The bell tolls at midnight.

The church bell echoed out into the air as it reached midnight, a lone figure walked through the shadows and darkness cast by the streetlights on the ship. The windows on the houses were mostly dark, but the occasional light shone through them and onto the man who walked along the streets of Noximus, what light which happened to shine upon him seemed avoid him, leaving him pitch black whilst standing under a street lamp. Glancing around before walking on the man continued his walk along the streets.

At first glance the man could easily be mistaken for a walking shadow in the dark, but one would then see that there was no one around to cast the shadow. The man continued his walk, slowly through the streets like he was looking for something or someone. As he passed through a new street lamp the light didn't avoid him, it shone straight upon the man. His head wrapped in bandages, leaving two slits for his mouth and eyes, what could be seen of his arms was the same, covered in bandages, his eyes cold and almost as black as the shadows around him. His shoulders and arms were covered by a cloak that touched his heels when standing still.

John Walker stopped outside the church that had chimed in the night, listening closely he heard the echo of the bell once more. Midnight had come, so had John, but he had a feeling he wasn't entirely alone outside the church.

Midnight. What a lovely time of night. Nothing could match the silence that midnight brought. It was the perfect time for a stroll, for some time alone without any distractions.

She was heading no where in particular, just walking around, looking for a spot to read. Her loose black robes trailed behind her, blending her in with the night. Black was a beautiful color. It showed of night, of darkness. Black was the color of nothingness.

Her stroll brought her to a church where, to her surprised, another man was standing. She stopped and stared at him before a couple words slipped out of her mouth.

“Good night sir.”

She must be feeling in particularly talkative tonight.

The burned man heard the steps of the young woman ring out into the night, they followed a calm slow rhythm and from the sound of it she was alone and then they stopped. Hearing a young voice coming from his right he glanced over at the source of it, seeing a woman standing there. She wasn't too tall, undoubtedly shorter than him, she must have dark hair as he couldn't see it in the poor levels of light outside the church, she seemed to have either blue or green eyes, yet again hard to tell in the dark.

The woman was kind of cute, he had to admit but he pushed the thoughts away. John's eyes scanned her once more then turned back to the church in front of them. "Evening, Miss." He said with his rather rough voice. "A young girl like you shouldn't be  out at midnight." He said and turned towards her, his bandages clearly visible in the dim light of a nearby lamppost.

A... man in bandages? Shufa squinted at him for a moment, studying the bandages that wrapped around him. He reminded her of the invisible man, and it calmed her to relate someone in real life to a book character.

A small smile spread across her face.

“Young?” She glanced up at the bandaged man. “Youth is exactly what makes me so dangerous.”

She slid the book out from beneath her arm, letting the glittering gold letters shine through. Long Turn to Death it said, written by Shole Darnin.

“What is a man like you doing in the middle of the night. It’s a bad habit to not sleep.”

John looked back down at the woman as she said that her youth was what made her dangerous, he chuckled and glanced down at the book as she brought it out from under her arm. He tilted his head as she said that it was a bad habit to not sleep, if only she knew.

"Tonight I can't sleep, I rarely sleep well at night." He said and looked up at her face and then back at the church, it had been three years since he lost everything, his mother, his father, his two younger sisters in a fire. Three years had passed since he had been burned badly and his skin still showed no sign of recovering, but that didn't matter now. "You are one to talk, Miss." He said and turned his head back towards her. "Does Miss have a name?" John asked, knowing full well that she probably was going to keep it to herself.

It took Shufa by no surprise that the man could not sleep. Very rarely did one ever find someone wandering around in the middle of the night because they could sleep. It was almost as absurd as say, eating dinner because one was full.

She chuckled lightly.

“Oh, I am not one to speak often. You’ve caught me at a conversational time.” She paused for a second. “Any moment, my jaw could decided to fail me and stop working. Talking is not a sport I like to play often.”

She stared off into the night, sighing. It was true. The night seemed to bring out her more conversational side sometimes. But only ever the night. It must be the appeal of the darkness.

“The Miss does have a name, but she only gives it to those who have given their name first.” Her eyes darkened as she stared at the man intently. She did not guard her name like others did, but names were objects and Shufa never get anything out for free. A name for a name. That had always been the deal. No discounts, no bargains, no nothing.

John shrugged slightly there was no surprise to him that she wanted his name in return or that she wanted him to tell his first. In his mind, his name didn't have that much of a weight any more, it had lost what it truly meant three years ago. The burned man might have been burned quite badly, lost what he had held closest and been almost killed, but he still held some manner.

He did a slight bow for her and nodded to further improve the action. "I guess it's only fair, my name is John Walker." He said and looked at her, closing the large gap between them so it was within normal conversation length. "Also known to some as the Burned Man." he said and pulled aside the bandages in his face, showing the raw burned skin in the now brighter light.

John Walker did not ring a bell in her mind, not that she had expected it to. For someone with as distinctive traits as him, it would be hard for her not to notice him if she had had any prior knowledge of him.

She studied to burned skin for a while, noting that the invisible man comparision drew it’s boundary line at there. While one was invisible, the other was quite visible, his skin raw and red with burns that looked quite painful indeed. She felt strangely comforted by the man’s mangled skin. Not because she thought that it was good to mangle skin, but because he did not seem to fall into any of the general categories she had of “Men to Detest”.

“Shufa.” She said, finally deciding to introduce herself. “Generally known as The Bibliophile.”

She wanted to ask about his bandages and his burns, but then thought that it would be pushing it. She decided that she liked conversing with this man.

“So, what brings a sir like you do such a place in the middle of the night?” She gestured towards the church, diverting the conversation from names to purpose.

John pulled up the bandages again and looked at her with a tilted head. He nodded in confirmation as she said her name too. It didn't ring a bell but he hadn't expected it to do so. He looked at her as she diverted the subject from their names and into why he was standing outside the church at midnight. He didn't really know, but it was something he had begun doing once a year as a memory for his family.

John looked at the church as she motioned towards it and turned towards it, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he then cleared his throat slightly and looked back at her. "Three years ago, my family was killed in a house fire, those who killed them then set me on fire but they did not expect me to survive." John said and looked back at the church. "My hatred absorbed the fire, corrupted it, I then used it to burn those who killed my family alive. That was three years ago exactly."

Lina padded across the rooftops around the city that night, the moon in a crescent shape before the new moon phase of its cycle. she scowled at the thought of the new moon, how much she wish it didn't exist. she was in her fox form like she was every night, thanks to her curse of the moon. turning her into a small silver fox at night. she jumped across the rooftops with her small silver paws, looking around with piercing purple eyes in slits, she watched the streetlights fly past her on her right, she skidded to a halt when she reached the end of a rooftop, seeing there wasn't another one to jump on. she sighed and looked around. noticing she had reached the church building.

She flicked her ears as she heard voices, looking to her right seeing a man talking to a woman underneath a streetlight near the entrance to the church. she didn't have anything else to do, and she was almost covered by darkness. so she went to the edge of the rooftop and flicked her ears, trying to tune into their conversation.

The young earth slayer sat restlessly in the stillness of her office. It seemed as if every once in a while, the hum of the ironbark signal would be giving her notice of each of the member's departure from the guild. Some were forever while others for a short break. Tears dripped down her shiny green eyes wetting a few files as her head rested against propped arm. The past few days had been hard for her, but she was learning to cope. She knew that the lacking of members was only temporary, but that didn't stop the pangs of hurt that clenched her heart. She was greateful for the chance the newer and some of the older members had given her, staying loyal despite the odds. It gave her strength knowing that there were people counting and depending in her now that Alexander Zenneth was gone. The door cracked open and her kitten, Luna, walked inside towards her. Luna jumped onto her lap and purred as her tiny, soft head rubbed against her. Yuna smiled gratefully at Luna. "Thanks Luna..." she said softly as she stroked the soft, black fur. Luna looked up at her and put her paws on Yuna's shoulders as if giving her a reassuring hug. "It'll be alright," Luna said confidently. "Trust me." Yuna nodded and smiled softly. Luna always seemed to know what to do; always providing moral comfort and support. There was a moment of comfortable silence before Luna interrupted it by saying a matter of factly, "Some of the members went to church. You should go, too. You need the distraction." Luna jumped off and walked out of the office. Yuna sat in the office a while after before standing and heading off towards the nearest window. The ship would be safe and if something did happen, she had a failsafe installed for such, hopefully rare, occasions. Without a second thought, Yuna jumped out of the window, feeling the rush of the wind against her face. She unfurled her wings and swooped upwards. Her face lit up with happiness and a large grin decorated her face. She really did need this. Yuna flew towards the church and landed a few yards away from it. Yuna had never been to a church, but the decorations she could see delighted her. She spotted the two newer members of Nox Animus at the entrance and began to walk towards them, but before she went over to them, her enhanced scenes caught movement of Lina. She detoured over to Lina's hiding spot, picked her up, and stroked her soft white fur. "Hey Lina..." she smiled. "What are you doing here all alone?" Yuna then walked over to the mages with Lina, in her fox form, in her arms. "H-Hello," she said fluttering her wings a bit. "H-How are you both..?" She really did need to work more on her stutter...

Another man with a dark story. Shufa sighed, this was only expected. No person ever lived a happy-go-lucky life and joined a dark guild. They would never understand the pain of suffering of those who have been abandoned by the light.

“My story is not so straightforward.” She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I wish I could tell you in a simple and prompt way, but I cannot, and neither do I wish to speak for so long. Tonight is already pushing my limits.”

There was a brief silence that was shattered by the approach of Yuna. The stutterer. The guild master. The girl with the wings. She smiled slightly as she glanced over at her.

“It’s wonderful out tonight.”

John raised his brow as she said that her story was more complicated and that she didn't wish to tell him because she had talked too much already. It was a bit odd, he wasn't much of a speaking person anymore but he shrugged and looked back at her just as he heard his new guild master arrive and asked how they were doing.

He looked over at her and tilted his head slightly at the fox she was carrying. "Good Evening, Yuna." He said and bowed for her briefly. "I'm doing fine, just honoring my family." he said and looked  back at the church.

Lina squeaked as yuna picked her up, almost complaining that she had been found from her dark corner of watching refuge. but she didn't run off, but stayed in yuna's arms and had her ears back and her head down, looking at the two now at a much closer range, they looked much more different than they did from her little spot on the rooftop. she couldn't say anything due to not learning to speak yet as a fox, so she remained silent.

With Lina in her arms, she made her way towards the other guildmembers. "Its wonderful tonight," Shufa said upon looking at her. Yuna nodded towards her with a smile. "Y-Yes, it is.." Yuna wasn't one to usually go out at night, but like everything else, she was changing. Yuna sighed and stroked the fox's soft white fur. John, after looking curiously at the fox-Lina, said solemnly, "I'm doing fine, just honoring my family." The nature fairy tilted her head curiously wanting to ask more but refraining to do so. Topics like these were better left untouched, she believed, unless the other person delved further on it. Yuna looked down at Lina wondering if she should tell her Shufa and John about her. Uncertainly, Yuna whispered down at Lina if that was alright with her. She didn't want to do something like that by accident.

((ooc: sorry. Didn't know what to write.. o.o))

John looked at the fox within the Guild master's arms, he recognized it. He had seen it around Nox Animus from time to time before. But he had always assumed it was the whiskey that was playing tricks on him as it only seemed to be around during the night, usually when John had began to get closer to the end of the bottle.

John looked at Yuna when she looked down at the fox, tilting his head he blinked under the bandages. "I take it that that is not your regular fox, nor is it a fox that's someone's pet, am I right?" John asked and looked at Yuna.

Lina listened to what John was saying, she wanted to say who she really was, but wasn't able to say anything, of course. she looked at john with a face that read as if she was trying to say "really?" but to john she looked like she had some kind of more human personality...Lina looked up at Yuna, nodding to her that she could tell them everything. she couldn't say it herself, anyways.