[Bianca Sabbato]

Confusion, worry, panic. Those and in that order were the feelings I had when I received the message summoning me to one of the garages owned by Chloro. I sent a couple messages myself asking what was happening. But I received only silence in response.

Finally, I gave up and confirmed to my mysterious interloper that I would be there soon. The night was falling, and I was in the middle of closing up my training when I got the message. Which meant it took me no time at all to gather my weaponry and head to the meeting with nothing but a long white cloak covering my training clothes.

I hindsight, rushing in without a plan or a second thought was probably an unwise decision. But I wasn’t really thinking straight.

I only knew I got a mysterious message from a voice I didn't recognize, telling me to go to Chloro’s workshop. And it clearly was an artificial voice, so it must have been someone trying to hide their identity for some reason

It honestly reminds me of some things I saw while being a part of Garrik’s band. And that freaked me the fuck out. When we did that, it was because we had a hostage... And when someone else did that... Let’s just say we didn’t take kindly to that trick being pulled on us.

And neither would I.

I couldn’t keep horses up there in Haven, no matter how much I asked and begged for it, so I had to make do with a cab, which I paid extra to make haste towards Chloro’s garage.

I had to wonder. Why would someone want to target my friends? Or me?

There was the obvious yet unlikely answer of them being the Kozaks. But that kind of cloak and dagger shit was too far removed from their usual tactics of direct and mindless violence. Plus, I didn’t believe us to be so noteworthy as to warrant the League’s recognition, even less their focused action.

Then there was the chance someone decided to enact direct vengeance on me for some reason. Which was more reasonable. I fucked up a lot of people back in the days. And even if it was someone I never personally met, It could be an old enemy of the gang looking for vengeance or something... That, or a former partner who wanted to pull something on me for leaving. Which I felt was somehow more worrying.

Finally... It could all be Chloro’s own fuckup. After all, I knew she was a known entity in the Ground district, and some people could take offense to her efforts to help the people down there... Whatever the case, they certainly didn’t know who they were messing with. I may act all nice and legal nowadays, but that well could dry really quick if someone crossed a line.

Once I was there, I threw some lien to the taxi and walked to the front door. Trying to hide my nervousness and keep a collected attitude. The rain falling over me helped obscure my features. But my frown was still clearly visible even from afar.

I merely stood there for a few minutes, standing straight with my hands hidden under the cloak. I focused on paying attention both to my surroundings... And to my scroll in case more mysterious messages came in.

Nothing happened at first, and I had half a mind to simply kick the door open and start investigating inside. Then suddenly, I noticed a presence very near me, entirely too close for comfort. So whoever this person was, they knew how to be sneaky... An even bigger reason to feed into my worries about that whole ordeal.

-I’ll cut to the chase...- I said drily, turning around and facing the hooded figure before me. It was a small person and didn’t look particularly strong. But I knew how appearances could be misleading with aura being a thing and whatnot. Carmim wasn’t a behemoth of a woman, yet she still could blow me (or whatever was left of me) halfway across the city with her semblance.

-I don’t know who you are. Or how you got my info. But I find it disturbing that you summoned me to Chloro’s workshop of all places... If something happened to her...-

Opening up my cloak, I let a black ax fall into the floor with a loud clinking sound before seemingly bouncing all the way up to my hand via my dust-infused rings. From the stranger’s point of view, they would also be able to see the line of golden grenades strapped to the inner part of my cape.

-Then you’ll find out how not-nice I can be... Start speaking before I show it to you-

I didn't want to immediately assume the worst. But sadly, more than once, doing so had saved my skin in the past. So I tended to default to that... Not that it didn't have its uses...

And if someone had decided to hurt one of my friends, then I was more than willing to use the Golden Wings authority to sweep some corpses under the rug...

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863/863 words

[Chloro Smoke]

we are the lost
and the silent

   tags:

  WHERE THE SKIES END -- STARSET

 outfit: New hair style

words: 542/542

Maybe not disclosing her name was a bad idea. She never had need to before, so it never really crossed her mind. You'd think that someone as smart as her, she would've realised, but nope. She made the message sound ominous and strange and more important, threatening. Then again, her new voice was threatening. She had designed this temporary version with the plan to instil fear into enemies when they try to fight her, and cause panic when she was hidden. She crafted the perfect message in her garage and workshop and then continued to sharpen up her tools. Her blade that was connected to a fire dust heater, hot enough to turn the blade white hot. The hardlight generator that produced her shields. Finally, her new gadget, the Vortex. A craft between gravity and anti-gravity dust that allowed her to catch projectiles, including bullets, and then fire them back at speed. Powering up her tech arm, she also powered up her new voice. It was connected to the arm, and snaked up to her arm, passed three glass objects that seemed to contain some sort of liquid in a dull grey colour.

This dull grey liquid was a version of her haul from the drug bust. She managed to create and less lethal version, and it allowed her to project that EMP like pulse with each dose. Her body can still only take one such dose in one encounter, but she is working on her intake. However, from this contraption up to her neck, base of her skull and her jaw up to just below her lips, was metal and alloy. This housed another device she had recently finished which gave her the simulacrum like voice. An android voice with a sentient mind behind it. Just human enough to be used in conversations, and just robot enough to be alien, unnatural and terrifying. Whilst her arm still existed under her tech, and was still flesh, she was beginning to wonder herself before she even showed this to her friends and colleagues that "When would she stop? Would she even stop?" It was an odd thought, that she could keep going and soon enough, become more machine than woman. Her alarm cut this thought short, as it was time to meet Bianca.

She waited outside of her garage in the shadows and waited for the lizard faunus to rock up. When she did, she dropped her trait and waited in the shadows as Bianca caught on to her presence. As the threats poured from the lizard, Chloro thought back to the message and believed adding the "Come alone" part was unnecessary. Letting her device whirl up as her damaged vocal cords started to strain and work, that shrill, spine chilling voice of apathy cursed out. "Maybe I shouldn't have sent such a menacing message. It's good to final talk to you properly B." She stepped into the ray of a streetlight, revealing her face under a hood. A light smile and a chuckle followed. The light also revealed her metallic-like jaw, in a strange dark green shade of steel. It glinted slightly in the streetlight. She kept her arm hidden under a full arm cape-like shawl. "Did I spook you a bit?"


SA and GS ♚

[Bianca Sabbato]

Eh?
Ehhhhh!?

I felt my brain collapsing after Chloro decided that the best way to announce her presence was to step out of the shadows like an old-fashioned supervillain.

Honestly, I was ready to start swinging the hell of that ax as soon as I heard that shrieking, metallic voice coming from her throat. But the shock of hearing it live managed to stop me long enough to give Chloro’s face a damn good look.

-What? How? When? You?- I asked away, not giving myself time to finish any of my ideas. I could only let my weapons fall to the ground as I stared at the scene before me, dumbfounded.

Not only all of the novels I wrote in my mind about Chloro possibly being in trouble had been for naught, like usual. (Thank you, brain. I also fucking hate you). But now, I was faced with a Chloro Smoke greeting me in a weird-sounding voice.
You see, the strange thing wasn’t the tone of her voice. It was that she was addressing me verbally at all!

-First of all. You can talk!? Second of all. You scared the shit out of me!- I called out, taking both hands to my head and looking at the sky as a (slightly demented) chuckle escaped my lips. -I don’t know if I should hug you or kick your ass!-

I finally set for the first one, moving towards Chloro and pretty much tackling her in a tight hug.

I squeezed a little stronger than I ought to, to be honest. Partly because I couldn't help myself, and partly because It was my payback to that stupid girl for making me worry so much for nothing.

-You can talk... Damn, girl. Damn- I said in a warm tone as I clung to her for a short bit before softly letting her down again. Unable to hide away my smile.

Finally... After so much work on her part, she could use her voice again.

Well, I doubted I could consider that creepy, distorted tone Chloro used as her definitive voice. But that didn’t matter! If she already managed to take things that far, adjusting shit for it to sound more natural would only be a matter of time.

So, of course, it was supposed to be a joyous occasion. But with Chloro Smoke, things always tend to be more complicated. Not only due to that little trick she pulled on me. That was the lesser of my concerns at that point.

The truly worrying thing was that I didn’t fail to notice the greenish mechanical implants running up to her lower lip. Nor how she felt heavier than she looked when I picked her up.

-Shit. I don’t even know how to react. I guess I’m just stunned by all of this- Shaking my head a bit, I just stood there, staring at Chloro like an idiot.

Just the fact that I wasn't bawling my eyes out was proof enough of how big my surprise was. I didn't want to be mean, but a part of me wasn’t sure Chloro would be able to pull it out at all.

A part of me feared that Chloro might always remain mute, that the dreams of regaining her voice would serve as a force to drive her. But that it would never become anything more than a wild fantasy.

Once again, it seemed like I was underestimating that crazy chick.

-Let’s go inside. And don’t stop talking! I want to keep hearing it. Tell me all the details. How did you do it?- I asked as I got closer to her and practically dragged her towards the door. I even forgot about my weapon for a second before picking it up from the ground with a satisfying use of my gravity rings.

Dust well spent if you ask me.

I also took advantage of the proximity to get a better look at that face of her... Her left cheek and what seemed to be a good deal of her jaw were metal now. And I didn’t know how to feel about it. It likely helped her talk.

But a part of me disliked that she had to replace part of herself with cold, dead metal. And I didn’t know if me thinking that was selfish or not.

It was her body and her choice to modify it as she pleased. Of course.

But let’s not fool ourselves. We all know that if there is a person in remnant with the habit of getting ahead of herself and biting more than she can chew, that’s probably Chloro Smoke.

I was afraid she would end up hurting herself if she hadn’t done that already.

-So tell me how it works... And that thing in your cheek. Is it permanent?- I asked, being subtly as a stone, wanting to be supportive, but having some of my uncertainty slip nonetheless.

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