Causing A Racket (Private/Haze Vs Averia)

"Oh, my word, how magnificent!~ Just who are you?~" The goddess crooned, eying up a perfect figure. Such well maintained hair and those dazzling eyes. The woman had perfect posture, it demanded both attention but at the same time respect. As if she were to be admired from afar like an exquisite portrait, not discarded like some kind of imitation. She was the real deal. Oh... Oh my word those legs. Just how far did they go? And her skin, so clean and unmarked. Such a slender individual. Her sense of style, though I'm sure any clothing that covered her body would be worn most excellently, is superb~

"FuFuFuu~ Of course, it could only be I, Her Eminence Haze. The perfect huntress, The Toxic Goddess, The apple of all of your eyes~" She smirked, performing dramatic poses in the dressing room's many many mirrors.

"M-Madam Haze, are you finding the clothes satisfactory?" An inferior, yet necessary, voice called from beyond the velvet curtain.

The Perfect woman strutted out; "See for yourself, be thankful; you are the first to see me in this style for quite some years."

"O-Oh my. Madam Haze, I-I-It's perfect. It's really perfect! You look perfect!" The spider spinster squealed.

"Indeed it does, it is magnificent; in fact it is so magnificent I have decided to dub it such. I shall name this outfit... Magnificence~!" She decreed.

"St-St-Stunning!" The spider faunus almost passed out, falling backward atop her large thorax.

"FuFuFuFuFuu~ Well, I must take my leave," The goddess informed her, wandering toward her bag and collecting the dress she had arrived in; "I have a brat to give a thrashing."

"I wish you luck!" The spider hailed.

"FuFu~ As if I will even need it," Haze emerged from the store and strode to her car; gracing the purple leather seats with her behind as she sat and pulled up her scroll.

The time read six forty Am, the silly little broad probably wouldn't normally have awoken... yet she knew that the brat's mother would be blowing up her step-daughter's phone with texts and calls. This would be simple, the student would most certainly be unaccustomed to this goddess' sleep schedule. Between six and nine every night the perfect huntress would return to her Goddess sized bed; a bed which literally filled her entire room. Each day she would sleep in a different location at a different angle, waking to the sunrise when able and whenever not to the recorded sounds from her first victory speech. It made for a perfectly rested body, not that she would even need beauty sleep.

It was common knowledge that teachers were permanent contacts on each student's scroll; undeletable nor block-able from the student's end... but Haze had blocked every single student's number. She could not receive messages nor replies from any of them as a result. Without a second thought the goddess quickly rattled off a message to the blonde brat, a message she would be unable to reply to.


To Averia Frost

Subject; Tennis

As your mother will have informed you several times, you are to come to the tennis courts near the heart of Bellemuse for some stamina training this instant. You are to be there before seven or I am to call her and inform your stepmother of your tardy behaviour. You are to bring your own racket and wear suitable clothing.

Never yours, always her own; Madam Haze.


Having sent her message she set her scroll aside, laughing lavishly to herself. She would wait till five minutes passed seven, so as to be fashionably late. Then, when certain the broad was there, she would pull up in her purple car with racket in hand; prepared to thrash Goldilocks... but first...

Madam Haze pulled a sizable mirror from her stylish purple purse and began to admire herself thoroughly.

Haze wearing Magnificence, she will be wearing this for the entire thread:

"Mmnn.."

Averia groaned in her sleep, turning to her side as her phone kept vibrating on her desk. She opened an eye and saw the darkness so she closed it again to fall back to slumber. However, the vibrating device was really bothering her to no end. The sound was one thing, but her polite side was telling to pick up the phone since she's not the type of person to not answer a call. Finally for the third time of ringing, she sighed in annoyance and threw the blanket off. She strode to her desk and flipped it open, eyes glancing at the top right corner to check the time. 6:40AM?! Who would call her during midnight? (6:40AM is still midnight to her).

Her question was answered by the name flashing on the screen - her mom, of course. She sighed and answered the call. As usual, her mom was reminding her of her appointment with an 'important client' that she had to meet in the tennis court today. As if she'd actually go. She already sent her butler off to meet with this 'client' instead.

"Yes yes, I'm on the way there now. Bye." With that she ended the call then flopped back on her bed, ready to go back to sleep, only to be interrupted by a text message this time. "What now?!" She growled as she flipped it open thinking it'd be her mom again but wow was she shocked. Just those two words at the end was enough to send her drowsiness out the door and her head to boil in annoyance.

"You old hag!" Averia exclaimed and there goes her phone slamming against the wall into pieces. Another phone gone. "No! As if you can make me! You filthy.. grahhh!"

After a bit of thrashing and vases breaking, there was silence.

----------

"Yes, you can go home now. I'll meet with this 'client' instead," Averia said to her butler over her earpiece as she sped through the empty streets of Bellmuse in her sleek-black motorbike. Sparing a glance at her watch, she had to rev up the engine faster to get to her destination in time. She made a sharp turn over to the entrance of the park until she reached the tennis court.

Averia brought the vehicle to a stop and turned off the engine. She hopped off the bike and removed her helmet to let amber strands of hair cascade down her waist. Her eyes wandered around the court in search for the most emotionally-stirring woman she'd ever met. It seemed the snake was nowhere in sight.

"Tsk. I knew it," she mumbled. She unslung her racket bag from herself and let it hang on the handle of her motorbike to enable her to zip down her leather attire. Inside was a dark-blue tennis apparel that the woman seem to require for this stamina training session. She pulled her hair back into a neat high ponytail and once done, wore a white visor lined with dark-blue edges.

All set, Avy took out the racket from its case and made her way inside the court while twirling the equipment in hand. She had brought a spare one in the bag just in case, but hopefully she won't need it. Knowing this woman, who knows what she had in store for her in a simple game of 'tennis'.

Ah, seven thirty in the morning. The sun had just began to rise, the air wasn't quite too cold. It was wonderful. As she stepped out from her low sports-car a small wisp of her breath could be seen before her body quickly adjusted to the temperature. She began to strut toward the large tennis cage's entrance when she was halted by a vehicle that disgusted her. A motorbike... how silly. Twice the danger, half the safety and, as a bonus, the feeling of your body jerking over each and every imperfect pothole. It didn't help that the bike's black paintwork would clash with most everything the rider would wear and the licence plate was just tacky. Not extravagant alike Haze's own; "G0DDE3SS" plate.

As she entered the court, taking in the false green grass under the powerful floodlights. The broad white net stretched before her, a little room to run around the edges. She felt a low heat emanating around her ankles; the area was heated so as to help moisture evaporate and prevent snow. She sized up the blonde fool before her, what a bland choice of outfit. How... average. Even that racket screams tedious.

Madam Haze removed an item that had been attached to the underside of her blet; a purple pen. With a single click of it's top a low whirring could be heard throughout the court, immediately the pen's shaft hardened and widened. Then, once it had elongated quite some way, the pen's tip began to expand into a large metal circle; red wires forming between the circle's sides. Forming a web of sorts. Rather quickly a large purple and red racket was formed; perfectly matching both her outfit and her eyes.

She began to stretch an arm bellow her chest, rolling her neck; "My my, have you even warmed up? Such a silly girl, why don't you ever do that? My victory would mean so much less if you pulled a muscle mid-way. FuFuFu~" She stretched the other arm, rolling her neck the other way; "As I expected; your mother was quite adamant about us having a follow up lesson. But can you really blame her?~ She paid me rather handsomely, cash and jewellery to babysit? How could one resist?"

The goddess practiced a few swings, her mace based fighting style was primarily practiced through tennis. Her mother had been a famous tennis player. She could probably have surpassed her had hunting not caught her eye...

"Hiring me again for more than she did last time, must have been the easiest choice your mother ever made," The Goddess smirked, practicing some swings.

Thirty minutes had passed since Averia arrived and still no sign of the goddess-wannabe. It didn't matter though, the girl was always quick to find something to entertain herself with, that being her headphones and the games on her scroll. She smirked as the opponent was completely crushed by her expert handling, another multiplayer game that she found too easy for her liking. She leaned back on the bench and sighed. What else was there to do? Cat videos maybe.

All too soon, her alone time ended as the woman appeared in an outfit that Averia hadn't seen her wear before. What poor choice of fashion, she thought. A turtleneck crop-top with black slacks?! Not to mention those gloves, so tacky. The only decent thing in her apparel was the belt which Averia must admit was stylish. Other than that, the whole combination in general was horrendous. Whoever told this woman that it looked good on her was either forced to do so, or said so out of courtesy. It's not even weird enough to be called high-fashion.

Averia let out a soft yawn as the woman kept rattling about some warm up, lesson, cash, ladida, nothing of interest to her. She looked back to her scroll and ignored whatever she had to say. The pen-shifting racket didn't even faze the girl as she'd seen them everywhere, what with her family background and all.  The thirty-minute wait was long enough for her to cool her head and revert back to her nonchalant attitude. Thus here she was, lazy and sleepy.

"Mkay. Whatever you say, old hag," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, moving her headphones from her neck and up over her ears.

Madam haze paused for but a second before returning to her stretching. The girl's words had little impact, she had been thoroughly informed that she looked gorgeous already; as if her mirror staring hadn't convinced herself enough her stylist had pushed her ego even further. She could simply laugh off her pupil, as if she could judge anyone's appearance while wearing a visor like that. How garish was it? Why, Madam Haze assumed that if she were to wear the visor that her perfectness would make it passable... but not nearly as good as say a tiara or a beret. The goddess could probably pull it off, but this girl? It made her look as though she were up to her eyes in water; drowning.

The ponytail was also ruining what little style the girl had. To pull that much hair up that far? It was a surprise she hadn't broken her own neck due to the weight, and it did little to help in all honesty. It just allowed more hair to fall over her shoulders, rather than neatly down the center of her back. It should only encumber her more so, honestly. The rest of the outfit was bland and dull but the headgear she was wearing? Awful. Simply awful.

The goddess stretched, circling her ankles one by one. Clockwise and counter clockwise. She pulled her arms down her back, one at a time.  Right lunge, left lunge. Right lunge, left lunge. Right lunge, left lunge. She let forth a syrupy sigh, her body stretched; "Alright, if you don't want to run then don't. Just remember to compare what happened when you followed my orders to when you didn't~"

The goddess felt her left bicep, the perfect muscle mass feeling warmed and perky. The Goddess let forth a practice forehand, followed by a practice backhand. The lashing wind would most certainly be felt from the ice-cube's position, this was after all her sport of choice. Even when briefly retired from hunting she had kept up with tennis, she could hardly have let the courts on her private island go to waste. A serving machine, herself, and her racket. That was all she had towards the end, but it had suited her quite well. It would take a machine, unfeeling and expensive, to be even remotely considered a partner for a huntress of her calibre. This girl was trash compared to it.

"I assume you have balls?" The Toxic Huntress deadpanned, lowering her frame and bobbing her body side to side in preparation to leap; "You can serve now, or go a run like a good girl."

Her racket was in her right hand, though held loosely so as to ease a transition to her left.

Still with her headphones over her ears and blasting EDM music, Averia couldn't hear the outside world, what more this woman's ugly voice that she'd intentionally block out even without the headphones on. Her eye twitched though at the continuous blow of wind to her face. She looked up to see the hag practicing her swing. Tsk. Of course. Averia decided to ignore it and go back to playing until she noticed the woman was talking to her judging by the movements of her lips. You can serve now, or go a run like a good girl. What a bother.

Averia dragged her weight to stand up and remove her headphones and scroll to place on the bench. Picking up her racket, she proceeded to walk on the other side of the court while twirling it in hand. Then she remembered the ball. She went back, took two tennis balls from her case and slid one inside the pocket of her shorts. The girl trudged back again to the court, this time bouncing the ball on her racket as she took her position on the serving line. Briefly she glanced down at her equipment.

It had been a while since she last played the game. It was one of those sports that she was forced to learn along with golf, fencing and equestrianism or as she preferred, mounted archery, lest not have any physical activity at all. Among those sports though, her step-mom was very passionate about tennis.  She used to brag about how she had this ultimate rival with the same level of skill as her but never actually played with one another. And just when they were officially matched - a match of the millennium, as she called it - her 'rival' mysteriously died from a severe trauma to the head by a metal object, like a mace of sort. And so it never happened.

Of course Averia wasn't interested in any way. Even the story sounded fishy to her but that didn't stop her step-mother from destroying and obliterating her in the said game, so much so that Averia had developed quite the dislike for it, especially with the memory of constant defeat.

The blonde-haired girl sighed and took position. Her racket held on her right hand as she prepared to serve. She glanced at the woman to check if she was all set then threw the ball in the air. She jumped at the right height and smashed the ball to send it over the other side of the court.

Haze held her breath as the ball began to drop, once more a wave of nostalgia began to flow through her. At twelve years old her mother had first played against her daughter in a serious game, utterly thrashing the young snake faunus. It had taken over a year to be able to even get a single set against her, but from her the battle was downhill. By the time Haze returned to the private island she could thrash the woman senseless, even with her injured body. It wasn’t quite straight sets but it was close enough. The women had known she was beaten by the end of the first.

As the girl's racket came thwacked the ball the goddess simply rose, racket raised slightly to her right side. She lightly thwacked the ball back to the girl, the instant after it bounced, and let it soar through the air. The goddess had angled it back toward the girl, not as a show of good faith but as both a test and a trick. The girl would probably assume they were simply going to pass the ball back and forth for a period... but the Toxic Goddess was not so kind nor merciful. She lowered herself again, ready to bound and bash the ball back.

FuFuFuFuFu~ What a silly girl, it’s a surprise she can stand straight at this hour let alone swing a racket.

After having served the ball, Averia resumed to a ready position - legs apart at shoulder length with upper body leaning forward from the hip and arms holding the racket in front of her. Her eyes were focused not on the ball for she already knew where it'd land the moment she served it, but to the woman who was preparing to receive the serve. She was expecting something explosive - a return ace of sort, but such an anticlimactic ending for she merely returned the ball with a light pat, not even at a distance enough to force Averia to run.

The girl sighed and shifted in her position, right leg moving back as she went into a neutral stance to receive the ball. With the racket still on her right hand, she swung against the ball for a forehand strike, adding a topspin to its motion. She went for a down-the-line shot at the opposite side of where the woman was positioned. Due to the added topspin, the ball was expected to drop at a faster rate than that with no spin.

Averia thereafter stood straight, not even on her ready position and started to stretch her neck from side to side, bouncing lightly on her feet while waiting for the snake's return.

”FuFu~ Well, at least you know how to hit a ball. I suppose I ought to put in some slight effort into my next shot.” The Goddess mock yawned, eyes honed to the girl’s racket rather than her ball as she made her swing. All the while however Haze was scheming. A simple game of tennis would be much to drab, even a bland huntress like this one would take some time to wear out from a match of the sport.

With that in mind, as the blonde hit the ball, the Toxic Goddess began to form wisps of her purple smog around her newly gloved hands. These gloves had an advantage over her sheik black ones when it came to combat; they were the exact same colour as her toxic fumes. As such it was harder to tell the semblance was in use, especially from a distance alike the girl was at, and thus harder to tell when a venomous barrage could come the opponent’s way or they were scared over nothing.

Bounding to her left, she let the ball bounce before she delivered a backhand slice, aimed directly across from the perfect huntress so as to force the pupil to run to her. Haze's backhand had always been a good bit stronger than her forehand, it was just a motion that came more naturally to the goddess, but her training with a heavy mace may have made it slightly stronger than she last recalled it being. It wasn't so much that the ball would go out, no, but the girl would have a fair amount of running to do to catch it. The ball had a backspin on it, supposedly to make it stay lower to the ground, but with the force Haze had hit it the ball would probably rise a little more than anticipated.

She smirked, fairly sure the pupil would be able to hit the ball back, regardless of the extra force behind it. The toxic haze began to rice and trace her racket, hugging its purple rim and kept away from the red strings. The goddess bounced lightly in her heels, that was phase one, now push things further still.

Avery's eyes were focused on the woman's frame despite bouncing light on her feet. Right as she hit it with a backhand strike, the girl was quick on her feet to dash to her left, arriving at the ball even before it could bounce. Shifting the angles of her feet and hips into a semi-open stance, she swung her racket to return with her own backhand shot. However, just as the ball hit the strings she realised it wasn't just a normal backspin but one that had enough force to disrupt her return.

It was too late to change her swing and she hit the ball with a topspin. There wasn't much acceleration to her return but it was enough to send the ball parallel to her location - a typical down-the-line shot. Thereafter, Avery spun her racket in hand and went to a ready position. Seems this woman knows her sport quite well and wasn't just bragging when she invited her to a game.

Still, something seemed odd. Knowing this woman, she wouldn't settle for a typical game of tennis, especially when she branded it as a 'stamina training'. At the rate that they were going, both would be tired and at a stalemate by the end of the game, what with the woman's heels and all.

The goddess smirked, it would seem the girl had struggled slightly with that shot; her eyes slightly read so... but it seemed not to be beyond what the brat could handle. Haze lunged toward the simple shot, a far reaching racket catching the ball and sending it diagonally; a cross court shot away from the girl. One would think it to be a simple, if a bit sloppy, shot... but it wasn't quite so simple.

The ranged racket had been cloaked in the goddess' petulant poison, and as such it had been transferred to the ball as it flew through the air. Admittedly this did take some effort. The woman's far hand was clenched rather tightly; eyes locked on the once green tennis ball and not mockingly toward the student. Upon impact with the girl's racket the gaseous cloud would spread out, most certainly shocking the girl... but fortunately, for the girl, the burst's bark would be worse than it's bite.

Haze knew this burst of toxin wouldn't poison the girl, would probably smell it but wouldn't even cough on it. It was simply to put the brat into her place and force her to run a little faster, the goddess couldn't waste her whole morning playing tennis with some stroppy student.

"FuFuFu~ You best keep running silly brat, on your toes. Keep moving. This is supposed to be stamina training, is it not? You think you can stand still and deflect shots? Even a perfect being such as I must move to deflect shots," The Hunting Tennis Goddess of Toxicity and general Perfectness taunted, once again coating her gloves in toxic smoke, "It's not playing dirty blondey, this is training. If it takes this kind of motivation to train someone as imperfect as you then that is what it takes. Only way I'll squeeze more money out of parents is to properly train you, as fruitless as it seems to be, FuFuFu~"

Another normal cross-court shot? Not even powerful at that; no spin whatsoever. Avery sighed and practically jogged to the ball with no effort whatsoever to reach it. She waited for the ball to bounce before aiming to return a forehand down-the-line shot with added topspin as usual. This time she planned to aim it lower, graze the top of the net so it'll end with a surprising and impossible drop-shot. However, as she looked at the ball, her eyebrows lowered.

A gunslinger's best asset is their eyes possessing hawk-like features to locate and aim a moving target accurately, thus Avery could see that there was something odd about the ball yet couldn't pinpoint what. A brief glance at the woman was all she needed for confirmation; the latter was looking at the ball instead of her movements, very untypical for a veteran player. She decided to put it at the back of her mind and focus on the game. Whatever it was couldn't be that bad, right?

"...!"

And yet again she was proven wrong by a burst of gaseous cloud, a very familiar smoke that she recognised as that of the woman's semblance. Her eyes stung again at the presence of the smoke but she squinted them and tried her best to return the ball over the net albeit a weaker one than her typical hard shorts so far. She blinked her eyes rapidly to clear of the pestering stinging sensation but then clicked her tongue as she was a few seconds behind to the woman's return. She had to run faster as she knew the snake would use this time to deliver another cross-court shot away from her.

"Couldn't win by normal means so you're resulting in dirty tricks, I see," she said.

The goddess smirked, running to catch the oncoming ball and delivering one of her powerful backhand slashes; smashed to got toward the side far from the woman. The cross court hit was a plain one, usual spin and lacking the toxins she had imbued the prior ball with. The green projectile was a little out of control, probably due to the goddess' overconfidence following her successful surprise attack. It wasn't quite hard enough hit to knock it out, nor was it askew enough to, but it was rather close.

She stood straight, the huntress' pompous laughter radiating throughout the entire court. She twirled her racket, switching to her left hand and once more eyeing up the ball. She had another plan. This one was slightly more... deadly, sure, but would heighten the brat's reflexes and force her to run faster still. She placed her right palm on the racket's wiring, focusing the toxic fumes into the string. She held the tool behind her head and prepared to leap toward her opponent's next shot. The goddess was prepared to obliterate the student in a single shot.

"FuFuFuFuFu~ How fast can you run silly girl? And how long for? A true huntress must be able to run for extreme periods of time, can you do that? I can, being the goddess I am, but can an icy brat like you?" The goddess bounced, her sharp heels puncturing the false spongey ground.

In a game of tennis, a player must not have a tunnel vision on the ball alone. They must be aware of the opponent's positioning and stance in order to deliver a proper offensive shot that would make it hard for the opponent to return. In this case, despite running to the ball, Avery's peripheral vision was focused on the woman. Due to the ball's slow return as opposed to the snake's usual precise shots, she had the time to spare a glance at her to see her stance fully. But what she saw was something she'd been expecting. The woman changed her hold of the racket and placed her palm on the strings.

One of those tricks again, hmm?

While she was curious as to what the snake had for her, Avery was unforgiving. An opponent is an opponent. Just as she reached the ball, she switched the racket to her left hand, her dominant one, and delivered a powerful and well-controlled forehand cross-court shot with added topspin. It may have looked like a normal shot from the woman's perspective, but the topspin was actually added pretty late after the impact. Thus when the ball neared the net, it curved down, getting caught at the top of the net to end with a drop shot instead.

"I'm not the only one running here, old hag. Move those legs to prevent age-related joint problems."

As Haze ran, racket at held behind her and primed to swing, it acted almost as a bubble wand. The racket left a large, cylindrical, cloud in it's wake; deep purple in colour. The goddess did have to lunge slightly to catch the ball, simply striking it in a cross court shot with no spin... this was however only in fairness to the girl; she told herself. For the smoke that would accompany it would far exceed the challenge of any spin.

Madam Haze opened her free palm, immediately the smog split into three parts. The first launched straight for the girl, the second primed for mid court and the last chased the Goddess' ball. Once again these clouds could only cause minor coughing and would dissipate but a few seconds after reaching their desired locations.

"Return this shot and we can move on to something slightly more taxing... I believe this will serve as a decent warm up for the likes of you, a few shots from a goddess why; you must almost be out of breath. FuFuFu~" The Perfect Hunter informed the lesser one, a multitude of tortures prepared for her once this was over, "A goddess cannot stand drab experiences; and playing tennis with you has absolutly been one of the worst. How tedious a player can you be? Not a single surprise the whole time."

Avery spun her racket in hand, awaiting for whatever this stupid hag had to offer. Judging from the purple smoke trail of her racket, it'd have something to do with her semblance. And she was right. The woman sent out a fairly decent crosscourt shot but accompanied by three smogs. Avery clicked her tongue as she would have to dash faster in order to avoid those.

She bounded to her right with the racket behind her. Her eyes glowed a bright blue as her aura seeped through, speeding her faster to get past the first smog and just barely missing the mid-court one. When she was finally by the ball, she shifted into an open stance, eyes flicking towards the ball, the smoke and the net, calculating the distance in her mind. Once done, she shut her eyes to prevent the smoke from blinding her and distracting her again as she delivered a backhand strike to the ball with her dominant left hand. But it wasn't a high-speed return. No. In fact, it's a perfectly timed volley that caught the top of the net, rolled, then merely dropped on the ground on the other woman's side.

Avery opened her eyes and rested the racket on her shoulder with a scoff. "I should be the one saying that. You're the one with 'experience' and even used your semblance against me, yet it's boring as hell. I mean, did you see your boring shots? You only used two: down-the-line and cross courts. Careful now. People will think you don't even know how to play the game," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Oh but wait, don't even speak, I already know what you're gonna say. Something about 'I don't need to use my full strength on you' excuse, right? Pfft."

"Well, as true as that is. I was actually going to say I didn't need to use the entirety of my skill against you, silly girl~ FuFuFu~ It's not excuse, it's justification for my imperfect performance. Excuse, such a dirty word. It should never be used to describe my kindness, remember that lest I have to beat the lesson into you alike last time... maybe you really do get off on that though. Repulsive, but fitting for one of your stature," The Goddess shook her head, returning her racket to it's base form and setting it on the inner side of her belt. With a well placed kick she returned the ball over the net and toward the girl.

"Well, if so, you're going to enjoy this next part. To train one's stamina in the easiest fashion you find what they're worst at and subject them to hour upon hour of it, be it weights or running, heat or cold... I think you know where this is going Dust-Dunce," Madam Haze smirked, not even looking at the icecube across from her, "The gym this court is attached to was made for huntress level training, thus suiting the lowly imperfect likes of you. I'm sure there's nothing there that would phase a goddess."

The woman began to strut to the cage entrance, refusing to even return a glance to the student in question. Of course a goddess would leave before a lady, they came before any manner of mortal. The woman strut around the cage and up the ramp that ran alongside the far side, reaching a well lit and quiet gym reception.

"Ma_Madam Haze! Welcome, in at your perfect time as usual. Th-The gym's empty as it always is at this time, and- oh," The receptionist was a large Rhyno faunus man, a horn currling up from the edge of his nose; "I-It would appear there will be-

"Relax yourself Reginald, the child is with me. I'm tutoring her, she's quite inept. Regardless, do you have dust for the device today?" The goddess questioned.

"Ah, yes. J-Just hit the button and it should work fine Madam Haze, is there is anything else I can do for the Hunting Goddess..?" The Rhyno faunus asked, rather red in the face.

"No, that will do. We'll just head in," She informed him, turning for the door.

"Y-Your new outfit is perfect b-by the way!" He called, waving as he attempted to busy himself at the computer.

"Indeed it is," The Goddess didn't blink, entering the gym room and expecting the brat to follow.

Avery shot the woman a glare. She had almost forgotten how annoying this woman could get. Well whatever. It wasn't like she cared about this boring stamina training anyway. She'd just go through with it, finish and move on with her life. With a flick of her wrist, the tennis ball engulfed in ice and shot towards her hand as she proceeded to return her equipment to her bag. She was in the middle of thinking what upgrades she wanted to include in her guns when the woman said something about subjecting someone in their areas of concern. As usual the professor was idiotic enough to interchange stamina with endurance but that was the least of her concern. Her train of thoughts lingered on only one word - dust.

"Wait. What do you mean by that?" Her eyes furrowed at the woman's words, not liking where this was going. Surely she wasn't going to push it as far as purposely expose Avery on huge amounts of dust right? She saw how much it affected her during their last spar; surely the woman wasn't that cruel?

The gunslinger began to nibble her bottom lip in concern while trailing behind the snake as she knew that was exactly what this person was - a sadist, taking pleasure in the pain and misfortune of others. Avery barely registered the rhino faunus as she was too busy trying to contemplate what to do with the situation. However all too soon she already found herself standing inside the gym. Surveying the place, she noticed it didn't look any different from a normal facility, filled with machines for physical training and enhancements - nothing she couldn't handle. If it came to strength and speed, Avery wasn't one to be taken lightly of, so it might not be as bad as she thought.

Weights, treadmills and exercise bikes. Oh how bland. Such simple and cheep technology, used by the masses. Were it not for the vigorous cleaning it underwent every night Madam Haze wouldn't even enter this facility, the scent of sweat would be far too overpowering. The air conditioning was a little powerful in the room, keeping it cool so that people could exercise longer... but this would simply make things harder on the girl lagging behind the goddess.

"Are you familiar with hexing? It is when a weak spirited person, lacking in dust aptitude, is subjected to a copious volume of the substance. It subjects their body to so much turmoil it causes nausea and if untreated even a fainting spell," The Goddess informed the silly mortal, "I never had much use for techniques involving it, but due to my dust aptitude rarely if ever suffered from it. One cannot become immune, however, you can learn to endure the symptoms better. As the dust attacks the lungs, brain and other vital organs this will thus increase both stamina and endurance simultaneously... I wouldn't have had to inform a half decent student about that, of course, but one such as you needed the insight. FuFuFu~"

The Perfect huntress strutted across the room, eventually arriving at a door with a darkly tinted window. Only those within could see out. Outside was a dial of sorts, a tab above it reading; Vials used per minute. The minimum was one, the maximum was six. The goddess laughed to herself;

"I suppose one as inept as you would need it set to the lowest setting, do you not? FuFuFuFuFu~ I suppose you'll make leaps and bounds of improvement just sitting in there at a low level... though it occurs to me I haven't quite explained how this room works. It's basically a sauna or a steam room, but the steam is formed from a combination of fire and water dust. The temperature itself won't burn you, but the percentage of oxygen in the air will have a more... grievous effect on the likes of you. FuFuFuFu~ It'll take five minutes to warm up so you can argue your case for a higher setting, if you so desire... though being as lazy as you are I'm sure you won't want such a thing. FuFuFuFuuu~"

Hexing. Avery was familiar of that word. She might not be capable of utilising dust to her advantage but it didn't mean she was ignorant of her own weaknesses. In fact, she'd studied it in detail to find a way around dust users if she was ever to be faced with one. Still, she remained silent while the woman continued to talk, opting to daydream of what movie she'd watch tonight. She was only brought back when the professor stopped in front of a door. Her eyes shifted to the words written above. Vials per minute? What did that even mean?

Avery wished she didn't know for the next few words made her shift on place slightly. A sauna powered with fire and water dust? Why was there even such thing in this gym? What, electricity was too mainstream so they switched to using dust? Avery shot the woman a piercing glare. Not only does the sauna produce heat, a natural enemy of ice users, it even used dust.

"And what idiotic thing came to your mind to think I'd agree with this? It's an equivalent of saying you're going to roll and swim in the mud with pigs." Avery stated with a roll of her eyes. She folded her arms beneath her chest and shifted her weight on one leg. "Go think of something else for me to do. I don't care if you tell your 'client' since that seems to be what you're good at, but even she can't make me go inside that thing."

"FuFuFuFu~ Well, if you don't you're going to end up a class example. I'll talk of the blonde little brat who couldn't face her own weakness, as a result she struggled as a huntress. In fact; she still does so to this very day. A little girl I taught who manipulated ice, never learned to handle dust properly. Such a sad tale of yet another who fell so far bellow the goddess," Haze smirked, she was certain this girl had a noose of pride wrapped around her neck. The idea of looking bad in the face of her classmates... FuFuFu~ "A rich girl failing to cut it. Hardly surprising, I'm such a rare beauty."

"Although, if you really want a hard time, perhaps you should go do some weights. It'll still take a brief moment to heat up, if you really want to suffer then feel free to. I''m fairly certain you'd be allowed to take a few dumbbells in there with you to~" The Goddess smirked, knowing she no longer had to do such tedious exercise

"And as for your pig analogy well... comparing yourself to a pig... FuFuFuFuFu~ Do you really need to talk to me at all? You seem to give yourself enough motivation to be better than the ham trash you are now. You know you're pitiful, you said it yourself." She raised her fist to her perfect lips as she laughed, "And you honestly think your mother was the one who called for this brand of training? She can't make heads nor tails of how to train you, so she sends you to me. Such a silly girl, of course I decided this is how we should do it. Not her. A goddess judgment, you're lucky I chose not to beat you using dust and instead chose something so relaxing. Really you should be grateful for my patient method. You can relax as you work out, a marvelous paradox."

Avery gave out a soft sigh as the woman was back to rambling again going as far as threaten her to be disgraced in front of her classmates. That made her scoff lightly. Sure the gunslinger had tons of pride but nothing that involved other people. Her pride was purely for self-satisfaction, her pride of her skills and capabilities, thus she never cared what people thought of her. Humiliating her in front of other people with words even was simply petty.

"Do whatever you want." Avery stated as she turned around and settled on a bench, crossing her legs lazily. Then she raised an eyebrow when the snake started talking about her pig analogy and how that was supposed to be a comparison to her. What a reach. She sighed once again and shook her head. They do indeed have a huge language barrier; Avery doesn't talk stupid after all.

She dug through her bag and took out her pocket book, flipping to the page to resume her reading. Yeah. Nothing the woman said would ever change her mind. Now that she thought of it, she'd done nothing but say yes to whatever this snake had to say. She wondered how she'd react if she was completely nonchalant to her. In fact, there's more.

"Hmm. If my mother hired you to teach me.. and she sees I'm not improving.. then she'd stop hiring you and we won't have these stupid lessons again. No gold for you too." She looked at Haze and gave an innocent smile. "Yep. I'm not going inside that thing." And with that she resumed reading, completely absorbed with the story.

"FuFuFuFu~ You're really so dense as to believe that's how it will work? She'll simply order more lessons, I've got that woman as wound around my fingers as she has you around hers. FuFuFu~ Puppet of a puppet, Althea Verianne Nightfrost... I think the title suits you. I could call her right now you know, have her demand your participation and apologize to me for your ignorance... do you really want to go through that? She might even limit poor rich girl's pocket money, FuFuFuFu~ How awful~" The goddess crooned, examining her stylish gloves and collecting a towel from the trey beside her, "Imagine that, without money you'd be rather pathetic. Average at best.".

"You're in a rather advantageous position, don't you know? Do you not understand that? Usually it takes a full, platinum, membership to get in here. I'm letting you piggyback off me now, just as you have your whole time at the Academy... FuFu~ You as a pig again. It seems to come up rather often," The Goddess stood with her hand on the door handle, ready to pull it open, the other holding a towel she would wrap her hair in, "Just be thankful, enter, and I'll never have to tell dear mother of your misbehavior. Continue to resist your training and I cannot guaranty such will be the case, pig puppet. FuFuFu~"

Avery had mastered the art of filtering her hearing from all the useless things the woman had to say. Her mind was completely taken in by the story before her until those three simple words made her stop and her eyes glossed, lowering for a moment. She snapped the book shut and casually placed it in her bag without a word. The ponytail came off next and she ran a hand through her amber strands of hair.  Everything the woman had to say fell on deaf ears; it wouldn't matter if it didn't, Avery was never dependent on her family for pocket money anyway. After coming to Bellmuse, her properties were all from her own effort, may it be from hunts or shadow missions.

Even the comment about the pig which would usually set her off was ignored. The girl walked to the front of the room, took a towel from the tray and proceeded to slap the snake's hand from the handle of the door as she placed her own. Avery hesitated for a moment as she clenched her jaw. She gave the woman a silent glare before opening the door and stepping inside. She settled on one side of the sauna, subtly fiddling with the end of the towel as her anxiety increased.

The heat hadn't even been turned on yet and the temperature inside was already too high for her liking. She exhaled breathlessly, a hand coming up to the zipper of her top to open it up, stopping by the middle of her chest. Thereafter, she sat there in silence, both feet planted on the floor with hands on her lap.

Madam Haze continued to giggle to herself, so much so her hand seemed to remove itself from the door handle with some kind of force; allowing the girl to wander in. The Goddess couldn't help what she did next, hand being removed it just so happened to wander to the dial and briskly set it to maximum. Haze herself had only experienced it at such a setting a few times, all of which the goddess had performed perfectly... as perfect as one could under the conditions. She vividly remembered flames seeming to dancing in the center of the room as she lay at the side.

The goddess tasseled her hair up, wrapped snugly in a pristine white towel and towered atop her head. She continued to giggle, seeing how the girl had thought it best to prepare herself. Would seem she was no goddess, even when it came to such a primal and basic part of one's person. Such a small part of a person... well, smaller in the case of this pig. FuFuFuFuFu~

The goddess reclined by the door, simply to be sure that the mortal would neither panic nor run. She stretched her arms up on the bench behind her, arcing her back in a stretch. She closed her eyes and slowly circled her neck. She kept her arms up as she stopped, eyes remaining closed. It was in her faunus nature to rest in such a place and in such a way, snakes were known to bask in desert suns for days on end. She would be an avid beach-goer were the beach clean and the people who resided there not so filthy in every way. Getting sand in and around one's person was also unappealing, as were the waters shared by so many creatures. Until she could once more afford her own beach it would seem the Goddess would have to keep her stunning pale complexion.

She smirked as she felt the heat begin to rise, the air wrought with moisture. Soon the human would be squirming, FuFuFu~ How pathetic. Haze could however feel the dust working it's way into her system, knowing to reserve herself to single deep breaths rather than brisk ones, her laughing finally ceased.

"So, Althea, surprised that a goddess can recall your name?" Her perfect eyes remained closed as she smirked, face pointed upward so the girl would be replying to her neck. The melting cube did not deserve to look upon the goddess' face.