A Ribeting Battle (Prvt/Richard)

Zure wasn’t a typical huntress when it came to her methods. Most relied on strength of arms or numbers, but she preferred other methods, fighting smarter rather than simply relying on pure force. It had been how her village often trained people to fight, as they needed to rely on such methods due to the simple lack of resources and fighters. Traps were one of these methods, and ambushes in general had always been the best way for her to utilize her semblance. Currently, she was set to neutralize some Grimm that had been harassing some local hiking trails, having setup her ambush for them in a clearing not too far from the trails. There had been more than one sighting within the clearing, to the point that civilians and had begun avoiding the area until the threat was dealt with.

Zure had dug a pitfall trap as the main part of her trap, near the entrance to a path that led to one of the hiking trails. Other traps were set to launch projectiles near the edge of the clearing mostly meant to shepherd her targets to the pitfall. After that she would be able to dispatch them from above, and at worst there was enough loose dirt around the clearing that her semblance would still be effective here with a little help from some dust.

As for herself, she was hidden in one of the many blue trees within the Finnek Forest, most of her normal outfit was unchanged, with the exception of a blue vest over her shirt that allowed her to better camouflage with the plants of Finnek. The blue leaves of the trees making the ninja hard to spot.

Headphones were affixed atop both of the short faunus' ears as he wandered through Finnek, it was a path he knew much too well. The world gently rumbling with the sound of nature around him, albatross passing over head as they flew from one beach to another. Mountains to the east, it had been a while since he'd been a hike, but that sounded like far too much effort. Even dressed as he was, with an armless jumper (his weapon concealed beneath it on his back) and broad winding scarf (A bandoleer for the various dusts hidden bellow) he was unwilling to experience that cold quite yet. Besides, the first set of birds should have begun nesting into the forrest, the insects would hatch from their pupates and grow from their grubs! He was about to get into the thick of it, the nature that he loved, he was about to fall back into his comfort zone. Find inner peace, yes this would be how he did it!

Then he did fall, rather more literally. By happenstance he had walked straight into the clearing, much to distracted by the light rock blaring in his ears, and stepped straight through the ground; it was only by virtue of training, jumping from trees quite often, that he landed on his feet; knees bending as he met with the ground. Earth tumbled with him, dirtying his clothes and causing a small brown cloud to rise around him. Immediately his claws were drawn, he remained crouched and stared over his shoulder at the hole above; prepared for a figure to appear or darkness to close in. He held one clawed hand just above his scarf, he wanted access to dust if the cave closed in, if a person dared show their face however he would rather not reveal such a secret. Maroon eyes stared out from the dark, headphones dropped from ears to shoulders with a twist of the neck.

Zure’s attention primarily had been on the tree line, as that was the most likely area for the Grimm to approach. As a result, she did not see what had triggered the trap, though she’d had heard the pitfall trigger, she’d made sure it was built sturdy enough not to collapse on its own and glanced at the earth dust crystal she’d had ready. Initially her plan had been to seal the hole on top of the Grimm in question but…there was always the chance a civilian had stumbled into the trap instead.\

The last thing she wanted to deal with was a manslaughter, and the fact that whatever had fallen into the trap came from the opposite direction from where she’d been expecting, the direction of the hiking trails specifically. The ninja clutched two darts in her right hand, so as to be able to attack easily if necessary. The earth crystal in her other hand as she jumped down from the tree, landing easily enough on her feet, long training and experience allowing her to do so uninjured. She walked to the edge of the pit ready to react if the Grimm were to begin climbing out of the pit.

What she found was not what she’d been planning for, it appeared to be a person, though one that was unfamiliar to her. “You aren’t a Grimm.” She stated, a neutral expression on her face.

Richard's brow furrowed further, staring up at the figure cast in blue. She had weird eyes, granted eyes on Remnant ran the gambit from darkest black to brightest white; but they were certainly a rarity. They had a big pink scarf wrapped around them, the only thing to truly stand out against their background, if it was coloured blue the outfit would have been perfect. As it was it was about average, probably a solid B by his estimation... although, the pouch on her leg was a little obvious. B negative more likely than B positive; weird headband, hair was a bit long.  "Yeah, and you aren't helping me out. Were I a worse person I'd have picked you off on sight, I've got half a mind to do so."

He slowly turned, continuing to eye the remainder of the perimeter. Dressed like that, he couldn't completely trust her, Grimm talk could be a bluff after all. Some kind of mugging operation in the woods, wasn't like he had much on him... amount of dust might be worth something. He debated climbing up the side, but any movement could result in a smack down. It was like a crow eyeing a fly and waiting for it to exit the soda can, the instant it left it would be gobbled up. He figured he might even have to attack, should she opt to linger on the cusp... would he accept her hand should she attempt to pull him out? He'd probably grab her by the forearm and fling himself up. "Not like you can bait Grimm or anything, what were you just planning to open a hole and hope for the best? Thinking bad thoughts would only work if you were in the middle of the trap."

Zure gave the guy an unimpressed look, no real emotion being conveyed as she listened to what he had to say before responding in kind after he mentioned he might “take care of her.” Unamused by the sentiment regarding this situation. “Were I a worse person, I’d have buried you the moment that trap was triggered.’ She responded in a cold, clinical tone. She didn’t particularly appreciate nor need this strange boy’s criticisms.

The guy who’d fallen into her trap appeared to be human, though he wasn’t moving enough for his features to be completely clear to her, so that could have been inaccurate. What she could see was that he was short. A rough idea of his clothes and body type as well were noted, she could see he was also wearing a scarf. A fact which made her cautious immediately. She herself hid both darts and dust within hers, and as such was aware how such a thing could hide weapons, but this didn’t necessarily mean he was, after all it could simply be a normal scarf, but the fact was noted. His further criticisms of her strategy were once again listened to before and responded to with a cold look.

“These Grimm have been sighted in this clearing numerous times during the past few days, the chance of them continuing to follow this hunting pattern is high.” She answered simply, not bothering to explain the other traps meant to shepherd them to towards the pit. “You seem capable of helping yourself out.” She noted further. The ninja wasn’t a fool, as she was aware of the strategic position she had on him should he attempt a hostile move. He had already threatened her in a way, and the ninja wasn’t one to give up an advantage.

"Whether or not they've been sighted doesn't mean a pit trap will work idiot, Grimm don't follow a set path. They move toward the path of most emotional strife, idea that you can set a trap cause they go here is foolish. They're not like normal animals, can't track them by season or pattern. If you want to trap em the only way you could would be putting one in the middle of the path, but you'd only trap people." Richard's brow furrowed, this story simply didn't add up. He hadn't seen her around the academy either, another sign not to trust this individual. It'd make sense if she were some dumb, flunky, first year... but typically those were the people he saw, dodging class like him to mess around in the courtyard. This person looked much too serious... had they been waiting for someone else?

"Do I? I'm short, shorter limbs make it harder to climb naturally, your analysis is based on what exactly...?" Was there a way to tell that he was a hunter? None of his tools were exposed, only one certain his scarf was a bandoleer would be able to tell. Was she scared of him? She had the high ground, he was in her trap, had she no way to fill it? He looked to the wormless dirt surrounding him, not a mole in sight, and looked back up to her; "If you don't help me out, I'm gonna have to take this as some kind of attack. I can't be trusting you while you stand up there, vanishing from the lip won't help that either." He stared up defiantly, reducing his claws so that only the ones on his right were drawn.

Zure frowned, though the change in expression was less than notable for the frog girl, her general lack of expressiveness making it difficult for those who didn’t know her well to notice such things. She hadn’t considered much of the changes in purpose for her methods. Methods developed more for a different purpose as a way to thin local grimm populations. in addition, her village had always sent people out in teams for the task. She had failed to consider the last aspect, that being the most important, bait. As she had typically been tasked with other parts of the ambushes.

Of course, the fact that the Grimm within the swamps she’d grown up in were more numerous was also a factor to consider, she stared at the short male with little in the way of expression as she considered what he said regarding his size in ability to climb. “And yet you remained uninjured from the fall, and further your analysis indicates you are more capable than the average civilian.”  She explains, though this could be coincidental, there was the further suspicions though she wouldn’t elaborate on those yet.

 His continued threats were considered for a moment, but she didn’t give any indication of accepting the threats.   Still she supposed that she WAS being too paranoid regarding this, and reluctantly offered a hand, putting the darts away into her side pocket and offering a hand. Though she kept the dust crystal in the other hand, so as to be able to react should he try anything. “Such a thing could be troublesome.” She admitted in a neutral tone.

Richard rolled his eyes, "What? Do you want me to break my leg? If I had you'd be in far more trouble wouldn't you? Both with the law and me, stuck in the bottom of this hole. Someone falls down a hole and doesn't break something, you assume they're above average? I think I might just have gotten lucky you know." Seeing her lower half her dust supply he sighed, this fool was trying to coax him out the hole like some first-time businessman trying to make a deal. Cutting the price in half as they always intended to, unaware there's more to it than that.

Richard looked to her hand, his claw, her dust and then back to her; "You put the dust away, I'll retract this. You keep the dust out, I'm coming up with this and I don't trust you I will have to swipe." He retracted his claw first as a show of good faith, waiting to measure her response before even considering grasping her hand. "I'd rather not have to come up there with the intent to fight, but if you don't back down I won't. This is all or nothing, won't accept any less."

Zure didn’t react to the criticism, though she was at least glad he hadn’t been hurt…such things would be problematic, but the guy’s supposed inability to climb didn’t necessarily fool her. Too many things didn’t add up with how he acted. While the threats could just be him boasting, the criticism of her methods and the fact he was uninjured lined up a bit too much for her to fully believe him to just be a civilian. It was certainly a possibility of course though and she considered what he said after his pointing out the claw. “Afraid I can’t do that.” She responded. She wasn’t going to just help this guy up, and he would probably be able to draw those claws much faster than she could draw any of her weapons.

“accept my assistance or not.” She added, leaning down but not holding a hand quite yet, she’d at least wait for verbal confirmation rather than put herself at potential risk. It wasn’t abnormal for bandits to wander areas like this, and Zure wouldn’t be surprised to learn the guy was one such person. Allowing herself to be vulnerable would be foolish.

Richard wasn't willing to take this risk. He didn't do half measures, it was going to be all or nothing. This was unfortunate, Richard actively disliked fighting (as it took a lot of effort) but he was not above roughing her up if there were any chance he'd or others would be killed. He took a low crouching position, looking less directly at her but the grass hanging over the pitfall's edge. "It looks like I'll have to move at super sonic speeds, I didn't want to do this you know."

Richard pounced up and toward Zure at the edge of the trap, even less than a foot off the ground it didn't look like his jump would succeed... only for him to instantaneously appear directly before her; continuing to rise his head was on track to collide with the centre of her collarbone. As he flew through the air he swung his clawed hand, as his head would meet with her collar his hand was set to pierce her thigh; neither of these were particularly devastating blows but Richard knew they would prompt some response; reveal the skills in this stranger's repertoire. Whenever and wherever he ended up landing Richard would reach his unclawed left hand beneath his scarf; eyes darting left and right in search of additional hostiles. He couldn't identify any but that didn't mean they weren't there. He'd be sure to keep this girl in the corner of his vision but never centre upon her, looking for any oddities in the background.

Deep in the pit now rested three blades of grass that hadn't prior, but it was unclear whether or not they had been there; affixed to Richard's body or on the base of his boots.

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