A Second Chance (Blake/Squad Assignment)

[Bailey Oleander]

Time still felt unreal to Bailey after the battle.  After the Generals and their men had left, she'd joined Blake in returning to his village,  It would be easier to continue from there than head back, though she knew the Commanders were aware of what had happened.  How could they not be?  But it was one of few certainties.

She didn't know what would happen from here.  It had surprised her that none of the villagers were on the field, but she was also glad they weren't.  With so few left, she didn't want to think about how many would have survived the final purge.  Even just thinking about it made her skin crawl, and not just because of the children being sacrificed.   The more she tried not to think about it and all that had happened, the more it gnawed at the back of her mind.   Less than a quarter of those willing to fight on their side remained. The enemy had been annihilated.

No one should have that kind of power.

Her footsteps took her away from the main area of the village, where the residents were working to rebuilt what had been lost.  What they could of it, anyway.  It felt strange to be walking through without having to worry about hiding the fact she was a qi user after being escorted in private and then exiled by the same man.  The previous Elder.

It was quieter now, like walking through a doorway into a quieter world, one where the land still remembered what happened like a raw wound.  She paused, physically turning her head to look around this time.  She had a favor to ask.

SPOILER: Click to show

Name: Squad Training
Requirements: Assigned a Squad
Job: It's time to get the squad together and hash out our problems. Be they in the field or with each other personally.
Bonus: Fight each other, discuss problems, and grow together or apart.
Payout: +5 exp, +$250

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[Blake Oleander]

He was no stranger to death. He'd been killing for as long as he'd been able to hold a bow and a blade. It didn't bother or shock him to see children in their army. It was a natural part of life. Another soldier. Another tool of war. At least it had been when he was growing up. Him and his brothers and arms trained and taught to be living weapons. He had choices to make.

The soul of his home had been defended. For now at least. It's people lived and toiled among the ruins of what was once their humble home. The stench of death choking the air and the air filled with the gluttonous cries of the carrion feeders. Crows and ravens lined the trees, feasting on the death. Mass graves would need to be dug, or mass burnings for the bodies before the disease had a chance to set in. The last thing they needed was a plague. He wished he could give them all a proper burial, wash their bodies with ceremony and as heroes to this land. But the fact is he couldn't. He had forty men and women at his command and over eight thousand bodies outside of his home. There was no time, space, or resources to do that.

It was easier to focus on tasks like these. Thinking about disposing of the bodies rather than facing what it represented. Or what he'd seen. He was no stranger to death. But to see it on that scale, was beyond anything even his worst nightmares could have prepared him for.

Using Virgil

[Bailey Oleander]

When she found him, Bailey wasn't sure if Blake was lost in thought or merely that focused. His gaze was straight ahead, but he seemed far away in his own way. She stopped at the sight of him, considering turning back for now and returning to the village to help rebuild. She waited a moment before taking another step forward. She had held off before due to poor timing; there would never really be a good time, not as things were.

She gingerly shifted, even that small movement rippling with pain from the burned skin and other damage. She didn't want to think of what they would say back home, but at the same time, she was alive. It was more than what they could say for most.

Still, she remained silent for a few moments longer. She didn't want to just dive right in. He wasn't just her partner; he was the Elder of this place and these people.

[Blake Oleander]

Burning them might be the best use of his time and resources. Ally and enemy alike. He didn't like the idea of a mass grave. it seemed a fair compromise. A fire had a cleansing property to it after all. He would need to have his people get on that. It was the least they could do for those that fought and died here. He would join in the process himself as well. The weight of their deaths lay on his shoulders...

He'd noticed Bailey, but he didn't break off to join her, lost in thought as he was and feeling uneasy about the kiss from earlier. Not that Bailey was not attractive. Or was at least, but it was a spur of the moment action. Rash and reaching for closeness. He doubted she would have welcomed it under normal circumstances.

It was probably a mistake.

[Bailey Oleander]

As the silence grew, her own thoughts turned the kiss, gaze falling to the ground as she felt her cheeks flush with the memory. That wasn't why she was here, but she couldn't just forget it, either. She figured it was adrenaline on both their parts, that sense of loss hen their connection severed. Sweet, but situational. Maybe it would have been easier to believe if it hadn't come from Blake. Then again, they were both different people than when they first met.

With a silent, deep breath, she looked over at him again, shoving aside the flustered feelings.

"Do you have a moment?" She asked softly, her soft volume still seeming too loud to her own ears. How many of their conversations had started this way?

[Blake Oleander]

He slowly nodded. He had time. He had a lot to do. But he also had time. Because ever since becoming Elder he always had a lot to do. It was maddening.

"I do."

[Bailey Oleander]

She stepped forward when he finally nodded, sitting down near him as he spoke.

"I have a favor to ask of you." She worried at the inside of her cheek for a second, pushing past her initial hesitance, eye forward, though she was sitting on the side where she could see him.

"I'm able to copy someone's abilities to an extent. I was wondering if you'd be okay if I copy yours for the regeneration." It seemed she hesitated after all, drawing in a breath as her cheeks heated again and she shook her head. "I wanted to ask you earlier, but it...didn't seem appropriate."

[Blake Oleander]

He clicked his tongue and sighed at her.

"Why are you so dumb?" He'd say with a frown. "You don't need to ask for something like that."

As in yes.

[Bailey Oleander]

She glanced at him with his sigh, looking away again as she draped her arms across her knees for a second before reaching out to touch his arm. Thankfully, she wasn't fumbling to apologize for the error.  (Bailey copies Blake's Ability!)

"Probably, but it's not life threatening. Randomly hijacking people's powers isn't something I want to get into practice of when it's someone I care about."

Oh god.

[Blake Oleander]

He just stayed silent. But he noted that she specified specifically people that she cares about...

[Bailey Oleander]

Thankfully, he said nothing further as she touched him, focusing on his energy and how it felt different from her own as she copied the power. Now it felt even stranger, still malicious, but not as raw. Add to that the fact it felt like she was seeing it through a different lens, and her hand fell away a couple seconds longer than it needed to before falling to her side.

After a couple of seconds of silence, she tried to use his power, tentatively testing the silence as she did so.

"Did y--!" Only the healing never came, the question dying on her lips as the first syllable turned into a sound of surprise and pain as her bones cracked and grew. Ligaments twisted and skin darkened as her right arm and hand darkened, shredding the fabric of her shirt as a massive monster arm formed in its place unbidden. She grit her teeth, her free hand gripping the forming arm as she sucked in a breath.

And she thought Mathew's torture was bad.

[Blake Oleander]

He raised an eyebrow, he was going to ask what's wrong when her bones started to snap and crack her arm shifting into that of her own monster claw. Her shirt and bra shredding from the sudden growth of mass. It was an odd choice since she wanted to heal.

"What did you want to do with your hand?"

[Bailey Oleander]

Right now she'd like to hide behind her hand, but that was besides the point. She shuddered and shook her head.

"I didn't. I was focusing on the healing." She frowned and looked at the arm in question. It wasn't he first time her ability to use qi had gone out off the wall when she absorbed the feeling and energy of the place around her. Or in this case, Blake's energy. She'd simply responded to the attack when it came to the Commander on hte field, and she'd had no trouble with it.

"I guess I have an idea what might have caused it," she managed after a moment, turning towards him more.

"Is it like this for you all the time?"

[Blake Oleander]

"What do you mean?"

To what might have caused it, and what it was like for him all the time.

[Bailey Oleander]

She took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves if not her thoughts. Blake had been gone for some of her more recent developments, and though she'd skirted the effects when she'd confessed her worries to him back on the training grounds, she hadn't really gone into why.

"This is the second time focusing on the source of the energy I'm around has had a strong reaction to my qi." It was almost embarrassing, if not frustrating. Something so simple, things she could do before, now seemed to have strings attached to them. Would she even be able to enjoy something as simple as that again?

"The way this feels, whenever it happens."