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SABL (Ashen Wolf x LittleCloud)

Sable followed after Wanda, waltzing into the Game Den like some sort of big shot Atlesian playboy with a pretty, tomato-faced heiress under one arm and a short, sprightly local lass eagerly guiding him forward. Though the image was a bit let down by the fact that Lilac bounced almost immediately, leaving him and Henri in the neon-lit dust.

"Hold your damn horses, I still need to buy arcade tokens," Sable grumbled vaguely in the direction of his excited teammate as he slotted lien cards into a nearby machine. Fortunately for Sable, the Academy was so gracious as to give him a very meager stipend for use on various things, but it was chump change compared to the takes he was used to. Metal tokens fell into the dish in with a satisfying series of clacks. He retracted his arm from Henrietta to crouch for the child-height dispenser.

...And promptly realized he'd been bringing Henri around. He looked over his shoulder to verify. 'Yep,' he deadpanned. 'That's her.' He'd have described her as a timid heiress with more money than sense, but here he was, paying for things, so who really had the most sense here?

"We all want things," Sable quipped, swatting Lilac's vulnerable rump before he took his position in front of the joystick. He stuffed some tokens into the slot and rolled his shoulders, a cocky grin reflected in the glass. "Watch and learn, Shorty."

He guided the stick with as much grace as one could get from a stiff, automated arcade machine. The claw pinched the head of the bunny plush, metal tongs digging cruelly into the fluffy fabric. The machine took its sweet time locking in and lifting up...

Dexterity w/ Claw Machine: 1D20 = [13] = 13 vs ??? - Fail

The toy fell. Sable kicked the machine. "Son of a bitch," he cursed at the doll, which stared back at him with insulting stoicism. "I oughta crack you open and..."

"...And that was my valuable lesson," Sable cleared his throat, quickly realizing he was being watched by the two girls. Thankfully, their third was not here to disparage him. "Claw machines are all scams, you see. They're rigged to grip for shit so you keep putting in tokens. What you should really spend your money on at arcades is fun or skill-based activities instead of crappy bootleg casino gimmicks. Like the dancing games or ski ball or something."

"Oh, and don't get excited. You haven't won yet, Never said I couldn't just get enough tickets to buy a prize at the counter over there," Sable said to Lilac, thumbing behind him at the counter beneath a neon sign labelled 'Prizes'. It was more easily said than done; he wasn't super good at arcade games now that he thought about it. Best to deal in what he knew best: moving his body. "Now I dunno about you two, but I'm gonna hit up the dance machines and get a shitload of tickets."

...Well, all else failed, he could just steal some prize tickets. Or make a deal. Surely Wanda or someone was actually good at these sorts of things...
 
With her face pressed up against the glass of the Lilac had made the mistake of leaving her perky behind vulnerable, peaking out from underneath the frilly skirt that was hidden beneath her hoodie, with a squeak she jumped back from the machine giving Sable all the space he needed to try his hand at the claw machine. Henri stood quietly off to one side clutching her cane to her chest and watching the proceedings with a genuine curiosity, she'd never actually been to an arcade before and even if she found all the lights and sounds a little bit overwhelming she couldn't help but be drawn in to it.

Of course Sable was right, the game was hopelessly rigged and he might as well have been trying to pick up water with a sieve for all the luck he was having.

"No way!"

"But that's not fair..."

Niether of the girls seemed to take his lesson on the harsh realities of the Game Den particularly well but like everything else in life Lilac refused to let it slow her down, already bouncing off to get some tokens of her own. That Pumpkin Pete plushies was hers, it just didn't know it yet!

Which left Sable free to make his way deeper in to the building with Henri still in tow, leaving the claw machines behind and passing rows of lightgun games where excited gamers mowed down legions of Grimm and White Fang with the plastic weapons in their hands to the fighting cabinets with their small crowds of very serious looking competitors until they finally reached the dance machines (the Game Den did have real gambling machines but they were kept at the back behind a velvet rope).

A small crowd had gathered around one of the machines and there in the centre of it was Wanda who seemed to be absolutely in her element, her hands gripping the bar behind her while her feet danced across the arrows underneath her with a speed and skill that seemed almost supernatural in time with the prompts as they flashed up on the screen in front of her.
 
Sable sighed. Even after his very important, very impromptu lesson, Lilac went off to buy more tokens for the machine. Unable to stop his errant teammate, the exasperated leader could only shake his head as he led Henri away from the shortstack's bad influence. Poor little Lilac, so innocent... But she'd been warned. He would have no sympathy when she returned to him, heartbroken about her own folly. Instead, he and Henrietta, who was practically attached to him by the hip through no will of her own, made their way deeper into the arcade.

Having grown up in Mantle, Sable wasn't unaccustomed to the sights and sounds of arcades, even if he wasn't as intimately familiar with them as some of the other kids. Leisure was a luxury that came and went, and his gaming pastimes were more high-stakes than arcade tokens and prize tickets. At the thought, his gaze lingered on the velvet rope separating the all-ages section of the Game Den from the rest, then quickly flashed back to one of the fighting cabinets (why did people bother learning to play-fight when they could just fight?).

Soon enough, they stumbled upon a crowd of onlookers watching someone rack up an insane score... Ah, it was Wanda. That made sense to Sable. He'd watched her fight before; those reflexes had to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, Henrietta was around and didn't seem to want to change that, so he couldn't exactly slip away with distracted onlookers' tickets in hand.

So he waited until she was done. Then he struck.

"Look who we have here: a pretty little fox, light on her feet," Sable stepped up to the platform next to her, stretching out his arms and legs. He flourished two arcade tokens, enough for a duos round. "Care to entertain this handsome hound with a dance? It's my treat."

What was the best way to beat the consequences of gambling?

"...As long as highest score takes all the tickets."

More gambling, of course.
 
There was a small squeak from Henri when she suddenly found herself without anyone by her side but with the crowd closing back up around her in Sable's wake she didn't have didn't have much choice but to fend for herself for the moment while he flirted with Wanda up on the platform, quietly trying to make her way to its edges with a small stream of mutter apologies and excuse mes.

"Such a gentleman." The fox grinned back at him in her best faux-Atlasian voice, shrugging off her jacket to reveal her bare shoulders and the bodysuit that clung to her slender form, a light sheen of exertion from her last round making her almost glow underneath the lights of the Game Den. "I think I can put on a pretty good show~" She finshed with a playful wink, stretching her arms out high above her head.

Behind them there was some grumbling from the crowd, it didn't take the sharpest tool in the box to realise that most of them had gathered to watch Wanda twist and gyrate on the dance machine, and the sudden appearance of guy making nice with her was not welcome at all. Wanda didn't really give it a second thought though, she was having fun and she was in her element, that was all that mattered. Oh and she was about to win a whole bunch of tickets.

"Ready when you are handsome."

So Wanda is going to use her Acrobatics for this contest (With Skill Mastery it's going to be 26...it's kind of her thing) but you don't have to if you can think of something you'd rather do instead.
 
"Oh. So we're doing fanservice now? I see."

Sable didn't have fans. He had Henrietta, though, and that was close enough. Besides, if Wanda expected to sweat, then it was only right that he throw off the school hoodie and roll up the sleeves in turn, no? Throw in a few undone buttons and a little bit of sweat, and between the two of them, they'd really have a crowd on their hands.

Speaking of which, with his keen lupine ears, Sable could hear the peanut gallery complaining about a male on stage. Boo-fuckin'-hoo, he thought, rolling his eyes. Sucks for them, but he had a bet to win. And a bet to win using winnings from the first be he had to win. He didn't care what they thought before, and he certainly wouldn't now.

But he would be petty, so he flashed a smug, wolfish grin out to the crowd. Considering Sable was a very attractive faunus himself, that might've actually won him a few fans in the crowd, but the only thing he was concerned about winning was this wager.

"Oh, I'm always ready to make an audience eat their words," Sable answered, stretching an arm across his chest and then above his head. He slotted the two arcade coins into the register, picking out the hardest song on the machine, causing it to strobe brightly with neon color. The automated announcer boomed its typical preamble, hyping up the versus match in a way only a pre-programmed announcer could.

Ready. Set. Go!

Dance Off! - Sable Acrobatics vs 26: 1D20+15 = [15]+15 = 30

Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptaptap--

Sable couldn't hear the song anymore, just the sound of their footfalls against the glowing plastic markers. At first, he was worried he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Unlike Wanda, dancing arcade games were not his forte. However, the arcade machine was ultimately a test of precision rather than style, and he had plenty of experience with high-stakes acrobatics. It was enough to keep up his combo, but their scores simply refused to break even, no matter how big the numbers in the corners grew.

They were as neck and neck as could be, and, as much as Sable hated to admit it, in terms of skill, she was a hair better at this than he was.

But he wanted to win more than she did, and that made all the difference.

PLAYER 2. VICTORY.

"Argh... Fuck me." Sable sat against the back rail. Sweat beaded on his forehead, matting a bit of his gray hair as he drew in long, panting breaths. He may have won, but the score was way too close for comfort. He couldn't even appreciate the sounds of two long strings of tickets being printed! He looked over at Wanda, wondering how she was holding up. "If you put as much effort here as you did your classes, you could beat out those snobs from GLNT."
 
Wanda hadn't really expected for Sable to follow her lead when she ditched her jacket but she wasn't going to complain, not even trying to hide the fact that she was enjoying the view, her eyes gleefully wandering over him before she turned her attention back to the machine (and who knows, maybe he had won a few fans of his own in the crowd). Idly bopping and moving along to the music she watched as he gradually scrolled through the songs, names of ever more difficult challenges moving by, her excitement building until Sable finally settled on the hardest stage the game had to offer.

"Are you sure...?" She started to ask, she knew she could handle it but if Sable fell behind too fast then she wasn't going to enjoy her win, but clearly he was just as confident as she was because with the booming of the announcer they were off!

Clearly in her element Wanda took to the challenge as easy as breathing, she might not have had skills honed on the mean streets of Mantle like Sable, but what she did have was the top five scores on the machine! Still the pair of them seemed evenly matched, maybe if Wanda had been less cocky, less assured of her victory, then things might have gone the other way but when the announcers voice next boomed out...

PLAYER 2. VICTORY.

Wanda's fox ears twitched and her eyes darted between the two screens, her brain fighting through the adrenaline rush to make sense of what had happened before she settled on Sable. "Holy crap you never told me how good you were!" She squealed, snatching up the tickets and draping them around Sable's neck like a prize winner's medals "We could rule this arcade!" A few seconds later she followed the medals, draping herself against him as she caught her own breath, she hadn't pushed herself as hard as he had (and paid the price for it) but the cumulative effect was starting to catch up with her.

"I've got a flawless record against those assholes and this is waaaaaay more fun." She said with a grin.
 
"What can I say? I'm a man of mystery," Sable grunted coolly, pushing a hand through his sweat-soaked hair as the beautiful fox wreathed him in tickets. If he were being completely honest, even he didn't know how good he was! Feather-stepping across warehouse trusses or running along the tops of speeding cargo trains had nothing on outdancing Wanda, that was for sure. Though he couldn't exactly call what he'd just done 'outdancing'. It was more similar to keeping pace with an enemy's footwork in practicality.

Besides, he'd been taught how to dance properly and he'd get a beating if he went around calling that dancing.

"I'll pass," Sable waved his hand dismissively. A few cute stretches weren't exactly the best warmup in the world, but even if he'd been better prepared, he wasn't exactly looking forward to iterating on his personal best over and over again, that was for sure. Resting on his laurels as an insurmountable wall was much more convenient. "I suck at most of the other games anyway. Just ask Henri and Lilac how the crane machine went."

"My mind won't change even if you throw yourself at me," he quipped as she collapsed against him, arms draped over his shoulders like a sexy, vulpine chain of tickets. He could tell she wasn't being cute; her exertion had caught up with her. She was still cute, though, and the way she caught the line, skin shining with sweat, looking up at him in awe made his black heart twitch. He glanced over to the crowd, all faceless and black outside the spotlight. Then he looked back to Wanda. He smirked.

Ah, what the hell?

"To the victor go the spoils."

Sable kissed the girl.
 
Wanda had been flirting with Sable since pretty much the second that they had met in their first class and she hadn't exactly been subtle about it either, but as far as the young faunus had been concerned it was still pretty much just a game they were playing, a little something to ruffle the stuffed shirts at the Academy and have fun while they were doing it (Did Atlasians even flirt? That seemed dreadfully informal for them.)

That all kind of went out of the window the second she felt his lips against her's.

Still riding her adrenaline high, she acted on instinct, her foxy ears shooting up in surprise for a single moment before they settled back down against her head and she parted her lips, letting Sable snatch her first kiss. Eyes closed she traced her fingers gently up and down his back, letting the sensation take her away until the wolf faunus saw fit to finally release her. For a second she just stood there, a jumbled brain trying to keep pace what had just happened, before she snapped back to reality.

"So...you must have really liked those tickets huh?" She offered as a half-hearted joke.

Behind them the faceless crowd that hadn't exactly appreciated Sable's presence in the first place had well and truely dispersed, leaving just Henri who didn't dare stray too far away from her team leader but had suddenly decided that the 'No Littering' sign affixed to a nearby pillar was very very interesting and demanded 100% of attention.
 
The kiss started boldly, but slowly. She returned the sudden contact with a small, timid taste. Had this been her first kiss? The thought amused him. He ought to make this a kiss to remember then, no? Bit by bit, her mouth opened, letting him inside. When his tongue touched hers, when he started tasting her deeply, she sent her hands around him. He stepped forward, melting against her, body to body, separated only by the fabric of their clothes. Her hands caressed his back, and his cradled her head, thumbs on her cheeks, controlling the pace.

And what a pace he chose.

Sable's was a bold hunger that only grew with each passing second. Soon the sudden smooch became a hot, passionate kiss. The ravenous hound took his time to taste the fox, Tongues intertwined, dancing as ferverously as they had before until it stopped as suddenly as it started. Warm, panting breaths washed over their faces, separated only by a lurid string of mixed saliva.

Wanda spoke first. She looked so cute when she was confused.

"I like 'em," Sable smirked, looking down at the now-bashful fox. Their audience was long gone now, but this dance had always been a performance for two (or three, if you counted Henrietta). Just as quickly as he had closed the distance, his hands slipped away, followed by the rest of him, leaving her bereft of his continued touch. Sable twirled the end of the ticket chain around his finger. He looked over his shoulder as he descended the stage. He winked cheekily, "Not as much as I like you though~"

Did this make them official? Sable didn't know. What he did know was that it was always best to leave them in suspense. He was nothing if not an inveterate tease, after all.

While Henrietta stared intently at the sign, Sable's hand suddenly came down firmly upon her shoulder. His typically silent approach no doubt caught the girl by surprise, especially since she was obviously doing her best to ignore the romance blossoming on stage. "C'mon Garbage Girl. Let's go hit up the prizes," he turned his hand over and grabbed her by the back of the collar, dragging her alongside him like a disobedient pet. "Daddy's got another bet to win."

That brought them to the prize counter, where Sable gleefully cashed in for a giant Pumpkin Pete plush and a bag of surprise tools that would help him later. "Alright. Where's that cheeky little shit?" the victorious faunus asked, scanning the arcade with his bag of swag in one hand and a giant plush tucked under arm. "You see her?"
 
Wanda took a moment to gather her jacket from where it had landed draped over the back-bar and pick up her bag while she watched Sable cross the arcade floor to corral his tame heiress, by the time she'd stuffed her jacket in to her dainty purse she had just about gotten her heartbeat back under control and forced most of the blush out of her cheeks. Her head was swimming with a lot of the same questions that Sable had but she could deal with those later, definitely not out in public like this and definitely definitely not while they were supposed to be having fun.

There was no way Sable didn't know what he was doing when he crept up on Henri and he was rewarded with exact startled squeal he must have been expecting as he pulled her back to reality. "Garbage Girl...?" She said in a half protest but it didn't stop her from being dragged along beside her leader, her own cheeks flushing as people around them took notice of how she was being pulled along, nevermind the fact he was calling himself 'Daddy' now. Was that a Mantle thing? She had no idea and she wasn't going to ask.

"I can walk on my own you know..." She mumbled meekly, looking over the treasures that the prize counter had to offer before Sable traded his tickets with the bored looking boy with a pair of horns jutting out from either side of his head, then it was off to find the wayward member of their team. "I think she's over there..."

With all the colour and energy of a bright pink firework display it wasn't exactly difficult to find Lilac, excitedly bouncing and chattering away with her opponent from one side of an air hockey, a quick look at the brightly flashing scoreboard showing that she had an almost crushing lead againsnt the poor boy (something I'm sure her semblance had absolutely nothing to with).

"Hey guys! Ohmigosh what is that?!" She squealed, immediately forgetting about the game and bounding over to her leader with wide sparkling eyes.
 
"Yeah. 'Cause you're so interested in recycling nowadays," Sable snorted. He didn't plan on keeping the moniker for long, but he just couldn't resist teasing the heiress. Honestly, she was lucky she stuck by him. Some Mantle playboy might've tried to pick her up or something, and that simply wouldn't do. She was, after all, his, even if she didn't realize it at the moment. At any rate, none of her meek mumbling went unnoticed by his keen, lupine ears, even amidst the hustle and bustle of the arcade. As he cashed in his wreath of winnings, he looked over his shoulder. "So? You're cuter when I drag you around like a lost puppy."

"Speaking of, these are yours." He fished into the bag of extras he'd gotten and plopped a pair of dog ears on her head before turning to the direction she pointed. He had a knowing smirk on his face, but the reason was undecipherable to the young lady--but maybe not to the other personality dwelling within.

Sable parried Lilac's assault against his personal space by shoving the plush into her face. "Use your eyes." He shook the doll smugly. It wasn't exactly the kind he tried to hook earlier, but it was bigger and better--as befit a top shelf prize option. "It's a win for me, that's what."
 
Henri just kind of looked at the retreating Sable's back with the sort of lost look he was probably used to by now, reaching up with a curious hand to poke her new accessory. Satisified that they were actually real and this had actually happened, she burst back in to life chasing after her leader as fast as she could in a panic. Was she allowed to wear animal ears? She didn't want anyone to think that she was racist! She had friends who were Faunus. Wait wasn't that something that a racist would say? Why had Sable given her them in the first place?! All these thoughts ran through her mind as she hurried across the arcade floor, colliding with Sable when he stopped to give Lilac her prize, almost neatly sandwiching between the two girls.

"Best! Day! Ever!" Lilac squealed with glee, snatching the plushie from Sable and hugging it tight, spinning around excitedly with it her grip a few times before sadly the dizziness made her stop but there was still one thing left she had to do and let it not be said that Lilac Langley was not magnanimous in defeat. "I guess you want your prize then right?" She asked him, taking up a position and leaning up on her tip-toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

That's what he wanted right?

"Not interrupt anything are we?" Wanda announced her presence, a grin plastered on her face as she looked at the scene in front of her, having seemingly gotten over her little 'experience' from earlier, Alex and Daisy lingering behind her.
 
From most peoples' perspective, he'd already won. Sandwiched between a pretty girl eagerly fishing for a kiss and another desperately clinging to his back like a needy puppy, Sable could practically feel the pairs of unseen eyes, all brimming with envy, boring holes into him. And that wasn't even considering all the folks who watched him make out on stage with Wanda, too!

"Oh, I want my prize," Sable smirked. But instead of swooping down to snatch away a kiss from the flighty young lady, he just clasped a hand over Lilac's mouth and pushed her back down onto her heels.

...Then, he realized that he could feel her lips against his palm. That better not have counted. He wouldn't let it count.

"But who said I wanted it now? And who said I wanted it on the cheek?" He crossed his arms and leaned in, a sinister smugness plastered all over his face. "Enjoy your plush, Lilac. I hope it was worth the price~"

He'd let her think about the implications for a bit. It was at that moment that the fox herself arrived on scene, flanked by two of her less energetic teammates.

"Of course not. In fact, you missed all the excitement of my victory," Sable grinned. He looked at her, appreciating her good looks. Then he tilted his head a bit, looking not at Wanda anymore, but past her. Without another word, Sable walked back over to the prize counter, only to return with another pair of animal ears, which he promptly dropped onto Alex's head. The wolf let out a bemused snort and quickly fished out his Scroll. It quickly flashed, capturing the image in crystal clarity. The white rabbit ears really did fit the poor kid like a glove.

"Where'd the rabbit hop off to?" He glanced at Alex and corrected himself. "The other one, I mean. We should probably head out before I get torched and pitch-forked by those nerds over there." He thumbed over to a crowd. At this point, you could practically see the oppressive atmosphere of the other arcade-goers' ire, especially after he slapped Lilac's ass. "This one wanted to get some grub. Besides, didn't you guys have some business down here too? We've only got a day."
 
If Lilac understood the sinister implications of Sable's particular choice of words she didn't show it, it was entirely possible that the whole thing had flown right over her head, dancing away as she was pushed back down to earth, spinning around with her face buried deep in her new trophy.

Like poor befuddled Henri before him Alex had no idea what was going on as Sable planted the rabbit ears on his head, looking to his leader for some kind of explanation and getting nothing but an amused smirk for his troubles, which to be fair was more or less what he'd been expecting, he was (mostly) used to Wanda's teasing by now. Then Sable's scroll camera went off and he felt a sudden flush of courage, he didn't know what the other boy was going to do with that photo, fun was fun but he had to stand up for himself some time and apparently that time was now.

"Hey! Why'd you take my picture?" He demanded from the faunus boy, even if the bunny ears kind of undermind him just a little bit.

Wanda didn't seem to take this sudden growth of a spine particularly seriously and just kept the conversation going as if it hadn't happened "She got bored of the boxing machine, said she was gonna go on ahead and see her parents. Hey why don't we swing by her place and go grab something to eat?"
 
"To add to my spank bank," Sable deadpanned, scrolling through the menus to set the image as the contact icon for the poor lad. He let his answer stew a little bit just to make it extra uncomfortable before adding with a similarly straight-faced inflection: "Just kidding."

Sable didn't offer a full explanation, though, but then again, Alex wasn't exactly keen to take off the ears despite his sudden surge of courage. He kept a mental note of that fact, but if nobody was going to mention it, then the wolf wasn't going to point it out. As for his true intentions with the picture? Well, he was sure he could find some use for it, but now was not the time to think of uses for the novelty image. Instead, Sable would simply opt to casually proceed with the conversation just as his vulpine counterpart did.

"Sounds better than going back to school." Sable wasn't exactly too keen to rush back up to Atlas and their watchful eye. Even if Mantle was risky business, it smelled more like home to him. "Lilac just wouldn't stop talking my ear off about this ramen place. We can head over there after we hunt down that rabbit."

The wolf guided the party out of the arcade and away from the prying eyes of other arcadegoers (and, no doubt, the Middle Management upstairs). Then he realized he didn't know where she lived. Wanda mentioned that Nikki's family owned a boxing gym or a dojo, but those were a dime-a-dozen down here!

"I'll let you take the lead," Sable insisted, "I can't be hogging all the attention, after all."
 
"Such a gentleman." Wanda playfully stuck out her tongue, then they were off through the streets of Mantle and for once there was nobody latching on to either of Sable's arms what with one of his usual arm candy marching off ahead in front of them to lead the way and the other still utterly enamoured with her new plushie, dancing and spinning around with only a lose connection to the rest of the group.

Which was probably a good thing because he'd need those hands to answer his Scroll, the device buzzing in to life with a message from Penny. She hoped that he was having a wonderful time with his friends, the attached photo of her sitting on the floor of his dorm and drinking tea with Meg certainly seemed to show that she was, probably, it was hard to tell with a mask on.

Bringing up the rear Alex shoved the ears in to the pocket of his jacket and took up the job of guiding Daisy as they finally left the main streets and made their way in to the winding warrens of back alleys and side streets that criss-crossed the city, where Wanda and Lilac seemed weirdly at home despite their bright and perky exteriors, the Atlasian boy moved just a little bit closer to his sleepy friend...

Finally they arrived outside a squat building squeezed between the back of a restaurant and another building with boarded up windows, with a faded painted sign that read 'IRON GYM'. Standing out front blocking the doorway was an older brown-haired woman wearing an apron with a pair rabbit ears of her own.

"Hey Mrs M, Nikki's here right?" Wanda asked

"Oh she's just with her father, she'll be out in a minute." The woman replied, a soft smile on her face.

The minutes ticked on, she'd be out soon right...?
 
"...Eh?"

Sable narrowed his eyes at the contents of the new and unexpected text message as the group of students made their way through the mean streets of Mantle. He was having a good time--basking in the graffiti-ridden grime, dodging weird stains on the sidewalk, and all the other pleasures of making your way through Remnant's Number One Shithole--until just then. Sure, Mantle was a rough place--and the direction they were going seemed even rougher--but right now, he worried more about the threat upstairs than the potential of getting his shit rocked by some unlucky mugger.

Honestly, he couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't know whether he was mortified that Penny had thought it was okay to be hanging out with Meg or that Meg was willingly allowing it to happen. In the first place, since when did they become such good friends!? Sable hadn't even realized his group had stopped at their destination until he figured out what he wanted to say:

we got in a fight and everyone died
get out of my room
*angry ghost sticker*
Click to expand...

Sable looked up at the sign: Iron Gym. No relation to the other gyms going by different metals, he assumed. Gyms were a common fixture in Mantle, useful for both street toughs and labor workers. He wondered what clientele this one serviced... Granted, he'd been so absorbed by his texting that he only just now realized how much time had passed and how still Mrs. March was the whole time.

His ears perked up, unable to hear the sounds of anything going on behind that door she barred. Clearly something was up. Normally, he wouldn't care to investigate what tragedy had befallen them; their business was their business, after all. But Sable's time was Sable's time, and he knew the signs of influence when he saw them.

"We're all busy folks here. Why don't you tell us what's actually going on?" Sable pushed up to the front of the group, getting up into Mrs. March's face with his hands on his hips and his semblance activating imperceptibly. "Out with it, lady. S'not like we haven't seen worse around here."
 
~~Back in Atlas~~

Penny suddenly leapt to her feet, panic filling her bright green eyes as she brandished her Scroll across the table.

"Sable says I can't be in his room! And he's dead!"

I should be so lucky Meg thought to herself, reaching out with one hand to calm the flustered girl, though as her eyes scanned over Sable's message she couldn't help but inwardly feel a sense of smug satisfaction. Clearly Penny being there got under his skin, she'd have to make their get togethers a regular thing.

"Come now Penny." She reassured her "If he was dead would he have been able to send that message? This is my room too and I say you are welcome time you like."

"Oh..." Penny stood still for a moment processing her thoughts "Thank goodness!"

~~~~~~~

Nikki's mother remained calm even as Sable pushed his way into her face, having a pair of mind altering presences inside of her head will do that but luckily nothing that he was asking of her condtradicted her previous orders so she had no problem answering, still with the same placid smile on her face.

"Oh my husband found some men in our house, they told me to wait out here and make sure nobody interupted them while they sorted everything out."
 
"Oh you gotta be fuckin' kidding me," Sable cursed, eyes rolling so hard they threatened to pop out of his face. He looked to Nikki's mom with the most done look imaginable. "Seriously, lady? Seriously?"

Sable quietly considered his options. It would be troublesome if he got involved with underworld activity--especially considering this whole mess he was started because of underworld activity--but considering his position, it would be even more troublesome to simply let this be. In the first place, he'd never get a permission slip signed if his first and only outing ended with a student and her family going missing!

There was a solution here, though: Nikki wasn't his teammate, so she wasn't his responsibility. Sable looked over his shoulder and stepped down to rejoin the group.

"Not to panic anyone," Sable began carefully, "But here's the scene: thugs have got your girl and are threatening her mom to keep people out." He preempted everyone's alarm by quickly pressing his finger to his mouth--the universal sign of 'shut the fuck up'. "Here's the script: my teammates will cover the exits. Wanda, your team will sneak in and do the rescuing. Rabbit Boy, you'll need your hands to play hero. I'll carry the rat and follow your lead."

He turned back to Mrs. March, offering them no opportunity to reject his plan. It was a good plan, if he did say so himself, so he saw no use in wasting their precious time.

"Alright, I've got some volunteers. Now out of the way, lady," Sable ordered, his own mind control serving to counteract the influence of his opponent. He pushed Alex forward, intending for him to lead the charge alongside his team. With any luck this would all end conveniently and they'd pull her family into some cushy Atlesian witness protection, but considering they were Faunus, maybe that wouldn't be the case here. Oh well, as long as he wasn't taking credit, Sable didn't mind. Unfortunately, the evidence of another mental manipulator meant he'd have to be there personally. The last thing he needed was someone to dominate another one of the students.
 
"Yes Sir! Come on Henri!" Lilac gave a jaunty salute and if Sable thought he was going to have to worry about getting Nikki's mother out of the way he needn't have bothered, his perky pink teammate practical launching herself at the older woman and while she might have been the smaller of the two a mind controlled housewife was no match for even a trainee huntress. Quite thoroughly knocking the wind out of the poor woman Lilac yanked her out of the way and posted up on one side of the door, Henri following her lead with a mumbled "Sorry". Did those ears on head make her a better guard dog? Who could say.

"Wait!" Alex protested as he was pushed forward "I don't even have my weapon!"

"Got you covered." Wanda wasn't going to let him get away that easily, reaching in to her slender purse and pulling out his knives before forcing them in to his hands. Next came her own weapon, a vaulting pole almost as tall as she was and then lastly Daisy's combat baton.

"Wakey wakey sleepy head, Nikki's in trouble!" This seemed to snap the sleepy girl out of her fugue and segments of her weapon thrummed in to life and began to glow a gentle green as she took it in hand and gave her leader a nod and another long yawn.

All properly armed there wasn't another moment to lose and with a final look back at his team (and a reasuring nod from Wanda) Alex barged in to the gym. Inside was pretty unremarkable for a building of its kind in this part of Mantle, the center of the room was dominated by a boxing ring with heavy black exercise equipment dotted around the room, a world away from the high-tech equipment back at the academy but sturdy and reliable nontheless.

Of course this wasn't the most important thing right now when compared to the three men standing around a large human man and the recognisable figure of Nikki, they were a mix of human and faunus each wearing layers of dirty and tattered rags and all three of them dripped with black ichor. At the sound of the door opening they turned around and let out a bestial hiss, eyes glowing red where the dark liquid covered their face, cruel talons on the end of tainted limbs and bone white plates protruding out from beneath holes in their clothes.

"Uh...guys...?" Alex looked nervously back at his teammates...this wasn't covered in Grimm Studies 101.
 
"Oh good. You already know your lines."

That went over much better than Sable expected. Was this the Atlesian military education actually being good for something? Perish the thought. Now if only he had permission to carry around his weapons like that. Sadly, the only person he could convince to allow that was busy being buddy-buddy with a snooty shark, and he didn't exactly have the foresight to expect a full on fight while he was vacationing!

Of course, even if Sable had expected a fight with thugs, that wasn't exactly what the SAWD quartet got when they burst into the gym. Life had a way of taking interesting, often irksome turns for the young faunus. He shouldn't have expected anything different, and yet he was still surprised when it turned out that, instead of run-of-the-mill street toughs, they found themselves face-to-face with the slavering jaws of... something. Sable wasn't exactly a Grimm expert, but he hadn't heard of any Grimm like these--much less any Grimm within city limits, period.

"Eyes on the prize, lead actor. Shoot first, ask questions later," Sable snapped at the nervous Atlesian.

Brothers, this was going to be a shitload of paperwork when they got back...

Initiative: 1D20+8 = [6]+8 = 14
 
Letting out a bestial hiss the three strange creatures moved with unatural speed and coordination, leaving Nikki's father rooted to the spot like a blank-eyed mannequin, but they weren't alone and Sable would quickly find himself face to face with Nikki March, her training so deep engrained in her bones that she managed to drop in to a boxing stance despite her empty spare.

"Don't worry, I've got her gloves." Wanda reassured the other faunus and while that might have been true, they were tucked safely away in her purse, what Nikki still had was her Semblance. People who believe in such things said that a huntress' semblance was a reflection on who they were and that certainly seem to ring true for Nikki, like her it was blunt, reliable and straight to the point, she liked to call it 'Force'.

I'm sure Sable would have time to ponder all of this as she threw a bareknuckle punch at his face with the strength of a runaway freight train.

The other three quickly loomed over the rest of the impromptu team SWAD (DAWS is almost a word), staring down WANDA with a single glowing red eye while the others lashed out at Alex and Daisy with cruel ichor stained claws.

With a yelp Alex split his enormous knife in to a pair of smaller blades and managed to bring them up in a crossed guard to deflect the monsters claws but Daisy wasn't so lucky. Possibly for the first time every Sable could catch a glimpse of her eyes shooting wide open as the claw raked across her body, contaminating her aura with a creeping black stain.

Wanda found herself dangerously close to losing herself in the cyclopean red eye that was filling her vision with its glowing light but her teammates cry snapped her out of it "Back off!" The pole in her hand extended at its base, slamming against the sawdust floor and launching her forward in to the air, sailing across the head of the monster attacking Daisy, both ends of her weapon igniting with brilliant fire dust flares as she struck out against it.

Nikki
Move Move in to Close with Sable.
Standard Attack Sable with Brawler & Concentrated Force: 1D20+6 = [2]+6 = 8 DC25 Toughness vs Damage & DC20 Fortitude vs Cumulative Dazed&Impaired/Stunned&Disabled if that hits Miss

Thrall #1
Free Set Favoured Environment (Fighting with 2 or more other Thralls) to +2 Defence
Move Move in to Close with Wanda
Standard Attack Wanda with Hypnotic Gaze, DC18 Will vs Cumulative Dazed/Compelled/Controlled. Wanda Will vs Dazed/Compelled/Controlled (DC18): 1D20+8 = [13]+8 = 21 Resist
Thrall #2
Free Set Favoured Environment (Fighting with 2 or more other Thralls) to +2 Defence
Move Move in to Close with Alex
Standard Attack Alex with Tainted Claws: 1D20+8 = [1]+8 = 9 DC23 Toughness vs Damage & DC18 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated if that hits Miss
Thrall #3
Free Set Favoured Environment (Fighting with 2 or more other Thralls) to +2 Defence
Move Move in to Close with Daisy
Standard Attack Daisy withTainted Claws: 1D20+8 = [17]+8 = 25 DC23 Toughness vs Damage & DC18 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated if that hits
Daisy Toughness vs DC23: 1D20+12 = [8]+12 = 20 Bruised
Daisy Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+8 = [2]+8 = 10 Disabled
Wanda
Free Set Wand of Mercury to Vaulting Pole
Move Feint Thrall #3, DC26 Acrobatics/Insight Check vs Vulnerable Thrall #3 Insight vs Feint (DC26): 1D20+6 = [3]+6 = 9 Thrall #3 is Vulnerable vs Sable, Wanda & Alex until Wanda's next turn.
Reaction Vaulting Pole launches Wanda in to Close with Thrall #3
Standard Attack Thrall #3 with Fire Dust Flares: 1D20+8 = [18]+8 = 26 DC23 Toughness vs Damage & DC18 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless if that hits Hits
Thrall #3 Toughness vs DC23: 1D20+8 = [14]+8 = 22 Bruised
Thrall #3 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired&Vulnerable/Disabled&Defenceless (DC18): 1D20+8 = [5]+8 = 13 Impaired&Vulnerable
Initiative
Thralls
Wanda
Sable
Alex
Daisy

Status
Sable Fine
Wanda Fine
Alex Fine
Daisy Disabled (DC18)/Bruised x1

Thrall 1 Fine
Thrall 2 Fine
Thrall 3 Impaired&Vulnerable (DC18)/Bruised x1
Nikki Fine
 
"We have very different ideas of 'things to worry about'!" Sable grunted, weaving under a blow so forceful he could still hear it in the air. Sure, Wanda might've had Nikki's equipment, but the presence of gloves or lack thereof seemed to have little effect on the rabbit's ability to smash his head in! Honestly, he wished he could be more surprised that the only disarmed fighter here was a Semblance-based martial artist, but with the way his luck was these days, he was stuck rolling with the punches as they came.

Still, if getting attacked by monsters he'd never seen before and by a person he considered an ally was enough to jar him, Sable would never have made it to Atlas. His ears twitched, head on a swivel, and eyes scanning the battlefield. He was a raumdeuter by nature and by practice, with and without a weapon. Seamlessly escaping from Nikki's range in the shadow of her shoulder, he darted across the field, placing himself in the most useful position:

Between Daisy and a Grimm.

"You look better with your eyes open, Lazy Bones," Sable grinned wryly, tugging her into his chest and out of the way like a dance partner. The Grimm's claws raked across his arm, held up to ward the blow away from the little mouse. Sharp, burning pain seethed through his aura, but it held firm. A quick shove made enough space for him and the mouse to part ways. "Why don't'cha pay me back by kicking his ass?"

With the immediate threat dealt with, Sable glanced over his shoulder and, with practiced ease, directed his Semblance at Nikki. Normally he was the one hypnotizing people--oh how the tables had turned. He'd have to check in later, though. He still had work to do.

"Hey! Over here!" Sable whistled to grab the first Thrall's attention. He spread his arms wide, gesturing a challenge to the beast. The faunus was unguarded, unarmed, and unabashed--a delicious target for the first Thrall...

Reaction: Interpose for Daisy
Toughness vs 23: 1D20+10 = [18]+10 = 28 Resist Damage
Fortitude vs 18: 1D20+8 = [18]+8 = 26 Resist Affliction

Free: Activate Favored Environment (Urban): +2 Defense (Total: +8)
Standard: Counter Mind Control w/ Semblance: 18 vs Opposed/Will
Move: Deception to Trick Thrall #1 into attacking him to set up Redirect (if it works, Thrall #1 attacks Sable. If that attack misses Sable, then the attack resolves against Thrall #3). Using Skill Mastery: Deception so it's a flat 20 DC vs Deception/Will/Insight.

Condition: Healthy
 
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"Right." Daisy nodded to Sable, looking somewhat focused for the first time since they'd met, she didn't know what exactly those claws could do but she knew that she'd narrowly avoided finding out thanks to the other faunus' intervention and she was determined to pay him back. Alex however was faster off the mark, he wasn't a powerhouse fighter like some of the other kids in their classes (nevermind his sister the special operative), heck he didn't even know what his semblance was yet, but this was their first real combat since the mines and they were determined to prove that they were supposed to be here.

Slamming his blades back together in to their enormous unwieldy form they quickly closed the gap between themselves and the Grimm, slicing at the black essence of the thing, he didn't know if the person it was clinging too could be saved be he didn't want to harm them if it could be avoided, sending the dark slime splattering around them, hissing and evaporating in to foul smelling smoke on whatever it touched.

The monster let out a keening otherworldly hiss as it felt the bite of the giant blade, turning its attention away from the mouse faunus only to take a heavy strike to the back of the head that jerked its whole body to the side, only remaining standing through the sheer bloody minded hatred of the Grimm and while it was hard to tell from their strange glowing eyes all of the monsters suddenly fought to stay awake.

Sable's gamble had paid off and the first Thrall rushed towards what it percived as an easy target and would have over extended into the other Grimm if it hadn't swung its claws in the perfect arc to deal a deadly blow! There was a sudden rush of movement and now it was Daisy's turn to stand between her friend and the Grimm, she didn't even bother raising her weapon just taking the hit taking the hit on her aura without flinching. "Sorry I didn't kick his ass..." She apologised with a yawn.

The other two monsters rounded on Alex, eyes glowing red as they tried to bring Alex under their controll, Nikki just standing amidst the chaos like a statue as Sable's semblance fought the monster's control and arrived at a standstill.

"Where's your weapon?" Wanda called out to Sable as she struck out at the monster in front of her over and over again while she twirled around her staff, Alex was obviously in a bit of a bind here but if she would drop one of the Grimm while it was still reeling then she could even the odds just a little. "Do you need a loaner?"

Alex
Move Move into Close with Thrall #3
Free Set Dual-Mode Weapon to Buster Knife
Standard Attack Thrall #3 with+2 Power Attack Multi Slash: 1D20+6 = [13]+6 = 19 DC25+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage if that hits. Hits
Thrall #3 Toughness vs DC25: 1D20+5 = [6]+5 = 11 Staggered & Bruised
Daisy
Move N/A
Standard Attack Thrall #3 with +2 All-Out Attack Heavy Baton & Slumber: 1D20+6 = [17]+6 = 23 DC27 Toughness vs Damage if that hits and all enemies make a DC18 Will Save vs Cumlative Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated. Hits
Thrall #3 Toughness vs DC27: 1D20+4 = [16]+4 = 20 Dazed & Bruised
Thrall #1 Will vs Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+8 = [12]+8 = 20 Resists
Thrall #2 Will vs Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+8 = [12]+8 = 20 Resists
Thrall #3 Will vs Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+6 = [9]+6 = 15 Dazed
Nikki Will vs Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+8 = [9]+8 = 17 Dazed

Thrall #1
Move Move in to Close with Sable
Standard Attack Sable with Tainted Claws: 1D20+8 = [20]+8 = 28 DC23 DC28 Toughness vs Damage & DC18 DC23 Fortitude vs Cumulative Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated if that hits Crit
Daisy is Immune to Crits so she's going to interpose that for Sable
Daisy Toughness vs DC23: 1D20+12 = [9]+12 = 21 Bruised
Daisy Fortitude vs Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated (DC18): 1D20+8 = [14]+8 = 22 Resist
Thrall #2
Move Move in to Close with Alex
Standard Attack Alex with Hypnotic Gaze, DC18 Will vs Cumulative Dazed/Compelled/Controlled
Alex Will vs Cumulative Dazed/Compelled/Controlled (DC18): 1D20+8 = [2]+8 = 10 Compelled
Thrall #3
Move Staggered
Standard Attack Alex with Hypnotic Gaze, DC18 Will vs Cumulative Dazed/Compelled/Controlled
Alex Will vs Cumulative Dazed/Compelled/Controlled (DC18): 1D20+8 = [15]+8 = 23 Resist
End of Turn Thrall #3 Fortitude (DC18): 1D20+6 = [13]+6 = 19 Success
Thrall #3 Fortitude (DC18): 1D20+8 = [1]+8 = 9 Fail
Nikki
Move Entranced
Standard Entranced
End of Turn Nikki Will vs DC18: 1D20+8 = [13]+8 = 21 Success
Wanda
Move Feint Thrall #3, DC26 Acrobatics/Insight Check vs Vulnerable, Vulnerable vs Wanda, Sable and Daisy if they fail.
Thrall #3 Insight vs Feint (DC26): 1D20+6 = [3]+6 = 9 Feinted
Standard Attack Thrall #3 with +2 All-Out/Power Attack Flashy Flurry: 1D20+8 = [15]+8 = 23 DC25+Multiattack Toughness vs Damage if that hits. Wanda is Deflected at 1d20+8.
Thrall #3 Toughness vs DC27: 1D20+5 = [2]+5 = 7 INCAPACITATED
Initiative
Thralls
Wanda
Sable
Alex
Daisy

Status
Sable Fine
Wanda Fine
Alex Compelled (DC18)
Daisy Fine

Thrall 1 Fine
Thrall 2 Fine
Thrall 3 Dazed (DC18)/Staggered/Bruised x3
Nikki Fine
 
"I'll defer your payment for now," Sable grimaced, slipping out from behind the baton-wielding rodent. Brothers, that was too close! These guys were sharper than he thought--in more than one sense of the phrase. Only Daisy's timely assistance made the difference between leaving that exchange unscathed and leaving it with a huge chunk of his aura missing.

He didn't have time to dwell on it, though. After failing to cut him down, the two Grimm turned their attention to Alex, and unlike Wanda, they succeeded in taking him into their clutches. As for the third? The sound of a final death knell told him all he needed to know about that one. Breaking even wasn't his idea of a good time, but it was better than being down one.

"Impound," Sable answered Wanda, trying not to sound too bitter about being unable to fight to his fullest. The one-word answer spoke for itself, but not the full extent of the truth. He didn't want nor need to get into the nitty gritty of signing out all of his personal belongings in the middle of a fight. In the first place, he didn't have time to--not because of the monsters, but because Wanda threw a machete at him.

"...Why do you even have this?"

He ducked under a careless swipe. Perhaps questions like these were better left unanswered. What was the saying about gift horses?

"Whatever- Hey, Lazy!" He twirled the machete in his hand, pointing it at Thrall #2. "I'm cashing in. We're taking out that one. I'll go low, you go high."

Sable dart forward, low to the ground, machete bared like an ice pick. Skimming the surface of the gymnasium floor, his leg swung out and his body twisted, an axis by which he could carve a crescent-shaped slash across the Grimm's legs... But more importantly, creating a perfect platform for the little mouse to spring from to deliver a powerful blow from above.

Sable gains Machete: Damage (Strength + 3), Improved Critical

Move: Feint Thrall #2 for DC20 Deception/Insight Check for Vulnerable vs Daisy
Standard: Aid Daisy (Teamwork): 1D20+13 = [19]+13 = 32 vs DC10 -> Three Degrees of Success = +5 to Daisy's next attack

Condition: Healthy
 
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