[color=gray][CENTER][center][sup][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#928b85]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#9b948d]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#928b85]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][/sup][/center][img]https://i.imgur.com/vZhnXRt.jpeg[/img][/CENTER][indent][sub][COLOR=978184][B]Location:[/B][/COLOR] [I]The Beach; Flashback.[/I] - [I]Pacific Royal Campus[/I][/sub][sup][right][COLOR=#978184][b]Welcome Home #1.049:[/b][/COLOR] [I]malcontent.[/I][/right][/sup][/indent][center][sup][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#928b85]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#9b948d]_____[/color][/sup][sup][color=#928b85]_____[/color][color=#89837d]_____[/color][color=#807a75]_____[/color][color=#77716d]_____[/color][color=#6e6965]_____[/color][color=#64605d]_____[/color][color=#5b5754]_____[/color][color=#524f4c]_____[/color][color=#494644]_____[/color][color=#403d3c]_____[/color][color=#373534]_____[/color][color=#2e2c2c]_____[/color][/sup][/center][INDENT][sub][color=#978184][B]Interaction(s):[/B][/COLOR] [I]katja. - [@Zoldyck].[/I][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][COLOR=2c2c2c][b]Previously:[/b][/COLOR] [color=2c2c2c][I]TBD[/I][/color][/right][/SUP]
[indent][INDENT]	
	Amma was the next to speak up after Katja, and she had quite a few things to say. Her words were harsh. In but a few lines she shattered the illusion that some of her fellow team members had about their futures. To others, it was a reminder of the cruelty that awaited them outside of P.R.C.U. 

Despite Gil’s best efforts, it was clear that Amma’s words had irrecoverably soured the mood. It didn’t take long before the first of the group said a quick goodbye and left. Blackjack’s wholesome little campfire gathering was officially over.

Her words had indeed been harsh. But to Katja, they were the truth. Not only that, but Amma’s words seemed to confirm what Katja had felt about the girl all this time. That she might in fact truly be a kindred spirit. It sparked a curiosity in her. An immediate desire to talk with this strange girl.

Blackjack’s powerhouse slowly got to her feet, never taking her eyes off of the raven haired girl. She said some absent minded goodbyes to some of the others before making her way over to Amma. Katja took a knee in front of the other girl, the fire burning brightly behind the blonde girl.

Katja gazed up at the sky, her eyes darting from one star to another. [color=#FF7514]“It’s a beautiful night.”[/color] A gentle smile formed on her lips when she turned her attention back to Amma, her blue eyes meeting those of the tattoo-covered girl. [color=#FF7514] “I think it’s a wonderful time for a walk, don’t you agree?”[/color] Katja kept her eyes fixed on Amma’s, giving a barely perceivable tilt with her head to emphasize that she wanted to speak with her in private

The blonde girl got back to her feet before the other girl replied. Katja did her best not to break her eye contact with Amma’s blue eyes, making sure she kept the French girl’s attention. [color=#FF7514]“I would love it if you joined me.”[/color] She then extended her hand, hoping Amma would accept her invitation.

	[COLOR=#978184]“No,”[/color] Amma snaps, the bite of her gleaming teeth perched on her pout, [COLOR=#978184]“I don’t, [i]Katja.[/i]”[/color]

She knew what she was doing, from the cant of her head, to the rigid stare that bespoke of gentle intentions and calming intensity. She was trying to get her away from the group, likened to an animal bearing fang and claw, needing to be placated less she turn rabid. She knew the procedure. From behind the powerful figure, the fire crackled in response, now woven intimately with her power and casting a hated, scarlet glow. Whilst she denied her, Amma also knew that Katja was unwavering in her conviction and would not hesitate to take that proffered gesture and turn it lethal to grab her and drag her off into the moonlight with a reprimand baited on her tongue. 

Still, she rose with grace to her sandaled feet, and tucked the wine bottle into the crook of her clothed arm. The tendrils of flame dancing and beckoning to her influence, sparks of red and silver betwixt them as if enslaved to her very nature. 

	[COLOR=#978184]“But I’m bored of this, anyways.”[/color]

She made a notion of parting through those that remained in the group, deliberately approaching them instead of turning her back to them in a miscalculated retreat. Amma sliced her blue eyes through the night, the eerie demonstration of power illuminated through the depths of her striking gaze. She walked farther away, back towards the way she originally came before she stopped, angling her body just so; her guarded profile immediately drawn and taut.

	[COLOR=#978184]“I know what you’re going to say.”[/color] She confessed, expression suddenly melancholic. [COLOR=#978184]“And I’m not sorry.”[/color] 

A regretful sigh escaped Katja’s lips as Amma rejected her offer and got up on her own. Her extended hand had slowly closed into a frustrated fist. Not so much because of Amma’s reply, but more so due to her own lack of subtlety that she had clearly seen through. Katja’s approach seemed to have offended her, which had been the exact opposite to what she had intended.

She paused for a brief moment, thinking that it might perhaps be better to not bother Amma for the rest of the evening. But the faint traces of energy that she left behind still drew Katja to confront the raven haired girl. So, after taking a deep breath and with her fists clenched in determination, she turned around in pursuit of the other girl.

It only took Katja a few strides to catch up with Amma, just in time for the girl to address her. Keeping a respectful distance, a sad but amused smirk on her face.

	[color=#FF7514]“It was never my intention to reprimand you, Am.”[/color] Katja spoke with an uncharacteristically soft, apologetic tone clearly resounding in her voice. Putting her hands in her hoodie’s pockets, she tried to come across as disarming as possible.

She cast her gaze down to the ground, kicking up some sand as she contemplated her next words. [color=#FF7514]“I just wanted to talk with you. No reprimand, no demand for an apology. Just a conversation between the two of us.”[/color] 

Katja’s eyes looked up at Amma again as a sad smile formed on her lips. [color=#FF7514]“So please, indulge me on this one… You know how stubborn I can be.”[/color] She said as she chuckled softly, hoping that Amma would relent.

It was something of a novel, witnessing that crestfallen expression etch its way across that face often alighted in a broad grin. The kind of smile that accentuated her already placating demeanor and overall exuberance, of which now bore a frustrated sort of sorrow. 

Amma realizes, and not for the first time, just how cutting her words could be.

However, regret evades to her lips, refusing to utter an apology for what she was. Unyielding, uncompromising - almost [i]unfeeling.[/i] It is a retrospect for another time, another place, perhaps even never. Instead a soft sigh pumps out from her lungs, deflating her tense posture just a tad as she says:

	[COLOR=#978184]“How was your… summer?”[/color] 

It is the closest to an agreement Amma can give, all that she can offer as the sand beneath her shifts and quakes, the individual grains sifting through the eternal wake of power she expels just by simply being.

	[COLOR=#978184]”I was stuck here, on the island,”[/color] she continued, gaze tossed aside, seeing nothing as the night phases into the gloom, bedecked in silver linings. [COLOR=#978184]”Turns out I have restricted permission when not on school grounds.”[/color]

The tall blonde’s eyes initially lit up as Amma appeared to lower her barrier towards her, a smile starting to form on the blonde girl’s face. In her excitement Katja got a little closer to Amma, now standing alongside the other girl. But the corners of her mouth slowly fell as Amma’s question finally started to get registered by the taller girl.

Katja averted her gaze as ran a hand through her hair before letting out a long, frustrated sigh.[color=#FF7514]“If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think it would’ve mattered whether you were stuck here or out there. At least here you’re not forced to wear [i]their[/i] damned collars.”[/color] Just mentioning the HZE Inhibitors made Katja’s skin crawl. She hated those devices with a fiery passion. They denied her of what she truly was and above all felt like a tool to humiliate her and her fellow Hypes.

Katja hesitated for a moment before she replied. [color=#FF7514]“[i]My[/i] summer actually could’ve gone a lot better. I went back to visit my sister and uncle, as I always do. But the outside world is changing at a rapid pace.”[/color] She paused for a moment, as a lump formed in her throat. She bit her lower lip to collect herself before she continued. [color=#FF7514]“It took less than a week before the first brick flew through the front window. Me being there put them at risk.”[/color] Balling her fists, Katja turned her gaze to the horizon. [color=#FF7514]“So I told them that I wouldn’t return after I finish my studies. It is the only way to keep them safe. Safe from being associated with me.”[/color]

Her expression noticeably hardened, a barely perceptible twitch could be seen on her lips before she continued speaking. [color=#FF7514]“You were right.”[/color] Her voice was soft, but there was an unmistakable trace of anger in her tone. [color=#FF7514]“What you said earlier, about [i]them[/i] being afraid of us. You were one hundred percent right.”[/color]

Katja cast her gaze towards Amma, her blue eyes locking with those of the raven haired girl next to her. There was a fierceness in her eyes, one borne out of anger and determination. [color=#FF7514]“Honestly, that was the primary reason I wanted to talk to you right now. You said what the others don’t say, or they refuse to say it. And for that, I wanted to thank you.”[/color]

	[COLOR=#978184]“Hah,”[/color] Amma rejoins, lips curling around a sneer that narrows her gaze into a glare. [COLOR=#978184]“I’d like to see them try and put those things on me.”[/color] 

She’s worn them once before under the disguise of [i]conditioning and training[/i], when it was cruelly intended to harden her constitution whilst helpless and weak. She doesn’t say so aloud, for what good would it do to utter the past sins under the secretive cloak of the night. 

Instead, Amma goes silent, almost in reverence. She has heard the stories before, the tales of Katja's family and her struggles into adulthood. In her reflective moments, bricks are exchanged for splinters of wood and stone, a pool of acclaimed purity looming before a scarlet twilight that shatters through elegant, stained glass adorned in depictions of worship.

What Katja utters next banishes her solemn reflection, trading for perplexity instead. She is surprised, in some way, to have someone agree with her without hesitation or even a shred of doubt. That bold, unwavering gaze of blue has her stilling, her reserves of self preservation allowing a bloom of kinship take place. Amma was the harbinger of rage, the harkoning call of betrayal and truth that reaped the world for all the wrong it had permitted. She was the reaper in the crimson light of dawn and subdued blues of twilight; the void that was nothing and yet everything.

Omnipotent.

	[COLOR=#978184]“They live in a rose colored world,”[/COLOR]Amma claims with what could be a twinge of perhaps envy inflecting her voice. Her fingers clutched around the bottle tucked into the crook of her arm wherein she studies that nondescript label before slowly tipping it over, allowing the contents to spill and drench the sand at their feet. [COLOR=#978184]“Better they know the harsh reality that awaits them than be taken under by it.”[/COLOR]

She had been there once before: a ten year old girl taken again and again. 
She inhales sharply suddenly, splintering lines of temperamental red snaking through the now empty bottle. It splinters, glass [i]plinking[/i] and being reduced into nothing but crushed remains that surrender to the growing night.

	[COLOR=#978184]“But I wouldn’t thank me just yet, Katja. I wouldn’t thank me at all. I don’t deserve that, not even from you.”[/COLOR] 

	[COLOR=#978184]"It is simply the truth, and nothing more.”[/COLOR]

Katja solemnly nodded in affirmation to Amma’s words. She had never really spoken about her feelings regarding the outside world. Not to anyone in Blackjack anyway. Now, for the first time, it felt like she had someone who understood this side of her. And someone who wasn’t afraid to give her a much needed reality check.

She observed the shattering of the wine bottle with great interest. Or, to be more precise, she observed the demonstration of Amma’s powers. It was a terrifying and destructive power, possibly the most destructive one Katja had ever witnessed up close. But at the same time, she couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it. The red sparks of all consuming energy easily shattered the empty bottle, its splinters turned into dust before her very eyes.

It was a terrifying power, yes. But to her, it was also exceptionally beautiful.

She remained quiet as Amma continued speaking. A feeling of regret came over Katja as she looked down at the other girl. Even Though she wasn’t great at reading people, it was clear that her words had an unintended impact on Amma, one of sadness and pain. 

Katja gingerly wrapped her arm around Amma before giving a gentle, comforting rub on the smaller girl’s shoulder. Still looking down at her, a reassuring smile formed on the taller girl’s lips. [color=#FF7514]“It meant more to me.”[/color]

Slowly her smile turned into a smirk before she uttered a singular chuckle. [color=#FF7514] “And last I checked, [i]I[/i] decide who deserves my thanks.”[/color] Katja bent through her knees to reach eye level with Amma. [color=#FF7514]“And Am, you definitely deserve it.”[/color] She flashed a grin before rubbing her shoulder again, a little rougher this time but still meant reassuringly.

If Amma Cahors ever had a friend in the world, she wouldn’t know it. There was nothing that she could compare it to. The genuine words, the reassurances communicated through touch and the sheer lunacy of reality that came with it. She does not deserve anything. Not like this. With a shuttered breath, she allows the remainder of destroyed and splintered glass to fall away from her palms, her chin dipped into a slow nod. To have Katja at her level was daunting, the sheer presence of her doubled in intensity.

	[COLOR=#978184]“I suppose.”[/color] It’s the closest she comes to acceptance, not quite willing to allow herself this moment of merit and praise.  

	[COLOR=#978184]“Goodnight, Kat.”[/color] It’s all she has left to give, all that Amma can spare as she nods in confirmation and maneuvers herself away, retreating back into the shadows.

Katja’s smile twitched at the realization that Amma was planning to leave. She didn’t want her to leave yet. There had been one more question she had wanted to ask the other girl, one that was on the tip of her tongue. But even Katja could see that she would be pushing it with Amma if she tried to extend their conversation. Instead she resigned herself to their goodbye, for now at least.

She gave Amma a short wave after getting back to her full height. [color=#FF7514]“Goodnight Am, and see you tomorrow!”[/color] Her gaze followed Amma, thinking about how she maybe should go after the raven haired girl and ask her question before she disappeared into the night.

Her train of thought got interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. Her eyes lingered on Amma for a few more moments before she finally fished her phone out of her pocket. Reading the plain text message, her expression visibly hardened. She stared at her phone for a few seconds before closing the screen. When she looked back up she saw that Amma was gone, and with her went the burning desire to ask that simple question.

Katja pocketed her phone again before she turned around and went back to her dorms. [color=#FF7514]“Right on time, I guess.”[/color] she murmured to herself.

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