A Chance to Relax (Open)

[Lucatiel Lazuli]

Lucatiel wasn't the sort to take too many breaks on something before it was done, but today she was having trouble concentrating on her homework. She stood from the chair in front of the desk in her team's dorm room, walking over to her bed and laying herself out on it briefly. Everybody else was off doing who knows what, but she had chosen to be introverted and do her homework. She picked up the book she'd been reading in her free time, a light romance called I'll be Met by Moonlight about a hunter/huntress duo that were becoming more than business partners. She wouldn't be caught dead reading something like this, but she honestly enjoyed romance novels.

She had made it quite a ways into the book by this point, and it was obvious that she'd been reading it for a while. She sighed while reading a particularly trashy bit, and blushed slightly even though nobody was around. The girl relaxed even further into her pillow, and considered making something out of the mood she was in, but decided that it was best she didn't in case somebody came back and caught her in the middle of the act. She crossed her legs anxiously as the trashy bit she was reading through extended farther than usual. She blushed a deeper red, her breathing became slightly irregular, but she endured, determined to finish the chapter before getting back to her homework. 

[Dacre Tyr]

Dacre waved goodbye to his teammates outside of the dorm as they went their separate ways for their first real day off in a while. To be completely honest, he had no idea what he wanted to do, he just didn't want to stay in the room while Lucatiel was doing homework. He decided to wander around the campus to see if he can learn a bit more about his temporary new home. It didn't take long for him to stumble into a nearby cafe for some iced coffee. It wasn't a necessarily hot day but he always gravitated towards cold beverages and cold things in general. Since he grew up in Atlas, he was used to ice and the things that come with it. He left the cafe satisfied with his drink choice and sat himself on a bench in a nearby courtyard. 

While he was gazing at the different colored fish in the pond in front of him, he lingered on some thoughts about the mysterious green haired girl from the library. "I know I've seen her before. Why can't I remember?" he pondered aloud. Unfortunately for the faunus, he had the bad habit of reciting his thoughts out loud when he feels like there's no one around. Unbeknownst to him, however, he had an unintentional eavesdropper. "I know I wouldn't forget eyes like hers. It felt like they pierced to my very soul. And that white streak in her hair is a unique thing anyone would remember, so why can't I? She was so beautiful, and smart, at least from what I could tell from the books she had with her that day. I think she had the same book I'm reading. I wonder what her thoughts on the subject are. What I wouldn't give to meet her and ask her some questions." His thoughts spilled out of his mouth like a waterfall. After a few minutes, he looked around to observe and see who else was around. To his horror, his eyes locked with a pair of amber orbs, wide with surprise and the face underneath was red like a sunburn. 'How did I not notice her sitting on the bench next to me?' He thought to himself in a panic. He could feel his cheeks burning up. It was clear by the look in her eyes that she heard everything that he had said moments earlier. "I... It's not what...I didn't mean...", for some reason, he was incapable of forming sentences. He stood up abruptly to save himself any more embarrassment, but as luck would have it, he fumbled with the coffee he forgot was in his hand, and spilled it all over himself. He heard a snort and looked up to find that she was laughing.... at him. "Uh... I ... I should be going" he managed as he rushed off. He heard a faint 'Wait, I'm sorry' but ignored it, just wanting to get back to his dorm, change and sleep the rest of the day.

As he was approaching the door he could feel his shirt sticking to his skin. "I seem to have the worst luck." He opened the door and stopped. Inside was Lucatiel, on her bed staring at him as if he had almost discovered a grave secret. Her face was a brighter red than his, if that was even possible. It looked like she had hidden something under her pillow as her hands were still there. After a few awkward moments, Dacre cautiously inched his way to his bed, "Is this a bad time?" he asked hesitantly. The only response he got was a stare like a pair of daggers. Clearly, this was a horrible time. His teammate had a look of embarrassment and a bit of anger. The wolf grabbed a clean shirt and hurried out of the room feeling the burning stare on the back of his head as he left. "I'll just get out of your hair.", he whispered closing the door. 'Maybe I accidentally woke her up from a nap.' thought the white haired faunus. "Yeah that's it, she was just napping and I woke her up."

[Lucatiel Lazuli]

Lucatiel's blood pressure must have sky-rocketed when Dacre burst into the room without announcing himself. She had barely managed to hide her book as she heard the door open, and could only stare at him with what must have been a look of utter surprise and embarassment. The faunus sheepishly stammered out an apology and excused himself from the room. The blue-haired girl realized she was holding her breath, and exhaled after a tense moment of sitting there. She closed her eyes and caught her breath for a moment, the allowing the sudden spike of adrenaline to subside. She stashed her book, carefully making sure to mark her place, and made her way to the door. It wouldn't do to have her team mate feel  unwelcome in their shared dwelling.

Opening the door up, she looked to the left, then to the right to see Dacre walking away from the dorm room. "Wait," she called walking down the hall to catch up, "you can hang out in the room if you want. I wasn't making any progress on what I was doing, anyways." The girl blushed ever so slightly when she thought about what she was really doing. "I'll buy you something from the vending machines, if it helps," she added, hoping her offer would help seal the deal.

[Dacre Tyr]

Lucatiel had stopped him halfway down the hallway admitting that she had made no progress on her task. As an apology of sorts she offered him something from the vending machine and even though he wasn't entirely convinced about what she was doing in the room he digressed and agreed to a snack, unable to deny how starving he really was. The teammates walked down the hall to the nearest vending machine and Dacre happily selected an apple from the many choices. "Thanks" the wolf muttered, mouth full of delicious red apple. "I'm sorry about barging in. I was having a rough day so I wasn't really thinking clearly." As awkward as he felt at that moment, Dacre was grateful that his teammates have been so accommodating. Confrontation was not his strong suit which was ironic considering his entire fighting style is about taking hits and fighting close up. "I won't be a distraction if you wanted to continue whatever you were doing, I just wanted to take a nap after earlier." he stated starting to revert to his typical collected self. "Just pretend like I'm not even there."

[Lucatiel Lazuli]

Dacre's choice of snack from the vending machine was an unusual one, but Lucatiel wasn't one to judge others based on their palate. Perhaps a healthy snack would do him some good, since he had mentioned his day being a stressful one. "I really wan't making any progress," she said, her voice taking on a somewhat friendlier tone than her usual one, "I was having trouble concentrating because I'd been at it so long." The girl considered trying to help her teammate out with his troubles. After all, she was going to be spending a long time with him, so perhaps now would be the best time to start getting to know one another better.

Lucatiel retrieved her backpack from the foot of her bed when they got back to the room and started rummaging through it. She produced a pair of sleeved Hunters of the Grimm card decks and sat down on the floor. "How about a friendly game before you sleep? Sleeping in a bad temper can lead to bad dreams, or so I've been told. Mostly it just gives me a headache. Are you familiar with Hunters?" The game itself was a simple one. Two or more players would use a themed deck to attack one another in the hopes of defeating their enemy. The blue-haired girl was a particular fan of Grimm-themed decks, though she had a few that revolved around hunters as well. The two she had in front of her were her favorites, one themed around the aquatic Grimm and the other around a fictional hunter from Atlas.

(OOC: I'm going for a card game similar to Magic the Gathering or Force of Will. Just bear with me.)

[Dacre Tyr]

Dacre pondered the proposition for a moment. Truthfully, the only reason he wanted to nap was to get this day over wth as soon as possible and to stay out of the way. The idea of game of strategy appealed to the wolf, however, and he decided to amuse his partner and play a game or two. "Ok that sounds like fun. I didn't know you were interested in things like this." he replied. The faunus sat down on the floor and looked at the two decks of paying cards that Lucatiel produced from her bag. One appeared to be based around aquatic Grimm while the other was about a hunter from Atlas. "I think I'll use this one", he told her, picking up the deck with images of the fictional hunter. "I am from Atlas after all." Looking through the different cards of the deck, Dacre was reminded that this was a completely new concept for him. He had never played this game before and now watching his teammate set up and draw cards, he felt even more lost. "I confess, I have no idea how to play this. You might have to show me the ropes as we get into the game.", he tried his best to seem as confident as possible but as the game started, it was painfully clear how outmatched he was. 

Dacre lost the first game....horribly. After the second game they played, he began to understand the strategies involved. His competitive spirit got the best of him, wanting to learn every aspect of the deck he was playing to get the upper hand. After a while, Dacre laughed, "This is a lot more fun than I thought"

[Xan Storm]

It's been a pretty heavy day for Xan since he's finally done with random strolling and going to solo hunt some Grimm that could be handled in a one on one scenario. Wearing his normal attire Xan walked down the hallway as some voices could be heard from the dormitory room where he and his team were sleeping at. One that of a girl (the only girl on the team actually) and the other was a guy, then considering that Aries wasn't really around for the most part so it was more than likely the other Faunus of the team though Xan could not really remember the name very well. As the young hunter moved in closer to the dorm room Xan heard something about a card game that he once played: Hunters. A smile formed on the young teenage boy's face as the other male member of the team made the comment of how much he started enjoying the game, "Hunters huh" Xan began as he entered the room going over to his little personal box on his desk.

Taking out what seemed to be a very dusty deck box with the Hunters game logo on it Xan smirked as he opened the deck box. "It's been quite some time since I've had bust out this very old ummm... deck... actually it's only been about a year." Xan mentioned to the two as he walked over to the table to where the two teammates were playing at, "Luca, Darce..." he began after just remembering the names of his allies "Mind if I join in on the fun?" asking with a tone that seemed to give off the 'try me' impression as he pulled out one card to show the two. A card that was basically one of the rarer cards to actually find and even use in a deck, one that required the use of every element used in the game which gave the impression that Xan used a rainbow colored theme deck. 

"Bear with me, I might need one or two turns to get back into the grinding motion of this amazing children's card game." Xan advised before taking out a pretty old and worn out play-mat that was won as a prize for winning in a regional tournament. Though he probably didn't know too much of what was actually new and potentially broken Xan knew that all he had to do was adapt the strategies and tactics to the new play-style of the new decks and archtypes that were recently released.

[Lucatiel Lazuli]

Lucatiel laughed with Dacre as she taught him the basic rules of the game, glad that he was enthusiastic about learning it. At least they would have something in common now, which was a start on understanding one another. Truth be told, the girl had a slight crush on the faunus, though she wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to be anything more than friends, seeing as they were in the same team. Besides, she wasn't normally the type to openly approach, anyways. Though the blue haired girl was painfully aware of appearance around him, nontheless, and was generally careful to watch what she said.

They had just finished up their second round when one of their other team mates, Xan, walked into the room, which made Lucatiel frown ever so slightly. She had bee enjoying her time alone with Dacre, though she wasn't about to say anything about it. Xan mentioned that he'd played before, and expressed interest in making the next round a three-way battle. His words were humble, but his tone was prideful and challenging, implying that he knew what he was doing. As if to confirm this, he flashed an mythic rare card that could only be obtained through winning an event tournament. It was one of the few cards Lucatiel didn't have aaccess to, though being omnicolored it required a deck to be built around it, which was a major weakness and often a deadly flaw.

"Well, if you're confident enough to show me the star player of your deck, Xan," she said, being careful to keep her pleated skirt down while she stood up, "then you won't mind if I counterpick." She walked to the closet she had claimed as her own when they were given the room, and retrieved a shoebox sized plastic container from it. She set it on her bed, and leafed through the decks that were there, selecting one that was heavy with creatures of Grimm that had the unblockable quality and cards that stopped other cards from even hitting the battlefield. "If you want to look through these, Dacre, feel free," the blue haired girl said with a slight smile. She sat back down and shuffled the deck, setting it down in front of her, prepared for the next round.

[Dacre Tyr]

Things suddenly got a bit more serious, as Xan and Lucatiel are preparing to square off with Dacre in the middle. At the offering to search through Lucatiel's extra decks, he smiled back and thanked her deciding to find something, anything he could use with ease. After some time he picked up a hunter deck and looked through the different cards to see if this would be capable of even standing a chance. Several of the cards in the deck he chose focused around silencing opponent's cards and summoning tokens  to act as generic creatures that can attack. Needless to say, it had caught enough of his attention that he sat down with his teammates, shuffled the deck and placed it down. If there was any confidence in him, he certainly didn't feel it. Dacre was fine learning the ropes from Lucatiel but something about Xan struck him as off. It was almost as if his teammate had a need to show that he was the best.

Thinking on this, Dacre figured it was nothing and he was thinking too much into it. Odds were that Xan just enjoyed the game way more than he let on. He looked at his partner and mouthed the words, "Help me" and chuckled a bit. Dacre felt like things were going well with his partner. They seemed to get along and fought well together, which was more than he could've asked for. He really lucked out this time around and going forward he hoped the bonds that he makes here will survive the cold harsh winds of adversity. Dacre had his train of thought derailed as both his teammates motioned that it was his turn. "Hmm ok well then let's do this to start the turn..."

[Xan Storm]

Despite Xan showing off a pretty rare card that may have been almost obtainable through financial means, it did have the odd impression as being an omni-colored card and using every single color at that. It seemed that Lucatiel may have seemed a little bothered or impressed by the appearance of a card that she did not have in possession, but then she made a rather challenging comment when she had mentioned about picking a counter deck. This did not seem to bother Xan as remembering the good times when he only played for fun even while entering tournaments, and this moment was essentially no different. A quality like this within a card game player seemed to always give a better advantage since they are always enjoying the game even when backed into a corner. "You won't mind if I counter pick then?" The exact words were remembered.

Xan smiled happily, not to confidence nor arrogance more of that he appreciated the challenged since it would help him stay on his toes while fighting after a little over one year."Sure, I don't mind Luca. So long as we all have fun" he said with a smirk on his face, it may have shown some arrogance unintentionally despite having a voice that had the best intentions for this round. The card shown wasn't Xan's Key Card, but it was however a key set-up unit for a specific combo to bring to life. This deck though rainbow is the variant that has a two-card lock combo to an opponent where the cannot play and is also built to draw as many as ten cards in a single turn on the first turn, and consistently maintain that drive for the remainder of the game.

Shuffling the deck while prepping a strategy in mind, Darce decided to take the first move. Even though he's only on his first day playing it could be painfully obvious that if these two were alone playing Luca may have already taught him how to play fairly well. In that aspect Xan treated him a threat, and more so Luca "I'll go last if that's okay with you guys" Xan stated humbly. This decision was made primarily because he needed to see the card movements before making his decision to play, and on top of that it was to not only gain intel on their respective decks but actually to get a quick refresher as to how the cards played. Once seeing the card movements and turn sequence Xan would be able to immediately act upon what he needs to do. He may act stupid at times but this is one of those times where he doesn't want to be stupid.

[Lucatiel Lazuli]

Lucatiel held back a slight giggle at Dacre's pretend plea for help. When Xan volunteered to go last, she knew exactly why. The girl drew her opening hand, rather pleased to see that some of her better early game moves were present, along with plenty of resources to use on them. The challenge issued by Xan only got to her a little bit, but not enough to upset her by any means. It was all friendly competition in the end, and she decided that she'd be happy just putting a good dent in him while she set Dacre up for a win. Of course she'd negelected to mention that this was not, in fact, one of her two tournament-winning decks she possesed, but she always found it more fun to play with the decks that were built on a whim rather than built to win. She pondered what her first turn actions would be as Dacre took his turn, which went by a little slower because he was still learning.

When it came to her turn, Lucatiel laid down a blue Dust crystal that had an effect which allowed her to search her deck for a violet Dust crystal and put it into her hand, which she promptly did, shuffling after doing so. She then used the water resource to summon an ice wall with 0 attack and 4 defense that couldn't attack and could block creatures that knew how to fly, turning the card sideways to denote she'd used up the crystal's power for that turn. It was an innocuous enough first move, one that wouldn't be too easy to gauge at first. "I was only just teaching Dacre as you walked in, Xan. To be honest, I don't run in the pro circuit anymore. Casual play is all I have time for now."

(OOC: Because we're making this game up on the spot, I figure Dust crystals would make for a decent stand-in colored mana source, since the theme of color is already there.)

[Dacre Tyr]

Dacre watched intently as Lucatiel took her turn, trying to understand how she was able to grab a card from her deck just by putting one down. It was still the beginning of the game but he felt himself slipping and losing focus already. He glanced at his hand and saw he had two green dust cards, one hunter, and one aura card. Looking at the hunter he placed down earlier, he figured he can use the aura card to activate his hunter's skill allowing him to call one token and give the hunter the resist ability for one turn. It was a simple strategy that probably won't hold up for the long term but right now it was all he had to prepare for Xan's turn. Learning that Lucatiel was also played Hunter of the Grimm professionally intimidated him a bit in regards to the current game being played. 

Xan was in the middle of his turn when the wolf's mind wandered again, this time it drifted towards the game before him. It amazed the faunus how people were able to play card games professionally, where back in Atlas he never had an opportunity to learn anything resembling a card game. His life up until now was mostly surviving, so he missed out on a lot. Even when he travelled around Vacuo, it was mostly for "business", having hardly any time except the nights to himself. Despite his more solitary demeanor, enjoying down time like this with his teammates was one of the aspects of his time at Beacon that he's been the most thankful for. Dacre was experiencing things that he otherwise never would have experienced if it wasn't for the opportunity that led him to this school. He had every intention to enjoy these moments. Maybe this way he can find the answers he was looking for. Dacre snapped himself back to reality and observed the rest of Xan's turn. 

(OOC: I figured aura and semblance cards could be the equivalent of spells or ability cards)