Well, think about it this way: Aura just kind of lolnopes a lot of damaging effects, or that Juggernaut kid would probably have a way more tragic backstory and be in a prison cell. And you don't reach James's level without learning to deal with a lot of semblance-based bullshit. This is the man who can one-handed block an Alpha Beowulf because he just doesn't give a shit. It is inferred that he has a very solid Aura, since he didn't even flinch at taking a hit that we know puts a dent in most of the Beacon first years' Auras.
That ... doesn't really matter at all, when Semblences are each special snowflakes of unique bullshit. Hell, from canon alone Pyrrha is hard counter. Lolnopes his weapons and then dangles him in the sky via all the metal on him and in him. No leverage, no ranged weapons, no threat.
Of course then he may pull out HIS semblence, but that only really goes to show my point further..
Pyrrha's Semblance was wasted on her. The girl was like Captain America, if Captain America was also Magneto, but she never really used or practiced with stronger applications of her magnet powers than moving people's weapons in their hands. Then she pulls enough raw juice to wreck the Beacon Clocktower in the 11th hour but she doesn't do anything except make a ball and damage the architecture more than Cinder, probably because all the junk she pulled hit against other pieces of junk instead of her actual target.
Pyrrha's Semblance was wasted on her. The girl was like Captain America, if Captain America was also Magneto, but she never really used or practiced with stronger applications of her magnet powers than moving people's weapons in their hands. Then she pulls enough raw juice to wreck the Beacon Clocktower in the 11th hour but she doesn't do anything except make a ball and damage the architecture more than Cinder, probably because all the junk she pulled hit against other pieces of junk instead of her actual target.
She did hit cinder with a high speed cogwheel to the gut though, which I'm pretty sure should have bisected cinder were it not for cinder's aura since said cogwheel also slammed her into the floor. As for making a ball afterwards, I always thought that was a desperation move. Pyrrha's face looks like it's showing a lot of strain manipulating that many large metal objects at once, so there's no guarantee she could have kept it up for long. She was probably hoping that burying her in metal would just be enough at that point.
I mean... I agree Pyrrha wasted her potential by not training the macro aspects of her semblance as much as she trained the micro ones, but that's a flaw that goes well beyond the scope of that fight and into the character itself.
EDIT: Wlso the dragon was the one to wreck the tower, Pyrrha just used the pieces.
I have to say ... this is a terrible immersion killing sentiment. It reeks of "power levels" bullshit where, regardless of the every hunter having their own special snowflake semblance, there's some kind of absolute scale of power such that a given person will always defeat those "lesser" than themselves. Every bit of world-building you've portrayed so far runs absolutely counter to that sentiment.
What I mean by that is that it should be completely possible for a novice barely trained idiot to be terrible at fighting in general yet nevertheless have a Semblence that hard-counters even a spec-ops division leader. For instance someone with a "seize control of machinery" power would be logical for a nefarious organization to send after Penny, and they could have lolnoped the gun and then turned Ironwood's cybernetics against him.
Or there's simple things like "air friction is now 1000 times stronger" which stops the bullet and kills Ironwood in multiple unpleasant ways while also immobilizing him.
Hell, the unstoppable force guy could conceivably tank the bullet purely by semblance without aura shield up and then start swinging. If Ironwood made the completely reasonable mistake of blocking/grappling instead of dodging, a simple scissoring motion could shear Ironwood in half as two limbs inexorably move towards eachother through the space formerly occupied by things like "organs" and "bones"
A serious hunter fight against an unknown should always be a risky proposition, regardless of skill. "Unkown" being the key word. Foreknowledge and preparation strongly counteract that factor ... though even then run the risk of encountering hitherto-unknown quirks. Especially since Ada demonstrates that semblences can be passively active with no aura cost so even catching someone with their aura down doesn't remove the risk.
That said, I'm arguing against the general sentiment, not that Jaune would have won. Jaune was in the perfect storm of bad circumstances (facing the wrong direction, danger-close, aura down, Penny jamming the Transitor ... somehow ... in ways that still don't make sense) and his Semblance isn't really an appropriate hard counter for "gun".
No offense but that argumet makes no sense. James has been noted to be a highly trained super soldier with decades of experience in combat, aura use and semblance mastery. It really wouldn't be hard to believe that current James would absolutely wreck a first year version of himself without breaking a sweat. Semblances also aren't an 'I win' button for most people considering that Jaune was able to beat many other people with bullshit semblances around his age and he still had trouble. Jaune is pretty unique in how bullshit he is.
Someone extremely experienced in aura use may also be able to no sell other peoples semblance affect due to sheer aura mastery and how aura is basically a soul shield that let's people protect themselves from harm. There is also the fact that it would be extremely unlikely that someone would have a hard counter to someone specifically and face off against that person due to how variable semblances are.
At most someone may meet someone where they have an advantage against them but hard counters are most likely extremely rare and even then against someone with decades of experience and far more skilled they would still likely have a ton of trouble against said person since said person has probably fought a ton of different people with different semblances.
Speaking of Aura and the breaking of shit with such, idle question about the K6BD omakes; why doesn't Jaune have his Aura unlocked? Is there something inherent in Meti's philosophy that would clash with having it available? Because it sounds like you could view it as another weapon, and death can definitely lie under Aura-enhanced fingernails easier than normal ones.
So people should stop planning ways to get back at him for following one of our goals in a way we disagree with when he has already been properly chastised and won't do it again.
No offense but that argumet makes no sense. James has been noted to be a highly trained super soldier with decades of experience in combat, aura use and semblance mastery. It really wouldn't be hard to believe that current James would absolutely wreck a first year version of himself without breaking a sweat. Semblances also aren't an 'I win' button for most people considering that Jaune was able to beat many other people with bullshit semblances around his age and he still had trouble. Jaune is pretty unique in how bullshit he is.
Someone extremely experienced in aura use may also be able to no sell other peoples semblance affect due to sheer aura mastery and how aura is basically a soul shield that let's people protect themselves from harm. There is also the fact that it would be extremely unlikely that someone would have a hard counter to someone specifically and face off against that person due to how variable semblances are.
At most someone may meet someone where they have an advantage against them but hard counters are most likely extremely rare and even then against someone with decades of experience and far more skilled they would still likely have a ton of trouble against said person since said person has probably fought a ton of different people with different semblances.
My fundamental points
-skill is a toolset.
-Unkown variables mean making an educated guess about which tool to use
-even educated guesses can be wrong
-true combat is always risky
-guessing wrong in lethal combat can be ... lethal
-due to Semblences, unless active research is involved there's ALWAYS an uknown in Hunter vs. Hunter combat
-thus someone expecting to fight a hunter would be well served to do some information gathering
-Ironwood has the skills and resources to better apply the information he has
-normally Ironwood (and Jaune) have sophisticated information gathering apparatuses, such as dossiers on 99% of all semblences
-this was not a normal situation. This was jumping in blind because Penny ran away while jamming miles around her
Luckily for Ironwood, Jaune's normal combat style is NOT a joker that would lead him to make the wrong guess.
Unluckily for Ironwood, an enraged Transistor could have been.
But Ironwood used his skill to engage in a mitigation strategy (get the unkown at gunpoint while their aura is down)
My fundamental points
-skill is a toolset.
-Unkown variables mean making an educated guess about which tool to use
-even educated guesses can be wrong
-true combat is always risky
-guessing wrong in lethal combat can be ... lethal
-due to Semblences, unless active research is involved there's ALWAYS an uknown in Hunter vs. Hunter combat
-thus someone expecting to fight a hunter would be well served to do some information gathering
-Ironwood has the skills and resources to better apply the information he has
-normally Ironwood (and Jaune) have sophisticated information gathering apparatuses, such as dossiers on 99% of all semblences
-this was not a normal situation. This was jumping in blind because Penny ran away while jamming miles around her
Luckily for Ironwood, Jaune's normal combat style is NOT a joker that would lead him to make the wrong guess.
Unluckily for Ironwood, an enraged Transistor could have been.
But Ironwood used his skill to engage in a mitigation strategy (get the unkown at gunpoint while their aura is down)
Dude what are you talking about? First Ironwood could easily have just looked up the footage from initiation and had a really good idea what he could do so the whole grabbing him at gunpoint before he activated his aura strategy was pretty valid. Second in a worlds where aura can protect against just about everything this makes it far more likely for the fights to end up to highly skilled fighters since multiple hits would be required to get through aura shields. Third again not all semblances are bullshit or even that impressive with people like Jaune being an extreme outlier/freak of nature semblance wise.
Fourth RWBY is mostly focused around rule of cool which Monty heavily favored so you shouldn't expect the show to be heavily grounded in realism.
... RIGHT I KNEW I FORGOT TO TELL YOU ALL SOMETHING-
Omakes! Yes! I remember mentioning something about them getting you things! Here's the limits for those!
A thousand word omake gets you ten Fate Points. Every 500 after that gets you another two.
To shift a Function either talked about or related to the Omake to Beta Testing is 3,500 words. This means that one 3.5k Omake is worth either one Function put into Beta, or 20 Fate Points, and which is chosen is purely at the author's discretion. This is purely a quantifiable standard, but quality will have an effect- a 3500-word omake that bores me will get you the rewards and nothing more, while a 500-word piece that drives me to tears will get you more than it would otherwise.
Some may find this limit ridiculous, considering I don't put that much out anymore, to which I say- I am offering you a way to bend the rules of the quest for your own personal gain, and I'm allowing my emotions to have some sway to boot.
Besides, trust me- 3.5k is nothing when you're not on a schedule.
Edit: due to some overdue pruning, the Fate Shop is now closed.
I missed this edit until now. @Prok, did you have any plans of further revamping the Omake Rewards? One option could be letting people put points into skills, either a set amount or rolling for it, but that has to be balanced properly or else things will get out of hand (I'm looking at you, We Stand In Awe).
Just asking because I had some ideas for an alt!Jaune where the crossover has radically altered Remnant and I think some people had outstanding Fate Points.
So was re-reading the quest and came up to Test(), Cycle 11: Cleanup() where we realize that we know nuclear is a thing now. We very clearly state to ourselves that we know about an entirely new field of science now. Would trying to jumpstart someone's nuclear development be something to think about?
So was re-reading the quest and came up to Test(), Cycle 11: Cleanup() where we realize that we know nuclear is a thing now. We very clearly state to ourselves that we know about an entirely new field of science now. Would trying to jumpstart someone's nuclear development be something to think about?
Think that would be a waste of time since it would take years to implement and in a few years the process would have advanced enough that it would have created a post scarcity society.
First Ironwood could easily have just looked up the footage from initiation and had a really good idea what he could do so the whole grabbing him at gunpoint before he activated his aura strategy was pretty valid
Ironwood didn't know he was dealing with Jaune until the kid with the "obviously compensating for something" sized glowing sword showed up. And by that point he was in the middle of Penny's jamming field
So was re-reading the quest and came up to Test(), Cycle 11: Cleanup() where we realize that we know nuclear is a thing now. We very clearly state to ourselves that we know about an entirely new field of science now. Would trying to jumpstart someone's nuclear development be something to think about?
So, my work started cracking down on phones hard and only letting me use them on break. In response I've started bringing a composition book with me.
@Prok I have 20 pages of Hold It In Battle of Beacon sitting in the notebook of wonders (tm). You want I should pm it to you, post it in thread, or just hold onto it?
I... think Ironwood's reasons are maybe just a little bit more justified than a mugger's. You know, what with the whole 'saving his multi-trillion Lien project from people who very well may want to take her apart to see what makes her tick' thing he had going for him.
As for how Ironwood acted: I could be mistaken and confusing canon with another quest I follow on here but doesn't James also kind of fill a "father" role as far as Penny goes?
As far as can be told, after some discussion with Clever, that's, being very generous, mostly fanon. Penny's important to him, but in a more 'this thing's gonna save the world' way rather than, you know, a fatherly sense.
Hell, when she died, his first reaction was to look at Ozpin and say "I can explain!" like he's just been caught doing something he shouldn't have. Which, in fairness, he was.
... Points for taking responsibility?
Anyway, I think that justifies what he did even more. He's not a father seeing his child at threat- he's a man who's tired of the pain and the misery that he sees and hears about every day, seeing the key to that pain and misery walk off into what was, as far as he had been told, entirely a trap, while basically announcing her presence by screaming as loud as she could on every wavelength she could, without even knowing it.
@Prok, there really was no scenario where a fight broke out or Ironwood fired where Jaune survived? Not winning, just surviving.
How big of a scandal would it have been if the Transistor had sent the relevant recordings to various people, such as the Vale Council, the police, the Atlas Council, Ozpin, news organizations, etc. etc.?
Not saying we should do that, just wondering if you had any plans for your voters causing a diplomatic incident between Vale and Atlas.
@Prok I ask this entirely seriously, but... does Jaune like Faunus? Like-like, I mean. No seriously, it would put all new dimensions on the commentary around the Creme option.
Considering how often we've been getting blindsided, I'd rather tell the Transistor to ignore everyone else's privacy and just not share that information if it isn't a threat.
It does that anyway. When Jaune talked about privacy settings, it's in more of an 'ignorance is bliss' sense rather than actually respecting people's privacy. Also, you've only been blindsided once, on account of the Transistor's sensors finally being taxed by several gigabytes of wide-band radio transmission. Weiss putting a sword at your throat was just a result of Jaune being WAY too optimistic about how she would react to somebody in her room.
And from there it's Semblances all the way down, and you just end up arguing yourselves dizzy with all these circles around here.
Pyrrha's really not a great example though because she's kind of a hard counter to any Hunter who made it past the Stone Age. Which is, almost all of them. Surprisingly enough, being basically Magneto is kind of a versatile power in modern times.
In terms of your original example of a hypothetical technopathy Semblance, that's probably why he fires his gun with the hand he was born with- to at least partially avoid that exact problem. It's not a matter of power levels, it's a matter of how you plan ahead and prepare for any eventuality. Is that the reason he shoots with his flesh hand? Maybe. Maybe he's just left-handed.
The problem you faced today (relatively, hush), aside from a critical fail, which screwed up Penny's RF shielding and finally saturated an area with enough raw data to actually burden the Transistor, is that Jaune is inexperienced. It didn't occur to him that somebody could walk up behind him in public and point a gun at his back, so he didn't put his Aura up, not to mention the fact he was kind of preoccupied with his tool of omniscience kind of giving up on him. It was a perfect storm of 'fuck Jaune Arc,' and the element of surprise is your best weapon against anybody with Aura.
Power levels don't matter outside of a fair fight. Simple as.
Do they exist? To an extent, unless you're going to tell me with a straight face that Jaune has a chance of beating Winter or Qrow, let alone people like Salem or Ozpin. Are they as absolute as they are in something like, I dunno, Dragon Ball? No. The fact that you can, in theory, just walk up behind an unaware Hunter and straight up dome them with little to no problem is proof enough of that.
Not all Auras are created equal. Not all Semblances are created equal. Not all Hunters are created equal. There are going to be some Hunters who are objectively better than their peers in an almost power level-like fashion, but for every one of them, there's going to be four others who clawed their way up to that level anyway, whether through practice, learning their Semblance inside and out, all the little quirks, the little loopholes, how to compensate for its weaknesses, or just straight up getting a better weapon.
You are the outlier. So is Pyrrha. Neither of you is average. You're part of the 20%.
In reality, a lot of Hunters could see John Constantine as a kindred spirit. And John Constantine would be considered horror movie material on Remnant.
Speaking of Aura and the breaking of shit with such, idle question about the K6BD omakes; why doesn't Jaune have his Aura unlocked? Is there something inherent in Meti's philosophy that would clash with having it available? Because it sounds like you could view it as another weapon, and death can definitely lie under Aura-enhanced fingernails easier than normal ones.
Precept 14- "The weak swordsman clings to victory. He thinks of his life, his obligations, the outcome of the battle, his hatred for his opponent, his training, his pride in his mastery. By doing so, he is an imperfect vessel for the terrible fires of Will. He will surely crack. He will not laugh uproariously if he is cleft in two by his opponent's blade. When his sword is shattered, his hands will be too reserved to tear his enemies' flesh."
If Jaune wins, he wins. If he loses, he loses. If he dies, he dies. And if he dies, he will die, laughing as he is cleft in two by his opponent, his sword shattered beside him, using the last of his strength to tear their heart from their chest.
On a more mechanical level, he's simply moved past the point where Aura would be of any use to him- he has, through training and study of the art of Cutting, become as strong and as fast as any given Hunter, if not more so, in exchange for being something of a glass cannon- no Aura means no protection from a sniper rifle or a shotgauntlet or a variant ballistic chain scythe besides his sword, but it doesn't matter because he's just that damn good. Granted, Cutting is such a conceptual art, and Throne's rules, hell, Remnant's to some extent, seem to lean in such a way that, honestly, if he was injured, and he survived his wounds, he'd probably only get stronger of them.
He simply doesn't need it, because if he gets hit, he fully deserves whatever happens to him next.
I missed this edit until now. @Prok, did you have any plans for further revamping the Omake Rewards? One option could be letting people put points into skills, either a set amount or rolling for it, but that has to be balanced properly or else things will get out of hand (I'm looking at you, We Stand In Awe).
Just asking because I had some ideas for an alt!Jaune where the crossover has radically altered Remnant and I think some people had outstanding Fate Points.
It'll be revamped, don't worry. The thing is, nobody actually used it, even when there was a critical fail you could have dodged out of, and somebody actually brought it up and was promptly ignored. That was my first clue that nobody really bothered with it, and I'm about to put two whole new systems up as is, so I might as well prune what I can, y'know?
Uh, lemme think, you have... somewhere around 160 Fate Points...
Fuck it, I'll deal with that at the end of the next update. This one's cluttered enough as is. In the meantime, feel free to write your omake, and I'll judge it under the new rules.
So was re-reading the quest and came up to Test(), Cycle 11: Cleanup() where we realize that we know nuclear is a thing now. We very clearly state to ourselves that we know about an entirely new field of science now. Would trying to jumpstart someone's nuclear development be something to think about?
Radioactive materials, like uranium or thorium or stuff like that, just, aren't a thing here. Like, outside of stars and certain Semblances, because they're the only things with enough power to fuse or split stable atoms, neither fusion nor fission is a thing in Remnant society. So, no, it isn't really possible, unless you want to try and get into the nuclear fusion market, but... honestly, you're kind of already beyond that point. Like, way beyond that point.
You know about atoms, most anybody who sat through first-year physics does, but just in terms of fission powerful enough for a runaway nuclear reaction to happen? Nothing like that exists. The closest thing would be Dust, and it obviously doesn't work like that- it's just not volatile enough for anything on the level of a nuclear option. Haru's Semblance was, literally, being able to split the atom whenever he punches or kicks something. Since, most of the time, the atom he'd be punching or kicking would probably be nitrogen or oxygen, all he's getting is a little puff of energy and that's it. I mean, yeah, still enough to Ark of The Covenant somebody's face off, but he's not going to Hiroshima Vale anytime soon.
So, my work started cracking down on phones hard and only letting me use them on break. In response, I've started bringing a composition book with me.
@Prok I have 20 pages of Hold It In Battle of Beacon sitting in the notebook of wonders (tm). You want I should pm it to you, post it in thread, or just hold onto it?
Hold onto it. Act like Nostradamus when the time comes.
But nah seriously though throw it up if you want because your stuff is always super fun and I wanna be held accountable for anything I accidentally steal from it-
Anyway, time for an interlude! A sappy interlude! A happy interlude! A... you know what, a friend of mine took his boyfriend out on a late Valentine's date tonight, so as far as I'm concerned, it counts! It's the Valentine's day interlude!
It's not perfect, but... for once, I'm ok with that.
Friday, 2nd July, 3:50 PM.
Your name is Salem Sini, and you are nervous. And embarrassed. And happy. And kind of annoyed.
You're a lot of things, honestly, it's- it's been a busy day.
First off, Beacon placement test- went well, placed a technical first. Technical because the other team bailed at the last second. On top of that, you decided to, upon meeting their leader in the maze that fucking maniac Saff set up, gush over the reason you were so determined to win, making sure to act as goofy and over the top about it as possible, hopefully to throw him off so you could dive and then stab him in the back of the skull, if it didn't bring his Aura down, the impact alone would have dazed him, but that wasn't your problem. No, one person knowing was ok with you.
But it wasn't just one person that heard.
See, Saff, for all he was no architect, was apparently some kind of savant when it came to acoustics.
Everybody heard.
Everybody. Even the people outside of the maze.
You'd never been so tempted to literally sink into the ground in embarrassment. Your only saving grace was that, once the ribbing was done with, people actually seemed... supportive. Especially when you told them that you were planning on meeting her today.
Shit, when he heard that bit, Naia picked you up and pretty much fastballed you onto your train.
Not fun.
... It was kinda fun.
The conductor didn't think so but fuck him.
But that's the past. This is the present!
And presently, you're walking through Marble Arcade, dodging the crowds of shoppers, aiming for the place you promised to meet her when you finished.
End of the arcade, by the fountain with the swan spout.
Dodging your way through a few dense spots, your diminutive size working against you as you try to push through the crowd, it's slow going, but you quickly decide against using your Semblance- it might go through pipes, but it doesn't go through sewage.
You involuntarily shudder, remembering how that particular test went.
Once you make it through, though, it's all smooth sailing, and suddenly the fountain and Theodosia seem so much closer.
She's a tall girl, almost awkwardly so, not quite grown into her limbs yet, leaving her all legs and arms with little else to her frame. Coupled with a lack of mass to fill it out, she's left to lank about like a scarecrow come to life. The pale, blonde hair frames her head in its own wild, frizzy way, the dry summer air only aggravating the problem, much to her often-grumbled discontent. Her clothes only add to the comparison, the simple plaid dress, the Mary Jane shoes- the only thing that breaks from the comparison are her glasses- thin, square things that would look downright businesslike on anybody else, but only manage to look out of place on her in the best way possible.
She is, without a doubt, the most beautiful person you've ever seen.
You wave, and she finally spots you, waving back just in time for people for move in front of you.
"Theo!" You call out, trying to move through the now reformed crowd, doing their best to keep you from passing.
Bugger that for a lark.
Focusing on your feet, you feel the vibrations in the ground, from people around you, from pipes deep underground, from the shifting of tectonic plates, and you gather them all underneath your feet, forcing the earth to part and grant you passage. For anybody else, it would feel like being buried alive.
For you?
It just feels like home. Something about being underground like this just feels right to you. You bring the vibrations up and forward, forcing the concrete to pass around you, undulating like some kind of geological worm as you move forward, your ears listening to the oscillations around you, forming a mental image that you've only perfected through several years of practice.
Five metres, ten metres, fifteen, account for drift- there!
You force yourself out of the ground and appear right in front of her.
Theodosia squawks with surprise, stepping back, her heel catching the edge of the fountain. Her arms windmill as she tries to find something to grab, and you finally react, gently grabbing her hand, giving her some much-needed stability. The two of you stay like that for a moment, you, holding her up almost daintily by one hand, her, dipped backwards like she's the belle of the ballroom, and blushing up a storm while she does. You heave her back up onto her own two feet, and only then, with more than some reluctance, finally let go of her hand.
"... And hello to you too."
Great start. Best start. This is gonna go great. So fucking great.
|||
You take her to a café, as you do with pretty girls you'd like to get to know better, not, that that's a thing you do very often- at all really- and the first thing she does is ask you how the test went.
At some point, that simple question turned into a blow-by-blow account of the test, which she listens to raptly, not caring a whit for your weaknesses as a storyteller, or the fact that most of your story consists of playing whack-a-mole with people.
"So Creme, right, the doe Faunus, she just takes the bullet like it was nothing, but get this- her Semblance is momentum transfer. It was nothing to her! Her teammate, uh, God, what was her name... Ava? Ada? Something like that, anyway, she's the one that took the shot instead. The bullet bounced off Creme because her teammate took the force of the hit, she got off scot-free! So I try to get out of there, but she grabs me by the collar as I'm trying to burrow, pulls me out, and throws me into the wall!"
"Oh, heavens," Theo says, sipping her coffee. Two creamers, two sugars, mixed until the colour resembled something like dried clay.
"Well, technically, she threw me into Saff, the guy who made the big maze, and we both got tangled up inside the wall, we could barely move, it took us like five minutes to get enough space just to move around and wriggle our way back out. It was really cramped, it got kinda warm, so I was sweatier than I already was, it was just, kinda gross, honestly."
She blinks, and the tiniest blush forms on her cheeks as she takes a deeper sip of her coffee.
"But, yeah, he uh, turned his back on me, started talking about teaming up at the last second, so I shot him in the head. He got ported up into the stands, and... yeah, he was pretty angry."
Her giggle is the best thing you've heard all day.
"I can believe that. So, it was you, against... four other people? The girl you can't remember the name of, Creme, that... rainbow armour person, and the boy with the blue sword?"
You watch her head tilt slightly with the question, and barely manage to contain your excitement over such a tiny thing.
She remembered! You told your story well enough that she remembered everyone who was left!
Aaa!
Focus, focus, you have to finish this so you can tell her the good news.
... The news.
"So, what happened next?" She asks you, leaning forward, eyes bright with curiosity.
Almost despite yourself, you look away, embarrassment flushing your cheeks.
Ugh.
"... They backed down. Jaune, uh, the one with the blue sword, could barely walk, I think he must have been shocked by somebody, Lumen, er, the guy who made the rainbow armour, looked ready to be sick, and the small girl looked... kind of out of it, I dunno what was going on there, and Creme must not have felt ok trying to fight me herself, because they took a minute to dicuss, and then Jaune just hobbled out, threw his sword into the sand, and said they were done."
They might have been ok with joint first place, but you aren't. Because you didn't just promise Theo that you'd come out on top for her, you promised her that you would come out first. Not, second, not joint first, first and only.
"Oh, wow," She after a moment, before noticing your face. "... You don't seem ok with that, though."
"I mean, I... I told you I'd come out first, but I can't know for sure that I would have beaten them in a fair fight, so..." You trail off, drinking some coffee to fill the silence.
"You feel like you didn't really win first place," She finishes for you. "Salem, that's... kinda silly."
Wait what.
You look up at her and see a tiny, awkward smile work its way onto her face when she realises she has your attention.
"You managed to intimidate four people into backing down without a fight. Even one who, up until that point, was pretty much entirely unharmed. Do you understand how... impressive that is? At least three Mistrali generals saved thousands of lives because they managed to psych out the opposing army so much by doing things like, standing in front of the city gates playing the mandolin, or setting up a game of Go on the battlefield and inviting enemy soldiers to come and play against him-"
She cuts herself off, that blush rising even further than it already had, her excitement fading in a wave of self-consciousness.
"... Sorry. M-my point is... you won the mind game. And, I think that's more impressive than just beating them down with force."
You look at her, staring into her coffee, entirely embarrassed by her outburst, and you can't help but find her too adorable to stand.
... Still... when you, think of it that way... she's right.
You did win the mind game.
A smile tugs at your lips, quickly turning into a grin of pure joy as you realise that you not only kept your promise, but she agrees with you.
When she doesn't immediately bounce back into the conversation, you figure you should probably say something. Those bursts of excitement are so rare from her but do you love it when they happen.
"... Tell me more about that general who played Go. Actually, what is Go?"
She snaps her head up at the question, and you see her relax slightly as she processes it.
"Uh, Go is a board game, dating back to pre-Kingdom times- it's played with black and white stones..."
You listen raptly, just happy to listen to her talk.
Learning something new while you do it is just a bonus.
After your coffee and recap of the day, you both decide a walk through a nearby park would be a nice way to pass the time.
"So... why do you think, er... Saff, made that maze anyway?" Theo asks you as you walk along the gravel path lining a large open plateau, filled with people reading, playing with dogs, having picnics with their families, and generally just enjoying the day.
"To get an upper hand? Faunus have night vision, and he left a hole in the top to let light in, so..." You pointedly try not to think about its other, though admittedly unintended, purpose. "But, uh... I dunno. He's been pretty high-strung lately, and he got really angry at Jaune, Creme, and Lumen, too. Like, screaming his throat hoarse angry."
"Heavens," She says mildly, not quite sure how to take what you're telling her. "Has he had problems with them in the past?"
"... Not... that I'm aware of? I mean, Creme's a walking disaster area because of her Semblance, Lumen's a slacker, but Jaune... I don't know. He's, alright, I guess, a little quiet, but I have no idea why Saff'd have a problem with him. He's the last person I can see pissing somebody off, intentionally or not."
"... Hm. Well, I won't psychoanalyse somebody I haven't met, so I'll leave it there."
Fair enough. You were kind of running out of things to... say...
The sunlight catches on her hair for just a moment, shining through the loose strands of frizz and setting her head in a halo of fire for just a moment, framing her face in contrasts, accentuating every line, every mark, every flaw, everything you love about it, strengthened to dizzying heights.
You feel your heartbeat in your chest. You feel it pulsing in your neck, down your arms, in your wrists, in your fingertips, and somehow further still.
"... Salem? What is it?"
Just tell her you fool, some voice in the back of your head says.
You swallow, your throat suddenly quite dry, you begin to wonder if that's such a good idea.
... What would she say? What would she say to... any of the things you could say right now? What can you tell her that wouldn't scare her off? That her hair in the sunlight looks like spun gold? That everything seems to fade away when you see her face? That the skies and trees all blur, every time you look at her?
Thoughts whizz about your head, clouding your mind with indecision.
"I-I..." You trail off because you just can't bring yourself to take that plunge.
Listen to yourself. You shot a girl in the back of the head earlier like a gang execution, and here you are, unable to tell a girl how you feel about her-
"It's ok. Take your time."
Glancing up at her, you see how concerned she's become over your inability to just spit it out.
You have to take the plunge. You have to. You have to. You have to.
Something you did during the test comes to mind, for just a moment. But a moment is all it needs to take root and grow like ivy, choking out every other thought in your head until it makes itself the only thought you can focus on.
'I feel like I need to become a better person just to keep up with her, dude.'
"Theodosia Watts, every moment I spend with you makes me want to become a better person in every way I possibly can and I honestly think I'm in love with you."
WHAT. NO. WHAT.
YOU DIDN'T MEAN THAT. IT JUST CAME OUT. OH GOD NO.
The relief of finally getting it off your chest is rapidly replaced by growing horror at the fact that you just blurted that out, you absolute moron.
You stand there, focusing on everything but the pretty girl in front of you, waiting for her to, to gently let you down, or laugh in your face, or do any of a million things to reject you...
...
But none of them ever come. A few seconds, pass, and you somehow gather the courage to look at her face. Her eyes are wide, her mouth slightly open in a gasp, her cheeks...
Good lord, you didn't know people could turn that shade of red.
"... Was that too mu-"
She grabs your shirt collar and brings you close, pressing her lips against yours. It's by no means a romantic gesture, the movement is so jerky and fast that you both all but knock each other's front teeth out through mashed together lips, but the second kiss is a little more... measured, you suppose is the word.
It's savoured.
You feel something stall, mentally, and you just... stop thinking for a moment.
All that's left the feeling of lips against yours, an awkward, inexperienced kiss the only sensation you can focus on while you try to not to cross your eyes as they try to force Theodosia's into focus.
To an outside viewer, it would seem painfully obvious that neither of you had done this before, from the simple, almost mechanical awkwardness to the action, to the fact that you're both staring past each other, and in your opinion, it still ends far too soon.
When it does, she pulls away, her cheeks a paler shade of flustered now, if only just, and she continues staring at you in an entirely new light.
"I, um..." A small, snorting giggle makes its way past the lips you tasted only a moment ago. "I was wondering when you were going to say that."
You blink.
... Wait.
No way.
No fucking way.
"You knew?"
Theo only just manages to hold back her laughter, your confused glare only making it more difficult.
"Salem. You are... a lot of things. You're smart, you're sweet, you're funny, you're, on a path to becoming one of the people saving the world... but you are not subtle."
... Oh.
... You'll take that.
"So, uh, now that that's out in the open… what now?" She asks, and for a moment you just groan instead of actually answering.
"I'll be honest with you," You tell her after your moment of groaning is up. "I honestly didn't think I'd get this far."
She nods, understanding you completely.
"I mean... I didn't expect I'd actually kiss you, so we're both out of our depth here."
Some tiny part of your brain, possibly the part that started all this, points out that you could go for the kill something awful right now. With no dearth of nerves, you reach down and gently slip your hand in hers, enjoying the warmth of her palm against yours. After a moment, she reciprocates, and your fingers intertwine, locking the two of you together for the time being.
"... I guess we'll just have to figure it out as we go."
Apparently figuring it out involves more in the way of handholding and some more than occasional kisses. Beyond that, though, things seem to have changed after your little confession. For both you and Theodosia. It's as if... a weight's been taken off your chests. Which, you suppose makes sense.
Still, as you walk about, it's as if the world itself has changed- the sun seems a little brighter, the sky seems a little bluer, the grass a little greener...
As if somebody's painted it all with a vividness you didn't even know was missing.
Even in such a short time, you found yourselves changing- where a comment would have drawn a huff or a smirk at best before, this, now it drew genuine laughter from you both, usually far beyond the point where you should have stopped finding it funny.
You don't think you let go of her hand once in the half-hour that passed- every now and then, you found yourself gently squeezing it, almost checking it was real and not some convincing illusion, and she always squeezed back, silent confirmation that, no, you're not dreaming.
It was heaven.
The only time you let go of it, with more than some reluctance, was when she had to answer her Scroll. Only when she lets go do you realise that your hand is kind of hot and clammy, now rapidly cooling down due to the reintroduction of airflow.
... Eh. Worth it.
"Hello? Oh, dad, hey. I'm with Salem. In Vernal Park. Uh... how long will you be? Alright, see you then."
She puts her Scroll away, sighing gently as she does.
"My dad's coming to pick me up in fifteen minutes," she says, giving you an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I-I should have said something-"
"Hey, no, it's ok." You say, just about managing to convince yourself as well. "It's not like we can stay out all night or anything."
No matter how much you wouldn't be opposed to the idea.
"... Yeah. Um, he's going to pick me up by the north edge of the park, on Fall Avenue. Can we, uh..." She trails off, trying her best to suggest that you go that way without actually saying it.
You can take a hint.
"Sure. We're pretty close to the exit, I think."
She trades you a grateful smile for your tact. You move along to the northern edge of the park, through the gate and onto Fall Avenue, across from the glass skyscrapers that dominate the Industrial district, the sun glinting off them here and there, leaving the world around you...
Shiny.
Looking around and finding her father nowhere to be seen, you consider trying to, well, flirt, you suppose, now that you're... allowed to do that, but in the end, you find yourself somewhat put off by just how... confused you are with it all.
"So, uh... God, this is probably a really stupid question, but... what are we now?"
As soon as the question leaves your mouth, you immediately wonder if it's even worth asking. You figure, from the handholding and the kissing and the generally having just admitted that you love each other that it would be kind of obvious, but, gah, you don't know!
You've never done this before!
"I... suppose we're, together now," Theo says, prompting you to nod along. Ok. Together. You can do together. "I guess that makes this our first date?"
"Yeah. I guess it does."
She squeezes your hand, and you come to the realisation that she seems a lot more relaxed about the whole thing than you are.
"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? I could do that again. Couldn't you?"
A certain heat creeps up your cheeks, and you find something very interesting about your shoes.
"Y-yeah. It was... nice. I mean, every other time I've hung out with you was nice, but this was-" Stop dancing around the subject Salem. "-why are you so... cool about all this?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" She asks a slight furrowing of her brows the only sign that something's occurred to her. "... Aren't you?"
"Y-yeah! No, yeah, I'm, I'm cool. I just... expected you might be a little more nervous, I guess? I-it's nothing, really, I'm just... being stupid."
Theo gives out a tiny whine that could very well be interpreted as a drawn-out 'no,' before shifting to somehow hug you from behind with her free hand, laying her head on your shoulder.
"You shouldn't talk about yourself like that. This is new for me, too, I've just... had a lot more time to think about it," She tells you, lowering her voice a little, letting it take on a slightly husky tone. The sensation of her gently squeezing your shoulders from behind is somehow the most comforting thing in the world. "... I've been waiting for you, Salem. You took that plunge for both of us and I can't tell you how happy I am you finally did."
She gives you a quick peck on the cheek, lingering just a moment longer than she has to before she goes back to resting her head on your shoulder. Something about a warm body against yours leaves you feeling... open. Vulnerable, almost, but in a good way. Vulnerable with somebody you can trust to not hurt you.
You let down the defence you never realised you put up, and feel something tighten in your chest. When you speak, all you manage is a hoarse whisper.
"... Can we stay like this for a while?"
"Yeah."
|||
Your name is Theodosia Watts, and your father pulled up to you in a standing cuddle with your new boyfriend.
You're now sitting in the car with him, your worst fears- him being angry, disapproving, outright forbidding it- flit through your mind before you remember he's been doing something infinitely worse since he drove off, leaving Salem behind, still a blushing and stuttering mess.
He's being smug.
He's just, driving along, tapping his fingers on the wheel almost absentmindedly to the beat of one of those old rock songs he seems so fond of, gently humming the melody as he does, keeping perfect time to the drums with his fingers and feet, not acting like he just caught his daughter enjoying an intimate moment with a boy he's never met.
"I saw it coming, you know. I told your mother this would happen, and she didn't believe me."
"Do you disapprove?"
"On one hand, I'm somewhat patriarchally obliged to disapprove, but on the other hand, you just won me 500 Lien."
Your brow furrows at that, and you quickly realise what he's saying.
"You bet on whether or not we'd get together?"
"Technically, we bet on which of you would have the spine to actually spit it out. You both liked each other, that much was obvious just from what you told me of him and in how you told me what you did, it was just a matter of who broke first. I figured he'd ask to meet you after the Signal exam to do it. Check when that was, wait for you to tell us you were going out to see him, leave it an hour or so... I mean, honestly, did you think my eyes were all I gave you?"
That's- but- how could he possibly-
Your father chuckles, the stuttered sounds of indignation you make in place of the response you don't have apparently amusing.
"Oh, don't act so surprised. You're my daughter, it's my job to be able to read you like a b-."
Before he finishes, his Scroll begins to ring. Grunting in annoyance, he pulls it from his suit pocket and places it in the handsfree divot on the dashboard, connecting the call and muting the music.
"Watts here."
-Arthur, hey, uh, just calling to say the move's been greenlit, and we've to prepare for it... pretty soonish, the schedule we've been given says about two weeks before it actually goes through. The boss is calling a brainstorming meeting to try and hash together a decent order of priorities, divvy out duties both pre- and post-move, shi-
"In the car with my daughter, Elise. Language."
-Oh, sorry. Uh, hi Theo. Anyway, it's not too important, but if you wanna call dibs on a job, you'd best turn up, unless you want to be stuck on, like, counselling duty or something.-
You watch a stormy look pass over his face.
"Hrm. No, that definitely won't do. When is it?"
-In an hour, actually. I know you just got off and all, but I thought you should know in case you don't feel like leaving your assignment up to chance.-
"That I do not. Thank you, Elise, I'll see you there."
Your father's Scroll cuts out, and the song picks up where it left off, and he sighs slightly.
"Well, I'll drop you off at the house, then go back out. Tell your mother I'll be late home for dinner, will you?"
"Mmhm."
The rest of the drive home is fairly silent, not broaching the topic of now current boyfriends, not broaching the topic of how you ended up being the big spoon, and frankly, you think you'd probably die of embarrassment if he brought it up. As you leave the highways and skyscrapers of the Industrial district for the sloping hills and gated communities of the Upper-Class district, you can't help but find yourself wondering what 'move' was greenlit at your father's work. By the time you figure he probably wouldn't answer your question, you're already home.
"Theodosia?" Your father says as you get out of the car, and you see an odd look on his face as you turn. If you had to put an emotion to it, he seems... conflicted, almost.
"Yeah?"
"... He could definitely be worse."
You smile, recognising the awkward praise for what it is.
"Well, he's trying to get better."
Apparently accepting your response, you close the car door and watch him pull out of the drive, the hardlight gate automatically parting for him, leaving you with your thoughts, and a message for your mother about having to go out again.
Your name is Theodosia Watts, and you're a lot of things. You're content. You're kind of embarrassed. You're not nervous anymore. But above all, you are head over heels in love with a boy, a Huntsman in training who's going to try and make the world a better place.
At some point, your life turned into a cheap romance novel, and you're more content with that than you thought you would be.
Radioactive materials, like uranium or thorium or stuff like that, just, aren't a thing here. Like, outside of stars and certain Semblances, because they're the only things with enough power to fuse or split stable atoms, neither fusion nor fission is a thing in Remnant society. So, no, it isn't really possible, unless you want to try and get into the nuclear fusion market, but... honestly, you're kind of already beyond that point. Like, way beyond that point.
You know about atoms, most anybody who sat through first-year physics does, but just in terms of fission powerful enough for a runaway nuclear reaction to happen? Nothing like that exists. The closest thing would be Dust, and it obviously doesn't work like that- it's just not volatile enough for anything on the level of a nuclear option. Haru's Semblance was, literally, being able to split the atom whenever he punches or kicks something. Since, most of the time, the atom he'd be punching or kicking would probably be nitrogen or oxygen, all he's getting is a little puff of energy and that's it. I mean, yeah, still enough to Ark of The Covenant somebody's face off, but he's not going to Hiroshima Vale anytime soon.
The problem with that is that you can make radioactive Isotopes with a Mass accelerator. And well, you know the Sun? Understanding how the hell that works would be an interesting question I imagine. Or What the hell the difference be Helium and Di-hydrogen is. or tritium. Like, The hell's a Neutron? What happens when you smack together a pair of atoms Fast enough? What happens if you get atoms that are too big? There are simply so many basic questions that are answered fairly simply with an understanding of Radiation.And with their tech level... If they ask the question, they'll know the answer.
Actually, no, this makes even less sense since there are actually a lot of naturally occurring radioactive Isotopes, even at lower nuclei sizes. C-14 being a rather prominent one, for example. Like figuring out radiation just isn't that hard with the level of tech they have. They don't need Plutonium, or Uranium or any of that to find it.
All they have to do is smack two atoms together and see what happens. And There are a lot of pretty obvious questions that would lead to exactly that.
EDIT.
Actually, if they have functioning plasma weapons they kind of have to know about Radiation.
Like, they probably won't make Fission devices, but them not knowing about Fusion breaks my SOD hard. Especially since they have all the tech that from current theory would be required to make a functioning Fusion reactor.(Specifically the D-wave reactor.)
Like, they probably won't make Fission devices, but them not knowing about Fusion breaks my SOD hard. Especially since they have all the tech that from current theory would be required to make a functioning Fusion reactor.(Specifically the D-wave reactor.)
I'm wondering how he reconciles working with Salem with having a family. (granted, the whole working with the monster trying to destroy the world is always a bit weird, but still)
Or maybe he's a double agent?
Or is Salem not a thing here? Frankly this chapter has made me rather curious.
