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Rowan simply stood there with his expression of stone and slightly furrowed eyebrows. This was as close to surprise as he would typically allow himself to look (especially in front of Willow); his pupils grazed the floor and looked to his side at Nanaki briefly before he complied and sat down. Stubborn brat has a heart when it comes to more than just the kid, he thought, leaning back into the softness of the couch.

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Yuzuki was sitting in one of the chairs in the kitchen watching as Willow got a teapot of water filled up and placed onto the small back burner out of Yuzuki's reach.
''hey Crystal...? will we ever go back to the surface?'' he asked, hugging his plush red panda.
Willow's ear's perked forward and she glanced over at Yuzuki, giving a bit of a sad smile as she went over and knelt down in front of him, running her hand through his hair.
''maybe one day Yuzuki.... right now it isn't safe on the surface'' she said in a gentle tone, which gained a huff and nodded in understanding.

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Less than half of Rowan's attention had seeped into the conversation that the two were having. It would have been hard not to eavesdrop--beyond trying to keep himself awake for tea, there were limited things to do in the small space that they now shared, and avoiding an argument with Willow wasn't the most entertaining pastime.
He found his mind idly drifting to his memories of the surface but could find nothing of relevance beyond his career as a gang member, his focus brushing the many memories he had of desperately trying to claw his way through to a decent rank of respect. Sleepless nights, callused knuckles, gruff taunting.
And the smirk on the scarred lips of the stranger he had met out on the street. Most likely a seasoned criminal, with that confidence; the rabbit had been the kind of person that Rowan best stay away from to avoid inter-gang conflict, yet he couldn't help but feel a familiar spark of trouble-causing curiosity when he thought about the encounter.
Rowan decided that he would rather attempt a conversation with Willow than be left alone with such dangerous thoughts, and angled his head towards the kitchen. "What kind of tea are you making?"
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Jack carefully guided his injured friend towards the church. He was usually good at hiding himself in crowds, being a face that most strangers would simply gloss over, but he had to be more careful in what he was about to do with Crystal by his side. The white bandages on her face were worthy of a double-take from a passerby.
They were lucky enough to make it to the doors of the dilapidated church, even more empty as it was a weekday, without spotting a single person.
"Oop, stairs. Be careful." He put a light hand on her back for extra guidance as they neared the doors. He tapped his knuckles lightly on the mahogany wood--for who, he didn't quite know--and gave the handle a light push when there was no answer.
"Alright, Crystal. I think we're going to have to pick this," Jack said as he squinted his eyes to peer at the keyhole.

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Willow was idly going through the cabinets after she had finished talking to Yuzuki, grabbing a couple mugs before she heard Rowan speak up and looked over towards the living room.
she hadn't had the chance to see what kinda tea him and Jinx had just yet, and decided to set the mugs down before looking through the cabinets and found some ingredients that she knew could make a tea from scratch, then collected those up before going on a hunt for the tools to do so.
''hmm.... well, i was planning on making one from scratch that i usually make for myself on nights i can't sleep'' she said, getting the tea mix prepared at a decent pace.
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she climbed the stairs with his guidance and was fairly silent the whole way to the doors, but her ears twitched as she heard his light knock and him speaking.
''jeez... no one would hear you with such a light knock, even with our sensitive hearing....'' crystal sighed with defeat.
she put her hand out as she stepped forward, placing her hand on the door to make sure she wouldn't run into it, then curled her fingers into a fist and gave a few louder knocks on the door than the knock Jack had done.
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miles out at the edges of the underground city stood a fenced area that blocked the public eye and looked fairly abandoned, but that was hardly the truth for this supposedly abandoned looking area.
this place belonged to The Crimson Blade Gang.
it teemed with hybrids of all species and at different ranks per the leader's choice, the gang itself has been there for generations and has been run like a mafia, doing little jobs here and there to grand scale ones up above in they're species' designated kingdoms.

and sitting in the big bosses room, was Felix Chrono, happily sipping away at a cup of tea that had a dose of his medicine in it, it was the only way he knew how to take it, having tried many other options.
his ear's twitched and he looked towards the doorway, just as someone knocked before entering his view, a lithe dark colored silver fox with amber eyes.

''yes Gallo....? why have you interrupted my tea time'' he asked in a rather mono-toned voice.
the silver fox, Gallo, strode in and swayed his tail, a crooked grin crossing his lips as his head tilted.
''aw, why must you sound so cruel boss...? i just wanted to report something to you...'' he said, faking being a little hurt even though he still had his relaxed smile.
Felix raised an eyebrow at him and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before sitting up and setting his cup down.
''i'm listening.... what's happening that i haven't already heard about it?'' he asked, now somewhat curious.
Gallo soon stood straight and crossed his arms, his expression growing more serious now.
''i overheard a small group of newbies talking about trying to overthrow you and take this gang over for themselves, seem pretty confident about it too.... i know what they look like considering i'm the one who accepted them into the gang'' he said, to which Felix narrowed his eyes at in response.

he gave a long, irritated sigh as he picked his cup up and chugged the rest of it down, too the very last drop, then started rummaging through the draws on his desk.
''round them up and take them to the execution hall.... they'll be made an example of or trying to cross me'' Felix ordered, ears flattened and his expression unreadable.
Gallo gave a nod and hurried off to gather a few people to round the small group up.
once the fox was gone he found what he was looking for and grabbed it, closing the draw to look at a blade of pure crimson, accented by a dark oak handle, and got up to head to the execution hall himself with the blade in hand.

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He nodded in solidarity. "Do you have that problem often?" he asked, his voice raspy and tender from dropping his defenses in his fatigue. He knew that Jinx kept a lot of tea and spices and whatnot in the kitchen--he wasn't the chef of the family--and quite often brewed her own tea in the morning.
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"Oh, hush," Jack retorted, giving her a teasing nudge. He fell quiet, however, when she knocked. His heartbeat quickened slightly in anticipation for footsteps, but there was only a void of silence from the other end--it was safe enough for him to assume that nobody was there.
"Okay, okay. It's been settled." He cracked his knuckles and looked over his shoulders to give their surroundings a quick skim, making sure that nobody was there to witness his crimes. Jack fished out two rusty hairpins from his satchel and promptly wriggled them into the lock, fumbling a bit before the familiarity of the task sunk in and he was able to slowly make progress.
"Give me a bit..." he mumbled, biting his lip and listening to the clicks of the lock. It had always been calming for him; illegal puzzles were a fun pastime.
He let himself calm down in the few minutes it took him to reach a satisfying click, to which he turned to Crystal with a grin. "We're set."

---

Willow perked her ears up at the tone of his voice and slowed to a stop, being taken by surprise at the fact he dropped his defenses.
she knew it was probably from being exhausted from god knows what he does, but she couldn't help the warmth that swelled up inside her, a soft smile making it's way across her face as she soon got the tea ready and poured some into a mug for him.
''it's... mostly if my nightmares get the better of me, or if i'm stressed at night, it's a drink my mother used to make for her and father'' she said, finishing the cup off with a stick of cinnamon and a mint leaf, then took it out to Rowan without spilling it and held it out for him to take.
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Crystal chuckled and shrugged when there was quiet, tilting her head as she waited for him to pick the lock and swayed her tail.
''it was worth a shot Jack, even with our heightened hearing i probably wouldn't have caught it in such a large building'' she admitted, being honest about her comment.
she perked up once he spoke again and nodded, holding her arm out for him to take.
''lead the way then, your basically my pair of eyes right now'' Crystal said, laughing a little bit now.
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once Felix gathered everyone from the fenced in hideout, in a large old looking storage warehouse that was long forgotten and looted, it has become they're execution building, for those who once thought they could betray the Crimson Blade gang.
and today it has become bustling with life once more.

lights were shown into the center ring, a group of four teens consisting of a rat, a coywolf, a cheetah, and an arctic fox.
they were all tied up, mouths duck taped, and confined to stained wooden stools.
Felix was circling them slowly, folded ears perked in the teens directions as his merciless dual colored eyes bore through them, the teens watching them as he entered they're views.
off to the side were the cronies who had gathered them up, stitched and bandaged up aside from Gallo.

''we've graciously welcomed you into this gang.. this family, a solid foundation with a roof over your heads and plenty of food and warmth... you could've had friends, started families once you've grown older! but, you newbies decided to go ahead and blow all that out of the god damn water and plan to overthrow the person who could've seen your potential...!'' he said bitterly, slowly running his thumb against the side of the blade as he spoke to each and every one of them.
he stopped in front of the coywolf boy, who had a fresh black eye and old scars running along his face and arms, and looked him up and down, picking at one of his nails on one of his un-gloved hands.

just from his expression you could tell the coywolf wanted to just lunge and rip Felix's throat out, which caused Felix to raise an eyebrow at him with amusement, a crooked malicious grin crossed his lips.
''oh i love that fire in your eyes...! you had some potential! too bad you wanna kill me buddy~ now you pay the price'' he said with a bit of glee, his eyes dancing with the lights as he grabbed a fistful of his hair and dragged him off of the stool.
the boy struggled and tried to yell with utter outrage, but to no avail with Felix's grip and surprising strength, and with a simple whip of his hand, he slashed the boys throat and dropped him, causing the other three to look on in horror and break down right on the spot, making it obvious the coywolf himself was the leader.

Felix's expression soon became stone cold within a second of the execution, looking out across the crowd now with a more serious look.
''his is what happens to those who try to rip this gang apart and sentence us all to death newbies! you understand now how betrayal is not acceptable among us, even coming up with some childish plan to even overthrow the big boss means death, think twice before trying to double cross me!'' he bellowed loud and clear, and with that he went over to Gallo while cleaning his dagger with a handkerchief.
he leaned in and pinned his ears back as he spoke quietly to his right hand man.

''let the others go... they've clearly got the message, just keep a close eye on them... you know what to do with the body....'' Felix muttered to him, to which Gallo nodded and went ahead to doing so as Felix left the building along with the rest of the gang members while Gallo and his underlings went to work at getting the other three and dealing with the now dead boy on the ground.

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It came out more as a mumble, "Thanks."
Rowan held the ceramic cup carefully--it was a handmade beige one adorned with ivy decals, something Jinx had decided she liked at the local pottery store that was run by a friend of hers. Everything found in their apartment was most likely brought by her; if not for his sister, Rowan would probably living in a terrible bachelor pad with gang members.
The scarce feathers that freckled his arm ruffled a bit when he took a careful sip--mostly because it was too hot--and his tired brain couldn't help but soften for Willow. Cinnamon shouldn't be enough to win me over, he thought, teasing himself.
"Are your nightmares bad?" He queried in the same soft, slightly-out-of-it voice.
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"M'lady," he grinned, looping his arm loosely through hers and stepping into the church. He closed the door slowly behind them. The entire church smelled quite stale--it was a small, cramped room made of wood and the most interesting thing in the room was the simple cross that was hung on the wall across from them. Jack had been in worse places.

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