Oswald Connolly and Sapphire Rode- Training Hall
Turning to Sapphire, Oswald let out a hearty laugh. "You need glasses. I was clearly in charge of the fight the whole time. Until that sneaky bag knocked me on my face." He gave his knuckles a gentle rub and shook his head. "Bad habit, I know. Mission went to shit the second it really started. How'd yours go?"
Sapphire sighed. Her mission had not exactly gone as well as she would have liked but looking at the way Oswald attacked the sandbag it had clearly gone better then his. The doctor had told her not to speak because of the damage Pop may have done to her vocal cords but Sapphire decided that her aura would compensate.
"Twelve stitches in various points on my back, three of which are courtesy of Shiro's uncontrolled enthusiasm. Bruises over both my collar bones. Mildly bruised vocal cords and Shiro managed to lose my..." Sapphire gestured at the leather bands on her wrists that normally held Morpheus and Phobator. It wasn't common knowledge that they have been forged by Sapphire's mother but anyone would know at a second glance that they meant a great deal to Sapphire based on the way she cared for them. "No deaths and the others only have minor injuries. Overall I suppose it was a successful mission." Sapphire gestured at the sandbag. "I assume you were just telling him how yours went?"
Whistling at Sapphire's description of her wounds, Oswald shook his head. "Damn, you've got a bad habit of getting wounded on the job, eh?" Giving a little chuckle, Oswald cocked an eyebrow when Sapphire mentioned her lost weapons. "You're...not gonna get them back or something? I know I'd rip someone's spine out through their ass if they so much as scratched my sword. That thing means...a lot to me. It's more than just a weapon in a lot of ways."
Sighing, he looked back at the sandbag and his shoulders slumped. "Marcus blew the barricade at the mission location. We thought an invading force had set up an ambush for us, since or radios went dark as soon as we got too close, and a horde of millions of bugs tore through the trucks once we opened fire. Killed the crew on one of them outright, almost got the other two. We had to blow the truck to wipe the fuckers out." Pausing for a moment to think, he continued.
"So, we get into the camp, guns blazing, only for me to realize we'd accidentally wiped out a bunch of Schnee Dust employees and Faunus miners. I called Marcus and Aurellius off, but...it was too late. There was so much fire and death. One of the guards was on the verge of death. Impaled by shrapnel, had taken a decent amount of fire. He had maybe a minute or two of painful blood loss before he keeled over."
It took Oswald a few seconds to continue. "I ended his suffering." It felt bittersweet to say that. It was good to remind himself that he at least had a reason for driving his sword through that man's chest, but he also knew that it hardly mattered. "I knew there was no way I could save him, so I made his death quick. That was all I could do to help him." He stopped there, closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly, letting out a weary breath.
Sapphire shook her head. Her mother's dagger had meant a lot to her. It was really the only part of her mother that she still had with her. Cecilia had an old photo and Demetra had a locket of hers set with a blue stone. Everything else that reminded there father of Maria had been locked away where he wouldn't have to look at it. It wasn't that he wished to shut her out of his life, Janus simply couldn't bear to be reminded of her at every turn.
As much as Sapphire had cherished those daggers she'd checked for them on the side of the cliff. They'd been stable there when they left but with several airships coming and going since then chances were they'd have fallen into the lake below, or else been trapped in the rocks of the cliff. Even if she could retrieve them the amount of time, effort, resources and more then likely lien would be more then it was worth. Instead Sapphire would have facsimiles forged. She still had her mother's blueprints for the originals Sapphire could remake them. "No, I've no way of knowing where they ended up and even if I did the work it would take to retrieve them outweighs the gain. I have the original plans. I'll have copies of them made."
Sapphire listened to Oswald's description of his mission. Sapphire hadn't been pleased with either her own performance or the end result of her mission but at least it hadn't ended with a mass slaughter. There weren't many things that Sapphire could say to improve Oswald's mood. Even if she had some cheery advice the fact was that what had happened to Oswald wasn't exactly unprecedented. Accidents happened and people died and sometimes it was a hunter pulling the trigger. There were more hunters than Sapphire cared to count that had human or faunus blood on there hands.
"That's what people don't see. The other side of being a hunter. Everyone sees the glory and the fame and the badass fighting skills. Not many of them realize that we're warriors, soldiers just like the military and sometimes we have to make the hard decisions. Sometimes we don't make the right ones and sometimes no matter what we choose someone will die because of it. If you look at most of our class you'll realize that not many of them have realized it yet either. They still only see the glory and honor in this job. It's going to be a rude awakening when there time comes." Sapphire shook her head a bit as though shaking off a bad thought. "I'm sorry, you're the one who's had the bad day not me. I should be saying something more encouraging."
Oswald shrugged at Sapphire's explanation. He wouldn't have given up so easily to search for his own weapon, but he wasn't going to say that to Sapphire. If anything, he had an idea of what he would spend his weekend doing.
When Sapphire said her piece about the life of a Hunter, Oswald could only nod in agreement. "No. There's no need for encouragement, for empty platitudes. I've been down this road before. How do you think someone as short as I am gets to be so...big?" He wasn't bragging, but Oswald was heavy for his height. His body was somewhat soft, but also extremely muscular underneath it. His shoulders jutted out significantly further than average, his waist was wide but firm, his arms looked like they could tear an Ursa's jaw off, and his neck was nearly semi-circular from the muscles jutting from his body.
"This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I just need to figure out how to keep it from happening again, and aim for that goal. The first time was because I wasn't strong enough to fight the Grimm that had broken the line. So I went crazy trying to build mass. Did a number on my body, suffered my fair share of pain for these results. But I think it was worth it."
Continuing his recollection of how his mission went, Oswald's eyes glazed over as he remembered the Faunus girl breaking down at the sight of the Unsubtle. "I brought a note to the Faunus after the fighting was over. The girl they sent out with the reply...Sapphire, her ear was missing. The kind we don't have." To demonstrate, he put his hands behind the back of his head, making a poorly mimed set of cat ears. "She broke down when she saw Marcus's tank. I nearly slaughtered the guards right then and there. I was so angry." Turning back to the punching bag, he chuckled. "As you noticed."
"Long story short, I met with their leader. Some weird liquid Grimm was controlling the bugs. Diamond and I braved a storm of the bugs to kill the damned thing. Came within a few seconds of death once or twice, but I knew what I was doing. Made it out with a little time to spare."
Oswald didn't pursue the matter of Sapphire's lost weapons any further and Sapphire was more than pleased to let it drop. Despite what she might tell everyone the loss of those weapons did in fact trouble her greatly. She just didn't believe there was a hope that they could be retrieved. A replica was the best she could hope for.
As Oswald described his failure when he as young and how he'd increased his training Sapphire smiled slightly. "I just figured you ate a lot of pastries as a kid." She said trying to lighten the mood.
Oswald continued to describe his mission in detail. When he talked about the faunus girl with a missing ear Sapphire's brow furrowed. That couldn't have been easy. It made her think of Pop's procedure, to have the faunus bits surgically removed. Why would anyone wish that one themselves. Sapphire may have not been fond of Shiro but she'd still feel sorry for him if he had any of his faunus appendages torn from him.
"Well at least you had your moral compass. You knew you were doing the right thing. I can't help but feel my mission was a failure cause maybe I should have made different choices."
Nodding at Sapphire's dilemma, Oswald closed his eyes and spoke. "I can understand the feeling. Haven't quite lead enough missions to have experienced something like that, but I'm the type to charge forward, making a path that feels right to me. Maybe some day I'll look back and realize I made a bad call. I can't quite be sure."
Taking the bag down with relative ease, Oswald returned it to where he'd gotten it and resumed his conversation. "I was pretty glad when Marcus was made team leader. It's a tough job, even if I think I can handle it. Wears on ya real hard." Smirking, Oswald gave Sapphire a slow, careful, appraising look. "What decision did you make that's gotten you so worn about your mission? Despite all the hell that happened, even our mission was...technically a success. I think."
"We were sent to this animal aura lab. The doctor there had been doing experiments on the side. He was researching a procedure to allow faunus to have there animal halves removed and live as humans. I'd imagine you can see how that could easily go wrong. Used as a weapon against the faunus. Hell it's probably anger the White Fang into a full blown uprising. I burned his research and had him arrested. I'm not really sure that was a great idea now. I mean sure that procedure would have downsides but there are numerous beneficial applications for it. I'll likely never know if I did the right thing." Sapphire shrugged. Then looked at the punching bag Oswald had taken down. "Were planing on doing any more training or are you done for the day?"
All Oswald could offer Sapphire was a smile. "For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing. A person's heritage, Faunus or not...is important. While I'm certain many people would benefit from such a treatment, I also believe that the world is not ready for such a thing. It would be weaponized far too readily. It would also give racist bastards an out. 'Well, why don't you just get cured, freak?' is something I could imagine a few of the scum I've had the misfortune to meet saying."
Following Sapphire's gaze, Oswald shrugged. "Haven't the foggiest. Might go for a walk. Might go eat. Can never really be sure, honestly."
Sapphire looked at Oswald and made a split second decision. By nature Sapphire was not a social person but she found Oswald easier to talk to compared to the other students. The student body that had prolong contact with her regarded her as cold, her teammates expected her to be something that she wasn't and Gren was far to willing to jump into her position should she show any sign she could not fill it. Oswald on the other hand listened and responded, simple as that, he didn't expect anything of her. It was sort of nice to be able to simply talk to someone. So Sapphire made a split second decision. "If you're going for dinner would you mind a companion? I heard they were serving pizza today."
Well....that was a shocker. Sapphire inviting him to dinner? Oswald was half-tempted to make some kind of joke, but this was a moment he didn't want to ruin. "Sure, sounds like a decent plan. It's...been a long time since I've had pizza. I'd like that." While he was sure he looked a mess, he was pretty darn hungry. What with this being an academy to train warriors, he doubted that anybody would care if he looked a little rough.
A merest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Sapphire's face upon hearing Oswald's acceptance. They were both a little dirty. Sapphire's cloths were singed and cut in several places from the ice/fire dust reaction during her fight with Pop. Not that it really mattered. They attended a school to train huntsmen. Chances were they wouldn't be the only ones looking a mess.
Sapphire inclined her head to Oswald in a slightly mocking but good natured bow. "Lead the way then good sir."
Rolling his eyes at Sapphire, Oswald took the lead, beginning the walk to the cafeteria. "Oh, but of course, fair lady." He couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of the situation. As they walked, Oswald couldn't help but ask a question. "What do you usually do with your spare time? I'm either in the training hall or the armory. You could say I'm a bit...overzealous with my training, I suppose. I've never really had anything else I was particularly great at." Rather than being modest or self-deprecating, Oswald's tone was simply factual. As if he were stating that the sky was blue or that grass was green.
Sapphire smiled at Oswald's respond.
Fair lady. She paused after his question. This was the part she wasn't never good at. If you wanted her to face down a nine ton Ursa, or sky dive from an airship she could do it without hesitation but this interpersonal stuff was never a strong suit for her. "You might try picking up a couple hobbies. Training's important of course but there is such a thing as overdoing it." Sapphire stopped for a moment. Oswald had left the question open. She could answer with as little or as much information as she wanted. If she liked she could just shut him out like she did most people but if they were going to be sparring partners as had been suggested after there training match this stuff would eventually come out.
"When I'm not training or strategizing I like to read." Sapphire hesitated before continuing. "My mother had a flare for tinkering and music. She was the one that designed my weapons. She taught me how to play the violin. When I've got spare time, if no ones around I like to practice it."
"Well...I suppose I could afford to find something to do to spend time other than pushing myself to insanity by over-muscleyness." Laughing at the fake word he'd made up on the spot, Oswald almost stumbled for a moment when he heard the last bit that Sapphire said.
Her mother designed them and she's just gonna replace them? That's...I don't know if I should be angry or sad. Sighing, Oswald gave his companion a shrug.
"Never got into reading. I'm sure you've noticed, but I'm...not particularly bright. Kind of a meathead, I guess. Spent a lot of time training. And training. And training. I mean, if it can be applied to combat, I've probably got a decent idea of it, but...well, my training was almost strictly for combat. My education was mostly combat theory, dust application, Grimm studies, stuff like that."
Sapphire knew that Oswald came from a border town, and from what she'd heard the defenders of those places were almost fully fledged huntsmen in their own right. Still that couldn't be all there was to life. Even Sapphire who'd essentially been devoted to this fight since she was seven years old had other hobbies. "The work we do as hunters is important but you've got to have something to occupy your free time away from all this. As much as I love a good fight I'd go stir crazy if that's all my life contained. Tell you what," sticking out her neck for someone when it wasn't a life or death situation was also quite unlike Sapphire's usual self but she felt a little bit sorry for Oswald. He really needed something other than fighting to occupy his time. "Next time you've got some shore leave I'll take you down to this little karaoke bar my uncle owns in central Vale. You can practice your battle roar."
Cocking an eyebrow, Oswald gave Sapphire I sideways glance before shrugging. "Gotta say I didn't see that coming. Then again, we didn't even have a...wait, what the heck is karaoke? I mean, bars I'm familiar with, but...no clue what karaoke is. I...well, sure, yeah, I guess I'll think about it." It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Oswald was surprised at the invitation, but it seemed that Sapphire had some sort of soft spot for him.