concoursec | Reflecting Lights of Ruby

Characters: Ronnae, Ginji, Saber
Location: Deling Sewers
Rating: PG-ish?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Hunting for GF's! Carbunkle flavored.

Ronnae spent the previous day preparing for this event. Aside from graduation next semester, it would be the biggest event in her academic journey in this world. She went over everything she learned about para-magic and GF's as well as reading up on previous expeditions done by previous cadets and SeeD's to gain knowledge into what she could be expecting.

She was a seasoned warrior in her world, having faced massive creatures, rogue warlords, destructive dragons and chaotic gods and yet it was never easy to face a new opponent without much knowledge about what they could and couldn't do. It would do no good to underestimate this opponent as such and she made sure that all her equipment was up to date and in perfect condition. Having a small team also helped and judging from their abilities she figured she should go into this as a defender instead of her usual assault regalia.

Once she had gathered everything she needed, she made her way to the assigned place and waited, large sword at her side and massive shield strapped to her back. She went over planned scenarios in her head to pass the time and keep any sort of nerves at bay. Truthfully however, she was more excited than anything.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Saber was impressed: a good leader was always the first in, especially with generally inexperienced subordinates. Typically, that leader was her, but the instructor was already on the move. Not to mention she was not in any position to lead...at least, not yet.

Silently, she followed suit not long thereafter, mentally preparing herself.

Ginji was quick to follow, though his face immediately scrunched up in displeasure when he saw just where it was they were going.

But...he didn't want to wade through all that mess. Maybe the smell wouldn't be so bad. What sort of GF made its home in the sewers anyways? It was probably some sort of amorphous blob that consumed everything in its path.

Needless to say, Ginji's mind was on everything but the mission as they entered the sewer.

Sewers wasn't an environment Ronnae hadn't been to before, and it certainly wasn't the most unpleasant either. She hefted her heavy shield up with ease and moved forward to the front of the group, after all if she planned on being the front line she had to be ready for anything.

She kept alert, years in the field plus the added bonus of her heritage keeping her on her toes, she made sure to look to every corner so they wouldn't get surprised or ambushed. Every once in a while looking back to check on her teammates.

--

The instructor let her pass, he really didn't seem to have much intention of interfering and took his time walking idly besides the group.

Every now and then he'd look over to the side at a random squeak or rush of water with disinterest and then continued on his way.

Whether Saber found the sewers personally unpleasant or not failed to reflect in the ever-stoic demeanour. Instead, she kept watch for anything that seemed threatening. So far, she had yet to see anything even remotely so, but she did not relax her guard.

Her sword, however, remained in its immaterial state. She would be able to summon it in a fraction of a second in the event of an attack.

Oh...oh it was so much worse than he thought it would be. Okay, he knew what to do. He'd just breath through his mouth instead of his nose and then he wouldn't be able to smell it!

Twice Ginji inhaled deeply, before promptly hacking, spitting and huffing in an attempt to blow the air out of his body and somehow, away from his form completely.

He...he could taste the stench! It was on his tongue, in his mouth. It was lining the walls of his lungs, now!

Chancing a glance to everyone else, they were so calm and composed about it, just like he knew Ban would have been, too. How was it that this damp, smelly sewer where he could feel the filth clinging to the air, didn't bother anyone else? He supposed he should follow suit as well, as best as he could at least.

Turning his focus back to their path, Ginji casually lifted his shirt and hooked the collar over his nose to cover both it and his mouth in a sort of shirt-mask, as if it were the most normal response in this situation.

Ronnae was quick to turn around and look in case something had happened. Once she noticed what was going on she couldn't help but smile and shake her head a little.

"Are you okay back there Ginji?" she asked warmly.

--

The instructor however rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"This isn't a field trip children, let's keep this show moving so we can get out of here as soon as possible."

Saber did not so much as lift an eyebrow; Ginji's response was, in fact, fairly normal. He simply had the misfortune of sharing a mission with a couple of experienced warriors.

She did, however, acknowledge the instructor's command. Getting out of there was much preferable.

"Agreed."

Ginji furrowed his eyebrows, mildly annoyed.

Rude. It's not like he'd slowed his pace or anything, so the instructor didn't have to be condescending about it. He was just having adverse effects to the conditions they were currently in.

Ronnae's voice made his ears perk up at hearing his name. The teen lowered his shirt and flashed a beaming smile, though the strained twitch of his eyebrow gave him away a bit.

"Um, I'm...fine, thanks for asking."

Ronnae didn't appreciate the Instructors mood, but she understood and simply smiled at Ginji.

"We should stay close and focus. There's supposed to be some stray creatures around her but we might be lucky and only encounter our target."

With that said, she continued on her trek with the group.

--

The instructor shrugged and continued along. The sooner they got this done, the sooner he could get to more important things.

The other advantage of the King of Knights was that she was accustomed to working with jerks. The instructor's brusque manner was almost friendly compared to that of her former Master. At the very least, they might find their goal quickly.

But Ronnae's comment piqued Saber's curiosity. "Are they typically aggressive?" she asked mildly, almost as if asking about the weather forecast.

Ginji increased his speed so that he could fall in line with Ronnae, as he was eager to hear the answer to this question, too.

"Are they giant?" he asked, eyes wide with interest. "Are they aquatic creatures? I bet they're giant alligators and turtles," the teen said with an air of knowledge, despite knowing absolutely nothing about what lurked in the sewers.

Now that he'd said it aloud, however, he was going to be disappointed if there weren't any giant alligators and turtles.

Ronnae kept walking at a steady pace as she spoke.

"If I remember my studies well, there should only be a few types of creatures down here. Most of them hostile yes, but chances of meeting one are fity-fifty I'd say." She paused to think a bit on it before continuing.

"I think the more common ones are Creeps and Grand Mantises' if I remember correctly. Which shouldn't really pose a problem to us I'd say. If anything, they might avoid this group entirely which would be good cause then we could focus on drawing the GF once we find it."

--

The instructor listened as he continued walking but didn't add or take from the conversation. Frankly, he really didn't care, he just wanted this petty mission done and to be away from this group.

"Even so, it is best to be prepared," Saber remarked as she followed Ronnae.

She did, however, hope they would indeed avoid them. She preferred to save her strength.

"Oh..." he said, raising his eyes to the darkened ceiling. "Well I guess that's not really a big deal after all."

Oh, well that was a shame. It'd have been nice to see something new down here, though he supposed the less encounters they had, the quicker they'd get out of this foul-smelling place.

Ronnae nodded and continue forward.

Most of the trip was uneventful but the instructor seemed to insist on taking his time trudging through the sewers at an incredibly lax pace. Ronnae was beginning to wonder what his purpose here was to begin with.

Reflecting Lights of Ruby

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Sorry for the wait, got sick :(

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It's alright ^^b

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