Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Shayla
code by Stardust Galaxy
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Fandom Divergent: Faction Before Blood // RP Thread
code by Stardust Galaxy
Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Vex
code by Stardust Galaxy
Randi
code by Stardust Galaxy
Last edited:
Nerdy.
Nerdy
Christian "Chris" Parks || 16 || Initiate || Dauntlessborn
The first thing someone might have noticed about Christian recently was that he had cut his hair. Anyone who knew him had always known him to have shaggy, slightly long hair that fell into his eyes and only got cut when a girlfriend or sister couldn't stand the length of it anymore. But out of nowhere, Christian's hair was suddenly cut back drastically, neatly styled atop his thick head he now sported a new look. Not only that but Christian now found it enticing to wear more colourful clothes, rather than the dull blacks he usually wore, the customary Dauntless colour. Now he happily sported blues, yellows, whites and more. Although he wouldn't tell anyone, and indeed nobody had asked, Christian felt like a new person. He was much more himself, or so he hoped and felt, as he was taking more and more of Dr Munro's advice, exercises and medication. Vex had been a lifesaver in his life and he was overjoyed to have her taking him to Dr Munro and receiving treatment. They had assured Christian that he was a good person and that it was truly something that he needed fixed, though it might take a long time. In return, Christian had offered his services to Dr Munro as a way of thanks, it was the very least he could do. He had not had an angry fit, or even felt like blowing up at all, since going to see the good Doctor. Christian had instead found time to read, relax, join in activities and talk with people. Although he was still requiring the drugs that he had originally bought from Ghost, he felt more alive - most of the time. Plus, the jobs he was doing with Vex were fun, they went around everywhere and Christian got to meet lots of new people, mostly all he had to do was to stand and look a little intimidating - but not hurt anyone, or he was to smile and simply "look pretty"; These jobs were easy, and honestly Christian's memory of them was a little fuzzy, as if part of a dream, so he didn't think about them very often. Christian knew that he should probably tell someone about what was happening, but he couldn't think of anyone he could open up to anymore. Christian had taken time away from Blair almost indefinitely, almost to the point of downright ignoring her, and he had struggled to even look at his girlfriend without a flair of guilt coming to his body and aching his heart. He couldn't talk to his father, or to his siblings, and Aubrey was almost non-existent anymore.
Christian sighed happily as he rolled his shoulders, donning a white t-shirt and a blue hoodie, wearing his usual black cargo shorts and some average black sneakers. He combed through his hair with his fingers, nodding at his reflection in the mirror. This was the first time he had ever gone to a barber to get his hair cut, and he was thinking of getting a tattoo, he wanted to pick things out for himself that would mark him as his own, rather than the territory of his former girlfriends. Although admittedly Blair had never forced him to get a tattoo, nor had she encouraged him to. Christian found himself looking at his bed in memory of the times he and Blair spent on that bed, how they had lain together, intoxicated with each other, and eventually would sleep in each other's arms until the morning had risen. But Christian couldn't even imagine spending a night with Blair, not after what he had done to her, not after he had laid hands on her. He could never forgive himself for that and he hoped Blair never would either, she deserved someone who would treat her perfectly, someone who couldn't hurt her. That unfortunately wasn't Christian, and although he was seeing good results from what the Dr was giving him, he didn't trust it enough to be with Blair. He remembered the event where he hurt her constantly, it plagued his dreams as nightmares and he couldn't forget it one bit. That was always his biggest fear, and now it had happened for the second time in his life, and he couldn't bare to let it ever happen again. That's why he had to break up with Blair. At least for a time. He knew that she would probably hate him and never want to be with him ever again, but he preferred that to the prospect of hurting her. This is for the best. He thought to himself as he exited his family's house and made his way towards the training area. He wasn't sure how to break up with Blair, did he take her out somewhere to break up with her? That seemed misleading. Did he invite her over? That was equally as misleading. Did he go to her house? Text her? He chewed at his lip as he tried to figure out what would be the best way to do this. Christian had never been someone who could think creatively and brainstorm, in fact he was always the brawn to carry out a task, rather than to figure it out. That's what his girlfriends had always been good at.
It seemed as though Christian needn't to have bothered about thinking on how to break up with his girlfriend, as when he entered the training area, Blair was there like a bullet and she made a beeline to him. He supposed, as he thought about it now, that it had been easier to avoid her when they were doing separate training, now that they were all together for this new phase, Christian had forgotten that meant bumping into everyone. Thus, he was taken by surprise as Blair stormed up to him and stood in front of him, looking up with stormy blue eyes and a scowl on her face. Christian could still see the bruising on her face that he had caused, and it took everything within him to not cringe and turn his face away. It didn't take long for Blair to grab his arm and drag him away to the edge of the room. She was not usually this forward and aggressive, or maybe Christian was simply perceiving her actions thus. Once they were a respectable distance away from everyone she decided to say her piece, and Christian barely managed to hear everything she said. About all he could make out was she was upset at how he had abandoned her, that she had been worried about him and trying to contact him, and how he wasn't being a very thoughtful boyfriend and she was curious about what he was even thinking in terms of their relationship. He sighed, suddenly becoming and feeling very sweaty and nervous about the whole ordeal. "Blair... I think we should take a break..." He said, before realizing that probably wasn't what he should have started out with. He would have tried to fix it if Blair hadn't asked him straight up. Do you want to break up with me? Christian felt his heart break, no he didn't want to, but he needed to. "We need to break up, Blair. It's for your own good. I need to fix myself up, and you shouldn't go through that with me. I'm no good for you." He admitted, watching as her face mixed through anger and hurt and betrayal. He was surprised that she didn't hit him, as he believed that was fully in her right. But it didn't take long for her to scrunch her nails into her own arms and her eyes quivered as tears began to drop down her face. Christian quivered as he watched her break down in front of him, her body racking with anger and sadness. He barely managed to hold himself upright, and finally, after a few minutes, Blair left without saying a word. Christian finally let his shoulders relax as he leaned on a nearby wall, his body heaving with the pain of losing Blair. It was necessary, but it wasn't easy, nor was it desirable. He felt a couple of tears drip down his cheeks. This was the right thing to do.
Interactions: Open
Cassidy "Cassie" Wickham || 16 || Initiate || Erudite Transfer
Cassidy had one regret from the last week, and that regret was the hazy memory from the night she had admitted to a large group that Griffon was her brother. It had only dawned on her the next day, after the terrible hangover and the night spent in Shay's embrace and bed; That had been one of her secrets that she never shared with anyone, not even Lainey had known about it, it was a secret shared only by Cas, Fable and Griffon himself. But now, it was an open reality and Cas just had to run with it. She had her own story and everything, it was near the same as her real story, except that instead of being split up after the car crash following their escape from their parents, she simply stated that it was a car crash that happened when they were little in Erudite, using her cover story that her cousin and aunt were actually her sister and mother. She pretended to say that the reason she kept it a secret was because it didn't matter now that they were in Dauntless, and she hadn't thought about sharing the truth. That was far from the truth, her reason for keeping it a secret was so that people knew the least amount of truth about her. The less people knew, the less likely it was that her father and mother could find her, and Griffon. Now that it was known that Cas and Griffon were siblings, it would be much easier for someone to remember and link them to their former parents. Cas just hoped that would never happen, or it would happen far into the future when they had already built up a good community in Dauntless and would be reasonably safe. Other than that one slip up though, Cassidy's week had been terribly fun. Not only had she thoroughly broken through Shay's thick shell of protection (only for it to return stronger than ever), but she had made a rather remarkably fun and enjoyable experience in Randi also. Cas had not asked whether Randi was trying to forget something, move on from something or be distracted, because Cas didn't care. Neither girl had quite said anything, but soon enough they had found that they worked quite well in seeing one another... Whether that meant going for a drink, a smoke, an outing of some kind, playing cards, or more likely, simply going to Randi's place and enjoying each other.... Cas had enjoyed it, it had been a long time since she had found someone with similar thought patterns when it came to simple sex. Most people got connected, most people couldn't just have fun, but Randi was the definition of fun, and Cas had no intentions of being connected to anyone except her brother.
Of course Cas had noticed Shay's reaction, the dark haired beauty that Cas had spent the night with that week ago, was now avoiding her as if she were a plague. If Shay was trying to be subtle about it, she was failing drastically. Cas didn't mind, she wasn't surprised, Shay had only been so care free because of all the drugs and alcohol, and Cas had been the same. She could tell though that Shay had some interesting walls that she put up, and Cas would have to try much harder to dig through them again. She would give Shay her week of solace though, a week to get comfortable with avoiding Cas and thinking all was gone between them, before Cas would start the game up and begin to prod at Shay's wall once again. Surely, even if Shay had fortified it, Cas would be able to knock it down or sneak through it. She smiled at the thought. She watched from her bed as Griffon collected some of his journals and began to make his way up to the roof, it was a morning routine that she had noticed he was doing, and she thoroughly encouraged it. She knew he was seeing Aya, and she liked Aya terribly, so she was happy he was seeing someone she liked. Even if it was just to sketch together, very vanilla. But it was improving his memory, and that was something Cas desperately wanted to do. She would feel much safer if she knew she could trust Griffon to keep himself safe. She leapt out of bed to give him a kiss on the cheek, though quickly began to fall as her body couldn't take the quick rising of her standing up, and she became very dizzy. Griffon caught her, and asked if she needed him to stay. "No... Sorry, I shouldn't have stood up so fast. Go have fun." She teased softly, as she sat down on his bed and held her head softly, waving him forward as if to shoo him away like a dog. Griffon looked concerned but eventually complied. Cassie sighed softly, and as soon as Griffon's brown hair had turned the corner she closed her eyes and placed both hands on her head, trying to dull the aching migraine that was in her head. It thumped behind her eyes, and she knew it was going to be a pain for today's training if she didn't get a handle on it right away. She moved over to her bed, reaching into her stuff to get out her pain meds. Taking more than the recommended dosage, she threw her head back and swallowed the pills easily without water, having done it so many times that it was now simple. She waited until they had made their way down and she had sat for another ten minutes to let them start to work, before she began to get ready for the day.
She stood up slowly this time, and began to get dressed. Feeling a little lazy and knowing it was a day of training, she didn't mind dressing a little laid back for once, instead of going all out like she usually did. She put on a black tank top, and over top she placed one of Griffon's grey sweater - although it reached down to just above her knees, so it was more like a dress - though specifically the one with the most designs on it, as this one had black geometric patterns over the sleeves and torso. For pants she decided to go with some tight leggings and light sneakers. Her hair she pulled back into a very small bun, though left much of it hanging out aesthetically around her face. After examining herself a few times in the mirror, she finally nodded happily as she set off for the day to head somewhere. At first she thought to go to the training area, but she realized it was far too early and she would likely get stuck having to talk to an instructor or get roped into doing more work than she needed to. She instead decided to take a detour on her way to the training, and headed to the cafeteria. Cas herself didn't usually eat breakfast, nor did she drink coffee, but she did have a particular love of nectarines, and she had heard that they had some there. Happily finding some in the cafeteria she grabbed one to eat, and another one to give to Griffon, or Randi, or Shay. Whomever she bumped into first. She happily munched on her piece of fruit as she walked towards training, and made it there about the same time as at least half of the initiates. Her eyes scanned for Griffon, but not surprisingly he was not down here, he would probably be late, with Aya. Shay was in here, as Cas could see her almost hiding in the crowd. But the person that actually made her smile, and an excitement tickle her insides, was Randi, who had also arrived. Cas smirked as she walked over. "I regret not coming to your place last night." Cas said casually as she sidled up beside Randi and playfully bumped hips with the girl. "The dorm beds are particularly uncomfortable. Nectarine?" Cas asked, handing Randi the nectarine as she took another munch of her own. She slowly chewed the piece of fruit as she eyes up Randi's outfit and hair do. "I love the hair, and this outfit makes you particularly delectable today." She said, giving the girl a wink before she tossed the nectarine core into the rubbish bin nearby. "Do you have any idea what our training will be today? We're not still doing fear sims are we? It feels like we've been doing them forever." She complained.
Interacting with: Randi
Sanctuaryforall1
Wolfiee
Meow
Initiate
Aya.
coded by natasha.
Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Bloom
code by Stardust Galaxy
Nerdy.
Nerdy
Charlotte "Charlie" Stark || 20 || Medic || Dauntlessborn
Living in a constant state of fear was something that Charlie was very used to, however, living in a regular state of enticing pleasure and comfort was something she was not used to. Knowing that at any moment Jeremy could walk back into her life, and do whatever he liked to her and her loved ones was terrifying, and Charlie could hardly walk down the street without her hands wrapped around Ghost's wicked sister, the gun he'd given her. Of course she always had it in her bag, but her hand would have a permanent position within it, and she was ready to protect herself. She doubted that if the time came, that she would have the reaction time, or the courage, to shoot Jeremy. But it gave her comfort to know that it was possible. It also terrified Charlie to have so little ability to keep tracks of all her loved ones, especially Aubrey, as the younger of the Stark sisters had decided to give Charlie a wide berth, and Charlie would only see glimpses of her at the training sessions, and then nothing at all. She trusted that Bloom was able to keep a further eye on Aubrey, as Aubrey was not avoiding everyone, but it still broke her heart to be unable to watch over her. Although Aubrey had hurt Charlie, she couldn't disregard the life she'd built up in purpose of protecting her. Whether Aubrey liked it or not, Charlie had given her the ability to have a wonderful Dauntless childhood, even if it were built up on many lies. Yet, with all that within her mind all the time, Charlie was also enamoured and distracted by another aspect of life that she had never before been a part of. It had originally been simply a suggestion to stay the night at Ghost's after the showdown between them and Aubrey, it was originally just meant to be so Charlie would be able to be with Ghost should anything happen. She remembered all to clearly how her stomach turned and flipped within her as she suspected each noise of being Jeremy coming. It hadn't taken long for her and Ghost to choose to sleep in the same bed together, not for the sake of particular intimacy, although there was always a slight tension of that in the air, but Charlie had never felt relaxed at night before, she couldn't recall a night in which she had no nightmares and slept the entire way through, but that first night, when Ghost had drew her in as she was shivering from the thought of Jeremy; She had been able to fall asleep, and sleep calmly within Ghost's embrace, or beside him in the bed. It was strange, and it was absolutely intoxicating. Although Charlie had some experience in boyfriends and sex, both of which had only been Caspian for a small amount of time, she was far inexperienced with the romantic exploration that came from the relationship that she was forming with Ghost. Thus, it was odd to be so constantly terrified of something - Jeremy - whilst also being constantly enamored with another - Ghost.
Charlie had noticed that Maverick had disappeared, he had cleared all of his things from the apartment and his, or rather Caspian's, room was empty. Thus, Charlie moved her things into the apartment room. It was the first time she could remember actually living away from home in such an adult fashion. She had spent many nights with Bloom, but that had always been very temporary, a day or two at the most, and had been more like a sleep over. This felt more permanent, even though it was also so recent, and hadn't yet been tested to it's fullest. Although she liked to spend the majority of the night in Ghost's bed, she spent a lot of time in that room. It reminded her of Caspian, and still had a few of his things in it. It smelled of Caspian, or at least it did to Charlie. She sat on the edge of her bed, Caspian's old bed, as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, stretching her arms out and yawning. Ever since she'd been getting full nights of sleep, her body had suddenly started to remind her that she wasn't used to it, and it craved it. She wanted desperately to crawl back into bed and go to sleep again, with or without Ghost, but she knew she couldn't. They had training today, and the simulations were going to happen similar to how they had on the first day of the second phase of initiation. One of the trainers would get chosen to have their fears randomly assigned to the initiates, or so Charlie was led to believe. She had a sinking feeling that she would be the one on whom the odds would fall on, and she hoped desperately that nothing damning would come out of her fear sims. She rubbed her eyes one more time before hopping off the bed, her feet landing on the soft carpet and her legs taking her over to the closet where she had stored her clothes. Looking through her clothes she picked out a simple outfit that she felt was flattering, although comfortable and useful as well. Black skinny jeans she pulled over her legs with small heeled black boots to go over top; Then she wore a loose pale pink button up shirt that she tucked into the jeans. She was going to wear a simple denim jacket when her eyes fell upon a familiar and dear jacket that Caspian had given her. Her fingers reached out, touching the cool black leather jacket and pulling it out of the closet, it was still in good nick, and she slipped it on over top. The designs on the arms were roses, whilst the back had only the emblem of a rose indented on it, no colouring. It used to be her favourite jacket, back when she cared about what she wore in public. She had struggled to wear it, ever since Caspian's death, but she felt oddly comfortable with it today.
Charlie studied herself in the mirror for a moment, eventually nodding at herself in assurance of the way she looked. She kept her hair down, enjoying how it framed her face, and locked up the apartment, making sure she had Ghost's gun in her bag, and everything else she would need. She took a small breath as she stood at the door of the apartment and fought the urge to panic. This happened every time, and yet she was not accustomed to it. He could be right here. He could be right around the corner. She bit her lip, her heart racing in her chest, almost feeling like it was in her throat. She knew that Jeremy could know exactly where she was, she knew he could be watching her right now, and she knew that she had no way to stand up to him, even with Ghost's gun. But that was no reason to stand cowardly like this at the door. The least she could do, the best she could do, was to keep living life as fully as she could, rebellious against Jeremy. She didn't know why he hadn't come to find and hurt them yet, maybe he was too busy and knew he could do it any time he liked, or maybe he enjoyed torturing them with suspense, but she couldn't live in fear of him forever. She finally swallowed her fear and began the descent to the training grounds, her hand tightly clutching her purse as she walked, ready to draw the weapon if need be. It didn't take her long to get to the training room and she finally was able to breathe as she walked in, noticing that there were many people there already, and that gave her comfort. Although Charlie was not a social bunny, in fact she much preferred small intimate occasions, she was finding more and more comfort in groups of people. Her thoughts being that Jeremy wouldn't dare come and get her and hurt her in a group setting. He could, but she didn't think that he would. Thus, she immediately felt the fear dissipate almost entirely as she let her shoulders relax and she unclutched the gun in her purse, taking her hand out of it and closing it entirely. Her eyes scanned the room, she couldn't see Aubrey, although that didn't surprise her, she could see quite a few of the initiates in here, although the room was still a tad empty. It wasn't quite time for training yet, but many were here already even so. She could see Bloom approaching Christian, and decided against joining them as she could see that Christian didn't look very happy, she was sure Bloom would be able to talk to him far better by herself, she was good at that. Eventually she simply set herself to work at the simulation area, getting everything prepared. Not only did she need to prepare all the serums and cords and wires and equipment, but she needed to make sure her medical supplies were ready, and had everything in them. Although a simulation was generally safer than most others, it wasn't completely unheard of for there to be injuries of some kind. Panic attacks, heart attacks, asthma attacks, injuries to themselves, choking, self-harm... Also the fact that certain people didn't react well to the serums in a biological sense, her eyes flitted to Christian, who had a habit of reacting quite badly to the serums.
Interacting with: Nobody
Aviator
are you laughing at my brother?
Ghost // Male // Age 18 // Training Instructor // Erudite to Dauntless
Ghost’s hand skimmed that of Val, his former gambling partner and opponent of choice, as they passed the blunt back and forth between themselves. The smoke was heavy and heady and rich in a way that cartridges and pipes just couldn’t match, and Ghost was sure to take slow, small inhales that he held in to make the most of the product. After his fifth drag the high seemed to catch up to him all at once, hammering into his consciousness like an uppercut and leaving a sizable dent in its wake. Patches of concrete and powder-blue sky winked from between leafy gaps in the sector of city ruins that had been overtaken by climbing vegetation. The wind tore at his clothes, throwing them sideways across his body, and a crumbling skyscraper open to the elements on one side seemed to sway precariously in the gale. His and Val’s small talk lapsed into pensive silence, and the sound of birds heralding the new day crescendoed until it was all he could hear.
Until a squeal of metal indicated that they were no longer the roof’s sole occupants. Ghost shot a look over his shoulder as the trapdoor in the roof rose and regurgitated two—no, three—black-clad Dauntless initiates. Standing in a cluster together, they briefly resembled a small flock of crows perched on a power line, until one of them broke from the group and wandered away, dark wings wrapped protectively around herself. Shayla’s hair was elegantly coiled in twin braids, and Ghost, watching her with no regard for how his open staring might be taken as rude, mulled over how much time that style must have taken. He had no idea how to braid and no perception of whether that was the norm for men or not.
Ghost was taking a puff of smoke when Shayla whirled in his direction and they locked eyes. He was staring back at her, wondering why she was staring so pointedly at him, and the realization that even harder substances were sitting on the ground between Val and him hit too late to do him any good. A bullet of alarm ricocheted through him, but Ghost refused to betray it. Val had still been thinking over his offer to take psychedelics before training, and the desiccated husks of mushrooms in their clear plastic baggie were lying in plain sight. If he moved to hide them now, Shayla would surely notice. His best chance was just to play it cool and hope that the sight of two instructors smoking weed together would distract her from even more troublesome details.
“Hello, Shayla,” Ghost cooed, releasing the smoky breath he’d been holding. The blunt between his fingers had been burned down to little more than a cinder, and Val struggled to find a place to pinch it when he passed it to her for a final hit. The world had been melted down to basic shapes, and Ghost was struck by the curvy fullness of Shayla’s lips and the dramatic point of her chin. Shayla had already been facing him, but her gaze snapped up and an almost imperceptible tension appeared in her shoulders when he spoke to her, as if she were surprised and a little wary by the thought of conversation with a near stranger. The second blunt still held a bit of product, and Ghost heard Val emit a small hiss as she extinguished it against her palm. Clearly she had more reservations about openly smoking in front of the initiates than him.
“Shayla, do you have dreams? When you’re asleep at night, not like ambitions,” he clarified hastily. A wrinkle appeared between Shayla’s brows, evidencing her confusion by this sudden and strange line of conversation. Sensing her uncertainty, Ghost answered his own question instead. “I almost never dream, is that weird? It sounds really fun from the way some people describe it, but I’d rather be awake and doing stuff that matters in the real world. So dreaming kind of seems like a waste of time.” Shayla made no move to interrupt him as he prattled on, and he took it as a cue to continue. “I think half of my problem is that I don’t sleep long enough to dream. That would make a lot of sense,” he finished with a self-deprecating giggle.
Ever since that night in the fire station when Aubrey had broken Ghost’s cannabis pen, he hadn’t bought another. Instead, he’d used his money to buy stuff that would keep him awake and energized: adderall, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, so that when he wasn’t looking over his shoulder for Jeremy Daniels, and when he wasn’t roaming late-night bars and spreading rumors about Noah, and when he wasn’t throwing himself into his sparring sessions with Randi, he was playing at high-stakes poker tables and raking in chips and cash by the hundreds. It was long overdue, his reunion with the game that ignited the fires of his mind like no other, and as a result he now had more disposable income than ever since being denied his rightful inheritance.
Hearing the musing cadence of his voice, the two other initiates who had accompanied Shayla to the roof paused their conversation and swiveled in Ghost’s direction, staring at him with obvious wide-eyed surprise. They hadn’t been aware that there were others already on the roof. Not wanting awkward eye contact to be the extent of their interaction, he beckoned them over. “Come over and join us, you two! Are you guys ready for the next phase of training that starts today? Hey, what’s that you’re holding?” His previous question forgotten, Ghost pointed at the spiral-bound books that the boy and girl both carried, their featureless covers reminding him of sketchbooks.
Aya and Griffon stood close together, their shoulders angled inward either against the wind or to preserve the intimacy of the moment, blocking out the rest of the world with its intrusive lights and sounds. Ghost had never considered himself adept at flirting or picking up on romantic overtures. He remembered being shocked to discover that Charlie had been harboring a crush on him, but this was one of those cases where the attraction had all the subtlety of a fist to the face. Griffon was a nice, shy boy who rarely talked unless directly spoken to, and as such Ghost had no real grasp of his personality. He felt that the younger boy was a fish out of water among the hunky muscles and loud-mouthed boasting characteristic of Dauntless men, but Ghost was the last person to criticize another for not fitting his faction’s mold.
Aya, on the other hand, had a childlike, unlined face and long sweeping bangs that looked like they belonged on an anime girl. If Griffon was quiet, then she was silent, or so Ghost had thought. He stared at her with curiosity that verged on amazement, having never heard her speak so much at once. Before she’d been alerted to his and Val’s presence, Aya had been effusively praising whatever works Griffon had been showing her from his miscellaneous book, a girlish flush staining her cheeks the color of raspberries. Instead of feeling abashed for having interrupted their privacy, Ghost felt a playful sort of mischief, like a thief who’d gotten away with a crime. Biting back a smile, he kept the conversation rolling. “From where do you get your fashion inspiration, Aya? I love all the flowing black lace, very classy. Reminds me of how my mother used to dress,” Ghost said before he could check himself.
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Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Fable
Nerdy.
Nerdy
Aubrey Amber Stark || 16 || Initiate || Dauntlessborn
Aubrey didn't know what her life was anymore. As dramatic as it sounded, she was lost in all terms of the word. After that night with Finn, she had woken up by herself, Finn was gone, yet much of his clothes remained, meaning that he hadn't just run away. Aubrey had searched all of that day and night, her mind, body and spirit now seemingly linked eternally to Finn, yet she found no solace for her soul and Finn wasn't seen from or heard from since that moment. This, along with everything that Aubrey had done against Ghost and Charlie, caused her to become terribly reckless, suicidal and idiotic. Aubrey had never suffered with depression, nor had she ever had feelings of self-harm or suicide, she had always looked on herself much too proudly for that. She had never found disappointment in herself apart from training, and so this was entirely new for the Dauntlessborn girl. Aubrey was terrified of everything she had done and the consequences of those actions. Thus, she began to trail Ghost and Charlie, hoping that if Jeremy were to attack them then she would be there to take the hit, fight him off, save them, or sacrifice herself. That became her primary goal, and in the moments she wasn't doing that, she was searching for Finn. When she was doing neither of those two things, Aubrey was drinking. Now Aubrey had always had an affinity to drinks, it might have been because of her closeness to Caspian, or maybe it was something in her blood, but Aubrey was no longer drinking just for fun... Aubrey Stark was drinking her sorrows away, and every night after she followed Ghost and Charlie back to their apartment, she would go to a bar or club and she would drink until she could no longer remember anything. She didn't care about what happened at those points, in her mind, it would be beneficial to everyone if she stopped existing. Yet, she wasn't quite willing to take that any further than a risk taking agenda. Even though Aubrey cared for Charlie, she wasn't able to bring herself to talk to her, or interact with her. She would avoid her, Sasha, Ghost and Thorn at all costs, even to the point of not showing up to training. Even her other friendships began to disappear, as Aubrey stopped talking and hanging out with those she used to, and instead spent time alone. She made new "friends" but these people were simply there to get Aubrey's small amount of money for the smokes and alcohol that she was taking from them.
Thus, it was a normal thing for Aubrey that she woke up with a groggy, banging headache and exhausted body. She lifted her head up, her eyes dizzy and unfocused as she tried to figure out where she was. After a few minutes of swimming dizziness and fighting the urge to throw up, she finally recognized her position in a fairly small but local bar where she had begun to frequent. She was draped with her arms on a table in the corner, out of the way. She was surprised she hadn't been woken up to be cruelly but rightfully thrown out, as the bar would have closed sometime in the early hours of the morning, however she thanked her lucky angels that she hadn't, and was still in possession of all of her things. She got up from the table and put a couple of coins down as thanks to the barkeeper for allowing her to stay, before she sauntered off, holding her head painfully as she made her way to the dorms. She was grateful that Charlie, Ghost and Sasha did not stay in the dorms. She had to see Thorn sometimes, but after what had happened to his mother, she had seen very little from him anyway. Aubrey finally made it to the dorms and dragged her feet as she stripped off, barely caring about what people noticed at this point, and went for a shower. She allowed the hot water to steam her body and comfort her for a while, before finally turning it ice cold and using the shock to wake her up. Wrapping herself in a towel she went back to her bed and began to look through the clothes in her compartment for something to wear. She knew that today was genuinely important for their rankings, and she still wished to do well, so she wasn't going to compromise today. After looking around for a bit, she finally picked some blue shorts and a cropped striped shirt. This would give her mobility, if she needed that, and yet didn't look particularly targeted to anything. She brushed through her hair lazily, unaware of passing time, and eventually decided against tying it up, truly not having any motivation to do so.
Finally knowing that she should get her ass off of her bed and heading to the training area, Aubrey popped some pain meds and begun her walk there. She would have gone to trail Ghost and/or Charlie at this point in the morning, but she knew that both of them would be coming to the training anyway, so there was no need. Of course, if both of them were missing, she wouldn't waste any time and she would go after them. It seemed as though she needn't have considered that thought anyway, as she noted Charlie's presence almost as soon as she entered the room. Her sister was a beautiful soul, and difficult to miss if you knew her. Charlie seemed to move so gracefully as to float over the ground, and Aubrey had always admired her natural grace. She never felt jealous over it, preferring her natural prowess in training than the grace of her sister, but it was something she admired nevertheless. Aubrey made a note to keep away from Charlie as much as possible, but also to examine her for any new scrapes, bruises or injuries. However, all she could detect on Charlie was a sense of comfort mixed with fear. This was something Aubrey had begun to take note of. Charlie really did love Ghost, and Aubrey had almost killed him. She felt a stab in her heart as she had to look away from Charlie, unable to take that memory out of her brain. Even if Aubrey hadn't killed Ghost, Jeremy probably would, and it was Aubrey's fault that that happened. Moving even further from Charlie, so that her sister would not see her, Aubrey looked for anything else that might give her brain something interesting to do, or her body. That's when her eyes fell upon her closest friend - besides Finn - Christian. They widened as she watched him talk with Blair, and she could tell exactly from their positioning and everything around them that this was a break up. But, in Aubrey's surprise, it was Christian breaking up with Blair. That was... unheard of. Christian loved Blair. Aubrey had dated Christian and they had liked each other well enough, but even then he had been too laid back to break up with her, she had broken up with him. With Indira Christian had broken up with her because Indira had manipulated him and tried to kill Blair. But this... This was strange. Aubrey watched as Blair ran off, and she would have gone to see if Christian was okay, but she immediately waylaid her course of action as she saw Bloom approach him. Instead, she found herself situated next to Fable who had also been watching Christian. "That's so unusual of him." She commented aloud. Her eyes flicking to Fable for a second before going back to watching Christian and Bloom. "I wonder what happened."
Interacting with: Fable
Sanctuaryforall1
Wolfiee
Meow
Divergent
Rhysand(Rhys).
coded by natasha.
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Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Thorn
Nerdy.
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Griffon Mordo ||
Griffon blushed at the high praise from Aya, someone with whom he had begun to deeply respect and admire. It wasn't something that Griffon had heard much of as a child, as in Abnegation you weren't praised very often, in fact the whole point was to make you as selfless as possible, so if anything you were critiqued and derided. So when Aya praised his work, his poems and sketches, he blushed a deep red and felt his fingers grip his remaining journals tightly in order to relieve some of the awkward nature of that feeling. "Th-Thank you! I greatly admire your work, so I take that as high praise." He said with a laugh and a smile, hoping that Aya didn't find it creepy for him to say something like that. He watched as she excused herself quickly and quietly to call over to Shayla, alerting the girl to their presence and commenting to Griffon on her thoughts. When Griffon heard Aya mention Cas, and the possibility that Shay might be trying to look for her, he tried to think of where Cas was; But as it always was, Griffon's memory was a fickle thing, it also had a fair tendency to blur memories, and Griffon couldn't remember whether Cas was in the dorms, or whether she had already left when he had left. Maybe his memory was entirely false and she had never been in the dorm... Griffon crunched his face up in order to think, to be helpful in some manner, but it came to nothing, as he finally drew a blank and let his shoulders drop in disappointment and defeat. He wondered if Shay and Cas had become friends, if so, he didn't remember being particularly introduced to her, something that he would have expected Cas to do if she were serious about making friends. Even Randi had bumped into Griffon a couple of times, and so Griffon knew that Cas was really taking a liking to her and spending time with her more. So he was curious to find out why Shay was looking for Cas. He had no doubt it was for good intentions, should it be true, he just was surprised and had no idea how to be of service. It didn't take long though, for the trio of initiates couldn't escape the watchful eye of their instructors, as Ghost called out to them from where he sat on the roof. Griffon's arms jumped at the sound of Ghost's voice, and he felt his shoulders tense slightly. He didn't dislike Ghost in any way, he just found him less relatable and warm as the other instructors. Bloom was a joy to be around, Charlie was delightful, Maverick was quiet and broody, Harper was to the point and direct and even Caspian had been a fun person. Ghost was a loose cannon, somebody whom you could never tell whether they were on your side or not.
Griffon and Aya looked at each other quickly, silently trying to decide whether they wanted to go to Ghost as he bid them, or leave the roof. It was almost time for training, yet there was no worry, especially as one of the instructors was sitting right there. Finally the two seemed to come to a conclusion as they made their way over to Ghost to see what he wanted to talk to them about. Griffon was about to answer Ghost's question of how they were feeling for the next phase off initiation, when Ghost quickly fired out another question, pointing at the books that both Griffon and Aya held in their hands, and bags. "They're sketchbooks, and journals. We sometimes like to come up here and do some sketching, it's a good way to unwind after the fear sims, or before." He said with a small shrug and a soft smile towards Aya. It seemed strange for Ghost to be so chummy with them, it was almost like he was a different character of being, but as Griffon's eyes scanned the ground, although he could not describe or name anything that was on the ground, he had a fairly good idea of the likelihood of it being some form of drugs. Cas used things like this a lot, and had often trusted her inebriated state to Griffon so that he could protect her and make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Griffon had never liked the idea, it seemed wrong and it seemed dangerous, but Cas had explained to him that while she used those products, her pain in her body, her anxieties and stress, her migraines and everything else... They all went away and were replaced by bliss. So when Griffon saw what looked to be similar substances on the ground next to Ghost and Val, he mentally made a note of that. Ghost and Val must have had some hard things going on, for the need of such things. Once there was an empty space, Griffon decided to answer Ghost's former question. "To answer your previous question, Ghost..." Griffon waited for Ghost to acknowledge him, not wanting to answer if his instructor was no longer interested. For a moment, it looked as if Ghost had thought Griffon were some sort of Ghost or imposter, as if he had no idea what he was doing there, but after a small and quick shake of the head, Ghost seemed to smile and told Griffon to go on. "It's hard to pick a word for how we feel. The fear simulations are grueling and difficult on the mind, and the fact that we don't know what is coming next, how one can proceed after these fear simulations... It's apprehensive and a bit nerve-wracking." He replied, hoping that answer would satisfy the instructor.
He wasn't sure if Ghost even decided to acknowledge what he was saying or not, but it seemed as though a different topic of choice was now being had, and this time between Ghost and Aya, as the man began to compliment Aya's beautiful sense of style and fashion. As Griffon stood there, listening to the two go on, he turned to Shay and approached her. "Good morning Shay, I hope you slept well." He said, softly tilting his head in greeting. "It seems as though the roof is a particularly common spot for initiates and instructors alike; What brought you up here?" He asked, brown eyes washing over Shay's soft facial features. He hadn't recalled ever having a discussion or conversation with Shay before. In fact she probably would have gone unnoticed if she hadn't allowed Lainey to bunk with her at her apartment, gaining a much louder presence than Griffon seemed to think she might want. Not only that, but Cas had also talked about a banging party that had happened at Shay's, and yet Griffon could not imagine something more bizarre, that Shay would throw a party. Either way, he was always happy to get to know someone more, so he examined her as he stood near her, and listened to her answer. "Aya thought you might be looking for Cas, I'm afraid I don't remember where she is, or I would tell you." He said apologetically. It was amazing though, as soon as he said the word Cas, her body straightened and tensed up, and her face flicked to Griffon and then away so quickly she barely seemed to acknowledge his words. Griffon felt a prickle on his neck, there was something up between Cas and Shay. "Ah, well if you aren't looking for her then at least you haven't wasted your time up here. Would you like to walk with Aya and I when we go back to the training centre? We weren't planning on going just yet, but once we are able to. There's much to do, today, I'm sure." Griffon turned his gaze back to Ghost, Aya and Val, wonering what their particular conversation was up to now.
Interacting with: Shay
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Aya
Wolfiee
Ghost
Aviator
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Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Vex
code by Stardust Galaxy
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Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Randi
code by Stardust Galaxy
Nerdy.
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Christian "Chris" Parks || 16 || Initiate || Dauntlessborn
Christian felt his body stiffen as he heard Bloom's voice, feeling a bit ashamed of showing so much emotion over an action he had chosen to do. If he had chosen to break up with Blair for her own good, then why was it hurting him so much? The answer was simple, but not one that Christian necessarily liked. He loved Blair. There was no if's or buts about it. Blair had always been destined for him, or so he had believed, but now she was hurt, because of him, and he could never live with himself as her boyfriend with that knowledge haunting him. This really was for the best, even if Blair didn't forgive him, he could live with the fact that she would no longer be in physical pain. Maybe she'd find someone better for her, like Maverick, or Thorn, or Griffon. They all had better qualities than him. However, he needed to get his act together, and stop the pity party he was playing himself this moment, which had inevitably drawn attention from the kind-hearted instructor Val. He raised his face to view hers, whilst rubbing away the tears on his jawline. He wasn't going to lie to her. "Not really. Blair and I just broke up." He said, his eyes looking towards the training room doors where Blair had just exited in tears. He wondered if any of Blair's friends would go and comfort her, and he hoped that someone would. She deserved love. Bloom looked concerned, asking if anything had happened. "I..." Christian went to tell her what he had done, but quickly shut his mouth up. Although he wasn't a liar, Vex had warned him about telling people what he had done to Ajax, Beck and Blair. She had erased that criminal record entirely and so Christian wasn't going to undo her good work by giving it all away. Yet, he was not inclined to lie, so he needed to change his perspective a little bit. "I felt it was better this way. I need to sort some things out first, and I didn't want her to get involved with that. I was afraid of hurting her." Those were all true statements, and Christian felt quite proud of himself for formulating those sentences adeptly. He wasn't usually good at thinking on the spot, but ever since working with Dr Munro, he had felt more alive, more in control of himself and his thoughts, and had a positive outlook for the future. Bloom still looked concerned, but Christian tried to brush away her concerns with his hand, waving it in the air. "Don't worry about me. I would be more concerned about Blair, she didn't take it well... She just left if you want to go see if she's okay?" Christian asked, almost a plea in his voice as he finished that sentence, the question poignant and obvious. Bloom sighed, Christian wondered if she believed him, if she could sense he was telling the truth, or if she could sense that he was hiding information. Eventually though she relented, telling Christian to come talk to her, or Charlie or someone, if he needed help. "Thanks Bloom. I"ll remember that." He said.
After Bloom hurriedly left, Christian looked around, no longer feeling that deep sadness. His eyes alighted upon two very familiar faces. Sauntering over to the two females who were staring at him and chatting, he watched as they stopped for a moment, almost as if their conversation died mid-sentence, before greeting him with smiles, although concern was written on their features. "Good morning Fable, Aubrey." Christian said happily. He was glad to see Aubrey here, as he had noticed that she had been remarkably absent in the last week, and he hadn't seen much of her. "How are you this morning?" He said happily, as if he hadn't just broken up with Blair merely 10 minutes ago. Almost taken aback, Fable and Aubrey stumbled for who should speak first, eventually one of them answering and then the other. That was when they asked him if he were okay. "Look, I know you must have seen that... But it's for the best. I'm no good for Blair right now. So even though no, I'm not okay, I think that she will be better off, and maybe I will be too." He said, almost thinking about it as he spoke. They both blinked in surprise at him, and he chuckled softly, running his hands through his shorter hair. He still wasn't used to the cut, but he very much liked it. "Well... on other terms. I was thinking of getting a new tattoo... I haven't really thought about what it could be, but I was wondering if you two had any ideas?" Christian asked. The two girls seemed to pause for a second, as if to process everything he had said before and then change to this new form of conversation, but eventually a conversation started between the three of them where they spoke of tattoos and the possibilities of going together at some point to get one. They all seemed to have changed in the last little while, and so all had new character traits they wanted to add to their growing collection, or at least most of them did. Christian listened and added his thoughts as was appropriate, asking the girls if they thought a bear tattoo would be a good idea.
After talking about that for a while, Christian turned to Aubrey specifically. 'Have you seen Finn around recently? I heard he was missing?" Christian knew that Aubrey and Finn had had a little bit of a falling out, but he'd never imagine it to be serious. He'd heard from the whispers and talks at home that Finn Day had gone missing, quite drastically and out of nowhere. Nothing was known about the disappearance, it was as if he had evaporated. Harper had spent night and day tracking him, losing out on precious money and very nearly being fired from her job before she had to go back to work instead of looking for him every hour. So she did so now in her spare time. Phillip and Asher had also spent their fair time going out to look, while Jacob and Oscar tried to find information while they were working. Christian watched as Aubrey seeemed to shrink in that sentence, her eyes widening slightly before slitting, and her form shrinking at his words. What she said to Christian after an awkward silence was that she had no idea where Finn was, and knew nothing more than everybody else. Christian had no reason to not believe Aubrey, but something seemed off by that. Not wanting to pry though, he decided not to take it any further. Aubrey immediately closed up though, and quieted down, eventually saying she needed to do something, saying goodbye and leaving. Christian watched as she left and sighed softly. "I didn't mean to set her off like that. I wonder if something happened between them before he disappeared." He murmured half to himself, only slightly aware that Fable would then also be able to hear it. She agreed, saying that it seemed more personal for Aubrey than a normal person, although that might have been because of their friendship. Christian turned to Fable, looking at the red head whom he'd gotten to know a little bit. "How have you been this week? I heard you changed your name? That was interesting. I'm not sure I know how to pronounce it, or what it is from though... " He looked a little sheepish, admittedly having forgotten the name due to having trouble pronouncing it.
Interacting with: Bloom, Fable
Sanctuaryforall1
Aubrey
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Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Shayla
code by Stardust Galaxy
Nerdy.
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Cassidy "Cassie" Wickham || 16 || Initiate || Erudite Transfer
Cas just smiled and happily continued the conversation with Randi, whilst finishing her nectarine and then throwing the pit away, much the same as Randi. Although she almost missed, the pit did get in as well, rendering a small victory pump from Cas, and a similar one from Randi. As the fiery female began to regale her thoughts on having a horror movie night, Cas thought on the idea, wondering if she had ever watched a horror movie. Before going to Erudite, she had never watched any movie, although one could have said that she lived a traumatic horror like one herself. Instead, the movies she had been introduced to in Erudite had been the ones deemed either educational and "sci-fi" or else they were the "classics". Cas had enjoyed them well enough, but she did not want to be entertained by education, that's what she enjoyed researching in the real world. Her entertainment often lay elsewhere, often in reference to her latest hook up or adrenaline rush. Thus, when Randi suggested her idea for the night, involving multiple of the things she liked, Cas couldn't help but moan wonderfully at the idea. "That sounds amazing. I've never seen a horror movie but I'm sure you'd know which one I should watch. The rest sounds fun too." She said, giving a teasing wink to the girl with whom she'd spent so much time with. She felt more peace and comfortability now than she ever had since coming to Dauntless, and maybe just in general. The fact of the matter was that life had been hellish for her. After escaping her parents and the trauma she had received growing up, she had to live a false life in Erudite, always worried someone would find her out and root out her past, finding Griffon had been the highlight of her life, he had saved her life after all, but his lack of memories was a constant pain for her. She felt safer in Dauntless than she had in Erudite, but she had felt much more comfortable in Erudite than she had in Dauntless. So now that she was enjoying Randi's company, almost exclusively, she was comfortable and felt safer. It helped that she felt prepared to take on someone physically in a fight, more so than she could have done before coming to Dauntless. Her body had been adept at fighting before coming, but with the training regimen unique to Dauntless, her body was actually strong now, and the muscles she had developed were helping in giving her an even greater sense of security.
Cas watched as more people seemed to enter the room, but yet nothing seemed to be happening. Charlie the medic was here, getting all the equipment ready, which seemed to be common for her, Bloom was here, or perhaps chasing after Blair, but she didn't seem to have been doing this long enough to know what had to happen. It seemed that the lack of Ghost was the reason that nothing was happening. Well, this always called for the opportunist in Cas. "Since we seem to be lacking our commander and leader, why don't we sneak off for a bit?" She suggested, eyebrows raising in mischief as she looked at the dashing woman beside her. It didn't take Randi long to shrug and both girls began to stroll conveniently to a part of the room that wasn't being watched or inhabited much. In fact, nobody would be able to see them unless they specifically rounded the corner and passed over some training equipment. It wouldn't be hard to hear when Ghost entered the room, so Cas believed, so she wasn't too worried about them appearing late. Once they had made a comfy lounging area within the equipment, Cas pulled out her vape. "Whatever shit we have to do today, this will definitely help." She said, taking a long deep breath herself, and then passing it to Randi. The flavour she had picked this time was mixed berries, but it always tasted like cotton candy. She blew the smoke out of her nose, feeling it tickle over her lips and disappear into the air. The calming nature of the vape caused her body to relax, and it must have done the same for Randi, as it didn't take long for the two girls to lean over and begin to make out. Nothing else happened, a few hits, a few make outs. They were both aware that if they got caught they'd be in slight trouble, but it was doubtful that anything more than a stern telling off would happen. They enjoyed a short amount of rest and enjoyment. "Is it just me or has there been a lot of weird stuff going on this initiation?" Cas asked, as she turned to face Randi. The girl before her asked her to clarify, unsure of what she meant.
"Well... To begin with there's just been a lot of death or disappearances. Or just trainers leaving for untold reasons. Such as the first woman who I don't even remember, then Caspian, and Harper, and even Maverick." Cas knew she probably shouldn't have mentioned Maverick's name actually, but she continued on quickly, not wanting Randi to dwell on that. "Then Bastian disappeared, Bella too, a couple kids died, Dante as well, and now Finn's gone and disappeared, and our medic seems to be an emergency trainer." She drew in a breath of vape, breathing out some smoke into Randi's face to make her giggle, then replacing the giggle with a small kiss. "It just seems strange is all, I feel like this can't happen every time they have initiation." She leaned back as she listened to Randi's thoughts on the matter. Randi had grown up in Dauntless, so she had more insight and experience in how Dauntless worked, whereas Cas could only go from her observations and general feel. "Those are all good points." She said in reference to Randi's thoughts, as she spun the vape around her fingers. "I just hope neither you or I go missing.' She said with a cheeky grin. She heard the doors of the training room open and shut. "That's probably Ghost, we should likely go and get our asses out on the floor now." She sighed, winking at Randi and both girls making their way to the other side of the room, back to where the initiates were hanging out. As Cas suspected, nobody had noticed their disappearances and also nobody was noticing them reappear, as everyone was awaiting Ghost's general monologue of the day. Cas herself was interested to find out what was happening, so she crossed her arms, hiding the vape back within her pocket, and watched Ghost, awaiting his speech.
Interacting with: Randi
Sanctuaryforall1
Last edited:
Wolfiee
Meow
Initiate
Aya.
coded by natasha.
Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Bloom
code by Stardust Galaxy
Aviator
are you laughing at my brother?
Ghost // Male // Age 18 // Training Instructor // Erudite to Dauntless
Ghost lifted a skeptical eyebrow at Griffon’s words, the younger boy gesturing with his spiral-bound journal to make his points when appropriate. “I admire your confidence,” Ghost mused pensively, “but don’t you think that unwinding before training is jumping the gun a little?” In his initiation days, Ghost hadn’t been the veteran smoker that he was now, but he never would have gotten wasted before a simulation. Relaxing as it might have been, he needed to maintain his mental acuity. He had found in those instances that the pressure to do well was a good motivator to drive his performance, much like how he felt as chips piled up on a poker table and raised the stakes. It was stressful, yes, but mostly a good kind of stress.
He was in the process of flicking away the burnt-out snub of the blunt over the edge of the building when Griffon spoke again, alluding to another question that Ghost had apparently asked. Ghost didn’t remember if there had indeed been a second question, let alone what it had been about, but he nodded indulgently at Griffon and trusted that there was, knowing that his capacity for attachment to reality was draining by the minute as the weed hit him. As the younger boy spoke, Ghost stole a glance at Val, noting that her eyes were red and glazed over. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and she endured the ambient conversations begrudgingly, not contributing. Ghost bit his lip as he watched her, wondering how much help Val would realistically be during training today.
“Well, that’s all of life, right there,” Ghost said with an insouciant shrug. He wasn’t being intentionally unsympathetic but neither did he see the point in mincing his words. “You never know what’s coming next, but sometimes you can predict future outcomes given the current and past information. I like to think that fearscapes are much the same way, and my approach is to always look for patterns within them. But that’s enough of what I think,” he said, flashing Griffon a fallen angel’s smile. “You’ll find out for yourself soon enough.” His and Griffon’s conversation seemed to have drawn a small crowd, and when Ghost allowed his attention to shift away from the boy with the journal, he found that the two other initiates on the roof had assembled in a shallow semi-circle around him.
Shayla Darkholme had eyes like windows into a house that was empty of all light and life, in a place where only dark and awful shadows moved. Ghost almost wanted to cringe away when they locked on him. What she had to say was appropriately dark and somber and Ghost fumbled a moment before finding a suitable reply. “I, uh… refuse to believe life is meaningless, but that meaning is different for every person. You have to find a meaning for yourself, or create one. But anyone who tells you what your meaning is or where to go looking for it is trying to sell you something. Don’t trust ‘em,” he finished with the authoritative sagacity of one who was older than Shayla and had been around the block a few times. Wisdom was a precious tool and he wanted to share as much of it as he could with the initiates, because as soon as they finished training they would never have to undergo another simulation again if they didn’t want to. It was life lessons like these that stuck with a person.
Instead of responding in kind, Shayla used the lull in the conversation to slip away from Ghost, wandering toward the far side of the roof. Griffon followed hot on her heels, making Ghost wonder if he’d said something wrong that he perhaps wouldn’t have if he’d been sober. “Nah, if I were sober it just would have been more wrong, who am I kidding,” he quipped quietly to himself, sliding his hands inside the pockets of his sienna leather jacket to ward off the chill. In the light of a new morning, the Chicago skyline looked rugged and sloppy and fake, like day-old makeup. He was sitting back to enjoy the view when, behind him, a throat cleared itself. Ghost swung around and found Aya still standing there, watching him intently, seemingly oblivious to the fact that her companions had dispersed.
Such a long interval between the time when Ghost had first complimented her appearance and Aya’s response had transpired that he almost forgot he’d said anything at all. But when he’d essentially addressed all three initiates in the same breath, he supposed that was to be expected. “You shouldn’t feel like you have to make yourself look older. There’s some perks that come from looking like a kid.” Ghost’s lips twitched, and he made a sheepish noise low in his throat before confiding, “Before I grew my beard out, I used to ride the train for free and waiters in restaurants would ask me if I wanted the kids’ menu. Of course, people used to always assume my ID was a fake when I tried ordering drinks, too.”
Instead of responding in a conventional fashion, a sequence of words that Ghost never expected to hear from little Aya Kurosaki left her mouth in a voice as soft and smooth as sand slithering into an hourglass. It was the same sort of voice that a hypnotist might use to charm a viper, but the words themselves had the opposite effect on Ghost. In the wake of a comment that could only be described as savage, he was left reeling in slack-jawed surprise and had to check that he was still perched on the roof and not hurtling toward the ground a thousand feet below. He pressed a hand to his chest, as if doing so could restore the breath that had been stolen from him. “Ma’am? Ma’am. Excuse the ever-loving hell out of me,” he sputtered. A startled giggle burst out of him more loudly than he’d intended, because both Griffon and Shayla’s heads whipped toward him. Ghost’s shoulders shuddered with amusement as he fought to recover his poise. “Okay, Aya, I’m choosing to believe that was a joke, albeit a slightly inappropriate one.” Ghost lowered his gaze and fiddled with one of the matching gold cuffs he wore on each wrist, as had become his habit whenever he was unsure of himself.
Fortunately, Aya redirected the conversation. If Ghost’s thoughts were more controlled, then perhaps the redirection wouldn’t have been so fortunate, but it was surprisingly easy to think about his mother without sobriety muddying the picture. “Had excellent taste, more like. She’s gone now.” He said it with an offhand nonchalance, as if his mother’s death was a fact of life with which he had long come to terms, because it was. Aya bobbed her head, the new turn of the conversation not breaking her stride. Unprompted but wanting to address the lingering question, Ghost elaborated, “Gone as in dead, yeah. Can I tell you something funny? They played ‘Irreplaceable’ by Beyonce at her and my father’s funeral.” Ghost smiled and ran a nervous hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face only for the wind to shove it right back. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever had an extended conversation with Aya Kurosaki before, but he’d certainly not told that darkly comedic detail to anyone else.
If Aya had thought his remark was strange, she didn’t show it. Instead, her face a mask of calm, she asked if Ghost’s sense of style had come from his mother. He paused before answering, weighing how he thought he should answer against the truth. “No, but don’t tell her I said that.” His brows furrowed, and he continued, “It’s true that my ma used to dabble in the fashion industry, but she designed women’s clothes mostly. When I was a kid I really liked gangster shows that took place in the early-to-mid twentieth century, where tough guys would strut around in waistcoats and dusters and stab someone for looking at them the wrong way. I think they were the guys I was trying to emulate when I first started dressing up a little.”
For the first time since ascending to the roof, Ghost checked the time on his phone and noticed that it was four minutes until nine-thirty, the start of training time. “As you said, Aya, it’s time to get going. Why don’t you head down now, and I’ll be along eventually? I don’t want to leave Val on her own.” Ghost’s eyes slid toward his long-time spades partner, who had remained silent for the duration of the various conversations. It was very possible that she had smoked too much, especially if today was her first day smoking after a lengthy break, and Ghost knew first-hand that the symptoms of greening out were inconvenient at the very least, if not outright uncomfortable.
Not once during their interaction had Aya acknowledged the presence of psychedelics stronger than weed sitting on the ground between Ghost and Val, not even with a little frown like Shayla or widened eyes like Griffon. He wondered if Aya recognized the mushrooms for what they were—she wouldn’t be the first sixteen-year-old kid so innocent—or if, perhaps, Aya herself was such a hardcore stoner that it was natural for her not to even bat an eye. Before Ghost could make up his mind, Aya nodded, bid him a good day, and spun on her heel and marched toward the trapdoor leading down from the roof. Ghost watched her leave and stared at the space that she had occupied even after she was gone, wondering if he himself had been so strange at her tender age.
* * *
“We’re going to do something a little different today,” Ghost announced in his best businessman’s sales pitch voice twenty minutes later when he held the initiates’ attention. After making the call that Val was in no condition to be working, he’d walked the mostly catatonic woman to her apartment within the compound and accepted the fact that he would be late to training. An ocean of eyes, equal parts mocking and indignant for Ghost’s repeated talks on the importance of punctuality, churned toward him when he’d finally come striding down the fluorescent-white hallway to the testing center. He’d apologized for his tardiness and immediately jumped into the lesson.
“Unlike in the previous round of simulations, in the Phase Three fearscapes you’ll be aware that what you’re experiencing isn’t real life. Therefore, the goal isn’t to calm your breathing and heart rate, but to solve the artificial puzzle that you’re given. And what’s more is that an opponent will be simultaneously working to beat you to the solution.” Ghost said this last part very slowly, as he knew that some of the initiates had already tuned out and this was the lynchpin to success in the fearscapes. “You can be the second slowest person ever to figure out the puzzle with which you’re presented, but so long as your opponent is the one person slower than you, it’s still a win, and that’s what matters. All winners will get the same amount of points, regardless of their time. And the same number of points will be subtracted from the loser of the round.” He gave a wry smile. “So as you can see, we’re essentially gambling with ranks here.”
At his cue, Charlie flipped the whiteboard around so that the side with writing was revealed to the initiates for the first time. Two columns of names sliced down the board, all of which were linked to a name in the opposite column with a thin dotted line. “This is the first round of a randomly generated bracket. Tomorrow we’ll continue on to the second round, and today’s losers will have their own bracket too, the top spot in which will be readmitted to the winner’s bracket on the following day.” Ghost paused for effect, casually popping his hands into his pockets. Then he addressed the name at the very bottom of the left-hand list that didn’t have a match in the other column. “Brandish, since we have an odd number in attendance today, your opponent will be me,” he said calmly. “But since I’ve done this before, you’ll get fifteen points instead of ten if you happen to beat me.
“Now, what fun would we instructors have if you kids shouldered all of the risk? Charlie, Bloom, if you each would please take one?” Before he’d finished making his request, Ghost had flipped open a box of galaxy-themed playing cards, riffle-shuffled and bridged them once, cut the deck twice, and extended a perfectly circular fan of cards to both women. “Lowest card drawn will be the fearscape we use for today’s matches. That way there will be a neutral playing field for both opponents, at least for today. Ace high,” he added as an afterthought, knowing that some more novice card players were inclined to count an ace as a one. Bloom drew, then Charlie drew, and on the count of three Ghost revealed the seven of hearts that he had blindly selected.
Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Fable
Nerdy.
Nerdy
Charlotte "Charlie" Stark || 20 || Medic || Dauntlessborn
Charlie found herself happily working in her expertise, setting the equipment up and making sure everything was ready. Honestly she was the most comfortable and confident in these moments, when she wasn't being pressured, but did have responsibilities. She hated feeling useless and stepped over, a common feeling for her, yet she hated being pressured and feeling like she needed to do more than she was capable. This was the perfect middle ground, she was necessary, but it was within her ability. This made her quite chirpy and she even found herself humming quite happily to herself as she worked with the equipment. Although many things had gone wrong recently, there were also many things that Charlie enjoyed, and although they didn't outnumber the bad things, they were good enough to place her in a pleasant mood. Her mind flitted to the future, a thought she often refused to think. What was her future like? There was a lot of unknown to be sure, and yet she was somewhat excited. Once initiation was over, would she and Ghost last? Would they fall apart and break away? They had been good over the last week. They were living together, and sure they had grown closer... physically more than anything. Her face blushed as her mind played over the feeling of Ghost's hands trailing softly on her skin, or the way his lips gripped hers, or the warmth of his body next to her own. Nothing had ever gone particularly far, but it was something that felt like two young lovers exploring each other, something Charlie had never experienced. With Caspian it had been a whirlwind and she had never had any control. But with Ghost, he let her have her own opinions and work at her own speed. There was no forceful behaviour, at least not in terms of their relationship. Charlie found herself so in her own mind that she almost jumped at Bloom's voice. She whipped around, her hair flowing around her neck and bouncing lightly with the natural curls they had decided to have today. "Bloom! You gave me a fright... It's good to see you." Charlie relied, laughing at the fact she had gotten a fright. As Bloom handed her the small bag of herbs, Charlie's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat in excitement. Although she was more versed in the art of chemistry and modern medicine, she had a deep respect and love for natural remedies. It wasn't so popular anymore, people preferred hard results and ignored the long term effect that many drugs and medicine had... Natural remedies often had longer and harder to trust medicinal properties, but in the end you were usually healthier... She gave herself a mental note, she hoped to read more books about natural remedies, herbs and traditional medicine.
"This is amazing! Thank you Bloom.." Charlie opened the bag just enough to let the scent of the herbs come up and waft gently to her nose. Immediately she felt her body relax, as the familiar scent of chammomile, mixed with some other herbs she didn't immediately recognize, gave her immediate relief. "I can't wait to use these. You're so sweet!" She wrapped the herbs back up, placing them gently within her bag. As Bloom continued talking, Charlie could hear the meaning behind her words. Jeremy was still out there, and Charlie could only assume that he was either torturing her and Ghost by not coming for them, or he hadn't yet received Aubrey's message. She knew that no matter what it was, there was nothing she could do. Jeremy would eventually come for either her, Ghost, or more likely the both of them. What he did with them... that wasn't something she wanted to imagine, but whatever it would be? It would be very bad. She felt a stab in her heart, and she had to hold her breath a few seconds, before blowing it out softly. "I think you're right. I'd love a few wonders and miracles right about now." She said, her head spinning as she heard the doors open, allowing quite a few more initiates in, along with Ghost. Immediately a small smile plastered itself on her face as she looked at him, strutting in like he owned the place, and she might have forgotten her place if Bloom hadn't elbowed her gently, a teasing smile on her face. A red blush grew on Charlie's face and she immediately giggled softly, turning around as if to pretend to continue setting up the simulation. She listened, as Ghost explained the day's training. It was a new one for the kids, they'd only just gotten used to the fear simulations, and the ranks had been bouncing up and down - for the most part. Yet these would be very different, you couldn't just calm yourself, you had to figure out how to finish the puzzle that you were given. Yes it would be scary, but now it was more about finding out solutions than getting over your fear. You couldn't just jump off of a building to beat your simulation, if the fear is heights. Instead, you would climb higher, or figure out why you were so high, or combat it by walking confidently till you find the safe place. Charlie almost got too far in her head, and almost forgot to turn around the whiteboard that she had already written on, showing each of the initiates names. She began to search the crowd, looking for those familiar faces that she had become so attached to. There was Aubrey, standing at the back, arms crossed and her ice blue eyes cold and uncaring as she looked at the board. Aubrey was against Fable, and although Charlie might have believed Aubrey would win without question, she wasn't so sure anymore. Fable had good scores and had a good rank, and Aubrey's had dropped exponentially. This would be hard for both of them. Others that stood out to her was Thorn, who looked tired and dismayed. Charlie felt her heart break, she hoped she would have time to talk to him after this... He had been avoiding people all week, and she hadn't had a moment to spend time with him. She'd given her condolences to him, but she wanted to do more.
She wanted to continue watching the faces, when Ghost reminded her and Bloom that it was their moment to pull cards. Charlie felt her heart spike. She'd forgotten about this. The three of them had agreed that one of them would be randomly assigned to have their fear simulations used for the children. Charlie would never usually wish the worst on people, but she honestly found herself in that moment hoping that Ghost or Bloom would get the lowest card. There was a reason she had so many nightmares, there was a reason she had PTSD, there was a reason she had panic attacks that would paralyze her... She was traumatized, and the fears she had would show that. Thus, when she pulled her card out of the pack, she sent out a quick prayer into the universe. Please let it be high. She found herself nibbling on her bottom lip as she repeated that line over and over in her head. When Ghost counted down, she held her breath, turning over her playing card. Her heart dropped when she saw the card in front of her was below seven. The four of clubs looked happily up at her, and she didn't even need to look at the others to have the inner knowledge and intuition that let her know that she had the lowest card. Eventually when she did raise her head, it confirmed her suspicions. Ghost's was a 7, and Bloom's was above that. Charlie's skin paled slightly, but she refused to let it show on her face... At least she tried. She smiled softly to Ghost, and she could see in his eyes the apologetic look, and the same from Bloom. "I'll go get it set up, you all hurry up and get in your pairs. You'll be doing it at the same time, so that you don't have any unfair advantage watching anyone else. Although your time overall isn't important, there may be a test where it is, so do try to do these quickly." She was surprised at the confidence in her voice, even as her hands had begun to shake and she handed the card back to Ghost, turning around and walking to the equipment. She could hear as all the kids began to sit down on the chairs in the prepared pairs, including Ghost going to lie next to Randi. Thanks to modern technology, Charlie only needed to plug herself into the system for a few minutes, to let it go through her fears and randomly assign them to the children. She watched as the computer worked, and as Bloom helped the young ones into their spots. As soon as the computer affirmed that it was finished, Charlie winced as she pulled the cords off and stood up, a wave of dizziness washing over her. She swayed for only a second, panic washing over her for a moment before it went away. She then nodded to Bloom, and the two began to walk by and giving the initiates their serums. She watched as each teen fell asleep, eyes rolling back and body going limp. The last person she stood in front of, of course, was Ghost. She watched as Bloom administered Randi's, and Charlie hesitated as she brought the serum up to Ghost's neck. "Good luck." She whispered, and watched as he nodded back at her. After she put the serum in, and watched as he fell asleep, she let her hand brush over his, before moving away and sitting with Bloom to watch the screens that showed each simulation. "Now the 'fun' begins." She said, her heart dropping into her stomach. She heard a soft sigh from Bloom beside her, and Charlie reached out to hold her hand. At least she had Bloom here, if Charlie couldn't watch the fear simulation, Bloom would do it for her.
Interacting with: Bloom
Sanctuaryforall1
Ghost
Aviator
Aubrey Amber Stark || 16 || Initiate || Dauntlessborn
It surprised Aubrey when Christian came up and spoke to the three of them, herself, Fable and Rhys who had just joined them. When he was the first one to ask them how they were, they were all a bit thrown off. Fable spoke first, and then Aubrey managed to think of something to say. "No worse than usual." She said with an awkward laugh, knowing that in one way that was false, and in another way it was very true. When they repeated the question to him, he explained some of his reasonings to them about what had just happened, and Aubrey felt her heart soften. It sounded like Christian was trying to do what was best, and she wondered what had happened between them. She wondered if Christian would tell her later, and decided she would ask him about it. For now though she just listened and was pleasantly surprised when the conversation branched off to tattoos. She was surprised to hear Christian talk so confidently about things he wanted to do. It was like he was a new person, and Aubrey found herself wishing this was who he was usually, it was so much more comfortable to hang out with him like this. "I wouldn't mind getting some more tattoos... I'd have to spend some more time thinking about what I'd want, but I have some ideas." She said, her mind wondering to what she would want. The first thing she thought about was getting a tattoo in honour of Caspian, especially since she doubted that Thorn was in the right place to carve Caspian's name into her knives. Maybe she would do the knives then, tattoos of the knives with Caspian's name within them... She wasn't sure if that was really cringey, but she kind of liked it. She shared this with the group, and got a lot of people nodding and saying that would be a cool idea. It was interesting to talk to Fable and Rhys. Although Aubrey knew Chris well, they were good friends and had dated a long time ago, she hadn't gotten to know Fable very well, and had also not had too much interaction with Rhys. Although he was an attractive guy and she liked his looks, she had never interacted with him outside of training, and found that she didn't know much about him. But she was enjoying listening to them all talk about their tattoo ideas. "We could definitely go and get tattoos together, it's usually more fun to do it as a group. It can take a long time sometimes." She suggested, seeing some nods of agreement from some of them.
Aubrey was enjoying the conversation, so it surprised her when Chris targeted her with his next sentence, questioning her about whether she knew anything about Finn's disappearance. As if calling out a traumatic memory, Aubrey felt her body go cold and she immediately dropped her smile and laugh, becoming cold to the situation. Her mind thought back to when she had lain in Finn's embrace on the cold concrete, bodies entangled and souls entwined. Then suddenly he was gone, and Aubrey had been left alone. She knew she should have told someone this, she should have opened up about where she was and that she was the last person with Finn. But she couldn't bring herself to admit that, and she was trying to convince herself that it was a dream. If it were a dream, or a nightmare, then it wasn't real.... "I don't know anything. He just disappeared." She said coldly, hoping that nothing more would be said about it. Fearing that the conversation was going to stay that way, she sucked a breath in and looked at the others. "I need to go do something before we start. I'll see you later." She replied, flicking everyone a wave and walking off toward the training doors. She didn't actually have anything to do, but she would pretend to need the bathroom. Exiting the training room, she walked to the nearest bathroom, slipping in and standing at the bench. She thought she was alone, and then a flush caused her to jump, making her realize that she wasn't. She continued standing there though, and soon she saw in the mirror, Blair exiting a cubicle with red puffy eyes. "hey." Aubrey said, as she felt an urge to share kindness with Blair. They had never been super close, but they knew each other reasonably well. She couldn't decide though, whether it would be better to leave Blair alone with her sadness, or to say something. Honestly, Aubrey would usually say something, she was generally sympathetic towards people. But with everything that had happened, Aubrey didn't trust herself anymore. Her sister, mother and Ghost were now in danger because of her, and Finn had disappeared while in her company. She couldn't trust herself at all, she was likely just going to make Blair more upset. So she said nothing, although doing that nibbled at her heart, and she began to wash her hands, splashing some water into her face to wake herself up and clear her own thoughts. When Blair didn't exit the bathroom, Aubrey took that as a hint to leave, and she nodded at the girl, finally leaving the room and walking back to the training room.
Thankfully for Aubrey, Ghost had already arrived, and was beginning his speech as usual. She stood at the back, alone, arms crossed over her chest and eyes glued to Ghost. They were going to be going head to head against each other? A tournament of some sort? Aubrey felt a little bit of excitement at this. Surely that would be very exciting. Plus, it wasn't going to feel real, it would be obvious that it was a simulation, and they just needed to solve a puzzle. Even better. She scanned the board quickly to find her name, and saw her name in opposition to Fable. She could beat Fable, surely, Fable wasn't even Dauntless born. Aubrey must have the advantage. She felt a bit more confidence at that, and even when they began to draw cards, she hoped drastically that it wasn't Charlie. What if one of Charlie's fears had to do with her? That would be awkward to have in someone's simulation. Yet... Aubrey knew Charlie well, or so she had thought, so maybe she would have an advantage if it was Charlie, and she would be able to figure out the fear and then the necessary resolution. For Charlie's sake though, Aubrey hoped it would be Ghost or Bloom. She stared at Charlie's face like a hawk, and she could see the drop in it even before they revealed the cards. Sorry Charlie. Aubrey thought, knowing that it was in no way her fault for this particular thing. At this point, anything that hurt Charlie felt like it was Aubrey's fault. Charlie tried to brighten up, but Aubrey could see the fear and sadness from having to be the one. Walking over to where Fable was, Aubrey and Fable got into their charis and laid back. "Good luck. I hope to have a fun competition. Just know I'm going to try to win. I hope you do too." Aubrey said. She hoped they would both do well... but unfortunately it was either you win or lose... not to do with time or anything. So she only had to beat Fable. Aubrey sighed as she watched Bloom come up with the serum. She gave her a gentle squeeze, saying she had confidence Aubrey would do well, and wishing her luck. Aubrey nodded, no smile, and waited for the serum to kick in. Head lying back and eyes beginning to lull.....
Interacting with: Rhys
Wolfiee
Fable, Bloom
Sanctuaryforall1
Blair. Christian
Sanctuaryforall1
Pyrrha Nikos Lives On
Thorn
Wolfiee
Meow
Divergent
Rhysand(Rhys).
coded by natasha.
Nerdy.
Nerdy
Griffon ||
Griffon politely nodded as Shay mentioned she was hoping for some alone time. "Ah, then I am sorry for invading that time. Please, don't let us stop you from relaxing." He moved aside like a gentleman, and tilted his head in fashion, to show his goodbye, before turning his attention back to Aya, Ghost and Val. As he had not been a part of the current conversation, Griffon spent the time waiting by watching the sky as it lit up, becoming brighter and warmer, and the sky turning from the early morning colours to a steady blue. As it rolled through, he felt a tension in his body, wondering what this day was going t obring, whether it would be good or bad. He knew nothing about what today specifically was going to bring, but he knew that he would give it a good shot. He worried though, would he give it his best shot? Dauntless wasn't his style, and he was here mostly just to be with his sisters. So he had no passion to do this, not from his own sake, but his passion came from his desire for his loved ones. He hoped that would be enough. He admired Cas and Fable much more than himself, they fought for what they wanted, and they did so wonderfully and with great strength. Griffon fought for others, so sometimes that meant he himself didn't get the best scores... But he wasn't really worried about that. He knew that even when he failed and was less than average, his sisters shone even brighter because of him. He enjoyed his time thinking about this, as the morning moved on and the conversation between Aya and Ghost seemed to have come to a close. In fact Ghost reminded them that it was time for them all to get moving. Griffon checked the time, and was shocked when he saw how much time had passed. Had he and Aya really spent so much time looking through notebooks and talking? Had he been dreaming for an extended moment of time? He shook his head to clear his brain, before watching as Aya and Ghost bid each other goodbye and Aya joined him as they walked downwards and towards the training centre. "I hope Val is okay, she didn't look very well. I wonder if she's sick?" Griffon voiced to himself, but openly so that Aya could also join in if she desired. She mostly just nodded, agreeing with him, but not saying much else. They walked together closely, heading towards the training room via the dorms. They didn't really feel like lugging their books to the room where they may be doing some extensive t raining.
It didn't take them long to drop their things off and then make it to the training room, thankfully right before Ghost did, so there was no time lost. Griffon didn't even get time to say hello to either Fable or Cas, and decided to just stay by Aya as he watched Ghost begin his talk about what was happening. So this simulation was not going to be the same as the others? This time it was more about how you could solve it, rather than overcoming the fear itself. That was interesting... he looked at Cas, she looked confident, he could imagine she would do this well. He on the otherhand, he wasn't as good as Cas at doing puzzles and solving anything. He was good at being brave and fearless, in a very selfless/abnegation way. This would be difficult. But he was excited for another simulation, though with the aspect of doing it with someone else, he wondered how the simulation would pick between his fears and theirs? It didn't take long for that question to get answered as Ghost mentioned that they would be drawing randomly to figure out who would be the person, Bloom, Ghost or Charlie. Griffon watched as they drew their cards and flipped them over, watching as Charlie's card was lower than all the others. He saw the way she looked nervous and scared, but was able to suck it up and move on. As she worked to get everything ready, she told them all to sit down with their partner. Griffon had already forgotten that he was meant to have a partner, so he quickly went up to the board to check who it would be. Rolling down all the names, he finally saw his name next to Vex's, while Aya's sat next to Cas. He turned to Aya. "Good luck, I'll be rooting for both of you." He said honestly, knowing that he couldn't not root for Cas, his own sister, but that he also wanted Aya to know he was hoping she would do well too. Then he said goodbye, and looked around for Vex, who had already gotten into position. He smiled gently, trying to think about if he knew anything about Vex. From his own memory though, he drew up a blank, only knowing that she was one of the initiates. He chastised himself slightly, he should be more selfless and have tried to get to know her. "Hi Vex. I hope we can have a good time competing together." He said, as he also got into position, and waited for Bloom to come by. As she did, he smiled at her and let her jab him in the neck to administer the serum. He was grateful he got to watch her as he blanked out.
---
The first thing that Griffon noticed as he blinked his eyes open, was the wind whipping at his hair and body. He looked around, unsure of what was happening, and nearly gave a yell as he felt his body sway. Gripping onto the wall that happened to be beside him, he watched as the vision before him rolled out like a blanket, and he was suddenly aware of how very high he was. It was strange though, because as he looked at it, he had the sensation that told him that this was just a simulation. In fact he remembered being jabbed by Bloom, and could still feel the sting. Thus... he remembered he had not come in here alone. Trying to look around was difficult though, as his body fought the urge to freak out, even though his mind knew that this was a simulation, something about him also couldn't quite overcome the natural fear that was the fear of height. He could understand why Charlie must fear this, she wasn't particularly large or burly, so it made sense that heights would be scary. He wasn't specifically scared of them, but he understood the reasons why someone would be. He peeked around, as his feet slipped on the window sill that he stood on, his body outside of a locked window and barely holding on to the side of a large building. Where was Vex? He looked through the window in front of him, having to get his face right up to the panes to look through, as the glass was too reflective and he could only see the sky and his own reflection. Inside the building it was just a normal tiled floor with limited furniture. It seemed to be a business or company like building, maybe somewhere in the Erudite district. That would make sense to why it was so high up. He couldn't see Vex inside though. However that gave him an idea. Bracing himself against the window, he reeled a hand back, and then punched at the glass, immediately recoiling with the impact as the glas cracked slightly and his knuckles swelled from the impact. The glass was very strong, and it was unlikely that he could punch his way through it. He remembered how Ghost and Charlie had said that this was about solving this... rather than overcoming fear in the natural sense. So... if the fear was height, the natural thing to calm down would be to get down, or to regulate your heart beat. But to become something greater... were you meant to jump? He looked down, a funny feeling flipping in his tummy. He couldn't jump, even if this was a simulation. Plus, he somehow doubted that would be the point. That meant the only other thing to do would be to climb up. He looked up, realizing that there was a lot more building to climb. He could do this one of two ways, he could break the window and enter inside, climbing up inside would be easy, as long as there werne't any enemies. Outside would be suicidal. He made his decision, and braced himself again, this time bringing one foot back and kicking at the glass. It only took a few kicks before the window shattered, spraying him with glass shards that cut at him. Obviously not feeling any abrasions, he entered the room confidently. There was only one problem though, there didn't seem to be any stairs, or even doors. This room was purely a room with windows on each side. Sighing, Griffon exited again, and that's when he saw Vex. She was already climbing the building, scaling it like a lizard. How had she gotten so high up already? Griffon was at a loss, and didn't know if he'd be able to even compete with the speed and agility that Vex held. But he would have to try, unless he could think of some other way to solve this. Coming up with a blank, Griffon began to climb.
Interacting with: Shay, Bloom, Vex
Sanctuaryforall1
Ghost
Aviator
Aya
Wolfiee
