[IC] ANKL. Part I: Awakening

[Shamitako]

Haley

 

"No." Cici answered curtly. Without looking up from her game, she climbed down from the bed and followed Kaede towards the exit. "We need to go get our schedules now, hurry up Lucille."

Haley jumped at her name and stumbled to follow, shouting, "Y-yes Miss Cici! Coming!" Before realizing how loud she was speaking. Cici didn't seem to notice, or at least didn't care, as she simply continued out the door without another glance.

 

Natalie

 

Natalie laughed softly at Arya's response. "Well I'm actually glad some people can't handle it, because this is going to be a lot easier with you around."

 

It didn't take all that long to unpack, but since Natalie had arrived so late, they were still left with very little time before they had to get their schedules. "I'm done." Natalie announced finally. She checked the time on her phone. "We've still got five minutes, but we better get going now if we don't want to be in more trouble."

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

"My, everyone has such diverse hobbies," she said with amusement. "I'd love for us to all do some of those activities together. But first things first. Let us receive our schedules, shall we?"

 

Esyllt strolled towards the door, before gesturing everyone to follow suit.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"Yeah?" she asked, "What are they gonna do if we're a little late? Put us up in the delinquent cabin?"

 

Arya smirked at the obviously rhetorical question, walking over to the front door. Rather than walking out though, she held it open, turning back to Natalie and gesturing for the other girl to go right on ahead "Anyway, after you~ time to see what we're gonna be stuck doing while we're here..."

[Twinwolf]

Alva frowned. Well, this would take a while, probably. That said, she didn't want to miss getting the schedules, so she followed. 

[Shamitako]

(OOC: Actually getting the schedules would have been a boring scene, so we're skipping that. TL;DR everyone crowded around a teacher and after a lot of noise and crowded crowding they ended up with their schedules.)

 

Cabins 3 and 6

 

Aside from dinner and evening prayers, there was only one activity on the schedule for each group on day one. For Cabins 3 and 6, that was a hike through the woods to a nearby cemetery. They were in the middle of the hiking part right now, with Miss Carstin leading the way. Cici was leading the charge alongside her, she wanted to get this over with as fast as possible and go back to her games. Lexi and Haley were both lagging behind, though for different reasons. Haley was clearly nervous and didn't want to keep going, whilst Lexi kept stopping to stare at tree bark. Overall, it was a pretty normal hike.

 

Cabin 2 and the Delinquents

 

Cabin 2 was joined by Arya and Natalie for an arts and crafts activity, in this instance wood carving. The activity was being held in an open-air shelter with several wooden picnic tables which was seated across the field from their cabin and was being led by Miss Katherine. Wood carving was a pretty standard art medium, so the girls were pretty familiar with it. They had just arrived and the girls were finding where to sit. Natalie was the first in a spot, and Naya followed by sitting immediately next to her, she seemed much happier now that Natalie was around, which left little question as to who she had been hoping to room with.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Kaede felt a twinge of disappoint that it seemed awhile before she'd get to see Arturia on this trip. She wasn't much acquainted with any of the girls here though that was often the case. She gave off an aura of offness that tended to turn people away from her. Kaede felt like she should care about this, that she should think it was some sort of injustice. But she couldn't muster anything with which to do so. ln fact, it meant she had an easy time not having to deal with people she didn't want to. lt kept away false people,the ones who wore plastic masks. Not, literally... but the ones that clearly showed their good sides to the world but hid who they really were. Kaede was quite good at reading people. lt was a hobby of hers, and one she derived a small pleasure from much like reading a book.

So she decided to do so while on this hike. She slowed down to the back some, hoping to do some people watching. She wasn't really aware of the two lagging behind even behind her.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum, for the most part, was rather quiet as the group hiked along. She didn't mind that speed they were going, she preferred a relatively fast pace anyway, but she couldn't help but notice how two of the girls in the group kept lagging behind, one of which being, unsurprisingly, Lexi. For a good while, Platinum didn't really mention this, just preferring to keep moving with the group. However, after the latest realization that Lexi had stopped to stare at the bark, Platinum sighed, rolling her eyes slightly as she turned around on her heel, "Aislin, come on, I doubt there's much of interest on the tree bark" she said, her tone indicating that she was a bit annoyed by Lexi's stopping.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia was rather glad that her cabin hadn't been assigned to hiking. She was rather. . . sedentary. Though it probably wouldn't have been too bad. Regardless, she was happy to be doing some wood carving. It was an activity she enjoyed, even if she wasn't particularly good at it. She sat in a spot, far enough away from the others that there would be no one looking over her shoulder but close enough to make sure that nobody was planning on stabbing anyone else with a chisel or something. Presently, she was attempting to represent her mental image of the Rock of Reat - a fortress from her favorite series - on the wood. So far it was. . . earnest, at least. 

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

Esyllt turned to see how the rest of her cabin was doing, only to see Lexi and another girl falling behind. She trotted back, curious as to what the holdup was. "That's not necessarily true, Platinum! Some people study trees for a living," she said playfully. She then looked towards Lexi and Haley with a curious look. She hadn't met the inhabitants of Cabin 6, whom were joining them on the hike. "What's wrong, Lexi? You and your friend tired already? But we've only just begun!"

 

[Twinwolf]

Alva, for her part, wasn't the sort of person to lag behind. She would be in front - if she wasn't hanging in the back and doing her best to get the slowpokes to keep up. "Come oooon, you can do this! It's just a hike! Is it the gear? I can try to carry some for you if it's too heavy!"

[Shamitako]

Lexi

 

Lexi completely ignored all the attention being sent her way. Instead, she chose to reach down and pick up a leaf, staring at that instead. After a few moments she seemed content and continued walking. And a few moments after that she seemed to notice that she had been spoken to. "Oh, no, it's not too heavy." She said, "I just like identifying trees for whatever reason." She shrugged and kept walking. The whole point of hiking was to see nature or whatever, she might as well actually look at the nature-stuff then, right? And if it took them longer to get to some spooky cemetery? Even better.

 

Natalie

 

Natalie was rather impartial to art projects, and wood carving was no exception. But with how things had been going lately, it was actually a rather comforting distraction. Unfortunately, she was interrupted by a much more annoying distraction when Naya decided to sit down next to her. "Hi Natalie! It's really good to see you." She said.

"Hello Naya." Natalie responded dismissively, making a show of focusing on the penguin she was carving.

Naya seemed to take that as a cue to ask about said flower. "What's that you're carving?"

"It's a penguin."

"What's a penguin?"

"It's a flightless bird native to Layo." Natalie paused before adding, "I think they're cute."

"Uh-huh." Naya was clearly uninterested, "Anyways, I was just wondering... Where are your roommates?"

 

Katherine

 

Though she was technically supervising the project, Katherine wasn't actually doing much. Wood carving was such a standard activity that everyone was fine just getting to it on their own. But she did take a personal interest in the activity, it always fascinated her to see what her students would create. Wood carving was historically used to create religious art for the church, but more often nowadays it was a form of artistic expression. Or for those who, like Katherine, were terrible at it, a source of frustration. But she preferred to consider the positive aspects. To help focus on those positive aspects, she approached one of the girls currently under her charge, Arturia. "Pardon the intrusion, I was just wondering what you're making." she asked kindly.

[Chevaleresse]

"Uh, it's something from a series of books I've been reading." If it had been anyone but one of the teachers asking about it, she likely would have reacted much more defensively; as it were, she didn't seem to mind the question. "It's the Rock from the Ring of Eternity series, I dunno if you've ever heard of it. The descriptions make it sound pretty impressive, so I was trying to take a stab at actually making a picture." She idly moved the wood chisel in the world's laziest approximation of a stab as she spoke, trying not to be embarrassed about the quality of the carving. She could copy a picture of something without tracing fairly well, but something in the process always seemed to go wrong if there was a transition straight from her mind to the medium. 

[Sutoratosu]

"Right here," Arya answered just as the blonde girl with glasses asked. She sat just a bit further down the table from them, wooden block in one hand and carving knife in the other, the former rotating and turning as the latter worked with a nonchalant deftness. She didn't even seem to be paying attention to what she was doing, yet as the moments dragged by the block quickly began to take the profile of a bear raised on it's haunches, claws raised threatening. Eyeballing it a bit before beginning to further refine the rough shape, she continued "Name's Arya. Don't think I've ever seen you before...you a friend of Natalie's?"

 

It honestly wouldn't surprise her, if the girl answered yes. Clearly Natalie herself wasn't too thrilled with her company, but Blonde-Hair-Black-Glasses seemed to think there was nothing wrong. Hard to tell whether she was just socially dense, or there was something else going on there.

      

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

lt seemed the girl wasn't really paying attention when the other spoke to her. This seemed a common occurrence with these girls. Stuck with a disrespectful group it seemed. Perhaps such was an unfair judgement but the lot didn't exactly inspire confidence. Kaede certainly would've rather been doing whatever Arturia was right now. Mostly cause she could just stick to her friend. She didn't know any of these people, and she certainly didn't want to try and get to know any of them on her own accord. She wasn't going to rush into any social interactions herself. That tended to end badly. But, knowing this group... eventually one of these girls would decide to bug her. They were an unruly bunch it seemed.

Why were they all lagging behind anyway? Kaede was deliberately slowing pace... and somehow most of the group was behind her. Kaede just wanted this over with and they were making this process longer. She supposed she should be mad at this... but she couldn't really muster the feeling and was just indifferent towards it. They were wasting their own time as well... so it balanced out.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Once it was clear that Aislin was following again, Platinum turned, picking up her pace to catch up with those that just kept on walking. She, in all honesty, didn't care to much about the hike. It was mostly an excuse to get some more walking done. Part of her wanted to just get to the cemetery, do whatever they needed to do there (if there was something to do, anyway), and then go. Maybe it was just a bad feeling that certain part of Platinum couldn't shake off, she didn't really know.

 

The other part of herself, the one that she chose to listen to, didn't care too much about the occasion.

[Shamitako]

Natalie

 

Before Natalie could say anything, Naya decided to voice her discontent. "You're rooming with her? But isn't she a... I mean, I've heard rumors..." She was obviously more than a little upset by this revelation, "A-and where are your other roommates? Don't tell me it's just the two of you."

"It's just the two of us." Natalie answered without looking up from her penguin. It sounded like Naya was mostly jealous, although rumors about Arya's family circumstances probably didn't help. Normally Natalie would avoid Arya in public because of just such a reason, but since they were both delinquents together, she had plenty of excuse to not care about social status right now.

 

Katherine

 

Katherine shook her head, saying, "I can't say I've heard of it. I don't get the chance to read much fiction though." Though she hid it well behind her ever-cheerful smile, Katherine's mind was actually running down several much darker paths. Though she had come over purely with the intent to observe a student's art, the pressure she was under prompted her to press towards a different direction. "Have you read any books where the hero struggles against impossible challenges only to fail? I enjoy stories like that for their philosophical implications."

 

Lexi

 

Lexi trotted along, opting not to hold everyone else up by staring at more trees. Haley seemed to have sped up greatly, though she still refused to make eye contact with anyone and especially tried to avoid going anywhere near Cici. The other girls were all moving at their own paces, but overall the group was moving a good bit faster now. Everyone except...

"Hey, who's that?" Cici asked, pointing at a figure laying in the middle of the trail a little further up.

Riley suddenly got a weird look on her face that Lexi didn't recognize. "Hey, uh, I'm going to hop off the trail for a second, nature calls and stuff." She said sheepishly.

Miss Carstin was about to protest, but seemed to decide against it. "Fine, but make it quick. We're going to go ahead and see who that is on the ground over there." And to herself mumbled, "There shouldn't be anyone else on this trail right now. I hope they're okay."

 

And so while Riley ran off into the woods to do her business, Lexi and the rest of the group ventured forwards to check on the girl laying in the path. She was a young girl with curly, dirty blonde hair and was dressed in a simple silver dress with golden flower designs on it. Strangely, she had some kind of brown tattoos on her arms, legs, and the left half of her face. They didn't have an obvious design and seemed to just be a random assortment of jagged lines. As best Lexi could tell, she was just sleeping there on the path, though considering the relative cleanliness of her dress, she hadn't been there long.

Miss Carstin knelt next to the girl and checked on her.

"So, is she dead?" Cici asked sarcastically.

Miss Carstin replied with complete seriousness, "No, not dead. But I think she passed out. She might need help. Head back and get someone with medical training."

"Um." Haley piped up, "Can I go too?"

"Yes, fine, just hurry and go. And try to check on Riley while you're at it."

Cici and Haley walked back down the trail, stopping where Riley had gone into the woods momentarily before moving on.

 

It surprised Lexi that Haley had decided to go back with cici, considering her previous anxiety towards the older girl. Maybe she was just that desperate to get out of the hike. Whatever the case, it didn't seem like they'd be going to that cemetery after all.

"I'll stay here with her, "Miss Carstin gestured to the girl, "the rest of you go on ahead. I'll send Riley up when she gets back."

Or they would be going on to the cemetery. Lexi was a little apprehensive about leaving Miss Carstin alone with a stranger, but then again, the stranger was passed out. "Alright, we'll go on ahead." Lexi said, walking past Miss Carstin and the fainted girl. She shot one more glance at said fainted girl as she went by. She couldn't place why, but something about the girl made her extremely nervous. She pushed that to the back of her mind and focused forward. Everything would be fine, it was probably just some girl who got lost earlier and collapsed from exhaustion.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia frowned, brow furrowing for reasons other than just thought. That was a bit of a sinister turn to the conversation. "Only one that I can think of. Most of the stuff I read has a happy ending, eventually. Even if everything turns against the hero, she makes it out one way or another. Or, I guess you'd call them bittersweet endings. The world's not over, but it's not exactly fixed either." She looked like she was about to continue, but caught herself before any words came out of her open mouth. "I'll avoid spoiling you, though."

[Shamitako]

Katherine

 

"Oh, I don't mind." Katherine brushed off Arturia's concern, "Like I said, I don't read much fiction, it's doubtful I'd ever get around to reading anything you could spoil for me anyways. So go ahead and tell me more." Bittersweet wasn't exactly what Katherine was looking for, but she might be able to work with it. With the threat looming so close, she really didn't have time to be picky. She glanced over at Natalie, the slightest touch of concern breaking into her happy facade.

[Chevaleresse]

"Um, the ending of the Ring of Eternity is kind of like that." She held out a hand, and started counting up on her fingers - until she reached five, and then she just sort of absently shook her hand with each entry. "Let me think. . . Everyone thinks the main character died, and she loses her powers. Or, well, most of them. The guy leading this group of magic users, who''s one of her childhood friends, dies in the process of fixing cracks in reality. Her new husband also dies in a duel to one of the villains, along with a ton of other characters. A huge part of the continent the books take place in is razed, and a a lot of the countries involved are left leaderless, mostly because of those other characters dying, and the rest is still under control by this empire from overseas that basically enslaves magic users. It's pretty much the apocalypse." There were plenty of more grim details, but she was fairly certain she'd made her point.

 

"But. . . the world-ending threat is sealed away, balance achieved and all that happy stuff. The world's not actually going to cease to exist. People are still alive, there's still plenty of ability to rebuild. It'll be hard, but there's still more hope in the end than in the beginning. I guess I like that kind of thing." 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Platinum was rather glad that Aislin wasn't holding them up anymore. It helped to at least keep any earlier frustration over the girl from increasing. Still, Platinum still didn't really think there would be anything truly interesting on the hike. 

 

She was proven wrong when the group stumbled across the fainted girl in the middle of the trail.

 

For the most part, Platinum was visibly surprised to see someone passed out in the middle of the trail. In all honesty, surprised was the only way she could act. Why would there be anyone on the trial right now? From what the schedules said that they should be the only two groups on it right now, and from the fact that the girl's silver dress was still rather clean, that indicated that she fainted not too long ago, which ruled out previous groups going out on a hike (if there were any, which Platinum already knew that there hadn't been a previous group out before them. And even if there was, they would know that this girl had been missing when they got back to the camp). And why did she have random tattoos over her?

 

Unfortunately, Platinum was unable to ask any of those questions physically, as Miss Carstin had told them to continue on ahead while she kept watch over the fainted girl. Personally, Platinum was going to object on the grounds that they should at least try to get the girl back to the camp ASAP. But, instead, Platinum merely nodded, "Alright Miss Carstin" she said, turning away from the girl and continuing on the path towards the cemetery. It wasn't her place to really talk back to a teacher. She was a student, after all.

 

As she walked, Platinum couldn't help but feel that bad feeling starting to come back.

[Sutoratosu]

There wasn't a flicker of reaction on Arya's face. Not even the smallest sign she'd even heard Black-Glasses' complaints, as she finished refining the effigy's shape and moved onto the fine detailing of it's fur, eyes, mouth, and claws. None until she very calmly and evenly said

     "I think the slur you're looking for is 'Mack', " The knife and miniature bear kept moving. She seemed to have shifted focus to the eyes above all else, going into almost excruciating detail with the knife as she did.... something to it. "Don't know why you're suddenly afraid to say it to my face; I hear girls just like you whispering it behind my back aaaaall the time. What, is it the knife? That what's got ya spooked? I mean yeah, sure I'm good with one, maybe even as good as I am with the Sketchpad. But do you really think I'm stupid or impulsive enough to turn this on you without a better reason than 'she insulted me'?" She chuckled darkly, shaking her head and continuing to carve away at the effigy's features

     "Look, I don't know who you are, and I really don't care, but... Don't go flattering yourself, m'kay? You wouldn't be the first bitch to call me Mack, and you wouldn't be the last either; been called it so many times by now, it might as well be my middle name. As if some pissant little girl like you could really make me snap, after I've gone this far keeping it together. You'd be nothing more than another random voice in the chorus; there is nothing you can say to me that I haven't already heard, or been called worse."

     With one last stroke of the blade, she seemed satisfied, slamming the (largely un-finished) bear down on the table, and turning it to face Naya. Though the hints of impressive detail, namely the flowing fur, most of the sculpture was still textureless, save for the head. Unlike the rest, it had been finished in all it's gory detail, one eye a ruined mess as a single arrow protruded from it, sunk so far through the socket and into the brain that only the fletching and lower half of the shaft was visible. Especially fine attention had been paid to the fur around the wound, the whittling lighter than in other areas, which compared to the fur detail around it almost gave the impression of slick wetness spreading over the patch. The beast's mouth was twisted in a death keel as the life left its single intact eye. A cold, unfeeling eye, one that, despite being nothing more than whittled wood, seemed to pierce right through anything it faced right down to it's very core.

      

"Now," She flashed Blondie a friendly smile, but her eyes remained as cold and dead as a wage slave who'd just worked the single longest shift in her life "Were you gonna whine to Natalie some more about her roommate, or did you come over here to bother her because you actually had something of substance to talk about?" 

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

Upon Ms. Carstin's request, Esyllt reluctantly resumed heading up the trail. A girl who was wearing an ornate dress, just lying in the middle of the trail like that? With no external injuries, Esyllt found that a little hard to believe. She trotted up to Platinum, curious as to what her take on the situation was. "I don't suppose you know of any parties we're missing out on?" Esyllt said in a joking manner, as she referred to the girl's dress. She realized it was an ill thing to jest about an unconscious girl this close to a cemetery, but the mood certainly was going south from what was supposedly a pleasant outdoor excursion. To a cemetery. She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow in thought. "In all seriousness, I can't imagine anyone who would come out this far wearing a dress. Even if it is to visit the cemetery. What do you think happened, Platinum?"

 

She didn't recognize the girl who had passed out on the trail. Was she even a student of the institute? She couldn't help but be curious, as it was the first thing that had happened in months. Probably.

[Shamitako]

Katherine

 

"That sounds fascinating." Katherine could most definitely work with that. She just needed someone who could handle all the horrible things to come. If anything, the expectation of hope for the future would be a force for perseverance. There was one thing that still bugged her though. "What's a husband?" Katherine asked in genuine bewilderment.

 

(OOC: Donmai, there's an excuse to avoid answering coming right up)

 

Natalie

 

Naya shrank back at Arya's response, especially the bit about the knife. "I- I didn't mean..." She whimpered, "I mean, I was just... I don't..." Her gaze turned to Natalie, pleading for her idol to rescue her.

Feeling the slightest bit of pity, she decided to step in. "Lay off her, Arya, she doesn't know any better." She said, though her tone of voice made the command seem like more of a request.

But it seemed that was the last straw for Naya. "I don't know any better?!" She yelled, "What about you?! Why are you acting all buddy-buddy with some stupid ingrate mack?!"

In turn, Naya's outburst was the last straw for Natalie. "That's it!" She stood up in a rage, "You seem to have forgotten who you're talking to, Lesta. This is my school. I'm the one who decides girl's social status around here, not you. Arya is my roommate, and if I want to be friends with her in spite of the rumors about her family, I fucking can.

 

"You, on the other hand, seem to have decided that we are friends for some reason. Well let me make it clear for you: We are not friends, we never were friends, and we will never be friends! So take off those cheap fake glasses and stop pretending you're someone important! You. Are. A. Nobody."

 

There was an agonizingly long moment of silence as Naya stared at Natalie in shock. And then the younger girl's face contorted in pain and tears began streaming from her eyes. She took off her glasses and flung them out of the shelter, buried her face in her hands on the table, and sobbed.

 

Natalie turned and left without a word, heading back in the direction of her and Arya's cabin. 

[Chevaleresse]

Fortunately, the slight blanching that occurred on Arturia's face was covered by the outburst nearby. People could be. . . weird about certain things, that included. Not that she expected Katherine to be so, but she wasn't eager to talk about it regardless. Instead, she watched this happen, and sighed slightly as she realized who was involved. She couldn't honestly say she felt bad for Naya, however . . . "Should I be trying to deal with that?" she asked the teacher.

[Sutoratosu]

3 hours ago, KosherKitten said:

 

Natalie

 

"Lay off her, Arya, she doesn't know any better."

"Alright," Arya had sighed, "fine, guess I did go a bit far there. I'm so-"

 

And then all hell broke loose as the murders shouting began. The two of them had gone back and forth so quickly, there'd not been a single moment for Arya to interject, and by the end of it Natalie had stormed off towards the cabin and the girl with fake glasses was face down sobbing into the table.

 

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck..." she hissed just under her breath. Yes, yes, great work here, she had done. This was certainly helping the problem with Natalie, indeed. "God damn it, that spiralled way out of control...."

 

To be fair, it wasn't like fake glasses girl was exactly innocent by any stretch of the word. But Arya had just wanted to give her a hint that maybe she should bugger of, maybe intimidate her a little bit too- blondie had reminded oh too much of well.... most everyone. But even as she stood to follow after Natalie, some part of her couldn't help but glance back and feel just a bit of.... not quite guilt, not sympathy, but something that could come close enough to the two that she lingered for a moment.

    "I appologize. About all of that... well, some of it... look, I'm sorry" 

 

and with that said to Naya, she ran off towards the direction of the cabin... Natalie couldn't have gotten that far ahead in such a short time, could she?