Jess didn't want him to leave, but also didn't want to ignore the issue. "B... I want to know the whole truth and nothing but it..." She stated as she put the deviled eggs on the counter. "And I can't stand to see a guest forced to leave."

Kagami thought hard about what she wanted. She didn't want Mortimer to leave, that was for sure... She wanted to show him what he did wrong, or at least help others with that agenda... And so she put in her vote. "I can't believe this, but I'm agreeing with Jess..." She said, trying to suppress a blush but doing poorly. 'oh, curse my inability to conceal my feelings...' She thought to herself.

Kitty had heard about Jessica's thanksgiving party, she wasn't quite sure if she should-was-allowed to go. After all her dolls 'accidentally' bit a chunk out of her, almost taking her life and making Mortimer mad. After some thought she decided that she should go, it was thanksgiving.

Arriving at the house a mouthwatering smell greeted her along with the bright lights coming from the kitchen. Kitty walked cautiously to the door and knocked gently, "Hello?" she called out.

Jess used the opportunity to break the awkward silence that had come otherwise, going over to the door and opening it... She gave a slightly nervous look upon seeing that girl.... "Uhm... Y-y-y-you...." Likely only Mortimer knew besides Jess and Kitty, but Jess was clearly in a slight panic...

Taurou looked at the exchange between people and cocked his head to the side in confusion. He knew that the school was destroyed, but didn't know who did it. He looked from master, to Will, to the vampire. Especially the vampire. She seemed flustered since master walked in.

This could get interesting...

Kitty gave nervous grin and handed over the box of chocolates she'd brought due to respect. "Hi Jessica, happy thanksgiving..." she trailed seeing whom else was in the room, the tension was obvious but Kitty couldn't get why until she saw Mortimer leaning over the table, as if he were about to give a speech. Remembering his hostility towards her during the school destruction she decided to treat him she same way. "Am I disturbing something?" she asked.

Jess accepted the chocolates. She was still nervous, but clearly more willing to trust Kitty now. "Yes, but you are welcome to talk about the issue as well..." Jess turned to Mortimer. "If you are okay with that."

Taurou noticed what Jess was doing and he cocked an eyebrow and leaned back in the chair. He wasn't sure what was going on, seeing how he hadn't known many people here to begin with, nor their relationships-- but there was great hostility between those two. He crossed his arms and was willing to watch it play out.

Kitty blinked as a girl stood up. "Yes?" she smirked realizing who it was; Kagami, also known as Mortimer's student. Seeing her reach behind her back for something, Kitty braced herself for what was about to come.

"Will you all PLEASE just stop trying to kill each other. It's the holiday's for goodness sakes. Can we JUST have a reasonable conversation where we DON'T start pulling magic on each other."

Breathing deeply Mortimer began"kay if no one has any objections I am going to tell WHY the events at Everlast occured the way they did. If no one minds I would like to get all interuptions out of the way first. Kagami, please don't attack Kitty. Kitty, PLEASE don't retaliate or this is just going to get SO much worse".

When Kagami saw kitty though, she stood up and had a hand behind her back. anyone who'd been around her more than a few days would know she was usually doing that if she was about to get a weapon out of mallet space. "You..." She said in a menacing voice, gnashing her teeth and making her fangs even more obvious. But then Mortimer stopped her... and she knew things would be painful for Mortimer in terms of his coming to realise what he had done was wrong... But she didn't want this to be any more painful than it had to be for him. Her fangs went back into her mouth as she blushed, sitting down again. "I'm listening."

"I didn't even DO anything." she hissed at Mortimer before glaring at Kagami showing the tips of her own fangs. "And don't treat me like a baby Mortimer." she growled. Kitty knew she was pushing the line, but why not?

"Uhm... I have no idea what's going on, so I'll just do my best to stay out of it..." Jess stated simply, closing the door after Kitty came in and finding a place she'd be relatively out of the way. 'How do these bunch know each other, I didn't even invite the two Vampires.'

There were quite a few people in the room now and Taurou normally would have gotten fidgety, but he was too preoccupied with the excitement of the tension between people. He wanted a fight to break out so he could watch. He was always intrigued in other people's fighting styles. He watched as everyone sat down and put a frown on his face.

"As you all know Umibouzu formerly the head of the Magical Research Society left the school after he lost his Magic. Unfortunately, after discovering a way to regain his magic, he left the school along with his bodyguard Takashi Yokohama. I'm not quite certain what happened in the months in which he dissapeared but when I saw him again he had... changed. Not only physically but mentally as well. He now believes that the government must be destroyed in order to end the illegal practices and slavery it overlooks. Destroying everlast was the first step, in an attempt to deprive the government of fully trained mages which would eventually join them and work as military.... Which brings my and Kitty's involvement into play"

Mortimer paused for a moment and looked around attempting to make eye contact with everyone. "What happened at everlast was terrible... but I had to get involved to keep something even worse from happening. I did everything in my limited power to make sure that only what was neccessary occurred. Umi wanted everlast destroyed so as to rob the magic government of human resources and eliminate as much of the student body as he could. I did everything I could to PREVENT that loss of life. I made it a point to only destroy the buildings and to make sure the student body was out of harms way. I even tried to stall others so that you all could come in and stop them. Yes I destroyed the everlast campus but it was to SAVE the lives of its students. And I don't want any of you for a MINUTE to think that I had a choice. Right now Umi and Yoko are more powerful than any of us. If I hadn't helped then I would have been taken down like the rest of you. Then Yoko or someone else who didn't care about the students would have gone through and slaughtered everyone rather than evacuating them and just destroying the building. "

Mortimer sat back down crossed his arms and put his head down. "And do you guys think that I don't regret what I could have done. I tried to minimize casualties as best I could, but even that wasn't enough. I'm still human and I could only save so many. The destruction left by the serial killers and those led to believe Umi's lies... I could only do so much. I'm only human. I couldn't have saved them![/b]" Mortimer was biting his lower lip trying to hold back tears. He knew rationally that he couldn't save those people but deep down, he blamed himself. Blamed himself for not being able to do more. Blamed himself for being too weak to stop Umi in the first place. Too weak to do anything except work in Umi's shadow and save those he was too busy to notice.

Swallowing deeply Mortimer looked up his eyes still moist. "And because I sided with Umi, I now know where he is and what he's planning." Mortimer pushed back his ear revealing the currently powered down communications device. "The next time Umi pulls something like what happened at everlast I will know what it is, and when it will happen. I have a direct link to inside Umi's organization rather than a vague idea in an attempt to track him down like the remainder of the everlast student body. Next time I will know what he is doing and I can actually TELL people when, where, how and maybe, MAYBE actually stop him next time.

Mortimer slumped back in his chair. He hoped he had demonstrated his sincerity, he hoped that if they couldn't forgive him they could at least not hate him. The shadow mage had made his case and was now at the mercy of the room.

Now Kagami felt guilty for the things she'd said. He'd been trying to help them all along and she just hadn't understood. Tears in her eyes, she ran over and hugged/tackled him (Perhaps forgetting her own strength for a moment). "I'm sorry, Mortimer-sensei... Why couldn't you have explained earlier?"

Taurou had never seen Master get so emotional. He sat there, staring with disbelief. So he helped destroy the school...? He shook his head to clear it and looked around the room. Everyone else was staring at him the same way. He scratched his stinging arm and looked back at master who was being tackled by the vampire girl.

Jessica was so in shock she could do nothing but let her jaw drop in surprise. Her mind was flooded with thoughts, but after a moment or two she finally cleared them and replied. "I don't approve of that method... But like you said you were forced to by the circumstances. At least I understand why you were so shunned now, and I apologize for my misunderstanding."

William actually didn't understand what was actually being said and only took out a few snippets. At the arrival of Kitty- another vampire, he literally jumped out of his seat again and shuffled to the furtherest side of the room. He obviously didn’t want to be transformed into a vampire, which would be horrible. But, he did understand, he should lighten up. Then again, so much people died during that day… “I won’t let you or anyone kill anyone, okay? Even if it wasn’t your fault.” William slightly hisses, not angrily, but more reluctantly. “I’ll trust you for today.” He adds, looking away.

The chaos was pretty intriguing either way; Kagami broke into tears which slightly shocked William. He also listens to Jessica attentively. “I agree, the method you guys done it were wrong… but, there was something else wrong. Not a single teacher was present that day. I’m highly suspicious on that alone.” William explains as the food- if any on may be getting burnt at this rate.

Even so, William actually continued to take notes and gathered information from Mortimer’s speech. It seems Umi had gone insane, cursing Rose, forcing others to fight and destroying the school. It would seem that William had hardened his determination to stop Umi and co. Taking out some of Umi’s allies now would be a smart option, but William’s not cowardly like that. Grabbing Ken and Jessica, the one’s he knew weren’t bad—he forces them to huddle. “Next time we meet Mortimer’s group- we’ll definitely defeat them and not lose. Not lose like at the time with the school, alright?!” He whispers confidently.

Jess nodded, after recoving from the unexpected sensation of being forced into a huddle and realising what William was saying. She hated the possibility of having to fight to the death, but if William wanted her to she would do so. She did her best to suppress a blush, but did so rather horribly.

[Wondering when PPL will realise Jess is in love w/ William here...]

Ken grinned at William and Jessica. It would seem he's been a huge burden, he had to get stronger. "Sure," He simply mutters thinking about the times he lost his fights. This time he had to change, things had to be different. How was he going to protect Rose, Jessica or anyone else? His abilities have been poorly executed and that's why, Ken vowed to get stronger.

Kagami was still clinging onto Mortimer-sensei, however she could sense those three huddling together were plotting something. "What are they up to?" Kagami muttered to both herself and Mortimer-sensei equally.

William nodded, three wins confirmed already! Or, that’s what he believed in. “One more thing… don’t die, you guys must live no matter what.” He winks at Jessica and nods at Ken. He valued their life over his own; William would risk his own life to save Jess and Ken if needed. Looking at some of the food, he stopped himself from drooling. “Okay!! Let’s get back to celebrating thanksgiving!” He pumps his fists in the air joyfully.

"Sure, sure." Ken kicks back, laying on his chair on his original seat position. Rocking on his chair, he awaited the food to be feasted and ready to party.

[Where'd my post go?! Huh... Oh well. Repost!]

Jess smiled - but only momentarily as she smelled smoke, rushing into the kitchen. "Ooh, the brownies!!!" She shouted, stopping and opening the oven just in time for the dessert to catch on fire... She quickly got the fire extinguisher and began spraying the pan and its contents... Soon enough the fire died down, but not before the smoke had overwhelmed anyone. Coughing, Jess said "Someone open a window..."