daybreakacademy | Breaking Point [Open]

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Breaking Point [Open]

Who: Puella
What: Saving the world is hard, especially when you think it's solely up to you
When: Early June, after Tsunade's post
Where: Campus courtyard, possibly the infirmary at some point
Warnings: Self harm...? Not on purpose. Depression. Angst.

Puella had been fairly quiet today, which might be a little concerning to those that knew her well. She would refuse to say anything was wrong if asked though. And honestly, from what she understood nothing was wrong anyway. Nothing had really changed, she was just hearing about it for the first time.

Shadows were beginning to grow longer on the way back to the dorms. Puella was never really that afraid of the dark before, or night for that matter, but hearing what would happen if the sun never came back up...knowing that she will loose something if it's not stopped...how friends and family were going to disappear if she couldn't do this one thing...

She wasn't even close to being ready for it. And if Nightfall was something happening really soon, like everyone says, what if she never was?

...No, there had to be some way to learn all this Candle stuff even sooner. Everyone seems to be counting on it anyway, and they shouldn't be let down either.

Puella did not return back to the dorms, but rather found somewhere she could practice for a little while. Someplace large enough and out of the way, out of feeling too self conscious about her own power. It was so much weaker compared to everyone else, no one needed to see it.

No matter how much she tried using her Flame, all Puella was capable of was making a little bit of Radiance. All Flames were supposed to have something else unique about them, didn't they? So what could it be that she was doing wrong? Perhaps she just was not trying hard enough.

She forced out a small, radiant glow as hard as she could. With the sun beginning to go down, it did somewhat brighten up a part of the courtyard. It was a start, but it was not nearly enough. So she kept going brighter and brighter. Puella was not even at peak brightness yet when suddenly the light flickered. She felt a sharp cramp and lost concentration. "N-no...not now."

Ignoring the pain she tried again, but this time struggled more to get the Radiance bright, and had to stop even sooner. But she kept trying again, and again. Each time the burning felt worse.

It was going absolutely no where. There was something Puella was missing. Her chest hurt so much now that she didn't want to do this anymore. But she had to keep going. She had to help stop Nightfall. She just...had to.

Puella put everything into one last burst of Radiance, the biggest and brightest one yet; similar to the one she did when attacked. But other than making a light show, nothing else happened.

The burning sensation was too much now. It was the worst feeling imaginable. So much so that she curled up in the grass and wept.

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[A sudden burst of light would've been enough to get Jail's attention on its' own, but what really got her over there was that it seemed... almost familiar? If she'd thought it over carefully, she'd have realized that what it most reminded her of was Puella's fireworks, back when she used the rune array.]

[But right now, all she's thinking of is the crying child in front of her.]

Hey, kid, can you hear me? [She kneels carefully down in the grass beside Puella, not quite touching her.] Do you need me to bring you to the doctors?

[Her face was buried so the voice startled her. She jolts to look up.]

[Had others really seen all that..? What were they going to say??]

... [She refused to answer that one. If the infirmary and more people got involved, everyone would soon find out she was a failure. No matter how much it hurt.]

Hey, hey, easy...

[Jail holds up a hand, trying not to startle Puella further. The fuck happened out here? She can't sense anything hostile, no other unexpected presences, but clearly something is very wrong...]

You don't gotta go anywhere if you don't wanna, but you look kinda like you just got punched in the stomach by life? Which isn't a great sign.

[The occasional burst of Radiance was something Grimm had grown used to in his years in Daybreak. It was something he did not protest even if was a buzz in his ear and a burn not from his flames - students needed to practice to come into their abilities and to squash that for his own comfort would be nothing short of a dishonor.

But this is...different. Like a candle struggling to stay lit in the face of the wind. Worried, Grimm teleports into the area and once he sees Puella lying in the grass, hurries over to kneel beside her.]

My dear Puella...what has happened here? Are you unharmed?

[Alright, maybe no one did saw what she actually did. That is a little bit better, if she can pass it off as nothing.] ...

I didn't mean to do it.

[Or let's not do that at all.]

[Okay, she's not too unwell to speak, that's probably a good sign. She hopes.]

I mean, fair? I don't mean to do a lotta things, most of which people can't prove I was ever responsible for.

[She has an alibi. In fact, she has several, which would you like?]

Kinda raises the question of what you did mean to do, though. Just saying.

[Several squirrels, seeing Puella collapse, run over to check on her. They can't really do much, but they can at least make sure she doesn't hurt herself further. Several others run off into the night, looking for Doreen.]

[They're apparently successful, as Doreen and Tippy Toe quickly arrive.]

Puella? What happened? Are you okay?

[Puella had thought there was no one nearby, now she felt a sense of dread that somebody arrived. Granted, it didn't feel that much different from that burning feeling.]

I-I'm... [She wanted to say nothing was wrong, but there was a hundred things that weren't fine right now.]

[Grimm cannot smell any blood but he knew from his own time as a human that did not mean someone was completely okay. Internal bleeding was still a problem for humans - they were not granted the same regeneration he benefited from.

Telling the Troupe Master she is fine will sadly not work. But rather then ask more questions as to what happened, Grimm simply places a hand on her back.]

Easy, my friend. Breathe in and out. No need to answer until you are comfortable. But if you need to go to the infirmary simply nod your head and I will take you there.

[Yup, mistake was made. Instinctively Puella tried to think of some excuse none of them were working out inside her head.]

...I-I was... [She was planning to just move a little to avoid the subject, not even aware that doing so was going to make the pain literally flare up again. And doubled over.]

[She was pretty sure she saw something rustling up in the trees while on the ground, but made no motion to it. It's not too surprising that her little stunt scared off some the animals, but it didn't seem like anything important to pay attention to.]

[She merely laid there with a quiet whine, waiting for the pain to pass. In fact, Puella didn't even know Doreen was there until she spoke up. ...It probably did make sense actually. Who knows how late it might be now.]

...I-I'm fine. [Worst lie of the century.]

Their talks have strayed farther from their rooms and the dorms, going along campus grounds. They talk about her day, his nights, about Coco and the kid around here and nothing at all. Fear makes him want to grip her hand tight, lest he lose her again. Fear in another way keeps him from doing so. So he just walks with her and talks and hopes, in the back of his mind, that nothing terrible happens.

Which is unfortunate with how often that's not the case here. It starts with a discomforting prickle upon his skin, a sort of ache that makes him frown and distracts him from her words. It fades out somewhat only to come back again stronger, and this time his wincing is obvious, a hiss slipping free as he braces upon his cane. He apologizes for holding her up, immediately moving them along as soon as the pain eases off again. It's about then that he spots the girl ahead and it's only a second before the light flares bright again.

"Puel-- ghh!" The book and papers he'd been carrying for the evening slip from his grasp. His knee drops to the ground, both hands on the cane now. His skin smokes a little as the flesh of his knuckles burns away, patches all over him following suit. He doesn't know how long it lasts but it can't be long. He looks to Puella ahead then up to Imelda. "Puella. She needs help."

[If she goes there there's a chance she might get scold at, or worse. She's not actually sure what will happen if the school found out what she did, or that she wasn't fit for this Candle business...what even would happen after that?]

[At the same time, the pain wasn't really going away...]

[...It took awhile, but she finally nods.]

[Grimm patiently waits for her answer and smiles slightly when he receives it.]

Very well. Up we get.

[Despite his thin frame, Grimm is rather strong and lifting Puella into his arms is an easy enough task - although he'll let her down if she indicates as such. But if there are no problems then he will start to walk. Sadly a teleportation is not possible with two people.]

...if you do not desire to speak of it, you do not have to. But that was indeed your doing, yes?

[It may be an odd way of phrasing the question but Grimm wanted Puella to know she is not obligated to answer him. As always, choice is the most important thing here.]

[Grimm probably wouldn't have a hard time lifting her anyway when Puella was surprisingly light. ...Perhaps it was one of the other things that made jumping around so easy for her.]

[But that was neither here or there. Though there was a tiny gasp while being lifted, Puella snugged into it quite nicely. It was quite comforting, and given her condition it might not be the easiest to walk.]

[...But once again with the hard hitting questions. Once again she did not want to answer that, and certainly looked as such, however he seems to already know it anyway.]

[So she just nods again.]

[It makes sense given the conversation from when they first met. Grimm did not want to presume Puella's motivations (many in this school had reason to be here that was more then simply "save the world") but he can guess a little of it.]

To learn the nature of the Flame within one's soul is no easy task. I remember many a disaster I had when I first began to learn how to teleport properly. I nearly swore off of it.

[He was just that frustrated. One too many dips into the water, you see, and Grimm did not like water even before being granted the Nightmare Heart.

But the point is--]

It is frustrating, isn't it?

[Puella would rather have other motivations than saving the world. However given her circumstance and what the costs were, it's becoming more clear that was the only choice she was railroaded into. And it wasn't fair.]

[So others had trouble using their Flames too....that probably isn't too surprising. But Grimm was still lucky enough to even know what it actually was. Puella was still left in the dark.]

...How long did it take to learn it?

A long time. I was granted all my powers at a young age but I did not learn proper control until I met my predecessor. My family was not magical, you see.

[They certainly encouraged him as much as they could but there was only so much one could do when it was their first encounter with magic. And Grimm's flames had been deadly - and far more then a child could handle.

("Burn the father, feed the child." The irony had not been lost on Grimm.)]

And perhaps it is the same for you, my friend.

It's the glow that catches his eye - bright and brilliant, the tell tale sign of a Candle's Radiance. That gets his attention. Despite what Daybreak is meant for, it's not something you see every day, and it's...concerning. When he drifts closer and sees the huddled form, his stomach drops.

His approach is slow, scanning the area to see if there's any danger, any threat, but it's just Puella laying there and crying. He stops when he's at her side, and he lowers himself into a crouch. He hesitates for a moment, before reaching out to her side. "Puella?"

Can she hear him? He hopes so - he doesn't know quite what to do, and he fumbles as he thinks of what to do, what to say. He doesn't know how to handle this at all. "What happened?"

[A long time is not a measurement of time she wanted to hear. Not when they were on the heels of something so world ending.]

...I can't wait that long. [She was becoming more desperate. At this right she might cry again.] I-I need to learn it now, or else...o-or else...

Nightfall will come. It will come regardless.

[There is little point in dodging the issue. Even before Grimm took in the Nightmare Heart and everything that came with it he strongly believed that fears should not be something one hid away from the self. They rotted the soul inside-out if left unacknowledged.

Nightfall would happen. All that could be done is to prepare for it as best as they could.]

And sadly there is no magic to make a Flame grow, save for kindling. But I will not lecture you on your actions. I was much the same as a child.

[And he too was burned for it.]

Do you have someone to teach you, dear Puella?

[It was going to come no matter what... And there was a good chance that many of them weren't going to make it through it either. Puella whined stressfully thinking about the consequences.]

...Not for that stuff. [Hard to train for something that wasn't even fully developed yet. The results might be similar enough to the ones that happened tonight.]

Imelda isn't quite as sensitive as Héctor is to radiance. Though she worries when he has to stop and brace himself, she doesn't realize what's going on until she sees the girl... and by that point, Héctor has already dropped to his knees in pain. She starts, touching his shoulder and moving to shield him--and for a moment there's a real fear in her eyes that might be very familiar for him.

But he says a name--Puella--and she recognizes the girl up ahead as one of the students from Aube. It's a difficult choice. She doesn't want to just leave Héctor here in pain, but... He's insisting, and there's a child that's clearly in some kind of trouble. She looks back to Héctor a moment, clearly not happy with this choice... But then she lets go of him to go to the girl's side.

"Niña..? Are you hurt?" she asks, kneeling down to touch the girl's shoulder--even as she tries to position herself to be a barrier between her and Héctor.

"I-I can't..." Puella sobbed. She looked up to see Imelda but quickly realized that were was another figure behind her. Can't exactly make out who it was while they were hunched over like that, as well as obstructed. But she felt like she knew it somehow. "...Héctor?"

Oh no, that is who it was. Why was he hurt like that!? Why did it look like he was...

...

It was her Flame. She did this.

"N-no...No, no, no, no!!" Puella pushed further away from both of them, with tears filling up more. She wasn't supposed to burn him at all!

[That stress Grimm understands. To have the weight of the end of the world was no easy thing to bare, especially if one was a child. He had his own problems but 'the world's ending, better get your powers ready' was not one of those problems. No pressure, right?

It is not something that will keep her mind off of those worries but it may be a distraction. There is an odd noise and bats seemingly made of flame appear (although if Puella is paying attention they do sneak out from the folds of Grimm's cloak) and simply circle around the pair. Touching them is a bad idea but at least they are pretty to look at?]

If you desire someone to watch over your growth and train you, then I would be happy to lend a hand. Two heads are better then one, no?

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Breaking Point [Open]

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