TRP is a post-Great War AU RWBY RP set in Mistral City and Haven Academy with no canons, no rank claims, no maidens, and no god interference. We offer a progression system and site-wide events that change the setting based on player actions.
Post by Kier Hamelin on Oct 13, 2020 5:19:25 GMT -5
Kier abhorred open combat. Or, at least he had ever since he learned his lesson that being the bigger kid didn't always mean you'd win a fight, especially when weapons started getting involved. It was a personal habit of his to avoid getting shanked when possible as he liked his insides where they were, thank you very much. And yet here he was at a tournament of all things. A goddamned tournament. Why was he here at a tournament? Because he needed to get into some stupid school for people idiotic enough to decide that fighting Grimm for the rest of their undoubtedly shortened lifespans was a good career choice! Wait, he was here too, so did he just call himself an idiot?
His personal train of thought was thoroughly derailed at the rather meaty sound of someone nearby getting their face punched, Kier giving a sympathetic wince as he glanced to the side in time to see them hit the floor. All around him were other fights going on, monitored by the school staff, while the rest of the applicants not yet fighting stood off to the side either waiting or watching if they'd already won their current match. Eyeing up the competition, Kier felt distinctly out of place. The vast majority, and by that he meant basically all of them, carried a mechashift weapon of some kind and those that didn't seemed to rely on much more simplistic styles of fighting or at the very least had weapons that seemed of sturdy enough craft. Even when it came to clothing, most of the others in the crowd seemed, well... Clean, with clothes that looked durable if nothing else. How many of these people were graduates from Santcum, he wondered. Probably most of them. Haven seemed to have this thing called an 'expectation' that the students applying to their school come in with some form of combat experience or training. While it was questionable to say that he had either of those things, at the very least he could say that he had his Aura unlocked. God forbid that someone tried to sneak into the Academy without that, unless they had some sort of miracle tucked up their sleeve.
Kier took a moment to straighten his coat, a large, brown, and shabby looking thing that covered him from his neck down to his shins and made a vague attempt to straighten out his unruly black hair as he let out a huff. His red eyes flicked over from himself towards his would be opponent as he took a moment to study her. The cursory look over her appearance didn't tell him much. She was a girl about his age, dressed fairly functionally in reds and blacks, with her hair tied up in a ponytail. No, more specifically, he looked her over for her weapon, not that it was hard to find or anything. By her side, she carried two blades that seemed to share the same sheathe. It was a bit hard to tell with the distance between them, but it seemed like one was larger than the other, judging by the oversized nature of the thing and he pursed his lips into a frown as something else seemed to tug at the corner of his memory... A strange sort of familiarity about the girl, but he shook it off with a sigh. Maybe he'd seen her around before or something, but none of that mattered in the here and now.
"Are both the contestants ready?" Came the clipped and professional sounding voice of their referee, and Kier turned over to glance over at the man before giving him a nod. He reached down and drew forth his pistol, giving the thing a bit of a fanciful twirl on one finger before he readies it, pointing it towards the sky as he undoes the safety with a quiet 'click' while the rest of his weapons were stowed away from sight beneath his coat. He wore the damn thing for a reason after all, not just because he though it looked cool or something, though... He kind of did to be honest. It was also warm, which helped a bunch considering the city was built onto an entire goddamn mountain. Who's bright idea that was, he didn't really know, but he'd curse them till the day he died.
Kier flashed a smile towards his opponent, named Wilt Thyne if the ladder had been anything to go by, as a quiet squeaking came from nearby at the edges of the arena. "I'm ready. What about you, missy?"
So this was it. After spending so much time fretting over her qualifying exams, Wilt was surprised to find that she was actually quite calm. The fights going on around her were just background noise- except for that kid that caught a haymaker to the face exactly one fight over from her, that was definitely foreground noise. Aura or no aura, that had to hurt y'know? Setting that aside, though, the dark haired girl turned her attention back towards the boy standing opposite her, waiting for the declaration that their match had begun.
While he didn't seem to recognize her, Wilt most certainly recognized him. The big scruffy coat and punchable face were dead giveaways, you see. She definitely couldn't remember it like yesterday, her memory was good but not nearly good enough to make that sort of claim, but it was a clear enough memory to say she was confident in it. That was the boy who'd been causing trouble around Sanctum a few years back. Clearly he'd grown up a bit, what with being taller than her now, but the last time they'd met he hadn't even unlocked his aura- a fact Wilt had discovered while punching him in the face as a response to his smarmy tone. To think he'd be here, trying to become a hunter... Well, to each their own, everybody has a path and who's to say this wasn't to be his?
While musing over her somewhat odd situation, Wilt still stood there with her arms crossed. She wasn't restless, even in her youth she hadn't been one to fidget. Instead she watched the way her opponent kept looking around, the way he held himself in general. It all seemed to indicate a clear lack of discipline. ... Well whatever, she shouldn't hold him to her own standards. Her eyes flicked to the side as she watched the officiator approach, his fine shoes clicking very slightly as he came up to the edge of the marked out fighting area. He looked at his clipboard, then looked up and verified both her and the boy's identities on his scroll. "Are both the contestants ready?" His voice came out as a sharp but professional tone, his eyes glancing at the two from beneath his glasses.
After taking a slow, deep breath, Wilt gave a firm nod of her head and reached down to rest a hand on the higher of the two sword hilts hanging from her scabbard. "Sir." She said, her voice low for a girl's. The boy opposite her spoke up, far too jovial in his tone for Wilt's own tastes, and she drew her lips into a slightly pursed line in response to his smile. "Yeah, I'm ready." Her fingers tightened on Flow's grip, the mechanical scabbard that she wore like a backpack loosening the magnetic lock that kept the blade from rattling or falling free during her acrobatics.
Post by Kier Hamelin on Oct 13, 2020 6:59:50 GMT -5
Kier readied himself as the referee did whatever final preparations were required for this sort of thing, hell if he knew what they were, but the guy was doing them. The man rolled his neck shook out his arms, loosening his muscles even as he studied his opponent. Despite his appearance, he'd seen his fair share of fights, just none of them to the caliber that someone properly trained might consider 'real' experience. Still, the foundations were still there, and he'd long since learned to study his opponent first and foremost, something that was supplemented by his caution. He tried to hide the fact that he was taking her measure beneath a much more carefree exterior, but anyone practiced in this sort of thing could still tell he was somewhat anxious. Her stance was firm and confident, and the way she didn't need to look to reach for her weapon showed that she was at the very least familiar with it. Combined with the fact that he just sort of assumed most everyone here had been through Sanctum, well... His assumption was that this girl was going to be able to kick his ass both here and back in a straight up fight. Of course, since that was his assumption for most of these guys, Kier had intended to keep it from coming to that as much as possible.
"Good luck," Kier said with a smile, shooting a wink in Wilt's direction along with it as the referee began a brief countdown. The girl seemed stiff, focused, maybe even a little displeased... To be quite frank, she seemed like she had a stick up her ass, but he could use that too. If she'd taken his measure the way he'd taken her's, he doubted she was all too impressed by what she saw, and just maybe that was the opening he needed.
The moment the fight started, Kier was moving. He hopped back, bringing himself close to the arena's edge before he moved sideways, pistol barking as it fired in Wilt's direction and he peppered her with a number of rapid-fire shots, trying to probe for a reaction. He figured that even if she was quick on her feet, he likely matched her in speed even if he wasn't actually faster and he could use that to draw out the engagement. He needed to keep his distance and land what hits in where he could before he was forced into a head-on confrontation. A part of Kier was tempted to simply pull out his big guns the moment the fight had started, and maybe take her out in one blow if possible, but he doubted something like that would work, and so they served better as a surprise to get him out of a bad situation.
While the boy opposite her rolled his shoulders and shifted all around, Wilt stood quite still. It wasn't as though she were a statue, she breathed in and out in a steady rhythm and kept herself from stiffening up or growing overly tense, but she held herself with slightly more restraint than Kier did. Perhaps she was less excited than him, or maybe she was just a more serious person. Likely both of these were true, after all Wilt had been in plenty of fights with combatants who were on the same general level as she was. As for seriousness... Well, that was something that would have to be judged over time. In her own opinion it was clear cut, this boy seemed to be frivolous at best. On the other hand though, she didn't know his circumstances and her semblance had nothing to do with reading people. Ah- well it was an odd thing to get caught up thinking about while she waited for the match to actually begin. Her eyes closed for a second... And then opened again to stare silently at Kier.
Wilt didn't respond to Kier's comment, finding it to be an annoying display of presumable overconfidence. Still, she didn't address it. Instead she focused her attention on the count that began. It wasn't a long one, but as the number decremented Wilt still found that she had to fight to keep the tension from her fingers, a bit of nervous excitement building up in her chest. And then the fight began.
Immediately, Kier jumped back and began running side-on to the edge of the fighting area. His pistol raised and fire with a quick, uneven tempo. Wilt didn't really bother to work out their plan, since her own strategy was a very, very simple one. She straightened up her posture, avoiding a shot from the pistol before going perfectly still. Several shots thwipped straight through her, as though she weren't there at all. And a split second later she appeared directly in front of Kier, her body tilted as she blocked the path he'd been running along. The afterimage left behind at the start of her Semblance's activation faded, and she drew the thinner, straight-bladed sword from it's scabbard as part of a wide slash that aimed directly for Kier's throat. In a bare instant, she'd completely crossed the arena and cut the boy off in preparation for an attack that she was genuinely expecting the end the fight.
Post by Kier Hamelin on Oct 15, 2020 11:50:53 GMT -5
Something felt off the moment his opponent didn't seem to do, well... Anything really. From his perspective, she seemed to just straighten up entirely before letting several rounds fly right into her. Even with an Aura, there was almost always an instinctual need to avoid harm or at least- Wait he hadn't seen her Aura trigger had he? And there was no way she actually took those hits head on, so...
He didn't even have time to formulate the question in his head, as the answer to it came soon enough. A flash of red in his peripheral drew his attention, and his eyes widened in shock as he realized that his opponent was rather suddenly directly in his path and her blade was flashing towards his neck, a lethal blow for any unaugmented human. Kier's instincts told him to flee, to throw himself out of the path of the blow, but experience shouted at him otherwise. This was hardly the first time he'd been jumped or caught off-guard, and attempting to dodge now with so much committed momentum on both their parts was no guarantee of actually avoiding the attack. It'd also leave him on the backfoot and open himself up entirely for a series of follow ups from his opponent, which was something he clearly couldn't afford. So, he took the only other option that seemed available to him in that single moment of deliberation he was afforded before everything passed by in a flash.
Kier doubled down, barreling forward into Wilt and attempting to push himself closer to the base of the blade where she could apply less force into the swing. Bringing up one arm to intercept the weapon and take it on his forearm, his Aura flashed brightly in protest even as he did what he could to lessen the force of her blow and he grunted for a moment in pain. Even doing his best to disrupt her like this, he still keenly felt the bite of her weapon, and he could immediately tell she was a strong one as he shifted a step under its force. But even that couldn't stop his charge by then, as he applied the laws of physics (and his larger body) to attempt and simply bowl right through the girl and throw her to the side as he rushed past to make distance between himself and her again.
The man threw himself into a dive, tumbling across the floor before he leapt up to his feet, propelling himself back up with one hand and having spun around to face her again. "Neat trick, you'd make for a good magician with that disappearing act," he said with a hiss, attempting to fill the air with words to buy himself time. He felt distinctly out of his league right now, and that brief exchange would've had been enough to get him simply running for the hills back home. Of course, he didn't have that option here now really, and so he tried his best instead to goad and off-balance her. "Kind of you to pull out your best for little old me so quickly. Didn't think I scared you that much." Kier said, moving in a straight line back as he fired his weapon at her once more. Even if it didn't seem to do much of anything, he needed to at least keep the harassment up rather than leave her to her own devices entirely.
Her blade connected, but not quite so cleanly as Wilt might have hoped. Rather than dodging aside, the scruffy boy with his scruffy jacket barreled forward in an attempt to force her aside. Pushing back against the arm he caught her blade on, she had a brief moment where she thought she would be able to just throw him aside- but the momentum he'd built up was just too much. Instead she pressed her hands forward and jerked them to the side as she drew the length of her blade against his arm and pulled into his movements to allow herself to be pushed to the side without any of the resistance that could have hurt her.
Hitting the ground on her shoulder, Wilt immediately rolled to a crouch and stood with her sword held across her body in a defensive posture. Instead of following up the shove with a rush, the way she would have, Kier instead rolled and re-positioned himself in an (admittedly successful) attempt to gain some distance between the two. It wasn't a bad choice, he was clearly less skilled with hand to hand combat than she was so it was better to try to compensate for that fact than to try his luck against someone stronger and better trained. Sill though, his idle taunting was so irritating to deal with. "My best, huh... Okay." She muttered in response to his goading, her eyebrows knitting in a small display of her mounting frustration.
The effort of trying to rein in her temper left Wilt distracted for just a few moments, and by the time she was focused back up a bullet struck her in the shoulder only to be followed up by another striking her chest. The small flashes of red that reverberated through her Aura indicated the clean hits, and her even expression shifted back towards one of irritation as she carefully jerked her body to the side to avoid another shot.
Rather than leaning on her semblance Wilt dipped down to the side and gripped Flow in both hands as she darted towards the boy, rushing him with the clear intent of simply overwhelming him with a series of hard strikes. If she could just force him into a straightforward confrontation she had little doubt that Kier wouldn't be able to hold out for too long. Rather than slowing herself down by dodging the fire from his pistol, Wilt instead deflected one shot with the flat of her blade and accepted another that hit her as an acceptable sacrifice. It wasn't like she had to fight again immediately after this, after all. If she could pressure him hard enough that he had to keep his mouth shut and actually focus on the fight, Wilt would consider that a satisfying victory.
Post by Kier Hamelin on Oct 23, 2020 11:51:34 GMT -5
As much as it was sweet to spot the flicker of annoyance in her eyes, he knew this wasn't something he could keep up forever. While his original estimate had been that he'd likely get his ass kicked, it hadn't been quite to this level. Wilt definitely had an overwhelming advantage, and what little Kier had assumed he would have on his side had quickly been turned around into his opponent's favor. He hadn't done more than really wing her more than a few times, and she'd already put him terribly on the backfoot.
He saw his opportunity to change things in his favor when Wilt charged right for him in a headlong assault. "That's an ugly look for you, ya know?" Kier says as he finds himself close to the arena's edge once more and is forced to stop, or rather, he stopped in order to pull out one of his surprises. His arm holding his pistol fired off trio of rounds, aiming for her lower torso and legs, before it dropped to his side while his other hand flashed behind his back to briefly threw back the tail of his coat. It seemed like a pointless flourish before he took a single step forwards and brandished something that was reminiscent of a shortened, and yet oversized shotgun or maybe more like a blunderbuss, made of black steel with a wooden stock and grip. "You ought to smile more!" Kier called out gleefully as he fired the thing with a loud 'thumph', sending an oversized projectile directly for Wilt's head.
It had become abundantly clear what his weapon was; a grenade launcher. Rather than firing off an explosive though, he had shot off a rubber round instead. Rubber was rather good at transferring kinetic force, and while an actual grenade would've probably been more effective in terms of actually hurting his opponent, he found it more prudent to try and halt her momentum entirely with what he hoped would stun her and knock her noggin around a little. Bringing on the pain came second and if he was given the time, he'd stow his grenade launcher with smooth familiarity and tossed a smoke canister into the space between them, quickly blocking each other's line of sight. If Wilt tried though, perhaps she'd catch the slightest glimmer of something gold as Kier's eyes flashed and glowed, overlaying his vision with that of one of his rats perched nearby to watch the battle with a bird's eyes view.
What an unbelievably annoying opponent she'd been given. Wilt's eye twitched just a touch at Kier's continued taunting, but it was fine. More than likely he was just panicking and couldn't help but mutter out whatever inane sorts of phrases he could externalize at the moment. No need to take it personally. His pistol thapped out a few quick shots as Wilt was closing in, but she honestly paid those no real mind. With a swipe of Flow, she deflected one of the pellets and avoided a second. The third thumped against her thigh but despite the slight flicker that echoed out from the impact point, it did nothing to slow her forward momentum. Instead, she jumped towards him in a quick movement- fully intending to just knock him a few feet back and out of the arena.
At the very least, that's what Wilt had planned to do. Kier, as seemed to be his habit, annoyed her further by whipping out a weapon she hadn't seen him draw before. It was thick and seemed like it must have been reasonably heavy... He took rapid aim and fired it with a much deeper sound than his pistol, like a firework being launched out of a mortar or something. The projectile seemed large and unlike the pistol rounds definitely needed to be addressed- simply tanking her way through this particular shot didn't seem particularly viable.
If Wilt had been thinking straight, she would have just shot herself down with her semblance and continued through to her attack in a graceful, fluid sort of way. Instead she brought Flow up and braced her arm against the side of the blade, catching the projectile at about the center point of her weapon. Not only did this deaden her momentum, it actually managed to throw her back a few feet causing Wilt to land in a crouch and drag the tip of her sword against the tiled floor in order to keep from sliding any further away. She looked up, her eyes narrowed in something a step above irritation... And then a wave of smoke began to roil out towards her, blocking her view of her scruffy opponent.
She'd had enough of this boy. With an idle motion she tossed her sword from her right hand to her left, then reached back to grab the hilt of the larger sword that dominated her scabbard. She pulled it free, no noise issuing from the magnetic sheath, and turned it over in her hand to adjust her grip. Ebb was much larger than Flow, shaped more like an executioner's blade, and she held it out without any apparent effort in a mirror of the way she held Flow. She took a breath, the jumped from her crouch to get above the smoke cloud, where she seemed to hand in the air for a moment in perfect stillness at the apex of her leap. A moment later she reappeared even higher than before, spinning lazily as she stared down towards the arena searching for any sign of her target.