[nathan67003]

God dammit, Juno.

As the girl started coming onto him, Nathan moved away a bit, just to keep out of reach. Responding to an act of agression was a good way to get yourself noticed, and it was exactly why he was in hiding like this.

"Not Nathaniel. Just Nathan.", he said in a voice just quiet enough to be heard by Xanh, Phi and Juno.

[Kiith]

"Are you serious?! You walk around the place like you're the coolest guy this side of Vale after stomping your opponents in the tourney to where they had to get looked at in a hospital, and probably almost killing one of them, and this is the issue that concerns you the most?! Your fucking name?!"

Xanh was absolutely furious. She came to this place in order to have a good time and maybe forget about some of the issues that had been troubling her lately. And now she ran into the origins of the two biggest of these. At the same time, in the same place. And both just seemed to find good pleasure in taking the piss out of her.

"You like mocking me?! You like fucking up my friends, my teammates and then sit here and quietly laugh your ass off while I can do nothing about it?! You like to put holes - actual bulletholes - into people when they are in a spot where they can actually die?! Well, how'd you like me tearing you a few extra ventilation holes then? Because I swear that's what's going to happen as soon as I get rid of this stupid ballast on my arm!" With that, she tried once more to break free from Juno's tight grip, but to no avail. "Speaking of which: Let me go, you nut! I know you're a little shit, but you're not that bad - you at least didn't try to kill me! So have a heart and let me go kick this fuck's face in!"

[Zwei Not]

Juno didn't quite understand what was going on between these two, but given the numerous news reports regarding the tournament over the past few days, he could at the very least guess that Xanh knew one or more of the students who had been injured in a fight with Eau. While Eau wasn't blameless, having injured these students in the first place, Juno could see that Xanh was out of line. Not to mention, he was starting to get tired of her accusatory shit anyway.

"I'm not letting you go. What happened is fucked up, I get it. And you're already at me, for reasons beyond my understanding. But taking your anger out on him will accomplish nothing." he stated, tightening his grip on her upper arms and giving her a single firm shake. "If you want me to let you go, you will calm yourself, sit your ass down, and we'll talk like civilized people."

[nathan67003]

Nathan calmly observed the scene, taking it all in. After everyone was done and there was a slight pause, he said "Besides, who said I liked hurting people? It's not my fault if it keeps happening. It's the third time, with Cat."

[Kiith]

Heavily breathing but otherwise completely quiet Xanh stood there, still as if she was held in place by more than just a tight grip on her arm. It had only come to all of this because she just had not known what to do. She had fought Juno and despite trying everything lost, and had not known what to do. She had been there, had seen Gray be the reckless idiot that he always was and Nathan not giving a shit, had seen a friend as well as someone she felt responsible for get seriously hurt, and had not known what to do. And now she was here with both of them, not knowing what to do. It was almost as if helplessness had become a running theme of hers lately. And whenever she saw no way for herself to actually deal with problems she just got...angry. That had always been an issue following her around, but it had never been as prevalent as it must have been for the last few days. And realising that always hurt her, almost more than the feeling of being helples itself. Because she did not want to be upset. She just wanted a good time.

"I...", she eventually pressed out in an attempted response, but did not get much further. Instead she clenched her fist on the arm held by Jun and reached out once more with the other one, although way to the side of Nathan. As she pulled her fingers back a nearby cup, apparently abandoned by its previous owner while still half full flipped over, pushed by its content suddenly deciding to leave it behind and instead speed towards Nathan's face.

"You shut the fuck up, you're not doing yourself any favours here", she explained harshly, but in.comparison way more collected than .ere seconds ago. Then, Xanh turned her head a little so she could face backwards."Fine...can you please let go of me so I can sit down then...?

[Zwei Not]

Juno glared at the girl as she threw a half empty cup of an as of yet unspecified drink at Nathan, his grip tightening as she pulled the maneuver. She seemed to have calmed down, if just the slightest bit, but it was clear she was still upset. At the very least, she wasn't swearing at him anymore. Juno held the girl still as he considered her request, eventually relenting and releasing the girl.

"Sit down. Nathan, explain what happened during your fights. Xanh, let him finish, then tell us about your perspective. We can talk it out from there"

[nathan67003]

Still looking right at the - somewhat agressive - girl and mostly oblivious to the hints of mental struggle present on her face, he didn't react when she reached towards something other than him.

Well, almost didn't.

As he turned to see what she was reachin for, he saw a half-empty cup filled with a nondescript liquid.

Having the Juno v Xanh fight still fresh in memory, he instinctively pulled back from his food while letting the near-finished burger fall onto a bed of fries, covering his now down-angled face with his arms. This allowed him to avoid being drenched by whatever was in there - mildly warm, apparently. His first thought when he brought his arms down was Oh sweet, it didn't drop into my stuff!

As he took in the last bite, he heard Juno's request and, after having finished the second hamburger, pushed the plate forwards a bit to offer some fries to other two, the small mound being certainly enough for them all.

"Sure.

So since I've started training at combat school, I've had three legit fights, all at Beacon. The first one was on my teammate's birthday. I was providing distraction for his party setup. We started sparring, a hit here and there, all blocking each other. But when I rammed Ergia into his chest, there was a loud snapping noise before he was sent flying. Don't know why, but his Aura wasn't up and I shattered his sternum. He was pretty okay, though, and was easily able to attend his party.

The second fight was with Gray. I'd just been blown far away by a neat trick he pulled, using it to my advantage to get him in my sights. As the smoke cleared, he glowed red before the glow shattered and proceeded to rush me really fast. 'Course, I'd planned he'd be too far for melee, so I opened up. Apparently, that guy also didn't have his Aura up for whatever reason and two shots had the time to land before I could react to his pained scream. I'm still really, really glad he didn't get hit anywhere worse.

The third one was with Catalina. When I jumped down towards him, my hit landed, but the buzzer didn't sound. That was my cue that something was wrong, so I tried going a bit easier. From the little I could gather, I think I dislocated his arm or something. He - surprise - didn't have his Aura up when I got that big hit in."

Leaning forward again and bringing his plate close enough to eat, he picked up the last burger and, right before taking a bite, said "There. Now you know."

[Kiith]

Consciously slowly - so she herself could make sure she would not pull any stupid moves - Xanh shambled over to the table to sit down, as far away from Nathan as was possible without her basically just changing tables. Even though the perspective of talking to the old man sitting there instead of these two was certainly tempting...

After she had finally taken a seat, leaning back arms crossed, and Nathan started explaining his side of things she really tried staying calm. She really did! After all Juno was not wrong - this had gotten her nowhere yet, other than almost into a fight in the middle of the foodcourt maybe. And who knew? Perhaps there indeed was a way to look at it that did not make everything seem so bad, and maybe Nathan was not a dangerous person with malicious tendencies. But as the boy went on she could already feel the blood rush into her head again. The way he had the guts to talk about breaking his 'friend''s breastbone like as if he just made him trip irritated her so much. What was wrong with this guy, and how could he think something like this was not a big deal?

But it was only really when Gray was brought up once more that she was truly pushing the boundaries of her patience. It took her a lot of concentration to not simply jumping up from her seat and reach across the table for Nathan's throat while he was reiterating the last seconds of their tournament match in his very...special way of saying things. No matter that she had agreed to what Juno had said and more or less accepted his offer to mediate between the two, she would still kick the audacity out of this guy if he kept on like this. At least if he kept talking shit about Gray, that much she swore to herself. But nonetheless, looking at her clenched fists she just about managed to let him finish his explanations before leaning forward.

"Do you even listen to yourself? Or ever think about how you sound talking like this? You talk about slamming your weapon into your friend's ribs and make it sound like you couldn't give less of a fuck about it, like it's not your fault. But hey, that's the problem of you and your social circle alone. But I swear to the gods I don't believe in, when you go over to fuck with my friends, people I'm supposed to be responsible for, and then speak about them like you do, then you've crossed a line and I will not hesitate to smack you back onto the the other side. At least as soon as I get another chance for it". During the short pause that followed, Xanh proceeded to simply glare at the person on the other side of the table, a look on her face that might as well be disgust as it might be desperation.

"I mean, I was there. In the stadium, watching the match. And I would lie if I said I didn't see something coming. Because I know Gray's the biggest, most shortsighted idiot this side of Remnant. And come, so should everyone else who has ever talked to him for just a second! Including you! But the way you looked you just didn't care. Didn't give a shit!" Running out of ways to make herself clear she simply shrugged and shook her head. "Yeah, you just went for the shots anyway. I couldn't, and I still can't, believe my eyes seeing you just make him go down in utter pain. But you know who I even believe in less than in you? In myelf. I can't believe I just watched you shoot him, but not doing anything. I can't believe it was Jack Pettibone hopping into the ring and shielding Gray, instead me jumping down and beating the shit out of you until I could be sure you'd never do this again. Nah. I just...sat there and let them take him away. Afterwards of course, I speant fucking hours to get a clue where they had brought him to. I'd spent my time at his medical bed along with all the others who were worried for him, not telling them I couldn't listen to him groan in pain without thinking it's my fault just as much as yours. And every single night since then I've been recapping it, and whishing I had done what I should have done. Protecting him, and teaching you a fucking lesson..."

By now Xanh, looking down at her feet, had put a hand on her forehead, partially covering her eyes with her fingers. Perhaps the glaring light had started to hurt her eyes a little. Perhaps she realised staring at Nathan all the time would not do anything for her other than fuel the agression in her. Or perhaps she was not quite sure her eyes would stay dry. "But you got your victories, and moved on like it's nothing. You don't care about any of this. Or at least you make it damn well sound like it. And it doesn't matter if you meant it, if you really are the fucking psychopath you make yourself look like. The fact that you seem so disconnected from the things right infront of you makes it so much worse".

[Zwei Not]

Wow. Just... Wow. Nathan was not helping his case in the slightest. His more apathetic descriptions definitely acted as a detriment to any semblance of innocence, and now Juno understood where Xanh was coming from. Nathan didn't seem to understand when to stop in a fight, and that got people hurt. As he thought on how to tackle the issue before him, Juno took a deep breath, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Tournament fights were meant to have precautions put in place to prevent serious injury. Whatever the case, it didn't work in the case of Nathan's fights. Juno could tell that Nathan hadn't meant to hurt anyone, but the guy definitely wasn't helping with his description.

Juno's gaze flicked to Xanh once she mentioned Pettibone. It was odd that his opponent was involved in this event, especially with, as far as he knew, a minimal connection to those involved. But Jack was little more than an opponent. He was a fighter, like Juno, and had his own integrity on the line. But... his involvement was interesting...

"Xanh, calm down. Precautions are put in place to prevent injuries like this from happening. At the risk of sounding like an asshole, both parties involved are at fault, and these incidents were not intentional. Conversely, Nathan. The goal of these fights is to subdue, not injure. Accidents, these incidents may be, but you still pulled the trigger. Excersize a minimal degree of self control, and know to let the fight end without someone needing to head to the hospital."

[nathan67003]

Nathan finished the mouthfull he had and, just as he was about to respond to Xanh's accusations, which seemed ill-founded, Juno cut in.

"I never wanted to injure anyone in those fights. I never thought the actions I pulled would. If I had known, I wouldn't have pulled the trigger, I wouldn't have hit them. I would've tried something else. What, I don't know, but not anything that could've caused them actual harm. I just always assumed people had their Aura up at all times during battles. I was never taught anything different. My goal is just to win the fight, not pound someone into dust.

Still, I get what you mean. I'll keep an eye out for hints about that in the future."

Lifting the burger back up, he said "And Xanh, I've never spoken to Gray. Not during the battle, not before. Not even a single word. And I do care, I just have a lot of difficulty expressing emotions most of the time." With that, he took another bite out of his meal.

[Timeworker]

Griz was trying to enjoy his nap...oh boy was he trying. Hidden away from sight of the other, Griz had retreated here after his fight was finished to replenish his aura. The truth be told he had finished the complete regeneration of his aura 4 hours ago. Now he was just being lazy, that was until of course he heard the shouting coming from a very disturbed Xanh.

Poking an eye out from under the bundle of cloths that he was hiding under he contemplated the situation. That kid had a right to fear Nathan, he had the agility and skill to dodge all of his blows even if Griz had left him no room to counter attack. If they didn't have restrictions on them it would have made for a very close fight. Griz had fought too many tourneys to know that. Besides it's not like he had anything to lose by quitting, heck his parents were just happy he tried.

However if that kid goes against Jack unprepared he was going to get the shit kicked out of him and look stupid while doing so. Rising from his sleeping spot Griz walked over to where all the commotion was coming from to hear the end of Nathan's defense. Deciding to introduce himself, Griz lazily spoke to the group

"I dont blame ya kid it's quite normal here to have everyone's aura to be up and 'attem. Not everyone gets to have the pleasure of coming away with a sweet 15%. In the tourneys I fought in kid it wasn't over....t'ill it was over. Gray was extremely lucky with how his fight ended...that doesn't mean I don't feel sorry for the guy I'm just saying."

Griz tried to make a peace between the two parties but felt like it wasn't working. Honestly these tournaments were just really aggressive sparring matches to Griz, did the contestants really think that Grimm would spare them if they got below 15% and called it quits?
Thinking on his feat to try and divert the girl from tearing Nathan apart Griz spoke again

"So uhhhh Juno was it? How about this, I can see that you need some help with Jack. I just went toe to toe with him so I can give you a few tip and pointers on how to bring him down." Sparing a quick glance at Xahn, Griz continues "If these two are willing to put their differences aside for two seconds we might be able to give you a little edge in that fight." finishing with a goofy smile and an unassuming shrug Griz hoped this would work. If the girl focused on making sure Juno won his next match maybe she wouldn't kill Nathan over there.

[Kiith]

"Yeah, you never wanted to injure anyone. But you did. You wouldn't have pulled the trigger. But you did! You didn't want to pound anyone into dust, but you almost did! I'm not quite sure when that became a thing, but when I was still in the loop intentions were not the thing that stands above all, and especially above what actually happened! You know, I'm trying to stay calm, I really am, because if I want to make your new buddy here", with a vague nod in the direction of nearby Juno Xanh confirmed that she actually was talking about him, "happy and hold myself back from restructuring jaw then there's no point in even being mad and letting your ruin my day any further. But I swear, every time you open your mouth I could just....ugh!"

"And you", she then adressed Juno, focusing on him with a frown on her face. "I still don't what your point is about as much as I honestly don't even know what the exact thing is that makes me dislike you so much. In fact, I wanted to follow that up with something now but I don't know what to say to youb that's more constructive than 'Fuck you!' after hearing you being understanding of this idiot who in the best case has problems using words and in the worst case has a whole other set of problems. Maybe it's just that I am too biased to get a got look at it, and too bad of a loser to recognise what made you better in the end. But right now, I don't give a shit, because I don't think I can. Not now, not here. Not with this fuckface riling me up just by sitting there shoving burgers in his mouth and you being...well, you".

At this point, as if she had just now noticed the towering figure that had joined them despite him standing there and talking for a good while, she pointed towards Griz. "And who the fuck are you now? Are there any more people who want to join this argument? Is there, like, a line behind you I can't see?" After interrupting herself with a sigh, Xanh suddenly stood up from the table and threw her arms in the air in a gesture of resignation. "Oh, you know what? Fuck this, I'm out! I shouldn't have come over here in the first place, and if I don't piss off soon I don't think it's going to end well for anyone. So, you all do whatever the fuck you were doing. I'll just... ", she already turned around to leave, accompanied byy a slight shrug, "I'll just go deal with what I'm left with. And maybe get some food, like I wanted".

And with that the girl shambled away without leaving much chances for elaborate replies, her hands hidden in the pockets of her light blue shorts, her head bowed a little. Xanh was done arguing for now and happy she ended it on her own terms. At least it seemed like her uncontrolled anger seemed to dissipate the farther she got away from the scene. A shame only that it was replaced by sorrow.

[Zwei Not]

To be frank, Juno was at a loss for words. Clearly Xanh had some underlying issues, but there was no way he could help her resolve them at this point, especially with her unfounded vendetta against him. The issue regarding Nathan was another point of interest, but... that was not his current focus. What currently had his attention, however, was the boxer, Griz Blancard. Juno had seen the few moments that consisted of the boxer's fight with Jack, and while it was unlikely Griz would have an extensive knowledge on his opponent after such a short bout, Juno was willing to take the fellow student by his word. Glancing over Griz's shoulder, Juno watched as Xanh stormed away, a frown pursing at his lips. He'd have to check on her later, but for now there were more pressing matters at hand. His fight was scheduled to take place in... Ten minutes? Yeah. Ten.

"Alright. A few tips probably shouldn't hurt. Shoot." Juno replied, his focus back on the ram faunus before him.

[nathan67003]

Nathan just listened to Xanh's rant, not nodding or doing anything besides eating. He also listened to the tidbits the newcomer pointed out, noting that it was basically impossible to have someone's style pegged after such a short bout. At this time, he finished his third burger and moved to stack the bed of fries, moving it a bit away from himself to  let the others know they could take some, if desired. Xanh then proceeded to storm away - a relatively wise move.