SoulCoil

((Hello! I decided I'd create a starter if anyone wishes to jump in don't be shy!))

Despite the calm that the night showed for most, Aeon was busily preparing his workshop. He knew that most attacks had taken place at night, but he didn't worry much, after all he had Vapor watching over him. Aeon worked at night to avoid the eyes of police, who would insistently question why he wasn't in school. He was only 15, yet found himself in the same mess of a competition that plenty of others were also taking part in.

Aeon lived alone, or at least he did live alone until he met Vapor, realizing that he had been selected for the competition.

Despite his solitude life style, he made enough from selling a variety of things he made, ranging from swords to clocks. His workshop doubled as a house, and it was all he had left after his parents had left his life, but he didn't feel any sadness when they abandoned him. He moved on, hiding away during the day and doing daily actions at night.

Vapor, Aeon's only friend, is a rather large wolf-like Revenant that resembled both a wolf and a fox. Having the tail and ears of a fox with the body of a wolf. Vapor vowed to protect Aeon and to not actively hunt out other competitors by Aeon's request.

Aeon was walking back from the store, taking to the backstreets and alleys, trying to avoid anyone and everyone. Vapor trailed beside him, constantly looking around as he spoke to the young boy that strolled next to him.

"So far no other Revenants. I think we should be safe once we get back to the house."

"Good," Aeon replied, slightly quickening his pace, "Hopefully the rest of this walk is as uneventful as the last time I went out."

Vera, on the contrary, was making her way home from a friend's house. It took a lot to get her outside, especially at night, what with the whole murderfest going on in the city right now. She only came over because her father insisted that she go out and interact with people instead of sitting in her room every night.

Unfortunately for her, she had no money for a taxi, because she had forgot to bring some in the rush to her friend's house. Every second she got, Vera looked up and glanced around to look for anything--or anyone--suspicious. She had gotten about halfway home without anything following. So far, so good.

Behind Vera was her Revenant partner, Mortimus. He was with her everywhere she went. Even though Vera was rather skeptical about going out at night, Mortimus had sworn to protect her from any adversary. While she was still a bit shaken by the whole thing, Mortimus was still a lot bigger than most other Revenants that she had seen already, and the fact that he was a large size, gave her some comfort in his declarations.

They were making their way through a backstreet when out of the blue, Mortimus halted dead in his tracks. Vera stopped soon after, confused.

"What is it, Morty?" She asked, scanning the area.

The large Revenants tail moved back and forth, his head looking elsewhere. "....There is another in this area." Upon hearing this news, Vera let out a sigh.

"Let's hope we don't run into them then." She resumed walking, and Mortimus soon followed after her.

Aeon continued walking down the backstreet, quickly trying to get home with his groceries. The duo turned down a main street then to an alleyway that converged with another back road, he was approaching the intersection when Vapor let out a quiet short bark, his ears perked and tail stiff, getting Aeon's attention.

"Aeon stop. I sense another Revenant around. Stay alert, whoever is there we don't know whether or not they are aggressive."

Aeon nodded, slowing to a halt as he hit the corner, peaking out into the street. He met the gaze of the Revenant first, then the human, stumbling back in surprise. He fell down back into the alleyway, dropping his bags of groceries with an "Ow."

"Vapor, I just saw some other competitors. I think they saw me as well so be ready for anything." He said his Revenant, as Vapor moved beside Aeon defensively as Aeon was still trying to gather the groceries he dropped. If the duo did attack, it wouldn't have been the first time. Aeon and Vapor had been attacked several days prior, narrowly escaping the assailants, who didn't give chase to the quick duo.

"They are not attacking right away." Mortimus observed as he peered around the corner down the other side of the street. "Perhaps...."

Vera was hiding behind him, watching the same place he did. At one point, she did see something peeking out from the corner. She bit her lip, completely silent.

Eventually, after waiting a bit, Mortimus went out from behind the hiding spot, standing out in the open. Even though he knew where the other pair was, he stayed in the same spot, refusing to move.

"....I know you are there. We have no intention of harming either one of you, and I am assuming you feel the same." The Revenant calmly said.

Aeon finished gathering his groceries when he heard the voice echo through the alleyway, causing him to give a nervous glance at Vapor.

"We shouldn't keep them waiting, but Aeon stay calm and keep your guard up. I don't know if they re planning anything..." Vapor spoke at the glance.

The two of them slowly walked from the alleyway into the street to be seen. Aeon's silver hair glistened as he stepped into the light nervously, he was holding a bag in his hands and had a messenger bag slung across his shoulder, barely visible through his cloak. Vapor gave a quick glance of both the Revenant and the Human.

"Uh... I don't mean trouble... at least if what you say is true. I just want to make it back home in one piece." Aeon spoke, nervousness apparent in his voice and stance, Vapor standing defensively next to him, silent.

Mortimus tilted his head to the side as he silently inspected the other pair. Then he gave a nod. "You have no reason to fear," He began, addressing the nervousness in the voice of the silver haired boy. "For we are only in the process of taking a safe passage home as well."

From behind the corner, Vera stuck out her hand, giving a thumbs up. "Yeah, you don't gotta worry man! We're just really trying hard to not die!"

Mortimus glanced back for a moment before looking back towards the pair. "Her verdict holds much more value than my own." There was a tinge of amusement in his tone.

"Well I'll take your word for it, but if you even think for a moment of betraying this trust I won't hesitate to fight back." Vapor barked at the Revenant with some mix of caring and caution.

"You'll have to excuse his bluntness, he's not exactly the most trusting person, but he means well. On the other hand I'm a bit more trusting. Can I ask where you might be heading? Not many people stick to the back roads this late at night." Aeon spoke with a hint of compassion and understanding.

"I'm just being careful, you do remember that we were attacked a few days ago, right? I am just taking precautions to avoid that again." Vapor said, giving Aeon a quick glance before returning his gaze to the strangers.

"You may come to find that I keep to my word." Mortimus said in response to the other Revenant. "I will not lay a claw on you, or your mortal."

Soon after he said this, Vera came out from the corner and gave a little wave. "Yep, I won't try and slug you guys either." She said jokingly. "We were just trying to head home and avoid every person possible in the process. But you said you got attacked? Bummer."

Mortimus waved his tail back and forth. "Hm. You do not wish to harm any other mortals, correct? Then may we propose an alliance?"

Aeon shot Vapor a glance, which was met with a short and quick nod. "An alliance? Sure, strength in numbers I suppose. I'm Aeon, I uh run a shop about a block or two down the road." Aeon said with a smile, he was young enough to attend school, but was open to the fact that he owned his own workshop and didn't go to school.

"Yes, we would be glad to form an alliance with the two of you, you can call me Vapor. I suppose that Aeon and I made sort of a promise to only act in self defense against the other competitors. And while I have my manners of attacking and Aeon uses a dagger, how do you and your human defend themself?" Vapor added, inquisitively.

Aeon was smiling, being glad to find someone who wasn't badgering him with questions or trying to just become friends for benefits in his workshop. Vapor seemed expressionless, it was normal as he only showed some emotion when Aeon was at risk, or feeling incredibly sad or angry.

Vera's eyes seemed to light up upon hearing this new information. "Whoa, you run a shop all by yourself....?"

Mortimus shifted the weight on his paws ever so slightly. "Mm. I have my own means of combat. And Crawfield...." He paused to look at her. "What are those staves you use to ward off adversaries? The specific name escapes me at this moment."

"Hockey sticks." Vera confirmed, looking to the other two. "I can wack really damn hard with hockey sticks. The silver ones work best on ghosties, they do a lotta damage."

"But uh, almost forgot. Nice to meet you guys. I'm Vera. Vera Crawfield. Like crawfish, but with a 'field' at the end." The green haired teen introduced. Then she pointed a thumb at the large Revenant behind her. "And this guy is Morty."

"That is only a byname she utilizes to refer to me. I am Mortimus. Pleased to make your acquaintances." Mort dipped his head in greeting.

"Yep! Its a small workshop I live at, I could show you it, if you'd like." Aeon offered, knowing that Vera was heading home, it would be a detour of sorts. "Hockey sticks? That's pretty neat! Do you play hockey as a hobby?" Aeon continued.

Vapor did a similar bow that Mortimus had done, noting that Vera, as well as Aeon, knew about silver's effectiveness on Revenants. He may have let a small smile escape from know that this team wasn't going to be dead weight if a fight broke out, but the smile was gone as soon as it formed.

"Well good to know that you both aren't defenseless. Could I ask you something Mortimus? If you were to win, what is it you would wish for? I already know what I would, but Aeon won't tell me his and frankly I'm curious about your motivations for this... contest." Vapor barked the last word with some distaste, clearly not finding a better word to replace it.

Vera nodded in response to his offer. "That'd be great!" She paused. "And I used to play hockey in the little leagues when I was a bit younger. I still play for fun from time to time though."

Mortimus and Vera shared a quick look. Then, turning back to the others, Mortimus replied, "If the circumstances were in our favor, and if we were able to emerge as the victors.... Then our wish would be to end this cycle for good."

"Yep, we gotta end this thing so no one else is gonna get offed like this anymore." The green haired teen added.

Aeon smiled as he quickly turned, motioning for the two to follow him to his workshop, Vapor and Aeon started walking, expecting the duo to follow them.

As they were walking towards the workshop Aeon felt a tinge of regret at hearing what their wish was, looking down he spoke, "Wow, that's pretty selfless of you two, it makes mine sound really selfish. I would have wished for Vapor to stay with me after the competition was over. As he's the only real friend I've had since... well forever."

Vapor was shocked to hear Aeon's wish, thinking it had been something along the lines of getting his family back, but to his surprise it was staying together as a team, or as friends.

"I'm actually quite shocked to hear that Aeon, I would've thought that your wish would've been something about your situation in life. Ironically I was going to wish that each competitor that fell was brought back to be with their partners." Vapor said, looking at Vera and Mortimus.

Vera and Mortimus shared a look in silence before following the other two.

"Eh, it's alright. Honestly, I really don't want anything, so I just opted for the next best thing to wish for, you know?" She said. "But your wish is fine though. I never had many good friends myself, except for Morty here, and a couple of other humans."

Mortimus tilted his head to the side. "An honorable choice." He quietly remarked.

As they walked Vapor spoke back to Mortimus, "Well I'm guessing that I'm not the only Revenant that has become attached to their partner. It's the main reason for my wish, I suppose ending the cycle isn't a bad thing, but what would become of you? And also what does happen to the team that wins? Do they just get their wish and part ways? Or do they stay together?"

Aeon only listened, the same questions littered his head, but he didn't want to be a burden by asking them.

They were nearing the workshop at this point, Aeon knew this because of the clover that was painted on the side of the street they were walking through, it was of the same design as the clover on his purple cloak. He looked at the clover painted on the wall with a nod. "It's not too far from here." Aeon said with a smile.

For a moment or two, Mortimus thought about it. Now that it was mentioned, he grew a bit concerned, as that sort of thing never really crossed his mind. "I will admit, I am uncertain about my fate after the wish has been granted...." He trailed off, glancing at Vera.

Vera shrugged. "I dunno, maybe I could wish for the choice of whether Morty gets to stay or go, also." She looked toward the clover sign on Aeon's cloak, then leaned to the side slightly to look at the workshop. As she studied it, she whistled, impressed.

Aeon stepped into the workshop, turning on some lights to reveal the entire room. The workshop was just a large room with a chair and a few cluttered tables on the sides of it. There was something of a furnace or forge in one corner, embers glowing inside. Along with the room there was a ladder to a loft above that had a bookshelf and a bed.

"This is my home and workplace." Aeon proclaimed, "It's a bit cluttered at the moment, but it's all I have left. My father gave it to me when I was younger before he..." Aeon's voice trailed off.

"Before his parents left him." Vapor continued, "It was fairly recently as well, but then he and I became partners."

Vapor stopped, studying Vera and Mortimus, his tail swishing as he sat on a chair in the workshop, lowering his voice so that Aeon couldn't hear him, "If anything happens to me could you two please look after him? I know it's a tad sudden, but he's young and alone and I'd hate to have to leave him all by himself if anything bad happened."

They followed them inside. While Mortimus seemed particularly interested in the furnace at the corner, he soon turned his attention to Vapor and listened to his request intently. First the large Revenant glanced at Vera, to which the teen met that gaze with a bit of uncertainty. Eventually, Vera looked at Vapor and nodded.

"Sure thing. I'm sure my pops wouldn't mind adopting another kid." She chuckled nervously.

"Hopefully we will not have to fulfill that request." Was all that Mortimus said.

Vapor bowed in thanks, "As do I, but one cannot be prepared for everything." Vapor looked to Aeon who was clearing off a table near the furnace, which was now glowing with fire.

"Now where did I put it... Oh! There it is!" Aeon exclaimed, holding a bar of metal and what looked like a slab of stone. "Now this goes in the furnace to heat up... And done! Uh, sorry what were we talking about?"

"Just a disscusion about... Your work. And what are you doing? Making another tool or what?" Vapor said, hiding what they were actually discussing.

"Oh! I'm just heating some metal up for some later projects I had started earlier." Aeon said with glee.

Vera only observed in silence as Aeon did this. She seemed to be quite fascinated with what he was doing. "Are you makin' a kickass sword? Or maybe a spear?" Then she paused. "Or is it a katana--No, no, it has to be a buster sword! Man, I love those things!" Now she began to get giddy.

"....You seem to be rather worked up." Mortimus remarked, plopping down on his rear end.