A huge thanks to everyone who decided to participate this month. It has been a lot of fun doing this song with you all. I hope to see everyone out next month for our Broadway themed Chorus, we are always welcoming new people, come check it out!
Hello everyone! Every few months I try and do a themed chorus. Without any special occasions this month, I figured we would do one of your suggested Themes. This month we will do a Broadway themed chorus. If there is any songs from a Broadway production that you would like to do, now is the time to put your suggestions out there. You will have a week to suggest your songs, and on April 1st we will have a vote that includes all suggested songs to see which one we will do for April. Look forward to seeing what you all come up with!
Ah lovely lovely, look at all those beautiful faces out there. Perfect. Just the perfect candidates for my new project. Yes so many lovely faces out there, it will be hard to choose, hard to come up with a winner for this. Yes, there only must be one winner for my new project.... Wait you mean I haven't told you what my new project is yet? I will have to get right on that. Eh-hem. Welcome one and all to KHV's newest annual event. What is this event, you ask? Well that is simple, it is a beauty pageant of course.... well it isn't just a beauty pageant, it is more complicated than that. You see there are far too many beautiful faces and far too many shy people out there to just base this on looks, that would be too hard to decide then. No, now is a time for your inner beauty and creativity to shine through. What does that mean for you? Well that is simple, it means that you, the contestants will be put through a series of creative challenges to see just how beautiful you are, and how much you love this site... You do love this site right? Well of course you do! Who am I kidding everyone loves this site. Anyhoo, you will be put through a series of challenges, whether that be dressing up, writing something for me, or drawing stick figures and pretending that they are keyblade wielders. You will have a week to complete each task, and at the end of the week your work will be judged by our beautiful panel of judges, as well as your peers. Everyone gets a say in who wins or who loses. At the end of April the person with the most points wins. Simple as that. What do you win you ask? Well you win this beautiful pin! Spoiler: Pin There are rules though, nothing is without rules. Rules are what make things fun for everyone. Let me go over those rules for you: Please get your projects in on time. There will be no extensions. If you don't get your entries in for that round you will get no points. No voting for yourself. Contestants are welcome to vote in the polls but only when voting for other people. The entries will be anonymous, the challenges will be sent out through PM and the entries will come in through PM. When the entries are posted for voting, there will be no names attached. While points are scored through both voting and judging, most of the score will come from the judging. So the results at the end of each week might not be what you expect. You will be judged on the following criteria where applicable: Use of Prompt, Creativity, and inclusion of KHV. Have fun! Support your competitors. Sign ups will cut off when the first challenge is sent out on April first. If you want to be included make sure you post in this thread to show your interest. All are welcome to join! *Credit to Midnight for helping come up with this idea
A backstory of Auburn, a character in RWBY: Guardian's Saviors "Get behind me. Stay back. When their is an opening take your brother and run. Listen to me Auburn, you have to be strong for me sweetie." Standing up Auburn's mother stood up and grabbed the knife of the kitchen table, standing near the entrance to the kitchen. In their small cottage the room that served as a nursery was off the kitchen, so if they could keep the grimm out of the kitchen then both the kids would be safe. There was a cracking sound at the door and then a yell "It is breaking through, be ready Rach!" A man called from the front of the house ready to fend off the grimm for the sake of his family. There was a few sniffles heard from the small girl behind her mother who stood in the back of the kitchen, ready to run for her baby brother who was crying in the connected room. Suddenly there was a loud burst sound before a war cry as the grizzled middle aged man charged in to deal with the grimm that managed to breach through the walls of the town and was now attacking his family. ------------------- Onyx had just arrived into the town. He had decided to explore before someone had yelled out. "Someone! Anyone!! Please help!!" The grizzled man looked over and ran to the person. "What's wrong?!" The person had appeared to be an old woman. She looked over to Onyx and immediately asked for is help. "Please help!! The grimm...It's the grimm!! They're attacking the town and they're currently attacking one of the families!! They need help!!" Onyx listened as the woman spoke. He then asked where the house in question was. The elderly woman pointed in the direction of the house. He thanked her and began making his way to the house. As he arrived, he saw numerous grimm running into the house. "That's not good!" He grabbed his sword and begun to cut down the grimm that was making their way into the house! "Don't worry guys! I'm on my way!!!" Slowly he made his way into the house while fending off the grimm. ------------------ The fight against the grimm was short lived. While Auburns father had a couple of small weapons in his house, he was not Huntsman, more a simple farmer. There was no screams that escaped his mouth though, but a grunt, then a thump as his body hit the ground and the Grimm prowled into home further, smelling the air before charging towards the kitchen. Rachel's kitchen knife was batted to the side with one swipe of the mighty claws, before the other claw slashed across her body. The woman screamed and looked over at her young daughter. "Run!" It barely escaped her mouth before the grimm slammed it's paw down on her mother, pushing the last bit of life out of her. Auburn was terrified, she couldn't move really, she was numb. "Mom? Mommy! No!" Bending down she picked up the kitchen knife that had been pushed towards her when it was knocked from her mothers hand, standing over her mothers body looking up at the creature. "You will not hurt my mommy any more." She told the dark creature though her hands were shaking and she could barely hold her knife. She still was trying to defend her mother no matter what, even as blood stained her bare feet. The grimm was only toying with her though as it lifted a massive paw to take a swipe at the girl. --------------------- Onyx got inside just in time as the grimm ha slain the man that was in the room. "Oh no..." He then sliced throught the grimm that had begun making their way into the kitchen. As he got to the kitchen, he saw a woman bleeding out on the floor and a small girl holding a kitchen knife against the grimm. It raised its paw, getting ready to strike but before it could, Onyx ran into the room. He shot at the grimm and then cut through its body. He went over to the little girl and carefully took the kitchen knife out of her hands. "Are you alright? What happened here?!" He knelt down to her level and spoke calmly to her and tried to check for any injuries on her as he asked. ------------------------- The man who came in to save her might have arrived slightly too late as the paw had managed to graze her on the side, though given her size the cuts were still deep. At first the girl didn't seem to notice though as she stared at the man, her baby brother still crying in the background. While Auburn might have been five at the time, her height suggested more of a three year old, at least until she spoke up and it became obvious she was a least slightly older than three. "They killed mommy and daddy. I-I tried to save them. Mom told me to run, but I couldn't leave her." She put her hand to her side as the knife was removed from it, but as she did she felt something warm, looking down at her side she realized it was bleeding and quite badly. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the man, clearly terrified. ----------------------- Onyx looked over at the little girl's mother and father's bodies. He knelt down and check both of their pulses. He let out a sigh before looking over at the two children. He hugged the little girl as she was looking terrified. "Everything's going to be okay. I'll make sure I'll get you to safety. I promise." He patted her head before pulling away and saw another room where he heard the faint sound of an infant crying. He walked into the room and saw an infant crying their eyes out. He picked the baby up and spoke to the baby. "There's no need to be scared now. You're safe now. You're both safe now." He looked between the two and tried smiling to calm the girl and the baby down. Onyx stood up and looked around the house to make sure no other grimm were still lurking around. He went back to the children and reached his hand out. "Let's get you two out of here and to somewhere safe, alright?" He then looked at the girl and spoke. "And let's get some band-aids for you, okay?" He looked at the girl and smiled as he held the baby. ---------------------------- The man had gone to get her younger brother and Auburn just stood there, staring at the blood on herself and on her mothers body in front of her. "No! can't go! Not without mommy and daddy! They need help too, someone needs to protect them until they wake up." The concept of death had not quite hit for Auburn, to her they were just hurt like she was. She saw blood on herself and on her parents, to her there was no difference. However even as the small girl argued she was getting noticeably pale, from the blood loss. While she didn't seem to be registering the pain all that much the wound was decently serious. Auburn just looked at her brother though in the mans arms. "Help him though." She told him while she stood her ground inside the house, she knew it wasn't necessarily safe and her baby brother needed to get out of there. ------------------ Onyx got down on one knee as he carried the girl's little brother. He tried to think about his next words carefully. After a few moments, he looked at the girl and spoke. "Don't worry! I'll send somebody right over to watch your mommy and daddy." He smiled and then continued. "Your mommy and daddy wants to make sure you two are okay. I promise somebody will be here to watch your mommy and daddy while I get you two some help." Onyx tried to reassure her while still trying to keep a smile on his face. "We need to to get you two out of here while I have someone come in here and watch your mommy and daddy, okay?" -------------------- There was a small sniffle as tears started to run down Auburns face at last. "I- I don't want to leave them." She begged, however looking at her brother then down at her bleeding side there was only so much that she could argue here. She knew that she couldn't actually protect her parents much longer as she was feeling rather tired the more time that went by with her arguing. Finally she nodded and grabbed the mans hand with one of her hands and used the other to hold at her side. "I feel dizzy..." Auburn told him as she tried her best not to look at the blood as they walked by, Auburn did however kick the dead grimm as she passed out of spite for what he did to her family. As she did so though her side screamed in pain and she got really dizzy almost slipping out of Onyx's hands. Still she was doing her best to hold back tears, though Auburn wasn't doing a good job at it, she didn't sob or cry loudly, she just kept her mouth shut and gripped her side tighter, letting the tears flow a little more freely.
Having fallen asleep so quickly after hitting her bed, Tinarah never really caught any of the conversation that was happening after they were to go to bed. Apparently sleep was something Tinarah had needed more than she had originally thought that she would. While kind of annoying to admit, at least Tinarah could be grateful that she could sleep through the night and wake up in the morning, unharmed, and hearing voices in the house. Sitting up out of bed, Tinarah found herself curious about what the conversation was. It would have been more respectful to just tune it all out, but instead Tinarah found herself cracking over her bedroom door, listening to what was being said. She had chosen a bedroom near the start of the hall, so she perhaps could catch things a little easier. After listening in to Edna's conversation for a moment, Tinarah quickly got ready to the best of her ability before stepping out of her room, a little nervous as she looked back down the hall. Finally Tinarah stepped forward not really wanting to walk up to the adults talking but lingering near by, clearly in view. "Like I said before, we aren't heroes, but... I want to help anyways. I... We know how to fight, and I would rather not stay behind and just wait for more people to get hurt." Her voice was quiet and she still kept her distance, but Tinarah was done trying to argue with with Thallasa. She kept pushing to help, but they hadn't yet, so now she was taking the next step and directly offering help. They had let her come here, to help out, now she needed to be allowed to help. If they were just going to sit around and only let a couple people do things at a time, it would be no better than leaving her back at the council's castle. If that was the case she would have preferred it, then at least she would have been doing something to benefit herself by figuring out where she stood with Master Stamatis, and perhaps even Master Fost... if he ever did end up contacting her again.
Crossing her arms and huffing a breath, Kiara just stared down Mizu for a moment. "... If there are thousands of heartless we could use all the help we could get." Kiara repeated sounding rather annoyed. "Besides I think that Lea would have a heart attack in his old age if we didn't return and kept all the fun to ourselves." Kiara stated back to Mizu. She was not impressed with the child's attitude but dealt with it to some extent, to the best of her ability. She didn't try and punch some sense into her, so she supposed that was an improvement. Koa then approached Kiara, and she turned to face him as well. "Yes I know them. Lets say I worked along side them for a while, but it didn't feel quite like my path to walk. We need to go though, it sounds like they are in trouble and I am not waiting around for them all to die. Lets go get back up." From there Kiara turned and walked away, keeping rather fast pace heading towards the hideout. Upon arriving the hide out was empty, all that was left was Lea's keyblade broken on the ground. Before anyone else could enter she walked up and picked it up. "Stupid old man, you were supposed to help me change, not put me in charge and leave me." Kiara sounded actually a bit upset and confused. Trying to take a deep breath and calm herself she turned back to the rabbit. "Well Oswald, lead the way, there is no more help to be found. Whatever was planned... they wanted us to split up and now I fear they might kill my friends." There was a bit of fear in Kiara's voice but she tried to keep it hidden. For once she didn't mind referring to those people as friends, the thought of losing them too, it was kind of scary, enough to make Kiara realize that she might not have done a good job at keeping herself distant from people.
Bad question. Aislinn should have known better than to ask about it given the track records of these kids. All seemed to have their own sad past and reason to fight, Luna was doing what she had to for her kingdom. "I am sure that your kingdom and your family would be proud of you. Keep up the hard work and I know that you will see it restored once more." Aislinn assured Luna trying to make up for the mistake it was asking. She didn't like seeing the girl upset and it made her feel bad given she had asked the question that caused this entire thing. Putting a hand on Luna's shoulders Aislinn just smiled. "You will make a fine leader someday, and that heart of gold that you have got, it will carry you far. Don't lose sight of that in your battles." With that Aislinn took back off into a battle of her own. The heartless that remained, there were barely any left. Sizing up the group she knew she could take out at least those Neoshadows that remained, meaning all there was left after that would be the dark balls, and Aislinn was sure that they would not be a problem either. She had confidence that a single person could take out what remained after she was done with her run through the enemies. If this was to be the end, she knew that she better make it flashy. Take a moment and kill the heartless outright instead of waiting for them to come to her. With so few in such a large area, instead of grouping up like they had done before, the Neoshadows spread out everywhere, splitting themselves up to try and make it harder for Aislinn to go through. They were wrong to think that would stop her, it was almost too easy still. "I will be right back." She informed Beuce and Luna before stopping for what seemed like less than a second for them, but for her it felt like a few seconds, before in a flash of light, Ailsinn took off in a Zantetsuken, this one more controlled than any she had done before. Like a pin ball in a pin ball machine, Aislinn bounced from Neoshaodw to Neoshadow. However unlike pinball machines, instead of the object she hit lighting up, these turned to black smoke around her as she rushed around the island, keyblade at the ready as she bounced from heartless to heartless. About half way though though her ability ran out of steam however, so she simply switched tactics taking an idea from Beuce, despite the fear it caused. These were heartless and there wasn't too much to crash into, she was unlikely to kill herself or others, so she had to try. Changing forms, Aislinn held out a rod which soon brought forth a light cycle under her. Taking a deep breath to calm her emotions, Aislinn looked at the remaining Neoshadows, revved her engine and then took off, leaving a streak of light behind her as she bounced off the enemies, one by one dropping them until all the Neoshadows were gone. In the process of that she had also ran into one dark ball, which upon impact bounced into a second. Only one had died but it left the other in bad shape. Getting off the light cycle on shaky legs, Aislinn looked back towards everyone she had been fighting with, before starting to make her way towards those she had left momentarily. "So would one of you like to do the honours, I would... but I seriously regret getting on that damn thing again." She told them with a light chuckle. Total Words: 619 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2880 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 1 Darkball Heartless Injured: Darkball 5/9 Enemies Remianing: 4 Darkballs
Qamar suggested opening up to those she cared about before worrying about being friendly to others, but Tinarah didn't want to be antisocial. Besides she could barely tell where she sat with most people in this room. She had a good relationship with Aria, she didn't know Take that well but had gotten along with him well enough, she was still figuring out her thoughts on her own brother, and everyone else Tinarah didn't know or couldn't bring herself to trust at all. That made adjusting by opening to those she cared about hard, especially given the issues that Aria had been having with her dreams and such. But Tinarah nodded and took the advice gracefully as she then went on the suggest they combine their techniques to help Aria. Torrin however quickly shot down this idea. He claimed quickly it wouldn't help but had an idea what would help. Before he could tell them though Edna came in the room to shoo them all off to bed. Going back to where she left her Violin, Tinarah went to collect her stuff. She was done arguing what would be best as exhaust weighed heavy on her once again. Before she followed the other young keyblade wielders towards the bedrooms, Tinarah paused and looked back at Torrin. What was he going to say? What would have helped? She wanted to badly to ask how she could help her friend but the fear of Torrin also weighted heavy on her chest, that combined with her general awkward nature, Tinarah didn't want to say anything before she went off, finding an empty room, and falling asleep near the moment she had hit the bed.
Once more Luna came in with the quick save. There was definitely and advantage to someone watching your back during battles. While Aislinn was confident if she had to that she could handle herself, and had done a decent job so far when she had to, it made it easier fighting alongside friends who watched out for you, so you could watch out for them. It also made the conversing a lot easier, even if they had to keep stopping the conversation to fight. That was to be expected, this was a battle after all and not leisure time. They would have to put some work in while they spoke, and in the end it was probably better to put more focus on the fighting than the conversation anyways, but the fighting was starting to get dull without it. Aislinn figured that it wouldn't hurt to talk to each other even if their sentences were broken up between attacks against the ever thinning hoard of heartless that was coming after them. While she wore a crown, Aislinn still found herself a little bit surprised to hear that Luna was actually a princess. Looking now at the crown, it was clear that this was not some cheap crown someone used for decoration, but it was the real deal. "Keyblade master and a princess. Wow I am impressed." Aislinn informed Luna before whipping around catching a Neoshadow coming up to Luna's side ready to strike. Luna watched her back, Aislinn watched Luna's back, she also kept an eye out for Beuce, which speaking of, wasn't getting a break from the heartless either as Aislinn turned taking a couple steps towards him and cutting off a couple more Neoshadows before they got the chance to attack from behind. After she dealt with those issues, Aislinn turned back to Luna panting slightly as she did have another question for the girl. "So what brought you from your lands then Luna? If you are a princess I would think you would have duties back home that you would be needed for." It wasn't condescending or anything, just genuine curiosity what brought a princess to be fighting along these other keyblade wielders, for a mission or a goal that Aislinn hadn't every actually managed to figure out. Through her questions she knew why some people left home, largely due to safety reasons, but what was the purpose of this group? How did they get caught up in so much stuff? It still baffled Aislinn slightly. While giving Luna time to answer, Aislinn made sure that she wouldn't need to watch her back while trying to answer. Turning around she came face to face with several more Neoshadows. "Tsk tsk, an impatient bunch aren't you." Aislinn sighed before reading her keyblade. As the first one jumped she didn't actually bother with her keyblade, instead winding up and giving the heartless a solid punch to the gut, to send it flying back into another. They both collapsed into smoke moments later. From there Ailsinn turned and dealt with the remaining heartless that stood around her, cross slashing through the next couple. They still came in a wave though, despite the damage she was doing, the heartless didn't seem to think it wise to back off instead going after her once more. Jumping back out of the way, Aislinn ended up next to Beuce as she finished the next set off attacks and looked around at the remaining heartless. "We are almost there." She said a bit breathlessly to Beuce in sort of an uplifting manner. Just a few more, she held her keyblade at the ready. She could deal with that, easy. They got this in the bag. Total Words: 620 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2820 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows Heartless Injured: Neoshadow: 2/15 Enemies Remianing: 33 Darkballs 29 Neoshadows
Standing over his friend watching him starting to work with the samples, it turned out that it was indeed caused by the water. At least they had a good starting point now. However the fact that it was coming from both a poison and a magical source was interesting to him. Thinking on it, Everette caught himself rubbing the back of his neck. "So this likely isn't something naturally occurring then. If it was just poison I would be willing to say something int he landscape of the mountain was contaminating the water as of late, but with the magic involved... well it is more likely that there is some human involvement, which just makes this more complicated than it already is. At least we got the first step to figuring this situation out done. Good job Sam." Everette gave the other boy a pat on the back before Conrad suggested that they tell the mayor about their findings. "Telling the mayor seems like a reasonable thing to me. We will sort out a place to sleep and can set out in the morning I suppose." Everette shrugged. He hated having to draw this out longer than it needed to be, but Samuel was right, none of them could see in the dark very well, so going now would be pointless and perhaps a little dangerous. "Renza, we are heading back to town hall. Are you ready to go or do you stay here at night?" Everette called out to the girl. He wasn't going to make her come with them back if she wanted to stay at home, but they also shouldn't just leave without her.
Aria tried to assure her that it was alright, but part of Tinarah doubted it. She felt bad for not doing something to help before, but at least she had a chance to help now. With Aria agreeing to let her try and play for her to lull her to sleep, that made Tinarah feel a little better about it. She hadn't clued in earlier that day, but at least she didn't have to sit by idly either, she could try and help in whatever small ways that she could, and she didn't care what they were at this point. As they talked though Qamar continued her conversation as well, which ended up turning to her and being an apology. "It's okay. I am sorry that I panicked like that. By now I am sure you heard what happened, and I am just dealing with a lot. I don't mean to be so distant and push you away... I just... I don't know how to deal with these things anymore. Not just the stress... but normal people." Tinarah awkwardly admitted. She was sure that Aria and Take had caught on already to that but she wasn't sure if Qamar had. Soon after Aria had taken off to clean up and Take went off to do his own thing. That left Tinarah standing there with Qamar. Trying to make it up to the girl a bit, Tinarah looked over at her violin, which Nini was actively trying to protect. "I told Aria I would play for her to help her fall asleep, do you want to join us, listen in a bit? I don't know if you like music or anything." It was at least an attempt at making Qamar feel welcome after she mentioned that she just wanted friends. Tinarah had been well aware of how that felt and was trying to be a little more understanding. Since her mind got turned off her own problems, she was finding it a little easier to function, it wasn't until those dark thoughts crept up that things got difficult for her.
Fighting the heartless around her, Aislinn had not noticed that anything was approaching from behind until she heard a large explosion. Turning around Aislinn had just managed to catch the remnants of the explosion. Dark smoke mixed with the pure black of the heartless remains billowed up from behind her. Aislinn cursed herself a little bit for missing the signs of something approaching from behind. She should have been more careful about what was around her. Perhaps she had been getting a little lazy because the numbers were starting to thin out a bit. Aislinn didn't think she had been getting to distracted with other things, but this just left her to see that she was wrong and needed to be more careful. Looking over she noticed that Luna was running towards her, asking if she was alright. Smiling back at the girl, Aislinn brushed a little bit of dust off her. "I am perfectly fine, thanks to your quick thinking. Nice work, thanks for the save!" It was a genuine thank you, Aislinn was relieved that Luna had managed to jump in for the quick save. "No injuries from that attack, just some earlier scratches. I am fine though." Aislinn assured Luna. If she tried to claim nothing was wrong that would be an obvious blatant lie, and she would rather tell the truth and not have Luna question her too much about it. Of course more Heartless closed in on them and Luna complained that they didn't get a break. "No we don't/ Apparently these things just keep on coming to no end, it is kind of getting on my nerves, but what can we do?" Aislinn tried to shrug it off like it was nothing, even when it was getting to her a little bit. Just as she prepared for another fight, someone else rode in and gave them a little more of a break. Looking at the man, Aislinn gave him a bit of a smile. "Thanks." She watched him get off the light cycle, trying not to think back to those damn races that she was forced to do. It was not something that Aislinn had particularly enjoyed, but in this case it helped save their butts a bit, give them a break. "We are as fine as we can be with a none stop stream of heartless coming at us. I see you are holding up alright yourself." Aislinn replied to him. She had not talked to the man that much, but she at least tried to be friendly in a rather generic manner, trying to keep things pretty basic until she had gotten to know him a little better. From what Aislinn could tell he was the next oldest one here, which was kind of interesting to her. Something he said had caught her attention though. "So what exactly is with this princess stuff?" She asked. Aislinn had not caught on with the conversation about Luna being a princess of heart, and knew nothing about her life, so she was simply a little curious. The curiosity would have to wait however as the heartless weren't slowing down much for them. As one group went down, another rose up to take it's place. This time Neoshadows decided to pop up around them. With three of them it wouldn't be too bad to deal with, but it seemed like half or more of the remaining Neoshadows tried to corner them. "Well I think we might have piss some of these off." Aislinn shrugged as she twisted her keyblade around and charged into the nearest group of heartless around her. Total Words: 604 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2760 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Enemies Remianing: 105 Shadows 54 Darkballs 44 Neoshadows
Apparently when the shadows failed, the Neoshadows felt the need to pick up where the shadows had left off with the fight. Rolling her eyes Aislinn prepared herself for another wave, at least she had plenty of experience fighting these things already. They weren't going to give her a break any time soon. Why did it seem like the heartless were so much more focused on her than most other people here? Was it because she was the oldest? Aislinn certainly wasn't going to claim to be the strongest of everyone here, though she did suppose that she had been the killing blow on both the big guys. If the heartless had a heirachy and it was anything like what Aislinn imagined then she might have just taken out two of the higher ranking heartless of the the group and all of the heartless could very well be pissed at her for such an act. Aislinn knew from experience that they weren't the strongest heartless that existed. She had joined plenty of raid teams, composed of fifty to a hundred people to take out even bigger threats back home. Not once during those missions had she been able to witness everyone return home from the battle. When they had to go into those fights, losses were always high, and Aislinn had always been fortunate to get out of them alive herself. She supposed her keyblade helped, but it had also drawn attention to her. Something about the weapon drew the attention of the heartless which tended to make battles a little more difficult. Here however where everyone had a keyblade there was no extra attention to be drawn by her weapon, just perhaps the fact that she had taken out some of their leaders could have been the cause, either way Aislinn was getting sick of it, she just wanted this fight to be over. Even if less Neoshadows surrounded her than the shadows had, it still got on her nerves that she had to deal with them all the time. With a sigh Aislinn took a more defensive stance against the Neoshadows. She didn't have the energy to go on a full frontal attack after the last set off attacks against the shadows. To deal with things easier, Aislinn let the heartless come to her, she would defend and strike out on counter strikes, but before then she had the time that she needed to catch her breath and relax her muscles. This still left Karina twirling from side to side, looking out for the heartless that might have been approaching her at any moment, but it was less effort than jumping around preforming numerous combos on enemies only to have them die before she could finish her combo, which meant a break in momentum. When she broke the momentum it meant that she spent more energy than she needed to with little reward for her work. It was really rather annoying in the end when that happened and left Aislinn longing for this battle to end finally. As she fought, Aislinn noticed certain people had began to group together. Through this entire battle she had notice Kel and Luna sticking together. Luna had interested her, she was rather nice during their first world together, and after they came back as masters she noticed that the girl carried a Tiara on her. More than that they found that the girl was a princess of heart. It certainly made for an interesting character. Aislinn figured she would have to talk to her a little more, just ask her about herself, but that could wait until they were in a more safe situation. Total Words: 609 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2700 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Enemies injured: Shadow 2/3 Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 177 Shadows 90 Darkballs 99 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (Reserved)
Another shadow swarm, much like the one that caused Aislinn to have a panic attack started to form and come towards her, this time however Aislinn was more prepared for them. Instead of freaking out and freezing up much like she did before, she stood her ground staring down the heartless. If she couldn't deal with things here, then she couldn't deal with things back at home. If Aislinn was going to make good on her promises to help others when she was called, she would have to make sure that she could help herself first. If another one of the swarms pushed her into the ground like it did last time, it would be a lot harder for Aislinn to get back on her feet again. She still felt the lingering effects of the first time it happened, and while she had been working to get passed them, and still managing to fight without a problem, she knew another attack like that wouldn't be very good for her health. That being said, the simple act of talking things through a little bit had made it much easier to face what was going on. Aislinn managed to keep her wits about her and not stop for the same traps. As the heartless rushed for her, Aislinn held her keyblade up in front of her, focusing a bit on the energy from it as it channeled through her creating a protective shield. When the barrier was created, instead of backing down or going for a safe haven, Aislinn rushed them head on, using the barrier to break through the heartless, destroy a few, but mostly disperse the group of them, allowing herself time to breath and get ready to continue the fight to a greater extent. Without them all grouped up it would take longer to kill them but it would be safer to deal with. Considering the big group could do quite a bit of damage all at once, she didn't want to risk her health for dealing with them in such a large group unless she was able to use Zantetsuken, which at this point it was not possible for her to do so. She wished the ability didn't take so much out of her, or else it would make the battle a lot easier, but given the limitations that she currently had, she didn't have much of a choice. With the heartless spread out around her, Aislinn started by smashing a couple into each other before dancing around the rest. It took nimble movement to avoid attacks while she stashed at the heartless around her. Far too many heartless fell to her, it was far to easy to take out heartless after heartless. She could deal with a lot more than normal now that she chose to deal with the smaller guys... well it was less of a choice and more of a necessity. They kept leaping up at her and trying to slash at her. Clearly the Shadows didn't like the fact that she knocked them out of their formation to take them on at smaller portions. It might have been easier for her but it was more than a little deadly for them. Aislinns keyblade twisted and turned in her hands as she jumped from one heartless to the next, not caring what she hit as long as they died before her, at her hand. It was less an act of violence as much as it was an act of survival. She just wanted to deal with the heartless as quick as possible, and as Aislinn stopped to breath she noticed how noticeably thinner the battle field was, they made good progress. Total Words: 616 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2640 Heartless Defeated: 59 Shadows Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 185 Shadows 94 Darkballs 113 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (1 Reserved)
Looking over, Aislinn looked at Ignis with sympathy in her eyes. She never meant for this to be a who's life is worse contest, but in the end, she would have to say that Ignis won in that category. Aislinn knew nothing about what sort of family the girl had, if they were still alive, if she was trying to protect them, but at least Aislinn knew that she had a lovely family that she was going to fight for. Perhaps the heartless had taken her world, perhaps her family was gone, but Aislinn still held hope that the front lines were still holding. That the town was secure and her sister and sweet children were still safe and alive in their little corner of the village, safely guarded by the man that Sarah had chosen to marry. It wasn't that Aislinn didn't like her husband, but they often didn't see eye to eye when it came to the war against the heartless. What Aislinn did know though, was that he loved his wife and children and would do anything for them. She knew that no matter how much they disagreed on some things, their love for Sarah was the same, so Sarah would always be safe with him, that was something that she never doubted. "I am sorry to hear that Ignis. I wouldn't jump on throwing away your keyblade for a sword just yet though. I don't know what these men or these creatures on your world are like, but it could perhaps be helpful in that fight as well. And if not, know you always have friends to lean on. You won't have to go in there alone." Aislinn didn't know if she could talk for anyone else, but she was willing to fight for and help any one of the warriors that surrounded her during this battle. She wouldn't let any of them have to face their battles alone if they didn't want to. That being said she wasn't going to push her help on anyone that didn't want it either. They all had their own problems, and Aislinn did have to return home, but she had the advantage of hope. She knew in her situation there was plenty of hope for the future and hope that things hadn't gone totally wrong yet. She could hold on to that hope to push herself forward. By the sounds of the situation Ignis described, hope wasn't as present, it was a hard battle that she had ahead of her and it was driven by revenge. While revenge was certainly a driving factor for people to do things, Aislinn didn't believe it to be a stable driving factor. You needed something better than negative emotions, but now was not the time to lecture anyone on that. Turning her attention back to heartless, Aislinn got ready to fight another swarm of the darkballs that were biting and gnashing at her, slowly closing in to trap her into a circle. It was kind of cute that they though that tactic would would for them when so many other heartless had failed. She wasn't that easy to take down, not even after the few hits that she did sustain, she still was going strong. With no opening in sight, Aislinn decided to make one. She waited until the Heartless crowded around more before letting time slow, cherry blossoms fall, and the sheer power behind this ability envelope her. With a deep exhale, she took off towards the spot where the heartless were at their thickest. Soon none remained, and Aislinn was left standing on the other side of them, staring back at the broken circle that had once attempted to take her down, now left to scatter slightly before preparing their next assault. Total Words: 631 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2580 Heartless Defeated: 19 Darkballs 2 Shadows Heartless Injured: shadow 1/3 Enemies Reserved: Neoshadow (Rydia) Invisible (Rubicante) Heartless Remaining: 249 Shadows 131 Darkballs 116 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 1 Invisible (1 Reserved)
Tinarah had come for hot chocolate and didn't expect to hear about Aria's problems. She didn't mind listening to the problems, it just had caught her off guard and left Tinarah feeling sort of bad about herself. She had been bugging Aria so much with her own problems, she had not clued into her friends own problems. Tinarah felt selfish and insensitive for not having clued in before. Even though she didn't feel like a good friend, Aria had said she trusted her and Take more than anyone else there. Shifting uncomfortably on her feet, Tinarah looked at the girl and listened closely to what she had to say. She hadn't been a good friend before but at least she could try now. As Tinarah listened to the girls story about her nightmares and what she thought she should do about it, Tinarah couldn't say she totally agreed. She didn't think ruining her sleep would do anything to help. Not knowing what to tell her yet, Tinarah awkwardly stepped up to her friend and gave her a hug. "I am sorry... that I didn't clue into the fact you were having your own problems and burdened you with mine. I don't know how to help you, I don't have a trick to keeping nightmares away like Take. But I can try and help. For me music is always calming, I could try to lull you into a peaceful sleep with my violin or something?" Tinarah offered. It didn't usually work for her, she still had nightmares herself, often of her mothers death, but it was all she had to offer. "I am sorry I can't do more to help you, but if you ever need to talk I will listen, like you always do for me." Tinarah informed Aria quietly as she stepped back from the girl, cringing a bit as Qamar jumped in. She didn't like the idea of another listening in when Aria was just talking to the two of them, but she had no right to get angry, that was up to Aria.
I think going si-fi or something like that would be cool and different from what we see a lot of in the RPA. Maybe do something kinda Treasure Planet style where it is less future technology and instead have literal flying ships or sky pirate type thing going? It could be fun.
When she had finished talking, Ignis finally got her thoughts together and started to explain for herself why she was there. It certainly seemed like a sort of middle ground between them. And like Stratos said none of their home situations were great, but they spoke of concurring them in an illusion. Aislinn wasn't totally sure what they were talking about with that, likely something that happened before she had arrived. If she remembered correctly she had caught bits and pieces about something like that when she had first arrived, but there was nothing directed at her and nothing really fully explained. Given that she didn't want to jump to too many conclusions just basing them off of scraps of information that she had gotten. Aislinn also wasn't totally sold on what Stratos was saying. Sure he was trying to be positive and she appreciated that, but it wasn't that easy. There wasn't any way of just overcoming this without a huge war. Sure she was sure that with some help and more training she could lead a proper assault, but Aislinn doubted that she would ever be able to fully rid her world of the heartless, if she was the only one wielding a keyblade. "I wish that I could say with that much confidence that I could go back and face my world and be fine, that after this I could just walk back head held high and take on whatever lay before me. But you must understand this is a war against the heartless without anyone equipped to face the heartless. Look around us, this is what my world is like, all the time, except it spans across the world, my city is the only safe haven left. Power of the keyblade master or not, look how many of us it is taking to deal with these heartless, I fear I will not have the strength to go back and face it alone only a small army of commoners behind me, that is if the darkness didn't swallow the rest of the world when it swallowed me. The most I can hope for is that my sister and her family survived and are safe. If nothing else I want to use this new power to protect them." Aislinn admitted softly. She didn't want to sound discouraging, but there had been a lot on her mind for the last little while, and she couldn't help but think on it. "But I hope that the strength and bonds you guys have made here will carry you all through your situations into the light of day on the other side. I am more than confident that you are both strong enough that you can change your fate, make it whatever you want. After all, when prayers turn to promises, not even fate can stand in your way." Aislinn gave the two a small smile before Stratos took off and Aislinn followed lead jumping back into the battle to help fend off some darkballs that started to close in on them, filling in the openings that the Neoshadows left. As one of the dark balls surged forward to try and bite at her, Aislinn dodged out of the way, swinging it around and bashing it into another two, sending them flying closer to a large group of them. From there she jumped into the middle of the large group, with little regard of her safety as she started spinning on her toes, taking out as many as would surround her, not giving any a moment of rest. Even as the shadows tried to jump in and join, Aislinn allowed them no mercy, as suddenly once what had been a large group was reduced to nothing more than a cowering shadow. Total Words: 629 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2520 Heartless Defeated: 19 Darkballs 2 Shadows Heartless Injured: Shadow 1/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 382 Shadows 177 Darkballs 140 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
Just a reminder that lines are due in tomorrow
It was interesting, the idea of being there without really having a reason why he was there. Stratos said he wouldn't go into detail, so Aislinn didn't push, just listening and nodding in response as he spoke and as they fought. For someone who just kind of showed up without a reason why, he was holding his own pretty well. She supposed an escape was as good a reason as any to fight. If joining this and fighting was what it took to make his life better for himself, than who was she to question it. "Well I would say that is a pretty big cherry on top, to be able to become a keyblade master. Really now you have a lot of doors open to you... well that is once we get off this damned island after dealing with all the heartless." Aislinn sighed slighly clearly a little sick of all the heartless, but still doing what she had to do in order to stay alive and keep everyone safe. Turning her attention back to the heartless, Aislinn had been distracted just long enough to force her on the defense for a moment, fending off a few Neoshadows instead of killing them. After a moment of struggle Aislinn managed to force them back and go on the offense herself, clearing time for her to respond to Stratos's question. "You can say that. I didn't go to the realm of darkness to become a master. I had planned to seek that out elsewhere, but as chance had it I ended up being exactly where I needed to be. I have had a keyblade for a while, I have been training with it for quite a while as well. There was no keyblade masters in my world, or even many people who knew much about it. I met a man who had done some research on the blade, knew a little bit about it, but more so he was a soldier. Keyblades and swords are similar enough he taught me how to fight and that my keyblade was the key to defeating the heartless which we have spent years trying to defend against. Upon resent years they have began to push the line further back. The town is in ever growing danger and with my sister just having had her second child..." Aislinn hesitated for a moment taking that time to fend off another attack. "I needed to become stronger I needed to leave to find a way to increase my skill, perhaps try and meet other keyblade wielders, perhaps master it. If I did that then maybe I would be able to come back and rid my world of the heartless once and for all." So far she was sure it was making sense, but she hadn't explained what had brought her to the realm of darkness, this was perhaps a longer story to tell than Aislinn first had thought. "Before I left to find someone to train me better, I went onto the front lines with the soldiers, the heartless were pushing hard that day and they were gaining ground. I didn't dare leave until I knew that everyone was safe. It isn't that I didn't trust the soldiers, but I didn't dare do anything to risk the life of my family. When I fighting on the front lines, I went in a little far, got cut off from other soldiers... and that is when I found myself falling into the realm of darkness. At the time I was hopelessly lost, but now I see, it brought me to exactly where I needed to be, because now I am a master, I have the power and I have friends that could possibly help save my world and my family." Total Words: 630 EXP: 60 Total EXP: 2460 Heartless Defeated: 11 Neoshadows 4 Shadows Heartless Injured: Shadow 1/3 Invisible (Scarmiglione): 25/50 Invisible (Cagnazzo): 25/50 Invisible (Barbariccia): 25/50 Enemies Remaining: 497 Shadows 287 Darkballs 166 Neoshadows (1 Reserved) 4 Invisibles (4 Reserved)
