บท 59: Vytal Assessment (2)
"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent." – Arnold Schwarzenegger
"You know you're expected to not be injured before the tournament starts, Hare?"
Harriet's body tensed as soon as she heard those words. It was morning, she was supposed to be the only living soul within the premises of the gym area of Atlas Academy at that hour and… she was way too familiar with the origin of the voice. A glance to the entrance and she was swiftly huffing in the general direction of her partner. Standing slightly taller than her, same for the bigger and muscle-centered frame the fellow girl had adopted as part of her style, the young woman that was just one year older than the speedster had short green hair and azure eyes. Her skin was slightly pale due to the natural Atlesian temperatures. She was wearing the same uniform as Harriet, yet she had a couple of differences to help her hide better her telling features regarding her nature.
But Harriet knew, and she didn't care. In fact, she considered the fact she was a Tortoise Faunus to be an interesting way to become her foil. A speedster with a propensity to close encounters would definitely need to stress and work on the flaws behind such approach. Thick defenses were something that the excited girl had been working on for ages now, and she had made little to no progress before being assigned to her current partner. Tortuga wasn't as prone to emotions as she was, but that didn't mean she couldn't be quite an amusing element to have around most of the time. A feeling that was shared by the woman herself as she had tough times getting respected by their classmates. Regardless of her humble origins, there was no denying that she was as resilient to damage as nothing else within the Atlesian Army.
"I'm not planning to get hurt," Harriet finally replied, eyes focusing on the reinforced box bag she had been striking with punches and kicks for two hours now. It was a phase of training that demanded her to build up resistance to knockback coming from each attack she delivered. Fast and strong she might be, her semblance didn't completely cover up the strain behind using her pace to deliver damage. She would still feel an equalizing force, a reaction that would impede her from pushing her advantage in a fight for too long due to the drain. "I don't want to make an embarrassment out of myself at Vytal."
"Doubtful," Tortuga remarked. "You're too headstrong to make mistakes. Too… careful to make a bad impression on your little crush."
Oh right, she is annoyingly teasing too.
"John is not my crush," She repeated flatly, not even feeling that much embarrassed to mention it as much as repeating it. After hearing this for a while, it just felt like listening to a broken record. Something that the Tortoise Faunus recognized just now. "I just… think he is very nice and I like the fact he can sound so caring without making me feel like… well, that he is babying me."
"I wouldn't mind if he 'babied' me," Tortuga teased shamelessly, drawing Harriet to a pause and getting a scoff out of her.
"He is married and has kids," She lamented, something that her partner rebuked with a huff.
"One can dream without hoping for it to become true, darling," The greenette remarked. "Plus, it's not like you don't have your own fantasies about him."
The glare Tortuga received was enough to get her upset herself.
"Fine, I meant that you have your own dreams of having done or said things to get him to adopt you. Which is not something really that bad, it's… I want to know if that is hurting you or not," The tone of the conversation shifted due to this comment. "I know you're strong, but I want to know if this is leaving you suffering one way or another."
Not an unexpected question, but not one Harriet was that keen to answer due to the implications. Did she have some regrets about things she could have said and got her a family? Yes. It was a reality she was at least willing to concede within her own thoughts. There were so many things she could have said, and one in particular she knew would have had the desired effect of giving her a family from the very beginning. But Harriet was not one that cried over spilled milk, especially when her decisions didn't lead to a full break-up of the connection she had with John. It was a simple interaction, but one that mattered more than anything she had before. While many would call this reaction way too much of an overreaction, some would see through the eyes of Harriet why it mattered to her a lot. There were just a handful of couples that had tried to at least appear interested in what she liked beyond just trying to coax her into being adopted.
And then Bukharin came and brought this kind of behavior as genuine as possible, without knowing that she was an orphan as, at the time, she thought he would have gone for an artificial behavior and pulled her in a trap. Breaking news: it didn't happen and she lost the chance to get adopted by someone like him. It was a reason for bitterness towards herself for a while… but right in that moment she couldn't just be dragged down by her own mistakes as a child. John was here, he treated her nicely and he had promised to be there to cheer her matches. That was more than she could ask for when it came to this matter and, if before she was pumped to win the tournament, now she knew that she had to win even more. Which meant she had to train a lot and…
"Can you stop that?" She demanded with annoyance dripping from her words, Tortuga giggling as she pulled away from pinching at her cheeks.
"Can you stop daydreaming?" The greenette argued back, her voice coated in a thick layer of pure amusement. "I understand if it's during lessons, during homework sessions, during workout, in the showers, in your dreams- but can you at least stop doing it while we're talking?"
"I-It's not like you're that much better. I have to listen to your sappy 'ideas' about getting together with older guys." Harriet shot back. "Like Clover! He is more than a decade older than us."
"Age is just a number when both parties are legal. The wider the gap… well, the more awkward it is, but he is still good-looking."
Harriet shook her head, unable to just accept the madness that would ensue every single time she was stuck in that kind of proverbial loop together with the Tortoise Faunus. Tortuga was incredibly experienced in teasing the ever living out of any respectable individual, especially if said individual was her partner, was called Harriet and, in her 'humble' opinion, was too stuck up with her own respect for others.
Which was fairly ironic since many had for long defined her an unruly student when it came to rule-keeping. She wasn't the finest role model among others, but she was still someone with limits. Smart-based limits at that. Something that even Tortuga had, but that she was keen to hide through her laid back and frustrating personality at times. Despite their differences, there was just something within that chaos that made their friendship pleasant and needed in some situations. It was the kind of 'poking the sleeping dragon' approach that irked Harriet out of reluctance before an issue or a threat, eventually pushing her to show her limits as proof of her own worth to herself and others.
"How about we just train together instead of you wasting time beating the crap out of that poor boxing bag?" The Faunus interjected eagerly. "I really want to see if that sugar-daddy rush means something or not."
Her lips twitched in irritation at that last comment, but she focused on the challenge behind this conversation. "Are you seriously asking me to kick your ass?"
"Only if you kiss the sore spot afterwards. I tend to be fairly red and hurting in my buns after that proper ass-whooping process after all~." The fellow woman rebuked eagerly, getting an easy blush out of her partner. It was all for the sake of pushing her in the right direction after all, and amusement. Lots of amusement.
The fight wasn't even a fight to begin with. Knowing that they weren't allowed to fully spar during the tournament time, it was more like Tortuga taking a defensive approach while Harriet tried to subvert her seemingly absolute defense with her physical attacks. It was easier said than done, mostly because the taller girl's semblance spread the absurd resilience of her back all over her body. She didn't exactly have a shell, but there were scales on her back that behaved similarly to that and offered extra defense on normal occasions.
Tortuga was the absolute 'tank', capable of sponging all kinds of damage for a long amount of time and being barely deterred by any. The real issue came in the form of her aura dropping in the middle of the fight. Something that was possible to accomplish fairly quickly if her semblance was stressed intensely for a very long while. Something that Harriet could technically do if she went all out on her friend and delivered as many punches and kicks while having her speed boosted by her own semblance.
The session didn't even last a full hour as the two decided to just stop training altogether, the two sweating terribly and feeling sore all over, and go to the showers to find some minor reprieve before going back to their room. More teasing ensued, but it was more subdued. Despite her bravado, Tortuga was still someone that knew when not to push some limits. While Harriet's appearance might suggest a particular inclination, there were way too many situations to be focused on that predicament. In fact, as far as the girl could admit, she was still into guys due to her own dreams at night.
A huff, the self-inflicted embarrassing jab keeping her from pursuing this train of thoughts even more due to how awkward it all felt all so suddenly. Right when she was showering of all times. A huff later, she was scrubbing herself a little faster, ignoring the cheerful whistling coming from Tortuga's cubicle as she smoothly went through her own cleaning process without skipping a beat. The two were done after twenty minutes of proper showering, with Harriet putting on her outfit swiftly and almost ditching Tortuga in the locker room while she slowly went through her own dress up. It was clearly meant to annoy her, not just as a teasing, but also as a childish attempt to have her stop around and waste time there.
Harriet had to concede that it was working way too well, but not enough to get any major reactions out of her. Once the two were done with that, they went back to their room, with homework being the next task together and-
"Are you still thinking about your pseudo-daddy?"
"Fuck off, Torrie," The speedster replied flatly, trying her best to not look at the shit-eating grin that her partner had on her face as the two quietly kept on helping each other during the grueling session of homework before them. While lectures were over, that didn't mean the teachers were going to slack off the moment Vytal was over. And they still needed to recover their grades in math as soon as they could.
Seriously, how was Math going to help them in combat? 'Hello Mr. Nevermore, what is the root of 121 + the Equation of Relations?'
Yesterday's dinner offered little chance for me to really understand what was up with old Rubes. The woman was definitely happy to see me, but she was also holding something to herself that I could tell was important. Not regarding Salem, but about herself. Some of the PTSD was still there in her mannerism, something that was noticed by me and Sienna, but also by the older kids. Minor 'hiccups' in some of the actions mid-dinner, some reluctance to answer, looking away when the question could be a little 'too much' for her and all of that. We didn't discuss anything private or related to the Grimm, not when the kids were around, but she still put some resistance when it came to be genuine about her lack of interaction with us in the last few years.
I had the chance to call James before that event, but he seemed almost as clueless as I was about this situation. He even went through to mention how Ruby had 'mentioned talking with me a few times a week'. Which was wrong and incorrect, enough to raise the interest of the General as he promised to investigate the matter himself. Still, I got the opportunity to also fish more info about Shade Academy's principal. The reunion was set to happen tomorrow, with the beginning of the tournament, but I was still up and trying to get as many details as I could about the guy. Not much beyond Ozma nagging at me about this matter and confirming stuff that James was willing to part away.
It's not nagging if it's a confirmation of these facts. James might be a friend of Theodore, but I was the one that knows him the most.
[And yet he wasn't your friend.]
Because of diverging perspectives. Not everyone likes to keep a slow pace in progress.
And we know that didn't age well.
Funny.
I don't hear you laughing.
The new day started in a hurry. Everyone had to get ready for the planned visit at the Schnee Manor and it was quite troublesome to go through the bathroom routine when there were five people with just two bathrooms. The pace was quick, some mistakes unfolded, but we all eventually got through with this madness and were soon moving to reach the airship that was going to take us to the manor. I was a little curious considering Nora's own nervousness at this visit. While she was excited, that didn't mean the girl was a little frightened by the idea of her dad being a dad and made it awkward to greet Weiss now that I green-lighted her relationship with her. I had so much potential behind that, but knowing how tense these two were going to be, I decided to allow her some breathing space until the relationship came out in the air.
And at that point, I shall strike with no mercy.
[Oh, you cruel man!]
With that in mind, I knew I would also find a way to discuss this with either Nicholas or Willow. Preferably Willow considering how close she was to her children and how her word mattered the most in this kind of circumstances. I was quite sure that the conversation was going to be tense at first… but I knew that the 'background' of her visit at Beacon was legit to the one where she had some not-so-hidden romantic allusion to being attracted to dense Raven. Was it a full-fledged thing? I didn't know, but I was willing to take that big jump if it meant sparing my baby girl some trouble in the near future and also prevent some misunderstandings in the process. The landing procedure was smooth and without issue, with the ship completing the entire process with ease. As soon as the ramp descended and allowed us to disembark, I noticed that two individuals were already waiting by the gates. The shortest of the two, a little kid with lots of interest in bolting as soon as he could rush at me. I chuckled at the approach, crouching down a little as I prepared for the big tackle coming up from the most unexpected individual one could imagine a tackle on if they had heard of Whitley in his Canon personality. The boy was definitely different when it came to attitude and reactions to people. He was more open, less Jacques-like and closer to his siblings and mother.
"John!" He greeted loudly, and I pulled him from the ground while chuckling.
"Whitley! How are you, little rascal?"
He huffed a little bit at the nickname, but one thing that I learned the 'hard' way when it came to face an extrovert Whitley was that the little fella was prone to cause messes… in an almost same amount as little Ruby. Something that was quite ironic considering how close these two were whenever one was visiting the other. There were instances where Whitley would be allowed to have a sleepover in Patch and… it proved to be a novelty for me and his mother to learn that he loved beaches. As in lying on a towel and actually trying his hand at surfing (which wasn't much considering how old he currently was).
Another shocker was how he connected better with Qrow of all people. Maybe it was because I had somehow become his father figure and because Qrow was the best element for the risky but still cool uncle to be in awe most of the time. Either that, or he was just milking the fact that he covered a lot for the kids' messes and took the blame of those a fair amount of time. It was really frustrating when someone as hard-headed as Qrow just wanted to be a childish moron at times…
"Nothing! In fact, I've been a good boy so I can spend lots of time with you, the others and Ruby."
Ruby got the special treatment. The girl behaved the same when it came to Whitley. That's what tended to happen when two kids were nurtured close to each other. They were inseparable and within a bond that created no little trouble for poor Taiyang. I understood the man's plight when it came to trying to protect his baby girl from being taken away at this young age… by someone that young, but the protective feeling was also clashed by a sense of care towards the young boy. He might be a pest at that due to his stubbornness flaring at unusual times, but Whitley was overall one of the quietest and happiest children around. There wasn't much for him to lament about except his own reluctance to see Rubes so happy and quick to make the promise of 'marrying Whitley' instead of her own dad.
It was sad to hear that, luckily I had stored the recording of Nora saying that and I was going to keep it forever, just as a memoir of sorts. I was fairly sure Nicholas had one of those recordings too if I asked him about it… Still! Speaking of the founder of the SDC, the man was the second individual waiting by the entrance, but had been unable to approach us when we came out of the airship. We started to approach him and… I took note of his wheelchair. Taking a small fall at his age was going to leave him hurting more than other individuals. The old man was frail, a clear sign of his advanced age, but still as sharp as I remember him being.
"John, Sienna," He greeted us both. "It's good to see you both."
"Nicholas," The Tiger Faunus replied with a smile. "I see that you're looking better."
"Only partially. It would take two more weeks before I'm out of this silly thing," The elder lamented before turning at me. "And I see that you stole a certain grandson of mine."
Whitley giggled, hiding his face onto my chest as I returned the greeting back to him and hoped for his quick recovery. He huffed again, this time not replying to this as we were quickly led inside by him and a face I had seen a few times during our visit. Klein had gotten promoted due to his good service and was now serving closely the Schnee family by taking care of the children while Willow was busy with work. A jovial individual, and one that was amusing with his curious Semblance tied to his personality.
"So, I suppose that Willow and Weiss are currently training right now," I muttered, my comment raising the interest of Nora as she perked at the mention of the girl.
"And Winter," Nicholas added with a small grin, gaining a surprised look from mostly everyone there.
"I thought that Atlas Academy was keeping their students at school to train those teams planning to join the tournament," I pointed out and the man sighed.
"Winter's team was deemed unfit due to… a couple of disciplinary issues caused by one of their members," The old man explained. "The girl is a little annoyed by this- not completely angry at it but… you know."
She is in a bad mood. I could see how the girl would feel bad about that kind of stuff, and I could see her mother try to use some of their free time to train up and see how she had improved ever since the beginning of the year. With that in mind, I wasn't much surprised when we arrived at the inner courtyard to find Weiss sitting by the bench, looking tired as she drank from a water bottle, while her mother and older sister were going at it fairly intensely. Despite the similarities in style due to their choice of weapons, both ladies were using their rapiers in 'different' fashion. While Willow was a little more strict when it came to some posturing, Winter had taken a more 'rebellious' approach to it. Her attacks looked less focused and strong, but centered around speed and dexterity. The capacity to dodge attacks and gain the maximum damage out of each strike was a good way to counter a stance that had been refined by practice and experience.
While Willow was far from her prime form, she was still an excellent fighter with that kind of sword. Their skirmish was fairly intense, enough that they didn't notice our arrival. I heard Nicholas sighing at the sight, clearly unhappy with how vicious his oldest granddaughter was being with the current leader of the SDC. All that frustration felt unhealthy, but it was clear that the sparring was doing miracles in purging this stress out of the girl's mind and body. Our quiet watch was interrupted as a certain young lady noticed our arrival and I was quick to set Whitley down as he could keep close to his grandfather as I greeted his older sister.
"Little Weiss."
The girl huffed at the nickname, but still replied with a polite tone.
"Uncle and Auntie," She greeted back happily, turning to Nora and sharing a longer look before greeting her too. "Hello Nora."
"Weiss," The orangette replied with a restrained tone before allowing the girl to greet the others.
I took this chance to look back at the mother-daughter fight, taking note of the fact that Winter was still wearing her Atlas Academy's uniform. She had grown taller, and a little more developed by her arms and legs to fit with the necessity of mobility and power. From what I've studied through the few times I reviewed her grades, she had been an excellent student and one that strove for more. A behavior that sadly enabled some awkward situations whenever the teacher wasn't allowed to go too far from the curriculum without catching the attention of anyone monitoring the staff for any favoritism. With the pace she was going, even though she wasn't planning to join the military or the hunters corps, the girl was still going to keep a massive amount of knowledge and practice in fighting both criminals and Grimm.
As the battling intensified, Willow seemed to notice that Weiss had left her previous position, with her gaze eventually landing to us as she looked around for her. Her eyes widened in a mixture of realization and embarrassment as she remembered why we were here and, as the two Schee girls' swords clashed again, she said a single word.
"Enough."
That seemed to go through Winter's mind as she tensed and paused, confused at the sudden stop, but soon turning to look at what her mother was looking up. Blue eyes widened in a panic as she bolted from her position right to where I was. I braced myself, and I was greeted with a tight hug from the girl.
"Dad!"
...If this hadn't been the first time she addressed me like that, I would have been shocked. Same for the others. While Weiss had taken it upon herself to just address me and Sienna as 'Uncle and Auntie', her older sister took a closer approach to it and merely addressed me as 'Dad'. Sienna was 'Sienna' or 'Auntie', with the main purpose of that decision being tied more to the fact I stood up to her as a 'proper father figure'.
I doubt it's that difficult to break that record with who was her biological father.
[But it can be incredibly tough to be remembered as 'Dad' by a girl her age.]
I wasn't Jacques, I didn't demean her interests and I definitely encouraged her whenever she needed the praise and the pep talk. In the span of knowing the girl for just a year, it didn't take too long for her to quickly call me that. It had been quite the surprise, but not one that was delivered without explanation. She wasn't exactly claiming me as her newest father, merely 'recognizing me the best way she could due to how kind and caring I was towards her'. Something that was surprisingly enough accepted by Nicholas, Willow and… Sienna. The Tiger Faunus just found the idea logical and she knew that taking the title of 'mom' would have just made things weirder for the girl.
In the end, I just rolled with it and it was kind of a nice way to entertain the close bond I had with Winter. She was really honest when I asked for her progress, or for any mistake she tended to make at school or at home, something that didn't seem to be that open towards Willow herself. I reasoned this behavior to the openness I had shown her when she inquired about my sister. I could tell that the conversation had remained in her mind and her heart as she recognized I was more than happy to help her because I understood some of her issues at times.
"Sweetie, I've heard of the little tragedy. How are you?"
Her lips twitched as she placed her chin on my chest, her eyes aimed upwards to my face. "Angry."
"I'm sure next time you'll get the chance to compete. And I promise we will visit," I pointed out, gaining a slow nod from her while I turned to gaze at Willow. Despite the fact she was slightly older than me, it would be wrong for me to assume she was no longer the beautiful white rose I had seen a while ago. Despite the tiredness on her face and the fact she was a little sweaty due to the workout, I couldn't help but smile brightly in her direction.
"Willow, long time no see."
"John, Sienna… and do I see little Blake too?"
I heard someone shuffling around and I saw Blake herself walking up to greet the woman with a hug.
"Aunt Willow," She muttered, accepting to be hugged tightly by the woman.
"You grew tall, dearie. Same for you Nora."
"Auntie," The usually cheeky girl replied mirthfully, with her attention aimed at Weiss as the little Schnee girl had moved closer to Nora. After the woman was done with that hug, I took this chance to finally address the situation as I knew I would be unable to do so the moment Summer and the others came to join our little meeting. Since they had arrived just two hours ago, I expected their family to be done unpacking in an hour or so from now, so I had this much to work onto.
"So, I know this might be sudden but… I wanted to ask you if we could talk. In private."
"Important things?"
"Potentially, yes."
She huffed, clearly wanting to go and catch herself a quick bath before having to deal with anything after that fight but, as she looked at me once again to gauge my seriousness, she nodded.
"Fine, but I hope you're planning to be brief."
I nodded. "I'll be the briefest without skipping any big detail."
And while I left Sienna to handle the rest of the situation together with Nicholas, I decided to finally face the big challenge at hand without wasting further time.
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