Celes Chere (afadingdream) wrote in thearenas, @ 2013-12-18 13:24:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ⊗ celes chere, ⊗ rachel berenson |
WHO: Celes Chere & Rachel Berenson
WHERE: The training room
WHEN: 12/18
WHAT: Celes and Rachel are badasses.
RATING: Low
STATUS: log; ongoing.
kickyeerkbutt Two days worth of snowball wars and snow forts had certainly kept Rachel on her toes. It had been a nice change of pace for her to just remember how to have fun. She wasn’t thinking about wars or aliens, or arenas or death. She’d just gotten to be a sixteen year old girl messing around with her friends. But that same sixteen year old girl was still a soldier at heart, and two days worth of playing around had been enough. She was ready to get back to her real training. She’d spent the last three months training herself to be better. She knew her morphing was an incredible tool, but she wanted to be more. She wanted to be a warrior. So while she still practiced her morphing, Rachel mainly focused on her human body. She built up her strength and stamina and began learning hand to hand combat and weapons training. When she entered the training center that afternoon, she was dressed in a white tank top and a pair of black shorts. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that swished when she walked. She had a determined glint in her eye, like she planned to take on the world. And win. The room was empty, so she turned on some music and began to warm herself up with some stretches. She was on the ground with her legs stretched out in front of her when she heard someone else come into the room. She’d been reaching out to touch her toes, her nose nearly touching her knees, when she looked over to see who it was. She’d seen Celes in the arenas before and had a lot of respect for her. She was barely older than Rachel and she had incredible skill. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, Rachel smiled over at her. “Celes, right?” She abandoned her stretch and sat up. “Hi, I’m Rachel.” afadingdream Celes was baffled by the snowball wars. She knew about competition, yes, and she could see how a perfect throwing arm could come in handy in a fight. But that was the way her mind worked: war, not play. She did not know any games. She saw children play before and watched curiously, but it was rare to see adults do the same. If Locke was there, he would have wanted to join in, she knew that much. She felt it was better to put all memory of him out of her mind; mourning was new to her. The less she reminded herself, the less it would hurt, or so she believed. She stayed out of the snowball area and went about her life. Her life at this point was mostly work and sleep. She attempted not to separate herself too far from the Figaro brothers, the only nod to her changing. The old Celes would have shut everyone out and rebelled against the aliens until they had to put her down. She still considered doing that. She was not on her shift at work for an hour more, so she planned to do a work out on her own. Nothing too serious, her sword was sheathed and against the far wall. She looked like a wispy young girl, tall and slim and very somber, but not even the aggressive men who came into town looking for fights tried anything with her. Perhaps they sensed what was underneath. She was plotting out what she intended to do when the other girl walked toward her, and her eyes sharpened as they gave a quick once over. Yes, she recognized her. "Rachel." Celes wondered if the world was mocking her, trying to forget Locke and being approached by a woman with that name. Still, it was hardly her fault. "Greetings." Edgar would know what to do next, but Celes was not great with people. "...you turn into animals." There, that was something. kickyeerkbutt Well that was...accurate? The corners of Rachel’s mouth twitched with a suppressed laugh. Clearly Celes wasn’t exactly a people person. “I do, yeah. Me and my friend Cassie.” The laughter left her tone and was replaced by genuine respect and interest. “I’ve watched you in the arenas. You’re pretty freaking incredible.” And that was saying something, considering the number of trained warriors and soldiers entered the arena every month. afadingdream Celes might have been offended once at the laughter, but she knew now that her brisk ways were unusual. Rachel smoothed it over soon after, and followed it up with flattery, which was an easy way to relax Celes. She did not have much of an ego, but she was proud of her skills as a warrior. Her smile was slow but genuine, as if her face was still learning how to do it properly. "Thank you. It took many years of training. I earned my first sword at six." A pleasant memory for her. The Emperor was happy with her progress, since she was still alive, when all the other experiments died or were damaged, like Kefka. "How do you turn into the animals? Is it natural?" They did not have Espers everywhere, who were called on to fight. It was different. kickyeerkbutt Rachel pushed herself up from where she’d been stretching on the floor and moved over to join Celes so they could talk more easily. She pulled her right arm over her chest and hugged it with her left, feeling the pull of her arm muscles as they stretched. “Wow. At six?” Rachel was clearly impressed and her expression showed it. She’d been fighting since she was 13, but Celes had been more than half that age. “No, it isn’t natural,” she responded easily. She was getting better about talking about her powers here. It helped that there weren’t any Yeerks ready to kill her and everyone she loved. Without that threat, it was actually nice talking about her abilities. They were pretty damn cool, after all. “They were a gift. From a different race, the Andalites. They were given to me and my friends as a weapon, actually. To fight a war that we would have lost otherwise.” They nearly did lose. Rachel pushed the thought away. “It’s actually not just animals. I can turn into people too, if I wanted. I just need to acquire their DNA. Animals are just more useful for fighting since they can be so powerful.” afadingdream "Yes, I was in combat training as soon as I could walk. I am a general in my world. The youngest ever known, I was fourteen when given the rank." Again, something Celes was very proud of. The empire she was less proud of, and the man who gave it to her, but it did not take away her accomplishment. Back when it happened, she had good reason to believe in what she was doing. She was not sure when the clues came in that something was wrong, but her disillusionment did not mean the end of her strength. Just a new path. She knew some people showed displeasure at her being experimented on from early on, but to her it seemed reasonable. "I see. We had something … similar. They were called Espers." Celes utilized the magic forged into her in battle when she needed to, although she much preferred hand to hand combat. The Espers did not willingly give their magic to the Empire, however. It was taken. Her eyes widened slightly at that piece of information. "You could shapeshift into anyone here then. That could be useful." Celes believed in using every part of what she was capable of, because anything else was a waste. "How many can you keep? Have you attempted to acquire any of the monsters we've fought?" Rachel was becoming quite the interesting potential ally. kickyeerkbutt Rachel continued to be impressed by Celes and her accomplishments. Jake had always sort of been their General, but in the back of her mind, Rachel knew she had it in her to lead as well. The Yeerks did too, which was why Visser Three had targeted her to try and join them. “That’s amazing,” she said honestly. Celes made Xena look like playtime. “I could, yes.” Rachel nodded. She’d wondered many times over how her morphing would work with others and their abilities in this place. She wasn’t usually a cautious girl, but she’d hesitated at that. What if the morphing technology reacted badly to the magic that seemed to be everywhere in this place? She could become nothlit, trapped in a morph, or even lose her abilities all together. While she’d been incredibly dedicated to training herself to fight recently, Rachel wasn’t ready to give up her morphing. And so she waited. “I’m not sure if there’s a limit on how many morphs I can have at once. I’ve got maybe 50 or so right now. Everything from a flea to a grizzly bear. Even an alien race too, the Hork-Bajir. Those are some seriously scary looking dudes.” “I’ve tried a couple of times to acquire some of the monsters on the island, but no dice yet. I have to touch them to get their DNA and that isn’t always easy.” afadingdream Celes was pleased by the compliment and a genuine smile curved at her lips. "Thank you, I worked very hard." She rarely experienced such open appreciation of her skills; it went without saying with the Returners. They fought together, they went to a war together, they had to be skilled to survive. They had their strengths and weaknesses, and Celes' strategy and aggressive style suited someone on the front lines. Generals didn't often get that chance. "It would be worth knowing. If there is no limit you could have an impressive array. Or you may have to stop before getting something truly dangerous." And that would be a shame. Celes could see the wisdom in taking various forms, even the helpless ones, if they were stealthy. She would probably just double down on every vicious beast she could find. They went up against many of them, at home and here. "Yes, they can be very fast, and typically it is kill first and ask questions later." She assumed they were dead by the time Rachel had a chance to touch them, it made the most sense. "I have supernatural abilities, although I use them rarely." She concentrated for a moment and then cast protect, a see-through shield sparking to life around her body. She released it after holding long enough for Rachel to see. "It costs energy to use, I tend to use my sword instead." She also had elemental powers, but no where near Terra or Rydia. [more to be added] |