Sand Dunes and Nightmares

[Lady Warlock]

<p>

This thread will be used for the remainder of the posts for the mission: Sand Dunes and Nightmares. The bus will be here as soon as everyone arrives at the bus station - which is here in this thread. @Pariah Stark @AnnoDomini @Violet Obsidian @Sunbather

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[Sunbather]

Giles Riven & Zarren


Name: Giles Riven


Nickname: The Halfsleeper


Location: Bus stop


Class: ?


Mood: Calm


Tags: @whoever comes next.

It was almost comical. Paul walking off oh so confidently, while Skylar and Jessyka seemed to be equally able to give off some sense of urgency. Meanwhile, Riven waddled behind her three team mates.

"Are we really gon' drive all the way down thur?"


Riven faintly nodded. "Mhm. We are going to investigate."


Zarren, sighing, gave up trying to be a pest. At least on purpose. Instead, he retreated back into the slender frame he resides in, venting in solitude. Meanwhile, Riven considered the possible obstacles which would possibly be encountered. It seemed quite a high level mission, considering her fellow students were classes as high as Two Stars. The wavering hint of a smile crept into her face, giving her an unnatural appearance. Smiling didn't suit her. It was foreign. Wrong. Invasive.


"Hey, at least we're EAT too now, aren't we, Z?"


With a scoffing sound, Zarren pounced out of Riven and gave her a little nudge. "Did ya doubt that you dumbnut? You're wit the demon hammer, forgot that already?"


"Right..." Riven answered and rubbed the spot on her arm Zarren had hit her. "Of course... Oh... Look. We're there."

 

[Pariah Stark]

Paul Wright

​

Event: Sand Dunes and Nightmares


Tags: @Violet Obsidian


@AnnoDomini

Paul wasn't exactly looking forward to this mission. He only took it in hopes he would be exposed to Magic or a Witch. Something he could test his new technique on. Something he could learn from. Now that the mission actually rolled around, his teammates turned the excitement and hopes he had for this mission into dread. Pinky was cute, but fiesty. Not to mention, she was somewhat of an authority figure and Paul didn't quite do well with that thought. Skyler was quiet and somewhat respectable, but he was a weapon. A weapon by nature relied on others, and only a handful ever reached a true autonomous state in which they could wield themselves. Those weapons earned his respect, at least to some degree. But, Paul was pretty sure Skyler didn't quite qualify.


But then, there was Riven and Zarren. Paul had his bags packed, but even as he walked down the cobblestone roads of Death City to the bus stop, he couldn't get that thought out of his mind. The weird wavelength he sensed. The crude abomination on her back. This wasn't something that Paul just disliked, no. Zarren, and by extension Riven, brought literal disgust to Paul. Not only was the creature some odd, synthetic thing, but the fact two people could be so closely merged. What independence was there? Paul almost - almost, but not quite - felt pity for Riven. She would never get to know the pride that came with earning power on your own. She was dependent on that little freak. That is what disgusted Paul more than anything. Riven was dependent on that little break freak, or at least he thought. Zarren itself alone wasn't such a horrendous thought to him.


Nevertheless, Paul was not only the first at the stop, he was the quietest. He had a PS Vita, and he simply played on it for the entire duration of the wait. He didn't say a word to anyone when they came to the stop. No greeting, no secondary introduction. Nothing. He still needed time to just let go. And, it remained this way on the bus. He sat alone in the back, playing Sword Art Online: Lost Song as the bus trip slowly went by. Paul himself didn't watch much anime, but Sword Art Online caught his eye. Kirito was a bit of a Gary Sue protagonist, but he was independent. His own skill earned him the Dual Wielding ability. Granted, Paul stopped watching it after the «ALfheim Online» arc. Asuna went from a strong, female icon to a wimpy princess locked inside a cage in ALO, and that just rubbed Paul the wrong way. Nevertheless, the PS Vita was his escape for the trip. Or, at least most of it.


As the trip went on, the bus began to clear out more and more. It wasn't exactly full to begin with. Before they really neared their destination, Paul decided to put away his handheld and move up closer to the front, specifically by Jessyka and Skyler. "I believe we got off on the wrong foot, miss," Paul said from across Jessyka. He gave a quick nod to Skyler, too, but he didn't feel he offended the boy as much as he did Jessyka. "I spent two years training and studying harder than almost anyone in this school to become a Solo Meister," Paul explained, "I had to use a three-star technique before they put me in the EAT class. I'm not just boasting... to get to where I am, which is still below you, I had to go above and beyond the standards set for most other Meisters. In my time at the DWMA, I've had to consistently prove myself to others. And, I could see you didn't exactly feel reassured by my lack of a weapon. Reading people... is kind of my thing. I didn't mean to come off as rude, but I don't want you to think I will fail you. I am a lot of things, Jessyka, but I am not a failure. I have no intention of letting you down."


Paul may have been prideful, but he wasn't arrogant. There was a sincerity in his words. Even he if was capable of doing something on his own, he had to develop some type of teamwork. Some form of camaraderie. Within his light brown eyes, somewhere lost in specks of a dull green, was a small spark of earnest fervor. He didn't intend on disappointing Jessyka. He didn't intend on disappointing Lord Death. Even if that meant completely disregarding why he even took this mission. He couldn't make any promises for dealing with Riven, but he could lend himself to Jessyka. Paul was aware that he needed to break out of his shell. Iron sharpens iron and if he never got outside training himself in the dojo, he would become a dull sword among a rack of tempered steel. That is something he refused. Down to it, Paul didn't intend on disappointing anyone because the moment someone saw him as a failure, he became a disappointment to himself. He didn't train this hard this long just to be considered a gimmick. That drive is what was reflected in that fervor found in his eyes.

 

[LavenderRain]

Jessyka Volontari

Classification: EAT 2-Star Meister


Partner: “Smoky” Skyler Emerson


Location: On a Bus


Tags: @AnnoDomini @Pariah Stark

Jessyka had been quick to accept Lord Death’s wave to get them out of the Death Room and she had dragged her partner along with her as they made their way out of the Academy. Jessyka had stopped by her apartment to pick up a few basic supplies although she didn’t imagine she would need much. In the end, the only bag she needed was her backpack.


Making her way to the bus station, she had acknowledged Paul and Riven both with a simple nod when they all got on the bus, but she didn’t say anything. She was still frustrated with Paul because he had stormed out of the Death Room before getting all the information and she didn’t feel like she was under any obligation at all to fill him in on what he missed because he didn’t have to leave. Rather, he chose to. That meant anything he missed was his own fault.


For a while, she had just sat on the bus next to Smoky without really saying anything. She was thinking about this mission and how on earth they were going to manage it. From everything she had seen, her and Smoky were the only functional team there. Riven and Zarren confused her and Paul angered her. Even though he may have done something or other to earn himself the fancy title ‘solo meister’, that also meant one thing that would be his downfall in Jessyka’s eyes. He didn’t know how to work as a team from the get go. Sure, Jessyka herself may have been stubborn and hard to work with, but the simple fact that she was partners with Smoky and had been partnered with him for so long was proof that she knew teamwork. The same went for Riven and Zarren.


As all of this was running through her mind, Jessyka grumbled when she heard Paul come up behind her and start talking. She listened. She didn’t look like she was listening, but she was. And when he finished his little speech, Jessyka turned in her seat so that she was facing him. “You know why I wasn’t reassured by your lack of a weapon?” she asked him pointedly. “I didn’t and still don’t feel reassured by your lack of a weapon because it means you don’t work as part of a team on a daily basis. This is a TEAM mission. Lord Death made that much fairly obvious and there ain’t nothin’ about you that shows me you can do that. That is what makes a two star meister or a three star meister… teamwork. Not ability. Heck, anyone at the academy can punch me in the face and I’ll admit it! I’m not happy about it, but I’m not a fighter. I’m a marksman. And me and Smoky here, we know how to pull that off. Together. We watch each other’s backs even when one of us,” she made a very pointed glare at Skyler for a moment as if she was talking about him, “decides to be an idiot sometimes. And because we’re used to watching each other’s back, we watch other people’s backs too.”


Jessyka glared for a moment at him while she tried to figure out how to say what she next wanted to say. “And then you walk in. No partner. No weapon. Whatever. You start showing off some fancy soul abilities and you expect me to put value in you based on that, even after you say you took this job to test your own technique - something that is purely personal. You have shown me no regard for the TEAM, Paul Wright, because if you’re busy worrying about some new technique, you can’t very well be paying much attention to watching someone else’s back.”


Jessyka sighed, realizing exactly how long her little rant had been, but at the same time, she felt like every last word of it needed to be said.

 

[Pariah Stark]

Paul Wright

​

Event: Sand Dunes and Nightmares


Tags: @Violet Obsidian


@AnnoDomini

Pual listened to her. She had a few valid points. Sure, Paul had no weapon. He reveled in that fact, however. He took immense pride in what he accomplished on his own. To just tell him that it was something she gave no value to was ignorant. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, and whether she liked it or not, she just told him she didn't value the very thing he worked so immensely hard for. But, it was more than that, really. Paul didn't work in teams on a daily basis. It was a weak spot of his, sure. In fact, he felt an odd superiority to every weapon-meister duo because he was arguably just as strong on his own. Just as strong as a single individual. Few Meisters could take him on alone and even stand a chance and even fewer weapons. To just disregard that, to Paul, was pure ignorance. Probably most of all, though, is that she continuously brought up the fact that Paul decided to take this mission because he wanted to test his Magic Disruption ability. It was the truest of all of her points; he wouldn't have taken a mission so early if not for how perfect this one happened to be for his development. Yet, at the same time, Paul felt immensely conflicted at the sentiment that he shouldn't strive for that level of aggressive development.


"I'll tell you what, Pinky. You want to tell me that you lack faith in my ability to perform as a teammate, but here's the fact. I came to you right now to tell you that I had full intentions of working with you and that I had no intention of failing you. Let me repeat that for you. I came to you about it. This could have been positive reinforcement for teamwork between you and I, but what did you do? You just go on explaining how I lack teamwork. How I, whom outstretched his hand to you, won't be able to work with others. Let's face the facts. Twice, once through showing you my wavelength control and once through verbal communication, I tried to reassure you. I tried to get off on a good note. Twice, Jessyka, and each time, you reacted like a spoiled little girl with a superiority complex. As for watching your back, I said way back in the Death Room that whether or not I tried my new technique ultimately was your decision. One of the first things I said, in fact," Paul replied to her in a very matter-of-fact tone. There was a finality in his voice. A sense that if anything tried to stop him, he would only keep going. But, more than that, it was an immense sense of condescension.


"So, Jessyka, on that final note, let's start this mission off with a big, 'Fuck you.' You can tell Lord Death I said that, too, when we get back. If you don't like it, I'll be glad to explain to him how you decided to just downright chew into me when I tried to be nice and we'll see how long you keep your Two Star rank treating people like that. As for me? I earned my position with skill, not my attitude. Thing is, I'll have my talent without you. But you? On your own, you're nothing," Paul added. His tone changed. He was far more aggressive. Far more hateful, really. "I think I can handle that thought. As for the rest of this mission, I'mma do as I damn well please, and if you don't like it, we can go back on the next bus and again I can gladly explain how your poor leadership ended this mission before it began and potentially endangered dozens by prolonging our investigation," Paul said, forcing this last amendment to his previous addition. Paul was not one to cross. He was not one to settle for being treated poorly.


Paul then slid back out of his seat and went to the back of the bus again, but not before one final note: "And, as for this conversation, it's over. Just like any attempt I'll make to put up with your bullshit."

 

[D3lmoniko]

Skylar Emerson

​

Skylar too went back to his room and got a backpack with some stuff. Some sandwiches, sodas, bandages, and some sleeping pills. After the encounter with the devil dog, he had problems sleeping. After a while, he even got bags under his eyes, but nowadays, they subsided a little. He was being careful to hide them form Jessyka, as to not get her worried.


In the buss, he smiled at Jessyka when she sat near him. Staring out the window, he was lost in his own thoughts. He heard Paul starting to talk, but he already gave him a bad impression. Hearing him kind-of bragging about his abilities, made Skylar's skin crawl. He then heard Jessyka talk about ability and teamwork, and memories of him waking up in the hospital due to exhaustion. He raised his hand when he heard the word 'idiot' from Jessyka.


As soon as he heard the word 'Pinky', Smoky raised from his seat, looking at Paul. "You know what, you are worthless. I don't even know why Shinigami sama even sent you on this mission. You lack leadership, lack teamwork, and are a general spoiled alone brat. I understand Jessyka doesn't really know how to talk to people, but if you are gonna have a dick fighting competition with a girl, you have the world's cruelest handicap. It's no wonder you are alone. We will protect you, but remember this : it is not out of kindness. It's an obligation to babysit you." Skylar sits down and looks out the window again, putting his hand on his head, his head pulsating a little. He could hear a faint vice in his head, like speaking out of pure anger.


@Violet Obsidian @Pariah Stark

 

[Pariah Stark]

Paul Wright

​

Event: Sand Dunes and Nightmares


Tags: @Violet Obsidian


@AnnoDomini

Paul stopped. Skyler, the weapon he formerly viewed as relatively quiet and bearable decided to speak up against him. And, in all honesty, he probably shouldn't have. Jessyka and Skyler just did something they honestly shouldn't have. They tested Paul. They pressed down on a nerve they shouldn't have. They were equally to blame, if not more so than him. Paul at the very least tried to be civil, but they just decided to make it impossible. Then, to go on and insult him. No, that just wouldn't do. Two Star Meister or not, that wouldn't do. Leader or not, that wouldn't do. Paul was going to show them their place.


"Alright, you pretentious little punk. I'm going to explain why you're wrong and what I'm going to do about it," Paul told them.


"I'm no spoiled brat. My parents died to a terrorist attack when I was two. I went from orphanage to orphanage with a half-packed suitcase most of my life. I came to the DWMA because I want to make sure kids don't ever have to grow up how I did. I don't even remember my parents. I came to this school so that no one would ever have to sit alone at night and look at pictures of two people they don't even know and just wonder what a life with them would be like. I came to the DWMA so that fewer kids in this world have to know what it feels like not to be wanted. Calling me spoiled is ignorant, and I expect nothing less from a weapon like you.


You want to know why I'm alone, you little ingrate? Because one noon-time lunch, someone decided the lives of forty-three people and countless more were worthless when they blew up a law firm. I grew up alone. I saw friends come and go. I've been in this world alone and I don't need to hear about it from a little punk like you.


But, I don't need your protection and the moment we step off this bus, I'm gonna prove. Know how? I'm going to kick your ass. I'm going to kick her ass. And, I'm going to stand over both of you until you realize it is you that needs protection. You won't get away from me. The moment I separate you is the moment you both become abso-fucking-lutely worthless. I can fight alone. I can beat you alone. I don't need anyone else. That makes you weaker. And, the next one of you to say a cross word to me is gonna find out how much Soul Menace stings when it hits your jaw. Or, just do it; you might save yourself the wait.


I said it once. I'll say it again. I'm not putting up with your bullshit even if I have to bust your jaw until its too sore to move."


Paul gave them a long rant. But, not just a long rant. It was a direct threat, and Paul meant every word. He intended fully to just beat the ever-living shit out of them once they got off this bus. He didn't work this hard for this long to be disrespectful. He wasn't going to be told that he needed protection. If his previous display didn't prove he was capable, he would force them to accept it when they spit up blood on the ground. Paul had no tolerance for this attitude, period. But, he also wasn't stupid. By the end of his rant, he held only one clenched fist out waiting. The other was on his pocket on his phone, twiddling with a few features. At the end of his rant, he had activated the voice recording feature on his phone. Everything said from hereon in would be recorded at his disposal. He was playing no games.

 

[Sunbather]

Giles Riven & Zarren


Name: Giles Riven


Nickname: The Halfsleeper


Location: On the bus


Class: EAT


Mood: Annoyed


Tags: @Pariah Stark @Violet Obsidian @AnnoDomini

While her three fellow students went for each other's throats, Riven's pale right cheek was pressed against the cool glass of the bus's window, her face slowly sliding downwards, the skin and flesh of her face following with delay due to the pressure of her head. A barely audible squeak was created, accentuating the process. Admittedly, the situation was various degrees too hot for someone like Riven to handle just as it was for Zarren, who, admittedly, could "handle" it, but would not improve the relations whatsoever, but she was still condemningly passive about the fact her very own teammates were about to fight one another. Zarren croaked out complaints about "the brats being noisy as fuck" under his breath, and somehow managed to uphold his hoarse intonation. Riven noticed herself feeling more and more stressed out - possibly because a rather pretty girl was, again, possibly, in need of protection from harm. Scenarios like these are one of the few cases where even Riven understood how to score points.

"Please..." she muttered out, lifting herself away from the window and into a more upright position. Her fingers switched back and forth between rubbing her temples and the bridge of her nose, the later being noteworthy because Riven is part of the abysmal minority that does not seem annoyed when she rubs the bridge of her nose rather than simply under pressure in a neutral kind of way. Finally letting up from her head and revealing a slightly pink tone where her fingers were, the skin slightly reddened from her prolonged pressure, Riven's lavender eyes zeroed in on first Jessyka and Skylar, then Paul, then becoming glassy as if she had focused onto something in the far off background behind the lot of them.


"Look..."


Zarren slowly fully spiraled out of Riven's back now, like a screw shooting out in impossible speed. "I know you don't like each other but..." But what indeed - Riven wasn't reticent for a lack of interest in communication so much as that she simply never knows what to say. "Just don't fight..." Her left eyelid appeared to twitch because she constantly renewed a lopsided grimace, resembling an infant biting down on something grotesquely sour, thus pushing her cheek upwards and squinting her eye involuntarily.


Zarren, who had, contrary to usual habit, coughed politely (?) every four or five seconds to signal his intent to speak instead of waltzing all over his unluckily stick-figure-esque host. "I dun' like to admit id (like it) but pancake face 's rite. Y'all awf'lly retarded, wit wut bitchslappin' each other cuz of sum shit lyke dat."


Riven had returned to rub the bridge of her nose, now flattening her hand as much as possible to shield her face from view, while hiding the fact she was trying to hide from the others by upholding the facade of rubbing her nose. Her breathing had sped up a little, though the more obvious change in it was the wheezing sound that slumbered so far quietly. "Just... calm down..." Frankly, Riven had two motivations to try and defuse the situation, and neither were particularly noble - a fact causing her to feel guilt somewhere inbetween the vortex of emotions. For one, the conflict was simply annoying her. Even a modest, withdrawn personality like Riven had such breaking points, and hers was considerably low. The other being, Riven always had felt and contiues to feel an unsatiable urge to try and be and be seen as valuable. Surely intervening in such a matter would accomplish that. At least a little.

 

[LavenderRain]

Jessyka Volontari

Classification: EAT 2-Star Meister


Partner: “Smoky” Skylar Emerson


Location: On a Bus


Tags: @AnnoDomini @Pariah Stark

Jessyka glared at Paul as he lectured her, her eyes flooded with the intensity of rage although she kept it in check and she let him speak. Actually, she was listening to every word of what he said even though her expression may not have showed it. A few errant thoughts ran through her head and although Jessyka didn’t immediately rebuttal, she stored them in the confines of her memory with every intention of pulling them back out later if needed.


You showing off your wavelength was an attempt at reassurance? Fuck that! You don’t reassure someone by showing off so wherever you think someone told you that, you better go back and take a hard look at what they might have been trying to say ‘cause either they were dead wrong or you completely misunderstood. Ultimately, if Paul had never done that simple little thing, none of this would’ve been happening in the first place. The simple fact that you joined this mission to test out a new technique rather than to help the people who are unable to sleep at night shows outright that you’re selfish and self-centered. That’s not what you go on missions for… not when you’re a meister of the DWMA.


I earned my position through years and years of practice. I earned my position because I never miss. I earned my position because I always ALWAYS do whatever I can to protect my weapon partner and because I always put the TEAM before developing my own skill. That was where Jessyka grew hesitant with the arguments building up in her mind. She knew that Paul could very likely beat her and she knew that he was very likely stronger than her. The simple matter of the fact was that most meisters were physically stronger than her. She didn’t use brute force. She used Smoky and she didn’t miss her target. In resonance, in communication, in all things that bound a weapon and a meister, Jessyka and Smoky were two of the best in the DWMA - well, most of the time.


Unfortunately, this was one of the times where her and Smoky were on completely different pages. When Skylar stood up and started insulting Paul repeatedly, Jessyka was quick to whack him hard in the back of the head. While Jessyka realized she had been quite rude in her own words to Paul, she hadn’t intended to insult him without reason; she thought she had a point to what she was saying and she still did think there was a point to it. However, Smoky’s words were simply meant to insult from what she heard and that went against even what she was ok with. And Paul had a rebuttal. Jessyka didn’t like what she heard. After her own words to him, she had been fairly sure they could at least avoid a fight which would have been best for her and best for the mission, but now that seemed entirely impossible. Before she replied to Paul, however, Jessyka had a few choice words for her weapon partner.


“Smoky, you numb-nuts!!!” she smacked his head again. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!? Insulting people is my job and if you’re going to throw those kind of words around you better make sure you can back them up! You’re still not fully recovered from the last time you got in over your head!!!” Jessyka’s hand latched onto Skylar’s hand activating their soul bond which was something she rarely ever did. ’If I’ve heard right about him, Smoky, I can’t beat him and we have to put the mission first. So please shut up!’


Turning to Paul, Jessyka made a show of slapping Skylar one more time as she growled. “Please ignore my numbskull of a partner. The only reason he spoke up at all,” Jessyka was willing to bet, “was because you insulted me. And honestly, that was only fair since I insulted you.” She had admitted that what she said had been rude.


“Let me make a few things clear. One: I NEVER said I was the leader. You did that yourself. I merely didn’t object. Two: physical prowess is not the only measure of strength. If you’ve been going to the DWMA for long enough, I surely hope you know that by now. Three: while I won’t take back what I said, Smoky’s words were not his own. He is my partner, and I can tell you based on the soul connection that I can attain with him - something you will NEVER have - that he was merely defending me because he’s an idiot like that. Your fight, Paul Wright, is with me. Lastly: know this. I WILL see this mission through to completion with or without you because the fact of the matter is regardless of how much you hate me or how much I hate you, that is what I am here for.” Before she finished her little schpeal, Jessyka clamped a hand over Skylar’s mouth, wincing as she did so, but she didn’t want him to say anything else. This was her problem, not his.

 

[Pariah Stark]

Paul Wright

​

Event: Sand Dunes and Nightmares


Tags: @Violet Obsidian


@AnnoDomini

Paul listened to her. Her rant. Every part of it, both before and after her weapon interrupted. He listened to Riven and Zarren, too, but despite his general repulsion towards them, they were far less influential on his current anger. Down to it, Jessyka couldn't get over the fact that Paul decided to debut his ability in front of Lord Death - whom himself applauded Paul for it - and even further disliked his motivation. It was beyond her. It was most definitely beyond her. And, oddly enough, she was blind to his initial attempt at becoming part of the team. Maybe the sour taste left in her mouth from the Death Room sincerely lingered this long and it kept her other senses dull to what he was trying to do. Maybe, and this was a real possibility even Paul himself acknowledged, he just plain wasn't good enough at communication. No matter, though, it didn't fix the solution.


"Every point you made... is lost. Consider this your next lesson, Jessyka. Learn to watch your pretty, little mouth, or someone is gonna shut it for you. You'll see this mission through, sure. Through a black eye. You will not; you can not treat me or others like that an expect it to be fine. And I already know you're gonna tell me that I can't go beating down my teammates, and you know what? You're right. You're absolutely right, Jessyka, I shouldn't act out in pure violence to my allies because they've made me angry, but..." Paul paused. He offered her a nonchalant shrug. He even teetered his hands in front of them as if they were scales. Paul wasn't even going to treat this like a problem she could solve anymore. "...I don't care. I have full intentions on completing this mission with or without any of you, even if I'm the reason you go back to the DWMA early. So, we're on the same page. Your best bet is to take your beating like a big girl and learn from it. Fact is, I didn't deserve how you treated me and you probably don't deserve what I fully intend on doing to you."


Paul then stepped back with a cocky smirk. With his hands in the air, he charged them fully, letting the full course of his Soul Menace course between them. Bright blue sparks flew between them, arcing and causing heat to fill the air. His Soul Menace was not something to scoff at, either. It was a three Star technique for a reason; it was the only technique that had Soul Force amplifying itself instead of just manifesting itself. It was a show of mastery over Wavelength. He wasn't doing this just to intimidate her, either. He was doing this to piss her off. She hated how he just boasted his wavelength control the first time, but that was whimsical. Fanciful, really. Just wisps in the air, impressive in their own degree. But Soul Menace was raw power. Painful... power.


Paul then looked over at Riven and Zarren before adding, "And, if you don't keep your mouth shut - both of you - you'll be next after her. This is the third time I've said it:

I'm not putting up with bullshit... from anyone."

​

 

[Sunbather]

Giles Riven & Zarren


Name: Giles Riven


Nickname: The Halfsleeper


Location: On the bus


Class: EAT


Mood: Upset (Riven) Psyched (Zarren)


Tags:

The route of the technique displayed in front of Jessyka's body in all its blue jittering force wasn't all that long, given their surroundings, yet two pairs of eyes - belonging to Riven and Zarren - followed it, slowly homing in on the pink haired meister. In sync, both of their heads begin to tilt, along with the descend, then fell motionless as the energy seemed to fade out into nothingness. The frizzy static still wavering in the air, threatening, a hoarse, jeering laughter escaped Zarren's inky black snout.

"Goh-oh-oh, she gonna get rekt, oh-oh!"


The conflict being exactly to his taste, Zarren was too pre-occupied to concern himself any deeper with the made threat - one that, for him, was very much relevant to his well-being, as if another reminder of his - to put it bluntly - stupidity was needed. While Zarren's amusement and the creeping intimidation soaking through his skull kept him quite occupied, Riven had already set her thin frame in motion. There wasn't much that gave her faintly lavender stare much life, but with no personal objection to the school's business and a rather strict sense of gratefulness, this kind of "barbaric" misconduct seemed like the most grotesquely twisted felony she could possibly conjure up in her mind.


"Hey", she muttered out, her voice inhibited as usual, in that almost strained kind of a person adopts when they are taught from an early age on not to speak up, "what are you doing?"


Despite her repressed nature, a hint of accusation wafted through the air as the hazel-haired host hurried towards Jessyka's shape, quickly standing by her side. Skylar was only perceived as a gold-piked smudge in her hastiness though the atmosphere so undoubtedly affected him that Riven still felt as if she could sense anger or confusion radiating off of him. At least that's what she thought.


"LET'S JUST LET EVERYONE BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF-"


An exceptional (interrupted) display of lacking tact later, Zarren placed both his hands together, one hand on top of the other, suddenly looking apologetically at Riven's outstandingly furrowed brows and cold eyes. A rare display.


"Okay, okay..."


With the black blood creature silenced, Riven attended Jessyka, carefully sliding a hand beneath her back, so that she could aid the girl mentally. A lack of experience lead her reactions to be unproportional most of the time, so that, while the attack surely showed its strength, Riven unreasonably acted as if a near-death scenario had just occured. After further denying Paul any acknowledgement and amateurishly inquiring about Jessyka's state of mind, she finally acted less like the witness of slaughter, but the outraged student she was.


Her eyes glued to the ground, still uncomfortable with conflicts, she muffled out a few unintelligible words. In contrast, Zarren glared like a caught stalker.


"This is not okay..." Riven finally muffled out. "No... Not okay at all. Awful..."


The speech appeared to cause her great discomfort, and with a last low-volume "He's bad...", an additional "...and wrong...", a little pause and, finally, another drawn out "No", Riven pushed open the door of the now slowly puttering bus mid-route, bending her knees.


"EY!", Zarren complained, "I wann' see moar beef!".


Riven already jumping off, his shriek was drowned out by the amassing distance and the sound of shoes grinding against the sandy earth.


...


"Let's go back..."


"YOU MEAN WALK?!"


(as discussed with @DaughterofAthena, Riven is now on her way back to the Academy)

 

[Lady Warlock]

Jessyka Volontari, Skylar Emerson and Paul Wright

At Paul's display of raw and pure power, even Jessyka had to take a step back. It was not a step back out of fear, though. It was a step back out of caution and her hand grabbed on to Skylar's shirt, pulling him back along with her. She didn't step back further than a single step, knowing that to step back any further would look so much more like a sign of submission than just a single step would. "Same can be said to you, Paul Wright," Jessyka sneered. "You cannot expect to show off and be treated with respect because of it! Because that was where you went wrong, Paul Wright. Showing off will get you nowhere with me or anyone else for that matter."


Jessyka's eyes were focused solely on Paul as her eyes curled into an intense glare. She could sense Skylar standing next to her; the presence of her partner wasn't something she could ever fail to notice. However, at that moment in time, Jessyka wouldn't have noticed if he had decided to say anything. Such was her frustration at the entire situation.


Skylar stood in his place listening to Paul's story. He recognized some points of his story, it was almost like his own. But something really had gone awfully wrong for him. He started to feel bad about what he said, and his hand slowly went to Jessyka's mouth, sighing. "...That means s-she agrees." He looked down at Jessyka, a sad smile on his face. He then took his hand from her mouth, standing straight and looked at Paul, the smile gone.


Paul heard every word of her reply and even listened to the half-hearted comment made by Skylar. As he said before, however, these points were lost on them. She told him that 'the same can be said about you', but he already told her that she was right. He already told her that he shouldn't be treating his teammates this way. He told her that he didn't care. Every word that spilled from her mouth just seemed pointless to Paul because he had already replied to her. In fact, he was fairly sure he knew exactly what she would reply with to just about anything he told her at this point, and that honestly only made it dull.


"It doesn't matter now," Paul replied to both of them. The sparks from his hands died down and he grabbed the beat-up old seat of the bus. While there was heat in the air from his technique, the tension between the three seemed to cool. Mostly because Paul decided to step back, only holding onto the seat long enough to add, "It doesn't matter who's fault it is, either. Someone is getting hurt at our stop." With that, Paul let go of the seat, shrugged off any comments they could have made, then slipped his hands back into his pockets before making his way to the back of the bus. There he sat until they reached Dunsmuir.


Jessyka pulled Skylar into the seat nearest to the two of them and simply watched out the window as the journey continued. She didn't say anything to him. Part of her didn't want to argue with another person and she didn't know what Skylar would say if she started to talk to him. However, when the bus did come to a stop, Jessyka held out her hand to him. "We're going to fight, Smoky. I'm going to fight. Are you with me?"


Looking up at Jessyka, a smile crept on his face. "... You know I would join you even in the face of certain death. Yes, I am with you." His hand grabbed her and, in a matter of seconds, he took his weapon form. 'I-I might be a little rusty. But w-we can take him.'


'This isn't certain death, Smoky,' Jessyka spoke into their shared mind space. 'This is just an idiot who doesn't know his place. And I was just an idiot who didn't know mine.' It was a rare thing for Jessyka to admit she had made a mistake, and it was not something that she would've ever said out loud. In the silence of their minds, though, Jessyka said it. 'And I'm sorry I dragged you into it.'


Standing up from her seat as the bus jolted to a halt, Jessyka glanced back to Paul still sitting in the back of the bus. Her eyes were still flooded with fury, but they also contained a certain determination. She threw that single glance back at him before she walked off the bus and looked around. She kept her sense of Paul within the forefront of her mind, though. Jessyka could sense his soul. She wouldn't let him get the better of her by catching her off guard. That much was certain.


It had been a few hours, but the bus finally stopped in their little locale of California. Paul always wanted to come here, but right this second, he had something more important to be excited about. When Jessyka darted him her evil, little glare, he replied with a silent, petulant smirk and a light of intrigue in his brown eyes. His Soul Perception was just as active as hers, but he had no intention of striking her before the fight had truly begun. No, not in the slightest. In fact, he got off the bus after her, sat his travel bag a few feet away from their luggage, then began to walk a good set of ten or fifteen paces away from them. He was giving them range. He was giving them the advantage they needed.


"You know, Jess, if not for your annoying attittude, I'd most definitely call you cute. Not as cute as the last girl that pestered me, but definitely up there. I totally dig the hair," Paul told her, retaining his arrogant smirk. His attitude had shifted. He was angry before, but he had an odd sense of jubilee in regard to this fight. Something about getting to duel was just enthralling to him. Soon after, though, Paul took a fighting stance and completely released his Soul, revealing to Jessyka his presence. His Soul was exactly what one would expect from someone that did nothing but train it; a dense, dark blue haze in a perfect sphere quite larger than most and dancing around Paul with its own fury. Paul was ready.

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Jessyka's eyes narrowed at Paul as he spoke. "You know, Paul Wright," she began exactly as he did and that was entirely intentional on Jessyka's part. "I'd like to know what the fuck in your funny little head made you think you have any right to call me Jess." She didn't seem to care at all about his compliment.


'You ready, Smoky?' Jessyka's attention turned to the weapon in her hand as she saw Paul's fully revealed soul. Without even waiting for a reply, Jessyka started passing soul wavelengths to her partner, willing him to grow them stronger. 'We need the first shot to be perfect. We've got the distance now and I don't know how long we'll have that.'


'G-Got it senpai.' Skylar smiled, as he felt her wavelength. 'Just p-point me where you need me, and squeeze the trigger.' In his mind, however, a voice was letting out a small laugh, a very malicious one. Skylar ignored it for the moment, but the sound still persisted until it soon faded away.


Jessyka could feel her wavelength amplifying as it passed into her weapon partner, but it still wasn't enough. She continued passing wavelengths back and forth, two and from Skylar as she held her weapon at her side. Her pink hair blew behind her, forced away from her body by the pure power she was building within her soul, within her weapon, within her very being as the energy gathered around her. 'Almost there, Smoky,' she uttered into their mindscape.


'Soul Resonance!' Their minds echoed the thought throughout their mindscape as the power of their combined soul reached the precipice of power and Jessyka finally aimed her weapon, and pulled the trigger.


A stream of brilliant pink energy released itself from the barrel, firing entirely straight and rapidly expanding. The heat of it was equal to, if not stronger than, the feeling of Paul's Soul Menace and the pure vastness of the shot came to conceal Paul from Jessyka's view although she could still sense his soul. She still knew her aim was true.


At this point, Paul was sure Jessyka vastly underestimated his Soul Perception. He could sense each cycle between her and Skylar. Each time their wavelength amplified itself, each time their Soul Resonance made them stronger. Not only that, he could feel how much. In the calmness that surrounded him, he analyzed the situation, staying still and calculatng just how powerful the shot would be.


Down to it, Paul knew he couldn't meet her head on. Even his Soul Menace wasn't capable of handling the consistent power her attack would unleash. His advantage, however, is that he knew she was using it. He knew the direction of the shot. He saw her barrel, felt her wavelength, felt her Resonance. Once the shot fired, all Paul had to do was time himself.


And then she did. The crackling of the energy that radiated off of her shot was the first thing he heard, but Paul wasn't working off what he heard. It was what he felt. As soon as the shot was fired, Paul side-stepped. The range he gave her wasn't to her advantage. It was to his. The further away she shot, the more time he had to react to it.


As the bright pink blast barreled past him, he charged his Soul Force and ran straight through the field created by her. It was no secret her attack was strong and no doubt she was powerful for it, but power wasn't everything. Paul used his Soul Force to cut through whatever streams of energy crackled off her blast, grinding his Soul Force straight down the residual beam as if he were cutting it and tearing through the neon pink afterglow with his own dark blue wavelength. Paul made a mad dash at her, and now he knew exactly how long it took for her to charge her attack.


Jessyka could sense him charging towards her and she could sense the Soul Force in his hand. 'We won't have time to charge another, Smoky.' Instead she reaimed her weapon and fired again; this shot lacked the significant power that the first had possessed, but she fired faster, now. Each shot was followed quickly and swiftly by another as she slowly began to take steps backward, trying to maintain some of the distance between them.


Again and again and again she fired, shot after shot of small bursts of wavelength - her wavelength and Smoky's combined. Even amidst her constant shower of shots, though, Jessyka knew he was getting closer.


'Just k-keep using small bursts. We can out last h-him...' He slurred the word 'him', as his headache began to manifest itself. The same laugh, it was taunting him. "Shut up!" Skylar yells, the next shot shooting a much stronger burst of wavelength. It was not a god thing, as this could interrupt the soul resonance. The laugh again fades away, still chuckling with glee. 'S-Sorry senpai, just something on my mind.'


Jessyka flooded Skylar with wavelength before pulling it all back. 'Last time you had something on your mind, you did something stupid, Smoky! Don't you DARE think about doing that again!' She yelled at him briefly although she continued firing.


While Jessyka and Skylar had their internal conflict, Paul was continuously assessing the situation. He could measure how powerful each shot was. In fact, the first one that neared him, he punched out of the air using his Soul Force. It stung, but it worked. However, it was an unrealistic method of dealing with their upcoming barrage. Paul had to think smart. He knew he was faster than Jessyka, so catching her would be no problem. Not to mention, she was running backwards while he was going forwards. He had an advantage on two fronts.


Paul decided it was time to use the techniques that set him aside from all other Meisters. Not only did he begin to strafe back and forth as he lunged forward, making him a significantly harder target to hit and dodging a handful of shots, he shielded his body using Soul Force: Projection. Even if she landed a shot, and she most likely would, most of it would be mitigated. Paul was absolutely sure he would reach her before she broke through his bodily barrier, in part due to his superior speed and in part due to his dodging. She was only a few paces in front of him. Her plan of "just fire more" wouldn't even begin to work.


Jessyka could see that her shots weren't landing. They were on target, aimed perfectly, and then they jost stopped. Jessyka could sense that something was protecting him. It was... his own soul? She had never heard of such a thing but it did make her hesitate. Her hand on the trigger stopped with it's consistency. She sent more of her wavelength into her weapon partner - not intending to produce another resonatingly powerful shot because she knew she didn't have that much time - but she still knew she needed something more powerful than what she had been firing. Little bursts weren't enough.


Jessyka stood there, pouring her soul into Skylar's weapon form as she watched Paul get closer and closer, knowing that she was pouring her energy into one more shot. One more attempt to hit him with enough to make him stop, to buy her some time to regain her distance. Just when Paul was only a few feet away from her, Jessyka rose her weapon again and fired the shot. Stronger than the little bursts, streaming with a glowing pink aura, it wasn't quite the first shot, but it certainly packed a punch on its own.


Jessyka was getting desperate. Paul could sense it. She altered her firing pattern and even tried to charge a stronger shot. He was closer to her, but even from his initial distance, these were things he could sense. Of all of his abilities, his Soul Perception was easily his strongest. Not Soul Menace. Not Projection, Disruption or Adhesion. Soul Perception granted him knowledge, and knowledge was power. The moment he felt her charging, he knew she couldn't fire while she did. So he increased his pace, sprinting at her as fast as possible to bridge the gap.


What Jessyka might have forgotten is too big of a blast too close would hurt her, too, and that was his plan. Paul didn't dodge her oncoming shot. All he did was hold fast and enforce his Projection. Her blast succeeded in cracking it, the pink burst making pink lines run through the blue force that surrounded him, and true, even he was hit with the concussive force. But, at this range, so would Jessyka, and there was nothing protecting her. Paul had to stop, the wind knocked out of him, but he still stood and was just waiting to see what happened to Jessyka from the backlash.


Jessyka smirked as she could sense the power in her own shot. However, that smirk quickly washed off of her face as she realized how close he was and how close that meant she was to her own shot. She was about to step back, to turn and run, but she couldn't beat it. She couldn't come close. Jessyka felt the sheer force of the blast as she was knocked entirely off of her feet although she wasn't completely consumed by it. The wavelength was her own shot, simply with some of Skylar's wavelength added in. She couldn't deal with the force of it, but any underlying damage was negated because the shot matched her own soul.


No longer on her feet, Jessyka could still sense Paul as he endured the force of the blast and she rose Skylar in her hand and fired another shot, aiming for the exact spot that she had cracked his 'soul shield'... because that's what it looked like to her. Paul, however, could sense this. Her shot would have easily broken the shield, had it kept it. Instead, as the pink blast rushed through the air, Paul lowered his shield and used his regular Soul Force to strike it, a single punch meeting the shot. Like before, it stung. Like before, it worked.


"To answer your question, Jess" he told her as she began to charge Soul Menace throughout his body. He may have been cocky, but he wasn't giving her an opening. He wasn't wasting time. "BECAUSE I FUCKING CAN!" he streamed at her before stomping his foot directly into the ground, causing his Soul Menace to discharge and an explosion to happen in front of him. Rocks and bits of earth flew into the air and at Jessyka, not only being a painful pelt on their own, but giving Paul cover to dive in and grab at her gun hand.


In a single instant, everything about Jessyka shut down completely. Her Soul Perception, her link with Skylar, her attitude, the vicious glare in her eyes... all of them were gone like that, and it wasn't because she was being pelted with rocks and earth and dirt. That wasn't it at all.


Jessyka screamed. Her feet lashed out, kicking at Paul's legs hard, not in anger, but in irrational terror. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" She cried out violently, using her feet to try to kick herself backwards as she yanked at her arm, trying to get it free from his grip. Completely forgetting about Skylar, Jessyka dropped the weapon in her hand as she tried to squirm and snake her arm out of Paul's grip.


As the gun dropped to the ground, Skylar returned to his normal form. Looking at the battle, he put both of his hands on Paul's shirt, trying to get him off of Jessyka. The chuckling in his head was again coming back, and Skylar's face was brimed with a smile. A small voice could be heard from his head 'Bite him...'. At this point, Skylar could not fight the voice, and, as crazy as it sounded, he sank his teeth in Paul's left arm.


Something was different about Skylar. Something inside him had changed, and quite frankly, Paul didn't quite care about it as much. The mother fucker bit him. While it hurt, and yes it did, it was just the thought that this kid bit him. The literal fuck? Paul immediately responded by channeling his Soul Menace through his arm, trying to discharge Skylar off of him. With blood from bite marks running down his arm, he grabbed Skylar to yank him in for a harsh headbutt. Not just any headbutt, though. This was a bona fide Soul Menace headbutt. Paul didn't really want to hurt Skylar, BUT HE FUCKING BIT HIM. Something just completely infuriated Paul about that, so he held back nothing.


Growling at Paul, the two heads connected. Everything went black for Skylar, but a voice could still be heard and a face would appear before him. It was the devil dog, tempting him. As he was falling back, blood started to spew from his nose and mouth, landing on his back, mouth open.


After letting Skylar fall free, Paul turned his attention back to Jessyka. She was afraid. In a panic. She was broken. All of her talk, and this is what she became. A wreck. He hadn't even hit her yet, and she was sniveling and beggining him - no, demanding he leave her be. "Sorry, Jess, but I made you a promise.You will feel the sting... but don't worry too much; I won't hurt your pretty... little... face," Paul told her before yanking her by her arm. With the same hand Skylar bit, he charged his Soul Menace up once and plunged it into her stomach, letting a continuous stream of his potent, crackling wavelength pour into her.


Jessyka's scream continued. She didn't even hear what Paul had said, or if she did, she showed no signs of it at all. Her arm continued to squirm in his grasp, even as his Soul Menace attack hit her firmly in the gut. All the wind was knocked out of her lungs, but even more than that, the sheer shock of it coursed throughout every inch of her body and her scream quickly became a wail of pain.


"STOP!" A new voice came into play, inturrupting everything that was currently happening. Inturrupting the fight, inturrupting the panic, inturrupting the screaming. Although the students may not have known for certain who she was, it wouldn't have been hard to figure out that she was their contact for the mission. Who else would've showed up at the bus station to meet up with them? She was the only one standing there afterall.


Paul continued allowing his crackling wavelength to pour into Jessyka for a moment longer than he probably should've. His eyes filled with menace equivalent to the force of his attack and for a moment, it looked like he had no intentions of stopping. However, after only a moment longer, he pulled his hand out of her gut and turned his head violently to look at the newcomer.


Jessyka took the moment to catch up on her breathing and allow her screams to trickle away. She quickly scrambled to her feet and dragged Skylar by his shirt as she pulled him and herself as far away from Paul as she could possibly manage. "You're not a 1-Star Meister, Paul Wright. You're a monster!" Jessyka sneered it at him as much as she could manage before she turned to regard the woman.


"We're leaving now. Don't worry. We have no intentions of destroying your city and I have no intentions of working with him any longer." Jessyka dragged her partner back onto the bus, telling the driver to turn around and bring them back to Death City.


As she walked down the aisle, she set Skylar down on a seat next to Zarren and Riven and she tried to smile at the two of them. "I'm sorry... I don't know exactly what I'm sorry for, but I'm sorry." Her words were sincere. "Will you make sure he doesn't fly around too much?" She gestured to Skylar. "I'm... I'm n-not feeling so w-well..." As she said it, Jessyka fell into the seat behind Skylar. She wasn't quite unconscious, but she couldn't support herself any longer. She had exhausted herself trying to fight Paul and trying to fight her own fear.


"Leave!" Mayor Vuleria commanded of the boy who remained outside with her. "Anyone capable of such violence, whether started by you or not, is not welcome in my city."


Without saying a word, Paul got back onto the bus. He wasn't finished, though. He still hadn't proven his point. Taking as seat at the front of the bus, brooding within the confines of his own mind, Paul avoided the other pairs as the bus turned around, heading back to the city it had come from with all the same passengers on board.


Collab With: @AnnoDomini @Violet Obsidian


Tags: @Sunbather

This mission is being labeled a failure. It will be reopened for people to join again because the problem that requires addressing still exists. For now, students may interact on the bus and will return to the DWMA shortly.