Chapter 28

[||||=LEVEL 28= ||||]

I had made breakfast and been immediately delegated for making food for everyone for the whole week. Leonidas had claimed it as my 'rent'. Raven and Ruby jumped onto that ship immediately and Pyrrha had refused to speak up for me, avoiding eye contact with me when I looked to her.

We had left early for the first round of the tournament and went to a sparring center that was contracted out to pit applicants for the tournament against each other. I finally reached the front of the line for the competition with Pyrrha just chatting about whatever we wanted for ten minutes or so.

The clerk lady didn't look up at us before she handed me a ticket. "You're at room seventy eight. Your opponent will be Almond West. And you, miss…" She glanced up at Pyrrha and her eyes widened. "Miss Nikos?! Uhm, r-room seventy nine. You'll fight Berry Halls. Uhm… wait, you're Abyss Mavros! Are you two dating?"

"No. We're just friends." I said calmly. The clerk lady blinked a few times, possibly making sure we were real, and I walked off, dragging Pyrrha along with me until she got to walking herself. Now that someone had finally pointed us out we were gathering some attention. I flashed mage sight and found the rooms we were to go to.

"Do we change to our combat outfits first?" Pyrrha asked me. Why I would know I can't imagine but…

"The matches are private. The real question is… do we need to?" Pyrrha considered that for a moment.

"No. But shouldn't we deal our full strength against them to honor them or whatever you said last night?"

"Pyrrha this isn't going to be a match. It's going to be a spar at most." I deadpanned. "You've fought against plenty of top quality huntsmen at sanctum. Most of these kids are just hopefuls or guys that have gotten private training assuming that since they had a tutor or were trained by a family member that they're great at fighting. Getting through the first rounds won't be a challenge and it won't be a place you need to show off either. Just do what you normally do. You don't need to go through any special effort."

"Well… alright then." Pyrrha shrugged it off. "But… where's rooms seventy eight and nine?"

"Right there." I said. Pyrrha looked at the two rooms across from each other. My opponent, Almond, was already in there swinging her legs on one of the large benches on both sides of the room while playing a scroll game. Berry was checking his weaponry and putting on armor in the other room. "I'll see you in a few minutes." I said.

I walked in and Almond tapped something on her scroll and put it away. She had brown eyes and curly brown hair with freckles and leather armor. "Nice to meet you! I'm Almond… West…" Almond looked at me and her face fell slowly to something similar to horror or fear. "Um… you're here to say hi, right? And not to kick my butt?"

"No I'm here to fight you." I said with my spymaster smile. Almond looked really nervous.

"Oh shoot… Just don't actually hurt me, okay? Please?"

"Oh you'll be fine." I reassured her. "I'll promise to just disarm you if that makes you feel better." Almond looked somewhat relieved.

"That does, thank you. Want to just get right into it or do you need to change?"

I drew my weapon and stepped into the ring with a hint of amusement on my smile. Almond blinked.

"Uh, yeah. I guess you don't really need to stress about fighting me that much…" I really didn't. Almond was level one hundred eight and not as skilled as using her aura as I was by far. Her highest physical stat, dexterity, was only at six hundred twelve. Even if she actively enhanced herself with aura, which was draining for most people except Raven or others with rather large auras. Almond only had about four thousand AP. She was average. I was just crazily strong for my age.

"Ready?" I asked. Almond nodded nervously and drew her weapons. An unfolding buckler from an armguard and a machete. "Go." I ran at a slow pace for me but to Almond it must have been fast. She swung at me with a rather well done swing and I parried calmly. "Keep your knees bent or you'll hurt yourself or fall." I instructed.

With a smooth movement i slid into her guard and slashed upwards at her wrist, throwing her shield up. She was too tense with it, expecting a blow on her shield rather than from around it. I then grabbed her wrist with my off hand and twisted it harshly but her grip didn't fail. Maybe I was being too gentle… to stop that I swiftly kicked through her overly straight knees. Almond yelped and fell to her left, dropping her machete in the process. I took a half-step back and levelled my sword at her throat. "Are you done?" I asked. Almond looked at me with an open mouth.

"I could barely see you!" She said in some awe. "What was that move with my shield and wrist?"

"I batted your shield in an upwards slash. You were expecting an attack from the front." I explained. I held a hand down to pull her up, which she accepted. "Then I grabbed your wrist and twisted. I'm a fair bit stronger that you so I capitalized on that." Almond looked to me with wide yet confused eyes.

"Why not break my aura?" She asked honestly.

"Because I don't need to. It was easier to disarm you." It really wasn't. I could break her aura in a single strike but that would just be mean. I should use skill, where the playing field was just slightly more even.

"Whoa… alright then… Um… bye." Almond said somewhat dazedly.

"Nice to meet you Almond." I said. I just walked out easily. Then an instructor walked in scribbling on a clipboard.

"Alright I'm here to judge your…" He looked up from his clipboard. "Oh did you fight without me?" I nodded.

"I disarmed her." He frowned.

"You'll have to do that again in front of me. Sorry kids." I shrugged and looked towards Almond. She was at three fourths of her aura from that strike to her wrist.

"Care to go again then?" Almond nodded with a little more confidence this time. I walked into the ring and readied myself. Almond drew her machete and seemed to consider unfolding her shield from an armguard but didn't.

"Start." The instructor said. Almond took the initiative this time and ran to me. I looked at her curiously and readied a throw out of the ring.

Almond stabbed at me and I moved to the side and grabbed her blade, pulling her forwards. Almond had a look of surprise but planted her feet and let go of her blade. I raised an eyebrow and flipped it to my off hand. I guess I'm dual wielding now.

Almond punched at me with her shield arm and her shield also unfolded as she punched. I smiled slightly. That was smart. I was stronger than her so she shouldn't use her own strength. However, being hit hurts.

I blinked behind her and kicked the back of her right knee. She gasped in some surprise and I put her machete to her throat and my shortsword to her back. "That was pretty clever." I praised. "But not quite enough. Good job though. Creative problem solving is a valuable skill." Almond laughed nervously.

The instructor clicked his pen and scribbled on his clipboard. "Okay and faunus kid wins… Abyss Mavros… do I know you from somewhere?"

"I'm somewhat famous." I said.

"He's signal's champion." Almond said as she got up and dusted herself off. The instructor peered at me.

"Huh… well alright then." He looked to me. "Be back here tomorrow to fight and advance through the matches." He looked to Almond. "Sorry, girl. Tough luck facing a champion in the first round. Have a nice day you two." The instructor guy then walked out, probably to another match.

"Nice meeting you, Almond." I said.

"It was nice meeting you too!" Almond said with some cheer. I walked out first and could hear a clashing of weapons in Pyrrha's sparring room. I didn't want to see her fighting yet, which come to think of it might be a little hard with our fights being televised all over the place…

A short series of thumps could briefly be heard and some mumbled voices I didn't pay attention to. Then the door came open and Pyrrha came out. "It went well?" I asked. She nodded happily.

"You were right. It wasn't all that hard. Berry was pretty good though." I smiled somewhat.

"I fought Almond before the instructor came and had to fight her again." Pyrrha rolled her eyes at me.

"Well what did you think would happen? That you fought and people just knew who won? Well actually with us people might make those sorts of assumptions."

"It's biased, yes. Anyways, you mentioned knowing some of the places around Mistral that are nice to see?" Pyrrha's eyes brightened.

"Yes! There's this lovely restaurant dad got reservations for tonight. It's one of those towers on the second plateau so you can see for miles in just about every direction!"

"That does sound interesting." I said honestly. "Anywhere else?" Pyrrha froze.

"Uhm… no." She looked down sheepishly. I rolled my eyes.

"My what a terrible host you are, not amusing me every moment of the day."

"Sorry…" Pyrrha said, not getting the joke.

"I'm messing with you Pyrrha. It's fine. I actually know a place to go." Pyrrha looked up to me.

"Really?! Where?" I grinned and used mage sight to get a location and made a portal. I walked on through and waved Pyrrha through. I was met with the sight of eastern style roofs and kids in classrooms looking bored. I sure wasn't though.

Pyrrha emerged through the portal and blinked at the sensation. Yeah, walking through those takes a little getting used to. "What? Am I… is this Sanctum?"

"Yup." I said happily. "Mind showing me around?" Pyrrha looked around as if to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Um, what's the time?" I used mage sight and found the watch of a grey haired kid in a classroom.

"It's three fifteen pm." Pyrrha smiled.

"Then we get to see combat class in ten minutes. It might give you some perspective into who I fight most of the time. Um, we're at the northern building… so we cross campus to the southern one."

I looked at her quizzically. "You have more than two buildings?" Pyrrha thought about it for a moment.

"Sort of. The southern building is only for sparring and the eastern one is for clubs and electives. The northern building is for academics. But the southern building is small and the eastern one isn't often in use."

"Signal only has a lower building and an upper building for the fifth through eighth grade. Then there's the upper building that has the sparring rings, upper year electives, and upper year classes. It's all divided except for the occasional lower signal student that has a talent for something and gets to go into an upper year class. Ruby makes weapons in the upper year building, for example. Our two buildings are somewhat bigger than yours though."

Pyrrha smiled and nodded. "And here we are." I looked at a somewhat small one story building that couldn't hold more than five sparring rings of a decent size. Pyrrha walked right up to a set of double doors and walked through them. I followed after.

Inside led right to an empty sparring ring and a raised podium with a chair. For the teacher to spectate probably. "There's nowhere private for the teachers to watch?" I asked. Pyrrha shook her head.

"No they just set up a plastic table and set some chairs out if they want to watch. Or sit with the students. Do you have a teacher's platform of some sort?"

"They have a sort of opera seat in the wall. Our ceiling is a bit higher." Pyrrha looked to her school's walls and tried to imagine it.

"I don't think that would work here. The wall is too short."

I wasn't able to draw any more comparisons since the bell rang for a moment. I could faintly hear shuffling and talking as students moved from their classes. "Do you want to just sit in the stands and watch or be sneaky about it?" Pyrrha looked to me curiously and I rolled my eyes and made a portal to her living room. I pulled her through and sat on her couch. She sat down, still confused, and I moved my portal over to the TV, almost like we were watching a movie. The portal at signal moved up high where nobody could see it.

"Oh! Yes this is far more comfortable than answering everyone's questions about why we're there." Pyrrha said happily.

"Huh? Are you kids home already?" Leo's voice came from the other room. What was over there? A garage or something? Leo peeked his head out and looked at the portal, where class was just starting. "Did you sneak into sanctum and plant cameras or something?"

"It's a portal that Abyss made." Leo looked at me and the portal and his eyes widened.

"Do you mean we can throw popcorn at them in the middle of the fights?" My own eyes widened.

"I like the way you think." I said. He grinned.

"Make us some popcorn, kid. I'm going to go get your aunt. She'll love this."

[|||| == ||||]

"Lilac! What was that?!"

"There's something in my hair!"

"What in the world could-"

"There's popcorn in my hair!"

"What the-... where is that popcorn coming from?!"

"It's raining from the heavens!"

"We're under a roof, Lilac!"

[|||| == ||||]

"I feel evil…" Pyrrha said glumly. The rest of us, even Ruby, had a grin on our faces. The car was a little cramped with all five of us in it, having only five seats, but Ruby was tiny in-between Pyrrha and I.

It might be a little bad for the more formal clothing we were wearing. Not suit and tie types but a dress shirt for me and similar clothes for women on the rest. Just nice clothes… that were getting a little ruffled but whatever.

"I feel good about myself. Messing with children does that to you." Leo joked.

"I never considered such a wide range of options for portals before." I said in wonder.

"You can use them to take out the trash in moments." Leo said in fake envy. "Or to wake up late and go to school in moments."

"I already do that one." I said. "The trash is a good idea but I actually live in an apartment in vale. Not patch." Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Is there any limit on distance?"

"No. Just a standard amount of aura for any distance so long as I've seen the location with a few exceptions. I sort of have a range around me of a few miles where I can sense the space if I focus."

"Looking into the girls locker room?" I rolled my eyes.

"I can see under clothes. Why bother?" Leo narrowed his eyes into the rear-view mirror. "Don't look under my daughter's clothes until you two are married."

"Wait, have you?" Pyrrha asked with a blush.

"My sight is determined by diameter. I can't see in a half circle or something. I see everything and focus on some things to get a clearer picture. It's what I use for short range teleports, which is just me switching my space for a different one."

"So you looked a few miles away to sanctum… and with Pyrrha so close to you…" Leo turned his head a little to look at me in the corner of his eye.

"I don't pay extra attention to anybody. Also, I see EVERYBODY under their clothes. I see far more that I don't want to see than anything I could be bothered to want to see.

"You just kind of get past this sort of thing." Ruby cut in. "Privacy isn't really a thing at the apartments."

"You get used to it or wait until Abyss is asleep." Raven said with a small smile.

"What have you been doing?" I asked with suspicion in my voice. Raven said nothing but her smirk spoke a thousand words.

"Well I'm going to take pity on you. It sounds bad at first but thinking about it that is pretty bad." Leo said grudgingly.

"I didn't ask for a first hand look at the contents of the sewer system." I said honestly. "Or to know how many spiders there are in the space between the walls." Pyrrha looked to me like I had said something horrible. Leo chuckled.

"Pyrrha's scared of spiders and centipedes. Millipedes are okay for some reason." He said.

"Millipedes are herbivores. So long as they stay away from me I'm fine." Pyrrha defended herself. "But spiders and centipedes exist only to be horrible. Like wasps."

"That's true." Ruby agreed.

I hid a smile, deciding to mess with Pyrrha. "But if you're scared of spiders why are you fine with the daddy long-legs above you?" Pyrrha's head snapped upwards and she leaned hard on the car door, like she was staying as far away from it as possible. She realized she was being messed with by everyone's laughter and my smirk.

"Not funny." She muttered vainly. A tiny smile was creeping onto her face though.

"The only notable thing in your house is a few abandoned bird nests on the roof and a little hiding spot in your basement. Other than that you're fine." I assured them.

"Hiding spot?" Leo asked. He very decidedly did not ask about whether I had seen under his bed.

"A little nook behind some bricks that was sealed up a while ago." I explained. "Nothing there but a few old soiled books and a really old oil lamp. Well there's also a sewer entrance but it's long sealed up." Leo shrugged it off.

"Sounds interesting but we're here." Leo pulled up to the curb of a rather nice looking tower with a small canopy proclaiming it as 'the tower'... is this like Mistral's equivalent to the club?

"Excuse me!" Leo called to a well dressed young man in a cap. He turned and looked at Leo expectantly. "I'd like this valet parked."

"Of course sir." The man said with a professional smile. He grabbed a small notebook from his pocket and a golf pencil and scribbled down the license plate and presumably Leo's appearance or something. "Your name?"

"Leonidas Nikos." The man nodded and jotted it down but paused for a moment before starting up again. He glanced inside the car though. The windows are rather dark though so he couldn't see anything. Leo and Raven got out of the car. The rest of us followed suit. The man's eyes widened at Pyrrha exiting and nearly bulged out of his sockets when he saw me. He took a moment to compose himself once more before speaking.

"I hope you have a nice time sir." The valet said in a slightly strained tone… Oh dust is it a faunus thing? "But we don't serve-"

"My apologies do you not serve champions in this establishment?" Leo said in a perfect charismatic smile. The man's smile strained slightly.

"We do sir. However, the business-"

"Is there something wrong with my fame?" I asked with a quizzical expression. "I was under the impression that an establishment wouldn't discriminate based on publicity." The man's expression darkened. Ah, yes. The burdens of fame. I do hate them so.

"No… sir." The man's words sounded just venomous enough to offend me but polite enough to be civil. "We don't-"

"I'm certain it's not your fault this establishment is biased towards the… well known." I said honestly as I could manage. "I do, however, quite want to enter, being a formal event. If it will change this establishment's policies I'm quite I can quote you by name, being forced to turn aside some customers. It's tragic, really." The man closed his eyes and seemed to think about this.

"Just enter." He gave in resignedly. Make me not your problem. Good enough. I made sure I was out of direct line of sight of everyone that mattered (Raven and Ruby could see) and put myself under an illusion cloak to hide my ears.

"Nicely handled, ki-wait where the…" Leonidas squinted at my ears, or where they were. "Nice… how did you do that though?"

"My secret faunus tricks." I joked. Pyrrha looked as closely as she could at my ears. "It's not even my most impressive though." I made eye contact with Pyrrha and blinked harshly as I altered my illusion cloak. When my eyes opened my eyes were purple. Pyrrha jumped in surprise and looked closely at my eyes.

"How did you do that?" She asked impressively.

"Contacts and slight of hand." I lied. Raven rolled her eyes and Ruby looked at me in deadpan.

"Some slight of hand." Leonidas said

"It's actually just reaching into my hammerspace and releasing the contacts on my eyes." I lied more plausibly. "A little trick I picked up." Leonidas nodded.

"I figured." Leo said with a shrug. "Now come on. They have some amazing breadsticks here." I shrugged and walked on with the group. Pyrrha looked curiously at my head, where my ears were hidden under an illusion, and shrugged it off. Nobody immediately jumps to magic. I love abusing that fact so much. Seriously, making a natural disaster as a semblance? I still can't believe people bought that even though they didn't really have a choice.

We walked in without issue, given that I didn't have my ears showing. "Reservations under Nikos." Leo said to the man at the desk. He nodded and typed something into the terminal he was at.

"Top floor west side. Lovely sunset tonight, sir. And a full moon too." Leo grinned.

"That's why we're here. Come on guys." We walked along after Leo and came to some stairs.

"Wait how many floors are there?" Ruby asked. Leo grinned.

"Thirty eight. Most of them are reserved conference rooms for business guys. Only the first two floors and the top floor are for people dining."

"So… do we have to climb all the stairs?" Leo smirked and started walking. Ruby and Pyrrha groaned. At the second floor he took a left to the middle of the room, where there was an elevator. "There's no elevator on the first floor." He explained. "What did you think we were walking forty flights of stairs? In formalwear? Not a chance."

We filed in pretty easily. Nobody was getting in with us so it wasn't crowded or anything. "So Leo," I started, "why did you choose this place if they don't accept faunus?"

"I didn't think of it actually." Leo shrugged. "I'm kind of blind to the race divide stuff. Mistral isn't horribly racist but the neighborhoods are pretty segregated. I don't have many faunus friends and when I do meet with those friends I normally meet with them in some bar of their choosing. Besides, your eyes really grab people's attention. I didn't notice your ears until yesterday's dinner."

"Fair enough." I say dismissively. "I don't really have a problem with the race thing normally. It's actually more useful for me to be a faunus than otherwise. The better hearing is useful pretty often and it actually earned nature's bounty the approval of the white fang and a lot of trust with faunus. Jacques doesn't care if you're the devil himself if it earns him profit too. He tried to hire my uncle actually."

"Who's Jacques?" Pyrrha asked curiously.

"CEO of the SDC, remnant's largest supplier of dust with some very controversial labor practices. He's also an A-hole in person. According to my uncle at least. I'd say he's a pretty sound source of judgement."

"That sounds like about everything I've heard about him." Leo commented.

"People got the right impression of him for once, though I'm not sure if the whole labor standard is true or not."

"What's it typically like, being a faunus?" Pyrrha asked.

"A difficult question." I stalled. I tried to come up with a few differences. "Some things are super annoying while some things you just can't imagine being even a little irritating. Creaky doors, for example, are a huge pet peeve of mine. I fixed all of the doors at the apartments for everyone on my floor because when they creaked I could hear it from all the way in my room."

"Should we fix ours?" Leo asked with a frown.

"It's a little annoying but it's not horrible or anything. It's like you have a lot of neighbors who like yelling. Not pleasant but not something you can't ignore. Bright lights are another thing. Or a sudden change in lighting. Sensitive eyes. Anyways, I can't imagine being too hot or cold being one of the things that doesn't bother me. Maybe that's a vacuo thing though. I'm not often too hot or too cold. I can't do something like wear a parka in the desert but I could sit in a hot room with a coat on and not notice it."

"What about the racism and stuff?" Pyrrha asked. The elevator opened, geez that was a slow elevator, and we filed out. Raven spotted the table and walked to it. The rest of us followed.

"It's not a big deal for me. Sometimes there's some people who act like asses. A guy pretended to trip and spill his drink on me in the cafeteria a few times but I could see it coming from a mile away. I tried to get it through his head through spars but he kept at it. So I planted contraband in his locker and tipped off a teacher. He knew it was me of course but he had no evidence. I made sure not to actually do anything myself. It was all done by third parties."

"That can't have earned you any friends." Ruby said, sitting down in her seat. Then her brow scrunched up a little bit. "Wait was that that Borlos guy? The one that was expelled for having contraband in his locker?" I nodded.

"I didn't earn any friends for that but that's fine. I don't have a large social circle. I know people who instead have their own large social circle and have them owe me favors or work for me."

"You said this guy got expelled? For trying to bully you?" Pyrrha frowned.

"It wasn't just the soda." I explained. "He did plenty of stuff. He was a known racist, he had a massive amount of disrespect for plenty of people, and the soda thing wasn't the only incident. Normally when someone messes with me I spar with them and utterly humiliate them. That wards people off. But Boris didn't get the hint that I don't tolerate that stuff. In hunter schools, or at least signal and beacon, students are expected to solve their own issues. So I tried the usual message and it didn't take. So I moved to an extreme. Now nobody tries to mess with me and I don't randomly lash out or anything."

"Yeah that sort of stuff happened all the time at shade." Leonidas said easily. Pyrrha looked wide-eyed to him. "What? You're supposed to be huntsmen. An adult. If someone is messing with you you defend yourself. How much did this Boris guy mess with you anyways?"

"Let's see, there was the soda, a ton of so-called harmless pranks, and he publicly called me slurs and names after pretending to do the soda thing. After that I planted the contraband through a third party. My best friend actually."

Cesium had gotten the contraband and Ocean had planted the evidence after breaking in. She got his locker code and just opened the locker at a time when not many people were around. Nobody was paying attention to her and the cameras tapes looped at that time. Cesium made sure she was untouchably innocent. They had enjoyed it.

"I… guess that's alright." Pyrrha admitted. "But couldn't you have tried something else before jumping to extremes?"

"The world's not so black and white, Pyrrha. Boris was not a good person. He used what power he had to lash out. Hurt others, discriminate, and bully. Back then he was a schoolyard bully. Now he's not my problem." That didn't appease Pyrrha. Goody two shoes to the core, this one. "Signal trains hunters. Boris was not going to become a hunter. A criminal if anything. With signal free of him they now have a chance to recruit somebody who actually will be a huntsman or huntress and do as they do."

"But still, expelling someone because they messed with you." Pyrrha scowled. "Couldn't you have just blackmailed him?"

"I could have. Blackmailing him would only be temporary. He would have had time to spread rumors, strike back, and poison others who are secondhand racists, the ones who mutter discontentedly about me being a cheating faunus or something or other, and strike back. Rot spreads. I cut off the head of the snake. Now there are no problems."

"I doubt I would be so forgiving." Raven said. "You took all of that and didn't outright frame him?"

"Going to extremes immediately makes you seem unstable." I said. Raven frowned at me. "Raven you absolutely were unstable. Summer told me about the time you beat a guy that couldn't take a hint in the lunchroom." Raven winced. The tables were far apart so nobody could hear what we were talking about. Otherwise there might be some uncomfortable questions.

"Okay yeah that's farther than I've seen." Leonidas admitted. Pyrrha looked wide-eyed at Raven.

"What for all the dust in remnant could make you do that in a lunchroom of all places?!" She asked with a slightly raised voice.

"A message needed to be sent. He was getting grabby. I gave him a warning." Raven defended.

"Yeah that's not really the best reason I've heard." Leo said disapprovingly.

"Let's stop the dogpile on Raven." I said soothingly. "The past is the past. She did worse anyways."

"I did?" Raven asked questioningly. Leo took a drink of water. Ruby noticed that she had water and did the same. Oh I love my LUK stat.

"Yeah. Like sleeping with your whole beacon team." I said nonchalantly. Ruby choked on her water and dropped the glass on the table, where a little spilled out. Leo calmly finished his drink. Pyrrha had a malfunction and stared blankly at Raven.

"Really? That sounds interesting." Pyrrha looked to her father with that same blank expression.

"Goddamnit Abyss." Raven sighed wearily.

"But… but mom… and uncle Qrow was in your team." Ruby said dazedly.

"Qrow and I did not sleep together. We aren't depraved… he was in the bathroom with Summer while I was with Tai…" Raven got quieter as she went along. "Then Tai, Summer, and I… beacon was an interesting experience." Leonidas snorted.

"Two teenage girls in a dorm with two teenage guys? Brother or not that's bound to end that way. I was in a team with three girls. Pearl, Oria, and Helen. It's pretty common in huntsman schools."

"Mom is pure. Mom is pure. Mom is pure." Ruby repeated to herself, trying to bleach her brain.

"That sort of stuff is common?" Pyrrha repeated questioningly.

"Yup." Leonidas confirmed. "Except in four guy teams or four girl teams… well I've heard rumors actually but nothing concrete."

"I think it helped that Summer was an extraordinary open person." I said.

"She was. It got her into a lot of trouble." Raven agreed.

"Excuse me?" A waiter came to the table. "Are you ready to order? Or would you just like drinks?"

"I'm ready to order." Leonidas said. "You all ready?" I glanced at my menu. Eye for detail kicked in and I comprehended everything on the page easily.

"I'm ready." I said.

"Ah, yes. I'm ready to order." Pyrrha said, still dazed from the conversation's temporary adult theme. Was this not normal? It seemed like with Leonidas it would be.

"Yup." Ruby said.

"I'll have the Mistralian steak and the Vacuan nights mix." Raven said, putting her menu down. The waiter scribbled that down and looked up.

"The signature burger please with onion rings. And a coke soda." Leo said. Wait didn't that have blue cheese on it? Well fine. I won't judge. The waiter continued scribbling.

"The basil pizza please." Ruby said, still recovering somewhat. We don't actually have pizza that often do we? I should try to make that.

"With breadsticks or fries?" The waiter asked.

"Um, breadsticks."

"I'd like the lobster platter." I said. I don't get lobster often. It's expensive and I cook for a whole clan. If I get hungry I'll eat something I have an avatar make in my soul space. I eat a lot, after all.

"… The pork thigh." Pyrrha said. "Sorry for the pause. I was wondering if I should get a burger instead." The waiter nodded understandingly.

"It's no problem miss Nikos. Enjoy your night. Food will be here soon enough." Pyrrha blinked at the waiter's knowing her name.

"Are you still not used to people knowing your name?" I asked. She shook her head. "It's weird at first. I got used to it after two months of it. After the finals it'll get worse. If we compete next year then it'll be even worse." Pyrrha's smile turned more to a grimace.

"That doesn't sound too pleasant, strangers knowing my name off the top of their head."

"It's not. I'm pretty well known in Vale. Not a household name but even in Mistral, where nature's bounty doesn't even have much of a presence besides places the first harvest will export to, some people know my name or face. I think that's the tournament though. Maybe the white fang publicizing me."

"Yeah… still doesn't seem much like something I would enjoy." She said with a frown.

"Yeah. It seems like it wouldn't really suit you." I agreed. Actually I know it wouldn't.

Dinner went pretty easily after food arrived. We talked about the matches, Pyrrha and I comparing Almond and Berry. Ruby had showed Leonidas rose eclipse. It was apparently the deadliest weapon he had ever seen. He looked at me like a madman when I said I built it and Ruby in some slight fear when she said she planned it. Raven looked at him like she was used to this.

I think Pyrrha is slightly afraid of what my weapon is. Ruby lauded it like a piece of divine work. It was only medium mythical rarity. Don't worry about it. Ruby gave all sorts of vague capabilities that only made Pyrrha more afraid. I assured her that I wouldn't rely on my weapon. Skill would be the determining factor. She seemed reassured by that, though she asked to see my weapon at work in a place where showmanship didn't matter. Leonidas asked if my weapon was in my pants and Pyrrha scrambled to take it back. It was funny apparently. I was too busy glaring at Leonidas to laugh.

We didn't talk as much when food came. The lobster had so much delicious butter. I stole a few slices of Ruby's pizza and Raven's steak since neither of them could completely finish theirs.

The setting sun was also beautiful to see. The distant mountains snow capped peak reflected the dying sunlight so well. I made sure to remember that one. And now I could with my selective memory passive.

The night ended with a confused valet seeing my lack of faunus ears and a quiet drive back to the compound. Mistral is a really nice place.

[|||| =NEXT LEVEL= ||||]

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If like it please drop some POWER STONES