[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Today was one of the days she set aside to check various things around Kozak HQ. The place was getting big enough, and there were enough things to check, that she had to set two days aside a week for it: one for general appliances, plumbing, heating, electricity, and infrastructure, while the second went to checking vehicles. Checking everything didn't take all day, but it took a really long time, but she didn't want to wait for something to break when a little bit of diligence could stop future problems completely. She knew she should delegate, there were plenty of people that could do simple tasks like this, but raw neuroticism stopped her from doing that. If she didn't check it herself it would bother her. That was why she started scheduling her checks, so she wouldn't feel compelled to do it every other day.

Today was an infrastructure day. She didn't find anything yet, so she was far cleaner than she normally was on these days and wouldn't be smelling like oil and grease from working on cars. So far their Dust reserves were holding out, there was nothing wrong with powerlines she installed awhile ago (instead of those hastily put together monstrosities that powered the place before she could replace them), smoke detectors were working (much to the displeasure of everyone that had to put up with the high-pitched beeping from checking them every week), and nothing that was likely to catch on fire was broken. That was most of the important stuff. She just wanted to make sure the freezer was still working before going into quality of life checks.

She was on her way to the freezer when she saw Alina looking, frankly, terrible in the distance. It was always hard to tell just how injured Alina was because she was so good at hiding it, so she never knew how to respond to situations like this. Regardless, the freezer (that almost certainly wasn't broken anyway) could wait. Sienna rushed over to her friend's side and offered a hand if Alina wanted it. If Alina didn't need it or wanted to act tough in front of the people here, she wouldn't stop her though. She even kept the gesture subtle to avoid drawing attention to them.

"What happened?"

From there, she tried to guide Alina towards somewhere they could get some medical supplies, but she wouldn't force Alina to go somewhere public if she didn't want. Sienna could always run out and grab whatever they needed as long as they were in a quiet place.

---

429/429

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]It was rare for Alina to actually be injured, so much so that she almost had the opportunity to forget what the last one felt like before the next one happened. She had a shallow cut alongside the right side of her ribcage, as well as deeper cuts on her forearms. The right side of her jacket was in tatters even discounting the fact that the blood had soaked through what remained of it on that side. Her hands were drenched in blood at this point, and so was the red odachi she had stolen but was carrying around more as a trophy than anything else. She had hostile eyes on her now, and it was important that she came back looking as strong as possible after that fight. If she showed herself to be weak or overly injured, the next attack would be sooner in order to take advantage of a recovery period. [break][break]

It was almost, funny, really. This was the first time since the trek back from Kerch that most of the people here had seen her bleeding, and for some that joined after the fact it might be their first time. There was confusion on the faces of most of the people as she walked by, but even at the security checkpoints nobody stopped her. She was moving along as if nothing was wrong and she had shit to do, and nobody thus far had actually not waved her through. This was preferable to the alternative, frankly, and was fine with her. [break][break]

Sienna was the first one to actually engage the visually distressing condition of her person, which was unsurprising due to the fact that she made it into the interior uncontested. She asked what happened, and the wolf faunus shrugged. ”Nothing I couldn’t handle.” [break][break]

The first response was louder, meant more for people trying to overhear than anything else. The second response was softer, with the actual information. ”Side looks worse than it is. Forearms need bandages and are at risk of infection. Nothing critical, thankfully. Meet me back at the house with some medical supplies and some gravity dust if you can get some.” [break][break]

And with that she’d be off once more back to her residence, which was a typical functional Mistralian style consisting of a low, broad, single-story frame building with a moderately steep pitched gabled roof, a large central chimney, and very little ornamentation. She needed enough space to have guests over regularly, and the security risk of so many windows on the ground floor was greatly lessened because of who occupied it. [break][break]

The interior itself was nothing special and largely sparse due to budgetary constraints, in a permanent state of moderate disarray largely because Alina herself essentially never put any effort into cleaning it. The wooden floors permanently seemed to have white hairs on it due to shedding, and the burners seemed to permanently have at least some grease stains on them from the last time the wolf faunus cooked. Clothes were discarded in a large pile on the floor, with fresh clothes being in the laundry basket and sorted through as needed. Empty bottles of water would be discarded randomly throughout the house and would pile up until either the end of the month or until someone else got annoyed and discarded them in bulk… whichever came first. [break][break]

Upon entering the house, she pulled off her bloodstained suit jacket and let the tattered thing just fall to the floor before setting down the bloodstained sword on top of the jacket so other people’s blood didn’t get on the floor. She then started the process of unbuttoning the cuffs of her dress shirt and rolling up what remained of her sleeves so she could turn on the sink and run the water over the wounds on her forearms. When Sienna would return with the medical supplies and hopefully the dust, Alina would be much more able to talk. [break][break]

”Assassination attempt, dunno who. Guy had a short range teleportation semblance and a truck load of water dust on his sidekick. Kind of insulted, really. If I were trying to kill me I’d have way more than two people, and a lot more than a few dozen water dust grenades ready. Armored vehicles, maybe some fire truck hoses on the rooftops, some planted explosives on a preplanned route, and sure as hell more than one huntsman. Two at the very least after all of that, with someone at range and someone in front to harass and that’s like the bare minimum. But no, somebody wanted to be cheap.” [break][break]

This was her immediate thought, and it wasn’t even trying to be funny. She was legitimately insulted that someone half-assedly tried to have her killed. The fact that someone had hired assassins to kill her was expected at some point and just a part of trying to be a rising star in the capital, but the fact that it was done so lazily and shoddily honestly kind of irritated her. It meant whoever did it was simultaneously competent enough to set everything up, track her movements and her powers, and pay off the police to stay away… and also sloppy enough to not invest everything necessary in making sure the job got done and losing their entire investment as a result. They’d be very angry that their mercenary got broken, and that could be a problem in the future depending on who it was.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]911 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]911 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 font]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#f5de6e;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

"Okay."

She nodded, casually walking off in no particular hurry to go pick up the supplies Alina requested. Her demeanor and speed seemed relaxed enough on the outside, but that was only a front since Alina was doing the same thing. On the inside, her heart was pounding and her palms sweating because this sort of thing wasn't normal and pretty much always meant something disastrous happened. It didn't take too long for her to find the supplies because she was as meticulous at making sure they had everything the needed as she was checking the wiring. Once she had it, she made her way towards Alina's house at the same casual pace, doing her best to make it look like nothing was wrong, even taking a moment to put the supplies in a bag so no one would see what they were, and she made sure to grab everything Alina requested, including the Dust.

Once inside the house, she let out a breath that she wasn't aware she was holding. Alina seemed mostly fine. Fine enough. Whoever she claimed that bloodstained trophy from was probably in worse shape. Carefully stepping around the sword and jacket to avoid getting too much blood on herself, she set the supplies down on the counter where they both could grab it and started bandaging the wounds on her arms since those would be the hardest for Alina to do alone. Though, if Alina pushed her away or otherwise told her to stop, she would.

There weren't very many things this could be, so she couldn't even be surprised that someone tried to assassinate Alina. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and the list of people they had pissed off in the last month was probably pretty long even if they weren't directly provoking anyone too much. The part that got to her was how nonchalant Alina was about the whole thing. Her mouth flattened into a line, she let a long breath out of her nose, and tugged a bit harder on the bandage than she intended to. As much as she wanted to follow Alina's humor, she couldn't find anything humorous about the situation. She didn't respond at first, just nodded and took a moment to think.

"Do you plan to stay in Mistral? The capital I mean." It was a rhetorical question she already knew the answer to, so she didn't wait for an answer. "I don't think this is going to be like Vacuo. We were nomadic and barely knew anyone. Here, there's a stationary target that's strongly connected to you, but that you can't protect at all hours of the day. We need to be careful."

How many times would they go after Alina before looking for some other way to fuck with her? She bet once or twice, maybe three times if they were really arrogant. Sienna looked at the ground. A lot had been weighing on her mind lately, and it always seemed to come back to one idea she had no idea what to do about.

"Everything always seems to come down to whoever can kill or intimidate the other better. I know I just said this place was not going to be like Vacuo, but I don't think Mistral's all that different from Vacuo. They just hide it better, so they're able to pretend to be more civilized. Instead of punching you in the face, they get you arrested for tax evasion because their tax laws are too complicated for anyone without a law degree to understand. Instead of being enslaved by a warlord, people are enslaved by money. I keep seeing the same patterns."

---

612/1041

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]”You’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. All the other kingdoms are different from Vacuo, fundamentally. They’re different because each player in each capital of each kingdom other than Vacuo can’t leave without losing everything. All of their wealth, all of their security, and all of their power is located in this city. In Vacuo, you don’t have anything to threaten aside from life and limb. If someone loses and survives, they just wander off and if they don’t die to the elements they can start completely over. Here, they can’t.” [break][break]

”The minute they leave and flee to Argus or wherever, the next guy up takes all their shit. In Mistral, you can threaten someone with more than death, you can threaten them with losing their power. Lashing out is natural when they feel like that’s threatened, and we’re definitely threatening the ability of at least one party in the Council to continue being on the Council.” [break][break]

She was referring, of course, to the Peasant Party. The power in the Ground District before the Kozaks arrived, and a group that Alina perhaps unfairly blamed partially for the sorry state of the area. They were a prime example of a spineless group who had climbed up as high as was comfortable and then stopped entirely. They abandoned those that they served in order to reap the personal benefits of a seat of power, and made no effort to actually claim that power for themselves. [break][break]

”We’re also another kind of threat. They don’t know exactly how much firepower we have, but they know we have enough to cause a tremendous amount of damage if they make an open move. Burning down a city in Vacuo is whatever, but burning down a district when you can’t move is a legitimate fear. The easiest way to remove the threat is to kill the leader in a plausibly deniable way, and they tried that. We don’t know who did it yet, but I figure someone knows whose sword this is.” [break][break]

It was a trophy, yes, but a trophy with at least some short term purpose. It provided proof that she had defeated the man sent to kill her, and it provided a means to identify who he was by extension maybe even who he worked for. The water in the sink running over her wounds hurt, but they needed to be as clean as possible before being bound up or infection was likely. [break][break]

”We also don’t know whether this was someone being safe and trying to kill an unknown factor before it could become a danger or there’s a grudge.” she shrugged, then. ”If it’s a grudge, it’s possible they ran out of money after this attempt. If it was the Peasants, I doubt they have the resources to send a better one. This guy had a teleportation semblance, which must have been pretty expensive. If it’s a precaution and pre-emptive attack, it’s possible they don’t have anyone stronger or don’t want to risk anyone they have that may be better equipped to finish the job. It’d be a lot cheaper and safer to negotiate deals rather than try again, in that case.” [break][break]

It was one good thing about the lack of Huntsmen available… the ones that remained were unlikely to take any job that had a high risk, and after the stunt she pulled with her first assassin any second one would have to be supremely confident in order to take another hit even if it was presented. It also meant that fixers were far more valuable now than at any other time, because they were actually irreplaceable. [break][break]

”I don’t intend to stay in the capital forever, but I also don’t intend to leave before we can actually retake and rebuild Kerch. If we leave too early, we run into the same problem where it will be a lot easier to prevent us coming back than to make us leave in the first place. Once we leave, it’s a one way trip. Not going to get scared into taking it early.” [break][break]

The wolf faunus still had her arms under the sink, running the cold water over the wounds with gray eyes mostly focused on them to prevent any shifting of the arms that would lead to unfortunate and unnecessary spikes in pain. ”Security’s going to need to ramp up. Aura takes a couple of hours to recharge, and that’s a decent window if they wanted to send someone else.”

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]753 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]1664 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

"No, that's what I'm saying. I think," she added after a short pause.

She furrowed her brows, not quite sure if it was the same thing. It wasn't quite the same, but it followed the same principle probably. All of this was over her head and it made it difficult to try to articulate what she was thinking about. She paused again to try to consolidate her thoughts and make sure Alina's wounds were clean. The latter was easy enough, but she failed completely at the former. The best she could think of was an example.

"Like..." she paused again and shook her head. "We knew this was going to happen eventually. Neither of us are surprised that it did. But we didn't do anything. What were we supposed to do? And a few months ago, before Kerch, I ran into Holly Hock on my way home one day. I talked to her for like 20 minutes tops and I could tell she was mentally unstable just from that. I wasn't even surprised when she randomly started attacking a crowd of people. It was probably the only reason I was able to react as fast as I did."

At first, she wasn't sure why she brought up both of these together because they felt very different to her and she couldn't quite place what they had in common. There was a common idea there though. Once Alina's arms were bandaged, she stopped for a moment, her fingers tapping against her leg while she turned to grab more supplies.

"That's not a criticism," she felt the need to clarify. "What are we supposed to do? Kill them first? We're not fucking sociopaths. But sometimes it feels like all I can do is watch the world burn around me because the only people that actually get to do anything are the ones willing to do all these horrible things."

---

317/1358

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]The wounds were about as clean as they were going to get with just water, so the wolf faunus held her arms out and let Sienna bandage them up. With the wounds placed the way they were, having someone else help was the only efficient way to go about it. Alina didn’t respond immediately to what her friend was saying, both to think about how to respond and to double check the bandages before firing off some texts with her scroll to those she knew were on watch duty to make sure they knew there was a possibility of some shit going down. [break][break]

”That’s correct. Everyone here might die because our first instinct is to be passive and reactive.” she’d pause for a second, and then continue: ”But if we went aggressive and proactive, everyone here might also die because we pushed them too far and they decided to fight for extermination.” [break][break]

She shrugged, then. ”Can’t try and keep a group of people this big alive without making waves and pissing people off. We’re trapped as much as they are, right now, for as long as we remain this big. Can’t stay anonymous and keep everything and everybody, so we absorb that risk. We just need to become a hardened enough target that nobody wants to risk attacking and getting bogged down long-term. The sooner we can force a ceasefire, the better, and if we’re lucky we already have.” [break][break]

Alina’s views on how her enemies would act were always consistent, and always revolved around forcing their hand. Each person except for the fanatics looked out for their own self-interest and would not march off a cliff into their death. By making the option of waging continued war against the Kozaks look like suicide, they wouldn’t be attacked often enough or with enough force for it to be an existential threat. They needed to make it too costly to maintain, too deadly to risk, and too combustible a region to risk taking out key leaders. [break][break]

She never trusted anyone to do the right thing unless they had a history of doing so, and such people were rare. She fully expected strangers to act in their own self-interest, and the trick was just to make their self-interest align with actions that were acceptable. The way to get people to do what you wanted wasn’t to incentivize the course of action you wanted taken, but to make everything else untenable. It was far easier than the alternative of actually gathering enough intelligence to be able to figure out what the other party wanted, which was frankly impossible in this city because of the absolutely terrible social and monetary power the Kozaks had in comparison to anyone who might be targeting them. [break][break]

”Just more motivation to get our people equipped and ready to go as fast as we can do it safely. They’ll be back eventually, even if they lack the guts to have a second go tonight and they’ll be more prepared next time. Even then, we’d just replace assassins for Grimm and an uncooperative capital that wants to see us fail. I wouldn’t put it past them to route Grimm our way, to be honest. A lot of problems could be solved if we had mobility, but I don’t see a way that really happens.” [break][break]

Tribes existed but were mostly bandits outside of Vacuo. Without any natural defenses, the fatality rate tended to be high and without steady access to resources it was much more efficient to raid villages and take theirs. It was a lifestyle that frankly wasn’t appealing in the slightest and tended to be done only when a fanatic took charge of a group or the group had no other options after being forced out of a normal community. She didn’t know off hand what the immediate solution was, and she didn’t have a tremendous amount of time to actually decide how to respond. She had the night, sure, but waiting days would be pretty awful. [break][break]

At least she’d have a lot of time to think during that night, given the fact that she sure as hell wasn’t sleeping until her aura was back online. Doing something like that would just be natural selection taking hold after it was shown loud and clear that somebody in a very high seat of power wanted her dead that night and likely had enough resources to at least give a half-hearted second try the very same night when she was most vulnerable.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]754 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]2418 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Alina was as terrible at making people feel better as she was at explaining what was on her mind. Those words confirmed she wasn't being crazy and that she was thinking along the correct lines. It made her heart sink. She knew that was the answer for a long time now, but was desperately hoping that there was another one. Enough so, that she kept trying to deny that she knew the answer at all.

But it was always the same. She had to be careful about when she went outside when she was young because people would hurt her. Her family had to flee Vale because otherwise people would hurt them. They had to fight in a war otherwise people would hurt them. By then she was so accustomed to dealing with violence that she didn't even bat an eyelash at returning to it, even after achieving some semblance of peace and stability.

Even in that peace people tried to force her to do things. Her uncle tried to pull her away from friends and hobbies when she started doing poorly in school, and the only reason he failed was because he was unwilling to use extreme measures. If he had also been willing to hurt her, would she have been able to do anything about it? Then there were social pressures, something she dealt with better than Alina. Alina was practically ostracized, and it eventually resulted in leaving Menagerie entirely. That was similar in some ways to what Alina was describing here.

When it came down to it, society ran on coercion and threats.

When confronted with intimidation, there were really only two options: go along with it or fight. Fighting would get you hurt unless you were strong enough to win. Alina was able to win so far. She had seen several people that weren't. Her family. A large number of people in Vacuo. The people of Kerch. Alina was able to use threats. Those other people were stuck with the whims of those stronger than them. Those seemed to be the only two options.

A knot formed in her stomach and she suddenly looked more tired. Her shoulders drooped, her expression hardened, and she started staring at the floor. Or perhaps more accurately, through the floor, like she could actually see what was on the other side.

"I hope you're right," she sighed then took a deep breath. "They've already shown that they're willing to take lives, so I really hope you're right."

After staring at the ground for a moment longer, she stood up and started checking Alina for any further wounds and offered some painkillers. Even if her mind was running at a million miles per hour right now, she couldn't afford to sit there and think. As she moved, her eyes kept drifting towards the sword on the ground and lingering on it.

Sienna was never one to hope. She almost always assumed that everything that could go wrong would go wrong. It was why she felt the need to check the freezer every week even though it was pretty sturdy and hard to break. She couldn't always be that proactive, and was often afraid to in situations like this because they were so easy to mess up. She wondered if this was how her father felt when he was desperately trying to prevent a war that ended up happening anyway. Sometimes it felt inevitable.

"Did you notice anything about the guy? Like any distinctive features, or did he say anything?" she paused. "Do you want any coffee?" She got the feeling that they'd be here for awhile. "I can stay with you tonight. If nothing else, I can at least get you where you need to be if you need to be somewhere."

---

631/1989

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]”No, the guy wasn’t an amateur. Only time he said something was when he thought I was going to torture him or something for information.” [break][break]

She shrugged, then. It wasn’t like she had any particular moral qualms about torture, and on the contrary if it was a different situation she might have tried it out. When time was of the essence and you knew the other party had information you needed to have a good outcome, the wolf faunus had no problem doing what needed to be done in theory… a situation had just never come up to where it seemed like a viable option. Doing it for the sake of doing it wasn’t something worthwhile, especially because information gained from it tended to be suspect. People would make up anything to stay alive, or simply to make the pain stop. If the person didn’t actually have the information you needed it was legitimately pointless, even setting aside morality concerns entirely. When Sienna asked if she needed to be taken somewhere, Alina shook her head. [break][break]

”No. I need to be seen walking on my own two feet. It’s so cold outside wearing enough layers to hide the bandages won’t be hard.” she’d reply, moving to grab a parka from a nearby closet before pausing to explain her reasoning, something she had been trying to do lately so that Sienna could more effectively make decisions in her stead if it came down to it. ”They have seen me bleed once, and it took an artillery barrage and a small army to do it. The ones who didn’t come from Kerch have never seen me even get a scratch so far, and seeing me blood soaked like that is going to mean word spreads fast. If I stay inside, even though it’s smarter, morale will go down the shitter and the less loyal will think that it’s a sign of weakness or that I’m vulnerable. If there are scouts from other factions here, if they see me walking around right after the attack it might also mean that they don’t have the guts for a second attack.” [break][break]

Slipping off her bloodstained pants and shirt, the wolf faunus quickly changed into a thick white and gray parka zipped and buttoned up covering her torso – which had multiple layers of shirts due to her lack of aura underneath -- while a waterproof and synthetic white and gray alpine set of pants covered her legs, with an integrated belt and a zip ankle closure for easy access to her combat boots. White nylon dress gloves completed the ensemble, along with the fact that she was open carrying her Szabla on sword belt worn underneath the parka, but with the sword out in the open and firmly on her left hip. [break][break]

”Plus, if they do a second attack no matter what I’d rather they not kill their way all the way to my house in the middle.” she’d continue, grabbing the gravity dust she had asked for earlier and stuffing them into the pockets of her clothes. ”We also have a lot of people I don’t necessarily trust that we’re funding, who might think it’s a good idea to switch teams for some lien right about now. Seeing me up and about or hearing about it will delay that a bit longer. It’s a dumb decision to not require anything from people to get housing and resources, but since the alternative is sending them out to freeze to death I’ve been willing to absorb that risk and cost so far.” [break][break]

She’d almost certainly have to cut them loose in the spring or at the latest the summer, but at least then they’d have a chance at survival. Their budget already didn’t allow for that much charity, but Alina was willing to eat that and risk everything collapsing because she couldn’t stomach the alternative. ”Close the door behind you, I don’t want to freeze my ass off three times tonight.” she’d note, probably a bit too forcefully, as she opened the door and exhaled audibly as she met with the frigid night air. ”Fuck.” she’d complain, but wouldn’t verbally say anything else given the entire point of the walk… which would probably be shorter than she had initially planned. Just a quick walk around the perimeter so people could see she was still alive, then back inside to thaw out her ears which were already cold as hell… because she forgot to flip up the hood of the parka, mostly because she wasn’t used to walking around with her aura broken. Flipping it up would solve the immediately freezing ears problem, but her face wasn’t going to be far behind at this rate. She had forgotten just how cold her homeland was, especially in the dead of winter.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]808 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]3226 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

That wasn't quite what she meant when she said she could carry Alina wherever she needed to go. Her eyebrows went up for a moment, then she nearly snorted. Of course Alina was worried about appearances at a time like this. As though her mere presence would be enough to solve everything and prevent a lot of problems. That was very much like her. Sienna wanted to be mad, but she really couldn't be. It was that stupid confidence that drew her to Alina in the first place. She still felt tired and her mind felt like a swarm of angry bees, but that was enough to get her lips to curl into the smallest of smiles.

She wasn't sure how she felt about Alina walking around like this, but she knew there wasn't much point in arguing. The best she could do was follow close behind and make sure nothing happened. Unless they planned to snipe Alina from half way across the city, she was pretty sure she could at least get Alina out of a second attack, or if they took long enough and let Alina's aura come back, back into the fight. She was about half-way through closing the door when Alina told her to close it. Sienna just nodded and closed it the rest of the way, surprised, but not upset in the slightest. That was the first sign that Alina was probably more agitated than she was letting on, and that was almost relieving. Not enough to stop her from standing up really straight or reacting to every little noise in the area, but it was a sign that Alina was at least taking this seriously. She put her hands in her pockets in a vain attempt to look relaxed and stop her fidgeting as she walked next to Alina.

"You sure you don't want that coffee?"

It'd be warm and, well, she thought it would make Alina look like she didn't give a fuck, but she was never good at that part. Tea might have a similar effect if Alina wanted to avoid the caffeine. Really, she was just trying to think of something to talk about that wasn't as frantic as she was feeling. Normally she'd be fine with silence, but if they were doing this for appearances than she figured she should make sure that it didn't look like she was sticking around because she was worried.

"How do I go about making myself look scary anyway? I'm about as threatening as a kitten."

If all they needed to do was making attacking the faction seem like a really bad idea, then that seemed like an important thing to figure out. Unfortunately, she was average height and on the skinny side with narrow shoulders. She didn't look imposing, she didn't act imposing, and she lacked the confidence to fake it. She didn't even know where to begin. At this point, she accepted that she should learn though because that was just the nature of the world and there wasn't much she could do about it.

---

513/2502

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]Alina laughed when Sienna asked how to look scary, because it caught her off guard. ”You don’t, and neither do I. The guy who tried to kill me had like a foot of height and probably fifty to eighty pounds on me.” [break][break]

It had been a hot minute since she had been outside in temperatures like this without her aura, and she was determined to push through the initial shock. Her breath was very visible, and she no longer had the adrenaline and body heat generated from fighting off the attack like she did on the way back in the first place which insulated her against the worst of the cold. ”Once people learn what my semblance is, I’m the natural target and I’m fine with that. No strategy that would ever work involves ignoring me and letting me use my semblance freely.” [break][break]

Her arms burned with pain, but the only outward expression of such was slightly more forceful breathing. The only time she ever made the fact that she was in pain obvious was either when it was so severe she couldn’t help it or when it was a mind game with an enemy. Despite her talk about how she’d never be intimidating, that was a goddamned lie and both of them knew it. Carrying oneself in a manner that inspired respect or fear was something that Alina had struggled with and occasionally still does, but she fills in the gaps when needed with overt displays of power superiority when encountered with people who need to be shown rather than figure it out themselves. [break][break]

”Worrying about how people outside of this zone view you is pointless, because you have no power over it. In fact, it’s probably better that most of the attention and risk is on me. It disincentivizes any glory hounds for going after anyone else, and frankly it’s not likely most others in the city – let alone this district – that could have survived that last attack beyond maybe just fleeing.” [break][break]

She didn’t have a predetermined path around, and mostly just started wandering around to where she saw people, ensuring that their path routed around them. She didn’t trust herself to not be shivering here soon, which is partially why she avoided just going up to random people and talking. ”Just a quick walk around to let them know I’m not dead and then I’m going to sleep.” she’d note, definitely feeling the exhaustion much more due to the adrenaline wearing off since the fight. In fact, it may have been better to just rest when she got back home after her wounds were bandaged… but at this point it was one of those things where she committed and was going to at least see a short walk around the district through before allowing herself to turn back. [break][break]

”If there is a next time, I’m not expecting them to send a person. A couple dozen pounds of dust, most likely. They’d be an idiot to send someone else at this point. Rubble to crush or getting a fall off the mountain are the most likely options, alongside just an absurd amount of dust and then round 2. Things that are time sensitive and only really work once. With stuff like that, it’d be a blessing if they didn’t know your worth and we were able to get away and reset to regain aura.” [break][break]

She shrugged, then. It was impossible to prepare well for something that may or may not happen in a million different variations. ”Or maybe they’ll lack anyone willing to take a job because of what I did to the first guy. Can always my optimistic.”

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]617 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]3843 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Sienna's expression flattened and she rubbed the bridge of her nose. Alina was not always the most self-aware person, but this was pretty bad. First, she directly contradicted herself by saying that she shouldn't care what people thought about her, when Alina was out here walking in the cold specifically for that purpose. She didn't want to ask what Alina did to the assassin either, but she got the feeling it was nasty and done specifically for intimidation purposes (and she had to take a moment to push the stupid thoughts of sympathy for the guy out of her head). Alina was very clearly caring about what went outside this zone, and cared a lot about what her enemies thought of her.

That was bad enough, but then Alina had to go and say that she wasn't scary. Was she being serious or just saying shit? Because that was really stupid if she was being serious. Really stupid given how hard she tried with her displays of power and words. Despite how stupid it was, it actually made some amount of sense. Alina didn't consider herself to be especially confident or charismatic despite being both. It was the kind of thing that came naturally; something Alina could do without thinking about it. Maybe she really couldn't explain it because Alina didn't actually know what she was doing, or that she was doing anything at all.

It was frustrating.

"Alina," she started after holding back a sigh, not completely able to keep the sharpness out of her voice. "You just said that the best way to stop people from attacking us was to make it look like a terrible idea, or at the very least, not worth the time, energy, and resources. We obviously have to care about what they think."

She paused for a moment because that didn't quite address the heart of the issue. Placing what that heart was took a moment, but she was pretty sure she was able to at least identify what was so irritating about Alina's comments in this moment. It was a start.

It took a lot of self-control to not try to do something to warm Alina up, or at least put Alina's hood on properly, but doing anything like that would likely destroy the image Alina was trying to convey. She was glad her hands were in her pockets already, because it was a lot easier to avoid doing anything with them as long as they were in there. She waited until there weren't many people around and spoke in a quiet enough voice that only Alina was likely to hear.

"Look, I'm not the same person I was five years ago. I...think I can do something. And I don't want to sit around and make you do everything. I just don't know what to do." She paused again and looked down, jerking her head back up a moment later because she was supposed to be looking relaxed and strong. "I don't want to lose you too."

She already lost the rest of her family, or at the very least, the ones she considered family. Alina was the only one left. On top of that, she hated her own powerlessness. She could never be able to be like Alina. She didn't have a flashy semblance or the ability to perform great displays of power. Hell, she found it difficult to even be in the spotlight or hold a normal conversation. Making decisions was hard. Making decisions for other people and making calls was even harder. She had no idea how Alina did any of it.

"It's okay if you need to rest first but...I really need to figure this out."

---

618/3120

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]”Yeah, I did. There’s a difference between looking scary on an individual level and doing it on a district level. The former is pointless, and the latter only works when those threats aren’t empty. Boundaries will be tested from time to time, and they lost a lot and gained nothing.” [break][break]

There was absolutely nothing contradictory about what she had said. Everyone tried to project power, but few were actually able to use that projected power when that power was tested by someone else. Alina had made a deliberate choice to not have bodyguards like every other aspiring faction leader in Mistral, and she did it because it would be a waste of resources. She was always supremely confident, and even in the face of an event that pushed her to her limits and would have killed her if things had gone a bit differently… that didn’t change. She had still won, and she had still not only survived but only sustained minor injuries to her side and arms. [break][break]

The next words out of Sienna’s mouth caused Alina to frown, then, largely because she didn’t have a specific answer off the top of her head. It was true that the wolf faunus had been taking on outsized responsibilities and probably could do with more delegation, but more than that it was the assumption that Alina was going to be lost. One assassination attempt that they knew was coming sooner or later didn’t mean she was suddenly going to die, though she could see where that fear may have stemmed from. [break][break]

”The biggest thing we need right now is logistics. Food, water, shelter that are reliable. I’m not much of a farmer or a business person, and I don’t really have time to learn. Food is the most pressing issue currently, because if we run out things are going to get very bad, very quickly. If I’m able to focus on getting people fighting ready, that will mean we’re able to leave much faster… speaking of, stay quiet for a sec.” [break][break]

The last sentence was said in a lower voice, and Alina lowered her stance. She had noticed one of the Iron Wolves unmoving in the block in front of them, seemingly with their head down. The wolf faunus was fairly sure the guy was sleeping, which in a situation like they were in right now meant they were easily killed if there would be a secondary attack. She had a couple of markers in her parka just for miscellaneous shit, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to use them in situations like this to mark up the throat of a victim to show them how easy that life could be taken. [break][break]

And so she did it again. It was easy to sneak up to the man, dressed up in the white cloaks that were common among the Kozaks, and he was even softly snoring. Right hand was placed over his mouth and yanked his chin upwards in the process while her left hand with a black marker slashed across his throat multiple times before the panic thrashing from the guy managed to get some distance between them. [break][break]

”We’re on high alert right now, and could be attacked at any moment. If you can’t stay awake, get someone who can. Especially tonight, that could have been real.” she’d note, coldly, as the man struggled to catch his breath and looked at her with a mixture of anger and confusion. ”Don’t let this happen again. If this had been real, everyone on this block could have been killed in their sleep.” [break][break]

She didn’t wait for a response, and just kept walking. There was no excuse in the world that made that acceptable, tonight of all nights. Alina didn’t even bother to get their name or anything, either, because that would be a waste of time. Either it was a one time thing and there would be no further issues, or there would be multiple issues which would combine into enough to become a problem she’d have to deal with even without counting this incident. If the outskirts were guarded like that, it would be a coin flip as to whether or not most of them died tonight so it was good to make sure that it didn’t become habitual.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]720 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]4563 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, C Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

Sienna blinked a few times, then stared at Alina with her brows furrowed. She opened her mouth a few times as if she was about to say something, but then closed it and started looking between the ground and Alina. There was something she wasn't following, but she was struggling to even place what it was. Alina's statements felt disconnected and like she was talking about several different things, where they didn't sound outright contradictory. After a few false starts, she rubbed the bridge of her nose again and took a deep breath.

"Okay, so you were attacked because we're threatening someone's power or security or something. We're not going to change what we're doing, so that will continue to be true. So, to discourage them from trying again, you beat the ever loving shit out of the assassin to send a message. But you did this alone, and, correct me if I'm wrong, left the assassin alive so they would know it was just you. So that's just you being scary not all of us. And we're just going to keep doing what we were doing, which was already threatening them enough to try to kill you, so we won't be any scarier as a group either," she paused. "Right?"

It sounded even weirder when she said it out loud. There was definitely something she wasn't getting, and she was pretty sure there was another disconnect that she couldn't place. Alina dealing with the sleeping guard did give her a moment to think though. She just stayed a few steps back and let Alina do her thing while she silently tried to piece together everything.

Alina wasn't wrong that supplies were going to be a problem, but it wasn't the logistics themselves that was the problem. Mistral was a big city that wasn't having any food shortages at the time, so those companies largely handled the transport of goods. At most, they might have to move some stuff around to the lower parts of the mountain because there was less transported there, but that wasn't difficult. The thing that made it hard was that they had to buy it and money was going to run out at some point. Unless she was talking about transport to Kerch and how they were going to supply Kerch when the time came, but the way Alina phrased it made it sound more short-term.

Though even thinking long term, Alina was acting like she planned to stay in Kerch and wouldn't come back to the capital. That seemed unlikely given both of their personalities. Once Kerch was set up, what were they supposed to do? Domestic shit? Get married? It'd be Menagerie all over again. Even if those people were listening to her now, they wouldn't necessarily once things were peaceful again. People like Alina weren't appreciated when things were peaceful. Would they even be satisfied staying in one place and leaving the capital as it was? Sienna doubted it. There was a reason she didn't stay in Menagerie and fix cars the rest of her life even though she could have. That probably had something to do with what was bothering her.

She didn't have too much time to think on that train of thought because Alina was starting to walk off. Sienna trotted back to Alina's side, not commenting on the situation and not finding anything particularly wrong with how she handled it. After waiting a moment to get some distance away from the (formerly) sleeping guard, she continued.

"Yeah, I've been trying to do what I can to keep people happy. Their lives are less comfortable now than they were at home, but...I think we're good on food for the time being," she paused and looked at the ground. "This whole situation with the assassin, the people that sent it...well actually more what caused them to send it. Are you okay with just leaving it like this? The capital I mean. The state it's in. I know how much this place means to you and...it's pretty bad. That people keep doing stuff like this...it's wrong," she let a long breath out of her nose and rubbed the back of her neck. "Not that we have to tackle that right now, we should only try to do one thing at a time, it just bothers me."

---

725/3845

[Alina Rybalka]

[nospaces]

[attr="class","nikki98"]

[attr="class","nikki99"]

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","nikki100"]

[attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE

[break]

[attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY

[break]

[attr="class","nikki109"]It was rare these days for Alina to project anything but deliberate calm, even when she was disciplining people or dealing with people, she didn’t particular enjoy. It was very much a learned skill, and one that slipped every so often under times of stress. And after getting her aura broken, actually injured for the first time in a while, freezing her ass off in the cold, and answering what she saw as stupid fucking questions she was pretty pissed and it was audible in her voice. [break][break]

”Correct. It’s the same for any faction. Anyone could at any point start attacking the vulnerable civilians at the heart of any group, but to do so would mean a retaliation. How much of the Cloud District do you think I could burn before anyone could stop me, if I decided to torch everything? How many people would die?” [break][break]

Tens of thousands at a minimum. Likely well over a hundred thousand. The capital had people jam packed in big buildings and had a lot of multi-level buildings, especially near the top. Mansions and high rise luxury apartment complexes with all the amenities that one could dream of. Sure, there was nothing physically stopping anyone from coming into the Ground District while she was away and tearing the place apart as best they could – but the retaliation would doom the city. They couldn’t take out the Kozaks without taking out Alina in the process, because if shit hit the fan that badly she had more destructive power than maybe anyone else in the capital and now whoever sent the assassin was keenly aware of that fact. [break][break]

When Sienna continued, though, Alina finally snapped. She had continued poking and asked if she was fine leaving the capital like this, and the wolf faunus stopped in her tracks. She turned, gray eyes wide and a snarl on her lips and just fucking lost it. They were very lucky there was nobody in visual range at the moment, because the former soldier didn’t check. ”Do you think I want to fucking do this? Do you think that this is a choice? Let me tell you something, Sienna, it’s not a fucking choice. If I walk, right now, all these people die in the streets or turn to banditry to survive. The old ones, the injured ones, they all die one hundred fucking percent. Of course I’m not okay with leaving the city I fucking grew up in like this – but what the fuck can I do? Don't ever sit there and fucking tell me that I'm okay with leaving Mistral like this. I'm actually going to lose my shit.” [break][break]

”If you have a way I can magically waltz in and fix this piece of shit situation go ahead, I’d fucking love to hear it. You can sit there for a fucking year talking all the shit I can’t do but it won’t change shit. This city may be a smoking ruin in five years but it won’t be me who fucking does it by starting a war that kills everyone in this city. I’m not going to run and have everyone die because I’m afraid of the possibility of people dying, and I’m not going to start a fight and have everyone die because I’m afraid of the possibility of people dying. People are going to die because I can’t fucking control what other people do regardless of what I do. What I did was buy us some fucking time, because I can’t do anything else.” [break][break]

One of the surest signs that Alina was actually pissed and not putting on a show was when her voice didn’t actually raise in volume. It either stayed the same or like this was a bit more quiet than normal, with her fists clenching and unclenching as she struggled to actually prevent herself from hitting anything or anyone in frustration. For the first time in a long time, she almost failed. She turned and cocked her fist to smash into a nearby wall of a building before stopping herself at the last second. She instead started walking again, faster than before, in a random direction to let loose some of the anger she was feeling right now. Controlling anger was a recurring problem for her, and while she had gotten much better at it over the years it still reared its ugly head and proved to be as big of an issue as ever. [break][break]

”I fucking hope that they send someone.” [break][break]

If they did, she’d actually have a target she could vent her frustrations and anger on. Something that she could just tear apart and destroy to get all that energy out, but of course since she wanted it to happen it wouldn’t.

[break]

[attr="class","nikki103"]796 words

[attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS

[attr="class","nikki103"]5359 TOTAL WORDS

[break]

NOTES

A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, B Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D Exhaustion

PHARAOH LEAP CREATES

[newclass=.nikki99]width:500px;height:250px;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki100]width:500px;height:30px;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;line-height:30px!important;color:#f5f5f5;background-color:#333333;letter-spacing:2px;position:relative;z-index:1;overflow:hidden;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki101]margin-top:0px;opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki102]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki101]margin-top:-30px;opacity:0;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki98:hover .nikki102]opacity:1;-webkit-transition-duration:.4s;transition-duration:.4s;-moz-transition-duration:.4s;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103]width:100%;padding:10px 0px;background-color:#f5de6e;text-align:center;font:10px Helvetica;letter-spacing:2px;color:#333333;text-transform:uppercase;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki103 a]color:#333333!important;font:8px Helvetica;[/newclass]
[newclass=.nikki109 b]font:bold 12px Helvetica;color:#999999;[/newclass]
[googlefont=Montserrat:400,700]

[Sinopia DeStellanova]

When she first asked the question, she frowned, the concern evident in her eyes. She had no idea she was poking a hornet's nest, or that she was even treading on dangerous territory. If she had, she wouldn't have asked, at least not yet. She just wanted to understand what was going on and how to unravel something like this. Desperately wanted to understand. Only being able to sit and watch all this happen in front of her was intolerable. She was never good at ignoring people hurting in front of her, but that feeling was even stronger when it came to Alina. It wasn't unusual for her to get antsy when someone tried to assassinate, or otherwise attack, Alina like this, especially when they actually managed to hurt her. Nothing ever came of it, but she couldn't control her worrying. This went beyond Alina though. Kind of. She doubted Alina was the only person they had tried to assassinate if they were willing to do something like that in the first place, and something happening in the city Alina loved seemed...bad? Yeah, she could go with bad for lack of a better term for now.

She was starting to understand why Alina described Mistral as diseased. She thought she did before, but now it was even more clear, and it was obvious to her that she barely understood anything before.

Alina's sudden anger (or at least it felt sudden to her) felt like a bolt of lightning shot through her body. Her eyes went wide, her jaw hung open slightly, and she took a couple of steps back. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and tucked her arms towards her core to make herself as small as possible and to brace for some kind of retaliation. Not that she actually expected Alina to hit her, or would have even care if she did. It was a reflex that just happened without her thinking about it whenever someone was visibly angry with her that she hadn't been able to break.

Once the initial shock passed, her body didn't relax, but her expression did. She closed her mouth, furrowed her brows, and stared firmly at the ground. It took her a few good seconds to process all that, and even then most of it felt wrong.

Once again, Alina mentioned what she could do as an individual, not as a faction. Sienna doubted even the strongest of the recruits from Kerch could kill more than a dozen people before being killed themselves, and that was being generous. Even bringing the entire group probably wouldn't up that count by much. Now that she thought about it, that train of thought happened even when Alina was talking about stuff besides doing damage to their enemies. Earlier she was talking about food when that hadn't really been an issue. She was even able to make a pretty big feast for the winter holiday. Hell, her expansion plans had more to do with making peoples' lives more comfortable than making sure they didn't die. It was tough shoving an entire city's worth of people into one tiny corner of a run-down district, so she'd been trying to make more space for them and to get more vehicles so transporting goods between those areas would be easier. She focused on securing an internet connection as fast as she could so that people would have some resources to start teaching their children stuff again. She wasn't sure how many teachers they managed to save, but she really wanted to try to avoid having the kids grow up like she did and be so far behind in their schooling that they'd never catch up. Her big long term project was expanding the sewer system so the area smelled less like shit and it was less of a public health hazard. She couldn't think about any of this stuff unless people were at least being fed and not freezing to death. The money needed to fund all that food was another matter entirely, but that wasn't the detail Alina focused on.

Did Alina consider herself and the faction synonymous. As much as Sienna wanted to mentally object, she wasn't sure she could. If Alina disappeared would the Kerch Kozaks continue to exist? Would she be able to pick up that mantle and keep everything together? She doubted it. She didn't have the same charisma Alina did. Most people didn't even know who she was, and a lot of the people that might realize she's even with the Kozaks were surprised when she told them she had a title. She was practically invisible. When she realized this, her shoulders slumped a little and she let a long breath out of her nose. No wonder it was always so hard to figure out what to do when talking to Alina. Alina was very focused on what Alina could do.

Hopefully, that's why Alina immediately jumped to violence as the only way to deal with shit like this. Torching the city would be easy for her. Something else, maybe not. It was a little disheartening that violence was the only option being considered to actually stop them from doing something like this again to anyone, but it was hard to think of much else. Violence was practically a universal language and sometimes it was the only language some people understood. Maybe there was a different way. Alina did list out some stuff these people might care about that didn't necessarily involve punching their teeth out. She really hoped there was another way.

The thing that hurt the most though, was Alina's assumption that Sienna thought she didn't care about Mistral. She asked this question specifically because she thought Alina cared about Mistral. Cared about it more than most anyone living in it for that matter. She lowered her head further and bit her lower lip. Alina must have felt really useless right now. She didn't want her friend to feel like that and felt bad for bringing up such feelings to begin with. As much as she wanted to object because she felt like she was being misrepresented, doing so almost seemed cruel. She had already pushed too hard in an attempt to understand what was going on, so now was the time to back off and let Alina recover. Her ego wasn't worth any more pain.

Sienna took a sharp, deep breath, then stood up straight and put her hands behind her back. Her posture was perfect and her movements were stiff enough that it looked like bending too much would crack her joints. Her eyes were still a little wide, but otherwise her expression was flat. It was the kind of posture that didn't match the calmness of her voice.

"I apologize. I over-stepped my bounds. I will continue to improve the infrastructure of the area and wait for further orders," she paused, still looking straight ahead and only watching for Alina to start moving again out of the corner of her eyes. "I can do that much."

---

1180/5025