[Public] Snacks, Sand and Swimwear

[Carmine Crest]

Carmine only hummed in acknowledge toward Erin's reply to his suggestion of Ax tripping up Evergreen, it was a risky play and he knew it but Evergreen certainty seemed to be the weaker link between the four of them with his only advantage being his height. Assuming said height was even an advantage... He had no clue exactly how chicken would affect his own fighting style from either position as the tower or the grappler, although he doubted he'd ever had a chance to find out. The battle was on and while he had no doubt it was probably entertaining for the four of them as they struggle to topple the other duo, he was sure he'd end up disliking it, too much reliance on his partner either keeping solid footing and giving him the opening he needs to strike or his partner not capitalizing on the openings he'd provide them.

Still the battle that was being fought was mildly interesting as it told him something about how the two on top handle grappling and he was fairly confident in saying his earlier guess about their fighting styles were correct, Ciendra quickly recovering from Vlithra batting her arms away to engage in a strength contest, the difference in strength becoming apparent as she roughly pulled and pushed Ciendra around. He couldn't help but wince as he imagined his own shoulder being gripped with that strength before being essentially man handled by the stronger girl.

"Seems they're getting ready to end things..." Carmine would comment as he watched the tigress throw out strategy all together in her mad dash to dislodge the other girl from her tower, said tower equally engaged in a battle of a strength with Ax. The earlier strategies of fighting with the waves or using the openings in the enemy's mistakes were gone and it was all with nothing with pure strength and some footwork, a simple plan that could give the game to anybody. Still at the end of the day, strength had to be Vlithra's focal point so he felt confident in saying they'd win.

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin watched the fight out of the corner of her eye with increasing interest. Seeing how people react when they don't get their way in a fight was always interesting, especially when they had what seemed to be a clear advantage. Of course it wasn't as telling as one might think though, how you react in a real fight is completely different than how you'd react in a mock fight where you can't actually hurt your opponent or use your semblance. Still though, it was fun to watch as strategy and calm went out the window.

"Yeah, I admit I am a bit concerned you might win the wager." She joked turning her attention back to Carmine; she hated looking away from the fight but she could feel the instability in her semblance control today and didn't want to accidently influence the outcome of the match.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok was having to 'see' what was going on fully from feel. Ax's torso was pressing down his ears which really muffled all the sound he could percieve, though he wasn't to mmad about having her pressed against him like that, to be frankly honest. He could tell Ax was taking Vlithra to the side by Ax's movements shifting in that direction as her and Vlithra struggled. Bartok tried to turn as Vlithra supposedly wrenched with her grip. Bartok was holding onto Al too well for it not to transfer over to him.

She did so right as Bartok was taking a step. His foot shot out for the ground to hold him, but there was some divet in the sand so his foot didn't touch it when he thought it would. Trying to turn, Having Al pulled in an awkward direction, Bartok's stumble and how tightly and securely he was holding her and one ocean wave hitting them all at the right time made for one fantastic splash.

"WoooOOAAAH!" Bartok cried as he fell straight forward. Right into what he supposed was Ax's chest, given the flash of black tattoo that he spotted before he was pressed against her, his and Al's full body weight crashing against Ax and Vlithra's.

Bartok could hardly tell who 'fell' into the water first or make any ruling, but he felt Ax's body still under him as he was submerged in the ocean water. He immediatley let go of Al, letting her swim back up as he grabbed Ax and helped pull her up as well.

[Al Ciendra]

Ah yikes, here it was.
Al gulped as she saw Vlithra bare her teeth at her, making her ears press to the top of her head as it was obvious that this intimidation tactic had worked.
Al had only a second to react before she felt Vlithra really start to grip her tight and pull at her.
Al grunted as she tried her best to resist against Vlithra, but she really did not have a chance and was pulled along.
Gritting her own teeth as the iron grip of the tigress did hurt a bit, making fighting against it all the more unpleasant.

That was until she felt Bartok shift under her, why was he leaning forward this much ?
Wait no, he was falling!
"Eeep!"
Was the only thing Al could exclaim before she was submerged, Al opened her eye underwater seeing the mess she and the others were in, looked like a tie to her.
Al shrugged and got up, standing at a slightly elevated spot with her shoulders above the waves.

That was when a breeze hit her now wet face and her face stung a little.
Wait! NO!NO!NO!NO!
Al looked around in panic, the emotion was almost radiating of her like heat, she was luckily the first to breach the surface, so she had a second to do something.
She grabbed what remained of her bandages clinging to her face and just threw them away with one quick motion, instead quickly swimming to the shore her face hidden mostly by the water.
As she came to shore she lit her hands on fire again, blasting from the water right to the benches, her landing was surprisingly soft, only a soft thud was heard as her feet struck the sand.
Before she landed Al had covered her face with her hands and now went to the bench went to the bench she had put her bag under.

Facing away from Carmine and Erin, she put the bag on the bench and frantically opened it to pull out her mask.
Quickly she put the straps around her head again, closing them with a resounding click as she was once again safe.
Note to self, bandages are not a good solution.
Al sat on the bench, panting a little as she looked to Carmine and Erin.
"What ?!"
She just asked them, obviously on edge, which she quickly realized was very rude...she really needed to calm down.
"S-Sorry I just... I don't deal well with surprises like these."
She said, looking to the others of the group she left behind, before turning back to the two spectators.
"I'll just go grab a drink, sorry again."

Al got up and grabbed a drink out of the icebox, taking a straw along with it and sat back on her bench, slowly sipping on her drink as she stared at the ground, not that anyone could really see where she was looking with the blackened glasses of the mask now obscuring her face again.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax didn't realize it soon enough to consciously modify her strategy, but a part of the reason why it was probably harder for Vlithra to leverage their advantages was because of the pressure around her legs distracting her. It was a vicious predicament that left Ax absently considering how much this felt like she was trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. She and Vlithra both clearly wanted to win, and Ax really didn't want to let her teammate down! At the same time, this was supposed to just be a game... was it worth hurting someone over this?

At the same time, anger and determination burned like embers inside of the competitive bird faunus, resonance building between Vlithra and Ax and adding fuel to the fire of their shared frustration. Emotion won out over reason, threatening to compromise Ax's composure. On the bright side it seemed like the anger helped the tigress focus. As Vlithra exerted more force, Ax's arms tightened around her thighs like vices in an effort to compromise for the forces pulling her and pushing her in the water. Her mind tried to lock onto what she could control, tuning out the sound of incoming waves and distant chatter on the beach. Then she felt a spark of uncertainty that ignited into shock. This was it! She needed to commit to this and hope that the uncertainty wasn't Vlithra's.

Then something cold and wet fell forward and pressed right into her chest, a chin dipping low enough to pull at her bra strap, which she felt pull on her back. For a brief moment she was aware of a weird, tickling sensation - eyelashes blinking wildly against her skin? At the same time, the full weight of Al and Bartok was suddenly all coming forward. Vlithra was tipping backward, and nothing Ax could do could stop Vlithra's slick skin from sliding in her grasp in time with a wave crashing into the four of them from the side. Ax was caught between several different instincts at once.

'Release thighs, stop the pain. Raise hands to chest to prevent bra from slipping. Then punch face that is touching where it is clearly not invited.'

She let go of Vlithra's legs, only for Al's weight to come bearing down as well. Then Ax's nose and mouth filled with cold saltwater and she instinctively exhaled. The water all around kept her from thrashing too violently and hurting anyone, though there were plenty of bumps and elbows and knees as she tumbled back with a splash, buried under Bartok and Al and pulled back by Vlithra's legs hooked over her shoulders. Ax's eyes blinked wildly, but she saw only deep blue fog around her and vague, blurry blotches of color. The whole world was muted as water filled her ears. She instinctively twisted beneath the water, extricating herself from the tangle of limbs and bodies after the fall. Her feet eventually found the sandy bottom of the shallow beach, and she immediately started to push up with her knees in an effort to right herself and to reduce the burn of saltwater in flooding her nose. Someone was grabbing her by her arm and pulling her up, too, and she offered no resistance as she was eager to rise from the water and get some air. The weight of her wet hair pulled her head back ever so slightly as she rose from the water and proceeded to splutter and cough before clearing the water from her heavy lashes.

Ax was a little slow to gather her bearings, but coughing and reorienting herself seemed to defuse any anger she'd felt before. The very next thing she did was look down to make sure her bra hadn't slipped, because she was pretty sure she'd felt it get pulled down. Unfortunately, she was right. While she hadn't lost her top, it'd been tugged down where it didn't really cover her very well on one side. Ax quickly lowered herself back down into the water and moved her hands to adjust her bikini top so it adequately covered her chest again, scarlet burning in her cheeks.

A lot of emotions were bubbling up at once between the four of them, but it was too much for Ax to really pay attention to given her more immediate problem. Bartok was blind, but he'd basically gotten a face full of her tits. As for everyone else... she'd just have to hope that the angle and the chaos of the fall had prevented her from accidentally flashing everyone else. Ax was a little slow to actually understand what had happened, but it looked like Al was leaving the water for some reason. By the time the firestarter blasted forth from the water and reached the shore, Ax had belatedly processed some of what was going on, but she was still a bit confused. She looked around quickly to make sure everyone else was present and accounted for. She hadn't hurt Vlithra too much, had she? Maybe someone else knew why Al went rushing off?

"M' fine," Ax raised a hand to reassure Bartok and decline any further aid. Ax's face was still as red as a lobster and the temptation to smack him was still pretty strong, but she managed to resist the urge despite her lingering indignation. She then paused to look over toward Al, who was heading toward the others still on the shore. Ax didn't catch what had happened, apparently. All she knew was that Al seemed to be very very quickly and urgently leaving. She had kind of been hoping they'd all be able to laugh about this in the end.

"Uhh... did something happen?" Ax asked aloud, to no one in particular.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

As Vlithra wrestled Al and tried to force her around, she blocked out all external input. Her drive to win was overshadowing everything in that moment, so much so that the tigress didn‘t recognise the incoming wave. She only did so the moment the wave hit the combating students. From there on everything happened so fast.

Bartok fell and with him Al who slammed with heir combined weight against Ax and Vlithra, the former letting go of Vlithra‘s legs as they fell and the latter knocking the wind out of the tigresses sails as they hit.
As Vlithra fell backwards into the cold and salty water she gasped for air, swallowing quite a bit of salt water in the process. Her vision went blurry as the water swarmed her senses and she sank downwards to the ground.
Only after a brief moment in the sound damped depth of the water she would manage to twist around and orientate herself and resurface. Well at least try to resurface, her attempt to jump upwards from the ground was met with an ache that couldn‘t be described in words. Vlithra wanted to curse, scream, whatever would express this pain she was feeling, but couldn‘t. She needed air first.
Wincing and coughing she clawed her way to the surface as her legs ached more and more with the adrenaline wearing off and Ax‘s grip being gone.

Vlithra pulled herself out of the water on all fours as her legs collapsed as soon as she tried getting out of the water. This wasn‘t good at all. Her legs barely budged, leaving the tigress to pull herself the last bit of the way, coughing a few more times to get the last bits of water out of her lungs.
Exhausted she then rolls onto her back and laid there gasping for air. She failed to notice anything of what the others were doing and frankly she didn‘t care, she wanted at least a little bit of rest before doing anything else.

“Give me a few minutes, I‘ll be right with you guys.“ she‘d say to noone in particular, breathing heavily. The warm sun shined onto her still wet body as Vlithra moved an arm to shield her eyes from the light. She let out a bit of a frustrated groan that quickly formed into a growl as she did so. Was she annoyed by the sun blinding her? Or maybe she wasn‘t happy with the result of the match? Could have been both really.

She would lie there for multiple minutes before she calmed down and could move her legs again. Doing still hurt, but she was confident she could walk at the very least. Carefully she picked herself up from the ground, sand sticking to her entire backside as she carefully stood up and slowly and steadily walked back to the water to take a quick dip in it.
Having the sand quickly washed off her body and out of her hair, she slowly walks back to the benches. She carefully set one foot after another just to make sure she didn‘t trip or collapse again. She didn‘t want to show weakness, not like that at least. With a heavy sigh she would sit down on her bench again, pulling another bigger towel out of her bag to dry herself a bit.

[Carmine Crest]

Sure enough, only a few minutes after Carmine said it would be ending soon, the ending had came in the form of a wave crashing into the competitors and throwing them off balance and into one another in a rather painful ending for the game of chicken. Evergreen and Ciendra crashed into the other two as they fell back, no doubt increasing the impact they'd feel hitting the water and frankly speaking, Carmine wasn't entirely too sure who to call the winner since both of the teams were kinda falling at the same time. Technically he could say Evergreen's team won since they fell on top of the other two but the fact they had managed to crash into them meant they were falling faster...

Suppose whoever won didn't matter though as the two teams begun to emerge from the ocean, Ciendra coming out of the water first with a noticeable change to her attire, one that made Carmine thankful to have chosen to sit out of the game. The bandages that had once covered her face was gone and while the wet hair hid most of it, there was obviously something underneath, something that he chose to ignore as his eyes turned toward the next person to stand, Evergreen who was currently pulling up Ax.

What Carmine wasn't expecting however was for her bikini top to have been pulled down in the mess that allowed him to see more than he ever expected to see from the girl. Again his eyes turned away, this time underneath his mask a frown had formed and red dust was settling on his cheeks as he cursed himself. Part of him wondered if he should even bother looking at Vlithra but as his eyes scanned for what he hoped to be the fully clothed tigress, he realized she hadn't actually come out of the water just yet and some alarm begun to build up in him before he spotted her crawling out of the water.

His moment of relief was burned alive as he spotted Ciendra flying toward him with a trail of flames behind her, his eyes widening as time slowed down and he tripped over his own feet in an attempt to back away. Small flashes of a burning house appeared in his mind and he could've sworn he heard someone scream his name in that brief instance before he hit the ground, unable to control the shaking he felt as Ciendra hurriedly put back on her mask.

He was okay. Everything was okay. Carmine closed his eyes as he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and recollect himself only for his attempt to stop dead in it's track as Ciendra asked them what, likely because Erin had chosen to ensure her wellbeing or just a natural reaction to people seeing her scars. Regardless of her reasons, he couldn't stop himself from flinching and leaning away from the metal masked girl as he kept his eyes closed, unwilling to say anything for the time being. Things will be okay.

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin couldn't stop the smirk from spreading as she watched the two teams fall towards their doom. They both fell so she guessed it was technically a tie but she wasn't sure. Bartok and Al lost footing first but they didn't hit first. It didn't really matter though as it was just a friendly game.

Chaos ensued shortly after. Limbs were everywhere and people were popping up and out of the water all over the place. She blinked in surprise as she saw, in rapid succession, boob, Vlithra crawling weakly from the water, and some pretty gruesome scars on Al's face before she freaked out and launched herself from the water.

Next to her, Carmine skittered backwards a few steps before hitting the ground. Her semblance didn't offer her a look into people's emotions but she knew fear when it trembled next to her.

She was going to ignore everything she saw until Al snapped at her. Her tail bristled as anger flooded through her but before she could say anything a quick apology was offered and Al was off at the ice chest.

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and tried to calm down, she was afraid of the instability in her semblance today and didn't want to use it.

After a few deep breaths she turned her attention to Carmine. She wasn't sure what to say to him but she'd watched him have minor panic attacks at fire since she'd arrived and felt like she should say something. Pity was never the way to go and she certainly wasn't going to make a joke of it, so she offered him a hand. "Sorry for bumping into you." She lied with a sheepish grin. "Guess all the sand made it too hard to keep your footing, huh?" The reasoning wasn't the best but who was going to contradict her with what they were all dealing with.

[Al Ciendra]

Al was looking back to the others, Carmine had fallen from the bench for some reason but looked okay, Erin was helping him and Bartok along with Ax were doing things in the water.
Everyone seemed to be doing fine, everyone but Vlithra.
She looked exhausted and like she was in pain.

Al watched her stand up, she was struggling to do so, her walking also did not look super good.
Was that the strain her semblance put on her or was it something else ?
Al waited until Vlithra made her way over to the benches and sat down, she really did look exhausted.

Al got up and grabbed a soda from the ice box, the same kind of can she recalled being crushed against Bartok's head.

She walked back, standing in front of the bench Vlithra had sat down on and put the extra can on the bench, Al hesitated for just a second before she spoke up.
"Hey, I don't know if you want a drink but...you look like you could use one."
Al said this, hoping that it did not sound rude, but she just wanted to help Vlithra somehow, even though she did not know what would actually help Vlithra recover.

Al turned away from Vlithra again, taking a few steps back and sitting back on her bench.
Looking at Vlithra, Al realized how wet she still was....eh she didn't mind.
If she got cold she could always just snap her fingers and produce a campfire out of nowhere.

"Sooooo that game was fun, though it looks like it ended in a tie...so guess no one gets buried right ?"
Al asked into the group, chicken was fun but being buried for losing really did not sound fun.
"Hope it was fun to watch too ?"
Al turned to Carmine and Erin, she really did wonder how ridiculous that game looked from the spectator seat.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Even with Bartok being blind, and being blinded by something amazing that he had never before had the privelage of seeing, he still had great equilibrium. And, he really, really didn't like water in his ears. He arose laughing just as a wave of heat blasted the water and Al presumably went flying back to the beach. Well, looks like she didn't like water in her ears either. He couldn't help but keep laughing a little, the whole event fun to him. Such a tense thing to end with a tie and everyone tangled up. It was a fine ending in his mind.

He felt a wave of embrassement from Ax before she lowered herself back into the water, and he raised an eyebrow. Right, he had seen much more than Ax would have wanted or liked a man to see. She would have prefered girls to show that off to girls, not guys. "I, uh, didn't get too much of a look." Bartok half-lied to her. It was a good look, but it was so fast that he hardly stuck.

Vlithra emerged, tired, and slowly made her way back to shore. He heard Al's shout and couldn't help but frown. It didn't last long as she apologized, but she had snapped at Erin, and he didn't quite approve of that. Then something wet and heavy stuck to his shoulder and Bartok peeled it off. It was like wet cloth, but more porous, and some tape that had lost it's adhesive stukc off of it... "Bandages?" He asked outloud. "Hey, are these bandages?" He asked, holding them out towards Ax to verify.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax didn't need a whole lot of time to get her bearings, so when she noticed the way Vlithra was struggling to surface it immediately became her most pressing concern. Someone potentially drowning because of an injury was pretty much a worst-case scenario. Life-and-death situations were something they all needed to be prepared for - Aura couldn't save them from suffocating or drowning! Ax frantically started trying to trudge through the water and sand over to Vlithra. Thankfully, it seemed the tigress had her situation under control; Ax didn't get very far before Vlithra reached shallow enough water to surface and breathe despite her apparent pain. Ax let out a relieved sigh.

She wasn't really close enough to get a great impression of Vlithra's emotional state... the best she figured was that Vlithra was maybe feeling generally negative at the moment. Ax was feeling a little bit overstimulated in general, now that she was thinking about it... maybe she was picking up some of that feeling from the tigress? When Vlithra spoke up and offered some general reassurance, the fatigue and stress in her voice after gasping for air made her sound a bit strained. Given that it seemed no one was racing to check on her or anything, her words came off a little like sarcasm or bitterness. It was easy for Ax to feel guilty and partially responsible for her current state, but she uneasily turned away despite her growing desire for reassurance. While Ax's instinct was to want to help or do something to resolve her unease and guilt, she ended up deciding that it might have been best to respect Vlithra's boundaries. Hopefully if she needed help with whatever was going on with her legs, she'd ask for it.

Ax caught herself frowning. She had been hoping everyone would feel a little more connected after the game, but with two of the earlier participants having been in such a clear hurry to reach the shore, things just felt somehow more disconnected than before. She tried to look less concerned as she turned to face Bartok, flattening her expression into something a little more neutral in an effort to control her own mood and prevent unwanted emotional projections. Bartok seemed pretty happy, given what had happened... the thought made her cheeks flush. Of course he was laughing and having a great time. Most guys in his position probably would have been!

"I'm over it," Ax replied quickly and dismissively. She clearly was not over it, but she was trying very hard to be. She followed at a slight distance behind Bartok back to shore, more or less stuck in her own head up until Bartok seemed to notice something odd. Her expression slowly shifted into uncertainty as she tried to puzzle out what she was looking at. Old cloth? Jock strap? "Bandages?" Whatever it was, it was pretty gross. She wouldn't have wanted some stranger's bandage or jock strap on her- Oh.

Ax got it now. Her head sharply turned over toward the shore, scanning for Al.

"Ah, shit..." Ax lamented beneath her breath, her shoulders slumping. "Guess that'd explain where she bolted off to. Those must've been Al's," Ax frowned again, looking ahead.

She hadn't caught any of the verbal exchange between Al and the others on the shore and she was too far away for her semblance to really work reliably still. It looked like Al was okay? She was really quick to grab her mask again. The firestarter seemed more worried for Vlithra than herself at the moment. Ax wasn't really sure what to do.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Vlithra used her towel one more time to go over her face and hair, and after that, would let it rest on her shoulders. Now dry and being at least a bit less exhausted, the tigress could finally take in her surroundings again. Almost immediately she noticed the rather glum mood surrounding the place. Did something happen? Vlithra looked a bit perplexed as she really wasn‘t able to pay attention between trying to catch her breath and getting to her bench safe and sound. It is after one more deep breath of fresh air that she then noticed Al standing in front of her and putting down a can of soda next to her, the same kind she drank before. A smile formed on her face as she slowly took the can.

“Aye. Thanks a lot Al.“ She said as she quickly opened the can, lifted it up shortly as if to toast and immediately downed half of the beverage in one go. That certainly hit the spot. Speaking of which, Vlithra wouldn‘t mind having a comfy and cozy spot to nap in right about now, which she didn‘t dare utter into words, at least not yet. And besides, her body was still a bit wet from the water.

A tie? And here Vlithra thought she and Ax had lost. Guess that wave put both teams out of commission when it crashed into them. Vlithra would have figured that Bartok and Al would have found a way to stay stable in the water. Or maybe she was overthinking things like usual. Whatever, it didn‘t matter since it seemed like noone was getting buried in sand today. Lucky Bartok.

“I guess so.“ Vlithra answered Al‘s question first. “I certainly had fun. You guys put up an amazing fight.“ she‘d continue with a satisfied smile. This was no lie. Vlithra really had problems finishing the fight and while she mostly blamed her own legs and lack of foresight on the result only being a tie, what mattered was that she and the others enjoyed themselves. And if there was one thing Vlithra enjoyed it was a good challange.

Still she had to wonder how things would have gone differently if she didn‘t have problems with her legs. Even more so she wondered how well she could fare against Al in actual combat. Wait why was she even thinking about that? There was this feeling that somehow she had to get even with the fiery wolf. Why did this feel like a loss to Vlithra despite clearly being a tie as she said? Vlithra really couldn‘t find an aswer to all of those quesitons and dismissed those thoughts for now.
It seemed that her mother‘s more than just belligerent nature had really rubbed off on her over the years.

[Carmine Crest]

Deep breath through the nose, count to three, exhale through the mouth, count to three and repeat. Focus on the counting and the breathing, nothing else matters because everything is okay. Eyes closed and cut from the world around, Carmine was lost in his own calming exercise until Erin's voice broke him from his trance, his eyes quickly snapping open to stare up at the girl offering her hand while apologizing for knocking him over. He doubted she'd have miss his reaction to the fire by now and this excuse seemed to be a way to help him without acknowledging the obvious fear he hadn't fully shaken yet.

Biting down on his tongue, he'd wordlessly take her hand and allow her to help him up, his eyes immediately looking for Ciendra and finding her tending to Vlithra. She didn't seem to care that her semblance was having such an effect on him. Tearing his eyes away from the one eyed girl, he'd turn his attention back to Erin. "Thank you." Carmine's gratitude wasn't quite clear with how empty those words sounded, although he wasn't entirely sure if he was grateful for Erin's help or not. He didn't need her pity but he had to admit, it was nice to have somebody at least notice him.

His eyes turned back out to the ocean to where Evergreen and Ax were speaking before sliding over toward Ciendra and Qing Long resting and speaking with one another before Ciendra asked the two spectators for their opinion on the game of chicken. "It was interesting." Carmine's answer came in an almost monotone voice as his eyes turned away from the two resting faunus back out to the group in the water still. "Why are they still out there...?" Carmine would wonder out loud, part of him actually curious why they hadn't returned yet.

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin waited patiently, with a touch of concern, while Carmine refocused his breathing. She wasn't sure if she should say more to him or not, but she ultimately decided not to say anything else. If she were in his shoes - clearly freaked out by fire and being cared for by a stranger - she would be upset. Pity didn't help anyone. And pity wasn't what she was going for, she didn't pity him. She was mostly just concerned with him saving face among near-strangers, especially in a setting where he was already the odd man out in more ways than one.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered what the others were up to but she decided to ignore it. She was still a little miffed at being snapped at, and she usually didn't take things like that laying down, but she was trying to be on her best behaviour for Bartok. He was making friends and she wasn't about to ruin it.

Carmine finally took her hand and offered a bland thanks. She nodded once and gave a small shrug. She wanted to tell him she was there if he needed an escape or shield or something he could signal her, but that would come off condescending no matter her intention so she ended up saying, "Think nothing of it."

Erin considered her thoughts on the fight and gave a crooked grin, "It was interesting. I always like how plans end up out the window in games of water chicken."

[Al Ciendra]

Al felt some weight drop of her chest, Vlithra was alright even after having pushed herself this much, she was even smiling, guess this tiger was just too tough to get down by something like this.
Al herself had to smile, Vlithra really was pretty cool, even though she was a little scary sometimes.
Al also wondered how the fight would have gone had Vlithra been in better shape, but eh.
She was not gonna try a chicken game again anytime soon, she really was not made for this.
"Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."

Either way, now that her first worry was lifted Al's mind focused back on the big issue, especially as she heard what came from the water and looked over.
She saw Bartok holding bandages, her bandages.
Al immidiatly felt a wave of discomfort as Ax looked towards her.
Did she see ?
No, the last person she wanted to have gotten a look at her face was Ax,



Al's ears flattened to the top of her head as she tensed up.
She sat back on the bench opposite to Vlithra, not wanting to disturb the resting faunus.
She shouldn't panic, not here.
This would drag the mood down even further, but she just could not shake this worry.
Al focused on her own drink again, emptying it quickly and putting it aside.

Maybe she should confront Ax, away from everyone else ?
...that thought alone made her even more nervous.
But it was probably the best idea to keep a good mood and low profile.

Al got up and went to the waters edge, waiting till Ax was out of the water, she did not pay attention to Bartok...it was impossible to hide this conversation from him anyway.
"Ax, d-did you s-see..."
This was a stupid question, but she had to ask or this nervousness just would not go away, she gulped and put together her last bit of courage.
"Did you see my face ?"
There, she asked her, she already felt a little better, now she just hoped Ax had not seen anything.

[Ax L Rose]

She turned her head to look over at Bartok before motioning with a little nod of her head for him to go on ahead. Then she remembered the reason he'd held out the bandages in the first place. Right, dude was blind. How did she keep forgetting that?

"She uh, looks okay at least," Ax hastily added.

"She's... socializing? Grabbed her mask. Soooo, no harm done I guess?" she shrugged lightly, only to raise her hands and press her thumbs to her temples. She felt like she needed a cigarette. She turned her head to look over at the little fold-out chair where she'd left her things and started to trudge through the last of the shallow water on the shore. She shivered now that she was out on dry land - had she forgotten her towel? She'd forgotten her towel. What a day! Had she left it back with her bike? She couldn't remember... whatever. She shook her arms out and arched her back, reaching back to adjust her twitchy wet tailfeathers on her lower back. She then marched ahead, intending to go check her scroll, but was soon greeted by a woman in a metal mask just as she started to wring some of the extra water out of her long pink ponytail.

"Ax, d-did you s-see..."

Ax's eyebrows knit together in concern. She could easily tell that Al was on edge thanks to her semblance. Ax hadn't seen underneath the bandages, but... would it really have been the end of the world if she had? Ax raised her left hand, her fingers curling around the smooth metal base of her cybernetic limb, where flesh met steel. She let out a little sigh and gently shook her head.

"Come on, okay? You're beautiful. You have nothing to be insecure about," Ax insisted, reaching out to rest her real hand on the wolf's shoulder. Ax then stepped past and moved over a short distance away, stopping to languidly bend down and pick up her shorts from the chair.

"...wish I hadn't forgotten my fuckin' towel," Ax muttered to herself as she straightened up to yank her scroll out of her shorts. She straightened up, scroll in one hand, shorts in the other, and looked back over at Al.

"You're okay, right? Didn't get hurt or anything?" Ax asked a second later. She probably should've asked that first, she belatedly realized.

[Bartok Evergreen]

When Ax said that the bandages must have been Al's, his heart went out to the girl. He knew that she was very insecure about whatever her face looked like, most girls did, but Al actually had a reason to. Or, so she believed. Bartok may have been blind, but you could tell by the way he dressed that he understood the value of appearance. Men generally didn't care about their appearance anywhere to the degree women did, Bartok probably the outlier in that instance.

Ax eventually gave updates on Al, telling him what she could see her doing. Bartok could hear well enough, but you'd be surprised what the small sounds of water and waves could do to your hearing. He tried to tune it out, but Ax's explaination was more than enough.

Bartok felt like he needed a fix of something, something habitual, but he couldn't figure out what. He never had something that felt like that, no habit that fed upon itself like that. Then he remembered about Ax's semblance and ignored it. She must be into something that was not good for her. He followed her to shore, wondering what Erin thought of the whole thing and how he had not really spent time with her as much as he should have been. Then Al ran up, all worried about if Ax had seen her face. Why was she worried about Ax seeing her? Why not Vlithra or Erin or Carmine? That was odd, but Ax gave a good response.

When Ax stepped away, Bartok wrapped his arms around Al from behind, trapping her arms at her side, and lifted her into the air, one large ear pressed to her back. He shook her a little as he kept walking back towards the rest of the group. "You did so good Al! Well done! If I hadn't misstepped, I'm sure you would have won us the victory!"

He then turned his head to where he had known Erin to be last by the sound of her voice and asked, "So! How'd we do, Erin? Is anybody getting burried?"

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Vlithra‘s gaze went around multiple times trying to figure out the mood that currently was dampening this party a bit. Something definetly happened with Al before she arrived, as evident of her ears flattening to the head. Despite this the tigress felt it was out of tact to ask about it, at least now. Her eyes went back and forth between Al, Carmine and Erin trying to figure out for herself what it could have been to drag the mood down so much.

Until Al got up and went towards where Ax and Bartok still were. Vlithra squinted her own eyes as she looked to where the two were, a few sparks dancing around her as she slowly sipped at her drink. It would have been a lie to say that she didn‘t wonder what the two of them were still doing there, so she found it sort of suspicious at first.

Vlithra decided that she‘d remain at her bench for the time being and soon found herself staring at the lid of her soda can. The feeling of a cool and fresh beverage down her thoat only soothed the pain that was running thorugh her legs seconds ago. That feeling of recovery, her strength returning, it was... satisfying. The tigress lived for that. Knowing that exhausting and pushing yourself meant your body got stronger afterwards felt great. To her at least, saying it like that would make her sound like a muscle freak of some kind.

As her gaze returned to where Al, Ax and Bartok were she almost felt the need to spit out her drink as the blind bat suddenly picked the wolf girl up. The guy really had no feel for the mood, or was trying way to hard to light the mood back up. Vlithra refrained form commenting on it. She then crossed her legs, leaned back and took another sip from her beverage waiting for Erin to answer Bartok‘s question. She would have answered herself if it weren‘t for the fact that Bartok barely got to talk to his ‘childhood friend‘ so far.

[Erin Cherrywood]

((Just trying to come up with a way for Carmine to leave without doing too much as him.))

Erin stood awkwardly next to Carmine who was facing towards Al again; it was clear that something about the way she threw fire around upset him. She wasn't even using her semblance anymore but the tension was clear to anyone close enough to see how rigid he'd gotten. Her best guess was that Carmine was weighing the chances of flames coming to life again. She couldn't see his face, with the mask and all, but he still seemed exhausted. Tilting her head she waited for him to say something; part of it was not wanting to be thrust into the fray with everyone else again and part of it was her genuine concern for him. If she knew him better she would have called attention to it, but she didn't know him and she knew it would be wrong of her to say anything if he didn't. After a few seconds of silence his mind was made up and he excused himself under the guise of having a meeting with someone else he needed to get ready for. She would explain for him so he could make a quiet escape. Her tail drooped as she watched him walk away, she couldn't imagine feeling so uncomfortable - or unsafe - that she would have to leave early...

She heard Ax complain about not bringing a towel and was about to ask if she wanted to use hers when Bartok grabbed Al and started walking towards the group with her. A wave of emotions slammed into her in a rush - anger, jealousy, concern, hostility, and finally dismissive - before she could comprehend what he was asking her. Closing her eyes she folded her arms across her chest and replayed the battle in her mind. "I don't really think anyone had a clear win and there were a lot of sloppy moves on both ends..." Chewing on her lip she frowned; the rules said someone needed buried but neither team had a real win. "I don't really think there could be a fair call here." She admitted opening her eyes again before finding a place next to the drinks. "I guess I could take the hit so no one feels cheated." She offered with a wrinkle of the nose.

[Al Ciendra]

So much happened in such a short amount of time, Ax had just casually brushed away all her worries, with a comment that made her smile under her mask and her heart beat faster.
Al wanted to form some sort of reply but as she turned to Ax, she saw a sight that made her cheeks take on the same color of her cloak, her ears stood up straight and she was a bit too fixed on what she saw to really notice Bartok.

Al yelped as she could feel Bartoks arm's lock around her stomach, she tried to push him way but her arms were pinned and Bartok was a bit to close for comfart with his body so close to hers while both of them were half naked in their beach attire, or rather the lack there of.
Her face was beet red and she was screaming internally just staring down at Bartok and Erin who she was being displayed proudly too.
Al finally gathered a few thoughts, she did not mind Bartok being affectionate and nice to her but not in this way and especially not in this situation.
"Bartok, th-thank you but please let me down. I don't mind hugs but...y-yeah."
Al wiggled a little in his grip hoping she'd get her point across and that she would be freed without getting physical, which she would really like to avoid.

[Ax L Rose]

"You're okay, right? Didn't-"

Ax looked over to see that no one was there anymore. Bartok was quite literally dragging Al away, singing praises to the little firestarter and marching off toward Erin. Ax's lips drew to the side of her face. Well, alright, apparently Bartok and Al were... pretty close? She clipped her sentence and let it go. Whatever.

Ax took the opportunity to briefly go through her pockets and everything again to make sure she didn't misplace anything important. Now reasonably confident about that much, she decided now was as good a time as any to have a cigarette. She'd make it quick and rejoin the others, assuming the vibe was still alright. Hadn't someone else been there earlier, though? Where was Mr. Mask now? Was the party already falling apart?

Ax decided not to worry too much about it. She could always just bail if it got weird or uncomfortable. She slowly stepped over toward the others, pulling out a cigarette from a pack and placing it between her lips. She rose her metal hand and shook it out, trying to dry off her fingers a bit before she willed power to the tip of her thumb. It glowed white-hot, steaming a little before she placed it to the tip of her cigarette and lit it up. The moment she breathed in smoke, she felt a little better than before. What wasn't there to love? There was a nice cool ocean breeze, the calming sound of the water... the sun was already drying her up, it felt like. She had been shivery a little at first, but she was acclimating to the air again fast. She paused to pull her shorts back on despite still being a little wet, but lingered at the edges of the group so as to not bother anyone with her cigarette smoke.

The vibe of the group was within reach from where Ax stood, and it was a tangley mess. Someone in the mix had a dark mood. Ax wrinkled her nose a little at Erin's suggestion. She didn't like the idea, but she wasn't exactly sure it was her place to say so. She had no idea what the friendship dynamics at play here really were, and she wasn't exactly willing to start trying to pick it apart.

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok's ears stood even straighter at Erin's tale of the battle. "Really? Well darn. How sloppy was I? I was probably the sloppiest of the two of us." He turned his head towards Al as she spoke and wiggled in his arms. Per her request, he set her back down with a satisfying 'plop' and let her go before turning back to Erin. "I don't think burrying you would be fair. You were the judge, and the winning team was supposed to choose. If no one won, no one gets the reward. Your sweater can remain on and clean." Bartok started to turn his head away but whipped it back. "Unless~..." He said in a whispered voice while wiggling his eyebrows. After whatever her response would be, he would turn back to everyone.

Something needed to unify the group, he could feel it. Carmine already left, he could hear him walking away even though he would normally be out of sight. He clapped his hands together loudly. "Alright! Next activity!" He pointed a finger gun at the masked wolf faunus. "Al! we're going to need a fire for us to sit around. Vlithra! Ax!" He turned and pointed a finger gun at each of them. "We need seats arranged in a circle around the fire. Erin!" He whipped back to her with both finger guns, 'shooting' them at her. "I need your mind on the good stuff. Time for some good ol' Truth or Dare!"

[Vlithra Qing Long]

For once, Vlithra could agree on something coming from Bartok. Burying Erin would just be plain unfair. In her head the tigress was wondering why Erin thought she would need to take the hit as she said. Seeing the blind bat wiggle his eyebrows at Erin Vlithra could only roll her eyes, still annoyed by the fact that Barotk didn‘t seem to be able to taken anything seriously.

This is when Vlithra noticed someone missing from the group. Wasn‘t there another guy around? She looked around for the pale mask she remebered seeing before, while sipping from her beverage. She wondered whether Carmine had just left the party, but couldn‘t ask herself long enough or comment about it before Bartok was up and shouting his next idea for this party. She wondered, now for what exactly would Bartok need seats around a fire? Good thing was this was just in time for Vlithra to regain strength in her legs again, so she should be able to carry a bench or a few chairs by herself.

Vlithra's eyebrows raised when she heard Bartok utter the name of the next activity. Truth or Dare. This was a very interesting choice he had there and while this kind of game could be amusing among friends, Vlithra wasn‘t exactly fond about the idea of playing it with strangers, people she had met just now. Knowing this, the wrong truth's and dares could easily be asked and if that happened, it could become a great problem. The tigress set her soda aside and pulled her towel from her shoulders.

“While that sounds interesting and all, I have a proposition to make for this.“ Vlithra said as she slowly stood up from her bench and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking into the round of people present. “Can we all agree that we won‘t adress any touchy subjects when it comes to this game? I‘m pretty sure we have a few people here who‘d rather not talk about certain things.“ The last thing Vlithra wanted for the atmosphere of this party was for it to turn bad, due to the wrong questions begin asked or people being reminded of their past. With people like herself and especially Al around it was easy to tread onto the wrong topics.

[Erin Cherrywood]

Erin groaned and rolled her eyes. She had to ask herself why she felt the need to show up to this party in the first place. Oh, right, at some point she had actually missed Bartok and his antics. At least she wasn't the one being picked up anymore, that was Al's problem.

"I mean you are the one who went face first into the cleavage of your opponent." She offered with a shrug, trying to sound uninvested.

As Bartok started barking orders for the next event she wrinkled her nose and started helping Vlithra rearrange the chairs for the new game. "I think that's fair. The game should be more about wacky shenanigans or stepping a little out of your comfort zone, not being horribly uncomfortable." Looking at the ground her tail drooped as she thought about Carmine leaving early. She couldn't help feeling like she failed him by not speaking out against what was obviously bothering him, but it wasn't her place to say anything he didn't want out in the open.

She looked towards Ax, working on her cigarette, but was suddenly distracted by a golden gleam. Her breath caught and she stood straight up as her tail switched rapidly behind her. Digging her nails into the back of the chair she was holding she fought every urge to leap at the shiny thing. Taking a shaky breath she realized it was some sort of headwear on a rather muscular man coming up on Ax.

[Pyry Ward]

Pyry couldn't help but be dazzled by the openness and safe feeling that surrounded Beacon and Vale. It was a stark contrast of his hometown and still made him feel a little uncomfortable. He had spent years honing his instincts to become the man who didn't miss anything but his constant vigilance made him stick out for all the wrong reasons on campus. For some reason the ladies were put off by his never-ending survalence.

"Oh well." He wasn't about to let a few girls put a damper on his mood. He'd just take the show on the road. The beach was the perfect place to meet girls and show off his bod.

He'd been scanning the sands for the right group to impose upon when he saw her. It was the musical faunus girl he kept seeing on his way to and from classes. He was also pretty sure they shared a class or two but he couldn't seem to get close enough to talk to her.

"Now's my chance to shine." Cracking his knuckles he ran a hand through his hair, adjusted his circlet, and jogged over to her. Sliding up next to her he grabbed the hand not holding the cigarette and smiled. "So, now that I've broken the ice why don't you ago ahead and tell me more about yourself?"

[Al Ciendra]

Al sighed in relief as she finally had somewhat solid ground under her feet again, she took a second to shake her head and righten her bikini a bit as she yet listened in on the conversation.
Truth or dare sounded fun, but she had some concerns about it, thats when Vlithra spoke up, yeah that summed up her problems with it pretty well.
Al turned to the tigress, showing her a small wordless nod before she herself got to the middle of the circle Erin and Vlithra had been making, she grabbed the still half full bag of coal from the grill and threw it all in the designated spot, in the middle of the chair circle.
Now, she could just throw in another fireball and ignite the coal that way, but she'd rather show of just a little and she had just the idea on how to do that.
Walking a few steps away from the fire and took a deep breath, extinding her arms to her side and leaning her head back.
Then she bowed down, her fist clenched and arms flexing as she exhaled a stream of fire from the slits of her mask, a hellish roar accompanied the display as with a "fwom!" sound the coals were ignited, a sizeable campfire was now in place.

Al looked around to see if anyone had paid any attention to her little display, but only saw that some new guy had arrived, some new really hot guy that was talking to Ax.
What was this guys deal and why was Erin just staring at him like a she was holding herself back from jumping at him ?
It was a little concerning, considering how the only person whos gut she did not seem to hate was Carmine, maybe Bartok ? Jury is still out on him.

Al took a few steps towards the raccoon girl and tapped her on her shoulder.
"Hey, do you know the new guy ?"
Al asked, pointing at him and trying to hear what he and Ax were talking about.

[Ax L Rose]

Ax stood with her hips cocked to the side, a lit cigarette held close to her face and between two of her metal fingers, her flesh-and-blood hand dangling at her side. She gently rolled her eyes at Bartok as she watched him in action. There was the kind of flirting people did to entice people, and then there was the kind of flirting that people engaged in to deliberately keep people at a distance... and Ax genuinely couldn't tell if Bartok knew the difference, just by watching him. Ax let out a sigh and nodded her head at Erin's dryly delivered comment.

"I was hoping no one noticed," Ax deadpanned, glancing over at Erin briefly only to avert her eyes a second later. At least no one had mentioned Ax's wardrobe malfunction. This wasn't really the kind of first impression she liked to make with people.

Ax gave Bartok a kind of incredulous, mildly annoyed look as he barked a command over to her. What did she look like, a dog? She shook her head gently, her eyes narrowing a little as she took a drag of her cigarette. She then raised a brow at the suggestion for the next group activity. She honestly... kind of liked the idea? The group could probably use a proper ice-breaker, so maybe if they had a good excuse to get talking they could find some common ground and the vibe could start to mellow out. And Truth or Dare could get fun in a way games like 'Two Truths and a Lie' didn't. She flicked away a bit of ash from the end of her smoke.

She turned her head to look over at the sexy tigress again as she spoke up, pursing her lips to the side a little at the concern she raised. Part of the fun of this kind of game was touchy subjects, but she could understand the concern. The game would be no fun if there wasn't an out for certain kinds of dares and certain kinds of questions. Ax also had no reason to figure that this game wouldn't also potentially be a disaster. Still, Ax had an idea. She was about to step forward and speak it when she caught Erin's eye. Erin was looking over in her direction... um... in a definitely different way than before. Ax definitely didn't mind the attention - Erin was really pretty, but...

It wasn't like Ax couldn't hear things, but the Beach wasn't empty and passersby were walking by here and there, so she didn't think anything of the footsteps somewhere behind her. Then Ax felt a hand touch hers, and without thinking she dropped her cigarette and snapped to attention. It all happened blindingly fast - she cut off Pyry's words of greeting abruptly and took advantage of the fact that he seemed to not expect physical retaliation in the slightest; she jerked his arm and pulled him with both hands into a practiced wristlock that would force the tall, broad-shouldered stranger to bend forward and off balance. Before he could even catch a breath, she just as quickly rotated backwards to bring the handsome blue-haired boy's cute ass down into the sand behind her. She fluidly shifted her footing and jerked his arm back and forward so that he was face down in the sand, her knee bent and locking his shoulder in place. It was a takedown she'd practiced more than a thousand times, and she'd ended up using it a surprising number of times since her return to Vale, and she knew to only ease up after she saw someone tap... usually.

With a little pressure she could really hurt him, even dislocate his shoulder if he didn't have phenomenal skills in hand-to-hand defense. But even if he was good, she could unleash a very excruciating voltage into him with her cybernetic arm to bite a nice scary chunk out of his aura. Fortunately for him, she quickly realized after looking down at him that she recognized him from somewhere. So he was a student of Beacon. Maybe even one of these other peoples' friend? She might've apologized if she thought it was possible he'd mistaken her for someone, but Ax knew herself to be quite the unique little snowflake. Too bad for this guy, actions had consequences. Someone needed to teach these boys to not touch without permission.

She eased up, pulling her knee back and off his arm.

"...you can look, but don't touch," Ax warned coolly, straightening up, letting go, and backing off. She then cursed when she saw her dropped cigarette in the sand a few feet away. She stepped over to pick it up, less than enthusiastic at the idea of some poor critter swallowing a cigarette butt.

"...stars. Made me drop my cigarette..." Ax trailed off, muttering another curse beneath her breath. Well, she had been about to suggest a way to approach the game that might help reassure Vlithra and keep things fun, but now her whole train of thought was thrown off. She smushed out the end of her cigarette before turning to look first over at the man she'd just taken down, and then the others who'd gotten to see her do it. That'd been a neat little rush of adrenaline. People - particularly boys - really needed to stop surprising her like this!

[Bartok Evergreen]

Bartok was wholly on Erin's side here. The point was to sorta poke and prod at the comfort zone. However, with someone as touchy as Ax and Al with her mask... Sure, there could be boundaries. But what would be a good way to set those? A blanket rule could stop some people from being asked a question that would be fine for them and not for others, bringing down the fun. A system that could work on an individual level, something like a penalty for not-

Woah! Bartok took a step back from the roaring fire breath coming from Al. He couldn't see the flames except for a dim orangeness blob, but the heat was impressive. He would look to her and hold a thumbs up. "Impressive display! I like it! Good work!" He praised her before...

Bartok's attention was taken from him, one large ear rotating like a satellite over towards Ax. There was someone walking on the sand, well, a lot of people were walking by. But this one, and by the heavy sounds of his footsteps on sand it was a male, a large one at that, wasn't deviating from the group. He was heading straight for Ax, where he could hear the drag of her cigarette.

"Now's my chance to shine" He had said before starting his course, Bartok had heard it. Oh no. A man? Chance to shine? Heading over to Ax? Bartok had made this mistake before, but this guy didn't seem like the type to play the guitar under a tree for a first impression. He was going to make a move on her.

Bartok turned and raised his hand in warning. Not to Ax, but the man. "Hey, don't tou-" Bartok was cut off by the sound of fast movement and with Bartok's excelletent hearing, he could hear some of the man's inner machinery being moved and pushed in a way that it shouldn't be. Oh dear...

Bartok quickly ran over to them as Ax released his arm, warning him not to touch her. "Thank you for releasing the poor man who thought you a pretty bird, Ax." He would say to her with a smile and a nod before leaning down to the man, offering a hand to help him up. "You chose the exactly wrong girl to try that with man!" He said with a chuckle. "I honestly thought she might take your arm out of it's socket."

[Vlithra Qing Long]

It seemed like Vlithra proposal was met with approval by the others. Especially Al and Erin both seemed to agree. Al even indicated it with a wordless nod that somehow found a way to convey more than words could have in that situation, before the wolf girl then created a fire where Vlithra assembled the circle of seats. But the way she did… it was… an awesome display. As if to breathe fire, the flames shot through the slits of the metal mask like flame leaving the muzzle of a flamethrower of sorts. Now that… is how you make a fire.

Now as for Erin, the racoon girl went suddenly from seemingly sad to unusually excited. Such a lively reaction from a person that had been withholding the entire time so far made Vlithra raise an eyebrow at her, only to follow her gaze back to the shiny thing she was looking at in the distance.

Vlithra squinted her eyes looking over to it. Was that a leaf circlet… in gold nonetheless? Someone really intended to stand out from a crowd wearing something like this. The man in question was a bit on the bulkier side and approached Ax in a confident manner that in some way reminded Vlithra of Bartok‘s attitude, something she wasn‘t particularly fond of already. She saw the guys intention to score with the ladies, hell he was almost literally wearing it, and the moment he reached for Ax‘s hand, the bird faunus dropping her cigar in th eprocess, Vlithra knew this wasn‘t going to go well.

However the tigress never really thought to witness the murder of a flirt attempt happening so fast in front of her. Ax did a wristlock followed by a takedown so quickly and in such a fluent motion, the movement had to be embedded into the users brain to be pulled off this way. Vlithra was impressed, her mouth hanging a bit open as her amazed expression slowly turned into an amused laugh. Hot damn that was cool.

“No idea who the guy is, but that… was slick.“ Vlithra said as if to add to Al‘s question, pointing to Ax and the guy she just took down. She couldn't really feel bad for him, as Vlithra would have probably reacted in a similar fashion if she were in Ax's place, except with a more straight forward delivery of pain instead of the martial masterwork Ax had demonstrated just now.

[Erin Cherrywood]

Somewhere in the back of Erin's attention she registered Al's fire display and couldn't stop the nagging disapproval from rising. She'd never understand people who needed so much to be the center of attention that they would just fire off semblances without a care about how it might affect others. Her nose wrinkled as she remembered how displays like that had chased away Carmine, then she shook the thought away; who was she to judge others? Just because she didn't like being in the limelight didn't mean others didn't and they should enjoy it. If she didn't like it she would look away.

Away.

Away at the glittering circlet rapidly making its way closer. To Ax.

Al tapped her shoulder and she jumped in shock, her hands clutching at her chest. Shaking her head again she let out a shaky breath. "Oh, uh, n-no. I don't know him. I just-" She turned her head to face AL and gave an awkward smile before looking back at Ax who was flipping the man.

"Excuse me." She mumbled before running towards the Ax and the new guy. All she wanted was the damn circlet. Rushing past Bartok she dropped to her knees and slid up to the guy, hands reaching for the circlet.