☀ The Last Defense ☀ no longer accepting! ☀

[SunnyJustice]

Runt laughed when her Lieutenant suggested that Commander Alder was supposed to be the scary one. Yeah, Uncle Alder was a big guy. One look at him, and you knew he could break you in half. But his physically imposing appearance was obvious. You could tell just how dangerous he was from his muscles, his stature, and his temper.
Liv on the other hand, she was so freakin nice! She wasn't nearly as big and neither were her biceps. Runt didn't know what Liv could do to her, and she didn't want to know! The suspense was way scarier than seeing some big muscular 6'2" guy smashing up a boulder with his bare fists or something. Runt would probably laugh if Bad Cop Alder threw her across the room, but she would not be laughing if Good Cop Liv suddenly turned dangerous.
"Capture the Flag sounds awesome! Don't get me wrong, I love teamwork, but don't leave the tactics planning to me. I have one strategy and it's 'CHARGE'!!" Runt laughed so hard she had to lean against the table. "I'm sure we'll get someone smarter than myself on my team though. Then they can tell me what smart stuff to do."
Her smile widened as Liv kept speaking. "Alright!! Ima gonna be the Great Runt Jin, savior of this world's future! Do you think I'm gonna be able to do what Auntie Acacia did? I think I'm determined enough!"

* Tags: Liv, Xia, Eletha

---

Parlando walked to the sink, a huge fountain built into the wall that sprayed arcs of water into a vast marble bowl where it drained away. A tiny metal sword protruded from the very top. For such a roughly hewn cavern, the bathroom sinks sure were attractive. He placed his foot on the round lever that turned on the water, and ran his hands under it. The water was always lukewarm since the entire underground was a comfortable temperature.
"That makes sense," Pearl said to Anthony as he lathered his hands with the soap bar skewered on the tiny sword. It smelled like plant oils and butters, with a trace of floral scent, marking its origin from Gardener Castle. Although flowers normally only grew in King Haden's garden, the rest of the underground was not devoid of beauty. There were fields of luminescent shrubs, forests covered with moss softer than feathers, meadows of golden glowing grass. Parlando remembered playing in the sungrass meadows as a child.
"Complicated powers might be a pain. I'd want something I could master, too. We won't be much help if our powers are backfiring during a battle." Pearl chuckled as he rinsed his hands. "Imagine I shoot my cooking fire at an enemy, and instead a fresh loaf of bread appears in their hand."

* Tags: Kevin & Ant

[passione]

ＴＨＥ ＬＵＸＥＮ ＸＹＲＣＡＮＳ
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[ training caves ] - [ soon to be speed / photokinesis / telekinesis ] - [ crossbow / crossbow / longbow ]
[ tags - open / open / open ]
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"Training, training, training!" Evren bounded back to the training caves, already having had more than his share of pancakes. Naevys would cover him in the case he got in trouble since the youngest of the group took less than the maximum amount meant for each person.

"Ren, slow down. Sit and digest or you'll get a stomachache."

"Or an intestinal ulcer if you're not careful."

"Oh my god, Naevys. We get it. You're smart. I don't even know what intestinal means."

"Y'know the part of your digestive tract that looks like a snake? That's the intestine. Piece it to—"

"What's an ulcer?"

"Okay, Evren. Just sit down and be quiet."

Evren obeyed with a pout, hunching his back over his arms which were now folded across his chest. Ryker smiled contentedly before turning his attention to Naevys who looked a little frustrated with his older brother, to say in the least. "Yo, Naevys. What do you think we're gonna be doing for training today?"

"I heard the girls over there say something about Capture the Flag."

"Capture the flag? Oh boy!" Evren exclaimed, almost jumping to his feet again. He was stopped by Ryker who placed both his hands firmly on his brother's shoulders, just to keep him in place. Naevys was going to drop the conversation to prevent Evren from having another enthusiastic outburst, but he fell short of changing the subject once he noticed Evren's eyes wandering over to the Lieutenant, Xia, Eletha and Runt. He was focussed on the youngest one... Or rather the object in her hand. Ryker hadn't caught on yet, but Naevys was ready to stop his brother from doing anything devious.

"Evren, I know what you're looking at. We are capturing flags only."

ＲＥＩＤＵＮ ＯＬＳＥＮ／ＸＩＡ ＡＲＧＯＮ
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[ cafeteria ] - [ aura manipulation ] - [ trident ] - [ tags - eletha, liv, runt ]
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"An epipendemic..." Xia repeated after Runt. She had to hold back her laugh. That word was so ridiculously contextual in that situation that she actually almost believed it had a dictionary definition. An epipendemic seemed like a serious situation where killer viruses were involved, but we all had to be honest here. Wayne is a killer virus. Immune to all the antibiotics. No matter how hard people beat him down, he still exists. At least there was some comfort knowing that like most viruses, humankind will always try to get rid of it.

"Let us eliminate Wayne in the name of science," Xia mumbled under her breath. Her attention was brought back to Runt again when training activities were mentioned. While Xia didn't catch much of her friends' conversation, she could vaguely make out the words "Hunger Games". "Well, Runt, I'd like a good round of the Hunger Games but we just ate and that game actually requires killing people until there's one left standing—" The teenager cut herself off when she realized that Runt may not have meant for the notion to be taken in a literal sense. Then again, Runt was the one with super strength and would Hulk-smash anyone for the glory of humanity.

Capture the flag, though? That was not a bad idea at all. If anything, Xia would be looking forward to that. "Alright. Capture those flags. Save humanity. One step at a time." Xia struck a pose with a hand on her hip and her index finger pointed to the sky (or where it would be if there wasn't a bunch of sediment in the way). "I'd like to be on the same team as the saviour of humanity and the silver-crowned queen!" She turned to give Eletha a bear hug, beaming like the sun does through the crevices between the rocks above them.

[DetectiveLunar]

Sherlyn "Sher-sher" Hernandez//Female//16//Tags:Open

Sherlyn and Giovanni finally finished and had left the cafeteria. They were now at the training caves just sitting down with each other waiting for Alder to start training and for the others to finish their breakfast. "I'm bored!!" Giovanni whined like a small child. Sherlyn just sighed and replied in the most sarcastic tone,"Well do something then,child!" "I am not a child!" "Well you sure do sound like one!" Sherlyn shot back at him. Giovanni decided to stay silent after the small argument.


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

Sage Moonstone//Female//14//Tags: Aerissa and Tyla

"Yay!" Sage said sounding like a child and followed behind her. After changing into blue and green shorts and a old dark blue shirt with a cat on it she followed behind Aerissa once again towards the pool room. When she noticed Tyla she just said,"Hello!" in a rather kind but childish tone. She waited for Tyla's reply since Aerissa has asked Tyla if it was ok for them to join her.

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

"I'm very wise and stuff but I don't think what I said is fitting to when people stab each other with things!." Kevin said instantly losing his emotional speech-y state. "Not sure.. Any power would be fine with me! As long as I can protect everyone from everything. INCLUDING WAYNE!" He said trying to make an angry face but ended up putting on a smile instead. "I probably just failed at trying to frown but I agree! Acacia must've felt all the pain right? But just kept going? Sort of like pushing yourself to run more but...You know.. A bit more painful and with death!"

-------------

Meanwhile in Gardener Castle

Thomas seemed to almost scream,"What?!" as the King's adopted son came along and seemed to repair the garden by talking?! Either Thomas was going insane or this was real! "You see this?" He asked Milly sounding both angry and confused. "Yea. How is he doing it?" Milly asked equally as confused as the sunflowers they had almost completely destroyed had suddenly seemed to heal..Almost magically. "This is not very normal." Thomas said still looking at Blyhte from his hiding spot. "Agree. But. How then?" "I don't know." Thomas replied to his sister as they both watched the older boy magically talk the flowers into healing. This clearly wasn't normal. But how was he doing it then? Thomas and Milly kept on watching their tiny conversation turned into whispers as the two communicated using the words they knew so far.

(So the twins are like tiny spies now XD)

[SunnyJustice]

Runt just stared at Xia with the stupidest grin on her face. The expression in her eyes was reminiscent of a stupefied puppy. Runt was never good at science, especially biology. Didn't 'eliminate' mean getting rid of waste from your body or something? So 'eliminate Wayne' probably meant flushing him down the toilet! Made sense.
She still had the ridiculous puppy look as Xia talked about the Hunger Games. About killing people until one person was left standing. She only snapped out of her stupor when her friend uttered those two words that always got Runt going.
"Save humanity?!" Runt exclaimed, her heart pounding like a sledgehammer. Xia's pose just made her excitement smash through the roof. "Oh my god! That's right!!"
"I'll be your heroine," The tiny warrior promised with a hand over her heart. "And I'll strike down anyone who gets in your way! For the future of humanity, we will prevail!"
"Oh my god." Immediately her squirrel-like mind was onto a different subject. "You guys wanna practice some fighting moves in the gym? You could teach me some awesome looking stuff!"
Runt actually had no moves, she just attacked aimlessly with her spear. She wanted to look like the spearwomen in the movies though. It would be so freakin awesome...

* Tags: Liv, Xia & Eletha

---

Parlando chuckled at Kevin’s outburst. The default insult in the barracks was anything relating to Wayne, you did not want to be compared to that guy. It would be wrong to gang up against anyone else, but Wayne purposely and deliberately made enemies with any human being he interacted with. It was so ridiculous that Pearl sometimes wondered if it was an act. Maybe he had a massive phobia of friendship or something.
“Well I agree you are very wise, Kevin, but hopefully there will be no stabbing in the Training Caves,” Pearl laughed. “And let’s agree to all protect each other from Wayne. His stench is just as much a threat as a Hellborn loose in the caves.”
Maybe worse since a Hellborn, you could simply defeat in a fight with a couple people working together in sync. But a horrid smell, how do you fight that? Hard to simply stop breathing in the stench because you would suffocate yourself.
He chuckled at Kevin’s next words. “Nah, you’re too nice to do the ‘Alder face’, Kev.”
“That’s a very smart analogy Kevin, but I sure hope she didn’t feel all that.” Pearl was still smiling, but he did wince slightly at the thought of someone repeatedly surviving fatal wounds and having to tough it out. “Not even Wayne would deserve that much pain, I think. But if she was like Runt, I’m sure she felt fine.”
Runt was ridiculous, Pearl had known her since childhood. The kid once dislocated her shoulder and didn’t notice until her brother screamed at her. And then she laughed because it looked weird. Her pain tolerance was so high it could be scary sometimes, so hopefully the Heroine of Humanity was the same. Otherwise it would just be terrible.
“Plus,” Parlando kept speaking to end on a less morbid note, “I definitely prefer weight lifting over marathon running.” He laughed. “You?”

* Tags: Kevin and Ant

—-

In Gardener Castle:
Blythe had just finished healing dad’s bleeding heart flowers. Apparently this was where lovers came to confess their crushes or their feelings in a relationship. The tears of broken-hearted lovers were said to water these flowers and keep their blood red color vivid.
“Hey, can you guys tell me where the gophers came from?” Blythe asked the flowers. “Sorry it’s not a question about crushes!”
The plant looked confused.
“The gophers,” Blythe repeated with a smile, finding this cute. “Didn’t they come and mess up the place?”
Immediately the plants pointed their leaves towards a shady spot, where lots of big gophers were probably hiding. A few plants cringed as Blythe stood up.
“Don’t worry,” Blythe told the flowers with a big cheerful smile. “I’ll offer them our friendship! So we can all be friends and this place will never get wrecked again!”
Whistling a happy tune that sounded somewhat like a small bird, Blythe skipped towards the perpetrators’ hideout.

* Tags: Destructive Twins

[honeybee.]

Lieutenant Liv Brie//18//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Xia;Eletha:Runt
Liv smiled as Runt told her that she couldn't do tactic planning. "'Charge' is actually a pretty good strategy." She commented, "As long as you have other strategies to go along with it. You need some people to charge in for the flag and then others to watch your back. You could be designated 'charger'." As Runt comtinued, Olivia nodded, "Following orders is good too, people never succeed when they're unable to listen to others. We just have to fit together everyone's individual skills to make a working team!"
The idea of Runt as the next saviour of the world was a nice one and Liv chuckled. "You are the most determined person I know!" She told her, "If anyone could save us all, it would be you."
She laughed at Xia's superhero pose and nodded when she commented that she'd want to be in a team with the other girls. "If we do play capture the flag, I'll make sure I claim the lot of you for my team."
When they did Capture the Flag Liv liked for both her and Alder to have a team each, to help and fight with as they wanted to. Liv usually liked to assign someone else as team leader in order to promote respect and leadership skills in the group.
She nodded at the idea of heading to the gym to perfect their fighting style. "I'll come with you all." She agreed.

Ant Lithorn//16//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Parlando;Kevin
The barrack's washrooms truly were a wonderful sight to see. For a group of people living underground they really did have excellent plumbing. Ant held his hands under the stream of luke-warm water, scrubbing the syrup and banana from his fingers with the pleasant smelling soap. He chuckled at Pearl's example of being unable to control their power, imagining a very confused Hellborn with a loaf of bread appearing in his hand. "At least if that happened you'd probably surprise them enough that somebody could finish them off." He pointed out.
"I definitely vow to protect you both from Wayne." He agreed, "I think we ought to lock him in the showers until he comes out clean and stenchless."
He chuckled at Kev's failure at pulling an 'Alder face' and then grimaced at the analogy about Acacia. "That makes it sound even more awful." Ant groaned, "I hate running when you start to feel like that"

[hellb0und]

❛ ( ☾. // ＤＥＭＥＴＲＩＡ！) ❜

I've been running through the jungle,
I've been running with the wolves.

I took a moment to figure out exactly where the two of us could explore. Even if his usual stutter had ceased, I knew he was shy and likely didn't want to be around people. Then it hit me that there really was nowhere to explore unless we broke a rule or two, which I was unwilling to do. I'd especially hate to land him in trouble for my own curiosity. Alder wasn't exactly forgiving, whereas Liv was much kinder. This didn't mean she wouldn't punish us, either. There would likely just be a lot less screaming & violence involved. “Let's go to the quiet area,” I suggested, “That is unless you have anything else we could do. I'm open to listening.” I stood up though bent down afterward to offer him a hand. Hopefully, it hadn't been a major stretch, though I didn't see it as anything but a friendly, common gesture.

❛ ( 🔥. // ＬＡＷＲＥＮＣＥ！) ❜

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

After I returned my bow & quiver to their rightful place in my dorm, I continued stalking around as usual. Ducking into hiding spots and taking frequent, but short, naps. It'd been accidental, though sleep refused to come throughout the night. Filled with unfolding horrors & the deaths of my loved ones. At the same time, it gave me an excuse to avoid the crowds of girls and boys. I got into trouble for it constantly, but Alder always backed me up for some unknown reason. Maybe because we apparently had similar personalities. My childhood friends were particularly friendly, unlike myself. Already having a formed bond with others & always ready to converse. Runt acted more like a puppy then she did a human. By now I'd been near the pool area. Where the audible echoes of laughter and conversation rung out from the room. I avoided the crowd of giggling girls, turning away and peering around trying to see if anyone else had been around. I could hear the running of water in the boy's bathroom, which was a fairly short distance. Not that I cared for whoever was in there, anyway. Eventually, I ducked into a supply closet and hid there for a while.

(Didn't really know what to write for Lawrence.)

[SunnyJustice]

Runt simply stared at Olivia with her jaw dropping open. Lieutenant Liv Brie, yes, the freakin Lieutenant herself, was approving of Runt's 'strategy'! Wow, this was like a dream come true.
"I'd love to be the 'desinnaded charger'," Runt said with a huge grin, snapping herself out of it. She spoke that weird word slowly because it was a big difficult word. "Whatever that means! And I think I'm really good at following orders, at least when I understand them!"
"Oh my god! Really?! You're the best!!" Runt threw her arms around Liv when she complimented her determination. This was the highest compliment a hero-obsessed girl like her could receive. Yes, she was gonna be like Auntie Acacia one day, but with a big smile instead of the old Commander's emotionless face.
"Oh my god!!" Runt exclaimed even louder as Olivia said stuff about her saving everybody. "You mean that?! I think my heart is gonna melt!"
"I'm not letting go, so you HAVE to pick me on your team," She said as she clung even harder. "Let's go!"

* Tags: Xia, Eletha, Liv (especially Liv because Runt is stuck to her)

---

"Yes to all three." Parlando spoke. He couldn't even argue with the statements Ant made, not that he enjoyed arguing of course. Pearl much preferred to agree with people, as long as they were being reasonable.
"I think Alder has the keys, but maybe we could negotiate with him to lock Wayne in there. The Commander's the most likely one to scare Wayne into agreeing too." Pearl chuckled. "Maybe Alder will work together with us. I'm sure he hates Wayne much more than he hates others."
As he dried his hands on paper towels, he thought of running a marathon and having that terrible exhaustion clawing through his veins. Everything about endurance running was horrific in Pearl's eyes.
"I think long distance running is just pain." Pearl chuckled with a slight look of discomfort, simply imagining it. "People who enjoy it must have very high tolerance. I sure don't enjoy torturing myself."
He threw the used towel in the right receptacle. Alder could be very particular about disposal of things. The paper towels would be ground up alongside other compost items, then used in the fields of Darkhaven or even Gardener Castle. It was weird thinking that their waste might be food for King Haden's flowers.
"I wonder what the others are doing for free time," Parlando thought aloud. "Maybe relaxing in the pool. It's been a big day with all these powers finally developing."

* Tags: Kevin & Ant

[darcy_jensen]

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

the blonde waited by the entrance to the cafeteria for sage after she announced that she too would attend free time at the pool. "I'll show you my power in a few minutes," ariessa laughed, hoping that she was correct in assuming her ability was water manipulation. the incident in the shower had certainly suggested so, but it would be good to experiment with a larger body of water. after stopping in the bathrooms to change into swimming appropriate attire, ari made her way down the rocky hallways to the pool room, assuming sage was in tow. "hello tyla," the seventeen year old greeted kindly upon entering, "sage and I are joining you, if that's alright?" of course, ariessa didn't want to intrude, especially if tyla was using the room as a form of relaxation.

[deadlyscorpion]

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Gender ⇢ Female
Age ⇢ 16 years
Power ⇢ Shapeshifter
Weapon ⇢ None
Sexuality ⇢ Bi
Tags⇢ Rain, Rowan
Forum

Ember didn't let the small pause of silence faze her, but it gave her time to focus on Rain. To finally give all of her attention to her, even if it had no words or...Meaning. Maybe it was pointless to pursue a dream that was out of reach, but the burning of her heart kept her here. It seemed to freeze time. It seemed to be healing some pain. It made reality seem to fade for a short while as she just sat down beside her, her fingers intertwined with Rain's. But was it all worth it in the long run?
A gentle smirk was swept across Ember's lips as she watched her slowly smile, even though she remained unconscious. I wonder what she's seeing...Where she is... She thought, sighing softly. Wherever she is, it's a...Happy place. She glanced up at the doctor as he began to speak, furrowing her brows slightly in confusion. "Are you...Suggesting for me to leave?" She asked him, keeping her eyes locked onto the man as she waited for a response.

[honeybee.]

Lieutenant Liv Brie//18//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Xia;Eletha:Runt
Runt's boundless enthusiasm definitely made up for her limited vocabulary and Liv was delighted at her eagerness to be 'desinnaded charger.' Runt was essentially the perfect soldier, inhumanely strong, resilient, determined and unfailingly eager to follow orders with barely a second thought yet still possessing strong morals . Even if the battle that forced them all to become fighters hadn't happened, Liv imagined she would have become a warrior anyway.
Olivia staggered back when the other girl threw her arms around her, unlike many of the trainees Runt didn't tower over her but the younger girl did have super strength now. She laughed at the girl clinging to her know, getting super hyped about her encouragement. "Runt, I promise I'll pick you." She told her, persuasively, "You can let go." She didn't try to squirm however, instead began walking towards the gym with Runt still attached to her like a limpet.

Ant Lithorn//16//Location-Training Cave//Tags-Parlando;Kevin
"I would love to enlist Alder in our fight against Wayne." Ant chucked, "I'm pretty sure it would cheer him up too."
He followed Parlando's lead in drying off his damp hands with a paper towel and dropping it carefully into the correct bin. Living underground really did need a lot of ingenious plans and so almost everything was recycled with some other purpose.
"Give me a good sprint anyday." He replied, "Tell me to get from here to the barracks as fast as possible and woosh, I'll do it straight away. Tell me to keep on running for another twenty minutes and you better have a good reason for punishing me."
Ant nodded as Parlando wondered how others were spending their time until lunch. "That sounds like a pretty good idea, to be honest." He said cheerfully, "The pools here are wonderful and I definitely don't fancy spending the free doing more training. I'm surprised that some people do!"