[Dr. Gustave]

Zinnober 11th, 80 AC

Ah, the bustling streets of Vale. This time of the year they were completely flooded with humans and faunus getting ready for the Hallow's Eve festival. Spooky witches and scary skeletons littered the shops getting into the holiday spirit. Of course, this included homes as well, even faunus homes. Across the river from the commercial district, sat the residential area, and within that, several neighborhoods inhabited solely by Faunus.


Braith stood on her tiptoes, peeking her head over the window frame and looking out over the street. Braith was lucky. She lived juuuuuuuuuuuuust on the edge of the residential area, her street even lead to one of the bridges that connected the residential area to the commercial area! Sometimes, her mommy would let her walk to the commercial district with her friends, Indigo and Altan. Even if she didn't have any money to buy things, she liked being there! Seeing the shops and all the cool decorations, seeing hunters and huntresses! Oh, the hunters and huntresses! They were the coolest, Braith thought.

"Braith, honey!" Braith's mother called her from another room and she quickly got down off of her tiptoes and ran to her mother.

"Yes, mommy?" She said as she approached her mom. A rabbit faunus, just like Braith, though she had brown hair and large pair of brown ears. Braith's white hair and ears were still short, but that didn't matter, she liked them. She didn't care if Whitney already had her ears already grown in all the way, Whitney was just a meanie anyway.

"Mommy's going to work now, so you be good." She smiled softly and leaned down to rustle her daughter's hair, between her ears. "And remember, if anything happens, you call my scroll, okay? You know the number, right?" She leaned back up and held out her scroll.

"Yes! Uhm... 720... 5... 24... uhmmmmmm..." Braith scrunched her mouth up and furrowed her brow in thought. "... Oh! 2914!" She said, triumphantly, as she beamed with pride at her mother.

Her mother chuckled before nodding. "That's right, sweetie!" She quickly leaned back down and gave Braith a kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back tonight, there's food in the fridge for lunch and snacks in the cabinet. I left the television on Muppet Street, so you can watch that if you get bored. I'll see you later tonight, honey."

"Okay, mommy." Her mother smiled before heading out of the door behind her and locking it. As Braith's mother made her way down the apartment building, Braith ran by to the window to try and see her leave the street.


Yes, the bustling streets of Vale were quite the site to see, and though most residents of the apartment complexes were at work during the busy hours, plenty of happy people passed through the neighborhood to get to the commercial district. Of course, they can't all be nice, happy folks.

[snaketicus]

Deleted

[Janus Rogo]

Another man lurks at the edge of perception. Older, a bit worn down, but wiser. He'd arrived well beforehand, taken a seat just out of the center of the restaurant, and waited patiently. He'd shared some friendly conversation with his waitress, telling her a handful of awful jokes and lame flirtations. A pair of beers and once he closed out, she dumped him from her memory. Nothing really important to see with him.

The guy didn't look like much. An old, worn down jacket sat in the booth next to him. A long sleeved shirt, just a size too large on him and a pair of worn down jeans. A scruffy beard helped to mask his features even further. At this point he was basically just another near vagrant. Too poor to afford anything decent, too poor to drink in finer establishments, too poor to even be a criminal threat.

At least he didn't have to wait too long. His contact showed up, finally, waiting in the shadows of a nearby alley. He figured it was him, at least. The weapon, whatever it was clipped to his hip was a little to large and out of place on the reedy kid. He waited a moment, watching him, trying to verify that this was who he was looking for. The boy sat and listened to the music, getting way too focused on it. His coat was out of place on him as well, the older mercenary thought. Too dirty on a face too clean.

Or maybe he was just being paranoid, he thought as he stood up, shouldered a duffel bag, and walked out of the bar. The younger Huntsman lit a cigarette, eyes focused on the flames.

Janus Rogo smirked at the coughing as he approached.

"Don't worry, kid, you'll get there eventually." he said with a growl, barely loud enough to be heard over the din of the jazz band. He looked around at the surrounding commercial district, then jerked his head, indicating the other man should follow him towards the residential districts.

[snaketicus]

Deleted

[Janus Rogo]

Janus' face twitched at the mention of his name. At this point, there was no purpose to stand on circumstance. His posture shifted. His free hand relaxed by his side, clearly unaccustomed to being empty. His eyes subtly swept the area more, seeking and searching. The warrior edged out a little more.

"So, they told you my name? Hnh. Wish they hadn't done that.", he growled.

In the back alley they went down, he was more satisfied. He pulled the satchel off his shoulder and passed off one of the briefcases inside of it.

"This should be easy enough. Drop the package and leave the area. Try not to be noticed, kid."

The kid obviously didn't think much of him, either through ignorance of his history or through simple arrogance, but he shouldn't really fault him for that. He was out of his element, that much was sure. Some student running missions. Atlas wouldn't have stood for that kind of behavior, not when he'd been there.

"Think you can manage?"

[snaketicus]

Deleted

[Janus Rogo]

"Don't worry about the name, kid. It's nothing.", Janus said lightly, nodding at a pair of Vales compacted apartment buildings. Their targets. "First floor, second door from the stairs towards us. 118."

The older man hefted his own briefcase, keeping the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He shouldn't need its contents, but after seeing the reaction to an Inquisitor some weeks ago, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. Gunning down a bunch of students wouldn't be the best of ideas, but if it came down to a shootout...

"Meet me on 8th and Carter, the far corner, in fifteen minutes, and we can move on to the next step. Try not to be too obvious, kid? We may be dropping some messages, but our employer doesn't want the vessel known.", he said as he headed across the street.

The number of civilians in the area were a concern, but most of them passed him by, ignorant of who he was. He nodded politely at one man, thanking him as he held the gate to the complex open. He looked off to the side as he passed the security camera, keeping his features obscured, and with that he was out of the way. He walked through the complex's central hallway, dropped the briefcase in a trashcan, and headed back for the entrance. He smiled and nodded at a young Faunus as he walked by, rolled his shoulders, and set off down the street, looking for his counterpart.

[snaketicus]

Deleted

[Janus Rogo]

Janus nodded politely, then looked back at the apartments. He reached into his pocket and produced a scroll. There was a slight moment of hesitation, almost as if he were second-guessing himself, then he keyed transmit.

[Janus Rogo]

The effects on one building were instantaneous. An orange flash of light spread from the front door of Apartment 118. A pressure wave spread down the street from Fionn's package. The windows across from it blew in, nearby cars flipped over, a random passerby's was picked up and hurled into another dwelling some twenty feet away. The front set of apartments was almost completely obliterated. For a split second, it was like someone had scooped out the front of the building, then the shockwave hit the older mercenary. Almost unconsciously he shifted his stance, bracing himself, shielding his eyes from what little debris was making it as far as them. His eyes cleared and he saw the remains of one building. The explosion had forced most of the debris further inward, sending a spread of masonry, carpentry, plumbing, furniture, and assorted personal effects punching through whatever stood in its way. As Janus watched, the structure sagged noticeably, slumping forward.

He turned toward the building he'd planted his bomb in. There'd been no effect. He frowned, then hit "Send" on the throwaway scroll twice more, before it finally responded. If he'd been over head, he'd have seen the top of the building bulge upward for a split second. As it was, he got to see every ground floor window blow outward, along with several of the walls. He saw the smoke and slight debris come pouring out of the central entryways, then watched the whole apartment building start dropping. The first floor was pancaked, he must've hit one of the main load bearing beams, judging by how quickly it went down.

Both buildings smoldered, smoke started to rise from above them as damaged appliances, fuel, or electric lines caught. It was eerily quiet for a second, before panic began to set in. Screaming from up and down the neighborhood, people pouring out of their dwellings, trying to call for emergency services. Screams from inside the collapsing buildings. Car alarms up and down the block chirped and screeched. It was utter chaos.

Janus himself looked over at Fionn, a slight frown on his face.

"Yeah, kid, we should probably leave...."

[Swordslinger]

"Umm...Ow."

That was Camille's first thought upon returning to consciousnesses.

One minute, she had been walking the streets of Vale, the next, an explosion caught her in the side and she was throw across the street before crashing against a building. As of now, however, her vision was partially blocked by rubble as debris had landed on her. Groaning softly, Camille rolled onto her stomach, shifting the rubble slightly as she did.

Feeling for her weapon, she rolled her eyes in annoyance when she discovered it was out of it's sling.

Oh well, she'd be fine, right now, however, she needed to get up and move. There was no time to be laying around, whatever happened, there was bound to be injured people, she needed to assist those in need, and find the cause, if possible.

Forcing her legs to work, Camille ignored the sharp pain that rattled through them and stood.

Breathing heavily, Camille took the time to draw her secondary weapon, shift it into knife form, and paused as she looked around.

"Hello?" She called out.

[Dr. Gustave]

Braith sat watching the television, its illuminus glow outshining the dull light from the overcast day. On the television, two puppets made to look like hunters were smacking against a puppet made to look like a Beowolf. Braith, clearly content with the show, giggled as the two beat up the monster.

As the show ended with the catchy ending tune, the little girl looked down at the half eaten snacks by her side on a plate on the floor. Sure, they were tasty, but Braith wanted something a bit more tasty than just snacks. Braith's head turned to look toward the door leading to the apartment building's stairs and paused for a moment. 'Mom won't be home for a while...' She thought to herself as she lifted herself up off the floor as the next show began to play in front of her.

She made her way into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge door. Way up at the top, far beyond her reach, sat a delicious, decadent, chocolate cake; something her mom had bought for herself and Braith to celebrate her recent birthday. About half was already missing, the chocolatey center oozing out on to the cake tray. Braith was sure her mother wouldn't mind if she just had a little bit.

The girl furrowed her brow and looked up toward the cake, her bunny ears flopped downward and her hand to her chin. She'd seen smart people on her mother's shows do this when they were deep in thought and she thought it would help her figure out a solution to the current problem standing before her, she just wasn't tall enough to get to the cake. Braith was a resourceful girl though, even without pretending to be one of the smart men from the television, and quickly realized her plan of action. With a hop in her step, she bounded away and dragged a chair in front of the fridge.

With clear pride in her eyes, she climbed up o to the chair and layer her hands on the plastic covering that protected the cake. Now she just had to take off the plastic covering and-
BOOM

Suddenly an extreme loud noise rocked the air around her, sending quakes through eh ground and air and shaking the very building. In the commotion, the chair Braith had been standing on tipped and fell over, bringing her and the cake down with it.

As the ringing in her ears subsided, she slowly opened her eyes to see the cake splattered over top of her and the floor. The entire kitchen had been ruined, where the fridge once stood, a huge piece of rubble laid and in the wall, the hole where it had crashed through. And though she hadn't noticed it immediately, the pain of a gash across the top of her wrist quickly came flooding forward.

Mom was going to be mad, was the only thing that ran through Braith's head as tears welled in her eyes.



Far away, on the rooftop of one of the other apartment buildings, sat Cornix, casually relaxing on a beach chair she had set up on the stair accessible roof. She was wearing casual clothing, as not to attract attention, and her long hair blew back as the shockwave  rushed past her.

"Hm." She thought to herself as she folded up the chair and headed back to the roof access stairs. "Bigger than expected."

[Vahn]

Shocked and confused at what had just happened a few blocks away from him, Vahn quickly toss his coat and rush towards the exploding buildings.  His helmet develops around his head while he search for survivors.  "What the hell is going on?" Is all that he can think of while loading a canister of water dust in his revolver and having a wind one at the ready in the other hand.

[Kellenredx]

Another day of sore muscles, of course it was his fault for entering a combat school and only doing the minimum physical training. The exercises being required of him were only getting more intense as time went on, which makes sense seeing as he was supposed to be shaped into a defender of humanity by his instructors. Zwei's policy of 'getting on it later' had really worked against him now. The masked boy's posture was sightly hunched with his neck craned forward; his hands were stuffed into his blue jeans' pockets and he wore a dirty white t-shirt. 

          He was traveling pretty light today just a pocketful of Lien to accompany him to the grocery store to pick up this week's food. Being in no hurry his pace was quite leisurely, allowing him time to enjoy his surroundings and allow himself to attempt to relax a little. Zwei grumbled to himself about the prices of food before his thought was cut short by a piercing wave of sound that made his ears ring and hurt. He was a few blocks away from the blast, he could roughly tell where the blast originated from by examining his environment.

Honestly though, he wanted to run, it would have been easy for him to just run with the rest of the crowd, nobody was stopping him and although he didn't understand the situation, it was obvious that there might be danger. He bit his lower lip hard, punishing himself for such a thought, even if he knew he wasn't all that special, to just run away would be to throw away his years of hard work. He began to run towards the source of the deafening blasts, weaving through the crowd, helping those to tripped back to their feet. If anything, he could provide some relief to the victims of the tragedy.

[Swordslinger]

And now she was limping. Great.

"Hello?" Camille called out again, having picked up Tempre as she did. Quickly changing it into sword form, she planted the blade into the earth and used it as a walking stick.

Slowly limping across the street, Camille almost sighed in relief as she heard distant sirens filter into her hearing. Wait, actually, she could hear somebody else...Rapid footfalls...Was someone running?

"Hello?!" She called out again, this time in direction to the source of the noise.