Lazo

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

You could say that. How quaintly understated.

The Kitsune did not seem willing to share more beyond that agreement, seeming content to dwell on the crowd and whatever concerns plagued her. Celica sighed and glanced at the floating duo presiding over the students, wishing they would address them once and for all. Lily turning to speak to her was a surprise, and Celica craned her neck to face her, eyebrows raised. After the spot of silence, Celica had convinced herself the Kitsune had nothing more to say to her.

She could excuse her. Their last encounter had not been altogether friendly, if she recalled correctly.

Still, worry had a way of loosening people’s lips, and the emotion was easy to detect in Lily’s words, if not her expression.

Celica had to suppress a wry smile as the woman spoke, and she did her best to hide the flare of irritation she felt. I don’t know what to think of you. You weren’t exactly open the last time we talked. Part of her wanted to say that out loud, but her conscience held her back. The bitterness was uncharacteristic of her, and she looked back at the Mythics to avoid Lily’s gaze.

Sympathy or pity would have been the more appropriate response, but it seemed today she had little to spare for people other than herself.

Alice arriving when she did was a relief to Celica. She had little desire to speak about her own issues. The whole point of seeking out Lily had been to dwell on someone else’s concerns instead of her own. Still, she shook her head, giving Alice a dark look. “Don’t bring their families into this. It’s not the mindset I need.”

The Endolans would be butchered like the animals they were. That was all that bore thinking of. Moral repercussions could wait until after the dust settled. Or shelved indefinitely. She had more reason to think in those lines than most other students. She was damned if she would feel an ounce of pity for any who got in their way.

It was easy to tell herself that. If the words rang hollow, she needed only repeat them until they did not.

It was then that the Mythics chose to address the congregation. Celica gladly turned away from the others as the speeches rolled in. Sylphide did not say anything those gathered did not know. Perhaps some found reassurance in having the basics of their situation outlined for them. Perhaps some would be inspired by her encouragement.

Celica did not need inspiration. She needed direction.

Commander Jones obliged. A completely different aura than Sylphide’s own, Celica and the others hurried to obey his command as he stood before them. In some manner, the man’s words echoed Sylphide’s own speech, but the words did not matter. What mattered was the conviction. The volume. Celica found herself adding her voice to the cheer that filled the Commander’s pause before they were given their instructions.

To those, she paid close attention.

---

The pistol felt oddly weightless as she turned it on her hands, carefully studying the weapon from every angle. A strange sight for most Shifters, the weapon woefully inadequate when compared to the destructive power most of them could issue forth, and indeed she noticed the flicker of eyes at the corners of her vision, the gun collecting a few stray looks from the students kneeling near her resting place.

She paid them no heed, her eyes glued to the gun’s silvery metal. Here and there she noticed a few scratches, many of them in the barrel and nose, earned from rough handling in sparring. Others, closer to the handle, seemed like small grooves had been cut into the metal, where the tips of her fingers would commonly rest.

Her eyes went beyond the weapon to the hand that held it. She had shifted when they had been given orders to deploy to the ambush point, and the hands that held her weapon aloft were more akin to a clawed gauntlet than a proper hand. She brought one hand up, close to her uncovered eye and moved her fingers ever so slowly. The segments of the gauntlet moved as would her normal fingers, but she could hear the subtle sound of ice cracking underneath as the solid moved.

She felt nothing above her elbow.

Celica shivered, feeling a cold that had nothing to do with the power she had summoned. As long as she could return to her human form, she would never get used to it. But it had been long enough for her to learn how to put it out of her mind. A clear signal that she was doing little else but looking to distract her from the pit of apprehension in her stomach.

It was as if only now she had paused to consider not only what they were planning to do, but what could happen to her. She had been too angry, too focused on repaying old debts, on venting her worries through violence. The possibility that she might not make it out alive was present, but muted. A minor detail. She knew what she had signed up for. But now that it was coming, hiding behind the next mountain, or the one after that, she finally realized that this was not just another spar.

Dwelling on it made her feel almost physically ill, and she hated herself for it.

So she looked up from where she was sitting towards the direction where their enemies were supposed to be coming from. Nothing caught her eye. She would have expected the Endolan fliers to have come into view by now, some forward scouts, at least, but there were only mountains and broken terrain as far as the eye could see. It could be that they were hidden by magic, as they were.

Though, as far as she was concerned, their group seemed to have remained as visible as ever. Their illusion casters had likely shielded them from the view of those outside a certain radius. Whether the illusion masked sound, she did not know, and those gathered under the spell did not seem eager to test it. They simply waited.

Celica grimaced, and checked the pistol’s ammunition, as she had done several times in the last minute. A light blue dot was visible on its base. Reinserting the magazine, she stood up and began walking through the transformed students, bizarre echoes of folklore and mythology from all over the world wherever she looked. She thought of seeking out Alice or Charles, or perhaps Lily, but instead, she found herself making her way to the edge of the camp on her lonesome, hoping to get a better view of the valley below.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

A veritable storm cloud hung over Celica’s head as she stood at the meeting point, arms folded in front of her, icy eyes scowling ahead at some point beyond the growing congregation. She was wearing her usual attire, the pockets pulled taut in a way that suggested she was carrying ample ammunition for the pistols holstered on her belt, but for the moment she retained her human form.

Her mood had been dark for some time now. It was not something she had much reason to speak about too often, so not many beyond those who happened to ask or were familiar with her files knew of it, but she had been born in Argentina. Her mother had lived there for the vast majority of her life before she met her husband. Celica remembered little of those first three years after she had been born, when her family had lived in the capital, but she had returned several times with her parents to visit family. Many of her uncles, aunts and cousins lived in Buenos Aires.

The announcement that an Endolan Shifter party had been located in the country had sent a chill down her spine. She tried asking officers and teachers, human and Mythic alike, if they knew where exactly the Gate had opened, but those that knew insisted that the information was to be shared purely in a need to know basis.

She recalled with particular bitterness one of the rebukes she had received when she had pressed for an actual answer.

‘I’m just following orders. I suggest you do the same.’ Blasted bureaucrats. Say enough over a loudspeaker to get us riled up, then refuse to elaborate. What do they expect me to do with the information?

Truth be told, she had considered using one of the teleporting stations to smuggle herself over to the fighting, if only to spite the Shifter that had blown her off, but the plan fell apart in her head almost as swiftly as it was cobbled together. She would not be able to use a teleporting station on her own without someone catching on. They were supervised too tightly, particularly in a situation such as theirs, for her to do as she willed with them. Even if she did make it, what would she do? Join the fighting and pretend she was one of the Graduate Shifters? Run over to her closest relatives and make sure they were being evacuated? She was more likely to be a burden than an aid.

Irresponsible and wasteful. Childish. She had discarded the idea almost immediately.

Instead, she dialed a few numbers in her phone, but she got no answer. Likely sleeping, she concluded. It would be nighttime where the attack was taking place, in account of the time zones. The alternative did not bear dwelling on.

It left her little choice but to trust in the Shifters sent to deal with it. Argentina was a large country, either way. She did not even know if they were near enough that she should worry. She told this to herself again and again, but it did little to allay her frustrations.

When she heard a second Gate had opened near the Academy, Celica had felt a guilty, almost vindictive sort of pleasure. Here she had an opportunity to redirect all her anger at the ones truly responsible for it. But as more and more Shifters gathered, waiting for their instructions, it became more difficult to hold that grim determination to the forefront of her mind.

She knew that, until reinforcements could be brought back from the Argentinian front, the Academy’s defense would fall squarely on the lap of the third year students. Most of the Graduates were gone, and those remaining were likely to fall on organizational positions. First year and second year students were not deemed ready for this kind of combat yet, and they could not count on the Mythics for help at the front lines. She doubted they would get involved unless they were threatened personally.

This would be an entry rite for many of the students gathered here. To those that survived, at least. And what other aim could their enemy have than to eliminate the weakest of their forces while they were still undergoing training?

Celica found her right hand gripping tightly on the grip of one of her pistols. That always managed to bring her a certain amount of reassurance that not even her power could give her. A weight of a weapon felt solid and reliable in her hand, regardless of its effectiveness, and she almost dreaded the fact that she would barely be able to feel it once the fight truly began.

With a grunt, she put those thoughts away and scanned the room. Here and there she saw familiar faces, some she shared a class with, and others she knew personally. She found herself looking for Alice and Charles, but, if they had reached the meeting point, they were hidden from her.

Twitching tails in front of her, occasionally snapping about as if in distress, drew her eyes to a Kitsune girl who with a familiar face. Celica's eyes lingered just long enough to recognize her as Lily, the one that Alice had fought in the year’s first spar. Her Shifter form was certainly a lot… fuller than she had expected when she had spoken to her. She would have been jealous if she did not have so much in her mind. Or if she could not imagine those things hurting whenever she ran.

With little else to do but brood as she waited, she approached the woman from behind until she was standing beside her. “Everything’s going to hell,” she commented, deadpan. Expert on breaking the ice, she was. Regardless, the simple admission did much to steady her growing nerves. Celica gave the Kitsune a sidelong glance and a wry, lopsided smile. “How are you doing?”

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

Subject Name: Celica Dancer
Gender: Female
D.O.B: 17 January 2550 (23)

Shifter Form: Yuki-anesa – Demon Variant

Physical Appearance: The patient’s height approaches the six feet, and her weight is consistent with that of a lean, healthy woman of her age*. She has straight, black hair flowing past her shoulders, clear blue eyes, and fair, pale skin. She is possessed of full lips, smooth cheeks, and a well-defined jaw. She has a straight body shape, with moderately sized chest and waist.

*Refer to the addendum for images and specific information regarding measurements.

Shifter Appearance: Compared to some of our previous patients, Miss Dancer’s appearance was not too drastically altered.

Her hair grew slightly longer, reaching her lower back, and her skin paled further, with her lips acquiring a bluish tint. The deathly pallor was worrisome, but there were no signs of malfunctioning equipment. There were no changes recorded in her height, build, and body mass after the procedure, nor was there any alteration of her basic features.

There were some rather striking changes, however. Her left eye’s sclera and pupil disappeared, leaving behind an icy blue, faintly glowing surface. The area surrounding that eye, from the cheek to near the scalp, were covered in what appeared to be a mask of jagged ice. The ridges, rather than growing haphazardly, seemed to sweep outwards, away from the center of her face, in a pattern mildly reminiscent of scales. A staff member, upon peering at the ice from a close distance, reported seeing what appeared to be patient’s cheekbone under the surface. She has taken to hiding the eye under a swath of black hair.

A similar occurrence can be seen in her hands. The flesh seems to have been replaced with ice as well, in a shape reminiscent of a plated gauntlet, up to the middle forearm. The ice at the fingertips concludes in sharp points, as if they were claws meant to pierce or cut into objects.

There were no more observable changes beyond that.

Subject Skills: Miss Dancer agreed to join the Twin Souls Project after completion of basic training, and as such has knowledge of basic marksmanship, survival skills, and first aid. Her profile notes that she has attended courses on various martial art disciplines over the years. She is also proficient in Spanish.

Shifter Capabilities: In this form, the patient displays an increase in speed and durability uncharacteristic among other subjects of similar compatibility. The current hypothesis is that this inconsistency may be related to the patient’s own nature, or previous experience.

As expected, the patient’s Shifter Form demonstrated a remarkable affinity to ice related magic, allowing her to freeze objects and sculpt and move ice to her wishes. Manipulation of frozen, water solutions has been shown to be possible, but attempts to manipulate frozen elements besides water have so far proven unsuccessful. Further testing proved the patient able to control gaseous matter to some degree, as was demonstrated by her ability to freeze objects beyond water, and what personnel have dubbed the ‘blizzard spell’. Attempts to refine this ability to the capacity seen in Silph-related Shifters has seen little success, and as such has been determined to be an extension of her previously mentioned abilities, using air as the solution.

The patient has also been known to dissolve into a cloud of mist. Beyond motion, her ability to interact with the world in this state has shown itself to be minimal, and we had to bring some of the Mythic personnel in order to reverse the transformation. With instruction and practice, the patient was shown to be capable of reversing the change under her own power.

The patient has shown the intriguing ability of being able to store a form of power into objects, a skill some of our Mythic experts have likened to enchantments. In practice, the patient has been able to bind spells in small items, or even tiles on the floor, and trigger them once certain conditions have been met. We foresee this ability to be particularly useful at the time of setting traps.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the efficiency of this form’s powers changes depending on the humidity and temperature of the environment **. In fact, in the most extreme temperatures of our testing, the patient was unable to reverse her mist form, and had to wait until the room was brought back to cooler temperatures to reassemble herself.

It may be of note that, following her transformation, the patient complained about irritation in her transformed eye. Moreover some of the male staff members reported feelings of unexplained anxiety after maintaining eye contact with the patient for some time, even with the transformed eye under cover. The feelings typically subsided after leaving her presence. The latter effect could be linked to the nature of the Mythic she has shown compatibility with, but we have not been able to form an hypothesis for the reason of the former discomfort.

To summarize, the patient is able to manipulate the motion and shape of ice, send out blasts of frigid wind, and dissolve into a cloud of mist. The patient’s abilities in enchantments seem to work by using objects as delayed focuses for her power. Enchantments placed on ammunition made large crystals expand from projectiles upon impact, encasing targets in ice. A similar enchantment placed on a section of the floor sprouted a jagged crystal upwards once pressure was applied to it. The patient has been unable to replicate these effects without making physical contact with these objects, be it by holding them in her hands, or at least stepping on them.

**Refer to addendum for testing procedures and data.

Background:
Excerpt from transcript of patient’s second interview with Dr. ————, post procedure:

C.D: Hello, Doctor. I’m here for my appointment?

Dr: Ah, good afternoon, Celica. Please have a seat. How are you adapting to your… new circumstances?

C.D: Well enough, I suppose. At the very least, I don’t accidentally freeze my food while eating anymore.

Dr: Does your eye still bother you?

C.D: Not like this. In Shifter form, however… I don’t know how to describe it. It doesn’t hurt, per se, at least not anymore. It’s like… an itch, I suppose.

Dr: I see. Perhaps it will subside with time, but be sure to notify the medical team if it ever becomes an issue. What about your other changes?

C.D: My hands feel odd as well when I’m that way. It’s like, it’s hard to feel anything with them. I can see them, and I can move them just fine, but beyond that, it almost feels as if they’re not there.

Dr: Have you experienced any pain coming from them?

C.D: No. No, I haven’t. Even when it feels like they should hurt.

Dr: Ah, I see. Your case resembles those of people who recently acquired prosthetics, and seeing these images of your Shifter Form, I can understand why. It is perfectly natural, and I expect you will grow used to the sensation with time. [Short pause] Has anything else been bothering you about your change? Any other strange feelings? Emotions?

C.D: I admit to feeling slightly insulted regarding my compatibility. A spirit who seduces men and leads them to their deaths?

Dr: I have been told that there are several versions of the Yuki-Onna’s tales.

C.D: Their saving grace.

Dr: [laughter] I suppose so. Is there anything else that feels odd to you?

C.D: No, I can’t think of anything else out of the ordinary. I feel fine.

Dr: Okay, okay. Fine is good. Could you remind me of your date of birth?

C.D: The 17th of January, 2550.

Dr: Place of birth?

C.D: Buenos Aires, Argentina. We lived there for a few years before my parents moved back to New York.

Dr: Good, good. And you were three years old when you moved? [pause] Good. Tell me about your life after that.

C.D: Haven’t we had this conversation before?

Dr: We have, but I would like to hear it again.

C.D: … where should I start?

Dr: Wherever you feel comfortable.

C.D: Wherever, huh… okay. I don’t really remember anything about South America, to be honest. I’ve lived in New York for most of my life up until now. The only reason I can speak some Spanish is because dad and mom would speak it around the house half the time. It was somewhat confusing when I was little. I spoke a lot of ‘Spanglish’ back then.

Dr: These were your parents, correct? Do I have their names right? [pause] Good. What were their occupations?

C.D: My mother was a translator. She usually dealt with older documents. Dad was military. A big, burly guy. He’s the reason why I was enrolled in so many martial arts classes. It drove mom crazy. She kept saying I was going to turn into a boy one of those days. Other than that… let’s see… school was school. Boring at best. High school was slightly more dramatic. At least up until the first attack.

Dr: What happened then?

C.D: My father was called into active duty. He did not make it back. We got a flag for it.

Dr: You have my condolences.

C.D: I told you the first time, it’s fine. I had time to grieve. Still, after that… it felt like the world had changed perspectives, in a way. I might not have turned out the way mom thought I would, but I was a big daddy’s girl, in a way. It hit me hard. It must have hit mom even harder, but she didn’t show much. She was always so strong…

Dr: I see. [pause] What about after high school? Did you have college lined up?

C.D: No. Nothing terribly interesting happened. I took a free year, backpacked across Europe, saw the sights, and thought a lot in general, mostly about where to go next. I went on my own. It hadn’t really been my intention, but after high school, most of the people I knew sort of… scattered, and I wanted to have different surroundings for some time.

Dr: What did you conclude after all this meditating?

C.D: There wasn’t a single conclusion or epiphany, to be honest. It’s rather frustrating, but, I don’t feel like there ever is for this kind of thing. At some point, I got it into my head that I should do like dad and join the army. It just felt… right. I guess I thought it would make me feel closer to him. And take me closer to the ones who took him.

Dr: That is understandable.

C.D: The hardest part of it was breaking the news to mom. She did not take it well, and I could understand. She had lost her husband to war, and here went her little girl charging into the breach.

Dr: What made you volunteer for this program?

C.D: Mechs weren’t much good against Endola, were they?

End of excerpt.

Personality:

Note: This space is not the subject’s psychological evaluation, but rather musings and observations taken by Dr. ———— during the patient’s stay at the facility.

Celica strikes me as a driven woman. She has an inquisitive mind, and the focus to match it, and the personnel has told me she was a pleasure to work with while determining the breadth and scope of her new capabilities. It would seem some of our volunteers are less fond of protocol than others.

However her focus and drive means that she is engaged when working, and seemingly worn out the rest of the time. She often seemed subdued while interacting with other applicants and staff members in her free time, but was roused in moments of mental or physical activity.

Celica seems to be a well-centered individual, confident in herself and her capabilities. She smiles often and easily, and seems to have a preference for wit and dry humor.

Miscellanea:

In the environment of the station, seeing familiar faces every day and the expecting tests and exercise, Celica often chose to wear more comfortable clothing. She often wore gray, loose cargo pants along with a plain, white t-shirt. Following the procedure, particularly while her body adjusted to her newfound power, she often carried a vivid blue parka lined with fur over the ensemble.

Celica is one of the few students in The Academy to make use of firearms. She is known to carry a pair of pistols holstered on a thick, black belt, usually carrying ammo enhanced with her magic.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

The shores of the large pond were beginning to grow more and more crowded as people came to see the Longnan’s dragon boating event. Here and there one could spy stalls and shops taking advantage of the influx of people to sell their wares, from the traditional rice dumplings served during this holiday, to several small souvenirs and decorations styled after the festival. Celica sat on the shore, chin resting on her hand in a bored posture, looking on as the boats were brought to one end of the lake and fitted with the decorative dragon heads and tails, the teams milling about in their own distinctive colors. She herself had seen fit to change her attire for the festival, replacing her usual cargo pants with black, sports shorts below a small dark blue skirt, and had thrown a bolero jacket of the same color over her sleeveless white shirt. Occasionally, her eyes drifted to the spectators besides her. Mostly families, with a few couples here and there, the vast majority of them engaged in some conversation or other, filling the place with a constant, lively din. She was one of the few people in the audience who had showed up to the event on their lonesome. She let out a despondent sigh and threw herself back, closing her eyes as she rested against the ground. The thought was as sudden as it was unwelcome. Damn, I’m lonely. She remained that way for a moment, until a shadow fell on top of her, blocking the warm summer sun. She cracked an eye open, trying to make out the figure outlined by the sunlight. She did not have to try very hard. That pearly smile could only belong to one person. She would have to ask him what toothpaste he used. Her lips curled into a small grimace. “Has anyone told you your sense of timing is uncanny?” “Honed through constant practice,” Charles said with his characteristic smirk. “Why? Were you thinking about me?” Celica snorted, sitting upright again. “As if.” Still, she found herself glad to have someone familiar to talk with, and she made no moves to stop Charles as he took a seat beside her. “So,” Charles started as he settled down, “where’s Alice? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you apart outside of class.” Celica hummed absent-mindedly, her eyes settling on the boats once again. “I don’t know. She was still in the room when I took off.” And with a small, guilty grimace, she added. “She’s been a real downer the last few days.” “You mean more than usual?” “Ha Ha,” Celica said with little mirth. They remained quiet for a moment, in companionable silence, until Celica saw fit to break it. “This Endolan dry spell is getting to her.” Charles made an inquisitive sound. A simple, polite motion for her to carry on, and she did. “I doubt there is a single student in The Academy that doesn’t feel as though this is the calm before the storm. I suppose we’re all too cynical at this point to believe that good things are meant to last.” She chuckled wryly. “It’s the same for Alice, except that she keeps thinking about it, and thinking about it some more. She is utterly convinced that something bad will happen soon, and she has been spending much of her time outside of class making up theories of what will happen once the Endolans resume hostilities. Of course, she has nothing to go on, so she mostly just wallows in her own paranoia.” “Ah.” Charles nodded. “Well, who knows what is happening? Maybe Endola suddenly changed their minds about the war and they’re preparing a surrender.” Celica was not sure why, but the mere idea felt utterly wrong to her. Not in the sense that it was extremely unlikely to happen, but in the sense that she found herself hoping it would not. She tried to fake a smile. It came out as a grimace. “I wonder if we’d even accept that,” she said in a light tone that was only mostly joking. Charles shrugged, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort. “Hey, you have to stay positive.” “Positive. Right.” She sighed and gave him a sidelong glance. “Are you not worried at all?” “Of course I am, but I’m not really in a position to do much about it, am I? I mean, we’re still in training. We’re not even proper grunts. Let the brass worry about quand le scandale va éclater.” Celica shook her head with a smile. “Stick to your job description, huh? We got enough stuff to worry about already.” “Exactly.” Celica glanced his way to find him nodding sagely. She let out a small laugh. Suddenly, the mood did not feel quite so dour anymore.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

“You know, this isn’t what I meant when I asked for a date.”

“I said maybe.”

“You stabbed my hand.”

“You tried to ambush me.”

“You shot me in the eye.”

“You cracked my rib.”

“You stabbed my mouth.”

“You bled over my clothes, so I guess we’re even.”

Charles Lafreniere gave a surly frown, and Celica flashed an innocent smile at the monitor. He did not see it, of course. After a moment, the man sighed, once again turning to the device she had roped him into setting up. The object was much like a vice, sitting atop a table for height, and it held in place a black pistol similar in size to Celica’s own weapons. A small bar was held horizontally by the device near the trigger, such that it could pull on it. It was connected by a cable to an outlet in the wall, leading to the room she was in.

Such arrangements were rare at that point in time. The room itself was often used by Shifters to experiment with their powers, with various implements and sensors available in an adjacent room connected to it. It did not play host to firearms that often.

It wasn’t particularly odd for Celica to use it this way. At that point, she considered the machine Charles was setting up to be pretty much her own.

That he was there was more of a coincidence. The man had shown up during lunch that day claiming that she had agreed to a date with him. She had not recognized him. Then again, the only time they had spoken, he had been a gigantic winged snake bent on eating her. The Charles that approached her had been a man about her height, toned, with light brown hair, dark eyes and a dazzling smile.

He was rather pleasant to look at, she reflected.

The heavy metal door slammed shut with a boom as someone else entered the room. Alice had expensive looking noise canceling ear muffs slung around her neck, and had a large rucksack full of what looked like metal plates. Sitting in a black shoulder holster/bandolier apparently made of small metal plates with the grip prominently displayed was the gun she’d been trying to obtain for the past several months. The same bandolier also played host to a double row along its entire length to pouches holding cylinders of the full power ammunition she’d loaded last night inside each one,

She gave a small wave towards Celica, “Hey, already setting some things up a—who the ад are you?”

The man looked up from his work, surprised for a moment, before giving Alice a slow look from top to bottom. Then he quirked a grin at her. From the viewing room, Celica wondered if his teeth actually sparkled or if it was a trick from light from the camera.

“Well, this might make it worthwhile.” The man stood up, rubbing his fingers for a second before extending a hand in greeting. “Charles Lafreniere. A pleasure, mademoiselle.” His voice had a vibrant, noticeable accent to them, the pleasant kind that sounds distinctive without distorting the words themselves.

Alice glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. “Hi.”

Celica’s voice blared into the room. “Hey Alice. This is Charles. I asked him to help me set up.”

“More like suckered me into it.”

She ignored him. “Did you bring everything?”

Alice nodded, “Mm-hmm, bullets, ammunition, targets, firearm, et-cetera, if you need it I’ve probably got it in this thing.” She grabbed the rucksack and shrugged it off her shoulders, holding it out to Charles. “Could you hold this for a second?”

He took it with a sour expression. It turned into a surprised yelp as the bag almost dropped him to his knees. “What is in this thing?!”

Alice looked over at him in mild surprise, slipping off the shoulder holster, “Just some two centimeter steel plates, ammunition, some cleaning supplies, some other testing media, nothing much.” She pulled off her omnipresent coat, throwing it on one of the benches at the back of the room as she slipped the shoulder holster back over herself. “I’ll take that back, thanks for eh, slowing its fall I suppose?”

“Sure, no problem,” he wheezed, gladly letting her take the burden from him. He took a breath, recomposing himself. “Hey Celica, I’m done with that thing.”

“Alright. Just about ready on my end. You can leave if you want.” As an afterthought, she added, “sorry, by the way.”

Charles opened and closed one of his hands. It still had some gauze around it. He looked at the rig he had set up. “It’s fine. I think I’m going to stay and watch. Didn’t expect this, so I kept my schedule open afterwards.”

“Of course you did.” Celica’s wry smile seeped into her voice. “You managed to make the bullets, Alice? For both weapons?”

Alice nodded, “They’re the same diameter, so I just made a bunch with some in different sizes and weights. The multi purpose rounds are also modified to break up at the lower velocities for you. I’m going to assume you can tell the difference between the two cartridges.” She fished around in the rucksack, dragging out plates of steel and several cans which rattled considerably.

“Nice. Alright, I’m done here.” She stepped back, taking a look at some of the monitors. The technology used for setting up holograms was useful in more than one way. The way they were set up, she would be able to record each test, measure the velocity of the projectiles and compare their trajectories. She could just shoot and it would feed her the numbers from the points of reference she had given it. She could even impose virtual recreations over each other to compare them more easily.

Celica sighed wistfully. They did not have this kind of equipment in high school physics lab. She doubted they’d need as much of it, though. What mattered most they would be able to see.

Her hand pressed on the intercom. “Need help setting up, Alice?”

Alice shrugged, speaking into the corresponding intercom on her side “I’m fine. I’ll let you go first, I’m just testing out an old theory and brushing up mainly.”

Celica nodded to herself for a moment and gave the monitors another looks, giving it a quick once-over to see if everything was in place. Bullet magazines were arrayed on top of the desk, colored dots marking the bottoms of each. From those she scooped up a magazine, marked with a white dot, and opened the thick doors to the testing room.

She was in her Shifter form, and she’d somehow gotten her hands on a white lab coat. The sleeves were pulled back, leaving the crystallized portion of her arms bare, and her long hair had been gathered into a ponytail. Some things just had to be done the proper way.

She loaded the testing weapon before turning to address her audience of two. “I just loaded the gun with my usual ammunition. The one I used in our spar, Charles. I have everything set up so that we can fire and watch from the next room.” She glanced at Alice. “I’d rather the room be empty before I start testing. Just in case something doesn’t go as planned. Do you need to do something here first?”

Alice shook her head, grabbing her coat and slinging it over her shoulder she walked towards the door, letting it slam shut as she walked towards the other room.

Entering the room, she looked over at the computers and other equipment, “Sorry, which rounds were these again?”

The door opened again, letting Celica and a whistling Charles in. Celica moved to one of the terminals, plopping down on the chair and clicking through a few menus. “The ones I keep offering to you. The bullets I loaded into the pistol are standard issue, save for an enchantment I worked into them.” With another click, a light materialized in the other room and resolved into a see-through disc, visible from a few angles in the monitors.

“Charles, do you see the red button? No, that one. Right. Push it.”

In the screens, the gun roared. When the projectile slammed against the target, ice burst from the impact like a blooming flower.

“The enchantment is meant to trigger when the bullet strikes a solid object,” she continued, eagerly. She was particularly proud of how her enchantment managed to distinguish between the moment of firing and the moment of impact. Part of her reveled in her chance to explain and play with her powers this way. “The temperature around the impact will drop dramatically. It will pull any water that is close towards the bullet and flash freeze it.” She held up one hand, drawing the attention of the two other Shifters, then snapped her fingers. With a sound like grinding glass, a jagged crystal similar to the one in the screen snapped into existence, floating above her hand. “Just like that.”

Alice nodded in acknowledgement, though she still saw little use in freezing something as opposed to incinerating it, “And, what if you go up against a giant or other Titan? I doubt that’d do much more than irritate them.”

Celica grimaced. “They’re not really meant for use on Titans.”

“They helped you with me,” Charles observed. “I was half convinced you knew you’d have to counter my camouflage.”

Celica waved her hand, letting the ice dissolve into white mist. “A lucky coincidence.”

She looked at the guns and ammunition, “What’re you shooting next?”

“The rest of the magazine.”

Alice shrugged, ignoring Charles, “Fair enough. Do you know what it’d do against another Demon like us? Titans aren’t exactly hard to hit, and Fae are kind of squishy by comparison.”

“It depends. It would hurt, might make it hard to move. And,” she said with a small, impish smile, “you have to remember that my power is not limited to making ice. I can move it too.” With another click on the terminal, the hologram disappeared, letting the ice fall to the floor. Another press of a button had it reappear. “Fire it again, Charles.”

Alice took a seat, glancing idly at the firing range, her runic bullets weren’t up yet, her excitement was minimal. “Makes me wonder if you could crystallize the moisture inside someone if you touched someone, imagine ice crystals spearing through a giant’s brain and out his eyes. That’d be one way to deal with ‘em.”

Celica smiled noncommittally as the gun blared again. They repeated the process until the pistol clicked empty. Celica logged the results, already set in the spreadsheet she had prepared before the three had gathered, and went outside, another magazine in her hand, this one marked in light blue.

In the silence that followed the closing door, Charles rapped his fingers against the desk. “So,” he said, turning to look at Alice, “are you doing anything later?”

She shrugged, fiddling with a cylinder of ammunition she held in her hands, examining the bullet for any defects. Sliding it back into the pouch where it had come from she dug around in another pocket, pulling out a couple walnuts, cupping them in her palm and smashing the fist of her other hand into them, before popping one of the now cracked nuts in her mouth.

“Wasn’t going to do much, refine the ammunition, fine tune the gun since it’s been sitting around for two years, work out a bit and see if I can break the 160 kilo mark on the bench press, all I’ve been able to do so far is 158.” She dumped the shells of the nuts in a nearby trashcan, throwing the remaining nuts in her mouth and pulling out another cylinder of ammunition to inspect.

In the screen, Celica waved a hand before the fallen pieces of ice, making them dissipate. She stopped for a moment, tilting her head.

“Impressive! Do you need a spotter?”

She glanced at him suspiciously, “Already have one.”

At that moment, the intercom crackled to life. “Guys, the comm’s still open.” After a moment. “You actually do say that to every girl.”

“I didn’t squish her either,” Charles replied, shameless.

The door opened to the monitor room opened once again, letting Celica walk in, shaking her head. She took her seat and motioned towards Charles. “Fire.”

Once again, the weapon discharged on the target, ice sprouting from the impact.

Visually, it was the same as the previous test. Charles began frowning at the third shot, something which only deepened as they continued.

“Did you confuse the ammo?”

“She had them marked, so I’d imagine not, that or that’s a different velocity loading or something.” Alice looked over at Celica, “Guessing that’s more or less what it is?”

Celica shook her head, frowning. “No. It’s the exact same projectile. Only the enchantment itself changed.” She glanced at the monitor, in particular at the ice stuck to the floating target. “Though I was expecting more ice. I’ll have to compare the volume and weight later. It’s what the first test was for.”

Charles scratched as his chin. “Speaking of that. In our fight, you made a lot more than that, very quickly. What is stopping you from having a bullet make enough ice to fill the room?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Celica smiled, slipping back into professor mode. “Enchantments of the sort I do need a certain amount of energy to carry the task I give them. The problem is that there is a limit to how much energy a single object can hold. This is usually determined by size. Some materials can hold more magic than others, but eventually they all saturate.”

“And bullets are small.”

“Exactly.” She nodded, then glanced at Alice. “Can you hand me one of those runic bullets?”

Alice nodded, fishing out a magazine loaded with five rounds of the runic steel. “125 grain flat point with a copper coating on the sides to stop it from demolishing the barrel, it should fall off the moment the thing leaves the barrel. Clocking 450 meters a second or so.” She tossed it over to Celica as she walked to the viewing screens. “I’ve got a bit of a hunch on something, but we’ll see what happens.”

Celica took the magazine, then fished one of the bullets from the top. She held it between her index finger and her thumb, giving it an intent stare. Almost immediately, frost began gathering on its surface, before giving way to tiny crystals.

Celica snorted. “It’s already saturated.” She passed a finger over the ice, dusting it off the metal in little puffs of vapor. “This bullet is so chock-full of Alice’s magic that it saved me the effort. It won’t hold my magic.”

She returned it to its magazine. “Okay, enough delaying. Let’s finish this trial.”

The next magazine to go into the pistol was one of Alice’s. This time, instead of the circular disk, Celica conjured up a bluish, transparent block. She explained it was supposed to mimic the muscle tissue of the average Demon.

Once everything had been set up, she leaned back on her chair and nodded for Charles to fire. She had already seen Alice’s sword and armor in action, and suspected that the projectile would clear the holographic slime entirely. Maybe, if she wanted to stretch things, bore itself into the wall behind it to the point where they’d need either magic or to dig a bit to get it out. Mystical steel and all it entailed.

What she did not expect, was for the gel to remain untouched, while a very loud crack resounded over the speakers.

Swiftly realizing what had happened, Celica groaned. “Not again.”

Alice folded her arms. “It appears my hunch was correct.”

Celica shot her a sour look. Of course. Why wouldn’t she have a hunch that her bullets would make the gun explode?

“You could have said something.”

“I did.” She pushed herself away from the viewing screens, wings and armor appearing as she shifted, she walked towards the door and pushed her earmuffs over her ears. “You have some spare guns, right?”

Celica produced a second gun from a drawer, same model as the one that had lost its back end in the last trial, and set it down on the desk. She already had an inkling on what Alice wanted to do.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

The sound of conversation, mixed with the tinkling of utensils scraping their plates provided a an almost constant murmur to the cafeteria halls. It was a busy time of the day, several of the Academy’s students coming out to get lunch in the interim of their classes.

Celica sat with Alice, having taken a seat on one of the few remaining empty tables, and she stared, eyes half-lidded, past the hubbub of dining students, her fork swaying absentmindedly over her food as if she was stirring water. Most of her thoughts were occupied by the last spar, and the effectiveness of her abilities and tactics.

Part of her wondered how much of the difficulty in the fight had come from the need to avoid fatal blows. It was considerably more difficult to judge what was needed to subdue a large Titan than other kinds of Shifter, and the simplest, most effective magic she had at her disposal that would do more than inconvenience such a foe were meant to draw blood, and a lot of it at that. Her pistols could have created an opening to completely subdue a smaller opponent, but the ice pellets had been little more than shiny ornaments to the beast. That they had helped her locate Charles while he used his camouflage was nothing more than a situational advantage she was unlikely to have against any other Shifters of that type and size.

She sighed.

The sparring session had finished some time ago. She would have been done with lunch and moved on to other things by then, but she had insisted on waiting for Alice. It was something she was beginning to regret in a guilty, self-conscious way, considering how little attention she had paid her since.

Celica forced herself out of her contemplation.

“So,” she started, propping her elbows on the table, “how did your fight go?”

Alice gave a half-shrug, chewing rather obtrusively on a large mouthful of shrimp. Swallowing the large mouthful, she leaned against the table in kind with an elbow, “Eh, say the wrong thing, drive someone to homicidal rage, lack a decent ranged attack, the works.”

Celica hummed at the flippant answer. “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re being sardonic or serious. What got you held back at the end?”

“Had to apologize for saying some mean things.” She shrugged again, “For the record, Kitsunes are hard to fight when they kill all the grass to the horizon and beyond.”

“That Lily girl was a Kitsune, then.” Celica groaned in sympathy. “I hate illusionists. You can never be sure of anything you do when they’re around.” Then she frowned. “Apologize, though? Sometimes I wonder if the Mythics think this is kindergarten. What did you even say?”

“Hmm, well. First it started with taunting, then it went to personal insults, then it went to deeply personal insults, and then it went to who could find the berserk button first.” Alice replied nonchalantly, nibbling on another shrimp, “Long story short, I found hers first.”

Celica leaned back, considering. Hence the ‘homicidal rage’. There was something profoundly wrong with the thought that a member of the academy had tried to kill another. It felt like a breach of trust, and left a bitter taste in her mouth. “She actually tried to kill you? I didn’t know Kitsune’s had that much firepower.”

“Well, she did kill all the grass to the horizon and beyond and suck up the power from that.” Alice reminded Celica, “This wasn’t under purely her own power. And I was just trying to get out of there, because I’m pretty sure if someone goes homicidal in a training match, reduced force generally won’t cut it.” She paused, “Shame there isn’t a better way to break illusions, though. Or to deal with them before they can get a strong one on you, all I can do is throw some fire around.”

“Hm… right. I forgot they could do that.” Absorb… something from the grass. Life, magic, the soul. One had to wonder about the specifics, as she doubted she suddenly absorbed the nutrients of everything around her. And the potential it could have, if she could manage something similar to fuel her enchantments. Perhaps she could meet this Lily...

Celica shook her head. That was not the point of the conversation. “Speaking of throwing things around, are you going to try to get your gun here today?”

“I was going to yeah, if it does go through, they should be able to flash it over here without too much trouble. What I’ll actually do with it is beyond me, because I don’t think lead is too useful against a titan, and it’s not like there are shooting competitions at the Academy. Shame there’s not much I could do with that for a real fight, thing has some nice punch.”

“I keep telling you I can get you special ammo,” she commented.

“True, but the stuff you make is ice. What’s the point of freezing something if you can just put a giant hole in it instead?”

“Something I’m starting to ask myself, really,” she said with a chuckle. “Okay, let me think for a moment.” With that, Celica crossed her arms, looking at the din around them. “I was planning on speaking with requisitions, see if I could get some extra pistols and ammunition to test some ideas. I usually work with the bullets, so the guns are there mostly in case something happens and I need a replacement.” She snapped her fingers and looked at her. “What about your sword and armor? You make those whenever you shift. Couldn’t you do something similar for a weapon, or its bullets?”

Alice’s head snapped up from her food, “That,” she stated, “is brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that? Not to mention the runic material is lighter than lead, with some proper sealants I could get some insane velocity out of that thing,” she grinned evilly, “I think this will do very nicely. We’d have to test it out first, just to make sure, but oh, the possibilities!”

Celica blinked. She could count the times she had seen Alice excited over something with one hand, and she was never sure if it was a good thing. Still, she smiled back. “If you end up being able to do it, it shouldn’t limit itself only to bullets. I was also going to reserve one of the testing and training areas tomorrow, so we could take care of that together. You help me, I help you.” The grin turned sly. “And if it works, maybe I could use some of that runic weaponry too, for a change.”

“I’m not sure how the runic thing works for other people, but I think I can agree to that.” Alice rasped in agreement, scheming grin plastering itself over her face.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

The mental ping telling her she had arrived to her destination dispelled any lingering doubts about being lost, and she paused, glancing around the empty landscape once again, as if the act would suddenly make her sparring partner materialize out of thin air.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement.

Celica threw herself back out of reflex, just in time to see cracks appear where she had been standing only moments ago, the ground reverberating with the force of a heavy impact. She pulled out one of her guns, firing straight in front of her.

The bullet collided with the seemingly empty air and jagged ice burst outwards, forming a patch of crystals twice the size of her head. The ice lingered in front of her for a moment, before slowly lifting upwards. The air in front of her seemed to distort and ripple, color darkening and shifting to a dark, polished green.

Celica looked up to the head of the giant dragon. The beast’s head, almost the size of a small car, was cocked to the side, one of its amber eyes levelled against one of its claws, inspecting the crystal that had formed there. While its attention was elsewhere, Celica inspected the creature. Its body was long and serpentine, with two long, clawed limbs, each holding in place a leathery membrane similar to a bat’s wings connecting to its sides, in a manner that reminded her of a cape. Much of the beast’s apparent size came from its wingspan. Coiled behind the creature, Celica could peek at a large tail, ending in fins similar to that of a whale’s. Horns and ridges protruded from its head in the shape of a crest, and, as it turned its long neck to regard her, Celica noticed that the monster’s upper lip seemed hardened, and curled downwards, like a raptor’s beak.

One of its claws passed over the ice, dislodging it like a piece of gum stuck to a finger, and the weapon in her hand, still pointed forward, suddenly felt woefully inadequate.

“Très bien, ma fifille,” the dragon rumbled. “For a moment I feared you wouldn’t be much of a challenge.”

An invisible Titan. That was new. Celica grimaced. She much preferred human sized opponents. Through her mind, she ran over what she knew about fighting them. Not facing them head on unless you were a Titan yourself was the only thing to come to mind. In their flat, desolate surroundings, she wondered if she even had a choice. She would have to be smart about this one.

She glanced at her feet for a moment, before a half smile set on her lips, and she looked up to the large beast. She kept her eye half-lidded, avoiding the dragon’s orbs. “Charles, I’m guessing? It’s not much of a sparring match if you wait around, hoping to stomp on someone while they’re not looking.”

“All is fair in love and war, mon trésor.” The winged serpent lowered its head slightly. “Speaking of, what would you say about a date with me?”

Well, not like that, I hope, Celica thought. He certainly doesn’t waste any time, does he? Choosing to play along, she smirked. “I bet you say that to every girl you don’t squish.”

“Only the pretty ones.”

“Really?” She asked, grimacing. “How clichéd can you get?”

The dragon smirked, showing rows of glinting teeth. “A lot more, but you can’t say you didn’t feed me that line.” The report of her gun echoed in the landscape, and the dragon sniffed, eyes crossing slightly to look at the small crystal sticking from the center of its snout. “Should I take that as a no?”

Celica smiled down the length of the barrel. “More of a ‘maybe if you catch me.’”

There was a predatory glint in the serpent’s eyes as one of its large claws darted forward, but Celica had been expecting that, and as she hopped out of the way, a large icicle surged out from the ground below her. The beast bellowed in pain as the spike tore a bloody hole through its hand.

Celica set off into a sprint towards the ravine in the distance. She needed to tip the scales to her favor, and flat land with no cover would not be of use to her. She couldn’t count on getting that lucky again.

She glanced over her shoulder in time to see the beast pull its wounded claw out of the spike, its narrowed gaze settling on her fleeing form. The dragon melded with the environment before her eyes, and the only indication that it had taken after her was the thump of heavy footprints against the ground.

Thinking quickly and without turning around, Celica emptied the rest of her magazine in the direction of the monster. The ice sticking against the camouflaged surface gave her a better idea of the Titan’s position. Celica swore under her breath. The wounded arm hadn’t slowed it down at all. For all the speed she had gained as a Demon, the dragon’s long strides were steadily swallowing the distance between them.

Celica returned the empty gun to its holster and pointed a palm behind her. Shards of ice formed in the air and burst out towards the beast. Most bounced harmlessly off hardened scales, and the few icicles that stuck did little to impede its charge, serving only to give her an outline of the beast.

Dismayed, she realized she wouldn’t be able to reach the escarpment before the dragon caught up to her. She needed to change tactics.

Sliding to a stop, she turned to face the incoming charge. Maybe noticing that its invisibility was not helping it, the beast materialized, roaring a challenge. Thin streams of blood ran from the few shards that had managed to pierce its thick hide, but they were little more than paper cuts to a monster that size.

Celica let her magic pour out. A wall of sharp crystal materialized in front of her in a wave of frigid air, pointed icicles bursting out like a wall of cold lances pointed at the enemy’s charge. She poured more power into them, letting them grow and solidify. A beast that size would not be able to halt in time to avoid the wall of spikes, she knew, and she braced herself for the impact.

However, the dragon made no attempt to slow down. Instead, the tremors of footfalls were replaced by a heavy beat as it leapt to the air, extending its wings and flying over her trap.

Celica paused, watching speechless as the monster flew over her, completely bypassing her spikes.

Cover. I need cover.

The thought brought her out of her daze, and she took off like a crossbow bolt, running towards the opening in the ground. It was not too far now. With luck, she would make it without being caught.

The dragon had other plans for her, however, and it banked in the air, turning in a circle until it was coming from her side, outstretched maw revealing files of sharp teeth. Celica put on a burst of speed and lunged forward, leaving the serpent’s head to snap down and tear off a piece of the ground. She landed into a roll, without breaking her sprint as the dragon wheeled around for another pass, turning until he was coming straight at her. Once again, Celica dove past as its head snapped down, feeling the rush of wind as the monster flew over her.

The sight of the ravine, only moments away spurred her on, but the beast was still hot on her trail. This time, it approached from behind. Celica prepared to dodge one more time, but instead of snapping down at her, the dragon slowed down and beat down with his wings.

The strong gust lifted her in the air, throwing her forward in an uncontrolled roll. She hit the ground hard, rolling towards the edge of the cliff. She barely had enough presence of mind to sink a clawed hand on the ground, leaving her to hang over the edge.

With a grunt, she brought her other hand up and pulled herself over the escarpment. Her eyes widened as she saw the looming shape of the dragon approach. The beast hung in the air, motionless for a moment, before it brought its wings down and pushed against the ground. Against the weight of the beast, the floor gave, and the edge broke off, rocks falling down the cliff in a cloud of dust.

With strong beats of its wings, the dragon pushed itself aloft. Its eyes focused on the crack in the landscape, searching for signs of its opponent. It could take her some time to pull herself out of the chasm, if she did at all. “Does that count as catching her, I wonder?”

The sound of a cocking gun, and a weight settling over his head interrupted his musings. An amber eyeball rolled up to see a pale woman pointing a pistol down to it.

“Not quite,” Celica answered, then fired.

Crystal covered the eye, and the dragon let out an outraged cry. Celica turned towards the other eye and aimed. Sensing the peril it was under, the dragon shook its head, making her next shot go wide. She swore, grabbing onto the dragon’s crest, trying to stabilize herself enough to blind her opponent.

It was then that gravity seemed to shift. Celica found herself being pulled to the side and, looking out towards the landscape below, realized that it had been replaced by the horizon. The dragon had started to fly straight up at frightening speeds. Narrowing her eyes against the wind blasting at her face, Celica levelled the gun at the dragon’s head and fired again and again, trying and failing to cover the other eye. It was then that the dragon started to spin in its ascent, and it was all Celica could do to grab on.

She looked up just in time to see the clouds fast approaching. She held her breath. Just as they broke their surface, she lost her grip and was sent flying away. Trying to stabilize herself, Celica opened her legs and arms, letting the air slow her down as her sheer momentum continued to carry her upwards.

For a moment, the wind in her ears ceased it roar, and she looked around. She was soaked in small droplets of freezing water. The sun blasted away at her eyes, and clouds formed a holed mattress below her. In the back of her mind, she registered her ears popping. She floated in silence for a long moment, before gravity reasserted itself with its gut-wrenching pull and she began to fall again.

She twisted herself so that she was facing the white shapes and closed her eyes, feeling the clouds drench her as she passed through them. When she could see again, she was looking down at the earth, as if from a map, and her heart hastened in her chest. Forcing away the apprehension, she began scanning the horizon for her enemy.

The drum beat of wings announced the dragon’s presence, and her head whipped around to see small crystals outlining a large shape dangerously close to her.

As the dragon’s invisible maw began to close around her, she seemed to dissolve, leaving behind a cloud of white mist that recoiled away. In a heartbeat, Celica emerged from the cloud a few paces away from her previous position. She stretched out her arms, trying to find purchase, but a flapping wing batted her away.

Shaking her head, she stabilized her fall once again, looking down to make sure the ground was still far. “I need a way to bring him down,” she muttered into the wind.

On the corner of her view, the dragon began its wide turn towards her, having become visible once again. Celica frowned at the creature, an idea starting to form in her mind.

Gathering her focus, she aimed a palm below her, forming a slab of ice under her. Gingerly, she set her feet on it, as though it was a surfing board, holding the ice still through will, and shaped its ends into sharp edges. Satisfied, she stood over it, hair flowing wildly in the wind as she drew her pistols, taking the time to reload them before taking aim and firing at the Titan.

The dragon let out a mocking bellow as small pellets impacted against its side, decorating it with jutting crystals, and wheeled around for another pass.

Celica kept firing until her gun clicked empty, then returned the guns to their holsters. As the dragon approached, she bent her knees, bracing herself.

When the Titan reached her, she was ready. As the dragon opened its mouth, she twisted, bringing up the sharpened slab of ice vertically, and kicked it towards the dragon before disappearing into a cloud of mist. The dragon’s mouth closed with a resounding clack, and the large crystal pierced through its snout. A muted cry, almost whining, echoed through the air as Celica reappeared at the dragon’s side.

Knowing this to be her best chance she reached out towards the beast. Her gauntlets gripped one of the sharp crystals sticking to the dragon’s side, but the strong wrench pulled the ice free, and she was sent careening down the dragon’s side. She scratched at the serpent’s polished scales, but try as she might, she could not find purchase. Desperate, she formed a dagger in one hand, and brought it down with all her strength.

The blade stuck itself on the Titan’s shoulder, and Celica let out a pained cry, muscles tearing with effort as she suddenly ground to a stop. With her other hand, she made another dagger, and stuck it further in the beast’s arm. With her grip secure, she dove into her reserves of magic, and did something that came very naturally to her.

Suddenly, as the beast flew, ice began forming on its side, quickly growing to encase part of its body and wing. A reverberating groan tore from the creature’s chest as it began a lumbering fall, one wing sending it on a spin as it flapped in a futile attempt to keep it afloat. With a terrible crash, the earth rose to meet them, the beast’s momentum carrying it towards the opening in the earth. It went down with aplomb, dust and debris following its fall.

The ravine was deep and wide, light lazily drifting in through the cloud of dust, painting an orange line along the stone walls. A thin river, little more than a trickle of what had shaped this scar in the earth flowed down, undisturbed by the strangers in its midst.

White mist gathered in one spot, and gave way to Celica. She stumbled out, tentatively setting foot on stable ground. She grimaced at the taste of vomit.

Celica let out a breath and looked over to the crash. Dust obscured her vision, but she could see the ice she had formed and the rocks that had fallen from the escarpment. She frowned. She could not see the dragon its—

A boulder suddenly burst from the haze, and she barely had enough time to step out of the way. However, just as the rock went past her, something hit her in the side, and she was smashed against the ravine’s wall. Celica gasped, forcing down the bile. She could feel a sharp pain in her chest, and wondered if something had cracked.

The dragon’s head floated into view, visible even before he dropped the illusion by the ice protruding from its snout and lower jaw like bloodstained horns. A slitted eye locked on her.

Celica looked down to the claw pinning her against the wall, feeling warm blood staining her skin. But it wasn’t her blood. She smirked as she realized this was the hand she had wounded when the fight had started.

“Okay, you caught me,” she wheezed, before looking up to the amber eye. “But you can’t hold me.”

The temperature around her suddenly dropped, and the blood and air around the dragon’s claw froze, sticking to the wall. Celica dissolved into a cloud of mist and reappeared a few meters away from the dragon.

She lifted a hand and icicles began growing from the ground, snaking their way towards the trapped Titan, growing larger as they travelled. The dragon tried to lift its neck, but growled in pain as it found resistance. Celica had her other hand balled into a fist, holding the crystal spearing through its mouth in place, and she pulled it closer.

The beast groaned as his head was slowly pulled down, and the icicles in the ground grew until one tapped its neck.

“Had enough?” Celica asked, voice strained. With the amount of force she was exerting, she was amazed that the slab of ice hadn’t torn itself out of the dragon’s snout. Had it been willing to tolerate the pain, it might have been able to free itself. Perhaps the beak would not give so easily.

After a moment of silence, the dragon tilted its head ever so slightly, the smallest assent.

Breathing a pained sigh, she let the icicles crumble, as well as the ice restraining the dragon’s claws, and released her hold on the slab of ice. Seeing the dragon draw back and lean its head on the side of the ravine, and feeling the pain in her chest, she had to wonder if they had been a little overzealous.

Celica Dancer, Area South #2, she mentally called, sitting down and trying to keep her breathing shallow. Fight is done. Could use some medical assistance.

Looking down, she let out a small groan. A large smear of dark red covered the front of her clothes, where the dragon had pinned her. Another thing to add to the laundry pile. At least the garment had remained in one piece this time. Not for the first time, she wished the humanoid Shifters were issued clothing meant to withstand the abuse.

The dragon turning its blood-soaked snout to give her a deadpan stare elicited an embarrassed smile.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

A whistling noise cut through the ranks of students, drawing Celica’s attention away from the conversation. She gulped down the rest of her coffee before discarding it and falling in line with the rest of the group as they turned to face their instructors.

Celica listened attentively as addressed their audience. It was the usual routine stuff, nothing they had never heard before, and she found herself hiding a small smile as the three Mythics cycled through the short speech. They must have had it memorized, by that point.

Soon enough, they reached the important part. As Ikari and Sylphide ceded the spotlight to Draco, Celica took a calming breath, waiting for her name to be called. Alice’s name came first, and it was accompanied by an outraged cry from a few feet away. Celica furrowed her brow in the direction of the sound, but the announcements continued unabated.

She perked up as her name was called. “Celica Dancer against Charles Lafreniere.”

Celica frowned, silently mouthing the name. She couldn’t recall hearing it before, meaning that there was a good chance that she had been paired up with a different kind of Shifter. Would it be a Titan or a Fae? Both presented their own set of difficulties. The thought left her scanning the crowd of students, wondering what to expect.

As the speech reached her conclusion, Celica took a few steps back, letting the others disperse. Many took on their alternate forms right then, some taking to the skies, while others simply took off running. Others met up with their opponents before setting out together. Alice was among the former.

Celica hummed. Still no sight of this Charles. After a moment, she spun on her heel and began walking to towards her designated area.

Power thrummed inside of her as she walked, and she allowed it to flow out with practiced ease. A chill ran down her spine as her blood turned pleasantly cold. Her skin acquired a deathly pallor, a bluish tint spreading through her lips, and ice spread from her left eye into the shape of a scaled mask. With a tilt of her head, it was left hidden under a swath of black hair. Her bare forearms glimmered under the sun’s light as they were replaced by hands of crystalline ice in the shape of plated gauntlets reaching up to her elbows.

In this form, the Shifter took a breath of crisp air, letting it out in a pleased sigh. It was cold, but pleasantly so, the nipping sensation leaving her awake and energized. She felt like she could run forever, without ever growing tired. And so she did.

---

Celica slowed as she began approaching what she believed to be the area she had been assigned. The grassy plain had given way to flat, rocky terrain some time ago, dust and barren earth painting the scenery in browns and grays. A few patches of dried grass mottled the scene with yellow. In the distance, she could see the edge of a ravine, snaking through the ground.

Still no Charles Lafreniere.

She had kept her eyes open for any Shifters flying in the same direction, or any runners behind her, but any that came to view had gone their own way. Had she misheard the location when Draco had been listing the pairings for that day’s spar? Or perhaps her partner had gotten himself lost.

Out of habit, her hand settled on one of her pistols, feeling the weight of the sleek, metallic weapon on her waist. As she scanned the landscape, she considered the possibility that her opponent was hiding, but the land was as flat as a plateau, and the few patches of grass that dotted it barely reached up her thigh. It seemed she would either have to wait, or walk around, hoping her partner eventually showed himself.

Worlds Collide - A Futuristic Fantasy RP

Depends on the place, really. Not all offices can afford to sift through the more random bits of mail and put them in the right place, particularly when it's not even related to what they deal with. I've had stuff bounce back like that.