MISSION (OPEN THREAD): SNOW MAIDEN

[Keera Ufton]

Cordes-sur-Ciel in the South of France was not somewhere Keera had envisaged spending her January. She didn’t like France, mainly because she couldn’t speak the language, but also because she didn’t like France. Despite that, here she was, sat in a café with a cup of tea that did not taste right. English people knew that there was a balance to tea, a delicate balance between sugar, milk and tea in a cup, but no one else seemed to be able to see that. So she gave up and stood, moving to the counter and attempting to order a hot chocolate.

It was a tourist town, described as a place where even regret is beautiful; the general wasn’t really seeing it. It was cold, it was January and people were vanishing. The only beautiful part about it was at the top of the hill, where the tip vanished behind clouds, and she could look down on everything in peace. Something about that was nice and serene. But otherwise it was a town that had been commercialised, shops added in for all of the visitors, and the only advantage of that was that most shopkeepers spoke a little English. Like the ones here, who understood the word chocolate and indicated that it would be hot – more than enough information to satisfy Keera and make her pay up.

She sat down again, hands cupped around the warm beverage, and shrugged her coat off her shoulders. Other occupants of the cafe gave her strange looks, eyeing the black and gold uniform with curiosity, wariness and smirks. Every now and then she amused herself by turning the darkest and most sadistic of glares on one of the people smirking. Generally they tore their gaze away hurridly, and if they didn’t she simply smirked back and moved onto the next target.

She was playing waiting games with them. Waiting on her own, for the next disappearance, the next strange sighting or just nightfall, when the supposed disappearances happened. But after two days of playing this game she was getting frustrated and as she sat back in her chair, looking out of the café onto the busy street ouside, she began to wonder why she was even here. It was probably a false lead – more likely a serial killer, kidnapper or hypnotist using local legends to scare people than actual Akuma. Sighing, made a face at the next person to stare at her, picking up her feet and resting them on the chair opposite her at the table.

[Alexander Temple]

A light yawn escaped the black haired mans mouth. It was just a yawn nothing to it. The man was too focused on the device in his hands. Currently, he was trying his hand at defeating some boss in a some fantasy game. The content didn't matter. Alexander only cared about playing it. Though, obviously, it was quite an enjoyable game. With the way his eyes were glued to it it was a wonder how he didn't walk into anything. It was a skill he'd acquired after a good amount of practice.

It was getting cold. That much got past his focus on the game. No problem at all. He'd just head into a store and... Well, Maybe a little bit of a problem. Alexander had a dilemma. He didn't want to glance away from his game, but he had to if he wanted to get warm, and if he didn't get warm he might not be able to play. That fact got him to glance up. Quickly, he locked onto a cafe of some sort and walked towards it. His mind not at all on the specifics. It was nearby and he could get there even with looking at his game.

Once, at the door he would push it open with his back. That would fail forcing him to pull a hand away to open it. Inside, the air was warm causing his face to tingle. Objective met! Now to pick a seat. Without glancing up, he would wander over to the nearest table. The man nearly sat on Keera's feet, but luckily, his butt made contact with a nearby table. Second objective met! Now all he had to do was peel away to buy something...

[Keera Ufton]

Ordering a hot chocolate had been a good idea. One of the first ones she’d made since she arrived in this stupid, cold town. It wasn’t perfect, but it’d have to do. It was warm and tasted like chocolate, so she couldn’t really complain. Her eyes drifted from the window to that cold outdoors and she looked around at the other occupants once more, eyes skimming the crowd. They all seemed normal enough and none of them had made a fuss over her uniform, so she easily sat back and relaxed.

The downside of relaxing meant that she stopped paying loads of attention to every inch of her surroundings, barely noticing the tinkling of the bell as someone entered. And that someone didn’t catch her eye until he was close enough for her to make out his features, although she saw nothing interesting about them. He looked as tired as she felt, but otherwise he struck her as a normal young man who should probably try and watch where he was walking.
Especially when it looked like he might sit on her. Now, Keera wasn’t one with a good temper after a full night’s rest, but when she had spent the last couple of nights staking out an entire town, it made her… less pleasant.

“You should watch where you’re going, otherwise you might trip.”
The words came as coldly as the wind outside. She had raised her eyes to him, gaze almost blank and instead of sounding like advice it felt more like a statement or even a threat. Well, if he didn’t decide to look up from his stupid game he wouldn’t be able to tell what he’d tripped over (most likely her foot) and it’d provide her with a bit of satisfaction. Lately she couldn’t abide people without manners (herself excluded).

[Alexander Temple]

Alexander didn't glance away from his game, at least, not right away. He was aware that someone spoke and he knew what the female who spoke said, but the game had priority. There was a bit of a lag between her speaking and his reply. "Thanks, Mom." he said sarcastically. It wasn't a particularly good retort, but given the amount of attention he was paying to her she was lucky enough to have even gotten that from him.

It was another few moments before he actually glanced at the irritated woman. He looked her over starting from her face and downwards to her uniform. Of course the noah recognized the outfit. How could he not? He was always slightly envious of their uniforms, to be honest. Any legit organization had an awesome uniform, but going by Pokemon logic that also made the Order the obvious bad guys. Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Magma and Aqua. They all had matching outfits while the heroes were unique. Plus, uniforms made things obvious. Just look at how easily Alexander recognized her. The cons of a uniform certainly outweighed the pros.

The black haired male stared at the woman in front of him. It was obvious why she was here. She, like him, was here because of the strange happenings going on. How exciting. That would make things all the more interesting. Alexander was worried the only interesting thing would be his video games. Then he noticed the color of her uniform. Maybe this would be too interesting...

[Keera Ufton]

Mildly offended, Keera frowned at his comment. She was definitely not old enough to be his mother for one thing and maybe if he’d had the courtesy to spare her a glance he would have noticed that. But it wouldn’t do to go and get frustrated over one young man when there were other people who needed her attention more.
But they weren’t standing in front of her.

She was back to sipping her hot chocolate and closing her eyes, leaning back in her chair and wondering if she should take a book out with her tonight. Probably… it’d been a little boring the previous. But she could feel eyes on her, almost like a stare, and she traced it back to the same young man with little trouble. It wasn’t unusual with such a uniform.
Unable to resist – after all he seemed to be the target fate had given her for the day – she slipped her fan from its holster and opened it, only to stand and snap it shut in front of his face. People always had hilarious reactions to that.
“Your mum should have taught you that staring’s rude.”

Resisting the urge to make a comment about how it was hard not to stare at someone like her, the general sat back down and slid her fan back into its place where she could reach it if needs be. Taking another sip, she let her lips curve upwards in the shadow of a smile, eyes moving from his face to his game. “Anyway, if you stare too long you’ll lose your game.”

[Kenneth Steinberg]

It had taken awhile to recognise the emotion tugging at the pit of stomach. Apprehension was a feeling that had rarely visited him since his awakening and it was definitely unwelcome. The cause? About a week ago the Akuma operating out of this town had suddenly fallen silent. Then the strange “occurrences” had begun. Of course Akuma dying wasn't an unusual set of events, especially with the Order mobilising for war. But that usually came after Akuma reporting the appearance of exorcists or possible sighting of innocence. To depart from that procedure presented a worrying possibility. Given that the Akuma were evolving and, if it was anything like the biological process, had a tendency to produce unexpected results. If the Akuma had evolved independence from their masters, then this was serious issue indeed. However, as he stepped out from the shop doorway on the street, all thoughts were blown away by one simple observation. His brother was not where he should have been. All that greeted him was a chilling breeze.

Not again...

"Alex?..."
------------------------------------

It took him a few exchanges of broken French to find the cafe, a small and quaint little French establishment with warm light shining out of frost stained windows. Once inside he had no trouble finding Alex. He was sat perched on a table, with his mop of dark hair buried in a portable games console. The other occupant of this scene, a pale woman with black hair tied in an oriental bun, seemed equal parts annoyed and amused at the intrusion into her peace From the part of the conversation he'd just caught it seemed Alex was already causing mischief.

"Next time you decide to wonder off, at least let me know where you are going."

His well pronounced London accent attracted more eyes to the already awkward scene. He ran his hand through his auburn hair, sighing as he turned apologetically to the seated woman.

"I apologise for my brother, he has...a certain way with people. I hope he hasn't..."

It wasn't until he turned to apologise to the pale faced woman that Ken noticed the Gold and Black uniform beside her.

(telepathy) A General? Dammit Alex, what the hell have you dropped us into

he stood there surprised, looking from the woman to the uniform.
With his brow furrowed with a mixture of uncertainty and surprise, he carried on.

"...excuse me, but is my brother in trouble?"

[Alexander Temple]

"Of course you would say that, You look old enough to be my mom." he retorted simply. At the mention of his game he looked back down at the screen and resumed playing. The man was no noob, he made sure to pause it before talking to the woman. It was shortly after he looked down at the screen that he heard a familiar voice.

Once again, Alexander paused the game and looked up. The voice was matched to the face. It seemed that Kennith was able to find him alright. 'I haven't dropped us into anything, I just bumped into her.' he replied to his brother telepathically with a bit of a defensive tone. It was true after all. Even he wouldn't seek out the boss of the game without thinking ahead of time.

"I'm not in trouble." Alexander said. "You worry too much, Brother." One might find it odd that Alexander lacked any sort of accent and yet Kennith had an English one. Oh well, Details details it didn't really matter. Unlike his brother, Alexander didn't worry about the woman finding out that they were Noah or even causing a scene about it. That is, unless Kennith did something to tip her off.

[Keera Ufton]

This conversation was better amusement than counting the amount of people who eyed her clothes or the amount of people who obviously had no taste in fashion themselves – not that Keera was an expert – but she wasn’t one to prolong something that would soon die. Lucky for her, this boy didn’t seem like he wanted to drop it soon, and she was offended that he even thought she was old enough to be his mother. She’d admit she was getting older but the thought of having children…. It almost made her grimace.

And then things got even more… well they became more interesting than the pattern on her cup of coffee, as another voice chimed in. The accent took less than a second to place, and her eyes were on this newcomer immediately. Taking in the appearance, a little different to the gamer-boy’s own, and raised an eyebrow. Brothers? They sure didn’t sound like it.
Keera shifted in her chair, lips twitching upwards into their usual smirk as he eyed her coat. The kid wasn’t in trouble and she was doing nothing more than passing time and making conversation – something she seldom did these days – but it wasn’t as if she was dressed as a police officer or anything.

”Why would the fact that we’re having a conversation indicate your brother is in trouble?” She cocked her head to the side. She didn’t think much of his question, but it did intrigue her as to why her attire had changed his attitude. Mind you, he probably thought she was from some sort of cult or something. Or maybe his brother was just a trouble maker. Placing her mug on the table, she leant her chin on her hand, elbow resting on the surface, and smiled a sharp, smug smile.
”At least your mother taught one of you right, maybe you should learn some manners from your brother.” After sending a pointed glance at the gamer, she let her smile fall into something more neutral.

[Kenneth Steinberg]

Well I don't know, I wasn't expecting this. I've never met one of their Generals before.

"Alex! Would you stop being so rude. And would you please sit on the seat, not the table?"

He turned form his brother to the Exorcist. At least she was enjoying herself. obviously she hadn't encountered anything of interest in this town so far. She was probably quite amused by the small family drama he and his brother were performing. He couldn't help his own face mirroring her smirk.

"Well, that isn't exactly a Halloween costume you've got there. If I had to guess I's say it looks military or possible paramilitary...maybe law enforcement?

He shrugged apologetically.

"So I'm protective of my brother, of course I'm going to worry about him. Doesn't help that your uniforms been in the news recently...Back in England. An unusual murder case associated with some very strange deaths. One of which ended up in my A&E. So forgive me, I didn't mean to be so...aggressive."

without waiting for Alex, he took a seat and unbuttoned his jacket. Having just come out form the cold the heat of the cafe was stifling.

"By the way, I'd appreciate it if you didn't fixate on our mother. Our parents split when we were young, Alex went to live our father and I stayed with our mother."

[Alexander Temple]

'Neither have I. It doesn't look like a boss battle though. The setting isn't right.' he replied telepathically. There he went again acting like video game logic could explain situations in the real world as well. In this case it could possibly be correct. They were in a place with a great deal of people. Certainly, the exorcist wouldn't run the risk of hurting a bystander. Either way, it didn't seem as though she realized that they were noah, which was perfectly fine in his book.

As always, Kenneth knew what to say. With his brother taking control Alexander focused back on his video games. He didn't care much about what the other two said. I wasn't anything more interesting than his game. He was half listening though. Just in case Kenneth needed him to clarify something or if a question was asked. He didn't want to look stupid.

When Kenneth came up with the excuse about their parents Alexander couldn't help but send a distracted 'Nice one.' telepathically. It would explain their accent differences, though so could adoption and a wide array of other things. That one was just as fine though.

[Keera Ufton]

This guy didn’t seem all that bad, talkative yes but bearably so. Not unintelligent either, he knew what was going on in the world and could make connections – that was certainly more than a lot of people she knew could do – but he could do with more tact. Or he could do with using it at least.

“You think, based on my clothing, I’m going to hurt your brother or something, right?” It wouldn’t be the first time an exorcist had had that reaction, nor would it be the last, and it barely bothered Keera. It didn’t stop her from raising an eyebrow though, flicking her head to move some hair from her other eye.“If anything else, I’m more likely to save your lives than endanger them, you’re too paranoid for your age.”
She was allowed to be paranoid. After years as an exorcist you realise that no one is exactly what you see in front of you and chances are they’ll try and kill you either mentally or physically at some point in the future. Physically was easier to deal with, she preferred that.

“I wasn’t fixating on your mother, your brother – Alex, isn’t it? – brought her up.” Keera glanced over in the direction of the first brother, not waiting for the nod that would tell her she was right. Divorced parents would explain why they sounded so different. Those parents must have hated each other if they moved that far away. It would explain the lack of manners on one part as well.
“You’re from England?” Conversation was not her strong point, nor did she enjoy it too much, but it was either that or sitting and wishing she’d brought a book with her. “First english person I’ve met who’s scared of the police.”

[Kenneth Steinberg]

"I never said you would hurt my brother..."

Before Ken continued he glanced at Alex, then lowered his voice as he lent toward keera.

“But where ever that uniform goes, good fortune does not follow. In fact, from what I’ve read, there’s often a body count.”

His green eyes watched her face closely, from her reaction this wasn’t the first time this Exorcist had encountered this reaction.

“Yes I’m English and again I never said I was afraid of the police. I’m happy to have such people watching over me, but in my experience being visited by them usually involves one of few situations. Either someone you know or love has come to a terrible fate, or you are a suspect in some crime or other. Again I’m sorry, I arrived to this conversation late“

His mind wondered as he reached out to his brother.

At this rate we need not “grey up” at all. If the problem here is some evolved, independent Akuma...we can just let the exorcist deal with it and use the opportunity to evaluate the Orders new generation of soldiers.

[Alexander Temple]

Alexander was rather out of the conversation, but he didn't mind all that much. He was busy defeating a pesky ice troll. At the mention of the police he would zone into the conversation a bit. There was perfectly good reason to be afraid of the police. There was no reason for Kenneth to try and defend himself. "There is every reason to be afraid of the police." Alexander would say, still focused on his game.

"They can arrest you for pretty much anything, and they can tap your cell phones." he'd continue on to say. Cell phones were horrible. The pale noah hated the things. Not only that, but he couldn't understand how people could spend so much dam time using them. He could hardly remember to pick one up any time he had one as a child, maybe his own carelessness was why he hated them so much.

'I wasn't worried about that.' he replied mentally to Kenneth. 'Not like she'd realize who we are. We're like superman. They won't know who we are unless we reveal ourselves.' Alexander would soon after let out an irritated grunt as the ice troll managed to kill him for the third time.

[Keera Ufton]

Unable to hold back a dark smirk, Keera wouldn’t deny that seeing an exorcist in the area was bad luck. Even she thought that. Although it frustrated her slightly that this guy - who didn’t know a thing – thought that the Order went around hurting people. Yes, sometimes people got hurt, but the body count was all due to the other party, not her side. This was a war, there were always casualties.
Except no one knew about this war, so of course he didn’t know better.

“He’s right. The police can do quite a bit, but these days anyone can tap your phones or your internet. If you’re going to be scared of them for reasons like that, you might as well be scared of everyone who owns a computer.”

So, they might as well live like her – or like any other member of the Order for that matter. Not even Keera, bitter as she sometimes was, would wish that on anyone else. Well, maybe one or two people. Her fingers brushed over the warm edge of her mug, fiddling absently as the quiet set in. These two were strange, but then everything was strange in her eyes. They seemed too old for family holidays, and yet they could just as easily be catching up on missed time – which was difficult for her to imagine because they were so different.
But she didn’t take anyone at face value anymore, so it hardly bothered her that this doubt lay in her mind, as she shifted a little in her seat again, shooting a glare at a young child who’d taken to staring at her.
“You can’t be having much of a holiday if you’re still talking to me, especially not when conversation’s so meaningless – ah. I should ask. You don’t know if there’s a library around, do you?”