[IC] ANKL. Part I: Awakening

[Sutoratosu]

 

Arya

"Um, well..." Of course the conversation had come back to that. She didn't know what she'd been expecting really. Didn't make it feel any less awkward though, especially since she felt a subtle heat rising to her face. A small part of her considered trying to hide it, but she already knew it was useless, "She... she said it was me. I... never had any idea, all this time. She wanted to tell me how she felt, but... couldn't do it because she was afraid of what people would think. She wanted to try and change, because of it. But when she tried, things ended up going a bit differently than she planned- the girl she was trying to help took things the wrong way... started following her around, dressing like her, mimicking her. She was.... pretty certain all she'd accomplished was changing someone else into the type of person she was trying to stop being. And that's basically been leading to... everything else."

[Shamitako]

Haley

 

Haley was shocked by Lilith's outburst, but unlike most, it didn't show. Outwardly she remained perfectly calm, perhaps disturbingly so. The other Laylites all seemed taken aback by their cabin-mate. Naya went pale and froze up. Sharp started to rush over to help, but saw Platinum already doing so and instead ran to get the teacher. Even Cici looked up from her game and seemed concerned for Alva's wellbeing. But Haley had gone dark.

 

Haley wasn't alone in this. Riley had a similar reaction. It seemed they had both seen what had just happened. And more importantly, they both knew what it meant. Their eyes met, but Riley immediately looked away, instead shooting a worried look towards Lexi.

 

So that was it. Haley felt relieved that they shared a common goal. She would have to talk to Riley later, try to communicate that she wasn't a threat.

 

Sharp returned with the teacher. Their group was the last to finish, and the one before was a ways across the field, leaving both Miss Filhem and the athletic Sharp winded from the run. "Sharp filled me in." Miss Filhem said between breaths, "I'm still not sure how you dislocate a shoulder with a dodgeball. Who's the hurt one?"

"If I may, Miss Filhem." Riley said, "Kaede has already relocated Alva's shoulder. She still needs looked at, but Lilith, the girl who injured her, ran off into the forest. Arturia followed her but I worry they might get lost. Allow myself and Kaede to see Alva to a nurse so you can prioritize finding the two in the forest."

"Not sure how I feel about letting more of you run off. I'm not as carefree as Lucille."

"Perhaps if we had Esyllt along as well?"

"One more? I guess I'm a little more comfortable that way. Alright, it is an emergency. Go."

 

Riley approached Alva and Kaede, kneeling to offer the injured girl her shoulder. "Shall we?"

 

Once the four of them had left, Miss Filhem went off to look for Lilith and Arturia, leaving strict instructions for no one else to leave. Haley decided to take the opportunity to talk to Lexi and maybe learn a bit about Riley. Cici went back to her game. The Laylites decided to be antisocial, as did Naya. And Sharp went over to inspect the scorched dodgeball.

 

(OOC: It's a veritable smorgasbord of interactions for Plat! For the other three, post leaving and then I'll doot you again. Also, note to self: you've still got cutscenes to do ASAP.)

[Twinwolf]

Alva had been about to respond to Kaede, when the teacher arrived and Riley offered a shoulder rather solidly interrupting her. So she just smiled at Kaede, looking her in the eyes again, before putting her arm around Riley for support as she stood. "Thanks..." she said as she got to her feet, the word intended for both Kaede and Riley for their assistance - the movement had brought the pain back up front in her mind, although it was lesser now. "Off we go, I guess! Sorry to hassle you..."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

What are you thanking me for...? What you gave me was much more meaningful... l just did what l was told. Kaede thought to herself. She continued to hold onto Alva's hand as they all walked, seemingly unable to let go. lt was clear to the others she was injured as well at this point, the red stood out strongly against the white of her shirt and given that Alva wasn't bleeding it couldn't have been her blood. Therefore the only logical conclusion would be it belonged to Kaede.

She wasn't about to argue with Riley being appointed to this, she wasn't really in the state of mind and she didn't truly hold any grudge with the girl. Whoever it was she was protecting wasn't of any concern to Kaede so she had no quarrel with her anyway.

Kaede just focused on trying to focus on processing all the things she had... felt? She must've have been experiencing emotion, today... was the first day she felt so many. Alva... made her feel things she never had before. Many wonderful things. She found herself wanting to be around her more. Perhaps, she'd learn more about her broken emotions from her.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

Platinum herself merely gave Miss Filhem a quick nod at her instructions, watching the group of four leave the court. For a few seconds afterwards, Platinum simply stood there, thinking to herself, before walking towards the ball to get a better look at it.

 

… Needless to say, there wasn’t much that she couldn’t really figure out from the ball that wasn’t something she saw before. It was just a simple dodge ball with a large burn mark from it that originated from this ‘Lilith’. The main question was how the hell something like this could’ve happened, since the best explanation she could come up with is that Lilith had used some sort of energy to power her throw… Which, at this point, could easily be the answer.

 

It just didn’t make sense.

 

“I’m not the only one who saw that flash of light from Lilith earlier before this dislocated someone’s shoulder, right?” Platinum asked Sharp, looking at them from the side of her eyes. She wanted to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her, and Sharp was the nearest person to ask that question.
 

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia took a couple stumbling steps backward. She was fairly certain this is somewhat what she was going for, but not entirely sure where her continued safety and well-being factored into this particular equation. She really, really wished she had some method of defending herself against Layla (who she probably should have anticipated being a bit more paranoid); fortunately for her, said wish was just about exactly what Arturia needed to get such. 

 

The second step Arturia took backward made a metallic clanking sound, instead of the muted sound of a tennis shoe on dirt. Said shoes had been replaced with silvery-white metallic boots, complete with slightly pointed sabatons and shin guards. Past those, her jeans were replaced with a set of white leggings, just sheer enough to reveal the floral tattoos that had appeared on her legs (of a variety of kinds, but lilies, daffodils, and gladiolus were prominent among them.) They lead up to a multilayered skirt, violet then yellow then white again, which itself continued up into a white dress covered over with a chestplate that matched her boots. The dress was sleeveless; her arms were covered in another set of tattoos similar to the ones on her legs, with bracers over her forearms. A heavy cape draped itself over her back, violet with yellow fringes, and her normally-unpainteed nails became the same color. 

 

This transformation confused Arturia for the briefest moment (along with an incongruous flash of embarrassment, as there was an instant where she felt entirely naked) but she fairly quickly decided she didn't need to ponder it right now - Kallisto had mentioned something about unlocking her power, and apparently this included fancy half-armored outfits with far too much white and exposed leg. As well as the vaguely sword-shaped bolt of lightning that'd appeared in her right hand, her fist reflexively clenched around it. Ideally she wouldn't have to use that for anything, though it seemed to be rapidly approaching that point. . . Assuming Layla wouldn't just absorb the thing.

 

"Seriously, what reason would I have to lie to you? I don't even know what I'd use you for, so please just calm down for a second? You're not the only one who's got magical shit going on, so can we just talk for a second?" She spoke at a volume that was probably far in excess of what she needed, but this wasn't exactly a calm situation.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

"You can count on us, Miss Filhem," she said nonchalantly, rather glad to be leaving the field. Alva seemed to be shaping up fine, so all Alva needed was a little rest, and then all was well. Since Kaede and Riley had either side of Alva, Esyllt slipped back in to her mind and pondered. She had her eyes closed when the injury occurred, so she hadn't a clue as to what had happened. The other girls hadn't seemed to be able to given a comprehensible testimony; at least not one that she'd have believed. Still, there was no arguing that the result had been a dislocated shoulder. The entire incident had just left Esyllt puzzled. She shrugged, figuring that everything would resolve itself in time.

 

Most things did, anyway.

[Shamitako]

(OOC: This is gonna hurt)

 

Riley

 

Once they were well out of sight, Riley unceremoniously and warninglessly dropped Alva. Kaede and Alva herself were able to keep her from outright falling. Riley drew her sword, though, perhaps surprisingly, she didn't attack anyone. Instead, she called out, "You can come out now." After several moments of no answer, she shrugged. "I guess she's not ready to play yet. No matter, we have things to talk about anyways."

 

The ruby hilt of her sword dug into her hand and began to glow bright white. She levelled the blade at Alva. "I'm going to need a better reason not to kill you than, 'What? Why?'"

 

Lilith

 

Seeing Arturia's transformation and the weapon it granted her made Lilith pause. Someone else shared her curse? She could hardly believe it. With her powers matched, fear caused her to take an unconscious step back. This proved to be a grave mistake on the part of her subconscious mind, as Lilith's inability to walk in heels resulted in a total loss of balance. She wobbled comically before tipping over and faceplanting in the dirt.

 

Perhaps related to the event or her transformation, Arturia felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

 

Sharp

 

Sharp was knelt over the ball to examine it when Platinum approached. He shifted to give her room to look as well, though he didn't say anything. When asked about the flash he answered honestly. "I didn't see anything like that." His voice was very high pitched, to the point of squeakiness. He deliberately tried to speak lower, but it didn't help much. "But I think everyone heard it, some of the girls from the other group were talking about it."

[Chevaleresse]

If this hadn't felt unreal before, it certainly did now. She wasn't sure whether she felt like laughing or crying at the moment. Arturia did neither, of course, but it did leave her hanging for a bit as she tried to figure out an appropriate response to the goddess of power threatening to fry her with lightning out of paranoia and then falling over because of her heels. Eventually she decided on hesitantly stepping toward Lilith, dispelling her weapon (but remaining transformed) as she did so. "Uh, can we talk now, please?" She looked about nervously. What would even happen if someone found them out here? The pessimist in her said 'nothing good;' there was probably a reason Kallisto wasn't revealing herself to everyone she could. The still-looming threat of finding out just how conductive her body was didn't help, either.

[Twinwolf]

Alva barely had the time to notice she'd been dropped before she was on her feet, a fairly quick reaction time and Kaede's proximity and hand all that saved her from falling back down on her injured shoulder. It... probably didn't help that her initial reaction to the words said to her was "What? W-" before she cut herself off. She tried to remain calm, although she'd gone pale with fear. Alright alright you have to answer in something other than a scream because she'd probably stab you in the throat or something Kaede help please - alright what sort of reasons do you have not to be murdered randomly? How do you answer that!? She answered rapidly with a lot of stuttering as she rattled out some reasons that were semi-generic but accurate, "B-Because we're out in the open, someone m-might see - actually Kaede would see it -, because you'd be k-killing someone who c-can't defend themselves or know w-why you want to kill them, b-because I'm a classmate of y-yours, because a lot of p-people saw you leaving with me, because I really d-don't want to die and don't know w-why you want to kill me - it'd b-be easier to g-give you reasons if I had any idea why you wanted to k-kill me you know!" she said, stumbling backwards but keeping her footing and her gaze alternating between looking Riley in the eyes and the sword that she was being threatened with oh godesses why?

[Shamitako]

Arturia

 

Arturia's answer was a sudden pain in the back of her head. She joined Lilith on the ground and the world turned fuzzy and dark. The last thing she heard before her consciousness slipped completely was a voice saying, "So many problems today."

Spoiler

 

When she awoke a short while later, Lilith was no longer on the ground in front of her. She still seemed to be transformed, and she was most certainly still feeling the effects of whatever hit her. "You alright?" A voice asked from off to her right. The speaker was an older girl leaning against a nearby tree. She was dressed to play baseball a metal bat with a blue crystal at the base was on the ground beside her. She blew a bubble in the gum she was chewing before continuing. "Sorry 'bout that. Didn't figure you'd be alright with me takin' the goddess if you were conscious, what with bein' her knight and all. I'm supposed to be takin' Alexus, but I figure Her'll be just as happy if I nab scaredy-tits instead and Alexus was takin' too long on account of y'all running off." She picked up the bat and started to walk towards Arturia. "You'd best be getting up. I wouldn't feel right killin' a defenseless girl, but it's not as much of a problem as not killin' ya at all." Another bubble emerged from between her lips as she waited for Arturia to drag herself up.

[Chevaleresse]

"Gods. . .  damn it." She pulled herself to her knees first, using one hand to steady herself. Head trauma, not a good thing. Evidently being magical didn't stop blows to the head from fucking you up, who knew? "I suppose talking this out like reasonable human beings is out of the question." A statement, not an inquiry. This girl was obviously pretty confident in her ability to contend with her, a confidence that was probably well-placed considering the situation. She pushed off the ground, rising to her feet and taking up a fighting stance, reigniting the sword she hadn't known she had until a few minutes ago. A shaky one, and a bit rusty, but she'd always had terrible form regardless. . . "Not going to monologue any more about your plans?" Arturia watched for shifts in the stranger's movement, indicators of when and where she was going to strike, preparing her own parry-and-riposte.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

The intense heat of red suddenly came back to her... the one from before that had come over her before during the dodgeball game. The kind... she figured was anger. She managed to grip it tight this time though, she didn't lose control. She held it to her chest despite the fact it burned like wildfire. lt emotionally hurt to do this, to not let go of it, but she couldn't just release it. This situation she couldn't jsut wail on the source of her anger... it would only lead to more problems.

So instead she stood beside Alva, and put her arm around her and pulled her close to herself, covering as much of her as she could with her own body. She snarled at Riley, feral, much like a beast... "Because l won't let you."

[Shamitako]

Mack

 

"I ain't got any plans." the baseball girl shrugged, "I'm just here to solve a problem." She raised the bat over her right shoulder and the jewel on it began glow white. She then jumped forwards and swung it horizontally towards Arturia's face. The attack was telegraphed by nature, making it rather easy to evade, even for someone already injured like Arturia.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia stepped backward, straying just outside the reach of the attack. Her counterattack was light, experimental - a quick thrust more meant to get the girl to defend rather than to actually inflict damage. Her opening move had been telegraphed, but that was no reason to assume that the rest of them would be as clumsy (though if they were it'd be the first fortunate thing that'd happened to her today.) The buzzing tip of her Blade darted in toward her foe's chest, before withdrawing back to a defensive posture at the first sign of a response. 

[Shamitako]

Mack

 

Mack ignored Arturia's counterattack, allowing it to slice through her jersey and make a shallow cut in her chest. The attack gave her with a slight sting and a burning sensation, but not much worse. Though Arturia got the impression she would have ignored a full attack as well. The bat had no follow through and switched directions mid-swing, with Mack stepping forward inside Arturia's reach to jab at her stomach. Mack had been careful to swing short on her initial attack, such that if Arturia didn't avoid it by a large margin, Mack would be well within reach for her follow-up. Beyond the jab, she didn't really have much planned. Her abilities weren't structured well for thought out fighting, she performed much better by going with the flow and relying on sheer strength to overpower her foes. It was inelegant, sure, but it had been working for her long enough.

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia tried to step backward and parry, but it was a lot faster to move the tip of a weapon than one's body; the bat thumped into her gut, eliciting a grunt and a pang of nausea. Still, she continued her backward motion, doing her best to keep her weapon between herself and her assailant. Sloppy, sloppy, should have paid closer attention to her reach. She stayed on the defensive, waiting for her next opportunity. Arturia had a plan, she just needed to wait for her chance to implement it.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

"Woah woah woah, let's uh- let's all calm down here..." Esyllt said nervously. Riley was acting delusional. Suddenly paranoid of something out there, and then threatening an injured person? Something just wasn't right. Esyllt was at a loss as to how to defuse the situation. The hilt of Riley's blade had begun to glow; the thought of it being a toy sword had crossed Esyllt's mind, but no, the steel of the blade looked very, very, real. On top of being injured, Alva wasn't even armed. She couldn't see why she'd pose a threat to Riley. "You said you had um, something to talk about, right, Riley? Let's lower the sword and we can talk things out, all right?"

[Shamitako]

Riley

 

Once they were well out of sight, Riley unceremoniously and warninglessly dropped Alva. Without giving anyone time to react, she drew her blade in a reverse grip and ran it through Alva's shoulder. "Stop doing that!" She shouted angrily towards the forest. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to kill you as soon as I'm done with Alva." She twisted the blade as she pulled it up and out, slicing an ugly gash in the top of Alva's shoulder. The ruby hilt dug into Riley's hand and began to glow bright white. "I keep telling you, your ignorance isn't any reason to let you live." She snarled as she levelled the blade at Alva.

 

(OOC: Katja has come to bargain)

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Suddenly the scene replayed. Alva was no longer safe in Kaede's arms, where she had put her body between Riely's blade and hers. The Red from before worsened. No longer could Kaede hold it into her chest, her heart would've exploded... so she left go and gave into the animalistic rage that was building. Riley had made an enemy for now...

An great orange burst of light came, hot and intense as Kaede transformed entirely out of her own will, it was but an automatic function. Her tattoos didn't even rest on her skin, the writhed like angry orange snakes and eventually lifted from her skin all together. They shot out at blinding speed towards the girl's sword arm attempting to injure her arm... or tear it off. Whatever got the sword out of her grasp the fastest in the end.

[Twinwolf]

Alva barely had the time to notice she'd been dropped before she was on her feet, a fairly quick reaction time and Kaede's proximity and hand all that saved her from falling back down on her injured shoulder as she stumbled. Before she could say a word she heard a wet squelch and felt a large amount of pressure in her shoulder. She looked and saw the long bit of metal impaled in her one good shoulder. "W-What...?" she breathed, before screaming as the pain set in and Riley tore her blade free. She stumbled back as the blade was leveled at her throat, before trying to turn the motion into a turn and sprint for help, barely even registering the light appearing from the side Kaede had been at. "R-Run!" she managed to shout through the pain - m-maybe she could distract Riley from the others and let them run and get help-

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

Esyllt was about to ask the girls a question, but before Esyllt could utter a word, Riley had already driven her sword into Alva. The rapid development of events left her at a loss for words, before registering that Alva had been stabbed. By the time Esyllt had recovered from her shock, Kaede's reaction left her blinking in awe. It wasn't until Alva had yelled for them to run that Esyllt had finally snapped back into it. Deciding that this was too much for them to handle, Esyllt turned an immediate one eighty and began to dash back to camp.

[Shamitako]

Riley

 

Once they were well out of sight, Riley tore Alva out of Kaede's grasp. She shoved her free hand over Alva's eye. Riley's palm began to glow bright white and Alva felt an excruciating pain in her eye socket. Riley tore her hand away violently, Alva's eye trailing after it. She flung the eye aside and shoved Alva to the ground. "Are you happy now?" she shouted at the air, "I don't know why you're protecting her, but I can make her suffering much worse."

[Twinwolf]

Alva barely had the time to notice she'd been dropped before she was on her feet, Kaede having been torn away from her and Riley's hand over her eye. "R-Riley? What are you-" Then came the light, and the terrible pain. Alva began to scream again as the pain built, until her voice gave out around the same time Riley tore her hand away - Alva couldn't see out of her left eye anymore, but her right showed her the incomprehensible scene of her eye flying away in Riley's hand. Her pain gained a voice again as she was thrown to the ground, where she curled up into a fetal position, hand over the empty socket without even really noticing the bleeding. Through the pain and the tears coming to her remaining eye she could see Riley shouting to the sky about something... m-make her suffering much worse? W-Was her meaning... w-what had she done to deserve this?

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

lt began again, and yet again she was ripped from her grasp before she could act. The Red, it was there... it remembered. Whatever purchase it had made erased... only for it to end up back here to show her that she was powerless. But, the Red didn't care... it only grew louder more disscordant. She transformed again, out of instinct her body moved like a flash. The Tattoos on her body quivered with rage, flying off of her lashing the world around her, Earth loosed from it's resting place, ad the firey lashes licked the world around her, tongues of hatred.

"Did you forget...? l told you the reason you cannot kill her already Riley. l won't let you!!!!!! YOU'LL SUFFER MORE THAN ANYONE HERE!!!" she screamed, full of Red.

And with that Kaede threw every lash she possibly could, hundreds of writhing orange ribbons converged on the target of her hatred. They aimed to strike and tear and cause pain to every inch of her body. But... more importantly to she stood in front of Alva. Kaede didn't care what happened to her own body... she had no worth in this world. Her's was that of a broken doll. But... if she could at the very least protect someone, maybe she'd be worth something.