Chapter 2: Russel in the Hole
He looked at himself in the bathroom's mirror, instantly at a loss for words; the moment he laid eyes on his alien face for the first time, he felt disconnected from himself...like he didn't even exist.
The blonde mohawk, the skinnier face, at least his eye color was the same.
He ran a hand through his hair, not really sure how he could actually make his hair look good, he hated the mohawk, hated the color, and he'd almost give anything to change how gross he felt.
He gasped, taking a step back...what the hell was going on with his hair?!
It started to flow...to droop, like it had became an amorphous jelly and started to run down his head. His other hand shot up to it, fingers going through the fluid, now panicking…
What the hell?
What the hell?
Was he dying? Did he get attacked by an assassin with an obscure semblance that was painlessly melting him starting from the hair? Was Russel so much of a dick he got a target painted onto him?
His hair suddenly stood up, turning back to normal and standing on end like he was a startled cat…
But it was white…
And hard...like they had become icicles…
He fell onto his ass, lightheaded, almost fainting like Dove did in the elevator, putting his hands on the side of his head…
Was he going crazy?
It made sense, waking up in the shoes of a RWBY character that barely existed, and now his hair was acting like it as a shapeshifting gremlin with a mind of its own...
"That can't be that easy, can it? Shiet, not a day and you're already making out with your soul, next time I blink will I be seeing a soul third base? If it's a home run I don't think I could handle being a soul uncle." T said standing in a stall after he finished taking a long piss.
Hydrate or Diedrate.
Spike's head jerked around to T, "What the actual...what?" he jumped up to his feet, "Excuse me, what the hell does that mean?"
"Your semblance is showing up and I made a joke where getting to smash your semblance means you know how that thing works and the build up is how more foreplay you're doing." T said with a shrug, walking over and beginning to wash his hands "Seems you're on the cusp of figuring out this crap." he explained his point of view on things.
Russel blinked.
"That...that makes sense…" he started feeling his hair again...it starting to feel normal and change into a relatively normal color...but not blonde, but brown.
"Guys, should I wear something different? This outfit is… very ugly to be honest…" Seth said, looking at the mirror.
"Yeah man, rock those apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur you've been eyeing you gaybo." T joked, drying his hands with way too many paper towels.
"But serious guys, I know I don't look handsome but I gotta do something with what I have." Seth replied looking over to them.
"We all have generic handsome faces, our battle outfits and casuals just look like trash. Just slap on your school uniform, you'll be fine. Need me to curl your eyebrows extra dainty like? Apply some blush so you feel extra pretty?" Dove said rolling his eyes.
"Dude, I just want to look good. I have my own look and now I have to throw that out the window to come up with a better one. This is important to me." Seth said, frustrated by a lack of an honest helpful answer.
Spike looked in the mirror again, watching his hair literally grow in front of his eyes...he took his hands back, seeing it stop.
"Wow, my hair looks worse now," he shook his head, wetting his hands, "I guess I'll just tie it back…bum a hair tie off of someone."
"Maybe you could do a Sokka, that'd be rad." T said with a grin to Spike, "As for you Seth, change it? The hell you want? I'm not a fashionista, and do we have any cash to even buy you swag and pretty dresses?" T said quirking a brow.
"I don't know anymore, I had a pretty decent look back home but I don't this Sky's body will work with that." Seth replied.
"At least it's all even now…" Spike sighed and tried to tame his hair with wet hands, "but it's...way too long."
In a span of just a few moments, it had become shoulder-length, and if it had to do with his semblance-
He had absolutely no clue what it could be.
Spike grunted, giving up, and started out of the library bathroom, "I'm done," he spat.
T gave one spare look at himself, not giving half a damn about it "Sanpaku eyes huh…" he mumbled quietly to himself, before rolling said eyes "I call first dibs on sleeping surfaces, no battle." T faux-shouted after Spike as he followed the lad "Maybe you should get a nappy ass weave and bust out some white guy dreadlocks." he jokingly suggested as the duo left.
Spike glared at him, "How can you not be freaking out over being in someone else's body? Like really, you're messing with the edgy persona I have going on by making me the odd one out!"
"I've got better things to repress or freak out about then the fact I'm markedly better looking and improved now, I might have a yeezy stupid haircut, but a dumb haircut is better then complete disgust." T said with a shrug, stated it blankly, like it wasn't much of a big deal of anything he said. "I'm just gonna pretend everything's alright and chill out, smell the roses, enjoy a new lease on life. No use freaking out about things I can't do anything about."
"I'm trying my best to take my mind off of what has happened to us Spike. If I dwelled on it long enough, I think I would shut down." Seth said, walking over to the bathroom door to leave.
Spike sighed, slipping out of the library into the almost empty halls, "I know class is at nine but...I need a walk...need some fresh air...waking up somewhere besides my bed really hit me hard."
"Wanna be alone?" T asked quirking a brow.
"I think we all need a bit of time alone. I'll be wandering the school grounds…" Seth replied, splitting off from the group gradually.
"Yeah, I guess," Spike sighed, "maybe I'll talk to a nice girl and this'll suddenly turn into a cool omake or whatever the hell they're called, whatever that...weeb genre is."
"It's 'Eroge'." T said with a straight face.
"Eroge," Spike corrected, "Instead of being scum of the Earth with our sins of lynching Cardin crawling down our back and threatening to get us back."
Safe to say T was grinning like a snake in his head.
"See ya losers," Russel picked up his pace and went ahead of the trio, looking for exit signs to get out to the garden.
"Adios Space Cowboy." T said, heading towards class, ready to sleep until class started.
[Linebreak Space Cowboys]
Seth walked down the halls of Beacon, staring out the window as the sun began to come up. All he could think of was how he was gonna survive here at Beacon with little idea how he should go about it.
Personally he had no problem being at Beacon, but being trapped inside someone else's body gave him a gnawing sensation in the core of his chest, like a ravenous hungry animal was eating away at him.
And then he felt something hammer into said chest with the force of a train-two palms the size of his face slammed into him and shoved him off course into one of the walls, he almost toppled over instantly from the push.
"Good morning, friend!" Cardin stepped forwards, pulling Seth up by his shirt, "I thought I told you to come back to the dorm last night, come on, lets go, buddy!" he dropped the smaller male, wrapping and arm around his shoulder and forcing him to walk along or fall.
Seth balled his hand into a fist and took a swing at Cardin, from his position, it was pretty pathetic, since he couldn't put his body into it while the bear held him.
Cardin stopped, feeling the strike, chuckling a bit, "Have it your way…" as he passed Seth's body into both arms and-
WHAM!
Cardin threw the smaller man over his head, Seth landing face first onto the floor behind him and flopping onto the floor, overcome with the sudden feeling of pain and only a vague realization of what had happened to him.
Cardin turned around, slamming his boot into the back if Seth's head as he laid there, pressing with more and more weight gradually, "Guess we can have the fun early, buddy, since you hit me first and all."
Seth couldn't see it, but Cardin had the grin only a sadist could have.
He let up, only a second, before jerking Seth's upper body up by his hair; kicking him under the chin with the force of a shotgun-Seth flipping over from the impact and slamming into the wall once again-the loud nose of aura shattering filling the air.
Cardin started towards him, then stopped, turning back around and starting to walk away, he couldn't keep going and not risk getting caught. No, if Sky wanted more, he'd get more, but only if he asked for it.
"Until next time, worm!" Cardin gestured behind him.
Seth attempted to stand up, but collapsed again, with the pain of having been hit by a massive truck. He spat a bit of blood, splattering onto the ground as he felt like he was about to die right there and then.
He wasn't hurt-at least not in any way that actually mattered, but the pain was more than he could bare. The blows could've possibly killed anyone who didn't have an aura...and…
Why did he have so little?
Seth took a moment to regain his strength, letting air enter his lungs after being winded. He gripped the wall, using it as his only support and he climbed back onto his feet. He rubbed his hand over his face, noticing that nothing had broken in spite of how hard he was kicked.
He wanted to run after Cardin, to break his neck and throw him into a den of Beowolves, but he knew that if he tried he would only be beaten further.
In his mind he was trying to figure out what he should do, sure reading and learning from teachers was easy, fun even. But fighting wasn't something he could ever fathom himself doing properly…
He could ask a teacher to help him, because if suspicion was raised and they knew that he wasn't good enough to stay; it could be problematic… He would have to find someone who could teach him hand to hand combat that wasn't a teacher...
But he only knew one person.
[Linebreak Losers]
Spike sat on his knees, staring at his own reflection in one of the garden's many ponds, his eyes, his hair...his face shape, running it through his mind over and over again until he wasn't freaked out anymore.
Though mostly, he thought about what happened...not just that morning, but throughout the day before.
Nothing else really stood out, but it was possible he had used his apparent semblance and didn't even realize it.
One thing quickly stood out to him, and he stood up, walking around the water as he thought about it-his coffee.
It had been on that table for who knows how long, he got it hot, sipped on it, feeling the taste get bitter as it got cooler and cooler. Then forgot about it-passed out for another period of 'who knows', and then drank it cold.
But the next sip?
Warm, not scalding, not fresh, but an odd warmth.
He turned the events over and over in his hands, looking for a possible connection of all the odd happenings, eventually dropping down again, running his fingertips in the water…
A sudden trait of it tore him from his stupor. He fell back, almost all the way to his back, calming himself down as well as he could, he was prepared for something odd to happen now.
The water of the pond was glowing. Not a strong, blinding light, much like the sudden warmth of the java, a faint, yellow change in its brightness. He stood up, creeping to the edge of the water, peering into it.
"What are you doing?" Russel turned around towards the voice the moment she uttered her first syllable.
Her met the blonde's purple gaze, her crossed arms, her raised eyebrow as she questioned the strange behavior of the bully.
"What the hell does it look like I'm doing, I'm making the pond glow!" Spike tried to put on a tough guy persona, came off more like a guy who got caught masturbating and was trying to act all 'everyone does it, shut up'.
"Uh-huh…" Yang slipped next him, then lowered her arms when she set her sights on the result of his unfocused attempt to find out what his semblance did, "Huh…" she shrugged, turning towards him, "Nice wig, by the way."
"It's actually not a wig-ow, damn it!" He tensed up, one eye twitching as Yang interrupted him by jerking his hair suddenly.
"How did-" she let him go, taking a step back, "How'd you do that? No seriously…"
"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out…" he rubbed his head, digging a hand into his pocket awkwardly, kneeling back down to the pond, "You should've seen it this morning, it was white."
"The pond or your hair?"
"My hair-spiked up like I was a cat who just got its tail pulled…" he stuck his fingers back in the water, "It got sharp too…and hard…" he looked up at her next to him, "Weird stuff's been happening all day, yesterday too...so I'm just gonna assume it's my semblance and not God dicking with me."
"Well, you're probably not the first guy who's had odd semblance related things happen to him, just keep some friends around if you don't wanna look like a weirdo playing in the pond," She made finger guns, putting a hip out in an attempt to pose, "Social tips with Yang!"
"Also, aren't you one of those guys that beat up Cardin in the cafeteria?" She questioned, not that she didn't know, but she just wanted to bring it up.
"Sky just kind of kick-started and I had to jump in…" He brushed some stray locks of hair out of his face, "...For some reason, I had to join in, well, I can tell you why I joined in, but I still can't actually believe it myself."
"Pun intended?" Yang smirked.
"Pun intended?" He questioned, taking his hand back out of the water as he felt another odd sensation from it-the feeling of fizzing bubbles running across his skin as the pond seemed to have become...sparkling water?
He shifted his attention to it, gasping as he watched cold steam rising from the small body of water.
"Okay, I'm gonna stop dicking with the pond now, you have a nice day!" he tried to avoid the situation-interacting with canon characters was oddly nerve racking like he was talking to some kind of celebrity…and it didn't help that Yang was hot.
"Hey, wait, which one are you?" Yang called after him as he took off.
"What do you mean?" Spike stopped, looking over his shoulder.
"What's your name, I mean?"
"Spike…"
He hesitated, realizing the mistake he had made.
"Spike...oh...I thought your name was Sky, I must've misheard, anyways, later weirdo!" Yang waved, taking off in a different direction, unknown to Spike she was going off to a group of friends to laugh about the interaction.
Spike sighed, shaking his head, he couldn't practice his semblance in the open, he'd thought people would be a bit more understanding, given they probably had a similar experience-
But he remembered who he was, where he was at. He was the generic bully, in an archetypal role, no writer on Earth would let him ever be painted in a good or even relatable light.
He winced running the situation over and over in his head, he really was a weirdo, and wasn't good at dealing with girls at all, especially not without a crew to give him a morale boost.
Though he knew, at the end of the day, he would probably get something right, if on accident, he wasn't a complete virgin, and had more girlfriends than any of his nerdy friends had, but these aren't normal women he would be interacting with- they were characters, and he was surprised he could have a half-way normal talk. Especially with his connection to Cardin.
And if he was being honest with himself, RWBY had better husbandos than waifus.
He was off to them gym, to wail on a punching bag until he was used to how his body operated, or class started, one of the two. He hadn't have gotten into a fight since Sophomore year, and though he was no slouch when it came to the art of fisticuffs, he knew he was gonna have to work thrice as hard if he didn't want to die.
[Linebreak Losers]
"Man these are some bitchin' croissants." T said, a brown paper bag in his left arm stuffed with the damn things, his right hand occupied by his scroll as he traced where his first class was.
Damn he needs a toothbrush now that he thinks about that, didn't want to repeat past mistakes now.
Should he set like eighty reminders to do that?
Eh too much work.
Closing his scroll, he reached into his bag, grabbed a croissant, and then tossed it in the air off of a random impulse.
"What." He said, staring at the roof as his breaded confectionary smacked into the roof before it fell back down, his hand darting to-
It wooshed by, so bizarrely fast that he slightly unbalanced himself, and undershot the croissant despite reacting late it bounced off the top of his arm- his body jerking to hug the falling meal to stop it from hitting the ground.
He stood there awkwardly, squished croissant pressing into his pant leg as he looked concerned, and confused about this development.
And then he quickly realized the problem, having sucked up so many martial arts manga and anime that the explanation came second hand.
He got a 'power up', so his muscle memory is shot because he's just too much beyond his old strength.
Crap.
Wait a se- "Can I not say crap?" he said, squinting.
Why couldn't he curse like a sailor?
Frick was like his favorite wo-
"You've got to be kidding me…" the brown haired lad said, sighing.
He rushed to class- stumbling a bit before he reduced speed to a more sedate pace after he fell over once or twice.
Eventually he arrived to their first class, throwing open the doors, and sliding in, closing them gently as he wandered over to the table- ready to...train?
Yeah train.
He paid no attention to the couple of early timers that thought the same idea as him as he pulled out his copious amount of frenchy bread bois and slapped them onto where his...seat? Was?
He had no idea so someone would have to deal with him awkwardly shoveling croissants into a bag.
He took the empty brown bag, crumbled it into a tight ball...and then stepped up to the front of class in the semi open area, hocking the paper ball up-
And then throwing his hand out in a claw grip to nab at it.
Albeit even if he wasn't sure if this was his old shitty hand eye coordination or his body, he kept at it, picking and running up after it, over and over again, the silence filled with the noise of shoe skidding on floor, grunts, and more then one falling over like a dumbass.
But hey, those croissants were bitchin' delicious, and learning that bitchin' was allowed was great.
Wait…
Oh crap he could do that Ippo leaf grabbing thing!
This was an anime!
And that'd be hype!
Training was gonna be hype!
AWWWW YEEEEAAAAHHHH!
[Linebreak Losers]
Seth walked into the cafeteria, looking around at everyone eating breakfast as he looked for the person he needed. Truth be told it was unlikely that she would ever say yes, and even more likely to tell him to go screw himself.
But at this point it was really his only course of action. He found his target and walked over to their table, Teams RWBY and JNPR eating breakfast as they talked. Seth stood next to them, as they all took notice.
Pyrrha stood up sharply, slapping her hands on the table and glaring at Sky, "You have a lot of nerve showing up here!"
"No no, Pyrrha, it's fine…" Jaune timidly replied, "Cardin's the only one who does it...he just laughs."
Seth clenched his fist, although he knew everyone was unaware of the change; it didn't help that he was still angry at being accused for something he didn't do. But he held his temper and bowed his head to them slightly. "I'm sorry Jaune, I hope you can forgive me."
Pyrrha quirked a brow, sitting down, "What do you want?"
"They've been acting really weird lately," Yang turned around in her chair to face the bully, "Are you...are you Russel or Dove?"
"Sky?" Seth said, arching a brow.
"Sky? But I thought...what?" Yang blinked, "Okay, someone's lying to me...or maybe it's his first name no one uses?"
"Um… Well I'm Sky Lark… But you can just call me Seth." He said, a small friendly smile growing on his face.
"Why Seth?" Yang sipped on her juice box.
"Uh… Very Long story." Seth said, scratching the back of his head.
"Inside joke?"
"Something like that." Seth nodded.
"So uh...what brings you to our fine table, oh Cardin hunter?" Yang chuckled.
"Well uh…" Seth's words were caught in his throat. Despite mentaly preparing for this he was a bit shy when faced with actually asking for something. "I figured that… you would say no… but I figured I would at least ask…"
Yang's eyes widened, he better not be asking what she thinks he's asking...
"You see… I have a bit of a problem… and really you are the only person I can really ask this of." Seth nervously said, subconsciously delaying what he needed to ask her.
Nora was bracing herself, mouth open a little, ready to burst out in laughter the moment his sentence left his mouth.
Most of the others were either completely socially inept, or didn't give enough of a damn to react to what this awkward loser was saying.
"So… um… damn it… I was hoping that you-"
And then a bruise appeared on his face, Sky tumbled to the floor, subconsciously holding his cheek in pain, Yang was now on her feet with a fire in her eyes and a stone in her fist, "Watch your mouth around my sis, you creep!"
"Yang!" Weiss jumped up, grabbing one of the yellow flame's arms, "Calm down, Yang! Really!"
"Ow! The hell?! And Creep? Why would you say that?" Seth shouted, rubbing his cheek.
"Do you…" Yang took a step back as she lowered her stance, "Do you not...have an aura?"
"Yes… ow… it… broke earlier…" He said, the words bitter in his mouth.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Yang dropped down next to him, "Never hit a guy with no aura, never hit a guy with no aura!"
"That hurt! What are your fists made out of, trucks?!" He said, rubbing his face, having almost forgotten the reason he came here for.
"Well, yeah, I punch Grimm!" Yang shot back.
"Nice to know I'm seen as Grimm in your eyes." Seth passively said, sarcastic in tone.
"Why yes, you ar-" Weiss was interrupted
"What? That's dumb, where did you get that impression!" Yang quirked a brow.
"The fact you hit me, Like A Truck." He said, sounding the last three words out.
"She didn't hit you that hard," Weiss crossed her arms, "If she hit you as hard as she hit Grimm, and you didn't have an aura, you'd be dead!"
"OH! That's reassuring!" He shot back.
"What do you want?" Yang cut to the point.
"I wanted to know if you could teach me how to fight hand to hand. Ow…" He said, his check still soar.
Yang blinked, standing up, just staring down at him wordlessly, the rest of the crew whispering amongst themselves. Weiss smirked, holding in a laugh, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder.
"I figured you would say no. Thanks for the bruse." He said standing up.
"Oh Ruby! I found you a sparring partner!" Yang smiled, looking back to her little sister, "And he's good looking too!"
"You're kidding, right?" Weiss dropped.
"You're kidding, right?" Ruby questioned.
"You're kidding, right?!" Pyrrha snapped.
"Wait what?" Seth said, looking back in confusion.
"You help me teach my little sister, I'll teach you, yeah?" Yang suggested, "It makes sense to me! So why do you want to punch things now?"
"Is it Cardin?" Nora leaned onto the table, resting her chin on her hands.
Visibly everyone could see Sky clench his hand in anger at the mention of his name. "I'm gonna snap his neck…" He muttered under his breath.
Nora smiled, "Oh ho ho! I can't wait!"
Weiss narrowed her eyes, "Well, you can deal with him on your own," she huffed, storming off.
"Yeah! I second that" Pyrrha jumped up, walking off, jerking Jaune up and carrying him off by his shirt, ignoring his cries of 'hey! Hey! Hey!"
Ren calmly stood up, sighing, going with the rest of his team, knowing Nora would follow-and she did.
Blake just gave him an odd and hard to place look, but ignored him for the most part.
"Hey, guys!" Yang gestured for them to come back, "Come on!"
They ignored her.
"I don't like this, sis," Ruby chimed in, "But I can trust you, right?"
"Yeah! You can trust me!" Yang sat back down, "We'll be in the gym right after class, I hope you can at least take a punch with your aura on."
"Thanks…" Seth said, a bit unsure what just happened.
[Linebreak Losers]
With every single move, Spike looked and felt like he was drunk, lunging and stumbling, moving way farther than he thought he did and acting like the punching bag had moved on its own-his body wasn't his own, and no matter how hard he tried, he always stepped a bit too far, every hit a bit too hard and committed.
Now, this of course came with him knocking the heavier bag around like it was a speed bag, but at the cost of him almost toppling almost every strike, like his body was trying to force him into high-flying nonsense akin to what every other RWBY character did and he was fighting back with nothing but will power.
Thankfully, the gym was too empty for anyone to notice this early in the morning, in fact he was alone, and they really trusted these students a bit too much. Granted, his first clue of this should've been co-ed dorms.
Hunters probably have a massive amount of teen pregnancy...assuming aura doesn't stop swimmers from fertilizing eggs.
He felt too strong for his own good, a strength that was undeserved and that he couldn't possibly tame, and at the same time, was below everyone else's (Except maybe Ruby and Weiss). He really had to get the others into doing this to get used to how physically capable a RWBY character's body was.
It had taken him about a full hour to get used to himself, and it was only slightly more so, but nonetheless, much better, at least he felt that way. He dropped down on a bench and caught his breath, thinking more to himself about more than just 'oh god, too far!' and 'Don't swing that far hard, you git!'.
He was much more confident in his ability to take on others, his lack of physicality not carrying over to this universe, thankfully, but he also knew his problems of suddenly being much stronger and faster weren't even close to being gone.
Though, no strength in the world was ever going to make up for the fact that he didn't fight for a living, and everyone else-namely Cardin-did. So more than likely, he was still doomed, just slightly less so.
It wasn't until his '8:50' alarm went off that he realized that he had forgotten to eat-and that meant one thing.
Today was going to be hell.
Especially since he had spent all his energy swinging like a giant and dancing like pedal in the wind-a very heavy wind that overtook the pedal, but a dance in the wind nonetheless, he could probably get back to dancing like he did when he was picking fights almost weekly and still in his old body with time.
But that again, still won't be enough.
It was a scary thing, knowing anyone could kick your ass on a whim, and made even worse by the feeling of being knocked off your throne. He used to be a beast that craved action (Lol, more like an edgelord like anger issues) and would deck anyone first excuse he got. He had the confidence in his ability and (mostly) the other person's lack thereof to back it up.
And now everyone scared him…
He sighed, standing up, realizing he had wasted another minute, and pulled his map up on his scroll, locating his first class of the day, making off as fast as he could through the unfamiliar campus with a brisk pace. He wanted to be early, to make a good impression with his teachers to stave off the bad.
"Oh! Hey there, Red! Long time no see!" he was greeted by a stranger the moment he got into the hallway, a dude about the same size as him with slightly more bulk-it was a character Spike had never seen before-
"Excuse me," Spike eased around him, trying to shrug him off, didn't even bother to take in what he looked like, he clearly wasn't that important if he wasn't in the sho-
Spike winced, is head jerking back as he stopped his movement out of instinct, "Almost didn't recognize you with the hair," the mysterious character smirked, jerking Spike back by the hair, "Come on man, lets skip class like the good ol' times, back before you started talking to that Cardin guy…"
The man's hand was suddenly forced out of Russel's hair, as it shot up and hardened into white liberty spikes with the durability of cold iron. Forcing his fingers out of the bully's brown locks-and allowing him to get free.
Spike jerked around, quick-stepping back and almost tripping from having to use his odd leg strength under pressure-he threw his arms up in a defensive pseudo-boxing stance and questioned, "Woah woah, what the hell?"
"You don't just pork a man's sister in their dorm, Red! And then you turn around and call her a mule like you're suddenly a racist?!"
'Not good, dear God, not good at all!' Spike thought.
The offending Faunus cracked his neck, long orange-red hair shifting from side to side with the movement, floppy brown ears cocked like he was a loaded musket with two hammers, and green feline gaze almost sharp enough to cut the bully down.
"Listen man, I think there's a misunderstanding!" Spike reasoned, stepping backwards slowly, "Maybe she took a joke too seriously?" he grasped at straws-the last thing he needed was a throwdown right here, right now.
"Stuff it, human!" he chuckled, "Get down and grovel and I'll send you on your way!"
"You're kidding…" Spike lowered his arms and idly put them into his pocket, "You might as well beat my ass now then! And make sure it only takes a couple minutes, I don't wanna be late to class."
His hair was now floppy again, and this time, a slight tinge of orange to the mix of brown-with a slight wave of warmth to match.
"I can't tell if you're prideful or a little coward, so I'm just gonna call you both!" He raised a fist, clearly not trained for even a second how to fist fight, he threw it back as far as he could as he charged at Russel, "And if you insist!"
He brought his arm down like a jackhammer, ready to pummel the surrendering bully-
And the pain of all nine hells suddenly overtook him-all focused on his eyes as darkness overtook him with his eyelids forcing themselves closed. His fist struck nothing but air, he cried out in pain and surprise from the agony of unknown origins.
He stumbled back, rubbing his eyes-feeling something coarse and rough and irritating, and it was getting everywhere!
"Pocket sand, bitch! Good to know aura's not perfect!" Russel smirked, "Farewell, pussycat!"
"Argh-Russel!" the stranger screamed as he tried to blink as much as he could with his face buried in his hands, gritting his teeth. He didn't need to try to defend himself while blind it seemed, thankfully, knowing Russel was taking off, he screamed once more, "Next time I see you, I'm gonna fu-"
He was cut off by pain, and the fact that the curse had been robbed of all his air. Russel wasn't the strongest man in the hall, but any hunter could at least throw a punch...and this one struck home right in the breadbasket and forced the wind out of him and knocked him on his ass.
"Good to know I can wind ya too! See ya, fag! This handsome devil's a wiley one!" and this time, Spike actually took off, knowing damn well that trying to milk this any further would lead to a real fight, and that would not be a favorable situation for him.
He tried to formulate something else he could do as he fled with his tail tucked between his legs, that fake surrender into pocket sand combo wasn't going to work on the same person twice, and thus far, it was his only trick.
But oh the fun to be had with this new information, the eyes were still the keys to the kingdom, even with aura on the field.
[SSHHH-SHA!]