JADE had exited the classroom with no enthusiasm, walking in twos down the hall as they talked. Arsenic and Damask walked ahead of Jasper and Talon, speaking quietly to one another as their steps fell in time to the quiet music being played over the speakers. For whatever reason, Nic had chosen to wear her hair up, a detail that hadn’t gone unnoticed by her team.
“You sat quietly and listened to the lecture today,” Dama remarked in her usual quiet fashion. She quirked a brow at Nic. “I’m impressed.” Nic scoffed playfully, placing a hand over her chest in mock offense.
“You wound me, Dama,” she exaggerated. “I have the capacity to sit still and be a good student like you.”
“But only when you want to,” Talon commented.
“Oh hush,” Nic retorted, turning to shush him in one fluid movement. She turned again and continued walking along.
“Seriously, though, Nic. You’re kinda weird,” Jasper observed nonchalantly. Nic winced a bit at the comment before recovering swiftly.
“Weird how?” she questioned, shooting him an unreadable look.
“You always do something different,” he answered instantly. “It’s like your personality is changing all the time.”
“You know me,” she responded with a loud huff of laughter, “I’m just oh so very adaptable.” The two of them laughed while Dama and Talon rolled their eyes at the pair.
As they continued to walk along, other students passed them by with nary a glance. Of course there had been talk of Talon’s duel with Indu, and of course JADE as a whole had received a bad reputation for it. The rest of the school didn’t see eye to eye with Jasper and Talon - and truthfully neither did Nic or Dama. Nic herself had agreed that it was cheating, based upon the rules agreed upon by Talon and Indu, but Jasper had a point. That’s how life is, out in the wilds. Especially in Reverie. She frowned - The other teams could do well to teach themselves that, Nic thought to herself. Dama herself had voiced her distaste of the situation after the fact, with a stern, “I understand your feelings, but there were terms for that duel and you broke them. It wasn’t necessarily an ‘anything goes’ type of match.”
As they arrived back at their dorm, schedules devoid of classes for the rest of the day, Jasper and Talon broke off from Dama and Nic, continuing down the hall towards the courtyard.
The two girls entered their room quietly, the door clicking shut softly behind them. Dama stood by the bunk they shared as Nic flopped down on the mattress with a squeak. She sat with her head resting in her hands for quite some time before she raised her gaze to Dama. The latter watched her patiently, attempting to read the distraught look on her face. Eventually Dama ended up sitting next to her, a hand placed tentatively on Nic’s shoulder.
“I’m not that weird, am I, Dama?”
There it was.
“No,” she answered softly, voice unusually laden with emotion. “You’re not.”
“Then why do I feel so out of place here?” Nic pleaded. “This school is supposed to be for the best of the best in Empyrean, and everyone just thinks of me as a slacker with no real talents.”
“They have no idea who you really are under that facade you wear,” Dama asserted, taking Nic off guard. The blue-haired teen stared at her, eyes confused.
“They’ve never seen you fight,” Dama insisted. “We’ve only been here a few weeks and classes only started recently, Nic.”
“There’s more to being a Huntress than fighting,” Nic bit back with a humorless laugh. She shrugged Dama’s hand from her shoulder, turning her face to the wall. “I want to prove to them that I deserve to be here. To show them that my teammates aren’t burdens to me.”
For a moment, Dama was quiet. Nic thought she had simply decided to let the conversation end there - and wished that she would have. Instead, after an uncomfortable shuffle, she spoke.
“Is that all we are?”
Nic tensed, realizing what she had implied far too late. Her throat closed up and her eyes stung with bitter, unshed tears. Dama seemed to take her silence as affirmation, and rose from the bed in a hurry. Nic reached after her, but found that she was already gone, the door closing solidly behind her. Nic’s outstretched hand fell limply into her lap, and all she could do was stare at the door. Frustration boiled to the surface and Nic flopped backwards onto the mattress, flinging her fist into the sheets with a grunt. She’d said the wrong thing as always. She lay an arm over her eyes.
Great.
*****
Sometime after class, team PWTR had separated to spend time relaxing. T’wulf had insisted on being with Phen at first, but Wynn had convinced her to go with him to the courtyard to do something that Phen hadn’t been able to hear. The redhead in question sat against the headboard of her shared bed with a folded book in her hand. Her eyes skipped over the words as she munched wordlessly on a chip from the near empty bowl at her side. Regalia sat at one of the only desks in their room working diligently on an assignment. She would pause occasionally to adjust her posture, and then continue on quietly. The only sounds heard in the room were the flipping of pages and the tick of a pencil writing rather aggressively. Phen’s eyes shifted from her book to her teammate, whose shoulders were raised with tension and fists balled unconsciously. She sighed softly and raised herself from the mattress.
“You won’t get anywhere if you study while your mind is preoccupied,” Phen noted, leaning on the back of Regalia’s chair. Regalia sat back, huffing.
“That isn’t going to stop me from trying,” she grumbled, clearly irritated. Phen frowned at this.
“I can tell something’s bothering you,” Phen stated as though it were a fact. Regalia laughed once and lolled her head to look her leader in the eye.
“I must be an open book,” she joked.
“Well, I do love reading,” Phen retorted without missing a beat. Regalia groaned at the joke, but smiled regardless. “Maybe we should do something to take your mind off of whatever it is?”
“Like what?” Regalia asked, stretching her arms over her head with a slight pop of her back. Phen thought for a moment before her eyes drifted to a board that lay atop their table.
“Chess?” she suggested. A devilish smile split Regalia’s face from ear to ear.
“Oh, you’re on.”
---
Within minutes the board had been set up and the two were after each other’s kings. Each move was planned and served a tactical purpose. As the two of them played together, Regalia felt the rest of the world melt away - only the two of them remained in their quiet dorm room, and the soft clicks of the pieces on the board were all that could be heard. For awhile, they played in silence. Neither one spoke until what was well over halfway through the game, when Phen groaned.
“Really? A King’s Gambit?”
“It’s a good strategy,” Regalia declared proudly, watching as Phen removed her sacrificed pawn from the board. “You could have denied it, you know.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Phen questioned as she looked over her own pieces, a hand over her mouth in concentration. Regalia looked on in amusement as Phen scanned the board as only a true tactician could.
Regalia continued to watch Phen as she pondered her next move, finding herself much more relaxed than she had previously been. Resting one elbow on her raised knee and her other hand against the floor, Regalia leaned back and observed her leader’s expression. She almost laughed at how childish and innocent Phen looked as she weighed her options, taking chess as seriously as she would have taken a life-or-death battle. It was quite endearing, really. Her gaze shifted to the window, and she watched the evening light fade below the horizon. With each moment the sun sank lower and the sky burned a brighter shade of orange until it almost matched Phen’s fiery locks. She let out a puff of laughter, and Phen looked up.
“Is something funny?” she asked, her piece - a Rook, Regalia noted - gripped between her thumb and forefinger.
“Thanks for this,” Regalia said suddenly, and a startled Phen dropped her piece with a loud clatter. She fumbled for a moment, trying her best to catch it before it eventually rolled off the table and onto the floor. Regalia burst into a fit of laughter as Phen reached all the way across the floor to grab the rook with a groan of embarrassment that she hardly stifled. Sitting back up, she slammed the piece into place and glared at Regalia who was still laughing quite hard.
“It’s not funny.”
“You looked like a scared toddler, oh my god!” Regalia sputtered through her fits of earnest laughter. Phen’s brows only furrowed further and she crossed her arms over her chest with an indignant grumble.
“You did that on purpose,” Phen accused her. Regalia sat up again, wiping tears from her eyes as she continued to giggle.
“Did what?” she questioned innocently.
“Scared me!” Phen whined, sounding very much like a child and not the grown woman that she was.
“Phen, I said thank you,” she pointed out as she reached for a bishop and moved it across the board. Her red-haired companion sneered.
“You said it really loudly,” she pouted, eyes once again looking over the board thoroughly before she grabbed at her knight and blocked the path of Regalia’s pawn.
“I wanted you to hear me,” Regalia answered truthfully. “You get really lost in thought when you play chess.” She moved her queen in to take care of the knight Phen had placed a moment ago, opening the way for her pawn and a rook she had been saving.
Phen only grunted in response, throwing another bishop in her queen’s path. Regalia smiled and took the bishop, placing Phen’s king in check.
“You actually get lost in thought a lot,” she noted as Phen moved to counter. She winced when her leader took the queen with a second well-placed knight. “What’s that about?”
Phen looked up at her quizzically, eyes searching for any reason or meaning behind the question. All she found was genuine curiosity. She sighed as she placed a pawn in the path of one of Regalia’s own. “That’s just how I am.”
“I know that,” Regalia drawled. “But why are you like that?” Phen recoiled a bit at the phrasing of the question, but answered nonetheless.
“I can’t really be as forthcoming with my emotions as others because of my semblance,” Phen admitted, her eyes focused hard on something that was beyond the board or the girl across from her. Regalia sympathized with her. “I have to be rational and calculative with everything I do, so I think about everything.” She shrugged after she finished speaking.
“I see,” Regalia mumbled as she moved to complete her strategy and place Phen’s king in check for the second time. The redhead moved the king one space to the left in response, placing it behind three pawns. She once again put Phen’s king in check by taking the right-most pawn.
“What did you thank me for?” Phen asked. Regalia looked up from the board and then back down again, watching the leader’s moves.
“For taking my mind off of it,” she uttered almost lamely. Phen laughed.
“Right; it. What was it, again?” Phen grinned when Regalia shot her a look.
“Shut it,” she warned, her tone laced with mirth. Phen grinned, moving to rise from her spot on the floor.
“Yeah, okay,” she drawled as she rose to her full height. “As much fun as this has been, I have to return a few books to the library before it gets too late.”
Regalia simply hummed in acknowledgement as she, too, rose to return to her studies. Phen gathered a book bag that looked entirely too heavy, and made her way to the door as Regalia stretched. Just as she swung it open, the hinges creaking loudly and causing both of them to flinch, Phen turned back to her with a sly grin.
“By the way - checkmate.”
She shut the door behind her just as Regalia noticed the rogue knight that had cornered her king.
*****
Damask sat, sipping water with a towel slung around her neck and her big-ass cross taking up several feet of the bench next to her. She surveyed the shooting range with a twinge of satisfaction. Seeing shattered targets had always calmed her nerves when she found herself in a mood. Taking another swig from her bottle, she capped it and set it by her feet, hanging her head between her knees as she cooled off from her workout.
It was late, as it often was when she came here. Dama found she could work much better when she was alone and it was dark. She thrived in the dimly lit training center, though now that she was still, her bitterness overcame her.
She knew that Arsenic hadn’t meant it that way, but from the start she had known that the blue-haired girl didn’t trust Talon or Jasper. After all, she had brought it to Dama’s attention multiple times after their team had been formed. It had been so unlike Nic to show that much distrust of others, especially people she was supposed to be working with. She scoffed at the thought.
She should have known that distrust would eventually extend to herself. Nic had always felt inadequate compared to others, and Dama was no exception. Arsenic was often scolded for her laid-back attitude towards everything, while Dama was praised for being quiet and doing well in her studies. But Damask knew how smart Nic was. She knew how capable she was.
What she hadn’t known was that she could be so spiteful. Her face soured at the thought of Arsenic acting even remotely as such, but the seed had been planted. She mentally kicked herself for thinking so negatively of her best friend.
Dama knew she didn’t mean it that way. But it still stung, and she was still irritated.
She reached for her crucifix again, hoisting it over her shoulders with ease and walking sluggishly towards the center of the training facility as it whirred to life around her.
*****
T’wulf still had trouble remembering why she had agreed to climb into the tree with him. Had it been his constant and unwavering insistence? Had it been his kitten eyes that he used on anyone he wanted something from? Had it been that she was simply annoyed and wanted him to be quiet for five minutes? All three?
“Why is everyone looking at us so funnily? All we did is climb a tree,” he spoke, his voice unusually shrill.
It was the last one, mostly.
T’wulf sighed, a sound muffled by the crook of her elbow that her face was currently resting in. “Wynn, we’re in the only tree in the courtyard,” she quipped, quirking a brow at him when he pouted. “You also yelled something about wanting to build a treehouse here, and I’m pretty sure everyone else thinks you actually plan to go through with that treason.” Wynn shrugged and held his hands up defensively.
“What’s wrong with wanting to have a treehouse here? I think it would look fine,” he replied, to his credit, with an earnest lilt that T’wulf hadn’t expected. It only made her incredulous expression seem all the more uncalled for as she stared at him. She elected not to bring it up, because she’d already had to suffer through thirty minutes of him talking about how he would create said treehouse, and she would rather not repeat that.
Instead, she shifted her weight and laid back against the trunk of the tree and sprawled her legs haphazardly wherever there was another branch to hold a foot or leg. “So you dragged me here just to talk in a tree?”
“Um, yeah?” he shot back, as though his reason for doing so was obvious and T’wulf was missing the point. She stared at him and blinked twice before she sighed again.
“Why?” she questioned, both genuinely curious and too exasperated to really care.
“Is it so bad that I want to get to know my teammates?” Wynn practically whined.
“But in a tree?”
“Well what do you suggest, Wulfie?” Wynn bit back, the use of her nickname intended as a joke. T’wulf scoffed.
“Uh, the roof, maybe?” Her eyes locked with Wynn’s, and he smiled sheepishly. “And don’t call me Wulfie.”
“Wait, why not?” he asked, his voice raised to a whine for the second time in thirty seconds.
“Only Phen has ever called me that, and that was when we were kids,” she explained without missing a beat. “It makes me sound too soft and… squishy.”
“Pfft!” Wynn was obviously having trouble holding back his laughter. “Squishy?”
T’wulf shook it off, instead looking to the cobblestone below and scanning the throngs of people that had decided to join them in the courtyard that evening. As the sun set, she began her usual habit of turning her ring around her finger over and over again. She watched until the sky was painted unearthly shades of red and violet, and by that point she had half a mind to jump down from the tree. Wynn seemed to notice her sudden silence and was taken aback by it.
“Do you not want to talk?” he asked. “Because we can always do this another time.”
“It’s not that,” T’wulf assured him, making eye contact. “I just don’t understand why you insist on trying to be friends with everyone.” Wynn grinned, the type that would hurt anyone else's face, and let out a laugh.
“I’m not trying to be friends with everyone. I’m just trying to be friendly,” he corrected her as though it was the greatest play on words there had ever been. T’wulf cocked her head, much the same way a confused dog would, and made a noise of amusement.
“Really? Because if that were the case you wouldn’t have half of IVRY after you,” she spoke, throwing him a knowing smirk. Wynn just laughed and looked down at the courtyard, seeming to spot something. T’wulf, curious, followed his gaze and tensed when she saw Talon and Jasper moving toward the tree. It didn’t look as though they were there to seek them out, but T’wulf sat on the branch, bewildered nonetheless.
“What would they be doing out here? I never pegged them to be the courtyard-y type,” Wynn mused with a frown.
“Maybe we should get out of the tree,” T’wulf suggested. “You know, before they decide to double-team one of us.” Wynn cracked a smile before nodding his agreement.
“After you, milady,” he spoke with a courtly tone, gesturing to the ground as though it were the marble floors of a well-kept castle. She decided to play along for once.
“Why thank you, kind sir!” she acknowledged as she dropped from the branch and onto the grass below. Wynn joined her not a second later, and they began their trek back to the dorm in comfortable silence.
At least, until a large group of students who had once been admiring the sunset spotted their favorite underclassmen, and swarmed T’wulf. She stood stock still in the center of the group, sending a pleading look Wynn’s way as he stood outside the circle and laughed.
“Sorry, Wulfie! You’re on your own,” he shouted above the chaos as he turned and made a mad dash for the first year tower. T’wulf simply frowned, slightly angered by his use of her nickname, but then turned to those that surrounded her, shaking her head with a small smile that many girls squealed at. She supposed she would have to get him for this later.
*****
The following day was no less tense among the students. They were, after all, still getting used to one another. Ebony knew she couldn’t expect a high caliber of participation from them, given their awkwardness, but still she tried to facilitate some discussion.
She strode into the classroom, the mere sight of her quieting any chatter. The discomfort was palpable. She sighed, quick and sharp, as she dropped her papers onto her desk with a loud thud. The students visibly jumped, affording her a rather base form of satisfaction.
“I don’t know how many times this has been addressed by my colleagues, but it is mandatory for first year students to sit with their assigned teams.”
Many of the students glared at her.
“I understand that some of you,” she continued, her eyes narrowed at IVRY, “do not mesh well together. That is fine, however in my classroom the rules will be followed regardless of your personal feelings.”
The students shuffled in their seats, their dislike of Ebony already apparent to the raven-haired instructor. She almost smiled in amusement. Almost.
“You may be surprised to hear that I am far more lenient with my fourth year students,” she spoke over the noise of shifting chairs. “Those particular rumors are true.” A collective whispering from the students confirmed her suspicion that her reputation had, indeed, preceded her. As usual. “Do not expect me to treat you as such, however. Both literally and figuratively, you are all still children. I will not baby you, but you will not receive the same freedoms that other instructors may be a bit too willing to hand to you.”
“That’s pretty bitchy of you,” a lone voice sounded from the left side of the room. Ebony quickly pinpointed its source. Front row, sitting just in front of team PWTR, closest to the door, as far away from the team leader as possible - Viridian.
Ebony’s stare seemed to encourage her further, and she sneered.
“So what you’re basically telling us, right off the bat, is that this class isn’t going to be any fun? Good to know - I guess I’ll be skipping it from now on.” She laughed heartily, and a few students hesitantly followed suit.
Ebony simply stared at Vi until the laughter died to just her own. “It seems that your sense of humor is not quite similar to my own, Miss Boudic.” Her tone stung like bitter cold, and all other students visibly tensed - some even bit their lips to keep themselves from gasping. “I will have you know that I also employ a much stricter attendance policy. Any unexcused absences are dealt with accordingly.”
“By doing what?” Vi spat. “Sending me to His-Royal-Ignorance to get a slap on the wrist and a stern talking to?” This elicited more laughter than before.
“Essentially,” Ebony confirmed with a slight nod of her head. “Although multiple absences will be met with confiscation of weapons, and excessive absences will be punished with expulsion.” The students were quiet once again, including Vi.
“I suggest you hold your tongue, Viridian,” Indu hissed above the quiet. Vi opened her mouth to retort, but Ebony beat her to it.
“I quite agree with Miss Tzu.” Both Indu and Viridian looked at her. “You would do well to listen to your leader, girl. She’s got a good head on her shoulders.” Indu visibly straightened at the praise, which Ebony mentally noted. She would need help to keep her team under control, and Ebony would offer that help - at a later time.
“If by a good head, you mean she’s enough of an idiot to fall for the mirror trick JADE used on her, then yeah. I guess,” Viridian spoke coldly, directing a nasty glare at Talon and Jasper. Ebony followed her gaze, noting the other two members of team JADE intentionally looking away.
“I would rather not speak of the display from either team,” Ebony answered. “Both were quite sloppy: forms wrong, stances imperfect, weapons ill-maintained.”
Both IVRY and JADE seemed to bristle at this, one team substantially more than the other, but Ebony lifted a hand to silence any possible reply.
“That is not to speak of the skill the fighters obviously possess. On the battlefield, there is little time to assess one’s own footwork, form, or weapon. From what I happened to witness, both parties are formidable opponents indeed - simply in need of improvement. However, on a true battlefield, unfortunate things can happen at a moment's notice. There are no rules. There are no feelings. There is only you…” Ebony trailed off, running her fingers along the skull of a Tarandrus kept atop a stack of dusty tomes. “... and them.”
With that, Sienna emerged from the hallway. She strode along the tiled floor and stood at Ebony’s side, grinning to those she recognized.
“It seems that Ebony here has done an excellent job of turning a disagreement into a lesson,” she remarked with a pointed look at Viridian. “Now that it’s over, I will be joining you for this first class, demonstrating for all of you along with Ebony.”
As the two women gathered their weapons and began to move into position, a student - Damask, she recalled - spoke up. “Miss Azoth - demonstrating what, exactly?”
“Demonstrating how the proper weapon can aid its owner in battle,” she spoke through her teeth as she prepared further. She shed her blazer and unbuttoned her dress shirt, revealing a black tank top underneath. Many of the students either whispered or whistled quietly at the sight of her well-muscled back and arms. Even Viridian seemed slightly impressed at the sight of her abs beneath the cloth of the top.
“Is it really necessary for you to strip half-heartedly in front of the students?” Sienna joked as she rolled her hair into a bun and fastened it into place.
“No,” Ebony admitted, doing the same with her own hair. “But I rather enjoy the freedom of movement that it offers.” Many of the students laughed at this, save for JADE and IVRY.
Ebony pointed to the hand raised just behind Viridian’s head as she continued doing small stretches.
“Is there anything specific you’ll be showing us?” Phenix questioned. Ebony shook her head.
“Aside from showcasing our own weapons, this is purely for demonstrative purposes. You can take from it what you wish - but ultimately the purpose of this is to show all of you how important it is to have a weapon that balances oneself well.”
Both instructors moved into position, each gripping their swords loosely at their sides.
When it came down to it, not a single student could have really said who made the first move of the two of them.
Sienna was on Ebony in a split second, swinging her sword in a wide arc. Ebony easily blocked the strike and limboed beneath it. She spun to Sienna’s backside, thrusting her jian forward. The younger instructor sidestepped and countered with her own thrust, blade extending far beyond its intended target. Ebony parried, the blade now in her left hand, and slammed her palm to the floor.
Sienna’s balance was thrown as the tiles began to rise in columns. Ebony traversed them as they rose, approaching her counterpart swiftly. As she watched Sienna ready her sword Ebony spun, gaining momentum. Their blades clashed with a shockwave that sent many students to the floor.
Ebony quickly withdrew, juking to Sienna’s right and grabbing her sword arm. She brought it upward and moved to strike with her left hand. Sienna jerked from her grip and ducked, swiping with her leg in retaliation. Ebony grabbed her ankle, pulling her forward as she thrust with her right hand again. Sienna straightened her back and watched the black blade pass before her eyes. She twisted her body in Ebony’s grip, yanking the older instructor with her down the newly formed mountain of tiles. As they fell, each found their balance atop a lone column and stood to catch a breath.
Sienna hadn’t seen when Ebony had inserted a vial of dust into her sword, but could tell from the way the blade was sparking with embers that it was now superheated.
The raven-haired woman leapt toward her opponent, catching her ankle with her own and throwing her off balance. The two of them fell from atop the column, struggling as they went. Sienna managed to kick Ebony away from her and landed on her feet before skidding to a halt some meters from her.
Ebony flew much farther than expected, and Sienna had thought she wouldn’t be able to regain balance before she landed. However, Ebony corrected herself expertly, slamming her jian into the floor to halt herself before she launched herself upward again using the hilt as leverage. As she rose higher, the temperature dropped and spears of ice formed around her. With a simple movement she directed them forward. Sienna moved gracefully as she evaded them, leaping over some and sliding beneath others.
Ebony landed hard, her hand already gripping the hilt of her blade, before she spun on one knee. Her sword erupted in flames, and a wave of fire was sent Sienna’s way. The latter easily flipped over it, following through with another strike carried by her momentum. Ebony rose to her feet before she jumped, placing a hand on the blade as it passed below her and kicking her legs out for balance. As she came down from the maneuver, she crossed her right leg over herself and brought the left down in a drop kick that connected with Sienna’s shoulder. Sienna stood slightly taller, not even flinching at the blow to her shoulder, and spun. Ebony mimicked the move in the opposite direction.
The duel ended with their blades to each other’s neck and resounding applause from the students. The two withdrew from one another and Sienna gave the class a grin. They both bowed simultaneously.
“Settle down,”Sienna spoke above the chaos. “While I’m sure you enjoyed the duel itself, please remember that it was not just for your entertainment. Ebony and I were holding back a great deal of our power, but this should have been enough to illustrate the point of this lesson.”
“The proper weapon in essential to the user,” Ebony continued. “Some may use bludgeons, some may use blades, others firearms. Each offers its own set of pros and cons, and one must be diligent when choosing a weapon for themselves.” The class was now listening intently, staring at the two instructors. “There are even some weapons,” she said, looking to Arsenic and Indu, “that do not fall into one category alone. Dust is one of those weapons.”
“Now that is done, please excuse me,” Sienna said, bowing to the students once again. She exited quietly.
“Our next class will be at the same time next week. We will be talking about the application of dust and semblances to weapons in order to make them more effective.” Ebony slid her arms into the sleeves of her blazer, turning away from the students to face the windows that afforded quite the view. “You may go,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.
If the chatter as the students exited was anything to go by, there would be no skipping classes from any of them. It was a good sign, as far as she was concerned.
RPG
