the first to fall victim

the fallen friend. beginning of the end

[mxtrixrch]

There’s a beat of unusual silence before Elle’s head pops up, and her crystal eyes are so wide they look like they’re about to fall out.

     "Holy shite, Sarah!“

Everything made so much fucking sense now. Sitting up, she grabs her friend by the arms and starts shaking her. "Ya like ‘im! Ya like bloody John Stearne! Holy shite!!”

[huntresslost-blog]

   Sarah’s cheeks go beet red, and she flails her arms slightly to break free of her best friend’s hold. “Elle! I do not!” Her cheeks give her away though. No way Elle would ever believe her lie. “I just said he isn’t awful...”

[recklessleader]

     “I’m sure they’ll turn up.            Um, since I’ve got you here though…”

John pulled a flower from his coat pocket and stared at it a bit mournfully. The safe spot crushed the flower a little and one petal was missing while three others were bent. He held it out to her and bit his lip nervously, “It’s kind of frumpy now…”

[huntresslost-blog]

   “Oh...”   She blushes just slightly, reaching out to take the flower from him. Her delicate fingers wrapping just barely around his for a moment.

        “It’s beautiful John. Thank you.” Her smile is bright.

[recklessleader]

      “Oh Sarah! No I haven’t.               Would you like some help tracking them down?”

[huntresslost-blog]

      “Oh, no I guess...              I just haven’t seen them for a little while.” 

  It was just.. unusual really.

[mxtrixrch]

After she’s finally done laughing, Elle proclaims, “Because it was right fuckin’ funny.” She throws the pillow back before flopping down onto the bed, face first. Her voice is muffled but she knows Sarah can still understand her. They always understood each other, even when they weren’t physically speaking. “Ya shoulda seen ya’re fuckin’ face, Sarah.”

[huntresslost-blog]

Sarah throws the pillow at her again. “Puta.” But she’s smiling, the jibe without anger or true meaning. “That’s not funny. You had me actually very worried that it was someone awful. John Stearne is hardly awful.” Her cheeks tint pink while she speaks. She hasn’t told Maryellen of her... crush on John Stearne.

[mxtrixrch]

     "Oh tha’ worst,“ she says lowly, leaning closer. She holds her best friend’s hands tight, as if she’s trying to find the courage to even speak the name. Let it be known that Maryellen was a jerk. "Ah can’t even speak tha name, Sarah…” Taking a deep, shuddery breath, she spits out the name like she had to literally catapult it out of her mouth. “John Stearne.”

[huntresslost-blog]

   Sarah shrieks, smacking Maryellen’s arm before covering her mouth with both hands. “Dios mío! ¿Por qué dices que así !? Me tenías muy preocupada!” The Spanish slips from her mouth rapidly, without her really realizing that she’s speaking in her native tongue. “Why would you do that to me?” She picks up one of the pillows and throws it at her friend.

[huntresslost-blog]

“John? Have you seen Maryellen or Adam?”

[mxtrixrch]

     ”Why yes, ah am. Perfect opportunity to make him look stupid, isn’t it?” She gives a theatrical cackle before falling onto Sarah’s bed. It was nice to have a friend in this academy, someone who wanted to see you succeed rathe than compete with you. Most hunters thought Bellamys to have no honor, and yet Sarah was the most honorable and true person Elle knew. “Want me to reveal your partner? Or would ya rather be surprised?”

[huntresslost-blog]

     “Is it someone terrible? Oh, dios mío! Ellie is it bad?” She sits down beside her friend, covering her face with a quiet shriek. “I’m not sure I want to know.” Shaking her head, Sarah extends her hands in front of herself, and takes a steadying breath. She keeps her eyes closed a moment longer. “No, please tell me.” Opening her eyes, she lays her hands flat on the bed before grabbing the comforter.

[mxtrixrch]

     ”You, of course… And Adam.”

Shrugging, she acts like it is no big deal. It would appear to Sarah that she’s simply being competitive again. That was her and Adam’s schtick of course, and that’s why they’d been paired together. But the young teams hunted in fours, which meant two pairs of hunters. Adam was Elle’s partner, and John would be Sarah’s. “And stop callin’ me that, so damn formal.”

[huntresslost-blog]

    “Lo siento Elle.” Of course, when she says it it doesn’t sound at all like when Elle herself says it. Which is part of the reason she doesn’t like to call her friend that. “Are you really paired with Adam?” She could see the... act, that her friend tried to put forward. As if she wasn’t allowed to like Adam. Which she’s never understood. Why couldn’t Maryellen like Adam?

[mxtrixrch]

     ”Oh, ah have.”

She will try to pretend she’s not excited to be grouped with Adam. Truthfully, her heart was beating fast at the idea. Would they have a moment to themselves? She didn’t want to leave Sarah alone with John, unsure of where they stood with each other, but she couldn’t help but want to spent some alone time with Adam.

[huntresslost-blog]

     Now, who exactly could warrant that sort of reaction from her? It couldn’t be... “Maryellen, who did you get paired with?” Sarah can only hope that she’s one of the people. anyone else... she’s not sure she could work with. They all thought she was not as capable as they are, simply because of her family name. Except... Maybe Adam, Adam Hopkins had always been nice to her. As had his friend, John Stearne.

[voicexfreason]

      Cracking a smile, he also nodded in response, “Yeah, to be honest no one is really a fan of the food. It’s really bland right?”

      “I do hope that everyone has been nice to you so far, if not you’ll let me know right? I can get them to stop.” he proffered. Adam didn’t want anyone to mistreat her just because of her family name. Adam knew Bellamys weren’t a founding family, but he also knew that didn’t mean they weren’t good at what they did. 

[huntresslost-blog]

     “Everyone’s been... Cordial.” Maybe not the most friendly, but certainly not outright mean or rude. Though, Sarah’s not sure which is worse really. In the long run it didn’t really matter what her fellow students thought, it just mattered what she learned. And what the Bellamy’s gained. Brushing her hair back and tucking it behind her ear, she glances down at the floor for a moment. “The food is very very bland.” She’s smiling when she looks back up at Adam.

[voicexfreason]

      Adam gazed at the new girl with his arms hugging the back of his chair to help him stay facing her. He felt it was his job given his position as heir to the Hopkins family to welcome the Bellamy kids and treat them with as much respect as he treated the Stearnes. It was his duty, but it was also the right thing to do.

      “So… Sarah Bellamy, is it? Welcome to our academy.               Have you been settling in well so far?”

[huntresslost-blog]

     Sarah looks up, surprised. Adam Hopkins. He's hardly who she expected to be making a point to say hello to her. To make sure she was settling in ok.

     "It's different from home, but not bad." At least there were cousins here with her, a few familiar faces. It helped with the homesickness. "Though if I'm honest, I am not a fan of the food."

[mxtrixrch]

     ”Have you gotten the post yet?” She wasn’t sure if she should break the bad news about their very first assignment. Sarah had become her best friend in the academy, so naturally they had been paired together. They did it that way, wanting the cadets to feel comfortable with their first partners. But their other team members? Well, it was going to be a challenge.

[huntresslost-blog]

     "I haven't looked yet." Sarah turns back towards he best friend. "Did you get your assignment?" Sarah only hopes that she's been paired with Maryellen. She's one of the only people to actually welcome Sarah. Like really welcome her. Hopefully the rest of their team wasn't... annoying.