☀ The Last Defense ☀ no longer accepting! ☀

[SunnyJustice]

Parlando had never seen his roommate this way. Kevin wasn't outright crying or anything, but his change in demeanor was enough cause for concern. It honestly worried Pearl, and now he felt awful bringing up this subject in the first place. Everybody had suffered because of the Hellborn. They were just kids, and already they had their parents, their friends, their old lives stripped away like they were nothing.
"Sorry about that, man," Pearl said in a gentler tone, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's talk about something else. Hmm... Lawrence and I used to live beside a glowing forest. The moss was like a blanket on the ground, and every night after the sun lamps turned off, the moss carpet in the forest would glow this light blue color. The same stuff was draped over branches in the trees and it also grew up their trunks."
"Once, I made a lamp for Lawrence using the moss. I captured some in a jar and poked holes in the top, then wrapped it in wrapping paper. The moss grew so fast, though, it grew up through the holes. When she opened the present, the entire inside of the box was a huge cube of glowing moss!"
Hopefully that could take his mind off the horrible topic with the Hellborn. "What do you think is the most beautiful place in Darkhaven, Kevin?"

* Tags: Kevin & Ant

---

As soon as Ember responded to his question, Rowan stood up and bowed his head in acknowledgement. He smiled gently at both girls and began to walk backwards. It was only respectful to give the friends some alone time. After all, that was what Ember wanted.
"I'll be with my other patient in the next room," He told them. "Please call me if you need anything. I'll be right over."
"I can cook you two a meal if you get hungry," Rowan offered. He stopped himself before he could list off a thousand things he could do for them. Rowan did have a caretaker instinct, but sometimes he forgot he wasn't everybody's mother.
With a smile, he excused himself from the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Ondine's room was next door. He knocked on her door, disappointed to receive no response, and entered to see his best friend still laying unconscious in her bed. He walked over and sat beside her in silence.
It had been two weeks, but Rowan still hung onto the hope that she would wake up today. He told himself that every day.

* Tags: Ember & Rain, then Ondine

[hellb0und]

❛ ( ☾. // ＤＥＭＥＴＲＩＡ！) ❜

but my taste in music is your face !!

"21 questions? Sounds interesting," I couldn't recall ever playing the game. Regardless, a bit of fun was needed. It was probably better than just exchanging questions back and forth for hours since that'd get boring pretty quickly. When he started rambling, I had to stifle a chuckle. "Of course I want to play, Kit!" I exclaim, awkwardly punching his arm as I did so. After I did it, I realized how random the gesture really was. "Sorry, that was weird. Well, I'll start. What was your family like?" Once my question was asked, I had only hoped I didn't sound insensitive. Talking about family was a pretty bad topic for most, so maybe making that my first question wasn't the best idea. "God, sorry, that was such a bad question. I don't blame you at all if you hate me," I groan, shaking my head at myself.

❛ ( 🔥. // ＬＡＷＲＥＮＣＥ！) ❜

she carried ice in her heart and hellfire in her eyes.

I'd fallen in and out of sleep for quite some time. Using the few passing seconds between my short naps to listen for my name being called by Alder as he tried to find where I was hiding. Though when I did hear my name once more, it didn't come from who I'd expected. I sprung up when I heard Parlando sharing a story about the two of us when we still lived relatively normal lives, knocking over something as I did so. It hit the ground with a powerful thud. I stared at it momentarily before growling, picking it up and throwing it back against the wall. I didn't care how I looked randomly coming out of the supply closet, which was clear considering the door that was once shut flew open after I'd given it a rough push. I stared at the three of them with a cold glare, though it notably softened when landing on Parlando.

(Ack, I had planned on posting yesterday but wasn't feeling well. These aren't anything great, really just wanted to get something up.)

[honeybee.]

Lieutenant Liv Brie//18//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Xia;Eletha:Runt;Commander Alder
Liv chuckled at Alder's awkwardness towards Eletha. He patted her head as if she was a puppy. "Here Eletha," Liv said, showing her the list before handing it back to Alder. "We're just making sure the teams are fair." She told her, "I've made sure that you lot are all on my team."
She nodded as the Commander discussed the formation of the powers. "We'll have to keep a close eye on everyone." She told him, "We can't have anyone getting into an argument with each other and ending up setting the other person on fire."
Her attention was drawn back to Xia and Runt's fight when shards of floor started flying everywhere. After rolling her eyes at Alder's growl, dogs were supposed to growl; people were not, she nodded. "I'll get Runt to jump on it until it's flat." She told him.
The fact that the commander did most of the food preparation was pretty much a win-win situation. Although Liv could cook basically without setting anything on fire, she doubted anyone would particularly enjoy her meals and she'd much rather be watching the trainees. Alder's food ,on the other hand, was pretty good and the kitchens gave him an escape from the trainees whenever he seemed to be particularly impatient. "Try not to destroy anything else ,Runt!" She called as The Commander left.

Ant Lithorn//16//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Parlando;Kevin
Ant agreed with Pearl's words about dying for humanity. "We can't do an Acacia." He added, "There would be no one else to fall back on."
He nodded as Parlando spoke about the Hellborn's probably waiting for longer. Ant definitely thought they would wait, try to plan their attack before coming again. That was the only reason they could be optimistic success.abouttheir
"The real sun." Ant repeated, slightly dreamily. Ant had always dreamt of seeing the sun and feeling it's warmth. This giant ball of flame that sat in the sky and meant that life was possible may as well have been a legend as far as he had seen.
Seeing Kevin's distracted state Ant felt slightly guilty, his initial ideas about a Hellborn attack had been slightly depressing, although it hadn't seemed as if Kevin had heard anything after the question so maybe his words hadn't made a difference.
He was relieved when Pearl changed the subject and chuckled at his story about the moss. "Have you ever seen the sunflowers at the palace?" He asked them both, "I saw the when I took Aaron and I've never seen anything grow so tall!"

[passione]

ＴＨＥ ＬＵＸＥＮ ＸＹＲＣＡＮＳ
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[ training caves ] - [ soon to be speed / photokinesis / telekinesis ] - [ crossbow / crossbow / longbow ]
[ tags - sherlyn, giovanni / sherlyn, giovanni / sherlyn, giovanni ]
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You see, Ryker and Naevys wouldn't have expected Evren to literally come out and confess. Or come out of his... Shell? Come out of the closet? They just didn't expect him to come out. They remained silent as Giovanni left after their brother, staying next to Sherlyn as if she would have an answer as to what the hell was going on right now.

"Please don't ask. We're as confused as you are. At least I am."

"I know what's going on, but I won't say anything to spare my brother some humility which I am... Fairly sure he still has."

Evren was more silent per usual. Definitely more silent. He avoided Giovanni's gaze, casting his own toward the ground. "Hey... I... I dunno." Evren didn't have much to say to Giovanni, especially after that whole gay ordeal. "It's not that easy... I always try not to care... And it looks like I don't but I do and whenmyfeelingsarethereIcan'tstopthinkingandcaringaboutitbutnooneknowsthat!"

ＭＡＬＬＩＵＳ ＴＡＶＲＩＮＴＨ
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[ training caves ] - [ soon to be astral projection ] - [ rapier ] - [ tags - tyde ]
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Alas, a familiar face. Why did it feel like Mallius knew Tyde was going to approach? It wasn't his intuition or anything like that since intuition was something Mallius lacked. Maybe he was just able to sense Tyde and only Tyde. That boy had some sort of weird energy to him, after all. Mallius had spent so long with him, his aura had just become distinct. He couldn't even sense auras and he just knew when Tyde was near.

"Gee, so much for being best friends," Mallius retorted with a hint of amusement in his tone. "How are you on this fine morning, Logan?" He didn't call Tyde by his last name often. Mallius usually just went with Ty or Tyde, maybe 'Ocean-boy' every once in a while. However, they were on such good terms that they could call each other Buttface and it would go without offense.

ＲＥＩＤＵＮ ＯＬＳＥＮ／ＸＩＡ ＡＲＧＯＮ
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[ training caves ] - [ aura manipulation ] - [ trident ] - [ tags - eletha, liv, runt ]
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Xia didn't even blink twice at what Runt had said. She was confused, but alert. "Was... Was that supposed to be an insult toward Zelkova...?" At least the aura manipulator could now see that Runt wasn't following a pattern at all. There was an upside and a downside to this. Since Runt wasn't following a fighting pattern, her moves couldn't be anticipated very easily. However, this meant Runt wouldn't be pulling off any combos Xia couldn't defend against. Nice.

The floor came up in splinters which caused Xia to flinch. She wouldn't be giving her opponent the upper hand, though. "I think..." She stopped to take a short breath before continuing. "Beating bad people could give you that effect... Although... You wouldn't be gaining any extra inches from me...!" Xia brought up her trident in an attempt to block Runt's punch but realized that it wouldn't be enough. Xia couldn't just defend. She had to retaliate. There was no way Xia could simply block a punch from someone as strong as Superman. Bending her knee, Xia proceeded to launch a kick to Runt's abdomen, gathering her energy in that area to project out the way she had attacked Wayne earlier. But just a bit.

[DetectiveLunar]

Sherlyn "Sher-sher" Hernandez//Female//16//Tags:Luxen Xyrcan brothers (She's just like: Well WTH are they doing?!)

Sherlyn nodded,"I won't ask and I don't want to know what's going on if it humiliates him." She said kindly and looked at Giovanni who was now next to Evren trying to cheer him up. "What do you mean you don't know?" Giovanni asked kindly. "You should know if you're ok or not...You are you after all." He told Evren in a friendly tone,trying to possibly get him to cheer up. "It's ok if you feel upset. Everyone has their ups and downs in life. You just have to ignore and get past the downs and you know...Live you're happy life. People are here in case you need them,Evren." Gio started to get to deeper meanings,trying to get Evren to understand that it's ok. "It's ok.." He told him assuringly. "Some people don't understand but there will always be at least a few or one person who does understand. The person you can tell you're problems to. Like I said,Evren,people are here in case you need them and they'll help you. Just like.." He then said quietly,"Just like Incase you need me." He smiled slightly. "I'll listen to you and I'll help you."

(:3 You're daily dose of Giovanni x Evren! Ok goodbye!! XD So emotional!!)


Giovanni "Gio" Persad//Male//15//Tags:Lieutenant
(Look at Sherlyn's post)

Sage Moonstone//Female//14//Power:Teleportation//Tags: Aerissa

Sage simply nodded and got out of the pool. Her hair was soaking wet which bothered her. Her clothes uncomfortably stuck onto her skin and she felt cold. Well that's just how it is when you get out of the pool. She thought to herself and looked back at Aerissa,waiting for her. She grabbed her hair and started to pull her hands through it trying to get the water out so she wouldn't feel so uncomfortable. Now her hair felt damp and weird but again she was just in the pool. She tried to ignore how uncomfortably wet she was and waited for Aerissa to get out.

Kevin "Flower Boy" Fernandez//15//Male//Tags:Ant & Parlando

"I-It's ok guys.." Kevin said quietly to them even though he was looking at the ground. His gaze shifted from the ground to Parlando when he started telling his little story. He smiled and giggled a bit. "That's a lot of moss." He said like a little child stating the obvious. "Was she mad that there was a bunch of moss?" He asked him quietly. "It seems like you might have had to throw it away..You know..Since there was so much moss.." He didn't really know what to say. When Parlando asked Kevin what the most beautiful place in Darkhaven was he replied with,"I don't know. If it has flowers or plants I like it."

[SunnyJustice]

A smile came to Parlando's face. This was a much more uplifting subject that wouldn't make people upset. There would come time for serious conversations about the future of humanity. Free period before lunch wasn't exactly the right time.
"I went there to see the garden once," Pearl told Anthony with a warm chuckle. "Nearly broke my neck looking up at the sunflowers- I swear their height puts the Jin family to shame."
He smiled at Kevin and finished the moss story.
"Well, we had fun destroying it afterwards. She turned it into a fireball- much more effective than the original lamp." Pearl chuckled. "I never knew striking metal against rock could start a fire. But I called her Fire Girl for a good reason. To be honest, I think fire is the most beautif-"
He stopped in his tracks as he heard loud crashing. Instinctively he braced himself, standing protectively between the other boys and the noise. He breathed a sigh of relief when his friend appeared. She looked ticked off though- had they interrupted something?
"You alright, Wildfire?" Pearl asked, calm but with concern in his eyes.

* Tags: Anthony, Kevin, Lawrence

---

"Yes mom!" Runt shouted over her shoulder at Olivia. The puppylike warrior hadn't exactly understood what needed to be done. She just knew she would do it.
... After this totally awesome buttkicking showdown of course!
Insult? Runt didn't understand the heck Xia was saying. Not because Xia was being cryptic, but because Runt herself was simply too simple. Extra inches? What'd I say? Some height stuff...
"Quit trying to confuse me!!" Runt laughed. "Turn off your smart person psychic powers!!"
She had no freakin idea whether her punch connected or not, but suddenly she flew backwards and landed on her butt. She hadn't thought about something important. Despite gaining super-strength, her weight was still the same.
"You SHORT little punk!" Runt shouted, then burst out laughing for obvious reasons. She just didn't make any sense. The girl crawled back onto her feet and charged forward, but tripped over the ruined floor. The floor she had wrecked. Runt wasn't quite sure which way was up at this point. She was kind of upside down in the rubble.
"I can fight you from here," She insisted, putting her fists up- or down. "Come at me!!"

* Tags: Xia & Liv, other watchers

---

Satisfied with the situation, Alder let the storage door close behind him. His thoughts turned to the teenagers as he walked down the corridor. It was fortunate that Olivia, the brains behind the operation, was present as his voice of reason.
It wasn't that the kids were inherently bad. Surprisingly, Alder did believe in humanity as a whole. He just... wasn't much of a parental type. All the commanders past had been motherly. They were protective mother to their trainees, to their soldiers, to all of humankind.
Or, at least, how 'motherly' was usually defined.
Alder felt a suffocating tightness in his chest as he pictured his own mother. Not the heartache of grief, rather an echo of old panic from his childhood days.
He remembered her in vivid images. The sharp eyes, glaring daggers of cold fire. The foxlike jaw, clenched in rage. Alder had learned to recognize his mother's anger even before the shouting began.
As brutish and violent as Alder could be, he hoped he wasn't becoming like his mother. Deaf to reason, blind to compassion. Life wasn't worthwhile without love in his heart.
Despite everything, He reminded himself, I still love humankind.
Those thoughts didn't sound entirely like him... but they were still somehow his own.

As the light left the final Hellborn's eyes, the heroine exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. A tranquil quiet had fallen over the fields. There was only silence where she once heard the echoing heartbeats of all humanity.
Silence. Not even her own heartbeat.
She was somehow not concerned by this. It was time to lay her fight to rest. This felt only natural, like heading to bed after a long, long day. Something to welcome and not to worry. An exhausted smile spread across her face- she had smiled more today than in her entire life.
Despite everything, humanity still stands.
That is all that matters.
My brother...
If I see you again, I want you to know.
I have no regrets.
You'll know where to find me.
She began walking, spear in hand. She knew exactly where she was going.
You know I always loved the sunflowers, Alder.

It was like a sword through his heart- so sudden and jarring, it took him a moment to comprehend what happened. All the other times, he was in an irrational rage when her flashbacks appeared. He had witnessed her die in so many ways, brought back by... her love and faith in humanity, or humanity's love and faith in her. Alder understood now.
This memory was different. He had never been able to reach anything that happened after... after the last demon was struck down. That was the moment humanity's spirit left her.
Alder once thought of it as abandonment. She had outlived her usefulness, and humankind didn't need her anymore. So they would discard her like a broken toy. He told himself this, using it as an excuse to hate everything.
Somehow, this excuse didn't measure up.
It was love, not hate, that led to humanity's victory. Their heroine was not an one-woman army. All of humankind, the fallen and those still living, all of them united together to make this possible. She was the vessel of their combined willpower- she was determined enough to handle the responsibility.
The Hellborn fought with hate. Humanity won with love.
It made Alder wonder about his own willpower.
The Commander calmly opened the doors to the kitchen, then locked them after he entered. Silent tears were falling from his eyes and he didn't know why. Maybe he left the onions out earlier.

[darcy_jensen]

✦ A E R I S S A ✦
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[seventeen] [bisexual] [water manipulation] [tags; sage]

with a gentle sigh, aerissa clambered out of the pool and grabbed the towel she'd brought. wrapping it around her long, blonde hair, the teenager flashed a smile towards sage, before noticing her uncomfortable expression. "are you okay?" she asked softly, frowning as she examined the girl's appearance. with a chuckle, ari realised that the younger girl was probably cold, only to be increased by her damp clothing and soaking hair. biting her lip in concentration, she raised her hand towards sage, focusing on the droplets of water that lay in the fabric of her bathing suit. "come on," she muttered quietly, stretching her arm further in front. a look of wonder and excitement graced aerissa's features as the water separated itself from sage's clothes and wobbled in the air, glimmering in the artificial light. she then moved her attention to the girl's brown hair, pulled up into a soaking wet high ponytail. fuelled by her newfound confidence, ari managed to extract the water from sage's hair as well. with a grunt, she moved the water to hover above the pool that the pair had just occupied, and let it fall down with a delicate splash.

throwing an excited grin towards her friend, ari began to walk back towards the entrance to dry off and change before rejoining with the others. "so to answer your earlier question," she laughed in delight, turning back to face sage, "my power seems to be water manipulation."

[honeybee.]

Lieutenant Liv Brie//18//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Xia;Eletha:Runt;Commander Alder

{...}"Here Eletha," Liv said, showing her the list before handing it back to Alder. "We're just making sure the teams are fair." She told her, "I've made sure that you lot are all on my team."{...}

Liv snorted when Runt called her 'mom' after she told her not to destroy anything. She didn't consider herself the most motherly of sorts so being called mom cracked her up. Runt's enthusiasm was limitless. Liv shook her head as Runt ended up tripping over the floor she had ruined, trying desperately not to laugh.

Ant Lithorn//16//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Parlando;Kevin
Just thinking of the height of the beautiful palace sunflowers made Ant smile, "We'll have to take you to see the sunflowers if you haven't seen them yet!" He told Kevin, "You'd love them."
Ant couldn't help but laugh at Parlando's sudden gushing about Lawrence. He'd never really had a conversation with her, but he was sure that if Pearl loved her that much she must be awesome. It appeared that he'd be finding out whether this was true pretty soon.
When he heard the crash and then a girl, glaring at them stonily, emerged from the supply cupboard Ant was just the tiniest bit terrified. When Pearl called her 'Wildfire' and he realised who it was Ant sighed in relief.
"I thought we were about to get murdered for a moment there." He whispered softly to Kevin.

[hellb0und]

❛ ( 🔥. // ＬＡＷＲＥＮＣＥ！) ❜

she carried ice in her heart and hellfire in her eyes.

I managed to catch the last bit of the story. Finishing it with one of my many given nicknames. Leave it to Parlando to twist me into something remarkable. I was quite the exact opposite, and I knew full well that there'd be more than a few exchanged stares of disbelief if others were here. I check his face to try and see if it's a joke. Then I reminded myself he had always been able to see the good in just about everyone. "Fine," I finally mumbled. The rest of the group are gathered behind Pearl, no longer in their defensive positions which they originally withheld. What the hell would a Hellborn be doing in the supply closet, anyway? The idea of it all is slightly comical, but vigilance is key when it comes to survival. "What were you doing?" I ask, slightly frustrated that I'd been awoken but also aware this was usually just about the time Alder started to search for me. Of course I'd retaliate, but it usually ended with me being dragged away. I could guarantee there were multiple times he'd just wanted to knock me unconscious but wouldn't.

(Not much inspiration.)

[passione]

ＴＨＥ ＬＵＸＥＮ ＸＹＲＣＡＮＳ
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[ training caves ] - [ soon to be speed / photokinesis / telekinesis ] - [ crossbow / crossbow / longbow ]
[ tags - sherlyn / giovanni / sherlyn ]
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Ryker and Naevys looked to each other before looking toward Evren again. For the first time ever, the second Xyrcan seemed very distraught. It didn't display itself for a while, but to the brothers, it was very apparent in Evren's eyes. They didn't think honey brown could look so sad. "Evren had always been a happy one," Ryker told Sherlyn. "I just never imagined he could have been so troubled without us knowing... And yet, we picked on him. I'm a crap older brother... But we won't be making fun of him anymore." He shot Naevys a look. "At least I won't."

"But Giovanni..." Yeah, at this point, you knew Evren was being serious. Where was that little tidbit when he called his crush by that nickname 'GioGio'? Evren had retired for the day, and it wasn't even lunchtime. His mind was in the gutter and his heart wasn't in the act. "What if you don't get it? I'm tired of being happy. Why does Naevys get to be so sad all the time?" Yes. This boy seriously thought that he wasn't allowed to be sad. Can someone like... give him a few IQ points? Please? The narrator is getting real tired of his crap. They literally just want to get to the fluffy part of the post but they want to give Evren some angst first.

"Plus..." The gears in Evren's mind were creaking, starting to turn. Whatever was actually intelligible was kept in his head, but he stayed silent. There were things he still didn't want to tell Giovanni yet. What if I need you all the time? What if the only words i want you to listen to from me are 'I love you'? What if you don't really care about me and you just wanna be a good person? What if I'm really that annoying? Despite all these issues Evren had, only one statement had managed to slip out from between his lips as he crouched down to the floor and hugged his knees.

"You like girls. Not boys."

ＲＥＩＤＵＮ ＯＬＳＥＮ／ＸＩＡ ＡＲＧＯＮ
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[ training caves ] - [ aura manipulation ] - [ trident ] - [ tags - eletha, liv, runt ]
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"Runt, I don't think intelligence is something you can turn off!" Xia was getting pretty scared about how the fight would continue on, but Runt proceeded to get up off her butt from that last attack and charge forward... Then trip. She didn't get up again, which earned a laugh from Xia. "I'm gonna say I won this one," the aura manipulator chuckled, approaching the rowdy little puppy. "Plus, I think I'm taller than you. By quite a few inches."

Xia approached Runt and prodded her forehead with one of the three dull prongs of her trident.