An Odd Morning

[Firestar1992]

OOC: By the way...I thought I said Tyerra stopped Katran before the blow landed.

Katran continued walking away from where the conflict had taken place. She was sick of this place already. Too many stupid humans thinking they were better than her, and her holier-than-thou sister always staring at her. It was like Signal all over again, except that she couldn't escape whenever she wanted and find the White Fang. The only way to leave was by airship, and it seemed like they weren't going to let any first years leave just yet. Maybe later, after the whole initiation thing was behind them.
She heard the screaming that was racing toward her, the wind whistling against a speeding body. She rolled to the side, out of the way before she was struck, and her claws were on her hands, fists up.
"Looking for a fight, huh? I was just in the mood to tear something apart." She grinned in anticipation, her green eyes lighting with a fervor. But before she could even settle her stance, another girl walked up, begging them not to fight. She eyed the new girl dangerously.
"You stole my claws," she restated, her voice deathly still. Her fists tightened more; she was ready to teach this human what it meant to steal from her. But then from across the room, she met Tyerra's stern gaze, those icy eyes piercing through her soul. Still, she wasn't about to just walk away.
"Why?" she asked. "Did you just think I would be too dumb to notice? That I was just an animal that didn't need them?"

[AceofAces]

OOC: Oops. I didn't see Tyerra stop Katran's kick. I just worked off the previous post, but it does make for an interesting narrative, right?

"Actually, I thought that your animal senses or something would have made it more of a challenge," Robyn blurted out while wearing a cocky smile to add humor to the situation. When she saw that this backfired and the angry Faunus was about to swing her claws, Robyn threw up her hands to surrender and said, "Okay, okay. Poor choice of words on my part." She paused a moment trying to think of the next thing to say to sweet-talk her way out of having her face slashed in half, and then said, "Would you believe me if I told you I was motivated by curiosity? You can tell a lot about a person by the weapon they carry. Take my bow for example." Robyn then unhooked her bow from her back to present to the Faunus girl. "It's simple yet powerful and can launch any of the arrows on my back at great distances to hit precise targets, but it's not very practical up close. That should tell you that I prefer indirect confrontations from a distance, sort of like this dialogue right now," she said with a sheepish laugh that slowly faded into a whimper as the Faunus girl was not amused by her presentation, but was at least refraining from attacking her in a blind fury.

"But how do I defend myself when an enemy gets too close if this bow is meant for long ranges only, you may ask. Well, observe," she said as she partially unsheathed her two short sabers hidden in the bow, which nearly startled both girls into defensive stances preparing for an attack from Robyn. "Relax guys. I'm not here to fight, but these short sabers help balance my weapon with a close range defense when I need it so that I can protect myself."

Putting her bow back on her back, she then turned to the cat claws on the Faunus girl's hands. "Now when I inspected your claws, they were just that: claws attached to simple brass knuckles, which told me that you seem to prefer pure offensive, hand to hand combat since these provide little defensive protection, especially from weapons with a longer reach than yours. However, to the untrained eye, all they see when they look at you is an angry cat with claws. Now riddle me this," Robyn asked as she started to reach the climax of her argument, hoping that she was convincing the Faunus girl as much as she was convincing herself. "Out of all the possible weapons in the world you could have picked for yourself, why choose those claws which might reinforce the fact that you're a Faunus in the mind of an ignorant person? Is it just because you have cat ears or is there a rationale less likely to be misinterpreted by discriminatory people? Are your cat ears the only thing defining you as a person, or is there something more to…..uh…..what was your name again?"

[Jay]

Jutus chuckled quietly or a second, "So that's your sister..." No doubt about it, she's an odd one, he thought to himself. He looked at Tyerra and give her a small smile, "She seems a little wound up." Jutus looked around and realized that they were all lucky that none of the professors were looking. Jutus suddenly had nothing left to say and felt that a awkward silence was about to come. "So uh... What now?" he asked. "I mean now that we've found everyone else what do we do?" He scanned the room his eyes darting here and there through the strands of hair hanging in front of his eyes. He couldn't see anyone he knew, but that didn't surprise him much. For some reason most of his friends from Signal had decided not to come with him, but he couldn't blame them.

[Deleted]

Ari struggled to meet his gaze unwaveringly as he scrutinized her. She saw a curiosity in them that made her want to run, flee, hide. She knew that he knew. She knew that he had figured out that all her bluster was a carefully constructed mask to hide her grief. Suddenly, she was so afraid that this boy, whose name she did not even know, would see right through her. Would see the pain and devestation from Linus's loss. Would see who she once was, the girl that still lived underneath the layers of anger, hate, and contempt. Would see the pitiful, weak little kitten that hissed and spat and clawed to keep everything and everyone at bay.
Don't look at me, said some small voice from inside, Don't see me.
He opened his mouth to speak and Ari held her breath, sure he was about to say something that would confirm that he had seen through her. Then his eyes were torn from hers.
She tried not to take in a relieved breath as the fear left her in a sudden whoosh.
"Excuse me. I have to go take care of something."
And he was gone, hurrying away toward the sounds of fighting that now reached Ari's ears. She blinked, her eyes still on the place where he had been standing. She had been speaking to him for less than ten minutes, and in that ten minutes, he had stripped away more of her protective barrier than anyone before him.
I shouldn't have talked to him, I should have blown him off. That was too close.
However, a small part of her almost, almost wished that he had completely torn away her mask. That small part that had flinched everytime she pushed away the comfort offered to her. She wanted that comfort. She wanted....
Ari stopped that train of thought with a firm hand.
Stupid, I don't even know him.
She tugged her hood up over her red hair and began to walk again, trying not to think on the boy too much. Though, she could not help one thought that plagued her. He had definitely discovered more about her than she had about him.

***********************

Jax's ears swiveled when she heard a shout. She had spent enough time on the streets to know that kind of a shout it was. That was the enraged shout of someone who was about to start a fight. Music still blaring in her ear, she made her way toward where the sound was coming from. As she drew nearer, she could smell the high strung emotions in the area. Jax was not one to enjoy senseless violence, but she did want to see what kind of people her classmates were. Those who got in fights on the first day were usually those she tended to avoid. Being around them was like walking on egg shells for fear of igniting their tempers. She found them tedious and preferred to simply leave them be.
As she reached the scene of the would be fight, she saw a girl with a bow step in and beg the possible combatants not to fight. Her pinkish eyes took in the trio, two humans and a catlike Faunus, her wolf ears tilted forward to catch the conversation. Her music acted as a dull background noise as she listened in on a conversation about events that had obviously taken place prior to the fight. She was interested when the archer began showing off some rather impressive knowledge about weaponry.
Jax cocked her head to the side, an amused grin bearing her fangs.
The Faunus and the older girl are hotheads...but that littler one could be a good ally. She's smarter than she looks.
The wolflike Faunus leaned against the wall, in plain view of the trio, neither attempting to hide her presence or make it known, and waited for events to unfold.

[Matthias]

Seth turned to watch Aeris blaze across the campus, heading for the girl that had kicked him. He spat on the sidewalk once more to check for blood. Satisfied that he wasn't seriously injured, he sighed, pulled Cloud farther up on his back and trudged after her.
---
Aeris was inches away from striking the Faunus when she was blocked by another person. She saw the Faunus girl instinctively duck away and had prepared a counter-attack, raising her right boot, made of the same thick studded leather, in preparation for a deep strike into the Faunus girl's thigh. The interruption caused both attacks to miss by inches. Aeris heard the second person forcing out an apology, stating that they were responsible for the theft. The character drew a weapon and, to Aeris' disbelief, began explaining its properties and how it was used in combat. The words echoed through her mind, none of them registering. She turned and watched the thief go over her motivation. Aeris' eyes lit up as the other girl's attention turned completely to the Faunus responsible for striking Seth.

"...when I inspect your claws, they were...little defensive protection...riddle me this...Faunus...discriminatory...cat...

...what was your name again?"

"SHUT UP!!" Aeris screamed, forcing the other girl out of her way. How could someone interrupt a fight, only to go into their life story?? Was she insane? The Faunus girl clearly wasn't interested, but she was distracted. Aeris used that brief opening to fire a punch at the Faunus's abdomen. She put everything she had into it, aiming directly for the stomach. There was no way she was getting out of this fight. No one hurt Seth without answering to her, and they usually answered on their knees. Aeris was not about to make an exception. 

[AceofAces]

Robyn's jaw dropped through the ground when the older girl unleashed an intense rage-induced scream that shook her to her core and launched a vicious sucker punch towards the Faunus girl. Is she insane?! Robyn asked herself in utter disbelief as to what was unfolding before her eyes. Everything was fine a minute ago. Why is she looking for a fight that didn't need to happen? Robyn had focused so much of her attention on trying to keep the Faunus girl calm that she completely ignored the older girl who was still fuming about her friend getting kicked, even though he seemed just fine and was on his feet with no visible injuries other than a boot mark that would fade in time.

Upon realizing that her efforts of diplomacy failed to rectify a situation that quickly escalated from bad to worse and then to a downright disaster, Robyn quickly but cautiously backed out of the fray as she watched the two girls prepare for an all out brawl. A crowd of students began to gather around the girls to take in the spectacle creating an impromptu arena of curious bodies, some of which were interested in seeing action on the first day while others just stared in confusion about how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. She thought about organizing wagers among the students on who the winner would be, but quickly thought better of it since she was the one who ignited this powder keg. Instead, she assimilated into the crowd trying to figure out how to diffuse and disarm the combatants before something REALLY bad happened.

[Deleted]

Jax made a noise of distaste. She found the attacker's lack of control almost pitiful. She had seen it before, usually on drunkards whose anger had risen after drinking away whatever sorrows they had. Her wolf ears turned back at the shriek and she winced. Honestly, yelling around like that was going to bring the entire staff down on their heads, and, from what she had seen of Glynda Goodwitch, the woman was not a tolerant one. She sighed. She was very much considering stepping in. Normally, she would simply spectate and watch the outcome of the fight. However, the Faunus girl seemed to be taking this not only as an attack on her, but on the Faunus in general, and, therefor, as an act of discrimination.
Scowling for the first time, Jax turned off her portable music player, wound the headphones around the device and stuffed it in her pocket. Mentally berating the attacking girl for choosing to pick a fight with the seemingly only Faunus in the school who take it as a confirmation that the humans did indeed hate her, she zipped up her jacket so that it would not flail about when she stepped in. Securing the strap that held her bag so that it hung across both shoulders and was less likely to get in the way, she began to walk toward the younger girl who had attempted to break up the fight previously. She left Andlat Wyrgen in an easily accessable position, just in case she needed to use it.
Coming up behind the girl with the bow, she clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"You can't do it alone, they've both built up too much steam," Jax leaned forward so that the girl could see who was speaking and gave a small grin, baring her fangs, "But I think I can help you here."

[AceofAces]

As Edward rounded the corner, he arrived just outside the growing crowd surrounding sounds of a brawl. Oh Robyn, he cursed angrily at himself. You've really done it this time. He sighed as he pushed his way into the crowd to see how badly his cousin needed him to rescue her, but when Edward was able to see the two combatants, he was shocked to find an older girl and a Faunus with orange hair and cat ears fighting instead of Robyn. He breathed a sigh of relief, but then quickly picked his head up to scan the crowd for Robyn, trying to stand on the tips of his toes to see over the people taller than him. If she's not here fighting, then where is she? Edward asked. Then he saw Robyn standing at the internal perimeter of the crowd next to another girl who had purple hair and wolf ears. He started making his way through the crowd towards them, careful not to step out onto the battlefield and be drawn into the conflict.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robyn turned her head when a hand reached out for her shoulder. She half expected it to belong to a professor making his or her way through the crowd to break up the fight, but instead it belonged to a girl with purple hair and wolf ears. The wolf girl bared her elongated fangs in a devilish grin and Robyn saw an all-too familiar twinkle in the girl's unusual pink eyes. It was a look that Robyn herself frequently had before and the same look she had when she initially eyed the angry Faunus' cat claws: It was a look of trouble. However, this wasn't a look that gave of a malicious intent to make an already bad situation even worse. Instead, it exuded a kind of bold determination in the face of a challenge.

Judging by her multiple scars, Robyn could guess that this girl was a pretty experienced street fighter where the only rule was that there were no rules. But she didn't blindly jumping into the fray to fight for the sake of fighting like any crazed brawler would do nor did she remain neutral like everyone else. Instead, she chose to get involved, agreed with Robyn as to how senseless this violence was, and tactically reached out to Robyn to team up and balance the scales. She must have seen my so-called peace negotiations crash and burn, Robyn said to herself. At least I was able to convince SOMEONE. She gave the wolf girl a smile, glad that she had a kindred spirit here at Beacon who shared in her philosophy of avoiding unnecessary conflicts, but seemed equally adept at finding ways in and out of trouble.

"Got any ideas?" Robyn asked the wolf girl. "As you could have probably guessed, diplomacy isn't exactly the word of the day, and I'm pretty sure that I should leave 'mediator' off of my resumé."

At that moment, Edward arrived next to her with a puzzled look on his face as he tried to assess the quagmire taking place on center stage. "Sooooo," he started. "What happened here?"


"It's a long story that I will tell you later," Robyn replied. "But we have to end this fight, now." Turning back to the wolf girl, Robyn said, "Okay, so what's the plan? I'm Robyn, by the way, and that's my cousin, Edward."

[Deleted]

Jax's grin widened when she saw the girl's relief at being joined by someone who was willing to stand with her. Laughing slightly at Robyn's small joke, her pink eyes moved back to the fight at hand. Her ears twitched slightly as she thought, mentally replaying the events of the past minutes. A young man appeared then, Robyn's cousin, as Jax was told. Jax nodded to him, glad to have him join them
Good, three on two are much better odds...Even if he is kinda short...
"I'm Jax Fenris," she replied to Robyn's introduction, "I think it would be a bad idea for either one of you to approach our Faunus friend, she seems to have it out for humans. Think that between the two of you you can stop Miss overprotective and POed?" she jerked her head toward the human attacker.
Jax was hoping that if she, another Faunus, approached her fellow, that the other girl would feel more inclined to back down. There was enough animosity between the Faunus and Humans as it was without these two fighting in the hallway on the first day of school.
And right after orientation, Jax tsked.

[AceofAces]

OOC: SO. MANY. SHORT JOKES! It's not my fault I'm half leprechaun. GAH!! (jk) 

Edward and Robyn both nodded in approval of Jax's plan and it made sense to Edward. If what Jax said was true about this Faunus girl having a strong distaste for humans, then he and Robyn would only escalate the crisis further by getting involved with her. However, the option behind Door #2 wasn't any better. This human girl had a size advantage over both of them. She also appeared to be older and more experienced than a typical 17 year old. She looks old enough to have graduated from Beacon already, Edward thought. Why is she here at an orientation for new students that are 4 or 5 years younger than her? What if she's NOT a graduate? The thought of this girl dropping out midway through her time here at Beacon and then reapplying did seem plausible, but this didn't improve their situation since she likely learned a thing or two before withdrawing from the school.

Robyn began reaching to unhook her bow, but Edward grabbed her hands to stop her. "It's only the first day," he said. "Let's try not to maim anyone just yet." After all, Edward said to himself. We're all classmates at the end of the day, and some of us could be teammates. Subduing this enraged girl was going to be difficult; trying to do so without weapons was going to be near impossible. Edward knew that this fight would get uglier and uglier the more prolonged the engagement was. They needed to catch her off guard and immobilize her quickly to try to calm her down.