"Ha…"
"Ha.."
The sun no longer had the strength to glare, the sky turning a hazy orange behind Talc doing little to blind Jaune. Sadly the same could not be said for Jaune's own body, his sweat threatening to blind him.
It's already been 5 minutes since Jaune and Talc started and Jaune was already reaching his limit. The edges of his vision were hazy from having to blink away the flowing sand, trembles tore his precision to threads, and worst of all, he could barely move as exhaustion ebbed at his strength. The only reason he could continue was thanks to his unnatural tenacity.
Yet even that had limits. He's made far too many mistakes earlier, far too confident, showing any crack in his defense now would…
Shatter him.
"Tch"
D-dm
Jaune waited, his eyes squinted just a hair as he readied himself. Such action didn't go unnoticed to the fatigued Talc as he has yet to acclimate to the reduced level of Aura he now wields.
Just a little more
A cloud slowly covers the red sun behind Talc.
Now!
A single bound carried his body forward, much to the confusion of Talc. This was too simple, from what Talc knew of the boy, Jaune liked to fight dirty. There was something else at play, Talc just knew it.
So he did what he did best and peered through the veel, Talc felt a faint tickle in the back of his eyes as the world around him lost all colour briefly…
Before exploding in a wide array of blossoming stars of varying colours, most were very faint and nearly indistinguishable but the radiant one that was running at him nearly made Talc flinch in its overwhelming intensity.
There was simply too much Aura being compressed inside one body, Talc could feel his brain pulse as information filled it yet he couldn't stop the beating of his heart as he let his instincts drive him forward.
Dodging a fainting kick from the younger boy, Talc clasped Jaune's wrist before he could rock Talc's jaw. "Ah, he was going for a knockout, given the relative strength of most Aura cloaks, that would be a good match ender. Sadly, not against me". Talc thought to himself as he retaliated by pressing on the back of Jaune's elbow.
Alarm bells rung in Jaune's head, not too keen on wasting Aura stitching back tendons to their correct general location. He stomped on Talc's foot, earning him both a grunt and what he needed. The shift in Talc's attention which Jaune used to retch his arm away and kick himself away from Talc.
Tough…
Rolling to lessen the force, Jaune put some much needed distance between himself and Talc, his thoughts running wild trying to find an opening to bring the duel to an end.
"Tch, he's like a metal wall." Jaune thought to himself, glaring at his semi-mentor figure, not noticing the shimmer in Talc's blue eyes; Nonetheless, once Jaune's eyes met Talc's, something within Jaune stirred, an odd resonance of sorts. An emotion sprouting, one Jaune hadn't felt before.
Anger.
Boom!
Rushing at the man, a memory of a time before Jaune lost everythin.
***
The sky was clear, like a soft blue blanket over their heads, just like in the cartoons. Jaune marveled at how the temperature was just so perfect; neither a scorching summer's heat or a cold autumn breeze but an inbetween of pleasant spring.
"Come on, Jaune. Make a big splash!" A young voice squealed, tearing Jaune from his mind as he smiled down from a rock to the beach that his siblings swam in. all looking at him with expectant looks.
Jaune, not being one to disappoint, gave himself some distance before jumping. Curling himself into a ball as he descended.
"Cannonball"
Splash!
The chorus of laughter resonated in Jaune's ears as he surfaced, coughing water as he rose. Blinking away some of the water in his eyes, Jaune wished he stayed under as pandemonium soon set.
It started small, like rain in a pond. With a single drop.
With the oldest of the Arc children, Velvet Arc splashing water at Jaune, a simple slash of water in his direction. He smiled it off.
The drop of rain joining the pond caused a wave, simple and beautiful in its own way.
The youngest of the Arc's followed Velvet's example, her enthusiastic yet rather ineffective slap of water was followed by infectious giggles.
The single drop of rain is soon joined by more waves forming and interfering.
Pandemonium
Jaune was as well assaulted by a barrage of water from all directions, he couldn't look anywhere without water hitting his eyes.
Even as he was unceremoniously thrust into a losing water fight, a wide toothy smile never left his face.
***
Pulling back his leg, Jaune swept it across the sand, which Jaune would admit was stupid as he was still moving. "Gah!" Both men yelped; Talc as sand assaulted his eyes, Jaune as he fell into another roll.
"Cough" Talc choked as he felt sand going down his throat, blinking his burning eyes as the scent of sand with a slightly tangy taste to it. Stomping on the ground, through the blur of tears and sand, Talc felt for motion.
Jaune –in a moment of sheer instinct– used his arm as a lever to pivot his body as he swept Talc from under him. Earning him another yelp as their limbs tangled, neither having the advantage as Jaune hadn't expected his improvised move to work.
odd
"Urgh!"
Jaune grunted as he used his elbow to smash Talc's nose, but in the crunching of soft tissue, Jaune's elbow struck a solid Aura cloak. The force recoiled and pushed Jaune back, exposing his stomach to the experienced huntsman.
Bam, bam bam!
"Shoot!" Jaune thought hastily as he coughed, the force of three Aura reinforced punches sending him into the air, he could feel his vision haze over as his surroundings became blurred.
Jaune showed a crack and Talc struck to shatter him.
Bam!
Talc shoulder checked Jaune as he flipped to stand, kicking Jaune before Jaune could get up. Making Jaune roll away as Talc used the force to jump to his feet.
"He's not going to rest, this could work in my favour as he exhausts himself to take me out." Jaune thought through the pain as he rolled, swiping more sand at Talc –it was blocked by his robes– Jaune's vision soon being filled by a foot.
Crack!
Jaune closed his eyes instinctively, even if the pain was little more than an annoyance. His eyes watered which wasn't helping him keep up with Talc.
"I can fight in near blind conditions, but not against someone as good as Talc!" Jaune hastily tried to retreat as he jumped away, only to gasp as Talc grabbed his ankle before he could get too far.
damn it, he's not letting up
Jaune's mind starts to spin as he thinks of a way to escape Talc and buy himself some breathing room.
"I've already won ya brat," Talc sounded so sure of himself. In his eyes Jaune was stupid to immediately start a fight right after he woke up after being unconscious for 3 days. Exhaling with some difficulty, Talc allowed a smirk to grace his lips.
"Is— is he smirking right now?" Jaune didn't know why but that smirk caused something smoldering to churn in his gut, "ah, screw it." Jaune stopped thinking in terms of how to win, leaving only one thought left in his mind;
To wipe off that smirk from Talc's face.
Boom!
Jaune swished blood in his mouth as it mixed with his saliva, hastily raising his cupped hand!
"..."
Nothing happened.
"Are ya serious?"
Talc rushed at Juane as the boy in question tried to regain his balance. "Not fast enough!" Jaune thought to himself as he was forced to spit out the blood in his mouth when Talc kneed him in the stomach –thankfully– Jaune had the instincts to aim the blood-saliva mix at Talc's eyes.
"Gah! My eyes, brat!" Talc backed away with a look of disgust, hands reaching to wipe away the blood.
A mistake
Jaune rushed to strike at the older huntsman's throat. His instincts blaring in his skull, warning Jaune far too late as he froze in indecision. Utterly helpless as something– no, someone wrapped him in a chokehold.
"Gotcha! damn brat." Talc seemed to laugh at his impending victory. Panic and something darker coursed through Jaune's veins as he tried everything to break the older huntsman's hold; thrashing and biting as hard as he could.
"Something! Anything! I have to win, I need to win. Damn it!" Jaune thought frantically as he focused his Aura into his hands, desperately waiting for it to happen again, frustration gnawing at his mind as nothing happened.
"I'm running out of air," Jaune's mind was screaming at him to give up, he already knew he lost but this feeling, whatever it was.
It was addicting, he wanted to fight more, to push himself further. To show just how much better he was!
"So work damn it!" Jaune roared as Talc's eyes widened, for a mere moment Jaune's Aua flashed. Talc allowed his instincts to guide him as he raised his own Aura cloak to its limit.
"Shatter."
BOOM!
Silence filled the air before the air tore itself apart, the ozone screaming as he was razed. Sparks filled the air as two Aura's clashed for dominance, a concentrated cyan Aura trying to overcome the overwhelming flood of pure white Aura that threatened to tear the experienced huntsman alive.
Tap
"Gah!"
Talc grunted as he jumped away from the wave of oppressing Aura, feeling his already low Aura shrink to concerning levels. Huffing as the wave of heat stole his air, sweat poured down his brow as his –pale and pruned– fingers twitched with overexertion.
Although Talc's body was exhausted, his eyes spoke another tale. For the first time since his Shade days, he felt true excitement in a battle of will. His eyes widened as he failed to contain himself.
Once more, they were at a stalemate.
"No way, he turned that failed Aura cloak into an actual attack!?" Talc thought to himself incredulously as he tried to recompose himself. Not that he had much time, for in the scorching heat of radiating Aura, Jaune's fighting spirit rose.
Jaune opened his eyes, his sight finally returning to him as his hands brushed against the smooth field under him. Wait… smooth?
Looking down, Jaune saw that he was standing on a glass-like rock that on second glance wasn't so smooth. But Jaune's immense Aura reserves could do nothing else but reinforce his body as he lacked an Aura cloak to direct it into. One of the few advantages to not having an Aura cloak.
Jaune gave himself a once over, he wasn't doing too hot. That shatter denoted at least half of his reserves leaving him with a measly fifth of his maximum Aura, Not helped by how flushed and irritated his skin was by the sudden heat. his fingers were starting to prune –he'll have to ask Talc about that later– with slight vertigo, he rose from his kneeling position.
Looking through the mist, it didn't take Juane long to find Talc who seemed to be in a weird stance, two straight hands near the center line of his body, his dominant hand –right hand– half a hand in front of his non-dominant.
"A martial style?" Jaune wondered to himself as he caught his breath, not exactly sure how much the flash-made fulgurite under him could handle before shattering. Sadly for Jaune, this allowed Talc enough time to think of a quip.
"Tch"
Shatter!
With a single powerful lunge, the fulgurite shattered as Jaune rushed at Talc. His hand striking the ground, as he wasn't prepared for the fulgurite to shatter so easily. Pushing off his hand, Jaune flipped in the air in a chaotic and unnatural way as he transitioned into a high axe kick.
"That's … unique?" Talc muttered to himself as he stepped a hair out of range as Juane landed, kicking up more sand. Neither were impaired as Juane pushed off his back foot to shoulder charge Talc.
Jaune knew his chances were slim to none, Talc was simply too strong and experienced to be beaten. The only reasonable way to win against Talc was to tire him out, in that Jaune was confident in.
Before Talc could counteract, Jaune tried to lift the older man as he followed through the shoulder check. He didn't really know why he was doing it but he had little choice as the fulgurite shattered through any plan he had.
An atrocious mistake against a skilled practitioner.
Elbowing the child in the eye, "oops," Talc thought to himself as he was aiming for the temple, biting back a hiss as Jaune grabbed his robes with a dangerous glint within those youthful blue eyes.
Unnoticed by Jaune, yet severely apparent to Talc, on Jaune's marred right hand soft crackles of a pure flame sparked to life for brief instance. Talc sighed in relief as Jaune's grip extinguished the flames… wait.
"No, I am not getting dragged through the sand again!" Talc grumbled out too loudly to truly be a grumble as he widened his stance to further ground himself, using the slivers of Aura he had to reinforce his body as he gripped Jaune's wrist.
"Do ya know how hard it is to get sand out of my hair!?" Talc added before a jarring headbutt caused Talc's head to swim, as he wasn't expecting that. Jaune smiled with several emotions running through his eyes; concern, volatile anger, glee and a few more that Talc couldn't pinpoint as Jaune used his momentary inaction to free himself.
"Just get Opal to get the sand out." Jaune, now free from Talc's intense grip, seized Talc's long blonde hair as he reeled back before rocking forward.
Thunk!
Talc wasn't having the best time, his Aura was in shambles as his mind wasn't in the right place to even concentrate. Leaving him to rely on pure instinct, Aura filled his hand as he sent a straight punch at Juane.
A blind punch that struck true.
"Uiii.."
A rather feminine yelp escaped Jaune as he crumbled to the shifting sand, defeated.
Talc slowly centered himself again as he looked to his left, Jaune trembled softly as he slowly curled into himself. Cringing at the pain Jaune was experiencing he slowly got up with a stumble before taking a step back.
"Wwwhyy….?" Jaune managed to rasp out after an arduous minute of pain, face still half buried in the sand.
"Listen, uhh kid, I'll be back with some drinks to help you– it'll go away after a while. Be right back–!" Talc hurried off, not wanting to deal with the mess he made or explain himself yet, running towards the village.
Talc's brow furrowed as he thought about how much he detested just how little Aura his body could store, like come on, he was already born with a below average amount of Aura reserves.
***
The full moon illuminated the starry sky, the folds of purple and rich blue filling the canvas that the stars rested up in perfect synchrony. A celestial beauty that spared the humans of remnant with a visage of light, much to its everlasting chagrin, the humans blanked out natural light with their own artificial Dust lighting.
Crunch.
Talc's feet slightly sunk into the ever soft and shifting sand of Vacuo. He didn't take it too much, that only meant that it was often traveled upon sand. Much better in his opinion to the hard and still sand of eastern Vacuo which was less often traveled.
Letting out a sigh, Jaune walked into the filled nightly market of Mica village, in only a few short hours would strike midnight. Talc thought to himself as he looked up briefly, he might've even hummed himself a toon if he wasn't in such a hurry.
"Come on, where is it, where is it?" he muttered to himself, weaving through waves of people with practiced ease, his eyes shimmering as he looked at multiple stalls at once. His semblance –oversight– came with many perks when active, one just perk being that it boosted cognitive ability which made multitasking a breeze.
"What are you looking for Talc?" Talc paused as Opal gave him a rather unimpressed look as she crossed her arms, she hadn't seemed to have fully recovered from their last fight as she still favoured her left leg.
"Uhh, do ya know any drink that can help with pain?" Talc asked as he looked through the vendors, he really liked how shiny some of the jewelry looked and he wasn't much in the mood for a new chair. Not after his last one broke when he threw it at a Ravager Grimm, it was a cool kill but that was a really comfortable chair.
"No, there's something in the frosty lands that people take…" Opal seemed to pause as she pondered, walking with a slight limp. Talc didn't know if he should celebrate or get something for her as well. That was probably the last time he'd be besting her.
"Well, I just spared Jaune and he got rather hurt." thinking his best course of action was to explain the situation, he recalled how the fight started, chuckling as he explained how gobsmacked Jaune looked walking through Mica. Opal chuckled softly at how they started their duel, for such a usually put together woman, she usually didn't allow herself the liberty to laugh in public.
Opal picked up a strange bottle with a rather unique looking leaf inside.
"Are you going to buy that ma'am?" the vendor asked before blinking as he got a good look at Opal, "er– it's a very rejuvenating tonic, gr-great for the skin and hair." Opal hummed softly as she eyed the bottle with curiosity before putting it down.
"That's quite unlike you… the kid's grown on you?" Opal teased with a crooked smile as tried to turn towards him, hissing as pain flared in her right knee. "Alright, can't your Aura do some healing stuff, why not just do that?"
"Aura doesn't work like that, Aura's a lot like blood in that ya need Compatibility Aura to fully transfer it and even then, the transfer rate is low. So ya can only do it when ya have Aura reserves the size of a mountain." Talc scoffed as he picked up an apple, giving it a squeeze –too mushy– before putting it back.
"You could always get alcohol, that helps make the pain feel… less painful?" Opal seemed unsure over her own response as her brows furrowed slightly, making it look like she was glaring.
"Where would they sell alcohol here?" Talc asked with, a luxury like that was usually kept with the village head–
Opal and Talc locked eyes.
Nodding in unison.
***
A sigh escaped the young false Huntsman, the pain from being punched in the scrotum having been ebbed away with time. Leaving only a confused blonde boy to ponder why he even acted so irrationally, it was unlike him to ever act like that…
At least when it came to fighting another human.
'
"So why, why did I act with such anger." Jaune couldn't help but ponder, his eyebrows knitted in a furrow. His whole face was tense as it scrunched up in concentration.
Although his eyes faced the grand purple night sky, he could not appreciate its eternal beauty with his thoughts so clouded.
"Keep thinking that hard and it'll break yar brain." Talc unceremoniously shattered Jaune from his deep ponderings, Jaune would never speak of how he jumped or the subsequent slipping as he landed before tumbling off the rock never happened.
"Gah, how are you so quiet!?" Jaune panicked as he ran his hands through his hair, coarse particles of sand cascading through the air around him like rain. Jaune wasn't too miffed at the scare, only oddly nervous. His senses have never failed to detect someone from such a close range.
"Huntsman are on a whole nother level." Jaune thought to himself in slight awe as he shook his clothes clean.
His sense of awe and revelry was soon shattered as Talc threw two boxes at him; one filled with cheap beer –the kind Jaune would see his dad drink on a hard day's work, mom wasn't a big fan of it– and the other filled with orange juice. Which only confused the young boy at the odd combination.
"What is this for?" Is he making a cocktail? Jaune thought to himself as he shot Talc a confused look that Talc returned with an unimpressed look. "You aren't seriously expecting me to drink this, are you?"
"Loosen up kiddo, it'll help dull your pain." That only made Jaune more confused, he just couldn't see the logic behind that in the slightest, which wasn't saying much when the most schooling Jaune had was finishing primary schooling.
Many emotions flashed through Jaune's face before he sighed, opening up the box with the orange juice first.
"How'd you even get juice, we're in the middle of a desert." Jaune didn't actually want to know but silently drinking was just a tad too awkward for him, because for as far as Jaune knew. Really that went for any drink that spoils easily –milk, juice and the like– were luxury's mostly only seen in the capital of Vacuo which was unironically named Vacuo.
Very creative indeed.
Well, as Jaune continued to ponder, it did strike him that someone with a semblance that could in some way preserve the drinks, would be capable of holding such a valuable drink so close between the region borders of Central planes and the westward.
He was going on a tangent. Jaune shook his head as he took a sip of the first carton of juice, Talc meandered his way next to him as he took one, drinking it without hesitation. Jaune reeled back as the cold and bitter citrus taste overwhelmed him.
"Gah! Why is it so…"
"Kiddo, did you seriously think that Vacuo's orange juice would be anything like the orange juice of Vale's side of Sanus?" Jaune wouldn't have felt so stupid if it wasn't for how Talc's face contorted as he tried not to laugh before giving up and just laughing in Jaune's face.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." the boy grumbled as he took another swig of the orange juice, now expecting its unique taste –it would've tasted better if he couldn't taste the sand in the juice.
It was no more than a few moments filled with Talc's laughter that Jaune finished his first carton, slacking his lips together as its bitter taste made his face scrunch up but Jaune wasn't going to go complain about a free cold drink after a tough fight –helped soothe his ego.
"Now, we gotta talk about those flames ya tried to use." Jaune felt some whiplash, as soon as Talc finally quieted down before he spoke seriously. Jaune trembled slightly as he felt Talc's pressure pressing down on his chest.
"What are they?" Jaune asked rather curtly, crushing the empty carton of juice in his hand.
The pressure was gone.
Talc sighed as he stood up, dusting his pants as he looked down at Jaune with an unreadable expression. It made Jaune a little queasy to see.
"I've told ya some bits about Aura, but I seriously had to go and up int'a the deep end of Aura control. Before I explain to ya what those flames were, let me tell you a story." Talc practically tore open the box of beer –it was a simple six pack– before taking a swig as he jumped onto the boulder. "As ya know Remnant got its name because all of humanity that exists today and their history are only remnants of what they once were. That includes tons of religions that lay splattered throughout every continent as ruins. But one of the best and grandest of them that lies here in Vacuo, which I think is the truest, is the one of the two divine brothers."
Jaune's brow knitted together in confusion, "two divine brothers?" Talc nodded as he took the chance to take another swig.
"Yes, the divine light and accursed darkness, divine brothers. Ruling over a kingdom of absolute power; the divine light brought life and light to the world, the accursed darkness brought about death and darkness to the world. They clashed to show who was superior; light or darkness? Until they decided to come together to create a new life form that was a mixture of both light and darkness-"
"Why did they decide to work together if they were fighting?" Jaune interrupted, not quite seeing how it added up.
"I don't know," Talc shook his head, "anyways, as they created a creature of both light and darkness, which was humanity, the rest after that isn't necessary and honestly that's almost all the records we were able to gather." Talc waved his hand as paused to drink, "anyways, what really matters is that humanity was gifted with both light and darkness."
Thud
Talc jumped from the boulder, his tale having come to an end as he tapped Jaune's chest, Jaune looked at him in confusion as he looked at his chest.
"You tapped into this light and darkness when you used that flame technique. They're much stronger then other techniques because they draw upon a more pure and divine power, but they do have some drawbacks."
"Spill already, stop with these dramatic pauses." Jaune wasn't exactly the most patient, with all the new information his head was already starting to hurt. Sighing, he decided to soothe his headache with another carton of orange juice.
"Okay, okay, jeez, don't be such a stick in the mud. Well, seeing as ya were very mad, what ya probably used was a light technique because those consume darkness to fully express the light within us. But ya see, the soul doesn't really like having an imbalance of light or darkness. So it forces the mind to reproduce the lacking expression inside ya mind." Talc emphasized his point by tapping Jaune's head.
"And when ya can't control it, you could misfire the technique and instead of it launching out, it's launched in, which is why ya were burning yarself. Ya need to control yar emotions or techniques like those will never be under yar hold." Talc added as he stepped back, smiling at Juane. It didn't go unnoticed by Jaune how Talc kept glancing at his right hand, the one now marred by the flames.
"So the negativity that attracts Grimm is this darkness?" Talc's eyes widened slightly as he laughed softly before grinning at Jaune's question.
"Rightio kiddo, that's because them Grimm draws power from the darkness, so of course they seek it." Talc chuckled as he picked up a bottle. "Now, while we can't directly use light or darkness, our emotions are a different case entirely. That's really the only way we can even use these gifts from the divine brothers."
"How does Aura fit in that mess at all?" Jaune asked naturally as he flinched, rubbing his head as he gave himself a brain freeze from drinking too fast, Talc chuckled at that.
Thunk
An empty carton of Orange juice thumped Talc's head.
But before they could continue their conversation, the crunching of sand got both of the experienced huntsmen to look over at the person who thought they could sneak up on them.
Talc hummed, his shoulders as dare Jaune said it, he looked amused at the attempt. Jaune wasn't all too pleased on the other hand. Already grasping at sand… just in case.
Jaune paused as he squinted, not being able to see the intruder, his sand pocketing being quickly forgotten. He could barely make out a blob of darkness by relying on his other senses and instincts to tell him the general direction of the intruder.
"Focus your Aura to reinforce your eyes, you'll know it's working when you feel a burn at the back of your eyes." Talc instructed as Jaune tried to follow his instruction, slowly trickling Aura into his eyes. Jaune felt a world slowly brighten around him as his Aura settled in his eyes.
The dark purple sky mellowed into a midnight purple as he could finally see the intruder –mainly because she walked even close enough for Jaune's Aura boosted eyes to see.
A yellow cloak was what Juane could first identify, it looked rather warm and snug while not being too impractical. She had the hood of her cloak down, allowing Jaune to see her face. She was pretty, her eyes were a picturesque golden –slightly amber– eyes with biscuit toned skin. She looked at the two huntsmen with what Jaune thought was either a glare or determination, maybe even both.
From the flaps of the cloak, the girl had a great physique –not as strong as Opal's– more athletic and toned, very clearly a physical fighter. She seemed to take a second to curse softly at the sand that seemed to get into her tub pants. –tub jeans– she had a baggy tan jacket that seemed to have a respirator of sorts stitched to it, the jacket was clamped down by a tight brown vest which really confused Jaune.
Though, what grabbed the boy's attention the most was her platinum hair which for someone who was living in Vacuo was rather well kept.
She was a faunus.
That was made obvious by the two fluffy pointed ears that twitched on top of her head. They looked cute, Jaune mused to himself.
Flick, flick.
Her ears seemed to twitch more as she seemed to curse ever so less softly as her hand launched up to scratch them, sand sprinkled out of the matted fur like snow.
She steadied herself with a few controlled breaths, her face lighting up with determination before it quickly crumpled seeing as the two huntsmen had already noticed her. Her golden eyes flickered towards the case of beer before shaking her breath, a hand pinching and clutching at the edge of her cloak as she gathered herself once more.
"I.." she paused once more, her gaze shifting to the sand below as she lost herself in doubt before she grit her teeth and looked back at Talc –much to the man's horror– her voice reinvigorated.
"I want to be a huntress!"
A bout of silence followed her strong yet stammered proclamation, Jaune felt awkward just being there, made worse because the girl seemed to blatantly ignore that he was there. He gently traced patterns in the sand as Talc seemed to contemplate… a lot of stuff if the unreadable expression on his face was anything to go by.
In the prolonged bout of silence, Jaune pondered her question. He wasn't a good example of how someone can become a huntsman because at the end of the day he was lying but people generally didn't care, as long as he could protect them, they wouldn't question him on his obvious lies.
Jaune felt a little bad seeing someone older than him going through a more legitimate method, he felt a little dumb for never thinking of shadowing under a huntsman himself, it would've saved him a lot of scars. Jaune sighed to himself as he turned back into the conversation.
It was still quiet, Juane turned to look at Talc, Talc sighed as if resigning himself to some terrible fate.
"Have you not found any huntsmen nearby to shadow under?" Talc asked, his brow knit itself together as if he was contemplating. He would've looked more serious if there wasn't a juice stain on his hair.
"No, huntsmen don't travel here much. Mica is a no name village, so no strong huntsman ever comes." She shook her head as she sighed, her weight sifting from leg to leg "But I've heard about what you did to save Mica ten years ago!" she spoke with vehement enthusiasm, Jaune perked up, Talc having not shared such a story.
His pointed look didn't seem to escape Talc, good, the man in question shrugged having not much thought into the past.
"Is that so… hah, my umm, what's the word, reputation? Procedes me." Jaune was getting second hand embarrassment from how awkward Talc was being. To Jaune's further embarrassment, the faunus girl didn't seem to notice. "Shade's initiation is half a year away, don't you think it's a bit late to shadow under a huntsman?"
"I won't settle for anything but first, plus Oscuro academy sort of maybe expelled me." she muttered the second half, glaring at the poor sand. Almost seeming sad yet mad at the same time, it was something that confused Jaune to no end.
"What is your name young, umm lady?" Talc tried not to make it obvious that he was looking at her ears, he failed.
"My name is Jade, Jade ordain. The future greatest huntress from Vacuo." she proclaimed, her ears drooping from Talc's gaze as she gave her best glare.
Shuffling away, Jaune made note of how Talc seemed to die a little on the inside.
Life was good.
Talc's eyes darted towards the shuffling and landed on a scampering Jaune, Jaune made the mistake of trying not to laugh. Talc's eyes promised war.
Talc wrapped an arm around Jaune before Jaune could dart away, his grip firm as a wide smile spread on the aged man's lips. "You know, as a huntsman I'm awfully busy, but my assistant huntsman here can help prepare you for Shade's entrance exam. He may not be as good as me but he's got a few years in the business." Talc laughed as Jaune glowered at the man, Jade seemed to not notice even that, somehow.
Jaune was almost insulted by how Jade's face morphed into what he could only describe at abhorrent mortification.
"Oho, you're testing me." a chill ran down Jaune's spine at Jade's tone, her gaze made him feel weird. Almost like a prey being hunted down by a predator, Jaune wanted to squirm.
Jaune gave Talc a pointed look for throwing him under the bus, 'what the hell!?' he passed along nonverbally.
'Don't act innocent,' Talc shot back, his eyes promising to make it worse for Jaune if he wanted to fight him on this.
'You lazy bastard!' Jaune sighed, looking back towards the faunus who looked like she was going to eat him alive. Swallowing his doubt, to hell with all this crap Jaune cursed himself mentally as he steeled himself.
Jaune sighed, Jaune didn't know why but he felt a churn in his gut.
"Great, now that of ya both agreed, once ya can beat good old Johnny here, I'll teach ya a thing or two." Talc clapped his hands as he paused looking towards Mica, "but we can save that for later, we should head back."
Jaune whipped his head in the direction of Mica, Aura soaring to life in his eyes –almost as if flames were ignited in his eyes– it burned but his vision expanded beyond his brain's capacity.
Molts of pure darkness marched towards the contradictory molts of both light and darkness, ah, a strange glow seemed to encompass the contradictory molts. It was a beauty that rivaled the night sky, all other colour bleed away leaving only the beautiful contradictory molts. Said contradictory molts seemed to shimmer like the stars above, it made Jaune forget that his eyes burned and burned.
He wanted to see more, he wanted to see this beautiful world forever, and ever.
Slap!
"Don't look too hard, ya'll kill yar eyes." Talc reprimanded the younger Oversight holder, his glare softened in astonishment, "just what the hell are you, kiddo?" Talc wondered to himself, not even he had used Oversight to such a level when he was young, he expected Jaune to only be able see Aura but that look in his face said he saw more. Talc merely wondered how much he saw that it nearly blinded him in his first use of Oversight.
Talc shook his head as he cleared his mind, focusing back on what really mattered
Jaune blinked rapidly, it felt like his eyelids were like sandpaper rubbing on his sensitive eye as a constricting burning pain pounded the back of his eyes. Pouring Aura, not to use whatever he just used but to repair whatever damage he could feel in his eyes. Which was a lot given that there were black dots where he couldn't see. 'I've never had to heal an organ like this before, he feels so weird.' Jaune's face tightened as he didn't like how it felt, like his eyes were being opened and moved by a surgeon's hands back into place.
"Okay! First assignment, protect Mica," Talc clapped his hands, seeming all too pleased to move on from the awkward moment, pulling on his robes tight as he took off. His robes hid his surprisingly athletic build, not too bulky yet not too thin, Jaune almost didn't believe it.
Jade followed soon after as Jaune watched on owlishly as his eyes continued to recover, blinking once he felt his vision was back to normal.
screee!
"What the?" Jaune turned, jumping into the air as he was kicked down by a ravager, "come on a death stalker and a ravager at the same time?" Jaune's eyes widened as he saw a pack of death stalkers rushing behind, not even half as big as the one that surprised him, but their numbers could be troublesome.
"Death stalkers are solitary hunters, why are there so many here?" Jaune questioned no one, keeping a wary eye out for the ravagers that kicked him earlier.
"Ouch…"
Jaune glanced down at his ankle, just great my ankle is messed up.
Shaa!
Drawing Crocea Mors from its sheath, Jaune steadied his breath as the massive death stalker rushed to bisect him.