[Holly Hock]

The pink girl just went around the corner. Doesn’t belong here. Doesn’t belong in this district. Doesn’t belong anywhere near this building. Used to be a factory. Used to be my factory. Pistols were made here. Good pistols. Pistols that could win wars. Wars were not won. Cannot blame Vehicles. Vehicles were good. It was the officers. Didn’t wanted to use them.

Doesn’t matter now. War ended. No more reason for these kinds of pistols. Bad quality. That is what they said. Tried to stop it. Couldn’t. Workers tried to stop it. They couldn’t. They took what they could. Picked the factory clean. Tried to stop that. Sold my house to bribe officials. Didn’t work. Wife left. Said I was mad. Tried to use force. They broke open the roof. Nothing could be built after that. Workers left. Tried to sell the factory. Nobody wanted it. No roof. Part of District had become too dangerous. Still mine though. Still Aurum’s factory. Keep it mine. Try to keep others out. Is dangerous. Doesn’t want others to take it from mine. Not while I still live. Even if I have nothing else. This is mine. I got my blanket. I got my little shack in front of factory. I can keep an eye on things. People keep away. Know I am here. Nothing here to steal. No roof to keep them warm.

Then one morning.

Pink girl came. Looked like a child. Small, scrawny. Wore nothing more than rags. Her eyes stood happy.

Said she was looking. Looking for a place. Grow plants. I told her to scram. She said what used to be here. I said scram. She said she liked my beard. Scram. She said she liked my shack. I waved my stick at her. Said this was my place. Said that nobody would have it. She smiled. She said she would be back.

Two days passed.

Pink girl came back. Wore a suit. Had a briefcase Said she had an opportunity. I said scram. Opened briefcase. Apples fell out. Bananas too. Other fruit too. She said she could grow it. Showed it to me. Said she wanted to grow fruit. Feed people. Help people. Enough for the whole District. Fruit tasted good. Still didn’t agree. Said that weapons are made here. Not fruit. She took a banana. Held like a pistol. Made sounds. Said that banana was a gun. Banana is banana, I said. She said I lacked imagination. I said scram. Threw apple at her. She left. Said she would be back. I ate good that night. Fruit was good.

Five days passed.

Thought she made be gone. Happy. Alone again. Pink girl came again. Had a small cart with her. With a tarp. She showed what she brought. Was cake. Were words on cake. Holly Hock’s Harvest House. She had a drawing. Crayons. How she would do it. What would grow where. How she would water everything. Where people could come for food. Where I would be staying. She gave me an office. She had a separate drawing of it. I had a bed. Table. Chairs. A bathtub. She said that I wouldn’t need to go. Said that I could stay. Said I would get to eat what I wanted. Didn’t needed to work for it. Said she wanted to help people.

I said scram.

She tried to convince me.

Threw over her cart.

Cake on the ground.

I said scram.

She almost started to cry.

She left.

I cried that night.

First time in years.

Time passed. Don’t know how long. Didn’t forget the pink girl. Couldn’t. Wanted to. But couldn’t. I thought I was going mad. I thought I saw her again. Not the same girl.

Time passed. Things started to change. Some other factory nearby started to be used again. Heard the rumours. Even I. Thought maybe girl had found a place. To feed people. To build her dream. No food came. Trouble came. Not food.

Time passed. Woke up one morning. Heard something besides me. Pink girl. Eyes stood different. Stood sad. She said she killed someone. Not here. In Rochdale. Said that many people died. Said her boyfriend cheated. Left her. Said she had been mean. Mean to her friends. Said that she had done nothing right in her life.

Took her inside.

I had taken some apple seeds. Planted them. Thought if I lived long enough, something might grow. If not, maybe for someone else. Soil was good. Small plants. Not much. But something. Said that I did that. After she had come. Said I was sorry. She looked at me. She touched a plant. It grew. Became a small tree. Bore fruit. She gave me one of the apples. She said we did that. I said if she could make this place work, I would help her. She would need it. Not everyone here is kind. This place is not for her. She said she could handle herself. I didn’t see how. She smiled. She said that if I could believe in this place, soon others could. Gave her my name. Aurum, I said. She said her name was Holly Hock. She liked plants. And she wanted to help people. Actually, help people. Not harm them.

We went outside. Chilly day. No clouds. She now went to inspect the building again. Wore that ragged white dress. Had a clipboard. She is making more drawings with crayons. My knees hurt. I stay here. Hope she will make something of this place. Hope I am still around to see it.

---

928 words

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

For all the complaints she had about what she'd seen of the leadership in Asche so far, she had to admit that they picked a pretty good spot for their base of operations. The building was large enough for their needs, and probably even left some room for expansion as they continued to fix it up. It was in a secluded location, believed to be infested with Grimm, so it's not like anyone would ever want to go in it. The only people that ever seemed to come out this way were people that got lost and the weird hobo that lived nearby, and the latter tended to scare off the former. The old man seemed to be smart enough to mind his own business, and he was easy enough to avoid, so she doubted he'd cause any trouble.

At least that's what she thought right up until she passed a little closer to his...factory? than usual. Still far enough that she doubted he'd see her through the trees, but close enough that she was able to hear some chattering inside. Curious, she inched a little closer and leaned against one of the trees near her to listen in. Red had missed most of the conversation, but she was pretty sure she understood the gist of where it was going. Something about an up and coming fruit business acquiring the factory. Red wasn't sure how they managed to grow an apple tree in there, she missed that part of the conversation, but she supposed there were probably a lot of plants growing in that run down place as nature reclaimed it.

She furrowed her brow. It sounded nice. Maybe she'd even be willing to support it herself. However, she doubted the syndicate would accept activity this close to them, especially activity that could attract other people and therefore attention. A weird old man was one thing, but a place where people might work, or come for food, or whatever else was another. It meant that they'd probably try to use some force, like the corruption with in the police or gangs, to root them out, or, failing that, just set the place on fire. That'd be pretty unfortunate at best. There had to be a better place for her to build. This old factory seemed like a pretty lousy place to choose anyway, so maybe she could talk them out of picking there. Talk them out of picking a place that would be doomed to fail before they even started.

Red cautiously approached the...door of the factory if it could be called that. It was more like an opening at this point. She wasn't afraid of looking a little nervous. If anything, it'd lead credence to the cover story brewing in her mind. It's not like she looked that out of place here. Her clothes were casual, their only distinct feature being that they were far too large for her, and they were appropriately warm for this weather. Her face was pretty distinct, long with sharp features, and covered with freckles, but it's not like she ever spent much time around here. She doubted the old man would recognize her, and she didn't recognize the other person's voice, so it'd probably be fine. She put one hand on the door frame and peeked inside, not wanting to intrude too much.

"Hello?" she paused for a moment. "Sorry to bother you. I got lost and I heard voices here. Do you know the way to the city from here?"

Mistral was pretty easy to spot because it was on a huge mountain. This area was a little flatter than most, probably why people built a few factories on it, and there were a fair number of trees around making it difficult to tell exactly which direction the mountains were. Further, this far out there could be wild animals, or even Grimm, in the area. It seemed like a fair question to her. She'd see if they agreed.

---

666/666

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] Holly walked past the new girl without as much as giving her a glance. When she stood outside of the dilapidated factory, she pointed towards the North-West. She thought for a moment before her finger journeyed a bit to the left. "Go that way, walk for about...I don't know half an hour, maybe more. You cannot miss it by then. It is dangerous though, I can walk with you if you find it scary in a few moments." Holly voice sounded cheerful like you would have asked the direction from a stranger in the street where the local bakery was situated. The pinkette looked at her clipboard again, and flipped a few pages on it. All of them were blank and it looked like it hadn't been touched in a year. In fact, she had picked it up of the ground just a few minutes ago. [break] [break] The girl didn't wear any shoes under her simple white dress, which could be called tattered by any definition of the word. She crouched down and took off a pink kitty backpack. She took out a box of crayons and looked the colours. She seemed to think for a moment before she showed off her writing utensils to the strange girl. "Which one should I use for a sketch of the building? Blue or pink?" The building was mostly constructed with a nut-brown color for the brickwork, and despite the crayon box having brown in it, that colour didn't seem to be one of the preferable options.[break] [break] Holly would have gone with whatever colour Red would have chosen, if any, and went to work with a smile on her face. She seemed to have started to make another drawing of the building. Amateurish and without seeming to have any actual experience or finesse for the trade of construction, art, or basic colour choices. Noting that Red would most likely not have left any time soon after placing down a few lines, the pinkette would eventually look up at the slightly taller girl. She would lower her clipboard, and spoken up again and spew out a flurry of words.[break] [break] "My name is Holly Hock, herbal entrepreneur, admirer of plants, and I am going to set up a greenhouse here! Or well, a place where I can grow more. If you are looking for gainful employment in the agricultural sector, I am looking for people who don't get anything better to do. Would you take payment in kind? Get a roof over your head if you do not have any? Peasant is just one letter away from pleasant. Also, you look kinda starved. There are apples inside if you want something to eat. Those are free of course. I am not planning on charging if I can help it, or maybe as little as possible. I need to ask my business-partner about that when I have a chance. His name is Aurum. He is the alcoholic homeless individual who owns this place!" [break] [break] She didn't seem to have even an inkling of an idea who she was talking to and had guessed that Red was just someone of the Ground District who had asked for directions, or perhaps was just curious about the sounds she heard. On her part, Holly seemed to be a child trying to set up the a greenhouse with the managerial capacity one would expect from someone who can barely handle operating a lemonade stand. A pretty lemonade stand, perhaps, but not much more.

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 573, Thread Total: 1501	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 92%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Red wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. Maybe she wasn't expecting a business woman in a nice suit and heels given the area and the nature of the business venture, but she was expecting someone older than her, and she definitely wasn't expecting to see crayons. Or what looked like toddler scribbles instead of an architectural document. When the girl was just a voice inside the run down building, she sounded like she knew what she was talking about and the guy that owned the building seemed to agree. Granted, Red knew nothing about agriculture, and maybe putting any stock into the opinion of the guy that lived there was a bad idea but...

She mostly missed the girl's response to her initial question from sheer shock, but it's not like she needed it. She knew where she was going. Once she realized she was staring, she blinked and looked towards where town was, really hoping that this girl had actually pointed her in the right direction and she wasn't making herself look like a total moron that couldn't follow basic directions right now. After pausing for a moment to get her tongue untied enough she wouldn't stutter, she blurted out an answer to the girl's question.

"Pink." Or at least she really hoped that was one of the options. It was the last color she remembered hearing at least. "And thank you. I mean, I appreciate the help. I don't have anything I need to do right now, so please don't rush on my behalf."

Red put her hands in her pockets to hide her hands and give them something to do besides fidget. Maybe she was worrying too much before because it was becoming clear this was unlikely to go anywhere even without the syndicate's influence. Just how Holly got here and found this place was strange. Holly seemed aware that this place was dangerous, and yet was still out here. Did she live here or something? With the way she was dressed, Red could believe it, and it would explain why she wanted to talk on a project like this without knowing what she would actually have to do. Her heart was in the right place though, so Red at least listened, even if she did shift awkwardly a few times during the explanation.

"I see," another pause. "I'm not looking for work at the moment, but thank you for the offer. I will keep it in mind if my situation ever changes." She paused again. "Are you planning on using this building? It looks like it's falling apart."

---

436/1102

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] "You at least got a good sense of color. I am a fan of pink~" Holly spoke in a sing-songy way as she flipped her head from side to side, causing the pink mess that was her hair to sway with the movement. [break] [break] She kept drawing as Red gave her response. A slight pout appeared on her face as Red gave her refusal of the offer to place herself in indentured servitude. The same kind of gesture she would most likely give when she heard that her favourite type of ice cream was not in stock. "Well, this place will be waiting for busy hands..." When Red asked if Holly was going to use this building, Holly lowered her clipboard again as there as a slight twinkle in her eye. She took a deep breath before she went of on a tangent without taking sufficient breaths in between her sentences. [break] [break] "It wasn't my first choice! I had this nice building in the Wind district scoped out. It was kinda big and it was only really an option because someone died in it and that puts people off. So, there I was talking with the person who previously owned the place. Not a murderer, by the by, and we discussed everything that I would need to set up my little business there. I needed permits from the Council government as I am not technically a citizen in the Kingdom. That would cost bribes. Then, I would need to either affiliate with the Artisans Guild or with the Coalition of Solidarity to make sure I could operate without thugs torching the place or breaking the knee-caps of my workers. That would cost even more bribes! Worst part is, that last one will most likely be on a reoccurring basis! I am running a non-profit! I am not paying a double bribe just to help people! If it was just a one-time, pay-and-done deal I could maybe accept it, but I am not getting milked by a sad collection of disgruntled artisans and bigwigs just because they want to afford another house or a second mistress!"[break] [break] Holly's face was running red, and she took a deep breath before she continued again without seeming to slow down in her tirade.[break] [break] "Pardon my Faunus but honestly, fuck the government! I once gave away a lot of food through the Peasant Party. I thought I could help people. All they did was use some of the words I wanted to give in a message and made a whole political speech out of it! I WANTED TO BE A CANDIDATE! They said they would think about it, and that they would use something called a focus group... I HEARD NOTHING FROM THEM! They had me endorse a candidate that I didn't even believed in! I should be on the council! You know how good I would have been? But no, apparently I am not corrupt or old enough! Acosta is his name. He seemed nice but honestly, screw him after all that. Screw politicians. You know they put stuff in the water? Did it in Rochdale, and I know they are doing it here! If you want my advice, get a shotgun to defend yourself! You don't want to be in a Grimm attack without one! I know a good place if you want one of them. I am a Huntress-in-training after all. Man, fuck the council."[break] [break] Holly's was was about as red as a beetroot when she was done again. Her chest went up and down like crazy as she needed a few seconds merely to catch her breath enough to be able to do anything else. She honestly sounded like a crazy person throughout, but she seemed to at least provide evidence for one of her claims. She reached into her backpack and slowly took out a small container while she explained her action in a less hurried pace. "Wait, I will show you."[break] [break] Holly took out a piece of Tupperware and opened it. Inside of it was brown dirt, some of which fell out of it when she placed it down on the ground. Beside the dirt, there appeared to be a small sapling in the middle of the container. A seed that had already started to germinated and was kept in her backpack to show people what her semblance was. Holly had met enough people who said she didn't have a semblance in the past, or people who she wanted to show it too without there being any plants in the immediate area. So, she carried this little one with her for just these kinds of occasions. [break] [break] The pinkette explained what she was about to do. In a lot more detail than was most likely needed. Holly didn't know how knowledge this random girl on the streets was, so she gave her the abridged version. "We Huntresses have something called Aura, which is a manifestation of your soul. You got it too but you are not special enough. It allows us to fight monsters, and wear cute skirts despite it being winter. Really special people who have their aura unlocked also have something that is called a semblance. You could have something lame like shooting fire out of your hands, or being able to run quicker than a car. Lame, because a semblance is a reflection of your own soul. The person who shoots fire will only burn and destroy, and the person who runs fast is most likely not standing still to smell the roses."[break] [break] Holly touches the little sapling with her finger, which slowly started to grow in size as it glowed in a soft magenta light. It didn't become that large, but it was clear that something was happening. "My semblance allows me to grow plants, and I am quite good at it. Sure, I could beat people up with it, but that is so not the point of it. I can use it to feed people. Help set up farms. Fight hunger. My semblance is a reflection of my nurturing personality, I believe. The biggest lie people are told about their semblance is to use it only as a weapon. It honestly taints the soul. It ruins people. Like I said, fuck the council."[break] [break] The glow surrounding the plant stopped, and soon Holly dug in the dirt to uncover what it was what was growing. It was a small potato. It looked cute, and Holly could have honestly made it way bigger outside of the Tupperware. Something that she did while keeping it up in her hand. Red could see the potato glow in a magenta hue as it would grow without soil, or water, or even the passing of enough time as Holly's soul fueled the growth. It became so large that the leaves Holly was holding the root vegetable on would soon snap. It was about the size of a head when the magenta glow had ended again.[break] [break] The whole supersizing honestly didn't put much of a dent on Holly's aura. Perhaps when she once started out this would be impressive, but her efficiency in not wasting her soul batteries needlessly had made these kinds of acts relatively easy to do. She supported the potato with her other hand, and she seemed to extend it to Red. The clipboard fell harmlessly to the ground. She gave a slight smile to her. "You can use this to feed yourself, or your family. Your gaggle of orphans? I don't know if you got one. This is why I want to use this building. I want to make sure that people have enough to eat. And that they can get food without people using me for some bullshit agenda. I can give you more food, if you want. There is an apple tree inside, and I can make more potatoes thanks to this bad boy." [break] [break] The smile on the pink girl's face expanded. This was honestly what she should have done months ago. The act of giving people food who seemed to need it? That was what she wanted to do. Fight monsters? Scary and other people could do that. Feeding the hungry? That was what she could do. That was what only she could do! [break] [break]

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 1372, Thread Total: 2873	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 91%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

At first, everything seemed to be going well. She apparently picked a good answer and Holly seemed happy enough right up until she started rambling about so much Red barely even knew what she was talking about. By this point, she was used to random people venting their frustrations to her -- it must have been something about her face that seemed to encourage that or something because it happened all the time -- that she barely reacted. Mistral sounded like such a shit hole and dealing with the corruption sounded legitimately terrible. She had no idea why Knight was so attached to the place.

But then Holly kept going. And going. And going. As Holly continued to rant her eyebrows rose. They continued to go up and up until it looked like they were trying to flee from her face. Until they were completely obscured by her hood. By the end, her jaw was hanging open a little and stayed that way until she was able to process what she just heard.

Just how delusional was this person? That she was a Huntress explained a lot. She had yet to meet anyone sane in that asylum of an organization, if it could even be called that. Holly was basically complaining about not being able to do whatever she wanted. She could understand the frustration of not being able to set up a charity because of the corruption in the kingdom, but not being able to become a politician with no experience? That was indeed probably one of the few things that going up to someone and saying 'I'm a Huntress!' probably wouldn't get her. Ridiculous.

The stunned expression stayed on her face during Holly's demonstration because of how absurd her rant was. She had seen enough semblances in her life that seeing just about anything was almost mundane at this point, so she was barely even paying attention. About half way through the demonstration, she shook her head and regained some of her composure, settling into a neutral inoffensive smile. At this point it was clear to her that she couldn't direct Holly towards something more sensical. There was no sense in this person. Trying to get any sense out of her would only be an exercise in futility.

Red a half a step back and tensed her shoulders when Holly stepped forward to give her the giant potato. There was a nervousness in her that wasn't present before Holly had introduced herself as a Huntress, but she still kept that boringly pleasant smile on her face even through Holly's words. Yes, she supposed her family would be a 'gaggle of orphans,' if two war orphans qualified as a gaggle. The sensible thing to do here would be to say thank you and wait for Holly to be ready to leave. Say as little as possible. Avoid a fight. She looked down at the potato and pulled it into her hands. She wasn't one to turn down free food, even when it came with this much disdain and condescension. That she could deal with. Most people didn't understand and she didn't hold that against them. However, the sheer selfishness in Holly irritated her, and being a Huntress meant that she had far less goodwill for Holly than she would the average person. She had no desire to validate this girl's feelings.

"Okay," she paused for a moment and blinked at the potato before looking back up. "Are...you sure you want to give this to me though? Instead of someone who really needs it I mean? I can afford my own food. Pretty easily actually. My family makes good money."

She held the potato back out in case Holly wanted to take it back, but she'd still keep it if Holly didn't take it. Potatoes could be used in a lot of dishes, so it's not like it'd go to waste, though she might have trouble using this much potato before it started going bad.

"Trying to run a business in Mistral sounds awful though. Farmers would already have those things set up wouldn't they? Maybe you could work with them? I'm sure they'd love your help."

---

695/1797

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] "Why do I always get the weird ones?" That was the first thing that Holly said after Red seemed to want to return the potato. Despite the more than apparent judgemental undertone in her words, she gave a somewhat sweet smile as she followed up her rhetorical statement. "I don't care if you are rich. Though I do not know many rich girls dressed like that who hang around near abandoned factories all alone while coming here to ask directions." Before there was any sort of indication that the pinkette didn't trust this complete stranger, who was very rude in not even giving her name, she merely went ahead again in her ramblings. "The potato is yours. You got my little soulbaby. Eat it, throw it, try to make a battery out of it! If someone else comes for food, I will make more! The more you share, the more your bowl will be plentiful!" [break] [break] Holly seemed to have no inclination to take her 'soulbaby' back. That same smile stayed on her face till the owner of a prized potato asked a very stupid question. A dumb dumb question of someone who did not listen, apparently! The pinkette seemed to be somewhat annoyed, though her expression looked more like a sad girl who didn't got something she wanted than actually being pissed off. Her voice, being around 15% more whinier than before, gave her reasons for not going with Red's sensible plan. [break] [break] "Why would I want to help farmers if I want to bankrupt them?"[break] [break] She whipped her hair out of her eyes before she continued explaining. "Farmers around this city are a part of this whole corrupt system. Do you think that if I help them, food will actually go into the hands of the hard-working people who so desperately need it? Do you think an apple will actually get cheaper if I help some farmer who is a part of the establishment?" Holly shook her head again, undoing her previous work of getting her hair out of her eyes. Her voice had gotten more maniacal as she continued. "If I help one farmer to get really big, I will either create one supplier that is so big they will get greedy monopolists. If I spread my help around multiple farms, I have no guarantee I will have an actual influence in getting them to give food cheaply or free to people who cannot afford it." She whipped the hair out of her face again, seeming to repeat the cycle once more. "That is why I will set up my own operation. Get food down to the Ground District on the low. Get the hungry masses in the winter to come to the Hockster instead of the shops and the farmers. Get myself some protection to keep the government and guilds to keep cracking down on me! Use my time to grow my operation, and eventually become so irreplaceable in the food distribution network that they cannot get rid of me!" She moved her head again. And again, hair got into her face. "Why buy food when I provide it for free? Farmers will flock to my banner and we will establish a fair system! A new system! One in which the poor will not have to starve and we will feed a kingdom without exploitation, greed, and systemic underestimation of my capabilities by stupid political parties! All will bow before the Pink Menace that I will unleash"[break] [break] ...[break] [break] Holly looked on Red's face to see her reaction, before the pinkette would start to giggle as she couldn't keep it up. She had seen on Red's face that she had gotten a bit...overwhelmed before, so Holly wanted to lay it on a bit thicker before giving her the actual reason. Still, with some mirth in her voice she gave the actual reason. "Sorry, sorry. That was a joke. You seemed to be...uncomfortable. I just like giving food away and I was kinda bumped out that people made it so difficult for me to do that." Holly reached into her bag to get a second hairband out to tie her hair up so that it would stay out of her face for now. "I do really hate the government though. Bunch of assholes. I can't wait to be gone from this city. I wanna help set up farming communities when I get out. Help them get by in the first few months with crops and defences. Well, first I want to get my family settled and help with something at home, but after that? Farming!"[break] [break] The girl relaxed her shoulders, seeming to have shared enough about herself before wanting something in return. "So, am I going to get at least a name out of you? You can make up some fake name if you want. I half expect how half of the people I meet have changed it in their life because they met some bratty teen with the same name and couldn't handle that."

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 836, Thread Total: 2706	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 91%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Red was surprised when Holly let her keep the potato, expecting Holly to take it back immediately once she didn't get a thank you or any sign of appreciation, but she wasn't about to complain. She wasn't about to turn down free food, and it's not like a giant potato would even be the weirdest thing in their fridge right now given a rather unfortunate connection she made in an elevator. Potatoes were pretty versatile as ingredients went from what she'd been learning about cooking, but they weren't very useful for sweet foods. Maybe she could cover it in chocolate or something.

"Alright."

Nodding, she put the potato under her arm and started carrying it like a football. It was a bit heavy, but she wanted to keep one hand free. For now, she was still insisting on not showing any sign of appreciation beyond a small smile, even though she'd feel bad about it later. She wasn't fishing for reactions, she just doubted Holly's intentions after that rant and had no desire to fuel her ego.

Despite not actively fishing for reactions, she certainly got one. The second rant came as less of a surprise and was pretty easy to keep a straight face through. It was pretty easy to pretend to be interested and maintain eye contact while largely tuning it out to think about what she was going to make for dinner tonight or if she needed to do laundry. Really, the bathroom was probably due for a cleaning and she couldn't even remember the last time she vacuumed under the couch. Maybe she should--

Oh, Holly was done.

She was no economist, so she had no idea whether anything Holly said had any bearing in reality, but she wasn't really inclined to care. Holly was a lost cause as far as she was concerned, so all that was left to do was wait for the escort she didn't need home.

Trying to pass it off as a joke got no visible reaction from her at first, but after a moment's thought, she decided to go along with it. She didn't believe it for a minute and had no idea why Holly would suddenly decide to pretend like she was joking. The second she could believe was Holly hamming it up a little, but not the first. Was it because she got a bad reaction from her first rant? It was way too spontaneous and specific to be faked. Whatever, she could play along as long as it didn't involve compliments.

"Oh I see," she looked down and rubbed the back of her head with her free hand. "Sorry, I was just surprised."

Holly's next request made her stop moving her hand and freeze in place for a moment. She completely forgot to introduce herself. Again. For as much as she cared about politeness that was something she forgot frequently if there was any kind of distraction from it. She didn't consider herself that important, so it was easy to forget that people actually cared about that stuff. Red straightened back out and looked up, her cheeks slightly pink. Her words sounded almost rehearsed because of how often she had to do this.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sienna. It's nice to meet you Holly. Good luck with your venture."

Sienna was not her name, but that wasn't important. It was what was on her ID and given how many people she had met under that alias so far, it might as well be her name for as long as she's in Mistral.

---

600/2397

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] Boring, utterly boring. [break] [break] The pinkette's eyes remained fixed on the other girl as she awaited...some response from this odd little ducky. She honestly didn't need to laugh or be in on the joke. That were some high standards that she wasn't going to meet if her previous reactions were considered. Still, she expected to get at least some form of a rise out of this girl. Maybe she would be massively confused at the display. Maybe she would have gotten angry at the antics. Uncomfortable. Scared. [break] [break] ...Something.[break] [break] Holly could judge how people thought about her with such reactions. From this Sienna, Holly just got...nothing. Maybe it was boredom, but there is a thin line between no reaction and boredom. Did she simply not care at all about what was happening right now? It all made Holly think that there must be something wrong with this stranger. Holly could fully and well understand if someone got mad at her antics, but she hadn't often experienced people pulling a straight face throughout. [break] [break] Was it that she incapable of caring? Something wrong in her brain because her mother kept drinking while she had a bun in the oven? Some form of early childhood trauma? One of those kids who were good with lining up the same coloured blocks and avoided physical contact? Something must be wrong with her. Holly had half a mind to just ask if this Sienna liked pattern recognition and statistics... but she didn't.[break] [break] What was even the point? Holly didn't want to press an issue that would be uncomfortable for this girl that obviously already has severe communication issues. It is like asking a potential orphan if you could speak with their parents. Maybe they aren't orphans, but why press your luck? It is like asking if one wolf Faunus knows another one. They might be related, but who knows? Wolves are a dime a dozen! Holly thought it was because they had either dominant genes or their tails and ears gave them an evolutionary advantage because people wanted to touch them. Well, she wanted to. A lot. They looked extremely fluffy.[break] [break] Back to the topic of this Sienna. Holly had been staring at her for a few seconds after she introduced herself. Large magenta eyes looked her up and down before the pinkette gave a slight smile in response. "Well, pleased to meet you as well Sienna! And don't worry, I forget things as well!" While her voice was still friendly, it was certainly less chipper than before. No reason to put in the effort when someone didn't respond positively to it. [break] [break] Perhaps there was a time when Holly might have pointed at herself as the sole perpetrator of this failed conversation. That she either was not funny enough, or didn't knew how to behave in public. Well, not anymore. Maybe it was everything that had happened, but blaming yourself honestly didn't got Holly nowhere but sadness. She tried to do that less, and tried to be a good little apple without letting worms eat her. Be shiny and pleasant to look at, sweet of taste, but also able to be the bane of doctors and falling from trees that are no good.[break] [break] Holly decided to pack her things into her bag again. "I will walk you to the city. I would feel bad to keep you waiting." She could honestly do all of this later when she didn't have someone waiting for her. She had no idea how long she could draw up plans for this place. She honestly should bring someone who actually had some knowledge on the subject of making an abandoned crappy building more structurally sound. [break] [break] Having placed everything in her bag, she put it on her back again fulfilling the prophesy of it being an actual backpack. She gave a slightly twirl as well, for nobody's pleasure but her own. "So, I do like to have some form of conversation. I get nervous when it is silent. That is bad. Consider me a radio and you getting to decide the station! You get to turn my knobs! What do you wanna talk about, Sienna?" She sounded just a tad bit too condescending when she explained her desire to talk. Acting on the hunch that Sienna was something on some spectrum inside some kind of book. Despite this, she honestly did try to be fun and comfortable for this stranger.[break] [break] After Red's response, Holly would be off towards the city. It was going to be a long enough walk at a normal speed. [break] [break]

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 768, Thread Total: 3474	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 91%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

At first, Red just looked back at Holly while she stared, but it very quickly became too awkward for her. She glanced over towards town, losing this staring contest, and wondered if there was something on her face. Her face was the kind that people could easily pick out in a crowd, but she didn't think it looked that strange as long as she had her mouth closed and no one could see her missing teeth. If the staring went on for too long she might have said something instead of standing there trying to look less awkward than she felt, but fortunately Holly stopped before that became necessary. She had no idea what Holly was looking at, but given how Holly had been acting so far, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

Whatever it was, Holly opted not to say anything and just continue on her way, which suited her fine. She expected that to be the end of it for awhile, at least until Holly finished whatever it was she was doing. Something more than crayon drawing she expected. However, Holly started packing up her things and said she was ready to go. Red perked up and stopped staring off into space, nodding and keeping pace a few steps behind Holly.

This was painfully slow. When she first made this excuse, she figured that she could use this time to try to direct Holly somewhere more productive, or at least try to understand why she picked there of all places, but she didn't really want anything to do with this person anymore. She doubted Holly's motives, and being near her felt like having to walk more of a social minefield than most people did and most people were already hard to deal with. So, this walk was going to be awkward and painful and there wasn't much she could do about it. She couldn't even walk faster since she was supposed to be following Holly.

Holly's request for conversation made her pause and push a long breath through her nose. It wasn't an unreasonable request. She wanted to pretend like it was, but it really wasn't. Avoiding it would just make it more awkward, so she thought for a moment and pulled the giant potato back into her hands.

"Since you gave me this, how would you cook it? I've been trying to learn how to cook and it seems like potatoes can be used in a lot of dishes, just not the kind I normally make. Can you make them really sweet? Like, the kind of sweet that feels like it would give you diabetes just by looking at it?"

There. Food. A very bland and safe topic. Hopefully. And maybe she'd get something useful out of it if she was lucky.

---

467/2864

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] Holly made sure to walk almost as slowly as she could to make sure that this hapless and boring individual had no trouble at all with keeping up! Not everybody was as athletic as a huntress, and she didn't wanted to overburden Sienna! She was already cursed with being dreadfully plain, so giving her another inadequacy complex was not something Holly wanted to do![break] [break] The question she eventually came up with was not that weird. It lacked spice though. Like, if that question would be a spice it would be baking soda. Still, she said that she could talk about anything, so Holly answered as honestly as she could.[break] [break] "You silly, I am a huntress! We got a lunch lady who cooks for us!" Also as smugly as she could, apparently. Holly continued while not even looking at her traveling companion. "I don't cook what I grow. Never really did. I know it is fresh, and that is has nothing weird in it that you buy in supermarkets. Preventatives. I can somewhat influence the taste of what I grow, but it takes more effort. I can honestly just make you an incredible sugary sweet potato that will assault your liver like it is a Faunus rights protest." [break] [break] The way she said it so casually and chipper honestly said plenty about the girl, who still seemed to fully believe the girl she was talking to was just as human as herself. The words weren't spoken with obvious malice, either. In truth, it was more ignorance than anything else. Holly didn't thought much of it. She saw way worse language about it on her scroll and certain forums she visited. After cracking her neck for a moment, she just kept talking while having Red walk behind her. [break] [break] "So, should I take you to a place in particular, or just the city limit? It is getting late enough, and I don't want you to feel scared! To protect and service is kinda my thing, from both Grimm and muggers. We are in the Ground District, after all! Who knows that could happen with you! Mugged, stabbed, eaten! You hear about that at times, though nobody ever points their fingers to the real perpetrators!"[break] [break] Holly turned her head around, giving herself animal ear with her fingers behind her head to make clear that she clearly had her thoughts about those tall tales.[break] [break] Killer rabbits.

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 400, Thread Total: 3874	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 91%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

This was painful. She was used to walking with people slower than her, but she practically had to move in slow motion here. It was far harder to do something like this than it was to walk normally, in the same way that someone trying to move as slowly as possible would find it more draining on their muscles because of how hard they had to think about it and how much they had to use their muscles to hold themselves back. Her legs probably wouldn't be sore by the time they reached the city limits, but she wanted to mentally complain about it anyway.

Holly's response made her blink. She could believe a lot of Huntresses were rich enough to hire someone to cook for them, but she doubted Holly would be able to take such a person on the field with her. It seemed strange to her that someone with both an interest in food and such easy access to it wouldn't have any interest in cooking it. Did she just eat her potatoes raw or something? Red had done so in the past, but it was because she had to. They were much better cooked, even cooked badly. Even stranger was the term she used for the cook. 'Lunch lady' was not a term she had heard outside of--

That was when she realized where she recognized Holly from. Vytal was months ago, and Holly was actually wearing clothes this time, and clothes of much lower quality, so she didn't recognize her at first. Plus, Holly had introduced herself as a Huntress, someone Red always pictured as a fighter, while the girl from the tournament sat on the sidelines with the guy with the weird kite semblance the entire time. It was memorable for how absurdly stupid it was, and she would have thought it was match fixing if the rest of one of the teams responded in kind. So she wasn't a Huntress, she was a trainee. Made sense given Mistral had virtually none right now, and it still made her about equally as uncomfortable.

The rest of the trainee's words assaulted her liver more than any sweetened potato would (did sweets mess with the liver? She had no idea and-- not important), and made her question whether she should hedge her bets and just get out of here. Trainees wouldn't be as strong as the real thing, especially with how desperate for talent Haven was right now, but it was still hard for her to see them as anything but the destructive monsters she saw them as when she was ten. Holly clearly feeling this way about faunus meant that she wanted to play it as safe as she could and as clueless as she could.

"It's alright, the city limits should be fine. I live in the Wind District, so as long as I stick to the major roads I should be okay. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your duties."

She let a long breath out of her nose. Why did all these trainees think it was a good idea to talk in detail about dangers like that in such detail? Red could only assume that they were deliberately trying to intimidate people or make themselves look more useful. She paused for a moment, unsure if she should continue.

"Because if you know who the perpetrator is, you should go catch them right? That would help a lot more people than just me."

---

583/3447

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] It just raised too many questions.[break] [break] Sienna.[break] [break] She came here but was lost. At the edge of the city, while she lived in the Wind District... Holly thought that Sienna was a local of the Ground District who had gotten lost. Which was odd. Holly could understand if you got lost inside the winding streets of the city proper, but on the outskirts? You need to walk from wherever you go to that place, and than back. Unless you got the memory of a gold fish, Holly expected you to find your way back. She had thought she Sienna was just stupid, or ditzy.[break] [break] But now she said that she lived in the Wind District?[break] [break] Didn't slightly more intelligent people live there? People who knew that you shouldn't just walk into the outskirts of the Ground District? Where there were gangs, and even sometimes Grimm, and even some wild animals at time. Certainly someone from the Wind District would not walk over towards that abandoned factory on a whim. Get lost, and than ask someone the way back? They would not have gotten there alone in the first place, if they did so by choice. Not normal people anyway. The kind of people who you stab once and the blood comes out. The boring normies who were neither gifted, nor trained hard enough. Holly loved normies, but they were also different. Holly could fall of the stairs and be fine. Normies fell down the stairs and broke bones! [break] [break] Of course Holly was once a normy. Everybody is born normy. This Sienna...was she a normy? She was...very uninterested in the whole aura speech, wasn't she? Then again, she was not all that interested in anything at all. Either her boring-ness had infected every part of her body and mind, or there was more to her![break] [break] Holly just couldn't think of what it could be![break] [break] Did she truly care to find out? Well...yes.[break] [break] Holly stood still after Red addressed the fact that the pinkette could spend her time on a million other more productive things to society. She didn't truly had a plan to get the truth out of this girl, but she just rolled with the first thing that popped in her head. She turned around the face her traveling companion, and posed a query. [break] [break] "So, I know that I got a duty to protect you, and I will, but....have I offended you somehow? I packed up my things earlier to help you on your way, and have tried to be nice to you. I notice your long breathes through your nose and your tone! I am not stupid. And I don't think that you are stupid. You would have been way more impressed of my semblance. I know how normies react."[break] [break] She was many things, a lot of things, but not exactly dumb. She looked around for a moment and went over to stand a few meters to the left. With her feet firmly planted on a patch of grass. She wasn't even trying to hide these movements for anything else than it was. Protection in case something went wrong between now and when she was done. She kept a playful smile on her face when she spoke next, holding up a single finger.[break] [break] "So, I think that either of three things is happening. You have been such a spoiled listener, so please keep your trap shut now too! Thanks! Option number 1, you tried to pull some sort of con or trick on me. Maybe mug me, I don't know. Either you now think that I am no longer worth it, or that I am crazy. If that is the case, just hurry along, you scamp. Take my delicious potato and go! Be a free boring mugger girl living your best life!"[break] [break] Holly sounded wholly undisturbed by the idea of Red being a potential criminal. Holly had been friends with criminals before. Some of her best friends were criminals! Being a criminal meant squat if you were a good or decent person. Didn't much made you worse from the get-go, or not able to change. Holly was a criminal in some ways. She didn't pay taxes. She honestly sounded just a little bit more serious in her next potential accusation. While holding up two fingers she spoke:[break] [break] "Or, option numero deux! Someone send you to spy on me! Was it Ryan? Are you one of the girls he manipulated by feeling sorry for him? Do you ride the train of sadness into his heart that end with him trying to hurt himself to show you how much he loves you? Oh, perhaps Acosta and his Peasants send you? Trying to stake out a rival to his power! Don't think that decades of political experience, a seat on the council, and the support of thousands will keep me from my dreams!"[break] [break] Sienna would honestly have been the worst spy in history. Didn't even tried to be Holly's friend, or try to seduce her! Maybe that would come later, but it was a poor start at espionage! Acosta would honestly have better people working under him. And have enough intel to know that he could have better send a man to seduce her! Ryan could only blackmail women into emotional servitude, so she didn't rule out the whole espionage angle if this was just her lover playing a very long and traumatic long game. Holly would forgive him, of course, but she would have very stern words! [break] [break] The last options was honestly the most insane of them all, and spoken in almost frightful introspection. She made a little twirl, before holding up three fingers: [break] [break] "And lastly, option four! Ha, made you question if I forgot one! You truly are the most boring person I have ever met! So in-tune with her own blandness that any interaction with the whimsical blows your mind! Like a blind man seeing color for the first time! If that is the case, welcome to my world! I can make plants grow with my soul, I have seen hundreds of people die, and I cannot stop this train I am on because if I stay still and think about my life too much, I want to cry and hurt myself! There is no going back, I cannot handle to stand still, so all I can do is move forward and forward into fanciful fantasies till one of them is my last! Go out on a cloud riding a rainbow, my boring stranger!"

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 1077, Thread Total: 4951	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 90%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: C, Wildflower: E, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: E

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[Sinopia DeStellanova]

When Holly stopped, Red stopped on a dime maintaining nearly the exact same distance despite the sudden stop. She couldn't be surprised. There was a lot she could have done to stop this from happening, but she insisted on being petty and was now suffering the consequences. All she needed to do was say that she was some half-starved vagrant orphan from the Ground District who was grateful for the food and thought Holly was the best person ever or whatever these people always seemed to want to hear. But she didn't because, for some reason, the idea of acknowledging Holly at all offended her sensibilities. Stupid.

She did exactly as she was told and didn't say a word until Holly was done, and a good thirty seconds after to make sure Holly really was done. Having to actually face her was annoying. While she could keep her voice level and calm in nearly any situation, her body always betrayed her real feelings. Even if Holly was looking over her shoulder occasionally, there's no way the girl could pull in all of the details of her body language and expression. Now she could.

There were a few ways Red looked like someone from the Ground District, most notably, in her clothes. They were several sizes too big for her and clearly built for comfort and practicality rather than fashion. However, there was one detail about them that would have difficult for the average person in the slums: her clothes were perfectly clean. There were still holes in the knees of her jeans that she really needed to get around to fixing, but other than that there wasn't a scrap of dirt on them beyond the dirt clinging to the bottom of her boots from this walk. No stains, no wrinkles, not even any lint. Her posture was equally as perfect, with her spine perfectly straight, her head level, and her eyes focused squarely on Holly.

Red did her best to look calm, but she radiated anxiety. Her shoulders were stiff, her legs about shoulder length apart, and she was holding that potato in front of her chest for dear life. Once Holly started rambling during her last stated possibility, her body softened a little. She looked down and lowered the potato. It wasn't hard to imagine why everyone that touched those damned schools ended up crazy. They created a class of people that could do whatever they wanted, then forced them into some pretty horrible situations, and expected it to go well. Was she seriously about to send another person home crying for no reason? During that thirty seconds she gave herself to make sure Holly was done talking, she tried to get her thoughts back under control. Then, she took one last deep breath and started talking herself.

"I'm sorry. I know I can be frustrating to talk to. I've always found socializing difficult. It's not your fault."

She looked back up at Holly and brought the potato back to her chest. Despite her voice being controlled, she didn't look any less calm. She doubted she'd ever be able to shake her fears of even the more normal Huntresses, and Holly clearly had a few screws loose already. Hopefully the words sounded nice enough to distract from that.

"So maybe I should start over since I didn't introduce myself properly the first time anyway. I'm Sienna. I moved here a few months ago from Vacuo, and I still haven't gotten used to the city. It's cold and crowded and loud and the air is so thin it's hard to breathe sometimes. I think I've gotten used to the altitude, but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the city itself. It feels really different than where I lived before," she paused and let her smile waver. "But I don't dislike Mistral. It's peaceful, and I can see this forest from my bedroom window. The leaves were really pretty when they started changing colors, so I decided to come for a walk down here to see them. You don't see anything like this in Vacuo. Everything there is basically dead."

Her speech wasn't entirely true. She was relying on cues Holly gave throughout their awkward conversations. Holly introduced herself as a plant enthusiast. Said she wasn't a citizen of the kingdom. Didn't wear shoes in a place like Mistral despite being a Haven student who got shoes with her uniform. There were a lot of little things that pointed to this conclusion, but she was pretty sure that something like this was what Holly wanted to hear. However, it wasn't entirely false either. Enough so, that if she wasn't feeling guilty about being petty, she probably wouldn't have said it at all.

"I still feel a little out of place here," she paused. "So, to answer your question, I think that would make me option four: The most boring person you ever met." She paused again, immediately regretting saying that. She was trying to make Holly feel less bad, and throwing her words back at her probably wouldn't do that. "I should be able to make it back on my own if you have something else you need to do," she looked back down and hastily added, "Sorry to bother you."

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882/4329

[Holly Hock]

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[attr="class","RDcontainer"] [attr="class","RDcontent"] Of all the options this girl could be, was she honestly going with the most plain one?[break] [break] Holly listened attentively ar Red's tale of how she got here and who she actually was. The pinkette kept pacing on her little patch of grass, seeming to be listening to the tale with one ear, and letting the words flow out from the other just as quickly. Why, would you ask, did the insane botanist come to this conclusion?[break] [break] Nobody in Vacuo could be this boring.[break] [break] With all of the tales she had heard from Rose, Carmim, and the internet, Vacuo was a desert-consumed shithole kingdom that allowed you to register yourself as a bandit as a gainful form of employment. If you aren't rough or show some elbow grease, you are going to be a dirt poor peasant or like...an actual slave to some cutthroat raider! While she was no fan of governments telling people what to do, Vacuo was maybe even worse. The people themselves were mean. She once saw a documentary about how strength is respect and you can make your way in Vacuo if you can look out for yourself.[break] [break] That is literally a cultural of bullies! Ruling a kingdom! Well, a slightly impressive sandbox, but one with a status![break] [break] Sure, there might be a lot of people who were neither strong, nor clever, living in Vacuo...but could those kinds of boring normies actually make the journey to here? In Mistral? That is like...the other side of the word on a map! Or...most likely a lot less if you travel the other way because the earth is round and everyone knows that. [break] [break] Even more so, if Sienna was the most boring person in Remnant...why go from Vacuo to Mistral? Why not to Vale? Everybody knows that Vale is the vanilla of kingdoms! They won the war, are mostly peaceful they have a mostly stable government that is neither extremely corrupt, dysfunctional, or Atlas. Sure, they have tribes and stuff like the one Qiu'li came from. Every kingdom needs at least a few tribes of colorful individuals. But Holly watched hospital dramas and cop shows from Vale! She saw how the streets are safe and got cars aplenty! You can drink a cup of coffee there without getting mugged by the waiter! THEY HAVE PUBLIC DRINKING FOUNTAINS! [break] [break] Any boring person would go there! And Holly is so sure of that she doesn't even wishes to ask Red of why she didn't go there. It was that obvious![break] [break] Holly kept silent for around the same amount of time Red was silent. Not because she needed to actually think that hard about a response, she just didn't wanted to appear less contemplative. When she spoke, she did so with suspicion to her tone...admitting that she didn't believe a word Red said. Not even the parts that were actually true... fake news, all of it![break] [break] "Hmm, liar, liar pants on fire! I don't trust a word of it! Take that potato in shame and make a delicious meal of it! Let it nourish your deceiver body and give you plenty of strength to tell more lies! May your hustler tummy be filled with its splendor and bring joy to your family of...whatever they are!"[break] [break] ...[break] [break] Holly blinked for a few moments after her 'insults', which were spoken in such a childish manner that it was honestly not certain if she was actually mad or not. She wasn't exactly that sure how to proceed, as they both needed to go into the same direction to go to the city. Also, while a liar...Sienna could still be a very weak and frail person.[break] [break] "So...if you want we can still walk to the city. I don't want you getting hurt, I think. Unless you are a mugger, still...so...uhm... walk in front of me and I will watch your back! You know my real name, so that means that I am less scary!"

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[attr="class","RDwortag"] Words: 657, Thread Total: 5608	[attr="class","RDwortag"] Aura: 90%
[attr="class","RDnotes"] Semblance: E, Slicer: F, Survival: F, Gardening: F, Scroll-usage: F, Martial Arts: F, Healing: E, Acrobatics: F, Stamina: F

[attr="class","trinCredits"]TABLE BY TRINITY @ ADOXOGRAPHY

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