Knights, Dragons, and Pigs (openish)

"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."

He raises an eyebrow at that, mentally making a note to dig further into that. Though ancient seemed a bit questionable. "So...Victoria...Marigold? That is your name?" Curiously he nods and then glances back down again. Why was it difficult to keep eye contact with her? Her personality was so very...assertive.

"I would ask...what must be done to learn such techniques then. Would you be willing to teach another?" He tries to smile a little at that. This was confusing him. It felt somewhat uncomfortable.

He blinked. And after a moment of silence and pure confusion he would look at her. "No to...what exactly? Your name? Your willingness to teach? Or is that what must be done? No."

Walking into the arena, Lilliana would spot the two figures and go down to them, most of her being cloaked in the darkness until she gets closer, saying in her androgynous way, "Hello? Excuse me for a moment, but do you know where I am and what direction it is to the Dorms? I got to give someone a message, but I have no idea where to go and I can't just send it over the tablets."

If it wouldn't have made her exasperation known, Victoria would have groaned. Total shut down usually worked, but this one was persistent. She sighed. "My last name is not Marigold. I will not teach you, as you are not my daughter. No, I will not make an exception."

Of course, the reason total shutdown did not work was that Drake's personality was so heavily scarred and broken that normal social interaction threw him. He quite simply did not quite know what he was doing. He frowns for a moment then shrugs.

"Fair enough. Would you still accept a compliment on the style? I believe what I witnessed can still be adapted to...situations. It was clean, well executed..." He nods at that, casually complimenting it with no issues whatsoever. It was strange. It was easier to discuss technical aspects around Victoria than other aspects...

Of course he noted the sigh and frowned, looking her over carefully. Perhaps visual clues could hint as to an identity. That is of course, if she had any relations present. But then she did mention generations...so presumably there were others present.

He is distracted with this and blinks, registering Liliana's voice but not quite reacting. So there was another present. Would Victoria react in a similar manner?

Victoria groans faintly. Another intruder? She had picked this spot and time specifically to avoid other people, and here they were, annoying her. Turning to face the new arrival, she re-extends her spear, the ax blades being pulled back into the end by some hidden mechanism. "What."

So it was the same response. It seemed that Victoria...did not respond well to others. He frowns a moment and realises that he should take some initiative, given the way that she had initially reacted to him. Carefully he moves, stepping before Victoria to purposefully block her off from the stranger. It was better to avoid incidents that did not need to happen.

"I believe I can help you...it's back in that direction. You took the wrong fork by the courtyards. You're looking for the more...elaborate buildings." With that he points the direction with a taloned hand, managing another small smile, for the sake of being polite.

Well, that and he wasn't too fond of others intruding onto his investigation of this girl.

"Alright, thank you kindly Mister, uhhh... Sorry, I didn't get your name. Mine is Lilliana by the way." Replies the girl, lifting a rather dark bag in one hand, while the other would go to the cylinder on her belt for protection, snickering at her next response, "Well. More of a message and a present, as a student here works with me and we like to dress her up as a maid. Though we say it is the rules."

"Drake. Drake Ferrox."

He nods his head quietly and glances back for but a moment toward Victoria. Good. She was still there. Still calm. There was no concern for unexpected impaling. He smiles for but a moment and takes a deep breath, crossing his arms once more.

"Might I ask who you are looking for?"

"An Aoife Knight? Apparently in a team about Cake or something. Not exactly the best at giving details at times." Despite that, she would eye the Spear tip, continuing to speak in her girl-boy voice, "Also miss, would you mind not being so hostile? I mean, it is pretty late and I don't want to fight anyone at this moment of time."

Victoria spun her spear like a baton for a moment before stabbing it into the ground. "Well, That makes one of us." With clanking footsteps, she makes her way to a large crate and begins fiddling with the lock.

He would sigh, if this situation was not confusing him enough as it was. His mind was still a delicate thing, still wounded from the situation that had occurred the previous day. And on mention of Aoife's name...he freezes for a moment, narrowing his eyes.

No. Calm. Control yourself. He shakes his head and shrugs, just a little. "I cannot help you there. I do know that she is not in too good a state at this moment in time, much like myself. There was...perhaps...an incident. She's not likely to be moving from her dorm room much, though tomorrow she will likely be helped to clear out part of the courtyard."

He frowns just a bit at that, then stops as he hears the fiddling of the hook. He turns, watching Victoria curiously and tilting his head. "Another one? Or something else...?"

The lock makes a sharp click. Victoria bangs on the side of the crate and steps back, pointing her spear forward on her right side, she takes a relatively neutral stance and waits for whatever was in the box to wake.

Of course. She wasn't saying anything. With a polite nod to Liliana he steps forward, lowering the Talons to a more ready stance, crouching down low. For some reason he expected this to be...something big. It would only make sense from what he had seen of her so far. But he was also concerned at her lack of response. Had he offended her?

That would be a disappointment. Perhaps if he had thought about it...he'd realise she's likely to be offended by him getting himself ready in such a way. After all, who said this was his fight?

At first, the sound from the box is little more than quiet rustling. Eventually, the sound gets louder and begins resembling more of a buzzing sound. A very loud buzzing sound. The box begins vibrating as a dozen wings beat around in every direction. "Tsk. Aww, it seem's they're having a bit of trouble." She said in the same mocking voice as before. "Hey freshman. Make yourself useful and open the door."

Looking at him, she would go to speak before stopping at the buzzing. Stepping back quickly, she would go, "Uhh? Thanks for the directions, and don't worry about it, we are kind of used to her temperament to attack anything and everything, plus I am like family to her so she won't hit me... I hope." Quickly walking off and out of the arena, she would be pretty damn sure she didn't want to get attacked by whatever was in that box.

He wasn't a fool. From that tone of voice...and the noise that was coming from the box he knew it'd be little more than foolish to go and open the door in a conventional manner. Much better to open something like this at range.

He nods to Victoria, smiling just a little, his confusion causing him not to take offense and then he brings the Talons around. He had to do this just right. Focus on the movements, focus on the effect and bring the Talons around in a cross slash, sending another burst of aura or two toward the box, impacting the door with a heavy thunk. One slash, then the second and after a moment it would shatter to reveal what was inside.

Why was he doing this? He was showing off...for her?

From the shade of the box, and with a torrent of furious buzzing and chirping, thirteen rapier wasps emerge from the dark. The black and white wasps are fully matured, each about the size of a house cat, with 4'' long and thin, syringe-like stingers and red compound eyes. A total of 26 wings beat deafeningly, unsettling a noticeable amount of dust. The wasps hovered for a moment, surveying the area for prey. Their attention is drawn to a golden figure transforming a spear into a battle ax.

He pauses a moment and looks at the wasps, glancing to Victoria. Clearly the odds were now stacked against her. From what he had witnessed to this point her preferred fighting style was single target, melee orientated and ground based, but doubtless there was more to her than he knew.

She also hadn't given him the go ahead to participate. Technically this was still her own practice. He frowns at that, thumbing the trigger mechanism of the Flames impatiently, fire dancing along the curved metal blades as he looked toward Victoria.

What was she doing? Should he get involved? No. He would wait. Patiently. She struck him as the sort who hated a show off...and it would be hypocritical of him to do that after his...earlier outburst.

Victoria licked her lips. Bugs, huh? Truly, the contents of the crate were a mystery, but that was all part of the fun. The odds were clearly against her, but after all, that was why she trained, to change those odds. One of the wasps flew at top speed, stinger pointed forward, straight at Victoria's head. Victoria reacts with a casual backhand fist, sending the stunned insect flying back to it's brethren.

Watching this was even worse. Why? He couldn't figure it out. And he started to pace, the clink of metal betraying his impatient movements as he started to pace back and forth, thumbing the switch for the flamethrowers. Why did he want to show off so much? It made no sense.

No. He had to watch this. He wanted to see her response to a situation that was blatantly against her. Clearly her fighting style was not designed for numbers...where every element of his fighting style was stronger in this situation. He sighs and stops, keeping himself crouched low, watching her.

He'd watch...in case something went wrong.

Of all the grimm Victoria and her team had slain in their time, they had the least experience with rapier wasps. Nonetheless, she pushed on. Appearing weak to a lowly freshman was the last thing she would ever let herself do. The stunned wasp quite possibly had brain damage, as once again, it charged in for another attack. Victoria was far less merciful this time, swinging her ax upwards and diagonally, cleaving the insect in two. This was fine, so long as they didn't all attack at once, she would be fine.

He frowned a moment and shook his head. The problem was that the one wasp was probably probing her defenses...and now they'd all come in at the same time. It was something you learned when your family had a sort of frontier life. You very quickly learned as a child not to poke wasp nests.

He simply kept himself crouched low, the strands of his cloak around him as he idled the flamethrower, keeping the Talons ready at his side. He could give her some advice. About her footing...or about the angle of her swing. The weapon was just going to be far too slow...

"You do know they send in one or two to probe defenses first, right? It's how any hunting pack functions...even teams do that sort of thing..."