#'it would be bad rep because they HURT each other a few times! Boo!'

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

Precisely why ELIMETRI HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE CANON DAMMIT

y'all are always complaining about how gay rep has to be perfect and unproblematic like speak for yourself i personally love it when they try to murder each other

[teamvnla]

Cutscene : Forward Movement

[Cutscene Masterlist]

"Step. Forward swing. Step. Upward strike." Leo commanded in a booming voice as he walked near Jae who acted out the commands with a long steel pipe.

"We have been doing this for hours, isn't it about time we move to a heavier pipe or even just a sword?" Jae questioned swinging the pipe with ease, it was even lighter than his own sword.

"Turn. Swing and hold." Leo ordered as he stopped. "Right now we aren't focusing on the weight difference of your sword and Silverlight, we're focusing more on the difference in length. To use Silverlight effectively you gotta learn everything about her, that was easy for your dad since he designed her and all."

Ever since Leo had accepted to help Jae train to use Silverlight he hadn't allowed Jae to even try out the weapon. Jae knew better than to attempt to actually use a large weapon he was unfamiliar with, but it wouldnt hurt just to give him an idea of what he was working towards.

They continued the training late into the evening, even doing a few mock fights. Leo was adaptive and quick to point out things that Jae could change in the moment. This continued for several days before the weight of the pipe was increased.

"I was expecting you to handle that like a staff, but you use it more like a swordsman." Jae commented as he sat on a bench in the training room it was the end of their session, Leo chuckled as he tossed a water bottle to Jae.

"I had a pretty good teacher, overall a good example too." Leo took a seat next to Jae unscrewing the cap to his own water bottle, looking at the young male only reminded him of his teacher. "Y'know Clearstrike isn't my first weapon, I've probably tried out a hundred different weapons and combinations. You could probably hand me something from the amory and I'd be able to use it."

Jae quirked a brow at the older man, the tension between them had lightened compared to their first meeting. There was still some apprehension and it would be awhile until that went away, but things were improving none the less.

"Why'd you go through so many before deciding on Clearstrike?" He asked taking a sip of his water.

"Well growin' up we didn't have a ton of money, so what I had to work with was what my father had. Which was a war hammer gatling gun, wasn't too bad of a weapon. Learned how to use it well, but when I got to Atlas where the supplies were abundant I couldn't help myself. Then by my fourth year I finally deciding on Clearstike's design and shes what I've stuck with since." Leo explained with a shrug, noticing Jae listening to his story so intently he took a drink of his water, somewhat embarrassed.

"Okay, in exchange for that story give me 15 laps and then you can head home." He cleared his throat as he stood up, he clearly didn't intend to tell Jae that much about anything before he went to the academy so he tried to brush it aside.

Jae let a breath out through his nose before getting up to start his laps, waiting for Leo to call start.

——————————————

The next few weeks consisted of increasing the weight of the pipe and a sudden switch to swords along with training fights with Tarragon and Opal. He still had more to work on but all three of the adults could see he was improving.

Not only did he learn more combat wise he also learned more about each member of his father's old team. Surprisingly it was Opal's suggestion for Jae to spend time with each member of the team, she brought up the importance of knowing who you're working with and the trust among teammates. There was also a passing mention of Leo's Semblance, but before Jae was able to inquire more the topic was quickly changed by Leo.

Up to this point Jae walked into the agency building expecting another typical training session with Leo, he had stopped by Tarragon's office to let her know he had arrived for some reason she always insisted the importance of him telling her when he got to the agency and got home. Yet he found the women's office empty, shrugging it off as an errand he continued down the hall to the elevator down to the training room having grown familiar with the route. Walking down the hall until he reached the training room they typically used he opened the door, unsuspecting of what was behind it.

A burst of shiny pieces of confetti were fired in the direction of the doorway accompanied by the sound of a noisemaker, he stepped back from the initial shock yet pieces of confetti managed to land in his hair. As the confetti settled he saw that the room had been haphazardly decorated, it almost felt like a makeshift birthday....but it wasn't his birthday. He looked around the room confused before his gaze landed on the adult in front of him.

"Come on, give us more of a reaction!" Tarragon let out a groan before booing teasingly.

"Really? No comment about the neon colors burning into your eyes?" Leo questioned at the lack of reaction from Jae, who was mainly in a state of confusion.

"....I'm colorblind." He responded stepping into the room closing the door behind him. "What's all this for? Did something happen?"

"We have a surprise." Opal commented with a soft smile quirked on her lips.

"Uh more like I have a surpri-" Leo began before he was cut off by an excited Tarragon.

"Leo says you're ready to use Silverlight!" She shouted a grin spreading across her face, Jae gaze quickly moved to Leo.

"Way to ruin the big reveal and I meant more in a he's ready to start training with her." Leo corrected glancing away almost seeming embarassed, he turned and gestured for Jae to follow. The black hair boy nearly tripped over his feet quickly following the older man to one of the benches.

"I tried cleaning her up the best I could, we can work out the other kinks as you work with her." He commented tracing the edge of the case, before opening it with a click. Silverlight shone the minute the lights of the training room hit her, Jae felt his breath catch like when he first saw her in the dusty old locker. He felt a hand on his shoulder, Leo spoke low and quiet for only Jae to hear him. "It'll feel weird at first, from here on it's going to be even harder training not just for your body but for here.." Using his other hand he tapped a finger to Jae's temple, "..and here.." he moved his hand tapping Jae's chest. "But I need you to remember that Vincent wanted this for you, he wanted the one to have Silverlight to be his kid." Leo stood straight and gave Jae a firm pat on the back. "Go on, let us get a look at you two together." He chuckled stepping back.

Jae nodded slowly, what Leo said had struck a chord with him that he couldn't shake. He took a deep breath tossing his bag down to the side, he carefully wrapped a hand around the hilt before doing the same with the other. He lifted it out of it's case, it didn't feel as heavy as when he had first taken it out of that storage locker but there was still an unfamiliar weight to it.

"Step. Forward swing. Step. Upward strike." Hearing the commands Jae reacted almost on instinct, the weight affected his swings but that happend previously with each change in weight.

"Hey! Don't start your session already, let me get a picture! This is an important moment!" Tarragon commented before snapping many pictures of Jae from different angles, Leo let out a exasperated sigh while Tarragon's antics earned an audible laugh from Opal.

The two women stuck around for the rest of the session occassionally giving their own input and advice, overall the session went well.

——————————————

"I think the last time I was this sore was when I first started training." Jae stated with a soft chuckle, as he sat across from Dia who he was playing chess with. Mia sat at the table with them quietly sipping tea while watching the two play, familiar moments like these were a bit rare with Jae's shift in mission and Dia's adjustment to her new life.

"Maybe it's just because you're getting old." Dia responded a smile quirked on her lips as she made her next move, it was nice to hear the youngest Aryl joke these past few months had been hard on the young girl.

"Twenty isn't old, you're just a baby." He responded as he moved his own piece having already noticed his sisters plan for her next moves, despite her attempt to hide his dismay that he caught on to her plan Dia pursed her lips. She stared at the board thinking over her next move, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Jae's scroll as he received a call.

Seeing the name on the screen he quickly grabbed it and answer it, he signaled to Dia that he'd be a minute as he stood up from where he sat walking to his room.

"I know todays your off day and all, but Opal and I were going over the locations of the attack and we think we're on to something. So I'm calling a team meeting." Tarragon explained over the phone clearly not going to accept a response other than yes.

"Okay, it's going to take me a minute with the snow." He responded, reminding her of the fact that he would have to walk.

"I'll have Leo pick you up, I have to call him next anyway."

Jae explained the situation to his mother and apologized to Dia assuring her they'd continued their game another time, he buttoned his pine coat. Not long later Leo arrived and soon enough they were walking into Tarragons office.

"I was expectin' Opal to be here." Leo commented not seeing the other women in the office.

"She's out grabbin' somethin' she should be back soon, Jae close the door."

Jae did as he was told and entered the room, he stood behind Leo who had already made himself comfortable in the desk chair. They both looked to Cherry expectantly.

"So y'know how at first the attacks looked sporadic and out of place." She began gesturing to different points of the holographic map. "Well Opal suggested we expand out search from not only references of Owl masks but also recent White Fang attacks, we had to weed out a lot focusing on attacks that result in missing persons." She explained pulling up a different colored point representing the White Fang attacks. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"Curves?"

"....they're sweeping the area..."

"Exactly, they started here and from the looks of it they already reached the border. So judging by the border they moved to, that would mean they're going to Mistral next."

"Unless they're already in Mistral."

"So either way, we need to go to Mistral."

"That's the plan, with the towers how they are at the moment we can't access any of Mistral's records from here."

"I feel you're overlooking the elephant in the room, how are we going to get to Mistral? Atlas officially closed their borders."

"I believe, I have a solution for that." A familiar voice answered, Jae and Leo turned to look at her.

The blonde stood in the doorway, next to her was a taller male with short white blonde hair and icy blue eyes dressed in a black turtleneck and dark plaid slacks. His left brow was quirked making it hard not the notice the space where a faint scar appeared to be.

"Titus?" Leo questioned surprised to see the specialist in general as well as in civilian attire, he had only ever seen him in uniform.

"You know each other?" Opal looked between the two men before gesturing for Titus to enter the room, she closed the door behind them.

"I've been assigned as his escort on missions." Titus responded gaze combing over the room, in an analytical way that felt oddly familiar to Jae.

"So I assume this is your solution?" Tarragon asked bring the groups attention back to the current topic.

"You could say Titus and I are old friends and friends help out one another when need. Right?"

"....." Titus stayed silent a moment holding Opal's gaze, despite the older women's calm expression their was an intensity in this staring match. "What are you trying to get from Amas?"

"We need passage into Mistral, it's for a job."

"Why don't you send a request through your agency, wouldn't they have more sway than I would?"

"Maybe, but approval could take months."

"If it even got approved that is." Leo pointed out.

Jae watched the exchange, were they doing what he thinks they are? No...they're professional Hunters they wouldn't...

Opal place a hand on Titus's should, giving it a small squeeze.

He sighed running a hand through his hair. "I can get you a passage out you're on your own when it comes to finding an aircraft and a pilot."

"You say that as if it's a problem, look who they got with them." Leo stated refering to himself, he slung a arm over Titus's shoulder.

The rest of the meeting consisted of planning their leave, it went far smoother than Jae expected it seemed that Tarragon,Opal, and Leo all had experience with it.

The next few days to their leave felt like they dragged on and on, when talking to his mother about his departure he kept the derail vague and bended a few things here and there.

Before he knew it he was on an aircraft heading to Mistral.

[omegatheunknown]

EVE - Wrestle Queendom 2

Pro-Wrestling: EVE’s big weekend featured 21 matches over three days and more than lived up to the standard set by last year’s event, though with a headier dose of heartbreak and betrayal. - Production issues are practically a hallmark of EVE’s DIY ethos, but cues were hit, music played and other than a few hyperactive steadicam decisions the big show was at least as well put together as any big Progress event. - Also true to the ethos is the injection of the injured Sierra Loxton on commentary -- biggest show of the year? Experience not required. Sierra’s of the Kris Wolf school of ‘Wow.’ ‘Oh!’ ‘Yeah.’ colour commentary. Dann, as usual, has his moments of hilarity but slips too much insider jargon into his play-by-play. Don’t tell me a wrestler is ‘still selling’ her back, goodness. - Charlie Morgan’s announcement was absolutely devastating. Tears were shed. Really threw a pall over the rest of the evening. She was such an excellent ambassador for the company and a perfect distillation of what EVE is all about -- Be Fearless. Be Brave. Be You. Wolfie’s retirement already broke me, but this one hurts real bad too. EVE’s down a lot of great, great talent, but listing the remaining roster is still surprisingly re-assuring when it comes to the future of the best Women’s Wrestling promotion outside of Japan. *She Brawls in Brighton - Mostly a decent show to see everyone get their go-home reps in, the long-promised alliance of Jamie Hayter and Session Moth finally comes to fruition under the supervision of Prime Minister Kagetsu, Jordynne and LDM get a practice round, and KLR and Viper have one last go as a tag team in EVE. *She’s Gonna Start a Fight - The Resistance Gallery show is a much slicker affair, the Gallery is such an integral part of the character of EVE and with most of the go-home out of the way (though Charli Evans and Jetta got to tear each other apart,) we’re free to see some novel match-ups. Yuu v Grace v Nightshade was a delightful hoss match, LDM v Arisa Hoshiki suggested to me that Laura would benefit tremendously from a stint in Japan (and look good doing so,) and QQ vs Oedo Tai is good on any stage at any time. *Main Card   Yuu v Nightshade (**1/2) -Good weekend for Nightshade, who’s clearly climbing the card and starting to look the part of the badass heel. Wondering when we’ll see more of Yuu’s personality aside from her being really, infectiously, happy to be here. Hoss-ish style match seems an atypical choice for the curtain jerker but it worked up the crowd just fine. Kagetsu v Mayu Iwatani (***1/2) - If anyone was somehow unfamiliar with two of the very best wrestlers in the world, this was a fiery introduction. Sure, Kagetsu didn’t try to hang Mayu. Sure, the booking positioned this as more of an exhibition than a grudge match, and sure, it ended in a time limit draw -- but Mayu Iwatani and Kagetsu in a vacuum is a very good match at minimum. - I wish whoever had first told Dann and Emily about Oedo Tai had struck out the ‘o,’ because they’ve been stuck at Oh-edo for so long it’d be beyond awkward to point it out now, but it’s somehow still so grating to hear again and again.  - Despite the tendency of her machinations to blow up in her face like Wile E Coyote, Kagetsu is one of the coolest people in the entire sport, on the level of Okada or The Rock. This is not up for debate. Laura Di Matteo v Jordynne Grace (****) - The wrestling theatre is improved greatly by the suggestion of emotional stakes. Granted, it’s not absolutely clear why these two hate each other, but I absolutely believe that they do. This is the best match of LDM’s career thus far and likely my favourite of the thirty god damned matches I watched this weekend. Thought Jordynne ended Laura for good numerous times, but the finish was a beauty. Wrestle Friends v Diamond Vogue Collective v Medusa Complex (***) - This ended up a good match despite the pretense of the ‘only two teams in the ring’ stipulation, which remains asinine. Jinny’s long-running stratagem of hiring fashionable underlings wherever she goes (Jazzy Gabert’s fashionable, non?) never quite pays off but it’s put Mercedez on the map amid all the personnel changes in EVE. Millie’s a big girl and she can be friends with whoever she wants, but this one had a pretty clear conclusion from the outset. Could’ve done with some S Club 7. Session Goth Martina v Su Yung (N/R) - Martina came to fight, that’s what the Super S is for. Su Yung remains a little much, which I can both respect and also not really enjoy. Some good spots, just started to really drag, especially when Su’s cohort of brides appeared and were alternatively useless and superpowered. - I’m not going to rate this one properly because of whatever the fuck happened with the man in the inflatable baby costume and the teeth. I’m never mad about a big-lipped alligator moment but this one threw me for such a loop I couldn’t stop laughing for a full minute. Five Stars? Little Miss Roxxy v Arisa Hoshiki (***) - Totally unfair situation for whoever had to follow Charlie’s announcement. As I said, tears were being shed, I was in a total daze. Took me a while to get into this one, helped that I was curious about Roxxy getting in the ring with an accomplished Joshi. She can hang pretty well, and like LDM, hasn’t been on a tour of Japan, but I’d be so down to see it.  - Arisa was in top form all weekend, this was no exception. Kicked Roxxy around the ring and then some. Jamie Hayter v Utami Hayashishita v Nina Samuels (***1/2) - Yay for elimination matches. Yay for Utami’s crisp and vicious throws. Boo Nina. Boo Nina so hard, she’s such a fantastic heel. Rooting for Jamie in England is new and weird, but I’m sold. This might have been better than I think it was, fatigue was starting to set in hard, but either way I liked how it was put together.

Kay Lee Ray v Viper (****) - This is almost as reliably good a pairing as Kagetsu and Mayu, though often enough I feel like the ceiling is ‘very good’ and not great. Should’ve known better, really. Quite a beautiful swanton filled swan song between two absolute stalwarts of EVE, bittersweet as anything. - Always the most appreciation for KLR’s dives coming out of nowhere, like nature intended. No loading animation for the Scottish Daredevil, she just goes for it.  - Rhia promised she’d be back soon at the top of the show, and I guess she presented the tag titles, but she definitely had a look on her face like more was in store. Don’t see how she keeps her job as matchmaker after this little indiscretion. Loved it.