"We all would probably benefit from his intel," said a deep growl, emanating from the doorway.
The Serpent emerged from the shadows, shadows cast not only within the warehouse but out in the world, where he had remained hidden for a long while now. His boots hit and echoed after his steps, a bit more dramatically than he would have elected if he had a choice but the room was now silent, waiting Tougen to disseminate his precious knowledge.
His trench-style coat flared after him, not unlike an Earth-bound Haori marking the former Tyrant, though it wouldn't be hard to figure out who he was.
Having only arrived, he received none of the value of the pleasantries exchanged earlier but glancing around, he only truly recognized about half of who had arrived. But even with his eyes alight, reignited and emblazoned brightly by his summoning and convening with his masked-kin - his presence was relatively calm, more tempered than his... discomfort as a former Shinigami and fugitive had once allowed. Still, his roughness hadn't completely subsided and his fangs were plenty sharp enough, at least for whatever he had been called here today for.
"Why so serious?" he rumbled, his familiar guff scratching roughly behind his somewhat twisted smile, "I hope I didn't interrupt you, I'm just pleasantly surprised to see you fuckers."
If the presence of yet another Tyrant was off-putting to Tougen, he didn't show it. The tension in the room hung thick, but he seemed oddly relaxed in the company of others. "Shunsen! How good to see you again!"
He offered the former Blitzkrieger a hearty smile, before giving a brief glance to Silas. Turning back to the others, he held his hand out, as though offering something with it. "There exists a... a sort of sanctuary, I suppose. A safehouse, a port in the storm as it were."
Tougen chuckled briefly to himself. His feet shuffled seemingly idly.
"Well, I suppose it's not just one. Consider it a network, then. A network of safehouses. Many use them, still do, and all follow the same rules: no violence. You, little Vizard, have likely visited or seen them before." He pointed to Shukumei, before taking light steps backwards. Some manner of wet had been stuck beneath Tougen's waraji, smeared across the concrete floor of the warehouse to messily scrawl out three kanji:
奥の院.
Nodding lightly to the symbols, he gave a knowing look to Shukumei. "Use them... or do not. It is simply an option, an avenue of possibility, let's say."
Holding his hands wide, he commented to the wider group. "It seems there are quite the numbers, little Vizard. Scary implications, worse possibilities..."
Pausing, he looked away for a moment. Then, "The perimeter remains secure. For now."
Hotate's finger shot towards the symbols on the ground. "Nope. I'm not going anywhere near these three symbols again. It would be better to go to Cerberus or other organizations instead of this one." Without really meaning to, she glanced at the back of her hand, though it was clean and free of any markings. The last symbol, 院, was pretty familiar to her, though she had a good look at all three of them previously.
Her face tilted forward, and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. "Well, I suppose you can go if you like seeing ghosts deader than us." Hotate let out a deep giggle. Then her large, green eyes flashed pleasantly towards Tougen. "Where did you get information about this network of safe houses, if I may ask?"
Shukumei stared at the three symbols with narrow eyes for a moment. He was surprised that Hotate had near enough what his reaction would have been had she not beaten him to it. The last time the vizard had visited one of those safehouses had been under very uncomfortable circumstances involving a shinigami stronger than him and a human of unignorable prowess. Shortly after, that human proved his worth.
"The last time I was in a safehouse I met a human who called himself Fukushin," he said, finishing with a sigh. "I'm sure you'll probably all know that name from some place or another, though I'm not ruling out the use of the safehouses. If there is advantage in information and sanctuary to be gained, I'll take it."
The short-statured vizard seemed even shorter than usual when he stood back and took a glance at those that surrounded him. The Frenchman who was a former Ephor, the former tyrants Hotate and Silas, the Mystery-man who seemed to have an endless pit of useful knowledge and the one who was referred to as Shunsen. Of course, not to forget Toki. Through one person or another, each of the individuals present seemed to be connected. They just needed a single catalyst to bring them together, a not-so-strong yet determined little vizard to call out and they arrived. The more he looked at them, however, the more he wondered how many had survived since Hisao's death and the scattering of the Army. It looked almost as though the most powerful vizards around during Shukumei's time in Athena's Echelon were still alive and kicking. The only one that appeared to be missing was Hisao himself. How interesting...
"I quite agree, Mystery-man," the teenager said in response to Tougen. "This little bunch does seem to have a strong degree of character. A lot of power in just a few individuals."
The teenager mused for a few moments as he gathered his thoughts. There are more than I originally expected. I can understand Steely-hair's point, if we stay together too long we may draw unwanted attention.
"I'm going to set out," he began in a louder tone to address the rest of the group. "Stay and catch up if you like, but I have things to sort out. I'll be in contact soon."
With a general wave of goodbye, the copper-haired vizard left the warehouse and began cautiously on his way down the street, more than happy with the outcome of the meeting. Now he had the headcount he wanted, he could proceed with the next steps. He may not have been the most powerful, but he was ambitious and the ambition was a fire that could not be extinguished.
[458/1990] - Final
Note
I'm finishing up here but you guys can carry on as long as you want. I'll create a new All V collab once the next step is to be revealed. Dun dun DUN!
Absolon had remained quiet as the crowd continued to grow. Through he was honestly elated to see the former Tyrants appear, a pang of worry seemed to cause his stomach to clench. Perhaps it was his general discomfort around large crowds, as the number of vizards grew, so did his desire to leave.
As Shukumei announced his plans, the Frenchman continued to stare at the ground with a slightly apathetic expression. What was Shukumei’s plan? After all, so far this meeting hadn’t accomplished much outside of a roll call, something that could have been easily done without gathering a group of hybrids into a small, confined location.
He rested his gaze on Tougen for a moment, the man that seemed to know everything. Distrust continued to bubble up, questioning his vague attempts at dodging the question about his identity.
“So what now?” Absolon asked in a tired tone, “It seems like our host has decided to leave without tying up any of the thousands of loose ends.”
Tougen remained silent for a time, seeming to completely ignore Hotate's question. Then, he spoke with an odd inflection, as though puzzled. "Where..? Hmm, I don't suppose that's really the right way to go about explaining it. I learned about them in Tokyo, I suppose."
Flashing a winning smile to the former Tyrant, he shrugged at Absalon, and seemed content to leave it at that. Pacing away, he made towards the door. Waving over the back of his head, he gave a parting remark. "Loose ends lead down the strangest of paths, Monsieur Leveque! Perhaps ours will cross another time, hm?"
Then, as he exited into the Japanese winter, a slight flurry of wind kicked up. An instant later, it calmed, and Tougen was nowhere to be seen.
What just happened? Really now, their host called them here simply to do that? And here Hotate was thinking some massive calamity was about to befall the world again. She threw her hands out in relent and just decided to forget trying to get answers.
"I suppose I'll be going now to," Hotate said. "Thank you for this little," she hesitated for a moment, trying to decide what to call it, "gathering." The former tyrant bowed her head to the room.
"Since it's this easy to gather you guys up, I suppose I'll try to keep in touch, Tokiwa, Absolon, Silas. It was nice seeing you again. We almost had the big four back again." She let out a bright smile to the three of them before turning to leave.
He came out of hiding for... nothing? Silas angrily turned and walked back toward the door.
"If I see that guy again, we might have a problem." he said through clenched teeth.
Then, forcing a smile through his somewhat twisted expression, he bowed his head slightly at the rest, "Everyone."
A cold wind blew outside, creating a vacuum near the warehouse door and augmenting his attempt at storming out. As he stomped out, disappearing into the cold, it left the others with an echoing slam on Silas' dramatic exit.
Final - Also, Don't need a grade for, like, 300 words.
