Studying with a Friend (Open)

Gareth read aloud the near-incomprehensible passage from the textbook. He took a breath and nodded to himself, looking up from the book. The large black-feathered beast watched him with unblinking gold eyes. “Got all that?” Gareth asked.
His summoned semblance automatically nodded. It then paused for a moment. Then it shook its head.
Gareth gave it an unimpressed look. “Great. We’re on the same page then.”
He was doing some extra work to brush up on his dust skills, reading ahead in the textbooks and reviewing everything he figured he should be good with. Working alone was a little discouraging and he didn’t know anyone here to help him. (And he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of real people.) While he was pretty sure his ghost wolf creature couldn’t talk, it was a good listener and soft to lean against so Gareth had taken to summoning it just to have a sounding board when he was trying to work through things. Of course, its huge and imposing appearance meant he couldn’t really do it in most places. It was too big for most indoor locations and too intimidating to do in public places. (A black monster with a skull-face understandably made most people assume “Grimm” and once they got there no one liked sticking around to take a second look.)


Gareth resumed his pacing and reread the section of the book. His summon’s canine head followed his movements patiently.
“This’ll make sense eventually,” Gareth told it.
He couldn’t tell if the skull-faced unblinking stare was agreeing or not.
“Eventually,” Gareth repeated a bit more firmly.

The woods weren’t where one would normally find a young child walking around, even if he wasn’t as young as he appeared. Still Puer didn’t make a habit of walking through the woods alone, however he’d wanted to do something different for a change, things had after all been too boring recently for the youthful looking teen. He had joined the academy, but didn’t currently have classes for a few more days, and while he still needed to move into the dorm, he had chosen to put it off in favor of his own entertainment.

The short boy stopped when he saw what looked like a Grimm, he wasn’t ready to fight it, and would rather not do so if he could avoid it, hiding behind a tree. It was only when he saw that there was someone over there, apparently having been reading or something. He guessed the guy had just noticed it, and while the child-like boy didn’t know why the Grimm hadn’t already attacked he couldn’t exactly leave what looked like a normal person to fight a Grimm…could he?

Unfortunately, the answer was no, and while he himself was not by nature a fighter, his physical condition creating difficulties for him in that regard he knew he had to do something. Fortunately, he was able to get close enough to make an attack on the Grimm. The boy’s yo-yo would strike out in a forward motion from him and would likely hit with a force that an actual child’s toy would in no way duplicate, as it was still indeed a weapon meant for combat.

“Hey stupid, run!” He would yell out as the attack was made, regardless of if it hit or not, at least he could make the Grimm focus on him and not the unarmed dude. After that...Puer was a bit worried...

Stats and stuff:

Boredom. The worst kind of feeling for Nyx to be going through. Nyx had been pretty bored over the last couple weeks due to the lack of contracts. This drought stemmed from the high alert status that Bellmuse Island was in due to the incident that happened on the beach some time ago. This got Nyx wondering about her friend Sakura. Sakura was part of a group of hunters who went to Creek's Tavern. She wonder if her friend and the other hunters with got the info she needed. However, Nyx pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she eyed something through her sniper scope.

In order to sate her boredom, Nyx had been keeping up her sniping skills sharp by hunting in the Springwood Forest. Mostly, she had killed some boars and the like. However, today was different as she had a Grimm in her sight. Apparently, there was a hunter nearby as well. Nyx didn't have any time to confirm the situation. All she saw on her scope was a Grimm. Nyx didn't think much of it as she pulled the trigger of the rifle.

A loud crack soon resonated through the air as a .408 Cheytac round sailed through the air and toward the Grimm's head.

Gareth jumped about a mile straight up when a gunshot split the air. He whipped around to try to face wherever it had come from, snapping the book in his hand shut. He had a split second to notice his summon had gone away before something nailed the side of his head.
He staggered to the side (taking 10 damage) being literally caught off guard by the sharp hit.
“Ow,” he complained, rubbing the side of his head and taking several steps back.
Some kid shouted at him to run and Gareth jumped another pace back. “What’s wrong—who’s shooting—” Gareth’s mind jumped straight to the gunshot that had come out of nowhere. He thought these woods were supposed to be relatively quiet what kind of trouble—
Gareth halted his alarm to allow rational thought to get through.
Gareth rubbed his face. He gestured where his summon had just been.
“You mean a Grimm,” he said dryly.



[Def3x5=15, plus 10 armor. min 5 dmg. HP: 95]
[Summon dispelled due to damage]

Puer hadn’t expected the gunshot that killed the Grimm…the creature disappearing hadn’t been expected, even had his attack connected. After all Puer wasn’t much of a physical fighter really, nor were Grimm usually so easy to kill from what he had seen, though he’d never actually fought one before. It couldn’t be that easy could it?

The yoyo hit the normal dude in the face, and the short boy barely remembered to pull back the weapon/toy, catching it without thinking about the action, He felt a bit embarrassed about the situation, giving the spot the grimm had been a frustrated look before the other guy asked his question. “No I just felt like shouting for no reason.” He said sarcastically, gesturing to the spot that the creature had been. This was just weird, and who was it that had fired that shot? He didn’t see anybody else closeby and it sounded pretty loud…

"So a pipsqueak and a guy crazy enough to get close enough to a Grimm. Talk about an unusual day." Nyx commented nonchalantly as she approached the two with her sniper rifle slung over her shoulder. Nyx had watched them for a bit before deciding to approach them. She was prepared for any violent confrontation with her RSH 12.7 and her Makarov PM pistol in their respective holsters. After approaching the two, Nyx looked examined the two carefully.

The kid was short. To be exact, Nyx estimated that the kid was about 9 or 10 at this point in time. Nyx then commented mentally that this kid is either "stupidly brave or cocky as hell". On the other hand, the other man was a rather average looking guy. He was dressed in average looking clothing. Nyx was not sure if this was intentional or not. Maybe there was more to this man than meets the eye.

“It wasn’t a Grimm,” Gareth said immediately (and maybe a touch too sharply) after the second person’s comment. “It was my semblance. I summon a beast.” It wasn’t his fault his summon looked so much like a grimm. It wasn’t even that similar except on the glance. No red marks.
From what it looked like, the kid hit him in the face with the…. Toy? Why was he fighting (fake) monsters with a toy? And this new woman was the one who scared the crap out of him with a gunshot.This happened pretty much whenever he summoned his semblance anywhere near the beaten path. Hunters were trained to fight monsters. He probably shouldn’t get too mad. They were just trying to help and reacting on reflex. He should calm down and be nice.
“But thank you,” Gareth said. “For your unnecessary heroics.”
Well. They did hit him in the face.

Puer felt a bit bad about hitting the guy, especially learning that the Grimm wasn’t a Grimm, but he wouldn’t say it of course, no obviously he hadn’t been in the wrong, yeah it was just this guy’s fault for just summoning a Grimm-like monster for no reason that was it. He was only a bit annoyed at being called a “pipsqueak” though he didn’t have TOO much of an issue with his lack of height, he was used to it after all, the way she brought up his physical appearance was more what caused Puer to have issues with it. “I’ll have you know I’m a huntsman in training!” He responded, before sticking out his tongue maturely at the girl, turning back to the summoner guy.

The guy’s comment only annoyed Puer more. “Fine, next time you’re next to a monster, we won’t do anything!” He pointed out. Annoyed at this guy’s comment. It wasn’t like he meant to hit him or anything. “And you shouldn’t be summoning that thing for no reason if you don’t want this to happen!”

"Either way. My name is Nyx and I am a Combat Major. Nice to meet you two." Nyx greeted in a rather nonchalant fashion as a slight smile appeared on her face. Nyx then watched as the two people in front of her talked a bit. As she did so, Nyx couldn't help but laugh mentally at the short kids' weapon. Also, she couldn't help but comment that the average-looking guy looked out of his depth.

"Well, the pipsqueak does have a point. You should be careful where you summon that thing unless you want to deal the wrath of every hunter in range." Nyx replied after the short kid had warned the average looking guy that summoning his creature out like that would be dangerous. Nyx actually agreed with this as the summon did look pretty much like a Grimm through her scope. However, a rather funny thought soon popped into her mind.

"Well, Grimm Whisperer. Do you have any advice for communicating with Grimm?" Nyx asked the rather average looking man in a very joking fashion.

Gareth frowned at the short guy but decided not to voice any more complaints. Even if they could have and should have made sure to look carefully. Reacting on reflex was usually useful for hunters, though, this was just part of the 8% it was not. Getting into an argument over it wasn’t really worth it and was a bad way to meet people.

Gareth let a breath out when the woman also said he shouldn’t summon here. (Adding more locations to his ever-growing list.)
“I’ll try to keep in mind that people randomly wander the woods more often here.” (Maybe he was still a bit too wry.)

He lightened up when the woman cracked a joke though. Now it was his kind of conversation.
“Don’t,” he advised with a good-humored smile. “They like using the word ‘desolation’ too much and I don’t think they know what it means.”

Puer decided not to let the nickname bug him too much, since it wasn’t going away soon apparently. He didn’t like it much but if the girl wanted to be a jerk, he was just going to ignore her. Besides another thought had crossed his mind. “Why are you summoning that thing anyways?” He asked, before realizing he still had his yo-yo out. The childish looking boy pointedly ignored the guy’s backtalking, after all it wasn’t like somebody who randomly summoned stuff like that would say anything clever! He refused to accept the comments the guy made were amusing, nope not at all.

Puer opened the bag he kept at his hip, the one that’s strap was slung over a shoulder specifically, opening it and putting the yo-yo inside where another, and some of his other possessions he preferred to keep on him were. The short boy didn’t notice a piece of paper slip out, specifically the paper he had been given that indicated his new dorm room number. The paper also had his name, though this was smaller, the room number one would be able to see it from some number away, and the form would be easily recognizable to any whom had recently moved into the dorms themselves. Some other information was filled out such as age and major.

A few moments later, Nyx watched as a piece of paper fell out of kid's hip bag. She noticed that the short kid hadn't noticed that the piece of paper had fallen out of his back. Nyx decided to take this opportunity to pick up the note without the kid noticing. She then stealthily picked up the note and began reading it. As she read the note, Nyx decided to memorize every detail on the note as it might prove useful much later on. On the note was the kids name, age, major, and dorm room number.

On the note, Nyx learned that the kid's name was Puer Aeterna and he was a Medical Major. This was basic information. The slightly surprising part of the note was the fact that the kid was actually 19 years old. This made the kid two years older than her. Nyx chuckled at the fact as the kid clearly looked like her was a decade younger than the age listed on the paper. However, this got Nyx thinking a bit about the academy's vetting process.

"I swear that Syne Academy has a horrible vetting system." Nyx commented to herself as she thought about how she got into the academy. The people that scouted her had not vetted her or dug into her background as they never knew that the name she registered under; Anastasia T. Solanaceae was just an alias and that her academic files were forged by the master forgers within Altach=Nacha.

Gareth just shrugged when the short guy asked him a question. “I like having someone to talk to.” His summon, Hati, moved and acted like it was alive, couldn’t talk and probably wouldn’t think he was stupid or inept while he worked things out.
There didn’t seem to be much else going on around here though, and his quiet study spot was effectively ruined and invaded, so Gareth tucked his book under his arm.
“Well, nice meeting you both I guess,” Gareth said politely. “I should probably head back to campus.”
He gave a short wave and turned to start walking back. “I’ll probably see you around.”
Well, that was another place that got an emphatic “do not summon” mental note. Gareth was running out of places, especially since Hati couldn’t really fit indoors easily. (Especially not in his dorm.) He wondered if it were possible for him to change his summon’s appearance, even just for a little while. Perhaps with some practice. And some more studying.