Rika's Training Trip (Day Two) Open

Rika let out a breath as moved into an open palmed strike that released a torrent of flames as it was completed, finishing the complex kata she’d been doing and making up the most recent part of her current training regimen. She'd take a break before continuing from here before resuming with more conditioning. She’d been practicing since the early morning, having woken up and checked her traps to find she had caught more than enough food for breakfast before heading out to the small clearing near where she’d set up camp. While her actual camp was farther in the mountains, her training area was at the very edge of the Finnek forest, near the mountains, but not really in it.

She still had to work on finding a way to access the dust more easily, though she had found she could store some vials of dust within the bracers on either arm, giving somewhat easy access to it for the purpose of combat. Her bag containing more dust and crystals still.  She had some ideas on how she could use dust better with her weapon, but such things would need to wait until she could find someone to improve the whip. The pigtailed girl took a brief look at the clearing she’d been training in, noting the devastation of the area. Burned scars in the area and gaps or holes in the ground seemed to cover the area, with spikes and boulders sticking through the ground seemingly with no order to them. All sorts of devastation one could find from the use of dust in combat could be found in the area, but none of it bothered the pigtailed faunus.  A small wrapped parcel being pulled from a satchel on her back as she took out her lunch.

The training undoubtedly created a lot of light and sound let alone the damage to the area., making the choice to take her training trip away from either the academy or the city, as she probably would have gotten in trouble otherwise. Still the dust training had been far from subtle and would likely have attracted the attention of anyone within the area to her location.

Mountain Training. It has been the thing that Nyx had been wanting to do for quite a long time now. Nyx hadn't had time to train in the mountains in quite a long while. As she remembered the extensive training she received from Atlach-Nacha, Nyx couldn't helped but smile as she recounted the rather extensive arctic and mountain training she received. After hearing the news from the academy's scout teams, Nyx decided to go and see the mountain for herself.

In preparation for the trek, Nyx was decked out in full mountain camouflage. In addition to this, Nyx also carried some MRE, a compass, and a lot of other needed gear. Nyx was planning to spend some time training in the mountains. Before leaving Syne Academy for her training trip, Nyx decided to leave a note to her friend, Sakura. Nyx knew that Sakura might get worried about her if she didn't see her for a couple days. Nyx hoped that this note would allow her friend to be at ease.

Soon after, Nyx found herself at the edge of the forest where Finnek Forest and Finnek Mountain started. As she exited the clearing, Nyx caught sight of a red haired girl training with some Dust in a clearing. Nyx quickly remembered the girl's name; Rika Titania. Nyx then remembered that she had met Rika on a previous occasion at Syne Academy. Rika was facing away from Nyx, so she decided to stealthily approach her from behind. Nyx managed to approach Rika from behind without being detected. As soon as she got close to the red-haired girl, Nyx then tapped on Rika's shoulder in order to get her attention.

Rika jumped when somebody tapped on her shoulder, dropping the wrapped haunch of rabbit into the dirt as a result. Turning around to face whatever it was that had startled her. “Whatcha do that for?” She asked seeing that it was a person, someone who was somewhat familiar before realizing the fate of her lunch. She scrambled to pick it up, before noticing that dirt was already covering the cooked meat. The pigtailed girl gave it a sad look at the fate of her lunch.

She looked back at the other girl, realizing that they’d probably met before. “Aintcha that Anna girl?” She asked, trying to recall the girl’s name…it was Ana-something, but the pigtailed girl couldn’t really remember the name she’d given when she introduced herself. “Whatcha doin out here?” Rika followed it up with, curious. She didn’t think many of the other students would be making training trips, let alone to the same area of the forest or mountains she’d set up camp in. The other girl did seem to be carrying a bunch of stuff though…but she didn’t take her for a martial artist type like herself.

"Mountain Combat Training. It has been a while since I trained in the mountains." Nyx replied with a smile as she set her gear down next to her. Nyx had carried enough food and equipment to last a week or so. After sitting down on a nearby log, Nyx then took out her sniper rifle and started to disassemble it. Soon after, Nyx took out an Oiling Kit before lubricating the key parts with a lubricant which was geared towards much colder temperatures. After completing this task, Nyx then placed her sniper rifle back in its rifle case before looking at Rika.

"It had been a while, Rika. How have you been?" Nyx asked with a slight smile as she poured herself a cup of coffee from the thermos she carried with her. Nyx had met Rika quite a while ago near the Administration Building of the academy. From that meeting, Nyx could tell that Rika was tactless and the type who blurted out questions even when people doesn't want to answer any questions. Nyx had made a mental note of this after their first meeting.

As Nyx was drinking her coffee, she took out a container which held the pastries that Sakura had baked for her the day before. Nyx was quite surprised that Sakura still remembered the pastries that she liked. It has been more than a decade but Nyx was very happy to see that her best friend still remembered what she like.

"Hey, Rika. Are you up for some pastries that my friend made?" Nyx asked Rika calmly as she set the box of pastries on her lap.

Rika watched with some interest as the other girl disassembled her rifle, doing things the pigtailed girl didn’t really understand, since she didn’t have much knowledge of guns really. Especially rifles, since they weren’t really very good for her fighting style…as Rika knew full well she was best at medium to close ranges when fighting. “Been good, just didn’t wanna go gettin’ soft or nothing, figured a training trip’d be good. Ya know?” It looked like Anna (?) had the same idea.

Rika’s eyes lit up when the other girl opened the pastries, her sweet tooth overriding any questions she might have had for the other girl…though the pastries looked familiar somehow, Rika noted. “Yes!” Rika answered enthusiastically, her hand grabbing a pastry and practically shoving it into her mouth, a blissful look overtaking Rika’s face as she tasted the treat. There was something weird though that the pigtailed girl couldn’t help but notice. “Ya didn’t tell me ya knew Sakura.” She said, happy that they apparently had a friend in common. She had eaten enough of the pink haired girl’s cooking to know it purely by taste.

"Sakura is my childhood friend. We met under some pretty horrible circumstances. Despite of this, she had always watched over me during that time." Nyx explained with smile after hearing Rika's question about her knowing Sakura. By the looks of things, Nyx could tell that Rika was a pretty close friend of Sakura. Nyx was extremely glad to see this as it was a sign that her friend was moving on in life. Nyx couldn't help but comment on something he picked up when she met up with Sakura.

"I was extremely glad to see Sakura again. However, she is a bit too proper and lady-like most of the time. I think she needs to relax a bit and enjoy being a teenage girl every now and then." Nyx commented in a joking manner as she looked at Rika with a smile. Nyx was already starting to get along with Rika.

Rika didn’t really know what circumstances that the sniper girl could have been talking about, but it was obvious at this point they were both talking about the same girl, even if Rika still had doubts about that. She could totally see Sakura acting like that after all, since the other girl had a habit of protecting others over herself. She remembered Sakura had mentioned making pastries for a friend before, but had never known who until now.

Regardless Rika continued to eagerly devour the pastry she’d taken already before grabbing another, stopping in her snacking while also thinking about what the other girl said. “Yeah, she needs to relax’n stuff, don’t get why she does that.” The pigtailed girl responded, she’d never understood all the fancy talk her best friend liked to do, it never really seemed like it was easier to talk like that, and Rika didn’t understand why you would talk all fancy like that.

"I am glad that Sakura has managed to make a friend." Nyx commented with a calm smile as she began searching her other duffle bag for something. Nyx had brought along a whole lot of Scho-Ka-Kola chocolate with her. These chocolates was a personal favorite of herself and Sakura. It was one of the few luxuries items they ever had access to back when they were at the Atlach-Nacha facility. Nyx had a hunch that Sakura had not eaten the chocolate for a long time, so she had decided to get her a rather large box of the chocolate.

"I know we barely just started talking, Rika. But, I have a favor to ask of you." Nyx commented as she took a box which held 24 tins of the chocolate out of her duffle bag. After this, she set the box onto a mat that was positioned in between Nyx and Rika.

"Can you deliver these to Sakura for me?" Nyx asked Rika with a smile.