RWBYFanon v5

RPG World of Remnant => The Vale Region => Topic started by: Dr. Gustave on August 27, 2017, 02:28:23 PM

Title: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on August 27, 2017, 02:28:23 PM
Malina stood on the docks of Beacon, looking out at the large body of water that separated Beacon from the rest of the city. The sun was still behind the giant towers of Beacon and cast a shadow down onto the still waters far below. With a yawn, she turned around to the Bullhead behind her. She could see the pilot sitting in the cockpit making final adjustments and gave him a small halfhearted wave as she passed by. She walked around to the back of the bullhead and checked her scroll before stepping inside, 5:58 AM.

She looked down at her seat down next to her, her staff leaning against the wall of the bullhead next to it and Manticore curled up below it. She smiled slightly as she pulled off her jacket and placed it onto the seat as well, wouldn't need that where she was going. She looked down at her outfit once more, making sure she wasn't forgetting anything. Boots, check. Heavy pants and no skirt, check. No jacket, check. Corset, check. White undershirt, check. It was a simpler version of what she usually wore into combat, sure, but the belt around her waist let her keep all the supplies she needed and the lack of the flowing skirt or jacket would keep her from getting snagged on a branch. 'Just hope the kids know how to dress...' She thought as she took a seat and waited for the students to arrive.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on August 28, 2017, 01:18:50 AM
Calen was a bit surprised when he was selected for this mission, even though it had been a few months since the switeroo matches had left Calen a bleeding wreck, there had been a few awkward glances while he was recovering. Still with an escort mission under his belt and continued sessions with Diana for therapy Calen felt confident in his ability to give a more impressive performance. It would definitely be difficult to make a worse second impression. Calen grimly thought to himself as he entered the docks. He still didn't really consider his defeat at the hands of Gray to be a true defeat considering how his opponent continued the fight and Calen's bloodied form was fresh enough in peoples minds that they didn't challenge him too much on that front.

Packing for the swamp was a new experience, his aura may have protected him from acidic ichor, grimm claws and explosions but it wouldn't protect his suit from the mud. Leaving that treasured possession behind for a shell jacket with waterproof pants and hiking boots Calen made a quick mental check that he had all the supplies he needed. His clothes were still mostly black, with a slight touch of green along the flank.

Surprised to once again find himself the first one to arrive Calen decided to play it straight. No amount of showing off with his semblance would impress a fully fledged huntress so instead he walked straight towards the missions organiser. 'Greetings Miss Nahualli. I must admit I was surprised when you selected me but I'm glad to have the opportunity to learn from you in the field. Calen introduced himself genuinely. Although it was a habit Calen was having some success breaking the gaunt boy couldn't resist carefully studying the teaching assistant even as he smiled and reached out his hand.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on August 28, 2017, 01:52:46 AM
Malina looked up from her seat as she heard the footfalls approaching, someone had finally joined the party. Calen Shrike, a first year just like the rest. She gave a soft smile as he greeted her and returned it in kind. "If I just ignored everyone that had issues in a class then they'd get nowhere." She added as she took her hand back and crossed her arms, leaning forward slightly. "Keep in mind that I'll be keeping an especially close eye on you, However." Her smile dropped just barely as she spoke but quickly returned as she learned back to original position. "With that out of the way, feel free to take any of the seats. We'll be taking off as soon as everyone's here."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on August 28, 2017, 10:52:31 PM
It just had to be a swamp, didn't it? Out of any conditions that he could have been signed up for, he had to get the one that was worst for short people. Once again, the divines show that they have a sense of humor, especially when it comes to Teddy. Giving a small sigh, Teddy hoisted his pack onto his shoulders. He had a bad habit of overpacking. While this load was less than he would usually pack, it was still large compared to his frame.

His usual outfit was gone. He did not want to get it dirty, and this mission would certainly make for that. In its place, he wore a dark red sleeveless shirt with his leather harness around it. Humid and swampy called for sturdy dress, so jeans and high boots were called for. And, since it was still cool from the night, a brown bomber jacket.

Teddy arrived a few minutes before they were told to be there, taking the time to look around before heading to the airship. "Um, hello ma'am.
Thank you for selecting me for this mission. I-I hope I don't disappoint." he said, giving a small bow which almost caused him to fall over with his large bag. He looked at the ground to avoid anyone's gaze after that and climbed into the airship, finding a seat in the back.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on August 29, 2017, 01:03:30 AM
Malina gave a quick wave to Teddy as he approached. "Welcome aboard, Theodore." She said as he stepped aboard the Bullhead. "And I'm sure you'll be fine, it's a relatively simple mission... but, hey, more on that once the other two get here." As he went to the back to find a seat she reached underneath her seat and pulled up the stinger of Manticore and popped open the cyclical chamber within it, double checking the venom within.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on August 29, 2017, 02:53:29 PM
Helena had done as the message - somewhat strongly - recommended. She'd brought black waterproof boots which went higher than the knee and had straps around the ankle and knee joint, a coat very similar to her normal one but geared far more towards total impermeability than warmth or style, a sling bag about ye big in which she'd shoved as many first aid and medicinal supplies as she could, some high-end odorless bug repellant and a pale grey cap - well, the proper term was 'baseball cap' but since she'd never used it to play or watch baseball, she preferred to refer to it as 'cap' - sporting her own symbol, not to forget her weapons. She'd also switched her skirt for a pair of light blue jeans, grabbed at random.

She walked at a brisk pace towards the planned meeting and departure point, the calm and cool of the air refreshing her. She enjoyed the sights around her until the Bullhead, along with what she presumed to be the Malina Nahualli who'd authored the message, came into view around a corner.

Her face almost immediately lit up, happy to meet someone new. "Hello! I'm Helena!", she cheerfully announced as she extended her right hand. "It'll be a pleasure to be under your supervision!"

She thought for a bit before adding "Excuse me, but how should I refer to you? Miss? Malina? Miss Malina? Miss Nahualli? Something else?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on August 29, 2017, 06:06:45 PM
Cobe wandered onto the Beacon Docks, stretching and hearing his bones pop (to him, a very satisfying sound), before walking towards the Docks. Having read the email, he mainly stocked up on Fire Dust crystals, he had also restocked his Steam Dust powder supply, just in case he needed to blow a large area up, unlikely, but still probable. Hopefully, I won't have to use this, but at least I have a last resort if every plan goes up in smoke.

Cobe kept his usual mission attire, however, the fur hood and cloak were both gone. No need to have something that could get stuck. He also carried a very small bag, containing first aid supplies and extra Dust rounds for the rest of his team, what with him having a utility belt containing his Dust Crystals. The recently repaired Cobalt Dawn was on his back, and the clothes under his armour were much lighter, and far more practical for the mission.

He approached the Bullhead, and quickly identified Malina Nahualli, and walked towards her. When he arrived, he stopped the door, and nodded a greeting to Malina before sitting down and perfoming a last check of Cobalt Dawn.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on August 29, 2017, 08:34:35 PM
"Just Malina is fine." She said as she shook the girl's hand. She seemed a bit overenthusiastic, but she was capable nonetheless. As long as the records were to be trusted. "Just find a seat in the back, we're just waiting on one m- oh." As Helena made her way past her, Malina noticed the final member of the team approaching the bullhead. "Speak of the devil." She returned the nod as he made her way past her and found his own seat. "Not much for talking, huh? Well, not that big of an issue, I guess..." She muttered under her breath as she stood up and made her way past the seats and entered the cockpit, leaning down and letting the pilot know the final student had boarded.

In the next moment, the door to the bullhead lift up and closed tight against the rest of the aircraft just as it began to lift itself slowly into the air. Malina stood for a moment, gripping the wall while the pilot finished his ascent and began to take the bullhead forward, away from Beacon and to the south. Though the windows, the light of the sun finally shown through, no longer being blocked by Beacon's tallest towers, and lit the newly waking city below in a golden hue as it shrunk into the distance. To the east, Mt. Glenn could be seen, it's closest side still covered in shadow, and the faintest impression of the failed expansion zipped by far away.

With the initial burst of momentum out of the way, Malina let go of the wall and began to address her students. "Alright, everyone.  We've officially left the city of Vale, that means no turning back now." She makes her way back to her seat and grabs her staff. "Not that I think any of you are gonna turn tail and run." She said with a shrug as she stopped back near the cockpit, turning to look back toward the four seated students. "Joking aside, this is a very important mission. There could very well be lives in our hands and any mistake could cost us finding survivors. That said, I want you all on at least conversational level. I have your files, I know you, but the others here don't. It may seem school yard to you, but I want each of you to go around and introduce yourself." Her eyes glanced toward Cobe. "Even if it's just your name, we need something."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on August 29, 2017, 10:20:21 PM
Calen decided that he liked arriving first. It gave you plenty of time to study each individual as they arrived making for an interesting game. 'Well then I'll make sure I'm on my best behaviour then.' Calen replied to Malina grinning. Placing him pack inside the bullhead then walking back outside to watch his companions arrive. The first was another quite boy, stuttering and speaking softly but Calen cautioned himself to to dismiss such a person out right. He wouldn't be at this school if he couldn't take care of himself and the last quite boy attested himself well enough. Calen thought to himself as Teddy introduced himself. Failing to catch the boys eyes to introduce himself Calen let Teddy pass without saying a word. They'll have enough time to chat later.

Helena, Calen gathered, was almost the complete opposite. Full of excitement and exuberance, smiling widely as she introduced herself to their organiser. Waiting until that exchange had finished before introducing himself Calen offered his own hand while grinning widely. 'Calen, Calen Shike. Pleased to make your acquaintance.' Taking special note of the girls large bow Calen continued. 'It'll be nice to finally fight along side someone with a proper range weapon.' Raising an eyebrow as Cobe stormed through them for a seat. Grinning a bit wider Calen gave Malina and Helena an apologetic look before taking a seat himself.



Calen spent the first part of the flight with his eyes closed trying to bring everything he had learnt about fighting in and around swamps while at Beacon and before as well as mission specifics. Calen did open his eyes when Malina started talking, it would be impolite to do otherwise, meeting her gaze and nodding as she went on. Leaving a slight pause after Malina asked for introductions in case anyone wanted to go first Calen gave a brief overview of himself. 'Well as I said before my name is Calen Shrike. I'm a swordsman with a speed semblance and a pack full of food so if you are going to want any you are going to have to keep me alive.' Calen joked as he patted his large hand-and-a-half sword stowed beneath him, beside his pack. Calen then listened intently to everyone's responses although he focused far more on their body language than what they actually said.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on August 30, 2017, 04:36:28 AM
Cobe observed the team he would be fighting with. While he didn't know about the girl and the boy with the massive pack, he had heard about Calen, it's not everyday that a boy get beaten to bloody pulp and still stands right back up. Cobe really did not want get into a fight against him, combine that with his weapon, Cobe was completely outmatched.

After finishing up the checks on Cobalt Dawn, Cobe caught Malina glancing at him, and he knew what his meant, he sighed.

"Cobe Sky. Now, Malina, you know about my past since you have my file, so you can understand when I say I don't exactly trust any of the others yet. And before any of you say anything, it's no fault of your own. It's just... my past is rough. Very rough. It involved me being stabbed in the back by basically everyone, and before any of you ask about it: don't. You really will not like it."

Cobe then pulled the extra Dust ammo out of his bag.

"Brought every type of ammo I could, I don't need any of it. My weapon uses Crystals. Thank me by not getting yourselves killed."

Cobalt Dawn was clear to see when extracted the ammo from his bag. After he finished his little speech, he put the ammo back into the bag and turned to Calen.

"Two facts. One: I hold some respect towards you for what happened at the Festival, and Two: I have a speed semblance, but in sort of a different sense. You'll understand when you see it."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on August 30, 2017, 12:00:28 PM
Helena gladly shook Calen's hand, replying with a joyful "Helena Chlophyll! Pleasure's all mine!" After he added how pleasant it was to be alongside somebody with a proper ranged weapon, she added "I pretty much only have ranged capability, really. I'm still not too-too good at melee and such." Her smile failed to fade from her face. This was too fun!

After that, she took off her bow and quiver and took a seat by a window, bringing her bag to her front and resting her weapons on her thighs.



Helena patiently waited for Cobe and Calen to finish presenting themselves, carefully making mental notes, before taking her own turn, noticing the very slight lull in the conversation. "Helena Chlophyll! I like to think I excel at the bow, but I'm somewhat less useful up close. My semblance is a form of healing and my bag is filled with first aid! I also happen to have brought some odorless bug repellant, so if any of you start getting uncomfortable from the flies and such, just ask!"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 01, 2017, 07:27:06 PM
And then it got to him. Teddy always resented these kinds of introductions. What exactly are you meant to say? 'Hi, I'm Teddy. I hope I don't drag you down too much!' He was always bad at normal conversation, and situations like this always made it worse.

So, as the other three made their introductions, Teddy tried to get an idea of who he would be working with. The first one seemed to have a charm around him. From what he could tell, he completely missed the fact that Teddy ever got on the bullhead, not that he was complaining. He seemed like the kind of guy at the party who managed to get a conversation in with anyone. Well, anyone other than Teddy, it tended to go.

The second one was enthusiastic. Overwhelmingly enthusiastic, as it turned out. It actually freaked Teddy out a little bit. She did not stop smiling. How do people just randomly smile that much? Teddy slowly moved away from her general direction for his own safety.

The third one had...well, Teddy had the distinct feeling that this person was never going to like him. He just had that weird sort of arrogance about him, like he was above the situation. It did not help with Teddy's unease. There did not seem to be a friendly face among the group.

And then, there was the teacher. Well, teacher's assistant. He had heard a few things about the way she ran things. And was warned about many more. He even went out and bought a portable battery extender for his scroll in case he needed to call for help, such were the things he was warned about with her. So, trying to find solace in her might just end up getting him killed.

Teddy did his best to hide behind his backpack, which was sitting on his lap. It came up to around his chin, which was resting on the handle. "Um...I-I'm Teddy.Well, Theodore Williams, but a lot of people tend to call me...yeah. So, I tend to fight close-quarters usually, but I'll try to help wherever I can and I'll try not to bring the group down too much..." he said, concluding with hiding his face behind the backpack.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 01, 2017, 11:22:28 PM
Malina silently chucked at the mention of not bringing the group down before pulling her scroll from her pouch and tapping the closed device against her nails. "Alright, good." She smiled. "Calen, Cobe, Helena, and Teddy. These are the names you'll need to remember, especially in the heat of battle. Calling out for help or to pull off a two sided attack on an enemy is crucial for success. Of course, I will also be there, and if you don't already know me, or know of me... well... I won't say my reputation proceeds me. I'm not quite as cocky as I was back when I was a first year." She smiled somewhat wider as her mind went back to all those years ago before quickly snapping back into the moment. "My name is Malina Nahualli, as I told Helena, just Malina is fine. I'm from..." She glanced out of the window and unconsciously bit her lower lip as she saw the golden hued trees of the early morning sweep by. "I'm from west of Vacuo." She brought her eyes back to her students. "I am, or was at least, the leader of team Mocha and graduated from Beacon, same as you all will. Now, I'm more of a tactician, leading team attacks, supporting from afar but getting up close when I need to. This thing isn't just for show, ya know." She smiled as she gestured to the staff, now leaning against the wall, next to her. "That all said, I'm shadowing you all today. I won't be leading the mission so much as... guiding it. In a few moments, one of you is going to be chosen to be leader for the mission." Her eyes swept across the group before her in an almost over exaggerated motion. "But before that!" She popped open the scroll in her hands into its tablet mode. "We have some information to go over." The blank blue screen was replaced with an aerial photo of a small village positioned at the top of a hill with a large wall surrounding it and a dark hole at the very center.

"This..." Malina said, gesturing to the hardlight screen. "... is Jackson. This photo was taken from a bullhead during one of the latest missions out there, a simple village defense. Nothing out of the ordinary was reported and the mission was a success." Malina tapped twice on the photo and it zoomed in on some of the houses. "As you can see, it's a standard sub-city settlement. Wooden homes, a concrete building near the mine in the middle, some steel buildings near that for the hierarchical work. The large wall surrounding the village..." She swiped on the photo and it moved to focus on a section of the wall. "... Is manned by at least four people at a time, one in each cardinal direction. They may be a relatively small settlement, but they still have plenty of guns and ammo from the Dust trade. Speaking of which..." Malina pinched on the photo and zoomed it out as far as it went, showing the Village and the surrounding swamp, extending miles and miles away from the village. "... While this might only show so much, this is the only village within over 100 miles and is a frequent stop for huntsmen and huntresses on missions, both to rest, stock up on Dust, and get chow." Malina slid the scroll closed with a sharp clack. "Now, you can see why Beacon might be concerned with it going dark." She slid the scroll back into her pouch and zipped it shut.

"Unfortunately, we don't have many detailed photos from within the swamp, and photos from above are next to useless. The long and the short of it is that it sucks. It's hot, there's tons of bugs, you can easily get your foot stuck in the ground... and, of course, Grimm." She paused for a moment to briefly look over everyone before continuing. "I'll be honest, things aren't as clean cut out here as they are in northern Vale. The danger doesn't come from powerful Grimm, it comes from overwhelming swarms. Now, with five of us, we should be able to deal with the swarms just fine, especially with some of the semblances I read in your reports. That said, this place is infamous for new Grimm popping up and chances are we might face off against something we haven't seen before... As for the swamp itself, thankfully plenty of hunters have walked the path before us and we have a very reliable map to work with."

Malina let out a sigh as she finished speaking and smiled softly. "Now, I know that's... a lot of info. But I promise there will be plenty of time to go over everything again on the rest of the ride over there. But for now... we need too pick a leader." Malina puts her hands on her hips and looks toward Teddy. "Well, I say 'pick' but I've already chosen. Teddy, you're going to be the leader for this mission."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 02, 2017, 03:05:57 AM
OK that killed to mood. Calen thought to himself as Cobe started his introduction. Calen was no stranger to sad backstories but respected Cobe's desire to keep it a secret as it was one he shared. He was however slightly taken a back by Cobe's second comment but recovered quickly and decided to use it to try to inject some levity back into the Bullhead. 'Well I guess it's true that there is no such thing as bad publicity but yea I can take a beating although I would rather not having to prove that again.' Calen chuckled, turning to face Helena as she started to introduce herself. The girl was much better at bring back the life into the group than Calen's joke and by the time she had finished the mood seemed to have mostly recovered. Next was Teddy and although Calen expected the timid boy to go last he was expecting at least some spine from the boy.

Seeing an opportunity to earn some brownie points with Malina Calen quietly got up while the teaching assistant was speaking and sat next to Teddy. 'Hey come on Master Theodore we were all selected for this mission for a reason, if she has faith in us you should have faith in you.' Calen said quietly to not interrupt Malina, placing a hand on Teddy's shoulder to try to comfort him and lent closer. 'Anyway what kind of huntsman lets down a cute girl.' Calen continued whispering so only Teddy could hear him. Calen did listen intently to Malina's explanation, taking careful note of her own history. Calen's serious expression was broken when Teddy was made leader, managing to hide most of his grasp behind a simple smile and patted the boy on the back. 'A lot of faith it would seem.' Calen remarked smiling widely, focusing on the ridiculousness of the situation rather than it's real implications to keep his expression genuine.

Calen had a problem following orders, not that he saw it that way, with even Setsuna the leader of his team having only half-reliable control over him. Particularly in combat Calen often took these orders as challenges to find a way to accomplish the objective and refuse the order in equal measure. It was a pride thing, coupled with Calen's extremely poor leadership abilities made it an inevitable issue when working with his team or others. Still this could be salvaged. Calen thought to himself. If I can get Master Theodore onside maybe I can get around these issues. To that end Calen joked. 'Wonderful I'm sure we all know what to do anyway but it's always good to have someone else to blame our mistakes on.... I jest, I'm sure we will do fine.'

Looking at Malina Calen sort to clarify a few things. 'How long has the settlement been unresponsive for and has this sort of thing happened before in Jackson? Also can we get a copy of that map on our scrolls?'
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 02, 2017, 05:59:22 AM
Cobe listened to the whole backstory and reason behind the mission, growing slightly more concerned by the minute, if this settlement was indeed overrun, then it could cause all sorts of problems. He need to be strong, however, and as to not worry the Malina, he kept a stone-faced expression. When Teddy was chosen to be leader, Cobe, deciding to try and seem not so brooding, looked towards the boy and patted him on the back. "Well done." Cobe also spoke with a genuine smile, something that didn't normally grace his face.

Cobe then turned towards Calen, and chuckled at his comment before speaking."Yeah, preach that. I will tell you why I hold respect for you though." He then started to talk so only Calen could hear."You ever read about that boy who nearly died on Mountain Glenn fighting 100 Beowolves? Yeah, that was me. It was a stupid move on my end, I mean, I could even control my Semblance at that point. Don't tell anyone, unless I say you can 'kay?"

Cobe then turned his attention back to Malina, and asked the one question he, as a Huntsman, had to ask:"At the time it went dark, was there anyone in village? Because if my theory is correct, and pray to the Gods its not, then we'll need to save our first aid equipment."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 02, 2017, 10:30:40 PM
As Calen began to converse with Teddy, Malina sat down in one of the chairs next to her, letting her face the group while still being able to be off her feet. She'd have a long day on her feet anyway, after all. She watched closely as Calen and Cobe reassured Teddy. A slight change in Calen's face, nothing concrete but he was probably surprised. Not that she entirely blamed him. Cobe, on the other hand, kept a mostly stone faced expression, only smiling to give Teddy a pat on the back before whispering something to Calen. Malina made a small mental note of that before letting out a quiet sigh as the two began to question a about the mission and raised her hand to quiet them.

"There will be plenty of time for questions. I promise." She lowered her hand and raised her eyebrows in something coming close to pity. "This is a three hour ride, there's plenty of time. For now, I think we should all let the leader get a few words in." Malina said as she turned her eyes to Teddy, who's face had been hidden behind the large backpack, his face unreadable.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 04, 2017, 12:12:24 PM
Helena had a look so intense on her face as Malina gave them their briefing, you'd almost think she was about to leap onto her and extract the data from her brain.

She clapped happily as Teddy was assigned leader, accompanying it with a cheerful "Congrats!" She then listened, very thoroughly, as everyone else put in their two cents and kept conversing. She was about to ask her supervisor if she could sense Aura, which would greatly shorten the search time needed to find possible survivors, but closed her mouth before uttering a word when Malina suggested they let the leader speak.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 04, 2017, 06:42:07 PM
Well, this could not have possibly gone worse. Teddy just wanted to come along for the mission, follow orders, and try to help out as much as he could. And now, he is supposed to be a leader, and people are touching him for some reason. There were a lot of questions going through his mind, most of them starting with 'Why'.

And now, he was being asked to say something to the group. He did not know this Malina extremely well, and he did not know why she disliked him this much. Giving him this kind of unwanted responsibility, forcing him to be the leader, and not giving him the chance to process it before making him speak proved to Teddy that she held some sort of grudge against him for some unknown reason. So, asking her reasoning would not work, it seemed she would just use the opportunity to embarrass him further. It would be difficult to directly address the two boys next to him, and the girl still creeped him out a bit, but he has to say something.

"I-I...um...I think we should talk about our s-strategy for the grimm. I'm concerned about how we are going to deal with them while in the swamp. We would be...immobile. I think." he said, his solution being to shift the focus to anything other than him at the moment. His head only barely peeked up from behind his backpack, his eyes quickly scanning the team to try and avoid eye contact.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 04, 2017, 07:40:54 PM
"Exactly." Malina nodded in approval before snapping her fingers and reopened her scroll. "I nearly forgot, you'll need these..." Three taps on her scroll later, a dinging sounded from Teddy's scroll. "These are the files on your teammates. Everything the school knows about them, you have access to... barring some private information." Malina stared into Teddy's eyes, or at she tried. He was still hiding behind that backpack of his. She could tell he was nervous, but that was obvious.

"Take a minute to look over their files, how would you set up the team once we enter the swamp? It'll be easier to make our way through if everyone is in a line, and I'm going to be in the back, so what order do you think everyone should be in? What roles should everyone fill?" Malina leaned forward, putting her hand to her chin and leaning her elbow on her knee.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 05, 2017, 08:18:11 PM
OK now Cobe had well and truly piqued Calen's interest. There had been a few stories about people going to Mount Glenn and although not many survive there was one which fit in to Cobe's timeline. Still telling Calen, a stranger even Cobe respected him, such a story was an odd move if Code values his privacy. Is it a game? A challenge? Is he expecting a reciprocate story? This is going to be fun. Calen thought to himself only giving Cobe a slight nod in response. Calen's locked himself into a thought experiment were he tried to get a better handle on his temporary team mates only to be brought out of his trance by Malina mentioning sending some files to Teddy. Leaning back as casually as possible Calen tried to get a look a the files if Teddy took out his scroll to check them.

Helena had been surprisingly quiet Calen thought given her exuberance before so Calen tried to turn the conversation back around to her. 'Right but with two people with speed semblances we should be fine moving up and down the line. What if we grouped you and Miss Chlophyll together and had one or both of Master Sky and myself out front. Our speed would allow us to fall back quickly but grouping the non-speedsters together ensures no one gets let behind. What do you think should be our strategy Miss Cholphyll?' Calen proposed not mentioning that although there speed semblances would still boost their speed in the muck of a swamp it wouldn't increase it to the same level as normal leaving them more vulnerable in a fight.

Still Calen was surprised that Malina didn't answer his questions then and there. Doesn't like changing her plans. Calen thought to himself as he mentally filed that note away in case in came in use later. Other than that Calen kept leaning back and let the discussion go on without him, he was OK at theoretical strategy but wasn't quick thinking enough for the real world stuff. As much as it irked his pride he was out of his depth here.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 06, 2017, 01:15:32 AM
Cobe listened carefully to Calen's idea. Thinking very carefully about it. While he could definetly see the benefits. Grouping the speedsters together, at least in Cobe's mind, could allow them, if they got far enough ahead, to get cut off from the rest of the group, and considering the type of environment that they were entering, that would be nothing short of simple, plain stupid suicide. Being civilised, Cobe decided to let him finish before airing his grievances.

"I agree with you on the fact it shouldn't be a problem, Calen. However, if we get grouped together, and get too far ahead, we run the risk of getting cut off from the rest of the team, and if that happens, well, that's an easy way to get yourself killed. The best thing, at least in my opinion, we do is try to stick together, and potentially use Calen as a scouting force, as my semblance takes a hefty toll on my body, and therefore, would serve as a liability in use as a scouting force."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 06, 2017, 07:23:23 AM
Helena was waiting for Teddy to answer Malina's question when Calen spoke up. She was about to retort that the strategy sounded great when Cobe interjected, mentioning separation as a possibility. "...Well, can't you just not get too far ahead? I think it's called staying in formation or something.", she said with a slightly perplexed look on her face.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 08, 2017, 06:03:14 PM
Teddy had his fair share of information overload as the three files appeared on his scroll. Barraged with questions and talk from all sides, Teddy struggled to focus. Moving through as quickly as possible, he tried his best to think of the best order. "Hold up." he said, raising his voice in the hope that the silence would let him get his thoughts out. "H-Helena should be in the center. Calen, you take front. I will be behind him. Cobe, y-you will be in the back. Calen scouts, Helena goes long range, Cobe covers her, and I clear the rest of the path. T-That sounds good, right?" he said, suddenly finding the attention on him again.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 10, 2017, 03:12:35 AM
Calen grinned widely as Teddy listed their combat formation, his position was exactly as he suggested. Already in his head. Calen thought to himself as he subtly read the profiles over Teddy's shoulder. Mostly interested in what the school had put in his own file as reading others would be cheating but he still caught a few bits and pieces. For now obeying Teddy's request for quiet Calen waited for their impromptu leader to finish before continuing their discussion.

'It can be difficult to judge distance in a fight and of course there are times which we need to take down priority targets which you might not be able to get with your bow Miss Chlophyll. Although I'm sure Master Theodore will keep us in line.' Calen responded with a slight teasing edge creeping into his voice.

'So on to more important matters, who do we eat first when we run out of supplies?' Calen joked before turning, slightly, more serious and continuing. 'I've got a couple of days worth of food for the five of us although we are going to chew through that pretty quickly if we start picking up survivors.'

Calen felt he had a pretty good read on everyone by now. Cobe's semblance having some serious consequences was unexpected, Like Master Gray I suppose. Calen thought to himself gripping his knee slightly at the memory. Unfortunately Malina wouldn't send Teddy his own file obviously so he didn't get much hints about their leader personally but Helena's semblance could really come in handy. Could have been really helpful before. Calen thought to himself darkly, his mood quickly souring as he absently scratched at his scars through his jacket.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 10, 2017, 08:30:54 AM
Cobe listened carefully to Teddy's formation for the team. He completely agreed. Due the fact he uses Crystals and Pure Dust, his ammo is unstable, and cause the risk of explosion, if this did happens, he would want to be at back, to prevent harming his team.

"I completely agree, besides, my weapon, due to its large spread, is the best for crowd control."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 10, 2017, 02:49:51 PM
Malina nodded silently as she watched the student agree with Teddy's plan. It would be slow progress for sure, but there was definitely something there that could be worked on. Something useful.

As Calen spoke up and asked another question, Malina leaned back and cleared her throat. "Right, now's the best time for questions now that we have the general outline set up." She turned her head to Calen as she continued. "For all intents and purposes, this is a scouting mission, not a rescue mission. Now, that sounds way more grim than it actually is, I promise." Malina smiled and held up her hand in defense to any outbursts from any of the students. "We're going in to check on the situation. If we find a situation that requires evacuation of survivors, we round everyone up in a safe place like the mine and then contact Beacon. They'll be able to send a proper rescue force and a few ships, more than the single bullhead we came in on. Now, if we get there and it turns out that the support tower for the CCT system is down then we just have to hunker down. The pilot up there..." She gestured back toward the cockpit. "... knows to come back in twenty four hours if there's no word back from any of us. We'll just have to send up some sort of signal with smoke if it comes to that."

"Now as for the questions you had earlier, Calen..." Malina refocused her gaze onto the first year. "There's always been times where the support tower goes down for maintenance or gets damaged because of Grimm or anything like that, but they've always been very consistent with sending out messages before maintenance or as the Grimm are attacking to let us know what's going on. This time, it's just nothing. They sent in a monthly report a little over a month ago and it's been silence since then. It's not uncommon for the time between reports to be filled with nothing but silence, but going over that month mark is a cause for concern. As for the maps..." Malina lifted up her scroll and tapped a few more times and each of the student's scrolls dinged once. "Consider it done." She said with a smile before turning to Cobe.

"As for your question, there's no reason to assume everyone just up and left. It's a prosperous settlement in a good place and hasn't reported any recent increases in Grimm activity so chances are whenever what happened happened, there were still people within the walls. So yes, saving as much first aid as we can would be a good idea. We all have aura, we can take a hit without any permanent damage. That said, I do have all of your aura levels displayed on my scroll, so if things get too dangerous I'll call you back and take over. I'm sure you'll all do fine though." She grinned as she slid the scroll closed and back into her pouch.

"Now..." Malina's eyes moved across the four first years. "Any other questions?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 10, 2017, 04:06:43 PM
After speaking, Helena continued to listen, her face taking on an increasingly serious look as time went on. She nodded somewhat vigorously when Teddy asked if the positions he'd picked out for everyone seemed good, thereby communicating her assent. She made special note of Calen's 'priority targets' and of Malina's description of the mission; scouting, not rescue.

She shook her head at Malina's last question. She knew all she needed to - well, she thought that was the case, anyway.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 13, 2017, 04:39:45 PM
Calen looked closely over the map, quickly committing it in it's entirety to memory. Taking careful note of where people would likely hold up or weak points in the defences where Grimm or anything else might have broken through. As such Calen was much quieter until the airship landed than before. As well as adding what he knew about everyone else into the man. Not a strategist or tactician Calen did however have a gift in predicting actions and played a little game where he put the team in different dangerous situations, imagining how they would react.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 14, 2017, 03:33:24 PM
Cobe gave a slight smirk as the map appeared on his scroll, when asked if he had anymore questions he shook his head. All he needed now was mental preperation for the battle ahead.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 16, 2017, 03:30:47 PM
Teddy took a deep breath in, heaving out a long sigh. As it turned out, nobody hated his plan yet. That's one missed opportunity to fail. Only time will tell if he can keep it up. He tried to go between reading the rest of the records, listening to Malina, and thinking of a strategy for trying to keep his upper half attached to his lower half.

This mass influx of information did little to ease Teddy's tension. He read as much as the records could give him. He did want to know who he was trusting with his life, after all. After a brief distraction thinking of what the school could have on his record, Teddy tuned back into Malina's speech and caught the end of it. "N-No, ma'am." he said, sitting back in his chair and looking at the ceiling, as if it would help him figure out how to approach the situation.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 16, 2017, 05:24:17 PM
Malina nodded and stood up, groaning slightly as she rose to her feet."Alright, well you all better plan on getting comfortable, we've still got a ways to go before we reach the drop point." She looked to Teddy and Cobe as she passed by them on her way back to her original seat. "Why don't you all get to know each other a bit on the way there, you won't have much else to do. Trust me." She chuckled a little bit at the end as she bent down and lifted up Manticore before slumping it over her shoulder. "If any of you need me..." She said as she made her way back toward the front. "... I'm going to be up in the co-pilot's seat catching some shut eye. Get comfy!" She said before the door to the cockpit slide closed with a loud Ka-shink.

~ 3 Hours Later ~

The weather had begun to change outside as the three hour mark hit. The bright, orange gold sun that bathed the land when they left had been slowly covered with overcast clouds as they flew further and further south. The first few raindrops began to fall on the windshield of the Bullhead as the teacher's assistant stood up from her chair and gave a silent pat on the pilot's shoulder.

Malina reemerged from the cockpit an almost different person. While her outfit was the same, the mechanical tail thing that she'd slung over her shoulder was now actually attached to her lower back and it swayed slightly as Malina steadied herself on the speeding aircraft. In her right hand she tightly gripped the staff she had held earlier. Her face was much less relaxed, now more of a semi-serious grin. "Hope you all bonded well!" She called loudly as she walked past them and to the very back most door. "Good news is we're nearing the drop zone. Bad news that I didn't mention earlier is that this swamp is known for some pretty nasty avian grimm ruling the skies. That's the biggest reason we can't fly right to or over Jackson. Unfortunately that means we can't land or slow down completely to drop everyone off next to the swamp." She spoke almost absentmindedly now that she had everyone's attention. Her real focus was on reaching into one of her pouches and removing a canister of kinetic dust and carefully opening the slot of her weapon before sliding the canister in and snapping the slot closed. "That means we have to do a little something I like to call an impromptu drop-"

Her, now free, left hand swung back and pressed the emergency open button behind her, causing the large cargo doors to slowly open up to the cool air outside. "I SURE HOPE ALBAN MADE YOU ALL FIGURE OUT LANDING STRATEGIES BACK DURING THE INITIATION!" Malina yelled over the roaring winds before gripping her staff even tighter and turning toward the opening. "YOU'LL ALL SEE WHERE TO MEET UP WHEN YOU GET DOWN THERE, GOOD LUUUUUCK!" Was the last thing she said before dropping out of the bullhead.

The ground, far below her, was fairly simple. The swamp land was off to the right, the twisted dark trees indicating that plenty well enough. The ground was softer there for sure, but there were too many branches jutting out at odd positions for Malina to be able to land there. Directly below her was a dark green marshy area with several trees scattered about that transitioned into a full forest far ahead of her. It wasn't the best set of choices, but it would do.

As Malina fell, she grabbed onto her staff with both hands and brought it below her feet, firmly planting them against the metal with the sharper end of the staff pointed behind her. She quickly pull the trigger as the ground approached faster and faster, blasting out a burst of kinetic dust outward ans sending her momentum forward toward one of the scattered trees. As she sped toward the tree, she released one hand from the staff and swings it out to her right side and shoots Manticore out to her left, clinging against the tree and spinning her around it into a roll across the marshy ground.

"Ugh..." Malina groaned, wiping some muck from her arms as she stood up, collapsing her staff and sliding it into its holster. She looked toward the sky, making sure the other four had jumped from the Bullhead.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 16, 2017, 10:48:18 PM
After committing the map to memory Calen continued to chat amicably among his new team mates until their instructor reentered the transport hold clearly ready for combat. Seeing this Calen gathered his pack and weapon together and got ready for landing. Only there was to be no landing. After listening to Malina's explanation Calen was filled with a mixture of dread and joy. Flying grimm would be difficult for the team to bring down with only Helena having more range than a shotgun. That would mean Calen would have to be extra careful with his semblance to give the team another option. On the other hand there were few adrenaline highs which could match jumping out of a speeding airship, few legal ones any way and Calen was on his feet and rushing towards the newly opened exit within moments.

Grinning widely Calen turned back to his temporary team mates and remarked. 'Try not to hit the ground too hard. It might be softer than normal but that will only mean it will suck you in. See you down there lady and gentlemen.' Falling backwards Calen let himself plummet to the ground below, angling his body to maximise speed and accuracy as the gaunt boy aimed himself towards the major path to Jackson as outlined on the map. Calen did keep a watchful eye on both his team mates as they exited the craft as well as these avian Grimm Malina mentioned. Some black shapes could be seen moving in the swamp but that could be anything from swamp gas to other hunters.

Unperturbed Calen kept falling straight down until the moment before he made impact with a particularly large tree. Cancelling out his momentum with his semblance Calen landed gracefully on the tree's middle branches with barely a sound or causing any movement from the tree itself. Taking out a collapsible pole from his pack Calen quickly made his way out of the tree, making sure to prod the ground before trusting even his own insignificant weight on it. Making his way carefully over to Malina, using the pole to ensure he stayed on the mostly firm parts of the swamp as well as keeping an eye out for any threats which may have noticed their landing Calen gave a 'thumps up' gesture to the instructor before watching the rest of the students fall.

'I've got to ask.' Calen began trying to keep the mood jovial between himself and Malina. 'What would you have done if one of us didn't have a 'landing strategy?' I mean there has to be a couple people like that at the school.'
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 17, 2017, 01:49:35 PM
Helena followed the instructions yet again, making conversation with whoever was willing as they bided their time.

As Malina came out of the cockpit, with a tail that Helena had to concentrate not to squeal at, she informed them in a somewhat (okay, no, not somewhat) timely manner that they'd be dropping in, before sending herself down.

After that, Helena quickly and calmly got up, slung back on her quiver and bow and gingerly walked off the airship, accelerating towards the ground at a rapid pace.

Using her body, she maneuvered her path until it intersected with a tree and mere moments before impact, she took out her knives and stabbed at the air. She was welcomed with the sound of splintering and buckling wood, the trunk of the tree getting mercilessly mauled by the two colorful metallic fangs. She came to a stop about 4 meters off the ground, dropping to it when she removed the wedged implements from the bark.

Taking a brief look around with a 360, she spotted nearby movements that looked human, one of them accompanied by a large metallic glint she identified as Malina's tail. Sheathing her knives and keeping herself to the parts of the ground that seemed reasonably solid, she trekked her way over to the two figures.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 18, 2017, 12:57:21 PM
Oh boy, here we go again.

Cobe jumped out of the Bullhead, and started to drop rapidly towards the ground. Just when it looks like Cobe won't stop and become one with the ground, Cobe uses Cobalt Dawn to swing around a tree, cutting off the top as he falls down. When he hits the ground, a large thud is heard, as the tree top smacks the ground hard.

"Huh, not as bad as Initiation, there I nearly broke my leg."

Cobe decided to be polite and wave at his team members already on the ground, before turning back to his scroll and continuing to make key strategic points on the map.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 18, 2017, 02:56:32 PM
Malina looked away from the other falling students as Calen approached and gave him a small smirk. "If there's anything I've learned over the years as a huntress, it's that the real world doesn't give two shits if your prepared or able. The quicker you can get used to adapting to unexpected situations, the better." She paused for a moment as Helena and Cobe hit the ground and waved back toward Cobe. "Besides, worst case scenario, you've got a broken leg falling from that height with full aura." She glanced toward Helena's vague shape in the distance before turning back to Calen. "You didn't think I brought along Helena just for possible survivors, did you?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 18, 2017, 10:43:55 PM
Teddy attempted to keep up with the conversation, but he was never good at making small talk. The three hours did give him a chance to calm down and think over a few things, as well as get some more reading done. It was in his best interest to know as much as he was allowed to, after all.

And suddenly, Malina returns and departs, along with the rest of his team. They seemed far too nonchalant about randomly jumping out of perfectly functional vehicles, but that is the kind of field that they were in. Rather than rush out of the airship, Teddy took a few moments to secure his bag to his shoulders. He tightened every strap that he could. He was prepared for this, after all. Although, Teddy had a different line of thought when he was informed of "landing strategies".

As the rest of the group was idly conversing on the ground, Teddy was slowly descending from the heavens. As it turned out, he was the only one who had come prepared with a parachute. Sure, he was not as quick at descending as the rest of the group on the mission, but he was not going to break a bone before going on a miles-long hike, no sir.

The only issue that he had was that his parachute had little in the ways of maneuvering. It was an old parachute he picked up from a surplus store, and the handles used for guiding it were sadly not a priority, being just outside of Teddy's reach. Teddy just consigned himself to holding his weapon and hoping for the best.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 19, 2017, 06:09:00 AM
As Helena kept trekking through the swamp, every now and then avoiding stepping on a spot too weak to support her weight, she took another quick glance around. What she noticed the most was that their appointed leader, Teddy, was coming down in the most leisurely and mundane way possible.

As she arrived next to Calen and Malina, she gestured towards the large fabric sail and said "Is it strange that he's using a parachute or is it strange that we find it strange?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 19, 2017, 07:34:18 AM
'Very true Miss Nahualli, an unconventional but effective teaching method.' Calen responded, it was a method that agreed with him although some part of his mind did start to conjure scenarios Malina could put him in which he wouldn't be as able to deal with. Most of his team mates followed Malina example of dust and trees but Teddy was still falling, held aloft by a parachute of all things. 'Oddities are based off societal expectations so as long as we all agree Master Theodore is the weird one it becomes so.' Calen grinned before turning more serious. 'Although perhaps Master Theodore is much braver than he first appeared, the last place I would want to be is floating though the air in a place rife with avian Grimm.' Calen could almost see the sky fill with the feathered fiends and the horrific scene play out.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Calen started to make his way towards Jackson, following his mental map and still careful to use his pole to find a stable path. Calling back Calen remarked 'I was scout right? Better get on that then, can't have the boss seeing me slack off on the first day.' Laughing at his stupid joke Calen kept his right hand free so he could react to any threat as fast as possible.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 20, 2017, 07:12:27 PM
Malina said nothing as she made her way to where Teddy was going to land once Calen began to make his way into the swamp. She collapsed her staff and holstered it to her side, feeling the cathartic tink as the metal locked against the magnet.

"You do remember me saying that the air was full of avian Grimm and that was why we couldn't stop or slow down, right?" She called up as she crossed her arm and looked up at the impromptu leader with a single raised eyebrow. He quickly opened his mouth to speak but Malina cut him off with the raise of one of her hands. "No, no." She uncrossed her arms and wiped several small droplets of water from her face, letting her see the first year floating slowly down more clearly. "You made a bad decision." She said as his feet touched the ground and the chute thwumped onto the ground behind him. "It's not the end of the world, we've all made our fair share of bad decisions." Something panged at the back of Malina's head as she spoke but she ignored it. "As the leader you have to put extra effort into taking notice of everything around you so that you don't do something or order something that would put you or your team in unnecessary danger." She stepped closer to Teddy and helped him undo the parachute. "I understand that this all might be a bit new for you, but it's necessary, believe me." She spoke softer than before as she unlatched something she wasn't entirely familiar with but was fairly certain would help undo the parachute.

The parachute eventually came completely undone and set Teddy free. "I'll be following all of you, Calen already made his way into the swamp to scout ahead." She pointed off to the edge of the swamp where Calen had entered. "Look's like Helena's already followed him in." Malina looked off to the side and saw Cobe making his way toward her. "And it looks like it's just you and Cobe. You'll do fine, I'll be right behind you all." And she gave Teddy a genuine smile, or at the very least attempted to make it appear genuine.



Malina smacked her cheek, crushing yet another mosquito attempting to bite into her. A disgusted sigh escaped her lips as she pulled out her scroll from its pouch to check the time once more. Almost an hour had passed and almost nothing had happened. Several beowolves had attacked about twenty minutes ago but they hadm't even made it past Calen and Helena's arrows. It would have been great if she could get her nerves in check, she never liked quiet missions. Always reminded her of that old saying, the calm before the storm. She supposed the environment didn't help. The light rain had continued to fall, scattering little droplets of water playfully across her tail, making it sound like the roof of a car in the rain, and despite the lightness of the rain, the clouds above them were dark, incredibly so. At times she could swear it was nighttime for how dark the clouds were making the swamp but with each check of her scroll she saw a bright light 10:46 AM that stared back her.

A drop of rain splashed against the hardlight "screen" of her scroll and she quickly wiped it off and slid it back into her pocket. It wouldn't be too long now until they got to Jackson and as far as Malina cared, the sooner the better. She'd been on hundreds of missions, but something about this, the oddly dark sky, the rain slowly falling down, the twisted trees that at times looked like they were reaching out toward her group, it all made her unusually uneasy. She looked ahead to the four ahead of her. Cobe close by with Teddy slightly ahead of him and Helena ahead of him, and the vague shadowy shape of Calen. She watched Teddy specifically for a few short moments, surely he had to be feeling the same as she did.



Far ahead of Malina, Calen scouted ahead of the group. Watching out for patches of wet much, he chose his footing carefully and deliberately while still keeping an eye on area ahead of him. One light step, quick glance downward, a look around, another step, quick glance downward, etc. It was a tedious process but a necessary  one. The beowolves earlier had been easy to take out, but they'd also been loud, who knew what else might lurk in the swamps.

As if on cue, the sound of something, something nearly indistinguishable, caught his ear. It sounded like the cracking of a branch but at the same time it sounded just slightly off, unnatural. Calen whipped his head to the left, where the sound had come from.

There, in a clearing in the swampy trees and much, surrounded in darkness was... nothing. The first year's eyes darted around for a moment, trying to see if something had fled or moved away and just as he did, another crack sounded, this time larger with more of a crunching sound. It had come from above the spot he'd originally heard the sound. His eyes followed the sound upward.

There, in the trees, clinging to one of the branches with massive clawed hands was... something. A Grimm for sure, it's black body and four red eyes, shaped in a large square on it's unusually flat face, proved that much. But the rest of it was shrouded in the darkness of this oddly dark cloudy day.

As Calen locked his eyes on the beast's piercingly red eyes, it let out a scream. A scream like nothing Calen, nor Teddy, nor Helena, or Cobe, or even Malina who'd been on missions to the harshest swamps of Mistral had ever heard. It was like the high pitched scream of a man and women overlaid on one another but at the same time extremely animistic, savage, barbaric.

Calen was frozen for just a moment, despite everything in his body telling him to move away or attack, he found himself unable to get a hold of himself as the beast dropped down from the tree and into the clearing, a horrible cracking noise sounding from its limbs as they bent and compressed.

Now on the same level as the monster, Calen was able to get a better look at it's details. It was enormous, standing on two legs and at least twice his own height despite the curved back and bent legs. Had it been standing straight up would have easily reached over fifteen feet. The thought shook him for a moment but only a moment before he pushed it away. From what he could see, its entire body was the black fur that made up most Grimm, and if its grotesque height hadn't been enough then its arms would sure send a lesser man running. They were bent now, but he was sure that if it extended its arms they would nearly reach ten feet long. The only white parts he could see in the darkness were the faceplate, which was almost like a square if not for the rounded bottom, and its claws. They were enormous. Each of the five claws on each hand had to be at least half his height.

The creature let out another loud roar from seemingly nowhere, nothing about it moved when the roar was released, and then it took a lumbering step forward, sending another ripple of cracks through the air, and leaving behind it a fine black mist.

In the next moment, the Grimm had launched itself up into the air above Calen with surprising speed. As it came down with claws primed to shred through its prey, Calen finally got a hold of himself once again.


(http://i.imgur.com/RKoK291.png)
UNKNOWN GRIMM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6pr1vr7SsE): ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉

(Posting order is Calen, Helena, Teddy, Cobe, with the Grimm being posted outside of any order. So they could go once wait a turn, then go again, or wait an entire rotation.)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 21, 2017, 02:29:30 AM
Calen opened his mouth to come to Teddy's defence but thought better of it. It wasn't really defensible and perhaps it would it do their leader some good to get some harsh criticism. Going on ahead Calen started to become very thankful that he had left the suit at home, even with the pole he mistepped a few times covering this pants in muck. Managing to keep a grin on his face for now Calen would call back and joke 'Maybe we should put up signs.' or 'I think I need to lose some weight.' But Calen's good humour was fraying fast and the muggy air as well as the bugs weren't helping. Finding some dark solace that everyone else should be feeling as miserable as he was Calen kept himself busy by studying the landscape.

As the rain started to fall Calen strangely started to calm, he had always enjoyed the rain and the gentle haze seemed to dull their surroundings turning it more into a dirty landscape painting rather than a real world hellscape. It was tempting to escape into his mind after the long trek of inactivity but Calen knew it would be too dangerous. Seemingly almost to punish himself for remaining on task Calen's mind started to play little tricks on him with squelching, cracking and groaning coming for the direction where they were going. Calen even half thought he saw a pair of red eyes piecing through the rainy haze. Only too late did Calen realise that it wasn't all in his head and a real threat climbed down from the trees. It was unlike anything Calen had ever seen and if the creatures strange appearance slowed his reaction the howl froze him completely. It was only when the creature leapt at him did Calen's self-presevation instinct over ride his fear and kicked Calen into action.

The Grimms enormous arms made going around the creature unlikely to succeed just as it's height made going over nigh impossible. This only left under, Calen's self preservation instinct having done it's job was pushed to the side as Calen charged forward. Slashing upward Calen lucked out with hitting a run of solid ground so he got a fair amount of force behind the blow before it all went crashing down. Getting one of his legs stuck knee deep in mud caused Calen to physically bite his lip to avoid cursing. Still Calen had gotten far enough away to avoid the Grimm's pounce so he might have a bit of time to get himself free as the creature chewed on the rest of his team.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 21, 2017, 06:29:33 AM
Thinking over Calen's answer, Helena admitted that it certainly wasn't entirely wrong, but it didn't seem entirely right either. She waited for a bit as her teammate departed - using the pause as an opportunity to use some of that repellant spray - before taking her bow off and following him at a distance, keeping her eyes trained on the figure as it slowly advanced, keeping her attention field as wide as feasible. She also made use of Calen's prodding of the ground to follow in his exact path, if not footsteps. His jokes made her smile, however briefly.



As rain started to be heard from herself, her teammates and her supervisor - she had to again refrain from squealing at the sound Malina's tail made every time a raindrop hit it - and the environment, Helena briefly thought whether or not she should put on her hood. Having a forward-facing cap made it unnecessary to shield herself from the rain, as it wouldn't affect her sight any less than it already did. On the other hand, she had something of an escort around her and could afford to restrict her line of sight, at least a bit. In the end, she decided to play it safe and kept moving after Calen.

The weather was oddly gloomy. It's wasn't that she didn't like rain, or heavy clouds, or even lightning-ridden thunderstorms. The sky here just felt... weird, unnatural. She didn't pay it much more mind, though, returning her attention to Calen after mere seconds.

Shortly afterwards, Calen came to a standstill. Helena immediately stopped walking and reached to her quiver, grabbing an arrow by its tail, bow at the ready. She couldn't ready it yet as that would prevent her from quickly using Dust.

A few instants later, something stirred. Something big - bigger than an Ursa, a Deathstalker, or anything else she could think of that wasn't a giant Nevermore. The shape was fuzzy towards the back, but the front was more clearly defined. Tensing, she waited until either the beast or Calen made a move. Which the former did, jumping high into the air with what looked like impossible claws all-out and ready to flail people alive. Helena selected a Kinetic augment - Calen was too close for anything else, really - and took out the arrow, pulled Artemis as far back as she could and aimed for the beast's landing spot before letting go. The arrow would, if she'd
aimed right, either hit it while it was landing or still in mid-air.

(1 Kinetic augment left)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 21, 2017, 12:33:42 PM
(OOC: Posting due to last post being 4 days ago, no battle attack though)

Cobe stayed near the back of the group, as he had been told to do, sticking with Teddy and Malina. He hardly said anything, as he was not usually one for conversation. The sounds he had been making were him smacking mosquitoes around. However, when...what this thing was, came out of absolutely nowhere (at least from what he could see, being at the back and all), Cobe's brain kicked in.

Thinking back to what he had seen in District 101 from his time there, he knew that his crystals would be vital, however, he had not loaded them yet.

"I need to load Cobalt Dawn with my Crystals, and think of a plan to take this thing down, I'll need about a minute or two of cover."

Cobe then ran behind a bush and started to load Cobalt Dawn, and he had to be fast.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 21, 2017, 05:53:41 PM
The Grimm landed head against the ground, it's many claws easily piercing through the ground like butter. It began to let out another roar in retaliation to the slash, only to be cut off by the sickening thwack of an arrow embedding itself into its right shoulder. It paused for just moment, but that was long enough for Malina, who still stood far in the back, to get a good look at it.

It wasn't like any Grimm she'd ever seen nor heard of it. Looking at it profile now with the faintest light shining down through the clouds she could make out some of its more defined features. It stood on short stubby legs that bend backward at the knee then forward again at the ankle before ending in an oddly tiny foot. She could tell the legs weren't for support, though. No, those were leaping. The enormous arms that were currently planted against the muck were what supported it. Even from here, she could tell that the weren't just for show, those arms were extremely muscular.

The beast turned toward the rest of the students, where Helena had fired from, and Malina got a better look at its upper body now that it's arms where to its sides. It was almost shaped like a large C in a way. Its gut was incredibly thin and she could have sworn she could see the faintest outline of a rib cage beneath it, meanwhile its chest protruded out and downward. It's head and thick neck protruded even further way from it's body, almost like a turtle constantly striving to bite into something.

Malina quietly slunk back into the brush behind her and slowly pulled out her scroll, opening it to the screen showing the team's aura levels. She'd only take action if she needed to.



The Grimm snapped its neck toward Cobe as he ran to the bushes, letting out another disgusting crack from within its body. The beast lifted its arms up into the air and slammed its fists down into the earth as it let out another roar this one much lower than before. As soon as Cobe disappeared from its view, it began charging toward the bushes, leading with its arms and using them to carry them quickly across the distance, putting Helena and Teddy directly in the beast's path.



UNKNOWN GRIMM: ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 23, 2017, 09:19:33 AM
As Teddy touched down, it was clear that he was never going to get a word in with Malina. He just put his head down and let her start scolding him. If it were almost anyone else, he would have eventually agreed that it was a bad decision, but would have gotten an opportunity to explain what he was thinking with the high deployment of the parachute and long drop time. With Malina, however, the best solution would seem to let her get her frustrations out now and hope that she does not continue to try and publicly humiliate him for her own amusement.

Teddy was not exactly in a talking mood as he dredged through the swamp. The deplorable conditions combined with the fact that he knew he had Malina watching him made him feel absolutely awful. The bugs were actually useful to him, as they kept him from zoning out and losing focus. He found himself oddly comfortable in the gradually increasing darkness. It reminded him of the evenings he spent in the forest. It served as a little bit of solace in a harrowing time.

For a brief second, Teddy was actually glad that a Grimm had shown up, as it broke the tension that lied in the air. That feeling was quickly swept away when Teddy saw just how massive the creature was. It was obvious that he needed to coordinate with his team, find its weak spot, and take the creature dow- and Cobe just ran into the bushes. Of course he had not loaded his weapon. Because this day just needed to get better.

"You don't have a minute! Run!" he shouted at Cobe. He quickly transformed his weapon and aimed it at the creature. "Helena, go left!" he shouted up ahead. He managed to fire two shots off as he was running to the right. Teddy hoped that by running in different directions, the creature would not be able to follow them both.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 23, 2017, 04:43:10 PM
Small, deep red holes appeared in the Grimm's side as the buckshot slammed against it while it was running past Teddy. It stopped almost immediately, slamming its fists down into the ground and cease its movement, and twisted its body toward the boy. As it spun, it picked one of its trunk-like arms and swung it horizontally toward Teddy, hitting him square in the chest and sending him skidding back across the mash.

The beast let out another quick roar before using its arms and legs to spring itself into the air above Teddy. It passed over the boy and crashed into a tree, taking it down with a familiar crack. As the tree toppled down, the beast dropped down toward the ground behind Teddy, its claws once against ready to plunge down into its target.

UNKNOWN GRIMM: ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 24, 2017, 03:11:24 AM
After taking a few moments to pull himself free from the swamps murky grasp Calen made his way back to solid ground and ran quickly back towards his team and the creature. Following his own steps Calen made it without any more accidents as he blazed through his team. Trusting their impromptu leader to be able to take first hit at least Calen moved to assist Teddy's counter attack. 'I'll try to give you an opening for the counter.' Calen called out to Teddy. 'Your axe should do more damage than my blade.' Making a show of going to the still falling creature's left Calen rapidly changed direction, tunnelling for the Grimm's right side. Hoping that the bright reds and golds of his sword would catch the beast's attention even if the rest of his outfit merged with his surroundings Calen aimed to get behind their opponent as it landed and open up on it's exposed legs.

A strange sensation flowed over Calen, dulling the ordinary rush of battle. It suddenly dawned on him that sooner or later both Helena and Cobe would be unload range attacks on to their foe with Teddy and himself nearby. Not being used to fighting along side range combatants this was a new feeling and wasn't one that Calen was enjoying. Helena's bow should be fine particularly with it's size but he was worried about what Cobe was going to pull out. And what is Malina doing? Calen thought to himself. His gaze didn't leave the creature however as the boy was unwilling to break his concentration to waste time looking for their teacher.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 25, 2017, 06:24:46 AM
As the beast started hurtling towards the main group, Helena readied another arrow, this one augmented with Ice Dust. However, before she could nock it, her leader shouted at her to go left, which she immediately did, barely taking the time to watch her footing before leaping away from the Grimm's vicious claws. However, when she turned back, the it seemed extremely focused on evisverating the other members of her team, so she took the opportunity to freeze it, even if temporarily, by pulling Artemis taut before aiming right for its chest and releasing her grasp.

(1 Kinetic and 1 Ice remaining)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 25, 2017, 01:14:29 PM
Perfect.

As the creature turned away from Cobe, a click sound could be heard, he had finally finished loading up. Slotting his Steam Dust dispenser in, he ran towards the beast.

"HEY UGLY!"

Cobe then dispensed his steam dust, and covered the beast in Steam Dust, before running back about 5 feet. He then fired a Fire Dust Crystal into the cloud.

"GET BACK OR GET DOWN! I DON'T CARE WHICH!"

He warned his team, mere seconds before the Steam Cloud exploded, Cobe then lept into a tree and took shelter for a while.

(2 Fire Crystals and 85% Steam Dust Remaining)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 26, 2017, 07:30:22 AM
The creature fell back slightly as the arrow embedded itself into its chest, sending a wave of ice over it. As it landed behind Teddy, it's claws made quick work of the ice, shredding it to pieces and only pausing when Cobe ran up to it, causing it swipe quickly at the boy as he ran away, nicking him on his back and causing him to stumble before regaining himself and taking aim once again toward the Grimm.

A younger Grimm may have stayed to see what the human boy was doing. A younger Grimm may have ignored the misty substance that the humans called Dust. Unfortunately for the four young hunters in training, this was not a young Grimm and these were not the first humans it had fought.

The beast sprung upward into the air a split second before Cobe could pull the trigger, letting the crystal slam into the pile of overturned trees behind it. The crystal let out a smaller explosion that was quickly snuffed out by the damp wood and air around it. Meanwhile, the Grimm was coming back down toward the ground and as it did, it observed the field for just a hair of a second before slammed down, fists first, in front of Calen and his flashing sword.

The beast quickly brought up one arm and slammed it down into the muck in front of Calen, causing a wave of swamp water and mud to shoot up toward the boy, before swinging its left hand toward the boy in a horizontal sweep, claws bared.

UNKNOWN GRIMM: ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 26, 2017, 06:40:21 PM
Teddy was certainly right about one thing. The creature did not try to follow them both. Teddy bounced across the ground as the beast sent him flying across the marsh, landing face-down in the thick muck. When he finally got his head up and wiped off his eyes, the beast was above him, ready to make him an afterthought. In this situation, a traditional leader would have some sort of strategy in place to take advantage of the situation. Maybe aim for the creature's underside as it loomed overhead. Maybe try to bring the legs down in order to limits their mobility. But maybe, just maybe, it was time to ditch all strategy and run like hell. The third option appealed to Teddy in the moment.

Teddy got up and used his semblance to sprint as fast as possible from the creature, turning and sliding in order to assess the situation. The beast had some noticeable traces left from previous attacks. A bit of ice was on its chest. That one must have been Helena. She probably helped me get out. Teddy thought, quickly looking over to his teammate. The rest of the beast was covered in something he couldn't quite place. It seemed like some kind of fog...Cobe used the steam dust. Cobe was going to use the steam dust and kill him right there on the ground. Cool.

Now, Calen seemed to be in a bit of trouble. The best strategy seemed to be splitting the beast's attention and peppering it with ranged attacks. To that end, Teddy brought his weapon back up and started unloading rounds, hoping to lead it back down the walking path. If he and Calen could keep it distracted, Helena and Cobe could fire at it until it fell. "Calen! By me!" he yelled, firing toward the Grimm's head.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 26, 2017, 11:57:35 PM
The cold chill that accompanied both Cobe and Helena's attacks set Calen's teeth chattering as the boy hacked away at their opponent. Moving forward Calen almost caught himself in the Grimm's downward slam but managed to roll out of the strike just before impact. It did however put Calen too close to dodge the creatures following swipe. Taking the hit on his chest Calen felt the wind blast out of his lungs and barely avoid a coughing fit as he gripped tight around the beast's arm. Still needing to use his semblance to avoid being flung into the swamp Calen quickly raced up the creature's arm. Eager for some revenge Calen leapt off around it's shoulder for a brutal slice at the Grimm's neck before falling clear.

Caught up in the rush of combat Calen momentarily forgot about both the softer ground of a swamp and it's far muddier makeup. Rolling to protect his still sore knee Calen crashed shoulder first into the soft peat and struggled to get back to his feet. Managing to pull himself mostly out of the muck Calen was still covered with the stuff and slowly making his way around back to Teddy in response to their leaders yelling. Furious but Calen did manage to keep it under control as he set up in a defensive stance by Teddy. Unwilling to use his knives in the swamp Calen's offensive options where limited if everyone was simply going to rain range attacks on their foe so instead Calen busied himself with cleaning up.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 27, 2017, 07:15:44 AM
As the beast kept fighting the more close-range members of her team, Helena waited for the right moment to strike. Cobe seemed to... shower it in Dust? before trying to ignite it and missing, somewhat thankfully when you take Teddy's proximity to the beast at the time into account.

There, the Grimm was far enough from her teammates now to safely ignite the Dust. She popped a Fire augment on the arrow she was holding before nocking it, aiming and firing, leading the shot towards where the beast would charge.

(1 Kinetic, 1 Ice, 1 Fire remaining)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 27, 2017, 05:56:56 PM
The explosion rocked the nearby trees, sending the small gatherings of rainwater that had built up on their branches to be sent careening outward and onto the already wet marshy ground of the swamp. Far in the back, Malina grimaced slightly as the sound blasted past her. The voices of the man and woman who inhabited the Grimm's roars before now let out a sound of pain, piercing through the low boom of the explosion.

As the smoke cleared, the Grimm stood, slouched over, with both fists planted firmly in the muck below it. Another ear splitting roar of pain came as it lifted its arms and slammed them down into the ground once again. It's once pure black fur was now singed and patchy, giving way to a burned and callused black skin underneath. It looked quickly toward Calen, who had just finished moving to Teddy, and held its gaze there for a moment before crouching down even further, put its weight on its back legs, and shoot up into the air away from the group and back to the area it had attacked from. The cracking of several trees could be heard as it made its descent, followed by more as it made another leap away.

UNKNOWN GRIMM: ▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉

(No more posting order for now)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 27, 2017, 07:48:28 PM
Tensing up as the Grimm glared at him Calen got into a low stance ready to leap forward exploit it's repeated leaping about. As the creature shot upwards Calen started to move forward only for the beast to shoot out of his reach in moments. Stabilising himself by extending the haft of his glaive into the mud Calen kept his footing and continued to flake the now dry muck, courtesy of Helena's explosion, off himself. A few deep breaths didn't do much to calm his temper but Calen knew the last thing they needed was his going off and managed to keep his lid on for now. Instead Calen turned to the rest of the party and gave a strained grin. 'Well that wasn't in my textbook, does that mean we get to name it? I vote for Fluffy.' Calen remarked as he walked back to retrieve his pole, glaive still in hand.

Only walking a few steps Calen stopped and turned around. 'Has anyone seen Miss Nahualli?' Calen asked, possibly purposely mispronouncing 'Nahualli' to be more like 'narwhal.' 'I haven't seen her since the fight started.' Breathing slightly hard and pain still flowing from his chest, Calen knew he hadn't performed particularly well in their first fight. Still it would be quite a while before they reached Jackson and hopefully Calen would find a way to constructively express himself before then.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 28, 2017, 07:57:44 AM
"I would remind you that I am simply shadowing your group, mister Shrike." Malina said as she stepped out from the thin brush she had stayed behind during the fight, scroll in hand and a somewhat annoyed look on her face. "Although if you'd prefer I held your hand through the entire mission, I'm sure that can be arranged." Without waiting for a response, she turned to the other three and held up her scroll. "He does have a point about the Grimm though. That wasn't anything I'd ever seen." The screen showed an amateur photo of the Grimm taken halfway through a turn as it was turning to face Helena. Helena, Cobe, and Teddy stood in the foreground, Helena with her hand on her bow fresh from firing, and Cobe and Teddy readying for the, admittedly, short fight. The Grimm stood hulking in the background with Calen just barely in the frame to the left.

"I was trying to put up a thread on the den to ask some others on there about it," Malina said, referring to the Hunter's Den, a forum that many professional hunters and huntresses use to communicate information to and with each other. "but I couldn't get any signal." She slid her scroll into its pouch by her side. "Which spells bad news for Jackson..." Her words came out slow and thoughtfully as if she were trying to figure out whether or not she should be telling them even though the words were already coming out of her mouth.

"Unfortunately now we have more than one problem." She spoke once again in a somewhat annoyed tone, this time unintentional. It was something she had been trying to get rid of for a while but never could kick the habit. "We have two options," she turned to Teddy, "do we head straight to Jackson or do we go after the Grimm?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on September 29, 2017, 04:27:26 PM
Cobe landed, quite roughly after his jump, not seeing Teddy until after he spread the Dust, he was somewhat grateful he missed. When the Dust did explode, Cobe was well hidden, and protected successfully from the blast. After finally emerging from the shurbs that hid him, he spoke to his team.

"Firstly Teddy, I apologise for that Steam Dust, I didn't see you there. Now then, I suggest we just head for Jackson, judging from the fact that Grimm could come back at anytime, the more ground we cover now, the better."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on September 30, 2017, 12:15:41 AM
Teddy watched the beast sail through the air, a mixture of the explosion and the nightmarish screaming echoing in his ears. As soon as the Grimm was far enough away to feel comfortable, Teddy spit out a bit of muck and rotated his shoulder. Getting knocked halfway across a swamp hurts a bit, if you would believe it. After a brief second, he regained his composure. He did not want to get anyone worried, after all.

"We should go on to Jackson. We have a mission. If there is no major issue, we can try and deal with the Grimm later.
 If there is an issue, the Grimm will find us." he said, folding his weapon and attaching it to his backpack. He started trying to brush some of the muck off of his pants, but he soon realized it was a fruitless effort and stopped.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 30, 2017, 01:40:46 AM
Malina nodded slowly and added "Well, let's hope we have to find that Grimm again and it doesn't find us then." solemnly. "Well," She began in a slightly more upbeat tone after wiping away some drops of rain from her eyes, "we'd better get a move on then. Take a few moments to get situated, reload, take a breather, whatever you need to do. We move out in five minutes." She turned away from the group and opened her pouch once again to retrieve her scroll. In a quick motion, she expanded it into it's full tablet form and brought up the picture she'd taken. She stared at the sky in the picture, full of dark clouds with no evidence of a bright light behind them just like the sky above and yet...

Malina lowered the scroll and turned around, staring up at the sky through the twisted branches of swamp trees, toward the south. Toward Jackson. The sky was almost identical, full of clouds and dark, and yet far off in the distance, only inches away from being cut off by the tree line above them, the sky had the faintest purple glow. She wouldn't have even noticed it had the Grimm not leapt so high into the air. It was a bright purple, not like that from a sunset, but still almost non-existent.


She looked back toward the scroll, and the sky above the Grimm. Full of cloud, without the faintest hint of any bright light behind them, and perfectly black. Not even the slightest hint of purple. It was entirely possible, she thought, that whatever was making that light had turned on in the middle of the fight. Possible, yes, but only as possible as something not appearing on her scroll even though she can see it herself.

Malina's train of thought was interrupted by a call of "Ready!" from one of the students, she could tell which, and she slid the scroll closed and tucked it into her pouch once more, sealing it tight.



An hour had passed since the Grimm had attacked the group and the rest of the hiking had gone by quietly. 'Well, no.' Malina thought. 'Quietly isn't quite the right word.' No other Grimm had attacked them sure, and Calen's almost clockwork timed jokes killed the silence, sure, but there were other things. The cracking from what Malina assumed couldn't be anything other than the Grimm kept sounding off around them as they made their way through the swamp. Sometimes to their left, sometimes to their right, and sometimes, much to the dismay or annoyance- she wasn't sure which- of Malina, from behind. Always following and yet always just barely too far away to warrant investigation. Malina had kept her hand planted firmly against her staff on her hip most of the way though.

And despite all that, they had made it, more or less, unharmed. The swampy marsh gave way to more firm land and taller trees, which gave way to a less dense forest, which eventually gave way to a large clearly.

Malina raised her eyebrow as she watched each student stop as they reached the treeline and stare up. As she glanced up toward the sky to try to see what they were staring at, she suddenly remembered the purple light in the clouds she'd seen early. And yet when she looked up, her sight was cut off by the dense canopy of the trees above her. She sighed and silently scolded herself for forgetting such an odd thing and moved to the treeline with the rest of the group.



As she broke the treeline, she was finally able to see what the group was staring at. Ahead of her, maybe fifty or so yards away, were the walls of Jackson. Barely visible in the dark, yet there. That wasn't what stopped her dead in her tracks, however. Her eyes followed the walls up. And up. And up. They seemed to reach into the sky taller than any building she'd seen in her life, taller than even the CCT Tower in Beacon. "That's not... normal..." She began to say as her eyes kept moving upward, though the last word trailed off as the walls finally ended and gave way to a bright spot of light in the clouds, seeming to come from within Jackson. The spot seemed to be a mix of bright neon colors, blues, greens, purples, reds, all far too bright and colorful in contrast with the already unsettlingly dark sky around it, which only seemed to get darker the closer to Jackson they had gotten.

"What the hell..." Malina muttered under breath as she, almost absentmindedly, made her way forward to the enormous walls ahead of her, stopping several meters away. Ahead of her was a door. A small door, at least relative to the walls around it, making both it and Malina seem insignificant by comparison. On the wooden door in bold, engraved, and fancy lettering was simply the word "JACKSON" with a small arrow pointing toward the handle. Malina looked back, failing to hide her concern, toward the four students behind her.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on September 30, 2017, 02:26:11 AM
I'll give you something to fucking hold on to. Calen seethed internally before turning around and giving the teacher a bright smile. 'I was simply worried, Miss Nahualli I meant no offense.' Calen assured Malina, this time correctly pronouncing the name. Using the time to get as much of the muck off his pack as possible Calen quickly set out again. Maintaining a brisk pace as much to annoy the others and cool his own temper as to get to Jackson faster Calen pushed on almost praying for another fight. None came however and as the hours went by Calen's mood soured even more. Luckily he was getting better and better and finding a path so the jokes got less frequent but darker as the march went on.

The jokes started to serve a second purpose as Calen started to hear movement around their party. To tempt whatever was encircling them to attack. It still didn't work however and they all made it to the walls of Jackson unharmed if grumpy. They are enormous. Calen thought to himself, the sheer size of the walls breaking even Calen out of his sulk, if only temporarily. There looked like there was only one door and Calen approached it but uncharacteristically cautiously kept his distance. The whole place seemed off, the more fantastical part of his mind saw Jackson as an evil castle, towering over its swamp domain. The more realistic part remembered that Jackson was supposed to be a safe haven. 'Is there some kind of secret knock?' Calen asked as Malina as she got closer, not quite as flippantly as he wanted as genuine worry started to break through his mask.

Calen had stowed away his weapon before to try to make the party a more tempting target but now as the danger seemed to multiply every passing moment he needed the familiar weight in his hands. Extending his weapon into its glaive mode Calen set up in a balanced stance not knowing what to expect. He didn't set facing away from the town, however, as even in its foreboding stillness, the swamp didn't measure as even half the threat the town did.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on September 30, 2017, 10:45:55 AM
Mostly due to her distance from the explosion, Helena more or less just protected her face with her arm, taking the various bits of mud, swampstuffs and other wet and/or humid objects. As soon as the blast had passed, she looked to its source, ready to keep firing, only to see the beast make off in a haste, taking her arrows with it. The little bugger. Should've put a locator on those things.

The sky was still as dark as when the battle started, if not even more so. She gathered herself, wiped a spot of mud from her left cheek with a clean bit of her sleeve and marched towards the others, meeting them all along with their supervisor.

When the options to kill the Grimm off or continue to Jackson were presented, Helena shifted on her feet, resisting the urge to chime in. She doubted her desire had anything to do with strategy. She therefore looked visibly relieved when the 'continue' option was decided and rapidly took her previous place in the formation, setting off right after Calen. Something seemed... odd at that moment, but she couldn't tell what.



During pretty much the entirety of their trek through the swamp, odd and unsettling cracking could be readily heard around them. While Helena most definitely worried about what it could be (this wasn't your normal branch snap), she ignored it for the most part, as her job was to provide Calen with cover. Her own back was being protected by 2, possibly 3, people.



The sight that greeted her when she exited the treeline, apart from a Calen staring in an uncharacteristically bewildered fashion toward the sky, was the walls of Jackson. Well, it was supposed to be Jackson, and these were supposed to be its walls. She started heavily doubting both of those suppositions when her gaze joined Calen's, a swirling multicolor mass high, high above the ground being the main focus of her attention.

When Malina uttered something about it 'not being normal', Helena nodded in approval. She followed her to what appeared to be the door to Jackson, according to the lettering on it. "Ummm, Malina, are you sure this is Jackson? Because regardless of whether or not it is, I don't think we should open that door before, dunno, announcing ourselves by shouting or something. She brought her bow forward and gestured to the sky at the 'something', suggesting shooting an arrow either inside the walls or into the multicolored vortex above them.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on September 30, 2017, 05:14:51 PM
Malina had simply shook her head quietly as her gaze went from the door, to the lights above, back to the door, and then back to the sky. She wanted to say 'This is where Jackson is, don't you believe me? The proof is right here, it's always been here, I've been here before and it certainly didn't look like this but maybe they renovated. Maybe they found something down in the mines that let them afford to build their walls this high. Maybe they're safe in there and everything is good because they decided they just don't need Vale anymore. It's here! Don't you believe me!?' but what came out was just "This is where Jackson was."

Malina took a step forward toward the door with the intention to knock, but slowly pulled back her hand. They had to go in, of course they had to go in, it was what they were here for, she knew that and yet she really didn't want to. She looked up once more to the clouds, wiping away rain from from her face as she did. The colors seemed to be shifting around in the pillar of light, blues turned to yellows, yellows to reds, reds to purples, all swirling around and then returning to what they had been before. Malina swallowed hard and took a deep breath before turning back to the group as the thought 'We should have been able to see this from the Bullhead' shot across her mind.

"We have to go in, it's our job." She spoke unwaveringly in despite of what she felt. "We sure as hell aren't getting over the walls, so it seems like the door is our only way in..." She looked around at the four in front of her. "Any takers?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on October 03, 2017, 09:01:20 AM
Teddy only looked up for a few seconds. Today was being weird enough as it was, and he needed to keep a cool head. The quiet walk over did little to relieve the nervousness Teddy had built up. He kept his head down and thought about some sort of plan. Some optimal strategy to keep as many people safe as possible.

"I have a bad feeling about this. All of this. Calen, you and I are gonna open the door. Well...I'm gonna open the door,
 and you're gonna pull me out in case something goes wrong. Okay?" he said, speaking in a soft monotone. It was obvious that he was scared, but he spoke up regardless.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on October 03, 2017, 11:21:10 AM
"Damn. I hate it when I'm right"

Cobe said to himself, while observing, well, what was left of Jackson. This castle-type thing was huge. Cobe reloaded Cobalt Dawn, intentionally making the click loud enough to hear, and sent a look indicating he had their back.

"Teddy, don't worry, I may not show it, but trust me, I'm just as scared as you right now. Everyone, keep you guard up, we have zero idea what's on the other side of that door.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on October 03, 2017, 11:04:43 PM
'Keep a light finger on that trigger Master Theodore, I know it looks like an evil overlord's castle but let us not try to instigate violence if we can avoid it.' Calen remarked as he patted his leader on the back, almost pushing the smaller boy forward as Calen followed close behind. Calen was still hungry for a fight but it wasn't the first time he had to bury his emotions and wouldn't be the last. This did have the side effect of making the gaunt boy look even more arrogant in the face of unknown danger.

'I mean they could have just gotten the worlds most overcompensating architect to work on the walls.' Calen joked as they walked closer to the door, his weapon still at the ready regardless of his apparently nonchalant demeanor. A student of historical warfare Calen knew that castles had more than a few ways to deal with intruders from oil, ballistas and even simple rocks dropped from a high enough height could spell doom for their party. As such Calen kept a close eye on the walls even as they got well and truly within the shadow of the structure Calen kept up a brisk pace and would not so lightly push Teddy if he didn't also.

'I wonder if it would be more or less awkward if the door was open. Would ruin the whole point of the walls don't you think?' Calen mused to no one in particular as him and Teddy made their way forward. The reality of the situation seemed to be seeping into Calen as he got closer, his body stiffening and his mind alight with ideas about how these walls came to be, none of them painted a pretty picture.

After only waiting a few moments Calen, deciding hesitation would be a display of cowardice opened the door himself with a great flourish. 'Well come on then the company can't be any worse.' Calen remarked as he hefted his admittedly minor body weight and put it to task on the door. Augmenting himself with his aura if needed. Having to sheath his weapon to give him the least chance of looking like a moron Calen did leave himself vulnerable to any attack poised behind the door.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on October 08, 2017, 08:10:03 PM
The door swung open quickly and easily, casting a purplish glow out into the darkness surrounding the group and cutting a line between the students, who stood basked in the light and Malina, who stood just on the edge.

Calen instinctively lifted his arm up to shield his eyes from the bright glow but quickly found it wasn't needed. He stepped forward into the doorway unthinking and almost without notice, blocking the view from the rest of the group. He stood in a slackjawed combination of wonderment, confusion, apprehension, and relief. The town certainly wasn't the dark castle he had expected but it wasn't what Malina had described in the bullhead either. Far from a simple wooden settlement, what stood before him seemed more fitting of a city. The buildings were all modern buildings, hard concrete, brick, steel, and so forth, and attached to almost every single building were enormous neon lights advertising shops or taverns or hotels in brightly colored letters that cast a bouncing glow off of the lightly falling rain. The streets were just like the ones in Vale, though they didn't seem to be used for any vehicles. Large passageways through the city with stone sidewalks on either side and, from the looks of it anyway, sewer grates in the middle of the "road".

The rain was also different, Calen thought, the smell of rain had come with the opening door, something distinctly missing from the swamp that he hadn't noticed until now. Although, perhaps that was wrong. It wasn't rain, not really anyway. It smelled like... nostalgia? Yes, nostalgia. That didn't make much sense to Calen but he still seemed to completely understand and accept the thought.

His trance was broken as a group of three shoved past them as they walked along the sidewalk. The group had been made up of three men, although one was short enough to be mistaken for a boy before Calen noticed the large beard. The other two, a large tan man and a lanky man whose skin almost appeared.. green and tan at the same time. "Oh, not even gonna apologize, huh?" the short one asked in a gravely voice. The lanky one looked down at him and Calen could now see he had almost feminine features. "Has he been on TV, Merle? No, I don't think so." He said in a higher pitched and sarcastic voice.

The group faded off into the distance and Calen finally looked down and confirmed that, yes, he was on the sidewalk. He looked back and saw that the door he'd entered through was a good twenty feet away. 'When did I get out here?' He thought, but the fear or confusion that should have followed that thought were notably absent. His gazed went back to the city in front of him and now he noticed the odd mixture of people. No two outfits were the same, not like some villages where there's a general fashion. It almost seemed as though they were all hunters with their wildly varying clothing. A woman with dark skin passed by, her hair a flowing length that almost seemed to shift colored from blue to gold, to purple in the light. Her flowing blue coat was viable for only a moment before she disappeared into the crowd.


A man's laugh caught his attention and he saw a larger man sitting at a table with three others, two men and two women. The laughing man had short brown hair and a large muscular body. It seemed he'd just won an arm wrestling contest with the other man at the table.

Suddenly it was as if he'd taken earmuffs off that he had on for the past ten minutes and the sounds flooded in. It was overwhelming at first, but he quickly adapted. This place was loud. Very loud. It all suddenly clicked in his head like a gunshot. This place was wrong. He couldn't explain it, but it was wrong. They should have been able to head this much noise from outside, the walls were way too high, it seemed like hunters had already made their homes here, and-

'Wait.' A thought shot across his mind. 'Ten minutes? How long have I been in here?' He whipped his head around just in time to see Malina entered in the door, now at least forty feet away. She wasn't exactly his favorite person in the world, sure. None of the group were, but at least they were familiar. Calen looked around quickly before hurriedly walking back toward Malina.



Malina took one step into the walled settlement and came within a hair's length of immediately shrinking back out into the darkness. Although she didn't realize he felt it too, she shared the feeling of nostalgia with Calen. Hers was much, much more defined though. She could feel it everywhere, she could see it everywhere. Floating through the air like water currents in an ocean. he hand instinctivly shot to her staff and gripped tight. This was not right. They needed to figure out what was going on and why. Her gaze was so transfixed on the rooftops and neon signs that she hadn't noticed she too had walked forward and met Calen halfway, bumping into him absentmindedly and breaking her from her trance.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on October 12, 2017, 05:54:15 AM
Helena walked a bit back from the entrance, readying her bow for any unexpected and unwelcome events - although she made sure not to aim the bloody thing at her companions. The door opened and she tensed.

Nothing... happened? Well, other than the door opening and a lights & sounds show unbecoming of a small village spilling out, it was eventless. That said, she noticed that those who'd gone right in had an odd way of looking around, dazed nearly beyond recognition. The fact that they seemed to slowly keep walking further in didn't help her stop worry from springing up within her.

She slowly edged closer to the door and, without looking directly in or entering, yelled "Hey, um, guys? Mind coming back out here and telling us what's up?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on October 13, 2017, 07:30:10 AM
Malina muttered a quiet apology to Calen and shook her head. With a furrowed brow, she turned to the voice that had called her- it had been Helena. She made her way toward the door but came to a stop about ten feet away from it and cocked her head to the side. "Why would we come out? We need to figure out what's going on in here. It's what we came for." She spoke fluidly and with no sense of the words being anything other than her own, though she did have a fleeting feeling of "offness" that surfaced for barely a second before being engulfed in the normality that was the town of Jackson.

"Besides, all that's out there is the dark and mosquito. Come on, I wanna dry off somewhere." She gestured to Helena then paused for a moment and seemed to look passed her before adding, "and make sure Cobe didn't run off."

Behind Malina, who had been busy chatting with Helena and having the normality flow over her, Calen still felt that offness all around him, a feeling that he couldn't- wouldn't?- shake.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on October 14, 2017, 09:38:17 AM
Teddy stood there, motionless, for almost a solid minute as he tried to think about what he was seeing. Being close to the door, he could see what was inside. His natural timidness kept him from immediately coming closer. After a while of waiting, he found himself slowly drifting into the light like a moth to flame.

"This isn't right. Nothing about this is right." he said, mesmerized by the glow of the neon signs. There was something about Jackson that felt...familiar. It took him a minute to put his finger on it. It did not quite look familiar. It did not have enough foot traffic to sound like Vale. It was the smell. Teddy would swear up and down that the part of the city they were in smelled like the alley behind Mac's bar.

He had a lot of memories there. Mostly good ones. A few bad ones. The smell was exactly like the alley at one in the morning. Eddie's smokehouse was closing down for the night, so the smell of cooking meat faded into the background. The Herman sister's bakery was starting their morning pastries. Two wonderful smells gently masking the smell of the dumpster down the alley.

Teddy only came out of his train of thought when he knocked into Calen as they passed on the street. "Oh, s-sorry." he quickly said. He turned around to see the rest of the group. "Is this weird for anyone else?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on October 17, 2017, 12:17:20 AM
Calen thought he would be prepared to face anything behind the foreboding walls. Any foe, whether Grimm or human, wouldn't have drawn out even a moment of hesitation. This change in pace however did the impossible, leaving Calen completely stumped and speechless. Trying to apologies as he bumped into the three men Calen was unable even to form real worlds resulting in half grunting, half muttering which Calen quickly quietened himself by slamming his hand over his mouth with a loud clap. Stumbling his way back to Malina, going through Teddy, Calen tried to get something solid at his back and seemed to almost shrink into the wall. Bending over in a mixture of fear, awe and confusion Calen still managed to keep his feet but hugged his body tight all the while his eyes darted around wildly.

Playing back the events which lead to walking into 'Jackson' Calen was searching desperately for something to make sense of the unfolding events. Mumbling still incoherently to himself Calen's breathing stabilised as he started to calm down, techniques long drilled into his head started to calm him down subconsciously but he still couldn't work out what was happening. The sense of familiarity only compounded Calen's unease as well as the colourful outfits reminding him of Mistral and his trauma from his homeland.

After minutes of being almost unresponsive Calen managed to start to compose himself against their strange new reality. Straightening up Calen avoided eye contact even more than usual before managing to choke out. 'I ....don't like this.'
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on October 17, 2017, 09:13:13 AM
This wasn't good. In fact, this was starting to get relatively terrifying. Her eternal shadow of a smile had started to fade away, now almost completely gone. She had to get everyone out of there, as fast as possible. She had several ideas for now, but let's start with the least... unfun one.

Helena took a deep breath and, maintaining her position of not-looking, answered. "Malina, something is indeed very wrong in there. All of you that've gone in - Teddy, yourself, Calen - aren't the same. Your personalities, or at least behaviours, are entirely different. Teddy, you and Calen were very visibly nervous and even fearful of what may be behind walls as tall as Beacon Tower where there previously was a simple, if prosperous, village. Now not only do you try to stay in there, but Calen seems to be breaking down, Teddy is proceeding forwards with what I can only hear is an utter lack of caution and you yourself seem to have entirely forgotten your state of mind a minute or two prior, all of which are complete 180s of your general behaviours during the rest of the mission.

Please, something is very abnormal in there and you need to get out now." Her tone was legitimately getting imploring at the end. If this didn't do it, she'd have to resort to drastic measures.

...Whatever Cobe was up to. Hopefully, watching her back.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on October 17, 2017, 04:28:09 PM
Cobe was watching the forest in case of returning Grimm, far too focused on their protection from the back, that he didn't notice what was going down in front of him. He had heard everything, but much of it hadn't registered.

It was only when Helena spoke that Cobe had registered it and quickly pulled her aisde to talk to her, holding her nose as he did so.

"Ok, I might be wrong here, but I think whatever that is,"  he said, pointing the giant structure, "is dispensing some type of Toxin-Infused Dust, I've seen this before, whatever you do, do NOT breathe that stuff in.

He let go of her nose before moving to an area of the wall where the glow was absent, ushering Helena to follow on.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on October 18, 2017, 06:49:06 PM
Malina rubbed her thumb and index fingers against her eyes as she let out a sigh. "Look." She began to say as she took her hand away and looked up to Helena and where Cobe had just been. "If it were a toxin, we'd be dead. If it were a hallucinogen, we wouldn't have been able to see this shit from out there." She gestured to where Helena stood. "You're the ones acting weird, we have a mission to complete and it involves investigating whatever's going on here!" Helena's words had in fact washed away some of the normalcy that had washed over Malina before but unfortunately for Helena it was replaced by Malina's usual personality, and Malina was not one to be deterred.

She paused for a moment, just staring at Helena before glancing to Teddy and Calen. She took in a deep breath and crossed her arms and her eyes locked back with Helena's. "If you won't come in then stay out there and, I don't know, stand guard." Agitation was obvious in her voice. "Calen, Teddy and I are going to figure out what's going on here."

With that, she turned away from Helena and walked back to where Calen and Teddy stood, one dazed and the other almost freaking out. "Get yourselves together and let's move out." She said quickly before walking past them and continuing down the street, glancing up at street signs as she slowly made her way.

She could still feel it inside of her, of course. The normalcy. Everything about this place seemed right and yet at the same time, to her, it wasn't. She could see why, she could easy see why. She could see the feeling of nostalgia in the air. She wasn't sure how she could or how to explain it, and she wasn't sure she would ever be able to even if the others ever ended up being able to see it like she could, but part of her hoped they would never have to be able to see.

She let out a small breath of air and a small smile, in spite of the oddness of it all, crept across her face. Gods, she sounded just like one of the kids.



Malina continued to walk down the street, not caring or maybe not even remembering to check if the others had followed her, before stopping suddenly and looking up at a dark purple lit sign hanging above a black painted door.

"The Blackbird Bistro"

A familiar name, one from years ago, all the way back in her third year at beacon, maybe even further than that. She'd lost a bet with another student and had to be treated to dinner there.

The smile faded.

But that was in Vale. 'A different place with the same name, of course!' she thought before looking inside and seeing the same black tablecloths, the same black vested waiters, the same dim amber lighting, the same food set on the table and the same smell that drifted out of the door as one of the patrons opened it to leave.

Without much more thought, Malina grabbed the door as it swung closed and let herself in.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on October 18, 2017, 07:20:50 PM
After Cobe let go of her nose, Helena more or less stared at Malina in horror as she refuted her arguments and walked out of sight. The blonde girl had been in too much shock to even think of enacting her emergency measures before the teacher had trekked around a corner.

"...Shit." She turned to what she assumed was the only other sane person left on the mission. "I'm not ready to ditch the airborne agent pitch just yet, despite Malina's claims to the contrary. Some sort of psychotropic, airborne agent that needs to be in high enough concentrations to take effect or something, affecting emotions and mental state without inducing outright hallucinations, or mayhaps with hallucinations, I can't tell. Let's go your way and scout the perimeter wall to see if there's anything else noteworthy.", she continued while starting to walk clockwise around the, err 'village'.

"Let's make haste. If we find anything that's not a door like this one, we're going in after them. Gotta be safer behind those walls than in the middle of nowhere, at least if Grimm are concerned. That work?", she finished as she looked to her last (in a sense) teammate. Her smile was starting to return, although she didn't worry any less about those inside.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on October 20, 2017, 02:39:40 AM
It hurt. As someone who valued their own individual strength and endurance the idea that anything could break through his mask hurt more than any physical wound. Combined with Malina’s demands as well as Cobe and Helena leaving the shame gave Calen something to steady himself against even as the laws of reality seemed to be failing. ‘...No ...Scrolls.’ Calen called out, his voice still strained from his mental lapse. ‘Don't go far.... Wouldn’t want to waste a cute girl like you on Grimm.’ Managing a slight smile to accompany his sexist remark waved goodbye and impressively managed to regain his mask before turning around to face Malina.
 
‘Of course Miss Nahualli, just a bit overwhelmed, hundred apologies.’ Calen responded managing even to get spring in his step as he followed along humming an obscure tune. Behind his hastily erected mask Calen’s mind was still struggling to come to terms of his surroundings, everything seemed half familiar but after years of ignoring his past made it impossible know for sure. Malina on the other hand seemed to have a better idea of the buildings and seemed to focus on a restaurant. ‘If you are feeling a bit hungry I have some stuff in my pac….’ Calen began before being interrupted by Malina storming away.
 
Rude. Calen thought to himself. For a moment Calen wanted to remain outside and continue looking around as an act of rebellion but looking around that sensation of half-remembering his surroundings returned and rather than face it along Calen followed Malina into Seven Stars Bar. ‘A lot of people overlook bars, they have a reputation for modest meals but a lot can be done with simple ingredients and strong drink.’ Calen remarked trying to fill the silence more than anything else.

Finding himself alone but strangely calm Calen decided to head straight to the bartop and try to order a drink. No point searching for answers with a dry throat. Calen thought to himself as he sat down on one of the cushioned bar stools and waved to get the barkeeps attention. ‘Two glasses of Sherry, please.' Calen requested politely.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on October 23, 2017, 12:26:02 AM
Teddy's question went unanswered. Not entirely surprising, given the circumstances. Teddy would silently follow Calen and Malina, hoping that one of them would be able to make sense of the situation. His hopes were dashed rather quickly, with him finding himself abandoned on the sidewalk.

He made his way further down the sidewalk, once again being a bit overwhelmed at the signs around him. Teddy was never a huge fan of those big neon signs. They always reminded him of Shale Street in Vale. It was the kind of place that used to be prosperous, but eventually nothing is left but dive bars and the few places people still go to. Teddy tended to avoid going there, having been on the wrong end of a fight a few times in the alleys. The one good reason to step foot on that street was Sunshine Grocery.

That place was owned by the Shira family, and it was a tiny little place. Had all the basics you could want, but the reason they stayed in business was the kebabs they sold in the back. They butchered the meat themselves, and it was the best damn thing you could buy for less than an hour's pay. Teddy would buy a set of those, and a package of those little chocolate cake things that come in plastic wrap, and bring them home on his way back from- *krinkle*

Taking a deep breath and looking around, Teddy finally snapped out of it. He was looking at the floor, his eyes following the path of the crack in the yellowing tile. Following their path, he looked up at the clear upright freezers lining the side of the store. There was no way. No possible fucking way that he was there. Sunshine closed down years ago. He looked down at his hand, and he had that chocolate snack cake in his palm.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on October 23, 2017, 08:26:27 AM
As Helena and Cobe walked along the edges of the settlement, feeling the smooth stone wall as they went, they very nearly began to have second thoughts about the manner. Maybe there wasn't anything aside from the single door and maybe whoever built these walls didn't expect anyone to come from anywhere except from the direction they had come in.

This changed, however, as they rounded a corner. Ahead of them, fit snugly into the wall was... another wooden door. This one with the same bold and fancy lettering, the same large engraving of the settlements's name, the same size, the same width, the same everything, except for the color of the name. Where before the name had been in a bright neon purple, almost seeming to glow against the wood, this one was a deep black color that stood out against the wood despite the dark skies.



Malina: ShowHide
Malina looked around the amber lit restaurant with a mix of apprehension and relaxation. It shouldn't exist here, that much she knew, and yet it was a nice place. Perhaps the "date" hadn't gone anywhere, but the evening was still nice, the food delicious, and the service friendly.

She was suddenly cut from her daydream by a "- ma'am?"

She blinked quickly to wash the daze from her eyes and looked at the young girl ahead of her. She was shorter than Malina, no taller than five and a half feet, surely. Her hair was done up in a bun, but Malina could tell that it was a light bluish silver color, almost matching her deep blue eyes, which stood out against her black dress shirt and dress pants.

"I'm sorry?" Malina apologized quickly and furrowed her brow.

"Party for two, correct?" The young girl asked and gestured to the two menus she was holding in her hands.

"Oh, n-no, no. I'm alone."

The younger girl raised an eyebrow and looked to Malina's tail. "You... are Malina Nahualli, right?"

Malina paused for a moment before slowly nodding her head in affirmation, unsure whether or not to trust the girl.

"Then right this way!" The girl said cheerily and, before Malina could protest, began to lead her through the restaurant. As the girl turned, Malina noticed the white, fluffy looking dog tail sticking out from her lower back. "Don't worry, he hasn't been here long." She said as they rounded a corner to a set of two seated tables, one with a man sitting, his elbow on the table and hand supporting his head that stared out of the window the table was pushed against. "Here we go, sir!" The girl said as she placed the two menus down on the table and added a "You two enjoy!" before walking away to deal with other customers.

Malina stared down at the man before her as he turned from the window to look at her as well. He was... young. Not as young as the girl, for sure, but he couldn't have been much older than herself. He wore a blue winter coat, that seemed like it could be just as old or even older than he was himself, with it's cuffs rolled up over a brown vest with a white dress shirt underneath and brown dress pants. While his eyes were a deep blue, almost like the girl's, his hair was a dark brown and had two similarly colored dog ears perked up on it. He was someone Malina knew she had never seen before.


Calen: ShowHide
 The bartender set down two glasses in front of Calen with a "On the house, handsome." and a wink. She was young for a bartender, even in a place where drinking laws were relatively lax, it was odd to see someone tending the bar that had to be no older than Calen. She wore a black vest over a white dress shirt with a small red bow-tie and, although Calen could not see them yet, black dress pants and dress shoes. Her hair, which shone a beautiful silvery blue, was let down without restraint and her eyes were a deep blue color.

She seemed to begin to open her mouth to say something else before someone called from down the bar. She offered one last smile before turning to walk toward the customer, her white, fluffy dog tail slowly swaying back and forth behind her and she walked.

Not long after the girl walked away, Calen heard a chuckle from beside him. Turning to look, he saw and older lady sitting next to him. No... older wasn't right. Old. She was old. Had to pushing 80s or so by the look of her and yet... something about her was almost youthful. But maybe that, too, wasn't quite the right word. If it weren't, Calen didn't know what it was.

She wore a dark blue robe that reached past her feet and almost to the floor, a light green belt that had several beads hanging from one of the loops, and a white veil that covered, but did not obscure, her dark black hair. Her eyes, seemingly in defiance to the wrinkles around them, were not sunken in in the slightest and were a similar strong black color.

She took in a slow breath and gave Calen a genuine smile. She spoke in a voice that, just like her eyes, defied her apparent age. Although it was not the voice of a young or middle aged woman, it was still full of power. "You just got here, didn't you Calen?"


Teddy: ShowHide
 As Teddy stood dumbstruck by the object in his hand, several of the other customers that were in the store began to give him worried odd looks, though the boy didn't notice. He was too busy staring at something that should have been impossible, something that had no right to exist, something that-

His stupor was broken by the voice of a young girl. "Are you alright sir?"

Teddy looked up to see a concerned looking employee. She seemed to be around his age, not too surprising considering the job, and sported a black apron over a yellow shirt and black pants. Her hair was done up in a high ponytail that reached down to her upper back and was a wonderful silvery blue color. Her eyes, full of concern and worry and maybe just a little apprehension hidden behind those were a deep blue.

She cocked her head to one side as her white, fluffy dog tail drooped slightly. "Sir?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on October 26, 2017, 07:42:13 AM
Instead of the response she was expecting from Cobe, Helena got a barely audible one from Calen. One that would've been adorable and, under other circumstances, would've easily made her blush at least a bit. Now, though, she only replied - loud enough for him to hear - "You stay safe too!", the thought of replying to the compliment entirely slipping her mind.

Afterwards, she started advancing again, although she put the arrow she'd had nocked back into her quiver and the bow, slung around her torso. Odds were that Artemis wasn't exactly the most suited thing for close encounters.

Oh, speaking of which, after walking around the wall for quite some time, a door appeared - apparently different from the first one, at least judging by its position and the lettering on it. The latter gave her shivers; it was simply too black, as if it were systematically absorbing every photon unfortunate enough to hit the text. She briefly glanced around her - did Cobe follow her? Well, he was within sight, but he seemed oddly distracted, as if lost in faraway thoughts or something. Welp. Helena turned back towards the door and, taking out Shi, flattened herself against the wall next to the handle before attempting to open it as hard as she could, eyes closed.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on October 26, 2017, 06:14:33 PM
Raising an eyebrow at the show of generosity from the rather young bartender Calen gave his most charming smile replied. 'I'm not going to say no but you might want to go get your eyes checked.' Slightly disappointed as the bartender got called away Calen started working on his first glass while taking a mental note to tip at least the cost of the drinks. It's probably a trick, give the new blood a few free drinks and they'll stay a lot longer than they planned and definitely spend more. Calen mused internally, he wasn't offended by the perceived manipulation although it did serve to remind him there was a purpose to him being here. Turning away from the bartop Calen started studying the room, or more accurately the people drinking, trying to find someone down on their luck for whom his second drink might be worth a few answers.

Just as he spotted someone who might be worth risking that drink on Calen heard a chuckling coming from beside him. An old crone. Calen shrugged off the woman's actions, not giving her a single look and was about to get up when she started talking. Calen tried to hide his surprise as best he could although he still visibly tensed. Taking a sip to give himself a moment to compose himself and track through his memories trying to find if Teddy or Malina refered to him by name while in Jackson. Finding none Calen settled back into his stool and remarked. 'Already famous am I? Can't be helped I suppose. Although you do have me at quite the disadvantage would you mind giving me your name Madam, just to even the playing field.'

Only looking at the crone through his peripheral vision Calen found the woman to give off quite a strange aura. Easily enough to excite Calen's curiosity, information gathering could wait a few more moments, the gaunt boy relaxed slightly and took another sip from his drink. Given his empty stomach and minimal body weight Calen is quite the lightweight when it came to drinking, as such he was already feeling a bit of a buzz despite only getting half way through his first drink. Also although looking forward to his continued game with the old crone Calen let his free hand drop under the bench out of sight so he could check his weapons.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on October 29, 2017, 02:49:18 PM
So if my theory is correct, then that is... "You gotta be kidding me."

Cobe said as he rounded the corner, basically keeping his body against the wall.

"Alright, one of us is going to have to... Oooookay, I'm coming with you then.

Cobe said as Helena tried to push the door open, Cobe then slammed on the door next to her, full force with his shoulder, in an attempt to break it down.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on October 30, 2017, 04:43:15 PM
As Cobe slammed against the door, he flew through onto the ground, the door had been opened, with some excessive force, by Helena and Cobe seemed to only swing it open with his body. As he quickly got to his feet and tried to recover, he took a quick glance around at what he had stumbled in on.

What lay ahead of them couldn't be more different from what the other three had walked into if it wanted to be. While the last door had lead to a town filled with neon lights, crowds of people, and large buildings, this door had lead to something different, something more peaceful. Though there was still a light rain falling from dark clouds above, the buildings were all relatively low to the ground and primarily wooden structures. These Asian style builds were lit in the faint glow of street lamps that dotted the dirt road that stretched ahead of Cobe, ending in a taller building than the rest. This one was in a similar style, but stood at least twice as high as the other one story buildings and twice as wide. His first guess was that is was a temple or some place of worship but something inside him made him think that wasn't quite right.

As he took a second look around he noticed that not a single person was on the street and not just that, but every single house was without lights save for the large one at the end of the road. His first thought was that it made sense, it was night time after all. His second thought was remember that it wasn't night and that it should only be about 10:30 in the morning. His third thought was of Helena and the outside and how he had a deep feeling in the very pit of his heart and mind that he shouldn't leave.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on October 30, 2017, 04:55:47 PM
Teddy blinked a few times, finally realizing that he was around what he thought might be people. There had to be some explanation for this. A dream, a hallucination, a trick, a trap, a flashback, something, anything to try and make sense of what was happening around him. After an incredibly tense second to think, Teddy set the snack cake on the shelf. "S-Sorry, ma'am. I-I seem to have lost my appetite." he said, taking a step back. He gave a small bow to the worker before turning around and walking out the door with a brisk pace.

Teddy decided that the mission had officially gone off the rails. He quickly pulled out his scroll as he made his way to the exit of the store. He needed backup, and he needed it quickly.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on November 02, 2017, 08:54:47 AM
Malina: ShowHide
"Well come on, I don't bite." The man said as he gazed at Malina's apprehensive and curious face. His tone was one of friendliness and almost some sense of solemn recognition, almost like he was sorry for being here.

Malina, saying nothing, pulled the seat out opposite of him and slowly sat down, finding the seat to be much more comfortable than it's hard wooden backrest would imply.

"I know you're probably a bit confused an-"

"I don't k-"

"-Know me, no you don't."

Malina crossed her arms and lowered her brow in annoyance. "We're starting over." She said plainly and leaned back against the wooden backrest keeping strict eye contact with the stranger across from her. "You know my name, you know about my tail, I'm gonna assume you know a lot more than just that, and I don't know a god damn thing about you."

The man drew in a long breath before exhaling sharply. "That's not- that's not entirely true." He began to say, his friendly demeanor replaced by something nearing anxiety. "That I know a lot more about you, I mean. I just know what Augur told me and from what I saw back i-"

"What you saw?" Malina leaned forward again, anger more present in her voice now.

The man flinched back reflexively before laying his elbow on the tabletop and ran his fingers
across his eyes. "It's... complicated. Very, very complicated."

"Then let's start with your name."

The man sighed before bringing his hand away from his face. "Zeffre Dawkins."


Calen: ShowHide
 The woman laughed again, though this time just barely noticeably weaker. "Very well. One last game." She turned fully to Calen in her stool and rested her left arm on the bartop with her right supporting laying atop it. Now with the woman's full face turned to him, Calen noticed that the wrinkles he'd noted earlier, while still there, were softer than he had at first suspected.

"You can call me Aisa." The name hung in the air for just a moment before the woman nodded toward the drinks in front of Calen. "Do you think you'd want something to eat with those? I'm sure it'd be on the house too, hmm?" Aisa smiled knowling as she gestured back to where the bartender was talking with another customer.


[spoiler=Teddy]The girl looked slightly disappointed as Teddy put the item back but quickly put the conversation behind her and went back to work.

Teddy fumbled through his scroll as he hastily made his way out of the store, trying to contact the backup he'd been promised in secret by Sophia before going out on this mission. Lock screen, swipe, main screen, swipe, contact page-

Teddy stopped feet from automatic sliding doors, just beyond its range, and stared down at his scroll.

Two choices glowed on the hardlight screen, "Local" in full color and "Global" in a faded out grey. But that couldn't be right, he thought, that's not how the contact screen worked, how it was supposed to work. You click on the contacts button and it brings up a list of others' scrolls that you have the codes of, there wasn't a global option and there certainly wasn't a local option.

After a moment's hesitation, he tentatively tapped on the "Local" button. A new screen popped up with three names in a list, each with a face next to it.

Malina

Calen

Cobe


As Teddy stared down at this screen, another oddity caught his attention, this time from somewhere behind him.

"I think I saw him go this way? Or... yeah, yeah, toward the entrance." A young but gruff voice, sounding like it had come from an behind an isle somewhere, cut across the other sounds of the store not by volume but instead by some sixth sense Teddy felt in him now. Aura perhaps? He didn't have time or motivation to ponder it much longer.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on November 06, 2017, 05:01:55 AM
Finally turning to face his new companion Calen quickly studied his drinking buddy, carefully filing away all the things which seemed ...slightly off about the old woman. The mention of a game magnified Calen's interest a hundred fold but he knew better to spoil it with direct questions. Finishing his quick study of Aisa Calen took another sip before responding. 'I appreciate the advice Madam Aisa but I really don't think I should push my luck, not for something as bland as food.' Calen remarked shooting a lecherous glance over to the distracted bartender. Not 100% selling his interest Calen took another sip before looking back at the crone. 'Although.' Calen continued. 'If you were looking to share I can give you something in the meantime.' Calen passed over the untouched glass to Aisa.

Calen took another sip leaving only a small amount in his glass and placed the glass down on the bar top, although he would try stop any attempt to refill it, and coughed into his hand to clear his throat. Calen may not have been able to legally drive anymore but his movements maintained their purposeful precision as he stretched out his limbs. 'So if you can recognise who is new that would mean you've been here for a while. Any places I should take a look at? Nothing too touristy preferably but something to get more to grips with the town.' Calen asked Aisa smiling, even the slight blush from the alcohol stood out clearly against Calen's pale skin.

Despite his friendly persona Calen was getting increasingly worried. He was sure he had walked in to the bar right after Malina but she was no where to be seen. Furthermore there was the giant walls outside and this too-familiar-but-not-familiar-enough sensation still made Calen's skin crawl. Continuing to hide his left arm under the bar top Calen slowly moved that hand around one of his knives. He couldn't risk looking around too much with his eyes so he had to rely on his other senses. Slowing his breathing Calen made sure he could call upon his Aura at the slightest provocation while trying to isolate any sounds which are out of the ordinary.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 07, 2017, 09:01:42 AM
The first thing Helena noticed is Cobe rushing into the door at breakneck speeds right after she'd opened it, making the poor guy slam down on the floor outside of her field of view. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry about that, Cobe!" almost automatically flew out of her mouth, slight worry tainting her voice - worry which had more than one source. Now, although he was inside, which was - as previously demonstrated - really bad, there may still be hope. She may be able to get him out yet.

Walking away from the wall surrounding 'Jackson' for about three meters, she swiveled on her right heel, the boot easily sliding as the drenched dirt gave way into a thick mud. First thing's first: recall her teammate. She said "So, uh, can you come back out and tell me what it's like in there?" with was was almost entirely her usual, cheery voice, taking the opportunity to simultaneously take a very small gander at what was through the door. It looked far closer to what she'd expect of a village in such a location - the rain was still present, though she couldn't tell about the clouds or lightshow from where she was, and what little she could see from the building fit the general Vale-but-almost-Mistrali feel of the location, with at least one small lantern lit within line of sight.

Yeah Cobe needed to come right out, right now.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on November 07, 2017, 01:02:10 PM
Okay, something is not right here.
was Cobe's first reaction after slamming head first into the door, only to find it open, and crashing to the ground. After took a moment to clear the stars from his head, he got a good look at his surroundings. He practically saw the color drain from his own face.

"No fucking way, this is impossible..."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 09, 2017, 06:19:48 AM
Oh. Oh gods. Oh gods, no. No, no, no, no, no. This is bad. This is beyond bad, actually, it's utterly terrifying. Going inside pretty much instantly made Cobe tilt or something, as he outright ignored her. Not that he hadn't before, but never when she was so close by.

Helena started trembling slightly before slapping her cheeks, bringing herself back from whatever state she'd been in the process of entering. She needed to find whatever she could, maybe a service door or something, but at least something that'd let her fuck up whatever was wrecking havoc with her party's minds. And so, she started running, continuing her clockwise journey alongside the stupidly high wall, opening every door she came across in the same manner she just did.

This time, nobody was there to watch her back.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on November 10, 2017, 09:40:00 AM
Teddy was beginning to panic. Okay, he panicked more than he had a few seconds ago. Nothing in this town made sense to him. There had to be something up. And no matter what was actually going on behind the scenes, he knew he needed to do one thing: get the fuck out of there.

Picking up the pace, Teddy moved out of the store. He tried recalling the exact route that got him to the store, but that was a lost cause. He decided to pick a direction and go for it with the hopes that it would lead him outside in some way. He checked his weapon as he moved, making sure he could easily grab it in the case of trouble. Considering the circumstances, trouble had to be expected.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on November 10, 2017, 10:34:54 AM
Helena: ShowHide
The next fifteen minutes were a blur of motions for Helena. Four more more doors stood between her and where she came from and for each door, a new town. Panic set in with full force as she came to each door and left it far behind, running ton the next, and the next, and the next.

Green door.

Helena practically slammed into the door as she stopped her full on sprint, careful not to turn the handle and fall into the hell that lay behind. After a moment's hesitation, she turned the handle and pushed inward, stepping back as she did so. Before her was what appeared to be a dense forest of evergreens with a single small cottage further in.

Helena's breath left her lungs as a single light in the cottage turned on and a shadowy figure appeared to be looking from the window. Her movements were not her own in that moment, but not like the others. She ran. She ran along the wall under the spell of her flight or flight response. She kept running and running before stepping several steps short of another one.

Patterned door.

The lettering was the same as the others, but the name "JACKSON" was now in a diamond patter of yellows, greens, and purples. Another moment of hesitation as her mind flashed an image of Malina, Teddy, and Calen disappearing into a crowd. She shook of the image and tightly clenched the handle and turned, swinging it inward.

The town this time was... different. The black door had been an abandoned looking town, sure, and the green door had lots of trees, but this... it seemed like an old town. A very old town. Bricks stacked into square looing pyramids stood in the distance with huts lining the pathways between them and Helena. Large jungle trees grew in and around the buildings, breaking through holes and sprouting from cracks. Some of them seemed to bare some sort of fruit while others simply existed. The weirdest part, however, was that it wasn't abandoned. Dark skinned humans and faunus were walking from house to house, talking with one another, or just standing around with modern looking umbrellas and scrolls. They didn't even seem to notice her as she shook her hand and backed away from the door and began to run again.

Yellow door.

There was no hesitation this time and the rush of it all almost made Helena trip through the door as she came to a screeching halt and opened the door, only catching herself on the door frame. Beyond that door frame stood a desert town. Small huts with tarps protecting their roofs from the rain stood around a small oasis. Several of the huts had light and smoke rising from them and the succulent smell of food drifted into Helena's nose. For a moment she considered walking through the door, her stomach practically begged her as it growled and groaned within her, but in a moment of better thought she turned and quickly ran from the door, just like before, but not quickly enough to miss the faint reflection of the moon in the oasis pool. As she ran once more she looked to the sky and saw no moon. There couldn't be a moon, it wasn't even noon yet, it couldn't be night. Thoughts raced through her head before being utterly silenced as she approached her next door.

Crimson door.

This door was wrong. The wood was the same, the engraving was the same, the name was the same aside from the crimson coloring, but it was still wrong. Helena took a deep breath and stood in her place for a moment, catching herself from the running she had almost constantly been enduring. After the moment passed she slowly reached toward the handle, dimly aware of the similarly crimson red eyes staring in at her from just beyond treeline behind her, and turned.

It was another old village of some sort. Old wooden structures held up by mud and archaic rope, all surrounding a center of town where a large basket of bread and fruit sat. A man kneeled down, facing toward the basket and away from Helena, with his head bowed down in what appeared to be some form of prayer. Helena looked around for a moment and saw not a single other soul in the village before returning to the man. Though it was dark and far away, she felt she could make out the faintest image of curly red hair and ragged brown robes. That wasn't all she felt. She felt something else, something more abstract. She couldn't put her finger on what it was perhaps thanks to her being on the other side of the door, but a single thought crossed her mind in genuine curiosity.

"Is it fear?"


Malina: ShowHide
"Alright, Zeffre. How do you know these things about me?" Malina leaned back into her chair once more, though this time her hand fell to her side, gripping to the holstered staff.

Zeffre paused a moment and looked out of the window into the rainy street, awash with color and people making their way toward whatever building they felt they needed to be in. "Like I said, it's complicated." He said as he turned back to Malina. "Most of the stuff I know I learned from Augur."

"And Augur is...?"

"You'll meet him soon, I think."

Malina's eyes glanced to the side, looking around the room to watch for anyone watching the two of them. Her eyes met with a waiter's before they broke away to speak with another table. "Is he here now?"

A chuckle escaped from Zeffre. "No. No, right now he's probably off fighting someone back in Mistral."

"How much did he tell you about me?" Malina's grip on her staff tightened.

Zeffre paused again, trying to figure out how to say what came next. After a moment he locked eyes with Malina and she saw the nearly sullen look in them. "A lot. He knew a lot about.... Well, almost anyone. He had a knack for information gathering."

As if on cue, the server Malina had locked eyes with earlier stopped at the table and set down a bowl in front of Malina before quickly leaving the table without even saying a word. In it was a mixture of corn, rice, and greenery along with  bits of grilled chicken mixed in. The smell of strong spices drifted up into her nose and she took in a long draw of breath.

"For example, I know your favorite food is spiced maize."


Calen: ShowHide
"Well... yes and no. I haven't been here that long, but I know the place." Aisa said as she lifted the glass, nodding after taking a small sip. "And I don't think you'll be here too long, but a good place to check out might be What's Mine's Mine. A little... hole in the wall, let's say. Out the door, turn right, straight down the road, you can't miss it."

Down the bar, the bartender suddenly stopped helping one of the customers and turned, wide eyed, to Aisa for just a fraction of a second before turning back to the customer and, slowly this time, pouring his drink.

"How are you liking your new friends? I was surprised that you all split up, especially the scorpion... though I suppose she has her own path."


Teddy: ShowHide
This place was like some sort of labyrinth, it had to be. Nothing seemed familiar, nothing. Teddy turned back once to see if he could see the grocery store somewhere behind him, no luck. What he did see was a large man looking back at him from far away in the crowd, his hazel eyes locking with his own for just a moment. Long enough for Teddy to know he needed to speed up and, without looking, charged ahead, only to collide with one of the other people on the street.

A meek "Sorry." was all that escaped his lips as he tried to push past them with his head down and keep moving, only to have his shoulder gripped onto by a tight hand as he passed them. Time moved in slow motion for a moment, at least to Teddy. The hand began to pull and turn him around, he gripped his weapon, ready to strike out, he locked eyes with the woman who grabbed him.

It was Malina.

He thought it was Malina, anyway. It was her face and her hair, but she was different than she'd been when he'd last seen her... how long ago was that? The choker necklace she had on with her symbol on it was gone, her tail way gone, her pants had been replaced by a black skirt, and she wore a small half cloak thing that had sleeves reaching down halfway to her hands, full of those weird symbols that her blouse had had earlier. The most drastic change, however, was the large gash through her corset and shirt from her right collarbone down to the left of her stomach. Dried blood crusted the corset and shirt around the gash and beneath the clothes a plethora of wrappings were bound tightly to her skin, tinted a light red color in the middle.

Malina, this Malina, placed her other hand onto Teddy's other should, locked eyed with the boy, and breathed out a barely audible "Teddy."


Cobe: ShowHide
Cobe stared silently at the pathway ahead of him in utter disbelief. It couldn't be, it couldn't possibly be. But here it was. Why?

As he stood, stunned and struck with disbelief, the door of the large building, far at the end of the pathway, swung open to reveal what appeared to be an empty house. Or, at the very least, one where someone had hidden as soon as they pushed the door outward.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on November 11, 2017, 07:13:17 AM
Cobe was still registering the fact that this town was here. No. It had to been an illusion, it had to be. He pinched himself, then he checked again.

Nope, it's still here...Okay. This mission just went off the rails big time.

Cobe was really beginning to panic, his thoughts to Helena for only an instant, before coming back to the fact he was standing in a town, which looked exactly like his home. The houses, the street lamps, everything was the exact same. Cobe refused to believe it was the town itself. Moving an entire town would impossible, right?

Luckly, he had just finished this train of thought when he saw the door open, Cobalt Dawn was in his hand almost in an instant, he loaded it and yelled down the pathway.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING BEFORE I OPEN FIRE, YOU'VE GOT 10 SECONDS!"

Cobe kept as still as possible, trying (and for the most part, failing) to keep a cool and level head.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on November 12, 2017, 09:31:06 PM
For a brief moment, Teddy actually missed fighting that massive grimm earlier. At least that made sense. From what he could tell at the time, there were two possibilities as to what was going on. First, Malina changed clothes and became injured because of something in this god-forsaken town. Second, this is not Malina, and it is some apparition caused by this god-forsaken town. In the first case, the proper course of action is to assist her and try to get out of the city. In the second case, you still want to try and help because you do not want to give away that you know the whole thing is a sham, but getting out is the priority.

With that in mind, Teddy put a hand on this Malina's arm. "M-Miss Malina, are y-you alright? H-How did you get hurt?" he said, trying to support her as he moved the both of them away from the crowd. Teddy's heart was going mach 2 and he was sweating bullets. Thankfully, panicked concern was the proper response to seeing your superior suddenly injured. In any scenario, he had a first aid kit that might be able to remedy some of the issue.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on November 15, 2017, 05:49:13 AM
Unlike all his other companions Calen was having quite a good time drinking and chatting with the locals, or not so locals as the case may be. That specific was unexpected, not that Calen had much experience with the elderly but he always imagined that they didn't move around much given... the obvious. It just added to the mystery that had been growing about this place and there was little more than Calen loved than a mystery. That didn't mean Calen still wasn't on edge, that was half the fun but he was more than willing to go along with what Madam Aisa had planned. Finally letting his hidden hand drop from his weapons Calen turned around and started to head out of the bar. 'Well I should check that out then, you've been a lovely drinking comanion.' Calen smiled noticing the silent interchange between Asia and the bartender and decided it was time to leave.

Aisa's final comment did stop Calen however and he half turned. 'They aren't ASTC, not that they are perfect either but they will do I suppose. I'm sure Miss Nahualli has her own objectives, I know I would.' Calen remarked trying hard and not 100% succeeding to find how that comment got under his skin. Other than that Calen tried to make his way out of the bar as quickly as possible without causing that much of a disturbance. He needed to get in contact with the rest of his party, if these people wanted to play Calen wanted to make sure he would win. Remembering what Malina had mentioned about scrolls but this town seem to be operating fine so he tried to get in contact with at least Teddy and Malina who should still be inside the complex.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 15, 2017, 02:30:04 PM
Shit. What now?

First of all, get out of sight. Helena retreated behind the wall, letting the genuinely creeptastic person keep doing whatever they were doing. Where should she go?

Option 1: the city instance. From what she'd seen, it was huge and the odds of finding whoever in there were relatively low. Option 2: What looked the closest to Jackson's assumed 'normal' appearance. Cobe was there and, last time she checked, close to the door. So maybe there? Option 3: a cute cottage in a forest that made her hair stand on end so much she thought they were gonna leave the doorway by themselves. Probably not going there alone, no. Option 4: Jackson, but from eons past or something. And in pristine condition. With lots of people. Bad for her skills, so no. Were people cannibals back then? Option 5: a desert, possibly in Vacuo judging by the time of night inside. Still, outnumbered. Option 6: the closest one, with but a single man. Made her skin crawl, but not as much as 3. Probably a bad idea to go in alone.

Alrighty then, it was settled.

She started running clockwise again, heading for the pitch-black door with Cobe inside.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on November 18, 2017, 04:27:39 AM
Malina: ShowHide
"It smells-" delicious "-fine, but I'm not eating that." Malina said, sticking a finger down toward meal.

"I figured you wouldn't." Zeffre said sheepishly before running a hand through his own messy hair. "More of a show that I know things. That it's not a bluff. There's a lot I don't know though, about you... about the people I work... worked... for."

"And you think I can or will help you because...?" Malina raised an eyebrow as she pushed the bowl toward her tablemate. "I don't know you, I don't know Augur, I doubt I know the people you worked for." Manticore stirred from its resting place wrapped around the leg of the chair. There was something in the air now, something uneasy. A feeling.

"No, no. You can't really help me. Not directly."

Malina blinked twice quickly as a sudden headache wrapped around the crown of her head. She looked to Zeffre only to be met with a sullen face.

"I understand it's an uncomfortable feeling. It'll be over quick, I just can't afford to let you keep this with you."

Manticore ripped the leg of the chair from the base as Malina shot up, splintering the wood as it did so before curling behind the huntress and shooting out toward Zeffre.


Calen: ShowHide
As Calen pulls out his scroll, he pauses for a moment. The screen showed two odd options, local and global, with local leading to a list of Malina, Teddy, and Cobe. It took a moment's hesitation, but seeing no other option, he tapped on each name and typed out "Just touching base. How is everyone?" before sending the message to his "new friends." It wasn't a second after sliding his scroll away that he heard the voice of the Aisa calling back to him.

"Oh, one more thing, I nearly forgot."

"Don't worry about the drink, in all honestly I'm a bit of a light weight when it comes to the devil's drink." Calen remarked humourously as he turned to face his former short term drinking partner. Quickly realising it was something more important Calen quickly added. "But of course it would be churlish to refuse Madam Aisa." Calen made his way back so Aisa didn't have to risk being over heard. The old woman still hadn't done anything aggressive but none the less Calen's hand dropped to the hilt of his weapon taking an unhealthy amount of comfort in it's presence.

Aisa gave a faint laugh and shook her head. "The drink isn't a problem." Her face seemed to be a mix of sullen and relief, almost as though she wasn't sure if she were happy or not. "I'm... well, let's call say I'm a fortune teller. I can feel something great in you, you'll do great and terrible things. Of that I'm sure." Aisa laid her hand down on the bartop, with her palm pressed against the wooden surface. "I've held onto this one for a long time and I think-" She paused for a moment. "-I know you're one of the ones who should know."

Aisa's eyes suddenly fixated on the back of her hand and it wasn't until now that Calen noticed the noise of the bar had entirely disappeared. A quick glance around revealed that others were still talking, laughing, sharing toasts but not a single sound came out. The silence was split by the old woman's scratchy voice which now seemed to come from somewhere very, very far away. Unease crept back into Calen's heart and mind and he gripped his weapons tightly yet the feeling to flee never came.

"The game had been set for many years.

Twenty-one pieces on the board, the white outnumber the black.

I see seven little stars, one orbiting another. They burn dimly against the blackness of space, and yet they refuse to die. Their stories are laid out, yet they strive against the strings.

Below them, fourteen little birds flitter around the dying flames of a once great star, one of four now broken to three. Each has their reason and each with their own end to meet.

The Liar soars above those they’ve tricked only to fly into the flames as they stare down at their victories.

The Hypocrite welcomes The Stars, naïve in their youth, with open arms and turns them to weapons for their own selfish wants and needs. So closely they watch their endeavours they fail to see the setting sun ahead of them.

The Three turned their backs on their past long ago, only to find the cobbled together family they'd abandoned waiting for them around every corner.

The Sightseer and The Progressive trade places, each taking part of each other with them. Their ends, too, change hands and in they find themselves envious of one another.

The Thorn stood in poverty, living day to day and job to job and on the pain of past failures. Only after many a great sin did they find their reason, and with it many others like them. They would find their place in everything only after they've gone through the pain of loss they put on others.

The Witch turns her back on her people, leaving them in favor of revenge. Vengeance is what she sought and she would have it as it would have her.

The Whisperer stood behind the scenes for years, and still they do, silently watching and directing far from the dying flames. Though they flitters with the other birds, they quietly move the stars, letting them breath and truly ignite their new flames.

The Counterweight had lived their lives on the sea, endlessly drifting from one place to a next, building relationships, trust, harmony, and then abandoning them in the night. It was by chance they returned to a spot they once thought lost only to find ruin in place of abandon.

The Shirk had spent their life in seclusion, hiding from their mistakes and letting others forget. Only at the end they find that their own memory is a fickle thing and that their own life was subject to being forgotten as well.

The Reborn had spent so much of their lives steeped in obsession they failed to notice as the coda had come and gone. Now they stand on the edge of a great cliff, teetering back and forth but never truly falling.

The Father spent their life in regret, gripping at the family they once had. Their deal with the devil lead them through horrors that they would forever remember, but they could once more hold their child. And that was all they ever wanted.

The Discarded had spent their life surrounded by their own plans and plots. In the end they found out how futile their meticulous planning had been and they too crumble.

The Ancient Slave had spent their life trying to bring everything back to how it had been before. Even with all the time in the world, the plans fall apart. Their aspirations crumble to dust. Their allies turn their backs as the sand from the hourglass slips through their fingers."

Aisa took a long, deep breath as the sound slowly returned to the bar. A small bead of sweat had run down the side of her face and dripped onto the counter, leaving a dark stain on the wood. With another long breath, she lifted her hand and underneath sat a small silver coin about an inch in diameter. Raised up from the small silver disk were fifteen small symbols, all similarly silver, and seven small stars, one much smaller than the others, covered in a beautiful golden metal.

Calen didn't recognize any of the symbols but one. The very center symbol, looked like it was a cleaned up version of the symbol of the White Fang.

"Take the coin. Maybe show it to Malina... or don't." Aisa laughed weakly. "I can't control you after all." She took another sip of her sherry, clearly savoring the taste before setting the glass down. "Now go on, little star." She said without looking back to Calen. "Do your great and terrible things."


Teddy: ShowHide
"I'm fine." Malina said stubbornly through a labored breath. "Look, I'm not... important." Rain was only starting to dampen the barely visible bandages, she must not have been outside long. "You need to listen to me, you need to-" She paused and looked passed Teddy, into the crowd, and right into the eyes of the man Teddy had seen earlier.

Malina subtly shook her head and the man nodded before turning back into the crowd and moving under an awning, out of the rain. Malina's gaze returned to Teddy's and she spoke quickly despite the labored breaths. "You need to stay here, Calen'll be out soon, he should be heading this way and he knows where to go." She locked eyes with Teddy and slowed her breathing, choosing her words deliberately. "You need to look at my scroll. It's extremely important you take my scroll, but not until the fight begin. Do you understand?"

As Malina spoke, Teddy felt his scroll vibrate with a message from Calen.


Cobe: ShowHide
The house sat, door swaying ever so slightly in the breeze, as it had minutes prior and possibly even years prior. Silent and still. Not a single movement, not a single noise. Not a single noise... CObe was suddenly acutely aware there weren't any noises other than when he'd heard the door swing open. No sound or feel of a breeze despite the swaying of the door, not ambient hum, no crickets, no nothing. Not a single sound. Not a single movement.

The only sound or movement, other than his own, was his scroll vibrating in his pocket with a message from Calen.


Helena: ShowHide
Helena skidded to a stop just outside of the door that Cobe had entered and peered in. Cobe was still there, in the pathway, though now he was further along toward the house at the end and the door had seemingly swung open. She might be relieved if Cobe's weapon weren't pointed right at the building.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 21, 2017, 06:25:36 AM
Oh thank goodness he was still within sight. He had his own set on something far away, though, along with his gun. Finding she'd taken enough time scouting, Helena waltzed into the fortress, aiming to get her teammate to switch roles with her - she was arguably worse at close-range.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on November 21, 2017, 11:00:28 AM
"Alright then, I WARNED YOU!"

Cobe opened fire on the building, launching 2 Lightning Dust crystals at the building, causing a massive explosion, as he released a small jet of Steam Dust beforehand.

(2 Lightning Crystals and 80 Steam Dust Remaining)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on November 21, 2017, 05:36:38 PM
Teddy was confused, and with good reason. Malina, or at least this Malina, wanted him to look at her scroll. But only when some fight is starting for some reason. Also, there was a fight starting soon that Malina knew about beforehand. Not exactly the most confidence-inducing series of events. Thankfully, Teddy's scroll vibrating gave him the opportunity to do what he was wanting to do with some semblance of cover. Looking at his scroll, he briefly looked at the message sent to him before going to his contacts and calling Malina before setting the phone in his pocket.

"M-Miss Malina, I'm not sure what you're talking about. Y-You need to sit down, your injuries look bad." he said, trying to position her against one of the buildings nearby for support.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on November 23, 2017, 07:01:53 AM
Helena and Cobe: ShowHide
As Helena entered the walled city of Jackson, her fears, doubts, and anxiety of entering almost washed away completely. They were still there in the back of her mind gnawing at her to turn around and leave, to run back into the swamp of Grimm and never look back, but a stronger feeling told her she needed to stay and see this through to the end. It was a new feeling that the others that had entered hadn't been given the pleasure of feeling. In the place of fear, doubt, loneliness, or confusing, Helena had a feeling of conviction.

This feeling was very quickly muted, as were her other feelings and senses, as an enormous explosion rocked the ground and send bits of wood and rock whizzing past her face.

The entire front half of the large building had been blown to smithereens, leaving only the shadowy outline of the back half in its place with vague suggestions of a staircase and possibly a kitchen.

Without so much as a word, the two students slowly approached the house in a silent agreement. As they neared the broken building they saw that it had indeed been a staircase and a kitchen that they though they saw in the distance. Well, half of a staircase anyway. The kitchen seemed to fair much better with only a little bit of the floor tiles having gone missing, although the mass amounts of debris stopped either from investigating it any further.

The most curious thing about the building, however, had to be a tie between the lack of any sign of life anywhere within the ruins, no blood, limbs, or a body, and the flat cellar door planted into the ground where the, presumable, living room once stood.


[spoiler=Teddy]One ring.


"I told you, I'm fine." Malina said stubbornly as she took a step back from the wall.

Two rings.

"Look," She ran her hand over her face and through her hair. "you- We aren't getting out of here without a fight."

Three rings.

"When you get down there, you need to see my scroll."

Four rings.

"Calen'll be coming from that direction in just a few minutes." She pointed past Teddy to where he had just come from. "He knows where to go, follow him."

Five ri- click.

Someone ended the call on Malina's end. It could have been Malina, sure, or it could have been someone other than Malina.  Teddy had no way of knowing just who hung up the call. All he knew, for a fact, was that this Malina never reached into her scroll.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on November 24, 2017, 12:25:43 AM
As he felt the ringing cease, Teddy took a deep breath in. The most logical conclusion had been established as being that the Malina that he was talking to was not the real Malina. The problem with that answer is that is raises a few more questions that Teddy did not particularly want answered at the moment. Who, or possibly what, is this person Teddy is talking to? And why does it look like a messed up version of Malina?

Taking a step away from Malina, he glanced toward a nearby alley. He had no idea of where it lead, but it would have to do. "Um, m-miss Malina? I-I see a problem with that plan. A f-few, really. One, I am not supposed to access the scrolls of those above me. Two, I am not sure of what we are supposed to be fighting. Three, I can run at least as fast as Calen if the need arises. A-and four..." he said, turning to look her in the eyes. "You're not Malina." he said before immediately activating his semblance and sprinting for the alley. There was sure to be some value in questioning this Malina's information, but he had a life to live.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on November 25, 2017, 03:16:07 AM
'Fear is my blade it will not turn against me. Fear is my blade it will not turn against me. Fear is my blade it will not turn against me. Fear is my blade it will not turn again...' Calen repeated the mantra his family had drilled into his mind with harsh gifts and sweet lies. It failed. Trapped, captivated by the crones words Calen could only stand there frozen as if cast from marble despite everything in his mind screaming at him to run. Deaf to his surroundings even without whatever Aisa was doing Calen desperately tried to make his way out of the bar as quickly as possible completely disregarding any attempt of subtly. Charging forward Calen only remained on his feet because in his flight he couldn't activate his semblance and otherwise made his way as fast as possible to the door. To fresh air. To get away. To just have some time to think.

It would have been easy to disregard everything that crone said as the ramblings of a senile old woman who should have long passed from this world. But that wasn't this, it couldn't be. How she captivated him, there must still have been power in that old frame and that meant that nothing she said could be disregarded. 'Great and terrible things' what can that mean? What did she see? What does she know? Calen thought to himself desperate, praying to a higher power he didn't believe in for answers. Cradling his face in his hands Calen felt something metallic brush against his cheek. The coin. He had taken it in the trance Aisa had put on him but still couldn't spare it even a single glance.

Pausing at the door Calen tried desperately to reclaim his mask, to re-cage himself and direct all this wild emotion at the task at hand. Succeeding slightly Calen managed to dry his eyes, slow his breathing and bury the witches words deep down in his mind. Still despite himself Calen muttered her prophecies under his breath as he finally found the strength to step out and back hopefully into the sunlight.   

Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 25, 2017, 12:37:11 PM
Right when she passed the door's threshold, Helena lost her feelings of unease and worry. Not that she lost her memories - she still knew very well what lay behind the other doors and what this... place can do to people - but lacking in negative emotions can, somewhat obviously, make you reluctant to act. Besides, Cobe was here and being in here probably wasn't much more dangerous than being outside with Mr. Claws or whatever that Grimm having escaped earlier was.

The loss of her feelings wasn't all there was, though. A new feeling - one that she knew well, at that - arose in the void created. It was the same feeling she had when treating patients, the same one she displayed when people attempted to confront her 'overly optimistic' nature. She was now resolute. She was confident. She almost forgot to be careful of what this eldritch contraption could hide, or generate for that matter. And so she stepped forwards with far greater conviction than before.

That was, until the building Cobe was aiming at erupted into a shower of varied debris. She reflexively brought her forearms in front of her face, but none of the flying bits of stone and/or wood reached her. By the time the last clatter had subsided, she had started trekking forward again, albeit more cautiously, keeping her slower stride matched with Cobe's.

The building, or at least its lower floor, was not what it once was. Not even a half of the outer wall remained, almost everything else having been blown flat. The kitchen, somehow, had escaped intact. The first two things Helena pondered were 1) how in the world is this massive spire of a construction still standing despite an apparent lack of proper support, both in terms of pillars and exterior wall and 2) how was the explosion so directional?

She blamed the former on the nature of the space she currently found herself in - it altered her emotions, so it might have very well altered more than just that. As far as she knew, it wasn't impossible that the entire thing just didn't actually exist above the second floor, but only seemed to be present. The rain wasn't falling inside, anyway.

The latter gave her a bit more trouble. Was it the result of Cobe's attack? Unlikely, since he seemed to have fired Lightning Dust. The detonation wouldn't have been so significant. Of course, she hadn't actually experienced much with Steam Dust so she could probably be very wrong. The second option was that an explosive, shaped most probably, had been set off inside, but the total lack of anything unusual - bits of blast casing, wires, *something* indicating a device was here at some point. Third option - it was another illusion. Ugh. Lastly, somebody had been here and done it themselves. Semblance, weapon, otherwise. She didn't like the three last possibilities at all, but worry failed to well up much within her mind. Not that she was surprised by that right now.

No, the most unsettling things were that there was nothing in this town, much less in this... 'house'. Not a bird chirped, not a cat meowed, not a dish clanged, not a moth flapped around the sources of light, not a fly buzzed. It was like everything capable of movement had fled with disconcerting agreement. The other odd and somewhat worrisome occurrence was that there was a flat door embedded in the floor, not far from what looked like the shredded wreck of cushy seating.

Helena walked over to it and, utilizing a procedure very similar to the one she used to open the 5 exterior doors, tried opening it.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on November 26, 2017, 04:32:48 AM
Well now, that was unexpected.

When Cobe blew up the house, he expected a little more than what he got, when he walked into what was left, his surroundings were expected. He decided to think of a plan quickly, after all, someone had too, or this was just gonna get too weird.

Cobe went into his pack, and threw her 10 arrows, and turned to her before speaking.

"Search the area, I'll try and clear this debris. The house would be a good start. Try to find any items that could indicate someone was here, and what happened."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on November 27, 2017, 06:23:52 PM
Calen: ShowHide
As Calen stepped back out onto the neon-lit streets of Jackson, he paused for a moment and watched the droplets of rain plop into brightly colored puddles on the stone street, uncharacteristically captivated by its beauty.

That feeling was pushed out of him when he heard a sudden commotion to his right, where the crone had told him he needed to go. A quickly glance only gave him the very brief view of... something... darting down an alleyway and some woman he couldn't see yelling something after it. He began to slowly make his way over to the commotion, though once he got to the entrance to the alleyway he figured whoever yelled must have walked off as the only people around were those moving with the crowd down the street.

He turned his head to look down the alley, but all he could see within its darkness was the vague outline of what may or may not have been a person.


Teddy: ShowHide
This plan was maybe not the best one. The alleyway was dark,very dark. Teddy hoped it was just because he had become accustomed to the bright neon lights of the town but it quickly became apparent that this wasn't the case. It was simply dark. He looked back to look for a moment and didn't see either that Malina or the other man behind him, which was good. Very good. Unfortunately looking back ahead he still couldn't see anything ahead of him, not even a few feet in front of his face. Suddenly he felt someone's eyes boring into the back of his head and he turned once more to the street, only to be met with someone silhouetted against the bright neon lights of the street, their features obscured and not moving a muscle.


Helena and Cobe: ShowHide
The door opened up with a loud groan. Unlike the doors into the town, this door was heavy, metal, and took a bit of strain on Helena's part to open. Once she'd lifted it halfway open, she let the door go and it fell off to the side with an incredibly loud THUNK.

Down below the door was a ladder and below the ladder, about fifteen feet down, a brightly like cavern. From where she stood, she could see what looked like old mining equipment, pickaxes, a wheelbarrow, several hard hats with lights positioned on their caps.

Her attention was drawn away from the door as a bundle of arrows bounced off of her side and fell to the ground.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on November 27, 2017, 08:05:01 PM
Well, the procedure failed. In fact, the door barely budged. Trying again, but this time with gusto, Helena slowly lifted loudly croaking - damn, this needed maintenance - door up and on its side, at which point it escaped her grasp and rocketed to the floor, hitting it with enough force to cave in the handle. The impact resounded like a massive, badly-done gong, making the blonde flinch and glance upwards, half-expecting the entire thing to give up on existence and collapse.

But nah. Nothing even fluttered. Not a single grain of dust fell from the physics-defying ruin. That was, to be fair, the other half of her expectations.She briefly glanced at Cobe when a bunch of her arrows hit her side. Frowning, she responded to his affirmation (yes, yes, that's incorrect, whatever, sue her) with "...Tthhaannks. Yeah, I was planning on doing that. Sorry, I was really into it. You be careful up here, though, you hear?"

After that, she picked up the bundle of arrows. Ten of 'em. Still frowning, she glanced over her right shoulder, where her quiver was hanging, attached to the right of her backpack. Nope, all arrows accounted for, bar the few embedded into that giant Grimm from Neverland or something. So, how in the world were these arrows here? Why did Cobe have them?

Poking herself with the tip of one, she felt the familiar strain caused by harm on her Aura, which dropped ever-so-slightly. Deciding that that was a sensation she could trust, she shrugged, opened the top zipper of her bag and squeezed the arrows half-way in, making sure they wouldn't get caught on anything when she'd pull them out - if she pulled them out. After that, she turned back to the now-unblocked hole.

Ladder, bright lights, some sort of archaic mining equipment, a pickaxe or four, wheelbarrow, some hardhats with lights on them. She started climbing down the shaft, electing to think about this while on the way. First: this seemed tp be the Dust mine she saw on Malina's map of Jackson. Or well, at least, the position fit with wherever the heck she was right now. Second: everything was lit. Equipment seemed stored neatly, not strewn about. Third and most important: why was there such a door here? She could've sworn that the perimeter entrances had wooden ones, so why not here too? Maybe it was for potentially containing accidental Dust detonations?

Nah. An accidental Dust detonation at that depth that needed a door that massive would've blown a hole in the ground. So whatever the reason for that door, it was another abnormal thing, she concluded as she arrived. As she took a look at her surroundings, she bent down, grabbed a pickaxe just in case and slid it in an empty loop on the left of her bag. Then she took a hat, placed it on her head and adjusted it correctly, proceeding to check whether or not the light worked right after that.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on November 27, 2017, 10:22:22 PM
Teddy was really hoping that there would be something on the other side of the alley. Somewhere between the adrenaline and being scared shitless he forgot to account for the possibility that the alley does not lead to anywhere in particular. And that actually the alley may be a good way of getting yourself cornered by the thing that is probably not your TA and the very large, very grumpy looking man.

In such a state, it was surprising that he did not come up with a stupidier idea than he did. Nevertheless, his idea was rather foolish in retrospect. He took out his weapon, turning it into its gun form. Quickly turning and kneeling, he aimed at the figure down the alley from him. "H-Hey! Back off, o-or I'll shoot!" he said, with the gusto of an accomplished badass and the delivery of a puppy barking at a grizzly bear.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on November 27, 2017, 10:40:44 PM
Fresh air. Calen almost gulped down the stuff as if trying to get anything from that bar out of him as soon as possible would make the experience less traumatic. And strangely it seemed to work. Calen had always preferred the beauties of man made structures over natures, well natural, creations. Finding great comfort in the symbolism over overcoming humanities base birth and ruling over the elements. Rain splattering off concrete buildings, capturing the light of nearby neon signs into a strange collage of dark shades and muted shades. Finally, something real. Calen mused internally unreasonably happy for something he could understand.

Speaking of controllable situations Calen's vision had already turned towards What's Mine's Mine, what the old fortune teller had relieved to him before her prophacy. Although Calen would like nothing more than be done with that old crone's words it was still his only lead. That was until he saw a quickly blur of movement followed by a woman's shouting coming from the same direction. Perfect. Calen thought to himself this Assailant gave him another lead allowing him to push the fortune teller even further from his mind.

Accelerating himself forward with multiple applications of his semblance Calen hoped to catch up to the unknown figure before they became lost in the town. He would deal with the woman later, for now the chase was on. Quickly realising his prey was dashing down a dark alley at rather frightening pace Calen quickly brought up his scroll and quickly activated it's light function hoping that even if he couldn't catch up he would get an idea who he was chasing. Even in such a highly charged situation Calen will took in the rain drops lit up by his light, sparkling in the night sky.

Slowing down as Calen rounded the last corner to give his prey more of a chance to escape. Instead Calen came face to face with a shotgun, scantly four meters away from his face. Calen was beside himself in excitement, this is what living is split second life changing decisions not the criptic words of a crazy old crone. That excitement was quickly replaced with disappointment as Calen quickly recognised the voice of his companion calling out timidly into the darkness. Sighing at the anticlimax Calen remarked calmly. 'Master Theodore please get a hold of yourself. If I wished you harm I would have done so already. Why were you running? Have you seen Miss Nahualli? Have you seen anything odd that could explain what's been going on?' Calen continued his questioning more out of irritation than genuinely believing Teddy could provide worthwhile infomation. He also did stop walking straight up to the frightened student.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on November 30, 2017, 10:12:09 AM
Cobe started to use Cobalt Dawn's hilt to cause an initial crack in the debris. After about 5 minutes he succeeded. With a big enough crack made, he pushed the blade in and sliced the lump of wood and stone clean in two, being careful to make sure none of it went down the hole. With this done, Cobe into the kitchen, hoping to find some food (as they would probably need some soon) and something, anything to indicate human life was still here.

Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 01, 2017, 10:04:17 PM
Cobe: ShowHide
The rubble crashed down thunderously as Cobe sliced the wood and stone. Though most of the kitchen was intact, dust and scorched splinters littered the floor and countertops. The kitchen seemed as lifeless as the rest of the village save for the single piece of bread that sat, partially covered in dust, on the countertop. A bread knife sat next to it and a plate lay under it almost as though someone had been planning on eating before having to leave for one reason or another.


Helena: ShowHide
As Helena touched down on the hard rocky floor of the mine she felt a single drop of rainfall onto the palm of her hand as she took it from the rung. Looking back up brought her only another drop in her eye, though that was quickly wiped away. She moved to the pile of belongings and began to pick out the pickaxe and helmet. The pickaxe's weight felt good hanging from her belt loop but she couldn't exactly tell why and as soon as she flipped the switch on the helmet, the bright light shot out into the dim cavern ahead of her.

As she looked up from her spot and down the corridor she realized she may not need the helmet after all. The path ahead of her was dark, yes, but it was dimly lit with small lanterns hanging from hooks embedded into the walls. Just bright enough to not need the other light source but just dark enough that something could be lurking just out of her site without it. After a moment's hesitation, she slid the helmet onto her head and began to set out into the cavern.

The echoes of her footfalls raced back and forth through the cavern as she made her way further and further in and further and further down into the earth, onlt them and faintest sound of rainfall that drifted from the path behind her to keep her company. As she continued, the walls began to glitter and glisten with unbroken veins of dust crystals sitting just barely embedded in the rock. The bright colors reflected off of the crystals almost distracted her from the fact that no matter how far in or down into the mine she went, the sound of the rain continued to accompany her. She didn't know if it was just her ears playing tricks on her or not, but she could swear it was getting louder. Bit by bit, decibel by decibel. Slowly, to be sure, but it had to be there.

The thoughts were soon replaced curiosity and worry though. The cavern had opened up into a larger area, about the side of a living room of a modern home, with bright lanterns flanking a large wooden door. The door, in contrast to the village above, was well kept and didn't show any sign of abandonment or disuse, the heavy bolted hinges were pristine, the grain was smooth, and the lock and chain wrapped around the door handle and an adjacent bar planted into the stone looked as strong as ever.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on December 03, 2017, 12:25:08 AM
Teddy had a rush of several emotions hit him one after the other. First was fear mixed with apprehension as the figure he was aimed at stepped forward shining a light at him. Second was relief that Calen was the one that found him. A friend was exactly what he could use at a time like this. With a lack of that, Calen would do for the time being. Third was paranoia. It was too convenient. The fake Malina said that Calen would be coming to the alley across the way in only a few minutes, and now Calen just so happened to be the only one that came down the alley after him?

Was this Calen? If there is a fake Malina in this city, there was a distinct possibility of a fake Calen. Was there fakes of all of them? Why? How? Maybe the fake Malina was a polymorph? It would explain why suddenly Calen is here. Were there fakes of Helena and Cobe? Why would the fake Malina want me to look at her scroll? Maybe the fakes can't replicate the scrolls. That would explain why communications are cut to the outside. To what end would having these duplicates be working toward? The city looked calm, inviting. It was a trade hub. It was a place for hunters to go between kingdoms. Hunters...This place is a trap for hunters!

Teddy kept his aim directly at Calen's head. "Calen. Y-You're going to send me a message on your scroll. Code 29341.
And then, y-you're going to back up." he said, standing up and backing away from Calen. It was obvious from his voice and posture that he was terrified, seemingly of Calen. "P-Please..."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 04, 2017, 05:37:41 AM
Ah looking at someone in the midst of a mental breakdown, there are few things that help reaffirm Calen's feeling of superiority. Using this as a touchstone Calen managed to bring himself forward, quickly forgetting his own almost mental breakdown. Well, at least putting it far enough back in his mind to put back on his normal bored swagger. Still there was the small problem of the shotgun pointed in his direction. Calen kept walking forward and took out his scroll and began typing the code to Teddy, this was a serious issue and Calen's games could wait..... or...maybe.... Calen looked up with the text written but not sent and thought about playing up Teddy's fears. Smiling evilly at his temporary, soon to be not so temporary, teammate Calen played a short game of chicken before eventually sending the text. If Teddy shoots Calen is going to tank the hit and just stare and Teddy with an annoyed look on his face.

'Come on Master Theodore we have a mission to accomplish, well I have a mission given the state you are in but I could use a cheer leading squad and they could use you.' Calen remarked. He knew it was a bit mean, well meaner than usual, but Calen couldn't help himself. There was a lot he needed to distract himself from, his fists still gripping tight around the coin Calen still couldn't bring himself to look at.

Breathing a large sigh Calen continued, 'There are three more of us trapped around here somewhere. They might need help and I'm going to try to find them. If you want out that's fine, I'll lead you to the exit but you need to make a decision now.' It had been a long day, emotionally draining as well as a healthy amount of semblance use combined with his less than optimal dietary regime had left him tired. This needed to come to ahead soon and liking it or not Calen knew Teddy would be helpful in getting there and out again alive. Calen gave a small chuckle, a memory flashed up of a similar situation with Calen where Teddy is and one of his brothers where he is now. A good memory. A good memory which continued a bit too long turning Calen's grin into a scowl as darker thoughts emerged again to play.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on December 04, 2017, 11:28:20 AM
The pickaxe felt really good for some reason. Like it was the perfect wait for lugging around in a mine or something. Like many things now, Helena blamed it on the phenomenon twisting Jackson into whatever the heck it now was. The light was nifty, too - worked well, not flickery, lit up the stuff in front of her. Given the fact that the cave was already lit, she didn't really keep the headlight on, since the small amount of night vision she'd have might come in useful. Last but not least, the helmet protected her head more than her coat's hood could ever hope. Speaking of which, she'd taken the hood off before hatting up, peripheral vision and whatnot being fun to have around.

As she slowly walked forward, the (barely audible) sound of rain and her own footsteps her only companions. After some time, small sparks of colour began to appear here and there on the walls of the tunnel, becoming larger and more common the farther she trekked. She caught herself several times having nearly stopped to look at the unbelievebly pretty sight. However, this was slightly offset by how conscious she was of her elbows, bow, bag and such, taking every care to not approach the glittery, dazzling and crystalline faces. The rain was still there, though, helping to calm her a bit.

...Wait. No. This was wrong. Sounds do not work like that. She briefly stopped, maybe a second or two, to get her auditive bearings. Yep, the sound was coming from behind her, where the trapdoor was. And yep, it was louder now than it had been further up the path. Great. Another fault in the illusion or whatever. So the source was either up front and she was getting mislead to believe it was coming from the other way, the sound was actually coming from the correct direction but the intensity was being messed with, or there wasn't actually any sound of rain at all. Sweeeet.

She was busy trying to ignore the beautiful sights and unsettling sounds when the tunnel widened into what could only be described as the average underground room. The lamps here were much brighter than they were everywhere up to that point, approaching something closer to typical indoor lighting. The light shone upon a large wood door, seemingly cared for regularly. The grain was smooth, the surface polished - lacquered, even. The metal hinges seemed like they wouldn't make a sound, what with how pristine, rustless and untarnished they appeared. An equally well-maintained chain linked the door's handle with a large rod impaled into the nearby rock, the ensemble looking very sturdy.

Well there was no fucking way she was going through another door alone, as inviting as it seemed. Perhaps a bit *too* inviting, actually. Helena backtracked to the exit as quickly as she could while still acting safe (she did not want to detonate the entire mine by accident). When she arrived at the bottom of the ladder, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called out. "Hey Cobe! Get down here, I've found something!" While she waited for a reply/movement, she thought a bit. Why would you lock a wooden door with such a heavy chain?
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on December 04, 2017, 09:53:58 PM
Teddy struggled several times over to not put a fistful of birdshot into Calen's chest. Not that Calen gave him a reason not to. He even hesitated to check his scroll, nervous that this Calen would suddenly jump at him. He released a breath he did not know he was holding whenever he saw the code from Calen. While it was not a sure-fire way of making sure this was the real Calen, it was as close as he was going to get in this situation. "God dammit, Calen. I almost took your head off there!" he said, putting his weapon on his back and glaring at the well-dressed asshole in front of him.

"Look, I don't know what you've seen in here, but something's not right with this city. Places that shouldn't...can't exist. And I was in there, like a normal fucking Tuesday." he said, panic clearly still in his voice. He was halfway between wanting to hug Calen and punch him in the jaw. "A few minutes ago, I saw Malina. Or, not Malina. It was weird...She didn't have manticore or her scroll. She kept telling me I needed to find you, that you would know where to go. She looked different, had this giant gash in her side...It wasn't Malina. But, I don't know what the hell it was."

Teddy moved to the wall of the alley, leaning against the wall to attempt to relax. Not that it was helping, as he was working himself into a frenzy with paranoia. Is it still paranoia if the thing you are afraid of is in front of you?
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 06, 2017, 06:57:30 AM
'Well I've been meaning to get a hair cut Master Theodore perhaps you could save me a few lien.' Calen grinned in response to the narrowly avoided violence. As such as Calen seemed disregarded the threat that Teddy posed he was happy that his bluff seemed to pay off and not have to deal with buckshot shooting towards him. Calen nodded as Teddy explained in rough detail his experiences in Jackson, another perspective was always welcome and although Teddy clearly didn't mention every detail, anything could be helpful. When Teddy finished his tale Calen sat down across the alley from him finally looking down at the coin. Spending a couple moments studying it he flipped it to Teddy and started telling his own story.

'I didn't run into any doppelgangers, just a cute bartender and a crone who claimed to be a fortune teller. She gave be that coin and gave he a whole speech about my future and 14 others or groups, it wasn't clear. Maybe I should go back and check. But she did send me here. Seems like something is pushing us together, maybe we should get a room after this is all finished.' Calen teased his teammate, making sure to intermingle his recount with enough jokes to not ruin his own mood as long as they are all targeted at the person across from him.

'But yea we shouldn't leave these guys waiting. Eat, drink, we need to find everyone else. If these people have gone to so much trouble to set up this trap it would be rude not to walk into it. Calen continued reaching into his pack throwing some food and a water bottle to Teddy. The food was a sandwich, cold but still flavourful lamb coated richly with a mint-mustard sauce as well as crisp vegetables all between soft turkish bread. Calen took out another different coloured water bottle and started sipping slowly as he kept watch on either side of the alley way as well as his team mate.

Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on December 06, 2017, 09:00:50 PM
Teddy caught the coin and listened to Calen's story. Calen's sense of humor tried Teddy's patience. How the hell could he crack shitty jokes at a time like this? While the sandwich and water were appreciated, Teddy stowed the former in his bag for later. There's time to eat on the ride home. "I don't know how you're not freaking out right now." Teddy said, annoyed with Calen's demeanor.

"Here's the idea. First, we find our way to the exit, if we can find it. Beacon needs to know what's going on here. I've got someone I need to contact. After we do that, we look for Malina. She should be somewhere in this general area. Once we find her, we go to Helena. She probably didn't let Cobe wander too far." Teddy said, tapping his bottle of water with his thumb.


"If you really want to walk into this trap, we need to do it with as much help as we can." Teddy said, finally opening the water and gulping it down.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 09, 2017, 04:11:15 AM
'Well I have good jokes but I want to save them until the girls are around. Can't waste my best material on you, no offence of course but you're just not my type.' Calen responded looking at Teddy with a genuine smile. Taking another small sip of his drink Calen waited until the teddy bear finished his plan. 'I don't think contacted Beacon is much of an option, we lost contact a fair way out and I'm not willing to waste time when everyone else could be in trouble. I suggest grouping up first, then we can decide together what our next move should be. But yea an exit is a good idea, We'll retrace our steps and make our way from there.' Calen continued getting up and brushing himself clean from dust which he had coated himself with lounging in an alleyway.

Making his way over to where they ran in through previously Calen brief checked to make sure the way was reasonably clear. Gesturing for Teddy to follow
the two quickly made their way back before the rather odd experiences just passed. 'Regardless I have the feeling that the trap is going to come for us, might as well make it an objective.' Calen remarked quietly as they walked mostly to himself. If not stopped the two would continue until out of Jackson and follow Cobe and Helena by the tracks they left in the mud.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on December 13, 2017, 01:30:01 PM
After over ten seconds, Helena started climbing the ladder. Damn. Did he not hear me? Is he too far away or something?

Her head popped out of the hole, followed by her torso, after which she put her arms on the ground either side. She looked around but couldn't see her teammate close by, or anywhere in her line of sight for that matter. She tried calling out to him again. "Cobe! Come here, I found something in the cave!"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on December 13, 2017, 06:06:36 PM
Cobe had just finished examining the kitchen, when he heard Helena calling to him.

"Oh, really? Alright then, I'm coming down."

He ran over to Helena and, even before he was in line of sight, he started explaining what he found. The bread slice, the plate, the knife and what he thought it could mean. Cobe thought the people had fled because of something, and he feared that they were walking straight into it, or maybe that one of those unknown Grimm had killed them all or maybe....

During his long winded theories they had been walking and climbing down to the door and Cobe's train of though was cut off when he (almost literally) stumbled over the chained door.

"Ah, I see. You want me to unlock it?"

Cobe then looked at the chain and took a hold of it, giving it a quick tug before saying quitely, but just loud enough so Helena could hear.

"Tight, whoever put this here does not want us to go down. Not 100% sure if I can open this"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 14, 2017, 06:41:39 PM
Calen and Teddy: ShowHide
 The pair stopped just short of the titanic wall of Jackson, both seeming to understand neither wanted to fully approach the thing that stretched so far into the sky. Calen clenched his fist and began to try to step forward anyway just as Teddy opened his mouth to say something.

Both froze in their tracks as a shot rang out. Somewhere behind them, off in the distance, the distinct CRACK of a file being fired raced through the crowd. Both of the students temporarily freed from their trance, ducked to the ground just as many others in the crowd did. A moment passed before another two CRACKs ran through the crowd. Something was off about them though. They were muffled, almost as if they were behind something heavy, and somewhere far down the street. Back to where they had come from.


[spoiler=Cobe and Helena] Just as Cobe grabbed a hold of the lock in hand, a rifle sounded from behind the door, nearly deafening despite the heavy door separating the sound from the pair. It was followed quickly by a succession of low, quick, and bass-y WOOMPs and then two more rifle shots.

The room behind the door was silent for a moment as Helena and Cobe exchanged a glance before the sound of slicing metal could be head in quick patterns and movements somewhere further back, followed by more of the WOOMP noises.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 15, 2017, 05:27:36 AM
There was something in his head. Calen knew this. You would think that once you are aware a sensation is not from your own mind it would be easy to ignore. Unfortunately something being implanted didn't make it feel any less real and despite pressing his considerable will to the task he could not step close to the wall. There has to be another way out. Calen thought to himself as he tried to think of a solution. What about that store that crone mentioned... What's Mine is Mine...'

Acting instinctively as a shot rang out behind them Calen threw himself to his left, chrashing himself and Teddy to the ground. Calen's left hand shot behind his back to his knives while his right gripped tight to Teddy ready to pull them both to cover. Scanning the crowd for threats was made easier as most of the crowd ducked to the ground but Calen still could make out the source of the sound. More to give himself more time to think of a way to get over the wall Calen pulled himself and Teddy to their feet and pushed the latter as they both made their way towards the sound.

'Maybe that's Miss Nahualli, we should check on it at least.' Calen remarked, his glibness muted by his mind being distracted thinking up a solution. 'There is also a store we might what to check out. The old crone told me about it, What's Mine is Mine. Strange name for a store what do you think they sell?' Calen continued simply to fill in the silence as they stumbled their way towards the gunshot.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on December 16, 2017, 02:42:37 AM
Teddy knew it was only a matter of time before something started blowing up. The way things had been going up until that point, the only thing that surprised him were that the shots were not aimed at him. They did get him out of his stupor. Whatever messed up things are happening in this town, it had clearly gotten into his head.

There was a small part of him that desperately wanted to get the hell out of dodge. If he could find his way out of the city, he could get backup and take on everything. As much as he hated to run back in there, he could not just leave Malina and Calen in this hellhole by themselves.

"Good God, man. Now's not the time for small talk! Make sure your aura stays up. This city is messing with my head, and I'm afraid it might make us drop it." he said, moving slightly faster than Calen as they went toward the gunshot.  "I...*sigh* I-I'm sorry. You're right. We check it out, visit this store, and come back to the wall if we don't find anything."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on December 18, 2017, 11:31:41 AM
Okay, not good. Not good at all

Cobe drew Cobalt Dawn and prepared to strike whatever came his way, he exchanged a silent glance with Helena, letting her know he had her back, no matter what.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on December 18, 2017, 02:09:16 PM
Ah, there he was. Good, she was almost to the point where she'd gone on her own. As she heard him start to explain what he'd found on his side, she started climbing down, keeping him within earshot and continued to listen to him as she led the way to the door she'd discovered. Hm, that setup was certainly strange. Why would somebody leave so suddenly? But more importantly, why were those items the only sign of relatively recent activity in the village? Was it because it was the only recent activity in the town and that someone had, in fact, been there within the last few days? While Cobe's theories made sense regarding the entire village, the piece of bread was entirely unrelated... Her best conclusion, though, was that Jackson had been driven to abandon - possibly by the very same effects that saturated this place - before being taken over by whoever had taken that piece of bread out.

Helena answered Cobe's question with, after his first attempt proved ineffective, with "Yeah, if possible, but I brought you here more to be able to take on whatever's behind that door with someone instead of alone." Unlocking the chain had several options - she was pretty sure Cobe had a trick or two for this. As for herself, she could use a kinetic-augmented arrow to sever a link or -

Helena flinched backwards, instinctively reaching for one of her knives - and, oddly enough, the pickaxe to the right of her waist. She wasn't crazy, Cobe'd heard it too by the looks of it - a gunshot had aparently gone off behind the door. Other, far more odd sounds soon followed, after which came more shots. She glanced at her teammate, who glanced back, before more bizarre noises were produced from beyond the heavy-looking wood. His gaze had the words 'I got your back' written all over it.

She needed to get in there. That was what the fake-but-not-really feelings were telling her. She needed to get in there, even if what was in there felt dangerous - again, according to the artificially-induced emotions. She decided to try the pickaxe - no sense in wasting an augment here - and strided right towards the lock and chain. "Cobe, I'm going to try the pickaxe. It might work, or not. Point is, you're far better than I am at this sort of range and I thought it'd be less stupid to let you know what I'm doing beforehand." She stood in position, took aim and brought the pickaxe down onto the chain with all her might.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 23, 2017, 07:29:25 AM
Calen and Teddy: ShowHide
 Calen and Teddy made their way back the way they came, this time through a crowd of concerned or panicked people trying to head the opposite way. That fear, the uncertainty, worry, and doubt of the passing civilians seemed to simply wash over the two hunters in training, covering them for the briefest of seconds before disappearing as the crowd continued to push past them. They were going to be huntsmen, after all, they would face far worse than simple gunshots.

They made their way past the seven stars bar, past the sunshine grocery, neither seeing what the other saw and both feeling a twinge of unease as they passed by. By the time they had reached the end of the street it was nearly entirely empty with only a few stragglers entering what appeared to be their homes.

At the very end of the street, capping the road as its dead end, was an unassuming building. It, like the other buildings in Jackson, had a mixture of brick and steel for an exterior and the soft glow of amber lighting coming from within. A small set of stairs led up to its wooden door and above it, a green neon sign that read, "What's Mine is Mine" and below that, "Pawn Shop".

There was a moment's hesitation from the pair before Calen stepped forward, up the stairs, and opened the door.

Beyond the door, rows and rows of shelves stretched out nearly to the very back wall of the shop, filled with everything from shoes to guitars to lawn equipment to jewelry, all given an amber glow by the lighting fixtures hanging from above. Beyond the shelving, along the back wall, was a glass counter featuring some of the nicer and more expensive items in the store. On top of it sat a lien register, as well as several boxes of smaller nicknacks, and behind it stood a man, his eyes wide as he flinched back slightly as the door opened.


Cobe and Helena: ShowHide
 The lock and pickaxe let out a loud CLANG as they connected for the first time. With a quick examination, Helena saw a small dent where she'd landed her hit. With a deep breath, she raised the tool high once more and brought it down again, even harder this time. With another look, she saw that the dent had grown, not only deeper but wider. Once more, she lifted the pickaxe up, poised to strike, and on the apex of her lift, the sounds from behind the door came a sudden and worrying halt. The sounds of gunshots, swords clashing, and the other strange WOOMP sound stopped as suddenly as they started, leaving only silence in their wake.

The Huntress-in-training exchanged a worried glance with the Hunter-in-training before turning her focus back to the lock, planting her feet, and bringing the pickaxe down one final time as it smashed through the lock, sending it and the chain sliding to the ground.

She wasted no time in taking the same process in opening this door as she had with the others on the outside of the city walls. Though the door was considerably heavier she was able to get it open after putting a little extra effort into it.

The door swung outward, passing inches in front of Cobe and slamming into the rock wall next to him. Beyond the door was a wide, tall dome-like room. The walls showed evidence that some type of mining equipment had been used to mine it into the shape it now took before structural beams were put in place reaching from the ceiling to the floor in the four "corners" of the room, with more beams crisscrossing along the ceiling with bright lights hanging from each. Despite the obvious mining effort, no such equipment was anywhere visible within the room. The only thing that was visible was the girl.

On the opposite end of the room, a girl with silvery-blue hair that ran down nearly to the middle of her back, though it was hanging over the top of her armor. Her eyes were covered by a small white mask with red slits and an ornate red pattern swirling along both ends before meeting in the middle like a third eye. The mask matched the long white robes she wore, though the upper body clung to her like a coat might, the robe from the waist down extended nearly to the floor in the back, reaching around to both hips, and a thinner part extending down from the middle of her waist, covering her pelvis and most of the sides of her legs. All along the front of the armor, the same swirling red pattern was woven, meeting in random places to form eyes. Her white combat boots were the same, with an eye on the side of each foot.

The skin that was visible shown a porcelain white underneath the bright lights of the mine and she smiled eyes she caught Helena and Cobe's eyes.

The strangest thing about the room was perhaps not the girl but what she sat with her back against here deep under the earth. A large tree with full foliage and healthy bark sat, planted into the rocky ground, behind the girl. It stood almost as tall as the dome itself, though despite it's otherwise perfect appearance, one of the many branches on the left side of the tree was broken off, its separated piece nowhere to be seen.

"Oh good," The White Fang girl spoke in a playful tone, her voice sounding no older than Helena, "I was worried you'd never make it here."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on December 24, 2017, 06:00:04 PM
Of all the things Cobe had expected to see on the other side of the door. This was not it. White Fang, here? This didn't seem right, time to interrogate, but first some facts were 100% needed.

Cobe walked through the doorway, and stood in front of the girl. He eyed her carefully before speaking, his deep voice making him sound slightly menacing, as was the point.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 26, 2017, 03:19:28 PM
The girl giggled as she stood from her seated position, now leaning back on the tree, one foot pressed to its dark brown bark and her fluffy white dog tail now fully visible as it hung down behind her. "Rainfall." She said simply as she locked eyes with Cobe. Her voice, as young as it was, was unnaturally smooth, comforting even, and despite the mass of distance between her and Helena, her voice carried itself naturally across the cavern as if she was speaking to the girl from mere feet in front of her. "Well..." She cocked her head to one side and placed a finger to her chin and brought her eyebrows together behind her mask. "You can call me Celina." A genuine smile spread across her face as she lowered her finger away. "No harm in it since your friend seemed mighty set on the fact that I die today." Another giggle escaped her lips. "But now she's gone, and when it comes down to me and you lot, welllllll...." She drew out the word, "let's just say I like my chances. As for why I'm here, that is on a need to know basis. No matter what."

Celina leaned forward, placing the rim of her mask inches away from Cobe's face, the smile still stretched from ear to ear. "And you'll have to work on your intimidation skill, Cobe."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on December 26, 2017, 03:33:20 PM
This just got interesting. I don't want to press her, but I need to know more, and "friend"? Could she mean Malina? No, surely not.

Cobe thought to himself, as he just processed the conversation, remaining as stone-faced and stoic as before. He then responded, slightly less menacingly than before, but still enough that he thought he would get something he could work with. He would find out about the strange pillars in the room and how she knew his name afterwards.

"Okay then, Celina. If you truly do know this "friend" of mine, then answer me this. Why?"

He paused letting the word sink in before continuing.

"Why should they want you dead? Surely, no matter if you're White Fang, that seems a bit extreme, right?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 26, 2017, 04:43:39 PM
Celina let out a full chested laugh and leaned back into the tree. "That... That's hilarious!" She tried to say through sharp intakes of air. "You don't even know, do you?" Her vulpine smile broadened on her face. "They must be doing good work up there in Vale, hmmm?" Again, she drew out the word and leaned her head slightly forward. "If you don't think this is a kill or be killed situation." She leaned back once more and crossed her arms, her tail swishing slowly below her. "And you don't even know about her, the fake, 'miss Narwhal'" She said echoing Calen from the swamp.

The sound of rain coming from the passage Cobe and Helena had entered through rose, almost imperceptively.

"So many things in that brain of yours you don't put together," Celina said as she popped herself into a proper standing position and began to make her way in a circle around Cobe, the red eyes of the mask boring into him, unflinching, unblinking. "Like puzzle pieces all scattered about." A hint of sorrow or pity escaped her voice as she stopped, placing herself between Cobe and Helena, her back to the girl who still stood in the entrance way.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on December 26, 2017, 10:29:15 PM
Once the door was opened, Helena took out Artemis and nocked the nearest arrow, which happened to be in her bag. She stepped in the doorway after Cobe but didn't go much farther, sidestepping to the right by a meter or so once she was inside the ostensibly larger room. She didn't raise her bow just yet - she wanted to get to the bottom of this. Whether it involved combat with... the White Fang person there (holy shit, what the actual fuck) was currently up for guessing.

As Cobe took the lead in questioning the unexpected discovery, Helena took it upon herself to observe. First: Tree. While she loved trees - or even, life in general, this one was here without any sort of logic about its growth. There was clearly no Sun visible here. Shenanigans were probably involved. Second: The girl. She seemed awfully young for a White Fang member smack dab in the eye of the eldritch maelström, appearing about Helena's age. Although this could very well be in appearance only. Judging by how her voice was propagating about as abnormally as the sound of the rain was in the tunnels, this was certainly a possibility. Whatever was messing with the latter was nigh-undoubtedly affecting the former.

She had to say, though, the girl had style. That outfit was unarguably cool. No identifiably Faunus traits from where the blonde archer was standing, though, but that was hardly surprising given the nature of the aforementioned characteristics.

The friend she mentioned was probably Malina, as she was literally the only other female in the team. And the only female not present, which fit with the absence 'Celina' had referred to. Sadly, no knowing what was happening with Jackson just yet. She elected to not think about the odds of victory for now, though.

Helena continued to watch (and listen) as Cobe asked further questions. Not much gained apart from sarcasm and what she assumed was a derogatory substitute for Nahualli. She did start circling about, though, making Helena follow suit to 1) remain at a distance and 2) keep Cobe out of her line of fire.

Artemis slowly started to rise, the tension on its string increasing as it did.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 27, 2017, 01:44:42 AM
'Should have guessed it was pawn shop. It could only be that or a lost and found and to be honest I don't think this is that kind of town.' Calen continued smiling and completely ignoring Teddy's outburst. Nerves get to everyone and Calen wasn't about to hold it against him at least until the immediate danger had passed. Unless he was feeling spiteful. Well, more spiteful. Suprised that Teddy moved quite quickly towards the probably danger Calen had to break into a jog to keep up as they made their way to store. Motioning to his partners gun Calen carefully opened the door ready to dash around with his semblance at a moments notice. But it didn't seem to be hostile, if anything the shopkeeper seemed uncertain about their appearance.

Waving greeting to the shopkeeper Calen moved behind one of the shelves to cut line of sight between them then made a gesture behind his back for Teddy to follow. 'So see anything your like Master Theodore?' Calen asked browsing the closest shelf. 'Anything to suggest why my not-so-lovely crone would send us hear?' Calen continued studying the products the proprietor had available. Frankly it was mostly junk although Calen was pleased to be out of the rain and neon signs nothing could hold his attention for long.

Making his was slowly and quitely behind the shelf towards the shopkeeper Calen spoke up suddenly as he was about to run out of self, half to surprise but mostly out of boredom. 'Good afternoon Sir.' Calen began giving a flourish and a bow as he revealed himself. 'How are you doing?' Calen continued with all the false sincerity he could muster. Small talk would be the best for putting the shopkeeper at ease and as such is a valuable tool in drawing out infomation. Unfortunately it had been a long day and Calen was eager to get home, with or without his allies, and as such has as little patience for small talk as he did building tension by hiding out of sight from the proprietor. 'So good Sir, I wouldn't suppose you would mind telling me why a certain friend recommended me to come this way, someone with a habit of telling unwanted fortunes?' Calen finished leaning on the store front smiling but with no warmth. For all his courtly grace Calen wasn't exactly the most subtle individual.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on December 27, 2017, 05:56:59 AM
So, this is how its gonna go down is it, alright then Celina, I'll play your game.

Cobe now looked...some what puzzled at the wording, slowly understanding, however, he still needed more from Celina. He knew he needed a different approach to find out why Malina wanted her dead, and how she knew his name. He paused to think a little bit. His brow visibly scrunched in thought. What could it all mean. The tower, the fact that the area looked like his home town, the gas, what did it all mean, and how did any of it connect to Celina?

Cobe looked behind him after hearing the sound of footsteps, seeing Helena begin to raise her bow, he put a hand up.

"No."

His voice somewhat boomed and echoed before continuing.

"We need to know if she is really telling the truth. If we are in the wrong to fight, and possibly, kill her."
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 27, 2017, 12:59:53 PM
Calen and Teddy: ShowHide
 The man, still somewhat wide-eyed, looked from Calen to Teddy and then back to Calen. "F-fortunes?" He spat out, stuttering slightly. "The man, you mean?" His voice was strung out, one may even say panicked. "The- the greying one! He came through a bit ago with the one with the cuts." He drew closer to Calen. "Told me he was sorry, I asked 'why's that sir?'" The man paused for a moment, swallowing hard. "Said I'd be going back to Mistral soon...I.. I told him I doubted that and he just pushed past me with the girl and went into the back, I think..." He paused again, glancing back toward the cracked doorway behind him. "I think they shot someone down there..."


[spoiler=Cobe and Helena] Celina clicked her tongue and shook her head once. "Not a fan of surprise attacks, Cobe?" She asked, incredulously. "I'll be honest, that's a bold tactic! Not necessarily a smart one, but a bold one for sure." She turned her head slightly so one of her mask's red eyes was barely visible to Helena. "Don't fret too much, Helena, I knew what you were up to." The grin spread slightly on her face, only noticeable to Celina. "You should be careful with that thing though, might put an eye out."

She returned her gaze to Cobe and cocked her head to one side. "It's not surprising you're doubtful, I suppose. Just how much misinformation are they spreading up there, hmm?"
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on December 28, 2017, 09:33:33 PM
Admittedly, Teddy was not sure of what he was expecting when he ran toward the shots. Usually, you would find some fighting, or an arrest happening, or, I don't know, a gun. Generally, you would not find some random little pawn shop. Teddy did think about trying to strangle Calen for a second as he walked up to the pawn shop. That man did have a messed up sense of priorities. In this scenario, he did have to follow Calen for his own safety.

The inside of the pawn shop did look nice, and Teddy did take a second to look at the guitars. Teddy did have a guitar back in Vale. It used to be his mother's, but she didn't take it with her when she left. Mac showed him how to play, even though Mac was a bit shit at it. Thankfully, there were a few books at the library that Teddy managed to pick up in order to improve a bit. He still had a ways to go to be great, but he wasn't half bad at the moment. There's really nothing like sitting around a campfire, plucking a few chords as the sounds of the forest echo around-

He was getting distracted...again. This goddamn city and its damn weirdness. The sooner that they got out of there, the better. Shaking his head, Teddy readied his weapon and stepped toward the two of them. "We should, um, check that one out, Calen. It's probably where those shots came from."  he said.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on December 30, 2017, 06:18:33 AM
'Maybe it was just an extreme version of pin the tail on the donkey? I'm sure they would be delighted to have a few extras at their party.' Calen remarked picking up a battered guitar and roughly strummed a few cords fiddling with the tuning pegs as he made his way to the counter. Reaching into his pocket Calen brought out a fair amount of lien, far above the price of the guitar even in mint condition, and tossed it to the shopkeeper. 'Such a shame you aren't getting any customers.' Calen continued smiling knowingly. 'It's not that bad a shop after all.'. Regardless of the propireters reaction Calen will move around the counter and move directly through the partially open door in front of him. In all honesty Calen was quite curious as to why the shopkeeper thought he was talking about a man, there couldn't be that many con people in this town, nothing would get done, still like most things Calen's pride prevented him from bringing it up.

'Come on then Master Theodore, it would be improper to keep them waiting. And who knows maybe by rescuing her you might draw Miss Nahualli's favour.' Calen jested turning what was a mostly comforting phrase before this whole ordeal transpired into a another barb to spike his partner with. 'And of course if she was the one shot.... well I'll be sure to leave and let you pay your respects.' Calen added grinning widely at the morbid 'joke' before stepping through the door way into whatever lay beyond casually as possible.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on December 31, 2017, 04:41:30 PM
The man looked confused for a moment as the lien were laid down but quickly and silently stepped aside to let the two students through a small half door to his right. Quietly murmuring something about Mistral to himself as Teddy followed Calen through the door.

Beyond the door was a well-lit room, much brighter than the soft amber lighting of the showroom in an odd contrast. Two doorways led to other rooms, one with a plaque next to it reading "Bathroom" and the other door with a similar plaque reading "Authorized Personel Only".

In the very center of the room, however, inlaid into the hardwood floors was a heavy looking metal cellar door. Perhaps calling it a cellar door didn't do it justice, however. In addition to the door looking heavy, a solid bank vault-esque wheel lock adorned the cover and despite many cellar doors being colored dark grey, the door was a bright metallic silver color.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on January 01, 2018, 01:15:56 PM
Cobe was starting to see things Celina's way, I mean, it made sense. The team had been told very little about the town, and Cobe's theory on the gas was, well, only that, a theory. Nothing more. He chose his next words carefully and deliberately.

"To be fair, you do have a point. We've been told practically nothing since we got here. So, if you could explain what this all means, I'll be able to see things clearer, understand you, if you will. And who knows? Maybe I'll change sides, from Beacon's to your's."

Cobe smirked a tiny bit, he knew about what happened to Mountain Glenn, and how the Vale Council got all those people killed, so he thought, maybe, it was time for revenge, but first, he had to know the truth.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on January 01, 2018, 05:57:33 PM
Teddy did not pay much attention to the man as they passed. Calen had managed to keep the attention firmly on himself with his shitty jokes. "Come on. Focus, Calen. Don't joke about this right now." Teddy said, Calen's comments obviously getting to him.

Pushing through to the next room, Teddy quickly found the massive door in the middle of the room. It was rather hard to miss it, after all. "This thing looks heavy as hell. Help me try to lift it, we'll see if its locked that way." he said, circling around the door and examining it. The wheel lock did give them a point to grab onto for leverage, so it was slightly less daunting than initially thought.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on January 01, 2018, 06:35:53 PM
The vulpine grin shrunk as Celina made a pitiful expression behind her mask. "Oh, Cobe..." She began as the grin reformed. "I've seen you fight, all of you. Ever since you entered the swamp, I've been able to see you." She began to walk in a circle once more. "I'd be surprised if you even made it out of Beacon. You, Helena, Calen, Theodore, you'll die just like every other "hero" out there." She came to a stop and put Cobe between her and Helena. "I don't owe you an explanation and even if I did, you're not making it out of this room to make a difference." She paused and the grin spread once more, her white tail wagged behind her in anticipation. "I would say I'm sorry but that would be a lie, and you already know how I feel about those."

On cue with her words, an ornate spear rocketed up out of the ground below Cobe and struck him in the gut, not penetrating but knocking him high into the air back toward Helena. As he sailed upward into the air, a wave-like formation fo spears raising and lowered shot out along the ground toward Helena at a breakneck pace.

(https://i.imgur.com/JERqvyf.png)




(https://i.imgur.com/BBVR1HY.png)

Boss Theme (https://youtu.be/mJTldJKRRhU)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on January 02, 2018, 12:30:48 AM
'Maybe we should have asked for a hand getting down here.' Calen remarked, not exactly a joke but still clearly not taking the situation very seriously. The gaunt boy still made his way the metallic door, strength had never been a strong point of Calen's even before his dietary change and as such channeled his aura into his arms in preparation for the work ahead. A forest green haze started to flow out from his arms and his eyes lit up in half maniacal glee. 'You know it would be really embarrassing if it was one of the other doors. Maybe they swapped them around? That would be really sneaky.' Calen continued, his green glow making his smile appear equal parts fantastical and monstrous. Grasping the wheel lock Calen through all his augmented strength while still providing Teddy space if he wanted to help.

If the door opens Calen will take point moving onward but if brute strength fails Calen will instead turn back to Teddy and ask. 'Prehaps you could combine all your dust together to get through, maybe that way I can get my bribe back from the ruins.' Calen's smile vanished, having to rely on dust truly annoyed him combined with relying on a time meant Calen would lose any and all interest in joking around, at least for the time being.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on January 02, 2018, 03:52:58 PM
As Cobe and Celina kept conversing, Helena continued to match the latter's movements, keeping her teammate from slipping out of view and into harm's way. Even given said teammate's... odd recent behavior. First he'd reprimanded her for not wanting to let the potential enemy get the jump on them and now, he was almost siding with the Faunus girl. Seriously, what was even happening anymore.

As Celina started threatening them - at least implicitly, by the looks of it, - and came to a stop, so did Helena, still keeping an angle that prevented the other two occupants of the room from lining up, her bow raising half-way as she did.

First thing that happened is a spear appearing from underneath Cobe and sending him flying up and towards Helena. As fast as her reflexes allowed, she rose her bow to its correct shooting position and let go of the string, sending the nocked arrow barreling right at the now-very-obvious antagonist before jumping and rolling to her own right, planning to let the wave 'crash' harmlessly against the wall.

(Arrows: 9/10 bag, 24/24 quiver
Dust: 1 Kinetic, 1 Ice, 1 Fire used)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on January 02, 2018, 08:06:43 PM
Calen and Teddy: ShowHide
Through the combined strength of the two boys, the heavy door slowly opened, stopping at a 90-degree angle. Below the heavy vault-like door was a ladder leading down to a fairly well lit looking cavern. Laid out along the wall were what appeared to be closed crates with several pickaxes leaning against them and hardhats with lights clipped onto the front.

Calen was the first to make his way down, followed shortly Teddy, finding the surrounding area mostly devoid of anything spectacular outside of the crates and objects. A dark tunnel lead away from the ladder, shouldered by what appeared to be burnt out lights.


[spoiler=Cobe and Helena]As the arrow was loosed from Helena's bow, it shot straight and true toward Celina, who stood unmoved from her spot. Just as it was about to find it's mark in her White Fang robes, the arrow shot up into the air and curved around, flying directly back toward Helena's eye with a greater speed than before.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on January 04, 2018, 01:27:29 AM
It was about two rungs down when Teddy started to regret bringing such a massive pack with him. Sure, it was certainly helpful for bringing a plethora of stuff with him, but it tended to restrict mobility. He was only stuck on the door for a few seconds, but they were important, panic-filled seconds. Teddy struggled briefly to get himself free from being wedged in before slipping out and falling below.

Landing hard on his heels, Teddy could tell one thing about the area straight away. It was really freaking dark down here. For him it really wasn't an issue. Calen might have a bit more difficulty in navigating the darkness. Setting his pack down, Teddy started digging through the massive pile of crap he brought with him. After a few seconds, he pulled out a flashlight with a rather large bulb in it. The beam that shone out of it covered a wide area in bright white light. "I've got a flashlight! I-If you needed it, anyway." Teddy said, moving back over to Calen.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on January 07, 2018, 11:42:39 AM
The last thing that expected to happen was that, regardless, he now had to think on his feet. When he landed he saw the wave of spears, and knew what to do, aim for the centre of mass.

He looked to shoot Celina, however, at the last second shot into the centre of the spears, hoping to stop the wave from reforming.

(Aura: 98%)
(1 Gravity Dust used)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on January 09, 2018, 05:39:38 AM
Breathing slightly heavily from opening the door Calen quickly made his way down the darkened passage way. Taking out his scroll to light his way just as Teddy offered a torch gave the gaunt boy the perfect opportunity to simply shoot a silent smug grim back to his companion and continued to walk ahead with his far inferior light source. It seemed like they were getting close to the source of this strife so Calen ensured he was on his toes. Weapon drawn, in sword form and in his right hand while his left held the scroll light. Calen advanced with practiced ease minimising the noise he created while keeping a careful ear/eye out for whatever comes next.

The silence and darkness was oppressive but Calen manged to hold his tounge at least for a little while. They didn't know what could be around each bend and surprise or at least minimising the amount of time whoever or whatever else was down here could lie in wait.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on January 09, 2018, 08:00:20 PM
Calen and Teddy: ShowHide
As the pair silently made their way into the dark tunnel they were stopped a sudden and quiet, "Sorry" from back at the entrance followed by a slam that could only be the door slamming closed. Though Calen's light was still pointed forward, he instinctually looked to Teddy and,
 though he couldn't make out the boy's face, knew he had done the same. Without a word they began making their way further through the tunnels, both wishing they could have gone back and at least tested the door but both knowing that with how much work it was to get open from above, it would be impossible from below.

As they made their way through the dark there were two sounds that were constantly, or rhythmically, sounding off through the tunnel. Behind them, the sound of dripping water despite not having run into any on their way in and ahead of them, the sound of combat.

It wasn't that long, or at the very least it didn't feel like that long before they came to the end of the tunnel. The darkness had given way to dim lighting from four identical light fixtures set around the small room, all serving to lighten the massive metal door ahead of them, the door handle wrapped with chain and lock. Behind the door, the sounds of fighting were louder now, just as the dripping had grown to something more similar to the sound of rain.


Cobe and Helena: ShowHide
The shot from Cobalt Dawn landed straight and true, striking the wave of spears and erupting into a short gravity swell, stopping the wave in its tracks before letting loose and exploding, sending the spearheads careening through the air. While some embedded themselves in the rocky wall or floor, others simply bounced and rolled across it. A brief glance down to Cobe's feet showed the spearheads were blunt at the tips.

Just as he made this realization, he noticed the lattice of spears beginning to shoot up toward him from his feet.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on January 10, 2018, 04:20:03 PM
As Helena was about to finish her roll, something made her head jerk to the sideband hit the wall, putting her entirely off-balance. She managed to regain her footing by leaning on her free hand and rapidly searched her surroundings for whatever had managed to produce such a ludicrously painful hit.

Her eyes fell on the arrow laying right beside her. The same arrow she'd just let go, pretty sure. Not really knowing what happened, she got back up without picking it off the floor, choosing to grab another from her bag - somewhat more cautiously, this time.

She mentally thanked Cobe for disrupting the wave's progression. As she nocked the new arrow and pulled Artemis' string taught, she had a second thought: after all, the previous arrow from her bag had seemingly returned in a spectacular, and mildly terrifying, fashion.

To briefly test it, she brought the string back just far enough for the arrow to bump into her target and aimed slightly to the side before letting go. If there was something funky happening with these arrows, she'd find out pretty soon.

(Arrows: 8/10 bag, 24/24 quiver
Dust: 1 Kinetic, 1 Ice, 1 Fire used)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on January 17, 2018, 05:56:38 PM
Teddy tucked the light into his back pocket. One of the perks of being a faunus is that you generally have no need for them. Still, it would have been better for Calen to be able to see more adequately rather than being so damn smug about having his own light. Either way, they managed to make it to what seemed like the end of the tunnel quietly. The sound of combat tended to drown out most of the noise that they made anyway.

As much as it would have been nice to be able to get the door open quietly, there was no chance that they were going to get through both the door and the chain unnoticed. Grabbing the flashlight out of his pocket, Teddy pointed it up at his own face. Looking at Calen, he mouthed the words "Get back." and grabbed his weapon, taking aim at the door.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on January 19, 2018, 07:05:46 AM
'Only way out is throught.' Calen remarked grandiosely as the door slammed behind them and that quite boyish voice rang out. Inwardly Calen cursed himself for this mistake and the circumstances it put both himself and Teddy in. Going onward seemed like the only option but it was definitely not looking very healthy even if it might be the fastest way out of this mess. Purposely trying to slow down his breathing as Calen kept going forward as the dark walls felt like they gathered closer around the gaunt boy it was almost a relief when they came to the light up door even with the sounds of combat roaring behind it.

Reaching towards the door Calen looked back at Teddy just in time to see his team mate mouth his warning/request. Thinking slightly about the request Calen seemed to back off and walk towards his team mate and gave Teddy a small smile but in reality was only giving himself a run up to the door. The green glow which emanated from Calen was enhanced by the darkness as Calen threw himself at the door with his semblance, augmented further by his aura, Calen slammed hard into the door trying to rocket through into whatever lies beyond.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on January 23, 2018, 05:40:27 PM
As Cobe continued to fly, he grabbed one of the spears that flew his way. Blunt, as I expected. HE thought, before being forced to dodge a ton of blunt spears. He landed, and took cover behind one of the pillars to reload, he managed to send a text via his scroll to Helena.

If you've got a plan, now's the time to use it.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Dr. Gustave on January 23, 2018, 06:30:31 PM
Helena loosed her arrow and it sailed faithfully through the air, barely missing the smug sidestepping Rainfall before curving around her back, barely missing the tree, and sailing back toward Helena once more. It changed course at the last moment before impact, curving slightly to the right and, as Helena's eyes followed it, it sailed toward the now closed door she had come through. Confusion set in for only a moment, displaced by panic as Calen rocketed through the door, sending it off its hinges, and changed straight into the arrow, its tip biting into his bicep before bouncing off of his aura.

"Well, well, well." Rainfall said in the voice that sounded everywhere at once despite how quiet it was. "Look's like the gang's all here." Her eyes flicked between the students behind her mask. The pillar the hid Cobe, Helena out in the open, Calen with one hand on his arm, nursing the pain, and Teddy still standing in the doorway. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment. "She never told me there was a faunus in the group, you know." She said in words that only reached Teddy's ears.

"So what now, hm?" She asked, now with everyone hearing the question, as she turned back to Helena. "You're going to use the power of friendship to beat me?" The vulpine grin that had been plastered on her face settled into a smug smile.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: nathan67003 on January 23, 2018, 08:49:54 PM
Helena watched the arrow as it, like expected, turned back towards her. She was about to dodge when it suddenly bifurcated towards the door, the latter deciding to get blown off its hinges at that very moment, revealing an excessively speedy Calen. Who got nailed by the rogue projectile.

Alrighty then. That concluded this. Those arrows that had magically appeared or something had, in fact, probably magically appeared. As the there-but-not-really-if-you-think-about-it arrow impacted, she shifted her attention back to the main antagonist within the room. The aforementioned girl spoke without an identifiable source, seemingly croaking with pleasure at the fact that 80% of the team was reunited, before staring back at Helena. Like she was the leader or something. Hm.

Now, the lack of source could mean one of three things. 1) She was messing with their auditive perception 2) she was also messing with their visual perception and wasn't where she seemed to be 3) there was, in fact, only four people in this room. Provided that Calen and Teddy were real. Tossing aside the lightning quick line of thought for now, she listened to what the woman had to say before reading the message that had made her scroll vibrate.

She put the device back in its place and looked right at the mask blocking the Faunus' features. Helena smiled, a smiled so bright it could probably light up rooms, filled with all of her usual kindness and cheerfulness, barely tainted by the pervasive feeling of conviction that had followed her up until now. She happily said "Why not?"

As quickly as her trained body and her skill with bows allowed, she fetched an arrow from her quiver, nocked it, pulled the string back to its nominal maximum and let fly the weapon right towards Rainfall's left ankle, all in a single rapid, fluid movement.

(Arrows: 8/10 bag, 23/24 quiver
Dust: 1 Kinetic, 1 Ice, 1 Fire used)
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Mikelobmike on January 27, 2018, 12:24:14 PM
Teddy had quite a few things running through his mind. By the time he realized what Calen was attempting to do, it was too late to attempt to stop him from charging forward like an idiot. The door burst open with Teddy attempting to reach his hand out to stop the blur that his teammate had become. Shockingly, yet unsurprisingly, Calen almost immediately got shot with an arrow. At least there was no need to try and talk their way through things.

Teddy backed up, hiding behind the doorway in the general hope that he could remain undetected for the time being. Peeking his head around, he heard the white fang member in the room start talking directly to him. Great. Grand. The White Fang showed up. Because this mission hadn't already gone to shit.

"Why did today need to get weirder?" Teddy asked in a desperate tone. He reluctantly moved into the room, keeping his weapon fixated on the creepy girl. While it would be easy to run in guns blazing like his teammate before him, it would be wiser to not engage until more information revealed itself. Or, he was just experiencing sensory overload and freaked out a bit so as not to fire.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: Kingnoname1 on January 29, 2018, 10:33:36 PM
Calen grunted twice from both quite sharp stabs of pain, first crashing through the door and secondly as he was hit by the stray arrow. Never one to enter a fight slowly Calen only glanced down at the injury to ensure no dust or other device had been left behind as he shot towards this new foe, glad to finally have something he could get to grips with. Relying on his natural speed rather than the semblance Calen was growing more and more aware that he wasn't exactly fresh and the incident with the door had done nothing to improve that. If he was going to remain in the fight for it's entirety he needed to get momentum on their side as quickly as possible. 'The power of friendship and pointy sticks. Can't forget the pointy sticks otherwise they will feel left out.' Calen remarked as he ran in, desperate to close the distance before he could be hit by any other stray projectiles.

Wielding his weapon in it's sword form opened with an overhead right side slash which turned out to be a feint. Spinning like lightning instead brought his weapon to bare at Rainfall's legs, aiming to trip or at least slow the girl down. With four hunters-in-training in the room their opponent still looked confident and even though only one of those hunters-in-training was Calen it still spoke much of the faunus's ability. Not just a faunus. Calen thought to himself as he caught a glimpse of her mask. A member of the White Fang. Old fear and hate started to boil to the surface but the gaunt boy kept it under control, at least for now.
Title: Re: Malina's Magnificent Mission! [Closed]
Post by: SonicCraftX on January 31, 2018, 02:22:09 PM
Alright, not good. This thing is tough, look like its gonna take all three of us to keep her down.

Cobe saw the arrow hit Rainfall's knee.

Now's my chance!

Cobe ran past Rainfall, coming out of his cover behind the pillar, and waited for Calen to finish his assault in Rainfall's legs, before releasing Steam Dust into the room. He knew that Rainfall would move, and cause the Dust to explode.

(80% Steam Dust Remaining)