Favor for a Stanger [Victoria/Daniel]

Victoria Masters had been surprised, shocked even, when a certain well-written stamped letter came to her at the Vandenreich. Apparently, her reputation as a mentor for new cadets in the Sternritter had grown to such a degree a message had passed along from a fellow Sternritter, to a retired Sternritter, and then to another person about her, leading to a request for her to train that man's son. Who wasn't in the Vandenreich.

Knowing her past, Victoria was suspicious of the possibility of this request being less than sincere or honest. But, as she looked at it in her hands, her silver eyes scanning its every inch, it did seem real enough. It was a little too late to be unsure anyway, given she'd already sent back an acceptance letter. Oh well, we'll see what happens she thought to herself.

Her letter requested her would-be student arrive at the Sternritter training grounds at eight AM sharp. She stood in the empty training area as the minutes and seconds ticked away, waiting for Daniel's arrival.

It had been a few days since his arrival in the City of Lights, a few days was a meager amount of time for anybody to become acquainted with the layout of a city, or to know where specific locations were in said city. Yet, Daniel knew where the Sternritter training ground was. He knew this because it had been the first thing he had scouted out after having a bit of a walk with Stella and it had mostly, at first, been for curiosity's sake that he did so. To see where the elite of the Vandenreich trained and to get at least some semblance of an understanding of just what his father was trying to get him to achieve. He was still inadequate, at least by his own belief, to be standing on the same ground as those who had dedicated themselves to combat, and had transcended so far beyond him. He was a fly compared to some of the elites that he had saw on his first day, so easily they could have squashed him, and it had freaked him out.

It had freaked him out because it shook his understanding of power and made him understand what his father had meant when he was still in America, he was nowhere near capable enough of defending himself against something of this caliber. Still, as the time reached ever closer to eight in the morning, he found himself dressed in his training gear, and marching his way on to that very ground where those powerful elites had stood. He felt small here, weaker than he had ever felt, but none the less he had made the trip out here because it was what his family wanted and because the person who would train him had given their time willingly to try and pull something out of him. Something that he didn't think he had, if he was being honest.

"Daniel Cross, reporting for duty!"

He was extremely tense, he had no idea how to address the retired Sternritter in front of him, and though she didn't appear to be what he thought she would be, he knew. Much like his old man, she was probably a monster in terms of combat capabilities. One did not ascend so far to not be powerful in some way, shape, or form. His training clothes had several belts of silver cylinders, just in case he needed catalysts for his spells, and just in case he needed to defend himself if things got out of hand. Not that it would matter, none of this mattered after all you can't get water out of a stone, and he was very much a stone. Still, he didn't want to disappoint his family, and a such he was going to give it his all. Put everything that he had into this and fully focus on gaining what little bit of power that he could actually gain from all this.

That would make his dad happy, right?

Aaaaaand it was finally eight! Right on time, a young man clearly dressed and prepared for some seriously hard work showed up in the Sternritter training grounds. This must be him thought Victoria, her silver blue eyes analyzing him from head to toe, scanning for any peculiarities that might set off alarm bells in her head, as well as to just get a measure of who he is. Average height, a bit taller than her; physically fit, though hardly a body builder. At least at first glance he had the basics necessary to train, though how much progress he makes would depend more on his mind than body.

When Daniel eventually made his way over to her, Victoria smiled a gentle smile and reached her right hand out to shake his and greeted the young man "Victoria Masters, Sternritter Coordinator. You must be Daniel Cross." And with that she dropped her hand back to her side and continued speaking "I have to admit, I was surprised to receive a letter from your father. I've only been in the Vandenreich for a year or so, after all. But I'm happy to help however I can. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Daniel?" With a voice as sweet as honey, and a kind smile, it was clear Victoria's words were as sincere as they could be.

A Sternritter coordinator? Really? His dad had thrown him to the wolves and as best as he was trying to hide it, a bit of his anxiousness was showing. He wasn't intimidated as much as he was kind of surprised that his dad would go as far to enlist the aid of someone with clearly better things to do. He tried to compose himself as best he could as he shook her hand gently, but earnestly as he began to wonder just what type of hellacious training his father had signed him up for. She was a Sternritter, so more than likely this training was going to be something he couldn't even fathom in terms of difficulty. An audible sigh escaped his lip as he realized just how much of a disappointment he was going to be if he didn't match up to the standard set by his new trainer.

He would have to give it his all, even if his all wasn't that good to begin with.

"Pleasure to meet you and sorry my dad dragged you into this. You shouldn't have to waste time on a guy like me who doesn't have much to show for being a Quincy."

He said honestly as he let go of her hand and put it back to his side, listening attentively as she continued on speaking. She was at least polite and seemed sincere, it made it even worse that he felt he was wasting her time.

"Not as surprised as me I would say. My dad wants the next head of the house to be strong enough to defend himself and clearly he finds me lacking. How much did my dad's letter detail about my predicament? Did he cover how my Quincy abilities are immature and lack power outside of my spellcraft?"

Daniel gestured to the many cylinders on his belts to showcase about the only thing his father chose to recognize about him.

"Sorry, I tend to get a bit frustrated with my own lack of progress...you are asking about me on a personal level as opposed to an ability level, I presume? Well, before I was forced to come to the City of Lights at my father's behest, I enjoyed live streaming, and entertaining people for a living. I made quite an impact in that regard, but clearly not big enough to get out of my father or my brother's shadow."

Daniel said with a bit of anger in his voice as he looked down a bit and then shook his head, now was not the time to be down on himself, and to remember the 'training' he had with his father before leaving the states to come here. Now was the time to focus up and deal with what was in front of him and what was in front of him was a beautiful, yet powerful woman who was probably going to kick his ass with some rather difficult training. He would deal with it, he had to, and then maybe he could go back to being free again once he didn't meet expectations.

It was obvious to Victoria this young man wasn't, at least in this moment, all that confident in himself. He could just be naturally reserved, but after having a child of her own she'd developed a bit of an extra instinct for this kind of thing. She continued greeting him with a smile after their handshake finished, though it began to fade as he confirmed his lack of confidence by speaking lowly of himself. She stood in silence as he spoke, not wanting to interrupt any of his thoughts.

To answer his question, Victoria took the letter back out and glanced down at it before speaking "His letter doesn't say anything too specific, just that he feels you're unprepared for the dangers that have appeared in the world. He wants me to train you as I would any other Sternritter." After answering she folded the letter back up and put it in her back right pocket.

Okay, so he lacks confidence and would probably rather live a quieter life without worrying about the sort of thing that brought him here. How to approach this situation? Victoria thought about how she would've encouraged Franklyn, but shook the thought from her head; though young, Daniel is still a grown man dealing with entirely different pressures.

"Before we begin, I want to stress what's most important here is you. Not your father, brother, or anyone else. I'm here to help you, Daniel. Now, what if anything have you been trained in before? Not just Quincy skills either, anything at all."

"Train me like a Sternritter? Yep, that sounds like something my father would request."

He reminded himself that his dad tended to go overboard with most things, but at this point he had no way of turning down any sort of aid that could be given. After all, when in Rome do as the Romans do. It was clear that she could train him probably better than his own father could, but you can't get blood from a stone. He was only so talented, he only had so much potential, and he doubted that she could pull much more out of him than he already had. His skills were more suited for civilian life, at least in the way he viewed it, and though he did have enough talent in the arts to be able to perform some moves, he was no where near at talented as a soldier of the Vandenreich.

Victoria began to speak about what really mattered which was himself, in terms of improving that is, and he mulled over her question at the end a little bit at the end. She was probably doing this to gauge just how rough she could be with him and just how much he already had in his bag of tricks. He nodded his head and then began to talk about himself.

"I have a general level of fitness, I run, lift weights, and try to keep in shape and good health. I feel like it is important to have a good lifestyle and to have a good lifestyle, you need to at least be able to be fit enough to live. As far as Quincy techniques go...once again I have a general understanding, but I excel in spellcraft, and by excel, its more like its slightly better than my other Quincy skills. Intellectually, I'm a quick study, but that is because I like to read, and I generally love to learn new things as to broaden my knowledge on multiple subjects."

He put a finger to his chin, trying to think of anything else he could list off for his instructor, and then nodded his head again.

"I also like to make other people happy? I don't know if that is a skill, but I generally try to adapt to make others around me feel good about themselves or the things they are doing. I guess you could call me a 'people pleaser"?"

He didn't really have much else to say, but he hoped that this list of things would give her some kind of way to proceed forward with him. He needed to get stronger, if only a little to ease his father's concerns, and to, by default, make himself feel safer.

As Daniel spoke, his would-be mentor began walking in a small circle around him with a hand on her chin, her eyes looking the young man up and down. It was as he said, he appeared in decent physical shape but didn't have much Reiatsu to speak of, and she suspected he was basically a newbie in everything else. Definitely under-prepared for the rigors of Sternritter training. His listing of personality traits as facets of his abilities was intresting to Victoria as it was not the answer she was typically given to this question.

After ruminating on the canvas she'd been given, Victoria came to a stop in front of Daniel and placed her hands on her hips in a relaxed stance. "If you care about helping others, you've come to the right place. Here in the Vandenreich we fight for our brothers and sisters standing shoulder to shoulder with us. What you need to do is figure out what you want to fight for, otherwise you'll never make it. You need something to drive you when you can barely stand, something to lift you back to your feet and get you moving forward again."

With introductions over, Victoria opted to test the young Quincy a bit to get a better idea of his abilities. "If you've been trained before, I assume that means you have a Spirit Weapon? If it's ranged..." Victoria pointed at a round target about twenty feet away ...I want you to hit that target, directly in the center."

She laid out what it meant to be a member of the Vandenreich at his feet and talked about brotherhood and fighting for the person standing side by side with you. It was a romanticized vision of what organization she worked for, but it was to be expected of someone who had claimed the ranks, and became an organizer of one of their most prestigious groups within the faction. To Daniel, the Vandenreich were the people who had taken his brother away from his family, and had cared little to tell them as to how or why it had happened. All his family got was a cold body to put into the earth and he gained the responsibilities that were slowly becoming a noose around his neck.

Still, that wasn't Victoria's problem, hell it probably wasn't even the current regime of the Vandenreich's problem either. No, everything was his problem now, and he silently chuckled realizing the futility of it all. Sooner or later he would probably be forced into joining this faction, it was only a matter of time till his old man demanded it of him, and would demand only excellence. That was who his father was and it was who he was to be modeled after. Daniel would have to give up his own passions to make other's happy, to make other wishes that his family had come true, and while it had bothered him quite a bit during the beginning of this trip to the City, it just didn't faze him much anymore. Liltotto had told him not to stress this shit and he was going to do just that. He was going to be himself for as long as he could and put off being a "Cross" till later. That was at least the game plan, he still needed to execute.

"Yeah, fighting for others is a good thing, and needless conflict is not. At least it seems that is something that the Vandenreich and I can agree on."

She made mention of what he wanted to fight for and at the moment he was coming up with a blank. While he appreciated people fighting the good fight so to speak, he just didn't take much interest in fighting. Fighting was bloody and savage, there was never an in-between. He just never saw himself actively seeking a fight or being forced to enter into a fight, he had always believed that there were more powerful beings who could stop conflict much more effectively than a young man with no natural talent. But, it was clear that one day that he might have to fight, and he decided to put on the back burner what his reason for fighting would be.

"Hit the target in the center? Got it!"

He gave her an enthusiastic smile and turned to look at the target twenty feet away. He gave her a glance and then spoke again, trying his best to let her in on just what he had been working on under the hood.

"I still don't have a complete grasp on how this weapon works, but Liltotto has helped me a bit to understand something..."

Stopping mid-sentence he summoned, Azurblauer Spatz, a beautiful winged handcrossbow attached to his arm, and then took aim at the ground ten feet in front of the target while taking the stance that Liltotto had taught him. He took a deep breath and then finished his sentence before firing.

"I just need to stop stressing."

The bolt fired, going straight and true, before bouncing off the floor as Daniel's eyes quickly dashed up toward the target. The bolt seemed to follow his line of sight and went swiftly ricocheting off the dirt toward its' target at a violent speed even faster than when it had been shot, piercing it in the neck. A groan escaped his mouth as he then sighed.

"Dead center, Cross...dead center..."

He mumbled to himself rather loudly as he turned to look at Victoria.