God. This is almost as bad as... back then...

*She continues mushing through, pulling her coat tighter.*

Yeah... way back when I was... about 165, I guess. Just a kid.

*She stops to dusts her head off and rub the blood back into her arms.*

Snowed up above Otou-sama's head, it did. And though it snows all the time up north... that time it was Snow, too...

*The Demiurge chuckles and starts going again.*

And people wonder why the fuck I'm so scared of it. I've seen what this stuff can do to an RL if they get too exposed to it. *glances up* Ain't that right, 'nii-chan...

*The sky responds by opening up and letting down a soft drift of powdery snow.*

*squints* Shit. *plod plod plod* I damn well better not be too drained to fight after this...

*Meanwhile, back at the bar...*

Roaches, Etc.: We're men! We're men in tights! We rob from the rich, and give to the poor, that's right!

Nakama: I never thought I'd say this, but thank whatever deity there is for the MRA. :P

Vermin: And demons and spiders.

Nakama: Well, yeah. Them too. *shucks behinds his head* Eh, you guys ain't so bad. Sorry about that whole war thing.

Vermin: *wriggles an antennae* That was one of Dad's things.

Nakama: Isn't he alive again, though?

Roach: *over a mug of something appley* Alive and consigned to his room.

Nakama: Fine way to make your father spend his holidays.

Vermin: *shakes his head* SELF-consigned. He hasn't been the same since the Demiurge resurrected him.

Nakama: Character development? In EGC? Well, I never...

*CRASH.*

Nakama: AW FRICK. My bad. *starts cleaning up the 4th Wall*

Vermin: ...*watches, and then sighs*

Roach: Hey, you all right?

Vermin: Oh, sure, sure, I'm fine... just a little worried about Dad. And the Demiurge.

Roach: About the Demiurge? Why bother?

Vermin: Well, uh... this is a little hard to explain, but... you know how Dad is crazy?

Roach: *coldly* A little too well.

Vermin: Well. Uhm. She reminds me of that. A LOT.

Roach: Constantly self-contradicting in a rather manic-depressive sort of way?

Vermin: Yeah. It's, er, kind of freaky. They're both crazy in the same exact way.

Roach: It's a Worst Enemy thing, I think.

Vermin: I suppose...

*But before anything more can be said, a certain song rises above the serenade of the streetsweepers...*

Roach: ...the hell?

*A woman with long, wavy white hair and narrow yellow eyes appears in the middle of the bar in a flash of green. She is, in fact, the same woman that bought Tatchi's soul from Synthesis.*

*She smiles a coldly amused smile at the two confused roaches, ignoring everyone else completely... much in the same way that a human being might ignore ants on a picnic table when it sits down to eat...*

Woman: Omedetou gozaimasu, gomimushi-ra. *bows* Watakushi wa Kuukoku no Arisu Shiro-- White Alice... and I will be your honoured executioner today.

Vermin: WHAT?

White Alice: *smirks* Hajimemashite yo.

To clear up any confusion... yes, "Arisu" is actually her last name. "Shiro" is her first name. "White Alice" would be a funky nickname of a title. She has a sister named "Kuro" who is referred to as "Black Alice".

Oh, and the Arisu-gumi hate me. Teehee.