Villain and violent (infant and innocent)

Wind that howls like a hound.

Agatha smooths down her shirt and rolls her shoulders back, letting out a long breath. She's not worried. She's not worried. She thinks about this logically; a blood pact requires what? Blood. Obviously. Where does it require blood from? The palm of your hand. Where is the palm of your hand? Not on your arm. Which means what? Nobody has to roll their sleeves up.

Nobody has to see anything.

(Of course, she's choosing not to remember the other thing. The cut has to be self-inflicted. (And that worked out so well last time. Ha.))

"So!" She says brightly, clapping her hands together, "Shall we do this?"

Jen looks at her with an unhidden suspicion clear on her face. How insulting. Does she think that Agatha is jumping at the chance to betray them at every turn? Because she's not. Just some of the turns. And just Jen.

She really hates Jen.

"Yeah. Should be fun." Alice lets a breath of air out through her nose.

"How do we even do this?" Teen asks in his sickeningly earnest voice.

Lilia starts on one of her tangents, explaining the ritual in far too much detail, and Rio takes the opportunity to speak to Agatha.

"I guess before meant nothing then." She says, a hint of anger in her voice. But there's something else. Another emotion that Agatha can't quite put her finger on.

"What?"

"I know you're not stupid." Rio continues. "Did before mean nothing, then? I know we aren't together again, but God, you couldn't have sounded like you hated me any more."

Agatha reels, genuinely confused. "What? I don't hate you. I told you that before."

"Words alone don't mean much." Rio says and looks as if she is going to leave, before backpedalling and turning to face Agatha.

"You are going to be okay after this ritual." She says

It's not a question.

"You will be okay." She repeats.

Agatha swallows. "Okay." She whispers, and Rio stalks off.

And, Jesus, if the whiplash in that didn't give her neck ache.
-

They stand in a circle. Rio is opposite Agatha, and she would be lying if she said she didn't get a little bit of comfort out of Rio's eyes being the first thing she sees when she looks forwards. She swallows to push down the nausea creeping into her stomach. Her palms are sweaty and she wipes them on her trousers.

Get yourself together. This is embarrassing. You got over all that depressing crap ages ago.

She nods to herself, and straightens her back, rising slightly taller than she was standing before. Alice is to her left, and Teen is to her right. She's just thankful that she doesn't have to hold hands with Jen.

"To start the ritual, we need something sharp. Rio, will you loan your knife?" Lilia asks calmly, which is pretty impressive given the glare Rio is giving. It looks like there's a silent competition going on between them, (Which looks really stupid given they're standing next to each other), but Rio, surprisingly, gives in and hands the knife to Lilia, who smiles with triumph.

"Now. You must clear your head of any thoughts. When the knife is passed to you, make a small incision on your left palm, no bigger than an inch. That is the first step."

"The first step?" Teen whispers but Lilia shushes him and says,

"What did I just tell you? Clear your mind of any thoughts."