Fandom Soul Eater: F.A.T.E

[Merciless Medic]

Noah Wiley​

Date: April 12, 2067
Location: Deda Village, Romania
Interaction: Gauss, Arkayis, Elly, Midori, Annika
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul Peckinou EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Mook-LandStrider The Regal Rper

The souls were theirs to consume, and Noah let Arkayis have the Baroness’s double’s soul, while he took her weapon’s. He had actually heard of the proper way to take in a soul after reviewing some classes he took ages ago (really felt like a long time), and he brought it into his body, letting its essence slowly yet surely integrate with his own.

Despite this not being a witch soul, he still saw flashes and glimpses of her life. It wasn't intense, and the emotions were muted, but he got the picture. A frightened girl, confused, alone, scared, in a time period where it was harsh with nary a technology to make living better. She was abducted, put into the slave market, found her weapon form, and saw the Baroness later, where she became her personal servant and a vampire? Thrall? Noah didn't know the difference. The emotions of fear, but determination and having a purpose came, then its sorrow near the end.

He didn't know what to feel. It was surely not as intense as a witch's, but this one... Regardless of its intensity, he felt so sorry for this poor girl. Then he realized... It could've been him. An orphaned kid, losing his home, being a weapon, and-... If the DWMA hadn't taken him in, he wondered just what would've happened to him, especially in Portland, Oregon of all places.

He didn't want to think of it.

Once they were done with consuming the souls, Noah turned and saw the destruction they wrought upon the village and felt a pang of regret hit his heart.

They were no different from the damned terrorists back on that fateful day. What made them any different? He felt horrible for not reigning in Gauss, but what were they to do? They had no choice, did they?

Maybe there could’ve been another way that was less destructive…

Feeling guilt wrack his heart and with resolve, he set out to fix the damages they burned, by emulating what he saw that fateful day - setting up triage, delegating where the supplies went, getting injured to a specific spot, and things just worked. Once there was a nudge into the right direction, order just seemed to fall into place like pieces of a puzzle. He didn’t need to be a triage captain for long once people started understanding what to do. It felt powerful, exhilarating. While he did fuck up a few times in what he was doing, he quickly amended them. Even with a language barrier, actions spoke louder than words. It took a bit of charading, but they understood.

After making sure everyone was settled and knew what they were doing, Noah reconvened with everyone and was debating whether he should zap Gauss on the back for his irritation. The thought of him wanting to be upset with him but couldn’t was a funny thought. He stood beside Gauss, raised his hand until it was inches from Gauss’s back, and zapped him with his Healing Wavelength to calm him down a little. Not enough to completely rein back his anger, but enough for him to - hopefully - not be so explosive.

Noah knew it was better to get the anger out somewhere, sometime, but this wasn’t the time for it.

Elly explained what she saw and Noah sighed. “She may not be ready to sail in the ocean, but’re we ready to take on her ‘n’ whoever else’s likely with ‘er?” Noah asked, his brow furrowed. “Unless ya think we can just follow ‘er till sunrise ‘n’ ambush ‘er then.” He then sighted the castle and narrowed his eyes at it. “If ya think it's too late now 'r we can't handle it, ya think that thing’s got some clues as to where she’d be headin’ ta next? Or other clues as to how she’d operate?” He nodded his head towards the castle, his interest now piqued. “I figured if she wanted us in the castle to begin with, she’d have traps ‘n’ guardians. Even then, not sure if we’re in the best states to go castle crackin’.” There were just so many things they could be doing right now. Chase after the vampire, go search her now abandoned castle for clues and how she functioned to better find her later, or just go back home.

Honestly, he prefered the third option.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Alek​

Date: January 15, 2067
Location: Horse Forest, Daedolon Island
Interaction: Astor, Shiro
Mentions: N/A
Sir Les Paul EmperorsChosen

Alek noticed Astor’s horse hightailing it out of there, of which Alek nearly laughed at how fast they just disappeared. He managed to get his own horse to spin in a circle to tire it out, however it was starting to give him vertigo. The bucking did nothing to bring him off the horse, and he steered the horse away from the larger beast so as to not get hit by an errant hoof or a flame attack.

Meanwhile, he focused on his horse, feeling its lungs breathe deeply and sharply, feeling its heart race and pulse against his legs, feeling the strain of the horse’s muscles. Once the horse was finally calm enough, he slowly sat back up, adjusting the straps to be more proper of a harness and grabbing hold of a loop he made the reins. He patted the horse’s neck on the right side, petting it and giving it some semblance of comfort. It felt alien to the horse, and it tried to run, but Alek ran it around Astor as he came back, the horse becoming frustrated that he couldn’t just turn the way he wanted to. Bending to the horse’s ears, he spoke with a firm voice. “I will tell you where to go. You will listen. Then, I will release you, and you will be free.”

Hoping that did it, he looked back up in time to see Shiro getting frustrated enough to throw the horse on its side. Alek groaned and sighed, pressing his palm on his forehead. “Yeah, they are tamable, if you’re not Shiro.” He chuckled, then shook his head. “Even if Aegis wanted to, I doubt these horses would sit still on a helicopter ride to a place they don’t even know. Though, watching that struggle ensue would be kind of funny.” He then looked over at Shiro, chuckling. “I think you’re just trying to hide how frustrated you are that you can’t get a ride. At least your legs are fast enough to keep up.”

He looked at Astor then. “You lead.” He broke his horse first, after all.

 

[Peckinou]

Arkayis Misonuka

Sir Les Paul Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Mook-LandStrider

The battle didn't last as long as expected, which was just how Arkayis liked it typically, despite their little victory, Arkayis didn't really feel all that satisfied with things, though he did enjoy letting off a bit of steam through the usage of flames. He wasn't able to go all out like he used to, not really as fun, just like the clean-up duty they would be doing in order to keep the after-battle fires at bay. After a while Arkayis decided to transform back into their human form, stretching their limbs out before making their way over to the Corrupted Soul Gauss and Noah had allowed them to take and took it into their palms. He stared at it for a moment with a look of indifference, as he much preferred witches' souls over Corrupted ones, especially since his sister had typically rewarded him when he consumed a Witch's Soul, something that always excited them when they went out Witch hunting. Though Arkayis stopped their thoughts wanting to take their mind off their sister, not wanting to start getting emotional in front of Gauss and Noah, instead they simply took up the soul and swallowed it.

As Arkayis consumed the soul, flashes of the past and simmering rage, a sense of superiority washed over him, it was very much at odds with what was said of the Baroness, minus in the last regard, flashes of battlefields that looked to be out of the first world war flashed to mind, of blood and slaughter and of a bandit that had taken up the sport of killing men as a hobby, be they Romanian, Austrian or Hungarian, of cruelties and of seeking a thrill, of something else. The flashes eventually goes to a castle, one far grander and remote, a smirking princess looking sort with the flags of Wallachia waited inside as she was bound and made to kneel, she made an offer to her, being amused with the antics of the other "For service, life un-aging, for loyalty, slaughter without end."Another series of flashes show various circumstances in which this wish was granted, then later a weapon, that weapon gifted to her and in times more recent, of a doctor in surgical scrubs, then of whispered conversations, of Romania and a man simply called the Frogman as she and the whispering doppelganger switched places in a fun little game. Or perhaps this was the doppelganger?

The conversation between Gauss and Elly all but confirmed it, that she was most defiantly not the real Baroness, though Arkayis was more amused than anything else. He couldn't help but smile and snicker a bit before going on to add "Clever, a bit cowardly but clever, then again I suppose the Baroness hasn't survived this long from recklessly endangering herself at every turn. Anyways, yeah, this isn't the Bloodsucker that we were looking for.". Arkayis simply let out an indifferent shrug. They then looked to Gauss and said "So, what's the plan now then? Still, going after them? Pretty sure she will have more tricks under her sleeve if this is the game she is playing."

 

[Sir Les Paul]

The group of Sorcerers, Rand, and the six Agents had plenty of time to get to know each other. Rand explained precisely how he saved them. Also rationalized why he chose Maria; being that she had the best combat potential out in the open dessert given Rand himself had to stay behind and Ark was hamstringed by his damaged gloves. More so, Rand took some time to calm down Raph. It was clear he was upset. Rand reminded Raph that the cave system was a unique situation, and that it was easy to give into the Pull of Magic during a high-stress situation like that. Not that he was sure Maria did, but if she did go 'explosion-happy' as Raph considered it internally, it wasn't necessarily out of neglect.

Witches and Sorcerers were just as much slaves of their biology as anyone else.

The situation might have seemed dire, but it really wasn't. There wasn't much moisture to pull out of the air, but it took about three days to die of dehydration regardless. Rand told them it likely wouldn't even be hours before Maria had returned. He wasn't sure precisely who she would go to for help. There were plenty of channels to go through. Rand rationalized that the most effective, if she still had the contact information of Yara, would have just been to message her. He somewhat doubted she would think to do that given how new his sister was to her life, and how distanced Maria was from the Witch hierarchy. Regardless, the DWMA itself certainly had the resources to extract them from here. They did most of the heavy lifting already.

His train of thought was derailed as it was one of the younger agents having their own little panic attack. He took some calming, but his overreaction to the situation was enough to remind everyone how grounded they were actually being--all things considered. Rand and the leader of the agents took charge of that, explaining the various ways they in fact could be saved in time, and Rand explained how it would take much, much more weight than was present to cause his dome to collapse. He went through its construction and just how durable it was due to its shape and reinforcements, and that opened up a new door for the entire group.

These agents were young. All under eighteen. Their experience with Witches was minimal. Witches and Sorcerers rarely had any overlapping classes with Meisters and Demon Weapons, and generally when they did, it was more advanced classes later on down the line. Meisters and Weapons were rarely taught anything beyond the most surface level information on magic. Once they were calmed down, these six agents became sponges for information. They soaked it up, asked questions, became entirely curious about the different lifestyles Witches had.

More notably, they were shocked to learn just how similar they were in some cases. Ark might have came from a more noble lineage, but he spent a fair chunk of his life on Earth in battlefields. His time as a battlefield mage had the agents in awe. Raph was even lower on the totem pole, but that also made him more relatable. Stuck in this dome together, these six agents had their eyes opened a fair amount. The Sorcerers in front of them weren't all that different. They were more so shocked by the story of Rand and his position in Witch society. The fact he was essentially royalty out here trying to save them, but more so, how if he had stayed in the Witch Realm, that he would have been little more than a reverse-princess.

Had Maria been present, her upbringing might have also been quite foreign to them, but she wasn't. Still, it was a chance the group had to have a discourse with regular agents. Younger, more impressionable ones that could have their opinions sculpted more by this moment.

The time flew due to this spark of conversation, and soon enough, Maria proved to be their hero. Ark would have been the first to know due to the seismic activity. His damaged gloves were completely irrelevant to his sense due to his gem. The excavators simply had to dig out the trench enough to uncover the dome sufficiently so that Rand could have it sent back via a spell that acted as a reverse summoning of sorts. Once that was cleared up, there was Maria and the small army of volunteers and DWMA operators there to pull them out.

From there on, things went fairly standard. The group returned, relieved from the situation. They were given a brief reprieve, then a debriefing. Reports filed, interviews performed, so on and so forth. Ultimately, the mission was in fact deemed successful. No casualties and despite the additional resources sent for their retrieval, the mages were capable of finding and retrieving the agents from a situation much more direr than anticipated. It only came out now that their handlers had already considered them dead.

More so, Cyrus had a chance to chime in. It was short. A message more so to Rand, though it was shared with the group as a whole. The success here was not just in saving the group, but the impression left on them. Each of the six agents had gleaming reviews of Rand, Raph, Maria, and Ark. This type of positive influence went a long way within the F.A.T.E. Program, and in this particular case, even did more good than some regular Witches or Sorcerers in the same position. It proved that the upcoming plans to allow the mages into other teams only held even more merit.

It wasn't the best executed. It didn't go off without a hitch. There were flaws, no one was perfect, but it was a success. From the F.A.T.E. Program, one couldn't ask for much more.

This mission was over.

RedArmyShogun Merciless Medic The Regal Rper

​

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Mojave Desert - Mage Team Collab
Merciless Medic The Regal Rper RedArmyShogun Sir Les Paul​

Maria had a look as the life seemed to melt from her face, a mix of shock and relief, saying nothing but not meeting the gaze of the rest. Be it out of shame or something else, the Doll Maker seemed distraught and had not even taken care of her wounds. The why became more apparent as the groups split up for care and for the six saved agents, more importantly, Water. With the three before her and maybe the lingering workmen preparing for air transport back out, she smooths both of her hands to the front of her skirt and bows in something that seemed akin to a Japanese style bow with western characteristics.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." With some genuine tears from her face, or so one could assume, Maria was honest to a nearly naive extent. Or at least didn’t seem to have the filter to be devious.

After helping Ark out of the hole and getting him situated, Raph was going to have a few words with Maria. Rand’s attempts at calming him earlier helped slightly, but seeing Maria again only sparked the fuel of rage. As he went to see her however, he stopped, the flames petering out as soon as they sparked to life. She was distraught…

She really must have felt bad for the cave-in, but also what she did to her dolls. Honestly, he didn’t really know if she felt bad for the cave-in to begin with, but he lied to himself so his pride wouldn’t be shaken anymore from it. As he walked around to see her face, he saw tears.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her cry… Not even back on Dall Island…

Sighing, Raphael approached her and knelt beside her, carefully putting a hand on her shoulder, wary that she might pull a knife on him. “Maria?” He asked, wondering if she’d even notice he was there. Even if she didn’t, he couldn’t blame her.

”...I…” She didn’t seem sure how to respond as she balled her hands around her dress, letting it go, she remained as she was. ”...Don’t worry about me, you all were hurt because of me. I’ll- I’ll be fine, just, I-” Whatever she had to say she seemed to think better of it, or maybe lacked the courage to say it. Or just did not know what else to say.

Serves her right for hurting you.

Raphael shook his head, both to show his disbelief in her being “fine” and to silence the errant thought in his head. “I don’t think we would have defeated that thing if you hadn’t. I’m sure we would’ve been Morsipede chow by now.” His pride disagreed with his assessment, which caused it to stir at his impudence, yet he ignored it. Pulling her into his side, he gave her a side hug, his eyes looking over her dolls. “I know these are your children, and you won’t want others to help in their inception and repair, but if you need my help with anything, I’m available.” He at least understood her pain despite this coming from something different, having done this to himself plenty of times while he was alone.

“I… thank you, we’ll be alright, I’m why they are in this state, so I should fix it.” With that she lifted her head and dried her eyes, trying to put a better face on things. ”My mana is becoming too volatile to continue using my darlings like this…”

Patting her shoulder, Raph nodded. “Well, I’m starting to get into my dad’s business more, so if you need clothes made, I can arrange a free order for you. Uh, don’t tell my dad.” He chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “But if your mana is getting like that, then maybe focus on doing something else with them that can capitalize on this new mana surge. We are getting stronger after all. Maybe the explosions were necessary before, but we don’t have to worry about such destructive means for survival anymore.”

”Necessary… And oh no! I couldn’t do that! I would be happy to order fabrics and the like, but not for free. And yes, I really did not expect that large of an explosion, though, please, go get some water at least… I-I’ll be fine, once you all are taken care of I’ll see to my own burns.”

Raph wasn’t so sure if he should leave her alone, but he at least went about her wishes, patting the top of her head before getting up, wiping the sand off his legs, and returning to see how the other agents were faring.

It seemed Raph had been able to reel it in. That was good, Ark thought, it was a sign of progress. Having watched the exchange from where he was, sore all over and needing a minute, he was glad to not have to intervene.

Getting up with a grunt, a joint popping, he watched Raph wander off in the direction of the Agents being attended to, Ark moved in the Dollmaker’s direction. He hid it well, but it was only really now that he noticed the burns dotting his skin where the acid had touched his exposed upper body.

“ Looks like you two seem to be getting along nicely.” Ark said with a crooked, tired smile. Dust, sweat, dirt, and dotted darker marks from where the acid sprinkled over his chest in dotted areas and on his right side abdominal were barely visible, and he stayed slightly hunching over to make these things less noticeable as he approached. Making himself look more tired.

Seeing her state though the crooked smile lost some of its shine. “ Thank you. You did good.” He reassured her before she could say a word, his large hand, just the fingertips lightly touching her shoulder. “ Apologize all you want, but you saved all our butts. And those ones over there,” he nodded in the direction of where Raphael was headed, “ they certainly appreciate it.”

One of them looked over, as Raphael approached and waved at him, then paused upon seeing Maria, grinned, and waved at her. One of the less injured but equally exhausted One Stars.

“ See?” He gently patted her shoulder. “ You did good.”

Looking at his injuries, her face mostly remained passive if not for a slight wince. ”No, had I not done that, you all would have been out much sooner… However, I felt as if… Please, I don’t blame him, but Raph’s words held merit, I had to strike the beast down with one blow, so I went for that. It is punishment enough for destroying my own creations, even if obsolete.. I thank you for what bit of me you shielded, I have some burns but for now you really should get your wounds tended.” Bowing lightly, it really seemed she was insistent on all the rest getting taken care of before herself.
He sighed. “ If I had the energy I’d just drag you with me, but if you’re going to be stubborn might I at least suggest we go together, hmm?”

Looking back, it seemed Rand was fine, off conferring with who was ahead of the 6 agents, then there was the 12, plus the two Rangers, had she made the right call? Still… Turning her attention back to Ark , she gives a nod. ”Very well. But you get looked at first. We should leave soon.”

Ark merely chuckled at her insistence. “Sound a lot like me. Alright, I’ll go first if it’ll put your mind at ease.”

~~~

Maria Mayer - DWMA Headquarters​

With the mission wrapped up and some praises given, Maria could not help but to do her odd habit of biting into her right thumb, just a little as she turn from the gaze of Cyrus, much like her creations, she sought a mission to go as well as possible and from here on out, outside of classes and the town, she would not see her fellow mages soon enough it seemed. To be integrated into other teams would they be. Mistakes would look poorly upon them all... A rethinking of tactics and a retooling of her equipment was in order, giving a bow once they were dismissed, even in her battle-damaged state, Maria headed out at once for the Airfield to retrieve her cargo. Rest, as for the last week could wait till later, there was work to be done. Pain was deserved for destroying yet another of her darlings, she now had assets and capabilities that made that throw away unneeded, but it was equally clear she would need to seek out some form of mass production and uniformity, losses seemed too great for quality alone to carry the day with personalized crafts...

Davis may be useful for that...

Interactions: None

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Midori☆Hoshi​

"Dark Star"​

Species Death Golem
Partner Various / Autonomous Weapon
Rank Two-Star

Location Romania, Deda Commune
Mission A Bloody Investigation
Status Frustrated

​

Tags: RedArmyShogun The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider Peckinou

"I... don't think that's our best plan," Midori chimed in, interrupting the exchange between Gauss and Elly.

"We might find a vehicle here worth a damn, but otherwise, intercepting her in any amount of time is going to leave us all even more drained," Midori explained, playing out the scenario Elly pointed out in how intercepting them would be possible. "Furthermore, while we might be able to fight her in general, fighting a Bloodsucker on a boat in the dark means we would yet again have no natural advantages and be on her terrain surrounded by her lackies--all while worse for wear," he added, pointing out all the reasons he saw intercepting them to be a poor plan, and not precisely doing so with the most polite tone.

"Let's be rational here. We've effectively done our job. This is mission complete. We figured out what was causing the problem, got rid of it even if we didn't kill her, and now we ought to report back," Midori told them, lauding over his sense of superiority in judgement here. "You may be team leader, but deciding to chase after them now might just be overstepping your reach. I'd wager now that the threat is gone, the European branch will send in their own agents to investigate the castle and proper Bloodhunters would be assigned to try and keep tabs on the Baroness. A tool for every purpose, and our purpose was fulfilled a long time ago," he went on, spouting insultingly sound logic at them.

Midori was really done with this mission. No one was making rational decisions. They encountered the most incompetent CIA Agents he had ever met. The Baroness escaped, and even then, she should have had a designated Bloodhunters squad after her. Elly should have killed Zulal, even if he held up his end of the bargain. Risk after risk after risk was taken with stupid ass decisions scattered everywhere. Their success. No, their survival this mission amounted to dumb luck. Midori could think back to a dozen missions off the top of his head where the carelessness he witnessed here would have gotten himself and others killed.

He wanted this over. He wanted to report back to Cyrus. He wanted to get some actual textbook leadership training to be done. Just appointing these fuckers as leaders wasn't enough; they needed to be educated. Being a leader wasn't just a title, it was a role, and Gauss wasn't exactly doing great. Furthermore, that CIA Agent only made shit worse, too; he wanted a formal complaint on her. Midori wanted a lot of things, but most of all, he just wanted someone for fucking once to listen to reason.

 

[Mook-LandStrider]

Annika
Romania
Sir Les Paul Peckinou EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Merciless Medic​

At the explanation of sensing the vampire to the southwest Annika rubbed the back of her head “Well, that was definitely easier than we expected. So, should you be that shocked?” she spoke to Gauss. Listening to Arky, Noah and Elly she heard them out but in the end agreed with Midori “I am with Midori on this one. I think we did what we came here to do. I only have two belts left for my blades and I need to replace one of them now.” Annika spoke up before starting to wander away from the group of them.

“While I am all for random destruction and brutal combat, I also don’t want to risk my neck when I am not sure I have the tools left to get the job done. One of the downsides of not having a weapon partner.” Annika admitted. Walking to an injured villager she pulled a pouch to the front of her belt and took out a pair of gloves. “For now, I think this is good enough.”

She wasn’t a coward but she also wasn’t stupid. If she had a weapon partner she may have gone with tracking the woman down but relying on a finite set of supplies made things far more complicated. “Do we use a mirror to report in?” Annika asked, using the medicine in her pouch to begin treating the villagers infected arm.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Taking note of the color of flame that came from the Lantern, the Leshy either told the truth, or the truth as it understood it. Had the corruption come from the forest and then to the Leshy? If what it said was true, man was behind this, or rather some men, or women, who knew. The point is it was nefarious, words on all that was seen would be sent to Moscow.

She would make damn sure that was taken care of. Too much had happened here, the woods corrupted, pestilence everywhere and souls missing. There would be a thorough interrogation of the Priests as well once this was done. Still, watching Dani almost took her mind off of that, almost.

There was no helping him, and even if, and that was a mighty slim If, they could talk him down, his hate of man had become all consuming by this point. Or so she saw it, his demands would be nothing short of all human presence being removed from the Island, not something she or even the DWMA would do, and considering the cultural significance of the region and locations of the Russian Army, Moscow, who could roll back on the settlements would not.

And even if they did, this sickness, plague, corruption, whatever it was, what if it didn’t stop at the island but became an ecological nightmare? This was no time to be thinking of this shit, first thing first, to engage the Leshy.

“Man caused this and man will correct it. I will see to it personally.” Should she be striking him here and now? Or listening for more? “Ultimately, might makes right, in the world of man and in the rule of nature. O’ King of the Forest, turn away and wait for us to clean this mess and it from you, or be made to kneel or break.” Many of Nadia’s thoughts would likely leak through to Dani, she wondered in part what she thought of if she may trigger the conflict with her scorpion tail.

Dani stayed her hand, or rather the scorpion tail, as Nadia spoke to it. Once again, it reeled back forming a coil around the pair, prepared to lash out once again. It subtly swayed and twitched in anticipation, mimicking Dani’s rather unstable state. She didn’t speak, but it was clear how she felt. She wasn’t in the right mind to go the diplomacy route. Part of her just wanted to set fire to everything and leave. Right now, she was just searching for an outlet for anger.

”I shall bow to no one… and you shan’t return to my wood,” the creature responded, only growing more and more irritated at the insolence of the humans in front of it. The atmosphere was still thick, dense with spiritual energy, but his soul was a beacon through it just as intense if not more so than the corrupted souls within the trees. A Monster Soul of warped and knotted wood, tinted green and red with swirls like a hazy Christmas decoration. Even for the most discerning of Meisters, it would have been difficult to tell what of him was genuine and what was this festering corruption.

”If you wish to escape the wrath of this forest, to leave to your corpse homes and ignorant lives… I shall allow it,” it informed them, though its woody, cracked tone offered no comfort or security in its offer.

”But… you took the life of a creature in this domain…” it said, gesturing over to the totem Dani had destroyed. ”In return, offer one of your own; then, the rest may leave unhindered by my will,” it explained, giving them a damning caveat. A life for a life. Totemic creature or not, it valued that being as much as it did any of the lives of the humans in front of it. Why shouldn’t its existence be equal to that of a mere human, after all?

”Then there is nothing else to be discussed.” Nadia says flatly. And with that she begins a rapid charge with the flaming sword, speaking to Dani in their soul space. Having taken a look at the Leshy there was nought else to do but fight, though she was curious if that Totem creature could be left alone, that was a problem for future Nadia to deal with.

’Have you figured out anything else about this new power?’

’I don’t know,’ Dani replied. ’I don’t know how to use it, but I do… It’s weird. I can manipulate freely from you, and it’s not something he’ll want to touch. So you can attack and I can help box him in with it.’

‘Very well then. Let us Resonate and tear him apart, be mindful of Sara and Adrian, they aren't likely to just stand back… Even with all of this he is still a strong opponent.’ With that said Nadia steps in very quickly, swinging Dani from down low in a diagonal slash, fire and enhanced physical prowess meeting the ancient and corrupted one.

The creature in front of them proved that even with their new power, he was still not a force to be dismissed. The creature finally displayed an ability that would all but confirm its species as a Leshy. It would block the incoming attack from Nadia and Dani, but not with more trees, roots, or constructs of the forest. Instead, with something much more familiar. His entire arm took the shape of the door from the Iron Maiden Adrian used to block the incoming spikes from earlier. And, with that, even the flaming Scorpion tail was repelled from attack.

Following the attack from Dani came a new feeling. Each slash from the tail of that scorpion was draining, not unlike each new mile added to a long run. It did not affect her Spiritual reserves, but instead her physical stamina. It was an odd feeling as within a weapon form, Demon Weapons rarely felt any form of physical exhaustion. Discomfort from extended periods of transformation, that was normal. Spiritual exhaustion, also normal. But, feeling as if you had run a quarter marathon while completely still, that was something entirely new.

As for Nadia, it was not impossible to resonate with Dani with her new flames. It would, however, feel alien, almost as if wielding someone else. Not entirely different. Akin to wielding a sibling. Some Meisters did wield siblings and their similar wavelengths made it easy, but it did require slight variations between each weapon. That was the case here. Dani and her flames were separate, but similar. Learning how to resonate with both Dani and her flames would be a new skill for her to develop.

The creature, obviously a Leshy with its demonstration of the ability to take the forms of others, did not stop by merely blocking the attack. Instead, it began to demonstrate perhaps the most incredible and grotesque conjuration it had performed yet. The bright red fungi on the trees surrounding them began to expand massively, enveloping the trees, sprouting like popcorn at a rapid pace until they were slimy tendrils with brownish gills and torn tissue throughout their new forms. These tendrils proved not to be just vines or tentacles, but instead sprouted what were most similar to the mouths of fish, albeit equipped with rows of small serrated teeth.

It must have been hundreds of them appearing within seconds, and their reaction times once conjured could not be ignored. They left Adrian dancing back and forth, trying to block their incoming flurry that bypassed Sara while others attacked her. Adrian, in a twist of irony, imitated the Leshy that had mimicked his own form by transforming his arms back into the doors of his Iron Maiden, blocking the incoming teeth. Irina was all but drained of her mana from that last attack, leaving her to dodge and hide behind Adrian, only capable of the smallest of fireballs to incinerate any chomping tendrils that Adrian let slip.

Sara’s eyes widened as the mushrooms began growing not only bigger, but longer tendrils and teeth. Using the lantern flail, she either wrapped the chain and the lantern around one of her limbs and held it against her to avoid the tendrils from lashing out to grip at it, and then letting it slam at a few who were just whipping at them. She was also dodging as much as she could, not able to get close to the Leshy anymore nor did she want to. She hopped back to Adrian, remembering his pain wavelength. “Can you pierce the roots and flood the trees with your pain wavelength, Adrian?” She asked, fending off another tendril.

From within their shared space, Dani didn’t notice the fatigue at first, believing that she was merely tired, emotionally or otherwise from what was already accomplished. However, then her breathing grew heavier until it could not be regulated through her nose. Steady huffs escaped her, as if in the midst of a run. Heat in her chest welled up, but it wasn’t the fires of rage, but again, stamina.

’Hah… Fuck,’ Dani growled. ‘This’ll be harder than I thought… I’m not sure how long I can use it. Every time I hit something it’s like I hit another checkpoint in a marathon.’

Then there was the other odd feeling when she tried to resonate. It felt eerily similar, which gave her pause, gritting her teeth as she stomached the sting that came with her mourning. It was bitter-sweet given the relationship she and Nadia had grew, however more so the former in the current time.

”I can’t get shit done with my do–” Adrian shouted, although he cut himself off half-way through his statement. It was true that he was overwhelmed by the incoming mouth tendrils, which had him quite nervous. That was until he remembered that he didn’t have to use his hands. The Autonomous Weapon took a brief moment to look down and to the ground around him, looking for any trace of a root system. It wasn’t exactly easy. This part of the forest was much more sparse.

It took some maneuvering, especially given the fact that Irina was still bunkering behind him, but he made it. Nearing a more intact tree, he spawned a spike off the back of his heel and jammed it into the root, then began pouring his wavelength into the tree itself.

The reaction was immediate, and it wasn’t just the Leshy. The entire forest and the spiritual atmosphere within it almost flared to life, as if screaming in agony or releasing an excruciating ache upon impact, and it only grew more intense. It had a significant impact on all those that were spiritually sensitive around. Even Adrian himself felt backlash from this act as it left him surprisingly winded, like an unexpected punch to the gut.

The Leshy, however, was undoubtedly the most profoundly affected. Its creaking voice let out an exasperated moan in pain and it stumbled back slightly, something that it didn’t do even when Dani came in contact with the mimicked shield arm it copied from Adrian. Despite that backstep, the Leshy did not lose its metallic door arm, nor did the massive network of mushroom tendrils dissipate. If anything, it only seemed to serve to piss the Leshy off.

In its free hand, it conjured yet another weapon. The lantern flail that Eva was, intact with her ghostly lights and chain. With it, it took a harsh swipe at Nadia, intending to strike her with the additional range of the flail while she was close. Now that it was good and pissed, it was also much faster and more tenacious.

’Now what in the hell is it…’ Her wavelength feedback was off, the Resonance was off, well not off, but odd. It would be very difficult to continue like this, it even felt akin to her to be closer than her previous bonds. Then there was the physical toll this took on Dani to continue, a lightning strike was needed. Even now Starwulf’s preference in how she should fight, just was not for her, not yet at least and more so not now. She was not a fancy duelist, she was a battering ram.

Then Adrian joined the Party and that really sent things downhill as much as it helped. The Fact the forest seemed to fill the pain was concerning, in helping the situation they were only leaving a worse one behind. ”Gah! Stand Firm!”

Given she was a Meister this change in the situation could be felt by her as the got closer to the Leshy’s initial attacks and position. While Resonance was unreliable here and now, she did not need it for her next act. Her own wavelength was sufficient. Or it would have to be. If the Leshy in his rage and anger would use their own skills, the very weapons of man against him, she would show him what Man had done for many, many, many years.

‘Dani, save your flames, I want you to try mangling his shield arm, or go for the throat, heart, whatever is most open. I’ll likely pay a little price for this but you and the rest must make use of it, it will take more than one hit to take me down.’

And with that, she met the flail attack head on, diving the sword blade in close, causing the chain to wrap around it as she lifted up her good left hand grabbing it behind the hammerhead and she put all of her vaunted physical strength behind it. Maybe she was cocky or demeaning to nature and its self proclaimed powers and rights.

She had reason to be as she jerked the Leshy towards her, leaving his arm extended and his chest open. “You’ll never be more than a cheap imitation of us! DESTROY HIM!”

As Nadia clashed with the flail, the scorpion tail trailed from the sword’s end around the Leshy’s makeshift weapon and shooting toward the tree’s core.

The Leshy was down further and further on options. It might not have been obvious, but the pain wavelength Adrian used cut him off from a significant source of his raw power. Had that not been the case, he would have created yet another copy of Irina, and through her, used Ice Magic to block this incoming attack. In his current state, he lacked the ability to take another form and maintain all his current spells.

The Leshy had to play this encounter close and fast. If it only had two weapons, it would use them. She had one of its hands locked into place by the chain of its flail, but she had nothing about the door. A shield was good for more than just taking a strike. It could bash. And, bash, it did. The Leshy launched the door arm it had replicated from Adrian directly at Nadia with the intention of smashing into her with what could easily be the force of a large truck.

It put her in a simple position. Back out of range, minimizing the impact of Dani’s strike, or take the brunt of that shield bash head on, likely breaking some bones or being knocked out entirely in the process.

Everything felt more and more hectic, and this time, Sara was sure they were likely going to go out with a casualty. She tried to protect Adrian as he sent a dose of pain through the system, but in doing so caused the mushroom’s to lash out worse than they did, causing her to hiss as they whipped and cut her skin.

”Tch.” Clicking her tongue, Nadia wasn’t too happy about this, but even if she took the option of jumping off the shield it would likely break her ankles at the very least, if she could fortify her body more, she would have taken the risk as she growled letting the chain slack just enough to jump back. Dani would not be able to do much for now.

Adrian had little time to watch what was unfolding between Nadia and the Leshy, but he most certainly was aware of what was going on in his immediate surroundings. Irina might have had little mana, but Sara was trying to defend him with Eva. Something about that didn’t sit right with the Weapon. Perhaps it was a touch of his own ego or perhaps it was his own competitive nature shining through, refusing to let someone else be his guardian.

In either case, his wavelength flared and flared hard, coursing through him yet again as Self-Resonance. He wasn’t at his peak, but he still had fight left in him. In the moment, all he truly had to concentrate on were the incoming chompers. As grotesque as they were in their odd piranha-like heads, they didn’t pose a terrible threat to him. With the Leshy having its own focused split, it gave Adrian a window to truly focus on making sure his Self-Resonance was optimally split.

All of those reps on the mag-lifts in the Black Star Gyms were shining through now. Every single time he brought his arms to failure. Every time muscle fibers were torn. Every single time he rejected a limit and pushed beyond it, incurring cumulative damage to his body. Each time, he had only grown that much stronger for it. And, each moment he spent honing that skill only made him better at it for a moment just like this.

Adrian transformed his arms with that familiar red energy and converted them back into his spikes. He leapt forward into the swarm of frenzied chompers and yet again became a human pincushion inside them, shredding them before they could even near his body and pouring his Pain Wavelength into each impaled target as he went. He had performed techniques like this before, but the practice in maintaining it was showing. The best defense, in this case, was a good offense.

More importantly, the moment his arms were no longer doors, the Leshy lost its door-arm entirely. More so, the pain coursing through the entire system present was preventing him from taking on another stolen appendage. Even if he wanted those spikes Adrian was utilizing, he had no hope of forming them.

With sufficient agony inside the entire system, the mouths of the chompers flickered repeatedly and the massive gills on the trees the Leshy apparently summoned before briefly faded. Not for long, fractions of a second, but underneath it all appeared to be nothing more than the normal wooden vines and limbs that it was using earlier. More concerningly, a brief moment where a massive ball of iridescent light was forming above the largest tree the Leshy had summoned behind it as a base.

Sara’s eyes flitted from each mushroom, feeling Adrian having moved, but not really caring, especially as he began to do something - of which she couldn’t see but she was sure he was attacking - that caused the mushrooms to be in agony. And that’s when she saw it. A flicker of the mushrooms, and an odd light. What was this? It wasn’t something she had seen before and Eva’s illusion dispelling didn’t work. At least, not her small fires. She did have Baleful Fire, of which she showed her once. As the light vanished from sight, she spoke to Eva through her soul space. ‘Eva, there’s something there. Reveal it with Baleful Fire.’

Eva’s lantern began to flicker as she poured her energy into the illusion breaking ability. The blue flame inside went out for a moment before returning twice and bright and twice and large. The flame filled the inside of the lantern before the pressurized chamber began to shake and strain. A screeching noise emanated from Eva’s lantern, sounding like a wail before the bottom opened and a large eruption began. The flame struck the ground causing a wave like emanation that washed over the area around them. The wall of blue flame passed harmlessly by each of them, spreading out from Eva and into the surrounding woods before dissipating.

With the Leshy heavily weakened due to the onslaught of destruction from Adrian and his spikes, the significantly more powerful Balefire Burst was able to burn through the glamor the Leshy used to hide its true intention. It was a clever creature, realizing the nature of her illusion disbursement and finding a loophole within it, but it had not accounted for the massive flames that accompanied the new ability nor their increased capability to dispel that which was false.

The colorful gills and fantastical nature of the new forces of nature the Leshy had spawned faded away, revealing them to be but wooden constructs painted in new form. All for the purpose of hiding a large, glowing ball of swirling magic behind itself. It was powerful, concentrated magic, seeping and swirling with verdant shimmers of ever-growing light. What it was planning with this limb-covered sphere was uncertain, but without the glamor, the raw potency of the magic held within it now outshone anything that Nadia or Sara had seen during the tournament against the Witches–and by no small margin.

Meanwhile, the Leshy was left enraged and astonished. Its glamor defeated. Its shield-arm gone. Its inability to create more without dispelling any of its twisted magic inside the sphere. Ferocious anger poured through it just as much as the aches of pain. It’s goal to wipe out the entire group in one fell swipe failing to come to fruition now that all its plans were halted.It was not only these combined failures that frustrated him, but the audacity of those that surrounded him to do this inside his forest. This was his domain. This was his kingdom. He only sought to protect it, and here these vermin were willing to ruin that.

He was having none of it. His spell might not have charged the power it needed from the forest, but it was still a force to be reckoned with. Mana from it coursed through the root system that surrounded it and into him, and with it, his regular arm burst open explosively, resulting in mana pouring out of it like a fire hydrant. Instead of bursting out the majority of his wood as shrapnel, it instead was caught in the form and shrank down to make a patchwork covering for his new mana arm which he used to swing wildly at Nadia, more a tentacle than an actual arm.

This all was a massive shit show as Dani would likely put it, still, Treebeard was losing and it seemed he was trying to blow them up with some magic, and not it was trying to waylay her with a tentacle arm, would her magic resistance work her? She couldn’t retreat, and honestly she was tired of this corrupted thing keeping her on the defensive, jerking the chain she lunges in for a gamble, if she took damage so be it. Running away here would mean death. She would see what, if anything Dani could do.

As Nadia dove in, the scorpion tail shot out to intercept the mana arm, clashing with it rather than parrying. She wanted to keep it from striking Nadia, sure, but from the manner in which it thrusted, it was obvious the intent was more malicious than simply protecting her partner. No, she wanted to stab the stinger into its appendage and incinerate it.

The interaction between the arm and her scorpion tail was likely well outside what either of them thought possible. The very stinger of her scorpion tail, itself an inky blackness surrounded by flame, tore through the entirety of the mana arm, disrupting it and causing it to break down catastrophically as it cut through it with ease. While mana was exploding back onto the Leshy from this feedback, the tail showed no direct signs of stopping, ultimately extending fully until it plowed into the side of the Leshy directly under its splintered underarm.

Upon contact, the stinger did something entirely new. Dani could feel it, but soon enough, Nadia and all the others could see it. That inky blackness that composed it shot out from its tip and into the Leshy, causing its body to light afire with what looked like veins of ash and cinder. This course through it, turning its nearby wooden flesh into ash in just moments, and causing it to groan out in absurd pain, only made worse by the fact Adrian was amplifying everything around them.

Dani would have been able to easily recoil, but the Leshy was now stumbling back from this blow. Its torso was slowly burning away, the arm it had transformed into Eva’s lantern flail completely fell off, revealing just it’s normal arm, and the energy swirling around them began to shift violently and become unstable, incinerating the roots that once held it still.

As the Leshy recoiled in pain and the black venom corroded its body, Dani didn’t seem content to simply let the toxin work. The tail whipped back and dived forward again, impaling it again, and then again. The creature was at death’s door, but Dani didn’t care. At this point, she was blowing off steam, focusing on her anger rather than the other emotions inside her.

The wooden flesh of the creature provided no resistance to the flaming tail that Dani continued to stab through it. Each impact from the flaming stinger of blackness penetrated through the Leshy, knocking off parts of its body in explosive creaks as even the densest, hardest wood that comprised its core and torso were torn asunder. Even after the withdraw of her tail between strikes, it continued to burn with its remaining body shrinking from the coals that spread through it, quickly resulting in what little life that was left in the creature dwindling away.

It stood there now, hunched over with no real support, its head the only portion of it left intact. Armless, it’s torso and abdomen now a patchwork of barely-connected fibers holding onto each other for dear life, trying to regenerate without fruition through the burning left by her venom. It was now a shadow of its former self, near lifeless, smoldering from the newfound flames she commanded. No longer did it resemble a mighty oak, instead now a pathetic willow, held together by the thinnest of threads.

“Dani!” Nadia says partially annoyed and yet relieved with the other, this was still stepping too close to madness, too close to a berserkers rage, and while she did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth, most horses didn’t give unknown powers that made no sense and could do all of this. And with that, Nadia uses the actual blade to strike at the head. To end it once and for all, though this whole thing did not sit well with her and there was that one last totem to consider, plus the security of this region. While she wanted Moscow for a break, she had no doubt most of her time would be spent arguing with the local DWMA branch and defense ministry to keep an eye on all this.

Dani didn’t reply, though the tail halted, pausing as if processing that the deed was done before the flames began to retract into the frame of the sword again. She was angry, but it wasn’t blind rage like what had happened at the tournament, not quite.

Even with the Leshy well over half dead, the wooden flesh that comprised its head did offer resistance to the slash Nadia used. That resistance, however, was a futile final defense against her slash. Dani’s burning edge cut straight through its head, resulting in the top half going flying in the direction Nadia slashed due to the friction from the resistance.

The fight was over. Just moments after, the entire body of the Leshy collapsed and what rose above was a Corrupted Soul. It was not a deep crimson like some of the others. It was a lighter red, nearly pink in hue, mixed with slightly greenish vines that pulsated around it. If anything, proof in point that the Leshy wasn’t entirely corrupted. More importantly, proving that the Leshy was truly dead. A soul did not rise from a corpse without death.

Perhaps more ominous was the fact that aside from the now-dead Leshy, nothing about the forest changed. The other totem was still frozen. The woods still ached in pain. Corruption was wrought around them, souls still in agony, trapped within trees, many covered in a grotesque red fungus. While all the plantlike animations created by the Leshy now dropped dead, falling to the ground and over tree limbs limp, the forest itself was still in disarray. There might have been truth to the words of the Leshy: the forest was like this long before he arrived.

Irina noted all of this, but more importantly, kept her eye on the floating ball of amassed mana in the air. Without the Leshy there to control it, she feared it would destabilize and become violent. Those worries washed away as she saw it instead simply floated there, slowly but surely dissipating itself into ambient mana. At best, it was a type of Wild mana now. Something that she had no way of controlling herself, and luckily didn’t have to. ”I believe that sphere of mana will resolve itself over time… though, that’s a very ineffective method of condensing mana for a strong spell. He couldn’t have been well versed with higher tier magic if he was still using such crude methods,” she commented, trying to both diffuse any concern about the ball, though still adding her own in depth commentary on it per her usual.

”Magic aside,” Adrian replied quickly, having hit the ground some time ago once the limbs went limp. By this time, he had de-transformed all of his spikes once he saw the floating soul of the Leshy. Interestingly, he didn’t see a soul for the totem; he thought there would be one. ”We have other questions to be answered,” he said, his tone quite pointed as both of these topics concerned him greatly.

”What the Hell is going on with Dani?” he asked, as he had never seen anything quite like it.

”And, who, dear leader, will be consuming that soul?” he continued, though this was more specifically aimed at Nadia. Team leaders generally reserved the right to delegated Corrupted Souls, so that decision was on Nadia.

RedArmyShogun Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen Mook-LandStrider

​

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Nadia Semyonov - Valaam Island, Russia
​

As the situation unraveled and yet so much remained unchanged, Nadia frowned. The tree lord had indeed not been lying, not that she suspected he was. But the question now wasn't if man was behind the corruption, but when. Had this been recently, then there was cause for concern. Had it been long ago, while still concerning, it demanded why no one had reported it till now. Was it a conspiracy, environmental dumping, or nothing of any importance?

There was all the questions, the magical spirit bomb, and of course Dani. While Nadia may have scoffed or threw her off, Dani and the mysterious event in Paris had long been an exception to that rule. As she glanced over at Adrian, she seemed distant as within their soul spaced, Nadia gave the reassuring shoulder squeeze that she had developed for her partner and then spoke. 'Take all the time you need Dani I have wavelength to burn through. I don't know what happened, but this all reminds me too much of Paris.' And with that she gave Dani a comforting hug. The later was clearly shaken up, and Nadia wasn't about to ask why, considering she was sure she had seen it before. Was it to deal with her brother? What was this power? Why was their resonance different now? How was it different?

Outwardly she snorted as she processed all of these questions that she doubted Dani could answer and that Adrian had asked about.

"Later. I don't know, and I doubt she does, lets get the hell out of here. If that creature doesn't follow us, leave it alive. And the soul is yours Adrian." With a twitch to her jaw, she decided to extend her good graces to him. "You did well today. All of you did." Turning her attention to Irina, she nods her head. "I'm fairly sure he was a juvenile by their own standards. Or sick from the fungus and corruption. A Leshy in top form would have pressed us much more and not resorted to copying our powers. That aside..."

Turning to look at all of them, she gestures at all around them. "If you have a phone or data recorder of any sort, take photos, videos of everything we come across. I do not have one and Dani for now, I'm not going to ask to come out to do that. But we are leaving as soon as the soul is taken. I will have the data copied and sent to Death City, while I'll personally pound on some doors in Moskva... Ah, Moscow for you all. I don't want to destroy that last totem, but with the other two gone, it likely can't do whatever it's job was. If there are objections voice them now, or its back to the airfield to talk with the Priests and then straight to Saint Petersburg to Moscow.

Speak of what happened with Dani to no one outside of this group while in Moscow, till we can securely talk with our Mentors."


Interactions: Sir Les Paul Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen Mook-LandStrider

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Eloise Keegan - Romania
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Listening to the input from the others, the consensus was to leave. Especially Midori, who was none too pleased with the vast majority of this mission. Glancing over to him, she shrugged lightly. Gauss hadn't spoke up, but given his frustration and the scene around him, he likely wouldn't be keen to pursue anything further.

"Nonetheless, we need not give chase ourselves. As I said, a vessel made for short distance travel, the escape route is a river, and she's headed southwest. How many landmarks would be in a short distance in that direction?" Elly pointed out, namely referring that there were only so many places the woman could be headed to, likely the nearest city.

"If we report that intel immediately, the local powers could make some use of it, and it would give any Bloodhunters a good starting point." She said, expressing that the information was beneficial even if not used directly by them.

Merciless Medic Peckinou Sir Les Paul Mook-LandStrider The Regal Rper RedArmyShogun

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Daniella Ethalyn - Valaam Island, Russia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

With the Leshy fallen, Dani watched expectantly for any sign that the creature still lived. However, when the soul arose from its corpse, it proved that it was over. As the realization washed over her, so did the fatigue. The fight which allowed her to draw her focus from the events that had occurred before was now finished, and Dani's mind went from anger and adrenaline to mourning.

Within her soul space, she dropped to the ground and slowly hugged her shins as she buried her face in her knees. Slow, shaky breaths followed before she felt a familiar, cool presence. Her hand reached up to grip Nadia's arm as it hugged her, taking some solace in the gesture.

However, she didn't transform, instead remaining in her soul form. 'Just... let me stay like this for a while... please,' She requested with an unsteady voice. '...I don't... wanna talk about it right now...'

Her brother may have died years ago, but having just recently said goodbye the loss may as well have been today.

RedArmyShogun Sir Les Paul Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Adrian Hackney​

"The Maiden"​

Species Human
Partner None
Rank Fate Agent

Location Russia, Republic of Karelia, Valaam, The Weeping Woods
Mission The Waking Forest
Status Content, focused

​

Tags: RedArmyShogun Mook-LandStrider Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen

Nadia said a lot of things. That they had no idea what was going on with Dani. In truth, that concerned him quite a bit. He had no idea what those abilities were. He would normally assume it was a type of Resonance, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen. There was no wavelength emanating from it. Dani didn't possess anything even remotely similar to a fire affinity. Beyond that, the whole scorpion tail thing was pretty unique, even for Resonance. He was no expert. He knew that. He would have loved to amount it to ignorance on his part, but even he couldn't fool himself into thinking this was some unique ability weapons could unlike. Not unless she perhaps somehow became a Death Weapon, but that would have been news to him.

She said other things, too. Complained that she would likely spend time explaining this situation to someone within the DWMA. Adrian didn't care about that; it wasn't his job and he didn't care to explain anything to anyone. He also didn't care if the Leshy was a juvenile; it was dead now. Corruption, fungi, recording--none of it really mattered to him.

He wanted to know more about Dani, but if they had no idea, then chances are, he wouldn't be learning for some time. Nadia gave him the go ahead to consume that soul, and he wasn't about to reject that. Divvying up Souls after a mission, especially when there was just one, wasn't exactly an enviable task. This Leshy was also fairly powerful, so chances were, the slight boost from this would be a bit grander than if it were some run of the mill soul. In a way, he was glad he got it. He wasn't exactly putting himself before Eva or Dani, but it was always a good feeling when you won the lottery.

Adrian approached the Leshy, climbing over its dismembered, wooden corpse. It was a bit of a task. Perhaps Eva wouldn't have been to keen on climbing this thing to get it. Once he was there, though, he reached out his hand to grasp the dancing soul, pulled it down from the air, and shoved it into his mouth, slurping it down in one swallow. What came with it, as expected, was a rush of memories and power. The life of a Leshy seemed to be a pretty simplistic one. All about nature. He was born apparently far north of here. He could hardly make out its parents from these fuzzy memories, but he could recall the feelings of betrayal the Leshy had when his father told him that it was time to find his own forest. It was a long, cold walk South to get here. Nadia seemed quite right that this Leshy was young as in its memories of arriving here as a stowaway on a ferry that all the boats were fairly modern at the time. Not completely current, but they weren't those ye olde boats of yore. More so, he saw firsthand that the Leshy had good intentions for this place. Years flew by and it did little more than sink its roots in and tend to the forest. It wasn't until it found those weeping woods that the pain turned into negativity and caused this downward spiral that Adrian could only assume was its corruption. These memories flew by quickly. All he could make out of it was that the hate and betrayal from the trees hurt the Leshy time and time again until it began to lash out. After that, it was just a played out series of steps of the Leshy taking that red fungus, cultivating it, and spreading it to enhance its range. It was all as the Leshy said; he did not corrupt this forest.

In a way, it made Adrian somewhat sad. The Leshy was a victim in all this, too. It also left questioned unanswered. What caused all this in the first place? What were those totems? More so, what would the forest do without the Leshy? Did it really need protecting.

"It didn't lie to us," Adrian said, his emotions simmering down once the process was complete. He felt the small extra spark in power from the Soul he consumed, but he cared little for it. Now, he just had a touch of melancholy. "It couldn't have been here more than a hundred years... this trees and that weird ass mushroom thing were here first," he explained, "and I didn't shit about the totems, so I assume he didn't make them."

With that, Adrian didn't feel like talking too much more. Instead, he hopped down from the wooden corpse that he now felt far worse about climbing up. He then pulled out his phone and started walking around cataloguing all the weird shit around them. The biggest chunk of the Leshy, though due to Dani there were plenty of parts of it laying around. The fungus that was on everything. The broken totem and the still-frozen one. Everything he thought would be relevant, he took pictures of. It may have seemed like he was being a good little soldier just following orders, but he was honestly just trying to distract himself.

That Leshy seemed to just want to make its parents proud. In this day and age, there weren't many places it could even go. Then it damned itself by finding this one...

What shit luck.

 

[Merciless Medic]

Sara Middleton​

Date: April 12, 2067
Location: Weeping Woods, Valaam, Republic of Karelia, Russia
Interactions: Dani, Nadia, Adrian, Irina
Mentions: N/A
Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen RedArmyShogun Sir Les Paul

With their combined efforts and Dani’s freakishly new tail, the Leshy became nothing but a bundle of sticks and oozing flora material from the burning acid the scorpion tail gave. The other totem remained, which only told Sara that it was a part of this forest before the Leshy got here, and it saddened her that they destroyed its kin.

Taking a moment to relax, shoulders slumped as she lazily held Eva’s handle in her hand as she stared up at the leaf-choked sky. This took a lot out of her, but she felt like she could have done better if she focused on training instead of hanging out with people. Blaming herself for not being enough, she looked at her weapon partner before looking up at those who spoke. First, Irina, then Adrian, then Nadia, then Adrian again.

It was a magical orb that Eva and herself revealed. At least they showed it off and disrupted it with Adrian’s help. That at least made her feel better.

As Adrian asked what happened to Dani and who will eat the soul, Sara had reservations for Eva to eat another soul. She didn’t know how badly it would distort her soul or hurt her, so she shook her head to show she wouldn’t let Eva have the soul, not until she was spiritually ready to do so.

Nadia went on for a long while, some of which Sara only half-heartedly listened and nodded to. She didn’t much care about the Leshy. The mushrooms didn’t stop either, as Adrian pointed out after taking the soul for himself, so it was likely put here by something else. That didn’t bode well, but it wasn’t like they had a way to handle it.

Once Nadia spoke of what to do, Sara pulled out her phone immediately, letting Eva return to normal or stay in her weapon form as she went about and photographed and recorded via video everything they saw in the deep parts of the forest, even providing commentary of how far they went into the Weeping Woods when they saw the fungi, and then when they lost sight of the souls within the trees. Not that she was able to get any of that on video, but audio and her confirmation was enough.

Nodding at what Nadia said about Dani, she gave a wry chuckle. “I don’t think anybody would believe us if we tried anyway.” She looked at Adrian, who was doing the same thing she was doing, then to Irina, her hands looking awful. Once she was done doing what she needed to, she approached Irina and asked her about anything she could think of that could help keep her thoughts away from her hands, even as they left the Weeping Woods.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

~~~Three Days Later DWMA HQ~~~
​

Having just enough time to fight of the jet lag, Gauss, Noah, Arkayis, Annika, Elly, and Midori, were all gathered, summoned to a briefing room, a young functionary with pale skin, brown eyes and a slavic face, greeted them all, explaining in short order, the man they were about to meet. His name was Mikhail Alekseyev. Also known as The Colonel. Seemingly he was the no nonsense sort and the second in command of DWMA Operations in Russia and Eastern Europe. Directly overseeing the issues with the Romanians. It was also advised that they do not speak or disrupt the debriefing till the old man gave the all clear.

Soon thereafter a harsh face with an eye patch, a full beard with encircling mustache, and a widow's peak, greeted them. A cigar pursed through unsmiling lips.

​

"So. This is Team... Gauss? Yes. Gauss. Unless you rather the given name, Agent. I'll be brief, I've other things to take care of. In effect your end result was...." A Pause as he chewed on the word; "Satisfactory. Mind you, the mission was screwed from the start. Should have taken the train in, no need to tell the Romanians anything. You see, they have a long and conflicted history with the Blood Suckers, or Vampires as they prefer it. Some willingly serve them, others just didn't want outsiders in at all. Once you took the offer for a driver and contact, the mission was already compromised."

A pause. "However, from what we could piece together the actual Baroness actively killed her thrall links as she observed your progress, to both become stronger and to put you in bad positions. I'll say not all were pleased about you setting half a Deaths Damned Village on fire but means to an end. Civilian losses were acceptable." Pulling a drag off the cigar, the Colonel continues;

"I'd rather you took the mercs alive, the survivors haven't co-operated at all because of it. But your lives hold priority, so I cannot fault that. The Romanians are trying to play difficult as well with all of this, but I have them by the balls. They screwed up the pursuit, and the handling all of this, but we now, thanks to the Irish Lass have her signature. She can only run. When she's done running, maybe I'll be sending for you. Among others of course."

With that his attention turned back to Gauss. "You did the job we sent you for, but nothing more, so well enough, but you won't be getting a bonus out of me, and I found your lack of zeal in engaging the enemy till the body double forced it to be disappointing. Threats are to be ran into the ground and dashed apart. No quarter asked for nor given.

Though not like you fate boys and girls are paid much of anything for me to add a bonus anyways. Ah, also some of my men might not be happy to see you all for a while. While not your job, they took some damage in the Castle, traps and some soul powered golems, someone was giving her those souls and I bet it was this Frog Man as the report calls him. We've seen something in the records on him, worked for the DWMA but he's not an agent and that was a long time ago. A Vodyanoi, Polish. Aptly named Frog or Swamp man. They usually drown people. Name is Zulal. You followed your judgement, time will tell if he turns a new leaf, or if the soul stealing bastard goes back to Poland to drown folks.

Either way if any of you go into Romania or my general jurisdiction again, you'll be doing it through me, same with all your Fate types if I can help it. Also, avoid any Romanian Nationalist rallies, they are rather pissed about all their boys you took out... Unfortunately, none of them died. Be happy though, scum of the earth now have your faces permanently ingrained into their brains."

With that out of the way, he remains silent, looking at the gathered crowd, this was clearly the part where they could speak if they wished it.

Merciless Medic Sir Les Paul Mook-LandStrider Peckinou EmperorsChosen The Regal Rper

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Super Fucking Old Training Post

April 7th, 2067​

Gauss told his partners he had a special surprise for them. Someone incredibly important to meet. In the days prior, he had been training absurdly hard. While Noah and Arky were often out socializing, Gauss was out blowing off steam by pushing his body harder and harder each day. He had made it clear why to them. He needed to increase his reserves and stamina if he was to wield them both. It wasn’t a problem that would fix itself in the few short days he had, but he had to start somewhere nonetheless.

Not to mention, he had a lot to think about after being informed they were offered a team leader position.

What he was acutely aware of during his training sessions was that he could not only focus on himself. He spent years doing just that. Only caring about how powerful he was. What his limits were. What he could do. He knew now he had to invest in his partners as well. He also knew he didn’t quite know how to help them. Both of them had elements, both of them were weapons, and Arkayis had power that felt like a Diesel engine burning through his wavelength.

He needed someone else. He didn’t have strings to pull like others, and in fact, the person he had in mind had a vendetta against him, but money talked.

The trio found themselves at one of the cleared out fields in the official DWMA training grounds. It was rare to actually get to use these due to their high demand, but with the DWMA under reconstruction, he found an open slot. It was better than going back to the Lots. And, with the person he had in mind for training, using their backyard wouldn’t be a good idea. Hell, with Arky, it was hardly a good idea.

She was not there. Yet, of course, they did arrive slightly early, and knowing this person, she wouldn’t spend a minute with him that she wasn’t paid for. Really his own fault. Regardless, he did what he thought was best to push his partners along. ”So, uh… you might know her, you may not… I’m going to warn you that she’s only doing this for the pay; if you thought Thea was bad, she’s probably worse,” Gauss explained, reluctantly and with a touch of shame in his tone, ”and, I admittedly deserve it. But, I have no doubt in my mind that if she takes this seriously, you two can get a lot out of this. And, if it does go well, I’ll pay for more lessons.”

Noah looked at Gauss with a raised eyebrow, hands in his pockets as his tired eyes - accentuated with growing dark circles under them - stared at him. “I don’t.” In fact, he had never heard of her until now. “The hell didja do to her?” He asked in an exacerbated whisper, before shaking his head. “Whatever, we’ll behave. Right, Arkayis?” He looked over at him, then looked around for her.

”Oh…” Gauss hummed guiltily, ”it’s not what I did to her, Noah.”

”It’s what I did to her sister,” he explained, offering a tasteless sideways glance. Noah deadpanned.

Arkayis looked between the two with bored eyes, it wasn’t often that they trained together and it wasn’t exactly optional. But if Gauss is willing to go through the trouble of hiring a girl that hates him, he figured they must probably be the best option possible for training them. Arkayis simply let out a shrug to Noah's comment about them behaving before saying, [color=##2969B0]”Will say I'm curious about what you did to their sister, but whatever, I could probably make a few guesses anyway.”[/b]

”Oh, of course your partners would wonder what you did, philanderer,” said a high-pitch, bubbly voice from one of the far off fences of the field. A girl sat atop it, dark brown skin, bright blond hair, brighter blue eyes. If her sister shared these traits, she would definitely fall under the category of ‘his type’--even from day one with Athena, that trend was present.

Should the three turn around, Kusumi would have been sitting quite casually on one of the thicker fence posts, poised there in what had to have been an uncomfortable but admittedly cool position with her legs swept over to the side and the sun hitting her at an almost perfect angle to accentuate her features. She then slid off the post, even managing to avoid her skirt getting caught, and proceeded forward with a casual, light stride.

”I can just see you three perverts sharing screenshots and selfies,” she added as she approached them, throwing down her hands and clenching them into fists as a demonstration of her frustration. ”Just despicable,” she commented, now half-pouting to only further show her disapproval.

Gauss sighed at her attitude. He expected it. He probably deserved it, honestly. Those two didn’t, but it couldn’t be helped. ”The money was never the issue,” Gauss mumbled under his breath.

”So guys,” Gauss said in a fairly uninspired tone, ”this is Kusumi, also known as Flame-Rain. Autonomous Weapon, incredibly talented at controlling her own wavelength, and also possesses a flame element.” He lifted his hands in her general direction as if to throw up confetti, but Kusumi was having none of it.

”Ugh, you’re so disrespectful! I don’t see what Kiara ever saw in you,” Kusumi spat back at him, her words coated in venom only comparable to Thea. ”You’re looking at the bombardment specialist of the DWMA. I kick ass alone right up until we need something destroyed, then I allow some pleebs the privilege of resonating with me. My weapon form is a trebuchet, and if I could, I’d train you perverts in that form just so you couldn’t look at me,” she told them, completely overriding the introduction Gauss tried to give.

Noah was staring at Kusumi, unsure how he should take all this information. However, something clicked and he didn’t know if it was his lack of sleep for this week, but whatever she said was fucking hilarious. In a fit of absolute giggles, he doubled over and held his head in his hand, unable to contain himself. “I’ve-... I’ve never-...” He tried to speak through his giggle fit, and he finally managed to rein himself in as he straightened up. “S-Sorry, don’t mean ta laugh. I’m jus’--

”--You’re a disrespectful lecher is what you are!” she shouted at him in a half petulant tone. He dared to laugh. Did he have any idea how that might make her feel? The weapon of the man that violated her little sister! The fucking nerve.

”As far as I’m concerned, you’re all a bunch of perverts and you can’t convince me otherwise,” she told them all, crossing her arms and pouting. ”Hmmmph!” she tacked on at the end.

Her further shouting only made him laugh slightly harder, but it also helped relieve himself of his laughing fit a bit faster. Wiping away tears, he just shook his head. “I’m laughin’ cuz ya think Arky ‘n’ I ‘re perverts. So absurd…!” He chuckled, sniffling a little as he sighed from his high.

”Now Noah,” Gauss interrupted, cutting his laughing fit just slightly short. Gauss grabbed him by the shoulder and pinched his finger and his thumb together before saying, ”in her defense, you are a wee bit of a perv.” Noah simply rolled his eyes, uncaring.

”Of course he is!” Kusumi shouted, ”anyone paired wit–”

”--But, Kusumi,” Gauss jumped in, cutting her off pretty aggressively, ”Arky here is innocent as fuck when it comes to that stuff. He just likes to burn shit, particularly Witches. It’s actually kinda a problem.”

For the first time since her introduction, Kusumi raised her eyebrows. Sure, she was frustrated at being cut off, but her bright eyes fell onto Arkayis directly after and a devious grin swept across her face.

“Yep, just a wee bit of high-key racism.” Noah parroted Gauss’s finger pinch and sighed, a bit more relaxed now. However, he found himself swaying very slightly as he stood.

The exchange between Gauss, Noah and Kusumi had left Arkayis face literally burning red from embarrassment. He couldn’t even look Kusumi in the eye from just how embarrassed he was from the exchange and had opted to look at the ground instead. He had figured that Gauss had done something bad, the guy was definitely not any saint. Though Arkayis also didn’t expect to be roped into it by proxy, his immediate instinct for when his sister was mad at him kicked in ”S-Sorry.” he wasn’t sure what he apologized for but he hoped it would calm them down somewhat. Though while Arkayis was quick to apologize to Kusumi he gave a glare towards Noah, when he starting speaking of witches muttering ”Their witches, they deserve to be burned.”

Kusumi saw Arkayis turn red and with her Soul Perception, she could see how genuine it was. Both the embarrassment and his distaste of Witches. While the latter wasn’t something she could agree with, the former was absolutely adorable. She squealed. She literally squealed. ”Oh my gawd, he’s so kawaaaaaaaaaii!” she shouted before running up to Arkayis and mashing his cheeks together, bouncing in excitement as she got her hands on him.

”You’re my new favorite, yes you are!” she said, shaking his head slightly back and forth. Her hands were warm, even for Arkayis’ standards. Soft. Her eyes lit up like fire as she stood in front of the young weapon. ”And, we’re not gonna burn any witches, are we? I couldn’t let your cute self get put behind baaaaars!” she added, giddily treating Arkayis more like he was a pet than a person.

Arkayis was caught a bit off guard by the mood shift, letting out a squeak of surprise when she roughly clasped his facial cheeks together. If Arkayis could turn any redder he probably would have in that moment, though he couldn’t help but notice how warm her hands were. He was instantly able to tell that the fire affinity she had rang true, not that he doubted it. The fact that he was able to feel it to such a degree was impressive enough to have his eyes light up a bit in instant respect. Though when she mentioned that he wouldn’t be allowed to burn any witches, Arkayis looked off to the side a bit miffed.

Noah snorted, trying his best to keep his laughter in check lest he insulted her further. Clearing his throat, he widened his eyes and took in the bright sky for a moment as some vain attempt to wake himself up and take things seriously. He then went back to being rather tired and quiet, looking back at Gauss then at Arkayis’s miffed expression with a chuckle. “Like I said. High-key racism.” He looked back at Kusumi then. “Aite, well, who’s first? Ya wanna train him first?”

Kusumi pouted a little upon seeing Arkayis looked off with such a distasteful look. Noah may have spoke, but she was clearly more focused on the scythe. Not that she wasn’t listening to him; her brain was parsing all the sides of this conversation. Just that that little dark-haired cutie had all her attention. Especially after that little squeak he made when she grabbed his cheeks.

”Hmmmmm,” she muttered for a dramatically long time, dragging this little exchange out. Afterwards, she planted a giant kiss right on Arkayis’ forehead and looked the weapon square in the eyes, her own eyes glowing with excitement. ”Cheer up! There are plenty of great things to burn, don’t you worry,” she told him with a genuine thrill in her voice.

She then released him, and stepped back, crossing her arms and becoming considerably more serious. Her tone even shifted. ”But listen, both of you. Fire and electricity are some of the most dangerous elements. See, we can make fire and control it, but once we stop, it’ll keep going until it dies naturally. That could be seconds. It could be days. Electricity is even worse in some ways. It can set fires, too, but the tricky thing about you electric users is that it’s really hard to control. Like, really, really hard. You can have your electricity redirected or grounded, used against you, all sorts of things. The further it gets from your body, the harder it is to control. Since it goes so fast, your window to guide it is tiny. A second at tops,” she told both of them, trying to truly instill just how little control both of them actually had over their abilities. There was truth to it, too. Both Arkayis and Noah had enough experience with their own elements to be able to recall moments that fit what she said.

”You probably don’t know this, either, but using your elements is a waaaaaaay bigger drain on reserves than the basic stuff. I can use Amplification, Soul Force, Soul Menace… lotsa stuff. But, none of it compares to how quick I burn through my reserves once I start using my fire,” she explained to them, giving them new insight from someone much their senior with similar abilities. ”If you think it’s bad on you, it’s worse on that philanderer Meister of yours. See, for you guys, it’s at least your natural ability. There’s some efficiency there. But, fuck-boy over there? It’s doubly worse on him. You’re not gonna find a Meister that has an elemental wavelength either, so don’t think you can find a work-around. You gotta be considerate with how much you use,” she explained to them, not exactly going easy on Gauss, but at least providing them some insight as to what it was probably like for him.

”Two elemental weapons at once is crazy. If I didn’t know how stupid he was to begin with, I wouldn’t believe an agent was even tryyyying that. You’d have to be gifted like… like Kilik to just get it and be fine. Fuck-boy might be skilled, but he’s no Rung,” she added, now really just taking shots at Gauss. The Meister was taking it on the chin. In part due to it being nothing compared to what Thea tore into him with nearly every time they met, but also because he knew he deserved it. Or, at least some of it.

She then and only then cycled around to the question Noah asked. She thought about it, lifting her hand to put her finger on her bottom lip then looking up for a moment as she contemplated. ”Based on what the philanderer said, you each need different kinds of training,” she said, explaining her reasoning here. ”You, Mister E-Lec-Tro-Stik,” she went on, emphasizing syllable as she found the name ridiculous, ”are apparently pretty decent at regulating your wavelength. From what I gather, you just have issues with your Unique Wavelength, and there’s probably a reason for that, but I’ll get to it in a minute.”

She then waltz right back up to Arkayis and plopped the finger she just had against her lips on his nose. ”You don’t know how to regulate yourself. You just go hard, doncha?” she told him. She then shook her head disapprovingly. ”That’s not attractive, you know. It’s kinda a waste–as cute as you are. You need a gentle touch to impress a woman, you know,” she said, or more so suggested, and suggested on multiple levels.

”So here’s the deal, boys. I think you both need to learn how to use super, super weak versions of your elements. A tiny fire, a tiny spark. It’s actually pretty hard; it takes a lot of control,” she said. Then as a demonstration, she snapped her thumb and middle finger. Upon doing so, a small flame sparked to life from her extended index finger. ”I bet neither of you can do something like this. It takes just enough wavelength to spark your element, then you gotta feed it that power. And, to keep it burning like a lighter, it has to be consistent. Thing is, the amount of wavelength it takes is super, super tiny. Almost nothing. Keeping it that low and consistent takes focus,” she explained to them, going over the dynamics of why it’s hard.

”An’, stick boy, the reason we’re doing this for you, too, is that I have a strong opinion that your healing wavelength is only so weak because you don’t pair it with electricity. I bet it’d be a ton stronger if you could use both together, but obviously, you don’t always want to zap people. If you can make a charge so weak that it is just a little tingle, like a nine volt battery, it probably won’t suuuuck,” she explained, giving some insight as to how this lesson was also applicable to him. Which made sense. It aligned pretty closely to what Noah learned from eating that Witch’s Soul.

”So, boys, let’s see. Show me what you can do. You don’t need to snap your fingers, that’s just for show. Instead, just channel your wavelength as weak as you can into your fingertip, and let’s see how big of explosions you make!” she told them, her voice ramping up with a fair amount of giddy energy at the mention of explosions.

While Arkayis wasn’t impressed by what Noah had said about them, Arkayis was more so focused on Kusumi who he had instantly looked towards when she planted a kiss on his forehead, the gesture taking him somewhat by surprise. His annoyed pout reverting back to embarrassment, and she now had his full attention as she began to revert back to her cheerful attitude. Arkayis soon let a small smile creep to his face as he quickly started to enjoy her company, and began to visibly relax around her, his eyes focused on her as she turned serious, his smile reverted back to a neutral expression as he tilted his head, while looking towards her. As she began to speak Arkayis listened quite intently as his attention was entirely set towards her.

While Arkayis may have acknowledged the talking points she was making, in truth he never really saw any reason to control the flames he conjured up. As long as their target was burnt to a crisp his sister was fully satisfied and as for Gauss, he wasn’t really motivated to train his control all that much. Though for Kusumi he felt a bit of inspiration in improving his control if that was what she wanted him to do.

When she spoke about Noah though, Arkayis was instantly able to tell that she more than likely did her homework on the two of them. As she made her thoughts on Noah known, before going on to make her analysis on him. Which seemed pretty correct overall, though the disappearing look causing him to shrink down, then getting visibly confused at the last part, as his sister typically encouraged him to go all out wanting to end things quickly. But after a moment Arkayis began to understand just what sorta implications she was making, causing his face to turn red, as looked down towards the ground, embarrassed yet again. Only looking back towards her when she gave a demonstration, before then allowing Noah, in order to give them a few more seconds to recover before giving it a go themselves.

Noah couldn’t help but smile at Kusumi’s interaction with Arkayis, and doubly so on Arkayis’s reaction to it all. Though, as soon as Kusumi went back to wanting to teach them, he listened. So, basically to regulate so Gauss doesn’t get burned out. That didn’t sound too bad, but he figured that would mean lots of work on his part.

He was starting to feel lazy again.

But, he had what he had and seeing Gauss coming back home having worked himself to the bone training himself, he had to give the same courtesy. He wanted to get good at trying to direct his electricity, but he wondered if there was ever a way to have true control over his lightning. And after Kusumi so elegantly put how dangerous and hard-to-control and draining they both were, he felt kind of bad for Gauss. Damn, poor guy.

He raised an eyebrow at the way she said his stage name, making him chuckle. It was either a name he made when he was thirteen, or Zeus, and didn’t want to make himself sound that arrogant. Maybe later when he was a two-star. He nodded as she went about his unique wavelength, which was true. It was the least part of him that was trained aside from his own physical fighting prowess by himself. He nodded again as she asked for them to make a spark at their fingertip and fueled it, then she said to use his healing wavelength in tandem.

Well, here goes nothing.

Noah held out his finger and focused his energy into his finger. Despite the lazy, tired expression he held on his face, he was concentrating quite a bit in getting both sides of his wavelength to his fingertip - like a battery in having them charge each other. Once he got a spark going, he fueled it with some frequent drip feeding of his wavelength. Without keen focus, probably due to his tired mind, maintaining that fine feed of wavelength proved nearly impossible. Just a few seconds in, the spark quickly shorted out from the faltering of his wavelength. Even had he been rested, maintaining that spark for anything more than five seconds would have proved immensely challenging.

After seeing how both Noah and Kusumi did it, Arkayis took a deep breath in and out, before making their attempt, holding their hand out in front of them as they attempted to replicate the technique Noah used via the instructions Kusumi gave. Unlike Noah and Kusumi, Arkayis didn’t quite have such a refined control of his wavelength. The smallest amount of it he could muster, stable or not, created a quick flare of flames within his hand the moment his fingers snapped, and there was no need to channel it as the volley-ball sized blue fireball exploded into a fiery puff of smoke just moments after it came into existence.

Kusumi saw that and only giggled. She was a genuinely playful soul, despite her scorn of Gauss, and her giggling wasn’t teasing. No, she was entertained by the fireworks. She knew what it meant in regards to his wavelength control, but that wasn’t the first thought that came to her mind. This was a surface-level reaction, like a child seeing a sparkler for the first time.

”Weeeeeell, that pretty much confirms it, boys,” she announced, carrying a jovial energy in her tone. ”I really expected more out of you, stick-boy. My little Arkayis gave me the exaaaact fire show I had in mind, though,” she commented, pointing out how Noah could only maintain his spark for a few seconds before it shorted out.

”There’s no real easy way to say this, but uh… this is a problem. You see, there’s this skill called Wavelength Regulation. It’s what weapons do to enhance their Meister. How good you are at it is basically a combination of your own wavelength control and regular ole experience doing it. You two lack both, so any Meister you get–even if you left this dirty philanderer–is gonna have a tough time working with you,” she explained, giving them some more academic insight as to how their weakness in this experiment translated to problems in partnership.

”I went ahead and took the liberty of learning a bit about you boys,” she told them, ”well, more like, your partners before. Really I just wanted to see what saps the fuck-boy convinced to work with him, but that’s not the point.” She then gave them a cute little shrug and a devious roll of her eyes, as if an admission of guilt. Not that anyone present was unaccustomed to people invading their privacy. Most agents had histories that were public record, or at least public to people in the DWMA at a decently high rank.

”Stick-boy, your werewolf partner didn’t have good wavelength control herself. She didn’t use much of it, so you didn’t have much to regulate. Means you didn’t get a lot of practice. Looks like you two fought mostly using her agility, which is nice, but it limited your progression,” she explained, demonstrating that despite her attitude, she was in fact a fairly well-educated individual with this topic.

”Aaaarky, you were in a bond duo. That explains sooooo much. When you work with a bond, it’s like a cheat code. Your wavelengths are just naturally more aligned with each other, so your style wasn’t as big of a drain. Plus, you had a passive type of regulation, so it’s a skill you also never picked up on,” she told him, pointing out what she considered the obvious.

”In a normal, functioning duo, you would slowly learn how to regulate your Meister and control your own wavelength as you worked together, but neither of you really have that,” she told them both, ”so to catch up on where you ought to be, I’mma hafta to put you boys through the ringer. If you ever intend on working with a normal Meister, these are skills you will need to learn, or you’ll never, ever develop.”

Hearing how stunted he was in growth based on the race of his former meister left Noah dumbstruck. He scratched the back of his head and looked away, a little miffed at himself. “I could jus’ be tired… But that’s not good either way…” Already, he felt like a shitty weapon. If his mother heard this now, she’d reprimand him and put him in five different training courses and make him sleep. He looked back at Gauss, giving a shameful look as an apology before looking up at Kusumi, his humor of the situation beforehand had completely melted away to be more serious. “What’s our first step?” He asked, his tired eyes now more alert as he gave her his full attention like he would with a mentor.

”Mmmmmm,” Kusumi hummed aloud, thinking of the best way to approach this. Something that would work for both of them. Baby steps were clearly needed. Furthermore, she wanted something entertaining. She performed a cutesy twirl on her tip-toes and took a few paces back, then spun right back around to face the group.

She gave the boys a cheeky grin with two peace signs beside her face, only for it to shift to a more devilish one. She knelt down on the ground, scooping up a few rocks, then held just one in her left hand. She began pouring her wavelength into it, causing it to light afire. Its blaze had no effect on her or her hand, but it glowed bright and emanated off the stone, expanding it to roughly the size of a baseball.

She then promptly threw it, exactly like a baseball, at Gauss. And, Kusumi most definitely had an arm. The speed of the hurled stone required a small surge in his own wavelength to dodge, and for the first time since their meeting, Gauss showed obvious frustration with the girl.

”What the fuck, Kusumi?” Gauss asked, barking at her, really. He was not amused.

”Oh, calm down, philanderer. If I wanted it to hit you, it would have,” she told him, followed by a spoiled face and a quick glare. ”The boys need to learn how to control their wavelength. Condensing it down into a rock is a good first step,” she explained, ”and, throwing them at you isn’t just fun, it gives you time to work on reflexes and watch their wavelengths. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Gauss crossed his arms and rolled his eyes at her. He still wasn’t amused. But, he would allow it. He did his best to rebuild a bridge he never thought he would, he might as well make full use of it. Besides, he still felt that sting of guilt.

”Fuck it, fine. But, I’m taking a few more steps back,” Gauss said as he did in fact begin moving backwards. ”I imagine Arky is gonna take a few attempts before he can even get one the size of a beach ball,” he commented, explaining his concern.”

Noah found Kusumi’s twirl amusing, but it quickly shifted to annoyed concern when she threw the fiery rock at Gauss. Wait, was he expected to throw at his own meister?

Sighing, he scratched the back of his head and grabbed a rock. “Ooohhhh-kayyy? I uh… Don’t feel comfy throwin’ anythin’ at Gauss. Can’t help but think yer just wantin’ us to do this ta get back at ‘im. Buuut, I’ll do it anyway.” He started, then began focusing on the rock to eventually throw at Gauss. However, his throws were utter shit. While they would hit a stationary target, it wasn’t a fast throw and even a three-year-old could dodge out of the way.

While Arkayis may have been a bit embarrassed by their performance and was put on edge when she mentioned she did a background check on them. Arkayis quickly started relaxing upon seeing her upbeat demeanor, as she twirled around. Though he was a bit confused when she threw a rock towards Gauss, though as she began to explain things and he saw Gauss’s reaction Arkayis couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. Though their smile didn’t last long as they noticed Noah wasn’t really thrilled about it, and they returned to a more stoic expression.

“Uhm, Ok…” While Arkayis was a bit nervous with trying that himself for a number of reasons including concern with safety. He didn’t really think of questioning it, since he trusted Kusumi to know what she was doing. So grabbing a rock, Arkayis focused in on it, and while he did manage to make the rock light itself on fire, it soon started to melt into his hand, causing Arkayis to scrunch their eyes in discomfort before dropping it to the ground, shaking their hand as if to get all the lava off of it as they groaned a bit in annoyance.

This went on for some time. Kusumi had her giggles, but progress was in fact being made. Noah not only developed his arm, but was throwing zippy little lightning rocks at Gauss in no time. With some urging, Kusumi even opted to show him out to throw a handful of them and control the electricity mid-flight to leap between them, akin to an electrical net. That skill proved to be outside of his current range, as even by the time he could do it consistently, having his lightning arc between three charged rocks proved difficult, let alone enough for an actual, usable net. Regardless, it was still progress towards sharpening his skills and even developing new ones.

Arkayis demonstrated perhaps the greatest leaps, though only due to the sheer amount he needed to work on this skill to begin with. It took a half-dozen rocks or so to avoid melting them then another half dozen to get them at a manageable size. After those first trials, though, he too was able to charge the rocks into flaming baseballs and pitch them at Gauss. At this significantly lower temperature, the flames reverted to a regular red and orange, but even Arkayis could tell now how much less draining it was to charge these stones. The difference was clear: he was now using exponentially less of his spiritual energy on these baseballs than he was when he was melting the rocks.

Kusumi let her work speak for itself.

Then again, both Noah and Arkayis would have quickly exhausted themselves. There were several more factors at play here than just control. There was efficiency. Experience. Focus. And, plenty more. It was hardly an hour for both of them before it felt like they had fought a gauntlet of battles.

”Weeeell, boys, good news and bad news,” Kusumi chimed in once she noted the two weapons running on fumes. With a sly smirk, she asked what came across as a simple, innocent question, ”which do you want first?”

Arkayis was a bit tired now and had opted to lie on the ground as a form of slight rest, their eyes were closed but they were listening quite intently as Kusumi began to talk. When they asked what sorta news they wanted to hear first, Arkayis simply took a deep breath in before replying in their native language.“Entweder.”

Noah was sitting on the ground, arms hugging his legs lazily as he rested his cheek on his knees. He looked up at Kusumi, tired eyes looking like he’ll fall asleep any minute now. He might not have dreams this time if he did. “Bad news first…”

”Eh, I’m not gonna pretend to know what that means,” Kusumi responded in a slightly awkward chime to Arkayis, ”so, I’ll follow up with stick-boy.” The girl crossed her arms, the gears turning in her head as she decided how to word her next few statements. She did have a flair for the theatrics, though normally they came more naturally.

”Bad news: both of you boys will have to spend weeks building up your control because of how inefficient you are. The first few days will breeze by with a good amount of progress, buuuuut, once you climb that first hill, it’ll start taking a few hours to get real improvements; and it’ll kick your asses each time. When you hit a few roadblocks, I might have to show you a different way to start training,” Kusumi explained to them, outlining that this type of training would be exhausting, time consuming, and require a fair amount of dedication to hone.

”Good news: you can both do most of it without me. Sooo, I won’t have to deal with the philanderer often, and he won’t have to spend a small fortune on my services,” she told them, her tone hastening, increasing in pitch, and her arms unfolding before she planted them on her hips and leaned in to glare at Gauss again.

”Which, by the way, the second half now, please,” she added, wanting their agreed upon sum for two hours of her time.

Gauss rolled his eyes, pulled out his phone, and with a few quick swipes, wired Kusumi another four digit sum of money for the training.

Arkayis frowned as they heard what Kusumi said, not really fond of either news, there was visible disappointment on his face as she gave them the supposed good news. Arkayis even bothered to mutter out ”I thought you said you had good news.” Though Arkayis still refused to get up, he did groan a bit in annoyance.

Noah chuckled, shrugging at the supposed bad news, having a bit more of a positive outlook than Arkayis. “Well, no pain, no gain as they say. This’ll be… fun, I s’ppose. Thanks, Kusumi.” He definitely didn’t want to seem like training under Kusumi was a bother, nor did he want Gauss to think he was being lazy when it came to training again. He still had something to prove to himself ever since that healing wavelength machine tried fixing Gauss’s hand after that madness-touched weapon went rogue back on Lot C.

To think that was only a month ago…

What Arkayis said in frustration, Kusumi interpreted as his only moment of reciprocating her adulation. In her head, Arkayis acting like seeing her less wasn’t good news must have made in bad news, so her double-negative of rationale took that to heart. Regardless of what he meant, Kusumi rushed over to Arkayis, grabbed his arm, and leaned in over his shoulder for a quick quip, ”Oh, if it’s just so heartbreaking you won’t need me that often, my little kawaii-king, the philanderer can give you my number and you can talk to me whenever you want.

Getting up on wobbly legs and with a sizable grunt of effort, Noah walked over to Arkayis and stared at Kusumi with an amused grin. He decided to let Kusumi either offer him up or let him stay laying down, but they had to get back home so they could sleep more comfortably. “Well, let’s get Kusumi’s Kawaii-King to bed if he’s so tired. Wouldn’t want bugs to crawl in his ears, even if ya both can burn ‘em.” He grinned with an easy, lazy smile, figuring Kusumi would stand Arkayis up.

​

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Super Fucking Old Dojo Post
The dojo had become quite popular in the last few days. The Fate Agents took to using it for training quite a bit. Starwulf himself was fairly popular, too, but the grounds themselves were simply used a lot. This didn’t pose a problem. Black☆Star had openly allowed as much of the massive dojo to be used as needed and even upped funding to make sure it always had the requisite staff to do so. Tsubaki was one of the most vocal advocates for the Fate Program, and with her assassination during the attack on April 1st, Black☆Star quite fervently took her place in its support.

Starwulf had since seen Annika, Nadia, Gauss, and Sara for training unique to them. Only Annika and Nadia were his actual kohai, however. The others were simply students of the dojo. Regardless, he and the dojo were making a surprisingly large impact on the program. He did speculate part of that was due to the privacy it provided. Most of the large rooms being underground and away from the eyes of others, he thought, likely brought some level of security to the people training there.

Ironic, given most found it a touch claustrophobic regardless of the size. It was the lack of windows. Definitely the lack of windows. He recalled during its construction being told he should install LED panels to create the illusion of space and outside light, but rejected the idea on the grounds they would likely get destroyed and just be a distraction.

”I hope you followed up with the advice from our last meeting,” Starwulf told Sara, not quite yet directly greeting Eva. Until she introduced herself, he really wouldn’t. ”Training with me should be secondary to what we discussed,” he told her sternly. He did mean it. He didn’t want Sara pushing herself too hard or pushing Eva too fast.

For a moment, Sara was confused. Standing beside Eva and looking at Starwulf, she took a moment to realize what he meant by that. Then, realization took over her blank look as she realized he meant literally everything. She smiled and nodded. "Yup, I made sure to be extra safe. Eva's okay from our very brief soul poke, too. No diving whatsoever, because that was still too dangerous." She wrapped an arm around Eva and then whispered in her ear. "Introduce yourself." She then took her arm off the tall lady and waited for Eva to speak.

Looking to Sara then back to Starwulf, Eva finally spoke up. “Sara said you wished for me to come. My name is Evangeline.” Eva introduced herself, giving a small bow. “Sara explained somewhat what we needed to work on and so far, it's gone alright. Ever since I ate that witch's soul I have been at odds with myself… I guess that is the best way to put it.” She took a deep breath and looked back at Sara as if thinking of adding more. In the end she decided not to, at least not yet and looked to Starwulf once more.

Starwulf examined Evangeline closely. His eyes were discerning, but his ability to hide how closely he was actually watching her made it difficult to determine he was doing exactly that. How she spoke, how she carried herself, the tone of her voice, the speed of her words–none of it was lost on him. More importantly in this case was the flow of wavelength through her and her soul itself. Her distorted soul was easy to see itself, but more so, how it made her flow of wavelength irregular at a base level. It was no wonder Sara had difficulty wielding her, let alone how difficult it was likely for Eva to function normally.

”Even without your spiritual condition, the first time a weapon consumes the soul of a Witch is a rather intense experience,” Starwulf said. His tone was reassuring. Oddly enough, he spoke to the weapon slightly softer than he did to Sara when she was alone, almost to the degree that sympathy could be seen between the spaces of his words.

”All the Witch was is now part of you. Unlike normal Corrupted Souls, a Witch Soul is a more personal experience… that tiny sliver of a Witch that is inside you grew just the tiniest bit more,” he explained, though his words were hardly anything that Eva wouldn’t know from basic EAT classes. Regardless of the redundancy in his speech, the wisdom he offered and the way he presented it carried a different weight than the words merely spoken in a classroom.

”I had intended to evaluate the status of your soul and provide advice to both of you as to how to proceed with training,” Starwulf told her, changing the topic slightly or more so the tone of the discussion from the gentle empathy he had provided to her previously. ”However, if you have questions or concerns, I can address them now first and foremost. I will tell you what I told Sara, just as a pre-emptive measure. There may not be a spiritual solution to how you feel. It may simply take much more time for your Soul and body to process the changes brought on by the Witch’s Soul, and therapy may be one of the best outlets for handling it in the meantime,” he told her. He reiterated what he told Sara in shorthand which undoubtedly Sara had shared with Eva, but he still wanted to provide the girl a chance to voice her concerns. He felt that pushing the explanation of just wait it out was minimizing how she actually felt, and addressing her individual concerns would prove more beneficial than simply recycling his old answer regardless of whether it was correct.

Sara, of course, had nothing else to say on the matter. Starwulf was talking to Eva and only Eva. She didn’t need her meister buddy to speak for her. She looked up at Eva, gauging her reaction as she looked up at her, offering her soothing pets and rubs on her good shoulder and arm.’

Eva took in a deep breath before exhaling sharply. “It's difficult to deal with, like having a massive weight on your back.” Eva began to explain. She had talked briefly about this with her therapist but to have a chance to discuss it with someone that understands the soul is something she didn’t want to pass up. “Can you imagine harboring a part of someone you loved but knowing that the part that is now bound to you is so distorted and corrupted that you can hardly believe it was part of them to begin with.” Eva tried explaining.

Touching her chest, Eva sighed. “It isn’t Denni anymore, it's like a ghost that's attached to and tortures me. But it's even worse as I can’t always tell when it happens. It's like I am two people, one demented and shadowed and the other in relative control which I think is me. I fear exploring my own soul as the distorted nature always pollutes it.” Eva explained before realizing she wasn’t actually asking a question, rather trauma dumping.

Starwulf listened to what Eva had to say about her situation. She was like so many others he had seen with a Distorted Soul. Their feelings and emotions overwhelmed them. One might think it to be rational, but in a way, it wasn’t. This was an irrational set of emotions and anxiety. Not because there was truly no reason for them to exist, but because they created a false impression of why they existed in the first place.

There was a truth–though hard it may be to accept–about her condition. One that would be as difficult to convey to her as it would be for her to confront.

”There is something you must understand about your soul, Eva,” Starwulf replied, his tone flat, his expression serious, his stare unflinching. ”Your partner is gone. From the moment your partner left this world, what is inside you is not nor has ever been Denni,” he explained to her, keeping his speech pattern consistent and steady.

”The reason your condition is called a Distorted Soul is because, as the name implies, the shape and structure of your soul was damaged. To be blunt, many don’t survive what you did,” he continued to explain, but his momentum did not slow, ”It is like a mold… parts of your Meister were imprinted onto your soul. That is the distortion.”

”But, make no mistake. You are still you. The ghosts that haunt you are now part of you. No one else,” he told her, his tone shifting back to the softer, more reassuring one he was using earlier. ”It may feel like it, but you are not two people in one. You can learn to control the Distorted part of your soul as if it were the original. I won’t lie to you: it’s not easy. But, it can be done,” he told her, offering her the unfortunate truth of the situation. Her condition made all of her goals that much harder. Nothing was impossible, just further out of reach.

Sara had unknowingly held her own breath. Hearing it explained to her in further detail had her worried for Eva. First, her being unable to control even half of her soul due to the nature of being a werewolf, and then the truth of Eva’s soul’s distortion. Looking over at Eva, she gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, hoping that wasn’t too much for her to take in.

Eva listened to what Starwulf said, it was somewhat difficult to accept. She knew she had episodes and memory overlaps. The thing that haunted her seems so much like Denni, at least in feeling. Taking a deep breath Eva nodded. “I take it that's why I don't feel that old spark of joy I once had. It's like that moment tore my wings off.” Eva began to tear up. It was true however, her soul was once magnificent to look upon. A winged golden orb that seemed to fill those around with a sense of ease and excitement.

Where that orb once was now holds a bleak shadow, an insult to what once existed in its place. The wings looked tattered and broken, it looked depressing as if its core essence was siphoned off and a husk left in its place. Her soul shuddered as Eva sniffled, the colliding emotions suddenly broke and a torrent washed through her. She had been bottling up much of her frustration and despair over the last several months. Now talking about the root cause of her issues was too much for her to cope with.

Legs wobbling, Eva went down onto her knees, her eyes erupting with tears as she completely broke down. Where normally quite stoic, Eva seemed to whirl in a series of emotions, her soul starting to distort. Gritting her teeth she felt a deep anger consume her. “We weren’t ready. Yet we were ushered out to hunt down that witch. They knew, I know they did. Because of that I am like this now.” Eva seemed to realize what she was saying and managed to get back up on her feet. She did her best to pull herself back together, it wasn't the place for it. She began to shake slightly before managing to put an end to it. “I apologize for that.” She stammered out.

He was right, she couldn’t continue like this, hell she couldn’t put up with it for much longer. Acting like everything is alright was insanely difficult considering her unique trait of being a walking lie detector. She felt split, but it wasn’t so. It was difficult to grasp considering her experiences with it, but she believed him. She looked him in the eyes, her own full of exhaustion and despair. “Where can I even start? I… I can't keep this up.” She felt horrible keeping much of it from Sara, but with the issues they both were facing she couldn’t bring herself to throw more fuel in the current fire.

”The first true step,” Starwulf told her, kneeling down to be at her level as he spoke, ”is acceptance.” His face was stoic, consoling others was hardly his strong suit, but there was strength in his statuesque form that made him into a considerable rock to lean on in a situation such as this.

”Before that, you must truly grieve. Not just for your partner, but for yourself,” he explained to her. ”Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. I believe you are well beyond denial, but I can see the anger in you. The sadness, too. It is okay to feel these things and perhaps you will never stop feeling them, but you must process them to move on. A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body,” he elaborated, ”before you can reconcile your soul, you must reconcile your state of mind,” he told her, making this entire complex situation seem much more clear and simple than it had previously been explained.

Eva didn’t say anything as Starwulf spoke, there wasn’t anything to say. He was correct that a sound soul resides in a sound body and mind. Her body was exhausted, a rough patch of little sleep combined with a resurgence of issues brought up by the witch's soul left her with little energy. Her mind however was far from sound, it was cluttered and a distorted mess. But above all, she had barely processed what had happened to her soul. Therapy had always focused on her emotions and talking about it. But she had never sat and processed it out for herself. “I understand.” Eva finally spoke up. “I’m sorry Sara, I just don't know how to talk about it.” She admitted.

Starwulf stood up once Eva had started her apologies to Sara. He felt the tone of the conversation was about to shift. In truth, this made sense. He was only there for guidance, but Sara was her partner. When it came to soul searching, she would be far more important. ”If you would like, Eva, I can talk to your therapist to better explain what you’re going through on a spiritual level, and how your mental state ties into that,” he offered.

”With a referral to a proper psychiatrist that can prescribe some medication in the short term to help with sleep. I’m not keen on medication myself, but it would lie to say that many an agent haven’t relied on valium or xanax in situations like this to help them through the early steps,” he told her, giving her his unique insight as to what he had seen in the past. ”But I stress this: short term. Ideally just a month, no more than two. It should only ease the opening of the door, not become a crutch,” he added, reinforcing his condition that this needed to be no more than a helpful tool.

“Yeah, that may help. It's difficult for me to express myself without breaking down entirely.” Eva said in reference to Starwulf speaking to her therapist. “Do they help with nightmares? That's where my sleep has fallen to pieces.” Eva explained, now turning her attention back to Sara.

Throughout this interaction, Sara was by her side, giving Eva easy smiles and apologetic furrows of her brow. Whether Eva took it as pity or sympathy, that was her to decide. But Sara was the latter. She didn’t know what this felt like, but she’s been going through the grieving cycle just as much as Eva was. She patted her back, her tail wagging in a smooth rhythm as she did her best to console her. “I’m going through a bit of it, too. I completely understand hiding it from me though, so don’t worry about that. I’ve been hiding my own grieving from you because you don’t need to worry about it. You can’t lift somebody else up if you’re crumbling yourself. But I feel like you were hiding it from yourself more than you were hiding it from me.” She lightheartedly tried to make light of what she saw, her smile shifting to a more somber one. “I’ll help you with anything you need.” Her voice sounded so smooth and soft.

”Grieve together, grieve apart. Be the boulder for the other while one crumbles,” Starwulf told them, ”that is a tenant of a good partnership. Though really, it is a mark of friendship.”

He stood up from his kneeling position and felt that the two girls had more to discuss with each other than they truly needed him for at this point. A lot of their issues would require them personally working through it alongside a trained professional. Starwulf knew his place in the system, and this wasn’t necessarily it. Not that he wouldn’t like to help, just that there were resources better suited for it.

”Unfortunately, medication doesn’t typically help with nightmares that are spiritual in nature… honestly, most medication I’ve seen doesn’t do much for nightmares in general,” he told her, trying to offer what little he could here, but ultimately having little good news. ”If you can make any headway with resolving your grief and adjusting to your new soul instead of perceiving it that of another, you’ll likely experience some positive effects with your anxiety and nightmares,” he added, trying to provide at least some level of reassurance here. He couldn’t promise anything, but he didn’t want to make her feel like it was utterly hopeless.

”It seems you can still work in the field as you are, which might be a blessing in disguise,” he told her, ”each time you make a small breakthrough, you’ll feel it more so on a mission. That and goals like missions are great tools to distract yourself, so long as you don’t drown yourself in work.”

”I think as a mentor, though, I don’t have much more I can provide as expertise. This is a situation where time and patience are your allies as long as you are headed in the right direction.” he told them both, hoping to transition this to an end so that they could focus on their progress more independently. In truth, there was little more he could do.

Eva nodded to Sara. “Alright, I think we have an idea of what we need to do.” Sara met Eva’s gaze, her tail wagging with a happy, determined smile now that they had an idea of what path to traverse on.

​

 

[Merciless Medic]

Noah Wiley​

Date: April 15, 2067
Location: Briefing Room, DWMA, Death City
Interactions: The Colonel, Gauss, Arkayis, Midori, Elly, Annika
Mentions: N/A
RedArmyShogun Peckinou Sir Les Paul Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen

It had been three days - three, long, anxiety-riddling days.

While Noah figured it was for jet lag and gathering of further intel about the matter in Romania, it still caused a rather sizable rock in his gut to form that was rather uncomfortable. He didn’t sleep much, preferring to just play video games to while away the time.

Until he was told he couldn’t do that anymore and had to take medicine to sleep the night before they got the debrief. So when he sat in the room amongst the team he went out with, the anxiety rock that formed in his gut turned into a pit, his arms crossed as he regarded the older man on screen with neutral respect.

Satisfactory...

Well, could’ve been worse. Gauss’s whole thing about taking in cars and being too heavy-handed in his money giving could’ve caused issues for them all, yet it could’ve been worse. Still, their presence because of Gauss’s money was likely seen by the baroness long before they even got to the city that had Ileana. That, Noah knew now, especially when the Colonel said the mission was already compromised.

He sent an apologetic glance at Midori. They both weren’t feeling right about this mission, and he would have wanted to leave along with Midori if he hadn’t rather tried to push the Baroness into a proverbial corner. At least they had information about where she went, but hearing they’d be used again to find her later didn’t sit well with him.

At least she was supposedly weaker than the other Bloodsuckers her age.

Civilian losses were acceptable...

No, they could’ve done better. He gritted his teeth, his hands clenched into fists. And the mercs that they were supposed to keep alive…

That was right, they were just thralls, weren’t they? They were just puppets and they killed the puppets despite them doing no wrong…

It ate at him.

What were they to do? Would the Healing Wavelength have worked to sever the connection? Even if he did that, he didn’t think he was strong enough to do that…

He tasted something bitter in his mouth.

At least the Romanians couldn’t blame them for anything, and the Colonel was on their side. Still, it was a fucked up mission, and Noah hated every single part of it, and since hindsight was 20/20, he felt worse about everything that happened.

They had killed innocent people… Even if they were thralls, it didn’t sit well with him.

Threats are to be run to the ground…

And why were his men upset that they didn’t even go into the castle? They - as Team Gauss - had no presence being there anyway, and Midori was going to blow a blood vessel if they stayed any longer. He didn’t care about Zulal, but hearing he was spared - probably by Elly, no doubt - had his body tense.

And now the Romanian Nationalists hated them because they left those thugs alive… They should’ve been grateful they weren’t dead like those innocent lives who were thralls…

Noah glared at the man on screen, not because of him, but because of what he said. He couldn’t put any blame on him for any of what he said, and the world out there was ugly. He knew that. He would rather not become a statistic that made the world any uglier.

“I have nothing to say.” He held back the venom in his words, but it was clear he didn’t like any of what he heard. Unlike his normal lazy speech, he enunciated everything clearly and without a drawl. It was true, he had nothing to say, at least not to the Colonel. He kept back enough of the contempt when he spoke again, actually sounding reverent. “Thank you, Colonel.” Swiftly getting up, he bowed low and at the hip, then left Gauss’s side and stormed off quickly to blow off some steam. Gauss and Arkayis could follow him, but he wanted to tear something apart.

It could’ve been better…

 

[Sir Les Paul]

"Oooo, Irinaaaa, it's been so long!" Yara shouted out whimsically, seeing the Research Witch amongst the ranks of her teammates from the mission. She of course had been briefed of the whole situation after Cyrus brought her in. The whole thing was requested through the Wiccan Council, after all. The Death Room was as pleasant as ever, though Kidd wasn't present. It seemed he never was. Cyrus spent more time at his secretarial desk, it seemed, than Kidd did within his own office. Not that any of the agents present were in it often enough to know that odd trend.

"Yes, Yara," Irina responded dryly, her tone lacking any sort of enthusiasm. Her lips remained pursed and gaze sharp. She stood resolute, but her body language deceptively cold despite how open it was with her lax arms. "It mostly certainly has," she added, with some strained effort to be cordial.

"Rina, you're always like this!" Yara said, crossing her arms and giving the Research Witch a pouty face. "You got to go to a remote part of the planet with a bunch of escorts, sticking your nose where it didn't belong, and making a whole mess!" Yara added, giving an admittedly playful glare to the other Witch. It seemed as if these two had some history behind them. Given how deceptively old Witches could be, it was more than likely they all did.

"Well, some of us can't simply create a portal to go anywhere we want, any time we want, your Highness," Irina responded, this time her tone carrying a subtle hint of venom.

"Don't call me your Highness!" Yara shouted back, some fiery anger in her tone this time. "Pshh, besides, if you want to go anywhere, you could just ask me to take you there," she quickly tacked on, her tone shifting dramatically in back-to-back sentences. Following Yara could give a person Whiplash faster than any Ferrari.

"That's enough, ladies," Cyrus cut in, as sharp as ever. His words cleaved through the tension like a scalpel in an operating room. He wasn't exactly keen on the situation. Not because of any drama that arose from the mission itself. He just wasn't a fan of bringing people in with Yara. For all of her benefits, no matter how fringe, her personality grated him enough that he wished Rand had taken her position as ambassador. The kid was quiet. Cyrus liked quiet.

"Yara is only here because the Wiccan Council has taken interest in some of the findings on Valaam," he explained, calm and cool unlike the Witches that spoke before him. "The Magic as it was reported was unique. It has been confirmed that you were fighting a Leshy, but we have no understanding of the totems, biology, or the unique organisms within that Spirit Forest," he went on explaining, "and, arguably more important, what happened to you, Ms. Ethalyn."

"I do admit, I've never heard of it or seen anything like it..." Irina added on, her shift reverting to her natural one with an undertone of curiosity.

"Maba is interested, too. She has extended an invitation to the Witch Realm, if that is amicable," Yara responded after, also shifting in tone to a more serious, regal one; she suddenly became more fitting of her stature. "She may know secrets from millennia ago that have been lost or destroyed, but..." Yara continued, then trailed off for a moment.

"I did overhear her mention that the only living person who might truly understand this is Lord Eibon himself," she said, though her voice became quite hollow, as if mentioning the name of the Legendary Sorcerer was akin to a cardinal sin.

"Before we jump the gun, let's speak about the mission as a whole," Cyrus again inserting himself into the conversation, stealing it back from both Yara and Irina whom had their own comments.

"Overall, we consider your achievements a great success. Uncovering a Spirit Forest is no small feat in and of itself, but fighting an immature Leshy was punching well above your weight. In that regard, you have done splendidly," Cyrus told them, his pitch raised slightly and eyebrows raised more so as he praised them. He then crossed his arms and muted his face. "That said, the written review does mention you took many liberties and made decisions that were arguably more risky than necessary. I will admit you performed better than your contemporary, Mister Thales. That said, your errors were in the same vein. You could have just as easily gotten yourself killed, and very well might have if not for the sudden and mysterious ability obtained by Miss Ethalyn," Cyrus informed them, clarifying that there were at least some slight issues with the mission as a whole.

"The Russian Government will be allowing the Eastern European Branch to further investigate and has no complaints about your behavior, aside from some unnecessary remarks made to some priests after the fact," Cyrus told them, continuing on with the general news about the mission. "I imagine this investigation will go on years and involve uncovering some unsavory history of the area. You might have sparked it, but you are not tethered to it. That said, there is myth that those who slay a Leshy will be cursed by the lands. It is just a legend, but there is one other thing of note.," Cyrus told them, though he then looked off and specifically to Adrian for this next piece of information.

"Should you encounter another Leshy, they have historically been able to sense if a Demon Weapon has consumed one of their kind. Many species of Magical Creatures and Fae can do this. Bloodhunters apparently wreak of Bloodsucker souls," Cyrus said, informing them of a trivial piece of information that was only ever glossed over if taught at all in Soul Studies classes.

"Back to the main point, though. Gauss will be attending leadership classes between missions until he passes a bar. Nadia, you will attend the same, but only for a third the time. Primarily, we want you to consider a more reserved approach. Value your life more, in essence," he explained, giving her a far less intensive task than her counterpart. More so, he was being somewhat empathetic with his demand she put more intrinsic value on her life.

"Finally, and this should come as no surprise, but yes, Daniella, we would like to further assess what occurred to you. Professor Davis is particularly intrigued. Starwulf is a specialist with unique wavelengths, and will help on that front. Yara and Rand will assess if there is a magical factor at play, and if so, you may be requested to visit the Witch Realm," Cyrus explained, though now targeting Dani as directly as he did Adrian a moment prior. "Now don't be concerned, no one will be dissecting you. These assessments will be a series of non-invasive tests, primarily when your ability is active. Some spells may be cast to give insight machinery and Soul Perception cannot, but I assure you, your safety is paramount," Cyrus told her, offering a genuine attempt at consolation and comfort.

Only for Yara to pop in and ruin his more serious moment with a jab of her own. "You'll be fiiiine. Besides, Cyrus threatens anyone that," and how she shifted her tone to an obnoxious mimicry of Cyrus and his more masculine voice, "puts my agents in any kind of danger."

RedArmyShogun Merciless Medic EmperorsChosen Mook-LandStrider

​

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Project

F.A.T.E.

Phase

Three

Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii

A Long-Awaited Vacation

Monday, September 9th, 2067​

The OUTRIGGER Kāʻanapali Beach Resort. One of, if not the single nicest, resorts along Ka’anapali Beach, and still easily one of the most notable in all of Hawaii. It was kept perpetually modern and updated, with a bright, open chic that matched the clean look of the beach and assorted amenities provided by the resort. Not only that, all of Hawaii was thriving. During MIBVI, small islands and resorts like these became sanctuaries for the wealthy elite, and after the pandemic, even richer with reimbursements and a massively stimulated economy. Even getting into this resort would prove a task for most, but the DWMA was able to pull plenty of strings and align missions so that the next steps in the F.A.T.E. Program were perfectly in order.

Hawaii was truly a beautiful place. While their stay was short, it was all expenses paid and optional to anyone that didn't desire the luxury. Though, why wouldn't they? Their two day stay included unlimited meals of the small yet high-quality menus provided, various spa options such as massages, open yet mostly private outside areas that allowed for an elevated view of the ocean, and various forms of planned entertainment including live music, themed performances, and an open dance room. The place was lively. Each agent with their own private room; even partners need not share, lest they wanted to.

The atmosphere was perfect. Not quite the broiling summer heat. Instead, cool breezes from the trade winds carrying the salty, unique air of the volcanic range. The brilliant blues of the ocean waves, white at the tips with traces of green in the shimmering sun. A clear forecast for the three total days the agents were slotted to be present. Given the high octane nature of the agents, additional amenities for volleyball along the warm sands A small agreement amongst local resorts and business to allow any interested agents to ferry to over to some of the best surf spots on all of Ka’anapali Beach, if they so desired. Not to mention, a whole assortment of beverages to those of age at the request from any of the additional staff brought on for this endeavor. Not that the agents were even forced into remaining at the resort; there was a whole island, though well-developed, to explore at their leisure.

The flight? First Class. Obviously pleasant. The arrival, just as pleasant. While Agents did have to carry their own luggage from the airport, once they arrived at the resort, everything that could (or would be allowed to be) carried was. Multiple stations within the main lobby were assigned to check in agents as they entered. Rooms were assigned, complimentary bags (which themselves were made of a high-quality hemp material) full of assorted goods, and sets of pamphlets outlining the various activities were provided. Despite being by a beach, the resort had its own pool. Rooftop access for beautiful views of the ocean and sky, including sunbathing. Various small courts for sports like tennis. The resort lacked an arcade, but each room had a Smart TV with a game streaming service, so even that was possible.

The agents, which numbered in the triple digits most of the F.A.T.E. Program (including the Witches and Sorcerers) were invited to attend. The diversity in the crowd and how it represented the face value of the Program itself was nothing short of astonishing. Agents from all walks of life present, and it was uncommon that they were all accumulated in the same place.

The first of the major events was to begin soon. A small lunch followed by a greeting from the Resort Manager. It was mostly pleasantries from how it was described, but it was in fact a request from the manager to talk to the Agents as a whole. From what few rumors could be gathered, it seemed the resort owner and this manager were avid supporters of the DWMA, and even more so for this program. Chances were, they might have known someone in it.

Inside the dining hall of the Resort, this is where the agents would ultimately find themselves. Picking out their light lunch from a small menu assortment, sitting at various tables of various sizes all across the room, waiting for the speaker to arrive. By this time, even the slowest of them would have had time to check in, check out their room, drop off their own luggage if they so chose, and still meandered around the resort, either gawking at the gorgeous views of the ocean through its oversized windows or clean, modern interior that was meticulously well-kept. Once the greeting had concluded, the Agents were free to explore, engage in any of the local activities, or even just stick around and continue chatting. This was no high strung mission. Here, for the next few days, they went at their own pace, on their own time, making their own choices.

The menu itself included surprisingly down-to-earth items given the nature of the extravagance of the rest of the resort. Options included a simple mixed greens salad, grilled chicken Caesar wrap, tex-mex chicken wrap, island sauce smash burger, grilled ranch chicken on cheesy rice bed, even down to grilled cheese, wings, and crispy fries. The drinks catalogue was especially large, offering a variety of standard liquors, but also a hugely expanded selection of beers and hard seltzers, apparently made by a local brewing company. As one might expect, many of the non-traditional flavors were island spice and fruit inspired, with exotic beers named vaguely after different island locations, beach slang, and even more vague IPA names with generic flavor descriptions. While the lunch menu was limited, their beverage options included everything listed above, more standard drink choices, and even alcoholic fruit slushies and ice cream. Cocktails, as noted on the menu, were served exclusively at the bar; not ordered via a server.

Character Updates (September 9th, 2067)​

All Current Meisters — With Wavelength Amplification, all Meisters can now perceive and react to projectiles at a speed of roughly 300 feet per second (arrows/crossbow bolts) as a full-body dodge (this does not apply to spiritual projectiles) and can deflect small arms fire up to 1000 feet per second within reasonable context (spray and pray sub machine gun versus one or two rounds from a pistol, for example). This would include most rounds at or below the caliber of a .38. During Resonance, this deflection feat increases to 1,600 feet per second. Note that reaction times include their ability to perceive a very small number of projectiles (1-4) and deflect them, but not a full-body dodge. In situations where they cannot dodge due to room, they have no weapon to deflect, their perception is not focused at the time, or the projectile is just outside of their reaction speed, Meisters do have the option to move their body so that its entry point to a non-lethal location. Reaction speed only applies to actions over a very short distance, not sustained movement speed or full combat speed; these reactions require a large sum of their wavelength reserves to perform and are highly taxing.

Raspopova "Nadia" Semyonovna — Aged up to 22 (birthday on August 24th). Has acquired entry-level Chain Resonance (normally up to 3 duos for a 3x multiplier on top of Normal Resonance). Has adapted to Dani's slightly different Wavelength with no noticeable depreciation. Has increased in Resonance skill to such a degree she can now put Dani into a Weapon Amplification Form and use a short ranged slash-like projectile using Complex Resonance. Has developed various fighting styles effective for utilizing Dani in different ways, including utilizing her one-handed to combo her Icy Soul Force with her opposing hand, utilizing her Scorpion tail instead or Resonating, or using her with both hands for powerful Resonance techniques. Each new style has pros and cons, allowing Nadia for adaptability on the fly, made even more effective via her training with Anya. A specific, unique application of this two-handed fighting style is the application of her Icy Soul Force to freeze thus make a material brittle, then hit it with Dani using (with or without using her fire or Scorpion Tial), increasing her potential strike force. In this instance, she can break through two-inch thick steel. In addition to her increased combat prowess, Nadia has increased her base Wavelength Control, resulting in more efficient and effective use of her Wavelength Amplification, greatly increasing benefits her to speed, strength, and endurance when in use while also being able to use Amplification for longer periods of time.

Daniella Ethalyn — In addition to the above mentioned skills Nadia has (as they are a duo), Dani is capable of igniting the blade of her sword form and generating her scorpion tail at will. The latter of which can do use for approximately five minutes before a short rest (at least fifteen minutes), and can do so a handful of times per day depending on how exhausted she is in general. The scorpion tail is capable of lashing out at speeds that surpass the duo even when resonating, will corrode anything its stinger touches, and burns at roughly 1,600F. The use of this ability has been proven to be directly related to her physique, resulting in even more intense cardiovascular conditioning. During this time, she has also developed her Soul Perception and Wavelength Control alongside Nadia, resulting in assisting Nadia with entry-level Wavelength Regulation.

Sara Middleton — Aged up to 22 (birthday on August 22nd). Has learned a variation of Resonance that is designed to be a "half resonance", similar in nature to Self Resonance. By only utilizing roughly half of her half at a time, Sara can select an entirely-human portion (avoiding the werewolf portion of soul) and Eva can manage this as only half of Sara's wavelength doesn't require her to use any part of her soul that is distorted. Effectively, this "half resonance" is comparable to self-resonance in power, but is considerably less draining than regular or Self-Resonance. Furthermore, she has greatly increased her wavelength control by learning how to only use the human part of her wavelength. Her skill in Wavelength Amplification has greatly increased to such a degree that she can even use Soul Force, but the penalty for this method is that her overall capabilities are about 25% weaker than if she had her whole wavelength work with. With her newfound increased Wavelength Control (acquired through a specific training regiment from Starwulf), Sara can now track a spiritual scent for up to two miles, and her general ocular Soul Perception has mildly increase. Due to their unique Resonance style, however, Chain Resonance has proven to be unstable at the moment.

Evangeline Konstantine — In addition tot he above mentioned skills Sara has (as they are a duo), Eva has increased her mental stability and has gained a slight boost to her personal security. She has started Sound Mind training and while she has not acquired a Seal, she can use it in conjunction with the spiritual guidance Starwulf has provided to quell the voices and nightmares she has due to her distorted soul. This is not perfect nor immediate, but with focus has become a powerful tool in maintaining her mindset. With her more stable mindset, Eva has greatly increased her Wavelength Control to such an extent she can assist Sara in controlling hers through entry-level Wavelength Regulation. While Resonating, Eva has developed a new trait of allowing Sara to literally walk on water as if it were a solid surface. While Resonating, Eva has developed a new skill called Balefire Claw that creates a tangible green flame in the opposite hand of Sara, extending roughly six inches. This claw does not burn as if fire, but is solid, sharp, and can tear through illusions,, or just people in general.

Annika Lindstrom — Aged up to 23 (birthday August 5th). Has gained a new partner in a late-coming to the F.A.T.E. Program from Group A-10: Wes Kraven. Has acquired entry-level Chain Resonance. Has vastly increased her Wavelength Control in multiple more advanced facets, including its adaptability, precision, efficiency, intensity, consistency, and finally increased its intensity. This has resulted her Wavelength Amplification becoming not only more powerful, but also the duration she can utilize it (alongside Wavelength Conduction). More notably, she has developed a method to channel an oscillation via her wavelength into materials that can, over time, result in a harmonic affect that can destabilize them, resulting in significantly more destructive force on buildings or heavily-armored foes if struck multiple times or channeled for long durations. The increase to the intensity of her wavelength was less for raw damage output and more to simply increase the range of application. Annika has also worked within the Magitech labs for more advancements in some of her gear (alongside meeting Maria Mayer and exchanging ideas). However, her progress in advancing her Magitech was slowed as she spent ample time training with Wes. Due to the abilities of Wes, the duo can amplify Chain Resonance within a team, taking it from entry-level to an intermediate level, resulting in an increase in stability, range, and a slightly higher multiplier for its duration, so long as Wes cooperates. Annika is capable of Basic Resonance with Wes, putting him into a Weapon Amplification form, and has developed a Resonance technique using her oscillating wavelength to increase his range and cutting power (made stronger with Weapon Amplification Resonance). With Wes committing fully to a fight, the two have also developed a more powerful application of Resonance utilizing both of their Wavelengths for a short-range, highly destructive blast of tuned soundwaves, capable of highly-destructive output beyond even their normal level, though this ability requires Wes engage completely and drains both of them to near exhaustion.

Zosar Raith — Spent 14 weeks at the Hoshi Homeland before being called back to the DWMA with Adra electing to stay. Midori visited occasionally between missions to give him updates. During this time, Zosar primarily gained benefits in Wavelength Control. He can now utilize his Volatile Wavelength at roughly 30% (so roughly 3x more powerful than a regular human Wavelength) completely stable without drawbacks and push it to 50% before it begins to destabilize. His skill in Wavelength Suppression has vastly increased, though it is still (and likely will always be) impossible for him to mask it entirely akin to a true Hoshi. With his conditioning and inability to completely suppress his wavelength, the tree cutting and other conditioning within the Hoshi Homeland was much tougher on him, exhausting him more quickly than most Hoshi. Due to this, he has also increased his Wavelength Reserves and overall stamina quite heavily. The Hoshi did little to train him in martial arts or their assassin ways, but they did help him refine his other skills. His Wavelength Amplification and Soul Perception have increased in quality. His Amplification is now much more stable with more efficiency and his perception has increased in clarity, allowing him a better sense of general empathy on a soul signature, and now with the ability to perceive up to four soul signatures simultaneously. More to come based on his weapon partner.

Adrian Hackney — Has heavily focused on his base physical attributes, increasing his overall speed, agility, and strength quite dramatically before even applying Wavelength Amplification. Adrian has increased the number of spikes he can generate by four and how long his primary spikes can be by an additional four inches. During Self Resonance, Adrian has developed a limited Weapon Amplification form in which he can massively increase the size of one of his spikes and have multiple spikes comprised of his wavelength shoot off of his spike. This linear focus on his skills has sprouted from training often alongside Nadia and Dani, whom train under Anya as a mentor. Adrian has also taken time to train with Reiko to further his Sound Mind training, further conditioning him against Madness, but has yet to perfect a Calm Seal. Adrian has gained some level of proficiency with entry-level Chain Resonance, again through mutual training with Nadia and Dani.

Thaddeus "Gauss" Thales — Aged up to 21 (birthday May 4th). Has focused heavily on Resonance mastery, now being capable of Resonating with both Noah and Arkayis alongside provide them both Weapon Amplification forms, albeit one at a time. He has also gained proficiency with Chain Resonance. Due to the nature of his weapons, Gauss has had to greatly increase his Wavelength Reserves and efficiency in use. He has picked up augmenting his fighting style with various Magitech tools such as a unfolding metal plate he can fly on and various ball bearings that can be used in conjunction with both his and his partners abilities. With Resonance mastery comes another mild increase to his Wavelength Control, which has trickled into increases for his Wavelength Amplification and Soul Perception in general. However, Gauss was somewhat stunted in his martial arts and weapons handling as he was pushed into classes on in field leadership, battlefield tactics, and general communication.

Noah Wiley — In addition to the above mention skills Gauss has (as they part of a trio), Noah has greatly increased his precision with Wavelength Control. He is capable of much, much finer acts, such as generating electricity between his fingers, powering an LED lightbulb consistently without blowing it, and controlling his own generated electricity from afar. Noah has also gained a much better understanding of his Healing Wavelength, now being able to use it for longer without exhaustion and tie it into his lower-level electricity generation for "calming sparks" which feel similar to a low-level TENS machine but have a profoundly calming effect even greater than his direct touch. His focus on precision has not entirely consumed his elemental traits, however. He is now capable of creating electrical nets with ball bearings, can control chain lightning to jump up to eleven times, and can direct his own electricity in a more direct path at higher voltage.

Arkayis Misonuka — Aged up to 25 (birthday May 12th). In addition to the above mentioned skills Gauss has (as they are part of a trio), Arkayis has also significantly increased his precision with Wavelength Control. While it is not to the same degree of fine control as Noah, he can now create flames at all variations of color and heat up to his maximum blue jet flames effortlessly. As his relationship with Noah and Gauss overtime has increased, so has the ease of communication between them, allowing Arkayis to communicate with Noah and Gauss all at once while they are being held. Arkayis has also gained a significant proficiency in controlling his own generated flames, allowing him to perform more intricate feats of control of them from afar (so long as they are present), and doing so with greater finesse and ability than even Noah. Arkayis during training with Kusumi had attempted various alternate methods of creating flames and jets with the ultimate goal of achieving an effect similar to a plasma cutter, but found the extremely fine control outside of his reach. During this training, he developed a new skill to create a "flame" without oxygen, and in doing so ultimately created a technique that causes small explosions when his scythe head comes into contact with a target as opposed to actually "burning", which was arguably less destructive but a fun technique nonetheless.

Eloise Keegan — Aged up to 20 (birthday May 1st). Was given the rare privilege of training with Fredrick Stein (likely due to some strings being pulled) to assist with honing her Super Soul Perception. While her range has not increased, she can now clearly see mana, differentiate its types, and even break through Soul Protect or similar effects. Her precision with Soul Perception has gained such clarity that she can see even see the patterns wavelength takes through the body as different techniques are used and gauge how powerful Resonance attacks will be by how well a weapon is amplifying a wavelength. Due to this massively increased precision, she has also gained considerably more precision with her wavelength control. Elly is now capable of assisting Midori in guiding arrows, extending the tips of his blades with Wavelength (though this is an assassination art he uses), and can amplify specific parts of her body down to her fingertips. She is now capable of Resonating with Midori in all three of his forms, but can only presently give his bow form a Weapon Amplification form. They have effectively mastered two significant Resonance Techniques; Incognito Arrow and Arrow Crescendo. Incognito Arrow allows for the launch of one powerful arrow that distorts the area around it, preventing it from being perceived easily with Soul Perception. Arrow Crescendo fires what appears to be a massive volley of arrows, hiding only a few truly powerful arrows within the storm while the others are all mere illusions, akin to after images. Due to her increase in Wavelength Control, Elly has also gained significant boosts to her Wavelength Amplification and has trained more in archery and blade-fighting to make better use of her two preferred forms. Elly has also gained proficiency in entry-level Chain Resonance. Elly has also been promoted to Team Leader in the F.A.T.E. Program.

Midori☆Hoshi — In addition to the above mentioned skills Elly has (as they are a duo), Midori has focused heavily on refining his Weapon skills. As it has been years since he was consistently a dedicated weapon and Elly had been focusing on her precision, Midori too reverted back to enhancing his Wavelength Regulation and precision. The two can effectively share sight with her Super Soul Perception while he is being wielded and via his use, she can increase her range. With two sets of eyes scanning large areas, this provides quicker and more reliable coverage. Midori has trained to remain in his weapon form for extended periods of time, upwards for the better part of a day. During this time, he can also assist in suppressing Elly's soul in a similar fashion with Wavelength Regulation, making her nearly as invisible as he is as a Hoshi. Due to his career as an Autonomous Weapon, his skill in Wavelength Regulation for basic Meister skills such as Amplification has only increased drastically as he is aware of precisely how help guide a wavelength for more optimal amplification. This in conjunction with him becoming accustomed to Elly's Incognito Wavelength over time has allowed Elly to surpass even Gauss and Nadia in Wavelength Amplification feats. Has now consumed 96 Corrupted Souls and a single Witch Soul.

All Current Mages — Rand has taught all of them extensive use of Witch Script for novice to intermediate level spell crafting. During this training, there was a targeted focus on being able to read and understand a written spell, and how to use Magic Circles and/or Runes to augment the usage. In this endeavor, he has taught the entire group how to create up to two simple Magic Circles for a spell; the first is designed to either enhance its power or focus its power more precisely, the second would be used for specific shaping or targeting of a spell. With their ability to read and understand written spells and compose these two Magic Circles, the group has functionally gained the ability to augment their own spells via Magic Circles or those of virtually any relatively simple spell that they read. Their training for this consisted of quickly adapting to using Magic Circles for each other's spells, of which all within the group demonstrated the ability to do within a reasonable time. Rand also pushed the use of how to create runes and integrate them into spell work with similar open-ended functionality as Magic Circles. For example, Maria and Raph can now create a rune that would send a brief message to Ark via his Seismic Sense through auditory means, Maria has learned how to use Raph's anchor rune albeit using her mana threads, Ark has learned how to create said rune for either Raph or Maria, and Raph can now create the rune for use with Maria. Additionally, all three have been taught the basics of trap runes: Maria can create a rune that when triggered releases her threads, Raph can create a runer that when triggered releases his chains, and Ark can create a rune that when trigger creates a pitfall up to the neck of its target.

Through the training event with Rand, all Mages have also gained access to the following spells: Magelight, Water Manipulation (Minor), Firestarter, Water Temperature manipulation (raise and increase), Wind Cloak (insulation), Soften Earth, Witch Script Duplication (with Blood Pen), Water Purification (boil and condense), Ice Generation, Mabaian Sealing Spell. All Mages have also learned a basic Rune Message Transcript spell, allowing them to create a message sealed in a Rune and later unseal a Message to read in Witch Script.

Maria Mayer — Maria has dedicated time to integrating the massive repertoire of acquired spells and gear into both her combat style and doll production. In addition to the above mentioned spells, she also learned various Wind Magic spells through Rand (as it is their shared primary attribute, this lead to considerable overlap in what he could teach). These spells include: Wind Enhancement, Air-Ignition Explosion, Wind Blast, Wind Scythe, Aero Edge, Sonic Boom (Minor), a spell she dubbed Sleet, and a general resistance to Wind Magic Maria has also dabbled in her secondary attribute of Force Spells, adding basic Pushes and Pulls to her spell list. Using Rune Magic, she has imbued her dolls to utilize some of her new spells, creating a new doll class called Casters. With her new gear, she can also better multi-task while controlling her dolls, allowing her more flexibility in the field.

Raphael Valerias — Raphael has dedicated his time to working with the new-found qualities of his chains that he was unaware of prior to his mentoring with Rand. His chains can be augmented to either more heavily restrain a target with chains that are anchored (increasing their weight and durability), or suppress their magical qualities. Through his chaining, he has found that these effects work best when the chains are bound to an anchor (thus are stationary), not floating around or held by him. With his magic suppression, he is able to dampen the effects of other casters and magical creatures, but has little to no impact on Fae or Meisters at present. In some cases, this effect will only make control over magic more difficult, but for the case of weaker casters or weak magical beasts, it can almost entirely suppress their magical abilities. He has additionally spent more time expanding his pool of spells. With his chains, he can now create a hook head, an arrowhead at its tip that can be fired as a secondary steel projectile, change their composition to other metals, and upgraded some of his older spells to incorporate Spell Layering for additional effects. He has also worked on his secondary magical themes, including a Fire Whip spell that creates a lashing effect, a basic fireball spell, and the ability to ignite his own chains. While he has attempted to understand more about Demon Tool creation and schematics to make them, his most significant progress has been in layering his spells with each other for additional effects that compound together.

Ifechi "Ark" Duulwin — Ark has spent his time rounding out his arsenal as opposed to a singular strong focus. He has spent time training with Raphael to help develop his companion's secondary fire affinity, and in turn learned the same spells as his companion, also capable of now using Fire whip and a basic Fireball spell. During this time, he has developed a Fire Belch spell that allows him to spew a viscous, flaming hot liquid at a close range with the notable trait of requiring neither of his hands or any incantation. In training with Rand, Ark has refined his complex creation of Lava-enhanced weapons to give them a slight amount of flex and the ability to reform if minorly damaged, allowing them greater longevity in combat. Ark has also developed his Magic Circles to a stage where not only can they empower other spells, but grant him greater control. With these Control-oriented Magic Circles, Ark can channel spells into his larger stone or lava constructs to control them with more finesse, similar to the sphere Rand helped him create to guide them through the cave in the desert. Ark can also use this spell to augment lava weapons used by others, giving them the ability to change in size and become prehensile through his own control, though this does exclude him from combat. Ark has further worked on improving his Stone Bullet spell to create a large amount of high speed stones, both increasing their speed in general, better shaping them into aerodynamic shapes, and the amount he can create, though the higher amount will relate to more mana usage. He has also created a Stone Arrow spell with similar means, but focused primarily on a single arrowhead moving at a higher speed with significantly more precision, working in conjunction with his Seismic Sense to aim. Lastly, he has spent time repairing and upgrading his gear. He has swapped out the three rings provided to him by Rand for just a single ring as he has developed confidence with his PTSD, meaning he only has one inhibitor for control. The other two bands were replaced with what he has deemed Obelisk Bands. In their normal form, these bands resemble the golden rings Rand gave, but are instead a glossy grey color. Upon activation, they can expand to cover his arms in a type of stone scale mail plating that is extremely resistant to heat, blunt force attacks, and most chemicals. Lastly, his gloves were entirely remade; they provide him the same general control over his respective elements, but have been created with smaller runescript, allowing for more additions. At present, each glove has been augmented further to be resistant to corrosion and acid, but do have room for up to three more later additions each.

The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen Peckinou Shotgunpenguin MAROON QUILLNEST Kovacs AriAriAbabwa
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[RedArmyShogun]

Nadia Semyonov - Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii - OUTRIGGER Kāʻanapali Beach Resort
​

Nadia could not say she was too pleased with the vacation, but Dani and even Maria wanted to go, and it was not as if the trip were optional. Or rather, for a team leader to not show up would set a bad precedence for them all. But why a fucking Island? She seethed, it was beautiful, but from the top of the hotel it was easy to see water all around, islands don't sink at least, she thought to herself. Then there was the request for them to stay for a meeting with the manager, or rather down in the cafeteria. Or was this a Mess Hall? An Eatery? Dining Room? English had too many terms for this. Still, it gave her enough time to put up her bag and to change into a swimsuit, while she had zero intention of going into or near the ocean, given the trauma she had so far kept hidden from everyone, with the exception of Dani. With a black bikini top, a tropical sarong and a large straw sun hat, that she had picked up at the airport, Nadia's plan was fully to go up top to sunbathe, or to enjoy the inground pool.

At least Dani should have fun here, for now she looked over the menu and scoffed, it was very little in way of interesting to herself, or her palate. The Salad and the chicken wings would do for now, in the hope that the Dinner Menu would hold more. She was surprised pulled pork wasn't on the menu, given the famous Hawaiian Pork roasts. Maybe later... Though it may be worth exploring the Island in the coming days. With that she sat back, waiting for any faces she knew or cared to see.

Interactions: None.

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Thaddeus Thales​

"Gauss"​

Species Human
Partner Noah Wiley, Arkayis Misonuka
Rank Fate Agent

Location OUTRIGGER Resort, Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii
Mission A Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride!
Status Relaxed

​

Tags: The Regal Rper Merciless Medic Mook-LandStrider EmperorsChosen Peckinou Shotgunpenguin MAROON QUILLNEST Kovacs AriAriAbabwa

It was such a gorgeous piece of the planet.

Flying over it, or touching down, Ka’anapali Beach was a picture perfect spot for a beachside vacation. For Gauss, it had a sense of familiarity. He had vacationed here a handful of times in his youth. There was some melancholy in his memories of his family before their introduction to the DWMA. Back then, V went by Viraj, and Thea was much more kind toward him. It felt like a lifetime ago now. In way, it really was. Back then, he was being sculpted into what their father thought would be the perfect inheritor of Thaltek. Now, Gauss was an Agent of the DWMA, climbing his way back up from a near dishonorable removal from the organization.

He saw the islands in an entirely different light this time. They were familiar, but he was different. Not to mention, his father took them to Alii Resort, not OUTRIGGER.

The process for checking into the resort was fairly different, though it somewhat had to be to accommodate the significantly increased volume of people all checking in at once. Gauss had to internally admit that the service was still spot on. It wasn't uncommon for these places to be booked, but to have all of these people going in at the same time and it still be smooth--that was an accomplishment.

More notable was the sheer size of the F.A.T.E. Program in general. In the beginning, it was just a handful. Now the groups were up to well over Group 20, and there must have easily been over two-hundred agents checking into the resort. There were some, he assumed, that would elect not to come. Plenty, he rationalized, still getting themselves field ready. Still probably plenty more awaiting to be ushered into the evaluation phase of the program on one of those fateful Mondays that always rolled around, excluding those that fell on Holidays or major events. When he started the program, it was small. Almost like a family unit, small enough you could eventually grow to quite intimately know everyone around you.

Not now. There were faces here he didn't recognize at all. He had met a few new faces in the F.A.T.E. Program on missions as the teams were juggled around often, but it was most commonly the few he knew well. Same with Nadia, he presumed. This whole charade really put the scope of the program into perspective.

No wonder Cyrus was stressed constantly.

But, those thoughts soon vanished as the check in process was completed and everyone had the opportunity to check out their rooms. Arkayis and Noah were luckily quite close to his own room. Made sense; they probably wanted partners nearby. Gauss wasn't sure where anyone else was, though. This place was massive anyway. Not exactly maze-like, but definitely equipped to handle more guests than were present. The design was actually incredible. Very open and spacious with clear architectural queues to bring in as much natural light and scenes from the area surrounding. Unlike a lot of the higher end hotels and resorts he had visited, this one was a good balance of open and closed. He had been plenty of places in the world where their designs where so minimalist that in most places you were supposedly inside the building, you truly were still outside. That was fine for some, but it in many ways felt bare if the surrounding area wasn't sufficiently impressive to justify it.

Perhaps the silver spoon that Gauss was born with was shining through as he made these evalutions.

In any case, Gauss was quick to catch up with Noah and Arkayis before making their way down to the dining room. It was large and spacious enough for the whole lot of them, but it quite obviously had extra tables added and been rearranged to make room. This was more than likely an actual entertainment area converted over. The real restaurant area for this place was likely much smaller and, with the sheer amount of agents present, might even be a touch cramped. Gauss was quick to make small talk, asking how much Noah and Arky liked to see this side of life. Although, he knew full-well that Noah wasn't a fan and had a touch of it himself. Not quite to the same degree, but the flavor was all so similar.

Gauss had himself the island sauce smash burger and tried out the P.O.G. from the Muai selection of hard seltzers. Passion fruit, orange, and guava. How could they mess that up?

"I'm sure we'll see some other familiar faces soon enough," Gauss said, realizing they had in fact arrived a touch early compared to some of the others. Gauss did have a penchant for being timely, even if that meant dragging Noah and Arkayis by the hair. "I doubt Kusumi was invited, so unfortunately, I doubt Arky is gonna get to see her in a swimsuit," Gauss commented, poking fun at his partner and the abundance of affection he received from their paid trainer.

"How does Sara do with water?" Gauss asked, quickly rolling his eyes to shoot a question over to Noah. "I imagine that fur has to be real annoying in water, especially salt water. I've never asked a werewolf about that before," Gauss added, his tone demonstrating just how relaxed and nonchalant he was. The man had been high strung for the last few months. Training himself hard, putting both Noah and Arkayis through the ringer to perfect their Resonance, and attending those Death-forsaken classes whenever they weren't on a mission. In truth, neither of his weapons had seen him really take much of a break, and if they had, it was generally because he was going out with someone, either in secret or just kept quiet--at least in the beginning.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Maria Mayer - Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii - OUTRIGGER Kāʻanapali Beach Resort
​

Agreeing to go with some cajoling Maria was dragged from her workshop, something she protested. Being a workaholic, and something of a worrier sort, the plane flight and whoever was unfortunately sat next to her, consisted of Maria chewing at her nails or her thumb as she mumbled the whole way, whenever she wasn't sleeping at least, it also angered her that she could bring only the bare essentials of her craft or defenses along. She eventually settled with some muttering to having one small doll, her sewing gear and her carving knife. Even if these was to be a safe vacation, so was April the 1st from what she recalled.

To leave my darlings behind! I was just fine working! I even remembered to eat! Why must they do this! And why must I wear t-t-t-thisss!

Maria thought as Luggage was moved around and she was brought to her own room, mumbling as she went through the halls, at least the biting had stopped. For there was the swimsuit that some of the others had picked out for her, which bothered and embarrassed her to no end, a Polk dotted two-piece with a swimskirt bottom and a bikin top. While it didn't show as much as some swimsuits, more so her second option, she still snuck a thin hoodie out with her, changing into it, she held onto the skirt which was much too short and threw on the hoodie before joining the rest. Maybe in time she would get used to it, as she sat, though emotional less, thoroughly red faced. She wanted to look at the menu, but for now she just wanted people to not notice her till she could leave. The question is what she would do or where she would go, Nadia and Dani, or that new girl Aki were unlikely to let her just stay in her room. And even if she could there was nothing to do up there. So in the room she sat, waiting and watching.

And even more unfortunately, it was too hot to wear the coat fully across her body, she may even eventually need to take it off. "...so bothersome... Just let me work..."

Interactions: None.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

Feng Long - Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii - OUTRIGGER Kāʻanapali Beach Resort
​

In contrast with Maria who was a nervous wreck, the lady in green was anything but. She enjoyed being here and fully planned to make use of the beach and its services. Breaks were a great thing, after 6 months of training and Missions. Aki was around here somewhere, the girl, well, woman, shockingly young looking for her age, may have been a handful, but Feng genuinely liked having her newly sworn sister around, she was used to being a big sister for those with nowhere to go and no one for them. Plus the Mercenary upbringing ultimately wasn't too unlike her own in the temple and in the Triads. Or so it seemed to her.

With a happy hum and skip she traveled with her carrying sack and water gourd serving as her luggage, up the stairs, to the elevator and to her room, quickly changing out of her clothing she had purchased a swimsuit just for this, a form fitting green bikini, with a much smaller sarong than the one worn by Nadia, some sort of hat with a starfish, akin to the one she always wore. Hopefully Aki would at least change herself and not jump in with her normal clothing, but with how staggered they all were in being checked in, Feng could only hope the situation would correct itself.

Coming back down to where all the rest were, she smiled a bit letting the speech play out before just taking over a table to herself and peering at the menu. She would place an order for a grilled ranch chicken on cheesy rice. Looking out to all of those around her, there were a few faces she knew. Even if she was part of the 6th group, luck brought her in contact with members of the 1st and 2nd. Most of whom seemed to be here. "Heh. Now to wait for Aki then we do some of the stuff on the pamplet."

Interactions: None.

Spoiler: April 18th, introductions

In the wake of the April Fools Massacre, on the 18th, while there were heroes, there were the fallen and those who simply broke and could not continue. While FATE had done well, some of those in the the other induction groups needed replacements, and some needed forming up. In stood two women, one who was here before, and one, though having a long history with the program was only being inducted now and purposely being paired with this weapon. While the assessment test would happen soon after, the taller of the two wanted to do things her own way with meeting the now Meisterless Weapon. They could wait for thirty minutes, it was all Feng had asked for.

On one side was a woman in white and green chinese styled peasant clothing, standing at 5’8” with red hair and aqua eyes, she seemed rather amused by the situation and across from her at 5’3” was a blue haired and youthful girl by name of Aki Kiyoko, who was wearing clothing one could consider modern and fitting to the season.

The girl across from her, rather than sitting politely, seemed to be bouncing in her seat excitedly. Without so much as an introduction, the girl zipped over to the side of the taller woman. She circled her like a happy shark, latching onto Feng’s arm in a hug, then dashing cartoonishly to her other side where she lifted the hem of her shirt slightly in examination. All the while, her mouth ran off as fast as she did.

“I’m getting a partner again?! Yes! This gonna be great! You’re super pretty, too! Oh, I’m Aki by the way—Oh!” She blabbered off, pausing as she noted the clothing. “Nǐ láizì zhōngguó? (Do you come from China?)”

As the girl grabbed hold of her and went on in english and then Mandarin, Feng seemed to not mind the childish qualities of the other as she reached out with her free hand to pat the girl on the head, speaking in kind. “Wǒ láizì zhōngguó, Hong Kong. Nǐ shi Shànɡ Hǎi rén mɑ? Wǒ jiào Long Feng.” Pausing to look at the camera above them, she switched to the DWMA’s working language, English.

“You are a sweet girl huh? I am from China, Hong Kong. Your spoken Chinese is an accent I know well. Are you from Shanghai? My name is Long, Feng, or here, Feng works. And yeah, I reckon I will be, from what I’ve been told about you, I think we can help each other. You were told anything on me?” While her English was not bad, it did have a noticeable Chinese accent, akin to some Chinese actors that made it big on North American screens.

“Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? What is your name?”
Releasing the woman, Aki stepped back, nodding enthusiastically. “Mhm! ShangHai! I moved all over though,” She said, following the other’s lead in changing languages. “Kiyoko, Aki. I can be super helpful! And I won’t hurt your hand at all!” Making that oddly specific promise, the girl tilted her head a bit, seemingly looking the woman over again now that Feng had asked how much she knew.

“Hm… You don’t look very berserk-y now that you mention it…” She mused with a thoughtful expression.

“Well lets just say you’ve not seen me angry. And Kiyoko… Aki, Japanese?Ah and hurt my hand? Heh, I have a golden touch when it comes to weapons. I just can’t feed my wavelength into you unless things get bad. Though if we ever reach that point are some things we should go about. Also, you have a place to stay Aki? I know some Weapons stay with their Meisters in FATE, but I don’t know if your last did.”

“Yep! Mama’s from Japan and dad is… I think,” Aki said, sounding less sure in the case of the latter. “Oh, it was neur-something. Some big word about the nerves in your hand. Either way, I’ve been practicing, so that won’t happen again!” She said confidently before growing more sheepish.

“No… He said missions were stressful enough with me,” Aki said with a bit of disappointment before cheering back up. “They gave me my own room, though—with real pillows, too!”

“Ha. You remind me of some of the Sworn Brothers and Sisters. And you don’t seem that bad, well, a bit wild, but eh. How did you end up here? And real pillows huh? I always had those at least, though type of bed would differ a bit. Cots and the like. Or a cheap mattress.”

“Sworn?” Aki hummed curiously. “I can sleep pretty much anywhere, but it’s nice to have real pillows and a bed!” She stated before moving onto her background. “I traveled a lot with my mama through Asia. She’s taught me how to fight and I worked with her and the other guys there, though I didn’t really do much. They kinda just used me to blast people. After a while, mama told me I needed to go get experience on my own, and so I bounced between a few groups in South America when some Bloodhunters picked me up after a botched mission.” She explained this all with varying degrees of interest, mostly when speaking about her mother. The rest was expressed rather matter of factly.

“And then they told me DWMA gets nice beds, pillows, good food—whole bunch of stuff and I haven’t even had to have worked as much as when I was freelancing! So, of course I decided to stay! But then the hand incident happened and I had to come here to be cleared for missions again…”

Listening to her story with some attention, she smiled with a bit of sadness at the corners as she ran her right hand through Aki’s hair again. “Could be worse, I didn’t know my parents at all, was in a temple till… Well, things happened, then I spent a decade in the triads, hurting people, killing people, whatever was need be, I was a soldier, one that followed my own code. The Code of the man I called Uncle and Boss. The family changed hands and ways, so ultimately I left and the DWMA invited me here three years ago. Though huh, Mercs do make some money you know, sounds like the bastards were cheating you out of money. Just shoot with the gun, pay her nothing. Though, yeah, I’ve been under house arrest for three years now, but the DWMA hasn’t been too hard on me.

Though I guess if we working together, we could make a sister bond with an oath, but does a Merc want a Criminal, well former criminal touching her?”

Looking up at her with curiosity, the gesture was a bit odd, or rather receiving it. Aki wasn’t exactly shy when it came to physical contact, but previous interactions were devoid of such contact from the other. “You don’t look like a bad person,” Aki replied simply. “I’m not sure about money. I got food and a roof, so that was enough. But other than you, no one’s wanted to wield me or was worried about if I was getting paid, so you can’t be a bad person.”

With that she took back her hand and stared for a bit, then she smiled a bit. “Buyers Remorse you know. I can’t say I ever killed anyone that didn’t deserve it for one reason or another, though, yeah I’m not really paid either, and I hear FATE agents barely get paid anyways.”

With that she placed her hand beneath her hand in deep thought. “I don’t think I’m good, but the DWMA wanted to give me a chance. I do have a code of honor however, see if you can deal with that War Dog.”

With that Feng held out a single finger as she spoke, pointing to the sky or gesturing about with it. “Honor the elderly minus those who hold no honor,no actions are to be taken against children, no attacking civilian bystanders, no robbing from the dead, do not desecrate holy sites, do not use underhanded means, face a foe with honor and dignity. To believe in one's strength, to find the way, to be true to oneself, to use power for the sake of others and of peace. That is my code. And if you would like it, I think I would have interest in having you live with me, I think, or are you good… Well, no, not like I’m that good of a cook… What about you?”

“Your code is my code! Well, not like I can do much by myself to be honest. I can shoot out of my fingers, though, but that’s about it,” Aki said with a shrug. Though at the offer of a roommate, the girl seemed to get even more excited. She leaned forward, hands clasped together. “Really?! The room I have is nice but it’s super lonely! Leave the cooking to me!”

“Haha, I think we’ll get along just fine, though we can also speak in Mandarin Chinese if we want no one else listening to us, though I also know a little Dutch and French… But yes, It can be lonely, so here’s to Partners and Sisters. I might be jumping in here a bit, but heh. Life is short, so why not be a little fun! But ah, just if I’m ever angry, or berserker’ed a bit too much just leave me alone till I seem better, so you know, I don’t get all angry and spitting and all that, I just kinda go silent and destroy whatever is my enemy, then I just stand there and calm myself… Though the collar will likely put me out before that.” With that Feng did something likely unexpected, biting into her right thumb, a small bite, but hard enough to draw blood.

“Neither of us have any diseases I hope! But if you wanna be like sworn family, just press your thumb with the same sort of cut and then we swear before all Ancestors to hold these ties…”

“I know Japanese, English, and Mandarin only… but I’ve never had a sister! Eh?” Watching the other woman bite into her finger and draw blood. She didn’t seem all that worried about the berserker anger or whatnot, just curious about this ritual.

“This is how you become family…? That’s a little weird but…” Nonetheless, after eyeing her own thumb, the blue-haired girl bit into the skin enough to draw blood, wincing a bit as she did so. Afterward, she placed the bloodied thumb against Fengs, waiting a bit afterwards. “...Is it supposed to feel different, like resonance, or…?”


“Er? What…” So, she really was a bit like a kid, Feng had to explain things before they got out of hand. Though it begged the question of why she was doing this. She wasn’t a triad anymore. Still she wasn’t going to take advantage over Aki. The fact her previous Meisters seem to have done so didn’t sit well with her… Though maybe it wasn’t that bad…

“Nah, most people will be weirded out if you do this, it’s only for really close friends you wish to be family or to bring into it… Though er, you also don’t want to do this with any boy you find that you like, like… I got lots of things to teach you. I’ll make some tea and we can talk about things, but now we're partners.”

With that and the pressing of blood she shifted her jaw a little. “The way you sounded, you seemed to miss your mom and she was likely a merc too, what happened? Also it's up to you if you want to learn or go on a hunt or hike with me but never ever, touch or damage the violin I may have with us. It’s special to me, green, can’t miss it.”

“Ah,” Aki hummed. So she was just a weirdo. That was fine though. She was a nice weirdo, and she actually wanted to be around Aki. “Sure!”

Smiling at that, the girl’s smile turned a bit sad at that. “Of course I miss mama, but I’ll find her again when I’m strong enough not to hold her back,” She answered before the smile turned somewhat prideful. “She’s a super badass merc! She was always cool under pressure and could think on a coin–er, dime? Lotta scary tattoos on her back and arms. She’s great!” Leaving the description at that, Aki wondered about the violin, but she had no idea how to play so there wasn’t a reason for her to mess with it. “No violin. Got it.”

So, her mother just abandoned her for being too weak… Yet she seemed happy. Still, how should she take this, as she let her thumb clot. “For now, let's focus on making a name in the DWMA. Or getting out of the program so we get paid. So, time for Tea. We can tell one another about our lives till now if you want, then I’ll give a shot at handling your wavelength.”

Giving an excited nod, Aki replied with a large grin. “Yes ma’am! I’ll be the best gun you could have!”

“Heh, you’ll be alright kid! Though enough of the Ma’am, I’m not that old…yet…” Seemingly down with that realization she ruffled Aki’s hair again, before smoothing it out as she reached into a bag kept in the room and pulled out two earthen drinking cups, a teapot, burner, box of green tea leafs and a large water gourd that was laying beside the bag, one by one. “...christmas cake…Ah! Tea, yes, Green Tea! Do you care much for plants and nature?”

There was that gesture again. Odd, but comforting, bringing a smile to the girl’s face until spotted the confections and heard the term cake, which caused her eyes to beam. “Cake!” She cheered, zipping toward the table where the Feng set the items down, though none of it really looked like cake. “Yeah, I guess? I like anything pretty or that I haven’t seen before.”

“Er… I’ll… order us some cake.... Wait, you're 21? Huh... Not sure if I should keep calling you kid...” Feng said in response as she started making the Tea while looking at the files set out for both of them. She would make this work, it was a matter of pride and bonds. If the Mentors got mad about them taking so long? Well too bad. Aki had been treated much like she was towards the end, a tool, worse likely an annoyance given she knew why the previous Meister had forced her out on her own, and then had the gall to say as much.

 

[EmperorsChosen]

Daniella Ethalyn - Hawaii Beach Resort
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

"You can't be stuffed in your workshop all the time," Dani commented, approaching the nervous girl from behind.

Six months ago, one would be making a bad joke if they predicted the woman would go on a vacation to Hawaii rather than scowl at home, lamenting that it was some bullshit publicity stunt or held some other ulterior motive. Well, Dani still thought that, though now she wasn't above exploiting that. So long as their publicity stunts encompassed pampering them instead of putting them in a pit fight, she could tolerate that. Namely, that was because of the people around of her, or some of them anyway.

The program's local mad murderous soul had considerably mellowed out over the past few months. While it took her time to mourn the loss of her brother--again--she was now more "social" than ever, or as social as Dani was. She wasn't quite over it, but she could talk to people and enjoy her time.

Unlike Maria, she seemed none too concerned with her swimwear, a black bikini top with a matching swim shorts and brooch fastened to her wrist.

"And you don't have to wear that if you're not gonna go swimming..." She added, noting that the girl was starting to turn the shade of Dani's hair. Giving the dollmaker a comforting pat on the head, she leaned over to look at the menu. "Though I do wish they would hurry up with this bullshit speech..."

RedArmyShogun

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Adrian Hackney​

"The Maiden"​

Species Human
Partner None
Rank Fate Agent

Location OUTRIGGER Resort, Ka’anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii
Mission A Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride
Status Nervous

​

Tags: RedArmyShogun EmperorsChosen

"Y'know, I might uh... say something like, you're so impatient," Adrian replied, follow-up the comment Dani made about the speech. The slight shift in his tone was his playful teasing, which had become commonplace as their comfort increase.

"But, I wanna try surfing... I've never got a chance to," he continued, following up with his own motivation for getting this whole ordeal done and over. He was quick to order the tex-mex chicken wrap in hopes it was at least somewhat spicy, and stuck to his normal order of water for a drink.

Plain and simple, Adrian had never been somewhere like this. As beautiful as the beach was, just a touch of it was lost on him. He could appreciate it, but his child-at-heart focus on the prospect of surfing and spending some downtime with Dani led to his focus on their environment being far less than what it should have been. More so, a place this fancy had him feeling quite out of place. It wasn't as drastic as it could have been given how the resort had a more open floor plan and island chic. Still, it was far outside of anything he had experienced prior.

"Don't you sorcerers live like... forever?" Adrian asked, keying in mostly on how Maria just wanted to work. He shifted this question into another, "If you have a few centuries to work, are a few days with us really that bad? he asked, focusing on the hyper fixation Maria had on her work here.