VampireOracle

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Sophia Lemane

Wisford, Maryland
September 14th, 2020 - 5:55 pm

Even after that terrible moment when Sav's neck snapped, they continued moving. Fighting.

Marcus. A brown haired girl with shadowy dark creatures. An aquamarine haired girl. Siena. From somewhere, another person was shooting bullets. It was only she who could not move, because someone had just died. Savannah. Someone whom Sophia had never had the chance to get to know better. And as weak as it might be, she could not ignore it.

From the back of her mind came scrambled bits and pieces of memories. A table, an occupied chair. Four people, when it should have been five. Tears, lots of them. But none from her. She stood there by that table, not quite old enough to understand what was wrong, but old enough to feel the weight of the situation. "He's not coming," her mother had said.

There was another part she remembered. A small bundle wrapped in blue. A gaping dark hole. Stepping outside into the hot sun to watch smoke rise from a chimney as her hand was held tightly. More tears, still none from her.

But this time, her eyes welled with tears.

It was the gargoyle's fault. It was the fault of that aquamarine girl. It was the fault of the brown haired girl, because maybe if she and her shadowy creatures would have been first, the gargoyle would have been dealt with in a better way. It was Marcus's fault, for... for not realizing that there was an intruder in the APC. It was Lawrence's fault for the same reason, for not paying enough attention.

It was... it was... the fault of all her teammates on the battlefield for not realizing that there were rouge subnaturals attacking Evac sooner. For coming to help too late. It was the fault of all the people who had not yet arrived to help. It was Savannah's fault for not managing to save herself. It was-- why did it matter whose fault it was? Sav was dead and there was no changing that-- her fault.

Because she hadn't done anything, or even tried. Because she was powerless.

What was it her sister had often called her? Ah, yes.

Hopeless. That was it. She was that too.

---

The walls of the APC dissolved, and she found herself in a place unknown. Her fear, sadness, despair, and all those other negative motions faded, pushed to the back of her mind along with thoughts of the fight going on and Savannah's death. This place, what was it? How did she get here?

A vast ocean spread out before her, so vast she could not see where it ended. Was she floating above it? It seemed so. Below her lay the ocean, and she had eyes only for it and nothing else. Beneath the surface where the water gently rippled, she could feel that there was... something. She didn't understand what exactly this ocean was, but it seemed to hold... potential? A potential for something good, perhaps.

It seemed so strong and sure of itself, beckoning and inviting her to come and take a closer look into its depths. She couldn't. Though she could move her arms and legs, she could not make them walk her down to the surface of that ocean. She wanted to know more about it so badly, why couldn't she see? Maybe she was too in awe to move.

Or too scared to find out and discover that the ocean wasn't as majestic and wonderful as she thought, perhaps.

Because she could not go to the ocean, it came to her. Just a little drop, but it came. Rising up towards her, it nestled in her outstretched hand before sinking through and into her. And it made her feel a little better. A little stronger, a little more whole. That drop belonged with her, as if it had been carefully shaped to fit her-- and her power.

---

The APC reappeared around her and the reality of what was happening hit her full force once more. The tranquility of that ocean was gone. In the few seconds that it took her to reorient herself, a gun shot rang out and not long after, they were moving. Grabbing onto the nearest seat and lowering herself into it as the truck lurched forward, she stared out of the open back door of the APC and witnessed what had to be the death of another person as the APC pulled away.

She didn't have it in her to do anything else but watch as the people fighting became smaller and smaller. Part of her felt that she should be there, helping or something. Not running away. But she was no use, she would just be in the way. Whatever that scene with the ocean had done or meant to do, the differences she had felt in that place-- both in mood and in strength-- now seemed to have disappeared.

Actually, something had changed. But she was too distraught to notice that tiny sliver of a difference.

As the APC kept moving away, she stopped looking behind her. Trying to tune out the sounds and voices coming from her cuff and radio, she lowered her chin to her chest as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. She wanted to get out of here. She wanted it to be all over.

Iris Halo

Laura Tilney

Hallway, Chroma Knight Base
December 19, 2016 - ~10:30

What.

What was Darius trying to say? Laura had been attempting to calm herself down, but after hearing what seemed to her to be wonky reasoning from Darius, she felt herself getting worked up again.

Sure. Maybe Darius had been holding back, she knew that the Hammer was powerful from so many years of training. But he hadn't been able to control himself enough to hold back from cutting off Connor's arm. Holding back for "most of the time" and having things under control "for the most part" wasn't enough.

But that wasn't the main reason why she felt herself getting angry once more. Perhaps she would have been able to calm down and move on, forgive Darius for what he had done... if he would not have said those last two sentences.

"When we get out onto the battlefield its going to be worse, much worse than what just happened."

Did he think that she didn't know? She had been on the battlefield plenty of times as well. He knew that. She had had to heal comrades on the field, then watch them rush back into fighting without having a chance to rest. She had seen them die and blamed herself afterwards for not being able to save their lives. It wasn't that Laura thought she was the only one who had to go through that. All of her teammates, save Connor, had been out to the battlefield.

But if Darius suddenly thought that she couldn't handle it...

"If you didn't feel comfortable with it then you should have opened your mouth back in the dinning room."

Hah. Very funny. As if she had somehow been able to know that this would happen. It was supposed to be a training session, where they could test their strength without getting hurt like on the battlefield.

When it seemed to her that Darius was finished speaking, she raised her head and turned to face him squarely. On her face still remained that expression of anger. She looked around to see why Connor was not saying anything, only to realize that he had left without her noticing. The anger dropped suddenly and she seemed to deflate, shock and hurt flickering across her face for a moment. Had she been acting so unpleasant that he had needed to escape?

Without anger giving her that energy boost, she seemed to get more tired. Had she let herself go too far and get too worked up? Perhaps. She looked down at the floor, shaking her head once. The rebuttal that she had been forming in her head dissolved.

"I just... don't want to see you all get hurt." This was spoken in a quieter voice, before she regained a small spark of defiance, raising her head and meeting Darius's eyes. "I can handle the battlefield. But when injury occurs in this base, the place where we are supposed to be comparatively safe... I can't stand it. It should not happen."

---

@FallenTrinity

Cerendale: Fantasy Psionics Campaign

Tentative interest for this, working out my time schedule for the coming months so still a little unsure.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Liliana Brandt | Sophia Lemane

---

𝕊𝕖𝕡. 𝟙𝟜, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘 / / 𝕌𝕊𝔸ℝ𝕀𝕃ℕ 𝔼𝕒𝕤𝕥 / / 𝟙𝟜𝟙𝟝

---

As Lily said to her current teammates earlier, she really did run back to her room to get her cellphone albeit it being the last minute. (She really meant to get it but being the scatterbrain that she was sometimes, she actually forgot until it was almost time for the briefing before the battle. She didn't bother looking at the screen and just slipped it into her pocket as she hurried back.

Back in the briefing room, the golden eyed teenager's attention was occupied entirely by the Commander's demonstration, eyeing the material that was on the table in front of her. She tentatively touched it while listening to what was being said. But then I'll need to have some part of my body exposed just in case I need to go on offensive, was the thought at the back of her head until the order for the healer teams to avoid combat was given. She looked up then, her eyes zeroing in on the blue dot that was labeled the striker team's target: Factory. She glanced around the room and found the members of that team and wondered briefly how each felt being assigned to the frontlines.

But soon she found herself distracted again by the equipment given to them. A baton, a knife and pepper spray... They should be useful when I need them... She obediently wrapped the wishalloy around her body, making sure she left some parts of her arms and legs exposed just in case she needed to use the more violent aspect of her ability.

---

Eventually, the time for talk was over and they were all led to the truck.

Lily was silent, having checked out who she was sitting around her the moment she stepped in. In front of her was a boy she didn't know. To her right was Marcus and to her left was Sophia. Both were familiar to her and so she felt comfortable sitting between them despite the knowledge that they were riding to what could be their deaths. When Kusari dropped the extra wishalloy in her lap, she merely nodded and muttered a quick thank you. Her attention was however occupied by the gadget she was holding in her hands. The broken screen of her cellphone displayed several missed calls from Sebastian and a few messages from him. Did she want to open them? What will she find in his messages?

Maybe I should look at them now? Or maybe I shouldn't? she argued with herself mentally.

As she chose a random place to sit in the truck, Sophia's hands were still filled with the items she had gotten prior to being led to the vehicle. Occupying herself with the job of attaching the items to the belt in her hands and examining the wishalloy, she didn't look up until Lily settled down beside her. It had been three days since they had last interacted with each other, and she wondered how Lily had been doing. It seemed that the girl was absorbed in whatever she was looking at on her phone, so she wasn't sure if she should interrupt. She spoke quietly, "Hey... Lily?" If Lily wasn't in the mood for talking, then they could just leave it at that, a greeting.

With Sophia's quiet greeting, Lily acknowledged her with a soft "Hmmm?" before she actually looked at her. "Oh, hi, Sophia," she greeted a little distractedly and then held up the wishalloy Kusari gave her. "Do you need more of these?" she asked.

More wishalloy? Nope, she didn't need more. Shaking her head, she motioned at the rolls of material in her lap. "Maybe someone will need it later," she suggested, unzipping her cardigan. Might as well put as much of hers on as she could while they were still safe on the truck. Unrolling one of the smaller bundles, she ran her fingers lightly over it before beginning to put it on. "It's so strange," she murmured, "I really hope it works."

Lily gave her cellphone a long thoughtful look before she tucked it back into a pocket. No need to distract herself for now. She nodded towards Sophia. "I hope so too. Although if it doesn't, I guess I could always transfer whatever injuries to..." she paused for a moment. "...to the enemies," she finished.

Sophia merely nodded, though there was a small doubt in her mind. How did transferring injuries to the metal clockwork objects work? But that wasn't her power, so she wouldn't know the specifics. Better to keep quiet than to voice her doubts and worries. Putting more of the wishalloy on so that it now covered both her arms and her torso, she put her cardigan back on before putting the remaining wishalloy away. She would put it on her legs later when they got off the truck.

There really didn't seem to be much else that she could say or felt like saying at the moment, for most of her attention was being occupied by thoughts of their upcoming mission. Lapsing into silence, she leaned back against the side of the truck, closing her eyes in preparation for the long ride.

Iris Halo

@FallenTrinity Yeah, was actually considering having Laura give Darius a useless punch or slap (hence the stepping forward), but I decided it wasn't really her to do that so quickly. But if Darius doesn't realize his mistake and keeps going on about the spar... she's going to become even more unhappy. Looking forward to that post!

Iris Halo

@Aeternum Telling me to take my time... then adding that "sorta".

That "sorta" did it. XD I decided to bang my head against the keyboard until something came out in the form of somewhat understandable sentences.

I posted something.

Iris Halo

Laura Tilney

Hallway, Chroma Knight Base
December 19, 2016 - ~10:28

What a coincidence. The moment Laura finished talking to Connor, or rather, pretty much lecturing him, Darius wandered in before Connor had much time to respond to her. Yes, she still needed to talk to Darius too. Couldn't he have decided to show up a few minutes earlier so she wouldn't have to repeat most of what she had just said?

Lowering her gaze from the ceiling, she watched Darius greet Connor with the eyes of a bystander. Observing while she tried to get a better grasp on her emotions. But what Darius was talking about did not help her mood. Just everything about what he said was making her upset again.

He didn't remember what happened after he got hit in the eye? Nice. So he didn't remember attacking a teammate with such lack of restraint and cutting off Connor's arm.

He looked forward to another spar with Connor.

He had the cheek to go and grin at her and say that he had been hoping that he and Connor could have gone all out with the spar. All out, huh? She had had enough difficulty healing the injuries from this match, and he wanted to burden the healers with more unnecessary work. But she couldn't blame him for going on so cheerfully about the spar, could she? Because Darius couldn't fucking remember.

The corners of Laura's mouth pulled downwards into a deep scowl as her mouth slightly opened so her teeth showed. Her eyes narrowed as her hands gripped the hem of her shirt tightly. "Why am I staring at you like that?" she echoed in a sickly sweet voice. "Oh, you need me to explain? Let me think."

Her voice changed so it was dripping with sarcasm as she glared at Darius, her grey eyes not as calm and mellow as they usually were. Perhaps one could liken her appearance to an angry wolf. "Maybe because... you just cut off his arm? Maybe because... you don't seem to care that both of you ended up in the infirmary? Maybe because," here her voice rose and became harsh, "not counting you two, more than half of our team was on site helping after the spar the two of you had to help deal with the mess that was created? Plus one other Asclepian?"

She took a step forward towards Darius before evidently changing her and turning to face the wall. Will not resort to violence to deal with your emotions. Violence solves nothing. That's not your strength. Placing her palms against the wall, she hit her head against it once. And again. Ouch. Too hard. When she spoke next, her voice was muffled, curtains of her hair blocking her face. "Go ask Connor to repeat what I said before you came."

Get a grip on yourself. This isn't you. You shouldn't get so frustrated and angry so easily.

Deep breaths, now. You need to stay calm, healers need to keep their cool.

This really wasn't her, and she didn't know why. Yes, it shouldn't have happened, but it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. Maybe it was because she was on edge because they had not been out to fight for at least a month, worried that the next attack would be devastating. Or maybe not. She didn't know. Maybe she was just tired. She'd feel better tomorrow.

---

@FallenTrinity@PrimalOrigins

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Sophia Lemane

Building A: Suite 226, USARILN East
September 14th, 2020 - 6:45 am

When the knocking started, Sophia was fast asleep. The noise broke in through her sleep, causing her to roll over in bed. That annoying woodpecker, why wouldn't it let her sleep? The knocking became louder and more insistent. Groaning, she opened her eyes to find herself in her room in USARLIN East.

Not a woodpecker. Quickly throwing back the covers, she hurried to open the door. "What," she snapped, before seeing the guard standing there. With messy hair and dark circles under her eyes, Sophia listened as the guard explained that she was to come with him. Though at least she was given a small amount of time to make herself look somewhat presentable. Shutting herself in the bathroom, she threw on the first set of clothes she saw and ran a brush through her hair while simultaneously calculating how much sleep she had gotten. Five hours, and the night before that, six and a half. Wonderful.

The fresh air and smell of rain helped to wake her up, but she still walked without really noticing where she was going. However, once she arrived in the room with the other students she began paying attention, and finally it dawned on her that she and the other people in the room were going to be sent out. It didn't take long for fear to set in, multiplying upon seeing the monstrosity they were to fight. She struggled to keep her attention on the Commander as the words slipped by, barely imprinting themselves in her brain.

Category three was a significant threat. Apparently the thing was a subnatural and not a creature from the Dreamcatcher? It generated metal creatures. Could not summon and move at the same time.

Then, their tasks were assigned. She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when she found she was going to be part of the group that found the injured and brought them to the healers. Perhaps it was selfish to be glad that she wasn't even supposed to fight any of the creatures, other people would be doing that instead. But then, she would be pretty useless in a fight, right? So it was best this way.

She ran the names of the teammates who had been assigned to the same job as her through her memory to see if any of them rang any bells, but she didn't remember interacting with any of them before, except with Savannah. She felt like she had heard the name "Lawrence" mentioned sometime before, but she couldn't put a face to the name.

When they were finally dismissed, she took the Commander's advice and decided to eat something. She needed to eat if she was to have enough energy for later, even if she didn't feel hungry at all. Why was she so nervous already, when they still had approximately seven hours until departure? That was so much time. So much time to spend doing whatever she wanted before she would be at the same place as that... metal subnatural thing. So much time until the probability of her and other people getting injured or killed would rise drastically.

She forced herself to finish her plate of food before heading to her room. She needed to prepare.

There wasn't much for her to prepare, most of the preparation for her would be done mentally. She changed into a sturdy pair of jeans and plain gray long sleeved shirt with a snugly fitting black cardigan, nothing fancy. Dealing with her hair next, she began to tie it into pigtails before stopping halfway through. Undoing the one she had already tied, she twisted her hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck instead. She wanted something that would keep all of her hair out of the way. Patting it, she found that no strands were escaping yet, everything tightly fastened.

Looking straight into the mirror, she frowned at her reflection. With no hair framing her face, her dark eye circles now seemed more prominent, and her firm jawline was easily visible. She looked older than the mere thirteen that she really was, but then, she herself had never considered herself as the youthful pretty type.

Next up was the question of what to bring. She didn't really own anything that would be useful for this circumstance. She had a pocket knife, and that survival kit. She doubted she would need the knife, and the contents of the survival kit were meant for someone in the wilderness. Still, maybe she should bring the knife along, even if it would be useless. She could always clean her nails with it or something like that. But she decided again taking the kit, she had no way of bringing it along anyway since it didn't fit into her pocket. Maybe for the future she should consider getting one of those waist bags to carry stuff around in. There was also the phone on her desk, would she need that? Probably not... but... maybe she should bring it along just in case. And her ID. One never knew. The last thing she prepared to go into her pocket later was a few sheets of blank paper, and a pen. Just in case she ran into... difficulties.

That was pretty much all she could think off, or rather, that was all she had. To finish off, she fed Heidi, but didn't feel like playing with her. It had been a little calming to do something productive and pretend that she was getting the things she needed to be prepared, but now that she had nothing to occupy herself with her fears returned full force. What was she supposed to bring in such situations anyway?

There's nothing you can do about it now. Prepare yourself mentally, remember? To Sophia, that meant thinking, more thinking, and more thinking. Grabbing her pillow off the bed, she dropped it on the floor and lay down. Might as well do her thinking comfortably. Laying in bed would be even nicer, but she wasn't wearing pajamas. No laying in bed during the day unless she felt really, really, bad. Rolling over to her side, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Right.

She started at the beginning. The guards would come to her room to get her when it was time to leave, or if they came later, they would find her in the dining hall because she would be having lunch. She would be led to the transport vehicle, and would most likely see her teammates there. Through the many outlines of people in the vehicle, her mind zoomed in on three particular ones. Two of them were question marks, but one person was Savannah. We'll have to introduce ourselves, and probably talk about our powers. She began to piece together words in the order that she would be introducing herself, running the sentences over and over until she was satisfied before moving on.

We'll arrive there, what was it, a few hours later? They'll probably get us out of the truck, and then... As she continued, she felt herself getting increasingly drowsy. Sleep began to pull her down into its depths, and she willingly let it. Sleeping was better than spending the hours worrying. She needed the sleep anyway, five hours was not nearly enough for a girl still growing.

Iris Halo

Wow I feel so guilty.

Need to reply, need to reply, need to reply...

I'll try to get a post up soon. Soon meaning... I dunno. Tomorrow or the day after at the latest.

Cancelled

Quick question about the picture part of the CS. Should we be using anime/drawn images, or realistic ones?

Also, one more. Is this the first year that this new law is being implemented?

Hope you don't mind all the questions.