All Quiet on the Home Front

[Tobias Stalt]

Closed to Alyssa.

Night had fallen fast over the Red Forest. Deadly by day and worse still by night, Lindequalmë offered a hidden relief from the battlefields where Tobias did most of his mercenary work. Leona had offered him a home within the House of Cards, should he want it, to thank him for his contributions toward her group of mystical misfits. After the long ride here, the Untapped was hard pressed to care about the implications of a group devoted to the study of magic or his involvement with them.

As far as Stalt was concerned, knowledge was power. He stripped off his war torn shirt as he descended the stairwell and his muscles glistened with drops of sweat. The scars on his back and chest were worn, but still marred the marvel that was his physique. Tobias spent countless hours training his body and mind to struggle against a world so profoundly reliant on power beyond its own. He boasted no magical powers or blessings from any known god. Tobias knew only hard work, and a good weapon in hand.

At his hips hung a sword and gun, and on the small of his back rested two daggers. His hair was messy from the ride, and his eyes sunken from an obvious lack of sleep. Each staggered step he took brought him closer to the hot springs. That warmth would soothe the ache in his bones.

Fleeting thoughts of the woman, Alyssa Snow, remained in his mind. The last business he'd had with the hierarchy left him with a knife to her throat, and the woman had looked rather hurt. It had not been his intention to leave her with that impression, but things had escalated so quickly, he never got a word in.

The few things in life he had learned to regret were outside his control. "Just a few more minutes," he told himself to deny the pain. His hand rested against a wall to share his burdens for a moment. Leona had never specified a room for him, but he felt that she would be alright with him picking one for himself. That would come later.

"Here we are," he observed quietly as the door to the gentle heat swung open, and vapors coaxed him inward. "Ahhhhhh..."

[Alyssa Snow]

Right between the common room, library, and mess hall - the perfect real estate in all of their dingy underground glory. Make no mistake, The House of Cards was barely a house to begin with. Abandoned by some old elvish ancients, deomons, or whatever came before, the Tarot Hierarchy's new base of operations needed some cleaning and updating. Yet even in all its dusty, grimy, and cob web glory, one little blonde teen hummed a sweet song as she happily busied herself in the dim halls.

Her soft melody rose and faded as she darted between one room and another just a few meters across a stone hall. Objects of varying size, color, and quality occupied her arms each time she emerged. Wooden chairs, cotton mats, and she even struggled to scrape an old, yet rather ornate desk across the stone floor. Beads of sweat glistened on her fair skin and Alyssa took pause to work a matted lock of hair from her brow.

"There," she whimsically chimed with a hand on each hip in triumphant posture.

Within the doorway she blocked, a rather substantially sized room opened up. A soft, orange flicker splashed against antique furniture delicately cleaned and arranged. Even a small contraption hummed away in the far back corner with strange glowing tubes hidden among several levers and knobs. While the room surely lacked the fancy amenities and linens, it filled this mage gunner with an indescribable glee.

This was home.

"Whew, I could use a drink," she spoke aloud. The empty halls faintly echoed voice her in reply. She readjusted the rogue wisp of hair from earlier and turned to face the second of the two rooms. Inside this one, faint outlines of objects caught the light within its darkness. Jumbled edges, wires, and prongs broke through the unintelligible mess.

"You're next." Alyssa scrunched her upper lip and brow in dread of addressing the rest of that mess.

The young teen broke her triumphant posture and carried her clicking footsteps toward what currently served as a kitchen. Barely in operation, several tables, chairs, and equipment lay scattered about in different stages of refurbishment. She weaved her hips through the mess and into the kitchen area. To the back stood a pair of tall metal boxes which softly hummed in the silence. He reached out to one of their handles and tugged the door open.

Much like water pouring from a spilled bucket, a chilling haze fell from within and spread along the floor. She reached in and pulled out a small glass bottle of Raiaeran grape juice. Its surface chilled her fingertips and she closed the door to the perpetually chilled ice box. Alyssa loved this little piece of Elven magical engineering, an ice box that never needed new ice and ran on a glyph which connected it to the plane of cold.

She popped the cork and let the deep lavender nectar slide down the back of her throat. After the glass drained dry, the girl smacked her lips and let out a sigh of refreshment. She smiled and in her bliss, a cold sticky sensation rose to the surface. Alyssa scowled as she looked down to the source on her chest. A damp shirt from the efforts of labor looked back at her. The pinched at the fabric and pulled to let fresh air chill her to goosebumps.

"God I hope this place has a bath," she mumbled.

Alyssa discarded the empty glass into the kitchen's sink and returned to her newly established room. She fished around in one of the three various wardrobes she had collected against one of the walls. The girl produced a cotton towel.

"I thought Ioder said something about an underground spring?"

As she exited her room, she made sure to close and lock the door with a little brass key. No one was going into her room without permission. Alyssa ventured to the stairs down the hall and made way to the second basement. The torches along the hall dimly flickered and gave light to a pair of naturally formed openings. Alyssa had yet to explore this floor, but it seemed to her that others had already explored. When she made her way down, she noticed moisture upon the air and two pieces of parchment dangling over each opening.

"Men." She looked to the other. "Women."

Alyssa took a moment to peer inside and to her excitement, a naturally cave-formed hot spring bubbled and churned within. Even a makeshift staging area, and a few old stone ornaments decorated key areas within. It took the better part of her training and maturity not to just cannon ball her way into the midst of it. Instead, she got behind one of the dressing screens and disrobed. She placed the damp clothes into convenient little baskets arranged in stone-carved cubbies.

Then, with nothing but a towel around her, she ventured into the hot spring, dangled her robe over the head of a stone statue, and slipped into the softly simmering waters. As it crept up her legs the deeper she got, the tension just melted away until she found herself a nook to sit in. With the waters up to her neck and head rest upon a smooth ledge, Alyssa let out a pleasurable sigh.

"Oh. My. God. This is amazing..."

[Tobias Stalt]

His clothes were quickly forgotten after he tossed them aside and dived headlong beneath the scalding waters. Most people said it was unwise to submerge oneself in a hot spring, but pain like this actually brought comfort to Stalt's aches. They were many, and his body was visibly wracked with scars. He came up again with an unnecessarily loud gasp that filled his lungs with air, then let out a slow breath. "It's been so long since I got to relax."

So many jobs kept Tobias on the run; the rare occasion that left him with free time was usually spent in a bar or chasing skirts. Of course, less womanizing happened in recent times, as Tobias grew increasingly busy and the girls got less interested and decidedly more... elven.

Suds dripped from his tanned flesh as Tobias meticulously scraped at the dirt and grime he'd amassed over almost a month. The smell of a man without proper hygiene was familiar, but certainly not something he appreciated. His face still twisted in disgust until the fine lavender finally overwhelmed his body odor, and the waters cleansed him of impurities.

It was largely quiet in the room, until he heard an exclamation that drew his attention. A feminine voice, one he recognized. "Alyssa?" he asked skeptically, though the possibility was absolutely there. She was a member of the hierarchy, and one of Leona's most beloved hands. Tobias was mostly her hired help, a thug, but halfway honorable. "Is that you?"

He leaned against the wall now, and his back sagged into the waters as he closed his eyes. A slow breath left him. "It's Tobias."

The room was plain enough, rocky walls with nondescript cracks and the distinct earthy scent of a cavern offered a serene atmosphere that was unlike his normal stomping grounds. Something in his mind told him she might not be thrilled, but the Untapped still hoped she would hear him out.

Stalt had always been fond of the young lady.

[Alyssa Snow]

When his deep, stern voice echoed over the natural earthen separation and overpowered the soft rolling bubble of the springs, Alyssa's immediate reaction was to collapse upon her self. Hands covered chest, slender legs crossed, and her horrible secret pressed up against the stone at her back; all with an audible splash. It took her a brief moment, but his tones settled in and hearkened her memory.

"So now we're announcing ourselves before sticking knives in my neck?" Though the springs could relax and warm a man to the bone, her words aimed to chill down to his hallowed core.

She took a moment to check her surroundings through the haze. Even though the two halves were clearly labeled, Alyssa had no trust in men. Especially after an even not but a few months ago when a space-time man materialized himself into her inn room while she wore only a sheer camisole. Were it not for his compelling story, she would have shot him on site. Tobias, on the other hand, was once a gentleman. So much had changed since they last spoke. Perhaps he still had some nobility behind those sunken eyes.

"What do you want, Mr. Untapped?" she continued after being unable to spot him on her side of the springs.

[Tobias Stalt]

Crisp steam wafted across his skin but did nothing to soothe the pain Alyssa's words evoked. Every mocking syllable rang in his mind and sent a dagger into his chest. Tightness around his heart first caused Stalt to worry, then let out a silent sigh in order that the girl wouldn't know she'd hurt him.

His gaze pierced the water and gazed into the depths, but he saw no good answer for her; Tobias wanted to use the excuse that he was simply doing as he was bidden, that Leona had paid him for a job well done. While both those things were true, they did not excuse the unnecessary roughness with which he had handled her. Drops of her blood had warmed his hand and the stains still bothered him despite fading away.

"I'm sorry for bothering you," he muttered finally, unsure of anything else to say. To answer her questions would only leave her with an upper hand, and if tensions between the sexes were a war, Alyssa would be winning by a landslide. His head dipped lower into the water and he blew bubbles from between his lips. His frustrations boiled.

The young woman appeared to have turned defensive at his voice, and part of the mercenary did not blame her. Once, a long time before so many things had happened, they had been fairly good friends. Now, Tobias' mannerisms were far less tactful and he even admonished himself for not finding one woman to stay true to. Jak used to tell him that philandering would profit him with many bastards, but no family.

So far, there was only one bastard, and he felt every ounce the part.

He lifted his head from the drink and let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry," he stated quietly. It was an apology for far more than just a blade to the neck. Tobias had disappeared from her life without warning, seen many battles and risked his life countless times. He had known many women, but loved not a one. He thought of Alyssa at times, though he doubted that she ever wondered about him or his safety. Perhaps she had; if Snow had any interest in his well-being, he owed her countless more apologies than just the one. "I am sorry."

[Alyssa Snow]

"And you should be!" Alyssa fumed.

It could have been the heat of the waters or bubbling frustration that brought a rose hue to her cheeks. She relaxed her arms from protecting her assets and turned them to clenched fists. Through the rolling clear, Alyssa watched as her knuckles whitened. Meanwhile, a knot welled in her chest.

"Six months, Tobias. Six months."

Her thoughts drifted as she stared. Memories of their boat trip to Fallien and his gentlemanly mannerisms. He spoke about loss with such sharp notes on his tongue, and yet knew how to make her laugh. His complexity captivated her, and she admired his strength through terrible adversity. After that, he was a ghost. She thought him dead. Then, six months later, those once vibrant eyes stared into hers with a cold depth and unshaken blade to her throat.

Was she so forgettable?

"You just disappeared No letters, no visits!"

Alyssa thrashed a hand against the water's surface. Like the turbulence caused by her actions, memories mixed with emotions. Anger, frustration, confusion, fear... sadness.

She drew her knees in.

"I thought you were dead."

Her voice calmed. So did the water's surface to a gentle ripple. Golden locks of dampened hair spilled over her arms while she wrapped them around her legs.

"I know you have more important things than some silly girl, but..."

The words stuck in her throat. The anger, the rage, it simmered and snuffed itself out. A pit opened somewhere deep within and suddenly filled with questions of insecurity until it had become a reflective pool. Inside, she saw toward the warped image of a single girl in a world she had been locked away from for so many years. Overwhelmed, confused, living on other's charity, yet somehow held together. Just barely.

"Did you... Did you forget about me so easily?"

[Tobias Stalt]

As her rage roiled through the air, Tobias glanced over his shoulder toward the obelisk that divided them. It was the shortest of expanses, but it felt no different than those many miles he'd traveled. A multitude of emotions tore free from the adolescent girl, enough to make the mercenary's hand move unbidden to the wall. "Alyssa," he whispered, gutted.

"Not once," he shook his head in disbelief. He wished he could say all the many things he'd done had been in her best interests. "I never stopped thinking," he vowed; there had been moments where he erred and acted out of loneliness, of grief, and of some sick need in his chest. The starvation in his soul had been placated for mere instants until bodies fell apart from one another. In the end, Tobias was left without wholeness every time. "About you."

It was the truth; Camille had once been everything to Tobias. In the instant she died, he lost a part of himself. The Soldier had believed that running was all he'd ever do. He fled Eiskalt in haste, gone to every corner of the world in search of freedom, and in Alyssa, he found the first friend he'd had since Jak. With the deaths of Togan and Mathes, and later Camille, Tobias had hardened his heart to others. Only those who survived in his company ever made it into his inner circle.

In Fallien, they had faced uncertainty and fought together. He trusted her more than he cared to admit. Steam filled the room around him and the traitor banged his fist against the wall. The room barely shook, but the impact barked loudly. "Did you think it was my idea?" his voice shook like the rest of his body. "When she said I would see you, I jumped at the chance," he admitted so quickly, he barely registered the words before they left his lips.

His teeth clenched round his lip, but he made no move to take the statement back. "You passed her test," he muttered, "but it seems like I'm always failing everyone."

The golden eyes she loved rolled back as his forehead gently pressed against rock, and Tobias stifled a sob. "I've gotten so lost, Alyssa," he choked. "I've seen all the world, but enjoyed none of it. My eyes have always been fixed over my shoulder." She knew of his past, the Crimson Hand. He'd left her after Fallien to assure she wouldn't become a target, but he could have contacted her. At least, the irrational part of his mind insisted so.

"Seems like there's always something," he traced the rock face with calloused fingers and his lips twisted in a smile that mocked happiness. "Always something getting in the way."

[Alyssa Snow]

The Dark Elf Alchemists taught her how to handle flanking soldiers, fire accurately under physical and mental stress, sabotage magical constructs, and field dress the most gruesome physical wounds or ailments. She was a machine of war, a project of violence, and a caged bird of prey. Even with years of mind numbing influence and ruthless testing, Alyssa didn't have the knowledge to deal with this pain. Only one other person caused such a pain in her chest, and the girl hadn't heard from Daire in years. When Tobia's voice drifted over the earthen divider, they brought such conflict and tension with them. Something soothed, something wounded, and inside it all, she sat silent.

The low rumble of rolling waters and venting steam persisted in absence of a response.

The waters, soft blue and effervescent, peered into her soul. This test, her becoming an Avatar of Justice, were these thoughts befitting of the title? Ever since the binding ceremony, Alyssa felt another presence from within. Perhaps this is why her chest felt so heavy? Why did it react to his voice?

Alyssa took in a deep breath.

"Tobi?" she spoke almost instinctively is velvet tones.

A small silence passed. She gripped herself tighter.

"Yes, Alyssa?" he responded.

"You don't have to run anymore."

The words emerged from her turbulent thoughts with little coherence; a jumbled mess of her dire need for freedom and childish need for normalcy.

"This is home now, right? You don't need to run anymore," she repeated. "You have to come back no matter how lost you are, right?"

She didn't know what she expected from him to respond. She hardly knew what a home was itself. Still, it seemed like the right thing to say. He had to come back home no matter what. It was where someone anchors themselves both physically and mentally. That thought alone warmed her.

[Tobias Stalt]

The thought of home reminded Tobias of a time long past. He sank slowly into scalding water as she spoke and his eyes slid shut. "This is home now, and you have to come back no matter how lost you are..." Her words were sweet, but in such a sad way. Images of his long forgotten father danced in the young man's mind, reminiscent of a time where all this adventure was an afterthought.

That had been home, too. He could never got back to it, no matter how badly he wished it now. "I hope you're right," he replied softly, and for the first time, Tobias made known that he did not have all the answers. Perhaps it would be a welcome relief for Alyssa, who always seemed so haunted. "It would be nice."

The run had ended, but something else always rose to take its place. Tobias frowned as his arms swept through water and the dull ache bled out of his arms. "These past months have been unkind," he told her honestly, "and the coming ones promise to be less kind. I have taken on a very dangerous contract..."

Though he disliked the idea of the girl worrying over him, she deserved to know. "Where I'm going, I cannot write; I cannot say how long it will last, or even if I will survive the endeavor. If I do..." his voice trailed into uncertainty. The rock above him seemed smaller as the torch burned low at the room's heart. "...there is a chance I will not come back entirely unchanged."

When confronted by Leona about the contract, she had only two stipulations. The first, that he return no matter the circumstances. Second, that he remember who he was in spite of everything that might happen. Those thoughts nagged at his mind, but he would not let them interfere with this moment. It was the first time he had spoken to a dear friend since parting ways.

"Even so," he managed, "I am glad to have had the opportunity to speak to you before I left." The eccentric gunner girl had danced in his mind through many missions. The prospect of speaking to her again had kept him going in more than one instance. Perhaps most interestingly, he considered her a friend, despite all the dangers that entailed. "I think I'll let you bathe, now."

[Alyssa Snow]

Alyssa understood the mission came before all else. In fact, that may have been the first lesson she could remember being taught in that Aleran cage. Still, hearing him say it made her question its validity. The girl knew that she was being raised as some kind of soldier and robbed of her individuality. The elves made that quite clear but now, Alyssa questioned Leona's guidance. Was their leader just as bad as the Alchemist Guild? So corrupt, they only seek power over humanity? In only six months, Tobias had changed from a playful colleague to whatever it was that spoke on the other side of the springs.

His eyes, she remembered how hollow they were.

Those last words felt as though he stood in front of her, dagger in hand, and peered down upon her bare form with nothing but that cold, empty stare.

Alyssa pulled her hands from the water. They were pruned. Even if she wanted to, there would be no enjoying a bath after this.

She stood, letting hot beads of crystal roll down her curves and lick at the horrible memory of her past carved into her back. She lifted her towel from the statue, all without a word to the shell of a man. She left the waters and blotted herself. The soft hiss and gurgle haunted the stagnant air. Her mind tried to wrap around his words and her own understanding of what they meant.

Was Leona turning him into a monster? Did she do this to him? Was she going to continue?

Then, Alyssa remembered one important word: choice.

The girl, now mostly dry, wrapped herself to cover sensitive bits and fetched her belongings from the staging area. She left and turned toward the stairs leading to the dorms. In front of the sign labeled "men" Alyssa stopped. She kept her eyes forward and didn't check to see weather or not he could see her or vice versa.

"You have a choice Tobias. Unlike I did, you have a choice," she spoke in firm tones. A slight waver conveyed the intensity of emotions that threatened to crumble her facade.

Then, without so much as a goodbye, Alyssa continued back to her room to dress.

[Tobias Stalt]

"Hey," he called firmly when she turned away. She was already halfway gone by the time he made the doorway and his trousers slid up over still-dripping legs. "What the hell is that? You want to walk away on those words? "You have a choice?" How am I supposed to respond to that, Alyssa?"

The hallway stretched out ahead of him, and at the end of it, Alyssa had stopped. "Seriously," he huffed. Streaks of hot water littered his torso. "Tell me what part of any of this-" he placed a hand on the wicked scar over his heart as he spoke, "-went the way I wanted it to?"

Her eyes watched him as he spoke, but the girl did not speak. Tobias strained to understand her mind. He knew that he was the cause of her pain, but he could not understand why. "I would have reached for you, if I could have." It had taken him struggle and pain to find Jak, his oldest friend in the world. Alyssa was even further away, and even if he had found her, she would have been at risk. "But even if I had, they might have come after you. That was an unacceptable risk."

The long mass of chestnut hair, stained dark by water, clung to his head tightly. Between thick tufts of hair, his gaze searched for her. The brilliance she saw would be his, but the darkness in them was ever present. Time had twisted him, experience had shaped him. The sins he wore in his soul were mirrored in once bright amber eyes. "Maybe I've changed," he murmured, "maybe I've seen things."

"Am I so wretched?" he asked quietly. "What would you have me do?"

[Alyssa Snow]

The mission, the heart, self preservation... What was the right path?

Alyssa clutched her belongings against the towel which clothed her. This time, his eyes looked into hers as he spoke. This time, that fire she remembered kindled to the surface of his cold stoicism. He raised his voice and made his point. She let a small smile creep across her lips. It did not last, for his light faded. The embers snuffed and again she looked upon a shell.

Her stomach soured.

"Do you think you had to go it alone because of me?!" she countered while taking a firm step toward him.

"You were afraid someone was going to come for me to get to you?!"

Her chest heaved as the turmoil and frustration began to boil.

"People have been searching for me since I broke out of that horrible Elven prison! I've had to kill people I didn't know just to make sure I had a tomorrow! I was captured by slave traders intending to sell me as some sex toy, and had to take even more lives! I'm not afraid of people looking for me! I know they are, and I am ready!"

She was now upon him. His body's warmth radiated against her skin and hers to his. A blue fire flickered in her crystalline eyes as they penetrated the voids which returned her gaze.

"You," she pushed a finger against his chest, "need to stop pitting yourself against the world! You have people that care and allies that would take a sword for you! You make these choices, Tobias! You listen to orders and deny that their reasoning is sound!"

Tobias motioned to reply, but Alyssa would not relent. She prodded her finger against his scar: a terrible wound, memory, and mark that she too could relate.

"Not everything can be avoided, but our choices are what make us! I didn't stay in captivity! I didn't listen to orders! I bare my own scars for my actions, but I do not regret them!"

Alyssa pulled away and took a heaving breath. Her hands shook. Her heart drummed loudly within her chest. Was it in anger, or sadness?

"Damn it, Tobias, if you are so malleable as to let the world change you so easily, then perhaps I'm wasting my time. I saw you as brave once. I was happy to see you return even if it was with a knife to my throat. But now, I don't know what to think. I don't know who you are anymore."

She let her eyes down, and her rigidity faded. A mirror of his emotionless norm crept into her features as though it were a contagious disease.

"Just leave me alone. Go get ready for whatever important thing you think you have to do... Mr. Untapped."

With a half effort, Alyssa pulled up the towel that had began to sag in her outburst. She then turned away from him without waiting for reply, and through the matted golden locks of hair, her own horrible scar peeked out from above the pure, white cotton shroud. Her terrible and well guarded secret that marred nearly her entire spine showed itself in her distraction.

Tobias spoke of horror.

It was a subject in which she was well versed.

But it did not make her.

[Tobias Stalt]

Though his hands sought to move, he bid them to stillness. Alyssa ripped into him with verbal fangs and her heart raged against his chest. Every word died in his throat, every excuse, every sweet thought his mind tried to conjure broke and turned to salt on his tongue. When she bade him to leave her be, the soldier did what he knew best.

He took the orders, and he swallowed them.

Her scar scorned him as she walked away, but his gaze never left her. When Alyssa disappeared, Tobias slowly shut his eyes. "...fine." The House of Cards giggled like a schoolgirl as the word reverberated softly in his ears. He knew only one thing; the payment was tendered. There was no denying the job now.

When Madison Freebird had handed the gold over, she spoke of undermining the Church of the Ethereal Sway in Salvar. If it cost his life, Tobias would see that evil institution undone, and every life they destroyed given reparations. The loss of Alyssa left his heart empty, as all things were wont to do.

But by now, Stalt was used to it. Sadness fueled his fury until the void flowed over with purpose. "I will." The cold words shook his arms. Once warm water on his body felt like ice. Tobias clenched his fists and turned back to collect his clothes. "I wish you well, Alyssa Snow," he muttered quietly. She would never hear, but he wouldn't fight that. "Do not weep for me."

Heat blasted his face as the mercenary slipped each blade into place, then wrapped himself in his cloak. "Are you leaving?" When the familiar voice hit his ears, Tobias sighed. He turned to face Leona with a short nod. "And you're going to just... go like that? Without another word?"

"It's of no consequence to you." Tobias pressed his firearm back into the holster. Leona stepped forward and stabbed her finger into his chest. "The Judgment card is conflicted now," she spat, "that is very much my problem. I'm going to hunt you down when the torrent of questions comes."

"If that's your prerogative," Tobias called as his steps carried him past her. "You already know where I'm going. You already know that's not a smart plan."

"You're becoming far more perceptive, Untapped," she offered him empty praise, but from this woman, it almost felt like a compliment. "I just don't want you to suffer for this. I do have a heart," she said nonchalantly.

He glanced back with a broken smile and shook his head. "You know better," he told her. "I'll suffer anyway."

"But you have a choice." The words slapped him harder than she could have with either hand. Tobias winced.

"Yeah," he grunted. "But what would you do, in my position?"

The question caused Leona to blink. He held up a hand and shook his head. "I know," he called back as he turned back toward the exit. "Questions." Stevvains watched the enigmatic boy disappear with her arms folded, and the question echoed in her mind.

"There are some questions," she whispered, "that give even a seer pause."

[Alyssa Snow]

As each damp step left its mark upon the weathered marble floor, Alyssa felt the distance between the two grow farther apart. Her mind raced. It hoped that he would see her fury and frustration as a reason to abandon whatever foul plot Leona had designed. Each beat against the silence and step forward tore open a wound. Anger turned to fear, fear then turned to sadness, and that sadness circled back around to anger until she found herself atop the steps and looking to the long and empty halls of so many empty rooms.

Empty, like his response... or lack there of.

She stood still. Her heart fell, and the strength of her legs felt as though they were sinking into the quicksands of Fallien. What had changed since their adventure in that desolate desert wasteland? Was six months really enough to change a person so horribly?

She braced herself against the wall. Either she forgot to breathe or breathing felt like drawing in water - much like the glistening stream which now stemmed from her innocent, effervescent eyes. A few tears fell to the floor mixed with drops of spring water which still dampened her hair. When she saw these, shock settled in. She dabbed her eyes as though to check her disbelief.

"Why?" she muttered while looking at tear laden fingers. "Why am I crying over this?"

The myriad of emotions were foreign to her - tears even more so.

"Why?!" This time, there was anger.

Alyssa righted herself and found strength in weakened knees. Her soft footsteps began to pummel the stone as she advanced further down the hallway and to her room. A trail of droplets marked her path until she shut herself from the world with the slam of a door. Her clothes shot from her arms and scattered all about the bed she had just finished arranging.

"Such an idiot!" she shouted to no one.

She stormed over to the alchemic contraption in the corner and slid her hand on a glowing red vial beside another of blue. It brightened in response and the little device hummed. It strained and whirred while the air funneled through its back and became a sweltering gust of heat. The girl thrust her face into the wind and used the towel around her body to work away the moisture from both her eyes and hair.

"Why?! Why is he so stubborn?!"

The walls nor the furniture gave reply as the watched in silence.

"Can't you see you're killing yourself?!"

The heat worked her blonde locks dry and gave her fair skin a reddened hue. Alyssa cast aside the towel and activated the opposing blue vial. The arid wind died down and as the contraption hummed with a cerulean glow, a soft cool breeze poured out from its front. The heat, however, still remained within the girl.

"You'd rather throw yourself into harm's way than ask for my help or better yet," she stormed over to an antique vanity littered with little trinkets and decorations she had found, "you could have stayed! Maybe find whatever it was you lost!"

She looked into the mirror. She looked upon her reflection through the flecks and scratches that time had put upon its once smooth surface. Her own image stilled her and though she stood fully bare, the woman that stared back revealed so much more.

"I told him he was a coward..."

Her arms instinctively wrapped around herself as if to avoid the prying hundreds of imaginary eyes staring upon her.

"I called him a monster. I shut him out."

She plopped down on the ornate, plush seat beneath her and stared back at herself.

"I-- you chose to walk away..."

The conflict sickened her. Right and wrong collided into a thick, syrupy, unavoidable mess. The embodiment of her Tarot began to reject her and the scar for which she guarded from the world began to throb. She looked through the scratched, spotted glass and couldn't stand it anymore. She stood abruptly and in doing so, knocked her seat forcibly into one of her wardrobes. She turned in a startle, and her hair snagged against a rather ornate glass sculpture. It teetered, she spun to catch it, and it fell to the ground into thousands of pieces. They scattered about her bare feet and in an attempt to catch her own balance, she stepped upon the shards.

Her scream permeated through the door and echoed down the hall. In a leaping bound, she vaulted the treacherous wreckage and landed atop her bed. With foul words stringed together in an unintelligible chain, she grabbed at her foot to assess the damage. Several shards of different sizes bedded into the skin and brought forth small streams of red.

"Thaynes damn it!" she shouted as she tenderly tried to remove the pieces, "Can't anything go right today?!"

Though she had felt much worse pain before, even within the last few hours, Alyssa willed herself to stem back the tide of tears that threatened to pour out.

For Rayleigh:
You can go ahead and bunny Alyssa. I figure Ray would knock on the door to ask what's up (either announcing herself or not), Alyssa would scramble for her clothes and throw down the towel and/or bed sheets on the glass to walk on, and rush to the door. If you didn't announce yourself, she'd think it were Tobias, and open the door to see you. Feel free to cover an introduction and whatever else you like and we can go from there for maybe a post or two and close this out.

[Rayleigh]

There was a sudden knock at the door, a series of thuds that seemed to echo in the small room. Every muscle tensed, and Alyssa's head whipped toward the sound, blonde hair cascading over her shoulder. "Tobias," the woman murmured, her voice an airy whisper that was nearly lost as the pounding continued.

The sound of fist meeting heavy wood grew louder, and more urgent; the change in tempo was enough to finally spur Snow into action. The tiny trails of crimson that cross-crossed her bare feet and stained her finger tips reminded her of the danger that lay sprinkled across her floor. To counter this, Alyssa tore a blanket from the bed she had just made, shifting to work it out from underneath her. Then, she flung it before her, watching it settle over glass shards that sparkled like diamonds.

"Hold on!" she barked as the knocking grew more forceful still. One hand grabbed for her towel, which she had left draped over the bedpost, and she wrapped it snugly about her torso. Her long frame slid gracefully from the bed to the cloth-covered floor, but her gait was uneven as she hobbled toward the door to her bedroom. Tender feet cried out in protest with each step, and smudges of blood left a tell-tale trail across the fabric, but she reached the door without further incident.

Regardless of how badly she wished to see the mercenary again, his knocking was quite unnecessary, and she was growing annoyed with it. Her hand closed tightly around the doorknob, and with a powerful, backward yank, she tore it open. "Alright, Tobias," she demanded, "what is it that you-" The woman fell silent as her blue eyes came to rest on the culprit.

A young woman, a few inches shorter than Snow, stood with her fist raised in mid-knock. Her emerald pools were wide, a strange mixture of concern and surprise milling about within them. Her freckled cheeks burned crimson, and her fat salmon lips parted as she began to speak.

"Not Tobias," was all the stranger could manage.

Alyssa's own cheeks warmed at the awkwardness of the situation. She stood in only a towel, shouting out the name of a man who was long gone. Of course it is not Tobias, she scolded herself silently. It was foolish to assume it was.

"Alright, 'not Tobias,'" the blonde replied. "What do you want?"

"Well," the other woman began slowly, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm quite fine," Alyssa replied tartly, "and I don't particularly need looking after." Embarrassment mingled with disappointment and frustration, and when the mixture met with the raw emotions already raging within her, Alyssa Snow grew far more stand-offish than intended.

Rayleigh, who rarely put up with such attitude, felt some of her concern slip away. "Your scream suggested otherwise," came her cool retort.

The nineteen year old opened her mouth to argue, but after some thought, closed it once more. Then she heaved a small sigh. "Fair enough," she stated simply.

"Well," the mechanic announced, taking a step backward, "if you were looking for someone else, I'll just head back then."

"Head back where?" Alyssa asked suddenly, realizing that she did not recognize the individual before her. Given they were deep within the confines of the guild headquarters, this was incredibly unusual.

Ray lifted her hand, one slender finger pointing toward the next doorway. "My room," was her answer. "I've just started moving in."

"Ah. Alright then."

"Yeah."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the women, both consumed by thoughts that hid their normally cheerful demeanors. Finally, the brunette spoke. "You're looking for Tobias?"

"Yes." A flicker of emotion that Ray struggled to place flashed in her cerulean eyes. "Do you know him?"

"I do. He's a bit of a shit."

The vulgarity of the newcomer's answer caught Alyssa entirely off-guard. For a moment, Ray feared she was going to get slapped; the short laugh that rolled from the Queen of Pentacles' lips was a pleasant surprise.

"He does have that effect on people," Alyssa admitted, shaking her head. She could not argue with Rayleigh's interpretation, and no doubt she had thought the same thing at least once since meeting him. Her features softened, and she added, "my name is Alyssa, by the way."

The brunette smiled. Her grin was just a bit off-center, favoring the right side of her face, but it was genuine nonetheless. "Rayleigh. But most people call me Ray."

[Alyssa Snow]

Alyssa looked over the new acquaintance. Her features reminded her of an old friend. The blonde saw an admirable strength in Rayleigh's matter of fact personality. For a minute, Alyssa let slip the pain radiating from her foot that she had inadvertently put her weight on. A wince became an unfriendly reminder. She seethed through her teeth and lifted her foot.

"Nice to meet you Ray," the gunner added. From across the hall, she looked to the cluttered mess in the darkness which she had harvested her current furniture. An idea sparked in that turbulent mind of hers. She latched onto it, an escape, and pushed the mess of intelligible feelings to the back.

"Tell you what," Alyssa began, "that room over there still has a lot of good stuff in it. I need to clear it out to make room for what I want to be my workshop. How about we kill two birds?"

Either Ray seemed delighted at the offer or the word "workshop" triggered some sort of spark in her verdant eyes.

"Workshop?" the brunette confirmed.

"Yeah, let me get cleaned up, put on something decent, and we can get to work." A weak smile escaped Alyssa's lips.

"Sure, I'll take a look while you do your thing."

Alyssa nodded and disappeared behind closed doors. She looked upon the disheveled mess of her new room. She breathed a long sigh and shook her head. Though it wasn't ideal, Alyssa would salvage this day.

In the hope of new friendship, old turmoil would be bottled and buried. A myriad of unexplored feelings would wait for another day.

This is what she chose to do.


That'll cover it for me. I think this is a good note to end on. The events after this can be implied and we can do a Ray/Aly workshop thread once Alyssa gets a little more info on her guns & crystals. Once it's set up, Ray can use it as she sees fit as well. :)

[Mordelain]

Thread Title: All Quiet on the Home Front
Judgment Type: Full Rubric
Participants: Alyssa Snow, Tobias Stalt

Plot: 21/30

Story- 7/10: Domesticity is a difficult thing to write effectively in a setting that actively encourages conflict, intrigue, and adventure. From the outset, you establish rhyme and reason and progress your characters through a logical and coherent narrative. You have referred to past events in this narrative and used exposition to ensure the reader is not second-guessing their importance. If you wish to weave tighter threads, consider linking threads, or attempting less linear progression (start at the end, or switch between scenes/time-frames).

Setting- 8/10: Less is more, and here, the history of your characters adds to the weight of the homestead as a ‘presence’. You pay attention to the necessary components in a scene, and do not over indulge in the bigger picture (which in terms of the rubric, and making writing accessible, leads to redundancy and a threat to your score for clarity). You use narrative to describe, more so than adjectives and concrete descriptions. This adds reinforcement to your character score, as well as technique. Post 2, “The House of Cards was barely a house to begin with,” and the use of metaphor surrounding steam in the bath conversation towards the end of the thread shine as strong examples of good writing. Well done.

Pacing- 6/10: Though the setting and communication is strong, there is tendency to repeat both words and references to feeling. Simple word changes can alleviate the former, whilst the latter comes down to re-reading each post and ensuring that redundancy is removed. Unless you need to restate something for emphasis, or it needs additional words due to a character decision or ‘voice’, cut out the excess and go for direct dialogue accented with your mutually stronger techniques.

Character: 23/30

Communication- 9/10: Dialogue between characters is naturalistic and believable. There is enough colloquialism and attention to the impact words have on others to draw the reader into the communication between Alyssa and Tobias. The conflict is apparent in your words, as well as actions. Your descriptors, such as “velvet tones”, bring this to life and make it a focal point of the thread. Excellent work both.

Action-7/10: The action in this thread comes from the movement of characters in a scene. There’s no conventional sword and sorcery combat, and yet, all the same, it’s frenetic. To improve on an action score when not using these ground stays of fantasy writing, consider not the action, but the effect. If your character sneezes, describe a bird taking flight in surprise. If steam roils in a sauna, describe the vapour condensing on the walls and tumbling down. Every action, as has been said countless teams, has an equal reaction. Think deeper.

Persona- 7/10: Tobias remains ever the conflicted soul, who reflects on “a time long past” in exquisite self-flagellation. Alyssa, like-wise, shows signs of learning from her experience, but both writers fail to adequately connect current emotion and cause. Tobias seems to think he’s haunted, but not show it. That level of control seems to go against the horrors he witnessed, and perpetrated in Eiskalt. Alyssa, tormented by elves and brought to life as a ‘monster’ seems all too emotionally stable. That’s not to say make them unhinged and maddened, but work on balancing persona between communication, action, and thought – rather than hammer fall it into their dialogue.

Prose: 21/30

Mechanics- 7/10: On the whole, the rubric reflects on writing as a complete package. Mechanics looks at the thread entire, and for the most part there are relatively few mistakes. That said, the mistakes that are made are formatting errors and these are remedied by understanding the rules concerning speech marks. If these prove difficult, refrain from breaking dialogue up “So that when you do this,” she said “you don’t make foolhardy mistakes”. He said. Secondly, reconsider the location of commas to improve on your clarity score and pacing. “Devoted to the study of magic or his involvement with them” comes at the end of a long sentence already. A comma after magic eases the reading. One or two minor typing errors, such as deomons.

Clarity- 8/10: With exception to the points outlined in pacing, the thread’s actions, character’s dialogue, and intent within a time line were clear. It was a bracing read, and reminiscent of the bath house scenes in Spirited Away.

Technique- 6/10: Strong metaphor, alliteration, and rotating between characters as leads in a scene delivered a sound piece of writing. Technique however expects more than clichés such as ‘mystical misfits’ and hisses and kisses in a steamy environment. Pathetic fallacy is best left for the outdoors, and the less ‘roiling’ in a sauna the better. Perhaps consider mirroring internal thought with the environment – if Tobias feels sad, describe the vapours as tears of his own devising, or if the hearth of a lounge is warm and inviting, lift your character’s spirits. Hitting them hammer blow with thunder and lightning undermines the character’s place in a scene.

Wildcard: 6/10: Enticing and well-wrought. Very strong dialogue and an interesting dynamic between two obviously haunted characters kept me engaged with the thread throughout. You have accomplished an excellent starting point to what I hope will be an ongoing exchange of incivilities masked as niceties. Well done.

Final Score: 71/100

Alyssa Snow receives:

915 EXP!
150 GP!

Tobias Stalt receives:

1135 EXP!
175 GP!

Rayleigh receives:

105 EXP!
25 GP!

Congratulations!


If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me via private message, or via cydneyoliver@gmail.com.

[Lye]

EXP & GP Added!