It was cold for an evening in Autumn, as it slowly encroached to night. The sun had just disappeared on the horizon, and a fog was starting to roll in, reducing visibility considerably, and bringing an even cooler dampness to the world outside. The atmosphere itself could be described as eerie and foreboding, but that mattered little to the man and woman that laid in the bed of the motel room they had rented for the night.

The man, with his glasses and green hair, got out from under the covers, revealing his slender, but well-defined body. He was clad in nothing but a pair of blue jeans, and made his way to the window by the door, looking outside and shaking his head. He closed the curtains even more than they already were, making sure that not a crack was left open, and made sure the door was securely locked. He sighed to himself, and shook his head.

"Man." he said. "The weather out there is looking ominous as anything." he commented. "Anyone and everyone could hide in that thick pea soup of a fog rollin' out there." he said further. "And with a place like this, I'd rather not think of the possibility of some creeper deciding to take a peek from the safety of that blanket." he added.

The motel was... not one of great reputation. To call it 'seedy' would be a compliment. When one booked a room there, it was only for one night. No longer. And payment was in cash. JUST cash. No credit, no debit, no cheques, no money orders, CASH. That was the ONLY payment accepted. And there was a registry book, yes, but to look at it, you would see names like 'Tom Smith', 'George Johnson', 'Mike Taylor', and other such generic lies scrawled in it... if one even signed at all. The one thing they had going for them was that the locks on the doors were damn secure... even if the one that manned the front desk had master keys for each room, in order to forcibly kick people out when they were even 5 minutes late on leaving. And when it got dark, you stayed away from the building, as scummy people prowled around, wanting to try and take advantage of people that may foolishly leave their curtains open, or doors not properly locked.

"Not that it matters for me." he then said. "Someone tries anything with us, they'll quickly learn that someone disappearing from existence around here is no big deal." he then added, as he grinned a toothy grin to himself, showing rows of razor-sharp teeth. He quickly cleared his throat and checked the door again, before turning to the woman that was still on the bed.

"Good thing we brought some food here when we checked in." he commented, looking to the Chinese take-away that they'd grabbed while on the way here. "And good thing that the TV's here can connect to my phone, so we can stream movies and shit on a big screen, and thank my unlimited data." he chuckled. "Because I am NOT connecting to ANY WiFi signal in this area." he then muttered seriously.

With that, he made his way back to the bed, and laid back down on it.

"So." he said. "Feel good to have a night off?" he asked her.

He looked over towards her, and raised an eyebrow. He'd heard something... off... in her tone, but before he could possibly ask about it, she had continued, and made things even MORE confusing for him. And perhaps a little concerning. What did she mean by 'last night'? Was she talking about the night before? No, that wasn't right, she then made it a present-time thing with the following 'is'. Her heavy sigh seemed a little... off, as well. Normally there was some sadness to it, or some sort of resignation, but there wasn't any of that here. It seemed more... relaxed? Free? It was hard for him to describe it, but he almost had the feeling that a huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders, and that wasn't something he was used to. On one hand, it was refreshing for her to have such an attitude, but on the other... more pressing... hand, such a sudden deviation in attitude was jarring, and potentially concerning.

"Well, that's why I spend time with you." he said. "Yeah, we do the occasional shit, which you are QUITE good at..." he commented with a small smirk, before continuing. "...but I know that you appreciate a night off every so often." he admitted. He then paused again, before shaking his head. He needed to know what it was that this nagging feeling was poking at him was about.

"Hey..." he then muttered, but then paused again. Surely he was just thinking too deeply on this. Surely he was just reading TOO much between the lines.

"If this is your last night, then... I'll miss you." he told her, thinking that those she worked with were moving to another area where the two of them meeting up and doing this would be a lot harder, and she was going along. "Mind if you... take Kalin's appearance?" he asked.

"She's been SUPER busy and stressed lately, and just hasn't been in the mood for the past month or so." he told her. "Which is fine, I understand that. And she's fine with my going elsewhere, so long as I'm safe and careful and clean about it, and don't bring it home, obviously." he went on. "But I've missed it with her. Mind if you take her form? Even if for some neckin'?" he asked further with a small laugh.

He froze when he heard that. Straight-up froze. He was quiet and still for close to 10 seconds as he process that, and she could see it in his eyes. He then blinked once or twice, and shook his head. After that, he took a small breath, composed himself, took another moment to mull that statement over in his mind... and in the end, he STILL looked confused and... almost outraged.

"Excuse me!?" he exclaimed. "They put a LOCK on your SHIFTING?" he asked her.

She nodded in response.

"But... you're a shapeshifter." he then said. "That's... that's literally your thing. It's what you DO. It's genetically your THING." he stated further, to which she just shrugged.

She seemed overly complacent about this, and that made him wonder if her sudden tonal shift from her usual was the cause of it. And if so, that led to some... potentially chilling conclusions. But he decided against jumping to said conclusions, and instead decided to get some more info, if he could. He would start with one of the most obvious and basic of questions;

"Why!?"

He was silent as he heard all this, before his eyes narrowed... and hardened. She could see that he was getting quite angry right now, and instead of responding or saying anything to her, he got out of the bed and made his way to where they had tossed their shirts.

"Answer me something." he said to her.

"Do you trust me?" he asked. He then paused, thinking about the question he had just asked, before turning back towards her. "...which is to say, do you trust me to have the best of intentions for your safety and wellbeing, and do you believe me when I say that I would never knowingly harm you, or put you in harm's way?" he then clarified further.

There was something in his voice that she hadn't heard from him in a very long time. Determination. And fierce determination at that as well.

He responded by tossing the clothing she had discarded back on the bed.

"Because she'd never forgive me if I let THIS continue." he told her. "You two have met, albeit briefly, but she's told me that if I ever let anything happen to you, I had better keep it a secret, because if I tell her, she'll go for my throat." he went on. "And then she said that I had better make sure that she never finds out, because if she then finds out I let something happen to you, and then hid it, she'll go for my throat while I'm ASLEEP." he then stated.

"So no. You need help." he insisted.

"...and I'M not the one to give it to you." he then said further.

"But I know of somewhere that CAN. And I get the feeling they'll be happy to get information on these bastards." he then growled.

"We're going to San Diego."

"I know." the man responded. "And that's what makes you worth saving." he told her. "And it shows that this damn ring needs to finally be taken down." he continued.

He gathered up everything they'd brought into the room with them, and packed it away in the cloth bags he'd been using, before scanning the room once more and looking towards her.

"All right, you good to go?" he asked.

When she nodded, he extended his hand, and they disappeared in a bubble of water, leaving nothing behind except a minorly disheveled bed.

The two then appeared in a small room that looked like a storage closet, and the man sighed.

"All right, we're here." he said.

"You okay?" he inquired.

"..." he was silent as she said what she did, and then sighed.

"Good thing I decided to make a last-minute decision-change." he commented. "See, as I was about to teleport, it suddenly occurred to me that that mark you have on you might have some sort of... failsafe in it..." he said. "And it seems I was right. If I were to wager a guess, if I had actually taken you to San Diego, there's a good chance you'd be dead right now." he told her further.

"...whether or not that would have been a good outcome or not is entirely up to the individual's point of view..." he then muttered pointedly.

"Anyway, we're in Finland." he told her.

"Helsinki." he then clarified.

"I have friends here. They may be able to help." he finished, opening the door and looking around.

Rene looked over towards her, and sighed.

"Yeah, it's me." he confirmed.

"Sabrina, this is Yuki." he said to the woman he had come with. "Yuki, Sabrina." he told the new woman.

"And no. She needs help." he told her further.

"We need SERIOUS mana." he then went on. "Seriously. Sabrina's life is in serious jeopardy, and I need to get her somewhere that can properly help." he continued, pausing again.

"But to do THAT, she needs to see someone here first."

Rene paused when the questions were posed, thinking about it. Both of the individuals in question had VERY strong mana, for very different reasons. He thought about for a bit more, before nodding.

"Vae." he responded.

"This is serious right now." he told her. "If you wanna bring Kaia as well, won't stop you, but we might be at levels that require... well... Vae's potency, shall we say." he went on.

"And sorry to suddenly pop in like this." he then apologised.

"But this is a bit of an emergency."

Rene just chuckled quietly when she said that.

"Not surprising." he said. "This place IS supposedly haunted after all." he told her. "Yep, place is supposed to be REAL haunted." he went on, smirking to himself.

"If you think that exists." he then said.

"So many people aren't scared of the oogy-boogy ghosts." he chuckled further.

"...but seriously, you're safe here." he then told her sincerely.

"I promise."