From Rough to Chuff [Private w/ Nata Rainwalts] [Mature]

[Vlithra Qing Long]

The sky was orange on this saturday evening, dusk was setting over the city of Vale. The sun was casting shadows into the alleyways of Vale as it began vanishing on the horizon to herald the coming night. Soon the streetlights would turn on to be the only thing left to illuminate the streets of the Residental District of the city. Soon the streets would fill with party goers of all shapes and sizes that would make their way to the local clubs and bars to have a good time. And yet, there were some who weren‘t up to go to any parties, not of the ordinary kind at least. The shadow cast alleys could occupy some of Vale‘s most dastardly gangs and criminals at times and today this wasn‘t going to be different.

In this case there were three runts, basic street thugs of a local street gang, huddled against the wall of a backalley. This portion of the alley had enough space for kids to play football during the day with a few piles of crates stacked near the walls here and there. The thugs weren‘t much of an opposition, rather lean with no muscle and clearly intimidated by the figure towering above them. That figure being Vlithra Qing Long, a 1st year student at Beacon who was no stranger to this sort of scenario. The tigress stared the three of them down, eyes focused on a canister of dust one of them was trying to hide behind his back.

Vlithra herself was wearing her signature outfit, an appearance that made her look like she was in some way a big shot of a syndicate and made her radiate both an unnerving as well as a powerful presence. Studded boots and gloves, black suit pants with the green climbing tiger motive, a black shirt blending together with her signature vest and lastly her jacket, loosely hanging from her shoulder as it always did. She was out on business, and business meant she had her weapons with her fastly secured to her chain belt. The thugs on the other hand weren‘t anything special. Just some goons that managed to steal a canister of dust from under the nose of an old shopkeep.

“Alright guys, how about you make it easy for all of us and hand over the canister. An old man has gotta make a living and he can‘t do that if some good for nothings steal his product.“ Vlithra exclaimed as she held out her hand, beckoning them to just throw the canister to her, while her other hand rested on the hilt of her trusted blade. The thugs hesitate to weigh their options. “Unless you don‘t want to make a living either? Pretty sure it would be difficult to do in the hospital… or in a cell.“

“F-fine.“ The leading thug answered after a long pause. He apparently didn‘t want to try his luck any further than he already did and threw the canister to the tigress, who caught it with ease, a grin forming on her face. “Just… just don‘t do anything to us!“

Vlithra wasted a look on the canister to deduce its contents. A blue gauge signalized that it was filled with ice dust, one of Vlithra‘s preferred types to use. Maybe she should take some for herself? That‘d be wrong in all kinds of ways. She shook her head at both the thought and the reaction of the thug as she fixated the canister to her chain belt. She cracked her knuckles, the implication terrifying the thugs as she stepped closer. “Now now. I can‘t just let you go, can I?“

[Nata Rainwalts]

Usually, Nata would spend most of her weekends staying inside and playing video games or hanging out with her friends. However, ever since the homework incident, most of her belongings were destroyed, including a rather expensive console that she had saved up for. Also from that incident, Nata wasn’t all that popular with the kids around school. With no other options, the White Tiger had came up with a new hobby to occupy herself from the boredom of having nothing to do: Exercising.

This particular day, Nata felt like having a break from the usual gym equipment. Wearing her normal attire, a simple long-sleeve ocean blue tee with both sleeves rolled up to just past her elbows and a pair of dark cargo pants and boots to match, the girl took a leisure stroll down the night street of Vale, a pair of ear plugs playing her favorite song, bobbing her head along to the music. In her hand was a cotton candy flavored energy drink she carried, occasionally taking a sip from the can during her walk.

Though Nata was zoning herself out from the city around her, often when crossing an alleyway, she still had the habit of checking down each and everyone one of them; simply muscle memories from her youth. Occasionally, she might see a few kids playing in one, small group of youngsters hanging out, Nothing out of the ordinary. However, coming across one hallway, she noticed something else rather peculiar. Looming over three scrawny looking men was a tall girl, dressed in a getup somewhat familiar to the white Faunus. Stopped on her track and took off her earbuds, Nata got a little closer, hiding behind a few stacked cardboard boxes to listen in on them.

Trying to drown out the night street behind her, Nata could barely make out a few words being said. Something about dust, an old man, stolen… That’s all the context she needed.

“Hey!” Chugging the rest of her energy drinks, the Tiger threw the empty can toward the woman and loudly announced herself, blocking the alleyway exit, both hands stuck inside her pant's pocket. “How about you hand that stolen dust over and get the hell out of here!?” Barking a demand, the Faunus tapped her boots lightly, her voice almost lowered to a growl. Taking a few steps up until she’s face to face with the woman, almost a head taller than she was, though the size barely intimidated Nata. She’d fought bigger people before.

“Or do you lots fancy a beating? Been a while since I’ve gotten my hand dirty punching down assholes and bitches like you.” The threat was spoken low and clear. Hidden away, Nata had both hands clenched tight, ready to throw a punch in response if each of them so much as to move a muscle.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

“Hey!“ A loud voice announced itsself, cutting through the alley as the tigress was almost about to get up in the thugs face.

Vlithra wanted to turn her head towards where the voice originated, but her gaze instead fell first onto the can that hit her shoulder and bounced off of her, now rolling on the floor away from her. When she finally did look to the voices origin she was met by a girl making her way towards her. So these thugs did have some backup after all?, Vlithra had to wonder, but quickly realized this was not the case at all. The girl quickly demanded for the stolen dust to be handed over as she came closer to stand with Vlithra face to face. As she did, Vlithra turned her body a step towards her direction, so that she could both face the newcomer and the thugs she was about to apprehend. The tigresses gaze narrowed, judging the girl in her entirety. She was a faunus, clearly shorter than Vlithra herself, her casual appearance confirming to her that she must have been out and about and stumbled upon this here scene on coincidence. At least that‘s what she was thinking at the moment, she couldn't be sure.

It didn‘t take another moment for the unknown girl to utter a threat towards the tigress and the thugs. She was crystal clear in both her intention and… unfortunately… judgement of the situation at hand. She was thinking that Vlithra was a criminal, right? Of course that was nothing new to her, as her outfit doesn't really let on anything else. And the way she acted and all, it was clear that she was willing to throw down at the smallest hint of resistance. The tigress had to let out an annoyed sigh. The insult she wasn‘t going to let slide aside, she definetly wasn‘t going to give up the canister because some random chick came in and demanded it. Maybe she should chance the fight? Vlithra felt confident and her posture showed it, while the thugs were cowering and afraid to be caught in the crossfire of these scary ladies facing off.

“Threaten me with a good time. That‘s some fighting words, little gal. You wanna back ‘em up, or are you just going to keep your fists down?“ Vlithra exlcaimed, clearly not intimidated by the newcomer and her brash, but confident entrance. She was practically daring the girl to take a shot at her and grinned devilishly, her eyes and stripes flaring up as green static started to crackle around the tigress. To hell with the thugs if they escaped, she had reclaimed the canister so the only thing left was to clear up this situation that had developed and make sure it got back to the shop it originated from. And if Vlithra could get a decent fight in while doing it, then the day was well spent already.

[Nata Rainwalts]

True to what she had expected, the big girl wasn’t going to back down. What more, it seemed like she got quite a few tricks up her sleeves, how her eyes and stripes along her body began glowing in green energy. That means she won’t need to pull back any punches. Not to mention, were those stripes? Another tiger just entered the block and started squaring up? Now, her hands were definitely tied. It could have gone so much easier if the girl would just comply and hand her the canister, but between the taunts and her cocky demeanor, Nata’s about to turn a tiger into a little kitty. If a beatdown was what she wanted, it’s exactly what she’ll get.

“Alright, you ask for it.” Without any hesitation, the White Tiger lunged forward, throwing the first punch toward her opponent’s guts with another consecutive punch aimed toward the kidney. For someone who’s so well versed in street fights, Nata’s stance was rather poor, lacking any good structure or integrity, allowing her opponent to sweep her off her feet at any time. Following up with the first punches, Nata dug her nails deep into the other tiger’s collar and belt for a hip toss. And if the girl hit the ground, a punch straight to the face to sweeten the deal. The good ol’ reliable one two combo that had striked so much fear into the bullies where she lived.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Vlithra had expected her opponent to go straight for her face. After all why wouldn‘t she after all those taunts she threw at her. But no. Her speech being the only thing to announce her attack the opposing tiger landed hits on both Vlithras gut and kidney each. Frankly the punches stung, but nothing the tigress couldn‘t take. She didn‘t get any breathing room afterwards as she was quickly grabbed by her smaller opponent and hip tossed to the ground beneath. This time Vlithra could brace herself so she didn‘t get the wind knocked out of her immediately. And now, her opponent went straight for the face and Vlithra didn‘t hesitate…

The fist was caught by the tigress, right before it hit her face. Her grip was strong to make it impossible for her opponent to pull their arm back. She smiled just as devilish as she did before, as if she had waited for this. The thugs have used this opportunity to scram, before they could somehow be dragged into the fight itsself.

“So you can throw a punch after all.“ The tigress exclaimed with a raised eyebrow as she moved the arm aside to look past the blocked fist and meet her opponents gaze. Vlithra then grabbed her opponents arm and kicked her lower body off the ground to grab her opponents head between her legs and let the weight pull her down. She could probably end the fight right there, but that wouldn‘t be any fun, now would it? As soon as her opponent hit the ground she released the hold to get up herself and let her opponent get to her feet as well. She uses this short pause to evaluate her as she assumed her own fighting stance, unassuming but terrifyingly strong, she wouldn‘t be brought to the ground as easily again. The girl herself had a rather sloppy stance and there she saw the opening.

“Now… it‘s my turn.“ Vlithra exclaimed wiht almost scary seriousness before her stripes flared up and green lightning crackled around her with stormlike intensity, causing a wave of air to go outward from her, dusting off her jacket and blowing wind into her enemies face. The tigress then lunged forward with a combination of strong and fast punches to the enemies face. Her technique refined to pull as much power and speed from her movements as possible. Powerful, but predictable they are easily dodged if you were competent enough. However they served more as a distraction for Vlithra so she could sweep the girls leg with her own. With her opponent on the ground she winds up for another punch, this time going straight for the chest.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The final punch to the face caught by the other girl got an eyebrow raised from Nata. Most of the people she fought with on the street usually took it on the chin. Rarely did it ever get countered. However, when Nata saw the smug grin on her opponent’s face and heard the taunts continued, the expression furrowed into a deeper scowl, looking more annoyed and ticked off than before. Even more so when she got distracted and let herself get grappled and dragged down to the ground just like her opponent was. But rather than taking the fight on the ground, Nata was let go. This girl is toying with her!

That did it. Be damn with keeping peace and serving justice, now this got personal. The tiger got off the ground herself, bringing up both arms into a fighting pose and bearing her white fangs as she ran toward her adversary with all she got. The air blowing in her face made her eyes watered a little, making it hard to see the heavy fist coming in contact with the face. However, it was slow, and with a quick step backward, Nata immediately stopped her advance to cause the attack to miss. She didn’t see the leg sweep, however, as the White Tiger got taken down to the ground in a clean sweep.

Wasting no time, the Tiger rolled to the side to avoid the punch that was aiming for her chest. Scrambling back on her feet and without pause, the girl continued charging at the other Tiger, throwing punches wildly. Many were easy to dodge and each created an opportunity that Vlithra could capitalize. Though her body winched and twitched at each strong hit landed, Nata’s expression remained unchanged.

Every miss, however, allowed Nata to take a step closer to her opponent, before she was close enough that with a lunge, she was up against her opponent body to body. With both arms, Nata got a tight lock on both of her legs and scooped her off the ground for a double leg takedown. Getting on top, Nata wound up a heavy punch, aiming straight at the cocky tiger’s face.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

With her fist darting towards her target on the ground, Vlithra was actually quite happy feeling the ringing ache of hitting the ground instead of a body. After all she was just getting started and has been taking this bout in a more leisurely manner so far. Her grin followed the tiger as she rolled away to get back up and back onto the offensive again. No break to sort herself or to correct her footing, just straight back into the fray. Vlithra felt smug as she approached, riled up and reckless.

With swift weaves and sidesteps most of the barrage of fists coming from the girl would hit nothing but air or, at the very least, scrape the tigress without leaving any lasting damage. Any of those that would occasionally hit home were met head on by Vlithra‘s own jab, the impact vibrating through the tigresses muscles as they collided. It was only too late that she realized that Nata was getting awfully close and then was picked up by the legs and lifted up. This was surprising to the tigress who in response could only use her elbow to inflict at least some pain to the aggressors back at which point she was quickly again grounded… the canister dangling from her hip, diggin into her back. A rather uncomfortable feeling.

Vlithra was shocked at first, as she opened her eyes, only to see a fist winding up to dent her face. However her shock and previous smugness gave way to annoyance. She had just gotten her jacket dusted off, with her semblance nonetheless, and now she was back on the ground with dirt on her back. Her arm quickly shot up past her face to deflect her opponents full power punch to the side while she tilted her head to the other to minimize the chance of Nata scoring a more than solid hit. It was a close one, her fist hitting the ground with almost the same force Vlithra had applied seconds ago, she could feel a gust of wind zip past her ear.

She then tensed her stomach, her upper body jolting upward and her other fist storming towards Nata‘s face in one fluid powerful motion. A mean hook to the jaw, followed by her grabbing the collar with both and pulling her opponent to the side down to get her off from her. After rolling away and getting back on her feet Vlithra checks the canister that had dug into her a second ago. No apparent damage… good. The tigress tried to not show her worry as she grinned back at the tiger. This time she charged at her opponent feigning a punch to instead deliver a powerful kick into the rip of the enemy.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The punch that was meant for Nata’s opponent's face instead met with the ground so hard she could see her aura flashed when it met. Frustrated that she hasn’t yet landed a good blow, Nata reeled her fist back for another punch but was quickly jabbed in the jaw by a powerful blow. The punch rattled her a little, made the Tiger lose focus, and when she turned back, the girl pinned under her had already dragged her off by the collar. Nata went face first into the ground as she was pushed off, but with little effort, she managed to roll upright and turn back to face Vlithra, seemingly unfazed by the punch, despite it being hard enough to make her aura flare white.

There was a brief pause between the two combatants. Still carrying that deep scowling look on her face as if it was permanently imprinted, Nata eyed her opponent checking behind her back. The White Tiger seemingly got even angrier that her opponent was still taking the fight so half-assedly. She was about to beat this woman so badly that she won’t be able to get up. That’ll teach her a lesson.

Running forward to reengage with the other Tiger just as she also did, Nata quickly raised both arms up to block the incoming punch from the left side, but the feint created a wide opening for a hard kick to the ribs. The kick landed hard, made the Faunus almost lose her balance. Though most would wince in pain taking a hit so hard, Nata’s expression barely changed, only twitched a little from the force that pushed her aside.

Closing the distance, the barrage of punches continued, throwing one after another with no rest or pause. The further she pressed forward, the more she opened herself to more damage. Her punches however, were ramping up in ferocity, attacking recklessly against her foes. While most missed its mark, one decisive strike sped toward Vlithra’s face.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Despite being hit straight in the ribs by Vlithra‘s kick, her opponent still didn‘t let up and continued their oppressive onslaught of attacks, becoming more reckless by the second. Dodging was getting more difficult, so the ex-criminal instead blocked and, just how she did previously, met the punches with her own. She took note of this frantic rise in aggression, her opponent must be getting desperate to land a hit.

And then there it was, the perfect moment for a decisive attack. Vlithra wound up a punch at the same time Nata did. In the same moment her eyes and stripes flaring up in green as her mane of hair did the same, starting to hang in the air as the tips started glowing as well. Green lightning crackling about her body and flowing through her arm like a maelstrom. The tigress stared her opponent down with an anticipating smile. And then… both fists sped towards their respective targets… and both… struck true.

Vlithra could feel a stinging pain in her face as Nata‘s fist buried itsself into her cheek. Both fists went past each other and hit their targets square on, Vlithra‘s aura flashing green as it protected her face from the damage she would have received. Both fists lingered on their target until Vlithra finally released what she had been building up. With a roar of thunder, green lightning exploded into all directions from the tigresses body. Her jacket flapping in the resulting shockwave as her opponents body was hit with a force of pure kinetic energy, strong enough to rocket them through the air almost like a ragdoll.

“Oooh. Not bad, that hurt.“ Vlithra could only say in an almost praising manner, as the pain was still stinging in her cheek. It would subside quick as she rubbed her cheek. She had to give the girl credit... when she hit, she hit hard. And as expected of someone who could use aura, she could take just as much. After making sure that the pain was gone, she waited to see wether or not her opponent was actually out for the count. You never could be sure with aura users.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The final attack connected to her opponent’s cocky face with a satisfying thud; but at the same time, Nata didn’t really have time to put forward any kind of defensive measure with her style being so unnecessarily reckless. She took that blow square on the chin, expecting it to be another punch, Nata was already winding up a follow-up to her one-two combo. She didn’t expect that punch she took to pack so much firepower behind it.

The kinetic energy from the punch was strong enough to make the silvery white aura around Nata’s body flashed brightly. It propelled the Tiger high into the air, bouncing against the wall then crashing onto a few boxes, shattering them on impact. It took a second or more for the tiger to sprung back onto her feet, wiping off the dirt and smudge from her face, a cocky grin grew on her lips, looking back at her opponent on the other side of the alleyway. It almost looked like Nata was barely hurt by the attack, despite her aura still glowing, after taking so much damage at once.“Hope that didn’t hurt you too bad.” Slowly and almost too casually, she began approaching the other girl. In her hand, Nata had picked up a metal pipe from the mound of broken crates and boxes that cushioned her fall. "Because there's a lot more to come."

The metallic scraping noises quickly filled the hallway the more Nata advanced forward, until she quickly burst into full sprint, closing the gap against her foe and swung the makeshift weapon. Wielding it like her signature weapon, each swing carried enough momentum to destroy the walls and boxes around the two. Still, her style opened herself for a lot of counterattacks, but this time, direct counters would no longer cut it. One missed downward strike cracked the floor below the two of them, bending the pipe quite harshly. Using the momentum of the strike, Nata quickly propelled herself forward, quickly rolled pass Vlithra and wound up for a heavy strike from behind.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Seeing Nata shrug off her semblance punch like it was nothing really got the huntress in training thinking that maybe this wasn‘t just some random girl around town with their aura unlocked. She definetly couldn‘t be anything beyond a Beacon student, right? Her combat form was lacking too much for that. Still it was concerning that the only indication for any dmage was her glowing aura. Before she could tihnk about things too much, things got interesting as the girl picked up a pipe and started making some promises that Vlithra was all too eager for.

“Don‘t worry about me. I‘ve taken worse than you.“ Vlithra replied with a rathe rwholehearted laugh as the girl then came in swinging with the pipe in hand. The tigress drew one of her own weapons, her shortsword Carnassial Talon, striking against her opponents, their aura making sure that the pipe held up to clashing with a proper blade. The consequent swings made at her were all dodged or deflected by Vlithra raising the blade to where it would hit and then guiding the piece of metal past her body where it couldn‘t hit her, instead hitting her surroundings and smashin them to bits. Vlithra was sure the ruckuss could be heard outside the alley. At some point a hard downward strike came which the tigress dodged with ease, too predictable, at least thats what she initially thought before she saw Nata, over her shoulder, rolling past her and swinging for her backside.

Vlithra responds with a quick turn and raising her forearm with her blade in front of it to block the attack. Her arm only budging an inch at the strong impact. By now the pipe was bending. The ex-criminal then raised her leg to kick Nata against a wall and began charging kinetic energy. From there she stormed forward winding up with her fist, intending to bury it into her opponent with enough force to crack the wall. Anticipating a dodge, she held her sword ready to slash at the direction she was going to evade the attack.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The longer the fight continued, the more audience the two gathered. Between curious residents of the block coming out to see the massive commotion and random passerby catching the fight in the small alleyway as they walked by, slowly but surely, a large crowd had gathered to observe the huge fight between two Aura uses.

For all the zealousness and cockiness, the girl at least knew how to back up her words. She was definitely putting up one hell of a fight, drawing her own weapon and keeping up with Nata’s barrages. She was able to match Nata’s ferocity with techniques, blocking and countering the attacks and deflecting them to the objects around them. Nata on the other hand, didn’t seem to slow down the assault one bit, despite already taking so much damage. It was as if she was running on an infinite energy source, relentlessly pushing forward.

The same couldn’t be said for her makeshift weapon however. The pipe took an astounding amount of abuse, bent and morphed out of shape the longer the fight went on. Each hit chipped and damaged it a little until Vlithra deflected a massive hit swinging toward her back and cut the pipe in two.

Nata’s opponent’s counter offense sent the Tiger back into the walls before launching another energy-charged punch toward her. While she might’ve expected Nata to duck aside and avoid the blow, Nata got a different plan. She took the charged attack head on, the force pushed her back against the wall so hard it almost caved, large cracks imprinted onto the bricks behind her, no doubt freaking out the unfortunate resident living inside. Nata’s aura shield audibly crackled, seemingly as if it would give away any moment from the damage. However, the position gave Nata an advantage as she took a tight grip on her opponent’s arm and gained control.

With a strong pull, Nata tried slamming her opponent into the walls against her back before throwing a few punches from her other hand aiming toward the ribs and face, still keeping a strong grip on her opponent’s arm, making it a lot harder to block. Finally, the tiger pulled herself closer to her target, twisting her whole body for a mean elbow aiming for the head.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

Instead of hitting bricks, Vlithra‘s fist did find it‘s target without issue. And here she thought her opponent would see this coming soon enough to dodge and get out of the way. Instead her fist dug into her body and slammed her against the wall. She almost felt bad for those inside the now lightly damaged building. Contemplating her opponents decision to take the attack head on she got caught off guard by her pulling Vlithra and slamming her into the wall before being pummeled. Getting hit in the ribs never felt great so it hurt even more when after a few lower hits she steeled for more of them and being instead hit in the face. It was enough of a distraction for her opponent to wind up for something big.

While she was momentarily dazed by the hit she received to the face, it wasn‘t exactly difficult to see another hit to the face coming. Too bad Vlithra was not going to let it hit. Her body flared up in a moments notice as she dropped her weapon and raised her arm to take the brunt of the elbow, barely keeping it from hitting. Then she yanked her other arm out of Nata‘s grip and grabbed her by the collar with both, green lightning crackling around the two as Vlithra raised her up from the ground. She then let go with one hand and reeled it back, balling it to a fist with energy shooting through it like a storm. When the following punch made impact with her opponents chest, while dropping her to the ground, the energy shot out of Vlithra‘s arm through Nata‘s body causing the resulting impact of her body to crack the floor beneath the two. Surely this was it, but just in case the ex-criminal got ontop of her downed enemy and pinned her arms to the ground, so they could both calm down. By now she knew that this girl was very VERY stubborn, so she had to be sure that her next words wouldn‘t fall on deaf ears. Vlithra exhaled as her body lost tension. Her aura was still flaring, as a big portion was used up for this little stunt of hers.

Only now the ex-criminal realized that they had attracted quite the crowd. They weren‘t exactly subtle after all, but the amount of people almost felt excessive. It felt like she was in a fight pit of sorts. She had to remain cool in this case, as she didn‘t want to give off the wrong impression to even more people. The tigress took a moment to look around, mainly to assess how many people there were and the damage they had caused. Crates were broken, the wall had cracks and the ground had dents. None of the onlookers seemed to be calling the authorities yet and some of them seemed to leave after the action had mostly faded. She then looked back at Nata.

“Alright, tiger. How about we call it a day? You save some face and we stay out of trouble for busting up the alley. Got it?“ Vlithra ushered in a calmer tone to the girl beneath her, before carefully letting go, getting up and picking up her dropped weapon while keeping her eyes on Nata. She subsequently sheathes her weapon and walks a bit towards the crowd of people around them. “Alright everyone! Everything‘s under control! Nothing more to see here! Get out of here! Back to your own business, now!“ Vlithra announced with a loud and clear voice radiating such charisma that convinced many to turn to leave the alley. Few of them more dissapointed than others and others still wondering what the deal was with the two tigers in the alley. Vlithra wanted to get rid of the crowd as best as she could, hoping to lower the amount of attention they were getting. She now had to make clear that she wasn't a villain in this.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The few punches that did land were satisfying, seeing her opponent wincing in pain with each shot. However, in her ferocity, Nata pushed too far and opened herself up for a counter, and what a counter it was. In one fell swoop, the other girl blocked the elbow aiming toward her head; lifted the White Tiger completely off the ground; lightning crackled around them, focused on her fist; and with one punch she planted Nata into the ground so hard that it broke the concrete floor underneath her.

That was the blow that tipped the scale. Nata’s body visibly bounced from the ground after that attack, sweat and saliva spluttered in the air, and most noticeably, the silvery white aura around her body shattered around her and completely dissipated. Normally, this would be the point that most fighters stayed down and defeated, but still, as if this was the first time she got hit, Nata still tried to get back up and continued fighting. It was only thanks to Vlithra getting on top and pinned the white Faunus to the ground that she stayed down.

Nata immediately noticed her strength waning without her aura boosting it. While still putting up a fight, she showed much more struggle to escape a simple hold. But surprisingly, instead of continuing the fight, now that her opponent was much weaker and vulnerable. Instead, she got off and attempted to disperse the crowd gathered around at the alleyway entrance.

Without much delay, Nata got off the ground as well, standing around rather awkwardly and letting the other tiger do her job telling the crowd off. The Faunus seemed greatly ticked off, not at the defeat, but moreover the fact that it’s twice now that Nata had somehow found herself at the center of attention in the same week. Only once everyone had gone away from the alleyway and the ones peering from the window of the building received a few rude gestures from Nata herself, did Nata finally piped up. “So you’re getting rid of witnesses before taking me down or what? Cus don't think I'm backing down yet.” Despite no longer having enough Aura to shield herself from the attacks, Nata still showed that same bravado as she did at the start of the fight, striking a pose and ready to continue the tussle.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

As the crowd was dispersing and the people were going back to what they were originaly doing outisde of this little alley, Vlithra deeply exhaled in a bit of relief. It wasn't a moment later that Nata piped up again, claiming to be able to keep going. Apparently, even with her aura visibly shattered, the tiger girl was still up to scrap despite Vlithra now clearly outclassing her. An annoyed exhale through the nose followed from Vlithra. How was the ex-criminal going to explain this now without making herself a new enemy?

“Look, while I gotta respect your enthusiasm and tenacity, this is as far as that will take you.“ Vlithra scratched her forehead as she looked at Nata with a doubtful expression. “You may look like you're raring to go, but your aura doesn‘t lie. One more hit and you are out ‘til next morning . And I don‘t exactly fancy beating up someone who hasn‘t done anything wrong, unlike those thieving thugs who I would have punched black and blue hadn‘t you shown up.“ The ex-criminal explained as she moved to a nearby wall to lean against, facing Nata with her arm crossed in front of her chest. She went on...

“So, no. I‘m not going to take you down. I simply want to clear up this mess of a situation, if you let me that is.“ The tigress finished, gesturing her hand towards Nata as if she wanted to give her a chance to voice her opinion. If the girl had at least some form of tact she‘d actually talk instead of letting her fists do the talking. In order to make it the former, Vlithra made herself look as non-threatening a possible as her hands found their way into her pockets, waiting to see how the tiger girl will react.

[Nata Rainwalts]

With adrenaline still running high and heart pumping like an engine, Nata was rather confused when the other Faunus refused to continue the fight. Things only got even more confusing when it was implied that the other Tiger was also trying to teach the group of thugs a lesson herself before she got interrupted. “Wait… what does that supposed to mean?” The situation took Nata by surprise so much it left the tiger completely awestruck. Her expression quickly turned to one of pure confusion, rather than the normal pumped-up battle ready face she often carried during the fight.

It took a few moments for the pieces to click together. When she had first seen the bunch of them in the alleyway, the girl was trying to intimidate the crooks to give up the dust canister. She wasn’t the leader of the group. She was trying to stop the group and bring back the stolen goods. However, it still left a pretty jarring question unanswered.

“Wait a second. If you aren’t with those bastards who tucked their tails and ran, then why are we fighting in the first place?” Nata finally asked, her face still imprinted with a perplexed expression, now mixed with mild annoyance. There was a good chance that she had just started a fight for no good reason. “You aren’t just some crazed maniacs who just go around to pick fights with other people for shit and giggles, are you?” The Faunus continued, completely oblivious to the hypocrisy and irony of the question.

[Vlithra Qing Long]

It seemed Vlithra‘s sort of explanation did the trick, she was finally getting it. The ex-criminal could practically see the gears turning in Nata‘s head as she relized that Vlithra wasn‘t the bad guy in this situation, at which point a coy little smile formed on the tigresses face. Only for it to quickly leave as the girl adressed the actual elephant in the room. Why were they fighting? That might be a bit more difficult to explain without letting herself look like a prick.

"Maniac? No, no. I would never pick fights at random or assault people on the street." She was mostly unfazed by Nata‘s insiniuation, despite it being more or less accurate. Her belligerent nature, adopted from her mother, does make things more difficult from time to time. "I just don‘t shy away from conflict is all, and coincedently I happen to enjoy fighting, really." she continued as she shrugged, belying the fact that she totally did this to kill her boredom.

"I mean sure, I won‘t sugarcoat it… I was pretty frustrated and bored when I came to the city today. But then you came along confidently challenging me for the canister as if I was some big bad, so... I couldn‘t help myself and let the situation escalate." Scratching the back of her head she seemed at least a bit embarassed to admit it, trying to not look directly at Nata. After all she basically affirmed Nata‘s suspicion. Instead she tried to look like she was assessing the damage they did during their little brawl, starting to walk around the alley they were in.

"Besides, weren't you having as much fun as I did?" She tried to deflect the blame away from her at least a little bit, her luminescent green eyes wandering into the corner of her eyes as she looked back at Nata.

[Nata Rainwalts]

The uncertainty in Nata’s head slowly turned to anger the more she heard from the other girl’s explanation. She couldn’t tell which frustrated her more: The fact that of all the people to encounter, she came across some bored girl that could use aura and semblance and just happened to be itching to fight the nearest person, or that she lost that fight. The admission of guilt only made her angier. "Wait, she’s not from Beacon, is she? Oh god, she might… "

“Right… I’m glad that you have your fun but this has been a giant waste of my time.” Rolling her eyes, the White Tiger braced a hand on her hip where she took the devastating gut punch, fulling expressing her discontent for a rather pointless fight. “I ain’t someone that’s just going around looking for things to fight. Count me the hell out from whatever you’re doing.” Turning away, Nata flicked a dismissal hand at the girl before walking off.

Now that the fight has wound down and her semblance wearing off, she could feel the bruises left from taking all those heavy power attacks. Her abs and chest hurted like hell, same went with her shoulders and the left side of her face. Luckily, the Faunus managed to make it around the corner before she needed to lean against the wall for support. There goes the plan to continue the stroll down the night street. It’d be best to go back to the dorm now and heal her wounds. A good night rest would probably do it.