Scarlet and Belka clashed, the horned girl batting back an attempted blow from her peer, taking the opening to cut in an 'X' shape at her friend, only to be parried as the tanned woman spun Morgan in such a way that both Wilt and Bleed were deflected. Despite how intense their back and forth may have looked to an observer, neither girl had broken a sweat from their dance. With the tournament still ongoing, any truly intensive training would be off the table, but a simple warm up between friends was just fine. Both leaders were simply using the opportunity to get into form before they were called up for their respective matches.
To Scarlet, training with Belka was a welcome reprieve, as unlike with Lumi's endless demands for more and more Aura concentration, Belka wanted her to fall back into the usual swing of things and come at her as she would anyone else. The idea was to force Belka to learn to fight defensively, as she could hold her own against a Grimm without issue, but when it came to people, she had trouble applying her advantages in the right way. If her showing against Kenneth had been anything to go by though, she had made progress, and it showed in their current sparring session. She was lasting longer, reacting faster, and had built up some more confidence.
It was a fact she was quickly reminded of, as, rather than just block her next swing, she parried the blow, shifting her grip to quickly bring the glowing purple blade down so that it was held to her neck, a triumphant smile on her face. Despite being held at the business end of a high tech Atlesian energy naginata, Scarlet, while shocked, couldn't help but smile at seeing her friend so proud of herself.
"Ha! You let your guard down my horned friend, now surrender or fa-ah!" At Belka's gloating, Scarlet decided to bring her head back down from the clouds, suddenly bringing Bleed up to strike Morgan away. The tanned woman, completely unprepared for her opponent to keep fighting, let out a surprised yelp before stumbling back and falling on her butt, much to her sparring partner's amusement.
"Belka, I love ya', but leave the monologuing to the professionals, 'kay hon?" Scarlet teased, but offered her hand for Belka to take as a peace offering.
"Ugh, that was cheating!" Belka whined but ultimately accepted her friend's help, taking her hand and allowing herself to be pulled back up on her feet.
"Pfft- watching you two is like watching those bad old Mistralian cartoons," Blitz said, letting out a laugh as she walked onto the training platform, making her presence known to her fellow team leaders. "You know, the ones where the voices and mouths didn't match up?"
The girls gasped overdramatically in unison, a look of betrayal from Scarlet and a judgment filled sneer from Belka. They shared a quick glance at one another, confirming the utter blasphemy that had just come from her mouth.
"Wha- bad!? You take that back!"
"Don't mind her Scarlet, clearly she's just uncultured and wouldn't know art if it struck her in the face."
Realizing that she'd made the mistake of insulting the taste of a pair of Mistraliboos, Blitz held her hands up in surrender, hoping to appease them before she was forced to listen to their tirade of excuses and justifications as to why their beloved shows were actually good.
"Ouch, harsh. Okay okay, your cartoons are fine I guess…" She trailed off, quickly looking for a topic to escape to, noting the absence of a certain blonde that usually trained with Scarlet. "Where's Lumi? Doesn't she usually help you guys with this?"
That, however, proved to be an equally uncomfortable topic. Scarlet winced, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. Meanwhile, Belka's fake scowl turned real.
"Lumi and I aren't speaking at the moment, not that it matters, Scarlet has proven to be more than suitable as a sparring partner."
Based on their reactions, Blitz could tell there was obviously more to that than Belka was leading on. She turned to Scarlet in hopes of a clearer answer, but the horned woman just shook her head, silently warning her that it was better left unsaid for the moment. This lent the room an awkward air as Belka stewed in her bitterness.
Thankfully, a distraction was provided at the sound of the door flying open, and the trio turned around to see a very familiar and very unhappy face.
"Siyah," Blitz groaned, crossing her arms as he approached. "Look dude, I don't know what you think you're doing here but-"
"That didn't count." Siyah snapped before she could say another word, cutting her off by pointing his finger in her face.
Blitz was momentarily stunned into silence, she knew Siyah was a lot of things, and not many of them good in her eyes, but he was never one to make excuses, especially ones so childish. It felt off, suspiciously so, but she couldn't just ask about it, he was far too stubborn to just come out with what he really meant. So she decided to push him.
"Uh, excuse me, what? Dude you lost, get over it and start training for next time." she said, dismissively turning away to go back to talking with Belka and Scarlet.
"Fuck the tournament." Her plan worked perfectly as the boy got riled up, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to face him. "You owe me a one-on-one. No bullshit environment, no teammates butting in, no crowd, just you and me until one of our Auras hits the red."
That's what this was about? He was mad their fight got interrupted? Why did he care? With how things turned out, it wasn't like he walked away looking bad with how long he'd lasted. It obviously wasn't for bragging rights, he had never really cared about his perception and no onlookers meant no one would know anyway. Why was a one-on-one with her that important to him? Was he trying to prove something to himself? To her?
"Do all you boys think with nothing but your cocks and your pride? Back the hell off before I report you for harassment." Belka cut in, drawing her Scroll from her pocket, only to stop once Blitz held her hand out.
"No, it's fine." Blitz said, stepping up to Siyah, looking him right in the eye. "After the tournament,you and I can duke it out, winner take all, just like you want it."
"Are you sure? You don't need to prove anything to this punk."
While Belka couldn't see why Blitz was even humoring the hooligan before them, Scarlet caught the look of curiosity in her friend's eye. Maybe the blonde saw something they didn't, or maybe she just thought it would be fun to put her little shit underclassmen in his place. Either way, she wasn't going to stop her.
"I say go for it. If he needs to get his ass kicked properly for it to sink in, then that's what it takes."
Having gotten the answer he wanted, his scowl was replaced with a small, genuine looking smile that was quickly covered up by the usual cocky smirk he wore.
"Alright then. Right after the tournament, don't think I'll forget." With that he was gone just as soon as he'd arrived, turning and walking out of the room.
"What the hell was that?" Belka asked as soon as the door closed behind him, bewildered by the bizarre interaction.
"That my friend, was progress." Blitz said with an oddly satisfied smile, further confusing the Atlesian woman.
Normally, she'd be put off by someone butting into her time to ask for, no, demand a fight, and she partially was. But at the same time, Siyah going out of his way to grab her attention to get a rematch was, strangely, the closest thing to respect she'd seen from him.
The three got ready to get back into training when the holoscreen above them flickered alight, the music theme of the reveal screen catching their attention, and Scarlet turning just in time to see the reveal. The screen displayed four pictures, arranged into two pairs. On the left side were her and Jin's photos, while on the other side of the screen were the images of Noah and Akato. A giddy smile spread across her lips, not expecting to be fighting so soon, or against someone she actually wanted to hit.
"Looks like you're up Scarlet." Blitz said, holding out a thumbs up of encouragement.
Belka, however, was in a more… vindictive mood.
"Do me a favor, humiliate that pathetic worm."
Icons whizzed along in a seemingly random arrangement, like that of a slot machine, the crowd oohing and ahhing as environments new, old, and unfamiliar appeared onscreen. Below, the competing members of SJJL and NAYA waited for the arena they'd be fighting on to be decided by the system, growing impatient as the deluge of random icons showed no sign of slowing. As he waited, Jin shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other under Noah's stone cold gaze. He tried to ignore it, but even when he looked away at Akato or Scarlet, he could still feel that intense feeling of being watched with utter contempt crawling up his neck.
Knowing why Noah resented him didn't make it any easier to swallow, he just didn't understand why he'd taken his relationship with Uncle Sun so personally. It didn't even involve him, he was upset on the behalf of a man who was perfectly content with the relationship they had. It just felt so… off. From their introduction, Noah had seemed like a laid back and fun loving guy, not too different from Scarlet, but when compared the version of him he saw then compared to now, it felt like he'd met a completely different person. Was it really just plain jealousy that had him acting that way?
In stark contrast to Noah's brooding, Akato was completely at home in the arena, working up the crowd with a flourish of his spear, followed by taking his shirt off to reveal his toned and defined figure, impressive even as a Huntsman in training. The act worked, the roar of the crowd reaching a fever pitch, yet even as he got the reaction he'd been after, his face showed not even a hint of joy or satisfaction, only a steely focus on his opponents that easily surpassed Noah's in raw intensity. Despite this, the fact that it wasn't targeted at anyone in particular somehow made it feel less intimidating.
Seemingly inspired by their opponent, Scarlet had made it a point to show off herself, readying her custom made sheath and lowering herself closer to the floor, her legs spread out in a battle stance and her hand hoveringed over Wilt, shifting into a pose that reminded Jin of a video game he'd seen Guang play. He chuckled as for the briefest moment he forgot all about the tension and awkward atmosphere, something that Scarlet noticed, rolling her eyes playfully in response. Soon enough though, the unease returned, and he was reminded of Noah's cold stare boring into the back of his skull.
Jin tried to shake off the feeling, throwing a few jabs into the air as if he was shadowboxing, but his heart wasn't in it. Then again, it was hard to really feel comfortable when one of their opponents had locked eyes with him the moment they'd stepped out. Scarlet, easily picking up on this, broke from her pose and showboating for the cameras, taking a step over and placing her arm on his shoulder.
"Hey, screw that guy. You're awesome, if he doesn't want to see that just because he has some weird hang ups about you and your dad or whatever, then that's his problem." she said, doing her best to try and reassure the gentle giant, remembering just how much it sucked when she had been on the receiving end of that treatment.
"Thank you, but it's not that." Jin said with a small smile that faltered as he thought about it some more. "Well okay, that is a part of it. It's just that… this just feels wrong, yknow? Remember how they were when we first met? Things shouldn't be like this."
Scarlet nodded in response, knowing exactly what he meant. Were it not for the tanned pirate's stupid little vendetta, she could easily see her team getting along with NAYA, not that she really felt bad about it, it was Noah who'd blown that up. But if Jin really felt like he had to try then she'd let him, after all he was the nicest person she knew, almost to a fault. If he couldn't win him over then he was just a lost cause.
"Well, maybe this is your chance to turn things around."
"Like with you and Lumi? How?"
"Well, it started with me kicking her ass. Maybe if you knock some sense into him, you can win him over."
Jin wasn't entirely sure if that was supposed to be actual advice, or she was just trying to make it easier for him to punch the pirate in the face. Either way he supposed he really had nothing to lose, either he and Noah got it out of their systems, or the one sided hatred would continue to fester and he'd just have to accept that Noah resented him. There wasn't much time to dwell as the arena shifted under them, and the SJJL duo, having been too caught up in their talk, missed the initial reveal, though their opponents looked rather pleased with the outcome.
As the arena started to lift into place around them, a new sound accompanied the usual mechanical shifting, the sound of splashing water. It took them a moment to figure it out, as it was the last thing they expected in the middle of Vacuo, let alone a combat arena, but as the platforms rose up, there was no mistaking it, a great amount of water was contained within the movable panels by walls generated with Hard Light Dust, just like the ones that protected the audience from stray rounds and the odd airborne competitor. The arena itself seemed to be ocean-themed, most of it being completely submerged in water, the depths of which ranged from only ankle deep to parts where even Jin could easily be submerged just by taking the wrong step. The spots they were presumably supposed to do the actual fighting were made up of the shallow water, a few sandbanks that circled the static arena centre, the odd sandbar further out, and in the center of one half, a sunken pirate ship, though Jin questioned if it really counted as 'sunken' if it was built to serve as a wreck to begin with.
They only had a few moments to take in their surroundings before the buzzer rang out, signaling the start of the match. Noah, who had been ready to act from the start, suddenly went transparent as he seemingly turned into water, the man's worth of liquid hitting the arena floor with a splash and leaving the bluenette nowhere in sight.
While the sudden disappearance took Scarlet and Jin off guard, they already knew where he had gone. The pair both looked over at the prop pirate ship, only to see Noah standing on the capsized vessel's mast with his aim drawn on Jin. The weapon, Jackdaw. resembled a heavily modified wheel-lock musket with a dual over-under barrel system, the top barrel being a simple muzzle while the under barrel contained a harpoon. Three shots rang out, but having expected the aggression, Jin just raised his fists to defend, using a mixture of his Aura and the Golden Path to block the shots. Jin winced, a water based teleportation Semblance was going to be next to impossible to deal with in this arena, no wonder Noah had looked so pleased with the outcome.
Neither Akato or Scarlet just stood idly by as this happened, Scarlet readying to strike just in time as the Mistralian boy closed the distance. Tonbogiri, his black spear done in traditional Azumi Mistrali style, was thrusted at her throat, but while the boy was more aggressive, the principle of his weapon and Belka's was the same. Firing Bleed from its sheath in a veil of red ichor, she parried his thrust, leaving him open for her to move in and land a cut across his chest hard enough to push him back several feet.
"Go on and teach that prick a lesson, I'll keep the show off busy with some redhead on redhead action." Scarlet said, smiling as she turned to face Akato, who sneered at her innuendo. Apparently, she had a tough crowd.
Jin ducked and weaved past the shots that came his way, a task that was made more difficult as he trudged his way through the water, doing his best to stay moving along the shallows where his mobility wouldn't be hampered as much, a necessity with Noah still firing at him from his vantage point. Despite doing his best efforts, he still took a round to the shoulder, nearly falling into one of the deeper sections before catching himself by rolling to evade yet another shot. Eventually, he reached the closest sandbar to the ship, but as he did, he realized the water separating them was too deep to run across, and swimming was out of the question with the current situation.
Another bullet whizzed by Jin's head, reminding him that he really didn't have time to think, so, taking a note from his mommy's playbook, he just went for it and jumped over the deep waters, activating his Semblance before throwing his arms back and letting loose a volley from both gauntlets to propel himself forward. It wasn't nearly as much of a boost as he'd hoped for, but it did get him to the half sunken boat, if barely.
Finally close enough for his own guns to be accurate, Jin opened fire with both gauntlets, forcing Noah to teleport once more to dodge the pair of bullets sent his way. Thankfully, he teleported down onto the deck and behind the blond this time, instead of once again reforming on the other side of the arena. His attempt at a flanking attack was predictable, allowing Jin to instinctually side step the projectile that came his way, however, unlike the bullet he had been expecting, the harpoon whizzed past, getting embedded in the mast of the ship, the rope going taut as his opponent tried to recall his harpoon.
Acting fast, Jin grabbed the rope and pulled as hard as he could, ripping Noah off his feet and into the air, hurtling towards him. The pirate themed student made no move to try and evade, giving Jin a clear opening, balancing on the ball of his left foot before raising his right leg, delivering a powerful chest high kick that he knew would be enough to drop him even under normal circumstances. But, as his foot was about to connect, the bluennett turned transparent, making contact as a splash of water that went around the Faunus.
"What the-"
The realization hit Jin at about the same time that Noah slammed the butt of his musket into the base of his skull. It was his Semblance, he hadn't just teleported and left behind some kind of water-clone like Mama, he'd turned into water and disappeared right out from under them! Maybe the teleportation was just a side effect, or maybe it was the other way around, but either way, the result was the same. This was going to be a difficult one.
Jin turned in time to block a follow up swing, the force of Jackdaw being slammed down into his arms causing some of the wood to crack under him. In the moment that Jin was predisposed with the splintered deck, Noah ripped his harpoon from the mast, causing the wood to split and start to list towards them. Now that it had been compromised on top of being built as a prop, the great wooden column didn't stay up for long, and began to crash downwards like the club of a giant, something that both men immediately noticed, disengaging from their brawl to dive out of the way. With a great crash and the crack of wood being torn asunder, the mockup of a wreck they were on started to sink even more, slowly but surely sliding down the slope of sand under the water.
Noah shook his head, regretful that he'd ruined such a beautiful piece of scenery, yet he made no move to leave, not when he had the monkey boy trapped.
"Had enough yet?"
"You gonna make me walk the plank if I say no?" There was a long moment of silence between them after Jin's joke, and for a small moment, he thought he saw a smile on Noah's face, but if he did it was quickly forced back into a scowl as he took aim once again.
Scarlet ducked under the swing from Akato's spear and swung Bleed as fast as she could, landing a slash along his gut, but the Mistral born warrior powered through the pain. With a press of a button, the blade that crowned Tonbogiri burst into flames, before it was brought down onto her head with a heavy swing, a blow that would have easily caught her hair on fire if not for her Aura protecting her. Both fighters stumbled back, panting and taking a short moment to catch their breath in between bouts of constantly hitting each other.
She was no stranger to fighting aggressively, but this felt more like a desperate duel to the death than a proper match. It couldn't even be considered a back and forth, as that would imply one of them stopped hitting each other long enough for the other to properly defend. Whereas Belka fought mostly defensively, trying to protect herself in close quarters and using openings create distance instead of counterattacking, this guy was the complete opposite. His tenacity was astounding, bordering on comical. No matter how hard she hit him, the boy stubbornly refused to give any ground, often choosing to push through the pain and land a hit of his own in return, making sure they stayed at around the same level of Aura.
Growing frustrated, she went for a feint, thrusting Bleed at his chest while reading Wilt for an attack from the side. However, he didn't let up, the initial feint being met by the tip of his spear deflecting the blow, and, seeing the real strike, shifted his spear, blocking the strike with the other end and leaving her wide open as he moved in, delivering a strike to her chest that sent her flying back and out of the arena's centre.
Landing in the shallow water, Scarlet groaned and stumbled up to her feet, letting out an annoyed huff as she wiped her now wet hair out of her eyes before reaching up and caressing her now sore chest.
"Damn, watch the tits man. I know they're irresistible, but that doesn't mean you get to go hitting them." she joked, though damn did that punch to her tits hurt. Yet her attempt at humor was met with outrage.
"You- how dare you make a mockery of me, of this tournament!" Akato exclaimed, utterly agast by her casual vulgarity.
In his anger, plunged Tonbogiri into the stone and drew his bow from where it lay across his shoulder and torso, as well as what Scarlet could only call a 'stupidly big arrow' from the quiver on his back. However, deep down, she was just happy that he was switching to a ranged weapon, she wasn't sure she could keep up with him much longer in their messy tangles of blows that they had been fighting in earlier. Her relief faded as she saw the string of his bow glow a bright purple, realizing the string was inlaid with Gravity Dust.
He released Fujin Yumi's string, the bow instantly sending the arrow flying across the arena and forcing her to raise both swords up, needing to use both to try and deflect the arrow, which was nearly as thick as her arm. Even with both swords, she couldn't fully avoid taking damage, the arrow grazing her left arm, the sheer force of which was still strong enough to throw her to the ground. Suddenly, she was very thankful for her Aura, as without it, that arrow would have easily taken her arm off, and she'd look even more likeMom with a prosthetic limb. Stumbling to her feet once again, she saw him already pulling back on another arrow, his face gritted from the effort of nocking drawing the behemoth projectile. Knowing she'd have to hit with more punch than usual, she focused, the blood created by her Semblance dripping up along the edge of her swords, coating them just in time as he released another arrow at her.
This time, rather than deflect, she swung her blade as he fired it, Wilt's blood-covered blade arcing through the air with as much strength as she could muster, carving right through the arrow. A wide smirk spread her lips as she repeated the act as he sent a second arrow her way. Just like with her joke from earlier, this only seemed to fuel his anger, gritting his teeth and letting out a growl of frustration. Scarlet just stared, unable to figure out what had the guy so pissed. They were being broadcasted to the whole world while fighting like complete badasses, how was he so damn grumpy?
"What's with the stick up your ass? Dude, this is just a tournament, try to have some fun with it."
For the third time, he looked as though Scarlet had offended him on a spiritual level, jaw clenched and eyes drawn to pinpricks. Despite this, he didn't blame her, she couldn't understand, not without having lived his life, without knowing the weight of the expectations that he had already failed to meet pulling down on him every day of his life. But, he wasn't going to let her ignorance stand in his way.
"I already failed once." he said, his voice heavy with conviction as he pulled his spear from the ground, now wielding both weapons. "And I have no intention of doing so again!"
With his proclamation, he did something that Scarlet found bewildering. Rather than toss the bow aside or draw another arrow, he once again activated the mechanism that caused Tonbogiri to burst into flames before holding it by the opposite end and nocking it on the string of Fujin Yumi, slowly lining up a powerful shot. Scarlet froze, realizing that there was no way in hell she'd be able to deflect or cut through that spear, so she decided to try and match it instead.
As she slid Wilt back into its sheath, she started to focus once again, filling the mechanism with as much blood as it could hold and then going even further, letting it pool around the hilt and seep into the sheath proper. She wasn't just going to attempt a quick draw to deflect the projectile, oh no, she was going to let him have the full brunt of her veil of blood. For a few seconds that felt like hours, the two stared each other down, both readying their respective attacks, putting as much power as they could muster into them, before eventually they both released with as much force as they could.
Scarlet let out her attack first, and rather than the usual sword beam or flying slash that someone's Aura created with such a focused strike, this acted more like a wave, the thick liquid flying her opponent's way carrying enough force that a shockwave followed it. Akato letting his spear fly had the same effect, the flaming weapon and her blood meeting each other midway and colliding. Time stood still for them both, watching as the spear wasn't sent back from its path, instead flying up as it was knocked out of its trajectory. But Akato wasn't willing to give up so easily, and in a last ditch effort, chose to use his Semblance rather than dodge. In an instant, his spear returned in a burst of flames, continuing on its previous path, even as Akato took the full brunt of her attack.
Now, despite her own attack landing, she was left wide open, having no time to move or block, only able to close her eyes and brace for the impact. However, an instant before the flaming projectile was set to hit her, she could hear a wet squelchy sound from in front of her. She didn't have time to focus on what exactly that was, as something slammed into her a moment later. It clearly wasn't the spear however, it was larger and had more give to it, feeling very wet almost like a thick liquid or ooze. Regardless, it sent her flying back either way, practically skimming across the water and coming to an uncomfortable rest atop a sandbar near the arena's edge as a buzzer rang out.
Damn it, how the hell was she supposed to predict that his spear would just come back like that? Now Jin was on his own fighting the both of them and she just had to-
She opened her eyes reluctantly, only to find Akato similarly on the ground in the arena centre, his Aura past the threshold on the big screen above.
Wait, but there was only one buzzer, she was still in?
Looking to the side, she saw a familiar red creature struggling to stand, the quadrupedal familiar unable to stand with the spear having run it through. After a moment, the Aura holding the beast together gave way as it collapsed into a pool of blood that quickly evaporated. Well shit, it was about time the thing was starting to work with her, now if only she could recreate it... Finally looking at her side of the screen, she winced, as even with the padding, she was a hair's breadth away from being eliminated. Despite feeling like she'd just been hit by a car, Scarlet stumbled to her feet, and gradually made her way back over to the boy who lay still, staring up at the open sky above them. Tears lay in his eyes.
"Sorry man, but you weren't the only one who wants to win this thing." she said, leaning over him with a winded but proud expression, only faltering when she looked down on Akato. The poor boy looked utterly devastated, like his entire world had shattered around him. "Seriously though, you throw around fire, shoot arrows thicker than my arm, and have the crowd eating out of your hand, how the hell are you not having fun?"
"This is no simple tournament to me. Everything was hinging on this, my pride, my honor, my very ability to use my own name!" he choked out, shocking Scarlet with how emotional he'd suddenly gotten over the loss. On anyone else, she'd throw out some mocking statement, but the look in his eyes and the hitch in his throat told her he was deathly serious.
"For what it's worth, you kicked my ass like no one else. Even if you didn't win, you should be proud of the fight you put up."
Her words clearly hadn't reached him, and despite speaking genuinely, it was clear that whatever was affecting him was too big to simply get over. In his eyes, it was just more proof that his father was right about him, he had failed all over again.
Jin and Noah fought for every inch of ground as the ship started tilting back farther and farther, the capsizing prop proving to be far more difficult to fight on than either of them had assumed. It was a fight just to stay standing upright, let alone properly throw punches or fire at one another. Frustratingly for Noah, Jin actually had the upper hand in this environment, his Semblance along with his weapons allowing him to circumvent the situation somewhat, putting him on the defensive
Reacting to the Faunus, he raised his musket and fired the harpoon, hoping to ensnare him and throw him against the ship, only for Jin to fire out of one of his gauntlets, changing his trajectory just enough to evade the harpoon, before firing again to head his way.
Letting out a powerful kiai, Jin delivered kick after kick into Noah's chest at lightning speeds, his lack of gravity and the angle of their chosen arena letting him pin Noah down with the force of his strikes. Eventually, he was able to focus, transitioning into water and sliding past Jin, letting himself fall until he caught himself on the remains of the mast. With a flip, Jin landed on the remains of the mast, raising up a single leg in a guarded stance as Noah pulled himself up, panting.
"Damn it!" he swore, It was bad enough he was taking a beating, but doing so in an environment that should have been his home turf made it sting all the more. "You guys are going down, you hear me?"
Well, Jin was normally happy to banter back with such an overly dramatic declaration, but the venom in Noah's voice gave him pause. This wasn't like Scarlets showboating and playful attitude; he was dead serious. Shouting at Jin as if he were a mortal enemy, his stance faltered, a frown forming on his lips once again as he was reminded of the resentment his opponent held for him. A part of him, albeit small, wanted to shout back like he had at the dance, to tell the man just how much of an asshole he was being. But, the last time he had lashed out, it hadn't helped anything, in fact it had only made things worse, a thought that just made him feel even sadder. So he made up his mind, he wouldn't.
"Sorry, but I won't fight you this way."
"What?" Noah asked bewildered, tilting his head, suspecting that he had misheard him.
"I don't hate you, and I'm not going to take part in some weird one-sided grudge match. "
"This is a tournament, why did you even show up if you're not going to fight?"
"I never said I wouldn't fight you, I just said I wouldn't be doing it under your rules." Jin explained, shaking his head and response. He planned to fight, and he planned to win, but he wasn't going to do so out of spite.
Noah didn't know how to respond to that. Well, he had expected a few responses, but a complete refusal to return his anger wasn't one of them. For a brief moment, he looked away with a look of pain covering his face, briefly considering why he was even so angry to begin with. Then he heard a buzzer and turned just in time to see Akato's icon go red out of the corner of his eye. With his anger reignited, he growled, his frustration reaching a new peak. Not only was Jin not taking him seriously, but it was looking like he was actually going to lose. Well, not if he had anything to say about it.
There was no time to form a real plan, as the ship's overturned keel finally reached the tipping point on the slope, causing the entire structure to start rapidly sinking as it began to slide down. Knowing he had only seconds to act, Noah took advantage of Jin's surprise. Aiming up, he fired his harpoon right past Jin, making the boy dodge, and as planned, the harpoon stabbed into the figurehead, embedding itself in the wood before he jumped, letting the mechanism pull him up. As he passed by, he raised his knee, driving it up into Jin's chin as he passed, causing the boy to lose his footing and fall into the water.
Reaching the figurehead, he clambered up, looking down in shock as Jin was nowhere to be seen. For a brief moment, worry shot through him, as while he didn't exactly like the monkey man, the idea of being responsible for him drowning wasn't something he could live with. However, before he could retract the harpoon, he heard more shots, then Jin suddenly flew up, using the last of his limited ammo to repeat the trick he used to reach the ship in the first place, now using it purely to gain elevation and reach Noah. At the height of his leap, the blonde delivered one final axe kick, sending Noah right through the wooden figurehead. He held on to Jackdaw for dear life as he hurtled through the air, trying to reel in the harpoon like before, only to be met with a chunk of airborne wood being pulled towards him, rather than being drawn back to the ship, . With a great splash, he landed in one of the shallows, the buzzer ringing out, signaling his defeat and NAYA's elimination.
Jin jumped over, landing next to him a moment later as the tan boy crawled onto the sand and collapsed onto his side, groaning from the pain of being knocked through solid wood.
"You fucking asshole." Noah spat glaring up at him bitterly. "Making me think you were gonna drown."
"Oh, sorry, that wasn't what I was trying to do. It just took me a moment to catch myself." he said, sounding genuinely guilty over making him worry. "But hey, you were worried, so that means something, right?"
With a smile on his face, Jin offered the pirate-boy his hand, despite the scowl being sent his way in return.
"Just… fuck you man." Noah groaned, reluctantly accepting his help back to his feet. Yet, unlike the previous times they spoke, his words lacked the same coldness.
Jin couldn't be sure, but to him it seemed like progress, even if only a little bit.
Elizabeth stomped her way through the festival grounds, no real destination in mind, just needing to get away from any reminders of what had happened. It wasn't like she was really surprised, Belka had always been selfish and bitter, it was just like her to pull her little 'me me me' stunt! She should have known the woman would let one stupid victory go to her head. So why did she feel so betrayed by Belka going behind her back? Why did it hurt when she exploded at her?
Coming to a stop, she let out a shaky sigh as she started to feel light-headed. Shit, were her sugar levels dropping? Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small rectangular device, squinting at the tiny screen in an attempt to try and make out the numbers it displayed. After shading the display with her other hand, she was able to see it read 5.3, which was a little low, but she hadn't eaten yet today, so that was normal. Well if it wasn't that, then it was probably just the heat, she probably just needed some water and shade for a few minutes.
"What's that?" The sudden and ever calm voice of Lao asked from behind.
Elizabeth spun on her heel in surprise at the sudden interjection, as in her fuming, she'd forgotten that Lao had followed her, and nearly clocked him across the jaw for startling her. She considered hitting him anyway after the surprise had made her practically jump out of her skin, but thought better of it, motioning for him to follow again as she looked for a place to sit.
"My glucose monitor, it makes sure I don't forget to check my blood sugar and drop dead from shock."
Her explanation was a tad overdramatic, she had never gone too long for it to ping without checking it herself, so that wasn't a real risk for her. But what did it matter? The most he reacted to it was a slight lift of his orange eyebrows, and even that was more out of realization than anything else. However, her condition wasn't exactly casual conversation material, people always made these stupid assumptions about how she had to have been super unhealthy as a child or worse, they'd fret over her like she'd keel over dead at any minute. So, to avoid cursing him out like some sort of emotional punching bag, she turned the questioning around on him.
"So, why'd you follow me, just making sure I don't tear someone's head off?"
"Enough has been said between us in anger, I wanted to avoid adding to that by speaking to Belka when I know it won't go well."
Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. Had she just heard that right? No, that couldn't have been Lao, even in that monotone voice it sounded far too human and understandable to be him. She turned around and looked her partner up and down, a response that, strangely enough, got another reaction out of the boy, a small tilt of his head to the side just a few degrees. Now that was unlike him, since when was he so expressive?
"Wow, she even managed to piss you off. And here I thought nothing really got to you." she chuckled. Well, at least her aunt was good for something, she finally made her weird robot of a partner break his nigh invulnerable composure.
While she wasn't expecting it, Lao's expression showed no signs of humor. In fact, his brow furrowed just slightly, and she dared to say that he actually looked annoyed with her.
"I'm still human, Elizabeth. Just because I have better control of my emotions doesn't mean I don't feel them."
Elizabeth opened her mouth to make a rebuttal, as from the way he spoke, it sounded like she was treating him like some sort of defective AI, like the various pre-Penny attempts Atlas made that eventually ended up using to program their target practice androids. But, she stopped herself, realizing that she had indeed thought of him like some sort of defective robot just a few moments ago. So instead, she closed her mouth and let him keep talking.
"I hurt, I get angry, and I feel joy just like the rest of you."
"Then why do you act the way you do? Like you're always in this state of zen where I only get to see the real you through the minute cracks in your shell?"
Lao winced at the question. He wasn't blind to the way people saw him, he knew his demeanor could be off-putting, especially to those who hadn't known him back when he was a normal child, for lack of a better word. He was used to it by now, after years it was impossible not to be, but that didn't make it hurt any less.
"Because I learned the hard way that if I don't, people get hurt."
"Like… with SLVR?" she asked, remembering the state the team had been left in.
"Yes. I know you resent me for how I act-"
"That's not-"
"Please, let me finish." he said, holding his hand out. Reluctantly, she nodded, letting him say his piece. "Regardless of how it makes others feel, what I do is necessary. I don't like to put walls up between myself and anyone else, but I do what I do for a good reason."
Elizabeth didn't know what to say to that. While he hadn't said it explicitly, the fact that something very bad had happened because of his emotions was clear. A mixture of guilt and frustration swirled within her, as on one hand, she did genuinely feel bad for the way she judged him previously, not knowing that his stoic demeanor was some sort of coping mechanism / method of keeping himself in check, but at the same time, it just made her more angry. Going through life pretending like he was some sort of monk couldn't be healthy. It wasn't even addressing the root of the problem, just masking it, hiding it away and leaving it to fester.
Before she could voice her feelings on the matter, Lao looked off to the side, pointing over at a table under an umbrella with plenty of shade.
"I believe that's Nicolas waving us down."
Looking over to where he had pointed out, she also saw her cousin waiting at them. Next to them was Mercedes, as well as Kenneth, and surprisingly, a boy who she was fairly certain was Jin's younger brother. Lao didn't wait for her to agree, starting to walk towards the group just as calmly as he usually did, no evidence of the heart to heart they just had anywhere to be seen. As she watched him start to walk away, she decided to let it go. Just acknowledging the elephant in the room felt like enough progress for now.
And besides, she really needed to get in some shade.
"Yo, Lao my man, wassup bro?"
It was Guang who greeted them first, standing up and holding his hand out for a fist bump, to which Lao lazily reached his fist out to meet. The fist bump then suddenly transitioned into some kind of horizontal high five, before devolving into a tangle of fingers as the Faunus tried to do some sort of secret handshake that the smaller boy obviously wasn't ready for.
"Hey, almost dude. You'll probably have it down next time."
Catching up with her partner, Elizabeth did a polite wave at the rest of the table, Nick returning the gesture eagerly, along with Ken, though she had to bite her tongue to stop herself from letting the cat-tailed boy know exactly how she felt about the way he wiggled his fingers. The only one who didn't directly reciprocate the gesture was Mercedes, the young woman letting out a scoff and rolling her silver eyes at the petite woman. She paused, not sure what exactly she'd done to deserve such a reaction, but before she could ask, Guang finally noticed her, walking up confidently and giving her a wide toothy grin as he rested his hand on her shoulder, somehow missing the way her body fully tensed at the sudden touch.
"Oh hey there, my name's Guang Bella-"
"You have half a second to take your hand off of me before I break it."
Guang, for all his faults, didn't need to be told twice, jumping back several feet before moving behind Ken, his sudden inability to make eye contact with the shorter woman obvious for all to see, even behind his sunglasses.
"Pfft- I'll give you points for taste, but maybe aim a little lower next time. Liz is a little out of your league for now." Ken said with a gentle laugh, giving the younger Faunus a small, encouraging nudge to his elbow.
"Who pissed in your cereal? I get he came on pretty strong, but you don't need to threaten the kid." Mercy spat, crossing her arms at Elizabeth, again showing more of her strangely hostile attitude.
"We had a… disagreement with our leader." Lao explained for her, already seeing the start of irritation on his partner's face.
"A bad one?" Nick asked. While he knew of Belka, his interactions with her had always been short greetings at charity or political events when they were younger, something Elizabeth envied at the moment.
"It's Belka, take a guess."
Sensing the growing tension only starting to get worse, Ken cut in with a suggestion.
"Well, if you guys need to blow off some steam, you can come hang out with us. I'm taking Guang here to Velvet Escapades to work on his game."
Unfortunately, his efforts had little effect, as Liz, still bitter about the boy's ill-thought advances and Mercedes's sudden hostility, stayed fully silent, staring down her opponent as if she was ready to start trading blows all over again. While the monkey boy sat ready to watch the brewing catfight, his newly met cat-tailed friend had the sense to leave before things got heated, grabbing the shades-wearing boy by his collar and pulling him away towards the club.
A thick silence covered the group as Lao and Nick nervously traded glances between the girls and themselves, neither one knowing what to do or what had even caused this to begin with.
"Okay fine, I'll bite, what are you so pissed about?" Elizabeth asked, finally breaking the silence.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe that comment about being a copy of my mom?"
Elizabeth scoffed at the hypocritical complaint. How could she possibly complain about that after being the one to start trash talking in the first place. Neither of them were strangers when it came to meaningless verbal jabs exchanged during a fight, so why was this time so different?
"What? It was just trash talk. Besides, you basically said the same thing to me first."
"No, don't even act like what I said was the same, not when you know how much that shit bothers me!" Mercy shouted, her voice cracking with a mixture of hurt and anger, all directed at her friend.
It was a feeling she knew all too well, the feeling of having your own insecurities flowing at your face so casually, and once again, guilt started to overtake her frustration. She had been so upset at Belka for being so callous with how she spoke to her, but she had done the same thing to Mercy without even thinking about it twice now. Taking a deep breath, Elizabeth stood up, the anger falling from her face as she looked her friend right in the eyes.
"You're right." Elizabeth said softly, surprising everyone left at the table. "I'm sorry Mercy, that was uncalled for."
While the atmosphere still held tension, it had lifted significantly. Mercedes, seeing the sincerity in the smaller woman's eyes, couldn't stay mad, and she supposed if she was being reasonable, she had still started it, not that she was going to give up so easily.
"...You still owe me."
Despite her best efforts, the beginnings of a smirk found their way onto the silver-eyed woman's lips. Seeing right through her false pout, but saying nothing about it, Elizabeth decided to play along. After all, they had some perfectly good entertainment that was happening just down the street.
"How about we follow those losers to the club and I'll buy you some drinks while we watch them make fools of themselves."
"Hmm," Mercy rubbed her chin, making a show about thinking it over, before giving up on trying to act conflicted all together.
"Deal. C'mon boys, little Liz is buying shots." Mercy proclaimed, her mood pulling a complete 180 as she draped one of her arms around her friend's shoulder.
"Will you be coming with us as well Nicolas?" Lao asked, his eyes betraying the fact that he really didn't want to be the only one to be left sober while having to drag the rest of the group around.
The young soldier considered it for a moment, but looking down at his watch, he frowned, seeing that he'd actually already gone over his assigned break by just sitting and talking. Well, it wasn't like he was able to drink on duty anyway, not without being very publicly court-martialed at least.
"Sorry man, I'm on duty still, you're on your own for this one."
"Well, hit us up when you get off, we'll probably still be there." Mercy said, extending the invitation as Nicholas parted from the group, heading along his patrol route once again.
Lavender stood against the sandstone wall of a convenience store as she glared daggers at the food stalls across the street. The greasy scent of overly fatty foods and sweets filled her nostrils with every breath, and damn did it smell good to her in the moment, her decision not to eat before leaving coming back to bite her as her stomach growled.
She'd just been in such a hurry that eating didn't even occur to her. Romeo had seen her injecting her venom into herself like some kind of fucking junkie, and she knew just from the way he glanced at her tail when they'd finally woken up that he had something to say. He probably thought the only way she was stupid enough not to see that something was wrong was because she was too high out of her mind to see the truth, yet somehow, the truth was worse, that the venom offered an escape, a way to make everything feel less awful.
The irony that she'd injected herself once again to ignore the consequences of doing it previously wasn't lost on her, though she tried not to think about it.
It wasn't only her fear of Romeo's judgment that made her seek a distraction though, it was just the final straw. She had tried to rationalize what had happened the previous night, to try and make sense of it based on what she knew. Henna had acted so differently from how she usually did that there had to be some sort of explanation, the woman wasn't some brainless fanatic like Azrael, so she knew there had to be some sort of explanation for what was going on. But that line of thought came with its own worries, she was acting like Azrael that night, indulging in bloodlust seemingly for the sake of it, and justifying her actions behind the Goddess.
In truth, Lavender didn't know as much as she should about the Goddess. Really, it was just what she'd been told and what she'd read in her father's journal, and that didn't paint the clearest of pictures aside from the fact that she was apparently perfection incarnate, and that the Grimm were personifications of her will. Never before had she questioned it, she never had a reason to, but now she couldn't help but wonder why a goddess so powerful would only work through beings of pure destruction, or why her followers all seemed to revel in bloodshed and suffering. If everything she'd been told and read about was true, if her father really was her most devoted follower… then what did that mean?
The possibilities and implications made her want to vomit, so she did what she always did when her thoughts became too much, she escaped into her mind.
This led her to her current predicament, she was hungry, had no money, and was still out of it enough to ignore how bad of an idea stealing in a heavily populated area was. She fell back on her instincts from when she'd first left home, spotting a stand without many people eating and decided it was as good a target as any, crossing the street as she pulled her hood up over her head. She stumbled slightly as she walked, trying to play the lingering disorientation as a limp, but she probably looked like a drunk to anyone who moderately paid attention.
As she got close to the stand, she eyed the people occupying it, four in total including the vendor. Two of the customers were obviously a couple, feeding each other in a disgustingly sweet display of their love, which only really left the woman eating off to the side by herself.
Moving in, she waited until no one was looking before moving to act. With the art of skullduggery being second nature in her family, utilizing her tail to get what she wanted had come to her as easily as breathing. She kept the chitinous limb low to the ground before striking as fast as she could at a drying rack, knocking down the plates and silverware. Everyone's attention being drawn to the noise of ceramic shattering and metal hitting the ground gave her a small window of opportunity. She acted fast, grabbing a sandwich off the nearest plate before walking away, taking the first available turn in order to break line of sight. Waiting a few more seconds before looking back over her shoulder, she saw the lone woman just realise her sandwich had disappeared, and was now checking the floor.
With her petty theft successful, she walked over to the nearest bench, seeking her teeth into her prize and savoring the taste. It was unfortunately just as greasy as it had smelled, but she didn't care, it was something to fill her stomach for the time being. She scarfed down the food, nearly choking on it as she practically shoved the burger down her throat, a leftover habit from the months she had spent on the streets, not knowing where her next meal would come from, let alone whether she'd eat it all that day. In less than a minute, she had fully devoured the meal, earning stares of judgment from those around her for her less than proper manner of eating. She ignored them, the same way they'd ignore her if she actually wasted the energy to look over at them.
That changed when she heard footsteps coming her way, glancing up in case it was the woman she'd stolen from, or worse, security. But no, instead she saw a familiar blond monkey Faunus walking up to her. The deaf girl whose name escaped her stepped up, a worried look on her face.
'Are you okay?' Liang signed, having noticed how Lavender stumbled as she walked, coming over to make sure her fellow Faunus was feeling alright.
'I'm fine thank you, just not feeling well.' The scorpion-tailed woman signed back with a sigh of relief.
She wasn't sure why the girl she'd only spoken with once before seemed so worried, maybe she wanted something again? Another restaurant recommendation or some other part of the festival explained? Either way, she wasn't interested in small talk at the moment, hoping her half-truth would satisfy her acquaintance enough to lose interest.
However, with her attention focused on Liang, Lavender failed to see someone else take notice of her. Nick's eyes had originally been caught by Liang, intending to stop by for just a moment and say hi before continuing on his route, but then he noticed the strange woman she was with, his instincts immediately going off. First of all, who the hell wore a coat in this heat? And then there was the way she swayed impatiently in her seat, glancing around like she was worried she'd be caught doing something wrong, and the bladed gauntlets poking out from under her sleeves sealed the fact that she was no civilian. Either she was a student and just unfortunately weird, or she was hiding something.
Trying to act casual, he walked right up, tapping Liang on the shoulder. The deaf girl turned around, confused for a moment, before her face lit up at the sight of a family friend, throwing her arms around the young soldier without hesitation.
Lavender watched closely, the affectionate greeting seeming similar enough at a glance, but she knew how people acted when they were tense. He was too guarded, too concerned with her despite pretending not to see her, even though she was only a few feet away.
'Good to see you too, Liang.' he signed before turning and pretending to only now notice Lavender, the woman's eyes narrowing as he spoke, signing at the same time so both women could understand. "Is this a friend of yours?"
'Sort of, she pointed out some spots to eat around here to me when we first showed up.' Liang signed back innocently, none the wiser to the growing tension.
Seeing right past Nick's facade, Lavender stood, ready to bolt despite her dizziness coming back just from standing. From the way that he tensed up at her just moving, it was clear he knew, and probably knew she was on to his bullshit too, she needed an excuse to get out of there before he started to question her.
"Sorry, I was just passing through, I need to go meet up with my brother." With yet another half truth carelessly thrown out, she started to walk off, not bothering with further pleasantries. She couldn't handle being under scrutiny at the moment, not in the state she was in, and not with the people she was involved with.
Nicholas continued to watch as Lavender walked off, stumbling down the lanes once more. She was hiding something, he knew it, he just wasn't sure what it was, but it was safe to assume he'd figure it out by following her. Liang was confused, but saw no reason to assume she was lying, accepting her words and turning back to Nick. Thankfully, he didn't have to think of his own excuse, as at that moment, he received a text from Mercedes. Looking down at his scroll, he chuckled at the messages.
Nick, make up some excuse to come to the club, Ken's trying to teach your boy to look cute.
He's failing.
It's fucking hilarious.
Attached just below her words was a picture of Ken and Guang in an identical pose, both of them winking at the camera while curling a closed fist. To Nick, it didn't look natural on Ken to begin with, but it was downright alien looking on Guang. Still, he got a good laugh out of it, and it was the perfect distraction for Liang.
'Your brother is making a fool of himself down at Velvet Escapades if you want to go see.'
The moment Nick held up the picture for her to see, she couldn't contain herself, bursting into laughter. While the tone was a little lower due to her never having been able to control her own voice, her amusement was unmistakable, nearly doubling over and holding on to her knees before looking back up with a wide grin as she signed.
'You bet your nonexistent ass I do, I'll send you pictures.'
And with her frankly uncalled for comment about his butt, she head off, taking her scroll out of her pockets to look up directions to the club. Good, now he could go after that woman without worrying about Liang being caught in the middle of it. He was able to just make out her hood cutting into an alleyway before she disappeared, heading over in a jog. He turned, only to find that she had somehow completely disappeared. It wasn't a short alleyway either, so unless she'd broken out into a full sprint the moment she turned into the backstreet, there was no way she could have escaped already. Slowly and carefully, he walked farther into the alley, looking for any sign or hiding place for her to have gone.
He didn't have to look long, mostly because she had found him first, slamming into him from the side. However, she stumbled once more during the shunt, so rather than driving her shoulder into his side, she practically threw herself against his chest, though in the end, the result was the same. As she recovered, she pressed her arm against his solar plexus and readied The Queen's Servants to keep him pinned against the wall.
For a brief moment, the pair sized each other up. Nick was bigger, significantly so, and his gun was a problem, but with her blade and stinger, along with how close she was to him, it was clear she held the advantage. Really, he was just thankful she hadn't killed him right off the bat like he was afraid she would try.
Lavender just watched him closely, trying to figure out what his game was. He didn't act like he knew who she was, either that, or he was stupid enough to think that he wouldn't need backup to bring her in. As she eyed his uniform, closely her eyes widened as she noticed the name tag on his chest, the all too familiar name of Arc-Schnee upon his left breast. This was no mere soldier, this was someone who stood against everything The Goddess's Shadows stood for. If she had been anyone else, they would have killed him on the spot. Hell, she was considering doing him in herself after she learned what he knew.
"Why the hell are you following me?" she growled, pressing against him harder to try and intimidate him into giving her an answer.
Annoyingly, he didn't seem very afraid of her, probably because she was just shy of five feet and he was easily over six. Over a foot's difference in size made it a little hard to be intimidating, even with her tail raised and ready to sting.
"There have been some suspicious people around lately." he said calmly, knowing better than to try and escalate the situation, though he kept a very close eye on how she moved, seeing she was unsteady. If he waited for the right moment, he could potentially turn this around.
"And you just assume I'm one of them huh?"
She could kill him now, no one would know, Henna would be pleased, after all, he was an enemy, an Arc-Schnee.
But why was he an enemy? Just because Henna had said so? She'd also said Durga was an enemy, Moon had said her own daughter was an enemy. This boy probably didn't even know about the Goddess, let alone believe in her. That wasn't worthy of a death sentence, not in her eyes.
"Those are some serious weapons, what school are you from?" Nick asked, finally breaking the silence.
Damn it, she didn't have any answer to that, and there was no reason to make him think he was wrong about the assumption. So instead, she tried to shift the conversation back to him once again.
"Why would I tell some stalker where I… where I'm…" Her attempt at deflection started to break up as she coughed, gagging as something wet and thick made its way up her throat. She started to swallow to try and keep it down, but it quickly proved to be a losing battle.
Nick wasn't sure what to think at first, raising an eyebrow as her head lowered, the color suspiciously draining from her face for a moment. While the girl was undeniably weird, this felt especially strange, wondering what she was doing. But his answer came swiftly as Lavender gagged, fruitlessly trying to hold back the tide, and with a sickeningly wet wretch, the greasy sandwich she had just eaten came right back, spilling out onto his uniform and boots, the mixture of her own venom, the overly greasy sandwich, and the unyielding heat of Vacuo having proven to be too much for her.
Nick couldn't really do much, going tense as he realized that the behavior he had assumed was suspicious had a very different explanation, Lavender was just sick. This poor woman was probably dealing with enough already, and he had just gone and profiled her as some whack job. He couldn't have seen the obvious guilt on his face if he tried, feeling absolutely terrible.
"Oh-oh god, I- I'm sor-" Lavender tried to speak, similarly embarrassed and guilty as she wiped her mouth, trying to ignore the foul taste of bile and partially digested food on her tongue.
"N-no it's fine, really, don't worry about it." the soldier muttered guilty, unable to make eye contact. "Uh, here, let's get you to some real shade."
"Sorry, I'm just not used to this heat." she coughed, letting herself be pulled back over to the food stands, being led over to one with a fan spraying mist just overhead.
"I'm the one who should be apologizing, I shouldn't have assumed, I just…" he trailed off, remembering the night of the dance, seeing the man with his knife moving towards Jin, taking aim and… He shook his head slowly to get back on track. "Like I said, some suspicious people have been around, I guess I just need to learn the difference between suspicious and sick. Let me start over, my name is Nicholas Arc-Schnee."
"I'm Lavender."
The two sat in silence for a minute before Nick headed over to one of the stands, grabbing as many napkins as he could carry as well as a pair of water bottles before returning. He handed her one of the bottles before awkwardly trying to clean the lingering bile off of his uniform.
Lavender looked away as she drank half the bottle in a single gulp, embarrassed by the fact that she had just thrown up all over this man and now everyone knew, a weird feeling to have considering she'd contemplated killing him for a brief moment. Bloodshed was messy, yes, but vomit was just plain gross.
"Nice to meet you Lavender." he shook her hand softly, causing her scowl to return as she squeezed his hand hard, causing him to wince and pull away. "So, if you aren't a student, I'm guessing you're here with family?"
Lavender paused, she had never confirmed that she wasn't a student, but at the same time, he wasn't acting suspicious in the same way as before. Figuring it wasn't worth making some fragile web of lies for this one conversation, she nodded.
"My brother and I are visiting our sister." It was another half truth, but it wasn't as if she could be completely honest either.
"No parents?"
"Well, my mother is back at home at the bottom of a bottle, so no."
The mood turned to tense once again, though with a very different feel. This time Nick didn't try to match her glare, instead wincing slightly like a kicked puppy.
"Oh, uh, sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"No, no, I shouldn't have snapped at you, you couldn't have known."
Despite her apology, Nicholas still looked on edge. Damn it, how was he doing this? She didn't owe him anything just because he got her some water and helped her find shade. If the stubborn boy hadn't insisted on following her in the first place, she never would have thrown up on him. But while he was still here, she didn't want to deal with his sulking.
As she sat there, thinking about a way to turn this conversation into anything else, it occurred to her just how weird the situation was. They're enemies, whether he knew it or not, and what was weirder neither of them should have been in the situation to begin with. Lavender was meant to be laying low, staying in the hotel and waiting patiently for the next step of whatever plan had been decided on, and the dashing prince next to her should have been above this kind of work. Typically, the ultra wealthy wouldn't dare be assigned a position so low on the chopping block. It made her wonder just how badly he had to fuck up in order to be doing grunt work.
"So, how does an Arc-Schnee become a rank and file Atlas soldier? Did you blow too much of mommy and daddy's money and this was your punishment?"
She chuckled a little as the question brought back memories of all the times Romeo had partied a little too hard and had been made to do grunt work as a punishment for his messes. She could easily see some boy with enough money to make her family look poor being similarly as stupid with his funds. Yet for some reason, he laughed, probably thinking she'd just been joking.
"Nothing like that, I just felt like enlisting because it was the right thing to do, simple as that."
"The right thing to do?" She blinked, doing a double take as she looked up at him to make sure she had heard him right. Yet his face showed no sign of deception.
"Yeah, I come from a rich family, have good Aura stats, and a powerful Semblance. Really, it would be selfish not to go into a career where I couldn't help people." Nick explained, somehow keeping a full and genuine smile as he looked at her, as if he actually believed all that crap. "Don't get me wrong, Huntsmen are cool and I respect what they do, but it's not the only way to make a difference. It's like my Dad always says, anyone can be a hero, it's just about doing the right thing."
"So what? You wanna be just like your dad?"
"I guess so, doesn't everyone want to be a little like their parents?"
Lavender paused, not ready or expecting to be hit with that question. She knew there was no way for him to know just how much of a gut punch it would be to hear that after everything that had happened to her in the last forty eight hours, but she still wanted to punch him for how stupidly optimistic he sounded.
In a way, she was jealous of his naive levels of confidence. Things had been so much simpler when she shared his mindset, but now, knowing what her father had taught Henna to do, the sort of things he'd done… Was… was that what she really wanted to live up to?
"Hey, sorry, we don't have to talk about that. What about you, are you enjoying the festival?" he said, picking up on her sudden change in mood and changing the subject.
"Not really, I've spent most of it following my sister and watching her and my brother fight." she shrugged, taking the obvious change in subject without question.
"Well, how about I show you around then?" the boy said, taking a stand, having cleaned off as much of the vomit as he was going to get and holding his hand out to Lavender. The woman in question tilted her head, obviously not buying that his motives were purely altruistic. "Come on, I owe you for earlier, it's not like I'm hurting for money or anything."
"Well, aren't you just a regular prince charming?" she laughed, leaning back and finishing her water bottle. "Tall, handsome, wanting to do the right thing for the sake of it."
"Most people find it endearing."
"I'm not most people… But I could use something to wash my mouth out."
Having made up her mind, Lavender stood, smirking up at Nick as she waited for him to lead the way. It was a distraction, it wouldn't solve anything, it wouldn't make her feel better or answer all the questions floating around her head, and they both knew it. But right now? A distraction was exactly what she needed.
"Okay Princy, wow me."