As the bulwark of Kheper, Selma had long treated the staff and logistics teams around their base of operations to the emerald light show of ascending to radiance already— they’d dug their heels in and waited a good while now, after all. Never hurt to have one element immediately ready to go, and hurt even less to have it be the one with stamina for days and a built-in warning system. Never one to slack on her work, she’d spent the weeks since her examination looking to refine and iterate on that seismic sense that had proven a keystone in her passing marks. Pointedly, the building they had been stationed at was built more than anything else to
carry sound.
While she had yet to touch upon any breakthrough as major as those the summit had forced out of her, she was, at this point, quite confident she had as clear a read on their immediate surroundings as anyone could, tying milling points of vibration to each face in the crew that feverishly transmitted information around and through Saint Nicholas’s venerable cathedral. As her focus meandered between point to point, she inevitably took in snippets of the chatter flowing into the radio comms. She couldn’t stick to any one conversation too long, needed to keep casting a wide net to catch any would-be saboteurs trying to knock them out ahead of schedule— but as a composite, she gleaned the most important thing of all— this was the
big one.
She heard more than that, too—
Caught in the depths of the wood and stone, bouncing between the smallest cracks that time had weathered in the humble spires, gilded domes, and carved archways of the old tower, the breath of music still lived within, singing hymns of joy and hope in the ghostly chorus of generations past. Those that knew this place not as Palmyra, but as Vladivostok. Those that knew nothing of the scourge that assailed their ancient home.
Ever the traditionalist, our heroine sat perched upon a knee with her head down, hands clasped near the heart as she let the sole of her boot press into the walls, letting the phantoms of choir, organ, and heavy bell high above wash over her. She was no Orthodox— theology was always a little high-minded for her in general— but all the same the big girl drank in the music, drank in the belief behind it, and resolved to pay her dues to the history she, and only she, was privileged to connect with.
Hmmm hmmm hmmm...Kheper were always a quiet bunch by nature, but this attunement with the voices of the earth left even Selma, the brashest of them, reduced to absently weighing in on the idle chatter that floated between her girls, “hurry up and wait” enough to draw it out of anyone. As Rivka sidled up close by and began to entomb herself in soft, heavy blankets, it was with some chagrin that Selma was incapable of sharing the symphony. That firecracker, so much more than she, was the one who would appreciate how song and will survived the ages.
Time passed. The winds raged. Rain hammered. The building creaked upon the hill. Her subsonic vigil continued.
…There was a swell in activity. Sharp voices from young cadets cut through the tense chatter, relaying a
problem that had cropped up some five blocks removed from them. Hearts began to hammer. Far enough to not be an imminent threat, barely passed over by the big girl’s furthest listening, but close enough that Kheper were on call to investigate— but Selma caught the edge in the Captain’s tone as she said “
Protect at all costs”. Same as Wei’s, seemingly a lifetime ago.
With this vortex of Nox overhead, battering the city all through the long night, everyone here knew as well as she— all likelihood said that they were headed in for a
fight.Mighty bellows deep in her chest blew a wind to match the storm as she rose to attention, cracking her knuckles beneath the metallic gauntlets of her Parma. Each popping joint cast the outpost outside her cone of vision into a moment of sharp relief in the mind’s eye, something she used to her full, petty advantage— Swiping a cup offered a while back from Liam, who she recognized from the ball, while Rivka’s transformation blazed front and center.
She’d waved him away initially, on grounds of not wanting the caffeine to push her pulse too high while listening in, but now…
“Can’t let this go to waste. Cheers~” she chuckled, tapping her cup against his own with a cheeky grin before downing it all in one massive pull. Lukewarmed by the nighttime chill, but no less effective for it, she felt her mind sharpen and a lightness flood out from the torso, as though embossing the flow of Nox within. Good. Strong stuff, justifying the bitter smoke of it. Pulling her scarf up to ward away the cold, she stepped out into the night promptly, letting the hammer inside sing as
Kleinbruder appeared in her grip.
“Ready,” she reported, scanning the wet, empty streets. That easy grin still plastered itself on her visage, never to leave, but her gaze was alert in a manner foreign to their prior trials— her instructor had done well to impress upon her proper respect for situations like these.
“Everybody stick close, alright? As long as we don’t stray more than a couple blocks…”A pair of fingers to the carotid, confirming a hammerlike beat on heightened time, mirroring an uptick in the heart.
“I’ll be able to keep an eye out. Same goes for the approach on the station. If I feel anything weird, we’ll all know ahead of time. Be keeping you guys back here as in the loop as we can, Captain. Anything left before we bound, ladies?”
Izurich
Crimson Flame
Shin Ghost Note
Ithradine
Phase
Nallore
Andreyich
Fish of Oblivion
Kuro