"I… um… that was something."
Vertiya was at a loss for words. The four of them – Vertiya, Yimesz, Pluto and Ruzovi – were back in their dorm now, although Yimesz was a little late getting back, and Vertiya had a good inkling as to why. All that was on their minds though was the duel that Pluto had had with Fen not a couple of hours ago.
The atmosphere after Pluto knocked Fen out of the ring was electric. Vertiya's eyes were wide and her mouth slightly ajar when she realised what happened, and there was a deafening silence in the dojo following that. Tristov's expression was similar to Vertiya's, and the two other boys from FEKT, Emeric and Karmin, each had a hand balled into a fist over their mouths with puffed out cheeks, most likely trying to not laugh. Fen was livid, seen in her eyes, and even Professor Lazuli had a flash of surprise in his expression, but it quickly went. "Well, I guess that concludes for the day," he said, but there was a short pause before anyone moved.
Pluto, however, was the first. Converting his hammer back into a flask, he took another swig, before stumbling his way out of the sparring ring, stopping by Fen briefly. "Thanks for the training," he said, before making his way out of the room, after which a couple people started to make their way out behind him, eventually leading to the rest of the students leaving the dojo.
"Heh, most people underestimate a drunk person's ability to fight," Pluto explained, lying back on his bed. "We'd landed our ship somewhere in Mistral, and we were pillaging some place – yeah, I know, I don't have the most lawful of upbringings – and some person, clearly drunk, came out and knocked out a good six men before he finally went down. I was curious, and although we took him captive, I requested he teach me how to fight in the way he did, because after all I was commonly drunk, and the fighting he did was something I reckoned I could pick up."
"So it was drunken fist then?" Vertiya asked. She'd brought it up as more of a passing comment when talking to Fen back at the initiations, but as it turned out, she was right. After all, she'd never actually seen it before, she'd only ever heard of it in fighting research.
"I believe he called it Zui Quan, but I think that translated it means the same thing. Technically speaking, you're not meant to actually be drunk, but hey it works for me," Pluto explained, chucking his flask up in the air and catching it aimlessly. "Ruzovi, what style did you use? Your fight against Karmin was a good one."
"Oh?" Ruzovi said, her tone showing that she was caught a little off guard by the question, as she sat up out of bed. It wasn't that late as far as Vertiya was concerned, but she reminded herself that Ruzovi was still only fourteen, and by the looks of it, she got tired a little bit earlier. "I… uh… I was brought up with a lot of different styles, like karate, judo, and tai chi without a weapon, and… umm… kendo, bojutsu, kobudo and shintaido when I was younger. I preferred bojutsu though, which is what I stuck with, and why I use a bo staff," Ruzovi explained, yawning at the end her sentence. "I had to do a… lot of training when I was younger. My mother and father were kinda insistent on making sure I had as much training as possible as a child."
Vertiya almost felt a little sorry for Ruzovi. Sure, both her parents wanted her to do well, but training was never forced on her, and everything she did was pretty much because she wanted to. That was why she dabbled around with card tricks, and Yimesz with boxing, and as such it led to their weapon choices. She couldn't really imagine having to spend her childhood doing all of that because she was pressured into it, and by the sound of it, that was what Ruzovi had. If anything, it was probably why she wasn't the most talkative – if you're training that much all the time, you wouldn't exactly have time to socialise.
"Gee, didn't realise how much everyone seems to have done, all I did is boxing," Yimesz admitted, laughing a little after finally putting his scroll down. "Granted, it was a little more fighting than V did, but even still."
Vertiya glared at him, part for the comment and part for that nickname, before turning to the other two. "Yeah, I'm not trained in any martial arts or any form of combat, I'm just good at throwing cards," she explained with a shrug. "Oh, and I guess more of the mental stuff, but that's about it."
"It does help that you also have that secondary semblance that basically makes you a god, and you know how to choreograph a battle," Pluto pointed out with a grin, turning to face the twins on the other side of the room, alongside catching his flask and putting it on the bedside table next to him. "Also, Yi, you seem to have been training in another art, although I wouldn't exactly consider it useful for combat. Aurolia, wasn't she?"
Yimesz laughed at that, and a grin spread his lips. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call that one training. More just a natural flair, for lack of a better term." To be fair, even as far as Vertiya was concerned, this was one of Yimesz's better catches. Aurolia was apparently a model alongside learning her primary combat school, and Vertiya could see why – long, wavy, ruby red hair that went alongside perfectly with her large golden-yellow eyes, and a petite hourglass frame a little shorter than herself – she pretty much had it all going for her. Even she was a little attracted to her, but Yimesz was there first, and besides, Vertiya did not meet many who swung that way.
"Either way, fair play there. I will admit, that chick who I duelled earlier, Fen, is something of my type, but I doubt she wants the 'drunkard who can't do anything'," Pluto said, laughing at the last part having put on a subtle tone of sarcasm. When he turned, though, he quietened down a little.
Ruzovi, clearly tired, had fallen asleep. Her shoulder length platinum blonde hair cascaded around her soft face, rising and falling gently in harmony with her breathing, and Vertiya soon realised it was getting late. "We should probably all get some sleep, now I think about it," she said, slipping underneath her covers. The two boys nodded in agreement and got into bed as well, however it was at this point Vertiya realised the lights were still on and she'd just gotten comfortable. Sighing, she said, "Goodnight," to the others before getting a pink card and lazily chucking it at the switch, which resulted in the overhead lights turning off.
By the time Vertiya actually woke up, everyone had left the room. She hadn't exactly slept in a massive amount – it couldn't be later than ten in the morning – but with no classes on today for it being the weekend, she gave herself the luxury of a little more sleep. Pluto was always up at the crack of dawn, Ruzovi was most likely training, and Yimesz… Vertiya didn't want to think about it. His personal life was his life. Yawning softly, she stretched out her arms and slowly started to roll out of the covers before a knocking that almost made her fall out of the bed made her hurry up. Wearing little more than an oversized t-shirt, she opened the door to find a fully dressed Fen standing outside.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if Plutonine is around, would you?" Fen asked, which made Vertiya gulp. Fen couldn't still be annoyed from yesterday, could she? Granted, Fen's team weren't quite as forgiving as Vertiya's, but even still, Fen seemed the type to be able to put it behind her.
"Pluto? He's normally up at first light, but as to where he goes, I have no idea. Probably somewhere near water or such," Vertiya admitted, shrugging. "This isn't about… yesterday, is it?"
"Well… admittedly, it is, but not for a bad reason," Fen told her. "I… just… you remember yesterday, when I told you I fight by working out the predictable traits people use in fights? Well… Plutonine was so, well, unpredictable, that I wasn't able to determine what he was going to do at any point, and I want to know how to combat that. Hence why I wanted to speak to him about it – if I can understand it, I can beat it. Plus I doubt he'll be drunk at the moment, so he should be more coherent."
Vertiya wasn't quite convinced that Pluto would be sober considering he'd most likely been up for at least three or four hours, but she neglected to mention that. "Well, either way, I don't entirely know where he is, but I'm sure you'll find him soon enough. You still got four wins though yesterday and that's more than anyone else did, don't forget that."
Fen's bandana raised a little, and Vertiya knew there was a slight smile behind it. "Ah, but I strive for perfection, and four out of five is under that level," she pointed out. "Nevertheless, I am sure I'll find him in due course, so I'll leave you to it. Thanks for the assist," Fen concluded, before walking off down the hall. Vertiya watched her off a little, before shutting the door, going over to her clothes to get something a little more practical on.
Once she'd gotten changed, went to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and actually made it out to explore Atlas Academy, Vertiya knew it was already gone noon. Vertiya was going to spend most of the day going over notes, but the weather outside was nice, so she decided rather than spend the day cooped up indoors, she might as well go outside. The academy had huge grounds, and it did take almost hours of walking between finding different people.
She did pass a few of the teams from other years who were around, but most of them weren't really talkative other than a smile or a nod. Vertiya knew a lot of the older teams were out doing field work with professors or so, and they'd be getting to that soon, once they'd spent a few months in training. She also managed to go past Yimesz and Aurolia doing… Vertiya quickly moved past them before the pair of them noticed her, and a short walk later she spotted Ruzovi doing a little bit of combat practice with one of the CNMN girls, Nave. Vertiya hung with the two for a while, more watching the two at it and picking up their styles than anything; they both fought in a similar fashion, using an almost rhythmic style to their combat, but in different ways – Nave was a dancer and combined that into fighting, where Ruzovi was purely from a combat standpoint. Even still, it looked as much a dance as it did a battle, and although Vertiya knew she wouldn't exactly be able to replicate it, it was still enthralling to spectate.
Not too long after she left the two girls to it, Vertiya went out to the lake nearby, and it was there she found Pluto, staring out across and occasionally skimming stones on the otherwise peaceful body of water. "This where you usually hang out, I take it?" Vertiya asked.
"Most of the time," Pluto said, not immediately turning. "After all, I lived nearly all of my life on the sea, and although being on land is nice, it's a little… odd. I'm used to the floor not being this stable after all, probably why I've been drinking more," he laughed, still staring out.
"Do you miss it, then?" Vertiya asked. Even in her head it was a fairly obvious question, but she felt she might as well ask anyway.
"Miss it? Hell no," Pluto admitted, turning to her and surprising Vertiya with his answer. "Well, to explain, sure I loved being on the sea and all, but I was never really a fan of the whole piracy thing. Like, I don't entirely know where I got it from, but I had some sense of morality as a kid that what we were doing was, well, wrong. A lot of the crew I was with told me it'd be fine, we were only stealing from those who deserved to be stolen from, yadda yadda, but I couldn't quite agree with it. When I graduate from here, I'd love to be a captain of a ship again, but I wouldn't be doing what my old roots were. Whether it's navy or something else, I haven't quite decided. Maybe I'll even get to go to see as part of the Atlas military, that would be an interesting one. What about yourself? Any future plans?"
Vertiya had to take a short moment to consider. Sure, she wanted to become a huntress, but… following that? She knew a lot of the huntsmen and huntresses from Atlas tended to go into the Atlesian military, but she couldn't really see herself there. Perhaps she'd follow in the way of her aunt, as she was often roaming around, pretty much carefree. "I haven't really decided on an end-term goal as of yet. I'll probably just see where the road takes me," she finally concluded, looking out to the lake alongside Pluto, whose gaze also went out the same way. "Did Fen find you, by the way?"
"Fen? Oh, yeah, she said something about wanting training to be able to beat someone unpredictable," he replied, shrugging. "I just told her that the only way you can beat someone unpredictable is to not try and predict them, because I know that's what she does, but I said we'd have a few spars here and there if she really wanted them. I noticed you didn't particularly want to duel yesterday, however?"
"Duels aren't my thing. I prefer fighting Grimm to other people," Vertiya explained. "If I have to fight another person – say, they're a criminal or something – I will, but if possible, I prefer to battle against things that can't be dealt with through intellect and reasoning."
"That's plenty acceptable. Well, when we get round to going off on Grimm hunts, I'll know who to call on," Pluto replied, a small smile on his face. Vertiya had a smile on hers as well at the comment, as the sun slowly started to fall in the sky, leaving a shimmering reflection across the water as the day started to draw to a close.