Altered Tundra

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As they would walk into where the casket of Justine was, her face looking so peaceful. Wesley may never have had much time to speak with the late Justine, but of the words exchanged, he could tell that she had been through a lot. And through what Emiri has shared through the proxy of her mannerisms, Wesley could tell she was a strict woman. Yet, as Wesley looked at her lifeless face, there was something quite lovely about her. Maybe it was his weariness, but Wesley could see that there was a lot of love that she had. Perhaps he was looking too much into it, but Wesley liked to believe that she was that kind of woman.

“Nadeline,” Wesley said, arm on her shoulder, “it’s okay to grieve for your aunt. You were obviously close to her, so do not feel ashamed for crying. You are a strong person.” Wesley said, his words seemingly taking effect as she would regain focus.

“Well no shit.” Savayna said bluntly. Wesley shot her a look. “Sorry, but Nadeline is right. Your soon-to-be people won’t take this kindly. I wouldn’t be surprised that they would blame my Archadia, or perhaps your Dalmasca, Wesley, for this tragedy.”

Wesley didn’t want to believe it, but that was a possibility. It was highly unlikely that the three countries could go to war, but even if a possibility, it was worth considering. “I don’t deny that you may be right, Savayna. But let us not forget that my dearest sister Cassandra, nor her council, want war. Or Jaakuna’s brother and current Emperor of Archaida, Roman want war either.” Wesley said.

“Whether they wouldn’t isn’t the point. These Rozarrians don’t know who truly did this, and thus war may be pursued through pressure upon Nadeline’s living aunt.” Savayna said, shockingly actually acting like her former profession.

Again, she was right. Wesley looked at Nadeline, trying to gauge her opinion the matter.

---

“So, even you noticed, huh?” Jaakuna said, feeling somewhat relieved.

Jaakuna didn’t want to have to tell the entire story, so he was at least releived that Grant had noticed something. Still, that didn’t make it easier for Jaakuna. He still had to tell Grant that he actually trusted Levi. The woman that, on more than one occasion, even before Jaakuna’s adventures with Emiri and everyone else, proved to be riding thinly on the line of being trustworthy. There were times that Jaakuna recalled her being sweet and kind, but perhaps that was just a front. Truly, Jaakuna - and just about everyone else that she came into contact with - ended up saying the most famous phrase in all of Ivalice: Don’t trust Leviathan.

“I wish I could, Grant,” Jaakuna admitted. He took a deep breath, knowing what he was about to say was going to make him look like the worst boyfriend ever. “Okay, so when we were alone on the Ifrit, waiting for you guys to come back, we had done some activities, Levi, out of the blue, showed up.” Jaakuna sighed, “she hinted that she had it in her skill set to cure her. I was skeptical, but Emiri wanted to try. She wanted her memories back, so I did it with high caution.” Jaakuna said, only guessing how Grant was feeling about just the mention of Levi’s name, “and after a while, Emiri’s memories returned. I was happy, and that’s when we went off to Stigma, first to erypt, to tell Aloa of what happened in Stigma. She checked Emiri’s head to see if anything had gone wrong, and Aloa informed me that something was …off.” At this point, Jaakuna was starting to clench his fists. “I didn’t address it then because we had to go to Stigma. When we arrived, and after we had gotten to the throne room where Justine’s body laid lifeless, I saw hints of Emiri being off. She seemed happy about Justine’s death.” Jaakuna said, recalling the awkward feelings he was experiencing see Emiri happy about Justine. “And then..” Jaakuna said, sighing deeply, “when we were battling Lola, I saw it, but only this time, it was like it escalated immensely. It’s like she had warped into someone entirely different. It was like,” he hesitated, unable to even say it out loud, “it was like I was looking in a mirror of my nightmares. It was like I was reliving my horrors as Zodiark’s Pawn..” Jaakuna said, switching glances from the plate of food in front of him and Grant’s golden eyes.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

"Rogue is she? I always knew she would she would break away from the nest."

JAakuna was about to punch a bitch. Thank the heavens for the reveal that Shion actually wasn't the psycho one. Who knew? That blue-haired tit monster actually was sane. Not only that, but she gave Ultima back? Jaakuna was a little confused there, but no doubt Savayna would fill him in on the details when it was all said and done. But still, JAakuna had to admit he was in a bit of shock. To think that Lola was the only crazy one in the family. WEll, actually, he could believe it. That bitch was crazier than taking on Yiazmat all on your own. Shit that bitch was stronger than most women Jaakuna had known in his life, and considering that included every women he has come across in his life, including his mother, Savayna, Nadeline, and Emiri - yeah, one could say that Yiazmat was a bitch.

"Wow, to think Miss Tittypants actually is one of the good guys." Jaakuna said, seemingly calmed down. "Who would have thunk it?" As Emiri mentioned Chaos, Jaakuna scoffed. "You're better off. The less contact from that asswipe, the better" Jaakuna said.

"Here here, Jaakie! I can’t get mine to shut the fuck up.” Savayna raged, downing a glass of ale as quick as it was served.

“Oh Savayna, surely you jest.” Wesley said, “I’m sure if you got to know Mateus, you two might be able to find more common ground.”

“Wesley, you have no room to talk. Your Esper is pretty fucking awesome.”

Wesley said nothing. He simply went back to his plate of food, eating politely, and ears pealed to the conversation at hand.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Savayna said downing yet another glass of Ale.

As their banter was over, they would hear the conversation, specifically Emiri snapping at Nadeline. Wesley and Savayna, as well as Nadeline and Grant, were shocked. And Jaakunalooked at her with a worried look. Was it getting worse? Shit, going to need to tell them before she sees anyone. Jaakuna knew that was true. Before anything could be done, Jaakuna needed to tell them about it. Better they hear it from him than anyone else, right? Right, time to do it, I suppose

Just as Jaakuna was about to stand up, preparing to tell everyone - including Emiri - about what he suspected was going on with her, Nadeline halted his plans, saying that rest was needed, and she wanted to pay her respects to her aunt.

“I shall accompany you, my love.” Wesley said, trying to get up. He was still very weak from the battle with Shion, but a slow walk was manageable.

“Yeah, I’m going too. Need to lay down. My head is kind of foggy.” Savayna said, walking out of the room as well.

As Jaakuna looked at Emiri, she seemed to be a bit worn out too. “You should go lie down too. I trust you’re going to need it.” Jaakuna said. He got no lip or no argument from Emiri. She did the same, and that left Jaakuna and Grant alone. “Oh well, I guess it’s better than no one.” Jaakuna sighed, taking a seat next to Grant. “Grant, remember when I said I wouldn’t fuck up again?” Jaakuna said out of the blue, sighing again. “Well, I think I might have done something worse than accepting Zodiark's help.” Jaakuna was preparing for Grant’s usual look of both interest and worry.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

So, Zodiark can now stretch his legs on Ivalice’s grounds huh? Jaakuna figured it was only a matter of time. He didn’t claim to be a specialist when it came to Ivalice and the inner-workings of the mystical, but he did know that, when all of the Espers were released by their shackles in the various locations they were chained to, shit was going to get real - and it didn’t get any realer than Zodiark being able to walk among the Ivalicians. “Oh what lovely news.” The sarcasm in Jaakuna’s voice was obvious. Jaakuna didn’t find anything lovely about Zodiark being able to walk among the people of Ivalice - even worse when he considered the fact that the bastard could destroy it at any given moment. Truly, he was fucking with their lives. Nadeline would soon urge them that they needed to make haste and all that shit, but Lorenzo, thank the heavens for him being her father, convinced her to calm her shit, and take a breather. There was no need to rush. It wasn’t like Zodiark was going to destroy the world this very moment. A little breather wouldn’t hurt.

And thus they did, Grant, Savayna, and Wesley all had finally gotten to the garage only to be rushed off to the other end of the castle by Nadeline. Grant was obviously annoyed, but he followed. Wesley chuckled at his fiance’s never-die attitude. And Savayna looked at Jaakuna. “Hey, you’re not dead.” Savayna said smirking.

“As if I’d let anything kill me.” Jaakuna laughed.

“Nice to see you’re looking well, Jaakuna.” Wesley said lowly.

“Ayy, Wes! You look like you were put through the ringer.”

“You have no idea.” Savayna said, looking at Wesley.

“You’ll have to tell me all about it later, but now I think we’re going to rest up or whatever.” Jaakuna really didn’t know where they were going, but as Grant and Emiri as well as Lorenzo did, he, Savayna, and Wesley(via Jaakuna and Savayna) followed them around the castle until they arrived at Nadeline’s room.

When they got into it, it was quite the setup. Then again, in the room of a princess, Jaakuna didn’t expect anything less than what he saw with his two, emerald green eyes. They, of course, were led to the guest room, which was fine. Not like they needed to see her actual bedroom, now was it? Jaakuna was pretty sure Wesley was disappointed. If he was, - well, tough shit. He’ll have to make due with the guest room.

As they would settle around a table, Savayna and Grant sitting next to each other, Emiri and Jaakuna sat next to each other, and Wesley and Nadeline sat next to each other, each getting food - or at least the guys were. The ladies, well seemed like they were engaging in conversation. Well, at least it seemed that Emiri and Nadeline were, and the rest were sort of chit-chatting amongst themselves until Grant would ask about Jaakuna and Emiri’s presence in Stigma. That prompted Jaakuna to put down the piece of rabbit breast he had in his hand, about to speak when Emiri got to it first. He continued eating as he would simply listen.

When Emiri began explaining, everyone stopped what they were doing, and listened as well. Savayna, specifically looked at Emiri, unsure what to say. “Oh wow, Emiri, sorry,” she said, feeling that’s all what she could offer up as sympathies.

“You have my deepest sympathies, Emiri.” Wesley offered up a similar gesture.

It seemed Emiri overlooked the bit about her mother and went straight to how her father was doing. Both Wesley and Savayna found that strange, and looked to Jaakuna. They wondered if he had noticed it too when the news was first received to Emiri. He gave them a look as well. It pretty much told them “yes” without saying anything at all. Then they simply went back to listening to Emiri.

As Nadeline responded to all of that, the answers of the grieving was revealed to Wesley, Savayna, and Nadeline, but then the latter would turn her gaze to Jaakuna, inquring about why he and Emiri left with Lorenzo. That’s when Jaakuna put down the piece of chicken he had in his hand. “To investigate the destruction site.” Jaakuna said, getting right to the point. “I had asked Lorenzo to take Emiri and I there, and that’s where we encountered trouble.”

“Trouble?” Savayna asked.

“Yes, the kind of trouble that wreaks of fake tits and a purple jumpsuit."

“Lola?”

“Precisely.” Jaakuna sighed, leaning back. “even though I would have preferred to not fight that crazy bitch, she did give us some interesting information, as well as a little gift.” Jaakuna said, chuckling. “It turns out that Looney Lola caused the explosion with the Midnight Shard.”

“We know.” Wesley said lowly but angrily, hands gripping the table cloth tightly.

“And you know this how?”

“Shion, The Blue Rose..” Wesley said.

“Oh right--WAIT WHAT!?” Jaakuna nearly fell over in his chair.

“Yes, during our fight with Ultima, she came in and caused …complications.”

“Oh that’s just fucking great.” Jaakuna cursed, hands slamming on the table. “As if we don’t have enough problems from Zodiark running amok and Lola, but now Shion is doing the same dirty shit she’s been doing. What else are we going to have to deal with? Some kind of war?” Jaakuna was cursing left and right.

“Jaakuna..”

“This is just fucking fantastic! I leave you guys alone to do a simple task, and now the whole thing has gone to shit.”
“Jaakuna.”

“Well, I guess there goes are time off, huh? Fucking fuck!”

“JAAKUNA!”

He looked around. “What?”

“Would you calm your shit? That’s not all.”

“You’re kidding me? Fine, what’s left of this shit story?” Jaakuna didn’t care who told him. They better talk fast, though. He was one minute away from cursing up a storm again.

Shuffle your music player and post the first 10 songs

Paper Hearts — Eyeshine — Sidewalk Dreams and Chalk Dust
Lindsey Quit Lollygagging — Chiodos — All's Well That Ends Well
Risk It All — Eyeshine — Fall Seven Times, Stand Up Eight
The Little Things Give You Away — Linkin Park — Minutes to Midnight
1st Person — Stone Sour — Come What(ever) May
Change of Die — Papa Roach — Metamorphosis
Catharsis — Alesana — Confessions
Graveyard Dancing — Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows — D.R.U.G.S.
Chemicals — Hawthorne Heights — Hope
Haikus/Sonnets/Shakespeare — Bo Burnham — Words, Words, Words

CLOSED.

Time: Lunch Period
Location: Beverly Hills High School (Main Hallway & Principal's Office)
Interacting with:Each Other [@Dirty Pretty Little Lies], @SgtEasy

---

---

Like Audrey Huntsberg had done a few minutes before unbeknownst to her, Sierra's head snapped in the direction of the unknown newcomer. She'd seen the blonde girl around before, but seeing as they didn't run in the same social circle, Sierra pretty much ignored her entire existance like she usually did with the high's school's 'it crowd'. Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to do. Maybe keeping light tabs on her 'VIP' classmates would've helped her in this situation.

"Vi, not a good time." Alexandros stressed to Viola that it really wasn't.

"Oh, where was that when I was trying to leave your ginormous house this morning? You were practically begging me to stay for another round." Viola said, rolling her eyes.

Sierra raised her eyebrows in a silent question at Alexandros, but what Joo did next stunned her even more than the fact that Mossos was acting all possesive with her even though they'd only been together the one time and after he'd clearly spent the past night having his fun with this chick standing a few steps away from her.

"Vi?!" Joo pushed Alex out of the way to see his other best friend. This was becoming too much. The situation was already tense and then Viola had to walk into it. He smiled anyways and gave her a deep hug. He would usually greet with a kiss but seeing that both his crushes were in the same room, he had to back off.

'My crushes?! I need to see a doctor.' He sighed inwardly. The shirtlessness was getting to him. It still didn't stop him from sporting a light blush as he looked between the two of them.

"Aww, Joo-Bear, are you alright? You don't look well." Viola said, a concerned tone in her voice for Joo.

"Joo-bear?! And just who the fuck do you think you are, bitch?!" Sierra spat at the girl, blinded by her anger. Confronting Sierra in her usual mood was usally bound to be trouble to anyone who was unused to her personality, but to confront her when she was angry was nearly lethal. One of her flaws had always been to fly off the handle without thinking stuff through at the smallest of things, and it had led her to countless trouble throughout the years.

"Careful now, you don't want to upset Joo-Bear." Viola smiled, "but out of courtesy to Joo here, I'm Viola Banks. And you arrre.. Viola left the floor open for her.

"I don't give a flying fuck about who I do or do not upset. And I could care less about your goddamn name, nor should you care about mine!"

"I apologize, then. I'm still getting used to American customs. I did not know it was the norm to spew obscenities at people you've barely met."

"STOP, BOTH OF YOU!."

"Joo-bear?"

"Call him Joo-bear one more time and I swear I'll give you a deeper introduction to our American customs" Sierra answered without a second to spare, her hands balled into fists. Her sight was already clouded with a red tint, and if that Viola chick made just another teeny tiny comment...

"Again, I apologize. I would call him his other nickname, but I do believe it's not suitable for a place such as school."

Sierra had just raised her fist to smash Viola's face's into her skull when Joo stepped into the punch, taking it right into the face. He had taken punches before, having been beaten up as a kid. There was a quick flash of pain as his face slung back, blood spewing out of his nose. He grunted slightly before rebounding back, crimson liquid poured down his lips. He calmly placed a hand on each girls collar bone and pushed them away, hinting at Alex to back away. He looked at both girl's with disapproving looks. "Now, repeat what I just said before you two started getting into another verbal argument. And no bitching!"

"You know I can't say no to you, Joo-Bear" Viola said, agreeing to do whatever it was that she was doing.

Sierra had watched in horror as Joo had stepped in and taken the punch meant for Viola. Blood was now coming out of his nose, but he seemed completely oblivious to it as he pushed her away from Viola, looked at both of them with disapproving looks and lectured them. If Sierra had been mad before, it was nowhere near as how she felt now. Joo had taken a punch meant for another girl; defending her like she was the friend that had been with him since the moment he'd transferred into Beverly Hills High School. Seriously?!

Sierra violently shook Joo's arm from her collarbone, furious at her so-called friend. "Fuck you, Joo. You just go ahead and stay with this cunt while I bow out before I fucking murder somebody. And you know I'm capable of it." She had just turned her back on the scene when she heard the blonde say:

"I hope you have a good day," Viola said, smiling gently at the brunette.

That was it. Sierra turned around and lounged at Viola, acting every bit as crazy as one could get. She was tired of how she was talking to her man -both her men, for that matter-, tired of how shitty this day was turning out to be, tired of having been denied sex from both Joo and her stepfather before him, tired of how her mother always scolded her for not being like her older sister... All of her frustrations were put into beating up the blonde woman in front of her. She had only gotten as far as to pin her to the ground with her body and start to throw the first punch when Sierra was firmly pulled away from Viola.

[color=sienna]"That's enough, Miss Jameson! Come with me to the Principal's office."[/i] said a voice Sierra instantly recognized. She turned her head to find her own stepfather effortlessly dragging her away from the scene she'd been causing and into the principal's office. He closed the door behind him and gave Sierra a disapproving look. "Sierra, what the hell were you doing back there?" he demanded, making sure that the office was empty like he thought it would be. Seeing as Sierra was just sitting in her chair as if made of stone and he knew he wouldn't be getting a word out of her, Shawn continued. "Do you know that you could get assault charges pressed on you if that girl decides to? You have to stop pulling these kinds of stunts before you get yourself into some serious trouble, Si. You're lucky I was the one who found you instead of any other staff member, or worse: Mr. Anderson. What do you think happens now, hmmm?"

Sierra, whole body trembling with pent-up anger, turned to her stepfather with a dead look in her usually bright green eyes. "Shawn, take me home right now. I'm a danger to society right now, and you know it."

Shawn knew his stepdaughter was never one to back away from any situation, but she seemed so fragile and unstable at the moment that although he would've normally asked her to stay in school for the rest of the day, he simply took a deep breath, guided her outside of the school using the back door in Principal Anderson's office and drove her to the house they shared. Once there, Sierra walked up the steps and into her room, made sure to close and lock the door behind her, nuzzled herself between her warm, cozy bedsheets and closed her eyes. Sleep was always the best solution to even the worst of problems.

Joo was speechless. His mind was blank, as if his emotions were all vacuumed up. This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this. He wasn't supposed to piss off his bestest friend. They were besties. Friends till the end. Fuckin' till they were droppin'. He was supposed to shrug this off as a "Sierra thing", like she was going to ignore it all and come back to hanging out. He had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. Blankness turned into anger. Contained rage, fists tight and expression blank. He shrugged the shirt he was given off of his shoulders and walked past the pair left with him with a small, almost silent good bye to Viola. He bundled it up and placed it in her locker, the combination being a number he knew very well. He dropped his two earrings into the shirt pocket and walked off to wherever his legs took him.

These earrings were supposed to be gifts for Sierra. He always gave her gifts at the start of the year, a mark of another year of a fantastic relationship. Engraved into the golden earrings were two words, one in his handwriting and one in hers. It read;
"LOVE YOU"

CLOSED.

Roll call, is everybody still here?

@Aewin

Yeah, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. <3

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Like it had been to the destruction site, the way from it was the same thing: Sahagins attacking, Emiri taking the wheel, and Lorenzo and Jaakuna effortlessly dealing with them. It was like they were drawn to them. Or maybe it was Lorenzo’s boat. Regardless, when the Sahagins were dealt with, Lorenzo took hold back of the boat and Emiri went back to her seat and Jaakuna took his seat in the passenger’s side, Lorenzo had taken the wheel back, driving them full-speed ahead back to his garage, parking the boat where it had been before.

“I fucking swear, those Sahagins have it out for us.” Jaakuna complained. Even several minutes after they had done away with them, it still bothered Jaakuna up the yin-yang. Was it because they were the only ones on the water? Jaakuna didn’t know, but at this point, he was just glad to be on solid, unaffected-by-crazy-miss-big-tits ground. As Jaakuna would get up, helping Emiri onto the dock of the garage, he turned, and saw a familiar sight. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Jaakuna commented, seeing Nadeline standing at the doorway of Lorenzo’s Garage. She definitely had better days. Then again, so did Jaakuna. Signs of fatigue were definitely present in his face and the way he slouched slightly.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

They listened and listened to what Shion had to say. About how the Gran Kiltias dreamt of Ivalice’s demise, about how the only way to perhaps crippling Zodiark was to kill Emiri - or as most called her, The Scion of Time. About how every single Esper has been claimed, and that, with Ultima being the last one, Zodiark now was able to roam free on Ivalice’s soil, on her seas, on her cities. The worst fear that everyone who truly knew the real threat was now starting to become a reality. Nothing but the power of the Espers and their Chosen Ones could do stop him. Yet still…

“Then, fight with us, Shion.” Wesley said, similarly echoing Nadeline. Truly, a desperate plea, but it was the only thing that made sense. Savayna looked at Wesley the same way that Grant looked at Nadeline. Both raised their eyebrows and both wondered if Wesley and Nadeline had lost their marbles.

Alas, however, Shion declined both similar offers, citing that there was something else she must do. She left them with a very cryptic riddle, which had Savayna scratching her head while Wesley was trying to figure out what that meant. It must have meant something important, but in his state, Wesley was in no position to try to figure it out. He would see Shion give him a nod. Perhaps that was an acknowledgement of his power. He gave her a nod back. From their battle, Wesley could definitely say that Shion deserved all of the respect that he could muster up. For someone at her strength level to come from a place such as Nabudis truly was deserving of any respect.

“I agree. We should rejoin with Jaakuna and Emiri.” Wesley said, “I’m sure there are many things we need to tell them as they do for us.” Wesley was only making an educated guess at this point.

“Then, let’s go!” Savayna excitingly said.

And so, with a chuckle from Wesley, and a take-charge attitude from Savayna, the group was off to Stigma. A journey back , traversing the Forbidden City of Giruvegan back to the Feywood. The journey would definitely take a bit longer than it did to get there since Wesley was nearly at unconsciousness and Grant was less than one-hundred percent, but eventually they would get out of The Great Crystal, out of Ultima’s home, and into the Forgotten City of Giruvegan, into the ruins that she has within the many amounts of mist that cover her. They would traverse back through that city, fighting only when necessary, but fleeing for the most part. Using Way Stones when it called for, and going down that long entrance way back into the Feywood.

Once in The Wood, they went through its tricky mirages. Monsters that came at them, though proved to be slightly challenging, even with Wesley and Grant in their states, the mantis-like creatures, and Bohemoths proved to be nothing more than child’s play compared to the likes of Shion and Ultima. And so, they would do away with these beasts, striking them down as they came, but not wasting more time than what was absolutely necessary. They would slay them, and move on, taking the quickest route possible.

Eventually, after a little over an hour of going through all of those hoops and hurdles, they eventually arrived where the Ifrit waited for them. Once beamed up by Iris(she scanned their body temperatures), they wasted no time. Ordering her go at top speed and to make the destination Stigma, she would with great efficiency. And thus the Ifrit was sent forth through the skies of Ivalice.

As she went forth, Wesley and Grant, under the heavy demanding of their respective female mate, were sent to the medic bay where their wounds would be treated for, and where they may rest up. For, when the Ifrit arrived at Stigma, it would be a little less than a half of an hour. Not enough for Wesley to regain all of his strength, but surely enough to maintain a decent walking speed. Yes, that was definitely enough time for them to do that. And, as if time itself had went by fast, the Ifrit made dock at the Stigma Aerodome where Iris would announce the arrival. Gearing up, Wesley and Savayna were ready, as were Grant and Nadeline(assumingly). Only the make of haste would be required as they would enter the transporter, and would touch ground on Stigma’s solemn grounds.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Wesley was confident. Each strike he would throw, in his mind, was pitch perfect. His form was where it should be. He was in control in not only his power, but how it was distributed in each strike. Everything was seemingly going his way. There was no reason for Wesley to think that it would backfire. There was no reason for him to think that Shion, even despite her obvious experience over him, would be able to at least walk away from this without so much as a single scratch.

And yet, as Wesley watched her movements, something was off.

She simply side-stepped him. “How could you--” Before Wesley could finish that sentence, he saw that familiar gathering of magick. It was the same lightning spell that Shion had used before. This time, as he looked at her hands, it was being charged past the limit of its maximum. Thanks to the roaring Mist in the surrounding area, it would appear stronger. Wesley knew he was in trouble. He knew that the amount of lightning magick put into that spell would only mean death for him. Wesley was preparing for the worst.

As it would hit, Wesley felt some surge of electricity, but he was still conscious, his own magickal power staying, though it did lessen a bit. He was confused. It wasn’t until Wesley’s eyes had fell upon his right, and he saw Nadeline. Her rapier and Grant’s Gunblade in hand. What was happening? That was Wesley’s first thought. It took him a minute to realize that Nadeline had cast Shell on him. What he would see next simply had Wesley frozen in place.

Nadeline was going after Shion with all that she could muster up. With both weapons in hand, one in reverse grip and the other in normal grip, she was going after Shion with every intent. What was her angle? Was she doing this for her pride? Or was it for Wesley? Whichever the case, Wesley knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, something had awoken in Nadeline. He saw that strength that he, as well as Grant and Savayna, even Ultima and Shion herself, had been saying all along. Nadeline Lenore Roselia was strong, and she proved that today, as Wesley’s - as well as Savayna’s - jaw dropped when a bullet that was fired had grazed Shion’s cheek.

“She did it..” Wesley said, panting. He was about to fall down, but Hashmaal, despite his size, had zipped through the air and caught Wesley. The Dalmascan prince looked over at Hashmaal. “I guess the plan worked huh?”

“You truly are a lot more like that Archadian Hume than you care to admit.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Wesley said.

“To think that your entire idea was to push yourself past the limits you knew you had and have me go over to your Hume friends just so that the Rozarrian Hume could be motivated just enough to believe in her own strength.”

“That’s not what I--”

“Of course it wasn’t.” Hashmaal and Wesley chuckled as they would walk over to the others. “Could you take him? My time in this realm seems to be up.” Hashmaal had asked, approaching Savayna.

“Oh, sure. See ya.” Savayna said, taking Wesley as she took his arm to set him on the ground as she would Hashmaal would dissolve into brown, red, and white mist, going back to the Esper realm, no less. Savayna looked at Wesley, who was conscious but obviously exhausted. “You sure know how to surprise us, don’t you? Regardless, good job Wes.” Savayna said, grinning at him.

Wesley would simply nod at her as he would notice that Shion was talking. He heard her, but wanted hear better. “Hey, take me closer, will ya?” Wesley asked breathily.

“Sure,” Savayna said, taking Wesley’s arm, and pulling him up as they would walk closer to where Grant, Nadeline, and Shion were at.

As Shion would speak, she seemed a bit surprised that Nadeline was able to do what she did. Wesley, after he had time to take it in, wasn’t either. She just needed something to make her believe that she had the strength. It was risky, sure, but at the end of the day, Nadeline was able to finally realize that she was strong all on her own, and that she could do it. She would even comment on Wesley’s own strength and Savaynas and Grants.

“Look at that, I helped after all!”

Yes, by cheering.

“Oh fuck you.”

Wesley heard Savayna. “Huh?” he looked at her, confused.

“Forget it,” she brushed Wesley’s question and looked to Shion as she continued talking.

When she went on about the Espers, both Wesley and Savayna looked at each other and then back to Shion.

“The espers grant us power? What sort of trickery is this?” Savayna said to Shion.

“I see, so that is what happened.” Wesley seemed like he understood what that truly meant. Perhaps he wasn’t there yet, but if today proved anything, he would soon find out what sort of gifts that Hashmaal truly had to give to him.

As Shion finished, Wesley took notice to her hand. Obviously that was Ultima granting Shion her power. Wesley had to admit his surprise. Having only gotten Ultima, Shion had to have been a truly great warrior in both experience and raw power if she was able to get Ultima’s power that soon after becoming her vessel. “Shion, what you proposed happened. Though not by my hands alone, a scratch is on your face. Now it is your turn. Give what is rightfully Nadeline’s Give her the High Seraph.” Wesley demanded of Shion.

Reading Others' 1×1s

It's not that I don't want to read others 1x1 threads because I'm sure they're really good, but as a popular meme says:

Ain't no one got time for that shit.

So, bottom line? I would love to, but I have my own life outside of RPG, and the time I spend on here will be dedicated to my own rps. But hey! It's cool to those that do read other people's 1x1s. And anyone happens to read mine, then let me know. :3