## Aurelian POV A part of me had figured that it was leftover heavenly obligation that I feel protective over Cherry. However, by seeing her navigate the mystery of her mother over the last weeks, a more accurate reason dawned on me: she only reacts to the confines of her surroundings, never acting on her own desires *if* she has any. Disappointingly, it's more self-identification rather than sympathy that I want well for her. Hopefully, this high school party farce will be the last thing she'll need to perform for the diner…though somehow I doubt this. In the meanwhile, I had snuck into the sewers for a more discrete entry to Greenhaven. Brazenly, Greenhaven’s mechanism of pumping holy water into the town’s plumbing immediately came into view. Next to it was a door to the restaurant itself. Locked, of course. The unholy water I could make luckily corroded myself an entrance. Unluckily, in the process of doing this, I grazed my wing into one of the jets of the machine. This gave me a growing-to-be-familiar pain that I would have to carry for the rest of the heist, and whatever reaction the machine had to me and my actions began filling the area with holy steam. I heaved myself up the ladder and covered the manhole with some equipment in their storage. I mentally reviewed the floor plans we received during our planning. I had no other option but to traverse the kitchen, which was overwhelmed thanks to the party. Cherry had obliged with my SMS request to haul all the staff into the main area, so I snuck by and grabbed some keys along my way to the stairs, where Cherry met up with me. I also briefly saw some messages about Isha being badly injured, but they were drowned out with Jonny’s spam. My head was too filled with everything else going on, but I was indeed slightly worried about Isha’s well being. During our exploration of the upstairs area for the artifact, we happened upon what seemed to be the correct door for heaven’s gate. The regular keyset didn’t work, so we had to search for whatever magical key there was. Hopefully, this would not include passing by Syracuse again. I knew that he was much more powerful than us and would easily overwhelm us if given the opportunity. In a way that felt too convenient, the key was kept unlocked in Kal’s office drawer. I almost felt insulted. Did they think we were a joke? Did she harbor no suspicion that we could pull something like this off? Paired with the homey pottery wheel and clay creations from team-exercises, I felt an anger boiling over in me. They even had time for pottery while we’ve been working overtime\! Before I could fume further, my cellphone began blowing up again. Leslie messaged, saying that Jonny was coming since Cherry might not be human enough(?) to pass through the gate. It was all a mess, and I didn’t have time to contemplate its implications. Was I the reason she was no longer human? When would Jonny even get here? Quickly then after, we heard footsteps up the stairs.