CLOUD ACADEMY discussion

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like p.e. but with a lot more violence

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Teaching the seventh year class was, from any perspective he tried looking at it, the worst. Crest wouldn't pretend he didn't hear a few of them snickering at the back, didn't feel the disdain they had for him radiating from the entire. He was only a year older than them, less for some, so why was he training them? He could ask himself that same question, but as it would turn out, being a combat instructor meant he had to instruct all the years. Alas. So, with a stony expression, he walked through rows of students practicing their form, analyzing each one individually and throwing in the occasional critique.

Caledonia stood near the back--sure, combat was a class she did better in than any of her others, but really, she disliked the teachers for all of the combat classes. This guy, for example: very young. Sure, he taught well. But she didn't take well to someone only a year older than her trying to tell her how to correct her form. It pissed her off, even if he was a professor. She opposed he was better than another. But when he started to weave among them, she felt that desire anyway, to make sure she was still doing well and have that be noticed.
So she did what she could to start to beat up her opponent in their practice round. Besides. She was pissed anyway, and these classes were a good excuse to be as merciless as possible.

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Crest finished correcting another student's form as the practice fights started. He was quiet about it - not embarrassing anyone or calling them out, but still fixing the problem. His eyes flicked around the room as everyone started moving, landing on Caledonia. "Good work." It was a simple enough compliment, but that was high praise coming from him. He watched her fight for a moment more, silently noting a few things about her and her opponent, before moving on to another group. Crest knew Caledonia didn't think very highly of him, along with most of the people in the room at the moment, but he kept that train of thought to himself.

She hardly paused when she heard that comment, but it did make her feel slightly better about herself, and she both hated that she craved the idiot’s approval while also knew he had skill, so she didn’t know she felt entirely about the whole situation. But she did feel part of her defense flare up.
“I know,” she ground out instead as a bitter snark towards Crest as she twisted around and pinned her opponent into a headlock that no matter how hard they pushed at her arm they couldn’t actually get free.

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Crest's attention turned back to her as she spoke. He watched her catch her opponent in a headlock with the same cold, impassive expression. After a few seconds of seeing them struggle, he spoke. "In that position, you should thrust your head back into hers. Hits to the nose disorient your opponent enough for you to slip free." It was mainly advice to the person she was fighting, but also to Caledonia to keep her head angled so they couldn't do that. The technical bits of a fight came easily to him, knowing where to strike at the right time. Plus, he'd been punched in the nose enough times when he was younger to know what it did.

At that note, Caledonia tightened her grip around her opponent's neck. Dammit. So, she stared right at Crest as she kept tightening, slightly angling her head because she wasn't dumb enough to miss the nuance of his critique, especially as her opponent tried to hit her nose now. But the fact remained that the brunette was pissed off enough at that comment. Each day was a surprise for her--sometimes she tolerated Crest's classes, other days she was in more of a mood, and right now it was one of those days. There were times she wanted to snap at him, ask him how he was even qualified to teach this class, so really, she preferred to be in the third combat class, the one not taught, that she knew of, by an asshole or an underaged kiddo like Crest. Also, what kind of name was that? The toothpaste brand? She'd never sneered it to his face, though she wanted to, just to be annoying. She began to feel her opponent's energy give out, and when they stilled completely, and as she stared her professor dead in the eyes, she released her opponent, who fell to the floor with an unceremonious thud, blood running from their lip. "Thanks for the note, professor," she deadpanned, except...maybe the "professor" was slightly sarcastic.

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Crest watched them silently, making small mental notes here and there. He knew Caledonia thought he was underqualified for this, the same way just about everyone did, but he brushed it off. Anyone who wanted to challenge him was free to do so, as shown by the five or six students in this very class who'd picked a fight with him and gotten their asses kicked. He'd never actually hurt any of them - though sometimes he wanted to - instead just knocking them around enough for them to get the message.
Crest watched Cal's opponent slump to the ground with an unreadable expression. "You two." He waved over a pair who had finished their match already. "Get him to the infirmary," He said, gesturing to the unconscious student. He looked back to Caledonia. "Do you want another sparring partner, or are you done?"

She watched as two of the students walked over.
“Why can’t you take your own partner to the infirmary?” One snapped.
“Because I’d rather not,” she replied icily, before turning to Crest and rolling her eyes. “I want another sparring partner, sir, I’ve barely worked. Hey. You know what? How about I knock you out?” She demanded, only half kidding. She’d maybe sparred with him once or twice—and that’s what was aggravating. She couldn’t beat him. She’d been close the last time though, and she was determined to keep trying until she won, at least once. The guy was just one year older. She could take him down, right?

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Crest simply looked at her for a moment. It was impossible to tell what was going on inside his head. What exactly did she think this was going to do? You can't knock someone down a peg if they're already at rock bottom. "Is that so? And do you need me to go easy on you again?" He deadpanned. There was a clear bite to his words. He didn't hate Caledonia - in fact, he didn't even dislike her - but her anger made her wild. If she lost control, it hurt her more than it did him.

She sneered, and the very first thing she did as soon as he asked that was flip him off; perhaps it was the way he asked it, the tone of his voice. That and the fact he was just a kid, really. So she had no qualms about rudely shoving her middle finger into his face. She did it with other students often enough. “Don’t you dare go easy on me, I’m not a child who easily breaks,” she spat. Her training outside the Academy was brutal, and since she was sixteen she hadn’t been given the option to have someone go easy on her. It was a reason she dropped students to the floor unconscious left and right in class or ended spars with both of them bloody and bruised, just…usually worse for the other person. Sure, she had yet to take her father down—the jerk was 40–but she’d get there; if nothing else, that was her goal in life for so many reasons. And Crest…she was so damn close. And while her body ached and kinda wanted an easier fight, her pride and rage refused. In fact, defense and anger rose to thud under her skin. “Never go easy on me unless I ask. The idiots we fight in the field won’t, so why should you?” She demanded. “And ‘again’?” She echoed. That she didn’t like. Did that mean she’d been close to taking him out when he went easy on her? Caledonia adjusted the sleeve of the long-sleeved black exercise shirt she had on, hardly ever one to wear short sleeves even in the heat. “I’m not a weakling, I can fight,” she snapped. “Don’t insult me by going easy.”

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Crest didn't flinch as she flipped him off, unfazed. He just kept looking at her with that silent judging expression. She was right. He was just a kid. Which was why he had to act like this. He had to be smarter, faster, stronger, and just generally better than everyone he taught so that he didn't appear weak. "Then prove it, Hayden. You break when you lose control," He said steadily. He was confident he could beat her, but he pushed that thought away. Getting cocky could get you killed in the real world. He knew that better than most people here. "You're right. They won't. You have to work up to that level. You're close, but your emotions make you wild." Crest was, after all, a teacher above all else. His job was to make sure they got better. That was what he was doing. "Yes, again. If you don't want me to go easy on you then prove to me that you control your anger. Not the other way around." He barely moved, but he was tense, ready to strike back if she lashed out at him. At this point, several of the others were staring at them, wanting to see the fight.

Caledonia's temper just flared when she saw the judgmental expression cross his face. Her whole body stiffened and half of her wanted to swipe a fist across his face while the other half of her twitched and she almost averted her gaze just to try and get the judgment to go away because it made her uncomfortable and made her skin prickle. Prove it. Her jaw clenched. Prove to me I made the right choice. Prove to me that you're even worth it. She cracked her knuckles and looked over at him. "Emotions? I am not emotional." It was true in some respect--she never cried when she lost a fight, she never screamed or broke into a shriveling mess. She stayed still when she was berated--aside from rage--oh. So that's what he was talking about. "And if you mean my anger, then you should know your damn coworker encourages rage in his students." Just...not in his kid at home, but whatever. Control her anger?! That was something she hated hearing--she needed that rage. When she had been little, her mother had tried to help her control it. But when Katarina had died, James had just...kind of encouraged it or didn't do anything about it, and besides, he made her hate everything even more and he only discouraged her rage when aimed ta him, directly. "You ever consider I can do my job and beat the shit out of someone?" Caledonia demanded as she moved out to the training floor a bit more and squared up.

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Crest knew what anger did to you. He had that anger too - less than she did, far less, but it was still there. It wasn't about getting rid of it, it was about sharpening it. Making a weapon that you had full control of. If it controlled you, it made you sloppy. Reckless. Ate you alive from the inside out. "Laughlin encourages anger and recklessness because he lacks the precision for anything else." He said bluntly. Crest did not have a very high opinion of James. In his opinion, the man didn't teach so much as just beat down on his students and call it teaching. "You let it blind you. It makes you impulsive. That gets you killed." He moved the same way she did, ready for the fight. "I'm not telling you get rid of it, I'm telling you to focus it."

Caledonia stared at him. That was true enough, at least in some respects. But... "He's also precise in his combat," she corrected dryly. "He's strong." It was something she couldn't deny, even as clear disgust tainted her voice, in a way she couldn't suppress even as she tried. Half tried, anyway. And once again she felt her own defenses raise, and if she were an animal she would have been hissing at Crest at this point. Impulsive. Killed. "Shut up. I'm not a bad fighter," she spat. But nobody had taught her how to focus her anger since she was ten or eleven years old, really. And inside her she knew she needed it. And yet she couldn't stop being defensive. "I do control it." She tilted her head, her dark hair slipping across her shoulders. "And if I don't, that's hardly fault," she retorted, and then lunged, making a move for Crest's side, before turning at the last second and faking that, and then aiming for his temple with a fist.

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"Stronger than he is smart, yeah." Crest did not like Laughlin one bit, and they both made that very clear. Hell, they couldn't even be in the same room without snapping at each other. He tilted his head to the side, ever impassive. "You're right, you're not a bad fighter. As long as you don't lose control." He could've kept talking - though he wasn't sure she'd welcome any more advice from him - but then she struck and anything he was going to say was forgotten. He quickly blocked the punch, grabbing her arm and moving to throw her over his shoulder into the floor. It was a fairly simple move, but effective.

“Agreed,” she spat, but more of that anger was about Laughlin that it was about Crest, though if it came down to her choosing what class she preferred better it was probably Laughlin’s. Yes, the guy really did encourage rage three people around but she was used to it: whereas here Crest was one, a baby, and two, telling her to control herself. No thanks. Then again maybe James just had her do damn manipulated at this point, who knew. “I don’t lose control,” he growled back at him, defenses kicking in again, even though sometimes she knew she did, but when he grabbed her arm, she cursed through her teeth as she did indeed get thrown over his shoulder. Caledonia hit the ground, ears ringing and breath slightly lost, but all she let out was a very short groan from the impact before she rebounded, rolled towards Crest, and then threw her legs out. She made an arch and swept her legs into his, hoping to take him down onto the ground with her. She’d been thrown onto the ground in training before, and once not even then. This wasn’t anything new.

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Crest did fall as she kicked his feet out from under him, but quickly turned it into a roll to the side, back up in a split second. He didn't hesitate before lunging forward, throwing a hard punch to her gut and then darting to the side and aiming a swift kick at the back of her knees. Most of his fights ended when the other person surrendered, but he doubted Caledonia would ever do that, and he certainly didn't plan to either. So it'd have to end with one of them unable to fight, either pinned down or out cold. Preferably the former, since he didn't think Ross would take kindly to him knocking out a student in the middle of a class, but he wasn't picky.

Caledonia held in a wince as soon as he hit her in the gut, but she was also just frustrated at how fast Crest had rebounded. It wasn’t fair and in all honesty? It made her even more pissed off. Maybe that’s what this boiled down to: she could never beat James, who was taller and stronger and so much older, and he made her feel like crap about it, so she took power from beating others. And when she couldn’t beat some idiot twenty year old, she got enraged. She should have been able to beat Crest, in her mind. But the punch to her stomach, while it hurt and she staggered back, eyes watering, wasn’t something she was wasn’t used to, and she dropped to the floor when she saw Crest coming at her knees, and instead threw her arms around his one leg on the ground and slammed her weight into her throw, aiming to take him by surprise and knock him down too. And I like Creat, she wanted her Professor out cold. The brunette just was getting angrier and angrier as the seconds ticked by.

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Crest tried to back out of the kick when he saw her shift, but he wasn't quite fast enough, and he fell hard with a grunt. His back slammed into the floor, knocking the wind from his lungs, but he didn't have time to catch his breath. There was never time for pain in a real fight. He had to always be moving. He rolled to the side again, right back up on his feet, and rushed forward, ramming his knee between her legs. Could it be called a cheap move? Probably. But real life didn't play fair, and you had to use every advantage you could. He threw a fast punch at her jaw.

Mod

(not me looking up synonyms for slammed so i don't use it twice in the same paragraph)

((oh that makes sense haha))

Caledonia hissed through her teeth when he slammed his knee between her legs and she let out a growl low in her throat as she tried not to stagger, but that atop the gut punch hurt. And she managed to catch his fist flying at her at the last second, so she grabbed his wrist and jerked it outward as she returned the knee between the legs favor, before she shoved him in the chest. A very very childish move. But she was too angry to care. And in her fury, she slammed her knuckles into his throat a second later.

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Crest had learned on many occasions that, while it also hurt like hell, being punched in the throat hard enough could cut off your breathing for a good ten seconds. Which sucked, a lot. He staggered backward, unable to breathe for a moment, but he didn't fall. Shit, he was definitely going to have more bruises than he could count later, but he couldn't let a little pain stop him. Crest lunged forward again like he was going for her chest, before dropping low and sweeping at her ankles, and then popping back up and grabbing onto her shoulders in an attempt to pin her down and end the fight.

Caledonia steadied herself and brought her hands up to protect her chest when he lunged, but nope, he went for her ankle instead, and she didn’t get them out of the way in time, and it was actually worse because she tried to move at the last second. Stupid she scolded in her head before he had her staggering, and maybe she could have adjusted if he hadn’t grabbed her shoulders, but two seconds later she hit the ground. Caledonia sneered at him as her breath left her lungs, her body hitting the floor a bit painfully, and she actually winced, not something she did a lot in training, but her back was sore. She threw her knee between Crest’s legs as hard as she could even as she was kind of pinned under him.

Mod

Crest hissed in pain but didn't move, twisting his knee to pin her legs down as well so she couldn't pull that trick again. He had no doubt he would be bruised all over after this class, but he needed to win this fight. He had to win every fight someone started with him, especially in this class, or he'd lose the little bit of respect that he had gained in the past months and nobody would ever let him forget it. This was why he preferred teaching the younger years - turns out, training large groups was a lot easier when you had an age gap that was actually substantial.

Caledonia was glad she got a noise of pain from him. Was that cruel? Maybe. But she didn't care that much, if she were being honest. She was upset about what he said regarding her lack of temper control, and the fact he was, again, not that much older than her. Yes, he was good. But Caledonia needed to prove she wasn't just a weak loser, either. And if she could beat Crest, it was a good step to beating the hell out of James one day. She struggled as he pinned her legs down, and admittedly, she hated that, and Caledonia tried to maneuver away from that pin. But as she tried, she also brought her hands up best she could with the way he had her shoulders, and slammed her fists into his abdomen while she jerked her head up and aimed to slam it into his nose.

Mod

Well, shit. Crest was in no position to dodge either of her attacks if he wanted to keep her pinned down, and letting her go would just make this last longer than it needed to. The punches he could handle - they hurt, yes, but he could ignore that. It was the hit to his nose that hurt the most. There was a loud crack, and his vision blurred as he felt the bone break. Blood dripped down his face, but he didn't move. It hurt like hell, but he'd had worse, he reminded himself. He could handle it. The look in his eyes had changed - now he was pissed. Crest slammed his head down into Caledonia's nose with as much force as he could, returning the favor.

Caledonia froze up. She hardly ever froze up, but while she tried to maneuver away from him when he started bleeding and the crack sounded--for which she was very proud--the look in his eyes stopped her. The anger. The fury. Every muscle in her body stiffened; that look was one she'd only ever seen in James' eyes, directed at her. A brief flash of panic seized at her chest, and she stared at Crest for a second before a burst of pain erupted in her nose, and she let out a small cry before she felt her own blood start to run down her the lower half of her face. "G-get off me," she found herself half-choking, half-hissing, rage now in her own eyes, and she slammed her head into his face again and then slammed her hands into his elbows, trying to break his grip.

Mod

(before i start writing a response - should we start wrapping it up or keep going? also i think we talked about crest winning but i'm okay with changing it if needed?)

((I'm ok with anything! and yeah he can win!))

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Crest did not, in fact, move, because that would've been stupid. He grunted in pain as her face slammed into his, but didn't budge. It hurt a lot less the second time around, or maybe it was just the shock from his broken nose and he would be hit with all the pain full force later. He didn't have time to think about it right now, though. He lifted one hand and slugged her across the face as hard as he could, and then a second time. At this point, it was less about winning for respects' sake and more about just ending the fight. It had gone on far longer than he would've liked.

Caledonia saw his hand raise a second before he hit her, and she tried to grab his neck and hit a pressure point when she saw the opening, but for one, he was faster than she had anticipated; two, he his her twice; and three, she was still panicked inside, which she would hate herself for in just a few moments. And then both hits came one, and then the other, but she hardly cried out either time; only a small grunt. Perhaps that was a concern, but oh well. This was almost nothing in terms of pain, but the fact was that Crest...Crest was strong, an experienced professor--still a kid, she insisted upon--this was a fight, and they'd been at it for awhile. Her stomach twisted, her ears started to ring, and blackness taunted at the edges of her vision after the two hits; that, and he'd broken her nose--and as Caledonia reached up to press a pressure point on his neck, the blackness won and, much to her horror, she passed out cold even as she struggled to hold on. Dammit.

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Crest watched her pass out and stood up, swaying slightly. The corners of his vision were blurred, and he wiped away the blood leaking down his face with his sleeve. His eyes flicked between everyone else in the class, all of them staring at him and Caledonia. "Someone take her to the infirmary. The rest of you, get back to work." He commanded in a tone that left no room for discussion. Crest took a seat at the front of the classroom, watching them all return to their own fights as a few picked Cal up to take her to the infirmary. It took way more effort than it should have for him not to collapse.

((in lieu of her being passed out we get crazy Katniss just till this wraps up sorry lol))

Across the room, another seventh year stood there with wide brown eyes, but Katniss's shocked expression didn't last and she started giggling--that had been a lot of blood! That was...fun! But she quickly tried to tone it down because part of her knew that she should not like blood that much. She broke into a fake cough instead and looked at Crest. "You should also go to the infirmary," the Oleander told him, tapping her foot and then grinning again. For one, she actually was a bit worried; his nose didn't look right. "Also, wow, professor. I have to say I think she almost got you there. That said, you're still the best," she added generously. It was true enough.

Mod

((ayyyyy katnissssss)

Crest looked up at her apprehensively. It took him a second to register what she'd said. Go to the infirmary? No, he hated that place, he'd be fine. "I'll go later." He said in a clipped voice. That was a lie, but it was easier than being bothered about it. The next thing she said caused him to fall silent for a moment. Caledonia had come close to winning. Too close. "...Thank you." It was impossible to tell whether or not he meant that genuinely. "You should find yourself a partner. Keep sparring."

((hehehe))

She shrugged. "Fine, but that nose looks preeeetty broken," she said, almost in a sing-song like voice, and then she had to remember Crest was a professor, not a peer. She sighed, tucking some hair behind her ear, and then frowned when he didn't reply. Was he upset? About almost getting beaten? Admittedly, Katniss would have liked to see that, but oh well. Another time, perhaps, and did admit how good Crest was at such a young age, not that combat was Katniss' strength or anything; it wasn't. "You're welcome," she replied anyway with a nod, and then sighed. "Okay...gosh, this class is long," she mumbled under her breath and then skipped back to the mats to find someone, watching as the door closed behind her newly-unconscious classmate. At least this class was entertaining!