ERode

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

“Quiet as always, eh?” he commented with a smile. At least she wasn’t taking as long as before to respond. Progress was slowly and surely being made, and hey, perhaps by the end of the day, they’ll be super tight best buds!

Yeah, he’d like that.

Walking alongside Sophia, the two speedily made their way to Building D once more, the glass building still incredibly easy to spot. The rumbles had more or less stopped, thankfully, so whoever that ‘Anne’ person was, her power was solid. Things were safe, and he could have dinner without worrying about getting shot by a stray bullet once more. Pretending not to notice all the glances she stole as they walked, Brent took a few quick steps once they were at the doors, this time allowing her to come in before he did.

“Ladies first,” he said, pulling open the door with his left hand and gesturing eloquently with his right. Another twitch of his eye, as a twinge of pain raced up…but he covered it as best as he could. If he couldn’t stand at least this much pain, he might as well roll over and kill himself. Yes…perhaps pain tolerance should be something he started training as well. Mm, he nodded to himself.

A good id-

"You know, you should probably use your arm less."

Brent stopped, moments away from running into Sophia. Blinking once, wondering if he had heard another conversation or something, the amethyst-eyed youth turned his head to the side. Did she just speak up? Loud enough that he could hear her over the background noise of dozens of others having a late dinner? That was certainly impressive, but more so…

She cared?

“Wow,” Brent laughed, “It’s almost like you read my mind.”

Hm…

Perhaps he’ll hold off on pain day. At least for now.

An easy smile remained on his face as he displayed his ID to Jason.

---

“Lotsa things to sample, eh?”

The brunette looked around excitedly, drinking all the sights of food that was practically everywhere. There were salads, sashimi (thick, fresh cuts), spaghetti (with massive meatballs), and even, exotically enough, scorpions. He wasn’t sure WHY there was such variety, or why USARILN East bothered with such luxuries, but on the other hand, it made sense. For all of Zhang’s tough talk, she probably didn’t want to piss off the mages to the extent that they’d go for a large-scale rebellion. Even if the Precursors kill them all, there was then the issue of having no cannon fodder to send at Dreamcatcher’s monsters.

Yup. Totally made sense to him, even if the luxuries present were a bit too out there for him. Seriously, there were even SNAILS for people to eat…though it looked like the escargot had more or less gone cold. Poor slug-things. Unwanted even when considered a delicacy.

As his eyes continued to look around, however, something caught his attention. Something that sent his heart pounding. His blood pumping. His mind screaming with lust.

A table full of big, fat slabs of meat. Chicken, beef, lamb, pork, and even horsemeat, they were all lined up one by one, serve-it-yourself carving knives placed by each of them. Gulping down his saliva, Brent said, “Well, I’ll just head over there. Stock up for hibernation and all.”

With that, like a man possessed, he marched off, ready to gobble down some medium rare roasts.

In that amount of time, a small amount of shit hit the fan.

Whipping his head around at the sound of a crashing table and shattering glass, Brent’s eyes widened and then sharpened as one of the students went berserk. A wild mane of black hair and neon blue lines raced across the floor. What were the soldiers doing? Nothing, none were there! Without looking, his hand found itself wrapping around the handle of a carving knife, knuckles white.

Pain raced down his arm.

Right hand, huh?

His own magical surged from within, almost on the cusp of bursting out and Overclocking this flesh-rending blade, before another shout sounded, this time from a frightened adult. Ah, the cuffs. They had something like that, didn’t they?

The cuffs flickered briefly, before all their lights disappeared albeit one. And from there, all he saw was electricity, all he heard was the thumping of a body rattling against the marble floor.

It took an instant to reduce that X into a blubbering, frothing mess, the flesh around his ankle ruined. Brent sniffed and grimaced. An unpleasant scent was wafting through the place now, charred meat combined with vomit. Dislikeable. All those people with their weak stomachs, spewing out a mess that the poor janitors have to clean up. He patted his own, and it just growled in response.

Yup, he still had an appetite, still had room to fill up.

Turning back to the haunches of meat behind him, the youth switched the carving knife from right to left and got to work, sheering thick cuts of flesh from the bone. Juices oozed out fragrantly, and he breathed in that much more pleasant aroma. He took a spare plate afterwards and began shovelling the meaty pile onto it, before turning back around.

Didn’t take long for him to spot Sophia amongst the silent, glum crowd. Yeah, that whole incident left a bad taste in his mouth as well but…hey, wasn’t times like these where you should be grinning?

…yeah, that sounded about normal.

“Yo Sophs,” he called with a beautiful smile, taking care NOT to wave this time, “Got your food? Let’s find a table and dig in then!”
@VampireOracle

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Yay, more flesh to feed to squirrels.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Fuck. Still no reflex for mentioning.

@VampireOracle pasted.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

“Ouch.”

He pulled up dark jeans, shimmying into the denim material.

“Hisssss.”

He draped on his collared shirt, slipping his arms gently into the sleeves before buttoning it all up.

“Ugh.”

He pulled his dark hoodie over his body, noticing at the hospital staff weren’t kind enough to wash the blood off for him. Now there was bloody hole in his clothes, and he didn’t even know how to patch it up. Maybe learning how to sew would be a good idea now.

Brent winced a fourth time, as he subconsciously raised his right hand to push a couple of unruly strands off his face. He knew that he was reliant on his right hand, but to think that there were so many…random movements that also involved it. The youth frowned, poking at his bandaged shoulder once more.

“Pain in the ass.”

Nevertheless, he was dressed up now, had proper shoes on, and there was still time left over. Another rumble ran through the building, the lights above rattling slightly. Looking up, and then around, Brent narrowed his eyes, before marching towards the windows. He threw aside the curtains and pulled aside the panes, before leaning out, eyes flickering from side to side.

Nothing changed. From here, he couldn’t even see explosions or whatever from the far off battlefield. So, really…what was causing this? Just a minor quake? Was USARILN East on a fault line or something? Brent scratched the back of his head, trying to puzzle out the solution, but there was nothing. Was there anyone he could even ask?

…

Meh!

He disliked not knowing what it was, but he liked the mystery of it all. Swiping his ID card, Brent pushed out of his new room and walked out. The elevators, their floor display panel dead, were clearly not working either, out of a safety measure or whatever, but he wasn’t too concerned with that. Locating the staircase, the youth ran down three steps at a time, nodding at a duo of Arbiters as they passed.

"What do you think that rumbling was?" one neat-looking girl asked another punkish-looking guy.

"Dunno, but Anne says it's safe."

"I don't really trust Anne's power."

"Fucking better than yours."

The snippets were enough for him at the moment. ‘Anne’ had some ability to sense danger, probably, and though he DID want stop them and ask for more, right now, he had food to get. Fuck rumbles, stomach grumbles and all.

Entering the lobby, Brent waved at Sophia with his right hand, cringed in pain once more, before saying, “Heyo Sophs. Pretty cool cape you got there. Shall we be off then?”

He had considered offering his arm like a true British gentleman, but in this scenario, with her dashing cloak and her sleek, straight hair, she definitely looked nobler than this curly-haired vagrant with holes in his clothes.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Looked like his attempts to make light of the situation had little to no affect on Sophia at all. Indeed, his own awkward laughter was made even more awkward now by the completely dead expression that was on the young girl’s face. The lack of food after that rather spirited run had seemed to cut off her interest in further exercise as well, and while the brisk pace she set was still faster than normal walking…Brent didn’t find it too hard to keep up.

Probably because her legs were shorter than his and all.

Building A, standing at five stories tall and having the same appearance as an expensive hotel, made Brent take a step back at first. USARILN East, for all of its death and destruction and shit, really was quite the luxurious cage. It practically oozed with wealth, no doubt to placate all the Arbiters and Aberrations that were going to be less than pleased if they were forced to live in actual prison cells.

Stepping in, his amethyst eyes flickered around once more, snatching up all the details it could. A slight shake. From the battlefield in the distance, perhaps? Two Arbiters in a conversation. Goth girl and emo dude. Match made in heaven. Blondie? Less of a match. In the corner, a potted mini-tree, whatever those were called. Marble everywhere. Veined and white. Polished. Glass everywhere. Bulletproof, probably. No cameras, at least the visible kind.

To decrease the Big Brother sensation this whole place had, eh?

“Third floor,” Brent replied, one ear on the conversation unfolding, “330. Probably don’t need to come to my room after you’ve showered and dressed up though, Sophs. I’ll meet you down in the lobby in…half an hour or so?”

An absentminded reply, really, as his brain churned out the conversation that was growing louder in intensity. Shane and Decker. Arbiter that got cut in half and the healer that got killed to save him. What a…coincidence. Brent turned to the stairs for a moment, before deciding that learning was, for the time being, more important than exercise.

“Yeah, just gonna slip in,” Brent called out, striding towards the elevator. “Hospital food’s legendary in shittiness, but apparently the dudes in Building D have no pity for the starved, injured, and IDless.”

"You're new?" the messy-haired student sniffed at his own hoodie, the comment automatic small-talk.

"Yup. The two of us got shot on our first day. Landed in the hospital, got out, and all that stuff."

Bedhead responded with a quick nod, holding the elevator door open, as if the mention of getting shot was about as normal as the weather. At USARILN East, it probably was.

Slipping in, Brent pressed the button for the third floor, before saying, "Name's Brent Roless. You?"

It'd be pretty awkward to refer to him as emo kid all the time, after all. Especially when all the Xs were some type of emo.

"Alex," he replied, not returning the gesture of a full name. "She getting in, too?" He looked at the brown-haired girl who had come in with Brent.

Brent turned his gaze to the silent, overthinking, opaque Sophia and wished once more that he could read minds. Or at least had a portable lie detector that he could Overclock into a mind reading device. "Uh...not sure..."

With a sigh, Alex drummed his fingers on the elevator door's frame, waiting for either of the two to make up their minds. He hadn't forgotten the sensation of being new to this place, and he sympathized to some extent, but he just wanted to lie down. This was what he got for trying to be polite.

Ultimately, after much deliberation, Sophia simply shook her head. "The stairs, eh?" Brent said, "Guess I'll see you down here in a bit then. Later."

As he leaned against the back of the elevator, the amethyst-eyed youth turned back to Alex. "By the by, I did some eavesdropping. Shane's tanned, right? What's up with that...'spider-snake hybrid with razors for feet'? Those monsters the norm in the East?"

Was it the norm for even the strongest Arbiters to meet their end against run-of-the-mill monsters?

"You saw Shane?" Alex looked at Brent properly now.

"I think I did? Didn't get his name, but the story sounded about right. Healer dying to save him and all."

Alex's lips thinned in response to the light comment and he stepped back to let the elevator doors close. He was heading to the fourth floor, going by the number glowing on the control panel. His silence seemed fairly permanent now as he leaned against the elevator wall.

A bust, huh? The ride would last ten, twenty seconds tops. Probably less, really. Not enough time to be subtle at all now. His question remained unanswered, and Alex was now clamping down. Should he press for an answer once more? Brent flicked back to the conversation, recalling what he could. Highlights wanted Decker. Blondie was fine with Shane. And Alex didn't want to really think of any of all that. Didn't want his...friends? acquaintances? to have their value derived from how close they were to the Precursors, most likely.

So he was a nice guy. And Brent liked him for that. But he liked learning things more.

"So yeah, never really saw monsters up close till now. Is it normal for them to be so...for all of us to be so vulnerable to them? No one here strong enough to be 'safe'?"

Alex regarded him quietly for a moment before sighing again.

"There's the main team. They're pretty safe as long as Genevieve's up."

He deliberately avoided the first question. It was too easy to fall into pessimism there and Alex wasn't interested in that right before bed.

Genevieve and a 'main team'...Decker was the best healer, so she couldn't keep them alive like that. Defenses then? Or was she their artillery, while the rest protected her? Like a tank or something? "Mm...that's good to hear then," Brent nodded. "You in a team too? Or what?"

He wasn't visibly injured, after all, but also wasn't called out to fight and all that. The reserve corps then? Maybe Brent will pay Shane a visit some time in the future. Bring real food, ask questions. For now though, he'll have to settle for this.

"No," Alex turned away as he said it. "Not all of us are useful."

The elevator dinged, reaching the third floor. Stepping out with a hop, Brent twirled around, that meaningless smile on his face. "Suppose I'll be suicidal, trying to be useful then. Later bud."

Alex gave him a curt wave as the elevator doors closed.

It didn’t take too long for him to find his room, which was far off to the right wing of the complex. Pushing open the door to a room that was both overwhelming and underwhelming, Brent looked about for a couple of moments. Two others seemed to be rooming there at the moment, and his own lack of luggage was met with an indifferent shrug.

Parents probably just wanted to keep all his belongings so they could remember him, after all.

All that was left was the clothes that he wore when he came to USARILN and an envelope containing his ID. Dreadfully empty, compared to the duffel bags of the others. There were also assignments on the table. Assessment tests? Hilarious. He should have learned to write with both hands before he needed such a skill.

Taking a look at his casted shoulder, the youth considered his options for a couple of seconds.

“Meh, clothes probably absorbed all the sweat.”

He’ll just change. No need to shower.

Not like his 'date' will notice, right?

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Alright, because I'm the vroom vroom poster who basically has 5+ days of spare time after posting within two days of a GM post, I'll be putting all characters into the glorious game that is AA2.

Of course, AA2 has a whole bunch of personality/character related stuff, so fill this out for me. If you don't, I don't make your character. Makes things easy enough for me, and you don't get hilarity.

General Form

Intelligence: Lowest/Low/Normal/High/Highest
Strength: Lowest/Low/Normal/High/Highest
Sociability: Lowest/Low/Normal/High/Highest
Fighting Style: No Restraint/One Blow/Irregular
Virtue: Lowest/Low/Normal/High/Highest
Orientation: Hetero/Lean Hetero/ Bisexual/ Lean Homo/ Homo
Sexual Experience: Yes/No

Character Traits Choose 2
Easygoing
Affable
Bad with Guys
Bad with Girls
Charming
Tsundere
Chivalrous
Trendy
Obedient
Positive
Shy
Jealous
Melancholy
Perverted
Serious
Calm
Impulsive
Absentminded
Violent
Passive
Meddlesome
Class Prez
Chatty
Always Hungry
Romantic
SIngleminded
Indecisive
Competitive
Scheming
Diligent
Wild
Masochist
Sweaty
Evil
Deaf
Exploitable
Asexual
Lucky

Lover’s Item: Whatever you want.
Friend’s Item: Whatever you want.

Males Only

Personality Choose 1
Gentle
Positive
Otaku
Savage
Schemer
Warm

Females Only

Personality Choose 1
Lively
Delicate
Cheerful
Quiet
Playful
Frisky
Kind
Joyful
Ordinary
Irritated
Harsh
Sweet
Creepy
Reserved
Dignified
Aloof
Smart
Genuine
Mature
Lazy
Manly
Cadet
Caring
Carefree

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

@VampireOracle
Holy shit, I'm literally terrible at remembering to mention.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Uwah, and there she went once more, with her super simple answers. Guess that, as far as elevating a conversation went, Sophia wasn’t particularly interested in it. Reciprocating her nod with his own, Brent flipped open the simple map once more and said, waving it around like a tour guide, “Alright, let’s go!”

With that declaration, he set a brisk pace, marching past all the other hospital staff that had worked themselves into a frenzy. His own stomach felt fairly empty, and he planned on working up a bit of a sweat to serve as extra appetite. Though Brent wasn’t completely certain where the fabled dining hall actually was, at the very least, it wasn’t inside the hospital. The amethyst-eyed youth practically jogged through the hallway, waltzing past nurses too preoccupied to watch where they were walking. The staircase was taken with long leaps, a couple grunts of pain bursting out during particularly bad landings.

Occasionally, he would look back and slow down to a regular pace, just enough for Sophia to catch up once more, but, well…if they couldn’t go to the gym, obviously, they’d just have to make do with what was around.

Slipping past the gap of the glass doors, Brent broke out of the Hospital and took a deep breath of the night air. He wrinkled his nose. Didn’t smell fresh and cool at all. Amethyst eyes flickering from reality back to drawing constantly, Brent hopped from one foot to the other as he ascertained his destination. Ultimately, though, the building that looked to be made exclusively of glass was fairly easy to spot.

“Well, then,” he said, turning back to his partner, “The goal is the doors of that glass building over there. Wanna race? Yes? Ready set go!”

With that totally unfair setup, Brent sprinted with all his might, suppressing the pings and pangs spiking up his shoulder with adrenaline and a pointless competitive spirit. His bare feet smashed against the thankfully smooth pavement, while his left hand was fully occupied with keeping his hospital gown together. If there were more students around, perhaps he’d be labelled as a pervert, but USARILN was under attack and there was not a soul in sight that’d be bothered with someone wearing only a hospital gown.

Skidding to a stop by the double glass doors, Brent gave himself exactly three seconds to marvel at the glorious all-you-can-eat affair. He swallowed once, ran a hand through the sweaty mess that was his hair, and finally let out a long, long sigh.

His stomach rumbled like a V6 engine, before he marched in, full of purpose and appetite.

“ID?” one of the lobby staff, labelled as ‘Jason’, gestured.

Brent stopped midstep. “What.”

“ID.”

A blank stare.

A tinge of annoyance coloured the man’s expression. “ID. You need your student ID to get in. Comes with the package you get in your room?”

A genuinely beautiful smile formed on Brent's face, accentuated by his intense amethyst eyes. “…ah, yup, that package, right? Got you man, sorry, was so hungry that I forgot to grab that! Ahaha, thanks, Jason, I’ll be back super duper soon! ID, right?”

“...yes. And maybe proper clothing?”

“Yup! Copy that! Ahahahahaha…”

Still laughing, Brent walked backwards, rewinding out of the dining hall that was filled with a ridiculous amount of aromatic scents, back to the reality of an empty stomach and a new destination.

“Well, Sophia, turns out we gotta head back to our rooms, get a change of clothes and our IDs, before actually getting food. So yeah. Yup. Maybe you lead this time? We don’t have the same suites, probably, but we’re in the same Building and all.”

Ahahaha fuck.

Now his stomach was literally going to eat itself for another half hour.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Man, hard to get into the habit of tagging people when I post. e.e

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

A passing remark from the ‘young’ nurse earned a smile from Brent. Was she like this because they both had white smears, and thus, were less likely to go ballistic at such a comment? Or was she like this because she was super stressed over all the people who were about to require medical attention? Indeed, the contradiction between wishing they all died and trying to prevent their death probably fucked up her psyche quite a bit.

“Thanks for not sending me there!” he called out as she rushed away, before turning to Sophie and shrugging helplessly.

Well, there were people like that. That’s why it’s good to smile in such scenarios. Maybe next time, he should get the nurse a box of chocolates, as thanks for not poisoning him in his sleep. Any of the hospital staff could certainly do that, after all, so undoubtedly, for all her thorns, Margaret wasn’t THAT stupid.

Any chance of further conversation, though, was cut off by the next person, a young soldier that handed them their room assignments. It didn’t include his prospective roommates, of course, which ultimately made Brent ambivalent to it all. Suite 330? Third floor then. Maybe a good view of…what, the rest of the facility? At least there was a map. Tucking it away in his pocket, Brent turned back to the soldier, acknowledging the instructions with a nod. “Aight boss,” he replied, “We’ll keep that in mind. You seem like a cool dude. See you around, yeah?”

With Menagerie dropping monster bombs and shit, hopefully it was a good sign that this particular soldier wasn’t on the frontlines yet. A rookie, hm? Would be nice to learn to shoot shit from him. Committing that babyface to memory, Brent turned back to Sophie, ready to finally guide her to the lower floors and the gym, when the third strange encounter occurred.

A whistling individual, wrapped up in gray cloth. Almost like a mummy, if Brent had to guess. Definitely someone with a memorable appearance. Made the amethyst-eyed youth jealous in a certain way. If circumstances were less frantic, no doubt, many people would be giving this person looks. And…that smile. That was certainly a smile that would remain in his memory. A chill ran up his spine as that individual passed, his first taste of a truly irregular existence within USARILN East.

It was…exhilarating. Another individual to ask about, huh?

“To you as well,” Brent said, mimicking its gesture, flashing his own white, straight teeth. Definitely made him curious. Super duper curious. Might even have made him want to go after that person, ask them what their deal was, if he didn’t have prior engagements.

Ah, so much to learn, so much to do, so much to s-

It was slightly, but, despite the general buzz of activity all around them, his ears caught it. The gurgling of an empty stomach. Instinctively, his eyes flickered back to Sophie and forcefully, his eyes turned back to that strange individual. No point in making things even more awkward by making it clear that he noticed the rumbling of her stomach, after all.

“Hm…actually, change of plans. Wanna go eat something first, Sophie? Feel sorta hungry on my end, actually, and exercising on an empty stomach is pretty terrible, all things considered. Not like there were any in-transit meals during the truck ride and all…”

He considered how long it had been since he had even eaten anything, before nodding vigorously.

“Yeah, shit, I haven’t eaten since yesterday. Whatcha say?”