Author's Note:
Boy, did this take a while to do. I have no grand reasons for why this took as long as it did, all I can say is that life happens. Of the chapter itself, there is more character building in this chapter than action or main plot advancement, so if that is not your cup of tea then I apologise.
I hope you enjoy.
Reasons
The Emerald Forest. Not just a good location for Huntsmen-in-Training to test themselves against the Grimm, but each other as well. Something Team AMRT took full advantage of with their closest allies.
A bolt flashed toward Amarantha's face from above, yet it landed harmlessly in the ground behind her as she sped forward. Looking up to where the bolt came, she spotted the silhouette of her attacker in the tall tree branches. They were preparing a new bolt to fire at the Naga by now, so to give herself a bit more time, Amarantha aimed the prongs of her trishula at them and shot a bolt of lightning. It missed, yet was close enough to cause her opponent to recoil from the shot, distracting them and giving her a couple more seconds of free movement.
Reaching the base of the tree her attacker was perched on, the Naga pressed the belly of her snake half against the tree and began to climb. In the meantime, Amarantha fired several more shots at her opponent. They were quick enough to evade each shot she fired, and answered in kind with more bolts.
The two had done this dance before, where he led her on a chase across the forest's treetops. She had lost him, and it had taken a little searching to find him again, but Amarantha caught his scent and followed it to here. This time Amarantha had no intention of letting him getting away, and pushed her attack before her foe got the chance to leap for another tree.
As it turned out, he had no intention of fleeing, and drew his sword from its scabbard. After firing one last bolt at her, which Amarantha dodged, he made a challenging gesture and took on a ready combat stance. Launching herself forward with all her might, the Naga swung her trishula as she flew past him. The attack was deflected by her opponent, sparks flying and her ear filling with the clash of metal as their weapons met.
Still in the air, Amarantha grabbed hold of a thick branch above her opponent with her tail, wrapped around it and faced him upside-down. She was now face-to-face with her opponent, Faen Tatharion.
Her surprise manoeuvre startled him, the Elf's white eyes widening behind his helmet, yet he quickly recovered and the two resumed their battle.
Moving with inhuman speed the two dueled amidst the treetops. Faen was quicker by only a slight margin, yet Amarantha had the advantage of reach and a unique fighting style due to her Naga anatomy. Though the former advantage may disappear if he took out his sword-spear.
Speaking of advantages, Faen had one glaring disadvantage in this fight, and that was his limited space to maneuver. Seeking to exploit this, Amarantha attempted to use her trishula to trip his legs from under him, yet he was wise to her attempts and countered her as best he could. Jumping, taking a step back, and blocking her trishula with his sword to name a few. In answer to Amarantha's attempts to knock him off the tree branch, Faen tried getting past her guard and striking her coiled tail.
The Naga constantly moved along the branch to avoid his blows. Not only that, but, alike to how he was blocking her, Amarantha used her trishula to keep him away from her snake half, and even her tail was utilised in swatting aside any blow that might have landed. Faen was a cunning devil, however, as Amarantha was tricked a few times and was punished with the feel of steel striking against her Aura.
Well, she could be cunning as well, and intentionally left an opening for Faen to exploit. He tried to, yet she knocked aside his sword arm with one hand and used the other to fire a point blank shot to his gut. Faen let out a sharp hiss and backed away, almost lost balance, yet recovered fast enough to leap back into battle with her.
As the two fought, sounds of battle echoed from other corners of the Emerald Forest.
From one part of the forest, the distant rattle of a machinegun and two handguns could be heard. Thunderous crashing sounds accompanied by wolf-like howls came from another. And somewhere a motorcycle could be heard swerving in between the trees while being chased by great flapping wings.
At the start of this combat exercise, both teams' members had fought side-by-side. It was FFOG who split up not long after they began, forcing AMRT to divide and give chase. Concerns for how the others were fairing, and the danger of encountering Grimm, was temporarily set to one side for now. They were all capable warriors, and Amarantha had to focus completely on her own battle against Faen if she wanted any hope of winning.
Back to her fight, Amarantha decided to try something new, and unravelled her tail from the branch she held onto while also positioning herself atop it. From there she thrust Enlightenment's head at the Elf from one side of the branch, while jabbing or swiping her tail at him from the other.
Faen adapted quickly to this, fluidly evading and blocking her attacks against him. She struck home once, the Elf being too distracted evading her trishula's head, he was too slow to react to the tail that struck the right side of his helmeted head. The Elf fell to side, yet recovered his wits fast enough to grab hold of the branch he stood on with his left hand, and swung back onto it in a matter of seconds.
Moving before his feet touched the branch again, Amarantha thrust the tip of her tail straight at Faen's face. Faen, in a move that caught her off guard, turned his head to the side and grabbed her with his free hand. Instinctively she attempted to pull her tail away, yet that had apparently been Faen's plan, for he held strong and was pulled up with Amarantha's tail. Deciding this could be used to her advantage, Amarantha pulled him towards her and grabbed the wrist of his sword arm as he attempted to slash at the Naga.
Without hesitation she attempted to press Enlightenment's prongs against Faen's neck to force him to yield. As she tried though, the Elf delivered a hard kick to Amarantha's stomach, while his left hand let go of her tail and aimed his wrist-bow. Not at Amarantha, his target was something below her.
Amarantha knew she should not have looked down. That it would have panned out better if she used her trishula to knock Faen's arm aside. But look down she did.
What she saw turned out to be a pair of Ice Dust bolt magazines without their safety casing embedded into a recess cut into the tree branch Amarantha was upon. By the time she laid eyes on them and figured out Faen's intent, he had already loosed a Fire Dust bolt at the magazines.
The moment the bolts connected, an explosion of fire and ice engulfed them both. Wood splinters flew everywhere, and the two Demi-humans were throw into the air. Amarantha lost track of Faen as she was flung from where the branch had been, and a sensation of falling took over her very quickly. Twisting her body to face the ground, the Naga saw it was fast approaching and the few tree branches in reach were too small to support her weight.
Deciding that landing on the forest floor safely was her best bet, Amarantha took on a ready position and slammed onto the ground. She landed on her tail, which still hurt even with her Aura. Thank goodness she had enough reserves to pull this feat off.
Hearing the crack of branches above her, she looked up just in time to see Faen crash through a few frail branches and execute what she heard the Kingdomers call a 'superhero landing'. She was prepared to fling herself back into battle against Faen, yet he rose his hand in a gesture that asked her to hold. The Elf rose to his feet, his stance telling Amarantha he no longer had any wish to continue fighting.
Both AMRT and FFOG had been at this for a while, so Amarantha was more than willing to end their combat exercise here.
"That was very dangerous what you did up there." Amarantha said to the Elf as she looked up and pointed to the remains of the branch they had been on a few moments ago. There was no need for them to worry about a forest fire, but the branch had basically been reduced to a stump.
"I know. Yet the two of us still live and breathe without injury," Faen responded. Looking back to him, his eyes were not on her, but to his Scroll. He had begun to type a message to the rest of both their teams, to inform them he and Amarantha were done fighting.
"You did calculate the risks of executing your plan?" She slithered up to him and folded her arms, her eyes not quite glaring at Faen but hard enough to let him know she wanted a truthful answer.
"Naturally," was all the Elf said, looking up at her briefly before returning his eyes back to his Scroll. "You fought well. My Aura reserves would have gone into the red if I had not stopped things there."
"As did you." Amarantha felt annoyed at his nonchalant answer to her question. And while his compliment was welcome, the Naga had half a mind to rebuke the Elf and not let the matter go until she was sure he understood the danger they had been in.
Deciding to go for it while they walked to they all agreed to meet once their combat exercise was done, Amarantha began to list off ways that their fight might have ended differently. Especially if they did not have enough Aura to absorb the explosion or endure the fall several metres to the ground. She even went so far as to present a hypothetical scenario where the explosion and fall drained their Aura reserves, and they were immediately set upon by Grimm. Without such a vital booster of their abilities and shield from harm, Amarantha bluntly told Faen they might die, and their teams and families would be the ones to suffer most if that were to happen.
Amarantha respected the Elf, and it was because of that selfsame respect she was doing this. Faen was a skilled fighter; possessed a sharp mind; fiercely determined when roused; and, in his own way, a good leader and friend to others. If he were to fall due to his own folly, which could have happened in their fight, then Remnant would have lost a much needed warrior.
In answer to her, Faen calmly nodded, and let Amarantha speak without any interruption. Only offering single worded comments to what Amarantha had to say when she left an opening for him.
This went on throughout the pair's journey to their destination. An elevator installed near the launchpads atop Beacon Cliff to take people up and down it. When they arrived at last, Amarantha and Faen saw they were not the first to arrive at the Beacon Cliff elevator.
Waiting for both team leaders were Monica and Akagi, who were sat on the ground and busy conversing with each other. Upon noticing the Naga and Elf's arrival, they were quick to rise and greet them. Their own fight had begun as a mostly melee clash when the exercise began, but after splitting up, the two engaged in the ranged firefight Amarantha heard in the distance.
After Amarantha and Faen came Friesian and Reuel. The former speeding through the trees and stopping right before he crashed into the elevator, while the latter gracefully came down from above. Their fight had been even more hectic, for not only had they fought each other while constantly moving, they also ran into some Grimm. Nothing as crazy as a Hydra or Deathstalker, and easily dispatched by the pair.
Finally, after many minutes spent waiting, Grey and Tora rejoined the group. Their's was a brutal, yet quick match. The two's strength allowed them to whittle away their Aura reserves faster than the rest, and had stopped fighting before Faen had sent out the message to them all. The reason for their lateness was their choice to rest a short while before heading off to rejoin the others.
Finally all back together again, the teams boarded the elevator and spent the ride up telling of how their fights had gone.
When they finally reached the top of Beacon Cliff, the eight Demi-humans were met with a great surprise.
"Well done students. I can safely say you have all made marked improvements, though you still have far to go." The voice of their Professor Taupe said in a praising manner from behind her mask as she sat in a foldable chair. A light that Amarantha believed to be of pride in her eyes.
It was not just Professor Taupe who was before the two teams. Sat beside the Gorgon on a foldable chair barely holding him up, his tall and muscled frame making the woman look small, was Surtr Bran.
The both of them were in the clothes she saw them wearing at the Demi-human District festival. Both of them held Scrolls showing videa feeds of various points in the Emerald Forest. Alongside the electronic devices was a bottle of liquor in Taupe's other hand, while a cigarette was in Surtr's.
"Professor! Mr Bran! Were you watching us all this time?" Friesian exclaimed in shock. The two older Demi-humans had definitely not been here when AMRT and FFOG went into the forest, so Amarantha understood the Dullahan's reaction.
"No, we came here to take a break and chat." The Gorgon professor explained, her voice more relaxed than Amarantha had ever heard her. Or maybe that was the drink. "But we heard gunshots coming from the forest, so I checked the camera feeds throughout the forest to see what was going on. Seeing you all practice against each other, we decided to watch."
"Hmph. Good form, all of you." Surtr uttered after taking a puff from his cigarette. He must have been smoking for quite a while, for the air was thick with the distinct smell of nicotine.
Unlike the Gorgon, the look on his face and eyes could not be described as anywhere near approving. No unkindness was present, Surtr was most probably not impressed by their performance. It would be hard for a bunch of teens still in training to impress a legend such as him. Surtr's words, Amarantha felt at the very least, were genuine however.
It had been a shock to all, especially the Demi-humans in Beacon, to learn that Surtr Bran himself had taken temporary residence at Beacon for likely the whole duration of the Vytal Festival. Many were excited, and hoped they might get a chance to learn from the acclaimed Jotun Huntsman. Others were less positive; a few bringing up some controversy Sutr was involved with, while some viewed him as an old man well past his prime.
The few times Amarantha and her team had spotted the Jotun was always in the company of one of the teaching staff, deep in discussion about the past, the students, or how things throughout Vale were. He turned up only once to one of the sparring rooms, and only spent minutes observing all the students present before leaving with a shake of his head.
"So professor. Know when we'll finally get to see who qualified for the Vytal Tournament?" Tora stepped forward and asked the Gorgon. He may have been addressing their professor, but his eyes were on Surtr. He had not forgotten his wish to arm-wrestle the older man.
"Soon, soon. It'll be shortly after Amity Colosseum arrives, which should be in a couple days time if things go as planned." Professor Taupe's response was automatic and without any energy. Likely from having to answer that same question several times. Still, what she had said was news to them. "Even if none of you qualify for the Tournament, it is no excuse for you to stop training as hard or diligently as you have been in the past few weeks. This is an academy for Huntsmen, not couch potatoes."
Even when lounging with a bottle in hand, and perhaps the most casual they had seen her yet, the Gorgon could still make them all stand at attention and heed her words.
"Hehe, we ain't got no intention of stopping professor. You have our word on that," Grey replied to the professor. The rest of them making their own short affirmations to keep up their training.
"Indeed we do not. After we take a break of our own, we will resume training as soon as possible." Amarantha added to what Grey and the others said, disheartened groans coming from a couple of her companions outside of her field of vision.
"Good to hear. Now off you go," Taupe gestured a hand to the Academy. There was a slight slur in her voice as she finished, and Amarantha felt that maybe their professor was beginning to get a little too tipsy. The presence of two empty bottles underneath Taupe's chair only reinforced that belief. She was with Surtr Bran though, Taupe should be fine so long as she was with him.
Conversation with Professor Taupe and Surtr finished, who obviously wanted to be alone for a while, the two teams turned and started to make their way Beacon. The next important matter the group needed to attend to being the next subject the Demi-humans began to discuss.
Who was buying lunch.
Taupe watched her students leave, the eight of them falling into an argument over who would be buying lunch. It reminded her of when she used to be a student here.
Keeping her mind in the present, the Gorgon turned to her companion and saw he had resumed smoking while looking out at the Emerald Forest. As though he had not spoken to the two teams of Huntsmen-in-Training. Teams she had said were among the most promising of Demi-human teams in Beacon at the moment.
"You old fart," Taupe grunted as she smacked the hard muscles of Surtr's arm with the back of her hand.
"What?" Surtr did not look at her, her smack probably not registering to him.
"'Hmph. Good form, all of you.' That's all you have to say?" Taupe mimicked the Jotunn as best she could, then lifted her mask and drinking from her bottle before continuing. "I took you here to see what my students are capable of and that's your only comment."
"Yes. That's all I have to say," the larger Demi-human responded, finally looking down at her. The expression on his face was one of consternation now, and seemed to be looking at Taupe as though something were wrong with her. "You're drunk."
"And you're a thick-headed old man." She jabbed a finger at him, leaning over her chair's armrest to try and poke his forehead, but winded up poking his cheek.
"Okay, you've had enough of that." Surtr sighed as he dropped his cigarette on the floor and stamped on it with a heavy boot. He then leaned over and took hold of Taupe's bottle as she tried to drink from it some more.
"You wanna fuckin' go, malaka?" Taupe suddenly burst out, gripping her bottle all the harder and trying to tug it away from the Jotunn with one hand. The other tried to punch him in the face, but Taupe found it hard to actually hit him, so she resorting to hitting the outstretched arm trying to steal her alcohol.
For the next five minutes, the two veteran Huntsmen struggled against each other over Taupe's bottle. The Gorgon whined and shouted all manner of drunken obscenities while Surtr calmly tried to reason with her, though he was once interrupted by a short coughing fit.
Hardly a scene most people would expect these two respected Huntsmen would be in.
The matter of lunch for Team AMRT and FFOG was settled quickly and without too much conflict between them. Together they now sat in the Academy's cafeteria, eating food Reuel generously paid for.
They would not be eating alone however, for, apart from a few other students already in the cafeteria, Team SSSN had decided to join them. RWBY and JNPR were outside Beacon on their own combat exercise, and Sun had expressed a want to better know both Team AMRT and FFOG. Though not stated, Amarantha also guessed they wanted to do this to understand Demi-humans better as well. So, here they now were.
Both AMRT and SSSN met before, hung out together too, and had thus far gotten along with each other. The same could be said for FFOG. So there were no objections to the other team joining them for the lunch. Right now, they were sharing their experiences from Initiation, and there was quite a lot each of them had to say.
"And then boom! I brought the Beowolf down on my knee and almost broke the fucker in half!" Tora roared loudly, falling into a raucous laughing fit as he finished his tale. Banging a fist hard on the surface of their cafeteria table.
"Sheesh. That's cool, but you're one brutal dude," Sun, the team leader, commented on Tora's tale. The monkey Faunus sat cross-legged and was constantly moving his tail in a manner that slightly distracted Amarantha when she looked at him.
"Agreed," the green-haired one, Sage Ayane, also remarked. He was quieter than the rest of his team, but appeared to be a reliable member.
"If you think hearing about it is crazy, then you should actually see him in action. You haven't understood what the word 'brutal' means until you've seen this madman fight." Friesian's body leaned over and offered to refill Sage's cup while his head spoke, which the Human gladly accepted. By now SSSN had stopped staring at the empty space on the Dullahan's shoulders, not that he ever seemed to have noticed.
Behind the air of camaraderie, Amarantha could feel a sense of unease from the Kingdomer team as they listened to Tora. The Oni was, after all, a very imposing figure and a highly graphic storyteller. AMRT knew this for they had to deal with Tora describing the various ways he had killed Grimm, such as ripping the jaw off an Ursa Minor and beating it to death with it, on a daily basis.
She understood Tora and SSSN got along like a house on fire, but knew they were a bit wary of the Oni's violent nature. A smart decision to make.
Of Amarantha's thoughts on the Haven team, she thought to be a mixed bag just like the rest of them.
Focusing first on Neptune, the blue-haired boy had attempted to 'hit on' her. A strange slang term Amarantha was still trying to understand. She politely rebuffed him, expressing she had no wish to be involved in a relationship with anyone at the moment, which the boy took pretty well. He looked as though he wanted to do the same with Monica, but appeared to decide against it after observing the way she drank from her glass of raspberry water. Other than that, he was a learned individual, which Amarantha could respect.
Scarlet David seemed to be the most serious of Team SSSN, though he still had a couple quirks like the rest of his team. He made sure his spot was clean, that he did not touch any mess the others made, and was more than a little particular about what he ate.
Sage, as mentioned before, seemed reliable and quiet. The Human got along well enough with her team and FFOG, as well as proven himself willing to help out.
Amarantha was... uncertain when in regards to how she should feel about Sun. He gave off an impression of being well-meaning, yet the sense of irresponsibility Sun gave off rankled Amarantha internally. The Faunus also did not seem to have grown into his position of team leader as she, Faen, Jaune, and Ruby had done for the most part. Hopefully time would iron out some of the creases Sun had as a leader.
Overall, SSSN was a diverse band much like all the teams who had come to Beacon. Individually as people, she saw them to be decent and acceptable company, for the most part. In regards to determining how good a team they were, further observation of them in and out of combat was needed.
The Naga's musings were interrupted by a passing group of Human girls. Ones she recognised to be among Reuel's admirers, causing Amarantha to roll her eyes disapprovingly for what she knew was going to happen.
"Hi, Reuel." One girl from the passing group called to the Angel. Her friends falling silent as they waited for Reuel's response.
"Hello there," Reuel waved back at the group, a warm smile so typical of the Angel on his face. The girls reacted immediately, giggling and gushing to each other as they walked away from the two teams of Demi-humans. The one who spoke to Reuel beaming with pride and moving with a skip in her step.
"Huh, as popular with the ladies as ever." Akagi gave a light chuckle as she spoke, her eyes following the group of girls as they went away. The Kitsune was not interested in the Angel, she had said so herself and Amarantha could detect no lie when she made that statement.
"Please, it is nothing worth noting." The Angel replied again, bashfully looking down at his plate as he did.
"How about spreading some of that charm of yours out to the rest of us? I for one wouldn't mind getting that type of attention once in a while." Friesian sighed, his body rubbing a hand on his head's forehead.
"Heh, not a problem for me and the boys! Plenty back in Vacuo and Mistral were checking me out." Sun abruptly leapt onto his feet, and began proudly showing off his abs and pectoral muscles to them all. Grabbing the attention of all who overheard him, or saw the monkey Faunus jump all of a sudden.
Not to be outdone, both Tora and Grey stood up and showed off their own muscles. Causing the three to get into a debate over whose was better.
While Amarantha had become somewhat accustomed to the eccentricity of her companions, and this was not the first time they had done this, it was too embarrassing and went about ushering the three back down. It took a little jostling before they were finally made to sit back down to resume their lunch, but not before drawing attention to their table.
Most of those who were also in the cafeteria looked at them, yet went back to what they had been doing. Others, Amarantha saw, took a moment to admire what they were seeing. One girl bit her lower lip at the sight of Sun and Tora's bare front torsos, while a boy nodded appreciatively at Grey's toned abdomen.
"You would have that over better grades?" Amarantha questioned Sun after they all finally settled down.
"Huh? Oh, well sure I'd like to have good grades, but I'd also like to get more than that. If you know what I mean," Sun cheekily smiled as he finished. She did not return it, and doubled down on expressing her views.
"But your grades should take priority, as is the betterment of your skills as a warrior. How else are any of us to become fully fledged Huntsmen?" Amarantha leaned forward, her eyes fixed intently on the Faunus.
"I couldn't agree more." Scarlet spoke up, his voice supportive of not of his team leader, but Amarantha.
"I too will have to agree with Amarantha on this matter. This and other forms of relexation are definitely needed, but we must all remember what we are here for." Reuel joined his voice with Scarlet's, his grey eyes and Amarantha's pinks meeting as he gave her a slight nod. The Angel would often side with her when matters such as this were brought up, and Amarantha appreciated his displays of support.
It was not just those two who shared in her and the two boy's view. Off to the side she heard Faen let out an affirmative grunt from where he was sat. The Elf held similar views to the one she just expressed, although he was more ammenable to letting his team slack off when times were not urgent. Monica agreed with her, too, and showed it by nodding her head, but chose not to saying anything on account of her mouth being full.
"Sheesh. You five and Weiss should make a team of your own. Team Funpolice or something along those lines," Tora grunted with a roll of his eyes.
"C'mon Amy, didn't we have this conversation before. Yeah? We are learning how to be Huntsmen and Huntresses, but there's no fault in forming some 'more than friends' relationships while here." Grey remarked, Amarantha's eyes narrowing at the nickname the Werewolf had chosen to address her by.
"Never refer to me by that nickname ever again. Please." Amarantha broke her usually monotonous manner of speech for a second as she finished. She made sure there there was a hard edge to it to convey her annoyance, and accompanied it by wrapping her tail around Grey's ankle under the table.
Grey's eyes widened when they felt her scaly lower half coil around her leg and tried to pull away. Amarantha tightened her grip and stared unblinkingly at Grey. She followed it up by giving her a sudden tug that nearly unseated them, before retreating her tail. That should be a sufficient enough message to encourage the Werewolf not to use such a ridiculous nickname in the future.
Things calmed down a little after that, with the group talking and eating. None were in in any rush, for, while both Demi-human teams planned to keep on training, they had many hours to burn before sunset.
The calm was broken when Friesian, who had taken their Scroll out and started reading from it, seemed to find something of interest. Apparently finding it of enough worth to bring it up with the others, he leaned in and began to show his Scroll to them all.
"Yo, Akagi. Isn't this, like, your sister?" The Dullahan asked his teammate, showing his Scroll to her first before taking it to the others.
"So it is," Akagi remarked with a noted lack of enthusiasm. She immediately looked away from Friesian's Scroll and took a long sip from her drink as Friesian moved about to.
When Amarantha laid eyes on what Friesian had to show, she saw it was a news article featuring a picture of two people posing for a picture before a richly adorned gate of classical Shangri-La architecture. One of the people in the picture was a middle-aged Yuki-onna, and they were shaking hands with a beautiful Kitsune who strongly resembled Akagi. The small bit of text Friesian had highlighted with a tool on his Scroll drawing her eyes in as much as the picture, with Amarantha choosing to read it aloud.
"'Early today, Akagi Hitomi, was formally recognised as a Secretary to the Ten Minsters of Shangri-La. Taking up her mother's position who was admitted to hospital after suffering a fall.'" This was news to Amarantha and most of the group, except for FFOG by the looks on their faces.
"Huh, so you're from a real important family. Kinda like Weiss, yeah?" Neptune remarked, his eyes twinkling with curiosity as he looked at her. "Uh, if it isn't too much to ask, why choose to be a Huntress? I've always been curious when I hear high-class types like you want to take up this line of work."
"Because I have no wish to work in some stuffy office filing through an endless stream of documents, bills, and other damnable crap for the rest of my life. And that's without saying anything of working beside... ugh, nevermind." Akagi replied without any hesitation, the tone of her voice steadily rising, and with an unexpected venom in her voice. Few things could elicit such a reaction from the Kitsune, so she must have really hated the idea of becoming a beauracrat. Maybe too strong a reaction?
Others caught onto this as well, with a few of them exchanging quick looks. Faen, who sat beside Akagi, put a hand on the Kitsune's shoulder and whispered something in her ear. That calmed her down and, after thanking the Elf, she resumed eating with eyes focused solely on the food on her plate.
Amarantha was never quite sure of what to make of the Kitsune. Her background and appearance led her to believe Akagi's personality to be something similar to Weiss at their first meeting, and while true in some aspects, she was very different in others. Behaviour such as this exemplified the difference.
"Say, mind if I ask why you all chose to become Huntsmen? We've talked to RWBY and JNPR about it, and I think it'd be cool to hear what you have to say." Netune stepped up again to fill the increasingly uncomfortable silence that had filled the air. This prompted the others sat at the table to perk up and start talking again as though Akagi's little rant had not occurred.
Team AMRT had already shared their reasons for coming to Beacon with each other. Sharing with the others could be beneficial. And hearing why the rest had come might strengthen their understanding and bonds with each other.
FFOG took the lead in this, providing their reasons first since their teammate had already done so. Friesian stated he came to Beacon because, besides fighting Grimm, he had seen terrible things in his hometown and wanted to fix them in the way only Huntsmen were capable of. Grey went next and said she wanted to help people, follow in her an ancestor's footprints, and to see what the rest of the world was like. Finally, Faen was the last of his team to speak, telling them all he came to Beacon to learn how to better kill Grimm.
Hearing all this brought about a series of reactions from the others. The Dullahan's reason was, perhaps, the most noble and a bit unexpected in Amarantha's mind. She had heard life in his hometown was not entirely peaceful, but was not aware of how much it drove him. Grey also appeared motivated by noble purposes, though a dash of selfish desire was added in there too. Nothing really wrong with that, and all were understanding of both Friesian and Grey's motives.
Then there was Faen's reason. To kill Grimm was, by itself, also a good purpose for one to have. Yet his characteristic reticence saw him prove elusive when it came to why exactly his answer was what it was. Looking into his eyes, Amarantha felt, no, knew there was more than what he was letting on. Yet she stepped him to persuade them all not to push the Elf and move on.
After all, her team needed to speak as well. She would see to finding out Faen's reasons in her own time.
Though she knew theirs already, Amarantha paid just as much attention to them as she did FFOG. Despite knowing plenty about them, she still wanted to learn more, and them expressing themselves like this would be useful in that effort.
Tora took the lead, and told the others he wanted to become a Huntsman because one had taken him under their wing, and a Huntsman's life was far more exciting than the life he had in Shangri-La. Monica followed after, explaining her convent's Sister Superior wished her to better understand life outside their enclosed commune, and had her attend Beacon. Reuel said he was inspired by the stories told to him of Angelic heroes from long ago, and that he could not know the Grimm terrorised people and do nothing about it.
These were the same reasons her teammates gave when she asked them shortly after their team was formed. Since then, Amarantha had found Tora to be lying, Monica omitted half of the truth, and Reuel might have another reason to becoming a Huntsman not even he wished to admit
Amarantha quickly learned to read her teammates and could safely say she could see through them, mostly.
Lying to Tora was almost as natural as breathing, and figuring out when he was did prove a challenge, yet she knew he just did. Why exactly he lied and what were his true reasons had yet to be figured out, but she had time and could wait to find out. She already had ideas, but needed definitive proof before she came to a conclusion.
Monica was, not to be disrespectful to the Vampire, the easiest to read. Her capacity to lie or hide anything from others was nowhere near the levels of Tora, which could be a good and a bad thing depending on how one looked at it. So Amarantha quickly deduced Monica was up to something more than just seeing the world, and quickly noticed Monica's special interest in other Vampires and past students of Beacon. Her parentage and heritage as a Vampire the likely reason for why she was doing any of that.
Then there was Reuel. Being who he was, it did seem at first he had spoken the full truth about his reasons for coming to Beacon, yet further examination of his actions prompted Amarantha to believe he hid something from even himself. It was a strange thought, but then again, the people she was having lunch with now were even stranger. Back on topic, Amarantha believed Reuel's secret drive was a want to personify those old heroes he idolised, and then see them in himself through his actions. There was nothing immediately wrong with such an aspiration, but he needed to be careful not to go too far.
Well, that was enough of her teammates. Amarantha's own turn to tell why she came here had arrived.
"So, Amarantha, what of you? Will you share why you came to Beacon?" Faen said, his eyes closed and languidly shaking his glass in a circle.
"I will," Amarantha said as she turned her gaze to the eastern horizon. "My reason for becoming a Huntsman is to protect my hometown. We're rather... out of the way, and while we trade fish from our lake to nearby settlements, we are not too important."
"You have means of protecting yourselves, right?" Sage asked, a tinge of concern in his voice.
"Of course we do. We have our defences, but they may not prove to be enough someday. Every day, before I came to Beacon, I calculated at least ten different ways Grimm could destroy my home whilst going about my daily business." The Naga explained, her mind going to her hometown and the waters she loved to roam back there. "So I thought learning the ways of a Huntress would allow me to better protect my home."
Silence followed after Amarantha finished, as it had when the others did. However, she did mark a return of the awkwardness that was previously in the air, and spotted those present gazing at her in a funny way. Only her teammates, who already heard this from her, did not react like the others. The Naga kept her composure and just looked back at them with a blank expression.
"Ummm, did you just say you thought up ways your home could be destroyed by Grimm? Like as some kind of pastime?" Grey asked, glancing back and forth between her and the others.
"Yes. It was because of my regular observations that my town was willing to support my choice to come here." Amarantha replied with hesitation. Again, as soon as she finished, her peers outside of AMRT looked at her in that same strange way after she explained why she wanted to be a Huntress. Now that she thought of it, this was the same way her teammates reacted when Amarantha told them.
She had always been rather observant, even as a child. Although back then Amarantha would mainly pick out more mundane or trivial things that only those fresh from the egg would care about. As the Naga grew older, and she came to better understand the world around her, the perilous situation her town was in became more and more evident. They lived atop a great lake; and while that offered protection from Grimm incapable of swimming, that would not matter if an aquatic, amphibian, or aerial type Grimm attacked the settlement.
And if they were attacked, not many would come rushing to their aid. The other nearby settlements, maybe, but other than them no one could be relied upon for help. Huntsmen did stop by once in a while, but were quick to leave as the relative safety of the town made work opportunities for Huntsmen few if they stayed.
Her becoming a Huntress would allow Amarantha to be a more reliable protector of her home. This was the reason she sought to learn to be a Huntress.
"Well... I guess that's something new we know about you." Akagi commented, speaking for the first time since she gave her own reasons for why she chose a Huntress' life over an office job at Shangri-La.
"Indeed. Everyone, I believe it high time we finish lunch soon. We still have much training to do, especially with the Vytal Festival ahead of us." Faen recommended to them all, his plate and glass empty. Hearing him, a few let out groans but all followed along with what the Elf had said. Finishing what food remained and gulping down what drinks they had left.
They had shared their reasons for coming to Beacon, and as the students began to clean up their table, Amarantha felt the bonds between the teams had grown closer. AMRT and FFOG were already very close, and opening up the way they had would very likely deepen their relationships. SSSN would be good allies to have in the future, and good friends as well.
After finally clearing their table, the three teams departed the cafeteria. AMRT and FFOG heading to the sparring rooms, while SSSN left in a separate direction to the dorms to prepare for an outing in Vale. Amarantha and the others let them go on their way, although she felt they should do combat practise, instead. No matter, she could not control everything and was not SSSN's leader, so let them go without any trouble.
The next couple of days were going to be some of the busiest in her life, and, depending on what happened that day, the following weeks would be as well.