first slash - voice

[wildfaunusfled]

[She shouldn't post. Honestly, so long as anyone she knows is here Blake is half tempted to just throw this damn thing away - not because she does not want to see anyone again, but because what possible chance is there that they'd want to see her again? From the posts she's seen vigorously scouring the network they're from earlier down the timeline, which is one of the many concepts that completely baffled her on entry, but hopefully she'll get it eventually?

But there's no way she can hide who she is, no matter how she slices it. If she posts, she'll be found out eventually. If she doesn't, she'll be found out eventually. She's read through all her teammates' posts as research, and then some. Blake Belladonna came up. This isn't what she had wanted to happen, but how could she have predicted... this?

Her voice is even and low, with just the barest hint of a rasp to it.]

Hello. My name is Blake Belladonna, but... some of you already know me. I think I understand this place from what I've been told, but if anyone else has something I should know, I would welcome the advice. And...

[There's a long pause as she turns what she should say next over in her head.]

If anyone is looking for me, I'm leaving this town now. I won't be travelling very fast.

[Click! Off.]

( ooc: blanket warning for rwby v3 spoilers in the comments! please specify up front if you don't want them! )

Comments

[usedflareblitz]

[ It would have been nice. No, it was nice. Why wouldn't things stay like that, for just a while longer? But of course they couldn't. It would have been too convenient. Too perfect.

Yang was beginning to doubt herself. ]

No... no no no, you were there! I saw you — we all did! [ Did she remember it wrong? Was she deluded? She cannot blame trauma or pain medication on that. Her memories were blurry in some regards but sharp in others. The brilliant smiles on everyone's faces. The crisp sound of laughter.

Her voice lost its certainty. She sagged back against her pillows and stared up at the ceiling, still mumbling faintly. ] No, this. This is wrong. So wrong.

[wildfaunusfled]

If I was there, I don't remember it.

[Oh god, has she been here before? Yang seems sure of it... is she missing something? She doesn't feel like she's missing anything...]

This place is strange enough as it is, maybe that's what happened?

[usedflareblitz]

[ Yang shook her head strongly. If Blake didn't remember that, it could be like how when she arrived she knew less than Ruby or Weiss had, at the time, even though she was here weeks later. Or how Penny had been here for months prior ignorant of everything that happened to everyone; especially her own fate.

She scowled, gaze askance. Is this question really the one she wanted an answer to, first? ]

Okay. Okay, fine. No Moon. What do you remember last...?

[wildfaunusfled]

[It's certainly something Blake didn't want to have to answer out loud.]

... leaving.

[usedflareblitz]

[ Yang keeps her eyes glued on the windowsill to the side, because nothing about her expression softens at all. ] ...which time?

[ That was cold. Ice cold. ]

[wildfaunusfled]

[Blake visibly winces, but... it's completely fair. She can't argue.]

Leaving Patch. After... everything.

[usedflareblitz]

[ The second the town's name left Blake's lips, Yang put her hand to her face. She took several deep breaths, and then she started to shake.

With laughter. Low, choked laughter. ] Ha... haha... haaaa this can't be happening.

[ She lowered her hand, and the shifting of her legs tilted the 'Gear so that her right shoulder was visible. ] This is some kind of cosmic joke, right? [ Yang turned right back to face the camera, while there is some wetness at the corner of her eyes, there's one thing very wrong with the image.

Her irises are bright red. There's no accompanying flames (thankfully) but the emotion felt is just as clear in her tone as in her eyes. ] Why!?

[wildfaunusfled]

[If it is, no one's laughing. Blake winces again. She never expected to explain this. She expected to live as long as she could on her own before Adam caught up with her again and ended things. It might not have even worked, she had only been banking on the vague hope that Yang could spend the rest of her life hating her instead of dead at Adam's hands over a grudge.

But how can she dump all of that on Yang now? How can she possibly justify that? So she starts easy, with the simplest way she could put it. Her voice is measured, but there's almost no emotion until the end, when tears start to threaten their way in.]

I had to, Yang. It was the only way I could think of to... to...

[God but she wishes she could just spit out the next few words.]

[usedflareblitz]

Had to? Had to? [ She balled up her hand into a fist. The red glow dissipates because of some weird limitation of being here but it's not like she can see it herself. Not like it makes Yang look any less pissed off. ]

Weiss was practically kidnapped by her dad. Ruby was going to go get to the bottom of things because — she couldn't just sit around and wait for me to drag my ass out of bed. But you— [ Her lip quivered. She willed herself not to break; not to show the kind of weakness that betrayed that while she was angry to an extent not expressed in a long, long time, more than that, it hurt when Blake left.

Blake, who knew more than any one of her teammates, why doing so was so terrible.

If she thought her voice would be stable, the pained, harsh whisper would surprise even Yang right there. ] How could you?

[wildfaunusfled]

[Of course she knew. Of course she knew that she was doing the worst possible thing by abandoning Yang. By abandoning everyone. She hadn't expected a chance to explain herself... well, ever. Maybe years down the line if she somehow lived that long.

One of the benefits of her plan had been never seeing Yang resent her.]

Because I'd rather you live your life hating me than die for being my friend! Because of me...

[She already provided Adam with the means to cut off her arm, technically, if not intentionally.]

[usedflareblitz]

You... augh! [ If things had not already boiled over, they most certainly just did. ] I put myself on the line for you! That was MY choice! You can't just— [ She gestured with her hand, cutting off her own thought and starting it anew. ] You don't get to turn that around on me and make me feel like shit because of it, too!

[ This time when she dropped her hand, it was to pick up her 'Gear and purposefully point it at what's left of her arm. An inch of skin is all that's visible from the end of her plain shirt and the compression cover wrapped around the end of her stump. ] You call this living? What the hell am I supposed to do with this, Blake? Tell me!

[wildfaunusfled]

That's not what I...!

[Blake's fists tighten.]

I don't know. I can't tell you what to do, Yang. But I can tell you that the man who did that promised to kill you later. And then he'd probably move on to Weiss. Or Ruby. Because of me. And take it or leave it, that's why I left - so that maybe he'd just kill me. I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay. Not while Adam's alive.

[usedflareblitz]

[ Adam? Great. If nothing good comes of this conversation, at least now Yang has a name to go with the red-black imagery that haunts her in her sleep. A name to go with the smug, aloof face half hidden by that cowardly mask. A name she can scream when memories resurface of hot steel slicing effortless through skin and flesh and bone...

This place can mess with her mind all it wants, but it had better not take that name away from her. She deserved it. She'd carve it somewhere if it would help keep the memory of it permanent, just like her bloodthirst for him.

Adam. ]

He never would have gotten near us with Qrow and our father around. Maybe I would been able to TELL you that if you'd just stayed for a few days. [ Her voice lost a lot of its momentum at the end there, and she set the device down so that she could rub at her eyes again. ] We — would've figured it out. Made a plan. We always do...


[ Yeah, didn't she just tell Weiss that plans don't always work out when she said the same thing to her? The total hypocrite: it is her. ]

[wildfaunusfled]

[Blake swallows hard. She wishes that she could believe that, she really does. But thinking about Adam at all now just makes her draw in on herself and look away. She can't keep her voice from shaking slightly. These things happen when your abusive ex shows up and ruins actually everything nice you've managed to find. She's genuinely and actively scared of him now, even a world away.]

We can't... he's too... he'd find a way, Yang. He found me at Beacon. If that didn't stop him...

[usedflareblitz]

[ Yang should be seeing this for what it is — that Blake is concerned for her well-being, afraid to her lose her anyone else. Afraid of what would happen to the whole island if Adam brought his horde down upon them. But that notion doesn't cut through all the doubt and pain. The fact that Blake was cowering from an incredibly real threat didn't penetrate the shell hardening around Yang's heart.

It can barely leave a scratch. ]

So, what you're saying is you don't trust my family to keep you safe? You don't trust me. [ It's a sickening thing to imply, the loaded question only half as mean as the way Yang's face and voice fell as she looked down at where her dominant hand should be. ]

Huh. Guess you made the right call.

[wildfaunusfled]

[Okay, that one... there's no hiding any part of how clearly and acutely that one hurts. This is clearly no place for logic. Her voice slides past tears and sadness and anger and just hits something close to even and normal, eyes cast down.]

I was just done letting him destroy things I loved. Sorry. Is there anything else you want to say? This seems like a good time.

[usedflareblitz]

[ She was still looking down when she limply replied. ] No. I think I'm done...

[ With this. With you. It's too late for either of them to save face at this point, so Yang should just hang up, but. Words keep forcing their way into her mouth only to be swallowed a second later. They don't form any meaningful sentences. ]

—unless you've got any more dangerous secrets to share. [ Adam was such a threat, and even as she had opened up about some about her past, Blake kept that ticking time bomb under wraps. There was no protecting her, or anyone, because they didn't know. They couldn't have known. Blake was an irresistible lure for that man, and Yang is the one that ended up taking the bite. ]

[wildfaunusfled]

[Blake had hoped that Beacon would keep them safe from him. That was her mistake, she figures. She should have known better. Known better to think that there was anywhere safe from him. That she could ever outrun him. But she's already resigned herself to the fact that he's going to come back at kill her now, or at least she had back in Remnant.]

No. Just him.

[This is what she gets for trusting partners, right? Even if Adam fails, maybe Yang'll come after her someday too. She'd trusted Adam at first, even when he started to get worse. And with how much he had deteriorated after Blake left him...]

[usedflareblitz]

[ She doesn't know whether it's better that Blake had nothing more, or if she should doubt if she was still holding back. Still lying. It's possible but... ] Let's keep it that way.

[wildfaunusfled]

[Blake, for her part, is done lying or holding things back, at least as much as she is able to.] That's the plan.

[usedflareblitz]

Mm.

[ And, with a weary sigh, the last bit of energy left Yang. That was hard, and harder stuff may still be yet to come, but for right now she just needs to stop. To think. But most importantly, to sleep and shut out the world for a few hours. ]

If— [ ... ] I'll go let the others know you're here. [ It is the literal least she could do for Blake at this point. They deserved to know. She'll take it one step at a time. ]

[wildfaunusfled]

[Sleep. Sleep sounds nice. Blake hasn't done much recently, probably.]

I think Weiss knows, but. Thanks.

[usedflareblitz]

Mm. [ That's as close to "you're welcome" as Blake is going to get, since Yang didn't think she was doing anyone a favor with this. It's a couple of weeks out for them to be reunited because, let's face it, she's not going anywhere. Yang's doubtful anyone else is, either, for a while. They have to sit around and lick their collective wounds so to speak.

She starts to say something else. There is a deep concentration visible on her features for an instant, but no. Yang's tapped out. ]

I'll ... see you around. [ She was resigned to that. Whether or not she wanted it to happen, or contributed to it happening, she knew that there was no way the others were going to want the same kind of distance between them and Blake and Yang may have preferred. Yang will just... cross that bridge when they come to it; preferably before it burned down entirely. ]

[wildfaunusfled]

Yeah. See you.

[It's not said with excitement, not really sadness. Just... a sort of melancholy. She's... going to see her. Huh. That's a strange feeling. But if nothing else, Blake is done running. And if there are any scraps of the bridge left by the time she reaches the others, Blake will do her best to make it be... well, not entirely destroyed, at least, if they can't go back to the way things were.]