Ģરίɱɱ ώλરȘ (IC -- REBOOT)

Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair
Mentions - @Accelerator @R-9 Pilot


After giving Ael the syringe, Xanthias mentally prepared himself for a detailed explanation of what had happened and why the city was missing a warehouse. His face remained passive for most of the tale, with his eyebrows lifting every so often as the details suddenly became more and more dramatic. From the entrances, to the separate battles, right down to the rocket launchers the cowards had to take out just to bring things to a draw. Not to mention the idiots used those long ranged weapons in an enclosed building; were they suicidal as well as vengeful?

"What a story... Can't believe those bastards had to use bigass rockets just to bring a street fight to a draw. Not to mention almost kill themselves trying to take you all out. But that'll explain the big hoopla goin' on and why Blanche needed an extra dose." He sighed, inwardly believing his granddaughter had been lucky to be able to group up with other powerful individuals. Though her Semblance was incredibly powerful, there was only so much she could do against an entire gang.

However, hearing an all too familiar name caught his attention.

"You mentioned Nudara? As in the Shreik fellow?" He asked the two as he rummaged around his counter for empty dust bottles that he used for display.

He put out every kind of Dust type available in front of Chro. Xanthias made plenty of business not just on bullets but on Dust as well; he always had to keep plenty in stock. Although, only one type was completely sold out. "These are the size and everything I got. Fire, Ice, Lightning, Energy, Earth, Steam, and Gravity. No Lava; someone bought me out on that." He listed for her.
 
Doran Kol

Time: Morning

Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods [OPENING SOON]

Mentions: N/A





It was a quiet morning in Vacuo for the most part. The streets were rather busy with people working, shopping, pick-pocketing and the occasional mugging in broad daylight. Though, as any local could tell, something was different this morning. Everything was there and it was business as usual, except for the gang violence, perhaps due to a certain explosion at a nearby warehouse. Oh, what an unfortunate accident.

"Curse this damn city... Could worry about your Lien less at the Mistrali black market..." A gruff voice murmured aloud as the large form belonging to it waded through the streets.

The body, though largely concealed through use of a cloak, was on the younger side, late twenties to early thirties, with a sturdy physique that discouraged any tests of luck with him. He possessed short black hair on his head and a beard circling around his mouth and piercing gold irises. Wandering for a short while, the man stopped in front of a blank building.

Kyrian's General Goods
[OPENING SOON]


"...Tried to open a fucking shop, you kidding me...?" The man grumbled and shook his head in disbelief before pushing the door open, a bell at the top of the frame ringing to alert any inside to his presence. "Kol? Where they at?"

The one the man called out to could presumably be the one leaning back in the center of the room. Whatever the shop would eventually be, for now it was mostly an empty room with some shelves, a jukebox, a table and a chair, to which a man in his mid-twenties laid with feet kicked up and head laid back with a magazine of some kind laying over his face.

The sleeping man stirred in response to the entry of the larger, cloaked man. With a yawn and groggy movements, he leaned forward, allowing the magazine to slip off his face and fall into his lap. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he glanced at the newcomer who stared back, seemingly displeased.

"Jeez... Can't you knock Carran...?" Kol remarked, lazily removing his feet from the table and pushing himself up to his feet.

"I could," The man, Carran, replied. "Did you fucking sleep here?"

"Hey... It's a roof," Doran retorted, earning a scoff from his visitor as he made his way over to a side door of some kind. Opening it revealed it was a closet, though rather than cleaning supplies it stored the unconscious bodies of three tied-up individuals. "And there's your cargo."

Shaking his once more, Carran approaches the three and eyes them a moment before pulling out a Scroll and holding it up to each of their faces.

"Yep, that's them... these idiots really tried opening up shop here?" The man questioned as he dragged the men out of the small storage space and placed them in what appeared to be hand-constraints. "Everyone in this damn country is nuts... Fucking bandits, explosions and then these idiots."

"Hey, the explosions aren't... super typical... At least the warehouses aren't..." Doran mused as his guest frisked the other guests. "I guess Vale isn't that much better if you can't even stop a couple of dumbasses like these from running across the border."

The large man scowled over disapprovingly before letting out a sigh. "It's... been easier to get sidetracked lately. Vale hasn't turned to shit as much as Vacuo, but we still got hit bad. At least by doing this we can keep up some morale."

Making his way back to the seat, Doran wasted no time in kicking his feet back up and lazing around. "And get some promotions, right?"

Once again, he received a scowl from the Vale inhabitant. Carran reached to his waist, grabbing a pouch of Lien and tossing it over to the table before rather comically hoisting the three tied together over his shoulder like a rucksack and turning to leave.

"Thank you~ Come again~" Doran remarked sarcastically as he laid back in his seat, resting the magazine over his face once again. Unfortunately, just as he seemed to get comfortable, he was hit with what felt like a set of papers. "Really? We're throwing things now?"

"That's the left of what was on them; proof of ownership," Carran stated.

"The hell are you throwing it at me for?" Doran questioned, making a minimal effort to lean over the side of his chair to pick up the set of papers.

"So you get a fuckin' roof! Tired of having to search for your ass. Call it a handyman service, or something" Carran suggested with an amused chuckle.

Opening his mouth to retort, Doran stops and simply watches the man leave.

"Yep... nothing suspicious about a giant guy dragging around three bodies."

Looking at the papers, he eventually lets out a sigh and tosses them nonchalantly on the table as he stands up, leaving for a moment before returning to the exact same spot and position. Legs kicked up. Head leaned back. Magazine on face.

Outside, the sign on the window has been slightly altered, the original name crossed out and replaced with Doran's Handyman Service or something - Name Pending.
 

Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair


"I think that's the last name he mentioned," Chro answered the question. "Didn't ask about the family business, so no clue about connections there."

Chro considered her options. "Interesting to hear someone's bought out the one type. Probably nothing, unless everyone's bought out, though." She eventually selected Fire, Ice, and Lightning crystals that would fit her sword. "These should do for now." She fishes what looks like a personal card out of her wallet and slides it across the counter. "Uh, you do take plastic, right?" She should've asked that first. But it is clear she's not trying to get her foundation to foot the bill.

"Any idea when Blanche will be able to hear my offer of magical adventure? I should probably get going sooner rather than later, for his sake." Chro tilted her head toward Ael. "I can carry him back to town just fine, but I'd rather not just the same."
 

Setting/Location
Time -Late Morning
Weather - Clear, Hot
Location - On Way To Vacuo Ruins
Tags - N/A


It had only been minutes by now since Axel had left Zramore as he drove through the seemingly endless desert towards the direction of where the ruins of old Vacuo laid. The path that lead out of Zramore and towards the ruins was nothing more than dried up wasteland as far as the eye could see with cactus and dead trees every so often. With the sun beating down on his head, the only thing that kept Axel from overheating was the dry air brushing against him face while he wore his black uniform that he normally wore when working at the café, throughout the entire ride to his destination , his thoughts wandered as he searched his thoughts about what he would find and if he would get any of the answers he was looking for there.



After about an hour or so into the ride, several large buildings began to come into view as it was clear enough that some were still crumbling with time and no doubt the infestation of Grimm that probably lurked the shadows. The one building that stood out compared to all others though was none other than Shade Academy, compared to everything else, the academy seemed to be in better condition than expected.
Closing in towards the city, he only came to a halt at the massive half broken arch that would lead into the city, parking the bike next to the arch and bringing his emerald gaze upwards only to make out parts of the word 'Welcome' and 'Vacuo' as the rest of the words were either broken off or burnt away.

Immediately, he progressed his way into the ruins with his sword in hand. The entire time he walked down the empty streets there had been nothing more than silence, trash and debris absolutely everywhere. Axel's main destination was to reach the remains of the academy just so that he could head into the security room and at least see if there was any possible footage that might've been available so that he could gain some sort of further answers to what happened all those years ago.
 
Fieldset:
Collabpost with @Cresion Breezes
Mentions - @R-9 Pilot, @Jessica2477, @Accelerator
Small forested area, Vacuo.
Shortly after sunrise.

Reign had already spent multiple days going around Zramore and the surrounding area, more like a ghost than anything else. He never properly entered the town, usually leaving before anyone could take notice of him. It wasn’t anything unusual for him to do. In fact, this had become the young man’s main way of living after the academies had fallen. He would always single out a single weapons or dust shop where he would restock, then go on a rampage with the local Grimm, return to the shop and then repeat. They had taken almost all goals from him, so why should he not be allowed to have his personal revenge, whilst also keeping the outskirts of the city cleared of Creatures of Grimm, as much as a single soul could clear an entire area anyways.

The remainder of a Beowolf pack was just closing in on him. A pack previously made of seven Beowolfs, now only had four left, which were trying to somewhat surround Reign. He looked for his best way of escape. He was a formidable fighter, but he still had to admit that four Beowolfs dogpiling him was no fun thought. Reign hurled one of his Traumfängers into the air, extending his hand toward it, and zipping up to his chakram in an instant, just to throw the other chakram right behind one of the Beowolfs and do the same again, this time getting pulled toward the ground however.. Once his feet touched the ground, he immediately pushed off of it again, starting to punch and slice at the next Beowolf with his weapons. After the first went down, Reign moved on to the next. Each attack with another, louder yell, and with his emotions growing stronger he just attracted more Grimm for him to attack. A welcome side effect.

It wasn’t long before the larger Grimm arrived: As a few Nevermores began to swoop down, shrieking as they extended their claws, preparing to dive down to the ground—before one of its wings was clipped by a whirling slash cloaked in a light blue hue. “Tsk.” He didn’t know why hoards of Grimm was appearing near here, but Acroma was annoyed by it as he caught the metal card that boomeranged back to him after tearing through the Grimm’s limb. His vision was blurred, he was aiming for the head, and he had missed. The dust compartments mounted on the metal sheet went down by a third, the miss had terrible consequences as Acroma tossed out the card once more at the falling Nevermore. This time it was lodged into the creature’s neck, before light blue spikes created from hard-light dust exploded out, decapitating the Grimm. As the large carcass faded the young man went up and picked up the card, sticking it into the ouch mounted on the left of his belt, while pulling out a new one from the right container.

The growls and shrieks of Grimm still rang out through the area as Acroma decided to leave, the place was no longer safe, and he can barely fight. The air felt different, much more different than the last time he was out. It must have been months, months that he was trapped in some unknown place while the world moved on without him. The forest scenery was blurry and his head felt heavy, what was the last time he’d slept? A week ago? Or when he was passed out in a lab? But there was no time to rest, more Nevermore swooped ahead in the sky and the sound of prowling land dwelling Grimm became louder, as the scenery gave away to reveal a few piles of squirming black material. It was Grimm, Beowolfs, or something, but amongst the creatures was something else...it seemed like, a person. Muscle memory always served Acroma well, as a metal card was swiftly launched at the space between two Beowolfs, hard light blades extruded as it flew past the Grimm, skewering both. It was only then he could take a good look at the only other person he’s seen weeks. Acroma felt his breathing grow heavy as the idea of being chased out here for weeks sent paranoia down his mind again. No, no, this isn’t Atlas, it’s been weeks, he ran non-stop for so long, it’s not possible. But the young man wasn’t someone to take chances, chance wasn’t by his side at the moment anyway. “W-who, what, I mean…” Acroma held up the metal card that just returned to him after finishing off the Beowolfs, and pointed it towards the other combatant. His voice sounded surreal, not only raspy but slightly shaking as well, it was probably months since his last normal conversation. “You! What are you doing here!”

Reign was surprised by the sudden explosion of blue light and the death of the Beowolfs. As if by second nature he reached down to his belt, grabbing his other weapon from it and pointing it in the direction he presumed the explosion to have come from. Only to see through the sights of his gun that he was pointing it’s barrel in the direction of a blue clad, what appeared to be, human male, who was holding a rectangular object in his hand, made of some darkened material he couldn’t identify from this distance. He thought for a second, about using his weapon to close in, but decided against it. Best case scenario was that he would just make an unnecessary enemy. When the other yelled over at him, Reign lowered his weapon, the other didn’t appear to terribly hostile. Maybe very cautious at worst, which he couldn’t hold against anyone in a world like this. As he attached Albtraum back to his belt, whilst simultaneously having both his chakrams revert back to their more non-lethal rod state, he raised his hands slightly above his head, trying to tell the other that he wasn’t hostile.

“I am a wanderer, who had an unfortunate run in with creatures of Grimm nothing more.” As Reign spoke with his soothing voice he started slowly walking toward the other one. He held his two, now rod-like, weapons up high, before stowing them away at the back of his belt, now finally letting his hand fall back down to his sides. He moved carefully and slowly, as to not the startle the other, he appeared agitated as it is, and scaring him away would have no benefits. Who knew? The other might be in need of a helping hand, he seemed trouble enough to make that assumption.

As he came closer to the other he got a better look at him, taking in as much detail as he could. The other had long hair, just like him, partially black and partially white. He was taller than Reign, maybe six to eight inches. He wore mostly black, with a blue jacket slung around his shoulders, how ironic that the other’s clothes seemed to be the opposite of his black and red color scheme. Reign also got a better look at the object in the others hands, it appeared to be made of blackened metal, and on the back of the objects were tubes, five each, two bigger at the outside and three smaller ones toward the middle, filled with what appeared to be two different kinds of dust, one Reign assumed to be light dust, one thing was for sure, these things weren’t toys, they were weapons. What he could also see were the heavy bags under the other’s eyes, he must have gone at least three nights or more without sleep.

“My name is Reign.” He began, hoping introducing himself would make him appear at least a little more trustworthy or friendly. “Have you not slept the last nights? You know, lack of sleep might ruin that pretty face of yours.” He couldn’t help but make a small comment. It just simply wasn’t in his blood to keep his mouth shut when he saw an opportunity to make a small verbal jab at someone else.

“But what is it that you are doing here?” Reign asked, stopping maybe three and a half to four feet away from the other. Getting too close might just spark his suspicion even further, if his comments had not already done so.

Acroma's hand shook slightly as he saw the other approach. He took a good look at the man, trying to blink out the cold sweat the dripped into his eyes. A red cloak, tattered like his own attire, and weapons that were sheathed earlier. The shaking arm calmed down a bit as Acroma decided to return his weapon as well, but his arm's motion halted and instead sent the darkened steel sheet straight up. Another Nevermore shriek as the creature fell out of the sky branded by those signature light blades, struggling a bit before fading away.

Ah, the other seems calm. He was the one attracting Grimm now, he needed to pull it together as well. “Y-you…” Acroma's hand steadied a bit but his voice retained the shake as the other introduced himself. “My name...I-I, my name is…” He put his hand over his eyes, trying to gather his mind. Goodness, of course he remembered his name, but it's been so long. It felt like an eternity. “I'm Acroma, my name...yeah, that's my name.”

Acroma stared up at the other. Reign? At least that was the name he caught between Grimm shrieks and his own head ringing. He had nice warmly colored eyes, like the warmth of the sun and air around them “Here? H-here?” It made Acroma's mind feel blank when he was asked what he was doing here.“ I-” He began speaking but cutted off with a deep breath. “I'm not supposed to be here...no...w-what, what continent is thi—” Ah right, he didn't even know what “here” is, the other would surely know and have an answer, but before Acroma could get that answer he collapsed. An iridescent light that reflected a rainbowly color briefly washed over him before fading away. It was his Aura, or at least what's left of it petering out.

The moment the other started to drop Reign rushed forward, catching him just before he hit the ground. The other, Acroma, he said his name was, looked as if he might as well be dead. His face had a sickly ashen color to it, even though Reign had never before seen Acroma, he was sure that this color was not natural, it was almost as if all the skin on his body was entirely devoid of color, not counting the heavy bags under his eyes.

The Grimm, that one of them had attracted started loosing track. Only few kept the two boys in sight. Reign sighed, defeated, he would rather tend to the other one now, he was clearly in need of some help. Reluctantly he pulled out both of his chakrams once more, having them eject their dust cartridges once they had folded over into the actual chakram. Both cartridges had only a little fire dust left. It’d have to do for the three Nevermores that seemed to stay around in the air, while the other Creatures of Grimm slowly took their leave.

“Stay calm. You can’t risk having all of them rush back to you.” The Nevermores now seemed to have spotted him proper, and were trying to attack. Reign tossed both of his chakrams toward the two Nevermores on the sides, in an arc. The blades of his weapons slashed through them, like a knife through butter, and when they first impacted the Grimm, both of his weapons started catching fire, still spinning, now both arcing toward the last remaining Nevermore, burning it to a crisp, like it’s two companions. When his weapons dropped to the ground Reign refrained from using his semblance, the more Aura he had left the better, instead he took out his sidearm.

“Four out of six shots left, with some spares at the ready. Should be alright if a stray Beowolf decides to turn up.” Slowly and cautiously he retrieved his weapons and returned to Acroma.

“He doesn’t even know where he is? Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?” He knelt beside the other boy once more. He was certainly not dressed like he was from Vacuo, the fabric of his clothes was much thicker than Reigns, long sleeves, thick pants that go down to the ankles, a thick jacket, even if just worn as a makeshift cape and to top that all off the thick fabric was also black? Yeah, certainly not from Vacuo. The sweat on his brow was another sign that he was dressed the wrong way, not accustomed to Vacuo’s temperatures, or both. Luckily, the boy didn’t seem to have passed out from some sort of heat-shock, he seemed to merely be catching up to all the sleep he had skipped.

Reign carried the other to a shadowy place. Despite him being smaller, Acroma was surprisingly a good few pounds lighter than Reign, so Reign had few trouble carrying him. After finding a spot cast over with shadows he took of the other’s jacket and propped his head up on it, as if it was a makeshift pillow. He was lucky to have passed out in one of the small forested areas in Vacuo as well, and not directly in the sun. Reign then went to open up the other’s shirt, as much as it felt wrong and odd to be undoing a total stranger’s clothing, at least he wouldn’t overheat.

The next thing he did was taking out one of the spare bullets he had for his gun. He pressed it against the palm of his own hand, and it ever so slightly emitted a crimson glow for about three seconds, Reign’s sign that the bullet was now tied to him and his semblance. Carefully he tucked away the bullet in the pockets of Arcoma’s pants. If he wanted to get to him quickly, for whatever reason, this should do it.

“So, what’s next? He hasn’t been sleeping for ages, so I’ll go out on a limb and say that he either hasn’t been eating well, or food poisoned himself. So I guess that’s next on the list.” Reign took another look at the other one. From what he could tell, he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, good, that way he wouldn’t attract any more Grimm, although Reign was not going to go terribly far away, he didn’t want to have an unnecessary death on his hands. Acroma likely had family and friends, somewhere, and it would be unfair to take someone away from them because of his laziness and carelessness.



A few hours had gone by. Reign had gotten lucky, he had managed to find a small, what seemed to be, hare family. One of the few animals that lived in the heat of Vacuo and was easily huntable and edible. Reign had managed to pick two of them off, likely too much for two people, he couldn’t even imagine eating more than half of one of them, but he would rather have too much and then give some of it back to mother earth instead of not having enough food. Besides, to his knowledge, hares reproduced rather quickly. The animals were easily prepared, even though he questioned why his mother insisted on teaching him how to cook and everything that has to go along with it, now he was more than happy that she did.

“Hey... sleepyhead. Wake up.” He whispered to the other, trying to make his voice sound as melodic as possible and shaking him out of his sleep gently. “You know I went through the trouble of making you food. Now you better wake up and eat. My cooking isn't that bad, or so I’ve been told.”

The shaking woke Acroma, as his eyes fluttered open he felt his muscles tense up once more and his instincts took over for a moment, before remembering what happened. “O-oh.” When he saw Reign, reality finally took over once more, he blinked a few times, trying to get himself awake. The area was quiet, the Grimm were gone, it would be bad if more were attracted here.

“Thank you.” Acroma whispered as he tried to calm himself. “...For saving me.” And likely many others too. The past few weeks Acroma has been fighting not only the Grimm roaming in the outside world, but also the one that was put into him. It was dangerous out here, at day he forced himself to be calm and staggered along, but whenever he tried to get a moment of sleep nightmares began to return. Acroma didn't mind the nightmares, he had prepared for what happened to him, it was the Grimm that approached him at night. It kept on awakening the Grimm that was in him, it tried to take control, so it could fight for its survival. Acroma couldn't let it, he's seen what people could become if they relinquished control. He wasn't about to become one of those.

After a few moments Acroma managed to wake himself up. He can feel his Aura replenishing, gradually healing the fatigue from the past days. “It smells wonderful.” He replied with a soft smile as he looked up at Reign.Who Reign was and what he does is still unknown to Acroma, though his actions made it clear that he was friendly.

“And, um, you're a little...too close.” In an attempt to get up from the ground Acroma can see that the other boy was basically right beside him. He tried to point it out as gently as possible, with the same faint smile. He was talking to the person who just saved his life after all.

“Am I? I apologize then.” Reign said with a wide grin as he moved away a little. Reign suspected that no one would know that his questions wasn’t entirely rhetorical, a stranger would not know anyways, but the concept of personal space had always escaped Reign to a certain degree. He understood that some people where not comfortable with others close to them, but that’s where it stopped. That wasn’t helped by the fact that Reign had never had any sense of personal space, he had always been perfectly fine with people being close.

“Well, eat. I made it pretty much just for you. Assumed you haven’t been eating well if you are as tired as you are.” He gestured towards the food he had made. “And let me know what you think, alright?” Reign himself wasn’t sure if he was entirely serious with what he just said. Reign let a bit of time pass by, just laying down on the ground, with his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky.

The smell of the food was distractingly tempting to Acroma, like how he can barely remember the last time he properly slept, he can barely remember the last time he ate real food as well. What the hell was he eating anyways? Probably the grass. Standing up he picked up his jacket after straightening out the wrinkles, it wasn’t needed, but it was something he was used to, before grabbing some of the food that Reign showed to him. “It’s amazing.” While it is true that Acroma haven’t ate in a fair amount of time, he had to admit that even in Atlas it was hard to comeby meals that are this well cooked. Well, most things up in Atlas was processed anyways. “Well, much different than what I’m used to.” He looked up at the other, who seemed to be busy looking at the sky.

“I thank you for the compliments. And you are in Vacuo.” Reign spoke up again. “You asked before what continent you are on, right? Well, the continent is Sanus and the kingdom is Vacuo.” Reign sat up again. He voice had changed as he spoke, from his usual rather cheery, slightly raspy voice to a more silent and sincere tone.

Vacuo. When Acroma heard that his heart sank a bit, but along with a sense of relief. He was far from Atlas, and he probably won’t be able to get back there soon, but the Atlesian military had less power in these parts of the world. It’ll be less likely for him to get caught again before sneaking back.

“You are definitely not from here. The clothes you have on you are not at all fitting the temperatures in Vacuo.” Reign now undid the ragged red cloak and put it aside, just leaving his upper body in a thin, black, sleeveless shirt.

“Most people here wear thin fabrics, and either go around with their shirts and jackets always opened or without sleeves. If you don’t want to get a heat shock, then you shouldn’t put on that jacket, and leave your shirt open, like now.” Reign snickered a little. “Who knows? May attract some pretty guy or gal, wouldn’t be surprised. The jacket can help in the night though, then it gets colder and then you should probably button up that shirt, unless you’re used to the cold anyways.” Reign kept explaining with as soothing a voice as he could muster. “Speaking of clothes. There is a bullet in the left pocket of your pants.”

“You never answered my question. What is it that brought you here?” Reign looked Acroma directly in the eyes. The color of the two boys’ irises was another contrast. Reign’s had a warm beryl, almost red color to them, while Acroma had dark blue eyes, they even seemed a little cold to Reign, a welcome difference from the almost constantly hot weather.

“I don’t know what brought me here.” Acroma tried to remember what happened to him after he was locked up in Atlas for awhile. “I came from Atlas.” He fumbled a bit with his shirt collar and buttons as he replied, thinking about Reign’s earlier comment on his attire. Putting a hand on his side he can feel a few ribs clearly, before this he haven’t realized how much his body wasted away. A deep sign came out of the young man as he tried to organize his outfit and push his dual colored hair locks out of his eyes. “You know, this type of thing tend to happen up there….” Acroma wasn’t sure how much Reign knew about Atlas, but despite their riches and power corruption ran rampant, kidnappings of people and exchange of information was almost common. His family had dealt with it for years now, he knew it was coming to him, but it still took its toll. “I mean, getting kidnapped and shipped to another continent that is.”

“Kidnappings happen in Atlas just like that? Must be a very, interesting everyday life then. Atlas is pretty much on the other end of Remnant, so getting there might take a while. Well, just your luck that you met someone who’s been strolling around in Vacuo for… a little too long to be considered healthy.” Reign smiled brightly at the other, he hadn’t been so excited for a long time.

“And don’t worry about that there.” he gestured toward the slightly exposed ribs. “You did say my cooking was good, so here’s to hoping I can get you a little more on there. On a more serious note. I doubt that kidnapping is a regular thing in Atlas, especially if you then end up in Vacuo of all places, where no one benefits from the kidnapping in the first place. So, is there maybe a reason someone pulled a sack over your pretty face?” The look on Reign’s face was a weird mix of happiness, excitement, but also concern, although the wide grin did not leave his lips.

“Of course it was an interesting life.” Acroma replied a bit more light heartedly, “I’ve fought a Leviathan one on one before.” He left out the part where he used over half a ton of hard light dust. When Reign brought up the doubts about him being shipped to Vacuo, Acroma paused for a moment. He wondered whether or not he should tell the other about what was happening back there. The screaming, the battle, and the Grimm that haunted him. Looking down at the ground Acroma felt that it was better to not let just anyone know, if the information would be made public, it would be by his family.

“Well, of course there is a reason.” While it’s true every powerful person, powerful family in Atlas had their own agenda, pulling illegal stunts was always the last line. “My family...most militia in Atlas don’t like us.” Acroma shrugged as he tried to portray the situation in a lighter fashion, “You see, we do our own thing and we don’t tend to listen to the military, so that annoyed a lot of people. They kidnapped me and tried to ransom the rest of my family into listening to Atlas command.” A light chuckle came from Acroma as he finished the sentence, “Too bad I was good enough to get out on my own.” He looked up at Reign with a prideful smile.

Reign couldn’t help but snicker at Acroma’s expression, “You, my dear, are good enough for a nap, and that’s about it.” like a child the smaller one stuck out his tongue a little, winking at the other, “Say then, if it’s your family that caused all this, even if not directly through their hands, what’s your last name then? Maybe it’ll ring a bell.” Reign said, with a more serious expression again.

“I guess my performance hasn’t been the best then.” Acroma shrugged off Reign’s comments with another small laugh, since it was true that the first thing he did in front of him was pass out cold, probably didn’t leave the best first impression. Though the air quickly turned more serious as he was asked about his family name. The Leicesters had a complicated relation with Atlas, and a more complicated one with the rest of the world. While they didn’t have any major reputation stains compared to other families like the Shreiks, their transformation from a dust research lab to entertainment center certainly didn’t come without controversy.

“Leicester, Acroma Leicester.” His full name was never something he had to tell others, as everyone knew back in Atlas. But here is different, it would be something reserved only for those who are trustworthy.

Leicester…” Reign repeated the name a few times, each time with a different pronunciation, hoping to eventually get it right.

“I have never heard of that name, sorry.” He said eventually shrugging apologetically, “So, you are an atlesian guy, who is apparently a thorn in the side of the atlesian military, I will just not ask whether or not you are a criminal, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt with that. Well then, welcome to Vacuo, my name is Reign Beaux DeWynters, I hope you have a fun stay. I will be your tour guide, just tell me what’s next.” Reign was somewhere in between being serious and joking. But he did mean being Acroma’s glorified tour guide, what else would he be doing? Going around killing Grimm for the rest of eternity was the most likely answer, and with that being the other option, he’d rather risk actually siding with a criminal than doing what, in the end, would amount to nothing. And a trip around the continent, and maybe even others, with someone else could certainly be fun. Reign liked Acroma, to the degree that you can like someone who you have just met, he brought a little bit of excitement into the otherwise rather grey life he had lived, and while he wouldn’t say it aloud, he was already thankful for that alone.

A wave of relief washed over him as Reign admitted to not knowing about his family, being commented on by the outside world was always a pain. “It’s good that you don’t know, the more you know in this world the more tiring it is to live.” He reassured the other with what his brother always told him.

A cough came out of Acroma as he heard Reign questioned whether or not he was a criminal, perhaps he had underestimated the impression that the Atlesian military left on the rest of the world. But even so the boy offered to be his guide in Vacuo, which let Acroma question whether he had anything better to do. “Ah well, if Atlas paints me as a criminal I won’t even be surprised.” After all he escaped with a secret that might collapse the world’s trust in them. “My tour guide?” Even though the other offered on his own, Acroma still felt like he should question it out of courtesy. “But, don’t you have anything to do? I mean, you said you were a wanderer but...don’t you have a home? Or a job?” Despite that Acroma felt happy that the first person he ran into at Vacuo was someone who was not only willing to save his life, but also continue on. He’s always anticipated the journey to be lonely, and he’s glad that it didn’t have to be that way.

At the mention of a home or a job, Reign didn’t know whether to be laughing or sad. “There was… something… I- I can’t quite explain what happened, I think I’m still trying to process it myself. But all the huntsmen academies just… well things went sideways in the most colossal way. Now? There isn’t much room for a huntsman, so I just go places. Getting some Lien from occasional small jobs some people are offering and otherwise sleeping out under the stars and hunting my own food.” In the end a smile did creep back on his face, “Well, you have to make the best of everything and crying over spilled milk really isn’t my thing to do. So instead I’d be pleased to show you around, it’d be a nice change for once to not be entirely alone walking my feet off.” He let a short silence settle in, pressing his lips together, and seemingly think about something.

“If we do take off together then I will have to ask you to do something. Remember that bullet in your pocket I mentioned? Keep it there, it might come in handy at some point.” Reign said eventually, again with a voice that was somewhere trapped in between serious and joyful.

Huntsmen. When Reign mentioned the huntsmen academies Acroma began to understand him a bit more, after all he himself once wanted to go to one, but that was all in the past. Atlas wasn’t a fan of huntsmen anymore, and anyone who wanted to learn how to fight needed to enroll in the military instead, it was at times like these that Acroma was thankful for his freedom. “I’ve heard what happened in the past.” He didn’t know what to say to Reign, but the other’s cheerfulness manage to rid him of his concern.

At the mention of the bullet Acroma pulled it out, it seemed like a regular bullet, but it felt a bit warm. Aura can be felt within it. “Huh. Is that so?” Acroma assumed it could be a type of semblance, as his own semblance can be used in a similar way. As his thoughts went to that he realized that his weapon was still unchecked since he woke up, quickly he pulled out two stacks of darkened metal sheets from the pouched on his belt, one pile empty of dust and another full. His fingers ran through the sheets as the young man counted up his remaining dust, “that’s more than forty…” Forty out of a little over fifty that’s ran out.

“Tell me, where can I get dust?” Throwing out the question to Reign as he checked through his card stack once more, a few plastic Lien pieces fell out of the metal cards. “I guess the people who caught me didn’t do a good check, my Lien and my card are still here.” God, the last thing Acroma would want was for Reign to pay for his ammunition too, when he still didn’t have anything to give for the life saving. In that moment Acroma remembered his semblance, he sighed and pulled out one of the empty cards and quietly infused some Aura into it — his good luck charm that’ll protect someone with his semblance. “If I’m keeping the bullet then you’re keeping this.” Sliding the card towards Reign he mimicked the other’s tone when he requested him to keep the bullet. “It’ll come in handy at some point, now get me to a dust shop.”

At the mention of dust reign remembered that he had to have ran out by now. He took out his Traumfänger again, and let them unfold, then triggering the mechanism to have the weapons eject the cartridges. The moment they poked out of their slots, the smell of burnt plastic hit Reign and a wall of smoke immediately hit his face causing him to cough. He will need to get some replacements for sure.

When the card was handed to him, Reign couldn’t help but chuckle at the impression of his new companion. He pocketed the card and took a few steps away from Acroma, until they were about five feet apart, then he turned around on his heels, smiled at Acroma and seemingly disappeared. Only for a split second however, the smaller one seemed to reappear out of nowhere, almost chest to chest with Acroma. With a sly smile on his lips he took the bullet from Acroma’s hands and put it into one of the other’s pockets, “Careful, you don’t want to lose it.” He whispered, smiling from ear to ear, barely able to contain his laughter.

“Now as for the dust, I think I know a place in a nearby town that could suffice.” He said, taking a few steps away again.

Sharpened battle senses let Acroma know that whatever Reign did was probably a semblance. If he didn’t have a semblance that can’t be controlled he probably would have done something back, though he did pull out another card and activated its gravity dust, jumping a few feet higher than the tree tops and struck a landing in the exact place that Reign stood earlier. With a quick step he tugged on the other’s long hair lightly, being tall does have its advantages, like a longer stride length. “Then come on, let’s go.”

As the other tugged on his hair, Reign stopped dead in his tracks. Looking at him, with a halfway deadpanned and halfway devilish expression, “Oh, I will remember that!” Reign said stiffeling his laughter. It didn’t hurt, at all, in fact Reign was surprisingly happy about it. The last time someone wouldn’t get mad at his teasing was back when he was 17 or 18 years old, which seemed like half an eternity ago. He had a feeling that a trip like this would at least be some fun, travelling with someone he could have his fun with, but who would also strike back a little.

Reign led Acroma through the small forested area that they met in, until a town came into view. Reign had been lurking around that specific town for a few days now. Even though he tried to stay away from cities and even smaller villages, it was always beneficial to be close to some civilization.

“That should be Zramore. I don’t know what exactly, but something went down there, I could hear at least some of it even here. We’ll just keep away from that area, and then we should be golden.” Reign explained. Starting toward the town.

“I do have one more question.” the smaller one began as they reached the city and he began leading the other through the streets, “Your name, I’ve never heard something like that before. Is there anything behind it?” As he spoke he lazily clasped his hands behind his head and turned a little to see of Acroma was still following.

“My name?” Acroma was a bit confused a first, but soon understood that in Remnant, color names were popular, it would be indeed strange to come across someone who is named after having no color. “It’s a family thing you know, Aura colors. Our bloodline’s Aura just happens to not have much color, so the kids gets these names.” He paused a bit before adding: “Well, kind of, it’s like a crystal you know, it seems like it has no color but if you look at it from the right angle…It looks like a rainbow.” As they approached the town Acroma tried to flatten out the wrinkles in his shirt and, trying to look more presentable in actual civilization.

After a little bit more silent walking they reached a building that Reign stopped in front of, “This is Xanthia’s Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair. I did some asking around two days ago, someone recommended this shop to me, so now we are here.” He explained opening the door.

As he entered he saw that the shop was filled with numerous other people. For a second Reign stopped, before entering slowly, looking like a child who had stolen something and was now coming back to admit it, “Can… can you do the talking? P-please?” Reign whispered as silently as possible to Acroma.

Reign’s reaction was a little concerning, there were other people in the shop already, Acroma didn’t know who these people were, but if they’re in a shop out in the open it was probably alright. He waited as a woman in front picked out some dust crystals. “Umm, excuse me.” It felt a bit rude but this was a shop after all, he doubt that the shop owner would ignore any customers. “How much gravity and hard-light dust do you have in stock?” After asking the question Acroma looked back at Reign. “And fire dust too.”

Reign was intimidated by the situation. He may be cheery and outgoing, but not with more than one or two people around him. He felt like turning into a small puddle and sinking into the ground, pulling the collar of his cloak into his face even more than before. Like a sad puppy he followed behind Acroma, fighting the instinct to grab hold of the other’s hand. Reign hated these situations, he always felt like everyone was looking at him and that then made him feel like he was being squashed under a 50 ton weight. When he heard Acroma finish, he just mouthed ‘thank you’, hoping the other would see it.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
Reactions: happymech99
Nudara Shreik
Time: Early-Morning.
Location: Zramore, Vacuo - Abandoned Warehouse.
Interactions: None.

Nudara Shreik.png
The warehouse owner had insisted, multiple times that the place was not for sale. Even though the site was now derelict. Nudara had taken his time. Learned what he could from the man, about the man. He owned multiple warehouses in the area and all of them had been left abandoned for years. It was not the first time he had seen criminal activity out of them and was no further deterred from using them. For what he was using them, he did not say. But when Nudara pulled out one of many gold cards, he suddenly changed his mind.

Money usually changes peoples minds, Nudara thought to himself.

People were always willing to take Shreik money. Either they wanted money, a lot, or they got some little joy out of taking money away from the richest people who did not deserve all of the money they had. Nudara was willing to guess that this shady land owner just wanted money, a lot.

"Pleasure doing business," Nudara said as he finished signing the last of the papers.

Just like that, he was the proud owner of a warehouse. Business dealt with, Nudara wanted to meet up with the others. Maybe the little cafe they had all been at would be his best bet.

Icarus Wings.png
 
Lairen and Sairen Lee
| Time: Morning |
| Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods |
| Interactions: @EmperorsChosen |​

The day had just begun, the sun rising high in the sky as the streets of Vacuo came to life. However, today seemed a little different, almost livelier. Nonetheless, people continued about their days as did Lairen and Sairen. The two had been out and about all night after Sairen had gotten the pouch carrying her Lien stolen. While she rarely had these kind of things happen to her, she had let her guard down when a child approached her, which led to her pouch being stolen.​
The two walked together, Sairen lagging behind her brother as if to hide the shame from him. He was in the middle of giving her a lecture about why no one, even children, should be trusted when he touched his hand up his eye patch as if to focus his semblance. The night prior, they had gone around and set up various sight glyphs where gang activity were frequent to monitor them. In his right eye, he saw a familiar looking pouch from one of his glyphs. While continuing his nagging, he made a sharp turn around a corner, heading toward the glyph's location.​
"This is why girls don't like you," Sairen muttered under her breath, her line of sight lowered to the ground as she kept up with her brother. Lairen threw a glare back at Sairen before continuing toward the glyph, his nagging finally coming to an end. While she loved her brother more than anything in the world, she could do without his over protective nature and constant lecturing.​
Moments later, the two found themselves in front of a small, rundown building with two large guards standing outside. Lairen's glyph was just down the alley, high up enough to be out of sight. He cancelled his semblance, the glyph disappearing along with the other 4 he had been placed. Once cancelled, he felt drained, his shoulder drooping before regaining his posture once more. His hands rested on the handles of his swords that rested on both sides of his hips. "Ready?"
Sairen replied with a nod, her fingers wrapping tightly around her closed fans as they approached the two. The guards stepped in their way, their hands on their weapons. "What's your problem?" One man said, his voice gruff as he approached Sairen with a knife. "You stole my pouch," she reciprocated, her eyes blank as she stared him dead in the eye. "Well, why don't you come inside so we can give it back? Your friend has to stay out here though," he said as he reached out to touch her. Before he could get even close, Sairen lifted her foot to stomp on the man's knee, forcing him down and level with her. He cried out and swung his knife to slice at her, but it was easily stopped as she lifted her fan to block it. "I'll just take it back." With that, she swung her free hand across his face, knocking him unconscious. When she looked over to her brother, he was already standing over the other unconscious body.​
The two entered the building to see a group of 10 men, all armed with bladed weapons, and a small child. A familiar looking pouch sat upon a table among others, presumably all stolen goods. "Who the hell are you?" A man, possibly the one in charge, stated angrily. The men around him raised their weapons.​
"You seem to have stolen something of my dear sister here. We'd like it back," Lairen said as he stepped forward, using the sword in his hand to gesture to the pouch. The man laughed. "Risking your lives for a little pouch? Idiotic," he said with a gesture, causing the men to run toward them as the child ran off. They separated and took on 5 men each, taking only moments before there laid 9 more unconscious bodies on the ground. It was a quick fight, one that wasn't rare for the siblings in Vacuo. It was how people survived.​
Sairen stepped toward the lone leader as he backed away from her in fear. "All of this just for a pouch? J-Just take it!" He threw the pouch at her feet, hoping that she'd leave him alone, but she wasn't as merciful. With a flick of her wrist, Sairen's fan opened, the ice symbol glowing a bright blue. "We don't like people taking what's ours," she said coldly, her words filled with sadness as she swung her fan at the man to create a gust of chilling winds, freezing him where he stood. With a sigh, Sairen picked up her bag and the two began to exit the building.​
"Over there! They're leaving!" cried a small, childlike voice. When the two turned to see who it was, the child had returned with at least 20 other men. Sairen readied herself for the incoming attacks. Lairen, however, could barely keep himself upright. Using 5 glyphs at once on top of them being far apart from each other used up more aura than he thought, making him weaker. When the men began to attack, his movements were sluggish, barely able to counter and fight back the constant wave of attacks. From behind him, a man swung his dagger at Lairen's back, breaking through his already weak barrier and creating a long slash down his back. He held back a cry of pain, a grunt just barely slipping past his gritted teeth. Sairen, busy enough with her own attacks, whipped her head at the sound to see blood dripping on the ground beneath him. Panic set in.​
With another flick of her wrist, one fan began to glow deep red while the other was blue. Simultaneously, she swung them at the ground to create a dense cloud of steam. In the midst of their brief confusion, Sairen slipped past the men surrounding her and her brother, grabbing his hand before bolting out the building. The steam wouldn't last long and they needed to leave, fast. Usually, this many people would be no problem for the two, but Lairen has used almost all of his aura on trying to find them in the first place.​
The steam soon disappeared and after realizing the siblings had vanished, they gave chase. Sairen ran through the winding alleys and streets, desperately searching for a place to hide. When she turned a corner, her eyes scanned desperately for an empty building or something they could hide out it. Her eyes focused on a large man dragging three bodies out of a building. Definitely sketchy. From around the corner, she could hear the men yelling to search the other roads. The siblings briefly made eye contact, the weak look on Lairen's face made her desperate. She pulled Lairen into the building the previous man had exited. There was a man already in the building, his feet kicked up and a magazine covering his face. She didn't have time to worry about him when men were still looking for them.​
"I'll pay you after so please hide us for a while," she said before heading to the storage closet door which was thankfully empty. Lairen entered first, followed by his sister before shutting the door behind them. The small closet pushed the siblings together, Sairen wrapping her arms around her brother protectively as she began to fear for his life. Of course, there's no way he would die from such a thing and the two have definitely faced worse scenarios, but seeing her brother in pain was something she hated. Her hands touched the slash in his back, covering them in his blood. Panic. She began to shake while burying her head in his chest. Lairen reassuringly wrapped an arm around her, the other propped up against the wall to keep his weak body from falling.​
Just moments after the siblings entered the building, 3 gang members entered the sketchy store, walking up to the man with their swords and knives in hand. "Have you seen a girl and a guy? In their 20's? Guy has an eye patch," one said, pointing the knife at the man threateningly. Hearing the voices, the hidden siblings held each other tighter.​
 
Last edited:
Doran Kol

Time: Morning

Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods [OPENING SOON]

Mentions: @RaineSensei





It had been but a short time since Doran's visitor had exited the building, human cargo in tow, barely enough time for him to resume his former posture and acquire some much appreciated sleep. Unfortunately, this was Zramore. If it wasn't one thing, it was someone trying to rob you. No sooner than the mercenary kicked his feet up did he hear an encroaching ruckus, followed quickly by the front door swinging open with a jingle.

With a soft groan, Doran slightly lifted the magazine over his face and sheepishly looked forward at his new guests. While it would've been fortunate for it to have simply been Carran, the vagabond hadn't lasted this long based on luck. It was more accurate to say he was here in spite of it. Though, he had to admit, this was perhaps a more welcome kind of headache—half of it anyway.

In front of him were two individuals, seemingly not much older than himself. The duo consisted of an admittedly gorgeous young woman with piercing gold eyes and long, snow-white hair as well as a male brunette who appeared to share the girl's eyes—Or eye rather.

While the pretty ones were typically trouble in and of themselves, the man she was acting as physical support to appeared to be fatigued and injured, noting a red gash across his back as they rushed towards the closet off to the side of the room. He said nothing as the woman said she would pay for hiding them, simply eyeing them as they shut the door.

Exhaling in a manner that sounded like a hybrid of a sigh and groan, Doran let the magazine rest back on his face, leaning his head back once again.

"...And... Three... Two..." He began murmuring to himself, pausing before hitting the number one. No later than he stopped, the entrance let out a ding as more customers entered his little shop.

"Have you seen a girl a guy? In their 20's? Guy has an eye patch."

Three of them. One had a rather large build; the muscle of the trio. Meanwhile the other two were far scrappier-looking. They were the kind that didn't pick fights unless they were with a guy who weighed in around 200 pounds. Two swords, one knife, the latter of which was being pointed at him.

Doran didn't think it was all that hard to be a gang-banger on the streets. He was there at one point in his life. All you needed to do was be able to separate the people you could mess with and those you couldn't. It seemed like these three weren't aware of such a basic lesson.

"I don't spend much of my time lookin' at guys... Maybe if the girl's a looker... Either way, I don't do things for free and you guys don't look like you got money to spend," Doran replied calmly, though this didn't earn a great response from his visitors.

At first, the men looked somewhat confused at his nonchalant demeanor. However, that quickly changed as the two smaller goons showed signs of amusement while their larger meat-shield was already far tired of the interaction. With the two followers snickering behind him, the large man approached the table in irritation.

"Free... How bout letting you keep your fucking head...!"

Raising his voice, the gangster lifted his heel and kicked the table with all his might, sending it flying against the back wall and the pouch of lien left my Carran into the air. While the intention was to smash it into the lackadaisical man trying to nap, the lazy mercenary who was in one moment seemingly wholly open to any transgression had reacted with uncharacteristic speed and agility.

Kicking off the table, Doran had leaned back, pulling and pushing of the head of the chair as it fell to roll himself backwards and onto his feet. Once grounded, he jumped backward once again, flipping himself into the air over the incoming table. As the furniture collided flatly with the wall, Doran had grasped the side of the table and while gripping it smoothly lowered himself onto a sitting position on it. Of course, to completely show off, he then reached his hand out and let the sack of lien somehow perfectly land in his palm.

Once again, the three men appeared overtaken with confusion at the flashy and unnecessary nature of what the man in front of them had done.

"You know... you guys are really lucky I need to redecorate this place anyway." Doran hopped off the side of the table, stuffing the pouch into his coat as he approached the men.

The first of the group to charge forward was, of course, the biggest of them. He slammed his saber forward in a downward motion as he encroached on the mercenary's position. In response, Doran spun to the side, swiftly brandishing his own weapons. With one arm, he hooked the ankle of the man and yanked it forward whilst turning to aim the shotgun in his other hand. Pulling the trigger, the blast launched the largest of the group with force across the room, slamming him into the jukebox and subsequently activating it.

As the room filled with music, the other two rushed forward in a panic, but were quickly forced onto the defensive. Just as a strike appeared to be imminent, Doran's image would shift into an entirely different position. The swordsman swung only to be parried, hooked and disarmed by Doran's scimitar turned sickle, followed by a hop and a kick into his chest, launching the dual-wielder toward the scrappiest of the gangsters. Rotating mid air, he slammed the sickle down on the shoulder of the scrawny man, pushing him down to his knees only to receive a knee to the face.

As the two stumbled to the ground and attempted to push themselves up, they were met with the stare of two barrels and with a click and explosion of the shotgun, the two were pushed across the floor even further, become more acquainted with the dirt than likely either had thought they would be.

With a sigh and a proud smirk, now Doran had three unconscious—or dead—people in his building. The big one was likely fine.

Compacting his weapons and hanging them on his sides, Doran glanced in the direction of the storage closet.

"You know, I wasn't really timing you, but I'd say your 7 minutes in heaven is up," The mercenary teased, making sure to speak loud enough so that the two in his storage knew to come out. "Not really that kind of establishment, if you get my meaning."

It was interesting in a way, though. Sure, the woman was desperate. However, he could have just as easily sold them out. Doran knew there were plenty that would have just to avoid trouble for themselves. Were they locals who just didn't have any choice, or were they foreigners who didn't quite have an idea of what kind of a place Vacuo was, especially in this area.

"You two typically make a hobby of pissing gangs off and hiding in people's closets?" He questioned smirking.
 
Lairen and Sairen Lee
| Time: Morning |
| Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods |
| Interactions: @EmperorsChosen |

The exchange that took place outside the storage door was muffled, but they were able to some how make out the gist of what what happening. From their side, all they could hear was indistinct talking followed by sudden music. Lairen had begun to lose consciousness, his vision slipping and barely able to keep himself standing, he found himself leaning against his sister. She did her best to keep him up, but he was much larger than she. Just barely, she kept the both of them standing. After a moment, the sound of two shotgun blasts rang through their ears before a voice, presumably the man's, called out to them. Taking this as their cue to get out, Sairen reached a hand behind her, grabbing the door knob and twisting to open the door. Lairen's body slumped, forcing her to stagger backwards to keep themselves upright. After dragging her brother out of the closet, blood thoroughly coating his clothes, she set him gently on the ground, his back facing upwards.

Sairen looked over to the man, getting a good look at his face. He was a dark haired man almost as tall as her brother, approximately her age as well. He was a handsome man and knew how to fight by how easily he took care of the three thugs who laid on the ground. She found herself blankly staring at his face before realizing he had asked her a question.

"Only if they piss us off first,"
Sairen said, riding Lairen's shirt up to his shoulders in order to get a better look at the wound. It wasn't that bad, but he had lose a lot of blood. She had to tend to it right away, but she needed someone else. Her eyes wandered to the man once again. From where Sairen kneeled and where she had laid Lairen down, she was in reach of the man.

"Let me borrow your aura," she said, reaching out to grab his hand with hers. Once touching, she placed her other hand on Lairen's wound, her body beginning to glow a light blue as she activated her semblance. As she transferred the man's aura into her brother's body, the wound on his back begin to close. It was only a matter of minutes before it had completely healed and Sairen released the man's hand. Mild fatigue washed over her as her body lost its glow. She pushed off the ground to stand, her eyes meeting the man's.

"Sorry for all the trouble we've caused," she said, reaching into her pouch to hand him a small stack of Lien. "Also," she began, pulling the Lien away from him briefly to finish her statement. "He's my brother," she finished, tilting the Lien toward him for him to take. Now that her brother was healed and resting, she could relax. The panic that had previously set in was now gone. When she took another glance around the room and the damage he had done to men, she could only wonder what he did for a living. This thought made her eyes wander over to the glass window. It read "Doran's Handyman Service or something - Name Pending." An odd name. "Doran... is it? You can fight well," she mused as her eyes returned to his.



 
Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair
Mentions - @R-9 Pilot @TheSly @Cresion Breezes


Chro's question regarding Blanche had Xanthias give her the 'one moment' gesture before he entered he turned his head towards the direction of the store's back.

"Blanche! Ya got some friends to see ya!" He called out, answered with an 'on my way' from said girl.

While they waited, two more individuals came into the shop; two of which Xanthias was unfamiliar with.

One was a short, buff individual that honestly the older man couldn't tell if they were a man or a buff woman. The person was rather short, dressed in a red cloak with long black hair and pale skin. The person's eyes held a sense of pleasantness in the appearance that made Xanthias want to be able to trust them. The other person, a male, held wavy hair colored white and black, with pale skin and dark eyes to accompany it. This one contrasted his friend, looking to be the colder or the cold user of the two. Mostly judging by the way he dressed.

At the customer's question, he referred to the dust display that he had originally set out for Chro as he took her payment.

"I've got Fire and Gravity dust that I can sell you; no hard Light, unfortunately." Xanthias told the two gentlemen, making quick work of the woman's purchase.


Blanche moved the curtain separating the back of the store from the front. In one hand, she was repeatedly squeezing a stress ball and her walking was a bit funny. After a few shots for her Semblance side effects, Blanche was moving the pain out of her hands, arms, and legs.

"Oh! Hello Chro, Ael, and customers! Good to see you two again and you two for the first time; welcome!" The Cow Faunus greeted the people within the store, smiling.




Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Vacuo Ruins
Mentions -



A young woman in her mid-20's walked the streets of the ruins with little direction or knowledge of where she had gone to or where she was heading. The place, to Violetta, seemed like a landmark for travelers, which she gladly welcomed, though very mysterious at the same time. It reminded her very much of those books she once read, referring to the "Ghost towns" of the old-timey West. Was there anything important in these ruins? Any valuables or something that she could sell? Well, she didn't want to miss out on the opportunity!

It had been a long, long while since she had discovered her parents' abandoned home with everything except the valuables left behind. A small home with nothing but some rickety furniture, some canned goods, books, and 2 bedrooms both seemingly left untouched. The scene still left her puzzled, even now. What happened to her parents? Were they in trouble? The house had no signs of being ransacked; no thief would leave the house as dusty as it was without leaving some kind of trace. There couldn't have been a fight or a kidnapping for the same reason... The only conclusion she could have come to was that they had just up and left, leaving everything behind. But why? What was their reason if that were the case? It could have been that her sweet grandparents were letting them stay with them for a few evenings... But... Ugh, more contradictions that left her back to square one.

So many questions, and yet only one way to answer them all...

Violetta sighed, the sunny day's heat bearing down on her. Despite having tied her black jacket to her waist and rolled up her sleeves, the sun was still proving to be a problem. Maybe the "mostly" black wardrobe wasn't a good idea...

Well, maybe the next town over had some lighter colors! Like gray... and gray.

She stopped, eyeing what were once buildings and other architecture that had crumbled. Violetta's brain thought about what the structures could have once looked like before they had fallen. A beautiful city no doubt, wasted by destruction... Perhaps one day someone would find it in their hearts to rebuild what had once been... something. She wasn't sure where she was currently, but once she found out the name of this landmark she could begin her research.

Violetta continued walking, her eyes that had been searching for treasure soon falling onto a tall structure; one still standing. What was that? It read something, but she couldn't see what it said. Maybe some items were left behind in there? Maybe there were people hiding out?


Or maybe death was waiting.

Violetta decided to gather her courage and start heading towards the building. The worst that could happen was she have a fight on her hands.
 
  • Love
Reactions: DesReploid
Doran Kol

Time: Morning

Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods [OPENING SOON]

Mentions: @RaineSensei





Waiting with folded arms for the duo to reveal themselves, sure enough, the woman stumbled out of the closet dragging the now unconscious man along. Now paying attention, Doran could fully see the injury the male possessed as he was laid down. It didn't look too bad; certainly the mercenary who spent his fair share of time on the streets had seen worse. However, lost blood could kill as well as any bullet to the heart.

After setting him down, it appeared the woman was giving him a look over, though out of caution, curiosity or whatever else was anyone's guess.

Raising an eyebrow as the woman stared, eventually she replied, drawing out an amused scoff from the mercenary.

"Fair enough," Doran responded simply. "Though you might want to bite only what you can chew."

It was unnecessary to state how easy it would have been to sell them out, were Doran a different kind of person. Hell, if they hadn't promised coin up front and the trouble was too much, he might've done just that. Trusting in people's good nature and even putting too much faith in the value of money had variable results. Sure, she had some backbone, but going off the condition of the man, they obviously had gotten in too deep. On top of that, while Doran had protected them for the moment, he didn't exactly have a bunch of medical supplies lying around. Though apparently that wasn't an issue.

What occurred next took Doran by surprise. The woman who he hid suddenly grasped his hand with a vague phrase and before he could protest, her form began to radiate with her aura and the unconscious man's wound began to heal.

"...Well that's convenient," Doran murmured, wary of the fact some of his aura was being drawn from him. "Fortunate for him. Not like I have much in the ways of meds."

As his hand was released, Doran took it back, staring quizzically at it before the woman in front of him stood up and met his gaze with coin in hand.

Smirking once again, the mercenary reached his hand out to receive his pay. "Eh... New place, need to redecorate anyway."

However, just as he reached for his coin, his expression shifted to that of mild befuddlement as the woman pulled back a moment to clarify an earlier comment. After doing so, she extended her arm to relinquish his compensation. Eye-patch laying face down on the ground was her brother apparently. Just as his expression shifted to confusion, the devil-may-care smirk returned once again.

"Well, lucky me," Doran said finally taking his payment, making a half bow in introduction upon her reading the sign. "Well, I do fancy myself a professional... and, you know... wanting to live."

Though a professional what was something anyone could both take a guess at not yearn for details of. Doran had spent most of his life on the streets with only himself to rely on after that fateful day. You did what you had to, and while a traveler would be accustomed to Grimm, an urban dweller like him was far more accustomed to dealing with people. Sure he had protected some caravans here and there, but Doran specialized in a different kind of monster; typically the trash sitting around in alleys like the three laying on the ground.

"And might I know the name of my business' first customer?" The mercenary inquired slyly. "You know, receipt, business records... customer of the month wall maybe? That sorta thing."
 

Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias' Shop
Interactions - @Jessica2477 @R-9 Pilot @everyone else.


After taking the shot, Ael decided to take a little snooze while Chro and Xanthias discussed business. His stock of dust and dust-infused ammunition was still fairly sufficient so he didn't need to procure any at the moment.

While the sweet embrace of sleep was almost about to drag him comfortably into dreamland, a familiar, cheery, female voice stimulated his consciousness into waking once again. So much so that he practically jumped out of the couch like a terrified cat and nervously smiled and waved back to her. He wasn't expecting her to be up and about by the way Old Xanthias described her condition so he let his guard down and consequently allowed her to see such an embarrassing side of himself, much to his chagrin.

Though, from the looks of things, Xanthias' descriptions weren't too far off. She walked in an unusual and concerning manner and she was clutching a stress ball.

"Oh, hey Blanche! Are you feeling better now? Your grandfather told us about the nasty side effects of your semblance. Can't say I expected to meet someone with the same dilemma. Though I guess our side effects aren't exactly the same from what I heard."

Depending on the circumstances, Ael seems to have drawn a slightly longer stick than Blanche. The idea of the phrase" No pain, No Gain" literally applying to Blanche's semblance use made him feel a little bit sorry for her. But depending on the circumstances, he could just as well screw himself over if he let's loose with his semblance use and then take a poorly timed nap while surrounded by enemies as soon as dusk falls.

"So, Miss Chro here wants to check out the old school's ruins. It's pretty dangerous and there is a chance that we're going to get into a fight with Grimm, bandits, or both at some point, but still, wanna come with us?" Ael offered.

He really wanted Blanche to come with them for this little excursion. Partly because the blond would feel more comfortable having more members to their party and partly because he wanted to get to know the cow faunus a bit more. It isn't every day you meet someone that basically has the same "handicap" as you, plus it seemed like she was a genuinely interesting person.

"A bit of a warning though. If we aren't back in Zramore before sun down, you may have to carry me back to Ingram Ironcurtain's Inn. I may have overexerted myself back at the warehouse and as a result, there is a chance I'd be out cold as soon as the last rays of sunshine disappear. " Hey, better give her the warning too rather than surprise her by going limp in the middle of a battle, making him look more pitiful.

Ael also noticed the newcomers but since he wasn't familiar with any of them, he just dismissed them as some other customers looking to replenish their supplies of dust. All they got from him was a friendly nod before Ael shifted his attention back to Chro and Blanche.
 

Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Weather - Clear, Hot
Location - Vacuo Ruins Sewer
Tags - N/A


As he neared the remains of the academy with every step he took forward, the thoughts roamed through his head constantly on where he was supposed to start his search for answers. It wasn't till Axel had gotten several feet away from the gates that would lead into the academy's courtyard did he come to a halt just from the mysterious sounds of what seemed like mechanical footsteps as well as chunks of heavy metal and cement being moved around, quickly finding cover from behind a busted remains of a car; he brought his emerald gaze around the corner of the vehicle just to see what appeared to had been robots moving large chunks of debris from within the academy grounds. Squinting his gaze at the robots, it didn't take a genius to find the insignia of the Atlas military plastered on their shoulders as well as their back. "Atlas...So, they're here too huh..? Right when I thought this was going to be easy..." With a sigh, Axel stood from his hiding spot just to shake his head at the thought of simply charging blindly into the courtyard and end up being gunned down by mechs that were sent by Atlas. Whatever reason they were here, it was doubtful they were going to listen to reason and allow him to just waltz in to look for some clues.

Pacing left to right while he pondered on how he was going to infiltrate the academy without causing a whole uproar with the Atlas military; as he continued to walk he ended up kicking his foot against the lid of a manhole cover that was slightly open. The sewer. Though it wasn't going to exactly be the cleanliest way to get anywhere, it was no doubt going to be something that was going to be unexpected and a way to get into the academy without being seen. "Oh man...I can't believe...I'm about to do this..." Speaking with clear disgust in his voice, even if the city had been ruins for a number of years by now, the sewer no doubt was still going to have it's sewage stench. Kicking the manhole cover to the side, Axel held his nose with his bandaged hand before jumping straight down.

Landing into the green water with a loud splash, the sewage covered his pants just right under his knees as he climbed onto the dry walkway just to begin his traverse towards the academy from below. Keeping his nose held the entire walk there, there was nothing more than silence and the occasional squeaks of mice skittering around.

Everything seemed quite normal for a sewer until the sound of a gurgling growl began to echo through the corridors, causing Axel to stop in his tracks. Shifting his gaze around the long corridor that that he walked down, there was only one way forward and only one way back. So, whatever was making that noise was either coming from below the sewage water or was lurking in the pitch darkness of the sewer corridor ahead of him or behind him.
Keeping his breathing steady, Axel finally removed his hand from his nose just to keep it on the hilt of his blade in case he needed to defend himself.

Seconds later, a massive Irvibane sprung out from the sewage water just to come charging at him with it's massive jaws wide open to chomp down onto Axel. The sight of the Grimm appearing out of nowhere had caught the male off guard as he held out his bandaged left arm to keep the Grimm from reaching his face only to have the beast bite down onto the bandages and begin shaking it's head in attempts to tear off his arm completely. Shouting in sheer pain and agony from having it's fangs digging into the bandages, his screams echoed down the corridors as he attempted to reach his blade though all the shaking making his movements difficult to even get a full grip onto the hilt. "Dammit..!! Let...Go!" Without the ability to get his weapon, the most Axel could do was kick and punch at the Grimm's head in the darkness to attempt and fight back.
 
Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair
Mentions - @Accelerator


She bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from giggling. Though there'd been people who've napped on the couch while their partner looked at the supplies, none had jumped as high as Ael had when they were startled. Did he always jump that high? A part of her wanted to try and scare him in the future to test it, but she knew better than to sneak up on a hunter.

"Hey! Way better than before. Most of the feeling in my arms and legs are back; right now it's like trying to stand up after your leg fell asleep." She answered his first sentence. Though she'd seen his semblance, she wasn't sure just how the after-effects would be for him.

After that, Ael offered her the opportunity to go with them on an adventure to the old school ruins. What did Chro have there that she wanted to see? What was so significant about it? Unanswered questions that Blanche was too curious to let them slip past her mind.

"I'm all for danger, so I'd be happy to accompany you two. I have a caravan we can ride to save us some travel time if you want." She offered, "Worst case scenario is that Chro would have to drag both of us, but as long as I don't overuse my semblance, you'll have someone to carry you."



Setting/Location
Time - Late Morning
Location - Vacuo Ruins
Mentions - @happydeath


As Violetta approached the building, she paused upon seeing another person at the gate. She rose an eyebrow, wondering who that person was and what they were doing there. Were they an old student? Were they there to explore too? Should she even approach that person? They could be dangerous...

She knew she shouldn't, but... Her curiosity got the better of her, and soon, Violetta was following the person from a distance behind cover in case he turned around. She didn't want to be a creeper, but he was looking pretty suspicious. At the sight of the Atlas machines, she would have turned back. He, however, searched for another way around... Something was definitely going on, but what was the question.

Maybe she should stop being nosy...

But she must know dammit!

He approached something on the ground, looking like he was contemplating something. Violetta tried to peek but whatever was on the ground but at this angle, she couldn't see much.

The stranger kicked the thing to the side.

Then jumped straight down into the ground.

What?!

She left her hiding spot and rushed over, looking in to see that it had been a manhole that the person had gone into. This man was determined enough to jump into the sewers to get inside that ruined building...

What was in that building that not even Atlas wanted anyone to go near? Treasure? Top secret government files? An alien project?

...

Fuck. She was curious again.

Was it even safe to go down there?

She didn't hear any bone cracks or any groaning. Some steps maybe but... Hmm...

Violetta looked around and picked up a nearby pebble, taking it to the manhole and dropping it inside to see how far the drop was.

The water sound happened rather quick, much quicker than Violetta had anticipated. Still, she didn't want to risk breaking a leg just because she was curious. It was dark in there; Grimm could be lurking about.

Violetta wondered if the person in there would be alright. He did know there would be Grimm down there, right?

Fuck, he could be drowning in there for all she knew! Sewage water was not the way anyone should drown!

Putting aside the fact that her boots were going to be filthy after this, Violetta got on the ground and took the slower and safer way inside of the sewer. She got on her stomach and went in legs first before hanging onto the ledge then dropping herself inside.

The stench of sewage immediately hit her, and with it, Violetta's stomach churned violently before she vomited into the sewage water.

'Ew, ew, ew...' She thought to herself, holding her stomach as she spat the remainder of her breakfast into the dirty water.

Violetta sighed, breathing in the smell to help herself adjust as she pulled out her flashlight.

It wasn't the smartest thing to do when there could be Grimm lurking about, but at the least she'd be able to see her surroundings.

She walked.

Violetta walked further into the sewage, looking for a nearby ladder or a manhole that she could use to get out. However, it wasn't long until she heard an animal, then a scream.

For a brief moment, she was startled but she unclipped her guitar with one hand and held the neck of it, rushing further into the sewers towards the direction of the pained screams.


There!

An Irvibane Grimm, a massive one, had clenched its teeth around the man she'd been following's arm with said man struggling for his blade. Violetta rushed forward, swinging her guitar and using the ends to stab into the Grimm's head, then again and again. She'd do this at least until she had to dodge or until the Grimm let go of his prey. Violetta's intention here was to buy the person some time for his weapon by being a distraction.
 
Lairen and Sairen Lee
| Time: Morning |
| Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods |
| Interactions: @EmperorsChosen |

"Well, lucky me," the man named Doran replied to her. In response, Sairen raised an eyebrow at him quizzically before he took the money from her. He seemed like a pretty easy going guy and one willing to do anything for money, not that it was a bad thing. It made him seem at least a little more reliable than people who did things out of the good of their heart. If there was one thing the siblings had learned over the years it was that people can never be truly good.

While Doran spoke, Lairen rustled around on the ground, his face scrunching up in mild pain. With Sairen's healing, he was feeling much better. Rather than the sharp pain from the injury, he experienced soreness in his back as if he had slept the wrong way. He weakly pushed himself up into a sitting position on the ground, crossing his legs and he rubbed the back of his head and glanced up at the two. She returned his glance, moving a hand down to dust off his black hair before returning her gaze back to Doran.

"I'm Sai-," she began before her brother yanked her arm. This caused her to lose her balance, stumbling back before regaining her stance. Before she could get a word in, Lairen stood up, his head light and his sight dizzy from the blood loss, but he wasn't going to show any signs of this in front of this man. While grateful he took care of the men, someone who did deeds for money was just as dangerous. Should someone want information on them, they would only have to pay this man. In this world, there only ones Lairen and Sairen could trust were each other, or at least that's what Lairen believed. Needless to say, he didn't trust anyone besides his sister.

"Not much of a business, is it?" Lairen remarked, taking a glance around the shabby looking shop. While it was only a couple inches, he still towered over Doran as he glared condescendingly at him. The way he talked to Sairen irked him and it showed by the way his brows furrowed deeply. "Don't think you're hot shit just because you took down a couple goons," he hissed.

"Lairen!" Sairen exclaimed, caught off guard by his sudden insult. However, she should have known he'd get upset over the mild flirting coming from Doran. That was just the type of older brother he was. When she was younger, men would often hit on her in bars or on the streets and every time they would 'randomly' turn up half dead in alleys the next day.

"Stop, brother," she said soothingly, her hands resting on his arm. "Calm down. I just finished healing you, don't stress yourself out. It's just a business transaction. I'll take care of this and we'll be out of here, okay?" Through gritted teeth, he reluctantly settled down, walking to a further corner of the room and sitting on the floor. He fiddled with his swords while Sairen turned to Doran, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, he's not always like that," she apologized, her golden eyes softening with a sigh. "I'm Sairen Lee and that's my brother, Lairen Lee. He doesn't really like other people, so please forgive him."



 
Doran Kol

Time: Morning

Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods [OPENING SOON]

Mentions: @RaineSensei





As the mercenary inquired to the white-haired beauty, the darker-haired beast that traveled with her stirred-And he wasn't too happy about Doran's presence, let alone is apparent interest in his sister.

Just as the sister was about to introduce herself, she was yanked back by her brother who now stood to his full height and stared down at him. He spoke with obvious irritation, furrowing his brow and warning Doran on taking pride in dispatching the three unconscious men in the room. However, while his goal was likely intimidation with his tone and height, the mercenary who originally stood there with an expectant face very quickly shifted to a bemused smirk as he returned the stare.

Shrugging lightly, Doran retorted vaguely. "Yeah... well... up until about twenty minutes ago, place wasn't mine."

Doran's tone was calm, yet smug. It was rather obvious that the mercenary wasn't all too worried about big brother. He didn't know the duo; who they were or where they were from. However, what he could tell if they were having trouble with gangsters and bandits like the incapacitated men littering the ground, is that they weren't man-hunters like him. Maybe they could trade, or fight, or steal, or run a business or-Hell, maybe they knew their way around skinning a Grimm. The streets and the people inhabiting them were quite different.

Still, the staredown didn't last all that long. The younger sister was quick to rein in her sibling, having him calm himself down in a corner of the room while she apologized and assured that he wasn't always this confrontational.

"Oh, I'd hope he is. I can respect a cautious asshole... An idiot, I can't," Doran brushed it off. Lairen's wariness was warranted after all. "Yeah... Older brother not liking guys talking to their little sister. Somehow I'm not surprised."

Glancing over to the man fiddling with his weapons in the corner of the room, the mercenary turned his attention back to Sairen.

"Doran Kol," He introduced. "This is my shop... store... office... Whatever. It's a place where I will be at for the foreseeable future. Not really open... Need to get some actual furniture, but uh... If you're having any issues, particularly with people, I'm pretty good."

Looking around at the damaged furniture and bodies once again, Doran opens his arms slightly as if presenting evidence.

"...Obviously..."

Letting his arms drop back to his side, he made his way over to one of said bodies and began to drag one of the bodies over to the famous utility closet.

"...Now, as you can see. I do need actual furniture and if I was rich, I'd be in Atlas... Might check 'n see if any of these idiots have a bounty, but I doubt it-What'd they want with you; nick your wallet?" Doran inquired, shoving one of the men into the closet with his boot. "Yeah... So, I need Lien, which I won't get by sitting here... not that I don't enjoy your lovely presence and the... erm, Cap'n over there scowling at me."

Giving another glance towards her brother, evidently dubbing him as a pirate, Doran proceeds to stuff another body into the closet, pausing at the final, girthier man and waving a hand off in what could only be understood as a fuck it motion.

"...But, unless you have another job for me, I'll probably head over to the ruins, see if I can nab anything worth selling off... You an' your brother gonna be alright Sairen? As in... not get jumped the moment I leave and take a dirt nap?"

The ruins were mostly already looted likely, on the outer perimeter at least. Inward, however, closer to the actual academy was protected by Atlesian security, which of course meant there was something there worth protecting; and in turn something worth selling.
 
Reign Beaux DeWynters
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair
Mentions - @R-9 Pilot @Accelerator @Jessica2477 @Cresion Breezes

Reign hated situations like these, entering a shop with people in it, that can look at him. As weird as it was, but he was just simply never comfortable with these situations. And even though he only met Acroma a few hours ago, he still knew him better than anybody else, so he stuck to him as best as he could. Things got even worse when another person entered and addressed the two, it was only briefly and by no means meant to get them into any sort of conversation, or so Reign thought, but it did mean that someone was paying attention to him.

When he heard the shopkeeper mention light dust again, something clicked in Reign's mind. He pulled out the card Acroma had given him, five empty glass containers, three smaller, two larger. An image flashed into Reign's mind, the explosion of light. If Reign could have he would have smacked the palm of his hand through his forehead. Acroma's weapons likely used light dust, thinking about it again made Reign just feel all the more stupid for not realizing it sooner. But Acroma had pretty much run out of properly loaded cards, and the shopkeeper had no spare light dust. Did the other have no weapon to fight with then?

Reign began fumbling with Albtraum on his belt, as well as the small pouch he kept spare bullets in and just as Acroma seemed to have finished his conversation with the shop keep, Reign had finally managed to get both the pouch and the gun to detach from his belt.

"If you don't have a weapon to fight with... then you can use this." Reign's voice was more a whisper than anything else, but he still eagerly grabbed hold of Acroma's wrist and pressed both the bullet pouch and Albtraum into his hand. Reign had already turned to leave again, he wanted to get away from this place more than anything, he could not help but listen in on a little bit of the conversation the others were having. The moment the ruins of Shade Academy were mentioned, all thoughts of escaping this prison of eyes was forgotten. Instead, Reign turned on his heels a second time and moved to the woman closer to the counter, who he assumed was the "Chro"-Person that the blonde male had mentioned.

"Uhm... I- I don't mean to invade but... I know the layout of Shade by memory..." It took Reign a while to realize that the Shade Academy he knew was now in shambles, "I- I mean... I know it's a ruin now... but I can probably still easily find my way around there. So, if you need a helping hand or two, we would be willing to come with." Reign spoke without looking up at the person he assumed to be Chro, his voice was a whisper again, and also he also spoke a bit to fast for his brain to keep up. Only after he had finished talking it hit him. "We"? the second realization hit him, he turned around to the other, who had more likely than not heard what he had said, with the most apologetic look he could possibly muster.
 
dmMZD8A.png

Acroma Leichester
Time - Late Morning
Location - Zramore, Vacuo - Xanthias's Bullet Craft and Weapon Repair
Interactions - @R-9 Pilot @Accelerator @TheSly @Jessica2477



"Hmph." Acroma sighed and leaned against the counter, he had expected this to happen since he found out that he was in Vacuo. Atlas was the origin of hard light dust, it wasn't too surprising that the continent with the least Atlas influence would be cut short of the supply, there probably wasn't much he could do about it until he gets to Vale. Reign probably saw his concern as the shorter hunter bounced up to him nervously and pushed some of his own supply on him; despite growing up in Atlas, Acroma knew that to huntsmen, their weapons are like a part of themselves; Reign probably trusted him a great deal even though they had just met.

Pulling out a plastic card from his shirt pocket the young man slid the card across the counter. "I'll take all the gravity dust you have, and thirty vials of ice dust." Ice wasn't as strong as hard light projections, but with the little supply he had left it was the best option available. After Acroma set the card out he unhooked one of the light blue crystals that hung from his belt, it was a hard light crystal, the last one he has currently. "And if possible, can I get this into powdered form? I can pay." He added to the shop owner.

As long as there's gravity dust, it'll work out. Acroma never got used to using firearms, it caused to big of a commotion and installed too much fear in the guests. Instead, he honed his ability to enhance projectiles using delay activated gravity dust. He hung the few bullets that Reign gave him onto his belt, it'll be better to have more projectiles since there's no way to repair his Codex out here, though when he turned around the other already bounced away to the other group in the store. It didn't seem like that Reign knew these people, judging by how jittery he is when talking, Acroma stared at him for a bit, not wanting to intrude on the locals' conversation.

'Shade Academy, huh?' The former city's ruins would be the place with the most Atlas troops, even though Acroma was sure he should stay low right now, he can't help but think that the machinery Atlas deployed in the ruins could be a way for him to return. It would benefit him to scout out the area, or at least see if there are any methods of Cross-Continent Communication. Naturally, he was quite relieved when Reign offer for them to go with the group, since he was going to ask them himself anyways and was worried about Reign's nervousness.

"Sure we'll come." Walking up to his companion Acroma twirled the old styled revolver a bit before sticking it back on Reign's belt. He looked at the other's expression and can't help but feel that he was the cause of their nervousness. "Why are you looking at me like that? You don't think I'm just a spoiled rich kid or something right?" Questioned Acroma half-jokingly, as he leaned slightly on Reign's shoulder, not really expecting an answer anyways.

Acroma composed himself a bit as he looked at the other group, which consisted of a blonde young man, an older looking woman, and a cow Faunus girl...Cow Faunus because of the horns...Right. "Pleasure to meet you, my name is Acroma." He introduced himself to the others, deciding it was better to keep his surname to himself at this point. "I'm not exactly a huntsman, but I am confident to be able to hold my own. Fate is often by my side." His semblance was difficult to explain, more than often it boiled down to this. There wasn't much else to say for a first meeting now, unless...Glancing at Reign, Acroma doubts that he had properly introduced himself. "...And uh, this is Reign. He's my...friend." Good enough, probably.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DesReploid
Lairen and Sairen Lee
| Time: Morning |
| Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods |
| Interactions: @EmperorsChosen |

Doran Kol. She made a mental note in her mind about him, his store, and how he worked, just in case she ever needed his assistance in the future. Seeing as how often they're here in the city, she assumed that they may see each other at least once or twice. He was a strong ally if they ever needed it, so it was better to remain a regular client and gain his favor.

When asked what the thieves had done to them, Sairen was a bit surprised that he was about to get it correct. "Yeah, they stole my purse," she said meekly as if ashamed by it, her hand touching to her hip where the stolen pouch now hung.

Meanwhile, Lairen, with one sword in his hand, flicked the sword up to fold it into its gun form. He inspected it, turning his head and gun every which way to make sure everything was in working order. Slowly, he began to regain his strength, though he probably wouldn't be able to use his Semblance for a while. He glanced over at the conversing two, glaring at the man while his gaze softened when he looked at his sister. It had been a while since he saw her enjoy (though her face showed little to no emotion) talking to someone besides him. In all honesty, he was a little jealous.

"Ruins?" Sairen questioned, her head tilting as if thinking about something. After a moment, her bright yellow eyes beamed at Doran as if she had some great idea. "How about Lairen and I accompany you?" As soon as he heard that, Lairen bolted up from his corner to give his sister the most offended and confused expression he could make.

"We already paid him, why do we have to do anymore for him?" He objected strongly, his hand clenching against his weapon to which Sairen replied with a piercing glare.

"I said we're going, so we're going," she said, her voice becoming uncharacteristically threatening for her usual self. This made him shut up real quick, his lips pressing tightly together. Though he knew his sister and him had a strong bond, he also knew that the only thing that would keep him alive in any dire situation is her, and he didn't want that to change.

"So it's settled, we'll accompany you and help you in any way we can. It'll also help us lay low for a while." Sairen returned her gaze to Doran, a small smile on her face.




 
  • Like
Reactions: DesReploid
Doran Kol

Time:
Morning

Location: Zramore, Vacuo — Kyrian's General Goods [OPENING SOON] ----> Vacuo Academy Ruins [Outskirts]

Mentions: @RaineSensei



Hearing that he had practically guessed correctly, Doran snickered lightly. It was quite a cliche, and the woman appeared slightly embarrassed for that reason.

It was kind of cute, but Doran figured he wouldn't tease the girl. Aside from almost losing her coin, she almost lost her brother too; of which he could still feel the glare from the corner of the room.

"Well, just try not to-Come again...?" Doran paused at her offer.

This was unexpected. They-or she rather wanted to come with and seemed very determined to do so. Lairen wasn't happy, that was for sure going by his reaction and facial expression. Though what was interesting was how quick he was whipped into silence. It seemed the scarier of the two wasn't the giant man with they eye-patch.

Doran shot a bemused smirk at the man, watching the momentary argument before Sairen returned to speaking with him. It wasn't as if the drifter minded, but more of he wasn't sure that the two knew what to expect. The outer ruins were fine, but as you got closer to the center, Atlesian security had the place locked down tight. Alone, he wouldn't have to worry about sneaking around but with even a slightly larger group that became more difficult. Plus, he wasn't familiar with the pair's abilities. All he knew was that they came running into his place and three thugs followed; they could've taken out an army before the moody one in the corner got dashed or they could've been complete pushovers in the first place. Though Doran would hope that wasn't the case, considering how quick Lairen was to jump into confrontation.

"You sure you wanna do that? The Atlesians are running around all over the inner parts of the ruins..." Trailing off, Doran made his way to the front and slid open the door, backing against it with a gesture to exit. "...but, it's up to you, Sairen... Not like I mind the company from you. Just this time, let's try not to get our backs cut up, eh? Hot shit or not, I can't take on the Atlesian military and I sure as hell ain't likely to be able to save anybody from it."

Smirking a bit as he glanced Lairen, Doran was obviously jesting to him a bit as he beckoned the two. Though he wasn't entirely joking. They would have to be very careful when they reached the ruins.

~~~~

Encroaching on the outer area of the ruins, the dusty sands slowly were replaced with the decay of the homes and buildings, formerly the surrounding, bustling city where many students and faculty would spend their free time. Now they were simply dilapidated structures home to none and stripped of everything of value. However, one could see the academy towering in the distance, damaged yet still impressive.

Sighing, Doran didn't need to approach any closer to know what awaited them. There was a chance he could sneak through their lines like this, but truth be told he was still worried traveling with others. Still, there weren't many options. They could take their chances above ground, or head through the sewers but that likely presented its own issues.

"Well... We got a couple of options. Sneak through the rubble and pass through their lines-Or try to anyway. We might be able to find an opening in the blockade. That or we might get lucky and slip in during the change of watch... That all depends on what the robot to body ratio is here though... Damn Atlesians," Doran cursed, inconvenienced by the northern country's technological reliance. "Or... we could head through the sewers I suppose. Problem there is there could be Grimm rather than people. Atlesians; they're not gonna waste time worrying about a sewer, right?"