Post by Alina Rybalka on May 12, 2021 22:34:18 GMT -5
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[break][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
[attr="class","nikki109"]August 12th, 27AV [break][break]
It wasn’t uncommon when it came to the villages on the fringes to have absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on anywhere else in the country. These were places left completely ignored by the Council, and effectively completely shut off from the outside world. The villages only survived due to good location, ability to get supplies, and a determined base of defenders who could survive for years if not decades without support from huntsmen. These were the type of people that Alina didn’t want to annihilate, even if they were fundamentally opposed to doing anything but resisting the Revolutionary League and its goals. They were in many ways a model for the type of village she sought to create more of, ones that could stand on their own two feet and not rely on the crutch of huntsmen so much that they fell apart and were massacred the moment that crutch was taken away. [break][break]
Persuasion got some of the villages on their side. Trading opportunities and thus monetary incentives some others. Mutual defense agreements also swayed some who had an aging militia, but when all else failed there was only one thing left short of just annihilating the entire place: fear. This came in different flavors, but this village was giving her issues for a while. [break][break]
Attacking her shipments. Blocking the roads. Shooting at her men. [break][break]
If any had died after their first meeting, this would be a completely different event… but none were killed. It was just a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary League, and one that needed to be dealt with. They were civilized people, and so Alina put forth a challenge to exploit that and their confident so called protector. She could simply invade the village and raze it to the ground, but to avoid bloodshed on both sides she would instead come alone for a duel. The village was allowed to send as many as they wished, but Alina would come alone. The fight would continue until one sided yielded or died, and if the village of Murom won the battle then the Revolutionary League would leave the entire area and create a space of fifty miles in each direction that they would never cross. If Alina won, however, then the village would come into the fold willingly and stop being such a pest. [break][break]
The man standing before her was called the Boulder of Murom, and it was obvious why he had a nickname like that. Dude was easily more than a foot taller than Alina and had well over a hundred pounds on her. He was middle aged with streaks of gray at the sides of his blonde hair, but still built like a brick shit house. For the past few minutes, the wolf faunus had been putting up a token resistance as he did his absolute best to pummel her to death. She didn’t block the first hit on purpose, and calculated correctly from there that he’d tire himself out before Alina’s aura broke with room to spare, and the civilized nature of the town made it unlikely that they’d simply ambush her after it became clear the guy would lose. That’s why she packed some insurance in there – she still had enough aura for a shock and awe attack if it came down to it… but it wouldn’t come down to it. [break][break]
The guy had gone all out for those minutes, punching and kicking and slamming and doing absolutely everything in his power to end this duel as quickly as possible. He had no idea who he was dealing with, and that was partially why she did it this way. She did it so that he could expend all of his energy and put his heart and soul into defeating her… only to not even come close despite the fact that Alina wasn’t even trying. [break][break]
It was only when he had completely gassed himself that Alina actually stopped fucking around and very quickly turned the situation around. Due to making no real attempt to attack or defend for the past several minutes and simply tanking hits on her aura while she was being ragdolled around, the former soldier was almost fresh. She had just launched a series of kicks that had forced the Boulder of Murom backwards and backed off in a very unnatural way that let him get back to his feet. The complete and total shift from weak punches being thrown and halfhearted dodges to effortlessly dodging every attack thrown at her and kicking with enough force to smash through soft metals was staggering in and of itself – especially with the surgical accuracy of those kicks. [break][break]
”So you were just fucking with me the whole time?” [break][break]
There was a twinge of disbelief in his voice, and just the little quiver at the end to make this satisfying. [break][break]
”What, am I not allowed to?” was the reply, followed by a wide smile as the first words Alina had spoken the entire fight. She went back in again, then, and shifted to the right to avoid one punch while she did a kick with her left leg to the knee of her opponent that made him stumble right into a crescent kick that caught him right in the jaw on the way down. The former soldier backed off again, to let him get up before ruthlessly closing in and hounding the man with more leg kicks until he got knocked down yet again from the force of the blows on his calves and knees. [break][break]
”Your aura must be running low. Traditionally duels like this tend to end when one party loses theirs.” the wolf faunus would mention as the man got up once more, determined. [break][break]
”You’ve barely even scratched my aura.” was the reply, ”Once I catch my breath, I’ll break through the rest of yours.” [break][break]
He sounded confident, then. A bit too confident, frankly. He had seen her martial prowess and had resolved that he could win with a few setbacks, and that just wouldn’t do. [break][break]
”Fair enough. I guess I should start taking this fight seriously, then.” was the reply, and as the man got up Alina started walking backwards and snapped the middle finger and thumb of her right hand to engulf him in white flames that immediately broke the man’s yellow aura and left him kneeling on the ground gasping for breath. There was audible gasping and screaming at the introduction of the semblance, and bystanders backing away from the sudden increase in temperature in the air. As for the Boulder of Murom himself, he was gasping for air due to the oxygen being burned out of the air where he stood and making the mistake of inhaling before that pocket was filled. [break][break]
”Three options, now.” Alina would start, projecting her voice so that all the bystanders could hear. ”First, the Boulder submits. Second, the Boulder does not submit and I am forced to kill him. Third, more people come into the duel and I start with the fire for them until nobody else comes in.” [break][break]
”No!” the man would shout at that last suggestion, eyes bulging as he waved off the several youth dumb enough to step forward. ”I submit! Don’t let anyone else get involved. Do what you want with me, just don’t hurt them.” [break][break]
”And Murom will honor its agreement?” the leader of the Revolutionary League asked, tone flat and distant. [break][break]
”As long as you honor yours and don’t hurt anyone else!” [break][break]
A smile crept across Alina’s features, then. She reached into her leather jacket inside pocket and pulled out a series of pamphlets, tossing them to the ground in front of the Boulder. ”Those are copies of the manifesto. I’ll come by tomorrow after you’ve had time to recover and read it this time. I won’t force you to fight for or even help support or supply a cause you don’t believe in, but I will force you to stop fucking with my shipments and shooting at my men.” [break][break]
The big man looked confused as hell, and gray eyes were focused on him and waited patiently for him to form words. ”Then why let me beat you up for so long if you could have just used your semblance like that from the start?” [break][break]
Alina’s smile widened, then, as she turned to the assembled crowd. ”Because I wanted to figure out whether you were people worth working with. In the past, there have been villages who had laid ambushes, set pressure plates and minefields, and had snipers and machine gunners join the fray when it looked like their champion was losing. I’ve even had some entire villages decide in the heat of the moment to join in on the duel that by custom would be one on one.” [break][break]
”And what happened to them?” the Boulder asked. [break][break]
”I did say that anyone who joined the duel could be killed, didn’t I?” was the response, flippant and airy. ”If people aren’t even good for their word, I have no interest in working with them. Speaking of, when’s the last time a huntsman came to this village?” [break][break]
”Thirty years ago.” [break][break]
”Thirty years of Grimm attacks survived, bandit raids survived, and all sorts of other shit I’m sure.” Alina shrugged her shoulders, then, and turned back to the Boulder fully. ”You have your loyalty and trust in a system and a government that couldn’t give less of a shit about you. You owe them nothing, because they have given you nothing. When’s the last time anyone here as voted for a Councilman, anyone? Ever? Anyone here voted at any point in their lives for a Council election?” [break][break]
Silence. She knew there’d be silence. ”You join with us, you’ll get a vote. You’ll get seats in the Central Rada. You’ll get trading partners for an economy and military allies for when you’re attacked. You’ll get access to better guns and training, and an explanation to how things got bad enough over the past thirty years in the capital for it to come to this. Refuse, and we’ll leave you alone so long as you leave us alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.” [break][break]
And with that, she walked off… and if nobody had read the manifesto by tomorrow she was going to be pissed.
[break]It wasn’t uncommon when it came to the villages on the fringes to have absolutely no idea what the fuck was going on anywhere else in the country. These were places left completely ignored by the Council, and effectively completely shut off from the outside world. The villages only survived due to good location, ability to get supplies, and a determined base of defenders who could survive for years if not decades without support from huntsmen. These were the type of people that Alina didn’t want to annihilate, even if they were fundamentally opposed to doing anything but resisting the Revolutionary League and its goals. They were in many ways a model for the type of village she sought to create more of, ones that could stand on their own two feet and not rely on the crutch of huntsmen so much that they fell apart and were massacred the moment that crutch was taken away. [break][break]
Persuasion got some of the villages on their side. Trading opportunities and thus monetary incentives some others. Mutual defense agreements also swayed some who had an aging militia, but when all else failed there was only one thing left short of just annihilating the entire place: fear. This came in different flavors, but this village was giving her issues for a while. [break][break]
Attacking her shipments. Blocking the roads. Shooting at her men. [break][break]
If any had died after their first meeting, this would be a completely different event… but none were killed. It was just a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary League, and one that needed to be dealt with. They were civilized people, and so Alina put forth a challenge to exploit that and their confident so called protector. She could simply invade the village and raze it to the ground, but to avoid bloodshed on both sides she would instead come alone for a duel. The village was allowed to send as many as they wished, but Alina would come alone. The fight would continue until one sided yielded or died, and if the village of Murom won the battle then the Revolutionary League would leave the entire area and create a space of fifty miles in each direction that they would never cross. If Alina won, however, then the village would come into the fold willingly and stop being such a pest. [break][break]
The man standing before her was called the Boulder of Murom, and it was obvious why he had a nickname like that. Dude was easily more than a foot taller than Alina and had well over a hundred pounds on her. He was middle aged with streaks of gray at the sides of his blonde hair, but still built like a brick shit house. For the past few minutes, the wolf faunus had been putting up a token resistance as he did his absolute best to pummel her to death. She didn’t block the first hit on purpose, and calculated correctly from there that he’d tire himself out before Alina’s aura broke with room to spare, and the civilized nature of the town made it unlikely that they’d simply ambush her after it became clear the guy would lose. That’s why she packed some insurance in there – she still had enough aura for a shock and awe attack if it came down to it… but it wouldn’t come down to it. [break][break]
The guy had gone all out for those minutes, punching and kicking and slamming and doing absolutely everything in his power to end this duel as quickly as possible. He had no idea who he was dealing with, and that was partially why she did it this way. She did it so that he could expend all of his energy and put his heart and soul into defeating her… only to not even come close despite the fact that Alina wasn’t even trying. [break][break]
It was only when he had completely gassed himself that Alina actually stopped fucking around and very quickly turned the situation around. Due to making no real attempt to attack or defend for the past several minutes and simply tanking hits on her aura while she was being ragdolled around, the former soldier was almost fresh. She had just launched a series of kicks that had forced the Boulder of Murom backwards and backed off in a very unnatural way that let him get back to his feet. The complete and total shift from weak punches being thrown and halfhearted dodges to effortlessly dodging every attack thrown at her and kicking with enough force to smash through soft metals was staggering in and of itself – especially with the surgical accuracy of those kicks. [break][break]
”So you were just fucking with me the whole time?” [break][break]
There was a twinge of disbelief in his voice, and just the little quiver at the end to make this satisfying. [break][break]
”What, am I not allowed to?” was the reply, followed by a wide smile as the first words Alina had spoken the entire fight. She went back in again, then, and shifted to the right to avoid one punch while she did a kick with her left leg to the knee of her opponent that made him stumble right into a crescent kick that caught him right in the jaw on the way down. The former soldier backed off again, to let him get up before ruthlessly closing in and hounding the man with more leg kicks until he got knocked down yet again from the force of the blows on his calves and knees. [break][break]
”Your aura must be running low. Traditionally duels like this tend to end when one party loses theirs.” the wolf faunus would mention as the man got up once more, determined. [break][break]
”You’ve barely even scratched my aura.” was the reply, ”Once I catch my breath, I’ll break through the rest of yours.” [break][break]
He sounded confident, then. A bit too confident, frankly. He had seen her martial prowess and had resolved that he could win with a few setbacks, and that just wouldn’t do. [break][break]
”Fair enough. I guess I should start taking this fight seriously, then.” was the reply, and as the man got up Alina started walking backwards and snapped the middle finger and thumb of her right hand to engulf him in white flames that immediately broke the man’s yellow aura and left him kneeling on the ground gasping for breath. There was audible gasping and screaming at the introduction of the semblance, and bystanders backing away from the sudden increase in temperature in the air. As for the Boulder of Murom himself, he was gasping for air due to the oxygen being burned out of the air where he stood and making the mistake of inhaling before that pocket was filled. [break][break]
”Three options, now.” Alina would start, projecting her voice so that all the bystanders could hear. ”First, the Boulder submits. Second, the Boulder does not submit and I am forced to kill him. Third, more people come into the duel and I start with the fire for them until nobody else comes in.” [break][break]
”No!” the man would shout at that last suggestion, eyes bulging as he waved off the several youth dumb enough to step forward. ”I submit! Don’t let anyone else get involved. Do what you want with me, just don’t hurt them.” [break][break]
”And Murom will honor its agreement?” the leader of the Revolutionary League asked, tone flat and distant. [break][break]
”As long as you honor yours and don’t hurt anyone else!” [break][break]
A smile crept across Alina’s features, then. She reached into her leather jacket inside pocket and pulled out a series of pamphlets, tossing them to the ground in front of the Boulder. ”Those are copies of the manifesto. I’ll come by tomorrow after you’ve had time to recover and read it this time. I won’t force you to fight for or even help support or supply a cause you don’t believe in, but I will force you to stop fucking with my shipments and shooting at my men.” [break][break]
The big man looked confused as hell, and gray eyes were focused on him and waited patiently for him to form words. ”Then why let me beat you up for so long if you could have just used your semblance like that from the start?” [break][break]
Alina’s smile widened, then, as she turned to the assembled crowd. ”Because I wanted to figure out whether you were people worth working with. In the past, there have been villages who had laid ambushes, set pressure plates and minefields, and had snipers and machine gunners join the fray when it looked like their champion was losing. I’ve even had some entire villages decide in the heat of the moment to join in on the duel that by custom would be one on one.” [break][break]
”And what happened to them?” the Boulder asked. [break][break]
”I did say that anyone who joined the duel could be killed, didn’t I?” was the response, flippant and airy. ”If people aren’t even good for their word, I have no interest in working with them. Speaking of, when’s the last time a huntsman came to this village?” [break][break]
”Thirty years ago.” [break][break]
”Thirty years of Grimm attacks survived, bandit raids survived, and all sorts of other shit I’m sure.” Alina shrugged her shoulders, then, and turned back to the Boulder fully. ”You have your loyalty and trust in a system and a government that couldn’t give less of a shit about you. You owe them nothing, because they have given you nothing. When’s the last time anyone here as voted for a Councilman, anyone? Ever? Anyone here voted at any point in their lives for a Council election?” [break][break]
Silence. She knew there’d be silence. ”You join with us, you’ll get a vote. You’ll get seats in the Central Rada. You’ll get trading partners for an economy and military allies for when you’re attacked. You’ll get access to better guns and training, and an explanation to how things got bad enough over the past thirty years in the capital for it to come to this. Refuse, and we’ll leave you alone so long as you leave us alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.” [break][break]
And with that, she walked off… and if nobody had read the manifesto by tomorrow she was going to be pissed.
[attr="class","nikki103"]1729 words | [attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS | [attr="class","nikki103"]1729 TOTAL WORDS |
NOTES
A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, B Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D ExhaustionPHARAOH LEAP CREATES
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