[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

722 w./ 4283 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

The comment about armor was definitely meant as a jab at her. The fact was that Rose never had need for personal protection. Out in Vacuo, she was too quick for human and Grimm alike. Even the larger Grimm that she couldn't take down with her band, she would simply run. Usually one of her men was too slow to keep up and get eaten, slowing the monsters' progress enough for the bandit leader to make her get away. Again, it was survival of the fittest and she cared little for those who couldn't keep up. Besides...armor just slowed her down.

"Yeah, I kind of figured it would be a boring answer from a rich kid. Still I had to ask to get it out of the way."

Rose just shrugged nonchalantly at the question. No information was a waste and there were no bad questions. There was only ill use of intel, plain and simple. Having a family to push you to your limits though...well, Rose didn't quite understand any of that. From a young age she didn't have a family. The desert made sure of that.

"My first kill eh? Well, I can give you both since you are being such a fine host."

She pulled an Ace from the deck and Rose tapped her forefinger to her lip as she paused in thought. She had killed her fair share of people in her short time of existence...the girl had to think back quite a ways to dig deep.

"Well, the first time I killed a Grimm was when I was barely able to lift a sword. A kid, I guess. It wasn't really a big deal, since my people would be attacked frequently. It was maybe a canine type, I think. My father was recovering from a surprise attack during battle and it tried to jump him. I jumped first and bludgeoned it into a meaty corpse."

The blonde leaned forward, her cards titled a bit and the cut of her shirt hanging low as she clicked her tongue. Colt seemed like someone who wouldn't kill without reason and that was where they differed. Rose would kill someone over the last slice of meat if she was in the mood...but she never did forget her first real kill. It warped her perspective on life forever.

"As for a human, well heh...I spent some serious time as a slave. Mostly Grimm arena bouts, but there was this one boy. Name was Erik. He had my back and kept me sane during the...let's say harder nights. Nights when I felt like I would break."

The crackle of the fire accentuated the glimmer of green in her eyes as she slowly ground her teeth. She wouldn't tell Colt that the deaths of both the Grimm and other slaves made her feel alive with excitement. Made her feel invincible and the cheers of the crowd both thrilled and disgusted her.

"In a cruel joke, our handler pit us against one another. It was the only time in my life that I had hesitated and it nearly cost me. Erik attacked without remorse, much like a good warrior should. He was strong, but I was stronger. I took his life and he taught me a very important lesson."

Rose looked directly into Colt's eyes with a serious, blazing intensity. "Don't trust anyone. A warrior's heart has no room for feelings because those lead to hesitation. Hesitation in Vacuo gets you killed. Yet I survived only because my Semblance awoke with my fury and I burned them all to the ground. It cemented my life as a killer...afterwards, well I suppose I lost count of how many I killed out of greed, hunger, and spite."

Still keeping her eyes firmly on his, Rose handed Colt her Jack and then told him to Go Fish in regards to his guess. Then it was her turn to ask a question.

"I am red like fire. Red like blood. Red like Roses. So then, Colton Deraine, I pose this to you as a Huntress to a Hunter. Are you strong enough to kill without hesitation? Even if it's a woman...even a child? How far would you go to save the world?"

A few moments of silence went by before she opened her mouth again. "Give me your Aces."

After, she would ask for sixes once again to keep the game going.

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

He had expected the topic to get heavy… but not quite that heavy. He had miscalculated the situation, and simply matched the gaze of the blonde as best he could throughout her answer. To do otherwise would be fucking disrespectful to the highest degree, but there really was nothing he could really say to that. There was snappy remark he could offer or sarcastic quip that would lighten the mood at this point. Colton was content at the moment to keep his mouth shut as he processed the information. It was a lot of it, to be sure, and none of which he was aware of previously.

Former bandit. Former slave, even, which was supposed to be a thing only present in unfortunate textbook histories in Mistral. One might argue that the Faunus were treated in a manner akin to it in many ways, and the brunette would even be inclined to agree. The fact remained, though, that nobody his own age would have been subjected to that in this country. It would just be the old who were unfortunate enough to live in that time and be in that place, but in Vacuo apparently it still happened. It really brought home just how well and truly fucked the kingdom was after the Great War that society had deteriorated that much, and it was beyond the purview of clever words to really comment at all about that.

It explained a lot, though. The aggression, the coarseness, the fixation on combat prowess. Even the advice she gave him was extremely cynical, even for him, but it may have been something completely necessary to keep in mind and indeed abide by when living in what sounded more and more like a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It didn’t take a particularly good eye to notice how uncomfortable he was and how the façade of stoicism was slipping badly, but he did his best to fake it nevertheless. More for his own sake than Rosalia’s, frankly, but he was at least attempting, and the act of attempting was what mattered.

The question that followed after that was unexpected, and an involuntary facial twitch confirmed it outwardly. ”I guess that depends, yeah?” he trailed off for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts rather than just word vomiting it out immediately and losing focus because he didn’t bother to think before he said anything. It wasn’t his style, frankly, and never would be.

”That’s not how we do things in Mistral, and that’s not why anyone becomes a huntsman here. I can’t speak to Vacuo, but that’s not how we do things here. I can’t really think of a situation where I’d be forced to make a choice like that, frankly. Bounty missions and people actively trying to kill you and acting in self-defense is one thing, sure, but what you’re asking is an entirely different thing. There’s triaging a shit situation and deciding who to save and who to leave to fend for themselves, but I also consider that to be an entirely different thing than killing. Which I don’t have an issue with, fundamentally, but every time it happens it will have a purpose.”

”There’s a chance that they could live even if you cut bait with them, it’s just not my problem if they do or not in that situation. If someone is calling over a shitton of Grimm and risking the lives of me and everyone else, I’d have zero problem leaving them to their fate. Cutting lose one to save many is just simple math, yeah?”

Brown eyes shifted to his free right hand, then, as he clenched and unclenched it as he continued speaking, returning his brown gaze to match the green of his companion about midway through. The rebuke he’d say in his next sentence would be worthless if he couldn’t at least look her in the eyes as he said it, so he was forced to.

”Anything more than that is just philosophy bullshit that nobody can answer unless the situation hits them. The majority of the people here would get everyone killed in order to greed and save everyone even when doing so is an almost guaranteed failure. Saving the world is outside of the scope of being a Huntsman but saving a decent chunk of a village or two isn’t. It’s not me doing the killing, it’s the Grimm. It’s just my… well, our job to do the best we can with whatever shitty situation we’re handed. The stronger we get, the more we can do.”

He had forgotten to draw, frankly, but passed over the ace and waved off the request for a six and then drew a card himself. His hand now consisted of a Seven, Four, Jack, Ten, Two, and Seven. It wasn’t the best, but it also wasn’t the worst. They might run out of stories before cards at this rate, frankly, which was fine by him largely because the atmosphere and tone of the conversation could only become more cheery from this point onwards… or at least, he hoped so.

”Gimme your sevens.” he’d ask first, before getting on with the next question. ”Why did you come here? I get why you didn’t go to Shade Academy now, and I’m very glad I never went now because that was honestly probably my second choice. I also understand why you would have turned down Atlas Academy pretty harshly since they’re all military rah rah shit up there. Why reject Beacon, though? Centralized location, lots of resources, strong teams… Why pass that up? If you were from here I’d understand patriotism and pride in your kingdom and shit but you’re from Vacuo.”

Mistral had the blockade, the comparative lack of funding due to the blockade, the complete lack of upperclassmen to provide challenges and mentorship… well, there were a lot of reasons to not choose Haven for a foreigner. Honestly, objectively speaking he couldn’t really think of one good reason why she would want to come unless she was fucked in the head. Yeah, he had tried to recruit her at the Mistral Regional Tournament but that was more of a long shot than anything else ever since she won the damned thing and had the pick of the litter with all the headmasters tripping over themselves trying to sell their school to her.

Hell, had it not been for the Cressida connection he wouldn’t have come here either after The Fall. It was just a giant unnecessary risk of both his life and his personal development due to the lack of upperclassmen present to challenge him and force him to get better. Frankly, he had stagnated for months because of the lack of people near his level that could challenge him at this awkward position of being too bad to learn anything from fair fights against faculty but too good to do anything but completely demolish the other trainees. Had he gone to Shade or Atlas, his essentially tied second choices, he wouldn’t have had that problem in the slightest and would have been pushed very hard from day one.

※ 9909 total words ✎ 1186 words ✉ D rank semblance, D ranked martial arts, D ranked durability, D ranked weapon, E rank weapon enhancement, E rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

417 w./ 4700 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

Rose lowered her hand of cards after taking the Ace from Colt and breathed out a heavy sigh. He was avoiding the moral center of the question by arguing semantics. There was a difference between choosing who lives and who dies in a possible scenario and outright murder. He was waxing philosophic while she was being upfront with the brutal truth of the world hidden behind society and ethics.

What if someone could save the world but at the cost of a child's life? Or say that somehow a person could see the future and know that kid would grow up to be some tyrant bent on world destruction? Could Colt act for the good of the world or hold some ethical debate? Rose wouldn't hesitate. She wouldn't ask questions. The thought made the blonde sneer at her own derisive attitude.

His question caused Rose to raise a speculative brow that put her thought process to a halt. Why? Well, that was an easy enough question to answer and one that wasn't nearly as heavy as her own.

"Shade wanted nothing to do with me. Unruly and barbaric...the people of Vacuo saw first hand what I had done. Honestly, it was smart of them to plant the idea of me becoming a Huntress. It meant that a menace to their society was wiped clear of the playing field and economy could return to normal."

She cracked a bitter smile and slowly set her cards down on the grassy ground, breathing a heavy sigh as she rested her chin lazily in her hands. The blonde kept her gaze solely on Colt to study him in the crackle of the fire.

"The other places were very nice and able bodied. I would want for nothing, but Haven? It's kind of a dumpster fire and lacks any sort of talent. I'd rather lend my hand here where I can do some good rather than simply add on to a place that's already hella strong...if that makes sense. Though I'm quite surprised to see how strong you've gotten since we last met."

Her emerald eyes tilted at the pot then as her stomach made some gurgling sounds. She hadn't eaten in a while and the food surely had to have been done by now.

"So how about we put this card game on hold for a bit and eat? As I've said, I'm here to lend my strength and skill to a worthy cause...though I gotta admit that I ain't got a clue where to even start."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

At the mention of not having a clue of where to start, Colton visibly perked up as he set his cards off to the side in silent agreement that they pause to eat. He had already set the pot of now thankfully not boiling stew beside the blonde, so just continued to munch on the food he squeezed out of his ration kit.

”Well, that part about starting is easier. For smaller scale shit there’s a Notice Board next to the big school entrance where the police set up shit like missing person reports and other odd jobs that need done but don’t quite hit the level of Huntsman mission.” The information was shared freely, because he didn’t see a reason to withhold it. The more openly helpful he was, the better her opinion would likely be here in a few seconds.

”For bigger scale stuff, the entire point of this exercise is to weed out some people so the rest can be sent on Huntsman missions all across the country. Since we have so few licensed Huntsmen to go around, there are a lot of missions starting to pile up. Search and Destroy has been piling up for months, Village Security comes up pretty frequently, Perimeter Defense is always needed but likely to be scuttled off to the weaker squads…” He trailed off for a second or two there, as if he lost his train of thought. It was an act, of course, because he saw the opportunity to make his pitch and was going to take it as it came.

”Oh, yeah.” he’d note as if remembering something, with the segue better than he might have hoped. ”That reminds me, because since we’re about ready to start going on those missions pretty regularly this is the time of year where people will start forming up into teams since it makes a lot more sense than getting an assigned group of randoms every time.” There was a momentary pause to gauge initial reaction before continuing if it wasn’t horrifically bad.

”So, how about it? We’d make a good team, I think. Depending on who else we get, and I got some ideas, I have no problem playing whatever role is needed because y’know… I can do it all.” he’d brag with a cheeky wink at the end. For all of the flaws he did have, a lack of confidence in his ability to rise to any challenge wasn’t exactly one of them. He prided himself on his strength, yes, but also his versatility. ”Plus, if we’re on the same team you can drag me to another tournament win in the Vytal Festival if all else fails since you’re so strong, yeah?” He had lost to a fire semblance user in the Fifteenth Mistral Regional Tournament, which happened occasionally. He had a bad matchup against competent fire semblance users simply because his own semblance was countered by anyone who could apply heat at range.

Rosalia, however, did not have that problem and would have won that match handily. Her technique was bad, though, and someone of sufficient agility would be able to simply not be hit by her powerful but uncoordinated attacks. Luckily for her, though, Colton absolutely destroyed speedsters with his well above average accuracy and the dust enhancement that made his weapons do way more damage than usual. He could, however, go a few minutes without tooting his own horn and was absolutely not above using flattery to get what he wanted. If he could flatter without lying that was preferable, which was the case here by and large. He did respect the hell out of the blonde’s strength and wasn’t afraid to say so if he felt like it increased the chances of her agreeing to the team up.

Unrelated to the previous bit, he did have a question since he found it pretty unusual… ”Have you not eaten all day or something? Weird for other people to be able to hear stomach growling when you’re carrying that much food anyway.” It was fucking bizarre to him that she wouldn’t think to eat this far into the exercise up until that moment, and he figured he had to at least mention it if only for his own curiosity.

※ 10620 total words ✎ 711 words ✉ D rank semblance, D ranked martial arts, D ranked durability, D ranked weapon, E rank weapon enhancement, E rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Améli Hortensia Celeste]

WORD COUNT: 853

TAGGED:

TAGGED: Fluffy

The little camp that had been built where a couple of students had found refuge, hadn't remained safe for all that long. A bit of a scuffle, a couple of students feeling downtrodden, and Grimm had swarmed the location. Améli had used her semblance, attempting to explain that as long as they remained within sanctuary, the name of her semblance, the Grimm wouldn't have been able to sense the students. Unfortunately, it had been too little too late. Several had left the area, causing Grimm to immediately attack, and the situation had escalated into minor chaos. That is, if one was to believe the thoughts that Améli had been attributing the situation. Perhaps it was a little too dramatic, a little too grandiose and a little too pessimistic for what actually happened. Quid pro quo, Améli had been doing her best to lure one of the grimm off of the group. A large, dog like creature. Running through the woods in her heavy armor, she had been waiting for an area which would be advantageous for her to fight in. Open, yet with objects to assist her with mobility. Rocks, trees, plus other things that could obstruct the movements of the larger dog-like Grimm...


The battle had been fierce. Améli was still in training - and certain Grimm within these woods would probably take her down in a one on one. Fortunately for Améli, this wasn't one of them... Or at least, so she believed...


For Colton and Rose, things may have been mostly quiet for a while, but as Améli reached the general area, the trashing of combat became very apparent in their near distance. Utilizing objects to impair the movements of the grimm, whenever the dog slammed into something, the sound reverberated through the woods. It seemed almost desperate to reach her, constantly bothered by Améli placing something between herself and the dog. A tree fell over, as the noise constantly came closer and closer to their little campfire. A pained shriek or roar followed, as through the treeline, the dog came tumbling, with Améli stuck in it's mouth. The dog had lunged at her, closing it's fangs around the tiny female. Pressing her shield against it's upper mouth and utilizing her feet to press against it's lower jaw, Améli had just enough strength to prevent the creature from swallowing her. From inside the jaw's of death, she had repeatedly stabbed at it's upper jaw with her sword, until she got a clean strike through it's skull, killing the creature, ending combat. Of course she had survived. Of course her training had paid off.... ... ... but that had been way too close. 


Améli wasn't exactly in good shape. Having utilized her semblance at the prior camp, followed by a fight with an opponent close to her own level, had been exceedingly draining to her reserves. Enough so that her aura was practically drained, leaving a serious blue mark on her face from the dog lunging at her. Pulling her sword out, pulling her shield out, the dog closed it's maw as she dismounted her position. Breathing heavily, covered in sweat, she looked around for a moment. A fire. Sighing softly, this may have been the first lucky break the girl had had. Covered in filth, the girl somehow still carried herself with grace as she approached the campfire.


"...Good evening, mind if I sit for a moment?" It was an odd dichotomy. The girl's movements, expression and voice were speaking of a refined grace. The armor, the emblems adorning it, her whole atire, speaking of nobility. Yet, the filth she was covered in, how she seemed absolutely drained, how her fingers were twitching from fatigue, spoke of a competent warrioress. A brutish strenght and dedication to the huntsman craft. Even so, the oddest thing may have been how tiny the girl was. Long blonde hair, braided to stay in place. Slim, well trained, perfect weight for her height. Narrow shoulders, barely able to carry the pads protecting her shoulders and collar. Taking just a moment, whether they said  yes or no to her petition, Améli truly had very little choice. Tiredly, she sat down by the campfire. Heavy metallic noises were heard, as she began getting the heaviest part of her armor and shield off. They clanked loudly as they were placed near the fireplace, able to dry off from the drool and dog it was covered in. "...It's very fortunate for me that I found you two." Améli continued, not really giving the two of them any moment to recover from the probable shock they'd have from having their little meeting crashed so suddenly. The way she had stated her prior sentence, perhaps they'd have figured she finally felt a little safety, but they'd soon be made aware that her luck was for completely different reasons...

"...Means I can finish my task for the mid-term, if you'd be willing to discourse with me for a moment."

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

604 w./ 5304 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

This midterm was indeed an exercise in cutting the chaff from the wheat. For those who couldn't cut it by following instructions given to them in a dangerous environment, Rose felt no sympathy. Then again, she was just sitting here shooting the breeze with Colt and not getting anything done. So who was she to say? Rose was merely biding her time until something came along, of course, but perhaps she should go out hunting for another student the following day.

The subject turned to a matter that Rose found quite curious. This exam was essentially the stepping stone to forming teams actually...meeting new people and bonding with them was the best way to gauge abilities and personalities! It was clever of the instructor to set them all up like this!

Yet Rose was taken aback when Colt brought up the idea of team building already. She expected him to talk shit about her or upsell how great his own team would be in comparison to her own...but no. Colt was actually suggesting that Rose join his team. It made sense after all for a number of reason, as well.

Colt was the previous tournament champion and Rose was the current, already proving they were the strongest and most skillful in the pool of student candidates. He was a flexible fighter with moderate close and long rage while Rose excelled in fast guerrilla style tactics. They complimented each other well, so it made alot of sense to form a team.

"Hell yeah, that Vytal Festival would be in the bag!" She punched her fist against her palm and beamed a toothy grin. "I'd worry that it's a bit unfair, but we're looking to win. Win and save this miserable world from those damned creatures out. I-"

On cue from mentioning the Grimm, Rose's ears perked up at the sounds of a struggle of some sort. The blonde shot up to her feet, bringing Rebellion to bare as she did so. Yet what she hadn't expected was for the Grimm wolf to charge in with a girl in it's maw! Rose would have gone for the assist, but the armored hellion had things under control as she skewered it through the skull!

Rose kept her gaze on the girl, eyes wide with both shock and a bit of admiration at how she kept a dignified gate from the encounter.

"That's...fine. I mean, yeah sit a spell. Shouldn't be wandering the woods at this time of night anyway, but holy shit. Like shit I didn't think there was actually competence in the student roster, but I guess you survived?"

The blonde tilted her gaze to Colt, as if silently asking him if he knew who this girl was. Rose hadn't paid much attention to the lineup of students beneath her, so she was hoping for Colt to perhaps fill her in. Regardless, she filled her own bowl of prepared soup and held it out to the newcomer.

"Here have somethin' to eat. You look like you've had a rough day...I'm Rose by the way."

Though the girl seemed to care more about getting straight to the heart of the matter. Was it more important to deal with the exam over resting a minute to catch your breath? Jeez, city folk were hella strange compared to the simplistic life style of the Desert.

"Look, just chill out for a bit. We ain't gonna bite...well, I mean I might but only if you piss me off. And Colt here doesn't have a reason to. But hell, as roses we can't deny help so fuck it. Discourse away and all that good nonsense, girlie. Whatever the hell that means."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Good. The smug smile of satisfaction spread across the features of the former champion as his offer at a team up was accepted enthusiastically by the woman in front of him. Winning was indeed the objective and having the strongest people available on your team was the surest way to ensure that victory. Unfortunately for both of them, however, that productive line of conversation was cut short by some weird noises coming from the forest.

Metal. Snarling. Dirt being kicked around. The sounds of combat weren’t hard to discern, especially for people training to be Huntsmen. Colton would casually toss his ration bag aside and stand up as he recognized those noises. Unlike Rose, the brunette wouldn’t bother drawing his sword and would instead simply flick the backsword free from its sheath with his left thumb. When the Grimm and the newest trainee to come to the area came into view, he drew his sword in a reverse grip in order to prepare for a toss. Tumbling down the tree line, however, it wasn’t an easy shot and the only safe option to ensure he didn’t hit the girl by accident was to wait until they rolled to the bottom. By the time that had happened, though, the new blonde trainee had killed the monster.

There was nothing to do at that point but sheathe the blade again, albeit with the former champion’s left hand lingering near the hilt in case there were any more Grimm coming in their general direction. It was rare for one to show up alone, after all, and if they weren’t careful the fire would be smothered. Whatever the outcome was of the next few minutes, though, Colton was not remaking the damned thing from scratch. He had spent an inordinate amount of time to do it once and wasn’t about to do that shit again and would sooner freeze in the night.

Unlike his companion, though, Colton wasn’t very impressed with the display. Wearing metal armor to the wilderness for this long was a questionable decision, which was why the Argus native had foregone doing so himself. Armor only came into play when aura broke unless you had some sort of semblance like Polarity that allowed the manipulation of said armor. Still, the fact that she wasn’t shivering in terror after routine combat was a good sign and spoke to either mental stability caused by training or a psychotic lack of fear caused by mental illness. He didn’t know which it was, but the brunette supposed he would find out soon.

He let Rosalia take the lead in talking as the teenager sat back down and picked back up his half-eaten ration bag to squeeze out the rest of the food. When the Vacuo native looked over to him, likely assuming he knew the new girl, Colton could only shrug. The new girl was too covered in filth for Colton to get a good visual, and he wasn’t aware of anybody else in the class that wore heavy armor like that. Must be a new transfer, but he couldn’t recall anything specific about any of the new transfers since there were a few. He had read the very basics about them and what was publicly available, but since the photos were only headshots it didn’t really show their equipment or anything.

”That means you’re an Orchid, so that works out for us too.” he’d finally say, pointing to the red band on his arm. The armored woman would have a band too somewhere on her person, but it was much harder to notice with the filth that was covering her form at the moment. ”Go for it. Just stay out of it if another wave of Grimm comes – both of us have high aura reserves left and can handle it while you rest a bit.”

While someone may have expected this to said out of concern, there was none of it within the tone of the brunette as he spoke. It was a pragmatic assessment that the armored woman was tired and thus would be more likely to make mistakes and have less aura to use in any fight. Colton didn’t want to waste valuable concentration and effort protecting someone when it was much easier to just go full offense and just obliterate any Grimm that came their way. The chances of a major one coming to their campfire were slim enough to not warrant a mention, frankly, and they would just have to deal with it if it happened.

”What’s your name, by the way? You’re a new transfer, for sure.” he’d add, deciding to toss a question of his own out there before he let the Orchid take the reins entirely. It would let him at least attempt to remember anything he had read about her, because he was sure he would have had to at some point.

※ 11436 total words ✎ 816 words ✉ D rank semblance, D ranked martial arts, D ranked durability, D ranked weapon, E rank weapon enhancement, E rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Améli Hortensia Celeste]

WORD COUNT: 853

TAGGED:

TAGGED: Fluffy

It was unlike Ameli to arrive this completely and utterly unprepared, but everything taken into account, the girl hadn't had much choice or say in the matter. The transfer between Atlas and Haven had taken place rather suddenly on the request of Ameli's superiors. Then, almost immediately on arrival, she had been thrown out into the proverbial and literal jungle to fend for herself. The idea of passing or failing was a fleeting one, as adjusting simply took priority. Now, however, presented with the opportunity to exchange information with two individuals and passing this here exam, Ameli wasn't afraid to cease the opportunity immediately. "Thank you both." With the rattling of her armor, the sword was swiped sideways, mostly cleaning it from filth, before it was sheated. Ameli seated herself quietly, gracefully, though there were hints of strain on her face. Stretching herself fully, the shield was placed besides the little perched upon which she had placed her rear. 


"Fear not, I shall hold my own should an attack come upon us. Dishonor comes to those who burden their peers." Ameli remarked to Colton on the notion that she should sit one out for the team. Such actions were cowardly, disgraceful and entirely without merit. For now, Ameli would still be able to hold her own, or at least so she felt. The questions from Rose and the notions from Colt somewhat overlapped, allowing Ameli to cook up a fairly decent answer to both. Having waited, patiently, for her turn to speak, her mannerisms were clean and crisp through and through. Bowing her head slightly before them, the blonde female introduced herself in a collected manner, making sure that her voice carried weight and clarity, so as to leave no misinformation or risk of miscommunication. "Mine name is Améli Véronique Hortensia Celeste. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Though, before the others found room to reply, the girl continued to reply. It was clear that she was an efficient person with very sharp ideas and ideals on how the world was and ought to function.

"I was transferred to Haven Academy recently, yes. I'm new to both the academy and the area. Let alone being dropped into this midterm with little warning or preparation. Therefore, I would appreciate assistance in clearing my objective. So if you would, indulge me." Raising her head again, she looked at the both of them with a dignified atmosphere surrounding her and a delicate expresison. It was an odd mixture for an individual. On one hand, she seemed delicate, fragile, feminine. A noble girl, or perhaps a princess. On the  flipside, she was wearing heavy armor and clearly had sharp senses. A warrior through and through.  

Reaching out a gauntleted hand, she accepted the bowl of soup from Rose. Flicking her head, the blonde hair was all forced behind her shoulder,  so as to not mix with the food. Blowing onto the liquid, she began eating in earnest. Sighing softly, getting a bit of nourishment wasn't ever a bad thing. Over these last twenty four hours, Améli had actually gotten quite a few meals, though most of them were, as one might suspect, incredibly light. A bit of bread, a bit of fruit, a bit of soup. Strangely, most of her meals had actually come from other individuals rather than herself. Meaning, that on her person, she still had some dried meat ready to go, should it ever be required.

"...Acceptable sustenance. A rare source of salt, if you were trying to survive out here for extended periods of time." Améli noted. Salt could, after all, be rather difficult to come by in nature.

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

601 w./ 5905 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

The girl breathed out a heavy sigh into the night air. She started this whole thing alone and honestly worried that she wouldn't pass. Despite being in a gang, Rose had zero chill when it came to actually playing nice and yet here she was. There were two other students hanging with her and none of them were looking to tear one anothers' heads off! How quaint.

So if Colt didn't know the newcomer, then she was definitely new. Rose was confident that the brunette was privy to just about everyone of note in Haven Academy and her suspicions were confirmed quite easily. She kept quiet at the exchange between the two, learning everything she could before speaking up. Being an Orchid though meant that she was looking for information, which was easy enough. Rose was already trading story time with Colt anyway and that also meant that she was helping out a fellow student in the midterm! When the girl introduced herself, Rose just sort of...tilted her head at her.

"Ameli Ver...horta cele-what-now? I'mma just call you Amy. Cool?"

Her words had been cut off like a fine edged knife by the armored girl, however. Some might consider it a tad rude, but honestly Rose was glad for the chance to just sit and listen. A transfer in the middle of the school year in similar fashion to what Rose was going through. That meant that she was still adjusting to her new life...must be tough. Rose gave a quick glance at Colt as she handed her bowl to Amy along with Colt's cutlery. She figured he wouldn't mind too much, considering how beat up the other blonde was...and then began to scoop up some grub of her own, blowing on it before gulping the food down.

"Yeah, not too bad I guess. Most of the salt comes from the vinegar jerky! My favorite flavoring...so then I guess you and I are both new girls. Take note of Colt here. He's by and far the best fighter at Haven if you're looking for combat tips."

Amy was lucky as hell, actually. Running into the two most talented students at Haven in terms of raw power and roses to boot? That was practically her whole Orchid assignment taken care of right there! Damn, if only Rose could get that lucky from time to time.

"Alright well I guess I can start." Rose rested her back against a tree and leaned Rebellion against her shoulder. "This sword here is made from the raw talent of both my Ma an' Pa. Geniuses in their fields, but lacking in proper tools. Still, Rebellion can pack a real wallop! Bunch of scumbags came and abducted me...took my sword and my freedom."

She grew silent for a few minutes, closing her eyes to contain the rage that was threatening to bubble up from within but then it subsided quickly enough. She slowly opened her eyes once again and continued her story with a malicious bite to her words.

"As a gladiator, I killed so many for the entertainment of others. Until I had enough. The Grimm attacked the town, as they always did...and I reclaimed Rebellion here. I killed my handler, slaughtered everyone I came across, and just kept going. Been killing and taking what's mine ever since."

She glanced at Amy then and sighed. "You can just write down that I was a gladiator before I was a bandit. That should do."

Rose scooped a bit more soup into the bowl and held it out to Colt with a pensive look. "Did you want some? It's pretty damn good, if I do say so myself."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Oh.

One of those. He didn’t expect to meet two people who come from families so aristocratic that they felt the need to saddle their kids with not one, not two, not three, but four names. He didn’t recognize any of them, which meant her family didn’t really have roots in Mistral. She confirmed she was a transfer student, which was pretty obvious anyway, but didn’t disclose from where. Definitely not a Shade Academy transfer – too prim and proper. Probably not Atlas either, frankly, because he’d know the family name of anyone legitimately important enough to have four that wasn’t just an uppity peasant. That left Beacon, which made sense. He didn’t know a damned thing about the Vale, frankly, aside from the fact that they had a giant dickhead for a King a couple of decades ago and decided to start the Great War.

Dishonor. Cutting people off. Awkward speech patterns… Yeah, it fit. Some sort of Vale nobility, for sure. Probably a merchant family, because armor like that wasn’t exactly cheap and was super overkill for someone who didn’t have a semblance that could make use of the metal or the bulk. Extremely direct and impersonal, she acted how other people thought Colton did. It was fucking bizarre, frankly, and reminded him of an aristocratic version of a girl he went to Sanctum with. They weren’t close at all, but the weird resemblance in terms of behavior kind of threw him off a bit.

He let the blonde take the lead in the conversation. He had heard most of that before but set aside the tidbit about the sword in his head for use later if it ever became relevant. When Rose offered him the bowl of food and stroked his ego by saying his cooking was good, he’d smile and take it graciously. While she was talking, he had squeezed out all the food in his ration pack anyway, so it was a very appreciated gesture. Unfortunately, though, it appeared that it was his turn to share secrets about himself for the sole purpose of passing the exam.

”I’m the Fourteenth winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament.” he’d start, going much shallower than Rosalia in his facts. It was nothing personal, but he also wasn’t the type of person to just spill his guts when it wasn’t necessary. ”Second one is that I puked after my first fight with an Alpha from stress.”

Short, simple, and easy. Most people simply lacked the motivation to do even basic research about their peers, so he was pretty confident nobody would mark down the first fact. There was a similar confidence that nobody on the Search and Destroy mission with him would mark that down either. Partially due to the fact that he was positive that two of the four he was there with didn’t notice, and partially due to the fact that one of the remaining two was Shadecloak. There was no obligation to go farther down than surface level, except that the answer might be thrown out if it was something as trivial as ‘favorite color’ or something equally useless.

Drinking from a bowl without slurping was well within the Argus native’s range of abilities, and he’d do so after doing his part. Ameli was the second person he had directly helped accomplish their objective, so as long as she ended up passing the exam, he was fine. There was no worry about Erytheia, frankly, because she was in the high nineties in terms of aura percentage in an extremely defensible area that was also safe against the elements the last time he had seen her. The Mistral native had her objective completed and wasn’t dumb enough to just abandon a position as good as that, so that was a done deal.

”Where’d you go before you came here?” he’d ask, more for conversational purposes than anything else. It was better than sitting there in awkward silence, anyway. ”Kind of a weird time to transfer, yeah?”

※ 12104 total words ✎ 668 words ✉ D rank semblance, D ranked martial arts, C ranked durability, D ranked weapon, E rank weapon enhancement, E rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Améli Hortensia Celeste]

WORD COUNT: 609

TAGGED:

TAGGED: Fluffy

"Améli Veronique Hortensia Celeste. Améli or Amy Celeste would be adequate." 

Amélia corrected Rose almost immediately, not giving much of a comment to being called Amy. Frankly, whatever the blonde decided to call the smaller blonde,  didn't matter much. Though, it was a lot of blonde to keep track of. Odd for a blonde girl to be called Rose. Usually that'd be reserved for red heads. As Rose began talking, Améli found forth herself a little notepad to take notes on. Instead of simply writing the information down, Améli was deftly transcribing the entire conversation. The pen was moving with quite high precision and speed. Scribble scribble scribble. As Rose was finished, Colt, as Rose had been kind enough to divulge, spoke a few sentences as well. Signfiicantly less than the female. Améli made a mental note of this. In teachings, the girl had always been told that those who were afraid to share their information usually came in two categories. The needlessly paranoid, who believed anyone would be a potential enemy. Or alternatively, those who had significant things to hide. Alternatively, there was also the possibility that Colt was simply dreadfully boring. With how sharp he had been in determining she herself was a transfer student and how his continued questioning seemed to gather a lot more information than he was willing to give, she found that the least likely possibility.

Even so, the girl wasn't going to play his games. Being proud of who she was, where she was from, her heritage, and genuinely having nothing to hide or be ashamed of, she happily shared her information with him. "I was at a vantage point together with another student, Erytheia. Set up somewhat of a perimeter for safety, should anyone require assistance." Gesturing in the direction which she had come from, just in case either of the two would require a safe area later in the midterm, or find some other student in need of refuge. "I then ventured out to complete my own objective for the midterms, when noise of battle garnered my attention. Rushed to assist, got inbetween the prey and the Grimm. The battle took me here. I know not what happened to the others." Améli explained softly, quickly, efficiently, inbetween having disciplined bitefulls of food. 

It wasn't until his followup question, that Améli realized he probably meant where in the world she had come from before transferring there. Unabashed by the clear lack of communicative skills Colt posessed, Améli simply continued pouring out information. "...The transfer was at an odd time, indeed. Atlas had mentioned a request for transfers, which I had thought nothing of initially. However, as a few other students from my home had been transferred, I was eventually persuaded to make the transit as well." Finishing the parts of the meal which she was given, she made sure to clean up properly after herself. Leaving nothing in nature. Like a good person!

"...I was quite surprised to arrive, only to be immediately thrown into the mid-terms. I assume the nature of these trials is why there was some eagerness to have me arrive prior, rather than after." All assumptions. Truth be told, Améli had very little insight into the politics behind it all. "..that and a sudden lack of personnel in the Haven roster after the collosal failure of an incident." The change in tone made it very clear what Améli's thoughts on the disgraceful disaster that had befallen Haven in the recent past. As far as she was concerned, it spoke to high levels of incompetence. Incompetence that the transfer students were clearly here to help with.

[Rose Phoenix]

❝I Was Lightning,

Before The Thunder❞

573 w./ 6478 w. total

E strength| F stamina| f Acrobatics| f Dust

e semblance| F weapon| 

The girl smiled happily as Colt accepted the bowl from her. In a way, this felt nicer than anything she'd experienced before. Just sitting around a campfire and relaxing without having to worry about a knife in her back or a rival camp raiding. Just talking and eating...how odd that Rose would enjoy peace so much. But perhaps it was because she spent her entire life fighting for survival that she could appreciate the quieter moments more than others.

"Oh right! And I'm the Fifteenth winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament." Rose cracked a wide grin at that and leaned forward to teasingly punch Colt in the shoulder. "Yep I'm the new hottness for at one more go around."

To be honest, an Alpha was not something to scoff at. They weren't stupid like the common Beowolf that slavered for any meat it can find. Plus if Colt wasn't used to dealing with Grimm, then running into a high class monster could prove difficult.

"Damn dude...that's pretty badass. I mean I can take on like at least two Alphas without breaking a sweat, but I'm also used to shit like that."

Rose looked over at the intense scribblings that Amy was so focused on and just watched her. Wait, she wasn't actually writing down EVERY single word they were saying...that would be crazy! Heh...right? But the other blonde just kept going after correcting Rose with her long ass name. The safety perimeter didn't concern her much, since there was little in this forest that could even touch her, so the thought was easily waved away.

She sure did speak a mouthful, that was for sure. At least Rose now knew where she was from, but her knowledge of the other kingdoms was vastly lacking. She only saw the sights during her tournament tour and nothing more, so there was little to go off of. Did all girls from Amy's home behave like the aristocratic girl? That would...certainly be something! Though it was the mention of the Haven incident that piqued Rose's attention.

She knew about the disaster, of course. Who hadn't? It was the reason they were all here in the first place! But this was the first time that she heard someone speak about it so candidly. Most would have been offended by the callous way with which Amy spoke, but it made Rose stop and think. There was always someone to blame. Someone who was at fault...who lead to the failure or demise of others.

"Yeah well...Haven is learning from their failure, as it were. Scrambling to fix this whole mess by dragging in anyone that they can. Some with talent and others being scraped from the bottom of the barrel. Regardless, we're here to do a job and murder the ever living fuck out of the Grimm!"

The girl smirked at Colt when her tone became more hopeful. "This loss is our gain, despite how harsh that sounds. We're the next generation of Heroes and Hunters...and we're going to win."

Looking between the two now, Rose took note that each of them had a separate strength that they could offer to one another. Strength, speed, defense, cunning...it made the desert girl rub her chin in contemplation.

"And while everyone is already scampering around looking for partners and team mates, they aren't assessing their strengths and weaknesses. It makes me wonder how the three of us would turn out...then again I might be jumping the gun a bit, as it were."

© SETHANIEL OF adox 2.0 + WW.

[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Huh, he was off on his earlier guess. An Atlesian transfer made sense more than Beacon in hindsight, if only because the old Great War ally was the only one to actually send transfers to Haven in the first place so far. It seemed like Shade and Beacon couldn’t care less about Mistral’s plight, which was fair enough in the case of Shade but kind of weird in the case of Beacon who liked to project themselves as the ‘moral high ground’ school almost more than a Huntsman Academy. Good public relations were kind of their thing, much more so than the others. Even sending one or two, they could spin it as sending much needed help to Haven and pat themselves on the back as much as they wanted for the action. Now that he was thinking about, Colton wondered why they never did and continued half-listening to the blonde walking them through her day thus far.

When Ameli decided to call The Fall a failure, though, the brunette’s entire demeanor changed. Eyes narrowed and shoulders tensed, and the previously neutral expression was twisted into a mask of disgust. The only people who would literally come to Haven and say that shit are the mentally handicapped and the malicious, and due to the strong Flower Fiorella vibes he was getting from this girl he couldn’t even tell which one it was. There was the possibility that it was both, of course, because just because one was mentally handicapped did not mean that they were not also human pieces of shit. It was very possible to be both, but generally there was at least some benefit of the doubt placed upon new people. In one fell swoop, though, Ameli had managed to completely eradicate all of that benefit.

”I’m going to go patrol.” he’d state, interrupting Rosalia’s response as he passed the bowl back to the blonde and got up to his feet. If this was anywhere else and he wasn’t constrained by the fact that he’d fail the midterm if he left and likely if he attacked the Argus native would have been even more tempted to do one or the other. Just because he was disallowed from doing either didn’t mean that he had to sit there like a good little fuckhead and listen to that drivel, though, so he was up walking off with an agility that was uncommon for him with the urgency that one might see when they realize they sat down on a seat covered in fresh vomit.

No other words would be spoken, and he’d quickly be out of sight in the trees if nobody followed. He’d push his sword about an inch out of its scabbard with his left thumb and would just hold it there as he walked. Had he been in a more stable mental state in a normal school day, he would have likely been able to contain himself and be a bit more diplomatic about the entire situation. Today, though, in the high stress midterms where he was forced to follow certain asinine rules in order to qualify for Huntsmen missions?

On a normal day he could spit in their face if he wanted to and tell them verbally to fuck off. He wasn’t forced to be around someone for a second longer than he wanted to be, and quite frankly he never really was. Being forced to be around the brain damaged or malicious and play nice simply wasn’t something he had a lot practice with, for better or for worse. It took a lot to piss him off, generally, and going for the throat with the greatest tragedy ever to befall the Kingdom of Mistral in the first five minutes was fucking disgusting no matter how you sliced it and he didn’t have the patience to sort out what motive led to it because he didn’t really care.

Makes sense why Erytheia didn’t stick with her. If that dumb bitch said the same thing to her in the mental state that Colton had left his classmate in, he didn’t know what her reaction would be. Probably the same as his own initial one, frankly, to either leave or force the fucker out. If he had to guess, it would probably be just ditching despite the prime location that she had posted up for herself in order to avoid the confrontation that forcing someone to leave would entail. Someone dumb or malicious enough to say that shit in the first place wasn’t someone well adjusted or willing to leave when asked to leave, so a level of force would have been required to evict them from the premises.

Doing that was dumb as fuck, really, especially when the forest was filled with Grimm and the fight itself would attract them and burn your aura all in one fell swoop. It was counter to the goal of passing the midterm in the first place on an issue that could easily wait to be resolved after the fact. A new transfer spouting shit like that wouldn’t take long to be corrected if she made views like that known – whether by faculty or by students taking matters into their own hands. Some were more sensitive than Colton, even, on the issue more broadly and would have swung in an instant. Not shit talking dead loved ones is not exactly a high bar to meet and was something that any halfway decent human being would do without thinking about it or being ‘corrected’.

Sometimes the only language that the brain damaged could understand, however, was violence. It wasn’t ideal and certainly wasn’t the way to run a society, but at the end of the day if violence was what worked… well, that was what was going to be used. In the same way that he had to beat some ego out of Qiu’li and Kishka would have to beat some sense into Aegle in order to coexist, sometimes that was the only way left to resolve issues. Some people just refused to learn by any other method, and Haven wasn’t healthy enough population wise to be able to afford to lose even those ingrates no matter what.

※ 13140 total words ✎ 1036 words ✉ D rank semblance, D ranked martial arts, C ranked durability, D ranked weapon, E rank weapon enhancement, E rank stamina

MADE BY MIZO

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Ameli: 20 x 200% (event bonus) = 40

74 + 40 = 114 XP new total

Colton: 131 x 200% (event bonus) = 262

325 + 262 = 587 XP new total

Rosalia: 64 x 200% (event bonus) = 128

273 + 128 = 401 XP new total