg, sitting crossed legged and rocking slightly on the bed as she tried to soothe herself and ignore Danica's influence. At least the demon had chosen to remain silent now, no snarky comments or laughter inside her head to rub salt in the wound of her earlier lack of control.

"Does it always feel so... Wrong?"
 
Isen could tell something was on her mind, and after whst they had been through, how could there not? He moved in her direction, crossing space between where she was and the entrance he had walked through. "Yeah, of course. I'm here." He reassured, sitting himself down beside her. Hearing her plight brought a pang of sadness to his heart. She was going through what he went through and perhaps, due to her affinity for magic, it may have even been worse for her than it had for him.

"It never feels...right." He told her, in turn, shaking his head. His arm lifted, slowly, hesitant, until it could find it's way around her shoulder. Drawing her close into his side, he felt it would be the best way to comfort her in that moment, offering an element of physical touch his words could not provide alone.

He knew what it felt like to lose control to another. It was too dangerous for that to happen to her.

"I don't want you doing that again...whatever happens, let me handle the demon stuff. It isn't safe for you, especially with Danica and that ring. You don't need to go through any of that again, okay?"
 
"You know I can't promise that." As much as she never, never wanted to do that again, there was no way she could promise it. "With the way things have been going, I can't promise that if it comes down to it being a last resort. As soon as I'm able to get her out of the ring, I will, but until then, I don't know what to do." She felt utterly defeated, no longer in control of her own body, let alone her own destiny.

"But I'll do my best. I don't want to do it again any more than you want me to." The physical comfort he offered her was enough to make her shift closer, uncrossing her legs as she rested her head against his shoulder and sighed.

"I wonder if things will ever truly be normal, even once we've gotten our demons out of their catalysts." It was a dream so far out of reach she wasn't sure if it was worth trying for right now, not when they had so many other tasks to attend to just to keep alive and keep the city from falling into further ruin. "I honestly don't know if I'd know what to do with normal, anyway. It feels like normal never really worked for me." She shifted again and moved, doing something completely out of character for her and climbing into his lap to settle there and press her head against his chest.

"Are you okay with the possibility things may never be normal?"
 
Her head against his shoulder felt right, bringing him some comfort as well. He was worried about her. It was clear in tone of voice and the language of his body. She could take care of herself, under any normal circumstance he wouldn't be nearly as concerned, but he knew what they were dealing with and what was at stake. He still didn't trust Danica, perhaps he had learned to dislike her even more after what she had done by taking control of Adelaide, so he was never going to be okay with any of this.

She spoke of normal, but Isen didn't remember normal. He hadn't had "normal" in a traditional sense since the death of Meribell, he wasn't sure he even knew what it was anymore. Her sudden shift closer caught him off guard, keeping him frozen in place for a couple of contemplative moments before instinct took over and his arms wrapped around her waist, caging her closely to make sure she didn't fall off of her new-found perch.

"After everything I've been through...we've been through..., normal sounds rather boring, don't you think?" He asked her, laughing quietly, his head tilted downwards to better look at her, only to find her face rested against his chest instead. Isen released a sigh, causing his chest to heave gently, but not enough to disturb her comfort. Being able to feel her touch, so close to him, when he could feel nothing else at all, made the moment all the more intimate.

Even if they did stop the DSTF, and he was severed from Ignas, she would still be a mage. She would still have all of her powers, all of the responsibility that came with being a Lancaster and what her family had done. There was no real escaping this, even when all was taken care of. Normal was a day dream and he'd rather live in the present, with her.

"Being with you is as close as I've gotten to normal since the day a demon decided he wanted to get inside of my head. As long as you're there, and we're both alive and well, I'm fine with wherever we end up. I guess, in a way, that would be my normal."
 
"Yeah, I guess normal would be boring." Adelaide managed a small laugh in return, wrapping her arms around his midsection and settling in where he held her securely in his lap. It was such a simple gesture but held a level of intimacy and security she was unused to, her heart beating erratically as her cheeks flushed and she nodded against him, thankful her face was hidden from view.

"We can make our own normal, then. Our own home. Even if we lose our physical home, we'll still have each other." Losing her childhood home a second time after everything Isen and Samara had done to fix it up would be distressing, but if it came to that at least they would have each other and the lovely portal hopping ability the ring had given her, not to mention all of the other spells courtesy of Samara's imprinting technique.

"I feel like we'll still be hearing whispers and getting spooked by stupid noises even when our demons are gone. I guess at least we'll have Ember as a guard." Wherever the little thing had gone, she'd taken to following Isabella around recently when Adelaide didn't need her near.
 
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