Forum Thread

The loud blare of Shion's outdated phone startled to blacksmith awake, causing them to yell in shock, falling over. Their stiff back popped in protest as they fumbled around to try and find the silence button on the phone. Once that was done, Shion rolled over with a groan and stretched out, feeling their muscles finally untangle themselves from the many knots that had formed overnight. Their whole body ached from the odd position they fell asleep in but Shion didn't particularly mind. Blacksmithing would hammer out the pain.

Checking the time, 4:00 am according to both the phone, the clock and the sun, Shion glanced over at the couch where the kid they had basically adopted at this point was still sleeping, undisturbed by the hellish wake up call. Lucky brat. Shoving the phone into the back of their baggy pants, Shion ambled into the forge and got the furnace started with a snap of their fingers, starlight falling from their fingertips like shooting stars. Working on warm up pieces, mostly bracers and pauldurons as they can easiest to them. They were so absorbed in their work that they didn't notice the passage of time. It was only when their phone once again loudly declared that they had a meeting to run to in 20 minutes that Shion finally looked up form their work, screeched loudly as if they were getting murdered, before dousing the flames and scrambling to be presentable. They had yet another meeting at the town hall about the fate of their beloved shop. Times were hard for them, but Shion wasn't about to give up on the building that housed him for his entire life.



Very poorly covering up a yawn, Queen adamantly kept sketching away at a piece of paper, finishing an outline of a building before roughly marking down some spots. He had stayed up for most of the night, drawing down onto paper what information he had gathered from his friend. Of course, half of the sheets he filled wasn't actually the floor plan itself but rather it was just studies of the gang members. No one needed to know that. His friend hadn't given him much to work with, however, only the rough plan of the entire first floor, the staff rooms, and the property itself and approximately where the security cameras and the guards were. Despite it all, Queen was more than confident that this would be enough for Roxy to at least acknowledge that he had done more than just loiter around the entrance before calling it a day. Rubbing his eyes with exhaustion, Queen blinked as his hand came away smudged with black. Great, he probably didn't remove his makeup after coming back and he probably didn't even set it properly the last time he even applied it. Gross.

Getting up from his seat, Queen took a shower under the permanently freezing water to freshen up, taking care to dry his hair into soft, fluffy, perfection before reapplying his makeup. Just some foundation, concealer, eyeliner and lip gloss, nothing too out there. He had to look naturally beautiful after all as he had an image to upkeep. High school had already permanently marred his face with barely perceptible stress lines and bags, so deepening them further with university wasn't very appealing. Also it just cost too much. Queen couldn't afford to go to post secondary even if he wanted to. Yawning again, Queen ambled back to his work station to finish up the diagrams before carefully placing them in a folder. Throwing on the coziest sweater he could find, a over sized grey pullover that reached down to the middle of his thighs, Queen slipped on a pair of innocuous reading glasses before heading out. First destination, a coffee shop. Dear god he needed his caffeine

---

She rubbed her eyes as she headed towards Town Hall. The sound of a few cars in the morning scared her. This wasn’t very usual for this place, it was usually bustling with noise (I don’t know if that’s grammatically correct and I don’t care), but in the mornings it was different. 2-3 am was the usual time for early workers to go to work, and 6 am was also the normal time. 4 am was weird. Nothing much was going on. Her walk to Town Hall was slow. She didn’t mind, she had plenty of time.

---

Roxy moves down the streets slowly, her hoodie covering her face. The hoodie has a large snarling wolf face on the back. She moves past her gang members houses. Opening their mailboxes she uses a bit of ice to write in a message on the buttom of the mailbox using her frost. Tonight they'll meet at an old warehouse, tomorrow they'll launch their attack at 4am. She places some heavy frost above the mailbox so they'll be forced to check inside. The message will melt in an hour when the day warms up, she hopes they read it beforehand. She glances around the streets, keeping an eye on everyone. They all seem to tired to even notice her

Kela splashed a cold stream of water on her face, breathing ragged, trying to drive from herself the last shreds of her nightmare. Pale eyes stared despondently at the mirror, haunted. Locks of her silky white hair stuck to her face where the water had splashed on it.

They haunt me. Kela thought to herself, wiping her face on a graciously soft towel folded on the shelf to her left. After she was finished using it, she tucked it back up again. I don’t even know why I keep seeing her. Them. I haven’t even spoken to them in twelve years.

The icy shock of the water helped to drive her disturbing dream to the back of her mind, where she could hopefully forget about it. Thank god you forgot dreams as you got older. Kela stumbled half-asleep back to her bed, with the alarm clock faintly glowing. The clock read 3:30. The waning half-hour of the witching hour. Not that she paid any mind; she was hardly superstitious. She tugged on some looser garments for today, a dress, a denim jacket, sunglasses, leather shoes. Sunglasses as well. As for weapons, she grabbed a small fruit-knife and a scalpel for peeling apples. The knife was sheathed and put into the inside of her jacket. Years of living as the daughter of a famed street fighter had taught her to never go unarmed. It only took one time for it to become fatal. Also since she was going to be staying outside in the shadows, nobody would notice.

The rest of the hotel-after a small ride in the elevator- was quiet enough for Kela to enjoy some peace of mind. She shivered slightly in the brisk morning air as she took in the sleeping city. Peaceful, for once. She went to go check the mail and was surprised to find that the box was quite cold. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that there was actually a message written in ice on the bottom. that she easily identified as Roxy’s. Any last shreds of wariness disappeared as she knelt down to read what was written.

Strolling away from the house with her bag, Kela began to plan out her day. The warehouse was a long walk away, but thankfully, she had time to stop by a local coffee shop and fetch a quick breakfast.

Finally at the safety of her house Roxy curls up on her bed with a map and some paper. She writes a few notes until tiredness takes over. The late night and early morning taking a toll on her. She falls back asleep.

Emerson and Louis watch people enter and leave the store, the day seemed to be moving by quite slowly today for them

With his daily dose of caffeine squired and the basic outline of the floor plan completed while I'm the café, Queen wandered back to his apartment to grab a bag to carry the folder and other miscellaneous items in. He'd be meeting up with his friend during her lunch break so he wanted to be prepared for that. As he approached his complex to fob himself in, Queen raised an eyebrow inquisitively at his frost covered mailbox. Popping it open, he quickly read the message before placing his hand on top of the ice, speeding up the melting process. He did the same to the frost covering his mailbox, his hand cold and numb after. Shivering slightly, Queen entered his building and quickly hurried up to his small apparent room. Grabbing a small tan leather bag, Queen placed the folder in the pouch along with a wallet, his keys, and a small baggie of plant seeds. A can of pepper spray joined in. He couldn't bring an actual weapon since he would be walking into the city hall later on, but pepper spray was an acceptable form of self defense. And if worst came to worse, he could use his keys or his elemental powers. Hopefully not the latter. He didn't want to bring too much attention to himself.

Throwing on slightly more socially acceptable clothing than just a sweater and shorts, Queen did a quick glance over at his appearance. The illusion of a shy but excited preppy nerd with a pastel aesthetic smiled back and Queen hooded satisfied. This was by far the best appearance to have for who he was going to meet. Completing his outfit by loosely tying his hair up into a ponytail, Queen grabbed his bag and headed out again, immediately slipping into character by binding over slightly and grasping the strap of his bag. He still had some time to kill before he needed to meet up with his friend so he took a sip of his coffee and contemplated what to do in the meantime

---

Sabrina woke up to a small bang. Something had fallen from her old shelf. She looked at the object and yawned. It was only a plastic decoration, nothing important. She looked around and decided she should get up early and do something. She got out of bed and stretched, her messy black hair falling behind her. She blinked a bit before proceeding to get her house clothes on and exit the room. She went to the kitchen to get herself a snack and occasionally looked out of the window while doing so. She noticed something... strange about the mailbox outside. Was that ice? She decided to go outside to check it out.

(I love how you guys write huge paragraphs and I’m here, having a very small paragraph XD)

---

"Hmmmph" Roxy lazily opens and closes her eyes. She should just stay in and sleep, she would need the energy soon. But she has members now, people were relying on her to have a plan. She could no longer blindly attack. As much as she wanted to trust her members, she couldn't. She picks up the map and studies it in her head. Marking every street. She would need to know if they could be ambushed by police and how to escape after all was said in done. She marks certain streets on her paper. She hides the two things under her mattress and takes to the streets again. This time she wears a normal hoodie so she won't alert police.

Taking a seat at a park bench, Queen drew his knees up, setting his feet up on the wooden seat. Sipping his coffee, he observed his surroundings with curiosity. He had picked a busy area, with a school kitty corner to a coffee shop. People of all ages clamored around the crosswalks and Queen shuffled over to make room for an elderly couple with a smile. Playing with the over-sized sleeves of his sweater, Queen picked a pen from his pocket before doodling aimlessly on his cup. First it was patterns, small vines and flowers growing along the paper cup, but they delved into a darker territory as Queen colored in the petals, crumbling them into dust as the healthy vines withered under harsh shading. Soon the cup had been transformed into a desolate wasteland, ravaged with no hope of repair and toxic beyond belief as a gas mask lay among the wreckage, cracked and useless. The doodling only stopped when the pen ran dry, digging trenches into ink saturated paper.

Sighing, Queen drained the rest of his now cold coffee, scrunching his nose at the slop of black caffeine that wiggled down his throat. With a cough, he dumped the empty cup into his bag, making a mental note to spray it down with a coat of gloss before washing out the cup and setting it with the whole array of coffee cup doodles he had. It was honestly becoming a problem, how many cups he had that were just lying around with nothing but doodles on them. Ah, perhaps another cup of coffee was needed. Queen's hands twitched with the need to simply do. Something. Anything. Curing over his knees, Queen startled to lightly bounce his leg, jostling his vision. His heart speed up, drumming a rhythm by his ear as the caffeine began to work through his body, a weak gurgle from his stomach and the screeching traffic accompanying the chaos. Leaning forward, Queen forgot that he was sitting on a bench and not a pillow as he usually would have been and tipped forward, accidentally tumbling onto the sidewalk with a startled squeak. A few people asked if he was okay and Queen laughed it off with a smile, the frames of his glasses digging into his skin. Picking himself back up and dusting off some pebbles from his pants, Queen gripped the strap of his bag once again and scuttled over to the café nearby.

Once he had ducked inside, Queen sighed and shuffled off to the side to see what he could get himself. His stomach whined again but so did Queen when he glanced at his purse noting the absence of shiny metal inside the delicate pouch. Of course he had a card and some bills on hand to pay for necessities like these but he'd rather not. Those could be saved for a later date. With a sigh, Queen pocketed the purse and looked at the menu. Maybe he could ease his mind by getting a bit more than usual, saving some for later, and gifting the rest to his friends. Hm, that actually didn't sound like such a bad idea

---

The cool air softly hit her face, causing her to flinch a bit. Weird, she didn’t usually do that. She looked at the almost empty streets before stepping on the sidewalk. The concrete felt smooth underneath her bare feet, a bit cold but she didn’t mind. She continued to take light steps toward the frosty mailbox. She stopped to look at her watch. She didn’t see the time before a blinding light was cast upon her from the streets. Was that a car? She looked up, her arm covering her eyes to shield them as she observed the cause.

---

Roxy stares at the multiple streets that lead toward the road where the town hall is. There are multiple roads that lead to this street, but all are surrounded by building. Three are really narrow, while two are large. Made for bikes and motorcycles. She walks over to one of the narrow roads and presses her hand against the concrete wall of the building. It's a bit cold, but as the day warms up the stone will become warm. She guesses that the stone should still be cold by 4 am. 'I'll have to build walls of ice here, that should slow down the police, but then I'll lack energy for the attack.' She nods to herself, coming to a decision. She'll have to take the risk of dealing with enemies without her full strength. The Timbers will need her to build the ice walls. She now has to decide where their escape point will be...

Alliana walked down the sidewalk to the town hall. She noticed a bit of frost on some of the mailboxes, but didn’t care much about them. She tried to walk as casually as possible, but it made her look even more suspicious.

Once the car was gone, Sabrina blinked a bit before taking a few more light steps to her mailbox. The frost made a message, but she could barely read it. Something about 4am and Town Hall? Maybe she could go...

---

This morning, Nesryn did not find herself being woken up by an alarm clock or by Shion gently shaking her shoulder alerting her that the day had begun. The ravenette jolted upwards from the couch, crumpling her blankets, as she heard a blood-curdling shriek from the forge room. It wasn’t the kind of cry someone would give if they were burned. But it certainly sounded like a great cry of shock. Along with that came the irritating beeping of Shion’s phone. Goodness, how long had she been asleep at this point?

Standing up fully, Nesryn stretched her mouth opening in a wide yawn. She was utterly bewildered to find Shion darting to every corner of the room, hands fluttering like frantic birds. Frowning, Nesryn raised her hand, and gently turning off the furnace, called out to Shion, “Excuse me, master Shion?”

Roxy walks down one of the narrow streets, finding that it's not as busy as the rest. It branches off down other streets. The few houses are probably younger people trying to sleep in. It would be a perfect escape point if the police don't crowd it first. She uses this street to walk towards the gang meeting point tonight. Mapping the streets in her mind as she passes by. Once she makes it to the old warehouse she decides to head back home. She'll need her sleep and her map. Now that she has an escape route planned they can attack without too much worry.

Cursing under their breath, Shion shucked off their apron and threw it into a corner along with their gloves. When Nesryn finally spoke up, small sparks of starlight crackled from their form. Shion had completely forgotten to wake their apprentice up and groaned at that. "Yes Nesryn?" They finally acknowledged after a few tense seconds of them berating themselves internally. "And how many times have I told you to just call me Shion?" Shuffling around to wash their hands quickly, ducking their head under the torrent of water to at least clean some of the grime from the rats nest that served as their hair, Shion quickly dried themself off. It wasn't like they actually taught Nesryn anything worthwhile, they thought bitterly hanging up the towel by the sink before turning to give their apprentice their undivided attention.

---

"Well this is boring" Emerson says for the fifth time within the hour. "I'm surprised we haven't gotten as many people today, it seemed busier yesterday"
"Well it only seemed busy because we had a lot of work to do in the meantime" Louis points out. He glances out the window towards Shion's shop. "Why don't you go see how he is doing? It's been awhile since we checked up on his shop" Louis tells Emerson. The two like to keep in contact with Shion just out of genuine interest. Emerson nods agreeably and quickly leaves, glad to finally have something to do.

Roxy finally makes it back. She works on mapping the route on her map. After that she glances over at her notes which is filled with info about her gang members. She decides it's too risky have something like this and she burns it with a match. She'll have to stick with mental notes for now.
(Oof don't know about you guys but I've been so busy lately)

[mood. School is busy ah]

[Ascelin Averon]

A wraith of a shadow ghosted behind the warehouse's windows, her black cloak hissing across the floor like a serpent and thousand whispers. The shadow looked vaguely humanoid, though most passerby did not bother to look inside to the warehouse's inhabitant. Cold golden eyes that glowed like ancient suns scanned the warehouse as Ascelin Averon kept her eyes open for any newcomers. Quite frankly, the 'shadowsinger' as people liked to call her, was a decent mystery. Some referred to her as a wraith and a freak, something out of this world. Which was absurd. Ascelin was as human as the rest of society. Not any more human, not any less. But even out of this, Ascelin kept to herself, avoiding crowds and other company. She was a cynical, cold persona that pushed people away more than they got to know her. Actually, it might actually be a mystery how this shadowy fae even got to know Roxy.

(──) Song Hushh by AvIvA

[Nesryn]

Nesryn blinked a bit, taking half a step back at how irritated and how startled her father figure appeared to be this morning. Usually the green haired male was much more on his feet, but whatever happened this morning was keeping him more uptight than a rabbit near a fox hole. Clearly, sneaking up on him wasn't helping. She shifted from foot to foot, trying to keep up a calm front, "Oh yeah, uh Shion. I'm sorry." She nodded at Shion's phone and the door, "I don't know if I should be coming with you to this meeting or staying at the forge." She didn't want to screw up this meeting for her mentor; Gods, this was a big day!

She gently leaned against a nearby couch which was covered by a cloth the color of gold and sunshine. Her abilities held up well, despite Shion hanging himself up for being a lousy teacher, Nesryn would beg to demur. The green-haired male had done so much for her in the four years that they had been together. She cocked her head, "I could help work on cleaning up?" Watching him patiently, her own baby blue eyes facing his bright magenta fuschia eyes, the ten-year-old girl waited for his response

(──) Song Flowers by The Tech Thieves

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Shion sighed, running a hand through damp locks. Taking a moment to both calm themself down and consider the question that Nesryn posed, Shion ultimately shrugged. "Well, its your choice. You're old enough to decide for yourself what you want to do." They replied, pulling their hair into a ponytail. Their eyes darted around before locating their nicer clothes thrown lazily into a corner. Grabbing the large cotton coat, Shion brushed off any dust and dirt before throwing it over their shoulders.

Seeing that their apprentice was still slightly spooked from their earlier demeanor, Shion placed a gentle hand over Nesryn's head, lightly mussing the girl's hair. "You're a good kid, y'know. Try and think about your own future before deciding, okay?" Although it was slightly strained, Shion pulled on the best smile they could. Although they weren't sure it would do any good in reassuring....

---

Seeing that the shop is sill closed, Emerson leans against the door as she waits for the store to open up. She glances towards Louis's shop to see him watching her through the window. She turns her head at an angle so her hair falls into her face. She does this to hide a small smile, she likes that Louis is protective of her, even though she is much stronger

Roxy dozes on and off. Snapping awake and falling asleep countless times

(Only edited one sentence so it fits the context better)

She shrugged it off, not really caring about any of this. She wiped the message off the mailbox and looked around. She decided to check out one of the weaponries, see if she could do something interesting today. She sighed before heading back inside to grab her shoes. She needed to change, too, but she could do that after she packed up. She had a small chill down her back that told her something would happen today, and she would need to be prepared. She smacked herself in the forehead as she approached her door. What was she thinking? Putting her shoes on before she changed? Wow, she was stupid. She lowered her head and slowly shook it, tempted to laugh at herself for her stupidity. She opened the door and walked inside, stupidly smiling at herself.

Alliana looked at her watch, then back at the roof of Town Hall. Something was missing... did she forget to bring something, or even do something? She couldn’t remember if she had or not, but she just stood there on the sidewalk. She snapped out of it when someone bumped into her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a man walking away. Her eyes narrowed as she considered turning around and asking why he was rude. After all, there was another foot of sidewalk left to walk around her. She sighed as she continued on her way.

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