Headmaster Ozpin gazed out through his clockwork window, looking down on the many students of his Academy who were milling about in the gardens after a long day of school. He had always felt a great sense of calm and control whenever he would stare down at the world from atop his high perch of Beacon Tower.

Ozpin hummed, taking a sip from his ever-present coffee mug before speaking for the first time to his guest in quite a few minutes. "He is late."

"Yeah well, what do ya' expect, Oz? You called the kid up here alone to 'talk', he's probably pissing himself in fear." The gruff voice of his trusted ally and friend responded, taking a swig of his alcohol-filled flask after doing so.

"Hmm, yes, if I do recall you were very much the same way when we first spoke." the Headmaster responded, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Before Qrow could rebut, there was a light *ding* noise before the hissing of the elevator doors opening could be heard. The young huntsman-in-training stepped out from the shiny metal tube, his bird-like mask glinting in the light. Ozpin swiveled his chair to face the newcomer, taking a short sip of his beverage before speaking.

"Hello Mr. Terra, I am glad you have finally arrived. Please, take a seat."

Rook's voice echoed out from his mask, the voice modifier causing his voice to sound like a raspy growl as he spoke. "My apologies Headmaster, I came as fast as I could." He responded, sitting down in the chair in front of Ozpin. The 'eyes' of his mask flickered for a second, almost as if he was blinking before his gloved hands reached up and removed the mask from his face, setting it down on the Headmaster's desk and also pushing back his hood.

The young huntsman ran a hand through his messy hair and shot Ozpin a sheepish smile. "Sorry sir, sometimes I forget I'm wearing that. Anyways, why have you called me here if I may ask, sir?"

The man in questioned placed his elbows on the table and leaned forwards slightly, steepling his hands as he did so. "Well, Mr. Terra, I have a...proposition for you."

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Rook took a deep breath as the elevator descended from Ozpin's office. He had obviously not been prepared for the offer the Headmaster of Beacon had given him, after all, the opportunity to lead a small team dedicated to combatting the White Fang in any way possible was a surprise. It also came as a surprise to him that Oz would have such little reluctance to acting against the Council's wishes, and even go so far as to create his own strike-team.

His gaze wandered down to the small envelope the Headmaster had given him, he had opened it immediately upon leaving the office. The simple folded piece of white paper contained only the names of eight students of Beacon (counting himself), with the words "Team 1" written above the names of himself, Sakura Liu, Iris Auburn and Dario Diz Zohai and "Team 2" with the names of four mire people he didn't recognize.

Ozpin had told him that the others had already been informed of this new project and asked to join. He had also been told to find his new "teammates" and get to know them. The problem with that was that he had never heard of these people and didn't recognize the small pictures of their faces next to their names. Rook supposed, with a sigh, that he'd have to do some searching.

Dario hadn't gone to any of his classes in the last few days, he had hit a mental wall in the writing of his next book and was instead using the time to try and find inspiration. Dario often found inspiration in the most peculiar things and today he was searching for it in the company of a group of frogs by a pond in a hidden garden behind Beacon's library.

"So you see my predicament?" Dario asked, waving his hands in frustration. "I need to study the Grimm as their the subject of my latest book, I'll give you all copies when im finished, but Ozpin has instead asked me to be part of some task force. Well of course i said yes Reginald! You don't say no to a man like Ozpin when he asks for your help! You know what the real problem is? Time. A man made construct, no truly it is, you see-" Dario continued his ramblings and as he spoke he found himself pacing back and forth. The frogs, being frogs, croaked and hopped around, with a seeming interest in the giant that they couldn't understand.

After classes, Sakura was located in her room, tending to one of her many potted plants. Much to her roommate's annoyance, Sakura had a couple plants strewn across the room, including a small bonsai, a couple pots of flowers, not too much. The only thing she didn't really like was that her roommate had an obsession with anime, which Sakura found mildly annoying.

So Sakura stood in the corner with her full watering can and trimmers, frowning as she stared at the stubborn bonsai.

"Aleck, if you keep growing back not the way I specified, you're going to keep getting trimmed." she said. Sakura waited a moment for what seemed to be the plant's reply, and then she launched into speech again. "You're a bonsai. You get trimmed the way I want you to, no arguing." Another pause. "No, I can't not trim you. You know Ellie. She'd go nuts."

Sakura raised the trimmers and set to work, patiently snipping the branches of the tree, continuing to have an animated conversation with it. As much as her parents protested it, gardening was an art and took time and concentration. Not once during these peaceful hours of trimming did Sakura think of the strike team.

For the past few days, Iris spent most of her time in the library. Not because she wanted to, but because she neglected some of her classes, something that quickly backfired, leading to additional work. As if that wasn’t enough, now the headmaster decided to cobble together a group of individuals she may or may not have seen around the campus once or twice. Of course she couldn’t say no, she knew the threat White Fang posed. Despite the years that passed, the few, but ferocious attacks were still engraved in her memory. She slapped herself across the face, quietly reminding herself to focus on the heap of books that lay before her. The White Fang hunting party was beyond her control.

She wondered what Ozpin was hoping to achieve with just eight people. Not even experienced huntsmen, but two teams of four students who likely never even met? And how were they selected, anyway? The thought of Ozpin casually thumbing through a list of students and picking whoever his finger lands on popped into her mind, causing an uneasy chuckle to escape her mouth. She started to pack her books. The assignment would have to be completed at a later date, sometime when she could keep her mind focused on something besides the headmaster’s PMC.

Rook had made his way around the campus a few times trying to find his three new teammates, he had asked anyone he could where to find each member and after an hour or so of searching he had their locations. He had wondered why Ozpin or the other teachers refused to tell them where they three others were bunked, but he figured it was just some stupid test or something - that or they just like screwing with him, he thought with a snort of amusement.

The black-haired student quickly made his way down the corridor towards where the trio was supposed to be conveniently bunked in rooms next door to each other. After a moment of walking he stopped in front of the doors to each of their respective rooms, taking a deep breath he stepped forward and knocked on each of them in quick succession.

Rook took a step backward as he waited for their answers, hoping they were still in their rooms and not wandering about the Academy, as that would make his job considerably harder. He put on his best smile as he waited, though without his mask on it felt somewhat awkward.

After a few hours of tending to her mini garden and reading, Sakura had fallen asleep on her bed. It was an accident, really. One moment she had been studying in her pajamas and the other she had fallen back onto her pillow, snoring lightly. Sakura had never been a light sleeper, so when a loud knock sounded on the door, she had woken up, and groggily marched to the door in all of her bra and sweatpants glory. She had forgotten to put on some daytime clothes, and had some very messy hair. So let's just say she looked like a wreck.

Sakura answered the door, opening it. She yawned. "Hello?" she said, her tired voice ringing throughout the building. "What did you need, to wake me up at this unseemly hour?" She opened her eyes, and took in the man standing in front of her. He looked fairly average, though average didn't mean weak here at Beacon.

The trip from the library to the dormitories took her longer than she expected. Not only she stumbled upon two of the teachers she wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with, she found them both in one place. Iris tried to pretend she didn’t see them and turned to leave, but one of them noticed. He was, after all, a huntsman. Had she managed to avoid him, she would consider it a miracle. “Miss Auburn, what a surprise to see you. May I ask how are your studies going? Surely all is well and your assignments will be finished before long?” “Of course, professor.” She smiled and waved her notebook, containing the few notes she took during her short library visit, although she wasn’t so sure about that. If her inability to understand at least 20% of the given subject wasn’t enough of an obstacle, than Ozpin’s side project might as well be. She slapped herself with her notes again. “Leave it be. Now is not the time, just leave it be. Eyes ahead and think of this, THIS is important now.” She hit herself with her notebook again as she turned the corner, entering the hallway leading to her dorm.

Dario heard the sound of knocking at his door, and pulled himself out of bed, dragging his covers with him. He walked over and grabbed the door handle but stopped himself as he realised he was stark naked. He considered opening the door like that grinning at the how tge other person might react, but went over and slipped a pair of jeans on anyway. The joke wasn't worth the risk of getting in trouble should the person turn out to be Ozpin or another of the teachers. He opened the door and saw a student there, that was unusual, though his timing was perfect. Dario was half asleep when he knocked and he was becoming suspicious of how long he'd slept for but hadn't bothered to move either way. He leant on the door frame and was about to ask the student what he wanted when he heard a girl from the room on his right speak. He took a step forward so he could poke his head around to see who she was but he didn't recognise either student.

Rook's eyes flicked to the small clock at the end of the hallway, just now realizing that it was a lot later than he expected. He probably should have waited until tomorrow, especially since he doubted this would be a quick conversation. The dark-haired huntsman-in-training quickly purged the thoughts from his mind to focus on the girl standing in front of him. He gave her a sheepish smile, a faint blushing his cheeks due to her lack of dress.

"Uh, hey," Rook began, raising a hand in greeting. Before he could continue he noticed the presence of a topless - hadn't these people heard of clothes? - male leaning against his doorframe. "Hey, I need to talk to you too actually, glad you two are home. Looks like our fourth member is out though. Anyways - why I'm here, right."

Rooked reached into one of the many pouches on his belt and pulled out his 'badge' of sorts, it was the icon of a single wolf-like fang cracked in half and with the tip chipped off. It was the insignia of Ozpin's new project and the Headmaster had told him the others would have one just like it.

"Oz' sent me. I'm Rook - we need to find your neighbor," he waved a gloved hand towards the closed door, "there's a lot we should discuss."

As Iris rounded the corner, she was surprised to see three people standing in the hall. She expected people to be asleep at this hour. By the looks of it, two of them actually were, until the third one dragged them out of their bunks. Iris stood just around the corner for a moment, silently observing the odd trio. One of them, the one wearing clothes, was speaking to the others and than proceeded to show the others a small object. She couldn’t see it too well, it looked like a small badge of some sort.

Noticing the one with the badge, who introduced himself as Rook, gesturing towards her room’s door, she took a few steps towards them. “Are you looking for someone from team KHKI?” she spoke to the fully clothed student with a slight bow, pulling out her Scroll. “Maybe I can help you? Who are you after?” she added, opening the door.

Dario's violet coloured eyes stared deep into the student infront of him for a long moment, ignoring the woman in the adjacent room and the one who had just rounded the corner.

Dario looked down at the badge, Ozpin had given him his own badge a few days ago. It was buried underneath a pile of notes on his desk but Dario didn't need to check to know that this one was indentical to his. Dario's violet eyes glowed brightly for a moment, like a bulb was shining from behind them, as he used his Semblance to open his wardrobe and pull a t shirt out. He stepped back inside and slipped the shirt on, careful to make sure the boy infront couldn't see his telekinetic abilty.

"You're right. There's a lot we need to talk about," he said as he made his way back outside, closing the door behind him "I'm Dario, and I aassume you're our new team leader."

Seeing the pin, Sakura's brow furrowed. She leaned in a bit closer to view it better, but appeared confused. "I don't know what this..." her voice trailed off, tapping her chin. "Oh wait, yeah, I do know what that is! Sorry, I can be a bit forgetful sometimes. I'll just go into my room and grab that, kay?" And without another second, Sakura ran into her room.

Her emblem was in one of the drawers of the end table, where it had been gathering dust since it was given to her. She opened the dark oak drawer, grabbed the pin, and carefully closed it. She didn't exactly want to wake her teammates, none of them were morning people. Before going back out into the hallway, she performed a habitual check of her appearance, turning red with embarrassment at what she saw in the mirror.

She was not wearing a shirt. Whoops. She threw on a white cotton shirt and stepped back out into the hallway, stretching. She finally noticed the other boy and girl out in the hallway, and waved cheerily to them. "I'm Liu Sakura, but you can call me Sakura. Or whatever fun names you come up with! Now that I'm finally wearing a shirt," she giggled at this part "We can maybe talk?"

@Xyo@Starlance@Qro