Sea and Fire [Private with Al and Jericho]

[Jericho Galley]

"Randy Dandy Oh..." Jericho finished half-singing half-humming a favorite sea shanty of his as he trained alone. No one else was in this room, so nobody should hear him remembering the past as he swung his dual swords. On purely routine, he switched to the next one that the boys and he sung. "A poor old man came riding by," He got low to the ground and spun, swinging his swords out to slash at would be ankles before leaping to the side. "And we say so, and we know so," He sliced both blades up a dummies back before stepping to the side again, his feet moving in practiced cadence.

He was transported back to the ship he used to sail.

They had attacked another sailing vessel and boarded. He kicked a man to the ground, put a boot to his chest to hold him. "A poor old man came riding by, oh poor old man~!" He hummed as he shot the man with the gun part of Drunken Sailors, though in his memories of the past it had been the whole crew singing as they fought. He continued the shanty as he turned to the man behind him, twirling his blades close to him so he spun fast enough to catch the blade coming for him, slicing the man upwards across the chest with the other. He continued the scene in his head, his body playing those back against the dummies in the training room. Eventually the shanty ended, and the next one sprang to mind.

"I thought I heard the old man say," He said under his breath as he twirled and made two more slashes at a target, jumping over it to land on the opposite side. "Leave her Johnny, leave her..." At the mention of the name he stopped, only thinking of a dead kid's glossy eyes, face covered in sand.

The training room came back to him and he shook his head to clear the memories away. Despite being in the training room, Jericho was still in his uniform. His jacket had been tied tightly around his waist and his white shirt had the top two buttons undone with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His necktie was wrapped, untied, around his left forearm. Even with the sleeves rolled up, Jericho still had a black glove on his left hand. His twin swords, The Drunken Sailors, were held lightly in his hands, their tips resting just above the ground. He breathed heavily as he stood there, and the timer went off, buzzing loudly.

He grunted with acknowledgment towards the loudspeaker and headed back towards the control panel. If he was only going to rethink on the past, he wasn't going to get any better. He stopped as he realized that he hadn't been alone after all.

[Al Ciendra]

Jericho indeed was not alone, watching him was a smaller figure, dressed in a cloak that covered her combat gear and a metal mask, which the hollow black glass eyes were starimg at Jericho, as Al tilted her head.

Al had the day of amd was just looking to practice against some dummies, she was itching for a fight since a few days now but nobody seemed up to duel her...wimps it was just some fire.
So she went here to vent out her frustration, but she instead found some other student practicing and singing.

The former was of course alot more interesting to her, the way he weaved and jumped around the dummies really seemed like he knew what he was doing.
Wait by the looks of him this must a senior student!
Oh if she fought him she could scratch her itch and learn something on top of that!
It was too perfect sn opportunity to pass up.

Al could feel her itch again and she was tires of resisting it.
Ss she straightend her posture she pointed at him with a stretched out arm, her hand holding one of her blades while she had her imdex finger towards him.
"You there! Senior student guy, fight me!"
She exclaimed, audibly excited and just raring to go.
She really hoped he wouldn't try to back out, no senior would want to admit they gave up against a first year right ?
...hopefully.

[Jericho Galley]

She was a short girl, a few inches over 5 feet. She held out her knife, and she had a mask over her face. Jericho's heart kicked back into thudding loudly in his ears. Did Blackhand finally find him? Sent some sort of masked assassin?

Then she challenged him to a fight and called him 'Senior Student Guy'. That didn't quite fit with his fears. Plus the way she said it sounded more excited than deadly. If she knew he wasn't an actual student here, she wouldn't have called him a 'Senior Student'. Or, maybe she wasn't given many details other than where he was. On the other hand, was it possible that she was just a student? Was it allowed for students to hide their faces like that? DId she just like fighting? If he acted like she was sent by his old captain and really hurt her, maybe even kill her to escape, he'd blow his safe haven despite her identity. The best play was to continue pretending to be a student, and if she tried to off him, he could try and escape then. Maybe get help. He had no where else to go where Blackhand wouldn't find him.

Jericho examined how tired he was. He had gotten pretty warmed up from the training routine, if not a bit winded. But he had fought for longer in more extreme conditions before. Sword fighting on a rocking boat in the middle of a storm all night long was certain to push your limits. He could still fight.

"...Sure." He said after a moment's pause. He sheathed his swords, undid the necktie around his arm and the jacket around his waist, tossing them onto the top of the control terminal. "I haven't seen you before." He said as he exited the training floor and into the small room the girl stood. "You a first year or a transfer student?" He tapped on the terminal and selected a basic dueling floor plan. Clear in the center for a dozen meters or so, surrounded by staggered pillars all ten feet tall.

[Al Ciendra]

HAHA, YES!
Finally, someone had accepted her out-of-the-blue challenge, she knew this strategy would work out at some point.
And it was a senior student too, she was sure to learn a lot from this duel, or hey maybe she would just wipe the floor with him and prove herself as a really strong first year student.
No, that was unlikely, he did look a little worn out from his training, he could use that as an easy excuse, but he was also warmed up already, the question really was what would affect the fight more ?
Eh, she will see about that later on.

While the arena was forming Al was having a look at the place they will be fighting in, hmm open field and some pillars, not her preferred kind of battlefield.
All those pillars meant he had a lot of opportunities to fake her out and dodge her flames, especially with that acrobatic skill he possessed.
Hm, but she could use it to her advantage, he would be able to hide from a normal stream of flames but what he did not know is that Al could bend fire to her will.
Heh, this fight was surely going to be interesting.

"I'm Al and as you guessed a first year student. Who are you ?"
She replied casually as she bopped back and forth on her heels, showing of her own balancing skills as she twirled her short sword in her hand, grasping it and poking at her mask with it, she had noticed the weird looks he was giving her, mostly the metal plate on her face.
"And don't worry about the mask, I'm not some secret agent or spy, I'm just a lot more comfortable when people can't see the mess that I got hidden under here."
She stopped her bopping, standing rigid for a second before turning on her heel and turning into one corner of the arena, where Al did some quick warming up.
She leaned backwards, with her arms over her head, letting him hear the joints of her spine and elbows pop, showing of the bodysuit and chest plate clad body usually hidden under her cloak, sighing once she felt sufficiently relaxed.
Al once again twirled her sword, which was now joined by a revolver in her second hand.
"Once your ready, just give me a go."
Al said as she got into a loose combat stance, sword held in front of her and revolver at the ready.

[Jericho Galley]

Well. She really was just a student. That would have been embarrasing if he had just attacked her to beat her down and leave. Then again, this would be the first time he's pitted his skill against one of these Beacon students. He had dueled with Johnny back then, and he knew that Huntsmen in training were no joke. But then again, someone raised on the Corsair under the infamous Timothy Blackhand wasn't a joke either.

"Call me Johnny, I'm a third year." He said. Jericho looked her up and down more closely now. She had one a bit more armor than he did, though their Aura shields would protect them from most anything. Still, she was technically more protected than he was. At her next words he couldn't help but glance at his left arm. "I know what you mean. And good, it sorta spooked me for a minute there!" He said jokingly, though it was the truth.

As she moved to the training room, Jericho leaned down to his boot and pulled out a four-inch thin blade. Quickly, out of her sight, he attached it to his left wrist's stump before pulling the glove over it and having Helping Hand fill the glove out. From the outside it was just his hand filling out the glove.

He walked out to the training floor after grabbing the necktie again. With the talking and standing around, his heart was starting to slow down. He'd need to keep it up so he could surge into the fight. A sword and a revolver. With his Drunken Sailors, he had very similar weapons, though their length was longer than her short swords and he had guns on both of them. He kept his breathing quick and deep as he said, "I'm assuming we stop once our Aura shields are down or when one of us says 'uncle', yeah?"

He widened his stance and lowered his weight onto his hips. It was standard to be like that on a rocking ship so you didn't fall over so easily, but here the ground was steady. Either way, he knew how to fight like this. His Drunken Sailors were held loosely and infront of him, ready to block anything. He had no clue what this girl's semblance was anyhow, she could teleport right infront of him for all he knew. "Ready when you are."

[Al Ciendra]

Al did not really get the impression that her mask had scared him, though he did reply in a very joking manner.
Either it was just a joke on his side, perhaps she did not notice in all her excitement about finally being able to fight someone, or he had just hidden this from her, he did seem kind of secretive.
Eh, not something she had to worry about, she was in no position to judge someone for being secretive.

"Yeah sounds good enough, well then to a good fight!"
Al replied, if the rules were to fight till one of them runs out of aura she would have to use her semblance more sparingly, otherwise she would just lose due to that rule....she would have to actually put an up fight first though, fighting a third year could not be easy.

Once he was ready Al did not waste a second to rush forward, curving her charge slightly and approaching from his left as she fired a few shots with Arcum, they weren't very accurate shots, but they would force him to dodge unless he wanted to take the hits of her 9 mm.
Before she would close the gap Al rapidly reloaded Arcum, in just a second the revolver was back in action, but not for long as with a click it would transform into a second blade, the transformation finished just as Al swung both blades.
The left blade was aimed at his chest, going from her right to her left, while the second blade aimed right at his shoulder with a downwards stab.
She wondered how he would react, she was ready to jump away should she sense some sort of dangerous semblance, he could have anything up his sleeve, but he would certainly be surprised when she revealed her own semblance.

[Jericho Galley]

She didn't waste any time! She began spraying bullets at him as she rushed him, and he had no choice but to sidestep. From the size of the revolver and the sounds of the shots, they didn't seem to be very high caliber. His Aura shield would be able to take any bullet that hit him, and if she was moving while shooting, her shots wouldn't be very good. If he moved as well, it added a bit more chance of missing. He kept light on his feet, making fluid steps.

It never got easier for Jericho, getting shot at. Even if you feel you're safe from them, it's still daunting to think of what is flying around just inches from you. The sound of angry wasps zipping by his ears never got old for him.

She reloaded and the gun became a sword in a flash. Very handy, but he had been fighting with duel swords for longer than she had and against human opponents. His quick eyes saw her movements and strikes. Her slash was going to lash out before the downward stab, and he found his way out. He quickly moved to her left, making it much harder for the stab to reach him since it was the other side of her body and could tangle up with her other blade. He raised his left sword to parry her slash and made a quick slash upwards with his right sword, aiming for her leg and side. He didn't twirl or make any dramatic showy moves, just quick movements of his blades and quick footwork.

If there were multiple people around he might have in order to get a better feel of where they were, possibly to switch opponents and make a strike against someone who wasn't guarding. But a duel, just one on one, no need for those twirls that exposed your back to your enemy. Keep facing forward, don't let them know where you're attacking with fast strikes, and keep the footwork moving.

[Al Ciendra]

Johnny had dodged her attack rather easily and found a good counter-attack as well, she had to think quickly!
Al knew just what to do, though should really reveal her semblance already ?
Screw it, she wasn't in a serious fight, so she really did not have to deceive her opponent, this was for fun and what better fun was there than showing of her semblance ?

Al turned to Johnny, yet her blades did not move.
A glint was in the hollow eyes of her mask, as the surrounding air got hotter, as he was till mid swing flame suddenly erupted in front of him and the cloaked girl was replaced by a silhouette of flame instead, orange embers covered her entire body and two yellow dots marked where her eyes were with a yellow comically large grin underneath.
The hand swinging at her could feel how hot this fire was, if he would keep swinging he could take some serious damage.

The flames roared and Al had taken a quick step to the side to dodge his slash, she lifted her right hand, still holding the blade with her lifted hand, as she took aim at him.
The flames that had enveloped Al instead coalesced at her arm and burst forward from her hand, in a big cone-shaped blast that would scorch the ground they were standing on and the pillars all the way across the room.
As Johnny recovered Al had transformed one of her blades into their revolver form again.
There was a faint click before Al unloaded the first revolver's magazine, standing still made her shots a fair bit more accurate and even though they were only 9 mm rounds tanking multiple of them would not be good for his aura.

[Jericho Galley]

The sudden eruption of fire around her body caused him to freeze for a second. His eyes went wide and his hand froze mid-air. It was hot, but that's not why he stopped. All he could think about was the man he'd seen his captain burn from the inside out, and suddenly he had doubts as to whether this girl was an actual student or not. He sensed the incoming strike more than he saw it, and he quickly dispersed his Helping Hand, only for it to appear grabbing onto a pillar far away.

His left sword fell towards the ground, but Jericho began pulling himself away from the down-coming flames, boosted by a sideways duck and leap. His legs caught the sword as he rolled to the side of the blast, the blade coming loose and sliding across the floor for a moment before his Helping Hand picked it up off of the floor. She began shooting at him, and a couple hit him before he moved his blades up to shield himself. His glove had fallen off, not too far away and possible scorched badly by those flames. As she emptied the revolver, Jericho took his nuetral stance again. Al would see now the floating spectral hand that held his sword at his left side, and his left arm ending at the wrist. A leather cap went over the stump, a short blade sticking out from it. In a jerk of his arm, the blade extended to a foot long.

Both his spectral hand and his own turned their gun barrels of their swords on Al and began firing, his Helping Hand drifting to the left, creating a crossfire that would make it harder to dodge in any one direction. He was ready for her to rush him with his dagger, and leap to the side if she threw some more fire at him.

[Al Ciendra]

Wow, he had managed to dodge again, she really could not go easy on this guy, well he was a third year student.
WAIT WHAT ?!
Al stared at his left hand, while it was floating around and then at the stump of an arm.
That was kind of cool, but she was also kind of saddened, getting your hand cut of must be horrible.
She was almost about to speak up and ask how that happened, while it was unlikely it would put her at ease knowing if Johnny was doing okay or not, she could sort of relate when it came to loosing body parts.
But her ears twitched as she could hear the faint sound of his weapons.
Al dashed backwards avoiding the bullets rather easily.

Screw it, she was gonna end this fight as soon as possible.
In a quick motion, Al threw a fireball right at her feet, which blew up in a bright and loud explosion, spreading fire all over the battlefield.
Al's ears were ringing but unlike Johnny she could see through the fire.
Al held her hands a few inches, a single blue fireball was between them, Al grunted as she fed more Aura into the single fireball which grew hotter and stronger yet stayed small and concentrated.
This should be enough.

As the fire spread around the arena was slowly beginning to dissipated Al blasted herself forward towards Johnny, the blue fireball held hidden in the palm of her free hand, as she lunged at him, her short sword raised high above her head for a strong downwards slash.

[Jericho Galley]

She did the opposite of what he thought she would do, duck behind a pillar. He continued to move his Helping Hand to the side in order to flank her, shoot her out from behind the pillar. But then the floor erupted into flames. Jericho let out a yelp as the heat assaulted his legs, his Aura Shield keeping his skin from burning.

You don't get raised on a boat without becoming incredibly limber and acrobatic, swinging from ropes and hanging from nets and all. Jericho ran at the nearest pillar, was able to put two steps up the surface before pushing off towards another pillar, and grab on with his left arm around the corner. His feet were perched against the pillar, no safely out of the fire's reach.

He looked up to see Al, streaking towards him with a small sphere of fire in her hand and a sword slashing down at him. He was at a sever disadvantage against this lass, her throwing around this much fire like it wasn't taxing her Aura at all! And all he had was his hand. She was going a lot harder out of the gate than he thought she would be. Maybe he should try and do the same.

His Helping Hand dissipated, that sword dropping to the floor and he had it appear right in her face, grabbing onto her mask with two of it's spectral fingers over the glass eyeholes. He tried to push against her, to jerk her head upwards and stop her before that fire or her sword could reach him. But the force he exerted on her pushed back against him as if it was attached to him, his real hand. He slid off of the pillar and although he dodged the sword, she unleashed her fire.

The blast was hotter than anything he had even imagined, and he was thrown with the explosion of suddenly super-heated air. Jericho tumbled and rolled before hitting a pillar, his Aura Shield flickering an ocean green before settling down. His sword had landed next to him, and he grabbed it(jeeze the handle was hot) before standing up, panting.

He had agreed to this under the pretense of a sparring match, just a test and a playful brawl. She had turned this into a deathmatch with that fire blast. He would have been cooked to the skeleton if his Aura had been any weaker, and then he'd go down to the Locker. He threw that stupidity that held him back and decided that he would fight like he was on the ship again. Like a pirate.

"Ye wanna play hardball?" He shouted before coughing once. "I'll play hardball!" He snarled. Helping Hand had dissipated after he had been launched like that, so it only took a brief moment for it to appear again. Around her throat. He would squeeze and lift, mostly with his legs. He didn't need to lift her ten feet into the air, nor did he think he could with a single arm. A few inches off of the ground to keep her from doing anything with her feet would be fine. He lifted his Drunken Sailor and began firing the few rounds it had left at her.

[Al Ciendra]

Al was bareley stopped by his hand grabbing onto her mask, she just smirked as it seemed to try and break the glass of her mask, no can do.
He would need a drill to get through these glass panes.

As Al landed her hand reached forward and threw the fireball at him.
The explosion went of just as predicted, it shook the ground a little as flames wreathed the area and a super heated shockwave of air was released.
Al was more or less unphazed by all of this, she had a stable enough stance to withstand the shockwave and the fire couldn't hurt her either way.

She saw him hit the pillar and flinch, oh yikes that must have hurt specially since she saw his aura flicker!
Oh no, did she over do it ?!
Al panicked covering her mouth with her free hand hiding a gasp.
But he got up...was he mad ?
"Hey are yo-Aghk!"
Al was cut of as she felt his ghostly hand grab her by the throat, she heard him scream something but really did not register it as she lifted her arms to block the onslaught of bullets from his guns.
What was this maniac doing ?!
She was ready to call of the fight considering how low both of them were on Aura but he kept blasting her.

Al was panicking, her Aura was weak enough to be broken by these shots and she really was not keen to end up with a bullet in her chest.
She had to act quick!

As he was still firing Al erupted with fire, this one was blue just like the fireball she had hit him with just now.
Spreading her arms Al unleashed a strong shockwave of flames, that would hit his spectral hand and him aswell if he did not dodge.
It was much weaker than the fireball that she had used before.

As she was freed from his hand Al bareley stood, caughing and hacking as she held her throat.
Her own Aura was flickering as the strain of using her semblance had caught up with her.

She looked over to the other student, if he really was a student.
He was strange, his Aura was weak and the way he had snapped at her was wierd.
Keeping her hands at her sides, and stuffing her weapons into her cloak Al approached him again.
"Hey are you okay dude ?"
She asked, tilting her head and still rubbing her throat, her voice was still a bit sore from being choked.
"You looked pretty riled up, sorry if I over did it."
She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, she really did not expect her first fight with a third year to go like this....was he a third year ?
That incident with Bartok and Carmine came back to mind, maybe this guy was with that thief from back then ?!

[Jericho Galley]

Her fire blast did destroy his Helping Hand, the thing being not too strong against Aura-based attacks. He was also knocked back a few steps by the fire, his Aura shield flickering as it strained to keep up. He raised his Drunken Sailor again and pulled the trigger. It clicked empty. He was breathing heavy but frustration flew through him as he had run out of ammo.

Good thing he brought more. He pulled a fresh magazine from his belt, the metal hot against his skin, as he ejected the empty one and replaced it. He aimed again, sure that she was rushing for another attack and-

She was putting her weapons away. Then she spoke, her voice rough. Seemed she was done with the fight. With effort he sheathed his sword and fell back against a pillar, it keeping him up. She was apologizing. "Spar over." He said with his stump of a hand slashing through the air. With that made plain, he spoke more freely. "Hell yeah you overdid it! That fire blast almost burned me alive! I thought you wanted a spar, not a battle to the death!" He stood and started walking back to his other sword, throwing his hand and stump into the air. "Jeez, lass! That fire freaked me out!"

He picked up his sword with his muscles tired and straining as he did so. "You're lucky I ran out of ammo when I did! Thought you were actually trying to roast me!" He slumped to the training room floor, putting his head in his hand and keeping the sharp blade of his left hand away. Jericho shook his head, still panting hard to get his breath back. There was a pause before he shouted, "I don't DO WELL with FIRE."

[Al Ciendra]

Al was still a bit on guard and as such flinched back just a bit when he aimed his gun at her again, but he lowered it again, making her calm down, yikes why was this guy so on edge ?
They just had a match and this guy was fighting and talking as if she had actually hurt him...did she ?!
Okay now he was definitely overreacting, she could not have done that much damage to him, or was he just super weak for a 3rd year ?
Could be, but she was unsure, he did fight pretty well, but what was going on ?
"Hey dude are you...okay ?"
Al asked as she was still walking closer to him, he was just picking up his sword she was going to explain that she was sorry and how she thought this really shouldn't have hurt him that much.
And then Johnny shouted at her, Al took a step back, she knew it wasn't a direct attack to her but, she and her fire felt close, connected even and hearing him shout at her like this felt a little personal
"I'm sorry, but if fighting against fire is a problem for you should have said something.
Al crossed her arms over her chest and just looked at him, she was still confused what his problem was, but she felt that this guy wasn't normal, she had no idea what though.

[Jericho Galley]

"And I was supposed to know that you-" He was about to start yelling again but stopped, shaking his head. Adrenaline was still pumping through him to act, to fight, but he had to surpress it. That time was over, and this was just a student. How did he not get a 'fire' vibe from her freaking mask and all the red? It screamed that she dealt out fire in some way. He could only really think of getting burned more, of getting roasted from the inside out like Blackhand could do. Could she have done that if she had wanted to?

He looked down at his lack of a hand. He'd have to come up with a reason for it someday. He just held up his stump for it to be an obvious focus for her, slightly shaking it with each word. "I don't... do well... with fire..." True, she might think that his hand had been burned so badly it couldn't be recovered or something, which was a lie. He was afraid of fire, sure, but it wasn't because of his hand. But it was to get a point across. He let his arm fall back down and he rubbed his eyes and the bridge of his nose.

He took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Then another. He needed to calm down. He would need to get used to fighting against fire eventually. He just got tossed in the deep end, that's all. He remembered having to learn to swim. Some guys had tossed him into a lagoon during low tide. He couldn't use any of the rocks as hand or footholds but had to swim back to the ship and haul himself up. This wasn't too much different, in concept.

"I'm sorry." He said, turning to look at her eyes for a moment. "I guess I should have said something before the match, but it was just sorta out of the blue." He let out another breath, shuddering a little. "Plus that would have been helluv'a handicap for you. Seems like playing with fire is your forte."

[Al Ciendra]

Al was still a bit confused, confusion that was slowly turning into annoyance with the tantrum this guy was throwing.
He could have said something when...oh what was it ?
Ah yes, THE SECOND SHE LIT HERSELF ON FIRE!!!
While Al was eager she was still a reasonable faunus, he could have told her and she would have blown this entire thing of, or just thought witn their weapons.

Okay, now it was her turn to calm down, this guy probably just wanted to be nice, or not look like a looser infront of his friends when word came around that he forfeited against a first year.
Honestly, she kind of got it.
Well if he was a third year, this guys entire behavior seemed unusual for a beacon student.

Al eyed him from behind her mask, as he was lifting tne stump of his arm up and down.
He really did not need to repeat himself, but it did make her think.
Did he loose his hand to a fire and thats why he freaked out ?
Could be, but she wouldn't press for an answer, he was freaked out enough as is.

Oh, he aologized.
Well atleast he was polite when he was calm.
"It's alright. But you talking about hand-i-caps seems kind of ironic."
Al chuckled a little, pointing to the stump of his arm, she hoped she could atleast share a small laugh with him througjout all this.
"seriously though, if we ever duel again we can just fight withoit me using my semblance and you just keep your hand on your wrist, easy as that."
She offered with a shrug, this was merely a thought for the future, incase the two ever came to blows again.

[Jericho Galley]

Jericho's breathing hitched for a second when she made the 'hand-i-cap' pun. But it was because it was so sudden and unexpected, not because he didn't like it. He was more than comfortable with the loss of his hand, he had gotten over it a long time ago. Plus, he had a new fancier one anyway. Jericho let out a chuckle from the belly a moment later, shaking his head. "Good point." He said. If she could respond to him yelling at her with a joke, she was alright in his book. She really could have toasted him if that was her goal. She was just a student.

"If we do fight again, focusing on swordsmanship would be a nice change. What I'm sorta used to anyhow." He rolled his shoulders and stretched his back. Slamming into that pillar hadn't been nice on him. "Though I don't know if it's fair for me to use my Semblance with you not using yours, even if it's restricted to my arm. Maybe two matches, one with and without?" He suggested. "Our weapons are also quite similar. Twin blades with guns, though yours transform and mine are always there. Could be quite a show."

[Al Ciendra]

Al finally managed to smile as she heard Johnny chuckle at her pun, it was good to get back to a more casual and less tense mood than the one before.
Al also breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Johnny visibly relax around her again.
Though as he made plans for more duels Al was unsure, she was kind of done and had thought that Johnny would be too after she had caused him this much stress, so she was caught of guard by him offering other ideas for future duels, maybe he wasn't so bad after all ?
"Oh, not I'll be fine. Question is how do you prefer fighting, one or two handed ?"
She asked, it was very obvious that this wasn't just a question of preffernce, but also Al asking herself if Johnny had developped some sort of tricks or fighting style that would let him keep up while only using one hand ?
That would be kinda cool.
"And hey, your right! I was kinda busy dodging bullets so I didn't notice yet. Do your have a name ? I call this form Arcum..."
Al said as she lifted her revolver, spinning it as she lifted it and then havimg her fingers snap tightly around the grip.
"...and this one Gladio."
Her grip loosend, having the grip spin one more time, as she flipped the switch and the gun formed into a sword.
She spun the short blade between her fingers, before transforming it back and stuffing Arcum into it's holster inside her cloak.

[Jericho Galley]

Jericho shrugged. "Two-handed, using my Helping Hand. I usually keep it with my left arm most of the time until I need to surround of flank someone." He realized what he had just said and remembered that Huntsmen hunted Grimm, not people. He cleared his throat. "I usually only use my parrying dagger here for when it's really neccessary, doesn't help fight Grimm other than hang on."

When she mentioned his guns he smiled. "They don't have individual names, both are..." He hesitated. He hadn't said the name to anyone here at Beacon before, and everyone knew him as Johnny the transfer student, not Jericho the pirate. But if he came up with a new name for them, another lie, he'd have to keep making stories to cover up the lies. "...The Drunken Sailors." He said finally. "Though I suppose I could give them individual names." He lifted one to inspect it.

[Al Ciendra]

Al didn't pay mind to his slip of the tongue, she was just much more focused on how he actually fought than who.
So he fought alot similiar to her, while she would weave in attacks of her semblance to throw of her foes, Johnny would flank his opponents with his ghost-hand thing.
Wait, helping hand ?
While it was a fitting name it was kinda...normal ?
Given time she could probably think of a cooler name for his semblance, even if only she was going to use it to describe it.
And his guns were named something funny too.
Al could not help but giggle a little, she knew this was rude but...
"Fitting name , considering you had to hold me still to shoot me."
She said, hoping Johnny could take a joke on his own expense, it was also a slight test from Al, to gauge how he would react.
Maybe his outburst did not just happen because he was dealing with fire, but maybe because this kind of sheepish looking guy was just alot more aggressive than he looked ?

[Jericho Galley]

Jericho heard her giggle at the name and her little jab. He rolled his neck in response. "Yeah, I suppose. But you know how hard it is to shoot a moving target, especially when you're moving too." He then looked back at her, at her neck. He grimaced. "Sorry about that choke by the way. Things got a little..." He rolled his left wrist as if stretching it. "Out of hand." He said with a wry smile.

[Al Ciendra]

Al was just listening to Johnny explain things and also apologize, she was about to respond until it actually clickec what he had just said.
Al tried her best to hold on, her previous giggle was enough, but no Al burst into laughter at his joke.
It may hva been the tension from before now going into relief, or Al just being happy that Johnny had finally loosend up but for some reason Al thought his joke was much funnier than it should have been.
She stopped laughing soon though, turning away to rub a single tear out of her eye under her mask.
"Oh man, sorry about that...no idea what came over me."
She took a deep breath and turned back towards Johnny.
"And don't worry, I'm fine. Just caught me by surprise is all, you know it's not every day I fight a guy with a detachable, floating hand."
She shrugged, as she did guess that he also did not fight a pyromancer everyday, but elemental effects like her semblance were easily replicated with dust so this kind of combat probably wasn't as unusual as a floating hand.

[Jericho Galley]

Well, Jericho was making himself out to be a real comedian, huh? Looks like making girls laugh wasn't just a thing he had with the really easy girls in ports along the coast. Or maybe that was a one-off joke. Either way, a lot of the tension in the air was gone now, and he was happy for it. He watched her laugh and reach under her mask to wipe a tear away. He made her laugh that bad, huh? He waved his stumpy arm at her apology.

"And not every day I fight a girl who could literally turn her hand into a torch-welder, let alone light the floor on fire. I mean sure, Dust is used where I'm from but not really fire as much as Wind or Ice. So is that why you wear the mask? Because of all the fire and light? Allows you to breath easy and see through the bright light?" He asked.

[Al Ciendra]

Al listened for just a bit, it was flattrring to hear him talk like this about her sembleance, atleast she had left an impression on him tnat he would not soon forget.
Al smiled under her mask, a smile that quickly died as he asked about the very same mask.
It was evident that Al had suddenly gotten very uncomfortable as she did not immediatly reply, instead she crossed her arms over chest, looking to the side before turning back to look at Johnny.
"Thats part of it yeah."
He was right, her mask was very much there to protect her from the brightness and smoke of her flames, but the real reason she still wore it even outside of a fight was a much different one, something Johnny could perhaps relate to.
"The other and more important reason is that...let's just say you're not the only person in this room missing something."
Al said, as she just nodded to the stump of his arm.

[Jericho Galley]

She... obviously didn't like thinking about why she wore her mask. That much was obvious. She wasn't quite over whatever had happened to her like Jericho was over losing his hand. He got a cooler one out of the experience anyhow. But something had happened to her face, apparently. That was going to take more to get over. Jericho was dashing if you asked him, and he might take scars in stride to be masculine and show what couldn't kill him, but girls were built different. There were a few lassies onboard The Corsair and none of them liked the scars on their bodies, not for apparel reasons. They liked it on some of the men, but not on themselves.

Jericho nodded. "Gotchya. I won't mention it again." He said. More than Jericho had lost a limb on The Corsair, and they didn't like talking about it until they wanted to talk about it. It only hurt them to try asking before, way deeper than the usual gut-punching and brawls that the guys had quite often.

"Well, I suppose we should vacate the place if we're not using it." He said, straightening up. "It was a pleasure dueling you." He held out his right hand for a shake.

[Al Ciendra]

Al smiled, she was glad that she was right in her assumption of Johnny being able to relate to this, not having to talk about this part of her past was a major relief to her.
The tension almost visibly faded from Al as her shoulder slumped a little.
"Thank you, I'm glad you understand."
Al said as she took a step towards the exit.
[color=#FF500]"Yeah, we probably should...oh wait!"[/color]
If they were going to fight at a later point they would need to coordinate somehow, Al herself wasn't used to using scrolls, but she had remembered it this time.
"Here, my number...you know, so we can plan our next duel."
Al pulled her scroll out of her shorts pocket, unfolding it in one motion, showing Jericho her number, so he could write it down for himself.
Maybe, it was a little strange for a girl to just show her number to a guy like this ?
With all the things she had been learning from Bartok, Ax and this flirting thing in general...could this be seen as flirting ?
She really hoped it wasn't, she just wanted a sparring partner!

[Jericho Galley]

Jericho would stop and turn to her as she asked for it. She pulled out her scroll and Jericho knew where she was going with this already. He pulled out his own scroll and they exchanged numbers. "Yup. This could become a regular thing, I suppose."

Training with someone like her would be hard, but it would definitely help him get stronger. She relied a lot on her Semblance, but with something like that, who wouldn't? And if he could deal with all that fire and survive and win, maybe he had could make his next encounter with Blackhand an actual fight. Maybe.

[Al Ciendra]

°Yeah I suppose it could, if your not gonna get scared of my fire again of course."
Al said as she just let a flame dance across her hand, a small fire orange in colour that appeared in her palm and swirled around her finger tips before going back into her palm, where it formed into a comical grinning expression.
Just to tease Johnny a little, she really did not want to anger him but she couldn't help herself to stop her from teasing him.
°So uuh...wanna maybe grab a snack ? I think I could use some food after exercise, especially since I did not eat today."
Al rubbed the back of her head, just a little embarrassed, more so about her bad selfcare than the offer itself.

[Jericho Galley]

"Yeah, I suppose." Jericho agreed before flinching, just a little, at her little teasing flame. He cleared his throat. Then he gave her a direct look. "You wanted to get into a heated sparring match, threw around that much Aura without even eating anything?" He shook his head. "Yeah, let's get something in your belly. You must be starving." He lead her out and collected the rest of his clothes before they left.

[Al Ciendra]

Al just realized that she did indeed do that, wow she was a lot more reckless than she previously thought, looking down at her shaking hands she desperately needed some sugar intake.
"Yeah...some food really does sound good right now."
Al nodded as she followed him to the exit.
"Some nice beef and a soda...lots of soda."
Al muttered to herself more or less, she did not mind if Johnny could hear her rambling, which continued even as they had left the training room.