Lady Seraphina

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Sapphire Rode - Infirmary

When Sapphire pulled the curtain back the tiger boy was apparently surprised and a bit alarmed. He jumped away from where she was standing and took up a defensive stance. Sapphire took one step back, pivoting on her ankle to present a smaller target and held her arms up in a fighting stance ready if one were to come. Granted in both these conditions it was not advisable and the stance she'd adopted was putting a painful amount of pressure on her set rib but if he wanted to start a fight Sapphire would be more than happy to oblige.

Sapphire realized a second later that his fighting stance was likely just a gut reaction to the fast move of the curtains for he broke it a second later. Sapphire held her just a little longer to make sure he wouldn't try anything before she straightened releasing the pressure on ribs. Sapphire noticed the tiger boy eyeing her hands, or more specifically the scars that lined them. By taking up that stance without gloves she'd exposed them to open light. Sapphire lowered her hands to her sides and was relieved when his eyes didn't follow.

When he actually began to speak however it was like an avalanche of information that she did not care to know and didn't really pay attention to. Sapphire caught the general gist of it but he could have expressed it so much more concisely, rather than using eighteen paragraphs and about five minutes she would never get back he could simply have said 'I heard yelling and was worried, are you alright?' Sapphire did catch him eye the scars on her hands again when he mentioned being worried there was an accident. Sapphire averted eye contact as she tried to shove her hands into her pockets before realizing that the hospital gowns didn't have pockets. She then contented herself with clasping them behind her back so the scars wouldn't be visible.

He sort of broke off his train of thought after mentioning her eyes. Of course they were still red and puffy but there wasn't a whole lot she could do about that. He must have seen the dangerous warning spark that alighted in her eyes when he got close to mentioning her crying. Likely what made him back off, side stepping the issue rather completely.

What really surprised her was when he introduced himself. They'd done this before, in the moment of quiet before the mech attack everyone had taken names Sapphire hadn't really paid attention to the names given at the time but he was acting like this was their first meeting. His was something like Khakan Shire or something. Kuhaku Shiro that was it, not that it mattered much.

"Yeah I know," she said giving him a look that amounted to 'where'd you leave your brain?' "You already introduced yourself. What happened, too much catnip?" She looked at his outstretched hand ready for a shake and crossed her own over her chest in a clear expression that she wasn't going to shake it. She might as well give him her name again since his brain had been fried. "Sapphire Rode."

Inwardly she winced, why could she never remember to just use her first name? Every time someone heard her last name it became, 'are you related to the Hunter Janus Rode?' 'What's he like?' 'What was growing up with a celebrity like?' and similar. Sapphire had never once wanted to talk about her father, or her family for that matter. Right now, Cecily her older sister was at art school and Demetra her younger sister was staying with their mother's parents. They were content, it wasn’t as if Janus was around that much these days anyways. Not after the kind of father he'd been to the three of them.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Though in all fairness there isn't a Fantastic Four or Gilgamesh in this reality either.

That's Weird

Yeah but a Tomislav isn't an ordinary minigun and the Heavy isn't an ordinary soldier besides while you might survive him opening fire I can guarantee that no one else will except maybe that guy who looks like a vampire and has extreme healing abilities.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Sapphire Rode - Infirmary

The sound of footsteps caused Sapphire to freeze. Her heart jumped into her throat. How could she have been so stupid? Of course there were other people in this ward or by the sound of the footstep one other person. The racket she'd made getting up must have been enough to wake the dead. Sapphire had just assumed everyone would be at the presentation of teams ceremony. At the thought she inwardly groaned. Her own performance had been a spectacular failure. If that had been a real combat situation without the protection of the school she and those other three fighters would all be dead.

Sapphire quickly straightened her clothes, and dried her eyes on her sleeve. It would be apparent to anyone from her red puffy eyes that she'd been crying but it didn't mean she had to acknowledge it. She looked around her little space which until very recently had been neat and orderly. Now the blankets crumpled on the floor, her heart monitor was flat lining quietly in the background and the needle was slowly dripping IV solution on the floor.

Sapphire stood slowly to avoid disturbing her broken rib. It had been expertly set already and more than likely would be heal within a week or two but it was best she didn't make it worse. Sapphire shook out her hair, made one last futile attempt to dry her eyes and walked closer with a little bit of difficulty due to the many bumps and bruises she was currently sporting, to the curtain's parting seam.

Just as she reached it whoever was on the other side began to speak asking permission to come in. Then the curtain parted ever so slightly revealing one white tiger ear and a similarly white tail. Sapphire groaned none too quietly. It was the Faunus who'd nearly gotten her killed when the tunnel of collapsing. Of course he'd be here too he'd also had a tunnel dropped on his head.

Sapphire took hold of the curtain and swung it back with force not really caring if it whipped the Faunus or not. Now despite what her father had tried to teach her Sapphire had never seen a distinct difference between the Faunus and the regular humans, the distinction between human and faunus were effectively skin deep no matter how unusual that skin appeared. However Sapphire preferred keeping her own company which inevitably meant scaring or pissing off some of the world's more friendly inhabitants. With humans she usually had to find a sore point to prod at. It often escalated into a fight but after that the person didn't bother Sapphire again. With Faunus it was much easier. Most of them seemed to have at least some societal issues regarding being part animal and if Sapphire mocked it long enough they generally left her alone.

"Brilliant," Sapphire said in a condescending and slightly bored tone, "Of all the infirmaries of all the schools in all the world and you had to be assigned to mine. Hope your happy fuzzball, we missed the ceremony cause of you." Sapphire decided that she wouldn't make a reference to having been crying unless he specifically mentioned it first.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Yep. Kitsunes would lure men to their dens with their unearthly beauty, and then eat them. Mokuren has a similar problem. Family issues.

@KabenSaal

So she kills people, like regularly? She doesn't actually eat them does she?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Hey um I realize that Mokuren is based on some myth whose subject killed and ate people but is she nuts, like psychopathic nuts.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Perfect, I'll add it to my CS. Thanks so much. Just a heads up, I don't really have any ideas right now but when I created my emblem I also didn't have any ideas, just sort of wrote down the first thing that came to mind. So at some point down the road I might ask for something completely different if that's alright.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

If you want to know there's a sign up sheet for getting characters and emblems done in the Conference Doc.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Here you go Prince. Hopefully this is what you were looking for.

@Lugubrious

That looks terrific, just one thing and this is more my fault than yours I wasn't quite specific enough. When I said pleated skirt I didn't mean a kilt type design. It was more like this and just a bit shorter like two squares on the kilt up.

And for the gloves, I imagined them in this fashion. Not sure if there is anything you can do to make them look a bit more like that but if there is I would greatly appreciate it.

Not that any of it looks bad just not quite what I had in mind.

By the way, Morpheus and Phobetor look sweet.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Sapphire Rode - Infirmary

Beep...

Sapphire tossed in her sleep like she was having a horrible dream.

"The tunnel's collapsing, everyone get out!" "Sapphire what did you do?" "They're not going to make it?" Voices echoed inside Sapphire's mind causing her to shake her head violently in her sleep in a subconscious effort to get rid of them. Then one cut cleanly through all the rest. "Shameful Miss Rode, a cave in of that size takes time. You surely would have the opportunity to escape if you'd moved faster. Perhaps this will teach you a lesson." "Dad, no, please. DAD!" Sapphire shouted in her sleep. She felt a sharp pain on her right arm which moved with painful slowness towards the center of her palm. "DAD!"

Beep...

Sapphire sat straight up, her breath was coming in raggedly and she was sobbing. She was not wearing what she usually did, instead she was dressed in clean, white, sterile hospital cloths. Her gloves were gone, the scars running over her hands clearly visible. Sapphire was still panicking but even in her state of agitation the adrenaline in her system was starting to break down and as it did pain coursed through her chest. Sapphire lay back down slowly, she pushed up her hospital shirt and and probed the pain stricken area with her fingers. It was slightly swollen, and looking at it deeply bruised. Based on the pain she was feeling Sapphire decided it was a broken rib. Slowly so as not to agitate it Sapphire inventory of her surroundings.

She was in a hospital, an infirmary obviously. The Infirmary at Beacon Academy. Now Sapphire remembered, fighting the automated combat mech. The explosions from her 'teammates' attacks. The state of the tunnel. She'd seen the decay and damage caused by the fight and she'd taken her shot, she'd destroyed the mech and it would have been a bloodless fight if not for that bumbling fool. He'd screwed up her exit. Now she remembered, her injuries had been caused by the tunnel collapse. Thankfully she'd been close enough to the exit so not as much debris had fallen on her compared to the mech otherwise she'd be dead.

It was then that Sapphire became fully aware of exactly where she was. Perhaps her brain had not had time to process what it was seeing before or else it was simply blocking the conclusion from Sapphire's mind but finally it broke. She was in a hospital. Sapphire started to hyperventilate again. The heart monitor cuff around Sapphire's upper arm related a signal to the monitor that caused it to send out a number of very fast beeps.

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep,

"No no no..." Sapphire said to herself the sound merging into white noise. She held her arms over her ears trying to block out the sound of the heart monitor.

Doctor she's lost too much blood. You've done all you can, you saved the baby but her prognosis isn't good. She may not live to see the dawn. You should inform Mrs. Rode's family of her condition.

"NO!" Sapphire screamed, she grabbed the IV line in her arm ripping it out violently. A small but steady stream of blood began to flow from the injection point but Sapphire didn't care. Next she tore off the heart monitor cuff shoving the machine back with enough force that it hit a wall with a loud clatter. Sapphire threw off the hospital blankets and hoped onto the floor her panic temporarily nullifying the pain in her chest.

When she straightened Sapphire saw her cloths sitting on a chair. There were some scorch marks, and damaged from the debris but it looked like someone had repaired them quite thoroughly. Then on the night stand Sapphire saw something that calmed her wildly beating heart, Morpheus and Phobetor, currently retracted into small boxes strapped to two leather bracelets. Sapphire hurriedly pushed them onto her wrists. The feel of the familiar leather calmed her and she sank into a chair likely meant for visitors. The weight of a million different things crushing her. Sapphire started to cry, her father had always told her crying was a sign of weakness but there was no one around to hear it so Sapphire let the tears run free.