TW; Semi-erotic imagery? Not entirely sure if this is needed, but there is a scene that goes a little further than usual I think.
Team ARBN had surrounded their teacher with a warranted amount of caution. Sebastian stood in the middle, looping a harmonica on a lanyard around his neck. Arslan watched him critically, her rope dart spinning lazily in her hand. Their teacher gave the woodwind an experimental blow, making sure that it was still in tune. Not that anyone was quite sure how a harmonica got out of tune.
Their teacher looked at them, confused as to why he was not being gutted. "What are you guys waiting for? I really hope you lot aren't going to stand there all day."
Nadir tilted his head at his teacher. "But you haven't told us to start yet." He stated. Sebastian shook his head, clearly disappointed.
"I am in the ring." he started, "You are in the ring. We are going to fight, and I have given you ample time to capitalize." He explained. "Waiting for me to tell you when to capitalize on an opening is not capitalizing on an opportunity."
Nadir raised his hand, causing Cortez to take in a breath of air. "Yes?" he sighed, letting Nadir ask his own question.
"So we can hit you now, right?"
Dr. Cortez just hung his head, pulling out his shovel from his side. There was a soft patter of feet running through the sand behind him. Bolin had finally gotten that the battle had indeed started, and was making a two handed swing at the Doctors head. The shovel rose to block it. Arslan engaged from the front, opening with a wide swing of her rope dart. Cortez tucked in his gut to avoid it. Bolin gave a kick at his teacher, but it was evenly met with a counter kick. Arslan threw a punch, to which the teacher bent over backwards, putting the harmonica hanging from his neck into his mouth. Bolin raised his elbow, about to slam it into his teacher's face with a malicious grin. Sebastian let out a breath, the sound being filtered through the harmonica in his mouth.
Jaune looked in abject horror as he was suddenly reminded of what Dr. Cortez's semblance actually was.
TOOT
Bolin was shot backwards, the amplified shockwave of sound knocking him off his feet. The monk managed to land on his feet. Nadir lined up his rifle, seeing an unblocked opportunity to get some chip damage done to his teacher's aura. But Sebastian had pivoted, placing Arslan between Nadir and his target. The gunman tisked, looking out the corner of his eye to see Reese having similar problems, skating circles to find a good angle to charge in with. Bolin grabbed his bo staff, ready to charge back in. Reese saw the same opportunity, kicking her hoverboard into high gear and using it like a battering ram. Now, Bolin was fast. He would say that he was significantly faster than Arslan, and she would agree. After removing the significantly from that sentence. But a dust powered high frequency twin turbine high speed electromagnetic lightweight reinforced hoverboard was faster. Giving a hard turn, curving to not bodyslam into Bolin by accident. Bolin stopped on his heels, letting the green blur zoom past him. Sebastian looked at the skater from the corner of his eye as he wrestled with Arslan's rope dart. He ducked to the side, letting her rope dart swing by him harmlessly. He sent a snap at the rapidly approaching skater, his semblance sending a wave of sonic energy. It rippled across the ground like a wave, battering against the underside of the hoverboard. The sudden movement dislodged Reese from her charge. Nadir winced as he saw his friend hit the ground, but saw a solid opportunity to finally get some rounds in the formidable foe. He hoisted his rifle, ready to unload some lead. His jaw grit when he saw Bolin get in his line of fire, engaging with melee instead of he sensible thing and letting him fucking shoot! Nadir let out a small growl, stomping to get a better, unimpeded angle somewhere else. Dr. Cortes was swaying and weaving like a champion boxer, ducking under swings with a stick and sliding by swipes made with what was essentially a weight on a string. Reese had tried several times to force her way between Arslan and Bolin before giving up. Wielding her hoverboard in it's pistol form, she sharked around for a good place to shoot her teacher in the back. Sebastian, with a harmonica bleat amplified to a boom, broke away from the two melee focused monks to chase down the skater. His shovel descended down at her, and she met it by crossing her pistols. The weapons collided with a clang, the force putting Reese on the backfoot.
"You know, for such a scrawny guy, you pack quite a punch." She remarked. Sebastian gave her a toothy smile.
'Thank you. Perhaps you would like a hands-on demonstration?" He offered. Reese went slightly wide eyed at the proposition. Dr. Cortez just punched her in the face with a left hook. It sent the skater to the ground. He raised the shovel up to deliver an unholy shoveling upon the student. With great swiftness Arslan threw her rope dart around the shaft of the weapon, keeping it from swinging. Sebastian gave it a harsh tug, pulling the lion off balance. He wheeled, jumping forward in a way that could be only described as invoking emperor palpatine. Arslan fell back to give space from the leaping lunge. Nadir finally took the shot, unloading a precisely aimed set of bullets into the doctor's lunging side. Not that it stopped the momentum, but it was the most damage anyone has managed to do in the battle so far. Dr. Cortez engaged with Arslan and Bolin, shovel in hand. Using the two as a kind of shield against their ranged support, the teacher masterfully maneuvered to put both his foes in between him and Nadir. The melee weapons and fists clashed as the duo put their teacher on the defensive. He blocked a bo staff with the shovel, and dipped to the side from Arslan's lunge. Reese had gotten back up and got on her board, the telltale hum coming to life, moving to engage once again in combat. Sebastian smirked, giving a wide swing over at the two fighters in front of him. Arslan ducked under it, while Bolin blocked it with his Bo staff. The force of the swing made the monk stumble to the side. Not that Dr. Cortez was done, as he continued with a wide double handed swing, like he was hitting a baseball behind him. It connected with Reese, smacking directly into her jaw. Her aura flared briefly, but its brightness would be outdone by the use of Sebastian's semblance. The amplified sound of Reese's jaw getting cracked only added to the concussive force, knocking her to the ground like a sack of forcefully flung potatoes.
"REESE!" Arslan called, wide eyed at how sudden her teammate had been removed from the match. Jaune was already moving, carefully entering the ring and looping his arms around her shoulder, dragging her away to where he had just finished patching Scarlett up. Arslan watched worriedly as the skater was moved to Jaune's Completely Legic Medical Assistance and Healthcare ™. There was even a little cardboard sign next to the large rock.
"Arslan, eyes up." her teacher reminded her. She dipped out of the path of the shovel just in the nick of time. Nadir, who had been sitting in the back, saw another fine opportunity to shoot his teacher again. His firearm cracked, finishing his magazine off. They peppered across the gunslingers face, one of them causing him to cough. "Oww. You shot me in the mouth!" He hacked, spitting out the bullet. Looking up at the gunman, he gave an appreciative nod. Bolin took the opportunity to smack Dr. Cortez in the face. Or at least attempt to, but Dr. Cortez wasn't a man with a bounty that could buy a small island for no reason. It was a microadjustment to dodge the bo staff. Arslan whipped out her rope dart at the doctor, but he caught it with his arm. It looped around the appendage tightly, and Arslan gave it a firm tug. It didn't move her teacher an inch, and she knew that she had slightly messed up. Dr. Cortez gave a full bodied pull, launching Arslan towards him. Seeing no other option, she allowed herself to be pulled in, leading with an aura infused punch. It was easily grappled away by the gunslinger, so she followed it up with a kick. This too was batted aside. Dr. Cortez gave the rope dart that connected the two of them another tug as he lunged forward, yoinking Arslan directly into a clothesline to the throat. If you thought that was bad, it only got worse as the clothesline became an elbow drop, tackling the lioness into the dirt. Normally, this kind of assault to the throat would have killed a human being, or at least incapacitated them permanently somehow. However, due to the nature of aura, it only sent her into a coughing fit. Rolling over on all fours, she proceeded to hack up a lung as she fought to control her breathing. Sebastian allowed no such niceties, picking up Arslan by her sash and the collar, he gave her a mighty, aura infused sumo toss. Arslan skidded across the ground, just barely passing outside of the ring. The lioness growled at how she had been removed from the fight, but obeyed anyway, and opted to just lay there for a moment, her chest heaving for breath. Sun eventually came over and walked her over to sit where Jaune was nursing over Reese. "You need something from me, Ms. Altan?" Jaune asked her, looking at the already healing cut on Reese's cheekbone. Arslan rubbed at her rugburnt back. "Yeah, some attention to my upper back would be nice. I took kind of a scrape there." She wheezed, rubbing her neck as well. The ranger just motioned for her to sit down, sliding her loose fitting top off. He peered up from his work to watch the fight continue. Bolin was looking directly at his despicable and powerful teacher, leveling his bo staff at him. Nadir slotted in another magazine into place, but was not liking the chances of this fight at all. it looked like Sebastian hadn't even broken a sweat. Bolin decided that he was more than enough alone to take on the teacher, particularly after he had been weakened like this. He rushed forward with a loud battlecry "Hraaaggg!". His bo staff thrust forward aggressively. Dr. Cortez just grabbed the end, hanging his head with a sigh. With a wrench, the forced the bo staff out of Bolins hands. In the same motion, he delivered a backhanded slap across the blue monks face, making his head whip to the side. Deciding that that simply wasn't enough, the gunslinger wrapped one of the arms of the stunned monk around his own Bo staff, and with a jerk and a wet, crackly organic sounding pop, slightly dislocated his shoulder. The blue monk let out a strangled scream, collapsing to his knees as he gripped his shoulder. Sebastian gave him only a glance before leveling his gaze on Nadir. "Anyone else want to do something incredibly stupid?" Nadir looked behind him, then at Bolin, who was shaking as he rubbed at his shoulder. He looked back at the line behind him, only a step away, then back at the indomitable raid boss in front of him. "Nah, I'm good." He said, wisely taking a step backwards.
"Trator." Bolin spat, finally making his way to his feet. He picked up his bo staff, considering fighting his teacher again. He couldn't, no he wouldn't let this humiliation stand. Dr. Cortez put a quick end to that thought.
"Swing that stick again, Mr. Hori, and I will break your other arm in a manner far worse than a dislocation. Now go take ten, put that sucker back in place. I can do it for you if you need me to." Bolin gave him a sharp growl, instead looking over to where Arslan was. Surely sweet, kind Arslan would help him.
If she wasn't so busy letting Jaune run his hands all over her body. Bolin could feel an angry, ugly, and impertinent fire burn in his stomach as he watched Arslan get rubbed down by the unhuman ranger, working at knots and eliciting soft grunts from the lioness.
"Ohh, yeah, right there Jaune." Arslan gasped as he worked his magic laden hands over her scrapped backside. The healing magic of the dead Doctor, the one from the dream, seeped through Arslan's taught muscular back, making her ligaments shift and shiver under the skin. Not that Jaune was thinking about that! Nope! Not a single impure thought about the moans his hand were pulling from the fit, and objectively attractive lioness in this brain! Not that he thought that Arslan was attractive. Well, not that Arslan wasn't attractive! Of course she was! Arslan was stunning in every sense of the word, and anyone would be lucky to even have a chance with the chocolate toned woman. Not that Jaune was thinking about having that chance. Or her laying down, a little less clothed, oiled up and ready for him to run his hands over her, working on her back! Not a single step was taken down that road whatsoever!
Riiiight. A smirked, And Arslan isn't moaning sweet little sounds almost directly in your ear as you do almost exactly that. He teased, and Jaune could feel his ears burn.
Jaune let out a small, repressed sigh. Please, this is tortuous enough. He begged, wanting to whine when his thumb made his client let out a sharp, breathy gasp. The lioness leaned backwards slightly, further into Jaune's clutches and closer to his inflamed core. "You're really good at this, Jaune." She said to him, looking into his rime coated gray eyes. He froze up upon looking at those shimmering pools of green. They sparkled like emeralds and malachite, piled high and deep in a glittering hoard of endless riches. They shined like morning dew on bamboo in the morning, the kind where you sit on a patio with tea in the tranquil silence of a secluded, sacred place. They were power, peace, riches, and above all, so incredibly alive. Jaune could remember that his mother told him that eyes were the window to the soul. It was never something he really believed in. The eyes were a human organ that was not connected to the spiritual in any proven way whatsoever, and whatever beauty was to be found in them was a simple genetic permutation. But looking into these endlessly fascinating pools of vegetation laden with emerald and jade and agate and chrysoprase and a thousand other jewels of this earth made Jaune question that belief.
Chrysoprase, really? B mused from behind his newspaper, ignoring A's nosebleed. I was unaware we were suddenly geologists.
If I were a geologist, Jaune responded, I would have more stones to compare such beauty to. I might even be able to come up with one that could come close to matching those eyes.
Arslan let out a sound that was in between a content sigh and a snicker. "Thank you Jaune. I was unaware you thought so highly of my eyes." She smiled at him. Jaune could feel his chest clench and the muscles inside went haywire. Am I having a heart attack? He thought to himself, panicking. He wasn't sure if he was panicking over Arslan's words, or the fact that his body was malfunctioning in a most uncomfortable way. Is this what a stroke feels like?
"I'm sorry?" Jaune asked as flatly as he could manage. His voice cracked slightly. He quickly coughed, embarrassed that it had done such a juvenile thing. Arslan giggled again in a sound that was not unlike a cat purring.
God, I could listen to that forever. A sighed, getting lost in his own dreams. Do it again, I want to hear that laugh.
Jaune turned beet red. No. Absolutely not! He shot his tennant down, before refocusing on Arslan, whose lips were moving in a most distracting way. "Comparing my eyes to gemstones. Emerald and malachite, right?"
Jaune nodded, giving a dry swallow. "And others, yes. I was lamenting that I could think of neither stone or sprig to give them an accurate accounting." He forced a smile, and really hoped that he wasn't looking like a buffoon or something. Arslan laughed, shaking her head.
"You have nice eyes of your own, you know." She softly mused, almost whispering like it was just them. Nothing else. No Grimm, no Dream, no teammates or mission. Just Jaune, laying on a rock in the midday sun, and Arslan pressed against him. For then, it was just the two of them. And jaune found that he was ok with that, despite every experience telling him to be more attentive, to distract himself from this moment. But he couldn't ruin such a moment. It would be like burning art. Taking a lighter to the Mona Lisa. Throwing soup on Starry Starry Night. Tearing apart the Ciel de Plusieurs Couleurs. How could Jaune destroy such art?
"Do I now?" he asked coyly, still gazing down at her.
Arslan nodded. "You do. They're like frost, glancing off the sheen of glaciers. Blue, clouded over with a brilliant wisp of gray." She chuckled, shaking her head, and for the first time, breaking the connection they so sacredly held. "I fear I am no great poet, so I cannot do them justice." She sighed. Jaune shook his head, tilting her chin to gently look at him again.
"Why don't you try?" he asked. She opened her mouth a little, in a manner that sent A reeling with joy and put an image for Jaune to deal with later.
. A shadow passed over them, shattering the isolated serenity that the lioness and the ranger shared. They realized just exactly their position, and the intimacy that their medical attention had evolved into, and quickly jolted away from each other. Having regained an appropriate and respectable distance, one fitting of their relationship as friends, and NOTHING else. Jaune had to put particular stress on the word nothing, acting as a reminder. The ranger looked up at the shadow's source, giving him a much needed excuse to not look into the stunning green eyes that seemed to see things he didn't think he wanted to be seen. Eyes of green that saw every shade of him, from the lightest of whites to the darkest pitches that had mottled his stitched soul. He saw a very angry looking Bolin glaring down at him with the wrath of a thousand suns.
"Bolin." Jaune greeted as amicably as he could. "You want some help with that arm?" He offered.
"No." Bolin growled before walking away to reset his joint on his own. Jaune looked down at Arslan, who had slumped into his chest, clearly exasperated by her teammate's demeanor. She shook her head, not wanting to talk about it. Jaune shrugged, continuing to rub at Arslan's not-erotic-at-all-whatsoever back. A was going to have a field day today, wasn't he?
Yup. B said, flipping through a newspaper.
They set off in ten minutes, as promised. Dr. Cortez led them through the gaps of the mountain. They strode mostly in silence for the first section, except some small whisperings between team SSSN. Eventually Sun strode up to Jaune, matching his lengthy strides with a small powerwalk. "Soo, when did you become a healer?" the blonde monkey asked.
"I am not a healer." Jaune responded, not looking at the shorter man. Seun gave him a quizzical look, deciding to probe further.
"You sure? Because with skills like those you would make a killing if you opened a clinic." Sun said, before leaning in conspiratorially. "And besides, I am sure Arslan would be a regular customer to get your hands on her again, you know? Sounds like that, you have a real talent, man." He whispered, smirking almost wickedly.
Jaune clenched his jaw, the unbidden image of an oiled Arslan in a bathrobe that was about to fall to the floor flooding his mind. He could picture it, it wasn't hard too. In fact, it was hard not to picture the scene. He could picture the scene so easily, as he had given his sisters massages countless times. Although each of those times lacked the sheer attractiveness that Arslan had. They were his sisters! Of course it was different than… whatever this was. He took in a deep breath, and hit Sun upside the head hard enough to make him stumble.
"Mr. Wukong. Please do not bring up such crude things, particularly when one: we are on a mission and two: The lady in question can hear you." He sighed, putting his hand back at his side. "You are lucky that it was me that had the privilege of setting you right, because Ms. Atan would have done much worse." Sun raised his hands in mock surrender, slowing down to meet back up with his teammates.
"Just so you know, no Huntsman has ever referred to a field partner as "Ms" without there being something going on, you know." He called out, just to have the last word. Jaune rolled his eyes, focusing intently on how not attractive Arslan was. Wait, no! Arslan was very attractive, incredibly and unfairly attractive! Anyone would be lucky to have a chance with Arslan, she was the definition of a catch. Pretty, strong, muscular, as dark as chocolate, probably able to fold Jaune like a lawn chair if she wanted, what wasn't to love? Not to mention she was fierce, brave, intelligent, and surprisingly cunning. It's just that Jaune wasn't attracted to her! Nope, not at all! Not one lewd thought about the dark lion themed beauty at all. Not a single impure inclination! Not one in his tiny noggin!
A looked up at the thought Jaune was running though, visualized by a massive TV screen that was livestreaming what basically amounted to surprisingly graphic Arslan erotica. You sure about that, chief? Because the screen's telling a different story. A quipped, thoroughly enjoying the "entertainment".
We're ignoring that. Jaune responded. We are not thinking about how hot Arslan is, we are not going to be tempted by our friend. Nope, we are not thinking about it.
A raised an eyebrow at Jaune, giving him a knowing look. You sure, because if you would direct your attention directly ahead of you, there is a fine, fine specimen of huntswoman meat right there for the taking-Jaune knew what he was talking about, as images of Arslan, particularly from her backside, came to mind.
Nope. Not doing that. He whispered to himself, looking away at the walls of the mountains, hoping to distract himself from A's perversions. He knew it had been a long time since he had had any action. A whole seventeen years he had gone without so much as an actual date. Or at least not anything that his sister's hadn't set him up for. Saffron, bless her soul, kept on accidentally setting up with her kind of woman. Which, in a word, was a lesbian. He gave them good advice for when they found themselves. At least, he hoped he gave them good advice. The rocks were a dull gray, with bits of glittering reflective rock crushed and morphed into the stonework. Thin rivers of slate and granite ran through the sides like sheets of construction paper, bent and stacked on top of eachother in a manner that reminded the ranger of a shadow box for some reason. Looking up, he saw a tower built into the mountain, looming overhead. Jaune pointed at it, probing his teacher as to what it was.
"That, Jaune, is a Hunter's outpost. You'll find them scattered all over Remnant, particularly in places with small towns nearby. Or rather, small towns end up being near these things. Huntsmen are stationed out here to quell grimm population and have a base of operations to work with." Sebastian explained, starting to make his way towards the stone building. "And that is our destination. Hurry now, children, if we're lucky, we can make it back into town before it reaches early supper!"
and it's done. I've made another upload, all be it 10 days later than I had hoped. I've really lost some steam for this project recently, as I needed to take a break from the intrinsic grim edgy dark tones that this story has, but this story is not abandoned or on haitus. Not yet anyway. I do want to move away from that into something campier almost, but it feels disingenuous to this story and what I've made when Jaune and other characters still have so much to work through. I suppose i could put more happy things in Jaunes life, which I think i will, starting after this first mission sub-arc with other members of team ARBN. The reason why I am not going to be focusing heavily on Arslan (despite what this chapter and the next chapter will probably imply) is that there are scenes and story beats I need to hit that if they end up together too soon I will need to rethink. And it takes a lot of braining to makes the words go as it is.
But we got an excellent thrashing delivered with overnight shipping to team ARBN. God I love Sebastian Cortez so much, he's admittedly my power fantasy. Tech Cowboy, but he still has a character that he abides by, and he forgets sometimes that these are students, and not exactly Pyrrha Nikos or Richard Armann, or him for that matter. he's probably not a very good teacher to be honst. I think some deeper exploration to Bolin's character was in order, and this fight and subsequent scene really did it for me. His isn't a character that changes really, you just come closer to figuring him out. once I'm done with him, which will be soon, I'll dedicate a paragraph to his character in the Author notes.
Speaking of which, I don't know if the TW was necessary, or even welcome, but I wanted to warn you guys, because this is the first time where I think i've straight up brought up the idea of Arslan being naked as jaune deals with the fact that he can still have erotic thoughts. The story won't have smut, necessarily, but there will be scenes that are fairly steamy, like that one. Have fun with the next chapter, because that's where we really get to figure out the meat of this arc! So look forward for that in like, a month?