Multiple Settings Anima Studies

[Juju]

Solirus (got info on Belle) November Witch
━ ◦ ※ ◦━​

Mariana was worried about her? Embarrassment and shame rushed up, adding yet another layer to her sense of failure. If she had done better, she could have avoided this unnecessary distraction. Then Mariana’s words turned to something softer, something that Marianne’s mind couldn’t poison and twist into black barbs. An afterglow of pure empathy was left behind after each of her words. It made Marianne go completely silent, dumbfounded by shock. All she could do was stare, blinded like a deer stuck on the highway.

It really did hurt, but bearing it was all she could do. She was bleeding out in the snow, and knew that if she stopped to rest for even a second, she would never rise again. Exhaustion, fear and doubt hounded her, but Marianne would sooner gnaw off her own arm than admit such a thing.

The lapse in concentration and a trip from Mariana was enough to separate the two and jolt Marianne back into focus. She was struggling to stand by herself, so all she could do was lean on Annamarie and look back at the fallen girl.

“You don’t seriously intend to fight that thing?” she shouted back, trying to plead reason to the surprisingly stubborn wallflower and her over-eager demon.

She heard the crash of a window and saw the vague outline of Mariana’s anima climbing through. That had to hurt. Not long after, Crimson followed her lead and exited the hallway similarly. Now there were two broken windows. What exactly was the point of staying behind when they were just going to escape through a window? At least one had less glass shards.

Then it clicked; it must have been a ploy to lure the demon outside. Theoretically, if the demon left the miasma it would be significantly weaker, giving them a better chance. It was a decent plan, one that Marianne was interested in joining. There was only one small issue.

The demon did not leave its territory.

Marianne was at the end of the hallway now, yet she was close enough to see the hulking creature take a moment to pause, as if considering the two that had left the facility, and then slowly turn to face her. Like the beam of a lighthouse, Marianne’s refined sight could feel the core of its focus settle directly onto her. She couldn’t help but shudder from it. The demon had no head or eyes, yet it saw her. The only explanation was that it was using a refined sight of its own. Marianne was unable to outrun its charge, and fighting was certainly off the table, but she did have an idea. It was perhaps the one good option she had left.

Quickly, she motioned for Annamarie to stop. Her voice was low and shaky, as if afraid that the headless demon would somehow hear her, “Suppress your anima…”

Annamarie compiled without hesitation, bundling her chaotic mess of anima into a tiny core. Her scissors vanished, and even the red glow of her eyes dimmed as her life-sustaining energies were reduced. Trading offence for discretion, she would be utterly defenseless should she come under attack now. A necessary gambit.

As for Marianne, it was more of a struggle. Fear, pain, and even the lingering shock from Mariana’s words all clung to her battered body. If she didn’t control it fast, she would be a near perfect target for the demon. Closing her eyes, Marianne focussed on her lessons on anima suppression. It was one of the first classes, but it was now the most crucial.

She could almost hear Jaquie’s lacklustre drawl above the heartbeats ringing in her ears, 'To accomplish this, you must simply pick an emotion to feel and suppress it to the point that it is no longer there.'

Slowing down her breaths, she searched herself for the fear and pain. Slowly, she gathered the anima like loose strings and weaved them together, until it was nothing more than a speck of dust in the sickening miasma.

Marble hearts feel no fear, she thought, porcelain does not bleed.

 

[Solirus]

Annoyance
Juju November Witch
​

Upon landing outside once more, Crimson would notice the several individuals surrounding the building, all well composed and calm, appearing far more occupied with anyone or anything approaching the perimeter rather than the place itself. Then there was Jaquie, the man was laying on the grass with both hands behind the back of his head, relaxing and enjoying the cool weather. Only when Crimson and Mariana exited the building did the man turn his head to face them, his expression unreadable and his anima far less. Jaquie however did not utter a word and instead turned back to face the general direction of the building.

Back within the halls of the Asylum, the demon had seemingly ignored Crimson and instead moved to the next closest target. Its blades would grind against the surface of the asylum, to cause an awful and painful sound which Marianne could hear approaching bit by bit. It could sense it, her fear, her pain, all clear and bright scents to follow. But just as it was about to close the distance, those emotions seemed to vanish.

The demon paused once more before smashing its blade against the wall it what could only be described as pure anger and annoyance. Chunks would begin to fall near it and Marianne, with the ones hitting the demon itself having little effect on it. With it short tantrum over, the demon would turn the other way and walk back whence it came, dragging its blades against the floor.

 

[November Witch]

Crimson/Mariana


Status: Thrilled & Worried/Terrified & Determined
Location: Abandoned Asylum
Interaction(s): Juju Solirus


Upon seeing their teacher, Mariana gave a little smile and wave to him, despite their circumstances. However, seeing him in close proximity and somewhat cognizant of the situation made her feel much less scared. Enough to peek her head through the window she just clambered through. She saw the door to the hallway, and the demon meandering past it. Well, the demon hadn’t followed them out… Was it after Marianne? She was injured right?! Suddenly, she became scared again, but not for herself. Though as her fear rose, so did her determination.

“Hey! Leave her alone!”

Mariana picked up a rock, throwing it through the window, through the doorway on the opposite side of the room, and hitting the demon in the leg. It was just a rock thrown without any anima. So it may have not even registered.

“Pick on someone who’s not hurt you bully!”

Mariana started to climb back in through the window…

–

Crimson was frustrated it didn’t follow, and was also worried about the demon running after Marianne. She ran back towards the building while her tendrils still made their way through the ground towards the asylum. She would enter through the hole she left, look to her right, and see the demon standing right near the twins before smashing the wall and turning around. Heading right back towards her.

‘If I say duck, then duck.’

She communicated to Mariana inwardly, before walking further into the hall and grabbing ahold of the massive anchor laying on the ground.

“Aww, what’s the matter? So much hatred, but obviously not enough to keep fighting me, huh?”

She mocked it. Whether it could understand her or not was up in the air. But at the very least, it made Crimson feel better.

“Then we’ll play on your territory, and I’ll still win. How does that sound?”

Crimson was on one end of the hallway. Then further up on the right side, Mariana was in a room. Further down the hall was the demon, and past it, the twins. If she threw the anchor, Crimson knew she would have to be mindful about possibly hitting one of the demons. Her only hope was that the demon was more interested in her than Mariana or trying to find the twins. Speaking of her host, she was currently being an absolute idiot. Crimson knew she’d have to have a talk with her later.

 

[Yakov011001]

It was like a spider-sense going off in his head, it made his adrenaline return to him with a fervor, but that rage within him before was gone and his self-control quickly came back to him. This next decision was his own. Without a word to Cobalt and Valerie, he moved. He didn't doubt they'd felt it too, and what they did next was their decision. He couldn't protect them in this past fight, but still he couldn't let that stop him from trying to protect whoever else needed it. If they were smart, they'd retreat unlike him. The entrance wasn't very far anyhow, and in that vein he decided to pass through that direction in order to make sure the way was clear for them. Bursting out the door, he sprinted down the halls with an even greater energy than before.

That strength, that aura. That can't be anything else than the Rank II! On the way, he shuffled through the people he'd expect to meet. If it was Sophia's posse, he was confident in her barrier's ability to stall for help or retreat. That said, he couldn't remember for the life of him who tagged along with her, Isaac was the only one he was confident would be there too. Next, it was his understanding that Marianne had gone in alone and Mariana as well, but they both had people they could rely on in Annamarie and Crimson. Particularly, Crimson was a reckoning force compared to the rest of them. Though he didn't imagine she wouldn't appreciate some kind of assistance.

Turning what he felt was the final corner, he saw it. That mug wasn't even something he could call ugly, it was just gone! But yeah, that motherfucker was big big.

"Then we'll play on your territory, and still win. How does that sound?"

At the end of the hall was Crimson, and between her and himself he saw Marianne and Annamarie the closest to them. He couldn't see their anima, and it quickly clicked in his head. Fuck, I haven't suppressed my anima. Nikklaüs wondered about the inherent discreetness of his anima, if that was enough to have covered his approach. Before he continued, he made a conscious effort to suppress his anima by pulling the emotion of excitement to the surface of himself, something he felt next to zero of. Not knowing what else the demon might perceive, he moved as quietly as he could, approaching from behind Marianne who undoubtedly didn't notice him from her focus on the demon. He snapped his fingers lightly from behind her to get her attention.

"Aye, has Crimson separated from Mariana?" Nikklaüs signed as he spoke, signing the words 'sharp' and 'soft' in substitution for Crimson and Mariana respectively.

Juju November Witch

 

[Juju]

Solirus November Witch Yakov011001
━ ◦ ※ ◦━​

Plaster and dust fell down around her, but Marianne didn’t dare move. Her shoulders shook from the sheer effort it took to both suppress her anima and resist the innate instinct to fight or flee at the sight of this monstrosity looming over her. She held her breath, and after a moment that seemed to last a decade, the demon finally turned around and…

“Hey! Leave her alone!”

Mariana picked up a rock, throwing it through the window, through the doorway on the opposite side of the room, and hitting the demon in the leg. It was just a rock thrown without any anima. So it may have not even registered.

“Pick on someone who’s not hurt you bully!”

In horror and disbelief, she looked down the hallway to see Mariana crawling back through the window, attempting to draw the demon away.

What was she doing? Was she insane? Why would Mariana put herself at risk for someone like her? Marianne struggled with a new uprising of anima, bits of it seeping out of her iron grip of suppression. She clutched at her chest, nails digging into the blood-encrusted cloth as if it could help keep inside everything that was threatening to burst from between her ribs. She didn’t deserve this. If Mariana got hurt for her sake… no, she couldn’t bear to imagine it. It was too much. If she let these thoughts out, it would mean that Mariana’s efforts would have been wasted. She had to suppress it, to make this act of selflessness worth something more than herself.

Consumed by these agonizing thoughts and her struggle to keep them suppressed, Marianne did not notice Nikklaüs until he was right behind her. She flinched at his snap and slowly turned her head, grey eyes wide with shock and the faintest hint of a new horror. Now it wasn’t just Mariana at risk, but Nikklaüs as well.

“The rank II found them.” Marianne whispered, her voice choppy from her short, panting breaths, “I tried to help, but now it's worse. They can’t fight it. They… they should have just left. It's too dangerous.”

Now that demon had moved further away, Marianne's legs and arms shook once again. Fresh blood was seeping out like sap from beneath the bandage on her leg, where one of the gashes had been reopened by her desperate flight. The ugly bite on her shoulder burned, every movement digging hot stakes into her bones, as if the teeth were still there gnawing at her. Her dress was torn and stained in large patches of her own blood, and her hair was covered in dust. Saying that she looked worse for wear was quite an understatement.

Annamarie did not share her wounds, but the red of her eyes had dimmed. Like Marianne, her anima had been suppressed, but she still had enough strength to support Marianne's weight as she clung onto her. She helped Marianne to balance as she took a shaky step away from the fight, limping back in the direction of the entrance she had used before.

Each step was agony, but Marianne grit her teeth and forced her pathetic body to move. She was too weak to help herself, let alone Mariana or Crimson, but the least she could do was get away so that she did not burden them any longer. It was idiocy to think she could have done more. All her efforts had done nothing but put the two in greater danger. Once again, someone else was paying for her failures.

"I have to leave." she coughed.

 

[Tiguidi]

COBALT ULAR
Location: Asylum​

While the trio managed to finally find a moment of respite to rest, it was short-lived as the anima around them seemed to flare up. No, that wasn’t quite right; it felt more like a single anima signature deeper inside the asylum, piercing through the rest of the lesser anima. “Urgh, alright, I feel like our break’s over already.”, Cobalt sighed. He’d need to ignore the pain in his leg for the moment. This ominous anima probably belonged to the Rank II, and he didn’t want to stick around for too long and find out whether or not his theory was true.

Movement detected in the corner of his eye alerted him as Nikklaüs sprinted off, leaving him with Valerie. “Wait, Nik-!” But it was too late, the swordsman having already left without hearing Cobalt. “... And away he goes.”, he commented with a click of his tongue. “Knowing him, he’s probably rushing towards the Rank II, assuming that’s what I’m sensing right now.” He glanced at Valerie. “Mr. Jaquie clearly said we should avoid the Rank II, but... shouldn’t we also make sure he doesn’t put himself in unnecessary danger...?”

Still, his voice was filled with uncertainty. The three of them struggled to defeat a Rank I demon, and Cobalt himself was wounded; what would he even do if he went to help?

---

Yakov011001 Verite

 

[Solirus]

Onslaught
November Witch Juju Yakov011001 ​

The demon turned only for a second as Nikklaüs approached, appearing confused the instant that Nikklaüs suppressed his anima. Its attention had been grabbed by the sudden appearance and disappearance of that signal, but the moment Mariana and Crimson reentered the building, the demon wasted no time facing them after having plainly ignored the stone thrown its way.

Without pause, the demon would lunge forward, smashing the wall to bits as it shortened the distance to the closest target, Mariana. It swiftly raised its blades and swung them through the cloud of dust formed by such an uncaring onslaught. With the purest intent to kill.

 

[November Witch]

Crimson/Mariana

Status: Thrilled & Worried/Terrified & Determined
Location: Abandoned Asylum
Interaction(s): Solirus
A scream left Mariana’s lips as the demon essentially ran through the wall before her. The scream echoed out into the hall and all those nearby heard was a scream and the shattering of a wall. It kicked up a cloud of dust, and she backtracked, falling down onto her back, flat onto the floor. She begged for Crimson in her mind, but the other was already completely aware of what was happening.

“Duck!”

Crimson told the other and could only hope Mariana got low as she threw the anchor in her hands at the other interior wall of the room. If all went right, it would crash through, and strike the demon. It would be clueless as it couldn’t see through the wall, right? It would hopefully pin the demon to the other wall, giving Mariana time to escape. As for Crimson? She was along for the ride! She wouldn’t let go of the anchor. Instead, she’d told on tight, and as soon as she was able, tendrils would latch onto the hopefully stunned demon, all over it. Arms, legs, hands, thighs, torso, neck, stomach, everywhere. They would then attempt to squeeze as hard as possible. Upon her hands, metal scraps would emerge, and she’d claw and dig into the demon herself, laughing maniacally as she did so.

 

[Solirus]

Removed
November Witch
​

Through Crimson's quick thinking, was Mariana's life spared as the anchor flew towards the demon. However, with such a thing being made of anima, the demon was quick to react, holding one blade to block the impact of the anchor. Yet even upon blocking it was the demon sent crashing to yet another wall, maintaining composure unlike the previous time. The tendrils would follow, attempting to apprehend and immobilize the demon, but as she lunged inside, Crimson saw the miasma travel into the demon itself as if taking a deep breath.

Crimsons tentacle would break as the demon's anima surged once more with unstable power. The previously dark hue of hatred was now replaced by chaotic colors and fluctuations, causing a shockwave that would push Mariana and Crimson back. The asylum, desperately maintaining its structure, would begin to crumble as fissures would form on the ceiling, causing debris to begin falling atop the three of them. In that singular moment of chaos did the demon lunge towards the two of them far faster than it had previously demonstrated, outpacing even the debris itself. The demon raised its blades once more to rid itself of these nuisances, however when it finally swung, it found nothing but the floor itself as the debris collapsed over it, burying it.

In the blink of an eye, Mariana and Crimson no longer found themselves inside the asylum and instead found themselves outside covered with blankets. Jaquie, who was right next to them, appeared to be laying on the grass minding his own business.

 

[Verite]

Valerie Vu - Asylum
Interactions: Solirus Tiguidi Yakov011001 Juju

​

"... Oh."

Well, into the frying pan and into the fire.

After the harrowing encounter with the Rank I demon earlier, Valerie had hoped that that would be the end of their trials and that the rest of the building would have already been explored and taken care of by then, but of course, there was never any rest for the wicked, as it wasn't long until she, Cobalt, and Nikklaüs seemed to feel a new anima signature deeper within the building, and Nikklaüs himself suddenly ran off without a word. Looking over at Cobalt with a strained grimace of a smile, Val shrugged uncertainly.

"Well, on one hand, I'd definitely like to take any excuse not to pick another fight, especially so above my weight," she breathed. Even though she had less tangible wounds on her, compared to Cobalt, other than the little incident of her soul feeling like it had touched an oven, Val was certainly less than eager to rush into the next fight, and yet...

"On the other hand, I just know when Teach told us to avoid the Rank II at all costs, it was definitely something like reverse psychology, right? Like he definitely secretly actually wants us to do it, right?" Valerie reasoned. She didn't like it, but from her perspective, this sort of logic was sound, thinking from the point of view of a teacher. "... Not that I'll complain if you'd rather we just beat it instead," she said with a weak attempt at a wry grin.

Just like Cobalt, Valerie questioned what she'd even be able to do if they were to choose to jump into the fray. Even with just that Rank I earlier, blinding attacks and little explosions could only do so much against it. Using such basic techniques against a Rank II would surely be a case of diminishing returns. Still, Nikklaüs had already run on ahead, so what could they do? Leave him behind? Try to drag him out and run away with the Rank II in hot pursuit? No, their choice was probably already made for them.

"... Well, we'd better catch up to Nikklaüs first. We oughta at least help him out if he's about to bite off more than he can chew. I'll go on ahead," she said to Cobalt, mindful of his leg wound but also cognizant that they couldn't waste time here. After giving him a tentative nod, Valerie began jogging after Nikklaüs and the mysterious anima signature they'd all sensed, hastily remembering to mask her own anima as well while she was here.

By the time she had caught up, standing just at the edge of the corner, she poked her head around to see Nikklaüs, Marianne, and Annamarie huddled together, while Mariana and Crimson had only just disappeared before the pink haired woman could spot them. Trying to lock eyes with Nikklaüs and Marianne, her anima still suppressed, Valerie tried to silently sneak over to them, whispering harshly toward them.

"Psst, hi! Hope I'm not interrupting anything," she said, too uneasy to expense with the pleasantries like she'd normally like to. "... Uh, we're not really gonna fight that thing, are we, Nik? And for that matter, you okay, Marianne?" Valerie asked, before blinking as she almost forgot herself. "... oh, and you two, Annamarie?"

It seemed they were a bit worse for wear from their run-in with the demon. Valerie didn't revel in the idea of having to fight that thing, but if Nikklaüs were to insist, she was already beginning to form some semblance of a game plan, just in case.

 

[Tiguidi]

COBALT ULAR
Location: Asylum​

“Throwing ourselves in danger again it is. Me and my big mouth.”, Cobalt mumbled with a pained sigh. Still, despite that, he doubted he’d have run away and given up on the others, even with his wound. He still felt waves of pain coming from his leg but he was slowly starting to adapt. At least walking wasn’t as torturous as it was a few minutes prior. And fortunately, he had plenty of ranged applications with his Anima Art; as long as he found a way to stay at a distance and use his fire from afar, he’d be good.

“Well, let’s hope you’re right about this being reverse psychology or else we’ll be in big trouble once this is over.”, Cobalt commented, straining a smile. He glanced in the direction Nikklaüs ran off to. “Better go deal with this thing, then. I’ll catch up to you when I can. Think I can walk now but running’s out of the question.”

Watching as Valerie jogged away, the boy let out a groan as the brave face he had on partially crumbled. “Great, now I need to think of a way not to be useless while we fight a Rank II...” He shook his head, keeping the negative thoughts out. It probably wouldn’t be something impossible. If anything, his first step should be to actually head over there and calmly assess the situation.

Now to be fair, it wasn’t very difficult to catch up to the others; all the screaming, the walls breaking and other fighting noises were as easy to track as a bonfire in the middle of the night, and that wasn’t including the demon's very obvious anima signature he picked up with his refined sight.

But speaking of anima, a thought made Cobalt pause in his steps; a higher-ranked demon would most likely be able to easily spot him since he was still having trouble concealing his anima. He couldn’t sense the others -meaning they were hiding, obviously. And if Cobalt came along, he would just act as a beacon and bring the Rank II right at him. And with his leg, he couldn't exactly imagine himself dodging attacks or running away should it come to that.

“Tough luck...”, he mumbled to himself as he tried to focus on hiding his anima the best he could before going further.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Sophia Hughes
Anima: Thin gray veil in the air

"R-right." Sophia nodded in agreement as Isaac urged them to be quick. She too felts that terrifying presence and would like to get away from that entity as fast as possible. She knew she said her barrier was too clumsy for detailed task, but...

"I'm bringing the entire lump down!" She said, trying to sound as confident as she can. Taking a kneeling position on the floor, Sophia once again made a circular formation by bringing all of her fingertips to touch each other. On the ceiling, a barrier surrounding the skewered demon flickered into existence. She then pushed her hands down, trying to make the barrier do the same thing and carry the demons along. Instead a spark of anima could be seen flying out of the barrier as it grinds against the nails before it snapped like a balloon.

Sophia let out a brief yelp but she quickly reassume the stance and try again. She's determined to get all of them a level 1 demon each! Once again, a layer of barrier encased the demon. This time the barrier had a much darker color and looks thicker.

"Get... down... here...!!" Slamming her hands down, the barrier jerked downward and rattled the nails in its place. Sparks of anima spread around it like mini fireworks and while the barrier was able to withstand the friction, the nails still didn't seems to budge. Instead the demons were squashed between the nails that keep them in place and barrier that tries to pull them away. The struggle ended when the demons' body gave up from all the pressure, with a sickening crunching noise the demons were forcefully pulled out of the nails. Freeing them from the pin but also tearing a large hole on their body where black blood started to seep out. The demons let out a thrilling shriek and started to desperately eat each other before they explode into miasma.

"..." Ooopsie?

"I-I'm sorry!!!!!" Sophia looks horrified at what she just done, she accidentally killed all of them!

Solirus @_Yua Watanabe_ @Silent Child

 

[November Witch]

Crimson/Mariana

Status: Thrilled & Worried/Terrified & Determined
Location: Abandoned Asylum
Interaction(s): Solirus
Mariana had been covering her head and in the fetal position when she was transported outside. This had been in an attempt to protect herself from the falling debris and the wall that had just shattered as an anchor flew straight through it. She would blink, look around, and let out a sigh of relief before sitting up. She’d see the professor next to her and where they had been previously a distance away. She’d look back towards Jaque with a nervous look on her face.

“Thank you, professor,… Uhm, does this mean we’re disqualified?”

Mariana really hoped they weren’t. But she thought the teacher stepping in like that might have led to that outcome.

Meanwhile, Mariana was fuming, cussing out the professor openly as she stomped back towards the building. A tentacle reached back and wrapped around Mariana’s wrist, pulling her up and back towards the building. What did that idiotic human know?! Crimson was fine! Tendrils aren’t the only way to defend herself! She would have been fine fighting that demon! Especially since she was just as strong as it! The difference was she had brains, and it didn’t. Who cares if she was at a disadvantage, not being able to absorb anima from her surroundings? She’d beat it with a handicap easily! She’d show whatever that bird thing was that whatever it did won’t affect her. She doesn’t need the handicap of anime like other puny demons.

“Oh, uh, s-see you later.”

Mariana said to her teacher as she was pulled off towards the building once more.