Discombobulate [Open]

[Hale Callahan]

It would have probably been wiser to come to the courtyard in earlier hours when the sun wasn’t beating down their backs like the glaring eye of god up in the cloudless heavens above.
Probably.
Hale however, had yet to get into the whole habit of rising any earlier than ten more so without a room mate, and today of all days, her first day at this academy, she had managed to stumble out of bed to crash on an unamused pantslizard who out of shock had punted her in the face, an hour later.
It was only after a mad helter-skelter to ready herself and hope that she wouldn’t face the wrath of a lecturer undoubtedly pissed with her lackadaisical attitude towards her classes, did she realize that hell---there were no classes.

Yet.

The schedule she had managed to fish out of her back in between the energy bars, Jethro’s Black Belt, Wednesday’s Dusk stone and several other odds and ends told her that classes were to commence the next day, and already halfway through the establishment’s grounds, she wasn’t in a mood to return to her dorm.

So here she was in a corner of the massive courtyard, with a brilliant shiner under one eye where Jethro had inadvertedly kicked her after the fall with her red bomber jacket tossed over one of the benches where a little Litwick sat leaking wax everywhere while she crouched low on her haunches and faced off against the determine-looking lizard who was wearing his favorite Belt like a Japanese Hachimaki.

Both were swearing from exertion and Jethro now wore a light bruise of his own under his left eye where he had miscalculated a lunge earlier and ended up with her fist grazing his face.
His mistress certainly had a physical way of training him though given, it was an interesting diversion from being tossed into one battle after the other. Sparring with his own human was odd though---he didn’t like the idea of hitting a girl, but her techniques belonged to anything else but a girl.

“Scraggy!”
The lizard yelped a as he darted for her again, lashing out at her with his foot—a move which she swiftly sidestepped as she swiftly swung around to attempt and land a blow on his back. To her surprise however, he quickly bent himself over with a dexterity she didn’t think possible so the blow missed and her inertia gave her away---she had mere seconds to right herself when he launched another attack, this time barely nicking her neck.

“Ye’re learning fast.”
The girl complimented the pantslizard who offered her a smirk as he puffed his chest out proudly.

“Not fast enough. Yer a Fightin-type, and best ye live up tae the name, fella. Ye got more than goddamn Low Kick in your repertoire, ye bloody well use ‘em! Keep goin’ on the offensive and ye’re as predictable as yesterday’s news!”

“Scraaaaa!!”
The Scraggy hissed at her, clearly challenged by her statement as he grit his teeth and launched himself at her again. With a small grin, she neatly avoided his lunge, but when she turned around, it was to come face to face with a stream of sand which caught her in the eyes to blind her momentarily.

“Feck!!”
Came the snarl as she tried to rub the debris out of her eyes though she finally did, it was to wish that she hadn’t when what stared her in the face seemed to be a beast from the very depths of hell whose eyes gleamed like spotlights and whose darkened face was twisted in some hideous grin that stretched from ear to ear.
The little girl in her surfaced as she let out a yelp of shock before stumbling backwards a few steps only to feel something swipe her legs out from underneath her so she unceremoniously feel on her back.

Laying spread-eagle on the warm cobblestone despite her aching back and blinking confusedly in trying to piece together what the hell had just transpired, the same face from before came into her line of sight though this time it was no longer distorted to show its true form: Jethro.

“Scraggy Scraaa!”
The lizard said smugly with a tilt of his head as he crossed his arms and awaited praise.
So much for predictability.

“Sand Attack to blind ‘em, Leer to lower their defenses and finish it off with a Low Kick.”
She reiterated , finally sitting up before offering her knuckles to the pantslizard who gladly hit them with his own in a gesture of camaraderie.

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about, fella.”

“Litttt! Littt Wiccckk! Wickwickwick!”
The little creature settled on the bench guarding her messenger back chirruped and cheered as she flailed her stubby little arms around excitedly in a manner that prompted a chuckle from the normally stoic girl who got to her feet and threw herself into the bench, the back of her tanktop now slightly moist with perspiration while her bangs clung to her face from the sweat trickling down her forehead.

It had been a rather good workout all in all and the Scraggy who was now practicing his kicks deserved a little rest.

“Take five, Jackie Chan. Here.”
Hale called out to him as she dug into the bag for a berry-flavored energy bar which she chucked in his direction.
He caught it expertly in a hand, slinging the belt around his neck now as a scarf of sorts as he stretched his entire body like a cat before pulling up his pants and waddling back to his mistress and the strange, waxy creature who was passed for his little sister.

“Scraggy.”
Jethro murmured as he pat the Litwick on her head gingerly---a gesture which was reciprocated with a sudden hug which left the lizard with an awkward look on his face.

“Love yer big brother don’t ye, Wednesday?”
Hale crooned at the small candle who turned to her and hopped into her lap like a five-year old with its parent. Unlike Jethro, this candlebeast which had been given to her as a gift upon enlisting in the academy, was a child in all sense of the word. She seemed to see the human girl as a mother figure---not that Hale had any problem with this though it did leave her with a few minor burns when the Litwick made to hug her mindless of where the flame was blowing.

“Well, someday ye’ll be as strong as he is, don’t ye worry about that….”
Said the brunette with a wink as she scratched the creature’s chin and let out a soft sigh before leaning back in her seat lazily to take a long swig from a bottle of water…