The People in Black [open to all Argona characters]

The people in black were seated around a long table in the burnt out shell of a town hall.

To call it a 'town' would be too much. Haidatown, as the locals had called it, had been a smattering of wooden buildings on the Washington coast, ringed in by forests and rivers. Population: 0. When the police arrived, however many days or weeks later, they'd only find burned and broken totem poles and the ashes of 102 corpses scattered in the ocean. A gifted community that had refused to do business. Their mistake.

The only thing that remained of the roof were burned and splintered rafters and beams, and a light drizzle of rain came in through the ruined remnants of the ceiling. A woman, no older than eighteen, sat at the foot of the table, wearing a long black coat and a sleepy smile. Her eyes changed with every tilt of her head, every shift of light; from aqua to a deep forest green and back again, and her honey hair was tousled artfully over her shoulders.

"Are we all settled, then?" she asked in accented English, her voice hushed and sweet.

A boy with white hair picked at a crack in the table. "Where's Snow?" he asked.

As if on cue, the rumble of a distant explosion rang out across the room, followed by maniacal bubbling laughter.

"Entertaining herself," Elodie answered, crossing her legs and folding her gloved hands neatly in front of her.

Ryan Patterson leaned forward, resting a hand on his cheek. "Figured."

In another of the chairs sat a young man with long red hair and a slender body. Leaning against the chair and reaching slightly above his head was a blood soaked Zweïhander, which had been used to kill many of the refusing townspeople. The young man had a serious and apathetic expression worn on his face as he spoke. "Could one of you remind me why we're here? I must have forgotten during the fighting," he said plainly, his hands clasped on the table in front of his face.

A tall silver-haired teen was seated at the table. His leg was twitching and his eyes never focused on one area. "I'd like to know the same, actually." he said. His metal bo staff was in his hands, and he was fiddling with it as they spoke.

From the edge of the room, another man in black leaned up against the wall, staring down at his hand. There was red stains on him, under his nails, and under his skin... He always hated it when that happened, when he got someone else's blood inside his own body. It was nothing short of annoying, and felt like an itch that couldn't be scratched. Dominic chose to not think about it best he could, staring across at the table, eying Elodie - and the others that spoke up after her. "Such poor memory won't do you well," He mused with a crooked smile, fiddling with the cuffs of his uniform. 'A better question would be how long do we have to stay here?' The smell of human barbeque wasn't his particular favorite, and Snow sounded like she was having far too much fun out there.

Near the other end of the table sat a blonde man, not too far off in age from the other. He was staring outside the windows, at all the burning buildings and other smoldering shapes, seemingly lost in thought. Once Elodie's chimed through the humbly-made hall, he seemed to snapped out of it. Spion pulled a fresh pack of cigarettes out of his coat, slipping one out and throwing his gaze to the serene woman across the room expectantly.

Towards the southern end of the table, with her head resting on her arms, Jessie feigned sleep for a moment longer before lifting her head and cracking open an eye, looking over the whole proceedings with a rather bored expression. She didn't really like being cooped up in here, and in all honesty some of her fellow…"colleagues" made her wary, some more than others. Brushing her red locks out of her eyes, she glanced over to where Dominic was asking a fairly legitimate question. She was going to be here - she didn't have anywhere else to go - but she wasn't going to like it. "Yeah, are we really going to stay here all day? Can we at least get lunch?" It wasn't the greatest of weather outside, but Jessie was never really concerned about that. Her stomach demanded sustenance, and there didn't seem to be anything to eat around here, even after they barbecued the whole place. Heh, barbecue… She chuckled quietly to herself, somewhat distracted by her own thoughts.

Shannon sat at the edge of the table, head down to the splintered wood below her chin, watching ants scurry along the table to escape the water droplets that bounced off and around her head. She appeared to be the youngest at the table, but was actually by-far the oldest. In her ears were buds, muffled music filtering through the damp air and across the room. She wasn't paying attention. Raindrop after raindrop left a damp marking in her bleach-blonde hair, a river down her bangs that dripped before her eyes.

Elodie smiled at them. "Are we so forgetful, Monsieur? Did you join us only for the destruction, without questioning its purpose?" She spoke calmly, her expression never changing. "The town refused to cooperate. Now, the next communauté we speak with will be more welcoming. It is just the usual business."

She glanced up to the sky, droplets of rain collecting in her full blonde hair. "If you mean why we are still gathered here, that is because we have business to discuss. Here is as good as any other place, wouldn't you agree?"

Her gaze turned on Edward. "The madame gave you a task for the Académie, no?"

Edward's eyes shifted towards Elodie's general area. "Righ right. I forgot. Yes, I am to be going there posing as a student while we gain inside knowledge." Edward replied. It would also give him a chance to beat up some of those wimps.

"Hopefully she's chosen the right person for the job," the red-haired man, Cenek, commented. "It'd be a real shame if he were to be caught. Especially if no one was present to help him handle the situation..." Cenek let the end of his sentence trail off. Hopefully, he'd be able to find some other excuse to go to the academy as well if this didn't work. Cenek wanted to see for himself what they were up against. Plus, his lack of knowledge about the students made him wary to put his trust in Edward being able to handle himself if someone found out where his loyalties truly lied.

"Do you doubt the Madame's judgement, Monsieur?" she asked, never raising her voice. "I have been in this school myself. I have no doubt that Monsieur Jackson will do his duty well." Her gaze drifted to a blond man smoking a cigarette. "Monsieur Spion knows the Académie well, no? And Madame Compton as well. They can be mentors to you."

After a moment of deliberation, Elodie spoke again, softer this time. "And I have heard that you have a brother here. Will he be an... obstacle?"

Sitting at another chair was Feris, who seemed more interesting in his hand than what was going on around him. He hated meetings - they were simply boring! He wanted to go mess with the students of Beata, see their powers before beating them into the dust. But, here he was, half-listening to what was going on around him. His brown eyes however flickered up when Elodie mentioned that...Uh...What was his name? Edward? Yeah, that was it. That she mentioned that Edward had a brother at Beata.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the 'speedster,' bending his head just slightly so it was harder to read his face as his hood shifted to hide more of his sharp face in shadows. Everything about it was sharp - his chin, his eyes...His face didn't have a real curve to it anywhere, it was simply pointy. But his attention span and his mind? That could stand to be more sharp. He wasn't the most 'sane' person, enjoying causing pain and chaos a bit more that he should but years on the streets alone could hurt anybody in their own special way.

He had simply grown use to the customs of the hard way on the streets by accepting them and twisting them in a way that was 'fun' to him to do. Fight to survive...Don't be fair, do what you can, and death is acceptable. That was his way of life, and damn did he have fun doing it. He didn't really care what people thought of him, and he didn't care about thinking of others. If he wanted to cause pain, he would do it...He however did so in a careful manner. Their leader wasn't somebody he wanted to tick off, so he grudgingly had accepted her rules and commands as she ordered them. He didn't like it, but he didn't want to be on her bad side. But if Edward had a reason to waver in his job, then Faris didn't like him. Anybody that could have split loyalty was a bother and made it harder for Faris to have his fun as he pleased.

Occ: I get distracted by Skyrim for a few days and I miss out on this topic, dangit.

Sniffing the smell of blood, his most favorite smell of them all. D'Roy sat next to Jessie at the table. "You want one?" Extending his hand out to reveal a deep red mint shaped treat. It was about the size of a small gum ball, but it was made entirely of blood. Blood that he had gathered from the massacre outside and formed them into small edible treats. He popped one in his mouth with a wide grin across his face as he began to dissolve it. To most it wasn't the most pleasant of tastes, but to him it was delicious.

"Yeah like she said! How do we know you won't have a change of heart when it comes to this brother of yours?" D'Roy turned his attention to Edward. Awaiting his answer.

Edward put a sour look on his face. My... brother, won't be an issue. He doesn't even know he has a brother." he snarled. He hated the fact that people would dare to think that his brother would be able to "change" his ways. His grip tightened on his bo staff as everyone accused him of possibly committing treason in the future.

Jessie glanced over at D'roy, then made a face at the offer of 'food' he made towards her. "I'll pass, thanks..." Blegh. What a creep. Then again, most of them were a bit... 'strange'. Was she any different? Well, she liked to think she was. She at least felt more sane than most.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." She looked over at Edward, not particularly caring whether or not he held some form of emotions for his brother. Who cared? They'd just send someone else to eliminate the lot, right? "If the only reason we're here is to question each other, then we're wasting our time. Now, if there's no opposition..." She placed her palms firmly on the table and stood up. "... I'm going outside for some air." It wasn't exactly fresh air. It was rather wet and smelled of death and blood, but she wanted to get up and move, no matter if it was to a more undesirable location.

"No, I trust that she's made a good choice. I still want to see what the school is like for myself, however." Cenek turned to look at Edward after his reply to Elodie. "On the off chance that you do have a change of heart, don't expect to live very long." Cenek showed next to no emotion when he spoke, hiding any emotion he felt well. He almost wanted for Edward to betray them, if only so that he'd have an excuse to indulge his homicidal tendencies, and be able to go to the academy at the same time. Perhaps Cenek would also be able to take over Edward's assignment if he were to turn traitor, and then he'd be able to stay at the academy and observe things for as long as he desired.