[lylyth]

Lylyth had been living at Ishtar's tower for a few weeks now as she stabilized to a new life in the city. She hadn't really left the apartment she had been in. She had a bunch of new clothes at least. Her mind had stabilized slightly as she finally had a more stable environment. She had been thinking. While it was still unknown if the cops were hunting for her, she wanted to make sure that she reclaimed her old home. She didn't know whether it would still be sitting abandoned after all this time. The biggest issue would be trying to get utilities set up if she did. She was going to be in a sticky situation. She needed to leave the apartment though. She messaged Ishtar on her phone in case Ishtar was looking for her. She would be back to collect her stuff if she needed to though.

For now, she needed to get the next step going. She decided that she would need help. She messaged Rui on her phone. The gift from Bakiri had paid dividends as she was able to keep in touch with the two of them. She was hopeful that Rui would answer the message. She had left details on a location near her sister's house where they could meet. The grocery store in the suburb of Shinagawa would serve as an inconspicuous meeting location without drawing too much attention. At least not enough to get the police called unless someone was looking for her.

She left the apartment and began her journey to the suburb. She mostly hid her presence and tried to keep her wings close up against her. While she was getting stared at quite a bit, no one was doing anything about the demon walking. At least that meant no cops went to talk with her. She instinctively fled from sight whenever she saw a police officer. 

It took her forever but she finally made it to the grocery store. It was probably around noon, despite her leaving around seven that morning. She looked around to see if she could spot Rui. When she didn't, she stood outside the store, waiting to see if Rui would respond or show up.

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Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Did Rui answer the message?

Of course she did!! How could she not when her Queen Bestie messaged her?

She replied with about twice as many emojis as written text, but she let Lylyth know she was on her way. So Rui began her journey to the suburbs too, just from a different direction. Part of her wished she would be recognized on the way, stopped by cops trying to arrest her for being an evil super villain, or maybe a hero recognizing her just at a glance and wanting to fight her, but nothing like that happened. Nope, the villain Mummy wasn't nearly notable enough yet, although in her own opinion she definitely already had the cool factor down!! How would it be for Lylyth? She certainly looked scarier than Rui, and as far as Rui knew she had killed a lot more people too. Maybe traversing the city wouldn't be so easy for her?

When she arrived, she couldn't help but enter into a little run when she saw Lylyth. ''Queen Bestie!!'' She called out, smiling and waving. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? It felt like years!! ''How are you, I got your text!'' She turned her phone screen up at her bestie so she could see the text she had sent her that morning. ''Do you like the city? There's so many people here aren't there?'' She had to admit, it felt nice to be around another person with devilish features, those non-mutation humans just didn't understand what it was like!

lylyth

[lylyth]

She picked up her head when she heard the sound of her friend. She noticed her waving from across the lot Her quick pace made Lylyana smile. It was rare for her to see someone excited for her. She had been a recluse much of her life and it wore deeply on her. "Hello Rui. I am well. I hope you are doing so too." She smiled weakly, trying to keep attention away from her. She wasn't sure who if anyone would recognize her. "I am okay with the city. I am honestly more fond of the wilderness at this point. There are a lot of people here. It is definitely different than being out in the wilderness." She was a demon in the middle of a bunch of humans. It was bizarre she was even allowed into the city.

She sighed and looked around. "Now, for why I asked you to meet me. My sister had a house around here. She was arrested for false charges a while back. That's when I fled back into the wilderness. I was thinking I might try to reclaim it. I don't know if the police would have seized the house or not. Do you happen to know?" She asked, unsure how the legal system worked. "The other option would be to reclaim a house owned by my mother, but she has been dead many years and the house could be destroyed by now. It is also quite a distance from Tokyo. Enough that the forest is close to her house."

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Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

Although it was probably obvious, Rui tried to sneak glances at her, was she injured at all? Did she need healing? She didn't want Lyly to tough it out and say she was okay when in reality she needed a quick fix. Oh well! If her bestie said she was okay, then she was okay, right? ''She was WHAT?!'' She pouted, arrested on false charges? Forget the house, they were going to retake the house and bust her sister out of jail! Maybe Rui wasn't strong enough to organize a jailbreak, but they could figure it out somehow! ''Seized the house?'' She put a hand up to her chin as she tried to think. ''Which house? There's many houses here, maybe I've seen it before.''

''Which do you prefer, bestie? No matter what we do it would become your house, right? I don't mind traveling to your mom's house! I go where you go and I beat up anyone that gets in your way!'' She punched the air with less force than the light breeze blowing through the street. ''So! Today's mission: Get bestie a house and get you settled in the city? You couldn't have asked a better person! I'm like, a city survivalist expert!'' Like the city version of an actual survivalist, she knew where to look for dropped change and what streets were good for murdering people without getting caught right away.

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyana was not surprised that her friend would be shocked. "Yes, she was accused of multiple murders. Those damned heroes deserve to die for locking her up. I would break her out if I could. Tartarus is not an easy place to attack." She sighed as she kept her voice down. She did not want people to over hear her. "I don't know if they can. I have lived in the wilds most of my life. As for which house." She pulled out the phone Bakiri had given her and pulled up a map. She found the house and pointed it out to Rui. "It is about here. It was a decent sized place. It had three bedrooms. It had a symbol of an raven carved into the stairs leading up to the front door." She hid the map on the phone and pulled out a picture to show Rui. She hoped Rui would know. "The second house, if this one is occupied and we cannot clear it or take it back, is up near the Hamatakekumano Shrine, along the Tama River. It is quieter, but police have spotted me there in the past. I fled from there after my mother was murdered and made it to Tokyo where I met my sister. It would also serve has a better hideout, though it is farther. It is along the train line and it would keep me away from most cops most of the time. It would also keep me near hunting grounds."


"I am okay with either. While I would love to be close to where my mother lived, I know that it wouldn't be easy. It is along a major road and rail line if we go there though." She was happy to have her friend beside her for this. It was going to be a rough under taking. "Yes, that is the case. We need a house and base of operations. I don't want to rely on Ishtar too much. She has been great to me though." She pondered over the too. "I feel like we should check out my sister's house either way since we are close to it. I can probably gain some information or equipment either way."

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Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

''Yeah! They deserve to die, and then die again! And then die even more!'' She whisper-shouted, having picked up on the fact that Lylyana didn't want to be all too loud around all these people. She put her hands on her hips, but stood on her toes to look up at Lyly's phone as she showed her the map. ''A raven?'' Truth be told, she didn't really keep an eye out for that, but she wanted to help her bestie all the same. ''I see... The White Queen has been helping you?'' Ishtar was a name Rui had heard before, she didn't know Lylyana had also met her.

''I have an idea, then! You don't have to settle for one house. Your sister's house is closer, right? We go there first and see how it looks, if there's any cops or heroes we beat 'em up! Then once we're done, we go to your mom's house and do the same and boom! You now have two super cool houses you can pick between. That's totes the coolest!'' She ended with a grin and a thumbs up. ''Perfect, yes! Queen Bestie, that's your big brain hunting instincts at play! Let's check your sister's house!'' She had a knife in her pocket, but she wasn't about to pull it out in broad daylight. Not until she needed to defend Lylyana, still super delusional about her own power level. Well, in the worst case scenario she could always let Lylyana fight and back her up with some healing! They were an unstoppable duo.

''Let's go, I think I know where the raven stairs are.'' She started walking and motioned for Lylyana to follow her.

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyth nodded, agreeing fully with Rui's sentiment. If she could do anything to help justice be heard, she would. She would kill them herself if she needed to. She then focused on the task at hand. She needed to deal with the situation. She was surprised to hear Rui reference Ishtar as the 'White Queen' "Yes, she is the reason I made my way back into Tokyo. She gave me a place to stay and some new clothes. It's also why I want to get started on my own. Even if I have to become a safe house for those like me, hiding from the supposed light." She said, making her intentions known. She was glad that Ishtar helped her. She would pay her back.

She was surprised to hear Rui mention both houses as an option. It sounded like a good one as well. "That sounds like a great idea. We will look at both and go from there." She was excited to finally have another path in life. She was glad that Rui knew about where the stairs were. It had been awhile since Lylyana had been around this area. She was going to have to jog her memory. Lylyana followed Rui away from the store. It didn't take too long before they got to the correct house. Lylyana noticed the raven quickly. Maybe she should carve her own symbol into the stairs. Lylyana looked over the house, it had been quite a bit. She then looked around the neighborhood. "It looks fairly quiet. I don't see anyone. It has been over a year. They may have abandoned it."

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Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

''Really? That's nice of her, they say queens live in castles, did you stay in a castle?'' She was happy to help Lylyana check out both houses. She was getting to help out her bestie get settled AND she just might be lucky enough to see her fight someone too!! There was no way she could refuse. Two houses? She would have helped her with eight! If it meant having one more friend in the city that meant one more person she could sometimes hang out with.

She gave Lylana a double thumbs up and began walking, wracking what little of a brain she had as she looked around. ''Let's see, the last time I was drunk, stumbling this way...'' She muttered to herself trying to recollect what had happened that night. After they had walked for a little while they finally found the stairs in question. ''That's it!'' She pointed at the raven. ''That's it, right? Or is it the wrong bird?'' She tilted her head to one side, as if she was hoping it might reveal a different answer.

''Yeah,'' she looked around after Lylyana mentioned it. ''I don't hear anything either, wanna check it out bestie? We could go inside and see what it looks like, we'll need to get you a bed and stuff too if there isn't one!'' Her Queen Bestie was probably used to sleeping on rocks or whatever she slept on out in the forest, so they were going to need to get her the softest bed or futon so she could get the full city experience. In case her bestie agreed to going inside, Rui pulled out a small knife from her hoodie pocket, ready to stab at anything that moved and wasn't Lylyana-shaped.

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyana chuckled softly. "It was not a castle. It felt like an apartment in an office building. Definitely different than what I was used to." She was looking over the neighborhood as Rui mentioned the raven. "Yes, that's it. It's been a while since I have seen it. I am surprised that it is still in pristine condition." She said as she took her eyes off the neighborhood. She was glad that Rui didn't mention anything out of the ordinary. "Yes, let's go inside. We need to verify the condition." She said, wondering if any of her stuff was still there.

She slowly climbed that stairs, keeping an eye on the door. She kept looking for traps, but not finding any. She slowly pressed her hand on the door knob and paused. Her nerves overcame her senses as she began to think about everything in her past. She bit her lip, turning the door knob. She pulled the door open slowly to see a disaster. It was like a tornado had hit the place. Chairs had been thrown aside, the cushions had gashes in them from someone looking for something within them. "No..." She whispered, just loud enough for Rui to hear. She slowly made her way through the house finding more disaster. Rui would see the living room directly in front of her, the kitchen through a door on the left. Two rooms in front of her led to Lylyana's and her sister's room. Lylyana entered the left door in front of her. She looked to see books and clothes thrown everywhere. The bed had been torn to shreds. The anger within Lylyana was building. The only thing standing was a picture of Lylyana and her sister.

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Tags:Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

''I see! That's kinda like where I live, but there's no office building so it's just the apartment.'' She couldn't imagine that not being an upgrade for Lylyana considering she probably used to sleep in a cave or something. ''Right? Maybe someone was taking care of it.'' Although why anyone would be spending time on touching up a symbol like that was beyond her. Maybe it was just made of stuff that didn't go bad or fade as much with time? ''You got it, bestie.'' She grinned, pulling out her knife as they headed inside, just in case she needed to stab someone for her bestie.

''Yeah, dead quiet.'' She whispered, then the disastrous realization struck when Lylyana opened the door. Rui rarely ever felt sorry for others. It was something about emotions that she had a hard time understanding, but she did feel for her bestie when she overheard her whisper as she went further in. Rui lingered just behind her, looking over the damage the house had taken. She was no expert or brainiac, but it looked like someone had ransacked the place, maybe looking for something? Why else would they ruin perfectly good furniture? ''Whoever did this is a real piece of shit.'' It was uncharacteristically monotone for Rui, but she couldn't exactly see the fun in this situation. Not unless they were about to exact revenge on whoever did this. ''There's always the next place, right? W-We'll find out who did this and we'll kill them dead! But we gotta get you a place to stay, right? A home base.''

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyana was beyond angry. She was going to make the heroes and police suffer for these crimes. Her rage could be felt in the air around her. She reached out and grabbed the photo, pulling it out of the picture frame. She was going to make sure it came with her. She placed it into a hidden pocket of her clothing and looked over to Rui. "I agree. They will pay for this." She said, anger pulsing in her words.

Her mind finally caught up to her as Rui mentioned the next place. "Yes, you are right. We should take a look at the next place first. I will return to clean up this place though." She said, looking over to Rui. "I guess the best thing to do is look at the next place. I know I walked there once, along the river. I don't know if that would be best for the two of us. What is your opinion on it?"

She looked around the room more. It was odd. Nothing of hers was missing, just torn about and thrown everywhere. It was as though they were searching for something. Her mind clicked. She opened the closet and began to dig through the pile of clothes. "It should be around here somewhere." She had cleared all of the clothing away when she found a small plastic ring on the floor. She was confused as to why it was there and not near the wall when she realized the string was missing. She felt the wall and hoped to find the edge of the door that was there. She caught it with her claw. To anyone else, it would look like a board that was cut to fit a repair. She smirked as she pulled the door open. "There we go." She revealed a small fortune of money. "Hey Rui, think this would help me? I never really had need of it before. I honestly forgot my sister hid it here." She turned and revealed about 300 million yen in large bills. "My sister always said to keep it there for emergencies." It didn't click to her that her sister had robbed a few banks to get this money. She had honestly never been to a bank to know that a lot of money was there.

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Tags: Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

She had never seen her bestie this angry before, understandably so, but she had to admit it made her more frightening than the first time they met. Thankfully Lylyana was willing to check out the next place too, not that Rui wasn't game for a little bit of hero and cop violence, but if they went on the attack now her bestie would have nowhere to stay and while she could crash with her for one night, Rui doubted she would appreciate her loud roommates. ''Along the river? That sounds fine, I doubt there'll be a lot of cops patrolling the area. Not compared to the main streets anyway.'' She would bend down and pick up some old, torn paper documents. From what she could make out it was just plain things, shopping lists, spam mail, nothing crucial or interesting.

Growing increasingly bored with the papers she looked up at Lylyana, confused at first then audibly gasping as she pulled the door open. Just like a hidden video game secret! ''Incredible bestie!!'' She hopped up and ran over to her, immediately stumped by the amount of bills. ''U-Uh, that's a lot of money!'' More than she had ever seen in person herself. ''You'll be rich if you keep all that, can probably pay for food and rent no probs, bestie! Now is really an emergency, don't you think? It's all yours!'' Stretching her arms above her head she looked at Lylyana. ''Where to next, other house?''

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyana smiled. She was happy that Rui found it to be a good thing. She looked around and found her old backpack, fully opened but not torn apart. She grabbed it and began to shovel the money into the backpack. She was careful not to miss. She probably didn't need to work much, just needed to sustain. "Good. I will use it to fund myself while I try to free my sister." She said as she finished loading the backpack. She zipped it up so nothing would show. She couldn't wear it normally, but it would sit nicely on her shoulder.

She looked back to Rui. "Yes, the next house would be the best." She wondered how her mother's house still was. It had been quite a bit since she had been there. "Walking will take a while. Would it be better for us to take a bus or train? Otherwise we will not get there until Nightfall. I don't know how either of those really work. Or would you have a faster way to get there?" She was confused. She last took the bus when she lived with her sister. The train was when she was a child. She wasn't sure if Rui would have a faster way to travel back and forth. She would probably need to find something in the future though. She could learn to ride a motorcycle. A car would likely not be an option due to her wings. She wondered if Rui knew of a quicker way to travel.

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Tags: Rui Matsui

[Rui Matsui]

She couldn't imagine what this was like, going back home and reconnecting with a past that no longer existed the way you remembered it. Rui hadn't been back home in the mountain village she grew up in since leaving for Tokyo all those years ago. Not that she particularly wanted to. The trek required to get there would be tedious and filled with nature and bugs. Not to mention the other kids of the village used to make fun of her and call her evil. If she went back there it would probably only be as a villain to exact revenge on all those who wronged her. However, that didn't seem to be the vibe Lylyana was going through. She wasn't exactly an expert at reading people, but she seemed some kind of upset, rather than willing to blow up the nearest police station.

''Next house, next house!'' She cheered, happily following after her queen bestie. ''A faster way? I have an idea!'' She grinned and started running towards one of the bigger roads. ''Come with, come with!'' She eagerly motioned for her to follow. Once they were stood at the side of the roads and cars drove by she started hailing a taxi. ''You can still commit crimes here, but you have to be more careful about it!'' A car eventually stopped for them. ''This is a taxi, it's like strangers drive you around, you just tell them where you need to go.'' She turned towards the driver as they got into the back of the car. ''It's her first day in Tokyo!'' She smiled. Then, she leaned up to whisper in Lylyana's ear. ''Tell him to let us go near the place, but not too close, like 10 minutes on foot away!'' She was hatching her devious plan, putting in contact lenses that changed how her eyes looked as the car took off.

With her eyes now looking like they had auric crosses in them, she could easily be mistaken for someone else who was much more notorious. Auric cross eyes and demonic horns? Why, for all intents and purposes she could be the daughter of an infamous villain, someone who this taxi driver would most likely be familiar with given the area.

All of this to get out of paying for the drive. ''Hey, big guy. This one is on the house, right?'' Once they had reached their destination she leaned over and held a knife up to his throat, putting her face in front of his so he knew what she looked like in her little disguise. ''O-Of course! Please don't hurt me!'' She cackled and nodded at Lylyana. ''Let's get going!'' She then looked back to the driver. ''If you say anything about seeing us I'll kill you and everyone you love.'' Ominous words, followed by Rui happily skipping down the road as the car took off. ''The house is close by now, right? Let's get going, bestie!''

lylyth

[lylyth]

Lylyana was confused. A faster way? Great! How excited she was really confused her. She saw the motions to follow and followed fairly closely. She wasn't sure what Rui had planned but it would be interesting to say the least. She noticed them approach the roadway. She cocked her head as Rui signaled for a taxi. Listening to Rui, she nodded. She inched her way into the vehicle, careful of her wings. She was a bit cramped, as she had to keep her wings tight to her. She listened to Rui whisper in her ear and nodded. It wouldn't be too difficult. "Can you take us to Hamatakekumano Shrine? I always wanted to visit." She said innocently, lying to the driver.

As they were approaching, Lylyana happened to look over to Rui. She was surprised to see the demon's eyes change. She wondered if it was a power that demons had or one Rui had. She wasn't sure but she would investigate it later. Then they had gotten to the destination. Rui did a flip and pulled a knife to the driver. She was surprised at Rui. She wasn't sure if it was right, but at least it would work. She stepped out of the vehicle, quickly spreading her wings to get the soreness out of them. She let Rui threaten the driver, though she was unsure what to think about it.

She followed after Rui who had begun skipping off. "Yes, it is not far from here." She looked around, seeing the rural homes that surrounded the area. "Across the river, away from the shrines. We lived in a home that was on a side street. It was near a park." She said, trying to remember the way. "It shouldn't be too difficult to find. Should be across the railroad tracks and take a left and follow it down. Should be the second to last little street."

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Tags: Rui Matsui