Author's Note:
Hello reader, I sincerely hope you and those close to you are safe and alright.
Now, I happen to have a bit of bad news, for my PC looks to be on its last legs or at least having some potentially resolvable issues. Because of this, I had to use my phone to write most of this chapter, and, until I fix my PC, it will be how I write chapters from now on. This, you can imagine, is not the most convenient way to write anything except text messages. I probably just need to replace the fan or clean its insides, but just for the sake of not causing any irreversable damage to my PC, I will abstain from using it until it is fixed.
If the quality of this chapter is not as good, and there a more noticeable amount of errors, then I apologise in advance.
With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Rising Stress
"That, my dear students, is how I won the admiration of the entire town, and won myself a cask of the finest beer I have ever tasted in the process. Hahahahah!" Professor Port laughed heartily once he was done retelling debatably story of even more questionable relevance to the lesson. No one else in the class room was laughing with him, it was deader than a graveyard in here, but that did not stop the professor from laughing for a whole five seconds.
The Beacon first-years had more or less gotten used to it all, and had devised different ways to make use of the times their Grimm Studies Professor rambled on, which happened often than should be acceptable.
In all honesty, they probably should try to make him stop, but all their previous attempts had been acts of futility, and the upperclassmen told them all not to bother trying when they were asked how to stop Port. Some still tried, yet the professor flat-out ignored them and continued his tales, so Faen differed to experience, and let him be. His chosen activity being to either read from one of his textbooks or read one of his books. The latter being his choice of activity for today's lesson with Port.
Checking the clock, he saw it happened to be a minute before their classes ended, so Faen thought it best to prepare to leave as soon as the bell rang. First, he needed to wake the sleeping Werewolf sat right next to him.
"He's done," Faen sighed as he lightly elbowed Grey back to wakefulness, this thing having become a bit of a routine between the the two best friends.
"One more hour, please," the Werewolf groaned as she sat up in her seat, blinking repeatedly as her eyes readjusted to the light that poured through the lecture hall's windows. She had been napping face first on an open textbook, which now had a couple droplets of drool marking the pages.
"You already slept more than eight hours last night. You don't need another," the Elf muttered back to Grey as he wiped away a bit of drool on the edge of her mouth with his uniform jacket's sleeve. She stuck her tongue at Faen once he retreated his arm, but she expressed her thanks to him by patting his arm lightly.
"Awww, how cute," Faen heard Yang whisper loud enough for him to hear from her seat behind his. Looking up at her, he saw the blonde-haired Human send him a cheeky smile, finding what he did for Grey somehow amusing or something. Faen did what he always did, casting a critical eye at Yang for her comment, but he had gotten used to Yang's jests in the same way he did Grey's, and knew it was nothing to be taken seriously.
Looking away from Yang and to the rest of his team, Faen saw they getting out of their own routines, too.
Friesian, his head more specifically, spent the last half-an-hour of Port's ramblings chewing on a piece of gum, and disposed of it by sticking it under his desktop. While he certainly did disapprove of chewing gum, at least the Dullahan had the decency of chewing with his mouth closed, unlike the vast majority who chewed their gum with their mouths open. Meanwhile, Odori put her pencil down after having drawn an image of her nagamaki, Divine Omen, onto a page of her notebook. There were other images as well, such as more foxes and a very detailed leaf, each one proving her skill with a pencil was more than exemplary in his eyes.
At least there was no need for him to wake them up, for he had no wish to baby his team more than he already did.
Casting a quick glance around the classroom's stands, Faen saw they were far more occupied than they normally were, and those who sat in the usually empty spaces bore the many unfamiliar faces of the exchange students from the other Academies. They all students after all, and the upcoming Vytal Festival they were to be a part of was no excuse to no learn while at Beacon. Halvard and his team were among those also in the class, and the only remedying fact about sharing a class with him again, was that the Dwarf had to suffer like he did during his first days at the Academy.
It was still the first week of Beacon's second semester, and it had been entertaining to watch the exchange students adjust to the personalities and eccentricities of the Beacon teaching staff. Professor Port's rambling tales being the least of their troubles.
Doctor Oobleck's lesson were troublesome for the new arrivals, due in part because of his incredibly fast manner of speech, which made him very hard to follow. The other factor that made his lessons hard for the exchange students was Oobleck's insistence of being referred to as 'Doctor', and he could become pretty snappy at people if they forgot, as had been seen during that Dark Paths session. In fact, Faen heard there was a betting pool among the Beacon upperclassmen on who would be the first to forget and be thoroughly reminded of Oobleck's doctorate.
Professor Goodwitch was a bit of a nightmare for many of the exchange students, especially those from Shade Academy, who seemed to have a more relaxed and laid-back attitude to things. During the first lesson back, Faen watched as Goodwitch used her Semblance to pull chewing gum from the mouths of two Shade students and threatened to stick it in their hair, much to the shock of everyone in the class. After three more incidents where the professor dispensed her brand of discipline, which mainly involved waving her riding crop around and generally being scary, everyone soon learned to adhere to the Academy's rules while in her presence, no matter how ballsy of a person they might be.
When it came to Professor Taupe, while no one had her in any regular lessons, the exchange students discovered the Gorgon to be someone not to be messed around with either. Anyone caught causing trouble would soon find themselves frozen on the spot, becoming victims of her paralysis Semblance.
For example, one of Halvard's teammates had gotten into a scuffle with Sky, a member of CRDL, and it looked about ready to become violent until Taupe froze the two in place. That had been an especially satisfying interaction to witness, for in Faen's eyes, any misfortune that befell the Dwarf's team was a misfortune that had fallen on Halvard as well.
Did that make him sound petty and childish? Probably, but Faen could not deny the joy he felt whenever he saw Halvard and his team be put in their proper place.
The bell signifying an end to classes rang through the class, waking whoever remained asleep up until now, and interrupting another tale Port had begun to tell.
"Oh, is that the time already? Well students, that will be all for today. For your assignment, I want you all to write up a lengthy report on the voracious Manticore, from its habitats, attack strategies, and, if you are bold enough, how you would defeat one!" Port announced to the students as they began to pack up their stuff, with those who had been asleep moving more sluggishly than those who had not.
A report on a Manticore, hardly the hardest assignment they had ever received in their short time in Beacon, but reaching the specified target word limit would be a bitch. It was as FFOG were in the corridor outside
"Thank gods that's over and done with," Grey yawned, spooking a passing Human student who was treated to the sight of the Werewolf's long, sharp canines. "What's next on our schedule?"
"No more classes, but Odori and I are going off to spar," Faen replied to Grey's question. "Do you plan on joining us?"
"Nah, I'm still recovering from the whalloping that Halfling gave me earlier," Friesian groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. Yes, that most likely been the most embarrassing sight any of them had seen in their lives. "I mean, seriously, who uses a fecking frying pan as a bloody weapon? It makes absolutely no sense, I tell ya!"
He was more concerned by the fact that the Halfling had been using a frying pan, instead of how astonishingly brutal his defeat by that Halfling had been? Or even the fact a Halfling beat him in the first place?
Friesian was an alright guy, but he needed to work on his priorities.
It was a short, unremarkable trip to their dorm room and then, for Faen and Odori at least, to the locker room, where they changed into their combat uniforms in the first location and picked their weapons at the last. Small talk was made, yes, yet most of it was of great worth had been said between the Elf and Kitsune.
They spoke of their recent lessons, the happenings in the world outside of Beacon's walls, and some stuff about their fellow classmates and Huntsmen-in-Training. The atmosphere remained rather casual between the two of them, until he made the poor choice of mentioning Odori's sisters, causing Faen's partner to almost flip out in front of at least half a dozen students. It took some effort and verbal persuasion, but Faen was capable of calming her down before she caused any sort of scene, and resumed their walk to the sparring rooms. More than enough people were sending them looks, more specifically at Faen himself, which had him wondering why exactly they were eyeing him.
As far as Faen was aware, he had not done anything recently that was deserving of these inquisitive and somewhat judging looks the other students were sending his way. Disliking the way they were gazing at him, Faen cast an icy glare their way, causing all of those who were staring to turn and go back to what they had been doing before.
It was most likely nothing, and he had more pressing concerns than them. Among those concerns being his partner, and her possibly sadistic tendencies.
In regards to that, he had made little progress in discovering the truth of Odori's alleged sadism, yet if there was anything he learnt whilst closely watching Odori, he had found that the Kitsune was in danger of letting loose a near-violent outburst when confronted by something she greatly disliked. Outbursts such as the one she had a minute ago. Well, he was trying at least, so there was no way he could be criticised for not doing so if he ever met Hitomi again.
Moving on from that little incident, there was one more thing that occurred. It was minor and even more brief than Odori's near outburst, yet it struck him just as hard.
While Faen and his partner were walking down a corridor towards the sparring rooms, Faen's eyes spotted a young woman clad in the signature black and grey uniform of Haven Academy striding in the opposite direction of him. While the majority of other exchange students were of passing interest to Faen, this one had caught his attention the moment he laid eyes on her.
Long black hair that partially covered her left eye, smooth fair skin, a perfectly proportioned figure, and, perhaps the most striking thing he found about the Haven student, were her bright amber eyes. Not only had her appearance captured his interest, but her abilities in a sparring match had done so as well. For while he had not seen her fight often, the one occasion where Faen did left him believing her to be at least a match for him, maybe she was actually better.
She had arrived at Beacon on the same day the Atlesian students, and her own team had become acquaintances with RWBY. He had not had the pleasure of speaking with her personally, yet he heard a fair bit about her, and discovered the Haven student's name by listening in on the conversations of others and actually looking it up by himself.
What was the Haven student's name? Cinder Fall.
Now he was not interested in her that way, nor had the thought of approaching her crossed his mind, but that did not mean he could not admire beauty. Faen was not alone in this, for he had caught several of his peers eyeing her when they believed no one was looking, and overheard conversations between friends regarding the 'smoking hot exchange student from Haven.' Unlike them, Faen chose to not to look like a creep, and just kept what thoughts he had about Cinder to himself.
Still, it was a shame she was only a Human, and possessed those typical round ears almost all non-Elves had. If Cinder were of Elven blood, or perhaps of some other Demi-Human race he found to be agreeable, he might have been more interested in her. Especially if that meant being lost in those amber eyes of hers, which had an intensity and almost fiery quality to them that Faen had never seen before.
The possibility of Cinder having some Elven blood running through her veins was not out of the question, for, though she seemed much like any other Human, Faen was sure he could see features that could indicate her being of some Elf descent. For one, she had the almond shaped eyes characteristic of all Elves, another being her pretty lithe and slim frame, a deliberate elegance in her motions that he saw only in adult Elves, and the general air that surrounded Cinder just felt so... familar. As much as he might like the possibility to be the case, Faen knew those signs could honestly be him just grasping for ways to relate to this mystifying beauty, and that she really was an ordinary Human.
Realising what was running through his mind, Faen quickly and discreetly rose his left hand to his cheek and lightly slapped it twice in an effort to refocus his thoughts.
'What am I thinking?' Faen mentally questioned himself, internally frowning at the way he allowed his mind to drift to such base thoughts and desires. He was above such things, or so he believed anyway. Besides, his purpose for coming here to Beacon was to look after Grey and become a Huntsman, not to ogle or fantasize about members of the fairer sex.
Not slowing even slowing their pace, he and Odori passed by Cinder without so much as exchanging a look or word with each other. An unexpected and frustrating impulse to look over his shoulder and look at her grabbed at his mind, but he wrenched it off, and continued on his way. Damn these teenage hormones, damn them and the accursed effect they had on him.
"So, that is Cinder," Odori whispered to him once they could no longer hear the Haven student's footfalls echo from behind them.
"Yes she is, dare I ask why you are bringing her up?" Faen questioned, a brow raised in suspicion.
"I have been hearing a fair few things about this... Human. She sounds to be interesting if what I hear is true," the Kitsune continued to idly comment, notably slowing her pace slightly as she did. "Quite the, uh... physical specimen is she not? Why, what do you think of her, Faen? Please, I would very much like to know."
When she had finished speaking, Odori stopped in her tracks and faced him, Faen promptly doing the same so they could continue this increasingly odd conversation with each other. His partner had asked similar such questions regarding their fellow students several times before; requesting his thoughts on people like Grey, Amarantha, and even Ruby. What made this conversation odd, though, was how he felt this to be more of an interrogation than the series of casually asked questions she had put towards him on those previous occasions.
Things at the Academy had become difficult enough, Faen did not need his own teammates to make their time here in Beacon even more so than it already was.
"She seems to be, as you say, interesting, but ultimately not worth vesting much effort into knowing," he answered, whilst crossing his arms over his chest. Them stopping was a sign to him that Odori had more to say, probably something she believed to be serious, and Faen felt positively uncomfortable with the thought.
"Is that so?" The Kitsune hummed, giving off the impression that she did not believe him in how her eyes scanned his face, raising Faen's level of annoyance with this pause on their way to the sparring rooms even higher.
"Where are you getting at with this, Odori? We have sparring to do, and I want to get it done with before dinner," Faen bluntly said to his partner, feeling that this was going to be one of those conversations he would quickly come to dislike. Funny how a lot of those had started to crop up lately, and with them came a more frequent amount of migraines.
His partner tilted her head up to the ceiling and tapped a finger on her chin, as if she were internally debating on whether or not she should say what was on her mind. This act of hers only exacerbated Faen's impatience, and he let it show by tapping the fingers of his right hand against left bicep, doing so as loudly as possible. She noticed his action, obvious from the way her fox ears twitched every time he did it, but only ceased this act after he had done so for the fifth time.
"Well, since you asked," Odori uttered as she pulled out of her previous pose and shrugged her shoulders in an exaggerated manner. "You are not... carnally intrigued by Cinder, are you?"
"Why are you asking?" Faen kept his cool composure as he spoke, yet the words had almost died on his lips and the speed of his response hastier than it should have been.
"You did not answer my question," she quickly deflected his question, planting both of her hands on her hips. Now that really irritated him, but what she said was true, and attempting to avoid it had most likely done more harm than good. The Kitsune would be even more suspicious of him, and scrutinse every word he spoke from here on out.
"No, I am not 'carnally intrigued' in the Human, as you put it. There are far more important and fascinating things than her," Faen finally responded, having chosen his words more carefully and avoiding direct eye contact with Odori in an attempt to escape from her inquisitive gaze. The action probably did him no favours in trying to conceal the truth of his words, for only half of his answer was true, but he just wanted to get away from the look Odori was giving him.
Honestly, Cinder did fill in some of the checkmarks of what Faen found desirable and attractive in a member of the opposite sex, though, the same could be said for many of his female peers. Attracted though he might be, Faen saw little point in trying anything with those individuals who met his standards, for the last intimate relationship he had was unexciting and failed. Why would the Elf bother to try something he knew he did not like and offered little benefit to him?
"Can we just go to the sparring rooms and train now?" He insisted, unwilling to prolong this conversation of theirs and answer any more questions that threatened to compromise his composed exterior. That previous question where he wanted to understand Odori's intentions erased, for the chances of her giving him a straight and true answer were slim to nil in his mind. Not that it might have really mattered in the first place.
"Sure, sure," Odori answered, nonchalantly acting as though their exchange had not happened and striding down the hall ahead of Faen. At this, Faen could only shake his head as he began to follow after his teammate.
After all this time spent with the others, trying desperately to figure out all the nuances of interacting with different people, he still found things difficult. Sometimes he wondered whether or not he should stop, and save up the time and effort it took to attempt such a futile quest.
Upon finally entering a sparring room, the very same one he first met Yasmin he realised, Faen and Odori saw they were not the first ones here, and there were already others who had chosen to practise against each other before dinner. Among the more noticeable was Tora of Team AMRT and Yatsuhashi of a second-year team named CFVY, the both of them currently contending against one another in a rather intense duel. Most of the other students in the large room had opted to stand back and watch the fight, and wait until it was over before they themselves engaged one other. Not that Faen could blame them.
Tora and Yatsuhashi were titans among the student body, towering over almost everyone in regards to their height and physical strength, with the former bound to grow even larger later in life. From the very start of Beacon, Faen had overheard talk of people expressing a wish to see these two fight, and those instances where they did were indeed spectacles to behold.
Their attacks would shake the room, dents or even massive impact craters were left on any surface they struck, and both were capable of sending the other flying into the air with a single blow if they tried hard enough. Another possible driving force for the excitement that accompanied a duel between the two was, despite the apparent similarities between the two, the differences that separated them.
Tora was undeniably hot-blooded and loud, and could be as much a danger to his team as he was to his opponents. From what Faen had seen of Yatsuhashi, he was the opposite, being cool and collected, and putting the welfare of his team above the destruction of his enemy.
It was also remarkable to see a mere Human such as Yatsuhashi go toe-to-toe against Tora, for the Oni race were famed for their naturally great strength, with only Demi-Humans of similar or greater size than them being a possible match. Of course, the Human was aided by his Aura, but if one removed that variable, he could still exchange blows with Tora on an equal footing. That fact alone was worthy of his respect, and Faen silently wished the two luck as he walked away from their awe-inspiring battle.
Finding an unoccupied part of the sparring room, the two walked over and took it before anyone else got the same idea as them, and began to ready themselves. The space they had taken was not particularly large, certainly not enough for them to perform some of their flashier techniques, but it was a good enough space.
Saying a quick, silent prayer to the Goddess of Fortune, Faen placed his helmet over his head, faced Odori, and was about to draw Gwaedh from its scabbard until he noticed she was just standing there, a deliberating expression set on his partner's face. Whatever could be going on through her mind, Faen could not tell from just looking at her.
"Is everything alright?" Faen asked Odori, taking a careful step towards the Kitsune. If she was having some sort of issue where she needed comforting Odori had chosen the wrong person to console her, for he was bad at that kind of stuff. On the other hand, in the event she was going to bring up their last conversation or something related to it, Faen intended to cut Odori off or simply leave the dparring room all together.
"Oh yes, I am positively fine. If it is quite alright with you, Faen, might I propose an idea to you?" Odori asked him, quickly shaking herself free from her contemplative state and tilting her head as she spoke.
"Go ahead," Faen replied to Odori's question after a brief pause. He distinctly remembered that one of the last times his partner proposed an idea to him, where, nded up having dinner with her sisters, and learning she was a possible sadist. He was now a bit more cautious when taking any ideas from Odori, but she was his partner, and what possible harm could this new proposition bring?
"I was thinking that, since we will be together as a team for the next four years, that you and I could learn how to use each other's weapons. There's no knowing what might happen during any missions we go on, and it would be beneficial in the long-run if the need arose, don't you agree?"
Absently blinking at Odori for a second, Faen rubbed his chin once he fully comprehended what his teammate had just asked him, and began to run it through his mind.
He could not fault the reasoning behind his partner's suggestion, and the same idea she posed had run through his mind before, but there was something holding him back from fully agreeing with it. He was no weapon-nut like Ruby was, yet, he was still very attached to both Gwaedh and Aglar, and the thought of someone else using them in battle was almost cnconcievable. Not even Grey, during all the years of their friendship, had ever been bold enough to ask such an thing of him.
Again, though, Faen could see that Odori had a point, and even now he was imagining scenarios where he might have no choice but to use one of his teammate's weapons instead of his own. Each scenario he imagined became more dire than the last, and Faen felt himself sway towards Odori's line of thinking with every one he came up with.
Still, this would be the first time he would willingly allow anyone to use his dao and sword-spear, and he was not completely sure he could go through with it.
Looking back at Odori, he saw his partner was stood before him, patiently waiting for an answer to her suggestion with an expectant look on her face. He thought on the pros and cons of her idea for ten more seconds, weighing the value of each that could cross his mind, before finally coming to a decision about it. What he had chosen was not an easy one, neither of his choices were, but he believed what he was about to say to her was the best he could make.
"Odori, I-" That was as far as Faen was able to go with his answer to his partner's question, as a voice interrupted him mid-sentence.
"Hey there kiddos."
Annoyed at the intrusion, Faen turned to the speaker, and recognised them to be Coco Adel, the team leader of Team CFVY.
They had met before during a conversation between Teams RWBY, CFVY, and his own, but this would be the first instance that they ever exchanged words with each other. Words more meaningful than a simple and short greeting, that is. He also knew of Coco before then, as Team CFVY had garnered a bit of a reputation as hotshots who stood out from not only their year group, but the entire Academy as well. A reputation they shared with RWBY if he heard correctly.
Prominent student or not, she was still a stranger to him, and Faen greeted her with the same coldness he treated anyone who had yet to earn a warming greeting from him. It was nothing personal, just a force of habit he had no intention of letting go.
"We're not kids," he snapped at her, "is there something that you need?"
"You can lay off the hostility, Elf, I'm not here to cause you some trouble. Mind if I ask why you aren't with the gawkers over there?" As she finished her sentence, the Human pointed a thumb over her shoulder towards the group watching Tora and Yatsuhashi fight.
Looking past her, he saw the fight had entered its most climactic stage, for Tora and Yatsuhashi were going all out in their fight against each other. As impressive as that sight was, Faen did not let it distract him from Coco and his wonderings of why it was the upperclasswoman had come to talk to Faen and Odori. It was unlikely she had come over just to ask the question she posed to the pair, and he remained on-guard for anything.
Cautious though he might be of her, the Elf did not believe she planned to do anything like what Cardin and his goons did to him and others. In fact, one of CFVY's team members had been a victim of their bullying, and the team itself were also fairly good people from what Faen saw during their interactions with RWBY and others. Be that as it may, he kept himself guarded and alert.
"We're here to spar. If we had wanted to watch something, we would have turned a TV on," Faen responded to her earlier question, crossing his arms as he did.
"Yeesh. You really do not have an off switch for that attitude of yours, do you?" Coco remarked, appearing to not take offense to what Faen had said, only appearing to be amused by him and the way he acted. Most people were thrown off by it, but not this Human apparently. "I suppose this is your way of trying to impress the ladies or something? Gotta say, it doesn't really work well if it is, but I'll give you props for trying."
"Uh... um, it is not," Faen muttered, breaking his cold composure in response to the way Coco had dismissed it as though it were nothing to her. Beside him he heard Odori quickly and quietly snicker at how his icy exterior cracked thanks to Coco.
As mentioned before, most people were at least put off by his standoffish exterior, so imagine his surprise at Coco's casual reaction to it. His teachers were among the few not affected by his usually unfriendly demeanour, yet this was wholly unexpected. He quickly put it back up, regardless of how limited of an effect it had on CFVY's leader, for appearance's sake if nothing else.
Taking a moment to assess Coco, the most noteable thing he saw about her was the confidence that exhuded from her. She was not the only person who Faen saw possess this trait; those others being people such as Grey, Yang, Tora, and Sun, that monkey Faunus he and his team met a while back. Theirs was a loud sort of confidence, one where they shouted their presence for even the gods in Heaven to hear. Hers was a cool confidence, a sort that made you sauvely walk through the most hectic rainstorm or battlefield as though you had gone out for a quiet morning stroll.
"Anyway, I just came over to see how you two are doing," Coco then looked Faen in the eyes then said, "and to tell you someone's been spreading some pretty crazy stuff about you. Short, orange hair, has it done in a braid at the back of his head, carries around a axe-cannon for a weapon? That ring a few bells to you?"
Faen was already seething with rage before Coco had finished her last sentence, as he knew damn well who she was talking about. From the moment he saw the Dwarf entering Beacon's courtyard, Faen knew his life here in Beacon would become harder than it already was, but that the creature would go so far as to try and smear his name and honour in mud went beyond anything he had come up with in his own head. Their quarrel back in Vigil had largely been confined to the two of them, and no one else was ever involved unless they so wished them to be.
If there had been any sort of agreement or understanding that existed between the two, that was it. Though it seemed that unspoken agreement between themselves had changed, however, evidenced by Halvard spreading whatever wretched slander he was telling whoever might listen.
Had that been why those students from before had eyed him in the way they had? Because they had listened to the Dwarf and what lies he had devised?
Faen was aware he did not have many friends in the Academy, and what was more frustrating was that Halvard could befriend and sway people more easily than him. Where the Elf appeared serious and distant, Halvard was often genuinely high spirited and charismatic in ways Faen could barely achieve, though, the Dwarf was only like that when he and Faen did not occupy the same room.
Meaning those that knew little to nothing about Faen were more likely to believe whatever the Dwarf said, just as it was back in Vigil. That could just be him being paranoid and lacking faith in his fellow students, but Faen saw few other ways people would respond to what the Dwarf might be spreading. He had experienced this sort of thing before, and though these people in Beacon were different people from those at Vigil, he felt he could be forgiven for having such low expectations and opinions of them. People were, after all, disappointing plenty of the time.
Back to what Halvard could have done, such a transggression against him would be answered in time, if it truly happened. He just needed to think of a way to repay Halvard for this slight later on.
"The Dwarf," Faen heard Odori grumble under her breath. Funnily enough, his partner had come to despise Halvard almost as much as he did, her reason apparently being how he treated Faen. Remembering the sort talk where she revealed that, and the loyalty to him the Kitsune displayed back at their first confrontation with Halvard, Faen sent Odori an appreciative look before continuing to converse with Coco.
"What kind of things has he been spreading about me?" He asked Coco, masking his anger behind a barely controlable fascade of calmness. Who he was putting putting it up for, though, the Elf was not even sure.
"From what I heard, it's mostly stuff from that Martial School you're from. Vigil was it?" He silently nodded to confirm Coco's correct assumption, and listened as she continued to speak. "He said stuff like how you nearly killed another student in a duel, then made some pretty derogatory comments about your race, and then I think he mentioned something about an ancestor of yours. I wasn't listening too hard, so I didn't really catch everything he said."
After hearing what Coco had to say, he took the news very poorly, as one might expect. Faen could hear the pounding of his heart, the world turned into a red haze for an instant, and the terrible fury he felt building up inside threatened to explode out of him. Through sheer force of will, and the knowledge there were other people in the room with him, he contained his anger and let it smoulder. Furious as he might be, it did not completely cloud Faen's ability to reason and think, with the foremost thought on his mind, apart from the various ways he wished to horribly mutilate the Dwarf, being why Halvard was talking about Faen behind his back.
Halvard was not doing this just to spite him, no, the Dwarf could be petty, but he was not so petty that he would stoop so low as this just for the sake of it. He was trying to goad him, to force Faen to issue forth a challenge between the two where the Elf's mind would be clouded by the anger he felt for what Halvard had done. This was not the first time his nemesis had done this to him, having pulled the same thing a few times back in Vigil.
Some people might think he should have gotten used to it, or learnt how to ignore the Dwarf. Some people did not know him, and should personally learn how it felt to be the target of a Dwaven grudge, then tell him how they felt after five or so years.
It was a really good thing he was wearing his mask right now, for his nostrils were flaring and he was grinding his teeth together. Few others could bring out this side of him, and of those who did, Halvard was chief amongst them.
"That thing about you nearly killing another student true?" Coco questioned, breaking Faen out from his personal thoughts and dangerously dark fantasies. He did not indulge in them often, and frankly, Faen was thankful the Human had torn his mind away from them, for he happened to be getting a bit too imaginative with the painful things he might do to Halvard and others who also pushed his buttons. Faen was less thankful for the topic Coco was broaching.
Well, if the entire Academy was going to learn of that particular incident in his life, he may as well throw in his own two cents on the matter.
"Yes, it is true, but I assure you the incident was a complete accident. My Semblance can be very... situational and temperamental, that incident was when I first discovered it," he answered the Human whilst still retaining his fairly calm composure. He originally wanted to slip in a remark about how the first victim of his Semblance had deserved it, but the Elf thought it best to leave that out, for he felt uncertain of how saying that might influence whether Coco believed him or not.
"You sure about that?" Coco now asked him, a sudden intensity in her voice as she laced her left hand on her hip, and used the right to lower her sunglasses. Giving Faen an unobstructed view of her dark brown eyes, which met him as she said that. He was in the middle of thinking up something that might adequately convince the Human, before a sly smirk crossed her face, and relaxed her body as she spoke again. "Heh, I understand, there's no need for you to say anymore on the matter. So long you don't try hurt any of my team or friends with it, we'll be cool. We good?"
"Yes, we're... good," Faen nodded to Coco, hesitating for a moment before responding to her. Once again the people around Faen appeared determined to confound and bewilder him, but there was something else he wanted to know. "Why are you telling me this? We're not really friends or anything."
"True, but, you're friends of friends, and seem like good people. I also thought it best if you learnt of it first from someone with a friendlier face, before you heard it from someone nowhere nearly as spectacular as yours truly." The Human replied to his rather frank words, seeking a cheeky bit of self-praise into it. "Anyway, I got to get going. Stay safe you two. Oh, and here's a little tip for you, Faen, you might want to dial down on the whole 'edgelord' angle that you're trying to pull. If you're doing that to look cool or, god forbid, try and impress some of the ladies, it's not working."
Before much else could be said between the two, Coco turned and walked away from Faen and Odori. Her aim appearing to be to head over where the two other members of CFVY, Fox Alistair and Velvet Scarletina, were sat and watching Yatsuhashi duel with Tora. Not that Fean cared enough to watch her reach her supposed destination, for he had another thing preoccupying him.
At the mention of the word 'edgelord', Faen immediately rose his hand to his face and rubbed his eyelids, having grown completely tired of being described in such a way. Not for the first time did Faen have to tell himself that other people's opinions on his life choices did not matter, and that he was no 'edgelord' as Coco had put it. That and... hold on, had Coco just implied there were people who interpereted his icy and unapproachable demeanour to be an attempt to look attractive? What sort of sick and twisted individuals came up with such an idea?
Barely able to contain his disgust at the notion, Faen gagged and almost heaved up the contents of his stomach out his mouth. Only stopping himself when the liquid had reached the Elf's throat, and forced it back down with much effort. Such was Faen's absolute revulsion.
"So, why do you think she really came to see us?" Odori spoke up, her eyes still tracking Coco as the Human finally reached her teammates. The Kitsune did not appear to notice his small moment of weakness, too distracted with watching Coco from afar to see how Faen's face contort in disgust, which was fine by him.
"No idea," Faen answered her question after recomposing himself. Nice though she might have been, relatively anyways, Faen saw his partner's question to be a valid one, and he tried to think up reasons the Human had for doing what she did other than what she herself had stated. Tried that is, for nothing he came up with seemed to properly fit the image he had crafted about Coco's character. "What are your thoughts?"
"Hell if I know, Faen. What are your plans if what Coco said happens to be true? That the Dwarf is talking about you behind your back?" Odori returned her gaze to him, shaking her head twice at the question he had posed her. The very mention of Halvard and what Coco claimed he was doing overrode almost all other thoughts in his mind, which was probably a big mistake on Odori's part, for remembering it made him pissed off. Very, very pissed off.
"If he had a beard, I'd shear the damn thing off his face and force him eat the damn thing, or turn it into a belt I could wear!" Faen hissed aggressively, speaking more to himself than Odori. "He seeks to force me into a fight with him, and that stunted halfwit will have one, but one fought on my terms. Not his!"
Those words were out of him faster than it took Faen's mind to consider the possible repercussions of saying them aloud, and there were indeed consequences for saying something off-hand. Aside from their lessons, another thing Faen learnt was that tongues liked to waggle in this Academy, and did so often considering the amount of rumours and gossip that spread throughout Beacon. A single mispoken word or a sentence spoken in haste could take a single day to become known by the rest of the student body, with not even a fraction of that time needed for people to form opinions and thoughts based on those rumours. Faen felt little need for concern, however, for who could possibly know that he was referring to Halvard just then?
Unconcerned though he might be, the Elf took a moment to scan the room for anyone from Team HONE, the Atlesian team lead by Halvard. Anyone who might look a tad shifty, or eyed him somewhat strangely, was also something Faen kept an eye out for. Fortunately, he could see no one from HONE, or someone fit the previously mentioned traits, which meant he was free to do whatever he wished for now.
Whether he would have shaved the beard off Halvard, if had one in the first place, and turned it into a belt for him to wear was neither here nor there. But that thing Faen said about fighting Halvard on his own terms was definitely a goal the young Elf made for himself. Swearing on his honour, he would see it done.
Taking a few seconds to cool down, Faen tried to remember what it was that he and his partner had been doing prior to their quick chat with Coco. It only took Faen a brief moment to recall what they had been doing, that being him answering Odori's proposal to train with each other's weapons. An additional second was spent by the Elf attempting to remember precisely what he wished to say earlier, but the previous conversation had forced it from his mind. Oh well, he still knew his answer, Faen simply needed to use different words to express it to Odori.
Hopefully, he would not be interrupted this time around.
"Back to what I was saying-" As Faen barely just began his sentence, he was bowled over as something hard and heavy came crashing into him from out of nowhere. One second he was facing his partner, the next Faen found himself splayed on the floor after the world had turned into an incomprehensible blur.
"Oh my gods. Faen!" Odori cried as she came into few, and started to fuss over him to check if he was hurt. It was pointless of her to check for any injuries, for his Aura had guarded him, but he was undoubtably confused by what hit him and pissed off that it had. From his position on the floor, the Elf could hear the barely hushed words of onlookers as they spoke of what they had seen, and plenty drew his ire for they expressed amusement at his misfortune.
"That's it. I legitimately hate my life right now," Faen stated to no one in particular, though, Odori happened to be facing him right now so he may as well have been speaking to her.
A loud grunt was heard nearby, and the sound of heavy feet followed soon after as a very large figure past the edge of Faen's vision. From his current state on the floor, he could not see many details, but what he saw included wild orange hair, muscled arms, and tiger-print sash. The was only one person Faen personally knew to have these traits in Beacon, Tora Yamazaki.
It had been Tora who had knocked him over? Well, that explained why he felt as though a mountain had crashed into him, and it had mostly likely been his Human opponent who had sent him flying into him. An impressive enough feat, but Faen would have been far more impressed if Yatsuhashi had sent Tora flying into someone other than Faen. It would have been very nice, and saved him a great deal of personal embarrassment, yet it had happened either way.
"Sorry there Faen," Tora's voice reached Faen's ears as he moved out of his immediate field of view, and changed his pace from quick jog into a thunderous sprint. Yes, that more or less confirmed it for him, Tora had indeed been the person who was crashed into him a moment ago.
Sitting up, the Elf rubbed the back of his head and looked to where Tora had run off to, looking just in time to see the Oni launch himself into the air and swing his kanabo down at Yatsuhashi's head with a thunderous yell. The attack was parried by the large Human, and the two continued on with their spar.
"Ugh. I swear by Khaine's bloody hand, that I shall challenge the next person who dares interrupt me to a duel." Faen growled as he was helped up by his partner, his teeth bared and clenched out of frustration. Now wanting to get what he had to say to Odori done and out of the way, he faced her once he was back on his feet, and tried to speak. "I-"
"Good afternoon Faen."
He bristled at the voice that spoke to him, and took a deep breath as he attempted to calm down from being interrupted for the third time, more so since he knew who it was that had spoken just now. Feeling Fate really had it in for him as of late, Faen slowly turned around to face this new interrupter.
Standing before him, clad in her combat outfit with her own facemask covering half her face, was Yasmin, his latest unofficial teammate and equal in a sparring match. Just from a cursory glance at her, Faen could see she was fresh from the road, for dried dirt caked her boots and there were even traces of it on her clothes and hair. Also, now that he could properly smell her, found her scent to be mixed with that of dirt and days-old sweat. Little wonder, then, that he did not sense her approach, for her natural scent was covered up by the aforementoined smells.
Where he might have asked what the Half-Elf might have gotten up to had he been in a better mood, Faen was nowhere near anything resembling that, and he just wanted no bushit to come from her right now.
"You have got to be kidding me," he grumbled, not caring that the newest source of his mounting frustration was right in front of him. "Yasmin, you're back."
"Indeed I am, and I could not help but overhear you invoke our war god's name as you swore to fight whosoever interrupted you next," Yasmin responded. Uncaring of how he expressed his disdain for her presence, and seemingly focused on the thing he said earlier. "Do you have any intention of following through with that oath?"
Faen's eye twitched after hearing what the Half-Elf before had just said. It was bad enough she was here, yet she had to make an already difficult situation worse by intentionally butting in for the express purpose of duelling him again.
Well, he had bloody sworn on the War God he would do it, so Faen had no way of backing out.
"You... Fine, we will duel each other, again. First just let me finish this conversation with my partner, alright?" Not waiting for an answer from Yasmin, the Elf turned away from her, and returned his focus to his partner. She had also been looking at Yasmin, her gaze even more unkindly than his own, and appeared just as impatient to receive the answer to her question as he was to give it to the Kitsune. "Odori, having thought about what you said, I-"
"Uh, hey there, you haven't seen a magazine of gravity Dust anywhere, have you?" Another damned voice interrupted him just as he had begun speaking for a third time. It belonged to a fellow Beacon student, but, at this point Faen did not care who the person that had interrupted him was. "I lost it, and I want it back before things start to get a bit... floaty."
Done, just absolutely done with all the crap that had been happening to him, Faen did the one sensible thing he believed that he could do in this situation right now. Not caring for who saw him, he let out the loudest, most furious yell that had ever escaped from his mouth and punched the ground beneath him with as much force as he could summon. Causing a loud bang to erupt as his fist impacted on the hard floor, and even leaving a slight dent in it.
If all this was any indication of how the coming months leading up to the Vytal Festival would be like, they looked to be the worse months the Elf would experience in his life.
Elsewhere in Beacon, Grey and Friesian were in the Academy's garage. The former watching as the latter messed around with the motor of motorbike while smooth jazz was coming from his nearby Scroll, which was the Dullahan's way of relaxing and recovering from stuff such as that fight with the Halfling. Most people relaxed by eating snacks, reading a book, or taking long naps, but not Friesian it seemed.
To each their own, she guessed, to each their own.
Friesian's motorbike was a standard bike, one that could be seen being used by civilians on the streets, but had been modified by the Dullahan to make it his own and, as a result, fairly different from the standard models. Among them was a personally applied black and orange paintjob on its aluminium plates, a small windscreen, a holster next to the seat where he could keep Tenebrous Mantle, and a fuel tank larger than the original. The most important modification Friesian had made was to the engine, which, in Friesian's own words, had been tinkered with to be even more powerful so it could achieve speeds above that of the usual model.
The guy was even bold enough to boast his bike could match the speed of some sports motorbikes, right in front of Yang, who just happened to have that type of motorbike in the motor pool. Sure enough, the two got into a debate on whose was the faster, and made a promise to race one of these days to find out.
Grey was pretty indifferent to it all, for she was no mechanic and had no idea what Friesian and Yang were talking about during their debate, but watching a race between the two might fun.
Still, how exactly Friesian was able to see while riding the thing was as mysterious to Grey as how Friesian's body could possibly catch a jar of peanut butter thrown at him, while his head was not even facing it. That example was not some kind of exaggeration, for it had actually happened three dsys ago. He still kept his head at his hip whenever he rode the motorbike, and that did not provide the best view of incoming traffic, but he seemed fine enough. Another mystery of the Demi-Humans, she supposed.
As if there was not already a whole lot of those out there.
Putting those thoughts aside, Grey continued to gorge on the plate of chicken wings she had snuck from the cafeteria kitchens before coming to the garage. The cafeteria would be serving dinner for the students in forty-eight minutes, but Grey did not care. She was hungry, and she would eat whenever she pleased.
Besides satiating her ever-present hunger, the Werewolf engaged in conversation with Friesian while he worked on his motorbike. Unlike their team leader, silence was not a highly sought after companion, and they would much rather fill whatever moments of stillness with talk or some sort of noise at least. Such occassions like this gave them good opportunities to connect and learn more about each others, which was what their current conversation allowed them to do right now.
"Could you believe it, Grey? Me? Wanting to try and be an airship pilot?" Friesian's head chuckled from its spot on a short stool. Beside it was a set of tools that he was using to modify or replace various parts of his vehicle.
"You really wanted to fly around in those tin birds?" Grey remarked as she finished tearing the last bit of meat from a wing and threw the bare bones onto her plate. The two had been relaying to one another some of their earliest aspirations in life for the last ten or so minutes, with Grey revealing how she had previously dreamed to be a mountaineer back when she was eight. "You do know being an airship pilot is a pretty dangerous job, right?"
"Well, I didn't know the full dangers of it back then, but you gotta think about the benefits here Grey. You get to travel and see the world, the sights you see from an airship cockpit can be pretty amazing, the pay isn't bad if you get hired out to do some stuff, and then there's the bragging rights." A gleam passed through the Dullahan's eyes as he pleasantly listed off those 'benefits'. "I mean, if I were a pilot and was able to pull off some sick stunts to get away from three adult Nevermores, you'd hear me talk about it for years and years."
"Now that I can totally believe about you," the Werewolf laughed as she imagined her partner reciting that hypothetical story he had come up with to almost anyone he met. From relations, girls he might hit on, employers, and even random people he would encounter at the street. The guy liked to rave on and on about his motorbike, so doing something like that was not out of character for him, as far as Grey was concerned at least.
Friesian still wished to learn how to fly an airship, that much she could tell from the way he talked about this dream of his, unlike her, who had given up on that childhood wish of hers to be a mountaineer. Not that Grey saw anything wrong with it, for, as opposed to her old wish, his had some really practical applications for his later life as a Huntsman. If Friesian actually owned an airship and knew how to fly it, he could help settlements a considerable distance from Vale in no time without queuing for the next available transport that could take him there. Heck, if Friesian got one that had a pretty spacious interior he could take entire teams of Huntsmen or much needed supplies to various isolated locations as well.
Prices for the fuel and general maintenance for an airship would be a bitch though, which probably explained why a vast majority of Huntsmen did not own one.
Would still be cool, and Grey could not help but think of other ways it could be used aside from those related to Huntsman work. For example, apart from transporting them to settlements in need, Friesian could take all of FFOG to some of the best vacation spots without having to pay the travel fees of those commercial airlines. Granted, these were rather selfish thoughts, but everyone could be selfish from time to time, could they not?
"Any who, what else would you be if you got the chance to become something else? You already said mountaineer, but, do you have some other job that would have been great to be alongside or completely replace being a Huntress?" The Dullahan now asked her, stopping his work and taking a seat on the stool his head had rested on after thoroughly wiping his hands clean with a rag. Said head currently occupied a place on his lap now.
Now that was a certainly tricky one, for Grey had set her mind to becoming a Huntress for a while, and she had not exactly spared too much thought on that particular idea. To be something other than what she sought now was hard for her to conceive, yet, that did not mean the Werewolf could not try. So, Grey took a moment to ponder and consider this barely explored train of thoughts, which did not take that long to come up with.
"If I could be something else, I would be a... hunter. Yeah, that's what I would be." This answer of Grey's had taken form after the Werewolf considered an old story her paternal grandfather told her of his youth, that he had been a hunter in the wilds of Avalon, and how he hoped she might be one when she grew up. By a hunter, she did not mean the sort who hunts purely for sport or trophies, but the kind that tracked animals to feed others when there was no other choice, to pursue creatures that attacked people, and occasionally aid Huntsmen in their work as guides or fellow fighters. That was the kind of hunter Grey's grandfather had been, and those she admired.
She never entertained the prospect before, but remembering that old tale sparked her imagination, and taking up her grandfather's old profession did not sound that bad when Grey thought about it. Still, she wanted to be a Huntress, and a Huntress was what Grey would be. No matter the trails, that would be the path she followed.
"A hunter? I guess that would make sense, and I think you would be a good one! You know because," Friesian placed both his hands atop his head and used them to mimick her wolf ears, following it up by tapping the tip of his nose. It took Grey a second to figure out what he was implying, that being the enhanced sense of hearing and smell she possessed, which would be very beneficial in a career as a hunter.
Why he could not have simply said it, she did not understand, but Grey guessed it was just one of those moments of oddness that her partner would sometimes display. Friesian was not bananas, she just thought he was a tiny bit peculiar was all.
After that, the two spent the time immersed in conversation, sharing more of their past dreams and exchanging humorous banter with each other. It went on like this for what may have been four minutes by Grey's own guess, when they heard one of the doors to the garage open. When the Demi-Humans looked over to who it was, they saw a familiar pair; Yang Xiao Long and Neptune Vasilias.
Strangely enough, while Neptune was walking around in his combat outfit, Yang was wearing something completely different from the normal attire Grey had seen her wear for the majority of the time she knew the Human. The Werewolf was not saying it was anything bad to look at, it was actually pretty cool looking, she just found it peculiar that Yang was wearing it as opposed to the outfit Grey had gotten used to seeing her in. Was she wearing it for some special occasion?
The two were also carrying their weapons, which, to be fairly honest, was not that big of a deal considering how the Kingdoms permitted Huntsmen and Huntsmen-in-Training to carry their weapons around wherever they went. But really, why would the two need them? They were not planning to start up some trouble somewhere, were they?
Well, just staring at Yang was not going to get her any answers. The best way to do that was to shove her nose into their business and ask Yang herself.
"Hey there! Where are you two going, and what's with the new get-up, Yang? It's pretty cool by the way," Grey called over to the pair as they were walking over to Yang's own motorbike, a yellow thing the Human affectionately called 'Bumblebee'. After calling out to them, it seemed to be only now that the Humans noticed she and Friesian were in the motor pool, and were quick to wave back to them as they approached.
"Huh? Oh, hi there Grey, nice to see you guys. You too, Friesian," Yang responded to Grey's greeting. Beside her, Neptune replied with a quick 'Sup?' and did a finger-gun gesture pointed at both Demi-Humans. "I'm just taking Neptune here out to see the sights, sounds, and smells of Vale's nightlife. Maybe we'll hit a few clubs while we're there, too."
Hearing what Yang had said, she sort of understood why the two had their weapons, because Vale had apparently become a bit more dangerous at night and those nightclubs could be attended or run by pretty shady individuals. Thing is, Grey remembered Team SSSN had already spent a good chunk of the evening at Vale once before. She overheard them talk about the experience a couple days ago, having gone out to the city for almost an entire day to compare it to Mistral.
So, it was sort of, but not significantly, odd that Neptune wanted to check it out again on his own. Still a bit odd since she felt the Human was not much of a 'nightlife' kind of guy, but she could be wrong in her assumptions. They had, after all, only known each other for a relatively short amount of time.
Aside from that, there was one glaring issue with Yang's plan to go to Vale's nightclubs.
"Right, but... aren't you banned from, like, half the nightclubs in Vale?" Friesian commented after exchanging a friendly fist-bump with Neptune, beating Grey to the punch. That certainly did not go over well with Yang, as her face twisted into a look of utter indignation, while Neptune's eyes almost popped out of their sockets in shock.
"Uh, pardon me?" The blue-haired Human asked, yet, was immediately cut off by Yang before he could inquiry any further.
"Correction, I'm banned from a third of all nightclubs in Vale, absolutely unjustly might I add." Yang stated, huffing a bit when she said that last part, as though the proclamation would make things better. Grey and Friesian exchanged a look with each other, the former recalling a few tasty pieces of information that ran counter to the Human's claim of being banned 'unjustly'.
Yang had, in fact, been banned from those nightclubs for pretty justifiable reasons; such as causing major property damage, highly disruptive behaviour, underaged drinking, and assualting the staff and other nightclub goers. Ruby had been kind enough to spill these juicy little details some time ago, much to Yang's distress. Between every ounce of information Ruby dislosed to them all, and the numerous attempts her older sister made to get Ruby to stop, the conversation where all that had was revealed had been very entertaining.
In spite of all her efforts, Yang failed to prevent her younger sister from describing a couple interesting incidents to Team FFOG, which resulted in a fair amount of laughs and stunned silences over the course of their retelling.
"You're banned from a third of Vale's nightclubs? How do you do that?" Neptune queried Yang on the subject, totally flabberghasted for the first time since Grey had met the Human. "One, I would understand. But a third of an entire city is-"
"Um, I think you and I should stop with all the talking, and actually get out to what we were meant to do! We're on a bit of a timetable here." Yang suddenly and firmly grabbed Neptune by his right bicep, and began to pull him away from the two Demi-Humans, taking him over to Bumblebee. No doubt to get out of a discussion that was becoming increasingly uncomfortable for her, or for perhaps another reason entirely.
It might just be her, but Grey could swear she heard a serious urgency in Yang's voice as she took Neptune. As though she were reminding her current companion that they had something very important to attend to, something more vital than just having fun in some Vale nightclub as Yang claimed they would. Might be she was looking into things too much; years interacting with a taciturn Elf kind of forced her to always look for meaning in everything her best friend did, and could explain why the Werewolf did it to others. Whatever the case, Grey was still trying to figure what the two Humans were up to by the time they reached Bumblebee.
"Sure, sure, we won't keep you here any longer. You two have fun," Friesian waved to the pair as they climbed onto Bumblebee, and started up the sports bike's engine. He could have just left it with that, but, he decided to sneak in a little jab at his fellow motorcyclist. "My bike's still cooler and faster!"
"No it's not!" Yang called back to Friesian as she sped out of the motorpool, her long hair flapping behind her, with Neptune sat behind Yang and holding onto her waist for dear life. Within the passing of a few seconds, the two were gone.
Grey kept her eyes fixed on the motorpool's exit, the last echoes of Bumblebee's loud engine reverberating through large vehicle filled room, and could be heard further outside thanks to the extra pair of ears atop her head. That feeling of something not being right, and that Yang and Neptune were up to something contrary to their claims, still clung to her as tightly as a bear's jaws clamp onto a salmon fish. She really did hope Yang and Grey were going to be fine and stayed safe in whatever errand they sought to complete, or trouble they planned to cause.
Slowly, she pulled her attention away from the motorpool's exit, before looking over to what Friesian was doing. The Dullahan had gotten back to tampering with his motorbike again, and had resumed the conversation they were having before the Humans' arrival. It being a retelling of an incident when Friesian was maybe five or six, where he almost started a fire in his parents' house while playing with a roll of toilet paper and a lit candle.
Guessing that she could put the thoughts of Yang and Neptune aside for now, the Werewolf listened attentively to Friesian as he retold his story. That was not all she did, for there was still the plate of chicken wings she had been eating, and seeing there were only five left, the Werewolf had no intention of letting them remain uneaten for a second longer. Without any hesitation, Grey grabbed one and thoroughly stripped it clean, followed by another, then another after that. In short order she finished them all, yet, the Werewolf still hungered for more despite having devoured all the meat from fifteen wings in total.
It did not matter, for she could just grab some more food at dinner, which happened to be in the next forty-two minute from now. Speaking of dinner, Grey hoped Faen and Akagi would be there when she and the Dullahan left for the cafeteria. The Elf needed to put more meat on those bones of his, after all, and she wanted to be there for him in case any trouble arose.
She was sure her best friend was fine right now, and that she need not worry about him for the time being.
Later, as the afternoon sun was dipping further towards the western horizon, Faen grunted as he started to remove his armour piece by piece. The aches all over his body causing the process to be slower and clumsier than usual. He had retreated into FFOG's dorm after finishing his business at the sparring room, opting to isolate himself from the all others and even skip dinner by doing so.
After his little outburst of rage in the sparring room, the Elf duelled with Yasmin, and did a bit of quick, light sparring with Odori soon after they were done. As had been the case with all of their prior duels, Faen and Yasmin had held nothing back and fought relentlessly to outdo the other. During their fight, he had been barely aware of how the others in the room turned their attention to him and Yasmin, silently watching as FFOG's team leader and their mysterious new addition went at each other like a pair of hounds fighting over the last bone.
Nothing else mattered then but the duel with Yasmin, and claiming victory from it. Despite his efforts, however, he was actually defeated by Yasmin, the first instance of such in fact.
Now, it was most definitely not because she was better than him, there was no way Faen was going to admit that. As far as he was concerned, the reason for his defeat was due to his inability to properly focus on the spar; the earlier words exchanged with Coco, and the anger towards all the other things that happened had lingered in his mind and disrupted his concentration. Those factors also made him reckless, making Faen take unnecessary risks he would never have made otherwise, and was a prime contributor to his defear.
Yes, that had to be why he lost. There was no doubt about it.
It was as he finally removed the last piece of his armour, that being his left shoulder guard, did his ears pick up a gentle tapping coming from the door. He had heard the approach of whoever was now tapping on the door, and had hoped they would leave him to his solitude, but alas, it seemed that would not be the case.
Odori had left a minute ago to grab some food from the cafeteria for him, as he would much rather remain within the confines of his dorm right now. The others, Grey and Friesian, had messaged they would meet with Odori and come right over. The cafeteria was a good five minutes walk, if you hurried, so it was improbable that the person knocking on his door was one of his team members. As such, he felt no desire to answer it, and continued to change out of his combat outfit. If they happened to be someone from Team RWBY, JNPR, AMRT, or someone else entirely, they should just message him on his Scroll if what they wanted to say or do was in any way vaguely important.
The tapping on the door carried on for a good twenty more seconds, with Faen continuing to simply ignore it, then stopped completely after the twentieth second passed. Faen dared to hope the person was going to leave, but immediately snapped to attention when he heard the lock click and the door begin to swing open. Hastily throwing his just removed coat onto his bed and spinning to face the doorway, the Elf let out a low, irritated growl upon seeing who was stood outside his dorm.
"Hello again, Faen," Yasmin greeted him as she took her Scroll away from the electronic lock and stashed it away into one of the pockets of her pockets. He kept forgetting she had access to his dorm, afforded to the hybrid because of her unofficial status as a member of FFOG, which did not at all improve his opinion of her and the arrangement made with Ozpin.
Faen had no wish to see anyone other than his teammates as of right now, and the Elf-Dracon hybrid was high on his list of people the Elf would prefer to stay away from for a while. That had been his desire, and yet he had probably been better off wishing he could hold all the stars in his hand than hope for that.
Well, if he could endure Grey's shenanigans for several years, as well as Halvard just existing on the same world as him, he should be able to tolerate Yasmin's presence for at least a few minutes. An hour, though, oh hells no. If Yasmin so much as stayed in his dorm for any duration of time near that, Faen would bodily throw the Half-Elf out of his dorm through its sole window, and he would not at all bother with opening it first. A tad bit excess, Faen could admit, but that was just how badly he wanted to be left alone.
Somewhat prepared to withstand Yasmin and whatever she had in mind, whilst also ready to throw her out the window without so much as a second thought, Faen relaxed himself and addressed the Elf-Dracon.
"Yasmin," Faen huffed, making no effort to hide his distaste. As with many things, Yasmin ignored his obvious spite and gracefully glided into his dorm as though it were a Kingdom and she was its firstborn master. If the purpose for her coming here happened to be for the sole purpose of pissing him off, well, she had accomplished it.
"You fought well, considering your state at the time," Yasmin uttered, her words causing Faen to feel an urge to gouge out both her eyes rise up in the back of his mind. Tempted as he was to do just that, the Elf figured he would get into a whole lot of trouble for it, so he surpressed his sudden urges for now and let her speak. "They say rage provides one a different kind of focus in and out of battle, and seeing you fight has convinced me there is a level of truth to it. Not enough that is, not enough."
"Have you come here to gloat? Yasmin, I am in no mood to tolerate anything from you or anyone else right now, so unless you have something extremely important to tell me, I kindly request that you leave me be." He kept his voice as calm as he could possibly manage, but, conversing with a person one tends to feel less than amicable feelings towards meant Faen was internally grappling with himself just to maintain this fascade. He also took a step forward, putting Yasmin within arm's length so he may carry out his aforementioned plan of 'throw her out the window' whenever the use of it was warranted.
Right now, Yasmin did not appear to suspect what he secretly planned to do, but there was no telling with her sometimes. She might already have guessed his intentions for if she pushed him too far, and came up with a way to counter any effort he made to go through with it.
"Noted," the Elf-Dracon continued, "you could have still beaten me if you had kept better control of yourself, and I might have something that could help with just that. That is, if you are willing to listen to me."
So, was that the primary reason for her coming her? To offer him, her rival in the sparring ring, something that could improve his self-control in not just battle, but his daily life also? It sounded far too good and favourable of a deal to be true, and on the off-chance Yasmin's offer happened to be genuine, he believed there was no way she wished to grant him this boon solely for altruistic reasons or something in that ballpark.
Alongside doubts regarding Yasmin's true intentions, Faen felt hesitant of te efficacy of what Yasmin could possibly offer to him, if she truly had anything. Not matter, whether her offer happened to be authentic or fraudulent, he would hear her out and judge the worth of the Elf-Dracon's suggestion. For her sake, she had better not be pulling his leg.
"What is it?" Faen sighed, crossing his arms and speaking through clenched teeth.
"Do you perform meditation? I assume you at least know of it, if you do not practise it yourself," Yasmin casually asked him, once again ignoring the signs of his annoyance with her.
"I do know of meditation, but I see little need in actually performing it," he replied to his unofficial teammate. Now knowing it was meditation Yasmin was offering to him, he was ready to wave it off and escort her out of the dorm, for he had very little interest in actually practising that age old ritual. That was his plan, and very much like most plans of his recently, actually going through with it was interrupted.
At this point, Faen figured he should just give up on trying to do anything. Him getting interrupted or his wishes not panning out as he wanted them to, seeming to be how Fate determined his ventures would wind up until it decided otherwise.
"Then there is the secret to your failings," Yasmin swiftly said to him. Causing Faen's eyes to narrow, his nostrils flared, and his arms twitched as the urge to grab Yasmin by her arms and chuck her out the window for that snide statement she made. Despite the burning desire to carry out his plan, Faen restrained himself, and carried on listening to her. "Meditation is not just a means to kill time and calm one's mind, Faen, it is also capable of giving us focus in situations beyond battle. Having seen and heard what has been happening here as of late, I believe you certainly have need of it. And, seeing as how I am the only person who can teach you to meditate in our Elven way, I shall have to show you how it is done. Do you accept
Having apparently said her piece, Yasmin stepped away from him a couple of paces, and closely watched Faen as he tried to come up with a definite answer to her suggestion.
It need not be said again, but Faen's opinion of meditation was already decided and very clear in his mind. He had seen his parents perform it every morning when they had the chance to, and while they never forced him, they strongly encouraged their son to do so as well. According to several books and other older individuals with knowledge of his people, youths such as Faen were known to refuse practising meditation, often viewed as part of a rebellious phase typical of Elves his age. Now, Faen did not believe he was in the middle of any sort of phase, but whether or not he was did not matter, and he had to really consider what Yasmin had said.
Again, his mind travelled back to his parents, and how meditation affected and ultimately benefitted them both. His father was a reserved Elf, having apparently passed that trait down to Faen, and worked as a Guardsman of the Selene Town Guard, making the analysis of him much more relavent. It could not be said that the young Elf's father was a great fighter, he was good enough to teach Faen how to wield a sword and spear when he began to walk this path, but he was no extraordinary warrior.
In relation to how meditation potentially benefitted him, well, now that Faen thought on it, his father was calmer and better could keep up with him during their training spars after he meditated for a good five to seven minutes. By the heavens, Faen remembered how annoyed he got when his father spent the previously mentioned amount of time sitting and staring out the window before they began to train. He got used to his father's habit as time wore on, though he felt a need to whine childishly back when they began, which would have been embarrassing if he did.
Moving on, Faen's mother was of a different sort to Faen and his father. While pretty uncommunicative like Faen and the other Elves of Selene, his mother was by far more approachable and more willing to interact with others compared to them. She did know how to use a knife in a fight, and the hand-crossbow his mother kept in a wooden box under her bed had seen use, yet, she was no combatant like Faen. How exactly meditation was useful to her was harder to figure out than his father, for what situations did she, a quiet librarian, need it for? It was not as though she was regularly getting into duels of honour, needed to beat down criminals, or anything of the sort.
All in all, when it came to his mother, Faen supposed she did it out of tradition than any practical need. Goodness knows they did plenty of that back home. There were some potential benefits, if the example of his father was anything to go by, but it was nothing concrete enough to get Faen to fully immerse himself in the practise.
In spite of all that, perhaps he should heed Yasmin's offer and give into his parents' encouragement. With the Vytal Festival fast approaching, and the try-outs to compete in the tournament some time later this semester, anything that could give him an edge would be greatly beneficial. Nothing like performance enhancing drugs or anything of that sort, Faen would sooner be caught dead than to resort to so despicable a resource.
Meditation might just be what he needed to acquire that 'edge', though he still doubted its usefulness in and out of battle. Still, if there was even a chance it gave some relief from his ever mounting stress, and offered him an additional advantage in battle, he may as well see what happened if he tried it. If it did not pan out well, or amounted to nothing, at least he could inform his parents that he tried, and hopefully it would be enough to make them stop badgering him with the subject.
Focusing his mind away from his internal thoughts and back to Yasmin, Faen saw she remained right in front of him, her eyes fixed on him and waiting for an answer. She need not wait or worry any longer, for the words he had chosen to say to her would probably be alike to music to Yasmin's ears.
Meeting each others gaze, Faen's answer was thus.
"Fine then, show me."
There we have it, chapter done.
As I mentioned before, my PC troubles will make writing harder, but I will continue with this fanfic regardless of it. In the event I finally do sort it out, I shall let you all know in an Author's Note. Stay safe and wash your hands.
I'll see you all when I next see you.
