Fandom Soul Eater: R.I.P.

[RottenVale]

VOX


DWMA Courtyard | 7:40AM | QuirkyAngel Lucien Nobody Special Dai Zedalith Yuri​

"If your soul has a model number, I might be able to find something more specific," Vox muttered drily to her partner as she returned to her pacing from the turret, "but otherwise knife maintenance 101 is going to have to do." She began to approach a second turret, Lucien urging her along in the back of her mind, and she timed her breathing to every half-beat as she considered his words and drew fire. It was burning time (no burning was going on otherwise, as far as she could tell), but she was not taking pellets and it looked to her like the turret required a key. She raised a hand to Dai, waving him toward the objective, and began to move around it - drawing its attention slightly to the side and taking some of the pressure off of Dai.

"I'm more proficient close than elsewise, don't worry, I just thought they were feeling precious about the paint." This was silent, in the way that Vox's typical communication with her weapon partner was not; she took habit to moving her hands as she spoke in her mind and the knife twirled about if it had nothing else to do (as when she was strafing around the turret). "I was trying to be nice. Help them with their plan. I like Yuri well enough, we don't need to fight with her partner..." She lapsed into true silence as Dai insulted her partner, turned the key to turn off the turret, backed up a few steps, and held the lighter she had so gracefully lent him like it was a bargaining chip.

The beat fractured for half a second as she weaved toward the last remaining turret, slowing briefly as she passed beside Dai, but it did not break as glass might in a pane window as she resumed its motion and doubled the tempo. In what seemed like fifteen steps but was really more like thirty (seeing as she had, at this point, decided that circling the turrets would be easier than weaving back and forth) she dove toward the ground again, flicking a metal shield open from its face with Lucien's edge and then hitting the button inside with her other hand. The turret died at her touch, and she swung herself around it back to her feet, picking up the beat again with the shifting of her feet and wiping a bit of dirt off of the blade's edge onto the edge of her shirt.

The woman comes back in front of Dai, beat slowed to a crawl, casual motion almost ominous in its tempo. She lowered the knife to her side, holding her right hand out, and beckoning Dai closer with her index and middle finger. Her motions were slow and unnatural, maybe half of her regular speed, and her crooked fingers were only highlighted by this speed. "Well," she poses to the other meister, closing some of the distance herself, "He just can't help it, you know. He's..."

Vox glances from side to side as if telling a secret, lips pulled tight, and finally she leans in toward Dai to whisper softly - "He's French."

Her lips curled into a smile, but she contained her laughter, rocking back on her heels and breaking the beat like a beer bottle against a counter as she stiffened and held herself still. It took too much energy to keep it up for nothing, and now it was time for the rest of the class to have a turn. As the woman regained her composure, she extended her free hand to Dai, movement easy and unmeasured. "I'm going to need my lighter back."

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Aiden McCarthy​

TBD​

Species Human
Partner Yuka, Rio
Rank One-Star Weapon, R.I.P.

Location Death City, Paintball Field
Mission New Class: Day One
Status Excited

​

Mentions: Lady Warlock Mineczka

Aiden spent his time against the tree contemplating whether or not what he said to Luka actually sank in. Sure, he could have transformed back into his normal form, but to what end? Cole was scouting the field with Callah--any observation he would make would likely both be more astute and accurate than anything Aiden could come up with. Asshole? Sure. But, Cole had his upsides. There was a brief exchange between them in regards to what Cole could do. Or, more specifically, those two as a duo. Aiden and anyone that shared classes with them knew the two could successfully use Soul Resonance techniques. Their instructors made it a point to show that with hard work and dedication, even inexperienced Meisters can make it to the next step.

Aiden's longest partnership was just shy of four months, excluding his training with Brendan. Catching up anytime soon wasn't likely.

Aiden did find it odd how much detail Cole was going into about his abilities. Did he expect everyone to share? Aiden wasn't about to transform just for show and tell. He literally just went over that with Luka and quite frankly, none of his other traits affected anyone aside from her--unlike Cole. Perhaps there was a reason behind it. Aiden couldn't really pick up on what Sion or the others were saying past that aside from the general consensus that the plan would go as prepared.

Luka, Luka, Luka. What type of Meister were you really? Prodigy, Utility, those were labels. Explanations of unique traits. But, what type of fighter were you? You were clearly excited. A weapon-o-phile or whatever the hell word that would be. Young, eager, energetic, slightly insecure, but there was still this gap Aiden thought existed between him and the girl. Aiden wasn't the greatest at reading people, sure, but there was something so present and in the moment with his new Meister that what he felt he knew about her seemed superficial. They had just met, sure, but Aiden felt like there was this disconnect. Maybe she was just still young enough that she hadn't quite grasped onto her own identity. Or, as Aiden was well-aware, maybe he was just shit at knowing people on any level deeper than the last few words mentioned in a conversation.

Really, for all his thought, Aiden only cared about one thing. When put on the spot, miss Baines, what decision would you make? Because your decision would turn into Aiden's actions; that was the unspoken trust that existed between a Meister and Weapon. Break it, and it might just be unforgivable.

Aaaand, just like that, Luka returned, this time holding Rio after whatever bonding session those two had. Hopefully, it was nowhere near as intense as theirs.

"On that topic," Aiden said aloud, his voice echoing from within his shield form, "once you become more proficient with my wavelength and using both of us, the lightening affect will extend to Rio's form. Doesn't mean much for now, but might mean we may want to fast-track training with our combined wavelengths so you don't have to keep adjusting."

"Oh, yeah, slipping on paint would suck. I probably won't feel paintballs hitting me, but please don't sit on me--or use me to break your fall if you bust your ass on splattered paint. Shields have feelings, too," Aiden responded joking, shifting the tone of the conversation from the more serious comment about training to a more light hearted joke.

 

[Lady Warlock]

Professor Ezrah
“And that’s a wrap!” Professor Ezrah called out, wasting no time when it came to shifting the class from the first group’s completion to the beginning of the second team’s attempts at succeeding. “Well done, students! A little shaky here and there, but you completed the task without any errors.” Errors in this situation would have meant broken turrets or something of the sort. “No one was injured. Some of you are covered in paint, but at the end of the day, paint is just paint. Keep in mind, though, that next time it might not be paintballs firing at you. It rarely ever is.” Satisfied with the briefest of wrap up spiels, Ezrah made his way through the crowd to get to Vox who still held the key. In taking it back from her, Ezrah readied himself for the challenge that the next team would face in addition to the trials they already knew about.

“Team one, clear the field!” Ezrah requested. “Luka, Tavares, Sion and Cole! Gather your weapon partners and prepare yourselves on the field.”

That key was still firmly in his grip as he called them out, and he had no doubt at least one person on their team would be keeping an eye on it. After all, it was one of the few outside tools they needed to complete the task without resorting to more time consuming methods.

“Your task is the same as that of the last team. Disable all the turrets without destroying them. Work on learning how to work with your new weapon partners in the process and weapons, learn your meisters. Study their weak points so that you can better defend them on your future missions together.” They were meant to use this as a learning experience more so than anything else, and he wanted to make sure everyone was looking for all the different ways they could learn from this training. Though there wouldn’t be a quiz later, he could see who was acquiring new knowledge and who wasn’t.

His eyes surveyed each and every one of them. They’d been planning and he’d heard most of it. He was actually surprised that they all managed to come together to create something that likely would make all their lives easier if things went as expected. However, Ezrah’s job was to make them think on their feet and that was precisely what he planned to do. Their plan would work for some aspects of it, for sure, but not all of it. His foot shifted a bit and then the very ground beneath all of their feet seemed to shift drastically, although also in a rather peculiar manner. Then, some of it quite literally fell out from underneath the dirt leaving a massive pit around them. Though there was nothing dangerous at the bottom, their paths to the turrets were now far more narrow and far less spacious. To make things more challenging, Ezrah tossed the key down to the bottom of the pit. It sat upon a pile of leaves, completely unharmed, but out of reach unless someone jumped down - and there was no visible easy way back up.

“Go.”

Paintballs started firing. Mission commenced.

The challenge is the same with one exception. There’s a giant pit around the middle of the clearing. There are narrow paths that will allow meisters to maneuver to each of the turrets, but there’s far less room to dodge. Additionally, the key you need to disable some of the turrets is at the bottom of said pit. The fall itself is survivable by most if not all capable meisters with a little acrobatics up their sleeves, but the possibility of climbing back up is not nearly as easy. Ask questions in the OOC. Team one can feel free to observe or debrief amongst themselves off to the side.

Japanime CelticHero37 Sir Les Paul QuirkyAngel Nobody Special Prizzy Kriyze The Regal Rper RottenVale Mineczka Zedalith

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Cole Baker​

"Crackshot"​

Species Human
Partner Callah
Rank One-Star Meister, R.I.P.

Location Death City, Paintball Field
Mission New Class: Day One
Status Focused

​

Mentions: Lady Warlock QuirkyAngel Solarknight Prizzy Kriyze The Regal Rper Nobody Special Mineczka

Through the Scope, Cole was able to make out even the most finite fiddling of the fingers to see the key being used to switch off some turrets while others had their own mechanisms. He knew the importance of that little trinket.

The terrain shifting was a pretty significant effect. Was this included in the "budget" Lord Death accommodated or was this repurposed? With the DWMA, one never knew.

Didn't matter. Neither the time nor place.

Cole took off the over shirt he was wearing after lowering Callah so that he could slip it off, then wrapped it around his fist into a ball that was held into his fist, revealing a good portion of his more lean, toned body. No one could say the sniper wasn't in shape, as one would expect from a regiment like the one from his morning. "Sion, Tavares, same plan," he said in the process of taking off his shirt, "Luka, go at it alone. Have Rio transform if you need a set of hands to cover," he explained as he finished his fist wrap and the turrets commenced.

"If you reach a turret that needs a key, skip it," he said before he darted off at a full on sprint to the pit, "the key is my objective."

With that, Cole was off. Callah told no lies. Cole was quick. A black haired blur through what little was left of the field straight for the pit. Not just a sprint, in fact, this was his full speed right out of the gate. He knew outside of his shirt, he had no cover until he reached that pit. He had no intention on following the narrow paths, instead following only what was necessary as he made a dead sprint to the pit, even if that included a couple leaps. The sniper had agility that might have even impressed their beloved barbarian of a teammate, Dai, if not nearly matched it. As a scout, getting from point A to point B was one of his primary functions, and this was a reflection of that.

His deft actions, simple explanation, and immediate removal of himself from the scenario also had a secondary effect he intended on quite fully. The other three couldn't argue with him. In the heat of the almost-immediate change, the options were to either brainstorm something entirely new without him or follow his instructions and he wagered that even if Luka was salty, she wasn't about to waste time trying to come up with something else--especially if Sion and Tavares were down for his abrupt change of plan. While one might consider this type of rash action unlike Cole entirely, it was strategic in nature. This was how he adapted. He could only hope the others could do the same.

In his dash to the pit, he wasn't entirely without falter. As the first moving object and generating the most heat, he was a prime target for the automated systems. Fast he may be, dodging each and every one of them on narrow paths was a feat even outside of his natural agility. This is where his shirt-hand came into play. If he couldn't dodge a paintball, he'd have his bundled first take it head on to deflect it from the most sensitive parts of his body. This allowed him to effectively tank the hits with minimal damage and while his hand might have been sore, it wouldn't be nearly enough to prevent him from firing. One ruined shirt did not an upset Cole make.

"So, Callah, I do have a plan. We're jumping right in and we're going to need to resonate mid-air," Cole explained to her mentally once near the pit, "Before we hit the bottom, we're going to slow ourselves down with your sonic boom. It'll be a rough landing, but less rough than hitting that ground after a swan dive."

Even with his natural speed and the shirt in hand, Cole had a few blobs of paint smeared on his shoulders by the time he reached the pit from those he could neither dodge nor deflect. Sore, sure, but just a few stains. What mattered was his focus. Without even flinching, Cole dove into the pit from its edge at his full sprint speed, tossing his shirt in the air as he did, then realigning Callah in her rifle form with his shoulder and aiming straight down. Outside of the range of the turrets, Cole reached his calm, focused soul out to Callah, extending a hand to her and building a bridge between their spiritual energy so that it could begin resonating with greater and greater intensity--all while charging a round into the cartridge of her magazine.

The rest was up to Callah. Cole had full faith that she would and could follow-through with his plan.

This was going to be loud. He would have to apologize to Sion later.

 

[Solarknight]

Callah Meeler
​

Being in weapon form, for Callah, was like an entirely different state of being because she could be so much more aware of the world and she could see. As Cole directed her scope towards the finish of the first team’s challenge, Callah could not put faces with names because it all happened so quickly, but she could get a feel for the intensity of the events unfolding and it only made her eager for their team’s turn to begin. Luckily, from the look of things, she didn’t have to wait long because the first team just disabled their final turret and then there was very little delay in Professor Ezrah calling out the second team and getting them started.

Before she could even truly process what was happening around them, Cole was on the move and Callah latched onto whatever thought process he was sharing with her. However, she did notice some things, and they brought up questions. ‘Uhm… Cole… why is your shirt off?’ It seemed silly in the midst of having paintballs firing at them, but Callah also felt like she needed to know why that was his first priority.

She doubted she would get an answer to it because within the next second, he was sharing his plan with her. It seemed a bit show-off-y to her, but Callah liked showing off so she didn’t object to that part at all. If resonance was what he wanted, then Callah had no issues delivering and it wasn’t like it was hard for either of them. An advantage that came from having worked together for so long already was that they knew how to do all these things like clockwork.

Callah looked within herself first, collecting the energy that coalesced into the form of her soul and bringing it to the center of her focus. Though ignoring her sight was difficult because she enjoyed it so, she managed it well enough. Her soul was bouncy, buoyant, everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It was the entire truth of Callah’s existence - she was a vibrant being who couldn’t see and therefore was limited in what she could truly do with all that energy. Cole helped her so much with that and Callah sometimes wondered if she would have found a way to navigate life without him. One thing was for sure, though - resonating wouldn’t be nearly as easy with anyone else.

Almost within a separate plane of existence, their hands linked and Callah received all the energy he sent to her. She didn’t have to think about amplifying it; that just happened. What she did have to think about in order to make the shot more her wavelength than his, though, was pulling some of his wavelength out of it and adding more of her own in its place. That was what created the thunder. Back and forth the wavelength went. It was stronger every time Callah received it and stronger every time she sent it back to him. Her weapon form expanded as their resonance grew and when she couldn’t hold any more of the power they created, it all released at once.

Thunder echoed - like a bomb wiping the field clean though it truly did no such thing.

“Boom!” Callah voiced.

Lady Warlock Sir Les Paul Prizzy Kriyze Nobody Special Mineczka The Regal Rper

 

[Lady Warlock]

Adelle Stone

Adelle let out a breath that she hadn’t known she had been holding when the last paintball fired before the final turret was disabled. They had accomplished their task and from what she could tell, they had done fairly well. At the very least, she was confident they didn’t fail any hidden tests that it might have concealed. Sure, her and her own partner had gone through a rough point here and there, but they’d contributed and they’d also acted as part of the larger team. Working with Dai in particular had been rather interesting, although at their current point, Adelle really wanted to get to know some of the other ladies. She could already ascertain that her partnership, while probably functional, wasn’t going to be the most socially fulfilling in the beginning stages, so friends would be quite valuable particularly early on.

Knowing that no further danger awaited them as Ezrah asked them to clear the field, Adelle allowed her weapon form to assume the glow of transformation and then it spun out of Edgar’s grip and Adelle’s human form appeared standing beside him. True to the reality for most weapons, not a single speck of paint was on her or any of the clothing she was wearing despite having been used to bash away many paintballs during their actual challenge.

Though she didn’t particularly desire to pay him much more attention at the moment, Adelle knew that some conversation was needed and would be needed for their partnership to continue. Thus, she extended her hand to Edgar once more, as though offering an agreement. “I know we have some things to discuss, but I would also like to observe our classmates as they complete their portion of the challenge. Can we agree to meet up after class to debrief a few things? I think it would be valuable for both of us.” She sensed that he had a mind for planning things and so would also enjoy observing how the rest of their classmates worked, but she may have been wrong on that point. Nonetheless, Adelle hoped he was accepting of her proposal.

Once they came to an agreement - or disagreement, if that should be the case - Adelle removed herself from the battlefield and found herself a good spot that would allow her to watch as their classmates slowly began their work. The intensity of the ‘twist’ that Ezrah threw at them right away caught Adelle off guard, but she didn’t doubt that a magic tool was in play to make such things possible. She’d read about them at some points throughout her education and knew well enough that the DWMA had access to a few of them, though which few she was unsure of. Briefly, Adelle glanced at the ground beneath her own two feet. “What sorts of mysteries do you hold?” she muttered softly, more to herself than to anyone else.

Right away, she could tell that their plans had to change by the way that one of them started barking out new orders before charging headfirst into chaos. His movements were actually quite admirable and decisive, something Adelle quite enjoyed seeing. Sure, her own meister hadn’t hesitated to take action when the time came for it, but this one didn’t wait for approval. She also noted, though, that he seemed very familiar with his partner already. She wondered if anyone else in their class was partnered with someone they had already worked with at all, though she doubted it. None of the others seemed to have that same kind of chemistry. As Cole leapt into the air, Adelle saw the resonance that consumed them and it was absolutely beautiful. Resonance was something Adelle had very little experience with. What she had accomplished had been nice, but she knew she was capable of more with the right partner. She wasn’t sure Edgar would be it, though.

Thunder echoed and she covered her ears, shocked at the volume of such a sound. Her eyes never left the scene unfolding, though.

As she studied the situations playing out, Adelle was entirely unopposed to anyone joining her in her observations. In fact, she hoped some of her classmates would join her, but Adelle wasn’t entirely inclined to call out an invite to all of them so instead, she observed and waited.

Interacted With: Japanime
Nearby: RottenVale QuirkyAngel Nobody Special Zedalith CelticHero37

 

[Lady Warlock]

Luka, Aiden and Rio
“Cool,” Luka remarked offhandedly as Aiden mentioned that his wavelength could make Rio lighter as well, but she didn’t truly process the full meaning of the comment. Her focus was elsewhere at the time and she honestly had no problem holding Aiden and Rio as they were. Additionally, while she was flexible enough to act as a utility meister, work with souls had never been something she’d grasped in its entirety and therefore wasn’t something she necessarily looked forward to even if it could provide some awesome stuff at the end of it all. She saw its value and would certainly work on it, but at the moment it wasn’t important to her.

She sensed the shift in Aiden’s tone and she knew that had to mean something, but something about it all didn’t quite click for her. “Huh? I know you have feelings, Aiden. I… I’m not about to throw you on the floor or anything.” She felt like she had missed something or done something wrong, but Luka had no clue at all what it could have been.

Although Luka wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad, she was called out to the clearing before she could fully manage to make sense of what had just happened. She didn’t sense any turmoil in Aiden’s soul, and she knew how to look for that sort of thing, so she didn’t think there was anything massively wrong, but then again, Luka had never been very good at reading social environments. Was wielding two weapons simultaneously now a social environment? Luka never would have anticipated that social skills would be important in wielding weapons, but it seemed that it would be quite valuable indeed. She added it to the list to work on as she carried Aiden and Rio out into the clearing.

Listening to Luka and Aiden, feeling their wavelengths again was an experience she wasn’t too familiar to, being her weaker wavelength, Rio felt more receptive to the wavelengths of others, and once more did the weightless feeling of Aiden’s soul rise through her. It felt like a set of wings deep in her chest began to spread and fly across the skies, which, when paired with Luka’s soul sharpening her senses, the flight felt more of that of a hawk or falcon, light, but deadly. While Aiden spoke of his wavelength, Rio felt it necessary to mention hers, and the ability she possessed.

“Though it’s quieter than both of yours…” her voice echoed, “I possess a Lullaby wavelength, it’s good at calming those who can hear it, though… That’s about it.” With her words trailing off, Rio gave a light laugh of the mentioned slipping in paint, and Aiden asking not to be used to break Luka’s fall, Shields had feelings and all, “I’d rather you fall on Aiden than me…” Replied Rio, “As, his feelings can’t cut you open…. Hurt you however…” Lightly, Rio laughed, playing with the joke Aiden made, even if Luka missed the joke entirely.

“I’d rather not fall on either of you,” Luka felt very uncomfortable in their current conversation because she could tell there was something she was missing, but had absolutely no idea what it might have been.

It was definitely a good thing Aiden could choose if the others heard his sigh or not because a sigh was all he had in response to how the two took his comment. Admittedly, Rio at least tried to play off it, but it went so far above Luka’s head that it might have been in orbit. He would definitely have to be more attentive to how he worded things--at least with Luka. Rio he could probably warm up to, but they were a trio after all.

Instead, Aiden decided to focus more on the other topic Rio brought up--her wavelength. A lullaby wavelength. To some, this might seem useless. But, depending on just how effective it was, her wavelength to Aiden was perfect. She wasn’t just their offense. She had a method of diffusing a threat that didn’t involve slicing it to death or taking a beating as a shield. As he thought about it, he couldn’t think of a better pairing for his singular goal of defending others. The best foe was one he didn’t have to fight.

Now, whether or not Luka agreed to that--entirely different issue.

“That, my dear, is abso-freaking-lutely fantastic,” Aiden responded once the girls responded. “At worst, it makes an opening, but at best, you might just save us entire fights,” Aiden said as an explanation to his comment. “I can’ t think of a sword I’d rather be paired with, and trust me, I know plenty,” he added.

Although Luka was quite enjoying the banter between her partners because there was something very welcoming about it, she was also paying attention to what was going on around them, and as the challenge finally started for their team - with the floor almost literally falling out from underneath them - she knew that the conversation needed to end for now. “Unless it can save us from this fight in particular, it should probably wait,” she remarked to her partners. “We’ve gotta protect Cole.”

Right as she’d finished saying it, Luka’s ears pricked to hear that same individual tell her to go it alone and suddenly, her entire mind raced in twenty million circles or more. Hadn’t everyone just been telling her that she needed to be a shield? Hadn’t she just spent what felt like an eternity coming to terms with that? Was this a trick? It had to be a trick. For a moment, as paintballs started firing around them from the turrets that were once again active, Luka stood completely frozen as she watched Cole charge off on his own. She could’ve swore she was under the impression that had she tried something similar, everyone would’ve hated her. This… it… none of this made sense anymore.

“Luka!” Rio shouted, hearing the paintball guns begin to fire, “It’s time to MOVE.” Her words, while still kind, stressed the importance that was looming round them, and the impending paint that could easily splatter over her Miester.

Normally, voices had difficulty penetrating Luka’s mind when it got stuck on one particular train of thought, but this situation was different. Rio was her weapon. They were soul-bound together in this challenge if nothing else. The fact that Rio’s voice seemed to echo both from her person and from her soul managed to break through whatever wall had erected itself in Luka’s mind and suddenly she was moving again. She had taken a few paintballs in the momentary freeze she’d endured, but none of them hit spots that brought her any particularly severe pain so it was manageable. Another one had been about to strike her shoulder, but Luka’s arm flicked up with Rio in hand, and the paintball was sliced straight through, parting to pass Luka by on either side.

His soul a wingbeat, Aiden not only noticed the shift in terrain, but the paintballs coming at them. If his wavelength were the wings of a bird, the amplitude of it could cause a hurricane. Rio spoke up first, but Aiden reacted much louder. The first of the projectiles slashed in half, but many more were to come. Matching his wavelength with his wordplay, Aiden let out an assertive and up to this point otherwise uncharacteristic shout, “LUKA, FUCKING BLOCK THEM!”

Oh. Right. She had a shield. Luka certainly wasn’t used to having a weapon with such a different purpose than most she’d held before this day. Her whole body turned and she lowered herself into more of an agile fighting stance which also allowed more of her body to be protected by Aiden in the process. She could feel the impact of some of the paintballs hitting the tower shield, but it wasn’t a bothersome sensation in the slightest. Actually, Luka realized quite quickly that the feeling was rather satisfactory.

She couldn’t focus on that feeling alone for more than a moment, though. They had turrets to take out, after all. Luka’s entire being broke out into a run which turned out to be surprisingly quick considering the heft of the weapons she was carrying. Sure, it was a bit of an awkward run because she couldn’t quite swing the arm that Aiden was on as well as she would have otherwise been able to, but it functioned. The paths were narrow, but not impossibly so, and she knew that if she kept moving, it was unlikely that many of the turrets would be able to fire at her at once.

Phew. Better. Aiden was almost certain Luka was going to be blasted down with paint there for a moment while she decided to play deer in headlights. Luckily, Rio snapped her out of it and he got her on the right track. However, something struck him that Luka said earlier. She didn’t really know how to use a shield, and this might not be the best practice. Regardless, he had gone through enough partners in the past to know what tips to give her.

“Luka, until we reach a turret, my best use is basically to make an area you don’t have to worry about. We don’t know where all of the turrets are and we can’t sense paintballs, so right now how and where you block is going to be based on the law of averages--where we end up seeing them come in the most. I imagine a ton of the turrets are on Cole, so we can rule that out at least, but one more important thing: what I can’t cover, you have to stop with Rio,” he told her, giving her the best advice he could muster in the situation with the advantage of not having to focus on mobility.

“Right,” Luka’s words came as she was running, her sword arm occasionally flicking to block a paintball here or there that she saw out of the corner of her eyes. Actually, she swiftly realized that it seemed there were more coming in on that side than she felt hitting Aiden’s shield form. “In that case…” Her words were quiet because she was also running, but she was hearing things and she was responding. As she reached the edge of the circular pit that had opened up around their battlefield, Luka approached a turret and turned her body so she could block more paintballs with Aiden.

Things were going well. Too well, fate had decided. A sudden explosive sound concussed the air around them and Luka’s entire body seemed to shrink at the massiveness of it. Her body curled up. Her hands went straight to her ears, completely oblivious to the weapons she was holding in them, and she screeched. The sound of her shock wasn’t nearly as loud as the thunder from Callah’s soul wavelength, but it certainly managed to echo on its own well enough.

Aiden would have perhaps been more shocked by the sudden explosion had he less experience with Cole. Once the sound and subsequent air pressure hit, he already knew what the Meister was doing. For whatever reason, debuting his resonance. Annoying, sure, but seeing how Luka reacted was more problematic.

“Rio, do that calming thing,” he said, hoping she would hear him and hoping to help out Luka despite the literal boom in the air.

Her ears rang from that boom, whatever the hell it was; it rattled even Rio. As she regained her senses, Rio realized Luka had reacted violently with that boom. Though the ringing in her head dulled the sounds of Aiden’s voice, who ordered her to do “the calming thing” in his own words.

Calming someone wasn’t exactly easy, as; they had to actively listen to Rio’s wavelength, and with the current state of affairs, Luka didn’t seem at all able to comprehend what was said. Furthermore, the miester’s defenses were effectively down to nothing. Scrambling her mind back on track, Rio shifted, taking up her human form once more, and placed herself between Luka and the paintball guns, before reaching a hand to Luka’s right hand, “Luka” Her words remained calm, as Rio kept her eyes to meet Luka’s, “Look at me, Luka!”

Aiden then realized what Rio was doing. He didn’t know if it was some limitation to her abilities or simply to assist Luka, but it didn’t matter. What did was the incoming paintballs. Almost by instinct, following the transformation and first words by Rio, Aiden transformed as well, leaving Luka’s left hand and reforming in front of Rio with his back turned towards the incoming projectiles. With a slight grin, he whispered, “No one shields the shield,” to emphasize the action he was taking. As paintballs splattered his back, causing a fairly notable stinging sensation that wouldn’t have existed in shield form, Aiden added, “now do your thing, miss.”

Noticing Aiden protecting her, Rio glanced back for a moment, the three had each other’s backs. Moving her hand over Luka’s left, Rio gently tugged her miester’s hands from her ears, clasping them in her own, “Luka, listen carefully for my soul…”

It was difficult for Luka to fail to notice the sudden absence of weight from both of her partners, but somehow, it took so much longer than it should have. Seconds dragged on and felt like so much longer than they actually were, but the screaming coming from her lungs slowly quieted and she processed that her hands were moving, though not of her own will. When her eyes finally opened, Luka saw Rio in front of her, and although she didn’t hear her soul, per say, something about the whole situation brought her back to the reality of what they were facing. “I see you, Rio,” Luka muttered softly.

With a soft smile, Luka squeezed both of Rio’s hands. “Transform back, guys. We’ve got some ground to make up.” She was fairly certain that their classmates were watching everything that was unfolding and she had to prove herself especially now. One hand remained in Rio’s and then Luka reached her other hand for Aiden.

A smile crept over Rio, as Luka found her senses once more, simply replying with a nod to the acknowledgement of Luka could see her, taking a moment to breathe, Rio’s smile grew with her meister’s mention of ground to make up, “It’s still just began, so we’re not far behind. We can totally catch up!” A simple reply came from Rio, whose form changed quickly back to her sword form, waiting for her counterpart.

Aiden was quick to follow. Once Rio was back into the right hand of their Meister, Aiden transformed back into her left, leaving a slew of broken paintballs to slough off to the ground--although otherwise left with stains from being hit. Once back into her hand, Aiden added, “Right, this is just the beginning. Knowing Cole, though, that is just the first. You may want to be prepared if he does it again.”

Not quite prepared to endure that all over again, Luka decided to instead focus on the current moment and she approached the turret she’d been approaching in the first place, using her hand that held Rio to also flick the switch and power it down. “One down!” she shouted out to the rest of their team without really taking a moment to figure out where her teammates had ended up in the resolution of the thunder shot. She didn’t have time to before she was sprinting towards the next turret, while simultaneously switching her weapons between her hands so that Aiden could be more effective.

Collabed With: Sir Les Paul and Mineczka
Tags: Solarknight Prizzy Kriyze The Regal Rper Nobody Special

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Lucien Boulanger (Weapon)

Lucien’s soul rolled his eyes as Dai once more crudely insulted and threatened him. It was like the boy knew no other way to voice his dislike than through offers of violence and intimidation tactics. Lucien, for his part, could think of much more colorful ways to insult something he didn’t like…when it suited his fancy of course. “Such vulgar language. I’d like to see you try, Barbare.”

Not even DWMA’s lunch lady could halt his voice when it came to some of the pollutants served at the school’s dining hall. Truth be told, DWMA’s rich menu, which provided meals from all over the world, would be considered well above average by most standards. However, Lucien’s refined taste could pinpoint even the slightest imperfection in the cooking for the day—whether it be in texture or flavor—and he never failed to point it out. People hated to hear their flaws. In Lucien’s mind, he was doing them a favor by showing them where they could improve.

Dai had many in Lucien’s eyes. Yet, despite the kid’s angry grumblings, he still had enough sense to dash over and do his job. That itself was better than many others he’s seen. Lucien didn’t really have the patience to deal with those that cried in the kitchen.

I like Mademoiselle Yuri as well, but I don’t intend to filter myself for her sake. Lucien’s voice echoed in Vox’s mind as he responded to his meister’s silent communication in a similar manner. If his opinion of Yuri meister affected their friendship, then so be it. They weren't much of friends in that case. Still. Lucien could hear Sheena's desire to get along with the couple and didn’t want it to affect her rhythm, which was now moving at a nice pace. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t give him the pleasure of an actual fight—least of all in the midst of class.

Unless the kid’s anger got the best of him and Lucien was forced into it of course.

Honestly, Lucien thought he’d been doing a fairly good job of keeping himself restrained. ‘Barbare’ was fairly tame as far as insults went and he’d refrained commenting on Dai’s ineptitude at dodging paintballs. Yuri’s little savage had excellent stamina, powering through bullets, if nothing else. Yet Dai’s following words to Sheena once more had Lucien rolling his eyes.

It was a lighter. Lucien could buy his partner a new one if he had to and, unless it was something especially important to Sheena (which he doubted considering she'd thrown it), he saw no reason to forsake his pride for it.

Before Lucien could retort though, Vox’s tempo doubled and his meister zipped past the spinning Yuan, disabling the last turret in what seemed like 15 steps. It was an impressive display. When Sheena lost herself in her music, she didn’t tend to notice anything else other than her goal. As annoying as it could be at times, it was also one of her strengths. Lucien, for his part, was simply glad that the lesson was over.

While Sheena returned to request her lighter back, leaning over to whisper her reply to Dai as if were some profound secret, the knife her hand glowed, a pale hand forming as it extended to quickly snatch the dangling lighter from the distracted kid. “Trying to bargain with an item so graciously lent to you? Tut, tut. It’s like you have no shame.”

Lucien’s fully un-transformed figure emerged beside his new partner, cracking his neck, as he dropped her lighter back into her waiting palm. “Being French has nothing to do with it. Don't plant strange ideas in the kid's head.”

The dumb wild child that grew up in the jungle with gorillas might start believing dumb stereotypes. Lucien wouldn't put it past him.

“And I am not stuck up,” Lucien huffed indignantly, tossing his hair as he crossed his arms in an irate manner. To think his meister would fail to deny the absurd claim and even go along with it to some degree. “I simply have standards.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to continue because Erzah called for them to clear the field not long after. The assessment of their performance wasn’t especially detailed, but Erzah seemed to want to quickly continue with the lesson, and Lucien had no problem with that. The sooner he was off the paint-covered field, the better. Lucien shot a superior look towards Dai before glancing at Sheena. “Let’s continue this elsewhere—preferably under a nice shade where we can watch the other group’s performance.”

He wouldn’t be returning to his kitchen until class was over anyway.

As he passed Milo on his way towards the line of trees, Lucien gave a flamboyant bow to the individual he heard call him out. “I hope you enjoyed the show, Monsieur.”

Seemed it was a good thing he’d gotten off the clearing because the ground of the lesson area started to shake not long after. Back to a trunk that wasn’t too far from where Adelle Stone resided, Lucien’s eyebrows rose when a pit started to form, his attention drawn towards the second group. They seemed to know what they were doing, which was to be expected given they had ample of time to prepare. Or maybe not. He blinked when the sniper of the group, or at least that was what it looked like considering the boy was carrying a sniper rifle, jumped unhesitatingly into the pit where Erzah dropped the key. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for someone who could easily maneuver in and out of the pit to get the key?”

Lucien couldn’t say he knew a very great detail about the other weapons in the E.A.T class, but he’d heard rumors that Aiden possessed a Grigori soul. Flight would be possible…assuming his kid meister could resonate with him. But, even if they couldn’t fly in and out to retrieve the key , a shield would probably provide safer landing for their meister than a rifle did. Heck, even an umbrella probably could…

“Ca alors!” Lucien blocked his ears as the sound of thunder resounded from the pit. He wasn’t a meister and his ability to sense wavelength was average at best, but even he could hear booming sound of resonance. Or, at least, he believed it was resonance considering the sheer power of the wavelength. “If their goal was to make me deaf, they very nearly succeeded! Can you see what’s going on in the pit, Sheena?”

Even one of their teammates, the youngest meister, seemed to be struggling as a result of the sudden noise…though her response was highly unusual. Her weapons even had to de-transform to get her back on her feet. It was a good show of camaraderie though, and Aiden’s display of shielding his teammate caused Lucien to reassess his opinion of the arrogant and flirty shield. He also came to recall an unnecessarily loud girl and the shadow that typically accompanied her - a shadow that seemed to want to take center stage in the current lesson. Interesting.

Nobody Special RottenVale Zedalith Prizzy Kriyze

(mentioned: Sir Les Paul Lady Warlock Solarknight Mineczka )

 

[CelticHero37]

Grace Jean Taghan

Erica Grace Taghan​

Mentioned: QuirkyAngel​

As the event for group one had ended and group 2 was now getting ready, the twins transformed back into their human forms. It was a good thing they didn't have to worry about the paint, or they would have asked Yuan to wash them off first. They didn't worry too much about getting dirty, but paint and dresses simply were not a good combination. Erica brushed herself off and straightened her dress a bit as she headed out of the training area. Despite the issues with teamwork and organizing a coherent plan, she was satisfied with the results. It could have turned out a lot worse. The way Yuan handled things as well made her feel much more comfortable about the pairing. It was clear now that Yuan could handle herself in a tough situation, which took a lot of weight off of Erica's shoulders.

Grace, on the other hand, showed signs of fatigue. It wasn't that she was out of shape or that the lesson was too hard. Rather, it was the effort required to suppress the madness and keep the pairing safe. Erica had to do the same in a way, but her madness wasn't quite as unpredictably dangerous. What Yuan would someday learn, is that the entire time, Grace was fighting back an unbearable urge to take control and find something to dig her blade into. Something to kill. The exhaustion was only visible for a moment, though. Grace quickly regained her composure and a bright smile spread across her face. "That was magic! Braw! You're very resourceful, Yuan." Grace then looked over to Erica and added, "I've got a good feeling about this one, Erica."

Erica nodded and smiled back, "Aye, me too." As they made their way off of the training grounds, passing the other students, Ezra explained the situation and parts of the ground suddenly fell. Erica jumped from the sound, a little spooked. Grace also jumped a bit, but when she saw what happened, the smile came right back onto her face and she called out to the other group, "Och! Beannachd leat mo charaidean! (Good luck my friends!)"

Erica started looking for a decent spot to sit and watch the next group. She pointed to an area close to where some of the others were gathering. She did want to be where the other students were, but the place she chose had just enough separation that made her feel comfortable. After all, she wanted to be able to focus on getting to know her new meister. Grace nodded in agreement as the second group started getting into things. However, it seemed like almost immediately there was a loud boom that was quite powerful. So much so that the twins thought they felt a bit of a shock wave. Erica ducked and looked back, "Magairlean! Dè tha dol? (Bullocks! What's happening?) Crivvens." Erica was defiintely feeling rialed up with all the surprises that had just happened and as such, she lost her wits for just a moment.

Grace, on the other hand just giggled it off, looking surprised at Erica as she added, "Och! Aye, Crivvens is right, Erica. Don't let ma hear ya saying that. Heehee, they're just raspars. Trying too solid to impress the teacher say I. Anyway, what did you think of our foremost training session, Yuan? We didn't cause ya awfully much trouble, did we?"

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Cole Baker​

"Crackshot"​

Species Human
Partner Callah
Rank One-Star Meister, R.I.P.

Location Death City, Paintball Field
Mission New Class: Day One
Status Focused

​

Mentions: Lady Warlock QuirkyAngel Solarknight Prizzy Kriyze The Regal Rper Nobody Special Mineczka

This was the advantage of resonance. The sonic boom that bellowed through the air and nearly deafened everyone else was diminished significantly to Cole as the Thunder Wavelength Callah employed coursed through him. It was not merely the thousands of regular shots that they had practiced beforehand; it was the massive boon of Soul Resonance when two wavelengths combined. Both parties gained the boons of the other. For Callah, sight. For Cole, moving through thunder like an ocean wave. Present with its pressure, but not debilitating or destructive, like a tsunami.

That pressure came through for the duo as well. With the upwards pressure of the sonic boom heavily dampening their falling speed, Cole was able to duck into a roll that kept Callah parallel to his body, landing on the ground with hardly a scratch on him. Landing, however, was not his objective. Cole had to trace the area for where the key landed, knowing generally where the professor threw it, but not a specific location as it was, after all, in the pit. This task further didn't provide too difficult as the key itself was fairly close to where he expected, sitting atop a pile of leaves just a short jog away from his landing point.

After retrieving the key came their next objective: escape. This wouldn't be nearly as easy as it might have for others, but this was something Cole had thought through as well. It was too deep to augment a jump, even if that would work. He didn't dare risk damaging the key by shooting it, either. Climbing would just plain take too long for his tastes and given that there were no benefits to stealth in this particular mission, he had just the plan.

"Callah, we're going to carve ourselves a set of stairs. Ezrah didn't say anything about not damaging the field," he explained internally. "We won't need shots nearly as powerful as the first one--this dirt can't be the most stable given a huge chunk of it was just ripped apart. I wager if we can make four or five equally spaced recessed in the wall, I can leap from each one in a lot less time it would take to scale up," he went on, fleshing out the nuances of his plan. It admittedly was a bit crude compared to what he would normally come up with, but this was a training exercise after all.

"Think you can handle that?" he asked her. Cole was not one to stay still, even when going over his intentions. With key in hand, he would want to return to one of the two groups as soon as possible, leading him to backtrack himself in the direction he leapt from which itself would take him to where the others started and likely already had the most turrets cleared. The less live fire, the better given he would soon be a sniper on his own with nothing to cover himself.

Cole crouched down a decent distance away from the wall, enough that he would be safe from falling dirt debris. While awaiting Callah and her answer, he was already reaching his wavelength out to her, pouring a fairly substantial amount of it into the magazine to begin making these new rounds. Of course, for it to work and have the impact to carve out dirt, he would need Callah to make him, and his calm, collected soul was there waiting again to make the bridge with hers, regardless of how loud, whimsical, or haphazard it may have been. His soul was her anchor in their sea of merging wavelengths.

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Yuan (Meister)

Yuan felt the moment Vox passed her and the hail of paintballs ended, allowing her to cease in her twirls. Professor Erzah called an end to group 1’s lesson not long after and Yuan sighed, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, the wavelength surrounding them was gone and Yuan could only make out vague blobs of color. She squinted. Her technique was a little tiring to maintain for too long, but without her glasses she was virtually blind. Not entirely of course, since she could see shapes, and hear her partners’ voices…so it wasn’t too difficult to make her way off the clearing.

Grace’s bright voice complimenting her

Lucien greeting someone named Milo.

Erica jumping as the ground shook and Professor Erzah explaining the changes.

Yuan focused on her senses, doing her best not to bump into anyone (though she still felt a couple of brushes here and there), and it wasn’t long before she found herself to where she’d left her bag. Feeling for the zipper, Yuan reached in, pulled out her spare pair of glasses, and placed it on her face. Clarity returned. Lifting her bag over her shoulder, Yuan moved to where the twin Scots decided to settle and sat beside Grace, crossing her legs.

It wasn’t difficult to notice that the girl had been a bit distracted during the paintball challenge. Both girl’s really, though, studying their features, it was Grace that looked more exhausted despite her cheeriness. Perhaps any other person might have dismissed it because of her attitude, but Yuan prided herself on her ability to read people…especially a person’s whose soul she’d seen. They hadn’t even answered her question, their attention focused elsewhere.

If Yuan had to guess, it was the madness.

She had felt it herself the moment she’d been pulled into Grace’s space—the red water that drew her in, urging her with the power it offered. The power that could grant her wishes. Was it really her wish though? The vision it showed her wasn’t what she wanted at all. It was bloody, insane, and lonely. Certainly she wanted to defeat Ranmao and fix the Crimson Dragon, but not at the cost of the future she saw. If anything, the vision served to warn her of the dangers of the madness her partners were infected with. Yuan had told Erika that she had a lot of questions to ask and the meister had every intention of having them answered now that the lesson ended. However, before she could even begin to continue her line of questioning, a booming sound drew all of their attentions.

Yuan saw the moment two souls resonated.

One soul bouncy and buoyant, the other quiet and stable. Nonetheless, the passing back and forth of their wavelengths provided a powerful and loud energy that quite literally boomed like thunder. It reminded her of when she resonated with Yuan.

However, the sound of screeching drew her attention more. Yuan frowned as the child meister curled, blocking her ears, and shrinking away of from the loud noise as if having a panic attack. Phonophobia? An autistic meltdown? It was hard to say for sure, but it was something to keep in mind about her young classmate if they ever had to work together. Adelle Stone ogling Cole as the well-toned boy jumped into the pit as well. Good teasing material.

“It was fun,” Yuan replied, turning her attention away from the scene to look at Grace. She shrugged. “Nah, you girls didn’t cause much trouble at all. Everyone’s got a bit of madness in them.”

Her eyes flitted down to her stained shirt in amusement. “And I’ve always been meaning to give tie dyeing a try~”

Returning her gaze to Erica and Grace, Yuan smiled. In some ways, the girls reminded her of her younger sister, despite being the same age. Childish, normal, just little bit girly…well, not normal exactly, but illness was nothing to be ashamed of. Nor the madness in their wavelength. On the contrary, it was a source of strength. If she could harmonize with it without drowning herself in it, Yuan didn’t doubt that she’d have a powerful pair of weapons in her hands.

She reached over cup Grace’s cheeks in slightly paint-stained palms, smearing a bit if red and green on them as she peered into the giggling girl’s dark green orbs. Words may lie, but the eyes rarely did. “If you’re tired, then get some rest. You did a good job. Both of you.”

She winked at Erica who had been the one to pull her out of the madness while in Grace’s soul. Yuan hadn’t seen Grace there, so she didn’t know if the other girl knew, but she’d already gotten a sneak peek at Grace’s soul space. A preview to the distortion of the once beautiful landscape. As the girl’s meister, it was her job to make it beautiful again, whether that involved planting trees or otherwise. Yuan wasn’t one to shy away from hard work—nor was she afraid of madness. Perhaps it was because she made a deal with Death and joined his peace-keeping school of goody two shoes to take down her conniving, witch of a stepmother, but Yuan always thought herself to be a little mad.

“Once class is over, I was hoping you and Erica could help me find the dormitory I’ve been assigned—only if you aren’t busy, of course. Lucien helped me get here, but this school is seriously big, and I still have some unpacking to do…” Though a shower was probably first priority. Letting go of Grace’s face, Yuan rested her palms against the grass as she leaned black to look at the sky. She rented a small studio when she first arrived at Death City, but first year students were required to live on campus as part of joining the school. Not that Yuan minded since it was an excellent opportunity to get to know her future school mates. It was also free. “I’m going need to get myself a Scottish dictionary as well.”

She recognized bits of Gaelic here and there, but it she hadn’t really delved deeply into the language since the few Scots she encountered while doing jobs for her father spoke Scottish English. She grinned teasingly at the pair. “Can’t have you darling ladies whispering nasty words behind my back now can I~?”

If ‘Crivvens’ wasn’t something their mother would want to hear, Yuan doubted it was nice word. She could use context clues well enough, but it never hurt to have a new language under her belt - least of all if it helped her to understand her new partners better. That was the first step to achieving her goals. Yuan didn't mind taking her time. She doubted they would want to be interrogated where everyone in the R.I.P. class could hear them anyway.

CelticHero37

(mentioned: Lady Warlock , Sir Les Paul Solarknight )

 

[Nobody Special]

SION NOGUCHI & NOELLE ACCESSOIRE
Location: DWMA, Forest
Interacting: Tavares ( The Regal Rper ), Cole ( Sir Les Paul ), Callah ( Solarknight )
Collab w/ Prizzy Kriyze
________________________________________________________________________________

“Awesome, I’ll try to give you a heads-up if I’m planning something.” As Noelle went on to ponder about the science of demon weapons not staining, Sion wondered. “If the blood isn’t there when you transform back, wouldn’t that by process of elimination mean that the blood becomes a part of you?” He flourished Noelle again, spinning the umbrella a couple of rotations around his finger before resting her on his shoulder once more. “Hope you don’t contract HIV. S’pose killing people might not be all that we do but, y’know, blood infections are a serious issue that needs to be taught about more in school.” His voice was deadpan, but he wasn’t particularly serious. It was just his style of comedy.

The mere thought of the blood of another person somehow becoming one with her own-- whether it be by some method of absorption, or something worse-- made Noelle's skin crawl. Though she could tell that Sion was joking, she quietly shivered to herself, hoping that was the furthest possible thing from the truth. Carmine eyes were quickly sealed away by lowered eyelids as she shut her eyes and quickly shook the thought away. It's okay, we don't merge with the blood of others. We're just... hydrophobic... yes, that's it.

Her following question had him smiling at the umbrella though. “I haven’t been better in years. That wavelength of yours is… well, it sounds like baguettes and accordions. Pretty pleasant if you like baguettes and accordions, and I gotta say…” He held the umbrella up in front of him. “C’est bon. I think. I took three weeks of French, sue me.”

Baguettes? Accordions? Noelle looked puzzled. She was aware that Soul Perception was a diverse technique, and that its users had varied views of souls, but she had never been given such an oddly illustrative description of her own wavelength before. Whether it was flattery, or him actually hearing said things, her new meister was still being so kind. "I'm glad it is at least somewhat helpful." She replied, stifling a giggle at his comment on his experience with her native language. "And, no need to worry, your pronunciation was perfect."

His attention was snagged away by Ezrah’s voice. “Oh, you’re right. Hope I haven’t drained you dry yet.” Sion’s eyes narrowed and faced down as a hint of guilt passed through him. His voice was low. “You need to tell me if you feel ill. It’s not healthy.” Noelle took his warning as a cue to check and see if she really wasn't drained dry. Looking down at her hands and waving her arms around for a second or two, she confirmed that she was alright. That sensation was definitely still loud and clear, and her energy was still violently being taken from her with no end in sight, but it seemed that focusing on other things helped make the process a bit more comfortable for her. It was like listening to music during a run, or holding her mother's hand as a child whenever she had to get a shot at the doctor's office. As long as she focused on something else, she would be okay-- so she hoped. "I understand, Sion. I appreciate the concern, but I'm sure I'll be alright for the duration of this lesson. As per your request, I will tell you the instant I don't feel right." As quickly as it came over him, it passed, and he began stepping into the clearing. This was going to be interesting. From the sidelines he could hear the mechanical parts shifting inside the paintball guns, but whether he’d be able to call it on the fly was up for debate. Still, if he could do it with bullets then paintballs should be no problem.

As they found themselves in the center of the clearing, the floor gave away, and after a toss by Ezrah, Cole decided to take charge. Sion understood why Cole went, but wasn’t sure if it was going to pan out to be the best idea. He’d be lying if he didn’t feel the tension in his shoulders fading as Callah’s distance increased from him.

Instead, he focused his gaze towards the line of the trees. He could hear the machinery whirring to life, and before long they started firing. This’d be interesting. Don’t get too worried now. He thought to Noelle, and then he closed his eyes. Like a network of strings and objects whose size depended on how loud they were, Sion could feel the landscape lay out in front of him. The turrets all whirred in different directions, but even then, the angle that the pipe was in altered the sound just enough to be detectable. Then, a muzzle popped. Without opening his eyes, Sion shifted his arm and felt the tingle of a ball narrowly passing between his elbow and hip. Then, he chuckled.

“Haha, paintballs don’t break the sound barrier!” He laughed as he proceeded to very narrowly dodge another series of balls, though from afar it might’ve only looked as if he was doing some strange minimalistic dance. As long as he didn’t have too many turrets to worry about, this would be easy, and he could hear which way they were firing. “Alright Tavares, you ready - !!!”

The world turned a bright white. His ears were ringing. His entire nervous system felt like it was on fire. His eyes flew open, but it didn’t help much. Everything moved slowly, as if passing through tar, and he could feel his jaws lock up as the ground approached his head. Closer. Closer. He could feel Noelle slip from between his fingers. Everything screeched in pain as sound assaulted his ears. The worst part, however, was that this wasn’t the first time. The scars on his arms burned like fire, and in the back of his head he could hear the screaming, all over again. Explosive. Painful. Sharp.

He could see Aiden and Rio hunched over Luka, but he couldn’t understand what he was looking at. The paintballs that now pelted his exposed arms were on the fringe of his consciousness. Then the whiteness receded, and replaced itself with a slowly encroaching darkness.

The sudden, deafening blast of sound made sure to show no mercy to Noelle's ears as well. Hell, it was definitely something else to focus on, but instead of keeping her mind off of Sion's wavelength, it directly exposed her to it. In fact, aside from the vicious, unrelenting rings that bounced through her head like a super-ball, it was all she could focus on. Somehow, it felt like she was being drained even faster than before. Like she was being forced to run on a lightning-fast treadmill until her body failed her and she couldn't move anymore. The world around her shook for a few seconds, before her vision slowly regulated itself and returned to her. She was dazed and on the ground, but... why? Her gaze slowly moved over to Sion, who had seemingly been immobilized by what could only be pure pain. The sound seemed to affect just about everyone, including the spectators watching them from afar. How many seconds-- or minutes-- had she been out of it for? She didn't even have time to try and answer her own question before the relentless turrets turned their attention towards her downed meister, and began firing a plethora of different colors in his direction. "Sion!" she called out, immediately returning to her human form to protect him. No, don’t, Sion tried to tell her, but his mouth wouldn’t move. As she stood, the fatigue from his wavelength seemed to really set in. Her legs wobbled, and she damn near fell into the pit, but she forced herself to crouch down and kneel in front of Sion, shielding him with her own body. Please, damn it, stop. He tried mumbling, but nothing came out. She felt the sharpness of the paintballs colliding with her body and exploding into colorful splats on her clothes, but she was more focused on her monochrome-haired partner. Whatever the hell that noise was, it seemed to be affecting him in a more negative way than the others.

Her brief break from his wavelength was over once she extended her hands and gripped his, gently but hurriedly shaking him in an attempt to quickly get him back to normal. "Hé! You need to calm down, and get up. I don't know what happened, but if you can't continue, then we need to get you out of here!" The fields and the cobblestone and the calm that radiated from her slipped in to ease his metaphorically bleeding eardrums, and slowly time seemed to resume its pace. Sion’s frozen expression shifted as he looked down to see his partner. While her expression was as straight-laced as ever, her voice showed obvious signs of concern. It was clear that she was still stunned, however, as she didn't realize that she could have shielded him in her weapon form until just now. She returned to her umbrella form, forcing herself into Sion's hand, before opening up to form a protective barrier in front of him. Resonating would surely help the boy recover faster, but that wasn't an option right now. "Se lever, Sion!"

“I don’t-” Sion started, almost startled at his own words, and felt her reassuring metal between his fingers again. He threw his other hand out, and his fingers dug into the dirt. How could he possibly let himself down so quickly? First exercise of the first day and he was already kissing dirt, and for what? A little noise threw him off so easily? He raised himself onto one elbow and looked over to Noelle, who was spread out and defending him from an onslaught of paintballs. “I don’t…” His mistake. His weakness, so instantly revealed. Embarrassing, yes, but so much more… Visceral than that. Pointless training exercise maybe, but… She needed to be able to rely on him. He couldn’t let this be like back then. Not if it could happen in the field. Enough feeling sorry for himself. So with the ringing still in his ears and his fingers still shaking, Sion hopped to his feet, crouched behind the umbrella, and forced a reassuring smile.

“I don’t know what the fuck that means, Noelle.”

Then he began sprinting. Not as fast as it could have been, but he was actively relearning how to move his legs. “Sorry about that, just needed to get a power nap in was all.” He apologized to his team as he sprinted for one of the bridges and crouched to slide across to the middle of it, where he held Noelle close to his body as a shield, and leaned over the edge to scream down to Cole. “I’m going to shove that sniper so far up your as you’ll have to pull the trigger with your tongue, but first of all THROW US THE DAMN KEY!”

I’m sorry, Noelle. The transmitted thought was subtle in-between the running, dodging and shooting, but he figured he should offer it.
Throughout it all, Noelle was smiling. It was a relief that he wasn’t the type to go down after one bad blow, and his sudden burst of newfound energy had in turn rejuvenated her own. Though her energy was back to being stolen, she felt like a brand new person. It's okay! She replied through her own thoughts, thankfully clasping her hands together. Things were seemingly resolved, and now it was time to get back to work. Let's just focus on getting the job done, now! Oh, also, it means 'get up'. So you did good!

 

[Nobody Special]

DAI
Location: DWMA, Forest
Interacting: Yuri ( Zedalith ), Vox ( RottenVale ), Lucien ( QuirkyAngel ), Ezrah ( Lady Warlock ), Edgar ( Japanime ), Adelle ( Lady Warlock ), Yuan ( QuirkyAngel ), Erica & Grace ( CelticHero37 ) Sion ( Prizzy Kriyze - Mentioned)
Weapon: Yuri
________________________________________________________________________________

Dai watched with an entertained gleam in his eye as his classmate made quick, easy work of the final turret. "She's faster than I thought she'd be..." he muttered, just loud enough for Yuri to hear what he said. "Maybe that stupid sparring shit'll actually be some fun, hm? We'll definitely still crush em, though. I ain't losin' to that jackass of a weapon she's got in her hand." Before he could start brooding to himself, the duo approached them once again. Feeling a bit better now that the turrets were disabled, he shot his fellow meister an approving thumbs up. "Nice, even though I would have did it better."

After he insulted Lucien for the 100th time today, Vox signaled Dai to come closer to her-- most likely so that she could whisper something to him-- he calmly obliged, taking a few steps forward and leaning in to listen. What excuse could she possibly have for Lucien's prissy nature? His curiosity slowly grew with the suspense of her leaning in to finally reveal the big secret.

"He just can't help it, you know. He's..."

"He's French."

He stared blankly at her for a second, admittedly because it took him a second to remember exactly what 'French' was. When he finally figured it out, however, he cracked a mischievous grin before bursting out into a loud fit of genuine laughter. In fact, he found Vox's little joke to be hilarious. Perhaps because it was a joke at Lucien's expense? "HA! That's a good one. Die, you French bastard!"

Of course, Lucien was quick to defend himself from the verbal assailant that was Dai, even adding that he wasn't stuck up-- which caused his eye to twitch in annoyance. As he bent down to retrieve his paint-splattered top, slipping it back on as if it were fresh out of a pile of clean laundry, he barked back at the weapon. "If you're not stuck up, then what the hell are you? Cool? Stuck up is definitely the best way to describe someone like you, Frenchie. 'Standards', my ass."

Once Professor Ezrah requested that they leave the playing field and head to the sidelines, Dai was quick to leap in front of Lucien, taking the lead in front of the pair with a taunting scowl. "I ain't walkin' behind you." Before he went off on his own to watch the others suffer like he did, he tossed Vox's lighter back in her direction, slightly grinning at her one more time. The girl seemed fun enough, and she knew how to make her pain-in-the-ass weapon the butt of a good joke. She ain't so bad. His smile disappeared quickly, however, as he walked past their professor, sticking his tongue out at the man with an annoyed glare. "That paint stuff was stupid. I had half the mind to go over to you and take the damn remote right outta 'yer hands. Hope you got somethin' more fun planned for next time, teach." Before he could get in trouble for disrespecting his instructor, he rushed over to their viewing area, setting Yuri down to transform back and leaning comfortably against one of the many trees in the area as he waited for the next group to begin.

Things seemed to be going a bit smoother for team two than it went for him (to his dismay), until a sudden, ear-rattling boom temporarily threw a few members of the team off guard-- specifically a certain black-and-white haired boy who had ridiculed him earlier. The second he managed to shake off the effects of the loud noise, he immediately got to taunting and bragging-- making sure that he was loud enough for the members of his own team to hear, of course. "Heh. Something as small as that wouldn't have done shit to me. And that guy thought he'd be able to take me? No way."

Of course, as he said this, his brain was still bouncing all over his skull, doing its absolute best to recover from the sound.
​

​

 

[Japanime]

Edgar Morgan

It was finally over. They had finally officially completed their challenge and their instructor told them to clear out so the second group could go. Edgar became at ease and walked over to the pile of paint and dirt-covered clothing of his. He stared at it for a brief moment before picking it up and shaking off what dirt would come off. Then suddenly a dazzling light radiated from his right hand and his lax grasp on Adelle was broken.

There beside him stood his partner. She had transformed back to her human form. She was clean. Not a speck of ruby paint stained her person. Considering business was done, Edgar assumed there wasn't a need for anymore immediate interaction between the two and had began walking past her.

Observing the other student's abilities were crucial and would likely prove very useful later on so he didn't want to waste any time. But before he could completely pass her, a light-toned hand stuck out in front of him. Edgar's eyes were drawn to Adelle's. "I agree. That sounds for the best. Plus I'd also like to observe our classmates." With the now free hand that previously held her, he shook her hand. With that, the meister exited the exam area and found a good place to watch the second group.

The twist the instructor had in store for the second group was a big one. It would be very interesting to see how the group would react and take on the challenge. Yes, it would be nice with the exception of excessive talking. Vulgar talking as well. Edgar just so happened to take a spot near the hot-headed white-haired boy from his group.

His brow twitched. "If my memory serves me correctly, weren't you the same one who got submerged in paint within the first several minutes of us starting? I'd pipe down. Sit and watch. Might learn something." For the most part, Edgar wasn't even trying to tease or antagonize him. He actually meant what he said and felt as if he was giving valid advice.



Location: DWMA Practice Field
Interaction: Lady Warlock Nobody Special
Mention: Lady Warlock Nobody Special​

 

[The Regal Rper]

Training Grounds
Collabers: (Tavy: The Regal Rper) & Milo: Prizzy Kriyze​

Certain he hadn't heard that correctly, Tavares quirked his brow and said: "huh?"

Milo scratched his neck and gave an apologetic smile. “Pardon, I inquired if you please go ahead and take over - as in me, transforming, and you, wielding me. These clothes are far too expensive to get paint on, and I-” He made a grandiose gesture at himself, “Would not like that.” Milo offered his hand to Tavares. “If you would, Mr. Castelo?”

Since the others had already begun moving off the field and switching with Team 2, Tavares wasted no time in grabbing Mr. Ismael’s hand. The second his hand made contact with Milo’s, Tavares gave it a firm grip and shake, an unnecessary action but a sign that he was ready. With a small smile he said: “I should mention, I tend to think on my feet at times- hope you won’t mind the occasional odd request in the heat of things.”

Milo simply smiled slyly as a response, before his shape became obscured at the edges by his transformation. Thousands of tiny golden particles, like snowflakes or opulent cherry blossoms, replaced Milo’s form and coalesced in Tavares’ hand. A long, slender single-edged blade with a fine line of brightly shining golden light travelling down its’ center had appeared, and inside of the empty void Milo had found himself, he sat cross legged like a monk. “I don’t mind, I’d just prefer to not have to change back during this specific exercise.”

"Won't, have to if things go as planned." Resonating wasn’t terribly hard, as simple as opening a tap, it didn't even require much concentration or focus, which might have been odd since this was the first time he’d ever resonated with Milo but for Tavares, this was natural. He'd never had trouble resonating with any Weapon before, ever; achieving perfect resonance was a different story especially if it meant Soul Resonance, but they didn't need perfection for this or anything close to it. They needed to simply be. All it had taken was a minute of the feeling of his partner’s wavelength, then it was done. Despite not being an exceptionally skilled swordsman, he knew how to use one. He’d practiced in the past and he did have experience with one sword class Weapon partner when he first arrived so even if Milo’s was different by far, he felt this wouldn’t be difficult. With this sworn mentality to do right by them and his team, he followed the others out to the field, keeping his eyes on the spots he could recall.

By the time both had caught up with the others the pit had just dropped and Cole was just giving new instructions. With Luka’s job now swapped for a new one and Cole taking the task of keys, Tavares made to tell Sion perhaps they should move together and then split to get different turrets down the middle. Just as he was about to respond to Sion calling out to him-- a deafening sound erupted out of the pit like a dragon itself had awoken from some deep slumber and roared. The sound had its impact on everyone. Everyone felt it but least of all was Milo. Where Luka had a bad start from the sudden explosion, where Sion was shaken to the point of losing his cool, Tavares grimaced, fell to his knees- and with his grip tightening on the hilt that was Milo’s weapon form he scowled as he pathetically attempted to cover both his ears with one shoulder and one hand.

"Easy does it…" Milo attempted, but almost immediately, with all this noise, Tavares sought inner peace. He began a mantra. Unspoken, but felt by his partner. Felt in the way his wavelength suddenly spiked, and now seemed to go from a lazy pace to a heavy, active beat.

As he rose back to his feet, Tavares inhaled deeply, ignoring the few paintballs that did land on mark, thinking: I am a rising wave. At my peak I am a crushing force; at my low, a gift of doom. I am a tsunami, indifferent, and all-mighty. He exhaled calmly, feeling a bit more stable on his feet. Deciding now was the time for action, Tavares--

“To your right!”

--dodged on reflex, then turned in the direction of the turret. Breathing in deeply, he shouted over the ringing in his ears:

“I’m going ahead! I think it's best if we change things up for now since ze plan’s already a mess.” This was all that Tavares said as he began taking off, first at a steady jog as he followed up with: “If you get the key from him, tackle the locked ones Sion!” Then he was off, picking up quite the pace.

Milo didn't make a show of it, but hearing Tavares' mantra was like accidentally eavesdropping on a conversation you didn't want to know about. There were plenty of people who psyched themselves up for exercises, but the colorful language made it feel rehearsed. What kind of school of combat taught that?

If Tavares noticed the slight shift in his partner however, it was ignored. Just like the paintballs.

Every shot that hit him, felt like a pinch. Some were nasty, most were nothing. Tavares had gone from lackadaisical to a stalwart wall. It was the boon from focusing some of his wavelength, strengthening his muscle under the skin to reduce the sensation of feedback that would return whenever a paintball landed effectively, and powered on. Using Milo as an impromptu shield would consume more energy anyway- the best option was to go now and take a turret out while he could. And at his pace, that would only be just a few moments.

Milo smiled. "My, my, you're really a man of your word, aren't you? Not even using me to block them." He laughed half-heartedly, but it wasn't malignant in nature. "Fine, fine, if you insist on blocking them all with your body, I suppose I'll help." Following the fluctuations of Tavares' frequency wasn't all that hard with the practice Milo had had, though a fully-fledged resonation might be a day away. Even still, Milo wasn't helpless with this connection. He poured his amplified healing wavelength into him, soothing his welts and lessening the swelling, then replenishing his physical energy. "Don't worry about holding back. I can keep this up all day."

The statement made Tavares grin. He sidestepped one shot, landed leaning forward, and like he was making for a basketball leap, he shot diagonally towards a tree where one of the turrets lay. Turning his high jump into a twist, like a circus acrobatic he flipped in the air, dodging paintballs that shot at him and partner as the turret tried to adjust aim, and landed on a branch-- then slipped by losing balance. But just as quickly as he had slipped, like a chimp, he caught a branch with a free hand and swung himself over to more stable footing.

Pushing the button to shut the turret off. Tavares inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, then grinned. “...That was simpler than I thought it’d be.” His smile reflected in Milo’s brilliant blade.

"Bravo, this is shaping up to be enjoyable.


Mentioned: Luka & Partners, Cole & Callah Lady Warlock Sir Les Paul QuirkyAngel Solarknight Mineczka
Interacted: Nobody Special (Sion)

 

[Lady Warlock]

Luka, Aiden, Rio, Cole and Callah

As Luka was moving across the field headed for the next turret that she could reach, the youngest meister in the R.I.P class realized that she was supposed to be functioning as a part of a team even if her role in that team was very individualized. “Rio! Aiden! Can you guys get a good look at how the others are doing at all?” she inquired of her two weapon partners as she felt paintballs pelt against the shield she now carried on her right arm. There wasn’t much currently coming at her from the other direction, but she was prepared to swing Rio any which way it was needed should something come flying at them from that way.

“I don’t exactly have the best field of view as a shield,” Aiden responded to her. His voice still aloud from within the convex interior of his shield as per their original agreement, “But, I can at the very least see what is going on below us. I believe our beloved sniper has the key and is backtracking now.”

“From what I can see, Sion, I think, is moving towards another turret, hopefully Cole will throw a key…” Rio remarked; her vision wasn’t the best in weapon form, but she could at least get some idea of what happened around her, that is, when the motion sickness faded from being carried by a running person, “And Tavares seems to have gotten a turret I think.”

Hmm. It was interesting. Luka’s experience with weapon partners had taught her that they seemed to have some methods of maintaining a sense of awareness about the world around them, but each weapon seemed to have a different way of knowing what was going on and it didn’t seem consistent from one partner to another. It was probably a good idea for her to figure out how that worked for Aiden and Rio sooner rather than later. It certainly did not seem like the present moment was the ideal situation to discuss it in, but she tried to store the thought in the back of her mind for later exploration. Problem with that was when she tried to store thoughts, they tended to vanish. Again, though, was an issue for a later time.

In the midst of all her thoughts, Luka found herself quite swiftly arriving at the next turret on her path around the circle that they seemed to all occupy. Shifting Rio into the same hand she held Aiden in was a tricky thing, but she managed to balance it for a moment while she searched for the switch. Unfortunately, this just so happened to be one of them that was going to require more than just a button. “Where are you guys at with that key!?” Luka called out to her teammates, wanting them to have a way to know that this was one of the turrets that required it.

Her eyes quickly shifted to the next turret on her path which seemed to have noted her movements and was currently pelting her shield-bearing arm and the shield upon it. It wouldn’t take long to get to, but something felt off about just walking away from this one without doing something to help. Then a thought came to her like a lightbulb out of nowhere. “Got it!” she audibly proclaimed before reaching her free hand around to the front of Aiden’s shield form to scoop up some of the wet paint that absolutely covered him. Her hand would turn blue and red, but she didn’t mind. Without pausing and while blocking the majority of the paintballs heading her way, Luka drew a large ‘X’ on the side of the turret that needed the key. “That oughtta work, right guys?” She sought some assurance from her partners before tossing Rio back into her free hand and continuing towards the next one.

“It should, good idea.” Was the reply from the sword in Rio, “We can always keep marking the key ones we come across!”

“If I had to guess, Cole is going to try and catch up with us to resume the plan,” Aiden commented, adding his perspective of the matter. “He always was a stickler for, uh, keeping things to a tee. From his perspective, if a paintball gun is still shooting, I’d imagine he’s smart enough to assume it needed a key. He’s a bit of a dick, but to assume his teammates were stupid enough to skip a turret for no reason is a far stretch.”

Although her expression notably cringed at some of the vulgarity in the conversation, it was merely because Luka wasn’t used to it. She was young. “He can’t see where we’ve been, though, while he’s down below,” Luka commented, understanding what he was saying, but still feeling that marking it had been appropriate.

“I mean, marking the guns isn’t a bad idea, but we are basically in a big circle and he can use Soul Perception, so it’s not like he won’t be able to track us,” Aiden responded. Aiden had spent years in classes with most of these people, and had a little more faith in them. It was a lot like driving. The only thing keeping you alive was the unspoken agreement not to swerve into the other lane and dashed line to mark it.

The more that Luka moved and shifted herself and her weapons to best block the incoming paintballs, the more she felt like she was getting into a rhythm with the whole situation around them. It actually wasn’t hard at all to run to turrets and turn them off, and once she was on the move, she sought to find Tavares and Sion to see how they were doing with her own eyes. Sion was waiting by the pit - which seemed odd - but Luka wasn’t in a position to question it. Tavares was taking out turrets.

“Weird,” she remarked, more to herself than to anyone specific. “Weren’t they supposed to stay together?”

“What’s that saying? Even the best laid plans or something?” Aiden nonchalantly responded, dismissing whatever the other group was doing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the pit…

Hearing Cole propose the idea of making some form of stairs with her soul wavelength, Callah just gave a smile and eagerly spoke, “Oh yeah! I can totally do that!” Callah began to feel Cole’s wavelength loading into her magazine and accepted it readily as she began to pour her own wavelength into the shot. “Fire when ready!” Callah yelled with much enthusiasm.

Cole was more than ready. A grin crept along his face as his finger wrapped around her trigger. This ability, this resonance, it was more than just their regular shot. Neither of them were exactly Maestros with wavelengths. Sure, Cole had an affinity for ranged weapons, but this Resonance was the culmination of years of effort and dedication to each other and having their souls intermingle in a way that drove others to ruin.

Every shot was joy.

Cole unleashed the first cartridge. Nowhere near as powerful as the first, but it didn’t need to be. He wasn’t stopping a descent, he was just blowing a hole in loose dirt. And, god, did it. Every bit of the landscaping was left nearly unsupported due to the platform dropping, mostly held by roots and raw static force. The moment their bullet made impact, it was enough to dig into the dirt alone, but once her wavelength shot through it, the Thunder that once permeated the air now instead made a shockwave--a gentle tremor--in the dirt, resulting in large chunks of it falling from the trench it was in. In fact, it was more effective than anticipated, creating a crater that convinced Cole to halt the next few rounds out of fear of collapsing far more of the wall than anticipated.

Cole stopped and recalculated his options. More than likely, he would need to stagger these shots out, but that would take considerably more time than a straight vertical series of shots. He sighed, a little disappointed he wasn’t going to be able to unleash a full volley. While bits of loose dirt continued to fall into the pit, covering the grass that previously lined the bottom, he reflected back on a demand made by Sion to throw the key. Initially, he considered it a liability--once the key was in hand, it made more sense to keep it. Besides, he didn’t know Sion that well, although the man did admittedly have a head on his shoulders more wise than half the team he did know.

“Callah, this isn’t going to be as clean as I hoped. Can you transform back into your normal form? I want you to pour some of your wavelength into this key, then I’m going to throw it and hope our new friend Sion can find it with your wavelength like a beacon. I’ll help, of course,” Cole said with a distinct disappointed tone in his voice.

Callah heard her meister ask her to transform back to normal and she couldn’t quite hold back a gentle pout knowing she would have to stumble blindly in an unknown forest. However she did agree with Cole on his idea so after getting one last glimpse of the forest through her scope, she transformed back into her human form. Stumbling as she touched the ground Callah reached out for Cole and quickly enough clung onto his arm. Getting her balance back to normal Callah’s hand ran along Cole’s arm to his hand where she felt the key he was holding, Not wasting a minute Callah marked the key with her thunderous wavelength. “That should do it.”

“Thank you, Callah,” Cole said once Callah marked the key. While she poured her wavelength into it, he mixed in his as well, in part to dilute hers but mostly to stabilize it. This is what they often did with their regular shots, so this was a little different, and a lot weaker. Cole anticipated not quite being able to throw the key well enough to make the major leagues or a Kingdom Hearts game entry, so finding it via a soul signature the others would clearly be familiar with seemed like his best option.

Cole took a step back to get a clearer view of the area above him, more so from where Sion’s voice originated. With a deep breath, he started to unlock the mental barriers he kept up to keep his Sensitivity in check. A sound mind dwells within a sound body. A sound mind. He closed his eyes and envisioned just that: a sound mind. Total silence, separation from reality. Alone in the darkness of his soul. One by one, the barriers he used to keep himself in check came down and the area around him became clearer. So did the whispers of long dormant spirits. Still, just whispers.

With that, he opened his eyes and saw with far greater clarity and range the souls of those around him. Sion’s was remarkable and memorable. A black void of sorts. The others he was less familiar with, but the others mattered less. Once he found Sion above him, he realized he still wasn’t in line of sight, so this toss would need to be arced. He was a sniper, so he had a vague idea of trajectory, but he was no pitcher.

Cole focused to an even greater extent, purely onto the wavelength he knew to be Sion’s. Then he shouted, “THE KEY IS ON THE WAY, SION. IF YOU DON’T SEE IT, YOU’LL HEAR IT.” With that, he drew back his arm and threw the key high into the air in the direction of Sion with the intention of making an arc up, then coming down. With Callah’s wavelength, the key made a distinct whistling sound to anyone that could pick it up or simply had remnants of her soul signature which was in itself hard to miss. The effect would wear off soon, but that was probably for the better.

Unfortunately for the team combatting the turrets at the time, although it could have been reasonably anticipated, the key arced just out of Sion’s reasonable reach, landing in a pile of grass nearby that somehow hadn’t yet been covered by paint.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

Another loud sound echoed throughout the clearing they occupied - not nearly as disabling as the first one which had seemed louder than thunder - but what caught Luka off guard this time around was that the ground literally started shaking beneath her feet as though it might collapse completely from underneath her. “Woah,” Luka remarked as she realized that maintaining her balance was proving to be quite difficult. Actually, she found herself stumbling and tripping over a tree root that seemed to have been displaced in the whole ordeal. Luckily, she reached out with Aiden’s shield form to sort of catch herself before landing face first.

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, you mean, Aiden?” Rio interjected kindly, especially whilst watching the key fly well wide of the intended mark. Deep down, she felt bad for those words at that time, as that was unfortunate. Pulling her attention back to Luka, Rio watched her stumble before using Aiden as a brace, “Are you okay, Luka?”

Caught off guard by the ground being destabilized, Luka found that she needed a minute to regather herself. She let her hand holding Rio sink into the dirt a little bit, using it to ground herself in a sense. After a brief pause, Luka pushed herself forward into a roll that allowed her to spring back onto her feet without much difficulty. Once she was on her feet, she stopped to make sure the ground was no longer shaking before continuing on her path. “I’m sorry about that, Aiden,” she apologized, vaguely recalling that she had mentioned not wanting to fall on either of her partners.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Aiden responded, “Although, I do imagine this must be what Cole feels like when the exact thing he asks us not to do still happens.” He then chuckled, “better me than Rio, I suppose.”

Again, Luka was lost in a social situation. She thought she’d legitimately screwed up, but she wasn’t sure how else she was supposed to fall when the very ground was quaking beneath her feet. It wasn’t exactly a situation she’d prepared for. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” By that moment, her footsteps had brought her to yet another turret and Luka quickly flipped the switch.

“Another one down!” she shouted to her teammates.

Collabed With: Sir Les Paul Mineczka and Solarknight
Tags: The Regal Rper Prizzy Kriyze Nobody Special

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

Sion Noguchi​

The threat had echoed down into the pit, but seemed to carry little weight to its inhabitants. The only response that came echoing back up was another explosive bang that sent Sion scrambling the rest of the way across the bridge out of concern for his own health. Sion's face was contorted in an unusually scornful look as he crouched in the grass with Noelle interposed between him and the few turrets that fancied painting him all the colors of corporate America in June. He'd have to get back at Cole for this, some day. The things you can do with a fog horn and an air canister.

A scruffy voice from off-field laughed at the team's short strife, and Sion snapped his attention over towards Dai. Not only was he making fun of the team's effort, but also ridiculing Sion's wishes to be part of whatever duels were to transpire. Edgar offered a slight retort towards Dai, and a plan started forming as Sion let his eyes rest on the calm and calculative student for a moment. A little bit of showing off wouldn't hurt, right? So long as he was waiting for the key and all. He couldn't get completely outshined by the other team.

"Hey, bear with me for a moment." He spoke to Noelle, then retracted the umbrella's canvas. Immediately he had to weave out of the way of a couple of incoming rounds, but it was fine. He'd need to be able to tell the angle of the turrets for this little stunt, and when they whistled just past his ear he knew. Just up ahead, to the right. Sion shifted his position to place himself directly in-between the turret and Dai's laughing voice far behind him. The ringing in his ears had subsided so dodging was easy, but this would take a whole lot more focus than simply getting out of the way.

Sion took a deep breath, and crouched low under two rounds. Time seemed to slow a little as he stared down the barrel of the turret hidden in the brush, counting down every moment until its next round would be bound for him. Pop, it went, and Sion crouched just an inch lower into a one handed push up. The ball had nearly reached him when he shot out with his right hand, stabbing towards the ball with Noelle. The ball passed had just above the pointed ferrule and started sliding along the canvas when Sion dug his knee into the dirt and tensed his entire body to catapult the round over his head. With a kick to the ground he sent himself sideways, dodging another couple of rounds, and saw the paint ball high overhead, soaring in a perfect arc towards Dai's forehead.

"Gosh I hope he doesn't see it coming." He whispered to Noelle, then scrambled to get back on his feet again.

Halfway through his little stunt a response had come from within the pit, and Sion begrudgingly headed for the key ringing like an alarm clock on a Saturday morning. The rest of his team seemed to have made some progress while he was playing around. Tavares and Luka both were next to turrets that they'd just deactivated, and Sion had his eyes set on the one Luka had marked with an X. "Great job to half the team!" Sion shouted as he sped fast the key, knocking it into the air with Noelle and catching it with his off-hand. "Got your notice Tavar- uh, Tav..." He flashed the key and reflected on how to pronounce the Italian student's name as he passed over towards the turret, making distinct tiny movements to narrowly avoid the incoming hail of paint balls. "Uh, Tavvy, mate."

A couple more must've picked up his thermals as he approached, because the hailstorm grew nearly too much to deal with. "Shit." He mumbled as he crouched into a knee slide the last meters towards the turret. The turret's barrel kept lowering as Sion bent further backwards to avoid the onslaught of paint balls, until he was nearly parallel to the ground and the gun was leveled perfectly between his eyes. At the last second he shifted his weight to one side, avoiding the clown bukkake and sliding past the turret's effective range. He hooked his arm around the base of a small tree, slid around and sent himself to his feet where he deftly opened the back panel of the turret and flicked the switch, then wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead.

"Next locked one, anyone?" He shouted, and with one hand on the defunct turret and one holding Noelle out to block paint balls, he launched himself back into the clearing.

Mention: Japanime Nobody Special
Interaction: Nobody Special Lady Warlock The Regal Rper Sir Les Paul

 

[Lady Warlock]

Professor Ezrah
Once the key had been obtained, the remainder of the task became very similar to how it had been for the first team that had completed it. The key was able to be tossed from meister to meister as needed to keep things moving swiftly and then the meisters could continue moving around the circle to disable them all. Though there was no guarantee that the cracks of thunder from Cole and Callah’s resonance would cease completely, their attempts grew less frantic because the purpose of their adventure into the pit had been resolved. The overwhelming sensory nature of the task that had been handed to the team did gradually grow less drastic as things became more routine and as everyone seemed to find their “swing” so to speak.

Luka and Tavares together took out about an equal number of turrets with the assistance of their weapon partners and Sion disabled a few more with the key since he’d been the first to possess it.

Cole and Callah did pull a few more stunts and managed to make their way out of the pit where the key had initially disappeared. It hadn’t been an easy task, but there was very little they couldn’t accomplish when they set their minds to it.

All in all, nothing quite went according to plan, but they did seem to do better by nature of having started out with a plan. That being said, they had time whereas the first team didn’t, so it wasn’t a fair assessment to state that they did better than the first team, per say. Each group seemed to have their difficulties adjusting to working with one another, but as Ezrah watched it all unfold, he could see why Lord Death had made some of the assignments that he had. He also started to formulate groupings of which meisters would likely work well together going forward and which ones wouldn’t. That didn’t necessarily mean they would always be paired together, either, though. He also wanted everyone to have opportunities to learn to work with everyone else in order to improve their own skills. After all, it was the “Rapid Improvement” class. Not much would truly be accomplished without those opportunities.

The last turret switch was flipped and Professor Ezrah was quick to call everyone back together again. There would be little time for chatter although he did host a quick debrief among the whole class. Out there in the field, he gave a quick lecture on the importance of teamwork and encouraged them all to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses whenever and as often as they could so that they could work together in a pinch if they had to. As Lord Death’s newest class and most advanced class, they would be called upon in many emergency situations and they needed to be ready for it so that when it happened, they could respond in the elite manner that was expected of them. He asked a few students for comments and feedback throughout and participation varied from student to student, as Ezrah would have anticipated. While they were all fairly skilled, their classroom demeanors varied quite greatly and he was still working out how he would manage to tailor some of his core lectures into manners that worked well with a majority of them.

“Thank you for your attention in class today students. Everyone did well. The next two days will be unstructured learning time for each team to use as time to get to know each other. Practice with your partners, get acquainted, the basics.” He didn’t really think he needed to go into too much detail. “Most of R.I.P. will be structured around extracurricular lessons, although in this class, they aren’t extracurricular. They’re required. After your two days of unstructured time, each pair will meet up with either myself or Lord Death along with another pair, assigned by myself, to be briefed on your first mission. Any questions?”

There was a brief period where Professor Ezrah listened to any questions that the students might have offered and he answered what he could. If he didn’t know the answer, he promised to find it and report back to that student over the next two days.

As all that came to a close, the class was dismissed to either leisure or unstructured learning time. Unstructured learning time was not really regulated, but there was an expectation that everyone would arrive for their mission date with some more experience with their partner and though it wasn’t said, it was implied that those who failed to do so would very quickly find themselves removed from R.I.P.

Starting now, everyone has a week to fill in the two days of “unstructured learning” time. If you are planning any interactions that are explicitly meant to be between a very specific set of characters, please write it as a collaborative post rather than just going back and forth in the thread because I cannot prevent other people from joining in. Anything that is not wrapped up by next Tuesday morning (CST) will be left hanging regardless of its nearness to completion. No exceptions. If you have questions, ask in the OOC.

CelticHero37 Prizzy Kriyze Sir Les Paul The Regal Rper RottenVale Japanime QuirkyAngel Mineczka Nobody Special Solarknight

 

[Sir Les Paul]

Cole Baker​

"Crackshot"​

Species Human
Partner Callah
Rank One-Star Meister, R.I.P.

Location Death City, Deadeye Firing Range
Mission Unstructured Learning
Status Focused

​

Mentions: Solarknight

"Our last mission showed us a clear deficit we have," Cole said aloud as he guided Callah down the firing range to the most distance stall--a common routine for the two given their abilities. "While we can withstand your wavelength, our allies are not so blessed. I don't know if I've developed an inherent resistance or if it's purely a side-effect of our resonance, but we can't just focus on us. We're entering a new chapter in our lives and we need to work just as hard to face our new challenges," Cole explained, half-monologuing but this was how he often expressed his thoughts. He wasn't talking down to Callah. Quite the opposite. Cole being this blunt with this thoughts was one of the most respectful ways he could have spoken to anyone given how reserved he was with others knowing his words often caused friction.

"We've almost mastered the first level of our resonance, I think. It's been nearly a year since a professor told us our resonance was unstable or inconsistent. We've practiced thousands of shots to get it perfect and I think that mid-air shot proved it. But, what I think we lack is finesse. What I think we should work on is controlling the shockwave from our resonance. Increasing or deceasing your Thunder Wavelength for the situation. And, I don't think this is something we can do just based on how we perceive it. What was barely a dull rumble to me shook the others and we can't do that. We'll put the others at risk and the last thing we want to be is a liability," Cole elaborated, explaining what he specifically thought was the 'challenge' they would be facing moving on. Not just being consistent with their resonance, but metering and controlling it.

Cole stopped once they reached their stall and gently tossed a black satchel on the desk in front of them. "We're here," he told her before relaxing the arm that Callah was using for a guide. He then unzipped his bag and pulled out a noise cancelling headset and an electrical meter of some sort. The headset was one he acquired years ago when he first started training with Callah when their connection wasn't as stable and the feedback and Thunder Wavelength would deafen even him. The other device was soon to be explained.

"Since I can't properly gauge how loud our shots are, I bought something that can. I have a decibel meter and my old ear covers. I won't be listening to our shots at all; using volume at this point isn't a good gauge for how loud we our since we both resist your wavelength. We need to get used to how the pressure waves feel and tune in to how loud our shots are for others by feeling out how much wavelength causes what volume and at what range. This is going to take... time. But, we've fired thousands of shots before, now we're just trying to control how powerful they are. We're going to have to create a proper gauge. Our strongest shot to our weakest shots with resonance, although we can't do our strongest yet. We'll need to go to the desert when that time comes--that's too much for the City. I know you're not great at controlling your wavelength, so I'll handle that. Instead, what you'll need to measure is how much of it we pour into each shot and try to perceive what that does with your perception from your scope--you'll be much better at measuring how big the impacts are," Cole told her, this time explaining his plan for how to actually approach their problem. Cole, as always, had a plan. Analyzed the situation and their deficits which were made clear to him by... well basically everyone. Sion and Luka in particular, but even those not involved in their half of the mission commented on it. Hell, even Ezrah coyly pointed out how detrimental it could be, even if the other tenants of his plan were beneficial.

Cole was not alone. Callah was his partner. And, up to this point, it had just been him explaining this entirely new training regiment. While the two had vaguely discussed it the day beforehand, it was in nowhere near as much detail. In fact, it was mostly just coming to terms with their shortcomings. Now Cole needed to know what Callah thought and how she felt about this. He took a lot of liberties with this concept of training and it did rely on Callah just as much as him. This type of training was quite the large overhaul to how they currently operated and someone unique to them as it didn't seem productive for other partners to need to learn such finite control for their power output, or so Cole thought. He would assume that most of the time, there would be more use in more power. That thought process was counter-intuitive to them as long as their abilities caused such issues with their teammates.

"So, what do you think, Callah? We might not have much time until our next mission, but I don't think we can stop trying to grow just because we're a few steps ahead," he said, not entirely sure how she would react to such a change. He didn't think it would be negative, per se, but all of this would be adding a whole new layer to not just their training but how they worked as a team in general.

 

[Lady Warlock]

Luka, Aiden, Rio, Cole and Callah

Students at the DWMA had multiple options when it came to housing in Death City. Very few of them tended to have been born within the city limits so while a rare few did have the option of living with parents, it wasn’t a common thing to see. More often than not, though, students were offered a room within the dormitories of the academy itself. There were two separate halls and they were entirely segregated based on gender. It tended to be an affordable option, especially for students in the higher classes who were often on scholarship, and it allowed students to make friends quite efficiently, while also occasionally rooming with partners when their genders matched up appropriately. The last option was that students always had an option of renting an apartment within Death City - most landlords in the area tended to be reasonable when it came to pricing and the like, although there were always some bad eggs in the mix.

For Luka Baines, living in the dormitory had really been the only viable option the entire time she’d been at the academy. She’d arrived when she was too young to function on her own, even if she had been living with an older partner, and so the dorms were the best option for her. Even as she began her journey in the R.I.P. class, it seemed worthwhile to stay there as one of her partners - Aiden - lived in the building right next door. It was therefore also logical, although much to Luka’s chagrin, for the third member of their trio to move into the dorms and become her roommate. She’d gone without a roommate since she’d first moved into that room so there was a lot of sighing, toothpick snapping and stomping feet as she tried to condense all of her belongings to just one side of the room.

In the midst of sweeping up another mess of toothpicks caused by her own frustrations, Luka heard the familiar melodious sound of her phone going off and she grabbed it from off of her bed and replied, I’ll be right down. Apparently, her new roommate had arrived and Luka needed to show her the way in. She turned quickly, not even noticing that she’d left a pile of toothpicks right in the doorway, and scurried down the stairs to the first floor where she promptly headed out a door. “Over here, Rio!” she shouted, not quite sure where her partner would be waiting.

Finally in the right hallway, Rio had quite the past couple of days… First came the acknowledgement that she had to move into the dorms, meaning she had to pack her stuff up once more, decide what is sent back home, and take what she needed to her new dorm, moving in with Luka. While she had few problems with the idea of moving, the constant sorting, packing, and the actual parts of moving when paired with classes were where she struggled. Firstly came deeming the necessities, which wasn’t too hard considering that everything is usually not far away in the dorms, then came clothes, unsure of how much space she had in the shared environment, meaning she took significantly less, ending with only roughly four bags of things, which included her school bag.

Finding the dorm was also a small trial, especially with the amount of things Rio had to carry, being that she hadn’t needed to go to the dorms, she was not familiar with them one bit, and was pretty sure she would get lost quickly. Finally giving up on finding her way on her own, after about twenty seconds, Rio sent a message to Luka, whose response felt quick. From the far wall, Rio could hear Luka’s voice moments later, “Ah! Thank you for showing me the way!” Was the response, as she joined her meister by the door, swallowing the feeling that she was intruding down with a small gasp of air.

With a smile and a nod, Luka replied, “Follow me. I’ll show you where my,” she cringed, immediately realizing that the room was no longer just hers, “I mean, our room is. It’s right up the stairs.” Turning on her heels, the young girl’s teeth were grinding in her mouth as she regretted not bringing any toothpicks with her for the short little trip. Despite that, she was quick on her feet and quickly scurried up three flights of stairs without breaking a sweat before walking into the first room right off the staircase - and consequently nearly slipping on her own pile of toothpicks on the floor.

“Woah,” she remarked, completely unprepared for that little snafu. Turning around, she was entirely apologetic. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” It was only after that moment that she realized Rio was nowhere to be seen. Face now a flurry of confusion, Luka headed back out the door and poked her head down the staircase. “Rio? Are you ok?”

Watching Luka scamper off, Rio watched as the much younger girl nearly ran up the stairs, though it was only three flights, prompting Rio to try to keep pace with her luggage… It was a horrible idea. From the start Luka had long since gotten away, and then, her chest felt a familiar, dreaded feeling. Her breathing had sped up dramatically, with more of a wheeze sound, stopping on the first landing, Rio dropped the bag on her right shoulder to grab her inhaler, taking a few breaths with it, she leaned to the wall for a moment, before hearing Luka’s voice again, “Y-yeah…” A pitiful response from Rio, whose voice was much softer than normal from the lack of air.

Though she heard the reply from her partner, Luka wasn’t quite reassured and so she headed back down the stairs to figure out where on the staircase her partner had actually ended up. She was more than a little taken aback by the sight of Rio breathing heavily and using an inhaler. “You don’t look ok,” Luka commented. “There’s an elevator, and we can text Aiden for help.” For a moment, Luka thought about waiting before texting Aiden, but then realized that as the meister, she needed to make some decisions for herself and asking for help was probably a good call on her part. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started typing.

Can you come help Rio move in? She can’t breathe.

There he sat. His red hair draping off his futon couch while staring at the illumination on his phone. He regretted not snagging that Vox girl’s number after their last mission, but she was off with Lucien and Aiden didn’t quite feel like interrupting. He assumed there would be another chance given they were in the same class. Then he received a mildly disturbing text from Luka, whom he did exchange numbers with for the sake of convenience. Same as Rio.

Is she choking? Did she just stop breathing? Do you know CPR?

It wasn’t long before Luka had come running back down, taking another dose from her inhaler, Rio looked to her meister, who now mentioned the elevator. Before taking out her phone and beginning to, what she presumed, text someone, feeling her chest begin to open slowly, Rio attempted to speak, “Just… My Asthma….” Taking deeper breaths, Rio tried to control her breathing, and regain her composure.

Briefly, as she awaited a reply, Luka acknowledged Rio again, finding that she was very much outside of her realm of expertise. She knew how to fight, how to survive classes at the academy, but not much at all about even the most basic of medical conditions. Actually, once she thought about it, Luka realized she would probably go to the dispensary if she ever needed anything more than a bandaid or an ice pack. “So stairs are bad…?” It wasn’t that Luka looked down on people who didn’t use the stairs; rather, she wanted to verify her understanding so they could avoid this issue in the future.

Her phone vibrated in her hand and she held out one finger as though to say, ‘Hold on a moment,’ to Rio.

She has asma. And a inhaler.

Aiden read her next text, this time anxiously waiting on a response. He let out an audible sigh of relief once she explained.

You may want to lead with that next time. I thought she was hurt or something. I’ll be there in a sec. Wya?

301. After having replied to Aiden’s text, Luka’s full attention returned to Rio. “We can go take the elevator up to my floor,” she gently suggested, failing to notice that it wasn’t just her floor anymore, though that was hardly her priority given the circumstances. Meanwhile, Aiden leapt off his perch on his futon and walked over to the balcony door of their upper dorm. His room was much higher up, probably due to being placed with his brother. Brenden didn’t exactly ‘trust’ most people, so his brother as a roommate was a met request.

Aiden locked the door behind him and hopped over the railing to descend down to the ground in a more hasty method, his red hair flowing above him in the wind before slowing his descent using the same wavelength manipulation he did on the staircase to land gently. Sometimes, this ability actually had a practical purpose.

From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump away to the girls dorms where he entered and took the elevator up to the third floor, having to wait for it to descend from its previous occupants--little did he know such would be his partners. The ding of the elevator reaching his destination to the third floor where he looked to the left hall following the line of dorm rooms. Lo and behold, there they were at the furthest point of the hall, Luka looming over Rio and Rio hunched over on the staircase, likely still catching her breath.

Aiden waltz down the hall with a fairly leisurely pace approaching them with a normal light atmosphere and a gentle smile. “I heard you ladies needed some help, that right?” he asked once he was within earshot.

“A little help would be appreciated…” Rio responded, glancing at Aiden, whom had come from the hallway, her voice was slowly returning, though she wasn’t fully back to her full strength. Thankfully, Luka had helped Rio where needed along the way, though Aiden being here was odd to her, as, this was the women’s dorm, then it dawned on her, Luka had called him for help on the stairs, “I did leave a bag on the stairwell, could you grab that for me, Aiden…?”

Taking another step, Rio said as she looked to Luka, “Which Dorm are we?”

Aiden nodded with the quick response, “Whatever you want, princess.” His smile was as soft as ever and his tone didn’t carry any tension. Even his quick pet name didn’t come across as coarse or targeted as it just seemed to roll off his tongue in his normal lackadaisical attitude. And, with that, Aiden performed the same feat as earlier, jumping over the railing to float down to get her bag as Luka answered her question.

“This is the women’s dorm. We’re in room 301,” Luka answered swiftly before a mild panic began settling in when she realized that Rio likely had even more things to bring in. She quickly grabbed the broom and finished sweeping up the mess of toothpicks that had once again scattered everywhere due to her having tripped on them earlier. “Don’t mind the mess,” she continued. “I’ve never had a roommate before so I’m learning to make room.” Yeah, that sounded good. Learning to make room rather than panicking about losing some of her own space sounded good. “Did you bring a lot of stuff?”

Following Luka into the room, Rio took a glance over the small room, it was just barely able to fit the both of them. Taking a step forward, she watched Luka sweep up some broken toothpicks, mentioning of the mess, “No worries, I hope I’m not intruding.” She remarked, while Rio did have some problem with messes, she wasn’t going to air them unless she needed to, though the second question came, and was answered calmly, “Not really, mostly I brought the essentials, my laptop, and extra clothes and a few trinkets for a nightstand or desk. I don’t take much space~” A kind smile worked it’s way over her face as she looked at her meister and new roommate. She could tell Luka was stressed, and wanted to at least let her meister be more comfortable in the room they were to share.

Although she did hear Rio’s reply, Luka wasn’t quite sure she would actually be alright with things until everything had a place within their room and until she knew that she wouldn’t have to get rid of any of her own things to make room for her partner. Really, that was her main anxiety. After having lived in the dorm for so long, she’d accumulated a decent collection of stuff. Her parents sent her gifts, she bought little trinkets with her spending money, and it all had value to her.

A knock from Aiden echoed into the room. He had returned triumphant from his courageous adventure to retrieve the mystical satchel of wonders for Princess Rio, having saved two nations and slain a dragon on his outing. Or, climbing three flights of stairs. Whatever one chose to believe. “I’m back, if you’re all decent,” he said in a joking tone through the door.

“Yep!” Echoed Luka’s reply.

Together, the three of them somehow managed to work as a team despite Rio’s asthma and Luka’s anxiety over the rapid changes that came with her promotion to R.I.P. and they successfully got all of Rio’s belongings up the room. Unpacking them would be a long and slow process because Luka liked to have everything in a designated spot, but she was lucky to have patient partners who worked with her on that end of things. And at the end of it all, since they were already together, they all headed down to the gym for a training session. It would both calm Luka’s nerves, solidify the teamwork they had already developed throughout the morning, and help them move one step closer to the mission that loomed over them all.

Collabed With: Mineczka Sir Les Paul

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Yuan (Meister) + Lucien Boulanger (Weapon)
Day 2 of "Unstructured Learning" - Lucien's Apartment in Death City

Face in supported in her palms, Yuan watched as Lucien smoothly diced onions. Then carrots. Then potatoes. Then parsley. Not a single wasted movement as the half-vampire, half-weapon chef prepped his ingredients for cooking. Yuan hadn’t a clue what dish her RIP classmate was making, but she trusted it would be good—hence her presence in his apartment. It had already been two day since their first RIP class and, since then, she felt she’d gotten a bit closer to the twin girls that had been assigned her partners as well as the blonde Frenchman who she’d bugged to help her with basic hand to hand combat training. While the weapon lacked to her in terms of technique and finesse, his raw speed and strength made up for it—especially at night when the sun was no longer watching. In return, she helped him learn some martial tricks and introduced to him some Chinese acupuncture to help deal with stress. It was a relationship she’d long seen coming ever since she’d first dreamed of the RIP class; She knew that befriending him would be one of the steps needed to take down Ran Mao.

“If I knew you were coming, I would have prepared Asian cuisine instead,” Lucien said dryly as he separated the ingredients into different bowls.

“No need. I’m sure I’ll love whatever you make~” Yuan pushed up her glasses, a grin on her face. “More importantly, tomorrow is going to be our first RIP mission! Are you and Vox ready? Have either of you gotten closer to resonance like Cole and Callah are able to do?”

Lucien shrugged casually, washing his knife…er…hand…before moving to the meats. “I’ve become more acquainted with the beats of her soul every time Sheena wields me, but we haven’t really tried. And you? Have you finished reading those books on Madness you’ve been borrowing?”

“Front and back~ I think I have a better grasp of what Grace and Erica are infected with so I’m not as nervous about touching our souls again.”

“I did find it strange when you suddenly started laughing during class, but to think it was Madness…”

Yuan nodded. “A wavelength of the Kishin or Great Old Ones that radiates a powerful draw towards insanity.”

“I think we’d know if the Scots were Kishins…and they certainly don’t look old…” Lucien paused, likely thinking of his mother. It was the dhamphir’s 400-year-old mother that Yuan really wanted to meet.

Yuan smiled. “No, their souls are most definitely human. I can tell. My guess is that they encountered a Kishin or something related to it that got them infected…though I wouldn't know for certain unless they tell me.”

She didn’t want to force them until they trusted her enough to tell her on their own.

“So what is your plan of dealing with it?”

“I’ve read about certain herbal remedies and mixtures that can induce calmness. There are some acupuncture techniques that can force me into state of calmness if I go crazy as well.”

“Ah bon?” Lucien raised an eyebrow. “That’s your solution? Drugs and needles?”

Yuan shrugged. “There’s no real cure for madness that I can find. The only tried and true method for containing the madness wavelength is just strengthening the body and mind to strengthen the soul…which I’ve already been doing…but that sort of thing takes time. That or a healing wavelength.”

“…I’m glad my meister isn’t so complicated.”

“Who knows? Maybe Vox is more complicated than you think~” Yuan drew a deck of tarot cards from her pocket and shuffled them. “Besides, I’ve never really thought madness to be a bad thing. It takes a bit of madness to achieve greatness, you know. So long as you can control and conquer it, it’s a powerful asset.”

“You shouldn’t spout such things so carelessly,” Lucien shook his head. “DWMA is a school that works to preserve order and contain the madness of the Kishin.”

Yuan drew the Chinese tarot card for ‘death’. “I’ve always found gods like Death to be a bit mad myself…but enough about that. Would you like me to help you prep the ingredients?”

“No!” Lucien hissed, glaring at her like she’d uttered some sort of blasphemy. “Don’t you know that cutting the ingredients unevenly will result uneven cooking rates which would affect the final dish’s taste? You came here to eat so just leave the cooking to me!”

Yuan smirked as she watched Lucien chop of the duck’s head in a single swift motion, bone and all. The prideful, prickly chef was probably a little bit mad as well. Madness took all sorts of form and was different for every individual. She’d gotten a sneak peek at her own bloodthirsty nature when consumed by the Madness of Revenge. A pile of vicious bodies in a never-ending cycle. Revenge, after all, only begets more revenge…yet, deep down, it was what she wanted. Buried deep in her soul was desire to hurt those who’ve hurt her. The madness wavelength of twins didn’t create insanity out of nothing—it simply pulled forth and amplified something she already had in herself. If she were to help the twins achieve greater heights, she’d first have to conquer her own demons. That was the actually key to defeating the madness that she didn’t tell Lucien, not because she didn’t trust him, but because it was simply too personal to share. Yuan disliked vulnerability. And yet, it was only by sharing her soul with another, that resonance could be achieved.

Slipping her deck of tarot cards back in her pocket, Yuan unzipped her bag and pulled out a Scottish dictionary, flipping through the book while she waited for the food to be served. “Do you mind if I invite the twins over for lunch? I still owe them for helping me unpack and I’m sure they’ll enjoy your cooking.”

“If you don’t mind my cooking being what pays your debts, then sure. I don’t see why not. Invite the whole damn class over while you’re at it, Diablesse. ”

“Thank you! You’re the best, Chef~” Setting aside the dictionary, Yuan reached for her phone on the table.

“I wasn’t serious, Mademoiselle Yuan! I don’t even have enough food for that!”

However, Yuan simply ignored the prickly blonde and started dialing.

Prizzy Kriyze The Regal Rper Nobody Special RottenVale Mineczka Sir Les Paul Solarknight Lady Warlock CelticHero37

 

[QuirkyAngel]

Lucien Boulanger (Weapon)
Day 2 of "Unstructured Learning" - Death Market

Lucien sighed, entering Death Market with a shopping cart.

He certainly hadn’t planned on catering to a large gathering the day before his first mission in the RIP class, but that was what it came down to. There was no telling how many Yuan called and how many would come. Personally, he was hoping not very many. Or, if they did come, they had the decency to bring their own gifts or food to share…but he wasn’t banking on it. The chef in him couldn’t let anyone starve, whether they be pea-brained Barbares or conniving Diablesses. Lucien wouldn’t let anyone leave his dinner table feeling anything less than satisfied. That was how he’d been taught and the mark of truly great chef like his father.

In the three days since Lucien had met her, he found Yuan to be a lot more…forceful…than as he’d originally pegged her to be. Lucien wasn’t stupid. He knew the red haired meister likely wanted something from him. What exactly? Lucien couldn’t say…but he couldn’t deny the Chinese acupuncture really helped deal with his accumulating stresses. Endurance training with Erzah under the hot sun (his weakness). Idiots. Bad tasting food. The fact that Yuan had noticed showcased her observant nature. Lucien didn’t mind give and take relationships. He knew he wasn’t an easy person to get along with (what with his standards) so reactions like Dai’s were common enough that he’d grown used to it.

In fact, it’d become a hallmark of honesty in way.

“Lucien?”

Lifting his eyes from the avocadoes he’d been check out, Lucien met the masked face of one of his former partners and resisted a groan. His day just couldn’t get any better…granted he and Black Mask had broken it off pretty cleanly. The assassin had pretty straightforward when he said told Lucien he wanted an easier partner and that it was best they both went their separate ways. Nothing Lucien regretted of course, since—while they worked well enough together—their goals and lifestyles were far too different, but he didn’t particularly enjoy seeing former partners and it still miffed him to be the one rejected. “What are you doing here, Mask?”

“Julie wanted me to get fruit.”

“Since when do you do what Julie tells you?”

“I’m too lazy to fight her,” The mask-wearing assassin shrugged. “I heard you’ve been selected for the experimental RIP program. Congratulations.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Do you think I would be?”

No. Lucien didn’t. Black Mask was of one the laziest and most unmotivated students he’d ever seen walk across the halls DWMA, but there was no denying his talent as a meister…and an assassin…either. The sickly kid moved like a shadow. Knew his way around knives as well.

“But Julie is. She thinks she deserves the spot more than you at least.”

Lucien scoffed. “Julie is an imbécile that can take it up with Lord Death, but my grades speak for themselves.”

“Grades don’t mean anything when you’re too picky in regards to the kishin eggs you eat,” Black Mask replied bluntly. “All the advanced training in the world won’t help you with a mental problem.”

“I don’t have a mental problem,” Lucien hissed furiously.

“Not a mental problem then,” The EAT meister relented. “But it’s certainly a contradiction. You want to be a Death Scythe, but you don’t want to eat Kishin Eggs that don’t suit your taste. The Rapid Improvement Project may be designed to quicken your pace through school, but even it can’t do anything when you actively impede your own progression. I find it hard to believe you even want to be a Death Scythe.”

“Then you don’t know me very well.” The dhampir responded coldly.

“I probably don’t,” Black Mask agreed, picking random fruits and putting them in grocery bag he carried. “Let’s hope Vox knows and can put up with you better.”

“How do you—?”

“You’ve always stood out so it isn’t hard to see who you’ve been hanging out with these last of couple of days. The RIP class is the hottest topic in gossip mill right now since no one knows anything about it. Comprise of a select group of individuals handpicked by Lord Death to try out his new Rapid Improvement Project, some think he’s picking out the elite of the elites. Others think it sounds like a remedial program…” Black Mask glanced in his direction, but Lucien couldn’t read the assassin’s expression since he wore a mask and all. “But whatever it is, I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning behind his actions.”

Deeper meaning?

"It was nice seeing you again." Before Lucien even got a chance to ask what he meant by his previous statement, the assassin already paid the clerk and was out the door after completing the mission assigned to him by his sister.

Lucien sighed. He decided not to think too hard on Black Mask's words since he had his own task to complete. Erzah said that they’d be working with another pair for their first mission so, in a sense, Yuan inviting the others to his apartment might be a good chance to get to know the pair they might be working with better—granted Lucien already got an impression of them from the first class. Dai was an idiot. Yuan conniving. The twins lacked a sense of time. Stone’s personality was like a stone. The sniper pair were loud. Aiden obnoxious. Rio quiet. The kid, sensitive. Both Sion and Noelle probably had a hero syndrome of some kind. Milo as peppy as ever. ‘Tavvy’ a tank. Did he need to know more?

(mentioned: RottenVale )

 

[Nobody Special]

SION NOGUCHI & NOELLE ACCESSOIRE
Location: Death City
Collabed w/ Prizzy Kriyze
________________________________________________________________________________

A new day. Noelle was graced with an early morning breeze that briefly washed away the violent heat from the scorching Nevada sun as she stood in the DWMA courtyard. Her meister stood not too far away from her, but the two hadn't spoken much since they met at the top of those hellish steps. While she was relieved that yesterday's activity was over, and that nobody had gotten hurt throughout it, there was still something that needed to be addressed. While she'd much rather forget about yesterday as a whole, Sion's short period of immobility still worried her. Her eyes flickered on and off of him constantly as the seconds passed. How would she go about approaching this topic with him? For all she knew, he could snap at her for bringing it up, or react in a completely different way. She was confused and concerned, though, and she didn't like being either of those things.

She raised a fist up to her lips to gently clear her throat, before pivoting off her foot to face her partner directly. "So, Sion," she began, her eyes fixed onto his like unrelenting laser beams. She had already started talking, yet she still had no idea of how she was going to bring this up to him. Should she just go all out and ask? No, she didn't want to upset him. Suddenly, as her thoughts ran amok throughout her mind, she was reminded of a tactic her mother used on her and her sisters whenever a tough subject had to be brought up. Every single time she screwed up, her mother would take her out to eat before chewing her out (no pun intended). While Sion wasn't exactly in trouble with her, Noelle figured this plan would still work out pretty well.

"Would you... Like to grab a bite to eat with me?" Her voice sounded innocent, but the natural strict glare in her eye made it difficult to tell what her true motives were. Her hands went behind her back, and she interlocked her fingers as she continued to look at him. "There are a few good places around here that I can take you to. Unless, of course, there is somewhere you'd specifically want to go."

As far as lectures went, autodidacticism wasn't what Sion had been expecting in his first weeks here. It made sense that this elite class was expected to already have their own methods for connecting with a partner and that that time would be better spent alone, but Sion didn't have that knowledge. That's what bothered him. Out of all the competent students already in attendance at DWMA, Lord Death had chosen HIM for the RIP Class, and he needed to compensate for his inexperience somehow. Clearly his abilities weren't in check, when he'd so easily been debilitated yesterday. One of his greatest strengths, hearing, suddenly turned against him. He needed to be better, there was no other option.

His hair was slicked back and beads of sweat lined his forehead as he thousand-yard-stared into the distance from the top of the DWMA stairs. His muscles ached, so he rested his arms inside his pockets. He'd been neglecting his physical education and so the performance anxiety from the day before had him exercising all evening and all morning, but really his weakness could only be cured by tackling a different beast.

He'd have to connect with someone.

A mild breeze blew into his open jacket and cooled him.

Noelle spoke up behind him, and he turned his head to give her a sidelong glance, curious and open to suggestion. Food? Yeah, I should… Suppose it was a start. He'd had in mind to try to… talk, to Noelle, but he had no idea where to start. What to talk about. He'd gladly hand her the reins. "Sure." He raised a hand to idly tug on his lower lip. "I haven't had the chance to try anything yet. Got a favorite?" Sion gave her a thumbs up and beckoned her to follow him as he started walking down the stairs. "Can we like, take it to go? It's a nice day, I wanna see the sights, or whatever."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem." Finally, her expression changed to that of a soft smile as she followed closely behind him down the steps. "I know an excellent French restaurant that is not too far from here. I would like to treat you to some of my country's dishes." Sion gave her a smile and as straight-faced as he could, noted "Awesome, I love french fries." Once they had reached the end of the stairs-- which were unsurprisingly much easier to walk down than up-- she stepped in front of the taller boy to take the lead, and they began their day off with a short walk to Deathstaurant, a French bistro to the north of the DWMA.

Once they entered the restaurant, various scents and feelings of warmth and comfort filled Noelle's senses. Freshly baked bread, gamey meats, a plethora of spices and seasonings-- it felt like she was back at home. When she had first arrived here to attend the academy, this restaurant and the people manning it helped her feel comfortable and safe faster than most other foreign students probably did. She led Sion to the counter, picking up a menu and handing it to her partner to view. She already knew what she wanted, so she decided to buy him some more time to make a decision by ordering now.

"May I please have an order of concombre a la menthe, and some palmiers, please?" She decided to keep things light so that it wouldn't take too long for her order to be finished. The boy, with his lackluster French comprehension, quietly pondered what cucumbers, menthols and palm trees tasted like. While she waited, she looked back at Sion, peering at his menu with curious eyes. "What are you thinking? Many of the items are named in French, so I can help you, if you'd like." Obviously excited to show Sion some new things, she leaned in further and began pointing at items on the menu. "If you're looking for something hearty, perhaps you would like the Boeuf Bourguignon-- ooh, or maybe the Cassoulet. The Quiche here is delicious, as well. Ah-- look! They have Profiteroles today…” After a few more seconds of enthusiastically pointing and explaining, Noelle finally halted her assault and waited for a decision. "Please, get whatever you'd like. My treat. Consider it a thank you for your great work yesterday, Sion."

"No! No definitely not. You're giving me a free tour and you protected me from getting full pollocked when I had my nap. I should be paying for you!" Sion protested, but he wasn't sure if he'd win that debate so he quickly followed up. "I want scallops- do they have scallops? Sometimes I like to get oysters - because they both look and taste like snot, and I can't taste anything with half my tongue - so I like to lie and tell my friends that it's delicious. It's a fun family activity for when you hate your younger siblings. Wouldn't work here though, you're French and I hear you guys like snails, so..."

The word avalanche slowed down to a halt overtime, at which point Sion leaned over and whispered "I talk too much when I get nervous, can you just get me your favorite?"

She couldn’t help but softly giggle at his quick ramblings, holding a finger up in protest as her chuckles eventually subsided. “What if I told you that snails-- escargot-- were my favorite?”

Gently taking the menu from Sion, she began to thoroughly scan through it. Her favorite? She wasn’t even sure if she herself knew what that was. She enjoyed everything she had eaten on the menu so far (escargot included, but that wasn’t something Sion needed to know just yet), so choosing just one thing was especially hard. That was, until her eyes landed on a dish she loved, one that Sion would surely enjoy as well.

“Okay, Sion. I will order for you.” She decided, patting the much taller meister on his shoulder before stepping back up to the counter to make another order. “May I also have an order of Sole Meunière, Coquilles St-Jacques, and a Chocolate Soufflé?” Not a single thing she just said was in English, so she gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, no snails. Perhaps eating this will return those missing taste buds to your tongue.” Sion shifted, uncomfortable with not knowing, and simply replied "Well, if French cuisine happens to be enchanting…"

Minutes later, their orders were ready, wrapped up in fancy to-go boxes laced with imitation-gold twine and placed in white bags for them to carry with them. Noelle handed Sion his bag, and led him out of the store, thus officially beginning the duo's mini-tour of Death City.

Noelle's tour-guide skills were… subpar. While she genuinely knew where many things were, all she was doing was pointing at landmarks and saying where they were. "There's Death Pain Square, where the Death Bazaar happens. It's nice, you can find some nice things to buy there." She pointed in another direction. "If, for some reason, you want to go there, the Hook Cemetery is over there. Though I've heard nothing but bad things about that place, so you may want to steer clear of it." Suddenly, she stopped walking, her eyes glued on the square as they passed it. "If you want, we can stop and eat in the square. It's a lovely place to eat!"



Sion looked up towards the sky and nearly blinded himself on the visage of the laughing sun, sighed, and grabbed a pair of sunglasses from his neckline. "Gotcha." He nodded to the suggestion and steered his step to the stone seats surrounding the fountain of the square. The town was pretty calm and quiet now, most of the usual students were in class and the regular Joes had regular jobs that they had to go to. He placed his ornate to-go boxes down and threw off his jacket to use as a seat, then motioned for Noelle to join him.

"Thank you for the meal." He whispered and undid the boxes in his lap. The first dish-- a single fillet of fried fish, coated in a light brown sauce with parsley sprinkled on top of it and three lemon slices on the side. The second, four sautéed scallops, mushrooms and a creamy cheese-sauce all baked inside of their shells- and a chocolate soufflé, which wasn't particularly revolutionary. Sion brandished his mighty plastic spork and kind of gingerly poked at the scallops, as if he didn't know what to do with them. He let a moment pass, then looked over his glasses towards Noelle, who had already begun digging into her own meal, and began, "Soo, how long have you been at DWMA?"

Noelle looked up from her salad to answer his question, not before placing a finger to her chin and raising her pupils to the blue sky to think for a moment. “Mmm, two years, now.” As soon as her sentence finished, her fork stabbed into the poor cucumbers and radishes and scooped them into her mouth. She didn’t admit it, but damn, she was hungry. She quickly chewed and swallowed her bite, before speaking up again. “Do not worry. You’ll get used to this place very quickly. You’re forced to, if that makes sense. There’s always something going on somewhere around here.”

Her eyes landed on his, and she stared at him for a moment before speaking up again. “Actually, Sion, if you do not mind, I’d like to speak to you about yesterday’s exercise. Only if it is alright with you, of course.”

"Don't be a stranger." Sion replied, and opted to finally stab one of the scallops. It was delicious, but the apprehension in his gut turned the flavor to ashes. Her words betrayed intent to plunge into deeper territory. He could stare down the barrel of a gun without flinching, but one personal question and his appetite was lost? It's pathetic. Still, the mild anxiety was locked behind his usual look of disinterest in anticipation for the next question. "But before you ask, the logistics of planting Callah so deep within Cole that his tongue could reach the trigger may be daunting, but I will make it happen."

“I’m glad that we’re… somewhat on the same topic.” She lifted a napkin to her lips, gently dabbing them to get rid of any yogurt-sauce residue that may have been left behind from her previous bite. Maybe she really was worthy of the title ‘Miss Elegante’. “It’s about when you went down, right after that loud noise Callah and Cole made under the pit.” Instead of involuntarily glaring at him as she normally would have, her eyes had a glint of worry in them. “It was very sudden, and it looked as if you were in pain, so I’m a bit concerned about it. Sion… why did that happen, exactly? I’m positive that there’s some sort of valid reason for it, you just have to tell me, if you can. I am supposed to protect you, you know.”

There was a pause, as if Sion was contemplating his response as he idly mixed his mushrooms around in sauce. "I don't sense souls like everyone else does, I can't see them. I hear them." He started, "I guess the loudness of Callah's wavelength just hit me a little harder." He looked back over to Noelle. "You sound like the crunch of a puff pastry, wind over a grassy field, cobblestone streets and accordion music, for example." The fine arrangement of mushrooms and scallops had been messed up by his nervous prodding, so he set it down next to himself along with the other boxes and stood up. "I was born blind, too." From a back pocket he produced a single, bent out of shape cigarette and put it to his lips as he crossed over to the fountain. "I learned to orient myself based on sound alone. It's usually pretty neat." He sat down, facing Noelle but kept speaking through cigarette-clenching teeth. "Now though, it's apparent that I just have a bad grip on my abilities."

A puff of smoke escaped him, and he leaned backwards. He'd left the jacket on the stone, so he could fill the occasional dash of cold water spraying onto the back of his arms where he sat on the edge of the fountain. "I'm being evasive though." His voice was a bit defeated, and his eyes trained on the cobbles ground before him. "I don't do well with talking about me, I try to avoid it and dismiss it mostly. Probably why I never managed a resonation, can't seem to connect very well with people. Figured I ought to change that, otherwise it'd be my fault if we mess up, and I don't like that." He scratched at his neck. Uncomfortable as it was, he felt it must be a step in the right direction. "I was in an explosion as a kid, some people died. I don't do great with loud noises, I only look as normal as I do now thanks to a bunch of surgery but, y'know, the taste bud thing." He took another drag. "We probably should share our actual skill sets, though."

Noelle listened to every word, her expression growing more and more disheartened as Sion explained his situation and briefly dove into his past. It was quiet for a minute, before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Sion…" more silence. She clenched her fists, arms trembling before she slammed her hands on the table, rising to her feet and looking him in the eyes with a look of depression and determination.

“I don’t like being an umbrella!” She exclaimed, eyes shooting onto the ground as she made her confession. “And...And... I suck at being a supportive partner! I’ve lost every meister I’ve had so far!! And there’s so, so, so much more, but I’m too insecure to even start getting into that right now!” She took a loud, deep breath, and closed her eyes, exhaling before looking back at him-- cheeks flushed red with a smile. “So, Sion… We both have problems. But, despite those problems, we did great yesterday!” She extended a hand out to him. “Let’s be great together, okay? We’ll have each other’s backs.” She looked at her hand for a second, and blinked with a light chuckle. “Ah, I’m sorry about that... That wasn’t exactly ‘sharing my skill sets’, was it?”

Sion had nearly slipped into the fountain when her fist met the table, but now he just sat and watched her in confounded silence. The only sound for a couple moments was the fountain, until he sharply inhaled and the cigarette sizzled in return. Then he chuckled. He chuckled until he was forced to crack the smile he was trying to keep back, and then he laughed until smoke got caught in his lungs and he was sent into a fit of coughs. "Haha, I'm sorry, I-" his response was cut off by yet another cough, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you, it's just…" he raised the cigarette for a quick drag and propped one leg up over the other and leaned forward. "You know, in this class so far, I've seen a twig. A kitchen knife. No disrespect to them, clearly they must be talented, but you," he motioned towards Noelle, "you're a rapier, a shield, a knuckle duster, and fashionable." He stood up and took a step forward to grab her hand. "I can't see the problem. Couldn't ask for better." Sealing the deal with a shake of her hand, he added "You're a sweetheart. Let me just figure out some of this mess I've got with the parasitic wavelength and hypersensitivity, we'll be right as rain." Then he retracted his hand and scratched his neck while smiling apologetically, "I was kind of hoping for some tutelage there, what with me being a complete amateur and all."

"No, not you," It took a large amount of willpower not to flinch when their hands made contact. Her energy was once again being forcefully taken from her, but it didn't matter. Like she had just said, they had to have each other's backs, and that meant supporting Sion by giving as few reactions to his unique wavelength as possible. "We. We will work on your wavelength, your perception-- everything." Once the handshake ended, she clasped her hands together and brought her arms down to her waist. "You're a very unique person, Sion. Talented, as well. I'm positive that we will achieve soul resonance with each other sooner than later."

With that being said, she took a final bite of her small salad, and moved onto the small palmier pastries she had ordered, holding one out to him as an offering. "You said that you do not enjoy talking about yourself. I'm going to force you to." A pushy statement, accompanied by a gentle and warm smile. "You are from Japan, no? What is it like over there?"

Sion politely declined and sat down to try to finish his own meal, cold as it was. "That’s a way harder question than you’d think." Sion had his attention turned towards the fish as he tried a piece of it. “I don’t regret leaving. Everybody’s working themselves to death and there’s not a lot of space for actually living a happy, fulfilling life. That being said,” He motioned with a piece of fish, “It’s got a great front, so it’s a good tourist attraction.”

Working themselves to death. Yeah, that’s a way to put it. Most everyone he once knew ought to be dead by now, and he didn’t want to consider the fates of those who were still kicking. He pushed his sunglasses up as he finished his chocolate soufflé. “You know, it’s an absolutely wonderful day to get an edge on everyone else who must be training hard to continue qualifying for this course. We should get started on resolving these issues, and working on moves. You up for it?”

"Of course, it is always better to be a step ahead of others." Noelle quickly answered, closing her box of sweets and placing it back into the bag before standing up. She seemed excited, but deep down, she was nervous. All she had to do was remember that everyone makes 'mistakes', and keep her mouth shut about details that weren't worth calling out. Sion was a good partner-- possibly the best one she'd had so far. If she was able to deduce that after only being with the boy for a little less than a day, then it was crucial that she not scare him away like the others.

"I enjoyed our conversation, Sion." She mentioned with a grin, waiting for him to stand before leading him back towards the DWMA.

 

[Nobody Special]

ADELLE STONE & NOELLE ACCESSOIRE
Location: Death City
Collabed w/ Lady Warlock
________________________________________________________________________________

Adelle walked out of the death room with a rather obvious look of disappointment on her face. She had been hoping to meet up with Edgar and get some training done on the first morning after they’d been assigned to work together, but apparently fate had different plans in mind for her. At least, that was what it seemed like because she’d learned after being summoned to the Death Room that her partner was no longer a member of R.I.P. Lord Death hadn’t been inclined to give her the details of the situation, but she imagined that explained why he never answered her text asking where and when they wanted to meet up.

All Lord Death had been able to tell her was that he was working on securing a different meister for her and that he expected to have one lined up before the start of their mission. She would have to adjust on the fly, though, and she hated being at a disadvantage compared to the other students. The thought of her parents having been right about joining the DWMA having been a mistake briefly meandered through her mind, but she quickly shoved it into the back of her head and instead focused on finding something she could do with her pent up energy. Not quite sure where her footsteps were carrying her, she walked.

The halls of the DWMA weren’t exactly empty. Despite students of R.I.P. having been dismissed for unstructured learning, other classes were still in session. Adelle’s eyes met the gazes of many people she didn’t recognize and she wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest. Her eyes did blink, though, when she saw someone she did recognize. Her footsteps stopped and she racked her brain for the name. Finally, she spit out what she thought it was before they would be too far apart again to be acknowledged.

“Noelle?”

Noelle's eyes were carefully reading over the multitude of skull-shaped tiles that hung from the school's famous mission board, when she heard a somewhat-familiar voice call out her name. She quickly turned to face the blonde-haired girl and immediately identified her, her stern idle expression curving into a small smile as she addressed her fellow classmate.

"Ah, Adelle! What a pleasant surprise." While she didn't know any of her classmates very well yet, it was still nice to see them outside of class-- especially after the hellish exercise they had all been through together a few days ago. Curious red eyes met with seemingly troubled blue ones as she continued to speak. "What have you been up to? Have you figured out anything interesting about your meister?" She asked, taking a few steps closer to the girl to avoid being drowned out by the plethora of chatty students in the hallway.

Though the question brought out some of the initial melancholy that Adelle had been experiencing, she managed to maintain a slightly brighter expression. “My meister apparently got himself removed from our class,” she explained. “Lord Death said he’s working on finding me a new partner, but I honestly have no idea how long that’s going to take. I was actually looking for something to try and distract myself from it all. Any chance you know of anything worthwhile to do around here?” At that moment, Adelle wasn’t actually very particular on activities. She would have been willing to train, go get coffee - a delight, to be sure - or even learn more about what was all in Death City. It was all new to her still.

The sudden news made Noelle shuffle in place for a second. She had so many questions, but she knew that none of them would be appropriate, given how Adelle probably felt about her situation. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure they will find you a new partner in no time. We're still in the early stages, so I doubt you're the only one who lost your partner." Even though Adelle didn't appear too hurt about it, Noelle still figured taking the reassuring route would be the best course of action. "Something to do, hm?" She looked up at the ceiling of the corridor, thinking to herself. She had just taken Sion on a tour of the city, and as mediocre of a tour guide as she was, she wasn't too keen on doing it again any time soon. Then, the thought of food entered her mind. Putting something in your stomach was always a good way to take your mind off things, right? Maybe she was just being greedy. She snapped her fingers as if to say 'a-ha!', and brought her gaze back to Adelle. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? I know some great places we can go to, if you'd like." Then, a way to kill two birds with one stone popped up in her head. "You're new, aren't you, Adelle? I can show you around a bit while we head over to the square."

There were a few things Adelle was glad for as her interaction with Noelle progressed. She already found herself at least a little comfortable with her classmate, which was good. She also noticed how Noelle didn’t ask more questions about what had happened with Edgar and she was glad for it, not because she didn’t want to talk about it, but because she didn’t have answers and that made her uncomfortable. It would be even worse to admit that she had no idea what had gone wrong in the first place. Yes, they’d had a rough start, but Adelle hadn’t quite been ready to give up on it just yet.

However, Noelle mentioned food and that was something Adelle could easily jump on board with. “Food sounds good,” she agreed. “Not a whole meal or anything like that, but something small would be nice, and maybe some coffee?” She nodded, acknowledging that she was new to the city and to the DWMA.

“I assume you’re a veteran, then?” she guessed, ready to walk wherever Noelle would lead and hoping to continue their pleasantries along the way.

Coffee it is, then. She took a few fast-paced steps to get in front of Adelle and escort her towards the school's exit. "I wouldn't call myself a 'veteran', but I have been here for two years now, so I thankfully know my way around enough to help newer people like yourself." Their footsteps were now audible after escaping the loud clamoring of students, and they descended down the infamous steps to head into Death City.

As they made their way to Death Pain Square, Noelle pointed out some important landmarks to remember. "So, Adelle, if you don't mind me asking, where did you live before coming here? It seems like our class is a fairly diverse one, so I'm curious."

“My family is in San Francisco,” Adelle explained. “It’s not too far, but it’s far enough in some ways. I was actually homeschooled for most of my youth. A long time ago, my family were all DWMA students, but they left because they felt shunned for our weapon forms. Even though multi-form weapons are very sought after, no one really valued our forms because some said they weren’t even weapons.” She imagined Noelle had seen at least two of her forms if she’d been watching paintball. Then again, the 2nd team had been engaged in a lot of planning as well, so it was quite possible that she hadn’t. “Lord Death personally invited me for this class, but now it seems he’s struggling to find a partner who will work with me.”

There was sorrow in her explanation, disdain for all the emotional turmoil her family had to go through, but she was mostly matter-of-fact about it because most of it was simple truth. “My family warned me against coming to the DWMA, but I hoped it would give me a fresh start.” Throughout it all, she was attentive to the details Noelle pointed out to her. Some of them were things she’d seen before while others were new. All of it was quite helpful.

Noelle's eyes were glued to the ground as she listened to Adelle. When it was her turn during the paintball exercise, she had gotten a few glances at Adelle's forms, and she could definitely understand where she was coming from. In fact, she could even relate to it in a way, so she spoke up. "I understand how you feel, in a way." She thought back to her own childhood, her so-called 'shortcomings', her insecurities, her issues finding partners, all of it. It seemed like every time she went to the square with someone, she ended up sharing depressing stories with them. She didn't mind it, though. Friends made through mutual struggle were some of the best kinds you could make.

"I'm sure you saw my weapon form when it was my turn to go. Every single member of my family is like that-- inconspicuous, difficult-to-detect accessories. So, we aren't exactly the most 'valued' people out there, either." She slowed her gait to place a comforting hand on Adelle's shoulder. "Believe me, there were times when I wanted to just pack up and leave. But now, I've finally met a partner who makes me want to stay." She smiled as she continued. "Someone who appreciates my weapon form, and sees me as an actual weapon capable of doing things. I'm sure you'll have the same luck I did when you meet your next partner."

Although Adelle wasn’t so certain that was the case, she was used to working through the hardships that came with uncertainties and she was prepared to get through this until some consistency could be obtained whether that be through a stable partner or through a routine of new partners every so often. As long as it didn’t interfere with becoming a death weapon, she would take whatever life threw at her. The young woman’s expression hardened with determination as they made their way to Deathbucks, and when it was finally within sight, Adelle’s smile softened just a bit.

“You know what, Noelle?” Adelle interrupted a brief silence that had settled between them. “I think that even if I don’t find a partner that appreciates me, having a friend will help me get through it all.” She was super appreciative of her fellow weapon and also glad to have someone who seemed to understand where she was coming from; for Adelle, that was enough in the moment.

 

[Lady Warlock]

Salt Lake City, Utah

Their briefing had been… well, brief was certainly a good word for it. The Grim Reaper had informed the students that he’d received a call from the mayor in Salt Lake City about a zombie that had been haunting the people. Apparently the police had investigated and encountered details that were only explained by magic; fortunately, they knew well enough to not go further into the situation and instead reached out to Lord Death’s establishment for assistance. More often than not, the DWMA found themselves dealing with these sorts of issues after something had gone horribly wrong with the mundane investigators who tried to solve it. That was one positive element of the situation that unfolded.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many other positive elements to be found. That was why Lord Death had assigned this mission to one of his R.I.P. teams rather than a group of E.A.T. students. Though it was his first true test for the members of the class, he had confidence that they would handle it with poise and professionalism. Whether they knew it or not, the future of the DWMA as an organization depended on them.

The team of Sion, Noelle, Yuan, Grace and Erika arrived at a bus stop in Salt Lake City after an almost six hour ride. Unfortunately, taking the Taghan Twins’ helicopter for a probably faster and less bumpy ride had not been an option for mysterious reasons that were never quite explained. More than likely, it was something as simple as the fact that their bus tickets had already been paid for by the town and no one wanted to be rude and refuse what the town had provided. Not everything needed a perfect explanation, though.

By the time they arrived, the sun was at the lowest point it would likely reach before people started calling it ‘sunset.’ There were still a few hours of daylight left, but not many and it was close enough to nightfall for some of the terror holding the city hostage to have started settling in. Only a single male figure was waiting for them at the bus stop, and he was tremulous and kept looking up towards the sky as though he expected the world’s largest monster to come diving out of the sun itself - the sun, whose eyes were drooping and sleepy and ready for the night to come sooner rather than later. It was oblivious to what came with the night that filled the sky when it slept, after all. The city itself was still alive and bustling, but someone who knew what they were seeing would be able to discern that everything was starting to shut down for the night.

“You mmmust b-be the DWMA represssentatives, am I right?” The man’s stutter was not consistent as he addressed them while they walked off of the bus. “I’m Kinsley. The mmmayor is wait-ting to meet with you. If you’ll f-follow me.” He didn’t seem interested in conversation and promptly turned on his heels and started leading them through the city streets towards a home not far from where they’d arrived.

Opening the door without knocking, Kinsley showed them the way inside and when they arrived in the sitting room, two other individuals had come into view. One was an elder man. The other was a woman. She appeared middle aged and she was also bawling. Upon seeing the DWMA students, she charged at the one who looked the kindest in her eyes, fell to her knees and grabbed onto Erica’s shirt. “Please tell me you’re going to find my baby!!!?” she screamed.

“Alma, calm down, please,” the elder man spoke then. His voice sounded defeated. “I told you that you could be here to make your request, but I also need to make sure they have all the information they need.” His head turned to the students after the woman released her grip on Erica’s shirt. “I’m Mayor Martin. I was the one who called for assistance. Welcome to my home. Normally I’d greet you in my office, but the police have that section of the city blocked off right now due to some energy we can’t identify. That is probably a good place to start looking into things, actually, but there’s no way I’d go there myself. Our city has been under attack. It only happens at night and people who’ve caught glimpses mention something that looks kind of like a man, but they state that parts of its body are mutilated. Then there’s laughter from a woman who sounds like a child. Children have either been found dead or not been found at all every night since this started.” He let those harrowing details hang in the air.

Prizzy Kriyze Nobody Special CelticHero37 QuirkyAngel

Sydney, Australia

Sending students hadn’t been Lord Death’s preferred option. In this particular situation, he honestly had no idea what was going so normally, he would’ve sent one of his death scythes with a three-star meister to investigate this one. After all, it was a potential breach in the DWMA itself. However, in the absence of his preferred team, his R.I.P. students were all he had left. It was why he sent his larger team. They would need to have each others’ backs on this one and he couldn’t see what was happening. All the mirrors he had access to had somehow ended up shattered. Ominous was the only word for it.

The mission itself was vague. Investigate the ongoing silence of the Australia branch of the DWMA. Lord Death informed the students that he normally had two death weapons and three weapon-meister pairs on site at all times at this branch; it was the smallest and tended to require the least monitoring. It had been a week since he’d had contact with any of them and two days since he’d realized he could not get into any of the offices through his normal mirror transportation methods. News coming out of the city proper described some serial killers on the loose, but it didn’t seem to be supernatural in origin so the grim reaper couldn’t automatically connect the two issues. It was possible, but it also could have been completely unrelated.

“Take this with you,” he’d given a mirror to Cole before they departed, “Contact me as soon as you arrive and let me know what you see. The DWMA branch is located beneath the Sydney Opera House.”

Not many knew it, but the Grim Reaper had a private jet for missions that were far off but required haste. This was one such mission and so Luka, Aiden, Rio, Cole, Callah, Dai and Ceinwein had been ushered on quickly before the flight had taken off without much warning. Very few ever saw Lord Death anxious or unnerved about anything, but this team had seen him at the very least antsy to have even the smallest piece of information. Though the flight was by no means a quick one - they had a fair few miles to travel, after all - time seemed to pass quickly and it wasn’t long before they were landing on a landing strip that seemed to rise out of the water right next to their destination - the Opera House.

Upon getting off the plane, it became clear that they had drawn more than a little attention because people enjoying what would have normally been a beautiful route for a morning jog had all stopped to see what was going on with the plane that shouldn’t have been where it was. However, what was even more worthy of note was the fact that none of those morning joggers seemed at all perturbed in the slightest by the state of the Opera House. It was covered in spiderwebs and looked like a haunted house in more ways than one. It looked as though no one had been inside in months. However, such a thing surely would’ve made the world news, right?

Sir Les Paul The Regal Rper Mineczka Solarknight Nobody Special

St. Louis, Missouri

Millie Saervan had been Lord Death’s scythe for the past three years. Naturally, it had been her loss that struck at whatever heart the Grim Reaper had the most, and he knew beyond shadow of a doubt that whatever took her had led her to put up a good fight before she’d vanished from all the world that he could sense. However, she had managed to leave him a single clue before she’d vanished. In whatever scuffle had ensued, she’d managed to tear a wing. After having multiple people study it under false pretenses - because the DWMA’s true situation could not under any circumstances get out - he’d learned it was a very large bee wing.

Bees.

Bumble bees.

Normally a groundskeeper reaching out about a botanical garden having strange visitors at night was something Lord Death would’ve given to a newer group of E.A.T. students. It didn’t sound too horrifying, sounded like it could have a very mundane explanation, and would help them exercise their minds a little but while facing something that could also invoke and teach them to learn to work with their own fears. However, the groundskeeper had added one more detail that had caught the Grim Reaper’s attention. There was always a sound like buzzing bees. It may have been nothing, but he’d decided to send one of his remaining R.I.P. teams anyway.

Ezrah had provided the briefing on that one. Apparently a groundskeeper had called in to report a haunting. Flowers in the Missouri Botanical Garden were being plucked and stolen overnight, and they tended to be the rarer ones they had. Continued theft would result in extinction which was without a doubt bad and undesirable. Furthermore, though, the plants that were being stolen were said by some to have magical properties. No official research had ever been conducted because the Missouri Botanical Garden wouldn’t allow it, but it seemed like it may play a part in the case as a whole. It could be something supernatural at work, or it could have just been a bunch of kids causing trouble. Apparently the groundskeeper wouldn’t approach anyone on his own and he was unsuccessful at getting law enforcement involved.

The team of Tavares, Adelle, Vox and Lucien was put on a train that would escort them into the city, and from there, a cab had been arranged to bring them to the garden. The ticket booth was waiting for them and gestured to the man standing off to the left. He smiled instantly and picked up on who they were.

“Greetings! I’ve been expecting you,” he extended a hand to the first person who would take it. “My name’s Geoff. I keep grounds here at our lovely botanical garden and I’m also the one who put in the call for assistance. I hope none of you have any allergies. There’s tons of pollen in the air right now.” He chuckled lightly and then started leading them through lovely weaving paths of flowers of all breeds, all shapes and all sizes. There were fountains big and small scattered throughout, and it looked like the fields and gardens never ended on the horizon in any direction. Some bees were buzzing, but that wasn’t abnormal. They pollinated the flowers, after all. Other little critters roamed here and there as well. However, it became quickly apparent that Geoff was leading them into an area that had been closed off, and it became apparent why once they were beyond the fence. All the plants looked like they had been torn to pieces.

“This is supposed to be one of our rare orchid collections,” Geoff explained, “but we doubt there are enough flowers here to save the species at this rate.” There were multiple footprints in the dirt - some of them no doubt having been made by Geoff himself when he’d first found the scene - and there were piles where dirt had clearly been dug up when it didn’t seem like that was supposed to happen. “The raiders come every night it seems, though last night I was watching a different section of the garden when this happened. This place is too big for one man to protect. Can you help me figure out why this is happening?” He sounded distraught. What they didn’t quite know was that the garden was his life.

The Regal Rper QuirkyAngel RottenVale

From this point forward, you MUST include your location (city) in your post somewhere where everyone can see it so that everyone can easily tell what applies to them and what does not!