The beginning of an end to an Era (Sarah and Seraphim)

...She knew this part of the neighborhood, in fact, she had ran past here plenty of times as a streetrat, around here was a great place to steal without letting the police get onto you. That, and she had taken the time to get into a few fights around her in her younger years. 'Just thinking about it all makes me feel like a twerp again...' Nostolgia filled her mind as she found out just where they were, finding that quite a few cities around here had become her 'playground' as a child, this place being one of them. Although, she didn't remember a whole lot about this area, probably because she hardly went out this far. Still... to know Sarah live close to one of her many stomping grounds as an forgotten child, it was a little strange really.

Seraphim was quite, looking around the area since she hadn't been here in ages, and a sparkle of youth came to her eyes as the memories came to her. But this was soon interupted when Sarah confronted another man who she called Tyler.

Now, Seraphim wasn't the type to label people, but the moment she saw him, two words came to mind: Drug Dealer. She had seen it all in her times, and avoided each and every one. She was her own girl, and only stuck with a few other street children like herself, not ever dealing with pushers like this. But then, when he opened the trench coat to reveal the watches after their conversation, Seraphim cracked a grin from the corner of her lips, shaking her head a little. "Ah.. no thanks. Saving up for more important things. Time doesn't really matter, I have the sun and moon to tell me when I need to sleep." Never really being the type to schedule things at specific times, Seraphim casually played off that she didn't need a watch, denying it with a nervous grin as she turned away.

Tyler snorted at Seraphim's answer. "Sun and moon, she says," he muttered. "Come on! Look at this! Quality merchandise, this is!" He pulled out a shiny rollex from one of his many pockets. "Look at this! You care barely hear the 'tick', but it's there. Shiny, durable, and it'll last you a lifetime!" Almost on cue the latach he was holding onto broke and the watch shattered into a million pieces on the sidewalk. Tyler blinked down at the scattered pices. "Uh...it was supposed to do that. It's like Lego, you get the fun of putting it back together again!"

Sarah laughed at the whole ordeal, and it was a genuine laugh, not one of contempt or mocking like usual. "Go back home, Tyler," she sighed, wiping a tear from her eye. "I don't think you're gonna sell any today."

"Says you! I already have tons of sales! Why old Mrs. Johnson over there was very interested I'll have you know. Hello Mrs. Johnson!" he called to an old lady sitting on a stoop, and she responded with self-explanatory hand gesture. "Hahaha, go rot in hell you old bitch..." Tyler muttered under his breath. "You know what I don't get, Sarah? Why you still living in this shithole? You must be making some major cash with those fights you been winning."

"What can I say?" Sarah shrugged, flashing a smile. "I like it here. Besides, someone's gotta look after you." Tyler scoffed at that. "I'll see you later, Tyler. Me and the Cyclops got things to discuss."

"Knowing you it's probably about whos legs you need to break." Sarah laughed lightly, patted Tyler on the shoulder and went inside the appartment bulding, waving Seraphim in to follow.

Seraphim had to admit, the entire exchange was rather.. amusing actually, something she never would have expected to happen around Sarah, especially hearing her actually give a geniune laugh like that too. Still, she wasn't up for dealing with peddlers, even if he wasn't as aggressive as some and didn't seem to come off as such a bad guy, causing Seraphim to just ignore the man after she denied him one last time. "Seems your watches are falling apart as much as you are. Get a different job while you can, there's a fast food place hiring down the block." Half sarcastic, half serious, Serpahim turned away from Tyler, not feeling like dealing with him any more as she turned back to Sarah, still keeping herself in the background, not wanting to voice many opinions about any of this or being involved. She continued to dismiss everything as just a white noise, wanting only to get this all overwith and find out what this was all about. Seraphim had things to do later, so this had better be worth it.

As they begun to leave, Seraphim quarked her brow a little, pocketing her hands into her jacket, still as relaxed as ever before speaking, trying not to seem like such a stiff after how long she had been silent, wanting to try and lighten things up, even if Seraphim still loathed this whole situation.

"So... you've lived here for how long then? I'm surprised I never seen you around when I was younger.. I was all over these few towns." Seraphim would admit this with a somewhat relaxed tone, trying to spark a civil, normal conversation with this neanderthal if that was at all possible.

As Sarah and Seraphim entered the appartment, Tyler stuck his tongue out at Serahim's back. Then he closed up his coat and went on his way back home.

"I've only lived here for a year," Sarah answered as they walked up the stairs to the upper levels of the appartment compex. "I'm from Canada. I only moved here so I can join the AFW. I lived in a place like this back there too. Once you're used to it it's easy to get along here." Soon they arrived at the door to Sarah's appartment, room number 696. But the 9 had become partly unscrewed and flipped upside down, now turning it into 666. It was unlocked since everyone knew it was suicide to steal from her. She opened the door and went inside.

Sarah's appartment was what anyone would expect one of her calibre to live in. It was an old place in need of cleaning, empty beer cans and clothes laying about freely on the floor and furniture. The furniture itself was none too impressive either, justan old couch in the middle of the room and a reclining chair facing a fairly large television set. The kitchen wasn't very large, but it looked like it was used frequently. It wasn't clean though as shown by the piles of dirty dishes in the sink. Workout equipment was abundant as well. Dumbells ranging from the more heavier sizes mostly, but there was also a punching bag in the corner, by now well broken in.

The most striking part about the place though was that nailed to the far wall were several random objects. All of them were the so-called trophies Sarah had stolen from her defeated opponants in the AFW. Items such as Haruko Hitamura's hair ribbon, Akashi's Tanikaze sumo sash and Cardia Water's skirt, all of them were nailed to the wall to display her past victories.

"Make yourself at home," Sarah said as she strode into the room. She took off her leather jacket and hung it on its reserved spot, a coatrack in the corner.

((696? That's a lot of rooms for an apartment. ;xD It means there's at least 576 rooms. o.o;
Relax though, it's cool, just teasing. " title="Razz" /> ))

Nodding at that responce, Seraphim took note of that, only knowing Sarah for her matches, and not anything about facts like nationality or when she came to this town. It was a good fact to know though, as Seraphim took note of it and decided not to ask any more for now, saving any other questions for later.

When the reached the room, Seraphim didn't hold her breath for anything special. She didn't like stereotyping people too much, after all, she defied quite a few herself, but she would be lying if she didn't say she was expecting Sarah's room to look the way it had, it really seemed to reflect her personality, that was for sure. But then again, Seraphim's wasn't much better, she hardly had any money since she was always spending it on Alison's medicine and now had Tracy staying with her as well, so they had a pretty ratty place by default, not choice. But hey, at least she always made sure the fridge was full and they had beds to sleep on, right?

"It's... cozy." Seraphim said slowly, pausing to try and find a word that wasn't insulting, not even sure of that was the right one to say since it all seemed so.. empty. But then again, Sarah's heart was as empty, and a room often reflected a person's attitude and lifestyle, right?

"Tyler's right though, with all the money you make, why don't you have anything better?"

((Couldn't resist.))

Sarah moved about her place, knocking over beer cans as she did. "Be it ever so humble," she sneered. She was picking up nails that were laying on a coffee table, and she seemed to be looking for something else as well. Of course, in this place it would be hard to find your own feet.

"What's wrong with this place?" Sarah replied to Seraphim's question. "It's just as homey as any other place could be. Just smaller. And the people are a lot more interesting. Besides, if I moved somewhere nicer I'd just mess it up, at least here it's justified." As she looked around she gestured to the couch. "Sit down. We got a lot to talk about."

'Ugh, never tell a lioness how to keep her den, you'll just get your head ripped off.' Seraphim didn't feel the need to argue it, this was Sarah's house, and Seraphim was the guest, so she wouldn't judge. This whole incident was just like being in a sailboat among a storm anyway, it was pointless to resist it, so Seraphim just went along for the ride. She was disliking Sarah more and more, but if the woman had claims about fighting against the Era of Hell, then Seraphim would at least listen, but that was about all. At this point, she was already sick of Sarah's antics, but for now she'd lend her an ear on what she had to say.

Seraphim unzipped her white coat that had the blue and red flames along the sleeves, throwing it over her shoulder when she did. Underneath she had a sleeveless navy-blue t-shirt that fit her attractive form tightly, and it was obvious from the sweat around the neck that Seraphim was really pushing herself. But also beneath, there was a long, blood stained bandage upon her right arm, and this wasn't the only one she had on at the moment, having still being in need of a long recovery after the interuption she gave against Megumi and Violet's fight, taking on a sword and yet still winning.

As Seraphim undid the coat and made herself comfortable, she made her way to the couch, eyeing it from afar like there was some sort of trap before finally falling into it and reclinging a little. 'Tch... even the couch smells like booze.'

"Alright then." Seraphim said with a tone of finality in it, adjusting her eyepatch just slightly as she leaned back some, her crimson eye gazing at Sarah with a more serious gaze then before. "Tell me what this is all about."

As Seraphim took off her coat and made herself comfortable Sarah found what she had been looking for. She picked up a hammer that had been laying on the ground, and turned to face the white haired woman. Idly her gaze shifted to the bandages on her arm. "We both want the same thing, apparently," she whispered. "We both want to bring the Era of Hell crashing down. I have a few ideas on how to do it, but I may need a little help."

Sarah picked up a few more nails from the table. "But how come you're after them? What'd they do to you?"

Why was it that whenever Sarah picked up something that could be used as a weapon, it made Seraphim tense? It wasn't fear, it was just a reaction, Seraphim had always had a slight paranoia as she gotten older, especially around those she couldn't trust, so seeing someone she couldn't trust as far as she could throw suddenly pick up a hammer, she couldn't help but feel a little off, but still keeping this to herself.

The nails didn't help either, but Seraphim let that paranoia shrug away, and she took a short breath, listening to what Sarah had to say about the Era of Hell. She was seeing the idea now, Sarah wanted the Era of Hell gone, and Seraphim did as well, but she still didn't see a reason why she needed to team up with this savage of all people. It was like simply picking the lesser of two evils, but the margin of who was worse was extremely slim.

"I have my reasons." Seraphim said simply, but quickly deciding to just explain herself. "I've made friends here, and they all have threatened, hurt, and fucked up the lives of everyone I know. I'm on that list as well, and there are people I care about who I can't allow to get hurt simply for knowing me." Her actions were noble, and Seraphim sounded resolute and firm with how she felt, saying this like it wasn't just a fact, but something she promised herself to stand against.

"How very noble," Sarah sneered. She didn't figure Seraphim to be one of those go all out for your friends type people. "I guess your friends can't really do anything about it themselves. Then again, the Era of Hell does like to prey on the weak."

Sarah turned away from Seraphim momentarily to look for something else in the appartment. "I have a pretty good reason myself for going after them." Sarah looked back at Seraphim and smiled darkly. "They pissed me off."