DING! You've got mail!

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John didn't hear the shouting or sirens of the emergency workers around him until he had already passed them all by. Most of them didn't even bother trying to focus on John; their attention was on the raging inferno that continued its path away from John's home. The only people to actually pay attention to John were his neighbors, Robyn, and the few police officers that had been left at the fire's perimeter to keep people from crossing into the inferno's wreckage until after it had finally died off. The officers tried to stop John as he approached his own home, or what was left of it, and his neighbors only spared him a passing glance before they went back to fretting over their own losses... but Robyn sent them all away or distracted them from their own duties with a small blue stone that she brought with her from her vehicle. All it took was a single glance at the rock and some soft chanting from Robyn, and then the police let the two of them walk past.

Smoke and ash filled John's lungs as he stepped up onto the lawn in front of his old home. Even the grass itself had burned away from his family's property. Every piece of wood that hadn't been completely reduced to embers or dust was charred black and still faintly crackled whenever a breeze passed by. Waves of heat rolled off the area where John had once lived and slept, and they unfortunately stopped him before he could begin scouring the ruins for anything that was important to him. Specifically, he wanted to start searching for his mother. He didn't care about the fact that he could have been burned if he tried to press on into the flames that were still flickering with life in his old home.

All he cared about was making sure that his mom was okay.

Robyn was the person who helped to stop him. Her metallic hand clasped John's shoulder just as he went to try and charge into the smoldering ruins one more time and firmly held him in place no matter how hard he tried to jerk free. The strength of her robotic arm somehow managed to meet his own at least, and John very nearly growled and snapped at her before some of the framework of John's house snapped loudly and fell apart. One of the other police officers that hadn't been hypnotized by Robyn's magic stone turned to look at the noise, and upon seeing the two of them, he grabbed a few of his coworkers to usher John and Robyn back to safety.

"You can't be over here right no-" one of the cops was saying before John finally started to register the sounds around him again. He turned to grab onto the hand of the policeman that was dragging him away, a familiar face who had tried to let him out of a prison cell a few days before that, and interrupted the cop before he could finish talking.

"Did you find anybody inside?" John asked, and the group of cops turned to look at John with a sorrowful look. His heart almost broke when he saw their faces, but he had to hear the answer. "Was anyone inside that house while it was burning?!" The second time that John asked the question, he snapped at the group of them and shoved the cops hands away before they could pull him aside completely. He got so loud as he tried to address the police officers that some of the neighbors turned to look at him again. After a couple of moments, the cop finally answered him.

"We didn't hear anybody on approach, but we have not been able to search the burning residences yet. We won't be able to search them until the fire is under control. As soon as we can, I'll personally let you kno-" Once again, the cop was interrupted. This time, he was interrupted by a man with another voice that sounded familiar to John.

"It's too dangerous to search the houses for bodies right now." The second voice did not belong to a cop. It was blunt and rude as the person it belonged to stepped up the group of them... and then the cops began to leave. Their presence wasn't welcome to the conversation anymore, so they were sent away. John immediately figured that they had probably been dismissed with the use of magic.

Daniel Salvador was careful to approach John as he walked around the mixed group of warriors and civilians. Even after John noticed who he was, the small, bald, muscular man tried his hardest to at least keep Robyn between the two of them as John's mind immediately jumped to the easiest conclusion. Daniel, the guy he had met in the hospital and who had been seemingly trying to intimidate John into joining his group was now at John's burned up home. It made sense to him that Daniel had been the one to do it... and everyone else who could pay attention to their conversation seemed to sense it as John reached that realization.

Robyn took the moment to immediately plant herself between John and Daniel and shoved her arm into John's chest to stop him from charging at the smaller man. They were in public and, on top of that, Daniel wasn't alone. Just like last time, Daniel had brought a crew of people with him to the street that John had lived on for so long. He was surrounded by various men and women of the group that he had tried to recruit John into and, after a moment of thought, John figured that there might be more members hidden within the crowds around them. Daniel was protected... in a way that he had offered to protect John. John tried to Observe as many of the crew members as he could to make sure that he identified them all... but there were too many people, and he only noticed one who could have been of any actual importance to Daniel.

Paula Salvador
Level 14 Alchemist
<Ms. Gold>
211/211 HP
Relationship: +21

Paula looked young enough to be Daniel's little sister, they both had the same dark eyes, and she seemed to base a lot of her style choices on the family member that she had been following around. Except that she took it to an **** compared to Daniel. Whereas Daniel wore simple jeans and t-shirt with his leather jacket, Paula was dressed all in black. Her dark, leather, waist-length jacket was just one piece of the black outfit that she had chosen to wear and was left open to display the clothes that she had on beneath. Her black pants, black crop-top, and, of course, her black boots were all supposed to match. There was no expanded variety in her outfit, she even kept her hair and makeup as dark as possible. The black lipstick she had on remained pressed together in a thin line as she silently watched Daniel work without expression. At most, every now and then she might try to brush her short hair back so that it kept from hanging down over her forehead, but she didn't get involved. In a way, her figure reminded John of Mary. She was just a little bit bustier than the cheerleader, but not by much. The small increase in the swell of her bosom and her ass left her figure with a slight hourglass shape.

Neither Daniel nor Paula seemed to care when John noticed her though.

"I told you that you were going to need help," Daniel muttered with a lazy glance back at the wreckage that had inexplicably consumed yet another house. The sky grew darker with every minute that passed them by until a familiar hollow feeling appeared in John's stomach. A twisting sensation followed in that gap, like something was sucking all of the bravery and sane thought out of John through his gut... but he didn't attack in public... even if his home was starting to look and feel like he had already stepped foot into a new barrier.

"I'm going to rip your fucking throat out." John's reply was nowhere near being amiable. He didn't like the idea of trying to kill someone again, it made him sick just thinking about it, but as his courage left him... only anger and fear were left in its place. He pushed aside the memories of what had happened the last time he was in a trap barrier, and his hands clenched up into fists as Robyn tried to shove another arm against his chest to hold John in place. They were still in the real world... despite how hard it was to tell the difference. If he got past Robyn and attacked, they were all dead.

"I know what you're thinking, John," Daniel said, and John almost laughed. He outright told him what he had been thinking, there was no need for- "but I did not do this." This time, John did laugh at him... and Daniel smiled back reassuringly, but John stopped pushing against Robyn's arms. He let her hold him in place for the moment while Daniel continued talking. If he was telling the truth, then he wouldn't have to kill anyone. If he wasn't... then at least John could loot him afterwards. "In fact... if you'll remember correctly, I tried to warn you that this might happen if you didn't find someone to help protect you and your family."

"He has someone to pro-" It was Robyn's turn to try and interject herself into the conversation this time, but Daniel cut her off before she could try to stop him.

"The Frozen Flame? Be realistic, John. If the Frozen Flame had actually allowed a man to join their ranks, then don't you think that something like this would have been stopped?! They're a militarized organization, John. If you were a part of them, you'd already be covered in armor from head to toe and going through training right now." Daniel paused slightly and then gingerly began to step around Robyn, remaining as still and as calm as possible as he reached out to pluck a small sticker off the side of John's neck. The Gamer blinked a few times as he looked down at the tan item for a moment... and then watched as Daniel dropped the sticker into the wind. "If you were a part of them, you'd at least know about it whenever the Flame decided to put a tracking device on you."

The two men paused momentarily as they looked back and forth between each other and Robyn, but John's muscles had already relaxed and his fists had fallen away. At the moment, everything that Daniel was saying to him was making sense... if he hadn't been the one to burn John's house down.

"Why should I believe you? How do I know that you weren't the one to start this fire? You showed up pretty quickly after it happened." Daniel didn't even flinch at the accusation.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I've been here, waiting and watching for a moment to arrive so I could try to recruit you again. You killed a Cabalist, a high-ranking one at that, despite the fact that you shouldn't have had the power to do so. You would make a valuable addition to any group that you decided to join, John." Daniel stopped to turn and take off his heavy leather jacket while he was talking to John. The waves of heat brought down streams of sweat from the bald man's head, but after he took the jacket off, he seemed to at least cool down slightly. John was too focused on what Daniel had said to find any kind of meaning, false or true, in the man's sweat.

"You said you were watching the house?" John asked, and Daniel nodded. "If it wasn't you, then who did this? Where is my m-"

"And don't say it was the Flame," Robyn scoffed almost immediately. She was sweating just as badly, but Robyn's attention was entirely devoted on the task at hand. She didn't bother taking off her heavy coat. "I don't give a damn for what you think about the Flame and how we do things, you-"

"You've already fought the culprits once." Daniel didn't even pay attention to Robyn. "You've killed one, but the Cabal is more than just one person. It's more than just one crew. Honestly, I was expecting this all to be one big ruse for the Cabal to draw you out and try to capture you again..." There was a slight pause from Daniel as he considered finishing his statement... and then after a moment he did, claiming that he was going to stick by his honesty. "After I saw your house start burning, my plan was to wait for the Cabal to reveal their hand and attack before I got involved. I was hoping that you might reconsider joining me once I foiled their second attempt on your life. This..." Daniel pointed up to the burnt wreckage that was once John's house. "... wasn't a trap though. They're not here... so it was probably retaliation. It was personal."

"Where is-" John didn't get to finish his question for a second time.

"You were just going to wait until after they had attacked?!" Robyn interrupted him.

"Yes. The Order is wounded. Tactically, it makes sense to come in from behind them while they were focused on John. It would have been the best way to save him," Daniel said, and Robyn scoffed again.

"What happened to my-" John's voice got louder and angrier as he tried to join back into the conversation, but once again he was unsuccessful. He felt ready to pick Daniel up by his shirt and start shaking him when the bald man interrupted him again.

"Normally, the Cabal is known for its ruthlessness and carelessness when it comes to people’s lives. They wouldn't typically care like this when they could be doing something like focusing on Necromancy or Mana. You definitely pissed someone off," Daniel said, and then with another glance towards John, he seemed to notice how frustrated the Gamer was getting. He smiled softly as John clenched and unclenched his hands into fists again, but he didn't leave John in suspense any longer. He knew what the Gamer was trying to ask him and answered before John had to scream to get the question out.

"Your mom is alive, Newman. She looked like she was going to go shopping when she left the house and has been gone since before the fire started," Daniel said finally and watched as John's shoulders finally drooped like a tremendous weight had been taken off them. Daniel's smile grew a bit wider as he looked at John, and then he nodded down at John's pocket before he turned to walk away.

"You should answer that. I trust that we will talk again soon, Newman," he said, and then John's phone started to ring.