LimeyPanda

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

aaaaand the post is up. Thanks to Hellis for the help with an Isabella collab.

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

Evalyn's morning had begun as every morning did. She rose at the crack of dawn, washed herself with a basin of water collected before sleep, then she clothed herself: today choosing a set of soft cotton underclothes, a similarly light doublet, a leather jerkin, a form-fitting set of leather trousers and some worn boots.

Evalyn had long since abandoned the finery that came with her former status. Yet she would never admit to missing the pleasures that came with those fineries. To do so was, at least in her mind, to admit her father was in some ways correct. Her pride would not allow such a step back; Evalyn only accepted steps forward.

Her morning routine continued after she dressed, and soon Evalyn was walking through The Silver leaf compound, spear resting point-up on her shoulder. She had heard a few rumours surrounding herself in the months she'd been a part of the company of the Silver Leaves. Most seemed to revolve around the strange circumstances of her joining the company: It was more common for people to seek membership amongst the elite guild, so when one of the company's more well-known instructors strolls back with a woman in tow, people took notice.

Today, it seemed, Evalyn met very few people with an interest in the Luni and even fewer that she was interested in. She had decided to perform her morning practice in a private spot near the edge of the compound.

After a few minutes of walking, Evalyn found her spot: a small clearing underneath an old birch tree. Underneath the shaded spot, the Luni sat down cross-legged and lay her spear across her lap, where she closed her eyes and began to focus.

After ten seconds of concentration, a figure shimmered into being opposite her. The being was a beautiful Luni woman...in fact, she was the same beautiful Luni who sat cross legged under the birch tree.

Despite the illusion mirroring her position opposite her, Evalyn did not move. Concentration remained etched onto her face as, fifteen seconds later, a second copy of the Luni spearman shimmered into being, followed by a third illusion in the following twenty seconds.

The small company of four identical spear wielding women rose at the same time, gripping their spears in the right hand. Each entered a different stance, spear pointed down, and ready to strike. Suddenly, the original elf surged forward, charging at the greatest sparring partners she could readily find...herself.

Thirty minutes later, Evalyn made her way into the officer's halls, and rapped her knuckle against the wood of the door she knew to belong to Isabella. The Elf had a good relationship with the Instructor, as the woman had once saved Evalyn's life. If nothing else, Isabella was the closest thing that Evalyn had to a mentor and, perhaps more secretly, an accolade to work towards

"Isabella, I would very much like a word."

Isabella was a statuesque woman. Her body was that of a warrior in her absolute prime. She was studying something when the knock on the door brought her attention away from the books. She pushed back from the table and rose to her feet. Ah, it was Evalyn. The woman was a straightforward sort, even if her magic wasn't. A bit haughty, yes, very sure of herself to be certain. But none the less reliable and focused: A good student too. All she needed was to learn to fight a bit dirtier, in Isabella's opinion. the whip wrapped like an ornament around her shoulder, its spine-like, metal scales rested perfectly against one another. It looked like a part of her armor where it lay.

"How can I help you? And I do believe it is Instructor Isabella, is it not?" She mused.

Evalyn winced when the warrior woman corrected her. It was correct and proper for Evalyn to refer to Isabella as instructor, so she dipped her head in a formal apology to the higher ranking woman. "My apology, Instructor Isabella. I was hoping to get some advice from you today."

Glancing into Isabella's room, Evalyn tried to gleam into the instructor's room, so as to better understand her. She had shared a large amount of her 10 years of travelling alone with the instructor, only leaving out the more intimate details, or the mention of her identity prior to her travels.

Yet Isabella had listened much more than she spoke.

"I was hoping you would tell me how best to deal with the induction today. I am not foolish enough to be unaware of my faults, so how would you advise I go about dealing with...interacting with my fellows?"

The instructor laughed, it was a rather pleasant sound she had been told. It was not in mockery, but of surprise. Surprise at the concern of her stern, very resilient student. Surprise at the glimpse of her true self she guarded so protectively. "Yes. Yes, indeed. How do you talk to them? Well. I'll let you in on a secret: There is trouble looming on the horizon, and I am sure you'll find yourself with ample time of figuring it out. For now, I suggest addressing them as you would me, sans titles of course. Oh, and if you run into the Tindra. Do not accept an invitation to spar, the boy likes to cop a feel every chance he gets." She said with a smirk. "That and if you hurt him too badly, his friend tends to bite. Throat and all." She watched her reactions, amused to no end. She was terrible, she knew. But Evalyn could use a little humor, however dark, in her life.

The thought of treating unknown, untested strangers as her equals left Evalyn with a little wrinkling of the nose, as if the idea were immensely unappealing. Still, she had come here, asking for advice and she knew that each member of the company, recruit or not, had done something to earn their place.

It was Isabella's joke that caught her interest. Something about a Tindra who liked to 'cop a feel.' The Luni smirked at the thought, prompting a strange look from the Instructor. "The Tindra can try and challenge me, if he likes. The only thing he will 'feel' of mine is my spear." She seemed to ignore the comment about the feral accomplice of the Tindra, seemingly missing either the mirth or the threat in the statement.

"I thank you for the help, instructor. I will do my best to be...respectful."

"You will, because you are amongst equals here. Well, some of them." Isabella chuckled, and turned back to her papers. "Oh." She raised her hand "And good luck."

Evalyn only bows her head again in response to Isabella's words, then turned to leave the mentor to her work. In truth, her practice and the following conversation had left her feeling hungry. She quickly decided to make her next destination the Mess hall.

In short time, Evalyn had made her way to the mess hall and she was quick to join the back of the food queue, her spear held against her side, tip pointed to floor. She took a moment to glance at all the many tables and the occupants that sat at them. None of them were free, meaning Evalyn would be forced to...socialise.

A few moments later, Evalyn had a plate of food in one hand and she was forced to pause and consider her seat. Eventually, she settled on the table of the Tindra, a Wild-elf, a pair of dwarves and a few humans. There were two main reasons for the choice: one being the Tindra, who she expected to be the same that Isabella had intentionally told her to avoid sparring with; and the other was the Wild-elf. Evelyn was reminded of her time among in the Wild-hari village, and the good memories that came with it.

Pulling up a chair, Evalyn parked her plate of food on the edge on the table. She picked idly at a bunch of grapes, before offering a curt "Hello." to the gathered individuals: deciding to air on the side of caution, when it came to saying things that might cause offence. Her mouth may have said little, but her eyes were judging the five people. She found the two dwarves wanting, but her eyes dwelled longer on the Tindra and the Wild-hari. Even the human had an air of interest about her, although it was less the sight of her that caused interest, but the strange aura she seemed to radiate.

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

So just to clarify with you, Kestral, you used your telepathy on two of the willing fighters? or did you scan the two objectors?

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

I will try and get a post up within the next 10 hours. I'm using a a tablet, atm.

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

She did, but you sounded mad offended.

Dont overeact, Mr melonhead :p

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

Username: Limeypanda

Name: Evalyn Brightspear (She adopted the second name after being disowned.)

Age: Appears in her mid-twenties. Evalyn is actually over a century old.

Race: Luni-Hari

Sex: Female

Archetype: Subtle Spear (Rogue type, + DPS and Magic – Strength and Sturdy-ness)

Personality: A haughty individual with a great deal of self-confidence, Evalyn is often seen as abrasive, brash and arrogant. While none of these descriptors are inaccurate, there is of course more depth to the woman. She is haughty because of her single-minded devotion to self-betterment; she is self-confident because she struggles to trust others; she is abrasive because she has not has seen far more of the tedious and the evil in her lifetime and she is arrogant because she has done damn well at staying alive, when it seems that The Eladrur Twins fight over her every step.

Despite these qualities, Evalyn is a good, honest friend to have. She is fairer than one would expect of a Luni of her birth, and she seems willing to interact with certain races in a positive enough light as to become at least approachable. Put simply, if you happen to be Luni, Wild-elf or human you can expect Evalyn to openly accept your ideas. Unless you are Shadowborn or Mandi, there is a decent enough chance that she will simply be cold, as opposed to downright hateful.

Evalyn has a high respect for people she considers worthy: namely leaders, tutors or those who prove themselves worthy. She also puts a great deal of emphasis on respecting the gods. While she doesnt openly worship a single one, she pays respects to Suin, Hesele and the Twins.

Abilities: Refractomancy-The magic of mirrors: The only school of magic that Evalyn has learned, Refractomancy is a magic of manipulation and deception. By briefly meditating, Evalyn is able to create a perfect copy of herself, with the same clothes, movements and even weapons that she bares. These clones can even use these weapons and clothes to attack an enemy and, should they land a blow, would injure an opponent.

There are a number of weaknesses to this school of magic, however. For one, a single blow will shatter an illusion created by Refractomancy. Another is the time and concentration it takes to make a single illusion is unwieldy, and requires a bit of forethought, to use in a fight. Finally, The amount of illusions Evalyn has out at a time is limited by her physical condition. Each illusion is more draining than the last, with her current limit being 4.

Spear-dancer - Taught to her in the academies of Luni society and honed by a decade of travel and tutelage, Evalyn is a woman of incredible skill with a spear. She fights in a fluid, twisting style that is most easily associated with dancing. There is no magic to this way of fighting, she simply fights in a style that mesmerises and confuses opponents until a blow presents itself.

Now imagine four copies of the Elf-woman, dancing and crashing down the spear on a poor unsuspecting foe.

History & Background

: First born child of one of Zrea’s most prominent Suin Warrior-Priests, as well as the Head Mage-Priestess of Hesele. The two were joined as part of an arranged marriage, which seemed to be a happy enough one. They conceived Evalyn at an unknown point, but even the line-less elf’s birth is stepped in excitement.

Evalyn was born during a strange time. An astrological event known as the Twins’ Zenith was occurring during the eve of her birth, an event that has the stars of each of the Eladrur Twins crown the moon in a near-perfect symmetry of each other. What makes the astrological event such a notable thing is that it is an event that is impossible to predict: There is no regular rhythm for the phenomenon. So from the very day that Evalyn was born, people began to take notice.

Her childhood was a very normal one, with her parents training her and hiring the best tutors they could to teach her a number of different schools of philosophy, religion and etiquette. For Evalyn’s father, that was enough. The young Hari thought otherwise though. She had spied her mother and father, both training as either warrior or mage, and quickly became enthralled with the concepts of magic and warfare. Evalyn’s mother decided to nurture this fascination, and hired additional tutors to teach both the arts of warfare and the mage.

Evalyn grew older over the decades, and soon she was of a marriageable age. Her father, it seems, had long been aware of the power that his daughter held in the courts as a bargaining chip, for she was beautiful, graceful and held a certain air of mystery surrounding her, thanks to the strange conditions surrounding her birth. He began to manoeuvre his position in the courts, so as to arrange a marriage for his only child.

In the mean times, Evalyn had reached the pinnacle of womanhood. She was no longer a child in any way, and she had taken greatly to her studies of warfare and magic: finding a delight in the tutelage her mother had won for her. Evalyn was much more skilled as a warrior than as a mage, which somewhat disappointed her mother, but the basics of Evalyn’s mage talents were on display, as she performed various apprentice level feats and could concentrate to generate reasonable amounts of mana.

In her 80th year, Evalyn requested that she be allowed to make a pilgrimage. While it is not uncommon for Luni who have come of age to take pilgrimages to the temples of Suin, Evalyn instead asked to make pilgrimage to the Temple of the Twins. Once again, it was her mother who doted on Evalyn, choosing to let compassion and curiosity grow. The Pilgrimage itself was uneventful, but Evalyn asked questions of the Eladrur Twins, and she received a strange, impossible to decipher image of Evalyn standing radiant and noble as any Luni warrior might, beside... Wild elves? And a dwarves? And humans?!

Evalyn kept the vision to herself when she returned from the pilgrimage, and it was at this point that Evalyn’s father introduced the knowledge that he’d found a potential suitor for Evalyn’s hand: The son of the Archpriest of the Suin. Evalyn took the news poorly. She had heard stories of the boy: about his womanising ways, and how he used the laurels of his father’s name to get his own way, and how he treated himself as his own god. The thought repulsed her, but her father insisted that she at least allow a period of courtship to occur.

For 6 years, the Archpriest’s son attempted to win Evalyn’s heart. He attempted with the use of gifts, and song, and the use of his father’s name. Evalyn remained unimpressed, but her father constantly reinforced the importance of the marriage to her, and encouraged her to give the failing suitor more and more chances.

After a while, enough became enough though. The Archpriest’s son mocked one of Evalyn’s tutors in the street, a middle-class Luni mage-scholar. The prideful Evalyn took extreme offence to the mockery of her tutor, and Evalyn challenged the Archpriest’s son to a duel; the boy foolishly accepted.

He was shamed by Evalyn, a superior fighter who’d trained for nearly a century of combat under some of the most elite tutors and warrior-priests. The boy was shamed in public, and the marriage proposal was withdrawn.

Evalyn and her father had a fearsome row over the entire debacle. She insulted him and defended her stance, while he did the reverse.

In the end, the two were beyond reconciliation. In the end, Evalyn packed up all her belongings and left everything behind: her family, her home, even her name. All of it abandoned, so that she might maintain her pride.

At first, Evalyn roamed through Zrea, hiding among the Luni underclasses. She quickly developed the basic skills that a person would need in order to survive on her own. She learned to cook and to hunt and to do jobs that, as an upper class Luni, would once have been deemed beneath her. She even had base interactions with some of the other races: humans mostly. The act of talking with them was, to her surprise, not horrific.

However, after a few months of living among the lower-class Luni in Zrea, word began to spread that her parents were looking for her. Evalyn had no desire to return to her father, and besides that, an adventurous spark had been lit in the woman's heart. She realised that she was so ignorant of the world, and quickly decided that the bride of some upper-class Luni idiot was beneath her.

So she left Zrea, and began to explore the surrounding regions, forever keeping her heritage and surname a secret. She travelled as part of caravans or alone at various points of the jo0urney, meeting new and different people each day. While most proved boring, the odd person of interest was enough to delight her and sate the ever hungering adventurous spark...temporarily, at least.

One day, during her travels through a large forest in one of Zrea's neighbours, Evalyn was confronted by a trio of Mandi slavers. They already had a Wild-elf in shackles, and it seems they had eyes for a second slave in the form of Evalyn.

They chose poorly.

Evalyn managed to kill all three of the poorly trained slavers, and she unshackled the captured Wild-elf. For Evalyn, it should have ended there. She intended to move onwards to Eleorna and perhaps beyond.

The Wild-elf did not feel the same. She followed Evalyn for well over ten minutes before the Luni woman shouted out at her stalker.

"What! What do you want with me?

"You save me. I want to take you to village, thank you. Make feast in honour."

Evalyn was stunned by the gesture. She expected the Wild-elf to be a creature of savagery and instinct, yet this woman had a genuine intelligence to her eyes.

Deciding to trust in the woman, she followed the elf to her home. The village was like a verdant haven. As soon as the Wild-elf told her story to the village mates, a great cheer broke through the village. The sudden mirth and reverie was more than enough to catch Evalyn by surprise, and soon she was swept up in the happy feast.

During the feast, Evalyn learned of the woman she had saved: a sorceress and a deeply interesting woman. Soon enough, Evalyn asked that the woman to teach her magic, and for a time Evalyn becomes a guest of the Wild-elves.

Times were good in the village. Evalyn learned sorcery from the woman he'd saved, and learned romance in the village also. She stayed in the village for a few years, until Evalyn had mastered the sorcery, and finally it became time for the Luni to move on. The times in the village had changed her perspective, but her dreams were haunted by the vision she received when she visited the temple of the twins.

The Wild-elf sorceress gifted the Luni with a small gift: a necklace made with a tooth that the pair had hunted together. In truth, Evalyn had a certain fondness for the Wild-elves, and her time with them further developed a certain level of respect for a few of the other races.

She continued her original journey towards Eleorna, with no real intent in mind except the stories of heroes that seemed to radiate from the region.

Inside Eleorna, Evalyn came across the gutted carcass of a dead village. Tracks from horses and the multitude of corpses indicated a raider attack, and the freshness of the carnage told a tale of terror that was very recent.

With no other objective, the Luni spearwoman followed the tracks with a mind for some sort of revenge for the village. Perhaps an odd act of kindness, or perhaps the sight of dead children can sway even the most cynical of hearts. Either way, a force immaterial seemed to compel her to get justice for the dead.

While her skills as a tracker were mediocre at best, Evalyn was easily able to track down the raiders: A group of a dozen men on horseback. Knowing that she would surely lose in a fair fight against twelve fighters, Evalyn waited until nightfall, before she struck.

As she waited, Evalyn started to weave her magic. By nightfall, the lone Spear wielder had company, as four glittering spears reflected the pale moonlight.

Evalyn snuck into the rudimentary camp of the raiders as the majority slept, and she worked to kill any raider she met quickly and silently. The first guard died when four spears pierced his body from behind. Then another guard fell, his heart pierced as he caught sight of a mysterious beauty in the distance. A fourth and a fifth died, playing a game of cards.

The sixth guard caused the issues. As she managed to slay the man, who took an illusion with him, his voice screamed out through the camp, awakening five angry raiders.

With the tables turned, the aggressing Evalyn was put onto the defensive, where she struggled. She took two more raiders out before she was pushed back, caught between a sheer cliff face and the three raiders.

The Luni was panting heavily from the night's exertions. She had fought hard and fought well, but it seemed she had made too many mistakes. The raid leader moved forward, towards the kill.

Suddenly, a whip was around his throat. The raid leader instantly fell to his knees, choking for breath. Suddenly, the jerk of the whip-woman's wrist had the raid leader's neck snap.

The other two raiders didn't stand a chance.

"So to what mercenary group do you belong, spearwoman? Very few would dare to take prey from the Silver leaves, after all."

Standing before Evalyn was a fearsome woman indeed. Isabelle G'oir of the Silver leaves...even a relatively new traveler to Eleorna would have heard mention of the Silver leaves, and Evalyn had apparently stolen their prey?

"No Guild, Silver leaf. I am but a traveller, following a path i can't begin to understand."

The whip-woman seemed amused by the response, and closed the distance between the pair.

"So how about walking A different path? One that comes with some guidance? Good fighters without a purpose...they are such a waste of talent, after all."

Country of Origin: Zrea, the religious epicentre of the world.

Equipment

Weapons: Primary weapon - An aged, yet finely crafted spear
Secondary Weapon - A pair of weighted daggers, usable both in melee and as throwing daggers.

Other items, equipment or possessions: A finely crafted shield of Luni design. She keeps it in her quarters in the barracks; A necklace, featuring the fang of a Crocodile, it is clearly of Wild-hari design; a small golden band, which she keeps always on her person, generally tied to the fang necklace.

The Silver Leaves; A Northern Crusade.

Hi Noxy-beautiful. Long time no speak.

i just sent in my first draft for Hellis to look at...so yay

Bleach: The Hollowing

Phoenix said

I'm with my girlfriend tonight. (and I'm male xP)

I'll put the confusion down to the gender connotations of the mythical pheonix, which is an ultimatly feminine being

Legend of Renalta 2: Reborn

I shall be looking to worm towards a posst on Tuesday.

Because holidays minus internet = slow posting schedule.

The Last Bastion: Bunker Chicago

Intermission-Kiku, Col Black and Nomuro

---

Being dead hurt more than Kiku imagined it would. For one, she had thought it wouldn’t hurt at all: like, how could being dead hurt? If you were dead, you were dead. Nothing else to it really.

But nonetheless, she felt nothing but hurt. Her stomach hurt, where she’d got shot, and shoulder felt a strange numb pain to it, as well. Slowly, she tried to flex her fingers, but nothing seemed to obey. Memories started to trickle back into her head: Of the mission, of the hunt and the kill, and then...She got shot? That was how she died, right?

A sound caught her attention, it sounded like voices...panicky voices, at that. She couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded like they were freaking out about something ‘waking up.’

Why did death smell like disinfectant?

It took her a while to grasp that she wasn’t dead...A few seconds of acclimatising her body to the various sensations: of the cold metal against her back, of the slow beep of machines, and of the smell of sweat and dry blood and disinfectant. She tried to open her eyes, but was briefly blinded by the overhanging lights. She tried to lift her arms to cover her eye, but only her right arm responded, and it felt numb as all hell.

“Wha…”

She turned her head away from the skull-splitting light, and tried to look down at her left hand. All she saw was the stump of her left shoulder, as well as a number of stitched up holes. She began putting two and two together, and she glanced up to see her limb, dead and retched on a table beside them.

She was broken.

“Oh god...Ohgod, Ohgod! Someone, help me? Help me please?!” She tried to get up, to writhe away from the sight of her own dead limb, but every milimetre felt like a mile. Her body was numb and aching and it hurt so much, but seeing her own arm, just...there…

Slowly but surely as her blurred vision began to focus, several sights would greet her. The paleness of her own skin, her spines folded against her back could feel the drugs coursing through her veins and were fighting them to try and keep her awake, she had no control over this. Still. One of the panicked voices was a man in a lab coat. Really, they were all in lab coats, but this one in particular had a distinctly asian descent in a room full of mostly caucasian doctors, and he was the only one that seemed particularly disturbed by the sight of the dismembered arm.

The asian lab coat was on a phone connected to the wall with a cord, and he was screaming something in a furious tone, though the language was entirely foreign to her ears. As she struggled against the ties keeping her down, a woman enters the room, still decked out in combat gear, though she tosses her strange rifle to the side and dashes over to Kiku. Leaning overtop of the medical bed, Kiku finally recognized her face: Colonel Marie Black. Marie looked over the pale, badly maimed form of Kiku and grasped Kiku’s shoulders, resting her forehead against Kiku’s as her necklace slips out from underneath her chest plate: A cross. “Shh, it’s okay… These men are trying to help you, Kiku, just calm down… I’m here now…”

Kiku’s eyes slowly focused in on Black’s, the fear in them so very contrasting to the normally brazen girl. Everything was moving out of her control, and she was so afraid of being broken. She couldn’t help but recall the times in the pit, of being weak and defenceless: of being forced to do what she must to survive...She’d fought tooth and nail to make herself strong. She’d given up everything, and now she was some useless cripple?

“I’m sorry Colonel Black, I’m sorry. I’m sorryimsorryimsorry.” Kiku tried to raise her left arm again, visible through the tiny movements of her disfigured shoulder. She tried to wrap her phantom left arm around the Colonel, but felt the fruatration and pain of failure. Not being able to move her arm, she just shut her eyes, feeling tears flow for the first time in a what was probably years. “Help me, Marie. I don’t want to be useless; I can’t be useless! I’ll do anything, just don’t leave me here. Don’t leave me as some weak, useless little piece of crap, please?!”

“Shh…” Marie says as she gently caresses Kiku’s cheek with her right hand, her left hand slipping into Kiku’s and squeezing it tightly. “You won’t be… But…” Her eyes move to another metal tray, to Kiku’s right side, that had several metal parts. One looked like a shoulder combined with a motor, another looked like a hand. “They have to connect your nervous system to the wires so you can have control over the replacement limb… You were supposed to be unconscious, because it’s… Quite painful.” Marie turns her eyes back to Kiku, taking a deep breath she stops caressing Kiku momentarily so she can take off her cross and place it in Kiku’s left hand.

“They didn’t know that your body would adjust to the drugs so quickly.” The doctors around put on fresh gloves and masks, as the asian lab coat clears his throat and slowly places the phone back on the wall. “... Colonel…” He starts saying as she brings one of her hands up to motion for him to stop talking. “Kiku, they have to do this now, before the wound heals into a stump and the nerve endings heal… I’ll be here, right here, and so will God, he will watch over you, but this is going to be the most… Painful moment of your life, I will not lie to you. Just trust me, and the doctors, okay?” The tone of her voice was gentle, almost motherly as she waits for Kiku’s response, rather than forcing the procedure forward.

Kiku opened up her eyes and focused on Marie, the fear in her eyes unchanged, but sharpened with a certain focus. It seems her body had fought off the rest of the drugs, and the mutant was fully aware of what the Colonel had said to her. She didn’t let her eyes waver though. “I can do it, boss. I trust you. Just...please don’t leave. I need you here. I’m scared, but I can do it if you’re here.”

With a nod, Marie wraps her left hand around Kiku’s left hand, pushing the cross into Kiku’s palm. “I will. Do not worry. One child of God will not leave another to suffer alone.” The asian rolls his eyes skeptically as Marie sighs. “Just do your work, Nomuro.” He nods and grabs a small drill in one hand. Standing beside Kiku he looks at her sympathetically while the doctors stand impatiently around him. “Nǐ shì yǒnggǎn de.” Without further words, he starts the operation, drilling into Kiku’s flesh as quickly as he could to get the work done as fast as possible.

Kiku’s eyes flared open at the sudden intensity of the agony from her arm. She clenched her teeth tight as she began to scream, pushing her body up as she writhed in torment. It was like a fire had been set inside of her arm. Somehow, it hurt even more than being shot: perhaps because her body was being kept out of shock by the cocktail of suppressed drugs in her system or something.

She wanted to be stronger than this, but in the face of so great a pain, she couldn’t resist every nerve in her body shouting ‘run’ or ‘escape’ or ‘stop it, now.” She looked up at Black, almost wanting to open her mouth and tell her to, no, scream for her to stop the torture.

Something stopped her, though. Perhaps it was the fear of being useless, or perhaps the thought of letting the only person who truly cared for her down, or perhaps it was just the fact that she was too stubborn to lose to something like a lost arm: but she kept her mouth shut, refusing to let her pain beat her. She glared into Marie’s eyes, trying to fight past the fear and the pain and the god-damn self-loathing. A glimmer of Kiku shone through: of the fearless girl, of the fearless, happy girl that got caught up in stupid stuff, and who didn’t even trust herself with money, and who didn’t even care about any of the stuff Marie moaned at her about: like trying ‘Church’ or trying to get a ‘safe job’ or anything like that. It was just a flicker, but it was there, staring back at Black as she kept screamed into clenched teeth; until her throat grew sore and beyond.

The operation proceeded as blood started to seep out of her wounds again, though the doctors seemed intrigued that it was pinkish in hue rather than the dark red they expected. Getting a few samples that were rolling out of her anyway, a couple of them grabbed Kiku’s shoulders and held her down as Nomuro grabbed the shoulder piece and its several connections. Examining it quickly, he then puts it back down and starts putting magnetic metal pieces into her shoulder. They stung, but nowhere near as badly as the drill did. Black smiles, though concern openly showed in her eyes as she rests her hand on Kiku’s cheek. “Alright, it’s going well, just have to survive a little while longer… Maybe after this I can convince you to come to church with me…” She chuckles. “... Probably not, huh?”

The sensation of the pain decreasing in intensity brought about a sense of relief in the mutant. She didn’t feel as much of an urge to scream in protest now, although a few grunts of pain were enough to tell everyone in the room that the process was not comfortable. Looking up at Marie, she offered a sort of half-smile at the joke...At least, she thought it was a joke. “I don’t feel the need to listen stories and promises to do what I do. Sorry boss, but the day you see me in church is the day I get my mom back.” A small wince of pain seemed to cause her face to contort, but soon enough she was smiling again, trying to pretend that this wasn’t the worst sort of agony she’d been through.

Marie hesitates, then closes her eyes, a slight frown on her lips, but a look of understanding in her eyes as she opens them again. “Alright.” Nomuro nods to Marie, who in turn grasps Kiku’s hand tightly. “This is going to hurt.” The engineer then grabs the shoulder piece again, this time lining it up and shoving it hard into the bleeding wound Kiku had. The magnetic receptors which he had put in before attracted the metallic ends of the wires, connecting them to Kiku’s nervous system as Nomuro then grabs a strange looking tool connected to a generator. Shoving it into the shoulder piece, electricity flows into the shoulder piece, into the wires, and floods Kiku’s nervous system.

The confidence and half smiles seemed to vanish in the writhing convulsions of electricity rocking her body. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream as she pressed and writhed under Marie’s strong hand. The convulsions were terrifying and she couldn’t even scream to the world about how much it hurt. It was the worst kind of pain, and she could do nothing but suffer through it.

For what felt like far too fucking long, Kiku was obliterated by the pain. She eventually felt the spasming stop though, and felt her chest heave for oxygen. She’d spent fuck-knows how long screaming out, which meant she’d spent that much time not breathing: and the whole experience had her exhausted.

She opened one eye to look up at Marie, offering her best-worst impression of a smile: which looked painful, to be honest. “Did I do it, boss?”

Nomuro looks at the shoulder, tapping it with a finger. He then taps the flesh just beside the metallic shoulder, and instinctively, her metal shoulder twitches slightly under her own movement. “I would say so.” He says with a small smile. “Here.” He pulls two extra pieces of the limb over, attaching them slowly. There wasn’t any pain this time as he continued to attach artificial nerves and started drilling screws in at certain points. The painful part of the operation was over. Now it was time for the monotonous portion. “Can she sit up?” Marie asks, Nomuro nods as he undoes the straps. One of the doctors looks like they’re about to protest, only to get shot down with a glare from Nomuro. “The girl has been through enough today. She should be allowed to sit comfortable.”

Marie smiles softly as the door opens again, a man was bringing a tray of food in. “Good. She hasn’t eaten in two days. I figured she might be hungry after this ordeal.” There was even ice cream in a small bowl, it seemed Marie was really doting upon Kiku this day.

Kiku was slow in moving, even though it seemed the two adults thought it the best plan. She was...scared? It felt weird to admit that she was a bit afraid of moving, but her entire body weight felt off kilter. She felt like she was going to fall over at any moment, with the added weight of the metal arm.

Slowly though, Kiku shimmies her body up the bed, trying to get a bit more comfortable, and trying to work some of the stiffness out of her body. She’d been comatose for so long that her muscles ached at the very notion of movement, but still; with exclusively the use of her right hand, she managed to sit up.

Looking at both the doctor and the Colonel, Kiku felt the overwhelming desire to move her left arm. She’d felt her body feel...something before, when the left arm moved. It felt more than heavy, it felt like it was there, in some fashion. She slowly tried lifting the steel limb, and found the motion was sluggish, and wanting. It was going to take a long ass time to get used to it, for sure.

Then, the ice-cream was brought in, and Kiku temporarily forgot her worries in a moment of bright-eyed wonder. She had been shown the delight of Ice-cream less times than she had not-metal-fingers. “Holy crap, isn’t this stuff really expensive? Like… More-than-some-grunts-earn-in-a-week kind of expensive?”

“A month.” Marie says with a small smile and a shrug. “There is usually ample amounts of it for patients of these kinds of operations, however. The sugar is good to help kickstart your system into self recovery.” The tray is placed on Kiku’s lap as Nomuro continues to work on the left limb. Aside from an occasional twitch, it was functioning well. It was finished up to the elbow already. “You work fast.” Marie says with a bit of surprise in her eyes. “I have to. If I didn’t, one of these emotionless jokers would take my place, whole bunker would fall apart in a week.” Nomuro says with a smug grin as the doctors collectively rolled their eyes and started to leave the room, or take notes.

Seeing the ice cream on her lap, Kiku lifts her right hand to grab the spoon and tuck in. She makes it as far as grabbing the spoon before stopping herself, and then re-aligning it with the bowl, but on her left side. She glances over at Nomuro, seemingly hoping to get permission to actually attempt to use the metal appendage.

The Asian doctor, however, shook his head: clearly reading her intent. She pouted, but then just grabbed the spoon with her functioning hand and actually dug in. The Ice-cream was heavenly as it touched her tongue, and she couldn’t help but let out an over-happy giggle.

After a few more mouthfuls, she puts the spoon back in the bowl: pacing herself so as to not end up being sick. She looked at the Asian doctor, but decided to actually speak this time. Her face had a bit of a more serious note to it. “So doc, be honest with me: Does this arm make me any stronger? Will I be a better killer with this limb? Will I be more useful to the Bunker with this metal arm, or am I about the same as before?”

“No, depends on how you use it, and about as useful as before. It has its advantages, you won’t feel pain with this limb, though it can be damaged like any other, and excessive stress will cause the motors to overheat and melt.” He taps the motor now hidden underneath a metal plate in her elbow. He was halfway done attaching her wrist. “The metal is non-magnetic at least, so don’t worry about that being a problem.” Marie grimaces as she remembers something foul. Nomuro notices and chuckles. “Don’t worry. The few times arms and legs were ripped out of their owners never resulted in anything permanent, but we had to ensure that didn’t happen again. Oh, and Kiku, this isn’t bulletproof. Don’t expect it to stop a bullet from penetrating your torso.” He finishes with her wrist, then delicately starts attaching her hand. “Keep eating, you heard Marie. The sugar will help.”

Kiku listened to the explanations silently, as she slowly picked at a few more mouthfuls of Ice-cream.Her face didn’t take on the same smiling, giggling complexion it did before, as her mind filled up with a grim determination. She had guessed that this would be the case: that the arm wasn’t an ‘upgrade’ made sense, after all.

Finishing off another third of the bowl of ice-cream, she put the spoon down again, before looking at Black, with a smile. Here was the woman who’d saved her once, and who cared for her still. Here was the closest thing Kiku had to family, and to a mother, even. “Doc, Boss: Are there any special mutations or something that I can get? I’m not going to be leaving the hospital any time soon, so now seems like a good time for an upgrade. I don't mind risky, or crazy, or experimental or whatever; I want to be better than last time: to be faster, and stronger, and stealthier, and more useful. I don’t want to end up like...this again.”

She turned to the doctor, eyes full of a fiery determination. “I trust you two, and I don’t want to be useless ever again. I want to be useful to the bunker, and I want to make up to the people who saved me, and I want to kill any fucker who’d hurt me, or the Bunker, or...any of the people I care about. I don’t have many left, so I gotta protect them with my own two hands. Although I guess one of those hands would also be yours now, doc.”

“Just...make sure you drug me up a bit more, doc. And uh...Boss?” She pauses slightly, as she glances over at Col.Black, the woman who cared so much for her and who didn’t even have to.

“...Thanks. I owe you like...Way too much.”