[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

325 w./ 325 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

It was starting to get late into the exam. Not quite toward the end, but enough that Rose was beginning to worry. She trudged on through the forest with a steely gaze, looking forward with a glint in her eye. The blonde needed to find someone to finish her midterm...literally anyone would do at this point. Though the cosmos must be playing some cruel joke on the Vacuo native as she felt a drizzle at first and then, without warning, a downpour crashed upon the forest.

She grimaced at the change in climate. Though it did little to bother her tough as nails composure, Rose knew that it would affect the other candidates. They would all be seeking cover from the rain like the little shits that they were. It made things harder for her to find them then...so now she needed to look out for a set up shelter.

"Just my fucking luck."

A very loud and aggravated sigh escaped her lips as her red leather jacket got drenched by the rain and her blonde mane quickly turned sopping wet. It was hard to keep her emotions in check, but Rose did her best to avoid the attention of any Grimm. It would NOT be ideal to fight against one in this weather. The girl unsheathed her sword and clicked the activator, igniting her blade with furious fire and lightning that she held up like a torch.

The rain was intense and it would most definitely put the blaze out soon, but Rose could only hope that it would garner the attention of someone in the area. She even activated her semblance, dashing through the forest like a bullet with bright neon red lightning blazing brightly in her wake.

"HEY! Is anyone out there!?"


Gods above, she would burn down this entire forest if she had to. Rose would find someone to help or die trying...there was absolutely no way in hell that she was going to fail this midterm...

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Deleted]

Looking up to what sky he could see through the treetops, Ryan let out a sigh against the increasingly darker and starless skies. Damn clouds. If it keeps up this rate, it would be a matter of time before it began to rain. And as predicted, soon enough he felt a small droplet of water crash against his skin. And soon after, its friends followed suit. But he paid them no mind as he closed his eyes and let out a relaxed sigh as the drizzle fell over him. It was such a refreshing feeling.

The drizzle, sadly enough, turned into a downpour almost instantly. With a less contented sigh escaping past his lips. He set walking to find some shelter somewhere through this damn forest. Not that he minded being wet or under the rain. But it would be no joke if he somehow caught a sickness. And yet, he didn't seem to hurry up as he searched for a place to set a fire and dry up. Being under the rain, at least for him, was a pleasurable feeling. Even if the rain currently crashing into the forest was fierce enough to make a rainforest rain blush.

Maybe it was because he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings thanks to the constant drumming of water crashing against the ground. Maybe because he was too focused into his path to not fall into a puddle. Or maybe because it was dark as fuck that he didn't saw it. But whatever the reason, he didn't saw a light rapidly approaching him until, well, whoever was carrying crashed against him. He, or she, seemed to be small. But the speed carrying him/her was high enough to have Ryan flying off his feet at a nearby puddle of water. Standing up with an inner string of curses to this motherfucker, he took out his small flashlight and searched the surroundings for this person.

---

Word Count: 322
Total Count: 322

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

318 w./ 643 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

She was flying through the forest at a break neck speed with a huge grin on her face. Despite the annoyance of the rain, Rose always loved the feeling of adrenaline that came with her Semblance! The rush of the wind and the inertia of the world around her...not to mention the crazed crimson lightning that shot in a flurry all around her.

The blonde was in such bliss as she shouted for attention that she didn't even notice the guy standing in the wake of her dash. Even her lightning quick reflexes weren't enough to stop her in time and the best she could do was throw her free arm forward to slam him flying into the air as she braked harshly. Rose's feet tore a rude mark into the grassy terrain, skidding to a halt and deactivating the flame on her sword to race back in the direction of her assault.

"Woah like holy shit! Did...did I just hit someone?" She shouted.

She blinked in a bit of confusion as she back tracked in the direction of her victim. She had heard the crash into the puddle and couldn't help but grimace at the sudden encounter. Well, he had an aura and it was already raining, right? So no harm no foul! Hell this was even a blessing since it meant that Rose finally found someone! Though without the flashlight she might not have found him in the heavy downpour, so at least he had a fair head on his shoulders.

"Yo, ya gotta really watch yourself there. What if I were a Grimm barrelinginto you? Just gonna stand there and yell at it?"

The lightning around her aura died down as she approached him. Rose sheathed her sword onto her back and held her hand out.

"Anyway, we can yell at each other later. For now, we gotta find somewhere to duck out of this god damn rain. Come on..."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Solomon Moon]

Solomon

The piton made a gentle chiming sound as Sol struck it. He grunted, tapping the iron pin experimentally with the hammer of his right fist, and then wound up slightly and struck the head of the piton again. It chimed again pleasantly. His tongue poked out the corner of his mouth as he executed the command again, only this time the pin was knocked downward on a slight angle. It wasn't his arm's fault really. It had perfectly carried out the command, a perfect duplicate to the smallest detail of the original. What had been wrong was the pin's position, which was slightly deeper into the rock face after the first strike. That minute difference had been enough to change the outcome.

It didn't stop the one-eyed hunter from hating the treacherous limb just a little bit as he wrapped his blackened fingers around the pin and bent the half inch bolt of metal back into line with just the even pressure of his thumb. He decided would need to account for how much the pin moved every time he hit it. That added layer of complexity had, like every mundane task he tried to confront with his right hand, taken the activity from tedious, to teeth-grinding levels of frustration. On the bright side, if he could duplicate the force applied each time, it would mean he only had to get it right once before he could just perform the command on loop until the piton was hammered home. Unfortunately there was no way of knowing how much trial and error that would take, and he didn't have as much time to experiment as he might have liked.

It was starting to rain. Great big drops of rain that made it through the canopy were striking on and all around him as he huddled in the cleft where a large standing stone rose out of the earth. Seemingly endless streams from where water was being collected on leaves and in the boughs of the tall trees and eventually spilled over pattered around him. He'd done his best to avoid those little icy waterfalls, but soon there would be no shelter from them. He could hear even heavier rain approaching through the trees, like the roaring of an approaching army. Less than a klick out by now, closing fast. If that got here before he was done, it didn't matter how fine his shelter was, he wouldn't be dry until he got back to Haven. He didn't like the idea of surviving not only his landing, but the hours of pursuit by a small horde of grimm that followed, only to die of exposure. He'd already torn up his foil blanket and used half of it to line his boots and sleeves, leaving only a shred to sleep under, and wasn't sure he'd be able to start a fire despite the semi-dry wood and kindling he'd stashed under the tarp he was currently nailing up, if he got soaked now, it could get very bad. It had been cool that morning, and had become cold with the rain.

He tapped the pin again, lining up the blow, and trying to keep his relative position neutral to remove as many variables from the operation as possible. His elbow whirred quietly as it wound up slightly, and then gave a sharp hiss as it unloaded, the ball of his hand chiming quietly as it struck the piton. He could have probably fired the pin home with a single blow if he wanted to, but he only had so many pins, and could not afford to be wasting them. He hit the piton again, driving it further into the stone. He adjusted and tried again, but only bent the pin. Sol sighed, breath fogging in cool air, illuminated blue by the gentle glow being thrown off through the faintly translucent musculature of his right arm, too tired and cold to be angry anymore. He tried again, a grey dispassion throughout his mind. Like his artificial arm, he was only going through motions preordained, ingrained by experience. As far as he could tell, he didn't even think, handing over all control to the reptile brain.

By the time he was setting the last corner of the tarp, the last handful had gone easily into the packed earth that formed the lowest extent of his makeshift lean-to, he was shivering in earnest, jacket and shirt plastered to him with damp. At least he was still shivering. He knew from patrols in northern Mistral and southern Atlas that hypothermia was it's most serious when the shivering stopped. He also knew he would need to eat something. Shivering burned a lot of calories, and if his body exhausted it's supply faster than he could metabolize new nutrients, it would be just the same as freezing to death.

He crawled into the sloping shelter made of a ten by ten tarpaulin painted with forest camouflage, nailed up on one side and into the ground on the other. Water was flowing down the face of the rock and through the upper seam, but at least it was dry inside for the most part, the patter of the driving rain intensified by the plastic. It was just tall enough for him to stoop without touching the tarp. He plucked his last MRE out of the pile of belongings he'd sheltered beneath the tarp when he started building it. Meal Ready-to-Eat, or as the grunts called them, "the three lies", because the tiny foil package of freeze dried foods was not big enough to be a proper meal, was not ready without being warmed up or mixing the various separately packaged ingredients, and for the most part if failed being edible by being the single most unappetizing preparation of food known to mankind. It was better than nothing, but in spite of his situation and the very real need for sustenance, Sol didn't have much of an appetite. He rarely did these days.

Determined to make at least an effort, he peeled open the dried meat portion, and tore of a strip that he chewed dispassionately. He fished around in his first aid kit, and pulled out a small pill bottle, followed by the last of his water. He carefully doled himself out three of the varieties of medications he'd brought along, and popped two into his mouth, washing them whole down with a mouthful of water and salted meat. He chewed the last pill, the tangy flavor causing him to lose a touch of sensation in his mouth, as he ground the tablet between his molars. He considered and popped in a second tablet, chewing it as well, until his mouth was full of the chalky paste. He poked the index finger of his left hand into his mouth and scooped out a large fraction of the paste. He folded up the strips of meat to make a thick wad of leathery jerky and held them in his jaws like a dog.

He hiked up his once white undershirt somewhat. He undid the blood stained bandage looped around his midsection. The wound was about six centimeters long, and went down to his abdominal muscle. As near as he could tell, it hadn't pierced his abdominal wall. It was still bleeding. Building the shelter hadn't done it any favors. Sol grimaced, but forced himself to look as he smeared the paste on his finger into the wound. The pain was exquisite, blinding, and his teeth ground into the jerked meat in his mouth so hard that his jaw ached, a low keening moan escaping as he spread the paste around. Hopefully the antibiotic would keep it from becoming infected. The painkiller worked nearly immediately, deadening the sensation of pain back to a mere tightness in his flesh.

By the time he was done, Sol was sweating, and trembling, despite the chill that had settled in his bones. He made a mournful sound as he fished a needle and thread out of his First-Aid kit, and went to work. It was tough work by just the light of his right arm, and hardly a skillful example of the surgeon's art, but it seemed to be holding. It would be an ugly scar, but it would just be one of many, and not even the ugliest by a long shot.

He slumped against the face of the rock, breathing heavily, his head feeling like it was full of steam as he swallowed the last of the painkillers and gazed blankly out into the night. He thought he could make out movement, or light flickering through the trees. Probably just his eye playing tricks, or some illusion of the lightning falling alongside the rain from the clouds overhead. He knew he should start on a fire, but he was so weary. Maybe just a short rest.

@tag

1481 words

notes

Velvet of WW

[Deleted]

So it was a girl.

Illuminating with his flashlight towards where he heard an approaching voice, a petite blonde girl (how in the living hell had she kicked him off his feet?) stepped out from the bushes. She was nearly as damp as him, and she seemed to be sorrounded by a sort of redish light. But said light died down as she approached him while saying something. Ryan wasn't exactly sure what she was saying, as his mind was busy telling her one million and something insults that he would never say out loud, but the moment that she approached him with an extended hand it was clear as day what she wanted.

With a gruff of anoyance, Ryan walked past her while shutting the flashlight off and using his free hand to do a 'follow me' motion. Trying to look on the bright sides of things, he at least now was paired with someone until the end of the midterms. Though he didn't looked back to see if she was indeed following him as he searched for a cave or something to wait out the time. And, if the cosmos allowed, try to get something dry to start a fire.

Wait... was that a shelter? Quickening his pace, Ryan found himself staring at an extremely makeshift tarp lean-to. And, inside it, there was a guy resting on the floor. Without even making sure if the girl was near, he slowly approached the apparently sleeping guy while turning on his flashlight on the dimmest setting and pointing it on his direction in. And as soon as he did, what he saw told him that something had happened with the guy. Blood stained bandages where lying near him alongside a needle and some threads. Had him... sutured a wound on his body himself?

After a couple more steps he was finally at his side. He noticed how badly the guy seemed to be shivering after checking if he was still breathing. Thinking quickly of what to do, he noticed some wood and kindling inside the tarp. But it would be of no use at this rate. On the distance, the rumbling roar of thunder was hear approaching alongside even heavier rain. Even if they managed to light up a fire under the tarp, it would be pointless as soon as wind finally picked up. They needed to find a cave, and fast. And so, he looked at the girl, now seeing that she had indeed followed him, for ideas.

---

Word Count: 419
Tota Count: 419

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

363 w./ 1,006 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the guy just simply moved past her without a word. The hell was his deal anyway? At least now he won't die alone out here, so he should be grateful! He was lucky enough to run into the strongest fighter in the school except for maaaaybe Colt. Whatever, at least he was leading the way to...somewhere.

And that somewhere happened to be toward a very shoddy camp of some sort. Nice! There were now two people to work with and that meant...oh. Oh this didn't look too good. The shelter maker in question was in pretty bad shape, bandaged and stitched up in fairly poor fashion. Between the chill and the rain, at this rate he would definitely suffer some serious complications. There wasn't too many options available to them either, since the downpour was beginning to really pick up.

The quiet guy turned to look at her with some look of expectation...and she returned his look with a glare. The hell was he looking at? But Rose quickly breathed out a sigh and nodded.

"Yeah, I get'cha. This piece of shit camp ain't gonna protect us from nothin'. Though walking around this forest for the past few hours, there's some rocky terrain toward the perimeter...maybe a few minutes away."

She pointed in the general direction where the desert girl assumed sound structures would be. After all, this weather wouldn't let up any time soon and they would all need to get warm if they were to survive this ordeal. Leaning over the injured young man, Rose narrowed her eyes at his condition.

"Hey..." She snapped her fingers near his face to get his attention. "Can you walk? Or I'm gonna have to carry you, buddy?"

Rose did look small, but she was confident in her strength. The only thing was that wound he had might open up if he pushed himself. It was worrisome and his ragged appearance was a real issue, but as a rose she couldn't ignore someone in need of help. Turning to address both of her companions, she gave a quick introduction.

"Name's Rose, by the way. Hell of a storm to get caught up in..."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Solomon Moon]

Solomon

Sol's breathing had slowed to a nearly lethal degree. The painkillers he'd taken were relatively benign, the active ingredient derived from a plant that grew wild in Vacuo, at least in the fact that the concentration it had to reach in his system to turn his blood toxic was utterly impractical. The danger came from the way the drug effected his nervous system, depressing the autonomic processes to the point of actual arrest. The impulse to draw breath had slowed to a crawl, declining steadily, and between the drug and the bone deep exhaustion of spending an entire day running for his, not to mention how much blood had leaked out through that hole in his side, his level of consciousness along with it. That could be dangerous, especially out here in the middle of the wilderness, but even as he drifted off, fully aware at first of the subtle chemistry taking place inside him, Sol couldn't really bring himself to care that much, and as a pleasant euphoric fog settled over his brain, he cared even less than that. It wouldn't be such a bad way to go. It would be just like falling asleep on top of a warm effervescent cloud, and the dead knew that he'd had little enough slumber in the last few years.

It was the first time in months that he slept without being haunted by nightmares. Perhaps in part because it was the first time in months that he'd taken more than a couple of the sour little tablets at the same time. Perhaps it was because he wasn't really sleeping. Perhaps he was dying. It wasn't the worst way to die.

Sol didn't stir at all as a strange shape stole into his tent, illuminating his slumped, snoring form with the dim twinkle of a pocket flashlight. His breathing was shallow, irregular, and gurgled from how his bowed head pinched the top of his windpipe, but he was breathing. A sheen of sweat covered him, shimmering in the torchlight, painting the definition of his lean musculature with twinkling highlights like dew on leaves in the morning. He was pale too, and a faint bluish tinge had started to paint his fingertips and lips. Sol would have been able to identify the severity of his condition at a glance, but it was unlikely that either of his visitors had spent half a campaign in the medical tents of a small private army.

Still, in spite of his heavily depressed condition, Sol twitched awake groggily at the snapping of fingers an inch from his nose. He set his gaze upon the hand, pupil so constricted that his eye looked like a gold coin. Slowly, he traced the arm back to the face of the person to whom it belonged. The meaning of her words seemed to trickle in from far away, and his expression went from bleary and sleepy to irritated like mud baking to hardpan in the sun.

He took a good long look at the girl. She was fair haired and skinned, both looking silvery in the dim glow of a nearby lightsource outside of the wounded soldier's field of view. She hardly looked dressed for the occasion, garbed in a sodden school uniform, a backpack over one shoulder, sword dangling from one hip, the latter of which being the only article which seemed appropriate to being left to fend for oneself in a forest populated by monsters on the night of a thunder storm. Sol absently wondered if he was the only one taking this assignment seriously. She stood with a stoop over him a posture that had the discordant effect of being both boyish and emphasizing the modest swell of her bust. Sol blinked slowly and let his gaze climb up to her face, his druggish expression resolving into one of impatience as he batted her hand away.

He groaned weakly and pushed on the soggy earth until he was resting his back against the rock face that served as his shelter's back wall. He realized that he had another guest. A bookish looking young man, peered silently at Sol and Rose, the lenses of his eyeglasses casting off an eerie glare from the light of his torch. Sol's first impression of the teen was his height, easily a head taller than himself, and Sol was by no means a small man. The silent boy also wore a sword, though of a different style than Rose's.

If Sol was impressed, he didn't show it.

"Let me get this straight." He growled in a voice that was like gravel falling down a rock-face, peering at Rose past the ruin that was the right side of his face, "Your solution to the current situation, which to summarize is being stuck in a thunderstorm, miles from civilization in a forest full of man-eating monsters.."

His golden eye swiveled over to regard the bespectacled youth, making a token attempt to at least seem to include him in the discussion, voice dripping with disdain.

"Is to strike the shelter I've already built, and travel through the dark, in search of a better position, which I am guessing you didn't have time to actually scout as you were blundering through the elements, which may or may not exist, only to have to pitch a new camp wherever that may be, all the while enduring the wind and rain, not to mention the afforementioned threat of man-eating monsters who can see in the dark." He continued, allowing his weak voice to build up to a bit of an edge, "Did I get that right?"

@tag

937/2,418 words

notes

Velvet of WW

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

339 w./ 1345 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

He stared at her for the longest time and so she simply stared right on back. The fuck was this guy's deal anyway? Ever since arriving in civilization, Rose had run into far ruder folk than the ones in the desert. There were no preconceptions there! If you liked someone, you declared it and if you hated them, you stabbed them. Why couldn't the city be just as simple?

Still, she wasn't making much head way with either of her rain buddies here. Glasses wasn't talking or offering any sort of solution and living dead boy was still gawking like a dog with a bone. It had just dawned on the girl that both of them were tall as hell, so like did the city super size their menu order or what? Rose was starting to develop a complex she didn't know she had!

Though eventually the guy did speak up and the first words out of his mouth were to question her own commands. It was frustrating, since the blonde was unaccustomed to being questioned. Well, keeping the subordinate alive after being spoken to in such a manner anyway. So she grit her teeth to keep her anger in check, lest the Grimm converge on them.

"Yeah...that about sums it up, Patch. Although..." She smacked the rock to confirm that it was indeed quite solid as a back wall. "Hm, I might have a solution here."

Rose plopped down her pack and began rummaging inside, pulling out her own tarp, hammer, and pitons. She looked up at Ryan, holding the hammer out to him.

"If we secure the two tents together and seal the entrance off well enough, the wind won't get in. We should be able to strike up a small fire if we keep a steady eye, yeah? Think you could gimme a hand, Glasses?"

As she held the hammer out to Glasses, Rose flashed her emerald eyes toward the banged up Patch. "Does that suit you, your highness? Or do you have some more shit to spew out you're blow hole?"

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Deleted]

Did she just call him... glasses?
Up to that point, Ryan had been barely paying attention to the exchange currently the other two seemed to have. Instead, he was far more concerned with Grimm converging in their position. Through the entire damn day, Grimm had flocked around his ass like moths around a source of light. But as soon as she called him like that his gaze turned in a flash towards her. Like... for real? Well, he hadn't told her his name so it could be understood but still. Glasses? Fucking Glasses?!

Ugh, whatever. It was better being called that than four eyes. Hearing her idea, Ryan nodded along and grabbed the hammer, pitons, and tarp and set to do what she said. Getting down to it he started to work while letting out gruntins, shivering under the ever-increasing wind and rain, and screaming an inner string of curses that would make even a marine blush, he continued to work as he closed his ears to the external world.

While working, started to think of the new problem at hand. Starting the fire itself. Well, the fire dust he packed for this will sure come in handy now, he just hoped that the wood the guy had collected wasn't that damp.

---

Word Count: 212
Total count: 631

[Solomon Moon]

Solomon

The blonde girl hadn't said a dozen words by the time Sol knew that things were going to go poorly. Her strategically insane suggestion of tearing down the camp he'd made started their budding relationship with one foot in a grave, and though it had been shallow to start, she seemed intent on digging it deeper, one word at a time. Idiots were bad enough, and that was fine. Sol knew plenty of idiots who made competent, if not exactly fine soldiers. It was when idiots got promoted to officer positions that problems began, and when idiots took the role of command upon themselves, or worse yet simply assumed that they were in charge, that was a recipe for disaster.

"Yeah...that about sums it up, Patch. Although..." As if responding when called attention to, the right side of Sol's face, flesh that was dead and useless for countless years, seemed to crawl as a spasm of mindless twitching gripped it, and the former mercenary fixed the insolent waif with a withering glare of his good eye, the muscles on the side of his head bulging as he gritted his jaw so tightly that it hurt. His chest heaved for an instant, as his breathing picked up, before a combination of willpower and on board narcotics tamped it back down again. Silently the cyclops counted back from ten in his head as he pushed himself off of the soggy earth and slid his back up the face of the stone until he was standing at his full height. He wasn't going to just sit there and let some brainless stranger insult him.

He moved carefully, keenly aware of the wound in his side, and reminded of it with each contraction of his abdominal muscles, but pain was an old friend to him at this point. With the opiates in his bloodstream, he actually found the sensation somewhat endearing, like a completely useless bunkmate that had become so familiar that one could not imagine life without him. By the time he was fully on his feet, the girl had finished making what would have been a polite suggestion if she had any sense in her head, but instead had been worded as if Sol should actually respect her opinion after she'd all but gone out of her way to be abrasive and incompetent since the very moment they met.

"Does that suit you, your highness? Or do you have some more shit to spew out you're blow hole?"

Sol inhaled deeply, and imagined what the girl would look like while bleeding from the gut, or with an arm cut off. The image brought him more joy than he would have cared to admit, but the dead knew he had precious little to actually find joy in these days.

"Actually." He said, his voice syrupy and rough, like blood spilled into sand, golden eye blazing with the alertness of poor temper, "You seem to be a bit confused, so let me elucidate you. This is my camp, I scouted the terrain before it got dark, and I had the sense to pitch a shelter before it started pissing an ocean out there, and I don't actually remember inviting you into my tent, or for your opinion at that."

His accent was one of the Mistralan low nobility, but his words had the content of one of the countless barbarian tribes that populated the wilderness of the frozen Atlesian north. His voice was that of a devil. Drawn up to his full height, he was broad and powerful, and assumed an authority that was instinctive, a little bit arrogant, and only slightly harmed by the bright red stain bleeding through his white undershirt. He made no effort to be threatening, but still managed to seem competent, and dangerous in spite of it.

"In fact, all I remember is that you came in uninvited, insulted my efforts, tried to substitute a solution that would likely have seen all three of us killed, and then when I pointed out the obvious stupidity of your solution, you insulted me." He said, making a heroic effort at keeping his voice level and his temper in check, "Thus, I've decided that I don't like you. And I don't think he does either...", with his right hand, Sol gestured towards towards the bespectacled youth who was moving to follow the Rose's instructions,"He can stay...", Sol pointed to the blonde next, ", and you, can go find somewhere else to camp."

@tag

750/3,168 words

notes

Velvet of WW

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

455 w./ 1800 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

Rose had been busy glancing over at Glasses to make sure he was doing a proper job with her tent tarp. Was he even putting it up right or did she need to keep glancing over? Hm...well no it seemed like he was doing quite the bang up job! Then again, how hard would it be to set up a tent anyway? At least it would keep them a bit safer from the elements.

The blonde was already on the move, snagging up the wood Patch most likely had collected and decided to help herself. She set the bits down in the middle of the encampment and unsheathed her sword, gingerly digging the blade into the wood. Rose clicked the dust activator slightly to release a slight spark of flame on the fuel, igniting it just enough for her to get a fire going.

It was then that she finally turned her head to address Patch, sheathing her weapon as she tended to the flame. It felt nice to feel the warm glow dry her a bit, but nice things never lasted. There was always some annoyance that ruined her good mood...and that something was Mr. Bleeding Death.

"Yeah, well, blame the fact that I'm a rose. I see someone in trouble, then I gotta help them. No questions asked. I'm new to the whole 'bonding' thing so bite me if I don't play well with others. But trust me, when I'm amply warmed up and help Glasses with whatever he needs, I am SO booking it out of here. Don't wanna hang with a fucking loser like you anyway, Patch."

Rose rubbed her hands into the fire, gritting her teeth at the foul weather. She looked up at the other boy and cocked her head at him. A pink band...that made him an Orchid.

"Yo! You heard him...Douchie Mc.Doucher-ton wants me to ditch. So, lemme drop some knowledge and I'll book it after warming up. You happen to be speakin' to Rosalia Phoenix, feared Bandit Queen of Vacuo. I've raided near every town and camp in the area at least once. Um...if that's not enough then Salt and Vinegar flavored beef jerky is my favorite go to snack."

Grinning wide at him, Rose stood up and brushed her legs off of any dirt. "As a rose, that should be worth two points. Pretty tight, huh? No, no need for thanks. I can see it in your eyes!"

As she walked toward the entrance of the tent, Rose pulled the flap back and turned to Sol. "Try not to bleed out, dickwad."

Giving him a rude gesture with her hand, Rose went out into the rain with her pack slung over her shoulder and dashed into the downpour in search of her friends.

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Solomon Moon]

Solomon

Sol weathered the continued abuse with the impassive blankness of a cliff-face enduring the salty spray of the ocean. The sheer gal of the girl was positively shocking to him. He had to wonder what advantage there was to her being so pointlessly abrasive, especially in light of the fact that it had literally just had a negative consequence for her. If he'd been more patient, that is more warm, dry and replete with blood, he might have gone as far as to question what social and environmental factors could have fashioned her into such an unpleasant shape. It wasn't like he was winning any popularity contests himself. In fact he'd yet to make a single friend among his peers. Of course, he had a suitably tragic backstory to justify his anti-social tendencies. That was the thing with awful people. The more vile the man, the more sympathetic his story had to be. In a more self aware state of mind, he might have had more sympathy for Rose.

He watched as she huddled over the freshly made fire. Her hands were white and shaky, and she was soaked right to the bone, blonde hair plastered across her face and shoulders. The fire did little to help her state, and after saying more words than Sol typically said in an entire month, she gestured rudely at him and made for the shelter's meager excuse for a door. He mulled over what she'd said about herself. Viewed through a certain lens it wasn't so far removed from Sol's own background. Sol had certainly been called worse than a bandit in his time. And then she was gone out into the night.

She'd barely had enough time to dry her hands, let alone actually warm up to any significant degree. She was going to die out there. Sol was all but certain of it. Aura was a fine thing for turning aside tooth and blade, but with few exceptions it was a meager shield against the elements. Her odds would improve if she found shelter, but she'd left her tarp behind, and even if she could make it to shelter somewhere else, she might easily be too hypothermic by that point to survive the night.

His jaw worked and his brow furrowed as he watched the shape vanishing into the darkness. Unbidden to his mind, came some names. "Brint, Forley, Casper, West..." It took a moment for him to understand what significance they had to the current situation. A list of, if not exactly friends, men he'd served with, men who had, in spite of their faults, made the world the poorer, and the ground the richer with they absences. His frown deepened, and his gaze swiveled to the quiet boy with the glasses, looking for support, for any kind of input. The silence he got in response rang like an accusation and Sol nodded.

He glanced down to the ribbon tied around his arm, red, like Rose's. They were on the same side. There was no advantage to her dying of exposure out in the woods. He'd left too many comrades behind him. He'd had no choice.

"All we can do when we fail, is better next time." Sol's father spoke to him from across the years, and Sol swallowed the lump in his throat, and blinked away the blur that was building in his eye. He may not have had a choice back then, but he did now.

"Wait!" He called into the storm, as he stumbled after Rose, holding his hand to the hole in his side, grimacing at more than just the pain.

He staggered out into the rain, the downpour pelting him to soaked in moments, flattening his hair like an oil slick across the top of his head. He called again, husky voice struggling to be heard over the storming wind and rain. "Pheonix! Wait!"

He squinted after the shape in the gloom, his brow low, frown set familiarly into the lines of his face, holding out his left hand.

"Come back inside." He said, voice dropping as low as it could and still be heard over the hostile weather, "Please..."

@tag

1097 words

notes

Velvet of WW

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

313 w./ 2113 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

She was about ready to jump up into the trees when a voice echoed from behind her. It was a bit louder than she thought possible but...it came from Patch. Rose turned around, spinning on her heel in the wet and slippery grass to face the beaten and bloody young man. He had come out into the pouring rain to stop her? Just what in the hell for? The guy was clearly in a ton of pain and all he was doing was exacerbating his case...damned fool.

"You ain't doing so well there, hotshot. In your condition, you shouldn't be out in the rain like this. I'm Vacuo, though. I deal with shit like this on the regular, you know?"

The blonde turned around to take off, but then stopped when she heard him use the magic word. She bit her lip and let out a VERY long sigh. Alrighty then...

Rose skipped her way to him and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to guide Patch back to the tent with a grimace on her face. He was sopping wet and most likely would start to come down with a terrible cold if something wasn't done soon enough. As she leaned him back against the wall, Rose looked up at Glasses.

"Hey um...I don't wanna keep callin' you Glasses. So how about giving me the sitch on your name and help me get this guy into some fresh clothes. I got a big blanket in my pack that you can cut a hole in to make a poncho..."

In the meantime, Rose went to work to get Patch's shirt off to warm him by the makeshift fire. It was a pain, but some people behaved recklessly. Bloody civil folk.

"Same goes for you. What's your name? I'll get some food started if you can just keep your focus on me. Damned fool going out into the rain...damn it..."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Deleted]

Ryan silently stared as both companions dwelled in their fight. Being far more concerned about writing down the information given to him that going out to wet himself again, he simply sat down in front of the fire as first the blonde, which he now knew was called Rose, left the shelter. His first impulse of following her was quickly, and mercilessly, shot down by the more rational part of his brain after the warmness of the fire finally heated up his chilled bones. And besides, the other guy did follow her so there was no need for him to do so.

After a little while, both entered the shelter, once again drenched by the ever-increasing rain, and settled down near the fire. With a nod, Ryan took the blanket from the pack and wordlessly cut a hole on it with his sword. Before giving it to her, though, he wrote a little note with his name and left it plastered on her pack so she could see it when she grabbed it.

Giving the makeshift poncho to her, Ryan settled down near the fire once again. He could ask the other guy to give him info for the Orchid bullshit, but in the condition he currently was, it was better to leave him to rest. Thus, he closed his eyes and tried to doze off. After all, there wasn't something more he could really do on the midterms at this point.

---

Word Count: 242
Total Count: 873

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution

Ryan: 8 x 200% (event bonus) = 16

189 + 16 = 205 XP new total

Rose: 21 x 200% (event bonus) = 42

201 + 42 = 243 XP new total

Sol: 38 x 200% (event bonus) = 76

74 + 76 = 150 XP new total