"What colossal Grimm, seen only once, was defeated by the silver-eyed huntress Ruby Rose in Argus, year 82 post-war?" Snow read from her Holoband. She looked up to Caspian.
"Leviathan," Caspian answered.
Snow nodded. "Correct. And what special ability did the Leviathan have?"
Caspian pursed his lips, and glanced sideways to the view outside The Roots. "Well, it was huge... Oh! That beam thing, right?"
"Right. The Leviathan could let loose an energy blast from its mouth. This energy blast was capable of breaking through Argus's hard-light barriers," Snow replied.
"Yeah, that's a better way of putting it," Caspian admitted. He took a bite of his lunch, then scrolled through the list of practice questions on his own Holo. "Let's see... what special ability was possessed by the Wyvern Grimm that attacked Beacon Academy during its fall?"
"The Wyvern could drop Blackened Pools, which spawned Grimm."
"Right again," Caspian confirmed. Ten correct answers in a row from Snow, and eight from him. The stress of finals had faded enough he had time to ponder something else. "Those Blackened Pools, supposedly, were all taken care of after the whole Salem thing. But now the Grimm are back. Makes me wonder a bit."
"So that's where you two ended up!" Rowan greeted. He set his tray down and shuffled in next to Caspian. "What's crackin'?"
Caspian's quiet study session with Snow had come to an abrupt end.
"So, remember what your uncle said about getting yourself out there?"
"Yes…"
"I pulled some strings and got us invited to a party tonight!" Rowan proudly announced.
"A party?" Caspian repeated. "With finals starting Monday?"
"You'll do fine!" Rowan encouraged.
"Will you?"
Rowan paused for a second, then dismissed the question with his hand. "I'm sure I'll do fine enough." He nudged Caspian. "No better place to meet a lady! Come on, I'll wingman for you."
"Mm-hm. Because it went really well last time you tried," Caspian jabbed. He took a bite of his lunch. "I don't really think parties are my thing. Too loud, too many people."
Too loud, too many people, and he still wasn't quite over Lilly.
"It's an academy party, you gotta at least go to one!" Rowan insisted. He looked to Snow. "Girls get in without a problem, you wanna come?"
"No."
"I think my dad would have a heart attack if we brought Snow to a party anyway," Caspian figured. "...And fine. I'll go. You'd probably just keep begging me until I went, anyway."
Caspian heard the muffled, thumping bass a block and a half away from the house party, and for a second he pitied their neighbors. He and Rowan walked together along the narrow residential streets just North of campus, toward something Caspian had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn't enjoy.
"Whose house even is this?" Caspian pondered as they neared the front yard. At least there wasn't any question they were in the right spot, judging by the game of beer pong in the front yard and the guy hunched over the garbage can in front of the garage..
"Holobands?" the faunus at the door asked. Caspian hesitantly offered his wrist, and the makeshift bouncer held his own up to it. "You're good," he said at a green light's queue.
When the two made it inside, and another already-drunk group sealed off their escape, the music threatened to burst Caspian's eardrums. The song was a strange hybrid of rap and electronic, but not a particularly good example of either genre. Caspian wedged his way between a crowd and the wall, offering apologies he was sure they couldn't hear. Lights flashed throughout the otherwise dark room at the end of the hall, coating the dancing swarm in randomly alternating shades of blue, pink, purple, and yellow. It had to be a fire hazard, having all these people crammed in such a tight space. Probably a crushing hazard, too. Rowan said something from behind him.
"What?!" Caspian shouted back.
"I said, let's get something to drink!" Rowan repeated. Even a couple inches from his ear, Rowan's voice was hard to pick out of the background.
"Let's get water, it's hot in here!" Caspian decided, making his way toward the sink.
Rowan chuckled, and offered a cup of clear mystery liquid. "Water? Nah, I'm talking one of these!"
"That's not water?" Caspian questioned. "And why are there only like, two sips in there?" He held the drink up to his face, and recoiled at the stench. It smelled like some kind of cleaning solution, and he wasn't entirely sure it was safe for human consumption.
"Don't sip it! Just– down the hatch," Rowan responded, tilting his own cup toward his wide-open mouth. We'll do it together on three." He held up three fingers, and they dropped one after another. "Three, two, one!"
The deceptively colorless liquid that ran down Caspian's throat was putrid. His face twisted at the taste, and his throat burned with the disgusted breath he let out. He continued to grimace as the liquid's remnants lingered on his tongue. As he held the back of his hand to his mouth, his eyes flicked to the several tables that had been laid out, looking for water, juice, a spare slice of pizza. Anything to mask the flavor.
Rowan clapped him on the shoulder. "How was your first shot, man?"
Caspian's disgusted groan was the only reply he could muster.
Rowan laughed. "Wanna dance? Not with me, of course."
Caspian held up his empty glass. "I'm gonna need a few more of these before I start dancing."
Over the course of the next hour or so, he had a few more. He stopped caring as much about the music, the lights, and forgot the count of how many sweaty strangers bumped into him. As his head began to spin, he even did a little of what resembled dancing. Eventually, the heat of the room got to him, and his thirst was unbearable.
"Can we get some water now?" Caspian asked, stabilizing himself on Rowan. "My throat is... needing water."
"Yeah, mine too," Rowan agreed. The two shuffled out of the crowd and into the side hall that led to the kitchen. They grabbed a plastic cup each, and drank deeply from the tap. Usually Caspian would prefer filtered water, a degree or two away from frozen. But by this point in the night, he couldn't care less.
A flicker of movement down the hall running parallel to the dance floor caught his eye when he left the kitchen. The twitch of a fluffy tail, more than half the height of the squirrel faunus he'd seen a few times around campus. She looked up to him, and flashed the same smile he still remembered from his first day at Sentinel. He smiled back, before a hand pulled him back into the kitchen.
"I saw that!" Rowan hinted with a wink and a nudge.
"Saw what?"
"That squirrel girl. She's totally into you!"
"That? Nah..." Caspian dismissed. He pulled up a chair and sat, anchoring himself in the spinning world. "She's probably just really nice."
"You gotta give it a chance! We're gettin' out there, remember?" Rowan insisted.
Caspian shook his head, but regretted it for the few seconds it took for the room to fall back into place. "Way outta my league."
"How do you know?" Rowan prodded. "Have you tried playing in that league yet?"
"I'd probably hurt myself," Caspian muttered. "Besides, I've seen her around a ton before, it would be weird if I talked to her out of nowhere now."
"You've seen her arou– okay. Listen. I want you to repeat after me," Rowan instructed, holding Caspian's shoulder and leaning in, pointing between his eyes. It looked like the drinks had caught up with him as well. "You're cute, wanna dance?"
"No! She's gonna like... get scared off," Caspian protested, sloppily brushing Rowan's hand off his shoulder. "What if I tell her I've seen her around before, and say I wanna introduce myself? Then, just hope the conversation continues from there."
"So, you gonna do it?"
"She is pretty cute."
"Let's go!" Rowan clapped. "Get hyped. Come on!"
Caspian sighed, and stood up. He took a couple of seconds to find his footing, then looked at Rowan. "I think I got this."
He stopped upon reaching the mouth of the hallway. The faunus still sat in the same chair, but another man with a captivating grin and neatly styled hair stood next to her. He couldn't tell what they said, but judging by her smiles and nods, the conversation was going better than any he could've hoped to have with her. She finished off her drink before walking with him to the dance floor.
She was just really friendly, he realized. The smile meant nothing special, and he felt stupid for letting his half-drunk euphoria tell him otherwise.
"Can we go?" Caspian suddenly asked.
"Huh? I thought you were having a good time," Rowan asked in return.
"I was, but... I want to leave," Caspian decided, shaking his head.
"That was one girl!" Rowan argued. "This party is packed, there's gotta be like, fifty more here. At least."
"I know, and I don't care anymore. I don't want to be a part of any of this. It's hot in here, and I want to leave."
Caspian shuffled past the crowd that had gathered in the hall and toward the front door, leaving Rowan no choice but to follow. He stumbled down the steps and out of the driveway, making it about a block toward campus before taking a seat on a set of concrete stairs, bathed in the orange-brown glow of a streetlight. He could still hear the bass, and muffled lyrics of whatever song the party host played.
"What happened in there, man?" Rowan inquired. Caspian couldn't stand his worry-tinged tone.
"This whole thing, getting drunk and finding some random girl to dance with, and... whatever else. Not my thing. It just feels so shallow," Caspian complained. "Lilly and I have been friends for years. I thought we could've had a relationship built on that. It's not like I'm mad at her or anything, I just can't replace something like that at a party." He let a breath cloud the chilled air around him. "I'm not good at meeting new people. It scares me a little bit. I'd rather just have something turn into a relationship, but I don't know anyone in the first place."
"Oh. Fair enough."
"And I know Uncle Doug said to get out there, but he also told us to be ourselves," he reminded. "This isn't me."
"You want someone who knows the 'real' you," Rowan said. "What about Snow?"
"What about her?"
"She's cute, isn't she?"
"I mean, it's not like I've never thought about it," Caspian admitted. "But I don't think of her that way, really."
"Oh, right. If your uncle took her in, isn't she technically your cousin?"
"No!" Caspian nearly shouted. "I mean, it's not like that. That's not why."
"Then why not Snow?"
"Well to start, I don't think she's interested. I'm not sure she's really into anyone, if you get what I'm trying to say." He looked up, to where the shattered moon shone between drifting clouds. "And… well, nevermind. I guess that's the main reason. Look. Finals start Monday. Can we just go home?"
The young man in purple grunted as he slammed chest-first into the ground, his weapon clattering out of the arena. He groaned again as he turned onto his side, and began to sit upright. "Just my luck to be partnered with her..."
Lazula made her way down from the practice stage and back toward her team. Another easy win. If this was what to expect out of the Vytal Tournament, they might as well give her the trophy now. Of her teammates, all but Ichigo had won their practice matches, and he took on more of a support role, anyway. In the first-year rankings, Team LSLI sat comfortably above their closest competition, Team BLCM.
"Thank you, for the matches," Cascara, who had been tasked with overseeing the day's first-year practice duels, commended. The holographic screen above the stage cycled through dozens of faces, before settling on two more teams. "The following four matches will be between Team CRLN, and Team BLCM."
Caspian breathed out a deep breath. A dull, nagging pain wracked his head, and his stomach felt both empty and uneasy, even after choking down his breakfast. According to the screen, his fight would be last. His eyes lingered on the portrait of his magenta-haired opponent. Then, he noticed Rowan's: the squirrel faunus he'd almost talked to the night before.
"I've gotcha, man," Rowan assured. "I'll get revenge for last night."
"Revenge?" Caspian repeated. He chuckled. "Good luck and all, but that's really not necessary."
The next couple matches were intense. Lilly and the blue haired dust-wielder Lake were evenly matched, but once she closed in, he had no answer for her rapier. Noxis went even with Team BLCM's leader Blaise, a bodybuilder with a crest of crimson hair. Yet once he slung Renegade back over his shoulder and unleashed his semblance, he too won it for Team CRLN.
Rowan faced the squirrel faunus, apparently named Moka, onstage. He pulled Sanguine Storm from his back with a grin, pointing it toward his foe. Moka hopped on the balls of her feet as a quick warmup, then stretched her shoulders.
"Where's your weapon?" Rowan asked.
Moka raised her fists. "They're right here!"
Rowan chuckled, spinning his massive blade for show. "I'll go easy on you, don't worry."
Moka smiled. "Oh, I'm not worried."
After the usual countdown, their match began. Rowan led with a spinning strike, using the weight of his blade to guide his attack. Moka twisted around as she ducked under it, and the instant she was clear of the blade she sprung up with an uppercut to his stomach. He stumbled back with a grunt as another punch landed, finally managing to raise the broad side of his blade to block her next strike. He pushed her back and struck toward her, but she easily hopped onto the ball of her back foot and out of harms' way.
"Huh. She's pretty good," Caspian noted.
"Oh, she's on the Sparring Team with me," Lazula recognized. "Nice girl. Never stops talking, though."
When Caspian looked back up to the fight, the tread of Moka's boot was locked on the edge of Rowan's blade, at the end of a roundhouse kick. Brown sparks worked from her leg, to her core, to her chest as she pushed off his blade and reversed her momentum. A powerful hook met Rowan's jaw, and she followed through to finish the fight with a spinning kick.
"Hey! Are you alright?" Moka asked, offering her hand.
Rowan took it, and was helped to his feet. "Well unfortunately I can still remember everything that just happened, so I don't think I have a concussion."
"Okay good," Moka returned. "Honestly I whacked you a lil' bit harder than I planned to." The two split to opposite ends of the arena, and Cascara replaced them
"The final practice match between teams CRLN and BLCM will be between Caspian Skye, and Cattleya Ophrys," she announced. "Please come up to the stage."
Caspian breathed out a deep breath. He was more used to the practice matches by now, and knew almost no one remembered who won or lost on any given day. Yet having the eyes of every single first-year at Sentinel fixed on him was still a bit nerve wracking. His heart leapt into his throat as he locked eyes with his opponent. Had he seen her in a movie, or as a model in one of the giant ads in downtown Port Cyrreine, he wouldn't have had a second thought. But in person, it was a different story. She was flawless. A perfect, almost ethereal beauty.
The first beep of the countdown reminded him he had to fight her.
Cattleya's rapier drew forward to block his first swipe, then his second. She redirected its force to his right, but Caspian managed to block her follow-up with his armguard, and catch her arm with a swift strike.
The two traded slashes and swipes for a minute or so. Compared with Noxis and Lazula, Caspian realized it was enjoyable to spar someone closer to his own skill level. Fun, even. He unlocked his blade from Cattleya's and backed off, transforming his weapon to fire off a few shots. All but one hit their mark.
Cattleya lashed out with her rapier in response, and it extended toward him like a whip. Its gleaming tip whistled through the air, and Caspian barely managed to block it in time. A vein of glowing pink coursed its way along Cattleya's whip all the way from her hand to Undertow. As she wrenched back, the glowing pink acted like a powerful, instant adhesive, and his weapon was ripped from his grasp.
Undertow clattered noisily across the ground until it settled a few feet behind his opponent. Without giving Cascara the chance to call the match, he ran for it.
Cattleya struck at him as he neared, but the blow glanced off Caspian's armguard as he slid for his weapon. He grasped it and transformed it back into a pistol as he turned and stood, firing off a few more shots.
"Ow!" Cattleya cried, holding her arms up and wincing at the barrel of Caspian's gun.
Caspian pulled back with hesitation, lowering Undertow a hair.
Cattleya smirked and lashed out once again. The tip of her blade met the center of Caspian's chestplate, and the pink vein linked them. He was wrenched toward her, and as he neared the link between them faded. She collapsed her weapon back into a rapier and jabbed Caspian's stomach, nearly shattering his aura.
The lights around the arena turned on. "Alright. The winner of the practice match between Caspian Skye and Cattleya Ophrys is Cattleya," Cascara concluded. "Thank you, both teams, for the matches."
"Caspian Skye?" Cattleya inquired, turning to him with curiosity.
"Oh– y-yeah, that's me!" Caspian confirmed with a nervous laugh.
"You're Lazula's brother then? And the Headmaster's son?"
"Yeah, th-that's me!" Caspian repeated.
Cattleya laughed. "You're cute! I'm Cattleya." She poked at her Holoband's screen, then held out her wrist with a smile. "That was a fun match. Text me if you wanna spar again sometime, or if you just wanna hang out!"
Caspian held his wrist out, still a bit star-struck. As his Holoband pulsed once with vibration. He couldn't help but smile at the "new contact" projecting from it.
So, to spare her who knows how many chapters of being called Cattle-ya, I'm gonna clarify now that it's pronounced CA-tel-EE-uh. Also, her team name (BLCM) is pronounced Blossom!