Silver Carrot

Heroes Rise: Paragon City

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Julia Kray

Location: Paragon City Academy, Riverside, Paragon City
@Tally Dor@Nallore

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Julia got off the bus, paying her fare with the smallest bill she had which was still $10. She told them to keep the change. Here she was, at the academy. She stopped and checked her reflexion in the reflection of a building's window. She made some adjustment to her hair so that she now looked 'casual yet presentable'. Julia had already formulated her plan while on the bus. She was now Bridget, a friend of Julia Crane. A name that was only one consonant sound away from hers felt too close for comfort so she really had to condition her brain and essentially self-hypnotize herself. For the next few minutes, her name was Bridget.

Bridget approached the entrance to the school and buzzed the reception. After getting let in, she approached the school's front desk.

"Excuse me. I need to speak to a student called Madalyne Crane. I'm a friend of her mother's. Could I trouble you to pass on the message that Bridget needs to speak to her?"

"Certainly. Please wait here."

The receptionist left to go to the classrooms. As she waited, Bridget felt that chill again, and her instincts screamed danger. She was familiar with signs by now. So, the Monster was likely somewhere in the school too. Sooner or later, their paths were going to cross. Julia needed to find Madealyne first. The receptionist eventually came back.

"I'm sorry. She appears to be playing truant. Some of her friends saw her catch a bus at the beginning of lunch."

Bridget immediately shifted tacks with this new information. She pinched her nose and sighed as if this was the answer she had been expecting.

"I knew it. Thanks for your help. Need to call Julia now and let her know she's doing it again."

Bridget grumbled as she turned and left the school. Outside, Julia walked to the bus stop on her side of the road, studied the timetable, then crossed the road and looked at that timetable. Between 12 and 12:30 there was a bus that went to Paragon Bay Quay, and a bus that went to Little Asia. The former was quite the distance away and had very few, if any, budget lunch options. It was a more place for sit-down restaurants. At least, that's how it had been fifteen years ago. She couldn't rule it out entirely but it was much more likely that a high schooler playing truant at lunchtime would go to the cheap fast food haven that was Little Asia. And there was another bus in ten minutes. Julia had a little time to kill so she walked to a nearby row of shops and entered what seemed to be a phone shop. She was always going to have to buy a phone. My as well tick it off the list now. Besides, she'd likely need it once she got to Little Asia. The trail would likely run cold there without any kind of search engine or map app. Technology really was an amazing thing.

Return of a Failed Generation

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@Rune_Alchemist

Watching Isana's fight against Argenta, Sherry noted that Isana's skills were much, much sharper than they should have been. And she was fighting dirty. Sherry knew it. They'd all come back, and Isana was no longer a mere student but a soldier. Several other Klaides members challenged Noble class students too. Sherry leaned forward with interest when Ophelia walked down to the center of the arena. She'd never paid the weak, sickly girl any mind. They never crossed paths later in life and even after Sherry's arrest, Ophelia wasn't one of the few who ever visited her half-sister.

She was stunned to silencewhen Ophelia pointed to her and called out her name. There was laughter. Sherry still had the reputation of a talented student, after all. This match, to most students, was an unfair foregone conclusion. But Sherry knew full well that she was out of practice. While the rest of her family were fighting, Sherry deserted her first battle without crossing swords with a single foe. She spent the remaining years of her past life in captivity of some form or other.

Sherry wordlessly made her way down to the arena with a cold, determined look on her face, and pulled a longsword from the rack. Ophelia knew her half sister to be one to passive-aggressively gloat and never missed a chance to belittle others. But right now, Sherry was focused, and was taking Ophelia very seriously.

Ophelia wasn't sure what to make of Sherry's silence. She had expected some boastful words. Mockery. Something, and yet...there was nothing. Well, it didn't matter to her. She held no love for Sherry or whatever it was she was going through. She only had one thing on her mind. Victory.

"I expected derision or some sort of mockery." Ophelia walked over and picked up her own weapon. It wasn't her Estoc, but a Rapier would do just fine. "Instead, all I'm getting is silence." The up til now quiet, meek, and objectively timid girl turned to face her opponent, words laced with cold derision. "Whats the matter, sister? Where is all that confidence and boasting? Or are you scared this sick little girl is going to make everyone see how pathetic you actually are?" Ophelia testing the weight of her blade, satisfied with its performance as she'd point it towards Sherry. "Well, since you do seem to be scared...I guess I'll let you have the first strike."

An irritated grimace flash on Sherry's face for a brief moment. She didn't like being talked down to, insulted or ridiculed. Sherry didn't expect any of that to have come from Ophelia's mouth. Even if she was rusty, Sherry remembered how talented she used to be around this age. She should still be able to win this fight. Sherry grit her teeth and then charged. She decided to feel out Ophelia's skill with a thrusting weapon by slashing up at her diagonally.

Ophelia took a deep breath as Sherry approached. She hadnt fought Sherry before in her previous life. She had never a reason too, so she wasnt entirely used to her fighting style. What she could tell, though, is that she definitely wasnt as skilled as some demons, or hell, even as some of her peers. She had already braced herself by the time Sherry had made her first strike. Ophelia backstepped, deftly avoiding the simple slash. This was followed by a powerful thrust right towards Sherry midsection and was followed through by immediately going on the offensive, pressing forward and making a series of quick, precise thrusts at Sherry's shoulders and one aimed towards her neck.

Sherry just about managed to block the first thrust with muscle memory, and was being forced back by the subsequent attacks. Something was very off. Even if Sherry was more bark than bite, a Noble class student should be better than this. Her movements were fine, but there was no....sense of combat. The sudden thrust to a vital area caused Sherry to flinch, stumble backwards and just about catch herself from falling on her rear.

Sherry steeled herself. She could sense she was fighting a seasoned veteran of many fights. Meanwhile Sherry was still trying to climb up to the level of confidence and capability she had when she was nineteen. The original Sherry from this day would have been putting up a better fight. It was embarrassing. Everyone else had gotten stronger from the effort of playing their part in the war while she rotted in prison. Sherry alone was the Klaides child who'd been left behind.

No. She was always one of the most gifted. She needed to trust in her talent and instincts. Letting her body's muscle memory take over, Sherry lunged forward and crossed blades. Thrusting weapons only have one single point that can hurt you. The rest of the blade is otherwise just a rod. Sherry stepped into close quarters and aimed an elbow at Ophelia's ribs.

It was true. Thrusting swords did have a more limited range of movement, but she had long since learned to compensate for it. The edges were still sharp, if not as sturdy. It was clear, too, that despite everything Sherry was definitely still physically stronger and possibly, faster than her. Each clash or challenge of blades left her arm stinging with numbness and pain. However, what Sherry lacked, now, was experience and it was easy enough to read her half-sisters movements. Her movements? Easy to read, and when one was as weak as Ophelia was...one had to take every advantage they could get. Being short rarely had its advantages...but now, It meant Sherry had to aim down a little to actually hit her with her elbow. So...Ophelia merely ducked slightly right under the blow, twirling elegantly to Sherry's non-dominant side, one hand on the hilt of her blade and the other on the pommel. As the spinning maneuver came to an end, with any luck, her rapier would be planted firmly in Sherry's neck.

The moment Sherry registered that the blade was causing her pain, she recoiled violently. The change in her eyes was drastic. She looked equal parts terrified and haunted, yet there was a vacancy, as if her consciouness had retreated like a tortoise hiding in its shell. Her sword arm went limp and swung to her side in defeat, but she didn't concede verbally. It took her an uncomfortably long few seconds to return to the land of the living.

"I yield"

Heroes Rise: Paragon City

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Julia Kray

Location: The Melting Pot, Eastern Nighthaven, Paragon City
@Tally Dor@Nallore

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The moment she heard the sirens, Julia put the letters back. She had all the informationshe needed. Though she still smelled the same scentof blood as the warehouse, it was no longer fresh. Nobody had been hurt inside that house. She still couldn't escape the feeling that there was killing intent directed at her. As she thought, that monster could sense her. She'd need to be careful going forward. She hoped the approaching police would deter a confrontation.

Julia gave her (fabricated) statement to the police. That she'd seen a tall figure with white skin and face tattoos in the area in passing. Hopefully that would line up with other people's testimonies and they'd be satisfied. She was thankfully correct and the police left Julia alone. The killing intent and smell of blood were both gone. Whick meant that there wasn't going to be a fight. It also meant that the monster had found a lead that Julia had no access to. Theonly lead she currently had was Madelyn's school. With nothing else to go on, Julia began walking in the direction, keeping an eye out for any bus stops. She could likely scurry there as fast as a bus, factoring in the stop time, but she wanted to conserve her energy.

Return of a Failed Generation

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The carriage ride had been uncomfortable. Sherry only realised after seeing her brother that she did remember this day. She remembered making multiple barbs about Vincent's outfit in this very coach. His telltale squirming only egged her on. She was getting to him and hurting him, and that felt good. Now, there was no innocence in his expression left. His dress sense had also massively improved. He seemed like the jaded grown up he had been the last time they ever shared words. The day he visited her cell several weeks after her capture. If she recalled right, they had screamed at each other with nothing but seething vitriol for each other's position and actions. And now, the next thing she ever heard from her brother was....asking if she was okay. What the hell was she meant to say to that?

She wanted to ask him. She wanted to confirm her growing suspicions. He might have also returned to this time period. And if it was true for the two of them, maybe that was also the reason for Estelle's changes from Sherry's memories. Maybe every single one of the Klaides children had come back. But she wasn't prepared to discuss or address anything that had happened. She wanted to pretend it was just a bad, prophetic dream. She felt her stomach churn just thinking about talking about that last fight. Actually conversing about it would defeninitely give her a second panic attack. And in this carriage, there'd be no way to run this time.

So she sat in silence. No snide remarks. No passive aggressive jabs. No attempt at small talk. No thanks. She stared out the window as if she was in the carriage alone. She hadn't seen the city this peaceful for a very long time. It was amazing what you could take for granted and never realise it. Sherry always saw the Collagem as an opportunity to climb the social and heirarchal ladder. But now she saw it differently. It was an opportunity to not just prepare herself for the turbulent future, but help prepare the entire country. To do this, she needed to cultivate her image and reputation. And that didn't just mean turning everything around but also using every advantage she had with the way things stood at the moment. She began sorting through events in her past. What has already happened? What will happen soon? What won't happen for a while? What could she change? What could she take advantage of?

Sherry went through the motions. She paid no attention to the boring speeches. She had no interest in the Class Challenge. She was already Noble Class. Her demotion didn't happen for another two years, and this time, it won't happen at all. At nineteen years old, she was probably the strongest she would ever be in her life as her lack of effort or training took its tool on her performance the more she coasted off her innate talent. She had never awakened at all in her past life. This time, she was going to.

When Vincent, who was sitting beside her,raised his hand and volunteered for the class challenge, Sherry couldn't keep the smile from her face as she looked up at him. If he met her eyes, he'd see something he'd never have seen on her face before;

Pride in him.