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The club had been nice, even if he’d only gone to drain people while there. It was surreal to be part of the crowd but not feel the part as he did while drunk or high. It wasn’t something he was sure he liked yet or not, but the fact that nobody would recognize him like this had eased his worries, as did the fact that he didn’t feel anyone else powered around for the moment. When the wraiths had their fill, he made his way towards the edges and back through a mirror, popping out down the street where he’d tucked another mirror hidden in the back door alcove of a vacant store.

It was quiet again, and after a bit of hesitation, he pulled out a flask and took a small sip. The general had said alcohol was alright if it didn’t cause trouble, so he finally worked up the nerve to bring some with them as a bit of liquid courage. It helped, even if it burned a little going down. While it was quieter, he did notice that there was some movement further ahead, near the park that usually was empty at this time of night. Letting his wraith's head out again, he kept his pace slow as he tucked the flask away and adjusted his hood slightly. It didn’t do much to obscure his face, but maybe if he ran into another senshi who didn’t seem to know what was up, he could convince them he was one of them and avoid some soul-yanking or a fight.

Something hit him, something that felt disgusting and stunned him. It hadn’t even hit him to be afraid this time, even as a small flicker of chaos came closer. At first, he just looked at them in disbelief, then as they continued, he almost burst out laughing. It wasn’t like he could say much when it came to what he did in his off time, but bathbombs? That sounded like something middle-aged women or sorority girls made, but then again, they’d been like a deer in the headlights.

Using his sleeve to wipe his face, just in case that was like an actual gross half-eaten ice cream, because the last thing he needed was to get some sort of foodborne illness and have to stop working on his most recent project for his client. Watching them stomp towards him like a kid had him feeling more on the side of courageous than scared. Maybe he could ******** with them; that would be a nice way to get back, though he didn’t like that they called him Hedwig, which could cause problems, or get back to Chal and make things worse.

“Hedwig? Who’s that? I’m Melp, of centipedes.” Crossing his arms so that they could clearly see the centipede pattern on his overlay, he took a step back as they waved the gross pop at him again. So it was a weapon, even grosser, but maybe that meant it couldn’t carry the usual bacteria they taught you about when handling food.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to play nice with us? Being chaos and all instead of order?” That had been something he’d learned from the last one, though he had a feeling that might not be a widespread sentiment. Or maybe…. Thinking on it for a moment, he wondered if that was the real reason for the additional threats over not telling Melpomene what had happened. He wasn’t going to test that theory, no way in hell, but maybe between the chaos of this situation and the shots of liquor, he felt like this one wasn’t a threat.

When they parroted the name back, he did, in fact, laugh. But it didn’t last long when they mentioned they’d actually cared to check if he was okay. What kind of people were they? They wouldn’t last long if they were so nice about things. But then again…. Hedwig had cared enough to yank him out of one bad situation after another, even without magic that actually worked at first.

He might’ve apologized, but at this point his body reacted before his brain did. “What’s inside?” Maybe he’d go easy on them; they were close, too close for any deniability, so as the haze came out between his lips, he pressed his hand to their chest and dug his nails in.

“Don’t touch me.” The joking was gone; this was time for a lesson. Nobody was allowed to touch him unless he said so; that fact had been shattered for a while after Chalcanthite, but… against these two, he could do something, stop something. So he did.

“Never. Touch. Me.” Shoving them back now, he glared at them. “Maybe you should play nice because I can do something and all you have is that poor excuse for a weapon.” He didn’t need to take a step back yet; this wasn’t as strong a haze as he’d used last time. Still, though he couldn’t help but internally cringe at the feeling of bugs on his own skin. They weren’t there; he knew his magic didn’t blow back on him, but he still felt it even if it wasn’t as bad as when he was high.

Glad that they hadn’t puked, he did take a step back to give them some space and to let the edge of the haze fade out with the added distance. He wiped his hands on his pants and watched the show for a moment, another wild response that he hadn’t expected but made him feel a bit braver about dealing with people. At least they responded, unlike the monsters or whatever lurked around in summer and fall.

Pulling something from subspace, he tossed it at them. A small bottle of mouthwash he kept just in case he needed to cover up the smell of whatever he’d had when he got back to Blaise’s house. “Try that. It’s the strong stuff.” At least they weren’t up in his face anymore, which was a plus, but they were whining so much it was irritating.

“Leitner, of Infestation. Honest this time. Surprised you didn’t puke, to be honest. Good on you.” Crossing his arms, making sure his general starseed grabbing area was covered just in case, he just watched for a bit longer. “And no, after one of you ******** tried to kill me, I’m not okay. Tell that to Deucalion.”

Catching the bottle, he sent it back away as he let them continue to go off. They were so loud, he half wondered if it might bring more people over because of the commotion. The colourful way they described that weapon thing of theirs had him laughing at how unserious it sounded.

“Well, when one of you is that close, it’s kinda hard to read the room when you can just shove your hand in my ******** soul.” Bristling as he spoke, especially as they questioned the reason, he definitely wasn’t going to accept blame where it was due.

“Wrong place, wrong time. Again, why I can’t tell if it's just a thing with you guys or some of you just have it up your asses to play god just because someone is draining in the city in the same area as you are?”

A good enough reason, one that seemed not to be too off the mark from what he could gather in his few experiences with agents. At least he could say that being pessimistic worked in his favor this time.

God, were they a kid? Bugs in someone’s shorts? Shaking his head, he didn’t feel very threatened by their threats. But at least they weren’t getting closer even as the haze finally faded away.

Thinking on it for a second, he frowned. “Tell him I’m sorry then. He kinda popped out of nowhere on me.” As if that was a good enough excuse considering what he’d dealt with. “Not like I picked on him on purpose anyway.” A bit quieter as he trailed off, he looked back towards the mirror and headed off.

“I’m outta here anyway. I don’t know about you, but all this magic bullshit is annoying.” And he had to go check his printers to see if the files had come out correctly or not. It was always a gamble leaving them unsupervised, but Blaise was there… so maybe they’d behave. The filament one had been working a bit better in their basement than his; the resin one he hadn’t bothered with yet because it was too cold down there.

“Bye, Viagra icepop face.” Half waving behind him as he dipped into the mirror, he would definitely remember how ridiculous that all was.