Knights, Dragons, and Pigs (openish)

((Wednesday of week four))

It's close to midnight, the arena is deserted save for two figures. A series of grunts and clanks and frustrated growls echo off the walls of the large coliseum. Victoria Evans stands like a golden titan, her spear in one hand, staring down a boarbatusk on the opposite end of the arena, scraping it's hooves, preparing to charge at the spear wielding woman. Victoria spits on the ground in front of her and draws her right foot back...

The evening after everything had gone wrong. Drake's heart was still wounded by the nature of things...by the way they had panned out. He was tired, having spent most the day helping to clear the rubble and ruin of his clash with Aoife and his leg was barely healed.

So imagine his surprise to hear the sounds of conflict during one of his evening walks. Carefully he makes his way to the coliseum, eyes narrowing on the two figures stood there. He was carrying the armoured case with the Talons and set that down carefully, though not without sound. An audible click of metal plate on stone floor as he settles down to watch.

Who was this? Whoever she was...she was interesting. The lack of fear. The stance which implied that there was some order...some process to her actions...

With a fearsome roar, the boarbatusk charges, tusks aimed forward. Victoria doesn't miss a beat, as if practiced a hundred times before, she throws her spear into the face of the monster, stunning it just long enough for her to charge in, grabbing the tusks in a grapple. For a moment, they are deadlocked and stationary, but still pushing each other with colossal force. The growling that echoed across the arena now came from both the woman and the grimm.

At this point Drake noticed something. Something from her stance. Something from her posture. There was no fear. But he didn't know exactly how safe this was. His gut instinct says to trust this girl, to let her fight the beast on her own. But part of him feels he should be armed, just in case.

No. Trust instinct. But he opens the case with the Talons nonetheless. If needed he could quickly arm himself. But for now he wanted to watch her. He stands, leaning forward from his seat, hearing her growl. And quickly he speaks to no one but himself.

"Come on...you can do it. Shift the weight. Throw it off balance and you can end it here and now..."

Victoria snorts like a bull. With a slow step, and another, she begins pushing the boarbatusk straight backwards! Her pace accelerates, the grimm squeals in either anger, fear or both, a small cloud of dust rising from it's protesting hooves. The golden woman hardens her stance, holding the monster in place. Exactly what she wanted.

Yes. That was it. That was exactly what she needed to do. Leverage. Using a superior angle to force it back. He almost laughs at that. Not a laugh of scorn, but a brief moment of excitement. Awkwardly he coughs and looks about. He was on his own here watching...but had she heard him?

He remains standing though, favouring his right side due to the condition of his leg. Just barely healed. He licks his lips a moment and watches, observing her movements. He was getting caught up in this. He speaks again...a bit more audible though he is unaware of this.

"Yes. Yes. Push it back...force a superior angle onto it...trap it...."

A vicious grin spread across Victoria's scarred mouth. She began laughing wildly as she leans left, pulling the boarbatusk along with her. She picks up speed, spinning the boarbatusk around by it's tusks, the creature squealed madly, this time, it was most definitely a cry of fear. After a few rotations, Victoria lets go of the tusks, sending the poor creature flying to the opposite side of the arena. The golden titan cracks her neck and stretches. The boarbatusk lies in a pile of broken crates and gym supplies.

This time he has no control over his own volume. He laughs, clearly approving of her manner of defeating the beast and accidentally knocks over the Talons' case with an audible thunk. And he smiles. That was perfect. It was different from everyone else he'd come across so far, particularly during his own initiation. But who was she?

She wasn't one of the first years...not that he knew of. He stands there and claps, applauding and then stopping after a moment, realising he was indeed on his own. Don't run. Though the events of the previous day had physically drained him the Frenzy was still there, ever present at the back of his mind. It would be until he found order again...

Move. There is a clink of metal as he starts to make his way down the steps, carefully, trying to show he was not a threat...

Victoria stood there huffing. Again, she stretches her arms and back, this was just her warm up, after all. Then she heard something truly unexpected, clapping. She turned to see another student, applauding her? She picked up her spear from the ground. "And who the hell are you, freshman?"

His steps are careful. His hands are raised, palms open. And he is walking with a slight limp, his right leg in a metal plated brace of sort. Her attitude was abrasive...fair enough. The darkest hours of the night were often thought to be the loneliest so naturally another soul would be a surprise to her as well.

"Drake Ferrox...Team Discord. Leader. First year." His voice is remarkably calm, controlled and patient. He doesn't really seem to be any worse for wear at this time of night. Almost as though he was used to it. Freshman. So she was one of the upperclassmen...one of the older students.

"I...apologise if I disturbed you. Your positioning...and technique...were magnificent..."

The boarbatusk stirred from it's forced sleep. Victoria eyes Drake briefly. "I'm not stupid. I knew you were both a leader and a freshman the instant I saw you." By twisting the middle of her spear, the thinner end is sucked into the thicker, as two ax blades spring outward from the pointed end. "Victoria. If you aren't training, get out of my sight, you're distracting me."

He pauses, raising an eyebrow at that. She could identify all of that from sight alone? Or was there something else he did not know about. Had she seen him before? He certainly hadn't seen her before. Interesting.

The comment at training however...was that an open invitation? It was difficult to tell with her general tone of voice. He felt as though she had taken some sort of umbrage at him... "Is that...an open invitation? If so it would be but a moment. I have to retrieve the Talons. I did not expect to see anyone else here at this time..."

He turns, carefully and takes a few steps towards his armoured case. Hopefully she would not mind. Victoria. A suitable name for a goddess of victory...

The boarbatusk got to it's feet and let loose a furious roar. It was met with a halfhearted sideways glance from Victoria. She tosses her ax to her left hand, taking a wide and low stance. "I don't care. Just don't bother me."

He turns, pausing as he watches her, frowning just a little. No. He couldn't judge her stance. She had her reasons. He carefully opens the case, getting out the Talons before turning back to watch her again. His arms are crossed, blades arcing over his shoulders, still favouring the injured leg.

Bother her? He almost smiles. Almost . But he waits. He would not act yet. He would watch. Mainly her stance. Her movements. He could learn from this. He could learn from her.

"I won't get in your way Victoria. You have my word."

Victoria rolls her eyes. Once again, the boarbatusk charges straight for her. A small smirk twitches on her face for a moment. In one fluid motion, as the grimm impacted her free hand, Victoria pulls the tusk upwards, swinging her ax down into the tusk, breaking it in half. The monster squeals in pain as it lost a piece of itself. With another sharp chop, after tossing the ax to her right hand, Victoria shatters the second tusk.

Another moment of observation. She'd caught it with her hand. Obviously not a technique he could perform himself, given the current configuration of the Talons. No, that would require further work to them. But her movements...they were fluid. Capable. Confident.

This was something she had done before. That was the only logical explanation. But there was something wrong. It was in pain. This was conflicting with his own feelings... Normally all he would want was for them to suffer. But this? This was messy. This was...unnecessary. He frowns again and continues to watch, then pushes himself away from the wall he was resting on.

"You are going to finish the beast off...?" There wasn't concern in his voice. Just...a mild disappointment. What was happening now was excessive. There was little more she could demonstrate. It had ceased to be a threat.

Victoria yawned. "Eh. It's no good for practice anymore. Seems I threw him a bit too hard that time. Poor baby." The last was said in a mocking voice. She began to walk away from the whimpering beast, before saying "If you care so much, why don't you finish it off?"

He growls, just a little, stepping forward toward the grimm. There was no stylistic approach. No ceremony. This would just be a clean kill. He thumbs the ignition of the flamethrower, sending the flames dancing along the grooves within the Talons' blades.

And with a quick motion he simple delivers a single, focus burst, the sound like gunshot echoing out as the kinetic force connects with the boarbatusk's skull with the sole purpose of liquidating its brain, killing it on the spot as one would kill a farm animal.

"First of all...I loathe these beasts more than you could possibly imagine." There is a bit of passion to those words. Raw anger, emotion. Something that to this point hadn't emerged in his voice at all. "And secondly I do not care for it. What I care for is unnecessary greed. A strategy that would cost far more than it was worth just to show off. It was a clean kill the moment you first had it down."

He turns, looking to her and tilting his head. Would she understand that? Most of the other teams, nevermind their leaders seemed to treat the concept of strategy as just that. A concept. They followed their instincts and ran rampant...very few appreciated that things could be done quickly and cleanly so.

"Your technique...is flawless. I will openly admit I have never seen anything like that Victoria...but...there was too much invested in that display...."

At first, Victoria's mouth quivered slightly, her face restraining some emotion. Some faint snickering makes it past her restraint, but after a moment, she breaks down into hysterical laughter, to the point of having to support herself on her knee. She practically suffocates from the laughter at Drake's speech as some tears roll down her reddening face.

He simply pauses, looking to Victoria and frowning just a little, shifting his weight on the injured leg. He was remarkably patient and tolerant, even as she started to laugh. Why was she laughing? He crosses the Talons across his front once more and waits, patiently for those few moments before the slightest signs of irritation start to show.

"Are you quite finished?" His tone is almost disrespectful. Cold. Irritated. But some part of this girl intrigued him. He wanted to know why? He sighs and lowers his gaze. He could not look at his with the irritation rising. He knew full well his expression was close to offensive at this point.

Victoria finally manages to control herself for long enough to wipe the tears from her face. Calming down, but still chuckling a bit, she shakes her head. "Oh man, aren't you cold up there on your high horse?" She straightens her posture and her tone is far more serious "What did you come here to learn to do? Fight grimm, or feel sorry for them?"

Curious. It seemed that the more...abrasive front was just that. A front. She was a completely different person. Awkwardly he shakes his head. High horse? He'd have to ask about that... Keeping his arms crossed he shifts his weight yet again, once more trying to take some pressure off his battered leg

"I...apologise. I am here to kill them. But I tend to favour...efficiency. I believe there is such a thing as showing off too much...and that can have...consequences." He knew of consequences enough. He coughs and looks up again, taking a careful step toward her. "I will not be so...self-righteous next time. I've just had...experiences where a quick decision would have been...wiser."

"I don't know how long you've been here, but if I wanted that pig dead, I would've killed it hours ago. I get to be flashy because I'm that good." What was he playing at?

"I...see. If I could ask...how long have you been here?" She was definitely his senior here. That would explain quite a bit about her stance, her techniques...but were those standard textbook maneuvers or were those developed by herself?  He was genuinely curious now.

Carefully he shifts the weight again, trying to hide his discomfort. He'd probably been on the leg far too much today and it was beginning to tell. "Were those...your techniques? Or was that standard? We are...probably at little more than basics currently...." There is a hint of disappointment there.

Victoria crosses her arms. She gives Drake a cold look. "My techniques, are ancient. Passed down the Marigold line for generations. I come from a line of huntresses dating back to the beginning of mankind! You would be wise not to call them anything close to standard."