Monkey Business (Open)

Yo Richard, I know it's been a while; I've been doing  some real important stuff. Part of said real important stuff probably just handed you this letter. This is my new student, he's been learning at a rapid rate but I just don't have time for him. As such I want you to see over his training for now on, think of it as payback for all those things you owe me for. You know the ones. That and ya need a friend!

Anyway, don't worry about him being at the school; I hear they have a program for his type. It's totally allowed. Anyway, see ya around chump. I'm going on my gambling binge for a bit, see ya from the golden end.

Nyoho~

P.S. I took some money out your bank account to set up his things, you know... for the other times you owe me.

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Richard made a mental note to end his joint account with the Gamble-oholic he once called a mentor as he crushed the note, handed to him by this new student. He was... well different.

The short man had always known that Gyro seemed to prefer to teach shorter students, focusing on evasion, but this bloke was what... an inch shorter than him? That and it seemed he had a tending to pick faunus students, what with this man's face hair and ears being quite monkey like. Arms and hands were to. Well least he seemed... quiet?

"Oi oi, you're Gyro's new student then?"

The shorter, hairier, man just blinked. He had an... odd choice of fashion. Seemingly suit pants and black sneakers, a yellow T-shirt and a backward red cap.

Richard's brow twitched slightly; "...Do you want to come in or?" He took a step side-ward to reveal the room behind him; messy as usual.

The strange faunus lifted his suitcase and made his way within, eyes wide as if assessing surroundings. That was a sign he was Gyro's pupil... He did speak a lot of use of surroundings and keeping tabs on them. The man seemed to pick the least messy bed, shoving his suitcase beneath it before turning back to Richard.

"...What?"

"Gyago Gyago, Gyuh Gyuh..." He seemed to quietly roar.

...That is quite the language barrier. Richard had come from a tribe with a strange language but... wow. His was really far more like animal screeching than speaking... though perhaps it was just meant to sound like that?

"Well, whatever, I need some grub. Are you coming?" Richard asked, gesturing to the door.

"Gyago," The man seemed to almost bound toward him, dropping to all fours.

Richard just sighed, whatever. This kid was his responsibility evidently, he'd have to endure this nonsense for a while. He was about to lead him down the hallway toward the mess hall when he felt his hand being snatched.

Behind him the boy sat, a single hand gripping him and seemingly intent on staying there.

"...Y-You're a weird one, aren't you?"

The "New Student":

Noire hummed a tuneless song as she made her way down the halls of Syne Academy. She had a spring in her step and quite the chipper look on her face despite the fact that she was very much lost. The young girl had been there for a few weeks now, but still couldn't get used to the school's layout. Part of it was probably that she never paid attention to where she was going and when she did, she soon got distracted by something else. The other part was the fact that she wasn't exactly used to being in such a large building, with meandering corridors that led to all kinds of rooms. Now that she thought about it, she probably wasn't even used to being indoors at all. She didn't let that get her down, however. Quite the contrary - she saw it as a way to go exploring without even intending to.

On her current (mis)adveture, she tried to make her way down to the mess hall for a meal. She had been surprised the first time she saw the variety of what Syne had to offer. Since then, she couldn't really say that her amazement had diminished. That was likely what had her in such a good mood right now. Then again, she was rarely ever in anything but a good mood. Noire was ever the optimist, after all.

"Meaty, meat, meat, meaty, meat!" she sang to herself. "Hooray for meat! Energy times a hundred!" she kept singing her made-up song, her bare feet squeaking against the polished floor as she skipped away towards a seemingly random direction. Finding a fork in her path, she spent a few seconds debating whether to choose left or right before leaving it to chance. She closed her eyes, spun around several times and headed down the hall she was now facing. Little did she know that she was simply going back where she came from.

A few minutes of aimless wandering later, she heard a couple of voices. Momentarily, she froze. Noire wasn't too used to interacting with people and large groups often reduced her to tears. Curiosity got the better of her, however, when she heard that the second voice was only making strange sounds. Maybe it was a foreigner? Before she knew it, Noire found herself face to face with the odd couple - a short boy with spiky hair and a... monkey wearing a baseball cap? Noire shrugged. This must have been something common in big cities. With wide eyes, she stared at the two for a moment.

"Oh! H-hello there!" she hastily said, in an attempt not to seem rude. Her body was tense, though, and her curious expression soon turned self-conscious.

The new guy's grip seemed to be far greater than Richard. For such a tiny guy he sure did have a lot of strength. Felt like that weird girl he'd once spared with in the woods, his stregnth was that great.

"Gau Gau!" The Man seemed to respond.

Richard's brow twitched even more; "Oi Oi, I can't quite understand you. Let's just go already, you've got to be hungry after that flight and even if you're not; I am."

The taller, but still short, man tugged a little harder. The new guy just sat there. Richard growled, tugging with all his might. The lower of the two pulled a face.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The furry man broke out into a fit of howling laughter, almost crushing Richard's hand as he did. The sloth-bear faunus growled at what he had thought might be someone he would get along with... only to find they clearly weren't worth the hassle. His face when t a bright red as he heard a voice, realizing he was being watched;

He glowered up at the newcomer girl; Oi Oi! W-W-What do you think you're looking at? Staring l-like that..."

With a growl Richard allowed the sickle like claws to emerge from this right hand, the hand the furry guy was holding, so as to shock more than so as to attack. The hairy man let the sloth-faunus arm go, bouncing backward and landing on two feet.

"If you don't wanna eat that's fine, but don't drag me back." Richard turned about to make his way toward the food court... when he heard footsteps behind him. The angry tapping of harsh feet.

He turned to see the little man glowering, arms folded across his chest and tapping his right foot expectantly... but expecting what?

Richard glowered once more, about to turn back, when without even blinking the man stepped to the left; another of him standing where the prior one had been. Then that one took a step to the right, once again leaving one between them. The man had split into three. Then, suddenly, all three burst forward; crossing paths as they went so as to confuse which was the original.

As one jumped at the taller faunus he attempted to grab it; only to phase right through it.  Stumbling forward he realized his mistake, immediately he felt something hard at his feet trip him up... the strange man had curled into a ball in front of Richard so as to make him fall over him. Growling as he crawled to his feet he saw a set of black trousers in front of him, he swung at them only for his hand to pass right through them.

He sighed in anger... only to be winded by a surprisingly heavy man ruffling his hair with one hand, making happy noises. He glowered up at the white haired girl;

"If you speak of this to anyone I will know, and there will be consequences."

The monkey, assumed by Richard to be monkey faunus, atop his back made happy noises and nodded at the girl as it continued to rake through his hair.

Noire shifted her gaze from one person to the other - from the young man to the monkey - and then back again. Her confusion was quite obvious. The monkey pulled him back and refused to budge, for one. The young girl cocked her head to the side as she looked at the scene intently. She was only slightly startled when the young man addressed her directly.

"Um, I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stare! I'm just, I guess... I've never seen someone like that before," she said, pointing at the monkey, who seemed intent on making things difficult for the boy. She took a couple of steps closer and crouched down so that she and the monkey were at eye level. "You look really fluffy," she pointed out, her voice laced with innocent wonder. At that moment, she saw the young man extend a set of claws that made the monkey leap away from him.

"Eep!" She let out, stumbling back in surprise. She retreated a few steps back when she saw the monkey multiply and create two more clones of himself. In the blink of an eye, the monkey had tripped the boy so that he would fall to the ground. With a loud 'thump,' he landed a few inches from where Noire was still sitting on the ground. After he got up, she soon followed, dusting off her thighs to wipe away the dust and dirt on her clothes.

The white haired girl giggled when the monkey made its way up the other boy's back. "He thinks you should loosen up a little bit," Noire pointed out. "That's why he's teasing you like that." She spoke as if she knew this for a fact. Sure, her rather simple nature allowed her to understand and sympathize with animals to a closer level than most, but that she spoke so assertively probably came out rather odd.

The monkey continued to make happy noises as it picked at the young man's ruffled hair. She made a motion as if zipping her lips shut, her eyes wide with a mild hint of fear. After a few hesitant moments of silence, she spoke again.

"You're a faunus, too? I don't think I've ever seen one with claws before. Do you have to clip them and keep them sharp or do they just do that by themselves?" She asked, reaching out to grab one of his hands so that she could inspect it closely. Often times, her curiosity got the better of her and made her forget that not only was she talking to a complete stranger, but she was stepping into his personal space without even noticing. Needless to say, if he pointed that out, she would instantly retreat and likely spend the rest of the day mortified and maybe even sulking.

Richard was entirely buckled beneath the weight of the monkey, if he was to move he'd surely collapse... but he didn't seem to really care. Neigh crushing Richard's back as they continued to toy with him. The Sloth-Faunus was powerless as the girl took his hand, seemingly wanting to see his claws.

"Alright, if it'll shut you up you can have a better look at them," He grumbled.

The claws burst out the center of his fingertips, a line straight down the center slicing open as they pushed out. The claws were long and white, curved like the blades of a scythe, but relatively blunt. They were only really effective as weapons if gouged into a target's eye or swung at quite a fast speed.

The monkey, finally deciding to remove itself from Richard's back, dropped down beside him and began to tug at his jumper; standing using both feet and one of his hands. Richard frowned at him slightly, attempting to brush the grab off.

"Weird kid is a little grabby it would seem," He grumbled.

Noire's expression visibly lightened up the second that the young man extended his claws. She bent down so that her face was barely an inch away from them now. "So cool..." she said under her breath, mostly to herself. She quickly stood up straight again. There was a sort of glimmer in her eye that spelled excitement. She began swiping at the air as if she had claws herself. "I bet you can use them to swipe away bullets like 'boom!' and 'pow!'" she said, still swiping away at an invisible target before extending her arms in the air in what seemed to be a victory pose. The white haired girl extended a hand towards her head, unconsciously rubbing the horns that curled just above her ears.

"I wish my faunus stuff were practical like that..." she mused out loud. "I did use my horns to headbutt an Ursa once, though!" she said, a slight hint of pride audible in her tone. "Don't think that could do much against a Death Stalker or a Nevermore, though," she shrugged. At this point she was talking mostly to herself, considering several ideas in her head at about a mile a minute. Not many of them were practical, though. In fact, it was probably safe to say that none of them were. "Hey! Do you think it'd be better if I put spikes on them or something?" She asked the young man and then immediately answered the question herself. "No, you're right, it'd probably be too heavy..." she said, as if she had gotten a reply from the boy.

Evidently, Noire had a habit of getting carried away by her own imagination. Occasionally, she was also distracted by sudden changes in her environment. Like the monkey suddenly jumping off of the boy's back and tugging at his clothes. "Oh right! You're hungry, aren't you?" She said, speaking to the monkey as if she could tell what was going through his head with a simple glance. She kept looking at him for a moment before speaking. "That hat looks nice on you!" She finally concluded.

As the girl prattled on Richard looked down at his new dorm mate, ...She's even worse than you. Least you're seemingly quiet... such hyperactivity, my word. Girl needs to learn to nap and chill. The Monkey (Believed faunus) seemed to glower at Richard and then gesture toward the girl, as if telling him to pay attention. He rolled his eyes back to her just as she brought up the ape's potential hunger.

"No, I doubt that. I was trying to get him to go to the food court when he threw this fit. Honestly I can't quite tell what he wants. Maybe just attention... bit weird for a student of a hunting academy to want such a basic thing but... maybe? He'll quickly learn I'm rather incapable of giving such a thing, far too much effort." Richard went to slouch, as if to prove his point, only to feel the monkey stomp on his foot. Richard glowered at the little man, he frowned back. The beast seemed adamant about him paying total attention to the girl.

"As for your horns," Richard seemed to glower at them, analyzing, "Well, any head protection is better than none I suppose. Guess it's usefulness will only be shown if enemies aim for the head."

Richard let out a yawn, much to the behest of the beast beside him.

"Ghau, Gau Gau Gau..." It almost shook it's head.

The ape decided to release Richard's jumper and move toward the girl. It seemed to gesture towards her in rather strange ways, seemingly putting emphasis on... smiling at her and... offering a handshake. Hugs? H-Hi-Fives?... Such ridiculous things. He was far closer to Gyro than Richard had ever been, clearly.

Instead of partaking in any of that Richard lightly set his appraising eye on the girl. He couldn't tell so much, partially because he was unable to do in nonchalantly and not also look weird, but her horns seemed both useful and hazardous. There was the potential of blind spots but that was probably made up for by the defense they provided. As for hair he'd seen worse? Like... it wasn't ridiculously long but he was certain it could still be a hindrance in combat. Could be grabbed.

"I'm Richard, I have no idea what his name is," He announced, pointing to the ape, "Yourself?"

Noire nodded inquisitively, once again suddenly changing her attitude. So the monkey didn't want food. She nodded to herself again, hand on her chin as if considering the situation quite seriously. "Have you considered daycare?" Noire asked quite seriously. The language barrier was quite a conundrum. Maybe people at a daycare - used to babies who were unable to speak - could give him a few pointers on how to take care of the monkey.

Much to Noire's surprise, the boy actually answered her question. "Hmm..." she considered again. "I wonder if they make horn armor at one of the stores downtown..." she wondered out loud. It seemed like something oddly specific to ask for and really, she didn't have the technical ability to make it herself. She would be more likely to burn her hand off when smelting the metal for the armor. Maybe she could improvise? She pictured herself with a horn armor crafted from old magazine pages and folded like origami. It was far more likely that she would get distracted and move to drawing or finger painting before finishing the project.

Noire was lost in her thoughts while the boy took a close look at her, analyzing her appearance. She hadn't brought her weapon - a giant broadsword by the name of Spire Chaos - with her today, opting to leave it in her room instead. After all, it was rather large and sometimes uncomfortable to carry, not because of its weight, but because it was almost as tall as Noire was. She usually carried it across her back, which meant that it sometimes bumped against walls when the white haired girl wasn't paying attention. She snapped out of it when the boy - Richard - introduced himself. "Oh! Right!" She said. "My name's Noire!" She introduced herself, smiling brightly and tilting her head to the side slightly.

Richard frowned at the ape. He would not go to some "Daycare," Some "Nursery," for what he believed to be a fully grown Huntsman in training. It would be an embarrassment to both of them, for certain... speaking of embarrassment. As Richard's eyes returned to the girl he couldn't help but let out a slightly surprised growl and turn back to the monkey.

This was the second time a response like this had been elicited from him... and he hated it. He absolutely loathed it. The redness, the feeling of eyes like that on him, the smile, the just... ugh. He loathed it when anyone smiled at him, be them man, woman, animal or even machine. The monkey seemed to mock the Sloth Faunus with his smile, so he was forced to turn back.

"R-Really I should just teach him the language, I learned by osmosis over time so he should just fine... even if the language is quite different... please just stop looking at me like that," He grumbled, pulling his scarf up to his mouth so as to hide his expression, "A hunters shouldn't share emotions or looks like that, even in training."

Richard itched his red cheek, still hidden by his scarf, as he attempted to forget the bright eyes and happy face. It was embarrassing and gross to him, even if it meant nothing in actuality.

Noire tilted her head to the side slightly at the sound of an unfamiliar word. "Osmosis? Is that when you learn stuff by touching books? She asked rather genuinely. "I tried that once but I don't think I did it right. Someone told me you have to eat the book, but it doesn't look like that would taste any good," she said, nodding to herself. The young girl was rather ignorant about the more intellectual things in life, which was quite obvious to anyone who spoke to her for any decent amount of time. It wasn't really her fault, though. She had been raised to fight and only that. When she arrived at Bellmuse only a few years ago, she had had to teach herself how to read and write and her interactions with the more educated populace were little to none. She had only accomplished that task about a year or so ago and honestly hadn't sought out to perfect it.

The written portion of her entrance exam to Syne had consisted of rather accurate and complex drawings of Grimm, pointing out their weaknesses in handwriting similar to that of a two year old handed a marker. Oddly enough, she had a talent for painting and drawing - the graphic arts in general, really. The actual questions on the test went completely ignored, however. It was really a surprise that she had been accepted in the first place. However, she didn't question it. In fact, she thought that she had done everything right.

When the boy - Richard, she reminded herself - reprimanded her for showing emotion, she panicked slightly, suddenly standing up straight and giving him a salute. "Y-yes sir!" she said before standing down, trying to still keep an air of seriousness about her. The expression looked rather strange on her innocent and childish features. Absent of a smile, she looked strange. "Why can't we, though?" She asked out of genuine curiosity.

S-Sir?! G-God, don't call me s-sir you idiot. Richard internally exploded, his redness spiking once more much to the Monkey's hilarity. Why is this brat so embarrassing, both of these idiots are.

"A-A hunter should not show emotion as the creatures of Grimm are attracted to negative emotion, emotional hunters will only get themselves killed. Hunters and huntresses need to have some level of self discipline... You really must be new if you didn't even know that," Richard grumbled, once again pulling his scarf up so as to cover her blushing face.

Richard glowered once more at the monkey, finally noting something rather strange abut the man; "Oi... it's unusual for faunus to have that many animal traits right? Usually we just have one or two but his whole face, his hands, the fur... it's almost like he's an actual ape of some sort." The short man commented to the female faunus opposite him before turning to face the ape directly, "Oi, if I get you a map can you point out where about in Remnant you're actually from? If I have to put up with you I'd like to be able to communicate with you in some way."

The short man began to go through his pockets, fumbling for his scroll. He was seemingly unable to find it.