MalachiaVT

Neon Ash Master Post

Character Descriptions

Oraka Brightmere

Oraka's story

When the three of them had arrived to the scene of the protest, no more than a mile from the compound, they looked around and saw many familiar faces from the last time they had protested together. They didn't know any names, but they recognized the facial features beneath the masks they wore this time.

As soon as they arrived, the air seemed to vanish among the crowd. Hushed whispers began spreading through them until Veyra spoke up.

"These two are the faces of our protest. We don't leave them to their own devices this time." Her tone was commanding, speaking as if she were a general giving orders to platoon leaders, yet motherly at the same time.

For Lira, it sent a jolt of confused caution through her nerves, forcing her to stand a little straighter.

But for Jesse, all it did was remind her again of the time they had been left alone on this street. She glanced to her left and saw the pillar they had hid behind which still had a chunk of concrete missing from it where the sniper's bullets had landed.

She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves, calming those frayed wires until they were a gentle hum in the back of her mind.

Instinctively, Jesse laced her fingers with Lira's and rose their hands up high above their heads, one last act of solidarity together before they unleashed chaos.

To her surprise, others in the crowd watched for half a second before matching the motion with the person to their side.

Lira smiled ear to ear as she watched the moment, watching out of the corner of her eye as she saw Jesse's eyes well up with tears. She could only hope they were tears of joy in the moment.

"Let's get this show on the road, huh? We've got, what, twenty people here? That's plenty to start a good little protest." Her voice carried just far enough to reach the back of the crowd, her tone calm and ready.

When Lira looked around, all she saw were graffiti targets. Things to tag. The whole street felt like a canvas, but she knew they wouldn't have time to set something up like her and Jesse had that night.

Instead, she simply walked out to the middle of the street with Jesse, hands still held up high. The crowd followed, surrounding the two women and matching the newly minted symbol of their resistance.

"For Jesse's mom." Lira's voice was like a spark to gasoline as she called out those three words. The group dispersed and began vandalizing corporate buildings, breaking glass doors, throwing rocks, you name it and the pairs of people were doing it.

Finally, Lira and Jesse's hands separated and they ran to join one of the groups.

Jesse couldn't help but feel uneasy, there were more people than there were at the start of the protest. She knew it would grow, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Then, a screeching metallic sound ripped through the air, and when Jesse looked over her shoulder, she saw an entirely different group of people breaking more windows and keying police cars. She didn't know them, they weren't part of the compound, they had augments.

A shiver of fear ran through her at the sight. Their initial group was officially vastly outnumbered.

A gunshot rang out, not the sniper from last time, but a pistol fired straight into the air. Jesse flinched all the same.

Lira had noticed Jesse stop and pulled her aside, cupping the woman's face in her hands.

"It's alright, baby. I'll pull us out if need be. Remember that," She whispered, forehead leaning against Jesse's.

Those words acted as a balm to Jesse's nerves, a small nod appearing as she smiled at Lira.

"Right. You've got us." She said softly, her words more a reminder to herself than Lira.

As she responded, she dragged Lira back out to the center of the street, a newfound smile spreading across her face.

That smile faded the moment she saw him. Vance Halroyd. The same man who murdered her mother.

On either side of him were a pair of corporate guards holding heavy rifles. They weren't here to reclaim the peace.

Lira watched Jesse's smile fade and tightened her grip on Jesse's hand. Then she followed her gaze and smirked.

"Look who's here. Vance and his bodyguards." Lira whispered, but her voice trailed off when Jesse began speaking before she even had the chance to finish.

"Go. Lira, get out of here." Jesse spoke calmly, already making her decision.

Lira's feet felt like they were suddenly made of lead as she watched Jesse walk on her own towards Vance. She hadn't heard that tone of voice since the last time she had brought Jesse in front of that murderer.

Her heart felt like it sank into a pit as she watched the woman she loved most walk right into the heart of danger.

Fires had erupted on the cars lining the street now, but Jesse didn't pay them any mind. Her eyes were locked onto Vance as she strode confidently towards him.

When Vance saw Jesse, he froze. He remembered how she had beaten him last time.

There was that same venom behind Jesse's eyes, that same seething anger. Instead of having his guards shoot her on the spot, Vance walked to meet her, holding his hand out to his side a couple inches from his body with his palm to the ground.

The guards lowered their rifles, if only for a moment.

The moment they were within inches of each other, Jesse spoke up.

"Halroyd. Figured you wouldn't want anything to do with this kind of thing." She said, her tone low and cold as she sized the man up. Now that he was actually standing instead of tied to a chair, it was clear the man towered over her.

Jesse didn't care. She didn't even give him a chance to respond before leaping into action.

Her hand clamped around his throat and she pulled the murderer down to her level, glaring into his eyes as she tightened her grip.

"I see you've got your own guards now. Scared you that much did I?" She asks, her knuckles white and shaking.

Her fingers were pressed against Vance's carotid artery, feeling the pulse of the man who had taken her first lifeline beneath her fingers sent a surge of anger through her.

Vance's voice was weak under Jesse's grip, "Jumping straight to letting your anger out…Jess?"

The familiar nickname caused her grip to tighten even further, her nails causing red crescents to form beneath her fingertips as she broke skin.

"Don't you ever call me that, Vance." Her eyes flashed with rage that was barely being held back as she stared into his eyes.

"Struck…a nerve…did I..?" His voice grew even weaker, his eyes glinting with a mix of fear and defiance.

Before Vance could say anything else, Jesse reached up for the safety pin in her ear, unclipping it and unceremoniously holding it against the man's neck.

"I made the mistake of letting you live last time. I won't give myself that chance this time." Her words were a low whisper filled with rage and hatred as she plunged the point of the pin into his neck, hitting his carotid. Then she did it again. And again. Until she saw the light fade from his eyes.

His body went limp in her grip and she dropped him to the ground. She raised her hands up above her head and looked at the guards.

Lira felt a surge of protective fury rush through her veins. But her feet wouldn't move.

Go. Lira, get out of here echoed through her mind, but she couldn't just obey that command. She had promised to pull Jesse out of here if need be.

Her feet betrayed her. She ran in the opposite direction, heading for Veyra.

Jesse heard the scuffle of feet behind her and knew it was Lira. She did what she had needed to for herself. She got Lira out of there safely.

Then the metal of the cuffs clicked around her wrists and she didn't even bother looking towards Lira, who should have had a look of pure horror and disgust on her face.

Despite Veyra's reassurance, Lira couldn't help but feel a sense of growing unease and dread in the back of her mind, a constant feeling of being watched, being monitored.

How many of the animals around the city have they taken over with surveillance tech… She caught herself thinking back to any and all animals she had seen, thinking for a moment before realizing she hadn't seen an animal at all for years.

The two girls hesitated for a moment before heading back to their shared room, both of them now too nervous and on edge to sleep as the first hint of morning sun began filling the room with an unsettlingly warm light. The candles they had lit in the night were now extinguished and the wax had all but fully melted down.

Tentatively, Lira spoke with a tone completely foreign to her.

"Hey Jesse…how many animals have you seen in this city before?"

Jesse's face turned thoughtful and contemplative as she thought back to all the times she had been exploring the damp, smog filled alleys and streets.

"…I don't think I've seen any animals until that squirrel since my house got demolished by Omnigen…You don't mean to say they…"

"I'm hoping that's not the case, because there's no way I'm gonna feel safe around anything but humans now." Lira's hands were running through her ginger locks, her fingers tangled in the soft strands as she looked around the room.

"Let's try and focus on what our personal next move is gonna be, Lira…" Jesse's voice was uncharacteristically soft and scared as she follows Lira's gaze.

There, in the corner of the room, was a note left by someone else.

The girls stare at the note for a long while, hearts in their throats. Lira moves first, heading straight to the note after pulling her hand free of Jesse's grasp.

With trembling hands she picks the folded piece of paper from the table and fumbles with it for a brief second, her heart beating out of her chest as she reads the note.*Lira and Jesse, We know who you are, we know where you are. We know your new friends better than you think. You're not as well hidden as you might hope. We know what you did. Good Luck.*

Her heart sank deeper into her core as she read, lips suddenly feeling very dry.

"Jesse…how much can we trust this group?" Her voice was shaking like a leaf, weak and frail as if it could break were she to speak any louder.

"Wait, what did the note say? You can't just ask me that out of nowhere." Jesse's voice carried a sense of urgency and worry she hadn't felt for months now, not since the death of her mother, fingers moving against her thigh almost imperceptibly in that same familiar rhythm from back then.

"Whoever sent this note…they know us. They know what we did." Lira turned to face Jesse, her chest heaving with each breath she took.

Lira's hand reached up and touched the safety pin in her ear, a grounding technique she used to remind herself who she was. Then her eyes locked onto Jesse's and she sighed.

"We already knew that. They're…they're just trying to scare us. To remind us who they think is in control here." Lira's voice regained some of her characteristic confidence and tone. "They just…they just wanna get in our heads…right?"

Jesse nodded and ran a finger through her dark hair, looking at the note in Lira's hand.

"We have to hope that's the case." Her voice was uncharacteristically nervous as she breathed deeply, hiding her growing nerves with a thin veil of confidence, "I want to trust everyone here with my life."

There was a long moment of silence only interrupted by the sounds of Lira crumpling the note, their combined breathing, and the faint crackle of the candle burning low.

Jesse's heart beat with a newfound conviction as she calmed herself, the rhythm of her past fading to silence as she sat back down onto Lira's bed, patting the spot next to her.

"Before we go do anything with them…I want to talk a little more," Her giggle came out breathlessly as she looked up at Lira, a warm smile slowly creeping across her lips, "Since last time we tried to we got rudely interrupted."

Lira's heart was racing out of her chest as she looked down at Jesse, the curve of her lips drove her wild with a fierce urge to protect this girl with her life. She knew she'd do anything to save that smile, to hear that giggle every day of her life.

Her legs moved to plop down heavily beside Jesse before she could even process it, flopping down next to Jesse and nodding eagerly.

"Yeah, I guess we were in the middle of a conversation weren't we?" Her fingers found Jesse's effortlessly and intertwined themselves with hers in a matter of moments, a faint blush inching up her neck and cheeks.

Jesse found herself smiling fiercely as she saw Lira's blush, squeezing her hand and rubbing small circles on the back of Lira's hand with her thumb.

As she spoke, her heart and stomach fluttered with a whole kaleidoscope of butterflies, her voice came across extra soft and gentle. "Lira, I think…I think I love you. Will you be my partner, not just in crime, but in all of life?"

Lira didn't even know her jaw could drop as much as it did, eyes shimmering with tears of joy on the brink of flowing down her cheeks as she struggled to form words, eventually managing just two words in a breathless, hushed tone.

"Jesse…yes." In the same breath she swung her arms around Jesse's shoulders and clung to her like a life preserver in an endless expanse of cold ocean, the warmth of her body filled Lira like a roaring campfire in the ruthless winters of the north.

Jesse met the embrace with an ecstatic giggle, pulling Lira into a deep, loving kiss that left both of them catching their breath by the time their lips finally stopped making contact after what felt like years of passion and love exploded in a series of sparks.

They found themselves lying side by side now, the thought of that thing from earlier all but completely erased from their minds as they stared into each other's eyes.

It had been hours of comfortable silence, punctuated by soft loving sighs as they just laid together, enjoying the presence of each other.

Eventually, they knew they had to separate from each other, despite the comfort they found themselves in. That time came sooner than they would have wished when Veyra walked in, clearly enjoying the sight of the two girls cuddling on the bed.

Veyra's voice was gentle but commanding, subtly filling the room. "Girls, there's something I'd like to have you both go to. A protest of sorts."

Lira, broken free from the comfort of Jesse's arms, sighed heavily and looked up at Veyra. "Great, guess we can do that then come home and snuggle some more. Where at?"

Veyra's arms crossed over her chest and she allowed a faint smirk to cross her lips. "Main street, same place you were at the other day."

Jesse's eyes widened as she looked at the woman, jaw dropped and looking back and forth between Lira and Veyra. "You mean…the same place we were pinned down by a pair of snipers?"

Veyra didn't speak, her head nodding slowly.

The panic began fully setting in, Jesse's heart began racing out of her chest as she took a deep breath. "So we might be back in the line of fire again? Are you sure this is a good idea for us to do?"

Veyra shrugged softly, looking down at the two. "Don't you worry about that, we've got you covered."

The rhythmic tapping of her fingers returned, looking towards Lira as she sighed.

Lira grabbed Jesse's hand again, putting on a smile as she tried to calm both of their nerves.

"Even if they don't have us covered fully…we got out of that hellish situation together, didn't we?" Her voice was soft, trying its best to be encouraging.

Jesse found it hard not to agree, her head moving of its own accord in a soft, unsure nod.

"Yeah. You dragged me out of there…even when my legs refused to move…" She trailed off, her voice trying and failing to regain some of her usual confidence.

Lira didn't give her time to dwell on it. She stood quickly, pulling Jesse up with her and placing a final kiss to the trembling woman's forehead.

I'm not happy with the writing on Neon Ash anymore and am going to be redoing it.

Eventually, Veyra showed the two around the entire compound, including where her room was in case they needed her.

Later that night, the dim light from a small battery lamp cast soft shadows across the room, flickering slightly as if unsure it had enough power to last. The air hung thick with unspoken words, and the quiet hum of distant voices from elsewhere in the compound barely filled the space between Lira and Jesse.

They sat across from each other, each on their own bed, but the distance felt charged—like the static before a storm.

Lira broke first, her voice quiet and tentative, barely a whisper against the heavy stillness.

“How long have you… known?”

Jesse’s eyes flicked to her, a small, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. She tilted her head slightly, watching Lira with that calm steadiness that always seemed to ground her.

“Well… since you whispered it the other night,” she admitted, voice light but edged with something deeper. “When you thought I was asleep.”

Lira’s brow furrowed, confusion flashing across her face before it hit her all at once—her eyes widening in sudden realization, cheeks flushing bright red.

“When you got shot?” she blurted, a little louder than she intended. “You heard that?”

“I mean,” Jesse shrugged, standing slowly and stretching out her sore muscles, “you think I could sleep through that pain? We didn’t exactly have morphine.” Her voice softened, almost teasing.

Lira instinctively shifted, leaving a space on the bed beside her—whether she meant to or not—and Jesse filled it without hesitation, sliding into that warmth like it had always been meant for her.

Lira’s arms wrapped around her almost before she realized it, pulling Jesse in, cradling her gently, protectively, as if holding her would make up for all the times she couldn’t keep Jesse from getting hurt. She breathed in the faint scent of Jesse’s hair—soft, like springtime in a world that had mostly forgotten what seasons felt like.

“Yeah… I guess that’s true,” Lira murmured, her voice barely above a breath. “But still… you could’ve said something back then.”

Jesse smiled softly against Lira’s skin, nuzzling into the crook of her neck, the tension in her body slowly easing.

“Maybe,” she whispered. “But you looked like you needed to get that off your chest. And I didn’t want to scare you away.”

Lira hesitated, her fingers tracing slow, gentle circles on Jesse’s shoulder, careful to avoid the bandage over the healing wound. Her hand stilled for a moment, and her voice caught in her throat—something else on the tip of her tongue.

Before she could form the words, something flickered across the frosted glass of the room’s window. A small red light—quick, silent, deliberate.

It wasn’t a drone. It wasn’t a flashlight.

Lira tensed, her grip on Jesse tightening as she stared at the pane separating them from whatever had just been out there.

Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the light bounced away. A faint thud followed—so soft it barely registered, but Jesse twitched, her head turning toward the window.

She didn’t register Lira’s tension right away, but curiosity pushed her up. Jesse peeled herself out of Lira’s arms and stepped quietly to the window. She cracked it open just enough to peer outside.

A squirrel darted away across the bricks.

Except… something about it was wrong.

Jesse felt her stomach turn. “That’s not right,” she whispered, eyes narrowing. “That’s not right at all.”

“What is it?” Lira was already sitting up, ready for a fight she couldn’t yet see.

“I’m… not sure.” Jesse’s voice trembled. “It looked like a squirrel. But it didn’t move right. Too stiff. Like something was wearing a squirrel’s skin and trying to pass.”

Lira’s stomach dropped.

Did they find us already? How much trouble are we putting Veyra in by being here?

She swung her legs off the bed and stood, already pulling on her jacket.

Behind her, Jesse shut the window and locked it. Her hand hovered there longer than necessary, knuckles white. “There were… wires. I think. At the base of its skull.”

She hesitated, eyes unfocused as she tried to put it into words.

“They looked like antennae. But not just sticking out—sprouting, almost. Like the pistil of a flower.”

Her voice wavered, like even the image was too much.

“They need to know. We need to tell them,” Lira whispered, her voice barely audible.

Jesse hesitated, lips pursed. “Tell them what? That a squirrel looked weird?”

“No. Tell them why it looked weird,” Lira said firmly. “If that thing’s been here before, they deserve to know. If we brought it, they deserve to know that, too.”

Jesse froze, then finally nodded.

“…Yeah. Okay.”

Lira opened the door with a sharp creak, the night’s chill and heavy rain rushing in to meet them. The noise from the brick paths and cloth awnings outside was deafening compared to the silence inside. Stalls that had bustled just hours before now stood abandoned and soaked.

Jesse reached for Lira’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before leading the way, the two moving quickly through the storm.

Every splash, every shift of shadow made Lira flinch. The tension pressed down on her like a second skin. Eventually, they reached the heavy steel door with Veyra’s nameplate that she had pointed out during the tour.

Lira didn’t hesitate. She slammed her fist against the metal.

It took only seconds before the door cracked open and Veyra appeared, rubbing sleep from her eyes, her long nightshirt damp from the storm clinging to her legs.

“What’s wrong, dears? You look like you’ve seen a—”

Both Jesse and Lira started talking at once.

Their words overlapped—panicked, sharp, tripping over each other. Something about a light. Something about the window. A squirrel. Wires.

Veyra blinked, halfway to shutting the door again—until she saw Jesse’s face.

Then Lira’s.

They weren’t just scared. They were terrified.

“…Come in,” she said, stepping back. “If this is real, it’s not something we want echoing off the bricks.”

The girls rushed inside and slammed the door behind them. Lira opened her mouth, but stopped and nodded at Jesse. You speak.

“We were laying down,” Jesse said, voice trembling. “Lira saw a red light pass the window. I went to check—thought it was maybe a reflection, or some kid’s drone…”

She swallowed.

“But it was a squirrel. Only, it wasn’t. It moved too smooth. Too rigid. Like it had gears. And at the base of its skull… I saw something growing out.”

She pointed to the back of her neck, mimicking the spot.

“They looked like antennae, but delicate. Twisted metal. Almost organic. Like the pistil of a flower growing straight out of its spine.”

The room fell quiet.

Veyra began to pace, jaw tight. “Those things aren’t common. I’ve only seen one—maybe two—used near the perimeter. Omnigen’s had small-scale surveillance before, but if one showed up here…”

She trailed off, muttering under her breath.

Lira stepped forward. “So you do know what it is?”

“I know enough to say you didn’t imagine it,” Veyra said, voice low. “Those little bastards are scouts. Omnigen sends them out to watch targets—places, people. Sometimes both.”

“They’re watching us,” Jesse said, numb.

“Or they’re watching who you’re talking to,” Veyra said, glancing sharply at her. “Those things don’t just see. They learn. You show up here and now there’s one in our courtyard? It’s not a coincidence.”

Lira looked sick. “We brought it here.”

“You didn’t mean to,” Veyra said quietly. “But someone thinks you know something important. Important enough to send tech that doesn’t show up unless you’re already on their radar.”

She exhaled slowly. “We’ll have to move. You, Maive, maybe even me.”

Jesse’s voice was small. “Why?”

Veyra turned to her, eyes colder than they’d been all night.

“Because if they stop watching… it means they’ve already decided what to do with you.”

Jesse felt minuscule in that moment, as if the fragile world they’d spent months building had crumbled in a single blink.

She murmured something too soft for Veyra to catch. Then, a little louder: “My mother… the graffiti... Do you think they found us because of that night?”

Her hand drifted to her shoulder, the dull ache of the healing wound pulsing in time with the memory. That was the night it all began—the moment they stopped surviving and started fighting back.

Without hesitation, Lira reached over and took Jesse’s hand, squeezing it firmly.

“Whatever brought them to us—whatever happens next—we’ll face it together.” Her eyes met Veyra’s then, steady and unwavering. “Whether we’re part of your crew or not.”

Veyra smiled gently, a quiet laugh escaping her lips as she shook her head.

Oh boy do I ever have a little snippet for what I'm writing right now to share with everyone!