Bright are the Stars[Fely]

[Felypsa]

oOc| sorry again for the delay!

It wasn’t that simple, of course. With Leon, it never was. Cyrus should have guessed. He knew a lot more about December than he had initially let on, and he still insisted that she was the only one he needed now. The businessman took a sip of water and rubbed his forehead as he considered it. No one knew where December came from for a reason. There was so much untapped potential in the secret. It had taken years for Cyrus to be trusted.

But Leon wasn’t like most people. He wasn’t going to run after the secret out of greed. And if December didn’t like him knowing, well, she could always kill him herself. It was out of Cyrus’s hands. December had left him a long time ago, he had no bond to her beyond conscience. “It goes without saying that what I am about to disclose to you must remain secret…but I would like your word on it anyway.”

Assuming that Leon would give it, then, Cyrus stood up and began to pace lightly. “We are being watched,” he declared. “We always have been. Imagine an alternate dimension that is layered on top of our world. Imagine that it holds a race far more advanced than we have even begun to seen. This race…I suppose you can call them the Seraphim, our guardian angels, though I’m sure many devout Christians would be angered at the comparison…anyway, this race has always harbored a keen interest in the progression of our race. I don’t know why. I have only discussed business with any of them, not philosophy or history or politics or anything that might have the answer.”

He stopped his movement and stared at Leon. “It is to this race that December belongs. Their appearances and biological makeup are very similar to ours, yet they have enhanced abilities. They are far ahead of us in the evoluntionary scale, I imagine. But they do age very similarly to us, though I get the impression they can live longer. In any case, when December was eighteen, she elected to come here to work—for reasons of her own, which she kept undisclosed. She wanted to be a mercenary among humans.”

Cyrus reached to take another sip of water again, glancing at Leon quickly to make sure he was still with him. By this point, he could easily have been laughed away. But Leon had an open mind and no doubt believed in the extraordinary. “That is why she did not exist in our world until then. And now, I am not sure why she has abandoned her employer. It is not like her. But I can only imagine that it means she has received a message from her home. She is good at obeying whomever hires her, but the highest authority she obeys is her own father, from that world.” He paused. “I may have said too much.”

[Dark Strider]

"Not a problem, Cyrus. You know me and my ability to keep a secret." Leon said, waving a hand before himself, a smile on his lips.

Then, Leon sat there and listened to Cyrus speak. His introduction to the topic of December was catchey enough, but the detail he went into was astonishing and helped to confirm several different thoughts and theroies the had heard in his time. The talk of "seeing angels and people of immense beauty." All seemingly wild claims, but in light of this, Leon had begun to question the stakes of those claims.

According to Cyrus, beings similar to Humans lived in a practically adject world to this one. Beings of unique and special powers that most men and women couldn't possibly begin to fathom. All of these individuals from the opposite world apparently watched over this world and its inhabitants, acting as kinds of guardian angels, as Cyrus put it. He made a joke towards the beliefs of Christians, to which Leon chuckled under his breath.

Mentioning December as one of this race made sense to Leon, as her natural abilities were far from nearly anything Leon had ever seen in this world, without the opperations and the extensive training which followed said opperation. She seemed just a little too good, even when Leon had first met her. Now, things had just begun to make sense. Leon continued to listen to Cyrus as he went forward with the explanation. He spoke of their "call to duty" when the superiors of the individuals beconed. All of these things swirled inside Leon's mind, falling into place.

Once Cyrus finished with his belief of giving too much information, Leon stood.

"Well, I can tell you this much, this generally confirms several of my thoughts. Firstly, I generally believed that there was some kind of omnipotent being watching over us. Well, beings in this case. Second, I generally thought that December wasn't completely human. Her general... aura I suppose is the closest word for it, was something completely different then a lot of those which I've encountered in my time." Leon said, placeing both of his hands on the hilt of his sword, resting them as he stood.

"This, however, takes the cake. I can't thank you enough for this information, Cyrus. I truly want to thank you, but I need to ask for one more thing. I need the files. All of them. A copy of them, at the least, but I need them none the less. You, of all people, should know that I won't stop until I get what I'm after." Leon said, standing pretty much at ease, looking directly at Cyrus. "The ball's in your court, Cyrus, I just wonder what play you're going to call."

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[Felypsa]

Of course, Leon couldn’t just take the information and leave it at that. Cyrus looked up as he made his newest demands, and slight distaste entered the businessman’s eyes. Leon could just throw his weight around and expect to get what he wanted. “There aren’t many,” he said. “And that’s the honest truth. The Seraphim are not into paperwork. And none of my interactions were recorded. They reached out to me by dream first, Leon. And from then on, gave me secret instructions of how to contact them. December had done her research in her world and chose me to be her first employer.”

He shook his head. “All I have are the papers from when she first signed on to the company, and most of the information on them is faked. So it is true, I have no hard proof that my case is real, which is partly why I never told anyone…they would all assume I was delusional. December knows the truth, however. If anyone has ‘files’ proving the truth of what I have told you, it would be her. But I would not hold my breath.” He turned to eye Leon again. “I would not refuse you, Leon, know this. But you’re wasting your time. The Seraphim do not like any humans knowing of their existence…they won’t have any paper trails leading back to them.”

[Dark Strider]

"Figures as much..." Leon said, turning and beginning to walk towards the door.

"Thanks, Cyrus. I'm sure you and I'll see each other some time rather soon." Leon said, re-attaching the sword to the buckle on his belt.

Leon walked out the doors, opening them himself. The information he had been given was practically a gold mine. A wealth of knowledge had been placed in his hands, as well as a load of new problems and challanges. What was December's aim? What had forced her to stop that fight between them, and what made her drop off of the face of the earth. This problem continued to run through Leon's mind as he made his way into the lobby and to parking garage elevators.

Ironically enough, the same group of people that had pushed past Leon before were just coming up. A familiar face came forward from the small group, one that immediatly recognized Leon. His eyes widened and he fell back into the cab as Leon walked in.

"Why... Hello Johnson! Long time no see." Leon said, smiling at the man.

Needless to say, the man known as Johnson ran off out of the cab. He vanished shortly, leaving Leon standing as the doors closed chuckling to himself.

~

It was several hours later, Leon was home and going over some hand-written notes. Once satisfied with checking on the things he needed to, Leon turned and walked from the living room where he was to the kitchen, pulled out a chair at the small open bar, and picked up his newspaper. He sat down and turned to the front page. Sitting there, a small grin on his face, Leon read through the general happenings of the area and the local businesses.

"Alice... How long are you going to wait before you come forward and ask me about why I was gone?" Leon asked without looking up.

There was always a subtle pull in the air around him when Alice was around, or so he had begun to notice since his... encounter with the alien symbiote. Since then, Leon had been able to pick up the traces of different people he had encountered. Unfortunatly for him, however, Leon was unable to pick up a trace of December. Going on what he had learned earlier, Leon surmised that because she was of a different race, he would be unable to pick up on her nearly at all. That did put a question forward, however. Since his fight, Leon was fairly sure he was being closely watched. His warrior sense and his mentality of a soldier told him as much, but his ability to pick up a general direction of who or what was watching him. It was... unsettling.

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[Felypsa]

Once Leon departed, Cyrus heaved a sigh and plopped back down into his desk chair. Back to being Orion, back to the normal course of life. But he had to wonder if he ought to prepare for something…if whatever Leon was trying to dig up about December would cause ripples that would backlash onto him. Cyrus sincerely hoped not, for his own sake and for Leon’s. It was his philosophy to stay out of affairs that did not directly concern him, but that was not Leon’s way. Hopefully…the world was ready for whatever came next.

~

She didn’t like how he kept going off on his own without telling anyone about what he was doing—but that was just how Leon was. And to an extent, Star had done the same thing plenty of times. That was how she winded up trapped on an alien planet. But when Leon finally came home, Alice frowned, sneaking her way over there in shadow-form. She glared at him from the wall for a little while, thinking of what she could say to him.

But he knew she was there, and without hesitation, Starshadow came out of the wall, back in human form. She pushed a strand of hair out of her face and eyed her brother. “Oh, you’re just loving this.” She shook her head. Smug bastard. “Very well: why, dear brother, were you gone? What new exciting adventure do you have planned for yourself?” The sarcasm dripping from her words was all in good humor, and Alice was of course genuinely interested. It was just that sometimes Leon made her roll her eyes.

[Dark Strider]

Leon smirked and folded his newspaper, setting it down on the counter in front of him. Alice was an interesting card, sweet and loving at one instant, silent and sneeky at another, and deathly serious at still others. Her remark was laced heavily with sarcasm, which made Leon grin all the wider. He loved his sister with all his heart, just like in the old days. Hardly a thing about her personality had changed since they were kids together, the multiple faces coming from her mother, and the perservearance to see things through from her father. Two traits that seperated her from the world. Even in the Marines, now that Leon thought of it, she depicted the generally same traits she had now, acting kindly when it was prudent, or taking shots at the officers. Mostly in good humor, Alice was an easily likeable person when she allowed people in.

Though they were of other family names, Alice and Leon both had the trait of keeping things bottled up, locking things away that no one would be able to wrest from them, not even through torture. The things Leon was about to explain to her, however, was something that she needed to know.

"Alice... you might want to sit down for what I'm about to tell you. It's... it's not all that easy to take for some parts, others, well... I don't know how you'll take them." Leon warned, turning a chair around for her if she wanted it.

Regardless if she took the chair, Leon began at the beginning, how Mirror had fallen out of the sky that night, all those months ago. He continued on into the search for the intruder, the talk he had with Mirror about her stay in his house, about the exparamenting on the alien tissue. Leon filled in every detail, not leaving anything out if he could help it. Leon explained in great deal about the complexity of the genetic make up of Mirror, how the alien DNA replicated every known DNA construct on the planet, as well as others not known to it.

From there, Leon went into detail about his exparamenting to create a "sample" of Mirror, a replication of the orriginal host. He explained in length about how the process took up time, how the sample was finally created, and how it had come to life, imbedding itself into his body. Going over the incident made Leon inwardly shugger, calling to mind the feeling of the symbiote entering his body and fusing with it.

It took the better part of two hours to explain up to when he had rescued Alice from the alien planet, how the planet she had gone to was the "birthplace" for all he knew, of Mirror. After that, Alice had seen Leon as he was, nothing new, except contemplating whether to explain himself or not to his family and friends. Family, after a long deliberation with himself, was something he had to explain himself to, at the least.

"So... that's everything that's happened to cause me to leave for so long, and why I decided to just show up that night." Leon said, reclining in his chair. During the last few minutes of explaining himself, Leon had pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Now, he took a small puff on the thing and slowly allowed the smoke to escape from his lips. "Any questions?" he said, looking at his sister. Leon was expecting trouble, this was something that was, at this point, unavoidable. Alice was... a different person when she was furious... and Leon knew that something along those lines was cooking behind her eyes.

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[Felypsa]

It was going to be one of those nights.

While Leon thoughtfully caught her up on everything in excruciating detail, Alice lay perched on the edge of her seat on the couch. He elaborated on Mirror, their annoying houseguest, and proved that was indeed because of her that he had disappeared for that whole time. And here Alice had gone all the way to an alien planet looking for him, and he had been grappling with himself and the symbiote of Mirror that had embedded itself in him. He basically became a whole new person.

That was hard to swallow. Of course, sitting here in front of her, chatting idly, was still Leon, still her brother. His body had gone through so many changes in his lifetime—as, indeed, had hers. And usually they came out for the better, but this time, Starshadow couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled. Machinery was one thing, drugs were one thing, but alien DNA was something else entirely. How could he trust that he was fully in control all the time? Mirror was like a monster lying in wait…her scientific curiosity allowed her to continue “exploring” and “experimenting” in her human form. But as soon as she decided that she was done playing scientist, well, they were going to have to go through hell to get her off their planet.

And the same stuff was in Leon, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Alice was frowning deeply as he wrapped up, and he could obviously tell that she wasn’t happy about the whole thing. She made no effort to disguise her real emotion. “Yeah, I’ve got a question.” Several, in fact. “Why are we putting up with Mirror? She pops up into the house erratically, and I have no idea what she’s doing the rest of the day. She aggravates Somni, and I don’t know if Somni will ever be pushed to do something stupid.” Of course, Somni was smarter than that, but hell, Alice didn’t know that and frankly still didn’t trust the former thief.

“And how do I know you aren’t going to go alien shapeshifter on me?” She didn’t mind questioning Leon either. Someone had to think about these possibilities. Starshadow was proud of her ability to fight and her rarer ability to become shadowlike, but even that was no match against what Mirror could do. For God’s sake, the creature could become anything it wanted to…no limitations.

[Dark Strider]

Alice was right to worry about how inconsistant Mirror came and went, generally as she... it, pleased. Leon had been thinking about that himself, wondering if Mirror had gathered a sutable amount of information on the different species on this planet. She had been here for roughly six months, since that encounter on that star filled night. Leon would have to catch her some time and ask her about what her plans were.

Shaking his head, Leon laughed at Alice's last remark.

"Dear sister, have you so little faith in me?" Leon asked innocently. He knew that it was a kind of remark for a snappy come-back, but that was one of the things he loved about his sister. Never one to rock on her heels for long, Leon knew that she would have a smart retort for him.

Unfortunatly for her, Leon wasn't going to wait around for it. He had other things on his mind, and several of them needed to be tended too at the moment.

"Oh yes, before I forget, Alice. This weekend there's going to be a ball here. Do whatever it is you need to to get ready for the party." Leon said.

He stood, patted her on the shoulder, and walked quickly out of the room, knowing he had lit the fuse on the proverbial timebomb he had left in the kitchen. A smirk on his face, Leon moved up the stairs to his room. Going to his private computer, Leon began to roll over several different documents, sending notifications through the immense internet to different contacts and business partners that he owned, all normal businessmen and women.

~

It had been a busy several hours, Leon setting up many different things, pulling stings and getting people to agree to come to the party, but in all, several hundred people were going to be showing up to the ball. No real theme, so people could generally come as casual as they pleased. Now all Leon had to do, was to let Somni know, and also to tell Mion. Simple.

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[Felypsa]

His basic answer was that she had to trust him.

And of course she did. With her life. So if he believed he had full control over whatever was inside him, then Alice was just going to have to go with that. And hope that if the worst-case scenario ever happened, she’d be prepared to kick his ass. So that was that.

Alice blinked as Leon easily changed the subject. A ball? One of his famous parties? He hadn’t had one of those in ages. She narrowed her eyes at him slightly. Just what was he up to? Did he simply want to relax and go crazy before shit started hitting the fan? Or was there something else on his mind…she stared at him in a most scrutinizing way, but damn, she could not tell. “All right then,” she said cautiously, standing up.

He was already walking away from her, which meant their conversation was over, and that was all she was going to get out of him. Starshadow shook her head. It was as good as she could hope for. Well, she supposed she had better go prepare for a party…whatever the hell that meant.

~

It was like magic, what Leon could do when he put his mind to it…especially when it involved parties. Somni didn’t even have the faintest idea that he was going through all these elaborate plans. Then again, she was in the dark about most of his life at that point. She worried for him, yes. But in the end, she was patient. If he wanted to involve her in his life, then he would. If she tried to seek him out and force him to involve her, well, she would ultimately fail. So Somni just carried on with her own life, though Leon was usually in the back of her mind.

At the moment, she was currently visiting her brother, and actually, wrapping up that visit and about to head home. Waving goodbye, Somni headed to that Mercedes that Leon had bought for her—what seemed like ages ago, but it was still as sexy and sleek as ever. Her thoughts were idle as she got in the car, turned on the ignition, and headed back to Leon’s mansion.

[Dark Strider]

It was some time later that Leon leaned back in his chair. He had been compiling the recient events in a document for his personal files. He periodically wrote these things, adding to them when something in conjunction to the events crossed his path. It wasn't until Leon took his eyes off of the computer screen to actually take a look at the security cameras. I could have been a flicker, a computer glitch or a frame jump from one of the cameras, but Leon could have sworn that the jump resembled the form of... something roughly human.

It was impossible to tell what it was, and having just busted his arse working on everything for the party, Leon passed it off with a shrug. Nothing alive that he knew of was sophisticated enough to pass through the dense net of security systems and overlays that he had in effect on his property. Sending a quick note to Somni through his computer to her dashboard computer in her car, Leon stood and turned to look out the window. Summer dusk was settling down upon the area, the skyline gleaming with the beauty of the summer-time atmosphere.

A smile spread across his lips as Leon turned away from the window and walked to the bathroom. Picking up his trimmer, Leon carefully tended to his beard and moustache. Satisfied with his grooming, Leon placed the device on its charger and flipped the light switch, cutting the bright LED lights overhead. Now back into the main part of his room, Leon walked towards the library section, looking for a new book to take up and occupy his time.

After searching for the better part of ten minutes, Leon picked up an old hard cover edition of R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series. Sitting back in one of the several large reading chairs, Leon kicked his feet up onto an end table nearby and opened the book. Confortable, Leon began to read one of his favorite books. But, before he could truly settle in, however, out of the courner of his eye, Leon saw the same flicker as before from the video feed. This time, however, the flicker expanded into a humanoid shape. Features began to come into focus and a distinct aura emminated from the figure. Leon, now standing up and looking at the... whatever it was, had his hand on the hilt of his sword, waiting for it to make the first move.

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(oOc: First of all, I wanted to appologise for the long wait for the post. Today was a good day and I had a lot of muse pop up randomly. Secondly, I wanted to appologise for the shortness of the post. It's late here and the muse kinda began to slip as I was typing. Third, I was wondering if you'd be willing to take control over this new character I've introduced. I don't plan on him staying here long, just to help move the plot along. It's a character like December, a member of her race, obviously. I just thought that since we were going to probably throw to them some time soon, why not get it out of the way and introduce one earlier. Just let me know what you think or if you'd rather not have this character to deal with. Thanks! :3)

[Felypsa]

oOc| thanks for your patience n.n hope it's a good enough post for what you had in mind!

It was hard to believe that he was actually here. So few of his race ever truly came to stay on this plane, and Xenophon could easily see why. The dimension was…to be perfectly honest, grittier. In all senses of the word: his trained eyes could perceive how truly dirty everything was, and humans themselves, no matter how tough they believed they really were, all had soft insides. He could not imagine how one of his own kind might make their home here. The minds of seraphim worked much faster: everything else seemed painfully slowed down by comparison.

This security system, for instance. Extremely advanced technology for humans, no doubt, but no match for his cloaking armor. He passed like a ghost through the triggers, alarms, and cameras, not even batting an eye. Like December, a sword hung at his side, glittering silver. Xeno doubted he would actually have to fight with it, though. This was not an assassination, merely reconaissance. The social gathering that was prepared to take place this evening was meant to involve a great number of major players in important future events.

Since Xeno didn’t get an invitation, he figured he would stroll on in.

He approached the mansion, inspecting the best way to go in. It seemed like patience was his best chance, however. It paid off well, and he turned to see a sleek car pull into the driveway. A young woman emerged, hair as dark as onyx and eyes glittering like opals. She had a smile on her face as she walked up to the main entrance of the mansion. Xeno stood still. His armor was like a chameleon’s skin, light refracting off of it in such a way that the naked eye just slid over him, not noticing his presence. He was barely a shimmer in the air, perhaps faintly detectable if you knew what to look for.

Somni, of course, was oblivious. The first guests wouldn’t start showing up for another hour or so. She would have time to dress and prepare. Easily she opened the door, HARVY not protesting to her presence, and went in—unaware of the invisible angel sweeping in behind her. She did pause, thinking she had felt a draft, but when she looked behind her, there was nothing. Xeno had already made his way in and was parting from her carefully, not wanting to rouse her suspicions.

Turning around again with a shrug, Somni closed the door and headed into the house. She knew Leon would know she was home, so she did not bother calling out. She would rather he not see her till she had gotten dressed, anyway. Xeno watched Somni ascend the staircase with interest. There was an aura to her that he had not expected: she was no ordinary human. Perhaps she would be a major player as well.

But she was not whom he had come for. Xenophon moved through the house carefully, aware now that if he was caught, he would have to fight his way out. And really, he preferred to stick around until the party began in earnest.

[Dark Strider]

"I don't believe you were invited in, friend." Leon said, his hand still on the hilt of his sword.

He had moved from his position in his chair to the outter hall before his room, taking care to not alarm the other residents of the house. Mion was curled up in his bed, sleeping soundly. Alice, Leon knew, was lurking somewhere out of sight, but his senses told him that she wasn't anywhere near by. Somni had just gotten home and was out doing something inside the house. For all intents and purposes, Leon cared where she was, and was thankful that she was safe, but he prefered her to be out of the way in this instance. A possible hostile in his own house. One that by-passed all of his security systems and waltzed into the house without a problem none-the-less.

"I have no idea who or what you are, but I suggest you tell me what in the seven hells it is you're doing here. That, or I can cart you out of here myself." Leon said, giving the humanoid being a square and flat look.

Leon knew that he was probably being a little to aggressive, but then again, this... thing, had walked into his house without an invitation to do so, avoiding all his security parameters, and appeared before his room. It was fairly obvious that he was a target of interest, so what better way to welcome and uninvited guest then to meet them head on? That, or to atomize them with the security systems inside of the house.

"So. Make your case." Leon said, gesturing to the being with his un occupied hand that it had the floor to speak.

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[Felypsa]

The sound of Leon’s voice did not catch Xenophon completely off guard, though he did have to turn to face the homeowner. The man wore a sword instead of bearing any traditional technology, but Xeno knew that he doubtless counted the house’s own security measures on his side—should it come down to a fight. The seraph had no doubt that he could defeat Leon in swordplay, but he had essentially walked into the dragon’s mouth in order to do a duel.

Words would be a better defense. With a single thought, Xeno deactivated the cloaking magic in his armor, allowing Leon to see what he truly looked like. Of course, Leon would probably make the connection to December and her ilk instantly: Xeno had the same pallor in his skin, the same slender but lithe build, the same high cheekboned face that did not bear a single blemish or pockmark, the same piercing gaze—though his was of crystal blue, not amethyst like December’s. “I did not receive an invitation,” the seraph replied calmly. “But I did want to come to the party, very much.”

That would not fly, of course, but it was not exactly a lie. Xeno made no move to touch his own sword. Granted, if Leon became hostile, he could still draw it fast enough to meet him steel for steel, but to all appearances, Xeno did not seem to be threatening. “I have heard of you, Leon Deltova,” he admitted. “I have borne witness to your near-insatiable curiosity as well.” He gave the barest hint of a smile, almost invisible on those pale, thin lips. “The human businessman by the name of Cyrus cannot be a liaison if we are not aware of visitors like you. But do not blame him; he is as oblivious as you were.”

Xeno bowed his head then. “Forgive me for the sneaking, but I would quite like to attend your party. I only feared you would throw me out if I came to ask—either that, or one of your guests would take offense to my presence.” Oh, he was a handsome man, to be sure, beautiful even: but, again like December, he wore his otherwordliness like a cloak, and the animal instincts of humans were instantly wary.

Plus, Xeno had no intentions of giving up his armor or sword, and those would make a questionable party outfit.

[Dark Strider]

Leon watched as the cloaking field disapated from around the figure, revealing the whole of the creature. A seraphim, an angel to mortal man. To anyone else, they were the thing of legend, a supposed guardian angel of mortal life, guiding and nurturing life, preventing the extinction of the world and its desians. A truly god-sent blessing to catch a glimps of them, or to think to have seen one. That was how a normal person would probably react, that or be in total disbelief.

Leon however, wasn't a normal man. He had been in contact with a member of this race without knowing it until reciently, but he was un-surprised at the information, an indication of inhuman skill and grace coming from the one he had met before.

"So. You're one of them, like December, eh? None too surprising, seeing as she could appear and vanish when she pleased..." Leon said in quiet contemplation. "And, seeing as you can do that, there really isn't any point in telling you not to come to the party. You, obviously, serve a higher power then the like of man, so I honestly don't believe that you'd follow the whims of a human, let alone someone as questioning as I." Leon continued, returning to the situation at hand.

"So, now that that is out of the way, what in the seven hells do you want with me? It's obvious you aren't here for anyone else, so why not just come out and tell me what it is you want." Leon said, taking his hand off of the hilt of his sword.

No point in aggrivating the current point, as that would only create tension towards the final means. Whether that be good or not, the entirety of this meeting would be decided on the willingness to cooperate on either end.

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[Felypsa]

Xenophon watched Leon with a detached interest as he reacted to what he had said. Ever calm, Leon seemed to think out loud, relating Xeno’s qualities to December’s. The seraph wasn’t going to tell him that December had only been a half-trained girl when she left their world, obsessed with humans for some reason. Had she stayed and continued to learn from the best of the Seraphim, she would have been much more able…like Xeno himself. Hopefully, Leon would not have to learn that from first-hand experience. Xeno had no qualms against him.

The man did express interest in whom Xenophon was working for, but the guardian angel’s expression did not flicker, neither agreeing with nor denying Leon’s analysis. He agreed to allow Xeno to come to the party, wisely rationalizing that he would not be able to keep the seraph out anyway. Then finally he asked the most burning question with an assumption that finally broke Xeno’s composed visage and caused him to smile.

“It may be that your party might attract other uninvited guests,” Xeno admitted. “Though I doubt you would turn her away. She will come to you and ask for your help, feeling safe and shielded by the number of people who will be here. But she will not tell you exactly what it is she requires. Only that she seeks your support, in the name of honor.” Leon would probably be able to guess that he was referring to December. “I am here to…see how it all plays out. I won’t trouble you for anything more.”

He paused, for at that moment, the young woman he had followed in came down the stairs. She had not yet changed her clothes, though her hair was done up in soft curls. Somni paused halfway down the stair and looked from Leon to Xeno. “Arriving early?” she asked. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met.” Xeno bowed low. “I am called Xenophon of the Stardark Clan. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady.” Somni was taken aback by his old-fashioned gallantry. “I am…Somni of the…” She frowned and looked at Leon. “Is he for real?” she asked bluntly.