PatientBean

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Sabine Bassard

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Location: Contest of Champions -> Medbay
Gear: N/A
Skills: N/A

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What makes a hero?

This had been a question Sabine asked when she started attending Avengers Academy. When she first got here, she was unsure if she even met the basic criteria of a hero. She had been shown by others that her powers made her inherently untrustworthy. She had been accused and blamed for a multitude of things outside of her control and generally kept at arm's length, even before her powers manifested. So when she came, she intended to be the villain everyone painted her as.

And then she met some good people. People who showed her that she could be more than what society deems her as. More than the struggles she faces every day she wakes up. More than the depression, the anxiety, the trauma, all of it combined.

Perhaps a hero is someone who helps others. Or it is someone who knows the difference between right and wrong. Someone who will stand up and say "this is wrong" even when everyone else around them is encouraging them to do it anyway. Wasn't history filled with people who spoke up, who walked against the grain, who ran back into the fire while everyone else ran away?

She wasn't a hero. Not yet, anyway. But she wanted to be. And that meant she needed to take a stand.

The Entity was still in front of them, her at the ready when there was a moment, however briefly, the Entity intended to do Danni harm. The Young Avengers seemed equally taken aback. "They don't know what's happening either," she thought to herself. There was no ill will. They were their opponents, not their enemies. And they were reeling from this just as much. She noted Hulkling was especially worried. Her anger subsided.

Danni had gone to help Dorian and Wiccan, and she needed to let him. As much as she wanted to rush forth to help, she needed to wait, to see how this played out.

And then she felt movement beside her. Leah walked up, speaking to her and April in a low voice. Convenient? No, this was more. It didn't take a midn reader to see this situation was beyond anyone's scope. The competition was over as far as Sabine was concerned. Both sides had done some significant damage, significantly.

But then Leah attacked. Sabine couldn't stop her as she saw the chunk of rock fly towards America, who, upon impact, looked shocked. "Leah, no! What the fuck are you doing?!?" And then she wanted things to continue. For the fight to resume as if there wasn't some cosmic being that took over two of their friends, with another locked in some ethereal battle within. Even Vicky was getting in on it, sending her a thought about getting back into the battle.

Now was not the time.

Sabine shook her head in utter disbelief. She hadn't even seen the Entity move, flying towards the sky as it spoke and shattered. Danni looked worse for wear, and Dorian and Wiccan both backed. But the others wanted to continue.

The Young Avengers didn't seem like they wanted to fight anymore, but they resumed despite this. Sabine was winded a bit from being sucker-punched by America before as well as whatever distortion happened with Hulkling, as she was sent flying back from Cassie's pull on the battlefield. She stood up, feeling broken and battered. She was upset, but more than that.

She was pissed.

"What is wrong with you all? The competition does not matter this much. Look around you? Everyone is at varying stages of trauma or despair. Some cosmic being formed by the two of them just exploded, and who knows how they are handling it, and you want to continue? Nothing is worth this. This is not how heroes act. If you all want to keep battering people at their lowest, be my guest. I won't do it."

She stepped forward. She thought of her friends, her teachers, Vision, and Max. How would they react to what she was about to do?

"I abstain."

---

After the words left her, she felt herself being transported, and she wound up in the medbay. She felt a little woozy, but gentle hands helped her to a nearby bed. The same people who took care of her last time started working on her. She looked around and saw Kate and Tommy nestled together, watching the fight. She saw Percy on the other side with a medical professional performing breathing exercises with him. Danni was there too, being worked on.

She rested finally, allowing herself to be healed. Whatever happens next, she was proud of herself, at least. She hoped someone else would be too.

Lamplight

I mean I am willing to make a roll for it to determine what happened. @Antarctica wouldn't mind your input on this also as I imagine this won't be the last time something like this happens

Lamplight

Would she have seen him consume the corpse? That's something to discuss, not making decisions for other characters.

Lamplight

Tiffany watching Alexander like:

Lamplight

Tiffany Graves
Tiffany Graves

The Spooky
Harm: 0
Luck: 0

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^{Carry-On Motel: Hallway}

Tiffany had been in therapy before. Credit where it's due, the therapist tried her best. She saw a young girl before her, clearly traumatized from the loss of her mother and her father doing anything except calling for an exorcism. Tiffany bets the therapist was a straight-A student through school, had a perfect plan ever since she was little and wanting to help people. The therapist probably had a harsh home life. A mom who smoked too much and had "friends" come visit whenever her father, a hard-working, hard alcohol lover who worked overtime because it meant he didn't have to be home to watch his life decay in slow-motion. The therapist probably had a sibling or a pet (what was the difference to her?) who she confided in who probably died from suicide if only to get away from her. That was the trigger, that was the moment the therapist decided she wanted to be there for others. Be the guide to help them meet their potential. It isn't too late, it's never too late.

So a little girl in pigtails who lost her mother recently was a snap. The perfect patient. Hell, there was probably some guide book on what right questions to ask to elicit responses, the use of art or toys to get the young child to open up without realizing they are doing so. The therapist probably had a peer reviewed journal printed out and ready to use when the moment sprang that the little girl burst into tears recalling how much she missed her mother. How much she wished her father could be there for her. Boo hoo so on and so forth.

What the therapist hadn't expected was the girl sitting there staring at her. No emotion on her face. No sadness, no anger, no fear. Simplicity for simplicity's sake. The therapist would not admtit this openly (she did so later at some dive bar she went to where she downed a bottle of bourbon and decided she needed to go into a career change and wondered how much park rangers made yearly where they could live in isolation and not be bothered by, say, scary demon children), but it was unnerving how little the girl moved. There was no idle curiosity of a young child being in a new environment. There was no questions about what they would do or if they could play a game. The therapist tried eliciting responses and got one-word answers in return.

Did she miss her mother: Yes

Was she sad: No

Why wasn't she sad: Voices

What voices you ask? Or rather the therapist did. Was she on to something? Hallucinations could be a sign of trauma. Instead of answering the little girl asked for a sheet of paper and some coloring supplies. The therapist provided them, secretly hoping this would be the dtart of a flourishing career with a book she wrote about her work. As the little girl drew the therapist made pretend speeches at psychology conferences and acceptance speeches for awards she would be given for her work.

Once she was done the little girl sat back in her seat. The therapist looked at the drawing and her insides curdled. Her blood felt frozen in place. It was as if looking at the drawing was slowly seeping black ooze into the crevices of her brain. She felt the urge to scream but held it in, allowing it to fester in her organs. She would vomit later recalling the drawing. Even after she took it and burned it, it was as if the drawing lingered, laughing at her.

The little girl was never seen again. The therapist claimed insurance issues but the truth is she wanted the little girl as far from her as possible.

She wondered if Yosemite National Park was hiring.

---

As Tiffany entered the hallway she felt the presence of someone else. She felt eyes on her, albeit briefly, so she pretended to not notice the man as he turned and walked away.

Then she felt the slow buzz, the thoughts creeping into her head.

Battered. Bruised. Broken.

She knew if she ignored it that it would get worse and grow and consume. She wasn't about to commit a felony, not yet at least, but she could pretend. She pretended every day. She pretended to be an ordinary citizen of this country. She pretended like she functioned normally, had normal thoughts, didn't think about jumping over every bridge she passed or running in front of a speeding car if for no other reason than to see if she could. Pretend like she could be just some person you passed that had an apartment she could barely aford while she worked some dead-end job that barely covered a grilled cheese sandwich let along the utilities she needed to ensure she could clean herself or not freeze to death in the middle of the night.

So she mumbled a curse under her breath, turned, and started to follow the man who did not ask for this, would never ask for this, and could very easily take her out or report her to the authorities depending on his mood. Let's just see where he goes. Maybe he is a serial killer and this will be easy or perhaps he is a father of two and a half kids and this will be less easy.

Either way, this day was getting dark.

Lamplight

I'll get one up tomorrow

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Sabine Bassard

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Location: Contest of Champions
Gear: N/A
Skills: Mental Enhancement

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Sabine looked at the situation growing more concerning before her. The Entity did not want help, but that did not mean it didn't need help. For all anyone knew, Dorian and Wiccan were trying to get out and whatever power was causing them to merge was taking over.

Sabine looked over to the others, all with varying levels of worry, concern, and fear. Her mind was so far from the fact this was still the Contest. She didn't care anymore. She wanted Dorian and Wiccan out safely.

April was especially worried. Her look towards Sabine said "do what you have to do". But could she? Was this a situation where she needed to intervene? Would Max approve if it meant saving his son? Or was the underlying fear of telepaths so strong that even he would tell her to stand down and not go near Dorian with her powers? The uncertainty of what she needed to do was like a cancer spreading through her body. She felt herself tremble and fought the urge to grab her wrist again.

The Entity reached out for Danni and Sabine again fought off the instinct to run in guns blazing to protect Danni. If Danni could get in then maybe Danni could reach Dorian and Wiccan and help them through this. Sabine had to let him try. Sabine looked over to Danni and sent a mental boost his way. He would feel it like a friendly warmth filling him up.

However, Sabine wasn't stupid. She was prepared to take this thing out if need be. If it so much as looked at Danni the wrong way, she would unleash hell. Consequences be damned.

Notes

Sabine is going to hold her action of Memory Manipulation against the Entity if it attacks.

Lamplight

@TokyoPewPew That works for me. It'll be interesting to see how that branches out.

I can post but I do want to wait for the others first. But if it takes too long I can get one out easy-peasy

Château de La Lune

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Millicent

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Location: Château de La Lune
Skills: N/A

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Millicent hadn't expected to find anything. If they did she was willing to bet it was a dead animal, perhaps a long lost beloved pet, or a casket from one of the many family members, or buried treasure. That all would have been fine. Perhaps they would have had a laugh at how silly it was to think that something else was buried here.

And then they saw the arm.

Millicent put down her shovel and was bent over, taking a few deep breaths as she did so. This was different now than Renee. She hadn't known Renee at all. Granted, she didn't wish the girl ill will. She certainly didn't wish her death, but she couldn't rouse any sympathy for someone she didn't know. There was the standard "oh loss of life of someone in general".

But she recognized the arm and she could not, would not bring herself to dig more. This was different now. Miguel was confirmed dead and his body was buried. Which means someone did that in a vain attempt to hide him. And that someone was still on here amongst them.

After taking some more deep breaths she stood up. People were in varying stages of freak out and she couldn't blame them. But it would not serve them to lose it. "Everyone, take some deep breaths, close your eyes, think about your favorite snack food or whatever, do what you need to do to not freak out because we need to be clear-headed about this. Renee's death was different. That could have been an accident, though I am inclined to not believe so. This was not. Someone attempted to hide this which means that person is still here. We are not safe. So get one with whichever deity you believe in because I, for one, am not going out without a fight."

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Sabine Bassard

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Location: Contest of Champions
Gear: N/A
Skills: N/A

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If you were to give Sabine 20 guesses as to what would have happened next she would first tell you how weird it is that you were giving her 20 guesses during all of this, but then there would be no way she could have forseen any of this.

First, April's face made Sabine even angrier. She didn't know how it had happened, if Hulkling had some mental abilities of his own or if her own power had reversed back to her, but either way she was growing tired of it. And she had hurt April as a result. She wanted to tell April no, it wasn't because she kissed her (though that needed to be revisited after all of this). But April, sweet April, had seemed to put it all togeher and....

Okay once may have been a fluke, but twice?

Sabine was stunned into silence, which was abnormal, but considering everything else that transpired after her mind stopped swimming, that was par for the course.

The arena was holding on by tatters, no one was fighting each other anymore, and to top it all off, some large being had manifested. Its body looked like the cosmos and it wasn't doing anything. That didn't mean they weren't in danger. Was this part of the other team's strategy? That seemed wildly unfair.

But then Sabine noticed the others were just as stunned, if not more so, by its appearance. Sabine looked around again, wondering what to do. Did they fight it? Was it friendly?

And then Leah spoke up. Whatever this thing was, it was Dorian. And Wiccan. Fused together.

Right, totally normal.

Was this wanted? Did Wiccan drag Dorian into this form? Did Dorian accidentally do something when trying to stop Wiccan and this happened? Sabine wanted to rush forward, intercept their minds, see if she can break them apart and stop whatever this was. She wanted to help, she needed to help.

And then she stopped.

She remembered Max's words. She remembered his kindness after she messed up badly with Casper. The hurt she saw in his eyes. In James'. And she remembered feeling disappointed in herself. Now was not the time to rush blindly. There did not seem to be a danger present. So Sabine walked towards the new entity. Slowly, at first. "If you two are in there, are you both safe? Do you need help?" This was a pointed question mainly to Dorian. She did not want to break his trust and assume control of him, but she was there if he needed her.