Encounters

Once again Sunset was in class barely staying awake through a lecture about the history of some kind of limbless crossbow thing the teacher was holding. Get on with it old man. I already know this part. She thought to herself, barely suppressing a yawn. At least her back had stopped bothering her a few days earlier. Hooray for small miracles.

A glance sideways at a familiar nearby desk was met with not but a brief glare in return. Yep. Still pissed off at me. Slumping forwards, still only barely hearing the teacher, Sunset couldn't help but wish her talent had granted her some measure of control over either sound time rather than light. Or even worked right now for that matter. Anything to be out of here. Why do schools always have a teacher who can make everything sound as dull as possible? He may as well be reading a post box directory.

When the bell rang she didn't loose a moment in getting out of the class, making a beeline for the area of the gym where the training weapons were stored. They had started using them the previous week, and there was one in particular sunset had found herself favoring. A simple polearm. They were little more than dull edged wooden mock ups, too weak and too light to do much more than bruise, but damage wasn't the point. The idea was to block as many strikes as possible while simultaneously trying to score a few of your own. Grabbing one of the replica glaives, she headed outside to the training field.

Where is she? Her boots crunched across the fallen leaves as she searched. Lin, a third-year student, the one she had planned to train with had said she would be out here, but other than that she didn't know much about her, and she certainly didn't see her anywhere. In fact all she saw was some guy in armour sitting under a tree meditating. Since there was no one else around Sunset started to head towards the stranger. The armour he was wearing was different from what she had seen so far; tiny scales arranged into sheets formed four bordered curved plates hanging off his shoulders and hips, while the chest plate was made from a set of horizontal bands of the same silvery metal, with amber trim around each of the five segments. In addition he wore a sash and headband of the same color, under that a slightly baggy dark green outfit. As Sunset got close he stood up, drawing an unusual steel longsword with an odd barbed tip and looking towards Sunset.

"I was wondering when you would arrive." The stranger stated flatly in a disinterested neutral tone. Sunset though, had to check if she was hearing things, as it took a moment for her mind to fit the surprisingly feminine voice and person in front of her together. I thought only the male students wore that much armour... She thought to herself, finally recognizing Lin, though the way her hair was pulled back and her armour masked certain features, it was certainly easy now to see how she had made that mistake.

"Shall we begin?" Lin asked, in the same disinterested calm tone. Rather than answer, Sunset dropped into a fighting stance and raised her weapon. Taking a quick step forward she found her intended action being immediately interrupted by the flat side of the longsword slamming into the side of her head. Immediately she was down clutching her now pounding skull. She wouldn't let a little headache stop her though. Getting to her feet she tried again only to have her training weapon knocked out of her hand and a boot print added to her shirt. Two more failures to enter striking distance and Lin spoke.

"You drop your guard too easily, and move as if you expect your centre of mass to be much lower than it is." She stated, offering a hand to her once again grounded opponent. Accepting the offer and getting back to her feet, she couldn't help but notice her headache was gone, replaced by an odd warm feeling. Looking over to ask Lin about it, her words fell apart before she couls speak them when she noticed the emerald green glow around the girl. The feeling and glow fading at the same time as she watched. "I suspect the biggest obstacle will be unlearning the habits you have learned."

Healing magic?! How?! I've been trying to figure out how this world's magic worked since I got here! Sunset's own mind screeched at her, but she couldn't find the words to ask, too many questions were coming too quickly to even get one out, leaving her mumbling to herself nonsensically.

"I take it that's the first time you've seen someone's Semblance in action?" She asked, a smile on her face and a much more cheery tone now.

Still struggling to come up with the right words, Sunset simply nodded dumbly.

"I don't get to use mine often, Restoration is mostly useless given what anyone with access to their aura can already do."

"...How?" was all she could manage to say.

"The instructors will show you when you're ready." Lin answered plainly, before walking a few steps away, then turning to face Sunset once more, sword in hand. the early afternoon sun glinting off the blade. "Shall we go again?"

Sunset didn't hear her question at first, not breaking out of her thoughts until Lin had called out to her three or four times. When I'm... ready... That's not soon enough. Her mind snapping back to the present, She took up a fighting stance. "Sorry. Yeah. Ready."

Today had certainly been an eventful day, and a step in the right direction as well. Aura... now I know what it's called at least. As the sun began to sink below the bay, her thoughts drifted back to the last time she had done this. It's not the same from up here. The crane's tall enough sure but I can hear the dock workers down below. I liked that watch tower... It was quiet.

"It's quite the view isn't it?" An unknown voice said behind her.

...aaand then there's this asshole. Sunset mentally grumbled, letting out an audible groan and turning to look behind her. She didn't have a clue how he'd gotten up here without making a sound, it was a long climb and the metal echoed a lot. Neither did she recognize the man behind her, though at least the black jumpsuit and white vest, had a style she could appreciate. Simple, practical, but without looking utilitarian or bland. "What do you want?"

"One of our members saw you at a tournament a few days ago. You looked injured despite not being a competitor. We wanted to make sure you were all right." The stranger explained calmly, making a subtle gesture to the stitching across the back of her jacket.

"Why do you care? I'm no one." she grumbled, annoyed. Wanting nothing more than to enjoy watching the sky alone.

"To the contrary, You're one of our kind, and you have potential." That, caught Sunset's attention. 'One of our kind' could only mean the stranger was a fellow faunas, as were the members of his group. Something about that tugged at her memory.

"And I bet you want me to do something with it? Something for you?" Sunset wondered aloud, her annoyance being replaced by suspicion.

"Nothing much, for the most part you would continue your training, and look out for any fellow faunas you meet at the school. Though, in time we may ask for your aid, and you would have ours in return if you needed it." He explained, Sunset couldn't help but notice he didn't say a word about what he might want help with.

"Hrrmh..." She grumbled out a non answer, not sure what this guy's deal was exactly, it was almost as if he already expected her to know who 'they' were...

“Just... Consider my offer. After all, we faunas need to protect our own kind.” He stated, waiting for her reply.

While the enigmatic nature of the request certainly bothered her, it was hard for Sunset to turn down the prospect of potential allies if she ever... When. WHEN she went back to Equestria.

Almost too good to be true... Maybe it's best to wait before deciding.

"I'll think about it."

"We will be watching."

When she looked back, he was gone.