(I heard y'all liked long posts)
It’s a long walk to the outdoor practice arena, made even longer by the frequent stops by students wishing to speak with Saffron. It’s understandable, of course, an Atlas student in Beacon is a rare sight. Aurelia has no problem with the interruptions, and patiently lets any student briefly converse with the foreigner. She does notice the subtle glances directed towards her, the looks of petty racism and other such trivialities. But she dismisses them, for they are meaningless to her. Whatever opinions those looks hold, they were founded on nothing more than her heritage, something completely out of her control. As such, the horse faunus would consider any complaint they might have as invalid. Besides, she’s dealt with far more pointed stares back in Atlas, the looks in Vale are practically complimentary in comparison.
Still, those brief moments do put this recent “civil” discourse in perspective: not once did the subject turn to faunus civil rights. The argument overall was on the matter of public security. The discussion never veered towards anti-human or anti-faunus territory. Sure, the threats that fueled the argument were most likely anti-faunus in nature, but the subject of discussion itself was how to handle it, not whether it was justified. Aurelia ultimately disagreed with her compatriots, but the disagreement was founded in differing ideologies, rather than close-minded bigotry.
That being said, she still finds Saffron and Azure’s viewpoints to be short-sighted and naïve. She stands by her point that appeasing aggression will only invite more aggression. That statement can be applied to everything from schoolyard bullies to international politics. By ending her tour, Azure had shown that bomb threats were effective in silencing her. The culprit may have been apprehended in this scenario, but who’s to say that will be the end of it? What happens when someone of a likewise mindset sends a similar threat? Will she end her tour again? If so, then there’s a chance she’ll never be able to finish a tour in her lifetime. Worse, it would encourage others to send threats to other artists in order to achieve similar results. The culprit may have been caught, but his goal was ultimately accomplished.
Aurelia will admit her method would involve greater short-term risk, but she would take that risk seriously. Besides, from the limited amount of information she gathered, she wagers she could build a fairly accurate profile of the perpetrator and plan proper security measures accordingly. However, she decides not to pursue the subject any longer, as both other parties seemed to have dropped it for the time being.
Instead she diverts her attention back towards horses, which seemed to be a much less divisive topic. ”Indeed, she was born a short time after me. She’s getting up there in years, but last I saw she was as lively as ever. And, yes, my family raised her since she was a foal. I’ve been riding her since she was old enough to carry me,” she says with a small smile, her tail flicking idly as she walks. Reminiscing about her horse Little Lady brought a small degree of comfort. However, her smile fades as Saffron shifts into the darker discussion of death. ”I can relate to the sentiment. I most likely won’t be there when she finally passes. I can only be grateful my family will be there to take care of her when her final hours come to pass,” she says sadly.
She remains silent for the remainder of the journey to the arena. Fortunately, there was little distance left to traverse. As they entered the amphitheater for the rings, Aurelia was surprised to find they were currently in use, though the fights seemed to be finishing up. That was fine, actually: Aurelia still needed to change. She wasn’t about to fight in her school uniform.
”Let them finish,” she responds to Saffron. ”I still need to gather my weapons, after all. In the meantime, the console is over there,” she points to a podium off-stage, ”You may use it to alter the arena however you wish. I assume it operates similarly to Atlas’s facilities, however if you have any questions, I’m sure another student will happily help you in my absence. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll return shortly.” And with that, Aurelia about-faces and heads towards the lockers.
As she does, she considers the conversation Saffron and Azure had behind her. She didn’t hear much of it, and the parts she did hear made it clear that it wasn’t meant for her ears. However, Aurelia is not deaf, and she couldn’t help but overhear one line that will invariably affect her mindset going into the bout.
“Of course I’ll win. I’m a rockstar, I can do anything,”
Azure clearly intends to fight to win, not to learn. As such, Aurelia must respond in kind. She was never intending to hold back, of course, but there is a difference in mentality. A fight for supremacy is ruthless, as combatants will use whatever means at their disposal to achieve victory. A battle intended for teaching involves building upon strengths while exposing weaknesses. There is overlap, of course. A ruthless combatant will still take advantage of weaknesses, and practice matches are still meant to be won. However, before hearing Azure’s bravado, Aurelia intended to charge headfirst against her in order to gauge her capabilities in order to provide criticism. Now, however, the cavalier intends to pick apart every perceived weakness without exposing herself to any danger.
That being said, perhaps in her absence, Saffron might still convince Azure to reconsider her feelings on the match. Aurelia will give the first-year one more chance to decide what this bout will be for. However, if Azure still decides to fight for victory above all else, then Aurelia will crush her with everything she has.
And judging from what she’s seen and heard, that will almost certainly be the outcome. At full strength, Aurelia outclasses Azure in every relevant category. In defense, Aurelia has her shield and aura technique, allowing her to defend against heavy blows. On offense, Noble Steed provides power and mobility as well as an additional “weapon” under certain circumstances. If Azure is a melee heavy opponent, then simply dashing around in a circle and taking shots at her with Dusk’s rifle form will easily be more than enough to cripple her. If she prefers ranged attacks, she’ll have to outrun a horse or otherwise be stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place.
There’s more to it than that, though. Aurelia’s no mind reader, but if she could read Azure’s mind, she’d criticize the first-year for dismissing formal training. Formal training isn’t for specific scenarios, it’s something to fall back on in pitched battles where there’s little time to think. The purpose of practicing one strike over and over again is to make the stance and movements reflexive, so a fighter wouldn’t have to waste time thinking about it. And that’s not even mentioning that Aurelia’s career choice involves facing off against monsters that come in every shape and size imaginable.
Furthermore, Aurelia’s first opponent in the Vytal Festival tournament also relied on surprising and catching her opponent off-guard. Airi’s methods worked, mind you, but there’s a few differences that need to be considered. First, Aurelia had to fight dismounted. Second, Airi is also a third-year student with much more experience than her current opponent. Third, Aurelia made a critical mistake that match in tossing her sword away, a mistake she does not intend to repeat any time soon.
So, to sum everything up, Aurelia’s more experienced, has higher “stats” across the board, and has a better strategy prepared than “hope Aurelia’s formal training doesn’t give her a concrete base to fall back on”. If Azure truly wants to win, she’s going to need to do better than relying on spontaneity.
As Aurelia finishes donning her armor, she places her shield on her back, straps her sword to her waist, and leaves the locker room. As she soon as she steps outside, she stops and starts the process to summon her semblance to her side. The construct whinnies, as it usually does when it’s summoned, but Aurelia takes a moment to observe it before riding back.
The armored unicorn glitters in the sunlight, its golden features attracting quite a bit of attention from surrounding students. Aurelia pays them no mind, though. She’s not interested in the beast’s appearance, but it’s behavior. Judging from the casual way it tosses its mane and the way it paws the ground with its hoof, it’s agitated.
No, that’s a silly observation to make. It’s a construct of aura, it doesn’t have feelings or thoughts. Its actions are simply the manifestations of Aurelia’s thoughts, both conscious and otherwise. If it’s displaying agitation, then that means Aurelia’s agitated. The cavalier sighs from behind her helmet, and takes a moment to get her thoughts under control and still the unicorn’s actions. She won’t let herself be ruled by emotion.
She takes just a bit longer to make sure the construct is completely under control before mounting it and heading off toward the arena.