log

[fade_to_black]

Who Blake and YOU
What Training and tattoos, multiple scenarios
When Afternoon
Where Genessia
Warning n/a, slight mentions of Battler but nothing graphic or trigger inducing - will update if that changes





a) Genessia, Outskirts
Blake focused on the clone in front of her,a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. It flickered and she gritted her teeth. She was trying to make it to a minute. At least a minute, before it faded. She had done it when her back was against the wall. She could do it again. She tried to make another and the minute the second appeared the other faded.

She let out a shout of frustration and sank to her knees. Why couldn't she get it? She had done it before. Did she literally have to have her life hanging in the balance to be able to push herself again? She wiped the sweat off of her face roughly as though it was the rivulets of water dripping down her face that were to blame. She got up and retrieved her water bottle from under a nearby tree.

As far as anyone knew, Blake was out book hunting. And she would after this. So it wasn't a complete lie. She just didn't want anybody treating her like she was too fragile to train. She had been out of the hospital a week. Besides, it also gave her some alone time to focus her mind. Ever since she had got back she had these weird bouts of both wanting to be around people and then suddenly wanting the be far away from them

She gulped her water, a breeze lifting her dark hair. Then she stood and got ready to go at it again

b) Window Shopping for tatoos!

Blake stood with her face buried in a book - not a novel for once. An art book. It was any idea she had been toying with for a while. She got tired of flinching every time she saw that ugly brand on her arm. It wasn't just the memory. It was the idea that that demon had changed something, altered something on her own body without her permission. Every time she saw it her stomach twisted in anger. Not just because of what he did, but because she knew that her reaction was probably the exact reason he marked her.

She could probably find someone who knew how to get rid of it. But something about a tattoo just seemed...how could she explain it? Like another permanent mark, she supposed, but one she'd put there hereself. One that would symbolize that there was something better in the world than the horror she'd survived.

Maybe she's look at it , think it over. She had not even told Yang this yet.

c) freestyle/choose your own adventure

Comments

a

[orangeoutlaw]

Ace is watching her go at it and has been for a while, though mostly out of sight. It's interesting; though he can sees she's struggling. He wonders what she's fighting for and what she's trying to get stronger for. Though this kind of training... he's used to it himself and has seen it really often among his nakama.

"You should eat something if you want to keep your strength up."

There was no use training on an empty stomach after all.

Re: a

[fade_to_black]

She turned at the sound of someone approaching. "I don't like to train in the heat with food in my stomach. It makes me queasy."

She swigged some water again. At least she was getting some electrolytes. Though bringing an energy bar or something might not have been a bad idea.

"Besides, I'll be heading back into the city once I'm done," she pointed out. "I'll get something to eat when I do."

[orangeoutlaw]

"Cool. I'll come with." Because company and food. Why not? And since he was mildly bored and this seemed entertaining at least, said:

"Want to test yourself against me?"

[fade_to_black]

She kind of raises her eyebrows at that. she doesn't even know this guy's name. She's about to bluntly ask who he is - nothing personal, just not trustful of strangers much - when she hears the second part.

"Sure," she replies. "Maybe it will help."

Window Shopping

[aurabble]

Jaune has a lot to think about. He doesn't go out much anymore, other than to walk Weiss' dog and his own, or sometimes to find places where he can stay awake and people won't bother him. He wears a simple gray hooded sweatshirt like it can protect him now. He knows better, but the hood helps conceal his hair and eyes, enough to where most people don't pay any attention to him.

He only wanted to grab an energy drink. He knew it would hurt, worsen his nerves and make him more on edge, but it would have kept him awake for longer. There was a familiar hiss as he popped open the can, but he spots Blake first and freezes.

He looks horrible. He hasn't showered in at least a week, and there are dark circles under his eyes.

Shit.

Re: Window Shopping

[fade_to_black]

Almost as though on cue, the Faunus looked up and found herself looking right at him.

"Jaune..."she feels awkward considering everything that happened. Sure, she'd checked on him, but she hadn't really been to see him. She had done that for most of the others as well. She was not the best at approaching people in the first place and a 'hey, how have you been since you've been tortured/killed....?' wasn't a great conversation starter.

She'd probably look no better than him if Yang weren't there to help her sleep and keep some of the nightmares at bay.

Re: Window Shopping

[aurabble]

"Blake." His voice felt rough from disuse. Other than now, the only time he had ever talked since...that, had been when he had talked to Alice. Because free magical drinks. This was go and hide forever worthy in terms of awkward. The drink began to shake, so he held onto it with both hands, for something to hold onto. He couldn't even take a sip. He felt frozen in place. He wanted to step away until he could run and pretend he had never seen her.

Blake had been one of the ones tortured too, so he was supposed to say something, right? Words were so difficult now.

treasure it - she does not hug often

[fade_to_black]

He really does look rough. And now Blake does feel guilty for not actually talking to him, even if she had no idea what to say, maybe she should have still tried. Sure, she's moody and bounces back in between raging, crying (when no one sees) and training like crazy but it's some form of taking care of herself. Maybe not a great one, but some.

Jaune doesn't look like he is at all. She puts the book to the side and walks over to him. For a moment she doesn't say anything. Then she darts forward and hugs him.

a) Genessia

[skilledwithwords]

"Blake?"

Levy has a few books with her but they're hanging in a bag over her shoulder. Since Battler she hasn't walked with piles of books stacked in front of her. Loud noses usually makes her jump and she didn't feel comfortable not seeing where she was going. She paused to watch Blake, running across from her by accident.

"What are you doing?"

She didn't seem to concerned that her employee isn't working. She trusted those she worked with.

Re: a) Genessia

[fade_to_black]

The hair stands up a little on the back of her neck. Levi's not a strict boss, but still: caught. Even though she does intend to get the book hunting done.

"I stop here to train sometimes," she admitted. "It's quiet and I can focus."

a) Genessia

[skilledwithwords]

"That's fine."

She didn't mind, she trusted Blake.

"You're using your clone technique right?"

Re: a) Genessia

[fade_to_black]

She looked away back out at the view of the city before answering. "Once, when Yang and I were about to be killed, I was able to clone myself, project a clone of her and make them last long enough to be a diversion while we escaped."

It seemed like it had happened a long time ago. It still hurt to remember. But it had saved them both. She needed to work on it.

"I'm trying to do that again," she said. "To make my semblance stronger."

B

[fierybluebird]

"Can't decide what to get?"

Marco rested his hands on the back of his head, proudly displaying the bright tattoo on his own chest; especially since actually using the buttons to close the shirt was not a thing he bothered it.

Re: B

[fade_to_black]

Blake turned at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. She looks back at the book for a moment before answering. "A lot of them look nice. It's just, that once it's on there it's on there for good. I want to make sure I don't mind being stuck with it."

Anything would be better than keeping this scar.

[fierybluebird]

A soft grin, "That's why you should get something personal to you. Mine is for my Pops, and the rest of my family. It lets the whole world know what's most important to me."

[fade_to_black]

"What's important to me..."Blake mused. She thought of the day of the food fight in the cafeteria and even that dance she didn't want to go to. She had actually laughed during both of those times.

How had everything gotten so messed up? The team had split after Beacon's disaster, got back together somewhat in Genessia, maybe not the same, but better than what had been. And now, it felt like everyone was drifting again. She hadn't even heard from Ruby these past few weeks. Once, she had run away, willing to let people think she was a coward to protect her team because they meant so much to her. It seemed like they kept cycling around back to the same end.

While it might be a good idea in some ways, in other ways getting a tattoo like that could also backfire.

"Do you miss them?"

She hadn't really had a family. She and Adam raised each other, practically.

A

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi had an exceedingly bad habit of sneaking up on people. It wasn't really her fault but that didn't make it any less irritating. And now was one of those especially-irritating times seeing how focused Blake was.

There were also things you didn't do to people when sneaking up on them. These things ranged from grabbing them to shouting to giving hugs... Or touching someone's ears.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what Koishi did. After watching for several moments she drifted forward and up a little bit, leaning in to look at Blake's currently deformed bow. Hovering there for only a moment longer she reached up and, with a single tug, untied it, her other hand simultaneously reaching out and touching one of the fanus' flattened ears gently with two fingers.

"Ohh soft~"

Re: A

[fade_to_black]

Blake had been concentrating, about to try projecting shadows again when something suddenly was holding her ears. Her mind flashed to an unpleasant place and in an instant she had whirled around loosing Gambool Shroud and aura wave at whatever poor unpleasant soul had caught her off guard.

Never again. No one was going to catch her off her guard ever again and her reaction, unfortunately was pretty violent.

[koishi_komeiji]

Koishi figured she might startle Blake a little bit. She absolutely couldn't predict how violent of a reaction it would be.

When Blake's mentality shifted, Koishi reacted quickly, though not quite quickly enough, curling forward around her third eye, arteries pulling back independently as she tried to backpedal in the air.

The sound of breaking glass followed, Koishi throwing up a last minute barrier which easily shattered under the force of the blade, though that combined with the blast of aura provided enough force to clear her of the sword's blade, sparing her a cut, but sending her tumbling out of the air and rolling a short ways.

She was left a bit dazed, hat landing a short ways away. She blinked, flailed her arms a little, sitting up as quickly as she could. "Miss Shade! It's me! It's just me!"

A

[whiteas]

[ Genessia's outskirts were the first place that Weiss had actually managed to leave the house to go to in weeks. Once Sun had found her, he'd gotten most of the groceries so she didn't even have to leave for that anymore. IT probably wasn't what he'd intended to do, but.. after Weiss made her little announcement, she had to at least try to get out. She still hadn't managed to go back to Nova City, not exactly, but she could at least run. It wasn't exactly her normal fashion, but Weiss didn't really feel normal. Part of her didn't want to feel like herself. BEsides, all of her clothes were at home so she just needed something to exercise in that wasn't her pajamas or the clothes that she'd brought with her. She didn't have her hairpiece anyway, so there was no way she could look normal. Her hair was done to the side in a large french braid, like she'd learned to from someone here before.

Of course, when she saw Blake, her jog stopped in her tracks and she slowed down. She didn't really say anything, wondering if she even should. IF she even could. Her throat felt like it was clenching up. THe last time she'd seen Blake had been when it had been happening. She knew everything that had been done to her, everything that she'd been through, and the screaming. Weiss didn't know if she could face that yet. She needed to move. To just run back the way she came from. She needed to not be here so she didn't have to face Blake yet, in person. This was too much. This was too much, and yet her feet didn't seem to want to move. Weiss stood there as if she were frozen in place as a deer in headlights. She shouldn't have gone out yet. She wasn't ready to see her. She'd just gotten back to talking to people over a distance, seeing Blake already was- was... ]

Re: A

[fade_to_black]

Blake turned. She froze, but her expression was unreadable. She merely took Weiss's appearance in stride. In the past Blake would have just run off and indeed she was thinking of it even now. But maybe depression had its merits in that it did not make one an overachiever and running took energy. What was the point? There was nowhere to run. There would never be. She didn't have to see Weiss to be reminded of what happened to her and of how badly she'd failed her teammate. All she had to do was close her eyes. She had snuck a few times out of her and Yang's shared bed so as not to disturb the blond with her constant waking up from the nightmares. When that happened she drank tea or went on walks. She had never been afraid of going it alone. And that going outside alone could scare her after everything that happened was laughable. Between Adam and Battler her fear was spent.

Or maybe she didn't care if anything happened to her anymore. She just wanted the people around her to be safe. It was the only thing she could muster up the motivation for anymore. She didn't feel like reading much anymore either even tough she brought Levy books weekly. She'd tried. To disappear in the storybook world that had been her coping mechanism in the past. But everything she read just seemed flat and false. Maybe she needed to move past fairy tales.

The way Weiss was looking at her was beginning to annoy her. So you can talk big over the network, but you can't face me?

But she really was not the one to say anything like that. She had gone through the same thing with Yang.

"Nice braid," she commented.

[whiteas]

Nice braid. Blake's words echoed in her mind. After everything that happened, that was what Blake had to say. Then again, it wasn't like Weiss could think of anything to say either. There was such intense anxiety built up inside of her that she honestly felt a little nauseous. The desperate desire not to feel like that about her friend was heartbreaking and for a second Weiss looked like she was going to breakdown crying.

"I didn't know what else to do with it."

It was true. It wasn't like she did a great packing job, and just tying it up felt weird. The weight felt off. At least if it was braided, it pulled differently. It felt different, like Weiss did. It was why she was out running instead of doing normal training, too. She just wanted to run until that runners high kicked in, so she stopped feeling anything other than adrenaline. Maybe then she'd have the strength to try to move forward with something, if she felt different enough. She wasn't supposed to run into Blake, or anyone, before she could figure out how to.

But she wasn't running now.

"Are you.." Okay didn't feel like the right word. Obviously she was safe, or at least as safe as Weiss was. "Training?"

A;

[fallsuccession]

[Of course Pyrrha was concerned for Blake.... After all.... Pyrrha knew all to well what it was like to die.... It wasn't a happy time. So rather than holding her back, Pyrrha was just watching her train. She knew what it was like to have people think that she was too fragile.. Like she was going to break if she did anything in the slightest.

So there she was, offering a hand to help her up with a faint smile.]

Would you... like some company?

Re: A;

[fade_to_black]

[Blake had not turned around even though she knew someone was there. It was painful not to mention awkward to see the others and be reminded how powerless she actually was - to help them then or now. Besides acting strong, she didn't know what to do. But when Pyrhha spoke, she turned.]

I guess. [She winced because that didn't sound friendly.] I mean...I don't know what I want.

[fallsuccession]

Oh no! I understand. It's... tough to deal with...