genessia | action; closed

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action; closed

WHO: Weiss Schnee, Vlad III Tepes
WHAT: Discovering (shaky) common-ground.
WHEN: Before dawn.
WHERE: Everglade alley.
WARNINGS: Idk will update if there are any.

THIS THREAD CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR RWBY V3E4

[ Everglade was a place Weiss didn't visit unless she could avoid it. It wasn't that she had anything against it- it was dreary and cold, many times it reminded her of the frozen tundra of Atlas in some ways. But it always reminded her of the one thing she couldn't do that she should be able to. Her entire family prided themselves in being able to do so but she couldn't get it.

It'd been a long time since she'd even tried. But with her connections to her family and outlet to avoid homesickness being much more sparse lately, she wanted to try again- fool's errand or not. Everglade itself was easy to find a dark alley while it was still dark out and avoid being seen in, but more than that Weiss wasn't as immediately recognizable there as she was in many other places. There wasn't anything wrong with not being good at everything- unless it was herself in that situation. It would be embarrassing, even around her team, to have them see her failing so miserably at something.

Maybe this was just as useless as she thought it would be. Weiss stared at the flickering glyph on the ground beneath her. Memories of her sister trying to get her to do this before she left Atlas flooded her mind, her concentration breaking and the glyph falling apart. Uhg. Weiss wanted to accept the world of Genessia as a place she could call home. She'd been here long enough that it almost seemed like it and there were people she cared about here. It was why she wanted to become Guardian, it was why she wanted to find a way for people to stay here.. even if her original reason for wanting to stay as long as she could had left months ago. She had thought she would be okay with not writing those letters to Winter that she did, inevitably, every week. Some part of her knew that they would never reach Winter, so they were pointless, but giving them up- giving up her ability to write more- that hurt. And her inability to actually do this one thing that would re-establish some kind of connection to her family was frustrating.

Weiss repositioned herself after stomping her heel on the stoney pavement once more, Myrtenaster pointed out as her glyph reformed, spinning and spinning but not much else. ]

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I'd... really rather not spend an entire century learning this.

[ That definitely seems long. She will probably be dead before a century passes. ]

Perhaps I can be of some assistance in that regard. Tell me of the creature you were attempting to summon.

[The Ukobach he had summoned for light begins to chatter in some unknown tongue before Dracula silences him with a single movement of his finger. The imp then moves to perch on the vampire's shoulder.]

Well.. in my world, there are creatures known as Grimm. The smaller ones are fairly mindless. They're attracted to negative feelings and they'll kill anything but other Grimm indiscriminately. Their bodies are all black, with white plates or spikes, like armor. The one I was trying to summon was a Boarbatusk. It's one I fought in the classroom, but I was so distracted by Ruby because I didn't think she deserved to be our leader at that time.

[ She pauses for a moment, then rolls her eyes and shakes her head. ] My sister says all I have to do is think about it, remember them and concentrate, and they'll come to my side but it's never worked for me. I doubt it will now, I just thought I should try again since it's been a while.

[ She's not going to admit that she misses home, her sister, her family. She won't. ]

Memory is a peculiar thing, and it sounds as if the situation surrounding the encounter is serving to block your power from fully coalescing. That and the beast in question also sounds very alien to the human experience, something that is difficult if not impossible to truly understand.

[He aims a palm down at the ground in front of him as the ground seems to melt into a thick red sludge. From the sludge a zombie claws its way to its feet, though it struggles to stay upright, its feet never truly forming in a solid form from the pool.]

For instance, this zombie, its biology - or lack thereof - is intimately familiar to humans, and thus is easier to understand, to truly know, to feel. Slay it.

[ Weiss watches it as it rises, quickly assessing the creature. She may not be intimately familiar with zombies, but she's well-aware of the couple of things that remain consistent throughout movies and tv: They eat brains, brains are their weakness. Don't let them bite or scratch you or you'll become one too. ]

Even if I do, it won't work. I've fought things that are human-like in form before too. The only reason I wasn't trying that was because if I actually succeeded, it'd be far too likely to attract attention.

[ But Weiss goes to take the zombie out anyway, quickly jabbing Myrtenaster into the ground so that a sharp spike of ice comes up at it, straight into the creature's head. Anything that has trouble even standing up is nothing compared to a Grimm in her opinion. ]

No one else in my family has a problem with this, humanoid or otherwise.

[The zombie does indeed crumple to the ground, lifeless, quickly dissolving back into the ground, leaving no trace of it having been there.]

Your form is impressive. Now, I want you to close your eyes and remember what you saw. How it moved, the weight it had, I want you to see through its eyes. Do not attempt to summon it yet, just feel what it felt.

How am I supposed to know what it feels like to be brought into this world and then run through with ice?

There are two alternatives, though I doubt one would be acceptable. [Vampire humor leaves much to be desired among the living...]

Use your imagination. Feel the cold piercing your chin and slowly overtaking you. You must feel its essence before you can call upon it, and no stronger is a thing's essence than in its last fleeting moments.

[ Weiss rolls her eyes but tries to focus anyway. Honestly, cold isn't something she thinks of as frightening. It's not something she thinks of as threatening to herself. She has too good of a relationship with it. But she knows what it feels like to be burned, to be tortured. Torchwick taught her that a while ago. But that wasn't the same. It wasn't quick and painless like the death she had chosen for that zombie. It was slow, deliberate, intentionally keeping her alive. The last time she felt afraid around ice was when she had used the last of her Dust to try to protect herself from the spirits- even then, ice was her protector. It was what loomed outside of the ice that she knew to cause pain. The types of pain she feared weren't the types her enemies suffered.

This wasn't right. It wasn't about what kind of pain they suffered. ]

I don't think the moment when someone is most alive is when they're almost gone.

But it is.

[His tone is very calm, even, and almost clinical.]

It is a simple fact. Those with life are built from the ground up to protect that life that they are given. When it is threatened, at its very end, when that flame is about to go out, every iota of their being is focused on one thing, and one thing alone; survival. It is how we are able to claim the essence of those that fall before us. It is said that warriors gain new appreciation for one another on the battlefield. It is like this in all cultures. Why is that?

It is because when two beings are locked in a struggle to stay alive, their essence burns brighter than ever to hold onto what is theirs. That exchange of energy in battle is a very powerful one.

[He hums to himself for a moment.] Perhaps a simple zombie was too simple for you. Perhaps you will do better with something a bit more sturdy.

[As he speaks a bearded old man wanders into the light. His face is drawn, making him look ancient in the light of the Ukobach's flame, though his face from the nose up is concealed beneath the wide brimmed straw hat he wore.]

This is my personal Grave Digger. Test your mettle against him, though I warn you, he is far stronger than he appears.

[The man strikes a fighting stance, chuckling in a high pitched voice, grinning and revealing most of his teeth were missing. There was barely anything on his arms but skin and bones yet... looks are very deceiving.]

[ What he says makes sense. The more Weiss mulls it over in her head, the more it sounds correct. Especially so in her world, where they bear their souls as weapons and shields. It made sense for anything that was truly living, but there was one question that burned at the back of Weiss's mind for that: The Grimm had no souls. They left no bodies behind. If she were to call life something that could be focused on survival, then something that only sought out the misery of others until someone stopped it wasn't something that would follow those rules, was it? She's seen her sister summon them before, so that left her with one key question. One that has probably been asked by philosophers hundreds and hundreds of times. ]

What constitutes life? That zombie and this.. Grave Digger, which you have a personal one of for some reason, they certainly don't look alive. They don't leave bodies, like the Grimm. The Grimm don't even have souls. Obviously they can move and cause damage, but so can an earthquake.

[ Weiss doesn't try the same move with the Grave Digger, this time taking a couple of steps back and waiting. She wanted to see what his first move would be besides horror-movie-esque laughter. Vlad wasn't someone she really trusted, but if she was being warned not to underestimate someone, she wasn't going to get cocky. ]

That is a tricky question to be sure.

[Dracula nodded to the Grave Digger, who took a stance not unlike something Yang would don before lunging forward with a kick aimed at Weiss' midsection. Despite the apparent age of the man, he had agility in spades.]

Scientifically speaking, anything that grows, acts with agency, and propagates its kind can be called life. Beings such as myself do not necessarily fit the traditional definitions, lacking what many consider staples to "life." My heart does not beat, my body does not age, and I feed on the blood of others. Thus I am called "undead". Something not alive, but not dead. However, how you define life and death should dictate what you can and cannot summon.

Even the most hollow of husks can be considered alive if it is truly needed.

[ Weiss didn't hesitate at the jump kick, her solution instead being to face it head on.. in a manner of speaking. It wasn't as though she had the intention of just taking the hit, after all. She conjured a glyph in front of her quickly, the same kind she used to stop the Boarbatusk from ramming her down in the classroom, then quickly twisted around to attempt to run Myrtenaster's tip to the left of the Grave Digger's sternum. She didn't respond right away because of this, focusing on the fight instead. Besides.. she honestly wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't as though she could really argue that, but... ]

What about those-

[ She shuddered to think about them. It almost distracted her in the fight for a moment. ]

The things that came through the barrier?

[The Grave Digger took the blow without flinching, hopping backward slightly before lunging forward with a left punch aimed at Weiss' chin.]

Do not worry about those. Concentrate on what is in front of you. However, remind yourself of one thing and one thing alone; if it can be killed, it lives. Accepting that will not only broaden the scope of what you can call to your side, but the ease of summoning as well.

[ Weiss falls into a backflip to dodge the punch, but it's a narrow miss. She does a few more backflips to get out of range before casting another glyph- this time one of her time dilation ones, speeding herself up before she charges the Grave Digger again, this time aiming for a quick strike at his leg to hopefully slow him down. The hit to his sternum seemed to do nothing- for something without an aura, that was disconcerting. It was clearly much stronger than the zombie. Weiss's next hit after that would be charged with ice, aiming to freeze the Grave Digger to the ground if the strike to his leg didn't succeed.

Weiss didn't verbally respond to Dracula, instead taking his advice to concentrate on the Grave Digger, but she was listening. ]

[Dracula nods approvingly as the fight continues. The Grave Digger hops back again in time to dodge the blow to his leg, but right into the ice trap Weiss had laid for him. The cold didn't seem to affect him but rather he struggles at the ice that had encased his feet.]

Good, good. See how he moves, how he fights. Take in every aspect of his being, every sight, sound, smell, feel.

[If Weiss did as he said, she would see that he wasn't just shrugging off the attacks he had taken, just ignoring the pain. The blow to the sternum had indeed damaged him as he slowed ever so slightly. Immobilized though there was little he could do but take up a fighting stance to lash out at her should she get close enough.]

[ Weiss gives a quick glance to Dracula and halts herself just as she had been about to attempt to thrust Myrtenaster through the Grave Digger's throat, backing up to make sure she stayed out of his reach.

The longer she observed the Grave Digger, the less comfortable she felt. He was injured, struggling and fighting as if it didn't matter. Because he knew Weiss had him trapped? Because if he didn't, that would be it for him? Even though she got the feeling that Dracula wanted her to observe him more, to take out everything she could from him, Weiss quickly rose her hand to generate a glyph behind the Grave Digger- one of the gravity-manipulating ones, then held her sword straight. The increased gravity would pull her and slam her sword straight through the Digger's throat with significantly increased impact if the Grave Digger doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve to block it. ]

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