The Death of A Demon : A Broadcast of Familiar Faces

ow... The school really though they could do without a janitor huh...? Her brow raised for a split second at the idea of not hiring anybody to clean up; after all, teenagers could make one hell of a mess. After all, the blonde needed look no further than around her own apartment to understand why. But, better than than hiring one of those annoying Janitors that could go years just telling her to get out of the way:

"Well, that's a bummer...", a disappointed, but understanding comment, hands sliding over to her ankles as she leaned back ever so slightly, glancing at the bloody scene projected on the wall. They'd stopped paying attention to the movie for a long while, completely immersed in their conversation, especially as Kasey addressed a pressing subject that had the blonde nodding and, "Yeah... We gotta make sure they don't fire you."

Yes, Kanna knew how screwed she'd end up if her adventures with the janitor were to ever see the light of day. She still had hopes of keeping this event under a tight lid, but she made a fair point, they couldn't leave anything to chance. For better or worse, they were in this together now, neither could screw over the other without screwing themselves as well... And they'd already past the point where they'd wish harm upon each other for no reason.

"Uhm... You were only gone for three days.", she corrected, raising a finger as a student might, interrupting the girl with a doubtful crooking of her brow; one by one she corrected the more critical fault lines in Kasey's tale, knowing their fates were now tied together, "We can't say they were heroes...", noted Kanna, shaking her head and looking Kasey dead in the eye, "They'd reasonably assume registered heroes to have given their names, or at least for us to give a fitting description... Only vigilantes save people without giving names... Though we should avoid mentioning names or affiliations and play dumb. You don't know who saved you, some masked dudes you didn't recognize. I found you messed up and bloody, and I saw two figures running off when I came by to get you."

Indeed, if they named unexisting heroes, they'd get suspicious... If they described heroes who didn't match any known name, they'd also get suspicious... And more importantly, if they named heroes who weren't there, well... That happening would totally screw them over. She paused after those earlier statements though, letting the janior answer, for them to create a completely airtight cover. So when Kasey expressed exactly the same thoughts going through her mind, the blonde merely nodded:

"No worries, I'm not an idiot... And if you don't trust me, well...", she shrugged, then leaned back in, resting her hands on her knees with a resolute, determined look in her eyes, "...Remember I'm just as fucked as you are if you do down. In the end it makes no difference whether you're in a school for heroes or anywhere else... If they decide they wanna get rid of you, they won't give a shit as to why I helped you."

Though once those last words left her lips, she glanced away and scratched her head, fingers running through her moist hair as a faint redness coloring her cheeks. Kanna couldn't help recall the embarassing scene she'd put there at that one moment she thought her rescue had failed; She defenitely felt far more invested than she'd have been for losing a simple source of information. Yet if asked why she did it:

"Not like I know the answer to that anyway...", too many reasons but none in particular, with the blonde completely incapable of calmly admitting she simply enjoyed Kasey's company more than she did most people's. Was it even possible for two people who might one day stand on opposite sides to even look to each other as friends...? Maybe one day... For now though, they had to find a way to save each other's ass, and thus the blonde calmly leaned against the couch, resting her arm behind it, "So... Let's go over it one more time... I tried calling you when you missed school the second day, then I tried tracking your phone. When it died, I went in and found you lying in a bloody mess, with two figures leaving the crime scene. Thinking you could be targeted again in the hospital, I took you to my place to recover."

And this pretty much settled Kanna's side of the story, now all they had to do was rectify potentially faulty details, and making their story consistent, absolutely flawless. No room for sloppiness that could raise suspicions...

aced with the reality of actually appreciating this woman's company, as time went by it felt less like flirting with danger and more simply... Well, hanging out, really... But she wasn't so blind as to ignore the risk they'd face should they be interrogated, and simply nodded, commiting this story to memory once Kasey approved it:

"Try to get us some chill pills as soon as possible... If they put us through the grind long enough, something could slip out. We gotta be extra careful.", she requested, thinking back to medication like Benzodiazepines, stuff one could rely on to take the edge off, "Well, you're surprisingly ignorant to shit most people consider common sense...", the stoned Kanna let out a little chuckle as she waved her tattooed left hand in front of her roomate for the night, flaunting her body art and nodding thinking back to when the girl asked if she'd been born with it, "You can hardly blame him for assuming that can you?"

She'd tilt her head with a knowing narrowing of her eyes, with all the THC in her system she appreciated a moments off topic for no reason other than to have a giggle... But once Kasey raised that pressing topic of what really defines a hero, the blonde laid back in her couch in earnest, both elbows resting behind the back as her legs crossed in front of her:

"How many of those are real heroes, licence or otherwise...?", she'd ask, tilting her head back, glancing up into the ceiling contemplatively. To think a hero student could have such cynical views, one might even wonder what exactly was she doing in Yuuei, "If you're just doing it for revenge, money, fame... It's a job like any other. You're hunting down evil and getting paid for it, competing with other heroes to see who gets the laurels..."

Looking at Kasey, she'd remain silent and instead let the bone using janitor unwind freely, knowing she'd reached a point where every word from her lips yielded a treasure trove of information. The blonde shook her head, brow raising slightly at the revelation of Darkshine's parentage, hanging off everything the girl said, knowing this exact reason had drawn her towards the janitor in the first place.

"Someone ordered it, and if we climb our way up the food chain, we'll eventually find out who.", she stated, rubbing her chin, frowning as all the gears inside her head turned and got to work.

Which was exactly what she had in mind. And as it turned out, just like Kanna wanted to use her for information, so did Kasey intend to use the hacker for her own agenda. Kanna would soon lean in once more, hand resting on her lap, her eyes all but lighting up as this proposition seemed right up her alley.

"Now you're speaking my language...", Kanna's lips widened into a grin for the first time in a good few minutes, almost as big as the one she'd have shown while fully immersed in playing with four wheeled toy. One look at Kanna should reveal the extent of her rebellious nature, her love of freedom and loathing of authority. Bringing those who rely on corrupt power right back down to the earth, eating away at their pedestals and watching as everything crumbled around them... She couldn't deny the somewhat sadistic sense of glee it brought her, "Fine, I'll be your hacker... I can sell you all my skills for as long as we need to get the job done."

As a girl who'd been stepped on by authority figures all her life, Kanna tolerated it so long as she didn't smell corruption, abuse similar to the one she herself had endured. Abuse such as locking a dozen Quirk users for inhuman experiments:

"Let's burn their castle to the ground~", asserted Kanna, that resolute jade gaze burning fiercer than ever before. The janitor could use her power to achieve this goal. Even had she been decieving Kanna, the girl hate authority enough that the act of bringing down a multinacional corporation wouldn't really
make her lose sleep or anything. Stretching her hand out to her guest, she offered but a mere symbolic gesture, cementing their collaboration for the job to come.

es, even though she lacked common sense, Kasey was no idiot... Kanna had already seen she was at least capable of deducing this or that thing based on what she knew, which already placed her a fair bit higher than some people. And with the amount of knowledge she'd obviously accumulated, reaching valid conclusions suddenly became a hell of a lot easier:

"Reading's good...", a simple, approving platitude accompanied Kanna's nod, "...Damn though... I'm not surprised you couldn't care less about education with a life like that."

Then again, only Kanna's quirk stood between her and a life out on the streets, at the mercy of whatever villains and predators dwelled in them. She not only had the right power to learn whatever she needed to survive - such as people's credit card numbers - but also the intelligence to use it wisely, and thus avoid attracting unnecessary attention. She was no hero, even though she attended a school for one, and deep down had no intentions of pursuing that career. And yet, this kind of work with Kasey seemed right up her alley, some may even call it heroic despite Kanna's cynicism:

"Yeah, people need to eat... And because it's a job, they can easily reach a point when the money they need - their own needs - matters more than the needs of others. The ideal hero you describe would need to be...", Kanna rolled her wrist, wriggling her finger about and furrowing her brow as if to search for the right word, "A saint, really... Somebody who'd want nothing but to makes lives better for folks around 'em. Can you even say a person like that exists in the hero community?"

With this last question, she turned back to Kasey with a raised eyebrow, the girl had a far more lax view on heroes, perfectly acceping one could do good as a job without letting their greed get the better of them. But could they really...? Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The stronger the hero, the more likely she found for them to eventually give in to their innermost desires. At the same time, Kanna wasn't so cynical as to lump both heroes and villains in the same bag for what was essentially a trait of the entire species, so she'd eventually lean back on the couch and sigh, yielding a fair point:

"Of course, getting paid to help people still beats having to steal it from helpless old men.", she'd acknowledge, nodding as she yielded to at least one of Kasey's arguments, "So long as hopeful heroes have a shred of professionalism, they might not be too bad at their jobs..."

Perhaps the only, thoroughly begrudging acknowledgement Kanna could ever give heroes... Professionalism, pride in doing one's job well. An attribute Kanna respected and strove for, as she would in this new partnership. The roman handshake her partner favored - grasping her whole arm instead of just her hand - visibly caught her off guard, pulling the two closer, all but inches away from each other. Eyes widened at the sudden pull, it defenitely didn't catch her off guard as much as her words:

"Did you come up with all of that just now...?", she'd inquire, raising an eyebrow; while they were oddly fitting, Kanna's side seemed almost... Off... Like a shoe that should theoretically fit her, but hadn't really been made for her. While only a suspicion, Kanna wouldn't be surprised to know she wasn't really the first hacker the girl had worked with, and she'd most likely not be the last. Indeed, nothing lasts forever. If Kanna herself understood she had to make the most of these partnership while it lasted, then no doubt Kasey did too. The girl went to great lengths to look the part, but she was no idiot. For now though, she had a goal the blonde related to, a goal she'd help her achieve, "So I'm assuming you'll have me digging up emails and personal info on their lower level collaborators?"

Tilting her head and inquiring on the first order of business, Kanna would proceed to lean back against the couch, once more fetching the weed and grinder. Time for another joint, and then probably sleep...? She didn't really care about the mess of pizza, junk food, and empty cans, she could just clean it up whenever. Probably not anytime soon. She felt far too lazy to move, let alone clean... Not that she'd clean even if she were sober.

he found all of those names amusing, enough to let out a little snicker. Some sounded cool, others lame, a few of them a tad bit edgy. But she'd clearly given it some thought, something Kanna obviously hadn't. She used the name "Owl" as a hacker, a name she predictably never told anyone who knew her irl. Possibly she wouldn't even tell Kasey, at least, not yet. Not that she couldn't trust her with it considering how much they already knew of each other, but mostly since the girl really had no use for that name at this point. Even in this new hacker work she'd end up doing for her, she'd probably try to avoid using the Owl name unless she properly weighted pros and cons and found herself cutting ahead.

"Interesting how you can jam Bone Princess and Skeleton King in the same list of names...", noted the vaguely amused, yet intrigued Kanna, perhaps pointing to a certain level of gender ambiguity. At the same time, she also knew which of the two options nodded towards. So Kasey was the princess and Setsu the King? It actually went pretty well in line with her description... Stoned as she was, Kanna couldn't help betray a hint of receptiveness at the girl's praise, her smirk widening ever so slightly, "Can't be helped... I guess I'll be your all seeing eye~ When dealing with small fry, I can dig up anything useful in a week, tops. The only challenge is finding info on the first one... That one will lead me to all the others"

In the end, Kanna would grind the weed, and roll it up into a blunt. She had no idea what Kasey had planned for her home in the immediate future, but wound up making the biggest joint of the night (well, out of two at least) hoping the visibly sober Kasey might get high again... She wasn't so bad a host as to let her stoner buddies sober up now, was she? Indeed she wasn't, but alas, it wound up completely knocking her tired self out. Reluctantly, she'd big the girl goodnight and lift her sedated body, trudging her way to her room and falling asleep face first upon her bed, with Xun promptly coming over and cuddling up to her...

Hopefully Kasey wouldn't make a mess of things or anything of the sort. She didn't really seem like the sort, but alas, Kanna always struggled to predict her actions, and right now she was simply too stoned to care...