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| You talk too much. |
Chapter 3: Siblings
The bright morning sun glowed through the shutters of the window, and onto Maria's face. It shined straight onto her face, making her eyelids uncomfortably bright. She groaned, covering her eyes with one of her hands as she slowly climbed out of the bed she was in. The floor was hard and cold, as she noticed she had no shoes on. Her head began to throb some, she groaned and gripped her head firmly. Instead of hair, she felt cloth around her head, as if all of her forehead was bandaged. She walked to the window, pulling down the blinds and turned around to inspect the room.
It was oddly sterile looking, but she could tell this was some sort of hospital. It wasn't the one in the city, since she recognized that one like the back of her hand after 2 years of rehabilitation. This one was much bluer in color and the rooms were smaller. After being in that hospital for so long, she started to dislike being in one. Always having to have her bandages changed by some nurse she didn't even know, always wearing those thin, loose gowns which made her feel more exposed than she'd ever want to be.
She looked up, there was a small TV attached to a piece of metal bolted to the ceiling that was just showing the current weather. Since it was summer and they lived in Rosewall, A continent further south than Astra, a place known for being a frozen over wasteland 80% of the time... Summer was hot. She walked over to a counter and grabbed a paper cup to fill it with water using the sink. Her mouth was dry, like she sucked on a cotton ball in her spare time.
She quickly drank it down, before pouring the cup full again and drinking it some more. She crushed the paper cup in her hand and tossed it at a bin halfway across the room, It missed. “That never works...” Maria muttered to herself. She looked down, looking at her body and noticing that she was dressed in the typical blue loose cotton gown. A band of plastic was wrapped on her wrist. M. Roth, followed by a bunch of numbers and code that the staff probably knew was written on it. She grabbed her shoulder, slowly spinning her arm around to stretch it, she felt the back missing from her gown to expose her back and shoulders, but wraps around near her waist, she could tell from the slight throbbing pain her burn scars get when they contact open air.
She hated wearing the gown, so she began sifting through desks and bins to see if she had any clothes, but they were missing completely, so all she had was the gown for now... The growled to herself, walking over to a chair and taking a seat. When suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She stood back up, slowly walking to the door and cracking it open. Lily stood on the other side, holding a small bouquet of flowers. “O-oh! Maria, you're awake!” Maria arched an eyebrow at that, wondering why that's so strange. “Is that a surprise?” She said, pulling the door open and letting her in. “Yeah it kind of is... The doctor said you'd be out for 3-4 days. And you're up in two! So that's something.” Maria crossed her arms, trying to hold the gown still since it was only hanging on by the sleeves and a rope around her waist. “Two days?” She said, surprised. Lily nodded. “Yeah.. you were out cold and they had to stitch you up. They said the medication would knock you out for a while.” Maria blinked a couple of times, trying to process that. “How badly was I hurt, anyway...?” Lily set the flowers down, placing some clothes on a nearby desk.
“Well, if there wasn't healing magic here, they said you would need about 17 stitches for the cut on your head and the ones inside of your mouth. Also you had a moderate to severe concussion, one of the nurses told me on my last visit.” Lily answered matter of fact, walking over and picking up her bouquet again. Maria walked over, grabbing the clothes and inspecting them. They seemed like the clothes she brought when she moved in. Lily spoke over her shoulder as Maria held up the blue colored shirt.
“Your shirt and tie had blood all over them, it's hard to get the blood out so we've been washing it constantly. Your jacket is back at the dorm.” She said, handing Maria the flowers. Maria inspected it, it was a mixture of yellow and white flowers. “Those are Chrysanthemums. I thought they were pretty, so I bought them for you.” She said with a sheepish smile. Maria gave them a sniff, looking up at Lily.
“You know, Chrysanthemums are usually used at funerals, right?” Maria observes, Lily blushed from embarrassment, taking them back from Maria's hands with a bit of panic. “OH GOD I am so sorry! Uhh... I didn't know that. THIS ISN'T A FUNERAL!” She said, panicking a little bit. “It's whatever” Maria said, trying to brush off her losing her mind. “I don't mind, I guess... Thanks for my funeral, Lily.”
Lily still looked embarrassed, Maria looked up at her, still holding onto the bouquet. “I need to get dressed.” Maria stated, Lily suddenly snapped back to normal, nodding some and exiting the door. Maria turned around and began to take off her gown to get dressed. Lily was about to close the door, but wanted to look one last time. She saw Maria's bare back. Her skin was kind of ashy, but most of her back was actually a deep red looking scar. She knew that Maria went to the hospital but she didn't know the burns would still have those massive scars all over her back and shoulders. She closed the door as Maria got her clothes back on.
The door swung open, Maria took off some of the bandages on her head, leaving only the ones on her forehead. Her messy mouth length hair covering some of her face once again. She was dressed in a blue dress shirt and loose black denim jeans. She also got her boots on as well. Lily smiled at her, walking away and down the hall as she spoke. “Alright, good. Let's get to the courtyard, Sienna said we needed to meet some people. Maria followed behind, but she was trying to shake off how dizzy she felt now that she was walking around. Eventually stumbling over her two feet and falling face first on the linoleum. Lily gasped, running back and lifting her back up. “Are you alright?” She asked her. Maria rubbed her head and groaned, standing back up and leaning slightly on Lily to stay supported. “Oh yeah... Just not used to walking yet.” Maria responded, though she knew she must have been more injured than she assumed she was at first.
They walk together out into the courtyard, a pretty standard grassy field with sidewalks and a fountain at the center. Morgan, Sienna and Robin were all seen sitting on a bench near the fountain. Sienna and Morgan both stand up to meet them both. “I'm glad to see you back, Sis.” Sienna said, walking up and ruffling Maria's hair just to make it look a little messier. Morgan chimed in with a comment of her own. “Hey, those flowers for me?”
Sienna flicked Morgan on the head with a finger, making Morgan respond by rubbing her head and glaring at her a bit. Maria looked down and noticed she didn't ever set down the bouquet. She smirked some, walking over to Morgan and placed them in her arms. “They're used for funerals, Have fun being dead.” She said deadpan. Morgan chuckled a bit and held them in one of her hands. Sitting back in her bench as Sienna gestured Maria to come take a seat. “We're waiting for people, come on and sit down.” Maria nodded, getting out of Lily's grip and walking over to sit on a bench as far away from Morgan as possible. Lily sat with Maria, since she didn't want to even bother talking to Morgan.
“What people are you talking about?” Maria wondered aloud. Sienna smiled a bit as she explained to all four of her subordinates. “Well, you know that most teams are assigned 4-8 members. But teams are also assigned with something called a 'sister' team. This team is supposed to work closely together with your team. Occasionally for missions, you'll have a team member from the sister team added if they specialize in something the original team doesn't have.”
Maria rolled her eyes at the idea, but Lily seemed excited. She hopped out of her seat and exclaimed “More people!? This is gonna be so cool...!” She hopped on her feet a couple of times, looking at Sienna as she became curious. “Do you know who they are?” She said, but Sienna only shook her head softly. “They're just names on a clipboard at the moment. We're supposed to meet here very shortly.”
“Convenient, ain't it?” A woman said from behind the fountain. She wandered out in front of the small group of girls. She had long, well kept black hair going well past her shoulders and reaching her lower back, bangs draped on each side of her face along with a black eye patch covered one eye. She wore a white dress shirt along with the complimentary white instructor coat and white dress pants with black slip on shoes. She appeared to be a couple of years older than most of the people here. Maria could guess she was probably in her mid 20's.
“Oh. There you are, Ashley!” Seinna remarked. The woman crossed her arms and walked over to take a seat in the bench adjacent to Maria and Lily's. “A pleasure to meet you, Sienna Roth. My team will arrive shortly.” Sienna nodded, but commented as well. “What was the hold up?” Ashley sighed some, leaning over to the side to see if they were walking into the courtyard yet. “They got annoyed that I wanted to skip lunch to meet up with my sister team, So I let them eat their sandwiches in peace.” Sienna blinked a couple of times. “...I actually forgot about lunch.” She said flatly, slightly dumbfounded by forgetting a thing so obvious.
“You can have it after this, I'd rather not be delayed twice in a row.” They all looked up as they heard voices shout from a distance. “We're done!” Said a boyish sounding one. “Weee! I'm a bird!” Said a somehow MORE childish but at the same time, slightly deeper sounding one. A slightly deeper male voice states flatly. “Birds flap, you're pretending to be a plane, not a bird.” A quiet female voice responded to that. “Maybe he's a combination of a bird and a plane?” The deeper voice male brushed it off. “That's just absurd.”
Maria leaned back in her chair, inhaled the warm summer air and just spoke just under her breath. “And here comes the stupid...” Leaning back and glaring at the partly cloudy blue sky shining in the light of the late morning sun. The 4 other students arrived and Maria got out of her seat to inspect them over. They stood in a line shoulder to shoulder, arms behind their back as each one gave a bow.
The first one was a kind of small looking guy. He was still taller than Maria but he had a pale and sort of withered look to his body, like underneath his school uniform he was built like a twig. His face was friendly and looked like an actor for someone cast as a prince in a school play since he had kind of a girly look to him with his chin length bright gold hair framing his face. He wasn't Maria's type but she could see the appeal others would have for him. He had bright blue eyes and bowed his head first. “Jonah Delaney. It's nice to meet you all.” He said, introducing himself.
The next was also a guy. He was dressed in the alternate color school uniform for the guys. A white suit with a red tie, a black dress shit underneath it with black lined lapels. His hair was a complete mess. He his hair was a brownish red color, but it was very long and messy looking, as just a huge mop of long hair draped all over past his shoulders and upper back. His skin has a slightly more tan tone to it, He also had brown colored eyes and a kind of goofy grin plastered on his face. “I'm Gabriel Caine! I love meeting new friends~”
“Is that really his name!?” Morgan said between the chuckles she broke out into. “You belong in a comic book or something...” She added.
“I love comic books!” He replied excitedly, his eyes gave off a head in the clouds look, and Maria quietly wondered how many times did he hit his head falling down the stairs as a baby. Jonah commented at him shouting like that. “Buy them later, Man. We have stuff we need to do.” He said, bumping Gabriel's shoulder with the back of his hand. “Fiiiine.” He said disappointed from not being able to get comic books.
The next was a girl, she had long ginger hair pulled back into a low ponytail and fair colored skin. She seemed just short of Morgan, but looked a bit less athletic overall. She was wearing a waistcoat over top a dress and long skirt combo. She looked at the floor, hands twiddling together some. “E-erika Wolfe... Yeah...” She said, quietly it was obvious that she wasn't good around new people. She quickly turned around and walked away to take a seat on the fountains edge, not really looking at anyone else.
Jonah shrugged from her acting like that, quietly explaining to the rest of the group. “Oh... She's just shy with new people. She was like that with me as well until yesterday. Then I found out she loves racing slot cars and we hit it off.” Erika looked back, quietly sighing to herself. “I heard that, you know...” Jonah chuckled, rubbing the back of his head and sighing. “Sorry!”
The last was slightly taller than the rest, a boy with medium length brown hair parted to one side. He was dressed in a waist coat with frilly sleeves to his shirt along with the standard burgundy colored pants. His green eyes shining as he gave his own bow. “I am Florence Goldshore. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Lily turned to him, eyes lighting up with curiosity. “Did you say your last name was Goldshore..? Like... House Goldshore?” The boy nodded. “Though, after the national government got established all we have is the name and the manor we reside in.” Lily squeed a little bit and grinned like a doof at him. “Yeah, that's pretty lame. But I still always wanted to meet royalty!” She said enthusiastically, but Florence just tilted his head at her. “But, you've already met royalty,” He explained, though she just looked confused by that.
“My older sister is on your team.” He added, pointing to Robin. Robin smiled and walked up to give him a hug. “I'm glad you made it here safely.” Robin said. He was even taller than her, but to Lily that brought up one question. “If he's your little brother then how old are you two?” The boy released the hug and looked at her. “I'm 15.” He quickly stated. Robin added onto that with “I'm 22.” Suddenly Sienna looked a bit shocked, Morgan walked up to eye at them both some
Morgan chimed in. “Isn't 22 a little old to be a student?” Robin scoffed at that. “I'm still in my prime, I have another 20 or so years before I'd actually be over the hill” Sienna looked at the floor, sighing some. “I thought the teacher was supposed to be older than her students! I'm only 20...”
Robin laughed and patted her on the back in response to help her cheer up. “You probably are still more experienced than I am.
Sienna nodded, before cleaning her throat and standing up on the fountain, it was still a bit wet so she slipped on her way up, but steadied her balance. “Now, the reason why we're all meeting today!” The crowd of boys and girls gathered at her feet. Everyone except Maria, who was just sitting on the bench and looking like her usual self. Also known as being insanely grumpy. “We got the requisition documents today, we can go to the armory and pick out weapons!” Maria looked up with a sigh. “That's it?” Sienna glared and continued. “Well, we were going to do an exam today to test your teamwork skills. But since you got injured we have to do a rain check.” Maria rolled her eyes, and Florence raised his hand. “Yes, Florence?” Sienna said, taking his question.
“But I have my own weapon, why should I get a second one?” He asked, but Sienna just smirked at that. As that question was the 5th most popular question in her instructional instructor instruction manual... err.. handbook. “Well.. Allow me to get long winded for this one.” She said, clearing her throat in preparation. “The weapons crafted by the companies that craft these weapons have to use a special material. This is known as Crimisanium Ash, or Ash for short. These were found from the bodies of the monsters that we've managed to defeat so far. But Ash is quite similar to the Ash found from the bodies of the cremated or the burnt husks of trees and can't be turned into anything alone. This must be either synthesized into an amalgamate material or heat treated into an alloy.” She explained thoroughly.
She got off of the fountain and continued to speak. “These Crimisanium Ash infused weapons allowed the people who used them to learn special abilities, such as controlling their natural energies and using it as a force known as Pulsing. It also let us figure out that each person is tied to an element of the world, and can be cast as a kind of spell to use. This would be impossible otherwise, but Ash isn't a miracle substance regardless of what people tell you.” She slowly approached Maria and looked down.
“Being in contact with Ash for too long, or being subjected to too much magic can cause Ash poisoning. This is 100% fatal, but if you manage to get a small enough dose... You get blood red eyes and nearly paper colored skin instead of every part of your body bleeding internally all at once.” She said, pointing at Maria as an example. Maria just looked away at the ground, crossing her arms, she felt a bit insulted, but just didn't want to make a scene.
Seinna continued to explain, slowly walking away from them and gesturing with one hand for all of them to come along. They formed a line and began to walk just behind her along the sidewalk. Slowly passing by all of the school buildings along the way. “To get back to your question, these new weapons are sold to use and get infused with Ash to make it a little easier to hold back the monsters. That's why you need the new ones in the first place.” Florence nodded, walking just behind her. “I guess I kind of get it...” He said. Sienna looked back at him with a smile “If you have any questions, go ask Maria. She's kind of a big history nerd once you get to know her.” He nodded, but kept quiet.
Jonah walked beside Maria, looking her over before talking. “So uhm... How are you doing miss?” He said meekly, Maria looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders. She reached up to take the bandage off of her head, throwing it quickly into a bin just to have it miss. She groaned, running over and slamming it into the bin before running back. “Just want this day over with already.” She muttered annoyed at her suddenly large group she had to be with. Jonah looked at her forehead, noticing that it looked to be freshly cut, yet somewhat healed over. “Where did you get that cut?” He wondered aloud, Maria answered flatly. “I smashed my head into someone else's over and over again.” He cringed gently and made an eek like sound, turning away from her and looking at the floor. “What's bothering you?” Maria pinched her forehead at that, she didn't want this guy to play amateur psychologist with her, she didn't even know him in the first place.
“Too much to talk about.” She said, with a slight groan at the end. Jonah awkwardly rubbed his arm and looked up at the sky, the fluffy clouds slowly drifting overhead. “Sorry for asking...” He said, not really sure what was the best way to actually talk to her. “I just want my weapon so I can go lay down.” She said to him, walking slightly faster to walk beside Sienna and ignore pretty much everyone else.
They arrived at the armory, it didn't look like a huge building at first, but when Sienna opened the doors, they were proven wrong. All that was above ground was just the staircase TO the armory.
Sienna once again began to explain. “You get one weapon for free, if you ever want a second weapon you have to buy it. Next week we'll get you guys your own personal armor, but first we'd have to get everyone’s measurements so they fit.” She pumped her fist and started walking down the stairs. “So let's get started!” The actual entrance to the Armory was pretty tightly guarded. There was several fully armed people dressed in armor standing at the door. And you could only assume there was going to be more inside as well, giving out weapons to people has a high potential danger and they're there if anything goes wrong.
One man walked up in front of Sienna, and she quickly pulled out her student ID. He nodded some and stepped aside. “Take your time, everyone.” He said enthusiastically, and the whole group headed inside. The entire group began to walk the aisles, each one had weapons propped up against the wall or standing on a stand attached to the ground. The variety was pretty impressive, and it had pretty much every type of weapon you could want. Lily walked along with the entire group, her jaw hanging slightly open. “Wow... This is really impressive for an armory.” Maria gestured them to walk a little faster, breaking away from the group so they could look for weapons themselves first.
“So, Maria...” Lily lead into her question with a feeling of curiosity. “Did you pick what you want your weapon to be yet?” Maria shook her head at that question, her head cocked to the right to see all the weapons in one row. “Nothing has interested me yet.” Lily nodded and began to ponder to herself. “I imagine you using something cool... How about a scythe?” She asked, Maria sighed and shook her head. “Those are farming tools, Lily.” Maria commented, looking at the floor for a second. “Wait, they are?” Lily asked, Maria looking at her and giving a nod. “Yeah, and as soon as we fight evil demonic grass I'll consider it. But since we're not... Hell no.”
Lily began to giggle a little at that. Yeah, this Maria was a lot more bitter and cold than her old self but Lily always appreciated Maria's ability to say something absurd with a straight face, she enjoyed her random deadpan remarks on the stranger thoughts she'd tend to have.
Lily kept walking with her friend, when something catches her eye. It was a blade with a dramatic curve, it looked like it was more for slashing and almost not for stabbing at all. This piqued her interest. So she reached out to pick it up. She lightly swing it through the air once or twice and began to inspect it. “I think that's called a Scimitar.” Maria observed, Lily nodded and smiled. “Honestly I think this might be a good start.” Lily said, Maria tilted her head slightly and quickly retorted. “I thought you were good with a Rapier.” Lily nodded and pointed her blade toward the floor, finding the sheathe it belongs in and slowly strapping to her waistline while she replied. “Fighting Robin made me realize something. While fencing is a very flashy sport and learning is good for sport... I really doubt how successful I'll be. It was like my attacks had no power behind them no matter how many times I made contact... I want to try something different.”
Maria shrugged her shoulders and sighed some. “Whatever makes you feel better, I guess.” She said, reaching out for a weapon she saw while talking to Lily. It looked like a spear until she had it in her hands. Usually a spear has a pointed, yet short blade for stabbing. But this pole arm looked like someone placed a sword on the end of a long rod. She slid her hand along it and looked it over. Lily went to peer over her shoulder, noticing a small latch near the hilt of the blade. “Oh... there's a switch!” She said, gently twisting it to one side, and suddenly the blade fell off, clanging against the ground.
Lily's eyes widened from being shocked and surprised, yelling in a panic. “OH GOD I BROKE IT. I am SO sorry, Maria!”
Maria looked down and noticed something about the detached blade. “Hold on a second” She stated, slowly bending down to look at it. When it wasn't attached to the glaive, it seemed to be just a longsword. It had a hilt with a cross shaped guard on it and a deep red handle. “The blade seems to be detachable...” She said, grabbing it and lifting it up to reattach it to the end of the pole arm, when suddenly she felt dizzy.
It was like there was a massive ringing noise in her ears, suddenly her skin felt cold but she broke out into a sweat, her vision began to blur and a sharp pain formed in her head. She shrieked and dropped the blade, backing away quickly and tripping backwards, landing flat on her back. Her breaths were heavy and her eyes were wide open. Lily ran over, bending down to grab onto Maria. “Maria! Are you alright!?” Maria kept breathing, slowly the panic began to fade. “My head started to hurt... But it's going away now.” She said, groaning and standing back up, rubbing her sore head. “Maybe you still have that concussion...” Lily stated, gently lifting her hand to Maria's forehead to check if she had a fever or anything. Maria reached over to the carrying case of her weapon, noticing that she can twist the hilt and cause it to telescope into itself for compact carrying. She placed the blade and the folded up pole all into the carrying case and strapped it to her back.
“We might as well see what everyone else has picked out.” Lily said, sheathing her blade on the new scabbard she had wrapped around her waist. Jonah was inspecting a sword and heater shield, Morgan opted for a heavy two handed sword that was strapped to her back. Robin was carrying a longer partisan spear than Maria's, Gabriel found bladed cat o' nine tails, Erika found a huge battle axe even bigger than Morgan's claymore, and Florence found a different bow and arrow to use.
They lined up in front of Sienna, she smiled at all of them and nodded. “Alright, so all of you have your weapons. Unfortunately you cannot always have them with you, you'll need to put them into storage at your dorm until you actually need to use them. After this occurrence anyone caught with a weapon on campus will get fined or suspended depending on how you act because of it.” She stated, placing her hands on her hips and looking at all of the people, Ashley gesturing her team to move out first, leaving Sienna's team as the only ones who were with her.
“Alright, we'll start the exam once we know Maria is fully recovered from her head injury.” They all nodded in response. “You guys should head back to the dorm and store your weapons, that's all you need to do for today.” Morgan walked forward, folding her arms. “What about that lunch?” Sienna laughed a bit and scratched her long red hair a little bit, slightly embarrassed from forgetting. “Oh, right! Well before you guys head back, Lily and Maria need to pay for your lunches.”
Lily reached her hand into her side pocket, pulling out more than enough money for a lunch and giving it to Robin. “Here ya go, Robin.” She said with a smile, Robin took it from her and bowed her head just a bit. “I appreciate it, but it's more money for a lunch than I was thinking. If you want, I could get you something while I'm there.”
Lily gave a light nod. “That would be great, thanks.” She turned to Maria, who was currently looking at a wall covered with racks of weapons, tapping her foot. “Well? How about my reward?” Morgan commented, hands on her hips. Maria growled and looked at the floor, muttering quietly. “What was what?” Morgan said teasingly, raising her hand to her ear and leaning toward her.
“I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! Okay? I just... don't.”
Lily frowned a little, pulling out her wallet and giving a bit more money to Maria. Maria slid it into her hands and inspected it. It was once again.. way too expensive for lunch. Did she just not know how much lunches cost in general?
“Now give it to Morgan, Maria.” Maria glared at Lily, a look of confusion on her face. “IF YOU WERE GONNA GIVE IT TO MORGAN, WHY GIVE IT TO ME?” She shouted, stomping the ground with one foot. “Well... So you could give it to Morgan!” Maria just planted her face into one palm, Morgan reaching for the money and pulling it from Maria's hands with a “Yeeee-oink” coming from her mouth.
Maria groaned, walking past the entire group, arms pumping from the sheer amount of annoyed exhuming from her. “Don't spend it all in one place, dick.” She said, slamming the door behind her and heading back to the dorm on an empty stomach.
The bright morning sun glowed through the shutters of the window, and onto Maria's face. It shined straight onto her face, making her eyelids uncomfortably bright. She groaned, covering her eyes with one of her hands as she slowly climbed out of the bed she was in. The floor was hard and cold, as she noticed she had no shoes on. Her head began to throb some, she groaned and gripped her head firmly. Instead of hair, she felt cloth around her head, as if all of her forehead was bandaged. She walked to the window, pulling down the blinds and turned around to inspect the room.
It was oddly sterile looking, but she could tell this was some sort of hospital. It wasn't the one in the city, since she recognized that one like the back of her hand after 2 years of rehabilitation. This one was much bluer in color and the rooms were smaller. After being in that hospital for so long, she started to dislike being in one. Always having to have her bandages changed by some nurse she didn't even know, always wearing those thin, loose gowns which made her feel more exposed than she'd ever want to be.
She looked up, there was a small TV attached to a piece of metal bolted to the ceiling that was just showing the current weather. Since it was summer and they lived in Rosewall, A continent further south than Astra, a place known for being a frozen over wasteland 80% of the time... Summer was hot. She walked over to a counter and grabbed a paper cup to fill it with water using the sink. Her mouth was dry, like she sucked on a cotton ball in her spare time.
She quickly drank it down, before pouring the cup full again and drinking it some more. She crushed the paper cup in her hand and tossed it at a bin halfway across the room, It missed. “That never works...” Maria muttered to herself. She looked down, looking at her body and noticing that she was dressed in the typical blue loose cotton gown. A band of plastic was wrapped on her wrist. M. Roth, followed by a bunch of numbers and code that the staff probably knew was written on it. She grabbed her shoulder, slowly spinning her arm around to stretch it, she felt the back missing from her gown to expose her back and shoulders, but wraps around near her waist, she could tell from the slight throbbing pain her burn scars get when they contact open air.
She hated wearing the gown, so she began sifting through desks and bins to see if she had any clothes, but they were missing completely, so all she had was the gown for now... The growled to herself, walking over to a chair and taking a seat. When suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She stood back up, slowly walking to the door and cracking it open. Lily stood on the other side, holding a small bouquet of flowers. “O-oh! Maria, you're awake!” Maria arched an eyebrow at that, wondering why that's so strange. “Is that a surprise?” She said, pulling the door open and letting her in. “Yeah it kind of is... The doctor said you'd be out for 3-4 days. And you're up in two! So that's something.” Maria crossed her arms, trying to hold the gown still since it was only hanging on by the sleeves and a rope around her waist. “Two days?” She said, surprised. Lily nodded. “Yeah.. you were out cold and they had to stitch you up. They said the medication would knock you out for a while.” Maria blinked a couple of times, trying to process that. “How badly was I hurt, anyway...?” Lily set the flowers down, placing some clothes on a nearby desk.
“Well, if there wasn't healing magic here, they said you would need about 17 stitches for the cut on your head and the ones inside of your mouth. Also you had a moderate to severe concussion, one of the nurses told me on my last visit.” Lily answered matter of fact, walking over and picking up her bouquet again. Maria walked over, grabbing the clothes and inspecting them. They seemed like the clothes she brought when she moved in. Lily spoke over her shoulder as Maria held up the blue colored shirt.
“Your shirt and tie had blood all over them, it's hard to get the blood out so we've been washing it constantly. Your jacket is back at the dorm.” She said, handing Maria the flowers. Maria inspected it, it was a mixture of yellow and white flowers. “Those are Chrysanthemums. I thought they were pretty, so I bought them for you.” She said with a sheepish smile. Maria gave them a sniff, looking up at Lily.
“You know, Chrysanthemums are usually used at funerals, right?” Maria observes, Lily blushed from embarrassment, taking them back from Maria's hands with a bit of panic. “OH GOD I am so sorry! Uhh... I didn't know that. THIS ISN'T A FUNERAL!” She said, panicking a little bit. “It's whatever” Maria said, trying to brush off her losing her mind. “I don't mind, I guess... Thanks for my funeral, Lily.”
Lily still looked embarrassed, Maria looked up at her, still holding onto the bouquet. “I need to get dressed.” Maria stated, Lily suddenly snapped back to normal, nodding some and exiting the door. Maria turned around and began to take off her gown to get dressed. Lily was about to close the door, but wanted to look one last time. She saw Maria's bare back. Her skin was kind of ashy, but most of her back was actually a deep red looking scar. She knew that Maria went to the hospital but she didn't know the burns would still have those massive scars all over her back and shoulders. She closed the door as Maria got her clothes back on.
The door swung open, Maria took off some of the bandages on her head, leaving only the ones on her forehead. Her messy mouth length hair covering some of her face once again. She was dressed in a blue dress shirt and loose black denim jeans. She also got her boots on as well. Lily smiled at her, walking away and down the hall as she spoke. “Alright, good. Let's get to the courtyard, Sienna said we needed to meet some people. Maria followed behind, but she was trying to shake off how dizzy she felt now that she was walking around. Eventually stumbling over her two feet and falling face first on the linoleum. Lily gasped, running back and lifting her back up. “Are you alright?” She asked her. Maria rubbed her head and groaned, standing back up and leaning slightly on Lily to stay supported. “Oh yeah... Just not used to walking yet.” Maria responded, though she knew she must have been more injured than she assumed she was at first.
They walk together out into the courtyard, a pretty standard grassy field with sidewalks and a fountain at the center. Morgan, Sienna and Robin were all seen sitting on a bench near the fountain. Sienna and Morgan both stand up to meet them both. “I'm glad to see you back, Sis.” Sienna said, walking up and ruffling Maria's hair just to make it look a little messier. Morgan chimed in with a comment of her own. “Hey, those flowers for me?”
Sienna flicked Morgan on the head with a finger, making Morgan respond by rubbing her head and glaring at her a bit. Maria looked down and noticed she didn't ever set down the bouquet. She smirked some, walking over to Morgan and placed them in her arms. “They're used for funerals, Have fun being dead.” She said deadpan. Morgan chuckled a bit and held them in one of her hands. Sitting back in her bench as Sienna gestured Maria to come take a seat. “We're waiting for people, come on and sit down.” Maria nodded, getting out of Lily's grip and walking over to sit on a bench as far away from Morgan as possible. Lily sat with Maria, since she didn't want to even bother talking to Morgan.
“What people are you talking about?” Maria wondered aloud. Sienna smiled a bit as she explained to all four of her subordinates. “Well, you know that most teams are assigned 4-8 members. But teams are also assigned with something called a 'sister' team. This team is supposed to work closely together with your team. Occasionally for missions, you'll have a team member from the sister team added if they specialize in something the original team doesn't have.”
Maria rolled her eyes at the idea, but Lily seemed excited. She hopped out of her seat and exclaimed “More people!? This is gonna be so cool...!” She hopped on her feet a couple of times, looking at Sienna as she became curious. “Do you know who they are?” She said, but Sienna only shook her head softly. “They're just names on a clipboard at the moment. We're supposed to meet here very shortly.”
“Convenient, ain't it?” A woman said from behind the fountain. She wandered out in front of the small group of girls. She had long, well kept black hair going well past her shoulders and reaching her lower back, bangs draped on each side of her face along with a black eye patch covered one eye. She wore a white dress shirt along with the complimentary white instructor coat and white dress pants with black slip on shoes. She appeared to be a couple of years older than most of the people here. Maria could guess she was probably in her mid 20's.
“Oh. There you are, Ashley!” Seinna remarked. The woman crossed her arms and walked over to take a seat in the bench adjacent to Maria and Lily's. “A pleasure to meet you, Sienna Roth. My team will arrive shortly.” Sienna nodded, but commented as well. “What was the hold up?” Ashley sighed some, leaning over to the side to see if they were walking into the courtyard yet. “They got annoyed that I wanted to skip lunch to meet up with my sister team, So I let them eat their sandwiches in peace.” Sienna blinked a couple of times. “...I actually forgot about lunch.” She said flatly, slightly dumbfounded by forgetting a thing so obvious.
“You can have it after this, I'd rather not be delayed twice in a row.” They all looked up as they heard voices shout from a distance. “We're done!” Said a boyish sounding one. “Weee! I'm a bird!” Said a somehow MORE childish but at the same time, slightly deeper sounding one. A slightly deeper male voice states flatly. “Birds flap, you're pretending to be a plane, not a bird.” A quiet female voice responded to that. “Maybe he's a combination of a bird and a plane?” The deeper voice male brushed it off. “That's just absurd.”
Maria leaned back in her chair, inhaled the warm summer air and just spoke just under her breath. “And here comes the stupid...” Leaning back and glaring at the partly cloudy blue sky shining in the light of the late morning sun. The 4 other students arrived and Maria got out of her seat to inspect them over. They stood in a line shoulder to shoulder, arms behind their back as each one gave a bow.
The first one was a kind of small looking guy. He was still taller than Maria but he had a pale and sort of withered look to his body, like underneath his school uniform he was built like a twig. His face was friendly and looked like an actor for someone cast as a prince in a school play since he had kind of a girly look to him with his chin length bright gold hair framing his face. He wasn't Maria's type but she could see the appeal others would have for him. He had bright blue eyes and bowed his head first. “Jonah Delaney. It's nice to meet you all.” He said, introducing himself.
The next was also a guy. He was dressed in the alternate color school uniform for the guys. A white suit with a red tie, a black dress shit underneath it with black lined lapels. His hair was a complete mess. He his hair was a brownish red color, but it was very long and messy looking, as just a huge mop of long hair draped all over past his shoulders and upper back. His skin has a slightly more tan tone to it, He also had brown colored eyes and a kind of goofy grin plastered on his face. “I'm Gabriel Caine! I love meeting new friends~”
“Is that really his name!?” Morgan said between the chuckles she broke out into. “You belong in a comic book or something...” She added.
“I love comic books!” He replied excitedly, his eyes gave off a head in the clouds look, and Maria quietly wondered how many times did he hit his head falling down the stairs as a baby. Jonah commented at him shouting like that. “Buy them later, Man. We have stuff we need to do.” He said, bumping Gabriel's shoulder with the back of his hand. “Fiiiine.” He said disappointed from not being able to get comic books.
The next was a girl, she had long ginger hair pulled back into a low ponytail and fair colored skin. She seemed just short of Morgan, but looked a bit less athletic overall. She was wearing a waistcoat over top a dress and long skirt combo. She looked at the floor, hands twiddling together some. “E-erika Wolfe... Yeah...” She said, quietly it was obvious that she wasn't good around new people. She quickly turned around and walked away to take a seat on the fountains edge, not really looking at anyone else.
Jonah shrugged from her acting like that, quietly explaining to the rest of the group. “Oh... She's just shy with new people. She was like that with me as well until yesterday. Then I found out she loves racing slot cars and we hit it off.” Erika looked back, quietly sighing to herself. “I heard that, you know...” Jonah chuckled, rubbing the back of his head and sighing. “Sorry!”
The last was slightly taller than the rest, a boy with medium length brown hair parted to one side. He was dressed in a waist coat with frilly sleeves to his shirt along with the standard burgundy colored pants. His green eyes shining as he gave his own bow. “I am Florence Goldshore. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Lily turned to him, eyes lighting up with curiosity. “Did you say your last name was Goldshore..? Like... House Goldshore?” The boy nodded. “Though, after the national government got established all we have is the name and the manor we reside in.” Lily squeed a little bit and grinned like a doof at him. “Yeah, that's pretty lame. But I still always wanted to meet royalty!” She said enthusiastically, but Florence just tilted his head at her. “But, you've already met royalty,” He explained, though she just looked confused by that.
“My older sister is on your team.” He added, pointing to Robin. Robin smiled and walked up to give him a hug. “I'm glad you made it here safely.” Robin said. He was even taller than her, but to Lily that brought up one question. “If he's your little brother then how old are you two?” The boy released the hug and looked at her. “I'm 15.” He quickly stated. Robin added onto that with “I'm 22.” Suddenly Sienna looked a bit shocked, Morgan walked up to eye at them both some
Morgan chimed in. “Isn't 22 a little old to be a student?” Robin scoffed at that. “I'm still in my prime, I have another 20 or so years before I'd actually be over the hill” Sienna looked at the floor, sighing some. “I thought the teacher was supposed to be older than her students! I'm only 20...”
Robin laughed and patted her on the back in response to help her cheer up. “You probably are still more experienced than I am.
Sienna nodded, before cleaning her throat and standing up on the fountain, it was still a bit wet so she slipped on her way up, but steadied her balance. “Now, the reason why we're all meeting today!” The crowd of boys and girls gathered at her feet. Everyone except Maria, who was just sitting on the bench and looking like her usual self. Also known as being insanely grumpy. “We got the requisition documents today, we can go to the armory and pick out weapons!” Maria looked up with a sigh. “That's it?” Sienna glared and continued. “Well, we were going to do an exam today to test your teamwork skills. But since you got injured we have to do a rain check.” Maria rolled her eyes, and Florence raised his hand. “Yes, Florence?” Sienna said, taking his question.
“But I have my own weapon, why should I get a second one?” He asked, but Sienna just smirked at that. As that question was the 5th most popular question in her instructional instructor instruction manual... err.. handbook. “Well.. Allow me to get long winded for this one.” She said, clearing her throat in preparation. “The weapons crafted by the companies that craft these weapons have to use a special material. This is known as Crimisanium Ash, or Ash for short. These were found from the bodies of the monsters that we've managed to defeat so far. But Ash is quite similar to the Ash found from the bodies of the cremated or the burnt husks of trees and can't be turned into anything alone. This must be either synthesized into an amalgamate material or heat treated into an alloy.” She explained thoroughly.
She got off of the fountain and continued to speak. “These Crimisanium Ash infused weapons allowed the people who used them to learn special abilities, such as controlling their natural energies and using it as a force known as Pulsing. It also let us figure out that each person is tied to an element of the world, and can be cast as a kind of spell to use. This would be impossible otherwise, but Ash isn't a miracle substance regardless of what people tell you.” She slowly approached Maria and looked down.
“Being in contact with Ash for too long, or being subjected to too much magic can cause Ash poisoning. This is 100% fatal, but if you manage to get a small enough dose... You get blood red eyes and nearly paper colored skin instead of every part of your body bleeding internally all at once.” She said, pointing at Maria as an example. Maria just looked away at the ground, crossing her arms, she felt a bit insulted, but just didn't want to make a scene.
Seinna continued to explain, slowly walking away from them and gesturing with one hand for all of them to come along. They formed a line and began to walk just behind her along the sidewalk. Slowly passing by all of the school buildings along the way. “To get back to your question, these new weapons are sold to use and get infused with Ash to make it a little easier to hold back the monsters. That's why you need the new ones in the first place.” Florence nodded, walking just behind her. “I guess I kind of get it...” He said. Sienna looked back at him with a smile “If you have any questions, go ask Maria. She's kind of a big history nerd once you get to know her.” He nodded, but kept quiet.
Jonah walked beside Maria, looking her over before talking. “So uhm... How are you doing miss?” He said meekly, Maria looked back at him and shrugged her shoulders. She reached up to take the bandage off of her head, throwing it quickly into a bin just to have it miss. She groaned, running over and slamming it into the bin before running back. “Just want this day over with already.” She muttered annoyed at her suddenly large group she had to be with. Jonah looked at her forehead, noticing that it looked to be freshly cut, yet somewhat healed over. “Where did you get that cut?” He wondered aloud, Maria answered flatly. “I smashed my head into someone else's over and over again.” He cringed gently and made an eek like sound, turning away from her and looking at the floor. “What's bothering you?” Maria pinched her forehead at that, she didn't want this guy to play amateur psychologist with her, she didn't even know him in the first place.
“Too much to talk about.” She said, with a slight groan at the end. Jonah awkwardly rubbed his arm and looked up at the sky, the fluffy clouds slowly drifting overhead. “Sorry for asking...” He said, not really sure what was the best way to actually talk to her. “I just want my weapon so I can go lay down.” She said to him, walking slightly faster to walk beside Sienna and ignore pretty much everyone else.
They arrived at the armory, it didn't look like a huge building at first, but when Sienna opened the doors, they were proven wrong. All that was above ground was just the staircase TO the armory.
Sienna once again began to explain. “You get one weapon for free, if you ever want a second weapon you have to buy it. Next week we'll get you guys your own personal armor, but first we'd have to get everyone’s measurements so they fit.” She pumped her fist and started walking down the stairs. “So let's get started!” The actual entrance to the Armory was pretty tightly guarded. There was several fully armed people dressed in armor standing at the door. And you could only assume there was going to be more inside as well, giving out weapons to people has a high potential danger and they're there if anything goes wrong.
One man walked up in front of Sienna, and she quickly pulled out her student ID. He nodded some and stepped aside. “Take your time, everyone.” He said enthusiastically, and the whole group headed inside. The entire group began to walk the aisles, each one had weapons propped up against the wall or standing on a stand attached to the ground. The variety was pretty impressive, and it had pretty much every type of weapon you could want. Lily walked along with the entire group, her jaw hanging slightly open. “Wow... This is really impressive for an armory.” Maria gestured them to walk a little faster, breaking away from the group so they could look for weapons themselves first.
“So, Maria...” Lily lead into her question with a feeling of curiosity. “Did you pick what you want your weapon to be yet?” Maria shook her head at that question, her head cocked to the right to see all the weapons in one row. “Nothing has interested me yet.” Lily nodded and began to ponder to herself. “I imagine you using something cool... How about a scythe?” She asked, Maria sighed and shook her head. “Those are farming tools, Lily.” Maria commented, looking at the floor for a second. “Wait, they are?” Lily asked, Maria looking at her and giving a nod. “Yeah, and as soon as we fight evil demonic grass I'll consider it. But since we're not... Hell no.”
Lily began to giggle a little at that. Yeah, this Maria was a lot more bitter and cold than her old self but Lily always appreciated Maria's ability to say something absurd with a straight face, she enjoyed her random deadpan remarks on the stranger thoughts she'd tend to have.
Lily kept walking with her friend, when something catches her eye. It was a blade with a dramatic curve, it looked like it was more for slashing and almost not for stabbing at all. This piqued her interest. So she reached out to pick it up. She lightly swing it through the air once or twice and began to inspect it. “I think that's called a Scimitar.” Maria observed, Lily nodded and smiled. “Honestly I think this might be a good start.” Lily said, Maria tilted her head slightly and quickly retorted. “I thought you were good with a Rapier.” Lily nodded and pointed her blade toward the floor, finding the sheathe it belongs in and slowly strapping to her waistline while she replied. “Fighting Robin made me realize something. While fencing is a very flashy sport and learning is good for sport... I really doubt how successful I'll be. It was like my attacks had no power behind them no matter how many times I made contact... I want to try something different.”
Maria shrugged her shoulders and sighed some. “Whatever makes you feel better, I guess.” She said, reaching out for a weapon she saw while talking to Lily. It looked like a spear until she had it in her hands. Usually a spear has a pointed, yet short blade for stabbing. But this pole arm looked like someone placed a sword on the end of a long rod. She slid her hand along it and looked it over. Lily went to peer over her shoulder, noticing a small latch near the hilt of the blade. “Oh... there's a switch!” She said, gently twisting it to one side, and suddenly the blade fell off, clanging against the ground.
Lily's eyes widened from being shocked and surprised, yelling in a panic. “OH GOD I BROKE IT. I am SO sorry, Maria!”
Maria looked down and noticed something about the detached blade. “Hold on a second” She stated, slowly bending down to look at it. When it wasn't attached to the glaive, it seemed to be just a longsword. It had a hilt with a cross shaped guard on it and a deep red handle. “The blade seems to be detachable...” She said, grabbing it and lifting it up to reattach it to the end of the pole arm, when suddenly she felt dizzy.
It was like there was a massive ringing noise in her ears, suddenly her skin felt cold but she broke out into a sweat, her vision began to blur and a sharp pain formed in her head. She shrieked and dropped the blade, backing away quickly and tripping backwards, landing flat on her back. Her breaths were heavy and her eyes were wide open. Lily ran over, bending down to grab onto Maria. “Maria! Are you alright!?” Maria kept breathing, slowly the panic began to fade. “My head started to hurt... But it's going away now.” She said, groaning and standing back up, rubbing her sore head. “Maybe you still have that concussion...” Lily stated, gently lifting her hand to Maria's forehead to check if she had a fever or anything. Maria reached over to the carrying case of her weapon, noticing that she can twist the hilt and cause it to telescope into itself for compact carrying. She placed the blade and the folded up pole all into the carrying case and strapped it to her back.
“We might as well see what everyone else has picked out.” Lily said, sheathing her blade on the new scabbard she had wrapped around her waist. Jonah was inspecting a sword and heater shield, Morgan opted for a heavy two handed sword that was strapped to her back. Robin was carrying a longer partisan spear than Maria's, Gabriel found bladed cat o' nine tails, Erika found a huge battle axe even bigger than Morgan's claymore, and Florence found a different bow and arrow to use.
They lined up in front of Sienna, she smiled at all of them and nodded. “Alright, so all of you have your weapons. Unfortunately you cannot always have them with you, you'll need to put them into storage at your dorm until you actually need to use them. After this occurrence anyone caught with a weapon on campus will get fined or suspended depending on how you act because of it.” She stated, placing her hands on her hips and looking at all of the people, Ashley gesturing her team to move out first, leaving Sienna's team as the only ones who were with her.
“Alright, we'll start the exam once we know Maria is fully recovered from her head injury.” They all nodded in response. “You guys should head back to the dorm and store your weapons, that's all you need to do for today.” Morgan walked forward, folding her arms. “What about that lunch?” Sienna laughed a bit and scratched her long red hair a little bit, slightly embarrassed from forgetting. “Oh, right! Well before you guys head back, Lily and Maria need to pay for your lunches.”
Lily reached her hand into her side pocket, pulling out more than enough money for a lunch and giving it to Robin. “Here ya go, Robin.” She said with a smile, Robin took it from her and bowed her head just a bit. “I appreciate it, but it's more money for a lunch than I was thinking. If you want, I could get you something while I'm there.”
Lily gave a light nod. “That would be great, thanks.” She turned to Maria, who was currently looking at a wall covered with racks of weapons, tapping her foot. “Well? How about my reward?” Morgan commented, hands on her hips. Maria growled and looked at the floor, muttering quietly. “What was what?” Morgan said teasingly, raising her hand to her ear and leaning toward her.
“I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! Okay? I just... don't.”
Lily frowned a little, pulling out her wallet and giving a bit more money to Maria. Maria slid it into her hands and inspected it. It was once again.. way too expensive for lunch. Did she just not know how much lunches cost in general?
“Now give it to Morgan, Maria.” Maria glared at Lily, a look of confusion on her face. “IF YOU WERE GONNA GIVE IT TO MORGAN, WHY GIVE IT TO ME?” She shouted, stomping the ground with one foot. “Well... So you could give it to Morgan!” Maria just planted her face into one palm, Morgan reaching for the money and pulling it from Maria's hands with a “Yeeee-oink” coming from her mouth.
Maria groaned, walking past the entire group, arms pumping from the sheer amount of annoyed exhuming from her. “Don't spend it all in one place, dick.” She said, slamming the door behind her and heading back to the dorm on an empty stomach.
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