Post by Bianca Sabbato on Nov 16, 2020 6:28:58 GMT -5
Hence, there I was, sitting on a small deck chair under a tree. Waiting for the arrival of a certain blue-haired faunus so we could beat each other up for the betterment of mankind.
But in situations like this, it’s often best to start from the beginning.
I hadn’t had any real interactions with shark-girl since she arrived at Haven. I only knew she had a water manipulation semblance, a pretty, exotic blue hair that made it easy to point her out in a crowd, and was a fair bit taller than me (and those teeth weren’t easy to ignore if I was being honest)
But besides a superficial description, I knew jack-shit about Nina. She didn’t seem like the kind of person to draw too much attention to herself or to go looking for trouble at the first opportunity. Besides that, I think she liked playing games or something, but that was about it... So, to cut it short, a normal girl, or as normal as someone attending Haven could be.
So when I heard she was looking for people to spar. I didn’t think much of it at the time of offering myself for the job. I wasn’t really feeling that comfortable with my current skill level, so more training could never hurt.
A couple messages later, and we had agreed on a friendly spar outside the walls of Haven.
The staff was pretty overworked without us taking their time away. And I felt a little nervous about asking for another sanctioned duel so close to the one I had against Nova. So, all in all, it was probably a good idea considering we didn’t have any bad blood between us that could lead to dangerous escalations. Nor any of us were known for bad behavior in general.
That didn’t mean I didn’t have a safety net in case everything went to shit. Whatever the case might be, I told Berwyn where I was going, with whom, and to do exactly what. So if anything happened to me (or her, I trusted Berwyn to put her foot down with me) she could tell the academy and the authorities.
Some could say it was a little exaggerated, but when you are doing sparrings with real weapons, I know for a fact some people simply do not know when it’s adequate to stop. And things can easily get out of hand when youth and adrenaline get mixed without proper supervision.
But to be fair, doing it in Haven was a hassle, and I really wanted to see her using her water semblance. So a riverside seemed like a good enough place for a fight. Since, needless to say, there were no such places inside Haven.
The chosen location was a nice spot on one of the safest neighborhoods of the Ground district. With a nice, 30-meter wide river traversing it and a pretty spacious area free of buildings or any other concentration of people... I didn’t know how Nina fought, but even if she used firearms, we should be safe to go all out without hurting anyone.
As an extra measure to ensure no one bothered us. I had taken the liberty of finding the nearest police station and letting them know two haven students were going to be sparring nearby. That way they wouldn’t come guns blazing after some people told them there was a semblance fight on the river.
No way in hell I was getting in trouble for doing this, least of all with the increased control the academy was enforcing on duels ever since some dude almost died or something. So since I couldn’t really afford to get in trouble, I didn’t mind taking every detail into consideration.
I even got there an hour soon in case something happened and I needed time to pick up a different place. But everything seemed pretty calm so far. No people in sight, no grimm, no weird shenanigans that could interrupt us. Pretty much perfect weather and conditions for some training.
Now, it was only a matter of killing time until she arrived... And that river was looking hella enticing... And I had (totally not on purpose) brought my swimsuit and a couple towels here...
-Well... I guess I’m getting soaked once we fight anyway. So...- Getting up from my chair. I propped Nereida against the tree and took off my tunic before running straight into the cool waters.
The river was only about 2 meters deep in the middle. But that was more than enough for me to swim and relax for a while... Just a little before the girl arrives.
60 minutes later. I was still on that damn river. Entirely oblivious to the outside world. So I was completely unaware of the huntress in training who had already entered the scene and was probably wondering where the hell I was...
Realization dawned on me with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
-Oh shit! The spar!- I exclaimed worriedly as I made my way towards land. Lo and behold, Nina was already waiting for me there.
-Sorry! I got a little carried away!- I said, as I scrambled to my stuff. Throwing my towels around myself and hastily trying to dry me up before giving up halfway through and simply tossing those things into the chair as I turned to face the other student.
-Well... I’m here, at last!- I said, approaching Nina with a polite smile and a towel still hanging on my shoulders -Nice to finally meet you. Had any trouble finding the place? I hope you like it, it’s pretty good if you ask me- I greeted her, motioning for her to take a look at the area around us.
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