[Deleted]

His time so far in the Initiation had not been pleasant.

After his game of cat and mouse with some Ursai, and meeting another student, Ryan had once again set sail into his task of resting somewhere in the Haven Forest. But, as it seemed with everything regarding this event, luck had completely abandoned him. Whenever he would set a camp, some stray Grimm would appear and he had to run, abandoning said camps in the process, because he didn't wanted to spend time and energy fighting. He had lost track of how many times it had happened, not that he had really counted them to begin with but he was sure it had happened several times, and he was really, really damn tired of starting camp fires.

So, in a moment of ingeniosity, he pulled the sturdy rope he was carrying in his back. Unsteadily climbed the tallest tree he could find, almost falling a couple times in the process, and tied the rope into a wide and sturdy looking branch before tying the other end around his waist. Lying down in the branch, he just hoped that his knot was good enough to hold him in the, very likely case, of him falling down.

But as his eyes turned to the horizon and the rising shattered moon against a starred sky, he at least found some comfort in the fact that he would have a hell of a sight during the trip. Well, part of it.

---

Word count: 248
Total count: 248

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS: 734 TAG: @hood NOTES: AAAAAAAAAA TOTAL WORDS: 734 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS It had been a very long, very interesting day for the little redhead. She trudged through the moonlit forest with a sense of quiet reflection. She had started her day off so horribly. The rankings, the stupid, dumb, rankings... Sent her into a panic, and she smacked into a tree when she'd landed. Then she was all sad, while she helped her best friend out. Killed a few Grimm, but when she left Eva, she was still upset. Ran into Solomon, and that didn't do anything to help her mood at all. Then she'd run into Theia, and that helped a bit, but not enough. Then, hungry, sad, and hoping for some friendship, she came across Nasrin and Jackie. Or Heidi? Jekyll? Whatever her name was. And they got her all mad, but then they fought and killed the Alpha, and everything was better after that, in spite of the rocky road that led to that point. She'd gotten a little confidence, and then she bumped into Prince, who provided a welcome distraction, then into Nik, Argent, and Elena, where they got into a damn intense fight. Fun stuff. And that left her, now, at the end of her very busy day, wandering the woods for a spot to camp. She couldn't stay with her three friends she'd just left, unfortunately- Dandelions had to camp alone, or with a single partner. Those were the rules. So she wandered through underbrush until she came upon a tree that seemed sizable enough. Fortunately for her, while the sky was filled with rolling clouds, it hadn't yet begun to rain. That gave her enough time to scale the tree- she had brought plenty of rope with her, both for this purpose, and just in case anything had happened to her drum's tuning ropes. It was always best to come prepared, you know? Alas, prepared wasn't quite the appropriate word for her as she began to scale the tree. She had climbed trees before, and even slept in them once or twice, but Vacuo's sparse trees were not at all like Mistral's lumbering giants. Twice as big around as the ones she was used to, and much, much taller. Well. Time to get climbing. She took care to fasten Storyteller into its harness, swinging at her hip, as tightly as she could. It would be in the way, for most climbers, but for her, it was something she was used to. Not easy, but not impossible either. Then, hand over hand, she began to pull herself up the length of the tree. It was a long process, and a slow one, but eventually, she made her way up to a comfortably high branch, where she'd be safe from the majority of Grimm- too high for most of the land based ones, and in the event of a Nevermore attack, hopefully the thicket of trees would keep it from reaching them- they tended to prefer open skies, with their massive wings. Satisfied, she began to pull herself up onto the branch, only to realize, as she swung her legs up onto it, that she was not touching branch. No, her arm, and leg, were slung over the leg of a very tall boy also sitting on the branch. Understandably, she was surprised to find someone else so high up, and more importantly, she had not expected to bump into anyone in the dark like this. Giving a little shriek, she attempted to jump backwards, away from the boy, but she hadn't quite gotten up the tree yet, so when she moved to leap back, she fell over the side. Fortunately for her, however, her leg managed to cling to the branch, preventing her from falling all the way back down, but now she was stuck, staring about sixty feet down at the hard ground, dangling by a leg, as her drum swung down and whacked her in the bag, sending her wobbling in midair, as she let out another scream. Hopefully, the boy in the tree was kind enough, and awake enough, to pull her back onto the branch. It had seemed like a wide branch, and a strong one, so theoretically it was big enough and sturdy enough to share. But this was just absolutely awful. Not at all a fun way of meeting a potential new friend. "Somebody help me, please!! I do not want to fall!!"

LAIKA OF GS!

[Deleted]

This has to be a fucking. Why, god, why?! Why couldn't he get even five minutes alone?! Why?! After the sensation of something atop him woke him up, Ryan was ready to kill off the intruder. Just to have said intruder scream, apparently unaware of Ryan's presence, and fall off the branch with yet another scream. With a sigh of satisfaction of being once again alone. Ryan closed his eyes to finally take his-

"Somebody help me, please! I do not want to fall

For fuck's sake. Well, on the bright side, at least the intruder was a human. And in the bad side, the intruder was a human. Opening his eyes with an inward groan of frustation. Ryan pulled a small flashlight from his backpack and pointed it at the direction of the voice. On one of the sides of the branch, there was a petite, red haired girl hanging from one of her legs. Slightly tilting his head for a couple seconds. Ryan chuckled softly at the sheer absurdity of the situation. What were the damn odds to begin with? Well, better to grab her before she falls. Quickly searching for any nearby branch to throw her, he groaned once again after seeing that the one he was currently using was the only one sturdy-looking enough to hold a person.

Grabbing her from the leg with one hand, he tested her weight, seeing that unsurprinsingly she was very light, and, with a yank, threw her into an empty spot of the branch he was currently using. She was somewhat close, but well... He didn't wanted to be a jerk and kick her out just after she nearly tasted dirt. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled his reserve rope and offered it to her. If she was going to stay, she may as well tie herself to not fall. If the rope maybe could hold him, then it would damn sure held her. Well, as long as she knows how to make a knot.

---

Word Count: 326
Total Count: 574

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS: 426 TAG: @u NOTES: A# TOTAL WORDS: 1160 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS Luckily for our heroine in peril, a strong hand scoops her up by the leg just as she starts to get dizzy from all the blood rushing to her head. Less fortunately, that hand then slings her up over the branch, into a seated position, which she nearly fell from again, thanks to her drum, damn near a quarter of her weight, wobbling sideways. Thankfully, she managed to regain her balance quickly enough as the stranger, who she now recognized as a student, probably, handed her what looked like a rope. Hard to tell, dark as it was, though thankfully the clouds were rolling past the moon, giving them a bit more light. Although she had her own rope, she gratefully accepted the offered ropes with a smile, and set about immediately fastening herself to the branch, making sure to tie her drum down as well, still on its own rope harness, to her body. No sense in letting her only weapon fall dozens of feet, eh? "T'ank you! And t'ank you for saving me, I t'ought I was going to fall for sure. You surprised me, I did not t'ink anybody would be in t'is tree." Honestly, with rain on its way, she didn't think anyone would be in the trees, except for her and Nik. And she knew where Nik's tree was. Still, couldn't question his life choices, without reexamining her own. She smiled at the strange boy, taking the chance to get a good look at him, now that the clouds were crawling away, through the sky. He was tall. Very tall. Impressively tall. Hell, he was taller than anyone she'd ever met at Haven, up to this point! He would tower over even Nik or Argent, and they were so stupidly tall, compared to Carmim, that she had to strain her neck to look up at them sometimes! How did people even get that tall, she wondered? He most definitely ate a lot of cheese and tomatoes. Strong bones, no doubt. Very impressive, indeed. And he had a kinda book-ish face, with glasses and disheveled brown hair. Kinda cute, too, she mused to herself. "My name is Carmim, my friend. It is so nice to meet you! Even if t'is is a very unort'odox place for people to meet, I suppose." Making friends amidst the treetops. Truly, no limit was too high in the sky for Carmim to reach. At any rate, it was a nice way to end her day of midterms, making a new friend. Awfully quiet guy, though.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Deleted]

How long was the trip down the tree once again?

Silently looking over the tree branch, being as careful as possible to not alert her, he tried to measure the distance separating him from the floor and the sweet, sweet release of solitude. uhm, it was a long way down. If he took the fast route down, he would either kill or injury himself, and that was not completely worth it. And if he took the slow one he would have to explain himself, requiring useless conversation. Once again, not worth it.

With a silent sigh of frustation, he settled down in the branch. Closing his eyes, he ignored the person at his side, even though he heard her said something, and tried to take the nap that made him climb the tree in the first place.

"My name is Carmim, my friend. It is so nice to meet you! Even if t'is is a very unort'odox place for people to meet, I suppose."

Father, why you had me to be educated that well? Now i have to reply her, you damn geezer. Silently reaching for his notebook, he used one of his hands to illumate the pages with the flashlight as he used the one to write his response.

"I guess. I'm Ryan."

Trying to make it as short and abrupt as possible, he hoped that she didn't had some sort of obsession with small talk. Becasue if she did, he may as well try luck with the fast route downwards.

---

Word Count: 225
Total Count: 799

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS:314 TAG: @treefriend NOTES: o boi lemme just point out the mute's obvious silence TOTAL WORDS: 1474 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS Fortunately, it was dark enough in this treetop for Carmim to be justified in her complete obliviousness to this boy's entire mood. Though, she wasn't oblivious to his complete and total lack of words. Had she startled him that badly? Frankly, he startled her even more than she'd startled him, and she hadn't completely lost her ability to speak because of it! Or well, she assumed she had more reason to be startled- after all, couldn't he hear her ascent? If not, then wow, he was definitely not going to be a very perceptive tree buddy, to watch for Grimm. Fortunately for the both of them, her ears were much more attuned to her environment- any Grimm coming for them, she'd hear well in advance. Of course, as she thought about all of that, the boy pulled out a book and his Scroll, and began... Writing? Huh. Odd time for journal-ling, but she wasn't one to judge. She had her own quirks and odd habits, of course. As he turned the paper to face her, though, it all became clear. Mostly. Reading wasn't necessarily Carmim's strong suit, so she had to squint at the page a bit and quietly sounded out the words aloud. "I... Goo-ess... Guess? I guess... Ihm? Oh! I'm... Ry... an. Ryan. I'm Ryan. Hi Ryan!" She flashed him a very bright and friendly grin, before suddenly gasping, her eyes widening with realization. "You do not speak! Oof, I am sorry, t'at was rude. I have just never met somebody who could not speak before. You must have a lot of conversations written down in t'ere- or well, halves of t'em anyways!" Poor, poor, introverted Ryan... He had no idea what horrible, horrible, hell could possibly await him, tied to a tree branch with no quick means of escape. Perhaps saving her life was, in fact, the wrong choice.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Deleted]

One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep.... sixty four sheep.

It was fucking pointless. Leaning against the tree, he tried, oh god he tried, to fall asleep as soon as he showed her what he wrote. But it was so fucking damn pointless. Slightly banging his head against the tree, he wondered how, how in the living fuck, the RNG had to fuck him over and have the girl pick the same damn tree as him. He had expected to fall silent after knowing his name, but that seemed to get her into an even more talkative mood. Maybe... could him burn the tree to get an excuse to get the fuck out?

No... First of all, how would he do that to begin with? Plus, that could cause a forestal fire and burn down the whole damn forest. And he didn't knew how he would later explain himself of why he burned down an entire forest to escape a fellow trainee. Ever so slightly, he touched the pink band tied around his upper arm. In a motion that dictated his fate, as he, unknowingly, drawed her gaze to it.

---

Word Count: 189
Total Count: 763

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS: 231 TAG: @at NOTES: u TOTAL WORDS: 1705 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS This guy sure was weird. Nothing wrong with that though! She knew she was also weird, after all. Still. He was strange. Didn't respond to any of her questions, not even with his little notebook, and now he was banging his head on the tree. Not very hard, but hard enough for Carmim's ears to pick up on it. But then, as fate would have it, his hand drifted to the pink band wrapped around his arm, and Carmim's eyes grew big and bursting with delight. He was an Orchid! She didn't know much about what the Orchids had to do, but she did know it was something to do with being sociable and open with people. Thanks Nasrin! "Oh! You are an Orchid! T'at explains why you seem so shy. Don't worry, my friend, I will help you wit' your objective, if you still need help wit' t'at! Just tell me what to do. Oh! T'is is going to be fun!" Well, fun for one of the two of them, at least. It was very likely going to be tortuous and painful for Ryan, but at this point, any conversation with Carmim would feel that way to him, so there wasn't really much she could do alleviate that. Certainly not being quiet! That was a ridiculous thought. How would she ever get to know her new friend by being quiet?

LAIKA OF GS!

[Deleted]

Well played inner Ryan. You just had to go and show the girl that you were a damn Orchid, that for sure would shut her up. But well, the harm was already done. Strongly banging his head against the tree a couple times to give his inner idiot a lesson, he at the end concluded that since she seemed to be willing to help. Why not give it a shot? It would be nice to avoid getting scolded by the faculty by simply giving the middle finger at his task.

And thus, with pencil and flashlight on hand, he wrote.

"Just tell me about yourself, and I'll write up."

Ryan, if people now called you a masochist. They would be damn right because you have no fucking idea of what sort of pandora box you just opened.

---

Word Count: 137
Total Count: 900

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS: 335 TAG: @ryan NOTES: u dun dun it now boi TOTAL WORDS: 2040 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS While Ryan was living out his most horrifying nightmare, Carmim was in a dreamy wonderland, as a friend-seeking missile, extroverted to the extreme. She was a little curious about his now-more-aggressive attempts to give himself brain damage, but she wasn't one to judge- if he wanted to smack his head into trees, that was his personal business, after all. She certainly did weirder things. But more importantly than the concussion no doubt awaiting the tall young man, she beamed at the message he showed her with written in his notebook. Oh boy! While she had met Jackie and Nasrin earlier, neither had quite explained to her what being an Orchid entailed, so she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was apparently just listening to someone talk about themselves. She loved talking! And while other subjects were more interesting, talking about herself wasn't entirely off the table. But where to start...? "Oh! Okay! Hmmm... Let me see... Well, I like to eat, food is one of my favorite t'ings, especially cheese, which is t'e most delicious food, and t'en I also of course play djembe, which is t'e kind of drum I have wit' me, and t'at is always a fun and exciting t'ing about me... Hmmm... Oh! My favorite character from "T'e Dust of My Heart" is Mark, who is both dreamy, and terrible, especially when he cheats on poor, poor, Lisa... Ahh! And I am from Vacuo, which I t'ink is a little obvious, maybe? I know t'at I definitely do not sound like I am from Mistral. Uhhh..." She thought long and hard after babbling off a long stream of words to Ryan, before glancing curiously at the boy. "I do not know, t'ere are so many t'ings I could say about me! Do you t'ink you could ask me some questions? T'at might help me t'ink of better t'ings to say!" Hopefully he was allowed to ask questions. Otherwise, this was going to be an incredibly awkward hour. SPOILER: Click to show "Oh! Okay! Hmmm... Let me see... Well, I like to eat, food is one of my favorite things, especially cheese, which is the most delicious food, and then I also of course play djembe, which is the kind of drum I have with me, and that is always a fun and exciting thing about me... Hmmm... Oh! My favorite character from "The Dust of My Heart" is Mark, who is both dreamy, and terrible, especially when he cheats on poor, poor, Lisa... Ahh! And I am from Vacuo, which I think is a little obvious, maybe? I know that I definitely do not sound like I am from Mistral. Uhhh..." "I do not know, there are so many things I could say about me! Do you think you could ask me some questions? That might help me think of better things to say!"

LAIKA OF GS!

[Deleted]

It had been a goddamn mistake.

His brain, his hands his fucking everything hurt as he tried to keep pace with the sheer speed of which her words left her mouth. If his left hand got abs after this he wouldn't be surprised. After sighing out and moving his wrists to alleviate the pain, he looked at what he had written. Dear god. The calligraphy was horrid. Well, it was decent in the first place but what he wrote right now seemed like it was written by a 3-year-old kid with a nervous tic on his hands.

Hell, not even a full training course left his this tired. Can someone please explain to him how so much fucking air fits inside her?! Letting out yet another sigh, something he'd been doing a lot since the midterms started, he started to consider his options of what to do now. Because there was no way in hell that his now tired and overtaxed brain could survive more time with the girl at his side without getting a brain aneurysm.

Storing his scroll and notebook, he once again stared down towards the floor. Was it closer now? Or was his brain playing him tricks to make more appetizing his only way out his hell? Wait... her... she was the problem here. But... how could he make her leave without having to require more conversation. Ever so slowly, his eyes traveled to her rope. A piece of it was dangling way to close to where the hilt of his sword met the sheath. Yeah... it would be quite the accident. As slowly as his hands allowed him, he barely, almost negligibly, unsheathed Aarden and rubbed one of its double edges against her rope. Cutting just enough for it to not tolerate her weight, in the unlikely case, of her falling off the tree.

Sheathing the sword, he moved like if he was adjusting himself to be more comfortable.

And lightly nudged her, setting in motion the unlikely case.

She should be fine.

Yes. She should be.

---

Word Count: 341
Total Count: 1,247

[Carmim Clover]

❝ WORDS: 360 TAG: @oof NOTES: oof TOTAL WORDS: 2400 HAVE YOU SEEN HER? HAVE YOU HEARD? THE WAY SHE MOVES, THERE ARE NO WORDS She chattered away excitedly, just happy to finally be in a better mindset than she'd been in earlier in the day, really. No more depression, no more anxiety, no more crying over being worthless, or nearly getting into fights because of bad mood swings and sadness. Now she was just hanging out in a tree with her new friend, and she was helping him out with his assignment! This was a much better part of her day than everything before it, honestly, and she was happy to have a new friend to share it with. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to her, her new friend did not feel the same way. Indeed, Ryan was cutting the ropes that held her onto the tree even as she spoke. What kind of monster would do something like that? Commit attempted murder because he couldn't handle a little conversation? Wow. If that guy had a girlfriend, she must be one lucky woman, with a man as sane and socially functional as him. Certainly nothing wrong with his twisted, fucked up, head, nope. But, of course, Carmim thought none of these truthful and valid things- she could not see through the deceptive evil inherent to Ryan's actions. She just saw a friend. Making the betrayal all the more horrid. Tsk tsk. The ropes cut easily enough, and when Ryan "accidentally" nudged Carmim, she felt herself tipping over the edge of the branch again, and her eyes went wide with fear. It was a long ways down! She let out another shriek, calling out for Ryan to save her, but he had learned his mistake from last time. No hand reached out to rescue her, as he let her fall to her death. Or well, what would have been her death. Were she not significantly better at being alive than he thought she was. She hit the ground, but a bush broke her fall, as bushes so often tended to do. Great... Now, she had to get back up the tree! Ryan was still up there, and maybe in danger! What if he fell too!? She began scrambling back up the tree... I'm coming for you, Ryan!!

LAIKA OF GS!

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Carmim: 24 x 200% (event bonus) = 48

200 + 48 = 248 XP new total

Ryan: 12 x 200% (event bonus) = 24

101 + 24 = 125 XP new total