Beryl Harken- VGNB Dorm

"Physical...attraction?" Came the slightly confused reaction to the newcomer's comment. The black haired girl glanced between the two other people in the room as they started quiping at each other. Gratia in her normal emotionless way that still somehow managed to come off as abrasive. Luke in his straightforward and honest manner.

What did she mean by physical atra- Ooh, his thingy moved!

Any further thoughts about the meaning of Gratia's comment went out the metaphorical window as the boy's hair drooped from it's normal physics defying stance. Beryl's eyes fixed on it to catch any further movements. It wasn't exactly a piercing stare, no need to make the nice boy any more uncomfortable than Gratia was already making him. Instead it was the gaze of a hunter still watching it's prey from the shelter of the underbrush.

Or water if you happened to be a more aquatic predator.

As if succumbing to an inevitability upon Harken's reaction, the ahoge seemed to jump in surprise as he felt his cheeks flush a tad.

Whether he denied it to himself or not, he was still just a young man, barely out of boyhood. Okay, at 18, he was in all technicality an adult, but regardless.

I have far from mastered myself.

Emotions, as they were, were entirely ingrained into the human mind, and impossible to fully remove without losing something intrinsically human about an intelligence. That was all well and good, and a part of life that most everyone accepted. However, fickle things as they were, they could do with having a better form of control, or at the very least, understanding, in his case. He wasn't going so far as to always be thinking of how to react-- that would leave him frozen by choice trying to consider every possible variable. Instead, though, he couldn't help but question why he couldn't at least predict when he would and wouldn't act in a certain way, or feel a certain way about something.

Knowing oneself was a vital part of human communication. Perhaps Gratia's experiment belied more important matters than he thought, at least, on a symbolic scale. "Why something reacts the way it does." That was the question she was trying to answer.

Should he seek similar solutions in regard to himself?

...It doesn't feel quite right, thinking of things like that.

He glanced to Beryl out of the corner of his eye, trying to gauge her reaction.

He got... something. He definitely got something. Something that was neither approval nor rejection, but instead a different gear entirely, as her eyes were fixated not on Luke himself, but that apparently oh-so-interesting ahoge that stood rogue and erect away from the rest of his hair.

..So, that's how it is.

The flush faded, as quickly as it had came. Miss Harken was, if nothing else, easily distracted.

Knowledge for the future.

Gratia Mindaro - VGNB Dorms

Gratia scratched down another few sentences in her notebook. The strange strands of hair then were utterly "natural" in their formation. That would make the experiment far simpler; in her subject's confirmation of what she had been suspecting, a number of other variables had been taken out of the equation. All that was left was Luke Schwarz himself and anything that would stimulate his ahoge into movement, and she was determined to discover what it was (and confirm her original hypothesis). It had visibly slumped only seconds earlier in accordance with his sudden deflation, and it had once again jumped in response to her newest teammate's words.

Beryl Harken's presence seemed beneficial to her testing.

"Embarrassment also appears to be a stimulus," she stated, her flat tone still unchanging as she allowed her gaze to observe every aspect of Luke's face.

Was there a correlation between how deeply her subject felt and how wild the ahoge would be? The solemn Mistralese girl jotted down the questions in her notebook. Emotions were not something that could be easily measured. The data that she would obtain could only be qualitative, not quantitative. Another member of the teeming mass that was humanity would always think differently from her, and perceive her observations in a manner that she would disagree with.

"How high is your pain tolerance?"

Robert Fallson - The Airship Docks

The familiar sight of Shiro distracted Robert from his original objective of heading back to his team's dorm room, especially when he saw the obvious distress the white tiger-faunas was in. Hanging back just far enough to go mostly unseen, the red-haired teen listened in on Shiro and Napoli's conversation so that he could gain a small amount of context before thrusting himself into the conversation with as much subtlety as a bullet train going through a brick wall. Once he had heard Shiro's "explanation" of why he was at the docks, and after waiting to see what Gren was doing as he suddenly appeared too, Robert made his move. "Wow, that's a pretty intense workout, Shiro. If you do that often enough, I'm sure you'll get to the top of Professor Iderson and Ms. Van's class in no time," he said a little late considering Gren had already changed the topic to his party and admittedly cool invention.

The boy approached the edge of the cliff to look down and see for himself just how high it was. For a moment the shear drop freaked him out, until a sudden thought reassured him. If it was at all dangerous they would have put a railing or something similar to keep people from jumping, so it can't actually be that bad. Robert then thought of his own grade in Professor Iderson and Ms. Van's Practice Class. He wasn't failing, but he sure as hell wasn't getting a grade his parents would have been proud of. He turned back toward the others, "Hey, why don't I join ya'? I could use the practice for... Practice, and when you've got someone watching your back it's never as frightening as doing it alone. What do you say?"

A beat.

"P-Pain tolerance?" he repeated airily, feeling a shiver run through the entirety of his body even as the corners of his mouth curled upward in a fearful smile, and eyes went wide. Perhaps he could avoid the issue by playing dumb. At the very least, if he knew where she was planning to go with that train of thought, he could defend himself...

"What are you talking about?" he asked, a half-shade paler than his usual light tan, and terribly hiding it behind a nervous chuckle. "You shouldn't nonsensically drift off-topic like that in your own study. That's just being silly."

Unbeknownst to him, the ahoge reacted once more, standing straight at attention as if to appear larger in defense. Perhaps it was a signal of his heightened alertness, in this sudden state of fear.

One exposed, one hidden behind his bangs, both eyes remained wide and fearful. With just a simple change in the conversation, that pen in her hand suddenly seemed like an even more dangerous weapon than Mordred's sword of flame back at the casino...

Gratia Mindaro - VGNB Dorms

Fear was another stimulus. Just as she had expected.

Her pen scratched once more against her notebook, imprinting its black ink strokes down upon the paper. Each and every observation that she making appeared to be falling within the realm of her original hypothesis. Luke Schwarz' emotional state was definitely involved in the motion of the ahoge; she could almost detect the alertness of the strands of hair, an alertness and sense of fear that was echoed by the boy it was attached to.

It was a fear that was rightfully felt.

"Will pain elicit a stronger reaction?" asked the Mistralese girl, her onyx eyes continuing in their attempts at boring a hole deep into Luke's skull. "The ahoge appears to move more strongly in response to a heightened emotional state."

That sudden onrushing of fear in her companion had brought about a far more intense form of movement.

She needed to pursue it further.

"D-Does it really?" he played along, still in the same tone while shooting a glance over to Beryl, practically begging for a way out. This conversation was going south, fast, and his diplomacy skills weren't proving up to snuff. A combination that held frightening implications, especially with the track Gratia's mind was going down.

Did she know about his semblance? If so, she may get a funny idea or two...

"But you have to remember, Miss Mindaro," he countered, arms unfolding and hands waving in that palms-out gesture that was universal for "no" or some other negative response. "Pain isn't an emotion, it's the body's way of telling the brain it's damaged! I can be happy as a clam on the best day of my life and still stub my toe, after all!"

It remained upright, stock still and standing tall.

Beryl Harken- VGNB Dorm

There was a rustle of cloth from where Beryl sat on the bed as she rose to her feet. She very deliberately set herself between Gratia and Luke, her eyes fixed on those of her teammate. Deep sea blue boring into obsidian black.

"Gratia," she said, her voice missing any of the somewhat innocent warmth it had held only minutes earlier "Back off."

A bit of harmless prodding to see what effect it would have on Luke's ahoge was one thing. Letting her teammate use threats and pain to get a result went against everything that Beryl believed in.

If it caused trouble later, so be it.

Upon his arrival at the docks, Oswald caught sight of the oddly-dressed Tiger Faunus, Kuhaku Shiro, on his knees and punching the ground, screaming that he 'didn't wanna'. As he walked over to ask what the hell he was doing, he noticed Napoli approach and start talking to Shiro. Instantly, a shiver ran across his body. Great. Him.

As he approached the pair, they were joined by the hulking Boar Faunus Gren, and apparently at some point Robert? (Too many damned people) and he managed to catch Shiro trying to bluff about some hardcore training, in a very transparent manner. After that line was Gren offering some kind of breathing apparatus to Shiro. Was that what he'd worked on in class? Oswald had a vague memory of him approaching Sapphire with something, but he hadn't really been paying attention. "Hey, Shiro. Gren. Robert. Napoli." Offering a curt greeting, Oswald looked over the edge of the cliff then turned back to Shiro. "Do you guys know which way Sapphire's daggers fell?"

Gratia Mindaro - VGNB Dorms

The ahoge had yet to descend from its stiff and alert position. Luke Schwarz, it seemed, was still scared of her. Utterly frightened, if the rapid movements and widened eyes were any form of indication. Asking him for a fight, then, would likely provide little to no useful information for the experiment, no matter how curious she was to the capabilities of the Cian Kuze girl's male teammate. Nor would, she noted, Harken allow her to. It was an interesting insight into the newest member of Team Vignoble: so the otter was like that.

Gratia's eyes didn't recoil from the gaze of her teammate. She met them with no hesitation, searching the blue of Harken's eyes. Already defensive of someone who was almost a stranger. Definitely one of the Church kids. Numerous members of that cohort possessed a strong sense of morality.

"Your worry is unfounded," she replied, drifting her eyes away to look at the figure of Luke behind her teammate. "I would not have fought him had he refused the challenge."

What else would stimulate the motions of that ahoge, then?

It flooped down, as he did, slumping back into the chair and allowing his head to loll back behind the top, eyes now pointed towards the ceiling. Releasing a breath he hadn't know he'd been holding, he remained there for a moment before righting himself, affixing his eyes after a moment back into the enigmatic onyxes of the Mistralese woman's.

"You know, there were plenty of other ways you could have gone about that, as opposed to giving off the air that you were liable to test that theory on me without warning..." he replied in a surly, almost defeated fashion.

He was going to have heart failure if this kept up. What an intimidating woman.

"I would prefer us leaving out unnecessary violence, all the same."

Kuhaku Shiro - Airship Docks

Shiro's eyes widened, blinking furiously to make sure what he was seeing was real. Rubbing his eyes, he leaned forward slightly when Gren arrived and greeted them. "Gren?!" He was not used to seeing his friend outside of his armor. To see his comrade plainly dressed was too alien to him. His choice of attire seemed a bit odd too, especially the tiger-striped shirt. Cocking an eyebrow, he tilted his head as he looked over his friend. He wasn't sure how he felt about that t-shirt. It was as if Gren was attempting to mimic his stripes? Shiro felt as if someone who had served in the military and completed their honorable service, only to find regular everyday civilians sporting their camouflage as some fashion statement. Whatever, Shiro quickly got over himself and flashed his teammate a bright grin. "Ah, never mind. Hi, Gren! What's up boss?" Shiro waved.

When Gren suddenly handed him a mask of some sort, he made a curious sound and turned it over to examine it. Pressing it to his face, the fit was a little off but it appeared to be some sort of protective or breathing apparatus. Gren must have fashioned it during Armory class to help him out. How thoughtful of his friend, to provide him with such a useful tool. It'll definitely come in handy with what he was about to do. Looking up, Gren even went so far as to hold a conversation with Noodle. Whether intentional or not, it provided the temporary distraction necessary for Shiro to slink away. That is, until Robert walked up. Freezing mid-crawl, Shiro's ears drooped and he sighed. When Robert commented on his 'work-out', Shiro couldn't help but to give the red-head an incredulous look. Like, someone seriously bought his fib? He didn't expect it to work. Shiro figured Robert was just that gullible and naive? Sure, an extra set of eyes would definitely help and make things quicker. But he was hesitant to reveal the fact that he had just lied to a friendly new student and that he was responsible for severely disabling his own team leader's combat effectiveness. "Uhh...Rob? I'm not r-..."

His words were cut off by the arrival of yet another person, this time the other sword and shield wielder. What was the guy's name again? Something having to do with walls..Shiro was about to return the dude's greeting when he suddenly spouted out a question asking of Sapphire's daggers. At that moment, everything in Shiro's mind came to a screeching halt. When the hell did another Beacon student from a different team hear about that? Shiro was positive that no one else had known about that incident other than his own team. Did someone blab? Angry, Shiro wanted to just throw up his arms and step over the side of the cliff for different reasons. If the other sword-and-board user knew of Shiro's goof, how many others knew? What else had they heard? Expression twisting into one of deep annoyance, he had enough. If he hadn't been scared to just get on with it, all these people wouldn't have gathered and held him up.

Screw it, no time like the present right?

Eyes icing over into their glowing-blue hue, his half-naked body sported his deep black stripes as the muscles in his body tensed. Low growl rumbling in his bare chest, Shiro locked into a pounce position with his vision focused at the edge of the docks. Stubby black claws stabbing out from his arm wrappings, Shiro teethed the rebreather and flashlight before exploding forward in a beeline sprint. The powerful hind muscles in his legs blasted him a good distance over the side before gravity did its job and pulled Shiro's body into a plummet towards the lake below. He only had just a few seconds as he opened his mouth to let go of the rebreather and flashlight. Shutting his eyes tightly and pinching his nose closed, Shiro straightened his body as best he could during the freefall to be able to safely dunk into the waters. His internal voice screaming wildly, he dreaded that nightmarish feeling of falling.

It was only after he had finally jumped over the edge that he thought how that entire scene must've looked. He really hoped no one called the faculty on him, thinking he committed some act of self-harm or suicide. Oh, well.

Splash.

Cocking his head to the side at Shiro's reaction, Oswald stopped. Right, that was probably...privileged information. He was about to explain what had happened in the training hall to Shiro when the Faunus started a strange transformation, his appearance becoming more akin to his namesake. Watching blankly as Shiro launched himself off the side of the docks, Oswald screwed his face up. Should...should he follow him? Turning to Gren, Oswald shrugged.

"I said something I shouldn't have, didn't I?" While he could understand Shiro's reaction, he also thought it was a bit of an overreaction. He hadn't gone and screamed "HEY SHIRO I HEARD THAT YOU INJURED SAPPHIRE AND KNOCKED HER WEAPONS OFF THE AIRDOCKS, HELP ME FIND THEM" or something so callous. He'd just asked where they'd fallen. Any passers-by without information would likely assume that they'd just fallen. Probably.

Sighing Gren nodded his head solemnly. "Aye. Shiro's... Guilty about what happened, so he's trying to take responsibility for it. A noble effort, but I'm also certain he won't succeed on his own. Or at least he's going to hurt himself trying. Look after him would you? He's a nice guy, but he has a hard time understanding that he's hurting people." Gren himself looked a bit guilty. While it was Shiro's fault that Sapphire lost her daggers, Gren felt if he was paying attention, if he at least disciplined Shiro enough to not to run about recklessly, maybe this entire fiasco would have been avoided.

Indeed, ever since Sapphire lost those daggers Gren felt the dynamic of the team, or what little of it there was, had taken a notable hit. He knew Shiro and Abel didn't respect Sapphire and Gren himself isn't exactly too thrilled under her leadership. Sapphire herself has shown no interest or a sliver of concern about her teammates beyond their ability to do as she commands, which is going to bite her in the butt since no one will listen to her if she keeps this up. Gren hopes that if Shiro brings back the daggers, it would at least give him the opportunity to mend the broken bridge between him and Sapphire. And open up everyone else, Gren included, to try to get along with their leader.

Or figure out if Sapphire is someone everyone should cut ties with and let her fight her battles alone. Gren hopes it won't come to that, but sacrifices have to be made. And Gren was more than willing to sacrifice Sapphire if it came to it.

"Communication underwater is going to be tough however. I'd suggest that if you do go diving into the lake, try to look for the daggers yourself. Be sure to use your Scroll to provide illumination as well as help Shiro see where you are. Be careful of Grimm though. I'm sure Sapphire's daggers have enough resentment and frustration to create something really nasty down there."

Gren joked, though he was certain she had some pent up family issues that would have manifested into a powerful Grimm or some such. Nothing that Shiro and the others couldn't handle if it came to that, but something to worry about all the same. Gren turned to Robert and offered him a similar speech. "Robert, you'd help Shiro out too, right? He might be too proud or too guilty to ask, so please make sure he doesn't get in over his head. Bring him back alive so I can chew him out for thinking he couldn't ask his friends to help him. Unfortunately I have my own obligations to attend to, though if everything works out I might be able to help some. If you guys manage to finish quickly, maybe you could even catch up with me and the others on our roaming party."

Napoli Fiordilatte - Making a Splash

Always ready with a wry remark, Napoli was a little disappointed at Gren's sudden arrival. More of his brilliance confined to his labyrinthine mind, never to be seen again. Still, Napoli kept his grin up throughout Gren's introduction, it seemed Sapphire was the exception when it came to proper introductions. The business card was an interesting touch, though it lacked a bit of subtle colouring, the tasteful thickness a great business card would have. Perhaps Silian Grail would work.

Regardless, Napoli's graciously took the proffered goods. "Pleasure to meet you Signor Orchid, don't worry too much about your teammate, I've dealt with worse." No sooner had Napoli responded, did two more arrivals swoop in. Robert, who he'd met briefly earlier, and Oswald who seemed to constantly hang around Signorina Sapphire.

Young romance perchance? Well best of luck to him, it was going to be a bumpy Rode.

I really need to find more opportunities to voice these golden puns.

Of course no sooner did the others arrive, did the topic change and Oswald brought up mention of Sapphire's daggers falling somewhere around here. It didn't take a genius to piece together the rest, obviously Shiro was doing the natural thing and providing assistance to help a teammate in need.

Looks like my first impression was on point, he really is a pretty stellar guy. Unlike many others, he really was a purr-fect bro.

Shit.

I really need to stop doing that.

"Well," Napoli turned to the others, grin still adorning his face. "Pleasure seeing you two again, Robert, Oswald," Napoli began as his vest and rapier came off. His sword breaker on the other hand was tightened around his back, he never knew when he might need it. After all, he'd seen the dangers in the water once already today.

"I'm looking forward to actually exchanging a more proper greeting, but in honor of the moniker bestowed upon me by our feline friend: The member of Swansong who just took a swan dive, it's time for some Water Napolo."

And with that, Napoli leaned back and allowed himself to fall off the cliff.

Probably should've asked what we were doing, but I'm sure Shiro can fill me in.

"Geronimo!"

Lauren Negasi

"Heads!"

Lauren Negasi, steeling herself with a deep breath, braced herself against the mattress and gyrated slightly before pushing her center and core up into the air. A coin launched itself off her coiled, dark abdomen, and tumbled through the air in a pretty silver arc. The newest member of BASL watched it with interest, bent in a triangle shape in the center of her bed, and squeaked as the cool metal landed on her navel and began to slide downhill, under the hem of her jacket.

"Whoaaa buddy, easy there," she laughed, placing a finger flat on the coin's face and sliding it back up onto the parts of her skin she was currently comfortable baring in front of the team. Her nail traced the surface of the coin...it felt like...felt like...

"Taaaaaaails!" she whined, pouting and jamming a boot into the foot of her bed. "That's...what, ninth time? So according to my in-depth calculations..."

She blew a breath out of her hair and pushed the coin in a circle around her belly button.

"I'm oh-for-nine." Sighing again, she angled her gaze across the dorm and picked up her voice slightly. "Whatcha say, Desire? Fancy a guess?"

"That's like..." Amy stared at the ceiling, trying to force her mind through the painkiller induced haze... "A one in 512th chance? That's kinda crazy." Her effort was rewarded with another pain spike and she sighed. "Heads."

She honestly was just spouting a random answer, mostly brought to mind by massive headache - ache = heads. She was still in her old pajamas and T-shirt, obviously not caring enough to change clothes or get into something more presentable, her crimson hair still crazily spiked and spreading over the bed.

Lauren angled a glance at her slovenly (couldn't spell it without lovely) teammate, then to Ben's bed, directly across from hers. Taking a deep breath and counting her blessings, Lauren thrust herself into the air again and watched the coin angle off her dark abs, hands clasped even tighter behind her back to avoid using them to screw up the experiment. The coin landed perfectly at her waistline, and she tilted her head forward to get a glance at the coin. In the bright light of the BASL dorms, it glowed--it gloooooooooowed--

"H E A D S ! ?"

Her mouth went agape, and she looked at Amy reproachfully, as though she had somehow used a spell to fix the probabilities.

"That's bullcrap! I've been doing this stupid routine with no hands for ten minutes, and I haven't been right once!" She landed on her bed and kicked at the mattress several times. The bed offered an indignant poof every time her boot stomped down. "This sucks. Whose turn is it to come up with an idea? Anyone got anything they want to...you feel me...do?"

Sapphire thanked Gren for the design schematics for the night vision googles. She doubted she would actually use them. Coding was not her expertise and she preferred to have equipment that worked on mechanical principles which she understood well rather than something that she couldn't fathom and even worse couldn't repair. If it came down to it she might ask for Gren's help if she did end up using a software solution but for the moment she was more than content to try to work her problem out on her own. She thanked the boar faunus and continued to sketched the device she'd started in math class that morning.

__________

With classes all done Sapphire had retired to the dormitories. Sapphire was used to heavy workloads and rough training but she still needed time to relax and at least here she actually had to opportunity to take that time. So she sat on her bed reading from a book. It was interesting and not wanting to be disturbed Sapphire activated her semblance when she heard Abel approaching the door. It was better he didn't see her in any case. It wasn't as if they got along very well.

Sapphire kept reading for awhile until Shiro too entered the room. He stripped down to his pants and took out a pair of swimming googles. Sapphire couldn't imagine what he could possibly be doing. Midnight training? As a cat he might have a fear of water he was trying to conquer. Once Shiro exited the room Sapphire spoke breaking the glamour her semblance cast over her. "Did Shiro get some sort of swimming assignment?" she said asking Abel.

IC: Emerald Felicia - Gym -

Emmy stretched on an exercise mat in the gym, she was after all going to have a duel with Krysanthe any time now. And she wanted to be nice and limmmmmmmmmber when they did. She had a feeling she would need to be on her toes for this one. Once she was satisfied that her limbs wouldn't get any stretcher she stood up and started doing jumping jacks. She needed to keep herself moving, she was too eager for the duel to just sit and wait.

Eventually her body demanded a break, so after chugging down a bottle of water Emmy got on her Scroll and sent a message to Krysanthe.

The time for our duel is fast approaching, don't forget! D: They had both agreed to have their duel in the gym after classes. @Eklispe

Oswald groaned at the situation at hand. He had a wildcard hyperactive tiger Faunus, a...narcissistically verbose fencer, and...Robert. The chronically unlucky Robert. Great. Just. Just great. Running a hand through his hair, Oswald looked over the edge once more, then back to Gren. "He's...got a good heart, but you're right. He needs to find a way to temper all that energy. Channel it, control it, whatever. Because as of right now, he's more of a force of nature than a Huntsman-in-training. As impressive as his ability for unintended destruction is, he's not likely to wipe out a forest of Grimm by tripping over them."

However, Oswald could only chuckle and shake his head with a sigh. "Don't worry, we'll look after the guy. Hopefully we can get those daggers back, too. Might be a little rusty, but it's better than making a new pair from scratch, eh?" Nodding resolutely at the comically tall boar Faunus, Oswald took a deep breath before jumping off the edge. Crossing his arms across his chest and bending his knees ever so slightly for the water landing, Oswald waited for the impact of the water to come.

Ebon looked outside his window with his new scope sight. It was gimmicky and heavy, so he knew he needed to work more on it. Putting the device down Ebon walked over to his bed and fell on it. He was debating what he wanted to do. If he remembered correctly, Krysanthe was going to go off and fight someone, Skyra was going to hang out with her girlfriend, and Sepia... Was off doing something. That left Ebon a lot of time alone, as he's often want to do. "Huuuuh. I guess I'll head to town." Changing into something fashionable and grabbed his scroll and wallet. As he was walking towards the air docks Ebon figured he'd text his team and let them know that he'll be out.

To: Krysanthe X, Sepia Russet, Skyra Dawn
From: Ebon Umbranox
Subject: Heading out

Going to the city be back later.

When he arrived to the air docks Ebon noticed a couple of students near the cliff. A few boys even jumped off, either to their death or to the lake below. Since he didn't have anything better to do Ebon walked over and tried to figure out what was going on by reading everyone's mind. To help facilitate their thoughts he also asked. "What's going on here?"

@Eklispe@SevenStormStyle@PyroDash888