Wishing for Hibernation (Open)

While faunus were incapable of hibernation, and he wished he was far more than most, the Winter hunger pangs of a faunus much too lazy to get any real job resonated throughout his stomach. He bellowed out a deep yawn, claws emerging from his split fingertips as he stretched his arms before himself. He was quite warmly bundled; wearing a heavy green cotton jumper, the regular blue scarf he hid his weapons and dust beneath, as well as thick grey baggy cotton bottoms and steel capped hiking boots. Atop his head was his usual peculiar orange turban-like-hat, hair sticking out of it in places.

He didn't particularly care for his appearance, as evident by his clothing choice and poorly shaven face. Fortunately however, being the short man that he was, Richard was not destined to draw much attention from the surrounding patrons, vendors nor the much too loud carolers. Keeping a single claw extended, he scratched behind his ear.

The streets were lined with winter stalls, fair lights and other decorations of red and green garbed the town. Snow was falling on the cold Winter night, cracked moon visible through a crack in the cloud cover... honestly, Richard thought it was as though the whole island was making too much effort to be festive. It was tiring to think of the work that had gone into it all. The people, the sky and the temperature.

He shivered, walking passed a nigh frozen fountain, his breaths visible in the air. The water fixtures dripping rather than jetting water in their usual style. His stomach let out a growl, he let out a grumble. He delved his right hand deep into his pocket, the left out he wandered toward a stall. He would have been impressed by it, could he not help think of the effort which had went into setting it up. It was stacked high with cakes and sweet foods of all types, baking even one must have been a pain... but if they could churn out food so quickly they'd hardly miss some stolen Stollen.

He wandered toward a far corner of the stall, with his left he reached toward the middle of the display; raising what looked to be a small Christmas pudding in thick purple plastic wrapping. He made sure the owner was busy dealing with a patron. With his right in his pocket however he drew a claw, cutting a small hole through his trousers. He had recently slightly sharpened his claws, primarily for combat and climbing, but they did have some additional utility usage.

He gave the pudding a sniff, the strong sent of alcohol and berries filled his nose, with his right he pricked through the packaging of a small bread-like treat; hooking it. He pretended to deeply analyse the foodstuff, all the while lightly tugging at the item he was trying to steal; fortunately he found there was nothing atop it. He pretended to grimace at the price, reaching to place the foodstuff down-

"Hello Hello," A voice echoed from the other-side of the stall. Richard froze, he had been so concern with acting out his ruse that he hadn't kept his eye on the clerk and the genuine patron. Their transaction had completed! "Looking for any-sweet-thing in particular?"

Richard almost froze, moving his claw now could mean drawing this man's eye. He couldn't even tell whether or not the hole in the packaging was noticeable, thus drawing the man's gaze away momentarily may not even work.

He couldn't let himself flinch, he raised the pudding quickly and directly into the man's line of sight. Betting on the speed and ferocity of the movement to catch him off-guard. He quickly retracted his claw. "Yeah, I was thinking about buying this but I checked my pocket and turns out I've got no money." He pulled his hand our the right pocket so as to put emphasis on this point... as well as to reduce the man's chances of noticing.

"Oh, well you can just take it. It's getting late, I doubt I'll be able to move it. Call it a gift," The man smiled.

Richard's brow furrowed, his face reddened. Ultimately however, he wasn't so overly prideful not to take charity. Especially while he was hungry. He shrugged, grumbled a thank you, and turned away from the stall Making his way back deeper into the city. He wasn't one for giving generosity, those who gave it were suckers ripe to be abused by the likes of him.

Still though, through frowning he couldn't help but feel some inkling of gratefulness... much as it pained him to do so. He couldn't help but feel something smaller, sharper, much deeper down and much more potently. He was going to steal from a sucker who was just giving away food.

He dropped down onto a snow covered bench, the food in hand. He unwrapped it and went for a bite... but let out a low growl, leaning back to look at the clouded sky above. Pudding like this was meant to be eaten warm, he told himself specifically to avoid those feelings. He opened his eyes at the sound of birds, crows. Course it was late, they had come to scavenge what had been dropped. Birds didn't hibernate, some migrated sure, but sleeping birds were rare.

He sighed, tearing off a piece of the pudding. He threw in crumbs to them... they greedily began to feast. Theirs was a philosophy he wished he could accept, eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. With every day away from his home he found he was growing softer. His mentor had once joked he'd eventually end up dating, probably settle and marry rather than live the life he had expected to. Gyro himself had expected the opposite, to settle and marry fast, yet he was out there hunting for his living.

Richard's face grew redder still, angrily feeding cold charity pudding to the crows late at night in this fancy town... what the hell was he even doing. He wished he was hibernating, rather than being seen like this.

Ah Bellmuse in winter, Ackard always thought that the city looked best covered in snow. Sadly he was a bit preoccupied, drawing in his sketchbook while walking through the snow covered streets. Currently, he was wearing a black coat, a nicely sewn black scarf wrapped around his neck, along with a pair of midnight blue pants and his Zephyr suit underneath it all. Persephonee was also at his side, but in it's compacted form, hanging around his waist freely. As kept to himself, he decided that he needed a break from walking before spotting a bench with an open spot.

As he sat down, he noticed a guy who looked about the same age as him "Oh hi, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you or anything." he said as he closed his sketchbook before relaxing quietly on the bench137. So...how's winter treating you so far? I'm doing pretty okay, I mean it's winter and..." from there on Reese just started incoherently rambling to himself with his voice getting lower and lower. Eventually he just decided to tuck his legs in and stop talking for now. So despite his best efforts, his attempts to 'come out of his shell' kind of backfired in a pretty big way.

The crows fluttered off in their murder, making straight for the top of a nearby bakers. The sudden appearance of a man, sitting down next to Richard, had surprised them. Almost as much as it had surprised Richard himself, the short man very nearly throwing himself off the bench.

Almost immediately the new arrival began to spout off about the Winter season, asking Richard what he thought of the season before going on to give his own opinion on it in a long-winded manner... seeming to have forgotten he had asked Richard the question and not himself.

Being to talkative with a stranger raised a red flag for Richard, granted it was the only way you'd meet new people but Richard didn't really have any intention of meeting new people. Nor did people have much of a reason to meet him. He was short, angry and at least thought he looked quite intimidating... maybe less so feeding the crows pudding on a night like this but the point still stood. He wasn't trusting.

The man, who had not introduced himself, was about a foot taller than Richard. He had pink... maybe red eyes and rather white hair. Maybe he was lacking pigment? It would explain being out this late. Trying to avoid sunburns and such.

Richard, looking down as if to check on his food, took a full scan of the boy. There was something at his waist, hanging from it. A strange metal shape, almost certainly a weapon of some sort in a compact form. The only other thing he could think it would be was a bag... and it'd be a pretty weird bag.

The short man finally decided to cut him off, "Ill endure it. It seems like a lot of effort to keep up for the whole season, going to get tired of mince pies after the first week. But I suppose the food's not bad, I do miss full fruit being cheaper though. Hard to get strawberries. Need to wear heavier clothes to, so much effort, sometimes wish I could just sleep through it all."

The short man yawned, honestly if the man was planning to use what he had at his waist Richard realized he could probably scare him off by explaining who and what he was... assuming it wasn't premeditated, "I'm Richard. a second year at Syne. Yourself?" Drawing one of his claws he scratched at the back of his neck in order to complete the mild intimidation tactic. Otherwise it would just come across as an introduction, he assumed.

Reese let out a sigh of relief, relaxing at the other guy's response. It looks like he didn't completely screw up after all. "Hmm, my name? It's Ackard, but you can call me by my last name; Reese. And I'm just a first year myself." he explained before sitting back again. As he looked over he spotted one of Richard's claws as he scratched his neck. "Oh you're a faunus? cool! I always kind of wondered what it was like to have a pair of claws."

"Also sorry for bugging you in the first place." he said apologetically before slipping his sketchbook back into one of his pockets. "I'm just not usually one for interaction with people in general, I just tend to stick to tinkering with things a lot of the time.". From there Reese decided to just relax the rest of himself, this was the first time he'd probably ever seen a faunus in real life. From time to time he'd heard people talk about them, but he'd never actually met one in person until today.

Richard paused in his scratching, a tech major. That did explain the bizarre item at his waist, though he was quite different from the last  mechanic he'd seen... unless this one had iron organs or the like. Perhaps the girl he'd encountered had been the weird one though, he mentally shrugged. He flexed the remaining four of his sickle like white claws, the sickle like blades coming forth from his split fingertips. Scratching his own chin, he found himself quite unable to see just how this boy would become a huntsman.

He'd purposefully put himself out of his comfort zone and with what to gain? He seemed not to know of Richard, though that could have been a facade in itself. Did he just want someone to talk to?...

There were people working at the stalls who would more than likely be better for conversation, more interesting to. Ah well, Richard was confident enough that he could disarm and defeat him if it came to it. Getting into this close range with Richard was a bad idea, that and he had the cake riddled with raisins to use in correlation with his semblance.

"What's that at your waist then, I assume it's some kind of weapon if you're a hunter." Richard shot another glance to the man's waist. He yawned, "You leave it out in the open? Granted in compact form, don't you think you're giving yourself a disadvantage?"

Reese's eyes shot down to his weapon at the question before lifting it up a bit and answering "Oh this? This is Persephonee, she might not look like much now, but believe me I plan on doing a lot with her. And eh I guess I'm just a bit too overconfident for my own good then. It's not like I have much of a reason to keep it concealed anyway though. It's pretty much there for quick access if I ever need her. So unless the grimm can somehow change into humans, I think Persephonee will be fine. Then again the only enemy I've faced so far wasn't even a grimm in the first place."

Reese idly tapped his weapon, lost in thought for a second before coming back to Remnant. "Though that does be the question; Where's your weapon? I mean you already know about mine, so what about yours? Unless you use your claws to fight purely at close range, then in that case I think I might have a few ideas for an invention to try out." he continued before using his semblance for a moment to examine Richard's claws. "Lets see here...pretty sharp, that's a no-brainer....things seem to come together strongly, no real cracks or weak spots, but the material isn't exactly invincible either.". But of course, Reese realized that he was rambling on again."But either way, if you want to show me your weapon that's ultimately up to you."

Richard retracted his claws, brows furrowing. The man next to him seemed to emanate naivete, honestly it was almost scary. Could people like him really get into the academy so easily? People who didn't know the first thing about using the unexpected, the concepts of surprise and subterfuge being total unknowns. Total trusting in a complete stranger.

For all he knew, Richard could be a murderer. A shark who devastated smaller hunters on his way to the top of the food chain. He could be aiming to become a hunter with the express purpose of tracking down and rouge hunters or simply those with bounties upon their heads. It'd been his initial plan in fact, before he realized he could defend a forest village from Grimm and bandits. Most relaxing, yet rewarding, living he could have.

This guy, he's clearly not thinking straight. It wouldn't be hard to knock some sense into him, if the face matches then this guy's a pushover. Richard thought to himself, letting out a yawn.

He tore off some more of the pudding, tossing it to the ground before him. Much more than the birds could hope to lift of peck apart, "I mean, if nothing else it'll intimidate those who can recognize it. At worst it'll draw attention in a crowd, if someone does have a... less than stellar plan in mind, they know to deal with you first. Looking at me, had I not told you I was a hunter, would you me more likely to take me for one or a homeless person?"

He shrugged, heavy and smelly clothing garbed him. His face was poorly shaven. Hole in his trousers from where he had tried to steal.

"Regardless, if you're sure you want to see my weapon then I'll show you it."

"Why would I want people to be intimidated? It's kind of counterproductive given what hunters are supposed to be. We're supposed to make people feel safe, not afraid." Reese responded with a puzzled expression. At least he was sure that was what they were for apart from slaying the Grimm. "But I digress. I'm sure about seeing your weapon." So far Richard seemed pretty alright to Reese. For being someone who was a whole year ahead of him he, of course, had some helpful advice to give, even though he questioned certain parts of it.

But when he did bring across what he could've been, he did think it over for a moment. Eh maybe he would've thought he was homeless at first. He definitely didn't see him being a Faunus at first. He let his eyes wander away for a second or two to enjoy the falling snow and the people crowding the stores on the street while he waited for Richard to reveal his weapon to him.

Richard blinked again. ”You’re... quite naive, aren’t you? Nearly an unsafe degree of innocent... ought to loose that with time.” He had to be blunt with this guy, otherwise it appeared this Reese wouldn’t get the message. He could do with a lesson on this world’s realities.

Richard reached beneath his scarf, grasping at one of his kusarigama’s two ornate wooden handles. Decorated with maple leaves with a thick knuckle guards. Pulling the handle his shining black sickle blade began to emerge from beneath his scarf. The thin but strong linked chain unraveling from it’s circular storage container. As soon as it would be in his view Richard threw the blade, aimed not to hit the man but rather to speed pasr his left ear. Chain clanking as it passed. With a quick grap the blade stopped suddenly in it’s flight, the resulting stop in momentum caused the blade to arc back toward Richard. He caught it as it dropped from above the boy’s head. Centimeters from his nose.
He had honnestly debated letting it strike the boy, but hopefully the surprise of the show would provoke some reaction. He pulled the pudding in his right to his mouth and bit off a chunk. ”This is Keyll.”

Keyll:

Reese's eyes shot wide at the sudden movements Richard had made, instinctively vaulting away from it before pulling Persephonee from his side. As the blue rifle switched out of it's compact form, Reese fired off a warning shot just above the bench. Nothing really close to Richard, but just enough to know that he had a bead on him. He did manage to catch Keyll's name though as he kept his crouched stance on one knee, prepared to dodge again if he had to. "I take it you always confuse naive for unprepared? I've already had to fight for my life once already, don't think I'm not ready to do it again."

Everything else aside though, he was worried about how the people around them would react to a random shot being fired out in the open. But right now he had to keep his focus on Richard in order to make sure he didn't make any sudden movements while keeping his stance maintained.

As the boy ran, scurrying like mouse from eagle, Richard tried not to smirk. A bit of shock would be good for him, get him used to surprises like this. The world was full of them, especially the world this Reese was trying to make his way into. He kept his eye upon him as he darted, as the human reached for his own weapon however, Richard couldn't trust that Reese would afford him the same kindness of missing as he had intended to.

Crows had taken off as Reese had leaped, scattering the meal Richard had been sharing with them even further. As the crumbs would spread throughout the battlefield, Richard's advantage grew only larger. Without hesitation he took a nearby crumb's place, less than a second before the shot was even fired. A mass of flour and fruit, easy pickings for Richard's semblance. He was far too cautious to wait, even for this boy to take any kind of aim.

He spun on his heel, of course he would switch places with an object and land in the direction he was facing before he had warped, the boy was behind him but within arm's reach. The crows and the sounds of his own shot more than masked the sound of the small man's landing. He had switched places with a relatively large mass of the fruitcake, ending up behind the boy but to his left. Reese, having no way of knowing quite how the transition had taken place, could be faced with a few idea. The first, perhaps most terrifying, that this was indeed the speed his senior just naturally possessed. The second that it was his semblance, though whether it was teleportation or substitution he would not know.

He brought the blade of Keyll in his hand down, positioned just above the boy's back. If he wanted to jump again, he'd have to forward. Back to where a majority of Richard's crumbs were.

"No, I don't mistake the two. They are one and the same. The naive are unprepared and lack experience for hunting and life." Richard bluntly put, "Optimism has it's uses, blind naivete doesn't. You'll have to fight for your life more than once to shake your naivete. I wouldn't recommenced it here, I don't want to hurt the birds, but I'd happily show you elsewhere."

Note:

Spoiler:

From the looks of things, everything had happened in flash to Ackard. One second he had the Faunus in his sights and then, all of a sudden, he leapt right at him. Ackard managed to fire off his warning shot, but before the bullet could zip past its target, Richard had suddenly disappeared. Ackard's eyes darted from left to right, but before he could find him, he suddenly felt something sharp on his back. He let out small grunt with a mix of surprise and frustration.

Once Richard was done with his lecture, it sounded like he wanted a legitimate sparring session instead of a random ambush out in the city. A pretty good idea since it looked like the people that were left had either fear, confusion or both of their faces. But it kind of seemed like Richard was more focused and worried about the birds instead of the possibility of getting arrested for fighting in public at broad daylight. "Fine." he said after standing up and returning Persephonee to her folded state "Lead the way. I could use some practice anyways.".

It was at this that Richard's face grew red, the embarrassment from the fruit-cake-feasco had made him quite... well, quick to react and overreactive. It would appear he had somehow agreed to a fight... in the dead of winter... in the snow. Where his semblance was indeed hampered, as it would be on plain concrete or in a desert without cacti. He was greatly limited in this scenario... but on the other hand, it had been much too long since Richard had engaged in combat with another student. He couldn't remember when he had last. Perhaps it had been that fire dust boy with the guns... no, it had been that idiot girl who had thrown her scroll at him. That would be it, discounting small skirmishes... and the monkey... that last one had given Richard a thought though. Perhaps he wouldn't have to fight at all.

Rising, withdrawing his weapon and returning it to beneath his scarf Richard smiled a little. This would be a test, both for this boy and for the newfound pet Richard had received. With a nod Richard, reclaiming the central solid mass of his fruitcake, turned back to the man. "On second thought, I won't be the one to show you. Give me a moment." Refusing to turn his back on Reese Richard drew his scroll from a pocket, the typing was slowly paced but he completed it. The message read something like;

"I want you to come to the park in central Bellmuse, the one with the fountain. You will find a person walking with a displayed weapon, I want you to deal before he can deal with you, I want you to pin him. Once I have vanished from his side you are free to act however you wish in order to do this. "

Less than a moment after sending this Richard's Scroll would buzz, the only reply being a small ":D" face. Shaking his head he would return to Reese. "That's me arranged your sparring partner then. Hopefully you'll learn from this why you shouldn't display your weapon so clearly." He showed the man the messages sent back and forth between himself as the monkey, the name above the message log reading "Gyro's Friend." "We're going to go to the park in bellmuse, just walk as you did when coming up to me, and it should hopefully show you what another person can do with that information. Of course, it varies by member of the public if they'll be scared of you openly carrying a weapon, but a thug or nefarious hunter can make use of this. Regardless you'll at least get a spar out of it."

Yawning slightly Richard would begin to lead the way, if he would follow, it was a bit of a walk but that was simply to make sure the partner could reach it around the same time as this man. The park was delicately coated in snow and ice; icicles hanging dangerously from it's heavy metal gate. Walking through Richard would turn to the man, "Alright, I'm going to vanish now and just watch. He should come to you pretty freely, it's nothing to worry about. If you deal with this faster than I think, and you still want a spar, I'll come out and we can have a go to."

It was with that Richard would, rather than so literally vanishing, walk off the path and onto the grassy, yet covered in snow, area. The park was wide and plain, usually there would be lots of little arrangements of flowers but in this current season and climate such was not possible. Simply trees  without leaves. Richard would walk beneath those, watching the man and preparing for his ally. Pondering how the student will prepare for the incoming assault.

On the other side of the park, entering through the back gate, was what looked to be either a faunus more animal than any other... or a small gorilla dressed in a yellow T-Shirt, red cap, jeans and very nice black shoes. His skin was a pitch black, but his fur a contrasting white! While he had initially drawn stares outside the park, there seemed to be no citizens within outside Reese and Richard. He quickly rushed up the nearest tree, devoid of leaves. Using his right hand like a visor to peer through snow, using the left to cling to a branch at the tree's top, the ape sighted the boy... it would only be a question of whether the boy would see the chimp. He was just over a meter tall and around fifty away after all.

The Monkey:

Ackard had gained a slight smirk and wondered why Richard's face had turned red all of a sudden. Combined with his small size and it was kind of adorable apart from the fact that he could get the jump on him so quick. But in any case, he'd apparently arranged a fight for him at the park. Kind of weird though, Ackard figured that they'd head back to Syne and fight there instead of a park. Oh well, at least it wasn't visited much around this time of year, so at least its way less crowded then a street with several shops around.

Once they got there, Ackard couldn't really help but pick off one of the lower hanging icicles from the gate, playing with it a bit while Richard explained what was going on. After he walked off, Ackard would snap the icicle before walking further into the park, looking off at the snow covered area. Off in the distance, he could see something coming towards him. With grin and a hint of curiosity, he activated his semblance to get a closer look. As his eyes  emitted a subtle light blue glow, his vision was enhanced enough to clearly see the monkey before he climbed his way up a tree.

From the look of it, it seemed like he managed to catch sight of him too. It was pretty reasonable to assume that this was who Richard sent to spar with him. So to start things off and to get the jump on his newfound sparring partner, Ackard suddenly made Persephonee unfold, keeping his sights on the monkey, even after bringing his scope up in one fluid motion before firing a concussive round straight at his head. He pulled Persephonee's trigger again, causing three other bullets screaming across the park. One would be aimed at the monkey's center off mass while the other two were fired near the ground below in case he was faster than he'd thought.

Spoiler:

Richard couldn't help but roll his eyes from the tree's shadow, not only was the boy already shooting but the ape had decided to head straight up a tree... perhaps it was simply in it's nature? To get a good observation of an opponent? Regardless it was naive of the beast. Looking back to the boy it was then Richard would notice glowing eyes, more than likely a semblance than something he was doing with dust. Dust in one's eyes... that seemed unwise and dangerous in Richard's mind. Regardless, as the shots were fired, or just before they were the ape seemed to have leapt from the tree it was in to the next. From there it once again, without a second to lose jumped to the next. It was here that Richard knew the ape would make it's true moves. It would be like he had experienced in the hallway, almost certainly. As it leapt into a forth and final tree the ape seemed to vanish around it's far side. Almost certainly dropping to the ground... but could one assume that?

Almost certainly when, a ferocious screech being sounded beforehand, an ape came bounding out around that tree! On all fours and rushing toward him, the distance was only around ten meters that it had to cover! A serious look was on it's face and with a seeming intent to knock the man down! However... all was not as it seemed. Richard could see it from his position, as the ape passed in front of him, but could the man see it? Through the snow and the panic generated surrounding the chimp... would he keep a cool enough head to watch? Perhaps he would be rash and shoot straight away, this would perhaps fill the boy with a feeling of dread... had he encountered an animal with a semblance before? For you see, this version of the beast was not leaving footprints. This version of the beast was purely holographic, it's white fur would hide the fact that it could not become coated in snow for certain... but it also made no sound. There were no ferocious roars or even the padding against snow! If it was shot, or simply made contact with the man, that chimp would simply shatter into blue light. It would be like breaking the window of a car it would cube and spread before vanishing to nothingness.

Meanwhile, while Richard was not looking in it's direction lest to give off the ruse, the true ape was taking a different path. Rather than rushing the man it was moving as sneakily and stealthily as possible, having rolled behind the following two trees in as light a manner as it could manage. Now behind the tree Richard himself stood before, around the time the holo-chimp would have been a good five meters from the man had it persisted, the chimp decided it was time to strike. The chimp's position, while it could have moved another tree forward and been perhaps closer to the boy, was a wise one. Richard was a non-competitor in this, ergo Reese had little reason to look to him. Thusly, despite being the same as any other, this tree was the best one to hide behind! The chimp would not run out from this hiding spot however, rather due to the obvious range advantage the man had over the beast it would have to do something to make up for it.

Digging up the snow drawing forth a rock, around the size and shape of a hockey puck, it prepared to rather than throw this projectile as a human would the chimp would kick it. Basically this was all to do with muscle form, while the chimp was stronger than a normal human or faunus yes but it lacked the required ligaments to throw with the force of one. As such a kick was prepared, the leg seeming to almost dart out form behind the tree as the shot was sent flying toward the sniper wielding man. From there the chimp would lie in wait behind the tree... hoping that the man would think it Richard who threw the stone at him.

Richard, at the sight of a stone flying past him, flinched a little and straightened up before slouching once-more.

The Monkey:

Sadly the only thing that it looked like Ackard's shots managed to do was sent his opponent scurrying for cover. He'd managed to follow the trail of noise he'd made to behind a tree as Ackard held up his rifle, turning his semblance off while waiting for what would happen next. The next thing Ackard knew, it looked like the ape darted out from the treeline, closing in on him as fast as he could. While Ackard's did race a bit from being charged like this, it wasn't exactly his first time in a situation like this either. He'd decided to do a slight jump while aiming Persehponee right at him, firing it and letting the recoil push him back a good 3 meters.

But on the unexpected side of things, the monkey had shattered like it was nothing. Come to think of it, it didn't exactly leave much of a noise either. At the very least, Ackard should've been able to hear his paws crush the snow below. From the looks of it, him being charged at wasn't the only sense of deja vu he was gonna have today. While its true he hadn't had much in the way of combat since he attended Syne, pretty much the only real fight he'd been in by now was someone with this kind of semblance. The only difference was, the things that guy summoned could actually have done damage.

About a few seconds later while he was examining the treeline and listening in on where his sparring partner was, he suddenly noticed a rock zip towards him. Out of shock and reflex, he barely managed to roll out of the way before glaring in the direction of where it came from. "So that's your game huh?." he said as he stood up and darted into the treeline, heading towards where the rock came from. From there, Ackard would make sure that the monkey wasn't looking beyond the tree as he climbed up as quietly as he could. As he kept sticking to the thicker tree branches for the stealthiest approach, he slowly aimed his rifle down at his target. From what Ackard could guess, it looked like his opponent was trying to throw him off by making him think that Richard had thrown the rock at him, but while Ackard thought that he was a little cold, he figured that even he wouldn't bother interfering with a sparring session that he himself set up. Smirking and feeling at bit daring, he'd decided to silently hop down, holding Persephonee by the barrel and swinging it down towards the monkey's fluffy little head. As he did this, he attempted to shock it by shouting out as loud as he could "BATTER UP, ASSHOLE!".

Spoiler:

Richard frowned sternly at the man as he jumped on, and began to climb, the tree he stood underneath. Without hesitation nor thought he would sit down at the base of that very tree, in partial contemplation. This meant the boy likely didn't know of dust, otherwise he might have seen fit to uproot or shoot through the tree. Regardless he would listen closely as the two went about their brawl, though he was most of all confused why the man had so quickly given up his advantage of range if he could avoid the rocks the chimp threw. Regardless Richard would make no attempt in stopping him or instructing him, nor giving either side the slightest of hints.

The chimp on the other hand, as the man would climb the tree, would indeed have a glance around it. Having not heard the sound of stone meeting flesh, nor a cry of pain, the chimp was most certain he had prepared some plan... though whether to strike him or Richard it did not know. Seeing he wasn't there the beast was immediately made alert, and hearing the sounds of feet meeting snow would react. The man had given up his range! He had opted to come close to the chimp! With a twist it would not avoid the weapon coming down, not really knowing where it would strike to be honest but knowing not to give the man his shot, it would instead now be facing him and take it cleanly in the dip of its shoulder. With no hesitation he would raise his left hand; pushing down on the rife in an attempt to pin it in place upon his shoulder if he held it or completely remove it from his grasp should he chose to let go. It would then, without hesitation and with intent on holding the rifle in place with it's impressive strength, lunge forward with it's right hand an attempt to deliver a powerful open hand blow to his left side ribcage! If he hadn't let the rifle go then, he most likely would with that!

The Monkey:

With his attack successful, Ackard was slightly surprised to find out that his rifle was trapped by the monkey instead of recoiling from the hit. Gritting his teeth, he saw it winding up for a counter attack. In an act of desperation, Ackard would use his strength to ground his center of mass near his feet before lifting his rifle with the monkey still latched onto it, only to slam its body not once, but twice against two nearby trees.

If the monkey would ever decide to let go, then Ackard would flip the rifle over, putting it back to its natural position before jumping up and firing two rounds at the monkey's center mass while pushing himself back ten meters. In addition to this, he would also dart up another tree to reload his weapon and return to his ranged advantage.

However, if his opponent wouldn't let go of his rifle, he would simply use his rifle's position to his advantage. He would use it to pin the monkey down, forcing it onto it's side while Ackard would use his knee, hands and all of his body weight to not only add pressure to its neck, but also to safely deny the monkey a viable chance of escape by trapping it's free arm with his left foot, pressing it onto the monkey's wrist.

The boy's attempt to lift the heavy monkey off the ground had worked... to a degree. You see, the chimp upon being lifted had the ability to do one thing the boy had perhaps not reckoned with. That wasn't letting go of the riffle while it was being swung, no though it saw prime opportunity to rush him before he could redraw his weapon, but latching onto the very tree it was initially swung toward with it's free right arm. Gripping onto a thick branch lower down the tree with it's powerful grip it would pull the riffle toward itself (as if attempting to pull it from the boy's grasp) before it's true intention would be revealed. With a powerful thrust toward the boy (aided as he most likely would attempt to resist the pull through pulling himself) the chimp would use the riffle like a spear; letting go as it did so in an attempt to force the nozzle of the gun hard into the boy's chest or at the very least knock him off balance. The degree of success would pend his reaction to having the rifle pulled from him then pushed toward him. Should the boy decide not to pull back against the chimp and simply relinquish the gun it would indeed keep it, placing it in it's jaws to carry before continuing as follows.

The chimp would round the tree, rapidly swinging branch from branch with his natural abilities and making good use of it's actions upon the rifle, before dropping directly before Richard. Without hesitation it would split again, sending a version of itself around the side of the tree it hadn't crossed with it's fists raised to strike. The short man cocked a brow at this, rather perplexed at why the monkey had approached him... even for a moment wondering if it had succeeded in its task, before he could ask or attempt to shoo the chimp he jumped into Richard's lap and grasped something from beneath his scarf. A deep green glow now shining from the Ape's palm as he leapt backward from Richard. The short man paused... for a moment debating taking the item back from the chimp, before realising any attempt would result in the dust's use on him. So he may as well simply let him have it.

With this the chimp would lay in wait before Richard, preparing for the boy's next assault with this green glow in it's hand. Prepared to make a mess of the park yes, but it would be worth a victory and Richard's praise! The chimp had last used dust when training with Richard himself, it was sure it could do it alone.

Chimp Aura:

Ackard had to admit, it was kind of cathartic slamming this annoying thing up against a tree, however not only did it not let go of Persephonee, but it looked like he was attempting to drag him up with it. Thankfully, Ackard had planned one reloading Persephonee, meaning that either there were very little bullets left in the clip or there weren't any at all. So with him keeping all of his rifle's ammo, he'd decided to let go and head behind a tree for cover. From there he decided to peek out and see what was going on afterwards. It looked like that monkey hadn't only send another clone off somewhere, but managed to get ahold of something Richard had while somewhat violating his personal space.

However, Ackard had decided that he couldn't afford to let his opponent recover for too long and decided to start making his way towards Richard while using the trees to hide himself. On his way over, he found that clone that was sent out dashing towards him, dealing with it with a simple kick, letting it shatter as he continued. As he crouched behind the tree closest to the monkey and Richard, Ackard had decided on a simple plan of misdirection. Emptying the bullets from his ammo clip, he would toss it into the air, waiting for it to land and draw the monkey's attention towards before tackling it to the ground.

If his attempt was successful, then he would brutally headbutt his opponent no less than four times in an attempt to finish this fight once and for all. If not, then the monkey would probably have dashed away to get the clip. And considering that Ackard had done the smart thing and not risk giving his opponent the only advantage he could willingly give him, it would be a pretty stale and small victory for his opponent.

Spoiler:

Gun in it's mouth the beast was quite pleased with itself, having removed the man's range advantage as well as his primary form of combat. This was the only reason that Richard had even entertained the notion that the chimp had already bested Reese. But when there was a sound to Richard's right, the monkey turning toward it, Richard knew the gig was up. It was about to get wild, especially with that dust in the monkey's hand. As the man rushed the ape, tackling him and head-butting him forehead to forehead, the chimp would simply grin. Without hesitation it would crush the earth dust crystal in it's right palm, holding it just before it's chest something amazingly sudden would happen. From that green dust a pole formed of stone would extend hard and fast; it's radius around an inch however it would extend to around three feet long! Extending up and toward and into the boy's upper chest to push him off as well as surprising him.

Regardless of whether it made contact or not, using the pole to force separation between the two, he would pick up the rock staff with the boy's rifle still firmly in his mouth! Spinning it rapidly it would smack the earth before itself; which would then launch forward as if it were a wave! Snow flying off of it as it headed toward the boy. The beast would follow behind the wave and then, without hesitation, jump into the air! Crushing the bow-staff down to dust once more in it's palms it would then reopen it's hands! A volley of sharp rocks racing down toward the boy as the monkey reconvened with the ground it would raise it's fists in a boxing style stance! Ready to fight once-more, gun still in it's jaws... now getting a good thick coat of saliva.

The Monkey: