The First Step to the Click of a Clock

Lily just nods, choosing to not chase the topic any further, while James suppresses a laugh… "Say, James: why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the mess hall to get your dinner?"

He stops suppressing the laugh, reverting to a neutral face. "No… I'm not hungry. Still… dealing with the things that happened today and yesterday." Despite his cool and calm facade, James is a person too. He isn't like Spencer, who can push his emotions away.

They will have a lot of coping to do in the following days. Pushing things to the back of the mind can only work for so long, there will be a time when things will hit the breaking point. 'I still can hold on for some time… but it is good to see James already dealing with his issues.'

"Why are you here, K.J? Shouldn't you be at the mess hall too?" The armor-piercing question. Honestly, the reason isn't complex, but the situations that surround it are. This day has been a pain in the ass.

"I'm tired, I want to sleep early." James nods in understanding, while Lily steps away, with eyes and a hint of guilt on her face, as if she committed a mistake or misbehaved.

She waves her hand anxiously, trying to apologize for something. "I'm so sorry, mister! If I knew, I wouldn't be bothering you! I-I'll go back to my dorm. I'm so sorry!" Despite her reaction being cut, it is too much of an extreme.

Stepping in her way to stop her from fleeing, Lily once again steps back, nervously looking around. With a deep breath, K.J crouches before her, putting his right hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, you aren't bothering me. I'm happy to see you happy, so don't worry, okay?"

With heavy and quick breaths, Lily nods her head multiple times, trying to calm herself down. "You did grow a lot. I couldn't picture you helping a child calm down a week ago, K.J." A smug and confident voice calls his attention from behind him.

The owner of the voice is clear as a crystal: Spencer. "You… yeah, I did grow. What about it?" For a moment, the contemplation to swear appears in his mind but is quickly pushed back. Swearing before Lily won't set a good precedent. 

Getting up, K.J turns around to see the metalhead's smugness. 'You know I won't swear… asshole.' Despite taking advantage of the situation, one thing is clear: The incident of earlier is, for now, buried. 

Otherwise, they wouldn't be playing like that. "Strange, here's Cain? If you are here, he should be around too, no?" 

Cain should've finished showering for now, yet Spencer hadn't met him in the mess hall… "Strange, I thought you and him would've met in the mess hall. Then he must be taking extra time in the showers, or going to do something else."

Is Cain intentionally being a bother…? "Whatever. I'm going to sleep early today. I feel my bones cracking." Yawning, K.J walks towards the bed, throwing himself against it as his head falls on the pillow.

(...)

The day wasn't so good. His palms are still burnt due to the bout with the sword. "I got too cocky. What got in me to think I would be able to deal with that shit?" Like Kyrie, the sword shares power with the Wolf Prince Skoll. 

To grab it so recklessly— "Is too much out of character… Something is wrong." An understatement. Even if they share "canid" monsters, in theory, the practice is too different. K.J is too unfettered by his powers, as if they were owned by someone else.

No control, no innate knowledge about them. The sword too… with a glance, he could tell it is an amplifier for K.J's power, like an extra limb or organ to your body… yet he knows nothing about it. Something is wrong with Kyrie.

Not only that— he appears to be stronger than yesterday. 'No, he didn't grow, rather, the power of the Wolf Prince did…' If the Wolf Prince's influence gets stronger, then why wouldn't a catalyst to its power grow as well? 

"Things are smelling." They already smell like fish. Maybe it is due to K.J's lack of a grasp of his power, but the smell of dry forest still is here. No, it never left to begin with.

'Maybe I didn't notice because I was busy with the lion boy and our group?' It is impossible for something to grow so fast from where they met the scouting monsters and the base. Rather than growing, it was already here to begin it.

A sense of uneasiness. "We are running on borrowed time." An omen is coming their way, and it is coming fast. "Animals have a sixth sense for disasters, if I have one, it is screaming right now." Marvelous.

In comparison to his fellow "monsters", K.J is tame, while Konrad is a brat, a dangerous one, but still a brat. He is the only one in touch with his inner self. Maybe this is why his powers are more potent.

Things to test later. Or better, things to see right now. "Hello, Dear doctor. I am quite impatient, so I went to check the results with you here." Pungent fear fills the room, as a scared doctor in a hazmat suit appoints a pistol at him.

"You— How did you get yourself here? You don't have even the authority and the… equipment to stay here! You are infecting the area!" Infecting the area… is this her sense of priority right now?

"How hysterical. I just followed the scent of the corpse and got myself here. Although, your scent was harder to follow. Took some time to get here and avoid the cameras." Barghests are beings of the night, hellhounds. Avoiding some cameras is a cakewalk compared to dragging souls or reaping them away.

The doctor holds her breath, thinking carefully about the situation. "The camera feds, your digital, your heat signature. You will be punished for getting here—"

"Blah. Blah. Blah. I'm a barghest, lady. Do you think you guys have what is necessary to capture me if I put my mind to something?" With a fake smile, Cain raises his hands to reveal the bone claws in place of his fingers.

A silent gasp leaves her lips. "If I wanted to harm, it would've been done already. I'm here just to talk to you, and get the damned blood test results. Besides, I already got rid of the fed in… a rather brusque manner if I have to say, but you won't get that."

It wouldn't matter anyway if things are going south, things like electricity and, the internet are going to fall soon, anyway. Grunting, she walks towards him. "No harm done? Do you know how many germs you may be carrying right now—"

"Do you know how many of these things are feigning death and waiting for a time to grab you and crush you, or anyone else they can get their inhuman hands on? Wait, this is quite ironic."

The doctor stops in her tracks. "Wait, are there some of these things that are not dead or paralyzed?" All animosity or revolt vanishes, leaving a dead calm curiosity, and fear. "We guaranteed that they were paralyzed or unable to move significantly, or outright dead, before moving them here."

While doing a good job, they can't be sure that all of them are dead like he can. "Those things are spiteful. Goblins are a type of fairy, you know? The fair folk tend to be beyond malicious in their actions." Playing dead just to take someone else down with them isn't even the beginning… 'Thanks, Old Man for telling me the original version of fairy tales…'

While an asshole move, who knew his Old Man's attempt to scare him would be useful in the future? "Shit. I was playing with my life?" Cain just nods at the doctor's words, who just sighs heavily. 

"I'm not paid enough for this… okay, boy. Open the bags and kill the monsters who are still alive, or make sure they won't be moving anytime soon. I will tell you the results of your and your friend's blood tests when you are done and keep the secret about you being here gotcha?"

While a welcome change in disposition, it is too abrupt. "Hey, why be so nice? It doesn't fit your angry and threatening mood, you know? It is suspicious." Looking into her eyes, a flame of rage quickly burned in them.

"My life is more important than this shitty work. If half of the shit you said is true, then I was at risk. Besides, what can I do to stop you? Call someone? In this Godforsaken laboratory? I'm not stupid."

Selfishness, tried and true. Before they can continue the chit-chat, loud groans, and some roars echo from the morgue drawers. "While it is wise to convert this morgue into a quick laboratory, it isn't wise to stay with the dead. Since they have a foot in the grave already, I will finish the job, go seek somewhere safe."

Wisely, she backs off without a word, running away. "You… huuuman, knows too much! Our revenge! My revenge!" A creature screams from a drawer, breaking free from it. Despite having a foot in the grave, they still are monsters.

However, they are in a place of death. A place where he feels at home. A familiar flame covers his body, the same flame he had when he fought the wyvern and clawed its eye. The burn in his hands soon stopped to even hurt. "I went here to get information but got a feast. Good."

Getting the blood test could wait a little longer.