RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => The Vale Region => Topic started by: Kingnoname1 on April 13, 2018, 07:17:02 AM
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It had been a successful enough mission, a daring strike into to the untamed wilds between Vale and Vacuo to search one of the recently rediscovered abandoned Lexkvar Industry facilities. It had taken a day to get out here by Bullhead but with the transport in ruins thanks to a close call with a Nevermore it looked like team ASTC had to make their way back on foot, at least until they got connections on their scrolls. The team carried between themselves cameras and sample kits as well as much intact scientific equipment they could carry. It lead to slow movement through the shrubbery which only worsened as they got to the more temperate and therefore forested Valish half of the continent.
Although the slow pace was doing a number on the teams resolve it devastated their resources, even Teddy's pack was mostly empty of food and the group had to rely on scavenging the surrounding environment to survive. Luckily all the students had gone through wilderness survival courses and had a decent idea of what plants you could eat and how to track the wild life. None more so than Calen who had lived in the wilderness for several years, although he deflected all questions about his skills with is normal horrible jokes, but the gaunt boy definitely took advantage of this. 'Accidentally' feeding his team mates hallucinogenic plants simply to liven up the drab atmosphere which had settled over them. It did not succeed.
They had been walking for ten hours to day, for the fourth as the team stumbled upon a town. Hope blossomed in even the most jaded member as they first saw the buildings but as they got closer it quickly wilted. The town was in ruins, long abandoned both by man and grimm the town still remained evidence of some folly venture to expand Vale's boarders. Decaying articles of their former occupants littered the area; books, dolls, even electronics. The town itself was made up of four two story buildings, twice that single story buildings and a large antenna. Despite the bad vibes the town was giving off it was clearly going to be the best place to rest, probably the best place they will find until they get to an actually inhabited village. As such Setsuna called a halt, a quick scan of the area showed no grimm or other threats remained.
A strange mixture of relief and trepidation filled the as they obeyed, some annoyed how easily that action was becoming. Collecting all their gear in one of the two story buildings the team then started to discuss what they should do for the last few hours of the day and the night which will soon fall. Calen was not doing well, mentally or physically. His knees ached from injures old and new and his figure had impossibly grown even more gaunt. Calen's outright refusal to eat anything cooked by the others because very apparent as they grew low on supplies and although he initially played it off as some sort of gallant action even Calen became bored of the act. There had been a growing part of Calen who missed surviving in the wilds by himself, particularly when his team mates were talking, but that was quickly becoming irreverent. Missing his many urban luxuries made the gaunt boy even more irritable than normal, his black hair had grown chaotically and stubble roughed his face consider but that all paled to his suit. What was supposed to be a two, three at the most day mission, had already become a seven day marathon and the suit was not holding up well. Threads torn even losing a button had meant Calen was forced to spend easily an hour a day repairing one on his suits, he had a spare but refused to use it in case they chance upon civilised company.
That was what Calen was doing now, using his semblance to launch himself to the highest point of the town, the antenna, and started collecting the errant threads. The entire town was bathed in a beautiful orange glow from the setting sun.
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It had already been a stressful time. Between his normal busy schedule and trying to fit in with his new teammates, Teddy had enough on his plate to deal with. So, it only makes sense that as much would go wrong as possible. Day 7 of what was supposed to be a maximum 3 day mission. Their supplies were horrendously low, even with Teddy's tendency to overpack. The weight that Teddy carried combined with the scientific equipment caused him to have to dip into his aura reserves to fix the damage caused by overexerting himself. By the time they found the abandoned city, Teddy was mentally and physically exhausted.
Teddy set to work quickly in an attempt to get the antenna functional enough to broadcast a distress signal. Solitary work would be helpful for him. The last few days of trying to fit in with the team had been uncomfortable at best. It did not help that the long, boring trek removed most of any small talk topics that any of them could think of. By the end of it, Teddy could not even muster up the energy to be annoyed at Calen's terrible jokes.
Progress was slow. It was obvious to Teddy that there was no way he was going to get this thing working without some sleep. He could not even figure out what parts he needed to be able to start trying to repair it. Laying on the ground with his head on his pack, he stared blankly at the ceiling trying to get his brain working long enough to figure out what to do next.
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Anna was ambivalent about her current situation. One one hand, the mission had been a success, Calen's meals were pretty damn good and things were currently peaceful; on the other, they had now been away from civilization for a week, Calen had been a dick several times (the hallucinogens had given her headaches as well as made her attack him on multiple occasions) and there were no books around apart from the wealth of digitized scientific literature they'd been hoarding.
She was currently sitting near the top of the radio tower, pinging her semblance every now and then as a makeshift sentry. Looking upon the surroundings was currently her sole source of entertainment apart from social interaction - but alarm duty was more important than that, surely. Apart from that, when it wasn't her turn to be the lookout, she helped whoever she could. However, lookout had been her job all the time until now, bar the time where she slept with the others in one building or the other.
She spotted a blur - quickly identified as Calen - shooting up the radio tower, stopping mere metres above herself. Her only reaction was a casual "Hey."
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Setsuna felt like a failure.
By now the signs of self-doubt and guilt were clearly present on the normally cheerful and confident boy's face. Between the unsuccessful attempt to fend the Nevermore away from their transport, the weight of both the scientific...stuff and his own gear--he was regretting bringing his hybrid weapon long ago--and their current situation of little food and rest, the team's leader sat despondently in the shelter they had set up, racking his mind to come up with a solution and failing to keep the voices in his head out. He had started hearing them after Calen's "joke", constantly sneering and laughing mockingly at his pathetic state, and the only way to block them out was to physically exhaust himself past his breaking point. Not that he wasn't already doing that, but it was becoming so common that even that was starting to fail.
He had suffered hardships before, but this one he was not taking well. Out of the four, Anna seemed the most optimistic--not that it was hard, none of the others seemed to even want to talk--but he didn't think she had the knowledge to fix the broken system that Teddy was currently hard at work on. Calen had disappeared somewhere, which Setsuna couldn't even bring up a emotion to describe his feelings about. The situation was not hell, but he reckoned it could be seen from here.
He buried his face in his hands, gritting his teeth as he fought to keep his mental spirit from shattering. If only the voices would just shut up...
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'Huh are you already up here Miss Fall? Perhaps I should lay off of the blind jokes considering my own vision seems to be playing up.' Calen remarked clearly trying to start something. Not that even Calen had much energy to put into the taunt and focused more on repairing his suit jacket. Luckily there wasn't much damage today and he quickly hung it up on the post to prevent creases, well more creases.
As the shadows lengthened a few flocks of birds returned to the abandoned town chirping softly as they flew into the upper levels of some of the two story houses. Aside from the birds there was little noise to disturb the party and the sweet pull of sleep was very tempting. As Teddy began rudimental examinations of the tower finding most of the machinery was still there but much of the wiring had worn out and there was no power source. Testing the core machinery would be difficult without turning the entire device on which could damage some of the more fragile components.
His suit repaired Calen leaped down from the tower using his semblance to slow his fall and went off the try his luck hunting. Twilight was normally a good time as most of the wild life was tired themselves, not necessarily paying as much attention as possible. 'I'll be back by dark, we passed a stream on the way here and I want to bathe. Only Setsuna is allowed to peep guys, sorry don't make the rules.' Calen called out, not quite yelling but definitely meant to be heard by everyone. As Calen reached the river bank he quickly stripped down to his small clothes, revealing his scars to the world as he walked slowly into the ice cold river. Careful not to slip on the smooth rocks Calen pulsed his aura, searching for dinner beneath the slow ripples. A significant school of Bass was swimming past and Calen's lightning fast hands managed to grab a few before chancing upon the much easier prey of fresh water clams.
While Calen was away little happened in the camp, a few scares with movement around the edge of town but nothing came close. It was wild life but of course the grimm only needed to catch the team unaware once. It was a good night for star gazing as the sun starting to slip beneath the horizon, they could even make out aircraft flying over. Unfortunately ASTC was still close enough to the desert to really suffer from the cold nights with the bitter desert air carried towards them by the wind. Dropping from slightly uncomfortable to slight below freezing in half an hour.
Returning an hour or so later true to his word just as darkness had truly fallen Calen was ladded heavily with fish, clams and wild herbs whose harsh smell offset the gaunt boys bathing. Lighting a small fire, for as much warmth as for cooking, in the middle of town Calen started to gut and season his catch with the wild greens as well as touches from his almost emptied spice rack. The clams went in first, opened to deposit the majority of the spices within, cooked within the shell as Calen waited for enough coals to cook the fish fillets. Poking the shells around with one of his knives as their shells loosened and water started to escape. 'Anyone hungry?' Calen asked his own stomach growling, it took significant willpower not to eat them himself but he had kind of trapped himself in the role of team cook and needed to fulfill it.
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It took an exceedingly long amount of time, but Teddy had a vague idea of how the antenna functioned. It was going to be a long and arduous process just to figure out if he can fix it, much less actually doing so. With a small groan of discontent, Teddy walked over to the building where they made camp and started going through the supplies he still had with him. The only good thing to come out of the long trek is that Teddy still had almost all of his supplies on him. In this scenario, that means more things with which it might be possible to jury rig a distress signal using the antenna and their scrolls.
Unfortunately, that was most of what he was able to do until the sun went down. The lack of rest was getting to him as he near constantly lost focus of what he was trying to work out. Any attempt to get things set up would have to wait until morning.
Teddy just kept his head down, walking back to the center of town. Calen actually managed to get something accomplished today, and it was more than likely that he would relish the opportunity to rub it in their faces. Teddy sat next to the fire with a heavy breath, knowing that his food was going to come with another round of mockery from his teammate.
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Anna cracked a grin at Calen's joke. Seriously, sometimes, the guy wasn't so bad.
A few hours later, after the Sun had set and she could barely distinguish the treetops, she quickly climbed down the tower like only she could; smoothly swinging her way down the massive structure with effortless grace. She landed softly on her two feet and slowly walked over to the building everyone'd set up at, enjoying the twilight as she did. She took the opportunity to respond to Calen with "Don't worry, we only peek at you when you're cooking!" before briefly ducking inside, grabbing her coat and climbing to the roof. She might not be able to keep visual watch anymore, but she certainly could still use her ears. That, and when you had nothing to read, being outside was basically the next best thing.
When the temperature got outright uncomfortable, even with the thick extra layer, she popped back inside by swinging into an empty window frame, landing with an unnervingly soft thud. After staying still for a couple seconds, she realized the fireplace was void of all, well, fire. She went right back out where she came in, landing on the ground a floor lower. Getting her bearing was relatively easy in the quiet town, the crackling of a fire standing out like bright red on a blue canvas.
It wasn't long before she found the campfire Calen had set up in the middle of town (it was probably him), a ways away from the temporary residence. She sat down besides the firepit, eyes unknowingly staring right into the flames, and whispered a hushed hello to the other person waiting around, namely Teddy. The smell of grilled fish and... something she couldn't really identify wafted by, increasing in complexity and intensity by the minute. When Calen asked if anyone was hungry, she raised her right hand high.
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(Monster asked to be skipped)
Splitting the clams into three even groups Calen offered each to one of his team mates along with one each of his throwing knives, engraved Aldon, Halath and Thran respectively.'It might not be up to snuff I'm afraid, there is a reason why you probably haven't eaten fresh water clams but hopefully the fire and spices have crisped them up enough it's not too embarrassing.' Calen remarked in a good mood despite his exhaustion. As Calen made his way back from Anna the gaunt boy thought out loud. 'Apologies if you have thought about this before Miss Fall but if you are relying on sound is there a reason to be up here rather than by the fire?' Calen asked genuinely.
Settling by Teddy Calen kept pushing the fish around and spliting the fire into two, keeping one raging hot while the other died down to coals to ensure the fish cooked evenly. 'Find anything interesting Master Teddy Bear in town? Seems a nice enough place, maybe we can find something useful in the morning.' Calen teased good naturedly, or as good naturedly as Calen gets, as he looks around at the ruined buildings. The dancing fire and full moon light up their surroundings strangely, making everything seem a little more than it actually was. Satisfied with fish for the moment Calen then went about splitting up the forest greens in four even plates ready for the final touches.
It wasn't long before dinner was completely ready and once again the plates went around, although this time Calen was clearly partaking. Despite all their spices the clams weren't up to Calen's normal quality the fish had a natural sublet sweet flavour easily making them the star of the rather bland meal. Calen only nibbled slowly on his fist, savouring each taste, but otherwise content to let the meal pass in mostly silence. Behind them the woods seemed to quite down although if this was simply everyone going to sleep or something darker stalked the wilderness wasn't clear.
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Teddy could not even really get annoyed with Calen at this point. The mental exhaustion made sure of that. "I can't figure out if we even can repair it at this point. Some of the circuits are fried and the thing doesn't have power, but it's worth trying to jury-rig something." he said, putting his weight against his pack. Teddy was not a big fan of seafood normally, and this stuff looked less appetizing than usual. It brought him little comfort to eat the clams, but he was not about to complain about having some food in his system.
Teddy waited somewhat patiently as the fish finished cooking. It seemed that they would at least be better than the clams. Teddy gave a few glances over to Anna. It seemed to him that they had a somewhat nonexistent relationship. She never really acknowledged him, and it was obvious that she did not care to talk to him. He was hoping to have at least one empathetic teammate, but it seems that, as usual, he drew the short straw.
The fish did have a bit of flavor, and Teddy would have liked it more if he had not cut his lip with the throwing knife almost as soon as he began eating. Teddy just pressed his ears down and waited for another round from Calen.
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((This post was too late.))
Anna took the clams and knife alongside a small "Thanks." and just sorta... looked at one with her hand. She'd only seen the stuff in movies and comics and wasn't sure how it'd turn out. Though, as Calen said, crispy meat would probably be the best result. Instead of... whatever sort of goop people seemed to suck up. She was about to try open a shell when the cook asked a question. Her head turned a bit, acknowledging she'd heard him. "Well, for one, close to the fire isn't as quiet as up there. Secondly, although it's not as bad as with sight, intervening objects muffle and disperse the sound more, so being above most of them helps getting a clearer picture a bit. So to speak."
While Calen kept busy with the rest of the meal, Anna started on the shellfish. Mussels. Whatever was the appropriate name. She opened the first one and gave it a good, long stare with the hand holding the knife. It looked... weird, but definitely crunchy. The smell wasn't bad, either, since it was mostly spices. Internally shrugging, she stabbed the lump of meat with the knife and took a bite. It wasn't anything amazing, but it wasn't repulsive in any way, at least. Crunchy indeed. Plus, it was 1) warm 2) edible 3) food, so she wasn't about to skip this meal just yet.
Then the fish (and greens) arrived. Anna once again thanked the cook and partook. First, the greens. Surprisingly flavorful, actually. Maybe that's what wilderness does to stuff? Then came the fish's turn. Still hot, she operated in the same way as the shells: slice a good portion off, stab it and bite. Truth be told, the fish was great. She would've eaten it every week if she could. Which vaguely terrified her, as it would mean she'd become addicted to it if the chef had his usual supplies on hand.
Once she finished eating, she put down the plate - thoroughly cleaned - and waited for the others to finish before speaking, listening to the sounds around them both as leisure and to keep watch.
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Being close enough to the fire to listen in on the team's slightly muted conversation yet hidden by the shadows cast enough to not feel like a looming presence, Setsuna finally chose, with some reluctance, to get up and sit down by the fire. Leaving the food for the rest of the team even though it looked remarkably appetising for something cooked up in the middle of nowhere, he weighed up every person's opinions on the current situation. All while suppressing both his hunger and the growing voices, ever more demanding by the moment.
If he wasn't in the situation he was in right now, he'd have laughed at how ridiculously unfit he was to be a leader under those circumstances.
"Assuming there is enough food here to nourish the entire team, I believe our wisest option would be to stay here and recuperate, perhaps find a way to establish a signal for our scrolls." Setsuna spoke up softly during the silence. "As Teddy mentioned, it might be that the best we can do is jury-rig up a temporary alternative. Even if that failed, we would all benefit from some rest." He couldn't muster up any more mental strength to explain, except to add "If we're setting up a watch, I'll take the first shift." It was painfully apparent to even himself that his condition was seriously unstable, so...why did he volunteer?
It scared him that he couldn't answer that question.
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Calen scowled as Setsuna pushed away the food although couldn't openly make an issue of it considering his own dietary plan or lack there of. Leaving the untouched plate nearby in case his leader changed his mind started crushing together the last remaining greens as well as the last of Calen's medicinal stock. 'Before the rest of us go to sleep.' Calen began not looking up from his work. 'Well we have been walking for a long time and very well may have longer to go if we can't get the tower working so does anyone have any blisters or small cuts from the journey. I'm sure we could all tough them out but infection is another matter so sound off quickly if you don't want to fall asleep on top of you.' Calen finished continuing to try to make light of the situation. Hardly out of the goodness of his heart as on an external level Calen's 'pranks' work best when unexpected and internally a dour mood makes it too easy to make an uncomfortable trip down memory lane.
'Well if our indomitable leader is taking first watch then I suppose we get to choose where to sleep, although I understand if you want to have one night without our bear's snoring but we should probably stay together.' Calen remarked, paste finished, in hand and now brushing himself clean of the settled dirt. 'And what do people think about order? Consider I'm the 'C' in ASTC I think I should be last, everyone else OK with that?' Calen asked flipping one of his shoes off to apply some of the ointment to his ankle.
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Teddy thought for a brief moment that he could get away from being the butt of Calen's jokes for a few minutes. If he was not so damn tired, he might have had something to say about it. "It might be possible to set up a basic alarm system on the entrances to one of the buildings. Just in case we all end up asleep at some point." Teddy mentioned, not wanting to bring up Setsuna's state directly.
Teddy got somewhat comfortable resting against his pack. He kept thinking of how much hell Mac's going to throw at him once he gets back to town. He was supposed to be at work right now, not in the middle of some god-forsaken forest waiting to be rescued.
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As Setsuna spoke, Anna almost jumped. Not because it was sudden or unexpected, but because that didn't sound like Setsuna. Just to be sure, she pulsed her semblance.
That was not Setsuna.
Keeping an ear out as everyone kept talking, Anna slowly got up, stretching once she was standing. She waled around the campfire even slower. "Well in that case, Calen, I'm going first. Because, y'know, A.
As for the tower, making a switch to transmit morse code should be simple enough, right?", she added as she sat down besides Setsuna. Which she had some choice words for.
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"I...I don't really think it matters, to be frank. So long as each person takes a shift." Setsuna mumbled, picking up his now lukewarm plate of fish and vegetables out of politeness rather than necessity and taking a small bite. "So basic alarm system and morse code. Alarm could be some sort of tripwire, morse code some sort of light bulb." He was not sure if that even came out coherently. "We can deal with that tomorrow. Everyone get sleep unless Anna wants first watch."
Speaking of Anna. The sole female of the group had oddly chosen to approach him. The voices in his head shouted some derogatory and lewd comments, which he tried his best to mute. "Something wrong, Anna?" he asked, though his voice came out as more monotone and blank than he wanted to.
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'OK come on Paddington, let's give mum and dad some space.' Calen remarked to Teddy, making reference to a famous children book character who was also a bear. Seeing Setsuna eat was a good sign but it was clear that Anna would have better luck doing what she thought she needed to do with their leader alone. Walking reasonably quickly Calen started setting up his own bedroll as well as his team mates, like he had done a few nights ago but without the 'playful' 'pranks' instead just trying to get the night over as quickly as possible.... and to try to lower his team mates defences. Taking out his glaive Calen started the last of his nightly chores, the washing quickly done with dust heated water and then the hunter-in-training turned his attention to honing his glaive. More ritual than needed maintenance it was never the less a ritual Calen diligently followed, using incredibly fine metal abrasive pads to remove even the smallest imperfections from his blade.
'So is there any music you would like to listen to Master Theodore, to help you sleep I mean.' Calen clarified not looking up from his work. A strange dream like quality took over Calen's normally sharp tones which combined with his more polite form of address signified the gaunt boy wasn't all there. Muttering under his breath a mantra too mumbled to be heard clearly, scant words; 'mountain,' 'crash,' 'water,' 'steel' could be heard by Anna and Teddy because of the latter proximity and former's talented hearing. Pausing for a moment Calen dropped the pad on to the blade, from which is was cut cleanly in half from only the fall. Nodding satisfied Calen then quickly oiled the blade before repeating the same processes with each of his knives.
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There was part of Teddy that wished he could do something to assist with whatever the hell was going on with Anna and Setsuna, but it was obvious that it needed to be dealt with without him there. Unfortunately, this meant having to go with Calen. Teddy stood up, hefting his pack with him as he trudged toward the building and avoiding eye contact with Calen. He was not going to give Calen the satisfaction of a reaction to another shitty joke.
Teddy laid on his bedroll, staring up at the ceiling. He had no idea what it was that Calen was doing, and he resigned himself to not understanding Calen roughly two weeks ago. "I don't care about any music. I just want to go to sleep." Teddy said. Teddy assumed that whatever Calen was doing wasn't going to involve murdering him in his sleep and closed his eyes.
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Anna rolled her eyes behind her curtain of hair at Calen's poke. She did come up with a good reply, but decided that... fixing? Setsuna currently had priority over getting into a verbal joust with the parasol himself.
"Oh, not really, Set. Just making sure you eat your supper.
All of it."
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"Um. Okay?" Taking another bite of the food and forcing it down his throat, Setsuna just sat there staring into the fire with its flickering tongues and dancing images of Grimm and humans and corpses--he blinked. They were gone. Blink. Back again. Blink.
Ok, he was sure he was at the stage of hallucinating again. "Did you want first shift again? If so..." he trailed off, swallowing more food. Strange how the vegetables tasted like fish and the fish tasted like vegetables. Oh wait, his eyes weren't working. "I'll be off to bed then."
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'As you wish Master Theodore I simply thought you would sleep better being reminded of the hundred acre woods.' Calen continued his racist taunts seeing how they weren't being challenged although he was quickly running out of unique ones. Regardless of his words Calen did try to quieten his weapon maintenance as much as possible, He couldn't stop of course but Calen tried to hurry the process along. Pausing only if Setsuna needed a hand getting to his bed roll Calen was otherwise soon finished, sheathed everything and then took his knives into his bedroll with him.
Although the night passes uneventfully sleep took it's time taking Calen as it always did, the gaunt boy's mind took time to wind down even when so physically exhausted like the rest of ASTC was. Even when his dreams did finally take him they like always never pleasant, being too happy for not making choices that needed to be made ensured sleep was always a sick comfort. Luckily for Calen's pride however the hunter-in-training had long ago learnt how to hide such emotions and if anything his sleeping form looked too rigid not stirring on any watches other than his own.
Waking quietly without a word Calen silently took over watch giving the team mate he replaces a wave and a small smile as a goodnight. After keeping watch for an hour, nothing eventful happened and Calen mostly to keep moving as the dew started to settle set about preparing for breakfast, first was checking the snares he had set the previous night and he had been quite successful finding two soon to be dead rabbits trapped within. Quickly butchering and dicing the bunnies Calen then searched some of the abandoned houses, looting the kitchens of anything left behind the gaunt boy made away with some instant coffee, powdered milk and a surprising amount of honey as well as a few other non-perishable bits and pieces. Adding to the haul the last of his damper dough Calen build up a cooking fire far enough away to not even disturb Anna and started to get to work.
As the sun started to come up the harsh fingers of frost where softened if only slightly by the smell of honeyed damper and coffee filling the air. Calen himself was already on his second cup mud along with a significant helping of honey and settled in above his sleeping companions confident the dying coals would keep the rest of the food while being wrapped in foil would stop it burning. It would be all he would have for breakfast. As the morning sun got higher and higher in the sky the wildlife came alive, minus two bunnies, around the abandoned town birds chirping and even antelope came within spotting distance. A score of significant meals on each. Calen thought to himself but decided against it in a strange moment of compassion.
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Teddy's rest was a welcome reprieve from Calen's remarks. Or, it would have been if the smug bastard hadn't found a way into his dreams as well. As it was, the days of taunting played out in Teddy's dreams, leaving him tossing and turning throughout the night. He did not know it was possible for Calen to get worse every day.
Teddy woke with a start as Setsuna's shift ended, running his hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes. His face scrunched into a pained expression as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. A few hours to sit and watch as his team rested. At least he got some quiet.
It was exceedingly uncomfortable outside. "Just how I wanted to go out, cold and hungry." Teddy said quietly, looking out into the distance. Cold and boring, that's the only thing he could describe the night as. Nothing seemed to be coming after him. No threat nearby. Not even his team around.
Looking around again, his capacity to see in the dark made him as sure as he could be that nobody was around. He took a short breath out and reached into his pocket to pull out his mask. He stared down at it, running through every single taunt and remark that was thrown at him over the last few days. 'Master Teddy Bear''OK come on Paddington''I understand if you want to have one night without our bear's snoring' Everything running through his head over and over.
Teddy shook his head and pocketed the mask. He would be humbled, like the rest of those who work to keep the faunus down. The next four years were going to be rough, no doubt about that. But, he was going to outshine all of them. One day, he was going to prove his worth, whether they liked it or not.
A rustling of branches off to the side knocked Teddy out of his train of thought. With a quick grip of his weapon and a sharp breath in, he waited for any more signs of an invading creature. When that passed, Teddy walked back in and woke Calen for the final shift. Teddy had to make himself not roll his eyes at Calen's smug smile and wave. Teddy wondered how he could keep his demeanor up in such times as he laid back down to rest.
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Before Setsuna could get up, Anna put a hand on his shoulder. "Set. I'm not sure what's going through your head right now, but understand this: you're our leader. Not only that, we acknowledge you as such. Yes, even Calen. it's not out of pity or anything; you're just the right man for the job. You constantly strive to do the best you can in any situation and have never led us down a path worse than what we could've come up with ourselves. So chin up, have fun and know that we're way better off right now than we'd have probably been without you."
She let go of his shoulder and started her watch, hoping for her teammate and friend to get better by the morning.
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Even the voices shut up at that one. Before Setsuna could even start thinking of a reply, she'd already turned away and he couldn't find it within himself to muster up a response. He just turned and headed for the cradle of his sleeping bag in silence, letting Anna's words roll around in his head. Inwardly, he would have thanked her for the inspiration speech but he didn't know what to even say. His unwavering courtesy had, for once, failed him.
The voices only grew worse in his nightmares. Expanding past mere noises into giant looming shadows, they relentlessly pursued him as he fled from what he could not harm, through a dark, tight forest which seemed designed to trip him over at every step. Forced to hack away at vines and plants that entangled his arms and impeded his flight, it was only a matter of time before they caught him, lifted him up and choked the breath out of him while he kicked and flailed futilely, the light growing brighter--
Setsuna woke with a strangled gasp, his sleeping bag having ensnared him while he slept. The light from his nightmare was from the fire, crackling and flickering. No doubt Anna had tended to it while on her watch. Rising from his cocoon, none the better from his rest, he took over Anna's position and settled in for a few hours of listening to the voices torment him, one hand on his sword. He dreaded returning to that shadowy place where he was so vulnerable, yet return he did after allowing Teddy to take watch,
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Calen was a bit surprised that no one was up by the he finished his second cup of coffee. Double checking the food wasn't burnt Calen went around seeing if there was any thing of value left behind, to repair the tower or simply add of few comforts, when this town was abandoned. Starting with the houses further away to give the rest of his team mates their much needed rest the gaunt boy began his search. Tossing threw everything not bolted down Calen moved with a callous disregard for everything not immediately valuable; collecting electronics, canned food, strips of cloth and other non-perishable goods. Hopefully ASTC wouldn't have any use for most of these but they would do the hunters in training more good than sitting abandoned and if this mission had taught Calen anything it was that the unexpected happened more than one would expect.
The shelter the rest of ASTC was reasonable enough but quickly the rising sun shone through the shattered windows and walls disrupting their rest even if Calen didn't. Although noise was no longer an issue, in fact the surrounding forest had gone deathly silent something Calen remained mostly oblivious to.
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As the light started pouring into the room, Teddy blinked awake. His second round of rest had been far too short for his tastes, but at least he could think straight at this point. He sat up, bringing part of his bedroll with him. He struggled for a few seconds to get his arms out before rubbing his face. There was a really good chance the day was going to suck. But, it wasn't going to get better with him laying in bed.
Slipping out of the bedroll, Teddy stood up and got his boots on. Calen was off doing god-knows-what, so he had an opportunity to sneak off to the antenna before having to deal with him. The quiet that surrounded him put a bad feeling in his stomach. In the city, there was always background noise. In the forest, there was at least a little from time to time. This place was just not right. Teddy carefully tried getting out the door unnoticed, but stealth was difficult in that damn silence.
-
Anna opened her eyes rather brutally, startled. She laid in bed for a few seconds, trying to identify what woke her up like that.
No it wasn't... Teddy, according to position and variations, packing up his bedroll and trying to sneak out. She kept thinking for a few more seconds before she realized.
She shot up instantly - now beyond wide awake - and started donning her weapons while saying to Teddy, head turned a bit towards him; "Teddy, get your weapons ready ASAP. Shit's about to go down, for all intents and purposes." She then walked right over to whee Set lay and unceremoniously, albeit somewhat gently, shook his shoulder until he woke. "Set, get the fuck up. Something is really, really, really wrong right here, right now."
As soon as her leader stirred, she darted off to the room's window, sparing a "You take care of him for a few, I need to check it out." before climbing through and onto the roof, activating her semblance at full power on its peak to get a read on what was happening.
-
Waking to someone shaking his shoulder was something Setsuna hadn't experienced ever since he'd left his home in Patch, so for a moment his mind registered the shaking as coming from his parents. Thankfully he instinctively quelled the urge to mumble "Coming Mum". At Anna's first 'really' his eyes were open, at the second 'really' he was sitting up, and by the time she finished speaking he'd already reached for his sword, having kept everything close.
Having had the silence broken by multiple people moving into action bar Calen, Setsuna had absolutely no idea what Anna felt was wrong, though the absence of the team's trickster was enough to alert the team's leader, assembling everything he needed to fight with an ease born of repetition. "Teddy, fill me in. What's Anna referring to and any idea where Calen is." he commanded.
-
Within her forty meter bubble Anna couldn't detect any movement beyond the occasional gust of wind, even Calen was outside her range who was collecting an increasingly large pile of semi-useful equipment. That isn't to say she didn't 'see' anything interesting, claw marks littered the surrounding area, far fainter than your traditional Beowulf or Ursa and only truly noticeable because of Anna's phenomenal perceptive prowess but they never the less put the cause of this towns demise beyond doubt. The inverse wasn't true of course as Calen hadn't noticed the marks but easily caught sight of his team mate standing on the second story roof. 'Morning sleepy head, there is breakfast by the fire and a comb in my pack, I know you can't see yourself but the rest of us have to.' Calen called out, whistling first to get the blind girl's attention. His head up and focus distracted did mean Calen eventually picked up on how the forest around them had fallen eerily silent but it didn't bother him too much. Honestly the gaunt boy was eager for a fight to break up the monotony of their march. Better we get a Grimm attack now than later in the day, everyone would be tired by then. Calen reasoned internally as he made his way back over to everyone and more importantly the radio tower.
'Once you are all fed and watered feel free to come and help me with this tower, unless you would like us to continue camping.' Calen continued to call out missing the familiar weight of his weapon at his hip which only made the entire situation more nerving. Settling down the pile of half broken electronics Calen started examining the tower and quickly came to the same conclusion as Teddy did. Stripping some of the electronics for replacement wiring was reasonably straight forward but he still needed to find a power source to get the tower up and running again. Calen sat back looking at the tower, his own reluctance to use dust meant he paid little attention to classes focused on the substance and the gaunt boy wracked his mind trying to remember the lessons.
The silence from the forest continued however making every sound the team make echo even louder within their unnatural surroundings.
-
Teddy was slightly disappointed in the fact that he did not manage to get out quietly. He turned around, prepared to start trying to have a conversation with the rest of his team. But, before he could get started, Anna promptly decided to freak the blue fuck out. Teddy could only look on in confusion as she scrambled around and jumped out of the window. He stared for a few seconds at the window, trying to comprehend what was going on.
He turned to Setsuna and was about to start asking a question when he suddenly was given orders. Great, Calen can run roughshot over whatever the hell he wants to, but Teddy gets ordered around. Awesome. "Look, I don't know. For either of them. But, I'd recommend getting suited up and ready to fight things." He said, pulling out his warhammer. He walked out the door of the building, searching the area for whatever the hell got Anna so worked up.
-
As soon as Calen spoke up, Anna's head whirred towards the source of the sound and, with a voice loud enough to be heard by Calen yet with steel ready to cut through anything, she said "Calen, get back here right this instant."
Having been unable to visually spot any movement from where she was, she went back to the edge of the roof and swung herself in through the window - again. She caught Teddy before he went outside, thankfully. "Teddy, you stay here, too. We need to bunker up."
It was only at this time, where she pulsed her semblance like she usually does from time to time, that she noticed their utterly confused faces. "...You do know what's going on, right?"
-
"Yeah, no, apart from you going on extremely high alert." Setsuna said, securing his backpack and his shield. "If you'd like to enlighten the team it would be much appreciated, otherwise none of us have any idea why we're just staying in the building." Even his soft voice managed to semi-echo in the room, making the leader finally notice the extraordinary silence. "Never mind. Anna, any idea what's coming?" Taking Teddy's advice, the sword in his hand was gripped tighter as Setsuna took a position next to the door.
-
Calen let out a bored sigh as Anna called for him to return. He couldn't sense there being anything wrong outside a general sense of unease which the gaunt boy simply chalked up to being in an abandoned village. Still even Calen couldn't think of a good reason to refuse Anna's command and it was always good to be on other people's good side until it was more fun annoying them so he threw himself across the divide with a few applications of his semblance and landed next to Anna. 'Yes, Miss Fall? I am afraid twelve instants have already past but I am here now so now can you tell us what this fuss is about?' Calen asked voluntarily yawning for added effect on top of his bored tone of voice.
'Regardless there is food and coffee out there which is getting cold and it's the last food I have on my person so if no one else wants it, I'll have it so it doesn't go to waste.' Calen continued in an exaggerated strop as he went off to walk over to the campfire. Although Calen didn't believe there was any danger there was no reason to waste resources unnecessarily if something else did eventually come up. For this reason, as he walked passed Calen picked up his sword from next to his bedroll and buckled it to his waist.
'Anyway I have half an idea on how to get the comms tower working again.' Calen began strangely finding himself the person reminding everyone of their objective. 'The tower itself is in pretty good condition just some of the wiring has worn out, which we have found plenty of stuff to replace it with, and we might need to replace the power source. Now I will never say I don't pay attention in dust classes but I definitely pay less attention so if someone else could help with recreating the battery as well as some way to test it, so we don't do any more damage to the tower.' Calen finished obviously as excited as everyone else to get back to Beacon.
-
Teddy made his way back inside, the myriad of voices coming at him at once overwhelming his sensitive hearing. He put his back in the corner, holding his weapon in his hand. Unlike his other compatriots, his fight instinct had not really kicked in yet. A few restless nights with backbreaking work in between will put any man to exhaustion, and Teddy was no better. Teddy took a few slow, deep breaths to bask in the silence around him. Or what would have been silence without Calen once again reminding the group how much better than them he was.
"Can we please just, like, relax here for a second? What exactly is going on? I don't hear a damn thing." Teddy said, all the frustration he felt tenable in his voice. He turned his focus away from Calen for his own sake, staring down Anna in what would be a futile effort to garner attention.
-
Anna turned to Setsuna, thankful that somebody else had finally taken notice, after which she promptly replied "No idea but it's nothing good." before whirring towards Calen and Teddy.
"Calen, Teddy, both of you shut up and listen to the sounds outside." She paused for a few seconds to give them the chance to realize what was actually happening - or, in this case, not happening. "No sound of leaves rustling. No birds chirping. No squirrels fighting. No anything. Do you seriously believe that it's normal for something like that to happen in the vicinity of an abandoned, overgrown village, at dawn as well?"
-
"I assume Calen saw nothing or he would have said so by now." Setsuna reasoned, his mind still waking up. Taking his own look outside nothing popped out at him that screamed "danger" or anything of the sort. "Honestly, I'd much rather not fight any Grimm right now, so as long as there's no immediate threat, we can largely ignore the silence and focus on getting the comms tower online." he said, relaxing his posture. However, one look at the rest of the team and he knew there was another, more pressing issue to deal with. "Anna, could you work with Calen, please, and see whether or not you can fix the tower, since you have Dust in those knives of yours. Me and Teddy will scout our surroundings, try and figure out what's up with the silence. Any objections?" he asked, hoping there would be none from Calen. Plus, if he could get Teddy away from Calen, maybe he could help relieve some of the obvious stress.
-
'Sounds good enough to me Master Setsuna, have fun on your nature walk.' Calen responded trying to be flippant but it came across a lot more straight than the gaunt boy intended. Unlike the rest of ASTC Calen had been lost for years in the forests of Mistral so the environment wasn't worrying for him but rather how it had changed their dynamic. Teddy was often quiet and Anna was withdrawn but everyone wasn't so depressed or on edge, and what was most worrying for Calen that he had grown so used to their normal team dynamic that it being gone made him feel measurably less. Obviously, Calen didn't like the sensation but with everyone as exhausted as they are the gaunt boy couldn't see any way force a conflict to take his mind off it outside of actually doing to work put in front of him. 'It's fine I didn't put that much effort into cooking anyway.' Calen muttered to himself as he walked slowly back towards the radio tower.
'Right so you have a look at the tower as see what you think might be the problem, there is definitely some damage to the wires so I'll start stripping down this junk and see if I can try to reuse any of the copper.' Calen explained as he took out one of his knives and, moving with practised grace, starting stripping any electrical wiring he found of their rubber casing. It wasn't much different from skinning a kill, all long smooth movements which allowed Calen to lose himself for a bit in the work. It was rather clear the normally hyper-social Huntsman-in-training wasn't really interested in talking much more. As for the tower itself it had held up reasonably well given the years that it had been left to decay. Most of the actual delicate electronics were still protected by rusted metal but the tower still wasn't functional. The wiring had worn out in places and the power source had been ripped away by either something big or something with heavy machinery.
As Teddy and Setsuna began their scouting mission around the decrypted village, having to walk around piles of rubble as well as the rather random placement of buildings made it difficult to quickly assess the situation. There was always another corner or another obstacle which could be hiding some threat. If the pair continued all the way outside the town there would be a small trail leading away(or towards) a nearby river which could be heard as the water rushed against the rocks providing some sort of relief against the oppressive silence. Other than that the trees stood, buildings crumbled, hills sat and valleys sagged; there wasn't anything obviously wrong other than it being particularly silent.
-
By the time Setsuna intervened to get everyone focused again, Teddy had already mentally checked out of the conversation. After days of non-stop overdramatic bickering happening in the team, he was prepared to sit there and let everyone spout off their opinions until they start to feel better about themselves. Splitting away from the rest of the team was a welcome reprieve from anything further with Calen. The last thing the team needed was a big blow up with the possibility of Grimm around.
The walk around town was generally unnerving. Having that much silence in a place like that will send a chill up anyone's spine. The tireless drudge of wilderness and ruined buildings does wear on a person. However, the Grimm threat still seemed to be far away. As long as they could get the tower up and running again, they would be set to get back.
Teddy took a quick peek in a half-destroyed building, checking the corners for signs of anything. "It appears there is damn well nothing here." he said, turning back to Setsuna. "Let's...I think we should check over by the river. If nothing else, I can grab some to boil for later."
-
Despite how utterly oppressing the abnormal silence felt to Anna, she abided by her leader's word, agreeing to the plan with a nod. With a brisk pace, she got out of the room and made her way downstairs and out of the door - as much as the window would be an excellent shortcut, the current situation did not make her feel like jumping from the second floor.
Turning as she exited the ex-home, she clearly heard Calen mutter resentful cooking-oriented remarks. When she was finally caught up with him, she made sure to let her thoughts be known. "You know damn well none of us could've made anything that good with what we have on hand." It wasn't an aggressive tone of voice, despite the choice of words. A frank and honest tone, really.
Wait, this wasn't what Set had set them out to do. They were supposed to fix the tower somehow. "Say, up to where did you inspect the wiring? If we can just pulse the radio tower itself, we can send morse code without needing any sort of control mechanism short of an on/off switch."
-
After checking the first dozen or so obstacles that could potentially conceal some sort of threat or a clue of what the silence indicated, Setsuna gave up on checking every nook and cranny, instead choosing to just walk in silence around the town eventually leading to some sort of trail. The sound of their footwear thudding off the floor gave way to flowing water on rocks which was oddly welcome as it was something other than silence and was naturally generated. Because of said silence, the duo were able to hear it from further than they normally would.
"Sure, Teddy." Setsuna replied, leading the way down the trail to the river. As expected there was basically nothing different that separated it from another river, no clues or anything that would help fix the tower. Dropping to his knees Setsuna leant forward to cup some water in his palms and splashed it on his face, hoping the refreshing sensation would help him refocus.
-
[Anna and Calen]
Calen opened his mouth to explain that Anna, as she often did, kind of misunderstood his words. He didn't mean he was disappointed in the quality of the food rather he was disappointed that no one seemed to have any interest in the food at all with everyone leaving without breakfast. But upon introspection, Calen didn't really see the point of making a deal out of it and instead just smiled and responded with a simple sentiment. 'Thank you, Miss Fall. Your concern is too kind.' Calen responded trying to emote vocal his smile as much as possible as obviously, Anna couldn't see his actually smile.
'I only checked the places in which the wires had been exposed to the elements as in the metal plating around the tower has fallen away but I can peal the rest away to double check.' Calen replied using his semblance to dash to the top of the tower, it shifted under the gaunt boy's inconsiderable weight so he gave the tower a few moments to stabilise before starting to peel the plating off. 'I suppose a morse code could work but we don't have the equipment to be able to receive any response or know if our message got received.' Calen continued before hastily adding. 'But that doesn't make it a bad idea, this is as good a place as any to set up in and a few days without walking does sound very attractive.'
It didn't take long for Calen to peel back, and where he could replace the plating, as such he found a few extra wires which had worn down and called them out to Anna. They weren't as damaged as the exposed wires but replacing them was probably a good idea just to be on the safe side. 'Regardless is we are trying to turn this thing back on or simply use it as a morse code relayer we need a power source like I said before this isn't exactly my area of expertise so I'm going to be relying on you here a bit Miss Fall.' Calen asked still rather embarrassed he had to admit ignorance. In order to try to get his mind off that Calen set himself the take of replacing the broken and worn wires by splicing some of the wires, he had claimed in his scavenging. 'There is no way these wires have the same grade as the tower normally used so we might have to replace the wires again as they blow.' Calen explained as he worked.
[Teddy and Setsuna]
Teddy and Setsuna followed a relatively well-worn game trail to the river and they made it to their destination without any interruption. What they found was a rather picturesque river surrounded by tall reeds and smooth stones. The illusion was only broken up by the complete lack of wildlife sounds and a small stain of blood still clinging to the rocks, it looked relatively recent as it was dry but it was small enough that the river would wash it away in time. The water itself was chill but fresh and clear and both Teddy and Setsuna could see small fish swimming around the waters. The best fishing times of dawn or dusk had past so there was little significant fish but with enough patience, Teddy would stock up a reasonable catch, even more, if lucky.
A few moments later there was rustling on the nearby bushes and after a short pause, a doe emerged to take a drink. It was a large creature, in the prime of its life and it eyed Teddy and Setsuna with an almost curious gaze rather than one of fear as if to say 'oh I didn't think humans lived nearby anymore.' After taking a long drink the doe would slowly return the way it came if Teddy or Setsuna didn't do anything to interrupt it.