((OOC: For the sake of everyone’s sanity, I’m not going to go through and describe how each and every Death Book leaves…if you want, you can think up something yourselves…but they all escape…because I said so…and I’m the GM…so there…yeah.))

“Withdraw.”

It was a simple command, but the Death Books reacted to it immediately. They had various methods of breaking off combat. Some, if they had the space, just booked it out. Others had to get more creative, using everything from the classic standbys like flashes of light and sound to more inventive ways. Fights were broken up, egos (on both sides) were bruised…but the long and the short of it is that the Death Books left.

And on some basic level, Duncan was wondering what the heck that was all about.

Until he noticed some other people on his property.

“Hey,” he yelled, mostly in the direction of Thomas, but directed at various others as well, “what the devil are you doing here?!”

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The fight at the amusement park ended just as suddenly, if not as cleanly. To Nathaniel and Caleb, it seemed like the Death Book stopped attacking for no reason, and then it looked like it was talking to someone.

Nathaniel was never one to let an opening pass, and opened up with the M-1.

However, the bullets proved no more effective than before, and this Death Book made good and his escape as well.

“What the heck was that about!” Nathaniel shouted at no one in particular. “Why in the blazes did a freakin’ Death Book just hightail it like that?!”

((Summary: The Death Books leave in a rather non-spectacular post by yours-truly.

OOC: Sorry for the quality…but I don’t have much time, and I think this fight as dragged on enough already as is. Wrap it up as you wish, but no dead or capture Death Books. No debriefing or anything this time, either. Manor security will clean things up, the Protectors are free to go about as they wish.

Except for Mauve, Ecurt, Raiden, and Bookworm…they are trespassing, don’t you know…and that’s kind of illegal. If you want to talk to Duncan, cool. If you want to make good on your escape, cool.))

"Hey!" someone yelled. "What the devil are you doing here?!" Trish looked up from the empty spot that the Death Book had occupied moments ago to the source of the voice. Uh oh. Busted.

"We saw the old guy get hit by one of those metal books, so we came in to help," she explained quickly, jabbing a thumb at Josiah. "Y'know.... Just being concerned citizens and all that."

She looked down at the ground and kicked through the thick layer of fallen rose petals.

"It looked like you needed some help. Although I expected them to have better security for this place, all things considering," she finished.

"Bah, they've left." John sighed to himself. He could feel the Death Books magically escaping. The demon tigers melted down into a pool of burning blood. Since the enemies were gone, John didn't need to keep them around any longer.

"Some one will need to clean this up, would be a shame if this hallway was ruined." John was referring to his blood melting the floor. "But what a waste of a healthy day. Only one weak enemy..."

John sighed as he turned around and headed towards the library. It was quite rare for him to be this healthy, maybe he could have some fun with the Mother before his health deteriorated again.

The Death Book...was gone.

Troy wasn't sure how, but when Troy turned his back on the Death Book his opponent had disappeared. He guessed that the other one in the vicinity had grabbed him, but...

It didn't change the fact that the sealer was gone.

"Tsk."

That was when Duncan had arrived.

He coughed, brushing off a few petals from his shoulders. Walking over to where he had left the bags, he put back his own and raised Laurella's. "We came here originally to deliver Laurella's bag. But things got out of hand - and, well...

"We'd better get a good tip for this."

Laurella stood before the monitors, becoming more impatient with every second. "C'mon, just fuckin' say it already!"
The monotonous female voice of a computer spoke out two very important words critical to maintaining Laurella's sanity.

"All clear."

"Fuck, yeah!" Laurella cheered, did a victory pose, and was just plain gone. Leaving the towel she used behind, she stopped by the pool and picked up her Final Fantasy VIII themed towel. "They even managed to save my favorite towel. I gotta thank 'em double for this later."

Then she hurried towards the front of the building (by circling around the manor instead of just going through it) where someone had shown up with her schoolbag. She probably should have changed out of her two-piece first, but she was always quite comfortable at the manor. The inhumanly beautiful Thomas Silva and some people she vaguely recognized from school were gathered here.

"Well, I was merely performing a service to my students and teaching them the finer points of handicapped combat. And of course, Laurella is a student of mine as well...and it's every teacher's job to protect their student when the situation arises."

He looked about at the massive amount of rose petals that had gently landed on the ground. His hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a small stone with a strange sigil carved onto it.

"But now that she seems to be in safe hands and out of danger, I shall take my leave. Farewell."

He let the stone fall gracefully from his hands, and land on the ground. Suddenly the stone cracked in half, sending out a whirlwind that caught the rose petals and made them swarm around his body, hiding him from view. When the wind died down and the petals dispersed, he was gone. Physically, anyway. All of the people that were students in his class could hear his voice in their ears.

"Oh, and please do not forget to do questions 1-3 at the end of Chapter One. See you all tomorrow."

Then the voice ended.

Laurella shrugged. "Does that mean we have school tomorrow? Awww..."

She walked over to Troy and accepted her schoolbag. "I wish you didn't bring this. I would have a good excuse for not doing the homework. Meanie."

"Wait, he is one of your teachers?" Narzeal said, approaching the Laurella. "Maybe I should be one of those teachers then. I'm not so sure I trust that guy." Narzeal went on, then finally he directed his comments straight for Laurella. "What was your history class you were taking? I think with the way the school is going, I'd rather be there on the safe side." Narzeal finished, waiting for Laurella to anwser.

A little sore OR Dirt off your shoulder.
 

Rob stayed on the ground for a bit longer. Wow, been a while since I've fallen that far. He wiggled his fingers and toes. Yup, everyone's still connected. Luckily my head broke my fall. Rob slowly picked himself up out of the bushes, gathered his backpack, and straightening his jacket.

Rob got up in time to see the scholarly guy disappear in a cloud of flower petals. He approched the other two. Some welcoming commitee you have here! I'm Rob, I have class with you guys, well, usually. I wasn't feeling well today, so I didn't make it in. Lucky for me, I don't live far away from here, so I thought I'd ask stop by and ask Laurella what the homework was.

Rob looked around a bit, trying to appear confused. What are you guys doing here if you don't mind me asking? Do you live nearby? Or do you live here also?

Rob then noticed Laurella's arrival. Ah, the person I was looking for! Sorry to bother you, I'm Rob, I'm in a few of your classes. Do you know what the homework was? I tried to get a hold of Ms. DuCharme but her machine said she was going to be out of town for a few weeks. I tried a bunch of other classmates, but no one answered thier phones.

Rob dusted himself off. Also, why was the gate open? Thought this place was guarded like Fort Knox...

Summary: Laurella ditches everyone to go talk it up with Stacey over the phone in her room. Topics are Zack's Revelation and Silva's Appearance.

Laurella was becoming confused. "Ummm...talk to your higher ups or that guy." she said, pointing to Duncan, then running like hell. She didn't know how to answer either of them and was starting to feel a draft.
She sighed when she managed to get back into her room. She changed out of her moist bikini and back into the unflattering pale yellow tank top and faded denim overalls at the bed. Recalling what Silva had said, she fished into her schoolbag for her lead pencil, her notebook, and her mythology textbook.

Next, she opened her desk drawer and pulled out the earpiece for her cellphone. She put in on and depressed the button until she could see the blinking blue light on it from her reflection in the mirror. Then she tapped it.
"State your command." the monotonous female voice intoned.
"Call someone." Laurella responded.
"Who would you like to call?"
"Stacey Parkerman."
"Did you say 'Stacey Parkerman'?"
"Yes."
Several seconds later. "Did you say 'Stacey Parkerman'?"
"Yes." Laurella said with a little more edge than last time.
"Dialing."

Laurella opened up the textbook and notebook, deciding that she might as well get the homework out of the way. After two rings, the phone on the other end picked up.
"Hey, Laurella. What's up?"
"Oh, I just came under attack by some evil douchebags. But that's not important right now. Guess who decided to walk back into our lives?"
"Who's that?"
"Garret. Y'know, from our childhood."
"Hmm, I see. Is he still gay?"
Laurella took a moment to think about how he acted down there with her in the bomb shelter. "Yeah, I think so."
"So, is that all that you wanted to talk about?"
"Hmmm...oh, Mister Silva was here today!"
"What?! Oh, you lucky bitch!"
Laurella did her best to stifle her laughter. "Yeah, he showed up in this awesome sports car with a tuxedo, smelling like men were intended to smell and brought me candy and roses and got down on one knee..."
"Nooooo! Why'd he have to pick you?! I'm pretty, too! And I'd do anything for him!"
Laurella found the answer to Question 1 and wrote it down on the paper. "Actually, I'm just kidding."

"Yeah, I know. Silva wouldn't fall for you that easily. You may have that air of mystery about you, but it's going to take more than that. You two haven't even gone out of a date yet."
Stacey did say that, but Laurella was sure she heard a sigh of relief poorly disguised before she started talking. "Well, there was that one time we spent several hours together at the amusement park because we didn't have anyone else to hang out with."
"Goddamn it. Stop saying stuff like that."
The Mother of Hell chuckled. "Well, if it's any consolation, you can have Gary."
"Pfft. That guy is more feminine than the two of us combined, Laura."

The two girls kept going back and forth about silly topics as they both did their homework. Apparently, Stacey had received Silva's message as well. Maybe she was stalking him.