Nora could tell that it wasn't going to be a normal day as soon as she woke up. Ren was just a little too calm, to the point of being impassive. Nora had known Ren her entire life, and he'd only acted like this a handful of times, always for the same reason. It meant that something was getting to him, something he needed time to process. He'd done it when his parents died, and he was doing it again. Nora took consolation in the fact that it was nowhere near as pronounced as it had been all those years ago; whatever it was, it wasn't that overwhelming.
Then of course there were Jaune and Pyrrha; the tiny undercurrent of tension between them had been amplified hugely, to the point where Nora could practically taste it. They were constantly casting sidelong glances at each other when the other had their back turned, and when they seemed incapable of holding a conversation. Nora wasn't even going to try to work out what happened between them… yes she was.
Under normal circumstances, she'd say something. Preferably quite loudly. But she didn't. She wasn't sure why; maybe she suspected that it would make things worse. It might have been the vague, unexplained sense that there was more to come. But it was probably the little voice in the back of her mind telling her that, just this once, she'd be better off if she didn't mention it. An unfamiliar thought for someone so used to saying whatever was on her mind, no matter how strange, but one she listened to, none the less.
And so, with an air of awkwardness surrounding them, they went through their classes until lunch. It was in the cafeteria, with the strange tension nearing a boiling point, where the day got interesting. Conversations were being had (although Jaune and Pyrrha seemed eager to make sure those conversations were with members of Team RWBY), the food was alright, and Team CRDL were, of course, being objectively awful to Velvet.
"Ow!" The rabbit-eared girl cried out in pain as Dove and Sky pulled her ears in opposite directions. "Stop that!"
"What was that?" Cardin asked. "Did you just tell me what to do, you little freak?" Nora started to worry; Cardin usually sounded like he was having fun when he picked on someone, but today, he just sounded angry. "Filthy animals like you should know their place." He nodded to his teammates, and they grabbed velvets arms, holding her in place. Cardin's fist drew back for a haymaker, and he just decked her, knocking her to the floor. And, before she could even recover from his first blow, he delivered a thunderous kick to her ribs, and another, and…
*BOOM!* The doors to the cafeteria flew open, and four unfamiliar faces walked through. At the front was a wiry man with mocha-coloured skin. His brown hair was roughly slicked back in a mess of spikes, as if to say 'this is exactly as neat as you will see my hair. Deal with it'. He wore dark blue, a loose-fitting pair of pants, light, flexible blue shoes, and a lightweight sleeveless jacket that ended around mid-thigh. He wore a pair of gauntlets, with bracers that stopped just short of his elbows, with rectangular protrusions sticking out. He grinned hugely, but there was something dangerous about it, like he wasn't so much grinning as he was showing his teeth, and he was constantly moving; hands clenching and unclenching, eyes darting around, the occasional tick and twitch, he was basically a human-shaped mass of nervous energy. In short, he looked wild, and kind of dangerous. He was definitely the reason for the loud entrance.
To his left and a couple of steps back was a tall, broad-shouldered Faunus man. A huge pair of curved horns rose out of his forehead, just below where his scalp began. His hair was bone-white, and bound in a rough ponytail. He wore a red leather bomber jacket with what looked like armour plating, and loose-fitting black pants, along with black leather high boots with gleaming brass buckles. The hilt of a truly massive two-handed sword peaked over his right shoulder, and his face was all business. Definitely the leader.
On the leader's right, a woman almost as tall as him was practically strutting in. She had long black hair with purple highlights, and a pretty enough face, but that was basically all that Nora could tell about her appearance beyond general build, because he body was clad in half-plate (for those who don't know, half-plate is a form of armour that covers the chest, shoulders, forearms and shins, while leaving the stomach, groin, upper arms and thighs unarmoured, and therefore able to move more freely). The plates were purple with gold trim, while the cloth covering the unarmoured portions of her body was cream-coloured. Her boots looked well-worn and extremely comfortable, and she had a massive firearm slung across her back. She had a cheeky grin plastered across her face, and generally looked like someone who was finding life to be a blast.
And finally she noticed the lady on the wild-looking man's left. She was pale with short black hair and a lean, athletic build. She wore a grey tank top, loose black fatigues, and the heaviest- most indestructible-looking boots Nora had ever seen. But the most noticeable thing about her was her arms. They were metal. There was no way around that fact; metal, mechanical arms, with a slight increase in size at the forearms, and slightly oversized hands. Once she tore her eyes away from the arms, Nora noticed the strange contrast between the girl's expression and her body language. Her body language was withdrawn, hesitant, begging the world not to notice her, but her expression was fierce, as if daring the world to pass comment. Nora also noticed that she seemed to be walking a little closer to the wild-looking man than necessary. She grinned to herself; no prizes for guessing what that could mean.
All four of these newcomers saw what Cardin was doing, and they all scowled, except for the wild-looking one that Nora had decided to call 'Twitch'. Twitch's reaction was more than a little unsettling. Twitch was looking at a group of boys ganging up on a Faunus girl, and he was grinning wider than before. Before the rest of his team could intervene, Twitch was heading over to Team CRDL.
"Aren't they just nauseating?" He asked, still grinning hugely. "I mean, they're stupid, they're violent, they're ugly, they smell terrible, and we still have to act like they matter!"
"Yeah!" Cardin exclaimed. "It's totally Cra-"
"SHUT YOUR FESTERING HOLE, PUKESTAIN!" The words came out as a roar as Twitch turned to face Cardin. As the echoes died down, he knelt down to help Velvet to her feet. "Well, Miss Scarlatina?" He asked, his tone suddenly friendly. "Aren't these idiots nauseating?" A small current of nervous laughter ran through the cafeteria.
"Who do you think you are?" Cardin demanded angrily. He took a sharp step back as Twitch was suddenly standing scant inches from him, a truly deranged grin on his face.
*SHINK!* A sword blade, about the length of Twitch's forearm, emerged from the back wrist of his right gauntlet. "You know, stuff like this really ticks me off." He said calmly. "I mean, it's bad enough when the strong prey on the weak, but now we've got the weak preying on the strong."
"I asked you a question!" Cardin snapped.
"I mean," Twitch went on, ignoring Cardin. "Miss Scarlatina here could wipe the floor with you punks, but that's not an option." Cardin opened his mouth to say something. Twitch looked at him. Cardin shut his mouth. "See, Faunus need to be careful, because the whole damn world is always looking for an excuse to attack. You idiots could hospitalise her, and people would talk about how awful you four were." He was pacing now, circling Team CRDL. "But if she were to fight back, and any of you suffered so much as a black eye, and all of a sudden everyone's talking about how violent Faunus are, saying that they're basically animals." Somehow, his circling seemed to change in nature; he was a predator, circling his prey. "See, there are different rules for humans and Faunus; if you beat her up, it's just youthful high spirits, but if she fights back, it's a vicious and unprovoked assault. So she doesn't fight back." His grin was predatory too, Nora realised, full of barely-contained savagery. "I don't like that. And here's where it gets fun; see, I'm a human, which means that I have rather more options than Miss Scarlatina here does."
"My name's Velvet, by the way." Velvet spoke up, a tiny nervous grin on her face.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tivra." He replied politely. "Son of a Faunus, at least by adoption." He returned his focus to Team CRDL. "And over there are Dante," He pointed to the horned Faunus. "Talia," The armoured girl. "And Noire." The girl with the mechanical arms. "We're Team DTNT (Detonate), and Ozpin asked us to return to the old Alma Mater as tutors." He chuckled lightly. "And I think I know what lesson number one should be." He focused his attention on Team CRDL. "Okay morons, get into the arena; I'm going to beat the stupid out of you."
There was a moment of awkward silence. "What, you think I'm joking?" Tivra got right up in Cardin's face, although he was forced to look up, as he was a few inches shorter than Cardin. "Dead serious, halfwit. I'll take on your whole team. And just to be fair, I won't use my Semblance or," The blades slid back into his gauntlets, and he removed the rectangular protrusions, which seemed to be storage for the blades, and ran through the length of his bracers. "My blades." His grin took on a self-satisfied aspect. "Of course, you could always chicken out."
And so they went to the arena; not just team CRDL, but every single person in the cafeteria. Tivra stood alone on one side of the arena, gauntleted hands hanging slack by his sides, while Team CRDL stood on the other side, posturing and jeering. "Man, you must be crazier than you look if you think you can take us on!" Russel boasted.
"You got that right!" Cardin agreed, a smug look on his face. "They'll have to carry you out when we're done."
"I hear you puppies barking away," Tivra began. "But you're not biting."
"Oh, you want us to bite?" Cardin was getting angry. "We'll tear you head off, you freak!"
"Yip yip yip," Tivra sounded bored. "Is that all you can do, puppy?"
Cardin was angry. He was very angry indeed. First this holier-than-thou nutjob had lectured him about some stupid crap he didn't care about, and now he had the gall to trash talk? Normally, Cardin would resolve this problem the obvious way; by smashing the twitchy little punk into the ground. But this guy… he seemed dangerous. Something about his eyes, and the way he grinned. Not to mention the fact that he was confident enough in his abilities to challenge and entire team to a fight, forgoing his Semblance and the blades from his weapons, leaving him with nothing but a pair of gauntleted fists to work with. No, it was definitely best to let the others attack first; that way he'd be able to get an idea of how strong this guy was. Having made up his mind, he nodded to Sky, who charged in.
What happened next was… impressive. Unusual, but impressive. Tivra sidestepped Sky's charge at the last second, turned, and grabbed Sky's long hair, all in one fluid motion, pulling it as hard as he could while Sky was still running straight ahead. Sky's head snapped back and his legs flew out from under him just as Tivra released his grip, leaving him flat on his back. Grinning hugely, Tivra darted away.
Dove was next, stopping short of his enemy, unlike Sky, and slashing diagonally downwards. Tivra dodged without any apparent effort and nailed Dove with a kick to the jaw that sent him stumbling. Cardin finally got involved, bringing his mace crashing down, only to miss completely and get a right hook for his troubles. And Tivra was gone again, leaping and capering around the arena like a maniac. Every time someone struck at him, he'd dodge or parry, before countering and bounding off again, laughing his head off. "Come on!" He jeered after one such altercation. "At least land a hit!"
Russel lost his temper at that point, spinning end over end in his buzzsaw-like attack. Tivra's response was, Cardin had to begrudgingly admit, pretty cool. He held up his arms in front of him like an 'x', letting Russel's daggers glance harmlessly off of his bracers dozens of times, throwing up a fountain of sparks. He turned his head in time to see Dove charging him from the side and, without missing a beat, grabbed the still-spinning Russel by the wrists, and pulled him between himself and Dove just in time for poor Russel to serve as a human shield. "Sloppy," He commented. "Very sloppy." With that, he charged, using Russel as a battering ram to slam Dove into the wall.
Cardin saw his chance and rushed in to attack, striking the ground and sending a wave of fire at Tivra from directly behind. Somehow, Tivra saw this coming, and leapt out of the way, leaving nothing to stop Cardin's attack from frying Russel and Dove. Oops. And just to round out that little disaster, Sky charged Tivra, only to miss completely and receive a kick that made every boy in the arena wince, along with a fair few of the girls.
"I should feel bad about that last one," Tivra idly commented. "But I don't."
Dove had recovered, and closed in slowly, cautiously. Tivra threw a straight jab, which Dove very narrowly evaded, his head mere inches from Tivra's outstretched arm… *WHAM!* He swung his arm, slamming his metal-clad arm into the side of Dove's head. Russel slashed out at Tivra from the side, and received a flurry of jabs and hooks for his trouble. Sky rushed him, and Tivra clapped both hands over the boy's temples, dazing him long enough for Tivra to back up a few steps and send him sprawling with a flying two-footed drop-kick. Yes, really. A flying two-footed drop-kick. Cardin had needed a couple of seconds to process that. Tivra, however, did not. He rushed in, and delivered an objectively beautiful uppercut before darting out of reach.
"Come on, puppies!" Tivra smirked. "You can do better than that, can't you?" He began to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet, his hands held in front of him in the traditional boxer's positions (left hand forward for jabs and blocks, right hand back for hooks and haymakers.) But it was… off a little. He bounced too high, his hands were in ever-so-slightly the wrong positions, and his expression was too serious, especially for someone who until that point hadn't stopped grinning once. It was a parody of a boxer's stance, deliberately ridiculous. He was mocking them! "Go on, put up your dukes!" Tivra barked the words out, short and clipped.
"Tivra takes on all comers!" This outburst came from the audience, the armoured girl.
"Just give up before you get hurt." The freak with the metal arms advised.
Cardin scowled; there was no way in hell he was going to give up to this punk. He charged in again, bellowing at the top of his lungs, and nearly connected. Tivra countered. He connected. It hurt. And it got worse, because Tivra was apparently getting bored with countering them whenever they attacked him. He was going on the offensive. He rushed at Sky, just as the poor sap had gotten to his feet, and slammed his head into the nearest wall. He took Dove down with a running clothesline. Russel tried to get the jump on him. Elbow to jaw, Russel to floor.
"Come on! Come on come on come on!" Tivra was leaping around. He was shaking his head, punching the air, and just generally acting like a complete mental case. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me! Need a proper fight! Need the rush, need the strain, need the pain, need the fun! You guys are boring! Slow, sloppy, stupid!" By this point, Russel, Dove and Sky were all hesitant to fight the madman in front of them any further, but Cardin knew they wouldn't go against his orders. He nodded to them, and watched as Russel and Dove closed in on Tivra, with Sky backing them up.
"That's the spirit!" Tivra bellowed gleefully. "Gang up on me, maybe you'll even make me break a sweat!" And then, he took them down like it was a pantomime show, meant to entertain five-year-olds. He grabbed Dove and Russel and brought their heads crashing together, before dispatching Sky with the old two-fingered eye gouge. "Then again, maybe not." He turned and ran at Cardin, leaping into the air at the last second and bringing both fists crashing down on the top of Cardin's head. "Man, you guys are boring." He reached out to Cardin, still staggering, and… tweaked his nose. "Honk, honk!" Seriously? What is this guy's problem? The fight continued.
Russel was the first to be taken out of the fight; he had the shortest reach and no armour beyond a single shoulder pad, meaning he took the most hits. In the end, Tivra threw him over his shoulder before elbow-dropping him. His Aura went into the red, and he scurried out of the arena.
Next was Sky. He charged at Tivra, who turned to face him and… Well, Cardin wasn't exactly sure. All he knew was that Sky stopped in his tracks, a terrified expression on his face. Suddenly, Cardin was grateful that he couldn't see Tivra's face at that moment. Tivra reached out, snatched Sky's halberd right out of his hands, took a few steps back, and used it to pole-vault through the air, kicking Sky dead in the face. Two down, two to go.
Dove put up one heck of a fight, but Tivra deflected every strike harmlessly off of his bracers until Dove leapt back, trying to gain some distance and catch his breath. Big mistake. Tivra closed the distance, extending his left arm as far as he could to hit Dove in the diaphragm with a straight-fingered jab. And then, after winding Dove, he hooked his fingers under Dove's breastplate, which, in retrospect, probably should have ended just below the diaphragm, rather than just above it, and pulled him forward, directly into a haymaker that started somewhere in Mistral. "And then," Tivra said, grinning like a sadist. "There was one."
Cardin considered his options, and decided that it would be better for his ego to go out fighting. He charged in for one last rush against the freak, swinging with all his might. *CLANG!* No. Unacceptable. There was no way that really happened. There was no way this skinny little psycho just defended himself by punching Cardin's mace off-course! That was ridiculous, Cardin had to have imagined it. He swung again. *CLANG!* Okay, he hadn't imagined it. *CLANG!* He wasn't being overpowered, that would just be too stupid. Rather, Tivra was punching the head of his mace perpendicular to the direction of his swing (okay, Cardin didn't really think a word like 'perpendicular', but you get the idea). If Cardin swung downward, Tivra would nail it with a right hook, sending it off to the left. If Cardin went at him from the side, he'd bring his fist crashing down on the mace-head, sending it slamming into the ground. It was vastly impractical; if he messed up his timing he'd be screwed. But he did it anyway, and he did it flawlessly. And Cardin knew why; to humiliate him. To make him look just as pathetic as possible.
And then, he got bored. And when he got bored, he stopped playing around. A fist slammed into Cardin's face. A knee slammed into his gut. A jab to one bicep, a kick in the temple. He stumbled back, dazed. He swung out wildly, desperately trying to keep Tivra away. No luck, the maniac just ducked in under his mace and threw another punch, right in the stomach. Cardin looked at the display screen and resisted the urge to sigh with relief; his Aura was in the red. *WHAM!* Okay, now his Aura was further into the red. "What the hell?" Cardin demanded. "My Aura's in the red. Fight's over, you win."
"Oh, I'm not done with you yet." *WHAM!* His Aura seriously only had one or two hits like that left in it. "What's the matter? You look scared." *CLANG!* A shot to his armoured chest; it barely had any impact on his Aura, but when his Aura was so low, barely any was a lot more than he was comfortable with. "Not much fun being the prey, is it?" *CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!* His Aura was slowly but steadily ticking down. "To be helpless." *CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!* "To be at someone else's mercy." *WHAM!* A shot to the face that reduced his Aura to a tiny sliver. "Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill you." Tivra grinned like a corpse. "Of course, that doesn't mean I won't hurt you." He drew back his fist for another punch. "People are surprisingly durable, so I can still have plenty of fun with y-" *BOOM!*
Tivra's head snapped to the side, rocked by the force of the explosion. He turned to find the source of the shot, a fierce scowl on his face. Cardin saw his expression change from anger to recognition, and then to shame, and couldn't resist looking himself. It was the freak with the metal arms, one of which currently ended in a wide-bore cannon. She had a stern look on her face, but there was just a tiny hint of pain in her expression, a glimmer of moisture in the eyes. Tivra lowered his fist and sighed, turning back to face Cardin. "Sorry about that." He said, his voice suddenly calm. "I kind of lost it there for a minute."
"N-No harm done." Cardin replied nervously.
"Good thing Noire was here." He went on. "I swear, she's better at reining me in than my old man."
"Is that so?" Cardin felt a little creeped out; how had Tivra gone from a twitchy, psychotic mess of aggression to being perfectly calm? He'd even stopped twitching!
"She seems convinced that I'm a good person, you see." He chuckled. "I just don't have the heart to prove her wrong."
"She sounds pretty special" Cardin replied nervously. Tivra's eyes began to narrow as a frown formed on his face. "But, uh… Not my Type!" Cardin quickly added, realising his mistake.
"Oh?" Tivra's voice was dangerous again. "Is there something… wrong with her?"
"Not at all!" Cardin practically screamed. "I'm sure she's lovely! It's just, well, everybody has their own tastes, you know? Different strokes for different folks, am I right?"
"Ah, I'm just messing with ya, puppy." He playfully punched Cardin in the arm, which just so happened to be enough to completely exhaust his remaining Aura. "That girl's way too much for you to handle." He cracked his neck, but not in the usual way. Most people cracked their neck by simply tilting their heads, but Tivra opted for a method that was downright unsettling; he turned his head to the side, laying the heel of his hand against his jaw and pushing his head further than it normally turned, producing what he probably considered a satisfying crack. Then, he turned his head the other way, pushing all the while, until he got another cracking noise, before rolling his head a couple of times, producing a variety of little clicks and pops; the whole thing was almost a ritual, and it creeped Cardin the hell out. "Okay, people, show's over!"
"Team JNPR stays, everybody else out!" Dante called out, his tone professional and unemotional. Jaune found himself feeling a little nervous as the room emptied, leaving just eight people.
"So, I'm guessing you're Jaune?" Talia asked. "Amy's told me a lot about you."
"You know my sister?"
"Well, we've been dating for eight months, so I'd say so." Silence.
"Amy has a g-girlfriend?" Jaune sputtered, quite thoroughly shocked. "She never said anything!" He stopped to think for a moment. "Man, mom and dad will not be happy."
"Oh no, did I just make trouble for her?" Talia suddenly looked hugely worried. "I mean, she said she'd already come out to her family, but it sounds like-"
"She was supposed to introduce you to them!" Jaune exclaimed. "She knows the rules; any boyfriends or girlfriends have to be introduced if things get serious!"
"Oh thank Oum," Talia sighed with relief. "You really had me worried there."
"You're serious about this one." Dante stated simply.
"I think I might like to marry her one day." Talia replied meekly.
"Oh, here we go!" Tivra's voice rang out. "You're psychologically stable and emotionally intact enough for a lasting relationship, we get it! Showoff."
"Wait, where are you?" Jaune asked, looking around wildly.
"Up here blondie." Jaune looked up and felt his mouth fall open in shock. Tivra was standing on the ceiling. He looked perfectly content to be up there, and gravity didn't seem to have any problems with that. His jacket and hair should have been hanging awkwardly, but to Jaune's surprise they weren't even the tiniest bit out of place; it was as if, for him, gravity was pointed in a different direction.
"How are you doing that?" Jaune asked incredulously.
"It's my Semblance, duh." Tivra replied, his expression making it clear what he thought of that question. "See, my semblance messes with gravity, sort of. It's… weird."
"His Semblance re-orients how the planet's gravity affects him." Dante interjected, sounding ever-so-slightly exasperated. "When activated, gravity for him is determined by his feet. What they make contact with is where the gravity's coming from, as far as he's concerned."
"Right!" Tivra agreed. "So I can stand on walls, ceilings, branches that can't take a man's weight, I can jump off of stuff that's falling or flying through the air, it's pretty cool." He dropped gracefully to the floor, somersaulting in mid-air to land on his feet, and focused his attention on Pyrrha. "So, you're the Pumpkin Pete's mascot."
"You know, that cereal is horribly overpriced." Noire opined.
"Pretty pathetic shelf life, too." Talia added.
"Almost no nutritional value to speak of." Dante's voice was impassive.
"And judging by the taste, I'd say Pete thinks pumpkins are a type of fish." Tivra winced as he said it, looking slightly nauseous. "I think I'll call you Breakfast from now on."
"What?" Pyrrha asked, looking utterly baffled.
"Tivra does this a lot." Noire explained. "He'll call you by an insulting nickname until he decides you deserve better." She truned to face Tivra. "Tivra pick a new nickname for Pyrrha. That one sounds a little… suggestive." Jaune had to admit, the look of comprehension that dawned on Tivra's face was pretty funny to see.
"Ack! No! Breakfast bad! Breakfast bad name!"
"And Pumpkin's no good either, it's basically the same problem." Noire offered.
"Flake." Tivra said. "They're Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, so you can be Flake, okay, no problems?" He turned to the others. "Let's see… Boring," He pointed at Ren. "Bait," He pointed at Jaune.
"Nurse." Noire interjected, much to Jaune's relief.
"Nurse," Tivra conceded immediately. "And Hyper." He pointed to Nora. "Got it?"
"And you can be Twitch!" Nora exclaimed happily. Jaune winced; he seriously hoped Tivra didn't take offence at that.
"Twitch, huh?" He seemed to weigh it up in his head. "Fair enough." He grinned. "Pretty funny, if we're being honest."
"And she can be Cyborg!" Nora went on, pointing at Noire. Noire winced ever-so-slightly, mostly just a sharp intake of breath and the hint of a hurt expression. Dante and Talia's eyes widened, and- *SHINK!*
"Now, I should be making up a reason why my blades are out." Tivra said, his voice barely more than a whisper, and strangely shaky. "I should say I'm sharpening them, or checking the mechanisms, and just hope you take the hint. But I won't. This is a threat." His voice was a little louder, but still with a strange shaky quality to it. "Noire is sensitive about her prosthetic arms. There are some unpleasant memories attached to them." Ragged; that was the perfect word to describe his voice. "She doesn't like to feel as though she's different from everybody else." He began walking towards Nora, quickly invading her personal space. "Your little joke was pretty hurtful, Hyper. Made her feel like a freak." He spat the word out as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.
"I didn't mean to…" Nora squeaked, looking unintimidated, but clearly horrified to know that she'd apparently hurt Noire so deeply.
"Which is why I'll let you off the hook. This time." He was really starting to get loud. "But if any of you ever say something like that again, I'll rip your arms off!" Jaune flinched involuntarily at that; Tivra sounded like he meant it. "And then, I'll pour boiling pitch over the stumps, so you won't bleed out before I'm done with you." For a second, Jaune could have sworn they were somewhere else; somewhere hot and humid, somewhere dark, with a constant smell of decaying wood, and the sounds of buzzing insects and strange movement in the undergrowth. "I'll peel the skin off your face, careful to make sure I don't nick any blood vessels. I'll dunk your head in a barrel of brine, and then I'll HANG YOU WITH A NOOSE MADE OF YOUR BEST FRIEND'S INTESTINES, FROM A GALLOW BUILT USING THE BONES OF EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER CARED ABOUT!"
"Tivra!" Tivra's head turned instantly to face Noire, who had raised one fist. "Bump it." Not exactly what Jaune was expecting, he had to admit. Tivra hesitated for a second. "What, you gonna leave me hanging?" She sounded like she might have been quoting someone there, but Jaune wasn't going to dwell on that. More interesting was Tivra's reaction; his eyes went wide for a second, before a smile found its way onto his face. Not a smirk, not a leer, not a predatory or sadistic grin; a smile. One with real, genuine warmth to was actually kind of creepy, given his previous facial expressions.
"Not a chance." *SHINK!* He retracted the blades. *Tink.* A fist-bump sealed the deal; he seemed to be back under control. He turned to face Nora, and… fell to his knees, looking utterly ashamed. "I can't apologise enough for that; I was way out of line. I blame those four idiots."
"Oh? And how did you reach that conclusion?" Ren asked, the hint of a warning in his voice.
"Okay, first of all; Boring, don't bother trying the intimidating voice shtick, you're not a threat to me, so it doesn't work. Just let me wallow in my shame, okay?" Ren nodded, but he looked unhappy about it. "Good. Now, to answer your question; seeing them give Velvet such a hard time put me in a really bad mood, and I was already on edge-"
"You're always on edge." Noire pointed out matter-of-factly.
"It is one of your biggest weaknesses." Dante commented.
"I was already on edge," Tivra repeated pointedly. "Which made for a bad combination. To make matters worse, my little exhibition match against them was just enough to get the adrenaline flowing without really using it, you know? So I was all… fidgety."
"Aggressive, irritable, and looking for trouble." Talia offered.
"Thank you for translating, Talia." Tivra said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That being said, I'm still the one who lost-I mean, I'm not going to shift the-it was my-aargh!" He began to pull at his hair. "Why am I so bad at this?" With that he stormed out, an occasional scream of "What is wrong with me?" echoing back.
"So…" Jaune began. "That was weird." Big time. Now, on to business. "Hey, uh… Dante? I hope you understand that I kind of have to ask…" He took a deep breath, steeling his resolve. "Is my team going to be safe around Tivra?"
"Tivra's instincts are the best I've ever encountered." Dante replied coolly. "Unfortunately, the circumstances that lead to him developing those instincts left him somewhat… high strung."
"That's one word for it." Ren said, a hint of bitterness colouring his voice. "Another would be 'psychotic'."
"Watch what you say." Warned Noire, but Ren was having none of it.
"I'm sorry, but he's clearly unstable. How can we be sure that he won't-"
"You don't know him!" Noire yelled, looking furious. "You have no idea what he's been through!" She was right up in Ren's face now. "You've only seen him at his worst; you think he's twitchy, angry, and mean-spirited, and okay, sometimes that's true, but you haven't seen him at his best!" A tiny smile snuck onto her face as she went on. "You've never seen his face when he calls his father, never seen him dance along to those stupid movies of his. You've never gone into battle and known, without a doubt, that he had your back." Her voice grew quiet. "You've never heard him telling you that you're not a freak, that there's nothing wrong with you." With that, she walked out.
"Wow," Talia said, giggling slightly. "I think they just set a new record."
"You may be right," Dante replied, sounding somewhere between exasperated and amused. "Usually it takes at least ten minutes for new people to accidentally offend them that much."
"And tomorrow, they'll be back to normal, as if it never happened." Talia muttered, rolling her eyes.
"So they're a little moody, nobody's perfect." Dante turned to face Jaune. "And regarding your concern; Tivra's high strung, but he's dependable in his own way. The trick is to think in terms of instincts; he looks out for the pack."
"He's actually called us that a couple times." Talia commented.
"Today, you weren't part of the pack, and what Nora said hurt a member of the pack." Dante explained.
"Not just any member of the pack," Talia sniggered. "His mate."
"Now Talia, this isn't the time for your speculations." Dante chided, his voice patient. "Now, back to the explanation; tomorrow, you'll be temporary members of the pack, and that means you can count on him to look out for you. As long as you don't upset Noire, you'll be fine."
"And try not to call Tivra crazy," Talia added. "It bothers him more than he lets on, and you saw how Noire reacts."
"Watch what I say, got it." Jaune replied, glad to know where he stood.
"What about you?" Ren asked. "Is there anything we should know? Any delicate subjects?"
"Not really, we're both pretty thick-skinned." Dante replied. "Your files made no mention of any anti-Faunus sentiment, so we should be fine."
"And my only rule," Talia said. "Is that you don't bad-mouth me behind my back. You have something to say, say it to my face."
"So, if you don't mind my asking," Pyrrha began. "Why is Tivra so… emotional?" She finished tactfully.
"Tivra grew up in a world where the only options were to run, to fight, or to die." Dante said, completely stone-faced. "If you want to know any more, you'll have to ask him.
"Yeah, he had it rough." Talia commented, looking a shade morose. "We all did; it's what ties Team DTNT together." That was a statement begging for a question.
"So…" Jaune began, not sure how to ask tactfully.
"Refugee camp." Talia stated matter-of-factly. "And as a result, I have no sense of personal space, and I don't handle being alone very well."
"Why wouldn't you be comfortable being alone?" Pyrrha asked.
"Desperate people in the camp, awful people coming in from outside." She replied casually. "Being alone is a gamble."
"Alright, that's enough for now." Dante said, putting their conversation to an end. "You still have classes today. Be sure to get good night's sleep tonight," Dante smirked slightly. "You've got a big day ahead of you."
Author's notes: Hoo boy! I have a lot to cover here. Okay, let's see; how about Cardin's behaviour? I swear, there are legitimate reasons for this; one, bullies rarely change quickly, two, it ties into some stuff that will be revealed in a later story, and three, I needed an excuse for a fight scene. Speaking of which; I really liked writing that fight scene. It was fun… and now I have to explain why it didn't make Tivra a Mary Sue OC. I know, he beat up an entire team without taking any hits, but Pyrrha did that too, and Tivra has a lot more experience. True, Pyrrha needed her Semblance, but once you learn more about Tivra, I think you'll be able to accept his skill. Next up… Dante. Yeah… his name's Dante he wears red and he carries a giant sword? I wonder who he might be borrowing some cues from. Not much to say about Talia except for yes, I know it's a hugely convenient coincidence, but I like it, and if you have a problem with her orientation… I don't care. And Noire… okay, guys, I know you're probably not going to believe me, but I've had Team DTNT in my head since before Volume 3 came out. I didn't know about Neptune and Ironwood both having mechanical limbs, it wasn't my intention to rip anybody off. And next chapter, I'll be swearing blind that something in it was in my head for ages, and not meant as a rip-off. Next chapter will have interactions between JNPR and DTNT, as well as backstories and development. And please folks, take it from Noire; you don't know Tivra well enough to make snap judgements. Oh, and to get a better idea of Tivra's hair, search up Steins; Gate, Rintaro Okabe. Like that, but a tiny bit longer. And… that's about it. I desperately hope you guys end upliking Team DTNT, and please review if you have something to say. Oh, and that weird description of how Tivra cracks his neck? Bad habit of mine.