Margeaux was issued a challenge by the Lioness.

My name is Raion. I am a second year Spica student on the Tennis, archery and fencing teams, and I challenge you to a shootout tomorrow afternoon at the archery range. Bring your absolute best. I refuse to compete against anyone who doesn't give it their all.

The rules will be simple. We fire ten shots each, and use standard scaling for points. The most points wins.

She had also asked her cub to come watch, so there was at least one witness to the outcome. Even if she lost, the point was not the victory this time. That was only the case when competing for glory. This was for fun. The heat of the battle is what she wanted here. Oh and of course she desired publicity. The more people respected her, the closer she was to challenging her old school and seeing her friends again.

She idly stood, arms crossed and resting atop her bow in what would probably be uncomfortable if she wasn't so fired up. A low purr came to her as she anticipated her opponent's arrival. If she showed up, that is. She stood at a 30 meter line, which was pretty good range for a round or two, but she would definitely want to adjust it depending on how this goes. She also had her eyes fixed firmly at the target down wind, as if she were trying to glare it into submission.

The black borders meant no points, and the white ring meant one. The blue ring was three. The yellow ring was five. And the red dot was ten. The Rings caved inward and grew smaller every time to make the higher points harder to achieve. As it should be. She would likely not be aiming for the red, as she knew too well the dangers of missing that. The safest bet would be for her to focus all her attention to the yellow. With a maximum of a hundred points, getting fifty from ten yellow shots would be plenty good enough. A shot at the red would be more impressive, certainly, but she knew her own skill level well enough to know the risk was not worth the reward yet.

All she could do now was wait.

Receiving a challenge to an archery competition was not something Margeaux had expected to encounter. She supposed she should have seen it coming at some point, but it just didn't seem like the sort of thing that normally happened to the redhead. Strange though it was, Margeaux decided to take the challenger up on the contest. If anything, it would be good for practice. And she couldn't help but admit that she was a little curious to see who this girl was.

It was hard to tell much about a person through a letter. Much of the context could be lost in a written word and Margeaux had always done better with sound, anyway. From the gentle and very pretty pink tones of Rin, to the more abrasive orange-hued tones, it was always much easier to listen to someone than read what they wrote.

She gathered up everything she would need and made her way towards the range. Bow in hand, she walked up the hill to find a figure already waiting for her arrival. A punctual girl, this Raion appeared to be. Everything seemed to be in place. From where they would be firing from, to where their targets were set up. She had put quite a bit of thought into all of it. Margeaux approached the Second Year and offered up a friendly smile and a wave.

"You must be Raion?" she said, "Looks like we'll be competing, today."

Ah, so that was her opponent. She didn't look like the type, but then again, Raion didn't look like the type to play tennis either. Appearances would not be the factor here anyway. What mattered to her was skill, the heat of the battle, and most of all, being closer to her goals. No hard feelings to Margeaux, but she was currently an obstacle in the Lion's path. And from her perspective, the girl was roughly older than she was, making sama the required honorific for this occasion.

"Ah, you are Margeaux-Sama then." she smirked, the competitive fire in her eyes again as she returned the greeting gesture. A bit of an archaic one, but she would oblige. "Thank you for accepting my challenge. There is no prize on the line, I assure you. This is merely for sport."

Not directly a lie. But there was no need to reveal her personal biases for challenging a fellow archer, especially someone who was probably a team mate. She had just joined all of her specialties' teams after all, so she would need to get acquainted. Beyond that, it was important to test her worth amongst the Spican elite. A Vincenness girl like her needed to assert her prowess and make sure there was no question that she could - and did - belong here. That Spica would receive a great warrior this day. But enough with the dramatics.

"Feel free to do some test shots first. I know I will be."

Raion greeted her, a competitive spark accompanying the returned wave. Green was the color that jumped out at her. Vibrant and sharp, the girl's voice seemed friendly enough, but she was very focused on the task at hand. In fact, she wasted little time in offering the opportunity to warm up and prepare for the competition. Which, as Raion had pointed out, was purely for sport. No bet, or wager had been placed. Nothing was on the line.

At least that was how it appeared. Margeaux nodded and took up her position on the range. At first she would do a few stretches to loosen up. Then, with a quiver of arrows, she would stare down the range at the target and take a few practice shots. At this stage, accuracy wasn't as important as getting warmed up. When it came time to compete, Margeaux wanted the motions to feel as natural as if she was playing her guitar.

As the other girl had noted, Margeaux did not seem like the type. In fact, she had only joined the archery club on a whim. While she had had some practice with a bow and arrow before, it was not an activity that had dominated her life like music had. Still, there was something relaxing she had found about the sport and she had taken to it quickly, once she had joined the club.

"So, Raion." she asked, as she notched another arrow, "If you don't mind my asking. I'm just a little curious as to why you wanted to challenge me?"

It felt like a question worth asking. And seeing as how they were still the only ones at the range, Margeaux didn't see the harm in asking. The American had a genuine curiosity, as well.

No time wasted indeed. Raion accompanied her opponent in warmup stretches, as she did none of these prior. That would be an unfair advantage. She mainly focused on her dexterity, rolling a yen coin between her knuckles to make sure she had total control of her hand and every individual joint on it. She made absolutely sure that this was the case, then allowed herself to roll her neck before ending with some arm stretches. It was nothing new to her, but she did want to pace herself properly so she needed to make sure that everything could move exactly when and where she wanted.

She took note then of the girl's face. She seemed Western. They allowed Westerners here too? Well, that was fine. As long as they could fight just as hard, she didn't care. And on that note, she was asked why. Why indeed? Proving herself for one, and getting her bearings on the type of people she would be getting to know in her stay was another. Lion D'incendie was a passionate person with a fiery pride. She needed to know exactly who her future team mates were, and she needed to prove that she belonged among them. Even if they didn't care, it wasn't for them so much as it was for her.

"I live to compete." she replied in an almost growl. "It's nothing personal. I was given your name when I asked who was on this team, and so here we are. I plan on challenging a girl named Chibiru to a duel tomorrow." her eyes lit up with the sort of fire you'd see in a warrior with nothing to lose. Though for a moment, she almost lost herself and something could have ended badly. She took off her ring and placed it inside her locket for safekeeping for the time being. 

"It's simple really. I'm going to be the best, and I'm going to prove my worth through force and effort, not ridiculous popularity contests."

So, it appeared to be about as random as it had seemed. The girl was looking for competition and it would be up to Margeaux to provide it. Raion was a bit of an odd one, but Margeaux couldn't say she was without her own quirks. Being a Westerner was one thing, but there was everything else about her hometown's own oddities that she tended to bring along with her.

Being "the best" was something of a vague goal. In some way she could sort of understand that point of view. After all, that's why she kept practicing her guitar. Her goal was to continue to improve upon her ability and talent. What that meant was something that was a little harder to define, beyond "be better". Margeaux gave a nod to the other girl and took another warm up shot at the targets down the range.

"Fair enough." she said, "So, not a big fan of the Etoile contest, I take it?"

That's where the little jab seemed to be directed. And Margeaux couldn't entirely disagree. Although, she didn't put much thought into the concept of the Etoile system, herself. It was not something that she had ever planned on participating in. The American was only interested in music. At least that's how she felt about things when she arrived. Sure, a few things had change since she had started school at St. Spica. Archery, for one thing. But the friends she had made along the way was something else, entirely.

And that was before she even got to the subject of Rin. "I don't really get it, myself." she said, "Sure didn't have anything like that, back home. How about you? Where do you come from?"

Ready to roar, ready or not
Ready to give it all I've got
Gotta live to win, get up, get out, get even
Ready to roar, ready or not
Ready to give it one more shot
Let the game begin, need something to believe in
Ready to roar!

R A I O N
╜───────╓

It seemed they were like minded in their views of the Etoile. Well, mostly. To her, it meant something very different than what it meant to the girls here. It wasn't a badge of honor or a high rank to her, it was just another Title bestowed to girls with immense popularity. Nothing she wasn't used to, bearing such a Title herself from her previous school. Ah, but an answer would be appropriate.

"I don't dislike it, on the contrary. It reminds me of home in a way." she allowed the next statement to sink in before she decided on the proper way to reply. Yes, back home was indeed brought up. As she held position with her bow drawn, which was exactly as uncomfortable as one would think it to be, she debated on how much this girl would really be interested in hearing. Maybe just go with the bare minimum for now. She let her arrow fly, landing a blue shot.

"I'm from Vincenness Girls Academy, out near what used to be the Mitsuguri Shrine. A lot of us had Titles like the Etoile do. Even me. So I don't dislike it, I just think the real power should lie within Student Council."

A momentary pause for her to relax her arm muscles again, before she pulled a second arrow to the ready.

"What about yourself?"

╖───────╓
H O N O O

(joining thread because fangirls)

Of course Margeaux had told Rin about the mysterious letter, and the pinkette wasn't going to miss it. A strange thing happened as she was leaving the dorms, and she'd been stopped by several underclassmen asing her strange questions about how she kept her haor so shiny and her skin so clear. She waved them away as politely as possible, but it had taken several long moments to get away from them. She ran toward Spica's archery field as fast as she could.

At the same time a certain taller Spican pinkette had a similar encounter with underclassmen, and rather than politely dismiss herself, she'd simply ducked her head and ran, shouting an apology. The two students were running so quickly they collided.

"Ah, are you alright?" asked Kisumi, rubbing her head.

"Owww," groaned Rin, rubbing her bum, but she looked up to see Kisumi offering her hand. She took it and they both looked away awkwardly.

"Sorry," said Rin, "I wasn't looking where I was going, my friend is at the archey range, I really don't want to miss this. Someone challenged her, I have to be there for her."

"I bet I know who it is," Kisumi said , looking off and rubbing her neck, "My kouhai Raion-san challenged someone named Margeaux to a match. She wanted me to be there too."

"Margaux-kun? That's my friend!"

"Hounto? Well then let's go together!"

"Mn!" Rin nodded and they set off enthusiastically. When they spotted the two, they both stopped short, it seemed they were in deep conversation, and the two pinkettes found it rude to intrude to they hung back together.

Kisumi was content to watch silently, but Rin couldn't take the silence too long, eventually she shot a hand up in their air waving.

"Go Margeaux-kun! I believe in you! You can do it!" She cheered, bouncing and sporting her biggest grin. Rin's display only made Kisumi blush, not only at her bouncing chest, but at the fact it would certainly make Raion look this way too. She waved sheepishly.

"Uh...Yeah Raion-san! Fight!" she said weakly, not very good at cheering and sort of wanting to crawl under a rock until Rin took her hand.

"This is so exciting! What's her name, Raion-san? She looks strong! Ah..but look at Margeaux-kun, she's so cool with that bow.." her eyes went dreamy and they both looked at the competitors.

So, it wasn't as cut and dry as Margeaux had first thought. Actually, it was a rather nuanced opinion and certainly one that appeared to be formed alongside some personal experience. Which was more than the American could proclaim. She nodded and offered a friendly smile. "Well, like I said, we didn't have any of this stuff back home." she notched an arrow and took aim down the range, "I'm from New Orleans. The school I went to, back there, barely had anything you could call a student council."

After the shot, a loud and familiar pink voice grabbed her attention. The redhead turned to find Rin standing with a Spican girl. The pair made up the entirety of their audience, but there were a few more girls who were making their way over. Margeaux blushed a bit, but waved back as the pinkette voiced her support. She was very happy to see that she could make it.

The girl next to her appeared to know Raion well and issued her own support. Albeit with a noticeable lack of volume. Margeaux glanced over to her challenger, "Friend of yours?" she asked. A few more members of the archery club had started to mill around and commented among themselves on the newcomer.

Among them, a first year with blue hair hovered around. She didn't get right in the middle of things. The girl known as Makoto had heard about a friendly challenge, between a Western girl and a transfer student. Her curiosity piqued, she had to go visit. Anywhere there was a crowd and a competition, after all, was an opportunity to make some money.

(OOC: Woo, fangirls!)

Ready to roar, ready or not
Ready to give it all I've got
Gotta live to win, get up, get out, get even
Ready to roar, ready or not
Ready to give it one more shot
Let the game begin, need something to believe in
Ready to roar!

R A I O N
╜───────╓

New Orleans was an American city, right? Her Western heritage was clear, so it was a logical conclusion. What interested her about this was that there was nothing like a student council. Who represented the student body to the higher faculty then? Who organized the events?Surely there was an equivalent. Some Western word for it that she didn't grasp. But maybe it would be prying to ask more about that, or maybe it would seem like she was looking down on the girl, which she would never do. Quick Raion, find a distraction. A new topic.

Ah, right on time. That was her cub alright. She shook her head with a wry smile.

"If you're going to cheerlead, at least put some effort into it." she called back. "Spines are nice to have, I suggest it."

Her opponent had asked who the girl was. Ah, yes, that was the question. A friend? That title was reserved.

"She's mine." was all she said in reply. She had meant it in a way that sounded like protection, not intimacy, but it could be taken either way. Raion wound up her bow and held pose with it drawn fully for a moment. It was time to stress test her own focus.

After a silent few minutes, she let loose and landed a yellow ring.

"Seems you have a fan as well. Who is she?"

╖───────╓
H O N O O