[IC] ANKL. Part I: Awakening

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

She nodded as her friend went off into the woods. Kaede couldn't help but want to follow Arturia, but she was told by her to make sure this girl was okay. So... she was going to do so. Normally, she'd not care, someone else would take care of this. But that hit, this was something that needed to be dealt with now and waiting for a teaher wasn't going to suffice. Kaede had performed first aid on herself several times, so it'd be nothing new to her she figured. She went over to check on the patient.

She inspected the area of the injury from afar. lt was clear that if she tried to get in there and poke around it was going to cause more pain, and that wasn't her goal. The shoulder was clearly dislocated, something she knew needed to be put back in place so that it'd heal properly but there was another girl here. She was being... quite useless. "You need to leave. You're not being helpful and crowding her is only going to lead to problems. l can put this back, l've done it to myself before. But, l need space as does she." ((to Plat if it's not clear.))

She was going to begin the process of sitting the girl up but she had to make sure she was aware that she was about to touch her. lf she didn't she could scare the girl and cause her to cause further harm to herself, helping no one. Kaede didn't normally speak to others that weren't Arturia, but... Arturia had asked her to do this. She'd make an exception this time and this time alone. "l am Ustole Kaede... l'll take care of you until proper help gets here. l require your  cooperation. l need to get you to a sitting position so that l have a better angle to relocate your shoulder. l'll be honest with you, this is going to be extremely painful. However, the pain will begin to subside once we get your shoulder back into it's socket. So, the faster we get it back in place, the faster you will feel like yourself again. Do you understand?"

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Just as Platinum's mind was starting to clear up and get to rational thinking, the girl that had tagged her out earlier was suddenly next to Alva, flatly telling her to leave and that she was, in short, being useless (which, to be entirely fair, she was in this situation). Normally, Platinum would've gotten a bit upset that she'd call her useless when she was trying to think, but instead, Platinum just sighed, stood up with a shrug, and stepped back.

 

Might as well let someone who seemed to know what they were doing actually do their thing.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

A blood-curling shriek had pierced the air, jolting Esyllt from her idle daydream and spontaneously onto her feet. "The hell?" she exclaimed in confusion. Everyone had begun into a frenzy, as several girls started crowding around something on the field. Esyllt jogged over in her curiosity, to find Alva squirming in pain on the ground. Her eyes were drawn towards Alva's arm. "And.... yikes. That looks like it had been dislocated." But in a game of dodgeball? There wasn't really a reasonable rationale as to how she could've dislocated her arm, even if she had taken a nasty fall.

 

Kaede appeared to be dead set on relocating Alva's arm, Esyllt being unsure if that was such a good idea, even if she had done it before. But Kaede seemed rather determined, making it all the harder to dissuade her otherwise. Rather than wasting time, Esyllt went to go find a teacher, who would at the very least would be able to deal with the aftermath.

[Twinwolf]

Alva groaned in pain as people began to come towards her. It was hard to sort out what people were saying, the pain dominating the girl's thoughts until a calm, mostly neutral voice cut through the panic. She opened her eyes a bit and saw... Kaede she said she was? Albeit blurry through tears. She couldn't force herself to talk, so instead she just nodded slightly and tried to not put any pressure on her dislocated shoulder. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

"Okay, l'll begin now." She start starting to get to work. She was gentle, trying her best to not disturb the girl's arm as much as possible. lt wasn't too hard to get her upright, but... the tough part was coming. She'd been forward with her already, this was going to hurt. And it was going to hurt bad. She took in a deep breath, though she wasn't sure why. She wasn't nervous... she never got nerves. She didn't need to center herself. So, what was the point of doing so? Maybe... it'd make the other girl feel better if she went through the motions. lf she acted more like... a real person. lt was the only thing Kaede could think of.

Kaede's eyes were like two lakes... dark water, a calming blue. Devoid of any emotion. Kaede reached into her pocket and grabbed a hankerchief, it was just a simple dark blue similar to her hair and eyes. She reached out and wiped the tears from the girl's own eyes. They were a striking green... perhaps it was cause she was just crying, but Kaede noted that they sparkled slightly... as if they were made of emeralds. Kaede's gaze lingered there a moment. She couldn't help but look into them. The eyes, were the window into the soul. Or, so she had heard. Their beauty caught her for a moment. Was... that this girl's soul she saw... or something else? But she realized that if she could she her soul, the other girl would see hers. She didn't care. She realized that she'd feel her broken soul anyway... what did it matter if she saw it in full? She was helping her anyway. She couldn't be seen as a monster in this instance.

"This... is going to be very painful. lf you must, please put your free hand on my shoulder for support. Further, if you must, squeeze and grasp it firmly. lt'll help you through and l do not mind."

She then pushed it into place.

[Twinwolf]

Alva tried not to move too much as Kaede sat her up. The pain was still terrible, but she was beginning to get... used to it, enough to think. What had even happened? One moment she'd tossed a ball the next she was on the floor in immense pain. That... didn't make sense. She felt a dabbing below her eyes and the tears were cleared, and she was left looking into a pair of deep blue oceans. She... felt sort of off, although she didn't know if it was something about her or the one holding her. But she tried to remain calm, and looking into those sapphire-blue eyes somewhat helped. Even if something might have been wrong, if Kaede could be so ridiculously calm, Alva could do it too! At least that's what she told herself. As Kaede warned her of the pain, she nodded, hand drifting onto the other girl's shoulder just in time for Kaede to shove her shoulder back into it's proper place. 

 

Alva screamed again - didn't have the presence of mind to try to keep it in, and Alva's hand squeezed down hard, probably enough that it'd hurt for a normal person. The tears were threatening to come forth again and she tried to keep them back with some success as she fought not to faint. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Kaede certainly felt the pressure but she didn't stop due to it. She expected some sort of reaction after all. She wish she'd not scream like she was murdering her though... people might get the wrong impression. Or, that she was messing soemthing up. She wasn't... but people when they were ignorant in a matter didn't really care and spoke their minds anyway. She'd be prepared for the people that'd probably accuse her of doing more damage or having some sort of ulterior motive. She didn't really care though. Arturia had asked her to do this, so, it was what she wanted to do.

The shoulder set back into place, she felt it sink into the socket. This would set her on the road to recovery but the girl wasn't done yet.However things were as far as Kaede could provide aid for so... she had to focus the girl on something else to keep her mind off the pain for the time being.And she'd probably have to do that by... talking. Kaede wasn't excited about this. She felt a tinge of yellow...she wondered what that colour meant...annoyance? That wasn't quite right but she had to work to do, and no time to dwell on this. She sat down across from the girl and looked back into her eyes to let her know that she was still focused there... least she figured that's how someone would show it. She held the hand of her injured arm in hers trying to keep it from swinging free and to give her something to hold onto. "Okay, l've finished. l apologize for causing you pain, but it was necessary if you are to heal properly. Just let your mind focus on something other than the pain. Let it fade into the back of your mind, rush away from you. You may focus on me if that would help. l'm sure you have a name?"

lf Alva was coherent enough... she'd feel something wet under her fingers and espcially her nails. She'd dug straight into Kaede's skin with them. Scarlet leaked into her sleeve staining it with blood. However, Kaede seemed to not even notice the pain or that she was bleeding. 

[Shamitako]

Arturia

 

Lilith proved surprisingly fast, perhaps driven by fear, but Arturia was able to keep up with her decently well. Eventually Lilith's pace slowed, allowing Arturia to catch up. When Arturia was about ten yards back, Lilith stopped entirely. "Why are you following me? Aren't you scared?" The young girl asked without turning.

[Twinwolf]

Alva struggled to focus, taking deep but shakey breaths as she tried to calm herself and focus on something, anything else but the pain. That voice. That's a good thing to focus on, yeah. She didn't seem to notice she was causing Kaede injury, although she began to lighten the pressure. "I-I-I'm Alva... pretty b-bad way to be i-introduced, isn't it?" she stammered. Humor, that would help shift focus, right? Right. Her mind was going in a bunch of different places and she was trying to set it in order and not panic too much. The pain was still stabbing her shoulder and she could feel a dull tingle across a lot of her body -  that wasn't supposed to be what you felt right? Unbeknownst to Alva, a pattern of green diamonds was spreading across her skin where she felt that tingling.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

"lt's certainly not ideal l think." Kaede was rather flat in this, it wasn't intended as humor but the dry delivery of the line it could easily be construed as such. "But, we don't always get to choose the manner in which we met someone. Life's messy sometimes. Let's just keep talking alright? Who are you?" she continued though... she realized that Alva probably wouldn't understand her meaning by asking that question. Espcially given she had given Kaede her name already... she quickly started to add "Tell me about yourself." Hopefully, this would give the green haired girl something to focus on and to talk about.

Kaede was staying calm, it wasn't hard but she was trying to keep Alva calm too. She figured... that perhaps the break in her soul would actually be helpful in this endeavor. After all, it accordingly caused lathergy in people, perhaps it was a calming tiredness. Funny... she thought it never be of use. Perhaps her mothers were wrong about her being cursed... at least in full.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia panted a bit, though she tried to keep her breathing mostly under control as she replied to Lilith. "To be honest, I'm a little too busy dealing with this existential crisis to be scared." It was true, to an extent; her emotions always felt a bit muddled, but today she'd had no idea how to feel. "Plus, I don't think you're trying to hurt me or anything, otherwise I'd be hiding behind a tree or something." Alright, now for the hard part. . . Ask her to confirm something without actually telling her what that something is or actually asking for said confirmation, because if she was wrong about the hunch and asked about it, Lilith would literally explode. Or something. "As for why I'm here, uh, well, why do you think I'm here?" Too sassy sounding, but whatever. 

[Shamitako]

Lilith

 

"You want to help me" Lilith answered, "You wouldn't be the first to try. But every one gives up so quickly." She turned to face Arturia, looking her in the eye. The act sent a tingling sensation through Arturia's fingers. "Or maybe you want to use me." Her face contorted in a mix of rage and anguish. "Mommy already tried. She thought she could control it like everything else. But nobody can control it." Arcs of electricity danced wildly across Lilith's body, becoming more unstable as the girl did.

[Chevaleresse]

Well, uh, this wasn't good. Outright hostility wasn't something she'd planned for. "I mean, I don't know how to prove it to you, but I don't think I could use you even if I wanted to. I've never really had the sense for that." Right. Keep calm, keep that voice steady. Ignore the electrical flux passing through you. Ignore the niggling thought that Katherine was probably using her which might mean Arturia was unwittingly using Lilith. Layla? "I just wanted to see if you were okay, and talk about some stuff. Like uh," maybe directly referencing the lightning was a bad idea, "where we might have met before, among other things."

[Twinwolf]

"Y-You mean something else besides that I'm apparently n-not very good at dodgeball...? Sorry for p-putting you out by the way..." Alva said. She seemed to be calming down a bit. "Something a-about myself? U-Uh..." Where do you even start on a question like that, even if you're not just trying to avoid thinking about all the pain? "I-I'm an Alexian, I guess is something? Even though I think I got put in a cabin with some Kallistles for some reason..." she paused. "...I think I'm in y-your cabin, actually. We just haven't really talked. We should though!"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

"lt matters not, l just wanted the game over. Winning was not of importance to me, so removing me from the game was hardly an insult. Do not apologize for things that aren't insults, it's unneeded." said dryly. lt was true though she'd caused her no due harm there was no need to do so. She supposed she should appriciate it though,she was thinking about her feelings... Sad she was unaware of the fact that Kaede barely possessed them.

"Oh... l suppose we are. lt must have been some sort of mix-up. Apparently that's common enough of an occurance that it usually happens at least once every time on one of these trips. l suppose you were the unlucky or lucky one depending on your perspective." Kaede did remember her vaguely from the cabin. She mostly kept to herself and didn't much interact with the other girls. She was content on her own and dealing with people other than Arturia often lead to more problems than anything else. "l'm not... very good with people l'll admit. There's not much l have to talk about or what not. l'm afraid l'd probably just bore you to tears." she wasn't really... sure what that saying meant but she heard people use it in this context before.

[Twinwolf]

Alva took a few moments to think about that, then smiled. "Lots of people say they don't have much to t-talk about, but then turns out they do and j-just didn't know it!" she paused, thinking, before settling on a fairly common question. "So... what's your favorite book? Maybe you c-could try talking about that!"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Favourite?  Kaede thought to herself. She'd heard of the practice before. People usually felt strongly about something enough to call it that. lt was something they liked, enjoyed... whatever over everything else. But, Kaede never felt so strongly about something. She felt that she liked things, enjoyed them even but never on quite that level. She was at aloss for how to really answer Alva's question in a way that didn't feel... like a copout but she had no real answer.

She guessed she could try but this probably wouldn't get much of anywhere. "l've read alot of books. But, l can't really say that any of them are my favourites. l've never really felt such a connection to something. l just might not be like other people in that regard... l don't think l ever feel strongly about things. l'm fine with that l suppose. lt seems to only ever be other people that have a problem with it." Kaede couldn't really help but keep looking into Alva's eyes... They had a beautiful quality to them, she just couldn't help but look into them.

"You... have very pretty eyes."

[Shamitako]

(OOC: Kaede, stop trying to steal Alva)

 

Lilith

 

Lilith was taken aback when Arturia voiced a similar feeling of familiarity, she hadn't been prepared for a response like that. Her paranoia returned quickly, however. "Where have we met before?" she asked suspiciously, "What are you hiding?" She hadn't really suspected Arturia before, she was just upset and scared. She had even thought that perhaps that familiar sensation meant she should trust the older girl. But now she was heading towards a different conclusion. Maybe the reason Arturia had felt significant when Lilith threw the ball was because both of them were sources of danger.

[Twinwolf]

Alva frowned a bit. "Well, I can understand not really having a favorite book. What about some books you just enjoy, then?" she asked. She was about to ask about that whole 'not really getting strong feelings' thing - was that just about being this calm or was it something else? - but something out of left field surprised her and derailed that train of thought. The green-themed girl began to turn a bit scarlet. "O-Oh... thank you..." she stammered, not really sure how to react to that. "You have pretty eyes too... it's like, looking at a pair of really calm lakes..." she decided to respond to compliment with compliment - and she did mean it! 

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Once it was clear that Alva was fine, Platinum sighed, turning on her heel and beginning to walk away. There wasn't much reason for her to remain around the two anyway, the problem had been fixed. But, now that she was able to think straight again, and not be completely distracted by Alva's dislocated shoulder, her thoughts went back to the flash of light that came from the girl's fingers. Almost instinctively, her eyes drifted to the ball that had been thrown, noting the burn mark still present on it. The chance of it actually being her mind playing tricks on her was fairly low at this point.

 

... The thing was, she just didn't know WHAT the hell happened to cause this chain of events.

Edited February 19, 2018 by GodofGamingRWBY

[Chevaleresse]

"This is going to sound crazy - it still does, even to me - but I think I met you in. . . a dream? Er, a dream's not the right term, I guess you'd call it a vision or something? I swear I'm not insane, alright? And uh, it wasn't quite you, but it was someone a lot like you. . . Fucking hell, let me just start over." She sighed irritably at herself, half running her hand through her hair and half pulling on it. Was she really this nervous? "I was chasing after a couple girls - they'd just run off into the woods, it's not important - when this weird third one showed up. Red hair, talked really confusingly. She snapped her fingers, and I was in this black void. . . thing, and the only other person around was a girl that looked exactly like you." She briefly debating bringing up Kath- Kallisto, but she figured that could wait until Lilith wasn't visibly losing it. "I don't really know you that well, but from what I can tell she acted like you too. I figured there was something more to it than sudden-onset delusional schizophrenia when I uh, saw that back there, so I figured I'd take the shot and ask if you'd experienced anything similar."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

"l... uh..." Kaede wasn't really sure how to respond. She started to feel... red? But it was different from before. lt wasn't as wild ared as before it was more muted subtle. lt was friendlier for sure. She'd never really been in this situation before... she just felt lost for words. Alva's kindness wasn't something she was oft the reciever of. She... she... was she being truthful? Did she mean it? Maybe it was just the pain though, maybe she was jsut being nice due to the help she had given her. Maybe she'd just be like the others out of this moment.

But... Kaede felt like she knew it wasn't true of her. She had looked deep in Alva's eyes... perhaps that old story she heard wasn't all nonsense. "l... no one's ever said something like that to me before. There's... a story that speaks about eyes being the window into a person's soul... l am fond of that story. l saw something pretty in yours... so l thought it was true for a moment but... that scared me. Because l was afraid of what you'd see in mine."

[Twinwolf]

"Why wouldn't someone say that? It's true!" Alright, be friendly and honest. Alva was starting to feel a bit... tired? Even though that all had happened. "Looking at you being so calm and stuff... it helped me calm down too I think, especially your eyes. If the eyes are windows to the soul, I don't think your soul being like a calm, beautiful lake is anything to be scared of." What sort of upbringing had this girl had  that she seemed so... uncomfortable, with compliments - wait, she'd called herself 'Ustole'... did they do something? She wondered. Not much of note now. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

The red felt even more intense now, as Alva... as Alva said that her soul was beautiful. Was she really telling the truth? Did she really think that? But... but it was broken... how could someone think that was beautiful? She placed her free hand to her chest, and she felt another feeling... it mixed into the red she was feeling. A soft blue. lt was different from sorrow's blue a dark and crisp navy. Tears welled at the corner of her eyes... what was this? Why did Alva's words have such an effect on her? Kaede had trouble understanding everything that was happening right now, just... talking to this girl kept stirring up so many vivid colours she had never felt or seen before. lt wasn't a simple task to process all this noise.

"l... Thank you." was all that she could manage to say at the moment.

[Shamitako]

Mother Opium

 

"You've already said more than enough." Mother Opium said, "Use them wisely." She moved the jar aside. "That's not all we've to discuss." Helen continued, "As I said, I had thought Natalie was beginning to awaken to herself. Seeing as that clearly was not the case, I was hoping you might fill me in on why she's been so upset as of late." She had a knowing look in her eyes that gave away her intention. After what Natalie said outside, she had easily figured out what was going on. The only reason she chose to ask was because she wanted Arya to be the one to tell her. It was a technique she often used as a teacher, both for teaching and as a method of determining punishment. In this case it was being used more like the latter.

 

Lilith

 

Now Lilith was sure she didn't trust Arturia. No one would believe a ridiculous story like that. It sounded like she made it up on the spot. Though Lilith had to admit, Arturia wouldn't be any good at using her, not if she was that poor a liar. Anger joined fear among her most prominent emotions. "Liar!" she shouted, "You're just like the rest. You say you want to help, but you really just want to help yourself. No one really wants to help me." The anger washed away as quickly as it had come, replaced with the true heart of the problem: loneliness. And that loneliness was the last straw.

 

The electricity that had been building up around Lilith burst into an orb of yellow light around her. Her outfit reformed itself into a gothic lolita style. A frilly black dress with long sleeves, black tights, black ankle boots with soles nearly an inch thick and another half inch for the heel, and a mini top hat sitting ajar on the left side of her head with apale yellow rose attached to the brim. Her normally straight black hair was now gently curled and had yellow highlights towards the end. Her face was marked by wavy yellow lines that began at the edge of her eyes and spread out back to disappear behind her hair. She now wore thick mascara and black eyeliner, enhancing the feeling of empty hunger in her eyes. Hair nails were painted yellow now instead of black, save for the middle ones which were black with a yellow rose. Her right hand was intertwined with a bracelet sporting a triquetra and three more yellow roses.

 

The instant her transformation finished, tendrils of electrical energy launched themselves from Lilith's body. They struck all around Arturia, scorching the ground, but none met their mark. Lilith had little control over where they went normally, and even less with her thoughts running wildly as they were.

 

(OOC: Kdone, dodgeball doot will be a new post shortly)