[Chapter 1.01] Side Effects May Include: Explosions

[Aethyrium]

Character Name: Marlowe “Lolo” Ashe
Date | Time: October 6th | Late Evening (~8pm)
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Crisp white button down, pressed grey and black pinstripe vest, pressed black pants, Low heeled boot, Black low-rise top hat
Tagging | Mentioning: | Lyreilynn
That sudden thud, the brace against impact when her fist connected with his face, it was immensely satisfying. All she could help to think was that he was so lucky that this cloud of smoke was keeping her at bay. She wouldn’t risk going all out, not being able to see Lyra - the very last thing she wanted was to connect with her dainty partner, going full force. Well, actually... The thought barely had time to mature before she heard Ocean’s growl. If she could have seen, she would have prepared herself. Turned on her shields, or jumped out of the way. But as it was, by the time she heard the first shot there was nothing she could do about it - or the two that followed. One after another they slammed into her Soul, and she felt the energy bleed away under the strain of the impacts. It wasn’t enough to absorb them. The first one hit her in the collar - easily another shot that would have been fatal for a random, untrained individual. The second went higher and wider, blasting her in the shoulder. The third got her somewhere in the gut. She staggered, wincing and clutching at herself. The pain caused her to inhale a heavy gulp of smoke that left her coughing and sputtering, trying to get her breath while Lyra and Ocean moved away.

She heaved to clear her lungs, teeth gritted and brow furrowed. Marlowe was beyond done being fucking shot. “Lyra!” She barked, taking one stumbling foot forward. She reached out and swiped wildly in the smoke, open handed, to try and find her partner. Get her hands on her so she could get her away. Another step forward, another swipe, more empty air. She pushed forward until she hit the wall of the building that she could barely see even though she was nearly face first against it. She heard the little clanking of metal to her left, the fire escape shifting around as it was being climbed. Hand over hand, Lolo felt her way along the wall until she smacked her forearm against the metal. This man was not going to get away from her - and oh, when she got her hands on him, he was going to regret touching her partner. Lolo all but flew up the ladder. She jumped and grabbed a high rung and pulled herself up. Her feet scrambled to get footing before launching her up, climbing three rungs at a time. Like climbing the world’s branchiest tree, this was child’s play for her. “Lyra!’ She called again, half way up, thrusting herself through the smoke cloud until she peaked the top of it. Lolo grabbed the edge of the roof and in one push, threw herself over it. She landed in a leaning crouch and glared forward expecting to find a clear line of sight to Ocean. It was all worked out in her head. As soon as she saw him, she’d unleash her shimmer and snap to him faster than he could hope to react.

But what she found wasn’t Ocean. It was… Ice? Lolo’s furious sneer turned into a confused head tilt. She’d seen something like this before. While it wasn’t impossible that Ocean had the same powers, she knew this was something Lyra could do - she’d trapped one of the ursoc’s the day they’d met in a similar fashion. “Lyra?” Lolo scrambled around the width of the dome - her first thought being that she had done the same to Ocean, trapping him inside. But as she circled and saw the distorted, shadowed figures inside, she knew that there were two of them in there. By the time she’d made a full circle and then some - leaving her on the far side of the dome, behind it from the view of the roof access - she didn’t know what to do, or what to think. What was Lyra doing? She couldn’t imagine why she’d isolate herself like that. To prevent Ocean from doing something? At her own peril? “Lyra!” Lolo lunged at the ice sphere. One hand went flat against it, while he pulled back her fist and smashed against its side with her hard-light hammer. “LYRA!” She shouted. Rearing back she smashed into the ice again. It was thick, it had to be, to hold things captive. But she felt confident she could break it, if she cut loose. The question became if she should. Her breath quickened, and got heavier, as she contemplated and considered. This wasn’t her strong suit, though, and Lolo didn’t know what could possess Lyra to do what she’d done. It seemed so foolish, but she didn’t believe Lyreilynn to be a fool - she hadn’t handled herself like a fool, when they had been fighting. So why would she be doing this? She didn’t understand, so she pulled her fist back and beat against the wall again.

To trust her partner or not. That was the question before her. Everything about the situation told her that this guy was trouble - starting with Haim’s assessment and ending with him shooting her thrice. But it didn’t track with Lyra being defensive like this. What did Lyreilynn know that Marlowe didn’t? Could she risk Lyra’s safety on such an unknown? If she was wrong, if this was something she’d been forced into, and she didn’t act, would Lyra trust her again? It nagged her, though, that this ice wall was here. If she had the chance to pull out her bangles and conjure magic, then certainly she could have gotten away from Ocean - put a little distance between them, or stalled long enough for her to get up here. They hadn’t had that much of a lead. No, Lyra had the opportunity to use magic and chose to do this. Lolo might not have known why, but everything she knew about her partner told her that she wasn’t like her, she wasn’t frivolous. She was deliberate in her actions, which meant doing this was deliberate. Lolo stopped her fist from smashing into the ice again, just inches away. She swallowed and dryly and took a step back. Her hand still pressed flat to the ice. She backed up until she was arm's length. Her left hand flexed anxiously, waiting for anything, a single sign, sound, or indication that Lyra was in trouble. If Ocean so much as lifted her voice, she was coming through that wall.

[Envious]

Character Name: Farrah
Date | Time: October 6th | 8:00pm ish
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: This. Hat has the school logo on it. Shield is strapped to her back.
Tagging | Mentioning: Mila
Notes: part two inc this weekend 



"You." Stomp. "Are." Stomp. "The." Stomp. "BEST!" Stomp. Forget the idea of Mila owing her. Farrah would be buying the milkshake! There had been no hesitation. Mila had requested, Farrah had obliged. Each step took her incrementally higher above the debris-littered floor, and in the capable hands of her partner, the warrior felt safe. No surprise arcanite blasts. No sizzling electricity. Her relief of sure footing was so strong that she didn't even care about the smoke and the heat. Those four steps of peace were all that she was allowed before hearing the crack above.

"No," she whispered in disbelief, eyes going wide. She wasn't even close to making it out. Incredulous golden eyes locked with Mila for a moment before Farrah turned. If it was her time, she was meeting it head on. Instinctively, her shield had been raised chest height with anticipation of covering her head to at least try to survive, but she realized quickly that the collapse wasn't likely to reach her.

"HA!" she screamed triumphantly, mouth wide open in a surprised smile of joy. Her head whipped back to Mila to share in her celebration. "Ain't noth-" with her tongue still on her teeth, that smile fell as her jaw went slack and her vision unfocused. Her shoulder slumped and her shield lowered to her side once more. Those eleven ears, so overwhelmed with the noise, heard something unmistakable. A cry for help.

Farrah always did her best to keep all negativity masked with a neutral expression. Life was easier with plausible deniability with a sprinkle of gas-lighting. She could not mask the look of terror when her eyes went round and pupils dilated with the unpleasant choice behind her. If she turned to walk deeper into this building for a third time, she might never leave. Was she willing to risk her life again for someone else? For strangers?

When she looked to Mila again, silent tears welled up in her eyes and fell down her cheeks, leaving streaks of salt and soot. She was scared. She was going to piss herself any second! Was Mila? For certain the shopkeeper and the Jackal were. Could she live with letting them die scared and alone like that? Wasn't that the whole point of signing up for this hero stuff? To prevent that from happening? Something bumped into her softly. She fumbled with her hands to catch... the Sunshine Moss plane. It had slowly circled downwards when the last of the lines keeping it airborn burned away with the collapsing of the beam.

"Take your Shimmer for you." It would help her get through the store quickly and safely to find the shopkeeper still hidden inside. Farrah would hoof it the old fashioned way and when Mila released her, the elf fell solidly to the ground. "Shout if you need me. I choose you if it comes to it." Hopefully that call wouldn't need to be made.

Farrah looked down at the plane. She had never worked with anything imbued with arcanite. Haim or Lyra would probably know what to do with it. Farrah did not, but the thing had landed safely once, so perhaps it would fly to safety again for the chance of being reunited with the shopkeeper that admired it so. She threw it towards the window, but didn't linger on it to track its success. There was a Jackass that needed saving without a whole lot of time to do it.

[Aethyrium]

Ocean Specter

S T O R Y T E L L E ROctober 6th, Late Evening (~8pm) | Onyx - Dazzle & Dust | Urban - No Elemental Resonance
Next Post: 12.8.23 | Lyreilynn, Lolo, Haimehen, Mila, Farrah | Namid
The sonic round that sent Namid staggering back might not have done any meaningful damage, but it clearly rattled her brain. Ears ringing, disoriented, Namid barely noticed the second time the spreading smoke enveloped her - save the little fit of coughing that it caused. Chaos all around her went, largely, unnoticed. At least, until Haim nudged her. She blinked, barely enough time to catch a snapshot of him whipping past her. But his words caught on. Training was proving to be quite a bit different from the real thing - and these weren’t even Hollow. “But…” She looked at the collapsing building. Where were Mila and Farrah? Marlowe? She’d seen Marlowe! But she had gone rushing into the smoke. The three shots! She looked to the smoke cloud - she’d get lost, trying to find her. Farrah and Mila were partners, they would need to take care of herself. If Marlowe was injured, that meant Lyra was on her own - Haim was right. Her partner needed her. The sound of Haim’s lock breaking shots snapped her to, “Right, I’m coming.” She breathed out, slashing her gunblade through the air to dismiss the cloud about her as she tore off after Haim.

At the side of Dazzle & Dust, Mila gets to watch as Farrah abandons the platforms in favor of playing hero one more time. The prized plane of the shopkeep comes gliding out of the window, but without focus and control, nothing activating the arcanite within, it ends up being largely just dead weight. So as it comes sailing through the window, it’d be no hard task for Mila to dodge it and let it go crashing into the ground - or, if she were feeling kind, catch it to save it. Regardless, the plane is sadly the last thing that is going to use that window as an egress. Just as the plane makes it past the frame, a haze of dust lights up unstably and blasts outward - sending Mila to her backside on the street. Flames now engulf that window, making traversing it impossible. The whole wall can be heard creaking, groaning, and threatening to come down.

Lyreilynn

Ocean watched Lyra survey her surroundings - looking for a way to escape, no doubt. Unfortunately that would be difficult, given his proximity and the weapon already trained on her. Certainly he could strike her before she could pull off and activate the Caelestis Circes. What she says though, that makes Ocean tilt his head questioning - was she… Helping him? Well that’s an unexpected turn. “Unless?” He questioned. He watched as she pulled off the bracelets and tightened his grip on the octopus hilt of his blade, nudging it in her direction, “Watch yourself, Silver..” He glanced at the bracelets, listening to her little plea. His gaze narrowed, and he nodded at her, giving her his blessing to proceed.

Clearly no stranger to the uses of Arcanite, Ocean didn’t seem particularly excited by Lyra’s conjuring - though freezing it with a touch was an interest. “Neat trick.” Ocean commented, half lowering his blade - still in a position to strike, but less actively threatening. “Got to say Silver, this is… Unexpected.” A grin tugged on his lips. While Lyra explained the situation more thoughtfully, Ocean still surveyed the dome around them - perhaps looking for a weak point, or maybe just wary that a large icicle might spawn out of nowhere and try to impale him. “Funny, that’s almost the story of my night.” He said with an amused little chuckle. Could all of this really have been pure coincidence? “Maybe no purpose at all.”

The first of Lolo’s punches impacted the icy dome, shaking free some frost that fell down around them - the dome isn’t Lyra’s finest work, being done in a hurry like this. Her voice dulled, but audible as she shouted through the cold containment. “Persistent. If you really want to apologize Silver, take care of your friend.” He gestured with his firearm at the wall behind her, leading to the far side of the building. “Let me pass over that way.” Another one of Lolo’s assaults, fueled no doubt by her anger, sent a large crack splitting through the dome, threatening to collapse it if she continued beating on it. “No, I think you’ve told me everything I need.” He stepped toward her, “For now.” He smirked, “Sometimes fate just brings people together.” The gun rapidly transformed back into the lengthy cane-sheathe. “Like you and me. You can call me Ocean, and let’s just say that me and Hammer have very different agendas.” The ice cracked further with Lolo’s final punch, and more frost fell on them. Ocean sheathed his sword, cracked the cane against the roof and leaned in toward Lyra, getting intimately close. “So what do you say Silver, you gonna buy me some time to get out of here, or am I going to have to make an example out of your acquaintances?”

Getting up through the building is an easy enough matter, even if having to traverse the halls and disconnected staircases is unfortunately time consuming. Haim is able to make it up as quickly as can be hoped - Namid just a few seconds behind him. The roof access door is locked, but easily overcome like the first floor. As the door swings open an unusually chilly wind blows into the doorway - fueled by the large icy dome sitting on the roof. Cracks have already begun to form in it, it will break with just a little more effort. It’s difficult to make out details through the thickness, but there are two distinct figures within it - standing almost on top of one another.

Farrah

Inside Dazzle & Dust, Farrah is able to track one of the sputtering voices. Shifting over broken beams on fire, through crackling arcanite hot spots, and deeper into the crumbling shop, Farrah comes across the shopkeeper first. He’s trapped beneath the lobby case, that he got flipped over and then toppled onto him after one of the explosions - it looks like it’s broken his leg. She is able to dig him out, though he isn’t in a position to be much help. As she gets him free and standing, there’s a path to where the front door was - a dense smoke cloud out that way is blotting out much of the street, but there’s fresh air and sanctuary available if only she could get there. Unfortunately…

Across the street for most of gravity, and right beside Mila - and on top of Farrah - a series of small explosions sound off like rapid fire gunshots. They’re immediately followed by a terrible snapping sound, and the front right of the building gives way. The entire front of Dazzle & Dust collapses, like a waterfall of debris. As it gives way, more and more topples in. A cloud of arcanite powder is spewed into the air and ignited - a mixture of colors creating a chaotic, soundless boom that shakes the street itself, shattering pavement and blowing out every window in the immediate area. It’s so strong that it makes the ice dome rattle like it’s going to come apart - yet, it holds. A plume of flames erupts into the sky, burning brilliantly hot for a second before vanishing into a column of smoke. Bolts of lightning flash, arcing up out of the rubble, ripping through the smoke and dissipating into the night sky. And within, Farrah manages to get her shield up and endure the collapse, sheltering herself and the shopkeeper - easily freed with some digging.

“This has to end.” Namid muttered to Haim, checking his shoulder this time as she slid past him. Bringing up Joyeuse, she pulled the trigger three times. A level shot, one higher, and another slightly higher. Each bullet smashed into the ice, sending a webbing of cracks around it. Putting a hand on the butt of her blade, Namid lunged forward jabbing it through the lowest hole, poking it through to the inside. Leaping off the ground, Namid ran up a few feet along the side, dragging her blade through it, cutting a gash through the line of her bullets until her traction gave out. Pushing off the ice, Namid flips backward, landing on top of the roof access in a crouch. And the slice she makes in the ice cracks deeper, and part of the dome shatters - leaving Lolo still blind to the inside, but revealing Ocean nearly face to face with Lyra.

R E C A PBuilding collapse inflicts moderate damage to Farrah. Her Soul absorbs it entirely.
Building collapse fails to trap Farrah.

Marlowe attacks the Ice Dome and inflicts heavy damage.
Namid attacks the Ice Dome and inflicts heavy damage. It becomes compromised.

Farrah’s Soul is Yellow. She is Fine.

[FyreFoxx]

Character Name: Lyreilynn "Lyra" Xyrven Myalis
Date | Time: October 6 | Late Evening
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Pale blue blouse with open shoulders, long teal skirt with lighter blue panels underneath, wide cloth belt, ankle boots, worn leather crossbody bag
Tagging | Mentioning: Ocean | Marlowe, Haimehen, Namid
That ever present smile only widened a tiny bit at his compliment to her ice trick. It was made hastily, as time was not on her side, but it would serve its purpose well enough. He had given her his blessing, like she hoped he would, but that weapon of his was still trained on her. Though, perhaps that was smart of him. She left herself defenseless by keeping her bracelets where they belonged – around her wrists – as a show of good faith, but he had no reason to trust her words. Still, a half lowered weapon was better than it being pointed at her neck the entire conversation. That was progress and she’d take any little bit that she got from him.

Lyra didn’t notice the presence of Marlowe at first. The sounds outside of the little dome of ice she had created were muffled at best and perfectly inaudible at worst. Movement at the corner of her eyes is what finally caught her attention, that shadowy form stalking around the half sphere like a hunter after its trapped prey. Of course, she couldn’t tell who it was, only that there was someone out there, someone desperate to break in. And her name on the wind, the shouts barely recognizable. Someone was calling her name, but who?

The fingers of her right hand twitched as the first cracks started to appear. She kept a straight face as she continued to stare Ocean down, not letting him in on the fact that her ice was slowly becoming compromised. With her hand against its surface, she could detect where and how badly those cracks continued to form. One punch, then two. Three. Who else had the strength to directly punch a wall of ice hard enough to damage it? Paired with someone desperately calling her name, the only person that came to mind was Lolo. There was that brief feeling of relief that swelled beneath the surface again. She was fine if she was well enough to race after her and pound her fists against an ice barrier in pursuit of the little elf.

The webs made by Lolo melted ever so slightly, water trickling down an inch or two before it looked like it receded back up into the cracks themselves, then reformed into solid ice again, mending the damage it had taken. There was barely any trace left that there had ever been cracks in the first place. Ice didn’t just vanish when it melted, and water was ever present. All she had to do was reform the ice back into water, then harden it again to solidify her barrier. It was why she kept her hand pressed flat against the ice at her back, keeping a mental eye on her creation. She knew the others would come and knew they would try their damnest to break through. She couldn’t blame them, but she could still be annoyed by it.

Something about the way he moved towards her sent a chill down her spine. All through the night, they had been moving in a deadly dance, steps taken forward and back and around one another, but right now, it felt more like a cat cornering a mouse and it was licking its lips. “Ocean…” she said softly, tasting the way his name felt upon her lips. It was an odd name, but then again, his nickname for her was just as unusual. Lyra felt no need to correct him for her own, and he didn’t ask for it. “I will remember that.”

A flutter of frost fell in front of her eyes, a single sliver landing on the tip of her nose, melting the instant it touched the warmed flesh. Her smile faltered then, twitching her nose slightly and resisting the urge to rub it. He called it fate that they met, but she wasn’t so sure about that. Was it fate that brought them together or some sick game someone was playing? He had all but disarmed himself at last, the threat of being impaled gone for the time being as she weighed her new options he was presenting. Ocean wanted an escape path and was threatening the livelihood of her comrades in exchange for it. But could she really do that? She had him basically trapped here, however she was putting herself in further danger the longer she remained inside with him.

Another large crack as Lolo punched the dome again, sending another flutter of ice shards down, and Lyra barely managed to fix it before the unmistakable sound of gunfire exploded. Once. Twice. Thrice. That… that wasn’t Haimehen’s gun, was it? No, it was Namid this time, the blade of her weapon sinking straight through the ice as she climbed the impaled gunblade and then dragged it along behind her, creating a large gash, the edges falling in on itself as it crumbles away.

Lyra’s eyes widened in disbelief, surprised at the amount of force that the tiny leader of their ramshackle team had in her. She only had moments to react, pressing her hand back against the ice with further force. The ice closest to the far side of the building where he wanted his path began to melt, creating an opening that one could pass through. While the shattered ice lay haphazardly at their feet, untouched and out of reach, the melted portion was redirected to creep back over the hole Namid had created, like ivy crawling over a wall, closing it back up almost as quickly as she had formed it. The ice was thinner now in some spots, and thicker in others, now slightly lopsided. She was sure she wouldn’t be able to continue maintaining it for much longer.

“Whether fate or not, who am I to decide that?” Her cheeks were flushed pink as she gazed up at the taller gentleman before her, inches from her face. Something about him being so close to her was both exciting and uncomfortable. “Leave now, but do not touch them. It was me that you wanted, was it not? I will not have you harm them because I decided we should talk in private like this.” Was it really her that wanted that private talk, or was it Ocean?

The air around her shimmered slightly and she was taking deeper breaths, although Lyra kept a steady control of each one and kept her composure in the face of possible danger. The constant use of her Shimmer was starting to affect her. While her reserves were fairly large, she hadn’t practiced maintaining it for such a lengthy amount of time before. Usually, she would create something and walk away, not keep a hold and maintain it. Every attack made the ice crack and she sought to melt and reform the ice each time to strengthen it, but the attacks were coming closer together and her attention was being split between maintaining the dome, repairing the cracks, creating an opening, and focusing on the man before her that could very well end her life before she blinked if he so wished to do so.

“Just go, and leave them be. Please.” Whether he would actually do harm to her teammates or not, Lyra wasn’t willing to take that chance anymore. There were at least three shadows around the dome now and she was fairly certain of who they belonged to. While he was outnumbered, Ocean had already showed he played dirty, already injuring both Namid and Lolo not too long ago. She pursed her lips together, taking a half step behind her to press her entire back to the slanted wall of her ice dome to put more distance between them, the hole in the ice made for him not too far away. “I will not stop you.” But she had no intention of stopping her teammates further, either. She just hoped that by allowing him to leave freely, she could prevent any further injuries on their side.

[shengami]

Character Name: Haimehen
Date Oct. 6 | Time: Evening (~8p.m.)|
Location: Dazzle and Dust
Wearing: Orange synthetic fabric shorts, (shirt, button up, gauche sweater combo), ripped puffer jacket. Carrying a large duffle over his shoulders like a backpack.
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
Information flowed into his eyes, his senses. His eyes traced along the edges of the hole Namid had carved for him. His eyes flicked to her, briefly, and acknowledged it. He thanked her with a glance. Then the hole again, but it was slowly closing. Feu and Fureur were coming up.

His eyes flicked past the hole to the faces. Lyra, safe, looking at the man. Her face flushed, her eyes locked on his. Her lips moved. It was not often that Haim cursed his Shimmer, but he did then. He read her words as easily as if she was shouting them in a small room. The waves that emanated from them sowed doubt in his mind. She had chosen this? She had wanted to talk to him? She was allowing the man to escape?

Heat suffused his neck. The flush crept up in slow motion as he realized that she thought she was protecting them. He looked at the man and then to a section behind them. The ice wall was shifting, moving. His guns came up and online.

The flush crept into his cheeks. It seeped beneath his skin. He felt it crawl under his eyes as the hole Namid had given him slowly narrowed. The world rushed back in and he pulled the first trigger.

A marble-sized ball of white light formed at the end of the barrel, formed and then morphed into a distinct twisting shape like two double helices twinging together. It spun and then launched. A howling, whistling sound tore through the hole. Shards of ice flew in the air and the tracer round flew to its mark. The sounds were at a pitch and decibel that his Shimmer tuned easily to. The dome filled with sound and lit up to his senses like a thousand watt bulb. His hand moved to flick and break open Fureur even and Feu aimed. The hammer clicked home and a flash went off. The colors near the man momentarily reversed as, within the ice dome, a thunderous sound detonated.

Still moving, Haim tucked Feu under his arm and snatched a heavy caliber round from his bandolier and slammed it into Fureur. He pivoted as he grabbed Feu again and Fureur came online. Still, the sounds allowed him to aim precisely. Squinting, he sighed as he squeezed the trigger. The weapon spat fire and smoke like dragons from a fairytale. A hunk of supersonic lead ejected from his weapon and screamed at the man.

The heat had reached his brain now. It exploded. Anger erupted from his core into his mind like an exploding volcano. His teeth ground as the world finally collapsed back in around him. Not breaking his pattern, he tucked the heated barrel of Fureur under his arm and broke Feu open to slam home another round. His eyes bored. They smoked. They blazed. They watched as his attacks slammed home.

For a second, a moment, his eyes flicked to Lyra. They sparked amethyst and red-gold fire as his gaze settled on the slight elf. Then they moved away to watch the man react. "Namid, he should be off balance. Go." He grinned at her and waited to see what the spitfire leader could do. The flush, the livid purple in his face, drained. His gaze slid past Lyra to settle on the man again as he aimed his weapon. If this man did not end up in a grave, then he would end up in a military jail.

[CurvyKitten]

Character Name: Namid Valentine
Date Oct. 6 | Time: 8pm
Location: Dazzle and Dust
Wearing: This
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
Namid's mind moved through the events that had brough them there that day. How simple it had started and how fucked it is was now. What was this mans game anyway? Was he there for them? Or by happenstance? Her mind played over the night again flashing to the moment Ocean had shot her point blank and the strange memory of her childhood that played through her mind. 

The memory of one of her piano lessons, where perfection was always demanded. She'd messed up and slipped up on the keys again. The sound annoying her father and drawing him from his office. "What have I told you about your finger work!" The memory flashed through to the point that he grabbed her arm and twisted. The loud snapping sound echoed through her whole form as the image shattered. Causing the pain to cascade through her body. Like sharp shards ripping through her small prone frame as it flew back through the air.
Memories of pain that crashed through every nerve ending as she was thrown through the air. It was a miracle she'd even survived much less remained awake. Though her world was literally spinning for a few long moments. What was the point of that memory? To tell her she was failing? Didn't she know that?!!! FUCK! But there was no time to nurse wounds or make sense of why, so Namid pushed that pain back as she always did and forced herself to stand.

Namid was so tired of this, of this man and whatever his game was. Was he there for them all this time? Then why take one of them? Why take that risk? Was there some link? Namid's mind raced as she crouched across from the ice wall before her. Anger swirling in her features as she brought the blade up once more. Leveling it with Ocean's throat. He was so close she could almost touch him. Surely the force of her blade could reach him now.

Kicking off the wall she launched herself forward and darted on the balls of her feet. Using her momentum in an attempt to thrust her blade through the ice. She would thrust her blade and then her body through the ice. Like a human cannonball bust through to the other side. Blade leveled at Ocean's throat, she would not fail again.

[Envious]

Character Name: Farrah
Date | Time: October 6th | 8:00pm ish
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: This. Hat has the school logo on it. Shield is strapped to her back.
Tagging | Mentioning: | Shopkeeper, Mila
Notes: part two inc this weekend



Not dead.

She could tell because of how alive her senses were. The strain of her muscles as both hands pushed up into the shield held against the base of her head and top of her back. The tremble in her thighs as her knees refused to fully bend against the weight of the building atop her. The itch in her lungs as she took deliberate, deep breaths of smoke and ash. The only thing she could hear was a muffled ringing after suffering from every snap, crackle, and pop of an explosion. She chanced a glance down to see the crouched shopkeeper who was lethargically poking at the debris that made up the walls of their darkened prison.

"You okay?" She didn't recognize her distant sounding voice and the old man gave no indication of hearing her. She blinked rapidly, trying to soothe her stinging eyes, but some foreign irritants were in there. On a scale of being pelted by shrapnel to being electrocuted, it ranked around being blown out the window. It occurred to her that this was the worst shopping trip she had ever been on. A hoarse donkey-laugh escaped her throat abruptly, finding the situation inappropriately funny.

She quieted quickly; whatever was on top of her was too heavy for levity. There was a brief moment of panic as she wondered what to do. What if she made it worse if she moved?

Made it worse.

That laugh threatened her again and it clued her in that there was something seriously wrong with her. Nothing about this was funny (though to think that anything she did now could make the situation worse really was, in a detached sort of way, pretty funny).

She let instinct take over as she quieted her mind. Leave the thinking to others - she was best at doing! What was she going to do? When in doubt, punch your way out! She sunk down lower. The old man turned upwards in fear, thinking the student's strength was giving out. That fear dissolved into wonder; the look on Farrah's face was intense as she focused on coiling up her body. Smaller... smaller... and then whoosh!

Powerful muscles thrust upwards in tandem, flinging up wooden slats, chunks of concrete, plaster, wires, drywall, and more in a dusty cloud. It took only seconds to realize how lucky they were; what had covered them was not the heaviest material, but the smaller remains that had toppled away when the main supports broke and fell away due to the front of the building collapsing inward.

She grinned. The heat was still blistering, but they were free. They would live. She looked back at the shopkeeper. He was saying something, but she still couldn't hear. She reached out and assisted him up carefully. She could see how he favored one leg over as he hobbled upwards and for a moment, she considered lifting him up. Looking at the uneven terrain and considering how tired she was, she chose not to chance it and instead became a crutch for him to lean on. She tiredly strapped the shield to her back and then bent to accommodate his height and offered her arm. After a few steps it became apparent that his leg was broken. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She had no idea what to do about that.

She tilted her head upwards to see beyond the brim of her hat to scan for Mila. Had she gone back in to rescue the other man? Had she made it out? Hopeful, golden eyes land on her partner in the distance, down but moving.

[Aethyrium]

Ocean Specter

S T O R Y T E L L E ROctober 6th, Late Evening (~8pm) | Onyx - Dazzle & Dust | Urban - No Elemental Resonance
Next Post: 12.14.23 | Lyreilynn, Lolo, Haimehen, Farrah, Namid | Mila
Mila reached out and caught the funny little device that Farrah seemed intent to save. Unfortunately, that little distraction was all the time that she had before the window collapsed. With it in her arms, she barely had time to lunge all the way out of the window - dematerializing her invisible platform in the process - to avoid getting blasted by a shower of arcanite, smoke, and embers. “FARRAH!” She cried out, scrambling to her feet and abandoning the toy in the middle of the street. She bolted around the corner, nearly tripping over herself in her excitement to find her partner. Leaping into the air, she hit a platform and bounded off it, then another, using them like long steps to get six or seven feet off the ground in hopes to see signs of Farrah from above.

Though Ocean seemed content to leave Lyra be, his wariness for the impending breakthrough of the ice dome was evident. His hand slid to the tip of the cane and along its shaft, holding it up, ready to draw, rather than using it for support. If they had all listened to Lyra, Ocean would have been happy to go on his way without further incident. His lips twitched, and he grinned at Lyra, head shaking a little, “No, I didn’t get what I was wanting tonight. But from the way it sounds, it worked out a different way.” He tugged the edge of his blade free as the gunshots began and the wall started to crumble, “Good girl Silver.” He praised as she agreed not to try and stop him. One less problem, he thought, as the wall behind her began to drip away and reveal an exit.

He took a step for it, when Haim’s first shot went whipping right past the front of his face. Ocean arched back in reflex, watching as it detonated on the far side wall - clueless to its supersonic echo. The thunderous roar of the second shot didn’t go unnoticed though - it caused him, and Lyra, to stagger, deafened and disoriented by the brutal reverberation created by Lyra’s dome. Ocean threw a hand up from the hilt of his blade and grabbed the side of his head as he wobbled in place, knees giving in somewhat. “Arggghhh!” He uttered through clenched teeth.

Already weakened by Lolo’s beating and Namid’s initial attack, Lyra’s dome proved too unstable to withstand the scorching power of Haim’s third shot. Flames washed over the ice, releasing a spray of steam into the air and sending a web of cracks through the entire thing like a smashed mirror. Flames licked around the dome, blasting off the far curve on either side of Lolo before quickly dissipating into a dimming field of sparks. Fragile, as Namid’s flying form smashed into the structure - before Lyra could hope to recover and recrystallize it - and sent a pulse of ruinous energy through the dome’s flaws. Like glass, it shattered, falling in seeming slow motion as Namid rocketed through it right at Ocean. Barely able to react, Ocean got caught by Namid’s attack. The tip of her blade pierces his Soul, the energy crackles yellow around him like a flickering lightbulb. He leans back, just barely enough that he avoids carotid impalement - but not enough to avoid her attack. The razor edge of her blade cuts through the fine attire he wears like it isn’t even there, and the edge gashes across his collar. It cuts across his chest, slicing up his pec, before extending further and cutting at an angle across his bicep. It is only by the grace of his Soul that he isn’t entirely disabled by the attack.

Outraged, Ocean screams, “AAAAHHH!” Loudly enough to be heard down on the ground by Farrah and Mila, despite the rather raucous noise of Dazzle & Dust’s continuing ruin. Namid hits the ground, landing effortlessly between Ocean and Lyra.

Panicked, Mila felt her heart sink for a moment when it wasn’t immediately obvious where Farrah had ended up. Her eyes were drawn to a shifting in the rubble, and as Farrah heaved a sigh of relief to see both herself and the shopkeeper safe. The old man looked up at Farrah, stammering mostly nonsense at her, except for a clear, “Y-Yes, oh, th-thank you.” Mila grinned and offered Farrah a thumbs up, turning on her platform to look up at the battle unfolding across the rooftop. “Meet you up there!” She called cheekily, bounding to another, higher platform, climbing literal air and ascending toward the distant rooftop.

Ever closer, the Onyx Enforcement Bureau was still closing in - though the noise they caused on their approach was closer, it was not so close that gravity could hope they’d be there to resolve the issue. Except for an unexpected noise. The delicate rumble of engines, a military jet, that cut in from down the line - flying dangerously close to the rooftops, twenty-five, maybe thirty feet off the ground. It descended from above, swooping into a parallel above the street. At a glance it certainly looked like an Onyx jet - it was the right form, but it lacked any of the markings associated with the military. Pair that with the dangerous descent tactic and being so close to ground level, anyone familiar with the military might surmise that it didn’t belong to the Onyx enforcement. And that was before, uncaringly, it blitzed forward and tried to smash into Mila midair.

Barely catching it in time, given its speed, Mila yelped and took a running step away from the jet before springing up and throwing herself into a high, wide arching back flip. Acting just a tad too late, Mila wasn’t able to get sufficient clearance, and as the jet slid in under her, her head smashed against the cockpit and she bounced along the top of it. Her boomerang boxes fell away from her, sliding off the side of the jet and clattering to the ground, nearly on top of the shopkeeper, springing open to the bladed boomerang form right next to Farrah. Mila herself bounced off the roof, rattled and tried - but failed - to get her grip; unfortunately, up another ten or fifteen feet above the rooftop, largely out of sight of even those combatants.

Ice crumbling down in various sized chunks over them, Ocean gripped the head of his cane and twisted roughly, ramming it into - what should have been Namid’s gut, but given their size discrepancy ended up being her breast. Not terribly effective, but it nudged her just enough away from him that he was able to reach out with his other hand and grab her arm. He twisted around, pulling her backward. His cane spun around the other way so its tip was pointed out. The ended burst opened and fired a shot blankly into the distance, giving him extra momentum that he used to continue his spin - lifting her off the ground. As he got almost all the way around, he released Namid, launching her through the far wall of the crumbling dome - smashing through it right at Lolo on the other side. Following through the motion, Ocean completes the circle and goes further - ending up facing the other way entirely, looking at the jet now in the air and facing away from Lyra. His cane lifted and pointed in Haim’s direction, he clicked again and the end of it fired another round. The bullet rips through Haim’s Soul, and imparts brutal energy into his leg. He can feel the bone groan under the stress.

Lunging forward, Ocean starts toward the edge of the building - running toward the street this all started on, or perhaps the jet.

R E C A POcean attacks Namid and deals minor damage.
Ocean attacks Haimehen and deals critical damage.

Jet runs Mila over, and inflicts heavy damage.

Haimehen attempts to disorient Ocean. It’s successful, granting an advantage to Namid’s attack on Ocean.
Haimehen attempts to disorient Lyra. It’s successful.
Haimehen attacks the Ice Dome and destroys it.
Namid attacks Ocean and inflicts critical damage. His Soul is Yellow, and suffers heavy physical damage.

Namid’s Soul is Yellow. She is Fine.
Haimehen’s Soul is Yellow. He is Bruised.

[shengami]

Character Name: Haimehen
Date Oct. 6 | Time: Evening (~8p.m.)|
Location: Dazzle and Dust
Wearing: Orange synthetic fabric shorts, (shirt, button up, gauche sweater combo), ripped puffer jacket. Carrying a large duffle over his shoulders like a backpack.
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
Haim twisted and let the foot fly out from under him. His brain compartmentalized the flaring pain. It shunted it to the side and down, relegated it to the future. He felt the tension in his eyes as he forced them to stay open, to focus.

But it was not all possible. His brain was regulating a lot of pain. It occurred to him that they would probably not feel the loss of having less Arcanite than needed as several of them were going to be in hospital for several days as it was. That was a little relief. He expected they were going to get chewed out though. That wasn't going to be fun.

Squinting, he brought the world back into focus. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve to clear tears just in time to see the man making a break. He was bleeding and limping and looked a mess. Haim grinned wolfishly; satisfaction radiated from his chest. They'd made this man unhappy about his choices.

He was glad that he had trained so hard as his fingers went through the motions of reloading Feu. He could see the early affects of shock setting in though. The bullet trembled and he had to focus to slot it into the barrel. He grit his teeth and hissed a breath as he brought the barrel on line. Distantly, he heard the clatter as Fureur dropped. He brought his other hand across to grip his opposite shoulder and steady it as his aim tracked the charging man.

He took a breath and... hesitated.

His eyes flicked to the vehicle. His brain saw it, the man running, putting a foot on the ledge, and leaping through the air. Grinning wickedly, Haim saw the plan. His eyes flicked back. He tracked the man carefully, focusing on holding the shock, pain, and collapse at bay. Again, his training and his heritage helped. He waited, he breathed in and out, he sighted along the ironsights of his long pistol. He felt its weight growing. It started to shake.

His mind panicked, struggled. He felt a wave of chill rush through him and a bright spot of heat behind each ear. He hissed another breath and let a wave of pain tremble through him. His weapon steadied again and he sighted just as the man hit the edge of the building. A slow, hissing breath silently escaped him and everything went calm again. The world's echoes and waves all flowed smoothly. They converged. Calmly, as the man leaped into the air, he squeezed the trigger and noted the small blue ball forming as the Wave Round fired. Wherever that man had planned to go, he was not going to get there. Haim was going to knock him off course.

[Aethyrium]

Character Name: Marlowe “Lolo” Ashe
Date | Time: October 6th | Late Evening (~8pm)
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Crisp white button down, pressed grey and black pinstripe vest, pressed black pants, Low heeled boot, Black low-rise top hat
Tagging | Mentioning: Namid, | Lyreilynn, Haimehen, Farrah, Mila
Note: Spending 15 Shimmer dots to give +10 strength and +5 speed.
Was there a meaningful difference between the sound of Haimehen’s, Namid’s, and Ocean’s firearms? Maybe, but not to Lolo. There was a veritable cacophony of shots, and Lolo had no good way of parsing out who was doing what. Her fist reeled back to smash into the ice again when the wave of smoke blew over her, pushed by the fresh wave of explosions from Dazzle & Dust. Her hair whipped around and she paused. Throwing her gaze in that direction, Lolo realized she didn’t know where Farrah and Mila were. This whole situation was a fucking mess - and worst, she didn’t even know how they had ended up here. The ice called back her attention as cracks ran through it, and her eyes widened slightly just in time for it to shatter. She slid back half a step while being sprayed by a cone of dislodged frost. The roar of the jet’s approach split her attention.

Suddenly, there was Namid!

The tiny body of their leader crashed through the chunks of ice, throwing them around Lolo before her form came crashing into Lolo’s. Reflectively, Lolo threw her arms around Namid and caught her upright. The impact sent her sliding back a few feet, but Lolo dug her heels in and kept it going from much further. She curled in around Namid, sheltering her - miraculously barely managing to avoid groping her. Over Namid’s head, Lolo locked eyes on Ocean as he started forward, “If you wanted to be in my arms, there were easier ways.” Lolo murmured to Namid. Hooking onto her side, Lolo tugged Namid, to one side and stepped the other directly - narrow eyes focused on her target, “Next time.” She promised. Regretfully, Lolo released Namid, giving up the contact in favor of laying out the hurt. Marlowe took a powerful step forward, crouching into it. Her hands balled into tight fists and turned upward. The little machines on her gloves hummed silently to life. Streaks of blue light drew in the air around her hands, outlining the auto-hammers. Between the lines, thinner, brighter lines formed a grid pattern between the sharp edges of light, before filling in with a soft blue glow, giving the hardlight mass.

Reaching into herself, she uncorked the bottle of energy rolling around in her. That vibration of kinetic energy resonated within her, and manifested around her. Undoubtedly in the week that had preceded this, her teammates had seen her tap into the power she stored up - but certainly not like this. It wasn’t particularly common that Lolo allowed her bottle to fill to the brim, until the energy within wanted to shatter the bottle and pour out of her. It was on the edge of pain - like a sharp hum inside her bones that made her tingle. It was thrilling. Rarer still was a willingness to dump the bottle all at once. Lolo’s strength was already more than formidable, and with the power she hid away? Well she could dial it up exponentially.

Her hair began to raise on its own, as if a wind spiraled up from her feet and drafted upward - yet falling ice was blown aside, and that on the ground rolled away from her. The fine, silky, overly cared for locks blurred and seemed to lose physical cohesion. Its dark shine gave way to its deeper grey-undertones; giving the whole, near-body length mass the appearance of smoke wisping angrily around her. The bright, lively red of her eyes bled past their eyes, like tears of molten light. Her Soul crackled with energy. Her clothes rippled with the vibrations. Marlowe leaned slightly forward, grinned, and lunged.

She had no gun, but she still thundered.

A wave of pressure burst off of Marlowe as she snapped forward - it was no sonic boom, but it had a definite force to it that Namid, so close, definitely could have felt. In what seemed the blink of an eye, Lolo crossed the distance between her and Ocean, and she was on him nearly as quickly as Haim’s watery streak. Anticipating its effect, Lolo sidestepped going for him directly. She was up on the edge, running across it like a damn cat. As the water hit Ocean and interrupted his trajectory all the opportunity that she needed was presented - Lolo had no intention of giving him the opportunity to fall to the street and get away. Not after seeing him shoot Haim, or through Namid. Certainly not after snatching Lyra or shooting Marlowe herself!

As Ocean began to topple forward over the edge, his leap interrupted, Lolo planted a foot and whirled around. Leg lifted and extended, she brutally slammed her shin into Ocean’s gut like a steel girder. With the strength surging through her it was child’s play to catch his full weight on one leg and keep herself from toppling over the edge. Marlowe grunted and growled as she followed the movement through, lifting Ocean slightly off his feet and shoving him through the air back onto the roof. He disconnected from her and she dropped down to the foot, spinning on it another whole rotation, following the momentum of her attack. Lolo half jumped as she spun, bringing a spinning right hook around that, if he hadn’t been Soul trained, almost certainly would have snapped his neck, empowered as it was.

Marlowe squared up with Ocean, bringing her hands up into a boxer’s stance, reading to use the remaining energy that fluttered furiously around her to beat him into the ground. He swiped his cane at her, but Lolo saw it coming and dropped into a squat while simultaneously stepping into his space - the cane vanished into the smokey visage of her hair. She jabbed right, and felt the auto hammer click as she connected with his abdominal cavity - surely expelling all the air out of it. Even as her body twisted and pulled her fist away, Lolo launched with her dominant left and jabbed a second, boxing him in the same spot. A third twist sent a third jab, another right, smashing into his gut.

The energy stated to waver - her burst of empowerment was about to expire. Marlowe sprung up, lunging out of her crouch. She angled her left upward, and twisted in the movement. She connected solidly with the underside of his chin with such tremendous force that he was lifted off the ground and into the air - and she followed him. They were airborn, her uppercut a spitting image of the shoryuken, when the energy dissipated. Marlowe’s fist slid off his chin and she kept twirling, landing a second later, pivoted away from him - waiting for the delightful sound of his body hitting the floor.

[Envious]

Character Name: Farrah
Date | Time: October 6th | 8:00pm ish
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: This. Hat has the school logo on it. Shield is strapped to her back.
Tagging | Mentioning: | Shopkeeper, Mila
Notes: 


"Huh?" Farrah asked, watching Mila bound away. Did they have to go up? She might be embarrassed to admit it, but the student was tired. Slowly but surely, her brain caught up to what Mila had already noticed. Where was the rest of their team? The sounds of the world started filtering back into her ears. The crackle and pop of the flame was not the only thing firing off into the night sky. Gunshots. Why?

She didn't have time to wonder why. She could hear more sounds of battle up on the rooftop. "C'mon, let's sit you down," she said to the Shopkeeper who seemed to be too shocked to do anything other than comply. "I'm not- I can't help with your leg, but maybe one of my friends can. And I hear the siren. You won't be alone for long," she said, scooting him across the street to have him sit on the curb. She said sweet and meaningless nothings; almost there, you can do it, you're so brave as they hobbled together and as his butt gently hit the ground, they both looked up as the jet descended surprisingly low. Farrah looked directly above at Mila. The way her partner was ascending, she'd be fine... until the elf realized that the jet had altered course to match Mila's path.

All of the tiredness sizzled away, replaced by outrage. Her gut reaction was to pull the jet down. Unbidden, a hand raised upwards as if to grab the wings of the aircraft and force it off of its path, but... what damage would it do to the buildings around them? One livelihood was already burning down. How many other people would be losing their homes, businesses, or lives if she succeeded at carelessly pulling that jet downwards? 

Did the hypothetical potential for destruction outweigh Mila's very real safety? 

Grappling with that question was uncomfortable and costly. Before she could come up with an answer, the underbelly of the jet blocked her vision. It was too loud to hear the impact, but she could see a flash of Mila's limbs and knew that something was very wrong. Frustrated, she forced herself to wait for the entire second it took for the jet to pass before Mila became visible again just in case she needed to catch her partner. It wasn't a body that came crashing down, but the boomerangs. 

Without looking at the shopkeeper, Farrah jumped into action. Fingers scraped pavement as she reached down to pick up the fallen boomerangs and she booked it towards the wall of the building. She extended her shield arm out and up, letting the whip rocket out to thunk deeply into the side of the building. As the chain recoiled, she leapt into the air against the side of the wall. Her knee bent before her shoe bit into the brick of the wall and pushed upwards into a run up the side of the building made easier because of the whip reeling her in. As she came closer to the edge of her whip, she yanked violently to dislodge the chain. Brick crumbled and burst out as she started to fall backwards, but before gravity could take her she had unleashed her whip again to continue the run upwards.

A blast of water. A man. Marlowe. The edge of the building was alive with activity, but Farrah only had eyes for Mila. When she cleared the ledge she saw that her team was there. So heavily invested in Mila's safety, she didn't feel any relief. It didn't even register what she was seeing with the scattered ice and wounded friends. 

"MILA!" she shouted. If her partner seemed so rattled that she'd fall, Farrah would use her powers to pull her in and catch her. If it looked like Mila would quickly orient herself, Farrah would wait at the ledge for them to meet up instead of putting unnecessary stress on the woman. 

[FyreFoxx]

Character Name: Lyreilynn "Lyra" Xyrven Myalis
Date | Time: October 6 | Late Evening
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Pale blue blouse with open shoulders, long teal skirt with lighter blue panels underneath, wide cloth belt, ankle boots, worn leather crossbody bag
Tagging | Mentioning: All | All
Lyra felt her face heat up even further as Ocean praised her, but her lips were pulled down in a frown, her eyes narrowed as she stared up at him, unwilling to break that gaze, even as the ice melted behind her, opening the passageway to his escape. It infuriated her, the way he so easily got his way and how easily everything came to him. He reminded her of every noble back home, one who so easily got what they wanted, no matter the cost. Perhaps she might have been like them, like him, had she not disappointed her family so much, lived in the shadows of her siblings. Had she been better, she might have turned out to be someone just like Ocean. But she didn’t. Instead, she stood here, a student opposing his plans, a frail little elf, probably half his size, a mouse caught by the cat.
 
At least, until the cracks became too much for her to repair. Every punch that settled against the ice, Lyra could feel against her body. Every bullet that tried to pierce it caused her to flinch. She kept her hand flat against the dome so she could constantly repair the damage done by her team, but it was too much. They just would not, could not, let up. They were all violent, every last one of them. Even the tiny Namid had all but turned feral, something completely unexpected for their little leader. They were cracking her ice faster than she was able to fix it, her focus torn between melting part of it for Ocean, keeping what was already formed stable, and repairing the damage, which meant she was melting ice, moving it back into position, and refreezing it almost instantaneously, all at multiple points. It was taking a toll on her Shimmer, she could feel it. The constant use was never something she practiced before but it had never been that hard until tonight. Maybe it was all the fighting from earlier compounding things.
 
The dome had finally taken enough damage. Marlowe was punching it. Namid had shot and sliced it. Haimehen had taken advantage of the small hole formed earlier to shoot through it towards the unsuspecting duo. And when that thunderous roar echoed, Lyra screamed. A primal sound ripped from her lips, as painful to hear as it was to experience. “AAHHhhhh!” She immediately dropped to her knees, bloodied and bruised as they were already, hands reaching up to cover her ears as the sound reverberated over and over inside the dome. The explosion in the store had rocked her, dulling her senses. The sonic boom Ocean had fired at Namid in proximity had disoriented her. But this? This completely deafened her and caused her physical pain. The world around her was spinning, the ringing in her ears both loud and silent at the same time. It hurt. It hurt so much. Sonic was one of her weaknesses, after all, and with the sensitive hearing of an Elf on top of that? Her head was pounding, her entire body trembling as a sob was choked out, her scream dying upon her lips. She could feel the first of many hot tears spilling down over her cheeks.
 
Ice shattered all around her, like shards of glass breaking and collapsing in on itself. Any chance she had of mending it was dashed away as large chunks hit the rooftop before cracking into smaller ones. Tiny pieces flittered as snowflakes before her eyes, bleary as she tried to look around her at the carnage. One eye was still squeezed shut as she tried in vain to register what was going on around her. Slowly, she pulled her hands from her ears, cracking the other eye open to gaze down at her trembling hands, palms tinted crimson. Everything around her still sounded muffled. Did that shatter her eardrums? Or was it just cuts from the ice? What just happened?
 
Color was starting to bleed into the surroundings. Before, it had been a frosty haze, just her and Ocean, captured inside her own created wonderland, blocking out everything on the outside. Now, that world came rushing back into focus, the brilliant colors of her teammates’ clothing one of the only things she could pick out in the otherwise dreary atmosphere. “P-please…” she choked out. “Please, just stop. Just. Stop! Stop the fighting!” Another sob choked back, fresh tears making their way down her face. “Please, no more. None of this… should have happened. I thought… I did not want this to happen. Not this. I just… wanted to talk. Talk this out.”
 
Was there anything left she could do? She had maybe one last chance. But could she really do it? There was ice all around them now. She could still potentially use her Shimmer again. Water didn’t just disappear, it merely changed forms, and she could manipulate that. Another quick glance around her. Marlowe. Haimehen. Namid. Mila and Farrah were still dealing with the aftermath of Dazzle & Dust. She didn’t want any more people getting hurt, especially because of her. Ocean might be outnumbered, but he didn’t ask for this fight. Her teammates were all injured, as was he, but he certainly proved to be rather dangerous. Dangerous, but willing to leave them alone. She had to take this chance.
 
Crawling over to the largest pile of broken ice shards, Lyra laid trembling hands on it, trying to focus her Shimmer on melting it down, forcing the water to reach out and find the other pieces as quickly as possible, until all the ice she had once created was now back in its original liquid state. Then, she tried to heat it up, cause the molecules to rapidly expand. Forming ice was easy, but something gaseous? Difficult, and she wasn’t sure if she could do it successfully. She didn’t have the same control over it as she did solids and liquids, as once it changed to that state, it was nearly impossible to manipulate. Heating the water as best she could, Lyra attempted what could best be described as a fog cover, if she was able to manage it at all. Gases were very unpredictable. The cover could act like the smoke screen earlier, obscuring vision and maybe letting her teammates avoid more injury. That is, if she had enough Shimmer to even do so. At worst, she probably would just create a bunch of water vapor that did nothing at all. “I-I do not… want to see… more people h-hurt.” She swallowed down the lump in her throat. “Please, I thought… I thought I-” She hesitated. What else could she even say? She thought she could avoid more fighting? She thought going with Ocean to talk alone was the best outcome? She thought he deserved the same considerations her team did? She thought… she knew best? That was ridiculous. All she could hope for now were her words to get through to them and not fall on deaf ears, much like hers as she couldn’t even hear their replies herself, muffled as the world was.

[CurvyKitten]

Character Name: Namid Valentine
Date Oct. 6 | Time: 8pm
Location: Dazzle and Dust
Wearing: This
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
Namid swore she could hear her father's voice echoing in the back of her mind as she took her first steps forward. She'd failed, come up short, let everyone down, and now they would pay the price. If only she'd been a more effective leader. More in line with her team, maybe then they wouldn't have been forced into such a position. But doubt wouldn't get her anywhere in that moment, but anger...anger would get her pretty far.

Blade to ice, body full force impact into the ice soon following, she burst through the ice separating the two groups. The force of the ice shattering against her skin was like a thousand tiny blades. But she ignored the pain, pain she was used to, pain she could handle, pain she deserved.

She pushed through it though, her momentum unyielding as she rushed forward. Her blade at the ready, Namid made no sound and that was perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all of it. There was no warning, no battle cry, no shifting of the blade or feet even. Just the shattering of ice that gave her away.

Her efforts were not worthless this time though, her blade made contact and quickly her small victory gave way when Ocean screamed out. She landed before him, blade still in hand. But things were still moving quickly and before she knew it Ocean was moving again. Damn it! She'd fucked it up! And as the shot rang out Namid knew she'd cost someone on her team big. Her eyes went wide as she realized Haim had been shot, the clear sound of pain giving way to echoing thunder that was the gunshot. Namid swore under breath and was about to take her pound of flesh when Ocean grabbed her and tossed her like a rag doll once again.

Her body crashed through what was left of the dome, pain shattering through her as she came to a half buried stop. Crumpled on the floor, buried under pounds of ice she groaned and pushed against the weight of it. Yet her seemingly fragile form was still moving despite the damage she'd taken. Namid pushed up and looked for her partner, Haim was down...no...no....just NO! Namid pushed against the ice that covered back and managed to free herself just as the fog started to roll in.

Glaring Namid looked around her seeing Lyra working her magic once more, she had to wonder whose side the woman was really on! Questions would certainly have to be had later! But her thoughts went to Haim and instead she raced to his side before looking sight of him. "How bad is it?" Namid asked, shielding his body with her own. Her blade was already raised, the familiar click of it converting to her rifle could be heard as she brought it up to take aim. The growing fog would make it difficult, but long shots were a specialty of hers. So she took aim, and let a single bullet fly. If Ocean wanted to make his escape he was going to have to earn it. And Namid certainly wasn't going to make it easy

[Aethyrium]

Xaexyl der Ocolos Enerim

Ocean Specter

S T O R Y T E L L E ROctober 6th, Late Evening (~8pm) | Onyx - Dazzle & Dust | Urban - No Elemental Resonance
Next Post: 12.19.23 | Lolo, Haimehen, Farrah, Namid, Lyreilynn | Mila
These children were proving to be a bigger nuisance than he’d planned for. It really drove home a desire to teach them a lesson and forget the generosity he’d shown Lyra - after all, making examples of people was not yet on the agenda. But damn if the six of them didn’t make him consider it anyway. One step after another, Ocean charged for the edge of the roof - he was one good leap away from being done with this. His foot crushed a shard of ice as he bolted. He got to the edge, and the side door of the jet, its cargo loader, slid open, revealing an empty belly. Pressing off the edge of the building he was just about to leap when the pressurized stream of water not just slammed into his flank, but tore through it! His instinctive twist kept it from gutting him, but like a blade the water bore a hole through his hip and shot pitifully out the otherside - mixed with blood. He didn’t even have time to shout pain before the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs by the impact of Marlowe’s leg.

Launching back, Ocean hit the ground and slid, near choking on his own spit. One hand wrapped around his gut just in time for Lolo to break his nose - it immediately flew up and clutched his face. Wildly, Ocean slashed the blunt of his cane through the air, confused by the twisting mirage-like visage that she presented. For him it was all too slow motion when she dropped down and started to wail on him. His eyes bulged with each brutal slam of her fists. The first, he felt, cracked his lower rip. The second, he was certain something ruptured inside. His whole body trembled as the third his and his Soul flickered in agony, changing from green to yellow, only to immediately crumble into a fading orange energy as she sent him flying once more - his jaw shattered.

Ocean arced up into the air, before crashing into the rooftop with a heavy, limp thud. Finally he managed a pained scream - something deep and guttural. He choked on spit, making sounds that resembled creaking. He clutched at his cane, and tried to find the strength to lift himself up. His teeth ground painfully, and blood seeped past the corner of his lip, brought up from a cough that sent a fresh wave of agony through him. Blurry eyes focused on the jet, it was right there - even if Marlowe was between him and it. All he had to do was get there, and then he saw…

As the steam rose over the rooftop, creating a brief cloud of disruption, the heat caused Namid to flinch away when she fired her last round. Blind firing in her movement, the shot ends up not aimed at Ocean, but Marlowe. Fortunately, the bullet all but disintegrated on her Soul, but not before stripping another layer of it away.

After seeing the ferocious display - or perhaps the lack of immediate arrival of Ocean - Xaexyl switched the jet into auto mode, allowing it to hover in place without his direct control. Collectedly, he swooped past the pilot's seat and into the hold of the jet. Hand on one wall, sharp eyes surveyed the rooftop, just in time to see Ocean and all vanish beneath the cloud of vapor. Everyone except Farrah. Her chain extended the final time, smashing into the corner of the building, giving her all the leverage she’d need to get to the rooftop upon finishing her wallrun. But the noise and movement drew the attention of the pale skinned elf, who, from Farrah’s vantage, was barely visible. All she could have seen was the slight silhouette of his figure in the jet’s doorway, and his hand stretching into the air right in her field of view - two fingers extended, and thumb splayed. It lowered slightly, and in a flash later, a streak of lightning flashed not from the digits, but arcing down from the cloudless sky - an unnatural bolt of electricity that came down the far side of the jet, curled up underneath it, and smashed not into Farrah, but into the building right beside her. The shock isn’t the worst part, no, it’s the explosion of brick and foundation that sends Farrah flying off the building back to the street below.

And not just Farrah! The rush of air from the explosion sent the cloud of steam off into the ether, dissipating it into the atmosphere. More than that though, it destabilized that entire section of the building. As the exterior wall collapses, the roof itself cracks, shifts and falls in on itself as well - undermining Marlowe’s footing and dragging her down in the urban avalanche, threatening to bury her. That collapse stops short of Ocean’s spot on the ground, and leaves the other three students, relatively, safe. Except for the fact that Xaexyl lept from the edge of the jet, over the landslide, and beside Ocean in a crouch.

Haimehen (Echo Sight)

Shimmers themselves don’t usually generate a sound - Farrah’s for instance, is silent, only the sound of movement is notable, which can make it difficult to impossible to tell when a Shimmer is being used. Unlike Shimmers, the use of magic - which requires Arcanite - often has sounds associated with it. It’s imperceptible to most, but Haim can see it. When an Arcanite crystal is tapped into, there’s a stress on its structure that, if he’s focused or it's otherwise very quiet, he can pick up on. Powder has a small sparking like sound as it ‘ignites’ and activates. To this end, when someone like Lyra uses magic, provided the right circumstances, he can tell that Arcanite is being used, whereas when she uses her shimmer, it’s unidentifiable save whatever sound the water is being used.

When Xaexyl emerges, Haim’s senses are especially dialed in. There was no Arcanite used to call the lightning strike. Similarly there was no Arcanite used to summon the gale wind.

Looking directly up, Xaexyl’s gaze landed on Namid and Haim. There’s was a brief almost imperceptible narrowing of his eyes as he looked over Haim - the tiniest flash of recognition perhaps. His voice was soft, inaudible to everyone that wasn’t Haimehen who could read the word out of the air as if it were printed on paper. “Constance.” He swiped his hand through the air, a back hand gesture, that produced what seemed like an impossible wave of air - a gale force with the strength to lift both Haim and Namid off the ground and send them flipping over themselves and slamming into the foundation of the roof access that they came up - Haim is actually sent through the door, ping ponging against the walls, around a bend and nearly down to the second floor entrance. Namid, smashes harshly into the corner of the entrance before being sent nearly over the far edge of the building.

Bouncing along the roof of the jet, it took Mila a moment to catch herself, and shake off the disorientation of being hit with a jet. She groaned, got to her knees, and rubbed her head. Getting to her feet, she has the opportunity to see Xaexyl blast Haim and Namid across the roof. Without realizing Farrah and Marlowe’s fate, all that is left is Lyra and she’s… Sitting? Injured, maybe? “Fuuck.” Rallying herself, Mila leapt from the jet top, manifested an island beneath herself, about half the distance, and used that to spring over the chasm created by the collapse, lunging at Xaexyl - and Ocean by association. Sadly for Mila, Xaexyl is not so easily caught off guard, and as she flies through the air and he stands, he twists rapidly and intercepts her with a flat footed kick to her gut. Mila gasps as she curls around his foot, before the power of the attack rebounds her and sends her whipping back the way she came, through the doorway that Xaexyl emerged from, and slamming into the far inner wall of the jet before collapsing to the ground.

R E C A PXaexyl successfully attacks Farrah. Her Soul takes moderate (5) damage, and she physically takes moderate (6) damage.
Xaexyl successfully attacks Namid. Her Soul takes moderate (3) damage, and she physically takes moderate (6) damage.
Xaexyl successfully attacks Haimehen. His Soul takes moderate (3) damage, and he physically takes moderate (6) damage.

Building collapse sends Marlowe to the ground. Her Soul takes minor (2) damage, and she physically takes minor (1) damage.

Haimehen successfully attacks Ocean.
Marlowe successfully attacks Ocean, twice.
Namid unsuccessfully attacks Ocean, and hits Marlowe. Her Soul takes minor (3) damage, and she physically takes minor (1) damage.


Marlowe’s Soul goes from Orange to Broken (12/12). She becomes Bruised (6/24).
Farrah’s Soul becomes Orange (13/18). She becomes Injured (10/20).
Namid’s Soul is Green (3/16). She is Fine (6/32).
Haimehen’s Soul becomes Orange (10/16). He becomes Wounded (15/20)

[shengami]

Character Name: Haimehen
Date Oct. 6 | Time: Evening (~8p.m.)|
Location: Dazzle and Dust
Wearing: Orange synthetic fabric shorts, (shirt, button up, gauche sweater combo), ripped puffer jacket. Carrying a large duffle over his shoulders like a backpack.
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
Haim hissed and the world went black and red. Pressure flooded the back of his eyes as something hard slammed into his back. His head bounced off it. There was nothing he could do but pull his arms in... again. Curl them around Feu and Fureur. His breath exploded from his lungs. The world paused as vision flooded back to him. The offset rectangle of the door glowed against the enshadowed concrete of the building. The world made no sense.

The tiny elf had known his sister's name.

His lungs burned and his eyes bulged. Rage boiled inside him; his lungs hungered for breath. His fingers gripped tightly. His body rolled to the left and then flung itself into the ether again.

A dull metallic echo rang as he contacted the railing. He felt his right arm strain, bend, flex as his body came down atop it. Trapped by momentum and gravity between ungiving metal and his own weight, it ground against itself. His shoulder popped. He screamed. He saw the waves rolling off him, spiked with jagged lines of anger. The world inverted.

That little bastard had said his sister's name.

He tumbled over the rail and he, instinctively, curled tighter around his weapons. His left leg rebelled, already injured, and flung itself aside. He came down on something hard, sharp, angular. He felt his leg snap. Clear. Like the sound of cracking ice on a winter morning. He screamed again. It surged up from the leg, through his core, and tore from his throat. Frustration boiled inside him. Annoyance niggled at the edges of his pain blanked mind.

Pale, full lips smirked a syllable. The pattern of it, the waves were like a stamp on reality. It was a life preserver that kept his mind focused, present, awake. He clung to it. He clung to Fire and Fury and a single name as he rolled down a series of jagged ridges. Each took a chunk out of him. Battered and tossed about like a dingy in a typhoon. He would get up, he would find the man, and he would pry that name from him. The fury incensed him. It consumed everything he was capable of. Twin balls of reciprocating heat called to him from the cocoon he curled them within.

With a final solid, thud, he stopped. The world continued to spin, but he felt stillness. Blackness crept away again and he stared up at slate gray. The fury flared. He was still, he had control again, he could act. He shifted. Arms moved to brace him. He hissed as the right screamed resistance. He ignored it. Slide up the wall, the world would stop spinning any second. Push. Weight. A scream tore from him and his leg side collapsed. No. No, he would not fail. He commanded it. He railed against it. He stood tall.

For a second. He shifted, tried to take a step, and collapsed forward as pain exploded behind his eyes. Something struck him in the temple. He tasted copper and salt. Those lips whispered that word. That sacred word. He howled into oblivion. But into oblivion he went.

[Envious]

Character Name: Farrah
Date | Time: October 6th | 8:00pm ish
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: This. Hat has the school logo on it. Shield is strapped to her back.
Tagging | Mentioning: | Shopkeeper, Mila, Lolo
Notes:


She never saw it coming. So sure of her ascent and the next part of her plan, she was completely unprepared for the strike of lightning and explosion of building. She she was flung away she had the presence of mind to look up for Mila. The last person she saw was Marlowe on the ledge with the crumbling path of ruin chasing up to her as her chain snapped into place inside of her shield.

The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the ground the first time. Eyes wide as she exhaled and her lungs went numb, tried to flail and catch herself. Her shield arm vibrated in pain as the metal hummed at the impact of the ground. Farrah's upper back scraped against the pavement and the momentum of the blast continued to push her until she rolled backwards and gained air a second time. With arms splayed wildly, she wasn't fast enough to with her free hand to push it underneath her chest to brace for impact. She landed with a hard thud on rocky debris. Brick bit into her skin and poked into her ribs and she groaned in pain as she slid her arms to her center to pick herself up. The grit of dirt and detritus clung to her, pressed deeply into her skin. Her back shoulder was on fire and the way her shirt hung off of her in tatters told her that the thin material had been scraped apart before the street had done damage to her skin. She pushed off of the ground using her shield as leverage and gripped the dirtied fabric at her chest as she came to a stand. She ripped it off, leaving her in her sports bra.

She felt sluggish as she looked up. Her first sight was the shopkeeper, but her first thought was Mila. Where was her partner? She hadn't made it all the way up to the roof, but Mila hadn't come crashing down from the air. Then she looked upwards for Marlowe. Was she alright? Farrah couldn't see with the jet in the way. What were the military doing up there? She couldn't spend time wondering - her eyes fell back to the shopkeeper whom she had placed in harms way. The brick was collapsing like dominoes around him and Farrah took a heaving step forward. She didn't like choosing between the man and Marlowe, but it had to be done. She wished desperately she had taken arcanite from the shop to aid her right now.

"C'mon, old man!" she shouted as she broke into a run. She would never have guessed that a building would fall on him again when she had put him there. Was he bad luck or something? He wasn't frozen in fear, but the injury to his leg made it difficult for him to do anything in haste. Thank God the building was currently falling inward instead of splattering its guts out into the street! She finally made it up to him and picked him up bridal style, his leg be damned. It hurt to do so. There was a fatigue settling into her that she didn't like, but there was still shit to do. She hesitated at the center of the street. Where to put a man when buildings were collapsing all around him? She carefully set him down, allowing him to hold on to her for support if needed.

"Sorry. Don't know what to do," she confessed. She took a few steps backwards in an attempt to clear her line of sight around the jet, but it was too large. She couldn't see what was happening. "But gotta try something." What that something would be? She didn't know. She looked at the belly of the jet. It was too high up for her to get a climb on. Try going up the side of another wall? She was becoming exceedingly weary of buildings. Then she heard the scream. So feral and pain-filled, she couldn't pin who it was from.

"Piece of cake," she whined out. "Done it a million times," she said with false bravado. "Building ain't got nothin' on me." Psyching herself up as she moved forward, Farrah leapt into the exposed building and took a quick look around. It was dark and hard to see. From overhead, a light swung down unexpectedly from its damaged fixture and made a large arch from left to right. Just as the wire it was still attached to strained as the light reached its apex, something snapped and the light fell to the ground and took with it a part of the second floor.

"Nope." Farrah turned around and jumped right back out of the building. Surviving one story crashing down was a miracle. Surviving three was testing the good grace of God and she wasn't about to do that now. "Where are you guys?"

[FyreFoxx]

Character Name: Lyreilynn "Lyra" Xyrven Myalis
Date | Time: October 6 | Late Evening
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Pale blue blouse with open shoulders, long teal skirt with lighter blue panels underneath, wide cloth belt, ankle boots, worn leather crossbody bag
Tagging | Mentioning: Marlowe | Haim, Namid, Mila, Farrah, Ocean, Xaexyl

No! No, no, no, no, no! Nothing was going right. Nothing at all!
 
Lyra was on her knees, her face streaked with dried tears, looking around at the carnage around her. Her hearing was dulled, her eyesight blurry, and her body ached. She had not been the victim of any attack, but that sonic boom had rattled her to the core. The constant use of her Shimmer was draining her reserves. She was tired. Tired of this. Tired of the fighting. Tired of seeing people get hurt in front of her. All of this reminded her of just one thing – disappointment.
 
That’s all she had ever been. A disappointment. She never had the strength to stand up against her foes like her brothers. Even one of her sisters was a proficient fighter. She didn’t have the same amount of speed and agility like her sisters. Her younger brother was even faster than her, despite the age difference. All she was was someone meant to live in the shadow of others. Forgotten. Ignored. But she refused to give up. That was the one thing she had going for her. Her resilience to keep trying. To push past her limits and find another way. Because when she couldn’t be stronger, she became smarter. When she couldn’t be faster, she learned not to get hit. Work smarter, not harder. Find your advantage. Find your edge. And exploit it. Use it for your own gain.
 
That’s what she thought she had done. Thoughts of diplomacy and pleasant words. Taking the easy way out of a violent situation spiraling out of control. Just a talk, nothing more. But what a mess it had created! Ignorance was bliss when it was in your favor, but not when you’re on the other side of it. She realized too late she had been too quiet. If she had only stated her intentions, perhaps this whole thing could have been avoided. She didn’t expect these near strangers to come to her rescue – a rescue she didn’t even need nor want – and try to pummel her would-be captor into oblivion without a second thought. She needed to reevaluate a lot of things going forward. Miscalculations were going to be the death of her – or someone else.
 
Ocean had tried to leave, like he said he would, and didn’t even attempt to do more than that until her teammates had attacked in full force. He was down and almost out, until the arrival of the jet nearby. Lyra hadn’t given it much thought before that moment. Haim had called for the authorities, after all. But it wasn’t on their side, she noticed much too late, her hastily created steam cloud dissipating from a sudden lightning strike that demolished a portion of the building. A quick glance to the sky told her that wasn’t natural. It was rather dark out, but there were no storm clouds in sight. It had been hard to make it out before then, but now there was someone new on the scene, a male elf that seemed much younger than Ocean assisting him.
 
“MARLOWE!” Lyra watched in horror as the building began to collapse around them. Everything was a mess. Marlowe had come in guns blazing – so to speak – but was now at the epicenter of the collapse. She scrambled forward towards the edge of the rooftop that still remained, using the backs of her hands to wipe at her eyes and clear her vision enough that she could spot her partner. She didn’t even have the time to react to the blast of air that she could feel being directed at Haim and Namid nearby, sending them spiraling backwards, Haim disappearing back down the roof access he had surely used earlier.
 
The little elf was torn in what to do. Haimehen was surely quite injured. She had heard his scream when he was shot earlier, and with him getting blasted like that, there were sure to be more injuries to follow. Namid was likely in better condition, but she, too, had been blasted backwards and Lyra wasn’t quite sure where she ended up. There was a fuzzy silhouette on the edge of the roof – Namid, maybe? At least she didn’t get knocked off entirely. Farrah never made it to the rooftop, nor Mila, so she wasn’t sure of their condition at the moment. Marlowe was the person at the forefront of her mind, having watched her partner go down with the falling stones.
 
In that split second of decision making, she told herself that Namid was fine, Haim was better off away from this scene, but Marlowe was the one in danger. In that moment, Lyra threw herself forward, her thin clothing doing nothing to protect her against broken and jagged stone ripping through her flesh, a hand reaching out over the edge of the new hole created, seeking Marlowe’s desperately before she fell too far away. “Marlowe, grab my hand! Hold onto me!”
 
She had already left her partner behind once. She wasn’t going to do it again.

[Aethyrium]

Character Name: Marlowe “Lolo” Ashe
Date | Time: October 6th | Late Evening (~8pm)
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Crisp white button down, pressed grey and black pinstripe vest, pressed black pants, Low heeled boot, Black low-rise top hat
Tagging | Mentioning: Lyreilynn | Mila
Marlowe’s whole body jittered with the fading energy she’d unleashed. Like a pleasurable tingle that radiated from her core - that sharp edge of a tickle before it became uncomfortable. Wisps of smoke raised over her head took solid form again, coalescing back into locks of well kept hair that fell back down around her like an obsidian rain, drenching her in the bouncing waves of its form. She heard the thud of Ocean’s body hitting the rooftop, and she would have turned toward it if not suddenly aware - and confused - by the hovering jet. The only thing more confounding than its presence was Lyra’s words. Lolo shifted and looked over her shoulder at the elven woman, in her tattered dress with tears streaking her face. Why? Marlowe would have been happy to obey - certainly she wanted answers. Like what the hell had happened; but Ocean wasn’t giving those answers and he had - from Marlowe’s perspective - attacked. Now that he was subdued, they could figure things out. It wasn’t like she had any interest in beating the man down unnecessarily!

“Ly-” She’d started when the ice around her hissed. The muscles in her shoulders tensed and she started a crouch, prepared for some fresh trick, when the cloud of steam surged up around her. Lyra again? Did this man mean something to her? She sure was going out of her way… She winced as yet another bullet smashed through her Soul and bruised her side. The energy was getting low, and it was strangely exhausting.

Two steps, that was as far as she got before the building quaked beneath her feet. A rush of hair blew the cloud away, and wide eyed, Marlowe felt the concrete rooftop begin to give way. There were people inside, weren’t there? This was a residence! There was barely time for the thought to finish, before her alert instinct kicked in. Marlowe took a step and jumped blindly forward - hopefully, wherever she was going to land would be solid. Pressure sent a wave of rocks and debris upward, chipping away at her - and a larger piece of rooftop flew forward, smacking her in the back of the head. Her Soul broke. What a strange feeling, to not have that gentle energy wrapped around her body. She’d felt it low before, but when she’d been learning they never fought until breaking - that would have signaled going too far. It wasn’t quite like having the wind knocked out of you, but it did feel like something being peeled away. Like losing the toasty blanket on a frigid morning, and being suddenly raw to the world. Uncomfortable, and prickly.

The two things - the Soul break and the rock itself - interrupted her leap. She realized in the arc that she wasn’t going to make it. Without the bubble-wrap of her Soul, Marlowe knew that falling into the pit of that collapse was going to hurt, and it was going to hurt bad. She braced herself for it, her feet hit the edge, but at an angle - there was no way to get stable, to level herself out. She was going to topple backwards and land on her head. Gravity took hold and she flailed at the air, grabbing at nothing… Nothing until there was a lifeline. An arm, a hand! Her hand clapped onto Lyra’s forearm and she irongripped it. It wasn’t her intent to hurt Lyra, but panic ensured that she really clutched that tether to keep from falling. There was that point in the arc where she jerked on Lyra, testing her footing - she was at a thirty-five degree angle or so, feet planted on the edge, with both her and Lyra’s arms as extended as they could be. “I thought you’d never ask.” She murmured, trying to maintain her good spirits over the adrenaline shot of concern pumping through her. Tilting her head just enough to see the ruin yet collapsing beneath her - and catching Xaexyl at Ocean’s side. Who was this joker?

“Mila!” She shouted with a fresh wave of fury, watching the small, breakable, elf boot her backward. Lolo threw her other hand up and grabbed Lyra’s arm pulling in tandem with her partner to steady herself back onto the ledge, safe and sound. Almost immediately she jerked, twisting so that she could shuffle Lyra behind her - Soul or no Soul, she wasn’t about to let this little psycho anywhere near her. But she wasn’t going to play defense, not when he smashed Mila like that. Lolo started forward, ready to box Xaexyl down too!

Only she felt thin, cool, trembling fingers on her wrist. It wasn’t much - Lyra probably couldn’t have physically stopped Lolo if she had put everything she had into it - but it wasn’t nothing. Her partner's cry for de-escalation rang in her memory, and Lolo hesitated. She glared at Xaexyl, challenging him to try it. If he came at her, if he moved toward Lyra, Marlowe would teach him a lesson that he wouldn’t forget. “Why…?” She whispered, cocking her head slightly down and to the side, speaking to Lyreilynn without taking her gaze away from this new threat. Lolo might not have understood Lyra’s position, but she had settled earlier to trust her. She wouldn’t confuse her skills, and Marlowe knew that she was not the greatest at seeing the big picture - exacerbated here, because she lacked so much information. “Look what he did…”

[Aethyrium]

Xaexyl der Ocolos Enerim

Silk Whyte

S T O R Y T E L L E ROctober 6th, Late Evening (~8pm) | Onyx - Dazzle & Dust | Urban - No Elemental Resonance
Next Post: 12.27.23 | Lolo, Haimehen, Farrah, Namid, Lyreilynn | Mila
That moment of hesitation was really all Xaexyl needed. Watching Lyra hold Marlowe back earned them a reward - a tiny crook of the corner of his lips. The foundation of a cruel smirk. He didn’t need to step into Marlowe’s reach to teach her a lesson. She questioned, he lifted his hand. Lifting two fingers, thumb raised, he aimed them in their direction and jerked his hand back, “Bang.” Manifesting out of nothing right in front him, drawn from seemingly nothing at all, a ripple distorted the very air in front of his fingers. A sudden spark, followed by a blistering hot, impossibly fast flash. A streak of lightning ripped across the short distance between them - and yet, Marlowe proved to be quicker still, prepared. The chaotic white energy smashed into the blue barriers of her shields, that because of her preparedness, she was able to bring up just in time. It hit her with such force as to push her back across the rooftop, butting up into Lyra. The electricity thundered, crackled, and arced over the edges of the shield, biting into her wrists and surging through her raw - with no soul to protect her, the pain was immense, and hot. It jumped again, bounding off of Lolo and crackling against Lyreilynn’s Soul, melding with the energy before passing through it and shocking her as well.

Near as soon as the lightning formed, Xaexyl spun around and crouched. He hooked his arms beneath Ocean’s battered form, scooping him up like Farrah insisted on carrying the shopkeeper. Running around the edge of the building's collapse, Xaexyl got to the edge and cleared the gap between rooftop and jet at an angle. He slid in, twisted and nudged something with his shoulder. The door to the cargo hold hissed shut. As the staggering shock of the lightning faded from the girls, the jet disengaged its hovering mode and began forward.

From the alley behind the building, a familiar face came bounding up - drawn, no doubt, by the catastrophic commotion - over the ledge. Professor Whyte surged into the air in a light curve, evaluating the scene quickly. She landed with inhuman grace beside Lolo and Lyra, and turned a fiery glare to the jet. Her hand gripped the pole over her shoulder and as she whipped it over her head, the blade ejected from the tip and the shaft elongated into its full glaive form. “What have you done?” She chided, pushing forward, jamming the tip of her weapon into the still stable concrete and vaulting herself into the air in a somersault.

Clearly she intended to slice into the jet, but she arrived a moment too late. The jet moved forward, tilting to the left, and banking in the street. Quickly enough that her already in progress flip couldn’t compensate, and Silk slashed through empty air, plummeting to the street below - but she recovered nicely, smashing the edge of her glaive into the ground and riding the fall. Twisting to look at the jet, she watched as it curved upward and the arcanite powered thrusters roared, quickly giving it speed and shuttling Xaexyl, Ocean, and Mila into the sky.

Unaware of the seriousness of the situation, Silk exhaled a deep sigh and turned her judgemental brow eyes to survey the ruin around them - until they found Farrah. A flick of her wrist saw the glaive retracting and returning to its more baton like state. “Who is responsible for this?” She pointed the shrunken staff at the collapsed Dazzle & Dust. Long, fluffy ears twitched and Silk looked back at the lightning ruined apartment complex; filled with innocent bystanders shrieking and impacted by the fight. “Later. Assist me.” She commanded, and turned, bounding up the rubble into one of the now open rooms to assist a citizen trapped.

Not but moments later she called on Lolo and Lyra to do the same, which was when Lolo was able to inform her about Mila being in the jet. “What?!” She quickly counted heads, “Where is Haimehen? Find him!” It was Lyreilynn who found him unconscious and called the professor to assist.

It took four more minutes for Onyx Enforcement to arrive. They coordinated the remainder of the rescue efforts, and though there were questions to be had, Silk effectively pulled rank - Hammer would debrief the students and cooperate with the authorities, but she wasn’t going to allow them to interrogate the students. Haim was passed off to some medics to be given some initial treatment, while Silk found Farrah. “We’ll find her.” She assured, setting a hand on the taller elf’s shoulder.

Moss Kirk

* * * * *

Namid, Farrah, Lyreilynn, and Marlowe were escorted by Silk away from the incident and back to the academy - the whole way, Silk largely insisted that they were silent. Once she got them there they were taken to different chambers, each sat down alone and locked away, isolated from anyone for nearly thirty minutes - at least for Namid, who was the first to be approached.

Moss entered the room alone, shut the door behind himself, and looked Namid over with his one good eye. “You’ve had an eventful evening.” He said dryly, making his way to a seat and taking it. “Haimehen will be fine, I’m told. A broken leg, but nothing a few weeks of treatments can’t fix.” The deputy headmaster reported. “Unfortunately we still have no word on Mila. That will take some time.” A slight frown tugged his weary features down. “Onyx Enforcement and Service is interviewing mister Kola, the owner of Dazzle and Dust.” Moss cleared his throat and leaned back against his seat. He crossed one leg over the other at the knee and folded his arms across his chest. “But we prefer to handle student matters ourselves. So, Namid, I need you to tell me what happened tonight? How did Haimehen end up in the hospital? How did Mila end up kidnapped? Why are there thirteen displaced families, and still smoldering ruins of a local business?”

One by one, each of the members - or, at least, those present - of gravity got the same report and set of questions. Haimehen got it the next morning, when Moss came to see him; only his report was that everyone else was fine, but even by morning they still had no information on the missing Mila.

R E C A PXaexyl successfully attacks Marlowe. She physically takes severe (11) damage.
Xaexyl successfully attacks Lyreilynn. Her Soul takes moderate damage (4), and she physically takes moderate damage (5).

Marlowe goes from Bruised to Injured (16/24).
Lyreilynn’s Soul is Green (4/28). She is Fine (5/32).

[Aethyrium]

Character Name: Marlowe “Lolo” Ashe
Date | Time: October 6th | Late Evening (~8pm)
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Crisp white button down, pressed grey and black pinstripe vest, pressed black pants, Low heeled boot, Black low-rise top hat
Tagging | Mentioning: Lyreilynn, Namid | Farrah, Mila
Like Lyra, Marlowe didn’t prefer escalating to violence. It felt terribly pedestrian to her. Bar fights were for drunken rabble, not women of class. Settling disputes with fists was the way that commoners dealt with their problems, not the sort of people that she wanted to be - even though, perhaps overconfidently, she felt assured of her ability to settle matters that way. Given the choice, she’d soothe tensions with a well placed hand on the shoulder, a coy word, or a flirtatious gambit. Diffusing a situation before she had to put on the gloves. That was the ideal version of herself.

The truth was a bit more messy.

While calm and rational, of course that’s how Marlowe would describe herself - it's even how she attempted things in real time. But once her temper started to get mixed in, the clarity of that ideal got blurry at best, and often lost. Temper was a thing that she had always struggled with, ever since she was a little girl. The leash that she kept herself on was made of poor quality twine, rather than iron it probably needed to be. See, once dialed up, Marlowe had an issue dialing it back down. More than once in her childhood she had snapped that twine of self control and hurt someone - even before she had gotten training and learned to focus and apply her strength effectively, she’d been strong.

Marlowe had always had a strength that did not mesh with her visage in the slightest. She wasn’t like Farrah, who had beautifully sculpted muscle that defined and displayed her strength. Someone who looked at Farrah knew what they were getting involved with when they poked or prodded. But not Marlowe. She was all soft curves and supple features; but beneath her gentle dusky flesh were bands of tightly wound steel. More than once she had hurt someone in her youth - her brother once, and other children of Evergreen more than that. You see, Marlowe didn’t look like a small village girl, she lacked the plain, generic, traits of her family and those you’d associate with that kind of place. As she blossomed she looked like the sort of woman that belonged where she dreamed she ought to be. The sort of looks that invited people to make assumptions about her, but none of the matching temperament.

And it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The first time she had hurt someone, Marlowe had been adamant that they deserved it, but also dreadfully aware of what she had done. So she tried to turn that twine into something stronger, but she failed. Again and again. Eventually she rationalized that holding herself back wasn’t something she was going to get good at. Even with all the time in the world, Marlowe wasn’t great at walking through the consequences of actions to logical conclusions. And in the heat of the moment? Forget about it. But if she handed that leash off to someone else, well, then she could behave. If she took the responsibility of thinking through an action off herself, then - temper included - she could control herself. When she needed to attack, they could let her off the chain, and if she needed to not, they just needed to tell her to hold. Since discovering this little work around, it hadn’t failed. Even if who she chose to give the leash to didn’t always make the most sense.

The structure of squads and teams was nothing short of perfect for Lolo - and one of the reasons she was delighted that she had dodged being named team leader. Namid got to hold the leash, Lyra got to hold the leash, hell, she had five people to hold it. That was a lot more safety net than what she was used to. So when Lyra had told her to stop, when she had called for peace, even though it went against her instincts, Marlowe knew that her instincts were not always to be trusted, and that Lyra, who held the leash at the moment, should be listened to.

But as she heard Xaexyl utter his ‘bang’, she sure wished she had trusted her instincts.

She didn’t need to know what was about to happen, or understand how it was happening, in order to react. Marlowe slid a few inches further in front of Lyra, positioning herself fully between her partner and the elf. Maybe Lyra didn’t need her protection, but maybe that’s just the sort of person Marlowe was deep down. Her hands flicked and grid lines of blue light formed the hexagonal design of her shields. She brought them up in front of her face, clicking the edges of the shields together to create a wider barrier, just in time for the bolt of power to smash into her. It had more physical force than she anticipated, and Marlowe slid back until she felt herself nudge into Lyra. Arcs of electricity rebounded off the hardlight, striking the ground in front of her, scorching it. She gritted her teeth and leaned into it, planting her feet - she’d push it back to the source!

Except the power was greater than she knew. She felt the hard light start to buckle. A jolt of the current broke through a crack in the screen and rolled up her arm, burning her. Marlowe yelped, and defensive instinct caused her to jerk her hands away - opening herself to the rest of the bolt. The lightning slammed into her chest, and tore through her. She felt everything and nothing all at once, before just heat. All of her muscles seized and clenched harder than she knew they were capable of doing. Cool water that had settled on her from Lyra’s various icy conjurations evaporated and rose off her in wisps of steam. Marlowe dropped to her knees, though she didn’t realize she had.

Everything was so bright, like she was staring into the world's brightest flashlight. She swayed, and groaned. Her body didn’t want to respond to her - she was positive that she was trying to open her hand, but it wasn’t listening. Words barely registered, “H-Huh?” Lolo closed her eyes tightly, trying to reset, and opened them just in time to see Silk making her grand leap. “Professor?” It didn’t register right away what the jet leaving meant.

“Lyra?” The shock seemed to fade, and her brain got control of her body again. Untightening everything hurt, she felt impossibly stiff, but she still found it in herself to turn her head back and look at Lyra, “Are you okay? They’re gone.” She whispered.

Her eyes flew open. “They’re gone.” Pain be damned, Marlowe damn near jumped up from where she was at, and she sprinted across the rooftop, to the access Haim had been pinballed down. She jumped, grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up, “Mila…” She scrambled to the far edge, trying to track the jet. “They’ve got Mila!” She barked, frantically looking around, Marlowe saw Namid there on the edge from Xaexyl’s attack, “Mila was in that jet!” But she didn’t know what to do. Marlowe spun around, trusting that Namid could get up on her own, and bolted the way she came. She jumped back to the rooftop, hitting it and rolling. Feeling was returning, because she certainly felt that impact without any Soul to dampen it. “What are we going to do?” She threw a hand to help Lyra up, only to hear the professor’s call. “We’ve got to tell Professor Whyte. Come on.”

Following the summons, Marlowe made her way down the broken building, assisting Lyra, and, with Farrah and Namid with them, “Mila was on the jet. The elf… He…” She looked at Lyraa to confirm what she was saying, “She’s with them. What do we do?” Marlowe looked to Farrah, and even moved to her - she didn’t know what she’d do if it had been Lyra, “I’m sorry, I… I…” If she had trusted her instinct, would Xaexyl have gotten away? Mila might still be there. She was so caught up in trying to process that, she didn’t realize that Haim was missing until Silk brought it up.

Once Haim was found a deep relief washed over Marlowe - if she hadn’t hesitated to break the ice wall, maybe what happened to him wouldn’t have. She wasn’t sure she could handle two people being missing because of her inaction. These thoughts weighed on her heavily as she followed instructions and helped people until enforcement arrived. She too needed to be seen by a medic, though her wounds were far less severe than Haimehen’s. After she had gotten the all clear, she found where they had stashed his unconscious form, and stole a moment. “You better be okay.” She smiled a little, looking over him and frowning. He was terribly beat up. “There’s more where this came from,” Lolo leaned in and kissed his cheek, “So come back to us soon.”

After being shooed away so he could be taken for treatment, Marlowe rejoined the others and listened to Silk’s instructions without any argument - that should have been Mila’s job. Lolo’s brows tightened and she looked at Farrah, before dropping her eyes. She didn’t know Mila - or Farrah, or any of them, really - that well. But this loss hurt. She felt… Responsible for it. Lolo stayed close to Lyra the whole way back to Hammer, and she couldn’t bring herself to look at Farrah the entire trip. Subtly, Lolo reached out and snatched Lyra’s hand and laced their fingers - and whether Lyra wanted it or not, she wasn’t getting that hand back until they were forcefully separated by some other force. It’d only been a week, but Marlowe had accepted that these people were going to be with her for four years. They were her people. One of them was missing. How could she not hurt?

It might have been because of her.

She had certainly failed to protect the team like they were supposed to do.

Lolo squeezed Lyra’s hand. Maybe, up until now, she had been taking the gravity of partnership and teamhood for granted. But during the silent trip back to the academy, she felt its full brunt. If they had been better, Haim wouldn’t be where he was. Mila would be with them. For the first time since they’d met, the color in her eyes seemed dull, and she glanced at her partner with sad scarlet orbs, silently vowing that she’d always find Lyra. All of them, but nothing would take her partner away from her.

* * * * *

At the Academy, Marlowe was the first to be separated from the group at Silk’s insistence. She hesitated there too, clinging to Lyra’s hand as if afraid to let her out of her sight. But it didn’t take much of Silk’s stern, intolerant gaze to get her to finally give Lyra her hand back. “See you soon.” She said, to Lyra, but everyone more generally. Dipping into the room, she sighed and found a place to sit. Her head thumped back, and she felt like she was missing… “Damnit…” Marlowe swiped at the space of her head, realizing that her hat was gone and probably lost forever in the ruins of Dazzle & Dust. What a terrible capstone to the night. She looked down at her suit, and the long sleeves of the shirt underneath which were burnt beyond repair. Her vest was missing a button, and there were singed marks across it. Holes in her pants. Nothing about this outfit, except her shoes, was going to be salvageable. “Great.” Even her hair was going to need some loving after the whole lightning bolt thing.

It felt like hours sitting in the room alone. The longer she was in there, the more antsy she became. She tried the door no less than four times, only to find it locked each time. It was easy to distract herself early with her ruined attire, but eventually she thought to the others…

How was Haimehen doing? He had actually been broken, that was going to take time to mend. On the plus side, he wasn’t going to be able to run away from her flirtations now! That brought a little smile to her lips - though it only lasted briefly.

Namid must be worried about him. And Mila. How was she going to handle this… Event? Disaster? Lolo wasn’t really sure what to classify it as. Regardless, the weight of all of this must be weighing on her. She was going to need some attention too - maybe they could go see Haim together tomorrow. Would everyone want to go?

It occurred to her then that she and Lyra were the only squad to make it out of the event whole. She was deeply thankful for that. Looking at the door, Lolo pondered what Lyra was thinking about right then.

Farrah was probably thinking about Mila, and that was more than reasonable. Lolo’s heart broke for her. She couldn’t even imagine what she’d be like if it’d been Lyra. Actually, she could. She wouldn’t be handling it with anywhere near the grace Farrah was - she’d have been a rabid dog about it.

Which finally brought her to Mila. Who were those people? Taking her probably wasn’t intentional, not from what she saw. That meant…

Thankfully the door opened and interrupted that thought before she could paint it any further. “Professor.” She said, standingly slowly. The ache from the intensity of the fight had set in - she couldn’t recall the last time she’d gone so hard. “Yes, Sir.” She confirmed. Relief washed over her face when he promised Haim would be fine. “I’m glad. Will we be able to see him?” Of course the news of no news regarding Mila got her to drop back into her seat and frown. “What are we going to do…?” Not just finding Mila, but surely being a person down had implications for the team as a whole.

His inquiry should have been expected, but Lolo really didn't put much thought into it. “Well, uhm…” What had happened tonight? She was probably the least qualified to give answers. “We went to go get some arcanite for upcoming classes. Shir told us that we’d need it. That’s how we ended up at Dazzle and Dust.” Lolo licked her lips, because that was really the most clear part of the story. “Haim and Namid were going to take care of the order, so Lyra and I went to check out what they had. I don’t…” She squinted, “I don’t remember what Farrah and Mila were doing.” Marlowe shook her head, “Lyra went to check on Haimehen and Namid’s progress I think. And I was checking out these weapons, when these two guys boxed me in. I heard something happening up front, and went to go see, but they wouldn’t let me pass. Then,” She grumbled a little, the ache in her back flaring with memory, “One of them shot me! So I defended myself.” She certainly wasn’t about to apologize for that.

“But then things got… Mila came running over the aisles and cut off the other guy's hand? And then there was an explosion… Farrah rescued me.” And she’d repaid her by failing to save Mila. Lolo looked down and got quiet until prompted to continue. “Oh, uh, I got out to the street. Farrah went back in to find Mila. Then a guy grabbed Lyra.” She described Ocean as a young-thirties man with dark hair in fine clothes, with a nifty cane. “I went to get her back, and he shot me. They went up a fire escape, and I followed.” Then there was the ice, but how did she explain that? She didn’t enjoy the idea of throwing Lyra under the bus. “Lyra had engaged him by the time I got up there.” She gnawed her lip, “Everything else happened really fast. I don’t know where the jet came from. Haim got a good shot off and then I caught the man, I had him down. But then the elf… The next thing I know, he’s shooting me with a lightning bolt, and then Professor Whyte showed up.”

[Envious]

Character Name: Farrah
Date | Time: October 6th | 8:00pm ish
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: This. ish
Tagging | Mentioning: | , ,
Notes:


Patience was not a virtue that came easy to Farrah. There were two identical chairs flanking a small round table and she had sat down as requested when escorted to her waiting room, but as soon as her bottom had hit the chair, she had sprung back up. It was a clumsy maneuver with her shield and Mila’s boomerangs. Silk had been mid-way to closing the door and had given her a look; the woman had treated her gently, but firmly, and Farrah didn’t mean to be difficult. She pretended that her movement had simply been to set the weapons down. It was as if the Champion knew it wasn’t compliance that had kept Farrah quiet and still on the ride back to school, but shock.

Well, the shock had worn off and all that was left was a frantic energy.

She had sat back down long enough for Silk to shut the door before she had shot back up. The sudden movement had hurt. The damage she had endured was visibly present across her barely-clothed body and without the burst of adrenaline, there was nothing to dull the pain.

And there was a lot of it.

Her skin felt too tight in some areas where flesh had been stripped bare and too soft in others were dark patches were swelling into nasty bruises. The dried sweat mingled with the detritus of two buildings falling on her made her scalp itch uncontrollably. She had already scratched to the point of skin and blood being needing to be picked out of her short fingernails, but the itch couldn’t be satisfied. She wanted to scratch again, but resisted for fear of cutting deeply into her scalp. She pulled at her braid instead. It didn’t take long for it to unravel and white, wavy locks spread from shoulder to shoulder

“Did the jet hit you? It looked like it did.” Mila wasn’t there to answer, but speaking aloud seemed to calm Farrah down. “Then the lightning. What’s with the lightning? I was right under you, Mila!” Why hadn’t that been enough? Their distance had been negligible - well, it was supposed to have been negligible. Farrah had almost caught up to her partner. Damn that lightning! Absentmindedly, her fingers found their way to her hair to give a quick scratch as she paced the room recounting the same 2 minutes over and over again. No new information. No epiphany of insight.

After 8 minutes, Farrah tried the door. It was locked. Dejected, she moved to place her hands on the back of her chair and lean forward. “Shopkeeper alright? All those families. Why did the building come down like that? Both of them?” Was that a usual occurrence? A terrorist attack? Intentional? An accident?

After 4 minutes, Farrah tried the door again. It was locked. Irritated, she paced the perimeter of the wall with her fingers sliding across its surface. “Why did everyone leave? What were they doing on the roof of that building? Don’t think that jet was military. The hell is a Crimson Jackal?” Mila had seemed to agree that those suits in the store were up to no good. Had it been a robbery?

After 2 minutes, Farrah tried the door again. It was locked. Angry, she stomped over to the round end table and picked it up. The furniture made it up over her head before she fluidly put it back on the floor. It was hard to tell if she had changed her course of action or if the motion had ended the way it had always intended to. She rapped her knuckles on the hardwood and noticed there were several dents on its surface. This table was used to roughhousing. She scratched her head again. “Please be okay.” She started to cry. There was nothing silent about the full-bodied sobs. She gasped for breath as she bawled and her tears were so large that it cleared her cheeks of dirt.

After an unknown number of minutes, Farrah heaved one last lungfull of air on her wailing before falling silent. She sniffled as the door opened and Moss entered. Eyes glassy, face puffy, shoulders hunched, and ears drooping Farrah was a sorry sight, but there was a sparkle of hope as she jumped to her feet.

“Mila?”

“Unfortunately we still have no word on Mila. That will take some time.”

She slunk back down into her seat as the deputy headmaster took a seat next to her. She stared at the ground while he spoke. “Onyx Enforcement and Service is interviewing mister Kola, the owner of Dazzle and Dust. Haimehen will be fine, I’m told. A broken leg, but nothing a few weeks of treatments can’t fix.”

“That bad?” Farrah interjected, but Moss only gave her a level gaze.

“I need you to tell me what happened tonight. How did Haimehen end up in the hospital? How did Mila end up kidnapped? Why are there thirteen displaced families, and still smoldering ruins of a local business?”

Farrah covers her face with her hands and groans into her palms. “Don’t know.” Her fingers move away from her face and into her hair. The backs of her fingernails scrape against her head as she pulls the hair out of her face and sat up straight. “Wasn’t there. The building had fallen on me ‘n Shop- Kola.” She stands up. “Today sucked.” She starts pacing. Three long strides past Moss before stopping. “I was blown out of a window.” Her hands mime an explosion. She turns on her heel. “Burned. Electrocuted.” She starts pacing again. “A building fell on me. I was electrocuted again. Blown off of another building.” Her hands move to enunciate her words. Her volume isn’t hysterical; she seems confused - it was like shock was hitting her again. She pauses, steepling her fingers together and pressing the tips of her pointers against her lips. She gathers her thoughts and then points her prayer-clasped hands at Moss.

“That sounds crazy.” Farrah waits for his judgement, but it doesn’t come. She had an expectation, but it wasn’t being met. She takes a deep breath. “Talkin’ to a guy with one eye. Guess you know crazy.” Moss gives a wry smile and it calms the internal racing unexpectedly. He probably had seen, heard, and experienced a lot crazier than she was about to recite, and that was strangely comforting.

“How’d you lose your- Wait.” She holds her her hands up as if to fend off her own tangents. “First thing’s first. Tonight. We went shopping for arcanite.” Was that really it? That sounded so mundane. How had things gotten so off track? She starts to pace again, concentrating on her story rather than Moss.

“Shir thought it might be a good idea to be fully stocked. We agreed. Dunno if we got any. Haim was filling up the canisters. I used the biggest chunk of green arcanite I ever seen! The size of me head!” She frames her head with her hands to illustrate and then drops her arms slowly. “Lolo was trapped under a burning shelf. Something happened back where she was. There was gunfire. Then explosions… Why?” She seems to want the same answers Moss does.

“Have you heard of a Crimson Jackal? They came in the store. Didn’t know it at the time, but Mila-” She clenches her fist. Where are you? “Mila knew what they were. And me? I got… My shimmer ain’t just me pull. That I can control, but I got this… extra thing. Ever just know somethin’ in your gut? I do. These Crimson Jackal’s come in one after the other. Whole gang of ‘em and I just know deep in me bones that it’s trouble. Thought they was there to rob the place - didn’t know they were gunna blow it up - honest.” She finally flops down in the chair again to look at Moss.

“There was this peacock fellow. Older guy. Goatee. Had a beat stick. The kind old dudes lean on to walk, but he didn’t need it for that. It was meant to be pretty. Even had one of those sea animals with the wavy arms on it. Jellyfish? And I told ‘im. I says to the Shopkeeper when Namid and Lyreilynn are right there that I think he’s about to get himself robbed. I says to Kola he best call the police.” She flexes her ankle until it pops and then with the heel still up, starts to bounce her leg rapidly.

“That jet that came. That won’t the police. That won’t the military. They the ones that blew up the other building. Who does that?” She shakes her head and places her feet flat on the ground and instead crosses her arms. She was resisting the urge to claw at her itchy scalp. “Haim, bless him. He got them elven ears real good. Can hear a fly fart at fifty feet. He started the call while Namid and Lyra bickered with the peacock about what to do. Them Jackals was dressed sharp, but he was a cut above. He wanted us to leave. Said he’d put our purchase on his tab. Lyra didn’t wanna do that. She kinda mean. Doesn’t like when she don’t get her way and she wanted to keep shopping. Called me an idiot over what I did, but somethin’ needin’ doin’. Mila bein’ fearless tellin’ that asshole to go make noise at another shop in town. Namid wanting everyone to go. Was a pissing match and that peacock had his boys spread over the full shop and Marlowe’s no place to be seen.

“Anywho, I reckon I’m ahead of meself. Like I said, I just knew deep in the bones somethin’ wasn’t right. So I give ‘em the ol’ 1-2.” She jabs her fists out one, two. “First time the peacock tells us to leave I make to do it, except I don’t. I get right up to the door where one o’ them bug-eyed ‘n smug Jackals is standing and I give ‘im a tap to the jaw. He won’t expecting that and he goes down after one good sock. They all do. Them boys had the right look. Mean ‘n menacing with them striped ties and dark shades. But one tap knocks ‘em down like they made of paper. That strange to you? It strange to me. Wasn’t even a fight.

“Right, so I was gunna pull the ol’ peacock out the door - I figure if he goes, they all go. Use me shimmer and yank ‘im back and it’s workin’ save for Lyra who jumps in the way. She tells me to stop sos I do. Don’t even get him full back to me ‘cause she catches him. Acts like she don’t know us. Calls us acquaintance and the old dude calls her Silver. Called me an idiot. I say that already? Anyway, Namid’s the team lead and she’s leadin’ us out the door with what she’s sayin’. Wants us and the Jackals out. Sos I do. Except I don’t. ‘Cause I’m blown out the window.”

She stands up and rubs her face again. “Lotta things go out the window. I tossed that plane out the window. Some Sunbeam Sparkle guy made it and the shopkeeper said it was special to him. Tossed Mila out the window, too. That was because the floor was big danger. It was all lightning and she was screamin’ for help. That hurt to walk through, but I needed to get closer to reach her. All that fire and smoke - she just needed a safe spot to get her shimmer goin’ and she don’t weigh nothin’ so I toss her out. The lightning… never seen somethin’ like that before. Could see the little zig-zags pop and coil at my fingertips and the connection break once she got far nuff away. She was fine. Till she got exploded again.”

She reaches up to itch at her head again. The movement causes skin that had scabbed over to break and little droplets of blood start to well up on the back of her shoulder from where she had skidded off of the pavement.

“Dunno how all the explosions started. Them Jackals were lookin’ for trouble and they found it with Marlowe. If they was treatin’ her like that one was talkin’ to Mila, I can imagine what she done did, but I can’t says for sure. Anyway, there was a loud boom. Gunshot? It’s the signal ‘cause them Jackals jump to action and everyone starts fightin’ save the peacock. Haim had tried to talk ‘em down sayin’ we was Hammer students. Mila tried to talk ‘em down by not backin’ down. Namid tried to talk ‘em down sayin’ a threat. Lyra tried to talk ‘em down sayin’ to please stop the fight. Them Jackal’s won’t there to talk so I don’t say nothin’ to no one. I don’t think they been payin’ attention in that team logistics class. Well, shout-out to Haim. He trusted me. And I don’t doubt Mila. But I said what I said and did what I did and it wasn’t received so I stopped and did what they said and that didn’t work either because when I left to go out the door like Namid said, that’s when the first explosion happened.”

She rhythmically taps her abs ta tap ta tap ta tap. “It hurt. That peacock was blown out too with Lyra and Namid, but not all of us made it out. So I went back in. Haim was knocked back, but able to get hiself out. Lolo was trapped. Carried her out most the way, but then we heard Mila. Lolo went out to the others, I went back for Mila. Got her all the way out. Heard more. Those Jackals - they was askin’ for help, too. I woulda- I woulda gone back for ‘em all. Didn’t want to at first ‘cause of the building. Was scary. Was scared. Big scared. But they didn’t deserve that. Didn’t have no hard feelin’s and the police woulda sorted everything out in the end. Saw the Shopkeeper first. Got to him first, but then the buildin’ fell on us both. Thought that was the end.”

She sits down criss-cross on the floor and tenderly caresses her shield. “Legacy saved us.” She picks up one of Mila’s boomerangs. “Had to dig us out meself. Mila had been blown back and no one else in sight. Street was clear. No idea why everyone left us.” She is silent for about 15 seconds before she speaks again. Her voice is low.

“Mila came to once me ‘n ol’ Kola was out of the rubble and she says she’s goin’ up. No problem - I’m right behind her. There’s a fight goin’ on. Can hear the shootin’ and the screamin’ so we gotta go find our team. Had her in sight nigh the whole time once this whole fuss started. This was no exception til the jet. Looked like the thing tried to ram her down as she’s shimmer steppin’ up and I’m runnin’ the wall with the help of Legacy. Then the lightning strikes and I’m blown back…”

She has been fidgeting up until this point. Her body has been animated - moreso than her voice - but all of that energy has dissipated and there is an empty stillness to her. One of the boomerangs is held limply in her hand. She’s staring at it.

“I thought comin’ here was the scariest thing I’d ever do. Thought fear was behind me.  Learned seven new types of fears tonight. This won’t nothin’ like that, but it… I was too afraid to go back in that building. Thought I could do it. I jumped in. I did. I did try. But then somethin’ fell and it was dark and I didn’t know left from right ‘n I…  I jumped back out. I didn’t go in and that kept me from gettin’ to Mila and she was taken’ because I was a coward thinkin’ about mine own self instead of her.”

The thought occurs that Farrah hates this room. It is too small and it felt like it is going to fall on her. She looks up at Moss. “It was the first thing we was told. Get you a partner and keep ‘em safe. I got a whole list of people to appolgize to over what happened tonight. Ain’t none of it right. Sorry ain’t gunna fix one thing, either. But I am sorry and I will do right by Mila.” She frowns.

“Shoulda stuck to me gut. It was right. It always is. But I hesitated ‘n look what that did. I shoulda kicked that peacock in the face when he was laid flat in the street and that woulda put an end to the nonsense.” She was so sure of it. Just like she was so sure that sucker punching the Jackal had been the right call.

“Just one more thing to be sorry fer.” She takes the boomerang set in one hand. She picks up Legacy in the other. Both weapons away from home with their original owners lost. Memento’s of Farrah’s failures kept close to remind her of what a fraud she was.

“Mila will be okay. That girl knows sunup from sundown and what be between… Gunna be just fine... But as I was sayin’, I don’t go up. Mila gets taken. Still haven’t seed head nor tail of anyone else except a glance of Marlowe beatin’ that peacock on the rooftop. Then it’s police and Silk and more rescuin’ and here. What's next?”

[FyreFoxx]

Character Name: Lyreilynn "Lyra" Xyrven Myalis
Date | Time: October 6 | Late Evening
Location: Dazzle & Dust
Wearing: Pale blue blouse with open shoulders, long teal skirt with lighter blue panels underneath, wide cloth belt, ankle boots, worn leather crossbody bag
Tagging | Mentioning: Marlowe, Moss | Haimehen, Namid, Mila, Farrah, Ocean, Xaexyl

The amount of relief that washed over Lyra the moment Lolo grabbed her outstretched hand was like an entire waterfall cascading over her body. There was a moment where she flinched from the intensity of her grip, but the thought was pushed out of her mind near instantaneously. Marlowe’s safety was worth a bit of discomfort. Lyra got her feet under her as she stood shakily, her other arm moving to grasp Lolo’s, using her new leverage to help pull the other woman back up towards safety where the roof was still intact. Once they were out of danger, Lyra stumbled back an extra step, hands on her knees as she doubled over, her breathing a bit ragged. She had little strength to work with, but she was not going to let Marlowe fall. Not when she could prevent it.
 
She barely had a moment to herself when Marlowe called out the name of their other teammate, pushing her behind the taller woman. The elf blinked in surprise, silver eyes wide as she looked around. She knew there were still enemies nearby; Ocean was badly hurt but still a problem and there was that new elf that had shown up. And what about Mila? What was her role in this? Wasn’t she still on the ground with Farrah?
 
Marlowe had apparently seen something she didn’t, moving to protect the smaller Elf and about to start ripping faces off like a rabid dog craving a fight. Lyra knew this couldn’t go on. Lolo couldn’t do this. Even Lyra could tell how badly injured she was, and likely didn’t even have her Soul left intact to shield her. Trembling fingers reached out to that proverbial leash, latching loosely onto her wrist. Marlowe could have easily shrugged off her touch; she was far stronger than the frail little elf. But… she didn’t. She merely looked sad that she was stopped. “No more…” was all she managed to get out, her voice starting to shake. No more fighting. No more injuries. No more.
 
But again, her good intentions proved to be used against them, the opposing elf using that moment to attack. Lyra saw the smirk from that distance, saw him raise his hand in the shape of finger guns, saw the way it was cocked back and how a single word passed his lips. Saw and had no time to react. What could she even do? She didn’t have time to yank one of her bracelets off and conjure up some elemental shielding. And even if she did, how would that help? The best she might be able to do would be using water and then her Shimmer to create ice, but that was a two-step process. A process she didn’t have time to work through.
 
A small yelp escaped her as she reflexively raised her arms over her head, lowering her body into a crouch behind Marlowe as the lightening arced towards them, eyes shut tight. But instead of hitting them at full force, she instead felt Marlowe bump into her. Carefully, she opened one eye, peering up at the woman, before she flat out stared in wonder. Marlowe had created a hardlight shield just in time to stop the attack, but the force of it was pushing her backwards into the tiny elf. Standing, Lyra placed her hands against Marlowe’s shoulders, trying to add her body weight into it to stop her from continuing to slide.
 
It wasn’t long before even that could stand up against the assault, the crackling energy nipping at Marlowe’s arms. She heard the cries from her partner before she, too, felt them. It was quite literally a shock to her system, jerking her hands from Marlowe as they wrapped around her own body, fingers twitching as she collapsed to her knees. Her soul absorbed some of the initial hit, but she could still feel the crackling energy coursing through her body. It was intense, and she could only imagine the amount of pain Marlowe was suffering without the aide of her soul to soften the blow.
 
New tears had welled up in her eyes, spilling over to trail down her cheeks as she went through the motions of trying to shake of the metaphorical and literal shock. Pulling her hands away from her body, Lyra stared down at her trembling hands, fingers curled over, unable to flex them fully extended. Once feeling had been reestablished, the elf snapped her head up to look at her partner, the taller woman dazed and smoking.
 
Both of them on their knees, the elf reached over to clap both of her hands over Marlowe’s cheeks, staring into the other woman’s eyes intently. “Marlowe, are you all right?!” She let her gaze travel over her body, taking in her disheveled and slightly singed form, before returning her eyes to her face. She gently turned Lolo’s face first one way, then the other, like she was appraising her of any injuries she might have missed. With a satisfied sigh, Lyra let her fingers slowly slip from her cheeks to land on Marlowe’s shoulders, leaning in slightly to rest her forehead against the taller woman’s chest. “Thank goodness…”
 
“I am fine,” she started, her words slightly muffled with her face buried in fabric. Before another word was uttered, Marlowe seemed to come to her senses and there was a profound sense of loss as she jumped up and sprinted away towards the edge of the building. Mila… had been in the jet?! “W-what do you mean? Was she not with Farrah on the ground?” She had not even noticed that Mila had made her way towards the rooftop, but Marlowe certainly had. Was that why she had called out to her earlier? What had she missed? Her focus had been on getting Marlowe to safety, but Marlowe had been looking out for her and seen Mila.
 
Lyra frowned, furrowing her brows as she mulled over this new information. Mila had gotten the short end of the stick and gotten between two parties she shouldn’t have. This was exactly the reason why she had stopped Marlowe earlier. This was why she had tried so hard to stop the fighting in the first place. Ocean was not someone to mess with, and now one of their teammates was missing. Intentional? Had they taken her as retaliation for attacking Ocean after Lyra had said she’d let him go unscathed? Was this her fault? Or was it just accidental? A mishap from Mila interfering and getting caught in something bigger than her?
 
Professor Whyte had shown up moments later, Lyra still trying to process the current events. Lolo dislodged her from her thoughts, helping her to her feet and gently guiding her towards the ground over the broken parts of the building. Her mind was still running a mile a minute. What could she have done differently? Could she had done things differently? What had been the right call? The wrong one?
 
It wasn’t until Whyte prompted them to assist in locating Haimehen that she stopped stalling, her brain kicking back into gear and just going with the motions. She remembered seeing Haim getting knocked back towards the roof access, so she set about trying to find the entrance from the lower levels. It wasn’t long before she found him at the bottom of the stairs and called for help. Of their team, Lyra was the least injured, having been on the sidelines of most of the fighting. A medic cleared her nearly right away, as her injuries were slight at best, and still minor at worst. Only one wound required stitches, but the rest was simple bandages or would heal on their own.
 
Lyra was distracted the entire way back to Hammer. Whyte had taken control of the situation and largely kept the authorities away from the students. The Silenus insisted they remain silent. Lyra had no problems with that, her mind elsewhere, replaying the events over and over in her mind. She barely was conscious of the fact Marlowe had taken her hand, lacing their fingers together. The elf leaned against Lolo’s arm, her hand tightening its grip on the comfort she offered. Any other occasion, Lyra would have flinched and jerked away at the subtlest touch, like coming into contact with a hot stove, but right now, her subconscious was craving the quiet comfort of someone just being there for her. Marlowe’s presence meant as much to her as hers did to Marlowe.
 

*****

 
It wasn’t until they arrived back at the academy that Lyra truly felt alone. How long had it been since that feeling had creeped up on her? That overwhelming sense of loneliness? While it had only been about a week since the teams were formed, she’d been at the academy for about two weeks, surrounded by other students. Only a few of those days had she not had Marlowe at her side. One by one, the four remaining members of Gravity were separated and led to different rooms, each locked away awaiting to be debriefed by a member of staff.
 
Lyra approached one of the two chairs in the room, taking a seat as she smoothed out her skirts. They were ripped nearly to shreds, pale skin showing through the various holes and tears in the fabric. There were bandages wrapped around her knees from crawling around on the ground after the initial explosion. Other smaller cuts were visible but left untreated, merely cleaned up and left to their own devices. Frowning, she rearranged her skirts to hide as much as possible, flicking off pieces of debris that tried to cling to the fabric. Would she even be able to salvage this outfit? Inspecting her blouse with a fresh frown, she let out a deep sigh when she realized that no, probably not.
 
With the time she had alone, Lyra went over the events of the evening in her head once more, trying to figure out where she went wrong. She calculated nearly all of the risks, tried to account for the variables of her teammates, but still something went wrong. The jet arrived had thrown everything out the window. She hadn’t expected such a show of force from tiny Namid, which opened a window for Haimehen to attack. That disorienting blow was the turning point, she reasoned, idly reaching up to touch her ears. There was a lingering headache, but the medics assured her that her ears were fine with no lasting damage and her full range of hearing would return soon.
 
Tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear, Lyra glanced up as the door finally opened. She had never even tried to open it, resigning herself to her fate to wait for the professor to show up. Lyra rose from her seat as the man entered the room, waiting for Moss to seat himself, as she remained quiet, following his movements with her eyes alone. “Greetings, Professor,” she finally broke the silence, allowing herself to sit, adjusting the bag at her feet. At some point, her bag had been recovered and returned to her, much like most other belongings from her teammates. She nodded along with his words, thinking back to the evening’s events. There was a sense of relief when he stated that Haimehen would be fine after some treatments. He had been in pretty bad shape when she found him collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. He was lucky. “I… am happy to hear that.” But as Moss continued, warning her about Mila’s fate, Lyra’s expression fell, dropping her gaze to her lap, her fingers twisting bits of fabric between them. She shifted in her seat as she straightened up, knowing what was coming next. This is where her explanations would start.
 
Lyra raised her head, looking at the professor straight in the eyes, a mask of indifference covering her face. She was never one to be the emotional type. No, logic was her strong suit, and logic demanded explanations. Logic was reason. Logic needed answers to questions. Questions he was asking. But did she really have the right answers? “Our mentor, Shir, had approached us during our meal to inform us about a requirement for arcanite for some upcoming classes.” Her voice was soft, but steady, going over the events one at a time as they happened. If he wanted answers, she needed to start at the beginning.
 
“We, the six of us, decided that it was best to shop for it this evening, when we were all free after class. Dazzle and Dust was the second shop we approached, as it was getting late and the first one we had information on was closed. I found the second one using my phone.” She gestured slightly towards the bag at her feet where her phone and other belongings were. “Haimehen was in charge of gathering the dust we needed, since he had the largest bag available. Namid had the list and was with the shopkeeper – Kola you said? The rest of us, well, we split up.” She paused here, her neutral expression faltering for a moment. She remembered being distracted by all the crystals in the shop, how she had let her fingers trail over the beautiful displays. “Marlowe and I were in the back of the shop. I do not know what the others were doing at that point.”
 
Moss listened quietly to her report, urging her to continue whenever her words started to die off. “At some point, Marlowe and I were separated. I believe she continued browsing while I went back to the front of the store. Some people had come in and I admit I was… curious. The door chime kept going off.” A frown had started to make its way onto her face. “These men entered, one by one. They were all dressed the same, save for one. I do not recall how many men arrived, but there…” Trailing off, that frown deepened. “There were many of them. More than necessary. Bodyguards, perhaps? That is what I assumed. The gentleman was dressed to the nines. Wealthy. Poised. Seemed to exude confidence and know what he was doing.” Another pause as she described her first impression of Ocean. “He did not even look at us, simply wanted us gone.”
 
Lyra let out a small sigh, regaining her composure. “I am used to seeing that in Unovia. My homeland,” she added after Moss gave her a questioning look at the mention of another continent. “Wealth demands respect there. One can buy a shopping experience of solidarity if they so wish. I did not expect to see that here in Onyx. I am sure you are aware that I am new to Johtan,” she gently reminded him, before continuing. “Farrah, she—” Lyra gave an indignant huff at this point in her storytelling. “She hauled off and punched one of his guards! Can you believe that? No warning. I thought she was going outside, like the gentleman asked, but she just knocked one of them to the ground.” Lyra still wasn’t sure if she was impressed by the single punch or annoyed by the whole ordeal.
 
“I tried to intervene and diffuse the situation, apologizing to him on her behalf. He offered to put the arcanite we had already gathered on his tab as recompense for our sudden departure. I asked if we could continue shopping, as we were nearly done. The others, they…” Lyra took a moment to steady her breathing. “They were not so accommodating. I recall Haimehen contacting the authorities, and Namid began to threaten him – the gentleman, that is. Mila seemed to know them, or of them? I am not sure of the difference.”
 
Closing her eyes, Lyra took a moment to recall what came after that. “The rest happened so fast; I am not really sure what came first. A fight broke out, there was a gunshot near the back of the store. I think Marlowe was involved with that but I—” she cleared her throat, letting out another sigh as she let her gaze fall to her lap where her hands were now folded to keep her fingers from shredding the frayed edges of her clothing more. “I left her alone. The rest, we were all in the front of the store, but she… Mila went after her? I do not remember. The explosion happened. We were all thrown out the window into the street. Well, some of us. Mila and Marlowe were still inside. Farrah went back in after them. That man, he…”
 
She paused here, staring down at her hands with a scowl, one hidden by the hair falling into her face. “He took me hostage,” Lyra continued, masking her scowl as anger over the situation. “The others kept attacking him. I suppose I was the least threatening.” She let out a scoff, an expression mixed between sadness and indignation on her face. “He wanted information, he said. Led me to the roof of the nearby building, away from the others. And we talked. Just like he wanted. Was not for long, since the others followed us pretty quickly.” Moss stopped her, asking for details about what the man wanted. “Oh, I apologize. That man, he wanted to know why we were there. Haimehen had mentioned while in the shop that we were students, so I confirmed that. He thought we might have been sent to interfere with his business, but I assured him we had nothing to do with anything. It was merely a coincidence. I still do not know what was going on.”
 
Another pause, biting her lower lip, as she got dangerously close to oversharing. Should she mention his name? She was the only one who had gotten it, alone together on the rooftop. Ocean mentioned that Hammer knew about him. Would it be better to tell them now so they could handle it? Or could she use this as a bargaining chip later? Would it even be possible to see them again? They had Mila, but would she get the chance to turn the tables and get her back with this knowledge? She had to take that chance and make another calculated risk. For Mila.
 
And what about her use of her Shimmer? Should she mention the ice? No, no, that wouldn’t be a good idea. It would implicate her in matters that she didn’t have a defense for. If the others brought it up, she could elaborate on it later, but right now, she simply left it out. “The others arrived and attacked him. He shot Haimehen in turn. Before long, the jet showed up and someone came to his aide. I—” she took a moment to consider her words. Surely this much would be okay? “I believe he was using a strange Shimmer, as if he was controlling the weather itself. I have never seen anything like it. There was a blast of wind strong enough to knock Namid and Haimehen away, and a lightning strike that destroyed part of the building.”
 
“Between the wind, the stairs, and the gunshot, those were likely the cause of Haimehen’s injuries,” Lyra offered as an explanation to the earlier question of how Haim ended up in the hospital. “We did not know the building was occupied,” she offered in response to the displaced families. “That was not our fault. He, the elf that showed up with the jet, he destroyed the building. As a distraction? I do not know. I was too focused on helping Marlowe. She—She was falling, the building had collapsed.” Lyra had to stop, her mask of indifference long since abandoned. Her eyes stung. Chastising herself for letting emotions take hold, she took a few steadying breaths. “I had no knowledge of Mila arriving on the scene until Marlowe brought her up. I assumed she was still with Farrah on the ground, since neither had followed us to the rooftop.”
 
“The elf attacked us – Marlowe and I. Another lightning strike, but shorter range. They… They left after that. Professor Whyte showed up after that, and you know the rest.” Casually, she made a sweeping gesture with one hand, before fingers curled in on themselves to make a fist, retracting her hand to settle back in her lap. She tried to regain her composure, tried to keep the image of someone who let logic and understanding lead, instead of letting emotions control her, but it was hard. Mila was gone, and it could have been because of her and her decisions. She had tried so hard for a peaceful encounter, tried to stop her teammates at every turn from attacking Ocean, and look where it got them. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she steadied her gaze on Professor Moss. “Am I done now? May I leave?”

[shengami]

Character Name: Haimehen
Date Oct. 7 | Time: Morning (~7 a.m.)|
Location: Onyx Military Hostipal
Wearing: A hospital gown
Tagging: Open| Mentioning: All| All
He stared at the ceiling and its monotonous pattern of off-white squares separated by aluminum metal framework and sighed, "I didn't recognize them at first. I am not a frequent visitor of the Eastern Quarter." Struggling, Haim sat up slowly and shuffled back in the bed to lean against the cardboard pillow. His vision slowly settled on Moss as his legs jostled and a spear of pain lanced up the side of his body.

An hour ago, it would have been hard for him to focus like this. Not because of sleep, no. He'd hardly slept. No thoughts or reruns of the night before had plagued him though, only the pan of a battered, bruised, and beaten body. He'd never in his life been that close to dead. He did not relish experiencing it again. He huffed a sigh. He'd only gotten anything resembling sleep after hours or surgery to repair the leg and a heavy does of pain meds was aplied. Pain meds that he had refused upon awakening. He was not sure how long his willpower would keep the medicine at bay, but he wanted his head clear. For now.

He pursed his lips and considered the questions slowly once more. The news the Mila was missing, apparently taken, was unsettling and he wondered how Farrah was taking it. The tall elven woman was a kind soul and seemed fond of her squadmate. He sympathized with Farrah and hoped that Mila would be found safe and sound released by the Crimson Jackals. He grit his teeth as he thought of the thugs. "But Mila named them at some point. She recognized them before I could. Once she put a name on them, I knew they were up to no good. Gangsters, in that concentration? Moving through the store, isolating customers? Tch, anyone with sense saw it was a robbery." He flinched then and chastised himself. If he had not been made aware of who they were, would he have read that in their intent? Perhaps not. He needed to be more charitable. It was hard for him though to be charitable to those who endangered his companions. He blinked and slapped his hand down on the thigh of his injured leg. It sent clarifying needles of pain into his brain.

That is over and done, fool. The choice made. Move on.

He motioned that he was fien to Moss and grit his teeth through a spike of pain, "Whatever the case. Our team. is new. We don't yet work together as well as possible. There was miscommunication, a..." he looked out the narrow frosted window of the military hospital searching the air for words. The room was spartan and the place quiet. He felt how empty it was. He grimaced again and continued, "Anyway, there were shots fired. Well, I think Farrah threw the first punch. She thinks with her heart." He smiled warmly as he said it and felt both its truth and how much he envied it. What would he be doing right now if he thought with his heart? Whose arms might he be in? He shook the memories away. He didn't think like that, "I was worried aboutour authority. We were only students, after all. Not ranch hands to go tearing off after livestock on our own. I pulled out my phone to call OES. Figured that was the right thing to do. Then.. I think after that, I heard shots from the back of the shop. Shortly after that, I was shot at. I defended myself and incapacitated the man. I expect that he would be lucky if he survived though. Not my attack, mind, but what came after." He grimaced again and shifted his body. He was uncomfortable. The type of uncomfortable that came with damage and exertion. Yes. But also the type that came with bad memories. He shoved what he could aside.

"The shop exploded. Thinking now, I can understand that some moron must have fired wildly and hit arcanite. Red arcanite, I expect. Well, that tore things up badly. They were picking shards of glass out of me untl midnight. I was covered in arcanite dust. I'm lucky to have survived. If I had not been trained to use my Soul, I doubt I would be. I wasn't blonw outside though. Namid and Lyreilynn were. As was the leader of the gansters. I assume he was their leader, I suppose. They might have just been hired muscle. Considering what came later. That seems out of the league of the Crimson Jackals as I was aware of them. Either way, I saw the man standing over Lyra. I took aim but did not fire; I advised him to leave. He did not take my advice." He shifted again and picked up his cast enclosed leg to move it. The pain was a mild wave, dull and throbbing rather than fast and sharp. He hissed and kept going, "The first time I saw him use that weapon. Some type of firearm or projectile caster hidden in his cane. I could speculate as to its design and function. It seemed similar to my own weapons at some levels. It fired a shot, a sonic round, and then crate a smokescreen thick enough to obscure my Shimmer. Impressive. The man was a competent combatant but not beyond the capacity of our team to."

Haim thought it a bit reckless to make such assessments. He was, basically, a rookie; however, he had learned much from his family. He huffed and felt his stoamch roiling. Subtle signs that the pain and its effects were growing. He sipped a bit of water from the cup near his bed and rolled his shoulders to get himsefl settled a bit, "Humm, after a few seconds, I made out the sounds of someone scaling the side of the residential building. Thinking quickly, I rushed to the entrance and then up the stairs. I was able to make it to the top just as some type of effect was being put in place."

Here, he stopped. He was nearing the point where he would either need to vocie his suspicions of what Lyra had done or omit details. His eyes narrowed as his thoughts raced. In the end, though, he decided to spare Lolo the pain of his suspicions for now. Lyra was Lolo's sqaudmate. If it had been Namid, he'd want the chance to sort it out himself. He nodded, "Some type of dome had been erected. Ice. A sticky problem to solve. I... I hesitated. But Namid used a series of shots and a potent slash of her blade to distrupt it. Then, before it could close, I sent a salvo of rounds into the man. It seemed to have the desired effect of disorienting and injuring the target. Another series of exchanges saw my leg cracked, not yet broken, Namid cut him, and then be flung into Marlowe. I did not see Mila or Farrah during this exchange. I assumed they were still down in the building." Should he have been more focused on them rather than the criminal? Perhaps, but regrets were things best left to the past. "Humm, after that, Marlowe pummeled the man and I thought we had it sewn up neatly." Would have had it done and dusted seconds faster than even that if not for someone. He grit his teeth and didn't bother to hide the snarl. It's causes would be indecipherable from the many reasons he had to be angry. "That was when the jet arrived. I was not aware of its interaction with Mila then. I am deeply saddened to hear of it. Yet another complication that could have been avoided if we had been faster. The... whoever it was. I didn't get a great look. I was blown backwards through the open access door, richocheted off a wall or two, the railing, at least one step, and was found insensate. From there, you know more than me."

Frankly, Haim was amazed he recalled as much as he did. His fingers tapped at the bandage around his head. He chewed the inside of his cheek as Moss asked a few follow-up questions which he answered as best as he could about sequence of events and details. He agreed to make a sketch of the man and his weapon as soon as possible. The doctors were saying that he would be ambulatory in short order, on crutches but ambulatory, and able to attend classes for the most part. He had an excuse to miss soem practical lessons, but he'd try his best not to. He felt a smoldering coal of his determination inside his chest. It was always there, banked but ready to flare to life. He felt his faze harden as he thought about the reason he was at Hammer, that he wanted to be a champion, that he had left happiness and harmony behind. This mess was just a small obstacle, a tiny hurdle on his way to his purpose and he would not let anything get in his way. Not any thing or any person. He pressed his lips together until it hurt and crossed his arms over his chest. If he spoke to his father, who could pull some strings, then he would be able to get arcanite treatments for his bones. If he was willing to endure some pain, he might even get some experimental engineering solutions to speed his recovery even further. His mind whirled, Moss forgotten, as he considered the paths he could take to get back to training. He never saw the man leave. Didn't even think to realized he had until hours later when the nurse came. he shooed her and the pain meds away and asked for paper instead.

[Aethyrium]

Moss Kirk

Namid Valentine

S T O R Y T E L L E ROctober 6th, Late Evening (~8pm) | Onyx - Dazzle & Dust | Urban - No Elemental Resonance
Next Post: Epilogue | Lolo, Haimehen, Farrah, Lyreilynn | Namid
Once locked away, Namid had nearly succumbed to the crushing weight of isolation and failure. She’d gone almost immediately to a chair, sunk into it, drawn her knees to her chest and then laid her head on them. Joyuse sat on the floor beside her in the corner of her vision - a painful reminder of how the night had gone. Ocean’s blood still caked on its fine edge. Several chambers of the revolver mechanism were empty. Why had Lyra made them fight against her? How was Haimehen? Mila… If she had been more decisive in the beginning, none of this would have happened. Maybe she was every bit the failure her father had painted her to be. She squeezed her legs, turned her head and buried her face between her knees. Tears leaked, she had no defiance left.

Fortunately she was not left alone long, and when the door opened she straightened out. Namid rubbed away the wetworks from her cheeks with her shredded sleeve - though the effort was lost to the red puffiness of her eyes. She didn’t know what to say to Moss, so his greeting was met with a limp nod. News of Haim lifted her spirits, “He’s going to be okay? Oh good.” It wasn’t much, but enough tension left her shoulders that she didn’t feel as though she were clenching anymore. “Well then we have to find her.” Namid protested, getting up. She reached for Joyuse.

“We’re already working on it. Stand down, Namid. There’s nothing else you can do tonight.” Moss said.

Her teeth gnawed into her lip. Her hand shook over the hilt of the blade. In not so many words he confirmed that she was useless. She’d let them all down. “Right…” There went all of her spirits again. The questions that came were like bricks on her shoulders. Each one weighed her down more, and Namid visibly shrank in the face of them. Her eyes twitched rapidly, sorting through the distorted images of memory that had been less than perfect in the heat of all the things happening. She should have had her little buddy with them, he could have recorded things. “It’s all my fault.” Namid slumped back into her seat. “I should have… It was my job to guide them and I didn’t. Things just fell apart, and I couldn’t get my hands around it.”

Where had it started? Dinner. She told Moss about Shir approaching them and telling them to get their hands on some supplies early. The trip through Onyx got mostly breezed over. “We were talking to the shopkeeper about his wares.” He lip twitched, and tone saddened, “Mila wanted a bomb.” It had been silly at the time, but if it had meant that Mila was still with them she’d have bought half a dozen magma bombs. “I was looking at Zapfoam when Farrah…” Wincing, she squeezed her eyes shut. That was where it had all gone wrong. Farrah had warned her, said something, but she had failed to do anything. She hadn’t acted or taken control. “I should have taken control right then. If I had… She wouldn’t have hit that man. She was doing what she thought was best, because…” Namid sighed heavily, “Because she didn’t have any leadership.”

Moss scratched his beard, listening intently. He tilted his head, “Go on.” Sadly, Moss was not one to offer the sort of comfort that Namid probably needed right then. Painful self reflection was a valuable teacher that she would benefit from right now. And, more pressingly, his interests were with the debrief rather than any individual's state of being. Like it or not, the life of a Champion was filled with moments like this - doubts about what you were doing, fears if you had done the right thing or could have done more. These too were lessons that Namid, et al, needed to learn.

“There was a man, he wanted us to leave. But we were almost done. If he could have just waited…” Why had it been so important. “I tried to get us all to leave.” But that was where things had really started to fall apart. Everyone was a ball to juggle, and she’d fumbled them all. “Farrah had knocked the guy out, and Mila was taunting the man. Lyra wanted to reason with him, and Haimehen, he wanted…” She really didn’t know, it was lost to the gunshot that had sounded. “Someone fired a shot in the back of the store. Everything escalated. The men in red attacked us, even though Haim warned them. They were totally outclassed. I told the man to leave.” She could still feel her ears ringing after that. “Something happened, and we were out on the street, Lyra and I. And the man. I helped her get up, and then he shot me with some kind of sonic arcanite round.” It had been so disorienting.

“I don’t really remember… Haimehen found me, and said they went to the roof. I followed him up.” Then there was ice. “I think Lyra trapped herself inside with him. I broke the wall… Haim and I worked together. I got a good slash in, but he recovered quickly.” Then there was the steam, right? “Lyra was… I think she was protecting him. We had the man surrounded and she created cover. Or… Or maybe she was trying to protect us? But we had the upper hand.” Namid slumped, “Everyone was so disjointed, because I didn’t take charge. If I had, none of this would have happened. Mila would still be here. Haim… Haim would…” She nibbled her lip. “The man got an assist. I don’t know where he came from, but he nearly sent me off the roof. Next thing I know, Marlowe was talking about Mila being missing. Then the professor took charge. We found Haim and…” And here they were.

If there were a time when Moss was going to absolve guilt, it wasn’t then. With the facts in hand he had other members of gravity to debrief. “You can return to your dorm room.” The deputy headmaster said, rising from his seat while pulling his jacket straight. “The others will join you after I’ve talked with them. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

“I’m sorry…”

* * * * *

“We’re going to coordinate with the OES and try to track down the jet. For now, that’s all we can do.” Moss explained to Marlowe, before hearing her recollection of events.

* * * * *

Moss lifted a brow at Farrah’s boldness about his eye, but he didn’t seem to mind so much as find some amusement in it. He almost stepped in to correct her when she asked about it, but settled when she figured out that was not the time on her own. When she mentioned Crimson Jackals, Moss nodded, “They’re a small-time gang that occasionally gives OES some problems.” Their involvement was peculiar, he thought.

“Next you go back to your dorm. Get some rest. I still need to talk to Lyreilynn and Haimehen. That one, not until morning.” Sighing, “Unfortunately there’s nothing else to be done right now. We’re working with OES to try and track down the jet. But until we have some information, there’s nowhere to look and nothing to do. We need to be patient until we have something. In the meantime, your team took a loss. It’s going to have ripples, you’ll need to figure that out together.”

* * * * *

Both Haimehen and Lyreilynn were thanked for their thorough explanations. Lyra was released to return to the dorm, the last of the team members to arrive that night. Haim, unfortunately, wouldn’t return to the academy until Monday - with daily treatments planned to aid in his recovery over the coming weeks; experts estimated it would take three or four weeks to fully recover, but that he’d be recovered sufficiently to begin using it as early as two.

Shir Dhan

* * * * *

Monday, October 9th

As Farrah, Lolo, Lyra, and Namid reported to their 8am history class with professor Beach, she turned them right around and sent them to one of the third floor offices. Only a few minutes after they arrived, the door opened and Shir stepped into the door frame. His steady but tender gaze swept over the group. Offering a half smile, rather than saying anything, he stepped in and to the side - revealing Haim entering on crutches with a casted leg. The first time anyone had seen him since the night of the incident. While the team caught up, Shir shut the door and found his way to a seat - though like a weirdo, he sat on the back of it with his feet planted on the flat.

Once camaraderie and reunions were finished and attention had slowly drifted to him, Shir reached up and thumbed his goatee. “Well, you’ve all certainly made a name for yourselves.” He dropped his hand to his knee and sighed. “Good news,” He nodded, meeting each would-be Champion’s gaze individually, “No one is being expelled from the academy for Friday’s little incident.” Unfortunately, silence followed that. “...And that’s where that ends, really.” Was that disappointment in his voice? It sure was.

“The bad news? It’s a list.” He clicked his tongue. “There’s been no progress tracking the jet that took Mila. We don’t know anything about the man, so all dead ends there. OES is looking into the Jackals, but seems they’ve abandoned their usual haunts.” Shir gestured lightly in Haim’s direction, “On top of missing a teammate, you’ve got another who will recover but is effectively incapacitated right now. So Haim, you’re going to be doing observation and putting those analytical skills to use during team logistics. The rest of you can expect to listen to him break down what he sees until he’s able to participate again.”

Reaching up, Shir brushed a hand through his hair. “In addition to the damage, there are two civilians dead from the collapse.” That brought his gaze right to Farrah, “So you’ve all lost the privilege of carrying your weapons outside the academy. If you’re going to leave, they need to be stored. And be thankful that’s all anyone is calling for.” Leaning forward, Shir’s usual light-hearted demeanor firmed up some. “Throwing the first punch, against a civilian? One who hadn’t done anything? You’re here to become a Champion, not the thought police. We don’t know how things would have played out if you hadn't attacked, but we sure know how it did because you did, don’t we?”

Shir shook his head, “Our job is to protect people. We don’t start incidents.” And though his tone was stern, his true frustration didn’t actually lay with Farrah. Shir passed on from her and looked at Namid, “I heard your account, and you’re right, you should have done a lot of things.” He straightened up, “But so should all of you. Each one of you was pulling threads in a different direction. Zero unity. Sure, there’s a lot of blame for Namid not pulling things together. But that gets shared, who actually looked to her for their queues?” His brow popped, and light eyes fell on Lyra, “What were you even doing?” Clearly he wasn’t actually looking for an answer.

Stern talking aside, Shir got off the chair and swept a hand to all of them. His edge dulled. “Your team is your lifeline. You hear about famous Champions, but those details usually involve the support of others that don’t get the same kind of credit.” Stepping in, Shir placed a hand on Namid’s shoulder, squeezed, and looked at everyone. “I know this stings. Loss always does. But it isn’t the end. Learn from this. Come together. You’ve got to. That was discord, you need to figure that out. And you will, I’ve got faith in you. I hope this taught you all something about how important this,” He made a gesture encircling all of them, “Is.”

Moving through them toward the door, Shir paused, “You’ve all been given the day off from classes. I’m sure you have things to talk about. I don’t know what is going to happen with your team, but for right now at least, gravity is going to operate a man down. It’s uncommon, but we’ve had short teams in the past.” He opened the door, paused and looked back at everyone, “We’ll get past this. Mistakes,” He frowned, “They get made.” And then he left them to their own devices.