Interlude A
Sullen eyes looked out the window, the owner trying her best to ignore the sounds of playing and other children erupting from around her. She was eight years old, and she was sitting and waiting for her books that she had requested in the Orphanage where she had spent the last year waiting and reading. The Matron said that every orphan found a family eventually, but it seemed that hers was a bit late.
She was the last orphan from the Fall of Mount Glenn, and it seemed that her attitude scared off would be parents.
She had been asked to tone it down, but Ashley knew that if she acted bad, mean, nasty, or any of those other words the other orphans used to describe her then they were more likely to be adopted instead, and that only those that would be willing to deal with her would remain.
A win-win situation in her mind, as she was so fond of saying. Where she had learned the phrase was beyond the caretakers, as was her thought process. Orphans were supposed to crave human interaction or the possibility of a happy family, but Ashley actively sought isolation and distanced herself from anyone who looked even a tad bit interested.
It was troubling to say the least.
"Ashley," The girl was roused by a gentle voice from the doorway. The other kids saw her from down the Hall where they were playing and waved, but made no move to swarm around her legs like they did prospective parents. She had been here many times before, and had made it plain that she had no plans of adopting any of the orphans. In her arms were the books that the young girl had asked for, a multitude of journals and thick tomes dedicated to Huntsmen and Huntresses spanning Remnant. She reached out for them but they were pulled from her reach just before she could grab them.
Her eyes followed them up past the Body and then face of her courier, who arched an eyebrow imperiously at her. Ashley sighed but caved, knowing that it would do her no good to push the issue and did as she was expected. "Good Morning Miss Greenburg. May I please have my Books?" The young orphan did her best to smile, but if she were being honest smiles being forced were rather obvious. And the way that she held out her hands towards the things with twitching fingers probably didn't help.
Miss Greenburg snorted in response to the display before bringing the Books down and letting them land on the Bed, the Former Librarian no longer as invested in preserving the integrity of Books that 4th and 5th edition. As Ashley grabbed the first journal that she could and began to read, despite Janette's continued presence, a Hand moved up to swipe a stray lock of Blonde hair behind her ear. She shook her head before she walked around the eight year old's room, tidying up the rather well kept Room while the only sound that erupted from the young lady was hums and grunts as she read.
"Ashley," Janette began, pausing as she mulled over words in her head. The young girl stopped reading to look over in her direction silently, "Earlier this morning I received a invitation for a rather nice job, one that I have been in desperate need of," Janette felt that the girl's yellow eyes pulled information from those they bored into, as well as the look of apathy being confused for a look of confusion or not understanding that prompted people to explain further without words, "And I wanted to let you know that I'm going to take the offer."
Ashley stayed quiet for a moment before her eyebrows drew together, "You're Leaving Vale?" came the quiet voice from the small child. Her orbs dug into her eyes as she turned to face her in her desk chair.
Janette frowned before nodding slowly, "It's outside of the City, Yes. Far outside any city, actually. But the money is good, and I can do a lot of things with Money so I'm agreeing to it."
Ashley's yellow eyes narrowed in on hers, and Janette could tell that thoughts were flying in that sharp mind of hers. It had startled her when the kid had been dropped in her lap those two years ago, and if she were honest with herself it still did, when the child had gone from speaking like a child to that of a young lady in a week and a half, and then to that of a full grown adult in a month or two after the Fall.
Janette blamed it on the Trauma, Ashley blamed it on all of the books she had managed to read in that time.
Janette steeled herself for the actual reason for her coming here, "As you know, you have managed to scare off every Parent looking to adopt with minimal effort. You are now the last Orphan of Mount Glenn," So far so good, start with facts and then move into the touchier subjects, "And you have shown an inability or lack of motivation to make friends with other children here. It seems that the only people you talk to are the Matrons around the Orphanage and Me."
A Terse nod accompanied by a fiercely intense gaze were leveled upon her in response. "That's because you're the only ones that I want to talk to," what went unsaid was the fact that she never did anything she didn't want to. That she violently and inventively resisted anything that she saw as unnecessary or unhelpful.
"Yes, well," Janette started fitfully before deciding to just take the plunge with a sigh, "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with me. If you wanted to be adopted." She waited with a wince as the silence stretched on, those yellow eyes never leaving hers. The light in them seemed to flicker like the flame of a candle or campfire, before a genuine smile began to show on her face.
Ashley's face broke into a grin that rivalled the sun in intensity that left Janette stunned, "I think I'd like that, Miss Janette." Janette smiled at the young girl, content in her choice to take her in. She had lost her husband to alcohol a few years ago, who had drank himself to death after their only child had been beaten to death by her then husband. A horrible story, but one that should be left with the remnants of that gods forsaken City on the Mountain.
Now, as she let the child lead her to the Matron's office she could take solace in at least making one good choice in her life.
The smile on her new charge's face told her that clearly.
Interlude B
Gilrey was an old fart. He had been since he was twenty, crotchety and mean without reason and more bark than bite. No action came behind his words unless it was forced, and no action he took was one without complaint. So, he was an old fart, now looking the part at the ripe old age of eighty-four.
He knew it, his son and his daughter-in-law knew it. Everyone in town knew it, and treated him as such.
His body had been built up and then brought crashing down seemingly every year by the end of the Harvest, leaving him a feeble old man to grumble his way through the Winter.
Gilrey felt indignant that the world hadn't taken him yet, as though it owed him the rest he had earned farming in some of the most dangerous parts of the Wilderness for people he knew nothing about. He had hoped that it would cash it in before all of his bodily aches coalesced into a giant ball of pain that we wore like a suit, but it had left him to his job for thirty years like that. He had hoped it would be painless or understandable.
This had not stopped him from taking in the Injured man he had found on the outskirts of the small Hunting and Farming village, and nursing the man back to health as best he could. The middle-aged man was a fighter, the numerous scars left no doubt of that, and immense in size, dwarfing Gilrey in size easily. He had dislodged a Bullet that had barely not penetrated the man's Skull and removed the broken off end of a knife from the lining of his stomach, and numerous other unidentifiable objects from his body. Gilrey was impressed to say the least, and told him so the first and only time he had awakened from his sleep the night before.
Then tonight his Son had heard a sound from the treeline had begun to panic as a Grimm crept towards them. Gilrey had told him to take the rest of the Family to the Barn and he'd draw it off.
It had been a foolish plan.
Now he stared down the muzzle of an Ursa, he knew that he wasn't quite that fortunate. Its red eyes bared down on him as the snout inched closer to his position where he had been flung to the ground to be thrashed. Its nose sniffled in a deceptively cute fashion before it swiveled its head towards where his family had been sequestered in the farm, but he grabbed a pitchfork and stabbed at it to distract it. The blow clanged off of the Bone plate, but served its purpose as the eyes were once again welded on him.
He swallowed and cursed the gods for such a fate, much like he and his kin had done every time something had gone wrong. A paw planted itself on his chest and pinned him quickly as the beast's head dipped down to finish him off.
A sound akin to a cannon going off erupted from behind its bulk as its body was torn asunder by an explosion of some sort. Gilrey could only lay back and try to breath, the sight of his death having scared him more than he would have thought. It wasn't heart disease or a failing liver, as he so often thought it would be, but a Monster come to live to hunt him.
His breathing was too labored to utter a single word of thanks to the back of the man who had saved him, his massive green and brown form blending into the trees easily. The man turned and gave him a quick nod before he continued to walk into the treeline, the bandages that he had applied the night before still visible around the crown of his head.
Finally after his now recovered patient had walked far beyond his line of sight he mumbled a tired, "Thank you, Hazel," To the empty air above his head before scrambling to his feet to see to his family.
Interlude C
When the Frozen Sands of the Deserts finally thaw,
And miracles of wit and thought stop earning Awe,
There will come a beast that stands above even the men of Old,
Unbound to the whims of time and fearsome to behold,
With the power to shake and crumble mountains with its Might,
And the one who shall stand against it must fight for the Right,
By becoming the one has ascended All Humanity,
Or risk failing to prevent its End for his vanity.
-Ancient Vacuoan prophecy
End of Interludes.
I could feel the curiosity spiking in the Audience of our impromptu staring contest, her staring blankly and mutely at me while I cheerfully smiled at her, as the seconds drew on. Finally she blinked and the moment passed, as a small quirk of the mouth told me that she found the situation to be entertaining. She shook her head at me, "Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you here," she teased lightly, with an underlying question.
I laughed nervously, knowing that Lying wasn't exactly a strong suit of mine, and rubbed the back of my head as I thought of a suitable response. "Uh," Not a great start, "Nice to see you too?" Nailed it. The unimpressed stare that was levelled at me was mirrored by Cosma as I turned to look at her, though Roman was much more polite.
"Oh, I see you've met already," He declared glibly without looking up from his pad of paper, pausing only to adjust his glasses minutely, "How fortunate, no introductions necessary." He yelped and looked indignant when Cosma turned and casually snatched the bundle of papers, filled to the brim in ink.
"Be polite, Flunkie," She said with a smirk and hands on her hips, ignoring with ease the affronted look that appeared on his face, "The higher-ups are talkin', you should pay attention. You might learn something."
"I highly doubt it," he grumbled under his breath, but still turned to regard us with politely interested eyes. "So, let us in on the secret; How do you know each other?"
Once again, I felt like a deer in the headlights before a realization came over me; it's not illegal to have stupid shit happen to you. "Saved her from some Grimm a while ago." Taylor was the one that had wanted to lie about our pasts, but I saw no real reason to. "Long time ago." At the same time, I wasn't just gonna gush to the first person that asked. Instead, I turned to Ashley with a devious smile, "It was so long ago, I'm having a hard time remembering exactly what happened. Maybe Ashley can fill ya in."
If I can't lie, then I might as well make someone else do it for me.
Ashley nodded, her eyes darting over to mine obviously trying to pass on some message or intent that I couldn't even begin to puzzle out before she turned to them herself. "I was six at the time so the details are pretty hazy, but he saved me from a group of beowulf after I was… stuck in a grocery store," a very convincing look of apprehension and confusion crossed her face for a moment, "If I'm remembering correctly."
I shrugged at the description, not seeing anything wrong with the description, as I turned to gauge how they took it. Cosma looked flabbergasted, while Roman's eyes were narrowed in on mine. "You saved her from Grimm, when you were a kid?" It seemed that his thus latent curiosity had spiked.
"It's not that hard," I said defensively, "I killed my first when I was Five and delirious from a buncha different shit goin' wrong at the time, all I had to do was beat it until it stopped moving," I finished with a lame chuckle, suddenly remembering why I had had no friends at my last school; I couldn't hold a conversation if my life depended on it. I bowed my head sheepishly, feeling heat blossoming in my cheeks at the scrutiny that I was receiving, and when I looked back up it was to the sight of the three staring at me incredulously.
The first to recover was Ashley, who shrugged with a Hum, as though she had almost expected it, before she moved over to her bed and began to shuffle papers around. Roman looked like someone had smacked him in the mouth, and he was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Not that Hard…?" as he looked to his hands as though to make sure he was indeed still in reality.
Cosma topped the both of them by blinking once and then vibrating in place, chanting something quick enough that it sounded closer to the galloping hooves of a Horse, before she was suddenly in front of me, holding my hands while she danced a little jig. "You can't just tell me half a story, What happened?! Why were you fighting a Beowulf in the first place?"
And so I told her, and the other two by proxy, what I could remember. If I were any normal person, my first memory would be something inane like falling when I was learning to walk or something else, but I wasn't and instead the first and single most defining moment in my life was beating a monster to death. To say that my laughs throughout the story, especially describing Nan's state at the end of it, looked out of place with the increasingly alarmed and worried looks I was on the receiving end of would have been an understatement.
I couldn't help the laughing though, as Fenrir was providing running commentary on the entire thing, and the indignant furball was downright surly whenever it came to that night.
The change in demeanor was jarring to say the least.
I finished the story with the same lack of aplomb that I did everything else, and used the suddenness of the end to switch the subject away from me to anyone else. I pointed at Cosma, who jolted into alertness as my finger was only a few inches from her face, "And what about you, Girlie?," I pointedly ignored the snort of laughter from Ashley, "What's your story? You're askin' an awful lot of questions."
Her face split into an uneasy smile and she flapped her hands in front of her face, "Nothing as interesting as your story," I gestured for her to continue, as any story was worth hearing at least once, "Well, literally nothing interesting has happened to me in my life. I was born in Atlas before my Dad was shipped out to a frontier town, where the Huntsmen on duty taught me and my sister what they could, and I got out of there as quick as I could," She finished with a shrug.
Roman leaned over and mock whispered towards, "I bet the Townsfolk were glad to have her gone." He winked at me as Cosma flew into a rage. I only laughed in response.
Ashley let out a tinkling laugh before she checked her Scroll and announced that it was time to eat.
Instantly Cosma and I were standing at attention, ready and willing to go.
I sat down at the table that Roman had picked out, dropping my plates in front of me with a satisfied sigh. If I had been happy when Dinner was announced then I was ecstatic when I learned that it was open buffet. A smile spread across my face as I rubbed my hands in front of my face, looking down upon the three plates full of Food.
A plate filled to the Brim with Mashed Potatoes, Another with a pile of various meats standing four inches off of its face, and another holding a bowl of Vegetable Stew. A low Rumble escaped my mouth as I grabbed my spoon to begin to dig in, before I was distracted momentarily by another loud thump from beside me. I wasn't surprised to find Taylor sitting there, nearly salivating over the meal in front of her.
This would be the moment that the fact I was no longer scrounging through the forest for my next meal hit me.
The thought wasn't one I had thought about, but it was extremely fortunate. And while I may have been able to go a longer time than most without Food, I still got hungry and thirsty. And seeing as they didn't always appear on my Status page I knew it to be entirely mental, but I still liked to Eat. [Instinct] made the process especially fun, as I could isolate particular tastes in a meal and piece together most of what into the dish.
And now that I had a constant food source? No way in hell I was gonna leave that be.
"You act like you haven't eaten in a week," came my next distraction, in the form of Emily. She was wearing clothes that made me feel stuffy and unable to move for her, made out of materials that probably cost more money than I had ever even seen.
Taylor stopped eating long enough to answer her, "Before this morning it had been two days." Emily was silenced by the response and she began to eat in a much more refined manner, which wasn't exactly hard. In fact, the sight of them sitting across form each other while looking so at odds nearly made me chuckle.
"I was wondering why they were out of Beef," came the calm tones of Roman, who was carrying only a bowl of Stew. He gestured with his open hand towards my plate, to which I shrugged. He sat at the end of the quickly filling Table, followed by the prancing form of Cosma, with a bowl filled above the brim with Ice Cream.
I pointed at the midget with the hand holding the spoon, "She gonna be able to Sleep with that?" It was the only amount of food that came close to mine, and it was entirely sugar. I feel like it was warranted.
"She always eats this unhealthily," he responded casually.
"It ain't unhealthy," She squawked before pointing at me with her spoon in retaliation. The difference was that hers had been in her Ice Cream, and I felt my face get splattered lightly in the dairy product. "There's a banana in here… Somewhere. And Bananas are healthy! Which means that this is healthy!" She smiled in triumph before digging in with aggression.
"Flawless Logic, as always," Roman responded as he produced a Handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me.
"Right," I growled as I wiped off my face before tossing it back to him. I turned back to my untouched food, but was surprised by the sight of Shebul sitting across from me. When he saw me he nodded respectfully, but silently continued to eat his food. I blinked before nodding back.
"He's in our Team," Emily clarified for me. She smiled at him, and he nodded once again respectfully in her direction, "I wasn't sure what he'd be like outside of class, but so far he's been nothing short of polite," then her eyes sliced over to the girl at my right, "Unlike some people I could mention."
"Go trip on a Rake," was the eloquent response from Taylor as she spoke around the food in her mouth. The light in her eyes was devious and she patted me on the side, "At least you aren't stuck with this one."
Emily's eyes met mine and I smiled sheepishly at her inquisitive look, "Him? He seems polite enough," Neither me nor Taylor could suppress the snorts that comment caused, and Emily narrowed her eyes in response to the abrasive noise, "But What would I know, I've only known you for a few hours."
"Girlie," I began, trying to start my eventual assholery off gently, "The only reason you think I'm polite is because you couldn't hear what I was saying underneath the pile of clothes I was Carrying for you," I kept the similar statement involving Taylor's Comments to myself, "And if there's one thing you'll learn about me is that I may be kind to my friends, but I am never polite. I'm also quite good at annoying people," I said before I went to take my first bite.
The spoonful of soup was knocked off course as another person sat down on my left, and I mourned the food as it went back into its bowl. I turned and saw Ashley, with a much smaller portion of food and a book in hand. I sighed, frowning as I waited for her to settle into her position before she knocked my soup off trajectory again.
"Donlevy," came the curt words from the interloper. I raised an eyebrow as I could feel a little heat radiating off of her form as she sat down.
"Ashley," came the equally stilted response, "Don't you look… lovely today."
"Thank you," was the polite response, somehow filled with venom, "Though I must say it's odd to see you wearing anything so out of fashion."
"Well at least I'm not wearing my mother's hand-me-downs," came Emily's snide response, "And my tops actually fit, unlike you. It looks like you still have room to grow."
I looked between the two, and gulped at the intensity of the glares being exchanged in silence as well as the slowly increasing heat, and since the table had only been made to comfortably hold eight people I knew that any movement at all would be noticed. And the worst part was that if I went to take a bite of food it would literally bring my face in the direct path of their staredown.
I received looks of sympathy from Shebul, Roman, and some other young man who was sat at another Table, as they too saw my predicament.
I could only sigh and wait them out while Taylor and Cosma continued eating oblivious to the showdown.
And I hadn't even got to take a bite.
I yawned as I opened the Door for Ashley, who entered without saying a word. I shuffled in out of the cold Icy wind and shook off the few crystals of ice that had gathered in my hair. I was deflated, having been forced to scoff down my Dinner in only minutes after trying to wait out the catfight. The rest of the Dinner had been filled with Hidden and not-so-Hidden Barbs that had made me increasingly uncomfortable.
Give me a Grimm anyday over petty squabbling, at least I can punch the Grimm.
We made our way towards where Mr. G had pointed out the Headmaster's Office the day before, and I noted that the decorations were much closer to exhibits you would see in Museums than I had expected from the Hallway to a Headmaster's Office.
We reached the top of the Stairs and a few feet away was a Door labeled Headmaster, and when I expected at least a little apprehension from my companion she surprised me by matching me step for step. It struck me as a little odd that there was no anxiety at approaching a room usually reserved for punishments. She reached the door and opened it for me, and I stepped through the portal and found myself in… A library?
The walls on either side of the room were bookcases and the walls that were visible were paneled in hardwood, as was the Floor. The Desk that was the only feature of the Room outside of the books was made of the same dark brown stained wood, and it completed the very earthy feel of the Room well.
After I inspected the Room I turned my eyes to the figure who was currently watching me from behind the Desk. "Please sit, young man."
I ignored the order for a moment and narrowed my eyes at the Nametag before looking the Imperious woman in the Face. Green Eyes behind Glasses, Tanned skin, and Long Blonde hair that was no longer kept up in a ponytail. Her Clothes had been exchanged for a very put together Business Suit as well as a Black Turtleneck underneath. In fact without the Nametag I was very sure That I wouldn't have recognized her.
The quirked eyebrow, the imperious tone, and the Mountain of Books behind her kind of gave it away though. Ashley had stopped next to me, and she was giving me a look that said she expected me to have followed the command, and so I did. I sat down and mirrored the Woman's posture as comfortably as I could, Shoulders relaxed with my arms sat upon the armrests, and a Leg thrown haphazardly over the other.
"You, young man, have a lot of explaining to do," She said, the cold tone in her voice unflinching.
Well rehearsed.
I ignored the statement as I had yet to hear a question. She simply stared at me, and I at her before I noticed a change on her face. The corner of her lip was curling upwards into the beginnings of a smile.
"What, do I still owe you for those books I checked out?" I cheekily stated, reusing the same horrible joke as I had upon our meeting, "You've done well for yourself Janette."
[Janette Newman]
[Level 19 Librarian]
[Silence is Golden]
She laughed openly and relaxed her position in her chair to something more natural, "Yes, Well, I had good help. And look at you! Coming back from the Dead without looking a day older than the last we saw you," she said as she pointed at Ashley, who looked completely relaxed in her chair, "Hell, you even brought your friend along too! You have to let me in on your secret to looking young, or I may just wither away here."
I snorted at the woman's words, as she looked as though she hadn't aged a day. "Dust accident. When we got separated Me and Taylor-"
"Taylor and I," she corrected absently.
"-Had to follow a Tunnel out from under the Mount. Almost got out without any issues when some massive crystals of Purple Dust activated and… Froze us in Time? Something like that," I concluded as I scratched the back of my head, "I ain't a scientist-" I ignored the cough from Ashley that sounded suspiciously like obviously, "-So I don't know what happened or what caused it beyond that."
She quirked an eyebrow at me, and I only smiled in response, "You could ask Taylor if you don't believe me."
"Oh, do not worry about not believing you," She said amicably, "If it was going to happen to anyone, it would be the young man that near single handedly saved almost half the population of a Major City," I sent her a questioning gaze, and in response she waved at hand at the books along the walls which I saw were mostly related to history, "I've read a lot of Things in my life, and quite a lot of it has been since we last met, to try and learn what I could from them. And I have found that once one odd or miraculous thing happens to a person then they are exponentially more likely to have another happen to them."
She stood and grabbed three books from seemingly random places on the Bookshelf before she returned to her seat and began to flick through them. "If you don't believe me, look at the Histories of Rostam, the Fifth emperor of Mistral who had to fight a Beowulf when he was Twelve to court his future wife. Born to Peasants there was no reason that he should have been anywhere near royalty, but he managed to not only win the right to court the Emperor's Daughter but managed to marry her. He then went on to fight in four different wars and almost died every single time, with the recovery being so unheard of that people claimed he was born from the First God and as long as he could see the Sun he would never die. Then he dies on an eclipse," I snorted before taking the Book from where she had placed it in front of me.
I would have laughed at the absurdity of the story, except this had only been 75 years ago, and there was picture proof of the man's tale. Two more books were slid towards me, open to more pictures of the same man, in various states of unwell in dark photos and fighting fit in the sunlight. "And this pattern repeats itself so often, with someone having one thing or another happen for the rest of their life after the first. This man would have been just another peasant without the first incident I am sure, but one choice always leads people to History books."
"Right," I said slowly, obviously not grasping something she was trying to tell me, "Is that why you called me here?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the original intent.
"No, no. I called you here to explain to you the Practices of the School, and what makes it so very different to other combat schools. As we don't have as much funding as the City Academies, we have a very different approach to Teaching. For a month you are here on campus, learning in the classroom and sparring with your peers. During this time the non-combat classes are held, ending with a test at the end of the month," She stopped and looked at me, and I nodded to let her know I had understood the insultingly simple statements, "The next month is spent traveling with your Roommates, your Team as it were, and a Combat Teacher or Hunter the School assigns you. You will be traveling around and completing Hunts and updating the Maps we have. These are month long excursions and are made in concert with the Cities and other Academies, so you will be expected to leave the continent if the Call is placed for assistance. Though your first Month will be the testing period, and as such you will be in spitting distance of the Campus as a precaution," She flashed a smile at me and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "And that is all. Any Questions?"
"Uh," I began before smirking mischievously, "Who's the Lucky Mr. Newman?"
She blinked at me before Laughing, "My Husband is the Head of Security of the Campus as Well as the Groundskeeper, one Mister Raul Newman. Right now he's currently assisting a Village near Vacuo, and unfortunately won't be back for a few days," She gave me a indiscernible look, aided by the way the light reflected off of her Glasses and blocked her eyes form mine, as she tilted her head towards me, "But for what it's worth… I think you'd get along with him."
"Of course, who wouldn't get along with me," I agreed with false arrogance, and I chuckled when she laughed.
"I will not dignify that with a response," She said as Ashley stood from her chair quickly, "But I feel like I've taken quite a bit of your night. Don't be a stranger, and do tell me if your Team leader is being difficult," She leaned towards me and stage-whispered, "I've been assured that she can get be difficult to get along with."
"Thanks for the Vote of Confidence, Mom," Came the Reply from Ashley, one that left me stunned for a second, "Now could you please stop trying to embarass me?" I shook of the Shock and stood with a nod of my Head to Janette to Follow my Team Leader, apparently also the adopted Daughter of the Headmaster.
'Great.'
"Never," came the retort from Janette, "I got you late so I have to catch up. Besides you're too serious as it is."
Ashley turned around as I passed her to shoot a heated glare at her mother, "Shouldn't a Mother be happy that her Daughter is Mature, possibly more mature than herself?" And with that she closed the door before shaking her head and moving away from it. "Not a word to the others, Are we Clear?"
I pantomimed locking my lips shut and dropping the Key, before a Smile broke out across my face. "Is there anyway we could stop by the Cafeteria and get seconds?"
End of Chapter.
Short Chapter is Short, and character building and such is slow. Jericho here, just to address a few comments and explain some crap.
To Zen-Aku The Spirit Wolf; I'd agree that in a general setting the use of Stamina, and to a further extent Hp, as a means to bolster Damage would be a bad idea. That is why he is beginning to become more conservative in his use of such skills, and instead rely on basic attacks or only utilizing as much Stamina or health as he can replace in an allotted amount of time. That being said, the same could be said for Aura for most Huntsmen and characters in the show who can exactly zero hits without their Aura, but they still throw that shit around like its infinite.
Beyond the inability to take a hit, this is number two on my list of things I wish to reconcile with in this story; The excessive use of Semblances and Aura Techniques. The biggest offender is Ruby, whose fighting style is literally the use of her Semblance with a Weapon; Spinning that shite like a top to produce force or taking a running start to gain momentum for a strike.
One good hit while she's moving and she's down, because she sacrifices the defensive potential for the use of her Semblance.
The Best of the main characters on this is probably Yang or Ren, with the close possibility of Nora. All three rely on their weapons more than their Semblances, all for different reasons of course, and actually have styles of fighting that don't rely on it to actually win unless shit goes down.
Don't even get me started on Lawful Good Paladin Jaune.
To Dalan777; I'm really glad that you noticed that, but I'd say that it's more the concept than the specific iteration that appears in Red Riding Hood. Symbolically speaking, The crystallization of fear in a Story setting is the Forest. Heroes walk through them during periods of doubt and unrest, villains reside there, and only one thing can walk through them without feeling their effects; The Big Bad Wolf. A representation not only of Man's fear of Nature, but of Violence and Sin.
It is used as a projection of ill intent upon the world, which is why it appears in stories as the unnamed antagonist or as a force that exists only to screw over or derail well laid plans or conventions. In Little Red Riding Hood, for example, the Wolf has a few different possible incarnations depending on the time period or translation from the original Grimm Fairy Tales.
He could be the opportunistic animal, looking only to get his belly full as the most common version would have it, A friend that she walked to her Grandmother's house everyday until the Old lady threw him out, at which point he eats her and the Girl in retaliation for a perceived wrong, or as an anthropomorphic Beast that seeks to deceive because he wishes to. In any of the stories he serves as the actual message in the story, not any of the other characters. Even the Huntsman is less important than the the Big Bad Wolf, as without him the moral of the story wouldn't even exist, obviously the story isn't actually about Red Riding Hood being naive.
It's about her being hurt by the Wolf.
In this Way, Ruby is actually a very good analogy of what the original Grimm Fairy tales were trying to get across; the Naive and Kind are inevitably hurt or devoured by the Wicked, whether through their own actions or by the inability to cope with the situation. In this sense the Wolf is more a culmination of the word Danger more than "Damn Nature, You scary," and it was this exact symbol that I wanted to capitalize upon.
To Reaper4425; Be careful with those Curse Words. *Finger Guns in your direction*
In general, I wanted to let people in on how I've made up these Original Characters, as it makes me happy just thinking about the process, and it might be fun for those interested.
Each Character is based off of a Song that I listened to on Repeat while I made their characters, and this includes the process for Austin past the Dice rolling for his stat progression and Traits. I'll only include two of the songs, as they might be spoilers for the character's development if I give them all out. Also, every character has a specific Genre that I listen to while writing anything related to them.
My youtube recommendations are confused.
Austin = "Man on Fire" by Oh The Larceny
Shebul Al'Araid = "World War Me" by Theory of a Deadman
Austin and Taylor are the only ones that have more than one Song, though that will change in the Future.
Besides that, I'd like to Thank those of you who read this far and ask that you leave any concerns or questions as a review and I'll make it a point to respond if I can.
Enough outta me,
Jericho Out.
P.S. Someone get me a Stick figure drawing of what they think Austin Looks like, as I need a picture for the Cover Art. It feels incomplete without it.