777: Seven Gates, Seven Vices, Seven Loves

[Thaelasan]

Verick and Rose continued to stand in shocked silence as Blake rushed past them, went through his routine, and slammed his head, knocking himself unconscious. The bartender couldn't speak as he stared at the ground, covered in broken glass and wasted alcohol. Verick immediately rushed to the man's side, checking his pulse. Relieved, he stood to his feet, just as Vanessa had knelt down by the man.

"Still as emotional as ever, I see." she muttered, slapping his face gently. "How am I supposed to top a reunion like that? I ask you. Seriously, Blake... don't you realize I'm happy to see you too?"

She moved some of the hair from his face and grabbed a few napkins from the nearby counter. The bartender helped her get him up as she tried to dry off his face, neck, and arms.

"Any bleeding?" the bartender asked, concerned.

"Not at all. He's a tough kid." Vanessa grinned. "That's why I liked him."

She lifted him to his full height (which was surprising, given her appearance) and began to drag him over to the tables.

"Well?" she asked Verick, frowning. "Can I get a hand here with my deadweight boyfriend or are you just going to stand there gawking?"

"Oh!" Verick suddenly said, grabbing the man's legs. Together, they hoisted him comfortably in a booth. Vanessa then sat down by him, patting his head.

"Perfect. I think he'll like to wake up like this." she smiled, leaning against him. "I'm sure this is reward enough."

"But Vanessa, this isn't funny." Rose finally said, displeased. "Not that I'm mad you're alive but... where have you.. where have you been? You never called home. Never sent letters. You just.. you died.."

"Well, that's what happened, but I didn't enjoy it either." Vanessa shrugged. "It's hard to find work when you're dead - not that it bothered me much. I spent a few months hiking in the mountains, living off the land and testing out my weapon. But I won't explain more until he decides to wake up. I think he deserves to know most of all what happened to me, right?"

She elbowed him slightly, but softly.

"Besides, I think I'll sleep here too. You guys don't mind keeping watch, right? I mean, I just got back with him and all.. and being dead is exhausting." she said, placing her head more comfortably on Blake's shoulder. "It really is. You have no idea."

With that, she closed her eyes and began to sleep, leaving Verick and Rose to deliberate.

 

-----

 

"What do we do now then?" Verick asked, concerned. Suddenly, two drinks were placed in front of them, the bartender giving them a nod.

"Sorry about your friend. I didn't mean for him to get that badly hurt. I hope he's ok." the bartender said, nodding.

"No, we're sorry about the whole affair." Rose piped up. "He did go flying over your counter."

"Well, let bygones be bygones." the man shrugged. "If you need anything else, let me know."

"I'd like a menu." Verick held up his hand. "I think we're gonna be here a while."

"It's all on the house, keep in mind. Mr. Fenson told us that everything's paid for ya." the bartender gave them a wink. "I'd take advantage of it if I were you."

"We'll remember that." Verick assured as the man left to grab menus. Meanwhile, Rose placed her hand on his lap. He placed his hand on hers.

"She's alive..." Rose whispered.

"She is."

"In front of me."

"I think so."

"She's... she's alive."

"Want me to check her pulse to be sure?"

"No.. that's.. that's not necessary... But.."

She gripped his leg tighter.

"This isn't a dream right?"

"I don't THINK so. But then again, any day with you is a dream come true." Verick grinned.

"The bartender should forget seasonings on our food, because that was extremely cheesy." Rose replied, giggling.

"Hey! You're still able to come up with come-backs! See, you're fine!" he patted her. "Look. Your sister's alive. Blake's alive. We're all together. Let's just enjoy that, right?"

"...Right."

"Hey. Right?" he asked, leaning down a bit.

"Right."

"Good! Now I'm hungry, so let's get that out of the way, let's wait for them to wake up, hear their stories, and get caught up."

"That's.. that's a good idea." Rose commented, smiling.

 

------

 

Soon, a waiter rather than the bartender returned, bringing four menus back to the table. He bowed courteously before leaving them to what they were doing.

[chicbecause]

"Yeah?" Harley asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sorry to interrupt the act, Shakespeare, but I'm not a lady." She added, slipping the mirror into her pocket.

"What's your name?" She asked, pushing herself off the railing and taking a step or two closer to him.

Yeah, definitely Light. Or maybe not. She wasn't great at judging unless they practically screamed their element. She smirked at his smile, figuring most girls would've swooned or something. But, luckily for her, she wasn't most girls. She wasn't even a girl come to think of it. She brushed a strand of hair out of her face, daring him with her eyes.

Your move, buster.

[Millennium07]

Robin smiled back brightly. "My apologies, Beautiful," he corrected himself with a charismatic smile, before casually flipping his hair over his shoulder. "I am Robin Bell," he said charmingly, showing the yellow star emblem on his right hand as of to prove his Saint credentials, stepping closer in turn as well, his eyes gazing right into hers, a confident smile playing across his lips still.

Until he heard an eep from his side.

He turned his head softly and smiled at the girls obvious embarrassment. "Hey~" he cooed with a charming nod and a meaningful smile, before briefly glancing back at the accusatory girl in front of him.

[pudding]

Mingling wasn't something Alis ever planned on doing. Her eyes briefly glanced up from the crisp pages under her fingers to stare out at the other people on the ferry's library. To be blunt, it was the only place on the entire boat that was quiet enough for her to focus on her book and get some reading done. Everywhere else on the boat was just too loud as people tried to get to know one another. Maybe they thought they would be able to find their partner early or something. It was silly, of course. She didn't care for those kind of things, nor did she expect that anyone the school decided to pair her up with would be competent enough to fight with her. She wouldn't rely on someone else to save her if one of those demons came after her skin. She could easily look after herself and, if forced to, could run away by herself. In the event things did turn sour, she seriously doubted that someone would cover her back rather than save themselves. If it was her, she would always save her own skin first.

 

But that wasn't something to be focused on now. No, no, no. That silly facility she had been herded into along with other students just discovered had given her no downtime at all. It was just exhausting test after exhausting test. When she had finally managed to return to the room she slept in between the days of testing, it was too small and uncomfortable to actually get settled into her book. She had tried and tried but in an area so small and bare, a part of her was always on edge and couldn't focus on reading. But here, she actually could read. The sound of people turning pages and hushed whispers was just enough noise to make the environment feel secure. The smell of paper certainly helped as well and, on board the ship, the hint of saltiness in the air almost made it feel like home. It wasn't, of course, but it was as close as she had gotten since that mark first appeared on her hand. Running her fingers through the back of her hair, she adjusted her seat slightly so her back was resting a bit more comfortably in the corner. She had managed to wedge herself between two bookshelves so her back was against the wall. A heavy, dark book rested against her knees, making it easier for her to support the weight without wasting energy actually holding it in the air. Sitting on the ground was much more comfortable than sitting at a table since she didn't have to hunch over to read the book or try to find a position in the chair where she could lean backwards.

 

Keeping her nose down, she flipped over the page, her eyes quickly scanning over the book written in her own language. While nearly all people in Iceland were forced to be fluent in English in order to trade and negotiate with other countries properly and appeal to tourists, reading in English when she wasn't force to just seemed like too much. Moreover, English was a language that was constantly evolving. Icelandic had barely changed over the years, meaning she could quite easily read much older texts with only a few words or phrases not understood. Which was exactly what she was doing now. The copy of 13th century text Prose Edda was a bit dull compared to other books she had read but the old book was a cherished belonging now as the ferry moved along, carrying her farther and farther away from home. She'd read it cover to cover twenty times over just to pretend for a moment that she was sitting in her own house in front of her own fireplace. Not involved in some dumb holy war thanks to a mark that just so happened to appear on her hand.

[Esko]

Sasha

"Gah-gah- ahh, the name's Sasha Arkus" she tried to correct herself casually, but the beet red blush was obvious. Esko had to retreat to the bathroom to burst with laughter. She managed to make her green mark shown. He....ack...spoke...AH SASHA STOP ACTING LIKE SOME WEABOO FANGIRL!! she thought to herself as her chuckling brother came back from his "bathroom break". I will deal with Mr.Chucklebutt later. Right now, act...NORMAL. She stood tall, then THAT was when she realized that her face was beet red. She had felt the heat. She wanted to converse, so here was her chance. "So, wanna just....chat?" She really wanted to kick Esko in the groin. Later. Even though she wanted to HURT HIM RIGHT NOW, she still cared for him.

"So, what kind of girl would you want to be paired with?"

((So, do people like Sasha so far?))

[Thaelasan]

(( I require more information and more character development before I can make an educated opinion, but so far, the writing is diverse. ))

[ValidEmotions]

Thel looked across the way at the bustling group of girls who surrounded one particular boy, a slight frown crossing his face. All those girls and he was flirting with each one. Including a young girl up above who clearly wasn't going to bite his line. Honestly, what would anyone see in a guy like that? He shook his head, debating on if he should get up and bring a reality check to those girls.

 

Well, it'd be no use. However....

 

What would happen if Thel went up and just kissed the boy to make the girls disperse? That would certainly deflate the boy's ego a bit while he tried to pick up whatever pieces he could salvage. Unfortunately, Thel wasn't that mean and couldn't impose himself upon someone like that, no matter how much he thought they deserved a solid smack to the forehead.

 

Anyways, moving on.

 

The young man got to his feet and started making his way back inside. Despite the stuffiness of the interior, he was hungry. If he recalled the instructions correctly, the one of the guides had told him that the kitchen and dinning area could be found a little ways back. Eventually, the stuffy air became laced with the aroma of food.

 

Thel's mouth watered as he reached a hand forward to open the double doors, entering the dinning area. There were a few other students at various tables. Most alone but others either making friends or conversing with well-known companions. There was a buffet setting so the boy made his way to the tables, grabbing a plate and serving himself some breakfast.

[psyshock]

Chuan Li was disturbed from looking at the books as a voice piped up from behind him. “Oh, sorry,” he responded to the voice, moving to the side to make their reach around him easier. He didn’t think he had met that boy yet, but seeing as they were in the library this wasn’t the best time to engage in a conversation and they were now off reading the book they had selected.

 

He found himself sizing the boy up, seeing how any of the guys he saw could be his partner, aside from the obviously straight ones, he couldn’t help himself. They seemed pretty fit, which was a good thing for what the Saints were about to go into. Catching himself staring he returned to his search for a book. He wasn’t feeling too much in a reading mood, if he couldn’t find anything he wanted to read right now, he could easily go back outside, all of these books were probably in the library at the St. Alexandria campus anyways.

[Thaelasan]

Soon, Verick and Rose were eating, feeding each other in a scene reminiscent of young love. However, after a while, Rose excused herself to the washroom, so Verick stayed behind. One thing they never did in public was intrude on each other's private time, though Verick was apt to sit outside the bathroom and vice versa.

This time, though, he'd noticed a young man enter during the course of eating. The boy looked foreign, and - as such - piqued Verick's interest. Still, he didn't know how to approach the boy - especially not without Rose - so for a while, he contemplated methods of interaction while toying with the food remaining on his plate.

Verick these bathrooms are lovely for what they are.

I don't need to know that, dear. Verick replied, as Rose's thoughts echoed in his mind.

You certainly do, since you seem preoccupied with that boy we saw a few minutes ago.

You think I'm going to hit on him?

Who knows? I'll be out soon. Go strike up a conversation. I don't mind. I'll join in when I'm finished.

Sighing, Verick stood to his full height and adjusted his shirt before moving across the floor. The boy was currently standing at the buffet table, which Verick hadn't wished to order. He hadn't been that hungry.

"Sup. That looks good." Verick said, looking over the boy's shoulder with sincere curiosity. "You think you can handle that much food?"

Challenging people was Verick's way. Though he had calmed down in the years since Rose and he had actually confessed, he still loved contesting people and toying with them.

Before the boy spoke, Verick actually heeded Rose's instructions. She had told him, on the way to the boat after Mr. Fenson's introduction and explanation, thusly:

1. When appraising people, be quick but efficient. Don't let your energy get the best of you. Give them a look over without being too pry. You may insult them if you stare them over for too long. And I shouldn't have to tell you not to look at other women's chests.

2. Give them your full attention. These people are the same as us, Verick. They're probably a bit confused or nervous. If they're not, they still deserve common courtesy. Just show them that you care at least a bit about their personal affairs and you'll earn respect in no time.

3. Never ask questions involving religion, politics, or the current economy. Those are never good topics to start or continue with. It may actually steadily increase into a "heated" debate, and we don't need people with powers fighting us just because their president or god is better. I'd like to keep my clothes clean, if possible, beloved.

4. Pay attention to mannerisms and how they speak. If they speak with an accent, don't point it out unless you can tell it won't be an issue. Ask where they're from. Their country says a lot about them in some cases. But don't ask about politics. Always remember that.

5. Just don't be rude, my prince. Be courteous. Be chivalrous. You don't have to treat them as well as you treat me, of course, but do think of them as fellow people.

Verick knew how to deal with people, of course, on a minor scale, but Rose had had some semblance of a noble upbringing. Even when she was ill, her parents had hammered in her basic actions and courtesies. As such, she had had one rule if Verick was to ever earn her hand, though she loved him dearly - be respectful. In the past, Verick had been far more protective of her, getting beat up just because someone said hey to her and he took offense to it. Over time, she had enjoyed it, but had finally asked him to quit, since she hated seeing him hurt.

So as he stood in front of this young, Native American man (which he'd finally come to believe after a good amount of quick appraisal), Verick kept those rules in mind.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Thaelasan

[ValidEmotions]

Feeling eyes upon him, Antonio shifted his gaze upward from his reading, catching the gaze of the other boy across from him. From the way the boy's gaze shifted up and down, it seemed he might be examining him. With a faint - perhaps shy - smile, Antonio closed his book and laid it in his lap. "Name's Antonio but feel free to call my Tony," he introduced, leaning forward and extending a hand in greeting. "I just turned sixteen. How about you?" he asked, seeing if he could strike up a conversation.

 

Antonio's faded accent likely wouldn't go unnoticed by the other boy after enough words were spoken. However, he hoped it wouldn't dissuade the boy from speaking with him comfortably. Sometimes, people got weird when they found out you were an immigrant and would try to ask indirectly about your citizenship.

 

"So, what do you think about where we're going? Any...," Antonio's voice drifted off as he tried to think of the appropriate English word. "Any reservations or ideas of what might be waiting for us?" he asked.

 

~~~~

 

Thel blinked at the sudden voice behind him, almost jumping from being startled. Looking over, he met the other boy's gaze and smiled lightly. "Oh, hello! Yes, the food does look good. It smells wonderful too," Thel responded, his posture showing much ease. Eyeing the various foods he had selected, he didn't think it was that much. Was it? Some toast, eggs, ham, and a small thing of soup. Well, what was average to one could be more to another. Nodding, Thel parted his lips to speak again. "Yes, I think I can finish all of this. Would you care to sit with me?" he asked, tilting his head slightly.

 

Starting to walk away from the buffet table, he figured that the boy would join him at least for a little while. Why else would he suddenly start speaking with him? "My name's Thel Aditson but, please, just call me Thel. Some take to calling me by my last name but then, I feel like they're trying to address my father," he introduced, setting his plate upon a table as he took a seat.

 

If the other boy paid any attention, he might notice Thel's Saint mark split into two, one half on the backside of each hand, silver in coloration as the halves remained visible through the uniform gloves. "Please, have a seat. I promise I don't bite."

 

Briefly, his gaze roamed up and down along the boy's figure, taking in the rather... bold, flaming shirt and jeans. Perhaps Thel was overdressed then, already in his uniform with its white, black, and gray colors. At least the red tie added some coloring.

[Thaelasan]

Verick followed politely as the man sat down, unconcerned and unfettered. He placed his hands calmly in the seat as he sat down. From his vantage point, he could still see Vanessa and Blake - which was perfect. He still needed to keep them in mind. Soon, he heard the door of the bathroom opening from where he sat. He turned, certain of who was coming.

Rose, in all her brilliance, exited that room and sauntered over quietly to where they sat, seemingly intrigued. Before she sat down, she gave the man a good once-over, nodding with certainty as to her assumptions. She smoothed out her skirt and then sat across Verick's lap, placing an arm around him comfortably.

"I apologize. I wish to sleep, dearly, after eating, you understand." she lied. Of course, she felt tired, but not for the reasons she claimed.

Verick and Rose had never really talked much about her disease with other people. In school, of course, it soon became common talk, after she continuously passed out during certain classes, forcing Verick to accompany her to the nurse's room for her almost daily examination. Soon, it became periodic and understood. The nurse even prepared a bed for her in the bay, since the school was actually well-off.

She held up a finger, pondering for a moment before giving a wink to Verick and turning back to the man.

"You're Native American, for starters. You fancy men rather than women. You're a very kind individual who is a... fellow water user..." she smirked, cocking her head slightly. "You prefer long-ranged weapons to short range, having been taught by your father in the art of archery, as well as your mother. You worked hard as a young child."

Verick stared in wonder as Rose moved her hair out of her face, beaming.

"I used to read a lot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock series, since I was inside often with little to do." she admitted, shrugging. "You have calluses under your fingers but wear the non-mandatory uniform gloves to hide them so that you can avoid being perceived as a 'farm-boy', though that isn't a bad thing. Some of the calluses line the middle of the fingers, which means a string has been upon them frequently, or a farming tool. I considered the bow mainly, considering your heritage. Not to be offensive, of course, as Native Americans were excellent hunters and trackers. But then I also thought about the other calluses on your fingers - hence, farming. Your father is English, since you carry yourself as I do. Your mother, however, is where you got your bloodline from.

You're ambidextrous as well, considering the situation of your mark. The way you replied to Verick showed me that you were kind and thought before speaking, which is normally the way of a water user. A fire user would have returned the challenge. An earth user would have ignored him for a moment. A wind user.. well we don't have to continue. It was a test he and I formulated before we came to this yacht."

She laid a hand on Verick's face, grinning.

"But, as for the 'fancying men more than women', it was obvious. Though I don't think of myself as absolutely gorgeous, I like to think I'm worth a glance, but you've kept your eyes on Verick the entire time, as though it's more comfortable. Most heterosexual men stare at me."

Verick nodded in agreement, though he hated the thought.

"Well, am I correct in my assumptions?" she asked, bemused. Her eyes showed that she was very tired at this point, but she didn't want to sleep until she was told she was right.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Thaelasan

[psyshock]

Looks like his little inspection hadn’t gone unnoticed to the other boy. He move closer so they could talk when Antonio introduced himself. Accepting the offered handshake, his eyes wandered to the back of Antonio’s hand, quickly spotting the mark imprinted on the skin. “Chuan Li,” he reciprocated the introduction, “I turned fifteen recently.” He took one of the seats, turning it slightly so that he was facing Antonio to make conversation easier. He had noticed the other boys slight accent as he spoke, but considering there was a wide variety of people on this ship it was not deemed important enough to question; backstories could be exchanged later.

 

“I haven’t gotten around to doing much research on the school, hard to do when they’re keeping you locked up in a room for testing,” Chuan Li usually tried not to be too opinionated, but anyone here would likely agree that being locked up and tested the way they were was questionable. They had their reasons for it, but was it necessary for them to be isolated? The testing was to aid them in selecting the pairings, which made sense given how much of the testing was psychology based. That still did not justify the isolation.

 

“I suppose it is safe to assume that there will be a lot of training ahead of us, but as long as they understand that too much training can cause harm that will be fine,” he didn’t have too many thoughts on where he was going. He knew that it was a school and that he would be trained as a Saint. The rest of the information would reveal itself upon their arrival and possibly with some searching. “Do you know what element you are?” he inquired, eyes flashing to his own mark, which reminded him of sand.

[ValidEmotions]

Thel looked up as the other boy's gaze and expression changed, spotting the young girl in the pretty blue dress. Figuring that the two were together, he greeted her nicely with a light smile and welcoming wave. As she sat down in the boy's lap and made her exhaustion known, Thel cleared his throat. He was about to introduce himself and then iterate to them that the boy was free to leave without having a conversation but the girl cut him off and started speaking first.

 

As she spoke, he kept eye contact with her. However, his smile slowly faded and his bright gaze dimmed. By the time she had finished her pompous assumptions, Thel was frowning. "No. You're completely wrong...," Standing up, he cleared his throat again and thought briefly. "Let me say this to you, darling. Stop being a pompous * and you'll probably make more friends. Okay?" His smile returned but now had added a sarcastic air to his disposition. "You are not worthy of any sort of look from me or the next guy if you insist on interacting with people in such a foul manner. Have a good day," he remarked flippantly, gathering his dish and leaving the table to dump it.

 

He no longer felt hungry and only disgusted.

 

Irritated, he left the dinning area to return to the ship's deck areas. Thel did not wish to waste nice sunlight on going over all of the points that the girl got wrong. It would have been a waste of breath, too.

 

~~~~

 

Antonio nodded agreement with Chuan Li's words, frowning slightly. "Yeah. They're lucky we're established as Saints, as something not quite human. Otherwise, I doubt they would have gotten away with testing minors without parent consent...," he stated slowly, thinking. As the other boy continued on to answer his question, Antonio shifted for a more comfortable position.

 

"The idea of training I don't mind so much. So long as I get to learn something new. Right? I wonder if I'll be allowed to write letters home. My mom tends to worry sometimes about how I'm doing and I like to teach my little brother all the cool stuff I learn," Antonio remarked, smiling fondly.

 

At the returned question, Antonio paused. "I... I don't know, actually. While I was still home, I tried researching what element I might have based on personality and birthdate but... I got a couple different answers from the Internet. Great place for a lot of info but, not always consistent. Unfortunately...." He shook his head. "How about you? Any ideas?"

Edited January 19, 2015 by Narvix

[Esko]

((Until Chaos responds, I switch to....Esko!))

Esko wanted to shove his sister's head further, but not now. Plus, there was a one out of 8474847 chance she would be paired with that guy, so why bother? It would cause more drama than nessecary. Plus, it would make him seem immature and unworthy of the title, "older sibling". Instead, he just looked at the water, studying how it moved when the boat was in the water, and looked to see the occasional fish jump in and out of the water. Eventually, he had the urge to get up and talk to somebody. He started walking around, and he found nobody who seemed looking to converse. He sat back down, and after some time, looked around for a food area or something of that sort. His cloak flowed behind him, making him look sorta cooler. He ran a hand through his hair before entering the food area and grabbing a cookie. He started to think.

Who will I get paired up with?

 

((Hey, polaristar, if you want Aspen to walk in and accidentally meet Esko, that would be fine. I need him to interact with someone))

[Millennium07]

((I'm waiting for Lil so I can reply as all three together ^^""))

[Polar]

((Yup, sorry. Been super busy, on a break from school now :3

 

Also, Chaos, you need to link the pictures on my form to the form list of this topic ))

 

Aspen was laying on a bench, tossing a ball up and down like she always did when she was bored. Or hyper. But now, it was a bit of both, a way to occupy her hands while she waited to arrive at the school. She had earned several annoyed glances from the other students for taking up a whole bench but didn't particularly care - it was mostly glances from annoyed girls that would rather sit than stand. Of course, because of her thoughts she didn't catch her ball and almost hit a boy with dark brown hair and vivid green eyes in the head. "Oop! Sorry!" She said, hopping up and grabbing the ball with lightning quick reflexes before it had a chance to actually hit someone. "I'm Aspen Ryder. What's your name?" She asked him, brushing a bit of hair out of her face and studying him with energetic blue eyes. She bounced slightly on her toes, since she could never truly stand still, and this made her look like she either had to go to the bathroom or had too much sugar. She pulled her coat closer around her slim frame as she felt the wind bite at her skin. She shoved her hands in her pockets and cocked her head like a curious puppy as she waited for him to respond.

Edited January 19, 2015 by polaristar

[Esko]

((Yeah. Life has a horrible habit of getting in the way))

 

Esko

 

Esko saw a ball pass in front of his face. A girl with dark hair and energetic blue eyes walked up to him and caught the ball. She apologized, and Esko responded, "It is fine." Then she told him her name. "Aspen Ryder...hmm.. The name's Esko Arkus. The bathroom is right there, if you need to use it" he said, pointing at the restrooms. He didn't mean to be rude. "Unless you need to be kept from the sugar. Which is entirely possible. " Esko had nibbled on his cookie some more. Who is this chick?

[Lilraaos]

The stranger- a man Cherisa was now sure, sighed in response and then apologized to her. His voice was strangely familiar and for some reason, it brought her memories back to when she was younger. Her eyes still worked back then, but what she saw wasn't very pretty. Though the sun shone in the blue sky, everything below was gray and void of color.

Once proud tall buildings, now reduced to piles of rubble. The streets must have been busy this time of day, but the only sound that could be heard now was the wind's lonely whistling. The streets were painted red and severed corpses littered the ground like trash. There wasn't a single sign of life in this part of the destroyed town. Cherisa didn't mind blood, she was accustomed to it by then. Yet she would never become accustomed to death. Glassy eyed corpses with mouth's open mid scream, a child ripped in half. She would always feel the terrible horror, shock and sadness every time she witness the inanimate corpse of someone whom had once been full of life.

She was openly sobbing by the time she had reached a boy trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building. He was handsome, pale with long lashes that rested on the top of his cheeks and long copper colored hair that sprayed wildly around him. Her pale trembling fingers reached for his face, wanting at the least to brush the hair out of his face when he groaned.

It was as if he had waited for her to come save him, and that she wasted no time doing. She immediately got to work on clearing the rubble. He had woken when she was about half way through. They had talked, Cherisa couldn't remember exactly what but probably very random things as they tried to distract the boy from his pain.

The stranger's voice and then gentle touch distracted her from finishing that fleeting memory. The man took her hand in his gloved one, guiding her hand until her fingers pressed against steel. Before the railing was found however she brushed the fabric of what she was sure were bandages. Though she wasn't a doctor, she knew how to dress a wound and could tell the fabric of bandages apart from clothing fabric.

 

(I'm sorry!)

[Millennium07]

((Don't worry! I've been pretty busy today myself and real life gets us all down! I'm not angry in the slightest ^-^

 

On another note that was hauntingly beautiful, I have to say. You also perfectly captured exactly how I imagined the destruction of David's home, and the state he was in... It's kinda weird how perfectly you did actually. Awesome though! Can't wait to meet Eirwen and Blair))

 

The boy scanned her face for any hint of reaction, before cocking his head gently, not that it could be seen. The boy smelled faintly of hospitals, further accentuating the feeling of the bandage, and his voice, though deep and familar, was also rather haggard, as if from lack of regular use. He remained there, gazing into her sightless eyes, a slight frown forming on his pale face. Something about this girl resonated with him, but he wasn't sure what it was. Her glassy eyes were certainly new to him, but the aura they projected seemed familar somehow. He became increasingly aware of his rapidly increasing pulse, and brought a hand to his face, framing around it with his fingers in the way that he so often did. It was a reflex movement, one to steady and calm him. Something was certainly different about this girl.

He looked her up and down, her jacket obscuring what was almost-certainly a first-year uniform, her slight, dainty form looking almost frail enough so as to be blown away in a slight breeze. He noted her skin, glowing white as show in the sunlight, and of the guidance cane she had clutched in the hand not on the railing. Finally, his eyes met with hers again, after following the delicate curves of her face, the length of her lashes, and the slight wavy quality her hair has as it cascaded to her waist.

In essence, he noticed that she was breathtakingly beautiful, perfectly peaceful and serene. He also noticed that neither of them had spoken in quite a while.

"Ah... Are you alright?" He asked slowly, becoming increasingly concerned he had offended her by assuming she would have wanted his help to reach the railing.

[chicbecause]

Cash leaned over the boat railing, letting the wind cool her sweaty form as she made little naiads in the water and had them jump along with the boat. She thought about the future, something she was usually very opposed to thinking about. Whatever happens happens, and there was very little you could do about it in the end. But right now, she figured, it was okay to think about the future. For instance, right now she was wondering who her partner would be. You were supposed to be involved with them romantically, right? So this school was basically a breeding ground for Saints, right? When she thought about it like that, it made her feel really gross. So she stopped and focused on keeping her little naiads in form because they'd started to look like jumping water-carrots.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Harley chuckled. "Well, I guess I'll leave you two to your own devices now. I'm going to go… find a… sand… dollar… er… something… Um, yeeeeaaah…" She said awkwardly, scooting out of the conversation and walking backwards across the deck, still facing them. Unfortunately, walking across the deck backwards has it's… drawbacks, one of which includes running into people. Which is exactly what she happened to do. She turned around to see the person she'd bumped.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." She said, scratching the back of her head apologetically.

She looked at the girl before her, she looked maybe a year younger then Harley, and she wore a pretty black skirt and a purple shirt. She was also pretty short, and had darker skin then most people on the boat.

"My name's Harley, by the way. What's yours?"

 

[pudding]

Alis's eyes began to drift from her reading despite all of her efforts to keep focused on the tiny words. But she couldn't seem to. There was an unnerving feeling that kept her from settling down and relaxing. People seemed so nonchalant about the entire affair and it mystified her. Every one of them on the boat was soon going to be fighting against some kind of demonic force. They would be training for a war with all of them being underage. Right? Eighteen was when adulthood started in Iceland and she was near certain other countries shared that age, for the most part. They were all still children and they were being pushed off to fight until they died or managed to make it to the point where their mark faded.

You'll die

She closed her eyes and toyed at the obnoxiously large bow around her neck as the tiny voice piped up inside her mind. She never truly knew when it had first started whispering in the back of her mind but it never remained away for long. It was always there to remind her exactly where her place was. The medication always seemed to help shut it up for a bit but the little white pills came with other side effects. They took the voice away, certainly. But they took everything else away as well.

You'll all die.

Snapping her book closed with a loud crack, she stood up and wormed the large text into her messenger bag. Keeping her chin high, she walked across the library floor to the large doors and took her leave of the book-filled room. As soon as she entered the hall, she quickly fumbled an orange pill bottle from her bag and squinted at the letters. She was half temped to take another one but reminded herself flatly that she couldn't. There was still another few hours left and medication was a funny thing when it came to doses. She had heard so many stories about overdosing and she didn't want to tempt fate.

Twisting a door handle that had appeared in her path, she paused as wind whipped past her and sunlight flooded her face. Outside. Fresh air. Inhaling sharply, she let the door close behind her as she quickly moved to the closest railing. Maybe this had just been what she needed. A good taste of salt and sun to get that nagging voice out of her head. Leaning against the railing, Alis looked down at the water below, breathing in deep breaths through her nose.

[Millennium07]

Robin chucked softly and shook his head. "That's a lovely colour on you," he cooed charmingly, referring to her blushing., before looking around to note Harley's hasty exit. "I guess Princess has other things to do, huh?" He said cheerfully, before turning around to face Sasha more completely. "Might I ask what we chat about, him, mon chére?" He asked, deftly switching languages to French mid-sentence to deliberately catch her off guard, offering a warm smile as he did.

[Esko]

((Omfg, I already love rRobin ))

 

Sasha

 

Sasha quickly looked at him. "Hehe, princess. What would princesses even do? Their servants would do everything for them,,," Then Sasha was caught off guard by his next question:

 

Might I ask what we chat about, him, mon chére?"

 

Sasha's blush got redder. "Uh, uh...just, stuff" she finally answered. She REALLY wished Esko hadn't "helped" her in this. Now here she was, standing in front of the boy she saw so many times, and she couldn't even get the words out! Stay strong, Sasha, stay stubborn, don't freak out.... Sasha felt embarrased. She hoped to get back at Esko sooner or later.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Esko_the_Wolf

[psyshock]

“I’ve put some thought into it, but so far I haven’t shown signs of a particular element,” Chuan Li and decided when the mark appeared to not think too deeply on his element. If he had his mind set on one, it could blind him of the possibilities in the other element. All of the personality cues on what your element was were only guidelines on what usually happened after all. Setting his decision now on what he was before he knew for certain could be damaging. “I would prefer to wait until I know before making any assumptions. Though it can be hard to stop yourself from wondering sometimes.”

 

“It’s much like how it can be hard to stop myself from wondering about who my partner will be. I will likely be spending most of the next three years with them after all. It seems that you caught me in the act of one of those episodes, sorry about that,” he tested the waters with that topic. Implying that the reason he had been inspecting Antonio was to see how good of partner he would be on a physical level. Of course that did seem silly, just because one looked capable did not mean that they actually were. It also did not say anything abut personality or how they would get along, which was the most important part.

Edited January 19, 2015 by psyshock

[KuroKishi]

"You're sure... this is reward enough..." Blake grumbled as he felt Vanessa sit down next to him, then lean on his shoulder. He had tiredly reopened his eyes the moment he was taken off the ground - mainly because there was so much adrenalin rushing through his bloodstream right now that the blow to his head had only kept him under for a few seconds. However, the sudden shock, as well as his racing body AND the new dosage of headache had left him extremely dazed and disoriented. Unable to act a lot more, he had silently fallen asleep in an attempt to regain his senses. Although, attempted to fall asleep would be more accurate, as he quickly found both the pain and his boiling blood were unwilling to let him get some shut-eye. Instead, he remained with his eyes closed but fully aware of his surroundings. He heard the bartender approach and exchange words with Verick and Rose. The apologies both sides shared, as well as the news that it's on the house calmed him down and dropped some of the many worries he already had on list.

As the man went away, however, he focused on the couple sitting across them. He wasn't able to hear everything, but the part with the joke had come through clearly, earning a slight smirk from the young man. The arrival of the menus made him curious and returned his feeling of hunger, but he decided to remain quiet instead. A few minutes of idle chatter passed by until the waiter had come back with the couple's meals. Thankfully, that had been a great amount of time for his overstrained mind to patch things up together. Shaking off the feeling of soreness in his body, he opened his eyes to turn to speak with the two. However, they were long gone. A quiet look through the room managed to spot Verick, who was talking to another Saint. The two momentarily switched to take a seat on a table, after which they were shortly joined by Rose. The young woman turned to speak with him about something Blake wasn't quite able to pick up - and, frankly, now that he had gotten things back for just a second, he wasn't about to bother with them. Let them talk as much as they wanted.

 

Silently, he turned to look at Vanessa's visage. His eyes scanned over her new appearance curiously, noting her shorts and the, well, revealing shirt. Averting his gaze away quickly, Blake then slightly lifted himself off the couch. He silently pulled his arm out of the hoodie's left sleeve, then grabbed her sleeping form with it. Quietly, he continued on to free his right arm and took off the top, then let her lean onto his shoulder again. He took the black clothing article from around her and covered her body with it.

"Do you know... just how much... I missed you..." Blake whispered quietly as he brushed a couple bangs out of her face. He painfully bit back the tears that attempted to leave his eyes as he continued to watch her sleeping form. It was a true battle of emotion, but soon, he gave up and stopped holding them back. His features entailed happiness and belief as he silently embraced Vanessa, engulfing her new, yet familiar aroma.

"Don't you dare think... this will be enough of a reward... you dummy..." He spoke out as he patted her head, then placed his chin on it. He missed her too much to let go now. Quietly, he removed his head and planted a silent kiss on her forehead, then pulled back. He let her lean on him again, with his right arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Edited January 20, 2015 by KuroKishi