[IC] ANKL. Part I: Awakening

[Shamitako]

Riley

 

Yet again Riley found herself back when she started. No matter what she did, they always sent her back. She'd tried using her powers the first time, but the only future she could see was the past where she began. She couldn't just let such a major threat to her happiness live, but whoever was behind this wouldn't let her kill Alva. It was extremely frustrating. She thought Alva would just be a minor nuisance that needed removing, but then on her second attempt, Kaede had started interfering. But it seemed that even just hurting Alva was more than enough to be sent back. But Riley refused to give up. This time, once they well were out of sight, the group was engulfed in a flash of light as Riley transformed and drew her sword. She wouldn't hold back this time.

 

...

 

Once they were well out of sight, Riley unceremoniously and warninglessly dropped Alva. Kaede and Alva herself were able to keep Alva from outright falling. Riley drew her sword, though, perhaps surprisingly, she didn't attack anyone. Instead, she shoved it into the ground and backed away from it, calling out, "I give up! Okay? I give up already! Just let me out!" After several moments of no answer, she fell to her knees and started crying. "I don't know what you want from me."

Spoiler

 

An older girl stepped out from the forest and onto the path. She had short silver hair, in which she wore a black lacy headband ending in a string bow on either side. She wore a black overdress that split into four points over the frilly white dress underneath, with the front opening being crisscrossed by black ribbon. The sleeves of the white dress billowed out from under the black and over her hands. Her legs were largely covered by knee-high white boots, with what little would have been visible being hidden by black leggings. Her right hand had silver rings on each finger, placed at varying heights. Suspended by thin metal wires from these rings was an hourglass. The hourglass was held inside a cage of three metal bars and two round metal bases, all the same silver color as the rings. Inside the hourglass was an endlessly shifting mass of silver metal powder that rushed to get to the bottom.

 

With an almost imperceptible flick of her wrist, the girl caused the hourglass to flip over and the powder began to flow the other way. 「カチャはあなたを解放しました」She announced, though none present could understand her. She pointed at Alva. 「あなたはカチャと一緒に来るだろう」 Her tone was commanding, or even bossy, suggesting it would be a poor idea not to do... whatever she was saying.

 

Riley was still crying, but she felt in immeasurable sense of relief. The hourglass must have been what the girl was using to trap them, and flipping it over like that had to mean she was turning it off.

[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. She stumbled back as Riley drew her sword, but then she started shouting at nothing. "R-Riley? Who are you talking to? Are you alright?" she said as the girl went to the ground and began to cry, worry etched on her face. She turned to Kaede. "Do you have any idea what she's so upset about?" It was around now that an unfamiliar girl in a really cute outfit arrived. Was she in one of the higher years or something? Alva didn't recognize her at least. Then she started speaking gibberish and doing something with an hourglass, and then pointed at Alva. The green-haired girl scratched her head. "...Excuse me? Can I help you?" she turned to the others to see if they had any idea what she was saying. "Uh... do you speak our language?" What even was that language? Didn't sound like anything Alva had ever heard, not even close enough to make out some similar-sounding words, so she was left at a loss. She seemed to want something out of her? At least if she was interpreting pointing and saying something all bossy-sounding right. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

The scene kept replaying over and over. lt looped, and with every iteration the Red grew stronger and stronger. Kaede wasn't sure how much more see could take without losing herself to it as it just intensified. She'd never felt emotion this strong before. But, something was different thisloop. Riley didn't make a move, instead she backed off from her sword. Her resolve was gone and she did not strike this time. She was even...crying. An emotion that wasn't well known to Kaede. But, she remained wary of her... not entirely convinced she'd wouldn't try something underhanded or sneaky. She already showed she was capable of that.

But... she had stood down for now. lt wouldn't be right to attack her. The Red had already faded. Whatever had happened... she felt as if the last loop had severed it from her. She wasn't sure why, but... she also didn't care. She was here now, and Alva was safe... relatively.

She gripped Alva's hand tighter than before. Another approached now,one she had yet to see. Whoever this woman was... she wasn't sure. She seemed to be responsable for the time loop, and not a friend of Riley's surely as a result. But after all this, Kaede found herself a bit short of trust. She tried to decipher her words, but they were not of a language she had remembered trying to read before so... no dice. She just stood, keeping her eyes on Riley. Emotionless lakes, that just judged from afar.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

She stood, dazed at Riley's... temporary lapse in sanity, as she thrust her sword into the ground. She seemed to be talking to someone other than them, someone whom she seemed to be aware of, but lacked the means of finding their observer. Esyllt's eyes darted around, searching, but never finding. It was hard to believe they were being followed, but two of the girls seemed rather rattled. Esyllt felt like she had been missing a lot lately. First on the hike, and now in the woods, she began to question her own memory. The aforementioned observer that Riley had seemed to be addressing, finally stepped forward. A girl of immeasurable mystery, as even her words were lost to their group.

 

But it seemed she wanted something to do with Alva. Without a word, Esyllt remained motionless, curious at the turn of events. Observing.

[Shamitako]

Mack

 

Refusing to let up on the attack, Mack swung the bat wildly in Arturia's general direction. She didn't need to hit, the attack was just to make sure she kept up the pressure.

 

Katja

 

The cutely dressed girl gave Alva an annoyed glare. 「もちろんできます。カチャは何でもすることができます」 She said confidently. She stopped to think, she rarely spoke the northern language, "You follow Katja! Now!" She insisted through a heavy Layo accent.

 

Kallisto

 

Having retreated out of sight after her short discussion with Natalie, Kallisto watched her sister leave from afar. It pained her not to be able to tell Natalie who she was outright, but it was important that each goddess discover themselves of their own accord. And so all she could do was watch. It wasn't a task she enjoyed, so she chose to cut it short. After all, she had other ways to help her siblings.

 

For starters, she needed to find out who had brought them back. She had her suspicions, but she didn't know how any of them could have managed such. Aside from all the power needed to perform such a feat, the knowledge of what had truly happened to the goddesses was virtually unknown. Only the descendants of a few specific individuals would know the story with enough detail to work off of. And even with all of her resources, Kallisto still had yet to discover their locations.

[Twinwolf]

Alva blinked - she'd never heard that sort of accent before, and the demand was weird. "Uh... what is it? Do you need help with something? Is it urgent? I was sort of going to the nurse..." she glanced to Kaede, and just now saw the blood - where had that come from? "K-Kaede, are you alright? Where did the b-blood come from... I think you need the nurse too..." Alva was... so very confused at this entire situation. Riley just did... that, she seemed like she was really upset about something all of a sudden. Kaede had gone back to being stoic and was staring Riley down for some reason, and was holding her hand just a bit too tight. Was she angry about something? Esyllt was watching, that was probably the only normal thing happening. And a girl with a weird accent wanted her to come with her. What in the goddesses names was going on?

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Blood... on her shoulder... it must've been from earlier. From when she had fixed Alva's shoulder for her. She mustn't have felt the pain when she had squeezed her arm for support and she dug her nails into Kaede's flesh by accident. But it didn't hurt now. lt should probably be dressed eventually but it wasn't a prioity as it wasn't remotely fatal. Nor was Alva's injury. "l'm fine Alva... you needn't worry about me. And while having it looked at would be prudent it is not urgent. Your injury isn't fatal. lt doesn't need to looked at now." given Alva's tendency to defer to her Kaede was starting to be unsure if she'd go on her own here.

Further, she was wasn't aware of the goings on... or at the very least not as much as others. She Seemed unaware of the loops. Kaede only was due to the Red that kept carrying over time to time... so she owed it something she supposed. She looked at the strange woman, Katja. She wasn't exactly trustful of her, but she had more reasons to trust her. She took a breath to center herself, or rather to mimic that. She pulled Alva along with her towards the older woman. She placed Alva's hand in hers and looked Katja in the eye. "Please, if l cannot go with her, take care of her and return her quickly."

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia stepped backward out of the reach of the attack again, giving herself a somewhat larger window than last time (though not too much, as she has a slightly better sense of the girl's reach now.) As soon as the bat was pointed right at her - and thusly moving away from her instead of at her - Arturia launched her own offensive, bringing her blade toward the tomboyish girl's shoulder in a diagonal slash. She continued to move forward as she did so, aiming to get inside her opponent's reach; unless her initial attack was parried, she'd bring her sword back and attempt a moving thrust forward, right into her belly. 

[Shamitako]

(OOC: updating all three people, Arturia and Arya coming via edit)

 

Katja

 

"A-ru-jen-t." Katja didn't remember the word, so she tried sounding it out. She didn't get much time to think about it as Kaede shoved Alva's hand into hers. "No return. You come with Katja too." It would be better if no one extra came along, but Katja got the impression that Kaede wouldn't let her take Alva permanently otherwise. She smiled happily, this was going so well.

 

"Hold it." Riley interrupted Katja's happy moment with her voice, still choked from crying. "You're just going to go with her?" Riley took hold of her sword and raised herself to her feet.

Responding to Riley's renewed threat level, Katja raised her hourglass-toting hand.

"Don't bother, now that I know how it works, you won't get the chance." But Riley didn't attack, instead stowing her blade. "Would you like to tell Alva what you're going to do to her, or shall I?"

 

Mack

 

Once again, Mack ignored Arturia's attack, allowing her opponent to strike a solid gash in her shoulder and move forward. Mack continued forward as well, preventing the second blow by being too close for Arturia to maneuver. She wrapped her arms around Arturia's torso and attempted to use her superior strength to tackle the other girl to the ground.

 

Mother Opium

 

Helen deliberated her response, making certain her thoughts were in order before speaking. "As you know, you're one of several charity cases I've sponsored. Your case is one I've monitored closely and one I find quite encouraging. During your time here, your father has become one of my closest friends, we've spoken at great length about many things. One such thing was the possibility of our daughters becoming a couple. It seems I owe him a drink." She chuckled, "At the risk of repeating myself, please take care of my daughter. ...As for this other girl, I'll find a way to talk to Natalie about it, there's a good chance we can at least keep things from getting worse. It's good to hear that Natalie is trying to better herself, I've never much approved of her attitude in school. Frankly I'm appalled at how much my staff rewards such behavior."

[Chevaleresse]

She probably have seen that particular move coming; Arturia was thinking too much like this was just another round of fencing, and not someone actually trying to kill her. Though, why the hell was she just ignoring getting cut open? One would think the girl would have at least slowed down a bit. . .

 

Arturia more or less let her opponent bring her down; there was little chance of her resisting regardless. Instead, she focused on exploiting the fact that she had free limbs and her enemy did not, bringing her knee up into the other girl as hard as she could manage while attempting to awkwardly slash with her sword arm. . . which more or less just meant holding the edge of the thing against the other girl as best as she could and hoping that it did enough damage to distract or discourage her. At least, that's what she tried to do; the impact with the ground wasn't exactly a gentle one.

[Sutoratosu]

Arya

"Oh? R-really?" Her face flushed a bit more "I'm glad to know he's doing well, then..." 

      Of course dad had totally called something like this at some point, didn't know why she was surprised. Maybe the mention of anything relating to home felt just a bit too... surreal given the events of the past 2 hours. She just hoped the old fox was actually taking care of himself; tended to work way too hard, rest too little, and that was when she was actually around to remind him. Always used to worry about him getting sick from it, even if she couldn't really recall it ever happening. That and she'd always been kinda scared he'd eventually stroke out if he kept pushing as hard as he did, as old as he was getting.

       

"And I will," She nodded once things turned back to Natalie. Her mind briefly debated mentioning what'd happened with Naya the other day, but it was probably better to let Nat do that herself... She also neglected to voice her oppinion that most of the staff probably just rolled over and let Nat do what she did in the past because they didn't feel like potentially angering the child of their boss.

[Twinwolf]

Alva blinked at Kaede's response. "Well, yeah, but-" the girl was surprised as Kaede moved her forward and put her hand in Katja's. "Wait, what? Why should I just... go with a stranger?" What? Why did Kaede think she should go? She then got more uncomfortable and surprised as Katja elaborated that there would be no return. "N-No return? What? Why? Where are you taking me? What do you want me to do?" she pulled her hand back and looked around, confusion more pronounced and fear rising in her face. She couldn't just... leave and not come back! What about the school? What about her family and friends? What was going on?

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Kaede stared at Riley again, unsure if she should trust her. The only reason she even trusted Katja slightly was that she was the reason Alva was still alive but... perhaps it was too fast to give her that even still. She wasn't sure of what she wanted, what her end game was. What she got out of this. But she seemed to be willing to let Kaede come along... why? Kaede was at a loss for what was occuring now.

"One of you should explain... Alva should understand the decision she's making." she nearly choked on the name, still harboruing some ill will deep in the grey of her broekn emotions. Unbecoming... "Riley, given Katja's trouble with our language it would perhaps be prudent for Alva's understanding if you were the one to explain so that Katja doesn't have to struggle through an important explanation in a non-native tongue. lt's immoral to force her along if she doesn't have a grasp over what it is she is resiging her life too. Her destiny should be up to her." said the girl who's own destiny was decided at her birth.

[Shamitako]

Riley

 

"Katja has no trouble!" Katja protested.

Riley ignored her and began her explanation. "Katja here is from a Laylite cult. And I don't mean like mainstream Laylites, Katja's group are far more obviously twisted."

"Katja is not twisted. Katja is very straight!"

"Her group is known for blood sacrifices. Particularly brutal blood sacrifice intended to scare their victims half to death because they believe frightened blood is more potent. Alva, for whatever reason, they think you're particularly important. She's going to take you back to her people, and they're going to torture you while stabbing you over an alter until you die. Or in your case, torture you while cutting of various body parts but narrowly preventing your death so they can use you over and over again."

[Twinwolf]

Alva

 

Alva blinked. Then very rapidly backpedaled away from Katja, trying not to stumble. "W-What? Why? Why would you even- why me- what the fuck is going on? W-Why would people like you care about me, why am I being threatened murder, why..." Her questioning stopped at that - "Why?" summed it up quite perfectly. Alva was internally screaming but doing a fairly ok job of not externally screaming as she put distance between herself and the lady that wanted to give her a fate worse than death. 

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

 

"l see." Kaede's only words before she saw Alva's reaction. She'd not interfere with Alva choosing her own destiny... or maybe she should in this case. lt was clear that Katja had been decietful, she was witholding information with which to get her way. Just like the Church had done to her. So... Layo had them too. She should've guessed... wherever there is humanity, so too tread demons. After all, humans were their prey.

But, Alva's response... it was enough for her. She transformed once again, this time of her own violition, rather than cause the Red had made her. Her ribbons shot out, the ember coloured wrapping gently around the green girl. They pulled her towards Kaede and she caught her in her arms. Once, more the ribbons lauched outwards and they formed a barrier between Alva and Katja, the end pointed out towards her in every direction. Geometric shapes that made no sense and twisted in agony... or so they would if they could feel. But the alien positions threatened to strike if she tried o close distance and from any direction. "l knew l shouldn't have trusted you. Act as if you are different from the Church of Kayo all you like... but you're all the same. You'd steal others destiny from their hands by not telling them the truth and use their body and soul for your own gain just the same. Pitiful... you saved her only to force a worse fate upon her. l guess there's more demons in this world then those in the heart of Kayo. And to think... l almost fell for it. That l almost let that which has happened to me time and time again befall another."

"You know Katja... it's sad. My soul has always been broken since my birth... and l'm still more human than you."

[Shamitako]

Mack

 

The combination shock from Arturia's knee striking her groin and the impact with the ground (and in turn Arturia's armor) knocked the wind and gum out of Mack. The latter landing with a moist squishing sound on Arturia's cheek. At some point during the fall, Mack had also lost her grip on her bat, and it now lay several feet away. As well, Arturia's desperate attempt to hold her sword against Mack's side had resulted in it flailing about, during which it managed to strike another gash in Mack's already injured shoulder. She still had control of her arm enough to hold Arturia down, but it wasn't going to be of use for much else.

 

She couldn't fix her arm, but her other issues were more manageable. First and foremost, she needed to recover her gum. he reached over to it with her mouth and picked it up with her teeth, her lips ever so briefly brushing against Arturia's cheek. With that done, her next task would have been her bat, but it had gotten too far away. And besides, her arms were trapped under Arturia. That wasn't too big an issue, she was stubborn enough to just use her head. A short flick of her neck, and MAck's forehead smashed into Arturia's nose.

 

Her

 

One of Her's followers joined her in front of her mirror. He was a man of twenty-five who had only recently joined her cause, but had become a close adviser due to his extremely unique ability. "Seth, have you brought word?"

"I have." Seth answered, his tone suggesting it wasn't good.

"Good news I hope?" Her offered anyways.

"Yes and no. Mother has claimed her knight.

"That's well ahead of schedule, a fortuitous tiding. What's the problem then, did she get the wrong one?"

"No, it was the one the ghost sent to her, as we anticipated. The issue is that Mack just sent Delilah a text saying she couldn't get at Alexus, and she'll be taking Layla instead."

"She said WHAT?!" Her's normally calm demeanor shattered in a sudden roar of unfettered rage. "That air-headed, half-witted, gum-for-brains, imbecile! I gave her a completely free shot at Alexus, all she had to do was wait. The ghost was taken care of and there was no knight to get in her way. All she needed to do was have a little patience. Alexus was our only chance at manipulating her knight, what happens now if the ghost prevents her from picking the eye? Everything will go to ruin."

"I agree that it's a massive blunder on her part, but I don't see why we have to give up just yet. The ghost's interference doesn't guarantee anything."

"Yes, you're right." Her seemed to be calming down, "Mack will be scolded, but we can still turn this to our advantage. Alexus is out of our hands now, but we may yet be able to influence Kallisto. Have Delilah contact her. Tell her that her savior wishes to meet."

"That's quite the risk, are you certain?"

"This has all been a risk, Kallisto is our only remaining chance, we have to have control of her knight."

 

This was a mess that would take some cleaning up. Nayru's knight had been beyond their control from the start. And the ghost had beaten them to Layla, though that had worked out favorably. Kallisto was already awakened, Alexus had been their best shot, the Eye of Hope was powerful but emotionally compromised, easy to manipulate. With the ghost's interference yet again, whether or not that worked out was uncertain. That left only the already-awakened Kallisto. Winning her knight would be impossible, unless they first won over the goddess herself.

[Chevaleresse]

The headbutt stunned Arturia for a moment as she let out a squawk of pain. She felt blood starting to run down her face - did that break her nose? The expression quickly degenerated into a growl of anger; incongruous as it might have been to be upset about it at a time like this, that was gross. Once she'd recovered from the blow to her head (this was a pattern she'd love to see ending any time soon,) she tried to reassert control of the situation by attempting to roll over, placing herself on top of her foe instead of the other way around. She let the sword vanish in the process; she had an idea for if this failed, and if it succeeded she could just strangle the bitch until she passed out.

[Stalkerkain]

Esyllt

 

"Riley, Alva, we're clearly way in over our heads here," Esyllt said nervously. The entire bit about torture seemed a little too surreal to be true, but Katja didn't deny it either. And there was no need for verification to know that anything else related to someone tied to a cult of torture would only spell bad news. Kaede's transformation felt inexplicable to Esyllt, but that was honestly the least of their worries, so long as she wasn't trying to harm the rest of them. They would have to worry about that later, when they were far, far away from here. "I don't think remaining here any longer would be wise."

[Shamitako]

Katja

 

Katja looked genuinely hurt. "Why you listen to her? Listen to Katja. She kill you, Katja not kill you." She protested. Of course Riley was right about Alva's purpose, but Katja was still offended that they'd trust their attacker over their savior. "How you even know that?" Katja asked Riley, "You are not Katja. You not know what Katja want."

"Are you saying I'm wrong?" Riley answered with a question.

"Of course. Anyone deny torture!"

"Then why do you want Alva to go with you."

Katja didn't have a good answer for that. "Katja is done talking." She flipped her hourglass puppet over again. Despite her claim that Katja wouldn't get a chance, Riley was completely unprepared.

"No! No! No! No!" Riley panicked, "Why would you do that?"

"Katja will wait for Alva to come." Katja answered.

 

Mack

 

Mack rolled with Arturia, freeing her arms and bringing her legs between them as they rolled. Using Arturia's own momentum against her, Mack kicked her off. She then scrambled towards her bat, trying to get ahold of it before Arturia recovered from being tossed through the air.

[Chevaleresse]

Again, the blow sent an exhalation of pain rushing out of Arturia; fortunately, her armor at least blunted enough of the impact that it didn't knock the wind out of her. Seeing her opponent's move, she made a decision. She was going to try to recover her weapon, but Arturia couldn't actually lose hers. She had the time advantage; so, she pulled herself to her feet as quickly as possible, reignited her blade, and rushed at her enemy while shouting at the top of her lungs, aiming a massive swing in the space the other girl would have to be in to pick up the bat.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Platinum

 

At Sharp’s response, Platinum merely nodded, bringing a hand to her chin as she went back to her thoughts. Everyone heard it, that was good… Kept her from thinking that the entire thing was a figment of her imagination. She just didn’t have any confirmation that the flash of light was real or not. It was, strangely, unlikely that it was part of her imagination, since it actually fit with everything at the moment. There just wasn't a clear cut explanation of how.

 

"Thank you" Platinum replied to Sharp, before turning and walking back to the sidelines to sit down and think. There had to be something going on, that was for sure. She just needed to figure out what.

 

... Or, well, she didn't NEED to. She just wanted to.

Edited February 26, 2018 by GodofGamingRWBY

[Shamitako]

Natalie

 

Natalie re-entered the cabin with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm back." She said nervously, "I'm sorry for running out on you. This is just all so crazy and I'm not sure I can accept it." She resumed her seat before continuing. "I mean, obviously there's something inexplicable going on, but it's a big jump from 'magic kitchen knives' to 'the goddesses are going to my school.' But... I should have trusted you both more. I don't know if I can accept it,but I'm willing to give it a shot for you."

 

Sharp

 

After Platinum left, Sharp went back to his own inspection. Before Platinum had approached, he'd been considering touching it. With the mention of it flashing, he was both more apprehensive and more curious. In the end, he decided to go ahead. He extended his hand towards the ball timidly, half expecting it to jump up and dislocated his shoulder next. Though that specifically didn't occur, something did happen. Just before his fingers brushed the ball, there was a flash of light (which if he had seen the first, would look just like it), and he felt a sting not unlike static electricity, though this was much stronger. He jolted his arm back in surprise.

 

Once his mind had a moment to process what had just happened, he brought his hand to his face and began to study it the way he had been studying the ball before.

 

Sharp is now a Water Adept

 

(OOC: Can't look at my power determining thing ATM, will put his power in later)

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Kaede

Kaede didn't know what to do in this situation. She didn't remotely trust either party, the two of them both tried to do things shiftly and underhandedly. They both compromised any trust they should be given. But it seemed that Katja was going to use this power to get her way regardless of what happened. She just... didn't know what to do. lt seemed that Alva's ate was decided. As if there was nothing that could be done to stop this madness. 

"Alva... l don't know if we have have a choice here..." she said quietly, only to her in the cacoon of orange ribbons. "But if we do... it's in your hands. You have to decide. l cannot do it for you. l suppose that we can be stuck here in time or give in. l don't know. l shall be with you regardless of what you decide..."

She spoke outwardly now. "Don't misunderstand Katja... l don't trust her either. l don't have reason to trust either of you. You're both clearly acting for your own gain. You could've been forthright with what you desired, but you were not. Besides... you advocate a fate much worse than death and further don't deny it. Understand something Katja... if Alva wants nothing to do with this l can see you this time. However, l will follow what she wishes."

[Twinwolf]

So, Alva was left utterly confused by the events that swiftly unfolded. One moment, she was backing away from someone who was probably an insane cultist, if she believed her school mate (and, why wouldn't she? Katja had come out of nowhere, spoken an incomprehensible language, then told Alva to come with her never to return - sounds pretty dang cult-y). The next moment there were lots of ribbons flying around, and Kaede was holding her protectively with the ribbons basically making a shield between them and Katja. "K-Kaede, what...?" she stammered - less fear, more confusion now. Alva... just didn't understand. 

 

Katja complained about her trusting Riley over her- "What do you mean 'she kill me'? I'm alive..." - and then flipped an hourglass puppet and people seemed to panic. "W-What does that do...?" she asked, to nobody in particular. It seemed pretty much everyone understood what was happening better than she did. Alva was just trying to... she didn't even know, not go crazy? Looking at Kaede's face again, the calming blue eyes... "...I-I don't want to go with her." she said quietly to Kaede - she still wasn't entirely sure why Kaede thought she was leaving decisions to her. Even if Kaede had shoved her towards Katja she'd not have done just gone with this. "I won't go with her." Alva stood, out of Kaede's arms now albeit still behind the barrier.