Serious Schooling (Jagaimo)

Tarine thought for a moment about what was said and nodded, he knew she had a point, he’d basically told her the same thing when he signed up for this. But he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to get the last of his grievances out of the way. 

“Okay, but how likely is it that someone's going to come along and blow up a city for the fun of it? Turn people into…” He froze, he just reminded himself of something he’d much rather forget. Tarine’s expression briefly appeared pained and, deciding he'd had enough of this train of thought and should just get on with the session, he just averted his eyes and meekly agreed. “...Yeah, no, point taken. I’ll fight you if that’s what it takes.”

Portobello would be lying if she wasn’t relieved to hear that, he’d been arguing so long that she was afraid the session would have to be cut short. She did pick up that something had bothered him though she didn’t think it would be wise to of her pry. She knew perfectly well she had all the grace of a hammer when it came to emotional subjects, probably not what this man needed. For now she’d just have to push those thoughts aside and try to put on a (slightly forced) more cheery attitude that would hopefully become a reality for the both of them as the hour continued.

She got up from her chair and started to walk to her side of the makeshift arena, trying to gently push Tarine along with her tail as she walked past. “Mhmm, good to see you’ve finally come round. Stand over there please, I’ll tell you more when we start.” She said this in a fairly matter of fact tone and swept her tail round again to indicate where on the mat Tarine needed to stand.

Though as Tarine shuffled into position Portobello's ears flicked as she felt a disturbance. Reaching out with her senses she detected someone falling... Oh dear. By their power alone they should survive but by the trajectory they looked set to land right on top of her student, something he was unlikely to appreciate. She glanced from the skylight to Tarine in concern and called out to him.

“Hmm… I think you might want to take a step back?”

Admittedly that wasn't the best way to do it, because Tarine, who was under the impression he was safe wasn't on the lookout for any Saiyan-shaped missiles meaning he was unaware of what was about to happen. So fairly surprised by the request and assuming it was training related looked himself over instead. 
“What? Is something wrong with-”

He was interrupted by something slamming into him at high speeds, knocking the air out of him and sending him tumbling across the floor. When things finally stopped spinning he was left  staring up in shock at the woman who now had him pinned to the floor.

Portobello was left almost as surprised as the young lady was and blinked a few times before staring at her in concern. "Well hello miss, that was... quite a fall you had there. I don't suppose you could tell us what happened?"

Tarine on the other hand was feeling annoyed and uncomfortable and was now trying to push himself backwards and out from between this strange newcomer's legs.
"Yeah- introductions are great and all but can you get off of me?"

Tarine wasn't particularly in the mood to dignify the wild-maned kid with a response, especially as at the time he was much more concerned with worming his way out from under her. Upon finally being released he rose to his feet remarkably less gracefully, patting himself down and wincing slightly when he reached where the rowdy Saiyan had first impacted. Though this wasn’t before he shot her a dirty look and gave an exasperated "Thank you" that was debatable in its sincerity.

While mild pain was one of the reasons for his soured mood there was another, although this one was more personal.

Her attitude so far was really rubbing him the wrong way.

Sure, he could accept her falling on him was an accident, it was weird but things happen, he was used to it by now. But couldn’t he at least get an apology? Sure- it was petty but it wasn’t unwarranted, if the average person fell victim to a fighter launching into them at those speeds they could get seriously injured! No, it wasn’t a pride thing, it would just be nice to have people acknowledge they were wrong when they pulled stunts like that.


Fortunately this kid seemed more interested with his teacher than him because it meant she likely missed the subtle eye twitch and glare she got for that comment. He considered snapping back at her but thankfully reason prevailed and it occurred to him trying to start an argument with someone who looked like they were still in school wasn’t the most mature move. So before he said anything he might regret Tarine shut his mouth, took a deep breath and tried to avert his eyes from the person who he knew full well shouldn’t have been getting to him as much as they were.

At this point Portobello herself had caught on that something was obviously bothering her student and at the girl’s prompting gave him a worried glance, which he responded to by shaking his head and moving his attention towards what must’ve been a very interesting section of wall. Seeing as he didn’t seem willing to share, Portobello simply shrugged and thoughtfully nodded along to the girl’s explanation of what happened instead.

“Mhmm, good to hear no one was hurt badly. So you had an accident while training?” Not unheard of, sometimes your energy could just fail you. It was concerning she didn't remember the finer details though. Portobello tilted her head to the side, again with concern evident. "But are you sure you don't know how it happened? Losing access to your abilities so suddenly can be a sign of an illness."

She then gestured to the door with her hand and an accompanying tail-flick.
"But if you're sure you're fine then I won't stop you."

Seeing as that was what the girl intended, Portobello tried to call out to her just as she began her jump.

"Oh, I'd appreciate if you didn't leave that wa-"

And she flat on her face, that didn't seem right, even Tarine interrupted his sulking concentration to look over quizzically. Portobello took a few steps forward and leaned over to check if she was okay. When she came out with the accusation of her flight being tampered with, Portobello shook her head and appeared surprised in her response. 

“I assure you dear, I’m not capable of anything like that.”

With her appearing to calm down, it appeared the main problem, though not the Saiyan's inability to access most of her power, was dealt with and things could finally get moving again. The "redhead" as Jagaimo put it was again slightly annoyed with her comment but only glanced her way, and sort of half muttered something that Portobello was quick to talk over in a more chipper tone. 

“That’s not the-”
“Oh, I’m not trying to “destroy” him, this is only his first day. We're just covering basics, I need to see what he can do first so I know what needs to be worked on."

With that the feline ushered Tarine to step back into position and thought over Jagaimo's new request as she moved back into her own. By her unsurprised tone it might have been obvious she'd had similar requests before.

“Well I’m no stranger to an audience, I wouldn't mind as long as you keep a safe distance... But I'm not the one you should be asking."

With that she stared directly at Tarine, inclining her head towards Jagaimo somewhat impatiently as if to pressure him into responding. Which he did, turning his head to look at her there were a few seconds of silence where he narrowed his eyes at her sceptically before shrugging and turning back to his tutor. 

"...Fine, as long as you listen to what she tells you." There was a pause as he thought about something, then turned to Jagaimo again with a more curious expression. Was this his attempt at lightening the mood? "So I noticed you said "Earthlings",  guess that means you're not from around here?" 

For all intents Tarine should’ve appeared to Jagaimo like a pretty average human, he wasn’t particularly well-built either, kind of on the skinnier side which might’ve gave away working out wasn’t usually on his list of priorities. He didn't attempt take on any sort of fighting stance either when getting back on the mat, maybe it was intentional or he plainly didn't have the experience where that sort of thing came naturally.

But appearances could be deceiving, if Jagaimo happened to reach out with a sense beyond the basic five she’d be able to feel a significant amount of power under that unassuming exterior. Nothing special when compared to a Saiyan elite or really most serious combatants these days, but FAR above what a human would normally be putting out. While he was admittedly not much of a fighter he was more than capable of handling ki.

Again Tarine wasn't the one to respond, the reason being he was still a little caught up in his own gripes about the situation and focusing more on his teacher seemed to be the best way to handle them without before he ended up doing or saying something he might regret. But Portobello either out of unawareness or trying to salvage the situation was the one to chip in again.

“Well… “first day” might have been a bit of an understatement. It’s Mel’s first day under me specifically. I don’t know if you’ve figured it out but this isn’t regular training, there’s some of that but it’s more about the basics of…” With that she put her forearm forward, yellow particles gathering into a translucent disc of ki covering the arm like a shield. “This. This is why I’d prefer if you didn’t come too close. Don’t worry, I'm sure you'd be able to handle any accidents but I'd rather you didn't get hit if something goes wrong.”

She waved the shield away, it breaking into shards of ki that quickly dissolved. Then directing her attention at Tarine, or Mel as she knew him, she spoke a little more sternly. “Pay attention to that Mel, it's coming back again in a minute or so.”

Moving forward, Mel/Tarine's response to hearing where Jagaimo was from might have not been quite what she was expecting, he cringed just at the mention. He did try to smile but it could only be described one belonging to someone who'd just died a little inside.

“Plant?” He questioned meekly, internally his mind was panicking, racing to unpack the news. Did that mean this this kid could've been a solider? One who... one who'd- no, he didn't want to jump to conclusions, if she did what he was thinking the thought alone made him feel sick. Despite inwardly freaking out he'd try not to let that show, at least until he had a definite answer to that question, outwardly he was more nervous than he'd been moments before. “No, I’ve heard of it. But the weak wouldn’t last long...?" He gave a small laugh. "Can’t be that bad, last thing I heard was both sides were looking to put a stop to the war? I literally heard it from the mouth of the Arcosian Emperor himself that he was helping negotiate the treaty.” Oh boy, if only he knew how badly that went. Fortunately that was in the future so it wasn't of anyone's concern at this moment.

The whole time "Mel" was interacting with this Saiyan girl Portobello had been picking up on a bunch of cues that told her something was off with him, the girl didn't seem as tense so it was likely this something was only a problem with him in particular. Alas, she was no therapist, she wouldn't be the one to solve this. However what she could do was move this session along, hopefully moving his mind onto something less... troubling. 

"Mel!" She shouted abruptly, causing Tarine to jump out his skin before quickly turning back to her. "Uh, yeah?" "We've really don't have time to be talking, so as interesting as the subject might be, I really need to speed things along. Now, in the interest of seeing what you can do." Again the shield of ki was formed, this time with Portobello holding her hands in front of her. "As you made it very clear you didn't want to start with a real fight I'm going to ask you to use this shield as a punching bag. Hit it with your strongest technique okay?"

That made him hesitate, not only because of how sudden it was, but he wasn't even sure if he could deliver what she was asking him for. "My strongest? I don't have anything that great honestly."

"It doesn't matter, that's what I'm supposed to be helping you with remember? Just hit me with what you can." 

He nodded. "Okay, just give me a moment to think." With that he shifted into a different stance, turning himself partially to the right and stretching his arms first before moving his left upwards, palm open and facing Portobello.

Tarine didn't know how to describe the sensation that came over him as he heard the next words to come out of the girl's mouth. Hearing this kid spent their whole life in a warzone, forced to fight for the mistakes of her ancestors on a planet that wanted them dead, should've elicited some feeling of pity. But he just felt... numb.

You see, throughout her response, something dawned on him. She wasn't an innocent kid was she? Or maybe she had been once, but as she'd said herself, she fought and bled for the Saiyans. The same one's responsible for the deaths of countless, innocent Tuffles.

Whatever lead him to that conclusion, synaptic misfire, bad mood, lines of programming poorly embedded in his brain or a number of other factors- it was making him feel sick like he never had been before, like a knife had just been jammed into his brain, things were starting to get fuzzy at the edges of his vision.

Oddly enough, outwardly this relatively new internal struggle wouldn't show. What Jagaimo would be able to see was his slight nervous demeanour turned into a frown, then a blank stare like the emotions were just drawn out of him. With interest obviously in the conversation obviously waning he did still find it in himself to respond though much more snappily.

"I don't know, I'd trust him more than I'd trust-" He paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breathe before continuing on in a calmer tone, "the... other person we were with, weird guy, kept trying to invite us to a bar." As off as he felt, that day with Azoth still stuck out to him.

A little more stone-faced, Tarine moved onto facing Portobello's shield, eventually settling on a different firing pose, left hand pointing up, with middle and index fingers pressed into a "finger gun" shape, then he paused, seemingly deeply focused on the shield in Portobello's hands.

He needed to stop that girl... A danger to everyone. To Tuffles... protect them.

Portobello was starting to look worried, she hadn't known him for long but this was a complete shift in character from what she'd seen of him so far. "Mel? Are you-"


That would be as far as he'd let her get, without a second's hesitation Tarine would attempt to pivot round and fire a ki blast straight into Jagaimo's chest.

Admittedly there wasn't much running through Tarine's head other than what he thought needed to happen, so if anyone expected a follow up to his attack, there wasn't one. In fact, seeing the girl sprawled across the floor he was probably almost as shocked as she was, like this, somehow, wasn't the result he was expecting. But what did he expect to happen? The "evil" Saiyan to just vanish without a trace? To end a generations long war by shooting some random teenager?

Seeing the moment play out he wasn't sure how to react, it was enough of a shock to the system to at least partially clear away the haze clouding his thoughts and he froze up, staring between the girl and his hand and connecting the dots with a slightly dazed expression.

---

Portobello on the other hand was horrified, the shield construct dropping from her hands and fading out as it hit the floor. She'd seen her student, who was in one moment completely fine, suddenly decide to attack a bystander? In all her time talking to him she'd never even had a hint he was capable of doing something like this! If anything, he'd done nothing but say he hated this sort of thing! So what had just gotten into him? Thankfully it didn't appear to be any serious damage but the look on his face didn't exactly inspire confidence that this was an accident, nor could she be sure he'd stop so she did the only thing she could think to do and lunged for him.

---

Tarine wasn't quite sure how to explain the whole gamut of emotions running through his brain at that moment, he can't say he enjoyed seeing the fruits of his labour, but he was right in doing so wasn't he? This girl, if he could still call her that, told him she was a soldier- a murderer of innocent Tuffle folk and he was supposed to let that slide? The thought alone was sickening and they didn't deserve to be made victims of that sort of behaviour again. It was the sort of thing they wanted him to stop and like any good person he had to deliver.

…He wasn't about to enjoy what he had to do but to whatever forces had taken hold of him it made perfect sense that this girl was a danger to everyone she got into contact with. And between letting her run free and saving lives there was only one option. His expression hardened again, he knew what to do. He took a step forward and-

Portobello took the opportunity to barrel into Tarine, knocking the wind out of him and spinning both of them to the side. Claws digging into his arms, she pulled him down until they were almost eye to eye. The look on her face was one of rage and she practically hissed these next words to him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

With some mix of desperation and confusion Tarine made to pull away, though the power disparity between the two make her grip unbreakable, the claws only digging deeper with each attempt. Realising the futility he hurriedly tried to spit out an explanation.

"You didn't hear her? I need to-"

The argument was interrupted when Jagaimo popped back up, rightfully furious with what just took place. Tarine bristled at the sight and glared her down while Portobello looked markedly more relieved. Hearing her exclamation, Portobello's face dropped and she again looked sternly at her student.

"Yes, and I'm about to deal with him myself."

Not that Portobello would blame her under the circumstances but the girl was clearly enraged with the situation and charged forward, aiming a flurry of blows towards Tarine. On instinct she aimed to pull herself out of harm's way unlike Tarine, who in a rather volatile state of mind, instead attempted to throw himself into the punches with no regard for his own safety, this combination was what allowed him to pull away temporarily and meet the blows head on. Hit after hit would land true though some were deflected through some quick work with his arms, though the building pain combined with what he saw as an unjust retaliation made him give into the blind fury and eventually he stopped blocking entirely and was just attempting to flail and claw away at whatever inch of the Saiyan he could. 

Regardless of what was landing on either end, Portobello would quickly come to her senses and charge back in, letting off a burst of green electricity before she attempted to pull the two parties apart and insert herself between them to prevent any more blows from being traded. If successful at placing herself in the middle of the fray, Portobello would pull Tarine into a grapple hold to prevent him from flinging himself around with more reckless abandon while her tail would be used to hold Jagaimo at bay should she try anything similar.

If Tarine was uncertain of himself before, this one scrap had completely validated his previous opinion, and he was sent into an almost inconsolable bout of rage. Struggling wildly against Portobello's comparatively supernatural grip, he was practically reduced to screaming.

"Are you gonna let her get away with that?!"

Portobello's patience with the ordeal was running thin and she snapped back at him.

"Yes! This time I will! You just shot her! What's gotten into you?" A little more softly, but still sternly she would then address Jagaimo. "Look, don't do it again... because I need him to explain what the hell he was thinking." 

At first he didn't respond, glaring daggers at her through laboured breaths, a quick squeeze prompted an irritated response.

"You heard what she said!"

Such a terse answer didn't please Portobello one bit, and she shifted her grip until she was again staring him in the eye, while she was undoubtedly serious it wouldn't be impossible to detect a hint of worry or pity in her gaze.

"No, I didn't. I don't know what's going on but this is not the person I agreed to train. If you want someone on your side, then talk."

Tarine still appeared to be beyond pissed with the situation he'd found himself in but maybe something she said appealed to the young man's sense of reason, at least he would stop actively trying to fight his way out, having resorted to quietly stewing over it instead. It was probably becoming blatantly obvious he'd chosen whatever reasons he could to despise Jagaimo, giving her nothing more than a quick aside glance before focusing his steely glare back on Portobello.

"...She's killed people. I can't let her get away with that."

While unfortunately the girl didn’t want to back out from the situation Mel had unexpectedly thrust upon them, to Portobello’s relief she would at least take the more mature option and refrain from attacking for the moment and with a stern look back Portobello would accept her choice for now and put her attention back on the person struggling to break free from her grasp… Who unfortunately didn't seem nearly as willing to accept a compromise.

But why was he acting like this? She didn’t know much about this man's life but he’d seemed normal enough, if not a little stubborn… but to have him react so extremely to this girl? Something was off with him. Thinking back a bit, his mood began to sour when the girl crashed into him, which was fair enough but when he really started to change and what was continuing to set him off was when she’d brought up her homeworld… Now it was purely conjecture, but Mel’s rather emotional reactions felt like he took her statements personally, if something about the ongoing Plant war was affecting him that deeply then… she wasn’t exactly qualified to handle this situation.

In any case, her best option was to keep the two separated for now lest this turn into an all out brawl. Even if Mel had stopped struggling in her arms there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t take the first opportunity to strike back, which towards Saiyan who was likely very upset about the situation would probably encourage yet another fight.

While he appeared to be relatively calm, for a person who literally threw himself into an attack just to get one more chance to hurt his opponent that is, Tarine, or Mel to most people had just made a rather alarming accusation. With complete sincerity he was insisting this girl was a criminal who needed to be dealt with by any means, Portobello appeared concerned and possibly a little saddened by the comment and made to address it. 

“Do you even know what you’re saying? She’s-”

The girl had her own commentary to make, drowning out Portobello's in the process, though for all the good it did she might as well have stuck her hand into a wasp's nest. Tarine shot a hateful look her way and his desire to charge at her was reignited. However with his ability to move already mostly constricted by the grip of a woman who'd had enough of his madness, it wouldn't progress beyond far beyond ineffectual struggling. However what it wouldn't stop him doing was talking and that he would. The first word was uttered slowly as he lifted his head and attempted to give the Saiyan before him a death glare, after that however he'd quickly pick up the pace, resorting to shouting at some points as he couldn't contain how he felt about this person's obvious hypocrisy.

“Coward? I’m a coward for fighting back? What, are you just mad that someone saw through you that easily? I’m not the one invading a planet! I'm not killing people for sport! You Saiyans started that war and when they fight back you want to act like the victim?" 

Ki sparked dangerously around him in response to the girl's aura flaring to life, those present might have even been able to feel a spike in his energy before it settled back down... Despite how much he hated this person, he hadn't quite reached his breaking point... yet.

He had to take a deep breath to stop himself completely flying off the handle again, but he still couldn't find a way to talk to someone like this without every word being laced with venom.

"Of course you would, why care about all the people you crushed under your feet while stomping around as one of those brainless apes?"