Side Stories from Shade Academy

[Thokk_Smash]

This is a general thread for one of the two teams of the Tales from Shade Academy thread. It's for various miscellaneous team-doing stuff that would otherwise clutter up the main IC.

Meeting Alpha: After The Storm

It's been several hours after leaving the razed town. Once they had returned to Shade, they had been busy escorting the villagers to the proper place and making sure 'Cedric' got to the proper authorities. And then there was the debriefings, and questions about the beacon they had found and what they had seen in the village. Muninn got a good chuckle out of the elder Huntsman's phrasing on that last one.

And after that, they had finally been allowed to go to their own devices. The shower was fought over; Estran threw the boys out so she could change in peace; clothes were inspected and put aside for cleaning or mending rips and tears. After some time, soon before Jack and Estran would start to get ready in earnest for their date, Leonard had his Menagerie gather the team back to their dorm.

Leonard is waiting for them, sitting cross-legged on his bed. He is clad in a simple t-shirt and shorts of tasteful fashion despite his lack of sight. It's any of their guess whether he had help picking them out or not. There's a book in his hands, and his fingers fly across the bumps as he speed-reads. "I'll try to keep this brief; I know Jack and Estran have other things on their minds," he starts with a ghost of teasing smile, as if he is unused to joking around.

"I'd just like to give my thoughts first, if that's alright." If no one objects, he continues, "I believe we did well, especially for a battle that was entirely unexpected. And seeing as we have not been a team for long, it is only natural that our level of teamwork is not exemplary. That is, however, the thing we need to work on the most, in my mind."

"I believe it would help to have an official team leader, which is something we have not properly tackled yet. I know we have been going by team NJEL, meaning Nigel is our implied leader. I suppose the first question to ask is, Nigel, do you want to be our team leader?"

His voice is almost painfully clinical, showing none of his own thoughts on the matter, nor showing any untoward judgement. He stares straight forward, but Huginn and Muninn peer at his teammates in turn with curious gazes.

((OOC note: He pronounced NJEL as "angel", not "Nigel".))

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

Nigel rocks back and forward on his feet thinking, smile off his face for a moment.
"Nah... I mean, I can, but I'm not sure how I didn't loose it last mission, probably thinking that if I didn't not attack him immediately I could be responsible for more deaths." There's a shrug.
"In truth, anything with Grim I'll likely be more aggressive than I should be, and you've got a great semblance for leading. You can see... Well maybe not as far, but in all directions and through things! And your focused on helping and, in a way, 'managing' people, I think you'd probably make the best leader... Perhaps even be a LEJeNd of one." Nigel smiles at his pun, moving back and forth on the back of his feet, adding maybe a centimeter to his tiny height. Suddenly his face brightens a little more.
"Or we could keep NJEL, have you lead from the back in name and combat."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Uh, are we sure team leaders are even a thing here? I took a peek at the list last night just 'cause and it didn't say a thing about that. I mean I'm fine if you insist on having one anyways, just, uh... One-two-three-NOT-IT."


Gray Fox Date Night

Incense(*), Wind and Lightning

* Jack's "inspiration" involves candles + Estran Saffron = saffron-scented candles = incense.
[Day of the field trip, ~5:25 PM]

Having just finished his laps around the campus, Jack blows the sweat off of himself before entering Team NJEL's cabin five minutes early (not that he'd actually broken much of a sweat given his preferred method of locomotion).

"You ready yet Es...?"

[Thokk_Smash]

Leonard gives a smile that would have been embarrassed with just a bit more emotion behind it. "Thank you for that," he says, with genuine emotion. With a more impish smile, he says, "I think I'd like team LEJN better, if it's alright with everyone else."

He turns to face Jack, although his eyes still don't focus on the other teen's face. "I suppose an official leader isn't strictly necessary, but having someone to coordinate tactics is important. If I may, Jack: you running off on your own worked out quite well today, but it won't work every time. I know you did it to keep the Grimm from civilians, and I'm not saying you were wrong to do it. But in the future, we should see if we can't come up with a way to incorporate your mobility into a more cohesive team strategy."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack reacts to Leonard's criticism with confusion.

"And which part of 'Fast people fan out, everyone else hold the line' wasn't a coherent strategy?"

[Thokk_Smash]

Meeting Alpha

Jack reacts to Leonard's criticism with confusion.

"Wait, which part of 'Fast people fan out, everyone else hold the line' wasn't a coherent strategy?"

"I never said it wasn't a coherent strategy. I said you weren't wrong. What you did worked out--this time. But you also ran into the thick of a horde of Grimm on your own, cutting yourself off from your team. My communication ability isn't enough that I can keep in contact with all of you at once, especially not if I want to contribute in other ways. If you had gotten exceptionally unlucky and been knocked unconscious, who knows if we would have gotten to you in time."

"I know that that did not happen this time. That doesn't mean it can't happen in the future. Which is why I think coming up with general strategies that take into account our respective abilities is worthwhile. Like, you can still dive into the thick of it like you did today--it just might be good for us all to have an idea of how to still have your back when you do. And yes, some plans will be painfully obvious, as today's was to you. And yes, some strategies may turn out to never be used. But I'd rather be prepared for something that never comes than unprepared for when life slaps you in the face."

[5ColouredWalker]

"Mmm... Not to make your Semblance sound useless for communication, but we might be able to get some combat-headsets... I should have the cash for them Friday but I don't see me getting them until Monday. It'll allow you to use your Semblance to coordinate better with other teams instead of using it in the team as well... As for getting to him, I can jump pretty well, but I'm not that fast, and as we saw with Estran we never know when we could get unlucky."

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Yeah...

Es looked like she was still a little shaken from that encounter with the Grimm.

We could probably come up with more supporting uses for my semblance.

The Date!

Before she'd started getting ready, Es had spent some time tinkering with her weapon. It wasn't the first time she'd done it. In fact she'd spent some time with her weapons nearly every day, ending in her making varying noises of frustration, or throwing whatever tool she'd been using into the nearest wall. Once her daily efforts with her weapon had ended, she'd spent most of the time deciding whether or not to go with a skirt or shorts. Eventually she'd settled on the shorts, deciding it was safer than the skirt. After all, Jack's introductions had blown her tail into an almighty frizz, it wouldn't be too hard for an accidental burst to send everyone around her a view of the fox girl's underwear. After that it had been onto her hair, and then onto her tail until she heard Jack approaching. He wouldn't notice her sneaking past him under her illusion semblance until she dropped it behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

Ready when you are. She smiled.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha


We could probably come up with more supporting uses for my semblance.

"Oh, you have one of those too? Wait, of course you do, everyone does. What it is exactly? Normally I'd try to guess but after 'talking Aura birds' who the heck knows any more."


Gray Fox Date Night

As soon as Jack turns around his eyes widen and scan up and down Estran and he lets out a long whistle.

"Well hey there foxy, looks like someone prettied up for tonight. Hope you don't mind if that makes one of us."

To Jack's credit, at the very least he neither looks nor smells like he'd spent a good part of the day running around the desert, though his hair seems a little more wind-blown even than usual. Whether he's wearing the same clothes as before or if he just has more than one of the same outfit is harder to tell.

"Anyways no sense in wasting any time, let's be off, I think I know where the place is but you can check your scroll if you want. It's called 'A Wok in the Shade...' I think. I was in a hurry so it was kind of a blur."

----------

Among the first things Estran will notice is that Jack's idea of "walking with someone" leaves a bit to be desired. Sure, he never gets too far away to talk to her, and he certainly averages out to right next to her, but that's kind of like saying that on average the tide is in the middle.

"...The way my parents tell it I was born running, which I guess would explain a lot..."

"...Needless to say that made me a lot of friends but their parents were not happy when they found out..."

"...And then Aunt Star says..."

"...Pro tip: don't insist on trying the biggest gun at the range when you're 80 pounds and shorter than the gun is..."

"...As you can imagine, my parents turned on the child lock pretty fast after that..."

"...Sadly she kind of never spoke to me again after that, but it was worth a shot, right?...

"...That was definitely the last time I challenged Aunt Star to a fight... Okay, maybe more like the sixth-to-last time... Seventh? I've never actually thought to count..."

"...Not sure why the principal was so surprised, really, my grades were certainly good enough..."

Eventually, just as it seems like Estran has surely heard her date's entire biography, the restaurant comes into sight.

"Hey, there it is! Just where I thought it'd be give or take a block or two. Anyways, that's enough about me, what's your story?"

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

My semblance is...

Es holds up her hand and a small flame appears in her palm before quickly changing to a crystal of ice, a crackling spark, then shifting into a snake that slithers up her arm and settles into an armoured shoulderpiece.

Illusions. And they're pretty realistic too.

She demonstrates this by knocking on the shoulderpiece, producing a metallic ringing as she does.

I'm pretty sure I could have someone convinced they're injured by something I bring up, though it wouldn't last if they saw through the illusion.

Date Night

Es smiles and listens to Jack's story. Then he asked the question she was dreading. Her story? The prank that got her mother killed? Her overwhelming guilt? Her rash, impulse decision to become a huntress in some desperate measure to forgive herself? She almost froze on the spot when he asked, but she kept moving.

Me? N...Nothing interesting really. The whole following in my parents footsteps thing.

She tried to force a convincing smile, but it probably wasn't very convincing at all.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack stares enthusiastically as Estran demonstrates and explains her Semblance.

"That... Is... SWEET. How big of an illusion can you make? How fast can they move? Can you make a whole person? Do they fool animals and Grimm or just people?"

The 15 ft3 you get at Illusion 4 is a bit more than enough to make one average-sized human.

Gray Fox Date Night

Jack raises an eyebrow.

"That sounds plenty interesting to me considering you're a Huntress and all, following in my parent's footsteps would have meant being something boring like an accountant. Actually hold that thought for a sec, I'm gonna go make sure there's room for us."

The young Huntsman zooms ahead close enough to see that A Wok in the Shade is a fair-sized bar-type setup, with four seats currently free. He picks one out for himself and then waves to Estran to catch up and sit next to him before he starts talking again.

"Okay so where were we? Oh yeah, parents' footsteps and all that good stuff. C'mon, tell me, it sounds cool."

Jack smiles in anticipation, clearly expecting Estran to oblige (and even more clearly oblivious to the signs of pain she exhibited when he brought the subject up).

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

I've never really pushed it to it's limits, so I don't know if I could make a person... It definitely fools Grimm though. I kinda attracted a bunch of creeps to me in the desert.

Date Night

As Jack starts talking again there's a moment when Es thinks she's gotten away with it. It wasn't until after she sat down and Jack asked her to keep going that she realised she probably wasn't getting out of this one.

It's... Not all that cool. My parents met at shade while they were in training. Settled down in a small village near the other side of Vacuo. I was always getting into trouble with my semblance while I was growing up. Being able to make illusions was great for playing pranks.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"Oh man, you too? I remember Aunt Star unlocked my Aura and helped me figure out my Semblance for my tenth birthday and after that I knocked over so much stuff messing around with it."

Jack chuckles to himself at the memory.

"Of course ten lien says your folks took it a lot better than mine."

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha
Nigel nods, thinking, before quickly interjecting.
"Before we forget the other one of us, my semblance is... Short version is that I can put people and machines I can see to sleep as long as I concentrate on them, with a slight chance of putting myself to sleep... It's not very potent but I'm fiddling with dust augmentation. Let's just say Shock dust was interesting, though Gravity is promising." Nigel shrugs.
"That said, I'm still experimenting with Fecug, Dust Ratios and which ones I'm willing to subject myself to... Oh, and yes, it affects Grimm, and sleeping Beowolves are surprisingly cute. But don't expect me to send a Deathstalker to snooze... I could try it on you lot so you can get a feel for how strong it is."

[metakirb]

Date Night

You'd lose that bet... It was a few months ago...

She sighed. No getting out of it now.

I don't remember what I was trying to do. Honestly I don't want to. Anyway, my Mum's weapons were broken... They used to fire each individual claw out on a chain, and they'd link into a bow.

She'd started shaking a little. Fighting back her tears, but it was obvious from her voice that she's struggling.

The next morning there was a Grimm attack... And my Mum... She... She...

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

Jack grins mischievously.

"Is that a challenge? Go ahead then, hit me with your best shot."


Gray Fox Date Night

The smile falls from Jack's face as he realizes what Estran is getting at.

"Oh. Um... Wow. I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what to say to that. If you wanna change the subject or something, then... Hey, look, the menus! We're here to eat after all, shouldn't just sit here and keep the staff waiting..."

By the time he finishes speaking he looks both pained and embarrassed and keeps giving Estran sidelong glances as he tries to read, as if his childish curiosity and desire to prod further are battling it out with what little sense he has.

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Sure, I bet you'll barely notice."
With that, Nigel's eyes settle on Jack, there's a change about Nigel as he does, something Leonard would remember from his focus on 'Cedric'.
And then, Jack suddenly feels really cold, like he's walked outside on a snowy day or as if he's walked into a room with the AC cranked down to 'Freeze my balls off'. Others will note the sudden appearance of a single snowflake on both Jack and Nigel's shoulder.


DC 15 Fortitude save. +5 to the save if you have great endurance or otherwise bonuses to resisting temperature extremes/cold. On a failure, you become fatigued, then exhausted, then fall unconscious. The effect is cumulative, but you also get a save every round until unconscious to try and shake it. Nigel will maintain the effect until Jack calls him off, so roll as many saves as you want.
Also, the condition reverses as soon as Nigel drops his focus.

I'm going to make 5 saves /30 seconds worth now. More if you make more.
Nigel's Save: [roll0]
Nigel's Save: [roll1]
Nigel's Save: [roll2]
Nigel's Save: [roll3]
Nigel's Save: [roll4]

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Bear-ly notice?"

Jack grins at his own joke just as a wave of exhaustion hits him like a truck and a layer of frost forms over his clothes. He yawns loudly and starts shivering before speaking again, though his speech itself doesn't seem to slow any.

"Gotta say that definitely packs a punch, I already feel like I could use some hot chocolate and a thick blanket right about now. Hm, I wonder if movement helps any..."

Jack starts running, skating, and leaping around at random in a vain attempt to warm himself, eventually returning close to his original spot once it seems futile.

"So how long can you keep this up and is this as bad as it gets, because all things considered so far it's far from fun but still seems pretty bear-abl—"

At that moment he promptly falls to the ground, fast asleep and covered in snow.

Resistance checks were rolled here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21068202&postcount=8).

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel raises an eyebrow as he cut's off his semblance, himself having gained only a few handfuls to dust his shoulders and around his feet.
"Musta gotten lucky."

With that, Jack immediately wakes, and the snow coating him immediately begins melting in the desert heat, with Nigel immediately brushing off that covering him before he gets soaked.

"Hey Jack, welcome to the land of the living, and indefinitely unless it sends me to sleep... I normally keep it running at a very low level to keep me comfortable.

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Anyway. Anything else to go over besides showing off semblances?

Date Night

Sorry...

Es takes a deep breath and closed her eyes. Wait for the feeling to pass... think about something else...

Her eyes opened and her smile had returned. The mask she wore so often.

Anything look good on there?

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Well, we said tactics to... You can do illusions, can you hide things or just cover them up? Because if nothing else there's a tactic... You can provide us cover as we close to things, or cover while I try to send something to sleep before attacking... Or just provide us cover if we get in a fight with people using guns... Jack's fast, so he could get ino flanking positions while Leonard keeps us in contact, or possibly send his friends to help him at the expense of not having them here to help us."

[metakirb]

Meeting Alpha

Yeah, I should be able to do that easily.

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Sounds fine to me, any plans I come up myself are going to be more heat-of-the-moment things anyways."


Gray Fox Date Night

"Oh, uh, yeah, definitely. I was thinking this miso with pork and scallops here personally, or maybe the miso with pork and chicken, or the pork broth with chicken, or... Actually I think this is called not being able to decide. Maybe I'll just have whatever you're having?"

Jack smiles back, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

"So what brings you to Shade anyways? Wait never mind you already answered that. Following in your parents' footsteps, don't want to talk about it 'cause your mom's dead, yada-yada. Ooh, any siblings by the way? I've got none, probably 'cause if you ask my parents their favorite joke is that I had the energy of three kids by myself."

Suddenly he looks up and scratches his chin.

"Wait, did I just change the subject back a little? Hm... What do you think?"

[metakirb]

Date Night

Umm... Miso with Pork and Chicken sounds good.

As Jack continues to talk and once again brings up her parents she seems to just... blank it out this time.

Nah. Just me. No siblings.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"Go Only Child Club."

Jack raises a fist to bump with her.

"...Not that having a brother or sister or two doesn't sound like it would have been fun. You win some you lose some I guess."

He proceeds to tell the staff his and Estran's orders, with Jack following through on his idea of getting the same as her.

"So, um... See a lot of movies? I'm mostly into action stuff myself, especially anything about Huntsmen and Huntresses. Man, I can not get enough of those, call it study material I guess?"

Jack gives a joking smile.

[metakirb]

Date Night

Action movies are great, Yeah.

She smiles and starts listing off a bunch of her favourites.

[5ColouredWalker]

Meeting Alpha

"Hmmm... Ok, that works... Well since Jack's more of a heat of the moment guy and the two of you are going for a date, how about the two of us-" Nigel's left hand moves between Leonard and himself "-Skedadle to the Library or something were we can come up with some ideas. We've also got combat classes and such where we'll be able to get a better idea of each other's abilities, so we can spend a little coming up with tactics and names to shout when we need to set one off."

[Sith_Happens]

Meeting Alpha

"Sounds good to me. That mean we're done here?"


Gray Fox Date Night

"Ooh, good choices."

The rest of the date goes well enough, at least as far as Jack can tell. He spends the time in rapid alternation between eating his food; prattling on about movies, video games, and other such inane topics; prodding Estran to contribute to the conversation about as much as she feels comfortable doing plus a pinch more; and of course carefully dancing around the topic of her family (if by "carefully dancing around" one means "desperately backpedalling whenever he accidentally gets too close to the subject"). During the walk back to Shade he drifts back and forth and side to side and in circles the same way as before, attempting to keep the conversation going and filling in the gaps with a seemingly endless stream of anecdotes and episodes from his own life...

Until the last few minutes of the walk, at which point he peters out and becomes uncharacteristically quiet, as if he's finally run out of things to say. Except there's obviously some other reason given how antsy and nervous he starts to look, and the way his oscillations about Estran's position begin to subtly speed up. Finally, at the campus gates, he drifts directly in front of her, turns to face her, and stops; to all appearances he seems to be taking a lot of effort to not bolt and leave her in the dust.

"Okay, super-duper really sorry and don't be mad but I just gotta ask or it's going to drive me crazy forever. What... happened exactly?"

[metakirb]

Date Night

Es had been about to ask if he was alright just before he stopped in front of her.

No... It's alright... I owe you that much after how much I've said.

She took a deep breath.

I... Think I've told you most of it. I did.... something... to my Mother's weapon, and then the next time Grimm attacked... The only thing that came back was her weapons. I don't think I missed any big details.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

Jack's eyes narrow as he takes on a pained expression and it takes a few seconds for him to begin speaking.

"Okay, um... Yeah, I don't even know where to start..."

[metakirb]

Date Night

It's fine. Really.

She attempted a smile again, but even Jack would be able to tell it was forced.

I've... accepted what I've done. All I can do is try to make up for it now.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

Jack inspects Estran curiously for a few moments before looking quite concerned.

"...You sure about that, 'cause you don't look very 'accepted it' right now or at least not in a good way. If something's wrong then you can tell me and I'll see what I can do, honest."

[metakirb]

Date Night

Es looks a little surprised for a moment, before her smiles turns genuine.

Thank you...

She wipes at the tears starting to form.

I don't know what anyone can do... but... Thank you. For being there.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

Before even thinking about what he's doing, Jack slides up to Estran, takes her face in his hands, gently lifts it so they're making eye contact, and wipes away a tear.

"Hey now, no need to start cryin' on me. Or maybe there is in which case keep at it and forget I said that. Anyways all I've got right now is: you didn't do anything. Okay well technically you did and given the later circumstances it certainly didn't turn out the best way, but..."

Jack takes one of his hands off of Estran and knocks himself in the head a few times with it.

"Look, I'll admit I have no idea what it's like to lose someone but I do know how parents work. Your mom had a busted weapon, sure, but when the Grimm came calling it was her choice to go out there anyways, because she loved you and wanted to protect you no matter what because that's what mothers do. And you know what? Even if it cost her her life I'm sure that she went down smiling because protecting you is exactly what she did, and I'm sure wherever she is now she's watching you carry on her legacy and cheering you on because that's also what mothers do. The only thing you're guilty of is s*** timing at worst, and even then who the hell could possibly have known? So don't act like it's your fault because it's not. She gave her life for you because she wanted to, and I'm positive that if she could go back and do it all again the exact same way she wouldn't hesitate for a second."

[metakirb]

Date Night

Jack's initial movements bring a little bit of blush to Estran's face. His words almost bring her to punching him in the face, but then...

It was everything she'd needed to hear. OR at least some of what she needed to hear anyway. There wasn't any stopping her tears now. But they were for a very different reason.

Thank you...

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"No problem, was just the first thing that popped into my head is all."

Not totally sure what to do from here, Jack decides on a hug, staying quiet like that for a good minute and eventually starting to get a little teary-eyed himself.

"...Hey I have an idea, let's go back out and get dessert. Find an ice cream place or something, on me. It's the least I can do after bringing this up in the first place."

[metakirb]

Date Night

Es happily returns the hug.

That sounds great.

[Sith_Happens]

Gray Fox Date Night

"Great, then we're off!"

Jack lets go of Estran and nearly starts to speed back out through the gates before remembering that his date is rather slower than him.

"...After you."

If she pays attention as they walk once again, Estran will notice that Jack hovers much closer to her this time around.

[END SCENE*]

If asked afterward by Nigel and/or Leonard how things went, Jack merely replies "Fine, I think."
[* Unless Estran has any ending thoughts you'd like to add, in which go ahead and do so and I'll edit this part out.]

[Dodgeson]

Just about to get started on the rather important task of extracting information from the White Fang goon, Sky looked unamused at the sudden appearance of Muninn on his shoulder, but decided to go ahead anyhow. It was not social approval that he was after here, and a lone witness to this was still something he was willing to stomach.

"My job, or one step of it anyway. Excuse me" he snarked to the familiar as he was apparently successful in shaking Weiss awake. He doubted that the man was going to just co-operate, but it was good to try anyhow: at least that way nobody could blame him for not trying to get through this with least pain possible, for either party.

"Morning. You are currently away from your allies, weapons, and likely suffering from splitting headache thanks to Aura exhaustion. I heard you namedrop a certain person, so I dragged you away from the mess at the convention" he said patiently, his icy blue eyes focused intently on the White Fang member. "Where is Chro?"

The terrorist groans with the effort of turning their head one way and then the other to confirm their new location, transportation via spacial warping wasn't something you encountered everyday after all. They were grateful to have still have their mask to shield their eyes from the glare of the Sun shining down from them.

Given their current condition it was no surprise that Weiss chose to keep the response simple, turning their head to look up at Sky they responded with a quiet voice of disinterest, as if he'd just offered to make them tea or tried to hand them a pamphlet. "I have no idea and even if I did what makes you think I'd tell you anything?"

----

(For the purposes of continuity this takes place a week after VICE)

It was Saturday morning, a time to sleep in and relax for the students of Shade Academy, unless they were taking optional classes or indeed if they were being hauled in to the Headmistress's office for shooting their mouth off about strange goings on in the desert. Yes, it hadn't been a great week for human/faunus relations, what with the backlash from the VICE attack but stirring the incident out in the desert in to the mix and both sides had more reason then usual to get confrontational and when both sides were heavily armed, aura powered teenagers, confrontations tended to get a little heated.

The Headmistress rested her feet on the desk and slowly puffed from the long tube connected to her hookah, filling her shack with clouds of acrid green smoke that certainly hadn't been chosen because of the effect it would have on certain student's sensitive senses. No, that would be petty and utterly unbefitting someone of Nessa's station.

"Okay Nigel, lets here your side of this first. Why did running your mouth about crazy glowing Grimm seem like a good idea?"

[Grim ranger]

Oh, they always just HAD to select that hard way, didn't they? Nobody could just get on with things without threats that really hit the nerve it seemed like. Well, he had given this sort of situation some thought, and had concluded on approach that was likely to, if not work, at least give him considerable satisfaction. Perhaps he had a problem when it came to White Fang, but it was not like most of them would not deserve grand majority of things many people considered doing to them.

Being a genocidal terrorist was funny like that: people were much less restrained in violently showing their disapproval towards one. Funny really.

"I am just going to begin by explaining to you why I do this, so you will understand something about your situation" Sky began calmly, leaning onto his unfolded spear and looking down at Weiss. "I have taken part in protests held by White Fang. The REAL White Fang, not the group of pretenders trying to wave a stolen flag as their own. I believe in idea of Faunus equality. I believe in it so strongly, as a matter of fact, that seeing people like you...upsets me. Violently."

Allowing a small, dry smile onto his face, he let out a short snort as he continued. "Who I am after here is not you, however. It is Chro. And it is up to you how much of an obstacle you will make yourself. I don't CARE if you break out of shoddy prison around here in a week: I don't care if you go back to yelling death to all humans in your misguided attempt at making things better...or rather furiously stroking your own ego. What I do care about is finding that man...and I will get it done, one way or another."

Fixing the man with dull look showing very little in way of compassion, he continued. "Tell me where, and I will just get you to jail in Shade. At least you will have friendly faces around, I am sure. If you decide to clam up, however, I will get all information I can about your identity. I will then use it to get your family, friends and everything you value into as much trouble as I possibly can. Then I will send you to Atlas, and I believe you may be aware of how THEY process members of White Fang. And the funniest thing about it all? If I get nothing, I will repeat the process with every White Fang member on the continent if I must. One by one. And I won't care, because you all are nothing but stepping stones for me. So how is it going to be?"

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel would have welcomed a weak of peace... Instead however, he couldn't focus on school work and side projects to his preference, he barely had an even moment to tinker with Fecug... He did get to practice his glare though.


When Nessa asked her question Nigel actually looked confused for a moment, meanwhile internally wishing he hadn't started getting used to the smells of Shade enough to start occasionally forgoing his noseplugs.
"I think I mentioned them... Once. I think I mentioned it because it was weird but no one was interested in that given that they were only marginaly harder to put down. It wouldn't surprise me if someone made a note to take them seriously because of it though... That said thinking on it it might be worth mentioning them more cause it could act as a warning. Though I doubt that's the real question you want to ask."

No, certain students, Nigel isn't a moron who's barely able to squeeze two brain-cells together. He couldn't be if he wanted to take a double load working on obtaining enough Aura mastery to be a functional Dust Mage while working on a one of a kind plasma weapon.

"I talked about the Beacon and 'Cedric' because he wiped a major village off the map that's less than an hour away from Shade. People deserve to know what happened and spitting on the memory of the people there by claiming they succumbed to negativity or bandits instead of treachery of the worst kind isn't something I could do, even if it was just a bunch of wall rats... Though I might have been a little pissed the first time I mentioned it."
Of course, Nigel can't get pissed, without of course being drunk or wearing his mask, and given that he happened to have run out of booze on Sunday evening before he spoke of it, pissed holds a bit of a double meaning there...

[Dodgeson]

The terrorist barely seems to react to Sky's threats, though between the full face mask and their current level of exhaustion you can hardly blame them. Instead they responded in the same quietly bored tone of voice they'd maintained even in the heat of battle.

"Your threats are meaningless, you have no idea who I am." They say matter of factly, threats of physical harm especially meant nothing to a hardened member of the terrorist cell.

Weiss definitely tensed up when he mentioned family

----

"Right." Nessa drawls through the smoke, clearly unconvinced by Nigel's reasoning.

"So you thought the best way to honour their memory was to give people like Crom and his goons more ammunition? And if that last bit was about your drinking, please don't mention it, if I know I have to do something."

[Grim ranger]

Shrugging remarkably casually for someone apparently stymied by the bored refusal, Sky calmly pulled out his scroll. "Don't worry, we are getting to that" he answered simply, grabbing the Grimm mask right off the face of the terrorist before snapping a picture of their face before they had even as much as chance to flinch properly.

Uploading the picture through his scroll to set up his virtual inquiries, Sky calmly hummed as he worked, his fingers dancing along the transparent screen as he sent the word out to his contacts. "Admittedly I am not the most naturally intimidating person. But see, in this day and age, I don't NEED to be. I can ruin your life easily enough with this. Let's see here..."

Making Well Informed check to figure out everything there is to know about our mystery faunus. Real name, domicile, family, friends, anything they could ever care about in any way and everything that might be a weakness.

[roll0] (Investigate)

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel's eyes widen a moment in surprise before he calmly sidesteps the matter.

"What drinking? I limit myself to water and soda." If spiked soda counts as soda.
"As for the White Fang Fandom which has me really question the recruitment practices of Shade whenever I think about them, their choice of use for the information is their own. I'm sure I could find more than a few students within a few seconds who've heard me voice my thoughts on how mind-numbingly stupid they are to openly support a terrorist organization that thinks Faunus could win rights with Violence given the numerical disparity... Besides, this is a Huntsman Academy, I'm sure everyone here can handle themselves and we've all got Aura to cover us if things get out of hand."

Nigel then shrugs.
"I also hear they're getting revenge in spades after the idiocy at VICE... The way people've been treating Sky's been a right barrel of laughs though... I bet you it'll all cool down soon enough and I'll be smelling lust more than anger in a week or so."

[Dodgeson]

Pulling the mask of Weiss's face reveals a distinctly female face sporting a pair of fuzzy round ears that were previously held down by it. "Give that back!" She yells, her features contorted with rage and lunges at Sky only to fall back with a cry of pain, clutching a plasma induced wound that her heavily depleted Aura hadn't gotten round to beginning to heal.

Sky's contacts are quick to reply, the woman's name is Weiss Barin, owner of Barin's Books. A local bookstore that reopened 6 months ago following a fire that claimed the lives of the two previous owners, Mr and Mrs Barin (though it was suspected that the crime was racially motivated nothing ever came of it). Following the incident she is now the sole care giver to her younger siblings, a pair of twin girls, Rosa and Blau.

----

Nessa ignored the jab at her recruitment policies, turning people like Crom away was a sure way to lead them in to the arms of the actual White Fang instead of hopeful either growing out of it or having it beaten out of them by people who push back, either was good in her book.

"Okay, first of all? Creepy. Second, of course this is all going to blow over, that isn't the point. Look, bad things happen in Desert all the time, whole settlements can just vanish over night." She pauses for a second, taking another much needed pull and sighing "That thing with the beacon was weirder than most but that doesn't change anything. You don't want to 'spit on their memory'? Stirring up anger and resentment isn't the way to do it."

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel accidentally snorts when Nessa calls his ability to pick up pheromones quickly, something he rather quickly regrets as he'd been carefully breathing in his mouth and out his nose (Fortunately, having a human looking nose meant that it mostly worked to keep the smell down), which caused him to interrupt her with a couple of sneezes.

When Nessa finishes her speech, Nigel looks thoughtful for a while, before shaking his head.
"Well, how do you suggest I go about it then?"

[Grim ranger]

Looking from the scroll to Weiss and back, Sky couldn't help but feel distinctly bit surprised. Of course he knew that there were bound to be people with sob stories in White Fang: sob stories were often how violent, genocidial extremist groups got started in the first place after all. But this still regardless changed things.

Although Weiss was someone who loathed him and whom he loathed right back, and sad circumstances never excused joining terrorist group, Sky still found himself refraining from simply going with the idea of just making good of his threats immediately. Although there might be no bridges to be found here, he could at least try, useless as the effort might be. Because no matter his goal, he was not going to hurt kids. There had to be a very strict line somewhere.

Placing his scroll away once more, Sky began speaking in slow, measured tone. "Your name is Weiss Barin, former daughter of bookstore owner, currently in same profession yourself right here in the city. Radicalized after racist scumbags burned down the store..." he said, his tone growing quieter towards the end. "Lost your parents like I lost a friend of mine: to racist scumbags. Really makes one think somewhat."

Keeping a ready grip on his spear in case he'd have to defend himself in a hurry should Weiss try to lunge at him again, Sky continued. "I am not going to lecture you any more about extremism and the lack of benefits thereof. I know I won't convince you. But instead I am going to say this: they need you. And unless I can be sure you are not a danger to the city and my team, I have to send you away to Atlas. We both know that is going to end up in scared kids forced to fend for themselves."

"And before you even START to consider it" he continued sharply before the woman could make any sudden movements "don't. I am not talking about them to intimidate you. I am talking because we both know it is the damn truth, and no matter what I do to stop you from killing people, I will NOT do that to kids if I can avoid it. So I am going to make you an offer. Put me in touch with Chro. I don't care HOW: scroll, lead me to that base, train a carrier raven, whatever. After you do, as said, I don't care about one White Fang member, and I have seen enough broken families already. You can go back to managing your bookstore and we can both note nothing ever occurred."

[Dodgeson]

If looks could kill Sky would be a smouldering heap as he raises the topic of Weiss's sisters, the only thing stopping her from lunging at him right now was her the wound in her gut that she was still clutching. Still that did mean that she was forced to listen to his offer and from she was sitting right now it was very tempting. Getting to walk away and all she had to do was introduce him to Chro? She wasn't all that enamored with the White Fang anyway.

"Chro isn't part of our cell, he only turns up to give us orders." She explains "If you give me your Scroll number, I can send you a message next time he shows his face."

----

"You remember them." She paused to take another fortifying pull, letting out another lungful of biting green smoke "And then when you fall and falter and think you can't do any more, you keep going so that nobody else has to suffer like they did."

Standing from her chair Nessa waves a hand in a shooing motions at the young Faunus "Now scram, I've got poker tonight and I need to go pick up dip. The chief of police has deep pockets. Oh and before you think you're getting off with a speech and a sneezing fit, you're on early morning kitchen duty for the next month."

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel nods once to Nessa before rising. In truth, he was already planning on doing something similar... But if that was her way, well... At least he could use them to fuel his way.

And then, before he can leave, she lands the punishment... For the briefest of moments Nigel contemplates doing something other than accepting it, but the Cha'ri didn't raise idiots.
"Well then... At least I'll get to smell the Honey Salmon as it's being cooked."
With that, Nigel ducks out before Nessa can say anything else.

[Grim ranger]

Nodding slightly, Sky looked at her with a bit more respect than before. Although they were still enemies beyond a doubt, considering other options than trying to fight a losing battle was a sound strategic move...Not that he'd given her much choice. At least it served to prove that she was not as fanatic as some of the others, and genuinely cared how her possible departure to jail would affect her loved ones.

Still, it hardly meant that he was going to trust her without reservation.

Opening his scroll up again, he nodded. "I am glad we can agreed on this much at least" he noted, memorizing the number as she told it... But also using the chance to put his scroll to track the location of hers. Being the closest signal around, it was easy to mark and connect to at the moment, and adding in the number would disguise the action sufficiently.

Once he was done, Sky offered his hand to her. "I can take you somewhere close to home. I'd suggest going there and ditching the uniform before getting yourself into hospital. I'd imagine being victim of terrorist attack should be a sufficient excuse."

Making routine Technology check (Skill mastery helps here) to discretely pur Sky's scroll to tracking Weiss', just in case she has the bright idea to try and run from the city.

[Dodgeson]

Weiss took the Huntsman's offered hand and shakily stood up, shaking her head she winced as she moved her other hand of her wound and held it out for Sky to return her mask.

"I'm not going to a hospital, I can sleep this off." She replies, her dull tone slipping slightly to betray concern for her younger siblings "Just take me to my store."

[Grim ranger]

"It's a deal", Sky said as he handed the mask back to her. Before Weiss even knew it, space folded around the two of them once more, leaving them standing in an alley close to her bookstore. "I'll be in touch" he noted, although not unkindly as he let go of her hand, turning about and vanishing once more.

Reappearing at the convention center, Sky adjusted the collar of his shirt and went on to return to his team, giving the two members of it present a small nod. "I think we should talk. Alone."

[Dodgeson]

It's safe to say that the police had a job ahead of them processing not only a convention centre full of White Fang members but eight hunters in training as well. So they can be forgiven for the time it took them to finally take a statement from all of Shade's first years. By the time they got out the police chief, an older man in a meticulously maintained blue uniform was issuing a statement to the assembled press.

"What happened today was unfortunate but thanks to the quick actions of our citizens, nobody was killed despite the actions of the White Fang. Every Faunus that took part in the attack have been apprehended are going to be punished to the fullest extent the law allows." He begins, obviously omitting the fact that one member of the White Fang had simply vanished from the convention center. "And I have already received word that repairing the damage from today's attack will begin within the week. Rest assured we will not be taking the threat of these terrorists in our midst lying down and we will be taking the fight to them. Thank you for your time."

As he turned to head back inside the assembled journalists burst in to questions.

"What do you say to the rumours that the Carpenter Gang were involved in the attack!?"

"How does it feel that your police force had their job done for them by children!?"

And on and on it goes, of course the barrage of questions goes unanswered so one of the reporters and their camera crew tries to flag down some of the kids as they exit the station.

"Hi there." The green haired man called out to them "Godfrey Garnet, Channel 7, how'd you like to headline the evening news?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Cool. I think we're more-or-less wrapped up here," Jason agreed. If he even remembered that Sky had blinked out with one of the bad guys, he didn't show it. Ryuu, though, was appraising the teleporter suspiciously.

I...wasn't entirely sure whether that reporter thing was meant to be regarding us or just a general thing that anyone could respond to, so leaving it be for now.

[5ColouredWalker]

The barrage of questions is one people can't really answer well purely because there's not much time to answer... Though Nigel was internally laughing at the 'All Faunus', given that 3 of the defending people in the attack were Faunus and he didn't see any chains on them...
Sometimes one needed to amuse oneself with the stupid side thought they had.

Of course, that's when Godfrey spoke up, and after a moment Nigel remembered he had slightly more freedom than others as an emancipated minor who was also a trainee-huntsmen.

"Sounds great, it's been a while since I've made the news."
Of course, having made the news before, and eventually spoken on the news, Nigel knows how to stir the pot a little.
"Of course, I'm sure the studio would enjoy to pay for exclusive interviews."

Now to see how many took the bait for a minor bidding war... He didn't need the money himself, but it could be useful. We was going through dust much faster than normal.

[Dorni]

Nicoale rolled her eyes. "And what exactly are you gonna tell them? The epic tale of how you arrived late, spent half the fight ignoring your leader to run around outside, and only rejoined the fight in time to get the finishing blow on a foe who was already half dead?" Nicoale didn't shout, but she made sure her sarcasm was just loud enough for Godfrey to overhear. She didn't care about the glory, but no way was she going to let someone else take all the credit for this.

She turned to address the reporter more fully. "Thank you sir, but we were just doing our jobs." One furry ear rotated to fixate on Sky upon his arrival.

"VICE asked our school to provide security and we did. I'm sure any other huntresses would have done the same." She supposed that was the right thing to say to get this over with quickly. Sky was right that they needed to talk.

[5ColouredWalker]

"What? I'm just making sure you don't get ripped off. Or Jack most likely." You're sure there's others have told you more blatant lies, but you can't remember any recent ones. That said, he seemed to be trying to hide it in looking around quickly to spot the speedster.
"Besides. It's not like I'd need the money anyhow." And back to truth, with Nigel looking cocky as he glances back to the reporter.

[Sith_Happens]

"How does it feel that your police force had their job done for them by children!?"

Jack's ears twitch (figuratively) as he leaves the station and he frowns. There is no part of that question that's okay...

...Which is why he immediately leaps into the spot the police chief was just occupying and leans in slightly towards the nearest microphone.

"Excuse me, I believe you mean 'How did it feel being helped by huntsmen-and-huntresses-in-training.' And I'm seventeen thank you very much."

[Dodgeson]

Nigel's mention of getting paid drew nothing more than a scoff of derision from the reporter, if he wasn't going to play ball then surely one of the other kids would. This assumption was in fact proven seconds later when Jack bounded on to the recently vacated podium, for his part the Police Chief just shook his head, if the kid said something stupid that would be Nessa's problem, not his.

With a target back on the podium the assembled members of the press burst in to questions again.

"What was it like it like in there!?"

"How does it feel to go toe to toe with a terrorist cell and live to tell about it?!"

"Do you have any message for the White Fang!?"

This new burst of activity would of course be the perfect chance for somebody to try and slip away if they were so inclined...

[Sith_Happens]

Meet the Press

"Hang on one at a time. I think you were first..."

As Jack dives headfirst into his impromptu press conference he unconsciously decides that standing in one place to do it just isn't his style. Instead, every few sentences he seems to suddenly slide in one direction or another, randomly alternating between being on the podium or somewhere near any given side of it.

[Assuming those three reporters repeat more or less the same questions when called on/pointed at:]


"What was it like it like in there!?"

"Oh man, pre-tty crazy lemme tell ya'. Not that we didn't have things totally under control I mean; seriously, who the heck thinks attacking a place filled to bursting with huntsmen and huntresses and five minutes' drive from every police station in the city is a good idea, am I right? Guess that just goes to show the White Fang ain't the sharpest bullets in the box even if it turns out they were really there to jack whatever huge gizmo Schnee Corp was supposed to show off today, which by the way, can you say 'irony?'"


"How does it feel to go toe to toe with a terrorist cell and live to tell about it?!"

"To be honest my ribs and shoulder are still kinda sore but it's nothing I can't sleep off. Besides that no biggie, this is literally what I'm going to school for after all."


"Do you have any message for the White Fang!?"

"Gee I don't know, how 'bout 'Knock it off already you aren't even helping?' 'SPECIALLY not the part where you thought it'd be fun for your little ganger friend to mind-zap an innocent protestor into taking a swing at me. Seriously what the hell? PRO tip: if you really want to pretend to give a crap about any faunus besides yourselves then step one is don't intentionally try and trick me into hurting them. Not that I fell for it of course, which by the way, if anyone watching this happens to teach Professional Ethics at Shade that's gotta be worth some extra credit, right? Pretty please? Think about it."

Yep, definitely no way at all that Jack is painting a huge target on his back right now. That would be ridiculous.:smallwink:

[Dorni]

Nicoale took advantage of Jack's distraction to slip back to her team. He'd already tried to get out of his job, abandoned his post, nearly triggered a riot and gotten almost trivially brushed aside in the fight against the White Fang, so it was fitting that he'd end the day by embarrassing himself. She wasn't about stop him and her opportunity to escape slip away.

She approached her team, eyes narrowed at Sky. "You've got some explaining to do."

[Grim ranger]

Nodding to Nicoale as the majority of the team was reunited once again, Sky motioned them to come along. "I suppose I do, don't I. I always did plan to give it if it makes you feel any better: this endeavor is a little bigger than what I can likely handle by myself. But time was bit of the essence back there. Shall we?"

Leading Jason and Nicoale away from reporters, cops and other possible listening ears, Sky began to explain in low tone. "During the fight, I heard that particular White Fanger mention a rather interesting name: name of a person I originally came to this continent for. As the matter is of some importance to me, I took that particular fanger away to have a little interrogation session with them" the atlesian noted, pulling up the tracking program on his Scroll. "Of course since I am lousy at that, I ended up digging at their past and identity instead to force some co-operation, and we reached an agreement. Once that person contacts them again, they will let me know. I consider that worth missing a single White Fang member for."

Stopping once they reached suitably out of the way spot to discuss without interruption, Sky showed his scroll to the pair. "And before there are any doubts as to my ability to make sure they won't get away, I have their face, name, address, names of their family, and scroll under tracking they know nothing about. When it comes to this sort of stuff, I am at least rather thorough."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason followed, nodding along at Sky's explanation. If he felt it at all amiss, it certainly didn't show it. When Sky mentioned the measures he had in place to ensure the Fanger didn't get away, Ryuu let out a, "Heh. Nice." Whether earning Ryuu's approval was a good or bad thing was certainly a matter for debate, but there it was.

"So, this person we're looking for, bad guy or innocent to be rescued? And how do we identify them?" he asked. As always, Jason had no particular reservation and even less question about getting involved in his teammates' matters (though he would have referred to it as "backing them up").

[Dodgeson]

Meet the Press

Flashes go off in the crowd and cameras focus on the hyperactive Huntsman as he proves more than willing to answer questions thrown at him. Pushing his way to the front of the crowd Godfrey launches in to questions of his own.

"Godfrey Garnet here with Channel 7 news, what do you mean by mind-zap? Aren't you worried that you're going to make yourself a target for retaliation by the White Fang or even the city's organised gangs?"

This gets better when you remember Nessa is forwarding the news reports to the other Heads :smalltongue:

[Dorni]

Interlude: The Lay of the Land

The Sun shone brightly down on the beach as it was wont to do in Vacuo, though how much this would be appreciated by a Vacuo native is arguable, especially given the current circumstances. The White Fang gatecrashing VICE had been a major news story and combined with some loudmouth on campus spreading rumors about Humans getting people killed out in the desert with crazy Grimm experiments, people on both sides of the racial divide who wanted to cause trouble had more than enough to work with.

But that wasn't important right now - any minute now a Bullhead was scheduled to arrive to whisk the young Faunus away to an SDC compound out in the desert where she would meet with their Chief Surveyor to report on her progress and receive her assignments for the day. As the craft landed sand was whipped up into the air around it and Nicoale's escort, a tall bespectacled Mistralian woman who served as the school's nurse/administrator, threw a hand up to shield her eyes. (Nessa had been adamant that a faculty member was going to be there when the SDC arrived to see Nicoale off.)

"We want her back before Sunday!" She shouted to be heard over the engines as the door opened on the side of the vessel. The armoured figure standing in the ship gave only the smallest nods of acknowledgement as a ramp slid down.

Nicoale offered the nurse a pleasant smile and boarded the bullhead. She tried not to show it, but the administrator’s presence confused her. Certainly she wasn’t the only student who had a job and it wasn’t like they had any lessons scheduled over the weekend. Nicoale had to wonder why the school cared what she did with her free time, yet here was a faculty member who insisted on being there to see her off.

Well, it was a puzzle for another time. Nicoale shrugged her shoulders, adjusting the way her backpack sat over her shoulder. Her precious Caladbolg was slung over the other. The new strap was already proving useful.

She threw a crisp salute at the armored figure in the ship as she came on board - Atlassians were big on showing ‘proper respect’ and much less likely to get hostile when they felt it was being displayed - before quietly storing her backpack in the bin and taking a seat, Caladbolg resting in her lap.

The soldier returned Nicoale's salute as protocol demanded before taking up his position by the cockpit door. Moments later the Bullhead's doors secured themselves and the craft lifted off into the air. From her window Nicoale would be able to see city's distinct wards running below her, starting with the affluent tourist district that surround the beaches and getting gradually poorer and less well maintained until they passed the Wall.

After that it was just miles and miles of featureless desert bar the occasional caravan or pack of Grimm until the SDC compound came into view. As befitting something that in large part served as an Atlasian military outpost, the walls were heavily fortified and gun emplacements tracked the Bullhead's movement until a radio call from the pilot satisfied those on the ground that they were who they appeared to be.

Landing in a bay among several other crafts the doors of the Bullhead hiss open and the soldier departs along with a pair of similarly attired pilots, none of them saying a word to Nicoale as they left. Their job was to get her here and anyway they had far more pressing business in the compound's cafeteria.

Nicoale didn't follow them. She had her own business to attend. With her SDC Employee card clipped to her shirt like a shield, she disembarked and wove her way off the landing pad and through the complex. She didn't bother stopping at the employee dorms to drop off her stuff. There wasn't any point when she didn't even know if she'd be sleeping here or at some outpost.

Her first stop was the restroom where she donned her SDC uniform. That done, she made for her second goal - the complex's large central building, which housed the important people's offices. She did what she always did - dropped her head and lowered her eyes. Most of the upper management and their staff came from Atlas, and while many of them accorded her a minimum amount of tolerance due her employee card, she didn't want to give them any reason to reconsider. Instead she moved steadily, didn't meet anyone's eyes, and did her best to give no one any excuse to make trouble. She finally made it to her destination - a large, immaculately kept lobby for the offices of the Survey Corps. The secretary's eyes lit with recognition the moment she walked in.

"Hello," Nicoale said, approaching the counter. "Nicoale Emery, here to report in to Mr. Wheeler."

"Congratulations Nicoale!" The secretary chirped happily pushing a glass dish of sweets in the girl's direction. Although most of the security staff were Atlasian transplants the support staff that kept the compound running were mostly natives and so weren't nearly as unapproachable as the stern armoured men and women. "I saw the news report, if anyone deserves to take a piece of candy it's you. Go right on ahead, Mr Wheeler's expecting you."

The woman looks around for a second before leaning in a little and whispering conspiratorially "Be careful, he's having a bad morning."

Nicoale's smile was tight as she took a few mints from the candy bowl to appease the woman. Secretary Lilac had always been kind to her and genuinely didn't seem to think less of Nicoale for being a faunus or for her situation. Sure, she could be a little condescending from time to time, but Nicoale wasn't about to complain. She didn't dare consider confiding in the woman though - whatever else she was, she was good at her job and loyal to Mr. Wheeler. She was kind to Nicoale, but now way would she put her own job at risk to stand up on Nicoale's behalf. But it Mrs Lilac wasn't the reason for the tight smile; it was the newscast.

Rather than doing the sensible thing and running when the White Fang attacked VICE, a bunch of attendees had whipped out phones and started taking video. So of course the news seemed to be trying to make Nicoale into some kind of Hero. It wasn't like the other students' fighting hadn't been covered, but the coverage always seemed to circle back to Nicoale's almost solo battle with Lo Mai and end with the same stupid photo of her standing triumphant over the defeated White Fang leader.

Nicoale could kinda understand why, too. That fight had been front and center and it didn't take a genius to work out that it looked better to showcase a Faunus fighting against the White Fang than a human - as if to say that the White Fang are so extreme that even the Faunus oppose them. So by the time she'd finished giving her statement to the police, the reporters were already asking for statements. She'd gotten away with some generic lines about 'just doing her job' at the time, but she'd had to deal with more than one attempt at a follow up. She didn't want to be dragged into the White Fang's race war.

Nicoale didn't say any of this, of course. She just thanked Mrs Lilac for her warning and made her way to Mr. Wheeler's office. Up a flight of stairs and down a hallway lies the office of Regis Wheeler behind an imposing white door. As Nicoale approaches she'll be able to hear his voice, angrily raised, coming from behind it.

"Look I don't care who you have to pay. I want Doctor Hamlin back in the lab by Monday!"

She took a deep breath and rapped on the office door.

"Just get it done," came Wheeler's voice before he terminated the call and tapped a button under his desk, causing the door to slide open. Much like the rest of the building the whole room was done in colours of grey and white though with a trim of silver to denote Regis's status. In the background a cutting edge cooling system hummed away, keeping the temperature comfortably Atlasian.

From behind his desk he calmly regarded Nicoale like you would a stack of documents or piece of furniture, his face was now the dispassionate and slightly superior mask of an SDC executive, worlds away from the anger Nicoale had heard in his voice only moments ago.

"On time as always Nicoale." He said, it wasn't a compliment, merely a statement of fact. "And you acquitted yourself admirably at that VICE debacle, there will be note of this in your quarterly evaluation." Again to some this might have sounded like a compliment but he was simply informing Nicoale of things that were going to happen.

"Thank you, sir." Nicoale's reply and partial bow were just as routine as Regis' compliment. A good quarterly evaluation could sometimes lead to a raise, but only sometimes. It was best not to get hopes up. It wouldn't have mattered anyway - Nicoale knew full well that Regis cared little what she thought. SDC's Chief Surveyor wasn't a man that Nicoale dared to cross. He was the one responsible for her sponsorship to SHADE, and he could take it away just as easily. And if she stopped performing, he would. He was an investor, and she was his asset.

She returned to standing at attention and waited for her assignment.

Regis's hands tap another of the series of buttons on his desk and the clean white surface is quickly replaced by a shimmering blue holographic map of the desert with a red line snaking through it, following its contours. "You are to be dispatched to an SDC facility here." His finger taps a portion of the map near the line, leaving a glowing green mark behind. "And you are to monitor this location and report your findings." He continues, trailing his finger along the point in the red line "Your transport leaves within the hour. Any questions?"

Monitoring a facility? It wasn't the first time she'd been on guard duty, but she knew Regis generally considered sitting her at a base rather than keeping her in the field locating Dust to be a waste.

"Understood Sir. Is there any activity I should be especially vigilant for?"


"There have been reports of bandit activity in the area but they should know better than attempt to interfere with SDC operations by now. Simply monitor the path laid out for you and report back what you see." Regis informed her, with just a hit of satisfaction slipping past his professional mask.


"Of course, Sir. By your leave?" At Regis' nod Nicoale left the office. She would have some time before her transport was due to leave but after that it was back to flying over a dull, featureless desert broken up only by the occasional convoy or small settlement. Every so often the monotony would be broken up by the pilot bringing the Bullhead's weapons to life to cut through Grimm on the sand below.


Nicoale passed the boring flight by once again practicing her Farsight, studying the settlements below as they passed overhead. Occasionally she'd change her vantage to a point above and ahead of the ship, searching the horizon for an SDC facility. When it at last came into view, turning out to be a small (by SDC standards anyway) Dust refinement plant, she wasted no time studying it. She was going to be there for the weekend, after all. Best to get familiar with the place.


Waiting for them on the landing pad is a woman in a uniform that marks her out as the head of the facility whilst her dark skin marked her out as a Vacuo native, a rarity in the company's hierarchy. "You must be Nicoale. I trust the journey was pleasant?" She says conversationally.

"Yes Ma'am," Nicoale replied while giving the woman a polite bow. Vacuo native or not, this was still an SDC facility. It was best to maintain the polite formalities the SDC demanded until the woman directed her otherwise. Accidental rudeness could lead to trouble that excessive politeness avoided. "The journey was without incident."

"Splendid. Now if you'll come this way we've set up a room for your observation." The woman says before briskly leading Nicoale into the facility and across a walkway above the factory floor, enormous machines below them noisily grinding dust into its usable form. The sounds died down as they left the walkway and head to the room itself, inside was a table and chair with a copy of the map that her boss had shown her earlier that day. To the side was an already made up cot bed and next to that was another door that lead to an adjacent bathroom.

Nicoale glanced around the converted office and its private bathroom, wondering who they'd moved out to make room for her. It sure beat the company dorm rooms that she was used to. Either this job was really important or they just really wanted her out of the way. Either way, she wasn't about to complain.

"I assume you've already been briefed on your assignment?" The woman asks "If you need anything else, the phone on the wall connects directly to my office and I assume you can find your own way to the mess hall."

"Yes, Mr. Wheeler briefed me beforehand.” She glided over to the table and studied the map, confirming that it was the same one that Mr. Wheeler had shown earlier. “He said that my job was to monitor the trail marked on the map."

Nicoale activated her Farsight, picking a vantage point about a half mile in air over the facility and looked down. She rotated the map in front of her, using the landmarks she could identify to line up the map with her aerial view. "If I identify any activity that merits concern, what protocol would you like me to follow? Should I call your office or is there a security office I should contact directly?"

Satisfied that the map was lined up with her view, she dropped her Farsight's vantage point. The ground zoomed up to meet her until she came to a stop ~50ft above the trail, where she started tracing the route.

"We'll bring you a company Scroll to record anything you see on the trail." The woman stresses to Nicoale before heading for the door.

Nicoale waited a few moments after the woman left before letting out a huff. Best to get on with it. She sank into the chair, eyes tracing the map as she raced over the desert with her Farsight, scouting the route. It didn’t take long - unlike the rolling dunes or the craggy mountains elsewhere in the desert, this particular stretch of desert was mostly flat. After tracing the route a few times to commit it to memory, she picked a point high in the air above the route. Although the distance she could push her Farsight’s vantage point was limited to only a few miles, on a clear day with a high vantage point she could see much further. Not enough to make out detail, but plenty well enough to spot an oncoming bandit clan. True to the director’s word, a uniformed functionary arrived a few minutes later with a Scroll holding a basic word processing package, its casing emblazoned with an SDC logo.

That turned out to be the last piece of human contact that Nicoale would have for quite some time, but that was just fine with Nicoale. She passed the time quietly, alternating between resting on the cot and availing herself of the little room she had to exercise. She left the room once to visit the mess hall just long enough for a quick meal, but throughout it all she maintained her vigil.

The minutes stretched into hours as the day dragged on with very little to distract Nicoale from the monotony, even the Grimm that infested the desert seemed to be sparse along this particular trail.

However this couldn't last forever and eventually a convoy rumbled into sight, as did the reason for this assignment.. These trucks didn't belong to bandits. No, as Mr Wheeler hadn't failed to mention it had only taken a few retaliations by the SDC (and the Atlasian military) for even the most stubborn of clans to give them a wide berth. These trucks were far more well taken care of than those belonging to roving desert marauders and each and every one of them bore the unmistakable logo of Groen Corp.

Ah. Nicoale felt the barest pang of sympathy, squelched immediately. Easygoing or not, even Jason probably wouldn’t take kindly to learning about her part in the SDC’s effort to destroy his best pal’s company. A good reason for him not to learn about it.

As for Leonard, it was a good thing he was training to be a huntsman. He’d have another career to fall back on. She’d seen how the SDC worked - it was only a matter of time until Groen Corp was just one more name on the list of companies they’d run out of business. Whether or not she helped the SDC along, the outcome would be the same except for whether or not she had a job and schooling at the end. No way was she putting her future at risk for some rich kid she barely knew.

She hopped off the cot where she’d been resting and took her seat at the table, ready to start typing.

Convoy sighted. Investigating. She fired off the quick message to the facility head. That done, Nicoale changed her Farsight’s vantage point, peeking inside the trucks and cataloging each truck’s personnel and cargo.

The convoy is exactly what it appears to be, a series of armoured trucks under heavy guard carrying a valuable payload of Dust through the desert, eventually the trucks would move out of Nicoale's range and leave her monitoring nothing but sand and dust. Eventually the door to her quarters would slide open and a uniformed Faunus with a thick scaly tail coughed to get her attention.

"Miss Midas would like a status report in her office." He says with a polite bow.

"Of course." Nicoale tucked the company Scroll in her pocket and followed the Faunus back to the director's office. The office the Nicoale was lead to was far plainer than that of Mr Wheeler, this far out in the desert even being the head of facility didn't merit much grandeur.

"Ma'am. Here's the report you requested." Nicoale handed over the scroll where she'd been typing her catalog. Number of vehicles, personnel for each, name tags if they had 'em, cargo down to the type and quantity of each Dust mixture- it was all there. Sitting behind her desk the director accepted the Scroll and quickly scanned its contents before putting it down with a smile.

"Will that be all?"

"Excellent work Nicoale, very thorough, head office are going to be pleased with this," she complimented the young Faunus. "We have a few more jobs that require your unique talents. We've potentially discovered a very promising vein of lightning Dust..."

[Sith_Happens]

Meet the Press

Jack looks at Godfrey as if he'd just asked one the dumbest questions possible, which in Jack's eyes he had.

"What, by doing my job? What do I even care that a few jerkwad gangers and terrorists know what I look like, that just saves me the trouble of having to go find them. Oh right, as for the 'mind-zap' according to Nicoale from having fought that chick before it was some sort of emotion control thing, probably her Semblance I guess? As in she literally made a guy uncontrollably mad which is messed up."

[Dorni]

Nicoale listened carefully, her face a neutral mask for most of the explanation. "...'once that person contacts them again'? Doesn't sound like an innocent to me. What's her name, what do you want with her, and is she part of the Fang or just working with them?" Each question came with a hint of skepticism. It wasn't that she wanted to reject her teammate's implied request, but neither was she on board yet. Nothing good came of getting tangled up with the White Fang.

Nicoale's eyes darkened to miniature storm clouds as Sky finished his explanation and held up his Scroll. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. You said you dug up the Fanger's family. Did you threaten to go after that Fanger's family if she didn't help you?" This time the question was much too sweet.

[Dodgeson]

Meet the Press

On Jack's response journalists in the crowd tapped away in a frenzy at their scrolls, shooting dozens of messages of to who knows where, rest assured that the phrase 'White Fang Mind Control' was going to appear in a lot of places over the next few days.

"You said that it'll save you the trouble of having to find them. Does this mean you'll be taking direct action against the White Fang? What about the Carpenter Gang?" The reporter continues to ask.

[Grim ranger]

Meeting Nicoale's eyes without flinching, Sky nodded. "I tend to assess the situation as it changes. As I know that I am not very intimidating by nature, I noted that hitting her where it hurts on emotional front was likely going to be my only chance to get a reaction" he said simply. "Of course, that was before I knew she is taking care of younger siblings who depend on her. I would have little problem exposing a family who support terrorist organization: prison is something that supporting people who want to annihilate humanity deserves at the least. But I do not, and WILL not, bring children in harm's way in any manner. I refuse to act like that. So I offered her that deal when she told me how the person I am looking for contacts her."

[Sith_Happens]

Meet the Press

Jack suddenly looks bored by this latest inquiry.

"Uh, once again, literally my job. Anyone got a not-dumb question?"

[Dorni]

Nicoale crossed her arms and tilted her head, unimpressed. "So threatening children is crossing the line, but going after families is a-ok. For someone who abhors the new White Fang you sure seem comfortable using their tactics."

[Grim ranger]

"Oh please, don't try to say you would not help arrest any grown-up for being a member of that wonderful bunch no matter the familial ties" Sky said dismissively, staring at Nicoale levelly. "Considering I would make life difficult for any White Fang member on principle, the fact they tend to be sometimes related is hardly the point of focus here. If they would not be aware or supportive of their relative's misadventures with White Fang, they would not be much of a weak spot anyway. When asking nicely would never work on these fanatics and indeed just show weakness and thus deny me clues on my search, I don't give a damn about being seen as mean. I don't do this to look good, or claim moral high ground. I do this because one of top ten most wanted terrorists on face of Remnant is here, right now, and I have chased him for years through entire continents. And I will find him even if it bloody kills me."

[Dodgeson]

Meet the Press

Godfrey ignored the jibe at him and simply turned to face his cameras with his award winning grin.

"And there you have it folks, one brave boy declaring a vigilante war against gangs and terrorists alike. Will he succeed where so many others have failed before him? Only time will tell. Back to you in the studio Crystal."

[Dorni]

So that's how it is. For someone who'd spouted off about Atlasian bigotry, he hadn't rolled far from the tree when the chips were down. The White Fang are monsters to be opposed by any means. Its an outrage when the Fang does something, but when we do it its necessity. At least he'd dispensed with the bull about the moral high ground.

"Actually Sky, I wouldn't. Because I understand that having family in the White Fang doesn't make you a member too, and that sympathy is not support." But where did that leave her? Dissuading him was pointless, and the Fang were no friends of hers either. And someone needed to be the sane one.

"I'll help you on a condition. I got no problem fighting the White Fang, but leave the families out of it."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason glanced sidelong between his teammates. He didn't really have a stake in this game. Jason was entirely down with threats to hostiles. And until Sky's actions actually crossed a line, Jason felt no obligation to challenge them. That said... "I feel like there's a certain misunderstanding going on here."

"It sounds to me like Sky's coming from the point of, 'If this person is a member of the White Fang, there's a chance that it has family members who also are. If I can learn about those that are, I can use the threat of revealing that to gain leverage here.' Which is, I would say, an ethically valid strategy; if they're committing crimes and terrorist acts, turning them in is entirely valid on its own merits. Likewise, if not turning them in can lead to ending a greater threat, that's an entirely justifiable judgment call. It'd be like, if the cops arrest two brothers, and offer to reduce the sentence of one if the other testifies against a bigger criminal, or something."

"And it sounds like what Nicoale's arguing against is the idea of, 'This person is a member of the White Fang, so their family is more-or-less just as guilty and I can use them for leverage at will because of it.' Which, indeed, would be entirely unjustifiable whether they're children or not, particularly if that leverage is predicated on directly harming or attacking them, but I don't believe is what Sky's actually saying he would do."

"That sound about right?"

[Sith_Happens]

Meet the Press

Godfrey ignored the jibe at him and simply turned to face his cameras with his award winning grin.

"And there you have it folks, one brave boy declaring a vigilante war against gangs and terrorists alike. Will he succeed where so many others have failed before him? Only time will tell. Back to you in the studio Crystal."

Jack's expression immediately returns to confusion as he gives his best "What the hell?" gesture and scans the rest of the crowd.

"Seriously is this guy not hearing a word out of my mouth? Fighting thugs is specifically one the things I'm... Ah forget it, anyone else?"

[Grim ranger]

Smiling somewhat, Sky nodded to Jason. It seemed that the boy was finally the more rational out of their group, something that seemed quite surprising in light of his generally scatterbrained approach to...well, most things. Perhaps the fact that the apparent fool of their group was functioning as effective mediator was somewhat scary, but he was willing to extend olive branch when opportunity like this arose.

"Yeah, that is more or less what I am saying. Glad someone got it" he replied to Jason, huffing slightly. "So just assuming I go after people willy-nilly is bit annoying."

[Dorni]

Nicoale shifted her eyes and ears back and forth between the boys with steadily growing incredulity before settling on Jason. "...there's a chance that it has family members? Faunus are just an 'it' to you?" Well, he wouldn't be alone in that opinion. Stupid Coale, why did you get your hopes up?

She shook head. "Look. What you're saying might make sense in whatever world you live in, but have either of you heard of that thing called the 'net?"

"Lets play this out for a minute. So you find a White Fang member and so you find he's got a brother who's attended meetings. And then he doesn't give in to blackmail, so you announce both of them are members of the Fang. Bravo! You've unmasked a member of the Fang. And thanks to the 'net, that information finds its way into the hands of guys like that Officer back there at VICE. I guarantee you he's not the only human who thinks like that, and humans like him don't draw the lines nearly as carefully as you do. I mean, this entire idea rests on the assumption that 'there's a chance that it has family members who are also members of the fang,'" she raised her hands in air quotes as she repeated Jason's words, before dropping them and given them both a flat stare.

"Humans like that Officer think the same thing, they just don't wait for confirmation. So they go after the White Fang member you unmasked. Then they harass his parents, his siblings, and throw in any faunus they know who hangs out with him while they're at it for good measure. There's no such thing as a precision strike when you're accusing a faunus of being a terrorist."

"I got no problem with taking down the White Fang. They're no friends of mine either. Arrest em, turn them in, deal with them ourselves, whatever. They made their choice when they signed up. But I won't be a part of blackmail that'll ruin the rest of their family."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason blinked. Huh? He took a moment or two to think of what Nicoale could possibly be talking about before catching it. "No. Singular unidentified people of unknown gender are 'it' to me," he explained, without heat. "Sorry, I'll try to pick my pronouns more carefully in the future."

"Beyond that...if I'm honest, Nicoale, this kinda feels like you're taking what we're presenting as the broad strokes of an argument and intentionally extrapolating them to the worst possible situation. Which, if you're just trying to make us aware of potential concerns, is fair enough. But it's not what I'm getting from your tone. I would like to think it should be obvious that if Brother A...no, let's say Alex. We've got a White Fang member named Alex who is outright attacking people, and his brother Barry has just been seen at meetings a couple times, obviously Barry isn't someone we want to give any trouble to, because he hasn't done anything and, worse, going after him for just going to meetings is only more likely to push him into the arms of the White Fang."

"The further extrapolation that people might go after the rest of their family is a false premise, because if we're bringing in Alex for his crimes, his affiliation is on the record regardless of whether or not Barry was also involved and also brought in. Now, if other people then go after the rest of their family due to that, that's a separate problem, but also one that I feel confident saying we would be just as inclined to stop as we would trying to stop Alex from whatever attacks he was initiating."

"None of which changes the fact that if Alex and Barry are both actively hurting people, or preparing to hurt people, and we learn of it, then yes, we have a responsibility to stop it and bring them both in. If Alex knows something about an even more dangerous member of the White Fang, it's entirely reasonable to use leverage we may have over him - including a reduced sentence for his brother - to get that information. And, if we know that Alex is hurting people and knows about someone worse, it is entirely reasonable to look into his background for leverage we might use against him, and if that leverage includes learning about another White Fang member who is hurting people, that's someone we want to stop. He does not become any less someone we want to stop because he's related to Alex, and if we can turn stopping him to further advantage by using him as leverage against Alex, that strikes me as entirely tactically sensible and even a better reason for us to be the ones to stop him personally, rather than leaving it to someone else."

"And, although again I would hope this would be a given, just in case it isn't, that entire line of reasoning applies equally to the Carpenter Gang, or some human-supremacist cult, or whatever group of nutjobs are wasting our time by making us stop them from hurting people even though we have giant hate-monsters crawling all over the vast majority of the planet trying to kill all of us equally and we really need to be able to focus our efforts on those. Not that I'm bitter, or anything."

[Dorni]

Nicoale bit back her first reply and took a deep breath, visibly trying to contain her irritation. "And what I'm getting from your tone, is that you somehow think that I'm against stopping the White Fang, which I'm not. You also seem to buy the premise that blackmail is the only option we can use to get information out of members we capture, which it isn't. You also somehow think that threatening people with public denunciation as a White Fang terrorist so that they and those close to them can have their lives ruined by vigilante justice is somehow comparable to offering them a plea bargain. Its not, and I'd thank you not to pretend it is."

"What I'm against is just assuming that for any member of the White Fang we catch that their family is probably involved too and merits investigation. I'm also against a blackmail tactic that's gonna do less damage to its intended target than it will to those around them."

"And am I the only one who remembers Captain Friendly-Fire shooting you during the Grimm attack last week, then blaming it on you? After hearing Sky declare he's set on doing this even if it kills him and that he doesn't care about being mean or the moral high ground, I think I have the right to be a little skeptical of his judgement about what counts as acceptable collateral damage."

Nicoale finally turned her attention back to Sky, scrutinizing him. "And you still haven't told us anything about the Fang leader you're chasing. Why the big hate-on for him?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"But...I don't, though," Jason responded, still...more or less calm, though there was a clear note of frustration in his voice. "And that's kinda my point. I talk about ways we can work against the White Fang, and you're taking it as my thinking you don't think we should stop them. If I thought you were unconvinced that the White Fang is in general something we have to stop, I would be trying to argue that we should stop them, not how we should consider going about doing it. I would also have to be just as stupid as Ryuu thinks I am, since you literally said like less than a minute ago 'I got no problem with taking down the White Fang.'"

"I talk about looking into a captured White Fang's background to potentially find other members and/or other means of leverage, and you say I'm talking about blackmail and further that I'm saying it's the only way to get information out of them."

"I talk about very literally offering them a plea bargain, and again, you're taking it as I'm talking about ruining their lives."

"The facts here, are that Sky had a hostile in his custody. He had reason to believe he could get information about a more dangerous member of the White Fang. He looked into the suspect's background for means of finding leverage to use. The only leverage he found was something that he could not ethically use. He came up with an alternate strategy and succeeded in acquiring the information he was going after."

"Sure, yes, maybe Sky could have put his intentions more tactfully. And maybe I didn't do a good job when I tried to translate it. And look, it's not like all of us haven't given each other reason to question one another's judgment sometimes. But at the end of the day, we're teammates. Unless and until one of us does something that actually crosses the line, I think we owe each other at least the benefit of the assumption that we're not completely heartless."

"See, Nicoale, we're not arguing that blackmail is okay and ruining families is a perfectly valid way to fight the White Fang. We're arguing that holy cow that is so not what we are saying why does she even think we could do that!?" Like his frustration, he was kinda biting it back, but nonetheless, at the last line, a bit of honest horror snuck into his voice. He really kinda couldn't believe that Nicoale actually felt they were capable of that sort of stuff.

[Dorni]

Nicoale didn't have to bite back her reply this time. It was the little bit of horror that stopped her. Indifference, defensiveness, sympathy, derision, any of those she could understand. But horror? He was hurt?

Her ears drooped. She was frustrated, yes, but more than that she was tired. “Honestly? Because it wouldn't surprise me.

Jason, I’ve seen enough of you to think that you generally care about people. That's the problem - humans have never considered us people. No, I don’t think you’re like that cop back there. But you call the White Fang insane, you think they’re indoctrinated. You know what calling them insane accomplishes? It dehumanizes them.

When they’re insane, they’re no longer real people with perspectives that are worth trying to understand. The insane don’t have reasons. It means you don't have to care about them and that whatever happens to them, they've had it coming. So when you call us “it” like its no big deal, I don’t know if that’s you honestly not realizing how that embodies all the history of humans denying us recognition as people and treating us like we’re no more than tools or monsters, or if on some level that’s what you really believe."

She shook her head slowly and didn't meet Jason's eyes. "I can see just about anything that happens in this city, but I can’t see who’s safe to trust. And if I just sit and wait for someone’s actions to cross the line, it’s too late. Whatever they did to cross the line already happened. The damage is already done.

So I have one teammate telling me he doesn’t care, and another giving me all the warning signs. And I can’t know for sure if they just spoke poorly and meant something else, or if no, they really did mean exactly what they said.”

She rested one hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. “And if I try to explain how this all sounds, then it’s my fault for being oversensitive. For making it a big deal, for making them uncomfortable, for not just assuming good intentions. They don’t have to question whether anyone they meet secretly thinks they’re a ‘filthy animal’, or whether the teammate or policeman or whatever safety net that’s supposed to be there to catch me the one time I fall and really need help might not be there. That’s what the world I experience every day.”

She opened eyes already settled on Sky. “And because you have experiences that differs from mine, mine must be wrong.”

She dropped her hand back to her side and looked between the boys. “I’m used to it. I can live with it at school. I can live with it at work. I can live with it when I’m out there,” she waved a hand vaguely toward the city. “I just... I didn’t want to have to live with it from my team.”

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason let out a long sigh.

Because you know, a part of him almost would have preferred it if he could just go with that. Say it was all her fault for assuming the worst about people. But while Jason wasn't the most educated guy in the world, he wasn't stupid, and he wasn't blind. If the world hadn't given you cause to assume otherwise, well, whose fault was that?

"Look...it's not your fault. It's not anyone's-" stop. Think about what you're saying. "It's not any single person's fault. I mean, yeah, you have some trust issues. But, you know, big deal. Sky's got some prickliness issues. And I've got..."

It was the hesitation that did it. He might have been able to get away with it if he had come up with it before he started speaking and just powered through. But when he hesitated to think, he had left the opening.

"Intelligence issues?" Ryuu suggested acerbically.

"Not-knowing-when-not-to-open-your-big-fat-mouth issues?" Bashe offered.

"Ooh. Sanity issues."

"Definitely some overconfidence issues."

"Plus that stupid thing you do where you shout out the names of your attacks."

"And let's not forget the smell!"

...And then the dragons went away.

"Anyway, look, yeah, I think the White Fang are insane. And maybe that isn't giving them enough credit. Honestly, though, it kinda has to be remembered that we're living in a world that is literally overrun with giant monsters that are attracted by negative emotions. So, yes, I feel like their actions, which intentionally stoke and spread hatred, pain, and anger, are literally insane. I think the same thing about criminal gangs for the fear and despair they spread, and pretty much any group that operates in a way that hurts others and just makes our few remaining cities smell even tastier to the Grimm."

He unconsciously brushed his hair back. "But, you know, you're right. Your experiences differ from mine. Their experiences differ from mine. My Mom guards Dust gatherers. My Dad's a Dust farmer, and I did a bit of that too before I manifested my Semblance. They're out in the desert every day gathering resources and having to deal with the risk of Grimm attacks. Growing up, I don't think there was ever much more than a year that went by without one of them having to go to the hospital. A horde of Grimm nearly killed me and my Dad once. So, I dunno, I see Grimm as the big threat, the big problem, and everything else...yeah, it's problems, but it shouldn't be the main priority."

"But I dunno. Maybe that's just because I've had more exposure to their threat growing up. I mean, I can see that, I suppose. I have to admit, it still just seems kinda crazy to me, but whatever."

"Point is...honestly, Ryuu's not wrong. I've got intelligence issues. But, like, in the military sense of the term. Lack of sufficient information to make correct decisions, or whatever. So, fact is, I'm still probably going to say more stuff in the future that will concern or offend you. I'd love to promise otherwise, but realistically, I can't, because I don't have the frame of reference. And while I can't really speak for Sky, I figure it's probably safe to say that he'll do more stuff in the future that annoys or upsets you, because it's like, come on, he's Sky." He ribbed his teammate with a teasing smirk, a bantering lilt coming to his otherwise serious voice on those last few words. But he quickly sobered. "And when we do you'll probably yell at us. Which, you know, fine."

"But I think as long as we can all keep each other's viewpoints in mind...if I can try to remember that your background has not given you any reason to trust in the good intentions of humans, and you can remember that Sky and I have no problem with Faunus but we're also more-or-less completely stupid when it comes to understanding what they've been through, and if Sky can remember there's this thing called polite society that he's living in..." He teased! He teased with love! "Then there's no reason we can't make it work as a team. Who knows, maybe we'll even learn something from each other."

...

"Or, you know, we'll all drive each other crazy, bottle up our all our anger and frustration with one another until it reaches a boiling point, let it loose on the Grimm and the White Fang and the Carpenter Gang and anyone else crazy enough to get in our way, and be hailed as the greatest Hunter team to ever come out of Shade based solely on how utterly we curb-stomp all our enemies. That totally works too!"

[Dorni]

To say what the dragons earned from Coale was a smile was way too strong, but seeing Jason's own semblance gang up on him? That had a way of easing the tension. And they weren't wrong either. Jason didn't have a clue what she'd been through, what she still went through. That his own experiences gave him no frame of reference for understanding her had been made abundantly clear over the last two weeks. Maybe... maybe it really was that he was flying blind. Maybe he was really just that dumb and wasn't like the rest of them. Did she take that chance?

She held his eye for what might have been a second but seemed an eternity.

He was brutish and headstrong and overconfident and arrogant and frustrating and ignorant and ridiculous and aggravating and...

And he was trying.

It was enough.

She nodded slowly. It was a lot of things. Acceptance. Apology. Caution. Hope. A chance. A death-threat if he said one word.

"Deal."

[Grim ranger]

Following the argument mostly from sidelines without being willing to interrupt either of them, Sky retained his passive outlook as he watches the two match their opinions. Nicoale definitely had some strong ones: despite her seemingly businesslike manner for most part, he got the distinct impression that he was going to be better off in the long run by leaving anything serious regarding race unspoken in her presence... Or at least most of it. Communication had been somewhat of a troublesome thing inside the team thus far, and he was not going to risk a misunderstanding and total dissolution of it. Nobody's attitude would ever get adjusted should all of them only focus on hating each other over perceived slights. There was a difference between minor difference of opinion, and something that could well and truly cause the lot of them to cut their ties... And to keep a lid on the situation he was willing to endure the calling out.

Not that he would have enjoyed her needling about his flaws of course. Some of the points were quite true, admittedly, while some were overblown and the entire show of him considering differing opinions 'wrong' well and truly managing to irritate him. Well, it was true that he considered some opinions stupid and some just plain evil, such as White Fang's plan of genocide... but he planned to stick to his word of honoring the fact he and Nicoale would not see eye to eye on some things, and that neither of their opinions was necessarily incorrect. Of course, he kept his mouth wisely shut about the matter: Jason was much better at avoiding further infighting than he himself even could be, so he was willing to follow his example to achieve some measure of fragile peace.

Waiting until they had both said their pieces and small silence descended between them all, Sky coughed slightly and spoke again. "You asked about the White Fang leader I am chasing. Since we are trying to be open and air our grievances today, I can discuss the matter in name of transparency" the former Atlesian said as his arms remained folded. "I used to know him, before the more radical White Fang began their attacks wholesale in Atlas. He was one of my few friends, but in the end he bought into the idea that radicalism was the way, and my attempt to stop him then was...less than successful. From that point on I have tracked him across the Kingdoms, considering I would not wish to leave something that personal unfinished. The fact I would likely be saving great many lives if I could stop him does not hurt either."

[Dorni]

[This Scene takes place immediately following the Scavenger Hunt]

Nicoale was glad when the headmistress finished with her photo and let them go. She wasted no time in making for the exit, letting the rest of the team follow in her wake as she led the way back toward the team's cabin. She wasn't afraid of the headmistress or anything. The smoke was just so thick and the scent so strong in the headmistress' office that she was glad to be back in the fresh air outside. That, and she still found it hard to believe that their Headmistress was, well, their Headmistress. But Nyssa had snuck up on her - that had to count for something.

Nicoale shook her head. She could think about their maybe incompetent, maybe its-just-an-act headmistress later. "Alright team, looks like our first mission was a success! We should have a meeting and talk about it before everyone scatters. And Anya, I think we need to get you settled in to our cabin?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sure, sounds good! I mean, granted, I think I more-or-less summed it up back after we had finished crushing the Beowolves, but if we would like to rehash our epic string of glorious victories, I will be happy to!" Jason agreed with his usual high cheer, following along. And why wouldn't he be in a good mood? Not only had they completed the mission, bagged some bandits and some Grimm, and finished first, but the headmistress had already been expecting them to finish first! They were already making names for themselves! Jason could only imagine what glories would await them when they were actually finished training! Eradicating the Grimm threat from the whole of the planet was probably an unrealistically high expectation, so naturally Jason figured they could start with that and then move up from there!

[Arlin]

Anya had managed to keep from wrinkling her nose until after the Headmistress took her photo, but only just. While her sense of smell was not the equal of her hearing, it was still sensitive, and the smoke had been starting to get to her. She let out a sigh of relief as they made it outside, the breeze carrying the scent of the ocean to clear her senses. Turning, she nodded to Nicoale. "I only have my dust supplies to move, but I can grab those later," she said.

Anya blinked as a thought occurred to her. "I'll have to find new fabrics and things if I'm going to start infusing again; I couldn't bring those with me. And a job, come to think of it," she mused aloud, frowning.

[Grim ranger]

Walking along with the rest and sighing to himself, Sky began to look glum again now that the photoshoot was done with. With the thrill of victory and satisfaction of sticking it to Atlas in most direct possible way having passed, he had little choice to antagonize over his extremely sub-par performance from earlier. Seriously, what had that been? He had performed horribly by all standards. Had his team not been as well suited for this hunt as they had, it would have been a disaster.

His incompetence was not just a danger to his mission, but also put others at risk if they were to trust him to perform adequately in battle. It was not a pleasant thought.

Smiling faintly at the mention of dust-enhanced fabric, he nodded to the bat faunus. "It is interesting thing to dabble in, I bet. I work more on more mechanical sort of dust research myself, but even with two tinkerers in the team there should be more than enough room in the cabin for it all. At least that is my guess" he said thoughtfully before growing rather serious, looking frustrated. "I think you guy will have to handle the tour and such by yourselves, though... my performance back there was nothing short of pathetic. I have to try so much harder if I ever want to be of any use" Sky noted bitterly, angry with himself. "Wouldn't want anyone to get hurt because I am useless in a fight."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason cast Sky an appraising look. "By what measure?" he asked, and it was a serious question, not his usual bluster. "As I recall it, you're a primary part of the reason we finished first - I doubt any of the other teams have even made it to the diner at this point. I wouldn't have been able to stop that last bandit from escaping without your teleport, and you kept the Alpha off the rest of us. I will grant that in terms of total finishing blows struck, you're a bit behind, but honestly if we're talking serious opponents I think I only have one-half a point on that measure, one and a half if laughably outmatched and fleeing opponents count. And wiping minor Grimm and Aura-weak fighters is really more a 'first come first serve' sort of accomplishment than anything, if we're using total enemies defeated as a measure of combat success."

"You afford us mobility that most teams and Grimm can't match, solid utility besides, are a powerful defender, and even offensively I wouldn't call you 'weak' so much as 'steady'. If I have one critique, it would be that you probably can afford to be more aggressive. I've seen you take enough hits at this point to know that your Aura is more-or-less as strong as mine, and while it may sometimes look a little suicidal, the fact is that that gives us some leeway to go for the higher-risk, higher-reward plays. None of which is to say that you're perfect as you are and there's no room for improvement. There always is. I'm just saying, don't sell yourself short. You don't have to be the biggest stick in Crom's closet to make an impact."

[Arlin]

Anya looked up from her reverie, regarding Sky silently and nodding as he spoke. "I think he's right," she added as Jason finished. "I only just joined the team today, but it's obvious they rely on you."

She shuffled her feet nervously, turning on a little quiet music. "I... got lucky today. And I know that it's mostly because I'm new, but I hope everyone can come to count on me the way the do you."

Anya was silent a few moments, marshaling her thoughts. "If you still feel weak... then we can work to fix it, right? I mean, I know I have a long way to go, but we're here at this Academy to get stronger. So... maybe we can work on it? It seems like the sort of thing team members should help each other with..." she trailed off, face coloring.

[Dorni]

Nicoale cast Sky a sidelong glance at his mention of being useless. "Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about either. You were vital to us winning the race today, and just by not blasting your teammates you're already doing a lot better than when we first met."

"But Anya's got a point. Now that we have a full team again, we should practice as a group. The Grimm aren't going to go easy on us if we just show up to class and do just enough to get by."

[Grim ranger]

Although he still felt frustration at the lack of performance he had expected out of himself, Sky was regardless forced to smile. Who would have guessed that having support of one's team would feel so nice? He had really not expected to earn this sort of support, considering at times their sorry lot seemed about ready to explode due to the tensions regarding some lifestyle choices and beliefs. "I... guess you may have a point there?" he admittedly, looking bit thoughtful as he spoke to the rest. "Guess it is just I am worried it'll get people really hurt one day. I lost a one-on-one fight against the person I am after here once, and... well, I have never forgiven myself for that. So I am trying to raise my skills to acceptable level. But I am glad if I've been of assistance to the team."

Stretching slowly, he grinned to Anya. "Trust me, we berate and huff at each other plenty too, so I assume we depend on you for someone with cooler head already... and judging by your performance, you definitely feel like integral part of the team already. Speaking of teamwork, though, I have little in way of ideas as to what sort of teamwork exercises we should do. I assume you have some idea, Coale, since you brought it up?"

It felt nicer to change the topic rather than worry over his own concerns for longer than he really had to... and although he was not that social due to being bad at it, hanging out with the team was proving to not be so bad afer all.

[Dorni]

"I've got a few ideas, but those can wait." One ear flicked in Sky's direction briefly, but both ears rose as she continued. "We've got something more important to go over. The Seven Maids is reopening. What do you guys want to do about the Carpenters?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason gave Anya a little look. He did not go without noticing how quickly and casually she had dismissed her performance as mere luck. It made him wonder. Modesty, or underconfidence? The first was...I mean, you know, it was fine, or whatever. For some people. Presumably. The other less so. He had his suspicions, but he didn't call her on it. Not yet. "Just maintain your current boot to head ratio, and it'll be all good," he told her with a grin.

Jason considered Nicoale's question for a moment. "We could inform the police on them again. That might be an amusing running gag. Every time they try to set back up, surprise police raid!" he said with a little smirk, certainly-somewhere-around-half-joking.

"Although...perhaps more effectively, we could inform the police, and then offer our 'assistance' in the takedown. Assistance here meaning some point on the sliding scale between going in with them and probably doing all the hard work and just outright going in and handling it ourselves under police authority. I don't think we should just make a move unilaterally, though." Local law enforcement...look, it had its limits, no one's saying otherwise, but they tried, gods bless them, and Jason saw no reason to work at odds with them where it wasn't necessary. Besides, cops made a good audience. "Actually, come to think of it, becoming the Shade police's go-to team for local problems sounds like a pretty decent objective to shoot for while we're still in the Academy. Good rep bonus, plus some extra training!"

[Dorni]

Nicoale just kinda blinked at Jason like he'd started speaking an alien language. "Go to the police?" She'd come up with a few ideas for how to deal with the Carpenters, but none of them involved the police. The police didn't exactly tend to be sympathetic to her, and they tended to want even less to do with conflicts between aura-users. Nicoale didn't doubt that somewhere on the force they had someone capable of dealing with someone with a decent aura. She also didn't doubt their capacity to have 'something more important' to deal with. She narrowed her eyes slightly at Jason as he continued. She wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of becoming at patsy for the same police that showed up at VICE.

VICE... maybe just this once the police might be useful. The Carpenters had worked with the White Fang as part of their big attack on the convention. Surely the police would care about stopping the White Fang. They always cared when it came to stopping the White Fang.

"Maybe we could involve the police. When its the right time. Just this once." It started to make sense. The police were happy to come down on troublemaking faunus. Let it work in her favor for once. But no way was she becoming their patsy. "But did you see the Headmistress back there? She's going to find enough ways to keep us busy as her poster team without us volunteering for the police too."

[Grim ranger]

Although he had to admit that he didn't personally have any experience with the gang in question, Sky regardless paid rapt attention to the matter under discussion. They did not sound like very good news, and making the city safer and possibly avoiding another wall-related incident would be good. On the other hand, it'd likely just result in their enemies having to find new channel operating in Shade they did NOT know about... but that was always a risk regardless.

"The town guard could likely use the help" the Atlesian student observed with a little smile before shaking his head. "However, I don't think we should sign up for anything else than the one operation, at least not for now. I agree that the Headmistress is bound to get us more work, and if you want there is still the White Fang situation to look into later. And if we always do the work of the Guard for them, people could start to take us for granted."

Laughing a little, he looked more confident once again, the topic clearly having lifted his spirits some. "We really should get some team training in outside of real, life-fire combat too. Maybe I can make us some gadgets later if we get some ideas for useful equipment..."

[Arlin]

Anya looked up at the others, baffled. She raised a hand hesitantly. "Um, excuse me? Is... carpentry illegal here? I feel like I'm missing something here..."

She fell silent, shifting a little awkwardly. "I like squid rings, though, and we have a coupon," she added, trying to fill the perceived awkward silence.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Jason gave an idle shrug. It wasn't like he was super-invested in the whole "Shade police go-to team" idea. Whatever works.

"They couldn't afford us anyway," Ryuu muttered.

Anya's comment provoked a distinctive wavering of his lips, but he managed to keep his amusement mostly hidden. More-or-less. "Carpenter Gang," he clarified. "They're a criminal organization we've had a couple run-ins with. You heard about the attack on VICE? They were involved with that."

[Arlin]

The faunus blinked several times. "Really? I saw the vids on that, but I must have missed if they said anything about this gang... but what do they have to do with the, um, Seven Maids was it?" she asked, glancing over to Nicoale for confirmation.

[Dorni]

"It was easy to miss." Nicoale looked over the new girl again with bemusement. Never seen a Grimm? Carpentry might be illegal? Just how sheltered was she? "Their job was to start a riot outside the Convention Hall, but me and Sky shut them down hard. The news didn't really bother to cover that part when there was White Fang to talk about."

"The Seven Maids doubled as the Carpenters' hideout. Right after the entrance exam the headmistress had us run an errand and we ran into the Carpenter Gang trying to shake down the Headmistress' drug dealer," Nicoale explained nonchalantly. She kept her senses focused on the girl, awaiting her sheltered teammate's reaction. "We took them down, but a bunch of Grimm attacked just then and a few of the Carpenters managed to escape. Afterward I tipped off the Headmistress where the Carpenter's hideout was so she had the police raid the place and shut them down. The Carpenters that escaped didn't seem to get the message. Now they're reopening the Seven Maids."

[Arlin]

Anya nodded in understanding. "Is there a reason we should care what they're doing, though?" she asked simply. She shifted her weight again, cheeks coloring at this directness.

"I mean, how do you even know it's them re-opening it?" she asked, trying to cover her disinterest with limited success.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Yeah," Jason said, and his voice was a bit firmer now, not so much "more serious" as "less laid back". "Look, Anya, you said you'd never seen a live Grimm before, yeah? So I'm going to take a guess that you don't really understand the scale of these things. We've got the four big cities,
right? Plus, uh..." Jason gave a little sigh as his ignorance reared its ugly, stupid head again. "Maybe Menagerie, I guess? I'm not sure if Menagerie is or has a big city like the other four kingdoms, or if it's more just a kingdom of its own with a bunch of towns, or whatever. Regardless, figure at least four big cities that can actually keep a determined Grimm horde out. So if we're talking scale, you can kinda look at that like our group. And then you've got a bunch of small towns scattered around. So figure that's like...all the Shade students any of us actually know. Like, Leonard and his team, Crom and his goons, my siblings, whatever."

"And then the Grimm? They're the entire rest of Shade Academy. Every Shade student you see who none of us know the name of? In this example, they represent an area of land on this planet that is wholesale owned by the Grimm. We are stupidly outnumbered here."

"And you know what? That's okay. Us humans and faunus, we can handle it. We've been dealing with it since history began and we've only gotten better at it as we've gone. But we do that by everyone doing their part,
working together against the common threat. And people like the Carpenter Gang? They don't do that. They work against the rest of us to secure their own personal, temporary gain. And worse, they do so in a way that spreads misery, hopelessness, pain, and it's emotions like that that make our cities smell even tastier to the Grimm. In themselves, no, they're not a serious problem. But they make us more vulnerable to the serious problem, and that means they have to be stopped!"

That stalwart declaration hung for about a beat, before Bashe chimed in, "Also they hurt people. And that's wrong."

Jason blinked. "Uh, yeah. That too."

[Thokk_Smash]

A New Challenger Approaches

After posing for the picture beside the frozen Geist (during which Geri had "helpfully" lugged Nigel into a rough seated position, and then proceeded to lie on the bear Fanus' back), Leonard had made a point to get their new teammate's information from the Headmistress. He is sad to see (heh) Estran go; she was a good teammate, and was starting to become something like a friend.

But it's time to look forward. Amarissa Crysanthe...he punches her Scroll number into his own and shoots her a text: "Hello, I'm Leonard Groen, and I believe I'm your new team leader. If you have time tonight, I believe it would be beneficial for us all to meet before you move into our cabin. How does the entrance to the training grounds, in half an hour, sound?"

[DukeGod]

Amarissa had been taking the sights of the new academy. That and getting used to everything new. The heat was one thing, she had changed into lighter clothing, but the winds still brought heat for all the quick relief from it that also came.

Her Scroll vibrated, slightly rippling her jacket. She had fiddled with the settings until she managed to remove the unpleasant music it played aswell. Perhaps later she'd find a way to change it to a better sound.

It seems it was the leader of her team.

<For now, I have all the time in a day. I will be pleased to meet you, humans are meant to talk eye to eye. Agreement, I will meet you there>

As a quick look at the training ground suited her just fine, she goes there right now. If it wasn't interesting, she could always medidate

[Thokk_Smash]

Leonard nods to himself as he "reads" the readout of his Scroll's custom message system. "Excellent. We will be there shortly."

He hits send, then calls out to Nigel and Jack. "Guys, I took the liberty of contacting our new teammate, Amarissa, and I thought it would be nice to meet up with her before our next class or assignment. I set a meet-up with her at the training grounds in a half-hour; that gives us some time to get cleaned up if you want, or we could just go straight there. I'm fine going straight there, for what it's worth." Having sand in every crevice is kinda par for the course when one has lived in a desert since birth.

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel shakes himself off as the last vestiges of sleep leave him.

"I'm going to have to towel off first, I seem to have a bit of an icing problem. I'll meet everyone there though."

With that Nigel trundles off, stretching out seemingly a limb at a time as he goes to clean himself off and get changed from his combat uniform. Nigel shows up about 5 minutes early, still armed despite being in his normal uniform... His shirt says something about a number, with part of a scroll showing from beneath his jacket.

[Sith_Happens]

New Challenger Approaches

"Yeah I'll take door number two thank you very much. See you slowpokes there."

Jack reaches the training ground comfortably inside of a minute and jumps straight into target practice to keep busy. Eventually noticing the entrance of someone he doesn't recognize, an audible "boom" rings out as he clears the distance to her in an instant with a huge grin on his face.

"Hey there you must be the newbie, name's Jack, Jack B. Nimble. Leonard and Nigel'll be here eventually so in the meantime I'm gonna be frank and warn you you've big shoes to fill. Actually her feet are kinda on the small side but you know what I mean. Digging the outfit by the way."

[Arlin]

Anya shrank a bit, if possible, her face coloring at Jason's response. She looked away from him. "I... guess I should have realized that," she admitted sheepishly. "At home the Grimm were always a far off threat, something other people had to deal with," she murmured, half to herself.

After a few moments of silence, she looked back up, trying to look determined. "Okay, so we do something," she said. Then, after a pause, "...we can still get those squid rings, right?"

[DukeGod]

Amarissa is surprised. What was it with this person's speed? She doesn't stay startled by it for long, her training in good manners overriding the surprise quickly enough.

"An auspicious first meeting, Jackjack Beenimble" - she says it with a mischievous gleam - "I wish harmony upon your dharma. I am Amarissa Crysanthe, and if you are the J in LJAN" - She was still puzzled by the logic in that name. It didn't have a J for starters...-"Then indeed, I am the...newbie in your team."

She completes, with a tilt of the head quizzing at last part which didn't really make sense for her

[Thokk_Smash]

Leonard shakes his head at Jack's typical exuberance. He walks at a more sedate pace, but still gets to the training grounds in plenty of time. And fast enough to see Amarissa's response to Jack's introduction.

"Amarissa, hello," he says with a smile, raising his spear/walking stick in hello. He walks over and reaches a hand out to give a firm handshake. "I'm Leonard Groen, and it's a pleasure to have you on the team."

His senses wander to admire her creative clothing, and in response Muninn appears to circle her curiously. "Hello!" Muninn chirps, all silvery-translucent and grinning caws. "The name's Muninn, pleasure to meet you! Got any shinies?" (How much of the question is serious and how much is a joke is anyone's guess)

[Sith_Happens]

New Challenger


Amarissa is surprised. What was it with this person's speed? She doesn't stay startled by it for long, her training in good manners overriding the surprise quickly enough.

I actually just edited my last post to mention the audible boom that I just realized there probably is most of the time he does that, if that changes Amarissa's reaction at all.


"An auspicious first meeting, Jackjack Beenimble" - she says it with a mischievous gleam - "I wish harmony upon your dharma. I am Amarissa Crysanthe, and if you are the J in LJAN" - She was still puzzled by the logic in that name. It didn't have a J for starters...-"Then indeed, I am the...newbie in your team."

She completes, with a tilt of the head quizzing at last part which didn't really make sense for her

"Harmony on my what now? Also I'm pretty sure you seal the deal on us being Team ANJL instead which'll be all kinds of fun to point out."

If Amarissa has a response to any of that then it's cut off by Leonard's arrival.


His senses wander to admire her creative clothing, and in response Muninn appears to circle her curiously. "Hello!" Muninn chirps, all silvery-translucent and grinning caws. "The name's Muninn, pleasure to meet you! Got any shinies?" (How much of the question is serious and how much is a joke is anyone's guess)

"There you finally are, and just in time too 'cause I was just saying how fun it's gonna be to point out that we have an 'A' now. I await you and Nigel's concession speeches."

Jack practically grins ear to ear at this.

[DukeGod]

"Angel"? That didn't have a J in it either! Had she mislearned the alphabet or something?

"Leonard Groen, harmony upon your dharma. Muninn" - There wasn't really a way to greet animals in her lessons so she improvises with what seems appropraite - "May your omens always turn true. No, I do not have...shinies? Cloth is superior to metal for me, and the smattering of jewelry I was gifted had to be pawned away to pay for passages and food."

[5ColouredWalker]

A New Challenger Approaches

5 minutes 'Early', which just so happens to be late for this little shindig, Nigel trundles through the door, scroll showing through his jacket... Jack might run off who he doesn't recognize, but Nigel has long since come to recognize everyone, the mingle of human and large amounts of varying dust types is something Nigel's long since identified as 'that girl over there', sometimes a name attaching itself to the smell.
Between 'That girl over there' and the scents of Jack and Leonard Nigel quickly hones in the on the group, his short feet eating the distance far faster than the should.

"Hello! I'm Nigel and-" very suddenly Nigel slows down, almost coming to a halt some 15 feet away, eyes slowly widening.
"That's... Not just excess dust, no contai-... Please tell me your not wearing clothing covered in both Energy and Fire dust..."

With his voice taking a concerned tone, he's obviously proving himself to be one of the people that think infusing one's clothing with dust is not the smartest thing a person can do.

[Dorni]

Nicoale narrowed her eyes at Jason, but more in skepticism than dangerously. Humans and faunus working together with everyone doing their part was a rosy way to describe history. But he was trying.

"You? Sure, get 'em while you can. The rest of us?" Nicoale shrugged, her attention shifting back to the new girl. "The Carpenters recognize us by now. I don't know that they're mad enough to hunt us down yet, but us just waltzing into the middle of their base sounds like we're just asking for trouble."

That still left them with, well, not much of an actual plan. "How about this. Let me keep an eye on them for a bit. When they're about to pull something we can be there to bust it up or we can tip off the police."

[DukeGod]

"No, I have all basic forms of Nature's Wrath sewn into the thread, and two or three of the combined ones here. All natural. I also have a belt, with canisters for powder and little pockets for crystals. I asked for them to be refilled and my request was accepted."

Of course, there were the hidden pockets in her clothing, though frankly those could only hold some crystals and small ones at that.

"I wield Raw Dust as weapon, aswell as weave it into my garments"

[Sith_Happens]

For simplicity's sake I'm just going to assume that the 15-20 minutes between Leonard and Nigel's respective arrivals ended up spent entirely on wild speculation as to what exactly the deal is with Leonard and Jason's semblances.:smalltongue:
"Ooh, that sounds like fun. I've kinda been wanting lately to get in on some elemental action myself but I've got some pretty specific ammo needs that would get in the way. Hm, maybe if I used longer bullets? I wouldn't have a way to pick the right kind though..."

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel stands rather still at Amarissa's response.
"... I use an Aura-Infused high-energy weapon, and am so very glad I've never sparred with you... Given that you're here I'm going to assume you've found a reliable way to not explode if someone sneezes near you or if you trip down the stairs. Jack, longer bullets would require a large overhaul but it'd work. You could also look at getting hollow-points and filling both ends with dust, but I here that can sometimes backfire."


Tension slowly bleeds out of the tiny faunus' frame as he speaks.
"In any case, let's start again. I'm Nigel, nice to meet you." He bows his head slightly. Of course, given that he has to look up to look Amarissa in the eye, it looks like a full blown nod.

[DukeGod]

"That scenario seems unlikely. Crystals are stable. You need training to make woven dust react to your aura. It might happen if you had high-grade powdered Dust, suffusing the air and someone with not much control of their aura...sneezed"

Amarissa isn't entirely sure how to talk to Nigel. She was usually the one looking up.

"I'm Amarissa. Harmony upon your dharma, Nigel"

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel might not recognize the specific greeting, but he recognizes a formal one... Of course, this just means he falls back on old formal replies from the caravans. It's rather telling in the moment hesitation before he replies.
"May the wind's greet you calmly, Amarissa... Now, I would be happy to discuss things further, but the Jack would get distracted and Leonard would get all depressed, and neither of those are fun. That said, I'm working on manipulating my Semblance with dust and I've a feeling you're somewhat skilled with it, if you would'nt mind tutoring me."

Nigel's smile widens slightly.
"And don't trust anything Jack has told you about me. If you can follow him, I feel like I need a Father if I'm going to keep up with him."


Father as a reference to Mother energy drink, because everything in Remnant has different names."

[Sith_Happens]

"What's that supposed to mean? In case you haven't caught on yet you won't ever hear a word out of my mouth about anything that isn't 100% true."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sounds like a plan to me!"


"How about this. Let me keep an eye on them for a bit. When they're about to pull something we can be there to bust it up or we can tip off the police."

"...Ah. Sure, that works too, I suppose."

[Grim ranger]

"If you can pardon me ruining the almost festive atmosphere, we have nothing we can really use in their case yet. People know they are a gang, but as long as we cannot prove they are doing something illegal we cannot really go there and shut them down without being bunch of thugs ourselves" Sky noted, clearly bit frustrated by the fact himself. "The problem with fighting groups like them and White Fang is that they KNOW how to game society's rules against us. Unless we start downright vigilante movement, there is less we can do about them than any of us would like... but monitoring is still a possibility of course. If you can help me get some discrete cameras, I can try and set up proper network so we can monitor known hotspots."

Suddenly smiling wryly, he shrugged his shoulders. "Being the upcoming problem solving unit for the Headmistress helps in stuff like that, though: if she gives us a "chore" to take care of them, there really isn't authority above hers to question it. Combat schools have scary amount of power in all kingdoms as far as I know, and here? She could probably call herself queen and nobody would question it."

[Dorni]

Nicoale quashed her irritation at the Atlassian and limited herself to a sharp glare. The White Fang wasn't some elite club gaming society's rules - they were outcasts trying to burn society down. The police were happy to have just about any excuse to go after the Fang. Or any faunus they felt might be associated with the Fang, which in some of their eyes was every one of us.

"They're also the gang that just helped the White Fang with a terrorist attack on VICE last week," she finally replied. "I don't think moving against them is gonna be a problem. And I don't know what a camera is going to tell you that I can't, but sure, knock yourself out."

Nicoale grew was quiet for a moment as their cabin came into view. For the rest of them, anyway. "Hey, you two go on ahead," she announced, trying for stern. "Jason and I need to talk."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Uh oh," Bashe said.

"What's up?" Jason asked.

"I didn't do it I swear!"

[Dorni]

Nicoale waited till the other two had gone on ahead before answering. She looked over at Jason and took a steadying breath, about to speak... then looked down instead and realized she'd been fidgeting and abruptly stopped it. Stopping Jason had been a mistake. This conversation was a mistake. But she was this far in.

She looked back up at Jason. "Its nothing important. Just, about things back there in the dust shop. Thanks."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Fortunately, Nicoale was looking towards the ground for a moment, so she...well, probably (hey, it's Nicoale) didn't see Jason's brows briefly go up. Was Nicoale fidgeting? He hadn't been entirely certain she knew how to fidget. If he didn't know any better he might almost be deluded into thinking she was nervous, or something. Which kinda made him a touch concerned about why she had asked to speak with him. (Bashe's eyes, meanwhile, were growing progressively wider).

But it only lasted a moment before she got over it and said her piece. Which did actually clear it up. Jason wasn't entirely dense. Nicoale may have tried to diminish it with her wording, but he recognized her sincerity. You don't ask to talk to someone alone for an expression of casual politeness. And while he couldn't be certain, he'd be willing to bet that there hadn't been too many people in the past who Nicoale had thanked and meant it. It was kinda touching, honestly.

'Course, he was equally confident that if he alluded to that at all, she'd probably shoot out his kneecap again, so when he responded with, "Yeah, any time," and just picked back up walking, his voice was as casual as if he had just grabbed her a drink from the fridge.

But he met her eyes squarely as he said it, and there could be little doubt he meant the words literally.

[Dorni]

This is Harppening

"-all I'm saying is that we spent a couple days training in the desert for Desert Basic. I don't know what we're supposed to learn by writing a paper on it a week later," Nicoale grumbled to no one in particular. Class had just gotten out for the day and already the students were mostly scattered, trying to go about their business of enjoying another perfect, sunny vacuoe afternoon. Nicoale herself was on her way back to the cabin her team's cabin. This paper was stupid, but she was determined to ace this thing and have it finished before the weekend. Work never left her much free time on the weekends.



Laundry Surprise

Nicoale lay sprawled on her bed, eyes closed, her textbook open beside her. She wasn't asleep; the evening light still came through the window and the occasional swipe of her hand to turn the page attested to her still being wide awake and studying, reading with the aid of her semblance. Not that Nicoale wasn't enjoying the relaxation as well. Anya had offered to take care of her laundry tonight. The bat girl was clearly an asset to the team at this point, but she was still a bundle of nerves and Nicoale wasn't about to deny her offer if it helped her feel better. Especially if it left Nicoale with an extra hour or two to study.

[5ColouredWalker]

Poking a Sleeping Bear
*Lunch, several days later*

If anyone said LJAN and NJAS weren't at the top of their school fame wise (At least, as first years. There's always the chance some 4th years might not have heard of them) would be lying.
Funnily enough, after the fist couple of days Nigel very quickly became annoyed at the attention (Not the least of which because his combat scores are barely better than top half, something everyone noticed after he quickly lost to someone with a mental semblance.), people occasionally asking questions... Stares.
People preventing him from checking on his still.
People watching him tinker.
"I SWEAR TO OUM I WILL STUFF YOUR CAVE BEAR HEAD UP YOUR ASS SO YOU CAN TELL HOW BAD YOU SMELL TO ME IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF MY FACE!"
No one quite noticed when he put the mask on, but he took it off slowly.
"Please let me eat in peace. Thank you."
Walking carefully to where the most of the two teams sat together, he sat down with a heavy thud, tray landing only slightly quieter with it's load of honey salmon.
"I might not be quite in touch with me but this is starting to get overboard. How would you guys feel about throwing the next impossible challenge?"

[Arlin]

This is Harppening
Anya sighed as she packed her things away. While she much preferred the classroom to that awful desert training, she somewhat agreed with Nicoale- both seemed a tad unnecessary. She ran to catch up with the other faunus, her hood pulled up and skirt fluttering a bit.

She walked alongside Nicoale in silence for a few moments, steeling herself. Then, "Um, Nicoale? If you don't mind me asking... does... does your semblance let you find things?" she asked tentatively. "I mean, there's no way you knew beforehand where a proper cave with stalactite was, or those bandits, but you had accurate information on them... anyway I was hoping you could help me find something," she finished sheepishly, the last sentence coming out in a rush.

Later, Anya might be proud of herself- she'd managed to avoid apologizing, though not from lack of inclination. For now, she was berating herself, obviously it had been a rather personal question, out of nowhere.

Laundry Surprise
The door slammed open as Anya came darting in, a rumpled bundle clutched in her hands. Her speakers were playing something laid back with a decent beat, but appeared to be utterly forgotten in her haste. Her face was pale as she looked to Nicoale.

"W-why do you have this!?" she stammered, holding out what proved to be the shirt from a Schnee Dust Company uniform. The ID card dangling from a retractable cord swayed as the shirt shook in Anya's grasp.

Poking a Sleeping Bear
Anya had heard Nigel approach, but even so she jumped slightly when he thumped down. Her utensils clattered around her own portion of honey salmon as she looked up. "I... um, wouldn't that be like purposefully failing an exam?" she asked mildly. She had meant to apologize for snapping at the bear faunus a few days ago, really she had. She'd been jumpy from nerves and his manner had grated far more than it might have otherwise, but there hadn't really been a moment for it. Anyway, it seemed like he'd forgotten, so she was going to try to remain polite at the very least.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

And people thought Jason couldn't sit still and be quiet.

While he would happily admit he wasn't the most studious, uh, student in the, err, student body - his "study sessions" amounted to a fidgety half-hour skimming through his textbooks as fast as he could - he saw to other forms of training and preparation with stoic discipline. At the moment, he was sitting on his bed, eyes closed, hands in his lap, no dragons visible. Meditating. Yes, Jason possessed sufficient levels of personal inner calm to meditate. It was helpful for developing one's Aura, which was kinda doubly important to Jason given the nature of his Semblance. In essence, it was how he "trained" Ryuu and Bashe.

(All accusations that this so-called "meditation" actually took the form of imagining epic battles between and against his two dragons in a vast, ever-changing mindscape were almost certainly fal- oh who am I kidding it was exactly like that and we all know it.)

However, Jason's dragon-sharp ears were keen enough to hear the rapid approach of Anya's hurried stride, so rather than being comically shocked from his meditation, he had opened his eyes and was looking calmly at the door when she burst in.

He did raise one eyebrow when he saw the uniform and the name tag. Why did she have that? Was Nicoale planning to infiltrate Schnee for some reason? (Jason was aware that it was patently ludicrous that Nicoale would need something like a uniform and fake ID card to infiltrate a company when her omniscience has been well-established. That this was the first guess that came to mind anyway should be taken as evidence for how unlikely he deemed the possibility that Nicoale was working for the SDC.)

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Jason upnodded to Nigel as he sat down, considering suggestion for a moment. "I mean, it depends on the situation, but given the right circumstances, yeah, I can dig it. If it's like a giant Grimm or something, we can totally just throw it. Whoever throws it furthest gets the bragging rights, maybe? Unless you're talking more like just tossing it back and forth until it starts dissolving? That could be fun too. Ooh! Or we could totally do like a monkey in the middle thing! Two of us throw it back and forth and the others all shoot it as it passes overhead! That would be AWESOME!"

He was being entirely serious in his suggestions, I feel I should point out. It wasn't that Jason was unaware, in the general sense, of the colloquial meaning of "throwing" something. It was just, he never expected it to be used seriously with respect to himself, so it's not the direction his mind went in.

[Dorni]

This is Harppening

Nicoale gave Anya a sidelong glance. Jason seemed stoked to run with the idea of having an omniscient teammate and Nicoale hadn't seen the need to go out of her way to correct him yet, but that impression couldn't last forever. If she were really omniscient then why did she bother to study? Still, she'd figured Sky or Ryuu would be the first to bring it up again.

"Among other things, yeah. What are you looking for?"

Laundry Surprise

So much for a quiet night. Nicoale rolled off her bed and rose to her feet with a sinking feeling. She'd known this conversation was coming sooner or later. She would have loved to say that it was none of Anya's business why she had an SDC uniform. That would have been absurd. She and Anya were both Faunus and Nicoale knew darn well what the SDC stood for. She wasn't about to apologize though.

"Because I work for them and they require it?" She answered as she crossed the room. She reached out and unclipped the laminated ID and its cord. "Thanks for bringing it back though. Its not the end of the world if the ID goes through the wash, but I'd rather not have to get it replaced."

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Nicoale somehow managed to take "that's a totally ridiculous idea, I feel dumber for having heard it, and were you dropped on your head as a child?", package it all into a single look and throw that look to Nigel. All she said was "No."

[Arlin]

This is Harppening

Anya's shoulders dropped in relief as she replied, "Um, I'm hoping to find a lever harp, though I'm sure it won't be easy in a place like this. I... haven't been able to find one since I left home. Full size, with nylon strings, for preference, but I could do fine with wire or gut if that's all there is," she added quickly under Nicoale's look.

"I, um... use it to practice my control with my semblance," Anya admitted quietly by way of explanation. "I know how to play it normally, too, but... I mean... I can show you later, if you want."

Laundry Surprise

Anya's face colored. "I... I mean, that makes sense, I guess," she said, looking about. "It's... an odd choice for jobs, but..." she trailed off. Nicoale's nonchalance had put her off guard somewhat.

She shook her head as if to clear it, her bat ears flapping a little with the motion. "Do... you work with the higher ups at all?" she asked meekly, looking at her feet. She was kind of upset about the job to begin with, but it wasn't what she was afraid of. That much was obvious.

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Anya couldn't help snorting at Jason's reply, despite herself. Surreptitiously she scritched behind Bashe's ear ridge.

[Dorni]

This is Harppening

Nicoale's eyes took on a slightly distant look as she started scanning immediately. She vaguely remembered a few music shops around the city from her semblance training, but she hadn't been interested enough to actually remember their inventory. What she needed was a few moments to actually search them. It was just as well. She'd wondered if Anya's shyness was just because she'd been new to the team, but it hadn't hadn't gotten any better in the weeks since. It was about time to address it.

She stopped and faced the bat-girl squarely. "Anya. Are you asking me to locate a harp?"

Laundry Surprise

"As little as possible." Nicoale sat on the edge of her bed, the ID card vanished into a pocket. She'd honestly been expecting... well, Anya didn't have much in the way of a spine yet, but even so she changed from freaking out to accepting remarkably fast. She wouldn't have been the first faunus to call her a traitor to her kind.

"I report in to my boss to get my assignment. After that, I already told you I'm a surveyor. Usually the have me out in the middle of nowhere looking for dust deposits. Its honestly better out there than it is on base. Most people out there are willing to overlook these," she continued, wiggling her ears, "when they see Caladbolg."

[5ColouredWalker]

Poking a Sleeping Bear
At first, Nigel goes to respond to Anya, but then Jason opens his mouth...
Somewhere inside, a knot grows marginally bigger, and Nicoale's look goes unoticed as Nigel stairs at Jason the way most people would stare at a particularly dumb puppy.
"Jason, I'd tell you to never change, but you're in school for a reason."
With that Nigel quickly scrapes off a bit of fish with a fork before almost inhaling it, not quite getting his usual pleased expression.

"That said, as fun as your idea sounds Jason, basically yea Anya, but not an exam or something. If I wanted to fail like that, I'd just challenge all of you for a few days in combat class, but I'd prefer my tail not be lodged in my chest, as useless as it is... What I mean is... Next time we get sent for something rediculous like 'Bring Back a Grim', how about we don't bring back live grim and then loudly compare who's capture was better?"
Nigel eyes quickly snap to Jason.
"Not that we could stop you from bragging."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

"You work for the SDC?" Jason asked, with a bit of surprise. "Huh. My understanding was their record on faunus rights more-or-less sucked. Wasn't that what those guys were protesting VICE for?
Before the White Fang and such did their thing?" Jason was, as always, about 95% ignorant of the faunus experience.

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Here Jason was, happily sitting in his nice little bubble of throwing Grimm around, when freakin' context had to come along and ruin everything.

"Nigel, buddy, nah man. Look. I kinda get where you're coming from, but it's like, when you are objectively awesome, as all Hunters are but especially as everyone on either of our teams has regularly proven to be," Jason had elected to simply ignore the various commentary about not being good enough or whatever that certain members of LJAN and NJAS sometimes gave voice to. Their actions spoke for themselves and they would come to understand that sooner or later. "Then you can't be surprised when people start to notice that you are, as determined above, awesome. I mean, sure, you can try to act like you're less awesome, but really, it's a futile effort. The awesome will happen, it cannot be contained, so you may as well just ride the wave."

"Deep thoughts, yo."

"I suppose that knowing your excuse for 'tactics' as I do, I should not be surprised that this is what you choose to define as 'philosophy'."

[DukeGod]

Poking the Sleeping Bear

"I agree with the Dragonhost. In part. Life changes, always. You must embrace the changes, for to fight them is to invite sorrow. Let things be as they are, flowing forward naturally and find your peace"

Flowing Fabric and Twinkling Trinkets

Life in Vacuo was beginning to adjust, as the secret to heat was apparently just living there long enough. Most importantly however, she had received her share of the bandit bounties and already had plans to put it to good use. Clothing and jewelry. She was mostly used to sewing Dust into her clothing, but since in Vacuo it seemed the women preferred instead to go light in the clothing, but a lot heavier in the gold and silver and gems, she felt like taking a look into maybe incorporating dust into that

Additionally, she had to admit, the bazaars of Vacuo were just as the stories suggested. Full of interesting folk. She was surprised when the first shopkeep...no wait, merchant they preferred in here, balked at her accepting the price she said. Apparently you were supposed to negotiate, and he refused on the sale out of principles, until she talked his price down about a quarter.

Well, she had gotten the first part of what she came for. Rolls of chiffon, and some clothing pieces of laced spider silk that seemed interesting. Also, some odd items like a small marble statuette of a Beowolf, beads of some metal that apparently melted when you put it into your hands and a colored salt crystal the size of her closed fist. Bartering was also practiced with haggling and she had acquired the items among other purchases. Honestly, this bazaar.

She was now heading towards the second part of her shopping spree, the jewelry itself. For that she had comandeered Leonard's soul animal, Muninn. The raven had an eye for shinies as he called it, and was helping her pick through the stuff. Some of it would go to him, but still...part of the money she was using WAS from Leonard too...

[Thokk_Smash]

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Leonard continues to eat sedately through Nigel's debate and discussion. His wolves rest by his feet and his crows sit on his shoulders. "There's a difference between showboating and rising to meet an occasion," he says in a lull in the conversation. "Quote-unquote 'throwing' an assignment may seem small, but--as you so succinctly pointed out--we're in school for a reason. Pulling our punches in any aspect is something that I daresay none of us is capable of doing. I doubt we would have made it this far if we were."

"I'm not in the practice of extolling our victories. But word'll spread one way or another; as Amarissa said, best to deal with it as it comes." Leonard gives a playful smirk even though he doesn't look directly at Nigel. "Perhaps you could consider this patience-training."

Flowing Fabric and Twinkling Trinkets

Leonard walks through the bazaar with a small smile on his face. The sounds, the smells are all familiar to him from days spent shopping with his family. He hears the merchants call out to him in greeting, remembering the smallest Groen child from years passed. Leonard's smile widens and he greets each one in turn, asking after their families and businesses.

Lately he's been tinkering with Gungnir. Increasing its Dust capacity, linking it to his Aura; altogether, it should let him throw his spear at anything he can perceive, as well as ignite a tremendous explosion at the destination. Making sure he will be able to retrieve it once thrown has been tricky to figure out, but he remains undaunted.

Amarissa had needed to go to the bazaar for her own devices, and Muninn had insisted he could help her find the best "shinies". Leonard knows that Muninn represents his more frivolous side, but seriously, the crow has borderline ADHD. Not to mention...questionable tastes.

"Amarissa, Amarissa!" Muninn calls out to the Huntress. The crow is currently circling a jewelry stand on a particular merchant's stand. It is full of obviously high-quality jewelry in a variety of sizes, Dust, and shapes. "This one can channel Fire Dust the best, and this one Lightning Dust--this one's a bit cracked right there, it'll be trickier to work with...

Now, all of these are absolutely true: these crystals and jewels will be more than serviceable for Amarissa's needs. They all are just...gaudy. Tacky. Maybe they were stylish fifteen years ago, but fashions change. Not that Muninn cares!

[Dorni]

Laundry Surprise

"Yep, that's them, and their record is rather on the side of more. Take the 5 worst things you've heard about them and 3 are probably true. Them being the world's largest dust dealer and the swarm of people that showed up at VICE tells you rather clearly how much it matters."

[Arlin]

This is Harppening

Anya took a deep breath and nodded. "Please... if you don't mind," she said calmly, though she still didn't manage to look Nicoale in the eye. "Is that okay?"

Laundry Surprise

Anya seemed slightly reassured at Nicoale's initial response, but her expression darkened a bit as the deer faunus continued. "Then why would you work for them?" she asked. "I mean, you're competent enough to get a job anywhere, why support something that's actively against your own interests? Hell, why work for a place where you're only tolerated because you're heavily armed and useful?"

Poking a Sleeping Bear

Anya went back to eating as the others chimed in, taking dainty little bites. At a pause, she volunteered, "I think it's a little late for trying to keep a low profile anyway, isn't it? I mean, people are already talking." She glanced around uncertainly.

[5ColouredWalker]

Poking a Sleeping Bear
"I suppose you guys are right... Just used to things fading in a couple of days. I suppose with walls everyone gets the benefit of having more free time at least."
Nigel snorts at his comment before going for more fish, scrapping far more than people would expect could be scrapped off with forks.

"So, patience training it is... If nothing else I've got a good teacher in you, Leonard."

[Dorni]

This Is Harppening

"That's a little better." She needed a bit more time to keep looking. She looked back ahead of her and closed her eyes. Sometimes it was faster to search when she didn't need to split her attention. "What's your budget like? Are you looking for new or used?"

Laundry Surprise

"Uh, because it beats not being tolerated at all? Or have you forgotten Scarlet Dust already? Don't tell me that was the first time you've seen that reaction. And as far as this being against my interest, what, are you going to try telling me that faunus are all one great big happy family that love and support each other?" Nicoale's sarcasm left no mistake what she thought about that idea.

She held up a hand, ticking off her fingers as she continued. "Tuition, dust, food, weapon maintenance, textbooks, none of it comes free and my family can't help me out." She very decidedly did not glance Jason's way, "So I cover it all myself. Without this job I wouldn't be here right now."

[Arlin]

This is Harppening

Anya sighed. "I suppose it will have to be used, my budget... isn't great, to be honest. I used up a fair bit restocking my Dust supplies." Now that she came to think of it, perhaps that hadn't been such a good expenditure after all. I mean, true it would be directly applicable in use against Grimm or what have you, but...

Laundry Surprise

Anya eyes narrowed, and she tensed. "I think you know full well I'm not allowed the luxury of forgetting things like that," she said coldly. "And I think Crom and his ilk make it abundantly clear that faunus can be just as fractious, petty, and mean spirited as humans."

The tiny faunus took several deep breaths, shaking not with fear, but with anger. As she spoke again, her volume began to climb. "So let me get this straight. You want to learn how to fight Grimm, and you, miss pseudo-omniscience, can't find a single alternative to working for scum like Schnee? Not a single one? Maybe you've been too busy staring at landscape to notice, but you're far from the only one here who wasn't lucky enough to have parents that gave a damn!" she shouted.

[Dorni]

Laundry Surprise

Nicoale, for once, didn't have an immediate snappy come-back. True, she'd known something like this might happen when word got out she worked for Schnee. But this was Anya. This was still the first time she'd seen Anya actually angry. And while she was prepared for her reaction to the SDC, that wasn't what had set Anya off. It was the talk of family.

Part of her wanted to blow it off and mock Anya. The Atlassian rich girl heard just a piece of Nicoale's story and just assumed that's all there was. But then, Anya hadn't spoken of her home life at all either. All Nicoale knew for sure were the bits she'd let slip. Was Nicoale being any different?

"Really? You're going to complain about having it rough? But you're right, I don't know anything about your home life. But you know what? You haven't volunteered. So tell us about your terrible life of private tutors, dust supplies and harp lessons."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

Jason's eye twitched just slightly when Nicoale mentioned her lack of family support, and he tensed as Anya retorted. He rather expected, had he been willing to risk showing enough of a reaction to look, he'd have seen Nicoale's ears lying flat against her head. But he was not, so he did not.

While Jason was comfortable with scrapping and teasing and even some healthy venting, this was veering dangerously close to getting personal. He knew just enough about Nicoale's past, and while he didn't know Anya's...honestly, for the purposes of this evaluation, he didn't need to. Say the wrong thing about just about anyone's family, and you could cause way more harm than you intend with words you can't take back.

Even so, he almost kept quiet. Much like with faunus in general, Jason was well aware of his cognitive limitations in regards to the present subject matter. Like, he was aware, in an intellectual sense, that there were people out there with broken families, or lost loved ones, or simply damaged, dysfunctional, or toxic relations. And he could empathize with them well enough. But flame-blast if he could in any way actually understand what they were going through. Aside from one grandparent (who had lived a long, full, and happy life and passed away peacefully in bed), Jason's immediate family was all alive and healthy, gods be praised. They did help each other out - Jason and his siblings still went out and helped their dad with Dust farming on weekends, and made enough doing it to cover their expenses (not to mention, were able to keep enough of what they acquired to fuel their weapons). They were close. About the worst Jason could say about his family was that his siblings were overprotective and didn't - despite the ample evidence he had made readily available from his very first day at Shade on - seem to recognize that he was not just their Aura-weak baby brother any more, but actually kinda badass. And even that was less a problem with their relationship, and more an unfortunate cognitive deficit they were tragically suffering from. He felt sorry for them more than anything, really.

What it came down to? Jason didn't exactly feel qualified to be part of this discussion.

But, you know, since when has that ever stopped him?

"Guys," he interjected calmly. "Take a breath, yeah? Anya, come on, you know that knowledge and competence isn't all there is to it. Opportunity matters. You do what you can with the resources you've got. Nicoale, it's Anya's call if and when she tells us more about herself, but I'm sure you're well aware that that's hardly an encouraging way to express interest."

"That all being said, the SDC are kinda punks. I mean, I'll admit I don't have a ton of information on how they treat faunus, but they aren't exactly kind to small independent Dust sellers like my dad. He always sells any surplus he's got to Groen. Way better company, if you ask me. If you want to look into other options, I'd bet Leonard could get you an interview only slightly less easily than you could pass it."

"And Anya...I mean, it is your call, but just so you know, if you do want to talk, or vent, or whatever about...whatever, we are here for you. I mean, I dunno, maybe you can't count on your family, but you can still count on your team, right?"

Meanwhile, although they were currently "dismissed" and as such the others were subject to their particular take on the matter, Jason, tragically, was sitting through the running commentary of his dragons.

~So...the mouse does have teeth. Interesting.~

~Bat.~

~What now?~

~Anya's a bat faunus. Not a mouse.~

~...Whatever.~

~It's an easy mistake to make. It's just, the one has wings. But Anya doesn't have wings, so...~

~...Whatever.~

~But really, she's a bat. Calling her a mouse would be kinda like someone calling you a snake. ...Because snakes don't have wings, you see.~

~...Whatever.~

...

...

~Nicoale's a deer. I'm not...sure if that was clear or-~

~WHATEVER! I honestly couldn't care less! They're all food to me!~

~Ryuu! That- that's horrible! And racist! Haven't you been paying any attention at all?
What the faunus have to go through just because they're a little different is terrible, and I for one find it completely unacceptable that-~

~What are you blabbering about? Who said anything about faunus? I meant all of the stupid little two-legged appetizers!~

~Err...~

~Racist. Please. I will happily eat all of them equally, thank you very much!~

~Ehh...~

~Although, if you're so insistent that we be precise with our wording today, I think the term you're actually looking for would be picky.~

~Uhh...~

~And this is why we don't involve you in these sorts of discussions, Ryuu my friend.~

~Good! My brilliant master plan is working perfectly, then! ...Darn it. When's dinner? Now I'm hungry...~

[Arlin]

Laundry Surprise

Anya had been about to speak when Jason interjected; she'd nearly forgotten he was still there. By the time he was done speaking, she was still nowhere near cooled off. When she turned back to Nicoale, her voice was quieter, but no less upset. "You know what? Fine. But you need to stop justifying to yourself that screwing over the rest of us is okay. You're at this Academy to become a Huntress. That means you're here to make the world a better place. Not for you, for everyone. It's great you got the SDC to pay for the training, but all faunus are paying for the means to that end. Think about that. Find another way to reach your goal."

With that, the bat girl turned on her heel and stalked over to her own bed, flopping down onto it in a less-than-graceful huff. The work shirt that started all this lay rumpled and forgotten on the floor. Silence stretched as she took a few deep breaths, and seemed to deflate. After a long minute or two, she sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her lips began to move slightly, and although there was no way such an utterance should be audible from across the room, both Jason and Nicoale could hear Anya as clearly as if she was speaking directly into their ears. Which, in a way, she was.

"I'm... from Atlas, originally. My parents don't know I'm here. My father is a military official with strong ties to Atlasian R&D, so naturally he works with the SDC often. My mother is a social climber. Both of them... are human," she finished simply, though whether she stopped to let her words sink in or to steel herself to reveal more was difficult to say.

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

Shade Academy's library was something of an oddity on campus, whilst the other buildings were half-falling down wood and metal shacks that had been fixed and patched up over the years, it was a modern multistory construction of redbrick and steel (rumors about how Nessa had gotten the money to fund the whole thing abound). In addition to the wealth of books the building held it was also just about the only place on campus that had any form of air conditioning, making it a popular hangout for people looking to beat the heat.

It was at a desk in one corner of the library in the Dust section that a pair of Crom's cronies managed to track down Anya, the wolf Faunus and his cohort made sure they were alone (turns out when you give kids a beach and a library a lot of them are going to choose the beach) before approaching. "Hey, Anya right? Have you got a minute?" he asked, his friend in the baggy hoodie standing wordlessly behind him.

Tuition Troubles

The Headmistress's office/beach shack was the same as it ever was, filled with heavy fragrant smoke and disorganised papers and half empty bottles of questionable quality with the Headmistress herself resting her feet up on her desk and paying far more attention to whatever was on her scroll than to the documents in front of her. But today Nessa wasn't on her own, the schools Mistralian nurse/administrator paced in front of her, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Please Headmistress if you could just pay attention for five minutes and listen to me."

"Oh well you know I'd love to listen to you talk about paperwork, someone's here. Come in Anya no need to be shy." Nessa gestured for her to come in, glad for anything that prevents her from having to do any actual work.

A Little Bit of Home

The CCT towers, Atlas's gift to the world and a shining example of that kingdom's ingenuity and innovation, it was safe to say that the tower that resided in Vacuo had seen better days. A scaffold surrounded the base of the tower and workmen (workpeople?) busied themselves about with repair works whilst inside the elevator bore a sign that read 'Out of Order:Please Use Stairs'.

Fortunately upon reaching the top floor everything seems to be far more in order, everything from the floor to the consoles themselves are immaculately tidy and a man in a neatly pressed uniform sits behind a reception desk.

"Just plug in anywhere." The man says gesturing to the empty consoles behind him "But please refrain from eating or drinking in the CCT and please be aware of your fellow users at all times."

[Dorni]

Laundry Surprise

Nicoale resisted an eyeroll at Anya's preaching. She was one to preach about the evils of working for the SDC when her family lived off money made working with them. The Atlassian military wasn't a whole lot better themselves. But she could come back to that. This was still the first she'd really heard from Anya about her home life. For the moment her curiosity trumped her desire to point out her teammate's hypocrisy.

Anya's parents both being human was impossible. Two humans always had a human child. "So did one of them get remarried, or did they take you in?"

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

"Of course. Thank you" Sky replies simply, adjusting his coat slightly before striding in with Anya. It was originally not exactly his plan to pass by here, but what can one do when getting sudden request for transcontinental call? He could have just refused it, since he is pretty certain he knows what this is about, but he might as well be polite: dropping the call mid-discussion is always an option if needs must.

"Thanks for coming with me. Having new teammate happened pretty suddenly all things considered, and I thought to take the opportunity to maybe chat it up and have some coffee while we have some free time?" he explains casually shrugging his shoulders with a small smile. "This should not take terribly long, and after that we can be on our way. Just want to maintain proper degree of courtesy even for people I don't really like, you know?"

Sunshine & Sea air

Although he has been more strict and dutiful sort of student so far, Sky has finally had enough of being cooped up inside. After checking in with possible interested parties from his team and their Academy's other team of raising stars for company, the ex-Atlas student is standing before the beach, bag of essential beachside supplies in one hand and beach umbrella in the other. He seems bit more relaxed than usually, wearing open shirtless coat and shorts along with sandals rather than the neat and tidy student uniform he usually has.

"Seems like the weather is going to be alright at least" Sky hums happily, grinning as he sits down on the sand. "And if some Grimm shows up to ruin this, they are going to be so, so sorry."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

Jason was...kinda confused by Anya's last point. He was about to ask if she was trying to say she was adopted or something but...look, Jason's ignorance of the faunus condition has been well established. Flame-blast if he had any idea whether two humans could give birth to a faunus. Something something recessive traits? Beats him. Fortunately, Nicoale asked the relevant clarifying question, so Jason got to keep his ignorance to himself. This time!

It was something else that really caught Jason's attention. "They...don't know?" he asked. Look, Hunters were awesome, but it was a dangerous job. Jason was...kinda having trouble wrapping his head around just...dipping off to another country to become one without letting his parents know. "I mean...what do they think you're doing here?"

Sunshine & Sea Air

Jason, for his part, had come equipped with just a towel and a couple bottles of water. Aura beat sunscreen, but no Vacuan native took hydration with anything less than the utmost seriousness, no matter how confident they may be. His typical gi had been replaced by a tanktop and swim trunks, the former of which almost immediately ended up lying atop his towel on the ground. Even his Knuckle Dusters had been left at home, which prompted a little smirk at Sky's quip. "Huh. That might actually be kinda fun. Haven't fought Grimm Dustless too often."

Then he went charging down the beach and dove headlong into the water.

The dragons were out, but not extended. Bashe enjoyed swimming - the dragon's "WHOO!" could be heard just before Jason hit the water. Ryuu...did not. The dragon's annoyed sputtering could be heard as Jason came back up. But far be it from Jason to ever miss the opportunity to annoy Ryuu.

[Arlin]

Laundry Surprise
Any looked sheepishly at Jason. "I ran away," she admitted, still using her semblance to communicate. "I took some money I had scraped together, borrowed a bit from my tutor, and ran."

She found herself combing her fingers through her hair as she turned to Nicoale. "Neither. I know it's not possible for two humans to have a faunus child, but I looked into the records. Neither of them has been married before, and my birth records show them as my parents." The girl drew her hood up over her ears and huddled even closer. "There was a huge scandal shortly after I was born. People were saying my mother had had an affair with some faunus. In Atlas... that's big news, and it was never really forgotten. I'm not sure my mother will ever forgive me."

The King is Dead
Anya looked up from her book, looking a bit confused for a moment. Her head was still immersed in dust infusion techniques, how different fabrics reacted to different types of Dust. She had been surprised to discover how extensive the library was, especially with the headmistress being, well, Nessa. As an added bonus, even with people around it hadn't been too hard to find a secluded corner.

"Um, sure," she said, blinking up at the two. "I'm sorry, but I can't say I remember your names," she admitted, frowning apologetically.

Tuition Troubles
Anya peeked around the doorway, wrinkling her nose a bit. While her sense of smell was not as refined as, say, Nigel's, it still gave her a lot more information than the human students', and way more than she really wanted. In Nessa's "workspace" however, it was a downright hindrance. Cautiously she sidled in, bobbing respectfully towards the administrator. "I... was hoping I could talk to you about tuition, headmistress?" she asked apprehensively.

A Little Bit of Home
Anya nodded, scurrying a little to keep up with Sky's longer strides. "It's no problem," she assured him. Her mind couldn't help but touch on the usually romantic context of meeting a girl for coffee, but from what little she'd gleaned about Sky this didn't seem the most likely motivation. Still, she'd heard more than her fair share of worse pickup attempts, and in any case it would be good to get to know the most reticent of her new team members. "I guess it's a good thing they keep at least part of this place in good condition."

Sunshine & Sea Air
Anya tried without success to stifle another yawn as she made her way onto the beach, a backpack slung over her shoulders. She'd been up late finishing up homework, though that in itself wasn't that unusual; Anya was a night owl, so to speak. Getting up the morning after was as difficult as ever, but there she was in a two-piece bathing suit. It was a brighter shade of green than she would have liked, but it had ruffles on the top she found rather pleasing. She hadn't yet had the courage to remove her usual hoodie, however, so this effect was rather lost for the moment.

Looking around the beach, she moved over near to where Sky was sitting, dropping her pack and rummaging through it until she came up with a bright blue beach towel, laying it out. "I have to admit, Sky, this was a good ideaaaaa," she said, a yawn stretching out the last word.

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

"Don't worry about it." The wolf Faunus reassures her, taking a seat on the other side of the desk "When you're 'friends'..." He paused, making air quotes with his hands "...with Crom people don't tend to spend much time trying to get to know you. I'm Remus and he's Tawny." He explains, pointing a finger at the hooded Faunus who's chosen to remain standing.

"Anyway, people are talking about what happened out in the desert, lot of rumours, figured I'd cut out the middle man and ask you yourself. People are saying that you're the one that took out the bandit's leader, is it true?"

Tuition Troubles

Nessa took her feet of the desk and settled for just leaning back in her chair as her student walked in, for her part the administrator remained silent if a little frustrated and took up a position by the window, trying to waft the smoke away from her face.

"What's on your mind Anya?" She asks casually, making sure to blow her smoke towards the window and away from the young Faunus.

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

"Well, should they neglect it too much, every Kingdom around would begin to voice their complaints quite loudly. It is really quite ingenious network. Ah, our connected world" Sky muses, being quite familiar with CCT thanks to his technological expertise. "I do wish that the tower was more protected though, but the Academy is like no distance away, so an attack would generally be unwise. Still, better keep this place in mind just in case White Fang or any others decide to get overambitious again."

Picking a terminal, he pulls out his scroll, wincing slightly. This is probably going to suck, but he'll at least have to hear what it is all about. He has not had a proper discussion with his family in...quite a while, actually. Even if it won't likely be pleasant, it should at least be therapeutic.

"Oh, and if they are rude or I end up raising my voice, don't mind that. It is just how things are" he says apologetically before sitting down and connecting to the system to receive the call.

Sunshine & Sea air

"Don't jinx it, you! I have better things to do than fighting Grimm at the moment!" the atlesian calls after Jason with a small grin, stretching slowly as he enjoys the sun for once. One amazing thing about learning to heal with one's aura in particular was total immunity to possibility of annoying sunburns, so he is not too worries despite being of pale complexion.

"Not one I would have usually come up with, but I was getting bit stir-crazy" Sky admits to Anya, beginning to pile sand into small hill as he speaks, quite a bit more relaxed than usually. "You should try and take it easy too for once... You are even more of a workaholic than I am in some senses. Have to take a moment to breathe and take in the sights sometimes."

As he chats with his teammate, Sky begins to work on...a sandcastle? Some of the more observant and worldly may note striking similarity to Atlas academy's blocky buildings from the get-go, although it may be the big snowflake he draws in middle of the little sand courtyard that really brings out the resemblance.

[Arlin]

The King is Dead
"I'm sorry you're stuck with him," Anya murmured as Remus sat.

At his question, though, she frowned. "I mean, technically yes, but only because Jason and Nicoale wailed on him for a while, and Leonard's wolf tag teamed the guy with me directly," she said, her brow furrowing. "The main thing I did was make his buddy sick before the chief made him a collateral casualty... even that wouldn't have worked if the other two hadn't hit the rest of the clan with dust, dragons, and mortar shells..."

Anya knew she was grasping at straws, but she did honestly believe what she was saying. Even she couldn't deny her last hit had been quite solid, even if she was set on downplaying her own role in it.

Tuition Troubles
The bat faunus shifted from foot to foot uneasily as she tried to rally her nerve. She found herself looking at every little thing on Nessa's desk as if there would be something there to save her from embarrassment. Eventually, she managed to squeek out, "I... don't know how I'm going to be able to pay for next term's tuition."

Her face went red as she looked away. "I used up most of what I had to pay for this one."

A Little Bit of Home
"Er, okay," Anya replied with a nervous laugh. She wasn't quite sure what to make of his last statement. Come to think of it, why did he need to take an outside call here of all places? She'd never really thought to ask where he was from, though at this point it seemed more polite to wait until after the call. Surreptitiously, Anya found a chair to plop down in to wait, pulling out her own scroll to browse through some of her usual sites. She didn't so much as glance at Sky, but knew full well that she'd hear everything whether she wanted to or not.

[Thokk_Smash]

Sunshine and Sea Air

The offer to take a break from schoolwork, training, modifying his weapon, and overall stress is an offer Leonard cannot pass up. So it is that he arrives at the beach with the others, ready to do nothing but relax. His menagerie are equally laid back (except for Freki, but that's just Freki). By the time Leonard sets his things with the others, Geri has already bounded over to the water and jumped in. Muninn is carping about in the air above the water, trilling and laughing. Huginn sits upon Leonard's shoulder silently (for once).

Leonard, for his part, is dressed comfortably for the beach. His typical skintight combat outfit is replaced by green swim trunks and an informal button-up shirt with floral print. The shirt is unbuttoned, and quickly comes off as he gets ready to jump into the water behind Jason. "Thank you for the invite, Sky," he says to the Atlasian with a smile. Freki snorts in Sky's general direction then settles in for a nap on Leonard's blanket (the fact that he sat next to Anya is entirely coincidental, naturally). "Sometimes it's too easy to get tunnel vision and grind one's nose off on the grindstone. Well, not that I'd know about the tunnel vision thing."

He finishes that with a small grin and then runs off to the water. He leaps into the air and lands in a cannonball next to Jason. He began their age-old tradition for beach-times: water splashing fight! With their combat prowess, at times it might come across more as a spar than a play-fight, but Leonard doesn't go too far and keeps a friendly smile on the whole time.

In the meanwhile, Geri emerges from the water with a doggish grin. He shakes off the excess water (far enough away from the others to miss them in the splash area...this time) and trots over to the group. As he passes by Anya he nudges her arm with his snout in greeting. Geri seems to eye Sky's sandcastle with interest, and begins to start messing around with the sand beside it. It slowly becomes clear that he's trying to make a model of Vacuo's academy grounds. It's a little rough, but hey, he hasn't got opposable thumbs, so he's doing pretty good all things considered.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

"Um," Jason said, a bit at a loss for words there.

It was like, his first instinct was to ask her why she had run away, but that last, quiet sentence...well, it answered the question. I mean, you know, broadly. The answer to the question "Why did you run away from home?" was presumably somewhere in the ballpark of "Because my family sucks!" It was the forgive me that did it. Because you know, Jason kinda wanted to point out that there was precisely nothing to forgive her for. But he caught himself, because obviously there was nothing her mother would have to forgive her for, no duh, she certainly knew that, saying it would have been a waste of that breath.

...Except, then Jason thought about it, and thought about what he knew of Anya, and her general behavior and personality, and you know, he kinda had to wonder...did she know that? Considering her general self-esteem, it was...actually kinda conceivable that she might not. Like, being blamed by her mother for inconveniently being a faunus all her life without ever being told that that was both wrong and stupid actually would have been a reasonable explanation for someone with the demonstrated overall competence of Anya being so consistently underconfident.

He didn't quite notice, but at his sides, digging a bit into the mattress he was sitting on, Jason's hands had balled into fists. Jason's protectiveness of his team had been well-established. If Anya's mother had been here, or even within a reasonable running distance, he would have happily strode right up to her and given her a piece of his mind. Possibly the piece that served as a foundation for the baseline of Ryuu's personality. I'm not certain on that, mind, but he likes to keep his options open in situations like this.

You know what? Screw it. End of the day, this was no different than back in Scarlet Dust. Whether it was well-advised or tritely obvious was irrelevant. It was something Anya deserved to hear said just for the sake if it being said. "Sounds to me like it's your mom who should worry about being forgiven, not you," he told her in a low, stern voice.

Sunshine & Sea Air

Jason could admit, he was at a disadvantage against Leonard in a splash fight. Normally, his superior physical strength might have proven a decisive factor. But it came down to perception. Get enough water splashed in your face, you weren't going to be seeing very clearly. Now, that fact was irrelevant to both of them, but while the noise of the splashing back and forth would largely foil Jason's auditory perceptions, the ripples and currents of bodies in the water may as well have been neon beacons to Leonard's tactile senses. So yeah, not quite an even match, but Jason fought valiantly nonetheless, as demanded by his honor as a Huntsman!

(Dude was also unbeatable at Marco Polo. And diving for random objects. Really, there weren't too many water-based games you wanted to take Leonard on at, in Jason's experience.)

[Dorni]

Laundry Surprise

One of Nicoale's ears perked up as she studied Anya. It wasn't hard to imagine what might have followed. It wasn't enough that Anya was a faunus, she was a family embarrassment too. That probably did a lot to explain why she was so anxious all the time. "And your dad?"

This is Harppening

Nicoale supposed that if Anya's stuttering had any use, it had been that it streached the conversation and given the time Nicoale needed to find what she was looking for without needing to buy more. She opened her eyes and looked back at Anya. "There's a music shop not too far from the VICE building with a ssed harp. Three of the turny bolt things at the top are bent so there's a nice discount, but other than that it looks alright. Will that work for ya?"

The King Is Dead

Nicoale looked up from her book. The library had been one of her few refuges, a place she could study without needing to put up with Sky's gloominess or Jason's... Jasonness. But even while studying she kept her semblance working. After all, she needed to keep pushing the range that she could watch at once. Usually the library made for dull semblance practice, but it shouldn't be surprising that the situation in Anya's hidden little corner hadn't escaped her notice.

The fur on her ears started to stand up. Crom's goons were making trouble again, and this time they were going after Anya. Shouldn't be surprising that they's shift targets after she and Jason repeatedly humiliated their leader. And set him on fire. Nicoale marked her spot and closed her book before marching over. Anya was still on Nicoale's team, and no one messed with Nicoale's team.

But Nicoale didn't intervene. Instead she stopped at the end of the bookshelf next to Anya's corner and waited, listening and watching. She'd been trying to get the girl to grow a spine. It would be better to wait and see how the bat-girl handled this before coming to her rescue.

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

Remus just shrugged when Anya offered him her sympathies, it was more than most people did "We try and keep him from doing any too stupid." Tawny cackled a little at that last part, evidently they thought that it was hilarious.

"Anyway, the point is that you were the one that put him down, which means that by the rite of combat you inherit his position."

The wolf Faunus paused for a second, waiting for the quiet girl's reaction.

Tuition Troubles

"Oh is that all?" Nessa smiled reassuringly and cradled the back of her head in her hands as she leaned back "Don't you worry my little misfit Atlasian, hey can we comp Anya out of the 'Screw Atlas' budget?"

"That isn't something we budget for Headmistress." The Administrator replied and it was a credit to her professionalism that there wasn't a hint of annoyance in her voice "Just like it wasn't last time..."

"Oh, well can we make it a thing?"

"Not in this financial year."

Nessa took another draw from her hookah, holding the smoke for a few long moments as she pondered the situation before tipping her head back and exhaling "Okay I can work this, it seems to me Anya, that what you are in need of is a job. Ever done any work before?" She asked, flipping the top off her Scroll and flicking through to her messages.

A Little Bit of Home

The screen of Sky's console was blank for a couple of seconds before the call connect and the image of his father appeared on the screen, the two were clearly related, both baring the same head dark hair (even if the older man was starting to grey around the edges).

"Hello Sky, you're looking well." He began in what sounded like a perfectly polite, if stern, manner. Anyone who had been raised in Atlasian high society (like say the two Hunters present right now) however would see through this for the facade that was, he was clearly furious. "Your friend tells me that you're being rather unreasonable."

That's right, Flaye told his parents.

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Leaning back on his chair, Sky keeps his face carefully schooled in turn, knowing that to offer any too emotional outbursts would just make him look worse, and it is not like those have ever swayed his family much at any rate. "Father" he replies neutrally, using the formal word as bit of a subtle jab: it is not like their relationship is particularly warm at the moment. "I do believe I am doing rather well for myself, yes. Changing schools can always be such a pain, especially when one has to work to make ends meet for tuition. But as you can see, I am living the dream" he replies in a tone too formal to be outright snide, but getting close to it regardless. His trip through Remnant in pursuit of White Fang has luckily left him some modest investments and rewards of his own that have left him decently well-off, if not rich by any means.

His family has to be feeling the sting in that he doesn't NEED their help, that they have no control over the course of his life. And that is all well and good. They shouldn't.

"If I owe this courtesy call purely to Flaye's visit, I might note she strode into Shade campus, picking a fight with the onlookers. I would not call my effort to allow her to let off some steam so she can calm down and put her temper tantrum past her as that unreasonable" Sky continues, his eyes boring right into his father's through the screen. He has gotten lots of practice in at the dull-eyed variant of challenging stare by now: if one looks at him carefully, he gives off subtle impression of almost being ready to yawn. "I don't think anyone should be going around making public incident due to their own hot head, especially not a Labelle, such upstanding citizens of Great Atlas that they are."

Sunshine & Sea air

Watching as Jason and Leonard engage in their brutal battle, Sky is distracted from his construction project and eventually caves in to the need to get in on the action. Sandcastles and homesickness can wait for now: what sort of beach visit would not even include any swimming?

Tossing his open shirt off and kicking the sandals off his feet, Sky smirks and suddenly teleports somewhat above the two to powerbomb the water. "I will be snatching victory from you both!" he yells out right before impacting on the water to create somewhat more impressive splash.

[Arlin]

This is Harppening
Anya's shoulders relaxed as she smiled. "Yeah, I think that should do nicely. Thank you so much," she said, almost gushing as she gave the other girl a little bow. She pulled out her scroll, sifting through the maps before leaning in to confirm the location she'd found. "You don't have to come along to actually get it if you don't want, but maybe I could play something for you later if you like?"

Laundry Surprise
Anya shook her head. "My father... means well enough, I guess. He makes sure I'm taken care of, but... I dunno, there's always a distance there..." she said, trailing off as she struggled for the words. "I guess if he neglected me it would reflect poorly on him... and he's not sure I'm even his daughter."

Her brow furrowed as she finally looked up at the two she'd been speaking to. "I have a brother, too, but being a firstborn son and human, he's... the golden boy who can do no wrong," she continued, looking down.

"I... was punished when I made them look bad, but even doing my best I was never good enough." Anya found herself curling up again. She'd never looked so small as in that moment.

The King is Dead
Anya blinked, "Wait, what?" she asked, completely at a loss. "...you're joking, right?"

She couldn't lead a group of bandits. Hell, she doubted she'd be able to lead her own team, and even then only if she were forced. Even if she could, she would never want to.

Her last question had been almost a plea, but the silence made it clear the faunus was serious. Did... these bandits have a full on culture of sorts? I mean, Anya supposed they must, especially with so many of them together. The thought had never even occurred to her, but then, how often had she thought about banditry at all, growing up in Atlasian high society? Wait a minute...

"How do you know what their rules are?" Anya asked suspiciously, eyeing Remus carefully.

Tuition Troubles
Anya gave a sigh of relief. She had absolutely not wanted a handout, but she'd been spared the embarrassment of having to ask for a job outright. "Um, no..." she admitted. "But I can learn!" she added quickly, looking from the administrator to the headmistress and back.

A Little Bit of Home
Anya went perfectly still. The cadence of the exchange, the carefully enforced politeness, the little facial expressions, all slammed her back to memories of home, and not in a good way. She looked away, simply trying not to be noticed, until Sky so casually mentioned Atlas.

The bat faunus drew in a sharp breath. Sky was from Atlas? How had she not known that? She found herself glancing at Sky's father's face repeatedly, trying desperately to avoid drawing attention as she wracked her brains for answers. Was he someone her father had worked with? Someone she'd seen her mother chatting with at a party? She had to know who he was, but she couldn't just up and ask right this moment.

Involuntarily she drew back at Sky's downright flippant disregard of his father. How the hell could he expect to get away with that? Sure, to the outside observer it might seem like a polite, if cool, exchange, but to Anya it was like watching him slap his own father. Oh the hell she'd have paid had she dared to be so insolent. Who the hells was this guy?

Sunshine & Sea Air
Anya stopped in the middle of pulling out her dust kit. Looking pensive, she replaced it in the backpack, shifting aside the Talaria she'd brought just in case. She supposed it had been rather a while since she just... relaxed. That wouldn't be so bad, would it? I mean, even if she might not be able to stay, she should at least enjoy some of her time here.

She was pulled from her reverie by Geri's persistent nudging. "Oh, hello Geri, I didn't forget about you," she assured him plopping down next to the wolf and scratching the wolf's scalp. "How's the gang?" she asked with a smile.

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

Remus smiled nervously, he was kind of hoping that this question wouldn't come up "Yeah...the old chief? That was kinda my dad." He explained, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and hoping that Anya wouldn't freak out. "If even half the rumours going around are true, you guys did a pretty good of breaking the clan but I checked the bounties that got cashed in and that wasn't all of them. Not to mention there are people out there who've got beef with the clan that they want to take out on whoever's in charge."

The wolf Faunus got out of his seat as him and his hooded friend made to leave.

"Just wanted to give you a heads up."

Tuition Troubles

"That's what I like to hear!" Nessa grinned triumphantly as a response pinged in on to her scroll "It just so happens there's a little place by the docks where the head chef owes me a favour, think you're up for restaurant work?"

A Little Bit of Home

Sky's father easily met his son's gaze with a stern look of his own, to fail to do so would be tantamount to conceding ground to his wayward offspring.

"Flaye's..." He paused for a second, thinking of a polite way to phrase what he wanted to say "...spiritedness is not the point here. However she may be going about it, she is simply trying to stop her friend from throwing their life away. Not gallivanting half way around the world to chase after some criminal and dragging her family's name through the mud."

Still his voice continued to be perfectly measured despite what they were talking about, in fact if someone wasn't really paying attention they could have been forgiven for thinking they were simply having a mild (but polite) disagreement.

"When are you going to give up this childish tantrum and come home?"

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Sky's polite expression begins to grow somewhat forced and his fingers curl violently around the edge of the monitor table as he listens to his father. This...old man has lot of nerve, bringing up his reasoning in that sort of chiding light. Although familial ties are of course still there, he considers his family to be less of a priority than his friend. At least they are not ruining their lives as terrorists. Although it is distinct possibility they have just not been listening any to his explanations as to why he has to save his friend, he has a sneaking suspicion that Chro being faunus and of lower social class by Atlas standards has something to do with their attitudes as well.

And that if anything is something that will always make him grit his teeth when it comes to these talks.

"How is Flaye's disregard for health and safety of others not the point, when you call me childish for trying to offer second chance to someone who has also made similar mistakes?" he asks, his voice dropping some: a dangerous sign. "Here I thought I made it clear when I accepted losing my inheritance that I don't CARE about our precious family name. I have never been one to ride on empty accolades, considering I am not afraid to work for a living instead of snobbing it up with the upper crust of Atlesian Heir Club. It may have escaped your notice, but I do not need anything from you anymore" the huntsman in training notes with quiet hiss.

"I can take care of myself, and you have nothing that you could use to force me away from the path I have chosen for myself. Maybe I see Vacuo as more of a home than your piece of frigid rock? At least here I don't need to bend over backwards for military or suffer institutionalized racism" he finishes with slight glare, clearly bit rattled after his tirade, despite maintaining even tone and not raising his voice.

[DukeGod]

Flowing Fabric, Twinkling Trinkets

"Yes, thank you Munninn, I can see. Though frankly, hmm, I think you deserve this one as a reward!"

Amarissa haggles and buys off the jewelry and hands the one the raven identified as being good with Fire Dust channeling. She was good enough at it, and that thing had rhinestones and rosequartz combining with decorative rubies and the dust crystals which nope, just not meant one to go along

The other two items, the collar had too much gold in it but some careful use of a scarf should probably hide most of it. She was still trying to determine what was it with the cracked-ish ring, it was oddly big and apparently meant to be used in two fingers at the same time but it was bound to be at least interesting.

Sunshine and Sea Air

Amarissa had elected to come into the recreational activity, though it was odd seeing as it was apparently more of a Team NJAS thing. Though they were missing their leader. Perhaps it was one of those things that you do away from the...boss? A number of apprentices in the monastery seemed fond of running away and...doing things that weren't particularly wrong in any way but apparently they didn't wand the masters nearby

Still, the beach was weird. She had purchased a swimming suit, one piece, dark purplish, but was keeping most of herself still covered by a large white t-shirt. It was wet, as she was sitting in the sand where the waves were breaking, eyes closed, making an effort of meditation.

Occasionally she'd open her eyes though and glance at a weird clique of people who had apparently mastered the art of Becoming One with the Sea as she was trying to do just now. They stood in boards and rode the waves, seemingly going as they pleased despite the chaotic nature of the sea. True masters. She believed Master Fai Lung, the Willow Reed in the Windstorm would be proud of them. The people were seemingly content and exuberant in their progress of refining their styles and Cultivating, for their were laughing with joy. That the masters might not be so proud of, but still.

Once one of the girls of that group makes for the sand, Amarissa makes her decision. She stands up and runs towards the woman.

[Dorni]

This is Harppening

"Word of advice. Drop the 'if you please' and 'if you like' every third word. Just ask me what you want to ask. If you keep it up you're just asking for the bullies to set their sights on you."

Only then did she tap Anya's phone to confirm the location. "That's the place. Now come on, lets get this done. I need to get started on my paper." Nicoale turned away from the dorms and started heading for the city, letting Anya be carried along her wake.

Laundry Surprise

Nicoale studied the ball of a girl. Raised in a society that barely tolerated her with a father taking care of her out of duty, like a chore to be checked off a list. She glanced down at her uniform and thought of Mr. Wheeler.

Yeah, she could relate.

She banished the thought and went back to studying Anya. What she couldn't relate to was the crying. Who exactly did she think was going to swoop down and fix her problems if only she cried hard enough?

"My parents died when I was 6." Nicoale said it flatly, like she was talking about the weather.

"They were White Fang, back when the White Fang were all about peace and making the world better for all faunus. My mom and dad were all for it too. Then one day they went to a protest and didn't come home."

"I wound up in the orphanage after that. No one came for me. Not the White Fang, not some new parents, no one. The Matron never gave me the time of day either."

"So I worked my butt off to get into a combat school, then did the same while I was there. The SDC noticed and struck a deal with the Matron. So now I work for the SDC and the orphanage gets a 'generous donation' each month." Nicoale even gave the air quotes as she spoke.

"The Matron's my Guardian till I'm an adult but she's happy to rubber stamp whatever the SDC wants. You can imagine how the SDC are when they get hold of an asset. So there is no other way for me - its this or nothing."

[Dodgeson]

A Little Bit of Home

It was all Sky's father could do to not roll his eyes, this whole call was his mother's idea and he was really starting to regret allowing her to talk him in to this. "We are not talking about some youthful exuberance, you and I both know that he is a wanted terrorist, a dangerous criminal, we didn't raise you to be so dishonest as to try and compare the two."

So some of the Vacuoan rabble got a little singed. So what?

"But if you're really set on throwing away your life in that wasteland then fine. Honestly, why couldn't you be more like your siblings?"

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Although he would LOVE to be able to just shrug off familial condemnation, Sky is not quite that lucky. While he has gotten some practice in denying the whims of his family, it still hurts to be scorned for doing the right thing. His clenched hands and somewhat pained expression tell that story quite easily, but he is regardless not going to give in on this argument.

"How is following my dreams throwing away my life? What kind of parent says that? You have no right to say that nothing but your self-serving plans for me would be right" he hisses out, pained by the direction the discussion has taken but not quite willing to simply cut the line yet either. "And more like my siblings, you say? Considering I am going to be a huntsman and concerned with bit more than just making money and maintaining my own status, I'd say I have already surpassed you when it comes to my resemblance to them, Cordovan."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Laundry Surprise

Jason listened quietly, because frankly, there wasn't much he could say. Anya's parents sucked, Nicoale's were dead, and there was precisely nothing he could do about either fact. To be fair, he wasn't entirely certain that there wasn't some way for Nicoale to weasel out of her situation, but if there was it wasn't like he knew what it was and seriously just toughing it out for, what, another year or two? Would probably work just as well. And there was a part of him that wanted to expressly remind Anya that all evidence to date suggested she was actually kinda awesome and if her parents couldn't recognize that then that was on them, but he was starting to understand where Anya's low self-esteem came from and that it wasn't something that was going to resolved quickly. But she'd figure it out eventually. You can only kick so many people unconscious before you had to recognize just how good you were at kicking people unconscious.

Sunshine & Sea Air

"Ach! Sky!! What treachery is this!?" Jason blustered, sputtering some. "You want to bring Semblances into this? Fair enough! WATER WINGS!" he called out, his wings bursting from his back and sending great sprays of water at the both of them!

"I hate every last one of you," Ryuu complained, mainly because he wasn't sure he had made that clear recently enough.

Jason splashed him in the face.

[Arlin]

This is Harppening
"I... was actually asking what you wanted rather than needing you to come with, but, sure," Anya replied. Then, realizing that half her reply had been to empty air, she sped after the retreating faunus.

As the pair made their way into the city proper, Anya tried to chat about this and that, though she halted herself periodically as she tried to follow Nicoale's suggestion with only middling success. Old habits indeed die hard. Eventually she made her way back around to a topic of interest.

"So... when you use your semblance, do you just get..." she paused, struggling for words. "Raw information? Or is it like a telescope or something?"

Laundry Surprise
Anya looked up at Nicoale as the deer began speaking, but it wasn't until near the end that she was stopped cold. Wiping away the moisture from her eyes, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I thought it was like... like any other job, I guess. I suppose it makes sense in retrospect, that they would go to the trouble of making a contract with something informal to reinforce it. It sounds like something my father might do..."

She trailed off, falling silent for a few moments. Anya had guessed there was something deep down, driving Nicoale, but she hadn't wanted to pry- certainly not when she herself was so reticent. By his silence, she could only presume that Jason had similar trauma, even if he dealt with it in a different way because that's what made him, well, Jason Ardors. Her silver eyes rested on him as she contemplated a bit further. She'd never gotten close enough to her previous team to tell them anything about her past, even though they were all faunus of different varieties. Even if it had come out because of a moment of anger, Anya felt some relief that she'd put it out there, and it seemed like her fears of it getting back to her parents were, in this case at least, largely unfounded. The bat faunus took a shuddering breath as she started to calm down.

"I don't know if it's worse to have parents taken from you or horrible parents, but I suppose it doesn't really matter," she said hesitantly, no longer using her semblance to talk and simply communicating normally. "...thank you both."

The King is Dead Long Live the King
"Wait!" Anya said, standing up. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she demanded. Her brow furrowed as she realized her volume was getting a bit loud, bringing it back into line.

"I'm no bandit leader, I'm just a freaking student!" she hissed. "Even if I wanted to I wouldn't know the first thing about how to contact any of them or what they even expect me to do! And I have mysterious enemies now too just because my team mates softened up this guy before I helped?"

Tuition Troubles
Anya blinked. "I mean, I guess I could..." she said slowly. Then she looked curiously back at the administrator. "But I, um, couldn't help but notice you have some trouble with paperwork stuff? Maybe I could help with that?" she asked hesitantly. She knew it wouldn't be all that fun, but it was better than working in a restaurant, surely. Besides, how bad could handling stuff like this for the headmistress be?

A Little Bit of Home
The bat girl's shoulders sagged in relief. If Sky was on this poor of terms with his father, Anya probably didn't have to worry about word of her presence getting back to her own father. Still, it wouldn't do to draw attention to herself while the call was still going. Sky's indignance at institutionalized racism was interesting, too. Now that she thought back on it, Anya realized he'd always stepped very carefully around phrases that might indicate that sort of prejudice, though at the time she'd just put it down to his precise way of speaking. Who was this friend? Somebody important, if he'd thrown away his entire family to pursue the guy.

Cordovan? Had she heard that name before?

Sunshine & Sea Air
Anya found herself spluttering as water from Jason's exuberance caught her completely off guard. There hadn't been enough to drench her, certainly, but it had caught much of the hoodie and once she'd regained her breath she stood and peeled it off, grumbling as she put it in her bag. "I know it's not your style, but do you think you could limit the collateral damage a bit, Jason!?"

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger." Remus said, turning back to face the other Faunus with his hands held up in mock defense, his friend didn't even bother turning around and just kept walking "I just figured if some crazy started gunning for you out of nowhere you'd want to know why. But come on, what are the odds of someone trying to attack you here?"

Tuition Troubles

The administrator spluttered and caught herself on the windowsill, if asked later she'd claim that the smoke filled office had finally gotten to her and was certainly nothing to do with Anya's offer. Even Nessa had to take a moment to process her request, looking at her hookah and wondering if maybe she'd had enough today, a few seconds later (and a quick 'nevermind x' on her Scroll) she laughed.

"If you've got your heart set on paper pushing who am I to stop you? Zhi, why don't you take her down to your office? Show her the ropes."

"And the paperwork?" The still somewhat confused administrator asked, gesturing to the Headmistress's paper strewn desk.

"Time for that later, strike while the iron's hot, we've got Anya's future to think about!" Nessa replied, showing admirable concern for her student's wellbeing and not at all looking for an excuse to get back to watching videos on her Scroll.

"Yes Headmistress..."

A Little Bit of Home

So far everything had been textbook, Atlasians were nothing if not experts in the art of holding seemingly cordial conversation with people they had a strong disagreement with (to put it lightly) but that changed the moment Sky finished talking, the sheer disrespect that Sky had shown to his father had clearly crossed some sort of line for the man, Cordovan looked like he was about to blow a fuse.

With his facade slipping he knew that he'd conceded ground to his son and with that the screen just went dead.

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Slumping slightly in his chair as he was no longer forced to maintain proper composure, Sky seemed considerably disheartened. "Haaah, this is getting heavy...they are just not going to let things go it seems" he muttered more to himself than to anyone else before getting up again and looking at Anya. "Apologies for that little show. My parents...don't agree with my chosen career path. Or at least the way I went about it. But that should be done for now, so if you still feel like having some coffee and shopping, I could use the distraction even more than before."

[Dorni]

This Is Harppening

Nicoale glanced aside at the bat girl. Was this her goal all along? Trying to get information on her semblance? No, not likely. Anya didn't seem the kind to lay out multi-step plans. She could barely finish a sentence without stopping in the middle. At least she was trying to get over that part. Nicoale's something-of-a-reputation as 'the girl who knows everything' had certainly proved useful - she figured Crom and his ilk were less likely to bother her if they knew she'd be ready for it, and so far they'd mostly kept their heads down. But that cut both ways - sooner or later her team was going to get itself in trouble depending on information she didn't have. It might be good to have someone on the team have a more realistic idea what she was capable of. But if that was the case, it sure wasn't going to be Sky, and Jason... she couldn't really explain it, but she didn't want to lose face with him.

"Something like that," Nicole replied slowly. "I can see wherever I want."

Laundry Surprise

Nicoale spied her crumpled uniform once more and gave out a huff before getting to her feet. She picked it up and examined it, and Anya over the shirt. "Doesn't matter, huh? As bad as you thought your folks were, they were still there for you and I'd have loved to have the opportunities you threw away. Whatever little you have with them, don't be in such a rush to burn it down."

Abruptly Nicoale realized what she'd been saying. Sentimental drivel. Fortunately the shirt hid her from Anya, and the warning look she flashed Jason did as much as she could to hide the spots of color in her cheeks. "Well, what's done is done," she followed with quickly. "Whatever problems you got now, crying in bed ain't going to fix any of them."

Nicoale folded her uniform shirt over her arm so that it concealed the bright SDC logos and headed for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I still need to throw this in the wash. I wouldn't want to show up dirty and get in trouble the next time I sell out my kind," she joked as she pushed open the door.

The King is Dead

Anya, a bandit lord? Nicoale remembered back to the clan as she'd seen it racing across the desert, picturing Anya standing out the top of the front car in bandit atire, arms spread wide and a wild look in her eyes and she screamed orders for her clan to lay waste to her enemies.

Nicoale found herself struggling to choke back a laugh. Crom's goons were obviously lying. But just the idea of Bandit Lord Anya was as hilarious as it was stupid. Surely they could have come up with something better then that.

Nicoale saw through her semblance that the two turned away and mastered herself in time to smoothly step out from behind the edge of the bookshelf, blocking their way.

Nicoale crossed her arms in front of her and the look she gave Crom's cronies was downright predatory. "What's this I see? You're not trying to pick on my teammate, I hope."

[OmegaMike]

BECOMING A LJAN
2 Weeks Prior to Current Events

Heck and all that ever became of it. It hadn't even been a week since Jessiny had been voted off of team RNJR and already she'd been assigned a new team. Team LJAN. Apparently one of their members had departed rather abruptly and under some strange circumstances that weren't exactly made clear to her. So she was assigned to fill the void. It made some sense but she didn't have to like it. She felt horrible about letting her old team down but at the same time she sort of resented them. If only she could tell them where she was going all those times that she missed practice. It would make things so much easier for them to understand.

On the other hand, however, she knew that she could never ever tell them any of it. If anyone found out that she was actually the girl from the news, she'd lose any hope of being normal! She was already treated differently for her looks and, to be frank, she hated it! She'd rather be treated like a human being then some walking magazine photo. If they knew her secret, she'd go from that girl in the back of the magazine with the stuck together pages to the girl on the cover who gets ripped off and shoved in a backpack for later.

She'd already been out to the western settlements twice this week to deal with various problems. She was starting to wonder if she'd ever make it as part of team if she'd be constantly torn between her duties at school and her duties out west. She had a special profile made up on her scroll so that the militias and governments of those towns could contact her. She was hoping that with this in place, she wouldn't have to go out to check on them. They'd just be able to contact her in case of emergencies. This way she'd be able to, hopefully, spend time with her new team.

She hadn't been given a great deal about her new team. She basically knew names and powers but little else. Frankly she'd hoped that she'd be able to encounter them one at a time and ease her way into the new encounter. Though she was, literally, walking up to their home to start moving in as if she owned the place. So she couldn't expect them to not be in their home. Still she hoped against hope that there'd only be one person in there and that the rest of them were out doing something else. She walked up to the cabin and looked up to it. It seemed slightly larger then some of the others she'd seen though to be perfectly frank, the variation in the cabins was rather wide. What this one had in size, it lacked in regular maintenance.

"Hoowee. This place's sure seen better days." She says to herself as she looks to the door. With closed eyes and a deep centering breath, she steels herself for the encounter before her. She adjusted the large drawstring sack on her shoulder and tightens her grip on the large rolling trunk behind her.

"Alright, Jessi-girl, you got this. Just a bunch a kids yer age rarin to meet'cha. y'ain't got nuthin t'worry 'bout. Just..." She sighs heavily. "...aw heck, just git r done." She says and after standing her trunk on its end to free a hand, she knocks on the cabin door of Team LJAN.

[5ColouredWalker]

Becoming a LJAN
"Everyone's decent!"

Leonard and Nigel might have refurbished the room a bit, but they had very quickly decided that they weren't going to keep up with slightly different needs of their seemingly rotating membership, which gave the room a very eclectic look since Nigel had decided to try and keep things matching colour wise...
Surprisingly hard when one of the two replacing the basic furniture was blind and everyone had a desire to express themselves colour wise. Of course, now some of the furniture had been replaced by Shade standard as the teams needs changed, which had things looking like a poorly coordinated showroom.


The common room is a large rectangular area, broader than it is deep. Against each wall length wise is a single 'personal area', consisting of normall closed dividing panels (dividers that blend near seemlessly with the walls, but for their bases and heads, as well as an Atleasian style bed/study (https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foundedproject.com% 2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2Ffurniture-bedroom-antique-beige-solid-wood-loft-bunk-bed-with-small-wardrobe-and-computer-mix-study-table-combination-with-clear-acrylic-adjustable-chair-bunk-bed-with-desk-and-chair-936x702.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ftehroony.com%2Fpost%2Fbunk-bed-with-desk-on-bottom&docid=tZ-L2KCzoyc80M&tbnid=zAW3qKfKPBPhdM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwimnr2llL7VAhUGS7wKHcjJBogQMwg3KBAwEA.. i&w=936&h=702&bih=885&biw=1745&q=bunk%20bed%20designs%20with%20study%20table&ved=0ahUKEwimnr2llL7VAhUGS7wKHcjJBogQMwg3KBAwEA&iact=mrc&uact=8) combo that's popular in dorms, however of surprisingly high quality. Each are made of mahogany, with two stained clear in opposite corners, while the other two are stained to look black or of pale gold respectively. The black set has white furnishings, and is Nigel's domain [Rest to be declared by those choosing their colour. Leonard's base is the clear stained mahogany.].

In the center of the room, taking up most of the walkways between the kitchen and bathroom on the short sides of the room is a large round mahogany table, likewise stained clear, with seating for four set up, the high quality wooden chairs with comfy cuishens and armrests beconing people to come together, which the team sometimes does for dinner where quality utensils and bowls manage to somehow make the room feel more like that of an actual house, than a college dorm.

[Dodgeson]

The King is Dead Long Live the King

Remus met Nicoale's glare with a dull look of his own and threw up his hands in mock surprise, whilst his cohort just stood silently behind him.

"Oh no we've been caught." He stated in a flat monotone "Instead of hanging out on the beach I've come out of my way to the library to hassle the girl that kicks the heads off of monsters. What ever will I do now that my evil plan has been foiled?"

Having finished mocking Nicoale he just attempts to push passed her as he heads for the exit, he'd heard there was some volleyball going on on the beach and he'd much rather be there right now.

[Arlin]

This is Harppening
Anya nodded, her silver eyes sparkling. "That's pretty clever, come to think of it. You just tell people what you find, they assume it's what you know, and stories abound!" she said with a little laugh.

She was clearly starting to relax as the prospect of finally having a harp to play again cheered her up. At some point she'd started up her music and was now moving alongside the other girl, humming along. After a few steps she glanced over with an apologetic look. "I won't say anything, promise. That reputation benefits the whole team, I think."

Laundry Surprise
The bat girl's shoulders drooped as she sat up, watching the place where Nicoale had left. "I suppose she wouldn't really... understand," she said slowly, more to herself than anything. Then again, the deer faunus had been nothing if not self-sufficient. It was pretty clear she'd never had the ability to rely on anyone before, so someone not wanting to be forced to rely on someone else's grudging charity would be completely foreign. Still, they were a team now; they were supposed to be able to rely on each other.

Turning to Jason, Anya asked, "What about you? Did you have someone you... relied on, growing up?"

The King is Dead Long Live the King
"Both of you, stop. It's fine," Anya said, though her voice came out as more of a squeek than she'd intended. "I just... don't know what I'm going to do about this, I'm sorry."

As the two faunus left, the girl turned to Nicoale, embarrassed. "I heard you come over, and I appreciate you keeping an eye on me, but... you didn't have to confront them," she murmured, turning to start packing up the books she'd been paging through. She suddenly didn't feel much like studying, even for fun things.

Tuition Troubles
Anya's expression turned worried at the reaction her offer had caused. Had she made a mistake? She fretted a bit as she padded after the administrator, who still seemed to be in shock. At the same time, she seemed relieved to be out of the smoke-filled office.

"I'm... sorry if I made some mistake," she ventured hesitantly after they were out of earshot of the office. "I just... I don't deal well with large groups of people, and it looked like you could use the help..."

A Little Bit of Home
Anya nodded. "I... see that. If... if you don't mind my asking, who is your father? Er, what does he do, in Atlas?" she asked, standing up and motioning so they could begin making their way for coffee or what have you. She was pretty certain she could trust Sky, at least, in so far as his relations with his family were concerned, but risk was risk.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Sunshine & Sea Air

The mistake Anya had made, is that she had forgotten that Jason had nearly two decades of experience being a younger brother. It was like, sure, day to day, he tried to be at least reasonably attentive of other people and generally laid-back and easy to get along with.

But out at the beach? Meh whatever.

So naturally, Anya's request was responded to in the time-honored brotherly tradition of splashing her intentionally this time, "If you want to-!" he began to challenge, but turning your attention away from your opponents is a bad idea in any battle, and doing so to shout at someone else is an even worse idea in a splash fight. So Jason got about two mouthfuls of salt water for his efforts and the rest of his words were lost in a minor gagging fit. Who said karma doesn't exist?

Laundry Surprise

Jason's gaze followed Nicoale as she left. There was a slight impulse to try and stop or go after her, but he squashed it down. This didn't seem like the sort of time to try and force company on her.

He looked to Anya, likewise suppressing the inclination to basically-pointlessly ask if she was okay. He answered her question instead. "My parents, yeah. And my big brother and sister, I guess." He said the last two words in an exaggeratedly irreverent drawl. "And I mean, I'd love to do the whole 'I know exactly what you're going through' team bonding thing, but I've got nothing. We're actually all pretty close," he jested with a shrug. He was glad for it, and however much he may have sympathized with his teammates, he certainly wasn't going to feel guilty about it. But he also didn't want to like rub it in her face or anything. "You have any siblings?" he asked, just slightly tentatively, but surely her entire family couldn't suck! ...Right?

[OmegaMike]

Becoming a LJAN

Shoot, someone was in there. At least she had a key and didn't have to be let in. She pulled the crude looking key from the pocket of her long coat and opened the door. The morning sun poured into the room, backlighting her tall figure. She took a moment for herself before stepping in. Just as she did a gust of wind blew from a window that took advantage of the new cross breeze. Her coat billowed out behind her and her pony tail flew back revealing its volume. She looked about the room and seemed underwhelmed. Though it could be something she improved upon over time... if she had the time.

She looked about the cabin and was pleasantly surprised to see its composition. Despite its slightly run down appearance, it showed signs that people had been trying to make it more of a home. As long as home resembled the color array of a college dorm room belonging to an art student. But it was charming. It was clear that they were working with what they could find and the did well with it. From what she could see, there was a common area in the center. To the right was a small kitchen area and to the left was the bathroom. Beyond that, she assumed the closed doors lead to bedrooms. From what she learned of the group composition, she assumed she'd be sleeping with the other girl in the group. She pulled in her trunk and set the sack on the floor, closing the door with a backward kick.

"Well. It'll certainly do." Jessiny said with a smile and spied the other gentleman in the room. Presumably the one who had announced their decency. "Well, Howdy. So I'm guessin yer either Leonard or Nigel." She says. "I'm Jessiny. Though, you can call me Jess. Pleasure to meet you!" She was very aware of the impression she might be making. She was fully aware of her looks. But that didn't mean she had to act a certain way because of them.

[Dodgeson]

Tuition Troubles

"I'm just surprised somebody would choose my job of all things." The Mistralian woman explained as she kept up a surprisingly brisk pace off of the beach, across the courtyard and down in to the library's basement where a thin white plaque on one of the doors read 'Nurse' in faded black lettering.

As befitting someone essentially working two jobs (and another on the side, shhh!) the office was a mish-mash of nurse and administrator with a bench and medical supplies against one wall whilst a desk stacked neatly with paperwork dominates the centre of the room, off to one side a shelving alcove was stacked with neatly labeled jars and another door was closed at the back of the room.

"Last chance to save yourself." Li said, gesturing to bins overflowing with unsorted documents.

[5ColouredWalker]

Becoming a LJAN
"Leonard's the one with the animals that'll stare at you while he talks to you, despite facing a different direction. I'm Nigel, the animal who'll talk to you while facing another direction, keeping track of who's who with his nose...."
There's a slight pause while Nigel taps away at his scribe, the sound of him taking a deep sniff barely audible above that. True to his words, he's yet to look at you at all.

"You're... One of the ones always at the edges, I don't think I know you. Well, didn't know you, I do now." With that he turns around, broad smile on his face.
"So, yea, I'm Nigel. The other's are about somewhere. If you don't like any furniture you'll get to use Shade's stuff and we'll help drag it from storage, say if you somehow prefer the academies mattresses. -" he says those words like one would say 'meatloaf surprise' "- I've also got the free time to help you move stuff now if you want, and I the privacy dividers are still in the corner behind the empty bed assuming Jack didn't nick any on the way out. That said, Leonard and I already decided that if our team changes comp again we aren't buying anything new unless they last at least a month."
Something about the way he talks about replacing furniture like buying milk after someone's used the last of it without telling anyone is rather telling, however his smile never leaves his face... If you've paid any attention to the rumour mill, or to Nigel in the sparring classes, you'd know that it's normal for him. Not facing people half the time and a constant smile are probably the two creepiest things about him.

"Anyway, furnishings aside, it's nice to meet our newest member!"
Unlike Jessiny, Nigel seems to have no care for his looks, old but comfy looking black and white winter wear clash horribly with the rooms furnishings.

[Thokk_Smash]

With a barely-noticeable creaking, the bathroom door opens up. "Yeah, even we can't buy everything we want if people just keep taking it away," Leonard says as he walks out of the bathroom drying his hair. He's wearing comfortable green shorts but no shirt, comfortable enough in his home to go half-naked. Plus, as far as he knew in the bathroom, only Nigel had been outside.

Now, it's important to note that there are no animals around him in this exact moment. His eyes are more unfocused than normal, and he's sliding his hand on the doorframe as he leaves the room. Nigel will realize that this most likely means that Leonard has "turned off" his extraordinary senses--it's tough to keep that up every second of every day, even after seven years of using it. And with his perfect memory, he can do his normal, daily routine blind as long as no one changes anything around.

He makes his way to the boys' bedroom door, then blinks in realization. "Wait, who're you talking to, Nigel?" he asks in the same moment Muninn appears on his shoulder. The world fades into "sight" for him, he realizes that there is a stranger in their house, and his eyes widen on reflex.

"Oh, sorry!" he says, hand coming up to his head in mild embarrassment. "I didn't see you there. Hadn't turned my eyes on, ahaha. Er, I'm Leonard, this is Muninn." He motions to the bird on his shoulder, who is somehow clutching its wings to its chest and shaking in repressed laughter. Leonard flaps his hand at Muninn, who flies away easily from the questing hand. "You must be Jessiny, right? Pleasure to meet you. If you'll excuse me, I'll, er, be back in a second."

Leonard hurries to the bedroom door and closes the door. He'd like to think his exit was at least a bit dignified. After he leaves, Muninn finally bursts into laughter. "Oh, man, I can't wait to tell Bashe about this," he says with a last caw of mirth. He flits around a bit before landing on Jessiny's shoulder. The Aura-bird doesn't really have a weight to him, and his glowing left eye seems to radiate mirth. "Hi! I'm Muninn. Glad to have you on the team! Don't mind Leonard, he's not an exhibitionist...most of the time."

"Muni~nn!" Leonard calls through the door--Muninn had made sure Leonard heard that one.

[Arlin]

Laundry Surprise
Anya nodded. "Just the one brother. He's... not so bad, I suppose," she said, looking thoughtful. "I mean, he's always been pretty decent to me, even if he is the favorite. My tinkering around with dust infusion got him interested in dust application, so we used to experiment together sometimes, when we could get away with it. My father didn't really seem to mind, but my mother..." she trailed off.

Her mother had wanted to keep her away from her precious little boy, like he'd be contaminated somehow. Anya shook her head- now wasn't the time to get lost in that. "I didn't tell him where I was going either. I wasn't sure... what he would do."

Tuition Troubles
Anya looked daunted at the sheer size of the bins, but looked up at the administrator. "Well, I need to earn my keep, you really need the help... and I don't have to deal with lots of people at once," she said, her brow furrowing with concern. Plus, once she got the hang of things, she might know more about what was going on behind the scenes, which wasn't a bad thing at all. Most of it would be boring, but that didn't mean there wasn't useful stuff buried in the paperwork.

She tried to give a cheerful smile with only moderate success. "Besides, then you can at least work with someone besides the Headmistress, Miss...?"

Sunshine & Sea Air
The bat girl spluttered a bit, looking indignant in spite of the smile starting to creep across her face. Her own older sister instincts were clearly coming to the fore. "You're gonna get it, you little jerk!" she shouted, Jason's actual size notwithstanding. She bent down, scooping up a handful of sand and tossing the wet lump at Jason's chest as she booked it over the sand to the water.

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Sighing and giving his teammate an awkward smile, Sky walked along with Anya, the two of them departing the CCT tower. "My father, well...in short, he is a businessman. Very good at it, has made a fortune with proper investments. Actually built his fortune rather than inherited it, that much can be said of him. Sadly, he is still new money in the eyes of the most of the upper crust in there, and it doesn't sit well with him most of the time. So he has always needed some in with the older families" the young huntsman trainee explained, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "With my departure from Atlas and refusal to let him manipulate me with promises of inheritance, he has effectively lost me as a bargaining chip. And the fact obviously makes him somewhat peeved, especially as my siblings have lives of their own to lead so I doubt they are always at his beck and call either. I suppose he thinks that I am throwing away perfect life for what I do, but I have never cared that much about money and luxury."

[Dorni]

This Is Harppening

Nicoale flicked one ear over toward Anya as a slow smile spread across her face. Anya understood without needing to be told. There was hope for her.

The King is Dead

Nicoale's eyes narrowed dangerously and she stayed firmly planted in Remus' path for another few moments before standing aside and letting the pair leave. She watched them round the corner and followed them with her semblance once they were out of sight.

Once they were gone, she looked back to Anya, one ear rising to match her raised eyebrow. "Because that's what you do with bullies," she offered, stating the obvious. "If you don't confront them they'll just keep coming back. Don't tell me you bought his nonsense about being the new bandit lord."

[OmegaMike]

Becoming a LJAN

Already, Jessiny could tell she'd be at odds with this Nigel character. The way he talked was the sort that exuded an air of "whatever, I'm better then you and I don't care what you think", at least to her. Just the way he assumed she'd have a problem with the furniture and that she could either take it or deal with Shade standard rubbed her in the wrong way. It almost seemed stand offish. Even the way he presumed to know her by sniffing the air just put her off. Clearly he was just like all the others. Guys! Like all the other guys. Know-it-all snob were the adjectives that came most prominently to mind. She was about to choke back her disdain and try to be polite when the other gentleman emerged from the bathroom.

It was like night and day. She knew that Leonard was blind. It was in his student write-up. Though she wasn't prepared for how adorkable he could be. She, frankly, had no problem with his shirt being off. Ain't the first time she'd seen such a thing, or even a girl's for that matter. When you're out in the wilderness facing the worst of it, you see a lot of nastiness and nudity. The world was not nearly as censored as reality was. She was rather relieved that Leonard walked in when he did. It improved her mood to better deal with the situation.

She looked to the bird that landed on her shoulder and giggled a bit herself at her bashful new leader. "Aww, shucks, it ain't the first, nor the last, time I'm gonna be seein me a man's bare chest. Still counts as decent in my book." She says and regards Nigel. "But any who, Mr. Nigel. I tend to pack light so you ain't gotta worry 'bout me none. Though I do appreciate the offer. Also..." She says sweetly as she starts to walk toward, what she assumed was, the lady's room's door. "...the furniture'll do just fine. Ain't my first time on a proper bed b'fore" She says with a rather coy smirk as she leaves the door open while she steps over to the bed.

She drops the sack off her back and sets the trunk upright before falling forward with a flump. "Don't mean I don't miss 'em though." She says with her face in the comforter.

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel doesn't seem to notice any hostility as he smiles, just seeming relieved that Jessiny is fine with the furniture so he won't have to move anything.

"Mhmm, first time in a good hotel was an enlightening experience, I almost didn't want to leave. I almost think I'm going to have haul around a mattress when we finish getting our badass certification."
Nigel's poses quickly at the idea before turning back to his scribe, mournfully, though it's obviously an act.
"Anyhow, you're obviously tired. We'll probably have a group chat latter so everyone has a feel for each other. Amarissa... Left about 40 minutes ago by scent, not a clue when she'll be back though I was probably talked at about it... So... Yea. Gonna make sure I pass the theory stuff."
And with that, Nigel seems to loose steam, returning to his chair with barely a sound.

[Dodgeson]

Tuition Troubles

"Doctor Li, I didn't study for five years to be Miss." The administrator corrected her new assistant "Now if you could start with the white bin please, just put anything marked urgent on my desk." She continued, gesturing to one of the overflowing bins as she walked over to her shelving and carefully adjusting some of the jars so they were all facing forward.

"Can I get you some tea?" She offered, more than aware that she came off a little stern sometimes (especially in contrast to some of the more laid back faculty), there was no reason to not be pleasant to Anya after she'd offered to help her after all.

Sunshine and Sea Air

The woman planted her board in the sand and pushed the few strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her face. She surveyed the beach in front of her with a grin, a reptilian tongue rapidly flicking in and out of her mouth, the waves had been crazy and she hadn't seen a single Grimm all day. She'd said it for years, the beach was packed with good vibes, the monsters couldn't handle it.

As Amarissa approached her she leaned against board and gave a lazy smile.

"Hey there." She drawled.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Well, that was something, at least. Although "he treated me decently" wasn't exactly the most ringing endorsement Jason had ever heard. He let the subject drop.

"So, out of curiosity, why'd you choose Shade? I mean, don't get me wrong, we're awesome and all, but I think Vale's an easier trip and more, you know, temperate. I'd figure the desert heat would feel pretty oppressive to someone from Atlas. ...Although, I mean, Sky goes around wearing those blasted suits of his all day, so what do I know?"

[Arlin]

Laundry Surprise

Anya frowned slightly. "My father has a few contacts at Vale. It was... less risk," she said, trailing off. Less risk of what? Discovery? Interference? Of her parents, she thought her father less likely to try to drag her home out of sight again, but still, it didn't feel quite right.

She shook her head. "I guess it was just to be that much farther from them."

A Little Bit Of Home

"Does he work with the military much?" Anya asked as they rounded the corner and made their way to the coffee shop. "I mean, if he's that much of a businessman I would assume so, but..."

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Shrugging his shoulders as the two of them walked along, Sky sighed somewhat. "Right now? I wouldn't know, I have not been home for well over a year. It is hard not to work for military if you do business around Atlas, though" he remarked as they reached the coffee shop, going on to order pair of caffeinated beverages. "It is one reason for why I left, really. Atlas' military may be organized and a safe career path, but they generally seem to try and force you to eventually fall under their employ. I hated the stifling formality and lack of real freedom, so they certainly contributed to myself leaving for greener pastures."

[Arlin]

A Little Bit of Home

Anya didn't respond immediately as she scanned the menu. In truth, she knew what she wanted to drink, but she was taking time to consider. It was true that the Atlas military was pretty pervasive, that was relatively common knowledge. Could she trust Sky on this? Clearly he and his family were on bad terms, so it would be of no benefit for him to pass word along. Still, perhaps it would be best if he knew a little so as not to let something slip...

Stepping forward, Anya ordered what amounted to candy coffee before moving off to one side and taking a look around. The place was reasonably crowded, being located along a somewhat busy street. While it wasn't immediately pressing, it would certainly make it harder to eavesdrop, especially if she used her Semblance to help it along. "I know what you mean," she said at last. "Do... you mind if I share something with you, once we have our drinks?"

[Grim ranger]

A Little Bit of Home

Looking ever so slightly surprised, he regardless gave her a short nod. Although they were still new and untested team by most metrics, he was quite willing to share the burdens of his friends, should it help. Perhaps one day he'd share everything with them as well, but for now this topic took priority. "I wouldn't mind. It sounds like you have something important on your mind?"

[5ColouredWalker]

Better than a Bloodhound

Timing: Set after having spent time searching the ruins for anyone buried, won't start until everyone is found in the immediate area.

Breaking away from LJAN (Wait, where was Jessiny? Dammit, they're probably having another change.), Nigel jumps up to the cells, taking in the scent with his nose. With all the cops, dust explosions, and everything else, tracking could be nightmarish, but if crooks grouped up for safety in getting away, particularly any released White Fang, he'd be able to identify a group, and track them... And multiple people sweating and running were a lot easier to track than a single person.

Of course, he doesn't say anything immediately, because he wants to get a lead before bringing it up.


Nigel has Accurate Acute Tracking Olfactory Senses, so he'll be able to pick out specific scents. He's not Analytical, so he's going to have some trouble and his descriptions of what he scents won't be perfect.
He has Extended 1, so -1/100ft range, so just walking around the station he should be able to quickly find out if they group up and where, or if they almost immidiately split off, in which case he might be able to track a single important person.

With Skill Mastery Perception, Nigel doesn't roll, he gets 18. If he has trouble (Too much disruption to scents.), he'll take 20, which I don't think is mechanically existant, but still works by just rolling until you get it.

[Dorni]

Better Than A Bloodhound

Little bit of confusion - Extended reduces the range penalties for using the sense, but it does not increase the speed he can Track. Tracking entails following a specific scent trail at a half base movement speed (or full speed at -5 on the check).

I do allow taking 20, but note that taking 20 A) assumes the action in question can be failed many times and retried before the character succeeds and b) increases the time to perform the action by a factor of 20. The first criterion is satisfied here since Nigel can keep going back to the cells to pick out a scent and try again if he loses the scent. The second criterion applies, making his effective tracking speed 30ft/minute.

-------

Even for Nigel's nose it isn't easy picking out a trail. There are a ton of scents laid over the top of each other, giving hints at a chaotic battle, escape, and rescue operation. He loses the trail a few times but is able to return to the jail cells and start over with only a few odd looks. After about 15 minutes he's sure of it though - the largest block of prisoner scents left the station and travelled just a short distance down the sidewalk where the trails stop at curbside. Its easy to surmise that the White Fang must have had getaway vehicles ready, but this normally a fairly busy street and identifying individual vehicles is already difficult. Identifying the getaway vehicles is beyond him.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

Lying in a bed in the Shade medical cabin, Jason experienced that moment of realization that he was consciously thinking and his perceptions had that more vivid clarity of corresponding to actual stimuli. He wasn't entirely keen on opening his eyes yet, but he was, if only in the most technical sense, awake.

His entire body felt weak, and not especially keen on moving. He could feel his heart beating and hear that his breathing was just a bit shallow and ragged. Aftereffects of the poison that someone had evidently purged from him. And a clear indication that that had been close. Jason's Aura had broken and he had lost consciousness in a cave full of Weavers and while he had been badly poisoned. It was clearly thanks only to the quick reactions of his team that he was alive.

Jason had never been that close to death before. His aggressive combat style and...let's lay lackadaisical regard for personal safety had put him in danger before, sure. But this was the first time he had woken up to the understanding that he easily could have died, and his survival had been entirely in the hands of others.

Jason had definitely learned something here.

"Anya..." he croaked out in a quiet, shaky whisper. He wasn't even actually sure if she was nearby.

...

...

"...Train me!"

~...I thought you said you had learned something from seeing your so-called "plan" crash and burn around you leaving you - and us, I will add, you self-centered glory-hound! - lingering helplessly on the very edge of death!~

~I did learn something! I learned that Anya is ludicrously powerful and can take pretty much anything - including me - out in one or two hits at most, and that I want to learn how she does it!~

~But...didn't you already know that?~

~Well, I mean, I certainly suspected, but technically it hadn't been scientifically confirmed. Really all my prior evidence was based on second-hand observation. Now that I've experienced the Wrath of Anya myself, all my theories are proven completely true.~

~But in terms of learning something new, such as that sometimes it is sensible to retreat when you are Aura-critical and injured rather than pushing on because it could very easily lead to your death?~

~Huh? No. If I had retreated we wouldn't have been able to Double Dragon Lance the thing. If anything, when facing an enemy that powerful, I need to be even more aggressive so it goes down before it has the chance to poison me!~

~...Never change, Jason. Never changed.~

~Clearly he doesn't intend to!~

Outside of his headspace, Jason's eyes blinkingly opened and he took a look around.

[Thokk_Smash]

The Aftermath (includes "Better Than a Bloodhound")

It's been some time since Leonard and Nigel had arrived at the prison. The time had been spent, for Leonard's part, sending Geri to pick up out-of-the-way rubble as Leonard himself helped move closer rubble. Finally, there is a lull in the process.

Leonard sends Huginn out as he takes in the extent of the damage. The stoic raven flies past the red haired woman and dips into the prison towards the cells that had been opened. The analytical raven flies through the halls and into the cells. He perches in places, scans the rooms, and overall just makes sure nothing's been missed.

Outside, Leonard turns to face Amarissa. "Amarissa, if I may have a word," he says, his tone carefully neutral. "Earlier today, when I sent Muninn to send you a message and you failed to reply or even acknowledge me--don't do that again." Here, his tone betrays a measure of irritation. "I'm saying, as this team's leader and even as a fellow student and teammate, do not ignore a message from your team."

With Huginn, Leonard's Tactile sense is Acute, Accurate, Ranged, Radius, Extended 2, Analytical. IMO, a Radius Tactile sense would let one feel through open areas of a surface to "touch"/sense further inside. That is, I don't think that Penetrates Concealment is strictly necessary for Leonard to "see" into the prison cells.

Dorni, if you deem it necessary, then Muninn goes instead, and the Tactile sense becomes Acute, Accurate, Ranged, Radius, Extended, Rapid, Penetrates Concealment.

Whichever bird is doing the searching, it'll "take 20", if able, on an Investigation check for the prison cells and bloody areas. I'm assuming Perception can't be used for this, but if it can, then the final result becomes 30. If it's Muninn doing the searching, it gets done 10x faster.

[Dorni]

The Aftermath

It takes a bit of time, but the birds finish their sweep of the building. There are a few oddities - there are fewer fallen police officers than one might expect for a surprise attack on the station. What's more, the attackers vandalized the place, smashing computers and trashing desks and cabinets, but that job isn't through and the vandalism doesn't extend to the 2nd or 3rd floors. As for the jail itself, the cells all stand empty except for one, which contains a single prisoner. Leonard recognizes the unconscious and worse-for-wear woman as Lo-Mai, the leader of the White Fang attack on VICE.

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

"Yep, I think we need to call the nurse back. He must have brain damage." Nicoale glanced over her scroll from the chair she lounged in. She gave an exasperated sign and took her time putting her scroll away.

But her ears were sagging in relief.


A Full Recovery

Two days after the incident in the mine, Nicoale was up early. Yesterday hadn't exactly been her best day, and she hadn't slept particularly well that night either. Rather than fruitlessly try to go back to sleep in the half hour before she'd normally rise, she'd opted to just start the day early.

That, and training always made her feel better. It helped her focus, clear her head and blow off steam. Not always at the same time, but she usually felt better for it. And after the mine trip, that was something she thought she could use.

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

Raising slightly from his own seat as Jason finally seemed to get back some of his mental faculties, Sky could not help but smile. As many things as the big lug could aggravate him with, he was regardless a tried and true member of the team. It would have been a devastating loss to have him perish during a school field trip of all things. While it was unlikely they'd ever manage to beat any sense of caution into the boy's thick skull, he didn't care much: for the moment, there was only happy relief.

"Nnno, that is just Jason being Jason" Sky deadpanned as he stepped somewhat closer to the bed, shaking his head. "You gave us quite the scare back there, which was a bit inconsiderate, but everyone got out alright in the end" he admonished the dragon-boy somewhat, but not too badly: he was smiling, after all. "It was a tough fight, maybe hardest one we have been in middle of quite yet. Good to see that all of NJAS will live to fight another day."

[Arlin]

A Little Bit of Home
Anya nodded, licking her lips nervously as she waited. Once they had their respective drinks and had found an out-of-the-way spot, she took a deep breath to steady herself. "I... am also from Atlas," she said quietly, using her Semblance to ensure it reached him over the din of the busy cafe. She looked like she wanted to go on, but was gauging his reaction first.

Up And At 'Em
Anya had remained silent by Jason's side for a long time. She was the reason he was like this. Sure, the broodmother had done the majority of the heavy lifting, so to speak, but the fact remained that if she hadn't panicked, he could have made it through. On some level, she knew she had hurt the others too, but her focus wasn't on them.

Hearing her name brought the bat faunus back to focus on her prone companion. Had he just spoken, or was that wishful thinking? His followup had her shaking her head, eyes closed. Obviously she was too tired, he wouldn't say something like that.

By the time she opened her eyes again, though, he was looking around, and the other two were chiding him. He was awake! Relief flooded over Anya, her shoulders sagging a little.

Sadly, it was short lived. The moment Jason's gaze fell on her, the guilt returned. Anya went pale, eyes wide. There was a brief moment of hesitation, then she shot up and bolted for the door.

Research and Development
It took a minute for Anya to gather up her courage as she stood before the door to LJAN's cabin. She reminded herself that she needed to find a steady source of dust, that the occasional convention was just not going to work long term. From everything she had heard, Leonard had connections there, and better yet it had nothing to do with Schnee. Still, it would help if she'd actually ever spoken with him before...

Timidly, she reached up and knocked.

Girls' Night In
The NJAS cabin was quiet. Jason had left a while ago for his date with Rata, and Sky had said something about training. Anya sat on a stool, tuning her harp. It had taken a while to be able to afford it, but it was in good condition, if secondhand. After a few minutes of careful plucking, her ears twitching a bit, she nodded to herself and began to play. As the song went on, she looked more relaxed than Nicoale had ever seen her. After a few minutes, she stopped and looked over at the deer faunus. "Thank you again, for helping me find this," she said.

Shortly, the playing began anew, but the tones were very different. Anya was no longer plucking the strings, instead using her Semblance to resonate with the strings she needed, giving the tune a light, almost ethereal quality.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em


"Yep, I think we need to call the nurse back. He must have brain damage."


"Nnno, that is just Jason being Jason"

"Darn-" *Ahem* *Cough cough* "Darn skippy!"

"The two," Ryuu pointed out acerbically, "Are not mutually exclusive."

"'Course we did. We're awesome," Jason added as Sky finished, no-selling the "gave us a scare" part. Sure, he was touched that his team had worried about him, but he wasn't going to sappily acknowledge it. That wasn't really how their team communicated. They told him they were worried about him by saying he had brain damage and calling him inconsiderate. He reassured them he was okay by blatantly ignoring any and all evidence to the contrary and moving on to cheering about how awesome they all were. It was how they rolled. "Also, dude, Sky! DOUBLE DRAG-" he began to extol in his usual idiom, when Anya bolted for the door.

...Anya was technically the newest member of the group. She might not have learned the language yet.

Now, look, had Anya kinda panicked in battle? Yeah. Had it had a negative impact and exposed Jason to additional risk? Sure. And Jason was cognizant enough to understand that totally removing whatever guilt she felt for it was probably not going to happen. To a point, that was even useful, if it meant she'd learn from it and be less likely to panic in the future.

But what he wasn't going to do was let that guilt only further undermine her still kinda fragile self-confidence. Not if he could help it.

Jason wasn't feeling extremely up to physical movement at the moment, let alone quick movement, but fortunately, he wasn't restricted to purely physical means of locomotion. With a grunt, he manifested his wings, which hurled him up from the bed and into Anya's path.

"Hey," he said. He had an instinct to reach out to take hold of her shoulders, but he recalled that Anya was not the most fond of being touched, so he didn't. "Seriously, I'm fi-" that assurance was briefly interrupted and perhaps somewhat undermined by a sudden wavering wobble, but Jason held out his hands and wings a bit until his balance fully woke up and he steadied. "Ahem. I'm fine. Not the first time I've been blasted by a teammate in the middle of a pitched battle with a giant Grimm. Sky. While I would of course encourage you to avoid it in the future, I mean it, don't sweat it. Okay?"

A Full Recovery

Remember, NJAS fans, Jason's new character sheet includes the loss of four ranks of Athletics (now Mobility)
in addition to his Strength bonus no longer applying to such checks!

Jason had gotten up an hour early himself this morning. Not because he was unable to sleep or anything - he had set his Scroll's alarm for it, in fact. But because...well...

Okay, he wasn't going to actually tell anyone this, but ever since the mines, he had been feeling kinda...stiff. Not, like, terribly so. Probably not even noticeably so. But his movements didn't feel quite as fluid, and his breath was just a little bit shorter. His performance at that game (which he had, indeed, still got some people into and played not two hours after waking up from being poisoned, because he was Jason), which had been strictly Semblance-off, had been somewhat lackluster. Jason was one of the earlier risers at the school on a normal day, so he felt pretty confident that nobody would be up an hour before that. Which gave him the opportunity to spend some time jogging around the school's perimeter, swimming out to a particular rock in the ocean, even testing his jumping distance with lines in the sand, trying to refute a conclusion that just got more evidence with every lap or test. He was definitely not at his physical peak.

To be fair, it was more an annoyance than a concern. Frankly, there was no amount of personal athletic ability that could match the level of mobility that his Semblance provided. Still, it was disappointing. His physical prowess had carried him pretty far before his Semblance had manifested. He was proud of it. That he might actually be losing a step irked him.

He didn't notice as Nicoale approached his general vicinity. He was too busy paying attention to the two piles of shells that marked his starting and target points, and the several deep footprints and lines in the sand that marked where he had actually landed. As Nicoale arrived, he was just taking another jump.

Jason Mobility (DC 18 to match his prior Routine check): [roll0]. ...That calls for an edit.

...Or, well, he almost didn't notice her. He spotted her out the corner of his eye just as he started jumping, and was sufficiently surprised and - though he hated to admit it even to himself - self-conscious that he pretty much bumbled the jump entirely, tripped over his own leg, and landed face-first in the sand about three feet from the shells. Jason lifted his face up, let out a little sigh that blew some sand away, and dutifully drew a little line in the sand with his finger. Deadpan. I don't know if it's technically possible to draw a line deadpan, but he totally did it anyway.

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

Nicoale march after them, ears flat. "Seriously, Jason. You just woke up."

She planted herself next to the pair of them, arms crossed. One could be excused from forgetting in that moment that her full height was somewhere around Jason's chest level. "You can barely stand up. You should be resting, not leaping around."

"And you," She turned unsympathetic eyes on Anya. "What are you running from this time?"

A Full Recovery

Nicoale smoothly finished her footwork drill, holding the final position for an extra second before blowing out a breath and dropping to the sand. The slight burn of exertion, of making progress, felt good. She leaned back, arms bracing her from behind as she stared at the sky.

Despite another cloudless sky, she'd somehow felt in the last like they all were trapped in a downpour. Their adventure in the Mine had been one thing, but that same day the White Fang would be at it again. From what she'd gathered on the news the police had been keeping a good number of the White Fang they'd captured during the VICE attack at the station while awaiting their back-to-back trials. The White Fang had seized the opportunity and busted them free. There'd been a certain cunning to the attack that she had to recognize - carrying out attacks throughout the city to draw police attention, then striking the station while so many officers were rushing to respond elsewhere. Didn't make them any less scum, but Nicoale wasn't looking forward to what came next.

Tensions had only just started subsiding after the VICE attack, but that was over. The police chief had been all over the news promising to 'end the menance' and avenge the officers who'd been killed. Unlike most of the students, Nicoale wasn't looking forward to it - she knew full well what a crackdown on the White Fang meant for the faunus community. But with the attack so fresh and Jason's near-death in the mine, she'd kept her thoughts to herself that day. The others might not believe it, but even she had a limit to how many fights she wanted to pick.

Speaking of, it was about that time. She cast her semblance back at the cabin and sure enough dragon-hands was missing. She started scanning the usual spots and it didn't take her long to spot him further down the beach placing shells and drawing lines in the sand. She gathered Caladbolg and started walking, wondering when Jason had suddenly discovered art. Then he started jumping, the lines made sense, and her worries that maybe he actually had suffered some kind of brain damage melted away.

They were replaced by different worries. They'd been training together regularly and she felt she had a solid grasp by now on what he was capable of. He should have jumped further. Maybe it was too early to tell. Maybe he hadn't fully recovered from the mine. Or maybe the poison had done lasting damage.

The thought left her uneasy. On the one hand, it might finally convince him to be more cautious and not take insane risks. And on the other... she didn't want him hurt. She banished the thought rather than chase it any further.

She didn't call out as she drew close, expecting Jason or one of his dragons to notice her. And notice her he did - just in time to faceplant. It was too much. Nicoale covered her mouth with one hand, choking back a laugh that he doubtless heard anyway.

"Did I come at a bad time?" she managed to get out as she walked to his side and thrust a hand down.

[Dorni]

Girls' Night In

"It was no big deal."

Nicoale lay on her bed, textbook open in front of her. She'd opted to use her evening to try and get some studying done. She'd seemingly gotten over whatever had been on her nerves earlier that day and her ears were twitching appreciatively along with the melody as Anya continued to play.

[5ColouredWalker]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

With Amarissa leaving the dorm for her usual meditations, Nigel perks up from his desk, standing up far too quickly for someone fiddling on his scroll.
But Aura is good for not being dizzy.
"Hey Amarissa. I was wondering if I could join you this afternoon, get some calm in. Maybe ask a couple of questions?"

While starting off happy, Nigel quickly falls off into the sort of flat that he seems to hit when he's in happy mode, but not actually happy... Something that's becoming more common lately. A glance will find he's also not got his bottle on him this morning, having stashed it in his desk.

[Thokk_Smash]

Research and Development
It took a minute for Anya to gather up her courage as she stood before the door to LJAN's cabin. She reminded herself that she needed to find a steady source of dust, that the occasional convention was just not going to work long term. From everything she had heard, Leonard had connections there, and better yet it had nothing to do with Schnee. Still, it would help if she'd actually ever spoken with him before...

Timidly, she reached up and knocked.

The quiet knock at the door makes Leonard perk up where he is reclining on his bed. And in perfect synch with him, Geri and Freki lift their heads from their spot across his legs. Leonard tilts his head in thought as he begins to move from the comfort of his little nest. Who could this be knocking at his door? The rest of his team are out (and they wouldn't knock anyway), Jason wouldn't bother knocking either...he shrugs and finally reaches the door.

Upon opening it, he is curious to find that it is Anya at the door. "Oh, hello, Anya," he says with a friendly smile. Geri, lovable ball of fur that he is, takes that a step further and happily bounds to her feet and circles her legs with happy little yips of greetings. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

"You jumped in the path of my attack, and besides, you turned out alright" Sky noted defensively, folding his arms with a huff. "But Jason is right in this, you are fine. These things happen. At least everything worked out in the end, no?"

Knowing that he had likely already butted in too much into this bit of personal business between the two, Sky shut up once again, hoping that Jason would manage to talk Anya over her momentary panic episode.

A Little Bit of Home

Nodding slightly, Sky sipped his drink thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again. "I'll admit, it is bit of a surprise, but I can see it now" he said, smiling a little. "It is not bad sort of surprise either. I am sad that Atlas is such...divisive place regarding Faunus rights. One of the main reasons I left. I hope you are enjoying Shade so far like I am? At least over here prejudices are less of a thing."

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
Anya stopped short, shaking her head. "You're not fine," she said to Jason quietly. "You're stubborn. There's a difference."

Her ears were not mobile enough to droop, but her shoulders sagged and she looked down at his feet. "I hurt all of you. I could have gotten all of us killed. What kind of Huntress panics like that? We're supposed to get rid of Grimm, not attract them. I'm sorry..." she trailed off, her vision blurring with tears, though they didn't quite fall.

A Little Bit of Home
Anya felt herself turn a little pink. The sentiment was appreciated, even if he was being a tad pompous. "Well, yes, mostly," she said. "It's just... I'm not exactly here with permission. My father... is a military official."

She trusted Sky to understand the implications- he was from that society, after all.

Research and Development
The faunus' face lit up as the wolf came bounding out, a good deal of her nervousness seeming to melt away. Her face colored a bit as she reached down to pet Geri. Of course he knew who she was... it seemed like everyone did, these days. "Er, hi!" she said with a small laugh. "I was wondering whose animals those were, on the survival trip. I guess I have an answer to that bit."

"I, um, heard you were a good person to go to for dust that doesn't come from Schnee, and I experiment with dust infusion, and my supplies are running low, but I have a job now, so..." she trailed off, keenly aware she'd begun to babble a bit. "Um... can you help?"

Girls' Night In
After a minute or two, Anya let the harp fall silent, looking thoughtfully over at Nicoale. Well, now was as good a time to ask as any, she supposed. "So, I've been meaning to ask... what's going on with you and Jason?" she asked hesitantly.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

"Just a little groggy, is all," Jason retorted, waving off the concerns. "Anya...hey," Jason bent down to look her in the eyes - which was not exactly trivial, given their height differences. "It's okay. Did you mess up some? Sure. Learn from it. Improve on it in the future. But don't go inventing a bunch of could-have-beens to beat yourself up with. Sky's right. We came through it. In no small part, I might add, because immediately afterwards, you kicked a building-sized Grimm in the head so hard it couldn't tell up from purple!"

A Full Recovery

Jason accepted the hand up, spitting a bit of sand out of his mouth. "Not at all. Perfect timing, actually," he replied, deadpan. Though as he said so, he made an idle waving gesture at the ground before him and Ryuu'd up a blast of wind to blow away the evidence of his testing. Not that he had even the faintest belief that Nicoale hadn't already seen it, but he could at least imagine that she might not have deduced what it was all for.

"So, what's the game plan?" he asked, as if nothing had happened at all.

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

"Oh, quit your crying."

Nicoale crossed her arms and glared at Jason. Dragon-boy might be blithely waving everything off, but he was essentially right. "Crying never fixed anything ever. If you want to apologize, do it by getting better so this doesn't happen again."

Girls' Night In

"So you noticed?" Nicoale glanced sidelong at Anya, eyes calculating. A moment later she rolled on to her side, head propped on one arm as she faced the bat faunus. "Well, if you've noticed me covering for him then other teams might catch on soon. Do you know why?"

A Full Recovery

Nicoale pulled Jason to his feet, but her gaze lingered on the now empty sand. Did he really think she hadn't noticed what he was up to? No, he probably did. It would be like him to just not want to talk about it. He might neglect his studies, but he very rarely skipped training. Besides, she could confirm her theory easily enough.

"Well," she replied in mock disappointment, "I came here to see if you were ready to restart our sparring matches. But seeing as the mere sight of me is enough to have you eating sand...." she spread her hands with a smirk.

[Thokk_Smash]

Research and Development
The faunus' face lit up as the wolf came bounding out, a good deal of her nervousness seeming to melt away. Her face colored a bit as she reached down to pet Geri. Of course he knew who she was... it seemed like everyone did, these days. "Er, hi!" she said with a small laugh. "I was wondering whose animals those were, on the survival trip. I guess I have an answer to that bit."

"I, um, heard you were a good person to go to for dust that doesn't come from Schnee, and I experiment with dust infusion, and my supplies are running low, but I have a job now, so..." she trailed off, keenly aware she'd begun to babble a bit. "Um... can you help?"

There is unabashed glee on Leonard's face when Anya finishes her request. These past few months at Shade, he'd done his best to mingle and chat with his year-mates, with mixed results. Nigel, he considered a friend, and Amarissa...is a work in progress. But now is a perfect chance to make a new friend!

"Yes!" he says, perhaps a little too happily and loudly, for he visibly reins himself in after. Nonetheless, Geri continues to frolic around her with happy yips, and even Muninn appears to zip around the Faunus girl's head.

"Anya! Hi!" the bird of memory caws as he alights onto Anya's shoulder. He begins to groom her hair with his beak in greeting. "Do you have any baubles?"

"Er, that is to say, I can absolutely help," he says, slightly embarrassed at half of his menagerie making spectacles of themselves. With a soft click of his tongue, Geri huffs and zips back into the house. A few seconds later he returns, carrying Leonard's various sundries in a sack in his mouth. Leonard takes the sack and scritches Geri behind the right ear. Geri then returns to Anya and rubs against her, cat-like.

Leonard closes the door and gestures for Anya to follow him. "My family has a small outpost just outside the academy," he says as he begins to walk. Geri and Muninn follow, keeping to Anya for as much attention as she wants to give. "It doesn't always have everything, but sis thought it was important for the students to have a reliable source of Dust closer than the city.

"So what kind of Dust are you looking for?"

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

Although he wasn't generally the best-equipped person to talk about feelings, Sky felt distinct sting in his chest at the sight of Anya breaking out in tears. Mot only because he KNEW what she was now likely experiencing all too well, but also because she was member of the team...one that he was beginning to grow quite fond on. Under the circumstances, he really felt somewhat angry at Nicoale's callous disregard of the girl's plight: although it was just her nature to handle things like so, he regardless somewhat resented her for it now.

Being berated was not what Anya needed right now.

"Anya...living in world of what-ifs never helped anyone. And you, on the other hand, really helped us" he said, for once hoping that he could momentarily ignore personal space...but given Anya's own nature, it would have likely not been received all that well. "And we ALL panic. We all do! At some point in life of every Huntsman we lose our nerve, make a mistake due to hesitation, or hurt people close to us, and that remains a risk until we finally breathe our last. Every single day. You fought and essentially saved us, and it is something to be proud of. I'm proud to call you my teammate, so stop blaming yourself for every bad thing. The trick to all this is to try your utmost and never stop: by doing that, you are ALWAYS the best version of yourself."

He didn't even care if he'd come across as bombastic. He would try his all to cheer a friend up himself.

A Little Bit of Home

"Well... I know how that is as well" he replied, rubbing his forehead slightly. "I literally ran away to get where I am now, and people back at Atlas didn't much like it. Still don't. But I won't let that get in the way of pursuing what I see as right and important. If you need help... I'll do whatever I can."

[DukeGod]

The Aftermath

"I understand. It is hard sometimes to recall that the ravens represent you in every way that matters instead of being empowered mundane beasts. But such are the quirks of Semblances."

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

Amarissa pretty much freezes on the door but doesn't really turn around to speak.

"You man join of course. I was unaware you had a method for artificially achieving Calm. Perhaps one day you could teach it to me."

[5ColouredWalker]

The Aftermath

Nigel continues his sniffing, seeming to have little luck.

This is just accounting for the time spent on Better than a Bloodhound. I'll join this one shortly.

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!
"Thank you." A touch of brightness, then gone.
Nigel moves to join Amarissa, pocketting his scroll.
"And no, I don't have such a method, I'm just having trouble with my normal regulatory methods and it's starting to compound. Given you lived near the edges of the Kingdom as a monk I figure you might be able to help, or at least be an understanding ear."
With that, Nigel shrugs.
"If you'd like I can try to teach you how I handle things, see if it helps, but I don't know anyone who ever joined the Chari older than 10 who managed it properly before old age. I'm sure I could manage to be helpful otherwise."

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
Anya nodded slowly, wiping at her eyes. "I AM trying to get better," she said, glaring a little at Nicoale.

Her gaze fell to the floor again. "All I want is to be better. Good enough to be team mates... good enough to be friends."

A Little Bit of Home
The faunus looked somewhat uncomfortable. "I ran away too," she said. "And if they decided to, my parents absolutely have the resources to come get me, or cause problems."

She folded her arms across herself, as though cold. "So I don't want them to find out where I am."

Research and Development
Anya looked slightly taken aback at the exuberance of the response, her face going slightly pink. Moving carefully so as not to dislodge the raven, she followed Leonard inside, pulling out a large tiger eye marble and presenting it to the bird. Soon she was kneeling down to pet Geri some more, but she looked up. "Well, my Talaria already use a lot of Earth dust to form projectiles," she said slowly.

Her nervousness seemed to clear as she considered the question further. "I've been thinking about experimenting with dust types that could be used to dampen kinetic energy," she said. "My fighting style puts a lot of strain on my legs and feet, but if I got it right it could have plenty of other applications."

Color returned to her face as she realized she was babbling again. "I also wonder if it would be possible to jump start a broken Aura, in an emergency," she admitted, her tone embarrassed.

Girls' Night In
Anya blinked. "I'm not sure why it would matter if the other teams knew," she said slowly, feeling she was missing something. "I'm just surprised you're okay with him going on a date with someone else if you two are an item. I mean, it's your relationship, I'm not going to judge, but..."

[Dorni]

Girls Night In

"I- wait, WHAT!? We're not dating! Who told you we were? Was it Sky? I bet it was him. Why would you listen to him? He wouldn't know what a relationship looked like if it followed him from Atlas! I was covering for Jason because he's hurt! Ever since the fight with the Broodmother he's lost a step. I'm pretty sure the poison did some lasting damage."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

Jason shot Nicoale a bit of a wan look. He understood where it came from, of course, but he still kinda had to wonder if it would kill her to be more supportive.

Not that he didn't boggle at Anya's self-deprecation sometimes, to be fair. "You realize the latter's not contingent, right?" he asked with a bit of a teasing smirk (because supportive didn't have to mean sappy). "As for the former...I think we need a Team Mascot."

"DIBS!"

"No no, you're too important to our grand combat strategy."

Flat "What?"

"We need someone who can reliably cheer us on from the sidelines while, and this is important, keeping a Scroll trained on the action. We need a record of the head-bootings, is what I'm saying. Preferably with slow-motion and instant-replay..."

A Full Recovery

Did she just...?

Oh no she didn't!

"For the record, it was a low-flying bird," Jason said in a tone that brooked no argument, despite the fact that A) there were precisely zero birds anywhere nearby and B) he was talking to Nicoale. But that just made it all the more credible, right? Because who would possibly lie about something so easily checked and obviously false! That was how deception worked, right?

Step Two: quickly move on before your (cunning!) misdirection could be analyzed. "And please, I'm still not entirely sure why we didn't spar yesterday!" (Him sleeping through their first class might have had something to do with it, but maybe he thought the two were unrelated, or something). "How does a straight match sound to you? Sword against fist alone! No Semblance! No Dust!" Final Destination? "To the red!" (After that first match, Jason had taken to boldly declaring "to the red!" for their match limits because on the one hand getting knocked unconscious wasn't actually fun but it wasn't surrender if it was an agreed-upon stopping point in the rules).

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
She had started to relax a little at Jason's words, but then Anya's brow furrowed, and she found herself scowling up at him. She was already upset, but now it was shifting to a bit of anger.

"I am not a mascot," she said firmly. "I'm not here for people to stare at. I'm not here to be accepted by being cute. I am a Huntress!" she declared fiercely. "I may be afraid more than I should be, but that doesn't mean I should get a spot on the team out of pity!"

There was a pause as she lost some of her momentum. Then Anya pushed at Jason's chest lightly. "And you aren't invincible. You should rest... we need you."

Girls' Night In
Anya leaned back, raising her hands defensively. "Nobody told me, sorry!" she said, fighting not to curl up.

"You just got all defensive when Rata was chatting him up and I thought..." Anya trailed off as a thought struck her. "You're watching their date, aren't you? I don't think I've ever seen you read a book with your actual eyes since I got here."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

Jason stared at Anya blankly for a moment. It was like, look, he was glad she was standing up for herself and showing some professional pride, but...well. Maybe he was woozier than he thought, if that was what she thought he had said. "I'm sorry, what? I...huh? No, I'm not saying you are the mascot. I'm saying we need a mascot, so that we have somebody who can record all of our battles, so that you can see yourself kicking everything in the head, so that you can stop thinking there's even the slightest possibility that you aren't good enough for this team. Giving Sky a record of his own general badassery would also be good, to be fair."

"Honestly, Anya, I'm a bit boggled here. What in all the time you've known me could have possibly left you under the impression that I think you are the Team Mascot?"

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
"...oh." Anya replied, shrinking a bit as she blushed furiously. "Sorry, I thought..."

[DukeGod]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

"Well alright then, I can help you. But you're gonna have to tel me in details what you need to learn. I've had at least like, 5 different masters in meditation, the monks each saw a different path. And all of them had pretty different end goals too"

[5ColouredWalker]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

Nigel nods quickly.
"From what I hear, and have seen with you, monks have some sort of meditations through which they find calm and reduce their negativity. And their positivity as well, apparently. My Clan went for a different approach."

Should Ammarissa look to Nigel, she'll notice he's closed his eyes.

"Where other's strive for peace, we strived to instead contain our emotions, that they could enjoy everything to it's fullest, and occasionally let out that which would draw the Grimm when it was safe. We were known for our parties, and for clearing swaths of desert as a grimm clearing contract in addition to our trading, and when we knew we were safe and alone, we'd go through rituals and don masks, letting us know it was alright to feel the pain. It's not perfect, but it's what I know."

Nigel shakes his head and opens his eyes.
"I've used just my mask for a while, while also using alcohol to get a little in touch but now... It's building up too much. I haven't had anyone I can trust to lead me through the donning properly and go on a black hunt, or just to let my hair down somewhere were if I end up expressing a great deal of anger I know I'm not going to hurt anyone. And you couldn't show me a dust pile large enough to convince me to do a black hunt alone, that's just a recipe for someone finding my bones poking from the sand."

Nigel shrugs, and when he speaks he sounds a lot less serious suddenly.
"So, meditation and inner peace stuff. Hopefully enough to save me from going to the faculty. Or a really awkward conversation with Leonard where I hope that he doesn't swap out like everyone else on the team has so far."

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

Nicoale rolled her eyes. "He's talking about whats-her-name that filmed him in the mine. And no Jason, we're not letting her on the team just so you can have a cheerleader."

A Full Recovery

Nicoale gave Jason's attempt at misdirection a flat stare, but her ears wiggled in amusement.

Jason's offer was an odd one. Jason's fighting style was far more dependent on his semblance and dust usage than Nicoale's was. Taking those away would do more to limit his options than hers, and if he hadn't fully recovered then he'd be at even more of a disadvantage. Why would he... unless that was the point?

"Alright, if that's what you want," she replied with a shrug. "Bring it on." She backed away a half-dozen paces, drawing her heavy blade as she did.

Girls Night In

"Points for observation. Of course I'm keeping an eye on them - this is Jason and Rata we're talking about. Do you really trust those glory hounds not to do something crazy like stopping at the Seven Maids so they can take down the Carpenters single handedly? With Rata there to egg him on?"

Nicoale sat up and leaned toward the bat faunus. "And why are you so interested, anyway? Are you looking for a play-by-play?" Her grin was somewhere between mischievous and predatory as she finished.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

Jason just burst into laughter, although um, with her extremely-acute hearing, Anya miiiight have picked up just the hint of a wheeze when he did. He smirked some at Nicoale's comment. "Rata's still a Huntress. Trainee Huntress, whatever. We need a mascot! Someone who doesn't have anything better to do than cheer us from the sidelines, catch all our awesomeness on camera, and maybe provide a dramatic narration of events. Like an anthropomorphic cartoon animal or something. Or maybe one of those scientist dudes from the mines. They seemed sufficiently useless."

A Full Recovery

Jason gave a fierce grin and charged. There was a point to this, actually. Jason was not entirely convinced it was the poison that was slowing him down. He deemed it plausible that he had just been relying on his Semblance too much. Which, to be fair, it was like, why wouldn't he? Still, getting back to basics with some good ol' fashioned fisticuffs would be good practice.

"STUNNING FIST!" he yelled out as he swung. The thing about Jason was, for all his over-the-top anime style, he was a highly technically skilled fighter. Yes, he yelled out the names of his attacks. But if you waited to dodge until he finished yelling, well, you were gonna get hit. Jason's hard right hook shot for Nicoale's chin with his full weight behind it and not an instant of wind-up, although the movement was definitely a bit stiffer than his norm.

Move: Into Close range of Nicoale.

Standard: Attack Nicoale with "Freeze" at [roll0]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage, Fortitude DC 18 vs. Dazed+Vulnerable/Stunned+Defenseless Affliction.

Current Status: Stiff (-1 attack/defense).

A Night Out...At The Carpenters

"Okay so, just to make sure we're in agreement, the plan is squid rings, dinner, putting a stop to the Carpenter Gang once and for all, movie. Sound right?"

((Kidding. I am totally kidding. This does not actually happen. Probably.))

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

Sighing a bit at the direction the discussion had once again taken, Sky rolled his eyes somewhat. "Why would we even need a mascot? We have been doing awesomely enough to end up with our likeness in cereal boxes at this rate" he pointed out humorously. "As long as we can work together, no matter possible slip-ups, we are unbeatable!"

A Little Bit of Home

Quiet for the moment, he sipped his drink somberly before speaking again. "I apologize for dragging you into that call in that case... but I don't think my dad would know your family. And even if he would, if anyone would try something with my teammate, I'd send them packing. Physically if needs must" he promised, giving Anya a firm nod. "Out circumstances might be somewhat different, but I think we both know the same pain. If you need any sort of help...just please tell me? The team needs you, and in all honesty? You are good company."

[Dorni]

A Full Recovery

Oh look, Jason charging in head on. How'd I see that coming? Nicoale didn't wait for the telltale shout and stepped forward and diagonal into the path of the attack and ducking low, Caladbolg held at her side. She could already see her next move - she'd duck Jason's hook while swinging horizontally, taking Jason full in the chest with both her strength and the momentum from his own charge. This fight would be over before he knew what hit him.

And then Jason adjusted his aim. She immediately let go of her blade with her lead hand and threw up her arm in a hasty parry, catching the punch and letting it push her further to the side and out of the line of Jason's charge and frustrating an immediate follow-up. She offered him a self-satisfied smirk; let him think she'd meant to do that.

Inwardly she cursed and realized the problem. It was her semblance - she used it so often she hadn't realized how much she'd miss it when she turned it off. Without that extra set of eyes she'd misjudged the speed and timing of Jason's attack and started her counter too soon. She'd have to adjust. She could do this.

She darted in, closing the distance and raising Caladbolg high for a heavy overhand swing. The blade was a decoy to draw Jason's attention high and at the last second she brought the blade down in a guard while delivering a snap-kick to Jason's knee. If she took his foot she could follow up while she wouldn't be overextended if he adjusted.

Move: Agile Feint: [roll0]
Standard: Attack Jason with Wounding Strike, DA 3. [roll1]. On hit, DC 23 Toughness vs Damage, [roll2] vs Trip, & DC 18 Fort vs Cumulative [Vulnerable / Disabled] Affliction. Nicoale is Deflected at 1d20+10

[DukeGod]

"So you need to vent? I have just the thing. Master Aurelius had this style of meditation, that I used often enough when I as a little girl, back before I could properly control my emotions and thoughts. The other masters didn't liked it, mostly because of it's roots I guess, it had been developed from some kind of battle trance"

Well for this...

Some unconventional site would be better

"Let's go to the roof."

So, she jumps trying to reach a somewhat high position in the rooftiles. No need for the top of the highest spire, but still high

[5ColouredWalker]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

"At it's simplest."

Nigel follows Ammarisa with practiced ease.

[DukeGod]

Once they're properly seated atop the school, Amarissa beings (carefully) pacing around and explaining

"Alright. This form of meditation starts from three principles. First, that the mind remembers everything. Second, that everything the mind thinks the body can perform. And finally, that above all else, the soul is supreme over the two. So, it's used to evoke images from the mind, that can be interpreted completely by the body, and it accomplishes that through Aura's more mysterious capabilities"

"Let's start simple. I want you to sit down and breathe a couple of times. After you've done that, I want you to go through every step of your breathing, and try to consciously do it. The external muscle movements are easy, it's the internal flows you'll need Aura to help you with"

[Quellian-dyrae]

A Full Recovery

Jason's hands did go up so he was ready to block the sword, but it didn't end up mattering - Jason's draconic senses, while almost certainly due to his Semblance in the general sense, were as best he could tell a permanent augmentation to his Aura. Or, in any event, they didn't seem to turn off when his Semblance did. Jason wasn't exactly keen on the specifics. The salient point was that even with his eyes and hands focused upward, he heard Nicoale's leg rising, and brought his own leg up to block it so instead of taking his vulnerable knee, she only caught his shin.

But rather than press his attack immediately, Jason...actually fell back a step. While he had tried to cover it up and play it off, Nicoale was omniscient. The chance that she didn't have some sense of what he had been doing earlier was next to nil. "Are you going easy on me?" he demanded, his words short, firm, and without bluster.

...Which would hopefully cause her to drop her guard just enough that he could dart into her reach and tackle her into a grab!

Move: Attempt to Startle Nicoale using Combat Provocation to set the descriptor to [Doubt]: [roll0] vs. Insight, Intimidation, or Will.

Standard: Attack Nicoale with Gale at [roll1]. On a hit, Toughness DC 23 vs. Damage, Strength or Dodge DC 18 vs. Grab.

Current Status: Stiff.

[Dorni]

A Full Recovery

Nicoale blinked at the accusation, momentarily taken aback. Had she been that transparent? It was that moment of hesitation and self-doubt that Jason used to dart in, but Nicoale quickly hopped back from his reach and slashed across her body, exploiting Caladbolg's reach to keep Jason at bay.

It was true, she had been going easy on dragon-boy - and it had led to that moment of self doubt. Of weakness. The realization drew a flash of irritation. They weren't training to be buddy-buddy, they were training to be Huntresses. Coddling wasn't going to protect either of them from the Grimm.

Nicoale stopped backpedaling and started weaving Caladbolg in an accelerating figure 8 before her. "Yeah, I was - but I'm about to take this seriously. Lets see if you can still keep up."

She pressed forward using Caladbolg as a wall, buzzsaw and smokescreen - the constant motion providing her with plenty of angles to break the pattern to attack from.

Move: Agile Feint: [roll0]
Standard: Attack Jason with Heavy Strike, AoA 5 PA 4: [roll1] Crit. On Hit, Toughness DC 27 32 vs Damage & DC 22 27 Weaken [Toughness] and Opposed Mobility [roll2] Also a Crit. vs Trip.

Status: -5 Defense, Deflected at 1d20+5

[Quellian-dyrae]

A Full Recovery

Funny thing, Jason hadn't actually thought she was. He figured the accusation might distract her, sure (which it had, though not enough). But it's like, come on, this was Nicoale they were talking about.

So her frank admission actually did kinda surprise him. "Wait, you seriously-" he began to ask.

Protip: when your opponent says she is about to take the fight seriously, that is not the time to stop and get clarification. He aborted the question to start dodging way too late, especially as stiff as he was (the fact that her complex attack pattern meant he was dodging in the wrong direction anyway probably didn't help matters). Caladbolg came down straight on his forehead, full force.

A normal person would have been split in two. So would most Grimm, for that matter. Jason's Aura was made of tougher stuff, and especially while it was at full strength, it could take a heck of a lot.

To be totally fair, a full-power Caladbolg swing to the dome could also dish out a heck of a lot. Jason was slammed down to the ground. In a normal fight, this was about where he'd kip up, draw on his physical reserves to push his Aura, and respond with some ludicrously over-aggressive response to try to burn his opponent down before she could finish him off.

But this wasn't a normal fight. There was an annoying beep from his pocket, and Jason let out a short, sharp hiss of a breath.

Jason could roll with the punches as well as anyone, physically and otherwise. And the thing was, even though he clearly took a lot of pride in his fighting abilities and obviously sought personal glory in battle, he wasn't generally uptight about it. Heck, to be fair, he could afford to be a bit more uptight about it, enough to learn from his mistakes anyway! But while he strove ever for excellence, he didn't actually care about being the best. When he came out of a battle more beat-up than he had expected to be, or lost a sparring match, or whatever, he didn't yell or mope or curse. He generally laughed about it. If he hadn't accomplished any incredible feats in a given battle, he was more than happy to extol the triumphs of his teammates instead.

So it was, to say the least, a bit out of character when he hopped to his feet (if Nicoale offered him a hand-up this time, he wouldn't just reject it, but actually go so far as to slap it away) and immediately spit out with downright Ryuusian venom, "Gods ******* damn it!"

Losing was one thing. It wasn't the first time he had lost a spar to Nicoale and wouldn't be the last. Even getting one-shotted wouldn't normally have made him react like that. Lucky shots happen. But getting so completely and unceremoniously trounced after Nicoale said she had been going easy on him earlier, and most importantly, after the past hour of disappointing results from his training and testing...the frustration and anger that had been building up with every long lap and short jump finally boiled over.

[5ColouredWalker]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!
"Aura enhanced breathing exercises? I'll have to come to you if I need any tutoring on Aura control than."

Nigel manages a slight smile before finding a spot to sit in the roof, quickly crossing his legs. He closes his eyes before cracking the left one open.
"Am I going through my breathing out loud, or just thinking on it?"
With that, Nigel closes his eye, and begins focusing on his breathing, keeping an ear out for Amarrisa.

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
Anya fell silent for a few moments, letting the others continue to talk. They had accepted her so easily... like it was the most natural thing in the world. Her vision blurred again, but this time it wasn't out of guilt. Wiping her eyes, Anya murmured, "Thanks, guys."

It was a small thing, but the bat faunus wasn't able to put the importance of it into words. So she did the best she could... and changed the subject a bit.

"Seriously, Jason, you should rest. I can hear you wheezing a little," she said, scowling up at him again. "Are you doing okay?"

A Little Bit of Home
Anya felt her face grow hot; she was unaccustomed to compliments. "Th-thank you, I will," she stammered. After a moment or two, she calmed down and looked thoughtful. "I heard rumors about someone that came out here to get you a while back. Do you mind if I ask who she was?"

Girls' Night In
The bat faunus furrowed her brow a bit- she wasn't buying that excuse. Before she could say as much though, she found herself on the defensive again, leaning away from Nicoale more on reflex than anything. "Um, just curious? I mean, if two of my team mates might be a couple it seems like a good thing to be aware of, so I asked..." she trailed off, looking around as if for an escape route.

"Still... I am curious what they're up to," Anya admitted.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Up And At 'Em

Jason beamed at Sky's answer. He had been seeming a bit more confident since Jason woke up, but that totally sealed the deal. Jason honestly wasn't sure what had changed. Sky had been showing signs of self-doubt from as recently as in the mines. And now he was (accurately) calling the team unbeatable. Unless he had been unconscious for longer than he thought, the only significant event that had occurred in the interim was their beating the Broodmother. Jason took that as evidence that it was just like he always said: take out enough giant monsters, and you must eventually recognize how good you are at taking out giant monsters!

Anya pointing out that she heard that little wheeze caused Jason's smile to falter though. "It's just, uh, allergies.
Yeah. I'm just a little bit allergic to, um-" quick quick something it was reasonable he might be exposed to in trace amounts in the general vicinity! "-sand." Wait...

"...I am embarrassed to know you."

...Thanks to Ryuu, his cunning bluff had been foiled. Quickly, Jason changed tactics! "Oh my gods
you people are like broken records. Fine! I'll lay back down, if it'll make you all happy!" That wasn't entirely fair. Sky had been totally chill the whole time. Jason made an exaggerated show of climbing back into bed, and taking out his Scroll to poke around on. "Honestly. Been sleeping for hours already. Wheezing's probably because my lungs are getting weak from lack of exercise. I'm Aura-capable, was probably fully healed in like the first ten minutes. Probably not even gonna be able to sleep tonight, just...lying...bored...scroll...game... Yeah he was out.

Girl's Night In

They were, for the evidently substantially larger number of people keeping score at home than he, for one, had been expecting, currently at a club. They hadn't half destroyed the place when they were told they were too young to serve drinks, if anyone cares to know. Because Jason and Rata were perfectly respectable, well-adjusted young people. And also because Jason was wearing pretty much the nicest outfit he owned and didn't want to ruin it. True Vacuan formalwear of the highest quality - pants that had seen an iron since they had left the store, an actual shirt with actual buttons that were actually fastened, and a belt!

They were dancing. I can't speak for Rata, but Jason was objectively horrible at it. The only reason he had not stomped on her feet half a dozen times was Huntress-level reflexes and the empty space around them was less indicative of a crowd having gathered to watch and more indicative of his tendency to just, like, swing her around at entirely random intervals. But they looked like they were having fun, so whatever. Also Jason wasn't moving quite as stiffly as he had been before. Not that the stiffness could have really hurt his dancing, but again, whatever.

(No dancers were harmed in the writing of this post.)

(...Permanently. No dancers were permanently harmed in the writing of this post.)

(...All humans have at least some Aura. They'll be fine.)

[Thokk_Smash]

Research and Development
Anya looked slightly taken aback at the exuberance of the response, her face going slightly pink. Moving carefully so as not to dislodge the, she followed Leonard inside, pulling out a large tiger eye marble and presenting it to the bird. Soon she was kneeling down to pet Geri some more, but she looked up. "Well, my Talaria already use a lot of Earth dust to form projectiles," she said slowly.

Her nervousness seemed to clear as she considered the question further. "I've been thinking about experimenting with dust types that could be used to dampen kinetic energy," she said. "My fighting style puts a lot of strain on my legs and feet, but if I got it right it could have plenty of other applications."

Color returned to her face as she realized she was babbling again. "I also wonder if it would be possible to jump start a broken Aura, in an emergency," she admitted, her tone embarrassed.

Muninn takes the marble in his silvery claws and trills in excitement. The bird takes flight to find his brother and show him the new bauble. Despite himself, Huginn soon takes an avid interest in the shiny trinket as well. For his part, Geri flops on his back for the pettings.

Leonard nods along with Anya's comments. He doesn't seem to mind if she babbles, far from it. He's taken out his Scroll, and is typing away at it. He doesn't seem to have trouble with typing onto the screen. "Earth Dust is fairly common, that shouldn't be a problem," he murmurs. It's the most stable of the basic Dust types, after all. "For the kinetic energy, would you consider alterations to your equipment before committing to using Dust? Shock absorbers of some kind in your shoes, reinforced braces for your joints--they might be more expensive up front, but it'd require less fine-tuning and wouldn't use resources that could be put to use elsewhere.

"For manipulation of kinetic energy in general, though, that seems like some form of Air or Wind Dust--perhaps with a little more Earth to give it that extra 'oomph' and solidness. And jump starting a depleted Aura in an emergency," he continues with a thoughtful look. "That is an excellent idea. I imagine the simplest method would be Water Dust infused with another's own Aura, all in a liquid base. It would be a question of concentration, at that point: too much Dust, and they're drinking acid; too little Dust, and the Aura isn't catalyzed sufficiently and is just wasted."

He turns his gaze to her fully, a friendly smile on his face. His cheeks seem flush from the rush of words, but he otherwise doesn't seem embarrassed at his own babbling. "What do you think?"

[DukeGod]

"Doesn't matter. Do whichever one seems most natural to you given the circustances. Or whichever one you want to do more, or think seems cooler and more meditation-like. The first intrinsic property of Aura is that it's an expression of our souls, so you'll find that no matter how you develop, it'll find a way to aid you. Changing it's inner workings and quirks in such a way as to better suit you. In using Aura manipulation, you can just primarily do what you find best, and you'll find out that it'll back your every decision."

"The important part right now is that you need to get it actively helping you enter a certain state of mind. Breathing will help you synchronize. Feel the Aura pulse, as it spreads away from you and then draws in from the energy of the world and your place on it. Feel it as it encases you in your soul, your very survival instincts pushing against attacks to protect you. As it flows into muscles and explodes, fibers stretching as you try to make your attack hit"

[5ColouredWalker]

Inner Peace(?) through meditation!

Nigel was quiet as he breathed. He had heard such lectures before, he wasn't new to Aura by any means, and he was more than passing his classes. Not at the top by any means, but he knew of aura, and was intending on Dual-Majoring in Dust Use (Which included Engineering because duh) and Aura Manipulation. Triple Majoring if one considered that Hunstman Academies were Combat Schools... God his finals would be hectic.


But Nigel's gaze slowly turned inward.
Everyone's Semblance made their Aura slightly different. Aura was an expression of their soul, and Semblance's were considered it's heights.
Almost everyone saw there's as a blessing. Some with familial semblances saw their family before and behind them, each aiding them.

The Korah didn't have a blessing. They didn't have a family loves. They were regularly outcasts, even among Faunus. They never bred true. They never chose to breed true. Any Korah in a position of grace was a white sheep in a herd of black, and thus still outcast.

Nigel was an outcast. His home had died. He would forever be an outcast, working best he could in a world that wasn't his...

His aura didn't pulse from a center, it imploded. From the edges of his being he could feel it draw back in it's infinite waves, collapsing in on itself. Wallowing and dragging, until it became too much, and exploded forth with the infinite waves. A constant surge, cresting at his borders, currently the edges of his skin, clothes and hair. The infinity of waves making up a constant border, just as an Electron's extreme speed makes a physical border around an atom. And with each pulse, he was his past. His family lost in the curse, of the foul story.

Wolf Fanuni stalking the roads. Snakes biting into their tails as they were caught in cycles of their one making. Spiders trapped by their own tainted web.
But his breathing was calm. He was as at home as he could be, tension slowly leaving his body.

[DukeGod]

"Good, you got the trance part going aniway. Most monks believed in mastering the fundamentas before any progress, but Master Aurelius was a big believer in sink or swim and this is his technique, so we're doing this his way"

Amarissa stands up and goes to behind Nigel's back, massaging him in spots here and there. This was to stimulate movement

"You've got Aura-assisted breathing, time to move on to more active muscle groups, this is remarkably harder because the body is way too used to responding to those impulses that you fire on command, rather then breathing which we don't even notice most of the time."

"Try moving your body, but have the aura intercept those signals and interpret them through the feelings in your soul. You're probably not receiving any visual or auditory input from your Aura to be projected into your imagination, so these will only really be noticed as movement by your proprioception."

[5ColouredWalker]

"So, move and feel it inside the shield. I'll speak when I've got it."

Aura assisted breathing was easy. Shields were a little weird, but he could see in his mouth. Down his throat was a little blurry, but feeling his aura pulse, and matching major pulses to his breathing was relatively easy. Keeping it even with the massage was slightly harder, but he was managing it, even if it required a mantra of 'Ammarisa is a pretty human but she's tutoring me, and I'm wearing a jacket.'.

What followed, was at least 5 minutes (According to him), of Nigel raising his right arm, and slowly rotating his forearm while opening and closing his hand. Ignoring the slight shadow of his field not quite being in sync with his proprioception, he tried to 'see' his muscles moves. At first, there was the skin resolving in detail as each of his forearms rotation's matched his slow breathing. The play of skin due to muscle was easy but-
There.
Something deeper. Rounder. He could feel the tugging on his skin, the pulling on his bones. His shield blurred, fading under the view of what he was doing.

Tilting his head with it's still closed eyes towards his left arm, he rose it, and roatated his forearm, the play of his muscles coming faster, but with his focus on his arm muscles, he still hadn't seen those playing on his fingers.

"I think I've got it. Do you want me to describe it to you?"

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

"A sand allergy. Well, whatever it takes to soothe his ego. We should-"

Whatever she'd been about to say was cut off by the cabin door opening to reveal their teacher, Earnest Tweed. "Ah, you're all still here. Wonderful. Now that your teammate is safe I have a few questions about what transpired down there."


A Full Recovery

Nicoale followed through with her swing and brought Caladbolg around to get ready for a follow up when she heard the beep. She changed the motion and brought Caladbolg to a halt before sheathing it across her back. It would take a minute or two for Jason's aura to recover enough for the next round. At least normally. She wasn't entirely sure there was going to be a next round.

Jason didn't normally get angry after a match. Usually he'd start talking up whatever awesome exchange happened and getting pumped for the next round. Sure, they talked about each other's slip-ups and ways to improve, but he was happy just to fight and get some story out of it. The last match was different. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but he'd been trying to prove something with that fight. And she'd crushed it. Rather than feeling good about her win, she felt kinda bad for him.

"I take it that didn't go according to plan?"

Girls' Night In

Nicoale smiled conspiritorially. "They're at a dance club. Thankfully no dragons, which is good since Jason's such a bad dancer I don't see how Ryuu wouldn't see burning the place down as viable escape option. Rata keeps trying to move in close on him but he nearly stomps on her feet."

[Arlin]

Up And At 'Em
The tiny faunus narrowed her eyes. "I don't buy tha-"

She stopped suddenly and turned just before the teacher entered. "Um, what is it?" she asked timidly.

Research and Development
Anya flushed a bit. "I suppose I was so focused on dust infusion I forgot about the basics," she admitted, absently petting the wolf's tummy.

Her eyes lit up as he continued though, and she very nearly started bouncing. "Ooh, do you think I could build something that amounts to a kinetic capacitor? Getting the angles correct would be tricky, but if you could take incoming kinetic energy and store it in a crystalline Earth Dust structure, I think it might be possible to then release that energy later by disrupting it! So... something that would dampen an attack and create a concussion grenade of sorts," she said excitedly.

She wasn't sure why, but Anya found it easy to talk to Leonard. Maybe it was due to his mild manner, maybe it was being surrounded by animals, but either way it was kind of a relief. Common interest in dust application didn't hurt either.

"As a side note... what are all their names? I don't think I've had a chance to ask..." she said, gesturing to the menagerie.

Girls' Night In
Anya found herself giggling a bit. "That sounds like him. His footwork suffers when he relies so often on dragon wings to move around," she said with a smile.

In spite of her amusement, though, Anya wasn't quite finished probing. She decided to try a different tactic. "I would have thought you would have taught him a thing or two about that, with the combat training and all. Maybe you should teach him how to dance?" she joked.

[Quellian-dyrae]

A Full Recovery

While Jason was certainly able in the general sense to put two and two together, he wasn't exactly a paragon of keen intuition and social acumen. And to be fair, Nicoale wasn't exactly the most emotionally-expressive individual on the planet. And right now, he was mad. Mostly at himself, actually, but it's human nature to redirect anger from oneself to the nearest target. He didn't know anything about Nicoale feeling bad. To him, that quiet question rang of mockery.

"No, it didn't go according to plan," he spat back coldly. "What was your first clue? The annoying beep, or the gaping head wound?" ...His head was fine. Aura, you know. He was probably being illustrative.

~Um, Jason? Maybe you should go cool off a bit,~ Bashe sent (the dragons weren't out, but the heavy hit to his Aura had definitely awakened them).

Jason, however, was in no mood to listen to Bashe try to play his conscience. "And what the **** do you mean you were going easy on me!? What am I, your warm-up exercise?"

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

Smiling slightly at the antics of his team once more, Sky's expression turned more somber reasonably quickly once Jason was sleeping off his injuries once more and teacher finally came calling for the four of them. "Questioning time? Well, I suppose it has been some time coming now" Sky admitted, glancing at Anya and Nicoale before shutting up. Those two really had the best claim to accurate explanations here as far as he knew.

A Little Bit of Home

Looking a bit embarrassed and irritated both, Sky sighed. "Flaye? She was a classmate of mine back when I studied at Atlas. We were in same team before I decided to leave" he explained, leaning his palm against this cheek. "Apparently she was not quite as done with that arrangement as I would have liked to believe since she got all the way here to do me the dubious service of dragging me back. Not on behalf of Atlas itself of course, but I don't doubt that she would gladly lock me in stasis tube and fly me back herself if she could. She seems to have developed a bit of an obsessive streak about the matter."

[Dorni]

Up And At 'Em

"Oh no Sky, you're not in trouble. I've already spoken with the GRCE member who accompanied you, and she had quite a bit to say about the large Weaver you battled. Now that Jason is safe, tell me what happened. Did you notice anything unusual about the creature?"

A Full Recovery

"Hey, you're the one who told me to stop." she shot back. "Lets be real here, did you really think I didn't notice what you were doing before I arrived? Or after training together this long I wouldn't notice when you're off your game? You're my sparring partner. Of course I noticed. Last week you could have blocked that."

"So yeah, I tried taking the match slow. And this is what I get for it?"

Girl's Night In

"Why would I do that?" She responded a shade too quickly. "His footwork could use some work, yeah, but if he wants to improve it he should be doing drills instead of wasting his time dancing. Besides, I'm hardly the person to give him lessons."

[Arlin]

Up and At Em
Any shivered briefly. "The big one, it... when we hurt it, part of itself pooled on the ground and became new Weavers... I didn't even know Grimm could do that," she said in a small voice. "They weren't any stronger than the ones in the other tunnels, but they were separate creatures."

A Little Bit of Home
"I... suppose I understand where the rumors came from, then."

Anya gave Sky a sad smile. "Are you sure you didn't misread how she felt? I have to admit, we're a long way from Atlas... it seems like a lot of effort for someone who was just a team mate," she mused.

"Though... I suppose I don't have a lot of personal experience to base that on," she admitted, shoulders sagging a little.

Girls' Night In
"Be...cause hitting him harder doesn't seem to work?" Anya responded with a bit of a shrug.

The faunus thought she was figuring out how things stood, but she needed just a little more to be sure. One more small push, then. "Who knows, maybe Rata will teach him something, over time. She's nearly as gung ho about fighting as he is, after all," she said, deliberately sounding casual as she implied future dates, maybe even future combat training sessions. She might not want to admit it, but Anya had learned a thing or two from her social climbing mother.

[Dorni]

Girls Night In

"You say that likes its a good thing. Come on, lets be real here. She isn't as bad as Crom but she ain't on our level. Being crazy 'gung ho' isn't going to make up for that and the last thing Jason needs is someone to encourage him."

Nicoale rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. "He's already far too willing to charge ahead throw himself in the middle of everything because he thinks he can take it. And for all his glory hounding he's still one of the better fighters in the class, but none of us compare to the pros. If he starts skipping training to go dancing with Rata all the time too he's gonna fall behind. Its like..." She trailed off, thinking. What was the point of dancing anyway? It wasn't going to help her kill grimm or land jobs. It seemed like the other girls that went out dancing just wanted to get attention from boys. Which was stupid. She didn't need a boy to protect her.

"Its hard enough finding people who can watch your back."

[Grim ranger]

Up And At 'Em

Blinking, Sky looked somewhat confused by the question. "Yeah, apart from what Anya says, it was not really all that different from other Weavers, apart from being bigger and stronger... More than enough trouble still, though."

A Little Bit of Home

"Everyone keeps saying that, but before I left I really didn't notice it much" he shrugged a bit, looking somewhat unsettled. "Still, it may well be true...although if it is, it complicates things. I had hoped she'd just give up, but since that is not happening I suppose we should prepare for more trouble from that front. I doubt that she'll admit defeat after this, although I dearly hope she will at least have the good grace not to bother the rest of my former team with this little task."

Looking at her with some sympathy, Sky smiled weakly. "And don't worry about that, I still appreciate your input all the same. To be honest, if you manage to avoid messes like this one, you are better off."

[Quellian-dyrae]

A Full Recovery

It was on the tip of Jason's tongue to shoot back asking if she would consider it a favor if he "took things slow" in their training because he thought she had lost a step. And maybe he would have, if that was actually the thing he was angry about. But when he opened his mouth instead of a sharp retort what came out was a grim, flat, "So I'm not just imagining things. And other people can see it too."

[DukeGod]

"Maybe you want to leave it to some other day?"

Amarissa break's Nigel's haze a bit by shaking him lightly, and pointing towards the sky to indicate the passage of time

"Perception of time is one of those signals that's really hard to interpret through your Aura"

[5ColouredWalker]

Nigel blinks as he looks towards the sky.
"I... I suppose sleep is a thing we need to do. Would you mind if we did this again in the future?"
Nigel pauses, looking back towards Amarissa.
"I may need to do some schedule juggling though."

[Arlin]

A Little Bit of Home
Anya shrugged, the motion causing her ears to wobble a bit. "I don't think it will be much of a problem unless my brother decides to follow me, and I have no idea why he would. If he did manage to find out and came after me, though, it would be trouble. He's the golden boy," she added by way of explanation. "Their precious human son..."

Girls' Night In
The bat faunus frowned, tilting her head quizzically at Nicoale. This was not the response Anya had expected- the subtlety had apparently been lost upon her. "I mean, you're not wrong, but I have to ask. Do you do... anything for fun? Anything at all that isn't combat training or maintenance? I mean, I don't mind that you're so serious most of the time, but you have to take a break somehow, right?" she asked.