Calmly sitting with her eyes closed, Baren sat in the back end of an Atlas transport ship. Her left wrist tied to a metal bar by her legs. Her blade resting beside the copilot as the other soldier kept his eyes ahead. Inhaling slowly as they ascended above the floating city in the sky, she opened her eyes and glanced out the window. Her eyebrows raising at the sight of Atlas.
"And then I told her that she wasn't eating dark chocolate layered with white, she was actually eating coffee cream chocolate!" The pilot let out, laughing as his shoulders bounced.
"I still don't get how your wife doesn't like the taste of coffee." His partner shook his head while leaning back. Stretching out his arms, he let out a yawn. "I don't think I could manage early shifts without my morning cups."
"She's something else, that's for sure." He shook his head before glancing back at the old warrior. "Consider yourself lucky. The General might be nice to you since it's your first offense. He's busy with more important things right now. We're almost there."
"Almost there, huh?" She tilted her head.
"Yep." The other soldier nodded, looking back while resting an arm over her weapon. "Just a couple more minutes and we'll be docking."
"Alright." She nodded, stretching her shoulder slightly. Inhaling, she closed her eyes for a moment before softly exhaling. "Thanks for the ride, boys." She mumbled under her breath, waiting for them both to gain a confused expression. As they did, she flashed a very faint smile. Pushing her aura into her arm, her wrist gained a faint pink glow. Her restraints softly creaking against the strain she put on them until it finally gave away with a snap. Rising to her feet, she glanced towards the two men.
"Shit!" The pilot let out, quickly moving in his seat as he gripped the steering. The airship jerking around slightly from his movements. "Get her!"
Following orders, the other stood and turned around while raising his rifle to take aim. "Move any closer and I'll shoot!" He shouted while narrowing his eyes.
Staring blankly at him, Baren let out a small sound. "Yeah. You probably will." She quietly took a step forward while raising her left arm. A shot firing from the man's rifle and into her palm. With a closed fist, she slowly eased up her fingers as a deformed bullet fell from her grasp.
Pulling away with a sharp inhale, the soldier clenched his jaw while gripping his rifle tight. The sound of the bullet clattering against the floor echoing in his head. His hands trembled a bit as his finger tapped on the trigger.
"Don't even bother." She shook her head, reaching out to take her weapon from him and setting it back on her side. "You'll just be wasting resources." She smiled at him, slowly pushing his rifle downward. Pulling back, she began to step towards the back end of the ship.
"Wait! What do you think-!" The second shouted before being cut off and ducking down as the back hatch was forced open. He glanced back for a moment, faintly catching a glimpse of the old warrior jumping out of the ship and disappearing. Shaking his head, he caught his balance while flipping a few switches as the hatch closed.
Breathing heavily as everything calmed down, the two of them glanced at each other with wide eyes. Slowly leaning back, the copilot caught his breath before speaking. "She... just jumped out without a parachute or anything..."
Slowly nodding, he swallowed a little while gripping the controls. "If you don't tell the General... I won't."
"Deal." He muttered under his breath.
With a neutral expression and closed eyes, Barren's clothing and hair fluttered against her as she fell through the air. With her left arm resting over her chest, her right sleeve loosely waved around. Waiting a few seconds, she let out a heavy exhale as her nostrils flared. Opening her eyes, she glanced towards the rapidly approaching ground. Below her, a bright green courtyard with flowers. Landing in the center with a heavy thud that shook the area, she slowly stood back up while dusting the dirt off herself. Glancing over, she eyed a frazzled woman who was gardening. "Evening." She nodded in her direction before walking on.
Making her way through the upper class city, she didn't give even a second thought to all the worse than usual looks people threw at her. Her mind was set on one location. A place she hadn't been in years. Before Kagami and even before...
She blinked once, coming up to a large fence and stopping. She stared at the large metal M on it before scoffing and shaking her head. "You always did like showing off." She mumbled, eyeing a keypad on the gate. Ignore it, she hauled herself over the metal barrier. Small blue sparks jumping over her hand as she did so. Landing on the other side, she stretched her shoulder out a little before making her way up a long and curvy road that led to a smaller mansion compared to the others around. Pausing at the door, she froze for a moment. For once, her calm composer seemed like it was about to snap before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shaking off the feeling, she raised her hand and knocked a few times. Her arm retracting and slowly moving behind her back.
The door handle creaked quietly before it slowly opened up. On the other side, a young girl with light purple hair. She stood still for a moment, staring up at the old warrior. Hanging from her mouth, a popsicle stick and in her right hand, an old gaming controller with a little wear and tear to it. Slowly reaching up, she pulled the popsicle stick from her mouth. She stared for a moment longer, slowly tilting her head. "You're missing an arm."
"I am." She agreed with a small nod. Her head tilting slightly as curiosity flickered in her eyes. "Is Reed home?"
"You mean grandpa?" Her head tilted the other way. "He's busy at the moment."
"Doing what?" She moved her hand to her hip, sticking it out slightly as she shifted her weight.
The young girl shrugged in response. "It's his nap time."
"Right..." She slowly nodded before motioning a hand towards her. "May I come in?"
"Um..." She blinked, pulling back slightly while tensing up. "But... you're a stranger."
She scoffed, shaking her head as she knelt down on one knee. Her arm resting over her thigh. "Hardly." She softly smiled towards her. "You can call me great aunt Blaire as much as I'd hate to admit, but I would honestly just prefer Baren if you don't mind."
She slowly nodded, still hesitant as she closely watched her. Clearly thinking, she was quiet for a few seconds before sticking the popsicle stick back in her mouth and holding out her hand. The two of them shaking hands. "I'm Lavender. Um..." She glanced around a little. "I guess you can come in, Auntie Baren." She held open the door while stepping to the side. "I'm just playing a game on grandpa's old control deck."
"And not on your scroll?" The old warrior raised an eyebrow, standing up as she walked inside.
"No." She pouted, closing the door. "All my friends get to play on their scrolls and play these super pretty games and it's not fair. Grandpa says I have to play with the older stuff so I learn to appreciate all the new stuff."
"He's not wrong about that though. Remember that. It's important to know where things all began. We can't forget the past." She smiled down at her with a small nod before reaching over to pat her head. "Remember that."
"But I want to play Slum Brawlers V..." She softly whined, kicking her bare feet against the floor. "All my friends have the complete versions of it... and I'm stuck playing stupid Monday Morning Smash Stars because grandpa has himself a stupid charcter in it." She rolled her eyes, making her way back towards a couch and jumping onto it.
"Mantle's Wild Huntsman. Yes, I'm well aware of who your grandfather is." Baren chuckled quietly, slowly looking around the large home before sitting down beside her. "A young girl I knew many years ago in Mistral was fascinated by his skills and bravery. Though I personally found him a bit... excessive." She shook her head, glancing at a pair of framed red vintage wrestling shorts, knee pads, boots and wrist bands. "Especially with the ways he decided to take out Grimm. Putting on a show rather than dealing with a dangerous threat quickly." She exhaled softly.
"Um..." She blinked a few times, staring up at her with a confused look. "So..." She nervously glanced back at the video screen before back at her. "Do you know how to play? Or... can you?" The tone in her voice lowered slightly.
"Oh dear child," Baren flashed a smile, shaking her head before holding out her left arm. "Just tell me what buttons do what."
"Okay... but I've gotten pretty good." She warned her, brushing her purple hair behind her ear. Jumping off the couch, she went and got another controller off a shelf before walking back and handing it to her. "This button is jump and this one is to attack. Then you use this to go up and down and left and right and sometimes you press two directions to do special moves. Um, you can grab someone by pressing attack by them and pick something up by pressing attack and standing over it." She jumped back onto the couch while bringing up a very small roster. "I also call dibs on El Manta. He's my favorite. Just don't tell grandpa." She winked while clicking on a man with tight blue pants along with a blue mask that covered his whole head.
"Right..." She nodded, sliding off her wooden sandals. Bringing her legs up, she placed the controller between her feet to hold it still while resting her hand over it. Scrolling over the characters, she stopped on a man named The Great Apathy. He was a man with equally as much pink hair as her with white pants and a Grimm mask. "Let's begin." She eyed the young girl, smiling as she selected him.
The character screen soon faded away and was quickly replaced with a wrestling ring. The two characters standing on each side and bobbing back and forth. Behind them, crowd filled stands cheered. At the top of the screen were the character's health bars. Manta in the left and Apathy in the right. In the middle, a timer at ninety-nine. "Round one." The announcer's voice spoke up and paused for a moment. "Fight!"
Both fighters began to move back and forth across the screen while jumping around. Soon enough, they kept moving closer and closer while backing off before attacking. Manta quickly took the advantage, jumping into the air while spinning. As Apathy was knocked down and went to get back up, his opponent slid in, attacking and knocking him onto the ground where he stayed. "You win." The announcer said as the screen faded slightly before the wrestling ring reset and the two were both standing again. "Round two. Fight!"
Things went a little quicker this round. Rather than spending most of the time avoiding each other, the fighters quickly went to attack one another. Both of them jumping and sliding and either attempting to or successfully grabbing and throwing the other. Tossing Apathy up into the air, Manta jumped up after with a spinning attack. Apathy was thrown back, sliding on the ring floor before getting back up. His health low. Manta went to attack again, only to be knocked over by Apathy sliding. Moving forward towards him, the Grimm named wrestler reached out, grabbing him and throwing him onto the mat below. His body bouncing against it slightly as he went to move only to fall back and go still. "You win." The voice echoed.
"What?!" Lavender quietly let out in a small shout at the round loss as she leaned forward and pulled her controller close. She flashed her teeth, letting out a small sound before sighing and leaning back. Slouching, she regripped the controller while narrowing her eyes. "Stupid luck..."
"Round three. Fight!" The announcer shouted as the screen reset. This round... going a lot different than the previous two had gone. As the round began, Apathy immediately went to attack with a whip from his long pink hair. As Manta was thrown back, he bounced off the ropes and landed on the mat before getting back up. He went to move, only to be grappled by his opponent and thrown across the mat in the other direction.
With wide eyes, the young girl began to rapidly press the attack button while trying to get back up. "Wait... wait... no no no no no..." She swallowed as her character finally got back up only to be hit by her opponent sliding into her then stomping her onto the mat below. "No! Get up!" The popsicle stick fell from her mouth as she desperately shouted while leaning forward. Her character being grabbed and tossed upward before being kicked down. Gritting her teeth, she clutched her controller tight as her character stayed down on the mat.
"You win! Flawless victory!" The voice shouted, fading the screen to a you win and you lose board with the two characters on either side.
"What...?" She squeaked out, her shoulders dropping as she let her controller rest in her lap.
"Heh." Barren flashed a smile with closed eyes while leaning back. Resting her arm over her chest, she glanced towards her. "I told you not to worry about me."
"But... you just... I want a rematch!" Lavender huffed out with narrowed eyes before blinking and lowering her head. "Please, Auntie Baren."
She chuckled back, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "Sure. But fair warning, I won't let you win but I will go easier on you. Now that I know what I'm doing."
"Yeah... that's what grandpa says too." She mumbled before taking a deep breath and loading the game back to the roster. "But this time I'm kicking your butt." She smiled competitively while picking up her popsicle stick and putting it back in her mouth. The two of them playing for the next several hours and even changing between different classic games. The sun's light eventually faded away as the moon's light began to shine through the windows, leaving the two in a dimly lit room as they carried on.
Not sure if I'll end up posting again this week or not since I'm going to have a lot of free time this week but also video games, so just in case I don't, happy Thanksgiving! Random reminder to be nice to everyone even if they don't deserve it.