Who's the New Guy (Faust/Carter)

[Camila Reyes]

I’m breaking in, and shaping up,

Sunlight filtered through the windows of the West Tower, casting an eerie shadow on the floor, thanks to the dusty conditions of the glass panes. Cobwebs were bunched in corners, as if the spiders were trying to get as far away from the students who hung around the area as possible. Rooms that had once been used for class were long empty, and the doors had been removed from the frames, leaving behind only rusted hinges and plastic desks that looked like they were made for students younger than the age of 12 or 13, which was the minimum at Ashford. If one travelled down the parallel hallway, he or she could see several doors in a row, with names scratched into the door. The original name on the middle door had been crossed out, and a new name had been written over top. The final hallway only had one room, and it was at the far end. The door to that room always seemed to be open, allowing anyone in the tower to have access to it. Inside said room were a few punching bags, targets, and other supplies one could use for training with his or her powers, or even hand-to hand.

A whizzing sound could be heard from the training room, indicating that someone was inside. And indeed, there was. Standing in the middle of the Battle Front training room was a young woman. Her brunette locks were pulled back in a rather sloppy ponytail, with most of her hair being off her face, save for her bangs, which brushed just above her thin, dark eyebrows. Her sapphire eyes were trained on the target in front of her and her lips were pressed together in a concentrated scowl. She stretched out the fingers of her right hand, taking a deep breath as a yellow sphere of light flickered into existence. It pulsed slightly, almost as if it had a heartbeat of it’s own. Without a word, the young woman raised her fair, delicate hand and pulled it up from her side slowly, keeping the rising and falling of her chest even. She pulled her arm back at the elbow and thrust it forward in a smooth motion. Her blue eyes followed the sphere, which had stopped pulsing and started glowing an intense, golden-yellow. She scowled slightly as it missed the center of the target by a few centimeters.

She cursed softly and shook her head, rubbing her arm a little. She hated when she did that! She was getting so close to the center, nowadays, but she always missed it; just by a hair. Sure, Ash had told her not to worry about not making it perfect, but she could not help herself. She had been at Ashford for nearly a year, and she was still trying to work on perfecting her powers for herself, and for the good of her team. She knew she was not the strongest fighter; her many spars with Ash and the rare one she had with Jin were the indicators of that. Sure, Carter had been helping the young woman out, but that did not make her any less frustrated. Even after an entire year of them being gone, the brown-haired young woman could still hear the voices of her parents in the back of her mind, scoffing at her and telling her she was not good enough. She clenched both of her fists so tight that they blanched and she strode over to a bag suspended from the ceiling. She started punching it with both fists repeatedly, peppering in a kick every now and again. She was quite aware that the skirt she wore was rather short, but the blue shorts underneath made up for the lack of length. She idly wondered whose brilliant idea it was to make her look like some kind of schoolgirl hooker. Probably for their own amusement, she thought dryly, landing a rather strong kick on the bag, which rattled the chain the object was attached to.

After a few minutes of beating as much hell out of the punching bag as her strength could muster, the young woman stalked over to the small set of bleachers leaning against the dark grey wall. She plopped down on the dull, silvery surface, shivering a little as the cold metal brushed against her legs. She reached over the side and grabbed a small, blue water bottle and flicked the top up. She took a few sips of water before closing the top again and placing the object beside her on the bleachers. Her chest was still rising and falling a little more rapidly than it had been earlier, and there was a small sheen of sweat glistening on her forehead. She closed her eyes for a few moments, humming to herself until the sound of someone else entering the room startled her. She sat up straighter and her eyes shot open as her head turned toward the sound. She leaned forward slightly and moved to sit with her legs ‘Indian style’, and her elbows resting on her knees. There was a gleam of suspicion in her eyes at the new face. She had never seen him around before, that was for sure.

“Either you’re lost, or you’ve come here with a purpose. Can I help you?”

She rose to her feet, climbing off the bleachers rather unceremoniously. She started to approach the new person, but stopped a good distance away. Instead of standing stationary, though, she circled around him slowly, examining his posture and physical features. Battle Front members were known for being rather territorial, and the young woman was no exception. If there was any chance the young man was a prefect who was in the tower to cause trouble, she was determined to shoo him away by whatever means necessary. The west tower had become a home to her, and she was not about to let anyone who was not supposed to be inside intrude.

then checking out, on the prison bus.

[Faust Spaulding]

Faust Spaulding

Faust had finally found his way into the ranks of Battlefront and was simply humbled that he was finally a member of the sort of ‘resistance’ the school more or less secretly housed. While he had been a member of Battlefront for about a year now, he still hadn’t met many members so he wasn’t sure if they would appreciate him going into the West Tower to train unannounced. They’d probably think he was a prefect or something, but he wasn’t worried much about false identification, he was just looking to get some training in. His powers required him to practice often and develop new ways to use them, otherwise he was almost useless in combat, since he lacked brute force; he had to be more subtle. Though battles weren’t always won by brute strength and raw power, sometimes skill and experience were the key factors in a swift and easy victory.

As his feet pattered lightly on the delicate blades of grass leading to the West Tower, his arms were completely relaxed at his sides and his breathing was calm. Strands of bright pink playing in the wind, with his black sweater seeming to catch the warm island breeze and revealing a hint of his toned stomach with each movement. His neck was hugged by a black choker with a tiny hanging Jigglypuff pendant, and his legs were covered with black jogger sweat pants; completely his dark wardrobe with a pair of black converse. He was wearing a pair of pink fingerless gloves to protect his hands, if he decided to participate in physical training, which he likely wouldn‘t even though he knew he needed to work on developing his small muscles.

Walking moderately into the tower, he saw how abandoned it looked and figured as much. How suspicious would it look if the place was top notch and bustling with Battlefront members, it was a good cover up but he kept moving, making his way toward the training area. His golden eyes looking through the darkness of the halls without windows and then stopping in his tracks at the sound of someone seemingly beating a punching bag into submission, something he ought to try. Peeking into the room he saw the girl sitting on the bleachers soon after with her legs crossed, and slowly walked into the room being almost instantly greeted with hostility. The girl was walking toward him, but she was also circling him almost like a lioness protecting her cubs and Faust figured as much; she probably thought he was a Prefect or something.

“Not sure you can help me, but I do have a purpose. I‘m here to train,”

Faust said with his trademark blunt honesty, while standing in place and allowing the girl to circle him with as aggressive an attitude as ever. He didn’t mind though, while living on the streets everyone gave him and Charles dirty, untrusting glances and they were right to do so, but he was changed. He wasn’t some street rat who needed to steal to survive, he was successful now and if he didn’t have these powers he would probably be in some photo shoot right now. Fate had a funny way of working itself out.

“Pardonnez-moi, I‘m Faust Spaulding.”

[Carter Roth]

Yeah, skill and experience were always major trump cards -usually anyways- but brute force was brute force and if you knew how to use it right you could bring the house down. Literally, in Carter’s case. Like Camila she was nowhere near the Battlefront’s strongest member but dammit she would work her tail off until she got there. But for now she would train, both her powers and her body. She knew she was strong physically; she could lift more than her weight thanks to helping her mom around the ranch when she was younger. Her powers could use work though. They could be strong, yes, but they took concentration. Concentration that Carter did not possess, at times. It didn’t help that she had a hellish temper and her storms knew that and took full advantage when her emotions spiraled; themselves going out of control and wreaking havoc until they petered out on the whim of Mother Nature. That had happened once before and if Carter had her way then nothing like that would ever happen again.

It just so happened that she had the same idea as her roommate and adopted little sister, coming to the West Tower to wail on some poor piece of gym equipment. It was a great way to blow off steam and relax, she would admit that. Even when she sparred with Jin, usually ending up with her ass handed to her, she felt relaxed afterwards. If plotting revenge. She was pulling her hair into messy, pastel blue ponytail when she slipped through the familiar doors and saw that her sister and her had company. Very...interesting company.

She ‘hmphed’ and walked over, circling the new kid as well but a little closer. Well he certainly didn’t look like a threat. Carter was almost positive she could take him in a fight; he looked a bit lanky and she might not be the best but she could grab and hold pretty good if she did say so herself. She raised an eyebrow at him and then looked to Camila with the same expression. “Name sound familiar to you?”

There was the possibility of course that he was a Battlefront member that they just hadn’t met yet but hey. You could never be too careful. And besides, Carter was already a fairly possessive person. Add territorial into the mix and a stranger in what she considered her tower, and you had a bad combination. She just hoped the guy could show some proof that he was supposed to be here or else he was not going to be a happy camper.

[Camila Reyes]

And keep an eye on you son,

The young woman liked to think she was more of a shark, circling a boat that she was going to sink for sustenance and her own amusement, but she was also aware that people would probably not take her seriously. After all, she looked younger than she actually was and she was a bit of a klutz, as evidenced by her not-so-graceful climb down from the bleachers. Thankfully, she redeemed herself by staying calm and collected as she circled the young man. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed her roommate and self-proclaimed “older sister”, Carter, enter the room. She chuckled a little as the blue-haired young woman skirted closer to the young man, circling around him as well, but in the opposite direction. It was quite funny how they were so alike, and yet so different. The young man’s words caught her attention, and she turned her curious sapphire eyes to meet his gold ones in a polite, but slightly distrusting stare. She paused in her movement, looking around for a moment. It was the daytime, so Ash was nowhere to be found. Jin was probably busy with paperwork or something, so she wondered who was supposed to be training the young man. Well, that was really not her problem. Her best function was to stay out of the higher ups way and occasionally slip small batches of medical supplies from the Nurses’ office. She would rather be prepared for an ambush than not.

“Fair enough, I suppose. You must be new around the tower. Either that or I’ve just never heard of you, which is entirely possible, mind you."

Camila would fully admit that she did not know every single person in the school, seeing as the student population had exploded in the past year alone. She had only arrived in January of 2014, and the school had been large then. She supposed that the young man had either arrived recently, or had been at the school longer than she had, and she had just missed him. Though, she was not entirely sure how give the pale pink mohawk and the curious choker around his neck with… a Jigglypuff on it, possibly? One thing was for sure: he certainly looked like a rebel, though the strange colors made her want to laugh more than intimidated her. After her brief respite from circling, Camila came a little closer, trailing a little behind Carter. The young woman’s question made her tilt her head a little. Faust was the young man’s name, but it rung no bells in her head. Her blue eyes shifted to Carter and she shrugged a little, the tension in her muscles easing a little. She could see clearly that the young man was no prefect, or at least, did not give off the air of one. She supposed that, if he was in the training room in the tower, he was probably a member, albiet an unfamiliar one. He did not seem particularly aggressive, though she felt that there was probably a tendency underneath the aloof attitude.

“Nah, but we mighta just never heard of him. He ain’t got a badge, so that’s not an issue. For the record, the name’s Reyes. Camila Reyes. Sorry, I’m just really wary of strangers who wander their way ‘round these parts.”

Camila looked at Faust when she introduced herself, pausing again and crossing her arms over her chest defensively. She did not look aggressive and she tried not to give off an aggressive air. She was merely keeping her guard up. If there was one thing she had to work on, it was keeping on her guard. She had learned to trust a larger variety of people since she had arrived, but several of her teammates had warned her that too much trust could prove dangerous. She leaned her weight back on her heels, glancing at Carter. She figured that her sister could introduce herself. She hummed to herself, glancing at Faust again. She was slightly curious about when and how he had joined the Battle Front, since everyone seemed to have a different story. She herself had bumped into Ash, one of the trainers, and his friend and they had convinced her to join. She had liked the idea of being part of a group, mainly for protection and skill refinement in the beginning, but she had grown to like her teammates and respect the stronger ones. Hell, she had even made several friends among the Battle Front.

“Well, I hope ya’ weren’t lookin’ for the trainers, ‘cause I think they’re checked out. One’s sleeping this time ‘a day and I haven’t seen the other in a while.”

so they can watch all the things you do.

[Faust Spaulding]

Faust Spaulding

Faust couldn’t help but smirk at the girls who were circling him and crossed his arms gracefully across his chest. This new comer wasn’t very intimidating, but usually a puny body came with a great power so Faust was always cautious, especially not knowing what the girl is capable of. Keeping his golden eyes jumping back and forth from the two girls, he cracked his neck and kept his posture strong, standing and listening to this Reyes girl before running a hand through his silky smooth hair. Camila was now tailing behind the new girl and Faust couldn’t help but feel his personal space being invaded, but he continued to keep his cool and simply observe the girls. They both seemed to be close at least, so they probably had the same idea about the boy.

“I do not blame you, I‘d be wary of new comers in such a delicate setting as well.”

He said while moving his eyes to the rest of the moderately large training area and then down to his hands which he was now cracking while pushing his hands outward; allowing his elbows to pop with his interlocked fingers and then he was sighing. Faust didn’t realize how tasking the walk would be to the Tower, so he was a bit out of breathe but it wasn’t too bad. With Camila telling that the trainers weren’t there, Faust didn’t seem to mind he simply shrugged and smirked before placing his left hand on his hip.

“I do not need a trainer in order to push myself to do better…but perhaps a bit of sparring could test my abilities?”

Faust then walked out of the circle the young women were burning into the ground around him and putting some distance between himself and the girls. Perhaps they could be his sparring partners for the day? He didn’t really mind, but if they were up to it was beyond him. Faust was also just as eager to see the girls powers, and perhaps see how they fight. Maybe he could even get a few pointers from the young femme fatales, if they were any good in a fight.

“Are you, perhaps, up for a round?”