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Muerte considered seriously what Veni was saying to him. He didn't want them to lose their playfulness entirely, and expressed that. He then decided to rethink his plan a little bit.

The next couple of nights, Muerte actually visited the kids and helped guide them through their exercises... He was actually a lot less strict this time around, and the sessions weren't nearly as brutal.

While he did remind them that Saturday would be especially brutal, he dropped hints every now and then that the reward would be quite worth it.

Muerte had visited them that night, with an offer to help them train for Saturday, in an attempt to be just a little less strict seeming. Seeing that they were sore and stiff, he commanded them to sit or lay down. Though he wasn't a vampire or master by any means, there was enough underlying force in the warrior ghost's voice for them to listen, plus the explanation that he could help with their aches had helped.

A while ago, Muerte discovered that most undead humanoids have strange pressure points that react to ghostly magical blows or touches. Jacob investigated this with Muerte, and found a whole field of study new to them. This came about from a spar he had with Rosemary one time, striking her and suddenly her leg muscles became wobbly and she stumbled for all but a few split seconds due to her life experiences for training. It was enough for her, Jacob, and Muerte to notice however. Experimentation and careful study found a number of pressure points that could be induced by ghost magic with physical touches or movements. While this would be useful against undead foes, Rosemary and others discovered that they could sense when such magic was near a pressure point, making anything intelligent easy to dodge it usually.

Right now, Muerte was finishing up and making use of those pressure points on the child vampires, loosening stiff muscles and joints. He had just finished jabbing a few points along Daisy's back and neck, and was now bending Dan's arm in a strange manner while poking a few areas above the elbow. The initial pain was like a needle pinch, but the results afterwards were very much welcomed. While he worked, he decided he should talk with them.

"Perhaps I was a bit too strict at first with the idea of my Saturday training for something not so major that you two have done. But I do admit I believe I've had an ulterior motive for some time now. It was just some what convenient to do so under the guise of punishment.

I shall discuss what part of your reward is... Survival. From what I understand, you all have been under extreme danger various times. Depsite this, you haven't exactly pushed yourselves to train or become stronger. This concerns me. The dark forces such as Heegh or the Niearcim will not rest for long, and there's always others out there that would do you harm.

I would like you two to be able to protect yourselves better. After this Saturday, I will no longer force you to continue such extreme training. Regular training, perhaps, I would like you to continue, especially to test your limits. Perhaps...

Perhaps with Black MN's and Rosemary's help, I could find a way to transform it into play or games? Survival by the way isn't the only reward. The other night, I hinted that the reward may be worth it. Perhaps I should urge on your curiosities even further and mention it's something that you both would VERY much enjoy I believe. It is something rare, that Galantros has helped me find. Please do not ask Galantros about it though. I would enjoy seeing the surprises on your faces when you find out on Saturday."

Essentially, Muerte was concerned for them as he felt a strange kinship he couldn't exactly describe to Dan and Daisy, ever since he first started to get to know the younger vampires. They always failed at "creeping" him out, possibly due to how dark his own personal history was. The kinship was most likely because they would be children forever, while he lost his childhood before he could even barely form words. Muerte was probably different a little with the children than others too... he tried very hard to respect them as adults and equals, unless they wanted to be treated otherwise.

Envious. Just a little bit. He craved their eternal childhood a little, though through his discussions with them, he knew of their frustrations. This was part of the reason Muerte was so sure fire that the other reward would be so worth it to the children.

He had purchased them special mystical charms from Limbo, and it was true. They were VERY difficult to find. These charms...

...these charms would allow them to experience physical adulthood for a temporary time before they would need to recharge again. In fact, they were manufactured for the exact reason that Dan and Daisy existed. Vampiric or otherwise forced immortality on young children that could never grow up physically, despite how well they might mentally mature. The problem was the formula was fairly difficult to create.

Muerte couldn't wait for Saturday.

"Actually, if it could be used against lesser enemies, such as certain monstrosities and demonics, it probably would not be such a bad thing to use then.

"Just do me the favor of attempting Saturday's training, and holding your judgement about continuing it until after your reward. Please."

With a sudden tug, there was a very LOUD pop as Dan's arm went out of it's socket, then was popped back in, all while two fingers pressed against a certain point. There was virtually no pain, but Dan could've sworn he never felt better afterwards.

They trained that night, and the next, Muerte being careful not to push them too far over the edge these nights, but doing his best to prepare them, even allowing them to feed off him as mini-rewards after each training session. He didn't mind it, he found that it was a service he could provide for some friends, and all he would have to do to recover the lost strength was eat and rest for a short while.

Saturday finally came, and those that were going to participate or watch were gathered inside the holo-gamer. Muerte stood before everyone in what he could come close to guessing as traditional warrior garb for his people, before the military became corrupt and the Niearcim took over and destroyed his homeworld. It was similar to his warrior like kilt and boots, except with additional little details here and there, and extra face and body paint on his person. A little bit of armor covered the chest, back, and shoulders as well, made of some mineral that he had synthesized in Limbo with part of his allowance for helping out with ThoR duties.

"First, a cleansing ritual. Simply clear your mind of negatives as much as possible, to flush the soul of impurity, and wash your face with this specially treated holy water. I have had it refined, so those who have reason to worry about holy energies hurting them need not to."

The first task was to run after a little warm up. Tirelessly, endlessly, longer than Muerte even had the children run on that first night, until their legs gave out. He claimed the holy water they used, and simple ritual they performed would give them just enough energy to keep them going, and would protect them as they fell to the ground. For Muerte, this signified running to fight your problems head on, and knowing when to retreat to think things through.

After a short rest and using some speciality charms from Limbo to recover lost energy and remove the burning ache from muscles, there was the practice of speciality exercises, done in repetitions of the several hundreds, with weights, working out starting from the very top muscles, to the very bottom, then back up again. The exercises varied from doing what they could with their own physical bodies, using weights, climbing extreme heights of mountains and cliffs, swimming in what almost passed as rapids (toning it down if they couldn't even stay afloat.). They then did it all again without the best of certain senses if at all possible.

Another short rest, then the test of elements. They started with what they could stand the best of at it's strongest (i.e. for a reaper, that would be heat, or the undead the cold), and then with the weakest, it gradually worked up to extremes in a matter of a couple hours. Muerte kept a particularlly close eye on the children to be sure they didn't cook into a crispy toast-like undead meal. Dan and Daisy managed to last half an hour this time. Though afterwards they were extremely ill feeling and exhausted, Limboian medication and magic fixed them right up for the most part.

Then came a more spiritual part. Facing worst fears. Spirits were conjured up carefully, and they made each individual face their worse fear for at least almost an hour straight. If they were getting to close to breaking, it stopped, or if they managed to conquer the fear, it would stop early, allowing them a little extra rest to recover from such an effort. Muerte seemed to struggle with his for at least forty minutes before he snapped out of his trance, breathing heavily, wiping the sweat off his brow. When asked, he explained that he was sent back to the military encampments, forced to believe in his old Death god and ways again. Amusingly, it was the ghost of Moor'teis that helped with the fear illusions, though nobody knew until afterwards. He started that he wanted to help out somehow, and reason that he and the residential ghosts of ThoR would be best to do it. The poltergeist had done an excellent job of bringing their fears to life, without going overboard.

Fighting was next. The teacher was to fight each pupil in hand to hand combat, no weaponry or magic, just what nature gave you on your body. In some cases, if the magic was natural and was there on birth, it could be used. Muerte was the teacher in this instance, and all fight the best they could. He made an exception for Dan and Daisy, and told them to fight him as a pair, telling them that he sensed their souls worked better as one when up against an enemy.

Finally, they cooled down with some basic exercises, with the knowledge that they would be extra sore tomorrow and should treat themselves very gently and luxuriously then. Repeating the holy water ritual, they found that they spent most of the night doing Muerte's Saturday training, leaving only a few hours before dawn.

Muerte grasped Dan and Daisy's shoulders and knelt down between them. The giant looked a little worn out, but he was smiling a little.

"We finished earlier than usual. I thank you for sticking to this, and I am very proud. I want you both to have this, and I hope you will be very pleased... Please hold out your hands."

Reaching into a pocket on his war-belt, he picked out the two "grow up" charms he had purchased with Galantros' help. Placing each one of them into their hands, he folded their fingers over them tightly.

"Never lose these, keep this always." He backed away in front of them a few steps. "Now, imagine what would have been... adult hood. Maturing into grown up bodies, man and woman."

He grinned as he watched their expressions change on their faces... as well their bodies, clothes automatically matching what they thought of as adults as their bodies grew and elongated into full-grown undead.

Muerte helped them deactivate their charms for the time being, and hefted them both up, child sized, onto his shoulders to carry them home.

"Plenty of time to enjoy tomorrow night, and discuss if you want to continue any sort of training then. I have a feeling this extreme training is not something either of you wish to continue, so I will not force it on you. For tonight, cleanse yourselves, feed, then rest. I will arrive the next night to help with sore joints and muscles."

Jacob gave Veni a slightly comforting pat on the back, knowing he was a little jealous of what the vampire children got. If you want, I can find out where they got such a charm, and see if it will work with you...

Galantros meanwhile offered himself as food again to Rosemary as a sort of consolation for being burned, though in the meantime he was looking through the guts of the holo-gamer to see WHY she caught fire. Suddenly, three little merpers helped out of circuitry, dripping wet, meeping and hopping away from the group.

....That'll do it. How the hell did they get in there in the first place?!

From behind a corner, a little blue pac-man ghost watched the events slightly nervous, then dashed away.

Muerte seemed to grow only slightly embarrassed for a split second as he adjusted his grip on Dan so the boy vampire wouldn't fall.

"Rosemary and Ma Jian-shen did seem rather competitive. No, Veni did not know about the charms, and neither did I until recently. I found them while looking for an item to reverse my own age so I could experience childhood. Then I came to realize that my mentality wouldn't change, even if my physical form did, so the entire thing was somewhat pointless. Galantros was helping me search the universal internet at the time when we came across an item similar to those charms, and we started searching more in depth."

- - - - - -

Well, we could always keep it just for your businesses and outings then. Were I not immortal, you and Rosemary would have done me in by now... But I would have rather enjoyed going out that way, I do believe.

There was the faintest of smirks on Jacob's face.

I wonder if Ma Jian-shen could find someone out of our group to feed off of that wouldn't mind the pain he'd cause.

Galantros had helped Rosemary find a seat on a couch, where she had then started to feed on him. He gave a little anxious sigh, knowing his face was blushing due to the intimate nature of the bite and feeding. Still, he leaned a little against Rosemary, letting good emotional vibes emanate from him and feeding idly off others energy let off.

- - - - - -

Early next evening, Muerte went off to visit Dan and Daisy to help them with their aches and sores and to bring them over, as Jacob helped his vampires with theirs. Galantros finished up repairing his holo-gamer, and discovered who let the little merpers into the thing in the first place... Needless to say, Inky didn't get cookies for a week after that.

Currently, Galantros was baking a chocolate cake, or attempting to, wearing an apron that said "Quack at the Chef".

"I don't... I don't cook the eggs first before mixing them in, do I?"

One might think the reaper was joking, but he had such a confused look on his face. Meanwhile, the newest poltergeist to THoR was making the eggs orbit around Galantros' head while he pondered his situation.

"Actually it says to use two ostrich eggs, a pancake, and the leg of a walrus... ...Funny, Moor'teis."

"You joke with Jian-shen, Moor'teis joke with you!"

One of the eggs bounced and cracked off GL's head, it's contents landing in the mixing bowl, the rest soon following suit.

Soon afterwards, the door to THoR opened, and Githar stepped through, looking ragged, carrying his trademark backpack and duffle case he used to carry various items to sell. The duffle was mostly empty, though the pack still had some items it seemed.

Talking in a hoarse voice, and looking like crud, he trudged his way towards a seat near where Galantros and Ma Jian-shen where.

"...I need a vacation."

Though Githar had been visiting more often as of late as he promised, he still kept up his hard work hours. For a workaholic like Githar to finally admit he needs a rest was something astounding and rather serious.

Galantros nodded as he finished mixing his ingrediants into a batter.

"It's the whole reason I'm baking the cake!"

Githar gave a tired grin as he leaned back in his seat and patted a trench coat pocket.

"I've got something already for Minazi, I just had to make a few last minute sales to be able to afford it."

Once Dan and Daisy were awake, he began popping and stretching their bones and joints, and poking at pressure points to help with what was certainly very sore muscles. It was a symphony of loud cracking and popping sounds for a little while until they felt better. He even brought over something nice that was soothing for them, charms that were filled with white-necro energy that were meant to be broken by the vampires themselves, letting it wash over them like a cleansing waterfall. Jacob had foreseen the need for these after saturday, and prepared a number of them for the various vampires beforehand.

Once that business was completed, and they were fed again with both Muerte's neck and blood sacks, he escorted the two to THoR. Seeing Githar through a window probably provided the opportunity to trick someone with their new magical charm runes.

- - - - -

Githar ruffled the top of Black's head and gave her a weary smile.

"Oh, one of his famous training sessions huh? I'm not sure I'd even want to go through all of that with what all I have on my plate usually. Maybe one day. So, who was it that I'll never guess? You? Willow?"

Githar yawned suddenly and greatly and rubbed at his slightly dimmer than usual blue eyes. The reaper had obvious worn himself out greatly, but to no serious harm. Just to the point of extreme exhaustion. Galantros handed the elder reaper an energy drink from the fridge and Githar thanked him for it.

"Sorry, real busy past couple of days and nights... Thinking about taking a break for a while here..."