Akashic Arcana Visits to the market District.

Iris eyed up the newcomer, unsure of who exactly this woman was given she hadn't or didn't remember seeing her on campus. She smiled politely and took her hand, shaking quickly "Iris, good to see you" she muttered before looking back to Ruby, wondering on what to do considering this was her friend that had popped up.

She looked at them expectantly.
 
Well, it seemed like Ruby was popular today, first Iris and now this woman claiming to know her. Still stretching Rubies back was turned to the newcomer. "Peachy. Another fan comes jumping at the chance to rub shoulders with one of the most powerful mages at this school. Alright, I guess I have time, so whom am I address-" She stood frozen in place. Atlas? It couldn't be.

Turning around slowly giving her mind time to process this new information. No. it's a coincidence, I mean Atlas is a very common name nowadays and given the odds, of just. It was her. Her long-lost childhood friend, just standing there in the wind, "At-las." She couldn't believe what she was seeing, this was too good to be true, it had to be her mind playing tricks on her. No. She wasn't that far gone yet. "Atlas.." There was more energy in her voice small tears of joy starting to form, and she didn't care who saw them. "ATLAS!" Not able to hold back anymore she pounced at Atlas-like she did when they were children. Her arms open and the hard yet beautiful face of Ruby, beamed with child-like excitement. I Can't believe it!! Finally, the universe is giving me a bone! Its been so long since I saw someone that wasn't Angry, jaded or an assassin. Wow, I must have jumped higher than I thought. Atlas looks, like she hasn't gro..... O shit we're not kids. "Atlas! dodg- 'GLOMP' "

In her excitement, Ruby forgot she wasn't 11 anymore. The days where she could pounce her friend and be picked up by them was over, she just now realized this being ontop Atlas fell face first in concrete. "O God Atlas I'm so sorry, are you alright!?" awkwardly getting off the ground while giving a hand to help Atlas up.
 
Atlas tried to get out of the way as Ruby pounced on her to give her a hug. She failed. Failed miserably. She just had time to put her arms up to catch Ruby, taking away some of the momentum of her leap, before they both ended up on the ground with Ruby on top.

"It's nice to see you too," she said with a playful chuckle. This brought back memories of her childhood. They used to do this all the time as kids. "Sooooo....can I get up now," she asked running out of breath, "I can't breathe."
 
Iris watched the pair fall to the floor, she was slightly surprised to see the sudden outburst from Ruby but it was nice to see a smile. She watched them for a few more seconds before a large grin spread across her face, as Ruby was about to climb off her friend Iris threw herself onto the pair, giggling. As far as she was concerned this was perfectly acceptable behaviour for three female adults to act in, blissfully unaware of the public staring at them in their gathered heap.

"This is a lot of fun!"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

original.gif
 
A small laugh escaped her, it seemed like an eternity since she felt so glad to see someone. "Yeah yeah, I get the hint. So what have you been up t.. GAK!!" While Ruby was in the process of getting off her childhood friend. Iris in a weird parity of Ruby, jumped on top both of them. Iris's weight was enough to send the unbalanced Ruby's face straight into the hard concrete with great force. A blow like that would have seriously hurt someone of lesser durability. Her training could get very intense sometimes, she would just walk this off... But damn, It still hurt like hell.

"Iris." Her voice was muffled by her face being planted into the ground. "Get the fuck off me!!" With a burst of adrenaline, Ruby shot back up in a spring-like fashion launching Iris off her. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill me? Ouch! My faaace." It felt like her face just went 5 rounds with a heavyweight boxer, blood trickled down her nose, some scrapes on her cheeks and some dirt on her forehead. "Atlas are you ok?" Reaching out a hand to pull Atlas from the ground. The crowd gathering had mixed looks. Ruby only noticing them when she heard some whispers. 'Yeah I saw it, The scorcher tried to attack that small girl.' 'Is that one a clown? I guess they let all sorts of freaks into this school.' 'Shut up, she might hear us; Although maybe if we tell her we are friends with Xena she won't bother us.'

".... It really is good to see you Atlas." If this was like last year she would have launched a small fireball into the crowd. That was past Ruby, this is the new mature, Ruby. One that had a smoking gun to her head that would go off if she acted out.
 
Just as Ruby was almost off of her and she was able to catch her breathe a little bit Iris decided to join the dog pile with a leap. The force of the landing dropped Ruby back down on top of her driving every bit of breath she had just got out of in one large gasp. "Iris, I can't breathe!" She tried to shout but it only came out as a whisper. She hoped Ruby was ok as she had hit her face on the concrete pretty hard. Ruby muttered something she couldn't quite understand just before she vaulted back up.

Something wet landed on her face in several places. Taking a look at Ruby she noticed the nosebleed and suspected that it was blood. Licking the spot that landed on her mouth she tasted it. Yep it was blood. It had that iron rich metallic taste that blood had. Especially Ruby's. She then proceeded to wipe the blood off he face with her hands and lick her hands clean. It was an odd habit of hers. Blood had a good taste and it was Ruby's so she didn't care.

She accepted the hand Ruby extended to her and pulled herself off the ground. She dusted off her clothes. "I've been doing good," she replied to Ruby's question, "I saw you last year. I just couldn't get up the guts to approach you." Her voice shook with that last bit. She looked over to see if Iris was okay. "You okay?"
 
Iris hopped onto her feat almost elegantly, stretching her arms out and twirling around, as if she had just performed a show for the passing crowd. Iris spun around to face Ruby, the other girl's word bit at her, like a sudden stab in the stomach. Iris's smile dropped from her face like a deflated balloon. The all too familiar voice in her head seemed like it was screaming in her ears. Her pale hands balled into fists, her chest felt tight and she grew more frustrated at the tears welling in her eyes.

As far as Iris could remember, having control of her emotions had been non-existent, it had been suspected as immaturity and temper tantrums. But as she got older it became apparent there was more to this colourful girls black and white thinking, her impulsive behaviour and lack of stable relationships in her life. It wasn't that long ago that she had been diagnosed with a personality disorder before arriving at the academy. Iris had improved over the last three years, but there were always times when her emotions got the better of her rational thinking.

"Nothing is wrong with me!" she snapped angrily.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

original.gif
 
Her smile which was beaming with joy at her friend's arrival. Turned dark and melancholy, A sad smile. "Oh... I really can't blame you.... Yeah. I've been holding up. Alone." Her voice almost cracked with that last word. Alone. That's how it was ever since that cursed night 8 long years ago. She knew this was awkward in more ways than one for Atlas, hell she made it even worse with that little-failed circus stunt. Iris only making it worse... Oh shit, she completely forgot about Iris.

Turning to face Iris, Silver flames mending the scratches on her face and evaporating the blood; The feeling was like having warm spring water caressing her face. "Ah crap. Listen Iris, I-" The colorful woman's sharp and angry tone biting back at Atlas, made Ruby narrow her eyes dangerously. "Calm down. She was just trying to be nice. I know I'm the last person to say this, but don't make things worse." She might have liked Iris but Atlas was someone that was special to her, almost like a big sister back in the day and even now. Ruby wasn't going to let anyone disrespect Atlas in her presence.
 
It hurt Atlas to hear that Ruby was alone the entire time. I should have been there for her, she thought to herself. "I'm sorry I didn't come back to you sooner," she said guilt creeping into her voice. She really felt bad about it.

A sharp voice snapped her attention back to Iris. She seemed angry about something. She figured it was Ruby she was angry with cause she was the one who vaulted her off so she was a little confused when Ruby started defending her. She couldn't figure out what she said or did wrong.
 
Iris's eyes looked at both women, she wasn't sure why Ruby was defending Atlas considering it had been Ruby that Iris was talking to "I'm not making anything worse, it's perfectly acceptable for you to leap on a friend but I do it and I'm the bad guy here?"

Her words were rushed, anger now outweighing the fact that her feelings were hurt. Her gaze went to the crowd, the feeling of all these eyes on her made her feel caged, stuck into some corner. The feeling brought back unpleasant memories of times before the academy. And now here she was, a ball of emotion, in the midst of a lot of people. She knew this must seem like such a small thing, just a quarrel, but these were never small things for Iris, every emotion was ten times stronger than most, at times it was a wonderful thing and at others, it was like a curse.

Not wanting to be further provoked and in following lose her temper completely she simply shook her head, and pushed through the crowd, heading back towards the academy, the gymnasium being her best bet at calming down.
 
Too late did Ruby realize her poor choice of words. Her features softened from an angry glare to one of concern, "What? Look, ok. I might have been a little far with," It was too late. Iris had left through the crowd of people, the damage was done and Ruby could only stand there cursing herself. 'whoa, did you see that?' 'Yeah that girl was such a weirdo.' 'At least she didn't piss off the scorcher.' Her blood was starting to reach its boiling point. These mouth breathers commentary was neither wanted or needed, the fact that they think she can't hear their jeers and fear mongering was something she couldn't even comment on.... Someone in the crowd, however, seemed to forget to whisper, 'She's now the council's bitch, maybe we should give her a treat when she does something good.'

large pillars of silver fire rose from the ground just inches away from the crowd. Chaos erupted, some of the students tripped on each other, some pushed others out of the way, but all screamed in surprise or terror. The flame brilliantly shined out a holy light it was glorious and terrifying, Beautiful yet deadly, graceful yet radiating power. Yet the flames almost as suddenly as they came faded out. There was no trace of ashes or burn marks on the ground, hell the air didn't even have the residual heat that a large flame produces. It was if it wasn't there at all.

Standing tall and powerful, her arms folded in a manner that showed dominance, The long flowing crimson hair turning into pure silver made her seem otherworldly along with her glowing eyes that seemed like suns. "Did that get your attention?" Her voice was stern and full of scorn, the crowd did not respond to the question, "I'll take that as a yes." She might get in trouble for this later hell she was sure one of these spineless cowards would report her, but everyone has their limit and she reached hers. "I lost to Xena, yes I am willing to be the bigger person and admit that. So what? You think just because I lost to a council member that means you can talk down to me?" She pointed a finger at the person who was idiotic enough to practically yell out that last comment. "So I'm the Councils bitch am I?" The tip of her finger shined brightly the energy around it burning and vibrating the air itself. "This Bitch still has her fangs." The guy practically turned white as soon as she said that and even tried to brace himself for the impact of her attack........ Nothing. Ruby just stood there with a mocking smirk, "What. You think I'm going to waste even a muster seed of mana on a nobody like you? No." The last word was so sudden it was almost comical. "Now all of you just piss off and return to your mediocre lives. That means now!" The crowd dispersed and returned to whatever errand they were running albeit with a gallon of sweat dripping off their faces.

Turning to Atlas her face clearly embarrassed, she felt that the crowd; Especially that one jackass! had the scare she gave them coming. But as it was always, the euphoria of dominating a weaker force left her feeling empty and sad. Reality also set in on how much she might have just fucked up, "Atlas... I'm sorry that, you saw that side of me... Can, we walk and talk?"
 
Last edited:
Atlas wasn't sure how to react as Iris left. She had just met the person but she had seemed like a nice enough person. But with this last bit she was left in a daze. Her daze didn't last long though as she heard some of the commentary coming from the crowd. These people weren't nice and deserved a little something.

Before she could do anything silver flames erupted from the ground inches from the crowd. Soon after Ruby went on a tirade. Ruby was furious. Atlas didn't blame her, hell she'd be furious too. As she finished and the crowd started to disperse she summoned up some mana and froze the ground under them. "Here have yourselves a fitting parting gift from yours truly," she yelled at the crowd, "and leave her alone or you'll be answering to me." She watched for a moment taking pleasure in watching them slipping and falling, or for some skating awkwardly.

"It's fine," she replied to Ruby. "That was uncalled for. They need to learn to mind their own business." She turned away from the mess that was the crowd. "I'd love to go for a walk. I also wanna catch up a little bit. It's been so long and I've missed so much."
 
Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. Let's leave these losers to fail at life." Giving off one more mocking smile towards the direction to the crowd who were currently falling on their asses, "I love you." she almost forgot that Atlas could be such an Ice-princess. Putting her arm around Atlas's neck Ruby motioned forwards. After she paid off her restaurant bill.

Walking down the street finally away from that crowd, "What have you been up to, you still musically gifted by the gods?" Ruby's mood had changed drastically. For once she felt safe and that she could actually have a heart to heart with someone, sure she had Eliza who took the role of her guardian. However, their relationship was for lack of a better word, cold and distant. "I've made a reputation for myself. As you just saw." Despite not actually liking to hurt innocent people, she rather enjoyed a good fight or even scaring someone that has it coming and that was one of those times. Her embarrassment from before was more because she felt like she was making a spectacle out of Atlas and Iris, it wouldn't help that she was possibly going to be reported by that one boneless loser. She was already on thin ice with Vikki and Xena she didn't need to add more fuel to the fire. "I might have just added to it...."
 
Atlas looked at the crowd one last time before they walked away. She winced as one slipped and busted his head on the ground. She wasn't sure but she could have sworn it was the one that forgot to whisper. "I could believe it," she said in reply to Ruby, "and I love you too little sis. Though I'm not sure I can call you little anymore."

They headed off towards the edge of the market district. "You know playing the cello and listening to music like usual. In fact I just wrote a new song. Wanna hear it sometime?" She knew about Ruby's reputation already. But she had a reputation as well, though not entirely the same kind. She was known for her music, her loyalty to her friends and family, and her dead on aim. "I've made a reputation for myself as well, though not quite as bad as yours." She felt bad for a little bit as she realized how bad that sounded.
 
"You really have to ask me? I've missed your melodies and voice... " Ruby visibly flinched at the mention of her reputation. True she was cognizant of how people viewed her in a negative light. To be the envy of others, someone that can strike fear in the heart of their opponents with just a simple gesture. Yes, she was proud of her accomplishments... Yet it was those very same accomplishments that landed her in this hot mess, the student council had power over her very life. A fact that both enraged and; She would never admit it aloud but. Terrified her.

They saw her as someone that would take pleasure in the suffering of others, a potential destructor that had the mind of a shattered child. Her fist physically balled so tight her knuckles showed the bone. Not so much at the slander or even the holier-than-thou, words of Xena and Viktoria... But that she could not argue against them.

Scratching the top of her head with her finger trying to think of how to spin this in a more positive light. "Bad as in, wow she's a real Cunt-a-saurus rex. Or She's a Badass bitch who docent take no shit, from any' one including her man." The last part was said in a goofy exaggerated tone that was uncharacteristic of Ruby. It was a mental defense mechanism that she had used throughout the years, using jokes or ridiculous phrases to distract her from thinking about the past, it was a nice way to keep her relatively calm yet when in battle it was used in a different way. When on the battlefield of the Colosseum she would normally tease and belittle someone, breaking both their concentration and in some cases their spirit.... They would become stronger as a result. Life, after all, gave little mercy.

"It's the latter. My sister mind-melding powers are still as strong as the day we met." She said with a toothy grin. Her inner thoughts only shown by the tightening of her knuckles. "Stick with me and you'll never have to wait in line again."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top