RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => The Vale Region => Topic started by: Zwei Not on December 04, 2016, 05:06:41 PM
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Anyone who had been given the chance to spectate or compete in the Vytal Festeval Tournament would know that Amity was a monstrously immense complex, something akin to that of a flying mall. Since he was granted the honor of being one of Beacon's representatives at the tournament, Juno found himself spending an increasingly large amount of time here, watching fights, understanding the layout, keeping tabs on brackets, and so on. The news of a "Nathan Eau" hospitalizing two competitors easily found its way to him, but it didn't concern the young man. Nathan wasn't his opponent. Not yet.
No, Juno had his eyes set on the other headline-making first year.
Jack Pettibone had gained quite the following, and upon watching replays of the man's fights, Juno could see why. He was attractive, skilled, and charismatic. His kit was minimal, but his ability in regards to hand to hand was mind-boggling. Not to mention his speed...
The operator of ANUBIS had dealt with speedsters before. His bout with Xanh Lo Kurstein more than proved his skill in doing so. But Jack seemed nigh flawless in his ability to avoid incoming danger. As Juno sat, watching and replaying his future opponent's fight against boxer Griz Blancard, Juno studied Jack's movements, the way he flowed with the onslaught of punches that the boxer threw at him.
It was concerning, at the very least. The end of the fight was lackluster, but what Jack did pull off was not to be taken lightly. The dude was good.
Damn good.
"You've been watching this same clip for about an hour." Phi stated as she phased into existence on Juno's shoulder, her cerulean form giving off a faint light of the same hue. "He doesn't look like much of a problem to me. You have ANUBIS, and you have me. We can more than keep up with him."
"It's possible, yes. But I still don't know enough about him to make a proper assessment. Xanh was easy to figure out in the heat of the fight. Pettibone just... Isn't. I can't place it." Juno replied, a mildly frustrated sigh escaping his lips as he minimized the fight against Griz and switched to a recording of his fight against Bianca.
"I just need time to figure this guy out. We can't afford to lose so early into this thing."
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Nathan, clad in his coat and attached hood, was enjoying some of the place's fast food incognito. Thank goodness for that attire, or he couldn't have made two steps outside of Beacon before becoming a target for people, in one way or another.
It had been about five minutes since he'd set down with his tray. Three large burgers and a small mountain of fries. While eating, he'd glanced around like usual, doing a slight recon of his surroundings,before spotting someone watching some videos.
Watching from an angle, he'd seen what looked - from that distance - like Jack Petitbone (heh) dodging almost all blows from another fighter. He'd watched along, trying to figure out the fighting style.
Just... speed and technique, apparently. Didn't seem too bad, but then again, appearances could be deceiving. Still, most likely solutions seemed to attempt to overwhelm with multiple angles of attack, or beat him at his own game.
His thoughts were interrupted by a blue, translucent... thing appearing on the guy's shoulder. Well, that was, uuh, special. Said guy then proceeded to say how important it was to get a grasp on his opponent.
"Uuuh, if I may intervene, the bloke just seems good at close range, apart from that speed of his. Solution is to either overwhelm him and give him nowhere to dodge to, force his retreat or beat him at his own game."
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Someone was watching.
Of course someone was watching. In public spaces, someone is always watching. However, this fact didn't make the unexpected intrusion of his thoughts any more welcome. 'Multiple angles of attack'. It wasn't like Juno couldn't pull it off. It was more about hiding the tells. Keeping his opponent guessing.
No, the issue here was that he didn't know enough about his opponent to know what to expect.
Juno's fight with Xanh offered a perfect summation of how important it is to be familiar with your opponent. He didn't expect her water powers, but was able to adapt and adjust accordingly. She couldn't predict his constructs, but he never showed the extent at which they operated. He made it so she couldn't adapt, swapping between setups to mess with any strategy she may have had.
The green haired operator shifted his attention back to the hardlight screen as the playback of Bianca v. Jack began. What he saw in the opening moments prompted him to crease his brow.
So this guy could teleport. But... So could Caja. However, he knew that hers was hereditary, and Juno knew for a fact that his girlfriend was in no way related to his opponent. Yes, there were likely more lineages of teleporters, or people who sprung up wit the trait, but it was a point of curiosity.
Nevertheless, Juno knew how to fight teleporters. Countless spars with his teammate-now-girlfriend had given him an idea on several strategies employed by teleporters. Nevertheless, from what Juno could tell, Jack was faster than Caja, and his grenades made him more versatile.
It was like he was going up against a combination of Caja and Verdant.
Juno paused as his train of thought came to a rest, having realized that whoever the person who spoke to him was, they hadn't gotten a response in the past... One, maybe two minutes? A flick of the wrist prompted the screen to shatter into hundreds of small green hexagonal panels, each of which dissipated shortly thereafter.
"Speed is far from the problem. It's more along the lines of versatility. I have seen glimpses of how this man fights, and from what I have gathered, he's no joke, and that isn't enough of a clue as to how far he can go or the extent of what he can do. Whatever happens, the next fight is definitely going to be tricky."
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Nathan hadn't given much thought to the fact that the guy hadn't answered him. In all honesty, he ight've done worse and not even noticed that someone had spoken. He did, however, react when the screen vanished in a pretty constellation, followed by the owner's answer.
"True that, albeit all following fights in this tournament will probably be tricky. But I actually happen to know the guy. Though I've never really fought him, I can tell you that he's ready to do anything to get the upper hand, especially if he's got a goal in mind besides looking good and charismatic. Sure, he may be versatile, but I assume most people who've been in the tournament so far have been saving up their assets for later. Y'know, to have an edge. As far as I'm concerned, you two are probably equally blind about each other. It's just up to you to keep him on his toes and stop him from getting the advantage, I guess. Outmatch him, use your strengths against his weaknesses, yadda yadda yadda. The whole shebang."
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"Would be a lot easier if I hadn't left my own ace on the table in my last match." Juno commented, swinging one of his legs over the bench to somewhat face the unnamed and apparently hooded individual behind a mountain of food. Whoever he was, he seemed to carry more than average knowledge about Jack Pettibone. Claiming to know him was definitely a testament to that, and while he definitely didn't know this person, Juno decided to trust him. He was kind enough to give him advice, at the very least.
Hopefully, Juno could get a name from this individual as well.
"So. What do you go by?" he asked, looking over the hooded figure with some level of interest. "I'm Juno. Juno Vert. The cyber pixie on my shoulder is Phi."
"Hello." She greeted in response, leaning forward a bit in an attempt to get a better look at the stranger's face. There was something oddly familiar, maybe something she had seen while data surfing? Possibly. She'd need time to place it, though.
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Nathan didn't really waste replying to the turning man's comment. "Yyyeeaaaah, that sucks. Now that you mention it, I'm kinda proud that only my team knows my semblance."
He then proceeded to further chat with the man - who was no longer named 'man' or 'guy', but 'Juno', as well as the cute blue thing - or cyber pixie, apparently - named Phi on his shoulder. "Pleasure to meet the both of ya! I'm -"
Here, Nathan paused to think it over. Perhaps a bit too long, but he freaking hoped it wasn't long enough to be noticed. His name wasn't exactly rare, but it wasn't common either and if his newfound acquaintance moved to pull his hood back... Well, let's just say he would've liked Ergia in storage form for that. Now, what was he gonna say?
Not finding a potable answer within his self-allotted time, he went with the first non-lie, yet non-truth he could muster. "- Nathan. Nathan Nad."
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Nathan... Nathan... I could have sworn that I've heard a lot about a Nathan... the AI started, focusing on the face under the hood. Where most people wouldn't be able to see past the shadows cast by the hood, she could see the boy's face. A quick scan was all she needed to gather enough data to start searching through news reports and records, eventually coming across the young man's two fights.
Interesting...
"Well, Nathan. It's nice to meet you. Where do you study? Haven? Atlas?" Juno replied, hoping to continue the conversation, potentially get to understand this individual. It was odd that he would hide himself in public, but Juno didn't know the circumstances. He wasn't one to judge. Not yet, at least.
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"Nah, I'm at Beacon. You?", Nathan responded. On the side, he dutifully registered Phi leaning in, almost as if she could see into the hood. A quick glance & frown is all that showed of his knowledge of this.
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Another afternoon, another bunch of hours spent at the colloseum.
At times, Xanh's conscience got the better of her, and whenever that happened she started to question why she was still coming here every day basically. Surely there could have been more useful things she could accomplish with her time. She could have finally gotten around to sort out all the crap that had accumulated under her bed lately, or could have actually done some revision for that stupid history test that had been looming on the horizon for a while already. Or she could have gotten in some extra practice instead of just sitting around watching other people fight. And her own performance in the tourney definetely had shown the girl that she could use every little bit of extra exercise she could get.
But that was the point. Xanh had been so confident in her chances, had expected to return here - not as spectator, but as fighter - until the very final matches. And then she just got kicked out on her first try, in an act of total surprise on her behalf, and utter ridiculousness on behalf of the guy who had beat her. 'Juno...', that name, the name of her opponent had burnt itself into her mind as she had tried to figure out where she went wrong and what was this dude's deal over the course of the last few days. Xanh almost did not want to think about it anymore, for at this point it just always left her annoyed in an aimless way every time she acitvely tried to come to terms with the issue.
What usually was a good distraction from these thoughts though - as well as from that pesky conscience - was, in fact, spending time around the colloseum. Just indulging in the excited atmosphere that was created by the droves of spectators for a little always helped her feel a little better about things, and even if you're not the one down in the arena: watching other students from all over the world beat each other up in some good old fights was not half bad either. Right now though, there seemed to be some downtime before the next match. So, what better time would there be to get some food in than this?
As the girl was walking through rows of benches and tables that filled up a large part of the one of many areas she had strolled into, making her way towards the food stands, she could not help but listen to what was going on around her. So many people here, all with their own things to do, and their own stories to tell. Yes, being amongst so many people made her always feel a little better...
And then, inbetween the noise of an older couple talking about the weather or something and a group of friends probably having a heated discussion about the last fight, she made out something that in any other place might have just passed right by her ears but, here, immediately caught her attention.
"I'm Juno".
Quickly Xanh came to a stop. Who did just introduce himself somewhere? Not quite sure she heard right the girl decided to wait for a moment at the side of the walkway, raising her eyebrows, listening a bit more closely.
"Juno Vert".
'Oh, you can't be for real...', was the first thing that shot through Xanh's mind, accompanied by a quiet, elongated sigh. Of all the people in all the places around Amity it had to be Juno fucking Vert that she passed by? Now that was just great.
Even if some part of her - probably the one that was still hungry - told her to just leave the matter be and move on, she just had to lift her head a little and have a look around, checking the closeby tables for the source of that voice. And yes, she had not just imagined that: Not far away at all she spotted the guy, his striking green hair sticking out like a sore thumb. Apparently he was having a conversation of his own by someone she could not really make out from over here, courtesy of his hood. And a little, blue...thing had joined them in whatever they were doing as well.
Again there was that little piece of her consciousness which tried to tell Xanh to just move on, but by now it had been mostly drowned out by a strong mix of annoyance and fierce determination to approach this situation - and these two conversing guys - in a way she had not quite figured out herself yet. But there was not much time to think about it anyway, as her feet had already begun traversing the few metres of distance between her and them, and as Xanh came to a halt just a bit to the side of their table she gave the one who beat her a less than amused look, her forehead decorated by a frown.
"Look who that is! Juno the Grea, first of his namet! I wonder what he's doing here! Giving out autographs, perhaps?". Rubbing her chin for just a second, as if her question was to be taken seriously, she ultimately turned towards the other person. "If that's what you're here for it's probably for the best if you just moved on and get some food or something. I know he got some nice, cheap tricks up his ass, but", before finishing her sentence she laid her left hand next to her mouth and went into a fake whisper that was, in the end, not very quiet at all, "I don't think it's gonna get him very far..."
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So, this Nathan was a beacon attendee. Just like the one in the news. The gears had already begun to turn in Juno's head, but he honestly didn't want to get too involved. Whatever was going on wasn't his quarrel, Phi's whispered murmur cemented the fact that he was sitting not too far from the infamous Nathan Eau. Juno really shouldn't have been surprised. The media was out for this kid's head. What was more frustrating was that it took a bit for Juno to notice the obvious. However just as Juno was about to drop the Nathan's surname, a familiar, agitated voice rung in his ears.
Xanh Lo Kurstein, fellow student at Beacon, had sauntered in, a sarcastic edge to her voice and an unfortunately bitchy attitude in tow. The young man rolled his eyes as he turned to face the outspoken competitor, a hand pressed dramatically to his chest.
"Oh, Ms. Kurstein. You wound me. I'm wounded. Can't you see how wounded I am?" he replied, holding his pose for a dramatic moment before standing up, grandly gesturing to the girl before him. "Oh, how will I possibly go on, knowing I have displeased the lady Kurstein? What is left to live for, to gain, to derive joy from?" he declared, a light smirk on his face as he finished with a small bow. Once he was done with his little show, the young man straitened up, towering over the girl as he spoke. "I'd like to think you had more reason to come here than to complain. We were given the honor of representing our school, after all." he continued, pausing a moment to look her in the eye. "It might do you some good to practice sportsmanship."
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Nathan noticed Phi lean in and whisper something to her accomplice. Looking at her for about a second, he let it go after determining that he wouldn't be able to tell what that was about without asking. As his mind waited for an answer from Juno, it was suddenly filled with more metaphysical salt than there was real one on his fries.
Glancing up a bit, he witnessed as a shortish, pretty young lass started spewing forth various misgivings about his interlocutor. Nathan'd been about to point out that he already had plenty of food, thank you very much when Juno threw his own box of kosher sodium chloride into the mix.
All Nathan could say about the events unfolding before him was, in a hushed tone that probably nobody heard, "...Someone's being a sore loser and the other's just enjoying rubbing it in..." On that note, he bit off the first quarter of his second hamburger.
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As Juno not only picked up the proverbial ball thrown at him but proceeded to throw it back in her face, Xanh's expression transitioned from mere displeasure to one of outright annoyance. To her, that guy was full of himself that he would probably just explode if you tried cramming anything other than his ego into him! Just looking at him, standing there in front of her, all calm and collected while spewing around his nonsense made her whish she had another shot at smacking his face.
"Oh boy, you're getting all the pleasure out of this right now, hm? Fair enough! Use all of your weird, fancy bullshit and your magical armour of absurdity to screw over everyone and then joke about them! I guess that's the winners' spoils", in a gesture of apparent resignation, she threw her arms up, only to take them down soon after to lean forward a tad and firmly point towards Juno's chest. "But don't you try and lecture me on sportsmanship, or on, ahem", she quickly and demonstratively cleared her throat before transitioning into the best worst Juno-impression she could come up with on the spot, "'the honour of representing our school'! Because, I don't know, I somehow fail to see where you have grounds to talk about that!"
"But then again, hey", letting out a dismissive chuckle, Xanh once more turned towards the hooded figure who, even if he might not have wanted to, was now involved in this just about as much as the reason for her anger, "I don't get this guy anyway, not at all. I mean, just look at him! Probably hit his head one day, fell unconscious and woke up thinking he's the shit".
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Was... Was this girl for real? Juno could understand being upset at a loss, but this... This was just stupid! Sure, he may have not helped matters much with his more... condescending tone, but to be frank, she approached him acting like a child throwing a tantrum. You don't have the grounds to talk about sportsmanship or honor- Bullshit. At the very least, he knew more about those principles than her, given her current behavior.
So he stood there and seethed, glaring down at her the longer she spoke, strategizing, planning what to say next whenever she finished her rant. He could see Phi open her mouth to retaliate, but he quickly raised a hand, a nonverbal cue to let him handle this one. Once Xanh was done, he then took a deep breath, collecting himself before speaking. "So. I don't have the grounds to talk about sportsmanship? At the very least, I didn't go out of my way to hassle you about the results of our fight.
We fought, you performed admirably, but I won. If you have issues with what happened, then explain them. We can talk, and I can do my best to explain away any issues you have. If you just came here to bitch, then you can leave."
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Nathan merely remained seated, occasionally exchanging a couple of glances with Phi, all the while eating his hamburgers and fries. He was almost done with the second one, now.
Taking any side in this would probably not have been the greatest idea.
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Actions and dialogue of Juno Vert have been written by Rush and were only put together in this post by me
"Yeah, you didn't go out of your way to hassle anyone! You just pick up random people like whoever the fuck this guy over here is to brag about it, or get your groupies hyped up for your next circus show. You know, when I can hear you spout your name from three rows away like you're winner of this thing already then there's clearly something wrong with your attitude, no matter if you're all cool and humble now!"
"But fine, fine!", again, she threw her arms up in an effort to vent her frustration without smacking anyone, "If I get an audience with Juno Fucking Vert, then why not let me use the opportunity to tell you that you, with all your fancy pantsy equipment in the arena and your 'so far above everyone' attitude, are a cheesy little shit!"
"Oh, gods forbid I introduce myself to a complete stranger. Gods forbid I have a decent conversation that has nothing to do with you. Gods forbid I try to put up with your shit. You, who can't comprehend a loss, who can't seem to understand that my world doesn't revolve around you. I was just talking to Eau about my upcoming fight with Pettibone! Is that such a goddamn sin? Well?"
"Don't you try and get me with this shit! This is exactly the point. Even if you're not just laughing your ass of at how at how you somehow, with your magical powers of asshattery, kicked and flung me around like a ragdoll, you're just talking shit about your next opponent! Maybe already putting a plan together on how to best humiliate him, eh? And the point is: I don't get it. I don't get how I have to be absolutely fucked over by you and sit on the sidelines now, despite trying everything, while you, the idiot with grass for hair, an arms factory for equipment and this joke for an attitude get to sit here and conemplate your next big show with random peeps like Na-".
In the state of agitation she had talked herself into it took Xanh a few seconds to fully comprehend what Juno had said there at the end. But as the words - and the one, certain name that was dropped with them - sunk in she stopped mid sentence, almost as if coughing up on her own words. A few times she just quietly blinked, looking inbetween Juno and the hooded figure. "W-wait....who did you say this was? Whom you where talking to...?", she asked, her voice still all but happy sounding, but suddenly very quiet.
"I don't talk shit about my opponents, Xanh. I had respect for you as an opponent, which you just wasted away by acting like a child". He stated as the girl paused, only to be slightly taken aback by the insistence of her question. "I said I was talking to Nathan Eau. He's another competitor in the tournament".
"Nathan Eau? Nathan? Eau? Nathaniel? Motherfucking? Eau?!", she reiterated multiple times, her eye twitching, just riling herself up further the more she repeated the name of the person who, until now, had just sat to the side, eating his food. From one moment to the next, as she swung around on the spot to face Nathan, Juno had become the least of her concerns in this scene.
"You motherfucker...!", she brought out between clenched teeth and quickly closed up to where he sat on the table, reaching out with her hand as she still was walking in an effort to get a good grip on the guy's neck before he could pull any shenanigans. While still charging at Nathan though she could already feel a strong pull on her still lowered arm, hindering the girl from advancing just as she was about to get a grip on anything. Without even turning around to face whom was trying to keep her on the spot she yelled: "You stay the fuck out of this one! This is between me and this little shit!"
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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.
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"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!"
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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."
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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."
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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...?
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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"
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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."
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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".
-
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."
-
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.
-
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.
-
"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.
-
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.
-
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.