[X] Sun Wukong
The sound of steel clashing filled the air for a second, taking long enough to ring out that the staff and the sword had already disengaged by the time the sound had been audible. Pulling the long stick in front of him, Sun circled around, as he stared forward.
It was always an experience, sparring with Sage. Different, at least. Most of the time, in fights, everything just came down to frantically hitting things. It got the blood pumping, but some variety really helped to get some new joy out of some fights.
It helped that Sage's Semblance made it easy for him to counter attacks that weren't well thought out. Sun was the first to admit he didn't usually think that tactically in a fight. His weapon's different forms usually let him just rush an enemy and blindside them from an unexpected angle while they were reeling for his staff turning into nunchucks. So when Sage wanted a play fight to measure his abilities, Sun had to re-adjust.
He and Sage circled each other for a moment, as Sun plotted out his next move. He smiled to himself slightly, as he stepped around to face the sun in the sky, before he moved. He surged forward, and Sage held his sword in front of him, bracing for an impact that never came. Instead, Sun drove his staff into the ground and vaulted over Sage, who turned his gaze to follow Sun's flight.
Sunlight met Sage's eyes, and he winced, reflexively putting a hand up to cover his eyes. In that split second, he was only holding his monster of a sword in one hand, and that was enough. Sun's staff fell apart, and as he grasped up to hold on to the nunchuck form. His right hand grasped around one section of steel for his weapon, while the other slipped from his grasp, continuing it's arc through the air into Sage's sword hand.
A green shockwave shot out as Sage recoiled his sword, the sword falling to the ground as the nunchuck at his wrist- Ruyi Bang, Sun presumed, making the one he was holding Jingu Bang- Was thrown off into away from Sage. He must have already realised his mistake by then, but a second too late.
Sun hit the ground behind his friend, as Jingu Bang shifted itself into a straight stick again. Shorter than the full staff, but still at least a weapon. Which, right now, was better than what Sage had going for him.
The taller boy held his fists in front of him, as he stared Sun down. Not willing to give Sun an opening, he opted to go unarmed instead, for the remainder of the match.
It was a nice little ring they were fighting on, Sun had to admit. A little concrete arena for play-fights out the back of the main Schnee manor, a nice white circle under the sun. He had to wonder why it was back here, though. He didn't think the old Schnee boss had been fond of fighting himself, but the location of the ring and the lack of pre-built seating meant that it clearly wasn't a spectator thing. Maybe something for his daughters, then? Or his wife.
There was a flash of light to Sun's left, and even as he consciously recognised it to be the flash of a camera, his body had already subconsciously moved, positioning his arm to put his weapon behind his back, while emphasising his honestly incredibly muscled abs.
Standing by the side of the concrete fight circle, a camera covering the majority of her face, was a girl dressed in brown, with the ears of a rabbit poking above the camera. As Sun looked over, she moved the camera away and revealed a somewhat annoyed face behind it.
She was kinda cute, Sun mused, looking over at her. Looked a bit older than him too, though that might have just been her annoyance throwing off his estimate. It'd be easier to tell if she was smiling.
"Not that I don't appreciate the view." The girl noted. "But I was looking at that weapon. I'd appreciate that more."
"Have we stopped, then?" Sage asked, as he leaned down to pick up his sword. "Why am I even asking, you've seen a new girl that you don't recognise, of course we're done."
"I have no idea what you could possibly mean." Sun shot back defensively, holding his half staff up towards Sage. "There's a slight chance that the cute girl who I haven't seen before might like seeing this in motion."
"That cute girl is right here." She noted, a sort of edge to her voice. Sun wasn't so dense as to miss it. There was more to it than the usual 'Why would you try and sneak in with a cardboard box, nobody would stop you walking around' annoyance. It was more the sound of someone who had more important things to deal with and didn't need the additional annoyances on top of it.
"Sorry, sorry." Sun apologised. "But seriously, are you interested in my weapon? I don't mind letting you get a look if you want-"
"I think I've got enough pictures." The other girl replied, her expression relaxing slightly. "Though, I didn't see your friend's weapon changing form. I'd like to see that."
"Sorry to disappoint." Sage replied, as he sheathed his blade. "I believe in keeping things simple. It's not actually a gun."
"...People still stay to just melee?" The rabbit Faunus asked, seeming legitimately confused. "But... You realise how much you're limiting your options there, right? If you were a civilian, maybe I'd get it, but aren't you a Hunter in training?"
"He's being stubborn about being philosophical." Sun advised her, as he picked up and put together his staff again. "Something about mastering every aspect he can of combat with the sword before he builds on it with a gun."
The girl didn't reply, still very confused by the fact that he was using a normal weapon, and Sun decided to try and change the topic.
"So, I haven't seen you around here." He tried. "Not part of the Schnee's contest thing, at least. And that doesn't look like the Schnee servant uniform anyway. Mind if I ask what you're doing around here?"
The girl glared at Sun. "Do I mind-"
She cut herself off, suddenly staring into the distance. Sun followed her gaze for a moment, but she wasn't looking at anything new, and those red eyes of hers seemed more unfocused than anything.
After a few uncomfortable seconds, the girl raised a hand to her forehead, and started muttering herself as she massaged her brow. "It's fine, it's fine, Two or Three will have time soon, just a little longer, no need to get snippy..."
"I presume you'd rather not talk about it?" Sage asked, silencing the girls murmurings as she realised she was speaking out loud.
"...Sorry." She spoke softly, and slowly, considering her words carefully. "I've been... Well, it doesn't matter."
"Am I interrupting something?"
The three people already present turned towards the newcomer, who Sun vaguely recognised. He hadn't talked to this kid much, since he had ended up staying behind, but he'd been another one of the winners in Mistral. He'd made Sun wear decent clothing when he first came to the Schnee manor.
Gawain wasn't here to make him wear more professional clothes now, was he? Sun had just gotten used to being able to show off his abs freely again, rather than just through tight clothes. He didn't want to go back. Even if it did leave him kinda cold, but it was fine, his abs were hot enough to keep him well heated.
Maybe he should try some other warm clothes sometimes, though. Gawain certainly seemed to embrace it as an excuse to try on some new styles. Traded out the feather coat for a nice green scarf, and seemingly going for the knight in shining armour look with the, well, shining armour.
"Nothing important." The girl in brown noted offhand. "I was just here for a distraction anyway, but I'm starting to think I should just mimic Melanie and lock myself in a room for a while."
"I don't believe we've met." Gawain noted, raising an eyebrow. "My name is Gawain. It's a pleasure to meet you, lady..."
"Velvet." The rabbit Faunus introduced herself. "Anyway, I'll be off then."
Putting her camera in a pouch on her belt, she started walking away, heading past Gawain towards the mansion.
Sun looked over to see if Gawain was going to make any more attempts at a conversation, or move towards a target range nearby or something. When Gawain just observed Velvet as she walked to move past him, Sun turned back to Sage.
"I'm calling dibs on the victory last round." Sun declared. "At worse, foul play. Someone trying to get my photo counts as enough outside interference to make the round void, unless I would win in which case it totally counts."
Sage rolled his eyes, but was smiling as he did so. "Perhaps I should integrate some cameras into my sword at some point, then, if it is that effective at making you forget to fight."
...Huh, that was actually a pretty clever idea. Sage's whole fighting style worked off the idea of controlling the flow of the battle, forcing things down to his pace using his Semblance and it's countering shockwave thingys. Add in a few extra tricks like a flashbang, he could probably work towards setting up something like making an enemy complacent in the slow pace, before blindsiding them and going full speed like a bulldozer to finish them off quickly.
Sun considered how to phrase the idea that Sage should think about that more as a joke, when the alarm started blaring.
His gaze snapped around, towards the Schnee manor, and he vaguely noticed Sage doing the same out of the corner of his eye. Velvet was looking towards it as well, having paused in her stride a half-step past Gawain.
...Who wasn't looking at the mansion at all. In fact, Gawain was just looking down at his feet. Didn't look overly surprised, either.
"Do-"
Before Sun could ask if Gawain knew what was going on, the other Mistralian's hand shot bac, and grabbed Velvet by her hair. The Faunus cried out, as Gawain suddenly twisted his body, throwing Velvet forward and into the ground.
"Hey!" Sun shouted, suddenly jumping forward. He didn't know what Gawain had intended there, but if he was just going to get violent for no reason, then he wasn't just going to stand there. His staff arced through the air, towards the side of Gawain's face, and the boy in the green scarf reached for his belt, pulling his sword out of a sheath that had been resting there.
The blade clanged against Sun's staff, and as Sun's attack lost momentum, Gawain started his. With a press of a button, his sword started shifting into a long barrelled gun of some sort, and Sun ducked down and to the side as he fired.
An explosion ripped through the air behind Sun, as he noticed Velvet spring to her feet out of the corner of hi eye. She was at Sun's side at an instant, grabbing his arm to pull him to his feet faster than he would have managed on his own, and pulled her back just as quickly. Gawain fired again, but with Velvet pulling Sun back, it was easy enough for Sage to surge ahead, blocking the explosion with his sword and letting a green shockwave surge out to cancel out the force of the detonation.
For a moment, nothing happened, as the dust settled. Gawain stared at the three people he had attacked, an almost melancholic element to his gaze as he did so.
"What the hell, man?" Sun spat out. "You can't just attack someone out of the blue like that!"
"...There's no point to talking now." Gawain declared, almost mournfully. "The three of you have done nothing wrong, and for that, I apologise. If things had gone to plan, this might not have been necessary."
What the hell was he going on about? What plan?
"But I know my siblings too well, this one especially." He continued. "She's too stubborn to stop risking herself for this, and I won't stop her doing what is ultimately the right thing. Supporting her how I can is the only choice I have."
"So the reason the alarm was set off has something to do with you, then?" Sage asked, keeping his defensive position even as Sun prepared a more offensive one. "A sister behind it, I suppose?"
Gawain didn't respond, instead slowly drawing closer with his sword arm extended to the side.
"It looks like he's not talking." Velvet muttered, reaching for her belt. "This might be bad, considering that Semblance of his.
...Ah, right. His Semblance. He'd made a point of saying what it was on national television once, when he was in the Mistral Regional Tournament. Gawain was solar powered, and as long as he was exposed to sunlight, his nonsensically large Aura reserves regenerating basically instantly.
Without looking back and taking his eyes off of Gawain, Sun felt the searing sunlight burn against the back of his neck, and knew that there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
That... Might be a problem.
What the hell did he want out of this, anyway? Why did a semi-celebrity tournament fighter and promising Hunter in training just suddenly start supporting this? There had to be more to it than just having a sibling involved as well. And more than that, how was him attacking three random people in the back yard of the Schnee manor helping?
Sun was fairly sure he and Sage weren't important enough to get special treatment from any attackers, so if he was trying to fight someone specifically, he'd be after Velvet. But Velvet seemed as lost as Sun himself was, judging by what he could read from her facial expression out of the corner of his eye.
So, then, what was the plan?
...Was he just intended to be a distraction? He had waited until the alarm had started blaring, opened up with an extremely noticeable explosive, and was in an area where sound was more likely to be heard by any outside interference, compared to inside the manor.
...Well, he'd just have to consider it later. As Gawain drew close, Sun prepared a plan of action.
[X] They couldn't beat him out in the open, but he was blocking the path towards the manor. But the target range was nearby, and if they took the fight there...
[X] He was blocking the way to the Schnee manor, but fights could be chaotic. They just needed to hold out until a chance to run was available.
[X] There had to be a limit to every Semblance, didn't there? So if they just tried enough brute force, Gawain's Aura should stop regenerating, or they'd notice another weakness to exploit.