After a steamy expresso here, a frothy latte there, some dark chocolate milk poured in a big glass, Amanda and I steadily made our way back to the living room, drinks in hand, placing them into wanting hands where they will be savored and greatly appreciated, and I'll briefly feel good about myself.

Yeah, I take big pride in brewing the browny goodness, so if I were to get a rating of any less than a seven, I'd basically disowned myself and commit righteous sudoku right there and then, it's the only way I'd be able to retain what little honor I have instilled on me from the sacred cocoa bean.

Between having to serve the Succubus or the Vampire, Amanda's lingering trauma eventually proved the victor in deciding the factor on who gives what to who.

Got the lucky privilege of passing Adalia her drink. Slowly, with quivering, bent fingers, obscuring pointed nails, she took the cold glass from my hand talking only the smallest, quickest sips, before lowering it close to her chest, clinging on to it with both hands.

"Thank… you…" She whispered, looking a little less frail than she did before.

Still a ticking time bomb, still the biggest, baddest risk here. "Still okay? You able to hold on to yourself a bit longer still?"

For an answer, Adalia merely raised the glass to her lips again, "Have… chocolate..." and took another sip. "Be... fine…"

Won't deny that I wasn't so set at ease with her assurances, but she's been hanging on so far in spite of everything, what's a few more hours?

"Just don't push yourself so much," I told her, settling myself back on my bean bag, a warm cup in hand.

"I… know…"

Amanda wasn't so much as fruitful as I, serving drinks. Looking at her, she still had two ceramic mugs wobbling slightly in unsteady hands, her gaze a mulling one to the succubus in a deep pensive focus.

"Should I… Should I just leave your latte on the table? You'll drink it later?"

Irene snorted in amusement, her lips twitching to a smile, eyes still firmly closed shut. "I'm really thirsty, actually. I'd ask you to help me take a sip of it, but I rather a certain someone else take care of that for me."

Think I might have an idea of who that someone else was.

"Sadly, I have my hands full here, don't I? Literally and figuratively," Irene said, overplaying her dismay with a very dejected sigh. "Yeah, table it. Perhaps the two of us can share the drink later."

"Sure."

"Thanks, Amanda ~ ~"

Amanda gave a painful grimace. "Sure."

Nothing much seemed to have made any change for the better after that. Coffee helped, sure… but it only helped ease the tension, not completely get rid of it. No sunshine and rainbows just yet… unfortunately.

Progress… if you can even call it progress, was still very much at a standstill.

Not the slightest difference in terms of, well... anything. The overall mood was still quite a somber one, everyone continued keeping to themselves for the most part.

Adalia kept the silent statue act, the unblinking overseer to Irene's mystical trance-breaking ritual that didn't seem to be going all that smoothly as she hoped despite the absolute confidence she was portraying hours before, though seemingly would never admit to it...

We got the phone deviant sipping her expresso in between feed updates and site surfing, never tearing her gaze once from the soft glow of the rectangular slab fitting snug in her hands.

I took a moment to see on my own rectangular slab the heck she was doing online, and apparently, she was making waves to her followers telling them how much she's completely flabbergasted about everything that's been happening recently.

'Course most believed she was just talking about the scary red rain incident that happened - so many gifs, images, and texts telling her to stay strong in spite of it, never knowing at all precisely what she was going on about here.

For the fun of it, I typed in my own small 'F' in the seas of Fs flooding her page. Not even a second later, there was some faint chuckling happening directly across me, Amanda looked over from her phone, smiling and shaking her head at me before delving herself back into the digital world of hearts and likes.

Wish I had a distraction like that, something to keep my mind from consuming itself whole from paranoia and worry, can't seem to keep my thoughts off it, or maybe perhaps I just subconsciously didn't want to, but Ash simply continued to be the ringleader of my growing concerns.

Started the day out simply wanting to thank her, talk to her… those things I uttered but didn't say… they still kept ringing in my ears like a bell that wouldn't stop clangoring.

Lenora.

That name. For some reason, I felt immeasurable despair just thinking of it. There wasn't any Blight here, no emotions and words apart from my own, yet that didn't stop the guilt from worming through me like some sort of word-parasite.

Needed to know why, I wanted to know why. But the only one who could tell me why wasn't all here at the moment.

I stared at her slumbering face for long enough for it to be actually classified as being stalker-y. Couldn't help it, I just wanted to see a sign, any indication that she'd be rousing any moment now, any second… that the little flickers in her brow meant something, that the faint breathing I heard growing just a little bit more stronger… that it was a good thing, it was working.

No, nothing… that cup of coffee in my hand, going from full to empty, still nothing… and I was a slow drinker too.

Didn't want to admit it, yet there was no point in denying it, I was feeling just a teensy weensy bit discouraged here. It being almost four in the morning didn't also do much to alleviate circumstances either.

Was starting to get a little bleary staying up for so long, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay conscious for much longer, but I refuse to call it a day, I just have to see this thing through… even if… even if I'm not all there for it.

"Hey."

My neck went snapping upright faster than it was physically able to, heard a crack, felt a crack, all of it I ignored… blinking rapidly to a blurry figure that was fast on approach.

"Oh, didn't know you were sleeping. I'm sorry"

Amanda's footsteps were as silent as Adalia's, for God's sake. Nearly gave myself whiplash turning towards her, suddenly settling herself on the right of me.

I let out a breath, shook my head, and rubbed my eyes.

"Wasn't sleeping," I said, then gave a drawled-out yawn. "Resting, just resting. What's up? Was there something you - "

I blinked, my words lost to the horror and unease that suddenly blanketed her expression. Amanda was as white as paper.

Lost all feeling of fatigue upon seeing that look on her face, was well and wide awake now. Something's happened, hasn't it? Oh boy… I'm not gonna like this.

"You're gonna want to see this," Amanda whispered, reaching out to me with an unsteady arm, a glowing metal slab laying limp in the palm of her hand. "Semi-centennial occurrence? Yeah, not so much anymore."

Wordlessly, I took hold of her phone, letting my eyes slowly adjust to the bright white light before me. In my peripheral view, Adalia was staring, seems even she could sense the bad vibes permeating off of Amanda, and if they were bad enough to actually stray her focus away from Irene… then oh man…

It was a video. Thirty seconds long. Sent to her by one of her followers. The preview image looked to be from the inside of an apartment window, and beyond that murky glass surface, was a view of the outside.

An outside that was covered in a haze of red.

I clicked play, dreading, knowing already what I was about to see.

It was a familiar scene that I can never forget. A downpour of crimson red painting the streets, slippery roads with screeching, skidding cars… people in disarray, running in a frenzy, desperately trying to take shelter.

> spoke the panic behind the camera, before the video abruptly came to a sudden stop, ending with a crystal-clear overview of a city ravaged thoroughly in Blight.

It wasn't our city.

"Where was this?" I asked, just noticing how breathless I was.

Amanda took her phone back from my rigid fingers, breathing as deeply as I was, and slowly answered my question.

"This was…" She shook her head. "This is London. Happening right now."

Felt my heart skip a beat. "It's spreading then…"

"No," Amanda said, turning her phone towards me again, swiping downwards, swiping endlessly, videos upon videos, cities upon cities, the view, the images, all tinted with that same grisly red. "It already has."