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[Thugren]

nothing girl... I have no contracts to make.... I simply want this core to be used...."

 

He motions at zero.

 

"He has one...As does his beloved sister...."

 

Zero tenses at the demons words and he goes to try and speak but the demon silences him.

 

"Where you will be going, you will need another like zero or chalice..... I feel the need to protect my investment."

[Oce]

Vale reached towards the stone again, but this time to close the box, reluctantly sliding it closer to her. "I make no promises that I'll use it, but..." she sighed, tucking the box into her pocket and out of sight. "Now get out," Chalice spat, still standing stiffly behind her girl.

[Thugren]

The figure smiles .... a twisted smile that spreads a little too far.... and shows he has a few too many teeth.”

Now now...”

He says with a huff as he raises his hand, the old woman sitting up like a puppet o. Strings as she begins to serve him a plate

[Oce]

Vale recoiled from the smile, suddenly reaching for Chalice's hand and gripping it tightly. She had been somewhat able to tolerate the demon at first, but now he made her stomach churn uncomfortably. Her doll squeezed her hand before carefully tugging the girl to her feet, eyes locked on Zero. "If you won't leave, then we shall." 

[Thugren]

chalice..... I have agreed to not bully you.... But if you dont sit down, i will explain why yopu where put into my care..."

 

zeros eyes glow lightly, and he opens his mouth.

 

"She....saysss.....Go..ooo homeee."

 

his voice wasempty and hollow, but the demon sighs and nods.

 

"Well shango calls...it was nice to see you..."

[Oce]

Vale only relaxes marginally as the demon leaves, dragging Chalice towards Zero. She doesn't reach out towards him like she wanted to, but standing close made her feel less like she was being used as a new toy for a twisted demon. She briefly wondered if Shango had asked Asmodeus to introduce himself, before getting caught up with the weight of the core resting in her pocket. 

 

"Does anybody else get the feeling that he isn't telling us everything," Chalice asked, glaring at Zero. She wasn't upset towards the other doll, but she was frustrated with her inability to protect Vale from such a threat.

[Thugren]

Heee .... eeee c...annnnn.... not li..... lie.”

Zero rasps as he takes vale’s hand tenders and smiles.

“ br...a...ve.”

He tells her with a smile as he grabs her a bread roll and leads them all out into the streets

[Oce]

"That doesn't mean that he has the purest intentions," Chalice was quick to say. She considered his words, though part of her was reluctant to do so, but he had reacted just slightly better than she had so obviously Zero couldn't have been on friendly terms with the demon. Gritting her teeth, she tried to calm herself down so she didn't feel like punching things. She was half tempted to go back to the ratty apartment and wreak the place further. 

 

Vale smiled weakly at Zero, releasing the fidgeting Chalice in favor of hovering close to the other doll. It calmed her heart to be near him, less likely to jump at her own shadow. "Hardly," she mumbled, lowering her gaze as she followed closely behind.

[Thugren]

zero tussels her hair softly as he leads them back through the alley, soon finding his way back to the ampitheater where they head inside.

 

guiding them to their mistresses room , they find her leaning agasingt the headboard , knitting waht appears to be a set of gloves.

 

"my lovely little vale...CHalice and zero..... How did it go?"

 

zero cocks his head and gently pats vales shoulder, pushing her to speak

[Oce]

Chalice rolled her eyes while Vale settled further under the head pat. This was ridiculous. Why did the kid prefer the near mute doll to her? Chalice was literally attached to her, invisible strings and all, yet the kid still preferred the other kid's toy. She was grumbling under her breath as she followed along, trailing behind just barely. Back to visit the kid-next-door's house.

 

Vale nearly slumped under the light weight of Zero's hand as they stood before Shango, her head lowering as she averted her gaze. Why was everyone constantly pushing her to speak? It felt wrong to be flaunting the voice that had once been stolen from her. It was like teasing a sibling when they get reprimanded for something you did. "M-mission accomplished," she whispered, unable to meet Shango's gaze.

[Thugren]

Chalice .... dear please clean the bitch off your face before I clean it off permanently .”

Shangos says , her tone out of character strong.

“ vale is vulnerable and you are so caught up in why somone who has known you for five minutes isn’t hiding behind you... itsbunseemly.”

Zero rolls his eyes at this annoyed with the both of them as he gets out a small little toy robot and sits down .

“ zero...”

Shangos says as if slighted by his actions , catching herself as she looks at vale and pats her bed.

“ where you scared baby girl?0

[Oce]

Chalice didn't bother hiding her sneer as she turned on her heel and strutted out of the room, letting the door slam harshly behind her, just half a decibel away from slamming it. It was clear nobody wanted her there, and it wasn't long before perhaps I was better off dead took over her thoughts. Even hell had been more welcoming than this shit show. She didn't stop until she was standing outside, just out of sight of the street, allowing her fist to slam into the bricks. This had obviously been a mistake. 

 

Meanwhile, Vale flinched as Chalice stormed out in a huff, the woman gone before she could look back at her. The girl was frowning as she glanced warily up at Shango, unconsciously taking a step back. She could feel Chalice's rage bubbling underneath her skin like an overly warm blanket, and it did little to set Vale at ease. She felt more like scratching until there was blood in order to vent some of the heat-- something she was barely able to resist doing. 

 

Beyond that, she felt like she had gone from having nothing to having everything, but now everything was in more turmoil than it had ever been. Being tugged in two different directions was something Vale had little experience with. She hated it. It was frustrating and when it combined with Chalice's own, it made Vale harsher than she was used to. 

 

"You, Zero, and Asmodeus are not fond of Chalice, yet you seem content with coddling me. She lost everything she had and still volunteered to help out.. But no one is willing to give her a chance, so why give me one?" She gritted her teeth as she backed up further towards the door, reaching into her pocket to retrieve the core the demon had given her. "This .. Spoiling me now isn't going to fix me, it isn't going to undo all of the damage." She was shaking violently as she reached for the door handle while the doll core slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. Her escape was quicker than Chalice's.

[Thugren]

Oh child you are so far from understanding how I feel about that doll.... you can wrap around the street twice and miss the door .”

Standing up she winces and grand a cane to steady herself as she grabs vales hand .

“ come little one let’s fetch the lost lamb...”

She says as zero sighs and stands following then outside.

“ wel there she is....”

Shangos says with a chuckle as she sees the dolls damage and sits on a pile of newspaper.

“ did the wall hit you back ?”

Knowing the answer was no shango snaps and some seats appear around them.

“The next time you slam a door in my home chalice I’ll have you cleaning plates for a week .... it’s not proper so do not do it.”

Grabbing a file from her pocket shango begins to do her nails as she begins to speak .

“ let me correct a misconception my dearest vale.... I spoil and protect you because it is what o do as a mother.... I protect the broken and teach them to be strong . What I do not do is coddle somone when they are acting like a child.”

She points her nail file at chalice and continues fixing her nails .

“ your doll? Beautiful ... agile , dangerous .... as a doll should be. But spoiled. Because I am hard on your faults do not take it as me not liking you... because if I didn’t I wouldn’t be sitting in the trash heap of a hallway trying to mend your feelings.”

Zero rolls his eyes at the whole situation and points at vale and begins making a motion with his hands.

“ I am to protect you..... but she has to feel special too ok?”

Shango chuckles at zeros clumsy display.

“ oh you silly boy...”

[Oce]

Vale flinches when Shango catches her hand, just barely preventing herself from slamming into the door as she recoiled, her free hand jerking up to guard her face. She doesn't scream to accompany the immediate jolt of fear; instead aside from her sharp inhale and follow up shaky breath, she's entirely silent. Her hand shakes as it falls back to her side, but she takes a moment before she peels herself away from the wall, unable to look anywhere near Shango. 

 

Her anger and frustration had been effectively doused and now Vale just felt empty. She tried to escape from Shango's grip, carefully, intent on not jerking away this time, instead wrapping Shango's arm around her neck to further support her, though Vale's pulse pounded away. She supposed she should be grateful that the 'episode' had happened behind closed doors so she only humiliated herself in front of two out of three people who mattered at all. 

 

She doesn't seem to register Shango's words as she follows along stiffly, reminiscent of a puppet with an inexperienced puppeteer. She doesn't even glance at Chalice when they find her in the alley, forehead pressed against the wall. 

 

"Not yet," Chalice replied, because a small part of her actually hoped that the wall would fight back, as futile and unrealistic as it was. Neither of them sit when Shango conjures the chairs, but the doll at least turned to face the unexpected company. She had already known of Vale's fear, but she knew there wasn't much that could be done to immediately fix the girl, aside from letting her calm at her own pace.

[Thugren]

Do you know why I’m so hard on you?”

Shango says as she blows off her nails .

“ because you’re supposed to guard the only thing in this world. That even remotely makes me a mother in this world.”

Zero sits in his chair and listens as shango continued.

“ I have to teach little vale how to be strong , because I see myself in her ... every aspect of her is how I was a child ... and you know who brought me to understand ? “

She points at zero who puts in earbuds .

“ so when I bring your faults to the fore it’s not because I dislike you... it’s because you are the protector of my precious child.”

[Oce]

Chalice watched as Vale shifted aside, standing stiffly somewhat close to Shango still though her gaze was fixated on her shoes. This wasn't a pleasant feeling, whatever emptiness that radiated off of the dejected girl. The doll would rather see her hanging off of Zero with a dorky smile on her face than seeing her as this hollow husk. She didn't even react to the talk of being Shango's daughter.

 

"I understand," Chalice muttered, feeling vaguely ashamed now that the edge of her rage was gone. She realized that she needed the chance to prove her worth before she would stop feeling like a complete outsider, and throwing a fit about who Vale clung to only served to further isolate the girl. It was idiotic, being that selfish and greedy. This was more closely related to a military training than she had been prepared for; treated like a maggot until you rise through the ranks. She could handle that. "I.. Am sorry for my outburst, it won't happen again."

[Thugren]

Of course it won’t .”

Shango says as she reaches into her pocket and pulls the core from her pocket .

“ you’ll need this little one .”

She says to vale as she puts the core in her hand.

“ do not worry about my little friend .... that core has a destiny that only you can weave my little rose bud.... .”

She smiles and points at zero .

“ it’s what he’s made out of ...”

[Oce]

Vale reluctantly accepts the core back, shoving it back in her pocket. She glanced warily between her 'mother' and Chalice, nibbling on her lip as she slowly settled back down. She still hovered near Shango, this time lightly brushing against her side with the back of a hand. "Still screams of a trap.. I already have Chalice, I don't think I need another babysitter."

[Thugren]

My dear girl..... I have over 325 dolls .”

She says with a smile as she takes the young girls hand and sits her in her lap.

“ ranging from young boys to old women. zxxxx you will never have enough because it’s our job to bring dolls to life.”


A familiar song of aurora singing in the night can be heard and shango pulls out a cigarette .

“ she couldn’t cook worth anything ...... but she could always sing .”

[Oce]

Vale squeaked indignantly as she fell ungracefully into Shango's lap, just barely resisting flailing and injuring the seemingly frail woman. "325!? .. I don't run a business so I think Chalice is more than sufficient for just me," the girl mumbled, feeling awkward. She didn't know what to do, so she just resigned herself to her fate; sitting stiffly with her hands in her lap. "I .. have nothing to offer anyone. It seems cruel to create dolls and leave them to their fate.." 

The girl didn't relax until a minute or so into Aurora's familiar singing, finally allowing herself to lean lightly into Shango's front while wrapping an arm around her neck. It wasn't until the girl gently wound her fingers into Shango's hair, scratching at the scalp, that Chalice rolled her eyes with a snicker. "You've spoiled her too much. You realize this, right? She fully intends to play up on the spoiled bratty 'daughter'." While this was half true, they both knew that she was almost equally attached to Zero and even Aurora, as surprising as it was.