Ice to Meet You [Private w/ Jim Lavay]

[Vlithra Qing Long]

It was a rather sunny day in the residental district of Vale with many people walking about the midday market, entering and leaving shops left and right. Among those many people there was Vlithra Qing Long, the not-yet Beacon student. She had recently moved here, to her would-be uncles new tattooing parlor. Of course that was all only a guise, she wasn‘t the tatter‘s niece at all. She took on the name Qing Long only to have a new identity and spent her year as his assistant only to solidify it.

Despite taking on this new identity of hers, she didn‘t really look or acted any different than she did back in Mistral. She still wore suit pants, a button up shirt with her signature vest above that and some black tinted shades that hid her green venemous eyes. And she still refused to let go of her mothers jacket which, for once, was worn in a normal fashion instead of having it hang from her shoulders liek she usually did. In a mass of people she stuck out like a sore thumb, like a thuggish suit wearing thumb. This earned her some concerned looks from a few people and especially the shopkeep as she entered his well reknown dust shop.

She had stomped into a shop with a rather displeased look on her face and her hands stowed away in the pockets of her jacket. Her original intent was to buy a few different types of dust to experiement with her weapon, but now she barely had enough lien to afford only a few vials. She didn‘t have as much lien left as she thought from that nice gesture a few minutes back. Why did she give that boy so much of her money despite having planned to go shopping for some dust? Thinking back at it gave her a headache as she looked around for the different types of dust and their price. Damned be her good heart... and those prices, like what? Back home she could have gotten almost double the vials with the money she currently had.

Understandibly grumpy about that, she took one simple vial of ice dust and inspected it a bit. Ice was a dust type she hadn‘t had the chance to use yet which was why she was a bit excited to try it. Being able to use ice could proove invaluable in her attempt to qualify for Beacon. She heard the entrance exams were as rigorous as they could get there. With the vial in hand she walked around a shelf to get to the counter to pay for the vial, until she got disctracted by something else. To her right in fornt of the wall was a display for another type of dust. Gravity Dust. The black-purpleish was mesmerizing and thoughts for the applications for it immediately sprang into her mind. Vlithra was so in thought she didn‘t realize she kept walking forward around the shelf.

[Jim Lavay]

A long sigh slid from Jim's lips as he continued to peak out the window of his sister's house. A question had that been mused in the past. What would happen if all the Lavay's lived together? Was finally being answered with both his and Ivory's return to Vale. Though hopefully the latter would get set up with a dorm room sooner than later. Cause much to the comedic prediction's it was as bad as people though. Today being a prime example as Ivory had torn off with Jim's motorcycle leaving him stranded and now, he was waiting to do the same to his sister. Unfortunately, as his scroll buzzed the message from Cass left him with a grumbling sigh. As she wasn't due back until late tonight. "Damnit..." He'd end up saying while looking at the time. He had to pick up an order from one of the local dust stores before his mission tomorrow. So, with another longer sigh he'd grab his sword, gear, and head out the door towards the bus stop.

At lease, Jim had some measure of luck going for him as the bus arrived shortly after he did. Though he was not a fan of public transportation. Ever since his and Ava's flight that went awry, he just can't help but think about it every time now. A Grimm reminder of what can happen. Not to even mention the fact that there was zero subtly to his kit. Which meant that inevitably some kid or old timer would start talking to him about his profession. Today would be the latter and the young huntsmen would just do his best to nod and smile his way through the conversation. Then the moment the doors swung open he sped his way out of there.

Making his way directly to the shop Jim would enter and be instantly greeted by one of the staff. "Hey welcome back!" The guy would say, and Jim would return with an equally eager response. "Yeah, finally! Thank for the rush order on those cart..." His words would be cut off at both his and Vlithra's distractions led to their collision. Which wouldn't have been too much of a big deal, but unfortunately as he tried to take a half step back his elbow would crash into a jar of that gravity dust. "Shi..." Fortunately, thanks to those huntsmen reactions he'd catch it. Though that was only have the crisis as he looked at the poor woman in front of his. "Whoa, sorry about that! You okay?" He'd say with a nervous laugh as he slowly placed the jar back on the shelf.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Vlithras captivated stare at the purple dust crystal was suddenly interrupted as she bumped into something. It was solid and hit strong enough to make the tigress stagger backwards to the ground. It almost felt like she walked straight into a brick wall. She sat there still a bit dazed and only realizing too late that she had dropped her freshly bought vial of ice dust. Upon falling her hand must have crushed the glass vial, as the contents were now mainly scattered around the ground with a bit of the lighter particles rising upwards towards Vlithras face in a puff of smoke. Her nose suddenly felt itchy and not even a second after, she sneezed.

With an icy explosion, that sounded more like glass shattering than an actual explosion, the ice dust reacted and detonated, dispensing a rather cold wave of air. Vlithra was unharmed due to her rather sturdy aura, but the display cases immediately around her and the shelf next to her had some ice pertruding out of it, due to the sudden cold. Luckily most of these cases were sturdy enough to withstand something as minor as this, meaning there was no real damage done. Well, aside the now wasted dust of Vlithra of course.

“For fuck‘s sake.“ she groaned in an annoyed manner. But as she was now realizing what had happened that annoyance became anger in less than a second. Her semblance quickly made this clear with green lightning crackling around her body. Eyes, stripes and hair tips glowing, she quickly looked around, only to find the source of the mishap right in front of her in the form of Jim. First thing she noticed was that he was only a tad bit smaller than her and yet still managed to knock her over. Next thing was that he was decked out in combat gear. He even sported a more than just sizeable sword, it was quite the eye catcher for the tigress who appreciated any good blade. Now that could explain something, this could very well be a student of Beacon. No. At this point Vlithra was sure that the guy in front of her was at least that.

“I‘m fine.“ she exclaimed a bit annoyed at Jim‘s concern as she looked down dusting off her jacket. As if it wasn‘t obvious enough on what happened. As her gaze lifted back upwards again she would meet his eyes with a more than judgemental look. It wouldn‘t remain there for long though, as she soon looked back to the broken vial. She exhaled a deep and mostly frustrated sigh accompanied by multiple streaks of lightning shooting around her body. She had just bought it and now it was already scattered over the floor, how unfortunate could this be? First the boy incident, then the price and now this? Today simply wasn‘t her day was it? Of course this made her angry, but despite that she tried her best to contain that anger even though something akin to a grudge was growing inside of her. “And there goes my last bit of lien. Just great.“ she'd mumble to herself just loud enough for Jim to hear.

[Jim Lavay]

"Ahh shit..." Much like a terrible car crash Jim could only watch as the minor explosion of Icy Dust erupted out. Covering both the poor girl and a small portion of the store. It was like something out of a comic book and under other circumstances he may have even been laughing. Especially given the fact that it was typically him that was on the other side of these situations. Though he was quite lucky he wasn't. While ice Dust may be a pain in the ass to clean up the gravity Dust, he almost dropped could have caused a serious chain reaction. No sense in dwelling on that though.

Hearing her initial curse there really wasn't much he could or really wanted to say. Instead, he'd look to the clerk and hold up both hands. "D-don't worry, I'll clean it up that was all me!" Seeing the man's attitude go from happy to have a customer to mad as well in about one second would again be something to laugh at later. Not now. Of course, his attention was quickly stolen back as he saw the girl light up her aura. "Whoa, whoa..." Holding out his arm's Jim tried to calm her down. As much as he loved a good fight going at it in a Dust Shop had disaster all over it. Luckily as quickly as she got worked up, she also seemed to calm.

Though her next statement didn't make him feel any better. "Ahh damn... hey listen I got you..." He'd start, but as he read her body language. A recent skill that he had finally managed to pick up on a little bit Jim would also add a disclaimer. "I get it, I was broke as hell while I was at the Academy." He had no idea if she was or not, but she looked about the age. Plus, she looked tough as hell and had an aura. So, seemed like a safe assumption. "...heh, hell I'm still not rollin in the Lien, but I got enough." Giving a nod to the employee he'd say. "Go ahead and add some ice Dust to my order." Meanwhile he'd drop to one knee and started ripping the Ice of the floor. Unintentionally showing off some of the prolific strength as her easy plucked it off and then crumbed the used Dust in his hands.

While this was going on Jim hoped to ease the tension further by making a little small talk. "So, are you a huntress? Student? ...a bad ass who favors ice, or all the above?" He couldn't help but to grin a bit and raise his head enough to meet her glace with that final comment.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Vlithra went though her hair and noticed something amiss. The ice had forzen a few strands of her hair which were now clinging together. Ugh, thats gonna take a while to melt given that she wasn‘t about to rip out her own hair trying to get rid of the ice.

On the bright side, the guy seemed to be sorrry for what happened even going so far as to make himself responsible for this little accident which was something that seemed to calm the tigress at least a little bit. Vlithra raised her gaze from the broken vial in response to something Jim would say, her expression changing from annoyed to surprised. He not only confirmed Vlithras suspicion of him being a Beacon student at some point, but also seemed willing to pay for the broken vial as he quickly notified the employee he‘d buy another vial of ice Dust. Well wasn‘t that a, for once, pleasant surprise.

She gazed upon Jim as he knelt down and started ripping the ice of the floor. Damn this guy had some serious strength to do this so effortlessly. Vlithra unintentionally started gawking a bit before she quickly realized that she too should help clean this mess up. She found another cluster of ice right at her feet and knelt down to get to work as well. Before she would do that though she looked at Jim again, who asked her a few quesitons about herself. Small talk to ease the tension, she quickly realized, and admittedly it worked. Vlithra felt the anger she was feeling steadily fade by the second, her semblances effects fading along and in the end deactivating completely.

She then followed suit and ripped off some of the ice as well, her needing to put in a bit more effort than Jim however. Sure, strength was her game, but she was in no way stronger than this guy. “None of the above… at least not yet anyway. I am preparing for the entrance exams and wanted to see whether or not ice would make a good addition to my arsenal.“ Her voice wasn‘t as agitated as before, but rather calm. “Judging by the get-up and what you are saying, I‘d guess you are a graduate of Beacon yourself. Am I right?“ She raised an eyebrow at Jim while ripping off another piece of ice form the ground.

[Jim Lavay]

Keeping his head down and focusing on cleaning Jim would keep a decent pace. Luckily once the ice dust was expended and ripped off whatever it was attached to it could be dispersed with relative ease. With both helping shouldn't take too long which meant that the shop owner seemed content to not make a huge fuss. Especially when Jim had volunteered to buy a little more from the store to make amends.

When Vlithra spoke however her answer caught Jim a bit off guard. Perhaps it was her height, but he thought she was at the very least a student if not a huntress. "Oh, well that's pretty awesome!" He'd initially comment as he thought back to his own entrance exam. Starting to open his mouth to respond he would instead let her finished. A light chuckle slipped from his lips in response. "Heh, yeah guess the sword isn't exactly the most inconspicuous thing in the world, huh?"

Standing up after finishing his area Jim would roll his shoulder and give an actual answer. "...but yeah, I actually just graduated a few months ago. So, I'm still living that fun time of going from being that top of the school to now the fun bottom rung of huntsmen doing cheap jobs." His laughter would show that he wasn't actually upset by any of this. "...so basically, I'm just right back where I was before attending the school just you know with a fancy new title now." A long grin followed those words as he let slip a little of his past and the fact, he didn't take life to seriously.

With that however Jim would walk up to the counter and slide the person a few lien. Taking his sticks of Fire Dust and bringing over her canister of Ice Dust. "You know if you have any questions about the exam or I suppose Beacon in general. I'd be happy to help. It's the least I could do since I almost made you blow up an entire store." Gesturing with a hand he would make sure that Vlithra knew it was a completely open offer. He would have been fine either way if she took him up on it or not. Some people had incredible jitters about such things and then there were some like him who almost overslept that day. Showing up and making a wonderful first impression. Which now that he thinks about it may have explained some things about his first few months at the academy.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Jim was the first to finish cleaning the mess up near him. As he stood up Vlithras gaze followed him for a short time after noticing Jim moving in the corner of her view.
Wow, a recent graduate? And here Vlithra thought this guy had at least a year of experience under his belt already. It was sort of shocking to her that him graduating wasn‘t even a few months ago. Despite that he seemed to be humble about it rather than upset about that, evident by his laughter following his explanation. Shortly after Vlithra would also be done cleaning her area as she ripped on last patch of ice off the ground.

She then looked back up again and saw Jim head for the counter, collecting his own dust order and bringing over the replacement dust for Vlithra. He then offered to share his experience at Beacon and he was even just as polite about it as before. Vlithra had to smile a bit.
“Alright, I‘ll take you up on that offer then. Heard those entry exams are as grueling as they can get, so any piece of info can help.“ Vlithra shifted her weight and put one of her hands in her hip as she continued. “What exactly am I to expect? I can imagine it could be life threatening of sorts, but I wanna know what I‘m working with here.“

She then looked at the canister Jim had bought just now and realized that this… was more than she had initially bought. She pointed at it raising an eyebrow. “Uh, isn‘t that more than I bought?“ She then raised both her hands, as if she was trying to calm someone. “I don‘t mind the extra gesture, really. I just want to make sure that its fine for you to buy this much.“ She then scratched her neck awkwardly and emberassed. She didn‘t like being in debt of other people.

[Jim Lavay]

After making his way back over to her Jim would maintain that warm and relaxed smile on his face. He had felt pretty bad about this whole thing. Obviously, for the shop keeper, though at least he had dealt with that one directly. However, for Vlithra as well. Poor girl was staring down one of the scariest exams of her life thus far... Well probably, and here he was making a thing of Dust blow up in her face. At least it appeared that she was okay, and he even felt better when she accepted his offer.

Her question was an obvious one and motioning for her to follow Jim would start to head out of the store. He didn't want to be in the shop keeps hair any more than he already had been. Though before he launched into the explanation, he would quickly tackle her last point with a polite wave. "Hey, it's no problem, at all. I was the dumby who bumped into you in the first place. So... it's the least I can do! Besides you'll need the extra dust once you're accepted into the academy!" He'd flash her a grin and a wink after the comment.

As for the far more pertinent question once they had exited the building he would sigh. "Well, for starters in terms of what to expect or any baseline advice. The biggest thing I can tell you is remember that YOU were offered the chance to take the test. Which meant that you have already wowed them in some way." He would shrug. "We all had different paths to the academy, but the one thing we all had in common was that we were good enough to garner a chance. So now all you have to do is prove someone right and show what they already know... that you belong!"

His warm smile would linger for a moment as he let her digest that for a moment. Then once a few seconds would pass Jim would continue. "That all said, don't get fancy, don't think you have to over sell it. Just do the things you do well." Pointing at the cannister of dust in her hand he would say. "If you're a adept with Dust use it. If you're just trying to use it to try and add some flare to it. Don't. Same thing if you're a melee specialist don't go trying to prove you can shoot. Lean in on your strengths. Once you're in the school they will balance out your weaknesses." Realizing he had been going on for a bit now he would stop for a moment and allow her to chime in if she desired.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

After hearing out her quesitons Jim made his way out of the shop. Better to leave before something else would happen. And again Jim was being apologetic about the whole thing, even though Vlithra was very sure that she was as much of at fault for it than Jim. She was distracted aswell afterall. The tigress decided in the end to accept it this way to not make it more complicated as she took the canister of ice Dust for her own, a little smile forming on her face.
“Well if you say so. Much appeciated then.“ She strutted after him out of the shop, dust canister in hand and a happy smile that wouldn‘t stay and Jim couldn‘t see. She came here for a vial and left with more than that.

Once outside Jim got to answerering her question for real. Something about what he said about ‘having them wowed in some way already‘ really made her question on whether or not they had their eyes on her the whole time. Throughout the year of being here in Vale, Vlithra had done quite a few things in terms of vigilante stuff, it just made her wonder what exactly it was that caught their attention when she applied. “I see.“ She said as a hand moved to her chin as if to think about what Jim had said.

Then Jim continued, Vlithra looking at him with interest. So she ought to do what she did best? Focus on her strengths rather than weaknesses? Huh, when Jim put it like that it made the exam sound easier than it probably was, but that couldn‘t be it. Focusing on what she was good at? That was easy considering Vlithra was an unbridled force in melee combat.
“Hm, alright. Only focusing on my strengths. That makes it sound easier than I initially thought, if I‘m being honest.“ Vlithra continued to think for little. What Jim said was fundamental stuff, basic. She never planned on using the Dust for fireworks of something silly like that. After all, battle didn't need a big kaboom to be exciting for the tigress. "What about the exam itsself? When I hear combat exam I hear one-on-one fighting, but something is telling me that isn't going to be the case." She sighs shaking her head and shrugged. "Unless I'm overthinking this of course." Now that the topic was up, she was actually a bit tense about the entire thing. Not enough to be nervousness, but just enough to make her feel uncomfortable.