Stereotypically Inaccurate Alley Cat [Private, James and Bree]

Bree, scared half to death of the absurd amount of people she had to deal with at Syne, decided it a good idea to just take a nice relaxing walk through the streets of Bellmuse.
There were more people in Bellmuse.

She wanted to get back to Syne now... She really, really didn't like this. 

What Bree did down the stone and concrete path could hardly be described as a walk, per say. It was more so a half hunched over shuffle. She looked around, her eyes widened, her breathing shaky, her hands twitchy, her muscles nearly frozen in fear. This had been a horrible idea! She should've just locked herself in her room like all of the other shut-ins! But no, she had to be the big girl, although she was easily the most paranoid person there.
Pushing through the treacherous lands of the city, she felt a sense of accomplishment as she reached a major milestone of her journey.
Ten metres.
Not the most impressive thing, but at the speed she was going she might as well have been going backwards....

It was at this moment Bree realized it was already rather damp outside, what with the puddles splattered messily across the pavement. She made a point to stay away from any of them, for water would cut through her like butter.
She blamed her semblance for it, in the end; sometimes she question what took the place of water in her body...

A small gasp came from the girl as a *splash* became audible, and she felt her right leg become moist. She froze in place, shakily looking around at the blend of figures seemingly surrounding her, circling her, closing in on her, staring blankly at her, but in reality, nobody noticed the extremely paranoid Cat, for she made very little difference in their daily life.

Her muscles tensed up. She was sure how much more she could take of this before she lost it completely.
Apparently it wasn't much.

Someone bumped into her shoulder, apologizing immediately afterwards.
She didn't care, and she did what she did best. She ran.

Dashing down the streets, she threw herself through the waves of people, bumping into a multitude of them, including a few humans, and a few Faunus, before spotting an alleyway.
Good enough.
They connected all throughout the city, surely she could get back to Syne through one of them!
Right!?
Tossing herself into the space, she sprinted faster...
Faster... Faster.... Faster..... SLOWER.
Her momentum was smacked back into herself as she hit the brick wall...
Literally....
Falling into her rear, the rather comical looking impact was actually quite a painful and potentially dangerous encounter with an inanimate object.

Bree struggled to get up, incoherently stumbling as if she were drunk. It hurt, it very truly did.
'Cmon... Cmon girl... Get up, get coordinated, it's okay. Everything is okay.
Think like... An alley cat! Yeah that makes sense!
Brave and wild!!
Oh who am I kidding... I'm no alley cat, I'm a scaredy cat...'

It seemed like he had been going down to Bellmuse more and more often each day. For whatever reason it may have been, the trips themselves have been rather eventful, to say the least, so he vaguely wondered if anything would happen this time around. Taking a look at the skies above the city, he smiled lightly as the grayed clouds overlooking the land they reside in foreshadowed the coming of rainfall, so he had brought an umbrella with him for when it does. Despite what others think, he really enjoyed the rain. Not more so being soaked in it, but more for the atmosphere it breeds: a somber mood to levy the darkened skies, a feeling of isolation as people remain indoors to avoid the wet works, and the soft pitter-patter of rain that evokes a gentle calmness through his person. Of course, the rain also bellied the memory of that night, since a downpour had accompanied the incident, but he did his best to keep that in the past and see the rain for how he did currently.

Of course, curled up on his head in place of any kind of headgear, was his most recent companion, Karla - happily sleeping away as they continued their walk. The lively cat had, for the most part, remained by his side ever since Koko gave him ownership of her and he could not have been any happier. She had brought an extra dimension into his world that he did not think was possible. First of all, he did not think she was capable of speech, that tripped him out. Second of all, she really liked to curl up in his hair or in his tail. Something about it being soft and cushiony. He shrugged off the comment and just let her do what she wished. A hand reached up to gently scratch the top of her head and he smiled when she purred in response. The cat was a glutton for affection, that much was for certain.

After walking for several moments, the duo came upon an odd scene. Ahead of him, people began to suddenly shift left or right, as if some force was pushing them, and it seemed like it was heading down a straight path towards...him? Curiosity got the better hold as he wandered closer to the crowd as the strange force came closer to him. Soon enough the two met, and, well, the young fox ended up getting bumped into and pushed out of the way, only managing a passing glance at what steamrolled past him. While normally he would have shrugged it off and walked away, what he saw concerned him. It looked like she was scared. Almost as if she was running from something.

"Huh..? What hit us..?"

Oh, it looked like that woke her up. He looked upwards and found the cat blearily looking back down at him, still groggy from the abrupt awakening. He smiled lightly at the adorable sight, even more so when her tail moved to her face to rub her eyes.

"Some girl, Karla. Looked like she was scared of something. No one would be barreling that fast through a crowd without a reason. I think I'm gonna check up on her... if I can find her that is."

"Don't you already have someone...? What's her name, that Spring girl?"

"I just want to see if she's okay. It would weigh on my conscious if I didn't at least check up on her."

The cat did not give any response back, only slightly nodding before curling up to go back to sleep. He chuckled softly as to not disturb the cat's sleep any further. He turned towards the direction and began his search to find the speeding train of a girl. He began to walk down the street, looking for anyone vaguely resembling the girl: red hair, petite frame, and a cat faunus, it looked like. He searched every crook and nanny until he came upon the entrance of an alleyway. Looking into it, he found the girl he was looking for, on the ground, apparently having issues getting up. From what he could see, she looked to be dazed, possibly from running into that wall at the far end. Sighing lightly, he moved forward with caution as to not immediately startle her. From his knowledge, dazed patients would react to startles with one of two reactions: either flee from the object that startled them or respond in kind with violence. For the sake of the girl, he hoped it would be the former.

Once he cleared a relatively good distance, about two-thirds from his original position, he stopped and crouched down to the girl's level. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, very portable medical kit that contained a single roll of gauze, band-aids, and a cold compress. He was looking at a possible case of head trauma, hopefully mild, so he wanted to be ready to treat it promptly. Staying at his current location, he softly spoke out to the girl.

"Hello, miss? You look like you took a heavy hit. Do you need any assistance? I'm a medical student of Syne Academy and I could help treat you." Of course, that was only for formalities. Whether or not she accepts his help, he would still treat her anyways. It would just be a lot easier if she did.

Bree soon enough succumbed to the pain, falling back onto her bottom in a daze.

Those walls, man... I swear...

She let out a small groan of pain, before she heard another noise, one that made her blood run cold.
Human vocalization.

The girl froze; her ears perked up as her pupils became mere specks in a vast expanse of white.  She slowly and shakily turned her head around to give the man a horrified stare, and it looked as though she had just seen a ghost.
'Is... That... A person...? Oh my God! Oh my God oh my God oh my God! How do words work!? How do words work again!?I don't... I don't remember...'
Bree shot up incomprehendably fast, before throwing herself back-against-the-wall. She patted her hands around the wall behind her, shuffling her feet so that she was pressed up against it as flat as possible. Her heart pounded in her chest as her breathing became fast, irregular, and terribly inefficient.
"Me..? What what no no no no no no no no no I'm fine please I'm.... I'm.... I'm fi-f-f-f-fi-f-fiii-fiiiiiiiiine...... Ehehheheheh... Hehhhhhhhhhhhhh...."
A painfully obvious lie was made even more blatant when it was followed by a suspicious giggle, which then continued on to lead her to hold her head in her hands, the rising lack of oxygen making her vision go rather blurry.


It was at this time Bree noticed the lack of a distinct fuzzy light blue blanket from her hip, and she immediately spun off into a panic. She looked around frantically, her body heating up tremendously before she offered the man a look of pure terror.


"P-p-please mister... Stay back... I-I-I might hurt... H-hurt you by accident if you don't..."

Little did the girl know, her blanket was simply sitting on the ground where she had just been standing, a few metres away, but she still heated up significantly in the confusion.


"Really really I'm fine I'm fine go away please... I might hurt you if you don't and I don't wanna hurt you because you seem really nice and that would be really mean..."

Bree's body shuddered as she spoke, and her gaze darted around the alleyway with that paranoid look in her eyes, constantly taking in every single little detail at once.

Just as she let her guard down, she felt something hit the back of her neck, all of the heat draining from her body.

It started to rain.

Well, that certainly was about in line with what he had expected to happen. While the horror stricken face was a little uncalled for, the reaction to run away was. When the girl ran impeccably fast into the source of her injuries, trying to flatten herself against the brick construct, the young hunter was not too concerned. Sure, at first he was worried that she would run right into the wall and further injure herself, but that was quickly washed away. Now it was a matter of approach. He frowned lightly when he picked up on the faunus's irregular breathing. Fast, shallow breathes were terrible in terms of oxygen usage and had more adverse effects on people with small frames like the one before him.

An eyebrow quirked in confusion and amusement at the girl's words, her manner of speaking entertaining him greatly. Her attempt at lying was painfully obvious, her words betraying her intentions and she hit the final nail in her coffin with that giggle of hers - it was full of suspicion and thinly veiled deception. In a sense, he couldn't help but smile at the innocence being displayed. It reminded him of his sister, and even himself back in his childhood, when they would get caught and attempted to get out of it by lying through their teeth.

It never worked.

"You don't look fine to me.."

A frown made itself apparent when the girl held her head in between her hands. Oxygen deficiency, he told himself. It was only a matter of time, the girl's breathing was preventing her from getting the proper intake. Oxygen deprivation, in addition to that possible head trauma, was a terrible thing to get. He was confused when the girl began to frantically look around the area, searching for something. As far as he knew, they was not anything of worth value around them - at the very least, not any that he sees.

Though taking her look of terror in consideration, he disregarded her words and began to slowly move forward towards her. The panicked girl needed help, fast. His pride as a medical student would not allow him to just walk away! "I'm sure you won't hurt me...you seem like a really nice girl. I just want to help you. I promise you that anything that happens to me, I won't hold you against it. I just want to make sure you're okay."

As the young hunter moved forward, the telltale sounds of rain entered his ears. At first, it starts with a light sprinkle, then a drizzle, and finally, a pour. As it were, only a few drops started to fall. He hummed softly when the girl just suddenly paused in all action, once it started. Opening his umbrella, he raised it out towards the girl, offering the girl to take it. While he was fine without it, and Karla would get mad but ultimately shrug it off, it looked like she would need it more. "Here. Please, take it. You don't have much on you, so this'll help cover you."

In theory, she could be killed by a squirt gun.
Just think about that for a while.

Bree felt the rain pounding into her body, a dull pain spreading throughout her person when, in reality, it was only a mere few drops of water. It felt as though she were being torn apart even though she could survive at least two hours in light rain, and probably thirty minutes in a downpour. Her body shook violently. No matter how long she could survive, it still hurt like hell to be caught in the rain, slowly suffering until her body went cold. No heat, no Bree. 
It was then she heard something, and with looking up, her heart stopped. 
He was really close.
The rain washed away her overwhelming fear, leaving behind only a simple and minute feeling of skittishness. She slowly, shakily reached out her hand, making a few premature grabbing motions of her hand before she finally grasped it, wrapping her fingers around the thin handle of the umbrella.
"Th-thank you, mister....."
Her voice was quiet and submissive, as she held it over herself, curling up tight as to avoid getting her toes wet. The girl let out little gasps of pain, gritting her teeth as the water rolled down her cheeks.


It was then that Bree suddenly froze, dropping the umbrella into the ground and staring blankly at the ground a few feet in front of her. She, without warning, threw herself at the spot she was looking at before quickly becoming engulfed in a light blue, fuzzy object. She covered herself in her basically element proof blanket, slowly rocking back and forth before sending up, slightly hunched over with it draped over her body, falling down her back and covering the top of her head. She trekked back over to the man, sitting in her original spot and cautiously handing him the umbrella back.
"Here mister... I don't... I don't need this anymore you can have it back... You shouldn't give it to me you need it more anyways..."
It was then she realized he might not like the name 'mister', send although she would continue to use it anyways, she decided to, quite bravely, as him a single question.
"Mister-mister, do you have a name? I know it's not polite to ask someone's name first but I'm really shy and I wanna know yours because I think you're a nice person..."


She tilted her head with an overwhelming innocence as she pulled her blanket down tighter with each word. She couldn't describe it but this man seemed to be very good with her type, from not being too close to offering her an umbrella at his own risk. He gave off a sweet, calming aura... She liked it...
Very few people could calm her down. Maybe it was just luck or something. 


She didn't know. 

The fox could only smile softly down at the cat when she took the umbrella from him with timid motions. God, her personality alone reminded him of Spring. He honestly never would have thought that he would meet someone that is just as shy, if not slightly less, than his love. It was almost laughable the similarities the two shared - the thoughts of the two meeting playing out in his mind. He mentally chuckled at the shy girls talking to each other behind something or trying to avoid contact, in general. He nodded in response to her words and took a step back out into the rain so that she was the sole occupant of the umbrella. Truthfully, the rain was still light and he and Karla could survive a couple of droplets. "Of course, miss. Its only the right thing to do." He never got colds anyways, and Karla seemed to have a good immune system herself. They weren't afraid of cold rain.

More water landed on the girl and he subtly raised a brow in question upon hearing her almost silent gasps; whether from pain or surprise, he could not tell. Either way, he could discern that there was something about the rain that did not work well for the timid one before him. Without knowing any more, he withheld any attempts to help in this endeavor. He did blink in surprise when said timid girl suddenly dashed forward, dropping the umbrella given to her, and entrapping herself in a light-blue blanket that crumbled on the floor. In all honesty, he thought it was just a piece of trash on the floor and not the item she so frantically searched for earlier. His musings were broken when the familiar weight of his umbrella pressed down onto his hand and his attention was brought back to the girl, who had now firmly cocooned herself in her blanket.

A soft smile played upon his lips as the girl spoke her words and lightly chuckled at her following question. It seemed like the girl was a kind-hearted person and at least had the curtesy to ask for his name. While it would be normally appropriate for the asked to give their names first, he would let it slide this time. Taking a look at his umbrella, he shrugged at it before gently giving it back to the girl. "Oh no, I insist. I'm not sure if you have an issue with the rain, but I do believe it would be better for you to take it. Besides, I have something else to keep us from getting wet."

To emphasize his point, he raised his tail high in the air and bent it inwards so that its massive size would act as an emergency cover from the rain.

"As for my name, I am James Gray, student of Syne Academy. The cutie on my head currently sleeping is Karla. May I know the name of the shy, kind-hearted young lady before me?"

"Issue".
Yeah, death was an issue.

She hesitantly nodded her head, her eyes still wide and full of fear.
"Yes, mister. Rain c-can... It c-can kill me..."
She shakily reached her hand out and grabbed the umbrella once more, holding it over herself and giving this person a half confused stare before looking up at his impressively sized tail.
His words caused her face to slowly glow red with quite a fierce blush, horribly surprised by a compliment as generic sounding as that. Her reaction was followed by a few forced out and half mumbled words.
"Shy sure but I'm ehheh I'm no kind hearted young lady mister heheeh.. Eheh.......... Heh....."
She emitted what resembled an intoxicated giggle, sprinkled with a hint of her innocent charm

She tilted her head in relative surprise as the light sprinkling had already died down to nothing, but the sky was still dark and black, filled with clouds and giving off an awfully gloomy atmosphere.
"James... Huh? I... I like that name it sounds nice. My name is Bree Vanovalicht... That's not my full first name though... Your name is so much better though I mean Nobody is named Bree... It's such a weird name and I'm sorry I'm ranting again I do it a lot because I'm annoying..."
She nervously looked around, letting out a few more drunk sounding giggles in embarrassment. She had never really been complimented before, no matter how minor what James had just said was.

Bree slowly removed her blanket, reaching up under her skirt cautiously to clip it to her hip again. She felt herself start to heat up again as she realised once more how close he was. She could feel it; the heat coursing through her tiny body, flowing through her person and just waiting to burst, setting everything ablaze like a raging wildfire.
"Mister-mister, I'm scared I might hurt you... I've hurt other people before..."
Her heterochromatic eyes began to give off a faint glow as she slowly edged over to the corner. She spoke with very few pauses to breath, slowly slumping over in the corner again. Her breathing switched from quick and inefficient to heavy and slightly more efficient, staring at the man through gradually closing eyes.
"Mister.. Mister... Please don't come close to me... I'm fine trust me..."

She simply tried to shrug it off, genuinely concerned she would burn this man to the ground. Her incoherent giggling, her face lit up red, looking around nervously, it all pointed to one very clear fact.

Bree was atrocious at lying.

Well, that was unexpected. Of all the possible things he could have heard, that was easily one of the most outrageous ones. Really? Rain, of all things, was this girl's mortal enemy? Though, he hazard a guess that water in general was deadly to the girl. In that case, he wondered how she managed to stay clean. Did she stick true to her cat instincts and lick herself? Or did she resort to the odd, but normal, sponge baths? He was a bit happy when she accepted the umbrella once more, now that he knew the truth between her and water. It would be a regret that weighed heavily on his shoulders if he did not give her the item and her life was forfeited as a result. "That is quite...unfortunate. You're the first I've met with such a condition.." He could only awkwardly smile at his words, the truth of it not escaping him.

His smile lightened as the quiet girl's face brightened red as a response to his compliment and her following words drew a small chuckle from his mouth. Once more, he was met with an act that reminded him so much of his Spring. Just the tiniest bit of compliments and she was flushed, blushing up a storm. He idly wondered how Spring was, if she was eating well, etc. The lack of pressure on his tail drew his attention away from his thoughts and he lowered his tail upon realizing that the rain had momentarily stopped. "I think Bree Vanovalicht is a great name. If no one shares your name, then it just makes you more unique than the rest. You can rant all you want, it's not annoying." Just like with Spring, the young hunter wanted to reassure the girl that she was someone with value.

A brow slightly raised in surprise when the girl unfurled herself from the blanket and seemingly placed it underneath her skirt. How she managed to hide that cloth, he had no clue, and he was fine not knowing. His concern did return, however, when the girl proceeded to retreat into the brick wall behind her, her words doing nothing more but foster the feeling. Deciding to listen to her words, he took a step back. "You're terrible at lying, you know? I'm glad you're concerned for me, but I'm concerned for you too. I will not just leave you alone right now."

Bree slowly opened her eyes again, staring at the man as her eyes slowly but gradually filled out. Her senses dulled, calming themselves irrationally compared to her normal emotional status.

I like big words.

Giving the man a confused stare for no reason, she slowly crumbled down to not really understanding the current situation.
"I guess... If you have to... Come near me though..... You can..."
'Idiot! Stupid idea, don't do that! That's the worst thing you've said all day!!"
"I'll try... Super hard not to... Not to hurt you Mister-James..."
'Stop it stop it you're only making it worse! Remember the entire reason you run in the first place!'
Internal conflict took place as she gave the man a blatantly mixed up but still decently friendly stare as she shifted into a more upright position.

"Mister-mister, if I do hurt you promise you won't be mad.... If I do hurt you, it'll probably hurt a whole bunch so I don't blame you if you hit me or run away like they-..."
'Like they tried to before they all burned to the ground... Those filth...'
Next came the mental snap. Memories of the last time she had been ignited shot through her like a bullet through glass, shattering any stability she had previously harboured.

"Mister-mister... I promise it'll be okay... I promise I won't... I won't hurt you if you do touch me... Nobody worries about me so I'll try to not screw it up like I always do..."
Next comes self doubt, and it was only a few more steps before the blaze of glory.

"Glory".
Not the best term to describe burning everything within a 471.24m³ cylinder....

Nodding to her words, the young hunter slowly began to move towards the mess of a girl. On the way, he gently removed Karla from her perch and laid her down onto the floor. She was still asleep, oblivious to the outside world. "I give you my word that, no matter what, I will not hate you." It seemed like an odd thing to request. He had absolutely no reason to be mad at the girl; even if he did, his profession as a medical student would have him be detached from his own personal strife to heal someone to the best of his abilities. Petty feelings such as anger weighed little compared to the lives of others.

"No matter what, I will refuse to hurt you, I will refuse to abandon you."

The strength of his convictions were clear in his voice. This girl, who had done no wrong, who had shown nothing but concern for his wellbeing, was asking him to show her mercy. He boiled him bad that she would ask something like that of him - he could only imagine the things in her past that would lead her to have this kind of attitude about her. Once he got close to the girl, he knelt down besides her and, with two hands gently holding her head, he examined her face for any sort of bruisings."I know you won't hurt me. You're not a screw up, so please do not think of yourself as such."

He palpated her forehead, the top of her head, and the back of her head, pressing only slightly to check if the girl was being caused pain in any of these areas. From first look, there seemed to be nothing wrong, so he needed to check more thoroughly. "Please tell me if you feel any pain or discomfort."

Bree used flamethrower.

It's super effective.

Her tiny body grew more uncomfortable as James drew nearer to her person, before kneeling down beside her. The waves of heat pulsated through her as she came closer to the end of the calm.
"Mister-Mister... I think...."
Her words were practically inaudible as he held her head, her eyes going wide. The very tips of her fingers sparked tiny, almost invisible flames; her body shuddered violently as he continued on to apply slight pressure around different areas of her head. There was no pain, no discomfort, the only problem she had was that the entirety of her hands were now on fire.

"M-M-M-M-Mister-James-s-s-s-s.... I am f-feeling pain or d-d-discomfort...."
The flames slowly crawled up her arms, licking at her torso region before eventually reaching her chest after covering her arms.
"Mister-Mister please don't try to stop it you'll only make it worse."
They slowly spread to her gut, her hips, her thighs, down to her knees, before finally, her feet were caught in the fire.
The girl's hair was ignited, it's already red colour highlighted with the scarlet flames as they etched their way down her locks; her eyes glowed brightly, her face, hair, hands, arms, legs, feet, her entire body was engulfed in the fire created by her semblance.

Slowly, Bree curled up into a ball, pushing her knees into her chest, and holding her head in her hands, shaking violently. She let out little, gasping cries of pain as her head throbbed, the migraine already starting to pick up. She slowly rocked herself back and forth as all that she saw now was a burning house and charred corpses; a sharp pain shot through her, the origin being about midway down her spinal cord, which was the exact spot where she had been kicked before crashing into a wall. Back then, it was so much harder to trigger her semblance, but now she lit up into a blazing inferno by somebody simply touching her.

Her body spasmed before she shakily lifted her head up, her pupils tiny black islands surrounded by a sea of white. She was horrified that he would run away, or hit her, no matter how irrational those two outcomes were based on his previous responses.

But who knew, she'd heard many lies.

He never saw it coming.

During his check-up, he did feel the beginnings of something warming up, but brushed it off as unimportant. However, as time went on, the feeling never vanished - instead, it seemed to have intensified. Looking down at the source, he took a step back in surprise when he registered that her hands were on fire. He idly wondered why it was him that ended up being involved in girls that use fire - its was like he attracted the pyromaniacs. He watched as the flames slowly crawled up her arms and over her chest. The girl did not seem to be in any pain, so he assumed the fire was of her own doing, a semblance perhaps? Soon enough, the fire spread throughout the girl's body, encasing her in armor-like flames. The heat was immense, able to feel just how hot it was from where he was located.

Concern for his own wellbeing was quickly thrown out of the window once the girl curled up and cradled her head. Whether or not it was a side-effect of the flames or not, the girl's small cries of pain were enough for him to know that she was hurting. He woke up Karla with his tail, how she was still sleeping was a mystery to him, and she looked at her owner with groggy eyes. He signaled over to the flaming girl with his eyes and Karla followed, staring blankly at the sight before her. With the grace of a cat, all she did was nod slightly and sleepily made her way over to the entrance of the alleyway, once more relegated to look out.

Lazy cat..

Turning back to the girl, he looked on sadly as eyes of white stared back at him with what looked to be rapt terror. Those were the eyes of someone scared by either themselves or by the reactions of others. As it was, the more sane individuals would run away or call someone more experienced in these cases to help. Others would simply try to talk the girl down from a safe distance.

James was not one of them.

He would be considered crazy, some would call him suicidal, he likes to call it selfless abandon of self-preservation. He would throw out his own safety if it meant he could help another. A good example was the scar that permanently marked the back of his right hand, from when he held onto Spring's on blazing hands. Now it seemed like he would get burned again.... he shrugged it off and reasoned that with his semblance and proper healing, the burn marks would fade away.

Taking steps forward, he crossed his arms over his face to protect it from the heat radiating from the girl. The closer he got, the more prominent the prickling feeling that comes with burns became. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to hightail it and run. He promised he would not and he intended to stick to it. By now he had made it close enough to the girl that he felt like he was on the sun - that is, close enough to initiate physical contact. He took a deep breath as he felt his tail catch fire, silently bemoaning all the fur that would need to regrow later. Steeling his nerves, he closed his eyes to protect him from the sheer act of recklessness he was about to do: he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the burning girl, pulling her close to him. He breathed in super heated air as he held her close to him, the burning sensation growing in time. "Shh...it's okay....calm down...nothing..g-gonna hurt you..."

The poor boy wheezed out his words, the flames making it hard to get his words out as it felt like his throat was being constricted.

The pain was intense.

There was simply nothing that could accurately describe the situation he had found himself in. The closest he could think of was that it felt like being stung by a whole hive of bullet ants and then lit on fire after being doused in a barrel of lighter fluid. He bit his lip to keep from screaming out in pain, hard enough to draw blood - though, due to the immense heat, the water in it immediately evaporated, leaving behind this small mass of gelatinous, clotted, blood. It honestly felt disgusting to him, the iron in his blood concentrated to a point. But, he ignored all of that in favor of the girl he was currently holding. As he was walking towards her, he vaguely hear her saying something about stopping, but he was not too sure.

Once he did make contact, somewhere on the back of his mind, he was concerned when the girl suddenly fell limp in his arms. Despite knowing better, for just a small moment, he had thought the girl had passed. As it were, she stayed in his arms, limp like a corpse - and that scared him. It scared him that someone had died in his arms and he could not do anything. Thankfully, his fears were disproven when he heard the faint voice of the girl enter his blazing ears and a shaky hand holding onto his left. In spite of the pain and burns, a small smile made its way onto his face knowing that she was, in fact, still among the living. As warming as the scene was, it had to come to an end..

In a fiery blaze.

All of a sudden, the burning sensation increased by a tremendous margin and it was the worst pain he had ever felt. With this, he felt like he was dipped on molten lava and then thrown into the center of the sun. However, it was his left hand where he felt the sensation the most. Amongst all his inner turmoil and screams, he idly wondered just what about his hands made it appealing for people to burn. And strangely enough, as sudden as it came, it vanished.

The boy collapsed on the spot, though his hand remained in the girl's own. His clothes were singed black, his coat of fur on his tail was all but burnt away, and burn marks riddled his body, the most prominent being on the hand that was held by girl. The pain was there, but it soon became a dull throbbing that did no more than be an annoying reminder that his body was so racked with pain, his pain receptors overloaded and left him with a constant pulse spreading through his body. Her grip loosened and he could feel his hand slowly slip down onto the hard concrete - the contact sending a sharp jolt of pain to run up from his hand and through his arms.

He laid on the cold, hard floor, motionless as the slightest of movements sent piercing waves of shock through his being. The first drops of rain came and they started to fall hard. Now knowing what the rain would do to the girl, he forced himself to stand. His eyes shakily opened, revealing blood-shot sclera among gold and blue irises, and they glanced over to where the girl was. Shambling towards her with stiff, zombie-like movements, the hunter towered over her and leaned his head onto the wall, using his own body as coverage from the rain. With this act of kindness done, he promptly passed out, the stress of the pain and moving being too much for him. He leaned against the wall so that it could support him and keep him up for the girl.

"You stupid, selfless, idiot..."

A soft, feminine voice echoed through the cold and dreary alley. Walking closer to the two was the young fox's pet cat, Karla. The feline looked up at her owner from underneath her witch's hat with sad, yet proud, eyes. From the second she had first laid eyes on him, that day Koko handed her over to him, she knew that he was a good man at heart - which is why she took an instant liking to him. Despite the sudden addition into his life, he made her feel truly welcomed and she enjoyed spending their days together. It was not until the incident with Spring and now with this girl, that she truly saw what kind of character he was: the kind of heroic idiot that would risk his body, his life, if it meant it could help someone else; the kind that would carry the scars inflicted on him as a reminder of the things he's done; the kind that would greet everything and everyone with a smile if he could, because he believed everyone should be shown kindness. Slowly and gently, the cat climbed up her owner's tail, which laid flat against the floor, up his back, and curled up on his blackened hair.

"If you can hear me, girl, you're lucky James is such a forgiving and kind person. I would have torn you to shreds, but he would not have wanted that, so I will stay my claws. He risked his life for you and still managed to force himself up to cover you, just so you won't die a pathetic death. I won't let his efforts go to waste, so you sure as hell better not."

Her words were spoken in a rough manner, a glare fixed down onto the cause of her owner's current state. Honestly, she knew that none of this would have happened if her idiot of an owner would have just let the girl be and continue on his way, enjoying a day without anything happening. "Girl, you are to call emergency services right this instant. James needs immediate medical attention if he is to survive to see another day. He may be durable, extremely so, but even he has his limits."

No, no...
It was super effective...

The girl watched in flat out, absolute horror as the boy simply collapsed, unmoving. Her eyes looked like they just glazed over, set on nothing in particular, giving the world a blank stare. She could feel the rain pounding into her body, a sharp stinging pain overwhelming her but no, she didn't care. She honestly couldn't care less.
Watching the man stand up, she didn't change her expression as he made slow, painful looking shuffles towards her; the sound of his charred feet dragging across the floor should have set her on her way to run, but she didn't want to. She just sat there, watching him lean against the wall to cover her from the rain before passing out.
Well, she hoped he had passed out.

The speaking of the cat drew her away from her well of depression, causing Bree to cast an emotionless glance over to Karla. She stared at the cat, only half registering the words that were said as her head loosely fell to the side. Where was she? Where was she right now.
Forcing herself to remember details, she could almost certainly say there was a hospital located a few blocks from here, and with this rain everybody had cleared out of the streets, leaving a wet and barren wasteland in place of the once lively roads.

Bree's eyes began to focus, darting around frantically before fixating themselves on the cat, now sitting on top of her owner's head.
"An Ambu... Lance...? No.... That'd take too long.... I-It would..."
The cat shook her head, lifting her hand up and curling it into a fist, before slamming it sideways into the brick wall and making a rather large dent.
"That'd take Too... God... Damned... LONG! We need to go. NOW."
She emphasized her mild cursing by slamming her fist into the previously made crater, making it larger and larger until her hand bled from the impacts, tiny shards of rubble lodged into her fingers and her palm.

Not giving the idea a second thought, she shot up, stopping herself midway so that she could turn around and gently place James on her back, loosely placing his arms over her shoulders.
The boy was heavy, she'd give him that.
Taking a few, shaky steps, Bree began to grow rather angry with herself; angry that she wouldn't move because of the rain. Of course if she did, collateral damage would be done to her own body but right now that was the least of her worries.
'Move, damnit, move! Run faster! This is the only thing you're good at so start moving right now!'

Bree clenched her fists, feeling the rocks penetrating deeper into her flesh as she did so; more blood was drawn from her hand as she curled her fingers tighter. The girl gritted her teeth together, her eyes ever so slightly tearing up as the jolts of discomfort already began spreading throughout her. It hurt. It hurt so much to do this, but yet she was doing it, and she wasn't quite sure why.

So off the girl went, slowly picking up pace as her slow stumbles turned into a brisk jog, which in turn shifted into a decent run, before she broke out into a full on sprint. She could feel it; the rain tearing through her, sending pulses of pain throughout her person, rendering his earlier acts of kindness obsolete, but she kept running. She just kept running, and running, and running. She wouldn't stop, and she couldn't stop.
The splashes of her feet hitting the ground only spread the water around her body more, until the liquid was strewn throughout her form. It felt as though someone had torn off all of her skin, just leaving flesh and bone, and then began stabbing it with needles relentlessly.

A thin trail of dark red blood was quickly being washed away by a wide path of water, left behind by the Faunus girl as she internally cursed at herself for wearing a skirt and leggings today; but the concern for her own well being had already been thrown out of the metaphorical window a long time ago as she dashed through the rain. She twisted and turned her face, forcing herself to keep her eyes open and just tank the water getting in her eyes, her nose, and her mouth. Her body was slowly, but surely, shutting down, and it was quite honestly a miracle she was still moving at this point in time.

Why was she even doing this? She had only just met this person and she was risking her life to save his own. Maybe it was because he had just thrown himself into her in order to calm her down; but that made no sense to her. Why would he do that?
Maybe it was for the same reason she was currently sprinting through the thing that could kill her within half an hour, but she still didn't understand it nonetheless. She just knew that there was something about this person that she gravitated towards.

A couple of minutes later and the hospital was in sight, but that's when things went downhill.
As in down a cliff, downhill.

Her legs began to give out, waves of extreme pain lacing her body. It hurt to move even the tiniest amount. Hell, even breathing sent a jolt of pain throughout her form. Eventually, she slowed to a weak shuffle, before she finally broke through the doors of the hospital.
Incoherently stumbling up to the woman behind the counter, no words were needed as she near instantly went through the process of transferring the boy to a room for immediate medical attention.
Bree, on the other hand, made small, pitiful shuffling motions before she ended up by one of the many chairs, simply collapsing in said chair, her body now unmoving as she instantaneously passed out

One thing was very clear.

She'd be asleep for a while.

(End)