Bitter Defeat [Major Mission/Solo]

The extra assignments for the Combat Majors at Syne Academy were always straightforward. They never required extended reading or research. Nothing too technical was ever involved, either. They simply revolved around one of two things: fight something or get stronger. This was something that Noire could get behind. She had no specific academic talents, but she could hold her own in a brawl. It was what had gotten her into Syne Academy in the first place. Her written test scores leaved much to be desired, but her she passed the practical test with flying colors. From that point, it was easy to conclude that Combat was the only major where she could really shine.

Maybe she could have done a good job as a Dust Major, but there was a more technical aspect to it. She would have had to learn how to mine and handle dust outside of a fight, and that was never really her goal. That and, well… she had heard that faunus were treated practically as slaves in the mines. They toiled for hours on end in horrible conditions. Mine collapses were common, and companies rarely cared. She wanted no part in that. She had already been used enough in her lifetime. She would never again be someone else’s tool.
The likelihood of something like that ever happening to someone graduated from Syne was low or even non-existent, but Noire didn’t want to take that risk. Those rumors alone were enough to make her shy away from Dust as a major. Combat was definitely more suited to her anyways.

Noire’s ideas were reaffirmed once again when she looked at the list of available missions for this month. Simple and straightforward – all she had to do was exercise and provide the logs to one of her teachers. She smiled. She did that every day, so she might as well turn it in for some credit.
The young faunus girl went back to her room to change into something more suitable. Her regular armor was fine and all, but she didn’t need it to run and play around in the field. After all, Grimm attacks never happened at the school. She tied her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way and set off once again.

According to the mission description, there were a few things she could to fulfill the requirements. She could go to the gym, or she could play any sport she wanted to for a while. She considered her options. The gym was pretty standard and an easy way to finish the assignment. A sport on the other hand… well, it sounded more intriguing at the very least. As a child, she never had much of a chance to play around. All she was ever allowed to do was fight. That wasn’t to say that she had never played a sport in her life – she had a few opportunities since arriving at Bellmuse. It was still something she didn’t often partake in. This was a good excuse.

Noire walked outside, heading towards the sports field. There was always something going on there. If she was lucky, she would be able to join in without much issue. Which sport it was didn’t matter to her much. All the rules were pretty much the same, right? Hit the ball with some part of your body and score. She spotted several games going on and settled on joining a game of basketball. She had played once before, and her lack of height hadn’t stopped her from having fun.

She stood among her team of five, waiting for the game to start. She focused on the ball, now in the air after the referee had thrown it. Yes, that was her goal. Get it into the hoop. Score points. Dribble. The actions ran quickly through her head. She had a tendency to hyper-focus when there was competition involved, and sometimes… she got a little aggressive.

As soon as the ball was in the other team’s hands, she dashed forward. She maneuvered past the people trying to block her with relative ease. She was quick to act and to react. She stole the ball and dribbled it alongside herself as she ran. She instinctively dodged the people around her instinctively. Once she was confident that she was in range, she launched the ball towards the hoop only to be blocked by someone else. Boo.

Oh well. There were plenty of chances to score throughout the game. The only issue was that she refused to work with her team. Well, maybe refuse was too strong of a word. She simply didn’t know that she could use them effectively. The concept of teamwork often eluded her. It was why they ended up losing the game. Every time, Noire would steal the ball, maneuver past the other players and try to score, only to have the ball stolen or blocked. It was frustrating. More so when she couldn’t pinpoint the cause of her failure.

Talented as she was, there was a lot of room and need for growth in the young white-haired girl. There were many things she didn’t yet understand about the world, about people. There was plenty that she didn’t know how to navigate through. After all – contrary to how she was raised – life wasn’t only about fighting and survival. There were layers that made it more complicated than Noire could fathom. Learning how to work and effectively get along with others was one of those things. Maybe someday she would learn. Maybe someday someone would teach her. Today, however, wasn’t that day.

Noire returned to her room, sullen and defeated. She turned in her work all the same, but she was angry. She didn’t know what she was angry at, which only made her angrier. It was probably at herself, but she lacked the ability to understand that and put it into words.

Maybe someday she would get better. The only way to do that, though, was to keep trying.