Summer Bliss (Open)

There was something strange in the air. The sky was blue, a cool wind blew and the forest was nigh silent save for the music emanating from a short bear faunus' chunky orange headphones. Birds flew overhead, enjoying a summer flight. Yet despite the peaceful nature of the woods something particularly peculiar was happening, instead of Richard's usual glare or common lazy stare he was smiling. Not a big smile mind you, just a small turning up at either side of his lips, though anyone who had ever even seen Richard in the past would likely be either scared or confused... likely both. He had never been in this state on campus, the odd cunning smirk had graced his face sure but a genuine smile? 'Twas as rarer than gold in brickwork.

For once Richard was happy, a curious state for him to be in seeing as he so often was either angry or asleep, but yes. For once the little man was actually in bliss, with the Summer holidays came freedom. No teachers to chase him into classes, no stupid newskes to ask him for tours. He could just recline at the foot of a tree and read, which he was currently doing. The air was humid, the sun at it's peak, yet Richard still wore his scarf; in an attempt to obscure his weapon and dust. Many would just have left them at home or at least set them aside but no, Richard knew better than to do that.

He knew fine well that sooner or later someone or something would come and disrupt his peace, ruin his rare happy state of mind. It wasn't as if it would take much to do it. But until then he would relax, reclined at the foot of a tree in the summer sun, waiting for someone to rear their head and spoil everything or anything, even if they didn't mean to. He wasn't surer how he'd deal with that. Ignore them? Threaten them? Be his usual self (which usually included both of the former)? Probably the latter.

As a metal, glass and plastic contraption collided with Richard's face it became abundantly clear that the good vibes had come to an end. Their place had been taken by shear, hyperbolic, rage.

He looked down to see a, now cracked, scroll in his lap. Almost instantaneously he brought his elbow down on it, breaking the device. He cleared the remains from his lap with a loud growl. His book closed with a loud clap as he rose, tucking it under his scarf.

His eyes locked with a set of dark red ones across the forest. Of course it was a woman. Ever since he'd arrived the women here had given him nothing but trouble, walking out on bills and not seeing him when sitting down.

A good look at the girl ticked him off further. Long hair, a hindrance in combat. Her weapon, a rapier, clearly visible. He could roughly deduce it's length, a sword such as that only allowed for so many fighting styles. The last of her apparel pissed him off the most though. High heels. High heels, in a forest. High heels, in a forest in which she may have to enter combat.

A fire in his eyes Richard kicked the now completely broken scroll at the girl. Music still blaring in his ears he growled as he began to walk toward her, his mood having done a complete 180 from how it had been before the scroll hit him.

Richard clicked off his headphones when he finally stopped, just out the approximate rang of her weapon. "You had it coming, you're even more a fool if you assume that I'll help you back to the academy. Why would I help someone who tried to injure me, let alone an idiot like you? You're clearly not prepared to fight me, let alone grimm."

That had confirmed it, she was a student. A first year brat, he had no intention of giving any more tours to newskes. This would likely send out a message to any others to ask, especially those as stupid as this one. He continued to stare up at the girl, glaring daggers- no swords at her. Plans had already formulated, it appeared that defeating her would be quite easy.  She must've been going in blind, no one would dare fight Richard in a forest, he had too much of an advantage.

To make matters worse Richard though swordsmen and women quite easy to deal with. Things were quite predictable, not as predictable as say a boxer punching you but still. She had a clearly set range. He could already tell, confrontation wouldn't end well for her.

He nodded his headphones down to his shoulders, wondering if she'd keep whining or try fighting.

Richard fumed, "This "little man" could beat you with just one hand. While you may know how to fight you haven't even been to the school yet, I'd remember a brat like you, while I've been there for a year."

He brought his right hand to his scarf, brushing his fingers along his concealed dust compartment.

"You make your weakness obvious. You have long hair, easy to grab and quick to get caught. Your weapon is on display, I can approximately tell how you're going to fight. And to conclude you're wearing heals in a forest... you really don't stand a chance fighting me."

The short boy sighed, she wouldn't really try to fight him would she? That would be tedious, simple to deal with. A novice student whom he had all kinds of advantages on, more than he had even stated. He continued to glare at her, this would be over quickly. He was prepared to dodge and counter, if her mannerisms showed her inner feelings then she would certainly attempt to strike soon.

Richard's glare intensified tenfold, "Do you not see the advantage my height gives me over you? Downward slashes from a weapon such as yours have become rather ineffective. They'll leave me with too much time to dodge, this much is obvious. While it becomes harder to hit me you've just become a bigger target. Your choice of heels makes movement a pain, especially in a forest with tree roots.

Richard sighed, posture slumping slightly as he took a good five steps backward; placing him directly against a tall tree. He proceeded to pull a book out, it's pages not white and written on but the first few vibrantly coloured.

"For example look here, because of the jutting tree routes your heels become far less effective footwear, I can anticipate your attack pattern by them alone." Richard was bluffing, a masterful bluff of sorts. While it was true that her heels would hinder her on the routes to that extent? Not so much. He had set things up. his back was to a tree, he could form a golem at will. His trap was set. She would be a fool not to strike now, his back was to a tree and the aforementioned roots were in the way. To her he would appear trapped, as if he himself were the fool.

But alas, this was not the case. With his semblance in mind Richard knew he could switch position with even a single blade of grass. Perhaps a leaf, fluttering down from above. The instant she came in he would be prepared to dodge and counter.

"Besides, if I'm really wrong about you then why not show me so? Bring it on brat. I said, you don't stand a chance, I'll take you with one hand. With the other I'll just get some reading done or perhaps just hold it behind my back if you take too long."

Even if she did attack he'd toy with her a little longer, learn her pattern and style before getting into any kind of genuine combat. Maybe he'd tire her out without even raising a fist.

"My first move? Okay, be ready for this. It'll likely defeat you with this single act alone."

Richard yawned slightly before sitting down, back still to the tree. Such a devastating blow to his opponent, would she ever recover?

"You know, if you're going to wait for me to start this fight I might as well get a nap in. After all, seems you're too cowardly to attack a clearly trapped man."

Richard leafed through his book, reaching the light blue page. Yes, that one would do fine. He ran his other hand along the bottom of his scarf, five shots to end this? He was pretty sure that was doable. With a stretch and a groan he looked to the girl once again.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to prove your superior power? Come at me brat!"

By now Richard had an excellent grasp on his surroundings, there were so many objects he could switch with. The possibilities were endless. He drummed on his hard book cover, awaiting her attack.

In the blink of an eye Richard was gone, leaving in his place a single leaf. Said leaf had been fluttering down from above just as the girl had jumped. Perfectly positioned for Richard to use. He'd switched places with it, grabbing onto the branch it had flown from and pulling himself up.

"How over the top, As fast as you are; speed won't help if you telegraph your attacks."

With a light yawn Richard crouched at the edge of a long branch. He reached into his book and tore out the cold blue page. Without a word he threw the sheet to the ground, the land around it growing frosty.

As she landed in the tree across from him he shrugged, "Well, you tried at least..."

Suddenly a golem burst forth from the page, seemingly growing from it in nigh two seconds. The cold creature stood, incredibly lean and six feet tall.

"Golem, attack the girl and I will pay with dust."

The ice monster reacted, raising it's two boxing glove like hands and from them it launched many small yet sharp icicles toward the girl in a frozen arc, starting from Richard's side so as to protect it's creator from her running to him. With every shot that hit the tree it would seemingly be overcome by frost, becoming slippery and brittle. The girl would have to move, if not to avoid the golem's volley to avoid falling. The icy creature would not let up it's frozen onslaught.

Golem:

Richard sighed as the girl went straight for him. Honestly, how tedious. To be quite honest he was a little surprised, going straight for him rather than the golem? No matter. In almost an instant he was on the ground, though unfortunately he had underestimated her speed. There was a single line, a small gash, along his forehead. He had switched place with a single blade of grass, immediately running and putting himself back to back with his golem.

Even though the creature was still firing Richard reached beneath his scarf, pulling out a whole ice dust crystal, and shoved it into the golem's back.

"Good job but I want you to aim lower. Take out her legs, I want you to freeze her in place."

The golem obliged, now bringing it's hands together and letting loose some kind of icy beam of energy. Richard ducked, aware of it's plan. In an instant the creature spun on it's axis, freezing all the branches in the area surrounding it and possibly both injuring the girl as well as sticking her in place. Now she'd have to come to their level or risk falling.

The short man pulled out his weapon, extending it's chain and taking a blade in either hand.

"EITHER YOU COME DOWN HERE OR I'LL COME UP THERE!" He growled, a drop of blood escaping the gash on his head as he scanned the treeline for her.

HP/AURA:

Trying to dodge the freeze beam...

The member 'Mana Lazulis' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Status Effects' : 2

[i]As Mana tried once again to attack him, he vanished just like before leaving no trace behind. She saw him back near that thing he created and heard him say something to it. She didn't quite understand but quickly saw what it was though. When the monster started to spin around, going in a full circle getting rid of the surrounding trees, she tried to dodge the attack, but while diving her leg got hit and quickly froze in to a somewhat big chunk of ice that once again left a frostbite. It pained her, now having two limbs which got frostbitten.

Now pinned to the ground with her leg frozen, she looked at both the monster and the boy. wondering what she should do now. She couldn't really moved, and by looking at the weapon the guy took, he could attack her from a good distance. Plus, his ice thing was still there, so it could shoot those damn icicles at her. She still stood ready for what would be coming at her. She wouldn't back out now, not that soon.[i]

HP/Aura:

Richard sighed, shrugging his headphones back on (Current song) as he spun the length of chain in his right hand.

"Wasn't exactly a great move coming down here was it? No branches to block attacks for you. You've left yourself quite open. You should have fled or even apologised after you threw that scroll at me. Then I might not have had to use such force."

Richard didn't even refuel his golem this round, looking to his opponent with a bored look in his eye. He knew how quickly he could end things, really he could just have his golem wander over there and beat her itself but no. He felt the need to do this himself, it'd been a while since someone had riled him up this much.

With a yawn he threw the blade, arcing upward and aimed directly toward her head. As the grey sickle soared he knew fine well she'd have a chance of blocking it. By this point he was certain that he'd won, she was clearly no match for the ranged combat achievable by this golem. Honestly he was just toying with her.

"Do you really expect someone who uses a kusarigama not to know of it's weaknesses? Honestly, this isn't very creative of you." As Richard was pulled toward the girl he could feel that she was stronger than him. A tug of war would only end in defeat, he'd have to cheat.

Holding on with one hand he threw a dust crystal to the golem before resuming his two handed pulling technique, slowly sliding toward her.

"Rush her, aim for the head!"

As soon as the golem passed him Richard copied it's offensive pattern, running just a little behind it. As it reached her, swinging a gloved fist for her face, Richard ran toward the girl. Her letting go of his weapon would make little difference, he took the remaining blade in his right hand and slid down; aiming to slash her side, timing it to happen in sync with the golem's punch. Needless to say things weren't looking good for the girl.

Richard sighed, "You should probably had quite at the start, if not when you got your leg frozen. Honestly, it was rather stupid of you not to."

The short boy retrieved both blades of his weapon, slicing through the golem twice and leaving it in melting pieces. He proceeded to kick those pieces far from her, in fear that she would try and figure out how they would work.

"That was my semblance, I have control over ice. I used it to create that." He blatantly lied, even if she had realised he was teleporting and not just dodging he knew this would confuse her.

Richard laughed to himself as he walked away, back toward the academy; "And as for your hopes of a rematch, I'm too lazy to fight someone I've already beaten. Got bother someone weaker if you're still so mad."

The short boy shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked, rather glad his first genuine combat test of a golem had gone so well.

[EXIT]

Mana simply glared at the boy as he talked. She hated to admit, even only to herself, but he was right. She had no chance from the start and would have simply needed to apologize when her Scroll hit him. She looked at him as he left, only pouting one his way back to probably the Academy. "And he won't even give me directions to find my way back as well... a real jerk..."

She started to massage her arm and her leg that were frostbitten, trying to warm them up a bit, only in vain. Only time and proper medication will help. At least her aura reduced the effect.

She walked to her Scroll, or rather what was left of it and picked the pieces before walking toward the academy, at least...she hoped...

-EXIT-