[Checks last update date] Yeesh...

Wow. So uh. Hi everyone. This isn't an update, unfortunately, but more of an announcement that Smothered Mate is being rebooted. I boyfailured a bit too close to the sun with the amount of OCs I wanted to accept, and let's just say life getting in the way for it made it harder and harder to find the end goal I wanted and made figuring out how to make all 40 or so OCs shine without everyone forgetting some of them harder and harder each time I tried to revisit the fic.

So yeah. This is a snippet of the new Smothered Mate! Some new characters, all that hullabaloo, and I've got myself a co-author for the reboot so that getting stuck doesn't happen again! Keep an eye open for the reboot coming soon, but the form is on my profile and there's a fancy blog for all the info about the characters in the prologue (and others we'll be meeting in the course of the story). Please also don't be disuaded by the influx of information on my profile, it's all stuff that came up during the original story's submission period so I'm clearing the air with a lot of it before being sent, as well as putting my foot down on stuff I don't want to write for my own comfort.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this snippet! Keep an eye open for the reboot and full chapter coming soon!

Year 44 AGW
(Three years ago)

"Gotta say, this was a great turnout, man."

From the booth inside of Amity Colosseum, designated specially for the headmasters of the schools, Professor Gail Theodore could already feel his itch to fight emerging. A far too casual tone, a far too careless demeanour, and the much too familiar way he was called man all combined to make him turn a glare in the direction of the man who'd said it.

The Vytal Festival had just come to a close in front of them, the victor crowned and cheered by adoring fans in the crowd. It wasn't one of Gail's own students, much to his chagrin, but instead a student from Atlas Academy who took the victory home. A feral little thing who had issues working with her team, but seemed to know exactly how to conduct herself in a one-on-one setting. Gail could roll his eyes at the circumstances—he was fairly certain this one had been picked up from a fight club over in Solitas, but the damned headmistress of Atlas Academy was as tight-lipped as ever about the girl.

Regardless of her circumstances and what amount of human words she knew, Pekel Mostarde knew the sounds of triumph and applause when she heard them.

"It's the same as it always is," Gail commented dryly as Pekel did a strange wiggling dance as her opponent meekly walked off the platform they'd been fighting from. It had connected with the rest of the arena once again, and staff from Shade Academy were already coming out to greet Pekel with a trophy in hand.

He didn't hesitate to look over in the direction of the Atlas headmistress, though, as he added just as dryly, "You must be satisfied with your little pet project."

"Rehabilitation is no mere 'project', Theodore," General Tarasque reminded him.

Gail begged to differ. "Can she even understand what's happening right now?"

"She understands enough. And Vytal is familiar to her. She knows the difference between winning and losing." General Tarasque's gaze flickered to him. "She knows when to hold back and not actually kill someone, too."

So she really was picked up from some illegal fight club. Did the woman have no shame, dumping this kid in Atlas Academy to be made into a soldier, rather than giving her a chance at a normal life?

"I know what you're thinking, Theodore," General Tarasque snapped.

"I didn't say anything," Gail said airily.

"It's all over your face."

The annoyance in the room jumped in between them, following the view of Pekel from the window as he waved his arms and body in the same fashion as the young girl outside was.

"Wow, wow, wow!" he said, loud and obnoxious and so obviously trying to break the budding argument up. "She's got some moves on her! Go, little girlie!"

It wasn't like Gail outright preferred one brother over the other, or that he was a stickler for rules and following them. Vacuo was a near-lawless land, with the only law and order being around Shade Academy, where its students regularly jumped into the fray to stop bandits and thieves from making a profit off of those who sought shelter near the school. But when the Vytal Festival called for the headmasters to all sit in a room together to observe the fights, he kinda… expected the actual headmaster to come with the others.

Not his bonehead of a brother.

Gail was far from a shrewd man, and he wasn't one for closeness. He knew quite a bit from his talks with Oswald Ozpin and his own investigating—more than what the veteran General Cinis Tarasque and the newcomer Leonardo Lionheart knew, at least, and he had a feeling it would stay that way unless they did some digging for themselves. He knew there was a lot on Oswald's plate, but at the same time, there was something in Gail's gut that told him there was risk in trusting the man.

So perhaps it was a combination of just plain not liking Kaolin and the way his younger brother had skipped out on Vytal that made Gail so testy today. It was hard to trust a man who drew you into his inner circle when he couldn't even be present during one of the rare few times that inner circle got to meet in person.

"Hey, Cin, what're you gonna do for her after this? She getting any rewards?" Kaolin asked General Tarasque.

The General sighed and tucked some ashy hair behind her ear. She seemed to reflexively reach up, then, and rub at the base of the lizard horns sprouting from her crown.

"Pekel told me she wants an egg sandwich with the local spices in it," she said, and Gail could tell why she sounded so dismal.

"The local spice is sand," he muttered.

"Try telling her that. She only just learned what sand was last week when her team helped coach her on some of the unfamiliar words." General Tarasque did crack a small smile as she added, "She calls an oasis an 'osissi'."

A snort that barely held back a small laugh. When everyone looked over at Leonardo on the far side of the room, he quickly looked away and pretended as though he hadn't made a sound.