HereComesTheSnow

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

New Character Portrait

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

what is the true nature of G E N U I N E

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

luke has charisma too in a self-deprecating neutron star sort of way

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

jaune's hair isn't weird so it's actually ben

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy@Write@Plank Sinatra

What was my motivation?

"Well..." I looked upwards, as if I thought the sky could just use the stars to paint a clear picture for me. I wasn't so lucky as to have the heavens align themselves in any manner for my sake, so I could just stare and think.

And think I did.

My motivation. My endgame. What I wanted out of my training here, what I wanted out of this career, what I wanted out of putting my life on the line against nightmarish monsters for my life's path.

It wasn't money, I'd declared that much already. And the sentiment attached was absolutely true. I only cared enough about money to make sure I could live off of it. Extreme wealth was more a bonus than anything else, and not something I couldn't live without.

Heck, I knew a scruffy man with an Aloha shirt that seemed to abhor living a life of luxury by principle. He was one of my guiding figures and first friends.

No, it wasn't money.

Was it power? Did I want influence, like Gratia, to force the world to bend it's knee to my will?

...

Well, I might have just been projecting that part onto her because she still scared me a little. The answer, however, was still no.

Or at least, not exactly. I did want to gain power, yeah. I wanted to become a powerful individual. A capable individual. Someone who could keep themselves and everyone around them safe in times of need.

Everyone around me was already powerful, though.

Yeah, in fact, they were so powerful that they probably needed to keep me safe instead of vice versa. It was the same way at home, too. Mom, April, Dawn... they were all much more powerful than me. Heck, even my father, despite lacking the physical capabilities I had, seemed so much more cool-headed and in control than I had ever been.

Was it prestige, then? Maybe. Granted, I wasn't too keen on the idea of having my name in the spotlight, either...

Well, did prestige have to equate to fame? Maybe it didn't. Maybe I could call it that without looking to end up in tabloids, instead of just... being acknowledged alongside my peers? I would have liked that.

If everyone around me was so accomplished in comparison, I obviously should want to stand amongst them, then, right?

Well, yeah. That was all correct. I wanted to be able to pull my weight, right? To not be a liability. To not be holding everyone back. To not be just an afterthought.

Was I an afterthought?

...I didn't want to be.

I was right here too. I didn't just want to be a face in the background. I didn't want to be a footnote in my achievements. I didn't want to be the unsung bottom of the class, and I didn't want to just be another also-ran.

I've spent my whole life outshone, you know?

I'm not smart.

I'm not strong.

I'm not even overly nice.

I'm just a guy.

But I don't want to just be "that guy". I don't want to be in the background. I don't want to go my whole life in anyone else's shadow anymore.

Not my mother's.

Not my sisters'.

Not my classmates'.

Not even my teammates'.

I want to be able to stand tall in this school upon my own two feet. I want to become somebody I can be proud of being. I want to show what I can do, even if it may not be much. I want people to see me as worthy. No, I want to see myself as worthy. I want my revenge to be by living well, and living well is ultimately self-actualization, isn't it? I want to push my average, unassuming self as far as he can possibly go, and then a little further, just out of spite. I want to tell everyone talented or gifted or skilled in the world to make some damn room.

I felt something tighten. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"I want to prove I'm good enough."

To lead the charge of a new generation of Schwarzes into the Hunting World. To be reliable as a mentor and as a brother. To stare down any threat in the face without fear of the reprisal. To protect anyone I hold dear, and to save everyone I can. To right every wrong I had committed and seen, and to always be able to do the right thing.

I wanted to genuinely, with nothing less than all of myself, prove I had what it takes to become what I wanted to be.

Strong.

Smart.

Dependable.

Brave.

Worthy.

A Hunter.

A Hero.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

>Nice Guy

sensei pls

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy@Write@Plank Sinatra

I might have been attempting to befriend a supervillain.

"A-Ah."

I kept my intimidation mostly under lock and key, as was my growing custom when breeching topics like this, but seriously! I could honestly feel the intensity suddenly spike in the air around us! It's that semblance of hers, right? Her voice did the same thing it did back when I first reported in for examination at her dorm! Wait, no, that sentence sounded wrong. When I was there to provide my hair for scientific analysis?

Her voice broke, that's what I'm saying. It broke from her usual stoic demeanor again, and showed me a hint of the berserker underneath that poor Cian had to deal with in sparring.

Her voice changed, and her eyes stared straight through me like I was fighting the manticore all over again.

Well, no, that was wrong, actually.

The manticore wanted to kill me, plainly, simply, and openly.

Gratia...

Tundra.

Tundra, tundra, tundra, and I'm not making a gag of it this time like I usually do. It was cold, piercing, and harshly unrelenting, just like a gust of wind in the tundra.

And I wasn't even sure I could call that lopsided, beastial thing a smile. She looked like a shark. I didn't want a shark when Gratia first smiled at me, you know? No guy ever wants a shark in that context! Shark week should not extend to your classmates!

"I see."

I wasn't sure what else to come back at her with.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy@Write@Plank Sinatra

Hold on a second, it's not like that's why I became a Hunter, you know!

"If I was just doing it for the money, I wouldn't have gotten this far in the first place." I countered, meeting her eyes sidelong. "I mean, I may not be good for much, but if nothing else I wouldn't have been able to gut it out through the training when I could just get a job and start building a resume, like any other guy."

That was conjecture, of course, but greed has never been a primary motivator for me. I'm no plutocrat like Bianca by any means, but between Mom and Dad's respective lines of work, our family was well within the confines of the status of "doing just fine, thanks". I am not a particularly greedy man, even if I'm frugal with my spending.

That's more just me having common sense, anyway. Even an idiot knows something as simple as waiting for sales and buying things in bulk, and I was no exception.

It was not monetary greed that drove me beyond my limits.

It was a fire that burned much deeper and hotter than that. Something that came from the very core of who I was all the way from boyhood 'till now. The kind of motivation that will make a guy do something he absolutely hates with nothing more than a grunt and a passing, displeased thought.

One that kept me going every day. One that gave my legs the will to tread water, even when I was out of my depth.

"Are you saying that's why you're here, though?" I asked, my voice carefully neutral. Be all of that as it may, that was just my personal state. If money was a good enough motivator for Gratia Mindaro, then all power to Gratia Mindaro to keep doing what Gratia Mindaro did.

"Or is it something else, too?"

It wasn't like I had a chance in hell of stopping her, anyway.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy@Write@Plank Sinatra

She had a fair point, there. Oftentimes when one didn't hide away their more off-color interests, they were seen as weird and subsequently cast aside by society at large. However, if one had some measure of success to bolster their reputation, would that counteract the odd things they partake in for their own personal entertainment?

Maybe. I guess there's a degree of truth in the common line of thought being that those who succeed must be doing something right. If that were the case, the argument of them using such weird things as Chinese Cartoons for escapism from their comparatively terrible lives loses a lot of traction. If someone with wealth, fame, looks, and/or power enjoyed them, maybe it was more than something that just panders to society's weirdos.

Maybe the works they enjoyed had some merit to them as well. Sure, they were weird, but they were more an eccentricity and spot of uniqueness in taste than anything weird and bad, right?

To reiterate, I was trying to look at this from the view of an outsider to the culture surrounding it. As for myself, an admitted enthousiast?

"I'd probably need to get really rich, then..." came my wry, wan conclusion.