[center][h2][color=8493ca]Argent[/color][/h2] [h2]and[/h2] [h2][color=00aeef]Viola [/color][/h2][/center] After dusting herself off, she took a quick glance at her sword, her guard and pommel in particular, to confirm what wasn’t there; a bit of dust. To be fair, it wasn’t a large quantity that was missing, as she made sure to use only as much as needed. She didn’t make a particularly large slide or an extra one for the landing, and even IF she knew beforehand about the launch she would have likely done the same thing since she didn’t have another landing strategy short of embracing the nearest tree while batting her eyelashes at the ground. But even so: [color=00aeef][i]‘I shan’t ask my parents for more dust simply because a certain someone was reckless.’[/i][/color] So with that thought in mind her next course of action was obvious, ‘Find a source of water.’ And she knew just the place. So began her trek towards a pond she only caught a glimpse of while being unceremoniously flung in the air, her left hand instinctively grabbing a piece of her knee length dress and pulling it slightly higher; a habit she’d caught from wearing one to many outfits with long skirts. Not that she managed to bring a lot of them to Beacon, since her mother forbade her from bringing more than a few long dresses with her. [i][color=00aeef]‘The nerve of that woman, who does she think she is, my…ah...right...curses…’[/color][/i] [i][color=00aeef]‘...I wonder if I’ll cross paths with my partner along the way’[/color][/i], she couldn’t help but muse, for although she did love the partnering method employed by the headmaster, it did mean that there was always a chance the partners were not compatible. What was she to do if she ended up with a partner that hated her? [i][color=00aeef]'Nothing of course'[/color][/i], she was quick to reprimand herself, [i][color=00aeef]’I will show them the same courtesy I would my own parents, although...I dearly hope I won’t have to fake my smiles any more than necessary...’ “Well...I guess I’ll find out soon enough..” [/color][/i] ------------------------------- Argent’s aches were slowly fading, too slowly, in his opinion, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it, so he put the thought aside. The silver haired knight kept his thoughts on the forest around him, using his senses to warn him if anything approached him as he limped along on what seemed to be a badly bruised leg, and at least two bruised ribs, probably more, but he wasn’t going to waste time checking, he needed to keep moving. Ignoring the protests from his side and leg, Argent picked up his pace, while he couldn’t hear anything his aura was alerting him to someone, or something, watching him. Moving quickly despite his limp, he burst into a clearing with a small pond. Growls sounded from the trees behind him, Argent turned so that the pond was behind him and shifted Raphael to shield mode, drawing Michael in the same motion and shifting that into it’s revolver form. Gun in his left hand, shield in his right, Argent’s light blue eyes scanned the tree line, just in time to widen as three Ursai burst out of the treeline with loud roars, the silver haired knight leveled his revolver and fired three shots at the lead Ursa, the slugs struck the creature in the right shoulder, upper chest, and one that ricocheted off of it’s bony mask, leaving a visible crack, a quick flip of a switch and Michael took it’s melee form, ignoring the pain in his leg and side Argent charged the three monsters, shield leading. He couldn’t dodge around and keep shooting, even before he was injured he didn’t have that kind of speed, as he was now it would take everything he had to take on three Ursai. As he reached his opponents Argent swung Raphael into the lead Ursa’s shoulder wound and struck the crack on it’s mask with Michael, the pain and anger that resulted caused the monster to rear onto it’s hind legs for a swipe, only to get Michael’s point sliding between it’s ribs, and into it’s heart, he kicked the dissolving corpse off of his blade as the second Ursa swung a heavy paw at his head, Raphael barely caught the blow, but the jarring impact sent a wave of pain through the young knight from his ribs. [i][color=8493ca]‘This is not looking good.’[/color][/i] thought the young knight, until the sound of water hitting flesh reached his ears, as the pressure from the blow faded as fast as it came. [color=00aeef]“Forgive me,” [/color]said a distinctly unapologetic voice, [color=00aeef]“but i do believe that’s one of my future colleagues you are trying to ravage, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask the both of you to leave” [/color] Argent lowered his shield to see a thick jet of water in the shape of a snake that was threaded with white light, had blasted the second Ursa off it’s paws and made the third beast hesitate, Argent didn’t waste the opportunity, he shifted Raphael into shotgun form, aimed, and shot the third Ursa in the face at point blank range, the spray of buckshot tore a hole in the monster’s skull, the Ursa instantly collapsed and began to smoke. During this, the final Ursa stood back up, enraged and seeking retribution, yet it did not go for the serpent nor the knight, instead running around the pond towards the owner of the female voice. On the edge of the pond stood a regal witch, her white hair floating unnaturally around her head as if submerged in water. With a flick of her left wrist the water serpent entered the pond and began crossing the distance between the knight and Viola. [i][color=00aeef]‘Steady...’[/color][/i] she assumed a fencing stance, her right foot forward and blade poised between her and the beast. The Ursa raised its right paw, ready to strike her down, but found itself hit by water for the second time that day, as the serpent lunged at it’s chin, exposing it’s neck. Wasting no time, Viola mimicked her creation and embedded her blade in the same spot the serpent struck, piercing it’s skull and killing the ursa instantly. As it fell, Argent bent and wiped Michael’s blade on the remains of the disintegrating second Ursa, then he straightened and turned to face his savior. Two pairs of blue eyes met, one far darker than the other, and Argent gave a friendly smile to his new partner. [color=8493ca]“Thank you, you might just have saved my life. I’m Argent Roan, what’s your name?” [/color] With the battle done and no other sign sign of danger around, Viola allowed her aura to recede, her hair turning back into the violet color she grew up with. With practiced ease, she grabbed her skirt with both hands, sword still drawn, and introduced herself the best way she knew, with a curtsy. [color=00aeef]“Viola Lis Marsilea. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I don’t suppose you are on the lookout for a partner?” [/color] [color=8493ca]“Not anymore, you’re the first person I’ve made eye contact with, I gather the same is true for you?”[/color] Argent pushed a loose lock of silver hair out of his eyes as he spoke. [color=00aeef]“Splendid! I was a little worried i wouldn’t run into another student due to my little detour here”[/color] said the summoner, making her way to her new found companion while taking out a regular comb from her belt purse and adjusting the hair on her scalp to the right, a simple little trick her father taught her in order to fix her hair without a mirror after battles, with the added bonus of drawing attention to her beauty mark [color=00aeef]“Are you unharmed?” [/color] Argent felt the pain in his side and leg decrease again, gradually, he knew, his aura was mending the damage from his landing. [color=8493ca]“Nothing too serious, my aura is healing me as we speak, I just didn’t have a very safe landing. I should be fine to make it to the temple.” [/color] Not the answer she wanted, but she would have to trust him for the time being, [color=00aeef]“Fair enough. Just give me a moment and we can be on our way”[/color]. holding her hair in place with her right hand it changed colors once more as her eyes traveled to another side of the lake. The serpent, once motionless, traveled to her at a leisurely pace, shedding some of it’s water along the way. Crouching a bit, she allowed her creation to slither and coil around her left arm, not one speck of water seeped into her clothes. Once she was satisfied with her summon’s position, she let go of her hair as it changed back to violet. [color=00aeef]“All set!”[/color] Argent gave a professional nod, while he was fairly sure he would get on quite well with his somewhat overly formal partner, they had a job to do. His parents had always stressed the importance of a professional attitude on a mission, [i][color=8493ca]‘always keep your focus on the objective, but don’t allow it to block out your team or your surroundings, paying attention to both will save your life.’[/color][/i] His mother’s voice spoke in his head, it was good advice, as the silver knight walked northward with his limp already vanishing, the violet haired girl walked in his wake, she was just as attentive to her surroundings as he was, that was good, it meant that, despite the dress and heels, which Argent could never understand how anyone could fight in, this girl had some good, but not classical, training. [color=8493ca]“Hey, Viola, where did you learn to be a Huntress?”[/color] He asked. [i][color=00aeef]‘That already?’[/color][/i] It was a question she was expecting, but only in the event she underperformed somewhere, and she doubted he saw her less than stellar landing…still, a lady does not shy away from her heritage, her father would say. [color=00aeef]“My mother taught me everything she could on the matter.”[/color] But that didn’t mean you had to give more details than asked, her mother would retort. [color=8493ca]“Nice, I was trained by my parents as well, your mother knew what she was doing with your training.” [/color]Argent was being completely honest, from what he’s seen, which admittedly hadn’t been much, this girl certainly operated at the appropriate level of skill required to make it in a prestigious school like Beacon. he was confident that she would have his back in a fight, but it was always good to find out as much as you could about your allies, it helped you work better together. [i][color=00aeef]‘Trained by his parents, so does this mean…let’s test the waters’[/color][/i], [color=00aeef]“Are both of your parents teachers?”[/color] [color=8493ca]“Nope, they’re both active Hunters, I was trained by whichever one wasn’t on a mission at the time, still, they did their best.” [/color] She did a little dance...on the inside, as her smile became a little less polite [color=00aeef]“I can imagine, my mother, although retired, would still regularly patrol the village for grimm. It took me years before she let me accompany her, but we both figured the experience was worth the risk.” [/color] [color=8493ca]“I can definitely relate to that, I’ve been training since I was six and I’ve only gone with Mom or Dad on missions twice, once when I was fourteen, which is also when I discovered my semblance, and once last year...”[/color] [color=00aeef]"Uhm, forgive me for interrupting, but I was under the impression on duty hunters were not allowed to take students on missions."[/color] [color=8493ca]“It’s fine, normally they aren’t, but when they are making a patrol round though their city or village they can bring along a student for training purposes if they get it cleared ahead of time, in my case it was the city of Atlas.”[/color] [color=00aeef]"I see…you mentioned discovering your semblance during that mission, correct?" [/color] Argent nodded.[color=8493ca] “I went along with my Dad on a patrol when these guys busted out of a jewelry store and…”[/color] The two wouldn’t stop chatting anytime soon, since they weren’t in any great hurry; After all, the temple wasn’t going anywhere, and neither were their new friend.