[Argent Steele]

The school halls still thrummed with the voices of students even this late, but here, inside the training halls, it was mostly silent. Here, Argent could focus on the dull thunk his arrows made when they sank into the fiberboard targets, on the burning in his arms when he held Subtle Calamity in place as he lined up his shots, on his own breath as he lined up his shots. The weapon was a lot heavier than any other bow it’s size, so there was no point in practicing with any of the provided, normal bows that Haven’s staff had stacked neatly in their armory. It was important to remain used to it’s weight so his aim didn’t waver in the future.

An unopened box of sandwiches wrapped together in paper lay on it’s side on one of the benches in the room, untouched. A bottle of juice sat beside it, similarly untouched. Argent had bought them nearly three hours ago at dinner time, and had been shooting ever since.

Endurance. Endurance and consistency. Out there, there wouldn’t be a school to protect him, or rules in a fight. Out there, one mistake would get him killed. And if he was to fight alongside Shin and Jade, and not be a burden, he would need to be able to fight as long and as well as they did.

The arrow sank into the target, a little further than it had been from the center. Argent’s eyes narrowed as he nocked another, ignoring the sounds of the door opening behind him. Distraction was no excuse for poor performance. The arrow blurred forward, buzzing through the air for thirty meters, and slammed into the red ring. Exhaling softly, the snake Faunus absentmindedly glanced over his shoulder to see who’d come in, wondering who else would come to start training so late in the evening.

312 words // @ tag // notes

☀

[Flower Fiorella]

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"I try to be understanding because I think that most people are actually quite surprising."

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It was late.

Hours after dinner. Even longer since the last class had let out. And at least a little while since the late winter sun had set for the day. But that usually meant the training facilities were left open and uncrowded.

Flower enjoyed the experience of training alone. It was the same back at Sanctum, even if the place was occupied with others, few seemed to wish to approach the so called robot girl. Here at Haven, it wasn't unusual to find at least one or two others come to the range do late either. Normally she just let the other person do their own thing while she did hers. However, more often than not, she was the one who stayed longer. She supposed that was just the way it was. Target practice was alright. It was calming to an extent. Flower wasn't the greatest marksman, but she had trained so it was a reliable skill of hers.

When she walked into the facility, she wasn't surprised to find another already there. A young man with silver hair, another student, she could easily guess. Too young to be a teacher, despite his very tall stature. Then again, it wasn't that hard to be taller than Flower herself. Flower gave a polite nod of acknowledge, making deliberate but poignant eye contact with her violet colored orbs. He was a Faunus. Scales visible on his skin, colored the same silver as his hair. Flower's own naturally grey hair was tied in her usually side ponytail, layered beneath with patches of darker violet. She wasn't wearing her school uniform, but instead had changed out of it in favor of a more casual outfit. A layered skirt, a violet corset with a cut dark vest, dark grey armsleeves with her bottom half covered with dark grey leggings and knee high black boots. Around her neck, a dark violet ribbon.

Perhaps she recognized him. Argent. Maybe that was the name? Same homeroom. She did think. She wasn't prepared to say anything unless he did. She wasn't sure if he would recognize her, no point in bringing it up if he said nothing to begin with.

She walked ahead, turning slightly down the walkway as Bloom in its default sword state was on its holder on her back. Of course, she would end up a little down the range besides him, but far enough that she had a large space to herself and her own training program. She had noticed his choice of weapon. A bow. A very big bow at that.

She unsheathed Bloom, holding the big sword in her hand, then she pulled the handle in close, setting it on her shoulder life the butt of the rifle it would become. The blades extended outward, separating to reveal the barrel of a gun. Bloom was her weapon, the one she had created at her time at Sanctum. She liked that she had made the weapon herself, it was made to how she could wield it easily. She waited a moment for a small beep to sound out.

From across the range, suddenly red targets were visible, seen as moving across the range at wild, almost irregular patterns. Flower waited another moment.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

One. Two. Three.

Three shots. One by one, red targets were riddled with a single shot, taking them down from the ranges, flipping down on their track when hit. At the furthest distance, the girl seemed to hit a target at almost 15 meters away. A total of nine were hit.

But that was nine out of ten.

The beep rang out again and Flower stood with a casual stance, letting Bloom rest easy in her hands. She stared at the target far along the range, a medium sized red circle again 15 meters away, but floating a bit higher in the air.

She needed to get better.

wc: 652 || twc: 652
Argent Steele

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[Argent Steele]

The training program Argent had set from his scroll was one with multiple phases. Instead of the static fiberboard targets that had been his previous opponents, red holographic targets blossomed in various parts on the far wall and started moving around erratically, much like the other variant of the program that Fiorella was running. While he was slower to complete his own, he had begun earlier, and so the two marksmen finished their courses at the same time. Despite himself, the Faunus frowned at the results - of twenty man sized targets at thirty meters, he’d only struck six of them center mass, and eight with glancing edge shots for a total of fourteen hits and six misses.

A small sigh of disappointment, before he reached out and tapped his scroll again, keying a different program to start. This one was slower paced and more sedate, but featured multiple static targets, designed for use of his Semblance at the same time as he was shooting. Argent drew a breath the same time he drew his bow, three arrows in hand, and glowed silver for a moment - then the arrows released, and while two of them struck true, the last was barely outside the designated circle, which still counted as a miss.

“You surrendered.”

The words were muttered in a low tone, with the thunk of arrows sinking into wood still echoing around the cavernous range. It would have been easy to miss, as he didn’t even turn to face Flower, simply continuing to stare downrange as he nocked another set of three arrows. Another long pause, another silver glow around him, and a similar result as the previous time he’d tried came out on his Scroll’s informational display.

“In our last match against each other, on the first day of school. You surrendered. Why?”

303 words // 615 total words // notes

☀

[Wolfe]

XP Distribution:

Argent: 6

323 + 6 = 329 new total

Flower: 6

39 + 6 = 45 new total