Cyra Zylvan - Beacon Courtyard - Tuesday Morning

Morning found Cyra awake, changed and outside before the sun was even up. She knew what today was: initiation. Today, she would learn who her teammates would be, the people she would be living with and fighting beside for the next four years. That in itself had made her sleep fitful.

The part that worried her the most was that she had no idea how the teams would be made. She hoped that they would be able to choose amongst themselves; that way she would be able to join the other Faunus, which would make life marginally easier. It would still be difficult, but they would at least be understanding about how she felt. She doubted that she was the first Faunus student at Beacon to hide what they were. The worst case scenario was that her future teammates were all human; people who fought together had to be able to trust one another, and she would be lying to them from the start. She didn’t know how long she would be able to hide it for.

Kneeling on the dewy grass, the knees and shins of her sweat pants stained a dark purple, Cyra took a deep breath as she absorbed the feeling of the earth. She needed to feel that reassurance, that strength if she was going to make it. Out here, separated from all she knew and was familiar with, it was all she had. 

Opening her eyes, she looked down at her suitcase. And these, of course. She had had all her things packed up and moved into the ballroom before Nova had even woken up. Thankfully, no one had come looking for them in the night. In fact, Cyra doubted anyone else had even noticed her missing. 

She reached down and undid the clasps on the suitcase, pulling the lid open. Inside, stacked on top of one another in a bed of thick foam, lay Khthon and Lithos. Each a shield almost the same width and height as her own torso, a small triangle protruding from one end. Her first, last, and strongest line of defense against the world. She ran her fingers along the cool metal, smiling softly, and lifted the heavy shields from their place. Along the curved inside of each shield was a thick strap that she slid her arm through, and fitted her hand into the controller glove. As she did so, a holographic display flickered into existence over her palm, the haptic feedback buzzing against her fingertips. 

Cyra stood, holding each shield in front of her. A tapped out command, and the bottom and sides extended out, until each shield was wider than her shoulders and reached from her chin to her knees. Another command and the shields retracted. A third, and the small triangle at the top edge extended, then separated into a pair of prongs, a soft whine filling the air. A fourth command, and the whine stopped, the prongs clamping together and recessing. Again, she extended the shields to their full size, this time clapping them together, interlock mechanisms in the sides securely grabbing hold. A final command, and the shields disconnected, retracting into their dormant state. Cyra smiled. She’d have to test the firing mechanisms later, but now, she was confident. 

She was Cyra Zylvan. Whatever came her way, she would endure.