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 Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:24 pm
Being a trainee meant a much more directed day between Death Hunter tasks and conditioning requirements. On Thursdays, for example, Hanna (along with a rotating cast of other Hunters from various divisions) met at the training grounds for sparring with other trainees. She often did know who she was paired up with until she arrived. An intermediate Hunter usually oversaw the process, but the quality of their overseer was typically not good. More often than not, they had a tendency to wander away and do other things shortly after assigning pairs. Hanna didn't mind; that meant less people to watch her shortcomings on stage. That day, she was running just a little bit later than normal, and by the time she arrived all the pairs were set except hers. The male Mist Hunter chewed at the end of a pen and gestured vaguely off in the direction of another girl over by the training dummies. "All right, latecomer -- you and the white-haired one. Have at it. Don't kill each other on my watch," he said, making a check on a piece of paper and then walking out of sight. "Aye, aye, captain," Hanna mumbled, trekking over to the girl. When she was about ten feet away, the Death trainee stopped cold. The girl's back was to her, but that didn't make her any less familiar. "SCARLETT," Hanna said -- a strongly punctuated word. "Are you shitting me? SCARLETT." Hanna crossed the distance and placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, turning her around to face her. There, staring her in the face, was one of her closest friends from three years ago -- one of the only people she had truly been close to from before her repodding. Hugging was not precisely Hanna's thing so instead she lightly shoved the other trainee on both shoulders, grinning widely. "How long have you been back? When I came back, they said you weren't around and your room was empty and how the hell are you." Sparring was not exactly on her mind at the moment.
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Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:18 pm
Despite her disheartened nature, Scarlett still got up every morning and reported for duty - just like a good trainee was supposed to do. Even if she was not good at this job she had no other choice. Either perform the minimal requirements or face the consequences of failure. She had already paid her price, over and over. Her bright eyes were concentrated on the worn face of a training dummy, silently wondering what secrets it had seen over time. How many hunters had stood here, fought the faceless opponent, and learned what it meant to be chosen for this? She willed the silent dummy to share its knowledge, unconsciously stroking her fingers across the tops of her engraved rings. SCARLETT. She frowned, wondering if she was going crazy or if Konoha was playing with her. Again. Then there was a hand on her shoulder and she was suddenly facing one of the only faces that she knew, one of the only people she had left to draw comfort from. She had few friends in this world, but this girl had been one of the ones she'd depended on most when all of this started. "Hanna?" She asked, unsure. Her eyes scanned the familiar face over and over, as if to make sure that she hadn't gone absolutely insane. Tension eased from her shoulders and, if she hadn't been aware of Konoha's rings on her fingers, she would have laughed in relief. The small shove caused her to take an awkward step back but there was a smile slowly stretching across her face at the gesture. It really was Hanna, awkward personal bubble and all. "I've been off island, doing some other things," her tone didn't seem excited, or proud, so other things was probably just code for busy work. "I haven't seen you in ages, I thought you'd gotten too busy for this." She punctuated her last word by waving a hand at the training area. It had never occurred to her that Hanna would be in a similar situation, she'd always assumed the girl had gone on to be a great soldier for the Deus army. Most of their peers had. "I've been back on the island for a couple of months, I suppose. I've lost track." Repeating the same lackluster training every day had a way of robbing one of a sense of time. Every failure blurred together, every disappointed night was the same. Her stress was easy to see in the bags under her eyes and the stiff way she moved her limbs. "How are you, though? Where have you been?" Why are you stuck with me? was the unspoken question.
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:06 pm
The smile on Hanna's lips faltered. As an initial trainee, she had shown a great deal of acumen, but that had all disappeared for a reason that she could not seem to remember. Her official file had several blacked out sections and then only a minor notation to explain the repodding: weapons malfunction. Adelphe adamantly denied this was the case, but the trail had run cold. Like Scarlett, she returned to Deus to find all of her peers either gone or extremely decorated. It was both a kick to the ego and the heart. A shrug rolled off her shoulders. "Well," she began, toeing at the dirt, "I only just got back too, a couple months ago. I... Scar, I was repodded -- like, seriously repodded. I was back in the freezer for two and a half years. File said it was a weapons... thing." For some reason, it was hardest of all to tell Scarlett. She had known Hanna before, had gone through the rough start with her together. It felt a little like going to a high school reunion where everyone was married with careers and you had to tell everyone you still work part-time, despite being voted Most Likely to Succeed. "So... I've been conscious. And that has been really, really good." Hanna drew in a breath of air. "Not to be heavy, but I've missed you, man. It's really great just to see you." And now they got to fight each other, as a hello.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:16 pm
"I.. what?" Scarlett blinked a few times as she let Hanna's words sink in. At first she seemed shocked into silence, but then she let an emotion somewhere between relief and pain wash over her face. "Sorry, it's just, I was sent back to the pod too." When she spoke, it was quieter, as if she were afraid someone might overhear her. It had been a huge blow to her ego to know that for once, she couldn't just power through something and be the best. She felt like a kid that didn't know how to ride a bike when all of her friends were jumping ramps and doing wheelies. It was the first time in her life that she hadn't been able to just do something. The truth was simply that she hadn't been ready. "I guess.. maybe I've been out a lot longer than you, but they sent me off island because I haven't.. really.." Her words trailed off and she shrugged, glancing down at her hands where Konoha's rings gleamed like heavy reminders of her failure. The thought made a voice in the back of her mind huff in irritation but she ignored it, as she always did. Their relationship was wrong. She had to fix it before she could be a good soldier but no matter how hard she tried, the trickster wouldn't come around. She was missing a piece to their puzzle, overlooking it. "I've missed you too," she said back softly, bringing her lime eyes up to meet a pair equally as vibrant. A gentle smile spread over her lips and for the first time in a while, she drew a relaxed breath. Maybe it wasn't the end of the world to be left behind a little. At least now she knew that she had Hanna. "Not to worry you, but I'm a really horrible sparring partner." Her uneasy laugh hid the real truth in those words. She brought up her hands to waist level and flexed them a little, as if she weren't really sure about anything to do with this at all. "I'm being really honest."
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Akina Tokuwa rolled 1 20-sided dice:
14
Total: 14 (1-20)
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Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:06 pm
Even though Hanna could see the wash of emotions crossing Scarlett’s face, she was glad for it, in a way. This entire return to Deus had been an incredibly isolating experience. Now, standing in front of her, was someone from her era of Hunters who had fallen prey to the same system. Maybe it wasn’t them; maybe it was just growing pains for the organization. "I'm relieved," Hanna said, her honesty pushing through. "I know that might be a ******** up thing to say, but I am relieved that it wasn't just me. I mean, if you can go down like that then... it doesn't make me feel so..." Hanna shrugged. Glancing over her shoulder, the Death trainee noted Hunter who assigned sparring partners making gestures at them to begin. She held up a hand to wave him off. "But -- 2.5 years. That's how long I was out," she said. "And now we should start hitting each other before one of us chokes up or that a*****e comes over here." The smile returned. Hanna was ready to move past it and just get her friend back.
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