Saturday, 11th April, 79AGW.

Entrance, Emerald Forest, Beacon.

12:07 PM.

Leaving the emerald forest was a sad moment for him, but he had enjoyed the last few hours immensely—this place was teeming with those evil bastards, and he’d gotten the chance to end a non-trivial amount of them.

“Fantastic job, all of you,” Port said, pleased, still looking as fresh as when he started. “Thank you very much for your assistance—the area had begun to get quite congested while everybody was gone, and I’m not quite as young as I used to be.”

The forest developed an abundance of Grimm while school was out—Lima knew exactly where he was spending his holidays at the end of the year. He couldn’t help but smile, the stress of everything had been getting to him a little, but this was exactly what he needed—He felt light, happy, more spirited than he had felt in a week.

“Now, I’ll need to speak to—“Port searched the group for a moment, recollecting the faces and names, “Ms. Scarlatina, Mr. Morta, Mr. Li—please stay behind for a moment.”

Lima was pretty sure this was about the unsupervised hunting permission, but Ren looked curious as to why he was included.

“I’ll wait for you no matter how long it takes, Ren!” Nora cried, even as Jaune and Pyrrha dragged her away. “Don’t forget me!”

Port raised an eyebrow at the spectacle and laughed.

“Nora,” Ren said, amused, “I don’t think I’ll be gone that long.”

Lima grinned at the byplay, and once the rest of the students had dispersed, Port clapped his hands.

“Now, Ms. Scarlatina, we both know this isn’t the first time I’ve offered—but you have consistently shown you are more than ready for the responsibility,” Port said pleasantly, “You have my permission to engage in unsupervised hunts during the weekly allotted time.”

“Thank you, sir.” Velvet said hesitantly before rubbing her neck. “May I still accompany the others?”

“Of course,” Port laughed, “It’s supposed to be a reward for your clear dedication to your training—I’m not trying to exclude you from the group, my girl; feel free to stay with the group as long as you wish.”

Velvet ducked her head again and mumbled a quick thanks.

“Mr. Li, you’ve shown a great degree of skill and a strategic mind today,” Port said curiously, “You also have quite the penchant for stealth; I’m happy to offer you the same opportunity to roam if you so wish?”

“Thank you, Professor.” Ren said calmly, “I will accept—I will mostly like stay with my team in the future, however.”

Lima wondered how Nora would have reacted had Ren ditched her to go fight Grimm—but he honestly couldn’t see it happening any time soon. He’d only known them for a week, and yet they seemed to have a long history together.

“Of course,” Port said easily, “Mr. Morta, I had the opportunity to watch your initiation exam, and the helpful instruction you bestowed upon Mr. Fawn—you are clearly quite a hunting adept already. I already intended to offer you the dispensation to go out unsupervised regardless of your request this morning.”

Lima frowned as something finally connected in his mind—no!

“Is that why you never let me kill anything in class?” Lima said, horrified.

He saw a future stretch out before him where he spent every single day in Port’s class just—just watching, knowing that he would never be allowed to go down and stab one of the Grimm bastards.

“Yes, there are many in class who do not have your obvious experience,” Port said pleasantly, “It is much more beneficial for them to have the opportunity to grow accustomed to fighting in class—I’m sure you understand—there would be little benefit in having you kill them under such circumstances.”

“That’s—seriously?” Lima squawked.

He had to go an entire week without killing jack shit, and these—these betrayers got to kill them every morning in class?

“Of course!” Port said cheerfully, “You’ve more than earned it already, well then—I’m in dire need of some coffee and a meal. I can’t imagine you are all any less hungry than I; enjoy the rest of your day—off your trot!”

Lima watched as his most favored of professors stride away, unable to believe what had just occurred.

“Congratulations to you both,” Ren said pleasantly.

“You as well.” Velvet said quietly, smiling, “On your first hunt, too, that’s very impressive.”

Ren nodded in thanks before he turned to go, having said his piece, but mostly driven onwards by Nora’s distant calling of his name.

Lima watched him go before shaking his head—goddammit, Port.

“You don’t seem very pleased?” Velvet said hesitantly. “Are you alright?”

Lima rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Nah, I’m happy enough,” Lima admitted. “Port’s just a dick.”

Velvet let out a nervous laugh and glanced to where they had last seen the man.

“You’re very strange,” Velvet said awkwardly. “Um—Thank you again for letting me copy your bow.”

“No worries,” Lima said bemused, for what had to be the fourth time she’d thanked him. “You seem like one of those nervous types—but your skills are the real deal; you know a lot of different styles, huh?”

“Nervous?” Velvet said far too quickly, “Ah—I don’t know the entire style, only the moves I’ve seen performed with those specific weapons.”

“Is that your semblance?” Lima asked, intrigued, “Copying moves you’ve witnessed?”

“Um—,” Velvet seemed a bit hesitant to answer, “I guess.”

“That’s sick,” Lima said honestly, “Can you copy things that aren’t straight-up attacks?”

Velvet looked like she wasn’t at all prepared for the sudden twenty questions and was becoming flustered.

“Can you give me an example?” Velvet said quickly.

“Like are you copying body movements, or is it a hyper-specific form of mimicry—like ‘any movement that would inflict damage on impact is copied,’ or something like that?” Lima tried to explain, “Is it conditional on anything?”

“It’s not,” Velvet answered awkwardly, after a moment, “I copy the movements that I see, and as long as it’s within my ability to perform, I can do it exactly how I witnessed it.”

Lima tilted his head at that.

“So it’s like adopting another person’s muscle memory permanently?” Lima realized, “That’s awesome—Can you dance?”

“D-dance?” Velvet said quickly before swallowing. “Yes… I can dance.”

Damn, he wished he could just pick things up by looking at them—that was crazy useful.

“I’m jealous,” Lima admitted, “I had to learn by getting my ass beat every day back home—your way sounds way more fun.”

Velvet ducked his gaze, but she was smiling now before she tilted her head slightly.

“Where are you from?” Velvet asked suddenly, making eye contact for the first time.

“Argus,” Lima said easily. “It’s in Mistral if you didn’t know—”

Velvet interjected before he could finish.

“I know where it is.” Velvet snapped quietly. “I need to go.”

Lima watched her leave, unable to comprehend the sudden anger she had just developed out of nowhere.

Was this another Blake situation—had he uncovered another secret plot by accident? Unlike with the risqué joke he’d made with Blake—there had been nothing here to precipitate her change in attitude—he was completely at a loss—had he just crossed some boundary that he hadn’t noticed?

Why was being from Argus such a problem?

Lima made his way towards the cafeteria, wondering why his success rate of befriending people was so spotty—two fuck ups in a row was starting to make him nervous.

He’d taken his time in coming back, and as a result, there weren’t many people left inside, already heading out to whatever they had planned after lunch. He served himself some food and ate slowly, picking at the wet, mushy zucchini he’d made the mistake of braving.

“I told you!” Claire said triumphantly.

“Claire, you were wrong the first time,” Teak said bemused, “He wasn’t even here when we checked before.”

“Irrelevant!” Claire said, smiling, “Praise me!”

“Yes, well done, you found him,” Lux said quickly before frowning at him. “What took you so long?”

Lima scratched his head sheepishly.

“I got lost, sorry about that,” Lima said unrepentantly, lying, “I’m ready to go if you are?”

“You haven’t finished eating?” Teak said, concerned. “We can wait a few minutes.”

Teak, how could you!

“Nah, I’m done anyway,” Lima said easily, pushing himself to his feet. “Come on then, tell me what you guys have been up to?”

“I got to fight Dove,” Lux said, smiling. “He’s pretty good—not as good as me, of course.”

“Of course,” Lima rolled his eyes, “You challenged him?”

“Yep,” Lux smirked.

“I picked random,” Claire admitted, looking embarrassed. “I ended up fighting one of the third years; she totally kicked my butt.”

“You did really well!” Teak said quickly, “She even said so!”

Claire reeled him into a one-handed hug before ducking down to say something that none of the others heard. Teak went red at whatever she whispered in his ear, and she looked pleased with herself.

“Hands of my boy, you scarlet woman!” Lima demanded quickly. “After this morning, I don’t think we can trust these two anymore, Teak.”

Lux came alive, reaching out for his face in a panic.

“Shut up!’ Lux said urgently, trying to muffle him. “Don’t say a word!”

“What happened this morning?” Teak asked, concerned, looking between them.

“First I’ve heard of it,” Claire said curiously.

Lima slipped around to put Claire in between them and dragged Teak out of her dastardly grasp, saving the poor boy from further torment—he deserved better than that.

“Let me tell you the tragedy of this morning—” Lima said gravely, putting on airs. “It’s not a tale Lux would tell you.”

“Stop talking, dammit!” Lux cried, mortified, pushing past Claire in her haste.

“Hey!” Claire yelped.

Lima sacrificed Teak in an instant, pushing him into Lux’s grasp—it would buy him a few seconds at most.

“I’ll never forget you, Teak!” Lima cried, fleeing.

“Lima!” Lux cried in outrage, “Get back here!”

“Be careful, Teak!” Lima called loudly, over his shoulder, “She’s a pervert!”

“Um.” Teak said nervously, still trapped in her grip. “What exactly did you do to him?”

Lux flushed.

“I didn’t do anything to him!” Lux said quickly, “It was an accident!”

The Amphitheater was packed with students, Lima noted, as he slipped inside, crossing the stands. He spotted a familiar mass of blonde hair, Yang, and Ruby next to her sister—no sign of Weiss or Blake. He judged it safe to approach—hopping the row of chairs and crouching on the seat beside them.

“Hey,” Lima said cheerfully.

“Hey yourself,” Yang said, amused. “Where’d you come from?”

Before he could answer, Ruby finally reacted.

“Ah! You pulled a trick on us!” Ruby said, pouting, “Now you’re approaching me? You have some guts—Blake was so mad at me!”

“Hah, serves you right for trying to trick me,” Lima smirked, “You were only messaging me because you wanted her to catch me, remember!”

Ruby opened her mouth and then closed it, unable to countered the truth.

“That’s beside the point!” Ruby tried quickly, hoping to dismiss his argument entirely. “Because you tricked us!”

“You two just watching today?” Lima grinned, ignoring the huff he received from the short girl. “Wheres your teammates? Old lady Weiss sleeping in?”

“You better hope she doesn’t hear you call her that,” Yang laughed, “I think she’s got it out for you already—Weiss ditched us, and Blakes been weird since last night.”

Uh—Lima hoped that hadn’t been his fault.

“Hey, totally not a completely suspicious topic change—Your hair is totally bangin’ gurl.” Lima said cheerfully, “What products do you use?”

“Um,” Ruby said hesitantly.

“Thanks! You really want to know?” Yang said curiously, and he nodded seriously. “Well—”

Yang paused mid-sentence and glanced up above his head, and he felt a dread wash over him.

“Hey,” Yang said easily.

He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, and he let out a nervous laugh.

“Hello, Yang, Ruby,” Lux said pleasantly, hiding her wrath beneath a veneer of kindness. “Sorry for interrupting, but I need to borrow my dear teammate—please excuse us for just a moment.”

“Go for it,” Yang said curiously.

“Well, he’s doomed,” Claire laughed. “Mind if we sit with you?”

“Of course!” Ruby said happily, “Hi, Teak!

“Hello,” Teak said, smiling.

Lux bullied him over to the terminal as the rest of his team joined them in the stands. Lima sighed and followed her. Lux posted the challenge in a few quick moments, and he accepted it when the prompt appeared.

“Happy now?” Lima complained.

“No.” Lux insisted, glaring at him, “I’ll be happy after I beat you.”

Lima couldn’t let that one go unaddressed.

“Oh?” Lima said, feigning concern, “Are you sure you want to be sad for the rest of your life?—Ow!”

“I’m going to win—ugh!—why’d you bring this morning up in front of them!?” Lux whined. “Claire won’t stop asking now, and Teak won’t even look me in the eye!”

That’s a whole other problem, bright-eyes, Lima thought.

“You get what you deserve, you damn peeping tom!” Lima said meanly as they joined the line. “We agreed on taking turns in the bathroom for that exact reason, you know—you were there for the damn conversation.”

Lux managed to keep her silence for exactly one second before she burst.

“It’s stupid! There are four showers for a reason,” Lux argued quickly, “There are four privacy walls in there anyway! Why do I have to wait half an hour while the princess on our team does his hair!?”

Princess!?

“It’s called common decency, you degenerate!” Lima cried in outrage, “Don’t walk in on people in the shower! Were you raised in a swamp!?”

“What kind of swamp has showers, stupid!” Lux snapped, pointing a finger in his face.

“Not the ones you come from that’s obvious, given the state of your hair when you arrived here!” Lima said without even pausing.

They argued back and forth until it was finally their time in the arena. Lima was starting to look forward to kicking her ass now—belatedly, he realized that had probably been her intention and the reason why she’d been so abrasive the last ten minutes.

He took his position, waiting for the countdown, annoyed that he allowed himself to be baited so easily—Lux just looked like she did every time before a fight, gleeful. The timer struck zero, and Lux moved, circling him quickly; the head of her halberd skittered across the ground behind her.

Lima had no intention of playing it defensively, so he moved to intercept her path, running parallel to her for a moment. The second he was within range, she planted her foot and spun, lashing out in a circle.

He ducked back out of range, bringing his bow out and notching a spike—no intention of firing it, but it did its job. Lux darted towards him the second he switched to the range, hoping to capitalize on the moment where he would be ill-prepared for melee.

Lima mirrored her, sprinting straight at her, folding his bow back up, and lashing out with his spike. The halberd slammed into his spike with more force than he’d felt from her before, obviously enhanced by her semblance.

It didn’t make a difference because he reversed her attack’s direction, sending the halberd recoiling away from him. Lux seemed to have expected it because she swung her foot out, and it crashed into his block in a glancing hit before she was dragged off course by the path of her weapon.

Lima followed, deflecting the blade of her weapon upwards again as it came back around and darted inside her range.

Lux stamped her foot on the floor behind her as her balance was disrupted, shattering the concrete, and the force of her semblance enhanced kick sent her forward, arm stretched back—Lux’s punch smashed into the palm of his hand with all the force of a truck and came to an immediate halt, inches away from his face.

The halberd spun through the air before spearing into the ground outside of the arena.

“Oh no,” Lima said mockingly, “What are you going to do now?”

Lux wrenched her hand free, swiping out at his eyes as she stepped forward, and hopped into the air, smashing her knee up at his face—hoping to sneak the hit in while he was distracted by her hand. Lima dropped his spike into its sheath, caught her knee with his left hand, absorbing the force. She started falling, momentum completely gone, and he stepped forward, placing his hand against her stomach—

Lux rolled to a stop outside of the bounds of the arena flat on her back, grinning.

“Match—Lima Morta Wins; ring out.” The mechanized voice said pleasantly. “Please return to the stands.”

Lima was annoyed that she remained so cheerful after another loss, feeling somewhat scammed. At least he wouldn’t have to fight her again today, he’d fulfilled the agreement of coming to the duels.

“Hmph, I almost had you with that kick,” Lux said, pleased, as they exited the arena.

“I saw it coming three days ago,” Lima denied, “Thought it would be funny to give you a fighting chance.”

“Liar!” Lux cried indignantly.